This transcript has been formatted with the correct speakers based on the provided context and internal cues within the dialogue. **Note:** The transcript identifies **Simon Worth** as the Public Works Director (outgoing) and **Josh Eisinger** as the Fire Chief representative (interim/assistant), as well as **Amanda Johnson** as the City Attorney. *** [1:00] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** ...the June 2nd, 2025 meeting of the Bayport City Council. Let's all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, Matt, you want to call the role? [1:30] **Matt Kline:** Council member Bliss, here. Council member Gilmore here. Council member Hill here. Uh Mayor Hanson here. Just note too that uh council member Dah is absent tonight. [1:40] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** All right. Thanks, Matt. Uh do we have a motion to approve tonight's agenda? [1:45] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** I move to approve the agenda as presented. [1:50] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thanks, Katie. [1:51] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** Second. [1:52] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thanks, Carl. All in favor? I passes. There are no proclamations, accommodations petitions or announcements. Um, we would do the open form. I'm not going to read it because nobody's here. The consent agenda. Consider a resolution adopting items 1 through 12. [2:15] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** The April 15th, 2025 city council special meeting minutes. May 5th city council workshop and regular meeting minutes. The May payables and receipts. May building plumbing mechanical and zoning permits report. Memorandum of understanding for Minnesota Teamsters number 320, the police officer labor agreement. Authorization for SE to pursued proceed, excuse me, with survey and engineering services for the safe routes to school project. The fireworks display permit for the Bayport Community Action League Derby Days at Lakeside Park. Reciprocal fire services agreement with Capitol City Regional Firefighters Association for the fire department service [3:01] agreement with ADP for payroll time and attendance services temporary liquor license from the Afton Bay Port and Lions Club for derby days and participation in Minnesota Council on Local Results/innovation Comprehensive Performance Measurement Program. [3:23] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Do we have a motion to approve the consent consent agenda? [3:28] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** I move to approve the resolution approving or I move to adopt the resolution of approving the consent agenda as presented. [3:35] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** All right. Thanks, Katie. Anyone want to second it or— [3:41] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** I'll second. [3:42] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Thanks, Ethan. Roll call. [3:43] **Matt Kline:** Council member Bliss. [3:44] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** Aye. [3:45] **Matt Kline:** Council member Gilmore. [3:46] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** Aye. [3:47] **Matt Kline:** Council member Hill. [3:48] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Aye. [3:49] **Matt Kline:** Mayor Hanson. [3:50] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Aye. [3:51] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** All right. we technically don't have any public hearings or kind of unfinished business. It's put under new business. We're going to um consider amendments to chapter 54 traffic and vehicles um that we discussed at the last meeting and postponed a decision until this meeting. But then we added also a discussion on chapter um 26 environment of the Bayport city code of ordinances regarding regulations for recreational vehicles and then the summary for publication. [4:28] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** um just the environment of the Bayport city code has the hours of operation within it. So that's why it got added and wasn't discussed last time. So um Matt's gonna Matt and Amanda are going to present this item. [4:40] **Matt Kline:** I guess I am. So, um there's not a lot to add from um the last month's discussion, right? [4:55] Um, again, this is uh was geared towards more of the golf cart ordinance, but because we felt to simplify it and try and incorporate the golf cart ordinance into the current ordinance without making it real lengthy, um we tried coordinating the two together and made some changes to the other parts of um the um recreational vehicle ordinance. [5:20] **Matt Kline:** So again, two of the bigger ones or the bigger discussion points from last month um that we kind of want to comment on were hours of operate—or comment from the public, right? Hours of operation and um the kind of that age bracket where we talked about last time and um we did not receive actually any comments from the public. So, um whether that's whether they all agree or whether nobody is currently watching us, um might be a combination of both. Um so, I'm I'm not going to go into a real discussion about it kind of because we've already had the discussion. Um, so unless there's specific questions from [6:05] uh the council that we're open to answering, I know, like I said, those two items were kind of the big one and um we're opening open to answering those questions for you. [6:17] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Thanks, Matt. So, I just want to reiterate the hours of operation that are written into this current ordinance that we're about possibly going to approve is um all recreational vehicles are allowed to operate on private property from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ATVs, UTVs, trail bikes that are registered with the state for highway use, and snowmobiles are allowed to operate on city streets and alleys from 6:00 a.m. [6:51] to midnight. And then golf carts are another category and they're allowed to operate in public streets and alleys from sunrise to sunset provided they are not operated in inclement weather or when visibility is impaired by smoke, fog or insufficient light to clearly see a distance of 500 ft. [7:12] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** um my—so I—we didn't get any um feedback other than I actually asked people that I came across that I you know know have a golf cart or may be interested in this right? Um, actually at the bar crawl there were several golf carts and I got to ride in one and so I was talking to the guy that was driving it and apparently some of them come with headlights and all kinds of things. So, and I feel like maybe we're overlooking that, but I guess I don't understand it well enough to— [7:50] **Matt Kline:** Yeah. Myself or Amanda or Miss Johnson can comment on that, but the language that we provided with the 500 ft, the [7:58] smoke fog, that's specific in state statute. There's also the requirement of the triangle, the slow moving triangle on the back. But if you're going to allow them um after sunset, then there's more language in state statute that you need to keep put in your code essentially. [8:18] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. So, uh that includes I believe working tail lights, working headlights. I saw that in the state one. [8:27] **Matt Kline:** I was more—I thought I put that in my notes. Right. If you happen to see—I can't remember if Forest Lake had it, but um if you happen to look in a different city ordinance that does allow them after sunset, then they will specifically have that language in their code or they'll reference state statute. [8:45] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. All right. And then um so we're saying if they do have the lights, they're available to drive after sunset. [8:52] **Matt Kline:** Not the way this is written. We'd have to add more into this if we said they could go beyond sunset or before sunrise. Um we'd have to put more regulations in there. Then if you do that then you need to have headlights and you need to have all this other stuff. [9:11] **Amanda Johnson (City Attorney):** Madame Mayor, if you don't um—can I add something? So what it was is less regulation, less oversight needed from the police department to make sure all those things are required um for when they do the initial um because the golf carts will have to be registered, right? [9:28] So then if we don't have to check for all of those items, it just makes it easier and from what we have seen, I haven't seen a lot of operation of golf carts after dark. [9:44] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah. Um, more discussion about hours. How are you guys feeling about that? I didn't really get feedback on the hours from anybody specifically. I only when I brought it up and then they I would said, "Well, I'm how do you feel about this part?" And they were like, "Well, why can't we drive it on our own property longer than we could drive it in the street?" So, my thing would be just putting it as the like sound ordinance, you know? So 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. because you can't—it's otherwise it's going to be too loud. [10:15] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** So just like the dirt bikes and you're saying everything should go on there? [10:21] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** No, just on private property I guess. [10:23] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Oh, the 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. private property. You can't start your lawn mower before 8:00 a.m. and you can't really do anything after 10:00 either. So why should you—I don't know. But I feel like 9:00 is pretty early, especially during the summer months when it's light till 10:00. [10:45] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** So we could—yeah. So we could simplify it and say that they're allowed to operate on private property within the hours the—what's it called? The sound—the—the sound or what—what's the ordinance—quiet noise—noise ordinance hours. So in case those change you don't have to go and change this. [11:05] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Oh that—is that not clear enough? I mean I see your point. Yeah. And then they also, one person was like, "Well, so do—do I have to park it in my street and not drive it in my yard and put it in my backyard where I put it?" I'm like, "Well, I don't think they're going to be that happy about it." But yeah, I think it's more about the neighbor next door that's just going on all hours on their dirt [11:35] bike. But I guess it is so the 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. is still within. So the noise um ordinance is—goes beyond that, right? Like you could start earlier and go later if it actually followed the noise. [11:51] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** I kind of—I don't know. I don't know. I could go either way. I'm okay with it just cuz we got zero like anyone really b—ing about any of it. It's kind of hard to change it. You know, they put some a lot of thought into this, but when they wrote it, right? And what are you guys on this end thinking? Are you sleepy from the workshop? You can't—No. Okay. [12:17] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** I'm—yeah. Yeah. I'm still a little hung up on exactly that scenario, not being able to drive it to my garage. That just—the concept of the hours, whether or not we enforce it. You know, I—I'm—I'm the kind of guy who even in April if there's no snow, I'm making sure my cars on the right side of the road just because I—I want to follow the—the letter of the law. [12:47] Um, and so I'd love to have the letter of the law be as followable as possible. [12:54] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** I like that new word you invented. Followable. [12:56] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** Followable. Yeah. [12:57] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So, do you have a suggestion for how it would change then the way it's written? [13:14] **Matt Kline:** Madame Mayor. Can I comment? So, of course, um, as council member uh, Bliss mentioned, right? I mean, enforcement would be the biggest deal here, right? So if you're reasonably following these hours and even if you're operating potentially after those hours, if—if you're not taking advantage of it or it's not impeding on your neighbors, there's not an issue here. We're not going to actively go around except probably for the um the golf cart portion, right? That's sunrise to sunset. We're probably not actively going around and trying to find people who are, oh my gosh, using their recreational vehicles on private property after 9:00 p.m. [14:06] **Matt Kline:** So, some of this might play out. Do we just set these and then see if we have any issues that arise? I mean, because it—we could nitpick. Do we do 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.? Do—why can't we do seven on the weekdays? And I mean, we could have all kinds of arguments here. [14:26] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Well, if you go too far into it, then people that work the third shift would be like, "well, I don't want people driving between 7 and noon cuz I have to sleep during that time." So, yeah. I don't know. Will this be complaint based, too? Like the, you know, the same with everything except for maybe driving in the street. If you're breaking the street laws, you're obviously going to get pulled over, but you're not—it's going to be complaint based. Okay. [14:54] **Matt Kline:** Like you—like you mentioned, council member, especially the private property portion, right? I mean, are we coming on to people's property if they happen to be going at 8:00 a.m.? No. But if we receive a complaint, then we have to. Yes. [15:10] **Matt Kline:** I mean, because some people might be starting yard work and they're using their, you know, their UTV to help drag the stuff along. And I would say in those circumstances, it's—it's not being used as a recreational vehicle, right? It's being used as something you're doing gardening or stuff like that with. [15:26] **Police Chief Jay Jackson:** Madame Mayor, if I may? As always with these city ordinance complaints, we generally start off with a real educational side of it because not everyone watches these meetings. They may not be like council member Bliss and be aware of all the laws and want to follow them. So a lot of times we will educate the first time around. Now if this is a you know constant repeat violation and we get complaints from neighbors then we would be able to address it from that standpoint. But early on we would be strictly educational. So yeah, we always try and take a common sense approach to most city ordinance complaints. But it is nice that when it becomes a habitual problem that then we do have the teeth to back it up. So my two cents. Thanks. [16:22] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah. And it's just the parking that I—I—I ignore all kinds of others. So appreciate that. Thanks. Um yeah. Is there a way to align public street use and private property use just so that issue can go away? Huh? Do we—is there something about snowmobiles at like the state level that they can operate from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.? Is that why we've had that window? [16:55] **Matt Kline:** We just created that window. [16:57] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Well, if you're going out ice fishing and you're taking your thing, you might leave before 6:00. Maybe it's—I know, right? There's all these what ifs. Maybe—maybe we need to be better about just instead of using the term "operate" on private property. Is that kind of the hangup? It's more about like recreating with them on private property. You know what I mean? Like did you guys go through this already? Like what the best verb was or—I'm wondering if that's the hangup because that's kind of what we're talking about, right? We don't want people whipping around in circles in their yard on their recreational vehicles. Are people doing that? [17:44] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Yeah, there are people doing that. Not on our side of the highway, but the other side of the highway, it happens at least one yard. Yeah. And I've heard from a neighbor already about it. [17:55] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So, I hate to make a bunch of rules for one person, right? You know how I feel about that. [18:01] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Yeah. Well, I think um right now this would end up restricting them more from doing that because right now I'm sure it's just within the noise ordinance hours. [18:20] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** And that's more a principle. I—I trust the enforcement. I trust the—yeah. No, I get what you're saying. I don't—it's kind of doesn't sit well when it doesn't like kind of all lined up. I—I—I feel the same way, but I can't come up with a good solution. Yeah. Like you can operate in between six and 12, but you have to make sure it's under the decimals of our noise ordinance. [18:46] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah. And that's really hard to measure, right? That's the problem. Okay. So we have no suggested changes to what we have written because no one can come up with anything better. So other than aligning it with that six to 12. [19:06] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** O yeah. But then at 10:00 you can still get them with the noise which the chief has—in your backyard. It's hard—it's hard to enforce that. It's very hard to enforce that. [19:18] **Matt Kline:** Madame Mayor, the noise ordinance is not necessarily dealing with recreational vehicles though if I remember correctly. Right, sir? [19:29] **Matt Kline:** Madame Mayor, members in the council, there's two chapters that we're looking at. So the chapter 54 is the one that we reviewed last month. And then chapter 26 environment has a specific section in there reg—uh regarding the um hours of operation of recre—recreational vehicles and those hours aren't consistent with chapter 54 that we've been discussing. So, it was brought to staff's attention that we either need to align these two or possibly just get rid of chapter 26 and then lay out the hours of operation that are allowed in chapter 54. [20:08] **Amanda Johnson (City Attorney):** Your Honor, just a quick point of reference for noise violations, those are generally going to run through the MPCA requirements. And so from a perspective of enforcement, you have to get a testing device from the PCA to confirm your noise levels. So from a practical perspective, being able to uh you know go out there in real time and do something related to a a motorbike or a um ATV is going to be very difficult for the city to do. [20:41] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah, agreed. Um, I didn't even realize or think about this contradiction that chapter 26 has different hours. That's actually the noise ordinance hours that we—so, does staff suggest just eliminating this chapter 26 section 26-30? [21:05] **Matt Kline:** That's what you would say. If we're going to do this, then we just eliminate Madame, right? [21:14] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay, that makes sense now. You can tell how much I—how closely I read the hours thing again—my packet. [21:31] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** Okay, I—I am—so that's 10 to 8 versus 9 to nine. I—I think the use case that we're, you know, that we're talking about and is that driveway moment like it—we're not going to take at somebody for pulling into their driveway and pulling into their garage and going home, but technically they're operating on private property outside of the hours we've allowed, which I feel like there's a simple wording that's well above me that can be uh that can address that. But I mean, it's not like it's set in stone. If we set it and something's goofy and it's a nightmare, then we can come back and look at it and change it. It's not—we can you know it's—I didn't realize it was a huge issue—but— [22:20] **Matt Kline:** It isn't—it's not a huge issue but and Madame Mayor members council I think common sense has to play somewhat of a role right you're—you're going from the road into your garage or into the shed right it's not we're going in to the backyard and going around at midnight or 11:00. [22:38] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah. So, sounds like keeping it as is and then getting rid of the 26 or what? [23:14] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** Mhm. I'm okay with that. [23:16] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** And it sounded like uh John Dal was okay with keeping—what do you call it?—paragraph three or whatever under operation as it is to about hours. We didn't really talk about the chapter 26, but I assume he'd want to get rid of that if it contradicts. [23:33] **Matt Kline:** So, yeah, Madame Mayor John was, as—as you remember, he was kind of outspoken about last time month about um everything being sunrise to sunset, but he had indicated earlier today that he was okay with the hours as written. [23:54] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Should we move on to age? Yeah. Okay. Any comments about the age? Yeah, which is now you have to be 18 with a valid driver's license. I could use—I could use that sales pitch one more time on 18 versus—maybe is it Amanda? Can you explain to us why because we are all like why can't they be 16 and have a driver's license but there's some weird thing going on there that you can explain. [24:15] **Amanda Johnson (City Attorney):** Yes, your Honor. Uh so in the state statute it says that if you permit the uh 16-17 year-old to drive on city streets with the ATVs or the recreational vehicles that you cannot require that they have a driver's license because they would have the [24:39] permit through the DNR to operate the machines. I do not know why that made it into the statute, but it is in the statute that you cannot require that they also have a driver's license. So if from a largely from uh an enforcement perspective, it's a little bit nuanced and more complicated for police department to enforce when they don't have a driver's license and they have this other DNR permit and it's um so just to keep it simple, it was 18 is when you get to start to drive these because then you—the permit is a moot point because that special DNR permit is just for operators under the age of 18. [25:19] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. So, how strongly do we feel that 16 and 17 year olds who have the DNR permitting should be able to drive on city streets or alleys? [25:35] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** I would change the hours before I would change that. [25:37] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. I mean, say they just changed the boat law to 21 and then if you're anyone under 21 has to have a water safety or a water craft license. [25:49] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** So, or permit or whatever it is. So, so we're saying a kid can drive a car or a giant truck that's 16 but can't drive a mini bike. [25:57] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Well, for a car you go through, you know, training. For the other thing, you don't really have to go. You can just go and get a license. You don't really have to show them that you know how to work the streets, I suppose. [26:07] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So, yeah. What does the DNR permitting process entail? Do we know what they go through? [26:12] **Amanda Johnson (City Attorney):** It involves a written test and a road—and a—not a road test, an off-road test. It's largely for um off-road use and it's teaches, you know, kids how to cross over roads and things like that. Um, and it does some education around the hand signals, the arm—arm out, those kinds of things. Um, but from a rules of the road perspective, they certainly aren't going to have the same amount of education that you would get in a behind the wheel class when you get your driver. But I would imagine most 16-year-olds that are [26:53] driving these recreational, they probably have a driver's license as well. [27:01] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** They probably do. We just can't require that they do. Sorts my brain. I know it's a very bizarre statute. I do not under—what—what legislator's kid talked them into putting that into the statute? I'll never know. But I'm pretty certain it was. Jay, do you have any opinions on it? [27:18] **Police Chief Jay Jackson:** I would lean more towards till 18 just because if we don't know if they have the—the DNR permit, the rules of the road. I mean, largely are we seeing a bunch of ATV screws down the road? No. But do I want to see them either? Not necessarily. Um, I do understand your argument about if they can drive a car, then they should be able to drive an ATV. [27:42] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** I'm probably more hung up on that than I am the hours of operation. Me, too. [27:50] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Well, you can drive them in your property at in—at your—I don't know if whoever is listening to this could hear Jay because he's in the audience, but he was saying sticking with the minimum of 18 would be his preference for a couple reasons. [28:05] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So, um I don't know. It—I—I worry about the safety of someone who's 16 and doesn't have a driver's license, not knowing all the rules of the road, and we don't have stop signs for other reasons. And I just feel like it's an accident waiting to [28:28] happen. [28:30] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** But I don't—I feel like a 16-year-old knows a stop sign. [28:34] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Well, I know, but that's—we don't have them. So they—they're just going to be cruising along and not—I—I almost got hit by another car on the way here actually. But I know it's just we can't—that is strange. That 86—I know. I wish we could just require the driver's license. That would make me feel so much better. I guess I would lean towards let's go with the way it's written now and see what kind of push back happens or what you know what goes because I don't think people are realizing that we're—even though we said we'll give you another month to tell us what you think about this. I feel like and—and you've been proactively seeking out stakehold—yeah. It's—yeah. [29:28] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** And I—I mean there was kind of this like "well why shouldn't a 16-year-old be able to?" and I said, "Well, it's this complication of the way the state has the rule written." And um I think that is going to be a little bit of a bummer for some of the families that have golf carts or whatever, but I don't know. I don't feel comfortable. 16. You can. You can, but you just can't say that they have to have a valid driver's license. [29:56] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** We could say that they have to have a valid driver's license or—or DNR certification permit—permit whatever that is. [30:05] **Matt Kline:** Madam Mayor, I have a question for Attorney Johnson. So, can we require that they have—so, what about for golf carts? Can [30:14] we require that they have an ATV certification essentially to also drive a golf cart if they're 16 and 17? [30:24] **Amanda Johnson (City Attorney):** That's a good question. Um, I don't—I don't believe that the ATV UTV certification is a requirement for golf carts. They're a separate thing under the statute, right? So, they're governed under different provisions, right? One thing to keep in mind, even though the individual does not need to have a driver's license, they are still required to follow every single rule of the road, right? That doesn't give them a pass for not stopping at stop signs or not following the speed limit. And they are still eligible for tickets if they, you know, violate um or drive recklessly or carelessly or—or whatever. It's just we can't require a driver's license. [31:02] **Matt Kline:** And the only thing I would point out there is I don't—I don't think we want separate items for golf carts and ATVs and UTVs, right? Then law enforcement all of a sudden is like, "who wrote this ordinance?" [31:18] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So yeah, and then we're chasing whatever new vehicle is created in the next 10 years. I would like to change it to 16 and say have a driver's license. I—yeah. Yeah. [31:33] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** But I don't think we should involve the 16 and 17 year olds in this. I think we leave it as it is. [31:42] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** That's—that's how I'm leaning now. I think they can get a bicycle if they want to get around. [31:48] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** I mean, they could get a moped still, right? That doesn't count as a—a moped is like a real vehicle. [31:55] **Amanda Johnson (City Attorney):** Correct. Cuz it's street legal and you drive you—like they get to really fast now. [32:04] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** If the moped is street legal. Yes. Yeah. It shouldn't be so hard. Yeah, I know. What a skateboard or something. One of those. Isn't there like one wheel? What are those one wheel things? Yep. Uh, okay. I would say let's just go with what has been written. I don't think we have any better solutions. What about like a standup electric scooter? I mean, they're flying down the road, too. Exactly. They got enough dangerous things they can do. They don't need to be in the golf cart. [32:40] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Golf cart safer than those. [32:42] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** I know. Yeah, but we can't. We have like a—No. What is it? What is it now? What is our policy now? [32:49] **Matt Kline:** Or we don't have one. [32:51] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** We have nothing about a golf cart. [32:53] **Matt Kline:** About a golf cart. So, the reason that we took this on is because currently we don't have one, which means that we have to follow state, which doesn't allow unless you have a registration process and can register golf carts, they're not allowed to be on city streets. So, in order to technically make it legal rather than just looking the other way, which we have done, we need this in place. And so, we're not— [33:20] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** So, now as a golf cart owner, you're not required to register it with the state. The city—don't you register with the city? [33:27] **Matt Kline:** That's a requirement of state statute. [33:29] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** Oh, so you do have to. [33:31] **Matt Kline:** Yes. We didn't make the rules complicated. We were just following somebody else's guidance. [33:38] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** I missed a little last meeting, I think, because I'm a little behind on this because I wasn't here. [33:46] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah. So, I'm trying to catch up. Yeah. No problem. Okay. Does anybody want to make a motion or do you want to keep talking about it or what are you thinking? Circles. Yeah. [34:08] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** I'm going to go buy a golf cart after this and register it. [34:11] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** And register. Let's see. And how old are your kids? [34:15] **Councilmember Ethan Gilmore:** 15. [34:16] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** They're out. They're out. Okay, let's move this along. People, what do you want to do? Nobody wants to do anything. Everyone's afraid to make the motion or what? [34:31] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** I'll move to adopt an amendment to chapter 54 traffic and vehicles of the Bayport city code of ordinances regarding regulations for recreational vehicles and summary for publication. [34:44] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thanks Ethan. [34:45] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** I second. [34:47] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** All right. Thanks Katie. Uh we need a roll call because we're making ordinances here. [34:52] **Matt Kline:** Council member Bliss. [34:53] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** Aye. [34:54] **Matt Kline:** Council member Gilmore. [34:55] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** Aye. [34:56] **Matt Kline:** Council member Hill. [34:57] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Aye. [34:58] **Matt Kline:** Mayor Hansen. [34:59] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Aye. [35:00] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Does anyone want to adopt an move to adopt an amendment to chapter 26 environment of the Bayport city code of ordinance regarding regulations for recreational vehicles and summary for publication? The amendment would be to get rid of it. I thought that's what we were doing. Yep. [35:22] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** I move to uh adopt the amendment uh to chapter 26 deleting it in its entirety. [35:32] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Does anyone second that? [35:34] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Second. [35:36] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Thank you, Carl and Katie. Roll call. [35:38] **Matt Kline:** Council member Hill. [35:39] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Aye. [35:40] **Matt Kline:** Council member Gilmore. [35:41] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** Aye. [35:42] **Matt Kline:** Council member Bliss. [35:43] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** Aye. [35:44] **Matt Kline:** Mayor Hansen. [35:45] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Aye. [35:46] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** I see what you did there. Motion on that one. That was easy. Okay. So, at least we got rid of a some part of the ordinances. You like that? Okay. City Council liaison reports. Um Carl's not in the mood to start, so I'll start. Oh, he will. Okay. Mine's easy. Okay, good. [36:14] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** The Lake Elmo Airport Citizens Advisory Commission meets next week. So, we have—we didn't see you. We will meet next week in Baytown. The public is welcome. It's very fun if you got nothing better to do. Just kidding. [36:31] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Thank you, Ethan. How about cable commission? [36:38] **Deputy Mayor Ethan Gilmore:** No, we did not meet. I've got a meeting I think in July is my next one. Probably after our meeting. Oh, no. We meet late, so maybe not. [36:48] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Katie, Bayport Community Action. [36:50] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Um, the bar crawl went well. Ice cream social and garage sales are coming up. So, this Wednesday, 2 days from now, 6:00 p.m. at Lakeside Park, we'll have our ice cream social, um, Mayor Michele will be there, Carl, John, and I will be there. And then a couple of the churches are going to be helping scoop bring food because it's a food pantry—we're um taking food in and the library is having house band play the event. Also on June 9th, the Monday, farmers market starts 3:00 to 7:00, there's fun things, so you can go on and see what's going on. Every week they're going on. [37:28] And Derby Day is—they got their band. They're picked a winner of their t-shirt, so you can go on their Facebook page and see the winners. [37:41] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** And who's the band? [37:42] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Oh. Oh, but they picked it. Yeah, they got somebody. Ask Mary Tickner. She—yeah, Mary. You will know. She's the one that did it. Uh, next meeting is June uh 19th at the Legion at 6 o'clock if anybody wants to go. [37:58] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** All right. And just one additional thing at the ice cream social, if you have used eyeglasses laying around, the lions will be there with a box. So, you don't have to go to the library or the bank. You can just bring them with you. [38:09] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. And then this seems like it was a really long time ago, but I—we all were at the groundbreaking for the elementary school and that was I think the day right after city council or something. So that was a very small event, but um nicely done. Um we there were some photos I think online of that. Um, uh, Simon and I had a little touch base with the people doing the walkability study for us, uh, back on the 8th of May, and hopefully things are still moving along. They were going to kind of get out in the field and start, um, putting all the information together, including um, the the responses from the survey that we did and some of our feedback about what we saw as like hotspots to make sure that they include in their study. [38:59] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um, oh yeah, I met with Rick Haidik from Sustainable Stillwater. See, I hadn't mentioned that yet. Uh, to talk a little bit about EV charging stations and the need for them in this area. And then we actually talked about that at our workshop today. Um, and we're going to start doing a little more research on that and partnering with the library. Went to the Bayport Bar Crawl. Great job. Bayport Community Action League. Fun. Super fun as always. And thanks to all the participating businesses. They always do a great job of making sure everyone has a good time. [39:35] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um I went to a information session that the chamber put on on the 12th about the new um paid leave that's starting that we all have to worry about and how that might affect um us as sort of a a small business that we are here. Um and then how it affects other small businesses in our community. Like for example, Mabels who's very small—doesn't really affect them, which is good to a certain extent, right? They don't have to worry about it because of the size of their business. So, I just wanted to clarify some of those things that I had heard. [40:10] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um, regional council mayor's meeting this past month was about the weather and climate. We had a couple speakers on that. Um, news is not great. We're gonna continue to probably have all these hazy days of more wildfires and everything going on. Um, and then Ryan Long, the president of Excel Energy in Minnesota and the Dakotas area came and spoke to the mayors and um kind of gave an update on how things are going. Um, interesting. He had a slide that said [40:41] the LNS King plant was um in Bayport, but it we all know it's not. So, I think it has—I mentioned I think it has something to do with the post office and their mailing addresses in Bayport. But anyways, um still not a lot of plan for they still don't know exactly what's going to happen on that site. So, looking forward again to the next stakeholders meeting. Maybe we'll know more. Um they're they're not sure about what they need need to keep and what they don't need for the solar to come through there. [41:15] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So um fire relief, nothing super significant there. Everything see even though the you know the fund isn't making a ton of money, we're we're still [41:27] doing okay right now. Chief Jackson worked with First State Bank and Trust and did a scam trends and prevention tactics presentation again. This time very well attended by a lot of—I don't know did you count how many came? [41:40] **Police Chief Jay Jackson:** It was about 30. [41:42] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah, I'd say 30 to maybe more than that over at Community Thread in Still Water. They did a great job. The crowd was very engaged. Everybody wanted to share their stories just like when you go to kindergarten and we're like this happened to me. So, it was fun. [42:01] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um, and then I attended a little over two days worth of fire chief interviews. Um, thank you staff for organizing all of that and participating. Um, Stu Glazier, the um, [42:13] fire chief from Stillwater helped us out with those interviews as well. And, um, Jason Severson and Josh Eisinger from the fire department were there. And then for second interviews, we had Chief Jackson join us. Um attended the library board meeting. My other liaison and Matt came to visit and uh we discussed budgeting and the non-union staff salary reviews and all of that that's going to be happening. [42:43] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um also that's where I kind of brought up the EV charging idea with the library board to see if they were interested in pursuing that and it seems like everybody's on board. They had actually thought about it at the time. They did the remodeling that was going to be part of their project, but we were in talks at that time with um another company that was going to be coming in and doing that and that all fell apart. [43:08] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Uh Memorial Day parade and ceremony was there with Carl was great. Thank you Jim Manard who said he's only got a couple years left in him [43:16] so he got to be working on a succession plan there. Did a few chamber events including a coffee talk for Relay for Life, uh the ambassador team meeting, chamber mixer at Local Makers Market, which is where the creator of Dots across the street has her art displayed if you want to go down and check it out. It's down on Main Street in Stillwater. And I did a quick little video uh as the ambassador for the city of Bayport. We did a little spotlight video that was a minute. She made me sit right here and talk about our fine city. I have not seen it online yet, but that'll be fun when that comes out. [43:56] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Uh, Leadership in the Valley, graduated, uh, was able to attend every day. Um, thank you very much for allowing me to do that. City of Bayport, I learned a lot and made a lot of really good connections. And then finally, if I can get through it without being emotional, because that's how I am. [44:19] Um, Mary McComber's funeral will be on Friday. Oh, sorry. I considered Mary a mentor and a friend and she was a she was a great advocate for Oak Park Heights and all small cities in Minnesota. Her upbeat nature and—and her determination will really be missed. So I'm sorry but it's just—yeah. Just not fair. So, so that's all I have. [45:08] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, that was huge. All right, we'll move on to uh staff reports. [45:15] **Josh Eisinger (Interim Fire Chief):** Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members. For May, our call volume was 96 compared to 124 in 2024. [45:33] 2025 year to date was 494 compared to 503 in 2024. Uh monthly drills were drafting and water relay uh car fire simulator that we use down at public works. Thank you, Simon, for letting us use that area. Uh fire inspections are ongoing as well as new plans. Uh past meetings, Washington County Fire Chiefs, the Anderson kindergarten station tour. That is always fun. A gazillion questions they have. It's fun. Um the bikes, bike to school day, we had Memorial Day parade with no rain, which was great. Um the anniversary for this month is Dave Pernick, eight years. Upcoming events, uh we got party in the park, the Oak [46:19] Park Heights. We're going to try to get a truck out to your ice cream social on Wednesday. Uh we will be doing escort for Mayor McComber's funeral from Bradshaw over to Fairview Cemetery. I know PD is going to also help with that. We have safety camp coming up. Sorry Jay, I forgot the date. I think it's the 14th, isn't it? You'll have it. 14th. Yeah. And then the food truck extravaganza out at the fairgrounds. With that, I'll stand for questions. [46:54] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** That's what I like. Thank you. [46:56] **Josh Eisinger (Interim Fire Chief):** Thank you. [47:00] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thanks, Chief. Uh, Chief Jackson, I forgot Allan helped with interviews, too. He gave tours. [47:15] **Police Chief Jay Jackson:** Uh, Madame Mayor, council members, a few things to report. Our increased speed enforcement will continue. The safe roads grant that we've been operating on um with overtime uh will be coming to an end at the end of the month. Um we'll obviously continue our normal enforcement as we have, but we will miss the uh increased enforcement activity. Uh um the other things that we have here uh as the mayor mentioned we did the uh uh senior fraud [47:26] seminar at the community thread. Well attended um it was great. It was a really good event that had a lot of interesting questions and we gave out some resources and collaborating with the bank was really helpful. So thank you to them as well as the community thread. [47:40] **Police Chief Jay Jackson:** Uh also we did the Memorial Day parade. Thank you to all my staff for coming in on uh most of their days off. It's kind of an all hands on deck to make that happen. Special thank you to Simon and his staff working well with us getting all the streets covered and everything taken care of. It's a pretty big event for all of us to get done. Um, also thank you to Jim Manard for his many, many years of doing it. He keeps telling us he's winding down. We'll see. I think I might retire before he does, so we'll see. But thank you, Jim. [48:15] **Police Chief Jay Jackson:** Um, we also did, uh, two kindergarten tours this week, um, of the police department and, uh, that was well-received here, kind of the end of the year thing we do every year. Uh, we'll be attending the ice cream social as well. And then safety camp July 14th and 15th. It's a new date. We've been trying to tell people as much as we can. It is $50. Lunch is provided both days. It's uh, grades uh, 2nd through 6th grade. This year we'll be featuring first aid, internet safety, bullying, uh survivor skills, some fire safety. Uh Jill from the library is going to do an escape room again this year. There will be a K9 demo. Let's go fishing will be there as well. And then the nature center will have some exhibits with birds, snakes, and turtles. Um so it should be a good event this year as always. And then obviously night to unite on August 5th. With that, I will stand for questions. [49:09] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Nicely done. Thank you. I did just see a golf cart over at Mabels. Did you wear 18—18-year-old—get better get over there! All right. Uh public works director uh Worth who happens to be his last meeting tonight and like to thank him for his time here and we appreciate it. [49:32] **Simon Worth (Public Works Director):** Thank you city administrator Kline. I really appreciate that and it's been uh it's been truly a privilege um serving for Bayport. Um I've learned a lot and uh one thing I this town has a reputation for being a very well-oiled machine and I got to see that firsthand and it's fantastic. So keep up the good work. It's truly been a pleasure. Um, again, I'd like to echo what Chief Jackson said, thanking everybody um for their input on the Memorial Day parade. Town looked fantastic. I mean, what a beautiful little town this is. Driving through it, it was really impressive. Hanging baskets all all down 95 now. Um, it's coming together. [50:15] **Simon Worth (Public Works Director):** Um, ash tree removal has has begun. Uh, requests for quotes were sent out to uh companies. Um, tree removal contractors. One thing I just wanted to mention about that is there are a lot of ash trees that are dead throughout town. We understand that we have a pretty generous budget on an annual basis of about $30 to $40,000 for trees. Um we do try to get as many as we can. There's a lot of them. Um with that being said, we have budget for about 30. Um and that's to replace them as well. So if you see one that's dead, please let us know. Certainly. Um, I can't guarantee you that we're going to take care of it this year. Chances are if it has a number on it with a pink ribbon around it at this point, it's going. Um, that's that's one that's on on the quote list. So, if you do see one that's in the boulevard, um, please let us know. We we will keep a list tallied for ongoing removal. [51:15] **Simon Worth (Public Works Director):** Um, we're getting there. There's a lot of ash trees in town. Um, also would encourage homeowners to start taking care of their own trees if they're dead in their yard because, um, I know it's expensive, but and it's definitely a gut punch when you have to remove a tree, but um, it's just a nuisance and it your neighbors would appreciate it, I'm sure. [51:35] **Simon Worth (Public Works Director):** Um, last thing I want to mention is the—the beach retaining wall at Lakeside Park has been completed. It's gorgeous. Uh, I'd like to thank Cruz Contracting for doing that work. Um he was in and out in a couple of days. Um once things green up with the grass, um it's going to be beautiful. It's it looks like it's meant to be there. Um it's kind of a nice gateway into Bayport from the beach. Um I'd encourage everybody to go check check it out. And with that, I stand for questions. [52:05] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thank you, Simon. Thank you. Big thank you to, you know, the overall the last couple years. Thank you for everything. [52:15] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** And the wall does look nice. I've seen it from both sides, from the riverside and from the beach. And he did a nice job. He actually graduated with my son, Tyler Cruz, and now he's got his own business. He's a young guy and he's hungry. So, yeah. So, nicely done. [52:35] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um, it does look more natural. And I like that. I saw people sitting on the wall now. You know, it's kind of a cool place to do that. And having the opening to the beach was great idea, too, where it's more wide. So, thank you. Hopefully the grass grows in after that nice rain we got. And you're not going to talk about the sidewalk saw cutting? You don't want to talk about it? I think mention it. People don't read this packet. Well, I figured on the air they might watch it at least. [53:08] **Simon Worth (Public Works Director):** Uh the same company that's doing the walkability study, Safe—um excuse me. Um Safe Step—they they completed their sidewalk cutting. Um they do a sixth of the city annually. So there's a six-year rotating basis. All of the sidewalks are surveyed, cut down. Um, we've completed the first six years. So, every piece of sidewalk has been touched to the threshold that we set up to begin with. Now, we're lowering that threshold. So, they're going to go around town again every year and try to get a sixth of um the the city and uh we'll just keep at it. And it's certainly a lot cheaper than replacing sidewalk panels at this point. And it seems to be working well. So. [53:35] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Mhm. Okay, thank you. Thanks, Simon. Uh, city assistant city administrator Taylor. [53:40] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** Madame Mayor, members of the council, a planning commission meeting will be held on Monday, June 23rd at 6 p.m. Agenda items include a final plat and plan unit development plan for Bay Haven Development by Pratt Holmes. Uh variances and conditional use permits related to the riverway and flood plane regulations for 10-point road, 13-point road, and 297 Lake Street. And then finally, we have um some zoning ordinance amendments which include the impervious surface credit for decks and stairs that we've been discussing over the past few years. And then uh regulations for recreational vehicles and recreation camping vehicles to tie [54:21] in with the ordinance that was um adopted this evening. [54:27] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** The next edition of the city's newsletter is in process slated for distribution um mid June. Uh also the new city website is taking shape which is anticipated to be presented to the city council for feedback in later this month or early July. Um finally the hiring process continues for both the fire chief and the public works director positions. Uh staff hopes to have an update for the city council in the coming weeks. That's all I have. Stand for questions. [54:55] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** So, what is the planning commission doing with chapter 54 about the recreational vehicles, madam mayor? [55:00] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** Not necessarily chapter 54, but there are regulations with it. I get it. Voting words. Yeah. So, there's other things that they need to—definitions. We've updated um— [55:18] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** To be consistent. [55:19] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** Um couple other—well, there's no distinction right now between a recreation vehicle and a recreation camper. [55:25] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Oh. [55:26] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** So, we thought that that probably should be kind of clarified difference. [55:29] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Okay. Thank you. [55:30] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** You're welcome. [55:31] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Thanks, Sara. [55:33] **Matt Kline (City Administrator):** um my report—just um make it as short as possible here so we can get out and try and get a shower outside. Um, they're working on uh Bayport Elementary. Obviously, they have the footings installed and they're making pretty good progress. Last I heard, they were ahead of schedule. Um, except for the parking lot or the temporary parking lot where um the initial um opening for that had been the 1st of June. It does—last I heard June 9th was the plan for the temporary parking lot. So that's the gravel parking lot of—of where the old parking lot was. [56:15] **Matt Kline (City Administrator):** So, um, as everybody knows, I'm sure by now, uh, the Stillwater Prison, closure, um, so city staff has somewhat been in contact with DOC staff. So, but we really only know as much as everybody else. Um, it's the hope is that we'll be working closely with them on the process moving forward and all the timing and stuff like that. Um but at this point we know just about as much as what every citizen does. [56:45] **Matt Kline (City Administrator):** Um the League of Minnesota City Salary Survey um as mentioned earlier tonight um the survey will be used to um develop uh potential changes to salaries of non-union staff uh moving forward. That survey comes out June 17th. Um, and I'll hopefully have an update um, at the June [57:03] 23rd um, budget workshop that we're going to hold um, in order at least to have some idea of how it might impact the 2026 budget. [57:15] **Matt Kline (City Administrator):** And so that leads into 2026 budget preparation. Again, I mentioned the June 23rd dates. Um, so there'll probably be preliminary discussion on next year's budget, uh, CIP discussion. We don't have a lot of capital items planned for next year. Um and then a review of the 2024 financial management plan. Um and potential state impacts to the budget. With that, stand for questions. [57:44] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Um just to follow up on the fire chief position, we still have not like solidified that with any of the candidates, just so in case anybody's wondering. Um, still in the process of figuring that out. So, and then we'll start public works director interviews tomorrow. All right. Anyone have any items or announcements they'd like to make? Otherwise, we can make a motion to get out. [58:11] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Thank you, Simon, for your years here. You'll be missed. Yeah. [58:15] **Simon Worth (Public Works Director):** Thank you all. It's been a pleasure. And I'm sure I'll see you around town. [58:18] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** Yeah. Hope so. All right. Gotta come and check out your new lights that go up and on Fifth Avenue. Okay. All right. Sorry. Go ahead, Carl. [58:34] **Councilmember Carl Bliss:** All right. Said I move to Scadet. [58:36] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** He moves to Scadet. [58:37] **Councilmember Katie Hill:** Second. [58:39] **Mayor Michele Hanson:** All right. All those in favor? Let's get out of here.