This transcript features **Mayor Matt Montgomery** presiding over the meeting, with reports from City Engineer **Bill Angerman**, Police Chief **Jeff McCormick**, and City Administrator **Jon Radermacher** (referred to in the audio as Neil). Note: While the provided list of council members includes names like Jeppesen and Johnson, the roll call in this specific meeting transcript lists members **Bringold**, **Duncan**, **Gesme**, **Kronenberger**, and **Lundell**. *** [5:36] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the November 1st city council meeting for the city of Cannon Falls to order. Could we have roll call please? [5:45] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Bringold? **Council Member Bringold:** Here. **Sara Peer:** Duncan? **Council Member Duncan:** Here. **Sara Peer:** Gesme? **Council Member Gesme:** Here. **Sara Peer:** Kronenberger? **Council Member Kronenberger:** Here. **Sara Peer:** Lundell? **Council Member Lundell:** [Inaudible] **Sara Peer:** Montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Here. Would you stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I 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. [6:19] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, agenda. Council, have any additions or corrections? [6:25] **Council Member Bringold:** I move approval of the agenda. [6:27] **Council Member Gesme:** Second. [6:29] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Bringold, second by Gesme to approve the agenda. It was the amended agenda? [6:35] **Council Member Bringold:** Amended agenda, thank you. [6:37] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Amended agenda, okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Carried. Okay, public input. We will open public input; it's intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns with the city council. Public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length and each speaker will have no more than three minutes to speak. Speakers may address topics relevant to the government of the city. Speakers must sign up in advance and must provide their name, address, and the topic they attend to address. Comments made must be on topic, respectful, pertinent to City business, and adhere to the applicable data privacy rules. Any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down and if the speaker refuses to comply they may be removed from the meeting. Speaker shall not address topics that are subject of a public hearing; all such comments must be made at the public hearing. City council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input but may choose to schedule consideration of them at a future agenda. Okay, Greg Kurtz. [8:13] **Greg Kurtz:** Greg Kurtz, 518 First Street Southwest. I'm here with the Cannon Valley Fair and I would like to ask something. I've been working on this for about a month with Diane in regards to... we'd like to put up a sign at the front gate of the fairgrounds. It's an LED sign, it's 73 inches long by 20 inches high. Diane's given me a bunch of the rules and regulations. It appears that the fairground sits in the residential—whatever they call it, H, whatever, something. As she went through with me and told me all the hoops we would have to jump through to put this sign up, it got tougher and tougher. One of the things that she brought up was being it's in a residential, you can't have an LED sign that moves because it may keep you up at night when you're sleeping. But as you all know, you stand at the front gate, there's two houses you can see, and the one house is 300-plus feet away from where the sign would be—and he's on the fair board anyway. Another thing that they were talking about was it had to be mounted in a monument, a brick monument type deal, which... we wanted to put it on the roof of the ticket office. The sign weighs 48 pounds and so it's nothing heavy. It's a plug-and-play sign. You get the sign, you put it up, you plug it into the electricity, it has a keyboard that you can program whatever you want into it. Our use that we wanted to use it for was to let everybody know what's going on at the fair. I mean even right now, winter storage. Last year we had the Lions Club Father's Day breakfast; we would like to be able to advertise that. During the fair, we would like to be able to tell everybody what's going on today, what time is it going on, what the price to get into the fair is, stuff of that nature. Even to the fact of maybe putting on there "Merry Christmas from the Cannon Valley Fair." This sign, we would be able to... at 10 o'clock at night it would go off, come back on at six in the morning, so there wouldn't be that "keeping people up" deal. We can turn the brightness of the LED down so it wouldn't be bright. As much as I'm down there, there's so much traffic that goes on that road that I think it would be a great benefit to us just so the fairgrounds could attract more people, maybe rent the fairgrounds out. But like I say, the amount of hoops that are in the city's paperwork here, it just seems impossible. So I'm wondering, is there something—a temporary type thing—that can be assigned to that? Like I say, you all know where it's at and there's virtually nobody down there it's going to bother, besides being a plus to us. I haven't ordered the sign, and that's the reason I didn't, after talking to Diane. The reason I asked her was, "Do I need a permit to put the sign up?" One other thing that she mentioned, and I notice it all over town where it's kind of... she said if we put this sign up we would have to take down the existing sign that's up there, that big wooden sign that says "Cannon Valley Fair," because you can only have one sign up. So she said you'd have to take that down. Well, that's no problem; we're getting a lighted-up sign here that's going to tell people a lot more. So I don't know who else I need to bring this to, what committee, just to find out more what you guys think. To me it seems like, again, where it's at, it's common sense. It's not going to bother anybody whatsoever. So in regards to the city codes, it's in the residential whatnot. I'm just wondering if there's some way as a temporary—or whatever word I'm looking for—to be able to put a sign down there. Do we need to bring it to a committee like Public Works or Planning? [13:36] **Council Member Bringold:** I would think Planning. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** It’s a zoning thing, yeah. **Council Member Gesme:** It's a zoning thing. Zoning... that's got to go to Planning. Digital signs aren't allowed in our—I think it's an R3—they're not allowed in there. Otherwise, you know, if you just go ahead and allow it, your neighbor could put one up. We'll have signs everywhere. So it's got to go through a process. And if you circumvent that process, Mary Jill will put one up absolutely tomorrow. So there's a process for a reason, right? [14:45] **Greg Kurtz:** No, because we're not wanting— **Council Member Gesme:** There's a process for a reason. It's in a residential district, and if you know how bright them things are... **Greg Kurtz:** Yeah, but like I said, we could turn it down. **Council Member Gesme:** Yeah, but then after you give them the permit, it doesn't have to stay that way. That could go through a variance type situation where you've got to go through the process, and Planning Commission is where that should go. [15:15] **Greg Kurtz:** Seems strange, but it's the way it is. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Well, can we get it on the Planning Commission? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** He'll have to pull an application. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Come in and pull the application, and just like anything else, yeah. [15:30] **Greg Kurtz:** Okay, well there you go. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Fill out the application, then we can get it on this month. It would be a week from Monday. **Greg Kurtz:** I understand it's in the ordinance and everything like that, but I think you probably all understand it's a very simple deal where it's going to be at, right? **Council Member Gesme:** I know, but go through a process, Greg. **Greg Kurtz:** That’s the hoop I can't jump through. **Council Member Gesme:** Oh yeah, you can. You're not gonna—I mean, everyone has applications. **Greg Kurtz:** Well, sure we will. **Council Member Gesme:** But I don't—the fair has so much money to spend. **Greg Kurtz:** Well, but that isn't our issue. **Council Member Gesme:** Well, it is if it turns into a $700 price tag to call a special meeting, and I don't know how the City works that way. [16:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, well I think that's—what Neil made it pretty clear—that your first step here is to get an application, fill it out. **Greg Kurtz:** Okay, I'll try to get down there for a week from Monday. Thank you. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, thanks. Okay, we'll close the public input and we'll get into the public hearing. Resolution 2651, certifying unpaid utility charges to be collected with taxes. Neil, you want just a short background on that? [17:05] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** Sure. Quarterly, we notify property owners that their water and sewer bills are past due, and we give an opportunity to come in and pay it. If they don't pay their past-due water bill, we bring them to council to certify to taxes. This public hearing is for the people that would like to speak to you about their unpaid water bill; otherwise, Resolution 2651 will be certifying the unpaid bills to taxes. We do this every quarter now. [17:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** We do this every quarter. We had a big discussion on this; there were residents of this town that wanted the water shut off for people who didn't pay their bill, and I think this is a good compromise. We get paid and it comes out of your taxes, so we don't shut off your water. So that's kind of what we decided. **Council Member:** So it gets paid when the property is sold? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** If and when it's put on their taxes, yes. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** This quarter it's $14,000 and some change? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** Correct, $14,607.50. [18:25] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, let's open the public hearing. Is there anybody who wants to address this issue? You can come forward. [Pause] Second call, public hearing on unpaid utility charges. [Pause] Third and final call on unpaid utility charges. Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing and I'll take a motion to approve Resolution 2651. [19:15] **Council Member Montgomery:** So moved. **Council Member Duncan:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Montgomery, second by Duncan to approve Resolution 2651, certifying unpaid utility charges be collected with taxes. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion. For those at home and in the audience, I'll go through the consent agenda items: Item A: Claims for the accounting period ending October 27th, 2022. Item B: Minutes for the October 18th, 2022 city council meeting. Item C: Approval of pay request number two for the River Road sanitary sewer extension. Item D: Resolution 2652 approving a cooperative snow removal agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Item E: Approve the 2023 agreement for the State Building Code Administration with Goodhue County. Item F: Approve an officer moving to part-time and start the process of filling for a full-time position. Item G: Set a work session. Item H: Approve a Personnel policy change. Is there anything the council would like to bring down? [21:10] **Council Member Gesme:** I want to break down H. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** H will go under Council Business as Item C. Anything else? Hearing none, I have a motion to approve the consent agenda minus Item H. **Council Member Montgomery:** So moved. **Council Member Bringold:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Montgomery, second by Bringold to approve the consent agenda minus Item H. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. [22:05] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, Council business. Item A: Resolution 2653, receiving a preliminary report and calling a public hearing on the 2023 street and utility improvements. Bill, our City Engineer is here tonight. [22:20] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer):** Thanks, Mayor. Let me get the PowerPoint fired up here. [Music/Pause] All right, so in your packet you have a report and we are going to hit the high points. We're going to start off with just a little bit about why we're—by the way, this is the proposed project for 2023. So we're going to talk about why we're proposing this and what exactly we're looking at. Because this is an assessment project, there's some very detailed steps we have to follow. We did our practice run on Bluff Drive; that was smaller than this area. So you guys have just been through an assessment process, this will be very similar. To start off with, the first thing I’m going to ask is: does everybody know what a sewer bridge is or know where the sewer bridge is? Just to the east of the Third Street bridge, there's a bridge that inside of this steel girder is a sewer pipe. All the sewage from the north side of the river flows through this pipe. It’s been there forever—to the point where no one's really sure when it was built. Minimum of 50 years ago, probably more than that. Why are Public Works staff and I concerned about this? Well, during flood events, trees hang up on it, debris hangs up on it, and at some point, something could come down the river and basically knock the bridge down. There's been discussions of how do we replace this, and there's not an easy answer. The sewer piping on the north side of the river is only about five feet deep, so the sewer coming in is actually above the water level of the river. To cross the river, you generally go way below the river like we did with the water main at the bridge, or you would pump underneath it. The second task we had was regarding drainage. Do you guys know where Ohio Street is? Ohio Street has a low point that doesn't drain very well. We have drainage in Ohio that actually flows north to the east and back to the south. It goes on the county road and into a couple different ponds that flood. The question was: is there a different way to route the drainage? There is a direct path where we can take the drainage down Fourth Street, down Ohio, down to the same location as the sewer bridge. The third item is that we have old water and sewer pipes in Cannon and Third, all the way up to the county road. We have these old pipes and streets that are old. Since the bridge has been repaired, traffic's back on there. It’s been a priority to try to fix these items. What we are proposing is to package this into one project. What we’re proposing tonight is that we rebuild Cannon Street (sewer, water, storm sewer), rebuild 3rd Street (sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water), and on 4th Street, we will replace sanitary sewer and water and put storm sewer in for that future phase. [28:48] Along with this, the city would need to acquire some right-of-way. There's also no storm water ponding in this area, so we have to provide some ponding for storm water treatment. When you wrap all that together, we would replace the sewer bridge with a lift station, meaning we would put pumps on the north side and we would pump under the river. We would directional drill a pipe under the river like we did the water main a year and a half ago. We would then rebuild the roads to modern standards. Most of these streets are narrow, they don't drain well, and they're in poor condition. Regarding costs: when we first started out with the full scope, we were at about $3 million. This scope is just over $2 million—about $2.1 million worth of work. Then we need to decide, based on your ordinance, what's assessable. One of the challenges is we have a lot of irregular-sized lots. We're going to put this on your workshop for November 15th. We want to make sure we have a decent handle on what your expectations are. How your ordinance reads is that the city council selects the percentage or how much of the project costs to assess. Assessments range from just under $4,000 to $26,000. State Statute says if you're going to finance this through a bond sale, you have to assess at least 20% of a project; otherwise, you have to hold a referendum. Most cities default to that minimum. If we follow the ordinance and apply that 20%, the dollar amount per front foot is $127. If you have a 100-foot wide lot, you'd be assessed $12,700. Tonight, following State Statute, you have an engineer's feasibility report. Tonight you have a resolution ordering the improvement hearing, which we are scheduling for December 6th. That is the "thumbs up or thumbs down" meeting where you decide if you're going to move forward. After that, you get bids. We would come back in April and set a final assessment hearing. I’d also suggest a public information meeting on November 30th where we can sit down with people and explain the project details before that first hearing. I’ll pause for any questions. [38:15] **Council Member Bringold:** Bill, you said you're going to cut off the portion of the Ohio Street improvement. I know at least one resident there that's been fighting with that storm water issue for a long time. What's your proposed timeline for doing that part? [38:40] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer):** Two years. We'd take it up to County Road 17. [38:55] **Council Member Bringold:** I thought the Fourth Street storm sewer was part of that next phase, but now you're saying that's going to 17 as well? [39:35] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer):** The next phase would go to that low area in Ohio, and the storm sewer would come all the way down. But the sanitary sewer we would continue all the way up as well because that is also in poor condition. [40:05] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** The first phase is going to put in a big enough pipe so it can drain all of that, and then we'll stop it at Dakota and pick it up in two years and carry it north. It'll probably be another $2 million project. [41:02] **Council Member Gesme:** Any other questions? It will be nice to get that flying under the river because every year when there's flooding and you watch all the trees go up there, you're surprised it doesn't break. Bill, that was Ellingson that did that last one, right? Did it go pretty good? [41:35] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer):** Correct. It went reasonably well. [41:50] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, thank you Bill. If there are no other questions, I'll take a motion for a resolution receiving a preliminary report and calling a public hearing. [42:10] **Council Member Duncan:** I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2653. [42:15] **Council Member Gesme:** Second. [42:20] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Duncan, second by Gesme to approve Resolution 2653. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Thanks Bill. Okay, Item B is the agreement with R&R Investments for the purposes of electrical use. Neil, you want to take that? [43:10] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** I'll give an explanation since this is new. Regarding the construction of Highway 19, MnDOT is replacing the street lights. We've always had electrical plug-ins on the poles to light up [decorations]. MnDOT has now said they won't put electrical plug-ins on their poles anymore. Jeff Reinhardt owns that building on the southeast corner of that intersection, and there happens to be a plug-in we could use. I had Shelley [City Attorney] whip up a quick access and use agreement. It gives us five years and adds another five. It indemnifies us if something goes wrong liability-wise. Pretty simple. [44:50] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Can I get a motion to approve the agreement subject to final review by our City Attorney? [45:05] **Council Member Bringold:** So moved. [45:10] **Council Member Montgomery:** Second. [45:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Bringold, second by Montgomery to approve. Any other discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, Item C is pulled down by Steve, approving a Personnel policy change. [45:45] **Council Member Gesme (Steve):** This is alluding to next week. There's a holiday at the end of the week, and what you were requesting is to change Personnel policy. To be honest, it would align with all of the Union contracts that we have. To be fair with the non-union groups, I like to see everybody the same. Next week, Veterans Day is on Friday. The majority of our group puts in overtime on Tuesday. Where it states now is: if you put in your 40, then you get your overtime. All of our Union contracts are "anything over eight and you get overtime." It seems prudent to keep our non-union employees on the same page. If you don't and they become unhappy, guess what happens? Another union. This isn't just because of next week; it’s been due for quite some time. It won't affect vacation or sick time, this is just for scheduled holidays. [47:55] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** It makes everything look the same. We've certainly tried over the years to match Union contracts for our non-union employees. [48:25] **Council Member Gesme:** I'm going to make a motion to approve that Personnel policy change. [48:30] **Council Member Bringold:** Second. [48:32] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Gesme, second by Bringold. Any other discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, we'll get into reports. Chamber, Kyle. [48:50] **Kyle Paulson (Chamber of Commerce):** Good evening Council and community. I would like to report on our Halloween Trick-or-Treat Trot. It was a very big success. On average, there were 826 children. The library tracked how many people came through—including parents—and they came up with 1,607 people in those two hours. That's a lot of traffic. Thank you to the 49 chamber members that participated. Regarding Deck the Falls: our parade entry form is ready. The deadline to sign up is November 18th. It does not cost anything to have a parade unit. The only thing we ask is that you do not have a Santa, because our Santa is the last float and we don't want to confuse the children. Also, new businesses: Canon Nutrition is opening Wednesday the 9th, located between Chicago Ed’s and Spring Garden. Dairy King (the old Dairy Queen) had a soft opening this week and their grand opening is November 9th. Any questions? Thank you. [51:42] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thanks Kyle. Laura, did the Cannon Valley Trail board meet in October? [51:50] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** Actually, no, it wasn't very exciting. They've closed parts of the trail now from November 1st to May for the bridges. The Facebook page has maps. [52:24] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, reports. Dan? [52:26] **Dan (Public Works):** Just one thing: biosolids started hauling today, so just be aware of the extra tanker traffic to and from the wastewater plant. [52:45] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Bill, anything? [Bill shakes head]. Jeff? [52:50] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Being that it's November 1st, winter parking starts today. If you park in the permitted area on Mill Street or in the city lot, please stop into the Police Department and fill out the parking permit application. Hopefully, we won't have to utilize winter parking restrictions anytime soon. [54:00] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** Just one item: we scheduled our annual audit review coming up here in about a month. [54:15] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** Nothing. **Council Member Duncan:** Nothing. **Council Member Mary Jill:** Nothing except that there is no Public Works meeting this Thursday. [54:56] **Council Member Gesme (Steve):** Well, nobody else wants to say anything, so I might as well. We need to invite the management of Valley View Recovery Center to a discussion concerning violations of the conditional use permit and address concerns of area residents that there's a lack of supervision allowing inpatient clients to possibly leave the property without staff input. We were promised they would be a good neighbor. I suggest we set a date to meet with them. I request that the City Attorney and quite possibly the Chief of Police attend. I want to acknowledge to the public that I think there are a couple of issues there and we should address them. I don't know if we should send them a letter and invite them to a round table. [56:45] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Let me check with Shelley, our City Attorney, and see when she would be available. Jeff, if you or Lieutenant Berg can sit in with us, that would be great. [57:25] **Council Member Gesme:** I don't know—is the city's jurisdiction out there? They haven't complied with our conditional use permits. **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** We can invite them to talk. We owe it to them and us. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Let’s set a five o'clock work session on the 15th? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator):** I wouldn't do it on the 15th because we have the budget and assessments. Maybe the first meeting in December—the 6th of December at 5:30? [59:15] **Council Member Gesme:** That sounds fair. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, we'll try it. Contact our City Attorney as well. Nobody's mentioned it, but we've got a big day coming up next Tuesday: Election Day, November 8th. Make sure you get out and vote. Just a couple meetings before our next council meeting: Monday the 14th we've got Finance and the Library Board. Eda is Thursday the 3rd. Planning Commission is Monday the 14th. Park Board is this Thursday, November 3rd. If nobody's got anything else, I'll take a motion to adjourn. [1:00:30] **Council Member Lundell:** So moved. **Council Member Montgomery:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Lundell, second by Montgomery. All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried.