Based on the context provided, the entire transcript is a single continuous speech delivered by **Mayor Myron Bailey** for the 2023 State of the City address. [00:00] **Mayor Myron Bailey**: good evening and welcome to all of you here in our city council chambers and those of you watching on cable access Channel 16. and thank you for joining me for the 2023 state of the city address for the city of Cottage Grove I am mayor Myron Bailey and it is my pleasure to celebrate the success of our community over the past year and to talk about where we're headed in 2023 joining me this evening are my colleagues on The Cottage Grove City Council council member Steve Dennis council member Dave theede council member Justin Olson and council member Tony combata I would also like to recognize our Washington County Commissioner Carla Bingham we also have representatives from The Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce joining us this evening along with many of our devoted City staff and thank you to the South Washington County telecommunications commission for their work behind the cameras their partnership brings to life the many reasons why our city is such an amazing place to live work and play and thank you residents friends and neighbors for taking the time to learn more about what is happening in our city I am focusing my messages this evening on the topics that I've heard are important to you I can truly say that I am honored to serve as your mayor many of you are aware that Cottage Grove is one of the fastest growing cities in the state of Minnesota we rank 25th overall in population and we have grown over the years and will continue to grow as more families discover our amazing community we approved 348 new housing permits in 2022 and the most recent census data puts our population at 39 926 our internal data now puts us just over 41 000 residents but one thing is for certain we will never compromise on our core values and the delivery of important city services you have come to expect as a city leader we plan to sustain yet manageable growth and we are committed to the happiness of our residents and Neighbors we recently held our annual strategic planning meeting where the city council and City staff mapped out areas of focus and opportunities for the coming year we came up with three key words that we want to maintain as a community those three words are family community and teamwork as my city council colleague Dave theede put it Cottage Grove the biggest small town in Minnesota we will continue to maintain that small town feel and Community Pride no matter how big we get part of that strategic process involves looking back at recent accomplishments and then to look forward at what's coming in our future let's touch on a few of the exciting things that did happen in 2022 we were thrilled to bring back the in-person police and fire department open houses both events had great turnout and I know many residents are looking forward to the very popular Public Works open house later this year our fire department taught many life-saving classes to businesses residents and schools including classes on CPR senior fall prevention stop the bleed and AED use the fire department will continue to provide these useful Training Services through the upcoming year the fire department responded to over 4 500 calls for service in 2022 that's a nine percent increase over 2021. they also conducted over 600 life safety inspections including sprinkler inspections and new construction fire inspections our police department created a community engagement officer position to be involved in our community outreach and to provide sustainable relationships around the city many of those relationships were strengthened during the night to unite in August City officials and Public Safety employees attended neighborhood parties all over the city we look forward to more 19a parties invitations coming this summer we did receive a generous donation of a simulation mannequin from Health Partners this mannequin will allow for a more realistic training for EMS staff and increase education opportunities for community members who want to learn more basic life-saving techniques in 2022 our Public Safety department expanded its case management unit to help people who need ongoing assistance from mental health professionals or social services mental health concerns play a role in the increasing number of Public Safety encounters the case management unit worked with over 225 clients to get help from mental health clinicians and Community Assistance programs and as always our Public Safety team continues to upgrade and enhance our early warning system we replace one of our older outdoor warning sirens with the new version that can reach up to 1.5 miles from the siren's location we also installed a lightning detection system at Kingston Park to protect families at one of our most utilized parks Kingston Park was just one of the many popular spots this year for residents visitors tournaments programs and more our parks and Trail systems are a point of Pride for our community as is our Ice Arena and River Oaks Golf Course in 2022 our Parks and Recreation Department made major improvements to multiple city parks and began the construction of the city's newest Park glacial Valley Community Park many visitors come to Cottage Grove because of our parks and big sporting events because of these events our staff recently published the second edition of the Discover Cottage Grove visitors guide which you can find on discovercottagegrove.com that guide and website helps visitors learn about events and happenings in town like the strawberry festival Monster Bash parade holiday train the hometown holiday celebration just to name a few we love these events as it gives all of us and our staff the opportunity and chance to meet with residents I heard from many of you throughout the year how grateful you are for our city staff especially our remarkable Public Works Department they are responsible for tackling many infrastructure and day-to-day projects that make our lives a little bit easier in a typical winter the snow plow crew usually will go out above 40 times total to put that into perspective as of tonight's address there have been about they've been out about 38 times if you travel at all for work during the winter you know that Cottage Grove residents enjoyed clear roads than many other cities that is in thanks to our dedicated crew that puts in early mornings and long days to assure that our roads are passable another city Department that applies under the radar is our community development team they undertook the tremendous task of updating the entire city code for the first time in 20 years including the 50 year old zoning code this was a long and tedious project and I want to thank our city staff and our Planning Commission for the work on this major overhaul these new city codes and Zoning codes are now more modern and easier to understand and navigate I am now excited to switch gears a bit and share some great news of what residents can expect this year and we can't talk about 2023 without talking about sustainable growth Cottage Grove is a very desirable Community for individuals and families we have recently seen an influx of new apartment complexes being built due to the huge success of the Grove 80 apartments in 2021 the city hasn't seen this type of housing option over the past couple decades so this is an exciting time as we meet with developers who want to bring quality and affordable apartments here this also ensures that more people who want to live in Cottage Grove can afford to do so you will continue to see more high density apartment complexes being proposed later this year in different parts of the city the industrial Market continues to move along the valuation of commercial and Industrial permits for 2022 in the city of Cottage Grove totaled over 373 million dollars we have immense interest in a few available spots left in the business park we are one of just a few communities in the Southeast Metro that has large tracts of land available for new industrial developments these areas remain in high demand and we will continue to Market them North Point the largest development in the business park to date officially broke ground in May of 2022. at full build out North Point will have over 3.4 million square feet of leasable space and create over 1800 additional jobs many of our existing businesses that have made a home in our business park are thriving we are seeing expansions from Renewal by Anderson and leafline labs and more talking about expansion in 2023 new to the park in 2023 will be RJ schinner who is working on a location on the south side of Hamlet Park we are also anticipating a roughly 250 000 square foot Distribution Center at 95th and Jamaica our business park is the talk of the industry Cottage Grove continues to attract commercial development we have several new partners building or approved for construction during 2023 such as Pizza Ranch Thai Gardens Ulta which will be locating between PetSmart and Planet Fitness and Pacific Dental which will take the final space next to Sports Clips and salons by JC this will finally get the center to be 100 percent leased the little village is an imaginative play Space where parents can let their small children play and explore this new business will open soon in the shops at Gateway North Center in the former Las Margaritas location a financial institution is coming to 80th Street and hardwood in front of Kohl's which is adjacent to Culver's along 80th Street Jersey Mike's plans to open in the shopping center next to Menards and o2b Kids Daycare is planning a new facility on the corner of hardwood and East Point Douglas Road and I should mention and burn boot camp recently opened their operations at 8700 East Point Douglas Road in December the city council adopted the findings from a recently completed Hotel Market study that indicated the city's needs for additional Hotel space this space was sent to representatives in the hotel industry and we have been meeting with these Representatives on the next steps to preserve various present excuse me various locations around the city that will meet their needs this is an important move as we expect more visitors will come to Cottage Grove every year going forward many of those visitors come because we are making great strides and telling the world that Cottage Grove is a recreation destination glacial Valley Community Park will open to the public in Fall of 2023. this is the first full community park we have built in 20 years this park will have areas to play and enjoy Acres of natural open space habitat the park will include a Net Zero Energy building that will be available year round later this spring we hope to identify an artist or artist team to create some artwork along one of the interior walls of the park building if there are any artists watching there is an RFP available now on the city's website check it out and share your talents with the community we also want visitors and locals alike to have a place to access the Mississippi River we remain focused on acquiring protecting and preserving the Future Park property along the shores of the former Mississippi Dunes Golf Course we are working with the landowner and the DNR and Washington County to acquire all the land along the river and above the railroad tracks there will still be development on the golf course site but is limited to the interior of the property we strive to protect and enhance hundreds of Acres of open space throughout the city to promote wildlife habitat water quality erosion control pollinator habitat Environmental Education and beauty sustainability remains a focus with efforts such as converting all of our metal halide Sports lights to LEDs installing solar geothermal and other energy reducing measures at the glacial Valley Park Building reducing water and power use at the River Oaks Golf Course by replacing the old irrigation system reducing the mo zones and utilized improved technology to reduce turf management and finally promoting diverse and sustainable Landscapes across all public lands and roadway Islands Cottage Grove is proud that both our older and smaller Parks receive as much care and attention as our new newer and larger parks with the future in mind I want to speak about Cottage Grove's drinking water it continues to meet all state and federal guidelines and in August 2021 the state released its conceptual plan to address pfas contamination in the East Metro Region's drinking water we have started implementing Solutions which work that include building two permanent water treatment plants paid for by the 3M settlement agreement in 2022 the city completed the preliminary design of the first of two permanent water treatment plants this plant will be located near the intersection of 110th Street and ideal Avenue and this will serve the area South of Highway 61. once approved the final design will commence and bidding is planned for spring of 2023. the goal is to have the plant operational by 2025 but rest assured our current temporary treatment facilities are operating effectively and our water is safe to drink I know that getting around town with efficient traffic flows is important to Residents I am excited to report that Jamaica Avenue and East Point Douglas Road intersection Improvement project will begin this spring this will improve traffic operations safety and address poor roadway conditions due to the size and the scope of this project it will take place over two construction seasons in both 2023 and 2024. while traffic will be more challenging during construction the project is being phased in a way to ensure that business access remains open please continue to support these businesses during this time the city has received 1.25 million in funding from the Minnesota Department of Transportation to help fund this project and I should mention the total cost estimate of this project is over 8.9 million in other Road news the city will be continuing its pavement Management program replacing aging roads and infrastructures in residential areas this year's project will address the poor roadway conditions in the neighborhoods north of Hillside Trail South of 80th Street and West of Hyde Avenue in order to reduce the cost impact of road projects on the taxpayers the city continues to pursue and receive funding opportunities at both the state and federal levels we received 5 million in funding from the federal government to complete improvements to 80th Street in the next few years from Highway 61 up to Ideal Avenue I want to personally thank representative Angie Craig and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for supporting this funding request I also want to thank representative Angie Craig for her work on securing 3 million in funding for our shops at Cottage View project we also received 710 000 in funding through a state Grant to complete Highway improvements at the entrance to River Oaks Golf Course on Highway 61 in 2024. and I should mention we are also pursuing 25 million at the state and federal levels for the extension of 100 Street including a bridge over the CP railroad between Jamaica Avenue and Highway 61. this will provide another access point to Highway 61 for our business park and residence these improvements will help us manage our City's growth over the coming years I hope you would be patient with these important World projects and know that in the future it's going to be even easier to get around town so as I start to wrap up tonight I wanted to touch base on a few items from our Public Safety and finance teams later this year we will have our canine Gunners retirement Gunner and officer Nils torning have done a fantastic job of policing our community officer Matt sorgard was chosen as the new canine Handler and will start his training in March we will be getting our new police dog later this month our Public Safety team recently received seven thousand five hundred dollars from the U.S PCA adopt a canine Grant and our Public Safety Board generously donated ten thousand dollars we thank both groups for the generous donations to in allowing us to get a new police stock earlier I mentioned updates to city codes some of these changes have to do with our public op excuse me our police officers and how they keep us safe one of the changes involves the process of third-party gift card purchases to help reduce the impact of stolen credit cards you will now be required to show a matching photo ID when buying a third party gift card with a credit card we know this as another step but our police officers have your Safety and Security as their highest priority another code change involves catalytic converter possession if you follow the news you are probably aware of the spike in catalytic conversion conversion thefts throughout the Twin Cities area it is now illegal to possess a detached catalytic converter into city of Cottage Grove unless there is a matching proof of purchase receipt with it lastly I just want to paint a bright Financial picture for you our community enjoys the great amenities I've been speaking about tonight at a relatively low cost our 2023 per capita amount is 521.39 which is lower than all other cities in Washington County except for Saint Paul Park which receives local government Aid just like each of you we and the city council live here and pay taxes we know what we do affects you and your own families we operate with that conservative thought process in mind when dealing with our within our budget I should also mention that the city does maintain a solid double A Plus credit rating throughout the credit agency standard and Poor's credit rating agencies score governments based on their ability to pay their debts just like they do with individuals this double A Plus rating is the key indicator of creditworthiness and it indicates that the city is fiscally sound and can meet as financial obligations our city council and City management team are committed to maintaining that rating Cottage Grove Property Owners pay taxes at a rate that is lower than most other cities for a home valued at three hundred twenty six thousand nine hundred dollars the monthly cost for City service is just under ninety dollars for the last nine years the average increase in property taxes on that same home was twenty seven dollars or just three percent per year that monthly average goes to pay for Reliable city services like Public Safety Public Works Parks and Recreation fire services and general garnet the value we get for the services received in our city is second to no one so I will end where I began Cottage Grove is a wonderful place to live work and play we anticipate more growth in the future and the city is in a great position for that there are reasons that people want to make Cottage Grove their home we have something special here low taxes great service awesome amenities super schools and the list goes on thank you again for tuning in tonight and I should mention this is not will not be the only update you will get about the city this year there are many ways to stay informed our newsletter gets mailed to ever each month excuse me to every business and household in Cottage Grove you can follow us on Facebook Instagram Twitter or the city's website you can also find videos and recordings of sitting meetings on our YouTube channel or swctc ctutv.org good old website there thank you for your continued support and for communicating your thoughts feelings and love of our city to me and my colleagues on the city council together Cottage Grove will continue to be the best place to raise a family open a business or play in our parks and recreational facilities thank you all and have a great night