Based on the context provided and the dialogue within the transcript, here is the formatted transcript with speaker identifications. **Note on Identifications:** * **Mayor Jim Michalski** is the primary facilitator and is occasionally addressed by the nickname **"Ted"** by fellow council members. * **Katie** (referred to throughout the transcript) was the City Administrator/Finance lead during this period (Katie Bloom). * **Darren** is the Police Chief (Darren Berg), and **Greg** refers to a Council Member (Greg Myhre) active during this session. *** [0:00] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** This conference will now be recorded. All right, welcome everyone back to the city council meeting. I would like a motion to reopen the meeting, and this is for the Truth and Taxation public hearing. [0:15] **Douglas Juntunen:** So moved. [0:17] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do you have a second? [0:18] **Kris Huso:** Second. [0:19] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. [0:21] **Council Members:** Aye. [0:23] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. Do we need a motion to open the Truth and Taxation portion? [0:28] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, well, I'll do the budget presentation and then you'll open the public hearing. So yes, at that point we will. [0:46] **Katie (City Administrator):** Okay, sounds good. Okay, so you guys should be able to see my screen if you're on video. Um, kind of go through it with you guys if that's okay. If you guys have any questions, just shout out what they are and I will answer them. Um, but we'll just get started. Okay, so starting with revenues for 2020: property taxes were 567,000 and due to property value increases in 2021, we're estimating 593,000. [1:32] **Katie (City Administrator):** Uh, sales tax we kept the same for budgetary purposes. Local Government Aid (LGA) as of right now is set to increase about 35,000, although we'll talk about it a little bit later; I'm expecting uh that to be cut, but we haven't heard anything official from the state yet. Uh, the transfers from Power and Light will remain 150,000 and I'm estimating the campground revenues to be about the same. For expenditures, we'll go over these in a little bit better detail later on, but the elections budgets were removed for 2021. The operating transfer will continue from the general fund to the DMV. [2:18] **Katie (City Administrator):** I included wage increases in the budget for our PEIP health insurance; the estimated increase was right around 10 percent and that was all due to COVID-related increases. And then we did—I did make budget updates for personnel, meaning the part-time administrative assistant and the police chief. So this gives a breakdown of, um, in total the changes that were made. So for general government there was no change; council there was no change; city administration was a decrease of thirteen thousand dollars. [3:04] **Katie (City Administrator):** Elections were taken out, so there's a decrease there. The community center stayed the same. Um, our police department with a lot of the changes that were made um resulted in a twelve thousand dollar decrease. Um, the building inspector stayed the same. Public Works increased twenty-three thousand dollars and that is due to the um double staffing for a couple of months that we knew Wayne would be retiring so we we just budgeted for two months of wages and insurance. The depot stayed the same. Our parks and rec department will stay the same. Gardens stayed the same. The library had some staffing changes over the year 2020. [3:51] **Katie (City Administrator):** So in 2020 we estimated a little bit of a decrease, a small increase in the cemetery and the cable TV department, as well as the arena. So all in all, with the general fund, we're estimating a six thousand dollar decrease in expenditures. Does anybody have any questions so far? [4:19] **Katie (City Administrator):** So for capital, this is kind of where it takes a little bit of a turn. For the Public Works department, we estimated about twenty thousand dollars for a dump truck plow for snow plowing and those types of things. We also—I also put in here a loader, and this will be dependent on if there are any cuts with LGA. Um, and we also have that large trail project going on in 2021, so if that goes over budget this item will be the first to go. So I told Phil not to get too excited because my estimate is that this probably will not happen in 2021. Um, [5:04] **Katie (City Administrator):** I don't feel confident that the state will give us our full amount for LGA. Um, so this is going to be the first thing kind of on the chopping block. Um, any questions on that? [5:18] **Walter Lower III:** Yeah, I had heard that like actually they were way off in what they're projecting; there's like a 900 million dollar surplus. So I would—I wouldn't allow the state to be pushing a lot of buttons right away. I think everyone needs to stand firm and demand proof. [5:40] **Katie (City Administrator):** So I heard that they um had a short-term surplus, but over a two-year projection I think they were still projecting a loss. So for the short term for the rest of 2020, we are getting our full LGA amount, but I just don't know yet for 2021, which is [5:52] **Katie (City Administrator):** why I'm being hesitant to have Phil get excited about the loader. My idea is similar to that that we talked about earlier: if we have money left over, my suggestion at the end of 2021 is going to be to put all of that money that we have left over into that equipment fund so that we maybe in 2022 will have enough money collectively for a loader or for a squad or for something. Um, so the money will not go unused, I just am cautious in having Phil get too excited. Uh, the other capital items for the general fund are the roof [6:39] **Katie (City Administrator):** repairs, which I estimated at ten thousand dollars, although I have not contacted um to get quotes quite yet. Um, I just got the report from the engineers not that long ago, so we'll get those done in 2021 as well as the overhead door at the arena and then the third rooftop unit for the community center um which is right around—we estimated right around 20. [7:05] **Douglas Juntunen:** Katie, I interject. I do have a pretty big concern with—I think that somewhere along the line in meeting with department heads, we need to make sure that we're doing our due diligence or that they're bringing new factual information. Uh, the council could have approved uh—I don't remember how many—what was a hundred thousand dollar roof? I mean, that to me still—I did not want something like that to ever slip by because we could have really screwed city council members or city residents for years to come. That should have never happened, and I just want to make sure that we're going to be doing something different so that doesn't come to your uh—or doesn't get past your desk. I mean, I know it's something that I'm certainly going to question [7:50] **Douglas Juntunen:** uh more um in the future. Uh, certainly a learning experience for me. So um, I agree, it's not a shot at you at all, it's just I do not want this to get by because, you know, we're human beings too and and we take the information that we get just like you did and say, "Well, it could be factual." I'm just asking for checks and balances just like any any other business would do. That's all. [8:14] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Yep, I agree. I I think the council did a great job on that questioning all that and uh getting Katie to do the next step, which was to talk to the engineer group. So to me, the process worked. I know what you're saying, Doug, but I think when it came to us and and all you counselors asking [8:37] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** questions, you did exactly the right thing and it worked how it should. [8:43] **Douglas Juntunen:** Perhaps, yeah. Yeah, perhaps then maybe we should have a dollar amount that if it goes over X amount that we do confer uh with—if it's something that's structural—that we would confer with our engineers or something like that. Just just so there's a a a safety net. That's all I'm saying. [9:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Absolutely. [9:06] **Katie (City Administrator):** Yeah, thank you. So that's those are the total uh all of the capital improvements for the general fund. Um, that's what we have budgeted. Um, the next screen just shows a [9:23] **Katie (City Administrator):** compilation of what we had budgeted in 2020 compared to 2021 and you'll see that increase of about 90,000, which, like I said, most of it is as it sits right now going for a loader. Although if something happens with LGA or that trail goes over budget, um, that item is going to be the first one um that gets crossed off unfortunately, but the money's going to come from somewhere. Uh, the next screen shows uh 2020 compared to 2021. In 2021 we we are estimating revenues of $2,007,886; operating expenditures of $2,050,745; and capital improvements of $218,000, resulting in a net income of about 20,000. Um, these numbers do not include anything with sales tax, gas franchise fee, or gambling. Um, those come in and go to a completely separate area. So we do still budget for them, though. We do not have any remaining outstanding items; everything that we've talked about i think in September we've we've addressed and made changes to. Um, so the next screen here shows us from 2019 um how we compare to area communities. [10:57] **Katie (City Administrator):** So it looks like we're—were a little bit less expensive than Barnum but a little bit more expensive than—I'm sorry, opposite. Oh, I lied. I put these numbers in here, I should know. A little bit less expensive than Barnum but a little bit more expensive than Carlton, Proctor, uh Willow River, and Wrenshall, which are on the next screen here. So some historical levy information just so we all are on the same page: uh, this will be the second year in a row uh that I am proposing a um zero percent tax rate increase. And just some numbers [11:43] **Katie (City Administrator):** for everybody, um in 2020 we had an estimated tax capacity of 987,000. That increased to 1,031,000 in 2021. So that's a good thing—that everyone's property taxes are increasing—I mean, not—not a good thing, but property values are increasing. That's a good thing. Um, I know I've gotten a few phone calls about it um in the last week or so. So if—if anyone is having an issue with the valuation of your property, the person to call is the Carlton County Assessor's Office. I don't know specifically who takes care of Moose Lake in the assessor's office, however, anybody should be able to help you. Um, [12:29] **Katie (City Administrator):** There is a meeting in April—we haven't set a date yet—but in April uh we have the Local Board of Appeals and Equalization meeting, and that is the meeting that residents should attend to discuss the valuation of your property. Um, I've answered quite a few phone calls on that this year so I just wanted to make that—um, make that comment. So moving on to debt service, um, we are assigning 41,000 of property tax dollars to the 2011A bond, which is for the Civic Center um and the fire hall. The fire hall and the township also pay portions of that too, so um it kind [13:15] **Katie (City Administrator):** of comes in and goes out. 2014A is Park Place Drive, so that is 45,000 of property taxes, special assessments, um and then again money in, money out. 2017A bond—this was for 3rd Street and Kenwood—we are going to assign 35,000 of property tax dollars and um that 23 [percent]—I can't remember where that comes from right off the top of my head, but again, money in, money out. The 2020A bond uh comes from the Mediacom [14:03] **Katie (City Administrator):** franchise fee, so that's—that's how that is funded. Our bond payment is 17,000 next year, um a little under 17 next year, and then there's a little bit of a fiscal agent fee. So um, again, we're—to be clear on that one, we can prepay that one. Um, so we're going to look at what our expenses are each year and pay what we can with the—with the revenue that we got. Um, and we have not received our fourth quarter; we won't receive it probably until February, um so it'll be a 2021 payment. So that's all of the debt that we have um that is not water and sewer debt. [14:52] **Katie (City Administrator):** So Water Fund: uh, we are suggesting a 20% rate increase, which is why you see such a large increase in revenue from 2020 to 2021. Um, with a 20% rate increase, we're expecting an additional 50,000 in revenue, which will cover the bond payment for the Well House project. Um, in uh 2020 to 2021 you also see a big jump in expenses because of the interest payment on that bond. The net effect of all of that is a net loss of right around nine thousand dollars, and I did include additional engineering fees for the finishing of the Well House [15:39] **Katie (City Administrator):** project. There's some smaller projects that we have—we'll probably talk about in January—for the Well House, so I'm expecting some larger bills there. So the—I did three different um scenarios, I guess, for rate increases for the Water Fund: 10, 15, and 20 [percent], and the net effects of those are listed. Um, if you guys remember, we had a meeting with Northland Financial and they suggested that we do a 20% rate increase in 2020 and a 15% rate increase in 2021 for 2022. Um, and I know that those are high increases, but we now have a two million dollar bond [16:26] **Katie (City Administrator):** that we have to pay on, so um that's what they will go towards. With a 20% rate increase, a small user will see about a four to five dollar increase in their water bill. That's not exact but right around a four to five—I just looked at the the charts again that Northland uh provided to us. So um, that's kind of a dollar figure—excuse me—a dollar figure that residents can expect to see for a small user. Uh, for the Sewer Fund: uh, we are suggesting a two percent rate increase which would increase revenues about twenty-three [17:13] **Katie (City Administrator):** hundred dollars. Um, you're going to see higher expenditures in 2021 from 2022—or I'm sorry, a little bit higher—due to um wage increases and things like that. But they are overall a little bit higher because of the uh lining project that we decided to keep in the budget. So we're doing a second phase of that lining project. Um, our debt payments will be about three hundred and forty-one thousand dollars, resulting in a net loss of one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars, but we have—and I forgot to look—but we have more than enough in reserves for sustaining that loss. Some sewer rate increase options: I did [17:59] **Katie (City Administrator):** one, two, and three percent with the associated um net effects of that, and then um an average increase that users can see is between 25 cents and 75 cents depending on—on what we decide tonight. So capital improvements for the Water and Sewer fund: like I said, the Sewer fund is going to see a sewer lining project again and the Water fund—we budgeted for some valve replacements and breaks, and then I also remember that we talked about doing the water service relocates in a couple of places. So depending on what happens with [18:47] **Katie (City Administrator):** water breaks, we potentially could use that money for lowering some services, but that will all be after—probably after May/June—that we can make those decisions. And then we also are going to be finishing up the Well House project with the water tower painting and some of the smaller cleanup projects that we decided to go ahead and—and get done. So the Liquor Fund: I didn't really know what to expect for 2021 in the Liquor fund given how weird 2020 has been, but I kept the revenues the same and the expenditures changed a little bit due to [19:33] **Katie (City Administrator):** some capital items which were—we are going to order a new ice maker and then we also would like to do some exterior siding repairs. So the—the siding that was chosen is starting to show some wear and tear in certain areas and when I had the company come out to look at the arena roof, they also came to the liquor store and gave me some really good suggestions there. So we're going to try and do some of that in-house if we can to save a little bit of money, but nonetheless I did—I did budget for both of those. So with that we're expecting a net income of right around seventy thousand dollars. [20:21] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, and then the DMV: the big thing, the big change with the DMV was uh we took out the capital projects because they—they completed their capital project um right around March of this year. Um, and with that, their net income or net loss, I'm sorry, will be right around 18,000. Um, I'm interested to see what 2020 comes at—comes in at—because we had a much larger volume of people coming through than I've ever seen. So I'm optimistic that that will be as close to zero as possible. But with—with the DMV there's—there's just nothing that we can do. We can't increase our fees. [21:07] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, so but that's the DMV. Do you guys have any questions on any of the enterprise funds? [21:23] **Katie (City Administrator):** Okay, so if—I think at the August meeting we passed a two percent levy increase which would be the 735,000 amount. So if we passed a two percent—if we keep that—that's what we will levy. Um, I—I did the budget with a 714,000 total levy amount which would be a zero percent increase, which is um the second year in a row that we have been able to do that. So that is something that I am very proud of. Um, our staff has worked very, very hard, as well as you guys, at keeping um—keeping that at zero and—and providing all the same services if not more. [22:09] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, so that's historical. And then I think the next thing I need is a motion. So does every—anybody have any questions on budget? [22:15] **Walter Lower III:** Uh, this is Walt. Uh, I'm fine with the budget other than the police department budget. It's still extremely high. I'm very grateful for uh Darren and the city for uh finding some cuts. It looks like those cuts have been basically eaten up by the uh forty thousand dollar healthcare. Uh, we still have a [22:55] **Walter Lower III:** well, the—the—they place the budget at six hundred and forty-five thousand dollars and we take in general property tax five hundred and ninety-three thousand. That's a difference of fifty-two thousand dollars. The police budget is fifty-two thousand dollars over the property tax that we bring in. It's also three times—way over three times the size of the public works department. If you look at the—the figures from the budget, if you look at them all together, the police department figures jump out like crazy. They're—they're extremely high for a small town—twelve, thirteen hundred people—to—to be paying. Uh, we live in this town and pay [23:44] **Walter Lower III:** our property taxes in part to have our infrastructure updated in—in a timely manner and uh the next road project's not going to be until 2022 and that to me seems contingent to be on whether or not we get a grant from the—from the state to do it all. I wonder how we would pay for any of this stuff if we weren't receiving grants from the state. Um... [24:19] **Katie (City Administrator):** Can I—can I jump in here really quick? So that um—the—the next road project isn't—is not contingent on us getting a grant. Um, it would certainly help, but it is not [24:30] **Katie (City Administrator):** contingent. We have enough money to do a road project, but we would have needed to already have it planned at this point. So at this point next year, we will know whether we receive that grant or whether we're going to go in a different direction, but nonetheless we will be doing a road project in 2022. It just depends on whether we have grant dollars to help us out or not. [24:48] **Walter Lower III:** Okay, thank you for that information. Yep. I still find the police budget to be extremely high compared to all the other budgets in the city. Uh, I would just like to see us continue to work on trying to cut this police budget down. When we had talked [25:16] **Walter Lower III:** earlier in this year, we had decided to work to hire a working police chief and I felt that there was some uh agreement between some of us, or at least it had been brought up, that we would be able to be able to get rid of a patrol officer to try to have some extra savings. But obviously that has not happened and now we're right back into the same situation that we were over the last years where we have a police department that is sucking up an extreme amount of the overall budget. And I'm just very worried about getting these infrastructure projects done in a timely manner. I mean, we can only have Phil go around [26:02] **Walter Lower III:** for so long putting—filling potholes. He's starting to fill potholes on top of potholes. He wastes a lot of time doing that and uh from talking to the people, they're getting upset about not seeing us getting this infrastructure fixed, like I said, in a timely manner. The first uh 10 projects are going to take 30 years, and what do we have? 80 of them? We're going to have to start trying to find some more money to be able to—to uh—like I say, do this more in a timely manner. [26:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** You know Walt, one of the reasons I—I wanted all those projects brought in January [is] because we need to look at all of them. [26:48] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** And I know I've talked about this before and that is: it's great to do a full infrastructure project um with the—the top items, you know, on the list. But we got some roads that are 15 years out and the blacktop is bad now. And to me, we should be doing a grind and re-topping those because in 15 years that grind and re-top—and will be shot again—but it will be a heck of a lot better for 10-12 years. And that's been the history of some of these roads; they do last about that long. To me, we got to look at that again because you can do a block or even more for twenty thousand, thirty [27:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** thousand dollars where you're not spending 150 to 250 or 500,000 that you're going to need for a full project. And I want to discuss that again in January. To me, some of these roads—we've waited long enough to do a blacktop. And—and if it is a majority vote not to do that, fine. But I want the general public to hear that—that discussion in January. I think that's a good idea. [28:11] **Kris Huso:** Ted, well, and can I just say something about the police department? Um, you know, Darren has been there what, six months now? And we see there is, you know, some costs going down. I think we need to give him a chance to [28:20] **Kris Huso:** show what we can decrease. Um, unfortunately, um it is a huge budget. There is a lot of um probably more personnel um in that department that drives that up with the PERA, the health insurance, all that. Um, I—I do believe that people also expect that [since] they're paying the property taxes that we do have law enforcement here to um keep the crime down. Um, but I—I do agree that we need to move forward and on some of these projects and maybe not do a complete um infrastructure—just do some grinding and [29:07] **Kris Huso:** get some of these done. Because you're correct, Walt, i mean we need to get moving on these. They are filling potholes over—potholes over potholes. [29:16] **Walter Lower III:** Yeah, I appreciate what you have to say, Kris. And I have been quite pleased with Darren's performance so far, and that's—that's why I'm bringing this up, is just so people are aware that we still need to try to find some future savings to try to uh bring this police budget down some. And uh I realized that he has just gotten on and I am hopeful that he will be able to possibly find some more cuts in the future. I—I just wanted to touch on this again; I mean you guys have heard me bring this up several times so I think you're all aware of my [29:54] **Walter Lower III:** opinion on it. [30:00] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Yeah, there's a—there's another item that we haven't talked about—we can't go into detail in this meeting—and that is uh, you know, with the PTS [Post-Traumatic Stress] um problems with that that officers have and—and rightly so, you know, with—with some of them. And so we don't know where that decision will be, but I'm imagining when that is all cleared up there will be some savings there depending on what we do with uh with a position that will be open. [30:26] **Police Chief Darren Berg:** Yeah, it's fun to have a quick comment if you don't mind as well. I appreciate the comments, Walt. Um, one of the things that I talked to Katie is, you know, I'm not going to come forward and ask for any pieces of equipment that I don't think we absolutely need. And you won't see that from me, you know, [30:40] **Police Chief Darren Berg:** coming through. And uh the big decision comes down to, you know, I'll be—still be able to pick away at things and we're already changing some things on some more cost-saving things; some of those will be minimal and as a group they will add up. The other problem is—is whether or not you stay with 24-hour coverage. And that's where um, you know, wages—that's—that's where the bulk of the money is depending on, you know, where we go, what we do with that. But uh I am seeking some other outside funding sources, like I said about some of the other different entities uh that we have in the city and uh coming up with some different plans as well. So I appreciate your comments and the support, and uh I have the same interests as well as I'm sure the Mayor and everybody else. And I'm sure we'll continue to get it—get it down there, but there will be some things out of our control and depending on [31:26] **Police Chief Darren Berg:** which way you want your department go. [31:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, thank you, Darren. Thank you. [31:40] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Any more questions from the council before we move on to the next phase? Hearing none... um Katie, at—at this point do we need uh to close this and go into the public hearing or do you have anything else? [31:58] **Katie (City Administrator):** Uh, nope. We just have to open—have a motion to open the public hearing. [32:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, I'd like a motion to uh open up the public hearing at this time. [32:11] **Douglas Juntunen:** So moved. [32:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a second? [32:15] **Kris Huso:** Second. [32:17] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, you got that Katie? Got it. [32:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, all in favor say aye. [32:27] **Council Members:** Aye. [32:29] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Carried. So we're opening the public um hearing portion right now. Katie, do you have any letters or any input from the public to—to give to us? [32:56] **Katie (City Administrator):** Uh, no. I did receive a couple of phone calls. I don't see anybody—let me just double check if there's anybody that—I don't know—I don't see anybody that is unfamiliar to me um in the meeting, so I don't—I don't have anything. [33:08] **Kris Huso:** Can I—can I just ask what were the comments from the people that did write in? Or questions on... [33:14] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, I had one comment uh regarding the city portion of his property taxes; he thought it was too high. Um, and his argument—he—he lives on the edge of town and—and thought that part of what he's paying in property taxes is for services like water and sewer. Um, and so I had to—I mean, I let him know that he—he doesn't pay for water and sewer [through taxes]; um, water and sewer users pay for water and sewer. We don't use our property tax dollars for um—for those types of things. So um, I kind of expected to see him here today [33:57] **Katie (City Administrator):** and I don't see him. So um, that was the big one. The other one I just got regarding again property taxes being too high, uh but that one seemed to be more of a property valuation problem than uh city-specific. Um, so I referred him to the assessor's office. And I actually just had a um—a woman in here earlier today just 15 minutes before the meeting wondering the same thing, so I again referred her to the assessor's office to see if she can get the valuation of her home decreased. That seems to be more of the common theme, is that people think that this meeting is for the valuation of their homes. [34:42] **Katie (City Administrator):** But I don't—I don't make those determinations. So um, those were mostly the comments that i got, but nothing specific on... I mean, once I start listing what your property tax dollars are—you used for: the police department is a big one, the arena is a big one, the uh street department is a big one, uh the library, the parks... all of these things that people enjoy and love using, uh they're not free. So um, I think once I start explaining that, it starts to make sense a little bit more. Um, so things like the police department are um easy to say that we don't want [35:28] **Katie (City Administrator):** until you need them, in my opinion. So... [35:37] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Katie, do we have a state or county regulation [on] how long we keep this open? I don't think so. Public hearing? [35:46] **Katie (City Administrator):** Yeah, no, I don't—I don't think there's a set time. I think we'll wait just a few more minutes and then if you get no calls or no emails or anything, I think we'll close it then. In the meantime, the council have any questions on anything? [36:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Phil? You know, just... [36:12] **Douglas Juntunen:** Ted, when you're talking about the budget and everyone else is bringing that up about the streets and things, i think that we are—and Katie has brought it up too, but we [36:23] **Douglas Juntunen:** are in a different uh situation than we were going into this when we first had the uh sales tax uh through the—the sewer lining project. That's a—been a big game changer uh to us having to rip up all the streets. And where Ted [Mayor Michalski] was talking, you know, years and years ago was the overlay and that I don't think was as applicable as it is today. And I think Ted bringing that back to the table is extremely uh smart because we can do a lot more with that over-mill and overlay type deal with the projects that Phil is already doing. So that's a great idea, Ted, thanks for doing that. [37:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** You're glad. Thank you. You know, it's a big [37:08] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** uh—we've had a big difference in—in what we can do in the street department um with all the things that Phil has taken on, whether they've been voluntarily or shoved on your lap. But uh it has made a big difference in how many things we can get done throughout the city that we didn't do before, or was done by a contractor probably—I can't imagine—three, four, or five times more expensive. So it does make a big difference with what we can do with our budget. I mean, a simple thing like patching our own using the roller—the county's roller—that's a huge, huge savings. It's easily two thousand dollars every time they come to town. [37:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Um, and if we can rent that thing for a couple hundred bucks, that's huge. That's to me—to me that's a game changer. That one's huge. It wasn't that long ago—well, maybe five, six years ago, maybe it was a little longer—we were paying 20 to 25,000 a year to do patching through the city and it was just one time in the spring um when the road restrictions are up. So that made a huge difference for us for the guys to be able to do them. [38:34] **Kris Huso:** Well, I'd just like to say kudos to all the department heads because I believe everybody—everybody tries to um, you know, save money somewhere. And I [38:41] **Kris Huso:** think, like you said, by buying some of this equipment for shrubbery um, you know, we're paying three thousand dollars now, but when you look at it with um salary savings of time, things like that um, you know, it all adds up and we can do more. We've got more time. And—and I—I just think that everybody does a really good job. If we can do a zero percent increase for two years um, you know, that's saying a lot because we do get a lot accomplished. And yes, the roads aren't going as fast as we'd like them to, but... [39:27] **Katie (City Administrator):** You know, there's one that kind of gets lost in translation a little bit is the library. Um, I think this is the [39:31] **Katie (City Administrator):** third year in a row that the library has seen cuts. Um, and Shelby never complains about it; she just—she does what I asks her to—what I ask her to do—and she—she doesn't complain about it. Um, and she's—she's so quiet, which is probably why she doesn't get enough praise. I don't—she's—she's a very, very quiet individual, but um she's doing a great job down there. And especially in a year when everything kind of got turned upside down, she still found a way to save some money, which is huge. It—it's a little bit different of a department than, you know, the Public Works department, but nonetheless she's—she's doing a really good job down there. [40:17] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** That's right. I think... you haven't had anything, Katie? No calls or anything else? I'll ask—any counselors have any questions or anybody online with us? Does anyone have any questions? Phil, did you have something? No, you're good. All right, then I'll ask for a motion to close the public hearing for Truth and Taxation. [40:55] **Douglas Juntunen:** So moved. [40:57] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a second? [40:59] **Walter Lower III:** A second. [41:01] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** For a second. All right, all in favor say aye. [41:04] **Council Members:** Aye. [41:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed? Okay, motion carried. We're out of the uh public hearing, we're back into the regular city council meeting. As we go through the motions, I'll go back to uh roll call again just to make sure we get all—it all done correctly. Um, so Katie, the first thing [41:40] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** first thing is a motion for the annual levy dollar amount. Is that what you want to start with? [41:47] **Katie (City Administrator):** I'm going on—on your screen is the options are the zero, one, and two percent. Uh, the zero percent is what I'm suggesting is seven hundred fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty-one dollars. [42:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Council, do you have a motion? [42:19] **Douglas Juntunen:** So moved. [42:21] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Have a second? [42:23] **Kris Huso:** Second. [42:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, all in favor say all—hi... I'll start with Kris. [42:28] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [Transcript says "hi"] [42:31] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to the second uh item is motion for General Fund revenue and expenses, Katie. [42:43] **Katie (City Administrator):** So with that, the revenues would be two million two hundred eighty-seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-six dollars; expenditures of two million two hundred sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and forty-five dollars. [43:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do you have a motion? [43:04] **Greg (Council Member):** Moved. [43:06] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Oh, go ahead Greg. Do you have a second? [43:08] **Kris Huso:** Second. [43:10] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Second. All in favor say hi [aye]. Doug? [43:12] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [43:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [43:14] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [43:14] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [43:15] **Greg (Council Member):** Aye. [43:16] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Kris? [43:17] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [43:18] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. Moving on to motion for debt service funds, Katie. [43:24] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, so the debt service funds—I'll just run through all of them. Uh, revenue for the 20—revenue for all of them: revenue for the 2011A is $77,919.84. For the 2014A bond is $79,437.19. 2017A is $58,310. And for the 2020A is $17,318.33. Um, for expenditures: 2011A is $77,920; 2014A is $137,575; 2017A is fifty-eight thousand three hundred and ten dollars; and 2020A is seventeen thousand three hundred and eighteen dollars and thirty-three cents. [44:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a motion to accept? [44:31] **Walter Lower III:** I'll make a motion to accept the debt of service as provided. [44:37] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** You have a second? [44:38] **Douglas Juntunen:** I'll second. [44:40] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say I [aye]. Start with Kris. [44:42] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [44:43] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [44:44] **Greg (Council Member):** Aye. [44:45] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [44:46] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [44:47] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Doug? [44:48] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [44:49] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carry. Thank you. [44:52] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to the next motion for Water Fund rate increase. [44:59] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, so what we had talked about and the financial people suggested was a 20% rate increase for 2020—um, and—and I would suggest going with that. I know that that is high but I—I would suggest sticking with what they told us. [45:22] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Katie, can you again kind of just spell out what that would look like for a um average? So the people listening will again know that 20% sounds high but... [45:36] **Katie (City Administrator):** Yeah, when it—20% sounds high. For [45:37] **Katie (City Administrator):** a low user—low water user—is around 2,000 gallons, um and is an increase of about four to five dollars per month. I don't have the the medium or high users right at the tip of my fingers here, but I can get that information if somebody needs to give me a call. Just give me a call and I can tell you what it is. I have them sitting on my desk but I forgot to grab them when I came down here. [46:08] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Well, just so when they're hearing, you know, any of these percentages, they're realizing it's as a poor user—medium—it's... [46:16] **Katie (City Administrator):** Yep. I would say it's right now it's going to be right—right between five and eight dollars for a medium to low user. [46:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I think for uh average family of four um—isn't that about four thousand gallons, Phil? [46:33] **Phil Entner:** Yeah, it's a little bit more. It's probably somewhere between four and possibly six. [46:38] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, so it's—it's—you could probably multiply that by four dollars as it goes up every two thousand gallons so it gives you an idea. [46:50] **Douglas Juntunen:** Any other questions for the council? I would just say this is that as much as all of us don't want to have to do this, uh this has been pushed onto this council from other councils and pushed on from other people that sat in Phil's seat and and uh Katie's seat as well. I mean, this is—if you want water, we had wells that were what, 80 and 100 years old? I mean, we have to do these things. Everyone wants to have fresh water and uh for four dollars to twelve dollars a month, I think that's a pretty good investment for another 100 years. [47:33] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** So the right thing. It was very well said, thank you, thank you. Do we have a motion to accept? [47:40] **Douglas Juntunen:** At 20% [percent], that's my motion. [47:44] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do you have a second? [47:50] **Kris Huso:** I'll second. [47:51] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say I [aye]. I'll start with Doug. [47:53] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [47:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [47:55] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [47:55] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [47:56] **Greg (Council Member):** No. [47:57] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Kris? [47:58] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [47:59] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** And I will vote Aye. You did give—to one No, Katie? Very good. Thank you. Motion carried. Um, the next motion is for the Water Fund revenue and expense. [48:19] **Katie (City Administrator):** So with a 20% rate increase, the revenue will be $304,100; expenditures of $313,175.50 [48:39] **Katie (City Administrator):** for a net loss of nine thousand dollars. [48:47] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Very correct. Council? Questions, discussion, or a motion? [48:58] **Kris Huso:** Motion to approve those figures. [49:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Have a second? [49:05] **Walter Lower III:** I'll second. [49:06] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. Start with Kris. [49:08] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [49:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [No response/Abstain] [49:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [49:10] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [49:10] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Doug? [49:11] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [49:12] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Can I vote Aye? And you recorded the one No. Very good. Thank you. Motion carried. Moving on to uh motion for Sewer Fund rate increase. [49:28] **Katie (City Administrator):** Uh, so for the sewer fund i have [49:32] **Katie (City Administrator):** uh zero, one, two, and three [percent]. And just for um purposes of um making sure we don't go upside down um, I would suggest we go with a two percent rate increase of um—that would increase our revenue about twenty-three hundred dollars. [49:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Very good. Questions by the council? Discussion or motion? [50:04] **Douglas Juntunen:** Wasn't that also a recommendation that—by somebody? I forgot who had recommended that, or maybe I'm wrong, but i thought that we needed to keep uh pace with uh what we're doing here. [50:14] **Katie (City Administrator):** That could have been a recommendation uh when you guys went for a bond in the past, but I was not here then, so I don't know if anyone else can—can verify. Ted [Mayor Michalski], I don't know if you've [50:18] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** talked about that in the past. Yes, and we wanted to keep it low as the years went on. The first year was very high as I believe it was 15 percent—I think we—we had tried to go set it for 20, but during the discussion of the council we dropped it down to 15. That was voted on in the past and then from then on it was a lower amount increase instead of uh spurting, you know, five, five, five, five, five... we did a large one and then low from then on. I would say since I've been here we've done anywhere from one to three percent. So two percent [51:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** keeps us right in there and that's what we projected to do with it to keep it down that low. So yes. Any other questions by the council? Doing that, do [I] have a motion and a percentage, please? [51:24] **Walter Lower III:** Um, I can't make a motion... [51:41] **Douglas Juntunen:** You guys made me do the 20, someone can do the two. Thank you, sir. [51:44] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do we have a second? [51:46] **Kris Huso:** What was that—a motion, Doug? I guess it is, Ted [Mayor Michalski]. [51:53] **Kris Huso:** I'll second that option. [51:55] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, all in favor say aye. I'll start with Kris. [51:58] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [51:59] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [52:00] **Greg (Council Member):** No vote. [52:02] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [52:03] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [52:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Doug? [52:05] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [52:16] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Let me understand Greg, you're—abstaining? [52:23] **Greg (Council Member):** That's true, yes. [52:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, and I vote yes. Thank you. Motion carried. Um, moving on to uh motion for Sewer Fund revenue and expense budget. [52:36] **Katie (City Administrator):** Uh, so with a two percent rate increase the revenue um will come in at $577,550; expenditures of $695,146.42, with a net loss of $117,596.42. [53:07] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Discussion or a motion by the [Council]? [53:13] **Walter Lower III:** I'll make that a motion. Motion to accept those revenue expenditures. [53:18] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Second? Doug, you second? [53:21] **Douglas Juntunen:** Yes, sir. [53:22] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you. I'm all in favor say aye. I'll start with Doug. [53:25] **Douglas Juntunen:** Yeah. [Aye] [53:26] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [53:27] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [53:28] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [53:29] **Greg (Council Member):** Abstain. [53:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Kris? [53:31] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [53:32] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** And I vote Aye. Thank you. Motion carries. Moving on, the next motion is for motor vehicle revenue and expenses. [53:45] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, motor vehicle revenue is $2,126,900; expenditures $2,144,950 with a net loss of $18,050. [54:02] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Open for discussion or a motion. [54:06] **Douglas Juntunen:** A motion either way. Motion to approve. [54:08] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Have a second? [54:09] **Kris Huso:** I'll second. [54:11] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. I'll start with Kris. [54:13] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [54:14] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Greg? [54:15] **Greg (Council Member):** Aye. [54:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [54:16] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [54:16] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Doug? [54:17] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [54:18] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. Moving on to uh motion for liquor revenue and expense budget. [54:26] **Katie (City Administrator):** Um, revenue is $1,384,300—oh [correcting]... expenditures one million three hundred twelve thousand eight hundred dollars with a net income of seventy-one thousand five hundred. [54:49] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Open for discussion or a motion. [54:53] **Douglas Juntunen:** I'll make the motion to accept the revenue and expenditures in the Liquor fund. [55:00] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do i have a second? [55:02] **Kris Huso:** Second. [55:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say I [aye]. Start with Doug. [55:05] **Douglas Juntunen:** Aye. [55:06] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Walt? [55:07] **Walter Lower III:** Aye. [55:07] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Hi... [Aye] [55:08] **Kris Huso:** Aye. [55:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. I believe that's all we have Katie, correct? [55:18] **Katie (City Administrator):** That's it. [55:23] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Does the council have any other items before we close? [55:36] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Hearing none, do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? [55:41] **Walter Lower III:** So moved. [55:43] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Have a second? [55:45] **Kris Huso:** Bye [Second]. [55:47] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say hi [aye]. [55:48] **Council Members:** Aye. [55:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, we're adjourned. Thank you, have a good night. Thank you, guys.