This transcript appears to be from a June 7, 2023, meeting. Based on the context provided and the phonetic transcriptions, I have identified the speakers. Note that while the context list provided some names, the transcript includes **Councilmember Tony Khambata** and **Councilmember Steve Dennis**, who were the active members alongside Thiede and Olsen at that time. [00:00] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Thank you. All right. All right. So good evening. Uh, this is the June 7, 2023, Cottage Grove City Council meeting, which I'm calling to order. Uh, the first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. So please rise. 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. Tammy, please do the roll. [00:25] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Councilmember Khambata? [00:27] **Councilmember Tony Khambata**: Here. [00:28] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Councilmember Dennis? [00:30] **Councilmember Steve Dennis**: Here. [00:31] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Councilmember Thiede? [00:33] **Councilmember Dave Thiede**: Here. [00:34] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Councilmember Olsen? [00:36] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Here. [00:37] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk)**: Mayor Bailey? [00:38] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Here. Uh, next on our agenda is Open Forum. This is the opportunity if anybody wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda, is welcome to do so. And we did have a sign-up sheet out there, but I don't believe anybody did, and I'm not seeing anybody in the audience other than who we have—our guest speaker. So I will go ahead then and close, uh, the Open Forum portion of our meeting and move to adoption of the agenda. [00:55] **Councilmember Steve Dennis**: Motion to adopt the agenda. [00:57] **Councilmember Dave Thiede**: Second. [00:58] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Uh, motion by Councilmember Dennis, second by Councilmember Thiede. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye!) Opposed? Motion carries. Next is presentations, which we do have on as we just mentioned earlier, and this is the Southeast Metro Amateur Radio Club (CMARC). It's a presentation to the Council, and David Bloom, who I believe is their Treasurer, is going to come up front and present to us. So, uh, welcome. [01:15] **David Bloom (CMARC Treasurer)**: Okay, well good evening, Mayor and Council and staff. I am the treasurer of the Southeast Metro Amateur Radio Club, also known as CMARC. And a brief club update: during the last year, CMARC has used Fire Station 3 as a home base for several special events, such as station W0M—that's the call sign for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Minnesota native Captain Richard Fleming lost his life on June 5th, 1942, at the Battle of Midway. Station K0A, the call sign used for the airmail event as Cottage Grove is home to one of the few remaining concrete arrows used in conjunction with the series of beacons developed by the Commerce Department that guided airmail pilots from Chicago or Milwaukee to St. Paul, Minnesota, at night or during inclement weather prior to the development of radio-based navigation systems. Station K0M was used for the 164th anniversary of Minnesota's admission to the Union in May of 1858. And this past May, we celebrated the 35th year of CMARC using the call sign W0CGM 3-5. Little did we know we would be doing this event during a strong solar storm—very poor radio and space weather conditions. However, on Earth, the weather in Minnesota was just beautiful that day, but we did make over 200 contacts. We also have a few events away from Station 3, and one event worth mentioning is the Radiological Emergency Preparedness drill, or REP drill, held at Park High School supporting Washington County, which was done in May of 2022. Now, CMARC provides comm staff for the exercise deployed at various stations at the event site, and net control is always from the county comm vehicle parked outside of Park High. The last few years we've had to deploy a portable repeater system for our backup; however, soon we're looking forward to the return of the W0CGM 985 repeater system that's located on two Cottage Grove water towers. The 985 repeater system has proven itself capable of reaching all locations within Park High School right from our personally owned—I didn't bring one—handheld radios. And if you didn't know, many CMARC members are there tonight at Park High School participating in the first of two REP drills here in the month of June in preparation of FEMA's evaluation of the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant. Now, finally, we've operated two very specific field day events from Station 3—I know Councilmember Olsen has visited in the past—which are also a type of preparedness drill for CMARC. We now do both summer and winter field day, as we're setting up a temporary system within a very specific time frame to communicate with other amateur radio operators across North America. Now, it's a very different experience at 10 degrees below zero with snow and a wicked wind chill as opposed to 90, muggy, and an oppressive heat index—and don't forget the bug spray. With that note, I'd like to extend an invite to the Mayor and the City Council and other staff, as well as our law enforcement and EMS teams, for this year's Summer Field Day event held at Station 3. It's going to be starting at 1:00 PM on Saturday, June 24th, through Sunday, June 25th at 1:00 o'clock. We're always open to the public for tours of our operations. Oh yeah, and we'll be sure to send you an invite for Winter Field Day, that's on January 2024. And as a token of our appreciation, I brought some coffee cups that you've seen there on your desk. They're filled out with a card that we use to exchange information confirming contact. Okay, you'll be pleased to find I've noted that all of you are five by nine—that means everyone was able to be perfectly heard and clear. And so with that, I will—that's all I have this evening. Just thank you for the time and have a good night. [05:20] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Thank you. And thank you for the cup. And I've had the opportunity in a couple of different occasions, many years ago, to go to the event that was there. So, Council, any comments? Councilmember Olsen? [05:35] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Dave, thanks for being here. For those who don't know, Dave is also a critical part of our Cottage Grove Lions Club. He and his wife run our Adopt-a-Road cleanup project, so he's involved in an awful lot here in the community. And just like the Mayor, I've had the chance to go to the event out at the old fire station several times, and every time I go, I learn—it's fascinating. Dave, would you mind stepping back up to the podium? One of the things you taught me a time or two ago is the role that you and your people play with respect to public safety, especially during severe weather events and things of that nature when comms could be, you know, a little bit challenging. Can you share just a smidge for the rest of the group, um, you know, how that works exactly and the critical importance of the club? I mean, you're not just doing this for fun, right? [06:22] **David Bloom (CMARC Treasurer)**: This is all, you know, our radios and stuff are out of our own pocket or club funds for club events. You know, in Minnesota we're pretty fortunate, we have a fairly robust armor radio system, a digital system, but there's other parts of the country that do not have that type of system. And, as with any tower or structure or building, if you have a repeater or cell phone or stuff like that hooked onto that tower, a tornado can take that stuff down. And it takes days to have that infrastructure rebuilt, or maybe you wait for FEMA to come up with a trailer that has a cell phone tower. Well, we have radios and devices and such that we can then—and we've used before in some flooding events or like North Dakota and Fargo—that we can carry messages from whatever disaster site, like a coordination, to say, "Hey, let this family know that this person's okay." All right? You know, we're always just kind of a backup in the back pocket in case of the worst possible scenario. The ARRL, which is one of our leagues that we participate with, their little phrase is "When all else fails, amateur radio will be there." And so we just try to take and make sure that we are trained, either like with the radiological drill, how to use the armor radios—we do that—or we use our own radios, but just to take and be there in case something needs to get out to somebody to know, "Hey, we need help." Okay, we don't take and self-activate and go to a scene to do something; we wait for somebody to say, "Hey, we're broken, let's let somebody know that we need some help." All right. [08:15] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Perfect, thank you. And I know that's part of your training, and I also know you have a really good relationship with Chief Kerner and the rest of the public safety team, and that's one of the reasons why you're up at the fire station using that space for this training. Because you know there could come a day when we have to rely upon you, because as you said, when all else fails, you guys will be there. So thanks again for coming tonight and letting me come and play with some of the radios and stuff in the past. I look forward to this year's event, too. [08:45] **David Bloom (CMARC Treasurer)**: Yeah, we have something called the GOTA station—Get On The Air. It's for either unlicensed hams or unlicensed persons, or a ham that just has fallen out of regularly using something—maybe they've moved to a care center and they don't have a radio anymore. It's there for them to use to get on the air during this event. So stop by. I know, Justin, you can talk—we have a microphone for you. We have fun. [09:05] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Yeah, he's sat with me in one of those little office rooms on the radio before, so you're not just whistling Dixie there, my friend. [09:12] **David Bloom (CMARC Treasurer)**: No, I am not. Thank you. Appreciate it. [09:15] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Any other questions? That's good. All right, thanks for coming tonight. All right, that was good, by the way. That was awesome. All right, so next on our agenda is the Consent Calendar. Is there anything Council would like to pull on consent? Councilmember Olsen? [09:35] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Mayor, I would like to pull item E and item K if I could, please. [09:40] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Item E and K. Right. Is there any other Council items? All right, why don't you start with item E, which is the Stewart Country Kennels donation. [09:50] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Right. So, you know, we all know the Stewart family here in Cottage Grove—61 Marine, you know, Al Stewart and his family. And what you may not know is that Al's wife also operates a dog boarding and training and kennel facility at their home in Old Cottage Grove. Recently, as many people may be aware, there was a concern with regard to a kennel cough virus or a canine flu virus that was spreading. And what that did is it resulted in several of the facilities that our public safety team, for example, uses when we have, you know, stray animals that we find that may not be chipped or what have you—we have taken to these facilities until the owner can ultimately turn up or they get adopted out to another family. Well, in this case, the Humane Society, which is the facility that we use, had to limit access, and so we weren't able to do that. And, you know, our public safety team was kind of bumping their head against the wall trying to figure out how are we going to handle this with regard to some of these animals. And Christine Stewart stepped right up and said, "Hey, you guys can bring them here. We will take care of them. It's no problem." And of course, neighbors helping neighbors in Cottage Grove is really something we've all grown used to. But in this case, it really was a dire situation—we didn't have any other options. And so I just want to take a moment to recognize the Stewart family for, you know, taking on that responsibility in a time of need, but moreover, not charging us. They did it for free. So this donation of $385 from Stewart Country Kennels is related to that work that they've been doing. And I know that if we need them again, they'll do it for us another time. So much appreciated to the Stewart family. Thank you. [11:35] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: All right, and then the next item you asked to be pulled was K, which is escrows regarding the Mark Elliott homes. [11:42] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Yes, thank you, Mayor. I pulled this because there may be some confusion on the part of the community about what exactly we're doing with this item. It's a pretty tragic situation, and it resulted in some difficult circumstances for some homeowners. So I asked staff if they might take a moment to just give a little more thorough explanation as to what is happening, what that process we're engaging in looks like, and, you know, how that's ultimately all going to kind of get buttoned up at the end of it. So, Emily, take it away. [12:12] **Emily Schmitz (Community Development Director)**: Yes, Mayor, Council, good evening. So, a little bit of background: a lot of times with new home builds, we do work through what we call a temporary certificate of occupancy process. That allows folks, a lot of times, to close and move into their property without exterior items such as sod, boulevard trees, landscaping, things of that nature. So as a part of a building permit issuance, the city collected escrow and we hold those dollars from the builder as their good faith to say, "I will, in fact, complete these exterior items." And typically that's a six-month deadline. In this tragic and unique situation with some of these homeowners in the Parkview Point development, with the passing of their builder, we offered one final deadline for these temp COs that these folks are living under to say all of your temp COs on these properties have expired—these items do need to be completed: landscape, sod, exterior items, etc. None of them were brought into compliance essentially. And so internally we understood the best way to be able to help these folks, as they are left with muddy yards, no landscaping, very challenging situations, was to find a way to take some dollars and offer our support in that way, which is the best that we could do. So we are taking that escrow money that the developer—the builder, excuse me—had submitted to the city, and we are returning that to the property owner and asking them to say, "We will make sure that these items are taken care of on our lots in replacement of the builder essentially." So that is what the item before you this evening is. [13:55] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Fantastic. So just to recap, the owner passes away, the work obviously has not been completed due to that fact, and the poor property owner is left holding the bag because they have a temporary certificate of occupancy that is going to expire. And if they don't have a CO, they can't live there. So we had to figure out a way to help them, and essentially, it sounds like what we've done is we've used some of those escrow funds, redistributed those back to the homeowner, and said, "Look, we know you have this work that needs to be completed. We also know that that work isn't free, but here's some funding to help you get that done so that you can ultimately get your permanent certificate of occupancy," which I thought was just a really brilliant way to go about doing it. [14:35] **Emily Schmitz (Community Development Director)**: Yes, Mayor, Councilmember Olsen, you know, we also enlisted the help of the developer, who is more than willing to be a partner with us as well and help some of these property owners. [14:45] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Wonderful. Well, good job. And I'm really grateful that we're able to find a way forward to help these folks because, I mean, it wasn't their fault; they were in a really tough spot. Thank you. [14:55] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Okay. Councilmember Khambata? [14:57] **Councilmember Tony Khambata**: I know many times—I should say, I know of other cities that don't require these escrows of their builders. So for unlikely scenarios just like this one, I'm glad that we do. But I know that sometimes those escrows don't amount to the work that needs to be done. So how, in this case, are these escrows sufficient in making these homeowners whole, or are they still going to have to foot some of the bill to get this work done? [15:22] **Emily Schmitz (Community Development Director)**: Mayor, Councilmember Khambata, I've not received a quote for sod in some time; however, there is a chance that it does not cover completely the cost of finishes. A lot of these property owners also didn't receive the irrigation that they had in their contract either, so there are some dollars that will need to be fronted, unfortunately, from their perspective. [15:45] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: All right. Thank you. Just, I guess I'll interject real quick, just because I believe we also, when we met with those homeowners and talked to them about this escrow, we also had the builders—or the different groups, right—that were there that are reputable for the City of Cottage Grove? So no "fly-by-night." So we had reputable companies—contractors—thank you, I was looking for that word—contractors that would be there that they can talk to that have done work in Cottage Grove that are reputable for us. Is that correct? [16:15] **Emily Schmitz (Community Development Director)**: That's correct. We wanted to be sure that we were able to provide some contacts for these folks who might not have ever navigated these situations before. [16:22] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Absolutely. All right. Thanks. Thank you. Any other comments? All right. All right, so at this point, that was all the items to be pulled for discussion on consent. So I'll look for a motion to approve consent. [16:35] **Councilmember Dave Thiede**: Move consent. [16:37] **Councilmember Tony Khambata**: Second. [16:38] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: We have a motion by Councilmember Thiede, second by Councilmember Khambata. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye!) Opposed? Motion carries. So if anybody's watching, all of the items that were on tonight's Consent Calendar have been approved. Number 8 is approved disbursement; 8A is to pay the bills. [16:55] **Councilmember Steve Dennis**: Motion to pay the bills. [16:57] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: Second. [16:58] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Motion by Councilmember Dennis, second by Councilmember Olsen. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye!) Opposed? Motion carries. Moving right along. No public hearings, which was number 9. No bid awards, which was 10. No specific items under the regular agenda, which is 11. So we'll move to number 12, which is Council Commissary Request. And I'll start with Councilmember Khambata. [17:20] **Councilmember Tony Khambata**: I'm looking forward to a parade on June 17th. And I'm seeing a lot of work done around town, so again, all our staff who don't regularly hear it from us—thank you and good work. [17:35] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: Perfect, thank you. Councilmember Dennis? [17:38] **Councilmember Steve Dennis**: Well, Mayor, I'm going to yield my time because I know Councilmember Thiede has a lot to talk about here. [17:42] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: I thought—I was wondering, I see our list in front of us now. We do have one more council meeting before this, which is great. So, but uh, why don't you go ahead and—wait, we do? No, we don't. It's next week! All that—that is right! So yes, we do need to—so it is... oh my gosh, all right. Yeah, so the time just disappeared. There you go. Okay, then you will provide it to us. So, Councilmember Thiede? [18:05] **Councilmember Dave Thiede**: That's right. It's that sweet strawberry... oh! So, as long as you haven't lost track of time like the Mayor has, next week is Strawberry Fest! And it's set up to be a fantastic time again this year. We've got a very enhanced family night on Thursday—besides like the tractor pull and such, we've got other events on Thursday night and some food vendors and things like that. So, you know, you want to grab the kids and come on down. And also, there's again there's a medallion hunt that starts June 12th. And again, all this information—if you go to CottageGroveStrawberryFest.com—all this information and all the times and everything are on that site. So, but in terms of the carnival there, you can go on there and get your carnival tickets right online. But they're due to start setting up here early next week. And we'll have—we've got the DJ on Thursday, I believe it is. There's a magician, balloon artist, the kids' tractor pull, crafts, a drone demo by the Cable Commission, and there's a bike demo and youth sports demos and chalk walk. And it's just going to be loads of fun. We really are looking forward to trying to get that Thursday night and that family day to be something really fun for the community and the family. So, that'll be real fun. Also, there's the Strawberry Fest 5K, which is on June 17th—and registration again is online. Strawberry Fest Walk, there's a Strawberry Fest softball tournament, and the registration is online. Some of the different bands—well, you can see all the different events on that site—the live entertainment this year is... so, Coconut Tiger? I can't say that I've necessarily heard of them before, but the people that are in the know on the committee say they're fantastic. So you can come listen to them on Friday—they're the first one on Friday. Then Rhino's back—we've had Rhino in the past; they're a real good rock band, so that'll be Friday night. Saturday, the first band is Ladies of the 80s—so, I mean, it should have some really, really fun songs there. And then for all those country fans and whomever else, it's the Tim Sigler Band on Saturday night. So we're really excited to have him come by. Let's see what else... family night... oh, fireworks then are on again for 10:30 on Saturday. In terms of the Strawberry Fest Marketplace, I've just had fantastic response. We've got over a hundred booths out there this year, and that actually is full now—we're not taking any more. But we've filled up the soccer field out there with booths. We've got 16 different food vendors, so there's a variety of new food vendors also that we have. So that's going to be fantastic—you're going to have to come out to see what new ones we have there. We're going to have the All-Star Wrestling back again on Saturday, the car show is on Saturday, and I know that Jack Novotny, who's been kind of heading that up, has said there's a lot of good entries in that car show. And then of course, on Saturday morning is the parade at 10:00 AM. We still have a couple of spots if you really—you know, even if you want to get the neighborhood together and make a sign and come walk through the parade—you know, the application is online for that. And it's like—it's just like, wow, you know? It's going to be so many things this year and we're looking forward to the weather cooperating and everything else. You know, last year was fantastic, and so just kind of come out and have a great time. So, and make sure you get your button! Actually, there's a raffle for the button and everything—it's a sizable winnings on that. I think it's... yeah, I think it's like... well, the total is fifteen hundred dollars, I think. I don't know if that's just the final one, I'd have to take a look again. But so, it's great. So I guess that's it—make sure you get out there. [22:30] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: So since you're talking about it, I'll just mention two quick things. One is on Sunday evening, which is June 11th, at 5:00 o'clock at River Oaks, is kind of the kickoff dinner. And this is where the—what would be maybe the future ambassadors of Cottage Grove, they'll be riding in parades and representing our community—will be starting their judging, if you will. And then, of course, on the Monday right after Father's Day and Strawberry Fest will be the coronation of the new ones. And then the one other thing I'm mentioning—because this is different this year—I love what you guys are doing with the family fun night, and I did notice on here on our notes that it says the food trucks and the beer garden will be open on Thursday night. So that's a first! So that's kind of cool. So you can actually take your kids over there and family over there and have a great, great time—have dinner and have some fun. The kids can't have any—not the beer—but maybe Dad or Mom... so, perfect. Looking forward to it. All right, anything else? Great. No, I think that's good. Councilmember Olsen? [23:35] **Councilmember Justin Olsen**: For me? Okay. So a couple quick items for me. First of all, just as per, I guess, the law, we did at our last City Council meeting have a performance review—it's like an update that we do quarterly with our City Administrator. And so I just need to acknowledge that we did have a review and went through a variety of items, but all good—all real good information and both given to us from our Administrator and the conversations between the Council and our Administrator, Jennifer Levitt, went very, very well. So I wanted to mention that. I also want to congratulate—as we all, I know we all do—we did just go through all three, I'll say all three of our high schools: Woodbury, East Ridge, and Park. This past Sunday, all graduated. So congratulations to the class for all three high schools for the class of 2023! And then, though we're talking about Strawberry Fest—and we will absolutely continue to get the community fly-in here with Strawberry Fest—I also want to just put a quick plug out there as a reminder: not too many weeks after Strawberry Fest, we now have the Fourth of July, which is amazing to think we're getting to that point. And we will be having the Fourth of July fireworks, which will be provided by the Cottage Grove Lions Club along with some other activities and such. But I also just want to once again make a plug to the companies that donated to the fireworks here in Cottage Grove. So: Tennis Sanitation, Hy-Vee, Renewal by Andersen, 3M, and NorthPoint—all of them, and each of them donated five thousand dollars. So it's a twenty-five thousand dollar fireworks show that the Cottage Grove Lions are putting up. So I definitely want to thank them. That's true—makes us a true community when various businesses of various sizes—if you listen to who I just shared who made the donations, just like they do for Strawberry Fest—makes a huge impact on the positiveness of our community. So that was it for me. [26:00] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: 13, Workshop Open to the Public—we do not have one this evening. 14, Workshop Closed to the Public—we don't have one this evening. So I'll look for a 15, which is adjournment. [26:10] **Councilmember Dave Thiede**: Move to adjourn. [26:11] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: All those in favor? (Aye!) Opposed? We're adjourned.