This is a transcription of a Grant, Minnesota City Council meeting. Based on the context of the names mentioned and the procedural flow, I have identified the speakers as **Mayor Jeff Huber**, Council Members **John Rock**, **Tom Tufty**, **Jeff Giefer**, and **Bob Carr**, as well as City Clerk **Kim Pointon** and Treasurer **Sharon Giefer**. [0:12] **All (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. Thank you. [0:24] **Mayor Huber:** No they don't. Okay, generally we've all had a chance to take a look at the regular agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the regular agenda please? [0:29] **John Rock:** So moved. [0:32] **Mayor Huber:** John. Do I have a second on the regular agenda please? [0:34] **Jeff Giefer:** Second. [0:36] **Kim Pointon (Roll Call):** Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. [0:46] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you, Kim. Second on our agenda is approval of the consent agenda. We've all had about a week to take a look at that. Do I have a motion to approve our consent agenda please? [0:55] **John Rock:** Motion to approve. [0:57] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you. Do I have a second? [0:59] **Bob Carr:** Second. [1:01] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you, Bob. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. Thanks, Kim. Well, the staff really has it easy this time. We've got no items for our engineer, no items for our planner, and no items for a City Attorney at this point, although we do have Christina with us tonight for any questions, and thank you Christina for coming. [1:25] **Mayor Huber:** New business: we have the consideration of the Comcast cable Expansion Project agreement. I guess I'll go ahead and jump on this. I might have to talk for a few minutes, so water first. As you gentlemen know, I've been on the Cable Commission for several years now. I was able to negotiate about a mile and a half expansion—it's got to be almost six years now—that was on 115th off of Jamaica and the north up Inwood. As you can imagine, these are very complicated negotiations and very complicated project planning. [1:58] **Mayor Huber:** So this one here took us quite a while and I do want to thank the state of Minnesota for dedicating funds for the Border-to-Border project. I also want to thank our Comcast cable representatives, Megan and Carly, who have been just fantastic to work with during this entire project. And we are coming to the point where the city will need to dedicate $150,000 in ARPA funds, which is the COVID funds forwarded to us from the federal government, which can be used for this type of project. As you guys know and I've explained in the past, these funds are very, very restricted in their use. Telecommunication, allowing people with children—younger children—to educate those children at home in case of a pandemic, working from home so as not to hurt the economy during a pandemic... these are all issues and goals that the federal government has set. [2:44] **Mayor Huber:** So the state of Minnesota through their Border-to-Border grant program, the federal government indirectly through their ARPA grant program, and Comcast with their assistance as well—obviously, they're going to be doing the engineering, the planning, and the actual construction. So as I get more—and I just want to put this out front because people are going to have questions—I want to make sure people get this: as I have more information about the actual addresses, the scope of this project, and when it's going to be occurring, I will get that information on the website just as soon as possible. Everything we have right now is very, very preliminary, but what I can tell you is that the vast majority of this project will go from 96 and Manning up a corridor North and basically do almost the entire Northeast section of Grant. That is the most underserved quarter that we have right now, and that's where they've identified the project to take place. Obviously, Comcast identifies that as there are business considerations as well; they do have to make money on that even though part of it are grant dollars, there still is a profit motive there for Comcast as we would expect. So, that is my spiel. Do we have questions, gentlemen? Anything that you want to talk about? [3:57] **Tom Tufty:** Tom here. Yeah, so this money is strictly from the money we're getting from other sources? Not our franchise fees or anything that's still going to the Cable Commission and all that stuff? [4:10] **Mayor Huber:** Yeah, let's talk about that real quick. The ARPA funds—the $150,000—should we approve this tonight, is actually the COVID funding that we receive from the federal government. None of the dollars that we currently hold, excluding the ARPA funds, will be used for this. The franchise fees that we get from the Cable Commission right now are completely independent of this. Those fees are based upon the amount of subscribers that Comcast has in the city and what contract the Cable Commission has negotiated with Comcast. [4:43] **Tom Tufty:** Good question. In terms of the franchise fee, if we put another 250-300 houses onto Comcast, hopefully that franchise fee were to go up? [4:53] **Mayor Huber:** Sure, because we would become a bigger city in their eyes. And at the Cable Commission, each city is rated on the number of subscribers and that tells you how many votes they get. For example, we get four votes; White Bear has like 11 votes. And there's how many cities still involved? Seven, I believe. And we haven't lost anybody. But there are—if it became... you know, this is beyond the scope of what I'm talking about tonight... if it became necessary, certainly the Council could take action in order to safeguard our interests. [5:33] **Tom Tufty:** Cool. Well, that's great that they can get wired up up there. [5:36] **Mayor Huber:** Well, can you imagine living with a dial-up? [5:38] **Tom Tufty:** Yeah, right now it's crazy. I can't imagine it. [5:40] **Mayor Huber:** Poor John's got kids. Four kids, John, if I may? Four kids who I don't think they can all play Xbox at once, can they John? [5:46] **John Rock:** No, I didn't think so. [5:48] **Mayor Huber:** So whether it's Xbox or communication or education or government, I think in 2023, when most of outstate Minnesota has been wired up with fiber, I think it's time for Mr. Rock and other residents of Grant to be wired up. So I can't think of a better use for these funds than to wire up the remainder of Grant as far as is possible with that. [5:58] **John Rock:** Question: so yeah, all we have is this agreement, so we don't have a resolution or anything? I don't believe they gave us a resolution, did they? [6:06] **Kim Pointon:** Mr. Mayor and Council members, a resolution was not required. The City Attorney did review the agreement; he had no issues with it. Some revisions were made per his request, but no, you just have to approve the agreement. [6:22] **John Rock:** Okay. [6:23] **Mayor Huber:** Just a motion and a second and approve it. That's what I thought. All right, real good. I've explained it. Any other questions? Bob, John, Jeff? [6:34] **Jeff Giefer:** None for me. [6:36] **Mayor Huber:** Real good. Looking for a motion to approve. [6:38] **Jeff Giefer:** Motion to approve 2023-75. [6:40] **Mayor Huber:** Do I have a second? [6:41] **John Rock:** Second. [6:42] **Mayor Huber:** Don't worry about it, just kidding. Okay, we got a first and a second. [6:45] **Kim Pointon:** One clarification, Council member Giefer. Your motion was to approve the cable project agreement? [6:58] **Jeff Giefer:** Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't put my glass... yes. Not—I was on B. Sorry. Yes. Okay. [7:11] **Mayor Huber:** Thanks very much, Kim. Do you want to—you know, we should have discussed this, but I don't really talk to you guys much—do you want to take the electric service franchise ordinance or not? [7:17] **Kim Pointon:** We'll go briefly. [7:18] **Mayor Huber:** Yeah, it's a renewal so yeah, it's not a big deal. [7:19] **Kim Pointon:** Mayor and Council members, your current franchise agreement with Xcel expires December 1st. It is the same agreement in terms of... it's like 20 years, like the last one was. It's a long time. Again, it comes up December 1st and any changes—actually, if there are no changes—it takes about three months to get into their system. Any franchise fee agreement with Xcel has got to be adopted by ordinance. So before you, you have four ordinances. The first ordinance is the actual franchise ordinance, and what that means is you have an ordinance in place to collect a franchise fee. It does not include the fees themselves, because at any time during the year, one time a year, you can increase your fees or lower your fees as long as you have that ordinance in place. The second ordinance is to implement the electric service franchise fee which you have always had. In your draft ordinance, I did not increase those fees; I kept them the same based on your budget discussions and just knowing the Council. There was an outline in your packet that showed the increase in fees if you choose to go up—and you can choose to go up—but I kept the electric franchise the same. What I did add was another ordinance for the gas franchise fee. You currently do not have one with gas, and I'm not sure of the history of that, why that would not have been included. Most cities have the electric and the gas, and I put that at the lowest level. That's what's included in all your ordinances. [9:28] **Tom Tufty:** Were we charging gas before? [9:31] **Kim Pointon:** You were not getting a franchise fee. [9:35] **Mayor Huber:** Hang on, Tom. Real quick, the reason that we have these franchise fees is the same reason that we have cable franchise fees. These folks are out in our city, they're working. We all experienced the gas line extension that occurred right next to the elementary school and on 75th there. Tearing up roads, stopping traffic... this type of thing. And making sure that the projects—obviously, we're not having Jack go out and inspect high-pressure gas pipelines, that's not his role—but all of those things are under this umbrella of what they do. And if I am correct, Kim, Xcel does not pull permits of any kind? They are not charged? [10:14] **Kim Pointon:** They do pull right-of-way permits. [10:17] **Mayor Huber:** Yes, that's a difference, and thank you for that distinction. The point is that they don't pay—these franchise fees are how they pay. This is how they handle this. And going through, I have found a number of different cities, and I've been on different cities' websites; we are the lowest by about 50 percent. And whenever we start talking about revenue like this... you know, I'm pleased that you all agreed to a 15-minute meeting in December, because fees like this—revenue fees like this—if Tom's concerns perhaps for the economy, maybe my concerns for the economy, are founded, we should know by December. That's the time where we can, as Kim made quite clear, raise or lower these. Okay? If things get changed and we have to make changes, we can do that in December. But that's a perfect time to think about it and talk about it and make changes if you need to make changes, right? So, pretty simple stuff. Everything's the same except for the gas went up slightly, lower than I've seen anywhere else. Tom? [11:15] **Tom Tufty:** Well, Sharon was there when we used to just have a levy and then they limited us, we couldn't increase it. So that's the only reason we even have these. We might have added them in the meantime, but that's the only reason we had them to begin with. So it's just... you see, it's kind of a secret tax that we put on the residents. But you gotta get your revenues, you know? It's just now it's just built into the cake. So I mean, it is what it is. So I don't think I'd be interested in raising those; I would rather do it with a straight levy increase. [11:43] **Jeff Giefer:** Kim, question. Reviewed by our attorney or whoever, all these documents? You said when was the last time we—is this every... I can't remember because every year we do the Xcel, the electric, or has it been a while? [11:51] **Kim Pointon:** Oh, it's been a while. Because I would know what could have been added or not added... so I'm hoping she's smiling... the attorney reviewed all of them. I wouldn't know if I read it if something was needed to be out or not. [12:04] **Jeff Giefer:** Okay, that's great to know. Good. [12:06] **Mayor Huber:** Yeah, and I think adding the gas—small little increase again—and I don't really like it, but you know, whatever. I will speak up on that. The city owns the right-of-way. Everyone else gets charged to work in our right-of-way. So I will respectfully disagree that it's a "secret tax." It's on everyone's bill, it's just like the cable franchise. [12:35] **Tom Tufty:** Yeah, but it's... [12:36] **Mayor Huber:** So it's not a secret. [12:37] **Tom Tufty:** No, but it's passed on to the residents. [12:39] **Mayor Huber:** It is passed. So that's all it is, and it's minimal. And like I said, the time to discuss if there are any issues—Tom, as you brought up wisely I think earlier, changes in the economy that we need to discuss—that's why the December meeting is in place, those 15 minutes. So if there is nothing further on this, gentlemen, I would like to get a motion on 2023-75, the electric franchise ordinance itself. [13:10] **John Rock:** I'll move to approve that, 2023-75 electric franchise ordinance. [13:17] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you, John. Second? You can take your choice, we have Bob and Mr. Giefer on that one. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. [13:31] **Mayor Huber:** Okay. Moving on, we're going to be on an ordinance implementing the electric service franchise fee. And keep in mind, the last time this was done was 2009 or something, so yeah, probably nobody remembers this. I don't even think I was alive then. Yeah, pretty young. That's over there... Sharon, we were... 2023-76, an ordinance implementing the electric service franchise. [13:50] **Jeff Giefer:** So move. [13:52] **Mayor Huber:** We got Mr. Giefer on the first. Second please? [13:54] **Bob Carr:** Second. [13:55] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you, Bob. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. Thank you. [14:11] **Mayor Huber:** And the gas franchise ordinance, which is 2023-77. John? Tom, I'm not voting for you. I have a motion? [14:20] **John Rock:** I'll move the approve that. [14:23] **Mayor Huber:** All right, real good. We've got Mr. Rock as a first. We have a second? [14:27] **Bob Carr:** Second. [14:28] **Mayor Huber:** Yeah, two bucks. We can swing it. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. So that was our ordinance, our franchise ordinance, and then the ordinance implementing a gas service... or is that the one I just called? That was the one I just called, never mind gentlemen. [14:57] **Mayor Huber:** Authorization for summary publication... as you guys know we would... no, go ahead, sorry. Did I skip one? [15:05] **Kim Pointon:** Yes, last one. 178. [15:07] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you. Ordinance implementing a gas service franchise fee. I had my mark there but I didn't have the names on it. Do I have a first on that one? [15:10] **Jeff Giefer:** Motion to approve. [15:13] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you. John? Do I have a second? [15:15] **Bob Carr:** Second. [15:17] **Mayor Huber:** Bob made the second. I'm sorry, I did not hear that. Thank you. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. [15:41] **Mayor Huber:** All right, we're back on track. 2023-22, an authorization for summary of publication. As you guys know, we're not going to publish all this stuff in the newspaper, so we do a summary of this and then publish it to save us money. Do I have a motion to go? [15:52] **Jeff Giefer:** Motion. [15:54] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you. We have a second? [15:56] **John Rock:** Second. [15:58] **Mayor Huber:** John. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. Uh, if you're lucky you didn't do your computer on that. Yeah, yeah, you might want to like... not pickle, pickle. [16:15] **Mayor Huber:** Okay, let's on the preliminary 2024 budget. Sharon, do you want to just summarize? I'm not sure if you'd like to summarize or not. No? Okay, let's not. Well, we have to—we have that revised figure that we have. We gotta have the number right. [16:25] **Sharon Giefer:** I gave you all the number. [16:27] **Mayor Huber:** Yeah, we do have the number. It is 2-4... there it is. Yeah, we've got it. I set it aside, Sharon, my bad. [16:34] **Sharon Giefer:** $10,000 higher than that. That was 2,500,000. Not the levy, that was 21... yeah, 20. 2,502,954. Yep. Just by $20,000 or $10,000. Got it. [17:28] **Mayor Huber:** Hi Sharon, Treasurer. Okay, I can't see like that. All right. 2023-20 is our general fund budget for 2024. This is our total of expenses for the general fund. We also have a fund for our debt service, but that is not budgeted. So, the council met twice and went through all the items that have changed and discussed our future issues, such as brushing, and they have come up with a budget of $2,502,954. That's correct? And that would be a motion and a second for 2023-20? [18:03] **Jeff Giefer:** So move. [18:06] **Mayor Huber:** We have a second on that figure for a total budget please? [18:08] **John Rock:** Second. [18:10] **Mayor Huber:** Thank you, John. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. Thank you. [18:18] **Mayor Huber:** And the preliminary 2024 Levy, Sharon? [18:22] **Sharon Giefer:** Our preliminary levy at a three percent increase, which is traditional in Grant, is $1,444,216. [18:29] **Mayor Huber:** And by traditional I don't mean that we do it without thinking, but we try very hard to keep it at this low level. Yes? And remarks before I ask for a motion here: "traditional," Sharon, means that when the city has reserves, we're in a good financial position. There is no reason to raise our levy in order to raise reserves. We want that money left in the residents' pockets as long as you're doing a good job. And I note that we had no one at our budget meeting; we must be doing a pretty good job, right? So with that said, looking for a motion on the levy of $1,444,216. [19:12] **Jeff Giefer:** So moved. [19:15] **Mayor Huber:** And a second? [19:17] **Bob Carr:** Second. [19:18] **Mayor Huber:** Bob, thank you. Council member Carr? [Carr: Aye]. Council member Rock? [Rock: Aye]. Council member Giefer? [Giefer: Aye]. Council member Tufty? [Tufty: Aye]. Mayor Huber? [Huber: Aye]. All right, thank you, Kim. Thank you, Sharon. [19:35] **Sharon Giefer:** You're welcome. [19:36] **Mayor Huber:** It was a painless process as normal, and you gave us some good advice and I think we came to a good number. We will have a—just for those folks who are watching this process—we will have a 15-minute meeting prior to the December meeting so that you may see our final deliberations on that. And that's just so that we can kind of wrap up our thinking on that and explain where we are. Unfinished business, Kim? [20:00] **Kim Pointon:** Members, there is no unfinished business. [20:02] **Mayor Huber:** I know, but I like to ask. Staff updates? I have none. Christina? No? We're good. All right, I'd like to hear that. City Council reports, gentlemen. Any future agenda items? Tom? [20:13] **Tom Tufty:** Yeah, sure. Some people do, yes. So I got a phone call—I think John Rock did too—from a resident that lives on Maple which is... I guess I'm not going to get in the weeds on who does what, where and how, but we had the really bad winter this last year and the school bus company apparently has told—which I guess they have the power to tell the school district—that they are not going to drive down that road. And so all the residents that live down there and their eight kids are not getting picked up by the bus, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. So the gentleman wanted to know what we can do and I said we're kind of a third party. So I started kind of brainstorming of what we could do. And yes, we talk about everything needs to go to staff so they can tell us what... so that's what I'm doing right now. [20:55] **Tom Tufty:** My idea would be that they go to the school district and tell them to tell the bus company they're driving down there. Because even though last year was five months of really bad winter, I get it, and I know school bus companies have a hard time finding people, I'm sympathetic. But if there's a bus driver stopping and driving right by the road for three cars a mile, I think they should go get them. I think the only thing I was thinking about for all of those people that live down there is to have our road person talk to Mahtomedi's road person. I don't know if Kenny goes over there and does that... and find out what's going on, what happened, and then see if we can put something together from our end so we can give to the bus company—not that it's a promise, and we don't know what's going to be a bad winter—but some ammunition for those people to say, "Okay, look." And the school district should just tell them, in my opinion, that we're going to really take care of this road and if you have a problem call us. You know, maybe Kenny goes and hits it again. I don't know. I'm going to stay out of that because I don't know what's going on, I don't know what it was like, but they were looking for help and so this is my way of bringing it to the Council to look for help. [22:04] **Mayor Huber:** Good deal. [22:05] **Tom Tufty:** And so I don't know what the Council wants to do. I don't really have an answer right now. I have a lot of questions; I'd like to know why they're doing this and if they can arbitrarily do this to the families that are paying taxes to Mahtomedi to get their kids bussed to school. So I'm just going to... I said that and I don't really know where to go next. I don't know if Jeff is still meeting... are you still meeting with the school superintendents and all that? So I just want to bring it up. That's where I'm going to leave it and look for anyone who's got any ideas. [22:34] **Mayor Huber:** Let's start with a little bit of investigation. This parent called you? [22:39] **Tom Tufty:** Yes sir. [22:40] **Mayor Huber:** Have you spoken with the superintendent or anyone at the school regarding this to verify anything? [22:45] **Tom Tufty:** Just got it. He called at five o'clock. [22:47] **Mayor Huber:** Okay, real good. So let's reach out first to the school district and figure out what's going on. I know that 80th Street—Maple is right off 80th—and they've had problems with those cul-de-sacs down there because they don't flow; they're by a swamp. So the water doesn't come off great; it's a pain in the butt over there. So we did rebuild some culverts to get some of that water out of there. Apparently, I don't know, one of them's plugged, whatever. But that's why we did the repair because I had the superintendent calling me telling me the buses are sliding on the hill and they're going to stop going down 80th unless we fixed it. It's fixed. If they're having a similar problem on Maple, we can fix that. [23:25] **Mayor Huber:** So let's start by reaching out to the superintendent and the head of transportation with the school district. And if it's okay with the Council, I will go ahead and do that in the morning and we will figure out what the problem is and then we will start to remedy that problem, whether it's increased grading, whether it's increased salt and sand—whatever it takes in order for us not to be the instigator of children not being picked up. And I think Tom's right, these people are paying taxes, they deserve to have their children picked up at the front of their house just like everybody else. And I think with one bad year, to stop it is ridiculous. Now, I don't know who takes care of it—does anybody know who takes care of Maple? Do we plow it? [24:15] **Tom Tufty:** He does go over there and plow. Because I was told that Mahtomedi plowed it by the guy that called me. [24:21] **Mayor Huber:** I do not believe we have a reciprocal agreement over there. We have the reciprocal agreement on Ideal heading south, but I think that's the only reciprocal we have over on that side of town. Okay. All right. White Bear does some stuff with us over in the other corner. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So we will reach out to them, we'll figure out what's going on over there, and we will get some stuff done over there. Kim, do you have anything to add to this or should I just stick with that plan? [24:40] **Kim Pointon:** Real good. [24:41] **Mayor Huber:** Then I want to bring up something real quick. I was asked to serve on an infrastructure committee for the Mahtomedi School District. It's been years since my children have been out of school; I'm not familiar with infrastructure needs in Mahtomedi. So since this was offered to me, I felt empowered then to offer it to a council person who had more experience and more knowledge of what infrastructure is needed in schools. That's Mr. Rock. Mr. Rock has four school-aged children; he is the correct candidate for that type of position to liaison with the school district in order to determine what infrastructure needs there are. So I have asked John to fill that position for me. I will continue going to the leadership meetings on Friday mornings with the superintendent and other city leaders. So, congratulations, John. I know you're going to do a great job. [25:26] **John Rock:** Thank you, sir. [25:28] **Mayor Huber:** I know you will, John. You'll do great. Does that count? It doesn't count. All right, the dulcet tones are up and I believe Mr. Giefer, I think is the community calendar spokesman, and then Mr. Rock next month. [25:38] **Jeff Giefer:** I think I did it last time. [25:40] **Mayor Huber:** Okay fine, then it's Mr. Rock. You just said good question. [25:47] **John Rock:** Public Schools board meeting: Thursday, September 14th and 28th, Mahtomedi District Education Center at 7:00 PM. Stillwater Public Schools board meeting: Thursday, September 14th, Stillwater City Hall, 7:00 PM. And Washington County Commissioner's meeting: Tuesdays at the Government Center at 9:00 AM. [26:12] **Mayor Huber:** Pretty cool. I just wanted to... congratulations. Well, I heard John Giefer and John, so that's all I can do. What I hear, Council... Mindy, thank you ladies and thank you gentlemen for a quick meeting. Sir, thank you for coming; it was nice to have an audience.