Here is the townhall transcript with speaker names added based on the context provided. Note: Some names in the transcript (like "John" or "Connie") do not match the provided list; in these cases, they have been labeled as "Councilmember" or mapped to the closest logical official where applicable. "Mayor Sonars/Sonorous" has been corrected to **Michele Hanson** based on the provided list. [4:52] **Unknown Speaker**: I don't know how we would run that I mean the decision today [14:05] **[Music]** [14:12] **Unknown Speaker**: one that always gets mrs. Washington our County Randall thing of the past I need everything right it because of children thank you it doesn't [Music] [14:48] **[Music]** [15:00] **Michele Hanson**: I'd like to call to order the March 2nd 2020 paper at City Council meeting please join me in the pledge allegiance [15:16] **Michele Hanson**: which the stands one nation I just saw wrong I don't want please call you know if anyone would like to address the council on a topic that is not on tonight's agenda please come forward and state your name and address for the record does not look like we have anyone for the open forum this evening so we'll move right along to our consent agenda we're going to consider a resolution adopting items 1 through 16 the February 3rd 2020 city council workshop minutes that February 3rd 2020 City Council [16:01] **Michele Hanson**: regular meeting minutes the February payables and receipts including checks number zero one two zero five five through zero one two one six five the February building plumbing and mechanical and zoning permits report a special event application from Bay Port communicate Community Action League for the 2020 events a special event application from Larisa Erickson for a wedding at Lakeside Park on September 12 September 12 2020 a special event application from Jason J for a wedding at Lakeside Park on June 20th 2020 special event application from the Bay Port American Legion from the Memorial Day Parade on May 25th 2020 special event application from D Azur and Inc for a company picnic at Lakeside Park on [16:46] **Michele Hanson**: June 23rd 2020 special event application from lift Bridge Road Race sponsored by run Stillwater Inc on June 27th 2020 a waiver of statutory tort liability limits for the city insurance coverage an amendment to the bay port fire relief association annual benefit level purchase of a bobcat s 76 skid steer for the public works department award a quote to perform a sidewalk saw cutting repairs as part of the city's sidewalk maintenance program the joint powers agreement with Washington County Sheriff's Office to participate in Code Red and a joint powers agreement with Washington County Sheriff's Office to purchase fuel for the police department does anyone have any questions or [17:32] **Matt Kline**: changes additions to the consent agenda mayor sonars I'd say that for comments regarding a head of something consent agenda one regarding the special event applications there was a question about the materials that were in the packet just for the council's reference and public if this is basically just a cover page for the special event application so if you would like to know more about specifics of each event contact staff the other item item number 12 is one question about the association's benefit level increase there was a question over the impact that the fire calls had on it that letter from the fire department referenced that's in reference to the [18:18] **Matt Kline**: the number of calls impacts the percentage that the fire members have to reach so the paper fire department members you haven't have to look at 25 percent of the calls so the fewer calls that there are there it's less an opportunity for them to reach their 25 percent it's because if they don't reach 25 percent for each year then they're not eligible for that year service so I just want to clarify that for the council other than that nothing okay any other questions if not what someone like to make a motion [19:04] **Councilmember (John)**: make a motion to adopt the consent agenda for tonight March 2nd 2020 thank you John [19:04] **Michele Hanson**: is there a second [19:04] **Councilmember (Connie)**: I'll second [19:04] **Michele Hanson**: Thank You Connie is roll call council member Buckley okay [19:04] **Councilmember Buckley**: aye [19:04] **Councilmember Carlson**: aye [19:04] **Councilmember Hanson**: aye [19:04] **Councilmember Doll**: aye [19:04] **Michele Hanson**: High as all okay so then takes us to a public hearing we do have one of those before this evening as a public hearing is on the proposed assessments for city infrastructure upgrades associated with the MnDOT 2020 highway 95 improvement project so Matt if you please come forward [19:52] **Matt Kline**: madam mayor members of the council as the mayor too indicated this is a public hearing for the final assessment amounts for the utility infrastructure work associated with the Minnesota 95 project this is one of the final pieces in the assessment process the purpose of this public hearing is to hear from any effective property owners and allow them to speak on the assessment of mansour about the project and notification of the hearing was published in the city's official newspaper and sent directly to all affected property owners the notification letter is attached in the packet as previously discussed the accessible work is related to sewer and water improvements that will occur in conjunction with the project it should be noted in order to appeal the amount of any assessment a property owner must [20:37] **Matt Kline**: provide a signed written objection to the city administrator either prior to this meeting or at this meeting in a description of the appeal process was provided per code or first a statute in the public hearing notification letter staff recommends conducting the public hearing as described [20:37] **Michele Hanson**: thank you so at this time I'll open the public hearing anyone wishing to address the council shall come forward to the podium state their name and address for the record and I know it's now open [21:22] **Laura Krishna**: I see nurse Laura Krishna from santaros 409 North third Street bei part and I know I spoke last meeting about objecting to the costs we want to be appealing but just the continuation of this process if I could continue to receive more information specifically one question that was raised in talking to outside people was how it was determined that which portions of the pipeline were going to be completely replaced versus just like sections and then also if my understanding is correct the properties that are being assessed are being assessed according to the [22:09] **Laura Krishna**: piece that they're connected to so I'm just curious at least for st. Charles if if that means that see Charles is effectively covering one whole section of that pipeline that's being covered since there's really no other neighbors or anything next to us so just again to try to figure out a little bit more in detail about that total again so mostly so that I can present this to father and to our parishioners so they have a better understanding of this project thank you [22:09] **Michele Hanson**: thank you very much good questions in our city engineer or met oops has to be wait until after we close the public hearing to do or do we know is it okay to have after the public hearing can answer your questions I don't think that we have anyone else in the audience tonight but I do want to address their questions as promptly as possible um with that would anyone like to make a motion to close the public here [22:56] **Councilmember (John)**: thank you John is there a second [22:56] **Councilmember**: second [22:56] **Michele Hanson**: thank you John and we need a voice vote okay all in favor [22:56] **Councilmembers**: aye [22:56] **Michele Hanson**: aye opposed okay with that Matt in our city engineer can you address the questions please well mayor it looks like man is gonna stay seated all right so a mayor members [23:42] **Matt Kline**: of council and was asked a question that your understanding is basically correct so I don't know that really is any clarification needed this is the method that the city's used in projects in the past most recently a 20-17 Street project so and in a nutshell that is that when a segment of Maine via water main or sewer main or even section retreat is improved under a project like this that's to be assessed then we divide the project up into the benefiting areas so as council may recall in 2017 project we had is a neighborhood you can call it that on the west side of highway 95 those neighbors [24:31] **Matt Kline**: were all grouped together not let sunlight to make emotion I make a motion to adopt did I no further action on this item next item under unfinished business will be the actual resolution oh okay all right so I I know I'm right there with you Michelle okay clip and right aligned so we'll go to our first item of unfinished business and that is to consider a resolution adopting the assessments for the city infrastructure upgrades associated with the MnDOT 2020 highway 95 improvement project Matt [25:19] **Matt Kline**: Mira members the council as was just held that public hearing was held tonight to allow the public to provide comments on the infrastructure assessments the resolution that we are considering now is to adopt those assessments for the project work the proposed assessments reflect updated youna costs that were received with revised feasibility report so they are all updated and they've not changed since the public hearing from the last meeting an overview of the payments are as follows there will be no interest charged if the [26:05] **Matt Kline**: entire assessment is paid within 30 days of the adoption date which would be today that 30 days would be April 2nd then from April 2nd to November 30th assessments can still be paid directly to the city but interest would be accrued to December 31st 2020 after November 30th the assessments will be applied to the taxes on a yearly basis if a property owner wishes to pay off their entire assessment balance in any given year they need to pay that off by number 15 in order to not be assessed paying interest for the next year and then partial payments over and above the amount being assessed can be paid at any time to the city directly then the city [26:54] **Matt Kline**: will relate that amount to the county in order to get that amount reduced the only other piece is that the interest rate that these assessments will bear is 3.2 1% that is based on the loan that was enough on the funds that were received by the city and then 2% above that for our code our our assessment policy the city if adopted the city will certify the assessments to Washington County on November 30th um I did want to mention - it's not required but the city has in the past with the 2017 projects [27:39] **Matt Kline**: sent out another letter after all adoption has occurred and then the assessments have been certified I'm letting people know about that they can pay off this amount by April 2nd and then all these other dates on there just so they have a good idea of you know the whole process staff recommends that the city adopt the resolution as stated thank you [27:39] **Michele Hanson**: thank you Matt and thanks for the extra communication I think that's very important any other questions or comments by the council how didn't you have anything else no matter merica okay well then would someone like to make a motion [28:26] **Councilmember (Michelle)**: I move to adopt a resolution of ordering the improvement for city infrastructure upgrades associated with midnight 2020 highway [28:26] **Michele Hanson**: Thank You Michelle is there a second [28:26] **Councilmember (John)**: thank you John [28:26] **Michele Hanson**: roll call councillor Hanson [28:26] **Councilmember Hanson**: high [28:26] **Councilmember Buckley**: hey [28:26] **Councilmember Carlson**: hi [28:26] **Councilmember Doll**: uh [28:26] **Michele Hanson**: mayor sonars hi as all thank you Adam all right item number two under unfinished business is to consider options for chemical treatment and fertilizer applications on city property so mad [29:13] **Matt Kline**: thank you madam mayor members of council I'm just gonna pull up a chair pretty soon so a couple months ago the topic of chemical treatment and fertilizer applications came to the council and so the Public Works staff has been doing background on that application and has the following recommendations for you the recommendations do reduce the usage of chemicals but we also kept in mind that the parks and green spaces try to keep them aesthetically pleasing for all polygons that suggest a yearly contract that way we can you know keep track of you know is this process working have weird what we any changes made worked even though it's likely that you know if we would sign a three-year contract we would get some money break on a line but [30:02] **Matt Kline**: for the time being I think it might take a couple of years to see you know the the consequences of of what we proposed so we'll just go through the list of recommendations the first one would be location reduction the city currently applies herbicide and fertilizer to 19 sites you can see the map attached of the current spots actually time we could have the overhead so we can see so these are the current sites and they're all throughout the city this would be [30:47] **Matt Kline**: the fire hall this is Parker's Alps Cemetery upper Barkers and then late side and then multiple spots throughout the proposed application would reduce this down to nine sites so the blue sites would be the spots that we would no longer treat at all we would keep mowing these sites but essentially they would go back to if they would stay grass or move to weeds we would just control that those areas by by mowing them all right down that's good so the next so in total there's about 25% land [31:32] **Matt Kline**: reduction I'm in the areas that we would apply herbicide in fertilizer you know next recommendation would be application reduction we would also shift these 11 sites from a twice a year herbicide application to once a year in the spring essentially we would spray up pre-emergent and and post emergent herbicide application in the spring but we continue to fertilize twice a year I'm just to keep the grass growing strong and provide that nutrients for the grass one of the big pieces the next [32:18] **Matt Kline**: recommendation that I heard from a lot of cities contractors is lawn aeration so we have never done that in the past we would propose essentially aerating your lawn allows water fertilizer and oxygen to reach the rift zone and provide a more efficient lawn and efficient way to get all those nutrients we would high-traffic areas such as Parker's Alps and maybe parts of lakeside would get twice a year aeration and then all the other areas would give once your aeration number more recommendation Lakeside Park the flooded area there a lot of this will play a part of whether [33:07] **Matt Kline**: that area gets flooded again this year we are looking at moving towards what we've done in peril Creek essentially we do an annual rye grass mixed with a perennial and that keeps it green for about three months and it's actually worked pretty good from what I can tell it pair of cricket greens it up pretty quick in the spring so we would be open as stated later here or in the next one actually recommendation number you could count lawn aeration as as organic alternative , definitely strengthens the thing without adding chemicals pre-emergent herbicide alternatives staff found that one of the [33:53] **Matt Kline**: primary ones is thing called corn gluten meal essentially it acts as a pre-emergent and it actually does do a fairly good job of inhibiting seed grow the the big hindrance here is it is about four times as expensive as in fact it's four times as expensive as uh supplying pre-emergent and a broadleaf herbicide together along with a fertilizer so the affordability aspect you know just isn't fair for the city essentially so I think our budget right now is about $7,000 I think we spend a year on herbicides fertilizer and stuff [34:42] **Matt Kline**: like that so it would about quadruple that budget broadleaf weed herbicide this is essentially something that you'd spray on the Wiis as the summer goes along to kill them there is no real commercially available organic version of this there's a lot of versions that you can directly spray on the specific weed that you want to kill but there's no universal one where you just spray the grass and the weeds essentially and so what this runs into is it's very labor intensive and not really practical for it should be noted to that staff has not [35:28] **Matt Kline**: gone up for quotes on any of this where I'm waiting for obviously some feedback or direction from the council on whether they view this plan as acceptable so at this point I'm open to questions and then any recommendations on moving forward thank you [35:28] **Councilmember**: questions from the council specifically what parts of this would we be doing in-house here your crew versus any kind of factors take care really lawn aeration is new is that we own an area we need to buy something [36:15] **Matt Kline**: so we do not own a narrator I think a lot of it would play into the cost of the whole thing if it would fit into the budget of what we're currently spending then we could definitely contract it out what the type of lawn area that we would need is probably pretty expensive I did do a little research so you're talking about a pretty expensive unit for that amount of area so again I think it's gonna play a role on how much the cost is from from a contractor [36:15] **Councilmember**: are there questions you mentioned before it go away a one-year contract would it be when you've opted for bids or estimates on it is there a deal you mentioned you could get a better deal if you go to three-year contract [37:01] **Matt Kline**: yeah so council member Buckley the last time we did this in 2017 it was open to a one-year or three-year contract with the contractor and we opted for the three-year option essentially what what it was is they kept the price the same for those three years we can definitely quote this as an alternative that way and just see what the cost savings would be you know so so yeah [37:01] **Councilmember Buckley**: to the practice of my point about aeration I'm in favor of aeration I've seen the effects of it and it does work well I would also maybe encourage some more research into the prairie restoration is as nice as turf grasses you know it's a monoculture and something that from an environmental standpoint isn't really that beneficial and it's maintenance a lot of chemicals and we can get away from a lot of that by going to prairies and stuff that will help our pollinators and our insects in our environment in general so that's something I would like to personally see us pursue I think this is a good kind of step in the right direction but I I'm really interested to see after a year - what those areas look like that we're [38:34] **Councilmember Buckley**: not treating at all and how much more area we can not treat it all to and feel comfortable with that because I again I'm not sure you know it's an aesthetic benefit really and if it looks just as nice from a distance or from whatever you know if it's not necessary to do that everywhere I would like to get away from that I did talk to Stillwater Stillwater parks was one of the city personnel that I talked to and they've pretty much limited that they don't get around they spray their own parts and they don't get around to every park every year so there are definitely some parks that are less used that are all all crabgrass and of [39:20] **Councilmember Buckley**: course they just mow it in it it stays green throughout the year exactly I mean that's the point if you have a green just cuz we all think it needs to be certain kind of grass use donor I think I think that there's still some places where I mean if it's around like on the the village green area where it's you know not sure being right into the river and it's you know part of our thoroughfare that we might want to keep that a little bit more traditional and the ball fields would be another creation that we probably will never get away from but I agree especially like big areas that are flooded all the time in Lakeside we never get ahead of that we don't get ahead of it in pero as long [40:06] **Councilmember**: but I also want to make sure that we're not ending up with spaces that end up with a lot of weeds and seeds that blow into everyone's yards that live right now around them and then we're creating a bigger challenge so I mean I think that this is a good start and a good place to look and see how things are working and not working and and maybe there are ways to do other garden kinds things like if we start I mean I think it's a perception thing right now and say that it's a challenge is it's only a challenge because people think there's mods need to look a certain way so we can start getting away from that you know I mean like it's been we could get away from all the watering just don't just I mean I just I understand that [40:56] **Councilmember**: there are certain areas that we want to look nicer but I'm not sure that mold crabgrass can look just as nice driving into town from a distance you're not going to know that it's you know it's green it's good so I think just I'd like to see what I don't want to like just stop doing everything right now I mention but this is a good step in the right direction and I'd like to check in and kind of see all these areas of it sorry no all these areas that we will stop we will keep following those areas so that cuts down on a lot of the weeds allowing to go to see it and stuff like that as long as we keep them all within they don't go to seed and the spread should not be there at all yeah I think you guys done a good job identifying [41:42] **Councilmember**: some areas that really aren't probably benefited from chemical applications so yeah I like the looks of that map [42:02] **Matt Kline**: they come here in consensus that we can move forward with this I will try and get it out to contractors I still have to put up work together and stuff like that I have not yet and so hopefully we can get that back next month or because it's already almost having having it grown up in a farm I am aware of if you don't maintain you know it gets worse each year so you know I just have a beautiful city I just want to make sure that we don't let it you know I'm all for looking at different kinds of gardens or different kinds of paragraphs as long as it going back to the February 3rd meeting we had a workshop with MnDOT and Mandela [42:48] **Matt Kline**: have opposed several items potential options for the highway 95 Safety Council we've discussed that further on the 12 February and we checked back with a shot and they're supportive of the options that the council kind of came to out of the list none of them were a silver bullet or perfect option for approving all the traffic and safety problems that our city experiences on highway 95 but we do believe that this is a a good first step one of the remaining issues is the Anderson windows traffic that we're still working with both MnDOT and Anderson to to address as well as the speed limits on the ends of [43:34] **Matt Kline**: town so with these with these options that we've kind of selected I do want to go over I just put the public's information what those are the first one which there I don't have a picture or anything to show but we kind of decided to possibly paint extend the the yellow curb painting at all the intersections or at most of the intersections along 95 what that does is it extends the sight lines so the pedestrians and the vehicles that need to pull out at those intersections have a better sight line of the oncoming traffic from both directions right now they're currently supposed to be 30 feet there they're not necessarily consistent right now but MnDOT ik' suggested extent [44:20] **Matt Kline**: approximately 50 feet MnDOT did say so that would be possibly one more car length in each direction from each intersection MnDOT said that that can be done after the project this summer whenever the city wants to do it it's it's up to us would be to be the ones painting it but we don't need any formal approval from India for that because one of the reasons that we're here tonight I'm sorry take a step back is that with the upcoming project there were certain things that we want to make sure we don't miss out on installing as part of the project we wanted to kind of strike while the iron's hot and make sure we get these done there is some work that needs to be done on the engineering side the design side to get that included as part of the project so we that's the [45:07] **Matt Kline**: action we're taking tonight is to expedite these these improvements so the painting that can be done after after the projects completed and the reason for the delay or for waiting is the corners where there's pedestrian ramps are going to be impacted with 88 upgrades so we want to wait until that is complete the other issue that the council kind of selected that we landed on was adding additional your speed is science if the public is familiar with these there's one up by Kroy Dale at the transition period from 40 to 30 and these signs can only go in transition zone which we have another one north of that north of the bank and then we have [45:52] **Matt Kline**: to transition periods down transition areas down south of town and so we're gonna hit that's going to be done through the permitting process through MnDOT and the estimated cost of those is between I wanna say it's about $10,000 per sign but that doesn't need to be part of the project that can be done either now or after the project MnDOT did suggest possibly doing it after the project or after if some of the work on the ends of town is done just to not have additional there might be complications because the project for the contractors installing those signs but those are just done through a permit through MnDOT so those those will be done we were going to add one to the north where it goes transitions from 50 to 40 and the cells where it goes from [46:41] **Matt Kline**: I'm sorry 50 to 45 in the north end and 50 to 40 at this and so that all those do have pretty good compliance when you're driving I know I get my attention they can be a you know you might be thinking you're going 30 but you're going 30 to 33 you know it helps you just don't gotta slow down so we do think that that'll have a some some benefit we're again we're still not done on addressing the speed limits on both ends of town but it's a it's a good start the the big one that we're looking to also add specifically to this project is the addition of two additional rectangular rapid flashing beacons commonly known as our RFPs what [47:29] **Matt Kline**: these are is they are a flasher system for pedestrian crossing we have one going in at third Avenue and Don if I can get aid at the overhead there's a median going in in front of the Anderson Elementary and there's gonna be a protected refuge in the middle of that just take them off for this to come up there we go [48:06] **Matt Kline**: so this intersection right there a third Ave there's a median it's that's going to have a protected refuge and there will be essentially three flashers two in each direction with a pole in the middle and that will be they'll be controlled by the pedestrian the City Council is looking at adding two additional sets of these these they're really high intensity flashers there's going to be we're proposing to have one at the at First Avenue South as you can see there and so there will be one one pole with a flasher on each I'm sorry guess south of sorry yes First [48:54] **Matt Kline**: Avenue North Thank You counselor so that we staffers identified that with speaking with some residents as well as MnDOT and our engineering firm seh as they probably because the post office is there and there's kind of additional retail there and it's closer to the kind of the middle of the downtown area that would be a a good alternative communication for another flashing system the reason that there's four I'd just give the public some information is that way the vehicles will stop at each end of the intersection instead of in the middle of the intersection we looked at only having two flashers you know on the north or the south end of that intersection but you really should have [49:41] **Matt Kline**: suggested to have the four one on each corner the other intersection is up at Fifth Avenue north and 95 so again we have four additional flashers at that that end so essentially you'd have these three higher protected crosswalks for pedestrians two blocks apart for each and these are some of the higher traffic from a pedestrian that standpoint that we thought be appropriate the cost for these we had seh do an estimate based on our recent construction costs and we did commend the initial estimate that MnDOT gave us was in the 40 to $50,000 range Thank You Donna the after we got an actual a [50:30] **Matt Kline**: submit they came in about 65,000 the to each the the two were one was a little bit more expensive than the other but this is still it's not that much more and for the the impact the staff does believe that this would be valuable and cost-effective this what we do need is because we need to authorize seh to do some design work and then go out and get the quotes from both the project contractor as well as looking at outside contractors depending on what the cost is we do need to act on this soon expeditiously so we can have MnDOT add this to the project so with that I stand for any questions those additional would [51:18] **Councilmember**: be cut at the cost of the city right [51:18] **Matt Kline**: yes one of MnDOT because conditions was that the city did cover both the engineering cost as well as the installation and equipment cost on the two additional we were already covering the third or the initial one and we okay the the two additional ones we also would have to cover basically and it's the the biggest factor is the distance from the available power source and so we looked at each of those two locations very specifically and actually did a concept level design to base these estimates on and and fortunately we have done quite a [52:04] **Matt Kline**: bit of work with the lighting system both the design standpoint and then also some improvements relative to the city parking lot next ng and not just a copy so we have some pretty good information there we were able to get our estimates kind of honed in on where that power is coming from what it's going to take it to get it to these systems and then the possibility is how sharing with this would be after we get a contractor estimates through see I'm sorry caught sharing with that that that's something that we're still we're still working on as far as the cost sharing these specific we don't have any cost sharing [52:49] **Councilmember**: lined up specifically for these at this time I'm curious if it's I know when we had our conversation about Fifth Avenue and first being the cross streets there wasn't any discussion at that point about any kind of stoplight at 4th which is now part of a conversation that Anderson is having so I'm just wondering if it makes sense to have the flashing beacons at fifth if we end up with a stoplight on 4th and how much you know how far do we have to go with this and then find out a hole well that was you know the best investment because they the [53:36] **Matt Kline**: well in that conversation that from the information that I have it doesn't sound like that would be decided or resolved prior to me the project time to have that so maybe maybe we do what you mentioned where you put the conduit in there but you don't necessarily put anything I mean maybe that's saving us something if we don't end up ever having to put flashing beacons on v put the you know have the access to it there but not everyone may be put the lights in if we end up with a light on the fourth just something to think about it you want to put them in and be like oh it's good to use that that would be something that we we can definitely look at as we get into [54:21] **Matt Kline**: the obtaining that the cost codes one of the things I would just from a staff perspective I would hate to miss out on the opportunity to do the RFPs or curve very much later if that's other the signal doesn't understand that the with the conduit being done that that would ever at a minimum just something I think we should think about the other thing you had mentioned yours speed is signs [Music] the one on the south end of town you said would probably where you said it would be at the when it's reduced to four I'm sorry Tommy I don't know I thought we talked about a feed from at the 30 I thought it was that was my [55:06] **Matt Kline**: mistake okay so we are thing cuz I think that's it was one two three it was the 30 action which I like right yep it's the yeah those require but I'm sorry no do those require electrical and are we do we have that are they solar I can transform solar is it their their growth pros and cons and the solar cost less it doesn't include the hard wiring expensive running electric electrical to it the the hardwired are more reliable and they last longer and day they seem to do better the solar there's limitations especially in a climate like ours where the Sun may not be out for two weeks of [55:53] **Matt Kline**: time so do we have that electrical there I mean the science cost 10k just yeah this those would still need to we'd be doing that goes back to council that's why those are not part of this action right now staff still needs to have those go through that permit process and have we have to get a court on the actual equipment doctor science as well as the installation estimate so we do not have that at this time but if we were to do that it would hopefully go in at the same time as the project or absolutely later I mean when they're big savings if we did it at the same time it would be separate from the project separate meeting not part of the project MnDOT said that you can do it at any point we want to but the project may cause complications for the contractor [56:39] **Matt Kline**: doing the science just with the way the it's providing access and and that's okay I'm just the electrical if we need to do is it is it they were doing as well right or not no it would be done separately yeah it would be done well there's no advantage to doing it while the road is it wouldn't be in the road you must have been to right away okay that's that's what I'm right okay all right great all right and then some other things that we have talked about is that we are also looking into better reflective flags we're not getting rid of the flags but right so come forward all thank memory console murdered all actually found to discover a company just happened to be locally that has a product that you can add the [57:27] **Matt Kline**: high visibility reflective strips to to safety flags so there's I believe it was st. Paul that's actually using utilizing they started utilizing these and so that would be looking at obtaining those acquiring those for our flags it's not a separate flag it's just a strip that Nazi flag so the cost should be relatively relatively small cream so we can start hunting that soon yeah and I think that you know as the as the residents and and businesses look at where these are located or where we're proposing locating them we thought having you know the opportunity to maybe [58:13] **Matt Kline**: only have to walk two blocks till they got to a flashing light would be you know the way they're currently spaced is about every two blocks and that was part of the consideration process of where they're place obviously they could be placed in multiple locations in the city but we thought this was most logical and created the least amount of of inconvenience if they didn't want to use one of the reflective flags and use the flashers they'd only have to go two blocks in any direction to catch one and then we do have the raised medians as well that are still part of the plan the one in between Parowan the elementary and then one on the north and sixth Avenue okay yeah to councilmember Hanson's point [58:59] **Michele Hanson**: about the Fifth Avenue in 95 intersection and while I agreed I don't wanna if something's gonna happen fourth maybe something wouldn't have to happen at fifth but from my perspective I would hate to see this project completed without addressing pedestrians being able to get there are still several in town would be able to get from the west side of 95 the East 795 via Fifth Avenue safely and that is where we had our fatal accident so that's a bad spot there I don't I I won't pretend to be a traffic engineer [59:45] **Michele Hanson**: or any type of engineer for that matter but I I do know that you can't put the RV's at a signal intersection but I don't think even if they were put in at a fifth other than the the potential again it's all potential but the potential cost savings to the city by not having to spend the money on the fifth I don't think would be necessarily a bad thing to have the potential traffic signal at fourth and RV @ v just because there are a lot of retail at fifth so you still be that or about you to have a better I just wanted to open that discussion to make sure that we weren't regretting it later that that maybe wasn't the best use of our funds that's all if it makes the most [1:00:31] **Michele Hanson**: sense I mean I think for sure we do to get it ready you know the conduit is ready and then we decide permission what makes sense guys soon with a stop light goes in that they'll be something that helps people cross like press a button [1:00:56] **Councilmember**: favorite west of us at times to come which help them with directing traffic and if they were hardship our on-snow me or something like that word or we absolutely need that will do that it burn out of call but it's just so hard cuz there's only one of us on they want us to power [1:01:23] **Michele Hanson**: yeah yeah no that's great thank you I know that I had received some feedback about having bump-outs and but around at the Kerr at the corners yep and how that that might also be helpful but I I know at MnDOT you know owns the highway so to get them to snow plow around bump-outs probably might be a little bit more problematic was that discussed with them they died to mention all posit so meaning then they mentioned it and then did propose it one of the points that they did make was the maintenance the plowing I'm sorry that's speaking of anus I'll connect that with the mainus of the plying they they I [1:02:09] **Michele Hanson**: don't say they frown on it but they said they're not a big supporter of that they said it is an effective you know I'm not state highways they definitely support that as a traffic calming the jury it's just because of this state highway they they do plow it we clean up after but it becomes problematic for them on that they didn't propose that but if we extend the curb painting we may accomplish some of that as well yes more of it not quite as severe a fact but it's the same similar similar effect by just one yeah that visibility at the corners is key I think it really gets [1:02:56] **Michele Hanson**: challenging at some of those intersections 2k and nil was out you've got a utility pole their traffic settings their vehicles parked up there and it can be really hazardous and I'm surprised more accidents because of that okay well given the flexibility that we've had working within dots guidelines at least we're making some progress so thank you very much to everyone for attending all the workshops and to staff Rick and our consultants for continuing to work with them so and as I said staff continues to work with midnight Anderson and it's a [1:03:45] **Michele Hanson**: good first step good first good first step on improving the safety some of this we'll need to know if it'll take time till after the project and these are installed to see just what impact they have hopefully sooner than later but the conversations not over so it was possible there is still a challenge with the increased speeds that they've imposed on the north end and then the traffic of exiting at multiple locations of shift changes so but we'll continue to look at those great thank you so if I could have the council formally there's a motion included okay would someone like to make that motion [1:04:31] **Councilmember (John)**: I will all these to authorize the staff to pursue the additional RFPs as as part of the 2020 MnDOT highway 95 improvement project including authorizing seh prepare the construction documents and have staff obtain contractor pricing for future consideration [1:04:31] **Michele Hanson**: thank you John is there a second [1:04:31] **Councilmember (Connie)**: I'll second it [1:04:31] **Michele Hanson**: Thank You Connie well guns were Dolph [1:04:31] **Councilmember Doll**: aye [1:04:31] **Councilmember Carlson**: aye [1:04:31] **Councilmember Buckley**: aye [1:04:31] **Councilmember Hanson**: hi [1:04:31] **Michele Hanson**: Marisa Norris I thank you okay that takes us to our first item on your new business which is to consider adoption of an emerald ash borer EAB management plan and we'd have Matt come and join us we did have a workshop on this topic just prior to this council [1:05:17] **Matt Kline**: meeting so look forward to informing the public of what we chatted about and aamir members the council as the mayor indicated we did it works out on this management plan prior to the meeting to discuss implementation and what the plan involves I'm just gonna touch base on some of the major pieces of it essentially the implementation of this plan will allow the city to mitigate the district disruption that EAB can cause emerald ash borer it provides a proactive approach for the issue a little background on emerald ash borer it's an invasive species that the adult [1:06:04] **Matt Kline**: beetle does not it does eat some of the leaves ash foliage but does not cause significant damage to the tree it's actually the beetle larvae that causes the major damage I won't get into how it does it but it it eats part between the bark and the tree this species originally came over from China Japan and Korea and in this in the United States there's no natural predator and so essentially it's been allowed to roam free without having predation the primary distributor of this invasive species is obviously humans it only [1:06:51] **Matt Kline**: travels as an adult about half mile in any given year but with distribution of firewood and different items like that it has travelled us very significant ways so it originally came over in and it's made its way to Wisconsin Minnesota all the way to Pennsylvania and it's even been found in Colorado so this plan tries to mitigate the effects of it just to give a little status on how quick emerald ash borer works through a city once it's been found in [1:07:38] **Matt Kline**: an area in four to six years after it's been found about 30% of the ash trees in an area are deceased then in the eight to ten year range studies have shown that about 90% of ash trees have died so it is a very fast working invasive species what we're trying to do with this plan is mitigate that that quickness essentially we're looking to provide resident education and ongoing outreach to the community let them know that it's in the area we've already started a city website which has a GIS map on it and that includes all trees [1:08:25] **Matt Kline**: that are currently infested so you can click on the city website and then click on the tab for that map and you can scroll in actually and see if you know you have if your property is close to where ever they been infested the city also look is looking to mitigate this this invasive species essentially the staff has provided a number of recommendations that the city will follow and we'll go through those the first one being removal of EA be infested ash trees this would include any ash tree that's been found to be infested with EAB in the city there are currently about 15 ash trees that have [1:09:13] **Matt Kline**: been infested with three of taken down already and tend to be removed before the spring season comes the second approach is pre-emptive removal of other ash trees this would include most likely to begin with ash trees that are not a good condition as other trees the Department of vague provided a survey this year not only did they survey you know be infested trees but they also gave a condition rating for all the other it's a very hearty and they grow fairly quickly but it also create a monoculture that now when a disease or an invasive [1:09:58] **Matt Kline**: species comes in we are dealing with a significant problem the six piece of the plan is wood disposal the Department of eight controls regulations based on where you can and can't take ash trees within a quarantine area the plan includes guidelines for removal of that type of wood and also gives a link to the Department of Ag so you can look further into their guidelines for that we will be allowing ash to be cut down in this area and you can even use it for firewood but if you were planning on taking it anywhere the city doesn't [1:10:46] **Matt Kline**: highly recommend that and would like to see it shipped rather than taking somewhere whole unless again taken by a private contractor the seventh part of the plan is public and private collaboration the city will do their best as you work with local contractors who could possibly pass on a a at least be in the area for it so that residents could also receive a fair price for the work that they will be doing and then monitoring tracking is last part of the plan the city will work with Department of Ag in order to work on survey and map [1:11:33] **Matt Kline**: - trees continuing moving forward this was already done one time which resulted in the finding of 10 s trees that were infested and those can be found as I said I'm the GIS mapping they were also located earlier about a month ago with pink ribbon and so those ash trees will be coming that is about the just of the plan it obviously is a working plan and more of a general plan rather than necessarily anything set in stone it doesn't provide any cost estimates or anything like that or what you know the City Council or [1:12:19] **Matt Kline**: private citizens are required to do there will be some major impacts to the residential community this plan only provides a small amount of or only applies a small amount to the residents but it will be a major impact to residents so the public education portion of this will play a big role in letting them know what needs to happen thank you [1:12:19] **Michele Hanson**: any other questions for Matt so I'm curious Adam before we go through the process it has a roll call vote and we typically only take a roll call of we're going to be applying funds in most cases so why does this particular item have a roll call [1:13:04] **Matt Kline**: they may have been an oversight okay it doesn't matter [1:13:04] **Michele Hanson**: it's just I was wondering because I was I was there's no resolution ordinance or expenditure of funds with this I may fit the Ronnie oh no that's okay I just wanted to thank you okay well does anyone have any other questions or just I'm going to want to make a motion we'll just you know so folks at home and might be watching or listening we spent considerable on the time discussing this prior to the meeting and I think most of [1:13:51] **Councilmember**: us are be on board with the plan as presented tonight so it's a good it's good plan in my opinion I appreciate it minutes yeah and if anyone has any questions of course you know cause I hollered that's the best source always to get your individual questions answered so [1:13:51] **Matt Kline**: yes I do kind of mayor there'll be a lot more information coming out with this and for the public both on our website and potentially letters going out to residents [1:13:51] **Michele Hanson**: great thank you well with that if there are no other further questions would some like to make a motion [1:14:38] **Councilmember (Connie)**: I'll make a motion to adopt the Emerald for emerald ash borer management presented to us Connie [1:14:38] **Michele Hanson**: is there a second ago [1:14:38] **Councilmember (Michelle)**: Thank You Michelle [1:14:38] **Councilmembers**: all in favor aye opposed [1:14:38] **Michele Hanson**: very good thank you that takes us to the update of the 2020 potential spring flooding Adam I think you matter Mary no man I'm sorry both analysts I guess but since I'm up here I might as well madam mayor members of council the most favorite thing that happens every year seemingly it might very well occur again this year the National Weather Service is warning of severe flood conditions throughout the Midwest again the factors are much the same as last year [1:15:23] **Matt Kline**: there's highly saturated soils and also lakes and rivers that are at a greater capacity already than what they normally are for this time of year of course there's also several unknown factors that could be highly variable during the spring season that B Springs precipitation snowpack and then also rate of spring thaw as I said before these conditions are very similar to last year and we experienced a very good spring thaw last year for the conditions that we had essentially conditions were like 40 to 45 degrees during the day which allowed some melting but then [1:16:08] **Matt Kline**: froze at night so they didn't allow too much melting now with that said we still had the seventh highest river crust on record last year the National Weather Service is currently predicting a 60% chance to get as high or higher than what we had last year so based on those National Weather Service predictions I just want to want to go over the what the city is prepared to undertake in case either a flood or the predictions warrant that so the first thing would be declaring a state of emergency this is done when city resources expended in the city needs to rely on outside resources to help with a [1:16:53] **Matt Kline**: specific situation also we could hold the flood meeting this would just be for to let residents know you know what is out there for resources and information that the city would be doing given that we had a flood meeting last year and a lot of the same people would be going through the situation we could also as an alternative provided direct mailing we have a significant list now of all the residents who pretty much so have gone through the flood and so that might be an alternative and even maybe a better alternative because then we can lay out everything on a ladder rather than it just being an open forum thing so the next piece is city resources in [1:17:45] **Matt Kline**: the past the city has made an effort to provide sandbags upon request we've used STS and prison crews and other crews to provide that but we may also ask pollen tears to make that provision so that there's some buy-in from residents last year we saw a lot of it was a weird year and people probably know it's better what their what the river flow flood a will bring so just to provide some buy-in from residents who are taking or getting these sandbags next one would be outside agency resources Adam and I [1:18:30] **Matt Kline**: actually went to a meeting a flood meeting at Washington County the Red Cross was there just offer they but and it's not the greatest so if you're out there and a resident of Bayport please sign up for that so that we can provide some information the neat thing about CodeRed is that you can actually specify the location of where you wanna send it so it doesn't have to go all to bayport it can actually go essentially you circle the area on the map and it would only send it to residents who registered for that address so for those number of addresses that you designated [1:19:15] **Matt Kline**: the last piece would be city infrastructure during a flood event the water and sewer system is still operable this is a big one when it comes to the sewer system a lot of times if you have a flooded home and you have a floor drain or a toilet and the bottom of the in the basement level that's flooded if you don't plug those the the sewer system can become inundated and we've we ran into that not last year but in 2001 there was a significant amount of inundation and so we'd like to try and do a better job of of curing that you're gonna give the information to Plainwell [1:20:02] **Matt Kline**: residents or other residents in Tom than are on subject yep so we can definitely provide that we'd probably provide them to Washington County just because they have a lot better resources of that and actually we did have a couple the last year's flood a fair amount of Point Road residents have been through this because they're they're their residents who have been there a while so they kind of know the process and stuff like that and so they already have have been through it so anybody that I've talked to on point road was pretty versed in what to do during so there are some resources out there at least for information about what to do [1:20:47] **Matt Kline**: if your wealth floods what to do if your septic system has flooded so and then the last piece is just an overview of flood elevations last year the river ended up reaching the level of six hundred and eighty eight point three feet just for some guidance the normal pool is about six hundred and sixty seven feet so it was twelve feet under over normal pool 687 counts as kind of a low end of the severe flood stage so I just wanted to list a couple of elevations here one would be the Central Avenue to the beach house that's kind of [1:21:32] **Matt Kline**: in Lakeside Park that floods at about six hundred and eighty eight feet so that was flooded so you couldn't get to the beach house last year and then beach house gets flooded at 690 feet so just a couple of things of you know how close we are to having a major flood stand for questions [1:21:32] **Councilmember**: I need questions for now I have one just doing with city resources being a person who who has been through several floods you know obviously we don't want anyone to like a you know over or maybe to take any liberties with city services or efforts but I mean when it's coming up there's and there isn't time to go and volunteer so you know I think if we could explore different ways that they could maybe volunteer at you know different opportunities you know that may be a really good way to to kind of pay it forward or or help pay but when it is when it it's rising there's not time to stop and go and and that would apply to all residents really - if we could get more people to come volunteer because last year we kept up we ended up making about 10,000 sandbags [1:23:03] **Matt Kline**: but all of a sudden if we needed and last year wasn't the biggest flood that we've ever had but all sudden if the river goes up another two or three feet you know we're probably talking 40 or 50 thousand sandbags that was probably when it would become an issue and we need more volunteers other than the crews that we would already have working on it the school thing makes it tough because essentially were you know you're working with kids who are filling very few sandbags so while yes we could definitely have them and bring them like a load and then they could fill like a pallet full if we have that availability of time it's a little [1:23:51] **Matt Kline**: bit different how much volume high school kids can do versus that's not good to teach them about voluntary once I knew we I would ask for that and still water has a really good turnout in their volunteers last year they did yes absolutely yep [1:23:51] **Michele Hanson**: excellent well thank you very much for being on top of this and ahead of the curve that's excellent we hope that we don't need it yes so okay okay so that takes us to our City Council oops there's no action required on the City Council so just thank you very much um city council liaison reports start with you John [1:24:37] **Councilmember (John)**: yeah we did not have a meeting due to lack of business well the library board did meet on the 25th they've got a lot of things going on Jill attended the library conference here in February I haven't heard from her I haven't talked to her since I'm not sure when she was excited to go the facility or the building some of the things that they want to do that group met on the 3rd to begin to work on [1:25:24] **Councilmember (John)**: a master plan but they'll be old enough open house for the rep citizens on Monday March 30th at the library from 5 to 7 so if you're interested in finding out what they're gonna do to upgrade not really upgrade but to change library stop in and next week for the kids during spring break they've got quite a bit going on they've got a oh it's out on Thursday Friday they've got movies the bonneville and frozen - and then on Wednesday for the little guys they have a they did it last year too itself kind of like a drive-in movie thing at 10:30 where they get to make their own little [1:26:10] **Councilmember (John)**: cars out of boxes and then they say watch the movie well on Monday they're doing create your own mini figurines which I'm not sure exactly what that entails but that's not one o'clock on Monday and um our next meeting was moved to Thursday the 26th of March due to some conflicts with other gaps so what's happening at the library yeah John no partner Michelle I just had one outside meeting last week Adam and I [1:26:58] **Michele Hanson**: attended a breakfast time frame meeting with the city of Oak Park Heights in the city of Stillwater with their respective mayors and city administrators along with the director of the chamber so just to kind of share what's happening with businesses where there might be vacancies what's happening with MnDOT projects etc so it's always a nice sharing opportunity we appreciate Robyn for for pulling that together so and that was my only other outside appointment [1:26:58] **Jay Jackson**: situation with juveniles instead of signing a citation where parents can pay we do a referral to youth service bureau and we do that effectively because they usually go to training whether it be theft or bullying or truancy or tobacco or alcohol use and they have an educational piece and then some usually have to do some kind of task so that doesn't get referred to the county attorney so you service bureau was great and it was great to see their new location on February 24th through the 28th officer Aaron slinger attended our critical incident crisis response and conflict man image as well as diversity training that's the new post board requirement that was a long sentence so the state is providing extra funding in every three years when they have a new cycle of their license they have to go through that at training it's kind of expensive but it's reimbursed through the state [1:28:29] **Jay Jackson**: and it's a week long so dealing with crisis intervention and those sorts of things as well as diversity and inclusiveness so great training and he thought it was excellent upcoming events on March 5th I didn't I didn't add that we're also doing use of force but I'm excited to mr. bell and I had talked for several months about trying to figure out moving forward how to make sure our staff are healthy and keep on top of that and check in with them annually and not just saying hey how you doing actually having somebody reach out with them and more agencies are going that way it's gonna it's got a little bit extra money but it'd be well worth it during my CIT training that Aaron just attended I met Murray Ridgeway who was just excellent with her presentation she's meeting with us before our annual [1:29:17] **Jay Jackson**: use of force and she's gonna talk to the staff about when I meet with you this is what we'll talk about and it's just a check in with them and I'm excited and mr. bell and I brought that forward so excited to have her in and if you all met her you wouldn't otally enjoy her March 10th we're doing first aid and CPR Riaan a refreshment for those that need that and then officer teske that new officer attended or he's going to attend excuse me read advance training that's a form of interview interrogation juvenile training for investigations as far as not leading them it's great training and I send all my new officers to that so he's excited about that and that'll be great and then we got a grant for forensic CSC [1:30:03] **Jay Jackson**: is criminal sexual conduct interviewing training which was also done you know without leading suss you know victims or suspects and officer lapowski is going to attend that more often than not it's a female victim and so currently I'm certified in that so it'll be nice to have somebody else on board to do that and then April 9th we have our quiet again mandated by the post and that'll be all of our weapons in our toolbox and then I am attending the executive training institute conference which I do every year great training I talked to mr. Bell and a attending one day with me the city administrators track and we'll be great he'll be able to network with other administrators as well as there's some good information the day that he's going about PTSD and the increase on that and how to address it [1:30:49] **Jay Jackson**: our total incidents and calls including our self initiated is currently at 1134 or was a date that I did this we continue to do extra patrols on Highway 95 crosswalk and we assigned our community service officer to address sidewalk snow removal monitoring and he's on that so there's time for questions questions for the chief yeah an amazing amount of calls I mean I don't think that people realize that it's just March 2nd and we've already had eleven hundred and thirty four calls that's thank you okay nothing needs to be reminded again but paper does have a [1:31:37] **Councilmember**: reputation for traffic enforcement and laws a lot of these are traffic enforcement so just through public reference again the PD deserves a no combination for trying to do its job and keeping the speed down in town so thank you I did see one here it looks like they're directed patrol site use of comm device to access web would that have been thank you thanks works [1:31:37] **Matt Kline**: director kleiner one last time tonight madam mayor members of council I don't have too many things left the ice rinks are obviously closed for the year we did have a good run and they were in pretty good condition this year they were so that's credit to the Public Works staff who have led them on a daily basis and make sure that the shavings are cleaned up from the day before just a couple of items larger projects going on John and I will be attending a pre-construction meeting on March 17th for the highway 95 project so before we know it the road will be torn enough and it'll be construction season again the roof railing system that OSHA required will be going on the old fire hall City Hall in the new library and library April 13th to be stuck installed and 14th and then finally the girl-scout native planning [1:33:10] **Matt Kline**: project which has gotten done the last two years this will be the third and final year I'm so 2nd Street the whole length of 2nd Street along Perot Creek will be have completed so that'll be a interesting project to see how that progresses over the next couple of years this work has been done in partnership with the W mall and we just like to encourage other property owners to - if you can leave a buffer area you know somewhere between 5 to 10 feet from from the creek doesn't necessarily have to grow super tall and the wmo says you can cut it to 68 inches so when it starts to go to seed you can definitely cut it down but that buffer really helps to [1:33:58] **Matt Kline**: reduce stream bank erosion and it does filter out nutrients such as sediments and even phosphorous from getting to the creek and then eventually into the st. Croix River so I'll stand for questions [1:33:58] **Councilmember**: any questions for Matt do we have any kind of a timeline yet on the highway 95 improvement project [1:33:58] **Matt Kline**: so we don't have a specific timeline that was provided May 1st obviously it's the first date and then their completion date is October 4 31st but as far as a contractor timeline that will likely be supplied at the pre-construction meeting so okay should know hard-hit bro cuz me doctor where is the whole stretch right not just necessarily to our town right okay yes and is there still a [1:34:44] **Councilmember**: community meeting planned yes are you covering better if you April April 9 yeah that's guessing so you better show her that night it is April 9th from 4:30 to 6:30 at the State Park library okay and I'll be hosting that we'll be posting it and nobody putting on movie is just remember that so that's for all the public not just involved in the project but entire city and anyone else want to learn more about the details of that so we will have some diagrams and photos that we can well obviously we'll have more specific information as we have it available at that meeting very good thank you [1:35:30] **Matt Kline**: um assistant mr. Taylor had to leave the election is tomorrow she wasn't feeling very well but she had some other work that she had to get done tonight so I permitted her to leave early to go do that a couple of updates I just want to share from hers the land water Legacy Project we have not changed ours we are waiting for model language at the state and the motor some Minnesota cities is developing with the county so that will be coming to to the City Council at some point here possible probably this spring it doesn't really there's no rush to do it without a way for the the language that is being proposed by these organizations so that [1:36:17] **Matt Kline**: will be Cesare's been attending some of those meetings the inspiration conservation easement there's a portion there's one out lots a lot a which is very Northwest out lot in inspiration when that was transferred that was supposed to be added to the conservation easement city owns that when the developer at the time map me transferred that it was supposed to be put into the conservation is but that hadn't been done the inspiration board notified the city that hasn't been done so we're working with the Land Trust and it will be involving mad me who was the developer there will be some cost associated that the developer will have [1:37:03] **Matt Kline**: to case we're working on adding that but is a bit of a process so so that probably will be council action at some point in the next couple months on that item and with now break this up okay my work next but was there any questions that I can try to answer savers report okay moving on to mine a couple things I there was a fire Advisory Committee in February that the mayor and I attended again seems like I said long ago it's it's like a lifetime there but with our partnering communities oak parks mayor and the bay town and West Lakeland board chairs and we fire chief Eisinger was there he gave [1:37:49] **Matt Kline**: a recap of 2019 and some of the issues going forward we did discuss the medical call policy that will Park instituted trial instituted and there was not any further interest in the other communities changing their policy after having to explain but we did discuss the upcoming seven-year contract review at further per our agreement and some of the other kind of the nature of the of the agreement or the nature of the partnership all the communities that were represented there they definitely expressed an investment in paper fire department and want to make sure that you know that it's known that the Bay Park Fire Department is [1:38:35] **Matt Kline**: appreciated and we wanna move forward regarding the short term rental program it's up and running I was in contact with a couple of the we've got two applications one sent there one still pending one is being processed currently and so the the inspections have been nailed down with the hood Thank You Connor Buckley I worked with him just a couple weeks ago on kind of finalizing that and the wealth of fire and the building inspection portion of it are going to be going now we've got one I think said we got one application in so that's being processed the website is I've begun updating it but there is a separate tab under State Information and [1:39:20] **Matt Kline**: that will have the whole process outlined with the applications available on the website as well as here at the front counter at City Hall so if there's anybody out there who is still interested I think that there's a couple of the preliminary parties that were initially interested have gone to the long term longer term rental but we obviously do have a couple still interested so please let the city know if you're interested in contact us for more information we already mentioned the have a 95 open house I'll just say again on April 9th from 4:30 to 6:30 at the paperboard library I also want to note that the project funding did close that was the bond that the city issued and sale sold for the project that money [1:40:08] **Matt Kline**: had that check has been paid to MnDOT and it you know that's one thing you'll see in the financials if you'll see in there on the water expenditure or a million dollars over the budget amount because of that it was a million dollar check so the the balance of it will be paid out as we go forward for the remaining senators a couple other things I just want to reiterate Matt's mentioning of the Code Red as well as our city email and our Facebook and Twitter accounts we're you know it's not just the website but going forward especially with flood season gets here we're really gonna be trying to improve the website sign up for the Code Red it's it you can sign up for a phone [1:40:55] **Matt Kline**: email text message it it's a great way those are more emergency related it's not just for emergencies but it's something you know higher than just a regular city notice but it's underutilized and the old rules that were like the ball kind of limited it to just just a very serious emergency item just what the county as those have been more relaxed and they want to fit it to you use it as a public information medium and then again the city email we if anybody is signed up for it they understand we don't bombard them with you know spam or junk email but it is a good way there's something important to communicate as well as the social media one of the we have the city [1:41:42] **Matt Kline**: got a letter today and I was going to have the council take action on tonight but I've kind of reconsidered that we've got an invitation from City Hall Park Heights to if it's been mentioned before that the King plant is going away in 2028 or being decommissioned that way it's still gonna be there for some time but the plant is being decommissioned being closed and the city of Oak Park being that it's in Park Heights has created a panel kind of a stakeholders group and they've formally invited the city of a port to appoint one person one representative and it cannot be a elected official it needs to be either it needs to be an unelected non elected person they I just got this this [1:42:28] **Matt Kline**: afternoon so I have had a chance to distribute it to the council I'm not 100% certain that it should be a staff person they mentioned like Planning Commission chairs or that can be appointed representatives I don't know that I would suggest that it probably should be at our from our city a staff person I would suggest either Sarah myself but there it is 10 to 12 meetings over the next year there's going to be one monthly meeting and I don't have any of the information the first meeting will be in May it's not due until April 10th and so we will have one more council meeting to formally a point that they request a formal appointment so I'm just going to put this on the on the [1:43:14] **Matt Kline**: April council meeting which is April 6th and then I can give this out in the council didn't either ask me some questions or consider it a little bit longer so perhaps you know in the next week or two you can maybe reach out to the Planning Commission and see if there is someone that would be interested from there it might be a good place to start this from my understanding this appointment is not a voting type of role it's it's like when they started the conversations prior to the bridge project to get input from the MnDOT and Army Corps and businesses and other communities that may be impacted just to start the conversation what could this possibly entail and what did what [1:43:59] **Matt Kline**: considerations have to be taken into account when you're dealing with something that is along the river way and and such a large piece of property for redevelopment so they have yeah they have 20 different entities that are being added to this stakeholders panel and the school district has two seats and then the city of Oak Park Heights has two one from their Planning Commission month in the parks mission so it's it's I think some of it's going to be it's still being developed as far as the intricacies but the it's gonna be involves a lot of land-use decisions and so it's gonna have a broader impact to the entire area Valley so I'm like I said I'm gonna send this invitation to the council for dodon and in the next at [1:44:48] **Matt Kline**: the next meeting we can both do the it's more information I'm sure that with the council and the council can make that appointment at that time given your statement but maybe you or Sarah would be a good fit for based on the information that I have now like I said we just got this this afternoon I haven't I need to reach out to the administrator the park administrator and just find out some more information as to that I don't see any other staff person from Oak Park being listed so I don't want to make her suggestion without right well if it is staff then that's easy we'll get updates if it's someone that's from our like the Planning Commission or some other entity then maybe we could have them be on the agenda like every [1:45:35] **Matt Kline**: few months to keep us informed and that I believe that is the the goal of this is to basically a liaison to bring back information as you said it's not a voting seat but it's a seat at the table to be up get updates and communicate those to the body another meeting I went to last week was the lift and loop grand opening emergency preparation meeting if the city and the council are familiar with the loop bridge has been closed for some time it's going to be reopened there's going to be a grand opening in May May 15th and 16th it's a two-day event in conjunction with that there will be a attempt at a Guinness World Record for wrist holding a long loop [1:46:22] **Matt Kline**: trail the liftin loop trail it's over 7,000 people that they're expecting to participate in that and they are having it's it's going to be an official Guinness Book of World Records event but with that they are still lot of planning kind of two days of celebratory functions and events so they're still working that out but from a emergency-response perspective our fire department which covers the syncretic crossing bridge as well as provides it related to Stillwater will be involved in the planning for that event being that we have a boat that we purchased last year they're they are concerned about a lot of the boat traffic and the you know the issues on the river both at [1:47:08] **Matt Kline**: the lift bridge and for the south so there's a good chance that our boat will be used as well as just general involvement so I I attended that first meeting and there will be additional meetings going forward but that does happen in May I know that with the coronavirus they they're hoping to not have to shut down any large gatherings of magnitude but they that's even on the list there was a list though I mean they're covering every possible angle just because the the sacred River draws so much attention from environmental groups and other it's gonna be a very politic scene public event there are going to be other dignitaries such as governor's both Wisconsin and Minnesota invited as well as other officials so [1:47:56] **Matt Kline**: it's it's going to be a very large at-large event and there's a lot of logistics and a lot of planning that's one in a place of it so when I get more information I will share that with the council and oh one thing I also want to add sorry I know what I know we want to get a lot meeting I I forgot to mention the fire department undercut their car seat clinic March 26th I know it's always popular highly attended event that's March 26 at the fire station from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and with that I stand for question did we have the car seat clinic in the newsletter last time can't remember I believe it was okay the car [1:48:44] **Michele Hanson**: seat Clank it is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. okay on March 26th great any other questions for Adam okay if not with some willing to make a motion to Richard