There we go. Good evening. Uh, this is the December 17th Cottage Grove City Council meeting, uh, which I'm calling to order. I will just mention real quick that this meeting is being recorded by True Lens Community Media. You can view city meetings live and replay them on cable channel 779. And the meetings are also streamed live and archived on the city of Cottage Grove's YouTube channel. So with that, uh we'll move to um number two, which is the pledge of allegiance. So please rise. >> 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. All right. Will the clerk please do the role? >> Council member Clawson >> here. >> Council member Olsen >> here. >> Council member Theiti >> here. >> Council member Garza. Mayor Bailey >> here. Uh next on our agenda is the adoption uh which is number five. Um is the agenda. >> There we go. So we have a motion by council member Theiti. >> Oh second. >> Second by council member Clawson. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Number six is presentations. We have none this evening. I I feel we're going very fast here. Let's see if the council or the staff has a bet on when we get done. Uh next is um Oh, I skipped open forum, but I apologize. I I I would Well, no one has signed up. I'm sorry. Uh no one did sign up for open forum, but maybe one of the council members wives would like to speak during open forum. Maybe chastise her husband. No. Okay. Okay. Well, then I'll go ahead and close open forum. Uh, and then we'll move on down to the consent agenda. Is there anything council would like to pull on consent? >> Nothing at all. All right. Seeing nothing being pulled uh for separate discussion on consent, I'll look for a motion to approve. >> I move to approve the consent agenda. >> All right. So, we have a motion uh by council member Clawson this time, second by council member. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I opposed. Motion carries. So, if you happen to be at home watching and you had something on tonight's uh consent agenda, all of those items have been approved. Uh we'll move to eight, which is approved dispersement. 8A is to pay the bills. >> Move the bills. >> We have a motion by council member Olsen. >> Second. >> Second by council member Theiti. Any further discussion? Again, seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Uh we're at nine public hearings. There is none tonight. 10 bid awards. There are none tonight. On our regular agenda, we do have one item which is my commission and committee appointments for 2026. Um I did send it out, but just I guess for the public, um I'll just mention uh what I do is I usually uh well not usually I do ask each of the council members, give me your ideas of uh what you'd really be passionate about or whatever. And then I try to balance it a little bit uh with regards to having uh so many different council members and different groups making a few switches. Um and so I'll just read through the list here just so everybody's aware of uh the liaison uh for the different uh commissions and committees for 2026. So mayor prom for uh uh for for 2026 will be council member Olsen. Uh beyond the yellow ribbon uh is council member Olsen. Um, the Cottageg Grove Chamber, I'm just going to go ahead and stay on that. Um, I think that's kind of fun. I like doing that with them. Uh, the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau, uh, is Council Member Olsen. Uh, East Metro Strong is Council Member Clawson. Uh, Economic Development Authority is myself, uh, as president and Council Member Olsen as vice president. Great River Rail Commission is Council Member Garza. The Historic Preservation Advisory Committee is Council Member Theiti. The holiday train committee will be myself. Uh the investment committee will be council member Clawson and council member Olsen. The parks, recreation, and natural resources commission will be council member Theiti. Planning Commission will be council member Olsen. Uh public services commission will be uh council member Clawson. The Red Rock Corridor Commission will be council member Garza. The South Washington County Telecommunications Commission will remain with Council Member Theiti with the alternate alternate council member if needed will be uh uh Council Member Clawson. Uh South C South Washington County wershed district is council member Clawson. And then the Strawberry Fist Committee, though he's pretty much active with that anyway, but uh is Council Member The So from a city represent representative, he'll still be on there, though I think he's still going to be the >> treasurer this coming year. >> I'm still playing treasure. Yeah. >> Yep. And then uh council member Clawson is also part of that. So if there's any needs for other things, you can have him join you. So that's who um I have. I don't think I missed any groups or commissions. I don't believe so. At this point, I'll look for a motion to approve and second u my selections for 2026. >> Move to approve. >> All right. So I have a motion by Council Member Olsen. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Council Member Clawson. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Uh 12 is council comments or request. I will start. He's probably going, "My gosh, we went right through that." So, council member Clawson, nothing on my list tonight, mayor. Thank you. All right, sounds good. Uh now, we'll move to uh Council Member Olsen. >> Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple items this evening that I'd like to share. Uh first and foremost, I want to take a moment to honor one of our uh public safety team members who is looking at a retirement here at the end of the month. Uh Terry Raymond, who is one of our uh outstanding detectives uh in the Cottage Grove Police Department, has decided that December 31st, 2025 will be his last day working with the city. And uh I want to just make mention of the fact that, you know, Terry's been with us from uh February 2003 up through uh the current year. So, he's been a long-term performer with the city who's done a variety of different jobs. Uh, not only was he a uh patrol officer, but he also did some use of force training at one time. I know he did um uh traffic stop training as well. I actually got to observe him uh do that when the training was done out at the 3M track and uh he was very very good at that. Um but I think his real source of pride and something that I know he aspired to do for quite some time was forensics uh specifically um you know working with uh you know computer forensics, cell phones, electronics, those kinds of things. Um Terry really specialized uh in a relentless pursuit of justice and victim advocacy. That was really his passion and remains his passion. uh in addition to working on cyber crimes. So again, I just want to honor Terry uh and say thank you for being a long-term guardian of our community. We very much appreciate your exceptional service and your commitment to all of the residents of the city of Cottage Grove and South Washington County and we wish you well in retirement. And the second thing I wanted to mention tonight is um something that maybe is uh not as prevalent in the conversation as it needs to be at times and that is specifically related to the holiday season. Uh we all love to celebrate and get together and uh have fun events and do things like that, but it can be a really hard time for people too. Um, this is one of those times a year when uh people can be very hard on themselves. Uh, maybe they're missing a a loved one or a family member. Um, and it can send people into um, you know, some sometimes depression, uh, often times anxiety and really put them in a position where they're just not themselves. So, uh, I want to just ask people who are watching at home to, you know, keep an eye out for your friends and your family members and and really listen and try to understand that, um, there are some people who, as much as they want to celebrate, um, you know, they they find this to be maybe a darker time for their mental health and often times they'll resort to things like drugs and alcohol or or, um, other self- medications. So, um, let's try to help those around us and make sure that they understand that they've got friends, they've got family members, they've got people in the, uh, community who care about them. And for those who maybe, you know, don't feel like they have anywhere to turn, there's always somewhere to turn. And if you're really feeling down, um, there's a 247 365 uh, hotline staffed with mental health professionals that you can call any time of year. That number is 1-866-903787 and that is the National Mental Health Hotline. As I said earlier, it's available to you 24/7 365. But, uh, please reach out. Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt a family member. Don't feel like you're alone because you're not. Help is available. And with that, mayor, I'll turn it back to you. >> All right. Thank you, Council Member Rosen. Council member Thei. >> All right. Well, just do want to say that uh uh you know, we as we as we think and and we feel our the rain tonight and the 40° temperatures and so forth. Unfortunately, the holiday train came by when it was and I imagine you're going to talk more about that, but but uh it was quite quite cold and uh but just to let everybody know is is that the cable commission did actually record the whole thing and uh you know, so you can either go to the the cable the cable uh um website and and view it. Um, we actually I actually automatically recorded it, too. So, I've got it recorded, but uh so uh it was a a good good show and and uh and so forth. And I think you'll probably talk a little bit more about the dollars raised and how people can can still donate and so forth and and uh and all those people that uh that need little help with with food and things like that this uh this year. with the uh also I guess uh the if you want to again Strawberry Fest uh our next meeting is is the 6th of January and uh it's it's over at uh um Carbonies and uh at 6:00 in the evening. So if you want to participate, come on by. And then I just want to wish everyone uh a merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a prosperous and happy new year. >> All right. Thank you, Council Member uh Thei. So uh and I hope I'm not going to put him on the spot too much here. I don't know. Pete, do you want do you know what the latest number is? >> Last I heard it was over 150. >> Okay, that's the last one I heard. So So for the public, um and thank you for uh segueing into that. Um, you know, our community just is amazing and and council member Bros was commenting about, you know, people that are maybe are going through some, you know, life crisises or mental health issues or whatever. Uh, and you know what he didn't also tell you is I know I think it was about a was it not this weekend and two weekends ago, the Lions Club actually did a whole bunch of uh went to Target I believe and purchased Saturday. >> Yeah, last Saturday. So, what was this last week? An act was two weeks and beyond the yellow ribbon. >> Uh both went and bought a bunch of toys and things for um uh children and and families that are in need during this holiday season. >> Kids and about uh 40 sets of parents. >> Yeah, there you go. So, you see, that's what I'm saying. He didn't talk about that. I was expecting Tim to bring that up, but the holiday train of course uh supports the Friends in Need Food Shelf. And um I am fortunate enough to be able to ride on the train and also talk to some of the the the people that are consistently with the train year after year after year. And they are so amazed by uh the group uh when they see coming into Cottage Grove with what everything from the glow sticks to frankly when we told everybody, hey, you probably don't want to come out because it's like really really cold. and we pull in and there's uh I think they said about just shy of 2,000 I think is what I heard. Uh people still brave the elements to come out and and see the train uh which is which is amazing. And the holiday train CPKC uh rail uh did present uh the food shelf with a $10,000 check uh which I thought was uh amazing too. So they love the stop in Cottage Grove and they um they are amazed at the amount of money that um our community uh raises. So, I think if I heard right, the original amount that they were looking uh for was about 130,000 if I and that went up from 90. I think they've been at 90. >> Yeah. And so, uh the latest I heard, I believe before the train. It was actually on the train by somebody uh from the Friends of Need Food Shelf was 156,000. Uh and that was before the $10,000 check and so on. So, I just want to say thank you to the public uh for your generosity and your support of those that are in need in our community. And you're still uh welcome to uh provide funding or provide uh preferably they like um paper or health care uh health products, healthcare products uh that to be donated to the friends in need food shelf. And if you needed to find out, you know, how do I do that or where do I go? I'm certain I'll just throw it out there. I think all of us council members up here, even if you contacted the city or myself, um we'd make sure that uh it we'd get you we'd get you to the right people to be able to continue to do that. But uh again, thank you. Um now, it is interesting this year our uh we had our hometown holiday celebration, which frankly had more people than I thought too. It was flipping cold that night. And then we follow it up with the holiday train. That's very cold. And you mentioned it's like 40 degrees out there today. But but the fact of the matter is um people love this time of year. Um people do have challenges this time of year. But I want to thank the the citizens of Kroma. I want to thank our staff uh for an amazing uh 2025 since I guess technically this will be uh the end of it for for until 26. Um and thank you to the public for uh believing in the community, believing in uh what we're doing and continuing to grow and prosper. Last thing I'll just mention is our uh staff members and the council and their spouses, council members and and mayor and spouses are going to be uh joining together down at River Oaks uh golf course for a little uh u holiday social uh after the council meeting is done here. So just letting the public officially know that. Uh and uh no actual business or anything is going to get done down there. So I just if the only business is eating and having a good time. So, uh, so with that, I want to wish everybody a merry Christmas, uh, to the rest of my council members as well as to the public and a very prosperous new year. And, uh, being that we have no workshops open to the public or workshops closed to the public, I'll look for a motion to adjourn 2025. >> Move to adjourn 2025. >> There we go. So, we have a motion by council member Thei. Who wants a second? >> I'll second that. >> Second by council member Mclawson. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Merry Christmas everyone.