[0:02] Mayor Wayne Boucher: 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 roll call please [0:13] Alissa McClure: counselor peterson [0:15] Councilor Joe Peterson: here [0:16] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [0:17] Councilor John Geissler: here [0:18] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [0:20] Councilor Andy Hjelle: here [0:21] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [0:23] Councilor Gloria Nelson: here [0:24] Alissa McClure: mayor boucher [0:26] Mayor Wayne Boucher: uh we've decided to procedurally move number four announcements to the end of the meeting to allow a quicker facilitation of the meeting we have no public hearings tonight mr mulder [0:48] John Mulder: correspondents you just have two items on there the first is the wastewater treatment year-end adjustments we had talked about that previously uh last year when we um saw the correspondence from wlsd regarding the 2022 charges so i just wanted to include as a follow-up include that for your information and then the second one is just a list for your information of um some of the discussions that we've had with st louis county for road projects from 2022 to 2025 and on that list we included some of those projects that are just outside the city limits that may impact us as well [1:27] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you um presentations did we have something for mr johnson tonight [1:30] John Mulder: no we do not okay [1:33] Mayor Wayne Boucher: i know department head presentations this is a time for public discussion any member of the public can talk to us about any item and we ask that it not be the ones on the agenda there will be time for discussion of those items when they're presented if anyone has anything they'd like to discuss we now have public discussion for any item not on the agenda if anyone wishes to discuss anything please state your name and address for the record discuss anything with the council that is not on the agenda [2:18] Mayor Wayne Boucher: hearing none we will move on to the consent agenda do we have a motion [2:21] Councilor Andy Hjelle: so moved [2:22] Councilor John Geissler: second [2:23] Mayor Wayne Boucher: motion by councillor hjelle second by counselor geisler roll call please [2:27] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [2:28] Councilor John Geissler: hi [2:29] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [2:31] Councilor Andy Hjelle: aye [2:32] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [2:33] Councilor Gloria Nelson: hi [2:34] Alissa McClure: councillor peterson [2:35] Councilor Joe Peterson: aye [2:36] Alissa McClure: mayor boucher [2:38] Mayor Wayne Boucher: hi under ordinances ordinance 2022-02 an ordinance of the city of hermantown minnesota amending the city code section 210 council to increase the salaries of the mayor and council members this is the first reading but we do have an amendment to this mr mulder [3:05] John Mulder: i um per our discussion at the pre-agenda meeting the we would like to see the council make a recommendation that says or a motion excuse me it says that the monthly compensation would not change but the reimbursement for phone and internet would be changed to and i thought you had said it was 75 so you should make that motion [3:22] Mayor Wayne Boucher: is that made now or at the second reading [3:25] John Mulder: i thought we talked about it doing it now so that then therefore when the second reading that way you've set the intent of here's the first reading and now we're going to have a second reading in two weeks [3:37] Mayor Wayne Boucher: okay so does someone have a motion [3:40] Councilor Andy Hjelle: i will i'll motion that we do not change the competent monthly compensation for counselors but that we increase the technology reimbursement to 75 dollars that you hear well let's see [4:00] Mayor Wayne Boucher: we have a motion by counselor hjelle who got the second [4:05] Councilor Gloria Nelson: give it to gloria nelson [4:08] Mayor Wayne Boucher: do we need a roll call or a voice vote on this mystery [4:12] John Mulder: yeah we better have a roll call [4:14] Mayor Wayne Boucher: yeah typically this council uses royal call let's let's do a roll call let's make it official [4:17] Alissa McClure: councillor peterson [4:18] Councilor Joe Peterson: hi [4:19] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [4:21] Councilor John Geissler: aye [4:22] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [4:23] Councilor Gloria Nelson: aye [4:25] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [4:27] Councilor Andy Hjelle: aye [4:28] Alissa McClure: mayor boucher [4:30] Mayor Wayne Boucher: aye resolution resolution 2022-29 resolution approving request for proposals for consulting engineer for the preparation of a water distribution evaluation and modeling report to have a motion [4:45] Councilor John Geissler: a motion to approve [4:47] Councilor Joe Peterson: second [4:48] Mayor Wayne Boucher: motion by councillor geisler second by councillor peterson mr mulder [4:51] John Mulder: so this um i suppose i can let david talk to this um basically what we're looking for is an engineer to take a look at our system in terms of you know where we might see uh growth and additional pressures on it and what a new model might look like um going forward [5:24] David Ley (Northland Consulting Engineers): yeah so kind of just recapping what we said at the pre-agenda um what we're doing here is it's been over 20 years since we've modeled the existing water main system so i thought it would be a good idea to get a new baseline and project any improvements that we need to make on the the system like um upgrading pumps extending water mains or increasing our capacity in a water tower so um and we're looking to hire a consultant to do that for us [6:02] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you any questions or comments from council hearing none is there any public input on resolution 2022-29 if so please state your name and address for the record is there any public input on the resolution a request for proposals for a consulting engineer for evaluation of the water system and modeling hearing non-roll call please [6:25] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [6:26] Councilor Gloria Nelson: hi [6:27] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [6:29] Councilor Andy Hjelle: aye [6:30] Alissa McClure: councillor peterson [6:32] Councilor Joe Peterson: aye [6:33] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [6:34] Councilor John Geissler: aye [6:35] Alissa McClure: mayor boucher [6:37] Mayor Wayne Boucher: aye resolution 2022-30 resolution approving an amendment to the city handbook regarding a sewer availability policy do we have a motion [6:52] Councilor John Geissler: motion to table [6:54] Councilor Gloria Nelson: second [6:55] Mayor Wayne Boucher: motion by cultural geisler table second by councillor nelson all in favor [6:58] Council Members: aye aye aye [6:59] Mayor Wayne Boucher: opposed same sign this motion will be revisited our next scheduled meeting resolution 2022-31 resolution approving request for proposals for construction manager at risk for the hermanton recreation initiative arena i will motion to approve based on the changes that were noted and will be made to the rfp in which mr mulder will also send an updated rfp to the council for final review just to keep us on timeline thank you have a second [7:37] Councilor Joe Peterson: second [7:43] Mayor Wayne Boucher: motion by councilor peterson second by call sir hjelle mr mulder [7:52] John Mulder: so this again is an rp for um the the arena project um and we've added a number of items to kind of do a better description of phase one um and what our expectations are we just made a couple of other changes relative to phase two in terms of when we're getting see cost proposals um and and referencing the exhibit of the floor plan [8:25] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you do we have any comments from council [8:26] Councilor Joe Peterson: i just would like to thank uh john and gunner and steve for putting their efforts into this um it's not easy and i know we're trying to get it moving quickly and john i ask that we start thinking about that selection committee and getting that going as soon as we can and getting some people identified for that so any other [8:46] Councilor Andy Hjelle: i would just say you know i'm glad that we move forward with the rfb process i think this will make it transparent in the decision that the city makes moving forward with a major project like this especially with state dollars involved potentially so i'm just glad that we'll have a citizen committee looking into this and selecting the best developer [9:14] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you anything else i want to point out that this is only one portion of the recreational initiative that an administration discussion has taken place on the design and implementation of the trails portion and that that could probably be handled in-house but that the design and construction of the ball field would be handled in a separate manner at another time mr mulder [9:44] John Mulder: and let's be perfectly clear each one of those areas are important to the community for the purposes of this process the arena is the area where the city needs additional tools outside of the existing city staff if it was just those other two projects we can handle that um with city staff but with the arena we do need some additional help on that it's not to say that it's more important this is that it requires tools and a skill set that we don't have on city staff [10:14] Joe Wicklund: thank you if i may add as well that the community engagement process and communication for fact education points of all three of these projects will still be a part of the overall process um i think we have to define some pieces of that but it is the intention of the city that there will be a very open communication education opportunity stakeholder engagement community process so that the community is understanding the intent of each one of these initiatives is that fair [10:59] John Mulder: yes [11:00] Councilor Andy Hjelle: okay and i'll add if i can uh john had talked about the putting in the rfp the added community meetings and whatnot that certainly is going to be focused with that construction manager to the arena but that probably needs to be a broader meeting of okay contractor construction manager xyz is going to talk about the arena but those other pieces will be joe and eric are going to talk about the other things right [11:32] John Mulder: and yeah i mean so when we have those community meetings it needs to be for the project and not the arena right 100 [11:41] Mayor Wayne Boucher: very very good point any other comments from council is there any public discussion or comment on this resolution if so please your name and address for the record is there any public input or comment on resolution 2022-31 hearing non-roll call please [12:12] Alissa McClure: counselor peterson [12:13] Councilor Joe Peterson: aye [12:14] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [12:15] Councilor John Geissler: bye [12:16] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [12:17] Councilor Gloria Nelson: bye [12:18] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [12:19] Councilor Andy Hjelle: aye [12:20] Alissa McClure: mayor boucher [12:22] Mayor Wayne Boucher: aye resolution 2022-32 a resolution approving preliminary and final plat crystal estates and imposing conditions on the final plat now would be a good time for eric to oh sorry you need a motion [12:35] Councilor John Geissler: i need a motion i'm sorry we're going to go that direction to approve [12:44] Councilor Andy Hjelle: second [12:45] Mayor Wayne Boucher: motion by councillor geisler second by councilors hjelle and peterson mr johnson could you fill us in on this [12:50] Eric Johnson: yes thank you very much councilman mayor boucher this project is the subdivision of a 4.1 acre property into six individual lots if you recall this property had come before council last year in march of 2021 by stephen caskey of a line properties for the construction of three twin homes uh two of these homes uh have now since been built they front on hermantown road uh there'll be a third one that will be constructed later on this spring slash summer off of levake uh so now the applicant the property owner is uh gearing up sell these particular units and thus is creating the plat to uh be able to subdivide that land so the advantage of doing the plat uh after these buildings have been built is we know exactly where these interior walls are to be able to create this create the subdivision of the land accurately [13:40] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you do you have any questions or comments from council [13:42] Councilor John Geissler: what's the sewer availability charge [13:46] Eric Johnson: uh what we did and uh mr bull for mr muller can uh chairman with this too but uh the original property owner had paid for uh one additional hookup at the time of construction and any additional ones were at that point approximately nineteen thousand eight hundred dollars uh what staff did on the second unit on hermantown road is we divided that by two so plus or minus ten thousand dollars for those two units for that unit on levake road uh the applicant is going to be constructing a sanitary sewer and water line extension at his cost and at the end of that he will not have any additional i mean other than our standard hookup fees uh additional assessments availability charges etc because he will be constructing that line for those two particular units and dedicated over to the city [14:48] Councilor John Geissler: if sewer continues they'll just hook on to that what's already for that that line that they're putting in [15:00] Eric Johnson: correct yes that could happen at a future date that's correct it will go to the property line correct you go to the property line yes [15:13] John Mulder: just to be clear about this is that that um availability charge for that second building being split into is consistent with the way we handled project 442 on um levi on the vague for the kilgore properties so we're being consistent there and then there's no availability charge when he's ex when he's building the main same thing bought that property off of the bay and he put in a little chunk of sewer main right there he put in the main and turned it over to us so there was no availability charge to it [15:35] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you any other questions or comments from council is there any public input on resolution 2022-32 if so please state your name and address is there any public input on the resolution approving the preliminary and final plot of crystal estates roll call please [16:11] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [16:12] Councilor John Geissler: bye [16:13] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [16:14] Councilor Gloria Nelson: hi [16:15] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [16:16] Councilor Andy Hjelle: hi [16:17] Alissa McClure: counselor peterson [16:18] Councilor Joe Peterson: aye [16:19] Alissa McClure: mayor boucher [16:21] Mayor Wayne Boucher: aye resolution 2022-33 resolution reestablishing precincts and polling places in the city of hermantown do we have a motion [16:35] Councilor Joe Peterson: motion to approve [16:36] Councilor Gloria Nelson: second [16:38] Mayor Wayne Boucher: motion by culture peterson second by councilor nelson mr mulder [16:43] John Mulder: so we're required to re-establish these precincts now that the redistricting process is over so we won't be changing any of the precincts or the polling places [16:54] Mayor Wayne Boucher: thank you any questions or comments from council hearing none is there any public input on this resolution if so please state your name and address for the record is there any public input on resolution 2022-33 hearing none roll call please [17:15] Alissa McClure: counselor nelson [17:16] Councilor Gloria Nelson: aye [17:17] Alissa McClure: counselor hjelle [17:18] Councilor Andy Hjelle: hi [17:19] Alissa McClure: counselor peterson [17:21] Councilor Joe Peterson: hi [17:22] Alissa McClure: counselor geisler [17:23] Councilor John Geissler: hi [17:24] Mayor Wayne Boucher: and um next we have a motion to recess [17:26] John Mulder: no you're going back to an announcement [17:28] Mayor Wayne Boucher: oh that's right announcements counselors have announcements [17:31] Councilor Andy Hjelle: i would uh like to congratulate our hermentone hawks boys hockey team on a very successful season and a good representation again of our community um and wish them push unlock down at the state hockey tournament i know they have their send off tomorrow um it's always an exciting time and it's always fun to see the community show up down there to support the team so congratulations to them [17:55] Councilor John Geissler: i have some other business um one was uh the uh cul-de-sac issue that we talked about before uh we talked about it a bit uh last meeting and um and then gunner had followed up with some correspondence to us in the form of an email it was on february 22nd and i guess i was just wondering if we should gonna think we should make those changes or uh what are your thoughts [18:18] John Mulder: they're looking towards the council maybe the for direction no just first of all i i assume bouncers don't know what you're talking about because i only sent an email to you [18:29] Councilor John Geissler: oh i was going to say i'm like i don't know oh i just saw okay yeah i'm sorry i'm sorry [18:43] John Mulder: and i think the staff is doing the process of looking back into the records to see if the typo that is in i don't remember which one off but it's a 500 foot one um whether that was a transcription error that would be fixed administratively or something that should be fixed through the legislative process and i don't think the staff has finished that review okay yeah um but then you know it's a question of if the council or the staff feels that that's the appropriate cleanup we can certainly put together an ordinance and do it otherwise you know it's it's been 14 years that that typo has been in there and i'm sure the city will go on if it's in there for another 10. um so it's really how you guys want to handle that [19:40] Councilor Andy Hjelle: can you gunner can you explain what what's what are you talking about what's the ordinance [19:54] Mayor Wayne Boucher: i would actually i'd ask councillor geisler okay [19:57] Councilor John Geissler: development with the dead end street situation the developer had asked for some information which i got i provided and it's there's a typo that a grammatical error it is but it's kind of confusing about so it says this is uh one zero two zero point three zero point one zero dead end streets are prohibited except as stubs to permit future street extensions of when designed as cul-de-sacs so that all maybe should have been as or something i mean that just dropped yeah i'll just drop the words to permit future street extensions when called when design is cul-de-sac so that's what the developer is saying well yeah i can i can put in a cul-de-sac because i've got a there's a right-of-way there that somebody can connect to in the future but then if you go the next section says permanent cul-de-sacs shall not exceed length of 500 feet and above that above that it says dead-end streets are prohibited except as stubs to permit so that's the that's the confusion okay [21:13] John Mulder: and um i think just i think the intent of the council was permit future street extensions when designed as cul-de-sac and left the exceptions up to a case-by-case basis and how those were dealt with and we've seen over the years that those have been dealt with by making other lots available for road outlets when a straight extension wasn't possible we could clean this up by dropping the word of or we can clean it up by being more specific on how things are handled [22:04] Councilor John Geissler: i think if we clean it up that would be what i think because it says it's not permitted but above it says right are not permitted except if permitted for future street expansions but the definition of a future street expansion means that it can't be done at the current time this one can be done if it makes sense yeah i mean when there's wetlands in the way when there's property ownership issues in the way that means future but we may want to clarify ordinance to say that or we may want to change policy do we want to permit these things we want to have cul-de-sacs every time somebody puts something in not worry about the future right i understand the extent of the expectation of this but it just it is i think a little bit confusing [22:42] Mayor Wayne Boucher: i think staff recommendations on what type of languages changes would be necessary to continue current policy and then let the body decide if we want to change current policy [22:56] Councilor John Geissler: i'm good with that you know if if you can recommend with staff's input what type of language changes would continue current policy to clean this up so that it does what it was intended to do then that can come to us and we can decide if we want to change current policy [23:38] John Mulder: that seems very reasonable yeah [24:00] Councilor Andy Hjelle: email i believe to all of us we know we've heard the community from the community and the neighbors on this and i feel like there's a discussion to be had on this based on that language the confusion the developer doesn't want to extend it the neighbors don't want to extend it i understand the points i think he's willing to do a trail outlet on this one and i'm open to discussing that decision [24:25] Mayor Wayne Boucher: well that's that involves changing policy from where we are now and that's something we can discuss when the language yeah comes to us we have a obligation as a body to set policy we can change that any time we want but let's clean up what was intended and have that in front of us when we make that decision because this makes it a little confusing we know what it's supposed to mean are we going to change what it's supposed to mean that's that's a discussion we can have at a later time going forward are we going to change our policy are we going to allow the sacks everywhere [24:46] Councilor Andy Hjelle: well i'm just saying we made a decision that we thought at the time that we supported we've heard from the community we've heard from the developer we go back to the language which is questionable it's another knock against it for sure i have a hard time standing up what we decide from a policy standpoint going forward fine i agree with cleaning that language up and supporting that but i'm having a hard time not understanding the points made and have heard from the community from the developer and regarding to the situation that i'm i'm i'm questioning our decision on this [26:00] Mayor Wayne Boucher: we know what the intent of policy is though wayne the language is confusing and it was to the developers as well it was confusing to the developer and it was to the community members as well then we go on with staff's interpretation of that language for the past how many years that set precedence that's designed everything we've done and we can change that and we've got precedent where we have allowed these so my request we don't we do we've got we've got cul-de-sacs in different neighborhoods yes we do where they weren't feasible you're taking a short term decision and projecting it for a long term issue they're two separate things the ultimate planning for the future of the community and the pleasing of people right so that we have a through way for that short extension in that neighborhood i'm i i will tell you that i i want this to be discussion item i'm i'm very much in support of the concerns and the frustrations that have come forward on this and i feel like it has merit for the discussion i don't know if anybody has seen there are some recent facebook posts from the st johnson road resident about the fire hydrants started with the fire hydrants but it ended with this development [27:18] Councilor Andy Hjelle: so i don't follow that page but you wouldn't be happy with the spaghetti [27:21] Mayor Wayne Boucher: well we don't need to make comments like that i mean he's he's he stands behind his position and he feels that it's valid and and it matters to him and it matt i'm listening and i feel like based on several points i want it to be a discussion of how we look at that and i think everyone should have the voice on that [27:39] Councilor Joe Peterson: and just on a logistical standpoint because i'm hearing what natalie's saying but technically we are still in the process of isn't there final plan hasn't been approved right so there is going to be some formal additional it hasn't even been submitted no there's been some meetings and some so i guess my question with that is is there already in the books a time when we will be discussing again anyway [28:13] Mayor Wayne Boucher: well we'd probably better decide what our policy is going to be before we discuss that going forward sure you know but nonetheless for this specific project where there is a public us discussing about this again yes okay yeah if he presents the the final block right but it also behooves us to decide what our policy is going to be going forward are we going to allow cul-de-sacs everywhere someone wants them are we going to do what's right for the future are we going to do what people want right now [28:50] Councilor Andy Hjelle: yeah i i i believe me i i understand your position and i and that's a policy decision that we can make ahead of the final approval on this plan so that it guides us it could bend to us but when we made the initial plat decision it was based off of the assumption that the policy was clear and it's not well exactly so it changes the situation it's also based on staff recommendations planning and zoning recommendations right so it's more than just that but that's a piece of it i agree with you right yeah i actually agree with this yeah [29:25] Councilor John Geissler: um two i have two other quick things i sent joel and john a report put up by the associated general contractors that stated the inflation of construction went up 20 percent in 2021 and i just thought that that was a good educational piece that we could include in talking with the legislators and whatnot so yeah so i think john you and joe should have that and have that tucked under your arm this week um and lastly i questioned john here a little bit and i think it needs our discussion um so we've had a couple of jobs posted right away slash infrastructure manager was posted at 82 000 starting salary which i think is seems about right and reasonable i was surprised when i saw the building official posting that's starting salary 71 000. my opinion is the building official is a licensed you know he needs to be a licensed building official it seems odd to me that the that is that much discrepancy in starting salary uh it's a similar professional type and again the right-of-way manager doesn't have to be an engineer uh but the and the you know the building official doesn't have to be an engineer either but he needs to be a straight state certified building it's actual um and john i maybe you can just remind everybody how he came up with that [30:58] John Mulder: yeah so and i want to say it was in 2013 we had um we hired i think it was called spring set at the time um they're now baker tilly we had them do a compensation uh plan and in that process they look at each position look at the duties and responsibilities um a number of factors and they assign points and the points for the building official were lower than the points for the um the department heads we've pegged the utility manager at a department at level so the building official is not a department head not in terms of the the weight that the duties and responsibilities for that article for that process sit right to me [31:48] Councilor John Geissler: so what process is there another process to change it [31:52] John Mulder: one we haven't looked at that since 2013. yeah so 10 years old what's that same job well the points i mean out of the infrastructure manager i mean we didn't even have that job classification right and we eyeballed that one [32:15] Councilor John Geissler: yeah i think that's worth looking at i agree that 82 seems about feels about right to me however john you had said that maybe we didn't get that right candidates and i reached out to a few people who i know that said i can't that's not the right thing right my opinion on the building officials they they're very much a forward-facing staffer for the for the city and it's just that's also an important component to it so i don't know what we what we do now [32:54] Mayor Wayne Boucher: what process can we go through to get jim ridge might stay my concern is jim ritz is going to leave whether we have a no a position or not right if we want to reevaluate the position we will be vacant without a billing official can we do something or you're just going to make it up and just don't re-advertise it at a rate outside the classification [33:14] John Mulder: i i think it's okay to keep it and see what we get for candidates but if somebody comes in and says you know i think i'm better qualified and i think i should make a little bit more maybe we should be willing to [33:23] Councilor John Geissler: well or instead of a full process are we able to look at other communities and what i mean do we do that do we see what other communities have there with that position is that a reasonable thought [33:40] John Mulder: we we could do that comparison um and again and again we did that for all of the positions as part of the compensation study to make sure that our internal the idea of the points is that internally there's that equity in terms of duties and responsibilities then you do the external to see what is the market bear for those kinds of points and you go and you look at the comparable to say we have this position at this rate you know is do you have a similar position and that we determine that market so we determine the market for those various point levels so the easy way is to we can go and ask what other cities are paying building officials but that's not going to tell you how that relatively speaks to the internal issues [34:26] Councilor John Geissler: no but i mean jim the building officials reviewing plans of an area i mean that building is very complicated he needs to understand that the exiting is there the the building codes are followed i mean a house is easy enough but i mean that's those are critical life safety type issues that he's making those decisions uh he's inspecting things you know that to me is that's more that's more important than a right-of-way manager and he's also our fire inspector maintenance of the city buildings [35:11] Councilor Andy Hjelle: well and to your point john i mean you're saying that if we go through a little bit of a process to evaluate it it's pushing us back but we're clearly not getting candidates at where it's listed at either so [35:28] John Mulder: well um we don't know that i don't know if we got candidates or not but i mean i thought we didn't we we've had it out for maybe a week we've had three [35:34] Councilor John Geissler: yeah where are you posting [35:36] Joe Wicklund: we posted it was in the duluth news tribune it was in the league of minnesota cities uh it was given out to at the professional development association that jim is part of um he was at a meeting a week or so ago on friday um we were also in the league in the sort of cities and indeed yeah that's right range so [35:59] Councilor John Geissler: i just think it's worth you know it also makes me think well yeah that compensation studies nine years old they think we need to do that again especially given recent paper [36:18] John Mulder: well yeah the issue of the issue of recruitment retention um wage wage inflation all of those things is has been thrown way out of wax in the last two years right for everyone and everywhere yeah everywhere across watch the economy [36:45] Mayor Wayne Boucher: i think john brings up a valid point though that is worth a thought yeah okay i think just i think again looking at cocaine virginia having others well and just how attractive are we compared to those locations and recruitment standpoint you know no i don't want to prolong it i just want to make sure we can get the candidates and you're done it's an important important piece for us yeah huge well and not just this position as we say yeah yeah i think the overall compensation study is important all right that's all i had for announcements is it my turn or did you have them anymore [37:39] Councilor Andy Hjelle: um okay so st louis county days natalie wayne and i right yes and then joe and mulder are you gonna be there um i wasn't sure what time i was gonna get there i'm not scheduled on any teams but okay so i've heard from box office that he has talked to the tax committee chair about trying to change the language regarding referendums i don't know what that means i don't know if that's like i did i asked somebody something or if it's like i'm literally working on this but i think that should be one of our questions one of our key questions for bach and others frankly is like hey how how legitimate is it for us to do this is it possible um i have talked to a lobbyist just on my own a friend and he his indication was that yes it is logistically something that bach could could do if he wanted if it got approval so it is possible it's just how much i'm willing to do it so i do think that to be one of our questions the third is i sent that email you probably saw from joe that lj's on the table like kind of out of nowhere 218 000 a year for hermantown one of 19 communities that would be included that's huge huge i mean i and i wasn't and it's not even something we've we kind of were fighting for and then we kind of gave up and now it is back on the table or you guys before i was here um so i think that should be our third ask is like hey if you're doing lga make sure hermantown is one of the 19 that get the money um and from my understanding i think my email said that box and list legard's legislation did include hermantown from i did some further digging i think technically it doesn't but there's a bill being introduced by representative joachim i don't know chair of the tax division that what is the one that would include hermantown and i'm sorry who wasnt lis lagarde in the house and bach are our senator in the senate both have lga bills to increase the funding i from my understanding and i i would maybe need a little bit more homework but according to the council our group that we're a part of theirs is just an increase in the appropriations not the formula so it wouldn't give any money to hermantown so our question to bach is yeah you're increasing lga but you're leaving out your biggest community yeah so in your district so can you get on board with this formula change that joachim is introducing and then list the guard too as our neighbor listen guards our next-door district so i think both could be convinced and on our meetings i was concerned about the three of us being in the same yeah uh for open meeting law violation uh there should probably only be two of us in talk to some people it's being changed yeah i think so but we'll deal with that when we show up and go to sit down so then just logistically the communication from the chamber has been slightly lackluster i mean i get there dealing with some you know difficulties but um i just don't you don't know who we're meeting with i know and so i don't know if we just need to schedule our own meetings right or where or when so and i think we have some identified ones that we really um so i i'm proposing that i might reach out to list the garden box at minimum and then mary i guess i um i did talk to mary today um she seemed pretty in the dark about everything we're doing which is not surprising um and i don't mean that i'm just saying like i just we haven't been in touch with her as much um i walked her through both requests the question and the bonding um i asked her what she needed from us on bonding and you know she seemed to her indication was if bach is moving it that she's comfortable with that on the question she said she would check with house staff on the referendum question i do believe though you john you reached out to mary [41:52] John Mulder: i talked to mary mid-january um and then um within the last week or so we reached out to her via email right joe reached out with her via email [42:13] Councilor Andy Hjelle: i don't feel like she's in the dark but she i think she's just feeling i don't know maybe the bach meeting rubbed it the wrong way i'm not really sure but regardless we just need to do some work there and figure out how to get the right stuff in front of her and i think it's i think it's the bonding language and the question specifics um so we just need to have that for wednesday and i'll just work on having that but i think the conversation with her this morning that i had with her was good it was a good like we moved in the right direction um so in the separately from legislative um i'm wondering about an update on story north and where those videos are i don't know if joe is here i'd like to hear that at some point so so chamber i think all of us are kind of like right you're gonna show up at ten o'clock and right we don't know what we're doing who we're meeting with um but it is i think there's a lot of questions i think we've done in the past we've kind of coordinated our own meetings which has been really nice to just and then what are we do we have information or a packet or something that we want when we're meeting with particular individuals make sure that we're besides the booklet you know which already exists is there something else [43:45] John Mulder: well i should we can we can try to pull something together it's like you want to talk about getting them to support bach's proposed bill for a million dollars i don't think that's i don't even know if that has a number yet that just came out in the last 10 days so you want to you want to talk to as many people about that as you can um i don't know what box talked about in terms of the referendum question because to me like that's a much harder nut to crack in terms of how that's going to get worded um and certainly the lga is like to the extent that there's bills out there is you just say we want to be part of lga we were coming for we need to be back in that so i guess my my understanding is though is that i have not been in direct contact with the chamber but they're not able to get meetings up with the house members the house is remote yet i'm not even sure that mary's in saint paul i think she is and she said she would be at the dinner okay she'll be at the original breakfast some of the host members will meet but they're meeting in larger conference rooms or whatever not necessarily in their offices that's what i'm totally certain i mean we've lifted the mass mandate and some of these things so i'm not understanding why we can't do it in person and i think as an elected official you should [45:34] Councilor Andy Hjelle: but um if would it be possible john for our group to or for you and joe or whatever to maybe develop some like talking points maybe that we could that we just to make sure that we're hitting on certain pieces in our conversations just to make sure we're not forgetting or something would that be helpful i know if anybody else feels we just want to make sure we've got some yeah [45:41] John Mulder: and i can work with joe on some of that i just wanted to update you guys a little bit on the ballot questions i know that's something that's on your mind um you know so we talked about this a while back we had two different ballot formats that we were talking about and the council expressed a desire to have the one question and we have gone it's a new law so for a lawyer i looked at precedent there is no precedent so then we have gone to every county state um lincoln minnesota cities knocked on every door and tried to get a sense of how far we can go with this question and and after doing a lot of leg work my sense was that we have to have under the current law we have to have three steps um it's not worth the risk even if we have a 96 chance of getting through with three different questions we don't want to blow a big project like this on you know we want to do we have to do it right so we kind of recalibrated and have tried to think about these questions a different way looked at rules and tried to maximize our question writing ability and have come up with a draft of three separate questions that um they may not be as great as one question three parts but it's it's not terrible it's not really that bad um not confusing so a situation john's read him he might have an opinion on that we see that drowning yeah that's why we can we can send where we're at but um so that's the work we've been doing in those questions i just think that there causes so much confusion with this it's a fascinating challenge to write those questions and it's i've done a lot of them over the years this one is really interesting but i went back looked at the rules look at the titles we'll get you the copy of where we sit today um and i think you'll you'll feel a little bit more comfortable again i might be speaking [48:25] Councilor Andy Hjelle: but can i so just our intention is to try to get it to one absolutely 100 that's our intention second if not then we get to see the draft of the questions and and give response or feedback on that but what is our was it june that we had this language finalized yeah okay i couldn't remember the legislative session ends in may in a perfect world the legislation passed to either either uh what's the word not having to follow that off or literally change the whole yeah one of the two and from my understanding both are possible that's what i've heard well hopefully we'll learn from pieces while we're done lastly did you say you are going to be down there [49:11] John Mulder: i'm going to be down there and just for the reception [49:12] Councilor John Geissler: you sent this to me gunner when i was wondering if i had coped so uh gunner any chance that you through your research and all the people you talked to that you talked to edina or any of the other communities i i specifically talked to edina edina specifically told me it's three questions right i'm just curious what they're doing or what they're saying they did end up getting back to you [49:38] John Mulder: yes [49:45] Mayor Wayne Boucher: before we leave i had a couple of things to add on to natalie's initial announcements uh congratulating the girls in our co-op team of coming in second in state and also the boys p double a team will be going to state in a week and the girls 15u team will be going okay so we've got a lot of good winter sports activity going on the uh both boys and girls basketball seasons wrapped up last weekend uh let's uh celebrate everything we've got going now and look forward to spring athletics coming up and just in time for our interview in three minutes maybe that's fair anybody have anything else before we ask for a motion to recess is uh people that are going to uh st louis county days are you guys are just going to be there in the morning on wednesday 10 o'clock because that kind of yeah i am also there for the airport as well so i'm probably going to have to cut out at some point to go get my booth ready and stuff [51:08] Andy Hjelle: when is the booth [51:09] Joe Wicklund: 4 30. the reception's at 4 30. yeah but you can set up ahead of time and joe is doing all of that probably for us and joe had sent us some things today yes that's what he's handled [51:25] Mayor Wayne Boucher: all right move to recess [51:28] Councilor Joe Peterson: so moved [51:30] Councilor John Geissler: second [51:31] Mayor Wayne Boucher: second by counselor geisler all in favor aye opposed same side