[0:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome. And seeing that we have a council member that is attending via Zoom, we will um council be doing roll call for moving forward for votes. So, please um indicate your presence. Council member Beck. [0:31] Councilmember Mya Beck: here. [0:33] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council member House. [0:34] Councilmember Angie Haus: here. [0:35] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council member Lawrence. [0:36] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: here. [0:37] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council member Lifeel. [0:38] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: here. [0:39] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council member Pembo. [0:40] Councilmember Dave Pemble: here. [0:41] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council member Verichoff absent. [0:51] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Just kidding. Just trying to keep everybody else. I'm here. [0:54] Mayor Mary Fasbender: All right. Thank you, council members. Uh let the role reflect that all council members are present and a quorum has been established. This evening we have a proclamation recognizing Arbor Day and council member Pemble would you please start? [1:10] Councilmember Dave Pemble: Certainly. Whereas the city of Hastings declares Friday, April 18th as Arbor Day. And whereas the city of Hastings has celebrated Armor Day since 1997, planting trees in different parks and spaces identified by the city forester. [1:27] Councilmember Dave Pemble: And whereas the purpose of Arbor Day is to encourage and educate Hastings residents in tree planting, developing civic pride and a sense of community. And whereas Arbor Day 2025 will be held at Lake Isabelle Park Friday, April 18th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. where 12 to 13 trees will be planted, mulched, and watered. And whereas Arbor Day 2025 is partially sponsored by Dakota Electric Association and Hoffman and McNamera and the city of Hastings is appreciative of these civic-minded groups to help make this event possible. And whereas the city of Hastings has been recognized as a Tree City USA community by the National Arbor Day Foundation since 1997, celebrating 28 years. And now [2:17] Mayor Mary Fasbender: therefore, it be resolved that I, mayor of the city of Hastings, do hereby claim April 18th as Arbor Day in Hastings. We adopted this uh tonight. So, Arbor Day is always a great um event. If you help want to join in planting some trees, please join us at Lake Isabelle Park on the 18th of April. Thank you, councel. Um tonight we have a recognition of an outgoing planning commissioner, Chris Tyken. And with us tonight, we will have John Hinsman um with this little introduction and followed by conversation. All right. [2:58] John Hinzman: Thank you, mayor, council members. As the mayor and council know, we have tremendous volunteers within our city that help out our advisory commissions. And when uh the service of these individuals often comes without a lot of recognition, they they work a lot behind the scenes on things that the council ultimately will work on and and pass. [3:19] John Hinzman: The planning commission is a very important commission. They take a look at all of the land use, zoning, new development that goes through. There's a number of public hearings that take place at those commissions as well. So, it's a it's a touch point for people to talk about projects and and perhaps question projects. So, the planning commission sometimes has some some tough jobs to do. Over the last few years, we've had a lot of great developments that have taken place. And over the last few years, we've had a tremendous planning commissioner, Chris Tyken, that has helped us out in doing that. Chris has been serving on the commission since the beginning of of 2021. And you can imagine the different projects that have happened since that time frame. We've had uh Lake Isabel Flats project downtown. We've had uh the current 33 [4:05] John Hinzman: project. We've had the completion of Confluence. We've gone through ordinance amendments. There's been a lot of different things that uh we've been involved in. Chris has come forward with a lot of great experience. Uh he's kind of a planning commission junkie in some ways. He's served in this capacity in various other commissions and various other cities. So, it was great for him to be able to bring some context from other places into what we're doing here today. Uh Chris is is uh has moved out of the city, has to uh step off of the planning commission. Uh we're sad to see that, but we're very thankful for all the work, the dedication, and the thoughtfulness that you've put in here, plus the many hours that you've put in on a Monday night away from your families. So, I do have a certificate [4:51] John Hinzman: here for of appreciation for Chris. If you want to come on up here, [5:01] John Hinzman: thank you so much for all you've done. Wish you the best in the future. [5:06] Chris Tyken: Thank you. I hope I left the city a little better. [5:08] John Hinzman: Absolutely. Absolutely. My job. Thank you. [Applause] [5:14] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thanks Chris for your years of service and we wish you well to wherever you're moving and maybe you'll join a planning commission there. Tonight we have a presentation from Dakota County Historical Society, the LeDuc Historic Estates. We have with us Matt Carter and Ryan Koup. [5:41] Matt Carter: It's it's a hard one and they will give us an update on our historic LeDuc um in our city. Welcome. Excellent. Thank you for having us. Uh so again, my name is Matt Carter. I'm executive director at the Dakota County Historical Society and uh we operate three sites within Dakota County. The LeDuc estate here in Hastings, the Lawshe Museum in South St. Paul and the Sibley historic site in Mendota. And so we'll just do a quick update here on the last uh year. Uh we tried to do an annual update um as uh we end one calendar year and turn into the next. So we are doing our update here for you. So again, in your council packet, you did uh receive [6:27] Matt Carter: an updated um end of the year fiscal 2024 estimate uh for the year end. Uh this is all pending our final CPA and audit. So those are the estimated year-end numbers and then our budgeted 2025 numbers for moving forward. So we do want to um thank the city of Hastings city council for um the opportunity to utilize community investment funds at the LeDuc estate. So, since that um was offered as an option or an opportunity, uh we've been very fortunate to be able to utilize those funds to do a number of upgrades and um some upkeep to the site itself. Uh so, one of the things that we've done is the [7:12] Matt Carter: new vinyl fence that's along the back side of the property. Uh we added a new shed that expands on the size of the previous shed and is utilized uh uh very well by our garden group volunteers. Um we were able to replace the uh chicken coupe roof. So that had been leaking. So we were able to replace that. Uh we were able to put in some new exhibits that will be at the site itself. um utilizing the Simmons shed that's on the grounds as well as interior and then updates and some upgrades to our collection area which is new to the site and I'll let Ryan kind of talk about that. [7:59] Ryan Koup: Yeah. So, uh in August 1st of last year, uh the site and Lawshe, the other museum that DCHS runs, received over 1,600 uh artifacts from MNHS. So, these artifacts were in the house uh during Carol Simmons tenure on the property. So, this includes furniture, clothing, uh other small objects. We have a couple photos here uh of the chest plate that William wore during the Civil War, as well as uh some art that Alice created for her company, the uh Hastings Sewing Company, and a chest that Florence LeDuc uh used to travel to visit her brother in Washington DC. So, we use those CIF funds to help buy materials to properly care for these uh artifacts. [8:46] Matt Carter: Yeah. And to go off of that, too, um with this round of the CIF uh funds, we're looking at getting a custommade display case where we'll be able to have the LeDuc body armor on display um permanently in the house itself. it'll be able to move around. But, um, that's one of the pieces that is highly unique as and always a favorite of those that come into the site, especially now that we're able to have that on display. [9:09] Matt Carter: The other thing I'll update on is the George Daniels project. So, this is a new exhibit that we are working on within the carriage barn. And so anyone that is familiar with the site, George Daniels was a former slave and uh eventually he met William LeDuc while William was quartermaster for the Union Army. And uh they struck up a relationship. William hired George uh to bring his own personal belongings back to Hastings and then George lived on the site and worked on the site for the LeDuc, excuse me, the LeDuc family. And eventually George u married Chloe. they started their family and then homesteaded in White, South Dakota. So, this exhibit here will be looking um so if you're facing the carriage barn, the far left section here, you'll come in [9:56] Matt Carter: through that entryway, you'll get introduced to George um and then eventually meet Chloe and you follow through the carriage barn itself and uh you meet the rest of the Daniels family um and their time as they were homesteading in South Dakota. and then it um shifts into exploring the um African-American community here in Hastings. So, as you exit to the far right side, you'll meet and learn about the Hastings community. And then as you exit to the far right there, that's where uh we'll have some information on the African-American history as it portray or pertains to the rest of Minnesota as well as Hastings in the region. [10:41] Matt Carter: Tying in with that, uh, we had a partnership grant where we worked with building remembrance for reconciliation to create a concept plan for what a black heritage trial could look like in the city of Hastings. So, we we were the lead on that project through the MNHS legacy um the heritage partnership program and uh we identified what a black heritage trial through the community could look like. And in that project, they've identified, as you can see on the screen and as well as your handout, different areas that could be potential um regions or sections of this trail. [11:22] Matt Carter: So, we have the residential area looking at where um a lot of the African-American u community members lived um along the riverfront and how that played a role as well as some of those businesses. Um and then um again down on the bottom corner here uh having the LeDuc estate as part of that with the George Daniels exhibit that will be going in there as well. And we did just submit another uh heritage partnership grant to take this concept plan and start moving it towards implementation. [11:54] Matt Carter: and we applied for another grant um through the National Trust that would allow us to do a lot more research with the Daniels and Black Heritage Trails kind of combined because that history overlap so much. So with that, turn it over to Ryan. [12:12] Ryan Koup: Yeah. So uh last year we held uh various events at the site. So we hold uh teas uh various times throughout the year. Uh we serve tea. We serve a slightly modified menu that the family served to some of their guests. [12:26] Ryan Koup: Um as well as Civil War weekend. We hold in uh early September candlelight tours which focuses on the spirituality of the family and uh kind of that Halloween uh season. Uh this year we started a new event, the winter solstice. So we put up some Christmas lights, had a fire, uh had people walk around the site at night. Uh and then we did a couple partnership events. So, Rivertown Day's kickoff was held at LeDuc uh with Merchants Bank and some local uh businesses as well. And then we also worked on the Fourth of July parade. And so coming up this year, a lot of the same things. We're going to do the kickoff again, have concerts in the park, which is photographed here. Uh [13:13] Ryan Koup: excuse me, concerts in the orchard. Uh we're going to do Civil War Weekend again, of course. and we are starting a new uh event. It's a kind of a cooking demonstration/class based off of recipes from the family's cookbook. [13:28] Matt Carter: Yep. And the tour season at the LeDuc is going to be starting on May 15th. Uh you can register for those tours online at the DCHS website. Uh they are $10 for adults, eight for seniors and veterans, and then six for children six and up. And the uh yeah, the tour is going to be starting here in a little bit. [13:54] Matt Carter: So with that, again, we thank you for your time and we will open it up to any questions that you might have for us. [14:02] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Great. Thanks, guys. Uh council, any questions? Council member Verichoff, I knew you would. [14:15] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Thank you, Mayor. Well, I have to ask. I mean, I think this is a burning question nobody else is is is asking. How did uh LeDuc and and Historic Work get a partnership with Walmart for this upcoming event? Can you tell us about that? And for what it's worth, I completely support this. I think the more that we can make history accessible to everyone, the less likely we are to repeat it in theory. And so, if going to Walmart is the best way to reach people, so be it. [14:40] Matt Carter: Yeah. So, uh, Hastings Walmart, um, is undergoing a renovation and they'll be having an opening for that on, was it May 23rd? Yep. And, uh, as part of that, they were looking to try and build kind of some community with that. And so, we met with the, and I don't know exact title, but something about the regional marketing for Walmart. and uh they mentioned how when they were preparing for this everyone kept saying history in LeDuc which makes sense. So they reached out to us and said would you be interested in participating in this event? So we will have reenactors on the grounds um from the Civil War um potentially some fur trade reenactors. [15:23] Matt Carter: We'll have our history trunks out there. So we take usually take these to schools where we have uh kits that students can touch and um try stuff on. So it's the fur trade and civil war. So we'll have those out there. Um additionally, you know, like I said, the reenactors, but also have some history panels that as people come through and talk with the reenactors or volunteers, they'll be able to learn a little bit more about Hastings history in the LeDuc estate. [15:52] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Awesome. It is awesome. Thank you so much. We're really fortunate to have this beautiful building in our in our community and I do think that tours are up and I love to see people when I drive by and I see cars everywhere and I just I think we're very fortunate and you're fortunate to be able to uh be our be their leaders. [16:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Yeah, you do for sure. a lot of great events throughout the whole year and I've heard nothing but good about the tea and the solstice and you know the many things. So that's great. Thanks for your work. [16:25] Matt Carter: Excellent. Thank you very much. [16:26] Mayor Mary Fasbender: You bet. Uh council members, I would um wonder if there's any corrections to the minutes from the first uh regular meeting and of March 3rd. Okay. Seeing none, they are approved. Comments from the audience. At this time, we will hear comments from the audience. Anyone wishing to speak to the council at this time, please step forward, state your name and your address at the podium. Anyone wishing to speak to the council at this time. Okay. [17:01] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council members, I do have an addition for the consent agenda. I would accept a motion to add the sidewalk cafe license renewal um for the American Legion post 47 and the DNR Mississippi River boat launch. [17:29] Mayor Mary Fasbender: We kept changing this. and the DNR boat launch. Council member Pemble, please. [17:34] Councilmember Dave Pemble: [Motion] [17:35] Mayor Mary Fasbender: And council member Verichoff. [Second] Any discussion? Council. Okay. Clerk, please call the role. [17:44] Kelly Murtaugh: Sorry. Council member Beck. [17:47] Councilmember Mya Beck: Aye. [17:48] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member House. [17:49] Councilmember Angie Haus: Aye. [17:50] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lawrence. [17:51] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: Aye. [17:52] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lifefeld. [17:53] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Aye. [17:54] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Pemble. [17:55] Councilmember Dave Pemble: Aye. [17:56] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Verichoff. [17:57] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Aye. [17:58] Kelly Murtaugh: Mayor Fasbender. [17:59] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Aye. That motion prevails. Council members uh consent agenda adding these two items along with these items. I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. [18:21] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: Move your honor. [18:23] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Second. [18:31] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Clerk Murtaugh, please call the role. [18:36] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Beck. [18:37] Councilmember Mya Beck: Hi. [18:38] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member House. [18:39] Councilmember Angie Haus: Hi. [18:40] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lawrence. [18:41] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: Hi. [18:42] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lyfeld. [18:43] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: I. [18:44] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Pemble. [18:45] Councilmember Dave Pemble: Hi. [18:46] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Veroff. [18:47] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: I. [18:48] Kelly Murtaugh: And Mayor Fasbender. [18:49] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I. And that motion prevails. Tonight under awarding contracts, we have the 2025 neighborhood infrastructure improvements. and we will conduct a public hearing council along with a resolution uh to order the improvements and adopt assessments for this item. We have a introduction by our city engineer Cody Mathisen and followed by a public hearing and potential action for the council. Welcome Cody. [19:11] Cody Mathisen: Good evening, mayor and council. Uh little on air production meeting here, so I'll let Dan get this pulled up. While he gets that pulled up, my co-workers are going to be so proud of me that I printed something because I am the digital age like through and through. Never print anything, but I have my slides here if I needed them. [19:31] Cody Mathisen: So, um, well, thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh, tonight we are here to discuss assessments for the 2025 neighborhood infrastructure improvements. Uh, just a reminder, we were here last month talking about the public improvements, so the actual scope of the project. So tonight we're just going to be keying in on the assessments themselves. So uh Dan, if you could advance the slide. So here's just a quick reminder. [19:58] Cody Mathisen: I hit this last time. Uh the streets we're going to be working on our reconstruction streets shown in red, First Street, Farm and Frasier Street, as well as State Street. Our reclamation streets shown in green being Farm Street or excuse me, First Street west of Farm, First Place, Olive Street and Prairie Street from Third to uh Highway 55. Next slide, please. So, how do we go about determining uh assessments here in the city of Hastings? So, we start by having a third-party uh independent appraiser conduct a special benefit analysis. And what that special benefit analysis does is it determines the anticip anticipated benefit for each property type based on what we are doing to that given street [20:45] Cody Mathisen: and uh the anticipated benefit uh that will take place because of the project that we are conducting. So that report provides that benefit for each property type um each improvement type and combines them and generates a list of recommendations that staff is able to evaluate to start working off of. So based on our ordinance, staff then takes those recommendations and establishes a perl lot rate which is 90% of that anticipated special benefit. So again taking that recommendation from the independent appraiser and using our ordinance to turn that into a per lot rate and the the special benefits analysis provided that in a bylot. Corner lots in the city of Hastings get given a break. So if you are fronting two streets, you are assessed 100% or the normal assessment [21:31] Cody Mathisen: on your short side and then you're given a break only assessed 25% on the long side if you have that dual frontage. This per lot methodology is consistent with what we've been doing uh back in 2023 2024. It is supported by our ordinance and has been supported by our operations committee as as the most equitable way to disperse these uh these assessments. Next slide please. [21:56] Cody Mathisen: So, what do our lots look like here on the 2025 project? We've got 103 lots in total. 90 of those 103 lots are single family residential about 2 to 4 acres on average. We've got five institutional properties highlighted by Allina Hospital, the YMCA, as well as Regina Senior Living, all on the north side of First Street there. We've also got uh a couple apartments, a duplex, some twin homes, and one agricultural parcel on the west end with the Kazmier farm. So, a little bit of little bit of everything on this one, but uh looking at those varying sizes and shapes of those single family residential lots, again, keying in on that majority, the 90 that perl lot method again with that unique sizing and shaping of all those lots, that perl lot method really does a nice job uh [22:42] Cody Mathisen: equitably dispersing our our assessments. Next slide, please. So, putting together that special benefits analysis that we got from our thirdparty appraiser, applying our ordinance, discussing that with our operations committee, here are the rates that the project is recommending on our reconstruction streets. Uh, for our single family homes, that would be $7,200 per lot. On our reclaims, that would be $6,000 uh per lot. [23:12] Cody Mathisen: The other rates you see there uh for some of those institutional properties, those are all based on recommendations that were provided in that uh appraisal report. Uh you can see for example, Allina Hospital, Regina Senior Living, YMCA, uh the clinic, those are larger rate. Those are based on a highest and best use analysis looking at comparable sales from within the city of Hastings um and the greater region. looking at essentially the land area and another multitude of factors uh that play into that that larger assessment for those larger land areas and different uses. Next slide, please. One nuance that the memo uh touched on in your packets was this block of State Street from 3rd to 4th. [23:59] Cody Mathisen: So, this block was partially reconstructed in 2006. You can see I overlaid here in yellow what that 2006 project looked like. It was primarily a project on Third Street that also absorbed uh that block of State and then a block of Prairie Street. But when they came through in 2006, they did not replace the original sewer and water. [24:20] Cody Mathisen: Since 2006, we have had two water main breaks in that block alone. And this uh winter, we just had a third one right near the intersection of Fourth and State. Ultimately, because it was improved earlier, that block was not in the original scope. We talked about this at the last meeting. Um, but staff brought forth the recommendation. Ops ultimately supported. Let's go ahead and include that block in the project. It makes sense to do it now and take care of that concern. Because those streets were or the the residents along that street were assessed just 19 years ago, and we expect a 30-year life cycle uh out of our streets. We worked with at the time city attorney Corey Land uh to look at how can we properly address that fact. [25:02] Cody Mathisen: So uh we looked at our ordinance and our ordinance ultimately gives us the flexibility for unusual conditions to modify the proposed assessments and we determined that this fit that case. So what we're doing for residents of that block in particular is prorating the assessment essentially acknowledging that their street only lived for that 19 out of 30 expected years. So they will be getting a break um on this assessment. Um, so we took that standard $7,200 rate, took that fraction 19 over 30 to get that pr-rated assessment again reflecting that 11 years of of expected life that that roadway didn't quite get because we're coming back there. Real quick reminder of the [25:49] Cody Mathisen: overall project cost, just over 4.5 million approximate breakdown shown graphically there. Uh, and then Dan, if you could advance the slide. Uh what we ultimately like to hit on uh with our assessment hearing is uh sometimes a misconception with this project is that it's 100% paid by assessments. That is ultimately not the case. Um for this particular project, assessments will be making up uh 16% of that total project cost. Uh next slide please. So going into the actual payment of our assessments. So, payment for assessments will be accepted starting September 1st of 2025. No interest or fees uh will be incurred if the [26:35] Cody Mathisen: assessment's paid in full by October 31st of 2025. Partial payments are accepted. So, if a resident wants to put a little bit of money towards the assessment, any amount remaining thereafter will go uh and be certified to the county property taxes, and that'll begin a 10-year payment plan that is all baked into uh their county taxes. And the first payment for that would begin spring of 2026. There is an interest rate associated with that financing. Uh historically, it's been at or below 5%. [27:09] Cody Mathisen: We don't know what that rate will be right now until the city finalizes its bond sale. So, we're just stating approximately 5% at this time, but that rate is still ultimately to be determined. Next slide, please. So, what does a what does a sample assessment look like uh for our standard reconstruction lots uh on a $7,200 assessment? Assuming that no money is paid down, the entirety of that assessment is put towards the the county property taxes over 10 years. If we estimate an interest rate of 5%, that would result in an annual payment of approximately $916 or a monthly payment of about $76. [27:49] Cody Mathisen: Again, if fully put onto the 10-year financing program, we do have financial aid uh available. Uh we touched on last meeting the fact that our community development block grant uh program is funded through HUD and that's ultimately federal federal grants. Uh we did receive some positive news today. I actually just spoke with Dakota County CDA today and it's looking like we will receive some new funding for 2025. So, that is positive news. However, that is just speculation at this point. Um, but it is a step in the right direction. They think that if we do receive funding, it's likely to be a little bit smaller [28:34] Cody Mathisen: than we anticipated. The second piece that I wanted to share, um, in conversations with them, uh, we did come to learn that we have a remaining pass balance. um that is essentially those block grant funds that have not been used in the last couple construction years, those actually carry over. So there's more or less two pots of money and assuming that one or both uh hopefully remain unpaused by the federal government, we can look to try and tap into one or both of those with the project. Ultimately just don't have that finality right now. So, more information to come, especially by July when we're actually going to send information out to our residents. We're going to have a lot more clarity by that point, but just wanted to share that snippet of good news since we have it. [29:21] Cody Mathisen: It's looking a little better than the last time that we were here. Eligibility for that program is incomebased. Applications will be when the applications mailed in July, it'll hit on that eligibility criteria and the Dakota County CDA ultimately reviews those applications. That's not something that we review here internally at the city. So that uh review will determine if one qualifies for the full abatement, the entirety of the assessment or potentially a partial abatement if there are funds left over after all the fully qualified abatements are paid. Next slide, please. The last program uh and last slide that I want to hit on here is our assessment deferral program. So this applies to senior citizens, those who [30:06] Cody Mathisen: are disabled. Uh military personnel may may be eligible. Um and then there is also an additional qualification requirement that the first year's payment must be greater than 1% of your adjusted gross income. So what's shown there is that same sample assessment uh what the income requirement would need to be at or less to qualify for the deferral program. [30:29] Cody Mathisen: This program does have applications when uh it's certainly a a good tool. However, we do like to really highlight here this is a deferment. This does not forgive the assessment. This assessment would be due in full upon the sale the transfer transfer, excuse me, or change in uh deferral eligibility status. So, we really want people to know that that assessment will live with the property and continue to accumulate interest if it is deferred. So, just an important distinction between the abatement versus the deferral program there. And there's more information that'll be mailed on both programs when we send that out in July. With that, uh, that's the end of my formal presentation. So, mayor will [31:14] Cody Mathisen: stand for the hearing or any questions. [31:22] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thanks, Cody. council first. I'll open the public hearing and then we'll have discussion after that. This time I will open the public hearing. Anyone wish to speak to the council at this time about the assessments? No one in the audience. [31:32] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Anyone on Zoom? Would you, if you're on Zoom, would you please raise your hand so we could see that you would like to speak to the council at this time? No action. Okay, one more time. Anyone wish to speak to the council at this time? Okay, I will close the public hearing. Open discussion for council. Council member Lefel. [32:25] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thanks, your honor. Cody, can you if this is a question that you can't answer, I completely understand. But, um, people obviously social media people talk about all the things that they want to ask their city, but they're not calling to ask about, right? So, can you explain at all? Some people were concerned and making comments about why are we having homeowners pay assessments on the streets? What do other communities do? I mean because as you pointed out, great [32:38] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: graphic, right? This is 16% of the total project cost that's being paid in assessments by the homeowners. It's really quite small, but for a homeowner, $7,200 is an awful lot of money. Can you is this something you could kind of speak to? [33:14] Cody Mathisen: Absolutely. To explain me to me. Yeah, council member Lefel, that's a great question. So, uh, special assessments are something that are extremely common, uh, throughout the state of Minnesota. Uh, statute 429 outlines the process by which cities, uh, can follow to levy special assessments. Um, I think it's an important thing to note that for the city to acquire the most competitive bonds uh, that we uh, seek [33:24] Cody Mathisen: to get, we are required to assess for a portion of the project costs. And there's some more um specific financial requirements in there. Um but specifically the city is required to assess a minimum of 20% of the in our case our street and storm sewer improvements. Um our sewer and water portions of the project are funded through our enterprise funds. So as rateayers when you're paying your sewer and water bill that is generally paying for that component of the project. But we have to see and and try to get at least that 20% threshold assessed so that the city can secure uh the best municipal general obligation bonds possible. And again, that's that that statute 429 very commonly leveraged by [34:11] Cody Mathisen: um all of our surrounding cities. Um you know, city attorney Burknes, if you have any other expansion on the 429 process that you'd like to outline for neighboring communities that might be helpful. [34:40] City Attorney Burknes: Sure. Thank you. And I can confirm, council member Lyeld, that all the other cities I represent and many other cities here in the metro for sure do road assessment projects like this and assess the cost to the owners. And I would say 16% is generally on the low side of what I see of the overall project cost being respon the responsibility of the homeowners. [35:00] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thank you, councelor. Thank you. I appreciate the explanation. And I just know and even as a homeowner, right, we pay taxes and our taxes and I know at different times of the year we've got that pie chart that shows where all the taxes, the money we put in, where it all goes, right? So, and some of that is is any of that going to [35:20] Cody Mathisen: Yeah, Council Member Lifel, I think that's that's probably the most common uh question that the way we get it framed, right? I I pay my taxes. How does this not pay for the roadway? [35:20] Cody Mathisen: Right? And I think the distinction there is that the the portion of your taxes that is going to roadways and street maintenance is is just that. It's the the general upkeep, your snow plowing, your pothole patching. Um you know, we do our mill and overlay program, which we're going to talk about here later. We are not assessing for projects like that, right? So, we are still managing a lot of our pavements and our streets here in Hastings without assessing. [35:46] Cody Mathisen: There's a lot of our thin overlay program, right, that we have been expanding on and did three miles last year, not assessed. All those activities and all the other things that public works does in your road right ofway, that is what that covers. These one-time capital improvement projects that are specifically benefiting the parcels adjacent, those are not accounted for in the general tax levy. Right? So, I think the the short answer to that is, you know, are there other financial means or we could raise overall taxes or other things to make it so we weren't assessing? I think the short answer is yes, but it's it's generally more complicated than that, right? Um, we would we would generally we would need to generate that revenue somewhere else. So, that by assessing for these [36:33] Cody Mathisen: projects that allows cities to not entirely collect for it with the, you know, just the general tax rate, if that makes sense. [36:45] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thanks, Cody. That helps. I just was sort of I tried to look for it to see if I could find it but you know that was just kind of a general question and then people coming on board giving their two cents worth and it's like you know this is really a good question right where does our tax money go compared to assessment fees and then as you indicated we expect 30 years right out of this assessment right and congratulations I mean excellent job with the houses that were assessed because there was a lot of conversations about that. They had an assessment 19 years ago. So, thank you for taking that into consideration. And at the same [37:18] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: time, um, with that pipe burst and things like that, when the fire trucks get to your house or your neighbor's house, you want that water pressure there. You want that water to come out those pipes. And I think now this sort of ends the piece of us of our old infrastructure under the streets. Is that right? I know that's been an ongoing project of getting rid of this old infrastructure and it's a [37:51] Cody Mathisen: Yeah, that's a that's a good point as well. It's an ongoing effort with our capital improvement program. We've slowly but surely really been in this gritted area of Hastings. Um, even before I arrived, there was a lot of projects done here. Uh, there is still portions of, you know, cast iron, older things cuz some projects like that 2006 one from limited funding. They didn't do anything wrong with that project, right? [38:11] Cody Mathisen: I want to make that clear. They had a choice to make just like we always have a choice to make. We have to balance what funds are available if that road was falling apart and that's all they could afford to do. So, you know, that's the choice they made. So, uh, to answer your question, council member, there still might be some, you know, and we know that there are cast iron pipes kind of scattered throughout, but they're on our radar and and we are going to continue targeting them until until, to your point, they are they are all gone. [38:37] Cody Mathisen: And then we uh will continue to plan diligently to replace those uh on the life cycle they need. [38:45] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thank you. [38:46] Cody Mathisen: Yes. [38:47] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you, Council Member Lifeel. Thank you, Cody. Council member Verich. [39:01] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Thank you, your honor. Uh, thank you, Council Member Lifeel. I think that is a really important question. I think it's a good one to raise in a forum like this. It's fair. We serve at the will of the people. It is the role of good government to serve its community. Um, and I just wanted to publicly thank our public works department. Um there seems to be, at least from my perspective, an enormous amount of thoughtfulness and planning that goes into um relaying these projects that we know are are are sizable in in assessment amounts. Um but the emails that go out, the notification [39:23] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: of the public meetings, the postcards that you then send to homeowners. Um, I've went to a couple now of open house or open forums that you have where the engineers simply um sit up at a table and say anybody that lives in the community, come talk to us. What's your concern about your driveway? What kind of questions do you have? Um, and so I just want to say that I'm incredibly thankful to the thoughtfulness that you and your team and Ryan bring to this work. Um, even today in the presentation where you talked about different opportunities for grant funding, um, different ways that people could finance these costs. Um, I agree with Council Member Lifeel. These are not necessarily smaller amounts, but these are important payments that we have to make to sustain our city into the future. One of the things that I know that this body [40:10] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: has said quite often is we want to make sure that we're being really thoughtful going forward and that we're not kicking any proverbial cans down the road. We want to make sure that for councils that come for years after us that they don't have any mess from us to clean up. And so this to me feels like a a really good example of using our resources in the right way and of good government. So thank you. [40:35] Cody Mathisen: Thank you. [40:36] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you, Council Member Veroff. Any other comments, Council? [40:37] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Okay. If not, I would accept a motion to adopt the resolution to adopt the assessment for project 25-1 2025 neighborhood infrastructure improvements. [40:54] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: [Motion] [40:55] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: [Second] [41:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Sorry. Oh, sorry. Yes, clerk. I'm on it. [41:04] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Beck. [41:06] Councilmember Mya Beck: I. [41:07] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member House. [41:08] Councilmember Angie Haus: I. [41:09] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lawrence. [41:10] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: I. [41:11] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lyfeld. [41:12] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: I. [41:13] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Pemble. [41:14] Councilmember Dave Pemble: I. [41:15] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Verichoff. [41:16] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: I. [41:17] Kelly Murtaugh: Mayor Fasbender. [41:18] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I. And that motion prevails. Also, Cody, we have a resolution for receiving bids and awarding contract for the 2025 mill and overlay program 1 million 33,424.85. Um, and to also approve the change order uh number one for the 2025 Milan Overly project $54,936.14. [41:50] Cody Mathisen: Thank you, Mayor. You may continue. Uh, yes. So council has requested to award the contract for our 2025 mill overlay program to our lowest responsible bidder uh who is OMG Midwest Minnesota Paving and Materials. Kind of a mouthful there. U but uh what this project is going to address um is pavement on Fourth Street right behind Walmart and uh Featherstone Road west of Pleasant Drive, 16th through 23rd Street between Pleasant and Westview as well as High Point Court and Northridge Court. So, we received five bids on this project with the uh low bid being from OMG Midwest Paving Materials at 1,033,424.85. Um, this cost tracks within the 2025 budget. And we sort of have a [42:35] Cody Mathisen: paired item uh here right after it as you mentioned with the change order. Uh, but we'll go ahead and address this item first with the award of the contract. Uh, staff recommending that council move forward in adopting the attached resolution awarding that contract. [43:08] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you, Cody. Council any discussion? Not I accept a motion to adopt the resolution awarding contract for 2025 million overlay program and change order number one to add the three culde-sacs in the program. [43:20] Councilmember Dave Pemble: So move your honor. [43:22] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Second. [43:23] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Clerk Murtaugh, please call the role. [43:26] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Beck. [43:27] Councilmember Mya Beck: I. [43:28] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member House. [43:29] Councilmember Angie Haus: I. [43:30] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lawrence. [43:31] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: Hi. [43:32] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lyfeld. [43:33] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: I. [43:34] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Pembell. [43:35] Councilmember Dave Pemble: I. [43:36] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Veroff. [43:37] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: I. [43:38] Kelly Murtaugh: Mayor Fasbender. [43:39] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I. [43:40] Kelly Murtaugh: And that motion prevails as well. [43:49] Cody Mathisen: Mayor, if I may, real quick, just uh was my bad on the uh communication on just wanted to clarify that that second piece um you know, because those bids were favorable. We are able to complete that change order still well within the project budget and still have contingency left over. So, I wasn't sure if we were going to go through one item and then proceed to the next, but just wanted to make that clarification and actually verbalize that about the change order. So, thank you. [44:09] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you. Also, receiving bids and awarding contract for Oh, sorry. That is not you. Thanks Cody. You took the hint. Tonight, we also um received bids and awarding contract for the Lake Isabel Park project. And for this item, we have an introduction from our parks and rec director, Chris Jenkins. Welcome, Chris. [44:32] Chris Jenkins: Thank you, mayor, council. Uh yes, very exciting. The Lake Rebecca project. Again, this is a uh LCCMR grant-funded project at a grand total of $1 million. Uh we did receive bids for the I'm going to call it the developed recreation area of the Lake Rebecca project. We have two separate contracts. One that's currently happening right now is the habitat restoration kind of outside of what we all think of as as Lake Rebecca Park. [44:58] Chris Jenkins: This deals directly with Lake Rebecca Park. Some of the elements of this project are removing the old parking lots, replacing them with new parking lots, same places, smaller parking lots because we don't have the same kind of use in that area anymore. The very back parking lot that is used for snow storage, we're not touching that, right? [45:20] Chris Jenkins: It's going to be a continual spot for snow storage. No reason to sink funding into that. Uh this will pull the old wooden bollards out of the way. It'll replace that with giant landscape boulders to define the parking areas. We'll redo some of the trails that are in there. We do have to redo those trails as they are uh because we are in flood plane and we are around wetlands. [45:42] Chris Jenkins: There's a lot of rules and regulations that go along with that. Uh we will replace the mowed turf area uh by the large parking lot there with native habitat. Um so that'll reduce our maintenance costs in there. We will mow some paths through there, put strategic picnic tables and those sorts of things in there as well. Uh it will we are adding a section to the fishing pier down there. Um and we're going to upgrade the boat launch into Lake Rebecca Park a little bit. Uh but all of those things are going to be part of this project. Uh we did open six bids in the middle of March and we had a low responsive responsible bidder uh that both our consulting team and myself uh [46:29] Chris Jenkins: discussed the project with. So we were confident in the schedule that they submitted. They did submit a fairly aggressive schedule, but we all think it is very doable, which would put the project done about the early part of June, which is before our current June 30, 2025 completion deadline. That is the grant funding completion deadline. [46:53] Chris Jenkins: We do have an extension request into the LCCMR that currently sits in a Senate bill that has seen no action for quite some time. So, if we don't move ahead today, and if we don't have the project completed by June 30 of 2025, we may not get a project if the legislature doesn't act. [47:22] Chris Jenkins: So, what we're asking tonight is for council to approve this project. It's a little over 511,000 almost 512,000 and get the Ashwill Companies uh going and I suppose I should add if um there is some financial risk and Dan and I have talked about this if on June 30 that contract is not completed work done the city then has the option to pay the bill to continue and finish it. Um, again, contractors very confident uh by June, early June, the project will be completed. On our side of things, we have also lowered the water level in the [48:09] Chris Jenkins: lake to try and absorb any bounce uh with spring runoff, thankfully not a lot of snow this year or spring rain events. So, we're currently holding the water about 2 and 1/2 ft lower than we normally hold it so we can take some bounce. Uh right now that still is about a foot higher than the Mississippi River, but we can't actually dump any more water out of the lake just because of the structure that's there. So what what we're asking for is to uh accept the bids and award the contract to Ashwill Companies and I can stand for any questions. [48:44] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Great. Thank you, Chris. Council member Ligh. [48:50] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Thanks, honor. First, I'd like to make a motion to approve the attached cooperative agreement. [48:58] Mayor Mary Fasbender: First motion on the table. Second by council member Lawrence. [49:04] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Now discussion and then I'd like to ask Chris a question. Okay. So that back lot obviously why fix it, right? You just put snow in it. Is there a way to like close that during the summer months just to keep traffic out of it? As a person who tootses around on their scooter and ends up in places I shouldn't. [49:17] Chris Jenkins: During the summer months, uh, council member, we have used concrete jersey barriers to keep vehicle traffic out of that. [49:25] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Perfect. Thanks. That's what I was requiring. Thanks, Chris. [49:31] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you, Council Member Lifel. Any other discussion? Councel Clerk Murtaugh, please call the role. [49:35] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Beck, I. [49:37] Councilmember Mya Beck: I. [49:38] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member House, I. [49:39] Councilmember Angie Haus: I. [49:40] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lawrence, I. [49:41] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: I. [49:42] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lifel, I. [49:43] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: I. [49:44] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Pemble, I. [49:45] Councilmember Dave Pemble: I. [49:46] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Vigoff, I. [49:47] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: I. [49:48] Kelly Murtaugh: Mayor Fasbender, I. [49:49] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I. And that motion prevails. Thanks, Chris. Looking forward to seeing things started and cleaned up. [49:58] Chris Jenkins: Me, too. [50:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Yes. I'm sure you are. All right. Under administration tonight, as always, the first meeting of the month, we have a PFAS update from our city administrator, Dan Wietecha. Not that we never talk about PFAS because it's all we seem to be talking about, but Dan um will give us another update. [50:23] Dan Wietecha: Thank you, mayor. and I'll see if I can keep up since we just had a a workshop prior to this regular meeting and some of the details might have changed. So hopefully I I caught them as we we went. Um really just focusing on uh what's new in the last month, not trying to recap uh everything over the last couple of years. Uh the project cost estimate for all three plants is 68.9 million. uh but [50:47] Dan Wietecha: it is uh expecting to trend higher and as as we saw earlier this evening uh the first plant the central plant uh is expected to be about uh three $3 million higher than what we were estimating it at. So, uh, uh, expensive project. Uh, even with the assistance that we've secured to date, several grants, uh, partial funding through the East Metro 3M settlement fund, we're still expecting water rates to increase 158% uh, between 2024 and 2028. So, it's an expensive project for our for our residents and businesses. uh council as I know very much appreciates the impact on on our people uh and is looking at um [51:36] Dan Wietecha: uh how to minimize that by seeking additional funding uh by reducing some of the costs by spreading out the uh the costs that we have to carry uh uh but it it's still uh a sizable burden. Um, one of the sources of funding that we were hoping for, uh, is community project funding or congressionally directed spending, uh, essentially a grant, uh, through, uh, the federal government. Um, we had, uh, been on the short list for a million dollars. Uh, but then in mid-March, a couple of weeks ago, Congress when they adopted their continuing resolution, it included no community project funding across the country. So ours uh was wrapped up in [52:23] Dan Wietecha: that. Uh we are in process of submitting a new application in the next week uh to support the western treatment plants. So we'll come back again every year until until we can't um but seeking that funding. [52:39] Dan Wietecha: Um, another source of funding is uh the drinking water revolving fund uh which is a lowinterest loan uh and uh just on the central plant uh uh assuming we uh go forward with that which is the one of the discussions we had during our workshop that by itself uh being low interest will save about a million dollars in interest payments over the next 20 years. So certainly being cognizant of where we can save some money. Um water rates as I mentioned um we had the workshop earlier this evening uh although obviously no decision at a workshop and water rates would be handled through an ordinance uh at an [53:24] Dan Wietecha: upcoming council meeting uh ex when uh at the first of the year when we did a 10% increase in January we said as we know more about grants as we know more about uh cost estimates about 3M settlement um uh we would likely do another increase at a an amount to be determined July 1. Uh and coming out of our workshop this evening, it looks like that'll be another 10% uh coming up in uh the 1st of July. [53:58] Dan Wietecha: other part that I I know came up uh in in various conversations I've had one-on-one and with community members, it came up with a uh uh a meeting with neighbors of the central plant uh and and at our workshop is just recognizing that the environmental investigations are ongoing and uh those continue. Uh we hope that other wells will find a connection and eligibility for funding through the East Metro 3M settlement. Uh but those take time and uh I do think it's worth noting that they are uh continuing to do that investigation. Um last couple of updates are on the central treatment plant itself. Um we uh earlier this year had [54:44] Dan Wietecha: done a phase 2 environmental assessment and it came back not identifying any impacts requiring further action or additional investigation which was very pleasant and good good news. Welcome news. Uh the construction documents will include a contingency plan uh that if there is some unidentified contamination found during construction uh that the contractor would need to deal with it. [55:13] Dan Wietecha: Uh but it certainly getting the sort of the clean bill of health allows the project to continue. It did not add additional delay and certainly didn't add did not add additional costs. Um, with that out of the way, uh, completing our due diligence, we are scheduled to close on the purchase of the property for that site, uh, next week on April 18th. Um, we have been uh, uh, multiple conversations with the two businesses at this site, Carboni's Pizza and Stacy's Stars. Uh, they have been given a 90-day notice that they need to vacate by June 30th. Um and SRF consulting uh has been assisting them with relocation analysis [56:00] Dan Wietecha: and uh that continues. Uh we had a very good meeting with Stacy's Stars this morning. It looks like they're progressing towards a new site and we are meeting with uh Carboni's tomorrow and I hope that's also would be a positive meeting. Um at present we anticipate final design uh completed and ready to go to bid by May next month. Uh so this project is moving ahead. Uh and construction could begin as early as July. Uh so uh it is moving forward and uh we'll see some regular items on our agenda as we move forward with financing with that lowinterest loan or uh uh sending the the bidding documents out or [56:45] Dan Wietecha: those contracts when they come forward. So it's moving. Um the other piece I want to note is uh last week, two weeks ago on March 25th, we held a public presentation about the central treatment plant as well as the raw water lines running from well 7 to the new plant. Um although it was open to the public and I know we had a few residents from elsewhere in town there, it really was geared towards the neighbors. you what's it going to mean living in a construction area and wanting to be able to answer their questions. Uh it also proved to be a very good opportunity for them to give us some feedback about the project and I know our engineers have uh taken that into account and made some adjustments already. um that uh [57:33] Dan Wietecha: presentation uh not at the moment, but it will soon be posted on the city website uh as well as other updates so that we maintain our commitment to public information and transparency. But with that, I know there was a lot there um and there will continue to be more, but I can certainly take any questions. Thank you. [57:48] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thanks, Dan. Any additional discussion? Council member, thank you, honor. [58:01] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: Thank you, honor. I just wanted to add to that, Dan. What a lot of information, right? We just sat through a workshop on this. And I did want to mention to um the community as well that the central water treatment plant on the North Frontage Road, which is the one Dan is referring to, that could start as early as July, will we will be looking into a filling station of sorts for residents. Just keep that in mind. Yes, it's a ways out. [58:25] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: It would be looking at next fall of next year, but that would allow you to get drinking water that's been treated and has had the PFAS removed prior to all three of the treat treatment plants being opened. At which point then we will um you will have that in your home. [58:45] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: But in the meantime, know that for everyone who's wondering, you know, what are we doing in the meantime, this is the quickest fix we can have and we're looking at something next fall for that. So keep that in mind. So thanks Dan for that great update. [58:59] Dan Wietecha: Thank you. [59:03] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I have a few. We recognize this is National Library Week and next week is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. We thank those institutions for their services to our community. On Friday, April 18th, we will have a ribbon cutting and a volunteer tree planting at Lake Isabel um in honor of Arbor Day. Meetings: [59:31] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Wednesday, April 9th, 6 pm arts and culture commission. Thursday, April 10th, the Hedra meeting has been cancelled. Monday, April 14th, 7 PM, Public Safety Committee, 7:00 p.m. Planning Commission. [59:49] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Tuesday, April 15th, 7:00 p.m. Heritage Preservation Commission. Wednesday, April 16th, 6 p.m. Parks and Recreation Commission. Thursday, April 17th, 6:30 p.m. Public Safety Advisory Commission. [1:00:06] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Monday April 21st, council, we have a workshop for and it's a joint meeting with our uh school board and a 7:00 p.m. council or regular council meeting. With that, I would stand for a motion to adjourn. [1:00:23] Councilmember Dave Pemble: [Motion] [1:00:24] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: [Second] [1:00:25] Mayor Mary Fasbender: No discussion. Clerk Murtaugh, please call the role. [1:00:30] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Beck. [1:00:32] Councilmember Mya Beck: I. [1:00:33] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member House. [1:00:35] Councilmember Angie Haus: Aye. [1:00:36] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lawrence. [1:00:38] Councilmember Tim Lawrence: I. [1:00:39] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Lifeel. [1:00:41] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: I. [1:00:42] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Pemble. [1:00:43] Councilmember Dave Pemble: I. [1:00:44] Kelly Murtaugh: Council member Veroff. [1:00:45] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff: I. [1:00:46] Kelly Murtaugh: Mayor Fasbender. [1:00:47] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I. [1:00:52] Mayor Mary Fasbender: And that prevails and we are adjourned. Thank you.