This transcript has been updated with speaker names based on the context provided and the self-identifications within the dialogue. **[0:15] [Music]** **[0:27] [Music]** **[0:46] [Music]** **[1:03] Joshua Lee (Councilmember/Acting Mayor):** Good evening everyone and welcome to the November 18th city council meeting. My name is Joshua Lee and I'm serving as acting mayor for tonight. Please join me if you're able for a rise for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. **[1:28] Joshua Lee:** 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. Ann Orlofsky, roll call please. **[1:42] Ann Orlofsky (City Clerk):** Michelle Volk? **Michelle Volk:** Here. **Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee? **Joshua Lee:** Here. **Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel? **John Bermel:** Here. **Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter? **Dan Wolter:** Here. **[1:55] Joshua Lee:** Thank you very much. Next we will move into citizens comment. This is a time for residents or business owners to address the council typically for items that are not already on the agenda tonight. We will have time for that when we get to those agenda items. If you do have something to address the council with, please come up to the podium, state your name and address, and you'll have three minutes to speak. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak? Yes? **[2:25] Danne Schneeman (Resident):** Hey, thank you very much. My name is Danne Schneeman. I'm a resident of Lakeville. I live on Javelin Ave in Lakeville. I don't know if this is the right audience for this topic or whatnot, but I'm here to connect some dots just as a person who lives in Lakeville. My goal tonight is to connect some dots. I'm going to take the school vouchers issue, I'm going to take my property taxes from 2025 that are proposed next year, try to tie those together and just raise an issue that I see that could be an issue for Lakeville tax revenue in the future. I received the 2025 proposed taxes in the mail. For anybody that hasn't gotten that before or has seen that before, just take a look at that. My taxes on my home went up by a significant amount. So I'm looking at that and trying to make sense of it. The tax increase in home value for Lakeville for 2025 went up about 4.2%. My house, I guess I'm lucky, it went up by 7%. So my specific tax revenue went up by about $556. As you know, that's broken down into a little section. The Dakota County section, the Lakeville District 194. The Lakeville one specifically went from 1,652 to 1,942. So that for me was almost a $300 increase, or a 17.5% increase in taxes for that. Again, I'm not saying any of you are responsible for that, but I'm just saying that for me it's an outrageous amount of money to have increased year after year, and I'm trying to figure out how to do something about that. From the last election, obviously—and I'm not trying to get politically affiliated here—but two of the three candidates that were elected to our board had successful campaigns run by the Minnesota Parents Alliance. Matt Swanson, Paul Carbone... I've never talked to either of those gentlemen, I'm sure they're nice people, but the MPA, which is the group that ran their campaigns, has helped over 80 candidates win election to school boards this election. According to their site, that's the number. The group vocally denounces students' rights in schools; they've run many anti-LGBTQ protests or events, some at the St. Paul Capital. Right here, yeah... what year is this? What are we doing? They try to limit sexual education in schools and so on and so forth. It's a group with an agenda. It's in their name: The Minnesota Parents Alliance. It's for the parents, it's not for the students. Anyway, so now that they have at least one seat in the majority of school boards in the state, they're ready to stuff school vouchers down our throats as long as they can, as fast as they can, like they were harvesting foie gras. **[5:45] Joshua Lee:** One more minute. **[5:47] Danne Schneeman:** Say again? So what does my property tax have to do with school vouchers? If school vouchers take federal funds that were dedicated toward public education and divert that to private education and private institutions, our public schools are going to suffer. We're going to have less funding for our public schools, which means less support for our teachers and less support for our students. The parents are going to have to cover that. They're going to ask us to pay for things that we normally wouldn't have to pay for. They're not going to be able to afford substitute teachers or whatnot, and we're going to have to take extra PTO. It's going to trickle down to the parents, and I don't have 17% to keep giving everybody every year, especially with that coming down the pipe. So I'm asking you guys, please figure out how to reduce these property taxes that I have to pay, or else I'm bringing more people and we can all talk about it then. Thank you very much, appreciate it. **[6:44] Joshua Lee:** Appreciate you coming in, thank you. Is there anyone else in here who wish to speak on something not on the agenda tonight? Yes, sir. **[6:53] Craig Pratt (Resident):** Good evening. Craig Pratt, 18555th Street West, Lakeville, Minnesota. Been in Lakeville for 24-plus years. I've owned three different homes. A little over a decade ago we bought our last property, a property on 185th Street. Now that's going to be—we're going to lose some of our property through the going to a four-lane. As a Lakeville resident, I'm fully supportive of that project. I think it's great; we need four lanes, we need bike paths, even though I'm losing property. But here's my challenge. Since 2015, the S&P is up 221%. So when I went to build my home and I came to the city, they said whatever you do from a landscaping perspective, do it 75 feet from the center and then you're going to be in good shape. In the event that we expand the road, nothing will happen. So I said thank you and did exactly what they said. Nine years later, guess what? That didn't turn out to be true. And then separately they've decided—Dakota County and the city have decided—to add a pond to my property that was not in the original plan that I thought may happen in the roadway. So that's an extra bonus for me as a property owner losing more of my property and, more importantly, developable lots. Let me go back to the S&P: since 2015, up 221%. If I had taken the $100,000-plus we'll call it that I put into landscaping, the value of that today would be 321k. I wouldn't have done the landscaping if I knew there was going to be a pond and it was all going to be removed. My neighbor next to me, Jim Walter, in 2014 when that original roundabout went in and started the property, they gave him a check for $70,000 to take a portion of his property. Most recently, I believe you've settled with Jim as well—you guys probably voted on it—for a settlement of an additional $283,000 that you're taking on his property. Your initial offer to me—and by the way, I don't know if any of you know how to read this because I'm not a lawyer and I'm not an appraiser, but if you're going to represent this city, I would ask you to go through this and tell me how easy it is to understand as a regular resident—my first offer was for 146k. Nowhere near what Jim had gotten in 2014. And now in 2024, I spent $3,000 in my own money to get an oral report from an appraiser who's found multiple issues with this appraisal report, recommending to go to get an attorney. I've taken it to two firms who believe we have a real case here and actually want to fight the case. Catching one of those mistakes, I got a revised offer the other day because it wasn't recorded supposedly when something was bought, because nothing was bought... **[10:33] Joshua Lee:** Mr. Pratt, I'm going to have to ask you to wrap up. **[10:35] Craig Pratt:** Okay. It went from 146 to 170. I would like a few of the city council members along with Justin to look at my last proposal that you were copied on, and I'd like to discuss a fair and equitable settlement. Otherwise, I will be forced to get an attorney, and that's going to be a waste of taxpayers' money. I think it sets a bad precedent that you won't match what my neighbor right next to me got who has less property. Thank you. **[11:00] Joshua Lee:** Thank you. Is there anyone else in the chambers that wishes to speak? Yes, ma'am? Is it on something that's on the agenda or...? Well, come on up and we'll see where we go. Well, I just ask you to state your name and address. Pull the microphone down, honey, so we can hear you. **[11:23] Sher Wisnoski (Resident):** My name is Sher Wisnoski. I live on 209th Street West in Lakeville. It's the first time I've attended, so I just had a question. Something I had read in the Lakeville paper that—and I know there's several developments going on in Lakeville—it sounds like it's on 185th Street heading west. I just had a couple questions and didn't know where to start, so I thought I'd come here and ask. This development—it just had a paragraph in the article talking about the development—that there was going to be like 260-some trees and there's going to be like 91 left after they develop. My question is: is there any guidance from you when you guys okay developments as far as how they can handle removal of trees? It sounded like these were big old trees and I just needed to start somewhere to ask a couple questions about how that works. **[12:17] Joshua Lee:** Absolutely, and it's a great question. If there is staff available to maybe take the conversation outside... I will just briefly state that we are in the middle of a tree preservation policy conversation right now, but it is likely that the property you're talking about has several trees coming down for that development. We can have staff go through a little bit more of those details with you one-on-one if you'd like. **[12:47] Sher Wisnoski:** Okay, I would appreciate that. It's just good to hear that maybe there is some more input from the city so that there isn't so much just taken down for the sake of building. **[12:58] Joshua Lee:** Absolutely. All right, thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the chamber? All right, well we will move on then. Mr. Miller, are there any additional agenda items for you? **[13:14] Justin Miller (City Administrator):** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 6E has a revised item and I can go through that when we discuss the consent agenda. **[13:25] Joshua Lee:** Okay. Then we'll move on to presentations and introduction. Our first item is new police officer introductions, and we'll have Chief Paulson start us off. **[13:40] Brad Paulson (Police Chief):** Good evening acting mayor and members of the council. I will call up our officers being introduced and recognized tonight along with your designated badge pinner. If you just want to make your way up to the right-hand side over here. So, we appreciate you Council taking time. I know it's a busy meeting tonight but we're excited to introduce our folks to you and by extension to our community as well. All of these officers being introduced have started and are in the midst of either their field training process or they've recently been moved out to their solo patrol position. So relatively new, but at a few different points of their journey through our onboarding process. So Nick, why don't we start with you? You're coming up already. Why don't you and your badge pinner just make your way over here. Yes, and as I read their introduction, they've each chosen someone to pin their badge on in a ceremonial way tonight to add some honor and tradition to the profession. We'll start here with Officer Nick Peacock, badge 48127. Officer Peacock began as a police officer with us on July 24th, 2023. He mixed a significant injury and surgery into his first several months which delayed his journey a little bit, and is why his training trajectory is off a little bit from some of the other ones. Nick's originally from Sartell, Minnesota and was active in football and wrestling in high school. After high school, he obtained his associate's degree in law enforcement from Inver Hills Community College and his bachelor's degree in law enforcement from Minnesota State Mankato. He joined Lakeville PD as a community service officer in the summer of 2020 where he worked part-time until his promotion to police officer. Outside of work, Nick helps coach the wrestling team at Cretin-Derham Hall High School and is actively involved as a Big Brother through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. In his free time he enjoys hunting, traveling, spending time at the family lake home, and attending concerts. Congratulations to Officer Peacock. Next we'll call on Officer Brian Smith. Nick, you can step... you can go over by the wall for a minute. I know you like the limelight but you gotta share. [Laughter] Officer Brian Smith, badge 48129, began as a police officer with us on January 3rd of this year. Brian was born and raised in South Minneapolis and is the youngest of four children. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's University in Winona and has also earned a master's degree from the University of St. Thomas. Brian worked as a Minneapolis police and fire dispatcher for two years before joining the Rochester Police Department as a police officer. He worked with Rochester PD for about eight years before coming on board with us earlier this year. Brian's three older siblings have given him the experience of enjoying eight nieces and nephews. He also has a significant other and they've been together for over seven years now. In his free time he enjoys being active in and around sports. He runs every single day, plays adult baseball, adult hockey, and assists in coaching multiple sports at the high school level. Congratulations to Officer Smith. Officer Spencer Angle, badge 48130. Officer Angle began as a police officer with us on July 15th of this year. Spencer graduated with a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's University in Winona. After school, he worked as a community service officer for the Burnsville Police Department and from there he was hired as a police officer with the Faribault Police Department. In his five-plus years with Faribault PD, he held multiple instructor positions, was a field training officer and a member of the South Metro SWAT team. Spencer currently lives in Lakeville with his two children and in his free time he enjoys being outdoors and taking trips with his kids. Congratulations to Officer Angle. Officer Riley Peterson, badge 48131. Officer Peterson also began with us as a police officer on July 15th of this year. Riley grew up in the South Metro, mainly in Apple Valley and Rosemount. He graduated from Eastview High School before moving on to Rasmussen University where he graduated with an associate's degree in law enforcement. He completed his law enforcement degree and skills training in March of this year. Riley originally started as a community service officer with Lakeville Police Department in August of 2023 and continued part-time in this role until his promotion to police officer. Policing runs in Riley's family as his grandfather was a Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport police officer for many years. Riley currently lives in Rosemount with his girlfriend and in his free time he enjoys staying active by golfing and snowboarding. Congratulations to Officer Peterson. [Applause] Next, not so much an introduction but a recognition to Sergeant Jeremy Lurf-Fall, badge 4840. Jeremy was promoted from police officer to Sergeant back on May 13th of this year and he brings a wealth of policing experience to this role. He began his full-time policing career at the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office back in 1997. He spent eight years there as a patrol deputy, school resource officer, K9 handler, and a member of their SWAT team. In July of 2005 he was hired as a police officer by the Lakeville Police Department. In Lakeville he's been a detective, worked in Street Crimes, was a field training officer and member of the Crime Scene Unit. In January of 2019 Jeremy went back to the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office to serve as their Chief Deputy until November of '22 when he came back to us in Lakeville PD. Since May, Jeremy has transitioned well into his supervisory role in Lakeville by bringing the mindset of a mentor and a coach where he's worked primarily with our night shift patrol teams. His experience and calm demeanor have been very well received. Congrats on the promotion to Sergeant, Jeremy Lurf-Fall. [Applause] I'll call all five of you up to do your ceremonial oath of office and Acting Mayor Lee will come down to administer that. If you just want to face—line up and face our audience. **[20:30] Joshua Lee:** All yours. If you don't mind coming a little bit closer, thank you. It is my extreme privilege and honor to swear you in tonight. You are joining a community that truly values the service you are already doing for the City of Lakeville and I hope you not only feel that but take part in that community that we all cherish here in Lakeville. So if you would please raise your right hand and repeat after me: I, please state your name... do solemnly swear... that I will support the Constitution of the United States... and the State of Minnesota... and faithfully discharge the duties of police officer... for the City of Lakeville... in the County of Dakota... and State of Minnesota... to the best of my judgment and ability... so help me God. Thank you very much, congratulations. [Applause] **[22:12] Joshua Lee:** Chief, are you going to ask your staff to stay through your report? This might be kind of telling as they walk out but... **[22:18] Brad Paulson:** Yeah, we'll give them a minute to exit. As they're walking out, I will just highlight there's a number of them here, but our field training officers play a huge part in this role. Those are officers that have experience and they pair up with our new hires to kind of show them the ropes. It's a significant contribution to our department, to those field training officers. Happy to have them here as well. All right, I think we'll get started here. So, presenting our Quarter 3 report for months of July through September of this year tonight. And as we do, we'll start with our mission statement: The Lakeville Police Department exists to ensure an excellent quality of life in Lakeville by serving and protecting in a professional and innovative way. Continuing our trend here with some personnel updates. Just highlighting some people that have moved positions within the department. On the left there is Shelley Tang. Shelley was a records technician for us for over 20 years and she recently moved to a position of evidence technician due to a long-term retirement in that spot. She transitioned back in June and with that came a switch to some new evidence manager software as well, and Shelley's been doing a great job in that role. And then two new SROs this year—School Resource Officers. In the middle there, Drew Lindberg's been with us, but starting this fall he is the SRO down at Lakeville South High School. And then Christine Good is covering our three middle schools. So, always happy to partner with Lakeville schools on our SRO program. In our investigative division, movement there as well. On the left, Carrie Witchoric; she moved from patrol officer to our Street Crimes unit. Street Crimes is a two-person unit that helps to take a more proactive approach to tackle some of our higher crime areas or ongoing problematic issues. Emily Beers, second from the left; she transitioned from a patrol officer to a detective in a rotating position. Jessica Swanner moved within the rotation from a two-year to a four-year investigator. And then on the right, Mike Lamb went from Street Crimes to a rotating detective position there. Of our seven full-time detectives, we have a mixture of some that are permanent detectives, some four-year rotations, and some two-year rotations as well to help with some career enrichment, getting people an opportunity to learn that role and bring that back to the patrol setting, but also to provide some stability and expertise in there as well with some of the more involved cases that they see. Not going to spend much time here because you just saw these next two people in person, but Spencer Angle again started with us back in July along with Riley Peterson. In our administrative and civilian role, Alex Yonke began with us in late July as our new administrative specialist. Alex comes with a number of years of experience in the logistics and supply chain industry. She's also been a banquet captain out of Brackett's Crossing for eight years. She started way back when during her high school and college years working part-time and in the summers for our Park and Rec department and Lakeville Arenas. I always like to highlight the fact that she drove the Zamboni too for a while. But she's been a great addition to our team. Those of you that know administrative support staff—they get pulled in a lot of directions and require a lot of versatility, and she certainly has all of that and she's great to have around. Our new records compliance specialist is Sunny Sasser. Sunny came from the Eagan Police Department where she was for about eight years. Prior to that she worked in dispatch for the Airport Police Department. She's also stepped into a role that changed a little bit for us and she's done a great job of taking her experience from both dispatching and Eagan PD and implementing it with what we need at Lakeville PD. She jumped right in and hit the ground running. She's again been a great addition for us and we're happy to have her on board. An update on our Cadet Grant program. This was our first crack at hiring a police cadet, Nick Novo. He started school back in October so he's well on his way up at Hennepin County Technical College. This program was designed for people that may have a degree in something other than law enforcement or have a law enforcement-related degree but are experiencing some type of a barrier where they were having a hard time getting through the schooling and training to become a police officer. So we take them on board in a cadet position, help them get through school, and when they graduate—in Nick's case next spring—he will transition into a full-time police officer role at that point. Here's a picture in the slide of Nick; he's got a degree in criminal justice, minor in emergency management/homeland security from North Dakota State, and again he'll be done in March of 2025 with his schooling. We hope to have him in live and in person and introduce him sometime in the future as well. It's not in the slide here, but we were also approved for two additional cadet grants in 2025. We just finished posting that position and are working through interviews now. Highlighting here some of our community engagement initiatives in the months from July through September. Pan-O-Prog on top was obviously our biggest one of the year. Several pictures from that. National Night Out in August. We helped out at the Dakota County Fair. We participated with many other City departments at Antlers Park with the Regan Smith Olympic kickoff on the KARE 11 Sunrise show. Cop on a Rooftop with Dunkin' Donuts. We're out at the Senior Center quite frequently doing presentations on scams and fraud—it's always well received with those folks. Fall Festival at All Saints and, lastly, our ice cream social with the residents of Queen Anne. Just a couple bullet points to highlight our training and development. A few to note there: emergency driving class. Officers are required to attend emergency driving once every five years; that's a license requirement. A lot of times our newer officers or those newer to driving squad cars go through much more frequently than that, but everybody has to get through at least once every five years. We do that out at Dakota County Technical College on the track. And then our firearms and defensive tactics training—we've been doing some different things with that. Those are low-use skills, but when you need them you need to be certainly in tune and refined with those skills. So we've incorporated those into what we're calling "Tuesday Trainings" where, in addition to our annual days-long training, we break it up into some smaller blocks and get officers some repetitions—maybe in an hour or two blocks—when they come off the road and refine these skills. That's been well received and a lot easier to accommodate than pulling everybody off the schedule at once. Some efforts of our Public Safety Foundation. In September was our Police and Fire Ball—the 10th annual—where Officer Sarah Irv was honored as this year's Police Officer of the Year. It was also exciting to bring back almost all the past honorees from the last 10 years as well. Another great event that the Foundation put on and we're always happy to be a part of that. The Foundation put on a police and fire family picnic in August at Aronson Park, which was fun because it involved family and kids as well. We culminated with a softball game there. You can see a nice photo. I know someone's going to ask... you'll see the picture on the left there is Chief Meyer and I doing the ceremonial coin toss, and that's about the only thing we won that night from the police department perspective. But we did win the coin toss, so we're happy. Two cases of distinction that kind of highlight multiple areas of our department here. The top there is assisting another agency—a suburban agency out of the Des Moines area—who had an armed bank robbery. The suspect ended up being in one of our local hotels up here. Through some surveillance and techniques, the officers there came up with a tactical plan to safely take him into custody, which is always Priority One. It's always nice when we can recover some evidence as well that helps to aid in the prosecution, which they did. He was turned over to Iowa authorities and everybody was safe. Then on the bottom there, a theft report. Something that's been in the media a little bit, not just in Lakeville but in our region, is something called "jackpotting" where a pretty sophisticated crew goes into bank ATMs and can hack into the software and drain those ATMs, which is a significant crime. Through some proactive work with getting out some crime intelligence bulletins, identifying a possible vehicle, some suspect photographs... we were able to get these people stopped with a neighboring agency. This group had been out in Michigan before they were in Minnesota. Again, a search warrant was conducted on the vehicle as well as a hotel room. A lot of cash and some related items and clothing were recovered there and ultimately two suspects were charged locally for the jackpotting case in our jurisdiction, but there is some involvement with federal authorities as far as the whole ring goes itself. More to come on that one. Getting into some of our numbers here. Our case files year-over-year for the third quarter were pretty consistent, just about 218 below where we were last year at this time. Our 911 crisis response—these are the calls that come into 911 but are diverted to the Crisis Response Unit before being dispatched to police. These are specific to Lakeville. So as you can see in the third quarter, we had a total of 18 calls that were routed that way and only three of those resulted in police ultimately being involved, which is the goal of these. It's good to see that system appears to be working as intended. Calls for service—you can see up towards the top there we're at about 14,200 in 2024 in the third quarter, compared to 13,500 a year ago. Two categories that we look at frequently are welfare checks and crisis mental health calls; both of those are pretty consistent year-over-year. Then getting into the traffic side of things, traffic numbers are up quite a bit. We've had some more time to get out there and be more proactive in traffic enforcement. Property damage crashes are up by about 10, but happy to say the personal injury crashes are down by six. And then these are looks at our calls for service in comparison to some of our neighboring jurisdictions: Apple Valley, Burnsville, and Eagan. Criminal offense reporting on some of the bigger crimes: DUIs are spot on at 71. Aggravated assaults are up slightly, other assaults total are up by a few. Motor vehicle thefts are down significantly from 12 to 2. We put out a lot of information throughout the last year on protecting your vehicle—locking it up, closing garage doors. Most of our motor vehicle thefts are crimes of opportunity. Damage/vandalism numbers are down. Weapon violations—those are calls that are specific to weapons only. We do see weapons in other calls like assaults or robberies, but those are weapon-only calls. Sex offenses are up by a few. Lastly, just some photos of our social media presence out there. It's not all dogs and donuts, but that seems to be kind of a highlight there. A lot of good work by our folks behind the scenes. Alex Yonke was mentioned earlier and then Nicole Marbin, our crime analyst, do the lion's share of our social media work and we're happy with the work they do. So with that I'm happy to relinquish the podium, but we'll certainly entertain any questions or comments you have. Thank you. **[35:25] Dan Wolter (Councilmember):** Yeah, just congratulations on another good quarter. It's really good to see the stats maintaining; that just shows good presence. And congratulations on the hiring here. That's the most important thing you do—getting good people in the door. Your department's worked really hard to build the trust of the community and it looks like you have some quality people that will keep working on that trust. So that and the field training are just the most important things I think you do to get somebody started. Well done, and I'm really confident with our department. **[35:44] Brad Paulson:** Thank you. **[35:46] Joshua Lee:** I believe you do have one opening for a police officer, is that correct? Are you interested in the cadet program? **[35:55] Brad Paulson:** We do have openings, yes. We're finishing up a hiring process right now, but yeah, with growth and some upcoming retirements we will have openings in the near future for sure. **[36:11] Joshua Lee:** Very good, yeah. Thank you. **[36:16] Brad Paulson:** Of course. **[36:18] Joshua Lee:** All right, we will now move on to the consent agenda. These are typically items that are general business of the city. Are there any items that the council needs to remove from the consent agenda? Is there any additional information we need to know? **[36:28] Justin Miller:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Item 6E is a contract amendment with Allina Health Emergency Medical Services, who provides our ALS ambulance service. They are asking for an amendment to the staffing requirements within that contract. This was reviewed by the ALS board and approved, and that board is then asking each of the three cities—Apple Valley, Lakeville, and Farmington—to approve. The reason I bring it up tonight is this agreement that's before you is a little bit different in form from what was in the packet. The substance is the same; it's just a change in the format. **[37:11] Joshua Lee:** Great. Any questions, comment? I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. **[37:19] Michelle Volk (Councilmember):** Moved. **[37:21] Dan Wolter:** Second. **[37:22] Joshua Lee:** We'll approve this by voice vote. All in favor say aye. **Council:** Aye. **Joshua Lee:** Any opposed say nay. [Silence] All right, that we have approved the consent agenda. We'll now move on to action items under line seven, starting with a public hearing on the application for Swing Lab Performance Golf to operate an on-sale malt liquor license. Does the applicant want to start off by introducing their topic first? **[37:56] Mick Thurs (Applicant):** Good evening. Mick Thurs, I live at 18133 Javelin Lane in Lakeville. I'm here representing Swing Lab. We opened about a year and a half ago downtown right on Holyoke Avenue. We're just asking—one of the things we found since we've been open is we have a lot of requests from our clients that come in and want to know if they can purchase beer while they're using the simulators. And so we thought, well, in the past we've had to tell them no and we realize we've lost business because of it. So we're asking just if we can have a malt license just to sell canned beer. We're going to do some pizzas, frozen foods, stuff like that—nothing major. I got enough food headaches with my coffee shop. [Laughter] **[38:43] Joshua Lee:** Very good, thank you very much. Is there a staff report? Nope. The police department did do a background check and everything is ready to go. Very good. Council, any questions or comment? **[39:07] Dan Wolter:** Well, I'm just wondering if their swing improves with a beer or... **[39:11] Mick Thurs:** From personal experience for me, yeah... no, not that good. [Laughter] **[39:16] Dan Wolter:** It sounds like a great idea. **[39:18] Joshua Lee:** All right, well then this is a public hearing so we will open it up for public comment if there is any. Are there any folks in the chamber or online who wish to speak on this item? All right, seeing none, do we have a motion to close the public hearing? **[39:34] Michelle Volk:** So moved. **[39:36] Dan Wolter:** Second. **[39:37] Joshua Lee:** We have a motion and a second. All in favor to close the public hearing say aye. **Council:** Aye. **Joshua Lee:** All opposed? [Silence] All right, the public hearing is closed. Council, are there any other questions or comments you have about the application? Very good, then is there a motion? **[40:02] Michelle Volk:** Yes, I move to grant an on-sale malt liquor license to Swing Lab Performance Golf located at 20721 Holyoke Avenue. **[40:09] Dan Wolter:** Second. **[40:11] Joshua Lee:** Have a motion and second. Roll call please. **[40:13] Ann Orlofsky:** Volk? **Michelle Volk:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Lee? **Joshua Lee:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Bermel? **John Bermel:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Wolter? **Dan Wolter:** Aye. **[40:14] Joshua Lee:** All right, it is approved. Congrats! **[40:19] Dan Wolter:** We'll meet you there! **[40:24] Joshua Lee:** All right, we'll now move on to Item B: Resolution ordering improvements and preparation of the plans for the 2025 street reconstruction projects. Mr. Oehme? **[40:34] Paul Oehme (Public Works Director):** Right. Good evening acting mayor, city council. Can I get the PowerPoint up there? So, tonight we'd like to have a public hearing for next year's street reconstruction project and ask that the council consider a resolution to move the project forward. Tonight's agenda is shown here. We'd like to discuss the purpose and need for the project. Typically we have an annual street reconstruction project that we do in the community where streets can no longer be maintained cost-effectively with minor maintenance. So this is the project that has been identified in our Capital Improvement Project (CIP) for 2025. We'd like to review the project scope with the council, talk about the financing, the preliminary proposed assessments, the schedule moving forward, and then at the end we'll hold a public hearing. A little background on the project itself: this is about 1.3 miles worth of reconstruction of city streets. Hayes and 170th Street is considered a collector road, and then Harbor Court is a cul-de-sac. The project is just west of Cedar Avenue and the western project limit is 175th Street. The reason for the project: the pavement is currently in poor condition. We rate our city streets every three years and have a scoring from 1 to 100. The streets in this area average out to about 43–44, which is in the category of reconstruction. We've also heard from residents about some traffic concerns—speeding and such—which we'd like to try to address. We do have a history of water main breaks in this area, especially along 170th Street. We have identified some drainage issues we'd like to make improvements to as well. Back in August of this year, the city council did authorize preparation of the feasibility study. Since then we've had two neighborhood meetings, one in September and another just last Thursday. Tonight we're having the public hearing. For the details, I'd like to invite up Jeff Oliver with WSB and Associates. Jeff and WSB have been working on the feasibility study and on the preliminary design. Fun fact about Jeff: he used to work for the City of Lakeville in the engineering department back in the early '90s, so this is kind of a "come home" project for him. **[44:17] Jeff Oliver (WSB):** Welcome back members of the city council, it is very nice to be back. It's been 30 years since I stood behind this podium, but it's a joy. My wife and I bought our first home in Lakeville before we moved. It's been wonderful to see the changes that have occurred here. As mentioned, we finalized the feasibility report. The project is going to utilize pavement reclamation, where we basically grind up the existing pavement with a portion of the gravel base. We are repairing curb and gutter that is broken or settled and making modifications to non-compliant pedestrian ramps. Once all that work is done, the road is graded and pavement is placed. One of the things we did hear through the public process was concerns about traffic speed and stop compliance on these collector streets. We performed a search of crash history. There were 36 total crashes recorded within the corridor, and two of them were at an all-way stop intersection of Hayes and 172nd. There were no other crashes in the proper of Hayes and 170th; they were primarily focused at Cedar Avenue. We also performed traffic volume and speed surveys this fall. On Hayes, we had 1,550 vehicles, of which 71% were at 30 mph or less, and 98% were at 35 mph or less. 170th was a little bit higher volumes and a little bit poorer compliance, with 54% going the speed limit or lower and 96% going 35 and lower. This indicates to us that there is an issue with speed, particularly on 170th, and that could be that the street may be being used as a shortcut to skip some of the intersections along Cedar. However, that being said, I think that the volumes and the speed profile that we saw here are fairly typical for collector streets of this size and nature. Some of the things we've been discussing to address those traffic issues are modified pavement markings—widening striping on the edges and adding stop bars—and narrowing the lanes with the painting. We've also looked at changes to signing, including the flashing stop signs and larger speed limit signs. We've looked at the installation of traffic circles, which are very small and typically fit within the existing footprint of an intersection. City of Minneapolis is experimenting with those. We're also looking into potential mini-roundabouts. We'll be coming back with final design direction on the traffic calming. The water main improvements occurring on Hayes Avenue are primarily re-bolting of all the fittings and installation of anode bags to prevent further corrosion. On the 170th portion, we're doing in-place water main lining. This is being bid as a bid alternate. With the water main lining, there's significantly less disruption to the neighborhood; we don't have to tear up the entire street with a 20-foot wide, 8-foot deep trench. It does require we install temporary water to supply each of the homes. The estimated project cost and financing: General Improvement Bonds for the reclamation total about 1.4 million. Special assessments for the street reclamation and storm sewer work is just under $600,000. Property tax reimbursed General Improvement Bonds for the mill and overlay portion is just under $2 million. The water operating fund will be picking up an estimated $2.1 million. Sanitary sewer operating fund is about $889,000. And the storm sewer infrastructure fund is about $260,000. Project costs for the street reconstruction and storm sewer will be specially assessed consistent with your policy, and that's 40% of those costs. The water main, sanitary sewer, and the new storm sewer improvements are not part of the assessments. The estimated assessments for this project for Hayes and 170th are about $6,200 for the single-family homes and about $3,100 for the duplex and townhomes. Final assessment amounts will be finalized with the bid once the bids are open. Deferments under your policy are available; anybody that believes they may qualify should contact your Finance Department. Most of the questions we heard were regarding assessments—the terms, interest rates, etc. We did have comments regarding traffic concerns and storm water drainage. Schedule: bid opening is February 19th and the assessment hearing is scheduled for April 7th. Construction starts in May and completed in the fall. Our recommendation is that the project is feasible, necessary, and cost-effective. **[55:25] Joshua Lee:** Thank you. Any questions from Council? **[55:29] Michelle Volk:** I had two. Could you remind me with those estimates of the assessments, where does that fall in line for our payback policy in terms of the term that's available for those estimates? **[55:41] Jeff Oliver:** I believe it's a 15-year payback period for both the 6,000 and the 3,000, sir. **[55:48] Paul Oehme:** I'm sorry, but it's for the $6,300 assessment that's 15 years, and then for the $3,000 and some change, that'll be the 10-year term. **[56:03] Michelle Volk:** Okay, just wanted to clarify that, thank you. And then my question was about temporary water. How does that happen? **[56:15] Jeff Oliver:** Well, basically it's a plastic pipe that for the most part is laying on the ground. Services come off of that and are typically tapped into the hose bib on the front of the house. We handle crossing driveways by blistering over it with gravel or a wood ramp. Across streets, we sometimes do cut the pavement and bury them about a foot deep. **[57:25] Michelle Volk:** In terms of access to residences, there'll be a schedule that residents will know about? **[57:31] Jeff Oliver:** That's correct. **[57:37] Joshua Lee:** Very good, thank you. Any other questions? Then we will move into a public hearing for this item. Again, if you do have comment, I'll ask you to step forward, state your name and address, and keep that to under three minutes. Is there anyone here wishing to speak? Yes? **[58:05] Unidentified Resident:** My question is the $6,000... I'm just trying to learn this. Who gets charged that? Is that the resident that lives at the house? **[58:24] Paul Oehme:** They are paying that, correct, for the improvement of the road. **[58:27] Resident:** Does that happen every time a road is improved in Lakeville? **[58:32] Paul Oehme:** It depends if it's a mill and overlay project or a full reconstruction. **[58:35] Resident:** Okay, and then that 15 years is how long they have to pay? **[58:41] Paul Oehme:** That is one of the payment options, correct. **[58:45] Resident:** Got it. All right, thank you. **[59:04] Todd Auld (Resident):** My name is Todd Auld and I live at 17439 Hayes Avenue. I would just like the city council here to really seriously consider traffic calming capability on Hayes Avenue. My wife and I and kids lived there for 20 years and the community is turning over and there are lots of kids in a very short gap from one stop sign to another stop sign. People use that as like a drag race. I just encourage the city as they look at doing this reconstruction to really consider traffic mitigation options for that. Thank you very much for your time. **[1:00:09] Joshua Lee:** Thank you for your comment. Is there anyone online? All right, I don't see any other comment. Is there a motion to close the public hearing? **[1:00:20] Dan Wolter:** I move to close the public hearing. **[1:00:21] John Bermel (Councilmember):** Second. **[1:00:24] Joshua Lee:** All those in favor say aye. **Council:** Aye. **Joshua Lee:** All those opposed say nay. [Silence] Public hearing is closed. Is there any other comment or questions that Council has? If not, then I will take a motion. **[1:00:41] Michelle Volk:** I move to approve a resolution ordering the improvements and authorizing the preparation of plans and specifications for the 2025 Street Reconstruction Project, City Project 25-02. **[1:01:05] Dan Wolter:** Second. **[1:01:07] Joshua Lee:** Motion and a second. Can we do a roll call vote please? **[1:01:09] Ann Orlofsky:** Bermel? **John Bermel:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Wolter? **Dan Wolter:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Volk? **Michelle Volk:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Lee? **Joshua Lee:** Aye. **[1:01:14] Joshua Lee:** Thank you very much. It's my understanding that there are additional conversations happening, particularly in regard to the traffic calming strategies going forward, so I do appreciate the comment on that. We will now move on to Item 7C, the Cedar Hills North preliminary plat. **[1:01:31] Steve Trosky (Lennar):** Good evening. I'm Steve Trosky with Lennar, happy to be back in front of the council seeking approval on a preliminary plat of a community we are calling Cedar Hills North. We anticipate three phases for this project and at full build-out we will have approximately 232 homes. The single-family homes will look a lot like what you see at our community, Cedar Hills, directly to the south. I know Miss Goodroad has an in-depth presentation to give you, and when she's complete I'm happy to come back and answer any questions you may have. **[1:02:13] Tina Goodroad (Community Development Director):** Good evening Council. The property is located north of 200th Street, just at the corner of 200th and Cedar Avenue. The development proposal includes 88 single-family lots and 144 attached townhomes. There is a gas line easement that runs through the site, which created some challenges, as well as the realigned restored channel that runs through the site. We really worked with Lennar at minimizing the crossings for that channel. The property will be phased in three phases starting from the south and going north. You can see the different phases on the screen. There are some existing trees—they're not of high-value trees—just around the homesteads, which will be removed. The applicant is providing quite a bit of new landscaping in terms of screening along 200th Street as well as along Cedar Avenue. There'll also be new trails built along both of those roadways. The Planning Commission did hold a public hearing on this project at their last meeting on November 7th and unanimously recommended approval. **[1:05:43] Joshua Lee:** Council, any questions? Since this has come up tonight, could you describe what you mean by "valuable trees" and what we consider valuable? **[1:05:54] Tina Goodroad:** Yeah, we define significant trees... I don't have the list off the top of my head... but the majority of the trees here were Box Elder. Those are more of an infestation type of tree which we want to see removed. I did talk to the resident earlier and did give her my card so we can continue to have that conversation. **[1:06:23] Joshua Lee:** Very good. This is not a public hearing; however, I do welcome any comments or questions folks have. Seeing none, I will take a motion. **[1:06:40] Michelle Volk:** I move to approve a resolution approving the Cedar Hills North preliminary plat. **[1:06:44] Dan Wolter:** Second. **[1:06:48] Joshua Lee:** Motion and a second. Can we do a roll call vote? **[1:06:50] Ann Orlofsky:** Wolter? **Dan Wolter:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Volk? **Michelle Volk:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Lee? **Joshua Lee:** Aye. **Ann Orlofsky:** Bermel? **John Bermel:** Aye. **[1:06:54] Joshua Lee:** It is approved, thank you very much. All right, we will now move on to our final action item tonight, Item 7D, which is related to utility franchise fees. And as our Assistant City Administrator comes up, I did want to just comment that there has been significant public input to date. We've received as Council emails, there has been a Q&A form on the website that has been utilized, and we've seen that feedback. Our mayor, who is not able to be here tonight, did ask me to read something real quick just to acknowledge receipt of some of that feedback. "I regret that I cannot join you in person this evening, but I want to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for participating in this public hearing on franchise fees. While the council will not be voting on this this evening, your engagement and feedback are vital to making informed decisions that reflect the needs and desires of the community. Please know that I am fully committed to hearing your thoughts and taking your comments seriously. I will review the feedback shared during this session and provide any necessary follow-up. Your voices are essential to our decision-making process and I look forward to addressing any concerns or suggestions you may have. Thank you once again for your involvement and dedication. I'm eager to review the discussions from tonight's hearing and look forward to discussing this issue with the council at the next meeting in December. —Luke Hellier." With that, Mr. Kuennen, if you wouldn't mind with the staff report. **[1:08:44] Allyn Kuennen (Assistant City Administrator):** Thank you acting mayor, city council. Tonight we're just going to go through the history of how we got to this point and then we'll open it up for some public input. What are franchise fees? The city currently has franchise agreements with Xcel, Dakota Electric, and CenterPoint Energy that allow those utilities to be placed in the city's right-of-way. Minnesota state statute does allow the cities to impose a franchise fee for the installation of those utilities within the right-of-way. Intended uses of the fees: over the past two years, the city is working with transitioning the fire department from a paid-on-call to a hybrid department with full-time firefighters. This transition will require all four fire stations to undergo extensive renovations. The estimated cost is anticipated to range from $60 to $68 million. The city has also received $7.9 million in state and federal funding to help construct the first responder training center on the south of the river. The total cost of that project is $22 to $24 million. How did the fees get determined? To initially provide the funds needed, the city will need to issue General Obligation bonds—which are loans, almost like a mortgage—which would need to be paid back over the next 20 years. The city calculated what the yearly payment would be. The fee would be charged to a single-family home for gas and electric service at $6 per utility, or a total of $12. The fee for commercial and industrial users will vary based on their usage. Franchise fees versus property tax levy: Franchise fees will be at a set rate and won't fluctuate from year to year unlike taxes, which are based on property values. Franchise fees are also equally spread across all gas and electric users, including tax-exempt properties like churches. Use of franchise fees would also provide the least financial impact versus taxes. For example, the annual franchise fee for a residential home is $144. If the cost was placed on the tax levy, that same home by 2026 would be paying $164 in taxes and continue to increase based on the property value. Timeline: Council directed staff to move forward with implementing franchise fees in July. Statute requires a 90-day period prior to council adopting the ordinances for public input. If council does approve the ordinance in December, there's an additional 90 days for the utilities to implement the fees. Public outreach included social media, the website, and a half-page notice in the quarterly newsletter sent to every household. Next steps: tonight is a public information session. At the next meeting in December, Council would consider adoption. If approved, fees would take effect on April 1st of 2025. Staff is available for any questions. **[1:16:15] Joshua Lee:** Thank you very much. As mentioned, this is not a public hearing; this is a feedback session, so there will not be a vote tonight. Is there anyone in the chambers wishing to speak on this topic? **[1:17:15] Danne Schneeman:** Again, Danne Schneeman, 16851 Javelin Ave. I would just ask what cost-cutting measures and competitive bid process is put forward to make sure that construction costs are minimized? Things that are necessary are happening, things that are unnecessary are not happening? I'll look more into that, but that's just something that first comes to mind. Thank you very much for listening. **[1:17:43] Derek Doel (Resident):** Evening. Derek Doel, 17718 Hickory Court. I've already exchanged emails with each of you. Large criminal enterprises often use shell companies to reroute funds to create the illusion that money came from someplace else, and we call that money laundering. In the State of Minnesota, cities often use a tax term calling it "franchise fees," which is basically the same thing. Not one cent of this fee actually comes from the utilities. You're saying you're charging the utility to use this public land, but you're not—you're charging us. We use property taxes to fund our basic services. Those taxes are designed to distribute the burden based on the ability to pay. There can only be two reasons to devise a strategy that pretends to create a new bucket of money: either to shield the council from accountability, or that the council thinks the property tax structure inappropriately allows lower-income citizens, churches, and other nonprofit organizations to avoid paying their fair share. People living at the poverty level shouldn't have to pay the same as millionaires just because they have the audacity to try to heat their homes. Minimizing the impact of $144 a year on struggling families or elderly citizens living on a fixed income is embarrassingly tone-deaf. Combining this tax with upcoming rate increases from Dakota Electric, some people are going to see nearly a 20% increase in their utility bills. We don't need a new way of taxing our citizens. I'm aware other cities are taking advantage of this franchise fee loophole, but none of those cities do I admire emulating. Thank you. **[1:20:04] Drew Boord (Resident):** Drew Boord, 20359 Hampton Avenue. What happens when the 20 years is up? Is that on the information somewhere? **[1:20:41] Justin Miller:** There are 20-year agreements that would have to be renewed, so it does have a sunset on it, correct. **[1:20:53] Drew Boord:** Cool, thank you. And was other financing considered with the state legislature? I know they granted some cities local sales tax options. Was that explored at all? **[1:21:13] Joshua Lee:** It's a good question. We can provide more information on that. **[1:21:33] Sher Wisnoski:** Sher Wisnoski, 209th Street West. When was it decided to do the fire station and bring it up to a level, and how was that decided? **[1:22:10] Joshua Lee:** That probably deserves a little bit more explanation as well. We can add that to our list of questions to pull together afterwards. Is there anyone else? All right. We have received several comments via email. Mr. Miller, can you provide responses to some of these questions? **[1:22:42] Justin Miller:** Sure. Regarding a local option sales tax, there's currently a moratorium on cities asking for that at the legislature. It's been in place for the past two years. We did receive funding to the tune of $7 million toward funding the FIRST Center through the state bonding bill. In relation to the fire improvements, the council's been discussing fire department staffing for several years. 2024 was the first year that we hired six full-time firefighters. We also recently received a grant to fund another 15 firefighters for three years. By 2025, we'll have 21 full-time firefighters in addition to the 50 to 70 paid-on-call firefighters. Because our volunteer firefighters live at their houses, they don't need living quarters, but full-time firefighters do. That is what is necessitating the upgrade to the fire stations. **[1:25:05] Joshua Lee:** Thank you Mr. Miller. Are there any announcements tonight? **[1:25:32] Michelle Volk:** Can I just mention one thing? Mr. Miller, you'll have to help me on the date again... there is the Pavilion on the arena... it's open to the public. I wanted to say it was November 30th. It's a great way to have the public come and see it for the first time and see how things are operating at the arenas. **[1:26:40] Joshua Lee:** Very good. I am seeking a motion to adjourn to a closed session to develop or consider an offer for the sale of real property located at 20830 Keokuk Avenue, Lakeville, Minnesota, pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13D.05 subdivision 3(c)(3). **[1:27:07] Dan Wolter:** That's my motion. **[1:27:08] John Bermel:** Second. **[1:27:10] Joshua Lee:** All in favor say aye. **Council:** Aye. **Joshua Lee:** All opposed? [Silence] All right, we are now moving to closed session. **[1:27:32] [Music]**