This transcript appears to be from a transition period for the City of Grant. While the provided list identifies **Jeff Giefer** as Mayor, in this specific recording, **Huber** is serving as Mayor and **Jeff Giefer** is still a Council Member. Additionally, the Council includes a "Tom" and a "Carr" who are not on the current list (likely predecessors), and **Ben Cornett** is appointed to the council during this session. [0:05] Group: ...allegeance 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. [0:20] Mayor Huber: All right, all had a chance to take a look at the regular agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? [0:20] John Rog: I'll move to approve. [0:20] Mayor Huber: Thank you, John. Maybe I'll step up today that—there you go. We're short one. Approval of consent agenda, please. Have all had a chance to take a look at the bill list and the other items on there? Do I have a motion to approve? [0:20] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. That was fast, we're only four yes. [0:20] Jeff Giefer: Make the motion. [0:20] John Rog: I'll second. [1:00] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [1:07] Mayor Huber: Thank you. Staff agenda items. We have a full play tonight for city engineer Brad Reifsteck. Brad, we're going to ask you to speak on the consideration of resolution 2024-8 declaring cost to be assessed and ordering the preparation of the proposed assessments. We'll of course have a public hearing on this as well, but we're going to hear from the engineer first in case he may answer questions you may have right out of the box. Brad, go ahead. [1:07] Brad Reifsteck: Perfect, thank you Mayor. Good evening everyone. Again, we're here tonight to conduct a public hearing on assessments for the Knollwood Drive Street Improvement project. As you well know, that this project was petitioned by its residents—of over 60% of the residents living along the street. Following a public hearing, the city council ordered the public improvements for the Knollwood Drive Street Improvement project at the August 1st, 2023 regular council meeting. Council accepted the plan specifications and ordered the advertisement for bids at the January 2nd, 2024 regular council meeting. [1:53] Mayor Huber: Brad, Brad, I'm going to stop you for just a moment. We're having a bit of a volume problem here. I wonder if on your end you could turn up your microphone? [1:53] Brad Reifsteck: Oh, just never mind, Brad. We've got it. [1:53] Mayor Huber: We should—okay, go ahead. We should let struggle with—are we? Yes, you're loud. Oh, you're talking much louder. [2:39] Brad Reifsteck: So again, Council accepted the plans, specifications, and ordered the advertisement for bids at the January 2nd, 2024 regular council meeting, and bids were received on May 2nd, 2024. The lowest bid was submitted by OMG Midwest in the amount of $199,815.51. The project costs include construction costs and engineering costs for a total project cost of $229,836.84. The city of Grant is contributing Street Maintenance dollars in the amount of $6,431 to the cost of the project. Therefore, the total cost of the improvement to be assessed against benefited properties is declared to be $223,405.84. There are nine buildable units within the assessment area. The assessments per buildable unit is $24,822.87. Anyone wishing to object to the assessment must do so in writing and file with the city clerk prior to or during tonight's assessment hearing. Any objections must be filed with the district court by serving notice of the appeal upon the Mayor or Clerk of the city within 30 days after the adoption of the assessment. Assessments are proposed to be paid in equal annual installments over 15 years beginning in January 2025 with an annual interest rate of 4 and a half percent. The assessments may be paid to the city in full with no interest charge if the amount paid is made prior to October 31st, 2024. And with that said, Mayor, I'd certainly answer any questions that the council or the mayor would have before we conduct the hearing. [4:02] Mayor Huber: All right, very good. Thanks Brad. That's quick and concise, gives us what we want to know. Council questions for our engineer, please? Nothing, gentlemen? No? [4:02] John Rog: Not for me. [4:02] Mayor Huber: Okay. Like I say, clear and concise there Brad, I appreciate that. Let's go ahead and open up our public hearing and I would ask that if you have very, very similar concerns to say like a spouse or something, maybe just have one person elucidate those for us, tell us about them. Really looking for good solid information. We won't be talking back to you at this point because we're really here to hear you, not us. So, need a motion to open this public hearing for the Knollwood Drive Street Improvement project. [4:49] John Rog: I make the motion. [4:49] Jeff Giefer: I'll second it. [4:49] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [5:18] Mayor Huber: Thank you, Kim. Anyone here? If you would come up to the microphone, please, and give us your concerns, your yes or your no on this Knollwood Drive Street Improvement project? [Pause] Nothing, folks? All good? Okay, real good. I need a motion to close our public hearing on the Knollwood Drive Street Improvement project, please. [5:45] Jeff Giefer: I'll make that motion. [5:45] John Rog: Thank you, Jeff. Second. [5:45] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [6:03] Mayor Huber: Thank you, Kim. Um, I think Brad's very quick focus on this and concise explanation tells me that this is something that's been probably waiting for a long time and maybe has gone a little too long. I was happy to see this cross my desk. I'm happy to see it on the council table and happy to see it go forward. I know we're going to make some people pleased with this improvement project. So, we're looking at the motion 2024-8. I would entertain a resolution declaring cost assessed. [6:49] John Rog: I'll make that motion. [6:49] Council Member Tom: John, I'll second it. [6:49] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [6:49] Mayor Huber: Thank you, Kim. Moving forward, we have a second resolution in concordance with this which is a resolution certifying special assessments and we have that roll for the Knollwood Avenue Street Improvement project. Gentlemen, do I have a motion to approve 2024-9? [6:49] John Rog: So moved. [6:49] Mayor Huber: John, we'll give you that first one and Jeff, we're going to give you that second, please. Thank you. [6:49] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [6:49] Mayor Huber: Thank you. We are moving on with Knollwood Avenue here. We have consideration of resolution 24-10 accepting bids and awarding a construction contract for the Knollwood Drive Street Improvement project. Brad, you have spearheaded this process. Do you have comments on this? [7:35] Brad Reifsteck: Yeah, Mayor, members of the council. Tonight I'm looking for a motion to accept the bids by resolution for the construction contract for the Knollwood Drive Street Improvement projects. As I had mentioned earlier, the bids were received on May 2nd, 2024. Again, OMG is the apparent low bidder. OMG has done work for the city in the past and in fact, I think they're just finishing up the 115th Street project for us. Their bid of $199,815.51 was the lowest of the four bids. The bids ranged from the low of 199 to just over $250,000. So we got a good range of bids. Again, if awarded by Council, staff's anticipated schedule for the project improvements includes a tentative construction date in mid to late summer of 2024 and as specified in the contract documents, a substantial completion date for all the work including cleanup of September 27th, 2024. The improvements are anticipated to be partially funded by special assessments as we discussed and in accordance with the city's assessment policy. Again, the city of Grant is contributing Street Maintenance dollars in the amount of $6,431 to the cost of the project. So therefore, the city staff is recommending awarding a construction contract to OMG Midwest Inc in the amount of $199,815.51. [8:59] Mayor Huber: Come, I think OMG got their name because when you walk out and look at your brand new street, you go "OMG!" I'm not sure Brad, you know if that's true or not. [8:59] Brad Reifsteck: Could be, yeah. [8:59] Council Member Tom: I like that. Tom's bringing the humor tonight, boy, he's on! Hey Brad, they're working on 115th Street right now. You're working alongside them. Are you pleased with the work product and the scheduling and the cleanup out there? [8:59] Brad Reifsteck: I am. I think they'll be in later this week to finish up some of the top soil and the shouldering and we should be done here in the next two weeks or so. They've done a great job. We ran into some—a little bit of soil subgrade issues out there and they were excellent in handling that work and timely in the work. So I really appreciated the work that they did on that street project. And they in fact, I think, did the Justin Trail project for us four or five years ago too, so they've done several projects in the city of Grant. [9:46] Mayor Huber: Okay, I just wanted to ask. It looks to me as an untrained professional that Knollwood might be a little bit complicated, we certainly want very quality work there so that's good to hear. Thank you, Brad. 2024-10, accepting the bids and awarding contract. Brad is recommending OMG Midwest. Do I have a motion? [10:34] Jeff Giefer: I'll move. [10:34] John Rog: Second. [10:34] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [10:34] Mayor Huber: Thank you, Kim. All right, more paving. This is the special roads project that this council discussed some time ago and I think Brad, if you could explain why this is being done? It's been touched on in the memo, but telling us about sort of the grading issues there and sort of the traffic issues if you would kind of explain that and the rationale behind this project, please? [10:34] Brad Reifsteck: Yeah, so 110th Street and Lance Avenue is one of our busier streets in the city of Grant and there's a couple legs that join those two intersections that are gravel. And there's a lot of gravel that gets pushed onto the bituminous pavement which is a maintenance headache for our road maintenance contractor. And it also includes some difficulties with some potholing and things like that. So hopefully with this project, we can, you know, cover up the gravel, keep it from spreading onto the bituminous roadway, and fix some of the maintenance issues that we have on those two legs of gravel road. So we did solicit a couple contractors. We did get back two quotes. Rollo Paving quoted the project at $39,900. Arc Paving was low at $29,200. And again, as you said, this project is funded using the special roadway fund. So with that said, city staff is recommending awarding a contract for this work to Arc Paving who, as you know, does all the potholing in the city of Grant in the amount of $29,200. [12:06] Mayor Huber: Okay, and with that said—I would go ahead—sorry about that Brad, I thought you were done. When do you propose this work to be done, Brad, to get finished up? [12:06] Brad Reifsteck: It should be done by the end of August if not sooner. [12:52] Mayor Huber: Okay. I will say I have come off of 110th and hit that intersection and it's no fun. If you're going even slightly too fast, you tend to slide a bit. [12:52] John Rog: Especially on a motorcycle. [12:52] Mayor Huber: Yeah, so that should make it a bit safer and from what I hear the Klein brothers, our grading contractors, are excited to have that done as well. So gentlemen, with that said, awarding this special roads project to Arc Paving in the amount of $29,200. [12:52] Jeff Giefer: I'll make a motion. [12:52] John Rog: I'll second it, yep. [13:25] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [13:25] Mayor Huber: Thank you, Kim. Brad, speak of the devil here, we're talking about the contract extension as stated in 9A of the Klein Brothers, our grading contractors, contract. The ability to extend this contract for an additional year—would you like to speak on that? [13:25] Brad Reifsteck: Sure, Mayor, members of the council. Tonight I'm seeking a motion to approve extending the current gravel road maintenance agreement with the Klein Brothers. As you know, they've done work for us for a long time now and the existing contract that we have in place started in August of 2022. It was a two-year agreement that we had, but there is a clause in the agreement that would extend it if amenable by each party. The Klein brothers are in favor of extending the existing contract with the exact same terms that we have to date. So staff is recommending extending the current agreement for one year ending on July 31st, 2025. [14:10] Mayor Huber: Well, I'm glad inflation has not touched the Klein Brothers! [14:10] John Rog: Brad, you said the last contract was for two years, right? So the current contract would end at the end of July this year? And they only want a one-year extension? Is this a common thing with contractors like this that you know, or do they usually do multi-year contracts? [14:56] Brad Reifsteck: Well, so the clause in our contract suggests just one year. And typically after that one year, we would do a brand new contract with the contractor. We'd have to go back out and get quotes and things like that. So by extending it, we don't have to go out and get quotes or do any of that extra work. And this is pretty common to extend a contract like this if you're happy with the subcontractor that's doing the work—and I certainly think that staff is happy with Klein brothers. [14:56] John Rog: All right, thanks Brad. [15:42] Mayor Huber: Okay. Yeah, if we've seen these contracts before where by mutual agreement our contractors and the council can agree to extend for a year. Now, my little bad joke about inflation—not totally made in jest. I was surprised not to see some sort of a negotiation upon renewing for one year. Their diesel costs have got to be way up from when they had originally signed this. So I would expect next year to see a renegotiation take place. And Brad, do you know, are they amenable to a renegotiation? I don't really want to go out for bid because there's no one local, we end up paying mobilization charges. [16:28] Brad Reifsteck: Yeah, I think we ran into this problem last time. We didn't go out for quotes and I think the Auditors caught that and were very suggestive that we do have to go out for quotes for this work. So I don't know that there's any way around just directly negotiating with the Klein brothers. I think we have to go out for quotes for this work. [16:28] Mayor Huber: Well, that's fine, but as I said, our former grading companies come from areas quite far from here. So when they get in that tractor and they drive it here, you get charged for that trip and it's not like taking a taxi, let me tell you. It's a little expensive. So it's really hard for anybody to compete with the Klein brothers and they do great work. [17:13] John Rog: They do, yeah. [17:13] Kristina Handt: Council members, I'll just add to that a way to kind of avoid what you're talking about is do longer-term contracts to John's idea. [17:13] John Rog: Not approve this? No, no, no—the next one. [17:13] Kristina Handt: Yeah, absolutely. [17:13] Mayor Huber: Well, I think that's what Brad said, yeah, that we've always wanted to do three or four-year contracts because it goes along with the council and any changes that might happen in the council. So yeah, well we have a 30-day out in every contract we sign. I've never seen one where we didn't have a 30-day out if we were unsatisfied, prices changed, what have you. So yeah, that's a good idea. And the Kleins, as I say, they're local, they're here, they're in the community, they know the roads, they drive the roads, so it's good to have those guys on board and keep them on board as much as possible in my opinion. So gentlemen, looking for a motion to extend the Klein Brothers maintenance contract on a one-year extension, please. [17:58] Council Member Tom: I'll move. [17:58] Jeff Giefer: Second. [17:58] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [17:58] Mayor Huber: Welcome back Klein Brothers, glad to keep you good guys. Brad, I think you're done. It was good to see you, you took up half our meeting, good job. All right, on to new business as we have no—well, no, yep, yep, we're going to move that—you moved I to new business, correct? Okay, very good. I didn't printing it, I just drew a line through it. So Nick Vivian, our attorney, has no action items. We're going to move on to new business, the consideration of the City Assessor appointment. I know that—sorry, did I miss something? [18:45] Kristina Handt: Yeah, this one about the plat. [18:45] Mayor Huber: Oh, pardon me, I went right by it. No problem. Yep, thank you very much. So that was in the same place. Consideration of resolution number 2024-11, preliminary plat Elliot Crossing. Kim? [18:45] Kristina Handt: Mayor and council members, before you you have the resolution of approval that incorporates the requested changes from your May meeting. The condition regarding review by the fire chief has been added. The conditions have also been updated to reflect the minor adjustments to the plat, and a condition is included that an updated plat must be submitted and reviewed by city staff including the city engineer once the adjustments are made. That should be done once the Browns Creek Watershed District has approved the required permits for the project. [19:31] Mayor Huber: Okay, real good. So all of our conditions have been added and it's been laid out for us. I think we've all had a chance to take a look at that. Questions John, Tom, Jeff? [19:31] John Rog: No. [19:31] Council Member Tom: No. [19:31] Jeff Giefer: Jennifer got everything taken care of, we're good. [19:31] Mayor Huber: Yep, she did. Resolution 2024-11, the preliminary plat for Elliot Crossing. Need a motion, gentlemen. [19:31] John Rog: I'll move. [19:31] Jeff Giefer: Second. [19:31] Mayor Huber: I'm really working hard tonight! Got you that time. [20:17] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [20:17] Mayor Huber: Thanks Kim. Now we're on to the city assessment—thank you Kim for correcting me there. We've had a chance to take a look at some of these, we've looked at the estimate worksheets. We've all had a chance to discuss this with the assessor of our choice if we wish to do so. Any nominations for assessor or motions to approve? [20:17] Council Member Tom: I talked to Ted. I talked to the county. I didn't talk to the other guy but Ted seems like a nice guy. We had good luck with this current assessor. I think the county's a little more expensive. I think the county's always a backup if this person doesn't work out. Sounds like he used to be up in Chisago, used to big acreage, now he's in Brooklyn Park where he's got way more houses. So yeah, I'd be fine with Ted. [21:04] Jeff Giefer: No, I'm just agreeing with Tom. Unless there's any other discussion—do you need a motion right now? [21:04] Mayor Huber: Yeah, looking for a motion to accept whomever you call out. [21:04] Jeff Giefer: I would like to make a motion for Ted Anderson. [21:04] John Rog: I think he'd be okay. We got a second for Mr. Anderson? Second. [21:04] Kristina Handt: Mr. Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [21:34] Kristina Handt: Thank you Kim. Mayor and council members, before you is a resolution accepting a council member—previous council member Tufty's resignation—and declaring a council vacancy. [21:34] Mayor Huber: Thank you, Kim. I just want to say a couple of quick words about Bob Tufty. Bob Tufty was on our Planning Commission for years. Bob Tufty served the city in a number of different ways. He was up here planting flowers—you see flowers out there? That's Bob and his wife. Bob and his wife used to come up here and trim, they used to come up here and make sure the place look good. We still don't have plumbing, but it looks good, right? And that was Bob because he cared about the city. On the Planning Commission and on the Council, he picked up some slack when we needed him to and a very valued member, and we are sorry to see him go. So, need a motion to accept the resignation, please. [22:21] Jeff Giefer: I'll make the motion. [22:21] Mayor Huber: Thank you. We have a second to accept Bob's resignation? [22:21] John Rog: I'll second, thanks. [22:47] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [22:47] Kristina Handt: Good. Mr. Mayor and council members, before you is a resolution to fill a vacancy that you just declared on the city council. I will note you do not need to fill that vacancy, you do not need to appoint, but you most certainly can choose to do so. And that appointment would be till the end of the year when that term is up which was December 31st. [22:47] Mayor Huber: Okay, real good. Jeff? [22:47] Jeff Giefer: I would like to make a motion for Ben Cornett to fill the vacant Council seat. Ben, who's with us tonight sitting in the back—Ben was raised in a small town in rural Southeastern Indiana and graduated from Purdue University with a BA in history. Ben is an accomplished veteran who served his country as a cryptologic linguist in the US Army as well as a national security contractor after his honorable discharge. Working with a startup after his service provided Ben with valuable experience in a multitude of leadership roles collaborating with various government and DOD Partners. In 2022, Ben sought the natural beauty and familiar sense of community he experienced as a youth and relocated to Grant where he is currently launching a company that develops children's games designed to cultivate critical thinking and foster teamwork skills in future generations. I have spoken to Ben for a long time about his interest in serving this community and I know that he's been preparing himself by attending meetings and watching recordings of past meetings going back several years. Ben is in fact with us here tonight. In my conversations with Ben, he has shared his passion in preserving the rural heritage of Grant, specifically retaining our standards of 10-acre density, 5-acre lot size, keeping city sewer and water out of Grant, and permitting only what is currently allowed under our zoning and comp plan. I am confident with Ben's passion combined with his professional leadership skills, experience, and ability to follow and lead would make him a great asset to our city council. [25:05] Mayor Huber: Okay, good. We know a little bit about Ben—he's educated, veteran, moved around the country, he's got some experience under his belt. These are the type of people I can see up here making good decisions and using analytical skills. And as a crypto analyst, he should even be able to figure out our packets! Good job, Ben. Looking for a second for Ben Cornett. [25:05] Council Member Tom: No, I just—I want to add, I'll second Ben. Well, I had more questions! [25:05] John Rog: Well, I'm—we'll have questions. I seconded them, you can have your questions. Go ahead. Ben, I've seen you at the meetings up front with the camera and it's great you want to come up here to this volunteer position, so thanks for stepping forward. I personally looked around for some other people that—and there's—I don't really have any. Usually we used past council members maybe to fill in, I know I tried that once years ago and then ended up running again. And then we've had some Planning Commission members and stuff like that, we tried to go that way—Bob Tufty was up here because of that. But it doesn't have to be that way. So, John, what do you—do you have any comments? [25:05] Mayor Huber: John would you like to speak? John had talked to me some before about this. [26:40] John Rog: I don't see anybody else stepping up at this point even though they may be good, they just—they're too busy, they don't have time. Trust me, I tried probably the guy you're thinking of and—too busy, trust me. Try talking them into it, I got a flat no. [26:40] Mayor Huber: Yeah, it's hard getting people to run. So anybody that we can get to run—we were lucky to find Ben with a combination of education, experience, willingness, time to do it. Ben is going to be a good addition and it is never good for this city not to have five people up here. Always better to have five people up here. You have better discussions amongst members as well as not having crazy votes. So with that said, Kim, would you call that question please? We have a motion and a second on the floor for Ben Cornett. [26:40] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Aye. [26:40] Mayor Huber: Congratulations, Ben! You'll be sworn next month. Stick around, I'll take your picture in the Mayor's chair, it'll be great. You're going to remember that the rest of your life. Actually be bored to death—no, just kidding, babe, you're going to like it. It's fun, it's a good group of guys, you're not going to have any issues. It's going to be a lot of fun. So, unfinished business, any Kim? [27:25] Kristina Handt: All right, discussion item: staff updates. I did not put it on the calendar because I wanted to announce it, just a reminder to everybody and whoever is watching or will watch—the July city council meeting is Tuesday, June 25th. And I also believe based on the Knollwood road project, one of your agenda items will be the decision if you're going to bond or not. [28:11] Mayor Huber: Okay, we'll have to have a good talk with Sharon's guys. Hand up—oh sorry, John, go ahead. [28:11] John Rog: Yeah, just go ahead and say something if I'm looking at her. I thought you said it was the 25th was a Tuesday, is that the new—didn't you put that in there for a Tuesday? [28:11] Kristina Handt: Yeah, Tuesday. [28:11] John Rog: I thought you said Thursday. [28:11] Kristina Handt: Tuesday, June 25th. [28:11] Mayor Huber: We got it. Just making sure. I won't look at my phone, I'm sorry, looking at the calendar there for a second. Okay, yeah, real good. We'll have to talk to our treasurer and see what we have for cash and possibly self-bond that, which is always a good thing for the city to do, especially for the residents. So, city council reports, future agenda items? Gentlemen? [28:58] Council Member Tom: I don't have an agenda item. I did give something to Kim, she's going to research and get back to us. And I think it reflects partly on that County—what you just sent today about the county—they're talking about the Highway 96 corridor, so maybe that's what she was talking about. [28:58] Mayor Huber: Yeah, you'll figure it out. Well, for everyone's news, I mean, my meeting is at the county over the Highway 36/Lake Elmo which were numerous. The subject did come up several times of Highway 96 being turned over to the county. [28:58] John Rog: That's already happened. [28:58] Mayor Huber: That's already happened, great! See, right by me. [28:58] John Rog: Yeah, they already put the signs up, so nice. It seems as though Comcast is running lines down, I saw very—a lot of areas—and it seems as though they've got the pipe and then they're going to put in the fiber optic cable. Which means that instead of five meg with CenturyLink, we may have something in the neighborhood of 500 or maybe a gig. [29:43] Mayor Huber: Year 2024! Yeah, what are you going to do when they run out of cable right when they get to your driveway? [29:43] Kristina Handt: Mayor and council members, I'll just remind you that that was grant dollars. You guys designated a lot of your COVID funds to that project. I will also let everybody know we do not have a map yet. No coverage maps yet. [29:43] Mayor Huber: It took us on the cable commission about four years to get this done. I've negotiated one extension in town—I was quite proud of it, it was a mile and a half and I think four or five people signed up. That was a little disappointing after COVID. However, the calls for high-speed cable became quite a bit more strident and loud and I got lots of phone calls. We started really pounding on the state, our legislature, senators, and pushed to get some federal dollars into the state to get this done. We applied for the grant, we were awarded the grant, we needed to buy in at that point. So we took our COVID funds that are somewhat difficult to spend because of federal restrictions and we put $150,000 toward that. That's minimal compared to the cost of this. So it's a good investment for Grant. It's going to make your houses that do not have—like John suffering with dial-up or whatever you have—it's going to make it more valuable. If you can't work at home and your kids are driving you nuts because they can't play video games... John? It's hard. So we're very proud of that accomplishment. We do not have coverage maps yet. They are still mapping as they put this in—they are mapping the limits, the lengths of each what are called optical repeaters. So the lasers that shoot down these lines that actually bring the signal to you on an optical line, they're actually mapping those to see how far they can get. You'd think they would know, but the explanation given to me is that these optical repeaters weaken over time so it changes a little bit. So they're still doing that. Once we have those maps, we'll let you know as soon as possible and then we can start talking about drops to individual residents. [32:03] Kristina Handt: Because you managed all that history, I will just add that this city council—previous—as soon as the lockdown kind of hit and people were working at home and couldn't go to work, you guys approved a cost-share for people to run the cable up their driveways because that's very expensive. Even if the cable was in the roadway, everyone has such typically long driveways here and you guys did a cost-share on that. [32:03] Mayor Huber: I remember that now, that was so long ago that I'd forgotten about it. There is a specific amount of money set aside for those who need assistance in bringing that drop. The cable company comes to the road, they're not going to your house. That drop is considered your responsibility. We did earmark some money for that. [32:50] Kristina Handt: Mayor and council members, I don't believe that this city did—we didn't earmark it. No, you had a time-limit cost-share. So there are no more dollars for cost-share. [32:50] Mayor Huber: Okay, okay. Well, unless we—there's some—if we need to, we'll see if we have other COVID funds to do that. My bad, I'm living in cable glory there. [32:50] Kristina Handt: Well, you just made the phone ring off the hook at the city office! [32:50] Mayor Huber: Well good, you get lonely, I know you do. Who would like to read the community calendar? I'm practically hoarse from all those motions and seconds. [32:50] Council Member Tom: I was going to add one more thing maybe to the next meeting: to talk about the potential tractor parade. [33:37] Mayor Huber: Oh yeah, we probably put that on. I know that I sent something out and maybe Nick needs to take a look at that as well for what was sent. So maybe we can discuss that next meeting. [33:37] John Rog: If that's something on the agenda—has Nick been forwarded this stuff, or did you forward it or did John forward it? [33:37] Kristina Handt: I forwarded to all of you and it was the cost. And it was my understanding that—I maybe misunderstood—but that you wanted to budget for this. [33:37] Mayor Huber: Well I do, but that doesn't mean John wants to. So we could discuss it again, I don't mind. [33:37] John Rog: I will tell you that I will have the same answer: that when we do something like this, it goes under the budget process. So that will be my answer once again. Not that I don't like the idea of it or the practice of it, but budgeting is the way to go on that. [34:22] Kristina Handt: And Mr. Mayor and council members, I will add that Nick did take a look at it and Nick's response was he would hope the city would not do this—there are too many liability issues. [34:22] Council Member Tom: He said what? Say that again? [34:22] Kristina Handt: He would hope the city would not do this, the tractor parade, because there are too many liability issues. [34:22] Council Member Tom: So if we put it on the agenda for next week then we can kind of have a back and forth with him to understand a little bit more what he's saying then? [34:22] Kristina Handt: No, it's just the insurance and liability and people getting hurt. [35:08] Mayor Huber: I would request a memo from Nick. If we have it on the agenda, we certainly can, but the City Attorney is also not saying you can't do it. I understand what he's saying. I wanted you to say it a little louder so I could hear the context and all of it. Let's go ahead—guys, there's no vote! I always want to vote on this. [Laughter] Some people were expecting updates about the dry hydrant. Update—oh gosh, that's right. Everybody remember the dry hydrant? It was a big thing about 10 years ago. Nobody even knows what it is, right? I do. I heard the dry hydrant is actually a what's called a standpipe. It's a standby for emergency water—say, for example, to fight a large grass fire to fight a large house fire that could spread to another house. What it does is it comes in from the shore, goes down into the lake—Man Lake in this case—and there is a floating pickup about 8 feet below the water. So in emergencies, the fire department can pull up, pop a hose on it, suck it into the tank, shuttle it back to the fire. Right now, every structure fire at least that runs out of that initial tanker—1,500 gallons—they start shuttling with tanks. So they have tankers that run back and forth, normally the Mahtomedi High School fill there, come back out. That dry standpipe is there for extreme emergencies if the tankers are unavailable—they're on another fire, they can pull water into that. Now the Mahtomedi fire department goes out and flushes that. As you can imagine, even 8 feet below the water, you get debris in that whether it be leaves, moss, what have you. So they go out with 1,500 gallons of their water in the tank and they backflush it at extreme pressure to blow everything back out of that screen. That is a hard process on that because it's not made to go that way, it's made to go the other way. So they went out and did this about two weeks ago. I talked to Terry and Mahtomedi whose responsibility it is, and Terry has let me know that they're not sure that they have it up to full capacity right now. It should pull at a certain GPM and it may not be pulling at that GPM. So he's sending out the dive team. The dive team goes out in their little zodiac, jumps overboard and checks the connections, retightens it, flushes it out manually. It is a last-ditch defense. I had someone email me and say, "well no, the citizens rely on that." Most citizens don't know it's there. If the citizens are relying on that, we do have bigger problems because those shuttle tankers have taken care of every house fire we've ever had. Again, last-ditch defense, that's what it's for. So dive teams going out and they are going to take a look at it. If it needs to be reflushed, put back together, reinforced, they will take care of it. I have great respect for those Mahtomedi dive team folks, so that should take care of that problem. [37:28] Council Member Tom: Got a comment? Please. I mean, I think the issue is that we heard that they weren't going to ever use it. So if they're not going to use it then I don't know why we have it because it gives a false sense of security. To Jeff's point, I don't know if people know it's there so I'm not disputing that. But and it used to be that the small tanker trucks back in the olden days didn't have the filters, the pressure, you could suck up, you know, turtles, frogs, fish and still shoot it through. But you can't do that with the new equipment and they don't want to ruin their equipment. So that's what I heard. But to Jeff's point, he's right—I'm not sure how many people even know it's there. [37:28] Mayor Huber: I put it in. I was in the water with the dive team, so I've seen the screen that I put into the water. It's about like that. No turtles anymore—just a screen about 5 foot tall and about 20 inches in diameter, but easy to blow off with the back pressure. So it's a last-ditch defense. Trusting in it is akin to—I got to say it—driving down the street in any town America seeing a red fire hydrant, trusting there's water in there that it's going to work. Well, it is a good last-ditch defense if the tanker trucks don't work. Let me keep going here unless somebody else has something else on the dry hydrant—it seems to be quite controversial. No? Good. Cleanup day—you know what, I forgot to talk about this last month. We had a cleanup day about a month and a half ago. This is the city getting together—we advertise it in our newsletter and talk to all of our residents about it. We usually have, gosh, 200-300 cars. Again, the weather was horrible this year, so we probably only had 120, maybe 150 cars. But there we're talking trailers and cars and trucks and the whole thing. So big success. I did cook hot dogs again. You guys missed out on the best hot dog in town! [39:46] Council Member Tom: Cooked them right there in the rain, huh? Bad, burnt? [39:46] Mayor Huber: They weren't burnt, they were good! Yeah, he took over the grill, he did better. I had to go. But anyway, we had a lot of very, very happy residents there and we perform a great service—ditches get cleaned up as well as properties, and that's good for all of us not to have that stuff on folks' properties. And we all have seen, you know, maybe some things that need to get tossed away both in the ditch and on people's property. Great service of the city, I'm real proud of the staff. Kim is always there. Bob Tufty was there. I believe Jerry Helander was there. All our road contractors were there. And Waste Management! [40:32] Kristina Handt: Please thank Vanesa. [40:32] Mayor Huber: Thank you, she's always reminding me of this good stuff. Vanesa was there, and as you know, they are our refuse collector extraordinaire. They do a lot of different things for the city, but this is one of the best. They're out there working all day, their guys are out there in the rain, in the snow, no matter what. And this time, again, cold and rainy and no fun, and they were there the whole time. So Waste Management does a fantastic job and that's probably because of Kim's relationship with them. I really like them and so they always show up. [40:32] Kristina Handt: So it's not because of the burnt hot dogs? [40:32] Mayor Huber: That's not—yeah, you had some good cookies and bars. Yeah, thanks to Brad. I think Brad gave some goodies there. Brad, some fishing lures and stuff? And we also go through our federal permitting, storm water permitting—ms4 permitting. So, cleanup day, dry hydrant, everything's good in the city. There's not too much going on and, gosh, we're just proud to keep it the way Grant is. We all love it just as much as you, of that you can be sure. John, would you do our community calendar so we can get out of here in the rain? [41:20] John Rog: Yes, I—we'd love to get out of here in the rain. Mahtomedi Public Schools board meeting Thursday June 13th and June 27th, Mahtomedi District Education Center at 7:00 PM. Stillwater Public Schools board meeting Thursday June 13th, Stillwater City Hall, 7:00 PM. And Washington County Commissioners meeting Tuesdays at the Government Center at 9:00 AM. [41:44] Mayor Huber: John, thank you very much. Do I have a motion to adjourn, gentlemen? [41:44] Jeff Giefer: Make the motion. [41:44] John Rog: Thank you, Jeff. Second. I'll second it. [41:44] Kristina Handt: Council member Carr? Aye. Council member Rog? Aye. Council member Giefer? Aye. Mayor Huber? Yes. [41:44] Mayor Huber: Thank you Kim. 45 minutes! All right, thanks guys, thank you, that was quick.