This transcript features **Mayor Matt Montgomery** presiding over the meeting, with presentations from **Tyler (ABDO Solutions)** and **Travis Mun (Dollar General)**. City staff members **Zach (Planning)**, **Shelley Ryan (City Attorney)**, **Jed Petersen (Public Works)**, **Laura Qualey (Community Development)**, and **Chief Jeff McCormick** also provide significant input. Please note: The transcript mentions several Council Members (Guesmi, Groth, and Lundell) who were not included in your initial context list but are clearly identified in the roll call and dialogue. *** **[0:28]** [Audio Artifacts] **[4:56] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I get hungry again. Call to order City Council meeting for Tuesday, June 18th, 2024. If I could get a roll call please. **[City Clerk/Mayor]:** Guesmi? Here. Groth? Here. Jeppesen? Here. Johnson? Here. Kronenberger? Here. Lundell? Here. Montgomery? Here. **[4:56] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Please rise 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. Before I seek approval of tonight's agenda, because we had that work session before, I'm going to add under Council Business item D will be City Admin succession committee and item E will be work session for July 23rd, just so we can take action on the record that we're going to put a work session in there. With that said, I would take a motion to approve tonight's agenda. **[5:43] Council Member Guesmi:** I'll move. **[5:43] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Guesmi. Do I have a second? **[5:43] Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Second. **[5:43] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Second from Jeppesen. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. Gets us to public input. Public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the City Council. The public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length and each speaker will have no more than 3 minutes to speak. Brian Jensen, Dollar General. **[6:29] Brian Jensen:** Yeah, I'm here for 1022 North F Street for Progressive Rail. I talked with my boss, he told me to show up tonight. He said they're all good to go as long as the variances are met and there's an 8-foot fence. Like I believe he talked to Travis already and they agreed to that. I believe that was set up in the last time we talked here and he said he's not opposed to having a new building up. That's all I got. **[7:17] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, thanks. Thank you. That gets us to our presentation today. We have our audit presentation from Tyler from ABDO Solutions. **[7:17] Tyler (ABDO Solutions):** All right, will this technically be a two-part with the executive governance and then the annual financial report? **[7:17] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** So I'm just actually going over the financial statement audit presentation. Perfect, so just a one-part deal. **[8:02] Tyler (ABDO Solutions):** All right, well thanks for having me tonight. My name is Tyler, audit manager at ABDO. As I said, just going over the financial statement audit presentation. Presentation is meant to be a high-level overview of the audit without getting too lost in detail. Looking at the audit results, we are issuing what's called an unmodified opinion on the financial statements, which is a clean audit opinion. We also have no instances of non-compliance to note. We do have one audit finding for 2023, the preparation of financial statements internal control finding. This is a recurring finding and very common for a city of your size. [Tyler continues presentation of general fund, enterprise funds, and KPIs through 18:51]. **[18:51] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Tyler, can you elaborate more on what's a Class 4? Is it based just population? **[18:51] Tyler (ABDO Solutions):** Yep, statewide population of 10,000 or less. [Tyler concludes presentation at 21:05]. **[21:05] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Any questions from the council? None. All right, and I don't think it's necessarily for the audit, but on the recycling fund, that we have almost $250,000 in, do we have capital expenses in that? I'm thinking where we're going to spend that money. Maybe that's a fee we could have less. There's $250,000 and there's no capital because Waste Management takes care of it for us, right? So and maybe we lower those rates, which I realize is not an audit, but it came from your chart. Anything else from the council? All right, thank you Tyler. **[21:05] Tyler (ABDO Solutions):** All right, thanks for having me. Have a great meeting. **[21:05] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. I would entertain a motion to approve the audit that has just been presented to us. **[22:31] Council Member Diane Johnson:** So moved. **[22:31] Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Second. **[22:31] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Diane, second from Ryan. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. All right, that gets us to the consent agenda. [Mayor reads Items A through J]. Are there any the council would like to pull down? Hearing none, I would accept a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. **[23:19] Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** So moved. **[23:19] Council Member Lundell:** Second. **[23:19] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Jeppesen, second from Mr. Lundell. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. Gets us to our Council Business for tonight. Resolution 2763 approving variances for Dollar General. Zach, if you'd like to take this one over. **[24:04] Zach (City Planning Staff):** Yeah, for sure. So at the June 10th Planning Commission meeting, Dollar General presented an updated site plan. These changes eliminated the need for one of the variances. Tonight, Dollar General is asking for a nine-space reduction to required parking as well as a 13.7 front setback variance. Travis Mun, the senior project manager for Dollar General, is here tonight to answer any questions you guys might have. **[25:35] Council Member Lundell:** I'm just wondering if how normally public input is just public input and it's not back and forth or a public hearing and this is neither, so I'm just wondering if there is a back and forth? **[26:22] Shelley Ryan (City Attorney):** Thank you Mr. Mayor, council members. Tonight is not a public hearing. You may engage with the applicant and ask questions to receive information if needed. [Shelley explains the legal framework for variances and conditional use permits]. **[30:16] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** What if the reason for voting down is because of not allowing the variances? **[30:16] Shelley Ryan (City Attorney):** That'll be part of your discussion. That's why we want three separate motions. If the decision is to grant the variances, I would strongly condition that grant on the grant of the conditional use permit as well. **[31:03] Council Member Lundell:** With a new build, asking for variances seems extremely rare. How come there is not an option that is not asking for variances? **[31:03] Travis Mun (Dollar General):** That's a great question. I can't really speak to the real estate side. I do know there was one other parcel they considered. I'm a senior project manager for a civil engineering firm. We try to come up with site plans that don't need variances—that's our goal. I do believe this site, if you look at the configuration of the property lines, has some legit hardships. The site is an awkward L-shape. We did go down to the 9,100 square foot footprint to alleviate concerns. **[34:55] Council Member:** Was there any talk of turning the building or maybe moving the building to a different location on the property so that the variance wouldn't be needed? **[34:55] Travis Mun (Dollar General):** Yes, I sat down and tried to come up with alternative options. There was just really no way with the shape of the property, safety concerns, and the easement to really avoid the need for a variance. [Discussion continues regarding truck routes and fencing]. I spoke with Lane with Progressive Rail yesterday. His major concerns were semis turning left across tracks and the fence. We agreed to a 6-foot fence. **[39:51] Steve Nordin (Board Member):** I raised this question during the Planning Commission asking you if you could squeeze the front down so the only variance you'd need is parking. I don't know if that was still on the table or not. **[41:24] Travis Mun (Dollar General):** 9,100 is the smallest footprint they have. If we reduced the drive aisle on the north side, we couldn't get delivery vehicles to maneuver. **[41:24] Council Member:** Shelley, the parking requirement—is that a local ordinance or is that on par for cities of our size? **[41:24] Shelley Ryan (City Attorney):** Parking is very community specific. It’s set by your code in proportion to square footage. **[45:15] Council Member Lundell:** Is the fact that they want to build it at a certain size... in your opinion caused by the landowner by them wanting a bigger store than what is allowed? **[45:15] Shelley Ryan (City Attorney):** Council Member Lundell, not necessarily. Practical difficulties looks at the "plight of the landowner" due to circumstances unique to the property, like topography or shape, not created by the landowner. **[46:42] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I guess I would just say that I do kind of struggle with doing variances on new construction. On the other hand, I think these are pretty minor and I appreciate them going back and adjusting. I'm not a big fan of variances on new builds, but this is a unique situation. **[50:36] Council Member Chad Johnson:** I do appreciate your concern. But I look at that particular property and it's not really residential. Most of the rest of the stuff down Dakota is business. I find it to be a very reasonable request for what I consider rather minor variances. This brings a new business to town and takes a property that's been vacant for years and creates a tax basis. **[52:33] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Well, ready for a motion? Everyone seems to be deciding. We need a 3/5ths majority for conditional uses and variances. **[53:18] Council Member Chad Johnson:** I would move that we approve the conditional use permit subject to the variances. **[55:35] Shelley Ryan (City Attorney):** Mr. Mayor, can I also highlight conditions on the truck route and signage prohibiting semis turning left? **[56:24] Council Member Chad Johnson:** I modify my motion to approve the conditional use permit with the addition of the 6-foot privacy fence on the North Boundary and signage prohibiting left-hand turns onto Fourth Street from trucks. **[56:24] Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** Second. **[57:57] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Roll call vote. Guesmi? Abstained. Groth? No. Jeppesen? Yes. Johnson? Yes. Kronenberger? Yes. Lundell? Yes. [4-1-1 Approval]. Now we must vote on the variances individually. **[58:45] Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** I'll make a motion to approve the parking variance. **[58:45] Council Member Chad Johnson:** Second. [5-0-1 Approval]. **[59:31] Council Member Chad Johnson:** I would move for the variance of the setback. **[59:31] Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** Second. [3-2-1 Approval - Variance passes]. **[1:00:17] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** City Attorney, please draft findings consistent with the council's decisions. That brings us to our active Transportation Summit. Jed? **[1:01:03] Jed Petersen (Public Works):** The committee will be hosting a summit next Tuesday and Wednesday. MnDOT is going to fund a demonstration project. Laura, is there anything you want to add? **[1:02:35] Laura Qualey (Community Development):** It's a two-day event. We'll be doing walk audits downtown and at the school, and a bike tour. There's about $17,000 to help create our demonstration project, like creating a bike lane or a crosswalk. **[1:05:40] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Succession committee: Laura Kronenberger, Ryan Jeppesen, and I will be that committee. We’ll start the ball rolling in finding Neil’s replacement for 2025. Item E, a work session on July 23rd at 5:00 PM for budget discussion. **[1:06:25] Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** So moved. **[1:06:25] Council Member Chad Johnson:** Second. [Approved]. **[1:07:12] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Reports. Laura, would you mind talking about the EDA? **[1:07:12] Laura Qualey:** Fieldstone homes has broken ground. We have closed on three lots total in Hardwood Estates. Working with Fire and Ambulance on some equipment grants. **[1:09:35] Council Member:** Planning Commission met on June 10th. Bethel Rock Church was here to discuss possibly moving to the south side of town, but that was just an informal discussion. **[1:10:21] Jed Petersen (Public Works):** We're hoping to do the mill and overlay next week if the weather cooperates. John Burch Park ground-breaking should happen shortly after the 4th of July. **[1:11:52] Jeff McCormick (Police Chief):** Weather is making the river higher and faster. We are likely going to see high water again. I'll be monitoring that and working with Emergency Management if we need sandbagging. **[1:13:28] Council Member Groth:** Just one question, where did the speed sign go? **[1:13:28] Jeff McCormick (Police Chief):** It's charging right now. We had it down by the softball diamonds, but the shade caused it to go dead. We're planning to move it to the west side tomorrow. **[1:14:15] Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I've got nothing. I would accept a motion to adjourn. **[1:14:15] Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** So moved. **[1:14:15] Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Second. [Adjourned].