Based on the context provided and the internal dialogue of the transcript, here is the corrected version with speaker names. **Note on Names:** While your provided list mentions specific council members, the audio roll call and dialogue explicitly use the names **Carr**, **Tom**, **Bob**, and **Tufty**. **Kristina Handt** is addressed throughout by her nickname, **Kim**. Though the transcription software heard "Mayor Huber," the context of your list and the "Jeff" mentioned in the dialogue confirms the speaker is **Mayor Jeff Giefer**. *** [0:03] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** 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. [0:24] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Amen. I’ve got to steal somebody's pen here. Tom, if that's yours, I—all yours if you want. All right. Oh, that was John. Can you hand me that one back in case I—I'll give this back to you, John, when I'm done. No, no, it's fine. Got me a new pen. Uh, we've all had a chance to take a look at our regular agenda. Looks pretty simple. Do I have a motion to approve that agenda? [0:45] **Council Member Carr:** So move. [0:48] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Do I have a second? [0:50] **Council Member John Rog:** Second. [0:52] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Thank you, John. [0:53] **Kristina Handt (City Administrator):** Council Member Carr? **Council Member Carr:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Rog? **Council Member John Rog:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Giefer? **Council Member Jeff Giefer:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Tufty? **Council Member Tufty:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Mayor Giefer? **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Hi. Thank you, Kim. [1:04] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Consent agenda. You've all had that for a week or so. Uh, looks like you've looked through everything here, hopefully. Do I have a motion to approve the consent? [1:10] **Council Member Carr:** Motion to approve consent. [1:12] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Thank you. And do I have a second? [1:14] **Council Member Bob:** Second. [1:15] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Thank you, Bob. [1:16] **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Carr? **Council Member Carr:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Rog? **Council Member John Rog:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Giefer? **Council Member Jeff Giefer:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Tufty? **Council Member Tufty:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Mayor Giefer? **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Hi. [1:28] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Kim, we got no action items for our first two professionals. Jennifer Swanson, our planner, and Nick Vivian, our city attorney, have nothing. New business is a consideration of the LHB contract and appointment. Kim, do you want to start with this and then I can add some color and flavor, please? [1:43] **Kristina Handt:** You most certainly can. Mayor and council members, after the January meeting when we had appointed Brad [Reifsteck] from WSB for city engineer, he indicated to me that he was leaving WSB. It was a very hard decision for him to make, but basically he had an offer that he just could not refuse. He parted ways with WSB and began with this new company, LHB. I did get in touch with him at that time after he started and kind of quizzed him about the services that WSB provided to the City of Grant, if LHB could provide those same services and if it would be Brad leading those services. He indicated to me that all of that was, in fact, correct. So then I asked for some pricing from him, some insurance information. The contract is coming; it will be in your standard form that you know—30-day out to either LHB or the City of Grant. The pricing is a little bit lower per hour. I gave you the history of Brad, how long he's been in your staff report, and I am recommending that the city appoint LHB, Brad Reifsteck, as city engineer. [3:00] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Okay, good. I'm going to take off on that for just a second. I've preached since I've been in this chair and since I've been in a couple of these different chairs: continuity. I've run businesses. I am not a businessman who hires and fires lightly because continuity brings with it the history, the customers, the knowledge that it takes to be a successful business. If I was a businessman that fired people every 12 months or 24 months, I would be essentially starting a new business, wouldn't I? Because I've left all that historical institutional knowledge behind. Since I've been sitting up at this table, we've been through, I think, five engineers. Brad's our sixth. Brad's been with us the longest, to my knowledge. And once trained in on the idiosyncrasies of Grant—of which there are many—a city like this with 176 miles of roads, I think we are, with the very unique road policy that we have, is not something that a new engineer learns very quickly. The two firms we're talking about in terms of firms, they're both very large engineering firms, well-known in the cities. Neither offers an advantage enough for me to switch horses in terms of my engineer. He knows the people, he knows the processes, and he works well with staff. So continuity is key for me, and that's why I would support this. With that said, do we have questions, comments? Kim? [4:33] **Kristina Handt:** Mayor and council members, I will just very quickly add that we are in the middle of a road project that Brad did start, the Nolwood Avenue. Not only is Brad incredibly competent and knowledgeable about the city's road policy, but I think it's key that he also believes in your road policy. I had a long conversation with Brad’s direct leader at WSB today and, you know, when we were done talking, I won't say he agreed, I will say that he totally understood and asked that WSB be contacted if there are any additional services that need to be done that perhaps couldn't be done in this arrangement should we adopt it. And I was happy to tell him that WSB itself has never let us down, and if God forbid anything were to happen here, of course we come back to WSB. They know more about the city as a firm than anyone we've worked with. So yeah, it was a good conversation and Mr. Christensen is a very, very nice man, a very competent man. He's a pleasure to speak with. So, for those reasons and more, I would recommend we move forward. Questions, gentlemen? [5:40] **Council Member Tom:** Um, I appreciate the note in here about this. What I'm a little confused at is, where's WSB's option? I don't see anything from them because we don't know who we would have got, what the cost would have been. So we're comparing it to a current contract. When we hire a firm, we hire a firm; we don't hire a person. WSB has got all the stuff going way back—all the surveyors, they know Grant down here. So we're not just getting Brad; he has a support crew that works at WSB. And then for continuity, I think continuity is more important with a firm than it is with a person. A person could leave. We just went through this with our road contractor. So the easier thing to do would be to keep Brad, and you say you like him, you worked really good with him—I'm not going to get into anything about that—I just would say that when we decided to switch attorneys, I was the only one that voted not to switch attorneys for the same reason: for continuity. I don't know why I don't have a proposal here... I don't know what WSB was going to provide, and then Brad's leaving. Brad has a reason for leaving, but that doesn't mean we have to leave. I would rather table this until the next meeting and get some proposals from WSB so we can have something to compare it to rather than just say we like Brad so we're going with Brad. As sitting up here as a council member, that's how I view it, not just like "Brad's a great guy." I would like to have something more. That's what I have to say. [7:41] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Well, I'll answer that from my perspective. I never said a thing about Brad's personality. I don't care if Brad's a nice guy or a mean guy. Brad knows the city; he knows how this works. They gave us nothing more than the exact same contract and another engineer that we would have to train again. And you've been through it with me—it was not pleasant. All of WSB's knowledge didn't help us train that brand new engineer sitting over there, did they? [8:08] **Council Member Tom:** Well, we talked about this, that not everybody's going to be around forever for various reasons. That's why I like to keep people around forever because they do have the knowledge. Right now, I don't know what WSB would present if they have a different engineer—you know, get a younger engineer, they bill less. I would hate to leave WSB and have to go right back for some other reasons. I think they have more of the information. I also think the other thing for continuity is we have an administrative clerk who’s been here for a long time, we have a planner that's been here for a long time, we've got a pretty established city council. We have an attorney that's very competent and knows Grant. So if we have one new cog in there get trained up, I don't think that's a lot. I would just like to see something from WSB before we just say we're going to save Brad. That's all. [9:12] **Kristina Handt:** Mr. Mayor and council members, I will just add to that the reason I did look up the contract with WSB—the current one—the prices are more expensive. And there is the 30-day out. The reason you don't have a proposal from WSB is this is not going out for bid. [9:36] **Council Member Tom:** No, but as somebody who served the community for a long time, don't you think that would be a good thing to do? To offer them to put forward a proposal? I thought just to be nice it would be a good gesture to have them do that. [9:51] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** I talked to Mark [Christensen] a week ago. He had plenty of time to put together a proposal had he wanted to do so. I talked to him about continuity, I talked to him about Brad, and he knew my opinion on this. In fact, he called me about 45 minutes before this meeting where I reiterated that exact thing to him. We had a very nice conversation; he's a great guy. [10:11] **Council Member Tom:** Yeah, I talked to him too. He's a great guy. [10:14] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** So, had they wanted to put something together, they had time to do so. [10:17] **Council Member Tom:** He didn't know it was going to be on this meeting. [10:19] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yes, she has— [10:20] **Kristina Handt:** That's what he said. [10:21] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** All right, well anyway, they had time to do it. I'm not going to wait. If I have to move on, I will. Jeff? [10:45] **Council Member Bob:** Jeff, um, so I just want to share my opinion, too. I also have a lot of experience with hiring contractors through the company I used to work with before I retired at a Fortune 100 company. During that course, I was responsible for hundreds of contractors... whether we hired one person or 50 or 100 for a project, we always looked at individual resumes. So in reality, we were hiring the person. And in our case, I think we are talking about one individual. I've never met anyone else from WSB. I don't know what other folks from WSB have actually worked on our stuff; Brad is our only person. And so from my perspective, I think Brad is our continuity, and I think it makes sense for reasons that, Jeff, you mentioned, that we do retain that continuity. [11:33] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yes, we've always done that. It's the people that drive the process. I think Ronald Reagan said that personnel is policy. Personnel is policy in my mind. Whatever they wanted to do, they lost the continuity—WSB did, unfortunately for them—to another company. That's our continuity, not a company of faceless individuals I've never met. Go ahead, Bob. [12:18] **Council Member Bob:** Well, right now if you keep Brad, everything's okay for sure because we know him. If you go back to WSB, you don't know who you're getting now because we have no statement from them. [12:30] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Well, I do actually. I have her name, Tom, but I'm not going to denigrate anybody or their experience. What I am going to say is that the gentleman—the horse that I'm riding right now—is a very competent horse. He has lowered his prices; we already know that horse, we've ridden him for years. To put it bluntly, for me to take on someone whose experience I do know a little bit about, who would be a training challenge, but we're getting a lower price over here? That’s misplaced loyalty for no reason. [13:05] **Council Member Bob:** That's a good point. I mean, if we were faced with dramatically increased costs, I think it would make sense for us to look at it just to make sure that we're getting the value for our citizens. But considering that the price has actually gone down, that's just another one in the plus column. Like you said, Jeff, in my experience, when you've worked with the consultant before and had a good experience, at the company I used to work, we would actually pay more for that person knowing that was a known quantity, because there was always an opportunity that you would get someone that wasn't good, and then that was a big gamble and waste of money, too. So, yeah, I guess I'll wrap up my comments with that. If John wants to say anything or not, I don't know. [13:52] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Well, thanks. John, thoughts? [13:54] **Council Member John Rog:** Um, I'm just trying to understand with the other comments about hiring contractors. You know, I'm a contractor and I represent myself, and so when people hire me, they're hiring me. So I'm just trying to figure out how the contractors that are being hired as themselves versus a WSB or LHB or whatever the name of this company is now... I just want to make sure that the rates are comparable. It says on the LHB engineering rates that they are comparable or less than the current contract rates of who? WSB? [14:48] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** The current contract right now today is WSB. So, Kim, do you have the numbers on how much less they're charging? His hourly rate is the key; that's where we pay the most. When we look at the bills, it's the hourly rate for Brad to do all this stuff. So we're getting in lower with him. And again, the institutional memory of each individual client is limited to the person that the client supplies you. For example, my flooring guy that was in today... he works for a company, but if he gets hit by a train tomorrow—God forbid—I'm not going to go back to the company and say, "send me somebody." I'm going to look around, I'll ask you guys, I'm going to find somebody that's trusted, you know? And I'm going to hire that guy. I'm not going to tell him to send me the rookie out of trade school. [15:58] **Council Member John Rog:** Yeah, or it could be called Jim's Flooring. Jim gets hit and then you've got—I've got to find John's Flooring, got to find Steve's Flooring. So that's the point. But with, I guess, with Brad... you know, Brad went to LHB, Brad may go to somebody else and we follow Brad, and then Brad may retire. [16:07] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** That is going to happen, gentlemen. That's going to happen eventually to every one of our contractors. [16:11] **Council Member John Rog:** And like Tom said, what if three of them left at the same time? Yeah, we get problems. Now you have a management issue. You better get on that. But at this point, I don't want a management issue. I want to bring in the horse that I know. How big is LHB versus WSB? [16:32] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Big. I didn't look at their personnel, but I checked out their website. I looked at some of their projects, you know, that kind of thing. [16:40] **Kristina Handt:** Yeah, that's why I guess I should have looked at it too. I didn't, but you know, I didn't think it would be this different. It's a lesser hourly rate. [16:42] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** And they decided not to come in. I talked to Mr. Christensen some time ago, so they should have put something together, I guess. But Kim, were you able to find that number? [16:51] **Kristina Handt:** No, I do not. [16:52] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Well, I can tell you right now, guys, it's lower. If it isn't, my honor is impeded. Anybody want to make a motion on this to hire LHB with Mr. Reifsteck? [16:53] **Council Member Bob:** I'll make a motion. [16:54] **Council Member Tufty:** I'll second. [16:55] **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Carr? **Council Member Carr:** No. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Rog? **Council Member John Rog:** Yeah, I'll say no. I just need more information, that's what I said. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Giefer? **Council Member Jeff Giefer:** Yes. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Tufty? **Council Member Tufty:** Yes. **Kristina Handt:** Mayor Giefer? **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yes. Gentlemen, I'd ask you to go back and review the two contracts; that should be your information in total right there. I'm moving on. Tom, thank you very much. [17:28] **Council Member Tom:** You should have—I had it for a week? [17:34] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** For a week. And then you show up to the meeting and you ask for information after a week? [17:38] **Council Member Tom:** I said I want to delay this until we get the information. [17:40] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Why didn't you do something with your packet a week ago? [17:41] **Council Member Tom:** Because I'm not the council member—I brought it up here and there was no rush. Okay? [17:42] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** So you never asked for any information? [17:44] **Council Member Tom:** No, because— [17:45] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** That answers my question. No, that's—we're not supposed to do that. Okay. Consideration: Stillwater Oaks preliminary plat extension. Kim, we'll let you handle that one. [17:55] **Kristina Handt:** Mayor and council members, the applicant for Stillwater Oaks requested an extension in early December to the end of December. In the written request for that extension, he thought it was going to be a year. In the City of Grant, the preliminary plat has expired. This is just a technical housekeeping issue. He's requested another extension. He has already submitted all the final plat information. If you extend this one more time, the staff review will begin tomorrow and hopefully, it will be on your next meeting. [18:40] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Okay, we've done this before, and I understand this has been a complex project for this developer. There's really been some stuff that kind of popped up. Is this going to be enough time? [18:50] **Kristina Handt:** Honestly, yes. He's already submitted the final plan. I did review this with the city attorney; the city attorney said this is absolutely standard. So yes, this is not an issue. [19:04] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Okay, very good. Questions, gentlemen? [19:08] **Council Member Tom:** Not really. So is there anything in here about what he's waiting for, Kim, or just no information at all? Just that, huh? Just need a motion for the extension. Weird, there's no information in here. Strange. [19:17] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yeah. Anybody want to make a motion on it? [19:22] **Council Member Bob:** Uh, I'll make a motion for the extension. [19:24] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Do we have a second? Gentlemen, would you like to extend the plat? [19:26] **Council Member John Rog:** Second. [19:28] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Thanks, Bob. [19:30] **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Carr? **Council Member Carr:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Rog? **Council Member John Rog:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Giefer? **Council Member Jeff Giefer:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Tufty? **Council Member Tufty:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Mayor Giefer? **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** I. Thank you. No unfinished business. Staff updates—doesn't look like it, sound like it? Nope. Gentlemen, city council reports, future agenda items—anything you'd like to have on here next month? [19:53] **Council Member John Rog:** I was thinking about the last time that we did something like a tractor parade before the pandemic. And this is just something that the City of Grant would sponsor, not anybody else. So I was thinking about that and I was thinking about—then Gas House closed. They're back open now, so that's why I'm bringing it up. So potentially we're thinking forward in the September maybe or October time frame, something like that. Something where it's not too cold but not too hot. I was just wondering if anybody was liking that idea, you know, just maybe next month we can start looking at it and start approaching Gas House if it makes sense. [20:40] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** The only thing I would say on that, just from my perspective, and then obviously I'm going to ask everyone else here... the only thing I would ask on that is that some council member—I'm not sure who—would spearhead that. Someone with a tractor would be helpful. A green tractor. So, John, what I'm saying is this: if we had someone to spearhead it, to perhaps talk to the guys over there at Gas House and then get approximate costs. Because as you know, there's some police, there's some cones, there's some other stuff to do there. If you would like to find that stuff out, you've already got my hand in support for the general idea. [21:26] **Council Member Tom:** General idea is great. We're going to need, you know, more on that just to know whether or not we should move forward because there'll be cost, there'll be liability, there'll be all kinds of things. [21:38] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** But if you want to jump on it... I mean, Jeff, I'd be willing to ride on your wagon. He wants to explore. Tom, what are you thinking? [21:40] **Council Member Tom:** I don't care. Who's the owner of the Gas House now? Are they new or is it the original? [21:46] **Council Member John Rog:** I believe the original came back, didn't they? They sold and then took it back? No, or they did sell to some of the employees. Some of the employees purchased it. [21:55] **Council Member Tom:** Oh, okay. I did not realize that. That's pretty cool. Well, that's even better. [22:04] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yeah, you got all our hands up. Tom, you good? [22:07] **Council Member Tom:** I don't care. Yeah, if somebody wants to spearhead it, yeah. [22:09] **Council Member John Rog:** I would love to start looking at it. [22:12] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Okay. I just wanted to talk about it, just something to think about in the next—something to look forward to in this lovely... well, it’s already spring, so you know you got to start thinking these things. [22:15] **Council Member Bob:** We do. No, it's—I mean, your timing is impeccable. Bob, you're good? [22:18] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** What does that mean? Well, it means to support John at least going out and getting information. I'm not writing any checks, I won't be signing anything. [22:25] **Council Member John Rog:** Oh, no, no. We'll figure out what it's got to be and how it would work. [22:29] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Change the oil on your tractor, get it all ready. [22:30] **Council Member Bob:** Yeah, I think even if it costs a nominal amount of money, it would be good for awareness and self-promotion of our city. [22:31] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yeah, we need people to come over and see our ADA bathroom out there. Go ahead, Kim. [22:36] **Kristina Handt:** Mayor and council members, I will just add to that if that is looked into and perhaps it's too much and you didn't budget for it, certainly feel free to piggyback some sort of community event on the cleanup day that is held every early May. It is an incredible turnout. [22:50] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yes, we could. I mean, you could do like tractor rides for the kids, we could do something else there. We do have a pretty darn good turnout for that cleanup day. It's getting... you know, we're spending I think it was like 1,800 bucks last year, but that's pretty good for the amount of residents that come and get the stuff taken care of. And that's good. But I'm not saying no to you; I'm just saying figure it out, see what you can do. [23:25] **Council Member Bob:** Yeah, small segue on that topic. I think last year we saw considerable abuse of contractors coming in to dump. We're going to have something in place to— [23:45] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Oh yeah, that's a good idea. Very good idea. He brought that up right after the last one. [23:48] **Kristina Handt:** Mayor and council members, I've already spoken to the supervisor and indicated to them we will be checking licenses. [23:53] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yeah, we have to. Yes. [23:55] **Kristina Handt:** Your road supervisor has volunteered to do that. And yeah, we're not taking contractor dumps, and even then, they have to live in Grant. [24:10] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Yeah. And I would say even if someone brings their garbage from Grant... well, the prices are also going to go up, so there's no question. All right. Well, if we get competitive with that single price for construction debris, whether it be black rock or something like that, construction debris needs to be priced at a market level. Because we're not market-leveling the rest of the stuff, but if we market-level that, we're good to go. [24:25] **Council Member Bob:** The environmental fee at the county for dumping went up 17%. [24:28] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Well, ours is going up 17%, yep. Bob, would you like to read the community calendar for us tonight? Otherwise, I can make that guy in the blue do it. Why don't you do that? [24:43] **Council Member John Rog:** Okay, if you want me to, I will. John, calendar please. [24:45] **Council Member John Rog:** Mahtomedi Public Schools board meeting: Thursday, February 8th and February 22nd, Mahtomedi Education Center, 7:00 PM. Stillwater Public Schools board meeting: Thursday, February 8th, Stillwater City Hall, 7:00 PM. And Washington County Commissioners meeting: Tuesdays at the Government Center, 9:00 AM. [25:14] **Kristina Handt:** Mayor and council members, I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm just going to add a real quick note that your March meeting is Monday, the fourth. [25:21] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** That's right, we got an election, don't we? [25:22] **Kristina Handt:** Yes. [25:23] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Everybody go vote. John, that was one of the finest readings I've seen. Way better than I've ever read. Can I get a motion to adjourn, please? [25:35] **Council Member Bob:** I'll make that motion. [25:38] **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Thank you. Kim? [25:40] **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Carr? **Council Member Carr:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Rog? **Council Member John Rog:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Giefer? **Council Member Jeff Giefer:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Council Member Tufty? **Council Member Tufty:** Hi. **Kristina Handt:** Mayor Giefer? **Mayor Jeff Giefer:** Hi. Thank you, Kim. It wasn't as fast as I thought, but it was still pretty darn fast. [25:56] **[Meeting Adjourned]**