Clerk, can you please do a roll call? >> Council member Walsh is excused for the evening. Council member Gerola >> here. Council member West here. >> Council member Edberg. >> Council member Edstrand here. >> Mayor Niklosski here. >> All right. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I 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. >> All right, welcome everybody to tonight's meeting and all those who are watching on TV, welcome. Um, we appreciate having you all here. Um we're going to go right into item uh 2 a um approval of the minutes of the regular council meeting on March 24th, 2026. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. The approval of the minutes is accepted. Um item three, adopt the agenda. Does anyone have any changes to the agenda? Move the agenda. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? And we have an agenda. Item four, the consent agenda. Does anyone have any changes to the consent agenda? Seeing none, >> move to approve. Second. >> H. All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. We have the consent agenda is approved. Item five, visitors and presentation. Um, I have a proclamation to read for Arbor Day, um, which I will read now. Uh, whereas the city of White Bear Lake has historically been committed to maintaining the urban forest in city parks and throughout the city by adding to and replacing its valuable tree stock. And whereas the city annually confirms its commitment to urban forest by promoting public awareness of forestry issues through tree planting projects, tree pruning and maintenance seminars, invasive species control projects, and other educational opportunities. And whereas the city is celebrating its 39th year of being a tree city as part of the Tree City USA program, which was founded in 1976 to celebrate towns and cities committed to growing their urban canopy and has helped more than 3,500 communities across the country build out their urban forests. And whereas the city recognizes Arbor Day as an annual occasion during which the community pauses to recognize the importance of trees and their impact in our environment and daily lives and encourages public awareness of urban forestry issues. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community and park system. And whereas trees are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. And whereas the mayor and city council desire to extend their support for recognition of the importance of trees in our city. Now therefore, I, Mary, mayor of the city of White Bear Lake, do hereby proclaim May 21st, 2026 as Arbor Day in White Bear Lake. and with fellow members of the city council, the park board, and city staff do hereby call upon all White Bear Lake residents to participate in the annual Arbor Day observance. We'll now sign it. So, everybody go out and enjoy the trees on May 21st. Thank you. Um item 5B, we're going to swear in a firefighter. Um and we're also going to have the fire department bianual report. Chief Peterson. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um want to say thank you to you and the rest of the council for your continued support. Tonight, I'm going to introduce you to Michelle Redland. She's our newest full-time firefighter paramedic. Um Michelle had a a very prestigious previous career but decided that the fire service is probably going to be a little bit more fulfilling for her. Uh it was her words and within her interview and we're glad that she's here with us. She started with the Manameidi Fire Department back in 2022 uh and enjoyed that and was an EMT and decided to go to paramedic school at Century College and she did um an extensive ride along program with our fire department and she enjoyed our department and we enjoyed her and when she applied um to become a full-time employee with us we were pretty happy about that and she was selected amongst the candidates to uh to serve in that role. So, she started with us in May 27th of last year and now has completed all of her probationary regulations in terms of all our different certifications and expectations that are set forth. Um, outside of work, she en enjoys spending time with her husband David and her son Micah. Uh, and they do a lot of running and biking and hiking and boating, all different types of activities that we all enjoy. So, um, at this time I'll invite her Michelle up with her son Micah. He's going to do the badge pinning. So, Callie, do the oath of office. >> Repeat after me. >> I >> I >> say your name. >> Michelle Redlin. >> Do solemnly swear >> Do solemnly swear >> that I will support >> that I will support >> the Constitution of the United States. the Constitution of the United States >> and the State of Minnesota >> and the State of Minnesota >> and will discharge >> and will discharge >> and faithfully execute >> and faithfully execute >> the duties devolving upon me >> the duties devolving upon me >> as a member of the fire department >> as a member of the fire department >> for the city of White Bear Lake >> for the city of Whitebird Lake >> without fear or favor >> without fear or favor >> to the best of my judgment and ability >> to the best of my judgment and ability >> congratulations Thank you. >> Yay. Thank you so much. Thank you, Michelle. Now they're all going to head back. We have a pile of Girl Scout cookies to go make a dent in. So, thank you for everybody being here. Appreciate it. >> Congratulations, Michelle. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh so mayor and council members, I'd like to present at this time an update of the department. So I'm going to go over some highlevel statistics from last year and some major programs that we have going on currently. Please feel free to ask me questions uh as we go here. So this is I know all of you know this but I always do this as a reminder to anybody that might be watching. So we our service area is the city White Bear Lake, White Bear Township, Delwood, Birchwood, Gem Lake. It's about 35 square miles. It's a pretty good size uh response area and uh residents about 38,000 but there's a lot of people that come into the area during the work day and work week uh that we also help to protect and and travel through the area. Our staffing level currently is we have three chief officers, myself uh and two assistant chiefs. um one administrative assistant, three full-time captains who are also paramedics, 15 full-time firefighters who are al are paramedics, and then three full-time firefighter EMTs, which were new um last year. Um and so that is worked out. So that correlates to seven full-time uh staff per shift and we have some part-time staff that um that are still on the department and then they help to fill in the shifts in addition to those staff that are on duty. We have three different shifts. There's A, B, and C shift. They work 24-hour shifts starting at 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 the next morning. Um, and then the part-time staff works from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night or 6:00 at night until 6:00 in the morning depending upon which they choose. They can work either of those. Um, but they are responsible for one or the other in terms of callbacks. The picture on the right there was a fire that we had earlier this year. Um, it was a garage fire and you can see the the firefighter off to the left lower corner if you will of that picture. uh that is Ella Divine and herself and Josh Surmeck and and Captain Bergland uh were able to stop that fire about where Ella is standing. Um and so that is a a heck of a an ability. Um the fire was coming out. You can see kind of upper upper left side of the picture, the fire is actually coming through the roof of the back of the garage already and extending to the porch on the back side of it. So, um, they do all of the staff do an excellent job, um, at at doing what we're what we're here to do. We have one part-time captain, EMT, Dave Peterson, and one part-time Lieutenant EMT, Steve Vulber. He's the one with that stash thing he had going on. It's kind of frightening. Um, and then five part-time firefighter EMTs, uh, that still are on the department. So this last year, one of the things we did is there was a an analytics module for our data and and I know uh you want more and more of that and so we want to be able to provide that. One of the things it's capable of is creating heat maps which is what this is. So this is where most of our call volume is. Um unfortunately I can't really zoom in on it uh as much as I'd like to. If we were doing it live, I could show you, you know, the area we could zoom into areas. But in general, you can see where most of our call volume is kind of in the center of the the city um throughout our response area. A little bit of smattering here and there. A little bit of mutual aid with our the people around us, but most of it's right smack dab in the middle of the city. Our call volume last year, you can see it went up. If you remember, I said the last couple of years it had gone down slightly, but I anticipated that it would go up over the course of time. I didn't think that was going to that trend of downward call volume was going to sustain itself and and it didn't. Uh so last year we had 5,112 calls um which was about a 7% increase from the year before. So we almost completely made up for um what what that that downward trend bed. highest was a few years ago now was 5283 and for a while we were trending at 9% and we would have beaten it by then but at the end of the year it slowed down. So so the the split again remains the same every year. Every year it's pretty much the same. Uh so most of what we do is medical calls with the ambulance service that we provide and and then the rest of it is what we classify as fire and rescue calls. basically all calls that aren't ambulance calls. Um and so that that is the split. Um again 7% increase. I already went through all of this and there it was due to a variety of reasons. One of them was simply we had if you remember we had at least two significant storms that came through the area and so that in itself generates a lot of calls. Um, the other piece of it is we we have more and more mutual aid partners that we work with that are they were unusually busy last year. Um, and so we went to a lot of their fires uh in their calls that were were going on. Um, I have more data coming up so don't worry. Uh, but one thing is our citizens fire academy. So we started that la again last year. The department had historically done it for a period of time. Um and then we got that going up up and running again. We had only had four students last year, but we have 22 this year. Um which is fantastic. Um and they are a very talkative group. Uh and they ask a lot of really good inquisitive questions and we we are really enjoying teaching them and we provide as much detail. It's a 8-week program so we we get into a lot of things with them. uh whether it be the history um what we do, hands-on stuff, you name it, we we do all of it with them. Um some of you came over to check out the new engine um just uh just before this meeting started. So, this is our new engine. We had ordered this over two years ago. It was about two and a halfish years ago. Um and the truck at the time when we we made the the agreement and and thank you for the council, the members that were here to agree to it for the future council members. Um because the the cost of this truck at the time was $944,000. Now it would be well over a million for the same truck. Um and because of because of the market and because of what's going on and and the delays, it would have cost at least another $4 to $600,000 than what we paid for it previously. So we're very fortunate to have it. It's a great truck. The crews really like it. It's very similar to our ladder truck. Um, it's the same manufacturers. A lot of the systems are the same. The layout's the same. Um, so it's great. It's a very, very, very reliable truck. We also got a new ambulance. Um, similar again to our previous trucks, but has a lot of technology in it that the previous trucks did not as far as cameras where we can see people for our own safety, patient safety. None of it is recorded, but it's much they're much more situationally aware. uh instead of driving down the road and you hear a ruckus from your partner in the back of the ambulance, you have no idea what's going on. Now they can look at a screen and see what's going on. Um and so that that in itself is helpful. And there's cameras on the outside above the wheel wells in the front that see along the side of the truck. So if somebody's approaching us um or somebody's near us or another vehicle um they can also see that. So it is uh we just keep refining um the trucks as the technology is available and it makes it safer for for all of us. Back to some more data. So I know one of the things that everybody wants to know on a regular basis is what's our response time. So for our entire response area for that 35 square miles, our average response times is is six minutes and 26 seconds. Um which is pretty darn good. Um, you know, there's obviously some calls that are are a lot faster than that and there's some calls that are longer than that and that just is has to do with geography and where we happen to be and where the call is when the call comes out. Um, but overall it's pretty darn good. I don't know how much more we're going to be able to drive that down without adding another fogger station or two. Uh, but but that is pretty good. So, I'm I'm happy with that. I think that's a pretty good number. EMS call types again remain the same year after year after year. So most of the calls we get are for six people breathing problems, psych problems, falls and unconscious. And you know what causes the fall or what causes the unconscious or breathing problem? Breathing problem might be a cardiac arrest like this is what we're called for. Not necessarily what we find. Um but it is consistently the same thing. I wanted to break this out for everybody. So you kind of want to know, you know, where do we do most of our work? I am a visual person. So I thought, you know what, I'm going to get that on a graph so everybody can see it. So most and remember when you're looking at this, most of what we do in and whether it's the city or any other of the other cities I provide service with for rather um we most of that is EMS calls. Um and so you know the city by far is most of the work that we do and then the township, Delwood, Gem Lake and Birchwood. Um and so it drops off pretty significantly after that. As far as auto aid goes, meaning when we automatically go to another department or they come to us, again, our neighbors were pretty busy last year. Um so we we helped them out 43 times, they helped us out 24 times. Uh and sometimes these calls, this is what were called for, not necessarily was something going on. Um and so this is a breakdown of just the the nature of the call itself. EMS calls continue to be we continue to do more um helping out our um mutual aid companies more than we do uh receive ourselves. I'm not we can't be partners and not partners at the same time. So there's no easy fix to this. Um, but we they definitely continue to lean on this and some of the council members who've been around for a while know that it used to be flipped. Um, and so we are we're sitting in a pretty good spot right now. Uh, it isn't overbearing. It was even a few years ago a lot worse than this uh, as far as that discrepancy goes. So, it's getting better. Um, but you know, having our own EMS agency is very beneficial because the the other private agencies might be bigger than us, but they're having a hard time covering their own responsibilities. So, we're pretty fortunate to have what we have. This is another one that it was never easy to figure out for all of you. So, I finally have it in the slide because we have an analytics program that can show this. So what this is is the number of times we the percentage of times we have over overlapping calls. All right. Um and so meaning we have more than one call going on at the same time. Um so 47% of the time we have two calls going on and you can see the you know the numbers from there. Um and so about 16% of the time we have three calls going on and then four calls and five calls and sometimes we'll get up to six but it statistically isn't relevant for all the rest of the day. So it's not in there. Um and so it is uh kind of the nature of the business where sometimes we'll be sitting around wondering, you know, when the call next call is going to come in and then all of a sudden there it is. And unfortunately emergencies and when people call 911 is not scheduled. Um and so we have to be reactive and in available and ready to respond um whenever that happens. One of the things that we uh we study very closely is our cardiac arrest data. Uh our mean age for cardiac arrest is 61, which is really no surprise for everybody that's familiar with our demographics within our response area. Um most of those occur in somebody's residence. So it isn't very often that they're outside or doing well they might be outside but they're not out in public but rather in their homes. Um but this is pretty astounding um if you're following the numbers here. So the national average and and survival means cognitively functioning well um not uh you know they're no longer there cognitively but this is they made a good recovery good or complete recovery. Um and there's a lot of different scales to that but so these are based stats based on the top two. So the national average is 9.2% 2% and ours is for last year was 29.2%. Which is fantastic. Um and so again the the level of care and our ability to respond really makes a huge difference. One of the things that is worth noting though is a big part of that has to do with citizen CPR. People that are in their homes or near a neighbors and they know how to do CPR and they showed up last year and helped out makes all the difference in the world. So, if we can get them uh to them in time and either shock them um immediately or get CPR started and then shock them and and do the IVs and the drugs and all the things that we can do as paramedics, they have a pretty good chance of surviving nowadays. Um we can get them to the the U of M. Brian works for a program called ECMO where they it's basically bypass if you will. And if we can get them on that, their their their percentage of saves is over 60%. It's phenomenal what they're able to do nowadays. So, uh, pretty incredible stuff. It kind of helps that we know Brian because he can, uh, get things started a little sooner for us. So, uh, that works out pretty good. Another thing that we're doing is carbon monoxide detectors right now. So, there's still a lot of people each year, you can see on the slide there, at 14 per year in Minnesota still die of carbon monoxide. Uh, so it's a colorless and odorless gas, meaning people have no idea it's there unless there's a detector there to let them know that it's there. One of the things I want to remind everybody about is they do expire after 7 years. And so if they're seven years or older, they need to be replaced. And I I don't I think a lot of people don't know that. Uh, so I wanted to make sure we shared that. So we're working with the state fire marshall's office. They gave us 108 devices to to put into residents in different homes. And so we're doing that. One of the things as part of that program, we have to be the ones to install them. Now, that's not complicated. Um, but it's just the only way to track them to make sure for sure that they didn't just pick it up and put it on the shelf. And, you know, someday they'll remember to plug that device in. So, we are going to all these different residents. We've gone through almost half of them already. And we just posted it about a week ago. And so, it they're going quickly, which is which is great. We're trying to get them to everybody's homes. I wanted to highlight so obviously we're all familiar with the tragedy that happened in our response area and yesterday we went to North St. Paul to help their fire department out and there was another fire victim uh that died uh due to the being exposed to the fire. And so I just want to remind all of you and the public to share um that how quickly fires burn in modern day. And so this is uh screenshots. I didn't want to take up everybody's time by watching the video of this, but this is under under writer's laboratory uh scientific study that they did. And so this is a fire in a typical room of modern furnishings. And within 2 minutes, that's what the fire looks like. Now, if you imagine if you were standing up and you were taking in some of that smoke and you're hoffing, you're coughing and you're hacking and you're disoriented. um that within 2 minutes, that's what is going to take place. Um and then if you go just another minute 40 later, that's what that same compartment looks like. Um that same room looks like. And so that's that's pretty frightening. Um and and I don't mean to scare everybody. I just want people to be aware. I was talking to the state fire marshal over the weekend and we are at a very high rate of deaths throughout the state already. and everybody, all of us in the fire service are trying to scratch our heads going, how do we get the message out to try and stop this trend? Um, and so I I think one of the ways is to just be very direct with everybody. Um, and this is what it is. Here's all our our, you know, safety messaging. These are the best things you can do to help protect yourself and your family uh from a fire. So, I just wanted to remind everybody of that and the the live fire training that we did last fall. So, um, this was a a house over a Hoffman Road, and this was a lot of fun. So, former mayor Dan Lewis was there, council member Walsh was there, assistant city manager Rick Juba was part of that crew that's standing there. And then Birwood, Mayor Jennifer Arsenal was part of this. And generally, Council Member Josh Patrick is all part of that crew with myself and Josh and Brian standing in front of the house. So, this is just before we went into that house. We uh had a bunch of pallets and straw and cardboard in a big pile inside the front living room area. We lit it on fire so that they could experience um that while they're in there. So, that was uh I encourage all of you to do that if you haven't done that. Maybe Steve could pass or be the instructor, one of the two. I don't know. Uh he he knows a thing or two. Um, but that was a really good experience and everybody that did it really enjoyed it and we we promise to keep everybody safe. Um, but it's a very much an eyeopener as far as what I just showed you. Um, and what that looks like and then also what it looks like from our crews point of view, what they do and how they respond and how they react to that and the little things that they do to try to keep control of the fire and and get in there as fast as they can. So, it was a really good uh good training for all of us. So, it was great. That's what I have for you tonight, unless you have any questions for me. >> Does anyone have any questions? Council member West. >> Thank you. Um, you talked to us about the cost of the fire truck, but not the cost of the ambulance, which I understand is also pretty expensive. Can you share that? >> Sure. So, the ambulance is $370,000. All of the costs of the vehicles have gone up the last five years have gone up significantly significantly. The the first ambulance when I purchased when I I first started here, which was just a little over eight years ago now, um was $215,000. And so during that time, you know, it keeps going up. I anticipate it will keep going up. There are some lawsuits out there um against manufacturers saying that, you know, hey, the costs are out of hand and you're gouging people. And I don't know how much of that is true. Of course, there's always two sides of the story, but they're saying, look, everything we buy is more expensive. So, I I guess my message to all of you is that I would anticipate like everything in this world, the costs will continue to go up um as as we go through the years. And how often um do we have to replace usually ambulances and fire trucks? >> So the so the fire trucks the main pieces of apparatus like the engine we were just looking at that's we we have it scheduled for 20 years. The ambulances we have we've moved them around a little bit but they're about 5 to 8ish years kind of depending on the timing of them. We try to or that's what I mean. It's kind of slide. It's moved but six is okay is where we're at now. Um and so we try to if we go longer than that they become very costly. Even the ambulance we just replaced the transmission went out la this last year just before we got this one. And had they gotten it to us on time we would have avoided that. Um, but the ambulance sold for $8,500 after we paid what's comp in comparable days dollars $370,000. So, it's uh it's a challenge. >> I want to add to that. That's the all-in price. >> Yes. >> That's to that's the stretcher inside of the ambulance. That's all the equipment, all the hose, and all of that on the engine. So, and then there was a trade-in value, very minimal compared to what it cost, but everything counts. >> Yeah. The used engine, uh, the the vendor gave us $60,000 for it, which was really good uh, in comparison. Previous engines we had sold for about $12,000. So, that was actually a pretty good offering on their part. >> I just had one other question, I think. Um, when you showed us the percentage of calls that had multiple calls and it kind of went from 47% with two or more calls on up, is there also um kind of a percentage of time when there's only one call or is there I mean I guess you know just to kind of get a full picture of because I think that there's a lot of downtime but then when there's uptime there's a lot of uptime like it just >> correct So >> it's about 30% of the time um there isn't a call. And so those stats, the way it pulls it, it's based on hours and in metrics. It's kind of a weird way they calculated, but that's as close as I could get because trying to go through, you know, line by line every call for a year and then figure out when they cleared and when they didn't, that's pretty dog on close. So, >> but yes, there is some downtime when there is less than two calls going on. Yeah, that was great data today. Thank you. >> It was really good. It was really helpful. I'm a visual, too. That was super helpful. Is does anybody Oh, Council Member Edber. >> Thank you, Mayor. Chief, thank you for the data. Appreciated that. It's awesome. Um, as you look at who we are serving, particularly with our EMS visits, um, trips, are we noticing any noticeable changes in demographics? Like our communities getting older? Is that a is a higher percentage of our calls that therefore getting older or is the age distribution or the you know any of those kinds of factors changing at all in meaningful ways? >> It it is getting in general it's getting older. There was another chart that the the the analytics program will push out but if I were to try to show you on a screen like this it would be too small to see it. Um, but it breaks it out between male and female and then each age range by every nine years or 10 years depending upon how you look at it. Almost all of it is from the ages of 50 to 75ish. A very small amount of anybody less than 10 years old. you know, tiny little bits up until that, but it is reflective of our community and that's the majority of what we're doing. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I was pleased with your report on the response time. Um, 35 square miles. We the mean was 6 whatever that was, 6.23 minutes. Um, what was it? If we were if I were talking with folks on the street and said, "Okay, the average is this, but the range the fastest is here and the to get to the most remote or the the most place to get to. >> What's the range look like?" >> It can be within, you know, a few minutes depending upon if they're close to one of the stations. Probably some of the longest response times would be about nine 10 minutes if we were to go a ways away in in one direction or another. A lot of the far end of Delwood is around 10 minutes if you will. There's a little piece of what you would think would be North Oaks, but it's actually the township up by the the yard waste site that is actually our response area is a tiny little area. It takes us a little while to get up there. Um, it's just what it is. >> Okay. Thank you. F. What's the fastest? If we're on the south end and you get a call at the South Station, >> less than a mile, what are we looking at? >> Uh, a couple minutes, two, three minutes. >> That's awesome. >> Mhm. >> And it makes me feel safe. >> Yeah. >> I'm I'm six blocks. >> Depends on driving. >> So, with our our >> What should I ask for? Ste Steve will tell our our standards are that they with for an EMS call they're on the road within a minute of the time the call drops and then for the um fire calls we want them to be on the road within 90 seconds. Now we don't meet that all of the time but that is what we aim for. Um, and so it's pretty good. And and one of the things we can do with the pro program we have is we can put up those dashboards on screens. And one of the end results of that was the shifts could see where they were at. And then they were driving each other to move faster because it became we didn't we didn't tell them it was competition, but they they saw that as an opportunity like, "Hey, I want to do it better than a shift or B-shift or C-shift." So >> it worked out pretty good. Cool. Very impressive. Is our um so every community is different. All the geographies, the road maps, all that kind of stuff is different ballpark. Do we is the response time in White Bear Lake in the top quartile of departments statewide or metrowide or how how do we compare? and and I'm not looking for a I'm not looking for a trophy and I'm not looking for exquisite data, but in general, how would how would you describe how we perform? >> I would say it's it's good um because of because of where our stations are positioned and having our staff that's readily available. you know, when when even for our own department before we had the full-time staff that was here all the time, it was you had to, you know, get in your vehicle, go to the station, wait for a crew, get wait for the crew to and then get on the road and then go to the call. And so it was a significant amount of time. And with that delay, you can see what the end results are, especially in modern day. And so there's rural parts of the Minnesota where it takes a very long time. and and they're basically you're going to get what you get cuz there's no other option. I would say it's very good. Are there other departments that it's faster? Yes. Um but that those are typically bigger departments with more staffing and more stations, you know, and they're more integrated throughout their entire response area by design. U but I I'm I'm pleased with what we have. I think it's it's pretty good. >> Thank you. um you've shown us uh the video in the past of how rapidly fires can grow. >> I think you've mentioned in the past. So, um there's elements of modern design, home commercial design, and the materials that we're using, um the way we use them, the way we configure them inside of buildings contributes in part uh to the lethality >> uh and the the the rapidity with which those things spread. So being there fast and putting things out as rapidly as possible is one good strategy. Is there any what's the what is the conversation inside the fire safety community about changing design or changing uh getting ahead and reducing perhaps some of the uh design factors or the or the furniture or the materials factors that um have caused this to be uh that causes fires to be so rapid rapidly spreading. Is there anything anything we can be talking about that way from a policy standpoint? >> I don't I don't know that the council policy-wise could there are things that could happen. One of them is sprinklers, you know, even in people's homes. Most people die in their homes. They don't die in other places. Um, but there is a huge push against sprinklers because when people go to install them, they raise the question of costs and how much more that costs, even though it isn't very much in comparison to the cost of the structure, but it is more money. Uh, but residential sprinkler sprinklers would help a lot um in terms of controlling fires. They work in commercial buildings. Um, and so we know they will work in houses, too. We had there was a law, I don't remember how many years ago it was now, but it was in in my time during the fire service where there was a law passed in the state of Minnesota, any homes over the 4,000 square foot marker had to be sprinklered. And then that was successfully defeated uh in later legislative sessions um because lobbyists were able to say, you know, that that we don't do that. That's costing more money, so don't do that. And and it was repealed. And so we are, you know, the the capitalism, if you will. All of us kind of want more in general, want more out of lice for less. And so they figure out how to make products that are relatively cheap um for less cost that still are comfortable. Um most of our crew if you were paying attention a lot had like quarter zip um jack or you'll see them not necessarily tonight but you'll see them wearing like quarter zip you know um that is all that's all polyester that's all petroleum products. Um this happens to be a wool jacket but my pants are polyester that's petroleum products. So, you know, again, it's that drive in general for people to want more and then the manufacturers figure out how to do that. But that is also at a cost of things being lethal. Um, so the old homes that were had cotton and wool and all those things, that's not what we have in our homes anymore, including mine. Um, and that's just where we're at as a society. And there we are seeing the end result of that. So try to, you know, I think we can educate people more on that. I don't know if they're going to change their behaviors because of it because unfortunately a lot of people think it's never going to happen to me. And every fire I go to when at the end of it, we bring the homeowners into the home and explain what happened and what we understand and what we did and why and so on. I always warn them, this is going to be much more devastating than what you think it's going to be. Like this is going to be hard to see. So, I just want you to know that before you go in there. And it isn't because of what we did. It's because we understand how destructive and how hot and fast these fires burn. So, I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I don't. >> Are there any current legislation pending before the legislature that would uh advance fire safety? >> No. >> Okay. >> Not in terms of building design. Again, building design. So, in smaller older homes, they're very compartmentalized. Um but even that if people don't close their doors like we try to advocate all the time um and you're sleeping then the fire goes throughout the home very rapidly versus if you shut your door it will at least buy you some time. Um and so it's all those initiatives that we've been trying to get out to everybody and listen to. But I I think there's a barrier there for adults because we just don't ever think it's going to happen to us. Um, and yet if you're a firefighter or you've been in fires, you understand this can really make a big difference. So, you know, going coming full circle, a modern concept of open, you know, open concept and open design and it it looks nice. It's very pleasing to many people, but it causes issues um because now the whole space is just open and there's no compartmentalization uh within the homes or very little. I appreciate your presentations that we receive a couple times a year. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Council member Gurola. >> I appreciate you speaking to the uh residential sprinklers. I was just talking with a one of my residents about work they do to try to advocate for that. So definitely something I've been thinking about. I don't live in a new build, but being married to a firefighter, if we had a new build, we would absolutely put those in. We know personally know two families who had garage fires this year, especially with things transitioning to more electric. >> Um, something to consider. So, thank you for bringing that up. >> I was also wondering if you could speak a little bit to some of like the health and wellness initiatives we do. Like obviously for firefighters, there's an increased cancer risk and just mental health overall and some things our department does. I know there are some, but just to kind of speak to some of that. >> Sure. So, there are a lot of resources out there, which is great. We didn't have them when I started it. I was taught by firefighters from the 60s and 70s. Uh, they were the ones that mentored me and it was back in the day where you just do it. You're just tough. You don't talk about anything. Um, you know, one of one of my favorite assistant chiefs, his nickname was Homer, and he would always say, "Safeties for sissies." And he meant it. All right. Um that was that was his mentality. That was his approach to life. Um and so fortunately things have changed. Um and so now we have all different kinds of programs. The probably the most impactful one we have is our embedded health professional Jonathan Bunt. Um he works with both the police department and the fire department. and he gets to know all of our firefighters on a personal level and meets with them on a regular basis and interacts with them casually, formally if needed um and and offers different services or points them in different direction. Hey, did you think about this? Did you try this? Did you do that? It has been so good to have him uh be because our firefighters over the last few years, we've been through a lot. Um, and this year was especially tough. And to have that already in place and a trusted voice and a trusted person, um, and somebody that can meet everybody at whatever level they're at is was a big deal. Um, and so that is very beneficial that so that is that specific to our department is is really good. There are many departments that are calling us now saying, "How did you do that? Um, how did you set it up? What about all these different things?" Um and so we're very fortunate to be where we're at. In addition to that, uh the Minfires is this large organization is out there that addresses all the different things you mentioned. So mental health, cardiac, um and then cancer. And so they are very active group and we've gone through all of their trainings on each of those. So they'll do specific trainings for each of those. We do annual physicals with everybody to see where they're at and sometimes we'll catch uh health issues um based on those annual physicals that we'll be able to hopefully curb something or stop something before it happens. So, and then there are other other programs that reach out to us that offer their support too and which they're all aware of and that the city has additional programs to that for uh health and wellness. So, it's multi-layered, but there is some stuff that's specifically aimed at us. And so, I again, I think we're going we're in a good spot. So, >> thank you. >> Chief, I'm wondering I'm remembering from when I was a kid, they used to have like a fire safety awareness day. I remember like it was like a national fire safety. Do Do they still have something like that? like where we would practice what we would do in our family to get out and check your smoke detector that day and it was like it was on TV and you were supposed to I don't see that as much. >> Yeah. So, they still have fire prevention week every fall in October. The beginning of October is still designated fire prevention week. >> In addition to that, we do some stuff at marketfest. We do Fridays with firefighters. Um, we do safety camp in jointly with the police department and we specifically talk about we have a a trailer that we bring out and bring the kids in, tell them what to do, what not to do in case there's a fire. >> Um, so yeah, we there's a lot of that. Um, we we plan to continue to do that. We're going to have some more uh displays this year at Marketfest um of that are more uh insightful, if you will, and more props to show people different things. So, >> can people get free smoke detectors somewhere if they can't afford a smoke detector or is there some place for someone to go if they need help with that? >> There there used to be more. >> Yeah. >> Um there used to be grants available. We had a grant more than one grant over the course of time where we had whole stockpile of them. Right. >> Um that is not really available anymore. We could buy some but there it's kind of never ending. Right. Um, >> right. >> Okay. Well, we appreciate you so much and and Oh, what? >> When you're done. >> Oh, and you know, I know it's been a hard year and you've been on our minds and we just want to thank you for all you do for our community. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Just wanted to add a couple of things. Uh, mayor just took the words right out of my mouth, so I'm glad that that got said. Um, a couple of things that weren't in in your presentation, but maybe that you guys have been posting on on your social media is all the joint training that you've been doing with neighboring departments. >> Um, I think that's excellent. You guys all show up for each other. Um, and that's only for the better betterment of our communities, right? It's not >> we're better than them or whatever. It's it's you guys are doing it together. And um and then for those also maybe for on council, there's been a lot of uh uh an increase in joint training between police and fire. Um and that's been uh very welcome to see and that's going to continue uh with an exciting training this summer uh yet to come that I I suppose we'll learn more about later. Um but just to to chief and to our assistant chiefs, you guys have brought a new level of organization to the department um that I noticed. I know assistant city manager Jubanotus is and and that's a trickle down effect and it's just become a a very strong organization and um kudos to you guys for for all of your work and thank you for all of your work. Um and then lastly again to you three to to the leadership team and to the captains I I can genuinely tell that you care about your staff and the way that you um have shown up especially in this last month. I'll try not not get emotional, but I've seen a little bit more um maybe than others have. So, um I'll stop it right there, but just thank you for Thank you for caring about your staff. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you having my >> Okay. Oh, go ahead. Wait, one more thing. >> Nope. >> Go ahead. >> Oh, okay. Item six, uh public hearings. We have nothing scheduled. Item seven, unfinished business. We have nothing scheduled. Um, item eight, new business. We have nothing scheduled. Um, item nine, discussion. We have nothing scheduled. The high schoolers are getting excited. Um, item 10, communications from the city manager, Miss Crawford. >> Thank you, uh, mayor, members of the council, and I'm ask I'm going to ask Chief, uh, to help me flip slides here. Sorry, I should have had the clicker. Um, but to I wanted to give the community an update. The Bruce Vento Trail um uh phase one is about to be under construction um underway next week. So, wanted to refresh everybody's uh memory. I think it was just in the wiper press a little bit uh not that long ago, but uh this phase one uh trail extends a couple of miles from Berkeley Road, which is the current ending point um to the intersection of Highway 61, Hoffman Road, and Wiper Avenue right there. And the trail will be on the east side of Highway 61 and then goes under Highway 61 near Cedar and then follows Hoffman Road. Um there's some more information there, but um just want to make everybody aware and then we can go to the next slide. I think there's a schedule on there. So, oh, this week I misspoke. So, this week the contractor is beginning to mobilize um on on the site and begin tree and ve vegetation removal. Next week, u mass grading will begin. So, I suspect that people will start to see uh especially in W five um all that work that will begin there. And then they do anticipate completion of the this portion of the trail um by November of this year. So um it's kind of tucked away mostly hidden uh especially on Hoffman Road. Um but uh nonetheless it will be a big project underway. Um so I wanted to share that and then uh just give council an update. I did a a ride along uh in our street sweeper yesterday. I think that yeah yesterday for a couple of hours it was it was >> four miles an hour. Literally, yes. Um, I learned a lot. It was really eye opening. Um, we are going to get a new street sweeper later this fall, so I wanted to hop in the old one or current one, see what that's like, and then hop in the new one maybe later on. Um, but it was it was fun to get out there. Um, Jake even let me drive, so he told me that I did actually sweep the streets. I don't know if I believe him, but um, anyway, that's that's the only update I have tonight. Thank you. Um, and today council member uh Gola and I got a tour of the water treatment plant, which was super interesting. If anybody ever gets a chance to do it, I recommend it. And I just want to thank the staff there for for um showing us around. And um do you have any thoughts on that, Council Member Gorilla? No, it was all good. Does anybody else have any updates, Council Member West? >> Yeah. Um, I toured New Tracks, um, which is a transportation provider in White Bear Lake, um, a couple weeks back now. And I also represented, I'm going to have to read this off because there's lots of acronyms and long words here. I represented um the city and the Vadness Lake Area Water Management Organization, also called WAMO, um at a presentation of its 10-year plan to a subcommittee at the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, also known as Bowser. Um it was wellreceived. >> Excellent. Thank you for doing that. Excellent. Anyone else? Council member Goro, >> Saturday, I got to spend the day at the St. Paul Fire Training Center with a bunch of other like council members and some state reps and senators from across the state to do fire ops 101 hosted by the union and yeah got uh very uh small insight I think into how difficult the job is. So >> excellent. >> Thank you for going to that. >> Yeah. Anyone else? All right, we'll move on. Uh, item number 11, adjournment. So, I'm going to call the meeting to order. Um, would anybody have a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? And we're adjourned.