e e e e e e e e e all right good evening uh this is the December 18th uh 2024 kage Co city council meeting which I'm calling to order um our first order of business this evening is the Pledge of Allegiance so if you please rise I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all will the clerk please do the role council member kada here council member Olen here council member thei oh ho here council member Garza mayor Bailey here thank you and thank you council member the all right next on our agenda is open form uh this is the opportunity for anybody who wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda is welcome to do so um there was a signup sheet out in the entry but I'm going to just check in the audience other than I have one that I'm going to invite up uh that I told he could speak is there any anybody else that wants to speak on something uh this evening on open Forum okay not seeing anyone then I'll I'll have uh Bruce Bruce carik uh please come up um there's something on our consent agenda and he wants to speak on that behalf need to turn this on or is it going to be nope it's already on perfect uh I'm Bruce carnik I live at 1908 Pine Street in Hastings um but the piece that I'm up here for is as a representative of the Cottage Grove Journal your guys's local newspaper um on the consent agenda you have the Pioneer Press being the spot for your legal notices and one of the things that I know is very important to all of the communities that we serve is is staying local and having the having the legal notices locally in The Cottage Grove Journal will hit your right Market of people we know that we've had roughly 1,400 subscribers last year up to 18 already for this year and you know it just keeps growing so we know that we're going to hit your right market for your legal notices we know that our rates are very competitive and more importantly it keeps people like myself we've got John Molen a couple other people local it keeps them working locally um one of the advantages that you guys have I mean Tony I think you're probably the only one that I have not met personally in this aspect but Justin my and Dave I know I've dealt with you guys on different things we've been at things together that I've covered that our people have covered you know us you know my boss John you can talk you can call me text me whatever him directly if there's anything that we need to do on on the legal notice side of things and it's going to get done you know it'll be a weekly a weekly thing so yeah there's a little bit of planning in there but not much if you look at it we are legally allowed to do so because we are an adjacent County so we have our office in Hastings and we also have one in Ellsworth so technically two counties butt up to this even though cross the state lines so having us be your legal notice um distribution process we make it as easy as we can keep our rates very affordable and you help support a local business and keep people like myself working and doing things in the community do you guys have any questions as to why it's important to do that Council any questions guess not okay so I hope that you guys would be willing to take that off of the consent agenda and have a a little bit better discussion on it before you just sign it off and say we'll go with the Pioneer Press cuz uh you know a local paper is vital to the community and every little bit of income that we have does help keep us covering stuff for you guys and covering stuff like this meeting for you know the city in general so thanks for the time and have a great night and a good Christmas yeah thank you Bruce all right I'll ask just one more time is there anybody else for open Forum all right seeing none I will go ahead and close open form and we'll move to number five which is adoption of the agenda move the agenda we have a motion by council member uh Olsen do I have a second second second by council member the all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries next is presentations we do have a presentation this evening which it's been I guess you'd say a long time coming uh and it is a lifesaving award uh and uh for Lauren row uh and our director of Public Safety Pete is going to uh start us off on this and then Council why don't you join me down in front and then I'll uh ask um Lauren to come on up to the front [Music] here all right well good evening honorable mayor and Council um as the mayor said this is a long time coming uh I think this is perfect timing with the holiday season it's always fun to honor someone around this time of year and have something really positive so uh thank you for coming in tonight um I really appreciate Jonathan is here he's one of the citizens that are regally reached out to me as you're aware in the last year and a half we've really focused on getting our Awards and everything coming back and as the Director of Public Safety I I'm fortunate that I can bring things to the council rather just our awards banquet and I thought this was so meaningful that we wanted to recognize Lauren here tonight so um just a little brief um description of of what occurred but last year Lauren was at the Holiday Station on Hadley Avenue getting some energy drinks which is not healthy either Lauren but um but while at the register another customer collapsed Lauren who was first aid in AED training she began immediately doing CPR So within moments of the um with the victim dropping she was able to start working uh Washington County had a deputy that was near the area when they they made the call the deputy started with the AED and Lauren quickly jumped in and and and took over that and started the AED um fortunately the the a deployed twice shocked him twice and then um our fire department was able to arrive uh fortunate for us uh Captain James Olsen was one of those Medics that responded and happens to be on duty tonight so I I said it'd be really neat if he could come up and and meet with Lauren and also just share a few words so um as as you're aware mayor and Council we've had countless meetings where we've come in and we've talked to you about our commitment to handson CPR um we have the great partnership with uh Teddy's heart um so you're where aw really well aware of it last year we're actually designated as a um the heart Sav Community too so we've we've put a lot of effort into this so with that Lauren um you undoubtedly played a significant role in Saving a man's life um you are also pursuing a career in law enforcement so I know this probably continue to fuel your passion to serve and be a police officer um and I I hope in your interviews when they talk about a difficult situation or or where you had it this is a heck of a heck of a story to to be able to share in that interview so um in a moment um present you with the life saving award um and I have a a Chiefs coin for you too and since the font is kind of small I I printed it out so I could read this to you but um this coin is awarded for outstanding service to the citizens Cottage Grove um I can tell you these don't come out very often um we probably have one or two of these maybe a year if that so um you're you're in great company so with that I want to turn it over quickly to um Captain James Olsson and he talk a little bit to so thank you thanks Chief mayor council what a beautiful opportunity this is to just reiterate how important it is to have our public trained um we offer classes for hands only CPR AED use Lauren is a wonderful example of what that looks like in action as this gentleman dropped in front of her she recognized that early she started high quality CPR early and then got the a involved and that led to a favorable outcome positive outcome this gentleman walked out of the hospital neurologically intact so well done Lauren fantastic so um I'm just going to present you obviously and and Know Chief you want to come up here and sure yeah come on up uh just this is a certificate for a life-saving award that is granted to an employee or citizen who performs emergency medical or rescue actions that saved a life and in this case it's you Lauren so thank you uh for your service to our community and doing that uh obviously saving an individual uh that was in distress and on behalf of all of us in the council our staff and the entire citizens of Cottage Grove uh congratulations and thank you let's give her a round of applause want to say anything I just want to say thank you and I'm honored to get this award for what I have done um even though it wouldn't have changed anything in the first place so you go thank you we pick the picture with the SN on our all right uh next on our agenda this evening is the consent agenda council is there anything you want to pull uh for further discussion or anything on on consent at this point can we go see that we had him get up there just explain a little bit about the the paper and some of the requirements and the designation get so do you want to pull and ask staff is that what you're saying yeah I'm trying to find which one it is e there it is okay okay Dave any anybody else have anything they want to pull okay um so for further discussion or or feedback uh council member theti coun or staff um the designation of a newspaper for 2025 and in essence the rationale behind it so I don't know if uh Jennifer you want to take it or if Corey or both well mayor members of the council it's always very difficult obviously when you don't have a paper that's physically located within your city limits um because by State Statute that would have made it easier but obviously when uh that isn't the case we go to the next tier of uh circulation and distribution of our paper um and obviously the Pioneer Press has a very large circulation uh and distribution amount within our community one of the things Council I know you pride yourself in is the transparency to the public ensuring that our message and our information is getting out there um the Pioneer Press does enable us to do that in a much broader uh sense than the local uh Cottage Grove journal the other thing too is the publication schedule um as you know uh development is important to the city of Cottage Grove and and the publication and the ability to be able to be um responsive quickly to those Publications is important and unfortunately with the journal publishing only once a week uh there is a cutof time frame that can make some of that challenging and so for us the Pioneer Press is able to publish you know seven days a week and be able to meet all of our obligations in regards to that and so it really helps us on a development side of things to be responsive uh to the development Community uh for their notices and so that is why we are recommending the Pioneer Press as the paper uh for 2025 okay okay anything else you no that that's good thank you okay any other comments Council all right so I seeing no other comments or or anything being pulled on consent I guess we'll look for a motion to approve consent moove consent all right so we have motion by council member thei seconded by council member kada any further discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries so if anybody was here on anything that's on tonight's consent agenda all of those items have been approved uh number eight is approved dispersement 8 a is to pay the bills move the bills we have a motion by council member olssen second second by council member kada all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries next is nine is a public hearing we do have one this evening uh we have the 2025 payment manager M uh program uh and we have Chris uh Crystal rally who is our assistant city engineer welcome Crystal uh to the council chambers uh who will walk us through this all right good evening mayor and members of the council uh the next agenda item here tonight is the 2025 pavement management project public hearing over the years the city of Cottage Grove has done a wide variety of different pavement Rehabilitation and pavement maintenance practices uh the seal coat practice was done for a number of years it's since found to be um it doesn't last as long as we would have hoped uh we're looking for a 25 to 30e Pavement life cycle um or we were I'm sorry we were looking for 25 to 30 years we're now pushing that out to looking at 40 years for a payment life cycle um and so we've found some other Rehabilitation methods that are helping us hit that 40-year life um we like to do crack seal projects where those cracks at the beginning of a pavement life and all through its life um can get sealed up so no water can get in we also do a lot of Mill and overlay projects we do Reclamation projects where we grind up that pavement and the gravel below it and then repave a new Surface on top we do a lot of pavement replacement projects which is what we're talking about here tonight and then we do full reconstruction where we remove the pavement the gravel underneath all the way down to that subgrade and then we build the pavement surface back up so why do we do pavement management um we really want to keep our roads in a good structural condition again we want them to last as long as possible so we aren't um spending our resources on them so again pushing that out to that 40-year life cycle is really what we're looking for and then the these projects also allow us to take inventory of our infrastructure under the street and make any necessary repairs at that time once the pavement is off and then we'll we're able to maintain property values with this practice as well um a nice New Street in front of a residence is um maintains a higher property value than an older street with a lot of patching in that so we really want to keep that level of service high for our residents this map shows a um history of pavement management throughout Cottage Grove but it's a little deceiving uh pavement management projects in Cottage Grove date back to 1994 if all those years were on this map um almost every street would be highlighted and we'd run out of color I'm sure so um this this list is since 2010 and you can see we've bounced around to lots of areas in the city the pavement management project being proposed for 2025 is in the Hidden Valley neighborhood uh the neighborhoods before you on the screen uh it started construction back in 1986 on the lower Southeast corner of that neighborhood in the orange and then um construction continued through the early 2000s with the northwest corner that green culdesac being completed in about 2005 how do we figure out which roads are eligible for pavment management or which ones we want to push forward um we look at a variety of factors one of those is a paser ratings so we drive our streets every year um we look at all the segments of streets and evaluate what they're looking like from the surface we give them a condition assessment rated 1 through 10 with um 10 being good condition and one needing a lot of work uh we also refer to our maintenance records we look at you know when did we chip seal these streets when was there a big patching project we also have this thin overlay practice where um our street superintendent and his crew does a half inch to an inch overlay over the street we look at those records um we evaluate a lot of different factors we also take core samples where we actually cut out sections of the pavement and look at it you know that surface can look a lot different from what it looks like underneath I kind of want to point out this intersection Hidden Valley Hollow and Hidden Valley Lane in this neighborhood um Google Earth showed some interesting air photos throughout the years in 2015 um under that red rectangle you can kind of see a large dark area on that northbound lane um that's a really large patch in 2016 you can see there's lots of additional patches with the smaller darker colors on the street and then in 2017 um still more work was needed so our streets crew came in and did a thin overlay on that project in 2017 here are some current pictures of the neighborhood uh this top one is Hidden Valley Third Edition you can see vegetation starting to grow through some of these cracks the lower right hand corner is um an picture of the thin overlay starting to wear off um there isn't a lot of structure underneath that overlay so it's starting to wear over time and that's what we anticipate will continue to happen in this neighborhood if something isn't done uh the upper left is Hidden Valley fifth edition and sixth edition on the lower right again both of these photos just show a lot of cracking a lot of asphalt stripping in this neighborhood so when we're evaluating these projects for improvements we're also looking at our storm and sanitary sewer systems and we're evaluating those from the street level and then also under the street through camera technology um to look at look for cracks and look at the condition of the insides of pipes um when we reviewed those in this neighborhood we found that generally the storm and sanitary um systems are in good condition uh there are some opportunities to make some improvements and those are proposed for the project with water M we take a look at our records um how how many breakes have we had in this area and we found that there are very infrequent breaks and we expect that that water man is generally in good condition out here um if the pavement is removed we can get a better look at valve bolts and fittings and so we would evaluate it that at the time of the project so what we're proposing is a full pavement replacement where we would remove the upper layers of pavement um get down to that gravel base we would regrade Rec compact that gravel base and then pave two lifts of asphalt to a depth of 3 and2 in we're also looking at a spot curb replacement for this project um some neighborhoods we do full curb replacement just really depends on the condition of the curb uh some areas of this project do warrant full curb replacement but for the most part the curb was approximately 27% damaged um so most of the area of this neighborhood would be spot curb replacement and like I said we'll also take advantage of the street being open and do some minor utility repairs while we're in the area um lining some pipes and manholes replacing some of those structures if needed uh we would recondition and raise hydrants we would replace their two pressure reducing valves which is a water system feature um those would both be replaced and then we would replace any damaged light poles and um high pressure sodium fixtures would be upgraded to the current LED fixtures we also look at parks in the neighborhoods of payment management projects um Hidden Valley Park is in this neighborhood and there are some opportunities to take advantage of a contractor being right next door um so there are some projects proposed in Hidden Valley Park but um it's important to note that these projects would not be assessed to the residents these will be paid for by Park Improvement funds so in total there are about 229 accessible properties in this neighborhood these assessments um are estimated to be $632 n73 cents estimated is a key word right now all these numbers are based on Project estimates uh if the project moves forward final costs would be based on real construction numbers when we're looking at these projects we also do a special benefit appraisal so we determine what is the benefit to the property from leaving the pavement alone versus having a brand new Street in front of of a home the special benefit appraisal was kind of came in at $7,400 for these properties that really supports that assessment of 6,329 um if a property owner did not choose to pay that assessment within the first 30 days of the adoption of the assessment rule the average annual payment over the series of 15 years is $630 92 and then it's important to note that the property owners could pay any amount upfront in that first 30 days to avoid interest if it's amortised for 15 years so this screen shows the accessible Parcels for this project the green are the 229 accessible Parcels in Hidden Valley neighborhood the blue Parcels are city-owned parcels and the streets that are adjacent to city-owned Parcels are funded only by City funds so those Street sections next to the blue are not assessed are not included in that assessment calculation the total project cost for this neighborhood 3,885 4795 again that's based on an estimate at this time there are lots of funding sources um in a project of this size uh sanitary water and storm water utility as well as our street light funds um would pick up a significant percentage of project costs our Park Improvement Trail replacement funds would pay for some of that work within Hidden Valley Park the general Levy um would pay for about 1.6 million of this project and then assessments would cover the remaining 1.4 million as shown on the screen here so what are the terms of the assessment um if this project moves forward tonight each property would be listed as having a pending assessment if the projects moves forward and construction is completed next fall and the assessment role is adopted the residents would have 30 days of from the date of adoption to pay any more or any amount higher than $500 towards that assessment to avoid interest anything that's not paid within the first 30 days is accessible over the next 15 years uh the interest rate that anything in that 15 years would be subject to interest the interest rate is 1 a half% over the city's Bond rating and right now that is looking at like about 6% but that would be evaluated at the time next fall and deferral is available if certain conditions are met um disabled or military uh 65 and older but if deferral is chosen by residents um it's good to know that interest does still acre during that deferral period so the schedule um on December 10th just last week we had a neighborhood meeting we had about 40 residents in attendance um they're very engaged asked a lot of great questions um Logistics during construction kind of came up and that's that's a really common question it's kind of scary going into this and knowing all of your streets are going to be torn up and how does that actually work so um we got through that and then here we are at the public hearing December 18th if the project moves forward we had anticipate that we'd be approving plans and specifications on February 19th 2025 we would then open bids um on March 13th 2025 once we have a contractor after we've done that bid opening and um found our contractor we would then have a schedule and a phasing plan that we would develop and then we'd pull our neighbors in again and have a second neighborhood meeting to really talk Logistics how is this going to work so that would be late March early April 2025 construction would start in the spring hopefully be completed by September and then we'd be back here for an assessment Hearing in October 2025 so with that the recommendations are on the screen and I'm available for any questions right duck excuse me Council you have any questions at this moment uh council member Olson thank you Crystal good presentation um a lot of good information there a couple things occurred to me as I was going through this in the packet and then um you know your presentation sort of um made me think about those things again number one um one of the reasons that uh the city has typically approached these sorts of projects early um so we're in December for a project that's going to happen next year uh is um you know we we want to be uh in a favorable bidding environment and the sooner we can get um plans inspect backs out to the potential contractors the more competitive the the bidding uh typically is and uh that's always sort of worked in our favor I think I think that's been a good practice for as long as I've been part of the council so um my question is this as we are sort of exploring this uh have we had any uh contractors we've worked with before anything like that has anybody expressed interest in being part of the bidding environment at this point do we know any of that um or are we just basically going to wait till February when plans and specs come online if this project moves forward and then kind of see where we land I haven't heard of specific contractors that are calling and asking questions on the project quite yet of course we haven't pulled the trigger to move forward right but um all of the the contractors that I've worked with so far in my time here on this project would be interested in this type of project um we're also and I mean like you said that February March April you know that is a perfect time frame to be bidding and to be getting good pricing on a project like this um so the contractors will really be looking for work around that time of year and looking to fill up their calendar for the summer so um we are hitting that sweet spot and we anticipate a lot of interest I believe last year we had seven biders on our project so um we should we should be sitting well and that competitive bid environment as I said earlier it's it's seem to be favorable for us where you know we get an estimate and then the bidding environment comes in and we're pleasantly surprised so that that's why I asked that question the second thing that occurred to me was when you think about a Hidden Valley and I live very near to Hidden Valley and so um you know I took several drives through the neighborhood as we were considering this project um there's a lot of caacs it's it's it's a little bit different than some of the neighborhoods that were built early on uh in in the uh City's history and because of those cue saacs you have um some land mass that isn't necessarily fully populated with dwellings so it seems like the the dwelling number is a little light is that am I just seeing things or is that accurate you're absolutely right um there is a lot of pavement area a lot of black top in this neighborhood that doesn't necessarily have a house you know right on it or you know just a few houses for a lot of black top so so um another thing we noticed about this U neighborhood is that the lots are very large um compared to how we're building our city out now so there are fewer Parcels to spread this project cost around so um this assessment is a little higher than we've seen for a spot curb in the past of course inflation there's a lot of factors that go into that but one of those is certainly the amount of pavement because of those cue saacs and then the Big Lot sizes that we have here yeah I mean that's pretty much a basic math equation but but it just struck me that um boy the configuration probably isn't helping us too much on on something like that and then the last thing that I wanted to ask and uh I'm not sure if you want to take this or or Ryan but um I know you did some pretty extensive testing in the neighborhood including lots of core sampling um you know as a Layman uh driving through the neighborhood you can see a lot of the reflective cracking coming up and um you know showed some pictures of the the thin overlay that Gary and his team did and that's kind of starting to break up now too um what what did we see in the in the core as far as the deeper infrastructure because even sometimes when the roadway looks beautiful underneath there's all kinds of issues so were there any major call outs that you guys saw other than just it's aged and the asphalt's dried out and it's it's in bad shape yeah um I'll I'll take what I can and if Ryan wants to add in he certainly can but um we are seeing a lot of asphalt stripping and asphalt stripping is when the you know asphalt glue that holds the Rocks together in an asphalt mix when that glue is kind of washed away over the years and when we take those cores um we know there's asphalt stripping when they don't hold together that top thin overlay is intact but underneath it there's nothing supporting it um Ryan's crew had done cut out a couple sections themselves to evaluate and one of those samples just completely fell apart there was nothing underneath it and that's we think that's what's happening throughout the neighborhood okay all right I know that there are occasions where um maybe a project gets delayed and then what ends up happening is that that infrastructure that you can't see gets even worse in fact I think this happened in the mayor's neighborhood and then you're stuck with a full reconstruction and and it gets really difficult yeah that's absolutely right the curb continues to degrade too which um once we have a full curb replacement on a project project costs can Rise um quite quickly with full curb versus uh spot curb as we're going to be doing out here so okay we really we try to catch them before they're real bad well thanks for the info I appreciate it okay thank you council member council member kada thank you when you were discussing the breakdown of where the funding was coming from can you explain uh why the city was fronting the 1.6 million that wasn't being assessed to Property Owners um so the city's assessment policy uh allows us to assess up to 45% of project costs to the homeowners that are adjacent to the project the remaining 55% like hard math for a second there um the remaining 55% is to be paid for by other funding sources when we can identify a specific utility funding source um for utility work we'll absolutely use those funds but um the remainder does have to be picked up with General Levy funds and so that that's like the general tax F that's everyone's that's taxes are paying for that section of road or that percentage of that correct that's correct not just the specific neighborhood right the general tax base yep okay no other questions sir nothing from you um C I guess I'll I'll mention it and uh not that it matters but both Tony and I live in the neighborhood so it's a tough one to to swallow but um you know it and the one thing that the neighborhood again you quite a time span um you know over the different roads and and actually there was a significant difference in quality of of asphalt and that we had a period where some of the lower the the later neighborhoods had had pavement that probably I would say probably wore out actually before some of the the older stuff and um and so forth so it's a it's it's kind of interesting that the other thing that that that makes us uh a little more expensive uh you know we we like our 32t curb to curb roads that versus the what is 28 now and we had a lot of arguments back in the you know the the 2010 era and things like that about you know the the streets and the street wids and and how the contractors were you know you know narrowing it down and and things like that so uh but that obviously adds uh more cost to the to the project also but uh so uh so while in in some ways you know I go out and I say well the road doesn't look too too bad uh technically there's no no holes that I've lost my cars in or any any kids or dogs or anything like that but I guess um you know we did take the the samples and and uh and and while it's a little bit of a tough pill for anybody to swallow not just because we're we're in the neighborhood but but anybody anywhere in in in the city it's it's something that does keep the the uh city in in good shape and and probably helps some of the the vehicles stay in in more men condition and things like that we often often have people say man you guys your roads are really good you know come when you talk to people from other cities and so forth so uh um so I guess it's uh I'm probably going to have to swallow hard and okay council member Alon has another question yeah thanks um so uh council member the mentioned something that had not occurred to me um and I just I I want to ask another question about that and that is um the condition of the of the asphalt in some of the newer areas there was a period of a couple of years where um the mot spec for asphalt was not great and uh some of that had to do with um the change from what they had been doing to trying to reclaim older asphalt and then remix it with oil uh and and try to um essenti you know recycle some of that stuff uh to to be used in neighborhoods and I know the City of Woodbury had several large areas in their city where that asphalt wore out much faster than it was supposed to have done did that neighborhood experience some of that is that is that accurate um being a Wisconsin girl I am going to defer to my Minnesota colleagues okay all right yeah there's nothing Ryan likes to talk about more than asphalt so no that's Jennifer well that too yeah thank you mayor members of the council this is a good one for me to touch on because I was here um you know 8 10 years ago when we were really looking at our asphalt specs because we do have to follow mot they're that guiding principle for asphalt throughout all of Minnesota um but what we found with that asphalt stripping is as Crystal mentioned it was really drying out um and and what was happening is the asphalt content was was quite low compared to what we we'd want to see so with within the bounds of the menot spec we we made little tweaks back in kind of the mid 2010s and we really able to boost those numbers up and get the asphal content back to what we like to see um while also providing a really good product I think so the the Pavements that we're putting down now um you know really more closely match what we were seeing in the kind of the 80s time frame with that asphalt content being a higher percentage of the overall pavement so that was a very proactive thing that we did um when I was here and our jennif for L was a city engineer at the time and I think we've seen great results with that since we made those changes so yeah I would agree uh I just recall um having those conversations at that time about the the mix wasn't quite what we were looking for and so when uh council member the mentioned that kind of flipped the switch in my brain and that maybe that was part of the issue even in some of those newer neighborhoods because as he said we had neighborhoods with um that older spec that older mix that that um didn't need any work really for close to 30 years so yeah that's unfortunate that that happened thanks for answering that for me all right any other questions at this point Council tangent on asphalt and aggregate size and how how we achieve the higher content of asphalt through aggregate um but I don't need to bore everyone I think that's a good call I'm not touching that one all right so uh seeing no other uh comments by Council I'm going to this is a public hearing so I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing and if anybody would like to speak on this Al yes please just come on up and state your name and address for the record please I'm Kelly Don I live at 7591 74th Street South in Hidden Valley um and I really am wanting to speak I I don't disagree I was a regional director director in infrastructure for a long time I do believe our roads need to be done I do think that the assessment is aggressive it does help to understand that we have bigger lot sizes and things like that in the neighborhood and the the and how the neighborhood was phased originally didn't help that matter but I really wanted to speak today because I really think that this roll out could have been done so much more gingerly to be frank um this is a project that the city has known about that needed to be done for a really long time it's not a secret you can get lost in potholes in some of the culde saacs we walk them every single night the entire Loop the entire culde saac um the repavement that was done I think three years ago roughly um is a huge safety risk um and so it's it's it's not Beyond me that it needed to be done the part that really bothers me is is that 30 days before Christmas our neighborhood is slapped with a $7,000 bill um and then and then and then we're just oh but it's interest free for 30 days well that's as far as I'm concerned like this assessment is aggressive the way that it was rolled out is wrong I'm glad to know that we are going to be getting um revamps to the park that was completely demolished and degraded when we did the park reboot um was it last summer or the summer before our old park was fastic it was my favorite my kids' favorite Park um absolutely no neighborhood community um involvement happened when that Park was being supposedly redone um and it's it's a park that my kids no longer want to go to so that's good news on that one um but I really think that they do need to be giving homeowners more time this is something that if we would have had more time than what will ultimately be about a year um we could have been able to pay that amount in full and we will end up having to finance it to a tune of an additional $3,000 when this is done to be paid this is a time of inflation this is a time where people don't have extra money and with all due respect this is a time where the city council has come back to homeowners more than want to ask us to increase our property taxes you came to us last in this last voting election asking us to then say oh well everybody can pay a sales tax to do parks that don't need to be redone so I really do think that there does need to be a level of a shift in priorities because a $7,000 bill on a neighborhood who's turned over to all brand new families with brand new babies isn't acceptable okay thank you is there anybody else that would like to speak and again just state your name and address for the record then thank you uh good evening uh good evening good evening Lance mcar from 7371 Hidden Valley Trail um I am new to Cottage Grove in Hidden Valley I just bought a house in the development in May and when I looked at the property I said great this road is fantastic I'm not going to be hit with an assessment for a long time and I came from West St Paul where I lived in a condo association where there were about five or six roads that collectively were done over the course of five years so I wrote checks for about five or six years so my biggest concern is obviously the uh price on this assessment was really ey popping and the timing was was less than ideal and uh the second concern I have is just um you know are we getting the most for our money the road looks good uh are we making our dollar stretch as far as they can and uh like I said I came in new to the community and the road looks really good obviously I don't have core samples or anything like that but just from a a Layman's perspective uh the road looks really good and uh my preference and my neighbor preference was that if could be pushed down uh the roed a couple years uh and save some money that'd be great but uh those are my concerns and thanks for hearing me thank you all right is there anybody else that would like to speak this evening okay um what I'm going to do is go ahead and close the public hearing and there was some questions that were being asked and you want to take it Jennifer okay City administrator Jennifer levit will kind of respond to some of them well I'll talk about assessments and I won't talk about asphalt so when it comes to Asphalt I I'll turn it back over to Crystal but when it comes to the assessments and taxes I thought I would start there um one of the questions you know related to the assessment being too high the one thing that I would remind council tonight is the decision about ordering the project so tonight you're looking at the warrants that that Merit ordering the project and moving forward with it the question about the value of the assessment and the amount that is the conversation that we will have in October after the project is complete so there is a distinction so tonight you're looking at is this project warranted to proceed based upon the merits that you've heard and the feasibility report that's been before you so we will talk about Assessments in much greater detail um in October if the project moves forward and um one of the questions the resident brought to our attention in her comments was related to being surprised now Council I I know that you want to give presidents as much lead time as possible but I know that you're also very fiscally conservative and you know what happened in our budget discussions you looked at our financial management plan for the next 10 years you looked at the payment managements that we had planned and the value of those were not fitting within your financial means and so you did challenge staff to go back and re-evaluate our payment Management program to make sure that it fits within our financial management plan for the next 10 years unfortunately when we had to make that adjustment we weren't able to give the residents as much notice as we typically would because actually tonight on your consent calendar you authorize the pavement management feasibility report for 2026 and so that will enable us to give residents much more notice so to the resident point unfortunately the way the financial situation worked out this summer we had to Pivot and so as fast as we could get notice to them we did because you adopted the budget and the C CIP just at the last meeting on December 4th and so the neighborhood meeting was held on December 10th so we've been aggressive to try to get notice out to them but clearly it is still only a year for them to save and we recognize that hardship so we do acknowledge uh that issue and so if there's any other questions Council that you want us to talk about pavement condition and stuff like that the assistant city engineer would be happy to answer those questions the the only yeah council member I don't know if you want to say something well I was going to say something real quick and then I'll turn it over to you so one of the one of the things if I recall though and you can correct me if I'm wrong so even before October I believe it's February or March you don't you don't have it up here right now but February or March we'll get we'll go out for bids correct and if the bids come in high we could say at that particular point it's not going to we're not going to do it or we can't do it because we've we're tonight what we're here for and again I'm going to look for our attorney in that for this the benefit appraisal says the the I'll say the cap is 7,400 okay so we're we're we're assuming based on our data and all the information that the amount that's going to be taxed is that 70 or 6,300 or whatever the amount was um specifically however if the if it comes up higher than that it can't it can't go over 7,400 correct because then it's it's done so we will as a council have another opportunity to take a look at the assessment when um or the what it's going to cost um I will tell you and I it doesn't always happen perfectly this way but so far what happens and it even just happened in the one that we did this year though it was still high uh and that particular one was full curb uh replacement I believe am I correct or no am I not correct yeah that's what I thought um that one would it did come under uh what the original amount was but it was only like a few hundred bucks or something like that if I recall I'm doing this a little bit off of memory but so I apologize for that but I just wanted to to to let the public know we always try to get a little I'll say put it a little higher in in our goal and expectations is hope that it'll it'll come down um but duly noted on on the the notice if you will uh because that is been that's been a challenge and then the last thing I'll just mention from a from a council's perspective and we've done this before uh there has been times where and the gentleman that just spoke a little bit earlier there has been times where we have uh looked and still do look at all these different pavement areas within our community and and you kind of mentioned you know you know fitting it in our in our fiscal management plan for 10 years but the fact of the matter is there has been times where we have pushed off projects right if we say Ryan comes to us our staff comes to to us and says we check these areas and we think we can get a few more years out of them before you know we really really need to get in there and and and do it uh so we do and I know my my partner next to me here he is very particular about matter of fact they even brought core samples in to share with him so he could see the the underlying uh pavement of what's going on uh and what coun I can say this was before I was mayor um I think it was before I was on Council but uh there was a the neighborhood that I lived in uh they they came up and I think that's the last and only time that a project was delayed uh that was before I lived there uh so I'm going to put that out there very clearly um and it got delayed and by the time I moved in there and then found out the assessment was double and the reason it was double is because they had to do a full curb and full asphalt replacement there because they waited too long and so that's that's the ch Challenge and that's the risk that we're trying to avoid in some of these cases is to keep the costs as low as we can and not have to do you know complete curb replacement which does add a lot of lot of cost to the to the factor so I don't know if you wanted to add anything else yeah I was just going to mention too in terms of being a little bit surprised I've already talked to staff about that because this past year see I being as as kind of cheap as I am kind of Stingy and so forth my dad raised me to be pretty pretty much that way but so I was really watching the planning because we did have things laid out you know quite a few years in the future for this pavement man management so I was keeping an eye on because I you know I've been on Council since 2010 and and everything else and and uh on commissions and so forth since about 2005 but um so I had never seen Hidden Valley on on the the the list you know over the years and and it seemed kind of seemed like it popped up here this past year I I now kind of understand you know the reasons why we're doing what we're doing at this time um but I I I will admit that it it was a little bit of a a surprise so yeah we're we're we we do a great job at planning and things like that this this one was a little bit uh you know not not not quite on par maybe but uh we'll keep trying opening the letter you know after Black Friday I know yeah yeah I I don't disagree so all right councilman Wilson thank you Corey I'm going to turn to you because um one of the things that you do very well whenever we have these conversations is you um describe the legal process that we have to follow whenever we uh take a look at a project like this and and it is statutorily mandated that we do things in a in a certain way so I wonder if you might take a few minutes and just share again um you know how exactly this process has to flow so that uh you know anybody who may be in this in this area or people watching at home who are just curious uh have a little bit better understanding of um the way that we have to do this certainly thank you uh your honor members of the council and council member Olson this is a very statutorily driven process whenever the city's going to do assessments to pay for a public Improvement you must follow chapter 429 so it's all laid out in Minnesota statute 429 one of the steps ironically is on your consent agenda to order a feasibility report that is step one you have to determine whether or not the project that the city engineer is designing in his head is appropriate is the right kind of project and and the assistant assistant city engineer went through all of the different um kinds of projects that that could be done and so the feasibility report will then determine or give a recommendation in every single Street as to what the appropriate method whether it's a Mill and overlay or it is complete reconstruction uh it will spell out that process so that's step one is you need to have the study to determine what the project could be then when that feasibility report comes back that's what you're holding tonight is the public Improvement hearing it's a public hearing on a public Improvement project it the statute requires you to send an estimated assessment that's all it is at this point it's not going to go on anybody's property taxes yet it is just a number based on what the feasibility report said this project is going to cost this amount and this is how we could do the assessments for the project this is all that entire list of how we're going to fund the project one of those items was assessments so that's the assessment estimate that's all it is you're not going to have to pay for it in 30 days so the estimate must be mailed to the property owners and there must be published notice in the newspaper that's why you're holding the public hearing tonight you take feedback you could continue this you could decide tonight if you decide tonight you'll be ordering the project which is Step number three then the city staff will put together the plans and specs you will then approve those plans and specs that's step four and then they if you approve them then they out for bid then step five is the bid comes back to you for award so all of these things have to happen at a public meeting finally the city will hire the contractor who will do the project at the end of the project as you've indicated there will be next October there would be the actual assessment hearing that's when we're talking about a hard number that the council is proposing to assess against all of those properties so that's when we'll have the actual basedin fact can't exceed the $7,400 assessment that is a property owner's opportunity at a public hearing again to come to you and say why they think that assessment is maybe not fair or they think it should be reduced and they can provide that objection at that hearing that's the first thing they need to do is object by the public hearing date if they do that they preserve the right to appeal so there's plenty of due process built into this entire assess chapter 429 if they want to perfect their appeal they would serve the mayor or city clerk with their notice of intent to appeal and then file that in District Court and that is where they will get a fair hearing to determine whether or not there truly is a special benefit in the amount that we propose to assess so that's the process and is it fair to say through the course of that process there are several um stop signs where the council can then uh take another look and and identify whether or not we want to continue to move forward or whether we think we're at a place where maybe this isn't the right thing to do at this particular time mayor and members of the council there are at least six touch points that the council has on every public Improvement project where it comes back to you at a public hearing for a decision perfect and to Jennifer's earlier Point our objective this evening is just to identify whether or not um there are findings of fact that would uh cause us to want to continue the process okay thank you very much okay uh cust member Kat well as Dave or as council member thei said um he and I are in a unique position because we're um this affects us directly um but in every other hearing uh the same the same things come up why is it being done this way why did you choose now and in every other one I thought about ours because uh 3 years ago when our CAC got or cesac got patched and my kids were falling into it on their bikes and I'm like I'm like I'm like it's coming and so with every every other time when I had to make that tough decision I'm like it it's one of the toughest things that we do is to have to make the decision that's right in the moment but maybe not popular and from talking to Ryan and you know hearing about you know hey what what was the assessment on the on the pavement three years ago well three years ago when we patched it we thought it would get us five years but as they continue to do core samples because we have a takedown schedule for roads you know as we're talking about this year's pavement management they're going to highlight five other years out to 29 or 30 on our CIP so every year we look at what is potentially a 5-year outlook for future Road Improvement and every year they do core samples and you know either the road is holding up as expected longer than expected or less than expected and this is unfortunately due to that asphalt mixture this is one of those roads that was degrading faster than expected and so yeah I think you know when when I was on Planning Commission I I think I remember having a conversation about you know like what what helps you guys decide what road needs to be done and when and it's from that it's from that um Regular monitoring of the oldest and most suspect areas plus you've got Public Works who's out driving plows and you know as they're they're you know as the work orders are coming in to patch a certain area that's queuing them into what what might be the next potential area for uh Improvement um so I will say that that it it's always tough to have to make this decision but you know a lot of empirical data went into you know guiding this decision our our decision to to bring this up for a vote as it is all right uh Council any other questions for staff at this point okay so as you know um if you see before you on the screen uh we obviously did uh conduct the public uh hearing uh and now we need uh a motion in a second uh for an adoption of the resolution to move to the next step uh ccil kab uh I'd like to adopt resolution 2024-25 pavement management project okay so I have a motion by council member kbad do I have a second I'll second second by council member olssen any further discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries okay and you will be as you heard earlier you will be notified uh as we keep going through this and and I guess the good news for you is uh I know unfortunately tonight uh our council member on my right down here is his last meeting on my left you can talk to him in your neighborhood and the new council member is right behind you there by them all there you go so you aut to harass if you want or you can call me but thank you for coming in and sharing now that's important I appreciate it and it does need to be done so and I acknowledge that so all right thank you thank you yeah all right so next as 10 is Bid Awards or RNN and then on the regular agenda number 11 we do have one item this evening which I'm very happy to see I've already talked to them back there uh Roar company's Cottage Grove multif family amended site plan review and Emily schmidtz her community development director is going to walk us through this one I am mayor council good evening as excited as you are mayor I am as well this has been uh a along work in process or progress um this particular site if you're not familiar is located just at the end of the cesac of East Point Douglas as you pass the Legends and white pines um a little bit of background if if you don't recall uh this was before you we get into that but uh this site has nothing short of challenges um as you can see several different Parcels um but I'll I'll make note of as you can see Outlaw a a lot of topography change on this particular parcel a large area dedicated to uh some storm water ponding but I think the biggest item to note is that pipe P easement uh Flint Hills does uh run two crude pipe uh pipes through that easement so obviously restricting the developable area of this parcel so this is why it might look familiar to you Council back in January of this exact year um you did see this project before you um and uh um voted for approval for 144 unit of mixed income apartment building on this particular site um you also approved the preliminary and final plat as you saw in the slide before several Parcels we needed to bring those together um for that Camels Hump Edition um uh for uh also the applicant to purchase a couple of lots from the city to make this site work and then that planned unit development so over the course uh uh after this approval uh Flint Hills after uh some reevaluate re-evaluation of what they were comfortable with um on top of their crude pipelines um they asked uh the developer to kind of go back and re-evaluate uh if they could maybe draw back a little bit of that impact so uh we went back and forth several times I will just say that and we finally landed somewhere in the middle as you can see the site plan the revised site plan um on the right hand of side of the screen um some additional surface parking still remaining there um again as I mentioned with the Topography of the site um those elevations are challenging and require some retaining walls that need to extend into that easement and finally uh a trail connection I'll get into the details on this next slide a better image as I mentioned the surface parking um uh uh reducing that back from the original approval um uh adding some additional snow storage obviously the site is limited where we going to put that snow in Minnesota speaking of which tomorrow hopefully we're ready um but and finally that trail connection um that we always wanted to ensure connected to uh the natural Trail the north side of this project that connects up then to the camel's home so these are the amendments uh to the original site plan that you did see in January so I wanted to make sure that it was clear those adjustments to the site uh all of the remaining zoning standards are being met uh and remaining the same from the original approval in January uh to this plan that you see before you this evening and finally I wanted sure that I've reminded you uh the developer is not proposing to adjust the architecture materials if you recall one of our biggest passions with this project was making sure um that as you're coming in and out of our community um that those class one materials are focused on that side of this project and they are remaining so with their amended project so with that I will leave the recommendation before you I available and the applicant is in the audience if you have direct questions for them as well thank you first councel any questions for Emily uh council member Kata I just want to make sure that I understand correctly that there's no change to the total number of units mayor council member Kata no change to the total number of units okay thank you all right I know they're in the audience because I went and spoke to them but do you want to share anything or you you guys good yeah if you want to just come up and state your name and address for the record thank you mayor members of council my name is Pete schroer with rers companies we at 2 Carlson Park Way Plymouth Minnesota appreciate the time tonight um and thank you to Emily and staff uh for the presentation and just all the work on this over the past call it eight months now um as Emily went over we made a few adjustments site plan but overall it's pretty much the same project that uh was approved in January same unit count same parking ratio same exterior elevations um and same amenity package um and then over the last last few months as Emily mentioned we've worked closely with staff and Flint Hills resources to get to this new PL s plan in front of you tonight um and we're very excited um about this new layup layout and to move forward with this so if you have any questions more than happy to answer those and appreciate the consideration fantastic any questions Council no thank you for hanging in with us like I said earlier when I spoke to you guys before because it's been a long time coming in a very very challenging site a lot of different projects have tried to come there and get it get it worked out so I'm glad we were able to work together to pending the vote of course but uh yeah awesome thank you all right Council so you can see before you on under recommendations we have a resolution who would like to take I will move to adopt resolution 2024 191 resending resolution 20247 and approving the amended site plan review for 144 unit six-story mixed income multif family apartment building located at 6850 East Point Douglas Road South all right so we have a motion by council member the do I have second second second by council member Cabana any further discussion seeing none all those in favor sing by saying I I I opposed motion carries there we go thank you all right uh next on our agenda this evening is Council comments request and I guess it's only fitting that I uh start out with council member Kata thank you Mr Mayor well this will be my last meeting uh up here at the deis at least for a little while um I have had uh a great privilege in being up here and working with city council I was able to get to know some of the most intelligent dedicated creative and professional people that I've ever had the pleasure of working with and I'm talking about staff of course um my uh is selfless with his time Justin is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met uh he remembers things that uh from decades ago I don't understand it um but he's also very generous with his time volunteers a lot I aspire to do that when my kids are older and I have more time uh Dave is super cheap uh that is uh one of his uh one of my favorite qualities about him is he keeps us in check um and he's indispensable with his spreadsheets so uh I'm really going to miss being able to collaborate with you guys Mo'Nique although she's not here uh she's been on the council for a year and in that time I've seen her jump in with both feet into some really challenging issues that we've had to deal with and never once shy away from uh the hard work that we do so I'm uh I'm grateful to have worked with you with all of you thank you well same with us and we'll I'll share a few things here in a few minutes and we'll keep you involved yeah definitely he already is going to be oh sorry you his wife's out in the audience she's probably not going to be happy about that all right uh thank you Tony uh council member uh olssen well first of all mayor I want to wish everybody uh a very happy holiday season and um a a Merry Christmas to come it's it's almost here um and and it seems like just yesterday it was January I don't know how we got here the time just flew by uh but it's been a really good year and um you know I'm looking forward to uh more good things to come in in 2025 for the city of Cottage Grove I also wanted to take a moment to um Thank The Cottage Grove Lions Club and Cottage Grove beyond the yellow ribbon team for their contribution to uh the adopted child event that we held at Target on this past Saturday um it's an annual event where we come together and we shop for uh people who are in need uh and and with beyond the yellow ribbon involved that includes a lot of veterans and and military families in our community um the combined efforts of those two clubs um made some Christmas wishes come true for over a hundred individuals who might not otherwise have had that opportunity and uh it's always just astounding to to me how generous people can be with uh their their their money their time their energy their enthusiasm um we we did a lot of shopping um I'm not going to share the the number with you as far as uh dollars spent but uh it was significant but I think what was more important is afterwards we all went to the VFW and we spent uh a good 2 three hours uh wrapping gifts um trying to make sure that um you know when these families receive their gifts that uh you know it it was it was a momentous occasion I want to compliment uh chief kerer for bringing his wife Kristen to rap uh because she's an expert and he is not and neither am I so between my wife Kim and and his wife Kristen uh they did just a magnificent job the last thing I want to talk about is uh my council member colleague to my right and that's council member Kat um very kind words from you Tony very nice um and and thank you for those but um you know I hope you understand uh the degree of respect that we all have for you and and from a personal standpoint um you know how great it's been to to work with you as a colleague you know I watched you as a chair of our Planning Commission and one of the things that we kind of do sometimes is we we uh sort of assess the talent right and we look at the various commissions and we see people who are sort of standouts and you were always one of those and so when you got the opportunity to join the city council similar to what you said about Mo'Nique you jumped in with uh you know both feet into the deep end you're very courageous and I want to reiterate what I mean by that um you are you are driven by what we should all be driven by the North Star should always be what is the right thing to do not what is the easy thing to do what is the most politically uh advantageous thing to do but what is the right thing to do what is the right thing to do shortterm what is the right thing to do longterm and you've never shied away from that um you you bring a lot to the table and uh I'm grateful for having had the opportunity to work with you and I have no doubt in my mind that you will continue to be an integral part of the way that the city of Cottage Grove goes about doing its business whether that's as a commission member as an adviser or uh as a very engaged citizen or probably all of the above so thank you for everything you've done for this community um I I often mention to people one of the reasons our city council is successful is because we genuinely like and respect each other that does not mean we don't argue because we do uh but when we argue we tend to argue behind closed doors we we come to consensus and when the consensus has been reached the conversation's over we do what needs to be done done and then we move forward but we do so respectfully and uh I hope you and your family know uh how how much we genuinely have come to like and respect you all and Crystal thank you for sharing them with us cuz it's not easy when you got three kids at home I know that um so uh we've been blessed and and you're a big part of that um so best to you and your family uh I I know you're not moving out of town or anything but I just want you to know that um you've left an indelible mark on this City you should be proud of that thank you thank you council member of the so as as uh usually what happens is that uh Justin is so eloquent with his his uh talks and so forth he's covered a lot of the things that I was I was going to cover too but but I will just uh I do want to say that that one of the one of the qualities I think for quite a few years here we've had as a council is is number one it's it's it really is not political there's a little politics and everything but but I can tell you right now if it got too political I'd be out because I I I don't like Politics the intense politics i' I'd go crazy they they wouldn't like me up in in St Paul or anything like that so I'm very comfortable right here where I am but uh and and uh Tony fit right into that and like like Justin says there's we don't always agree on things and you know and and uh and so forth but uh but we all you know respect each other and and really kind of get down to discussing things and and uh you know working together to do what is best for the the city at least that's one of the things I think we believe and and over the years here uh you know that we have some long longevity on the council I think because uh for the most part people of the city uh see that and I I think that's a a communic ation back to us too that that we're pretty much headed in the right direction and it's very important to have the right staff and everything else like that to to be able to do that too and and I think uh Justin and my can attest to the fact that back in in the kind of the early 2000s it it it certainly you know wasn't that way you know there there there was a lot a lot that was different and so I think I think it's been kind of molded in pretty good and I'm and I'm looking forward to to to Dave Clauson getting on and and kind of fitting in with the with the rest of us and and again not always agreeing because we we don't always agree but uh but we we respectfully you know voice our opinions and and work together to to make things happen so um so um yeah I you know and Tony's Tony's just down around the corner in fact I got to walk past Dave's house to get to Tony's house uh but uh so uh and and Justin's not not too far away either but I don't know I guess it's it's kind of weighted toward that that end of the city I guess I don't know but uh so um so I'm sure that he'll he'll be we'll make sure he keeps involved um but uh so and I I was just also going to say that uh you know we have to see how you know all the all the weathermen are excited right because this is kind of the biggest storm that that potentially is coming and and my my phone I think I don't know if it's Google or one of the the weather apps almost knocked me off my chair earlier today when they announced this severe you know winter weather alert cuz you know and it's like holy cow but uh so we'll see whether whether all this excitement is warranted or not but but do be careful be considerate and uh so that we uh we all make it uh make it to Christmas and Beyond and and look forward to a wonderful 2025 so all right thank you awesome so I have three things and car our County Commissioner is going what do you mean three what you're one of them first thing though is more of an unofficial nature I just need to make sure you know for the public that wasn't aware at our last city council meeting after the council meeting was completed we did a performance evaluation of our city administrator Jennifer uh levit and um part of the process of that is we have to report back uh that the uh uh performance appraisal was very very good uh we're very happy with uh Jennifer's performance as our administrator of the City College Grove and uh we were able to share our thoughts and she was able to share her thoughts and and looking forward in the city so on behalf of the council I just want to mention to you thank you for your many years of great service to us and uh many years to come in that uh next on uh for my number two and I don't know if you want to go up to the the podium there um I know our County Commissioner Carla Bingham who is a resident here in cottage Grove also uh would like to present something to our esteemed council member yeah thank you mayor council uh in audience uh I'm County Commissioner I do live in Cottage Grove and um I just wanted to say uh to the retiring member Kata um it's been a joy to get to know you and your family and I have a commissioner service award from Washington County and it says on behalf of a grateful County the undersign commissioner hereby extends recognition and appreciation to Tony kimata Cottage Grove City council member for two years of outstanding service and support of Washington County's Mission so I just wanted to thank you for uh your years of service but I've really enjoyed um your expertise on housing that's been helpful to me and my role uh County plays a major role in that um but also social services and different things that we've had a lot of conversations about and again I just really enjoyed getting to know your family uh and getting to know you so thank you so much for for your Serv service and I know that this isn't the end of it so thank you thank [Applause] you all right now it comes down to me so uh you know me I make I I get notes and because I need I always I'm one of these people that I keep forgetting things like maybe it's coming with age I don't know Dave yeah it does it does come with age okay um so I want to just uh kind of recap a little bit of my partner down to the right here uh uh council member Kat and so obviously this evening we are celebrating uh his outstanding service to the citizens of kage gr and and being a a member great member of the city uh cotage Grove City Council uh Tony is a lifelong resident of Cottage Grove and he's been a long-standing dedicated member of our community not even just being on the council but as council member also was mentioning earlier uh Planning Commission and so on so since 2017 he has served on the uh krial Planning Commission and actively contributed to as a member ambassador to the keso uh Area Chamber of Commerce where he hasn't been involved with them for uh since 2016 Tony's commitment to our city extends beyond the council chambers as Vice chair of the St Paul Association of Realtors government Affairs committee and a member of both the St Paul and Stillwater area Chamber of Commerce uh he has worked tirelessly to improve our local economy and our quality of life he played a key role in working with northp point and expanding the business park while also advancing affordable housing initiatives and supporting projects like the interim pasos water treatment facilities that were built here in Cottage Grove throughout his time on the city council Tony has made a and this is rare by the way I have to say this uh he has maintained a perfect attendance record attending 31 special closed and regular meetings showing his unwavering dedication to serving the people of Cottage Grove that alone is worthy of special recognition and praise Tony's leadership also helped the city achieve it and we all love this one uh a AAA Bond rating uh with implementing a comprehensive 10-year financial management plan which I know my partner to the left here likes to uh and supporting uh supporting uh numerous critical housing projects in our community especially around affordable housing his background as a licensed real estate broker in both Minnesota and Wisconsin combined with the experience in the industry has been instrumental in achieving local development and economic growth here in Cottage Grove big one here a proud graduate of Park High School he's got his PhD there we go uh Tony's roots are in Cottage Grove and they definitely run deep here he's raised his family here obviously Crystal's in the audience with us and a fun fact um and this is funny though I don't know the end part that was shared on here was accurate or not but um he um even he's been a mechanic in his past uh and so because he was a mechanic in his past on one of the events that we had during night to night one of our fire trucks broke down and our council member crawled under the fir truck to get it up running again he he fixed it he actually fixed the firet truck so that we could get it back up and again bringing them parts yes it was pretty pretty amazing so we all have those things that happen and Tony you're a part of that so uh Tony your dedication your hard work uh your passion for this community is unwavering um you have left a lasting impact in our community and I don't think as you're hearing up from many of us up here I don't think it's over uh and you know that because we've talked about other roles for you to play within the within the city here in cotage Grove and I just want to say on behalf of all the citizens of kage Grove we all thank you our our staff thanks you for all the dedication the support uh Crystal thank you for giving him up many many many nights uh as we all know these lot of people think that this is just a first and third Wednesday of the month kind of thing and it's way more than that um and and we also know this too is we don't do this job for the money um we do it because we love the community and that's what you do too so you want to make this place a better place for your your family and other families here in cottage grow so what I'd like to do is um I'm going to present you with a plaque and it just says presented to council member Tony Kata in appreciation for your dedicated service to the city of Cottage Grove from the city of Cottage Grove so again on behalf of all of us Tony uh thank you for your service to our community yep let's give round there we go am I supposed to take a picture yes get in here got take a picture he's going to do it you want to come up yeah awesome there you go very good if you told me it was going to be 131 meetings when you asked me to yeah we never tell that now don't don't scare the guy in the audience [Laughter] away so uh one one last thing I just I'm going to say and this is more from a general sense and we talked a lot about you know what we do on the council and some of us with more years of service doing it than than others but one of the interesting things I and you know social media can be good and and also can be bad so I do find it interesting there are some people out of social media think that we're all a bunch of friends um that have known each other for years and to be quite Frank that's completely not true um I had no idea who you were until you got uh appointed to the Planning Commission and and same with Dave and same with uh council member Olson so it's it is just interesting how over the years or even I'll even say our County Commissioner Carla bingan when we both ran for Council the very first time so I just thought it was great and again appreciate all the dedication and support uh that you've given to our to our community um just for the public to be aware after we uh leave this council chambers here and close out this meeting uh we are having a a reception uh for council member Kata and obviously his wife uh to and staff and that to be down at River Oak's uh golf course and event center and so uh just letting everybody that uh there was invites that were sent out so we will all uh celebrate uh the years of service of Tony uh and his family uh down at River Oaks after this so uh there is no workshops open to the public or close to the public this evening so I'll look for a motion to adjourn move to adjourn oh no that's my job oh that's right sorry it's tradition it's tradition it's tradition that's why what just react first of all thank you for all the kind words it I told Carla that I might cry I still might we don't know um uh and I just want to end on one one final note which is uh as I've told the guys down at Public Works many times uh everything that we see and touch in this city runs through Public Works and Parks so tomorrow and Friday and Saturday and Sunday when the roads are clear go hug your plow driver but after they plowed the road yes afterwards and uh I moved to adjourn all right a motion to adjourn by council member gabat second by council member thei all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed we are adjourned there we for