This transcript features the Moose Lake City Council meeting from August 14, 2024. Based on the context provided and the dialogue, I have identified the speakers including the Mayor, Council members, and City staff. [0:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, I’d like to welcome everyone to the regular meeting of Moose Lake City Council for Wednesday, August 14th, 2024, and I'd like to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. [0:22] **Group:** [Pledge of Allegiance] [0:41] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I’d like to welcome our visitors here tonight, thank you for coming. The next item is the agenda. Do we have any changes or additions to the agenda? Hearing none, do I have a motion to approve the agenda? [Motion made] Got a second? [Seconded] All in favor say aye. [0:55] **Council Members:** Aye. [0:56] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed? Motion carried. Moving on, number two: Consent Agenda. 2A, the minutes. Number one: Regular City Council meeting, July 10th, 2024. Number two: The Special City Council meeting, July 22nd, 2024. Any discussion or questions on the minutes? [1:27] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** Motion to approve. [1:29] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I have a second? [Seconded] All in favor say aye. [1:33] **Council Members:** Aye. [1:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed say no. Motion carried. Moving on to the Financial Reports. B1, the city accounts payable for July 2024. Number two, city financial statements for July 2024. And number three, the liquor store profit loss statements for July 2024. Any questions or discussion? [Motion made] Do I have a second? [2:12] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Second. [2:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. [2:14] **Council Members:** Aye. [2:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed? Motion carried. Number three: Public Comment. This time is reserved for comments from the public on matters not listed on the agenda. Please keep comments to 3 minutes. I have my stopwatch. [2:29] **Mark Lambert:** No problem, perfect. Mark Lambert. Greg, I’m going to let you take a look at this real quick. Mr. Mayor, take a look at this real quick, maybe you can share with them. Absolutely. Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, Ellissa. If you want to just look through it, what I'm sharing with you is what represents four years' worth of work on our behalf. As you guys know, I own Sand Lake Resort. I bought it in 2005—I've had it for 19 years—and I am in the process of trying to redevelop that resort. I can tell you after four years, we have made amazing progress. We are down to having the design work done. If you dig far enough in that booklet, you'll find our light fixtures, our toilet paper colors, our toilet paper holder colors, the designs for the units, the entertainment suite... you'll find frankly an amazing building that we are planning to do. In my two minutes that I have left, I'm here to share with you that I'm very excited about what we're going to do there. Ultimately, I think it'll be a $10 or $12 million investment for the community and a very beneficial development for those people in the area. I have fought through the DNR battle that I had in 2020 where they didn't think I should do this. I have been working with the Windermere Sewer District since 2023 to get approvals to relocate some pipes. Now I'm down to permitting for 1,300 gallons which, hopefully, if you have had a chance to catch up with your attorney, you know about. I know your attorney issued a letter this morning. My attorney talked to your attorney and the district's attorney, and there seems to be at least some thought that the attorneys might be able to get together to come back for a solution. So my ask for you is to the extent that you're involved with the discussions, if you can encourage or authorize your attorney to work with my attorney. I understand it's a mess, I really do. I'm $550,000 into winning this battle and whatever it takes I'm going to continue to press on, but I sure love your help and support. Thank you very much. [5:48] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you for coming tonight. Moving on to number four: Departmental Reports. 4A, Carlton County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Kelly Lake, monthly update and Moose Lake Police Department report, July 2024. [6:04] **Sheriff Kelly Lake:** Thank you. Also, I have with me—I just wanted to formally, I know you probably all may know Travis already, but wanted to formally introduce Travis Mages. He is the first dedicated Deputy to the city. I'm sure you've already seen him around. [6:26] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Give him a little history background for the community because it is broadcast. [6:31] **Sheriff Kelly Lake:** Oh, for sure. Just for a second, then you take off. [6:34] **Deputy Travis Mages:** Yeah, I'll make it as fast as I can. Nice to meet you again, I'm Travis Mages. Work for Carlton County Sheriff's Office. Worked here in Moose Lake from about late 2017 to about 2021—about four years. Then worked for Cloquet PD for about three, and prior to Moose Lake, I worked for Carlton PD for about a year and a half. It's been nice to really get back in the area. I know a lot of the business owners and community members. Even some of the calls I've had to deal with, people are like, "I remember you." So it's been very nice in that aspect; we already have those built-in relationships. I'm really glad to be here. [7:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you very much, appreciate it. [7:42] **Sheriff Kelly Lake:** He's actually working and was on a call, but you're good for a few minutes. I just wanted to give you the July stats. I can give you the stats from August 1st to August 13th that Deputy Mages has responded to: 40 calls for service, and that includes traffic stops, business checks, community engagements, and extra patrol. For July, when there was one officer still for Moose Lake, there were 12 calls for service that Chief Patterson responded to. Then in July for the Sheriff's Office response to the city, there were 103 calls for service, which included traffic stops, neighbor trouble, juvenile trouble, theft complaints, suspicious activity, medical calls, and property damage. 103 total. [9:52] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Do we have that in our packet here? [9:56] **Sheriff Kelly Lake:** You do not. I can certainly provide that. Ellissa and I had not discussed the format yet. So we'll talk about exactly how you would like that public data piece of it. [10:14] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Well, thank you very much. It's appreciated and thanks a lot, Travis. Good job and welcome. [10:21] **Sheriff Kelly Lake:** Yes. We're still working on the hiring process and actively recruiting. We are backgrounding right now. We are working on getting up to the four-complement of deputies that is in the contract. In the meantime, the Sheriff's Office will be responding to calls for service as well as routine patrol. [11:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you very much, Kelly. [11:13] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)::** I can share from a city perspective that we have been engaging in re-keying the facility. The exterior has been re-keyed, the interior was re-keyed today. In addition, we'll have the lease agreement a little later on the agenda. I also attended the fire district meeting last night. As of this morning, all calls received by the police department office are being automatically forwarded to non-emergency dispatch at Carlton County. [12:15] **Sheriff Kelly Lake:** Yes, we realized that was a step we might have overlooked at first because the answering machine was still directing them to the Moose Lake PD cell phone. We did correct that now. [12:43] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you very much. All right, 4B: City Superintendent Department report, July 2024. [12:51] **Phil Entner (City Superintendent):** Yes, Mayor, members of the Council, Administrator Owens. Busy month with the 4th of July, triathlon, all that. Water Department: distributed 4.5 million gallons of drinking water. We have a couple of repairs we need to make before this fall. Sewer Department: took in 15.2 million gallons. That number is up due to the rain we've had. The 2024 sanitary lining project is in progress. Lining could be happening as early as next week. Street Department: pothole patching seems like it's all the time. We have patching on Industrial Road happening next week. Cemeteries: was pretty slow this month. Parks: I got nothing. Arena: nothing. Recycling center: that’s going like crazy. [15:57] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I don't need an exact figure, but do you have a guesstimate on how much we spent on pothole repair this summer? [16:05] **Phil Entner:** Can I get you that number next month? I know it's more than $5,000 for sure. [16:22] **Ellissa Owens:** Maybe we can provide a breakdown between actual mix and then labor? [16:42] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Good job, thanks. 4C: Motor Vehicle Department, Quarter 2 updates. [16:59] **Taylor Hansberry (Deputy Clerk):** Hello, good evening. Sorry I wasn't here last month. We have been extremely busy this summer. From April through July, we did almost 7,600 applications. That seems like quite a bit. We also did close to 300 miscellaneous transactions like exams and manuals. One concern: Moose Lake Implement is having some dealer issues and they've been sending paperwork to Grand Rapids, so we've lost that paperwork for now. On the bright side, we’ve been selling a lot of blackout plates. People love them. Also, regarding passport photos: we've had some trouble with the lighting and shadows, but we figured out the background issue. We processed one "guinea pig" customer who was very patient, and he got out the door. We'd like to start advertising for passport photos next week. We’ll be charging $15 per customer. Lastly, our office will be closed September 19th and 20th for the MDVA annual meeting. [25:47] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Good job, thanks. Municipal Liquor Store Department report, July 2024. [26:18] **Ryan McKeon (Finance Director):** Yes, hello members of the Council, Mayor, Administrator Owens. Liquor store admittedly has been super busy. Mari and I haven't met in quite some time, but I did go down Monday and we met for about an hour and a half. We talked about promotions, pricing, and efficiencies. We’re having some problems with the ice machine. Primarily, the top priority in the short term is staffing. I’ll know more about that in the next week. [27:53] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Everyone's aware of the staffing problem. Thank you. I take it you have the next one, Technology? [28:20] **Ryan McKeon:** Yes. I met with the County IT Department to make a plan for a seamless transition down at the PD. I'm also working on cyber security incident reporting. A new state law requires public agencies to report incidents within 72 hours. [30:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you very much, appreciate it. Counselor Huso? [30:09] **Council Member Kris Huso:** I have some information from the library. The final numbers of the summer reading program: 109 signed up, 75 reading logs turned in. For the summer programs, there were 30 programs. Traveling Lantern had 10 people, Snake Discovery had 86, the juggler had 32, the Falcons had 50, the Raptors had 37. Overall, some pretty good numbers. [31:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to 4F, the City Engineer monthly update. [31:44] **Ellissa Owens:** Yes, there are three sets of meeting minutes from the City Engineers this month. Substantial completion date for this year's sewer lining project is September 28th. We're also coordinating for the trail resolution later on the agenda. [33:04] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I saw the Quick Trip storm water pond that we talked about. Is there any news on that? [33:11] **Ellissa Owens:** We've requested the proper title work. I’m expecting an update for the city shortly. [34:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Chamber of Commerce update. [34:04] **Ellissa Owens:** I’m pleased to announce the Chamber has raised $10,129.95 towards the city's firework display. The display cost the city $12,000, so that $10,000 contribution is excellent. [34:53] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** That's fantastic. I think it's appropriate we send a thank you card to the Chamber. Moving on, number five: Previously discussed business. The City of Moose Lake Personnel Policy. [35:31] **Ellissa Owens:** Good evening Council. This is the third reading of our Personnel Policy and the Social Media Policy. I was asked last time to reach out to similar-sized cities regarding the tuition reimbursement clause. Hinkley and Stacy both have a clause almost verbatim to ours. Hinkley caps it at $250 a year; Stacy does not indicate a cap. $250 a year is barely one textbook. So it is up for Council to decide on the cap. [37:04] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I talked about my concerns. At $3,000 per employee, that's a lot for the city to protect. [38:20] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Personally, I think upward mobility is very important. I think 250 is way too low. Council makes the final decision on each applicant. [41:35] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** When I was with St. Paul, they had a three-credit class limit they would pay for. I think that would be about $1,000. [43:54] **Ellissa Owens:** So: "tuition reimbursement for an individual employee will not exceed three credits per year, Council having final say." [44:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a motion? [Motion made] Second? [Seconded] All in favor say aye. [Ayes heard] Motion carried. Do we need a second motion for the Social Media Policy? [44:42] **Ellissa Owens:** There have been no changes to that one. Once approved, we will engage in employee education on the new policy. [45:27] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** I'll make that motion to approve the social media policy as presented. [46:04] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Second. [46:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. [Ayes heard] Motion carried. Moving on to 5C: Emergency Response Center lease agreement. [46:13] **Ellissa Owens:** Just a few modifications were made, primarily section 12.2 regarding snow removal. The city will be responsible for snow removal at the ERC. Attorneys have signed off. [47:26] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Motion to approve. [Seconded] [47:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. [Ayes heard] Motion carried. Moving on to 6A: Jordan Hegland, Southern Carlton County Police District discussion. [48:24] **Jordan Hegland:** Good evening. I'm here to basically answer questions about the information I provided. Currently for year one (2027), we're calling for nine officers and a chief. Year two would go up to 14. Moose Lake's costs would actually go down for law enforcement to about $271,000. Some other municipalities recommended a 2% sales tax. I’m just looking to see if you guys are interested in meeting with other municipalities. [51:53] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Looking at a budget of $2.9 million... I think there's a lot more information and hurdles to go through. [53:20] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I think the Council wants to see that these other communities are actually committed before the city spends more money or time on it. [53:53] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** I would highly recommend going to each one of these municipalities and having them make a resolution that they're willing to fork out the numbers you have here. When you start pulling out four or five of the nine, it's not a realistic endeavor. [56:33] **Ellissa Owens:** I appreciate the dedication to providing good data, but it would be nice to see commitment from other municipalities prior to further engagement. [58:52] **Jordan Hegland:** I understand. I'll come back next month after I meet with the others. [59:40] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to 6B: PTSD health insurance reimbursement submission. [59:45] **Ryan McKeon:** The reporting period was from July 2023 to June 2024. We have initial approval for $94,766. It was a very cumbersome portal, but we met the deadline. [1:01:14] **Ellissa Owens:** I’d like to highlight that next year we're anticipating our submission will be closer to the $120,000 discussed. [1:02:24] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Is there a guarantee from year to year, or is this something that could be gone tomorrow? [1:02:46] **Ellissa Owens:** No guarantees. Funding has not been assigned indefinitely. Once the pot of money is done, it would need further legislative action. [1:06:29] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** So just to be clear: if and when this money runs out, the citizens of Moose Lake will be paying $120,000 a year until those individuals reach age 65? [1:06:55] **Ellissa Owens:** Correct. [1:07:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to 6C: Resolution 24-8-01, Phase 2 Trail. [1:07:11] **Ellissa Owens:** This is a resolution for the city to agree to maintain the trail. Standard language. [1:07:37] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Motion to approve. [Seconded] [1:07:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. [Ayes heard] Motion carried. 6D: Sourcewell bid form, Riverside Arena project. [1:08:00] **Ellissa Owens:** The city was awarded a $167,000 Mighty Ducks grant. The Water and Light Commission agreed to contribute $50,000. Moose Lake Area Hockey Association has been approved for financing of the remaining balance. To meet the timeline, we propose using Sourcewell, a government cooperative purchasing entity, which meets the public bid requirement and could save us $16,000 to $26,000. [1:11:51] **Council Member Kris Huso:** I'll make a motion that we approve. [Seconded] [1:12:12] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. [Ayes heard] Motion carried. 6E: Elm Avenue tree and sidewalk discussion. [1:12:30] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** Earlier this week, an elderly lady tripped and fell on the green grates around the trees. The grates are tripping hazards. The trees are messy, they block business signs, and they're getting too high. I wanted to see what everyone thought about removing them or putting in planters. [1:14:51] **Raenee Bennett (City Gardener):** My suggestion is that we take all the trees out, clean up those areas, and keep maybe four trees better suited for a small urban landscape. We could put hanging flower baskets on the lamp posts instead. [1:17:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I probably am the only one that knows the history—they are special elm trees. They are about 35 or 40 years old now. [1:22:20] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Is this a budgetary item for next year or an immediate need? If it's a trip hazard, we should take care of it no matter what. [1:24:14] **Phil Entner:** We can pull the grates out and fill them in with rock for now so it's walkable. [1:27:02] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** We have consensus. Phil, you can start that ASAP. [1:31:41] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to 6F: Arrowhead Lane to Veterans Park flags. I’d like to see if we can put flags and Christmas decorations going north to the Veterans Park. We’d need to get assistance with Water and Light. [1:33:40] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I'd like to look at it and know what the cost is. [1:34:36] **Phil Entner:** No problem, I can get that for you. [1:35:37] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to 6G: First National Bank Twilight field request. [1:35:41] **Ellissa Owens:** They are requesting to use the field for a team building event. Park Board recommends approval. [Consensus granted] 6H: John Lund, Park and Recreation Board resignation. [1:37:14] **Council Member Kris Huso:** Motion to accept. [Seconded] [1:37:33] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. 6I: Keith Carlson, Park Board appointment. [Motion made and seconded] [1:39:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. 6J and 6K: Moose Lake Brewing Company temporary liquor licenses for September 7th and September 28th. [Motions made and seconded, both carried] [1:42:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Reports and Correspondence. Hockey Association fundraiser letter and Army Corps Wetland review. [1:43:27] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Fire District minutes were not provided? [1:43:35] **Ellissa Owens:** I did attend the meeting last night. I will continue to request them. [1:44:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Announcements. Regular meeting Wednesday, September 11th. Park Board meeting is actually September 9th as the 2nd is Labor Day. [1:45:21] **Taylor Hansberry:** Thank you. [1:45:23] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a motion to adjourn? [Motioned and seconded] All in favor say aye. We are adjourned. Thanks everyone.