[0:15] Mayor Luke Hellier: Good evening and welcome to the February 3rd City Council meeting. Um, before I have you join us in a moment of silence, I do want to ask those, if you, when we have a moment of silence, if you'd offer a prayer for Lieutenant Jason Jensen, who's with Lakeville PD, who was injured coaching hockey on Friday and remains hospitalized. So if you could add him and his family to your prayers tonight. Join me in a moment of silence. [0:53] Mayor Luke Hellier: Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. [All: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.] Okay, uh, Ms. Orlofsky, roll call please. [0:53] City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Michelle Volk? Councilmember Michelle Volk: Here. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Luke Hellier? Mayor Luke Hellier: Here. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: John Bermel? Councilmember John Bermel: Here. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Dan Wolter? Councilmember Dan Wolter: Here. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Joshua Lee? Councilmember Joshua Lee: Here. [0:53] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, uh, we'll now move on to item number three, Citizens Comments. There's an opportunity for anybody to address the council for up to three minutes. Okay, uh, moving on. Uh, any additional agenda information, Mr. Miller? [1:40] City Administrator Justin Miller: Nothing tonight, Mayor. [1:40] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, move on to item number five, which is the first is, uh, item A, the Metropolitan Mosquito Control. Alex Carlson is going to tell us about how we're not going to have mosquitoes in Lakeville this summer, guarantee. I see. [1:40] Alex Carlson: Yeah, thank you, Mayor and council members. Thank you for having me today. My name is Alex Carlson, I'm the Public Affairs Manager with the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. I know February 3rd mosquitoes aren't top of mind, but they're always top of mind for us. And so I've been going around to cities to do these presentations for one, to put a face to the organization so you know who to contact when you get those inevitable calls from citizens saying, "What are the helicopters doing?" and "What's all this going on with the mosquitoes in our community?" So, um, you can know who to contact, but also just have some more information about what we do and all the precautions that we take to make sure that we're being safe and environmentally friendly and, uh, the steps that we take to ensure we're eliminating vectors and concerning pests and things from our community. So, do I have control over the slides? There. Oh, there we go, that worked. [1:40] Alex Carlson: Um, so just a background on us: we've been around since 1958, um, established by an act of state congress. Um, we serve the seven counties in the metro area and our governance is the County Commissioners. So we work with the Dakota County Commissioners, um, and they serve on our board and they determine our budget and our operations and things like that. Um, we're funded by property taxes from residents, so the median home in the Twin Cities pays about $10.80 per year for mosquito control. So we think that's a pretty good deal, um, with all the services that we provide which are comprehensive mosquito control. We do mosquito-borne disease suppression—that's really our main operations, um, is to make sure that people aren't getting sick from mosquitoes and ticks. Um, we do tick-borne disease surveillance, public education, go out to schools and events to talk about, um, mosquitoes and controls that people can take. Um, and we also do black fly or biting gnat control. So anybody who lives near rivers or streams and sees those annoying biting gnats that come out in the springtime, um, that's something we've added to our program in the past couple of decades. [3:23] Alex Carlson: But just an overview about mosquitoes in Minnesota: there's over 3,000 species in the world, but if you zoom into Minnesota, we have 52 species here and about half of those are what we consider a human pest, meaning they bite humans, um, or mammals. Um, the other half don't bother with people at all. So, about half the mosquitoes that we have exclusively feed on frogs or on birds or on other non-mammal species. So we really just focus our program in on the half or so, the 20 or so species that are going to be a human health concern. Um, the mosquito life cycle is up there on the board. It's the egg, then the eggs hatch and they become larvae. They're in the larvae stage for about four to five days and then they become the pupa for about one to two days, and then they come out of the water as the adult mosquitoes that everybody knows so well. Um, but the whole cycle from egg to adult emergence is about a week. So as you're following the weather in the summer, anytime we get those big rain events—about an inch of rain or so—uh, it's about a week later you're going to see that mosquito population peak. Um, so we're really active whenever we have, you know, about four or five days to really get our materials into the water to have the most impact. Um, so we have a very tight window. [4:10] Alex Carlson: Mosquito habitat looks like this: when we think of mosquito habitat, we think about water, um, because water, every single species depends on water in order for their eggs to hatch. Um, and so there's permanent water sources, you know, those shallow ponds and stagnant water and marshes and stuff like that that are existing even in drier years. Um, they're always going to be there. And then we have the floodwater areas that are designed to, you know, retain water after a rainfall; they tend to flood up, hold water the longest, uh, you know, for a couple days after a rain and then they dry down. Um, and then man-made habitats—this is a big part of our public education—is anything that can hold standing water can become mosquito habitat. So removing waste tires, removing, you know, buckets or anything that's sitting in your yard that can hold some water, um, clearing your gutters, filling tree holes... anything that can hold water can become mosquito habitat. We found it in a bottle cap, we found mosquito larvae. Um, so that's just a big thing that people can do because we can't be in everybody's backyard. So anything that people can do to, you know, not leave that kids' pool holding water for more than a couple of days, um, really helps us out. [5:41] Alex Carlson: Um, we do what's called Integrated Pest Management or IPM. Um, it's basically the idea that our program is going to take the most environmentally safe methods to control mosquitoes to make sure that we're just targeting the specific insects that we want to eliminate without causing what we call our non-target impacts. So we want to make sure that we're not doing anything to harm bees or butterflies or all the beneficial insects that we want, as well as obviously human health, mammals, other animals as well, but really focus on other insects. So our program has really evolved, um, over the many decades that we've been in operations to really be effective and targeted. And we're reviewed every year by a Technical Advisory Board, um, so it's a panel of scientists that views, um, all of our data, all of our, uh, materials that we use, everything every year, and makes recommendations to make sure that we're being as effective as possible. [6:28] Alex Carlson: It all starts with surveillance. So usually when you see MMCD trucks out, we're doing wetland surveillance. So that's our favorite tool there in the video, it's called a long-handled dipper. Um, you go around in a wetland and you skim along the surface and you look for larvae. Um, so we send out, you know, we have about 180 seasonal staff throughout the entire metro and so every day we have people going out and checking wetlands to see where the larvae is developing, um, because surveillance is our best tool. Um, we gather a lot of this data, helps, you know, keep trends of where mosquitoes are developing and when. Um, uh, we also use traps, as you can see in that picture, for adult mosquito surveillance. Um, so that's a CO2 trap. It has a small amount of dry ice in it, um, which gives off a small amount of CO2, which mosquitoes are attracted to. So that's one of the ways that they find us is our breathing; um, they find us from our CO2. So that trap acts like a human. Um, they come close to it and there's a little fan there that blows them into the net and then we grab those nets, bring them back to our entomology lab in St. Paul and they count up how many mosquitoes, separate them by species and can give a good picture, um, of what the mosquito population is in that given week. We also publish these maps on our website, so if you're ever curious what that week in mosquitoes looks like, you can go to our website and find the nearest trap to you and what the mosquito count was for that week. [7:13] Alex Carlson: Um, we also do, because traps aren't the only way to collect mosquitoes, we also do some human collections, which is one of the fun things I get to do every summer. Every Monday night in the summer I get to stand in my front yard and wait for the mosquitoes to come to me and then I have a little net and I collect them for about two minutes and then I wrap them up, put them in my freezer and then the next morning I bring them to the lab. Um, so it's just another way that we gather data, um, and we have a full-service entomology lab in St. Paul. So we have three full-time entomologists... oh, do I need to hit "ignore"? Oh. So we have three full-time year-round entomologists, um, and then in the summer we bring on seasonal staff of college students or or people who just work for the summer to help with identifying insects and doing taxonomy. Um, so they're identifying the the larval samples that come back. So when we go to the wetlands, we collect those larvae, um, they're looking at those samples under microscope and determining if they're one of those 20 or so human biting species and we're only going to target them if they are. Um, if the most mosquitoes we're finding are the human biting species. [8:22] Alex Carlson: Um, and then for the adult collections, they're identifying to determine if they're one of the disease vectors that we have in Minnesota because we do have about a dozen species that are capable of transmitting disease, and so those are really our main focus. So we want to find out where those ones are showing up so we can send notices out to County Public Health, um, organizations and then also do any additional control work that we can to, um, make sure that we're getting ahead of diseases before they come out. Um, and then we are able to test some species on site. So some spe—we actually have a vector ecologist who can test mosquitoes on site for West Nile virus. So we usually are well ahead of, um, disease outbreaks because we've identified mosquito samples that are carrying the disease before they get out in the community or before they get too active. [9:07] Alex Carlson: When it comes to controlling, I mentioned our helicopters, but that's one of the big ways that people know us. Um, the way that we're able to do wide-spread control is through helicopter treatments and large wetlands. Um, so we mainly consider ourselves a larval control agency. You can see in that table there, um, we do significantly more acres of larval control than we do adult control. So larval control is controlling them when they're in the water. Um, so last year, actually this is from 2023, um, we had did about 144,000 acres of larval control, significantly more in 2024 because it was a lot more rainy, um, and I'll talk about that in a second. Um, we do some adult control mainly to, uh, mitigate disease potentials. So if we find like a big pocket of West Nile positive mosquitoes, that's when we'll respond with some adult control. [9:53] Alex Carlson: And this is what it looks like when we're doing larval control: we apply it via helicopter on the ground with a backpack. Uh, we have started using drones. So, uh, and we actually our Rosemount facility, which is the one that serves Lakeville, just got their first drone this year. So residents might start seeing drones over some wetlands this this coming year, uh, when they haven't in the past. Um, but anything that we're doing to apply materials, it's those dry granules that are pictured there. Um, and the main ingredient we use is called BTi, *Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis*. Um, it's used all—it's fun to say—but it's used worldwide, um, because it's very specifically targeted to control mosquito larvae. It disrupts the gut of a mosquito larvae. Um, and so it basically, it kills them when they're in the larval stage, but the specific strain of bacteria that's on BTi only targets mosquito larvae. So other animals can encounter it, people can handle it and there's no harm. It's only if you have the gut enzymes of a mosquito larvae will cause an impact. And then, um, other materials we use include methoprene and spinosad as well, which work similarly. Um, they just have a little bit of longer, uh, transmission period. They they'll stay in the water a little longer than BTi, which lasts, you know, a day or two. [11:24] Alex Carlson: Mosquito-borne diseases: um, I've mentioned West Nile, that's the most common disease that we have. Um, but we also have Jamestown Canyon, La Crosse encephalitis, Triple E (Eastern Equine Encephalitis), and dog heartworm. Good reminder that mosquitoes don't just cause those itchy bites; they can also cause illness. Um, and so that's another reason for people to take precautions. It's one of our big, um, missions is during drier years, because some of the mosquitoes that are the most harmful actually thrive in hot, dry conditions. So sometimes when there's not a lot of nuisance mosquitoes out, there still could be mosquitoes out that can cause diseases. So it's still important for people to put on the bug spray and take those precautions even when there's not a lot of rain. [12:10] Alex Carlson: Looking back at last season: so we had a lot of rain last season, above-average rainfall, um, but we didn't have as many mosquitoes as we would have predicted. And part of that is because we came off of three consecutive years of drought. So the previous three years the mosquito populations had really dwindled, and so even though we did get a lot of rain last summer, we stayed below the 10-year average for most of the year. Um, our main nuisance mosquitoes, which are the *Aedes vexans* and the cattail mosquito or the *Coquillettidia perturbans*, um, they just weren't as present as they normally are. Um, last year you probably all remember last winter, the winter that wasn't. Um, we actually found our first deer tick February 5th. So, you know, two days from now last year is when we found our first deer tick. Um, and then our first mosquito larvae at the end of February, February 26th. I don't think that's going to happen this year. Um, the forecast is saying it's going to stay cold for a while, so it's going to be more towards, you know, April before we find our first... [12:58] Councilmember: Yeah, what's the Y-axis, uh, on this chart? [12:58] Alex Carlson: Uh, that is the number of—the total—the average number of mosquitoes per trap, um, per week. So we set out—so this is—this covers the whole Metro, so this isn't location specific. So we set out about 150 traps every week. Um, so this is an average of all 150 of those, and then we do, yeah, once per week. So you can see the the dates on the X-axis there. Thanks. And the gray line is the 10-year average, so you can see typically we peak in July, but we haven't had that peak in a couple of years. [12:58] Alex Carlson: This is specific to the City of Lakeville. So I just brought in 2023 as a comparison, um, to look for, uh, last year versus this year. Obviously a lot more inspections had to happen because there was a lot more rain. We're most active with inspections after an inch of rain falls, that's when we're most out in an area. So we did, um, over 2,000 inspections and treated about 100 more acres last year than we did the year before. Um, the number of treatments varies; uh, it depends on rain, but it also depends on there's a lot of sites that we call our permanent water sites, um, that we're going to likely treat every year even when it's drier because they're retaining water and holding mosquito larvae. [13:46] Councilmember Dan Wolter: What what's a typical resident call? What do they call about? [13:46] Alex Carlson: That's a good question. Um, so 95% of our calls are for what we call our annoyance calls, so people just saying mosquitoes are bad, come and help. Um, another reason people could call is for disease concerns. Um, our second biggest call that we get is for tire collections. So that's one thing I, I think I have another slide to mention, but we do, uh, have a free tire recycling program. So people can call us, um, and we will come to their residence and pick up tires that are off the rims for free, um, up to about 40 per resident. Um, so it's just a good thing for people to know that we offer as a service because tires are a big mosquito habitat. Um, so we also work with cities. If cities do their own collection days where they're already collecting tires, we can work with you and we'll come pick them up once you've collected them. So something just to consider. Um, but yeah, the by far the most calls we get are for annoyance, for just general mosquito population or high tick, high black fly populations. Um, and then you can just see some of the other numbers here. We did have to do more adult treater—uh, treatments last year just because there were more mosquitoes in general and more disease-carrying mosquitoes. Um, we did remove fewer tires last year, um, but we typically, you know, it depends on the year; sometimes it's over 100, sometimes it's not as much. Um, and then I just put on—we do events. So we do public events and we did the Lakeville Earth Day celebration and Watershed cleanup, we had a table out there, um, providing tick information as well as some just general mosquito information, um, and we'll also be at—we'll be at that again this year, hopefully, and at the Dakota County Fair as well. [15:17] Alex Carlson: 2025: um, so I mentioned drones already, that's kind of one of our big, uh, initiatives this year is we've been kind of rolling it out. We had three facilities using it last year of our six field facilities. Three of them were using drones last year and this year all six will be, um, utilizing drones. Uh, basically they're a very safe, effective way to treat kind of those medium-sized wetlands. Um, our helicopters can do the big areas, but on the kind of small-medium size, we've had to have staff put on the, you know, hip waiters and crawl into the the wetland and and distribute manually, and we just know we're not getting even distribution and it's not the safest option as well or the fastest. So this is a lot faster and more effective. Um, we go through the FAA, make sure our pilots are completely—have all the certifications and everything, so it's an exciting new growth for our program. [16:03] Alex Carlson: The big question we always get this time of year is, "Are mosquitoes going to be bad this year?" and it's, it's too early to know for sure, um, what the prediction is going to be. So a couple things we look at is the long-term precipitation outlook, uh, which we're kind of sandwiched in between a dry area and a wet area, so I don't know if we're going to be more on the wet side or the dry side—they don't know yet. Um, but the one thing that will be different this year that we can predict with some accuracy is the the July surge. Uh, so I mentioned cattail mosquitoes. They're a very unique species that they actually hatched the the year before in the fall; they overwinter as larvae. So they're out under the ice right now, um, waiting for the the snow to melt and the thaw to come so that they can emerge. And they usually peak around the beginning of July; they come out once per year, usually the end of June is when they come out, peak at the beginning of July, and then they they die off, they lay their eggs and the cycle starts all over again. So based on last year's surveillance data and last year's precipitation, our model that our lab put together says that this year is going to be a bad year for, um, cattail mosquitoes. We're going to see a big surge, um, this year, uh, compared to the past three years that have been very low. So unfortunately that's that's the one bit of bad news I have to offer, but hopefully we'll be able to get ahead of them as much as we can and reduce their numbers, um, especially in the more populated areas. [17:36] Alex Carlson: I'd like to share resources for residents. Our website has a ton of good information, um, people can—like, there's the maps that I mentioned. Uh, we put out maps with our trap numbers. Um, people—we have an interactive map that's just really fun to to play with; people can type in their address and see all the wetlands that have been holding mosquitoes for the past I think it goes back about 20 years. So they can click around and see what mosquito species were found, what treatments were done, what material was used. A lot of people may not realize, you know, you got a—the pond down to the end of your road has been holding mosquitoes and we've been treating it for 20 some years. So good tool for people to know is there. Uh, there's—that's what they look like, so you can click on—you can—and I think I took a screenshot of Lakeville for this one too. So you can click on anything that's outlined in orange there and a little window will pop up and you can click "Site Info" and get more details. And it's also interesting to know because a lot of people think, "You know, my pond must be where all the mosquitoes are coming from," but not every pond produces mosquitoes. So you might find out your pond, you know, it's been checked but there's been no mosquitoes, and that little roadside ditch that you didn't think nothing about has been holding lots and lots of mosquitoes. So it's kind of an interesting way to find out where where the mosquitoes are coming from. [18:22] Alex Carlson: People can sign up for email alerts, so if you want to know when we're going to be in your in your neighborhood, um, we send out alerts alerts, uh, usually about 24 hours in advance if we have planned treatments for adult control. And then we're going to be doing helicopter activity; we usually send it out about a week in advance, um, if we have a good idea. Um, helicopters are hard to pinpoint exactly when we'll be in an area, um, so we just kind of give a general notice that helicopters will be up that week. And then outreach: we do public education, we do, uh, we're out in parades—there's our mascot, her name is Victoria, so you might see her at parades and stuff in the community. Um, we do county fairs, we do, uh, city events, but education is an important part of our IPM plan. Uh, because like I said, we can't be in everybody's backyard. So if everybody just knows to look out for that standing water, it's going to make the whole community a lot safer, a lot healthier. So, um, anything we can do to get that information out there is good. And with that I will open up for any further questions. [19:08] Mayor Luke Hellier: Great, thank you. So what is the best way to deter mosquito bites other than bug spray? [19:08] Alex Carlson: Bug spray is the gold standard, um, but then we say "long, light, loose." So long sleeves, light colors, loose fitting. Um, they they're not attracted to light colors as much as they are to bright or dark colors. Um, so what you wear can help. Um, avoiding their their peak activity periods; they actually tend to slow down their activity the later it gets in the evening. So if you go in during sunset and stay in for about an hour and then come back out, you're going to encounter fewer mosquitoes than right at sunset. Um, but bug spray really does work, so we recommend it. [19:54] Mayor Luke Hellier: We can't buy a bunch of those traps and just hang them all around my deck? [19:54] Alex Carlson: So that's—people ask us about the traps, but they actually do attract mosquitoes. So they—you might actually create a bigger problem that way unless you put it really far away from your house. So traps are usually not the best way. Repellents are what you want to go for. Any other questions? [20:41] Councilmember Joshua Lee: Just repellent-wise, do you have any knowledge about Permethrin? [20:41] Alex Carlson: Yes. [20:41] Councilmember Joshua Lee: So how—can you tell us about that and how effective that is? [20:41] Alex Carlson: Permethrin is very effective. Um, it's actually not considered a repellent, it's considered an insecticide. So it'll control—it'll keep all insects off of you. So I recommend it for, you know, people who are big hikers or campers or going to be like in the deep woods. Um, spray it on your pants, on your shoes, on your gear. Um, it'll keep mosquitoes and ticks off. So it's very safe and it's really effective and it lasts through—depending on the the product—um, it usually lasts through three or four cycles of laundry. Um, so if you—you've got your hiking pants that you always use, dose them in in Permethrin at the beginning of the summer and they'll take care of you for a while. [21:27] Councilmember Joshua Lee: Awesome, thank you. [21:27] Mayor Luke Hellier: Thank you, appreciate it. [21:27] Alex Carlson: Yeah, thank you for having me. [21:27] Mayor Luke Hellier: Yep. All right, now we'll move on to, uh, our Police Department quarterly update and we'll turn it over to our Police Chief Brad Paulson. [21:27] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Good evening, Mayor and Council. We appreciate the kind words of support and prayers tonight for Lieutenant Jensen. We're all rallying behind him, so he needs it right now. So appreciate that. Uh, our fourth quarter report for 2024. As we always do, we start with our mission statement: the Lakeville Police Department exists to ensure an excellent quality of life in Lakeville by serving and protecting in a professional and innovative way. [22:12] Police Chief Brad Paulson: So a few hires in Quarter 4, uh, in the police officer position. Uh, we'll get them in for some in-person introductions down the road here, but just a quick snippet on each of them: Adam Peterson comes to us with about 10 years of experience with the Carver County Sheriff's Office. In the middle, Josh Wickner—he was out at Mystic Lake Casino for about 12 years in the training and, uh, security, um, and supervised that unit for a number of years and also has, uh, spent time supervising training at the Mall of America. So good experience to bring to, uh, to our community. And on the far right is Brandon McCarthy, who spent about four years with the Faribault Police Department. So all three started in October/November. Adam just finished up his field training and is on his own; the other two are well on their ways. So good to have all three of them on on board. [22:58] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Uh, in December, Sergeant Thor Howe graduated from the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command. This is a, a great opportunity for, uh, people in our organization that we've taken advantage of in the last several years. That's Northwestern University out of Evanston, Illinois, but, uh, Eagan has hosted this class, uh, the last number of years. So it's really convenient for us to have someone that can make the drive up there. It is 10 weeks long, Monday through Friday, so it's a, a fair commitment and great leadership program. A commitment not only for the individual going through but also for the agency to to backfill that workload. Um, but great experience. Uh, each person graduating from that kind of has a capstone project and Sergeant Howe, uh, worked in professional development and has some really good things to bring back to to LPD and, uh, was recently named as one of our new, uh, lieutenant promotions. He'll officially start here in April, but putting his, uh, schooling to to good work right away. [23:44] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Uh, update on our, uh, Cadet Grant through the state's, uh, Department of Public Safety. So, uh, our first run at this: Cadet Nick Novo started schooling last fall. Uh, he'll be wrapping up here, uh, in the next next couple of months and then moving into field training with our department. So it's been kind of fun to see him work through the the process as it's been new to us. Uh, we've been trying to keep him in the loop with some ride-alongs and getting him in during some off-school time to stay connected with the agency. Um, we're excited to get him into training in more in our building here in the next couple of months. And then in, uh, the end of February we start two new ones—they'll be starting school at the end of February. So, uh, we get $50,000 in grant money for each of those, so $100,000 total there that goes, uh, to help assist with their salary while they're attending and also their tuition to, uh, finish up the schooling up at Hennepin County Technical College. [24:30] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Another, uh, grant, a little smaller scale but, uh, impactful nonetheless: we got a grant for $2,500 from the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Foundation, uh, for some Community Support... or I'm sorry, Community Partnership Initiative. So, uh, our Support Services Liaison position, Officer Natalie Anderson, is the one who goes out with our, uh, crisis response workers, social service workers. Um, she had asked for some, uh, supplies to hand out to both, um, people in in crisis—some activity things—as well as, uh, extended family members that may be, uh, children and and family members, uh, that are kind of biding some time while she's out there. So, um, she'll be able to purchase a lot of that stuff that just helps to kind of ease that transition, has some things for them to do and some things to pass out on those visits. [25:17] Police Chief Brad Paulson: October 26th was National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. So just a little highlight there on our prescription drug drug drop box, which is right out in front of our police department. It's open 24 hours a day, easy to access and, uh, and it's busy. So as you can see there, uh, in 2024 we collected 187 boxes—they're banker-style boxes, so if you can picture that size—which equates to, uh, just over 2,300 pounds of of drugs. So it's a good outlet for people to just get rid of some of those unused narcotics that we don't want to end up in the wrong hands. [26:05] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Some community engagement events and initiatives that we tackled in the in the fourth quarter of 2024. I won't list all of them highlighted there on the bullet points, but I can talk about a few. Picture in the upper left there is Officers Angel and King at the Lakeville Alliance Healthcare. Somehow they ended up with a couple of ponies that were dressed up—I don't know the the whole story there, but you can see them trying to hold back their their laughter. Uh, a good photo that we'll use for for years to come in a number of ways, I'm sure. Uh, and then on the right and down below there, uh, is Coffee with a Cop. Those are a couple of our senior living facilities. Uh, between our seniors and our youth in schools, I think probably our most warm and welcoming audiences. We love connecting with those folks, they have great questions. Um, just a really good chance for us to sit down and spend some time with those folks and you've seen the projects come through at your level, but we've got some outstanding senior living facilities that just really make this accommodating to to come in and, uh, and hang out with our senior folks in the community. [26:52] Police Chief Brad Paulson: And on the lower left there are, uh, Cops and Coats. Uh, in November we collected—not by design, but we did get—just over 360 coats to donate to 360 Communities. So a lot of, uh, new and gently used coats that we got them in time for some colder weather. And then in December, um, with the pairing up of the Lakeville Public Safety Foundation, Shop with a Hero, which takes place at our Target here in Lakeville. We we join up with the Lakeville Fire Department. This is really a big event and a fun event for our staff, uh, where kids are are—um, names are submitted through mostly through our school resource officers, families that are in need. We pair up, uh, those kids with a first responder or two. They come ready to shop with a list for, uh, mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, and really that's the focus is to help them shop for someone in their lives that they might not have an opportunity to do so. Um, really nice opportunity for us to connect. Uh, the Public Safety Foundation does a ton of work to to coordinate the logistical part, and of course there's donors out there that really fund the, uh, the gift buying. [27:39] Police Chief Brad Paulson: So, and then Santa in Blue is a little bit smaller scale and lower-key event takes place down at the Heritage Center. These are kids that, uh, our staff have contact with throughout the year during a a time of need or a critical incident that officers nominate those names. Detective Kelly Coughlin then kind of coordinates all of that and we do a nice event out at the Heritage Center where we bring those kids and their families in and and pass along some gift and gifts and spend time with with those kids as well. So couple of big ones over the holidays that help, uh, brighten their lives just a little bit. [28:25] Police Chief Brad Paulson: A few training and development bullet points there. Uh, I'll highlight a couple. Up in October, our defensive tactics instructors attended a vehicle extraction course, which they'll then teach our staff. Uh, if you think of, you know, traffic stops, someone that refuses to exit the vehicle, there is tactics and strategy to to get people safely out of the vehicle, not only to keep the, uh, uh, subject safe that's in the driver's seat, but also also our staff safe when someone's in a a motor vehicle that can cause some damage. So, uh, I think one of the underlooked areas that people don't understand, we train in some of those specialized situations. Uh, our full department-wide training at the Hero Center—the Hero Center is out in Cottage Grove. It's a great facility, but, uh, there's a drive there. So, uh, we're excited with the [Public Safety] Center, uh, starting to, uh, almost to the point of breaking ground here. We'll we'll be happy to have that access right in our community to do those department-wide trainings with a with a good center that has everything we need right inside and right in town. [29:12] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Uh, and then on the bottom there, um, you hear a lot about, um, PIT technique during pursuits. Um, the acronym is spelled out there: Precision Immobilization Technique. Uh, we don't do a lot of pursuits anymore. We have a pretty stringent policy to to keep people safe, but we do train all of our new staff in this PIT technique, which is really tried to use at the outset to to prevent a chase from happening, uh, in the first place. So again, there's some specific tactics and and a way to do that. It's not just ramming a car like sometimes it looks like; there's, uh, there's more to the the method there. [29:58] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Moving on to some of our statistical slides, and we've included both fourth quarter numbers and then some year-over-year comparisons, uh, since it was the the final quarter of 2024. So our Case Files in the fourth quarter, uh, were actually down a little bit from 2023. Those are actual reports written by our staff. And then year-over-year, uh, in 2024, again, we're down about, uh, 400 from from 2023. And in a growing community, that, that's, uh, that's good. We're happy to be there. [30:43] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Uh, our 911 Crisis Response Unit call transfers—we've highlighted this in some other, uh, of our quarterly reports. These are calls that go into 911, uh, that they filter at their level, um, where there's no need for public safety emergencies. So no weapons, no threats of violence, no threats of, uh, anybody being harmed at the time. They push those calls off directly to our Crisis Response Unit at Dakota County, who then pick that up and, uh, and work with those individuals, talk them through their situation and try to directly provide resources. So, uh, as you can see there, in the fourth quarter, 23 of those calls came in from Lakeville; uh, 78% of those never required any police involvement, which is, uh, I think a pretty good number. That 80, 80-ish percentile is a pretty good mark for us to look at. And then year-over-year with that, uh, same statistics looking at it, we've—in 2024 we had 101 calls, uh, for the entire year, and again about, uh, 81% of those were handled without any, uh, police involvement. [31:28] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Reported calls for service: uh, overall in 2024, um, I'm sorry, the fourth quarter of 2024: 14,284 versus a 13,500 the year before. And these are highlighting again our—some of our mental health-related calls. So the welfare checks were down down a few. Crisis calls were up a little bit in the fourth quarter by about 17. And then, uh, the year as a whole 2024, our welfare checks were down a little bit, crisis calls—crisis mental health calls—stayed stayed pretty steady. We look at these, um, uh, for a few different reasons: number one, we receive a lot of these calls, but number two, we've invested pretty heavily in trying to, um, minimize some of these. and it gets a little challenging to fully understand the impact, especially when we are growing as a community in general. So call numbers typically grow with more people in population, but, um, holding steady is probably a good place for us to be. And we really look at those numbers to to try to determine impacts that we're making with our, um, embedded resources and our Support Services folks that are working on these calls day after day. [32:14] Police Chief Brad Paulson: And then, uh, more on a traffic-related, uh, snapshot here: Traffic stops were down in 2024 versus 2023 in the fourth quarter. Uh, traffic stop numbers are impacted by a lot of things. Um, you know, really it's an ancillary role for our staff. We do have one dedicated traffic car, but, um, calls for service impact this a lot. If officers are tied up on calls, they don't have as much time to to stop cars—sometimes that can be an impact. Um, weather can be an impact on those things as well. So, uh, property damage accidents were were up a little bit in the fourth quarter, and personal injury down by just a handful. [33:00] Police Chief Brad Paulson: And and then for the entire year: traffic stops, uh, down just a little bit. Property damage crashes up, and personal injury, uh, crashes down actually by about 20%, which is a good number. Uh, again, probably a variety of factors that go into reduction in injury crashes: uh, vehicle design, roadway design and engineering, traffic enforcement, uh, weather conditions. But, um, one easy look is roundabouts. We see a lot more of those these days; those can sometimes increase the number of crashes, especially at the outset as people get used to those, but they definitely significantly reduce the number of injury crashes which, uh, which is good to see. [33:46] Police Chief Brad Paulson: And then looking at our, uh, total calls by jurisdiction in the fourth quarter compared to some of our neighboring agencies, you can see there we're about, uh, just shy of 12,000. And then, uh, for the entire year, um, second to Eagan by, uh, about 2,000 calls behind them. And then, uh, a couple slides to highlight some of our criminal offense reporting. Um, all of these, as you can see, in 2024 were down a little bit, uh, which is a really encouraging sign. The one that, um, is a little bit misleading is driving under the influence—DWI or DUIs. Those are more—just because they're down doesn't mean those impaired drivers are not out there. It's a little bit hard to gauge how many are out there; uh, that could be with traffic stop numbers down a little bit, those those DUI arrest numbers could be down as well. But the other calls are all reported crimes, so those significantly being reduced is a, a true, uh, reflection of, uh, seeing less of that activity. And then year-to-date, uh, both 2023/2024, you'll see pretty—are pretty consistent with our quarterly look there. Uh, all of them down, um, some of them fairly significantly, which is good to see. [35:18] Police Chief Brad Paulson: And then our final slide here, I believe, is our, uh, social media, again just highlighting some of photos and and the ongoings at the police department. The upper left there, we lost, uh, K9 Tank. He retired as a working dog in 2021 and, um, those dogs then generally move on to the the handler's family and is a part of their family, part of our family. So, but Tank, uh, lost his life after 13 good years as a dog, uh, at the end of 2024. Um, and then on the lower left you'll see the, uh, the Elf was sworn in as an honorary Lakeville PD member and made the rounds over the holidays. Uh, and on the right, uh, was our first crack of the Youth Citizens Academy in—took place over a weekend in late October. Uh, about 15 youth. It's kind of a very mini and condensed version of our regular Citizens Academy, but these are all high school-aged kids that come in and and get connected with their staff, learn a little bit more about the police department, uh, and as a nice little recruiting tool for us as well to get people interested in a in a law enforcement career. With that, I'm happy to, uh, answer any questions or take any comments. [36:05] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, uh, so first question: are you going to do the youth Academy again? [36:05] Police Chief Brad Paulson: Yes, that is in the works again, probably in the fall, yes. [36:05] Mayor Luke Hellier: Fantastic. Yes, other questions or comments? Okay, thanks Chief, appreciate it. [36:51] Police Chief Brad Paulson: You bet. [36:51] Mayor Luke Hellier: All right, moving on to item six, our Consent Agenda. These are more routine items for the Council. Does anybody have an item they—oh, sorry. Mr. Miller, anything you want to highlight? [36:51] City Administrator Justin Miller: Sure, Mayor. Uh, Council, just one item: 6H is a resolution amending the Fire Relief—the Lakeville Fire Relief Association bylaws. The Fire Relief Association is basically the pension fund for our paid-on-call volunteer firefighters, and this will, um, shorten their vesting schedule and change the compensation to their board members. Uh, heard the discussion at your work session last week. [37:36] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, very good. Council, any items you would like to pull for further discussion? If not, I'll take a motion to approve. [37:36] Councilmember Dan Wolter: I move to approve the consent agenda. [37:36] Mayor Luke Hellier: Is there a second? [37:36] Councilmember Michelle Volk: Second. [37:36] Mayor Luke Hellier: Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say Aye. [All: Aye.] Opposed? Okay, consent agenda passes. [37:36] Mayor Luke Hellier: We now move on to item 7A, public hearing on the application for Taqueria Los Compadres for an on-sale and Sunday liquor license. I don't know if we have an applicant here. Um, they were supposed to be here. Okay, do we want—do we have any staff report? [37:36] City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Fine to go ahead. The, um, the background check was conducted and everything was fine, okay to go forward. [37:36] Mayor Luke Hellier: So, so this is a public hearing. I'll open the public hearing. Is there any... seeing none, I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. [38:21] Councilmember Joshua Lee: So moved. [38:21] Mayor Luke Hellier: Is there a second? [38:21] Councilmember Dan Wolter: Second. [38:21] Mayor Luke Hellier: All those in favor say Aye. [All: Aye.] Opposed? Okay, uh, with that, I don't have any discussion. I believe this is a Motop business, correct? Uh, okay, yeah. Any discussion about the license, or would anybody like to make a motion? John? [38:21] Councilmember John Bermel: I move to grant an on-sale and Sunday liquor license for Taqueria Los Compadres located at 11276 210th Street West, Unit 102. [39:11] Councilmember Michelle Volk: Second. [39:11] Mayor Luke Hellier: Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call please. [39:11] City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Volk? Councilmember Michelle Volk: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Hellier? Mayor Luke Hellier: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Bermel? Councilmember John Bermel: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Wolter? Councilmember Dan Wolter: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Lee? Councilmember Joshua Lee: Aye. [39:11] Mayor Luke Hellier: All right, if you're watching at home, good luck. Uh, moving on to Item B, public hearing for vacation of drainage and utility easement and consider a preliminary plat and conditional use permit for the Planet Antlers Ridge Second Edition. That's a mouthful. Um, Mr. Willenbring, are you going to give us an update or... [39:11] Dale Willenbring: Okay, hi, I'm Dale Willenbring. Address is 15336 Beachcomber Boulevard in Wayzata, Minnesota. I'm the owner of Tamar Land Development. Um, we're here to, uh, seek a preliminary plat approval for the second phase of our project at Antlers Ridge, which is over, uh, by Merck's Towing. And I'm here to answer any questions you may have. [39:56] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, very good. I think we have a staff report. Miss Goodroad? [39:56] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. Um, yes, so, um, this evening we have the preliminary plat, um, and the conditional use permit for the Shoreland impact, and a public brief public hearing will be needed for the vacation of easement. Um, the property is north of Kenfield Trail, east of Kenrick Avenue. The property is zoned RS-T2, which allows single and two-family residential. Comprehensive plan guides this, um, property as medium and high-density residential. [39:56] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: And again, um, the applicant is requesting a preliminary plat. Um, the first, um, preliminary plat for the entire development was approved for 54 units, so that includes the areas that's, um, more in the the shadowed area. Um, this is the revised preliminary plat because there's an additional six units. So back in 2023 the original preliminary plat was approved, and the first phase final plat for the first 34 townhomes/twinhomes was approved July '24. And now we're just doing a small amendment to this preliminary plat for this section because there's an additional six twinhomes. [40:41] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: Um, so the street was, um, made a little bit straighter, um, moved some things around in terms of lot size to accommodate some additional lots. And they've also been working with Merck's Towing, um, and provided a "ghost plat" for how that property could develop and then ultimately that connection to Kenrick. In the meantime, there will be—and you can see it on this drain—a cul-de-sac, half cul-de-sac provided here to provide the adequate turnaround, um, for vehicles, especially, um, police and fire. And these homes will not be built until that extension can be made. [41:26] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: There is a very minor, um, or small D&U [drainage and utility] easement, um, that requires vacation. This will be replaced back with the final plat that you'll probably see in a couple of weeks. That portion tonight does require a public hearing as we weren't able to time that with the public hearing at the Planning Commission meeting. Um, the upper slide, um, has a picture of the grading plan and then the landscaping plan. Again, um, trees provided along the street in front of the lots. [41:26] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: Um, there is also, um, Shoreland, um, that we had to deal with. So through the Shoreland ordinance, a conditional use permit is required when there's impact to the Shoreland, or basically whenever you have developing property within the Shoreland. So this is the property in question. The area that actually is riparian or abuts the water is within an outlot that's already been deeded to the city, so we're not dealing with that. But we did have to ensure that it conforms to the standards of the Shoreland ordinance, basically requiring that the total impervious surface is under 25%, and they've been able to demonstrate that. The Planning Commission did hold a public hearing at their last meeting on January 23rd and unanimously recommended approval. And again, a public hearing is required for the easement vacation, and I'd stand for any questions. [43:00] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, any questions? Joshua? [43:00] Councilmember Joshua Lee: I didn't think of this until you were talking about the roundabout, but the access then to, uh, Kenrick is is not going to happen, uh, probably for some time, correct? Um, I was thinking that there—because you can see right into the property from Kenrick right now—I was thinking that was going to be the access point, but that's a, a roundabout? [43:00] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: Yep. Okay, well I wouldn't necessarily [call it a] roundabout, it's more of a half circle. So there is a turnaround. [43:00] Councilmember Joshua Lee: Gotcha. Yeah, but that extension isn't happening until that property sells? [43:00] Community Development Director Tina Goodroad: Sure. [43:00] Councilmember Joshua Lee: Okay, thank you. [43:48] Mayor Luke Hellier: So I'll open the public hearing. Is there anybody here to comment about the easement? Seeing none, I'll take a motion to close a public hearing. [43:48] Councilmember John Bermel: So moved. [43:48] Mayor Luke Hellier: Is there a second? [43:48] Councilmember Dan Wolter: Second. [43:48] Mayor Luke Hellier: All those in favor say Aye. [All: Aye.] Opposed? Okay, public hearing is closed. Without any further discussion, if not, I will take a motion. Dan? [43:48] Councilmember Dan Wolter: Uh, I move to approve: (1) a resolution approving the preliminary plat of Antlers Ridge Second Edition; (2) a conditional use permit approving a Shoreland impact plan and adoption of the findings of fact; and (3) a resolution vacating drainage and utility easements. [44:34] Mayor Luke Hellier: Okay, is there a second? [44:34] Councilmember Michelle Volk: Second. [44:34] Mayor Luke Hellier: Very good. Any further discussion about the motion? Hearing none, roll call please. [44:34] City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Bermel? Councilmember John Bermel: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Wolter? Councilmember Dan Wolter: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Lee? Councilmember Joshua Lee: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Volk? Councilmember Michelle Volk: Aye. City Clerk Ann Orlofsky: Hellier? Mayor Luke Hellier: Aye. [44:34] Mayor Luke Hellier: Passes 5-0. Congratulations. I'm sure this is long overdue for you; I know this has been a kind of a stalled project. So, yeah, good luck. Uh, moving on to unfinished and new business. Seeing none. Uh, announcements: next regular City Council meeting is Tuesday, February 18th, here. That's because of President's Day. The next work session is Monday, February 24th, here at City Hall. Uh, this Saturday is the Ice Fishing Kids Contest at Casperson Park at 11:00 a.m., and February 15th is Ritter Fest at Ritter Park. And with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. [44:34] Councilmember Dan Wolter: I'll move. [44:34] Mayor Luke Hellier: Is there a second? [44:34] Councilmember John Bermel: Second. [44:34] Mayor Luke Hellier: All those in favor say Aye. [All: Aye.] Opposed? We're adjourned.