This transcript appears to be from the Lake Elmo City Council meeting held on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** The bigger you are the harder you they're like I don't get it like but Dad you never fall I'm like so I'm going to call the city council meeting for the City of Lake Elmo Tuesday January 7th to order please please stand with me for the pledge allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all so the second order of business is to approve the agenda if there's no changes that would PE people would like um I'll I'll entertain a motion for approval of the agenda. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Motion to approve the agenda as written. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Is there a second second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of approving the agenda please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right agenda is hereby approved so I guess we'll do presentations which is a swearing in of uh the newly elected members which include uh four of the five of us well Nick and then the three of us reelected so I don't know how you wanted to do this Nicole. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** Um our city clerk Julie is going to administer the UL for our newest council member council member craus [Kragness] your right hand repeat after me. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** I craes [Kragness] do solemnly swear. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** I craes [Kragness] do solemnly swear. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** To support the Constitution of the United States. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** To support the Constitution of the United States. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** To support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of Minnesota. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** To support the Constitution of the state of Minnesota. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** And to discharge faithfully. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** And to discharge Faithfully. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** The duties of the office of council member. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** The duties of the office of council member. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** Of the City of Lake ELO Minnesota. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** Of the City of Lake ELO Minnesota. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** To the best of my judgment and ability. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** To the best of my judgment and ability. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** So help me God. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** So help me God. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** Congratulations. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** Thank you you all [Applause]. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Right this in presentations we also have introduction of Ty Jacobson our Washington County Sheriff Sergeant can you come introduce yourself replacing I think uh Sergeant Erikson. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** Um mayor and council members this is Sergeant Ty Jacobson um Sergeant Jacobson has been with the Washington County Sheriff since 2004 um and he has assumed his new role as a sergeant um assigned to Lake Elmo just in the beginning of the year and then I was going to turn over to Ty to introduce himself some more. [00:00] **Sgt. Ty Jacobson:** Yeah uh like administrator Miller said I'm Sergeant Jacobson with the Washington Sheriff's Office I've been there for roughly 20 years um I have a bachelor's degree from cord University in criminal justice I've held several uh roles in the Sheriff's Office to name a few uh I started as a patrol Deputy um uh been a part of our water parks and trails division our water recovery team our K9 unit our SWAT team mobile field force uh Community engagement um few other other small ones as well but um I'm excited to be out here and uh be a part of uh the Lake Elmo team and U be serving the community lakeo full-time I'm a resident of the community I live in the area I also have family members that own businesses in Lake Elmo so um I want to thank Sheriff star for giving me the opportunity to come out here and serve the community full time. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Welcome thank you for helping us out appreciate it. [00:00] **Sgt. Ty Jacobson:** Thank you than thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Do we have anyone for public comments or inquiries? No all right then I will uh we we did receive the uh minutes from the regular and special meeting in our packets from uh December 17th I'll entertain a motion to uh approve the minutes from that meeting. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Motion to approve minutes from December 17th 2024 regular and special meeting. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of approving the minutes from December 17 2024 regular and special meetings please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right minutes have approved Bo we start off with Dandy with the consent agenda and I'll save who usually volunteers uh council member holds [Holtz]. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** I'll take care of it we'll save your wonderful voice appreciate that number two is approved payment of dispersements and payroll number three is designate official depositories of funds resolution 2025 202-1550 two number five adopt resol resolution designating data practice officials and approving City's data practice policy resolution 2025-the payments resolution 20254 number seven approved security reduction for Legacy at Northstar second edition number eight is approved security reduction of launch crossroads development number nine approved pay request EST number one for well to posos removal equipment number 10 approved pay request number three for the Hudson Boulevard Improvement segment a number 11 approved payment request number two final for the 15th Street North improvements number 12 approved pay request number six final for the 2024 Street and utility improvements number 13 approved replacement of BHO number 14 approv replacement of V plow number 15 approve replacement of tul cat and broom number 16 approv CIP project f-21 equipment Decon cleaning system purchase number 17 approved CIP project F-4 rescue one hose storage and Equipment refurbish number 18 approved CIP project f- 031 station alerting system purchase number 19 point City attorney both civil and prosecution number 20 appoint Deputy clerk number 21 approve ncja jpa between Minnesota BCA and the City of Lake Elmo number 22 approve Prairie Sky final plat extension resolution 20256 I'll entertain a motion on the consent agenda. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** So move. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** We have a motion in a second on the consent agenda all those in favor please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Consent to agenda is approved moving on to the regular agenda number item number 23 is appoint the 2025 acting mayor. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** I'll move to appoint council member Holtz as acting mayor for 2025 to comply with and fulfill all duties enumerated in Minnesota statute 412 .121 relating to selection of an acting mayor. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** Support. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Any discussion? Hearing none I'll call the question all those in favor of uh appointing council member Holtz as 2025 acting mayor mayor please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** That's approved number 24 Ramsey Washington cable commission appointment resolution 20 25-5 I think this is to appoint somebody that's on Council to the cable commission and I think for the past is it two years it's been yourself and I'm I'm fine with continuing that's uh what you guys would like as well. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** I I know I can't make this week's meeting but um I know that might be the deal breaker but I'll make a motion to approve uh um uh council member Hearn [Hirn] to the 2025 uh to the Ramsey County Ramsay Washington cable commission. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Support Second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Any discussion hearing none I'll call a question all those in favor of appointing council member Hearn [Hirn] to the Ramsey Washington cable commission please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right um number 25 is item number 25 is appointing the council school liais on and I am fine having it be someone else either would either the Knicks be interested I would or the mayor. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** I would take that on I haven't done that before I would move to appoint the mayor. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Motional Point uh mayor Caden head as the Schoo is on any discussion call the question all those in favor please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right it's approved the Lake Elmo airport advisory commission um I know council member Holtz has been that this on the past is that something you wish to continue or you wish to let somebody else. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** I would hear if our newest council member has any interest in being a part of it do you do you or do you want to know more information about it I don't want to um you know have multiple things but I also want to make sure you have an opportunity to be involved in some of these so do you have an interest? [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** Yeah I do have interest I would love to give more information on it. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right is that something we want to table until that discussion has happened. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** Uh the airport has asked to get the names quickly I believe the fir but the first meeting is not till March correct. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** So I think we have time. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** We have time. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** All right and I I will say moving forward I think uh another discussion Point could be because we have two a primary and a backup as to if we want to maintain that um having our administrator be a primary versus a council member um there might be room for that discussion as to if if that's the best usage of our administrator's time. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** Okay yes I will gladly sit down and have a chat with you sir if you want to know more and we can discuss with our administrator as well. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Great so I'm going to make a motion to table the Lake Elmo airport advisory commission to the next council meeting. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Support. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of tabling item number 26 until the next council meeting please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** So move so done done yes yeah uh number 27 appoint city engineer and approve amendment to Bolton M Professional Services agreement um Jack did you want to well this is um Nicole did you want to discuss this to see if there's any questions prior to any motions. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** Yeah yeah mayor and councel um so our engineer Focus engineer who has been serving the city since 2011 was recently acquired by Bolton and mink effective the beginning of this year so um a couple of steps have taken place since that um to ensure that we um continue to have a city engineer um in place so um from January 1st to January 7th there was a task order assigned so we have not been without an engineer um and then also Bolton and mink did submit a proposal to continue to be or now to be the city's primary engineer and so so that is um what's in front of you tonight to discuss and we have Jack um with Focus here we also have Nate Stanley um with Bolton and mink who is here also so um they are probably the best to answer any questions going forward. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** And it's for Engineering Services for the year of 2025. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** That is correct and also I would say um I look at this as just another step in the the process so um this agreement does not have an expiration date it would be amending the Professional Services agreement that we do have with bolon and mink already uh it's just amending it to provide Engineering Services but I would um like to hear from the council too if they do have a wish to uh go out for RFP for permanent placement that is an option you do have going forward as well. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Okay any other questions do we need to do an RFP for it. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** No we do not. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** Okay I did have a question um so this would probably be yeah for Bolton mink so in the uh in the the memo that was written to us says in addition Bolton bank acknowledges the city's intent to continue to utilize Professional Services pool for project Engineering Services Services when deemed in the Ben best interest of the city I guess I was just hoping to get a little clarity on what exactly that means is that um that the council's brought into that decision and we vote on if it's something we want to bring to uh have the uh the pooled um Professional Services or is that a decision that's made by Bolton and M and if so maybe what are those criteria that you guys decide that upon? [00:00] **Jack Schroeder (Focus Engineering):** I'll be happy to take that um having serve the city so the the focus model was to provide the in-house sort of model and have a Consulting pool that we would look at different consultants for different services so we do have SE as your water system engineer we have Bolton M as your Force main sewer LIF lift station engineer they've been doing the bread andb butter Street projects we have KJ working on some projects things like that so that it's just a simple statement saying there's an intent to continue that process that those consultants have been selected primarily by the engineering department but also with staff input as it as it as it's come up um we've usually uh solicit a couple RF P's after after uh um you know Focus would do the feasibility reports do the the planning of the projects things like that and then we'd get to a point and we would um prepare an RFP and we would solicit rfps for that the bigger portion of the project so um the statement is indicating um you know Bolton and mink and most other most firms unlike Focus engineering provide a sole source and they're looking to do all the work and so we're indicating that that um we would continue this this model um but it would mostly be um you know working with your in-house staff and and team as to what projects we would look for. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** And would the council have some input on you know this is a Project based off of previous projects where we've had a good outcome with an engineering service for a certain project. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** Absolutely because every project every every specific project is ultimately authorized by the council at at the time of authorization so every specific project does come to come before Council so yes. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** That's where we can have a little discretion like hey this is something we would like brought to have. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** Correct. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** Correct great thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Any other questions for either Jack or the administrator or Mr Stanley is is in the audience tonight hearing none I'll entertain a motion. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Move to point Mr Nate Stanley of Bolton mink Inc as the official city engineer and principal provider of professional Engineering Services for 2025 and to approve the amendment to the Bolton and mink Professional Services agreement dated March 20 2013. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** Second second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right discussion. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** May council member drich [Dragisich] a couple of discussion points one is um our current contract with Focus required a 30-day notice by either party to terminate the agreement we got that notice Sunday so I think first thing we need to do is agree with um Focus engineering with Jack that we will terminate the agreement immediately so we don't have an agreement with focus and agreement with bolt The Mink for the same Services. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I think that's fine but correct me if I'm wrong there's no longer a focus engineering correct I mean it was an asset Sal so technically there is a focus engineering but Focus engineering has no employees so there's nobody who can provide services through F would be okay to terminate. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** Yep in less than 30 days if Jack's agreeable to we did provide you know verbal notice it was all provided in November um we've been um working diligently with um the city to find to bring to bring to bridge this Transitional services through these different task orders and amendments so that you're without so that you have this continuity of service throughout. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Should we have another motion per Le we we'd have another motion to am just agree to terminate the contract current contract would focus as of today and that way we don't have any conflict that we be stepping over and I agree Jack has kept us informed it's just it's a technicality more than anything but I think it just makes the cleaner and and yeah po any confusion. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Seems fine to me I think we can make do so do you want to maybe amend have a friendly amendment to this motion what would be the proper procedure Sarah. [00:00] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** Mr Mayor members of the council I think if you know if you want to just amend the motion to include termination of the focus contract you can certainly do that or if you just want to do it by separate motion after you approve the amendment to the Bolam make contract you can do that too. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Council member D [Dragisich] how would you like to. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Either ways F let's let's um let's amend the current motion keep them together so I'd offer an amendment that we would terminate the contract with focus our current contract with Focus engineering effective today. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Are you okay with that friendly Amendment council member holds [Holtz]. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Take a v I think I take a vote on The Friendly Amendment. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of the amendment to the original motion please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** So friendly amendment is attached. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** And one other comment the some of the services we currently get from Focus are a much lesser price than what being proposed by Bolton and mink um and we don't have a fiscal impact analysis of that but um I'm wondering if there's any opportunity to negotiate some more favorable Fe on that at least or maybe a transition of fees through a period of time um since if we don't have that in the budget. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** So I do have a question I know that um previously uh Bolton M had presented back in November of 23 was some cost in this uh letter sent by you the beginning of January Mr Stanley it noted some engineering team rates per hour uh if you want to come to the podium um and um I correct me if I'm wrong but I think there's typically some uh rates that are within the retainer schedule and rates that are beyond the retainer schedule that are more normal are these the rates that you had intended in the retainer schedule or they your the normal rates outside of what the retainer comp uh has. [00:00] **Nate Stanley (Bolton & Mink):** mayor and councel uh yes those rates would be for you know beyond the retainer schedule the retainer is proposed to remain uh at the $3,200 yeah a monthly fee which covers um pretty much any day-to-day task uh for the engineering department. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Okay I know that in the 23 schedule of costs at that time so we're talking it have been two years and with normal increases of 3 4% or whatever it is that that insuring firms will increase on a yearly basis I think the maxed out principle at that level was at uh maybe like $200 an hour so can't do the math in my head because math is hard but um so that would be like 212 it's like $112 an hour more I don't know it's kind of a swag. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Well my concern is that some of these services that that Jack provided or Focus provided at 15 $50 an hour well now cost us $225 an hour and services that he provided $130 an hour and now'll be $180 an hour and um we don't know we don't have any estimate of what that fiscal impact is yet um on the on our budget but it um it's a fairly you know fairly steep increase. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** It is it is a larger increase if I if I may um we we've been very focused on that through the through the negotiation as well um I did go back and look at the 2023 proposal that Bolton mink provided the $2,200 retainer and then I analyzed it a little bit more and it was less scope than what Focus had been providing for the $3,100 retainer which is why I brought that one forward because I thought that was the better deal so that that's your you have no impact because it's the same fee as Focus for your general services so your general services budget has will have no impact it also is much more robust services in particular the gis services so included um focus provided mapping and GIS coordination um what we did is we handled the cad mapping did mapping updates in CAD and then we had to coordinate with GIS professionals elsewhere that you paid for separately um and get your stuff transferred into beehive and get your stuff transferred into other kinds of maps um what with that same language under Bolton and M with them having that staff that's all included um they provided you a uh a proposal in 2023 that they were going to provide you a one-time setup of all your GIS and system maps for a value of about 40,000 so that is included in this proposal you'll be getting that um for this year um the difference in the 2023 proposal was it was the onetime setup and then after that you would pay for that service um in this one it's in your general retainer so if we keep the retainer going in subsequent years and things like that then that's that's included the the annual updates with the gis and the mapping the system Maps so to me I thought it was a little bit more robust package that's in the that's in that retainer for. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** We we had something that I don't think you just touched on was the inclusivity of um the state aid. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** state aid was state aid was another one that was outside that that wasn't reflected in the the 2023 proposal by BMI [Bolton & Mink] right that we do as well. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Yeah so I did ask Jack for a little clarification previously and he did give me a little write up of you know Bol and Ms old versus new and just kind of indicating that you know what was not included in the 23 BMI that is included now at a cost of approximately $119,000 which makes it actually this deal a little bit less overall than had we gone with BMI in 23. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** but it's irrelevant with BMI proposed in 23 because they weren't retained. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** No but I'm just looking at it's not that but what the only difference is the cost and the rates Beyond what's in the retainage right but what's not what's what's what's in those rates what would be the 225 rates are provide assistance to other City departments on any enging related matters act as the city's lays on a technal represent to other communities the County watershed state federal agencies assist public works with mate to Performance operations permitting of water sewer and storm water including ms4 npdes that's all going to be done at the $225 or $180 rate per hour. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** I I thought those were with the the cost monthly within. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** nope those are not within the retainage the the retainer the retainer follows your budget so you have your budget set up and you have a you go through and there's a general Services budget that's all the retainer stuff that's in there um the the Enterprise funds we've have never been in the focus retainer so when we we work on something um example Marty has a water man breakout here on County Road 14 we might have some hours into investigating the history of that things like that that just gets build to your water fund if a pro if if we decide we need to do something about that and build a project we build a project and we come with a task order to do a project and then those fees are negotiated or you know set up as what the project cost is at that point but those have yeah those were never under the focus model those were never under the the retainer as well. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Okay so then what are you looking to do council member drasic [Dragisich]? [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Well I think as I read the focus model those were within the retainer the I think you know because how do we control those costs who proves that we would re have those Services added so it also means at that time when those additional Services were being done it was at a rate that's drastically less than what this would be yes is that fair. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** That's fair I mean Focus has gone away and there's no other Focus that I'm aware of. [00:00] **Nate Stanley:** that's one one thing I will offer uh to the council is that while my rate is uh much higher in this this proposal as $225 an hour as council member Dr s [Dragisich] has pointed out um for a lot of these tasks that are Beyond retainer um the staff that will be working on these would be significantly less than what my bill rate is um I would provide some direction and oversight serve as a point of communication I'm thinking for example the ms4 work that was brought up um our environmental technicians at Bolton M are anywhere between $130 and $150 an hour generally uh that's pretty darn close to um what those Focus rates were and for a task like that they would be doing the lon share of the work um yes I would have some time but um as far as um you know the hours that are really going to stack up it's not going to be my high rate and I work in a number of communities that have um you know much like like one much like everybody uh you know concerns over uh their finances and and budgeting I'm very cognizant of what my bill rate is and how I spend my time and um it's it's um part of my job is to make sure that um you know we're being a steward for our clients and not just running up the bills and that's something I'm very committed to um as a professional. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** so follow a question when those costs do incur Marty has a watermain break and Engineering needs to go out obviously engineering needs to go out right like that's a must have but obviously there's no approval from us we're getting the we're getting the the bill after the fact are there other I'm trying to think of situations where because we don't want to be involved in no don't go fix that waterm break like but I'm trying to think like when when are there examples that come to mind where you could see where your your ability manage those costs does come into play to say no I could do this but I am going to make sure that it's it's someone else where it's also within their wheelhouse so you said with the ms4 stuff obviously it falls to you but what's something where it actually could be either but you're making sure that you're delivering it to the the more affordable option it's not the right word. [00:00] **Nate Stanley:** no absolutely AB absolutely um Aon Council uh the something like we're talking about a waterm break that's an emergency we can't you know just had one out here the other day right um and we have to react to those and typically on the engineering end it's not going to be a ton of time on our part um maybe help it' be assisting public works with uh some records typically you know whether it's as builts or you know um if they have questions on you know if they're looking for a valve if we can help find the valve you know but um it's a very minimal amount of time that I see in a situation like that you know what I mean um I you know I use the ms4 example as something because that's more of a project oriented uh task that does take you know weeks and months of time so. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** right s there help and there are line item so those Enterprise funds there is an engineering Engineering Services line item for each of those Enterprise funds and we've since 2011 I think we've stayed within those and and manage to those so we do look at those budgets we aren't always invited to be as party to those fees as we can be so uh for instance a lot of times the storm water one will just roll over someone will look at what it was last year and just think that's good enough for next year and what we try to be cognizant of is you know when few years ago we ran into ms4 total Rewrite by the mpca well that was a big project and we didn't budget for it because we weren't really invited into that budget but okay so sometimes you can see that stuff coming when regulatory wise you're going to be forced to do something a little more robust. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** is are those the types of things then you would incorporate into a future CIP Jack I imagine. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** well well this is like writing a permit so it's not a capital but we do try to be cognizant of making sure oh that's coming up in 2025 you should have a higher budget for that year for that line item right because we know we're going to have more work to like the lead and copper rule thing came out that now fortunately uh we able we got a grant for that through the Department of Health but sure every now and then those kinds of things pop up that um that come forward and if we see that coming we want to be able to get that in those line items of those interprise funds sure. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** So like as an example I don't know if Priority One is the subgroup water group sub the subgroup is that still operating are they still meeting at all. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** There are meetings now and then because they're doing those up they're doing the plan updates um and then there's some changes that we going on here and there but uh so I do attend those meetings we are billing that against the the administration grant that Clark had obained. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** so you read my mind yeah and I guess then what do the two of you see then as that that transition Point obviously like how do you want some of that that experience that you have gained through that entire world how do you see that transferring out so it so we're still in a good position. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** yeah I the the idea is to for it to be slow I'll be around and in the background for a long time um I hope to be here for your comp plan updates when you have to do your system plans because that's when the institutional knowledge of your bigger infrastructure systems is really important um so I can be here to be engaged in that so again I'll have a like Nate was saying I'll have a lot more resources of people doing the day-to-day grind in that but I'll be there to be able to lead those and and provide that input and bring that that knowledge of your systems um forward so um i think in the first couple of months you'll see Nate and I a lot of meetings you're not getting build for that first and foremost all those meetings are in your general retainer so we're not um but if we're going to a project meeting only one of us is billing to the project in the transitional phase. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** well I guess in the discussion standpoint I guess cons M drich [Dragisich] I understand that there's a an hourly fee increase in this as I try to do with um topics as a general and and what what and this and you know was able to talk with Jack after my vote back in 2023 um I was in favor of balen make in 2023 and it's not just I don't look at it as an hourly rate for the city engineer and some of those that have increased but I look at the the overall benefit the city sees the amount of services that a full service program brings and sometimes those fees do come with let's just make it I mean Mr Stanley doesn't make $225 an hour so that's the overhead that takes for the offices um we won't have you know an office or Focus won't have there an office in Oakdale we've got if we need to get a surveyor it's much quicker you don't have to do the administrative process to hire an surveyor to come out um they do have a lot of you know eits that work through the project engineer that move up for that that you know we were going to get those fees whether Focus hired SE or srf or whoever right so when I look at the overall package of what we're getting versus direct fee for a a few of a couple of the key people I guess I don't I don't have the same level of concern. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** my like my concern is you like item one provide assistance to other City departments that was in focus's retainer fee that was a first was included within the retainer fee in this case we're going to be paying 200 bucks an hour 225 bucks an hour for that and again how do you how do you manage that if you're acting as a city engineer providing support services to City departments seems to be an inherent function of being the city engineer right I I guess I I wrote the language in 2011 and I wrote The Language this time around and I there's no intention for any difference in the language the retainer fee that we're offering is the same retainer fee I changed some of the language because it was old and because over the years I got asked questions so I tried to put more clarity to it but I I guess guess I'm not aware of any scope change um it's just there it's item number one under under their service that we would be build hourly. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** and it's within your retainer it's I I guess I'm not are you looking at page one of the. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** I'm looking Amendment well I'm on page at the top you know says general Engineering Services which we built for at already rate item number one provide assistance to other City departments on Rel matters as requested um and in the focus agreement um it specifically providing engineering support to other City departments it's including the retainer. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** that's to me that's the same thing provide yeah I don't know so you're in Focus this case it was in the retainer in the BM uh Bolton bank it's it's paid for hourly they're both on the retainer. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** it does say non- retainer on that that's not in in the in the Bolton and mink it's in general Engineering Services were are not in the retainer that's buil on an hourly basis. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** oh we put services with other departments that that aren't being provided that are talked about a lot um and that's doing individual building certificate reviews that's doing um a lot of things like that and so those aren't in the retainer because that's that's a whole another service that we would have to staff up for if uh if that happened and focus has not been providing that. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** so building and RightWay permit reviews. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** yeah and RightWay permit reviews have never been part of that those are those are recouped through a rightaway fee system um they've never been part of the retainer so they're listed as part in the in your agreement. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** what's that. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** they're listed as being in in the retainer in your agreement providing aning support to other City departments but it says the same uh thing item number one under a provide engineering assistance on day-to-day matters not related to a specific project or development focuses doesn't limit it to that it's it's all inclusive at least that's what the language says maybe we haven't been maybe we haven't been treating it that way but that's what the language says. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** the retainer is intended to provide the city Engineering Services the general city Engineering Services budget stuff on a retainer basis it's not it's not intended to provide unlimited services to all the other Departments of whatever they want but doing RightWay permits is a is a limited service it's right. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** and we've but under the Bolton the M contract we'd be charged for that. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** you were being charged for that under the focus contract I don't see where it's said extra but it was not a task order it's it's under you know Engineering Services so well that's just my opinion at any rate that's probably yeah the intention is not the intention was to bring you the same retainer and what and basically what we've been providing since well we we haven't been providing the retainer since 2011 so I won't say since 2011 that started in 2018 I believe. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** okay all right any other discussion I'll just add one thing here um i just i think uh Focus had a very elegant solution for Engineering Services and so I I am a although I'm a little sad that we'll we won't have that anymore cuz I thought it was a very elegant solution for the city um I think it's it's nice that with the way that they have structured the deal it sounds like Jack is planning to stick around and help out because again you know I'm sure that wasn't something that he had to have done um so I do appreciate that and I appreciate them considering the pooled approach that we took um again I I guess there's a little bit of vagueness to that statement and I don't know for sure how much the pooled services are going to be brought into it but I guess I just I hope that that can kind of continue forward with some of the projects when it would be um beneficial for the city to to go that way um which I guess might not always be most beneficial for the business um so I guess I understand that but um yeah I guess just also congratulations um but yeah I think uh Focus had a very elegant solution and I hope both of and mink maybe considers uh utilizing some of it as well. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** okay so we have a motion to appoint Mr Stanley of Bolt M as the official city engineer and principal provider of professional Engineering Services for 2025 and to approve the amendment of Bolton M Professional Services agreement dated March 20th that right 2013 2013 I mean probably 2023 it's back to 2013 yeah and then uh with the uh added uh termination of engineering agreement with Focus engineering immediately uh call the question all those in favor please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** oppose same sign hearing none it's approved thank you for thank you. [00:00] **Nate Stanley:** U Mr Mayor would you mind if I just took a minute and introduce myself to the council hearing quick I uh I sure would have had the chance before but uh um Nate Stanley I've been with uh Bolton bank for a couple years uh I I actually spent the majority of my career in the public sector as a city engineer and Public Works director um for the city's uh primarily for the City of Hopkins actually I was Public Works director out there and before that city engineer for about 9 years um I've been doing this for 22 years now um I'm super excited about Lake Elmo I uh I grew up in Lakeland when to Oakland Junior High graduate from ster High School mom and dad still live out here um this is you know kind of like my home area and and I'm really you know when you get a chance to to give back to the the area that kind of help you come up but it's just for me there's nothing better so thank you very much. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** all right thank you thank you you go item number 28 approve Professional Services agreement with ref tus [Raftelis] to complete operational assessment of the public works department. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** yeah thank you mayor and council members this item was um brought back to you for being tabled in December and the feedback was to bring back a more um robust um scope of work and outcomes which have been attached to your packet and also have been um discussed with raap Tellis [Raftelis] and I'm confident that they will be able to provide the scope and the outcomes that we're looking for um and following the December meeting we also had an opportunity St had an opportunity to um get a hold of a recent public works um operational assessment that um ra Talis [Raftelis] completed with a different city and was able to contact their reference then all positive remarks um came back from that so that. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** okay any questions for the administrator on this item so DDA could not produce the that was needed like it. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** correct y they they more um if we are looking for a Administration Finance operation assessment they had staff on hand to do that but the public works department they did not have a subject matter expert to provide that. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** any other questions I guess if you could just speak a little bit to um or expand upon I know it's in the pack a little bit but expand upon a little bit the concern with um baker Tilly's uh deliverables versus um raphis is it it seems like the decision was based more off of we feel like you felt like ref tus [Raftelis] had a better um team that would be able to provide more direct better Direction more so than maybe the deliverables that they said they could each um provide. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** yeah correct correct um the project team at ra Talis [Raftelis] all has the experience the Public Works experience erience um the primary project manager um has experienced in public works over 20 years where when we met with when I met with Baker Tilly um the primary project managers do not have that Public Works experience as well as they had assigned Less hours for the baker Tilly did so while the cost is lower um it appeared as well as after um seeing their products that they both provided to a client is that ref Tellis [Raftelis] was just more robust and able to provide a better product so that was why the recommendation is to go with ref Tellis. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** So i think at our meeting when this was previously brought forward there was a concern that some of the deliverables needed to be flushed out do you feel like that's it looks like it's some more descriptive or more def definite uh deliverables have been placed based on the conversation we had previously. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** correct yeah yep we were able to um provide the scope of outcomes and deliverables to rafis [Raftelis] and meet with them to make sure that um we're all on the same page and um also with meeting with raap Tellis they just reminded us that this is definitely an itera process where we will be working together and refining um what we need as we go forward together to um have the best outcome. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** okay if there aren't any further questions I'll entertain a motion. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** so move. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Is there a second second to approve the hiring of ref Tillis [Raftelis] to conduct an operational assessment for the public works department and approve Professional Services agreement for above services not to exceed 52350. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** discussion May holds [Holtz]. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** I appreciate that uh this did go back and that staff had the opportunity to number one work with rep Tellis [Raftelis] And to clarify some of these things that they obviously put in the work to that I do appreciate many of the clarifications that are there they're definitely clearcut I mean obvious obviously it is the the higher proposal but at least based upon what is in there there's also more to it and I is it higher yes but I do think having the smmes [Subject Matter Experts] in place needs to happen I i would not feel comfortable spending less money for something when you don't have the smmes in place I don't think that's an effective use of tax dollars I would rather do it right the first time uh so I I support this and. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** it's weird because Baker tell is a good firm too like that well you know I used to work for them um retired a couple years ago um i think raf's [Raftelis] in this case raap proposal is superior I think and the staff they put on there are is superior as well and I it's not a criticism of the staff that Baker Tilly put forward but they don't have the Public Works background because they don't have a lot of folks of Public Works background on their staff and so I've spoken excessively with the call on this and I'm very comfortable um with the approach we've taken and craft house [Raftelis] qualifications sta you know Staffing and the proposals um i say you can get a lot of proposals through studies and you get the study done you look it really doesn't tell you what you need to know things like the comparable Community benchmarking that we talked about and the organiz structure and I think you know if you have to if you read through R Tellis say there it wasn't as detailed as as we felt comfortable with especially Katrina and she was right and but you know by going back and clar verifying is this stuff included and they said yes now we know we're going to get what we need to make a good decision and um they're up very high quality firm Baker till is a high quality firm as well but in this case the raap Tellis staff that they're going to assign to it and their scope was just better defined better quality. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** yeah any other I yeah I guess I just agree that you know yeah although it is a little bit more I mean this could be if we get a better report and we have to hire three people instead of four based off of the report I mean it pays for itself and with that information so um yeah although I would have liked to be able the CSCO with the lower one I think if the uh the information we're going to get from it um is that much better um I'm comfortable with paying the higher price as well. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I would agree all right I'll call a question all those in favor of approving the hiring of Tellis to conduct an operational assessment for the public works department and approve Professional Services agreement for above services not to exceed $52,350 please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** approved moving on to item number 29 purchase agreement for Olen property resolution 2025-the agreement for the purchase of property from fondis Olson and Jack Schroeder I think this is your presentation. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** that's a beautiful picture yeah that looks warm that that's aach that's not the map of uh Lake Elmo we're buying a beach okay we want to Our Own Private Island yeah yeah do we have to move it we don't have two screens here how do I wait wait wait I have an idea just switch go ahead be at the windows p It'll ask to duplicate or extend extend instead of extend these screens duplicate right y we're good all right uh mayor City ccil tonight we're making what I consider a historic decision for the City of Lake Elmo it's always been told that we don't plant trees for providing shade for ourselves we do it to provide shade for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren this is one of those decisions when we look back at uh other old historic cities that were forward thinking they set aside properties back in the 16 1700s and 1800s not knowing exactly what they're going to do with them but knowing that they needed open spaces for quality of life for their citizens instead of developing them over before you tonight are two properties which if we were to wait 10 years to talk about this issue would have houses on them and we would not have this opportunity to purchase these while we may not have a firm concept of exactly what's going to go onto these pieces of property we do know the the uh impetus for this started with when the Royal club uh SL Tartan Park was developed in the ballfields which for decades had been utilized by Lake emo citizens and Lake emo baseball and other tournaments uh went away the developer of that particular project offered the city a million dollars in order to facilitate replacing those ball fields for the quality of life in the in the for the residents of Lake Elmo uh we received that payment in like 2021 and we've uh started a process in 2023 which I'll start to go over and just for people at home the two properties we're looking at are these two right here and uh they're in reference they're just west of downtown just south of sunfish Lake Park so in the fall of 2023 the city council decided to investigate the possibility of purchasing land for pin wheel ball field complex to replace Tartan fields on October 12th Council gave direction to the staff to see such property that met the criteria such as being on collector Street close to water M near three phase power room for septic storm water plenty of parking buffeting and there is a uh we had all these different Cap all these different criteria which we were looking we weren't exactly sure how much land we wanted as a Max but we knew we want a minimum of I think like 25 acres or something like that when the planning staff put together properties which fit those criteria concerning water and collector roads and other informations you ended up with these uh kind of big circles of area that within the city were feasibly or conceptually part of this process we ended up with nine properties when we Del delineated it and looked at each individual parcel Within These circles and and we sent out letters to these nine Property Owners would they be interested in in uh selling or partnering with the city um to develop a park although we got back three letters of interest um the city staff uh worked together along with a session witho with in close session with Council of those three properties one property was eliminated due to its size and nature did not fit what we thought we would put for amenities in there that leaves two properties which are before you today the jurk property and the Olen property these uh the first property that you're going to be looking at and approving is the Olen property and that is this property here um we will be um this property will have 37 Acres on it they'll be splitting off 5.1 acres and doing just a lot line adjustment which is an administrative change in order to attach it to the farm that you see in the picture here on the lower southwest corner of it that will leave us this lowland area and the rest of this property the second property is the jerk property which is on the east side here and we will be buying that entire property when we buy these pieces of property um the process here is if Council goes approves this purchase agreement that will allow staff to start scheduling a closing uh for the Olen property after the lot line adjustment has been made and anytime we get surveying and other information back from the JK property after we close on these two properties we will have to do a comp plan Amendment um moving them a zoning a map Zing map Amendment from rural residential to public facilities we're going to have to create a variant because in public facilities our code currently allows only 20 acres for public facilities uh uh older goes way back concerning the city you worried about I think large state institutions back in the '90s and then possibly a minor subdivision or plat for dedicated right of weight um if you see in the lower part of this this map the uh properties do own south of County Road 14 and we'll have to uh remedy that the road currently runs across that property with a prescriptive use a historic use of a property for public purposes this is developed um and has been in our Master Park plan system um back in uh 2008 or nine they did one and then this is a brand new one here this is from 2024 and if you look on page 66 uh we we talk about developing a new Athletic Park to sport ball field and softball competitive and Town ball and then on page 68 we say look to provide additional field space in the southeast of part of the city engaged with neighbors clubs and organizations to determine the type and size of field Flex lacrosse football soccer Etc and then in the park plan on page 88 where we talk about uh resources that would be needed um one of the initiatives to develop a new community athletic uh Park to support baseball and softball competitive and townball and we go through kind of what we're going to be dealing with that and you can see the price down there of uh between two and $5 million so how is this going to be financed so first off we're going to be using the million dollars and the interest which was gained from this particular particular donation to the city and we'll be using internal funds um that we already have in one of our in one of the banks and we'll loan it to ourselves either over a five or a 10e period and we'll be paying that back with a small Levy increase staff have uh have considered this staff is leaning towards a 10-year payback period that will come back to council for uh a for a debate and approval um in order to do that we would look towards closing and needing to make that decision in early February we'll be closing hopefully in early February with one and late February with the other property so that will provide the uh you know around $2 million for a little less than $2 million for the initial purchase of these properties after that for people at home we will probably end up having some sort of uh study group focus group uh concept plans we've already talked to Bolton and mink and uh they will be able to do concept plans for us for this property for consideration not only for you but also for the citizens to consider and I would like to see maybe even some sort of survey or interest what kind of what do people want to see out on these properties um and we're in no huge rush to do that I don't see anything happening this year for sure and uh next year 2026 maybe but again we're going to have to line up additional money for that and interest and focus to decide when and how we're going to deal with that this property as as meets the criteria there's a water main right on the property it has three-phase power but we will have to deal with storm water it is not in a sewered area us area so we'll have to develop a a uh a septic system um in order to facilitate bathrooms and other amenities which will will'll have to size that appropriately for the uh operation when it's fully built out so we're going to have to have a pretty good concept of what we're going to put into that property um with that the um I'll take I'll take questions and if not I would seek move to adopt resolution 20257 approving purchase agreement for the property own by fond ol any questions for Mr schroer. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** so you mentioned um that some of the funding would come from the the million dollars from the baseball um from Tartan Park but then you also mentioned plus the interest that's been gained on it that was new to me I just hadn't heard that how much interest has has been gained on that do you have any idea off the top of your head on that. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** I don't either I I don't think it's significant amount of money I mean it's been there for three years so my guck s [swag] is probably 880,000 bucks maybe I don't know and then. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** right ask one more here so I guess kind of on that I i apologize iess this sooner it just kind of came to me tonight but um so if this land was purchased um that a million the million dollars plus whatever interest was put towards the purchase um and let's say three years from now uh we own the land the community says hey we don't want to actually do anything here and we decide to sell it what happens to that million dollars that was originally earmarked for the baseball fields. [00:00] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** Mr Mayor members of the council I mean I suppose the developer or the public could bring an action against the city to to compel the city to either keep the property or to take that million dollars and put it into some other property somewhere else in the city for ball fields. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** is that language we can put into the proposal or the resolution tonight. [00:00] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** Mr Mayor members of the council I don't know what that would be I mean it would just the resolution is just approving the purchase agreement I mean one thing you could do is put a restrictive covenant on the property that it only be used for balli fields or you know only used for Park purposes so that you know if the future Council decides they want to sell it then you know there would have to be some discussion about whether that restrictive covenant could be removed. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** would that be a different discussion different vote yeah. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** okay yeah oh that it's a discussion point I'll hold off. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** okay yeah I I don't think you need to make that decision today I think if the for whatever reason the city decided to develop this and sell it I think the uh that Council to have to face that decision themselves along with legal's advice to decide do we need to replace that money and proactively do that um but I don't think that's a decision for tonight. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** okay thank you. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** obviously this takes time there's going to be planning and a very thoughtful um process to it Boland mink as an well now that boltan mink is our provider obviously those Services exist they are not as part of the retainer correct. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** they would not be part of the retainer the the initial discussion discussion off the top would be somewhere the for ballpark no pun intended uh drawing to put something together might be 7 8,000 or something to come up with a concept um based on what you and the Parks Commission and whoever you want to put input in on it would be. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** well ex I mean we are received emails today from multiple sports leagues that are showing like they saw it on the agenda and they're interested in what that looks like so I'm just curious obviously this is not that the right time for but what does that look like for those interactions for those conversations is that through staff then first before we even get to a Bolton mink to because that because that then indicates you know ideas to put in the plan. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** yeah so it'd be my preference if there are organizations with Express expressed interest to either help design help build and fund an operation I think they should contact staff and because we're going to need to know that before we come up with the design because if they're like we want to do this and all of a sudden we go this way the Design's no good and we have to see you know is there you know are these napkin drawings from these people is there money behind them is there fortitude you know we have to sort the wheat from the chaff on community organizations who are interested in this to being part part of our operation here. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** well and I i anticipate some of those people might be watching at this point so it if this were to pass when would we be looking to speak with Bolton M about that process therefore those conversations have to occur prior. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** we talked in February marchish so the first step is close on the property we don't we're not going to own the property till most likely March um and so after we have that then I think we could probably as staff we could sit down and figure out you know do we have people that have interest in doing this before we start on a design I think the Parks Commission would be an integral part of this saying what do we want to what do they want to see in here and I also think the general public I mean just because an organization wants to put something in is that just for a small organization or is this for the we're doing something for the whole city so we need to take in the advice of the 14,000 people that are pain for this and so I i don't want to throw cold water on the quickness of this but I would like to take we're going to be doing this we want to do it right there's an old adage you know there's never time to do it right there's always time to do it over you know and we don't want to do it over. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** very true thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** any other questions otherwise I'll entertain a motion. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** move to adopt resolution number 2025 -7 approving a purchase agreement for property owned by fonda Olen. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** second. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** all right we have a motion in a second just going to lead this by saying uh I know that early on council member Holtz and I had discussed this community um Park that had been in the comp plan for a long time and um I did get a question question from a resident about why are we um and it's going to be a question so I'm just going to address it now why are we looking at purchasing this land versus uh using the 180 Acres out by ideal Avenue um i think the communities that grow together and be together and we've seen a really great instance of that happening with some of the Civic events that have happened in the Old Village whether it's uh National Night Out the volunteers that have put that together uh light up Lake Elmo in December or the kitty parade that happens on the 4th of July we've seen those grow as our city has have grown and and and they grow really more rapidly with with word getting out about how much people have fun at those and we look around at communities that Thrive and they have places for people to gather um be together and I i see this as an opportunity that's not on the outskirts of Lake Elmo I think uh had been presented at one time when I watched previous Council meetings earlier when I lived here and and the preference is what I've heard and and kind of my own opinion is that you want something a little more centrally located to the city and we have a population as met Council provides nearly 14,500 uh expected to grow over 30,000 at some point in time and really looking at something I mean as excited as some people would say to get out there and turn the dirt right away I think that um caution should be had to make sure that you take the appropriate steps include include people on something of this size and nature to make sure that you we do get it as right as possible I mean as uh you know there's your way there's my way as to the correct way the right way and the only way that doesn't exist so um but taking into account to make it the best that we can I think is very important so it's really kind of more of a a vision it's not a it's got to happen and I'm really hoping the community can get around something like this I hope that um they see this as an opportunity for um community events that can happen and and bring people to see um really how special Lake Elmo is and can be so I'm I'm obviously I'm excited about this it's been talked about um it doesn't come without a price that's for sure um but I i really look to the Future and um it's probably not something I'm going to partake in a whole lot with right regards to seeing kids out there enjoying baseball fields but as also we've heard from uh the community that open space is a priority and uh if we can create something that's adjoining the wonderful Sunfish Lake Park that's gets used regularly and then maybe people will use that a little bit as well I I don't really see any negatives on this at least from a community aspect um i guess that's debatable but that's that's that's what I wanted to say so um that's all I'm going to say for both of the properties I'm in favor of both of these at this point in time so there's any other discussion I'll open it up. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Dragisich:** council member I concour with your with your comments mayor I think we're building a something for the future of the community you you get this opportunity to buy this land in the central part of the city for recreational purposes benefit of our residents and it's it's something you have to have a vision for the future I would look at like Central Park in New York and you know and other places where I've been where they have these very large parks that were built in the 30s a lot of more WPA projects and everyone's enjoying them still today and so whatever Vision our community has for the type of things they'd like to have softball soccer baseball whatever we work with them and come up with a plan that will serve us for the next 100 years it's it's a very good purchase for the future of this city. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** well and I would say first off credit to the prior Council and to the developer for having that agreement in place because those funds essentially were the impetus for this and it kind of frustrates me because the impetus should have been the 2008 Parks plan it should have been the 24 comp plan we've had in place documentation supported by countless meetings with the public with uh Council throughout that time as to what created those documents this has been in there for literally a decade and a half and this is now finally a time where we're able to have this conversation to say we have a chance to act upon it we know from our own update to the parks plan as um Mr Schroeder mentioned we are that that updated Parks plan does show that we are short on fields that that's not in debate the issue is how properly to address it uh do you put a field here and a field there and maybe a field there and and we we asked staff to look at that and it the majority decided that there wasn't a bang for the buck with that that maybe it was more appropriate to see what we could do along this side along this perspective and I i plan to vote for for both of these and I think one one way of looking at this is the central Corridor of recreation you do have Sunfish Lake to the park you also have Lake ELO Park ve to the South and you have a more active a more you know this going to be with sport leagues but also many other things are possible here so you have diverse types of recreation all in the central part of the city I i think the 180 is definitely a a future conversation that we're probably going to have as a council as to how best to move forward with that but I i don't want to see this type of asset on the edge of our community I prefer to see it in location like this and is it's not directly adjacent to downtown but it's pretty dang close and there you know eventually there will be uh walkways along County 14 that are going to be able to allow pedestrian access to this location um I i just one of the things that I mean we hear feedback about many things right taxes water um random permit issue various things come up all the time right one thing that is consistent over time is access to sport Fields now maybe I have a bias because that's the population I hear from I i hear from parents I hear from those who are in sports leagues of literally football soccer softball baseball of various Sports where this could be an asset to to help them I think it is inexcusable to not do anything when we have right now seven and eighty old driving to still out our Township to uh Hugo to and doing sports that are literally 20 30 30 minutes away and it's like we don't have to have that and it will only get worse as the mayor said we are going to continue to grow so I it's the same thing as a phrase with a tree you do it now because you're planning not only for the future you're planning for today this should have happened years ago but I am done I support this. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** also a note for the residents the master Park plan that we uh have been talking about is on the city's website if you want to read it thank you any other discussion. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** I'll a little bit here um i mean obviously when you see this at first the price tag [tag] definitely shocks you um shocks me uh and that definitely is a concern of this for me um the location slightly from the standpoint of yeah maybe it's not the flattest land um now with those concerns I also look at this from the perspective of uh a two two different things one that price tag if I probably would have looked at the price tag at this property 10 years ago um i'd be disappointed that we didn't do this 10 years ago and I think I'd probably feel the same 10 years from now if I look back and we don't do this um and I guess that's kind of my my thought process on with the price T is well it's not going to start dropping any lower than this um from the location standpoint right you know we've been asked about the 180 um would this have if it we could have had had again 10 years ago uh picked land that was flat and even closer to uh the Old Village would that have been better probably but again if we wait 10 years this property here is not going to be available and then we're going to have to go further away if this is something that we want to do so those are my two big concerns going into it but again I i look at it this as like this does have a lot of great um aspects to it as far as location that have been brought up one thing that wasn't mentioned was the greenway Trail that eventually will be um running right past this as well so just for more accessibility um I i know that there's going to have to be a lot of work that goes into making this feasible because of how hilly and and not flat it is um but if we don't do it here I don't know where and I think we're going to be 10 years from now having the same conversation of shoot you know we had we had that opportunity you I've heard people say that about other areas in the Old Village as well um and I i don't want to look back and say that so um i guess like everyone else has been saying that's my comments for both of these Parcels thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** all right I'm going to call the question all is in favor and adopting resolution 20125 d007 approving a purchase agreement for property owned by fondis Olson please signify by saying I. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** next item is similar in that it's purchase agreement for the jurk property resolution 2025-the agreement for property owned by Kathleen and Edward jerk support. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** support. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** all right we have a motion in the second there's been discussion similarly on the first product that pertains Germain to this this project as well if anybody has anything they like to see I'll open it up for discussion seeing none otherwise I will call the question all those in favor of adopting resolution 2025-the. [00:00] **Council Members:** I. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** so move so done all right item number 31 Council reports any anybody want to report anything and welcome Nick and. [00:00] **Council Member Matt Hirn:** nothing else to report. [00:00] **Council Member Jeff Holtz:** um I actually forgot to you know asked to be put in the record but I just was going to mention that Council on those previous two items did receive emails from uh s Croy soccer and from Stillwater softball both board members are Lake Elmo residents and expressed um I'll just summarize it expressed very positive interest on the topic and wanting to partner with the city as to what that looks like but I just wanted to throw it out there that there are there are groups are watching and and listening so I think that is a very positive thing for as we move forward. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** well this being the uh first meeting of January or in the first meeting of 2025 I just want to say uh welcome to everybody I'm I'm very happy to uh go into 2025 with the council and the staff that we have on place and and the journey that we have in front of us next week we will endeavor on some strategic planning for the city I'm excited about that and the process that we will go through with uh Nicole's leadership in in D doing that um process I'm excited for what the city can do and the residents can do and this Council can represent the the people uh for the next at least this C for at least the next two years um that's all I've got to say council member he [Hirn] yeah I'll just I just want to congratulate and thank um everybody on the council um for um for returning um and for for uh making the commitment here um I'm really excited as well for the next two years here for sure um and to to see what we can all do and um I i think it's a very good Council um and so I'm excited to to see what can all be done. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** so this is always at the end so uh you being a new council member maybe you want to take this opportunity to introduce yourself to the the voting public that voted you in and and um typically if we're involved with a commission or something like that if we attended a meeting we'll present that information at this time and uh give you that opportunity now. [00:00] **Council Member Nick Kragness:** sure yeah so my name is Nick KES [Kragness] I uh live here uh just down in the Old Village um been here for just under a year so I'm a newer resident to Lake Elmo but very uh honored to be in a spot where I can help shape the future of the city so um a little bit of background I've been a Minnesota resident my whole life uh grew up just in the west side of the Cities now I'm an eastsider but uh um yeah I went to Minnesota state man graduated with our with my bachelor's in Communications and I'm now a program manager at a large medical device company so very excited for the opportunity here and uh yeah thank you for having me thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Staff reports I see we have future agenda items administrator Miller. [00:00] **City Administrator Nicole Miller:** yeah have anything um i just want to say thanks to all staff they've been working really hard to prepare for goal setting next week and everyone seems really eager and excited and we'll have um a pretty large group so 26 people the first night about 21 people the second night so we're all looking forward to it. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** okay thank you Miss Johnson. [00:00] **City Clerk Julie Johnson:** no report thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** no report thanks. [00:00] **Clarissa Hadler:** [No report]. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** I just wanted to call out uh all the help on this project for buying these properties from s [Staff] Sophia Jensen she was just a immense help to me in guiding uh this property to come to existence and I just wanted to thank her. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** great Clarissa n [No report] director prowers Public Works. [00:00] **Public Works Director Pete Tholen:** mayor and Council are working hard at tree trimming right now above sidewalks and trails something we really haven't spent much time on in the past uh we're also doing some RMS for trimming around storm water pipe ends and FLIR ends and such uh the rink is in really good shape however we're continuing to have issues with the lights so we apologize they either stay on or they don't come on um we're working almost daily to try and correct that we've got some help coming in tomorrow so anybody know a good electrician um yeah. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** thank you for the tree trimming obviously we're getting comments from the public on that we're trying to make sure the staff is trying to make sure that areas and HOAs are notified when tree trimming is going on so if you see uh City of Lake Alo public work staff out tree tree trimming feel free to your HOA uh if you have questions about what's going on they do get notified and and um we'll be doing the clean up after after that trimming is done so thank you Chief. [00:00] **Fire Chief Dustin Kalis:** just want to say uh we wrapped up uh 2024 at the busiest year we've ever had just over 11,00 calls we'll be putting together our formal uh um annual report to present to you probably sometime in March um really appreciate the efforts of Staff it's already been a busy year already we've had uh responded and assisted with Oakdale with four structure fires in the past week um and then we have seven of our newest hires that are starting at fire academy tonight so for the next six months they'll be uh putting in uh two nights a week uh through June on their initial training so wish them the best and appreciate the efforts of our staff. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** great thank you Jack. [00:00] **Jack Schroeder:** yeah I guess I'd just like to say thank you to the council and staff and the community uh for all the years of support and and trust that youve put in me and um it's been a lot of very prideful years of of helping the community grow and build your infrastructure um I'm not actually going anywhere I'll still be around but I'm stepping down from the lead role um I do appreciate council member hearn's [Hirn] comments on our our business model I i think um that's probably my greatest pride of my career was that that business idea unfortunately it was it's a complex idea and it doesn't spread easy um it and you know I think there was an aligning of uh of the the community needing more robust services with the growth that's that's occurred now um so the timing's probably right uh to move on also with my age uh and we we had difficulty recruiting uh people into that model and so we probably you know I didn't have really a transition plan so I'm also proud of um what I've accomplished in the last year and bringing forward a plan that I think will be a smooth transition for the city um i found a good Landing place for my employees a good uh a good consultant to to come in and a good way to transition the model so I'm I'm proud of that as well but um just thank you. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** certainly on the uh behalf of the city Jack we do appreciate all that you've done for the city and and the infrastructure and knowing that it's laid out thoughtfully um cuz that does go go a ways to long-term savings for the city and its residents um being mindful all those things taking care of the the projects that you have overseen and very happy that you'll still be around to help out with some of that that knowledge transfer and and um very appreciative of all that hard work thank you thank you Jack. [00:00] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** no report. [00:00] **Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** all right with that we'll agend or we'll adjourn the meeting for tonight yeah if we could have bought the property next to BFW fi 10 years ago yeah and how much that cost.