This transcript has been formatted with speaker names and estimated timestamps based on the flow of the meeting and the context provided. [00:00] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, good evening. Uh, this is the June 26, 2024 Cottage Grove City Council meeting, uh, which I am calling to order. Um, our first order of business this evening is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you please rise. I pledge allegiance 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. All right, will the clerk please do the roll? [00:23] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Clausen? [00:25] **Councilmember David Clausen:** Present. [00:26] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? [00:27] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Here. [00:28] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? [00:29] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Here. [00:30] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Garza? [00:31] **Councilmember Monique Garza:** Here. [00:32] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? [00:33] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Here. Uh, next item on our agenda this evening is Open Forum. Uh, this is the opportunity for anybody that wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda, uh, is welcome to do so. We did have a signup sheet out there and nobody did sign up. So in the event that somebody came in, was there anybody that wants to speak during Open Forum? All right, seeing none, I will close Open Forum and I'll move to number five which is Adoption of the Agenda. [00:54] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Move the agenda. [00:56] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Second. [00:57] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** We have a motion by Councilmember Olsen, second by Councilmember Thiede. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, next then is presentations. We have two this evening and the first one is, uh, special for us, our Council, uh, in the City of Cottage Grove, which is an Eagle Scout award, uh, for Kristen Meyer. And so what I'd ask is Council join me, and Kristen, if you want to come up and, uh, we'll do a presentation. Stand in your spot. All right, so as I was talking to him a little bit before we got started, uh, this evening, and his parents are in the audience here, uh, this is always a very special time for all of us in Cottage Grove because whether it's, uh, Girl Scout Gold or the Eagle Scout award for boys, um, we take great pride in the citizens of Cottage Grove achieving this huge, uh, important rank. And, uh, so much so that the City of Cottage Grove, like we're doing this evening for you, are recognizing you for your, uh, amazing achievement in receiving the rank of Eagle Scout. Other than presenting you with this plaque this evening, uh, we also—if you didn't check it out yet—if you go down the hall next to our council chambers here, um, all of the previous, uh, Eagle and Gold Scout awards—excuse me, Gold Awards—for girls and the boys Eagle Scouts are all up on a wall with their name and the year that they achieved that Eagle Scout. And it goes back quite a ways. So you are going to be part of history here in Cottage Grove, uh, that, uh, dates back many, many, many decades. So with that being said, what I'm going to do this evening is present, uh, Kristen with a plaque. I'll read that here in a minute and then once I'm done doing that, we all could clap and and be excited, right? He goes, "Yeah, really." Um, and then I'm going to ask you to tell the public what you did, uh, to achieve your Eagle Scout rank. So, uh, so what this says, this is Kristen Meyer: "Congratulations on attaining the rank of Eagle Scout through Troop 9005 Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Presented this 26th day of June, 2024, from the City of Cottage Grove. Myron Bailey, Mayor." So on behalf of myself, the rest of the council colleagues I have here, and the citizens of Cottage Grove, we want to congratulate you. You get that. Okay. All right, so now I'm going to turn the mic over to you and you can tell the public, uh, what your Eagle Scout was or or your project was. [02:40] **Kristen Meyer:** Yeah, so for my project, I had built three of the rocket-style bat houses, which may not seem very impressive at first, but each bat house stands at over three feet tall and can each house up to 400 bats alone. And so I—me and everyone else that participated with me—had put in a total of over 200 hours into the project. Um, and so I'd built these down at Carpenter Nature Center. And the way they're installed into the ground is you dig a three-foot hole, you mount it to a 20-foot steel post, hoist the pole into the hole, and then you pour in concrete and just let it set. And so all three of the bat houses are still standing and I've been monitoring them and we'll continue to do so, uh, for any signs of bats. [03:22] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, that's really cool. So you—all you said three of them, you did three of them? And so if anybody wants to see your work, they go to Carpenter Nature Center to see it. Okay. And you said no bats yet or you're not sure? [03:32] **Kristen Meyer:** I have not seen any bats yet. [03:34] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Okay, awesome. Used to be quite a few, but the last quite few years they've been down. [03:38] **Kristen Meyer:** Yeah, and that's the hope with the bat houses is that they can help to reestablish the population. [03:42] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** I am for that, too. Exactly. So I'm going to give you your plaque back here and then why don't we do a quick picture and then another round of applause for our Eagle Scout award. (Parents) want to come up and get a picture? You guys want to come on up? Come on up. Go ahead, come on up. Let's get a picture. We're making memories today. Come on right here. Right? Absolutely perfect. Good. All right, awesome. Congratulations. And again, congratulations, Mom and Dad. I know, uh, and I'm sure Councilmember Thiede remembers this—getting my son through to the end took some battles sometimes. [04:28] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** I never made it all the way to Eagle Scout. [04:30] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Neither did I. So it's definitely a commitment. Proud of that young man. All right, uh, so our next item under presentations this evening is the Fourth of July fireworks donation presentation. And I'm going to for a moment kick it over to Councilmember Olsen to introduce a guest who is in the audience here and then we'll take it from there. So Councilmember Olsen. [04:49] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Perfect. Well, thank you very much, Mayor. Um, as everybody in the community knows, uh, the Cottage Grove Lions Club is proud to, uh, hold the Fourth of July event each year at Kingston Park. And the purpose of, um, this presentation tonight is to really give thanks to our sponsors. But what I'd like to do is ask our past president, John Langen, if he would mind stepping up to the podium. He's here tonight representing the Cottage Grove Lions, and maybe John could, uh, tell us a little bit about, you know, the event, when it starts, what we'll have going on, all of the rest of it. And, uh, I figure since we had rain for Strawberry Fest, the weather should be perfect for the fourth. So John, take it away. [05:25] **John Langen (Lions Club):** That would be nice if we could get some decent rain for the fourth, right? Yes, we've had enough rain. So, um, the event, yep, of course is on the 4th. Um, start I believe grilling at 5:00. We go all the way up until about 10:00, 10:30, right till about the fireworks are done. Um, we'll be cooking, um, hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers. Um, I believe we're going to probably buy some more bikes again this year and probably raffle/give those away, um, along with glow sticks as well too. Um, I know there'll be a vendor, Mickey’s, will be there selling ice cream. There'll be another vendor—and I forget the name—but, um, they'll be doing roasted corn and cheese curds as well too. So yeah, looking forward to a great event and hopefully, yeah, the weather will hold out for us. [06:05] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** And it seems like every year, uh, you know, we draw just a ton of people. And you mentioned that we do the raffle there, which is something that I think people appreciate. So that doesn't cost anything. It's, it's, uh, for the youth who come to the event. [06:17] **John Langen:** Absolutely. Um, that's on our dime as, as the Lions Club, and it's just a way of sort of giving back to the community. So when you come, make sure you get your raffle tickets. And then, uh, typically we have, uh, Cottage Grove Fire, some of the, uh, police officers, maybe some apparatus be there as well. [06:33] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Yeah. Yeah, so it's a, it's a good event. And John is the grill master, I have to give credit where credit is due. Um, you did, you did a great job yourself though. [06:40] **John Langen:** Well, I appreciate it. I'm a rookie but I'm learning from the best. Uh, and we just want everybody to come out and have a really nice time. [06:46] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Absolutely. Yeah. So, uh, John, anything else you wanted to add on the event or anything like that? [06:51] **John Langen:** Oh, that's all I got. [06:52] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Okay, perfect. Well, Mayor. [06:53] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Go ahead. Thursday night, right? [06:54] **John Langen:** Yeah, Thursday night. [06:55] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Thursday night, July—it is on the Fourth of July. Yeah, absolutely. And we have some really, um, awesome vendors that come and participate. And then too, uh, none of this happens without, you know, the donations of some of our friends in the business community. And Mayor, I know you wanted to take a minute to recognize some of those. So, uh, for those who are watching at home, they can see it on the screen. So, um, frankly, if we didn't have—you know, we love the Lions, they've been fantastic, uh, whether it's Strawberry Fest or other events, uh, and including, uh, being kind of the one that kind of sets up the Fourth of July and the family picnic and the family fun—um, we couldn't do the fireworks without, uh, the sponsors who are on the screen. So, uh, 3M, Hy-Vee, NorthPoint Development—which is fairly new to our town—Renewal by Andersen, and Tennis Sanitation. All of them, uh, donated $5,000 towards the fireworks, which gives us a grand total obviously of $25,000 worth of fireworks. So when you—and I, I don't know truly what the comparison is from how much they spent for Strawberry Fest, uh, for fireworks at Strawberry Fest, which are really nice... [07:55] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** I think it's... I negotiate quite a deal with it, yeah. [07:58] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** So he gets a, he gets a—Dave gets a good deal. Uh, but the, the point of the matter is, um, if you haven't, uh, been to the last couple years where these, uh, same—frankly these same, uh, businesses have been supporting the fireworks, uh, here in Cottage Grove for, for quite a few years now, um, it is one heck of a show and it is constant. So, uh, if you really want to see an amazing, uh, display, um, come on down to Cottage Grove, have some, some food and some fun with the Lions. And then if you happen—I know you might not see NorthPoint, or you might see employees though of all these businesses, whether it's Hy-Vee or Tennis or whatever—please thank them. Um, again, they didn't have to do this. Uh, they're doing it because they're part of our community and they want to give back to our community. So on behalf of myself and I know the rest of the council and our staff, um, thanks once again, uh, to 3M, Hy-Vee, NorthPoint Development, Renewal by Andersen, and Tennis Sanitation. And thank you, John, for being here tonight to tell us a little bit about the event. Looking forward to a really great night. [08:52] **John Langen:** You're welcome. You got it. Thank you for coming. Take care. [08:55] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, uh, so now we're on to number seven, which is the Consent Agenda. Was there anything Council wanted to pull on consent this evening? [09:02] **Councilmember David Clausen:** No, I'd like to move consent. [09:04] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion, uh, to move consent by Councilmember Clausen. Do I have a second? [09:08] **Councilmember Monique Garza:** Second. [09:09] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Garza. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carries. So if you're here for anything that's on tonight's consent agenda, they have all been approved. Uh, eight is Approved Disbursement, which is 8A is to pay the bills. [09:27] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Move the bills. [09:28] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** We have a motion by Councilmember Olsen. [09:29] **Councilmember David Clausen:** Second. [09:30] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Clausen. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, nine is public hearings, we have none this evening. Uh, 10 is Bid Awards. We do have one, uh, this evening, which is the Highway 61 River Oaks R-Cut Project Bid Award. And our, our Public Works Director, uh, Ryan Burfeind, is going to walk us through this. So welcome, Ryan. [09:56] **Ryan Burfeind (Public Works Director):** Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. Uh, so bids were, uh, received for this project. And just as a reminder, because it's kind of a unique project, a different project that, um, we haven't done in our community before: so this is that Reduced Conflict U-Turn intersection. So that's where "R-Cut" comes from, um, down at the River Oaks entrance, which kind of shares that southerly, um, entrance for Zivic as well. And really what this is is a safety enhancement. Um, it's really meant to improve that access from the safety perspective. What you do is, there's that median where you can cross through right now, um, which allows for accidents which are the right-angle accidents, which are by far the most severe at those high speeds. It removes that and it constructs two U-turns in pretty close proximity to the existing driveway. Um, sometimes on Highway 52 you see them maybe like almost a half mile away; these are, are pretty close, so it's still very convenient. Um, and cars still need to wait for a gap, right? So it's not necessarily, um, allowing cars to get out faster, but it really eliminates that, that severe right-angle accident and, and almost just kind of prevents people from making bad decisions, right? You see a lot right now where people are double-stacked in the median and now one car can't see, so it eliminates all those issues. And, and MnDOT has a good history with these and it sees about an 80 to 90% reduction in serious injury and fatality crashes after they're implemented. We obviously have been fortunate, uh, to not have a fatality there, so this is a little bit of a proactive project. Um, but that's why we were able to get grant funding for it. Um, and I'd like to talk about those benefits because unfortunately, when you see the bids, we did, uh, have our lowest bid was higher than our engineer's estimate. Um, we got good competitive bidding from the standpoint we have seven contractors who bid the project, um, but we are about 18% over, um, that, that low—the base bid versus the engineer's estimate. And so about 1.2 million. The grant funding is, is 1 million $10,000. Um, initially it was 710,000; MnDOT actually gave us an extra 300,000, um, to help make sure we could fund as much of this project as possible through their Local Partnership Program grant. So, um, the City's still only looking at from this, you know, construction a little under $200,000 of a cost share effectively. Um, and that we would, uh, fund through our MSA funding, so we wouldn't be looking to fund that through general levy or taxes. So, um, considering all of that and, and when you look at these higher bids, um, there's a couple things that could have gone into it. You know, the time of year that we ended up bidding it—there was quite a process to get through, to get through all the different approvals at the state level and the grants—and it is a very challenging project because we have to build it, um, basically day by day with lane closures, almost like what you're seeing with the bridge right now down at Innovation Road. So, um, you actually have to, you know, do some work and each day just do a little bit of that concrete work. So it's a challenging project to estimate and that could have gone into it as well. So, um, knowing that we have that MSA funding, we'll be able to, you know, tap into once the East Point project is done, um, we are comfortable recommending we award this bid. And, and unfortunately we are in a little bit of a time crunch because, uh, we do have to award a project by the end of this month to tap into those grant funds as well. So with that, we are recommending award and I will stand for any questions. [13:00] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Okay, Council, do you have any questions for Ryan? Yes, Councilmember Olsen. [13:04] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Ryan, thanks very much. Um, I'm glad you brought up the fact that, uh, we'll be able to utilize MSA funding for that. And you know what that means and I know what that means, but there might be people watching at home who don't. So would you just take a minute to explain what that Municipal State Aid funding is? [13:18] **Ryan Burfeind:** Yep, yep. So the Municipal State Aid funds—cities get them, counties get them, and we can use them for either projects on our own state aid roads like 80th Street, East Point, Douglas, Jamaica, or we can use them when we're working on a higher-level road like a county road or a state highway in this case. Um, they do come, um, through the gas taxes where that funding is received from and it's split out based on the size of your community. Um, and like I mentioned, really we've been using the current funds each year for our East Point and Jamaica project which we're of course wrapping up this year. Um, so we'll have that funding available then to tap into once that project is complete and paid off. [13:58] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Perfect. Thank you very much. I just wanted to make sure anybody watching at home if they had any questions understood that, uh, we do get those Municipal State Aid funds allocated to us on an annualized basis and, you know, that they are available to us for projects like this because otherwise, um, that would put quite the burden on the taxpayer here in the City of Cottage Grove. Appreciate it. [14:18] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Awesome. All right, thank you. And oh yeah, Councilmember Thiede. [14:21] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Just out of curiosity, it—uh, it was there, yeah—you said we basically getting funded, uh, a million-ten of that? [14:28] **Ryan Burfeind:** Yep. So just over a million dollars will be grant funding paying for that project and that—and that’s a combination of state and federal. [14:35] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** So that is a, a grant, uh, through the State of Minnesota? [14:38] **Ryan Burfeind:** So it's our Local Partnership Program is the name of the grant. So it's where MnDOT partners with local agencies to fund projects like this. [14:45] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** All right. I was just kind of curious, fact that it's also a U.S. highway whether—whether there would have been any other monies or, or could be any other monies to even to take up that other 200 grand. [14:55] **Ryan Burfeind:** So we did, uh, reach out, Mayor and Council, to MnDOT to see if—if there could be additional funding. Um, they kind of did a somewhat unique thing in, in, in awarding an additional 300,000, um, already. So that was really, I think, you know, really what we could get. We did look at the different pots, right? When this project came up, um, it was actually driven by some challenges in that area with some crashes, um, not as severe, a couple years ago. And, and MnDOT really directed us to this grant fund that was the most acceptable. But with that additional 300,000, um, that was really the most we could get for the project. [15:30] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** And again, what was the base for the grant? Who's—who's sponsoring that grant or where's that money coming from again? [15:35] **Ryan Burfeind:** Yep, so that's a state—that's a state grant. That's also a state... okay. Yep. All right. [15:40] **Councilmember David Clausen:** So every time we update, upgrade a road, I probably ask this question, but the—the current style of interchange was acceptable up to a certain volume. Highway 61 has been in its current configuration for as long as I can remember. So as we—as volume has increased, it's become more and more unsafe, which is preempting what we're doing now. What's the life expectancy of this type of improvement in terms of volume and, you know, um, infrastructure? In terms of infrastructure investment, is this something that will kind of last until—unless until there needs to be some sort of like, uh, metered interchange there, or is there another next step if—if we see volume increases beyond what are projected? [16:22] **Ryan Burfeind:** That's a good question, Councilmember Clausen. So, um, this will be the first one in this area. I think you will actually see MnDOT start to, uh, and continue to look at installing these along Highway 61 down in Denmark Township. We certainly have other intersections. Um, it definitely will have a—a longer life cycle. The safety is always there, right? That safety improvement. Then it really becomes access, right? You're—we're growing, Hastings is growing. Um, so you're going to see more and more traffic that'll make the actual physical access harder. You would not see signals at any of these intersections just with this type of speed. You know, we—there are two at Manning and, and, and 10. Really, as Cottage Grove continues to develop—and this is obviously far down the road—in that area, you'd likely see more of a system of frontage roads and inter-continued interchanges, right? Like we have Innovation Road, 80th Street, 70th Street. One of those would likely be some way down the road, um, at Manning Avenue and potentially another one in this area. Now that's pretty far out, but that would be the next step. Um, unfortunately there's not—it's a challenge, right, with these freeways. They are there to move traffic fast and efficiently. Um, we're really fortunate MnDOT is working with us on this type of project because otherwise they just close the median and then cars have to like go down to Manning and turn around. So, um, I can't give an exact answer for the lifetime, the life cycle, just because, um, it'll always work. It's just—it's a matter of the longer delays. Um, but you really have to see development come through this area, our future growth, to have those frontage roads and interchanges. [17:55] **Councilmember David Clausen:** All right, so there is—there is a plan for what happens next? [17:58] **Ryan Burfeind:** Yep, that would be the next step. It's pretty far out, but that—like we saw down at the Innovation interchange. [18:03] **Councilmember David Clausen:** Good. Thank you. [18:04] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, um, any other questions, Council, at this point? [18:07] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Mayor, I'll make... go ahead. I'll—I'll move that we adopt Resolution 2024-90, awarding the, um, through Highway 61 River Oaks R-Cut Project to Palda & Sons Companies, Inc. in the total amount of 1,023,800... and the most important 45 cents of your life there. [18:31] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** There it is. So I have a motion by Councilmember Olsen. Do I have a second? [18:35] **Councilmember Monique Garza:** I second. [18:36] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Garza. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, thank you, Ryan. [18:47] **Ryan Burfeind:** Thank you all. [18:48] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, uh, next is 11 is a Regular Agenda. We do not have anything on our Regular Agenda this evening. So now we're all the way down to Council comments, requests, and I will start with Councilmember Clausen. [18:59] **Councilmember David Clausen:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I don't have any comments, but the only request I have is that leading into the holiday weekend, everyone have a safe and fun and responsible holiday. Thank you. [19:10] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** That's perfect. I agree with you on that. Uh, Councilmember Olsen. [19:14] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Mayor, I just have a few things today. First of all, I want to thank, uh, Councilmember Thiede and the rest of the members of the Strawberry Fest committee for all of their hard work and effort putting on this year's Strawberry Fest event. Uh, it was made more challenging for them this year due to the weather. Um, there—there, uh, have been years where we've had some rain and there have been several years where we've had really great weather, and the rain never makes it easy. But the team was out there working hard. I know that, um, the, uh, Strawberry Fest Marketplace was packed full even though it was raining. Um, and—and you can tell when you look at the fields out there. But, um, you know, that whole team worked very, very hard to bring us to this point, get us through this point. And what you may not know is now that it's over, the work doesn't stop, because now they're already planning for next year. So, um, thank you to all of the Strawberry Fest committee members. Also want to thank all of our, uh, ambassadors who served for the last year, uh, Strawberry Fest ambassadors who represented the City of Cottage Grove, including Councilmember Garza's daughter. Um, they had, uh, their time in the sun and now, I believe Mayor, they had the coronation... was it Monday night? [20:25] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Monday night, yep. [20:26] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** That you spoke at. So now we have a, a new batch of Strawberry Fest ambassadors and I'm sure they will be, uh, just as wonderful as the past batch, but we were very pleased to have all of those folks representing our community for the last year. Again, reminder: uh, July 4th, 5:00, Kingston Park for this year's family-friendly Fourth of July event. Um, thanks again to all our, uh, vendors who have agreed to come. Thanks again to all of the Cottage Grove Lions members who are going to be there, uh, to make it a really fun event. And thank you to, uh, all of those who made donations, as you mentioned earlier, Mayor, so that we could have a great event. I also want to say thanks to our City staff for all of the hard work and effort they put forth with respect to Strawberry Fest. People may not realize it because, um, you know, they just sort of see the end of—the end result of the work. But we had Parks people there working the entire festival whether—whether it was raining, uh, or not; emptying garbage cans, making sure that all of the waste receptacles were available, making sure that the, uh, recyclable receptacles were available and taken care of. We had, um, just a bunch of our Public Safety folks there—Police, Fire, EMS, etc. A lot of the City staff were there representing the various elements of the City, including Discover Cottage Grove; they were part of the Strawberry Fest Marketplace. So, uh, this is all work that they're doing, uh, in addition to their quote-unquote "day job," and, uh, they deserve a lot of gratitude and a lot of credit for being there for us for Strawberry Fest. So thank you again. I know in many cases, uh, the departments, uh, sort of put a kibosh on, um, whether it's a vacation or anything like that so that we have appropriate staffing to keep the park safe and, uh, make sure that everybody's having fun. So with that, Mayor, I'm going to turn it back, uh, over to you. And, uh, again, you guys, Fourth of July, 5:00, Kingston. Be there. [22:15] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** There you go. Councilmember Thiede. [22:18] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** So thank you, Councilmember Olsen. You kind of—kind of stole my—my thunder there, but—but the—the, uh, gratitude is—is definitely, uh, uh, worth it. Uh, just again to, uh, thank all the people on the committees and, and so forth. Uh, to also recognize that they are volunteers. You know, they—none of them get—get paid for—for that fun that they have. And, uh, and for the most part, it's all fun. Sometimes it gets a little stressful at times for different things. But, uh, but, uh, the—the gang does a great job. We've had a couple new people on the—on the committee and—and—and some of the people volunteering and so forth. But, uh, you know, we—we definitely, uh, can always use more people. And so everybody out there that's listening, uh, you know, it—uh, yeah, let's get involved. Probably, uh, right now what we'll end up doing is just kind of do some—some review of this year's, uh, activity and, and, uh, you know, things of that nature, and then discuss some of the, uh, things that we should change for next year and so forth. But people wanting to get involved, uh, probably typically in the fall, kind of come the September timeframe or something like that, you know, be on the lookout. Uh, we'll start having some—some meetings and, and things like that. Uh, also obviously we have our Monster Bash, uh, Halloween parade and so forth, forth, as we always do. And—and that'll be in October, the end of October, uh, uh, right around Halloween. And, uh, you know, it's—it's great to start getting involved at that point too. So, uh, um, again, thanks. And also as Councilmember Olsen said, uh, to, uh, everybody in the city, uh, that, uh—I mean, the time you put it—people put in and so forth is—it's tireless and you know, it's—it's—it's, uh, can be exhausting. Um, we had—and I haven't—I haven't got any firm numbers and things like that—uh, it wasn't too bad. We—we—we escaped a fair amount of the rain and so forth, uh, until Saturday afternoon. And—and then the skies decided to—to dump on us for about an hour and a half. And—and, uh, and that's the reason why the soccer fields now look—look the way they do, because I could have probably just about, uh, taken the canoe out there after the rain got done. But, uh, so, uh, but, uh, it's great to have a—a place like that to have that festival. And, and I know, uh, there's just tons of people that really enjoy it. So thanks to everyone. [24:50] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Thank you, Councilmember Thiede. Councilmember Garza. [24:52] **Councilmember Monique Garza:** Well, excuse me. I just want to say the Strawberry Fest was amazing. The parade was awesome, we had such a great time. Um, thank you so much for allowing my family to be a part of it. Josie loved her last year as an ambassador and it was an honor just to be a representative of our community. So she really enjoys it. She's going to wear—wear her Strawberry Fest jacket proudly. So if you see her out here, make sure you say hello to her because she—now she can wear it without being with the other ambassadors. So she's very excited about representing our city. So good. But otherwise, thank you all. Have a wonderful weekend, be safe out there. I know the holiday is coming up, so just be safe. Keep in mind there's other people on the road, so just be careful out there. [25:35] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Fantastic. Uh, just, uh, one thing, uh, added other than everybody else. Obviously, kudos on—on the festival, on our outgoing ambassadors, our incoming ambassadors. I think we're—we're—we're in good shape, uh, with the new batch coming in, too. Uh, but I also want to mention this coming Friday—yes, it is going into a holiday weekend kind of leading up with, I guess you can say it's either before or after the 4th of July—uh, we do have our first, uh, event which is, uh, Movies in the Park, uh, at—um, at Highland Park, uh, close to dusk. There is some events that are happening before that, so if you want to stop in, uh, there's, you know, popcorn and—and a food truck and those kind of things and some crafty things that are happening there. Um, in the event—and of course we all seem to have to say this this year—um, so that again is this coming Friday, the 28th. In the event that there's rain, uh, the makeup date for this movie is July 12th. It won't be Saturday because obviously it's a holiday weekend. Uh, so it will be July 12th. So we'll keep our fingers crossed that Movies in the Park on this coming Friday is actually going to be, um, dry. [26:42] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Is that—is that at Highland? [26:43] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** It's at Highland Park, yep. Okay. Yep. So I encourage everybody to stop out and have some fun. Hopefully the weather be great like we said, and, um, you can enjoy some movies outside in the dark together. Okay. Oh, did you mention the movie? What's that? Oh, I didn't mention the movie. Trolls. *Trolls: Band Together* is the movie for this coming, uh, Friday night. So thank you. All right, uh, with that, um, the next items that we have, we have two workshops this evening. The first workshop, which is open to the public, uh, is, um, an update for the Council, uh, with our staff on the Mississippi River Gray Cloud Island flooding update. Um, as we all know, there's been, um, some major, uh, flooding, uh, happening throughout the—well, not even just Minnesota, it's all the Upper Midwest frankly. Um, but, uh, there is some effect happening in Cottage Grove and so we're going to talk about, um, what we're doing to, uh, help with that. So that's going to be in a workshop which is open to the public. So, uh, we will be going into the training room for that. And then shortly thereafter, uh, we—we have those discussions and, and talk about what we're doing, uh, to support, uh, the efforts down there, uh, we will have a workshop that's closed to the public. Uh, and, uh, that is regarding labor negotiations and I should just mention from the public standpoint, uh, that is pursuant to a Minnesota Statute 13D.03, uh, to consider strategy for labor negotiations as we are going to be negotiating with, uh, some labor unions. Uh, so with that, uh, we will adjourn from in here and then, uh, Council will meet over in the training room. Thanks everyone.