Alrighty, 7 o'clock. We're on the air. Let's go ahead and call to order the regular meeting of the Oakdale City Council, October 28th, 2025. Sarah, will you please take the role? >> Council member Moore, >> here. >> Council member Morham, >> here. >> Council member Severson, >> here. >> Mayor Zabel >> here. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. All right. First step in front of us is approving our agenda. We have a slightly amended version in front of us tonight with an added consensus [clears throat] motion. Council members, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented? or as amended. Sorry. Uh there's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And the agenda is adopted. >> Uh next up we have approval of minutes. Two sets in front of us tonight. First up, workshop meeting minutes from October 14th, 2025. Any changes or corrections here? I'll look for a motion. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And those workshop meeting minutes are adopted. Uh last set are from our regular meeting on October 14th, 2025. How about any changes or corrections here? Seeing none, I'll look for a motion. >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And the regular meeting minutes from October 14th are approved as well. Uh we have a public hearing in front of us tonight. Uh before we get to that, do we have a staff presentation, Chris? Um, I can do it. >> Perfect. [laughter] >> Um, mayor and council. So, every year we certify um the delinquent utilities and the inactive accounts. They get a couple warnings leading up to it that we won't do this until X date and if they want to pay it in full full, they can before then. So, what you have in front of you is all the accounts that as of um right now are delinquent. And I believe they have till December 1st, I think. Is that right, >> to make payment? Payment will be November 15th. November 15th to make payment and then it won't be certified and it would be certified to Washington County for an a lean against their property taxes to pay the outstanding delinquent utility accounts. So that's what's in front of you tonight. >> Uh all right. Uh like I said, this is a public hearing. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. This is opportunity for anybody in the audience joining us that would like to speak to this agenda item only. Please feel free to step up to the podium, state your name and address for the record, and proceed with your comments. Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to the council for consideration. Uh, council members, can I get a motion? >> I'll move we wave reading and adopt resolution uh 2025-97 certifying outstanding delinquent utility and inactive accounts to Washington County for inclusion in 2026 property taxes. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. Any comments? All those in favor say I. >> I. opposed and resolution 2025-97 is adopted. Uh, next is open forum. Uh, before we get into that, we do have a proclamation. There we are. Recognizing first responders day. Whereas 911 uh 911 dispatchers, emergency medical services, fire personnel, law enforcement, and search and rescue teams protect and aid the public when there is an emergency or crisis. And whereas after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, police officer Sean Collier was shot to death by bombing suspects while responding to a report of a disturbance. And whereas soon after, officer Kier's brother began a movement to recognize and honor the men and women who are who are first on the scene of emergencies and who risked their lives to save others. And whereas every day, first responders risk their own safety in the performance of their duties to protect citizens. And whereas first responders are at the ready to aid others 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And whereas first responders undergo significant education, training, and personal sacrifice to achieve the expertise needed to respond to every type of emergency or crisis. And whereas in 2019, legislators established October 28th as first responders day in the nation. Therefore, I come mayor of Oakdale, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim October 28th as first responders day in the city of Oakdale. I know I my colleagues join me and our residents um in thanking our first responders here in Oakdale. We have absolutely some of the best. We are incredibly fortunate um for their dedication and expertise and commitment and compassion to everything that they respond to every single day. So, Chief W, Chief Newton, please extend our appreciation to your teams. Um I'd like to brag to every mayor that I meet that we will stack up our teams against theirs any day of the week because um they are truly the gold standard and we appreciate everything they do for us. >> [sighs] >> Uh we're still under open forum. So if there is anybody joining us that would like to speak about anything um on the agenda or not um this is your opportunity to do so. Please step up to the podium, state your name and address for the record and proceed with your comments. Seeing none, we'll keep things moving and move into consensus motions. Council members, we have A through J in front of us. Um, are there any that we would like to pull for individual consideration? I'm gonna pull item J. I won't talk about that one. Um, council members, can I get a motion to approve A through I is presented? >> Make a motion to approve consensus motions A through I as presented. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Uh, A through I are approved as presented. Item J is a request um to approve a onetime donation to uh open cupboard food shelf here in the city of Oakdale um using some of our charitable gambling funds uh that we have available to us. Um, I think we've all seen the the news stories over the last few months about the very very real and dramatic impacts that are coming to um Supplemental Nutrition Aid Program, >> assistance program, SNAP, um, formerly known as food stamps. Um, and um, the 40 I think the number I saw was 42 million Americans that u will be cut off from that program uh, starting November 1st uh, because the federal government frankly has refused to do their job. Um, this is a small but impactful gesture for the city of Oakdale um to step up and support people in our community um with the resources we have available to us. Um, I'm also um I'm I'm glad to hear a lot of local units of government are stepping up, including the state of Minnesota, um to try and fill what will be a very uh impactful void um in our community and every community. So, um this is a very impactful donation. I want to thank um all of the amazing people, especially the executive director Jessica Francis at Open Cupboard for um the the tremendous work that they do in our community, also with their location in Maplewood. Um they, you know, when they first opened about a decade ago, they were supporting about 400 families a week. Now they're doing 4,000. And so the need has definitely grown and the city is proud of our partnership with them um and glad to be able to help them out. So, um, also I want to encourage residents to look and see how you might be able to help. Whether it's volunteering, whether it's a financial donation, um, everything helps. $1 donated can buy seven pounds of food through the the the food uh, food shelf network, whether it's Second Harvest Heartland or Open Cupboard. So, um, $1 can go a long ways. I'm going to make a motion to approve consensus. Motion J is presented. I get a second. >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. and we will get that donation out to door out the door and put to good use in our community. Uh let's check in with our advisory boards and commissions. The environmental management commission met Monday last week. Um and I am their council leazison. They are working on their 2026 work plan. Um we had a very lively brainstorming session. Um following council's past comments with all of our commissions, I I really encourage them to think big. um knowing that there will be time for them to talk to us about their ideas. Um but we really want to um make our commissions working commissions and so they came up with a long list of really good ideas for staff to dig into. You're welcome. Um and I'm excited to for them to continue working on those ideas as well as our um council commission dinner that we have with them in the beginning of the new year to to finalize their work plan. So they're feeling pretty excited about that. So lots of good work coming out of the EMC. Uh no meeting for planning. So parks parks and wreck met. >> Yeah. No, parks and wreck met. It was a good meeting. Um they talked about their work plan for next year and also there was a lively conversation about how successful the meeting held at Tanner Park was the month before. We had a lot of the public out really good feedback. We got history on what that park was used for decades ago. We got to talk about what we're hopeful for in the future. So the parks commission decided they wanted to do more of those next year. They're going to add another meeting in a park to publicize and get more people uh get their feedback in the places they're spending time. So, that's exciting. We also got updates on the two new Willoughbrook parks being finished. Uh they're not going to be fully finished until the spring and they'll be ribbon cutings, but they are already very close to being done and they are beautiful. So, we're excited to welcome them into the parks family in Oakdale. >> Very cool. >> And new names will be announced soon, so we're excited for that. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh, and no, no meeting for the tree board. No award bids tonight. So, we'll move into staff reports. Engineering. We have an item. Mr. Bachmire, welcome. What do you have for us? >> Good evening, mayor and council. The one item I have before you this evening is to approve the operations and maintenance ownership and maintenance agreement for the fourth street bridge over 694 that was reconstructed as part of the Gold Line BRT project. Uh during previously earlier this year, we had discussions with the council during workshop sessions where we talked about a framework for negotiations with the gold line uh met council and um Mindot regarding uh ownership and maintenance of infrastructure along the corridor. Um earlier this year, you also approved the signal operations and maintenance agreement with Washington County. So this is the second of three agreements. There will be a third one that'll be coming up later this year in regards to the general infrastructure for uh the corridor. Uh but as it relates to this project, again, this is the four street bridge project. Prior to the construction, Mindot owned the bridge. Uh Mindot will continue to own that bridge and be responsible for major maintenance and um inspections. They have a partnership with Met Council on a cost share. The city will continue to do minor maintenance, generally snow removal, litter pickup, graffiti removal. We had those obligations prior to the bridge being reconstructed. The new element is the trail that's on the bridge. U so those additional costs we've tried to identify. They're very minimal costs for the additional snow removal and lighting costs associated with the trail. Uh the litter and graffiti, uh they're unknown at this time, but we don't expect them to be a significant item. Uh, the recommendation is to approve the agreement. I stand for any questions of council may have. >> Council members, any questions for Brian? >> All right. Can I get a motion? >> Move we authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign the ownership maintenance agreement for bridge number 82878 over trunk highway 694 in Oakdale on behalf of the city. >> Ah, yes. Bridge 82878. >> That's favorite. >> That's how we all know it. >> Yes. Uh, there's a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Final comments. I'm just going to ask, are there really 82,000 bridges in Minnesota? Is that where that number comes? >> It wouldn't surprise me. Quite honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. >> All right. >> Um, actually, I just noticed that we have two different bridge numbers on here. We have 82878 and 82876. >> Wonder if one was the previous one and this one. So let me uh the bridge number that is listed on the agreement is >> 8287817 excuse me 82817 >> 82817 >> So the action council action needs to be agenda or amended 8217 >> Jim is that clerical enough that staff can just make corrections to reflect >> yes >> after the fact. Okay. So, we're good as is. Yeah. Uh, we had a motion. We had a second. Conversation. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And that authorization is given. We'll figure it out. [laughter] >> Yes, Mayor. >> We know which bridge it is. Yep. There's only one at Fourth Street. All right. Uh, thank you, Brian. Uh, police. Chief Newton, what do you have for us tonight? Money. Yes. [clears throat] Bringing money in. Love it. Yes. Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council. Um, as the police department continues to make efforts with, uh, prioritizing autotheft and recovering stolen vehicles, the department submitted a grant funding request to the state in the amount of $12,195 to purchase two additional stationary license plate readers. Currently, this uh, police department has four stationary license plate readers. um two located in the area of 10th and Hallmark and two located in the area of Third Street in Inwood. And if authorized by the council um we would use these funds and acquire two additional license plate readers and have them installed in the area near 34th Street in Marketplace. [clears throat] So, since the deployment of license plate reader technology in early 2024, um, our readers have scanned nearly 8 million license plates, um, resulting in 58 actionable items for law enforcement, including several arrests and the recovery of eight stolen vehicles. So leveraging this technology is important to us as we pair this with proactive enforcement and thorough investigation to continue combating uh autotheft. I'd like to point out just a couple points regarding license plate readers is uh these will scan license plates and compare them alpha numeric to the hot list with the state of Minnesota and that hot list includes stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, amber alerts, missing persons and dangerous individuals. So [snorts] when a match or hit occurs, uh it'll alert officers to respond to that area. And again, I just want to make clear that this is these license plate readers does not run the plate or uh divulge any personal information. It simply uh compares that data on the license plate to the hot list. And with respect to data privacy, I think it's important to point out that the police department follows best practices and policy guidelines uh in regard to the use, access, and storage of data. [clears throat] Um so what that means is that state law requires us um or we can keep the data up to 60 days. We do have that at 30 days at which point it's auto automatically purged and deleted permanently. It's controlled access to personnel from the police department only. Uh this data is exclusively for criminal investigations and it's not shared with outside agencies including local agencies, state or federal. Uh this license plate reader data is used u is not used for general surveillance uh noncriminal investigations and things such as immigration. Uh just to uh turn before I turn this back over, I'll just say that um the addition of these two stationary uh license plate readers will continue to assist the police department with combating autotheft and reducing autotheft in the city. And I'll turn it back over to you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Chief Newton. Uh council members, any questions for Chief? All right, we have two actions, so we'll take one at a time. You can make a motion to wave reading and adopt resolution 2025-98 accepting the Minnesota Autotheft Grant funds in the amount of $12,195 from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to the city of Oakdale. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Final comments. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And resolution 2025-98 is adopted. One more action. >> Keep going. And I'll make a motion to weigh uh make a motion to authorize the city administrator to execute documents accordingly. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any conversation on that? All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And that authorization is given. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Chief Newton. Uh, city attorney, Mr. Thompson. What do you have for us tonight? >> Uh, Mr. Mayor, have nothing specific to report, but happy to answer questions. >> All right. Anybody have any questions for Jim? All right. Right, let's check in with our city administrator. Chris, you got one item for us? >> Do Mayor Council, I'm going to ask Jake Foster, the assistant city administrator, come up and um and and report on this one. He's done all the background work for on it, so it's his to ask for approval. >> Mr. Foster, welcome. >> Uh thanks, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, uh Mayor Councel. Uh so the item before you is to um approve a professional service agreement to complete a comprehensive utility study, utility rate study. The last time the city did this was back in 2020. Since then, we've had a global pandemic. Um considerable amount of development, residential, u multifamily. So the underlying assumptions that were used to develop that rate study are really no longer relevant to the city's needs and financial model. We solicited or staff solicited um proposals or reached out to six different firms ultimately receiving proposals from three. The uh firm that sort of is being recommended kind of rose to the top is uh AE2S as they also have engineering background in addition to their financial services. So they're um much more in-depth especially in terms of the cost of services analysis and the rate structure evaluation. They're able to um you know run different scenarios to see what usage looks at like during peak times, what different user groups um how they impact both the system and costs at those peak times and do some more engineering heavy um lifting that uh some of these other firms just aren't equipped to do. Furthermore, there is um $100,000 in the utility replacement fund in 2026 programmed uh to be used for this study with the grand total from AE2s coming under um just under that $100,000 at um $99,500. Um with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions um related to the firm or the study or the staff's recommendation. >> Thank you, Jake. Uh council members, any questions for Jake? >> All right. Can I get a motion? I will move move that we approve the proposed contract with AE2S to complete a utility rate study and authorize the mayor and city administrator to execute the agreement. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. Final comments. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And that uh authorization is given. >> Thank you, Jake. Thank you. Uh Chris, anything else under admin report tonight? >> No, I have nothing new to report. [clears throat] Thank you. >> All right. Anybody have any questions for Chris? All right. Council presentations. Anybody want to go first? >> I'll go first. >> All right. Council member Moore. >> I uh wanted to note that anybody on Facebook saw the harrowing and sometimes heartbreaking search for Donnie the the dog, a former council member. And I now that um he's safe and at home and checked out, it's just wonderful, I think, to see how the community came together, rallied around the her and um her husband and and just gave them a giant hug, you know, um all the calls, all the sightings and everything. I think it was really cool to watch and to have um seen it happen, especially now that he's home safe. >> In a world filled with so much bad news, it's >> nice to grab on to some good news finally. So, uh, how about down here? Council member Morham or Council Member Severson. >> Nothing for me. >> Nothing for me. >> All righty. I have a few. Uh, first up, we hope everybody will join our Oakdale Police and Fire departments for Halloween trick-or-treating this Friday, October 31st, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. with free hot dogs and candy. It'll be located at Fire Station 2, uh, 66 3315th Street North. I heard a wild rumor that both our police and fire chief will be dressing up in costumes, >> so that too. >> Hope you can join us for that. That'd be a That'd be a lot of fun. Your uniforms do not count as costumes. [laughter] Just a wild rumor. Um, Oakdale City Hall will once again serve as a drop off site for pumpkin recycling uh in partnership with Washington County. So, uh, if you are looking for a place to dispose of your pumpkins where they can be composted, bring them on down here to city hall um, and you can toss them in the dumpster on the north side of the parking lot um, from October 31st through November 10th. Um, all we ask is pumpkins must be free of glitter, paint, wax, and candles. Um, because they do get composted. So, uh, another cool service. I think this is third or fourth year that we've offered it. It's always very popular. So, glad to keep that going. And a big thank you to Washington County for the partnership. Uh, time is almost up, but we're still accepting nominations for Oakdale's volunteer of the year. They are due by this Friday, October 31st. Each year, the city recognizes an individual or group that has gone above and beyond in their efforts to get involved in our city and to help others. Uh if you would like to recognize a deserving volunteer and nominate them, you can complete the online form um at oakdalemn.gov. Uh hard to believe, but winter parking restrictions start this Saturday, November 1st, and they run through April 1st. Uh during this time, no vehicle may park on city streets between midnight and 5:00 a.m. or anytime snow accumulation equals or exceeds 2 in until that street has been cleared of snow. And to dispel all of the rumors and all the things that people like to post online, we do ticket. Absolutely. Last year we we issued hundreds of tickets. So, um, our cops are out there. We really really need residents to stay off the streets from November 1st through April 1st to give public public works plenty of space um if there is a snow emergency to respond to that. And we all know how much um we love the great job that our public works crews do clearing snow. So, uh, we need to give them that space. Uh finally, election day is just one week away. Uh and we actually have something to vote on here in this city. Uh not every city has that in odd years. Um but on election day, Tuesday, November 4th, voters uh must go to their assigned precinct location. There are two uh ballot questions um regarding operating levy with the school district as well as a special election for one school board seat. Um so uh you can check out the to find your precinct location. Everybody's the same except precinct 2. um that is now at Tartan High School. Um but just to reconfirm where you're supposed to vote, go to mnvotes.org, the Secretary of State site. You type in your address, it pops up. You can even take a peek at um the ballot. You can view a sample ballot on there so you can know how you're going to vote before you go in. So, um also want to take the opportunity to thank all of the election judges. Um those volunteers, uh every every election, they do incredible work making sure the process runs smoothly for people um uh that are voting. um making sure that accommodations are in place if people need them. Um they are the unsung heroes in our democracy. They do a tremendous work. Um we're incredibly grateful for their their volunteerism on uh on election day. Bills claims roster in front of us October 15th through October 28th uh in the amount of 1.76 million and change. Council members, are there any that we need to pull out for additional information? Can I get a motion to approve claims as presented? Make a motion to approve claims as presented. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. All right. Bills are paid for another two weeks. Score. All righty. Uh, next up on our agenda. Uh, the agenda item is preliminary consideration of allegations or charges against a city of Oakdale employee under Minnesota statute section 13D.05 subdivision 2 clause B. The employee is Bob Banick. Mr. Beanick, um the default in these proceedings is that these sessions occur under close session rules. However, the decision to proceed is up to you. Do you want to proceed under open or close session? >> We can go closed. >> Okay. >> Closed. Okay. Um council members, at this time, I will now entertain a motion to close this portion of the meeting. >> So, move. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second >> motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And we are uh Hang on. All right. The time is 7:25 p.m. The City of Oakdale City Council will now go into a close session. Only authorized City of Oakdale representatives may be present during the close session except as otherwise authorized by the city council. Mr. Beick, uh, please inform us where we can find you if the city council desires to bring you in for any portion of the closed meeting. At this time uh for the public to understand what's going on here, the city council will be retiring to a separate conference room to conduct a close session under um authority given under state law, which means that the video feed will terminate. Um are we ending the video feed for the evening here? >> Mayor, I was going to ask um attorney Fitz Simmons. >> It's not required. >> Yeah. So all we need is a minimum is audio recording. So, logistically, can you just do that here? So, Mr. Mayor, maybe we don't have to proceed to a separate conference room. >> We've got the audio we can turn on here. We'll cut the video feed. >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. >> Uh I would suggest we go into the oak room. >> Okay. >> Um so, we're going to go ahead and retire to the oak room. For those viewing at home, um this is where the video coverage of our meeting will end. um a full record of um additional proceedings happening under open meeting laws when we come back will be um documented in our official minutes going forward. >> Okay. So, city council is going to retire to um our close session and then we can just um close off the the video feed.