let's do the Pledge of Allegiance please I'm sure we're professionals all right egg roll please yeah council member Cole here council member schweer here council member Wong here council member nordby here and mayor mangy here thank you so much can I get a motion to adopt the agenda for tonight so moved so moved by council member call Cole second second by council member Wong all in favor say aye aye presentations Ramsey County food scrap pilot program welcome appreciate you coming up Victoria I assume this is where I'm supposed to be okay uh good evening I'm Victoria Reinhardt Ramsey County Commissioner I represent district 7 on the County Board um and that is all of the city of North St Paul all of White Bear Lake and all of the city of Maplewood and I'm really pleased to be here tonight my background is actually in the environmental field specifically in garbage going back to the mid 80s actually when the recycling and energy center was put together in response to State Statute mandating that no unprocessed waste go into landfills by night with by 1990 there would be no more unprocessed waste going in the landfill so we see how that worked not well but the fact of the matter is counties are the only level of government that are actually mandated to deal with garbage across the state and so Ramsey and Washington counties in the early 1980s formed a partnership that is not only still in effect today but much stronger than it was even when it began because at that point it was just about the facility trying to make sure that we could um get the refuse derived fuel out of that facility and so I'm going to skip all the stuff in between here because we decided that we needed to do more in order to achieve the environmental goals because that's what it was about it wasn't just a mandate it was about the environmental goals that we wanted to achieve and that was before people were talking about climate change or at least in any real conversation about it but we wanted to do the right thing and so we formed that this partnership we decided then in 20 well and Michael and Sam can tell you for sure but I think it was 2017. is that right 2016. all right um we had the opportunity to figure out what we could do and we bought the facility after much much consideration the recycling and energy center in Newport and so we've got two counties wide working together and truly working in a partnership with uh nonprofits with the businesses and trying to really make sure that we were getting as much waste out of the landfill out of processing even as we possibly could because we decided at the very beginning of that that we were going to do more than just chop it up and send it to Excel and have them burn it that's not what we wanted to do but that is part of the waste management hierarchy as they call it so we made a we made a commitment at that point to make sure that we could work and I'm not going to get into all of the details of this because I really love this and and what we can do as a positive thing because everybody everybody produces garbage and so everybody can have an impact on what happens with that and the effect on the environment in future generations and that's why I'm so passionate about this area but we said we're going to figure out what else we can do and part of that was what do you do with Organics what do you do with the recyclables that end up in the Wayne stream what can you do that will reduce the carbon footprint and that goes to anaerobic digestion and it goes to turning it into gas and using it for fuel and that's what that that's the journey we're on today and one of those things is in the Organics area and I'm going to let the real professionals on this come up and explain what we're doing but I am so thrilled there are four communities where a portion of the communities are entering into this Organics uh recycling pilot project again this is going to roll out to two counties wide it's the first in the nation to do something like this and then I will let them explain what the process is but it's pulling out the the Organics and we needed to have two communities in Ramsey County and two in Washington County a portion of the cities and North St Paul has stepped up to the plate and we have worked with your staff here to have that happen here so you're part of the very beginning of what I think is a change in the way we deal with our garbage so I will turn it over to Michael Reed and you'll get the full experience of it and we also have other folks here that can and Sam Hall will be talking and we can um then we can answer any questions that you have thank you thank you commissioner Michael Reed with Ramsey County and I'm a division manager there working with Recycling and energy and I'm going to turn it over to one of our professionals here Sam Hansen who is our joint activities manager is going to present on the program the pilot program and we also have Jennifer winmore she's with Ramsey County and she's got a heavy involvement in this program as well it's a collaborative effort between Ramsey Washington staff and also Recycling and energy staff we're very excited about it I'll stop talking and turn it over to Sam Henson I apologize we do have three different Sams on staff and two of them are Sam H so it happens a lot don't worry she can point the finger to somebody that's easier each other's emails so give me a second while this hopefully loads oh well look at that that was easy great so Mr mayor council members thanks for having us today so I'm I'm going to keep things pretty high level but just give a real quick overview of what this new program is and then what to expect as being a pilot community in the program and uh Jennifer here has some of the sample bags so if I'll have her pass it out so you can see the bags that we're talking about and I'll jump into some of the the details um so like what was mentioned we're here today to talk about this new residential recycling program it's been years in the making and we're about to launch a really small scale pilot of the program so I'm just going to talk a little bit about what to expect and we're calling it The Food scraps pickup program because it'll do exactly that it's going to give residents a really convenient way to have their food waste picked up from their home and then have it go to a facility where it gets composted and eventually this will be available for every resident in both counties Ramsey and Washington County and how it'll work this is a very simple diagram of how it'll work there's a lot of things behind the scene but basically residents who sign up they'll get bags delivered to their house they use those bags collect their food scraps when the bag is full they tie those bags those are examples of what we be using tie those bags up put them into their trap their existing trash receptacle so their house dumpster trash bin that's outside the hauler that picks up their trash comes and picks that up it eventually works it way its way all the way down to the RNE facility that's down in Newport Minnesota that commissioner Reinhardt said is has been purchased by the two counties back in 2016. and there we have a whole bunch of new equipment and processes that mechanically finds those bags separates them out and then those bags will get sent to commercial compost facilities where it gets turned into valuable compost so again that sounds very simple and you know four four circles on the screen there's a lot more behind the scenes but we're trying to make it as easy as possible for residents to understand how it works and then be able to participate um and the reason that this program is possible is because of those bags so they may look very similar to the compost bags that you may see at the store they may feel very similar but they've been specifically engineered to be thicker and more durable so that they can withstand that journey in the trash haulers truck from Curbside all the way to the RNA facility um and some of this I already covered but a few reminders so this will be a free program for residents it will be voluntary so it's it's up to Residents if they want to sign up or not and then we're trying to make it as convenient as possible so we'll be sending those bags directly to the to the homes you have the 13 gallon bag that's in front of you there we also have a smaller bag so there are going to be some options based on how families want to collect food food scraps at home um and then we're also providing we're developing a lot of different resources you know print materials website materials FAQs all of that in a variety of different languages including the customer service line just to again try to make it as accessible to anybody so if you have questions call this number visit the website we have printouts and handouts trying to again make sure that it's very clear what to do and what the end goal is for this program and so since as was mentioned this will eventually be available to every resident in the two counties over 800 000 residents before we jump to that we want to start smaller there's this has been years in the making and we have a lot of great talented people that have been planning all those details but we want to test some of those details before we open it up to the entirety of the two counties so we are starting um here in just a couple weeks early April we'll be launching what we're calling a pilot um it'll include up to 2 200 eligible households in the four communities that are listed here and the star on the map represents roughly where those areas are and I'll show where North Saint Paul is in in a minute again trying to to focus in some really targeted areas to test some of the resources that we've developed make sure that we have all of all the bugs worked out and then as we make changes and improve then start to roll it out to more and more residents more communities around the two counties and specifically for North Saint Paul the area in green on this map represents the area where it'll be available so just kind of across the street here between a century and 7th Avenue and the bottom border is Second Avenue if you can read that tiny print so this area has about 455 eligible households and it's a good mix of single-family home multi-unit buildings because we want to test a lot of different factors and make sure again this is available and accessible to anybody regardless of your housing situation and we're going to be rolling it out there starting in a couple weeks and then also doing a lot of Engagement work with the families the individuals that sign up to be a part of the program to understand what's working what's not so that we can then iterate and improve and Advance the program as we launch it to other areas um and how how are we going to do this since it is voluntary uh it's it's going to be available to anybody that's in that area but we don't expect everybody to sign up right away so we're going to be doing some really focused Outreach um including you know mailers some welcome packets we're going to do some very targeted social ads um and then we're working with the recycling coordinator here and with haulers to continue to provide those messages to Residents that are in that specific area and then as we go we'll also be doing a lot of Engagement education so focus groups information sessions again trying to help inform how the program works but then also get input from those that are participating so that we can find ways to to make improvements and this will all happen starting in just a couple weeks but want to show kind of the timeline for this pilot so beginning in a couple weeks really start that Outreach and engagement work with residents recruit people that want to sign up and participate in the pilot that Outreach will continue for the next few months through June at least but then starting in June and kind of through summer we'll be starting that engagement we're collecting input Gathering feedback from those that are participating and then starting late summer so around August and into September start to make some of those changes improvements all with the goal that by end of September early October we'll start to be able to expand to other communities starting with the pilot community so expanding out to more of North Saint Paul and then adding additional communities beyond that and then from there we're planning a and this says all dates are approximate and subject to change because we don't know what we don't know this is hopefully this timeline follows just as planned and then if it does we'll continue to kind of do that same process launch in more communities including more areas here in North St Paul learn more keep tweaking and eventually over the course of the next two to three years hopefully we'll have it available to every resident in the two counties but want to walk a little bit before we run of course so that was very high level very quick but I wanted to kind of share what to expect and if you have any questions we're happy to answer any questions I think the only one that's going to be in that is going to be you Norby yeah I I'm excited I I'm in in the pilot area so I look forward to this to me this is a wonderful opportunity for all of our residents I can't wait till it expands and I look forward to being part of your guinea pigs our ambassador absolutely to First Avenue East and then I can participate I know it's not about me but let's make it I think this is great thank you so much for showing up and bringing this to our attention and I think this is really exciting for the community I'm really excited about it um so thank you of course yeah thank you for your presentation and thank you commissioner Reinhardt for being here as well um one question I do have is kind of what are this what is the scope of Organics sometimes when you do your home Organics it's very different than a institutionalized way of managing it so does that include bones and all those other things thank you yeah Mr Mayor commissioner yes so if you're familiar maybe the easiest way to think about it is if you're familiar with the drop-off sites that exists around Ramsey County anything that's accepted there should be acceptable in this program too we'll be sending these food scrap bags to commercial compost facilities so anything that is plant or animal based of Bones meat products dairy any food vegetable scraps trimmings cuttings like that and we're calling it The Food scrap pickup program specifically because this is a New Concept for a lot of people so trying to focus on the food items but other other certified compostable items like your paper towel or things like that will also be acceptable and we'll have a full list of what's acceptable and what's not and all of the the materials as we roll out to communities you said the food scraps are going to be sent to commercial um composters are do you have it worked out where you're going to be able to um the the Ramsey County and possibly Washington County um sites where the residents can go compost was to supply those areas yeah Mr Mayor commissioner that or council member that's a great question we've we've been over the last few years we've been working on some uh kind of compost Market development strategies to raise awareness on the value of that finished compost and we intend to continue doing that especially as we're starting to send more of that material to those facilities trying to bring it back and show how it can be useful in Community Gardens backyard gardens so we've been doing some distribution over the last few years especially to community gardeners and I think that there's a ton of opportunity to expand beyond that as well is there a minimum number of households you're trying to recruit I said saw 455 but is there a goal yeah Mr mayor council member uh the goal overall for the pilot is up to that 2200 total so that'll be across the four pilot areas um if we can hit that that would be great we'll see you know as we start to communicate and do some of that Outreach what kind of uh interests we see but I think if 455 households in North St Paul are excited and sign up right away then we'll take them a tour of the rneu center absolutely yeah um Mr mayor council member we we are excited to have more and more tours and we would welcome any we welcome the council we'd welcome residents now on the r e website there's actually a a page for tours and you can request even if you're just an individual resident and not a part of a group if you want to come see the the facility you can fill out a really simple form and we'll follow up and find a date to have you come out and check out all of the the interesting equipment we have this is this is fantastic thank you very much for sharing it's been made to be very simple and I think simple work so um question is the defined area within North Saint Paul is that defined because that's a specific route of a truck for collection so you can't the enthusiasm is here I mean you can hear it so I don't live in that in that grid so I can have the spiffy bag and I've put it in my waist it's not going to get to the right okay correct yeah Mr mayor council member so there's a lot of factors that went into selecting these pilot communities but one of them is based in the hall or that services that area and then where they take the waste so that Community is serviced by a hauler or haulers that will take the waste directly to the RNA Center in Newport as opposed to going to like a transfer station so all four of the communities have that same feature because starting that way is a lot easier to coordinate and test some of these features once things go to the transfer station it gets a little bit more complicated so that the transportation transfer station piece will be in a future phase after we test some of these strategies so okay thank you thank you great from the team appreciate it thank you sure thank you Sam Hansen I just wanted to say that the tours are pretty cool so if you want to we can certainly arrange if you want to do it as a city council and invite other folks to it the robotics that are pulling out not only we have an organic slime that will be utilized for this purpose but also we have a robotics line to pick out the recyclables that I'm sure everybody wanted to recycle on their own but didn't and so we're really moving things forward in a very positive way but if you want a tour just let me know I'd be happy to go with thank you thank you thank you for your time send agendas anybody wanna talk about anything specific okay we don't read it off right certainly can thank you mayor so on the consent item a March 7th 2023 Workshop minutes Item B March 7 2023 regular meeting minutes item C General claims of one million 186 692.68 [Music] item D HRA claims of 20 834.86 at me Ramsey County library and North Saint Paul use a fiber capacity agreement item F North St Paul police department jpa and Court service Amendment renewal item G special event North Saint Paul Friday night cruise June 2nd through September 15 2023 itemates charitable gambling permit North Metro Flex Academy located at 2350 Helen Street North May 12 2023 I did my resolution accepting donations for February of 2023 item J building permit report February 2023 item K resolution authorizing submission of an application to the outdoor recreation grant program for housing Park improvements item lmces III grant program agreement resolution and item M 2022 delegate contract process agreement with the state of Minnesota thank you so anybody [Music] motion to approve the consent agenda it's a second second two years almost in favor all right hi John all right mayor council uh John Schmall 2750 Chisholm Avenue North St Paul the subject is inspections Thursday prior to the last Thursday knock on the door um person says I'm here to inspect your furnace and I had a furnace put in in December of 21 15 months ago and the individual standing in front of me first of all if you asked any uh the residents of North St Paul whether you know the inspections were done by a contractor or the city or who was the contractor if in fact there was a contractor I'd say 99 percent of the people would say huh anyway I can't I wouldn't say that because I've been at these meetings listening all the time and I'm looking for something that says minspec on this individual he's standing in front of me he has the required thing around the neck with a hook on it and the card that says safe s-a-f-e so I said to him safe what's that and he said oh oh we bought Min spec so I don't know how you're too uh tell individuals residents who will be inspecting but it would be nice if there was a source and that the source be something that has the actual company and I I said safe are you did you we bought out Min spec oh okay mint Spec's gone oh no they still exist so you know what's going on hard to understand I said uh come on in so uh and in talking to him as we went through this I said you never find anything wrong and he says oh that's not true told a story of a situation of a home that had a new furnace put in the home was sold uh very close to the installation and uh the uh when they got to the point of inspecting it the inspection had uh the uh found a real major problem and I said well the homeowners probably didn't have an inspection prior to purchasing it and he said no wrong they did have an inspection prior to purchasing it and it was a situation where in your new furnace you have the pipe that comes out and it's supposed to come out this way so it exhausts to the air well the one they put in was like this he said and it was going up which meant that the condensation didn't go out and it was going back into the furnace so um just a story that these inspections are important and to be done quickly maybe and again when you're looking at someone who says I want to come in your house and inspect something there should be I should have some knowledge that knows who that person is going to be thank you Dennis welcome thank you mayor city council um everybody's new except I guess Brian I've known for many years here I did have somebody I knew very well Victoria Reinhard behind me she knows what I'm all about and that a question I'd have to ask the council have you have somebody been into my building or some of your children or grandkids okay so you have an idea what what goes on there um I think I still have tokens at the house yeah well people do it's it's funny because you go through them and I have to replenish them a lot because it's funny that people would not bring it back you know can I pass someone teach is that okay thanks Dennis thank you much thank you it's in front of a mic this is just something I had put together it was kind of a last minute thing but it's something I've never I've never really talked about her or flaunted or anything wanted but I think it's important for you people to know where this started in 1993. I was an executive in transportation for many years so this was not what I did for a living this was something I thought of you know maybe to do in later years and in retirement and it's been a godsend for me and I think it's been for this community and the surrounding ones and I'll give you a little history in 83 and when we did this I went to the city with the idea as you can see I gifted this building and the reason was I knew financially because I had a background on that that you feasibly could make this thing work at the prices that you charge right now in the Twin City era and I'm talking from Chanhassen over to all of Western Wisconsin there's one batting cage and that's triple Chrome batting cages and I should say there is one in Saint Paul in the middle but it's not not really a you know big time batting kids so we are women ranked number one for all 30 years we even were ranked uh Chicago Tribune ranked as the Upper Midwest Regional One years back which shocked me put the building they gifted you can see the concession building I put the money to build that too back then um the sound system for the high school Legion team we we put a lot of time and effort there with people volunteer and they didn't have a sound system at the time and I said you can't you can't have a fuel without a sound system and we took care of that I worked with Steve role back then to get the t-ball shirts for all the kids every year as long as they were in existence the food shelf and you'll see pictures on the back of what we've donated to the phone shelf over the years seventeen thousand five hundred pounds we hope to hit the 18 000 pound mark this year the last picture you'll see is and I'm sorry it's everything it's kind of green it was my printer but those are just thank you letters that I get from churches organizations Charities families that are suffering um I can say in this in 30 years I've never turned on one request and I never would to this day so I try to put a lot back into the community because that's what's that's what it's about you know I found out about the toy shelf uh normal worm has been a friend of mine I got down there to see that thing is beautiful and next day I sent her a check and said do what you need with this gift cards I've been big on that over the holidays do that anonymously one I always do is at Veterans Home that we built across from the Veterans Park you know for the I think it's for the veterans who don't have a place to go I was pulling in the mailbox and just say from one military family to another because I have a history of United States Rangers Derby Rangers my son-in-law is a special ops Ranger right now he's been in 20 years so he's done some wonderful things but going back with this you know this has been a godsend I think right now I asked people where where they come from when they come in if they're new especially I've had people tell me they come from Mount orchanism Maple Grove I get Western Wisconsin a lot now Hudson New Richmond I see all the Prescott they're coming over real clear I've had a family come down from Duluth one day on a Saturday it's been about five hours here and had to go somewhere for lunch and I always tell the people the same thing head for Max or you got a pizza place ain't going to but I think Max is a been a real plus thing for this community that we've had that so I've been able to push some business here over the years you know the people and the kids that I've seen especially well I'll say about this the kids that come in that door in the families I hear yes sir no sir thank you please they're the nicest young people and it's what America should be about and I think you know what I'm talking about because it's it's all different but it comes from the parents that bring them in they're all these kids are involved in sports they have you know peers that they hang with and they're just it's fun to be around her I spent a lot of time there and visit with the families and that and uh I've seen kids go on with scholarships you know and I've taught some of them but I've get something to come back one is a a nuclear physics out of the U of M she was a valedictorian in her class I've had doctors dentists um lawyers you name it it's it's been just a treat to see these people come back and what do they say to you at my ages yeah I'm bringing my kid or now and one guy had said and my grandkids are here now too when I so it's it's really a nice thing to see you know we have this um lease coming up here and back when we did this on the first city council when I was there Bill Sandberg was mayor some of the names are on there Leon Lilly um Betty McCollum a congresswoman and in Washington Chuck wieger was involved somewhat Victoria reinert is has worked with me over the years these are the people that help me jump sir they told them the day I opened them doors I said I'll promise you one thing to sit in North Saint Paul will never pay one penny on this building and to this day they never have all repairs are done by me last year I put in twenty thousand dollars to upgrade the uh the ramp for the handicap you know a lot of stones uh the uh guardrails and that so which you know it's part of business so Brian mentioned new roof was put on this here and due to hail damage so that's brand new so we've got you know good things going that's where that money goes you know you keep putting that back in in the community as much as they can so what I'm asking is for us to continue on we've done this 15 10-5 and I would ask that if we can keep this going I'd like to go for another five I don't know where I'll be in five years we'll talk about it as we go but I would hope down the road the business you know belongs to me that I would find somebody maybe who would take this who is a local and continue this tradition because it affects so many people it's it's really touches me to see what we've done and every week I get people that shake my hand I get people that hugged me thank me that were there because they would have nowhere to go there's training centers they can go to but they're so expensive that you can't afford to do especially if you got more than one kid it's it's tough so we try to you know take care of that over the years it's excessive you want to talk to sports all these communities around her from mahtomeda Stillwater to Woodbury to turn North St Paul themselves have all seen teams go to the state tournaments Still Waters won one Woodbury North Saint Paul won a couple of girls a couple of girls the pitched for them were the violin girls Denise and Sue it's just funny that their nephews right now are pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Minnesota Twins and they grew up in my cages and I'm so pleased to say that I have pictures of both of them autographs jerseys they're wonderful kids so and I have a lot of people come through my door Jack Moore spent two days with me doing a promo and uh the equivalent boys from Mill Murray Tommy and Rob 20 years in the majors between them so I've seen a lot of people over here Jerry Bell you know Tom Kelly you know they've been they've been into semen or quality people so and uh it's just been it's been a wonderful thing that small area that we take up outside that old field fence it's not a very big area but the impact it has for the Twin City area is huge I would hope we would consider to keep this thing moving on that's what I'm asking for so I'm here to you know make sure it happens so you can believe that and you can trust that so it's always been there is there anything I can answer for you I certainly will [Music] how's it been for the with the fields not having as much with the North St Paul kids not having the program anymore has it been affecting your business as far as the people come number of people coming in you know what's sad because right now it's it's pay for play the city of Saint Paul had the bill Peterson who was a personal friend of mine Frank White Bill Peterson if you know William coach created for years he's an institution Paul Molitor Dave Winfield are his people his field over there is beautiful that program has done this year they don't have kids to play and part of it is the costs are just they can't do it you know as far as the fields where we're at once they're outside you know things slow down for me then but there's always places where they have to come in and use the cage of Soul not not too much you know with the baseball fields there and uh it's funny a lot of baseball players don't come in before because they they take bad practices teams but it feels definitely are a plus I'm the only one to ever put one out of ballpark before so people before they play will come in and take a few swings you know and I get to know them one of the big big leaves and big a lot of people that came in and this is kind of interesting it plays up at Goodrich and it's the silver league they call themselves they're recovering alcoholics and addicts they come in and they're the most wonderful people and to see him be involved in this is is really a really a godsend so it's fun to see that and the kids in the area that are playing ball they go to other places they go to turn they go you know they can go to other ones I think Maple had absorbed a lot of them and uh you know we do what we can to encourage kids and so we see that a lot of programs are strong but a lot of them have dipped over the years but a lot of that's cost just plain costs staff that work with you during the summer how do you get your yeah I do you know the kids at work I put in a lot of the hours the kids who work for me are high school kids they can be ball players and everyone knows it's the only job in the world where you can tell your boss when you feel like working you know I work around their schedules they don't work around mine if they've got you know I got Eagle Scout and one kid you know the other one's play ball are the ones that are swimming track whatever we work with them and that and they don't work more than five hours a week maybe 10 during the summer right now hardly at any you know I got one kid working tonight so uh he hadn't worked for two months but and they're good kids I always I always find good people there so and they're usually the kids that walk through the door and you know right away that they're good so okay guys well I hope we hope something can be resolved we can continue this because it's coming up I'm glad we got a chance to talk about it and we're looking at the whole missionary field you know the complex just to see where everything is and my boys played up there sure hitting the ball so we appreciate your dedication to the yeah well I and I appreciate the time you spend her and I'll say this just to finish Triple Crown just is not only North Saint Paul it's a destination for motorcycle let's put North St Paul out there because people would even say where you at and when I tell them they're like oh North Saint Paul and now people know it and part of it is it's Triple Crown man that's where they go if you know the Banning caves they'll point to that corner so that's good I appreciate this okay how you laid it out thank you okay thank you do that thanks guys all right I'll close the meeting of the public now the next is uh gonna have so you're gonna we're gonna do the proof referendum do we can just speak first are you going to read it first I'll read it first okay thank you mayor so the item that we have on the system City business action items tonight is uh a memorandum of understanding between the city of North St Paul and the Historical Society um so the historical study Works to promote an awareness of North St Paul's history of residents and visitors through education interpretation presentations and preservation uh Historical Society is responsible for operating maintaining a museum devoted to collecting preserving and exhibiting historical artifacts for the city of North St Paul they're located at 266 7th Avenue East here in North St Paul the city is authorized by state statute including Minnesota state statutes 471.93 and 138.053 to appropriate public funds two are on behalf of the Historical Society to collect preserve and exhibit data and material pertaining to the history of the city and for General promotion of historical society's work so what we are looking for the purpose of the mou is to establish a mutual understanding of the nature of the extent of financial support the city has traditionally and will continue to provide to the Historical Society subject to annual budgetary review and possible modification by the city council either party May terminate this relationship and memorandum of understanding at any time with or without cause upon written notification to the other party obligations of this historical society as consideration for the funding provided here in the Historical Society will continue to operate and maintain its Museum providing programs and educational materials relevant to North St Paul history funding and support from the city as consideration for the satisfactory performance of the historical society's Mission and obligations the city is looking to provide three thousand dollars per year for the Historical Society for support of its operations and activities City will pay electric water and sewer utility bills for the museum with periodic mowing at the Museum in the summertime they do flag replacement Public Works does as needed at the Museum and maintain and repair the sprinkler system down there as well these added up together probably come to somewhere to eight maybe nine thousand dollars a year is what the cost is um but so this is a member of event memorandum of understanding to be executed through your guys's support um one thing I'd add is this is the we the city has been providing many of these Services um already and so one of the things that uh Brian's been working on that um as the lawyer I appreciate is kind of cleaning up some things making sure that the things we're doing when we show support and that we're authorized to do we're memorializing these things and it's more of a conscious effort if you will so when we're asked what are we doing what are we providing how much does that actually cost the city some of these specifics are actually being memorialized in these memorandum of understanding so it so that it's clear that one yes we can do this and two here's how much it's costing us and yes it was purposeful so this is something that's been going on I don't necessarily call this cleanup but in some respects it is to make sure that it's put in front of you conscious decision with uh just a lot more clarity in terms of our relationship with them so that is kind of part of the intent tonight thank you appreciate that because you know it's a great relationship and it should be out there so we all understand so everybody realizes what it is and the historical society is near and dear to my heart just because of North St Paul's Rich history and everything that provides with the wealth of knowledge with Sue springborn and and Paul Anderson and just the hard work that the whole team does and I'm glad we were able to support them and be able to continue on with our Rich history any questions or we want to bring that to a motion no I I fully support everything here and Brian thank you for rereading it because when I read it the first time I didn't see the Clause that it can be terminated by either party at any given time as we've sat through the last hour and a half or so we have a lot of non-ending programs so that was the only boundary that I wanted to make a recommendation that we add to it but it's already in there and I'm glad I listened to you when you're at it so so I'm good to go um just a point point of clarity because I don't know does the Historical Society go to Henry or is that a little park there in that triangle that the um the military weapons on Paul Anderson says that we own that that the Historical Society owns that site when I became president a few years ago oh by the way I should say I'm so springboard 25 70 through 13th Avenue North Saint Paul um um uh when I became president I was not knowing anything about anything and the leaders that we had had except for Paul Anderson passed away and so I'm going through these drawers one day and I had noticed that the flags were getting really ratty looking and I thought what the heck here who does this well then you find all kinds of agreements from 30 years ago but nothing recent so that Park was that actually was Memorial Veterans Memorial and there is a plaque there that said it is says it is the Veterans Memorial and I have found paperwork that the Historical Society the legion and the VFW cooperated to put that up but if you talk to the other two entities they don't know anything about it so I have no idea we're maintaining that and well the city cuts the grass and we have had members that went out and do things with the weeds and now the city for sure is doing the flags but it's kind of an up in the air kind of thing I that's one of right now we have a person um uh Elaine eckstead and her mother was Priscilla Olson who was one of the founding members of the historical society and she's determined to get all this stuff organized and she's doing a great job so I'm hoping that we'll find something I believe that property belongs to the Historical Society but does that mean the Canon belongs to us I don't know those things are up in the air did I answer your question that we don't know absolutely um one of the reasons why I was wondering is um I was if it was a cities or yours I was wondering if part of this memorandum of understanding along with all the other perks that we do if we would want to put a trash container at that particular park because there isn't one um that we would maintain wonderful because right now I'm in the cleaner upper and there's a fair amount of it in the summer yeah that's not a problem and do you guys have trash cans outside of the door no you don't we don't and so sometimes they take away from you know the beauty of of the park aesthetically yeah so we can work together what makes more sense for you or we're a good placement for it that would be nice that would be nice because people do sit there and yeah yeah and I will tell you that um uh the history Cruisers donated two thousand dollars to us for our new sign we're going to have a new sign it's going to look what may not even notice because it's going to look just like it does now except it's going to be nice and new so do you have any questions for me about I have a question thank you for for being here and um I was just wondering how many people are you getting through the door every year well I wish I had counted because it's it's one day one weekend you'll get 15 then the next two weeks you we get nobody but then you have the holiday hop which this year we only had 55 for some reason last year we had way over 100. so it varies and the um we do have people that keep the museum open during the car show and that's kind of funny because one night again they'll get 10 and then they'll get nobody so it's and we just had a meeting at the Historical Society with a group called The Ramsey County Historical Network and it's uh it's nothing formal or legal there's no minutes there's nothing like that it's people from Minnesota Historical Society Ramsey County Historical Society White Bear ashoreview New Brighton North St Paul just there was 21 people there and we just sit around and talk about our problems or our wonderful things that have happened and and what we're doing and it's so interesting because everybody's in a different place some people get a lot of support from their city but a good share of them get in-kind sport which is almost better in in some ways than the money because there's kind of no end on it so um it's it's variable but um I'm going to tell you now that I'm standing here that on the 28th we're going to put on kind of a fun program um two years ago the Lilly family called us and asked us if we wanted these old bound newspapers North St Paul review and Paul or Joe stallman and I went over and we're not going to take them we don't have room we're not going to take them and we looked at him we thought we've got to have them so we took them well then a few months ago I got a phone call from Terry Furlong and the owner of the Lily building the new owner had contacted him there was a whole room in that basement probably this whole size full of shelves full of bound volumes from they weren't all real old but from every municipality around that that the Lilly newspaper published so the last two months I've been going in that building periodically with different people and we pretty much got it cleaned out but it's been very interesting so on the 28th Paul Anderson is going to do a little presentation about the newspapers and nursing Paul The Sentinel The Courier and the Ramsey County review and then we are going to have artifacts and a lot of it truly would be called artifacts and bound newspapers sitting on tables and people can just look at everything it's really great fun and we do have people that come in just to look at because we've got the newspapers from the 1800s and you can go to the Minnesota Historical Society most of those are on microfiche but it's kind of fun to actually touch the newspapers even though they're crumbling it is very interesting so um the 28th at seven o'clock and cookies and coffee will be served well so any questions thank you thank you so much and you're in your group for everything you do thank you greatly appreciate it thanks a lot and move for a motion I move all right council member Wong second second continent council members where's all those in favor say aye aye Francis all right next you you again hey come here reports from city manager and departments so uh we had a staff meeting today uh the fire department's doing some Code Compliance cleanup which is really good and taking care of some issues that have been around for a while um they're also going to be doing live burn training at the training center here shortly as well as doing some ice rescue out on um Silver Lakes so it was kind of neat last year I think they got a couple of airboats out there from or one anyway from Ramsey County it was out there participated in the training electric Department's been uh doing ongoing maintenance throughout the winter as well as tree trimming unfortunately we've been having some issues lately there's been a lot of warrior theft probably over twenty thousand dollars worth of it um we're I think we're narrowing in on who might be responsible for that so more to come it's really unfortunate um Finance has got through their audit uh they did a great job as always um and they have their new accountant that will be starting on April 10th looking forward to her coming she's got a lot of good experience behind her um Public Works has been a little busy with snow um but they've also been doing interviews or they will be doing some interviews they had 22 applications and they will be interviewing six people for that position so good luck to them they've had to date four water main breaks normally they have about eight this time of year so which is good because they've been kind of busy with snow and also they will be doing some sewer cleaning which will be the Avenues uh in the area South of Highway 36 we have a contractor coming in to start that we'll have more information on the website of course about that as well um PD they've been they're hiring an officer they're in the process of interviews and zeroing in on who they like so it looks like they have a couple good candidates which is great Community Development Brandy's been a great asset to the city in the short time she's been here there she's working on grants they're doing a lot of cleanups and finalization of older projects that I've been hanging around and of course processing permits as well and that is the extent of my report thank you very much all right reports from the council commissions and committees council member Norby do you have anything no the Planning Commission will be um in about a week and week and a half I'm looking forward to that one um and also I'd like to say the city workers have been working around my property and I'd like just to extend um my heartfelt thanks about how wonderful they do and how professional they are um I I think all the residents are here are really blessed with um how good of people we have working for us so thank you very much council member [Music] the arts and culture committee met on the 8th and they're working really hard they have several subgroups and so I believe they'll be launching their first project here before probably July June July so I'm really looking forward to it and um wondering what y'all think but um yes very very productive group and that's all I have we have a meeting tomorrow and I don't have any updates until the next time we all meet all right so there you go we have a great meeting tomorrow and again kudos to all of our Public Works is this the snow clearly we are not ending winter in Minnesota yet so I have nothing at this time do we talk about the Eda the last time or was it okay but if there's any topics for media you'd like to oh I can remember we discussed it there was no there wasn't a whole lot of memorable I mean other than reviewing old of of information I remember we talked about something so I have nothing that way up General business General business on how about you councilmember Norby councilman hold on yeah um I meant to say this in the last um update but uh the Arts and the painting night is happening on um this Monday I think out Thursday thank you okay um so that's been dropped down to ten dollars too we just really want people to come in and enjoy themselves and you just really they'll be guided by um Lisa Richie and so we're really looking forward to having a lot of fun and it'll be at Casey lake so cool nothing more at the time thank you myself I was able to go with uh to do a do a tour of the park with uh so um I always want to say Phil but Public Works Ryan Ron thank you Ron and I who had a good uh a good view of that facility and we looked around it was able to understand a little bit better so I appreciate that also I met with our uh Brian and I met with our Christine our Superintendent at the schools last Friday so we had a good meeting in a couple hours I think by time we're done so we're looking at uh understanding the as far as the the police involvement with with North and all the in the schools and where we're at is looking at that and with the field so we're kind of that was part of this whole comprehensive view of the of the McKnight complex and the schools as far as looking at the the safety and understanding where they're at with the police we have one full-time up at the north right now just to understand the school needs and the community needs for the children as well and the students we have there and she also mentioned the audition is going to be done in the end of summer so next year at um they're going to be in the one building you're not going to have to go back to the building that they're in for administrative so they'll all be in one building all the time so that's going to help she said as well being able to have everybody in the one building so that's all I have so I've called for a German if there's nothing else I did it this time I didn't adjourn without asking didn't they so don't leave me hanging so moved thank you second council member series all those in favor say hi hi thank you everyone of course thank you