This transcript covers a Hastings City Council meeting, likely from August 2023, featuring the swearing-in of Councilmember Tim Lawrence and discussions on City Hall repairs, marijuana policies, and downtown parking. [0:00] **[Silence/Background Noise]** [0:22] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Welcome, and tonight we will be welcoming our new city council member Tim Lawrence. Kelly will be doing your swearing-in, Tim, so if you'd like to meet her at the podium. [0:56] **Assistant City Administrator Kelly Murtaugh:** I, state your name. [0:58] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** I, Tim Lawrence, do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. [1:05] **Assistant City Administrator Kelly Murtaugh:** Do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America, the constitution of the state of Minnesota, and the ordinances of the city of Hastings. [1:15] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** The constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Hastings. [1:22] **Assistant City Administrator Kelly Murtaugh:** And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Ward 4 council member for the city of Hastings. [1:28] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Ward 4 council member for the city of Hastings. [1:34] **Assistant City Administrator Kelly Murtaugh:** Counties of Dakota and Washington. [1:37] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** Counties of Dakota and Washington. [1:39] **Assistant City Administrator Kelly Murtaugh:** And state of Minnesota, according to the best of my ability and understanding. [1:42] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** And state of Minnesota, according to the best of my ability and understanding. Thank you. [1:50] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you. For a photo? Photo. [2:14] **[Music / Laughter / Photo Session]** [3:48] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Well, I can say it officially: welcome, Councilmember Tim Lawrence. All right, let the roll reflect that all of the council members are here and a quorum has been established. Tonight we have—oh no, sorry, I'm going to scratch that—we were going to have an update from Met Council, but she changed it to the next council meeting on the 21st. So, council members, are there any corrections to the minutes of the regular meeting on July 17th and the special meetings on July 24th and 25th? Okay. Comments from the audience? At this time we will listen to live comments. They may either be in person or on Zoom. At the time of our request to invite you up, please state your name and address. Is there anyone on Zoom? No one on Zoom. Anyone in the audience wish to speak to the council at this time? Okay. Council members, any items to be considered? Okay, Council, I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. [5:17] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** So moved. [5:19] **Councilmember Angie Haus:** Second. [5:21] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Councilmember Pemble, second by Haus. Any discussion, Council? All those in favor, state by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed to that motion, state by saying nay. And that is prevailed. The wording of contracts and public hearings: tonight we have three items. One is a resolution for award contract for City Hall Annex roof, two is a resolution to award contract for City Hall Masonry, and three is a resolution to award contract for City Hall plaster repair and vapor barrier. Since these three contracts are all part of the City Hall project, we will have an introduction by Community Development Director John Hinzman, then we will consider approval of them individually or together. Welcome, John. [5:58] **Community Development Director John Hinzman:** Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. As the Mayor pointed out, we've been a little bit busy here at City Hall with different renovations that are necessary. A lot of thanks to the work that City Planner Justin Fortney has done in preparing all the information for tonight, working with the contractors, and also helping in securing the $2 million in bonding from state general obligation bonds to help pay for some of these projects. So we're happy to bring forward three of these items tonight that pertain to City Hall. The first of them deals with the annex roof replacement. This is for the flat section of the City Hall area, not the dome portion of it. There's an EPDM roof that needs to be replaced. We went out for bids; we only had one bid that came in, however, this is a well-respected organization. That bid came back within our budget estimate. We estimated about $195k to $262k; the bid from Central Roofing was $199,950, so on the lower end, which is great. We are recommending the approval of that contract. The next one deals with the Dome masonry repair. This is interior work within the dome area—plaster work. We had two bids, both very close: one for $57.5k, one for $58.8k. We are recommending Restoration and Construction Services as the low bid. The last contract is for the exterior work over the annex area and a vapor barrier within the crawl space. We got two bids for that, one much smaller than the other—one at $84,750, the other being $324,000. We are obviously looking at that $84k and recommending Norris Valley Construction. Incidentally, Norris Valley did some work for us a couple of years ago at the LeDuc Mansion. Those are three separate actions; you may take those individually or together. I can stand for any questions. [9:35] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Your Honor? John, who is overseeing the contractors? Are we acting as the general contractor, or do we have an engineering firm monitoring all these pieces? [9:49] **John Hinzman:** Good question. We have employed Miller Dunwiddie Architecture as our lead on this one. They put together the contract documents and are providing oversight of the crews. [10:04] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Great. And how many other pieces are coming forward? I know there was more to it. [10:11] **John Hinzman:** There are a few other portions regarding the outside dome, which has been trickier. Those will be coming forward in the future. [10:19] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Do you have cost estimates for everything now? I know we’ve been holding aside funds. Do you have a sense of what the construction costs will be for the project as a whole? [10:33] **John Hinzman:** Councilmember, we're getting a better idea every day. As we come forward with the last pieces, we will be in better shape. [10:51] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** When can we anticipate you knowing? I know the big cost is probably going to be the roof on the dome. [11:00] **John Hinzman:** I don’t have a good figure on that yet. We're working on getting it as soon as we can. I hope sometime in the next few months. [11:15] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Okay, thank you, John. Job well done. [11:20] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Any other discussion, Council? Then I would accept a motion to approve the resolutions for the City Hall Annex roof, the City Hall Masonry project, and the City Hall plaster repair and vapor barrier. [11:42] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** So moved. [11:44] **Councilmember Angie Haus:** Second. [11:46] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Councilmember Vihrachoff, second by Haus. Any discussion? All those in favor, state by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed, nay. That motion prevails. Thank you. Tonight, under Parks and Recreation, we have marijuana usage in parks and public spaces. For this item, Dan Wietecha, City Administrator, will give us an update. [12:20] **City Administrator Dan Wietecha:** Thank you, Mayor. As we are seeing this topic come through the legislature, there was a lot of focus on zoning and licensing. What was a little bit unexpected was how some of the provisions might play out for individual use. The law is only allowed in certain places—basically your residence—and specifically outlawed in indoor places where the Clean Air Act is in place. But it’s silent on being "out and about" in public, like walking down a trail. Because of that silence, those areas are not technically legal, but the state took out the penalties for someone illegally using it in public. They have left it to individual municipalities to shore that up with an ordinance if we want enforcement provisions. I recommend we refer that to the Park and Rec Commission. We currently have a 2007 tobacco-free policy for parks—it's a policy, not an ordinance. As the commission considers updating that, they should decide if they want to include marijuana, whether it includes trails/sidewalks, and if it includes edibles. They meet next week, so it could be back on your agenda in two weeks. [16:11] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you, Honor. Dan, thanks for bringing us up to date. Do you think this should go to Parks, or should it go to Public Safety to discuss community usage around other areas, not just parks? [16:34] **Dan Wietecha:** Council certainly could choose that. My thoughts on Parks were twofold: Public Safety doesn't meet for another month, and Parks is already looking at other park-related ordinances, so it’s convenient to package this in. They are looking at formalizing the tobacco policy and addressing alcohol use consistency. [17:54] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you, Dan. [18:04] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** Thank you, Your Honor. Back in the day, I was in high school and I helped bring forth the tobacco-free parks policy. It was my first foray into policy, and I'm really proud of it. I would make a motion to refer this to the Parks Commission, and I would recommend them making it unified with the tobacco-free parks policy—not anything more or less severe. I think it’s important to keep those simultaneous. I absolutely support tobacco-free parks; it's important to have a place that’s healthy and safe for people to play. [19:28] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** I second that, Your Honor. [19:35] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Motion and a second. Discussion? [19:42] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** I have to concur with what Councilmember Fox just said about keeping it to the smoking of marijuana as being consistent with tobacco. Something I realized during the pandemic was that at the Rotary Pavilion, you can actually have alcoholic beverages while enjoying a show. Now there are new beverages with THC in them rather than alcohol. I don’t think we want to start policing what people have in a beverage can. I think the commission should take into consideration where we allow alcohol so we aren't putting ourselves in a position where we're bumping up against issues we hadn't thought about. [21:40] **Councilmember Angie Haus:** Thank you, Your Honor. I also would like to echo what Councilmember Vihrachoff and Councilmember Fox said. I’ve been written by quite a few members who use medical marijuana who have concerns about making it smoke-free specifically, so they can still take their medicine legally while in public. I agree with keeping it confined to "smoke-free" for everyone in those parks. [22:36] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** All those in favor, state by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed, nay. That motion prevails and will go to the Parks and Rec Commission. All right, under Community Development, we have a resolution for a special use permit at the neighborhood commercial property at 315 Pine Street. John? [22:54] **John Hinzman:** Thank you, Mayor. This special use permit requires six of seven council members to pass. We’re looking at 315 Pine Street, the old Thorwood Mansion. As you know, this was subject to fire damage about five years ago and has been under construction for a long time. The current owner, Pavel Zakharov, has done more work in the last two years than anyone else. He is proposing to use the first floor for neighborhood commercial use—specifically a social gathering event space for 20 to 25 people. The remaining portions would be residential. The Planning Commission reviewed this, and the primary concern from neighbors was parking. Under our code, 13 spaces are required; he is proposing 14 plus garage space. We are comfortable recommending approval. Mr. Zakharov is present tonight if you have questions. [25:52] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you. Regarding this change, does it affect his ability to go forward with construction? Everyone is worried about the time frame—it’s been five years and it’s an eyesore. What is the city doing to make sure we're staying on top of this? [26:45] **John Hinzman:** He’s had structural engineering plans completed and has been doing demolition. He has HPC approval for the architectural plans. His intent, and Pavel can correct me, is to get the project to a point where it is covered for the winter so it doesn’t suffer more damage. Correct? [27:31] **Pavel Zakharov (from audience):** Correct. [27:34] **John Hinzman:** We did have a public hearing; the people who showed up were primarily concerned with parking. [28:03] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Your Honor, based on that, I would make a motion to approve as recommended. [28:13] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** I’ll second the motion, Your Honor, with a comment that I have heard from constituents that we are concerned about parking. Fourth Street is already so busy. We need to be aware of how that's affecting the residential area. [28:50] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed, nay. Motion prevails. Thank you, John. Now we have a presentation by Maddie Swanson on our Downtown parking. [29:15] **John Hinzman:** I’ll introduce Maddie Swanson, our Community Development intern. She’s a student at Hamline University. One of the things we charged her with is a Downtown parking study to get a marker before the Confluence and the Lake Isabel Flats open up. [30:17] **Maddie Swanson:** Thank you, John, Mayor, and Council. The study area is bounded by the river to the north, 5th Street to the south, the railway to the east, and Eddy Street to the west. I spent the summer counting cars—12 different times between 7:30 AM and 6:00 PM. Total parking: There are about 1,456 stalls. Overall, only about 33% of parking is used. It is very underutilized in many areas. We’ve had a loss of about 37 spaces due to developments like Spiral Pizza’s outdoor dining and the Lake Isabel Flats, but the Confluence added 56 spots. Areas of highest use are Second Street and the lot right outside City Hall, but even those aren't completely full most of the time. The only time I saw the new parking garage full was during Rivertown Days. My conclusion is that parking is underutilized, and we have room for business expansion. Also, please come to the Makers Market this Thursday! [40:19] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** This is fabulous. Thank you, Maddie. Out of the 1,456 stalls, how many are public versus private? [41:06] **Maddie Swanson:** There are many more public spaces than private. We don't have "pay to park" downtown, which helps accessibility. I can get the exact breakdown to you. [42:07] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Maddie, how long did you have to wait to get the picture of the Hastings truck at the stop sign in your slides? [42:15] **Maddie Swanson:** Not that long! I've been taking photos all summer to put in a shared city drive. To your point, I think it’s important for the community to hear that our free parking is underutilized. We’ve been spoiled for years being able to park right in front of a shop, but even if you have to walk three blocks, that's a sign of a thriving downtown. [44:56] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** It’s great to hear the parklets aren't a burden. Did you look at nighttime/overnight parking? I’m always an advocate of not asking people to drink and drive; I'd rather they leave their car. [45:51] **Maddie Swanson:** I mostly stayed until 6:00 PM, but Code Enforcement says it gets very busy in the evening. I didn't cover the late-night data specifically as my last day is August 18th. [47:59] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you for your work, Maddie. We wish you the best. John, you’re up again for the micro-mobility/scooter update. [49:15] **John Hinzman:** Earlier this year we granted permits to Bird and Spin for 100 scooters each. Bird opted not to launch, so we only have Spin. They have a utilization rate of about 0.8 to 1.0 rides per scooter per day, which is strong for a small city. The Public Safety Advisory Commission (PSAC) noted some concerns: underage riders, lack of helmets, and scooters being left in walkways. I’ve had fewer than five complaints this season. No action is necessary tonight; their permit goes through December. [54:08] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Regarding underage riders—who is responsible if there’s an accident? [54:40] **City Attorney (Korine Land):** Your Honor, members of the Council, as with any vehicle rental, you go to your own insurance first. It would likely fall under the parents' insurance. [56:19] **John Hinzman:** Lastly, we have change order number one for the City Hall HVAC project. The original contract was $588k; we’re looking to increase it by $148k to $736k. We realized the boilers won't fit through the existing doors without being taken apart. More importantly, we can now connect City Hall and the Police Department to one boiler system. The PD boilers need replacement soon (at a cost of $500k–$800k), so this move saves us that future expense. [59:36] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** I move that we accept the change order. [59:52] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** I second that. [1:00:01] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** All those in favor, say aye. (Group: Aye). Motion prevails. I have a few announcements: Story time in the park on August 9th, Music in the park on August 10th and 17th, and a Movie in the park on August 18th. The Makers Market is August 10th. Check the website for committee meeting times. I would accept a motion to adjourn. [1:02:50] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** So moved. [1:02:52] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Second. [1:02:54] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** All in favor? (Group: Aye). We are adjourned.