This transcript has been updated with speaker names based on the context provided and the dialogue within the recording. **Note on Council Members:** The transcript identifies a "Councilmember Goodwin" multiple times. While not on your provided list (which includes Lisa Hiebert), I have retained the name used in the official dialogue to ensure accuracy to the specific meeting proceedings. *** [0:01] [Music] [0:42] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Right, good evening. We'll call this meeting to order for the April 11th, 2024, Apple Valley City Council meeting. I welcome everyone this evening. For anyone who has signed up to speak, when your name is called, please approach the podium to address the Council. The first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance, and I will ask everyone to rise and join us in the pledge. 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... [1:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** ...justice for all. The next item on our agenda is to approve the agenda. And Tom, do we have any changes this evening? [1:39] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, good evening. Yes, we do have one suggested revision to your agenda tonight. This would fall under the consent agenda, item 4C. That is a resolution setting a public hearing on May the 9th for the special assessment rule 693 delinquent utilities. We do have an amended handout for that, and that has been pre-distributed to the City Council, but we would just ask to acknowledge the changed handout for that particular item 4C. [2:07] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right. So do we have a motion to approve as described? [2:09] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. [2:11] **Councilmember Goodwin:** Second. [2:13] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Goodwin. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). Opposed? The agenda carries. [2:23] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** The next item is our audience participation portion of the evening. Randy Bailey has asked to speak. Randy, come on up, but please don't run anybody over in the process or fall over for that matter either. Oh boy, hope you cleaned those tires before you rode around. Boy, are you talented. Thank you. Get you put a balloon on that back wheel and make it sound like a motor. [2:55] **Randy Bailey:** Good evening Mayor, City Council Members, esteemed City servants. I come here on my annual trek to help promote Rick's Bike Sale coming up one month from today on Saturday, May 11th, at a new location: the new Dick’s Valley Service located across from Apple Valley and Abdalla. We'll have an indoor sale this year, so no more weather worries to think about. [3:20] **Randy Bailey:** Rick's Bike Sale—this is our 16th annual sale. It was originally started by Rick right there in the orange hat; that's the "Rick" at Rick's Bike Sale. He came out tonight. We have donated over half a million dollars to two local nonprofits, DARTS and Kids 'n Kinship. We're over half a million, all with no organizational structure, no checking account, no nothing. The money we get, it all gets donated. It's crazy. [3:44] **Randy Bailey:** So I'm here to invite you folks to stop by. The world's biggest bike sale will be held right here in our fair city a month from today. City Clerk Pam has graciously agreed to hand out our sale flyers to all city residents, so we're going to be looking forward to that. Okay, thank you, Pam, very much. Our Police Chief, Mr. Francis, has graciously agreed to be very flexible with our parking situation on that day, so we thank him for that. So anyway, it's a neat event for the City of Apple Valley, very unique. Stop by; hope to see many of you. Many of you are donors and bike buyers, so you guys get it. I've been here before, probably will be again. So thanks, everybody. [4:19] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Say, Randy, what's the dates again? [4:21] **Randy Bailey:** Saturday, May 11th, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. However, we open at 10:00 a.m. for friends, and get there early, 'cause if you wait till 2:30, you might just be out. [4:32] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All that's a mistake. I would get there in the first half of the sale. 450 bikes sounds like a lot; they go quick. And I just... you guys have done great work. But I think recognizing both Dan and all of his years at Superior Service for the space, and now Jeff Tuthill and the Dick’s folks for finding some space for you as well—we got some other good community, great businesses and partners who have helped you guys pull this off. [4:51] **Randy Bailey:** Yeah, Dan at Superior Service and Jeff Tuthill at Valley—all those guys say is "yes." We don't even have to ask, and they're saying "yes" before we even ask them for what we need. Yeah, "What do you need?" Yeah, they got it every single time. Those are a couple of big-time community members here for Apple Valley. [5:12] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Great. Thank you, Randy. I'm just glad you wore your helmet so I'm not in trouble tonight. [5:18] **Randy Bailey:** My wife made me promise for Ruth's sake. There's a story behind there somewhere. So, all right, thank you. [5:26] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Randy, oh no—Ruth, go ahead. [5:30] **Doug Alas:** Come on forward. Good evening Council. My name is Doug Alas. I live at 13572 Harwell Path right here in Apple Valley. Lived there for about 32 years or somewhere in that range, but originally moved here in 1986 at a different address. And um, this latest middle housing issue—more than an issue had come up here a couple months ago and it was very near and dear to my heart. We got involved—my wife and I—and we've been spending some time going to our local representatives' or state representatives' coffees and trying to keep them informed of what's going on and how this impacts us. [6:18] **Doug Alas:** I'll say that they are somewhat listening. Our latest coffee that came up in the past week at the library location was able to talk with them and inform them that there are some, as he was saying, "drops" of the middle housing for now, but there are still some other little tails that are popping up in regards to this. It's going to be a great impact to both the city and to all neighborhoods. [6:45] **Doug Alas:** To the city, to myself in particular—I'll say that I want to thank you all for bringing it forward and keeping us well informed. We were able to get some information from Tom and pass that around from neighbors and friends and hockey moms and everybody else that spread the word. I did see on some social media that other cities did the same thing, so it's effective and it works. I did invite everybody that was at the last library meeting to come join the Council and find out what's going on in your local city. Don't just go and sit in the background at the representative's coffee, but do come and find out what your local city's doing and how they can inform you what's good for you and what's good for your local neighborhoods. But I thank you for all the information. [7:31] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. Thanks for paying attention because, as we talk about a project that goes through the city—might be a zoning change, right? New building. There's a sign posted, there's a public hearing, right? We go through Planning Commission. We almost never take action the first night, so we get feedback. Um, this bill—these two original bills—dropped on President's Day, a holiday when nobody else was working. Dropped on President's Day; the final hearings are tomorrow. So think how tight that window is compared to the length of that bill compared to a single project. [8:13] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** I only say that to say that's why it's important to pay attention, because had people not been paying attention, this had the momentum to go. I've never put more hours into a legislative session in 14 years than I put into this one. For all those reasons. And so thank you for paying attention. As you mentioned, the two biggest concerns are on the wayside; we still have one more we're working on which would effectively allow, by right, any multi-family or apartment building to be built in a commercial district. And we're still working on pulling that back so we have some chance to have some input on there. Right? Nobody's saying we don't need more housing. What we're saying is we need a better way to address it and make sure that the bills that are out there actually solve the problem. [8:38] **Doug Alas:** We need more jobs, though, as well as housing. [8:41] **Doug Alas:** Yep. Finding... when he brought the information to the neighbors and the friends and everyone, they were thanking me for that information and they weren't aware. And um, not that they weren't looking, but they've got busy lives and... [8:55] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** That's precisely the point, right? We're all living our lives, doing our thing, and that's what we need to be doing. And this stuff is easy to miss. So thank you. [9:05] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** I’d like to add one thing, too. Thank you for getting involved. I was on Planning Commission for a long time before City Council, and I can't tell you how often we sit here and the seats are empty unless one or two "hot button" issues come up and then they're standing in the hallways, right? So, you know, day-to-day, meeting-to-meeting, folks that are willing to come and show up and get involved and see what's going on—a lot of this stuff is important, right? You know, and God bless you for doing it. We sure appreciate it. [9:31] **Doug Alas:** Lived here for a long time and I like what Apple Valley is doing. We're going the right direction and want to get involved. So thank you. [9:40] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. Thank you. So watch. [9:45] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right, seeing none others, we will move on to our consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or citizen requests to pull an item. Council members, any items you would like to pull from consent? Seeing none. Citizens, any items to pull? I don't see any. Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? [10:04] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Move. [10:07] **Councilmember Goodwin:** Second. [10:08] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have a motion from Councilmember Melander and a second from Councilmember Goodwin. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). Opposed? Those items carry. [10:14] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** That moves us to our regular agenda, 5A, which is the first item: to adopt a resolution appointing a member to fill a vacancy on the Planning Commission. And Pam is going to walk us through this one. [10:23] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. On January 11th, the City Council authorized accepting applications through February 16th to fill the vacancy on the Planning Commission. Because only one application had been received by that time, on February 22nd, the City Council extended that deadline to March 15th. The vacant seat has a three-year term expiring March 1st, 2026. Notice of this vacancy was posted on the city's website and advertised in our local newspaper. [10:55] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Five residents submitted an application by the March 15th deadline. Those names are included in your packet. The resolution describing the procedure to fill positions on commissions is also included in your packet. In accordance with the standing procedure, you will vote for one candidate less than the number of candidates on the ballot unless the Council amends that procedure. If the City Council is ready to fill that vacancy, a motion should be made to nominate the candidates. The ballots will be distributed following the final vote. The City Council should adopt the resolution appointing the planning commissioner. Thank you. [11:39] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you, Pam. Do we have a motion to move forward the slate of candidates? [11:42] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So move. [11:44] **Councilmember Goodwin:** Second. [11:45] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** I'm sorry, you had the light on. I was going to suggest we vote for... oh, there's five on the Planning Commission. Are you okay with voting for one less in that case? No, yeah, I'm good. We vote for four. [12:12] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We will vote for four. We vote for one less and that's okay. Perfect. We'll just continue with that process throughout then. So I have a motion from Councilmember Goodwin, a second from Councilmember Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). Opposed? That item carries. [12:27] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And we'll turn it over to... Pam and Tom, you probably have updates all teed up and ready for us so we can stay informed while we count. [12:38] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Vote for four. Vote for four. And initial. [12:45] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Oh yeah, finds your Planning Commission, doesn't it? Thank you. Vote for four. [13:11] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We fold them again? I always do it. Yeah, there... it's always a little disparity there. [13:34] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Tom, what do you have for us? [13:40] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, yes, with a number of voting rounds to go, we have a number of our department heads ready to provide some updates tonight. We will start with our Police Chief, Nick Francis. [13:51] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** He got that many in the middle, apparently. See how many rounds I can make it. Um, first one is what you've heard multiple times before, but just re-hitting on our Autism Acceptance Month here in Apple Valley. We had a great sensory-friendly egg hunt. We had over 45 different families come here to the police department and I think there was somewhere around 500 eggs hidden. Some of them remained—people going down to the gym a few days later found one on the treadmill in the drink compartment and some were up on top of a door. So there were still a few remaining for our employees when they came back. But that was a great event. [14:33] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** That was the day before Easter we had the egg hunt. This week right now is the Patch Hunt. That's a virtual patch hunt, so folks signed up online and they are getting clues—daily clues. By tomorrow they should have it narrowed down to within which park it is in Apple Valley and probably maybe even a roadmap to get there. [15:06] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** And our last big event for this month is going to be on April 26th, next Friday—there's a couple Fridays—and that's the Galaxy Library event from 10:00 to 11:30. We're having folks come and join us for a coloring event. That is a partnership with Dakota County Library System. They have folks that come in and bring resources; they open up a big conference room for us. We have officers and staff members in there that are interacting with the kids and the adults that are in there doing coloring. And so we want to continue building these events. [15:43] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** We also have our patches. I was at an event today, a law enforcement event, and law enforcement is kind of funny because they'll notice it's different from our other one—they don't know exactly what it is, but I had about five different head-spins saying, "Oh, what's that? You get new patches?" And then you have to kind of explain it. So they are pretty cool. For the public, anybody that's a patch collector, we do have those in the lobby all month long. They are available for folks to purchase through our Apple Valley Community Crime Prevention Association. [16:10] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** I will bring up that we designed these with a number of community members who are affected by autism that came in. We had a workgroup; several of them are, you know, 10-12 years old and they're patch collectors and connected to autism and also just really active in the community. So we had a great time planning how these patches look, what they wanted to be on the patches. And then we also work with our department members because they're the ones wearing them. So they are very special to us. We've got a good supply of them and they mean more than just what our officers are wearing for autism acceptance. It's an outward symbol to the community that we accept autism, we celebrate this community, and we want others to do the same. [16:48] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** And the last thing is "Buzz with the Fuzz." So this month, our Buzz with the Fuzz episode stars myself and then Kibby Caferen, who is our licensed mental health professional. We talk about autism acceptance, we talk about our Coordinative Response program, and so we invite people to dig in a little bit more and learn about us in that way. Thank you. [17:01] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Chief, thanks. [17:02] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. Following the voting, three candidates remain. Following your procedure, you should now vote for two. [17:15] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Oh, I did. I did there. Sorry, this is vote for two. You can lick your finger; I won't be offended. Vote for two. [18:10] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** One more check over. Yeah. Thank you. There you go. Wait here? [18:24] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Back up. The next one I want to hit on is our 2024 Citizens Academy. I know Councilmember Bergman is a former attendee of the Citizens Academy. Every time we go to "Night to Unite" events or anything else in the community, he is always telling folks that if you really want to know and learn a little bit more, come to the Citizens Academy. And so here's your chance. We run our Citizens Academy; that's going to be Tuesday nights, April 30th through May 28th. And it's a joint between the Apple Valley and Rosemount Police Departments. The registration deadline is April 23rd, so you've got about another week to get an application in there. [19:14] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** And we have room for, I think it's about 25 or 30 residents. You must be a resident or work in Apple Valley or Rosemount. The unique thing about doing a joint Citizens Academy, which we've done the last few years, is you get to look at two different departments. Each one is uniquely different; they're different sizes, they have different employees, they have different programs and systems. But you may at any day travel through each of these communities. You may live in Apple Valley but you work in Rosemount, and you see that police department far more often than you do in Apple Valley. So it's been a great partnership with Rosemount. [19:50] **Police Chief Nick Francis:** Course topics this year include our Electronics Crimes Unit, our Coordinator Response Unit, crime scene team, drug task force—you get a firearms demonstration at the range—use of force, SWAT, and much more. So you see a lot of the equipment. Obviously, we have great support in our community day in and day out, and we challenge people to say, "Okay, take that support and take one more step. Stand with us and understand." To me, I always explain it as there's a lot of things that people do and ways for people to understand what we do as police officers, but this is a great way to know who we are, which takes that next step to really getting to know your department. So: Tuesday nights, April 30th through May 28th, and the deadline to register is April 23rd. Great. [20:41] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Right, thanks. [20:42] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Thank you again, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. Following the vote, two candidates remain. You should now vote for one. [21:57] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Promise. Mr. Mayor, would you like to entertain additional updates? Please do. [22:00] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** If you're ready, how about we call on our Assistant City Administrator, Charles Grawe, to tell us a little bit about what's going on at the Metropolitan Airports Commission and potential impact on Apple Valley. [22:15] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Sounds fantastic. Don't expect me to say anything. [22:19] **Assistant City Administrator Charles Grawe:** Good evening. So the Metropolitan Airport is not located all that far from us—you may not think about it all that frequently—but they do have a major construction project that's coming up this coming year, and it's going to have some impacts on Apple Valley. First, just a little background on the airport: they have 32 miles of runway and taxiway, which is a lot. You don't kind of think about how much actual pavement surface they have, but just like our roads and highways, the MAC takes a beating too, and it needs to be maintained. They... we have four runways. We often talk about the parallel runways that are kind of the upper right of that picture on the screen, and then there is what's called the crosswind runway that crosses them. And—oops... [23:22] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Go ahead and finish, Charles, and then we'll put it... [23:24] **Assistant City Administrator Charles Grawe:** And then we have the 17/35 runway, which is kind of by itself, that's pointing downwards. And that happens to run pretty much right over Apple Valley. And so what's happening is that they'll be doing work on these runways that are in yellow, and they'll need to shut them down for about a four-month period this summer, from June through September. When they do that, they will have to reroute their air traffic onto the two remaining runways, which means there will be more airplane traffic—both landing and taking off—going over Apple Valley this summer. It's a temporary condition; it will be just for the summer months and then it will revert back to something like it was before. [24:10] **Assistant City Administrator Charles Grawe:** But it will be noticeable, and unfortunately, that's the time of year when people are outside and have their windows open. So we want to make people aware that, yes, we know there's going to be a temporary time here where there will be an increased air traffic. The last time they shut down the runways like this was in 2009, so it's been about 15 years since we've experienced this. Sadly, the other part of this is that that other parallel runway is going to need work next year. So next summer-ish, we'll have something fairly similar that's happening. But just want to get the word out to folks. Great. [24:40] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you, Charles. Thanks. Are you all... are we ready? [24:43] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Please proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the balloting selection process by Council for the Planning Commission vacancy, by the majority of the votes, Douglas Alas has been selected. [24:59] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Okay, thank you. Congratulations. I believe we need a motion to accept that? [25:01] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Correct. I'll make a motion to accept that, and then I have a comment afterwards. [25:08] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right. So a motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Goodwin. Do you want the comment now or take the vote? [25:12] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** I would just like to thank Mr. Alas. He's been at the last three City Council meetings, I think, to understand the housing issue and became an activist in maintaining our local control when it comes to zoning. So thank you. Thank you. [25:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Go ahead. [25:36] **Councilmember John Bergman:** And the other comment... I, along with Councilmember Melander—I still call him "Commission"—both of us came off from that to sit here today. And when you look at the candidates and you see how people engage in the community and what the Planning Commission means, I firmly believe we as a group in the past—members of Council—have done their due diligence because planning is pretty essential in our community. I firmly believe, being a past Planning Commission member, I set the bar a little higher for this position. So thank you, and have a great time doing it, because you'll learn a lot. So thanks. [26:24] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Great. We have a motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Goodwin. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). And opposed? That item carries. Thank you and welcome. [26:33] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We will move on to 5B. We have a couple items here, and Pam, why don't you walk us through these. These are related to the Park and Recreation Advisory Committee. [26:42] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. There are two items before you this evening. First, Park and Recreation Advisory Committee member Matthew Henrik notified the city of his resignation from the Park and Recreation Advisory Committee effective immediately. This will create a vacancy on that committee with a three-year term expiring March 1st, 2026. Staff suggest formal acceptance of Mr. Henrik's resignation at this time. So the first action before you is a motion accepting Mr. Henrik's resignation and thanking him for his service. [27:14] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. Do we have a motion to accept the resignation? [27:16] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** So moved. [27:17] **Councilmember Tom Melander:** Second. [27:18] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have a motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). Opposed? That item carries. We'll move on to B2, Pam. [27:26] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Second: On February 8th, the City Council authorized accepting applications through March 15th to fill the vacancy on the Park and Recreation Committee created by the resignation of Brent Schultz. That vacancy has a three-year term expiring March 1st, 2027. Notice of that vacancy was posted on the city's website and advertised in the local newspaper. Nine residents submitted an application by the deadline. Those names are included in your packet. [28:02] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** Because we have received several applications and there is important work needing to be done by this committee in the coming months, staff is recommending filling both vacancies at this time. The resolution describing the procedures to fill positions on committees is included in your packet. In accordance with the standing procedure, you will vote for one candidate less than the number of candidates on the ballot. Considering the number of candidates, Council may wish to amend that procedure. Voting will continue until two candidates remain. Following the final vote, the City Council should adopt the resolution appointing the members and specifically identifying which candidate will have the term expiring March 1st, 2026, and which candidate will have the term expiring March 1st, 2027. If the City Council is ready to fill that vacancy, a motion should be made nominating the candidates, and then we will prepare the ballots for you. [29:10] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** So we're looking for a motion to nominate the candidates. And I think, to Councilmember Grendahl's suggestion, it would be appropriate to start the voting at six, and then we can go to one less thereafter, if that's acceptable. Vote for six. That should help us whittle the list down a little quicker. And so then how does it work? The first candidate with the most votes gets 2027 and the second candidate 2026? Or how are we going to do that? Would we have an ability to determine that as you all count the votes? [29:43] **City Clerk Christina Scipioni:** We will tell you the final two candidates. If there is a difference, I guess we could tell you that. Otherwise, it would be in the motion the Council makes to adopt the resolution specifying which candidate will have the 2026 end. [30:01] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Right, correct. Sounds good. All right, so we have a motion to accept the slate of candidates and for the initial vote to be to vote for six, and then we will do one less thereafter. That's what I understand the motion to be. Do we have a motion? Did you make the motion? Okay, a motion from Councilmember Melander, a second from Councilmember Bergman. Does that work? All right, we're all there. All those... that's debatable. Too many moving parts here for just a second. So all those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). And opposed? All right, we are ready to move on to the balloting, I believe. [30:43] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** For a second, thank you Mr. Mayor. And as the City Attorney is distributing the ballots, I will just clarify: for this first vote, you will vote for three less, so you will vote for six. And then the motion was, following this round, you will then vote for one less each time. Thank you. [32:14] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, yes indeed. And I believe it appropriate that we have our Park and Recreation Director come up and give us some updates while we're voting on the Park and Recreation Commission. [32:23] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. So let's see, we've got a couple updates here. First one is going to just talk about the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center. We'll be celebrating 25 years of operations this year at the Apple Valley Aquatic Center. Now, we took 2020 off because of COVID, so it's actually been around for 26, but 25 years of operations there. It'll be open daily starting June 6th through August 21st, weather permitting. Um, to go and swim, it's $13 for daily admission or you can purchase a discounted entry by purchasing a 10-entry pass for $110—you get a small discount. [33:10] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** If you purchase a 10-entry pass, not only is there open swimming involved at the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center, in the mornings we offer a very popular water walking exercise program where people walk the opposite current in the Lazy River. So it's good exercise to walk against the current, if you will. We also offer lap swimming opportunities; there's some Tot Time programs for just the little ones. And then we'll be offering some special events throughout the summer at the Aquatic Center. And then the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center is also available for private rental. So if a business wants to hold some type of a family event for their employees, or if there's an organization in the community that would like to rent out the facility for their organization, they can contact us at the Park and Recreation Office and rent the facility for their private use. We would, of course, supply the lifeguards to make sure everyone's safe. [33:59] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** And then we'll move on to the other aquatic center we have in the city, and that's this summer—we're celebrating 60 years at Redwood. And I think everyone's aware that Redwood's part of the referendum, so this is actually going to be the last summer of the Redwood Pool as we know it. And so for those that have memories, fond memories hopefully, of Redwood Pool, I would encourage you to get out and use the pool this summer, because come August 21st, you will not be able to use the pool as you know it today or as you remember it somewhere within the last 60 years. Again, that's open daily from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m., June 6th through August 21st. [34:40] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** And then on August 21st, the last day that it's open, we're going to have a kind of a final farewell and do some special events. I'm sure we'll be inviting the City Council to help participate in that. So we're looking to try to have some fun and just celebrate what Redwood Pool has been for our community. $6 daily admissions at the pool, and you can buy a 10-punch pass for $50. If you're looking for swim lessons, we have swim lesson opportunities. And again, the private rentals can be... you can rent the facility for private rentals as well. So, um, that covers that. Looks like they've got some tallies, and we've got some more for you. Perfect. We'll look forward to it. [35:16] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mayor, members of the Council. Following the voting, there are six candidates remaining, so you will vote for five. [36:51] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right. All right. [37:05] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** I was told to prepare like 30 minutes worth of material, so we're going to go with Valleywood next. Because I think I'm going to say a few things about Valleywood, then we have a nice short video that we'll play, and hopefully that'll get us up to the next opportunity you have to find out how the balloting is going. So: Valleywood did open for the season to high school golf on the driving range on Tuesday, and open to everyone, if you will, on Wednesday. So if you're a golfer, encourage you to go out to Valleywood, play a round or two this summer. It's a great golf course; we made a number of improvements there last year, and that's what we're going to see as part of the video. [37:37] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** But sign up for a league if you want to participate in a league and get out to the golf course on a regular basis. Having some fun, you can book tee times online or you can call the clubhouse at 952-953-2323. Um, we've improved our driving range, so if your game needs a little bit of practice, please go to our driving range and practice the game. And then if you're looking to hold a special event—maybe it's a graduation party, maybe it's a wedding, maybe it's a small family reunion or something—we have banquet space available at the golf course where you can find your own caterer if you need food, and you can purchase beverages from the golf course and host your event at our banquet facility. Again, call the Golf Course Pro Shop at 952-953-2323. I think we'll play a video that's going to last 2 minutes and 6 seconds, it looks like, so that hopefully will lead up to the next balloting. [38:36] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** I'm not sure what's wrong with the... so, apologize, I'm not sure what's wrong with the volume, but you can watch the video... [38:45] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Just voice over it for us. [38:47] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** So that's just a picture of our new, improved driving range. You can see we have a nice concrete line, new mats, new driving stations, all aimed in a different direction. And so that's going to be a really nice addition. We're just showing the golf course itself from an aerial view. And then you see some of the construction that happened last summer. This is work on the 17th fairway; that's kind of a landing zone, depending on how far you can hit the ball. It's not my landing zone, but... [39:27] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Somebody move the keys? After the voting, five candidates. Now vote for four. [39:40] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Wow, four left. Thank you. [40:32] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** So we'll keep watching the video here. We got some pictures of the new tee complex on hole number 15. [40:39] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** That's brutal. [40:40] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** That one's brutal. So that should help him improve the course. Let's take a nice look at the 15th fairway. I've never seen that part of the fairway. There's some work around the 15th pond; got a lot of balls in that pond. Golf balls. Here we're aerating the ninth green, and that's something that we have to do every year to make sure that the greens stay healthy. Good shot of the clubhouse. I'm sure it's saying "contact the golf course with questions" or log on to ValleywoodGolf.com. [41:35] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** All right, couple more updates. So we've got, in the summertime, we've got two dog areas—off-leash dog areas that we have in our community—at Huntington and Delaney, where we take the hockey rink, we put a gate through the opening where our water truck drives through in the wintertime, and we allow people to use those as off-leash dog areas. We do supply bags for people; we encourage people to pick up after their dogs if they do their business in the dog park. And really, if you're out anywhere in our park system walking the dogs on one of the trails, or you bring them to a park, please pick up after your pets. No one wants to step in dog waste when they're out using the park system. [42:15] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** But use these parks if you want to in Apple Valley if you want to have your dogs off leash. Then I thought maybe I would just give a little bit of a brief update on what's happening with the Parks Referendum that residents voted for in November of '23. We have a number of projects that we're working on so that we can start actually doing some construction. So, yeah, in the month of May, pretty soon, we'll be posting online and mailing to the Redwood neighborhood some community engagement opportunities for people to participate in some public meetings where we're going to be talking about some of the specific improvements we hope to be making at Redwood Park, especially as it relates to the inclusive playground and the new community pool that will be there. So please watch our website for more information about that and get involved if you're interested. [43:05] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** We're hoping to, and planning to, do improvements to the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center this year after the pool closes for the season. Construction would start in September, go through the winter months, and hopefully wrap up by the spring of 2025, so that the pool would be up and operating for the swim season in 2025. And I'll sit back down and come back up. [43:32] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. Following the vote, three candidates remain. You should now vote for two. And if you'll recall, we do want two candidates at the end for three. [43:48] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Okay, vote for two. Vote for two. Vote for two. Three remain. Oh yeah, that's okay. Blonde, blue—already got me. [44:26] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** So a couple more updates related to the Parks Referendum. We also will be holding some public engagement opportunities for the improvements planned for the fields that surround the community center and the senior center. As you may recall, we are planning to build a youth baseball/softball complex. We'll also be looking at potentially making some other improvements on the site related to the athletic fields that are surrounding the site. We're working closely with the school district on that project because we're planning to make improvements on school district property. We'll be working closely with the Valley Athletic Association, the Eastview Athletic Association, and then, of course, the neighborhood as well, because the improvements will be having an impact on the neighborhood too. [45:05] **Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson:** And then finally, hopefully by this fall, residents will start to notice that we have some new park ID signs and some new signage within our park system. The city, the Parks and Recreation Committee, and the City Council approved a new park sign master plan, and we hope to start installing some of those signs come this fall. And that is all the material I have. I'm sure that wasn't quite 30 minutes, but it's close enough. Thank you. [45:25] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Eric, I'm... you have 22 more minutes for us by any chance? I think I have enough until they come back in. So, if Pam were sitting here, our City Clerk, she would want me to remind everybody that it is not too late to become an election judge for upcoming elections. We make it extremely easy on the city's website; we have an online application to fill out a couple of questions on there, and you will be in consideration of becoming an election judge. So, that's how our system works. We need people of our community to turn out and do a very important service in our community by serving as election judges. So please take advantage of that opportunity. [46:12] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** And the last one I had was the Home and Garden Expo. The Chamber of Commerce held the annual Home and Garden Expo this past Saturday. A beautiful day. You may recall the year prior was the middle of a snowstorm and attendance was way down, but that was not the problem—this Saturday was very well attended. And I just want to shout out to our City of Apple Valley team that attended that event and helped to meet our neighbors and let them know about various services offered by the city. Just about every department was there: Police Department, Fire Department, Community Development, Public Works, Building Inspection, Natural Resources, and more. So we just appreciate them signing up and working that event. It’s a good opportunity to meet our citizens where they are at, ask and answer questions about zoning matters that are happening in the community. "How do I get a building permit for something I might have figured out I want to do at my home through the Home and Garden Expo?" So just a great event. Glad the Chamber of Commerce puts that on and happy that our city can participate in that as well. Thank you. [47:19] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Tom, ma'am? Sharon, do we have a result? [47:23] **City Attorney Sharon Hills:** Yes, Mr. Chair and Councilmembers. For the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, there are two persons that have been selected through your ballot voting selection process: the first being Randy Bailey, and the other person is Jess Smith. And I remind you that when you make your motion, you need to select which of the two will have the March 1, 2026, term and then March 1, 2027, term. Great. [47:43] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Thank you. Councilmember Grendahl. [47:45] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I will make a motion for Randy... I don't think we can say anything more about the contributions he's made to this city and the senior center and everything you've done... for the March 1st, 2027, position, and Jess Smith for the March 1st, 2026. I guess I'd just like to point out his background as long as we're talking about it. For more than 10 years—first of all, lived in the city for 20 years, but for more than 10 years volunteered his time as a coach and organizational leader for the Eastview Athletic Association, with the last three years spent as president of the board. The past year he was able to create and lead the "Yes for Apple Valley Parks" committee that helped gain the referendum. So, two very strong candidates. [48:33] **Councilmember John Bergman:** I'll second it. [48:34] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** All right. We have a motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Bergman. Councilmembers, any discussion? If not, all in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). And opposed? That item carries. I just want to thank both of these—all of the applicants. We truly can't do this without you, and we'll look for other opportunities as well to keep everyone plugged in. [49:01] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have next on the agenda staff and Council communications. Anything else from staff, Tom? [49:05] **City Administrator Tom Lawell:** Mr. Mayor, we are officially out of items. [49:08] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Kind of what I figured. So... Councilmember Bergman. [49:15] **Councilmember John Bergman:** Thanks, Mayor. About 10 days ago, Rick and his staff at the Apple Valley Liquor Stores... um, four years ago, five years ago now, the Apple Valley Liquor Stores used to have a night—they'd pick a night and they'd have a restaurant and they would have it so there was a wine pairing. And for those years, at the Apple Valley Liquor store before COVID had it, it was a great success. It was held at the golf course. 10 days ago, on a Tuesday at 6:00, 6:00 to 8:00, Rick and his staff paired Italian wines and German wines with the food that was catered from the Thai restaurant next to Rascals. It was well attended, and the food was phenomenal. The people that explained all the wines and the pairings... and it was great. So hopefully, as Rick said, in the future they will have another restaurant and another pairing, either with other items other than wine. But that's what took place. But to Rick and his staff, thank you. [50:21] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Anyone else? Before we jump to the calendar, I just want to recognize a couple of our planning staff, Alex and Sydney, who jumped out to our local high schools last week or this week, I think, and spent some time with our students talking about planning careers and what the students do. And so, right, we do a lot of work in the building, but we have staff getting out and interacting with the community and helping people understand what we do, right? And get them interested in different careers and options. And so I appreciate that time spent. I know it's over and above and on top of the regular workload because it doesn't go away while you're out doing those things. And so we appreciate that work, and I know the schools do as well. So thank you guys for doing that. [51:00] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** With that, our next regular City Council meeting is April 25th at 7 p.m. And do we have a motion to approve the calendar of upcoming events? [51:10] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Moved. [51:11] **Councilmember Goodwin:** Second. [51:12] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Goodwin. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). Opposed? Calendar is approved. [51:18] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** Item eight on our agenda is to convene in closed session under the attorney-client exception to the open meeting law to discuss appraisal valuation of city-owned lands at Central Village West site. Do I have a motion to convene in closed session? [51:33] **Councilmember Goodwin:** So move. [51:34] **Councilmember Ruth Grendahl:** Second. [51:35] **Mayor Clint Hooppaw:** We have a motion from Councilmember Goodwin, a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. (Council: Aye). Opposed? Anything else? No, we're good. We will convene in closed session across the hall in just a few minutes, and we will adjourn the meeting from in there. [51:55] [Music] [52:49] [Music]