[0:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <sing city council meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance> [0:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice first off we'll have the swearing-in of elected officials so congratulations to our elected council members we have we will be reading the oath and I guess I will be sworn in as well so> [0:54] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <okay I state your name I Mary D Fassbender do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America the constitution of the state of Minnesota the constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinance of the ordinances of the city of Hastings and the ordinances of the city of Hastings and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of Mayor and I will Faithfully discharge the duties as mayor for the city of Hastings for the city of Hastings counties of Dakota and Washington counties of Dakota and Washington in the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota according to the best of my ability and understanding> [1:39] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <according to the best of my ability and understanding thank you [Applause]> [1:59] Councilmember Angie Haus: <I state your name hi Angie house do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America that will support the Constitution of the United States of America the constitution of the state of Minnesota the constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Hastings and the ordinances of the city of Hastings and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of at large council member and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of an at-large council member for the city of Hastings for the city of Hastings counties of Dakota and Washington the counties of Dakota and Washington in the state of Minnesota in the state of Minnesota according to the best of my ability and understanding according to the best of my ability and understanding thank you> [2:57] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <so you don't have to stand there I state your name aye Dave Temple do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm support the Constitution of the United States of America that I would support the Constitution of the United States of America institution of the state of Minnesota the constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Hastings and then I did a large council member and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of at large council member for the city for the city of Hastings counties of Dakota and counties of Dakota and Washington in state of Minnesota and state of Minnesota according to> [3:44] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <according to the best of my ability and understanding congratulations thank you [Applause] sure um council members if we could step forward and have some photos> [4:28] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <well this is weird> [4:40] [Music] [4:52] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you okay sure yep> [5:13] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <let the role reflect that the majority of the members are present in a quorum has been established we appreciate the residents who volunteer their time and experience serving on the city commissions uh tonight we are recognizing an outgoing commissioner and John hensman you may share us who's leaving okay> [5:27] John Hinzman: <thank you mayor City Council Members as the mayor pointed out commission members are a very integral part of the democratic process here at Hastings they do a lot of the review work of items that come before the council uh the hedra our Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority has the additional job of not only being a commission but being an authority which means that it has some taxing ability owns land it takes care of all of our Economic Development Industrial Park development Grant programs and other things so when you take a look at the environment and Hastings that we create economically it's really at the efforts of the members that serve on hedra and hedra is kind of a unique board in the fact that it consists of not only citizen members but also to council members as well that being said we do have an outgoing Hedrick commissioner that I'd like to recognize tonight that's Scott Sinclair Scott has served on hedger for six and a half years he brought a tremendous insight into the board being a small business owner in the downtown area so much of what we do it focuses in and around downtown Scott's being able to to bounce things off of Scott in their effect on the downtown was a great thing to be able to do Scott was always looking out for the best interest of the city or looking out from an economic development standpoint that we made sure that we the efforts that we made were were something that would work out in the end from an economic standpoint and also made sense so I want to thank Scott here tonight Scott's not here tonight because he's got some more important issues he's his as he told me this morning his bride's birthdays tonight and he had to choose between heading out with his with his wife and being here tonight so understand his choice of venues but still wanted to recognize God for his effort and his commitment and all the accomplishments that he's had as part of hedra so thank beer> [7:34] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you Jan and thank you Scott council members are there any corrections to the minutes from the December 19th meeting okay comments from the audience for public comments we have options for comments to be mailed in prior to the meeting as well as interactive featured during the meeting for the emails comments they have been forwarded to the city council and their receipt is acknowledged please recognize that items not on the agenda will not be discussed this evening are there anyone is there anyone that would like to speak to the council at this time I went on too Council items are there any items to be considered okay> [8:21] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <the city administrator has advised that number five the entrf agreement is not ready and should be pulled from the agenda Council I would accept a motion to approve the um to approve the remainder of the consent agenda without number five council member house councilmember fulch thank you and council do you have any other discussion okay all those in favor of the Motion state by saying aye I opposed to that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails tonight under Community Development we have a approve micro Mobility license application and for this item we have an introduction by community development director John hintzman> [9:24] John Hinzman: <thank you mayor City Council Members tonight is the mayor had mentioned we've got two micro Mobility license up for consideration I guess the first question to come up is what is a micro Mobility license a micro Mobility ordinance we adopted last year essentially is for small powered vehicles in this case electric scooters the scooter rentals that you have seen around major cities and a program we had similar here last year so a little bit of History we adopted a micro Mobility audits to regulate the operation of entities within public right-of-ways and also establishing a license provision under therefore those type of operations if you're operating a micro Mobility micro Mobility vehicle scooter of your own there's really nothing you need to do other than to follow the law but but if you're operating a fleet rental company there is a requirement that you become licensed and to operate within the city so tonight we have two that are under consideration we have bird rides and spin and both companies operate motorized scooters they're both requesting 100 motorized foot scooters for the operation in 2023 so there would be 200 scooters total in this request a little bit of history and our experience with foot scooters we did have our first inaugural year last year bird rides was was issued a license for up to 100 scooters that year I believe they deployed around 50 scooters during the year and the year was somewhat truncated they did lose their local fleet manager during earlier in the year than they anticipated so they were operational for a few months during the few months that they were operational demands seemed to be seemed to go well in that one uh there was some questions that also came up uh some some complaints other things that we saw as well I did include within your packet there are some comments that we had from Chief wilski of the police department outlining some of the observations he's had with the foot scooters as well so taking a look at this uh it's unusual for a city of our size to have two companies vying for scooter operations at the same time we've found last year the demand appeared to be strong for scooter rental during the few first few months of 22 uncertain as to whether if this would be something that would be sustained or if this was something that was a new thing is there a demand for 200 scooters in Hastings either I tried to make some determination and looking at comparable sized communities and didn't really see anything so I don't have a really really good answer to that question whether there would be a demand from talking to the operators or burdensburg and spin yeah their her operation I think was was both they both submitted applications based upon you know 100 being what they thought was operational within the city you know with their 200 be too much that's a good question uh should there be additional requirements established for the abandoned scooters to ensure prop response we did a put a couple more blurbs within our license agreement from last year to take care of that issue the one thing that we are looking at right now is to recommend approval of both licenses but under one really uh key point and that is there's a look back provision under the license agreement that we can see if 200 scooters is really too much if it is too much and we see that there's a lot of abandoned scooters and that have not been used we reserve the right to bring back the contract the licenses to the city council and to modify the amount of scooters that would be issued so I just wanted to make that clear that that is something that is within the license agreements of both entities so officially before you tonight you've got two actions one is and they're both both identical they are to approve the signature of the micro Mobility license one of them would be for bird rides for 100 scooters and one would be for spin for 100 scooters so those are the two actions we have before you tonight those both require simple majority use on each of those I believe we also have representatives from both Spin and bird joining us via Zoom so if you have any questions for them they can answer those and I can stand for any questions at this time as well thank you> [13:48] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you John counsel any discussion councilmember life out> [14:00] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: <thank you John I have a few questions um one I just want to confirm and I find it ironic because I had this vehicle conversation with a friend the other day when you talk about spin we refer to them as vehicles is that an issue at all I mean we're clearly talking about scooters right right yeah vehicle has a very broad term council member on this way that's well micro Mobility to the front I disagreed with my apologies you were correct um accidents the report here doesn't talk anything about the police reporting any accidents anything that we should know about council member not aware of any accidents that we had last year from the scooters okay I will say on Pine Street they were used quite a bit generally by miners I found that concerning I know it's not hard to do I don't have the app the only time I ever used it someone did it for me so I'm imagining it's not hard to get on their site so that was concerning and obviously writing two people which okay if we're not reporting any accidents and where does the liability fall with that liability would fall within the operators themselves they are obligated to carry a certain level of liability insurance and then my final thought is the comment about it looking unkept that it does they're kind of dispersed randomly throughout neighborhoods because I assume that's where they died so well it could be where they ended a trip too because right right and that's well in the middle of I think they you know when they lose their power because that's what we did in Minneapolis they lose their power you get on the app you find the next one well in Minneapolis that's usually a block away well in Hastings I would imagine it's quite a bit further to hop on another one so I would be concerned about how they're staging them and where they're putting them throughout the city that seems concerning to me but yeah it was a lot of fun it was uh seemed to seemed that people were enjoying them so thanks John thanks> [15:37] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thanks thanks councilmember I feel councilmember Lund> [15:45] Councilmember Lund: <thank you honor well um last year my concern was is this stuff going to be laying all over the place and and um I voted in favor of it but um hoping for the best I I did not see you know well organized leaving behind of scooters um you know they've got a lot of individual users and they all have their own level of tidiness perhaps but um if this goes forward I guess I would I would seriously look at the look back option here to um drive a you know a real clear message to The Operators that you know we expect that they are coming around on a regular basis and picking these things up and that they're not just strewn about because I wouldn't leave I wouldn't let my kids leave their scooters in the boulevard somewhere for a week you know or or whatever and that's what happens in our neighborhood you know we have three four of these things sitting around and it just looks like someone left their stuff in the grass because that's what they did so I you know I don't want to be like a negative person on this because I do see there's benefits to it as well but I think there needs to be some sort of um responsibility on these two companies part to do a good job in being a partner to our city and and keeping keeping these things moving you know get them out of the areas that they're sitting in for a week and and keeping things clean looking and I don't know how they if we have designated drop-off spots that we need to start thinking about or something like that you know you must take it here or whatever but um I know I guess my point has been made it looks sloppy and we we deserve better than that> [17:41] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you council member line council member pimble> [17:47] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <John is there um since there's going to be a hundred from each company is there a staging area how they set it up throughout the town I mean I'm thinking that if you put two or three or four and they're sitting on one side of an intersection and the other side of an intersection it's like okay what's going on here is there normally now last year I didn't wasn't paying a lot of attention to where they were sitting I did see some that were sitting laying in the middle of a sidewalk when I wanted to walk and you know it's like walk around it or pick it up and move it but is there any kind of staging layout for these uh two companies for the city I mean do they they can just put them wherever they want or I don't want to see them all grouped together and just you know one fighting the other at certain locations it's that's a question> [18:49] John Hinzman: <sure under the ordinance there's certain Provisions as to how their staged not necessarily where exactly and that is you know they can't be blocking a sidewalk and they have to be upright and not look unkempt but as far as the staging among the individual operators really up to them I mean we there was a couple of places in the downtown area for example underneath the bridge that seemed to be a popular spot that we saw more scooter stage there we so that was what we were we saw last year I imagine it would be similar this year as well they're going to be taking a look at some of the the metrics that they have for use and demand and place them there where they need to be as they'll have at the local fleet manager who will be responsible for managing where scooters are if they need to be charged up or maintained and so forth> [19:46] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <the second part of the question is is okay you said that part of this contract is after a certain amount of time it could be reviewed to see you know the numbers or we're talking you know 100 maybe 50 instead of whatever is there what is the segment for the amount of time that goes by I mean are we looking at the whole summer and then we'll review for the following year or is there a sooner reviewed period> [20:10] John Hinzman: <councilman we don't have a specific date established within the contracts that are before you tonight however in my mind it would be some place within the kind of the first third of the summer say go through June right around July 1st do an assessment at that point I certainly don't want to be in a position where we're going to be encountering problems throughout the year and then not take any action with it thank you> [20:38] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you thank you councilmember Campbell council member Fox> [20:44] Councilmember Fox: <thanks your honor um John I do want to just share some feedback from the tourism board um we we had a little recap about the um bird scooters last year and we were ultimately the committee was pleased with what the performance looked like um one thing that was interesting our hotels that are south of town saw a lot of bird scooters there so we had folks traveling around the city on bird scooters and I think part of what we're hearing tonight is they tip over they look a little messy sometimes when you are riding one they do give you instructions for how to leave it so whether that is user error or the wind it could be a lot of things but there are really explicit instructions at least with bird about how to properly leave a scooter after your ride but I think it's it's nice to hear from the tourism perspective um the the tourism board really enjoyed having them available and that was done definitely a boon to their their fun tourism um opportunities in in our city> [21:44] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember fox councilmember fulch> [21:49] Councilmember Folch: <thank you thank you council member I was curious as to you know what the business Community had to say about it and then I know that you're on a active with the downtown Business Association as well I think that would be really useful to hear from them and you know what their thoughts are on it um before January for January July 1st if that's when it is you're going to revisit the issue and so um yeah I think that would be a great idea to share that with them I just wanted to share I was in Austin Texas back in early November and it was interesting you couldn't just leave scooters just anywhere you had a parkum in designated areas like they were like kind of like bump outs you know that were in intersections and and for whatever reason you just couldn't kill it wherever you wanted you had to like leave it in a Zone and so just something you know that just to know that it is a possibility you know if um it really does become a problem I didn't see him scattered so much just randomly in neighborhoods but I did see them kind of more up by like the West View Mall area and uh and I saw a few of them around the roadside park over by the swimming pool and things of that nature so it was my my thought process it was that it was minors that were using them a lot it was you know kids getting around and such and so um so anyhow just you know food for thought as we're moving forward and review the process really what are our options for regulating it a little bit tighter in case it does because 200 does seem like it would be a lot of scooters just kind of scattered around the community anyhow so it was good to know that we have folks that are interested in and that if it's helping tourism that's terrific so thanks> [23:45] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember fulch and I will just add that I did hear people say that um their kids used them to get to places because they didn't have any other way of transportation so I think on that part you know that could be helpful a dentist appointment or whatever they're using it for but Johnny guess my question would be is there a way that we can um ask them to come around and pick them up more often I mean because they run out I mean I've seen the truck going around town picking it up but it's not not that I'm out watching but it's very rare that I saw that happening so is there a way that we can request that we want them to be more accountable in picking them up rather than them laying there for a day or two so we don't have that unkept look> [24:52] John Hinzman: <sure and Mary are you seeking that uh to avoid a situation in which scooters are not properly parked or is it is that the primary concern or do you have a concern for example if down by the uh someplace by the bridge downtown you see three or four scooters parked neatly for rent but they may not be rented for a couple of days> [25:06] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <no not necessarily that I see them on the streets like residential streets and they're just laying in the boulevards or up against a tree or they have the app that shows where they're at when they're rested when they're done so you'd think that I don't know if they go through daily I don't know if they go through three days I don't know if they can keep track on which are out there and being mobile I I mean I don't know just a question> [25:32] John Hinzman: <sure I know there's a lot of information that they can derive from the individual scooters as far as where they've been how many trips how many people so they'd have the ability to do that I believe within our license contract right now we've got provisions and also under the ordinance that require them to maintain the scooters within you know in so they're not uh Messier in an unkempt manner so it really comes down I think to to our pressing that issue if it comes a problem and they're following up on it that'd be great thank you> [26:11] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <and councilmember house there you go> [26:14] Councilmember Angie Haus: <thank you um my other question I had for you John was it looks like they lost their local fleet manager last year um is there any way to have a no like a new understanding of if they have a more sound fleet manager this year because they close down operation and it did get very messy is that stance that they have if we know better off this year so far> [26:42] John Hinzman: <sure very good question I did ask that a bird to see if they have hired a new fleet manager and what assurances that we had to make sure that this is an individual that can make it through the season on that one I am uncertain as to whether they've hired that individual yet or not perhaps it's a question we can ask of them if Kylie's online right now with uh with bird but good question thank you I do like that it's another sustainable source of Transportation around our town as well we don't have many options but that would be my only kind of pressing manner is is it going to actually get picked up are these things going to happen we're in a more timely manner as well okay thank you> [27:08] John Hinzman: <thank you councilmember house did they wanna come in and yeah try to answer that question yeah I think Kylie floodman from bird is is in the uh the zoom meeting if if she if you can bring her in Dan okay great I should myself on here> [27:40] John Hinzman: <okay Cali can you hear us I got a thing showing she's speaking to me oh there we are okay> [27:59] Kylie Floodman: <and and the positives that were received from the community operation that we could have so with regards to our fleet manager so Bert operates on a fleet manager model and just to give a little bit of fact what that means is we actually contract with a global individual and entrepreneur so really creating a small business within their community and this is how we operate across the 400 plus cities that we operate in in the US and globally and essentially what this means is they are a contractor they're not employee or however the way that they are growing business and how they make money and revenue is directly related to their operations to how many rides they're getting so they're directly aligned and incentivized to upkeep the program ensure they are being rebalanced in places um [Music] hemp in there and attractive thing for people to want to come up and take a ride on so as you all saw this past season our fleet manager that we were Contracting with was not up to our standards or the city standards and we really do keep a good eye on that a couple of kis throughout the season to ensure that the operator that we're working with is uploading old commanders and what we expect our program to look like so we did have a fleet manager um we did uh during our contract with them we're honoring our resourcing efforts however um decided because of coming up to the winter season that we would haul off until next year so in in early February March is when we generally start to resource for our spring season and um in speaking with John I understand that the disruption and the lack of Transportation car seat manager being gone is something we want to make sure that we ensure doesn't happen year so obviously what we're hoping for is that we find the perfect individual or at least one that we are confident will be able to sustain operations throughout the entire season from March through when we hibernate for the winter that said we do operate in 13 different cities um sub 90 000 populations five of those being sub 30 000 populations within Minnesota at the closest one actually being Bloomington Minnesota we just launched in and due to the nature of our city manager individuals will actually hire multiple employees and really run a local logistics company so it's not uncommon for us to have a manager and his employees his or her employees operate two or three different markets in surrounding areas so of course we would love to have a local Hastings individual be the one that actually runs the business there or asking scenario if you did come to a situation that we did last year our Bloomington Tennessee manager would be able to source to ensure that there wouldn't be no disruption in our services thank you Kylie> [30:54] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <council member Lund has a question> [31:02] Councilmember Lund: <thank you honor Ms floodman how do you determine what is an adequate number of units for a population> [31:14] Kylie Floodman: <absolutely so we look at this metric that we call rides or vehicle per day and ideally we aim to be and this is Earth specific I imagine other operators are pretty similar but just speaking on behalf of her we aim to be about one ride per vehicle per day that means that we're really sustaining the demand that we're seeing but not oversaturating the market in the sense to where you do get a lot better being Unwritten for multiple time or um causing more clutter right so in Hastings we saw an average of about 1.5 to 1.7 rides per vehicle per day what are the ones that were operating which is pretty much right on par um and looking at that data and discussing with Dawn as well and sharing some information with him we had um about an average of 50 scooters deployed that said because we were at that 1.7 we could always go up to about 75 and probably still hit about that one right per vehicle per day we're going to decrease in slower months and still hit that hit that deployment Network thank you> [32:25] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <council member line Kylie I do have a question is there a way that when we first talked about this last year of keeping the scooters off of the downtown sidewalk area I don't know that that actually happened last year because I did hear some complaints of um it was more of the maybe underage kids on the scooters on the sidewalks in the downtown area is there a way that that can be control or permitted> [32:44] Kylie Floodman: <yeah I think thank you very much mayor so um we're not able to fully restrict people in terms of forcing them out to the street that said what we really try to do is go with the communication and Education First approach so um throughout our app and throughout Community enforcement as well we also can go through and actually you know if it is becoming a really big issue but we've done to other cities is go through a morning or fine process like John said we have a lot of data in terms of what rides are taken when they're last taken and we can see you know if report request was sent to us we can drill down into what user that was and send them a warning would you like to find writers but I think it's something where it's getting to be a real issue and a safety concern in the city do you have that option I like to say with you know I oversee um of our um our hundred thousand popular hits um afferent and the needs and concerns that you have is very different so I like to say that all of our programs are very flexible and very adaptable Define writers because it's becoming a safety concern um we will work with you guys to understand what needs to be done in order to ensure Its Behavior so um hope that answers your question> [34:08] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <it does and then a second question part to that question is would there be some tar site type of signage that could possibly be posted in that downtown area so they've can visibly see that so you have something that they that you can go back on and say well the sign is posted there I mean is there what other type of awareness would it be other than them reading on the app that say are local laws> [34:28] Kylie Floodman: <so it has no writing on sidewalks um and some of our other you know for our helpline and communication methods that people can use and then we do have some cities that will put up some signage um from RM we usually do it more through the app and through our emails to be Center writers because that's generally what they're looking at um and then I'm doing the sticker that we have on our actual vehicles> [35:01] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <okay thank you councilmember falch> [35:05] Councilmember Folch: <thank you um thank you Kylie I've been in other major cities where it's not allowable to ride those scooters in particular areas specifically the downtown uh business uh busy sidewalks and such and uh so you know what happens when you're on one of those scooters is that it just um it just stops driving and stuff it's amazing it's like a Kill Zone and so um I didn't hear you mention that the implementation of kill zones uh you know so that boundaries are designated around major commercial areas not to allow for for that and so what does it take to do something to that effect if I I'm seriously worried about 200 scooters being in the community and what it does to the downtown if there's lots of them just littered about and and furthermore I had mentioned I was just in Austin and they had like designated areas that you had to leave them the the scooters you couldn't just abandon one in the middle of the sidewalk at had to be parked in a in a very specific area I don't even think it would let you kill it until you like got it into that area and then you could kill it so so what are your thoughts about that> [36:31] Kylie Floodman: <I actually did we call them memorized zones no parking zones to utilize that um days and a couple other events that we had in the park so um you can put that up on a temporary basis the issue with the sidewalks is our GPS is not as granular to get you know a 10 foot radius we usually say it's about 10 to 20 foot radius um yes 20 kicks in so sidewalks it's just a little bit too small for where our technology is on that right now and what we don't want to have is you know have a have a zone that yes goes into the into the street and then someone could be riding a scooter accidentally run into that zone and then slow down the middle of the street so sidewalks are a little bit of a tricky one that Us and other are often working towards however for larger zones for example you data for Rivertown days no ride zones for special events if there are certain areas that are major concerns um you know in downtown or whatnot we can always make those slow zones so similarly to how you saw in Austin where it goop and we stopped it could do the same thing but actually slowing down so certain areas that are either higher traffic I think you mentioned Pine Street um areas that might be more overstate you concern so again backtrack disability aspect we have a lot of capabilities there and then in terms of parking so a lot of times what cities will do is in certain areas they'll have those designated parking zones we also have the ability to do preferred parking zones or recommended parking zones and so essentially what this says is if you were to go under eye somewhere and like you were saying it's pretty layout in terms of that process for doing so when you actually go on the app to end up ride it can show you a virtual parking pin that will guide you to wear it apart um and still keep that flexibility that you know a lot of people like to see within micro Mobility so still being able to to write it to your end location but if there's you know a preferred parking Zone a block up or around the corner we do often see people utilize that method and sometimes they're either incentivized with you know next ride or a couple cents off the next Friday whatever maybe so I think there's a [Music] there's a ridership that we saw last year and utilize that information into further improving what we see in 18th this year> [38:43] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <great thank you councilmember fultz council member Layfield> [38:51] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: <one last question from me Kylie um did you lose any of the scooters> [38:58] Kylie Floodman: <we do yes we do well we in every market so it is not unique to Hastings but when bring new scooters to a new city we do generally see a certain level of theft evangelism on scooters kind of what we put into you know the the cost of bringing micro Mobility into a new community and introducing it to new people new people we did see some theft and vandalism um following the triple Trend that didn't die off after about a month so nothing too terrible but we did have a couple that um excellent check the river> [39:40] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you Kylie we might have had to see that one into the river I the very beginning though that we had to work with us we had to retrieve thank you Kylie thank you you might make a motion to approve the micro Mobility operation license for both bird and spin okay> [40:11] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember life vote councilmember Fox any new discussion Council councilmember Lund> [40:17] Councilmember Lund: <thank your honor um so we're we're discussing uh potentially a review in july-ish time frame I'd like to you know we're talking about it now I'd like to be more prescriptive in something like that so I think it's a good idea that we do review it let's say it is July 1st um and leverage maybe the public safety commission as well just to see what um you know what ideas there might be for making sure that this is more successful for everybody right so Kylie has provided really good contacts and I appreciate that she took the time to explain these things so well it sounds like there's a potential good partnership to make sure that this goes as it should for both of us um and uh when I did both of us I mean not just me personally a little bit me no um so I think I think um you know perhaps having that commission um utilized in that manner would be a good good compliment to an overall review just to see how we can make sure that we're we're doing this right long term because I mean we we have ordinances for things that didn't exist 10 years ago you know and and then um you don't know what you don't know yet and it's always good to go and and make appropriate updates especially when there's technology involved I mean Kylie probably could speak to the ever-evolving technology that their company is is working on and we need to make sure that we're on top of that too so that our ordinances reflect that so I think that's a good opportunity to do so> [41:49] John Hinzman: <okay well council member and mayor and Council what I can commit to do is to provide an update and I like the idea of being able to check in with Public Safety and our police to see what sort of comments and things that they have seen so that we can report back and if there's adjustments that need to be made we can make them so we will commit to doing that at a around that July first date okay> [42:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <I think counts remember life uh council member pinball> [42:15] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <John I think that maybe one other Avenue to look at is the parks department and kind of get a little review of what they've seen if they've seen any and how that's affected their operation did they have to move them out to the corner were they in the middle of a park someplace that you know something needed to be done I just think that maybe that might be an Avenue to look at I mean I support this but my concern is the the sheer numbers you know if you've got 200 in a community like us where are they going to be and how are they going to be left thank you> [42:47] John Hinzman: <okay thank you yeah what I'll do is with the Department I'll reach out to the department heads during that time frame so we make sure that we we get comments on there from from people and how that may affect operations so that we have a fuller picture to look at> [43:09] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <okay there is a motion and a second any other discussion all those in favor of the Motion state by saying aye aye opposed to that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thank you thanks John and thanks uh Kylie and spin if they're on yeah I think we have representatives from spin as well on there okay thank you okay thank you uh tonight under Administration we have a review of the committee meetings calendar Dan will give us an inter an update> [44:03] Dan Wietecha: <thank you mayor um and this really is is more of a discussion item a chance for Council to give some some feedback review it's not an action item tonight but do anticipate that this will be on the agenda in two weeks on January 17th so whether it's tonight or over the next week uh would appreciate that comment um as we look forward to 23 it is going to be a busy year and not just the the normal work that we do but as I look across the different committees there is going to be additional stuff coming to Administration operations planning Public Safety utilities we're really going to be bringing a lot of stuff through our committees and I know we've talked a lot the last year or two about embracing the committee structure we're going to have to do that and do it well this year just in order to be able to work through the the workload proposed that we use a quarterly meeting schedule for all the Committees that way people can plan in advance it will be easier for City Council Members it will be certainly easier for staff in terms of the difficulties trying to get meetings scheduled on the the current as needed basis I think better and more fair to the public that want to keep some tabs on what's going on or if they raise a question and we'll bring that up at the committee it'd be nice if we could tell them when that committee meeting is instead of some unknown time in the future the calendar I drafted is primarily Mondays there's a few Wednesdays in there but I figured we're already meeting City Council on Mondays it probably doesn't interfere with anybody's bowling league or whatever other things that you might have so I tried to to take a date that hopefully was workable but with that I did put together a draft calendar that would like to bring to a vote in a couple of weeks but also because this is new one input from Council whether it's this evening over the next couple of weeks the next week week and a half are there some adjustments that we might need to make to it you know hey this date we just know is wrong we need more frequently than quarterly seven o'clock in the evening really is not a good time but but whatever feedback there might be would really be appreciate thank you> [46:33] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you Dan Council discussion councilmember London> [46:37] Councilmember Lund: <thank you Hunter well I think it's a long time coming it's a definitely needed um appreciate it I think um this allows us to be more planful we can know when we you know let's say Ops committee something comes up in April or June or whatever and it's not super urgent that we know we can tuck that in our pocket and and be talking about it in on August 14th rather than having to assemble some sort of meeting just for that one item which may not you know justify the whole meeting time or whatever but so I love it I think it's great um obviously the time of day thing I think just work through that as we get closer to that time but um quarterly probably is appropriate and then there's going to be other committees that are going to have to have additional special meetings scheduled but you've noted that so I think that's great appreciate that> [47:48] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <council member Fox> [47:50] Councilmember Fox: <I very much agree councilmember Lund I think this is an excellent step into leaning into our committee structure like we've been trying to do I think this gives us all a great Foundation to plan on but more than us up here I think it gives the public a little bit more access to what our schedule looks like and and how they can be even more involved in in the process that that we experience every month so Dan thank you I think this is a great step thank you> [48:11] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember fox councilmember folch> [48:16] Councilmember Folch: <ditto that I think it's great so thank you just wanted to make sure that you felt well supported in this and as Dan and I have talked numerous times I just think we're all so busy that to be able to be able to put in that date on the calendar so we're aware of it and personally I think Mondays are great because we're used to it being off I mean some of us have you know different types of schedules so I I appreciate it just from an organizational standpoint I think it just puts us all gives us all a little better structure so> [48:54] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember Campbell> [48:56] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <I would think that the committee process and having set dates even if it's you know by quarter or some committees may need to meet sooner than that you know and have more meetings in a year's time than the four that are laid out but it it to me it not only helps the folks that sit up here but it really helps our staff to be organized and know when and where these meetings are tentatively set to happen and I support this because I think this is a good step moving forward thank you> [49:43] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember pemble okay if you want to move to the next step Dan review strategic initiative process> [49:52] Dan Wietecha: <thank you um a year and a half ago September 21 after a several month facilitated process the city council had adopted a series of strategic priorities and initiatives and when council did that it noted that these are the priorities for the next year and a half give or take round number uh and we're at about that year and a half and what great timing since we've got uh some some changes in faces here and a new makeup to the council um and uh from a staff standpoint we've essentially uh closed out that list of of priorities that there's work that still progresses with them but we're in a little bit of a holding pattern from that initial list so a couple things going forward one very much expected as a city council we'll be going through a new strategy process probably not for a couple of months we've got some other orientation type things that we're bringing through for Council so it's probably February or March before we actually come to the next process but in advance of that would very much appreciate again this is not an action item tonight but we appreciate input from Council on what might that process look like do we do a all-day Saturday Retreat or do we break it into two or three evenings uh what works for people do we bring in an outside facilitator like we did last time and some prior times or do we do do it more of an in-house exercise how much do we build off of the existing structure existing priorities versus uh sort of a restart so ideas that uh how the progress was reported to the city council and to the public on a quarterly basis where those reports clear and and and effective so would appreciate input from Council over the next month or so so that we can start planning and preparing for that next cycle but the other piece that I want to point out is at the staff level we're going to be calling it a 90-day world but we don't want to see a gap between the current cycle and the next one so staff's going to be working on a 90-day action plan uh avoid having a gap make sure that we're in involving all of the city departments I think the the first round very good no criticism by any means but very good priorities that the council had set but the first thing I heard the next day from the police department was no priorities for the police department where where do we fit in the mindset and recognize hey there's a lot of other stuff that the police department that does that's that's important it just it wasn't called out as a an extra an extra initiative but uh this 90-day world will make sure that we're involving all of the Departments and and expect that that could carry through um so I just I want to point out that well we're in this transition period at the staff level we're making sure that we don't have uh you know a Gap a 90-day pause that we're still progressing on areas that we see some priorities and initiatives needed but really just want to lay that out tonight if there's any feedback tonight or the next couple of weeks from Council one what do you view for the next round I would certainly appreciate that as well thank you> [53:45] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <Dan councilmember Lund> [53:48] Councilmember Lund: <thank you Runner Dan I think it's great um worthy of some chewing on for sure so um you know it's good to have a discussion tonight but I do think it's good to really kick back and think about it a little bit um my initial feedback is that I do not see a need for a facilitator um for a few reasons but you know the cost being won versus the value derived um and and nothing against any facilitator we've had in the past but um I'd like to maybe be more of a reflective on what what we've done and how we've done it and refine it to fit our way rather than bringing in a new person and having a new style that we all have to kind of get used to or get on board with for half the time anyway or whatever I think we've had enough examples of of how to how how to go about this that we know what worked and what didn't and how we can maybe go about it so facilitator probably not entirely necessary I can see some value in having a non-partial third party person lead the discussion but I see that as different than a facilitator if we were to go that route I think the structure of how we go about it is something that we could work on together or we already kind of half-baked the reporting I think was is overall good I mean very thorough but again I think there's ways that we can all get together and and say what was good and what maybe has an opportunity to get a little better and so perhaps when we look at how we go about this process we instead of you know jumping right into it maybe there is one of the meetings that we have that isn't looking forward it's strictly looking back you can look at how it worked um you know what went well what didn't and and how we would you know massage that going forward and then be done with it and then the next time we get together we're not rehashing any of that we can just start to work on the new plan going forward I think it's hard to um hard to to do another round of this without doing that and you know without you know if we really want some some output on this one so those are my feedback items you can't remember line> [56:44] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember fulch> [56:46] Councilmember Folch: <I think your honor yeah I partially agree with council member Lund about that it is difficult when you have uh different you know facilitators come in that just it's like you're starting fresh all over again with a process and you know what I would really like to see is if we were to utilize the um the group that helped us last time and I'm sorry I don't remember the the professional consultant's name what was it Chad Chad Weinstein Chad Weinstein because I think that he really got to know our group in that process right that we had a lot of conversations and I think that he began to have a much better understanding of what it is that we wanted to see as a final piece of product at the end but it was kind of you know too late we kind of got what we got because you know anyone that's done professional strategic planning knows that it's always best to use an outside facilitator to allow for staff to participate in the process and not having to worry about dual hats and I would like to see us um because you know what we did last time really wasn't strategic planning to be quite honest we didn't do any true problem analysis uh you utilizing any kind of true metric system performance metrics we did not go through and do a SWOT analysis of strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats it was rather you know asking each of us what are our pet projects and then voting on it and such and so I have to disagree that you know I was really hoping that our next step would be moving the the the ball closer to a real strategic plan that was in to the point of what Dan was just beginning to say more comprehensive in incorporating all the Departments so that um that all of them were striving for improvement because everybody knows that there's always opportunities there's also always threats and so um we should always be working towards a cycle of continuous Improvement and then in regards to the the format I mean there was a few times during Council conversations during you know these meetings where it was brought up that it would be it would be really awesome to get a verbal update from staff on some of the initiatives and where they were at like for instance we had you know Equity you know diversity and inclusion that was one of our topics but we didn't really move uh towards the ultimate goal of doing you know more comprehensive training and planning um you know within within the city you know it was like we were kind of limping along hoping that the league of Minnesota cities or the gear program would get up and running again and um and so well let's re you know evaluate evaluate that and come back to it and then you know furthermore the downtown Business Association them having conversations um in regards to getting organized and if they wanted to move forward with you know an additional sales tax so that those proceeds could go towards infrastructure improvements that the downtown businesses could decide upon you know so that they're not coming in to the council all the time and asking for you know additional funds to help with whatever little pet projects that they want to do so um so I think that um I think that there's opportunity to continue momentum there and then to really also Circle back and to ensure that truly all the council members you know are in agreement that we checked off all of those items because I would disagree that we have and um to provide you know updates and you know where it is that we can continue to keep moving things forward also um and lastly again using real problem identification techniques and having performance measures for how it is that we're going to determine when it is that we've achieved is Success how are we gonna how are we gonna know where we've got where we wanted to be right so I think that that there is a lot more there is a lot of structural Improvement that we can be doing there and that's something that I've been saying since the moment I got on this council is that we need it would be awesome if we had more systematic planning and uh in in an achievement of our goals so thank you> [1:01:05] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember fulch council member lifefield> [1:01:08] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: <as far as the last strategic initiative went it was really hard doing it by Zoom um I feel that it was personally I won't speak for anyone else but having been in it we didn't know what we were doing for the first few hours of that Zoom we all meet especially was like what's the expectation here what is he trying to get from us um I I love the way that the facilitators handled their conversations but obviously I think we're more effective in person that right there I think it would be great if we could do it in-house if we or the individual feels that they have the ability to keep us on track because we can get off track fairly easily you know to keep us on track to keep us focused I don't know what kind of person that takes um it wouldn't be me so just if we feel that we've got a staff member who says you know yeah I can that's definitely something I've studied whatever awesome otherwise they say we go with the facilitator personally I would prefer a long uh a single long day so that we can keep everything in mind so we can keep going whereas wait you know two weeks come back and then we're sort of starting over on a lot of stuff um the next point to what extent should we continue and build on the existing priorities and to what extent should we they be new obviously we start with the priorities that we've already established we get our update where are we what do we still hold as significant and then we build on with our new ones from that those are my opinions I'm just excited to be able to do it in person I I just felt that was horribly uneffective for us and you know so um and I don't think it's any reflection on the facilitators because Chad and remember the other gentleman's name they were very engaging and but I felt like it was a lot like herding cats and so I think this is something Dan and I don't know if everyone else has an opinion but I think this the two of you can make that decision on do we have someone who's capable of and and willing to take on that challenge thank you honor> [1:03:22] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember life council member pinball> [1:03:28] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <I'm looking at it and saying here you have two new folks to the table and for one thing I think you can't have it can't be a zoom meeting you know if we go back into quarantining and everything else this isn't going to work it has to be in person it has to be something that's like an all-day activity so that you don't split it up and you've got you know three or four segmented items where it's like okay do we remember where we were at from the last piece that we started with I think it's it's it's important to have these done and have them done by an outside facilitator you look at it and you say the outside facilitator can a value especially if it's a company that can do these and has done them for a number of years for different corporations or we're at it whatever they could see that there's certain aspects that need to be drawn out that really don't get touched when you just kind of In-House it back and forth and so those are the two things that I think are important that it's an all-day activity and that we do a third party facilitator from a reputable firm thank you your honor> [1:04:55] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember premble council member Fox> [1:04:59] Councilmember Fox: <thank you your honor um I am I agree I think we we could use a facilitator I think that would be very helpful um I as part of the finance committee I'm a little bit interested in how much a facilitator is going to cost um and I I do I'd want to highlight I I believe an organization needs a facilitator to do strategic planning like we want to dive into and I think we're at the point with the the goals and the strategies that we set and the way that we have been reporting on them to dive in even deeper and to to make them really robust so that we can Thrive as a as an organization and so staff and Council have very symbiotic ideas so I I'm interested to see a quote from a facilitator and I do also believe that we should do it in person and potentially one day um shot because I do remember we we struggled with being able to schedule the meetings so we had a pretty big gap of time between our meetings and that was that was very challenging to to continue with so thank you> [1:06:17] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember fox oh councilmember Fulton> [1:06:21] Councilmember Folch: <just the last one thing to piggybacking about councilmember Fox was saying it would be really awesome to have all the dates pre-planned if we go into it because it was a challenge um and we when we had the first session we didn't know when the follow-up sessions were going to be I think there was like a two-month Gap and it was council member liefeld's completely right it was totally starting again it was like who's on first what's on second I mean it was right it was an ineffective use of our time thank you> [1:06:48] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember fulch and council member house> [1:06:51] Councilmember Angie Haus: <thank you your honor um I would like just to ditto council member Fox's um mentioned on that I would also like to see a quote I think that'd be very helpful but I do agree that a facility a facilitator will help keep everything going at least but I would love to hear more about how it went last time and what improvements could be brought on this next meeting thank you councilmember> [1:07:16] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember Lund bet you didn't think you'd have this much conversation about it> [1:07:23] Councilmember Lund: <well um if you're watching you'll notice that no one else agrees with me um it's just going to and then I'm sure you weren't just fine uh um no I um they can be expensive right and you also don't want to go cheap so part of my comment was we've we've we've had enough experience collectively and historically to look back and see how we've done it and make some decisions on what worked what didn't um I also did say that maybe we do need a third party person to lead it now does that mean they need to um you know does it is it a thirty thousand dollar um experience and that honestly could certainly be the case um I do think that it would be good to reflect prior to bringing anybody in prior to selecting anybody I'd like to have an understanding of what their plan is you know like here's a quote here's an example of what we do um all day multiple days I don't know I think you can't use the last one as an example of if all day worked or not it doesn't matter to me but I do think you get fatigued after eight hours of talking about something and you start to maybe not make the best choices but um you know that's just my take on it um so I guess the big things are let's make sure that this starts out well so it's not like people are saying okay you know welcome to the meeting what are we doing um and we all need to then agree that once we've made a plan and we're good with it that we don't go back on it or you know or you know two steps forward five steps back kind of thing because that's just no good either um so you know that's just what I would ask of the council is is that we we're giving good Insight ahead of time so that when we do get there um we're being fair to the facilitator if there's a facilitator and then we are fair to ourselves that we have agreed on what we're what the plan is and we just need to March towards that after that thank you councilmember line> [1:09:47] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember line councilmember Campbell> [1:09:51] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <I guess I my question would be that maybe we should look at having a session that we can sit down and just review to see where we're at what were the goals set out and were they accomplished in the manner that was set forth and then look at it and say okay if we want to proceed do we look and say by this time staff has some information on at least a couple three different organizations and you know their histories and what they would provide as a outside consultant but just listening to the discussion I'm thinking for Angie and I especially we probably should sit down and say okay we need to have this little review time on an evening somewhere along the way where we can just get everybody's Insight on how the Strategic plan was laid out the benefits the problems and the process of what everybody here outside Angie and I have seen how it gets put together and then move forward from that point and say okay here here's our options to do uh contract with somebody and this is what it costs or do we come back and after review say nope we're going to redo this in-house somehow but I think it behooves the city council and the staff to say okay here this is how this was done in the past and get us all up to speed on the same page and then move forward from there and yes it takes another meeting but I think you have a critical part of the people sitting here that yeah okay here here's a strategic plan but what's written is that what's was agreed to and how did we get to the point of saying okay those things were achieved thank you your honor thank you> [1:12:35] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember Campbell well I think we're all in agreeance we need an evaluation and to get and council member house and council member Pamela up to speed um I think Dan you have enough information to go on as to what our discussion was I think a day Retreat would be great a facilitator you know possibly chat again because he does know our backgrounds our histories he kind of we spent hours with us so he kind of knows who we are so um he's got some stuff to work with great looking forward to it review of city legislative priorities> [1:13:22] Dan Wietecha: <I don't know that I need visual aids with this one but maybe a little bit it might help um feeling a little bit like a broken record this is not an action item but an area that would appreciate some review discussion feedback from city council about uh thoughts on where where or if we might do something with legislative priorities uh and if so I'm imagining it it's probably an upcoming Workshop uh for more of a in-depth discussion um in the past at least recent years we've essentially piggybacked on the league of Minnesota cities and Metro cities I identified legislative priorities which there's certainly organizations we belong to and we're committed to but they particularly the league have a pretty broad scope of what their uh they're covering you know all the way from Marshall up to Warroad and we have to be in the middle Metro cities is a bit more focused around the Twin Cities but again it's not specifically Hastings uh and point out in adopting or in in following those uh organizations adopted policies the league has if you look at that's where the the visual aid is if I can figure this out I'm going to do when I push one of these too many buttons [1:15:08] okay we'll pass and it was it was a matter of being able to show the League's book has 206 policies where do we fit in there where are our priorities other than saying 206 of them and then you add on top of the Metro cities it's another 111. um uh there's certainly areas that that are I think probably important to the city uh local control support for infrastructure interest in housing revenue and tax policies uh concerns about how met Council can affect Regional development um issues certainly of importance to the city of Hastings but maybe not Hasting Centric we have on a few case-by-case basis uh supported uh advocated for other very specific pieces uh we a year ago had several projects proposed for the state bonding bill I think one of those the Civic Center still has some legs up at St Paul and expect that we'll continue supporting a project in Hastings last also in the bonding Bill not a city specific project not something we applied for but the state that home in town last year the city council sent a letter to the the house committee saying we support this investment in in state facilities in Hastings um last year two years ago there was something that came through the league and one of the planning organizations concerned about some legislation that would have really limited local control and Zoning so we had some discussion and if there's a resolution or something but Council said here's a specific piece of legis a bill up there that we've got concerns with how it would impact Hastings so we have focused a little bit on a case-by-case basis rather than just following the league in Metro City issues but questions come up is this the process we want going forward or do we want to be more proactive and identify here's the 6 or 10 or 12 here's the specific list that are particularly of interest to Hastings in you know more focused than just here's 206 at the league of Minnesota cities which which are the the Dozen that are of specific concern to us um uh and the one I do need to point out we we know that uh pfas regulations and funding for pfas removal is going to be a priority for us in the coming year whatever we do but wanted some input from Council on is the way we've done it in the past comfortable do we want to be more proactive are there whether we identify specific issues tonight or let's schedule a workshop a month from now to talk more about some specific issues um uh but wanted Council input on what direction or are you ready for taking a direction on legislative priorities I I had an example from Cottage Grove that had laid out very well on sort of a by Department here's some issues specifically affecting the police department and Community Development and Fire technical difficulties can't pull up that sample but a matter of uh you know an example of what other communities might be doing is that a a format that we want to be taking in the future thank you thank you> [1:19:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <Dan uh council member fulch> [1:19:19] Councilmember Folch: <I think your honor um the the example that I had provided to Dan that's from the city of Cottage Grove um I came about that when I was running uh for the house and um what had happened was I had contacted their City administrator and I sat down with her separately from the mayor and they both referenced that they had a legislative agenda and then they had provided to me like after having full conversations with them they had also then provided to me and it's only maybe like 10 pages long and it's and it's well laid out and it has with their bonding initiatives are in there and then also um and a lot of the issues as Dan was mentioning it broke it out by priority areas that are important you know all of our cities right Public Safety housing local control and such and um and what they what it mirrored what I um wanted to show you all was I passed you out um two pieces of paper one are just the thumbnail slides um these were the legislative priorities from 2022 um the mayor and myself and I think Lori we had gone to the advanced program for elected officials and these were the slides from that and so what they had done was their legislative uh priority package mirrored these issues but then they they dovetailed them in together and gave more specific examples from their own cities so that it was more translatable as to you know how it is that these initiatives you know affect their community and then for the 2023 legislative priorities I was the chair of the one of the four legislative policy committees this last year I was on the service improving Service delivery and so um some of the issues that we had identified as being highly important one of the big issues was about around ambulance services the first being that there's this gap between what the federal government is giving back to ambulance services for Medicaid and Medicare patients that are transported and received service that is actually less than the actual cost and so our city as a for instance is running an annual negative balance where our taxpayers are having to subsidize Medicare and Medicaid that gap of what we're receiving from federal government and actual payment and so Dan thought that there was a ballpark figure around and just right off the cup when we were having conversation he thought it was maybe two hundred thousand dollars a year and so so there so that's an issue where that affects us financially right and that's you know federal government and so there's an issue that we and so the the way the league we decided to frame it was if the federal government isn't going to increase the amount of funding that we're receiving for reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid so at least that we're covering our costs then there's a gap and asking for the state to step in and help with the public you know help subsidize that then so then our our local community isn't um it's you know stuck holding the bag for the federal government not stepping up and then it also gives us leverage to you know to talk to you know congresswoman Angie Craig as you know one of our Representatives about this is an important issue to us and we're running a deficit because federal government isn't doing its part um some of the other issues that are important um this year if you look at if you go to the league of Minnesota City's website Dana had provided a link to their legislative agendas there is the 2023 legislative priorities there and um it's a very fancy um there's these squares when you click on it to highlight what the particular issues are and you know like big issues our local government Aid the other handout that I had provided to you this was it's a letter format to a senator dornick and there's actually 25 mayors that have signed on to this particular letter and it was asking for them to reconsider the local government Aid formula because it's only increased by 16 percent in the last since 2009 whereas inflation has gone up by 27 percent and um and so asking for the state to increase the local government Aid formula and so then that also correlates with you know what the league of Minnesota City's priorities are and so I just think that there's a lot of opportunities for us if we had a succinct package of our legislative priorities not just to talk to our house and Senate members of Minnesota's legislative delegation but rather than to also talk to our Congressional Delegation our County I mean those of us who have been around for the last four to six years we know that housing is a huge issue when you're talking to community members but that's really the counties ball game and to continue you know put pressure on the county in order to provide assistance with that and to do what we can you know within our own City resources and so I think there's a lot of opportunity and last the but not least this issue about you know local sales tax we've had discussion um council member Fox and myself and council member Von Ron the finance committee this last year and uh and and we know how uh strapped the city is when it comes to the the Parks and Recreation types of uh infrastructure improvements that are necessary you know between the trail system and the The Ice Arena and so you know we should have real conversations about if we want to move forward and asking for that you know to go to the voters about you know identifying and we know already what the big projects are for the most part but really formalizing what is it that we want to do because if we want to ask for a local sales tax option that has to go to the legislature and that has to be passed Dan was saying that the cutoff for requests for local sales tax options was due at the end of January and so if we wanted to be serious about that and get that you know considered yet this legislative year I mean we gotta snap too right and so um so there are some really big issues here that we're facing um that you know if we had legislative policy initiatives that really affect the bottom line of our communities in so many ways and that we should be more effectively lobbying um other elected officials and putting pressure on them to be more supportive of things that are important to us so that's my bill so things thanks> [1:26:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember forge council member pinball> [1:26:20] Councilmember Dave Pemble: <Dan the question I have is okay we're members of Metro cities and the league of Minnesota cities correct and is there a uh cost endured that the city has to pay for to become a member we are dues paying members for both those organizations we get benefits from that membership Beyond just the the lobbying piece but that that certainly included okay my next part to that question is is who's the city's representative to both of those agencies especially the Metro cities do we have a representative to that organization that can stand up and speak for us and and especially with the Met Council activities and what's going to change in the next decade in this area especially where we will find a lot of other cities moving in our Direction and we want to be able to support ourselves and voice our own opinion and I'm just wondering if there was especially in the Met Metro cities organization if there was a assigned representative to that group there is not an explicitly assigned representative to either organization um we have uh with the league in the past had some staff and maybe some elected officials serving on specific committees for The League policy piece I don't know that we've had an involvement directly with Metro cities policy development but but we might have in the past certainly not at the moment um I know I personally meet with Metro cities uh staff at least once a year just as an annual check-in and discuss some of their legislative priorities and and where some of those might dovetail with specific Hastings issues or concerns but it's not I certainly wouldn't characterize as part of the development of their their their platform it's giving them some input or feedback or particularly where there's a local story connected to elements in their platform I think just listening to the discussion around the table this evening and saying that you know there are concerns moving forward maybe not right in front of us but almost right in front of us that it might behoove us to at least have some more activity with the Metro cities group to kind of you know touch base with how they're proceeding in their particular areas that may be something that's going to affect us moving forward I mean bonding a situation where there's a specific activity in a certain Community that's you know they're looking at that we can be part of or part of the information that okay the water issue that's coming before us how do some of these other Metro cities have address that or look forward for information and how to proceed something it's just communication goes a long ways and if you touch base with other organizations that are locally in your area that have dealt with or may have dealt with some of these things you know it's a learning experience and we all need to learn and because we're here to represent the constituents and we want to be as knowledgeable in the areas of concern as possible and these are might be some of the ways to do that by you know closer interaction with these two organizations especially the Metro cities one thank you your honor> [1:30:33] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember Campbell council member folge> [1:30:36] Councilmember Folch: <I just wanted to help also answer council member pemble's question about the Metro cities there is an electronic newsletter that you can sign up for and receive to read those issues and there's a lot more specifics about various types of grant funding opportunities and projects that are happening within the metro area so it's a little bit more pointed than the league of Minnesota cities a lot of the legislative policy priorities are are mirrored you know within and so if you would like to participate you as an individual council member pemble can volunteer to participate and there they have their own so the league has their policy committee structure and then the Metro cities has their own and so you can participate in that as you would like and then furthermore they do have an annual conference um and it turns into like the last few years it's just been an annual meeting and so I've participated in several of those the last six years um where it's like a two-hour forum and uh and the last you know the last few years of the pandemic they've been Zoom related and so so there's opportunities for you to be engaged in if you would so wish but um there hasn't been an individual within the council that has been actively participating within the Metro cities that I've I've seen updates from or anything to that effect but um so yeah there's lots of opportunities for Education when you're on the council and so uh yeah you know it's funny some of us laugh about how folks don't realize how much work goes to being in the console and staying abreast on a lot of issues and so welcome welcome to our to our party it's sides it's a lot of fun it's a roller coaster and I hope you enjoy learning about ella's opportunities councilman rapunzel thank you> [1:32:31] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember fox councilmember len> [1:32:34] Councilmember Lund: <thank you not specifically to this but I mean we talk about the these two organizations and they there are Advocates and they and you know we're one voice in in the many and um there's a lot of power in what they provide because quite honestly we don't have enough manpower to accomplish some of the work that they do um and so there's there's benefit to that but there's also a benefit to being more more hyper focused on an issue with an individual that has a voice and a vote so I think we also need to make sure that we're not leaning too hard on on these organizations and their legislative priorities and seeing how we can like highlight a couple that match ours um not to minimize it okay but to add to that I think you know whether it's Dakota County or whether we're speaking directly to our state representatives um or um you know uh even at the federal level we shouldn't be only talking to Angie Craig when there's a flood you know what I mean we have a liaison we should be leveraging the um the Strategic plan that we create and providing it out to these these representatives to say hey this is what matters to us in the next X months maybe you see something come across your desk that matches that you know of course I'm talking about money but you know maybe there's there's something out there that oh hey Hastings said they wanted to have accomplished this and I'm staring at this right now There's an opportunity there I should either either let them know about existing opportunities or at least I know some we have people in my court to vote for this so um I guess let's not just focus on the league of Minnesota Metro let's also make sure that We're looping in some of our other Representatives at different levels to know what we care about> [1:34:49] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <very good point council member Lund councilmember falch I'm sorry mayor [Fasbender] okay thanks Dan for all the updates council members do you have any announcements> [1:35:00] Councilmember Folch: <um thank you your honor I'm not sure if I've provided enough feedback I mean from a little bit of conversation that we had had that on the last issue about moving forward and developing more of a succinct you know identifying a dozen policy issues that are important to us that I think financially impact us is pretty important particularly as I think that there's a real opportunity in this next legislative session for there to be movement in legislative you know priorities for instance like local government Aid and such and so I'd really love to see us have the opportunity to put together some forum and that we're having that conversation I feel do you feel like that we got that resolved I I don't think it's my turn yeah I know I'm just bringing it up it just it seems like we just kind of like left that um instead not identifying what the next issues are going to be so circling back to that I mean did we provide enough and you feel you have enough I I think we have enough for January 3rd uh but but not uh a long-term piece I I believe that as an example if there's uh between the league and Metro cities over 300 policies as well as great ideas that might be in in your heads or conversations with constituents we would need some chance to review and refine and come up with a dozen and just saying let's get the Dozen tonight that's not realistic right exactly but I I do think that there were some comments here I like the idea of making sure we engage with the league of Metro cities and and other uh uh Federal and and County officials and have them Loop them in I heard the comment I think there's some pieces like that that I certainly took away but I think beyond that is a matter of our next step um whether it's during a council meeting or a workshop a month and a half two months out it would be to how do we sift through uh and and narrow up that long list and come up with here's a a dozen if that whatever the magic number is I think we're right there's enough tonight but if we're going to want to do something which is what sort of the general consensus I heard was we should have a Hastings list yes that's something we'll have to do at a future meeting okay great I just wanted to make sure that we articulated that and that the um the league does have the priorities for 2023 out there now and they're very similar to what they were in the last legislative session and a lot of them have a lot of financial impacts to our communities and so I think that that's why I just want to make sure that we're prepared then we're going to continue to have that conversation so it didn't fall off okay okay thanks and then I did actually have an announcement and that was in regards to the arts and culture commission that the city is now moving forward and actually taking application applications looking for Commissioners and that the deadline for applications if you're interested in being a commissioner is uh January 17th and that there's information on the city's website if they go to the city's home page that they can find a link to the application process for that thanks> [1:38:22] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <thank you councilmember fulch any other announcements okay I have a few experience ice fishing this Saturday January 7th at Lake Rebecca a fishing license is not required under our DNR permit and Bait Tackle and pulls are provided all fishing is Catch and Release pre-registration required for the on the city website thank you to our Partners carpenter Nature Center National Park Service Minnesota DNR Hastings VFW Hometown Ace Hardware get the let out repella and Vexilar city offices will be closed that is at 9am starting at 9am I believe it's 9 to 12. city offices will be closed Monday January 16th an observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day recycle your old lights with the Hastings Holiday Lights drop off collection residents can drop off their unwanted light strands at the Joint maintenance facility 920 10th Street West during the holiday season through January 31st January 4th 7 PM there is a Arts task force meeting Monday January 9th Planning Commission has been canceled Tuesday January 10th Parks and Rec commission has been canceled Thursday January 12th 6 PM as hedra 7 PM is an operations committee meeting Tuesday January 17th 5 PM city council Workshop 5 PM on elected officials 101 7 PM city council regular meeting 7 P.M on Tuesday January 17th is also a Heritage preservation Commission I would look for a motion to adjourn> [1:39:55] Mayor Mary Fasbender: <councilmember Campbell and council member liefeld no discussion all those in favor of the Motion state by saying aye aye opposed to that Motion state by saying name>