Based on the context provided and the roll call recorded in the transcript, here is the formatted transcript with speaker names. *Note: While the provided context list contains current officials, the transcript specifically identifies **Mayor Robinson** and a different set of Council Members (Duncan, Holst, Mattson, McCusker, and Schlapkohl) from a November 2014 session. Staff members such as Jon Radermacher, Justin Padgett, and Jeff McCormick have been identified by their roles.* [0:00] **[Introductory Audio]** [8:45] **Mayor Robinson**: Good evening. I'll call the City of Cannon Falls City Council meeting for Tuesday, November the 18th to order. Roll call: Councilmember Duncan? **Council Member Duncan**: Here. **Mayor Robinson**: Holst? **Council Member Holst**: Here. **Mayor Robinson**: Johnson is absent. Mattson? **Council Member Mattson**: Here. **Mayor Robinson**: McCusker? **Council Member McCusker**: Yes. **Mayor Robinson**: Schlapkohl? **Council Member Schlapkohl**: Here. **Mayor Robinson**: And Mayor Robinson here. I'll stand for the pledge. 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. Good evening everyone, welcome to the City Council meeting on this—I mean, November—night feels like it out there. At this time, the chair will take a motion to approve the agenda submitted. [9:30] **Council Member McCusker**: So moved. **Council Member Holst**: I'll second. **Mayor Robinson**: Have a motion by Bill [McCusker], second by Ron [Holst]. All those in favor, aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That moves on to Item 5: Public Input. Citizens may speak to issues not on the agenda. Before speaking, please give your name and address for the minutes and please limit your comments to three minutes. Since we have an empty house, we'll move on. At this time, we've moved to the consent agenda. Items on this area of the agenda may be adopted or they may be removed and placed in the business area of the agenda for discussion purposes. Before approving, for the folks at home, I will read the consent agenda. Item A is the incorrect claims for the accounting period ending November the 14, 2014. Item B is approved pay requests for Number 14 Second Street Southwest street project. Item C: approved pay request number two for the Second Street Southwest water main project. And Item D: approved financing plan for various projects. Are there any items anybody wishes to bring down? [10:16] **Council Member Mattson**: I will bring Item D, and that will become Item 7A. **Mayor Robinson**: Any others? If not, the chair will take a motion to approve the consent agenda minus Item D. **Council Member McCusker**: So moved. **Council Member Holst**: I'll second it. **Mayor Robinson**: Motion by Bill, second by Ron. All those in favor, aye. Opposed? Motion carries. [11:03] **Mayor Robinson**: All right, that moves us on to Item 7A, which is the approved financing plan for various projects. **Council Member Mattson**: Questions for you on that, Ron. The 65,000—I think it was—that's coming out of the water fund reserve... 62,000. How much is in that reserve, roughly? [12:39] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: I would say the 62,000, although that's a fairly large sum of money, it'll probably be thrown into the formula. We've got a meeting set up with Ehlers to review rates—to do an analysis again—coming up either next week or the following... tomorrow, is it? Tomorrow already? Okay, tomorrow. And so we'll see. But I mean, that's going to be... we'll have to take that into consideration when looking at rates. [13:25] **Council Member Mattson**: Yeah, I guess my concern is our water bills. When I started out on the council, they were about eighteen to twenty dollars. It seemed like a grant to pay for your water and sewer bill, and now it seems like we're up to about 35. Supposedly, while I've been on here, we've only raised it like six or eight percent, so it seems like our water bills are getting high. So my concern was that if we took that reserve out of there, we would be raising our water bill another one or two percent on top of what's already been projected. Because to me, if we're going to be fifty percent on the budget—which I think is a good thing—it's also about 26 or 27 thousand; it's about 1% of our budget each year. So if we did have to take more out of the general fund, and that would be roughly three percent and knock it down to, say, 47,000 instead of 50, and not have to do anything different with our water/sewer fund—I would like to try to do that versus taking that money out of there. And the one good thing I want to point out with the water/sewer fund is we do need to build a reserve up there, but you also remember that one of the biggest emergencies we had last year was the Second Street—I believe that was Second—that's one of the biggest things we've had in a lot of years, emergency stuff. And I think with the new way of doing things, we're probably in a lot better shape to avoid that kind of stuff this year. Eventually, the city is going to be in a position here where we have the new mains and we have the new water towers, so I don't think it's such an important thing that it keeps it to be a reserve either at this time. So I just want to point that out while we're talking about it. The other thing is the one that struck me funny was the library cost overruns. I thought we had dealt with that before, clear back when Aaron was here, so I was kind of wondering why this has come up again. [15:43] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: It was discussed at that point, and that was included in the memo that Aaron had put together previously on some of the general fund reserve uses, but it had never actually taken place. So we've just carried that forward until now when we're actually implementing it and kind of included it in this. So it's not in addition to that, it's just the same amount. **Council Member Mattson**: The other question I had for you is that on the billing... billing out of Mayo Clinic on the 318 project. That short road out there—have they been billed out for that now so they know where they're at? Do they pay ahead of time or don't they get noticed until they get their tax statements or something? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: They signed an assessment agreement, and in that assessment agreement, it says it will go on their property taxes beginning in 2015. They do have the option to pay it ahead if they so choose. [16:29] **Council Member Mattson**: So the last people we had that came to us and didn't realize that—are we sending out statements so they know that now? Or are we still going with the old way where you find out after it's out of your taxes? **Council Member Duncan**: Leroy, I think you're making a mistake versus our 429 process versus a special assessment where the property owners agree in advance. You want to keep those two... **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: I think Leroy knows what I mean there. But these are definitely—Councilmember Duncan's right—that these are definitely different situations where these are specific agreements that they entered into with the city rather than going through the 429 process. **Council Member Mattson**: Right, but also we can notify them more... **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Certainly, that's right. And I think we should do that from now on. [17:15] **Council Member Mattson**: My thing is, if we do this now and we get the money back from them, say in February or March or April whenever the taxes are due and they pay them—where does that money go? Does it go back in the general fund? As long as we aren't bonding for this, where do we go with that money when it comes back? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: When it comes back, it will go into the general fund, but we don't have a guarantee that we're going to get that lump sum payment in one time. They have that option; it would actually have to be paid by the end of this year if they want to do that. Otherwise, it will be spread out over, I believe it's ten years. They can prepay it in full at any time after it's assessed, but we haven't received any word from them that that's what they're going to do, so it could be over a ten-year period. So until we get any notification, we have to assume it's going to go out over ten years. **Council Member Mattson**: Okay. So we're still better off to go this way if it's going to be that way? If it's going to be paid over ten years, we're still better off to go this way versus just bonding for it and making the payments on it? Okay. [18:47] **Mayor Robinson**: Just a clarification: Normally when we do projects that involve water or sewer, we generally apportion a percentage based on what was needed. In this case, regarding Leroy's concern about the water fund reserves, that was apportioned because of the water main work that we did. There wasn't any sewer involved in that? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: That's correct. And when this was done, I believe the council actually approved the full amount being paid from the water, and so we're actually reducing the amount from the water. **Mayor Robinson**: Right. I know when we talked about this with our financial advisor, we did look at those numbers and we did feel comfortable with them at that time. **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Yeah, because I believe we were talking like 80-some thousand or something like that back a while. [19:34] **Council Member Mattson**: And when we go once we go with this, what will be our reserve balance? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: If we implement everything that's on here, it will be about fifty percent of the amount that was in the general fund reserves as of December 31st, 2013. Because you have to take a date and use that as a snapshot because that's a fluid number that changes. **Council Member Mattson**: Do we know what that amount is? What it'll leave? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: That's the amount it will leave, yes. **Council Member Mattson**: As of that date? Today, I mean, will it... I mean, that's how much we'll have left, or is that how much we're gonna take it from? You got me confused here. [20:19] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: I mean, I'm confused by your question. **Council Member Mattson**: Well, I mean, what is our general fund reserve right now? I mean, do we know? How can we build a budget if we don't know? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Well, as of right now... I mean, I'm not getting any numbers from anybody except for this. I'm not... you know, all I'm getting is our percentage. I want to know numbers. **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: December 31st, 2013, our unassigned general fund balance was 1.9 million dollars. **Council Member Mattson**: Okay, that's what I want to know. Yep. **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: The 2014 budget was 2.9 million dollars, so that left us with sixty-six percent in our general fund reserves. In order to spend that down to fifty percent, we have to spend about four hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars. [21:11] **Council Member Mattson**: Okay. That answered my question. **Mayor Robinson**: Any other discussion? Back to the discussion on using the water reserve funds—that was really what I understood of the direction from council at our meetings where we talked about this; that you most certainly didn't want to bond for it, didn't want to issue debt for that project, and then that the water portion of it would be paid for by water fund reserves. My understanding was that's what it was. **Council Member Mattson**: Who would want to bond for it and go into any further debt for it? Well, my thing is, hopefully a budget comes back around zero again. The worst scenario is, rather than raising the levy, I would rather even lower the general fund another percent or two and put that money back in here if it was a concern of ours. That's the only point I'm trying to make about that. Thank you. [22:45] **Mayor Robinson**: If there's no further discussion, the chair will take a motion to approve the financing plan to cover the library costs, 318 Street project, Second Street Southwest street project, Second Street Southwest water main project, the Third Street improvement project, the River Road improvement feasibility study, and the West Side improvement project feasibility study by utilizing general fund reserves of approximately 388,000, from the desertification of tax district number 201 of two hundred twenty thousand dollars, and a transfer of the 2013 Eastside bond issue construction fund of 130,000, and water fund reserves of 62,000. **Council Member McCusker**: I'll make that motion. **Council Member Holst**: Second. **Mayor Robinson**: Motion by Bill, second by Ron. All those in favor, aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That moves on to Item 8, which is Reports. Tony? [23:32] **Tony Haan (Streets and Parks Supervisor)**: Well, as you know, winter's here now, whether we like it or not. But as far as a skating rink, if you get the question posed to you: we're not there yet. We're not to the point where the ground's cold enough. I was getting calls the first day it got to be 32 degrees, but we don't want to make the structure and then just lose it again. It's quite time-consuming to get it, and I just don't want to do it. In a good year, we're probably there by mid-December or early December at the earliest, but we're not there yet. So I just wanted to let you know. Any questions on it? [24:17] **Justin Padgett (Library Director)**: Just a couple of things. Our water leak problem at the library has been solved once again, so we look forward to seeing the results of that spray. And two programs to highlight at the library: one including Mayor Robinson reading *The Night Before Christmas* next Saturday at 2 PM to the children of Cannon Falls. And a larger project that the library and the Cannon Falls Arts Board have been working on—in 2015 we're going to issue, or we've already started, a community artists challenge. It will be based on the seasons in Cannon Falls, and people are encouraged to express their artistic values in different mediums throughout the year. We have more information on this at the library, but what we're hoping to do is encourage local artists to express their talent and show off their talent to the community. It will be a contest and the winning artwork will be permanently displayed at the library. **Mayor Robinson**: Justin, did you get any input from the folks at Art.org? He's part of the Arts Board... Dave? **Justin Padgett (Library Director)**: Dave Machacek? Yeah. [25:51] **Jeff McCormick (Police Chief)**: A couple of things I wanted to update the council and residents about. This last Monday and then two Mondays ago, I spent part of the day with Goodhue and Dakota County, as well as state and some federal agencies, going through some "bills be damned" tabletop exercises, and then this last week a practical exercise. The good news is that we're practicing how we would handle should a disaster impact the dam. More importantly, it gets all of the different agencies together so we establish those connections and those relationships before anything happens and we're prepared for it. But it also helps us in other ways. If you recall when we had the presidential visit, having these same relationships made it very easy to reach out and get the support and assistance we needed. So if we have some other type of disaster, whether it's water-related, a tornado, whatever, these same relationships all will be connections that we can use in times of an emergency. So I just want to let you guys know that we're constantly working on that, staying up to date on what's going on. I know that with the project that they completed this spring, they're talking about next spring doing a dam open house for public officials and that type of stuff. As it comes up, I will make sure that the council is informed. I'll let the City Administrator know and he can update you guys to see if you're interested. Second, as the Mayor alluded to, it's getting cold. Before we know it, we'll be into the holiday seasons, but rapidly approaching is Thanksgiving, followed by Deck the Falls on Saturday the 29th. So I just want to remind people that this year so far they have over 20 units. They're working on all the details. I'll be talking with Pat next week to firm everything up, but there will be some delays in traffic along County Road 20 and Highway 20 as we work the Deck the Falls parade detail around to the city parking lot. Just ask people to be patient. We usually are pretty good about providing workaround routes for them, but I just want to make sure everybody's aware. It's always a good parade—not nearly as long as the Fourth because it's chilly outside, but it's very good. That's all I have. [28:56] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: I would like to do a belated introduction. Mike Guthrie is our Interim Ambulance Director and has been serving in that capacity for five years now, it seems like. Mike has been doing a really nice job, so we can welcome Mike aboard. We'll have him on board for a little while yet. Regarding the Director search, we're receiving applications and we're hoping to interview perhaps the week of December 8th. We've got to firm up a date for that. That's all I have. **Mayor Robinson**: Any other reports? **Council Member Mattson**: I went to the Southern Minnesota initiative foundation down at Treasure Island last weekend. I went there because I guess I felt as I was on the council and I get the invitation, I had to do it. But I went there and I thought I would see some more Cannon Falls people there. It was a good meeting; all the different towns in Goodhue County were there. The one thing I was disappointed about is that it was a hundred-thousand-dollar giveaway that day, and you could petition them that day for all the things that were going on. I did enjoy the fact that I met different EDA directors and stuff from different towns and listened to the concerns of other people. They petitioned for what they needed money for and all the other little towns; it was basically kind of the same things that we had. But I thought about our projects that we have going: the Merle project, the post office someday, the trail connections when they eventually get the bridge crossing done out there. I think about the police transfer station that we need. I think about homeless shelters that I have concerns about. I think about the drop-off road we'd like to put in that maybe someday will help with canoe launching and for Welch Village to make it safer. So I thought about all the places that if we had people from our departments there—whether it's the library or Historical Society or the Police Department—it would have been nice to have somebody there because Leroy is not a good petitioner and smooth person. So next year, I'd highly recommend that we try to get somebody from the city to go to that thing. I've already gotten the information on the one for next year, so I think it's a good way to get grant money and it's good to look into it. I just wanted to bring that up. The other thing for Ron [Public Works]: the person for that old Saratoga out there stopped me at the end of the day here and said that the road that goes from the cul-de-sac to the old 24 did not get plowed at the last snow. I said I will pass that on, but I said it could be County, it could be Township, and maybe things haven't worked out right, but I said I'll pass that on. He also asked me if there was any lighting going in the back service road—the new road that they put in. He said it's really dark back there with no street lighting, and I said I will pass both of them on to Ron and they'll look into it. So that covers what I got. [32:07] **Council Member Schlapkohl**: I just want to say I went to the high school and the elementary school on Veterans Day and spoke there on both days. I felt the students were very attentive and enjoyed the program. I just want to say thanks to the schools for inviting us to do that, because veterans sacrificed a lot so that we can live free. **Mayor Robinson**: With that, the chair will take a motion to adjourn. **Council Member McCusker**: So moved. **Council Member Holst**: Second. [33:07] **Mayor Robinson**: Meeting adjourned.