This transcript has been processed to identify speakers based on the municipal context provided and the dialogue within the meeting. **Format:** [Timestamp] Speaker Name: <Dialogue> **Transcript:** [0:38] Unknown Speaker: Heat. Heat. [3:45] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay, welcome everyone. It's 6:45 and I'd like to call this meeting to order. Um, we will open with public forum. Is there anybody here that would like to speak during the public forum? After we say everyone's present in roll call, we're all here. [4:03] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay. Barton, would you like to start? Okay. [4:14] Barton Winter: Barton Winter, 15 Oaks Lane. And uh I would just like to thank um the mayor for allowing me to flood this year. And uh I think we've had pretty good weather with uh very a few breaks of warmer temperatures, but by and large a pretty good season. Um so so I think um I just have a few complaints which you know have sort of been um brooding the the entire season. And um too I just want to say that um you know we've we've managed to clear the ice but we've had some issues about the snow blowing and we haven't done a lot of snow blowing. The last time was January 1st. Uh other other than that since then we've been clearing by hand. Uh we haven't had the major snowfalls. But I I want to point out that uh at the beginning of my my time as the designated rink flutter uh the mayor and I reached an agreement um which included that I was not supposed to speak to Jim Rydeen the city employee and uh I believe that has been the crux of the problem that we've had in in the sense of uh I did file a complaint with the city on December 30th regarding uh what had happened in the three major snowfalls that we'd had since the end of November through Christmas. We had three 6-in snowfalls. And I had documented that each in each one of those something happened that delayed either the hockey rink or the figure skating rink, pleasure rink. So, um, you know, I'm not happy one that, um, Jim was not coop co coordinating with me and, uh, so that we didn't get things done in a timely manner and that that forces me either to shovel myself or wait and um, you know, time is precious in uh, in the season and we don't want to leave things when they could be done e relatively easily. So, uh, another complaint is the snowblower situation. We have uh two snowb blowers in the shed down there. And one of them apparently is Jim Rydeen's personal snowblower, which is a smaller snowblower. And then we have one that is a um Simplicity Manufacturing. It's 38 inch wide, and it's the one that we use to basically blow the rink, the hockey rink off. Um, the other one is used for edging work, but um, there's been issues about the snowblower that it's it's not properly tuned and uh, recently I guess Jim has had it had the belts replaced on the snowblower, but I was told that that was going to take place much earlier and um, so we've had a problem with throwing the augur belt on the large snowblower. So, it's a problem and has the latest has caused on a number of occasions. [7:14] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Is there anything else? Your three minutes is up. [7:16] Barton Winter: Okay. And I I just have a couple other items. One is that um uh the apparently the city has changed the rule about when we when we plow the streets and that it's now two inches of new snow versus one. And I did file a complaint that, you know, I've seen even on the recent snowfall that we had a week ago from Sunday that we had slushy streets, right? And they were left slushy. And so I'm complaining about that. I know we're trying to save money, but um okay, that and the one other thing that is that looking at the website one, I believe it's hard to get to the information that we need uh as far as looking at agendas for the parks committee, for the the city council. You have to click on information. You have to get to another layer before you can find that. And so I don't like that. and and also in terms of the um parks information specifically and and probably the the city that the um agendas and minutes are not being maintained. They're not current. So, someone can't go on there and find out what happened in the most recent or the you know the one that we typically would have prepared which is a month ago or something. [8:35] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay. Thank you, Barton. Um Steve. [8:53] Steve Shad: Good evening, Steve Shad 130 Cedar. So, um I saw that uh the topic of uh culling the deer herd was on in December. I also see that it's on this evening. I think you all have received communication from me on my point of view on this topic, but I'm going to reiterate it tonight as you go into more deliberations about the topic, but I will state again, there is not one scientific study that has shown that a community like Birwood is able to solve a deer overpopulation problem with culling. The DNR keeps coming into the town and telling us that the only solution to this problem is to shoot the deer. And I will remind you that the DNR works on a scale of the state of Minnesota. They don't work on a scale of a community of this size. They have a hammer and they look for nails. And the nail is deer herd management through hunting. So that is the only tool that they have in their toolkit and they're very good at it. and they're very good at it at a state level and a regional level. There's a reason why the state of Minnesota is divided into several regions for deer management. It's because they have to manage the herd at that scale because herds are mobile. They move they can move hundreds of miles to seek food and shelter. And for us to be thinking that we can control the number of deer in our community by taking out nine or ten deer every year is really not the solution to this problem. The solution to this problem is human behavior change. We need to stop feeding the deer. And we're feeding the deer with the plants that we plant in our gardens. And for us to continue to invest in this uh activity is just a waste of time. And to the extent that any money is spent on it, it's a waste of money. Deer are not deterred by hunting happening in a geographic area. There's a rebound effect. They have more births when there's a vacuum in the population. So even if you did make a dent in the population, it's just going to bounce back and the problem's going to get worse. The solution to this problem is to stop feeding them and to stop planting plants that they like. So those are my thoughts on the matter. You've heard it before. And if we keep going down this path, we're just going to continue to waste time. It makes people feel better that we're killing deer, but we're also turning our little bedroom community into a hunting ground. I don't want that for my family. I don't want it for my kids. And it's not the kind of place that I want to live. And doing this at night under the cover of dark and having sharpshooters come into town and kill deer. That's not going to solve the problem either. So, it's time to stop it. and let's move on and find other ways to either live with or deal with the population in ways that actually do work, which is removing the food source that they like to eat. Thank you. [11:49] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Thank you, Steve. Ron. [12:00] Ron Malice: It's kind of interesting. uh Ron Malice 420 Wildwood and I do a lot of things in my yard to prohibit deer from doing damage to our our plants, our trees and what I mean we do a variety of things. So let's go back five years. Council came overwhelmingly after we had meetings with the DNR and the group was I'd say 95% said we need to do this. When I moved here 40 years ago, if you saw a deer periodically, that'd be wonderful. Now we'll see him nightly. So that isn't the case any longer. So they've become more prevalent. So I encourage you to continue to think about culling. Normally there's from an aspect of numbers, there's 30 to 40 deer in our area, maybe more. And if you take out, let's say we take eight to 10, there's probably of the 30, there's 15 that are, right? So they're going to have one or two fawns. So the case of Yeah. Now you can plant some things that aren't going to be We're doing that. We have at least two people that have fenced their entire yards to try and prevent it. I don't think that we want to become a fence community because we have deer. I love the deer, but I think we need to manage the deer and I'm a proponent of that. Um there's things that we do do. I mean, we fence around the yards. We put fence around trees. We have covers around the trees. I put netting over the shrubs. Um, we put propellant in regards to sprays and stuff to stop them from eating. You know, where do we have to go beyond that? And you can't say, "I'm already planning the things that they're not supposed to like." But if they're really hungry, guess what? They're going to eat. And I don't blame them. But we can do something in regards to trying to maintain the numbers within our community. So I need your support in regards to that. In '25 we had one hunt, we got one doe. That's not going to do it. '24 we had 10 deer. Eight does, two bucks. That has an impact. Year before we had eight doe's. So that's my and that's DNR and that was the wish of our community in the past. We can retrench that again. But I think if we do approach it from the standpoint of council, we need to do a five-year plan just like they did last time because we really don't need to go through this all over again. So, I appreciate your support and I understand Steve's opinion. Um, but it depends on how you maintain your lawn and how you do with your your trees and what you plant and whether or not you make that investment. We've made a huge investment in my yard and I'm planting the things that the deer are not supposed to like. [15:12] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay. [15:13] Ron Malice: And I don't want to put up a black fence like we have down here on Cedar or on Hall. I don't think that's what we want in our entire community. So, thanks for your time. [15:23] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Thank you, Ron. Mary Sue, did you want to speak? [15:28] Mary Sue Simmons: No, I'm just waiting for the sheriff. [15:30] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Oh, perfect. They were looking for you. Yeah, statute of limitations is on. Um, I did add approval of agenda too. So, we should do that next and add your pieces. [15:47] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Correct. Okay. So, um, does anybody have anything they would like to add or remove from the agenda? [15:52] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I think could How are we going to add these Treasury report? [15:55] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: We're gonna work on it. I got the list deal right then on your um table in front of you. Council are the additions. So, the first one I'd like to add is um a presentation from our Washington County Sheriff Department here. Um the next one I'd like to add is the approval of members for the community engagement committee. The third one is a motion from um council to approve the kitchen renovation budget. and the um Therese would like us to add these additional claims that didn't make it into the packet. Was there anything else Alan? [16:34] Alan (City Administrator): Just in anticipation of a vote to approve the agenda. I've got the uh resident members of community engagement and events committee as well as discussion and approval of budget to replace floor coverings in Village Hall kitchen. We'll add the other claims that Therese uh pushed out in consent if we want to pull and add those in just to make a record. [16:54] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay for treasures report. Can I get a a motion to approve the agenda with the additions? [17:02] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: So moved. [17:03] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I'll second. [17:05] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? [17:06] Council (Unison): Aye. [17:07] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. Okay. Agenda item number one. We have Senator Gustafson here to speak. Um thank you for coming this evening. [17:15] Senator Gustafson: All right. So, make sure it's on. Last night, I was at um Lino Lakes and did the first 10 minutes without the mic on. So, and I actually it won't even be 10 minutes, so I promise I won't take up your time. I know we have other things on your agenda. Thank you for letting me be here tonight. It's really um it's really really nice that uh you extend me this time. I like to just visit each of my cities and sort of check in um and give a little bit of an update about what we'll be working on. We go into session next week. It is um a shorter session. It's only going to be about three months. Um it is not a budget year. So we won't be deciding big budget packages. There might be a supplemental budget on certain um in certain committees, but we never really know that till the end when we see all of the forecast. So what we usually do in the second year of the bienium is we work on policy um and bonding. So those are the things that we'll be looking at. Um this doesn't I mean it affects our district but not necessarily well not Birchwood Village. Um but we were I was just discussing with Chris before the meeting started that we um one of our big bonding projects we have uh two trails one in Vadnais Heights that we're trying to get um approved and then one then and this one is my favorite. Um, it starts north of uh north of Two Harbors, I believe. It's pretty northern Minnesota and goes all the way down to the Gulf. Um, except for a mile and a half that's missing and that's in Circle Pines. So, it's embarrassing. So, um, that has been an effort that we've been working on the city for quite some time. So, hopefully that'll go through. Um, always a good reminder if you have bonding projects um for your city to let us know. Um and you know they it's it's a hard um you know it's a hard process but you know the earlier that we can find out about things that people need or that you let me know um you know it gets it gets a little bit easier too and there are some tricks to it as well. So anytime in future years [19:24] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: That's not reassuring. [19:25] Senator Gustafson: Well I mean the tricks are not like anything shady. It's just about like a lot of times they're try to get as much bang for their buck, right? So if it's like a project that is going to help um as many as as many people as possible even in surrounding cities that you know what I mean or um like the one that we really had to fight hard for in '23 was a water treatment in Lino Lakes because it's water you know um which is why like some of the trails got postponed. Um it's helpful if you have bipartisan support. These are like the little tips and tricks. So but I can help you with that. So, just keep it on your uh radar for upcoming years because it is something that I'd be happy to go through if there is something that you need. Um I don't think fencing counts. Sorry. But we can other things maybe. Um public safety remains a top priority. So, um I just for the session coming up, I've you know, working on a few things, but one of the things that I know was helpful to Birchwood Village last time was that public safety funding um that came that was under uh local control of how to spend as long as it came within the public safety parameters. I believe you guys got $37,000, a little over almost 38,000. Um you are also like my hometown of Vadnais Heights, a contract city. So, um I don't know if the Yeah. Washington County Sheriff's Department is probably like, "Yep, we'll take that check." Um, but you guys get your own check, too. It's a It was It went to every single city, county, and tribal nation in Minnesota. Um, my cities don't get a lot of LGA. You guys don't, right? We know. Um, and so it is sort of one, public safety remains one of your top expenses. And also, because you're not getting LGA, um, it's sort of one of my ways to try to to try to help out your city budgets as much as I can. So I you know fingers crossed we'll see how we do with that. Um also working on a property tax relief bill that is connected to it. Um so we'll we'll see see how successful we can be in that but it is a priority for me. Um we'll be working on um other things as well as far as um there might be a supplemental budget with the education uh bills um and just uh knowing that schools and business I'm also in jobs and economic development. We know that a lot of schools and businesses are really um uh stressed right now, even beyond where they were a year ago. Um but with the presence of ICE in our community, it's um also we're seeing a lot of um unexpected budget expenses in schools and businesses. So, we'll be addressing that as well. Um, other than that, you know, like I said, it is short, so we will hopefully get in there bonding bill. Um, you know, try to pass some good policy. I've got some consumer um, protection bills that I'll be working on. Um, a gun violence prevention bill. Um, so we'll fingers crossed. But if there's ever anything that you come across that you're hearing about, I always remind people you're always welcome to reach out to me if there's a problem. But if there's also something you want to celebrate that's happening in Birchwood Village, like I would love to hear that too. And um my my phone is always available, my office is available, can meet for coffee, probably have to wait till after session. Um but um would love to meet with any of you if you ever have questions about anything. So um my door is always open. Let me know how I can help. [22:47] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come tonight. [22:52] Senator Gustafson: Of course. appreciate it. [22:53] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Um, we are going to move our agenda around a little bit to to accommodate our sheriff department. Would you guys like to come up and introduce yourselves or whoever's speaking? [23:05] Alan (City Administrator): For the record, that means we're moving item six up to item two. [23:08] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Yes. Thank you guys for being here. I know short notice. [23:10] Sergeant Pearson: Yeah, no problem. Thank you for inviting us. Um, I'm Sergeant Pearson with the sheriff's office. I'm one of your liaison sergeants for the contract for you guys. And this is Deputy Gibney. He's one of your deputies that is in the contract that serves here all all every time he works. And then that's um Deputy Wilson back there. He's one of our new recruits that is being trained in by Deputy Gibney today. Um, as far as the reason why we're asked here today, um, I don't have a lot of information to provide. um we don't support um the immigration operations when they happen and um ICE doesn't share really any information with us when they're going to have an operation or who the subjects they are they're looking for. So, um, [24:00] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: So the reason, um, we are interested in having you come is just there's a general concern from all residents of Minnesota, but and I've had a few residents contact me and are concerned about ICE and just in general in their policies and procedures that they follow and um, just trying to reassure them that as the Washington County Sheriff Department, you operate differently than that. [24:22] Sergeant Pearson: Yes, we do. We operate under Minnesota state law. [24:26] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Are you aware of any um Homeland Security activity in Birwood itself? [24:37] Sergeant Pearson: Not that I've been made aware of? No. [24:39] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Are any plans to do so? Like I said, they typically—Not that they would tell you plans. I just I have I'm not aware of any activity and I was curious if you weren't aware. You might be aware. Okay. Thank you. Um [24:57] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Can I make a comment on a slightly different subject? Um, well, do you want to keep going? I don't want to change the subject here. [25:05] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Does anybody else have um questions or comments? Mary Sue, did you have a concern? Did you want to step up to the mic? You could share the mic. [25:35] Mary Sue Simmons: Mary Sue Simmons, 418 Birchwood Court. Um, I'm a very nice person and I'm a US citizen. Um, it's hard for me to imagine that you maybe don't know something about ICE activities and so I'm going to ask you some questions and hope that maybe you can tell us more than you are or you maybe you just don't know because that's how they operate. They don't share information. That's pretty obvious to me. Are you aware of any retention facility purchases or intentions or plans around the metro the northeast metro area? [26:23] Sergeant Pearson: No, not that's been made aware to us. [26:26] Mary Sue Simmons: Do you and yourselves or your prisons or wherever you take people, do you have any immigrants that are being detained in your facilities? [26:34] Sergeant Pearson: Not for ICE detainers alone. It would be only for a Minnesota state crime that they've committed. [26:41] Mary Sue Simmons: Okay. um what role, if any, do you play when ICE comes and says, "We're taking this person away." Um where you stop somebody, and that you suspect that they're Do you play any legal role in turning in people, helping arrest people, or helping ICE in any way? [27:05] Sergeant Pearson: No, it's been the explicit directive of the sheriff that we do not enforce immigration laws, federal immigration laws. [27:14] Mary Sue Simmons: Great. Um, have you yourselves encountered any ICE activity or been involved in watching protests or something where you've been on site and seen how these things unfold? [27:26] Sergeant Pearson: Uh, no. There was a protest in Lake Elmo uh, I think a couple weeks ago and there were no ICE agents there. People were just making their concerns known and it was peaceful and everything was fine. [27:37] Mary Sue Simmons: Um, this is a little hard to believe, so pardon me, but I just can't. Do they really have this much secrecy working for them in terms of their isolation that they think—I'm sorry, I'm asking you for an opinion, but it's it's my outrage that's I'm containing. Um, if I call, if I see activity and I'm worried about my own personal safety or that of a person near me and I dial this 911 number to call the sheriff, what happens? [28:10] Sergeant Pearson: We'll respond and act accordingly. [28:13] Mary Sue Simmons: Would you come? [28:14] Sergeant Pearson: Yes. Yep. Respond to all 911 calls. [28:17] Mary Sue Simmons: And what if this guy was an ICE agent or Border Patrol person roughing me up? Would you do anything or just witness? [28:24] Sergeant Pearson: Obviously, we would protect everybody. That's our stance. That's our job. That's what we're sworn to do. [28:31] Mary Sue Simmons: So, are you saying that tonight you have no legal official role in operating with federal agents in our state? [28:47] Sergeant Pearson: We have none with ICE. [28:49] Mary Sue Simmons: Okay. That I think that's my real question. Thank you very much and welcome to the force. [29:09] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Council. Does anybody else have a question? [29:13] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I have a comment. Um, we have one resident here who you can tell is very concerned. It's clearly not the only one. Um, we have a a very Caucasian community, so the expectation that we are unlikely to be a major target is probably accurate. However, that doesn't change the activities of this group. Um, my understanding is in the event that um ICE were to come into our neighborhood and try and take anyone away, our citizens should be calling the sheriff's department and you would be coming. [29:48] Sergeant Pearson: We would come. But again is—we can't interfere with them also. We can't stop them for doing what they're doing unless they're breaking the law. Well, it depends because there's federal law and there's state law. If they are breaking state law, if it's observable, we would do what we'd have to do. I guess it's hard to get in hypotheticals. We could go down that road for hours, I guess. But basically, if someone calls 911, we'll respond. And if ICE is doing what they're doing, there's not much we can do to interfere with what they're doing. Otherwise, now I'm committing a crime. I'm interfering with a federal investigation. [30:30] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: So, um, much of the tactics look a lot like kidnapping. So if someone is concerned that someone is being taken against their will, I'm actually concerned also because they're not identified. There's no identity whatsoever on their outfits. They are masked. As a parent, all the things they warn you about to watch for is how these people are dressed. So, it's concerning to me that there is not something that is more um active that we can do to prevent this activity in the manner that it's being done. It's going against the constitution. There's no judicial warrants. In the event someone were to show up and not have a judicial warrant, which is a requirement of the constitution to actually remove someone. Also, due process, there's all of that. Um, in the event that individual were to show up and require assistance, you would be helping our citizen. Correct. [31:47] Sergeant Pearson: That's a tough one to answer because again, they don't share everything with us. So, it's not like we would show up on scene and they would just provide all this information to us to show whether they had it or not. I can ask if there's a judicial warrant, but there's nothing that says they have to show me. They're a complete separate entity from anything that the sheriff's office is a part of. We are two separate complete entities. So, there's nothing that says they have to share any information with me whatsoever. [32:21] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Is there something we can do as a city regarding the operation tactics? Alan, any thoughts? As a parent, I am concerned that if someone disappears, I'm not going to call Amber Alert potentially soon enough because people may just disappear and it could be ICE or it could be someone completely horrible who's taking advantage of a situation that's horrible. [32:46] Alan (City Administrator): Yeah. And I think because you do have special patrol, I would always start with them. If someone's missing call 911 and because we don't have local police, the number is going to be dialed into the sheriff's department and they should take a report no matter what. You know, if it's found that ICE took someone away under federal jurisdiction, that's probably where their inquiry is going to end. If that's not the case, then they're going to do what they would do as anyone who is missing, whether it's a vulnerable adult or a child or whatever. [33:25] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: So, you're not aware of—if in the event someone is taken by a federal agent, do they report that? That's my concern as well. [33:32] Sergeant Pearson: No, they wouldn't. They don't report to us like, "Hey, we took [redacted] from there." But if we had a missing person's investigations, we would treat it as a missing person or abduction or kidnapping until we knew otherwise. We wouldn't just assume that ICE came and detained them. We would treat it as if until we knew for sure that that was the case. [33:51] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay, that makes better sense. Sorry. I guess the end of my questions. Anybody else? Well, thank you for the job that you do for us and for keeping us safe and for being here tonight. And it sounds like you guys are walking sort of a fine and hard line. Do you have any advice for us as residents of the community as we think about ICE? [34:14] Sergeant Pearson: Well, if you're ever unsure of what's happening in your community and you don't like what's going on, we are your police department. So, we're a phone call away and we'll come out and we'll do what we can. But that's what we're here for. So if you're unsure of what's happening or you don't like something that's going on and you're not sure if it's legal or illegal, call us. We'll always respond for you. [34:39] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Thank you all for your service. [34:41] Sergeant Pearson: Thank you. It's been a pleasure. [34:46] Alan (City Administrator): It is worth noting just to note for everybody that don't ignore emergency situations because you're worried that an emergency call is going to trigger ICE showing up. [34:55] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Right. I had to give this advice to my other city that's 40% Latino. And so that's a tougher pill to swallow when you have legitimate concerns when you call and bring attention to yourself. I guess um at this point we have to rely on our local law enforcement to follow the constitution. So um in going along with our guests here um I would like to—one of the handouts on in front of you on your table is number six on your agenda, discussion of city statement concerning recent federal surge of enforcement in Minnesota. Um, I wrote up a rough draft of a statement that I would like to put out in our names. Um, I have been contacted by several residents who have asked me to do that. Mahtomedi has put out a statement, White Bear Lake has put out a statement, Stillwater. So just in keeping in line and so we can stand in solidarity even though the chances of our community being affected is slim. We can still stand in solidarity with our neighbors. So if you could take a peek at what I wrote and see what you think. [36:34] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I have a—one is I've actually been a little worried because there's construction sites in town, right? Um, and I haven't heard anything there, but you know, that seems like—I'm not sure our risk is quite as close to zero as we think. I like your statement. What are we going to do with it? Just send it out? [36:53] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Publicize it. I was going to put it on the website, um Facebook. [36:58] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Um, that's fine. Have Therese email it out. [37:07] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I wonder if it would be—I mean—Yeah, that's probably the best we can do. It would be nice to have a Birwood militia that would stand up to something, but we just, you know— [37:26] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: We could constitutionally, but something it has something to do with the tyranny of the government, I believe. Let's start with a statement. Anyway, um, anybody else have any comments on the statement? [37:46] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: No, I think it's good. [37:47] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Shall I read it for anybody who's watching? Can you put it up, Chris? [38:11] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I wish there were more that we could do. [38:13] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: I think everybody wishes that. Um, while they're putting that up, could someone read it out loud? [38:28] Councilmember Kathy Weier: All right. "As operation metro surge continues in our state, many residents and businesses in our surrounding communities of White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi have been affected. This operation has created fear and anxiety within these communities, resulting in students not attending schools and parents not commuting to work. While Birchwood Village is yet to be directly affected, we as a council would like to reassure our residents that we are committed to keeping our community safe, the ideals stated in our constitution. As a local government, we have no control over federal agents. However, Birchwood Village contracts with the Washington County Sheriff's Department. We, as a council, have full confidence that the department will honor our civil rights laid out in the Constitution. If you have concerns about your safety or security, please contact them. We have all seen the chaos and fear this operation has created, but we have also seen neighbors helping neighbors. It is kindness and compassion for our neighbor that strengthens community. Take care of each other. Listen and be respectful to those with whom you may disagree. If you are someone you know needs assistance, reach out to local churches and community market in White Bear Lake or nonprofit organizations. Signed Birchwood Village City Council." I think it's a great statement. There's one line I would take out, however, and I would just take out "while Birchwood has yet to be directly affected." Birwood has been affected. Um there are people that no longer will come into Birwood to work here. [39:53] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Good point. Any other comments? All right. And you're all okay with me having Therese publicize it and Chris put it on the website and stuff? [40:10] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Yes. [40:11] Alan (City Administrator): I've got it teed up as a motion to just approve the publication and push out as an official communication if you want to take that motion. [40:24] Councilmember Kathy Weier: So moved. With the line as stated taken out. [40:27] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Second. [40:34] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? [40:35] Council (Unison): Aye. [40:39] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you. Okay, onto a lighter topic. Um number two on our original agenda is a discussion of Washington County Historical Society QR code the Lake History Project. This week I met with Cora Hankins and Sarah Hansen. Um Cora was representing Lake Links and Sarah works with the White Bear Historical Society. um they wanted to present a project um that they've started to work on and in your packet you have a map and um a potential sign that will go up around the lake. So, the map indicates um 20 areas around the lake of historical significance. And the project will put QR codes on signs at each of these locations. And as people travel around the Lake Links Trail, they can um scan the QR code and it'll tell them something of historical importance that happened at that spot. And the point of the meeting was not only to um just give us some information on it, but also to just have you start thinking about it and just get general feedback of what you might think of the project. So, I thought it was awesome. I think it's really a cool concept. And for us in Birwood, um the signs—we're fortunate to have the easements so they don't have to necessarily go on anybody's right away there. Does anybody have any comments or questions? [42:36] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I think putting them with the easements is a nice idea. [42:38] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: Um, I mean, I can comment on specific locations or I can just say whoever's managing this, it's my mother. I guess I better think she's doing a good job. [42:55] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: You've got a direct line. Sarah and Cora assured me that they were just in the planning stages and they're just approaching each of the five municipalities and the two counties that are connected to the Lake Links Trail just to get feedback and warm us up to the idea. [43:22] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I assume these are markers that will be directly um spots on the trail itself or nearby. [43:28] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Yes. And they were saying this is just preliminary. Not all of these might end up where they are. I think they told me they're starting with 10 signs, but they eventually would like 20 for the entire lake. [43:53] Councilmember Kathy Weier: The entire lake. That's a lot for Birchwood. It looks like right now according to this map is like three. [44:03] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I see two. What are the green things? [44:09] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Natural interests. That's probably the marsh. Anyway, for those of you who walk or bike the Lake Links Trail, I thought this would be a great addition. Okay. So, when I speak to Sarah Hansen, I can tell her that the council is behind it. [44:40] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: Sure. [44:41] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Is that just an administrative matter to put up the signs? [44:47] Alan (City Administrator): I'd say until we get something a little bit more approvable. Before you have to worry about anything in your jurisdiction, I think this is just informational. [44:54] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Ideation. If you guys are all thumbs up, I think it's a great idea, too. So, obviously before anything went up, we would want it approved with a mockup for what would go here. Okay, cool. Thank you. Um, let's go on then to number three. Um, number three is discussion of the future of targeted deer hunts in Birwood. Kathy. [45:34] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Yes. Alan, did you send all of those documents that Paul Burr had forwarded? [45:41] Alan (City Administrator): Yes, everyone. [45:49] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Yes. I think it was almost 17ish articles that he provided. So, I'm not sure if all of you have had a chance to read it. Um, I got it a little less than a week ago, so it's a lot to read through. But I wanted to ask if after reading those if you would like to look at potentially getting that, in which case I can reach out to the Metro Bowhunters and see if they are still interested and then put that on the agenda for um looking at the previous agreement that we had and working towards that. If there is no interest in doing that, I'm not going to waste anyone's time basically. So, um, that is what I wanted to ask regarding that because the DNR did come last month. And then I would imagine that in the event we want to move that forward, we would want to put that paperwork in front of the council again to review the potential terms of that agreement and then allow a public forum for anyone else who wants to either come to support or go against. So, I'm looking to know council interest regarding like if you guys are absolutely opposed to doing it. Um, administrative wise, I've done this deer hunt for the last three years exclusively. Our administrative group is not doing that. Um, with the help of a group of volunteers who do all the gathers signatures and paperwork. if we're not interested in doing it at all, I need to let Metro bow hunting know that we are not looking to pursue to continue or at least not renew this year. [47:40] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay. Would anybody like to speak on that? [47:44] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: So, I think that we've talked about this as a council before. We're sort of divided. I still am for it and I would support five years. Deer don't have any predators and uh so their population grows. And I respect where Steve is coming from. Um, it's—I love my deer in my yard. They follow me around when I garden. But, um, I think that it's the right thing to do, so I'm for it. [48:32] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Um, so I I I did read those articles and I didn't really feel like there was anything in those articles that really persuaded me to change my 49/51 opinion of not having a deer hunt. Um, to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the DNR because I feel like he offered some things up but didn't really have any viable way for the city to do that, such as like a a a deer survey, but there's no real training on how to do a deer survey to see how many deer Birds would actually have. Um, and the fact that none of the surrounding communities are doing the deer hunt, um, kind of kind of pushes me over the line of not wanting to have continue with it because if nobody else is doing it, what's the point? What are we actually doing? [49:29] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: I've read the articles as well and I've also read um other articles that says that the deer have a three-mile I believe home range. When I look at where Birchwood sits surrounded by Mahtomedi, White Bear Township, Dellwood—I mean you can go across the lake and you're still within three miles. If our neighboring communities are not on board with the deer hunt. I don't see how us doing it is going to control that population. Yes, you might take 10 or eight does out of Birchwood, but that doesn't mean they're Birchwood does. That just means they belong to the area and deer travel between all these communities. So until our neighbors get on board, I'm not going to be for the deer hunt because I don't believe it's going to provide sufficient results. I really wish the DNR had more information for us. It didn't give us enough. [51:02] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: And I don't think there's anything in front of us tonight to vote on. [51:06] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Kathy wants to know if we want to renew or contact the bow hunters. [51:11] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: She also says she doesn't want to waste their time. [51:20] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: Don't have them come in then. It doesn't matter too much. I mean, I'm I'm indifferent. If somebody wants to actually go through the data and make a case, I'll listen to it. But just throwing in a bullet on an agenda is not I don't think really moves it forward. So if there's a case and somebody wants to go through the articles and say this is what would work for Birwood, I think that would be a place we could kind of go. I think somebody needs to do some analysis here before we just throw it in. So if nobody wants to do any analysis, it seems like it would be better not uh not to move it forward. [52:32] Councilmember Kathy Weier: All right, I'm going to take that as a no then. So uh so I'm going to let the Metro Bow Hunters know that we're not pursuing it this year and it can come up next year then. [52:43] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Do you want a motion on that? [52:45] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I don't need one. I just need to let them know because they had asked if we were wanting to pursue it and from the information we have available that's where we are. [53:01] Alan (City Administrator): And I'll note it in the record that council discussed it and just declined moving forward with another contract. [53:03] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Well, and I I do want to say that those were excellent articles that you sent. Yes. And he covered 21 years worth of activity. We do have a very—I mean a third of a mile is not a huge location. I do know they were planning on working with Mahtomedi again this upcoming year if we did it. So it's very much a "if you do it we'll do it." But as far as like there's no need for us to go forward based on what might happen. So that's where we are. [53:44] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: It would be delightful if we had multiple colors of spray paint to actually tag some of these because I do wonder how many are coming to Bridget's to eat whatever she's planting and then they go to my house in Dellwood. [54:01] Councilmember Kathy Weier: It is hard to tag deer, especially as a citizen. I would imagine that's even harder. [54:07] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: Well, the harvest is tough, too, because that's just catches catch can, right? And if there's no deer here, when they're here, there's no harvest. [54:19] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: I mean, that's the same with hunting in general, that they have to be where you are. I guess I really just assumed that the DNR had a better handle of how many deer were in any given area at a time. And I don't know why I thought that. [54:33] Alan (City Administrator): I think Steve's right. I mean, they measure big picture, which is why they number the deer harvest every year at a cap. They get estimates of what the population are and base tags on that. But that's a big macro, not micro. So trying to figure out what's here, no one would do it, especially for such a small community. Like if we were the size of Minneapolis, per se, then sure. Um, but they have a lot fewer deer, I guess, in Minneapolis directly. And we did it in Maplewood for years and our average harvest was about 20-25 deer, but we had Battle Creek Regional Park that they could go to, which was just a huge sanctuary of space. [55:16] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Yeah. And the only place I see a lot uh coming in and out of is Katherine Abbott, which is a little bit ways away. I know my first year living here on our Ring cameras, I had 22 in my backyard, so I know there was at least that many, but um beyond that, that's it's hard to track for sure. But I will let them know. They had asked if we were interested. [55:46] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Thank you for all the work you've done on it. I appreciate all the time you put in, Kathy. [55:51] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I will provide all of the paperwork and materials for that to the administrative in the event that they decide to do it at some other time. [55:52] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All right. Thank you. Okay. Um, let's move on to number four, which is discussion of Lake Link's Birchwood project plans and expenditures. [55:58] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Right. Um, you have seen this. Lake Links have come before us and said this was their plan and they wanted to spend $51,000 and you can look at that sheet and you can see exactly what it is. They have done a tremendous amount of work assessing where to buy things. Um, and so I think that their projections of costs are good. They want to make sure that they prioritize things appropriately and well. And so what I am asking on behalf of this working group is your approval to go forward and start to order these things as makes sense rather than having to come to council every single time that they want to order something. This is what they want to order. This is what their budget is. that you know it may be not exactly that but it is in the range. So I'm just asking can they go forward and we will submit expenses. [57:22] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Oh go ahead. [57:23] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I just wanted to make it clear. So we are paying up front correct and then we'll get reimbursed for this. [57:30] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Yes. And we do not get reimbursed until the project is completed. So, uh, but we've got the money in there, so it's okay if we run a negative variance for a while. [57:41] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: And it was a two-year. [57:43] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: It's a two-year. Yes. We thought it was a one-year, but it is um all of these things need to be done by end of year '27. [57:51] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: So, am I—what am I—am I being asked to vote to authorize individuals to make purchases on behalf of the city? I guess I'm I'm a little I'm trying to understand what what we're actually authorizing here. [58:11] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: I don't want to have the committee have to come every time they want to order something to get council approval. So, I guess it would be authorizing this. [58:21] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Why wouldn't we just authorize the city administrator to have a budget for this and to basically make those purchases upon request of the committee? I'm great with that. That sounds like a reasonable way of doing that. Is that okay with you, Alan? [58:39] Alan (City Administrator): Oh my gosh, that would be so good. Yeah. I mean, Bridget and I decided, I guess, collectively, to bring this, so you guys just knew what we were doing and what the group was. [59:16] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I just draw a distinction between a bunch of people making purchases and kind of going through the one central point in the city which is you Allan. As long if it's going through you and you're just saying this is our budget, the city administrator is authorized to spend up to X for expenses relating to lake links that have been generally authorized by the city for future approval. Seems—yeah, spend the grant. I don't need to micromanage it beyond that point but I do— [59:35] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: But can the city then do the ordering? Can they do the tracking, etc. Because my understanding earlier was that there wasn't capacity in city admin to— [59:44] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Not without that vote. Not without y'all saying that here's your budget. Go ahead, you know, listen to the group and order what's needed. [59:53] Alan (City Administrator): I don't mind giving you the FYI that it's been done. [59:58] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Okay, great. Perfect. [1:00:01] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: I have another question, but are you done? [1:00:02] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I'm Yeah. How else would this work? I guess when Bridget brings this up like that's what I would assume was going to happen without clarifying it. I guess I just assume that everything would have to flow through Alan no matter what. [1:00:15] Alan (City Administrator): It will in a sense anyway because we've now jinned up a requisition form because we want to be able to paper these expenditures so we know what to plug into the budget to show what we're paying back and borrowing from. That's something that we're going to do behind the scenes. But I wouldn't feel comfortable if Bridget just came to me without what we're doing tonight and said, "Here, order these things." [1:00:36] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: But before when I said that I would be project manager, I thought I was the one that would be ordering that would be lining up the resources, etc. But now what I'm understanding is I can go to you, Alan, and say, "This is what we want to order. This is where from and you guys can help us do that." And then help us with scheduling and help us order it and then implement it. [1:00:52] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I don't even have a problem if individuals want to pay stuff. I just want those people to get an authorization from Alan before they necessarily make a purchase and not just go off and buy something, which has happened sometimes in Birwood. There was a bunch of paint randomly bought once for the hockey rink. Am I not supposed to talk about that? I just—no I think this is good. So I don't have a problem if somebody wants to buy something and be reimbursed. The issue was just that ask Alan so they don't just decide that some wind chimes would be great at X spot on the lake links and go buy them and expect the city to pay you back. [1:01:49] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: No, it's only these things. And so, um, we will simply work with Alan and then it will go forward and we'll just let you know, I mean, as a group what we're doing as opposed to having to come and have you micromanage everything that we're ordering. So, thank you for that. [1:02:11] Alan (City Administrator): I'll just tee up the vote to authorize us to work together and just handle these things. [1:02:22] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Do you want it authorized to spend the 51 or 70,000? [1:02:27] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Uh 51. At this point in time, you can always come back for a bonus. I mean, for say authorize these specific—authorize the balance of the grant. [1:02:41] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Yeah, that's fine. But we would—I think we should come back to you and say, okay, yes, there is extra money and this is what we want to spend it on. I think that that makes sense. Yep. [1:02:54] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All right. Thank you. Would someone like to have a motion or make a motion to approve Alan and Bridget to work together? [1:03:02] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Aren't you going to bring us something next month to vote on or are we just going to do it now? Do it now. What I've got now is the motion to approve the expenditures as indicated. [1:03:07] Councilmember Kathy Weier: So moved. [1:03:09] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: I'll second. [1:03:11] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? [1:03:12] Council (Unison): Aye. [1:03:14] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you. Um number five, discussion of proposed city data retention policy and that is pertaining to the website. Correct. [1:03:26] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Correct. Yes. So um Chris has been working on the website and has made some changes and is going to be making more. And I thought it made sense because we do have a lot of stuff on that website. Some of it is outdated. Pictures are an ADA problem. Um that uh we just all agree on what can be deleted. The website is not the holder of official records. So so that's that's the baseline. um official records would be held current year and then three years old and then they could be taken off the website. Okay so it's it's like four years really current plus. So that's the recommendation. The only question that I had on that: do residents really want to go back longer than three years? Do they do that very often to see the minutes and the agendas, which is the most searched for thing on the website? [1:04:54] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I use that stuff all the time, going basically back to the origin of time. No, what I think would be okay would be to just—and I think you can get away with this under the ADA would be to take all that stuff and just move everything older than 3 years to an archive section. [1:05:07] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Yes, that's what Mahtomedi does. [1:05:09] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: That's what I would do, right? If that's okay and just leave it online. The space is cheap. But I mean, beyond that, I I like your policy and I actually really like um that it kind of says this is what we're not doing because it's really easy to—to me that's kind of the value of your policy is to say give give a list of this is all the crap we're not going to do because it's easy to say we're going to do this and now we have a monster website that isn't as helpful as it could be. So, I like that aspect of it. And take everything, dump it into an archive, and start over from scratch with a baseline of three years ago. Seems like something people are nodding at. [1:06:05] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: That sounds great. [1:06:07] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Yeah. And there's a lot of stuff that we will simply get rid of and not archive. Because we can. [1:06:17] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Would it be possible to look at while you're updating that the mobile um aspects of that? So, as far as like if you're looking at the website on a mobile phone, we don't have any place where if there is an emergency or a notice that is active that actually shows—you see the calendar but you can't click in. If we could look at the mobile ability to— [1:06:36] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Probably a a bigger conversation and one that we might want to have at a, you know, one of those breakout meetings, but the software that we have isn't great. Chris will tell you it's really hard to work. If we want a website that looks like Mahtomedi, they use Civic Plus and they paid—I couldn't get an exact figure from them, but they paid 10 to $15,000. And then you're paying 5 to 10,000 a year because you're not you don't own the software. You are paying for it. We are just really— [1:07:11] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Mine is more so like if you're looking at the actual website like we have a public meetings and notices but it doesn't click anywhere and then important links they show but if you're wanting to actually look up, say, city code. [1:07:31] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I thought we fixed all this Ryan. Didn't you fix all those? [1:07:34] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: We tried. But as far as like if there was an emergency of some sort, it would be nice to be able to see it on that front page, that's all I really care about because it does show on the website, but you can't click on the public meetings and notices. [1:07:44] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: I mean, there used to be a list of stuff there and maybe we got to just mention to Chris or show him how to fix it. But yeah, as far as like if we have a a notice that is current or whatever we post on Thursday or something like that, if it just listed there too because we tell people give us your email address and we'll email it and go to Facebook. It would be nice if it's all on the website. [1:08:06] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I can meet with Chris sometime or Ryan and I can meet with them. [1:08:14] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Otherwise love it. The other thing that I would add, it's not in this policy, but we do need dedicated resources on this website. There's just so much that's outdated. And to Barton's point, I mean, we aren't keeping up with agenda meeting. None of that. So maybe when the new person comes in, we can carve out some of that time for her to do that. [1:08:41] Alan (City Administrator): That's the idea, by the way. That's part of her educational background. And so it'll be very good. [1:08:48] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Chris, do you have any comments you want to make? [1:08:52] Chris (IT/Web): So, um, couple things I'm working on with the website be because of the clunkiness of the website. There's a plugin that's supposed to fix a lot of the issues that we're having, like the missing links and some of the buttons not working. Um, I'm hoping I can talk with I I don't know if you got my email or not, Alan, about that subscription plugin that we talked about it. I'll talk to you later about it, but there's there's a plugin that's supposed to streamline almost everything that almost we need to do. Um, and I used a little bit of it as a trial run and it's working out pretty good. So, I'm hoping once I can get the full version of it that things on the website, especially like the quick quick link buttons on the homepage and the mobile uh access should be a lot more better than what it is right now. [1:09:59] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Excellent. Okay. And you're going to get us a essentially some rough estimate of what that work will cost. Because it's a big job to do this overhaul. [1:10:14] Chris (IT/Web): Yes. It did expand and noticed like a lot of things on it where I was talking to Mayor and even Bridget and Therese where it is like this is almost impossible to even navigate just on a getting things posted standpoint whereas I I offered my assistance where if we could make it easier what were the steps and that's how we got to where we are now to what do we want to keep on the site, you know, what what would make it a lot more streamlined for the community. So, I've been kind of easing my way through it and hopefully it's working out and hopefully we can get to the end of it to where we can just put agendas and just the maintenance mode. But right now, cleanup mode is in full progress. [1:11:30] Alan (City Administrator): And we don't have a system yet, council. I mean, so part of my job as I perceive it is to have sort of a pipeline from here to down there to up there as it were. And I think to Kathy's point, I mean, in the world we live in, the mobile optimization is probably key because let's face it, if you're not on one of these things at a desk, you're on your phone. [1:11:51] Chris (IT/Web): Yeah. So, still looking for with the archiving as Ryan was saying, still looking to figure out what we can use for an archive because nothing as an archiving tool has worked. I'm trying to figure out what other cities are using outside of Civic Plus. [1:12:12] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Look at Stillwater. Stillwater is a nice one. [1:12:16] Chris (IT/Web): I might be able to do the archiving for—any advice you guys have, please. [1:12:22] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: There should be—maybe we can take some of this offline um and maybe I can just go figure it out. I just don't think WordPress is maybe the best option for us what we're looking to do. [1:12:43] Chris (IT/Web): Yeah, if you guys want to do a a different site, we can I can we can definitely look into it and it probably mean a good overhaul and maybe a complete refresh of the website trying to bring back and put new things in. [1:12:55] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Well, what I wonder if you could do would be to just start over from scratch with a brand new site and take the old site and maybe leave it around for a year or so. It's not that expensive. Call the old site the archive and then at some point download everything from the old site and just stick it in some format on the new site and shut down the old site. It just seems like we're maybe making things by trying to—and if somebody wants to move away from WordPress, fine. Just make the new website some other system that fits some of our needs. I just—I'm not an expert on web design. I use big words and sometimes people think I know things, but if you guys have a recommendation for software that we could just start over from scratch with, that would honestly be a lot easier. [1:14:02] Chris (IT/Web): Yeah, I think that that might be a better option for us than— [1:14:06] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: Yeah, let's talk about really—we've got a new person coming online and so we'll see what she's comfortable with in terms of design. I'm guaranteeing it's better than WordPress. [1:14:23] Councilmember Bridget Sperl: So I would say at this point in time keep cleaning up what we have be because it's what we have. I would not put all of this on hold. We'll build the new stadium before we close down the old one. [1:14:38] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Yeah, but but I don't want Chris going off and spending now his time and energy finding a new site before we get this thing cleaned up. We got to clean up this thing. It's still vastly improved over what it was when did we have the old site? Two years ago. [1:14:58] Chris (IT/Web): Oh goodness. [1:15:00] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: So, as far as like this is much better. We just just room for improvement. [1:15:05] Alan (City Administrator): I wouldn't ask a brand new employee staff person to start building city's presence as like day one project one. That also would take their entire time frame of how much time they're working. [1:15:15] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: On a more fun—could we send out when we send out the next city bulletin? Just send out a request for a photo to replace the soccer photo we have up there and we'll put a new photo up. We'll have a photo contest or something. [1:15:32] Alan (City Administrator): I can add it to the newsletter. [1:15:34] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: We get we could put it their photo up as the main website photo. I don't know that maybe that's demanding too much right now. But just again to Barton's point, can we just make sure that everything is up to date? This important: the calendar and the meeting minutes and agenda that really needs to be up to date. Okay. [1:15:58] Chris (IT/Web): All right then. [1:16:03] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for your help and I think Alan's gonna coordinate all of this. [1:16:11] Alan (City Administrator): Thanks for your work from the community of the website. We appreciate it. [1:16:16] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Yeah. Thanks. All right. Um, we're still talking about the retention policy. I think we need a vote approving the retention policy as suggested. [1:16:47] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Can I just make one more comment on the retention policy? Thank you for doing all that, putting that together. And I think it's really important because as we build our standard procedures and our document books, this is perfect. [1:17:02] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Absolutely. All right. Can I have a motion, please, to approve um the proposed city data retention policy for our website? [1:17:09] Councilmember Kathy Weier: So moved. [1:17:11] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Second. [1:17:12] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? [1:17:13] Council (Unison): Aye. [1:17:14] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Opposed. Hearing none, motion passes. Okay, we're on to the resident members of community engagement and events committee. We had five um people express an interest in being on this new committee. This is to council. Please approve Nan Drews, Jane Morn, Ashley Bell, Shelley Ross, and Jamie Eisele for seats on the committee. So, I'd like a motion um to approve those five residents. Um I have emailed them and I will be the liaison, but they're going to set up their own committee similar to the parks committee. [1:18:35] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I think that's great. [1:18:37] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Yeah. So, can I have a motion to approve these five? [1:18:39] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: So moved. [1:18:41] Councilmember Ryan Hankins: I'll second. [1:18:43] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? [1:18:44] Council (Unison): Aye. [1:18:45] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. And Alan. Um, the last one, right? The last thing. [1:18:52] Alan (City Administrator): Yep. You're on the floor covering your kitchen project. [1:19:18] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Right on. Okay. Again, in front of you. be because we're going to have a community engagement committee, we anticipate using um this space more. Um as you can see, Jim and Ron installed our new LED lighting, which is beautiful. Yeah, it's awesome. Um the paint job's been done, as you know. Um, I have um a family who would like to donate a range, a new range for our kitchen. Um, our plan is to remove the old range and put the new one in. In addition, I would like to install um LVP flooring. So, I was pricing it out and I think I can do it for 300 or less. Um in that note, also I would like to get hardware for the cabinets and I think if we do hardware, the flooring and the new range, it'll look quite pleasing. We're having um a lot more people request um this rental space. So, I would like to make it as um inviting as possible. [1:20:20] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Maybe we should redo the—think about redoing—see how that goes and think about the carpet in this area, too. [1:20:27] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Yeah, but I'm not going to install LVP in here. Let's start with—let's not—can we just—let's make the project any bigger than we need to. Let's start with—stick with the kitchen for now. [1:20:41] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: size of the space, the cost sounds about right, but as far as like I would actually if if you're choosing between something that is $300 and poor quality, I would prefer to recommend a higher cost and a better quality item because of the number of people that potentially could be using this space. [1:21:21] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Yeah, I will definitely take that into consideration. I only want to do the job once, Kathy. Exactly. That is the goal. Okay. And then um eventually it won't be in this project, but the next stage I would like to replace the sink and the faucet and then the kitchen will look refreshed and updated, but that is not included in this initial phase of the project. So, I'm looking if if you could just um maybe make a motion to approve me up to $500, which will be more than sufficient to cover what I'm doing, but I just don't want to have to come back in a month and ask for 50 bucks. [1:22:01] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: The $500 that you note here is that that includes the flooring and hardware? [1:22:06] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: That's it. Jim and Ron's time—it would be Jim and Ron's time to move the ranges. They're moving it from the person that's donating it to here and moving the old range to a recycling place. [1:22:20] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I move to approve up to $700 for kitchen flooring range replacement and related costs. [1:22:26] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: He's bumping it up. So you have—Would you give her 700? 700. Well, I mean, you got labor—All right. You want to reduce it down to 500? I said "up to." I am very um frugal. [1:22:58] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I'll second. [1:23:02] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Ryan and Ryan's. Yep. All in favor? [1:23:04] Council (Unison): Aye. [1:23:05] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. Okay. Okay, now we're on to the consent agenda. Would anybody like to pull anything out of the consent agenda? Um, the only thing we do need to do is add these late claims that Therese gave us also in front of you on the table. [1:23:27] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Well, let's pull out the treasures report. [1:23:31] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Okay. [1:23:33] Alan (City Administrator): And I've got it listed as added on the agenda for purposes of the minutes. [1:23:38] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Alan, did we end up getting a vote for the audit that we had talked about last— [1:23:43] Alan (City Administrator): Not yet. [1:23:45] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Bless you. And just a quick FYI, Bridget and I met with Marsha Olson two weeks ago. Um just to try to kind of refresh how we're getting the treasurer's report. Marsha had a couple recommendations. She showed us one that the city of Stillwater uses that we quite liked and we're kind of trying that one out. It's more of a fund-based way of looking at it. Instead of—so, um and it it will evolve. Be nice. Um so and it it will evolve. Excellent. Okay. So um Mr. Hankins asked to pull out the treasurer's report so we could add this in. Anything else you would like to pull out? Okay. Um, can I have a motion please to approve the consent agenda with the addition of these claims? [1:25:01] Councilmember Kathy Weier: So moved. [1:25:03] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Second. [1:25:06] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? Opposed? Hearing none. Motion passes. Um, Alan, would you like to read the announcements? [1:25:15] Alan (City Administrator): Yeah. Uh, next meeting scheduled for March 10th. Same time, same place. Um, Tennis Sanitation report—we have the annual report for collection totals which is at the end of your packet as well as the final quarter from last year. Uh your Washington County Sheriff's update is in there. And last but not least, it's National Toast Day. [1:25:40] Councilmember Kathy Weier: and to be clear, it was like toaster toast and not champagne toast. I spent some time figuring that out. Wonderbread in the appliance toast. [1:25:48] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Me too. I had to go— [1:25:52] Councilmember Kathy Weier: Can I add an announcement? The parks committee is still accepting nominations for their "remove a tree within the city property" program. It has to be on city property to use the $2500 that they have allotted for a tree removal. Um, you have until Valentine's Day to submit your nominations to the parks email address. [1:26:18] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Cool. The only other thing I would add is the approved changes, amendments, modifications to the PLOP agreement that we've basically passed through this group. I did present to Rice Creek and so they're on it, I guess you could say. I haven't heard back, but uh I'm just working through their attorney. I can see where it would take more than three weeks. But we've made our intentions clear. [1:26:43] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Good. Also, one other thing, um, our my next door neighbor, um, their their son was in the Olympics, uh, Cory and Cory, the mixed doubles for curling. Yeah. And they won a silver today. So, congratulations to them. [1:27:10] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: And one of the Cory's made a very nice statement on behalf of the United States, or at least all curlers. [1:27:18] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Should we have a banner out in front of the city hall or in front of their house even or something from here? [1:27:26] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: This is amazing. We have all these Olympic parents coming because we also had Herb who moved here and—what a great documentary that was. I believe we also have an Olympian who lives on Birchwood Court. Don't forget about Cassie. [1:27:43] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Cassie. I know. Hey, shout out to Cassie. She was on the first women's team to curl in the Olympics, right? [1:27:54] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I just knew she was in the Olympics. I didn't know it was the first women's team. Was her sister—and her sister. So, she lives—it's the Birchwood Court thing. The Dropkins live on Birchwood Court. We're like the curling um— [1:28:10] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Maybe it should be a little cul-de-sac party then. We need a sheet built in our court so they can practice. That would be so cool. Anyway, congratulations to the Dropkins. I have that same watch it when I get home. It's a stressful time to be an American athlete there. So, I mean, they're all holding their cool really well. So, figure skating we watched conversely with the Super Bowl. So, it was fun to watch our folks in mixed doubles there, too. Yeah. Well, anyway, congratulations. All right. Um, do we have we have to talk about this though because we removed it from the agenda. [1:28:43] Alan (City Administrator): We added it. now in the report as extra claims to see it in the minutes. [1:28:49] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: We don't need to approve it then as well because we did the— [1:28:53] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: I thought I pulled it out. I move to approve the treasures report plus all the additional claims in case the previous motion was not sufficient. [1:29:07] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Second. All in favor? [1:29:10] Council (Unison): Aye. [1:29:13] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All right. Can I get a motion to adjourn, please? [1:29:15] Councilmember Kathy Weier: I move to adjourn. [1:29:18] Councilmember Ryan Eisele: Second. [1:29:20] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: All in favor? [1:29:21] Council (Unison): Aye. [1:29:23] Mayor Jennifer Arsenault: Motion passes. We stand adjourned. Thank you everyone.