This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context of the Cottage Grove City Council and the phonetic transcript provided. *Note: In the transcript, "Council bada" and "Councilmember kada" refer to Councilmember Tony Khambata. Additionally, although the provided list mentions Nate Carlson as Economic Development Director, the speaker identifies herself as Gretchen Larson; therefore, she is labeled accordingly.* *** **[00:00:00] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, good evening. This is the September 4th Cottage Grove City Council meeting, which I'm calling to order. The first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you'd please rise. **[00:00:15] All:** 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. **[00:00:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, will the Clerk please do the roll? **[00:00:33] City Clerk Tammy Anderson:** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:00:35] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Here. **[00:00:36] City Clerk Tammy Anderson:** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:00:37] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Here. **[00:00:38] City Clerk Tammy Anderson:** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:00:39] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Here. **[00:00:40] City Clerk Tammy Anderson:** Councilmember Garza? **[00:00:41] Councilmember Monique Garza:** Here. **[00:00:42] City Clerk Tammy Anderson:** Mayor Bailey? **[00:00:43] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Here. Next on our agenda is Open Forum. This is the opportunity for anybody who wants to speak on something that is not on tonight's agenda. You are welcome to do so. We did have a sign-up sheet out in the entryway and nobody did sign up. I just want to make sure no one got in... oh, I did notice the sign-up sheet. I'm so sorry. Did you want to speak during Open Forum? **[00:01:05] Beth Soder:** I could share something, yeah. **[00:01:07] Mayor Myron Bailey:** If you would like to do that, this is the time to do that. If you want, just go up to the front here and state your name and address for the record and share with us. Have you ever done this? **[00:01:15] Beth Soder:** No. **[00:01:16] Mayor Myron Bailey:** You're okay. Just stay here, right wherever the microphone is so the people can hear you. Yeah, don't worry. **[00:01:21] Beth Soder:** Oh my gosh, guys, now I'm really nervous. Um, first, I just wanted to say how thankful I was. I thought this city did a great job after the storm. **[00:01:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Can I get you to do one thing for me first just so we have you on the record? We just need your name. You want to know who I am? **[00:01:35] Beth Soder:** Yep. My name is Beth Soder and I live off of 84th Street right there on the path of Hamlet Park. They did an amazing job of picking up, and I just have been really, really impressed. We have lived here in Minnesota for the last two and a half years here in Cottage Grove—we used to live in Wisconsin—so I'm really, really enjoying Cottage Grove. So many people have had it so much worse than we did with this storm. The stories we're hearing as people are walking by on that path... our house is just houses and electricity and stuff. I have a small problem, but I kind of feel like it's really a big problem that maybe we could address as a community. We live right on the path, and along our side yard, we have wires that are community wires. We don't use most of those system services that are running past my house. A big tree of ours went down; it snapped the electrical. They came out and fixed that, but when we cut the tree—because it's our tree—those three wires bounced back up. They didn't break, and we still have internet service, which the internet people were really surprised about. Well, our problem is they're only so high off the ground, but my biggest problem is I have now devoted four and a half hours to trying to find out who those wires belong to. When I called the city, they said, "Oh, that's my responsibility." I'm like, "But where do I begin?" Who services Cottage Grove? As a person living next to these, I have no idea who owns those wires, and that was my job to figure that out. The only way I've been able to piece some of it together—and I'm not even done—was from the gentlemen that have come out to fix things. Xfinity has been out and obviously the electric company, otherwise people wouldn't have power. But I still have two cables that now when I walk through my yard will take me out. I don't know who those are, and I'm left to figure out who those belong to. I have kind of pieced together what these gentlemen have said, but I have spent four hours on hold or with people online trying to track down who belongs to these wires. **[00:03:50] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so I'll just say, that sounds so frustrating. **[00:03:53] Beth Soder:** Yeah, it is. I mean, when they told me it was my responsibility... **[00:03:55] Mayor Myron Bailey:** I think we'll be able to help you with that. I'm going to turn it over real quick to our City Administrator, Jennifer Levitt, because you're not the first one that we've had these conversations with. **[00:04:05] Beth Soder:** Oh good! So it's on your list and it's happening. That's what I wanted to make sure of. **[00:04:10] Jennifer Levitt:** What's your exact address? **[00:04:11] Beth Soder:** Um, I live at 7119 84th Street South. **[00:04:13] Mayor Myron Bailey:** I know right where you are. Yeah, it's right where the path ends right by the bridge. **[00:04:18] Beth Soder:** Yeah. And like I said, I've been on hold today. I got transferred from a company I thought maybe was them to an insurance company after I waited 55 minutes, and then we got through all theirs after another 20 minutes. It was an insurance company because they thought I wanted to file an insurance claim. No. So anyways, I just thought it might help other people. We have wires everywhere. **[00:04:38] Mayor Myron Bailey:** I’m glad you came. I'm going to let our Administrator speak. Thank you for letting us know, and then we have your info obviously now so we can work with you on that. So, Jennifer? **[00:04:48] Jennifer Levitt:** Well, Mayor, members of the Council, we appreciate the resident bringing that to our attention. Those private utilities are sometimes a difficult thing to sort out, and so we would be happy to look into that with our private utility contacts to see if we can find the entity responsible for those. When the residents do have those challenges, sometimes if you have a provider, it's easy to look at a bill and know who it is; in this case, it's clearly not directly related to that. So we will hunt down that private utility and get that addressed. If other residents have those issues, it's helpful for us to know where they're at specifically so we can work with the private utilities. **[00:05:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Jennifer, just for that, do you want them to call—and I'm looking back at Ryan—do you want them to call Public Works or do you want them to call City Hall? **[00:05:38] Jennifer Levitt:** Public Works. **[00:05:39] Beth Soder:** Okay, that's where I started. **[00:05:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Okay, so we'll help with that then going forward. You know, not everybody knows. All right, I appreciate you guys. **[00:05:46] Beth Soder:** Not a problem, thank you. **[00:05:47] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Thanks for bringing it forward and rest assured you're not the only one. We've heard from several after this storm. Anybody else at this point? All right, I'll go ahead and close Open Forum and I'll move to number five, which is adoption of the agenda. **[00:06:05] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Move the agenda. **[00:06:06] Councilmember Monique Garza:** Second. **[00:06:07] Mayor Myron Bailey:** You guys like tied! Motion by Councilmember Thiede, second by Councilmember Garza. All those in favor signify by saying aye. **[00:06:15] All:** Aye. **[00:06:16] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Next is presentations. We do have two this evening. I believe one is on the screen in front of us and I did ask Councilmember Thiede if he would like to read the Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month, and then we'll look for a motion and a second to approve. So, Councilmember Thiede, go ahead and you can read the Proclamation. **[00:06:35] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** All right. Whereas, the United States of America is a nation built by the contributions of people from diverse backgrounds, and the Hispanic community has played a vital role in shaping our country's history, culture, and achievements; and whereas, that Hispanic community has had a profound influence on our country through the strong commitment to family, faith, hard work, and service, and they have enhanced and shaped our national heritage with centuries-old traditions that reflect the multiethnic and multicultural customs of their community; and whereas, the period from September 15th to October 15th is designated as National Hispanic Heritage Month to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America; and whereas, this month-long celebration begins on September 15th, a significant date that marks the independence anniversaries of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and includes Mexico's Independence Day on September 16th and Chile's Independence Day on September 18th; and whereas, we recognize and honor the many ways that Hispanics have enriched the fabric of our society while also rededicating ourselves to address the lack of equal access to opportunity that many still face; and whereas, the City of Cottage Grove is proud to honor the history and contributions of Hispanics in our community and throughout our state and our nation; now, therefore, the Mayor and City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, State of Minnesota, hereby proclaimed September 15th through October 15, 2024, as Hispanic Heritage Month. Passed this fourth day of September 2024. **[00:08:45] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so thank you Councilmember Thiede for reading the Proclamation. At this point, would you like to make that motion? **[00:08:52] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** I will move that we make that motion that this September 15th through October 15th, 2024, is Hispanic Heritage Month. **[00:09:00] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Thiede. Do I have a second? **[00:09:03] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Second. **[00:09:04] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Olsen. All those in favor signify by saying aye. **[00:09:07] All:** Aye. **[00:09:08] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you everyone and thank you Councilmember Thiede. Next on presentations, we have an exciting event that's going to be... well, actually two exciting events on the same day that are coming up, which is the Cottage Grove Food Truck Festival and the Dowdle... and we're getting an update. I believe we're going to start with Gretchen Larson, who is our Economic Development Director, who is going to talk to us a little bit about the Dowdle puzzle update. **[00:09:35] Gretchen Larson:** Thank you, Mayor and Council. Happy to be here tonight. Where am I at... there’s my bar. The space bar helps. So we're going to talk just a little bit about the Dowdle unveil and then I'm going to turn it over to my colleague, Jamie Mann, and she's going to tell you about the Food Truck Festival, and then staff will stand by for questions at the end. The Dowdle unveiling event is going to take place on September the 14th, which is a Saturday, at Cottage Grove Middle School. The doors are going to open at 8:00 a.m. to the special guests who will be speaking in the program and the media. Then the doors will open to all the guests at 8:30 a.m. and the attendees will be welcomed by the Park High School marching band, and then the Park High School choir will sing the national anthem. We have some copies on the screen of the marketing efforts that are behind the unveiling. Next, the puzzles that are a part of the program will be for sale at Cottage Grove Middle School until about 11:00 a.m. So the program will end around 10ish or 10:15, and then puzzles will be for sale in the lobby. We have 500-piece puzzles at $28 and 1,000-piece puzzles at $30, and that includes tax. So that's the price for the puzzles. After the unveiling, the artist Eric Dowdle will proceed to the Food Truck Festival. As a part of the marketing efforts, the communications team had a children's coloring contest and that insert was, as you can see on the screen, put in the August Cottage Grove reports. As of today, which was the deadline, we actually have 57 entries! So it was super cute to see all the little kids coming in holding their pictures. And then Eric will present the top five finalists with a City Medallion; that'll be on the stage at the Food Truck Festival at 12:00 noon. As another part of the marketing effort, there's going to be a 7-foot tall coloring activity of the actual black and white rendering of the painting. It's a fun interactive activity for the Food Truck Festival attendees and a way to just draw more people to the booth potentially while Eric is still there. And with that, I will turn it over to Jamie. **[00:11:55] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, thank you. Welcome, Jamie. **[00:11:58] Jamie Mann:** Hello Mayor, members of Council. I am pleased to be here tonight to present information on our second annual Discover Cottage Grove Food Truck Festival. The event this year takes place again at Kingston Park. It is Saturday, September 14th; it runs 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. We did add an extra hour onto the end of the event time because we heard from vendors last year that we missed an hour of dinner rush time, so we accommodated their request this year. This year we have a lot of familiar things happening and then a couple of new things that we've added as well, including the Dowdle puzzle sales. Starting with food trucks, our goal this year is 40 food trucks. Right now I have 35 confirmed food trucks, that means their payment is in and all their paperwork is done. I have five that are at some point in the paperwork process, so we have hit our 40. Depending on spacing, I do have six on a waitlist as well, so we may be able to add just a few more food trucks to the list, but we will have a full house of food trucks this year. You can see everybody coming on the screen; they're also updated on our Facebook event. This year we also pushed sponsorships a great deal more than last year. We do have 11 total sponsors this year which is fantastic. The sponsorships help cover some of the cost of the event like the bounce houses and the porta-potties and the tents and Facebook advertising and things like that. New this year, we are adding a marketplace. Our goal was 10 vendors because we weren't quite sure how much interest we'd have; right now we are at 10 but those are just confirmed. We have another four in the process. Also this year we have some great entertainment. We have kids' activities—a couple of bounce houses staffed by Recreation staff. Strawberry Fest ambassadors are going to be there again from 11:00 to 4:00 hosting carnival games. We also have some great live music: Basic and Boring is opening the day for us. When they take a break at noon, Eric Dowdle will be up on stage for the coloring contest finalists. Then Liv McNair will come on at 3:30 and open for Haley James. We also have the beer gardens; the Cottage Grove Lions Club is hosting the beer gardens again this year. We are able to extend our beer gardens out into the grass a little bit; the Parks team is going to snow fence off a larger area so people can take their beer into the grass and listen to the music. Discover Cottage Grove will have a booth staffed from 10:30 to 7:00 p.m. On the screen, you can see the shirts that our volunteers will be wearing. Come join our booth, visit us, and talk to people as they come up. We'd like to invite you to stop by. And with that, I would be happy to stand for any questions. **[00:15:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Well, first of all, I'll just say in both cases it's kind of cool. We're going to start off with this unveiling, and you had a little teaser on the side there on the one poster that shows what the puzzle looks like and all the history of Cottage Grove, which is pretty amazing. The connections to the community go way back. The Council and staff have been having a great time figuring out what should be in the puzzle. He did an amazing job. And of course, the Food Truck Festival—amazing job, up to 40 food trucks. Last year there were long lines and it was a gorgeous day, so we'll keep our fingers crossed on that. This is almost like a Strawberry Festival one-day event. I would just tell the public: come and enjoy, check out the puzzle, buy a puzzle—great gifts!—and then go over to check out all the food trucks and vendors and music. Grab a drink if you want at the Lions beer garden. Looking forward to this amazing event. Council, any comments? **[00:17:00] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Thank you, Mayor. Really, all I want to say to Gretchen and Jamie and the team behind them is a hearty thank you. I don't think the public really knows how much time, energy, and effort have gone into coordinating these events. The Dowdle puzzle event in and of itself is a really big event, and then to find a combination with the Food Truck Festival and create that synergy—that was a heavy lift. It's not like you have a thousand people around you to help you out. I just want to thank you. I know from back here how much you all have been working on this for months. Jamie has been absolutely the tip of the spear on the Food Truck Festival. I'll look to my colleague, Councilmember Thiede, to make sure we get a good weather prediction like he does for Strawberry Fest. **[00:18:10] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** You're allowed once in a while! It's okay. **[00:18:13] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** But we really hope we have a good weather day. Our Cottage Grove Lions Club, of which I'm the president, is so proud to be associated with it. I was at the One Family Festival over the weekend at Kingston Park—Councilmember Garza and Councilmember Khambata were there as well—and they had 28 food trucks and it looked big. So 40? Wow, that is going to be just unbelievable. I hope people come in droves and come hungry. Thank you very much for all that you've done. **[00:18:45] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Fantastic. Any other comments? **[00:18:48] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Just out of curiosity, I don't know if I saw anything in terms of parking. Are we still going to promote the school lots and the north lot? **[00:19:00] Jamie Mann:** Mayor, members of Council, we're actually blocking off the north parking lot for vendors and volunteers this year, so it will be closed similar to Strawberry Festival. We will have the streets and additional handicap parking in the west lot so that those needing accessible access can have that, and then we do have the elementary school parking lot as well. **[00:19:20] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** All right, good. Thank you. **[00:19:22] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Awesome. Looking forward to that. You're talking about all those food trucks, I'm really hungry right now! All right, next on our agenda is Consent. Council, is there anything that you would like to pull off Consent for discussion? **[00:19:40] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I move Consent. **[00:19:42] Councilmember Monique Garza:** Second. **[00:19:43] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Motion to move Consent by Councilmember Olsen, second by Councilmember Garza. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. **[00:19:50] All:** Aye. **[00:19:51] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. All of those items have been approved. Next is eight, which is approved disbursement—paying the bills. **[00:20:00] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I move to approve disbursements. **[00:20:02] Councilmember Monique Garza:** Second. **[00:20:03] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Motion by Councilmember Khambata, second by Councilmember Garza. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. **[00:20:10] All:** Aye. **[00:20:11] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Public hearings, there are none this evening. Bid awards, there are none. On our regular agenda, we have one item: adopting the preliminary property tax levy. Brenda Malinowski, our Finance Director, is going to walk us through this. I'll just say for the public, we've been doing this since April... **[00:20:30] Brenda Malinowski:** Technically January, but yes! Mayor and City Council, we have been working on our budget and the preliminary property tax levy in front of you this evening. We started in January. On the screen is that calendar. Quarter two, Council gave direction to City staff. My thanks to City Council and all the hard work you have done throughout the year, and thank you to our department directors and all the staff behind the scenes. Quarter three, we did three budget workshops—two in July, one just last week—where you looked at every budget request, the impacts to the property tax levy, and the needs of our community. Tonight, we are asking you to consider adoption of the preliminary property tax levy. It doesn't stop tonight, though. We will certify that to the county and continue through the process until we come back in December for final adoption. Your action tonight is to set your maximum levy. We cannot increase the amount of the property tax levy that you adopt tonight when we come back in December. You can come in lower in December, but you can't increase it. Accomplishments we've been able to achieve include continuing to provide exceptional city services—police, fire, public works, snow plowing, forestry, and recreation. We are demonstrating stewardship of capital assets and replacing equipment. We are providing managed growth in staffing positions. Debt service requirements are also met; we hold that AAA bond rating with S&P Global. And for the first time in the history of Cottage Grove, we are doing an HRA levy as a separate line for transparency. Regarding property tax levy details: our General Fund levy (police, fire, public works) is our chief operating budget. We also have an equipment levy, a municipal building levy, and the EDA/HRA levy. In total, the city property tax levy we're asking for tonight is $25,999,500, an increase of 12.39%. For an individual home, our city property tax rate for 2025 is looking at 37.213%. For the median home valued at $352,500, they will pay $1,257 in city property taxes for 2025. That’s a dollar increase of about $77. We identified a need for about a $100 tax increase per year in our financial management plan, so $77 is below that. On that median home, if they paid monthly, it would be $104.75. We would allocate that as follows: Public Safety $45.52, Public Works $14.73, General Government $13.65, Parks and Rec $10.90, Community Development $0.46 (they use building permits for revenue), Debt Service $15.49, Capital Equipment $1.29, HRA/EDA $1.56, and budget contingency $1.06. Compared to other communities in Washington County, in 2024 we were second lowest. We feel we will compare favorably once again in 2025. With that, I will take any questions. **[00:26:50] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Thank you, Brenda. Council, is there any questions or comments? **[00:26:55] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Thank you, Brenda and staff. I want to compliment the department heads and our City Administrator. This budget is well-balanced. I want to just talk for a minute about the storm that just happened. We had a Tuesday storm and then a Thursday storm. That Thursday storm was a humdinger. When I think about a budget, I think about values. Property owners deserve a community that is staffed appropriately with the right equipment and training. I've heard so many compliments from residents about how fast we responded. None of that happens unless you plan for it. That's how we budget here; we plan to make sure we are good guardians of the public trust. We've stuck to the financial management plan. The $77 versus the $100 estimate is one of the reasons we're a AAA bond-rated city. Cities of our size generally are not that, but we are because we have a plan and we stick to it. You never want to skimp on those core functions of government. Wonderful job this year. **[00:29:15] Councilmember Monique Garza:** I just want to say thank you to all of our staff. I appreciate the explanation of how all the pieces of the pie work together. Our city works really hard to make sure we have a beautiful place to live in. Thank you all so much. **[00:29:45] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** I'll go ahead and say something. Everybody loves me at budget time because my dad raised me to be pretty frugal! Sometimes trying to keep those services up and the cost down is a challenge. I would like to commend the employees, especially the management. If you ever sat in on some of the budget meetings, we have some pretty good discussions, but everybody works together. We should maybe send some of our videos to the state or federal level to show people how to work together even with differing opinions. We really do have a nice community. We took a fine-tooth comb through it and tried to control it as much as possible. As Councilmember Olsen said, the AAA bond rating is very important for debt costs. It’s that steady sign that we are managing things. Brenda and her team do a fantastic job. **[00:31:10] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I want to commend our different department heads on bringing forth the list of things they could do without. I know it's hard for them to choose their "baby," but that's part of our process—figuring out what we can postpone or prolong to make the budget work. There's been some sacrifices. Thank you to all our staff. **[00:31:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Thank you Brenda, Jennifer, and everyone. We maintain a standard of service that our residents have come to enjoy. We could look at things to reduce the cost, but then maybe we don't plow as quickly. When we talk to staff, we know we're known for these things—that streets are plowed or someone is there when you call 911. Thank you for letting us continue to be one of the best cities in Minnesota. Council, do we have a motion? **[00:32:30] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I'd like to adopt Resolution 2024-106, adopting the proposed preliminary 2024 property tax levy collectible in 2025 in the amount of $25,999,500. **[00:32:45] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Second. **[00:32:46] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Motion by Councilmember Khambata, second by Councilmember Olsen. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. **[00:32:53] All:** Aye. **[00:32:54] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all. Now we are down to Council comments and requests. Councilmember Khambata? **[00:33:05] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I already touched on this, but in the aftermath of last week's storms, I have to give a sincere job well done to our fire, Public Safety, and especially Public Works crews for clearing trees and making sure EMS could get where they needed to go. Most importantly, no serious injuries. **[00:33:30] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I will wait for the Mayor's statement regarding the storm, but I don't think we can say thank you enough. I also wanted to mention the One Family Festival at Kingston Park. It was packed—I had to park in a friend's driveway! It was a wonderful event and felt very "Strawberry Fest-like." Kudos to John Yang for organizing and Zach and his team for keeping the park in pristine condition. We heard compliments about what a beautiful park it was. Our population of people of color in Cottage Grove has virtually doubled—we're well over 20% now. Featuring events like this shows we are a welcoming community. I also want to thank teachers and staff for "Back to School." Grateful for everyone who made it a great day for the kids. **[00:35:10] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** I was just going to mention school is back in session. Everybody be careful out there on the roads and drive with sanity! **[00:35:25] Councilmember Monique Garza:** I wanted to piggyback on the One Family Festival. The organizer is not even a resident of Cottage Grove! He visited our park and thought it was so beautiful that they chose it as the ideal space. I do want to add that I ate more than Justin and Tony combined and didn't gain a pound, which was frustrating for them! I'm looking forward to the food trucks on the 14th. **[00:36:15] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, I have a few things. First, a statement of appreciation regarding the storm. Last Thursday, Cottage Grove experienced a significant downburst with widespread damage—numerous trees snapped, roads blocked, and power lines down. Over 12 homes were damaged. Thankfully, no deaths or injuries occurred. Our Public Safety and Public Works departments quickly became overwhelmed, so we activated our Emergency Operations Center (EOC). I want to thank the agencies that responded: Washington County Sheriff's Office, Woodbury police and fire, Newport, St. Paul Park, and Lake Elmo fire departments. Public Works is also receiving assistance from Burnsville, Eagan, Newport, and West St. Paul. We cannot overlook the importance of people helping people. Heartfelt thank you to all the citizens out in their neighborhoods helping each other. On a separate note, when Ryan called me about the damage, I went over there and was blown away. I saw a home where a tree went through the house—if that elderly couple had been home, they might not be with us. Many of our employees were trapped in their own neighborhoods and had to walk to locations to get to Public Works vehicles. Seeing the EOC in action was amazing; you guys have practiced this and it showed. One more thing: we had a closed workshop check-in with our City Administrator Jennifer Levitt. It was a very good performance review. Since we don't have a second meeting in September, I have three announcements: 1. Open house on Tuesday, September 24th at the Middle School (4-6 PM) regarding the 80th Street and Keats Avenue roundabout. 2. Public Safety Open House on September 16th at the HERO Center—it's free and open to the public. 3. Public Safety Board Golf Tournament on Friday, September 20th at River Oaks. Proceeds go to supporting K-9s, vests, and fire apparatus. With that, we do not have a workshop this evening. We are down to 15: motion to adjourn. **[00:41:00] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Motion to adjourn. **[00:41:02] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Second. **[00:41:03] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Motion by Councilmember Thiede, second by Councilmember Khambata. All those in favor signify by saying aye. **[00:41:08] All:** Aye. **[00:41:09] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? We are adjourned.