This transcript has been edited to include the correct names of the officials and staff members based on the context provided and the city records for the April 27, 2023, meeting. **Note on Speaker Identification:** * The transcript mentions **Pam Gackstetter** as the City Clerk. While your list identifies Christina Scipioni, Pam Gackstetter was the long-time clerk who retired shortly after this meeting; therefore, her name is used as it appears in the dialogue. * The transcript's "Councilmember Goodwin" and "Grendel" have been corrected to **Tom Melander** and **Ruth Grendahl**, respectively, to align with the provided list of officials present at the time. *** [0:00] [Music] [0:47] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Welcome everyone. We'll call this meeting to order for the April 27, 2023, Apple Valley City Council meeting. For those who are in the audience who signed up to speak, as your name is called, please come forward to address the Council. Our first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. I would ask everyone to rise and join us on the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States... [1:22] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** The next item on our agenda is to approve the agenda. Tom, do we have any changes or additions? [1:27] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, good evening. No changes to tonight's agenda. [1:33] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Great. I would take a motion to approve the agenda. [1:35] **Councilmember John Bergman:** So moved. [1:36] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [1:40] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** With a motion by Councilmember Bergman and a second by Councilmember Grendahl. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Agenda passes. The next item is our audience participation portion. We have a total of 10 minutes for this item, and this is for items that are not on the agenda. Pam’s shaking her head—it appears no one has signed up. Hard to tell, it's fun to see a full room. So, is there anyone in the room who would like to speak to the audience participation portion of the meeting? [2:08] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. These items are routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a councilmember or citizen requests to pull an item. Councilmembers, are there any items you would like to pull from consent? Seeing none. Citizens, any items to pull from consent? All right, seeing none, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? [2:23] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** So moved. [2:24] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [2:26] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have a motion by Councilmember Melander and a second by Councilmember Grendahl. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Consent items carry. And the first item on our regular agenda is the introduction and oath of office of Fire Chief Matt Nelson, and Tom Lawell has this item. [2:40] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Thank you. Well, good evening and again, this is a great way to start off our city council meeting and I have the distinct pleasure to introduce this item tonight. It's an important milestone for our city, an important milestone for our fire department. And as you all know, Fire Chief Chuck Russell has decided it's time to retire as our chief; that will be effective on May the 9th. Fortunately, he provided us with a lot of early notice and has given us some time to really prepare and work towards a seamless transition. And we didn't have to look very far. Thankfully, we have a remarkably qualified individual from in the ranks of the fire department, our Deputy Fire Chief Matt Nelson, more than ready to become our next fire chief. So we are absolutely thrilled that we have this item on the agenda here tonight, and I'm going to ask Matt to come up here and join me. [3:39] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** So, let me give you a little bit of background on Matt. He has over 18 years of fire department experience with the City of Apple Valley. He began his career as a paid-on-call firefighter in the year 2005. He has held a number of leadership positions within our department including Captain from 2008 to 2016, Assistant Chief from 2016 to 2019, and Deputy Chief from 2019 to present. And in that role, he has also been in charge of our fire department training programs, which is obviously very important. In addition to Apple Valley experience, he also has experience with South Metro Fire Department at South St. Paul and West St. Paul, and also as a paramedic with Allina Health Emergency Medical Services—so a wealth of experience to bring to this position. [4:25] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** And he grew up in the area and is a proud graduate of Eastview High School. He actually was part of our fire department Explorer Program, which shows that that program works to bring people on board and to help them show that firefighting can be a great career. He met his wife, Nicole, when they were in paramedic school and she at one time was also an Apple Valley firefighter from 2009 to 2012. [4:52] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** They have their son, Aiden, and their daughter, Natalie, here tonight along with other family members and friends, and obviously a full contingent of firefighters as well. They're here tonight to be part of this memorable occasion to have the oath of office and have the pinning of the badge. And I'm going to call on our City Clerk, Pam Gackstetter, to do the oath. [5:15] **City Clerk Pam Gackstetter:** If you can raise your right hand. [Administering the Oath] ...duties of office of Fire Chief for the City of Apple Valley, Minnesota. [5:36] **Fire Chief Matt Nelson:** I do. [Applause] [5:52] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Thank you. Next up is the pinning of the badge. [6:28] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** We couldn't be more proud to have Matt assume this duty and to become our new fire chief. I'd like to give him the floor if he'd like to say anything to the Council. [6:41] **Fire Chief Matt Nelson:** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, thank you for this opportunity. I'm glad that you have the trust and faith in me to fulfill this duty. I'm honored to be the next fire chief in Apple Valley here, to keep continuing our great fire department. Thanks. [7:02] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. Thank you, have a good one. Um, again, congratulations on the job. But your first big job in your new job is to make sure that the old chief has enough training when he goes back on the truck. I don't want to hear about him falling off the back of the truck now, okay? [Laughter] [7:34] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Before we move on to the next agenda item, there's one more important thing that we get to do. Chief Russell's last day as our chief is going to be May the 9th, which means that this is his last city council meeting that he will be there as our chief in that spot. So he's not one to have the spotlight shine on him, we know that, and nonetheless, we're going to make sure that he feels our appreciation and our thanks for what he has done for this community. Chief Russell has 40 years of experience with the Apple Valley Fire Department. 40 years! He's a graduate of Apple Valley High School and he started with the department in 1983. As you can imagine, he's held a number of progressively responsible leadership positions in the fire department over the years including Captain from 1996 to 2002, District Chief 2002 to 2005, Captain again 2006 to 2012, Assistant Chief 2012 to 2013. In 2013, he became a full-time city employee and became our Deputy Chief Training Officer, and then Fire Chief since 2018. [8:47] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** For one person to do all of that is truly, truly remarkable. Chuck, I'd like to ask you to come join me, please. Your father, who devoted 30 years of service to this community, was a great role model in public service and you obviously listened well. You've taken his legacy and you have continued that, and you've really given so much back to this community and we really, really appreciate that. We know that you're a humble leader and that all this attention is probably a bit uncomfortable, but you deserve all the praise that we can send your way. With his leadership style, he has empowered the firefighters to do their very best job. He's always been caring about their safety, he's always made sure that they had the right equipment, and he's also been thinking about the future. Under his leadership, we're now making those improvements to the three stations—in fact, tonight we just had the groundbreaking for the Fire Station Number Two project. So not only did you lead in the moment, but you're leading into the future and we really appreciate that as well. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that you've made our department and our community immeasurably better. You built the culture of excellence and this crowd that's assembled here with you tonight just wants to say thank you for what you've done. We know you're still going to be a member of the department, still going to respond to calls, which is great. But your time as Chief, starting May the 9th, will be different. And it's our honor to recognize you for all that you've done for our city. I believe our Mayor has some comments on a presentation as well. [10:41] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I do. If you don't mind, I will join you down there. Chuck, you can take all this recognition. I'm a little scared to stand this close to him because I know this makes him really uncomfortable. Chuck's always been one who would rather have the attention shine on everyone in the back of the room, but you know, for tonight, you're going to have to accept a little of that back at you. Serving our city since 1983... that's even the time to say thank you. Tom talked about all the roles, and I don't need to repeat those. What stands out to me is the character and leadership you brought to the job. It's how you do the job that matters. Because of the way you've done the job, the City of Apple Valley is better and the department is better. Stick around for just a little longer and help all of our firefighters continue to get better. So Chuck, thank you for your years of service. I also have a small key to the city. [Applause] [11:52] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We're not done yet. One more item. Another memento that we have to help you remember your time with the city, of course, is our marble apple engraved with your name and your dates of service to the city. We give this in a way that is meant to honor you and the service that you've done and the better community that you have built in Apple Valley. Congratulations. [Applause] [12:37] **Fire Chief Chuck Russell:** When I started so many years ago, I didn't really plan on being the Chief. You don't really always think that far ahead, and I certainly didn't think 40 years plus as I kind of keep on going. But it's been a great challenge and it's truly great to be part of such a neat family that the fire service is. I really look forward to serving with my brothers and sisters for a number of years to come. Thank you. [Applause] [13:26] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right. The next item on our agenda is 5B, which is Dick’s Valley Service. Tim, are you going to present this one in Alex's absence this evening? [13:37] **Community Development Director Tim Benetti:** Yes, I am. [13:38] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Great. If you guys [the fire department] would like to be excused, you absolutely may. I didn't know if they wanted to stick around for the rest of the excitement as well. So Tim, we’ll give everybody just a minute to find their way out. We have time. I don't know exactly how you managed to stack up this item behind the swearing-in of the Chief, but... interesting timing. Let's bring this one in. Very good. You're probably safe, go ahead and take us off, Tim. [14:55] **Tim Benetti:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of Council. Before you tonight is a request from Dick’s Valley Service for an exterior storage CUP and a site and building plan authorization. Before you tonight, you have two resolutions. One is adopting the approval for that conditional use permit for outdoor storage at Outlet C, Apple Valley Wasatch, which will be replatted later on as Lot 1, Block 1, Dick’s Valley Service. The second item is adopting a resolution approving the site building plan permit for the authorization of a just over 15,000-square-foot mechanics garage and office building. I hope most of you are aware of this site located on the northeast corner of Johnny Cake Ridge Road and Upper 147th. This site is currently guided for industrial and is also zoned I-1 Limited Industrial. The proposed use is a major auto repair. What's allowed by conditional use in conjunction with that permitted use is the outdoor storage. [15:41] **Tim Benetti:** In your packet, I hope you had a good chance to review the site plan. This entire site is just over 3.15 acres. You'll note on the upper part of this plot there's a 50-foot wide pipeline that's owned by Magellan that is currently operational. There's a shared access with Life Storage on the northwest corner that was intended to provide for some secondary access to this parcel in the future. Dick’s felt they didn't need it because of the need for on-site storm ponding. So that access point up there will not be used; main access will be limited to just 147th. The building will have limited office on the south side of the building and the bays are all facing out to the west. There's also a path connection back to the trail system on 147th, which was a nice feature to add there, and screening fences around other perimeters. Just for clarification, this is not replacing Dick's existing site at 146th and Foliage; that will remain. This is just their secondary site. [17:11] **Tim Benetti:** On the civil plan, you'll note that this is a fairly flat site, but they are actually raising the site a bit just to make sure that stormwater maintenance works. You'll note that all the arrows flow to the north and to this drainage swale area in the pond area in the back. Again, this is the reason why they don't need that access point in the back. This all works according to our engineers. Our landscape plan is very heavy with nice varieties along the south and on the west. We asked for that just for additional screening and aesthetic measures. We also asked that they stagger this row on the front and pull them back as far as we could to get out of any impacts to fiber optics or utility lines at 147th and Johnny Cake Ridge Road. [18:43] **Tim Benetti:** This site will be limited to 99 cars or passenger vehicles only. In the event they need to store any large-sized vehicles, campers, or trailers, we have this site specifically identified on the back part so they cannot stack anything on the front or along this side. Employee parking is on the front and visitor parking is along the south. Most of you are probably aware that the existing Dick’s Valley has very nice screening with landscaping, and this is what we'd like to see in a few years as well. We are very hopeful that this will provide both an effective noise attenuation and visual screening. Below is a fence example that was provided in your packet. These cross-sections show what we’d like to see from the vantage point of a pedestrian along the trail system. You'll note that the cars are supposed to be hidden behind that fence. We asked that the six-foot fence be put on top of that two-foot berm we talked about, so this is actually almost an eight-foot barrier. We feel that that will be an effective screen along Johnny Cake and also on 147th. [19:30] **Tim Benetti:** The building elevations: this is a precast panel building with exposed aggregate finishes and horizontal banding to break up the images. All four sides have very nice features. Our two neighboring businesses did express some desire for ample screening for the exterior storage, and the cross-sections demonstrate that they will be effectively stored. We have a condition in your resolutions that provide for that. On April 5th, our Planning Commission did review this and they did recommend unanimous approval of the CUP and site building plan. Therefore, we are recommending you adopt a resolution for the CUP approval and the resolution approving the site building plan. I believe the applicant is here tonight if you have any questions. [20:56] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Great, thanks Tim. Council, any questions for Tim or the applicant? If there aren't any, let's go ahead and take the action items and then if they want to come up and say something, we’d be happy to do that as well. So we'd be looking for a motion to adopt a resolution approving the conditional use permit for outdoor storage on Apple Valley Wasatch Addition. [21:11] **Councilmember John Bergman:** So moved. [21:13] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [21:16] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Bergman, second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? That item carries. And our second item is to adopt a resolution approving site plan building permit authorization for a 15,488-square-foot mechanics garage and office. [21:30] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** So moved. [21:32] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [21:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Melander, second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? That carries as well. Jeff Dick, do you want to come up? [21:52] **Jeff Dick:** Thank you for allowing us to go ahead with this project. Hopefully, we can keep it nice and clean. [22:08] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Well, your other site certainly has been. You guys have been in Apple Valley for how long? Going back to the days of Garden View and 42? [22:15] **Jeff Dick:** Since 1965. [22:18] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Still quite a commitment, and this was not an easy site to get done either, so I appreciate you taking the challenge. This will be a nice addition to that corner, so thank you. [22:25] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Jeff, I don't know if you noticed, but our recently retired Chief is going back on the truck. With all the pull I have, I'm sure I could get you back on a truck if you'd like to join him! [Laughter] [22:58] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Our next item is 5C, which is the recognition of Apple Valley's "City of the Year" award from the Minnesota Real Estate Journal. Tom, why don't you take this one? [23:06] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** I get all the fun ones tonight! This is good. As many of you know, we are, as a city, always looking to advance our economic development position and making certain that the tax base supports the operations of our city. One way we do that is to be a participant in the Minnesota Real Estate Journal and the collective community they have built, which involves commercial brokers, real estate professionals, and development firms. On April 20th, the Minnesota Real Estate Journal held an awards banquet in Bloomington. Our Mayor and our Economic Development Specialist, Alex Sharp, were both at that event. One of those categories was "City of the Year," and we had been nominated for that. Alex Sharp, with the help of our communications specialist Eve, certainly worked hard and made certain they got that application in. And then we waited. It was a good sign when they called to say, "You're going to have somebody at the event, aren't you?" [Laughter]. There were four cities declared as finalists, and then at the event itself, the City of the Year award was awarded to Apple Valley for 2023. [25:25] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you, Tom. Alex is not here, but Alex did a lot of work to get this prepared. Jokingly, I said my role in this was to go to a dinner and walk on stage and pick up a glass trophy—there might be more truth to that than reality! But this is a lot of years of work. You don't get this for one year. This is staff and Council stacking the pieces up. I saw our former Community Development Director, Bruce Nordquist, yesterday morning and made sure he was aware of this, because a lot of his work also went into us getting this award. There were 900-plus people at that awards banquet and it was fun to see us get recognized. This is also about the projects that went into Apple Valley—those who chose to invest here and build their projects here. It was sweet to beat Lakeville; they were one of the four cities! We also had a number of projects in Apple Valley nominated; the Ruari's Rise project was nominated, as was some of HHS’s development down at Pilot Knob and County Road 42. So, it was fun to see the projects also get recognized. [26:55] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mayor, if you'll tolerate one more item for me tonight. This is one we're also very proud of. Our City Clerk, Pam Gackstetter, has just received her Certified Municipal Clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. This is an international group; they understand how important it is to have trained, well-qualified city clerks around the world. Pam has been absolutely professional in her role and committed to bettering herself, although she could probably teach most of the classes. There are currently 4,500 Certified Municipal Clerks worldwide, and only 66 in Minnesota. We have one right here. I just wanted to make certain that we honored you, Pam, for what you've done and your commitment to staying on top of your game as our City Clerk. It is much appreciated. [28:27] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right, Tom. Any other items? Council, any items from you this evening? If not, we'll move on to the calendar of upcoming events. Our next informal City Council meeting is Thursday, May 11th at 5:30, and our next regular City Council meeting is Thursday, May 11th at 7:00. Do I have a motion to approve the calendar? [29:05] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. [29:07] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [29:10] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Do we have a motion to adjourn? [29:13] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. [29:14] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [29:15] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All those in favor? (Group: Aye). All right, we are adjourned. [29:16] [Music]