Based on the context provided and the content of the meeting, here is the transcribed text with speaker names assigned. **Note on Council Members:** The transcript from April 19, 2023, includes Councilmembers **Tony Khambata** and **Steve Dennis**, who were serving at that time, rather than Councilmembers Garza and Clausen (who may have been elected or appointed at a different time). I have labeled them according to the names used by the Mayor during the meeting. *** **[00:00:00] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, good evening everyone. This is the April 19, 2023, Cottage Grove City Council meeting which I'm calling to order. I did want to mention pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13D.02, subsection one, Councilmember Thiede—which you don't see in the audience this evening—will be attending remotely at the following location, which is the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Albany, which is 2713 Point North Boulevard in Albany, Georgia, 31707. And now you can see him on the screen. Um, so the next order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you please rise. **[00:00:45] Everyone:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. **[00:01:05] Mayor Myron Bailey:** That's always kind of fun on that delay. Uh, could we, Tammy, please, your roll call? **[00:01:10] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:01:12] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Here. **[00:01:13] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:01:14] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Here. **[00:01:15] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:01:16] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Here. **[00:01:17] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:01:18] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Here. **[00:01:19] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:01:20] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Here. All right, next on our agenda this evening is Open Forum. This is the opportunity for anybody who wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda is welcome to do so at this time. We did have a sign-up sheet out in the entryway and no one had signed up. So, is there anybody in the audience who wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda? No? All right, I'll go ahead and close Open Forum and I'll move to number five, which is Adoption of the Agenda. **[00:01:45] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Motion to adopt the agenda. **[00:01:47] Mayor Myron Bailey:** We have a motion by Councilmember Dennis. **[00:01:48] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Second. **[00:01:49] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Olsen. Any other discussion? Roll call, please. **[00:01:53] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:01:54] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Aye. **[00:01:55] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:01:56] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Aye. **[00:01:57] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:01:58] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Aye. **[00:01:59] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:02:00] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Aye. **[00:02:01] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:02:02] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Aye. Motion approved. All right, next to six is Presentations. We do have one this evening, which is always a fun one at this time of year, and this is the Arbor Day Proclamation, which would be Friday, April 28th, 2023. And our Public Works Director, Ryan Burfeind, will start us through this, and then Councilmember Olsen will read the proclamation and then we'll approve it. So, Ryan, welcome. **[00:02:30] Ryan Burfeind (Public Works Director):** All right, thank you Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. So like you mentioned, every year I come before you to talk about what we're doing with our special events for Arbor Day. Arbor Day comes around every April. It's our day internationally to celebrate trees and planting trees and the benefits that they have. So always a fun week next week with a lot of things going on. First one is the ceremonial tree planting. This happens pretty much in a park every year. A lot of times a new park, in this case, Strawberry Fields Park down in the Summers Landing development. That's going to be next Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at 1 p.m. So we'll have that on Wednesday. We also have our Arbor Day tree giveaway, like we had in past years, very popular. We get a lot of people sign up for that. We have to register on the city website by Wednesday, April 26th at 8 a.m. to get a free bare-root tree. I think last year we had close to about a thousand people sign up; we give away about 100 trees, so it's pretty sought after and pretty exciting to get that free tree. There is only one entry per address and then we will deliver those on Arbor Day next Friday between 7 a.m. and noon. Also, we have our Buckthorn pickup. A little bit different, just trying to enhance the health of our forest and getting rid of that invasive species. People just need to call into Public Works, put their name and address on the list, and give us an idea—some people have bigger properties, if you have let's say two acres and you're doing a lot of Buckthorn clearing, we like to know that so we have the right equipment out there to pick it up. You just gotta call Public Works before this Friday, April 21st, and we'll get you on the list for pickup next Monday and Tuesday, April 24th and April 25th. And with that, I have any questions on the events? Otherwise, we have the Arbor Day Proclamation. **[00:04:15] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Fantastic. Well, thank you, Ryan, for sharing all the different things that we do as a city. And we are a Tree City USA city, so that's kind of cool and that's important to us for growing trees. So, Councilmember Olsen, do you want to read the proclamation? **[00:04:30] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Thank you, Mayor. It's my honor to read this Arbor Day Proclamation. Whereas, in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees; And whereas, this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska; And whereas, Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world; And whereas, trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life-giving oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife; And whereas, trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products; And whereas, trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community; And whereas, trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal; And whereas, the City of Cottage Grove will host a ceremonial tree planting and volunteer planting event at Strawberry Fields Park on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, and tree giveaway to residents on Friday, April 28, 2023; Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, State of Minnesota, hereby Proclaim April 28, 2023, as Arbor Day in the City of Cottage Grove. Passed this 19th day of April 2023. Acknowledged by Myron Bailey, the Mayor's signature. Thank you. **[00:06:20] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so do we have a motion to approve Arbor Day? **[00:06:25] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I'll make that motion. **[00:06:27] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Khambata. Do I have a second? **[00:06:28] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Second. **[00:06:29] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Dennis. Any further discussion? Roll call. **[00:06:33] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:06:34] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Aye. **[00:06:35] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:06:36] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Aye. **[00:06:37] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:06:38] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Aye. **[00:06:39] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:06:40] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Aye. **[00:06:41] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:06:42] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Aye. All right, thank you, Ryan, for starting us off, and thank you, Councilmember Olsen, for reading that. Next on our agenda this evening is the Consent Agenda. Are there any items that Council would like to pull on Consent? Anything from you? Nope? Nothing there either. **[00:07:10] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Move Consent. **[00:07:12] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Olsen. Do I have a second? **[00:07:13] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Second. **[00:07:14] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Dennis. Any further discussion? Roll call vote again. **[00:07:18] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:07:19] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Aye. **[00:07:20] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:07:21] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Aye. **[00:07:22] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:07:23] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Aye. **[00:07:24] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:07:25] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Aye. **[00:07:26] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:07:27] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Aye. So if you're here for anything on tonight's consent calendar, all of those items have been approved. Number eight, I'm moving right along here, is Approved Disbursement. 8a is to pay the bills. **[00:07:40] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Motion to pay the bills. **[00:07:42] Mayor Myron Bailey:** We have a motion by Councilmember Dennis. Do I have a second? **[00:07:43] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I'll second that. **[00:07:44] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Khambata. Again, any discussion? All right, roll call vote again. **[00:07:48] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:07:49] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Aye. **[00:07:50] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:07:51] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Aye. **[00:07:52] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:07:53] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Aye. **[00:07:54] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:07:55] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Aye. **[00:07:56] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:07:57] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Aye. All right, motion carries. Nine is Public Hearings. There is no public hearing tonight. Just for the public to be aware, originally there was supposed to be a public hearing for Holcim's annexation into Cottage Grove, but last week they did withdraw that request and so there is no public hearing, which is probably why we also don't have an audience full of people tonight. Obviously, the word got out, that's good. Ten is Bid Awards, none this evening. 11 is Regular Agenda. We do have one item on our regular agenda tonight which is pretty cool. A is the sale of $8,170,000 General Obligation Improvement and Tax Abatement Bonds, and I believe to kick that off is going to be Brenda Malinowski, our Finance Director, and then she's going to bring somebody up. **[00:08:45] Brenda Malinowski (Finance Director):** Members of the City Council, tonight you'll be considering awarding the 2023A Bond issuance. Those bonds were sold earlier this morning and we did have favorable results on those. The bonds will pay for the 2023 Pavement Management project and then the Glacial Valley Park building. Due to the favorable bids received today, we're able to reduce the issuance size from $8,170,000 down to $7,815,000. We do have a representative here from Ehlers; Stacy Kvilvang is here, and she'll do a brief presentation about awarding the bid and then about our recent ratings upgrade. We were upgraded by S&P from AA+ to AAA. And I'll turn it over to Stacy. **[00:09:40] Stacy Kvilvang (Ehlers Representative):** Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. Great to see you this evening and so no more surprise, I guess the cat's out of the bag on that one. So, as Brenda had stated, tonight is the sale of $7,815,000 in General Obligation Bonds. So whoever makes the motion for that, it's different than what was in your packet because we did reduce that bond size. Just for the public, approximately $4.8 million is for the Glacial Valley Park building and the other $3 million is for your annual Street Reconstruction program. These are 20-year bonds—it's 15 years that we do for the streets and then 20 years for the park building since it's a longer-term asset. Every year when you guys issue debt—or not every year, when you do—you are rated by Standard & Poor's. You've been rated by them for quite some time and your rating was a AA+. So there's really no mystery in the ratings from S&P; they try to take it and make it a little bit more transparent. Several years ago, basically, seven rating factors came into your reading requirements. The first is the Institutional Framework. Really everyone in Minnesota, the Metro, is rated the same; you get the same scoring because you get the benefit of our statistical area. The one that has the highest impact is Economy—it's 30% weighted. And that's the one that we always tell you guys you don't have control over because you don't have control over who moves into your community or the pace of development. That's a big factor in your ratings. But the ones you do have control over are Management and your Financials—from your budgetary flexibility, your performance, your liquidity, and then how much you issue debt and how often. All of those factors come into a scoring system. S&P doesn't give us how they scored you, we can only go into their factors and do the calculations ourselves to get the closest to where we think that you're actually going to be. So if your indicative score for a AA+, you're going to be in the range of a 1.65 to a 1.94 rating. A couple weeks ago, Brenda and Jennifer and I participated in a rating call with S&P. Again, we go through all your financials, what your future debt plans are, your planning, just the economy updates—what's happening in your city as far as development and building and just generally what you're seeing overall. And as stated, you guys got upgraded to AAA, which is great! Which is awesome. I was on vacation and I'm like, "Oh my God, oh my God," so I'm quick emailing the city just to let them know, which is great. Just a couple comments out of the report from Standard & Poor's: their credit review really viewed that you have a growing tax base, strong financial management practices and policies, and a consistent track record of positive operating results in recent years. They anticipate that your history of outperforming the budget will continue and that you'll maintain very strong reserves even with your additional debt plans. They expect that your debt costs will remain manageable. So we talk about what your future projections are and your long-range financial management plan comes into that; they like to see that you're out looking and forecasting what it's going to end up costing you in the end. You do have a stable outlook, which is great. That stable outlook really reflects their expectations that you'll maintain very strong reserves while your economy is going to continue to grow. So you're fortunate that you're a growth community, that you have more space for more residential development and commercial development around. So let's talk a little bit about that. It's pretty special, right? So you are one of 30 cities in the state of Minnesota to be rated AAA. There are two of you in Washington County—yourselves and Woodbury—and then Washington County themselves are actually rated that. This is only city data. The majority of other cities that are rated that are in Hennepin County, with some in Carver and just smattered around Scott and a couple of others. But again, if you look at the populations of cities 500 or more that come into that category, there's over 500 cities. So you're in a pretty elite top, which is great. What changed? Well, it's not something that just changed overnight. The credit really goes—you guys are a team. So you as a Council are a team with your management team, your directors, and you guys work collectively together over time to figure out how you're going to build out your city, how you're going to plan to pay for things, and then how you're going to maintain your assets so that your values do tend to stay there. You've been plodding along and doing this routinely. That's always been noted: that you have your strong management, you have your strong policies, and that you have your strong reserves. Those are all things that you control and can do. The big things that changed this time that we would say was definitely the Economy. That was noted, and that's the biggest factor. What happened is that your valuations per capita increased significantly to put you finally into the level of your peers that are rated AAA. Now, I brought up Management because you are in the "Very Strong" category; that's also been listed there as a high performance. And again, that's something that you guys control. That is your long-range financial planning that you have and your policies that you have in place for your debt, for your investments, for everything else. But out of all that, I don't want to forget about the other key factors. All the things I'm highlighting are where you're getting ranked "1." 1 is better, 5 is bad. The lower on that scale the better. And so really your budgetary flexibility and your liquidity is key and is important, and again that goes back to your reserves. They look at that as to what you have as a community and how you've been maintaining. And so we talked about that in the long-range financial management plan on the importance with regards to that. When we went back and calculated to figure out how they got to your AAA and re-weighted your scores, you're falling in at about a 1.3. That's what we have; S&P will never tell us what that number is, but that's about where we think you are. So you're pretty solidly in the middle of a AAA. We want to see you continue to maintain that and keep doing what you guys have been doing. But kudos to you, to prior Councils, to staff who's done such a great job, and to prior staff members that were here to bring you finally full circle to this. I do have a plaque to present to you. So I don't know, Mayor, if you want to come down? We'll bring the Council down. **[00:16:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, let's bring the Council down. Jennifer and Brenda, you should get up there too because it's a team effort. Brenda, you gotta come up here too. Absolutely. Come on, Jennifer. **[00:16:45] Stacy Kvilvang (Ehlers Representative):** So we always present these if a city gets an upgrade, and so you're getting an upgrade to a AAA. This is a bond that's hereby given to the City of Cottage Grove in recognition of Standard & Poor's assignment of a AAA rating. This rating reflects robust budgeting practices and financial policies in a growing economy. Furthermore, the upgrade represents recognition of the city's long-range financial planning, history of outperforming your budget, pattern of high reserves, strong management, and continued tax-based growth with strong single-family development and significant new commercial development. It's dated today, April 19th. And as an authentic bond document—I'm sorry, it's not worth anything monetarily, you can't cash it in for something—but it is pretty significant and symbolic, and you guys should be very, very proud. **[00:17:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, thank you. You know, I know you said that it's not worth anything, but it actually is. I mean, even tonight, just the rates and the amount of money we saved the first time after getting this was hundreds of thousands of dollars being saved for the local taxpayers. So it is a statement, by the way, to all of you on the staff—for your help in your services along with Councils—this Council as well as some of the past Councils—to really get to this point. Which again, I just have to keep saying it: many, many years ago we were told we were a long way to get this. We had to grow more, we had to do a lot more, but I'm very, very proud and excited to be accepting this this evening. Do you want to say anything? I'm going to give that to you though, I know you want it. Brenda's gone—no, I want it! All right, well thanks again everybody and kudos to the staff and the Council and congratulations to the citizens of Cottage Grove. **[00:19:00] Stacy Kvilvang (Ehlers Representative):** So with that, Mayor, we'll get to the business at hand tonight, which is the actual bond sale. We held it this morning in our office at 10:30. We received six bids. It was a pretty tight spread that we saw with those, and that's part of your AAA. You know, part of it is just not about interest savings or other things, but it's really—you're more attractive to bidders in the market. When we see that tight spread, it's like people wanted to bid on your bonds. So that's a great thing. The lowest responsible bidder is Piper Sandler with a true interest cost of 3.58%. That's about 50 basis points lower than what we anticipated at pre-sale time. And then we'll be closing on May 9th with the funds. And really, you know, the difference between a AA+ and AAA as far as interest costs—it's about five basis points. It's not huge right now, in probably days when we've had better rates we've been seeing as high as 10 basis points. But again, really what's more important is the status that it puts you in; there's more people that likely bid on your bonds and you're probably going to see some tighter pricing with regards to that. So Mayor, the action for you guys tonight would be to award the bond sale to Piper Sandler as the lowest responsible bidder and I'm happy to stand for any questions. **[00:20:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right. Council, any questions first at the Council desk? Anybody? Councilmember Thiede, do you have anything you want to share? **[00:20:40] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** No, I'm good. **[00:20:41] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, fantastic. So, before you is on our screen, Council, the actual updated number which is less than the original. So if somebody would like to read the resolution? **[00:20:55] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Mayor, I'll move that we adopt Resolution 2023-058 accepting the proposal on the sale of the $7,815,000 General Obligation Improvement and Tax Abatement Bonds Series 2023A, providing for their issuance and pledging for the security thereof special assessments and abatements, and levying a tax for the payment thereof. **[00:21:20] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Olsen. Do I have a second? **[00:21:21] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Second. **[00:21:22] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Dennis. Any further discussion? All right, a roll call vote. **[00:21:26] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:21:27] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Aye. **[00:21:28] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:21:29] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Aye. **[00:21:30] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:21:31] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Aye. **[00:21:32] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:21:33] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Aye. **[00:21:34] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:21:35] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Aye. Motion carries. Thank you again for coming in and presenting us also with the AAA Bond Rating. All right, next Council is Council Comments/Request. As normal, I'll start at my far right with Councilmember Khambata. **[00:22:00] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Mayor Bailey, I just have to commend everyone on staff and everyone in the finance department on the hard work on the AAA Bond Rating. But more importantly, I wanted to focus on housing this week. April marks Fair Housing. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, sexual orientation, national origin, and disability. Minnesota's Fair Housing Act goes above and beyond the National Standard, which is really good. It protects sexual orientation—not every state does that—but it's important to note that in acknowledging fair housing as a community, we're going to create more opportunities for more people and that will help to further grow our economy. So I just wanted to make note of that. **[00:22:50] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, thank you Councilmember Khambata. Councilmember Dennis? **[00:22:55] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Thank you, Mayor. Now that we've finally melted off some of the snow, driving through the neighborhood I was noticing how good of shape the boulevards were in. That's a really important thing considering how much snow we had. I was kind of afraid that I was going to look and see that they were all chewed up by the blades of the plow trucks. Ryan, would you mind coming up for one second and just providing a little bit of an update or information for folks as to what our process will be? I know we do some management over that, driving around looking for places that might need to be repaired, and if that doesn't happen, how people might get in touch with us for some help. **[00:23:45] Ryan Burfeind (Public Works Director):** Yep, certainly. Councilmember Dennis, I think it's better than we maybe thought. That last storm was kind of a doozy because you can't see anything and there's a few areas that got hit, but overall I think it was better than what we were hoping. So we do a "Dirt Day"—we call it—not very exciting, but we do that every year in May. We actually generally do it on Public Works Appreciation Week, which is kind of funny; the guys get to go out and shovel dirt all day when we're appreciating them, but we also do a nice lunch for them as well. And this year is going to be on Wednesday, May 17th. So if we see our own issues—you have plow drivers just know they damaged something—we'll put on the list ourselves. But if you want to make sure, the best way is just to call into Public Works at 458-2808, and then they will put your name and address on the list and they will schedule you to get nice... here we get nice good topsoil, and then we do seed and hydro-mulch. That's always been our best way to have the most success. We don't do actual sod; they tried that many years ago, but the dirt is the nice way to do it. And then, you know, hopefully Mother Nature helps out a little bit, and we provide some information to people asking them to give it a little water as well. **[00:25:00] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Okay, perfect. Well, thank you for that. And I think Hank is the one that does my neighborhood and I know he's been doing that for a long time. Please pass on my kudos to him for a great job this year. It was a big job this year, definitely. **[00:25:15] Ryan Burfeind (Public Works Director):** Thank you so much. **[00:25:16] Mayor Myron Bailey:** You got it. Councilmember Thiede, do you have anything you'd like to bring up today? **[00:25:20] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Well, about the only thing that I might mention is that Strawberry Fest is only eight weeks away! So it's really time to get excited. We've had some great activity in the planning, a lot of people already getting involved, and so it's permitted for you to start getting really excited about that. There you go. **[00:25:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Fantastic, thank you for sharing. Councilmember Olsen? **[00:25:45] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Thank you, Mayor. Before I get started, are you going to talk about ambassadors? No? Go ahead. Okay, absolutely. One of the things that Councilmember Thiede may have mentioned previously in his Council comments about Strawberry Fest is the Ambassador Program. So Dave, if I'm stepping on your toes, I apologize, feel free to jump in. The Strawberry Fest Ambassador Program is a scholarship program that is intended for individuals who are interested in representing the City of Cottage Grove through the ambassador program which is tied directly to our Strawberry Fest. I could spend an awful long time telling you all about it, but here's what I'm going to tell you: there is an informational meeting that is coming up at Carbone's, I believe on the 26th? Is that correct? Did I get it right? If I didn't, trust me, I'll correct it, but I know it's on the city's Facebook page. This informational meeting is for both male and female individuals who may be interested in being ambassadors. The scholarship program specifically is for individuals age 17 to 21—obviously, that's the general age range for people who are going to college—but it's a really, really neat way to get involved in your community as a young person and certainly gives you a lot of training and helps you grow your skill set as it relates to public relations, public speaking, etc. So I would encourage anybody who is interested in that or has been interested in the past to take advantage of the chance to learn more at that public meeting which will be at Carbone's on the 26th. And I'm not going to quote the time because I'll probably get it wrong; my memory tells me six o'clock but I could be incorrect there, but you can look at the Strawberry Fest website and all the information is available there. Dave, what is that web address, do you know? **[00:27:35] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** It is cottagegrovestrawberryfest.com. **[00:27:37] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Okay, perfect. So all the information they would need for any kind of ambassador program or even the application to become an ambassador is available on the website. I'll also take a moment here to thank our phenomenal Cottage Grove Fire Department for hosting the Cottage Grove Lions Club last night at the Central Fire Station on 80th Street. We had the opportunity as a Lions Club to spend about an hour doing AED, CPR, basic first aid, and Narcan training with our Cottage Grove Fire Department representatives, including some of the medic staff. It was a very, very well-attended event and it was so educational for so many people. I just want to make sure that the Cottage Grove Fire Department gets credit for staying late or coming in special just for this meeting, and then they allowed us to have our club meeting right after at 7 p.m. in the training room. We kind of took over the fire station until about 8:30 or so, but they were very kind. Afterwards, Nick Arrigoni, who's one of our Captains, took many of our members from the Cottage Grove Lions on a nice tour of the fire station as well. So please, to our [Fire] Chief Jon Pritchard, pass our gratitude along to the entire team. They did a really, really nice job. And it was so good that the Public Safety Director [Brad Petersen] even showed up, but he's also a Lion, so I'm not sure which capacity he was there in. Another fun thing was as we were there last night, one of our instructors was Chelsea Flores, who was our firefighter of the year as chosen by her peers for 2022. And then we also had our 2023 Volunteer of the Year Emily Yasgar, who's part of our Lions Club, she was on hand as well. So we basically made Emily and Chelsea wrestle to see who was going to be the alpha in the room. I'm not going to tell you how that went, but there might be a video that's coming out at some point. But they were great, they really did a nice job. And then real quick, last, just a short history lesson. We heard about our AAA Bond Rating here a short time ago and I know the Mayor mentioned that we've really been pushing hard for that for a long time. I remember sitting in the old City Hall in the conference room with the Mayor and the Councilmembers at that time and we were a AA rated city, and we had a real focus on trying to improve that because as you heard earlier, the higher your bond rating, the better off you are with regard to your debt management, the ability to lower interest rates for the residents, and a much more competitive bidding environment. I think what they say is "they like your paper," and we have really nice paper. So we certainly need to celebrate today, but this process took a long time and it took a lot of work by a lot of different people. There's so much credit to go around for this achievement—past Councils, past staff members, current Councils, current staff members, etc. But it also took every single employee in the city. Everyone—whether they're a part-timer mowing grass in the summertime as a seasonal employee at Public Works or whether they're full-time doing police work or on the Fire Department or whatever—because all of those people have to work within the budget that they are presented with each year. We have a very thorough budget process—excruciatingly so sometimes—but it's necessary. The budget process leads us to a specific game plan for the following year and we have to stick within that game plan. It's not always easy, not everybody gets what they want, they don't always get the shiny new toy when they want it, but we have a group of people who are exceptionally dedicated to this community and what they do is they just wait their turn. And because of that, we achieve this. So I'm very grateful for all the hard work that everybody put forward and it's a monumental achievement. Thank you. **[00:31:35] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, thank you Councilmember Olsen. A couple items real quick for the public: So a week from Saturday—but just for everybody to know depending when you're watching this—on April 29th of this year from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Park High School activity building is going to be the Chamber Community Showcase. A lot of people attend that showcase, so it's a fun event. A lot of freebie stuff, get to try some food, check things out, see some of the businesses that maybe you don't even know that are in Cottage Grove. I encourage you to be there. I know the City is going to have a booth there; I believe most everybody up here will be there at some point in time throughout that time, so you can obviously ask questions and trick quizzes if you want. So I just want to mention that. Again, that's the 29th from 10 a.m. to 2. The other item I want to mention, I didn't notice it on our calendar so I'll just point that out to staff, but the Saturday before Strawberry Fest is Cottage Grove Day at the Minnesota Saints game. I encourage everyone—I wasn't able to attend last year but I will be able to attend this year which is cool. We do have a booth there, we do some handouts, our Ambassadors will be there and so on. The reason I'm bringing this up for staff is I have actually had some people ask me about how do you go about getting tickets? So just as a side note, that might be something we want to put out there maybe from a marketing effort on social media and such like that. And then lastly, and as I'm sure everybody is starting to see it because I saw it earlier today, the construction in essence has started on East Point Douglas and Jamaica. You did see that some trees have been removed and obviously some utility work is being done. There is going to be some, I'll say pretty extensive construction that's going to be happening, but it's been a long time coming. I'm very excited that we're finally going to get to that point down there. I would encourage you if you get the opportunity—whether it's the YouTube channel or Facebook or whatever—the City's Facebook page, I do speak about it during the Mayor's Moment for the month of May. And if you want to see what it's eventually going to look like, they actually have a simulated example of how the roads are all going to intertwine with the roundabouts and that. So if you want to actually see what the end result will be two years from now, with all the way people would be able to get around much easier and through that tough area of the commercial district, feel free to take a look at that and watch the video to understand. I've actually had people tell me they thought that East Point Douglas and Jamaica was going to be [the spot], I was like no, it's further by the bank near Cub Foods. So there is some confusion out there by some that maybe aren't aware exactly how it's all going to play out, but if you watch that video you'll be able to check that. So with that, um, that was it for me this evening. There is no Workshop open to the public or a Workshop that is closed to the public. So we're at that point now where we get the move to adjourn. **[00:34:55] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Motion to adjourn. **[00:34:57] Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, Councilmember Dennis. Do I have a second? **[00:34:58] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I'll second that. **[00:34:59] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Khambata. Roll call. **[00:35:01] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Khambata? **[00:35:02] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** Aye. **[00:35:03] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? **[00:35:04] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Aye. **[00:35:05] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? **[00:35:06] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Aye. **[00:35:07] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? **[00:35:08] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Aye. **[00:35:09] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? **[00:35:10] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Aye. We are adjourned. Have a good evening, everyone.