Here is the transcribed townhall meeting with speaker names added based on the context provided. [0:00] **Unidentified Speaker:** Heat. Heat. [0:10] [Music] [1:00] [Music] [1:20] [Music] **Group:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [1:57] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Um, first up is the approval of the city council agenda. Can I get a motion to approve it? First up is—is that better? Okay. Sorry. [2:16] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Um, first up is approval of city council agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Madame mayor. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yes. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Do you want to manipulate the order of things on the back? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Um, just under staff reports, you mean? [2:31] **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Yeah. We are going to move um Marcus up to number one under staff reports and the administrator down to two just so Marcus can depart. That's your amended agenda. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** That's my amendment. Thank you. Anybody else? [2:56] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Kathy, where did the um Fourth of July thing move? Did that move? **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** It's in city business. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Oh, okay. Okay. Number four, I'll make a motion to approve the amended agenda. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Second. [3:14] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. Um, next up is public forum. You'll have three minutes to speak. And who would like to go first? [3:30] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Is anybody here for the open forum? Anybody? Okay. Hi, Zach. Please state your name and address. **Zach Mayhook:** Hi, everybody. Uh, Zach Mayhook, 531 Hall Avenue. Um, I sit on the parks and natural resources committee for Birchwood. I just wanted to really thank Lori for being here tonight and for all the hard work she's done for the city. Uh she's put in a lot of time and effort for our parks in the community and I just want to really uh commend her for her work and also for Mary Sue. Mary Sue has been doing a ton of coordination with uh Lori and so I just wanted to extend our from the committee our thanks to both of them for all the work they've done for us. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Thank you, Zach. Yes, good job Lori. Thank you. [4:15] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Um, anybody else like to speak? If not, um, the public forum is closed. Um, Lori, would you like to come up and start your presentation? We're we're lucky to have Lori here tonight. Lori Telschow. She's from the Washington County Conservation District. And she's been so helpful, great person to work with. So, okay. **Lori Telschow:** Hi guys. Can you hear me? Huh? So, Washington Conservation District, we're your local soil and water. There's one in every county in the United States. We basically work with uh natural resource concerns, turning them into opportunities. We're interested in soil health and water quality. We offer free site visits through some funding from the county. And we were invited out by [5:02] the um city parks um committee like about two years ago. Mary Sue gave us a call and said, "Walk Ty Schmidt property with us and let us know if you see any opportunities." And so we went out to this this park site um right on the south side of White Bear Lake. Uh we walked through um the area and we were just identifying natural resource concerns. There was a lot of flooding going on and different things. So we um kind of came up with a plan to address some of the concerns. We had a community forum um to gather some input like insight from the community what they might like to see and then we um started planning a project. I guess you can move to the next slide and I'll show some of [5:48] the issues that we saw. So we started planning um and came up with these A through H's of uh opportunities. Um right away there was a study we came across. It was called the storm water retrofit study from 2017. Um and that identified oh I don't know five or six top practices that were going to reduce phosphorous loading. So that stuff that causes the green algae in the lakes. Um that was going to be um a measurable outcome. So we decided to take a look at those sites and see if we could get some funding for them. So we've been we pursued some grants to help with the funding. But basically for your guys' reference, area A is down by Delwood Beach. There's a lot of erosion at that beach, just a little bit, but there's an [6:34] old BMP there, like a swale that's kind of overgrown and isn't draining right. Area B was an area, it's an area to catch a bunch of runoff coming off of that street. Um, area, let's see, C, there's a lot of flooding and soil and sediment that comes down that road and deposits creating a lot of maintenance. [6:55] Um area D is completely like a little clogged um basin carrying a lot of sediment. We've got um throughout the whole area low spots um E F H those are all just kind of flooded. We found a broken pipe and different things that could be updated drain pipe trying to get things so that can be more usable for the community. And then at the top area G there's a major pipe that goes through there. We might be able to do a project that way. So these this was sort of the assessment. Next slide. Um you can see some of the problem areas that I was talking about. Um so this has the aerial showing you lots of different flooding areas and I don't know I don't need to talk a lot more about it but like this would be one of the project [7:41] opportunities. Area C would be uh where some sediment is loading and all of that keeping out of White Bear Lake would be really cool. So that's what we were after. Um we decided to do the watershed based implementation funding grant that's through the board of soil and water resources and we put in a grant to pursue some of these projects. Next slide. U so these projects were um funded. So we we got uh permission from the committee to go for $70,000 of funding. Um the Washington Conservation District applied on behalf of Birchwood Village. Uh this would be there's a 10% match. So that match would be coming [8:27] from the city for the city engineers time to review plans. Um for this grant, we're anticipating the city to be the contractor. So the city would be running the um bidding process and managing the um construction and the WCD would provide the designs and the engineer sign off um working with the city as well. Um we can do um we wanted to do one more community forum so we could get more input from the community. Um, and we also wanted to do another review with the parks committee on the final designs before we go to bid and make sure we have something solid for everyone that everyone feels really good about. Um, and then let's see what else. So, we at this time I had a few things I wanted to talk to you guys about. So, maintenance. [9:15] Um, maybe just go to the next slide. Let me see if I can show you guys. So, this is the master plan that we're thinking of. Um there are little areas in blue and that's where the basins would be. And then there's some areas in um kind of hash hatched blue. That's a restoration opportunity where we could do some native seeding and enhancement of the existed forest and wetland. Then we have purple which would be some pollinator areas that we could integrate to try and address some of the soggy wet areas. [9:48] uh there's a low- opportunity by the ice rink to just kind of change from grass to maybe something that's better suited but wouldn't really impact the long-term passive use of that recreation area. So, lots of opportunities. This was just a big concept along the Delwood easement. [10:05] Um maybe doing some kind of storm water infrastructure there. So, these are the concepts we've got. Um the 70,000 towards this. I wanted to make sure the city was aware of it. they were okay with that 10% match and everything. I think it's already been approved, but just to I know there's been some changes, so just to remind everyone. And then we also have a help grant. So, this is called Habitat Enhancement Landscape Pilot Project. It is similar. It's from the Board of Soil and Water Resources. [10:33] Um, it's a $10,000 grant that the WCD has secured. We got about 250,000 and we're divvying up to each community a little bit of the funds if anyone wants to do a habitat project. So you guys were on the list and we secured that. Um, and that would just basically be for extra planting throughout. I mean, we could go to the wetlands nearby there. [10:55] That hasn't been settled. We can get some input from the community on that. Um, and then also we would like to go forward with a Rice Creek watershed district grant. This would be $500 to $750. And that also would be used for something that comes out of like a community le event to try and figure out, you know, what kind of amenities we can add in in combination with native plantings. They're very interested in water quality for White Bear Lakes. So, they might want to fund one of the basins. Um, so that would be something where we would not apply on your behalf. [11:30] That would be something that the parks committee, I believe, could apply for and then um the city would sign off on it. And then it's um I guess just to be aware all of these are reimbursement grants. So if you got the Rice Creek Wershed District Grant, it would be upon completion of the project, you would get your check back. So it is something that we would want to be carefully aware of the timing to make sure that you guys didn't have to carry over funds. Um, so that just want everyone to be aware of all this and this is all in a memo so you can go back and look and I don't need very many decisions tonight. We just wanted to ask for general support and enthusiasm and um update you guys on our progress. Also invite you guys to an outreach event. We're looking at May [12:16] 31st from 10 to two over at the park. It's a Saturday and we'll just be walking the site and getting people's ideas of what we might be able to do. um trying to engage the neighbors to see if anyone is interested or has ideas. **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** Can you say the date and time again, please? [12:32] **Lori Telschow:** Sure. Yes, that would be um at the Ty Schmidt Park. It would be May 31st and it's from 10 to 12 in the morning. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Let's get that on our city email list a little bit, huh? **Lori Telschow:** Yeah. So, I think we're going to be working with the city uh parks committee to get that. I was hoping to do a quick mailer or something, too. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Thank you. **Lori Telschow:** And then uh the most I guess the other most important piece was maintenance. So when we had our first community forum the community said before anything we want to know that maintenance is taken care of. So this is part of it. We want to reduce the maintenance but we also want the city to be—anything we do to at least have some momentum behind maintenance. And so I asked our um we have a maintenance crew that does rain gardens and they go around for the cities and they do a bunch of basic maintenance, weeding, new mulch, unclogging things. And so their estimate was about $500, $250 to $500 per BMP. So that ends up being like the best management practice or the rain garden or the swale would be around $500 to get someone out there annually, maybe [13:40] do some new plants, something like that. So, it's a $2,500 to maintain this kind of uh—get better estimates once we have the plans in hand, but just to give you guys an idea. Um, if you're willing to think about that and commit to maintenance, I know that was important to the community. There was also a lot of community members that came forward to say they'd be interested in helping. So, we had the Lakes Link group and some different groups step up and say they're excited about this project. They'd like to do some maintenance. So, I think we might have—we have volunteer events, different things that you might be able to offset the cost, but I just wanted to throw that out there so you guys can think about it. So, I don't know there might be one more slide for you guys. Okay, so some pictures because that's always fun. We [14:27] have um basically native habitat enhancement. Um the goal of this project is you take an area that is, you know, flooded and soggy and full of um weeds or turf and it's just not working and we can do a seed mix that will kind of work with that um water and the maintenance might be as simple as mowing. Um also the shoreline, we could do a seed mix to kind of stabilize areas along the shore [14:57] um keeping access points. Um there's opportunities for filtration uh pre-treatment systems where you pop in a kind of a filter and then you just have to lift and dump. Um so that kind of system might be better than—or better fit in a tight spot. So we'll look at that. And then the I think the coolest part is just trying to while we're doing this bring in some amenities for the public. So, some sitting areas, um, you know, maybe a picnic table or two, but just really try and focus on the dual benefits of making this really fun for the community and kind of a better asset, but also it's better for the lake. And then, um, yes, so we have on our timeline, I'm hoping we can hit um, oh, I don't know, maybe August for a [15:45] Rice Creek Watershed District application if we were really on it, May—but they don't meet in July. So there's kind of a a gap. But if we have general flexibility to apply, that'd be that would be great. So it's mostly knowing that these need to be maintained and they do need to be floated for the cost reimbursement. Okay. And you will all see the plans and designs before we move forward. So any other questions? Can I help with—it was a lot. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, um I think this plan that you—the layout is awesome. You did a really great job. [16:24] **Lori Telschow:** Oh, thanks. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** It leaves that open space that people really wanted and yet it can control all that drainage—the drainage problems we had on the edge. **Lori Telschow:** We're kind of just trying to maybe add even a drain tile in there, get the water away from the fields because they said soccer is important. You know, you're getting some revenue for soccer and people love the ice rink. So, you know, those those programming things may change over time, but just having that open space sounds like people are excited about that. [16:51] **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** Well, I will move to offer our support and encouragement to the parks committee and to you, Lori Telschow, and to offer our general support and thanks for the project going forward. [17:07] **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** I'll second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? Hi. Thank you, Lori. Yeah, I just want to turn over to um my cohorts here. So, Mary Sue's been doing a bunch and Marcus is on there. Do you guys need anything else from the council to feel like you can move forward with the um grants processes? [17:35] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** On that grant. Is there a—is there a match required? **Lori Telschow:** It's the reimbursement one. Yeah. So the match—there's no match. The the fun thing about this is there is a match. So it's 50% typically. Uh but the match can be these state grants. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So I—if there's a match—if there's no match and no requirement on the city, what do you think, Alan? **Alan (City Attorney):** Then there's probably nothing needed. If they're not binding to the city to anything, the binding to come back if a commitment of public funds were [18:17] to be asked. **Lori Telschow:** Yeah. Yep. And it would just be knowing that I think if you do get these grants, it's a 10-year commitment type of thing. So, don't just go rip it up right after you do it. So, just being aware that we're hoping for a long-term project. We'll be back in touch before any money stuff has to handshakes. **Marcus Johnson (City Engineer):** And something we do need to keep in mind is that the uh grants that we have already received, the maintenance is a—a reporting on that maintenance for 10 years is a requirement for that. So just to have that in the budget and prepare for it is good. **Lori Telschow:** Okay. Yeah. So for me I can go to my board now. So Washington Conservation District encumbers the funds. So we take the um 10,000 and hold it for you guys. And so I'll just have that in the next round of minutes for our board. [18:51] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Do we—do we have an estimate on when all of this work will be done? **Lori Telschow:** So 2026 is when we need to have it done by, so the end of fiscal year well December 2026 maybe November is when I'd like to have it all wrapped up so we can do our reporting. So that gives us a year to um—I'm hoping we'll start fall with something, you know, and then move forward from there. But sometimes these projects can take multiple uh phases for like the noxious weed treatment or you might start a piece and finish the planting in the spring. So we'll be working with the construction timeline with Marcus. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So if we were to miss the end of 2026, then do we lose um the funding? **Lori Telschow:** There are extensions. It just [19:37] is not um ideal. So we will try and do our best to spend it before the end of that. But it gives us some nice—I mean we have some time. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Thank you. **Lori Telschow:** I think I'm going to step down next. Thank you. [19:54] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Um next up is our Lake Links Fund presentation. [20:11] **Mary Cahill:** Good evening. I'm Mary Cahill. **Jesse Granick:** And I'm Jesse Granick and we're here to talk about uh Birchwood's portion of the Lake Links Trail. **Mary Cahill:** Um just a little background, uh this is uh the Lake Links Committee was actually a citizen-led nonprofit organization that began in 2001 and um we actually—they didn't get momentum and get started with actual construction to 2017. [20:39] But the whole goal of the Lake Lakes Trail is to connect all of our communities across and around White Bear Lake. And so it's a shared use path that goes around the lake designed to help safe walking and biking for everyone who wants to use the trail. Now, we are a key segment of that because we're part of, you know, obviously on White Bear Lake. And so we um did establish and have signs and a route that was established back oh I'm not even sure quite a while ago. Um but but we were made aware that there's grant money available for Birchwood that was unused by Mahtomedi. So we wanted to use those [21:24] funds to make and enhance the trail that we have currently in Birchwood. Our task force committee consists of—and it started in 2024—myself, Jessica, um Ben Craig, Karen Freeberg who's here today, uh Brian McInness, Ellen Pratt, Mike Werner, and Janet Werner who's also here today. Cora Hankins is our roads committee task force representative and Bridget Sperl is our committee council liaison. So um one of the things that we wanted to let you know is we did hold a public forum last November seeking input [22:12] from uh our residents to see and look at the existing route we had. We came up with a lot of different options for routes, but after that meeting and based on our uh task force representatives, um we decided that our existing route was what we wanted to keep with. So, um Jesse, if you want to... [22:34] **Jesse Granick:** So, the existing route as it is—I think he was going to zoom in on that. Chris, can you zoom in on that? Okay. Well, we can just move it closer to the camera, I guess. But yeah, coming in from bikers and walkers or pedestrians come to J Street. [22:57] And this is where the suggested route is that the bikers continue down to Cedar and do Wildwood Road. Walkers, pedestrians come in and they jog down and around by the park and then meet up with that way. Obviously, we can't tell anybody that they can't go either way, but that is our suggested based on safety and okay. Um and the amount of money that has been made available is $70,000. [23:42] Um based on the cost estimates and all the research we've done, we don't even think we're going to hit 35,000. So, we've also worked with the parks committee to see if there's something else that we could do to enhance, you know, use some of those funds. Um so, the first uh thing what we are recommending for the use of those funds is to repaint the crosswalks to add additional signage and that signage would be a share the road sign like you see in Mahtomedi. You also see them along White Bear, but these would be the ones would have the uh symbol of a automobile, a pedestrian, and a biker. [24:21] And then it says share the road in the middle. So that makes it more obvious that this is, you know, a trail that's for multiple uses. Um some traffic mirrors, and those specifically would be located um you know, around Hall and J where that—it's a very blind corner there to help. Because I know if I'm walking I don't even like walking on the left side there just to help so that you're more visible, the cars can see that there's people using that and also on Wildwood and Cedar because that's kind of a a congested area there too. [24:56] Also to—to use sharrows and stencils. So, the sharrows, if you're not familiar with those, those are those embedded um bike symbols that they have in Mahtomedi that we would put along the bike path. And then on the uh—a stencil where we would have the jaunt that goes down to the walking path. So, there's a clear delineation of where you would go um depending if you're walking or riding your bike. And then also, we were going to purchase two electronic speed signs. [25:28] Uh those would be located—it's actually on the map. Hall and 170 Wildwood... **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** 170. Yes. Oh, in front of my house. **Mary Cahill:** Yeah. Um and that was actually based on some recommendations from the road—road safety committee as well on—on where they would—where those would be located. [25:52] And um we have some studies that was done by the University of Minnesota um and it's been proven to be very useful to have those because people see that flashing how—how fast they're going and—and do you—not everyone of course but me—most people will see that and slow down and that's our objective because obviously you know we've all switched to 20 miles an hour so they can realize how fast that they're going. And also we were looking at uh four benches. Uh we're working with the parks committee to determine where those locations should be, but we were thinking two on Ty Schmidt Park along the path and then two in Wildwood Park so that uh you know people walking—probably not so much for bikers but you [26:37] know hey if they want a snack—but more so for walkers that they'd have a place to rest when they're walking through. Uh and then we also uh have in our cost estimate some vegetation removal equipment. This would be to uh more heavy-duty brush removal because there's a lot of brush growing up on the roads in some areas and onto the roads and this would help just clear that off. U make it so that it's—it's more safe again, for that was our primary objective is safetiness of the people using it. [27:11] Um, so what we would need from the council is to create a resolution uh to support the project and this is a little bit different than the um last proposal. The money is there. It's already in Minnesota management and budget. So it's not like we have to worry about the funds will be gone. They're there. [27:35] They're available for us to use. But we do have to apply for the grant. And once we get the appropriate documentation together, we can be reimbursed for the costs that we expend um within 30 days of that expenditure. But you would have to have within this resolution that you will support the project and that you'll pay those upfront costs for reimbursement. [28:01] And um we've been working with the—so it's Minnesota management and budget who will actually be giving us the money that we submit the expenses to but it's actually Met Council that we've been working with who will help us along the process of doing that grant application. [28:18] So they've already done it for numerous other cities. So they're familiar with the process of verbiage that needs to be used etc. So, what we'll do is um we'll work with the administration here to get those um—they've got a couple of different documents that they expect to be completed. They'll review it prior to going to Minnesota management and budget. If they see anything that they would think that needs to be tweaked a little bit, they'll give us advice. We'll do that. [28:48] then it gets submitted to Minnesota management and budget and then it's just a matter of you know go on with it. So um what we'd also need support from you is to commit to ongoing maintenance of the trail meaning that you know if a sign gets mowed over or plowed over or whatever that we would fix that you know mirrors etc. Um, we have a question and we're not sure of, you know, the duration. Like I noticed the uh—they were saying 10-year commitment. We're not sure of the commitment of that, but we do have a question in and then just to support that grant application process. [29:26] Um, and so really what we're looking at today is just preliminary information. We want to get any questions that you have so that we can be prepared to get those answers to you. Our goal is that we can get all your questions answered. we have all the information so by the June council meeting that we can start the ball rolling and that um on in July hopefully we can get started. Um we really think that based on what we're looking to have done here that there's no reason why we couldn't finish by the end of this year. Um so um I—like I said—we're—we're hoping to get that approval of that resolution by the next meeting. you know, get it written and get that approval. [30:10] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So, is there any questions that we can help? I have questions. Yes. So, thank you. That wasn't a question, but um So, first of all, do we expect maintenance of the trail to be pretty minimal? I know we're really sensitive to that sort of ongoing cost right now. [30:30] **Mary Cahill:** We would expect it to be just kind of what we're doing on the roads plus a sign here and there. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay. Um then and this is kind of a question for maybe Marcus. Um it sounds like to me this project is significantly under the proposed budget right now. Do you want to—do you want to go over and—because I guess as a general question I think you guys did a great job. Would it be worth just having a professional services firm come in and just say, "Hey, this is—you might want to round this corner or tweak this a little bit with some of the grant money there and add in a little bit of money just to get a little bit of—not saying you guys are unprofessional, but specialized professional advice, right?" That—that seems like it might be [31:16] valuable to do things out. Talk to— **Marcus Johnson:** Yeah. They've been reaching out periodically um to get feedback and stuff already, but yeah, before we proceed, yeah, it'd be good to just get one last review. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I would like to see some of that in the grant application. And then um the final thing I have is this no doubt impacts our road plan in some way and we'll—we will probably expend some funds to update the road plan relating to this project. Will we not? **Mary Cahill:** Yes, that is something that especially if we uh approve the sharrows going in that would need to be included. So when I had discussions with the—oh gosh not manager but public works manager from Mahtomedi [32:02] because we're doing very similar things to what they're doing. Um he recommended and that's one thing we're getting in our cost estimate is the the actual stencil for those sharrows. So that would help um with the cost, but obviously when we're redoing the roads as additional costs, they'll have to be factored in. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** And—and so I was just going to ask—I appreciate all that. I was just going to ask if we can include those costs of all that stuff and—and updating our road plan to accommodate this project in the grant as well, just to make sure we throw as much in there as we can. Is that—just—that's all I'm asking is squeeze... Does that—I—I—I guess I—I want to be clear because we have to—it's very similar to this other project we have to [32:49] be done by 2026. Okay. So if we don't start on the road—the road construction but the road planning which we're doing right now and I think would probably easily be done right. Marcus is that something where we could—this is going to have to be included and we can make sure we get your hours... **Marcus Johnson:** Yeah it squeeze the—your paycheck out of the state instead of out of ourselves. Okay. [33:11] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** That's—that's what I got. Other than like can we just like stencil that. But yeah, I understand what you're saying. **Mary Cahill:** Yes. And—and we do—we do have money for that. That's—that's a very good point and we can—we can get that included. Um and—and I know that other cities did include the planning phase with their engineer and everything because you know if you've looked at uh Southshore Boulevard that obviously took a lot of planning in engineering. So yes that that can be included in the grant money. [33:49] **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** I have questions to you guys. Um for the electronic signs that you mentioned, is there any infrastructure we need to add for electrical line etc that hooks up to or is that solar? **Mary Cahill:** It would be solar and that was one of the things that we were looking at is um the location to make sure that there was sunny enough. Yes. I mean, you know, all the brush was pretty shaded, but um we were hoping that that would be good. And that was one thing when we talked to—and that was another thing that we got recommended from Mahtomedi because they have some um so they gave us uh contacts for this. It's called traffic calm and they actually had the contract um with uh 3M and so they they've uh will help us make sure they'll do a site visit to [34:37] install and make sure that it would work successfully where we're going to place it. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** If we have any funds left, is it possible to use that to do um pothole repair along that—that path um while we wait for the roads to be done in those areas? **Mary Cahill:** You certainly can ask them because I've already got some questions out to them that I'm waiting for an answer because the lady who's doing it is on maternity leave. Her manager is—is covering, but she just went on maternity leave. So, we'll we anticipate having questions. So, we certainly can ask that. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I think that might be a good use of any extra funds just to whilst we're waiting for the various because obviously potholes are a danger for walkers or bikers. **Mary Cahill:** For walkers or ped—bikers. Yes. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** And we should just probably make sure we thank Margaret, too, [35:23] because I know she was kind of the—got this rolling, too. **Mary Cahill:** Yeah. I've been in contact with Margaret. She's given us some recommendations and contacts, too. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Would it be possible um to include restriping along um that Cedar Hall? Well, I guess it would just be Hall down to Cedar. So what—what side are we having people walk on or bike on? It should be normal with traffic. Yep. Is biking against traffic would be walking. Yep. And would it be possible to um repaint that white stripe with some of that money because that is part of the trail. **Mary Cahill:** We certainly can ask Yeah. Yep. [36:06] Because I know those are—I mean I think that that's the key. It's got to be part of the trail. We can't expect to do virtual or something, but yes, I would think so. Okay. Does anybody else have a question? [36:23] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** This group has been working on this a long time and has been doing really, really good work. So, thank you. Yes. Thanks for all your hours you've put in. This is awesome. **Mary Cahill:** Yeah, we've got a good committee. Thank you. Thank you so much. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I'm a big fan of everyone coming up and talking about grants. This never happens but it is so much work. Well, thank you. [36:41] **Resident Speaker:** Question by a resident for the Lake Links Trail—for the Lake Links Trail. Did I have that flashing lights? [37:02] **Mary Cahill:** Uh we're talking about you know when you have a—if you're going by it and there's a speed, it'll tell you. **Resident Speaker:** Where is that? Is that flash? [37:28] **Mary Cahill:** 600 Hall. Not by your house. And that was something we were trying to— [37:43] That was the one thing we were trying to be very cognizant of is trying to avoid impact to neighbors and having lights or mirrors. And that's why we're going to work closely with our engineer and—and make sure that there's minimal impact to the residents in terms of—of lights or, you know, I mean, the speed I would—I wouldn't think it'd be too obvious, but we'll have to check. I'm not sure. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So—so I just did a quick Google search because in my head I saw one of those big ones that you saw that the cops put out, but I see it's just—it's the size of a normal sign, a normal speed sign that just [38:30] with just normal LED lights displays the speed. **Mary Cahill:** Yeah, that's what we're looking at. Not one of those giant ones the cops put out. No, no, it's—it's—it's similar to you know how Birchwood when we were having—um not sure everybody is aware, but for a while there they—we had Washington County put up some of those portable ones so you could see how fast people were going. Those are what we're talking about similar to that. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Thank you. Does that answer your question? **Resident Speaker:** Yeah. Thanks. [39:02] **Mary Cahill:** We're not widening the roads. The only things that—that there's no change in the roads. What we're only trying to do is if there's debris or brush along those roads, help clear some of that off so it's a little bit safer for people driving. But Yes, it is. [39:22] Yes but yeah, unfortunately we—we didn't have enough funds to create a separate trail or path. So, we will be using our existing road. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** We should—we should use the word "route" instead of "trail." The route—there's just a route through Birchwood. [39:47] So, it's what's existing here. So, pedestrians walk against traffic, bikers go with traffic, and you use the route. So, it's just a route. Nothing changes with the road or the sign or the striping or anything. [40:18] **Mary Cahill:** Yeah. Yeah. And I—and I appreciate that. But one of the things we got from residents feedback was "we do not want our roads wider." I was think we—well when we had our public forum and—and our committee that was um—big consensus is they don't want wider roads at that time. [40:45] So you're saying that the lines that are there moving that over? Yeah. To make—to create a bigger shoulder like... Yeah. Um it's certainly something we can talk to the engineer about. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I—No, we know what you're talking about and something that... Yeah. [41:04] Certainly something we can talk to our engineer about and that. Yeah. I mean, we don't have any objection to it. We just don't want—we're not widening the road. Yes. [41:37] Restriping it. I don't know if you—you heard that, Jane, but they were—she wasn't suggesting changing the road dimensions, just the lines. Okay. Okay. All right. Just want to make sure. [42:05] **Mary Cahill:** There's a lot of— [42:30] Okay, thank you. Oh, another one. Yeah, I know. I should probably know all the information, but that road has a lot of areas that have been so great [42:50] refurbished that is more than $70,000 will take care of. So that's not part of what we're doing. We're just trying to make the whole route safer and more visible and usable um for what we have going on with—for what we have. And then the city's got a road plan that hope that will eventually address that. [43:20] Thank you. We appreciate your time. Thank you so much. [43:31] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Well, our next presentation is going to come from Chief Greg Peterson. Um, Chief Peterson, welcome. We're happy to have you this evening. Are we done with this sign? Can I take it down? I can't see people. Oh, I think so. [43:52] Want that out of the way. All right. **Chief Greg Peterson:** Madame Mayor, members of council, thank you for having me. I just wanted to provide a quick update, kind of look at what happened in 2024 and what we're planning to do in 2025. So, for those of you that may—may or may not know what White Bear Lake services, we provide services city White Bear Lake to Birchwood, Delwood, Gem Lake, and the township. So we cover overall we cover about 35 square miles which is a big service area. Some of it being populated, some of it being less populated. Um and over 38,000 people plus all—all the visitors and—and so on that come to our area. So it's a—it's a pretty significant uh role that we play within the community. Currently we have [44:37] 18 full-time firefighter paramedics. So, that's a line staff, the people that work regular shifts. They work 24-hour shifts. We have one full-time firefighter EMT that we just added this year. So, we have 19 people um that are ready to respond. And again, they're divided up into three different shifts. [44:57] So, um and then we additionally, we have 12 part-time staff, which kind of comes from that—the department is 137 years old now. And so, you know, it's—it's been through a lot of different iterations along those 100 plus years. And so, we went from what was really a volunteer department to now a paid department. Most people work shifts and so on. So, um that is what our staffing is—is currently at. Our call volume for last year was 4,784 calls. So, we're a busy department. Uh we go on a lot of calls. [45:32] Most of what we do is ambulance calls. So we run a—a full paramedic, advanced life support, ambulance service that provides both. So we do fire, rescue and ambulance services for all of those areas. Um and that is the majority of what we do. So 78% of our call volume is operating the ambulance. Um and we do a good job at that. The rest of it is fire and rescue calls. So people always ask us, you know, what—what do you do? Well, we do a lot of ambulance calls. So, so that is that uh—the as far as our top five calls for ambulances. Um there are sick people is the largest category, breathing problems, psychiatric problems, falls and unconscious and that [46:17] is consistent year after year after year that really doesn't change. Um and that is the type of call by how we get sent to the call. So that's how we're dispatched. Uh I just wanted to share a quote from somebody um that we got. We—I get a lot of thank yous which is always good because we see a lot of things that are difficult to deal with um and don't always have uh the best outcomes uh when we—when we deal with what we deal with. [46:44] But this gentleman said if it weren't for them today I—wouldn't be here today. So um it was pretty neat and when you get feedback like that from people. So we're pretty—pretty happy about it. One thing I wanted to make everybody aware of is 64% of our patients are over the age of 60. So that is the majority of the population um that were serving in this area. And in Minnesota in general um the age of 65 and older is expected to double from last year until 2075. Um and so we anticipate our call volume and the resources that are needed to continue to grow um as we go on through the years. Um and another thing of note is [47:31] that that elderly population is also most likely um to be involved in fire deaths, which is what we've experienced um in our response area. So I've been uh in the fire service for 37 years. Um this is my eighth year as the fire chief in White Bear Lake and since I've been here we've had three fire related deaths um in that time frame and all of them were elderly patients and—and two at least two if not three were all—in two of the three were involved with um also with smoking. Um and so those are common factors across the state as far as the risks for people um that—that may be uh exposed to—to um any fire type of death. [48:18] Couple of programs that we're working on this year. So um our paramedics are trained at a very high level from Regions EMS. We do a lot of very advanced skills. Um and one of the things that Regions has asked us to do uh is to start a new program. So this is the first program that we're aware—aware of in the state to do this. And what we're doing is going to trial IV acetaminophen. So Tylenol basically, but acetaminophen is the generic name. Um and now this isn't like have a couple of Tylenol at home, couple of pills. That's usually about 250 to 500 milligrams. The um the vial that we're going to give is 1,000 milligrams. So it's a significant dose uh to people. [49:02] And the whole premise behind this, they're doing this a lot in the hospital currently in—in—in replacement of narcotics because there's such an opioid uh—a lot of people that haven't had opioids before and then they get addicted because they go in for, you know, they broke their leg, they broke their arm, they whatever happened. Um and so this allows us to give a pain control medicine that will hopefully help to curb that. So, that is something we just started and we already gave one of the doses. We uh we do a lot of community events. I know every year we come out here for National Night Out. Um and that is always fun for us. If there are other events you'd like us to come to, please let us know. Um but overall there were [49:49] 56 planned events that we went to last year. Um and then a lot of just kind of drop-ins and hey, can you stop by here and hey, can you do that? So, we do it—a lot of them. We have a lot of fun uh with all of them, whether it be elderly adults or little kids or anybody in between. And then every week at Marketfest, we're out there for um for that. And so you can come visit us there. Also, another thing that we uh started just recently is what we call the "vial of life" program. So it's a—a—a red vinyl pouch. It's about this big. [50:22] Um, and inside that we have a sheet of paper that we—we have things listed out for all the pertinent information that we need to know when we get to medical calls. And so I've been myself a paramedic for a long time and I can tell you I've been on multiple calls where we get there, we have no idea what's going on. Um, the patient isn't making any sense. We don't know if that's normal for them or that's abnormal for them and we don't know who to contact. And I remember being at one where I just started looking around and we didn't know—nobody else was there and I just started looking at the fridge and there were a bunch of stuff posted on the fridge and there were some people's phone numbers and I just got my personal cell phone out and started calling people until I got a hold of somebody that happened to be a relative of theirs and said, "Hey, we're here and this is [51:09] what's going on. Um, is there somebody around?" When somebody—their significant other—had quick left to go to the grocery store to grab something and come back and in the meantime somehow 911 got called. So um we were able to—to figure that out. So these—these are available. The Lions Club um recently gave us a donation to buy 2,300 of these. Um, and our plan is to get them all to our assisted living facilities and then we'll also have a stash um at our administration for people to pick up if they're interested. Um, and so it's a very useful tool. Um, I gave this presentation uh to our council a few weeks ago, about a month and a half ago I guess. And um, within a week, um, somebody that got one from the council member, um, we had the same situation where, um, we got to the call wasn't really sure what was going on. They saw the pouch. We tell everybody to put it on their fridge because everybody has a fridge. Um, now I know the the new, you [52:11] know, stainless steel ones, they might not stick real good. uh we're aware, but at least in the area of the fridge. And so people—we look for that and the crew did exactly that. Again, they were a little confused. It didn't seem quite normal. So they went to the sleeve. They had already filled it out and found out this lady had a—a seizure um history and they went, "Okay, there you go. That's—that's what's going on here." So um it wasn't an obvious seizure. Some seizures are very mild in nature. Um and so that's what it was. We also are currently running a citizens fire academy. So, if any of you are interested in that or anybody in the audience, um we're just about to wrap it up, but we'll do it again next spring where people can come in and learn all about what we do. You get to use the Jaws of Life, you get to spray some water, you get to put some fire out, um [52:57] you get to do a lot of cool stuff. Um and so if people are interested in that, uh please keep a—a look on our—our website for that. We do a lot of ride-alongs for people, regions doctors, physicians assistants, Century College students. We get tons of Century College students uh come ride with us, so that's always good. And then also citizens uh can come ride us, too. We do a ton of training, CPR classes, um community emergency response training, uh cardiac advanced cardiac life support, um the kind of the list goes on and on. I won't bore you with all of it. One of the things I wanted to point out to everybody though this year is um—um the—the amount of brush fires we've had this spring um is amazing and in—in this area you wouldn't think there's a whole lot [53:43] to burn. But the problem is there's a lot of woods and stuff around here and a lot of—lot of leaves and it's greening up real nice now. But when we go from that phase from winter time to everything is dry to now when it's greening up um it—they travel extremely fast. And we went into—helped out. We all of the neighbors around here help each other out when there's fires. And we went into Maplewood multiple times. [54:08] You wouldn't think that Maplewood would have any significant fires, but you know, you get a plot of land um that's a big grassy field and now it's tucked in between houses and next to a business. And now we're like, "Holy cow, we need to stop this." And you know, we're talking three to five foot flame lengths and they're moving rapidly uh across a big area. So we've had that. I don't know if you saw on the news, we helped out Shoreview where, you know, they had 30 to 50 foot flame lengths because part of the the flames had gotten into some pine trees that were very dry. Uh, and so that is a concern of ours. We are prepared for it. Uh, but we're going to rely on our neighbors a lot to help us out. Um, and so it takes a lot of resources to—to put them out. So that is kind of something new and unusual um, [54:54] despite all the normal stuff that we do. So, I'll stand for any questions anybody might have. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Any questions? Well, that was easy. That was a great presentation. Thank you. I learned a lot. So, thank you for coming in. Appreciate it. **Chief Greg Peterson:** Thank you. [55:12] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Thank you. Um Bridget, did you have a—a presentation you'd like to make? **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Well, I don't really have a presentation, but um what uh we all decided at the very first council meeting is that we would start to gather key metrics. And what we talked about last time is even though we don't have all of the key metrics in place, let's just start. And so I submitted um the report that we do in fact have into the package. And uh it's more to reassure the community that yes, we take that seriously. We will continue to work on it and uh work with the administrator um [55:57] to figure out how we start to populate this so that we can um see a—a different view of Birchwood. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. Thank you so much. All right. We're going to move on to the consent agenda. Is there anything anybody would like pulled out? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Uh, I'd like to pull out the treasurer's report, please. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. [56:20] And I mean, I—I don't think it hurts to do it again, but didn't we already do NYFS? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Mhm. Then we can do it again, I guess. Doesn't hurt. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** You want to pull it out or you just want to leave it in? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I don't think it hurts. I mean, we should do it the same way both times, I guess. [56:36] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. Well, that doesn't leave much of a consent agenda. Forget I said anything. Well, you should. All right. Um, can I get a motion then to approve the consent agenda after removing number two, the treasurer's report? **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** I'll move to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item two. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Second. Sorry, I'm making things difficult. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? Opposed? Hearing none. Motion passes. So, just the treasurer's report, huh? [57:18] Okay. On to staff reports. Um, Marcus? [57:27] **Marcus Johnson:** Mayor, council. Uh, so I only have a couple items tonight. Um, just an update from the lift station. We have a couple services to relocate. We're currently working with Xcel—excuse me—with Xcel to—to do that. And then, um, as of right now, we're still on schedule to start at the start of June. So, I haven't heard any set dates yet, but any day. I know last time I talked with them last week, they still hadn't got the pumps in yet, but they hadn't heard of any reason why they wouldn't be in. So that's kind of just the reason why we don't have an official start date and stuff to continue with. So um otherwise, yeah, we're up to date on [58:12] the EPA. The semiannual report was sent in on 4/29 and um there is a webinar coming up um as well. So yeah, any questions on the lift station update? [58:30] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** What is the webinar for? **Marcus Johnson:** Just an update of—of just making sure we're—or just making sure the city's aware of the requirements. And they had the same thing last year as well, the EPA grant portion. Yep. [58:47] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Have you gotten Scott up to speed on all the EPA requirements? **Marcus Johnson:** Yeah. Working on it. Registered. Yep. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Marcus, this is a really probably dumb question, but will citizens see any difference in their experience with a new lift station? **Marcus Johnson:** It be—it should be a lot less visible like the—the one right now. It sits up about—it's like a foot, I want to say. This one should be relatively flat. It will be a larger structure. um the access port is—is actually um meeting standards now and not a small structure. So, it's safer and—and stuff like that. So, you'll notice that kind of stuff, but usually the thing—the things that residents notice the most is [59:33] things like generators, which we're not changing, and then um things of that nature. Everything that we're doing is pretty much underground. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. Thanks. What should we expect for traffic closures? **Marcus Johnson:** Good question. Um, so it would be the—oh, it would be the side that the lift station's on. I'm—I'm drawing a blank on my... **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Would you like the map? **Marcus Johnson:** That's fine. It would be on the south side there. [1:00:00] Then south, correct? Yep. And then their goal is to keep that—that north side open still. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. And so people—there—there'll be—there—I mean there's a decent way around there but people—the ones that—the ones that are going to be directly affected—as soon as we hear official start time we're going to start knocking on doors letting everyone know um and whatnot here upcoming. As soon as Xcel gets going we're going to be already out there doing the same thing. Xcel will be pretty minimal um with their adjustments and I—at most—it would be a temporary shutdown for an hour or two to get them across but um with their new [1:00:46] their new services but otherwise yeah it would just be a temporary shutdown um of one lane is what they're thinking and then um yeah... **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** How long is the project? Can you tell everybody? **Marcus Johnson:** Yeah, it'll—it—there—conservatively it'll be about a month. Um it's kind of weather dependent. You know, June could be a pretty wet month, but even—even with—I mean, knock on wood—with rain delays, it'll be a month. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, that one lane will be continuously shut down for a month, correct? **Marcus Johnson:** Yep. [1:01:21] Yep. They'll need the space to—just to have the equipment. It's—we're going pretty deep and so it'll be pretty large equipment in there and it'll be pretty tight. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** So, from a communications standpoint, I'm not sure how this relates to when the community letter goes out, but it would be good to put a blurb in there about this. And then I'm wondering, can you put together a one sheet sort of overview that we could post on the bulletin board and in Facebook and on the um website that just explains time frame and what's happening and what people can expect? [1:02:00] **Marcus Johnson:** Yep, I can definitely do that. And then even during the process, I'll have like weekly updates uh that we can also post and just kind of keep everyone in the loop of what happened this past week, what to expect for the future and stuff like that. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Could you also give Scott the information for the people who will be going around knocking on doors from Xcel, etc., just so people know that that is a legitimate thing going on? [1:02:22] **Marcus Johnson:** Yeah, it'll be Bolding staff, but yeah, I'll give—I'll give that to Scott. Yep. We don't like solicitors here. I guess uh—permit Xcel might go to the doors um to make sure that their gas is hooked up, but otherwise—yeah. Okay. We're an Eco Shield shirt. [1:02:42] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Any other questions for Marcus on this topic? All right. **Marcus Johnson:** 425 Lake variance. I just—I just wrote up a memo of um—for the city council just kind of laying out um—there's been a lot of questions in retaining walls and—and you know should it be impervious, should it not? So I just kind of laid that out um—of my opinion and what I've seen um across the industry so far. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** But just to be clear Marcus, on your memo, your opinion specifically is that retaining walls under Birchwood City Code are not treated as impervious surface. And in your professional opinion as an engineer, that's the case. **Marcus Johnson:** Correct. Correct. Thank you. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** [1:03:28] Sorry, I didn't mean to. The tone of that was a little off. I just want to make sure that that's—stating that explicitly that in your opinion, retaining walls are not treated as impervious under the—under the city code. **Marcus Johnson:** Yep. Retaining walls are—they're meant for a—a grading asset. They're not meant for—but—but they ex—and don't though—I'm gonna be a little bit tedious here—but they explicitly do not meet the definition of impervious surface under—under Birchwood's code in your opinion. [1:04:00] **Marcus Johnson:** Thank you. Yep. Any other questions—as we can move on to the next which is the—this year's project. Um, so I just wanted before we continue going, um, we're looking at, uh, mill and overlay for the remaining of that cul-de-sac on Oakridge Drive and Oak View Court. Um, looking at approximately 105,000. Now, that being said, um prices this year have been extremely low. So, I would be shocked if we're not significantly lower than that. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Wonderful. [1:04:46] Why? I—I don't think I've ever heard that before. **Marcus Johnson:** Yeah, it's been quite a few years, but— **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Is there a specific reason why or what do you— **Marcus Johnson:** People are just very hungry for work. So, people want—people want to beef up their workload. So, in addition to this, like last year, we also included in this package of the citywide um—potholing. Um the the change I want to make this year is I—I'm writing a contractor... it's pretty much written. [1:05:16] I'm specifying like dates and unless if the city has other opinions, I'm thinking the day that we award the quote, the low quote, um they have 30 days to get the potholing done and then as a completion date and then the remainder of the project um which I guess I never touched on. Um would be up until uh August or October 15th um—continuous, not showing up every once in a while. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Correct. Yep. **Marcus Johnson:** As—as—so when they start they're—they're done. So in summary of what I'm proposing is um—the road is flatter than standards should allow um in some areas where we're seeing drainage issues. So I'm proposing a [1:06:02] temporary uh ditching until we come through and fully reconstruct or decide in the future of what—what this street looks like. Um on the—on the plan you'll see highlighted approximate areas. So as long as the council's fine with um doing this, I'll get those staked out. It will take a little bit of um working with utility companies to make sure one we're not exposing any of their wires and that we're safe. And then um um in the—in the contract I'm going to have that they—they expose the utilities where we're ditching to make sure we're getting good coverage so we're not exposing someone to freezing pipes or um shallow [1:06:50] anything. So go ahead. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** No, please finish. **Marcus Johnson:** So, yeah, as long as the council's fine with this, um I'm going to wrap this up, throw a signature on it, and then um it—if we'd like to bring it back just with the signed plan and spec, I'm okay with that. Otherwise, I'll send it to Alan to review and see if he has any feedbacks or changes. And then, um we would send that out for quotes, uh most likely for three weeks for to let them review. And then in that process, I'll start working with utility companies. [1:07:26] And then hopefully by June, we'd have some numbers to see. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** And—and so last year we discussed—we had these—the ditch issue and the drainage issue. This year we said we would like to have contractors carry insurance that names the city or something like that. [1:07:45] Is that something that's— **Marcus Johnson:** So that—that'd be part of it. And then there'd also be a warranty period this year too as well. um that is also in the contract. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Seems—seems like we either got a plan to pay for it or else they got a plan to pay for it. So because it seems to me like the general way to treat these isn't so much extensive surveys as after-the-fact repairs generally. Right? **Marcus Johnson:** Correct. Yeah. [1:08:09] **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** I just have one question. Um, so this 105,000 that's for mill and overlay, the temporary ditching, and also the filling the potholes, the whole city. **Marcus Johnson:** Yep. Short of the ones that have already been done. [1:08:25] Okay. The water main breaks and stuff. Yep. And when they come out, then you'll see me spray paint the road um white again. So, and also if I miss any, please let me know because there's a lot of streets cover. [1:08:44] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Any other questions for Marcus? Thank you. **Marcus Johnson:** Thanks for all your work, Marcus. Perfect. Thank you. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All right. Um Alan, do we do the pull outs now from the consent agenda? We had two pull outs. I think Scott's next. What's up, Scott? I forgot about you. Do you want me to stand? Oh, please. **Scott (City Administrator):** Testing us. Yeah. Yeah. Are you still—you still with us there, Alex? [1:09:19] Sorry. I made it to my first meeting. So, uh, first off, I—I just wanted to provide that brief introduction. and I've had the chance to speak with several of the council members at different times, some more at length than others, but again, just in the short period of time, it's been a good experience. You know, the city of Birchwood is—is not unique. Um, unfortunately, a lot of smaller communities have had similar issues the last few years. Staff turnover, council turnover, people move. Long-term residents with a lot of knowledge, institutional knowledge have moved. So, I—I just want you to feel, you know, it's—it's impressive when you have a new mayor that is researching how to start a city and you can have an open discussion about same things other communities are [1:10:05] going through. Um, I think some of the—I—I've been doing this a long time, so I've got a little more comfort level than a lot of administrators. Uh, but again, I realize that I'm also here to work for you. I'm here to work for the council. You're just trusting me to steer the ship. I can make my recommendations, but ultimately, you know what I love is you have a community that is built on volunteers that have similar values. You're here because you love the place. You're here to serve and hopefully make things better. Um, so again, I—my goal is a little bit different than maybe you've had in the past. I try to be a little more assertive and hopefully make your life more enjoyable as a council member so that you're not drafting ordinances and resolutions and things like that. Um, I try and draft memos. So, if you want to discuss something, you know, I've got a form that, uh, Ryan Hankins has provided [1:10:53] to me, but something similar we could use that says, "Hey, let's discuss this." And then I do the research. Here's the pros. Here's the cons. I like resolutions that are all in the same format. You know, little things. So, I want everybody to know the big picture. Should we pass this? Here's the pros and cons. Should we not pass this? Here's the pros and cons. So again, that's a little bit more different than maybe you're used to. Um, again, the—the thing with making life easier is the question is: what does a council do? And uh my number one thing is: again, you're here to vote on policies for the city. Uh you're here to vote on resolutions and laws, make those laws for the city. Um you're here to vote on fiscally—on a fiscally responsible budget, you know, which I prepare at your direction. So, it's something that, you know, allow staff to work for you so that you can [1:11:40] sit back and make the decisions. You shouldn't have to work so hard. You shouldn't have to spend hours here. Allow staff to work for you. And hopefully I can do that for a while. Again, the last thing then is obviously you're here to plan for the future. You know, where do you want the community to be 5, 10, 15 years from now? The decisions you make today can affect us long term. And again, it's necessary to—to think about that. Um, the last thing I know that I had kind of threw out an email was to try and plan a planning session. You know, based on your schedule, I can sit down and we can look at dates. Uh, because the next Monday is a holiday. Uh, but again, something that just having an informal discussion. And, you know, whether that's on a Monday or even a weekend, sit around and let's talk. Where do we want the city to be? [1:12:23] What do you expect from me? What I expect from you? And I think that's something that again, I'm—I'm here to serve. I'm here to listen to residents. and I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Thank you, Scott. Thanks, Scott. Thank you. We're happy to have you. [1:12:41] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Um, so now Alan, do we do the consent agenda pull out? **Alan (City Attorney):** Pardon me. You have a couple of options since your agenda obviously calls for city business next. Mhm. Some cities will take care of the consent agenda just to keep it clean and some will just throw it at the end after your regularly scheduled business. So I would say it's at your honor. Okay. And pleasure. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Then let's move on to city business action items. We'll go in order here. Number one um—is discussion and possible approval of resolution 2025-44 establishing a task force to evaluate the replacement of water mains. Um, Ryan, do you want to talk about that a little bit? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** [1:13:25] Yeah, I think Jen and I worked together a little bit on this to kind of establish a process for a task force. Um, and I—I think this—I'm a little concerned about some of the contention I saw at the meeting. Um, I think that this establishes some good parameters. It basically sets up two meetings. It sets up a Q&A process with the city engineer. um and allows people I think to kind of get their questions answered um in a very well organized fashion. Um it places a limit, but I certainly think we would be able to, you know, if—if the task force goes well and we see good progress and we're getting good questions answered on the water [1:14:09] main replacement process and this is a benefit to the city, I certainly think that the task force could be, you know, extended and I would support the council doing that. Um, you know, the—the only thing I think is we don't have a list of names yet. So, what do you think? [1:14:25] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, how are we going to—how are we going to—who are we going to pick or are we going to shoot this down entirely? I guess it's just one option for the council here. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Right. Okay. So, do you have input anybody? Um, I—I do think that we need to incorporate what we're looking for in uh—task force members so that that's documented and supports our decisions. [1:14:55] Um, three meetings to me seems a little slight and we might make people unhappy about that. Um, but to your point, if—if it's three and then they can extend, that might be... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** I'm fine with extending. I want to make sure that—I'm concerned with some of the rhetoric I've seen surrounding the water... [1:15:05] agree—and personal—some of the personal attacks. Um and so you know that's my concern here is that... **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So was—sorry—was there a deadline at all for any of the grants that we're applying for to have moving forward—anything like that where we need to have a definitive end I guess to when—when we need an answer. [1:15:39] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I don't know about that. Um Marcus was working on the grant portion of it. If we can find out that—I—I think the task force is a wonderful idea. More—more cooks in the kitchen actually is a good thing to have happen with cities. Um so if there is a deadline that we need to meet I would agree that we should try and have at least some direction at that point. I know that is totally possible to apply for a grant, get a grant, and then if we don't have the additional fundings we don't have to proceed. Right? That is something that can happen. [1:16:14] Um, so even if all of the steps happen and we find out, oh, we're—we're a hundred thousand short, we can stop. Um, ideally, we just want to have a plan in place to replace these before we have to replace them, right? So, if we have to push it out a couple years, that's fine, too. Mhm. Um, what I like about, like I said, Ryan and I went back and forth with how we would lay out a task force, but what—what I like about what we came up with is everybody would be dealing with the same facts, right? [1:16:48] We're—we're starting with um a professional's opinion, not just whatever you would find on the internet to support your own opinion, right? So, I—I liked that part of the plan. Okay. And then um if everybody can start at that same baseline and then go from there, that would be... **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Do we have a packet available for the information regarding the facts of our city to share with said group yet? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Well, probably going to have to come up with that before we start. [1:17:17] We're working on that. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Okay. Well, then I suggest we ask for various candidates and what we were wanting for those candidates potentially so that we can set up a "please apply." Okay. And then hopefully we'll have our packet ready for them to actually review when they—I mean, you know, I've been doing a lot of research. I bet you. Okay. So, what were some of the things that we would like to see in committee members? Does anybody want to throw ideas out? Then we can—we can advertise via email, via the website, via um—Facebook. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Yeah. One of the things that I think we benefit a lot from in Birchwood—like our planning commission—we have lots of people who are actually expertise experts in that field which I think helps um in—in building a—a better result for how people are recommending what we do on the planning commission. So I think if we are aiming for individuals, I'm sure we have a lot of individuals here who are engineers or other. It would be really helpful to have at least a few who are... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Well you don't want engineers. [1:18:24] We want this done in a few meetings, not in two years. No, just kidding. Engineers. Okay. So maybe someone with um—professional background. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yeah, I think we would want a diversity of people. I think we would want newer residents, residents who have been here um for many years, possibly different parts of the city. Um and I think it will be really important that whoever signs up to this committee can look at information with an open mind and not with a pre-disposition to what he or she thinks the answer is. [1:19:03] Like critical thinking. [1:19:11] **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Okay. Any other comments? And then we might want to put together an application that reflects those things so that it's clear. [1:19:29] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. All right. Um I can work on that part of it. And Ryan, did you write up something about the task force yet or... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** No, just the resolution. I can—if you want—I can come up with a blurb that describes it, but the resolution kind of just describes the mechanics. Do you want me to put together something to discuss what we want out—what we want out of it? [1:19:56] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yeah, because then we can copy what you've already written and then add that to it. Would that be okay? We'll just put that information out there so people know what they're getting into. Okay. Before they apply. Would that be all right? What would um—a good date to end the application process be? Do you think? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Well, I would do it for the next city council meeting if you want by next city then. And then we'll push out the date of the resolution a month or something. Okay. I mean, so that's June. [1:20:28] um—push out the—push out the end of the resolution to what was it—the June 30th, July 30th? If we want to give people another meeting we can do that too I just—the a limit is necessary. That exact limit you know isn't like by—maybe by the end of August—by the end of summer we're done. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Well, I think you want to—if you're going to want budgeting—if if you're looking into a plan here, you want to have results in a report from a task force within a fairly period of time. [1:20:58] And to me, this isn't a question that's going to take a long time to answer. This is just a cost-benefit analysis. And you know, the city can—people can do whatever research they want. They can ask our city engineer. And you know, it's—what is this going to cost versus what are we going to save and so on. And there's to me those things are—once we get those things well documented, I think that can inform our decision-making process. But if we keep the scope very minimal and limited to water mains here, I don't see this as taking a long time. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. So, so I'm just trying to get a timeline here. So, if we um—have the applications in by June, do you think? Or by the council meeting we can [1:21:44] vote on who's going to be on it. Then can we find out if there's a—a time frame for that grant though? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I will do that because if we can't get the grant, we have infinite amount of time. Well, that's true. Um, I do know that Marcus has already received a response from the first form we filled out. Okay. [1:22:06] So, it's in the queue. The one that says that we may be applying for said grant, right? Okay. It's the MLPP or I don't even know. The intent one. Yes, the intent one we have received a response for. Okay. I'm just trying to get a a Okay. If we approve the people in June, they can meet in June, two in July, and can we get a report like at the beginning of August? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** You do it right before a council meeting. And then you'll have your report at a council meeting to [1:22:31] okay to—for the August council. Yeah. For a—for A1. I mean, August is that's... Yeah. That's fine. That's what I would do is Yeah. something and then hey, we got a great report. Let's push—let's give some more time to this and let him do a little more. Okay, I know you're thinking five people based on the task force memo. It was five, right? That was what ChatGPT gave me. Okay. So, well, five is a good number. I mean, five is fine. I would just let everybody who applies on it, but you guys pick and choose whatever. I don't care. Okay. We'll see what kind of [1:23:16] response we even get. So, okay. Um, so do we have to take any—oh, you want to approve the resolution then? **Alan (City Attorney):** Well, approve the resolution when you get the—I mean, you can approve it without the names or you can wait and get the names and then stick them on the resolution. [1:23:36] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Can we do that? I don't think there's any need to approve it tonight. Okay, good. Oh, we just wait. Yes. Okay, let's push that till next meeting then. Okay, great. Um, can we move on to number two then? Oh, no. Do—do we want to uh—have Scott put on our email—or email out to the—the city as far as accepting applications for the water main once we have our list of things that we're looking for? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yes. Okay. We can do all that. We just have to get—let's get the report and then—or your part of it—and then we'll advertise. So, Okay. Okay. [1:24:11] Um, I have a list of people who have volunteered to be on that committee. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. Well, they can fill out an application and then we can go through that process. Okay. Um discussion and possible approval of request to repair hydrant at one Birchwood Street. Ryan, Mr. Eisele. Ryan Eisele. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** [1:24:50] One Birchwood Avenue. No, Birch Street... **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Birch Street. Birch Street by Owl Street. I don't care. It's a fire hydrant. You have a map right here in your drawer. Pick it up. There you go. Yeah. Here's Birch. [1:25:01] **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** That's on top of the—yeah, it's this one. It's not that one. It's this one right here. It's by Mary Cahill. Um, I should take my map out. [1:25:17] Whatever. I mean, are those people's houses going to burn down anyway? So, wait, I think you better not go. Yeah, that's not—I'm going to—sorry, that's probably not—not the best thing to say. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay, just so our audience knows, um, this is from John Manship [John Mans] and he said, "The fire hydrant at one Birch Street needs to be rebuilt. The cost for repair is estimated to be $3,000 to $4,000. Parts take roughly three to four weeks to get." [1:25:52] Uh, can we get us—is it—how hard would it be to get a second quote on this? To get a quote—to get a couple bids, an RFP for it? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I don't know if we need an RFP, but call up a fire—could you do that, Scott? Is that reasonable to do in this case or is that something we... **Scott (City Administrator):** The fire hydrants are usually something that there's limited places that fix them. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So does that seem like a reasonable cost to you? [1:26:19] **Scott (City Administrator):** The cost to replace one in total is probably 15,000. So just to repair it is basically going through the the gaskets and whatnot. Probably not. Seems—seems reasonable. Okay. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Sure. Then—then I'm fine. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** How was the assessment made that the hydrant needs to be replaced or repaired? I assume it has something to do with gaskets and leaking, but I haven't heard anything about leaking. Do we know? Yeah. Is there any been any reports to the city? Like I don't—I—I'm just going off his memo. Okay. I haven't had a chance... [1:26:38] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I personally feel very uncomfortable with this just because this is the first I'm hearing of it and it's like "okay now we have a broken hydrant." Like—what—like what recourse I guess do we have? And he's not here I guess to speak to it. **Scott (City Administrator):** Typically with fire hydrants you—you try and exercise them or the fire department will come out and exercise them once or twice a year um and my guess is they went to exercise it and either couldn't get it adjusted or there was gaskets whatever that were keeping it from sealing. But again, without speaking with him, I don't want to speculate. Can you find out, Scott? [1:27:29] Yeah, I can do that. It's fine to kick this to another month. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we kick it a month just to make sure. Huh? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Wait. Is in the event there were a fire? How critical is the—the problem with this? Like, will there not be any water for this house? I don't want to kick it for a month if that's the case. Either. [1:27:52] So going forward with things like this—like this report that was given to the council—seems very inadequate for us to make a decision. Just saying, "Hey, this is broke." There was no what happened, why it's broke. I would like to know more. This is the open conversation we want. Yeah. I don't know. Um or for the person to be here to actually tell us what's going on, which would be helpful. [1:28:18] **Scott (City Administrator):** Absolutely. This is one that again was in the packet and I'm happy to you know next month or in the future get more information and provide that. So if if when you find out more information about this and it seems a more um like emergent situation, we can do a special council meeting and pass it. I just don't want to kick it out for a month if it needs to be done now. Do you know what I mean? **Scott (City Administrator):** If if there's an emergency, we'll take care of it and we'll address it next month. If not, again, we can just wait and address it next month. [1:28:49] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay. Thank you. Oh, we should look that up. Put that on my list. No, I'm... Yes, I got a list. Where is our person coming to talk to us about that? Grace, Mr. Opportunity. Scott, can you—like... I will look that up. This is—this—like I'm just looking at this again and this is just woefully inadequate and I don't know if this is something that the city needs to put together as far as the information we need to make a decision like this like a template um for this type of thing. And also like do we have—like—is the maintenance of the fire hydrants something that uh—the fire department takes care of or do we have a maintenance schedule of our [1:29:35] own for the—for the fire hydrants? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** I can answer a little bit of that. Perfect. About a month ago, we had the signs all over Birchwood that said they were going around in Flushing. So, this typically will come out after that because it did happen when I was living in White Bear where they had one that had to be rebuilt due to it did not fully shut off. So, it was leaking, but I have not heard any report of this one. Yeah. So, if White Bear Fire Department did this, typically it's your public works department that will go and flush. Yeah. [1:30:04] And we don't—we don't have one. So that's why the fire department came out and did our flushing. Okay. But so they wouldn't provide the city a report after that if they're the ones doing the—fire department did ours. They said that that's what the sign said. That's what I was reading. So no, I think um—John Manship... **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Oh, did mine. I guess my assumption was John was the one that was doing the flushing, but could be him. Or I don't know, but I can get that information. Yeah, I think John does it. [1:30:28] And I think our contractors who have been with us for years and years and years, this is just sort of standard operating procedure that they say, "Hey, this is what's needed and then we do it." But I guess with a new council, we're saying, "No, we need more information. We need to understand these things better." So maybe it's a communication to anybody who does work with us. We need to really just start a basis of um—like record gathering, you know? I mean, just starting fresh. We need information. And so five years from now when someone says, "Well, when was that rebuilt?" We can go back and look, oh, it was rebuilt in this year, you know. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** [1:31:09] I mean like looking at this and like now I want to report on each—each hydrant and the condition of each hydrant and going forward like if—like we—like with something like this if that—that did happen—like or not that it did happen—but since the hydrants were flushed—like I want a report on each hydrant on the status of it. I mean is that maybe just an overall of like the hydrants are fine. Yeah. or some—some—some sort of feedback to the council that hey, this is the action that was happening and here's the condition of our—our city assets. **Scott (City Administrator):** [1:31:55] You know, I—I can touch on two things. I mean, one, a lot of cities, even small cities, are doing the the GIS thing now even more where, you know, you're—you're out there, you—you pinpoint, I'm at this hydrant, you have notes, and five years from now when that person is gone, anybody else can pick up that information, and it's right there. I mean technology has changed where it's—it's in the palm of your hand and those notes are always there. So um you know it's—it may be something to look at, you know, some program. But absolutely something that if you're looking for a change, there's opportunities and again that information is important. You're going to want to know if a citizen asks a question why was this replaced or when was the last time that was replaced? When was the last time that was flushed? Yeah. You're supposed to exercise those, you know, every six months or every other year, whatever it is, you can show that it's actually done. So, those are things that can be important. Yep. [1:32:38] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I just think going forward, we need a good record. Just so I said, 10 years from now, people—let me guess, we have no records of fire hydrant flushing. I think we do, actually. Okay. Okay. Well, I'm glad to be wrong. I mean, we do have a lot of our um—plumbing is in one person's head, which is a problem because in the event he ever wants to go on a vacation, which I'm hoping is the only time that he's missing, but there is the potential that we would need that information when he's not available. So, it would—it would be really good to get a record of the materials and the the lines and everything like that instead of being shown up at another meeting. [1:33:20] That was not fun. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Can—Can we make that a requirement for the water superintendent to start tracking those things? And would that just be done by resolution, Scott? **Scott (City Administrator):** It can be a policy. You don't need to do a resolution. That was part of my other thing is you don't have to do resolutions for every little thing. I mean, this can be just a simple policy and talking with the water superintendent. This is the expectations. Sure. As long as it's clearly explained to them, this is the expectation to do your job. This is something that we want. There it is. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I'm—I'm fine with policies. The only thing I would say with policies is put it on the policies page on the web page so it doesn't disappear or somewhere where we have this is all of our Birchwood policies. That's one of the reasons I try to be kind of verbose in agendas [1:34:07] is—and then ideally it goes somewhere else and doesn't just get lost. And it's, by the way, one of the things I'm a little worried about with Marcus's opinion on retaining walls is that's going to be a thing going forward. How do we make sure that doesn't get lost? So, I'll stop my talk now because I think I'm way off topic. [1:34:31] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, so, uh, for for two though, I—I would like to direct that we find out what is actually wrong with said fire hydrant and then if it is an emergency that we have an emergency meeting to potentially do that sooner or put it to the next meeting with the information regarding what is actually wrong with said—if it's an emergency, we'll—we'll get it fixed. Either way, we'll discuss it at the next meeting. I mean, do we—should we just authorize the city administrator to determine if it's an emergency and if so, fix it immediately? You guys want to do that with a motion? I'm fine with that. That's fine. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Or just say that. You just said it. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I will move to have the city administrator determine whether the Birch Street fire hydrant is an emergency situation and if he determines that it is to authorize immediate repair. [1:35:25] **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? I. Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. Okay. Um number three, discussion and possible approval of request to plant ground cover on the south side of city hall. Scott, did you want to talk about that for a minute? Is it necessary? [1:35:45] **Scott (City Administrator):** Again when we get back to like simple business items I—I want to approach the council and just have a request and the request is: we'd like to do some plantings at city hall. Um the reason why—you don't—again there's—there's different levels and the ordinance is your law, resolution is a little less formal. But you don't have to draft resolutions for every simple thing. It can be yes, we support this. [1:36:27] Um, if you're going to donate public funds, then there may need to be a finding. But if it's simply parks board wants to do this, then absolutely. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** And is it in the agenda then so that people know that this is going to be talked about? **Scott (City Administrator):** Sure. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay. Can—Can we send out, Scott? Could we send out that "request for council action" form to council members? It's just a form that's not—doesn't have all the administrative burden that just—it's—you just put what you want and then it goes in the agenda. [1:36:55] Is—is that easy to do, Scott? A lot easier than a resolution, right? **Scott (City Administrator):** And again, it's a proposal. If council wishes to change it, we can change it, but it's just—here's an idea and again give us feedback. If—if—if you like it and want to continue using it, we can do that. If you want to change it, we're not married to the format, but I'm kind of married to the format. [1:37:16] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Well, let's try it. Let's try it. I like that. So, the the only the only question that I have is—it came up uh—Trice was saying, "Well, we should use this for parking if we could—" I mean, are we okay with—I'm fine with planting ground cover there. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I—I'm fine. I—I'm curious if we can actually do parking there anyway because it would be on roots of trees and also it's up against another property line. Yeah. and the grade of the lane you wouldn't be able to fit three rows anyway because the depth of the parking lot isn't—you wouldn't be able to back up right anywhere so um I my preference would be to plant it with something because right now it's just washing away. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Totally agree and we'll go to Rice Creek to see if we can get some money to do that but we [1:38:01] also need to know what the boundary is—what the boundary is for that side of the—the city hall. I don't know. Were we able to find that out? **Scott (City Administrator):** I've got it more or less on—on the map. I'm going to blow that up. Oh, great. A better picture. Okay. It's probably within five feet of what would be just visually the obvious edge. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay. So, obviously that's a pretty gnarly area. Yeah. So, we'd need to clean it up. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Approve it. All right. Thank you. I move to authorize the planting of ground cover on city property on the south side of city hall. [1:38:27] **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? Opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. Number four, discussion and possible approval of requests to donate to the White Bear Fireworks Fund. Um, just a little bit about that. I—I—I don't know if Birchwood has done it every year, but it's a common practice for all the cities in the area that enjoy the fireworks to... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** As long as I've been here, they've been doing it. Yes. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, they hit up everybody, right? And why not? We all enjoy it. So, the water district even gets hit up for it. So, yeah, it's a pass the hat. Is there—without—is there an amount in the... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** It's 200 is donated. Let's just make a motion. Go ahead. I'll make a motion to donate to the—sorry uh—White Bear Fireworks Fund the $200 donation. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Second. All in favor? I. Oppose? Hearing none. Motion passes. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** And for perspective, your $200—when you watch and you see two things go up, those are your [Laughter] $200 shows. I assume one of these years they're going to raise our—raise our prices. So they might have some personal donation. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Number five, approval of resolution 2025-42 discontinuing the use of blank gunfire at July 4th celebration. This was a thing. Who? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** There has been in the past. I have some—Did you—What's that? I [1:40:01] was asking who wrote this because— **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Me. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Was it you? Okay. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yeah. Every time I've gone to the—to the parade, you know, people are like, "Why do we have live gunfire?" **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** We haven't had it in five years or more. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Oh, we added it two years ago. And with who? Because I was helping run that. So, Bridget, sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. You were asking a question for the community club. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** We didn't have—We didn't officially invite anyone to shoot a gun. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, oh well then I might—I might be misremembering it but I thought two years ago we did. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** No, it hasn't happened in the last five years because I was—I was asking the various individuals. I'm like "does anyone know about this?" Because I've never had it happen. So I was like "did we do this" and [1:40:46] no one in the—on the committee is—like—we haven't in the last five years for sure. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay, never mind. I—I mean I—I'm—I'm fine with it. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I guess the city code on this just says "no person shall discharge or attempt to discharge any firearm in the city except exception one, exception two, and then exception three for the discharge of a blank cartridge, pistol, or rifle in connection with an event hosted by the city or and by arrangement with the city." So there's a carve-out there for this. And then if we wanted to, we could just direct staff to not allow—to not arrange that with anybody, but I don't know. I don't have any problem with it or any strong opinion either way. Get out. Okay. Are you looking at the ordinance? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I'm just looking at the ordinance. Yeah. So then let's change the ordinance as we do in [1:41:32] the resolution. Yeah. We can change the ordinance too if you want to make it a permanent fix. It's a good—it would—it's a good simple ordinance change. So it would be fun if—if anybody wants help with an ordinance change and you don't—Allan or Scott I'm sure can help. I can help too. So if you like to take that out I can work with you on it. Whatever. [1:41:51] **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** Since you have administrative help, since you have—Yep. Have Scott do it. Great. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. Do you want to make a motion? What page is this on? We're—We're not used to having having such help. **Scott (City Administrator):** I will get the change drafted and we'll bring that to the next meeting in June. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Higgins, what page was the resolution on? I'm sorry. [1:42:08] I'm having trouble finding... I don't know. I'll look at it. I read it earlier. I don't know what it is. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Page 86. Oh, no. That's the fireworks. I'm still on a fireworks. **Alan (City Attorney):** Sorry guys, you just take a vote to direct us to just address that in the ordinance next month, right? [1:42:27] Opposed to that resolution, that would be fine. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. I don't know that you need a vote. Just direct staff. Just do that. It's easy enough. We can do that. Great. **Alan (City Attorney):** For your reference, 609.2 is the section you can amend. Okay. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. You can do that if you want. Can we move on then? Um, number six, approval of resolution 2025-43, adopting design standards for benches and public spaces. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Again, my—um, so what I'm recommending is that we follow the standard of the bench that's out there across the city. [1:43:05] And the reason that I think that's important is because we've got different kinds of benches all over the place. We've got different benches up in the tennis court. And—um as we think about putting the four benches in for—uh the Lakes Link Trail, let's get them consistent. But maybe that can just be a—a vote rather than a resolution. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Do we have a way just as a general matter on this? Do we have a way for the parks board to bring things to the council? I wonder if we want to just think about how that works because this is probably kind of from parks. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Yeah, I'm going to be talking to parks about—I talked to parks about it and—um said that I would bring it forward and if you read it, it's yes, I'm recommending it based on parks approval just from a timing standpoint. It was weird and would have taken too long. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I guess why don't we just grant Bridgette authority to determine bench types for the next year. [1:44:04] So is that—would that be okay? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I'm okay with that. I assume we have—if goal is beyond a year or for the next standards that's a little more deep. So that may be something that—that's a good point. Do we want to then adopt a resolution for that? I mean I'm totally fine with making them all pretty. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Me too. I mean that one out there looks—they're easy to clean. Yep. They're high quality. So should we just pass the resolution then? [1:44:32] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Totally should. Just making sure we—we—don't—don't—agree ourselves too long here. So all right here. So—uh I did the last one. Somebody else... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** I'll make a motion to adopt design standards for benches in public spaces. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Second. Second. Sorry. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? I. Oppose. Hearing none. Motion passes. [1:45:00] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Number seven. Discussion regarding maintenance repairs to 725 Birchwood Avenue. Ryan, Mr. Eisele. Ryan Eisele. [1:45:13] **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Yep. So, this came to my attention. It looks like there was a sewer backup on Birchwood Avenue and that White Bear Township had to be called in to vacuum out a man of the manhole, jet the sewer line, and remove sawdust from the manhole. So, I requested Scott do some research on this to kind of figure out what exact—exactly happened here and why was there sawdust in the sewer system? Were you able to call John at all regarding this? **Scott (City Administrator):** I spoke with him today, but I don't not have a clear answer. [1:45:57] So, I mean, I've got pictures, I've got some other information, but and so just—you're right. This is a prime time that he should have been here, too. Yeah. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Yeah. Um, so that cost the city an additional $3,200 approximately to—to clean out this sawdust. And so I just kind of want to get to the bottom of who was responsible for putting debris into sewer. So, Scott, if you can get any information regarding that. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I have so many questions on this one. I have—I have—Well, I have—I have questions that involve one: why are we listening to it? Which sounds like the city ended up paying for something for it because I was like, "if this is a house issue, isn't that their sewage line that's a problem?" **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** It's not if it's the—but it's on—it's in the manhole. It's in our—like the city's theirs. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay. I also was of the assumption and I could be totally wrong because I'm not a plumber or know anything about sewage system—I always assumed that a sewage system was a closed pipe system and that it's not dumped into like a basin of some sort because that seems like you would have an open sewer with that potentially could flood etc. if there was a heavy rain. **Scott (City Administrator):** So remember storm sewer and sanitary sewer two different things. Yes. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So, is this the storm sewer or— **Scott (City Administrator):** Okay, this is the storm sewer that was filled with— **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay, so we're not talking sanitary sewer. How did it back up into a house then? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So, I have so many questions regarding... **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** It didn't—It didn't—I can tell you about it. I wasn't [1:47:44] I didn't know this was going to be on the agenda tonight. Um, but this all began like in March and I—I got a—um phone call when I was on vacation from—um someone from White Bear Township Public Works saying that a resident had a sewer backup—not sewer, a drain backup into their—It was a sewer backup. Yes, it was a sewer backup into their house. And—um they had called a plumber out to fix it. And when the plumber popped the manhole cover, they found like nine gar—huge contractor bags of sawdust in there in the sewer. [1:48:31] Oh. Um and they wanted to know what they should do about it. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** And could they not fix it because of the bags that were in there? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** They had to take them out. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Why? What? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Why would you leave them there, Bridget? **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** I don't know. I'm just trying to—I mean, so many questions, right? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** It just—This is the message. Um, we have technicians out. Ryan, you're off the—off the on site. No longer on the council. 725 Birch A for sewer line. While on site, they opened the manhole to check it, found garbage bags full of sawdust. The lady came up to them while they were working and she told them she put them in the manhole to insulate her main [1:49:17] water line. Technician took pictures then. So I guess—I guess we don't have to go through emails. But if those are emails that we got to the city or to anybody—anybody—if anybody on the council regarding these can we put together is in a packet to try to figure out what's going on—like an informational packet of like hey we need to get to the bottom of this issue. **Scott (City Administrator):** Well, let me get an answer from John and we can present that at the next meeting or such. Okay. [1:49:45] **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** This implies that there's a person who said they put them there. So, somebody—I—I really don't want to discuss it. Well, no, and I totally understand that whole portion, but as far as—So, I guess my intent is: I really don't want to discuss this. I—I just want to get all the facts laid out and available to the public because we did spend $3,200 on jetting out a sewer that was full of sawdust that—that someone put in there. So, I just basically want to do a fact-finding. I don't know the proper—uh you know procedure that we're supposed to go through for something like this, but like anything that the city has that we can kind of piece together to figure out what's going on. [1:50:28] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** You just made the start, so we'll just keep it on the agenda and—but should there be a rule on the books that says, you know, you can't—individual citizens shouldn't monkey with sewers or... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Well, we do have "no dumping." I mean, there's—there's laws on the books against that. [1:50:48] Okay. I mean, at a certain point, it's damaged the property at minimum. And part of my intent was just to—like this happened in the city and I wanted it to be in the agenda tonight just so the citizens of Birchwood Village knew that this happened and that the city had to spend $3,200 to fix it. [1:51:13] Great. That's all I had. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. So, this wasn't a request from the residents asking for reimbursement for anything that happened in—it's just the paying for the actual cleaning out. That's what this portion... Okay. Okay. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Moving on. Number eight is second reading and possible approval of ordinance revising animal fee schedule and ordinance revising 605 animals in the city code. So I can give an introduction though. I think this—there was a lot of croft in here and a lot of changes that were kind of made over the years that were out of date. It also relaxes um—the city's stance on chickens. Um there are two—or I don't know why that's so funny. [1:52:01] There are two—uh it it basically eliminates chicken permits and permission for chickens from your neighbors. Um but so there are two ordinances here that are passed. One is an update to the fee schedule and the other is an update to the animal section of the city code. Just so and we—we aired a little bit in the last ordinance we passed and I think we missed the public hearing. Alan, would you just walk us through the process in Birchwood of—of doing a second reading and tell us what the steps are or help us make sure we get those right. **Alan (City Attorney):** [1:52:48] Um, quite simply, you just have first second reading. So, some cities will have an introduction before they even get to first reading just to sort of tee it up and let everyone simply say, "Hey, good idea, bad idea. What—what should we start with?" And something like this where you're talking about eliminating a couple of things that you're regulating and frankly eliminating a lot of the references that you don't need because state law already covers them. And so, at first reading, typically you'd roll that out and a lot of cities will have a public hearing so that people who are interested can come and say, "Hey, leave chickens in, right? Leave pigs in, leave everyone in." And so you would make those changes or you would direct staff more appropriately to make changes and then bring it back for second and what's usually final reading. And so that's in its fully-fledged form and then that's the one that's either published or at that time we would actually have the resolution authorizing the summary publication. So you don't have to publish really long pieces of code and we summarize it and that gets published [1:53:33] instead. So it can be a—you know—two to three month process start to finish. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So in this case, this is a second reading. And so my understanding is we open a public hearing, close a public hearing by vote, and then... The public hearing is run by the mayor, the chief officer of the meeting. So I've gone round and round for years on this. You know, she has the gavel, she has control. Okay. She opens the public hearing, she closes the public hearing, and that's that. [1:54:01] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. So I think then the process is: Jen—Mayor Arsenault—opens the public hearing on the fee schedule, closes it, we hold a vote, and then we open on animals code, close on animals code, and hold a vote. And since we don't have the summary publication, maybe we can just do that next month. **Alan (City Attorney):** Yeah. I mean, this is a pretty slow burning item. So if you move forward with it, rather than publishing four pages of code, we can just publish a very simple summary that—I mean it's already in—in Ryan's preamble anyway explaining what we're doing. So we would just snippet that out and pass a resolution that is the exhibit saying this is what's going to go in White Bear Press. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Sorry. I'm just trying to take it slow and make sure everybody kind of understands. So that's good. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. So I'm opening the public hearing on um—ordinance 605, correct? Is [1:54:51] that what the number is—the correct number? **Alan (City Attorney):** The ordinance—I don't know that the ordinance—there's no ordinance assigned. So why don't you just say "I'm opening the public hearing on an ordinance amending the animal section of the fee schedule." [1:55:06] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All right. I'm opening a public hearing on the ordinance revising the animal fee schedule. Would anybody like to speak on that? Okay. and I'm closing the public hearing. Okay. So, I can do it. I will move to adopt an ordinance amending the animal section of the fee schedule. Can I get a second? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you, Ryan, for doing all that work. For the chickens. For the—For the chickens. [1:56:00] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So Ryan, was there a second one that you said? Then there's a second one. So that was just amending the fee schedule. And now this next one is—it's on page 23 in part two of the packet. Um, an ordinance amending ordinance number 605 adopted on March 12th, 2019 entitled "animals." [1:56:18] Okay, hold on. I'd like to open a public hearing on an ordinance amending ordinance number 605 adopted on March 12th, 2019 entitled "animals." Would anybody like to speak on that? **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** You want to speak about it? Does anybody have chickens in the city? **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** There are a handful. Yeah, a handful. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Oh yeah. No, you can have them. They're still allowed. We're just making sure we're—Nobody buys permits for them anyway. And so maybe one person did. So we're just basically Yeah. Okay. Basically letting people what they do what they've done all along without chasing down their chickens. They get loose on Wildwood once in a while. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Would anybody else like to speak? [1:57:11] At least you got one. Yes. Okay, we'll close the public hearing and could I get a—what? A motion for the second reading. Do it so that I can... **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** I move to adopt an ordinance amending ordinance number 605 adopted on March 12th, 2019 entitled "animals." [1:57:30] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All in favor? Opposed? Great. Hearing none. Motion passes. And thank you again, Ryan, for your good work on this. That is a lot of work. All right. **Alan (City Attorney):** You can see from this one for example, you know, seven pages we can distill down into something a lot more digestible to encompass what you guys just did. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Perfect. We'll do that next month. [1:58:07] Okay. Number nine um—is the treasures report and expenditures that we're pulling out from the consent agenda. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** So yeah, I have to find it here. I was just wondering there were—it's—it's not—it looks like it was probably scanned which is fine but there were just two reimbursements to Barton for the hockey net. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I can answer that one. Go ahead. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** That's the only... **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So there was a one that was 400 something. Yeah. Um that one was voided because the amount was half of that, not the total. So they voided that and then issued the correction for the two something. That's—that's and then there is a void if you search hockey. Okay. The void does show later. [1:58:55] That's my only question. I asked that one, too. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Okay. If anybody else has questions, go ahead. Otherwise, I'm fine with it. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** So, not the two good ones are inside. I'm not sure about that one that's outside. Yeah. Yeah. That—that one is just sitting out for people to use for what is it? Field... **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** No. Uh—lacrosse. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** No, it's—it's—it's a hockey size. The street hockey. something like that. Yeah. I don't know. Um exactly. Yes. And—and another example, too, um especially because our—our treasurer is not always at meetings. If council goes through and has questions, shoot me an email. I can get—I can get an answer. I can send it out to all the council. That's a great idea. Um you know, certain things are—we may not have that answer. So, so you don't have to wait a month. Just again creates some efficiency and such. That'd be great. [1:59:34] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Okay. Do it here. Any other questions? **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Yeah, I had—I had a couple questions. Okay. Um, one, it saw that we have a capital projects that's negative $13,000. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yes. [1:59:50] So, that is because we've not received our distribution for the year. Okay. Um, you get your first distribution in May. Um, so that was why we had that discussion with Marcia last week, two weeks ago. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Is—is that because we haven't transferred money to the streets that it's essentially... Because we transfer money or we took—I thought that was went negative when we took our streets money out last year. [2:00:15] I mean—but she had a reason for—it goes back to kind of the distribution timing more than anything. It's not like there's no money in the bank. It just looks like it's in the negative until you get that to reimburse it. It was based on when the report was pulled, I assume. Correct. [2:00:36] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** The debits are equal, the credits. I'm still working on that actually because um—according to what's in CATS, which is the um computerized accounting program that we used—we use at the city. [2:00:52] Um this capital improvement fund was started on um July 1st of 2017. I can't—and Marcia couldn't find anything prior to that. That doesn't mean—that doesn't mean there isn't anything there, but someone else is going to come in and um help me look through some of this stuff this week so we can see what more of the history is. **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Jen, we had um—when Mary Cahill is... Yes. Oh, is she gonna come and help you? Okay. So, we discussed that last year. I think it was... Did we hire Marca last year or the year before? [2:01:31] Okay. Okay. So when we were hiring her, we were going through all of those things. We were missing records for a lot. They discovered that the CATS system um—there was some sort of accounting-ish error that would happen that was significantly off. So as they were going through all of that, um they had found like an accounting error that was going on that was long-term from the beginning of that account. So, she should be able to hopefully help you a little bit on that one, but they—they discussed it last year. I don't remember which meeting or anything like that, but it came up. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** You know, I'm just trying to find like a history so we can kind of see what's—so what's going on and what has been done and they did at least balance the budget [2:02:19] um—when we did that. Yes. So, it did help. Um but anyway, I have um—so that—that fund in 17 started with 68,023.91 cents and then Marcia printed off all the receipts and disbursements and we—that's what the balance is. You want to look at—I have had her look into it. Still a work in progress. Still trying to get a good base of history of what's you know so we know what capital projects have done. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Would it help council members just to have somebody come in and explain how to read the CATS reports at some point? [2:03:01] Like just have Marcia come in and say, "Hey, this is how..." I don't necessarily need that, but I guess it seems to me like something that might be—might—people might appreciate. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I mean, if you guys are interested, I've been working with her often. **Scott (City Administrator):** Part of the thing about having—like said—the kind of the work session and visioning and all that is or maybe again even just getting back to basics of not just that but better reports, better things that are—are more clear that everybody understands. Um again when you had what, 13 attachments in the treasurer's report, that could be condensed into maybe five pages. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yeah that'd be nice. So we were worried at one point that there had not been an audit in a long time and the books had not been balanced for a long time and so it seemed like a lot of oversight was in order and I think we've done maybe well enough for long enough that we can kind of condense that down a little bit and that is something I had suggested too or we'll talk about at a future meeting. Again it's a starting point. You have a new council, you have a new administrator, you have a treasurer that's been on—just two years—less than a year. Um it's a safety net. Just shows "here's here's zero" and let's move from there. [2:04:18] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All right. Um, if there's—there are no other questions, could I get a motion to approve the April 2025 treasurer's report. Can someone move? Okay, Bridget. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Second. Eisele. All in favor? I. Opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes. [2:04:58] City council updates. 30 seconds. Go. [2:05:01] **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** Uh so we have a Ty Schmidt um—planning session open house walking through Ty Schmidt on May 31st 10:00 a.m. to noon um to walk through the land water improvements and improvements for Ty Schmidt Park um with the watershed district and the parks department. Awesome parks group. [2:05:21] Awesome. **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** I'll pass. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Pass. You worked on the ordinances. That's what you've been working... **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Sure, I did. I did something. And the website. Yeah, we worked on the website a little bit, didn't we? Way to help each other out. Um, I've been working with Marcus quite a bit on just pulling together data um about grants, about capital improvement projects, just to see what all our options are out there. Um, also been trying to pull together some history so we know where we're going. [2:05:52] **Councilmember Bridget Sperl:** Done. Uh, so the other day during Birchwood cleanup days, uh, Ryan Hankins and I sat down and worked on the website and spent a couple hours trying to revamp it. I think I will pat both of us on the back because I think it looks pretty good. Um, I think there's still some improvements to be made, but thank you again, Ryan, for sitting down with me and letting me boss you around for a couple hours. Um, and then, uh, just a quick website update. um month of April, we had 2,600 views and 614 visitors to the the Birchwood website. **Councilmember Ryan Hankins:** I knew that reload button worked. [2:06:35] **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Perfect. And Bridget, um I've been working to make the bulletin board out there more interesting. Uh working on our city Facebook page again incorporating some of the stuff that we're posting and then hopefully making that little stair out there safer with the lights. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Yes, looks very good. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Yeah, looks great. Um, any announcements aside from Ty Schmidt at May 31st, 10 to noon, right? Anything else aside from that? How are we publicizing that? I think we're going to have that put on the uh—emailed out on our normal things. Scott, do you have [2:07:22] any announcements? **Scott (City Administrator):** Do you guys want to plan a work session? **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** I do. I really do. Use your phones, people. Let's see what we got going on. Uh, yep. Open. I love work sessions. I'm jealous of that. When are you thinking, Scott? When are you available? **Scott (City Administrator):** I mean, I know you had talked about—that Monday the 26th is obviously a holiday. That Tuesday the 27th could be an option. Again, I—I—just kind of threw out Saturday as an informal whatever, but doesn't matter to me. Again, I don't know what people's schedules are, so I'm kind of open. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** And I'm so sorry. I'm taking three weeks family vacation and a personal vacation. So, I am gone from— [2:08:08] No, don't—don't say it. Um, oh, right. Don't tell us when you're done. That's okay. Just... **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** May 21st... no, no, no, don't say that. Oh, that's right. I should... Okay, thank you. Kathy, what does your schedule look like? **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** I can't do the 27th or the other days you wanted to do. [2:08:36] That was kind of all I threw out. **Scott (City Administrator):** So, I mean, uh, Monday, June 2nd. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Good with that. Well, that's... Yeah, that could work. It's sometime late afternoon, evening. It'd have to be evening. I have to come back to the city. [2:08:52] I—I—could make the second work. What time, Kathy? Uh, no earlier than 6. **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** 6:15 to give you a few minutes. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** 6:30. What do you want? **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** 6:30. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** 6:30 might be better. It means I don't have to speed. Is that okay with you? Right. Time to eat dinner. I don't need dinner. Okay. On the nights that I have city council, I'm here. It's okay. 6:30 on June 2nd. [2:09:21] You're good with that, Scott? **Scott (City Administrator):** Yep. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** All right. Anything else? Okay. Can I get a motion to adjourn? **Councilmember Kathy Weier:** So moved. **Councilmember Ryan Eisele:** Second. **Mayor Jennifer Arsenault:** Second. All in favor? I. We're in adjournment. Do we need to sign—everyone sign? [2:09:42] [Music] [Music] [2:09:57] [Music] [Music]