This transcript features a town hall meeting involving the Birchwood Village City Council. Based on the context provided and the dialogue within the recording, here is the attributed transcript. **Speakers identified:** * **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault** (Presiding) * **Becky** (City Administrator/Clerk - *referred to as Rebecca/Becky throughout*) * **Ryan Hankins** (Councilmember - *vocal on budget and policy*) * **Ryan Eisele** (Councilmember - *identified by conflict of interest at [18:16]*) * **Kathy Weier** (Councilmember - *Parks liaison*) * **Bridget Sperl** (Councilmember) * **Alan** (City Attorney) * **Cable Commission Representative** (External presenter) * **Dustin** (Representative for Monami Soccer Board) * **Barton Winters** (Resident) *** [0:00] **Cable Commission Representative:** ...number of people using cable because we've got so many trees um yeah thises don't work so um I wanted to point out these are the things we do we all also part of the community of birwood Delwood Grant midi Lake Elmo Oakdale Whitebear Lake Whitebear Township and willany so it's a large we're grouping together and who we're dealing with is Comcast which is Monopoly um we try and do we do do our best to um kind of be the buffer between the citizens of birtu and Comcast which is a tough thing to do but one thing small thing we did when we renewed our contract there's not exfinity store uh close by I suppose before it was at [0:47] **Cable Commission Representative:** Rose so what have we also have we done uh looked at the record's 2022 audit we gave almost $55,000 to Birchwood and in 24 we gave $4,500 to birwood and another $1,700 which pays for the TVs on the all the cable caster and things like that so what else Lisa do we want to say we got a new band this year so that's uh from the old truck that was like 20 years old so that's a brand new purchase and with the highest equipment like the highest micone that mic we have new van this year and um so that it's like a Ford Transit van it's all decked out with the gear inside so they can go to the baseball game or to the parade or whatever and stream live and uh so [1:33] **Cable Commission Representative:** that's new and they also just renovated their offices on County Road F and uh they're real nice so they had an open house there I I don't know if anybody got to it or not but uh okay good I missed you there yeah very good so um so yeah they're coming along and um they're doing a good job I think so we encourage you anyone who's watching just to go on the cable commission we're the closest one to the cable mission FN belir so please come stop by you have any questions I left how to get a hold of the cable Commission on the handout my phone number contact information and leases full number so thank you very much thank you thank you guys for your service yeah thank you so much is there anybody else that would like to [2:21] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** speak okay seeing no one um the public forum is closed um Rebecca would you like to do announcements sure okay so um announcement a the city council will hold its next workshop on Monday January 27th at 7 p.m. [2:40] **Becky (Administrator):** announcement B 2025 council meeting schedule is available on the website and the notice boards you also have a copy it's the green one great okay thank you you're welcome um the next item on our agenda is City business um the consent agenda um can I get a motion to pass the consent agenda questions I'd like to pull two things out please okay like to pull out item a the December treasurers report and item 8 the city planner contract does anyone else have anything they'd like to discuss further any other [3:27] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** items okay can I get a motion to pass the consent agenda um taking out a and H so moved second henkins I'll second Kathy thank you all in favor I motion passes okay treasur report Ryan yeah I have a a handful of questions and comments about the Treasure's report unfortunately I lost my highlighting so oh um yeah there's a couple of these things on there um one is on the very bottom of agenda page8 and it's supplies for ash path fencing mhm and I won't go find it in [4:15] **Ryan Hankins:** here but there's another one I think somewhere for 1999 relating to Ash path um the the question I have is I I I think we should probably charge Ash path to the special Revenue fund don't you think oh I would think so yeah um and my suggestion would be that we rather than trying to recategorize these categorize these items Becky could we just have a resolution next month to transfer the amount of the money spent on the ash paath fence from the special Revenue fund to the general fund is it also something we know that um Jim Ry and Ron by the way they [5:01] **Ryan Hankins:** did a great job on that fence um a couple times um it do we know how many hours they spent what they build on that fence I know we calculated it for some unfortunate reasons um could we also kind of add into that money we transferring the amount of their pay so that we take both the labor and the parts out of the main or the labor should not come out of the special Revenue it's for materials the special revenue is only materials yeah it's not supposed to be Park labor it's not supposed to be maintenance let's double check on that okay okay you might be right I think it's for materials and other but if it's only materials okay [5:47] **Becky (Administrator):** then we then we need to check I would like to know how how much time that took because um we've done the one side I suggesting we do the other yeah let's just let's look into that not resolve that all right now so so um I mean unless you want to but um then the next so I'm sorry I just want to document what what is my followup on this one um to bring a resolution to the Council next month with the cost for the fence okay at Ash paath to transfer from the special Revenue Parks fund to the um to the general fund and then I'll have to determine um what whether it's just uh um labor whether it's labor or [6:35] **Becky (Administrator):** whether we can I don't know about that the survey one probably shouldn't go to that because that one is not specific to park related items it's a survey but the one that is well it sounds like you guys need to decide because I think we have to look at the city code yeah it should be materials and maintenance but typically not actual labor for that unless it's been appr specifically for that yeah let's I don't know that either and I don't want to it's not worth debating a factual matter it we'll just figure out what the right answer is between the between meetings here so you and then do you have that down Becky I have one more thing I'd like to ask about in the treasur report okay and [7:22] **Ryan Hankins:** that's on page 10 of the city council agenda um it's uh check 33240 it says clean lift station 3 add new um conduit for new antenna antenna cable and grounding protection um and charges in the amount of $428 66 cents I was just wondering if you could give a little background of um that work and what the authorization process was that that um resulted in that being approved can you repeat the uh the description it's yeah so it's in the middle of page 10 it's clean [8:08] **Ryan Hankins:** LS at sign and three add new conduit for new antenna cable and grounding protection it just 4,000 seems like a lot um for something that's just kind of all of a sudden showing up as as spending I was just kind of wondering what that was and how how you authorized that um I don't know that I did let me see page 10 I have page 10 33240 33 add new conduit for new intenna cable and grounding protection um I'll have to check on this for us Ryan okay I think we might just [8:53] **Becky (Administrator):** need to look at our process there a little bit so well I don't know that I was ever aware of this this charge it was never raised as something that needs approval um sometimes yeah unless unless let me don't don't um let me double check on that okay I mean if I I know I did not approve any $4,000 expense that wasn't included in in like unless it was like business that's kind of concerning right yeah okay well why don't we just take a note to follow up on that okay 12 two of 24 I mean doesn't ring a bell but again doesn't there's a lot of things going on so it doesn't mean it didn't happen Okay well that let's follow up on that but okay it just [9:41] **Ryan Hankins:** seem seems like that's worth following up on so with that I'll move to approve the uh treasur report can I have a second I have a comment or a question on one of them as well okay on page 11 there is one that se M 2023 lift station lift reconstruction design and project engineering for Bolton and mink is that one because it's a 2023 I was curious as to why it was showing up now or if that's uh because I know they still owe us their bill for the um help with the lift station right now so I was curious on this one um I don't know why it says 2020 23 [10:29] **Kathy Weier:** on there okay entry yeah and maybe she did a title there I find out cuz I would have thought it be yeah after that so let me do three but that was the only one I had was that additional question and i' move to approve or you already moved move you give it a second if you want so you can get the next motion all in favor of approving the who was seconded I'm seconding he he had moved initially Ryan henkins okay any other discussion okay all in favor of approving the treasurers report [11:16] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I motion passes all right um next up is um let's see hi Schmidt or you want to do the planner contract next yes Wade did you want to speak hi my name is Dustin I'm a grant resident Wade is uh Wade is on business today okay he is out of town I'm here to represent him and I've worked with him to an extent on the project but uh Dustin Cresent on the Monami soccer board and uh my understanding is that wait I'm sorry I don't mean to I don't mean to J but I think we forgot got to do the just it's waitting it's still there [12:04] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** we'll do it after oh okay okay I'm sorry I was I'm in the wrong order here because we're getting a guest out of here think oh I go ahead sorry thank you I apologize for the interruption three boys at home with my wife I appreciate yes so yeah so I just wanted to make sure that uh we are aligned on the contract looks like Wade has done a lot of great work he'd already done some site visits um there are a couple of questions that I had in regards to maybe preference from the city uh one of them being method of payment and then I think that uh the last document that I saw had a payment date that was missing with the uh initial start date of usage of the field on May 1st so uh just want to get Wheels in Motion on on that in regards [12:50] **Dustin (Soccer Board):** to how you would like to be paid and go from there um what's the procedure on that Becky for getting paid um well do we have the are we signing the contract I think it's there there are some uh aspects of the contract that were left blank potentially for discussion still so when it comes to the the dates we had documented that but the date of payment was still left blank right it's a placeholder for correct y so just wanted to make sure that we're aligned when it comes to next steps regarding that should we look at that really quick then sorry you guys well Becky what was the dollar amount negoti or who negotiated [13:36] **Dustin (Soccer Board):** the dollar amount on this I see $2,000 for the season is that nothing was negotiated yet so they had just met and said that okay they were interested in um making the agreement and then um you guys were going to work on it when it came to you and so um I think you need to look at the contract and approve the contract and then we can talk about processing payments but first and foremost let's sign the contract otherwise we don't need to worry about the other Stu well my question is there's there's a rental fee for $2,000 and I want to know where that number came from if is that a normal price for renting a field I guess for for me it's like okay the field hasn't been used forever I'd rather have [14:22] **Ryan Eisele:** some I'd rather let them use it and have some sort of voluntary or have the kids volunteer in the community I don't I don't care um so the reason we picked 2,000 is to cover the mowing cost they were covering that as well which I believe this does cover all of our mowing costs is that correct say that again the the 2,000 was to help covering the mowing costs which initially they had offered to do the Mowing and then also the striping and and everything for that I don't know where the $22,000 no no I I I know that portion oh you're saying I'm asking if the $2,000 would cover what we hired mowers for last year because we had done True Green uh was that right True Green mowing company that we hired or [15:09] **Kathy Weier:** contracted with to do our our Parks so I'm just wanted to confirm before we approve the amount that $2,000 actually will cover that mowing fee that we have which is primarily the have to look at that and see what the fees are okay so I I would like to request that the city looks into what the mowing fee will be for the upcoming summer for our parks to cover that um and then as far as that $2,000 fee it was suggested by their their group so if that amount does cover it um I am good with that amount personally okay so if it's a wash basically yeah it's a we do have that Park um with the parks committee is going to be renovated and I don't [15:56] **Kathy Weier:** believe we will have an issue with the timing at all because we're not doing the top of the field itself so there shouldn't be any issue with that um so that was one of the things that I wanted to point out because we are taking care of some water issues in that park at the moment and then also on number three on page 95 um where it says spring uh Feast structure it says spring SL summary and that should be summer um for this do we need to spend time to change that well if we're making correct or adjustments I figure might as well put it all in um and then as far as the payment receipt date I'd love to have it the month before they plan on doing that so that we can get the mowing paid for beforehand and have it [16:43] **Kathy Weier:** ready um and I don't know if you wanted to do monthly payments through that time frame I'm okay with either way my assumption would be that it'd be a one-time payment that's fine painful so you're suggesting April 1 then yeah to have that so we can make the contract for mowing and get it ready for them so they have time to stripe yeah but otherwise I'm perfectly good with all that I think it's great that we're going to be using the field uh for kids to play soccer just a question do we need to post this or tell people that the is being rented we'd probably have to put out a sign that says it's uh in use or reserved for time frame yeah right MH and then I don't believe hours were [17:30] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** mentioned on here as far as like how many days a week or anything like that was listed so do you guys have a schedule as far as we we do have a a spring schedule as well as a fall schedule uh those likely have not been created yet because we're still looking at registration numbers so when it comes to the schedule we can provide that as well you know if it's every day for two to three hours or is it um once a week kind of thing do you remember what it would be for other ones I have a board meeting uh on the 16th and I can bring that question up and and try to get some historical precedence for how often other fields have been used just be nice to be able to post it on our website great okay otherwise I'm I'm good with everything I don't know if anyone else [18:16] **Dustin (Soccer Board):** had any comments otherwise Ryan I'm abstaining because I have a conflict on this okay other Ryan yeah I I just want to know where the $22,000 is coming from I just want to keep it as the the cost as minimal as possible to you guys to be honest I think that it's it's a park that I don't a big space I don't see being used very often so I would like to see it being used so that's it so whatever the mowing cost is I mean I'm okay with that for historical context we we do rent a field currently in Hugo um and the commute is pretty extensive for our families upwards of you know 20 to 25 minutes just to get up to hanil so the thought was to likely [19:03] **Dustin (Soccer Board):** look at some of the rental agreements we have with hanil and try our best to you know in good faith have something similar here so um there was one additional question I had and I believe that there were a couple different methods of payment listed so I would want to just confirm that if you want to check let me know if we want to do some sort of EFT process let me know but um we would just want to which is easa on that as well we can connect on that we get there thanks and forgive me if you've already answered this question before but parents aren't allowed right they're just strictly dropping off and then coming back to pick the kids up for that age group it's almost always a drop off type of [19:49] **Dustin (Soccer Board):** situation so do we want to take a vote on this with the condition that the mowing costs are covered in the rental fee and move forward or do you want to push this till next month what do you guys want to do I think we want to understand ours I think we want to also say that we want it communicated so if we can incorporate that into this fine we could we could vote on it now but I think that should be specified understand hours and what was the second thing Bridget commun communication will be I don't think a lot of soccer is going on in February so I think it's okay to wait another month okay we we are okay Waiting by all means yeah all right on the ground but yep thank you [20:34] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** for anything else needed for me at all I don't have so thank you so [20:54] **Dustin (Soccer Board):** much might be up [21:08] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** sorry thank you thanks for coming thanks sorry about that Becky oh what we go we're going to go back to the consent agenda now I just happened to see him sitting there and I thought oh let's maybe get him out of here so um I'm sorry Ryan go ahead with your um what was was it the planners agenda H yep yeah planner contract so yeah so there was quite a bit of going around on this and I only actually got the updated edits to this contract this afternoon um can I just give a preface to this yeah abely so I handed you guys have a packet a mini packet um which has three separate issues or three [21:55] **Becky (Administrator):** separate um sections to it so we have a new contract and then the exhibit a updated so these two go together and then the original signed contract is the third one so these are um from Ben and he wasn't sure I guess if you guys were going to approve changes to the new contract or if you are going to approve changes to the old contract so he gave me both copies of both so you guys get to decide if you want the old version or new or the new version he said it doesn't matter to him works well how dides it work sorry that's not a that's not a [22:40] **Becky (Administrator):** shot at you Becky sorry what we what we need is um this this was kind of a frustrating thing this week but there is an existing obviously an existing contract in place with the with the planner Ben wants some fees adjusted there he wants specifically he wants a race and so in order to to get that raise um he wants to make some modifications to the contract the contract that was in the agenda was um marked up but was not the one that the council had originally approved so we went through and got a marked up version that was I guess the one that the council approved I haven't actually looked to see if it [23:28] **Ryan Hankins:** appears to be the one the actual the council actually approved but we only got this a couple hours ago so I haven't had much chance to look at it the other question I have is our budgets when when we hired Ben we basically offered him a little less than he wanted we off I think he wanted $24,000 a year he wanted 20 uh he wanted 20 2,000 a month which is 24,000 a year year we asked him to come down a little bit he came down to 1,600 and we budgeted $5,000 for his Services now that 1,600 that he came up with that came comes up to 19,200 a year and we had hoped to recoup some of those [24:16] **Ryan Hankins:** funds through basically taking money in through the city in some way and so what we ended up doing was having Ben bill out hours and then that money would come into the City and and then that would reimburse some of his cost so we were hoping to compensate for $13,200 of that 19200 so our budget for Ben was only I think $5,000 and so now what's going on here is Ben wants a raise and so he wants those funds to the city to come that are being built out for his hours to Residents to come directly to him in addition to the $19,200 that he's being [25:02] **Ryan Hankins:** paid and so that's a pretty significant change in our budget and I do think we probably need to work something with Ben um I asked Becky for some numbers on the uh We've we've been doing this billing arrangement with Ben for the past six months here I asked Becky for some numbers on how many hours he's buil out my guess is you just got back from vacation and you haven't quite gotten to that Becky um forwarded you an email from theres when when did you forward it just it was yesterday or maybe it's in my drafts and I never hit send yet CU I haven't gotten anything and I really feel like before we move forward on this I think we've kind of done bed disservice we haven't done a great job of kind of moving this forward with him but I do think that I just haven't had [25:48] **Ryan Hankins:** enough time to look at it and I think we kind of need to analyze the data and see how many hours he's worked over the past six months that have been built out before we really before I can tell you at the top of my head that it's one one um I think I want to say it's Jason tell but I could be wrong about that there's there's only one instance of that's what I found when I looked through budgets was that there was Ben had build out only one set of hours and it $750 let me see if I can find the and that was really concerning to me because I think because if that's the case if that's the only billing that has done there's something very wrong with the situation here with our where we're [26:34] **Ryan Hankins:** not billing anything out to Residence so which is is this where we want to spend our time it sounds like there's a whole bunch of questions T and then sort of and everything else I agree I'm trying to trying to make the case that we need to table it here Bridget you're right it sounds like there's more work to do and we can't approve it yet I think there's more work to do yep and let's just yeah just didn't want people to like think that I was delaying this for some unreasonable thing but I'm I'm I agree with you and I I'll be happy to look into it a little bit myself for with ever whoever wants to in between Council meetings here if that's okay with everybody so and I don't know if anybody I heard Ben was on his way over if somebody wants to let him know that maybe we're just going to table this for [27:19] **Bridget Sperl:** now I'll be happy to if there were questions that he could answer to get this behind us tonight um I told him that I would give him a call and it up while it was being discussed and we could table it and handle it later but it sounds like it might be a little more deeper conversation I I think I need to touch base with Ben on this too but I'll do that over the phone because I need to find out if he's really only Built that one thing and he might need to be in front of a machine to look at his Billings and his hours to do that effectively so yep and there's no harm in tbling it honestly so you you got the highlights that he wants changed it's really just adding that pass through billing for excessive time that he considers to be extra Bill time so so I will move to move this to reconsideration next month I just table [28:04] **Ryan Hankins:** it till table it till next month action that's a motion Madam mayor is that a motion to approve the consent agenda with that moved out till next month I think we already approved the consent agenda I think we're just tabling item H yeah that's your motion month date certain henkins will look at that in the meantime a little bit I'll so what's that Bridget second Bridget seconds okay all in favor I motion passes we'll see you next month so round to B correct and City business correct okay second reading of ordinance 20242 these scheduled changes for sewer [28:52] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** and utility fee changes any comment or discussion oh let me open public hearing is there anybody here that would like to speak on the ordinance seeing none I'll close the public hearing does anybody have um any conversation you'd like to have about this ordinance well this conversation might have happened in previous meetings but when I was looking at this my question was why is it increasing so if a resident of birwood why I I didn't see the answer here and um then it's a fairly substantial increase if I did my math right it's [29:37] **Bridget Sperl:** about 12% no so that's kind of a big deal and um it seems like we should be communicating this so that people understand it so those are my comments well I watched the meeting last month and it had I was here Shelly I'm sorry I don't remember her name name from St Anthony's Village Rucker Rucker she was here explaining that those increases I believe came out of Whitebear Lake right so they ra their rates it's just passed through to us so we don't really have an option for the water and sewers Inc creases no those those were actually to cover the lift station the 20,000 or the wasn't that one just there's the one lift [30:23] **Kathy Weier:** station down at the bottom it's the increases of the residential use uh residential use amounts that are the 0430 ETC but even if it's a pass through we should understand from White Bear Lake what's driving it well there is a bunch of information that Shelly had in the packet when it was brought up for the first reading okay um I'd recommend watching the last meeting because she went through Point by Point as far as um what all of the fees were that were going to be cover there was oh man there was there was a lot things and it's all on the agenda packet from last month she did a really nice job so thank you um and then I was [31:10] **Bridget Sperl:** also going to add something that I forgot I have a couple remarks but if you remember um I don't want to interrupt but I I would suggest I the the way this ordinance is in the packet it's retroactive to December 3 that was it Ryan and I'm I know a couple of us went around and around an email and I'm sort of pretty uncomfortable charging retroactive fees to Residents it sounded like Allen said it's not that much money and you probably won't get in trouble but it probably is better not to do it was kind of my understanding of and we pushed out another version of that that actually has yeah we did but this seems to be the old version so I would just make two let me make my modification [31:57] **Ryan Hankins:** separately I would say make section two of this say this ordinance becomes effective on March 1st 2025 I think my edited version has that that has that right changed all the dates in the schedule and then so if you want to just memorialize it and we'll make those edits before it gets public I I yep I go ahead I'm sorry and then I have one more modification here one second um a question so after we say this ordinance becomes effective on March 1st 2025 we have passed on second passed on by second reading um by the city council of the city of birwood Village Minnesota this 14th day of January should 2025 2025 [32:46] **Becky (Administrator):** right okay catch that was my change all right good deal when I said you has all Chang okay and then I want to make another suggestion here which is this lift station replacement fee we had that's $14.5 over 44 so that's a total of roughly $60 I would suggest since we're going to do that I would suggest doing that over 34 at $20 a quarter since we're missing the First Billing this year which is also $60 so I would suggest we change the lift station replacement fee from 145 and just make it around $20 unless somebody disagrees with doing [33:32] **Ryan Hankins:** it that way keep it on there for 34 RCT it's the same total we're going to round it to the nearest dollar and sure and if you know that's just my suggestion to kind of square things up which one are we talking about Ryan the last the very very last item the list station it's the first one on the second page okay lift station replacement fee to to just make it and then we'll when we update the fee schedule and three quarters will take that off of there is this going to come as a surprise to Residents I think we need to I think Bridget what you're talking about I agree with you we need to make it really clear to people what we're doing here we need to give people an explanation in the newsletter okay can [34:18] **Ryan Hankins:** we do it in the bill they on the bill well the newsletter comes with the bill we can put it you mean print it on the bill itself do you want to follow up with Becky and see if we can do that sure okay well I mean I mean I think we should probably do both Facebook website newsletter you and anything you got once once we pass it yeah we need to agree because otherwise I mean I don't think people are going to be happy but I think they'll understand just like they understood the tax hikes for the station down there right yeah agreed and then we'll make sure in the newsl I I currently do the newsletter if someone else really wants to do it I'm totally okay with that but um with the [35:03] **Kathy Weier:** current newsletter I'll make sure that we put it in that it's for the next three quarters so it's a temporary fee as opposed to an ongoing for specifically that lift station unfortunately the cost increase per gallon Etc that's going forward basically so okay great any other comments okay can I get a motion to approve ordinance 202 24-12 d01 should that be 2025 oh 25 it sure should although it's 121 is that actually for last that's the was the first reading right okay yeah so it would stay that number stay is that okay this is a second reading of that that one okay then all good makes I will I [35:49] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** will move to uh pass with the change of uh $20 for the lift station in over 3/4 in instead of four quarters and then not doing retroactive billing so that it starts uh March of 2025 and then updating section two um pass the date to change that to 2025 can I have a second second all in favor all motion passes um we take I need to use the restroom okay sorry do you want to take a break 5 minute recess I'm going to go you guys can all right 5 minute recess she takes [36:34] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** our notes we should pause [Music] [41:14] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** if I'm tuned out for a few minutes while we do other things to be just okay um we're back on so we're going to scoot down to letter F on the agenda um Kathy would you like to begin yes uh we had some board Replacements that Barton Winters helped us with this last January [42:00] **Kathy Weier:** that had been approved on the city council meeting in January of 2024 uh that he did not submit receipts for but he did do some more board replacement for us in November of 2024 as well on the hockey rink um and with that we are uh looking to reimburse him for half of the cost he also updated the amount that he was donating over the January and the November board Replacements that he had done um so f is a resolution for approving the acceptance of his gift which we need to do for the half of the amount that he had replaced which the total cost [42:45] **Kathy Weier:** for oh did I write it down 460 um yes that's uh the total cost was me math quick I'd like to make a comment on this one when there's a moment please uh the total cost of board Replacements in January of last year and also November of last year 2024 was $1,120 um from that the parks committee had um requested the city council approved that um Barton had moved forward with getting those boards replaced so they would be done prior to the flooding we are planning on reviewing in the Parks committee boards [43:32] **Kathy Weier:** and park materials uh areas probably in August next year to make sure that we get everything done and approved through the city council because it's a slow moving Cog um in August so that we can then have that ready to go before snow flies in November Andor December so that is the plan for next year for sure but I would like to reimburse Barton and um accept the gift from him back in January we approved a $100 uh gift from him and then it was $160 that the city council had approved so the remaining amounts that are listed in the um documents on page 127 and 128 are for the remaining amount that is $460 to cover Barton's [44:18] **Kathy Weier:** half of the gift that he was offering which is a total of 560 with the previous January um item that we had passed and then the total for the city of uh to offer would be 400 because we had previously approved $160 so just to make that perfectly clear next time everything will be done perfectly after wow um at least you can listen to it again and try and figure it out when you're watching but I do have all the receipts and broken down by every single um trip item um Dex screws Etc whatever we have in here is in the receipts that the city does have a copy of now okay thank you [45:04] **Kathy Weier:** Kathy um Barton did you have anything to add to that should I go up there [45:16] **Barton Winters:** sure Barton winter 15 Oaks land Birchwood and I just want to clarify that it looked in there that they talked about five boards being replaced the city covering five boards and I um the total number of boards that I've replaced I replaced six last January 2024 and then I replaced 17 of varying lengths um November of 20124 yes thank you for mentioning that I had uh we do need to update that in the gift and the um document initially we were going to replace by Boards and then there were more to do so that would be on that's all I have um be 17 you know if you if you want more dialogue you know we we've had a [46:03] **Barton Winters:** number of decaying boards and the ones that I replac were the ones that I assessed were the worst and there's a there's some more there that um and I just want to say that we discussed this in the Parks committee about uh the Fasteners the um the bolts that are holding the the boards in place are deteriorating they're not stainless steel uh except for some of the ones all of the one deck screws that I used I would say on the top Rail and you can see the top baril that I replaced Which is closest to the warming house and they're they're standless seal but the other ones are not they're deteriorating sometimes they break off so it's a a maintenance issue probably that uh we want to look at more closely we really [46:49] **Barton Winters:** appreciate your donations and I think Kathy already mentioned the parks committee is going to take that up this summer so and I do like the wooden boards they're nice they are nice so thank you so much for your work Barton we really appreciate it you know thank you Barton and I do I really I've heard a lot of good feedback about the rank this this year from people um I do just want to make a comment so I didn't quite follow it sounds like the boards are already installed they have been yes they have been installed and did you say um we got a little behind the curve on yeah so we had intended to uh there's a couple issues with the the rink that we had started we thought early enough turns out it wasn't early enough such as adding a um a back stop [47:38] **Kathy Weier:** net to prevent hockey pucks from hitting houses along the far side and once we had finally determined all the details and pricing and everything the ground was frozen so coming up this spring we will be looking at uh in the Parks committee getting that back stop net um fence posts added um through our actual maintenance crew because they they were clearly the cheapest but also they were um the soonest that could do it anyway so that will be another thing but as far as like Park maintenance for anything that is going to affect us in Winter we clearly can't do much maintenance in that so so so thank you for your thanks for your work on this really I mean it's it's nice down there Kathy I do want to just raise a a [48:25] **Ryan Hankins:** concern here with which is um I got the sheriff's report this month um and you guys get it in your email each month and it has a little blurp here um and it relates to a citizen in Birchwood who is Mr Mr winter who on um December 25th won't read the whole thing I'll paraphrase it was concerned about the ice conditions and um called the the sheriff on a city staff member who was um Jim ryen um I guess I was concerned enough um about this that I reached out and I think the city is sending a letter to Mr winter um relating to the conduct there [49:10] **Ryan Hankins:** at the ice rank so um you know I I do want to just request that going forward we um accept these donations before their um at the council level before that installation occurs at the rank um I have sort of some mixed feelings about accepting the donation here from Mr witer um I think at this point I'll just say thank you I hope we can do a little better um with respect to City staff going forward um you know and and vote to accept the donation but I I guess my concern there about both the accepting the donations before they are installed and irreversibly on the hockey rank and making sure we maintain a good [49:57] **Ryan Hankins:** environment for our staff um over stating so thank you um so you said that the city is sending a letter so he's already aware of the situation we don't need to do we need to red doent and send him a letter about this uh if the I don't know I I knew the letter was being sent by who by you you didn't are you are you requesting that I send can we wake up Alan cuz Alan I'm listening you're sending we're sending a letter to Mr winter relating to the situation at the ice rank was my understanding that a letter was going to go out on City letterhead advising Mr winter to take up issues with the city and not that's prec law enforcement over something that's not illegal what I'm talking about okay [50:43] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** so this is the first time I've heard of that is that something that Council wants me to do I I will definitely do that it's just that I I didn't know I was supposed I think he's sitting right here that was just going to go through Allan to send that letter and Allen was going to pass the letter to do you want me to pass the letter to Becky to send clearly it didn't get to her so someone has to do that okay so who needs to do that me I will be happy to do that I assume that it was you and okay I didn't realize okay we'll get the letter to you Becky so you can send the letter to Barton relating to the situation at the ice rank so okay I'm sorry it was just misunderstood Allan nope we're good okay and obviously we've covered it right here I don't think that's an no no we're not discussing so [51:29] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** um all right can we get a motion to approve um resolution 20 2504 to accept the gift I'm sorry before we do that Kathy you had um suggested a change to which one and uh it's the second one on page 128 which is 128 the resolution approving purchase of replacement boards for ice rink quantity of the boards that we ended up replacing was 17 boards at this time and the number currently here we have is five initially we had started with that and then once the boards were being replaced there was an additional trip that was made so five replaced with 17 correct [52:17] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** okay boy that's way different which resolution was that for 04 or 05 05 17 okay we're going to approve these separately correct correct okay so can I get a motion to approve resolution 20254 approving acceptance of gift so second I'll second Kathy okay all in favor I opposed uh motion passes moving on to resolution 20255 the approval of the purchase of replacement boards for the ice rink uh with some like to make a motion to pass that resolution so moved Ryan this would be with those amendments or changes yes [53:05] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** second second Bridget all in favor I opposed um motion passes thank you much thank you and uh just again we will be looking at these at August next time so that the city council gets to see everything before winter thank you thank you okay shall we jump back back to see huh administrative appeals we I don't think um alen's ready yet so administrative appeals Ryan Mr henkins Ryan is more than sufficient so two Ryan I'm GNA have to say Mr henkins and Mr isy over here the jerk to the left or the nice guy to the right [53:53] **Ryan Hankins:** no um so as you guys have probably experienced um we have had some administrative appeals in recent uh months in Birchwood and this is this is a first reading of an ordinance and we're looking at kind of refining our administrative appeal handling process and one of the things most cities do when we handle administrative appeals is they charge a fee um the other thing that they do is um you know make set some pretty clear standards for where we're um handling our appeals and just to give a little bit of broader context the council you know Margaret and Justin and I have kind of had kind of worked on [54:38] **Ryan Hankins:** planning and there's been a general movement in the city toward um toward more administrative handling of zoning processes and less handling of those at the council and this sets the intent of this is maybe we R reduce some of the frivolous appeals um but also we are setting clear standards here we're making it um much more specific what we need in the cases of appeals so that when somebody comes into the city they know and says hey this isn't the right thing my neighbor didn't do the right thing I was denied a [55:23] **Ryan Hankins:** permit and that isn't deserved um we ask them for some very specific information and um so that we can handle these much more efficiently these mans have been maybe you can vouch for this element but extremely time consuming for staff to handle um for engineer for our planner for attorney no doubt for Becky as well um and so this is something that the Planning Commission has gone through I think we'll send it off to them if they want to review it one more time um Justin and I have work together to try to set some kind of reasonable standards I know the last two appeals we've seen have been people saying that they didn't like what one of their neighbors did I think that we should also be careful [56:09] **Ryan Hankins:** when we're looking at this to to realize that this could also be I don't like that my permit was denied and so we want to keep fees low enough so that somebody can come in and say you know that they didn't like what happened them and also that but so there are two ways this can work either you don't like what your neighbor did or you don't like the response you got from the city and so when you're looking at it I would just say to kind of look at it in both of those contexts so are there and are there any questions on that or discussion so is there any way to separate the two whether it's your own permit or own property or somebody else's [56:54] **Bridget Sperl:** property I think I think that's hard well one's going to go ahead Alan in that particular situation or or dynamic one's going to be an appeal based on a complaint and one's going to be an appeal based on a denial that makes sense M so if you want to do something and the city and the and the city says no obviously you appeal that it's your property if you've got a complaint about someone else's project and it gets denied and you appeal it then it's not your property it's someone else's so it's just how it comes in as a as an appeal so you could distinguish the two but I'm not sure if it changes much in terms of Staff time would the um if we did [57:40] **Alan (City Attorney):** differentiate between the two are you thinking that you'd want a different fee for your own versus I think so I think that that if it's your own property or your your own project or whatever it probably should be a lower Mory that if someone else is appealing something else I would think but I the administrative time is the same regardless is my understanding that would be my suspicion and so then you have to have a good reason to differentiate between the two I mean can you guys ballpark what the administrative time is on something like that I can't speak for Becky or any of the other folks that would have to review it but depending on the permit [58:25] **Alan (City Attorney):** you know it might inculcate the work of Mr Wickstrom the planner which is what the last one did and there was one from the previous uh time in the year in the summertime that took up a lot of Bolton and mink the city Engineers time and so is there a way is there a way to figure like to figure out what appeals have been submitted to the city and put them in one of one of those two buckets what buets there's only been two appeals and they're both I mean they've both stemmed from complaints and then after after the response to the complaints have turned into appeals because essentially um Allan guided to write a letter saying um that you know you your complaint this is you know uh addressing your complaint [59:11] **Becky (Administrator):** and then um if if you'd like to pursue this further you can fill out an appeal so what I'm hearing from you there's there's never been uh an appeal because of a denial a denial I don't know if it I would call a denial a resp response to a complaint saying you know yeah we're not going to uh you know proceed with what you're requesting and in that case we Allan has said well if in that case you can file for an appeal and in both circumstances they did y so I'm just I'm making sure I'm saying the right thing so a complaint would be somebody else complaining about work I'm doing at my house a denial would be my own that's how I'm distinguishing the two corre I don't think aain is required I don't [59:58] **Bridget Sperl:** either you could go directly to an appeal if you what's the difference I think it's important to define the difference between what you know what constitutes a complaint versus a I can tell you a little bit is there a state statute defines separate complaint and appeal processes and for a complaint the complainant about real property the complainant is usually saying that somebody didn't get a permit um in birwood they sometimes say that the permit was issued by an error and they're I guess they can say that um well actually in birwood how we complaint is used as a much broader term than that and there's a number of different things that fall under complaints building permit this is [1:00:44] **Ryan Hankins:** there's been one where a complaint regarding a building permit not being issued the one that turned into an appeal we have not had any other complaints similar to that they're Broad and buried I mean I'm talking about I mean I'm talking about real estate complaints specifically okay yes and so the complaint process I personally think we spend too much effort in our complaint process though maybe I'm just misinformed it's it's a little concerning to me that our staff can't point to a permit that was issued and say we know this meets code that there's a whole bunch of research after the fact to determine whether or not it did um the appeals process is also spelled out in state statute in the complaint process the complainant about real property is [1:01:31] **Ryan Hankins:** anonymous which means it makes it hard to charge Anonymous a fee um they tend to ignore you and their mail doesn't get it gets returned but but with the appeals process that's not an anonymous process some cities actually bill out the fees of their advisors toward handling those those appeals so Ben or or um Marcus this time the other thing I was going to mention is the complaint process I think up on Cedar Street there was like 5,000 and the appeal was another 1,000 so we're not anywhere close to recovering costs and I guess the safest you know go ahead Alan probably the safest way to distinguish the two is to only apply this to appeals that stem from [1:02:18] **Alan (City Attorney):** complaints so I I I guess I need a refresher here because we're thrown around these terms and I'm getting a little lost so there's a complaint and then there's an appeal and there's separate processes are we talking about the exact so so when I was when I was saying complaint I was just kind of regurgitating what Allan said is that there was an appeal based on a complaint and an appeal based on a denial so those are the two buckets I'm putting in if there's a separate well thing called a complaint which is fair and it's easy to look at this as pretend Ryan wants to put up something doesn't matter what it is and City staff deems it inappropriate and says no you can't okay so that would I would consider that for our purposes FastTrack that to an appeal to the city council right for review of the staff [1:03:04] **Ryan Eisele:** decision as opposed to Ryan builds a fence and Bridget says I don't like it and then complains as construction starts and comes to the city and says I don't like what Ryan's doing and so are you sure he's doing it right City staff then says yes Bridget he did everything well here are the permits and it's all above board Bridget doesn't like that answer that triggers the appeal process right and so both of those steps take staff time and I think what what Ryan other Ryan is trying to do is figure out a mechanism for someone to put some some skin in the game to say look you know if this ends up being frivolous or not sustained it doesn't matter to staff because we have to put in the same amount of time whether it's upheld or not sure so if you just limit it to [1:03:52] **Alan (City Attorney):** complaints that are regarding other people's property um that might clean things up and then you don't have to worry about it because I think that citizens should have a right to directly appeal to you when staff has collectively said no you can't do something right it makes no sense to complain for yourself because staff has already made that decision as it relates to you sure and and that's why Ryan when we're refunding people's money if the complaint is sustained the appeal is sustained if the appeal is sustained I'm sorry yeah they get their 300 want to make sure I'm getting my words right here yep sorry well I don't disagree it's all a little confusing well and I guess where I was going with that is is that I guess I see it a little bit different when you're the homeowner [1:04:38] **Ryan Hankins:** appealing the city and when you are a neighbor or a third party right so I I guess I see that a little different I think those those are two different buckets except it's taking the staff the same amount of time so the idea is to recoup the fee and if you win your appeal then you get your money back anyway so if it's the homeowner and they win their appeal from us they also would get their permit so they'd be in the same they'd be delayed but they would have been anyway right and it is technically skipping a step and I the work that you put into it is is really clear but as we're talking through it we're getting confused so if it goes to the public they're going to be confused [1:05:23] **Kathy Weier:** is there a way that we could put this in a grid or make it a little bit clear and easier so that people understand oh okay this is my issue this is what I have to do these are the forms that I have to I actually if you if you look down I did put in form and I put in an example appeal if you scroll down to try to help if you have some suggestions on improving the forms I'd be happy to no augment that a little bit great but it's just like where do I where do I start it this is a lot to take in if you're trying to figure out what to do and if it's a lot to take in then the calls are going to go to Becky to have her explain it so what we want to be able to do is avoid those calls make it easy make it [1:06:11] **Bridget Sperl:** clean and again I fully support what you've done here Ryan I think it's it's a really good step forward I mean I would say I do I do too like I like the intent of this and I I think this is and other cities are doing it um my only thing is is that for for residents directly I think doing or uh modifying your home or getting a permit or doing these things should be made easier and not more difficult that's where I'm I'm stuck I guess this is just on the appeal process I I know it's just on the appeal process but if you get a permit denied denied and then you want to appeal that permit [1:06:57] **Ryan Eisele:** as a homeowner I I do think there should be a fee but I think there should be two separate fees okay I I mean that's just my two cents Kathy do you have anything to add um so I'm I'm loving all of this actually because it spells it out yeah consistently across a lot of things I do agree that it's a little hard to read but I also like that it's detailed and generally we found that the more information we provide the better people are off and they're going to call anyway whether or not we've made it super easy like we had a a height restriction thing and we put in pictures and everything that we possibly could and I think it's still gets tons of questions um just because people want to clarify I think a lot of the times can I make a suggestion [1:07:44] **Kathy Weier:** maybe we I would suggest we move forward with a first reading on this tonight since it sounds like people like it that doesn't mean it passes and then pull it into the workshop at the end of the month and if folks have suggestions on a very simple flowchart we can go there or something so that would be my suggestion not just one more question for you go ahead Ryan um I see that Delwood and Whitebear Township both use uh escrow yep um is there a reason you just are when working on this you decided not to use the escrow is there my opinion is to ratchet this up slowly and basically say it's 300 bucks if somebody [1:08:29] **Ryan Hankins:** wanted to say I prefer 200 I'd be fine with that um and to basically see how it goes because we got two of these in the last year like St Paul and Minneapolis will handle as giant B big cities they'll handle like a handful of these every year in the whole 300,000 people or whatever it is in St Paul or something like we're handling way more of these than we should be um um and so my hope is set it to 300 if we get into in 2025 then let's make it a little harder yet a little more cumbersome not cumbersome but like a little more costly put a little more skin in the game I don't mean to make it I'm actually trying to make it a easier process for everybody [1:09:16] **Ryan Hankins:** including the Planning Commission and Council but like I just that was my starting point is let's not like go to 11 right up front that was my thought so so something I do really like about this is that um they still have the option to complain once the city has confirmed with our planner and anyone who is involved with that that yes we did review this this is accurate complaints are free complaints are free um so as far as like complaining about your own permit not getting approved there's generally a really good reason it's rarely that they don't like the paint color or whatever it happens to be but um when individuals are generally complaining about that we've had one [1:10:02] **Kathy Weier:** person came on and that's generally it ends up being variances or something like that but neighbors have complained something like that has happened where it then ends up in front of the council anyway so it it is a lot of effort for a lot of people and then our planner and our uh engineer are very far from free so this doesn't even cover one hour of time for them it's cumbersome on the cities part to handle appeals so I like it for the fact that it stops the fress appeals you're going to put your $300 out there and risk losing it and you know I don't know yeah I I some people don't like like as far as like we've had people complain about the neighbor had gotten a a permit but it's close to [1:10:49] **Kathy Weier:** their trees or something like that where they just don't like it um this kind of says well why don't you like it and why isn't it allowed because you you can tell your neighbor you don't like their things all that you want but if they're not actually breaking a code or a rule it's unfair to them to dictate what your neighbor is doing basically yeah I also like this form um that was put together where you have the appeal requirements spelled out for you these are what you need to do um I think it's I don't know for me it was pretty straightforward you have something on yeah and just really quickly all of this discussion and the way it sort of came forward even before tonight was due to some other litigation that the city got involved with a couple years ago and it really goes to creating [1:11:36] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** a good record for the city so if and when it ever gets appealed into any sort of District Court action we've got a nice record of decision and the how the why the when and that also means that there's been an exhaustion of what we call administrative appeal process before it goes into district court and so it really kind of fine tunes the city position and it helps us when we have to defend the city if it ever does go to litigation that's great and we have had a couple of those but we currently don't so we have we have between you and me Kathy we've gotten involved in zero of them I'm still I know I thought we were edging close there for a couple mons like I want to make sure this thing is work I'm a little nervous now but yeah so to move [1:12:21] **Alan (City Attorney):** forward Alan what do we need to do to move forward when it says the first reading what you'll do is just uh take a motion to pass first reading and order second reading and public hearing and I I will make a motion to move this to uh pass this and move it to Second reading I'll second that Ryan okay all in favor uh opposed motion passes and I'll throw this on the agenda for the workshop if we want to mark it off we can even bring in a computer and hack a little bit if we want to so sounds good thank guys and then we have to pass the fee schedule update as well okay I'm good with the 300 if if that works out for everyone because it does not cover our planner and our [1:13:09] **Kathy Weier:** engineer for one hour right um and then also adding in Becky and potentially Allen's time as well we're not recouping even the one hour of time but I think the 300 is reasonable where it's not going to prevent someone who legitimately has a complaint it if there were were a complaint and or issue with their their own permit it's not exorbitantly high so I'm hopeful that that's that you guys don't think that that's horrible as far as $300 goes and obviously they get their money back if it's completely legitimate so hopefully it's not punitive and it's not meant to be so that doesn't cover 14 seconds of Staff time when you add it all together for even just the just the [1:13:55] **Kathy Weier:** a complaint right just to resolve that you'd spend $300 in yeah time it takes to light a match so this is not meant to be bar to to to the appeal process right so I am also moving that we move that also to a second reading for the fee schedule as well can I get a second on that please I'll second okay all in favor I I opposed motion passes thank you you guys um I'm sorry 2025 011 0102 both both just pass they were both you did the I did first for both okay moving to the seconds and then you did the second for the last one [1:14:42] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** yep I did the second you did the second for the first one sorry Ryan and Ry Ryan and Ryan Ryan did the first one first Ryan he was first icing was first and then H was first and H was second second Junior and senior that was the first [1:15:04] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** second and this is why Council meetings can't go till 10 you wonder how things get missed um are you ready for us I tell you what why don't you do D okay and I'm ready to I mean this is take a little bit of housekeeping time to go print and whatever cuz there's two things that we'll have to do the resolution and the summary itself so yeah just take care of D and we'll take a little break okay great um D is Council leaz on designations no D is discuss and approve appeal of administration decision form oh I don't think we need to approve the form that's that's where I'm at oh CD CD CD CD yeah I guess I would [1:15:50] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Big C I would skip the form approval through the council I think it's better not to approve forms at the council level anyway I'm just at that place intellectually so whatever you want to do with it if we're done with it just move to Capital D okay okay that would be my what I would suggest so okay so mayor staff would request a five minute recess to print some documents sure can we talk about you you can take a break while we do Council designations right Alan well I I don't have have permission to print anything so it'll take your administrator downst okay well she's doing the minutes so we probably better give everybody a break here so oh too great okaye I'm going to email you [1:16:36] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** what we're easing you in what we're doing [Music] [1:36:14] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** okay we're back um we're moving on to D Council leaz on designations um as you can see on the agenda we have four listed the Planning Commission parks and natural resources committee Personnel committee Lake Links task force and then the two additional ones we talked about were um Malia is on to the doc Association and nominating someone for or appointing someone for deputy mayor in your packet there were brief descriptions of each of those um committees Andor commissions or task forces and I I guess I'd like to start with asking what your preferences would [1:36:59] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** be are you looking at at this Ryan anybody who would like to start I'd like to I I would like to stay the L Remain the ladies under the Planning Commission okay I may pick up another one but I give somebody else a shot here too so um is everybody okay with that yeah I'm good with that okay Kathy uh I would like to stay with with the parks and natural resources because we have a grant going right now and it would be nice to you've done that one great job there second my mind was elsewhere I apologize okay what Ryan did you for the Planning Commission we're for the parks and natural resources committee okay okay um Personnel committee [1:37:46] **Kathy Weier:** according to the bylaws I read it was made up of two Council people a mayor and another council person I would like to do that prel committee you would Ryan okay so do you want to do that Jen I don't we could change it but if you want to if you and Ryan want to do it I think that a good okay way for it to be yeah it doesn't okay I have no real preference so um L links task force they did do it you want to do L Bridget I'd be happy to do it okay I'm just making sure I heard you right yeah okay sounds good Bridget for lak links and then we have um Deputy [1:38:33] **Ryan Eisele:** Mayor I know Kathy that was you last year right it is me at the moment but yes would you like to continue I'm good to continue if no one else feels strongly about it since that's not listed in the I know I I'll explain what it is so if anyone really wants to do it uh anytime Jennifer is out of town or unavailable the deputy mayor is the person that gets called from the city the sheriff the whatever happens to be I think you're doing such a good job Kathy I think you should just keep thank you so much um I am totally fine keep just so you know what you're in for there is a I think Jen is going to be out of town likely for a couple variances are you okay running those I think you'll be fine but okay all right for some meetings I assume in in March I [1:39:20] **Kathy Weier:** think or something yeah oh so I need to be here for March for sure then all right I can talk to you about that if you're not here in March I was planning on being somebody else can do it but if if you are then that's fine and then the last one was stock Association I would like to do that if that's okay sounds good okay unless somebody else wants to do it I mean I don't Bridget were you interested in that instead um we did previously have two individuals on parking natural resources if anyone else wants to jump on that too just in case right Justin is no longer want it obviously but doesn't necessarily you want to do that I think you'd be great on there awesome so we have Kathy and it's a great committee shout out to [1:40:06] **Bridget Sperl:** the parks committee they are a lot of fun we've had ice cream all right do we have ice cream wa we don't we get ice cream where where are we on the on the hierarchy here you have to be good Ryan okay so can I um get a motion to approve these leaz Le aazan designations please so moved Ryan second second Ryan all in favor hi opposed a motion passes wonderful um Kathy Park committee term renewal yes letter e uh let's see we don't have a document in here for this [1:40:52] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** but I will explain we have twoyear terms for our Parks committee members that expire in February and we have um Zach and Amy who are on our Parks committee right now that are their terms are up as of this year they both have requested to move forward with a reappoint reappointment so I'd like to request that we reappoint them and then Jennifer having move to Mayor um will not be able to be on the committee for that because we have Bridget taking on for the other individual that is our um council members we can't have three so we will have an opening for the parks committee to replace you um I believe you had your one year into your term because we had staggered them so I am requesting that [1:41:38] **Kathy Weier:** we open up um what is the word individuals who would like to to sign up applications thank you and applicants to reach out regarding joining the parks committee for completing Jennifer's term to be decided in February that's all we need to do for that one so I just wanted to mention that so that we can have it um posted for the uh website and let them know that we have an opening on the parks committee okay so did you want to make a motion Um reappointing Zack and Amy I would like to do that yes so I will make the motion to reappoint Zach and Amy to the parks committee for another two-year term each and to request applicants for the and [1:42:26] **Kathy Weier:** request applicant I'm tired request applicants for the opening in the Parks committee thank you there you go there's my full motion can I get a second second all in favor I opposed motion carries second Ryan me okay okay so um we've taken care of f hockey rank board replacement and we're on to G key metrics Bridget yeah I'll just give a little bit of context for this and not spend more than three minutes um in organizations that I've worked in it's always been helpful to me to have a set of metrics that sort of give an overall highlevel story of what's happening with [1:43:14] **Bridget Sperl:** the organization the organization being the virtu community and so I just took uh over the holidays uh shot at what some key metrics could look like and the point of a key metrics report is really to be helpful to all of us and to be helpful to the community it's not to create honorous work so uh what I would ask is that you take a look at at a format that I just drafted and it's very very rough um and uh let's put it on the workshop agenda to spend more time with and uh the other thing that I would mention is I talked with Becky because I also understand the reality of being [1:43:59] **Bridget Sperl:** able to get some of these metrics and the likelihood that we can get them all is not very harded it's something that we can start to look at and see if over time they're doable so that's the key metric report I have a couple I'd like to add shall I hold those for the workshop okay yeah good yeah bring in all your ideas thank you I think this is a great great idea me too I I again just to reiterate our conversation the baby steps with that because um there's so much data that we could collect and track on really need to identify I think what what's important what's important and what's helpful right yes yeah right thank you for being willing to do that no problem [1:44:46] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** yeah that would be one that would be offered monthly is that your thought that's my thought though there may be some that you know it only makes sense to measure quarterly or right we just have to figure out what makes sense a little yeah well thank you and it could be a fluid document too we'll see how it works out yeah great thank you so much y okay how are we doing Alan super well we there okay um things have happened the uh technology the good news is this would probably happen to any other consultant sitting here trying to go USB to the system it's just black screen [1:45:31] **Alan (City Attorney):** back screen screen um I gota call my tech over that's okay um just so if anybody's watching you know what's happening here Allen's putting together a um summary of the fee schedule for our new water rates um and we're having technical difficulties so Ellen if you can't do it today we can come back to that it's it's not a problem Ryan had a a great idea just to um present it again in February we can but have it teed up and ready to go for the next day to be published so okay so no pressure um uh Becky H administrative [1:46:18] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** updates okay um administrative updates so the lift station update is in the packet we have 130 and 131 actually there was a big milestone on the lift station we signed the contract so um Marcus has a copy and I have a copy and down in the city hall area there and I think it was so exciting on that day Margaret came in that day and her husband not met him so there was a lot of energy in the office Marsha was there Andes um paret uh pocket confetti yeah right that was a long time coming [1:47:05] **Becky (Administrator):** because I believe this started it was prior to when we even started on the council so it's been over two years that they have been working at the lift station it's not not for lack of trying that that has been an EPA um processing and other issues to get our Federal Grant that was I think from 2022 that sounds about right yeah yeah so long time coming great great wonderful I love that there's a contract and then Marcus will be in the the following meeting to discuss what Bolton and M are going to charge us to support that work and I would just say from an administrative perspective um I don't think we can do the Grant I [1:47:52] **Becky (Administrator):** know I will I will need more assistance we can't do this grant without Boldman make that's my I'm not sure we could move forward without their oversite so I know it might be expensive but we we if we decide not to move forward with it then we should discuss can you bring us some information on um how we need to move forward with the grant like do we need to like what do we need if let's say we're going to pass a resolution to Grant the grant work to um Bolton and M what would be in the resolution what are we specifically asking them to do CU I I also wonder if we may want to RFP this too and that's kind of where I'm heading is let's start preparing to [1:48:39] **Ryan Hankins:** Outsource this if that's the that's the route we're going to go is that you want to go out for bids and supporting I might okay if this is a $25,000 thing I haven't been impressed with Bolton and mink with their 20 $5,000 Road study um I I'm if it's a 5 or 10,000 thing that might be different um you said it might be expensive I don't you probably don't even have a ballpark right now but any information because I think we need to move forward on on that and I think I don't even know where to go and I wonder if you might so um cuz some we have to come up with some direction here M and maybe what we do maybe how we get [1:49:25] **Ryan Hankins:** rolling is maybe you just have a conversation with Bolton and make and say hey Bolton and make I need to get this grant what would you recommend I do going forward well we already have the Grant and we've already accept you know we' grants been executed we've executed the contract um as of what a week and a half ago something like that a couple weeks and um again next meeting Marcus will be here and he's going to present on what their fees would be what they would cover but they oh so they're just going to come in and tell us what we need to do marus will be here next next month and he's going to let us know um you know this is what we would assist with and this is how much it would cost so we [1:50:10] **Becky (Administrator):** should be able to get some info on that next time okay we've already paid for I believe well there was the 2020 potentially four um note in the December as far as like the activity that they'd already done for helping with the grant right so it's just the activity of getting the lift station right from groundbreaking to ribbon cutting basically and probably all the paperwork that goes around with fulfilling all the requirements for the gr correct and the Federal grant um from my understanding just based on what I have seen and it has not been nearly as much as as Becky has has been an extensive amount of paperwork and it's crazy lots of Hoops we've had my gosh Native American approvals we've had like there's just [1:50:55] **Becky (Administrator):** been a lot of things involved br.gov sam.gov everything. goov yes then yeah as it turns out the list station does not disturb any historic sites right no no Native American burial grounds for thank you for all your work on that project am it awesome my pleasure I had again I did have a lot of help from Bolton M and Margaret as well they were you know engaged in that process so yeah okay I anticipate that we will have some more activity involved with just what they need to do to make sure that we are following correct exactly what say because the packet itself from the last meeting I think it was a thousand Pages it's over a thousand Pages huge so um luckily we saved a [1:51:42] **Becky (Administrator):** couple trees by not printing that one but I believe we have a copy down in the we do have one you really want some light reading H how are we doing yeah two days later at the ranch yeah you got it okay so if you want me to tee this up Madam mayor I would ask that um let's call it an addition to the agenda under large B okay which you know better is second reading of ordinance 202 24-21 uhhuh and we are adding uh small C yes the authorization of summary publication by resolution [1:52:21] **Alan (City Attorney):** 2025-the the uh there we go so what you're seeing before you is actually what will be printed in the white bear press and so the Preamble there talks about the fact that you just passed this ordinance that adjusts the fees the summary says the basically the the when and the what and and the why and I did add a sentence in there saying that for all intents and purposes the starts with Service Billings after March 1st so that's what's going in the paper and you are approving that through through T up the second document the resolution that you are passing I'm not sure I mean I don't know how picky I need to be but that that what you showed me is the um summary [1:53:08] **Alan (City Attorney):** publication says that the fees are being increased to pay for the lift station they're also being increased to pay for it says both it says both okay I just didn't it's a little hard to read up there okay so the resolution 20254 which you're technically passing is the approval of the summary publication you just read and so a couple of whereases and finally therefore be it resolved that you are authorizing publication I move to adopt resolution what is the number well you should all agree that you're adding that to the agenda oh I yep agree to add do you want to make a motion to add that I move that we add resolution 20254 and the corresponding summary publication to the agenda [1:53:53] **Ryan Hankins:** large B small C large B small C this will matter because it'll show that way on the minutes correct yeah large B small C under City business second anybody second Ryan all in favor I I nay motion passes so now have a subject to talk about and then somebody can move to adopt the resolution now I guess which is we want to somebody I can do it again if you guys want I move to adopt resolution 20254 uh approving the summary publication ordinance 24 for publication any discussion you need a [1:54:41] **Ryan Hankins:** second right I'll second it who was the first Ryan HS Ryan moved it I was made the motion on both Ryan Weir y okay good you got it great all in favor be seconded I seconded did y I grabbed that one all in favor opposed motion passes can I get a motion to aend so moved wait oh no wait more just to finish with my is it my tree update that was added yeah one right so yeah I [1:55:27] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** actually have two updates I have a tree update and a recycling Grant update so in terms of trees as you know from previous meetings um we had a Washington Conservation District um tree inspector that came out and did all of the public spaces in Birchwood um not the the private homes and identified oh I want to stay between 12 and 14 15 um trees that were considered dangerous or hazardous because if they fall they were going to fall on homes or power lines um so after that we don't have anyone to do that type of work um so Jennifer and I are starting to have conversations about this but I did call Steve Dean and um he [1:56:16] **Becky (Administrator):** may be willing to do it but he needs help identifying the we we received DPS coordinates from the Washington County um or the Washington Conservation District so they they need to be identified via GPS so um we we're going to work on that I just want to make sure everyone knows you know that we're working on the trees stuff um I want to close that Loop and then secondarily any questions about that at all just one thing to add um Steve and I went out this afternoon afternoon and he showed me the trees from that report mhm and the ones he thought they were okay oh good okay so they have been and so my conversation [1:57:03] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** with him was that um a council will work on a plan um he suggested possibly um if we're doing large a large amount of trees to send it out for a bid right might be cheaper right and you know what we could tackle way more trees than that essentially Margaret and I just said let's just do what's important first so the ones that but there was like I want to I don't remember the exact number but there was a lot of trees that were identified as as damaged yeah so I thought we could possibly come up with a plan based on our budget y in the workshop we can work on that as well okay okay thank you that's it you're welcome um and then the recycling Grant update um that was [1:57:49] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** submitted let's say Monday was that yesterday yes wow okay so that was submitted yesterday I met with Max Dalton in um Washington County and we worked through that report and got it submitted um we completed four projects for the recycling Grant ones was adding three bins to the parks with clearer stickers and the second was we combined two ordinances into one and Revis those um waste recycling product ordinances um we did a number of [1:58:35] **Becky (Administrator):** communications through the newsletters and um via Facebook and um uh I think we put it in the newsletter too we did put it in yeah so I was periodically basically Max would send his information and I would forward it on as possible as capacity allowed for as well and then mattress recycling was the fourth project and that was this was the first year that Birchwood did do that um and that was very successful Max actually said that that was that it has just blown up for next year that like all kinds of communities are looking to jump on board with that one so that is [1:59:20] **Becky (Administrator):** kind of will that be offered again this year the M recycling yes it will be here here's my question to you guys too thank you for bringing that up now we get a base amount um for this recycling Grant 3,200 I'd have to look it up um but last year we went for a little bit more than that and we added four projects so I'm wondering if you have energy around doing any additional projects under this can I ask Becky how much um we got tell me the amount we're eligible for this year I got to look that up Ryan I mean was it it was $3 or $4,000 in the ballpark I mean how much [2:00:07] **Ryan Hankins:** how much time do we spend getting that Grant how much staff time did we spend working not getting the grant well you know the bo re revisions so I mean the fo revisions I think were kind of worth doing I do there was it just seemed like I don't know where they it seemed like I just wondering what the time commitment there was because it seemed like there was a lot there for a fairly small Grant there was a lot you're just going to have to I think decide a little and I mean I think you did a lot right it was a lot and then um we also you know yeah I don't know if you guys want to do the work would that be something like a committee could do I'm sorry would that be like something a committee could do if they had energy around it yeah I think there [2:00:53] **Ryan Hankins:** might be some bigger grants too that might be more but steering into something that's a little higher dollar than this okay stuff might be that's kind of the point I'm trying to make here I do have to submit our um our our Grant application by the end of February so um we time to committee it for sure what's that we wouldn't have time to committee that for sure then right so I mean today we we need to decide are we going to sign that or or we I'm sorry do we want to just do base funding for next year or do we want to add any projects um I I would say this too we could start with the base funding and if you guys wanted to add projects we could do that like we added the mattress stuff [2:01:39] **Becky (Administrator):** last year mid year when that came available as a as an option through Max's okay counter parts or whatnot I guess I'm curious as to is there a list of like I don't know what that involves as as far as list of projects kind of thing if we wanted to add stuff there's not and that's just it unless there's something like oh this should be something we would want to do you know then um like Appliance Recycling or something like that would potentially give you a grant something yeah if you want to look at something like that then why don't you send those to me and if I receive something prior to submitting that then I'll include it and then if I don't I'll just request for the B request the base funding okay is that sound like a plan [2:02:26] **Kathy Weier:** y did it make Birchwood people happy I think so yeah I had a lot of people send me messages that well one was like I just recycled my mattress duh I missed it but clearly people saw it and were excited about it because we there was a lot of mattresses out okay that's yeah they collected a lot of mattresses I'm just not sure how many people have mattresses for this year kind of thing after having done that year but as I'm just not sure if you can repeat the same thing yearly either you wouldn't believe how many mattresses I got out of that deal Ryan has a stock pile at his house um but yeah I wasn't sure if there was other items that were like listed as far as like uh you know couches whatever it happens to be where it's yeah do this [2:03:12] **Ryan Hankins:** and then that's where I just don't know what's involved to get these okay Becky not to put you on the spot and maybe this is a really dumb question but you are in the office you have people coming in all the time that are residents are there any things that people are raising or talking about or issues that we should know about um I think once in a while we get a tree issue that jumps up and the biggest problem I have with that is I don't have staff around it I don't have tree inspector so we did that RFP and so that's been a challenging piece um is there stuff that comes up oh gosh there's a lot of stuff there's a lot of different facets but um any given day is [2:03:57] **Bridget Sperl:** so different but not big themes or everybody's saying this or everybody's saying that not that I'm aware of okay that's good to know I think people are excited to have the new Council yeah so thanks all right thank you is there anything else now can we get a motion to aend so moved second second did I do my second [Music] update you did your recycling in your tree you got them both oh I did thank you yeah thanks [Music] [2:04:36] **Becky (Administrator):** [Meeting ends]