All right. Good evening. Uh, this is the February 4th Cottage Grove City Council meeting, which I'm calling to order. Our first order of business this evening is the Pledge of Allegiance. So, if you'd please rise. 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. >> All right. Will the clerk please do the role? >> Council member Clawson >> here. >> Council member Olsen >> here. >> Council member Theiti. Council member Garza >> here. Mayor Bailey >> here. All right. and we'll move right along then to open forum. This is the opportunity for people that want to speak on something that is not on tonight's agenda is welcome to do so at this time. We did have a signup sheet out in the entryway and we do have three people that did sign up. So, what I will do is I'll I'll call them up uh one by one from top to bottom and if please limit your comments to three minutes and then I'll check one more time just to make sure somebody didn't come into the council chambers and and didn't get a chance to speak on open forum. Uh so uh John Liss Lette and if you just state your address for the record. Thank you. Good evening Mayor and Council. Uh John Lickette, 613 Park Valley Drive West. Uh that's in Hopkins, Minnesota. Um good evening. Some of you might know me. Uh my name is John Lickette. I'd like to start by saying uh I'm currently a employee of the city of Minnetonka and what I am saying is I'm saying of my own accord and I am not here as a representative of that community. Uh I grew up in Cottage Grove. I lived and worked here for the better part of 20 years. I'm here to speak to you about uh the hero cent's contract with ICE. I understand that the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury made an agreement with ICE to use their training facilities prior to the extreme surge that has caused a fair amount of damage to immigrant communities in Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, and more. Two weeks ago, a group of West Metro Police chiefs made clear what's happening with Operation Metro Surge. ICE agents are using unconstitutional tactics and racial pro profiling to target brown and black residents. Its agents are making unsafe choices. And as you no doubt know it by now, ICE is responsible for two of the three reported homicides in Minneapolis in 2026. ICE, as it's operating now, is a stain on law enforcement in our community. the agents are acting outside of their boundaries of the con the boundaries of the constitution. So here's my ask and the contract with the hero center that the hero center has with ICE. Admittedly I don't know the full details of this contract but I do know that most agreements like this can be ended uh without as long as sufficient give notice is given. Cancellation of the agreement can be can usually be given without specific violation of terms. This action wouldn't be taken without consequences and I understand that there's a risk. But you as a council have the power to make this decision. Which is more important? eliminating a small revenue stream or sending a message to the federal government that the unconstitutional and despicable ways that they are dealing with immigration enforcement aren't acceptable in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, and our country. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I should just mention uh for the public as you're coming up uh we will provide you with uh written response uh just so you know. That's why we asked for your address. So, thank you. All right. Uh, Nick Thorson. >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, council. >> My name is Nick Thorson. I live at 6668 Hinterland Trail South. Been a resident of Cottage Grove for 30 plus years. Um, my question is actually to the mayor and the council. What steps, if any, has the city taken to engage with local immigrant communities, including advocacy groups, to understand their concerns and ensure that they are heard by city leadership. With that, I yield my time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. I can just share as you're going back that we are doing that, but we'll we'll give we'll send you the information of what we're doing and our public safety department is doing a phenomenal job of reaching out to our minority community here in Cottage Grove along with myself. All right. Uh how about Jacob Stoneser? Did I say it right? >> Close. You can correct me now when you get up here. >> Perfect. Hello. Uh, thank you for having me here. My name is Jacob Stonecipher. I live at 7348 Idan Avenue here in Cottage Grove. Uh, I am arguably a less uh, tenured resident uh, than the person that just spoke. I moved here in uh, 2017. Uh, and it was a very conscious choice between my myself and my spouse to find uh, a community that was safe, a community that was engaged, and a community that we thought we could live long term. And we have so far found that here. So, thank you to the the city council and Mayor Bailey for for making that uh possible. Uh I am here to speak also on the Hero Center and I've been in communication uh a little bit with some of you um to to ask a few of the questions uh and I'm here tonight just to make sure that some of those questions are put on public record uh to make sure that they are actually considered. So, uh, first, uh, with the Hero Center, I know and I've been talking with you folks about how the FOC is an independent board that makes the governing decisions on here. Uh, due to the joint powers agreement in 2018, uh, that, uh, board was actually set up to uphold the best interests of a major asset of of both cities that we have. It does create a lot of revenue, uh, in certain uh, forms for us through all the different contracts. And I understand that uh by cutting one federal contract, we put the risk of others at at the same time and that would be a burden to the city. Um I've asked a few times uh in those that we are provided what specific number that would be. Um and I would love to know what the breakdown of those contracts are to know what the risk truly would be by by eliminating that. Uh, I do believe that the city and the residents here need to have that in front of them before they make any informed or or big decisions like this. Knowing that it might not be possible for us to feasibly end a contract midtime without putting a major burden onto the city's budget, there are other things that we need to be doing to make sure that our hero center, a major asset and revenue earner for our city, um, is protected. uh one protection of reputation. We all know and I hope you know that reputation of law enforcement is tantamount to respect of law enforcement. Uh the uh previous gentleman shared some of the horrific acts that are are happening and like it or not those reflect on every bit of law enforcement here on out as well as reflect on the training standards that we have here for our hero center. uh we are uh uh independent in a way that we allow certain agencies to not uh have trainers of our own fruition and do self-training and I think uh the the behavior that we've seen is is unacceptable and as a city we should take thought into making sure that outside agencies who have poor training standards that do not match the reputation of the hero center should be taken into effect and those costs should be passed along to that center. And lastly, to wrap it up real quick, uh we are at risk of things like vandalism. Police uh uh agencies have to be and re respond to peaceful protesters and unpaceful protesters. And there should be a rate for organizations that increase that risk to pay for that extra cost because our city does have a small budget and we cannot afford to fully c uh take that on. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. So, that was uh everybody that did sign up on open form. Was there anybody that happened to walk in that did not get a chance to sign up and you'd like to speak? Yeah. If you want to go up and just state your name and address for the record, please. >> Um so, I've prepared something to read. Um sorry, I'm super super nervous. It's been 20 years since I've read anything in front of anybody this size. So, um, >> if you will though, just, uh, state your name and address, though, for the record. >> My name is Amber. >> And don't be nervous. We're we're here to listen. >> Um, my name and and what else? >> Your address. >> Oh, my address. >> Because we're going to respond. Name and address. >> Okay. My name is Amber and I'm on Ironwood Avenue in Cottage Grove. >> Okay. Um, I said I came here today because we have seen a huge rise in um, ICE agents in our community. Um and I feel like there's been a dismantling of the local authorities's ability to protect and serve their communities. constitutional rights are being egregiously violated by ICE. And we have every right to be angry that our local governments aren't allowed uh to stop the federal agents who have not been properly vetted or trained from barreling through our streets and acting on impunity and abusing the authority they have as if they are above the law. We're seeing agents in rental cars with faces masked and they're kidnapping people off the streets because they're getting away with it. This is not a hypothetical concern. Um, it wasn't very long ago when we all witnessed firsthand the ultimate cost of anonymous policing when Speaker Melissa Hortman was uh murdered by a man impersonating a police officer. He was hiding in a mask with a fake badge and a car that was altered to look like an undercover police car. Which I also want to take note that um and tell you guys that if you go on to Amazon, you can find that these police lights, the flashers that you see in these cars um can be purchased for $30 off of Amazon. So, anybody really could get one and put them in their car. Um, the assassination of Melissa Hortman and her husband by a gunman is exactly why the distinction between undercover work and public safety is a matter of life and death. Right now, you're allowing ICE and CPB to use those same tactics. They're hiding behind masked um behind masks and blacked out windshields and covering their license plates. We've even seen them using the fake canned snow sprayed over their license plates. Um, by letting ICE and CPB break the law, you're creating a safety gap that any radical with a gun or rental car can walk right through. If a citizen can see can't see a face and can't see a plate, they have to assume it's a threat. when people cannot tell the difference between a federal agent and a radicalized gunman because both are masked or disguising themselves um by driving unmarked rentals while obscuring their plates. The city has a moral and legal obligation to act. I did some research on the laws and the state does have laws regarding um windshield tenting and the Minnesota statute 169.71 subdivision 4 states that a person must not drive or operate any motor vehicle in the state of Minnesota upon a street or highway under the following conditions. When the windshield is compromised or uh compro composed of covered by or treated with any material which has the effect of making the windshield more reflective or any other way reducing light transmission through the windshield. There is exceptions in exceptions in this clause and the only one that I can see them trying to use would be um that they're they're government officials. And in that state law, it says that there's an exception for the rear and side windows of police cars, but not the front windshield. It doesn't include the front windshield and most certainly doesn't give these people the right to completely black out their front windows, which we're seeing all over. As far as their license plates go, subdivision 6 says that mo if motor vehicle of any kind uh other than those provided in subdivision 2 or 4, which accounts for semi-trailers or collector's cars that were um made in 1972 or earlier, one plate must be displayed on the front and one on the back of the vehicle. This makes it a crime to cover a license plate with any material whatsoever in the state of Minnesota. and Governor Walls and the DNS has already called this terrorizing our community and criminal activity. If a citizen did this, they'd be in handcuffs. So why are our local police not standing or why are local police standing by while while federal agents do it to facilitate illegal abductions by our of our residents? >> All right. I I know you're nervous. Um did you do you have a looks like you've got quite a bit there? >> Um no, I have a couple of printouts. I'm actually almost to the end of what I had to say and then I have the proposal that I printed out for you guys to have. >> We do limit it to three minutes for >> Okay. >> Can do you want to just wrap up? Um, I I came to ask that you make an executive order to ban ICE and CPB from our parks and our our city parks and streets and parking lots and that our police start holding or stopping these cars that have blacked out front windshields and are missing license plates and ticketing them like they would with us. um Minneapolis just did this and so we know that it is possible because the Minneapolis mayor uh and Minneapolis and St. Paul among other um communities that have joined their coalition that they're inviting other cities to join as well um have already made it so that it is they're not allowed in the parks or in um parking lot they're not allowed to stage in parking lots or cityowned streets. >> Okay. Um, >> did you say you have a sheet there that you wanted to provide us? Yes, I do. >> Yeah, if you want to do that, then we can. Uh, >> and I do appreciate you sharing your insights. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, not seeing anybody else that's uh during open forum. I'm going to go ahead and close open forum at this point and we'll move to number five, which is adoption of the agenda. >> Move the agenda. >> I'll second. >> All right. So we have a motion by council member Olsson, second by council member Garza. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next uh is presentations. Uh we have two this evening. One's a presentation which is a swearing in and badge pinning ceremony. Matter of fact are for people that can't see from home if they're watching on TV. There is a lot of people here and there there's a lot of people here to celebrate the three uh new officers that are being officially sworn in this evening. So, council, I'm going to have you meet me down in front and then I'm going to turn it over, I believe it, to uh director I don't even see him. >> Where's Oh, there he is. I was going to say, where is Pete? Uh director of public safety Pete Kerner. And uh Commissioner, if you want to come up with us, you're welcome to. All right. Well, we'll let we'll let everyone else >> I'm really throwing you for a loop tonight. I'm sorry. All right. Well, honorable mayor, council, thank you very much for having us here tonight. Um, I'll give you just a quick rundown of this. didn't just happen overnight. Um we have three new officers that we're going to introduce you to tonight, but they've been with us for a year now. So um with that, there was an ext the hiring process. They did a psychological a background and then once they were hired by us, they went um through a academy with our department for a couple weeks and then um about a 12-week field training. Of course, they're all lateral, so they had experience, so that that helps speed up a few things. So, um they they have been sworn in officially. This is more of the ceremonial um give them a chance to be in front of their family and friends and and our officers as well. So, um this is a night that I mean we don't take this for granted. Cottage Grove um our officers um they're topnotch and we really appreciate all the the community support that they have. They know it is an honor. They know what this badge symbolizes. um it's we've never really talked about authority or it's more about responsibility integrity ethics and all of that. And that's what our badge does represent with it when we talk about our department's vision. So, with that, I'm not going to babble on and on. Um this is their night. So, we're going to start with um Officer Diki, if she can come up. She's out in the And I just want to read just a a short bio. and I had each of them kind of put it together and um so if you want to come up next to the city administrator um so Rebecca is a Cottage Grove native and a Park High School graduate. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, so after school um she did go to college. She worked in healthcare for 13 years. Uh she did decide then to go back to college and pursue a career in law enforcement. Prior to joining the Cottage Patrol Police Department, she worked um for the Washington County Sheriff's Office as a deputy and she worked primarily in the Newport contract, which was good because I think she got heavily recruited every night at coffee break and everything. So, um thank you to all the officers that have been doing the recruitment for us. So, um Rebecca in her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, um at the cabin and also riding motorcycles. Um she put this quote in there. She is honored to serve the citizens of Cottage Grove and look forward to a career rooted in professionalism accountability and respect. So after her oath, um her husband Dustin Dustin will be pinning on her badge. So take it away. >> All right. >> Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> I state your name. I, Rebecca Daziki, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I support the Constitution of the United States >> and of the state of Minnesota >> and of the state of Minnesota >> and faithfully discharge the duties >> and faithfully discharge the duties >> of the position of police officer >> of the position of police officer >> for the city of Cottage Grove >> for the city of Cottage Grove >> in the county of Washington >> in the county of Washington >> and state of Minnesota >> the state of Minnesota >> to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of the of my judgment and ability. So yeah, well done. All right. Um, Timothy Gunderson. All right. Um, I apologize. We had to go a little further north here. We didn't get a Park High kid. So, but close. He He grew up close. So, we'll start. Uh Tim grew up in Madameai with his parents and four siblings. He graduated from Madameidi High School and pursued a career in law enforcement. He attended Alexandria Technical and Community College. After college, he began working at the Washington County Jail. Um did that after two and a half years, he transferred to patrol and he has been um he was a Washington County deputy for about a year and a half. And Tim's quote was, "I was lucky then I was then lucky enough to join Cottage Grove PD in January of 2025. Not kissing up to you. We're we're lucky that you know you're in the group too and we were able to hire you." So in Tim's spare time, he no longer uses chainsaws, but now he does um he likes to he likes to hunt, play hockey, and go to concerts. So after his oath um and we we practiced this oath today Tim so we had a long talk but after this um his father Tim will be painting on his bachelor well. So >> all right please raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> I St. I, Timothy James Henderson, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> will support the Constitution of the United States >> and of the State of Minnesota >> and of the state of Minnesota >> and faithfully discharge the duties >> and faithfully discharge the duties >> of the position of police officer >> of the position of police officer >> of the city of Cottage Grove >> of the city of Cottage Grove >> in the county of Washington >> in the county of Washington >> and state of Minnesota >> and state of Minnesota >> to the best of my judgment and ability >> to the best of my judgment and ability. So help me God. >> So help me God. >> CONGRATULATIONS. Last but not least, Officer Chic. I'm slipping another one. Not for him, but but he lives in Cottage Grove, so All right. Uh, Ryan grew up in White Bear Lake where he graduated from high school in White Bear. Later attended Minnesota State University, Mano for business management. Ryan spent the next 12 years working in corporate America until 2016 when he transitioned in law enforcement. From 2016 to 2025, uh, Ryan worked at White Bear Lake Police Department where he got to proudly serve his hometown community for nine years. During his time with Whitebeard PD, he was fortunate enough to work in a variety of roles in detective, school resource resource officer, but is most thankful for the opportunity to give back and serve the community in which he grew up. In January of 2025, Officer Chic and his family, smart man, um decided to join the Cadrol Police Department where he now gets to serve the community in which he lives in. Officer Schik and his wife Amber have been married for 20 plus years and have three children, Donovan, Sydney, and Weston. When Officer Schik is not working, he enjoys giving back to our community and is largely known around town as Coach Chic. Officer Schik is thankful to be a part of the Kadro PD family and looks forward to supporting and continuing to serve our community. So with that, >> all right, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. >> I state your name. I, Ryan Chic, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and of the State of Minnesota >> and of the state of Minnesota >> and faithfully discharge the duties >> and faithfully discharge the duties >> of the position of police officer >> of the position of police officer >> for the city of Cottage Grove >> for the city of Cottage Grove >> in the county of Washington >> in the county of Washington >> and state of Minnesota >> in state of Minnesota >> to the best of my judgment and ability >> to the best of my judgement and ability is a holy God. >> Holy God. >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> And I forgot to mention cuz he had to Amber had to wrestle with the three kids, but Amber is going to his wife is going to be pinning his badge. So, I know it was a big discussion the last couple days, right? Yeah. Yeah. PERFECT. Through the gauntlet now, if you guys want that bad, All right. >> You just have to stand. right over here real quick. Thank you. One two three. >> Sure. They want to get theirs, too. All right. CONGRATULATIONS. That's a one of the fun things we get to do. >> It is. It is. >> Seeing all the families here in support is pretty cool. >> I just love how all of our public safety supports one another. Like they show up every time. badge, pinning, whatever it is, they are there together. So, that is always so nice to see. >> Totally agree. >> All right. Uh we'll move to B uh under a presentations, which is the proclamation for February 2026 as Black History Month. And uh Council Member Justin Olsen is going to read this and as soon as he's finished reading it, we'll make a motion and a second to accept. >> Thank you, mayor. As noted, this is a proclamation recognizing February 2026 as Black History Month in the city of Cottage Grove. The proclamation reads as follows. Whereas, Black History Month is a time to reflect upon, honor, and celebrate the invaluable contributions of African-Americans throughout history and the ongoing efforts to promote equity, justice, and freedom. And whereas in 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard scholar, established the observance of African-American history to reveal the contributions, achievements, and involvement of African-American people in the development of our American democracy. And whereas African-Americans have played a vital role in shaping the culture, economic, and social fabric of the United States, enriching our communities with their resilience, strength, and achievements in every field. And whereas Minnesota is home to many prominent black trailblazers, including Dr. Robert S. Brown, the first black doctor from Minnesota. Lena Smith, Minnesota's first black woman lawyer. Neva Walker, the first black woman elected to the Minnesota legislature. And whereas the city of Cottage Grove remains committed to acknowledging the generations of African-Americans who struggled against adversity, injustice, and discrimination in order to achieve equal rights in American society. And whereas Black History Month calls our attention to the continued need to battle racism and build a society that lives up to its democratic ideals, we must reflect on our collective past, reveal its impact on present conditions, and implement equitable solutions for a more just future. And whereas the city of Cottage Grove is proud to honor the history and contributions of African-Americans in our community throughout the state and nation. Now therefore, the mayor and city council of the city of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, state of Minnesota hereby proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month, passed this the 4th day of February 2026 and signed by Mayor Myron Bailey. So, Council Member Ros, would you like to make the motion? >> I would love to make the motion that the city council of the city of Cottage Grove proclaim February 2026 Black History Month. >> All right. So, you have a motion. >> And we have a second by Council Member Garza. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you for reading that. Thank you for seconding it. >> All right, we're moving on. Uh the next item on on our agenda is consent. Uh, is there any items that council would like to pull from consent for further discussion? >> And just G briefly, mayor. >> Uh, G, uh, for council member Clawson. >> May I pull D? >> And you're going to pull D, which is fourth quarter donations. Okay. Any anybody else? All right. So, we'll go ahead. We'll start with Council Member Clawson if you're okay with that. Uh, and and basically, it's authorizing the order of replacement ambulance. >> Yeah. Um, thank you, mayor, council members. Um, EMS is uh where I grew up and cut my teeth. So, I've been dealing with ambulances and this for 40 plus years. And this is usually a very simple thing. We're going to authorize the purchase of an ambulance tonight. I just wanted to briefly say why we're doing this. It's going to be delivered in 2027, if not later. The state of the industry is that ambulances take about uh three years to build because that's there's very few manufacturers now. If we didn't pre-order this now, we wouldn't be able to get it until 2029. Um, the ambulance vendor that we use was nice enough to hold a build slot for us. So, allows us to order it tonight and maybe get it next year. If we didn't again, it would take years to get this ambulance. And the ambulance is replacing is uh the patient compartment is 22 years old, which I worked out of back in the day. So, uh it's well past its useful life. The ambulance is well past its useful life. Uh uh not me. That didn't land right. But anyway, uh anyway, I just wanted to mention that that uh um I support purchasing this item tonight at least. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, but I piggyback real quick just uh for the public to be aware. Uh the price for this ambulance is just under $300,000 and that does not include the items that go inside it which I believe at least another 150 200,000 if you put everything in it. So you're you're talking about a half a million dollar ambulance. So it is a pretty hefty investment and uh that is the reason we're doing this now so we can get uh get in quue. All right. Thank you. Um, and then, uh, Council Member Garza, uh, you wanted to recognize some fourth quarter donations. >> Yes. Yes. I would like to recognize where we received our fourth quarter donations in 2025. They were all related to our hometown holiday celebration, but we're just excited that we were able to bring in over 50 or about 5,100 bucks. So, they the donations came from Stantech in the amount of $2,400. We also received $500 from Lavender Gillian and Miller. I hope I'm saying these correct. Bolton and Mink donated $2,000 and Sagent Behavioral Health donated $200. So the total amount donated in the fourth quarter was $5,100. So we thank you to those businesses that donated it to our city. Thank you. >> Fantastic. Thank you. All right. So, seeing no other items being pulled off of consent for discussion or separate vote, I'll look for a motion to approve consent. >> I'll move to approve the consent agenda. >> All right. So, I have a motion by council member Clawson. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by council member Olsen. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. So, if you happen to be here for anything that's on tonight's consent agenda, they've all been approved. Uh, now we're move to eight, which is approved dispersement. 8A is to pay the bills. >> I'll move the bills. Oh, go ahead. >> I'll move to pay the bills. >> All right. So, we have a motion by council member Garza. >> Second. >> Second by council member Olsen. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Now, we're going to move to nine, which is public hearings. We do have one uh public hearing this evening. And it's Cedar Historic District nomination to city register of historic sites and landmarks. and Max Ericson, our planner, is here to walk us through this. So, welcome, Max. >> Thank you, Mayor, members of council. >> Good evening. Property owner Bella Gawa has applied for the designation of the Cedarhurst Mansion property at 6940 Keats Avenue South and the Gardener's Cottage property at 9927th Street uh to the city's uh register of historic sites and landmarks. The applicant Bellagala has obtained historical conditional use permit uh for both properties um in order to operate a wedding and event center. Uh under city code, historic conditional use permits are granted to uh properties that have a designated uh site or landmark on the city's historic or register historic sites and landmarks. Uh those local or the national register. Uh the mansion has been listed on the national register since 1978. Uh and staff have not uh come across any record that the mansion was ever um officially inducted into the local register. The procedure for adding nominations to the local register uh must follow city code title 2 chapter 2 requirements. Um nominations must demonstrate uh required supporting characteristics uh in order to be considered historic. Um in the year 2000 the ACP assigned a findings of significance for the Cedarhurst property. Um the findings findings of significance uh were granted uh under the same characteristic requirements as our modern code and not much has changed. Um a study conducted in 2022 by new history outlines uh further findings and more details of the historic significance for both properties um as well as outuildings and other features on the site. Um, add additionally it provides guidelines uh for uh preserving certain features of the site. Uh, the primary significance of the Cedarhurst site is its historical association with Cordennial Severance uh as well as the architectural style consistent with the early 20th century. Um, Cedarhurst uh has been a benefit to the community by attracting business and services to the cottage uh to Cottage Grove as it is utilized as a wedding event center in the past. Um, the combination of these findings satisfies uh characteristic requirements for for city code. Um on October 14th, 2025, the ACP reviewed this act application and unanimously recommended uh approval to council um to add both properties to the to the historic register as the Seedhurst Historic District. Um an additional requirement uh does require council to hold a public hearing uh for all nominations to the the local register. And with that, I leave a recommen recommendation before you. >> All right. uh before we move uh to to check with the applicant who happens to be here too but uh and hold a public hearing. Any questions by anyone on the council for Max? Okay. Did Did you want to say anything or >> I'm maybe? >> Yeah, head on up there. >> Yeah, a quickie I guess. >> There you go. Mr. Mayor, council members. Uh thank you. Uh JJ Malitzky, our address is Cedar Hurst. You know where to find me. Uh my only thing is we're announcing this thing to the world next week. So if anybody wouldn't mind just like not posting on social media for seven days, we'd appreciate it. We just got a lot of uh publicity and we're doing um a few news articles and and some pretty um hefty uh marketing push starting next week. We're taking a different approach than we did the other time. So um that's my only ask. Obviously we can get this thing approved and we can start swinging hammers here in a couple of weeks. So >> we're happy to hear that. Thank you. >> Any questions for me at all? No, just glad to have you in town. >> It's been a heck of a journey. >> It has been. Absolutely. >> Glad we're finally there. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. Seeing uh no other comments, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Is there anybody that wants to speak on this item? Anybody at all? All right. Then I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. And if you notice, council, we have um actually, is it two? >> Nope. Just one resolution. >> Second one. Right. And mayor, I'll move that we adopt resolution 2026-026 to place the Cordinho Severance House known as Cenerhurst Mansion and significant outbuildings located at 6940 Keats Avenue South and the Gardener's Cottage located at 991270 Street South on the city register of historic sites and landmarks to be known as the Cedarhurst Historic District. >> Fantastic. Uh so we have a motion by council member Olsson. Do I have a second? I'll second. >> Second by council member Garza. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. >> Looking forward to the official announcement next week. Now, everybody in the room here and watching the word's the word. >> Y. >> There you go. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, uh, on our agenda, 10 is bid awards. We have none this evening. 11 as regular agenda. We have nothing this evening. Uh, we're working now down to council comments request. I will start down here with council member Clawson. >> I have nothing to add tonight, mayor. Thank you. >> Oh, wow. Okay, perfect. How about council member Olsson? >> Thank you, mayor. Um, first of all, I want to take a moment to recognize my colleague, uh, city council member Monnique Garza, as it is her birthday today. I'm pretty sure it's 29, somewhere in that range, right? >> 29. It's >> the young age of 49. >> Well, congratulations. >> You can't believe it. You can't believe it. >> Nope. >> Thank you. Thank you. We don't look a day over 29 in my eyes, but congratulations and happy birthday. >> Uh I also wanted to thank the folks who came to speak at open forum this evening for their respectful uh and inquisitive tone. Um there's nothing better than when people come prepared with really good questions and uh I think the folks that spoke this evening had some really nice questions. Um, so you guys will all get written response, but if you want to hang around till the meeting's done, which will be shortly as soon as I shut up, um, we can talk more. But thank you for being here. And then last but not least, tonight we had one of our favorite events. I know we all love when we get to do the swearing in for different folks who uh have joined our uh city in a in a different capacity here there. Um, as uh Council Member Garza mentioned earlier, the public safety team always seems to turn out in big numbers. Uh, one of the things that I'm most proud of and and you heard our public safety director, Pete Kerner, mention it, is we have several members of our public safety team who are local. Um, they have that uh uh park high diploma or the PhD as we like to call it. And it's always fun to celebrate that a little bit. And one of the ways that we do that is we grow from within. We have uh young people who are interested in public safety who get involved in whether it's an explorer program or they become a volunteer, police reserve, whatever. Um and then they go to school and often times they'll become a community service officer and then of course when there's an opportunity to become a regular police officer, a firefighter in town, uh they'll jump at that chance. Um there's a lot of good stuff that comes from that. And one of the ways we foster that is uh each year we make uh an effort to award at least two individuals with uh what's called the Craig Woollery scholarship that is managed through the um public safety board. Uh this scholarship for um first responders covers police officers, firefighters, and uh EMS personnel. And uh our annual donation, my family and I, uh for this scholarship will be coming forward here in about a month. I believe um Director Kerner's been behind the scenes setting things up. Uh we always like it when uh former um director Willery can be here for that. So uh looking forward to that. But I just wanted to put it out there that that donation will be coming forward in a month or so. And if anybody is interested in joining us in donating towards uh young people uh whose education and books and all of those things continues to go up and up and up in cost uh but they want to pursue a career in public safety being a first responder uh hopefully in our community. This is a great way to do that. And you can make those donations directly to the Cottage Grove Public Safety Board, or you can certainly reach out to any of us here on the city council or city staff um for directions on on how to make that work. But uh it's a great opportunity to support young people who want to give back to their communities. And with that, mayor, I'll turn it back to you. >> Fantastic. Thank you. I'll move to Council Member Margara, the birthday girl. >> Nothing. Thank you. Thank you. Nothing. Trying to get some cake. >> Yeah, she probably does. Is there a cake waiting for you at home? I don't know. Hopefully, hopefully my family is watching and listening. If there isn't, they'll run to Hi and get something. >> You still got time. >> All right. So, we'll give you a little time. I'll say just a couple things real quick then to give them time to run quickly to Hi. >> Appreciate it. >> Yes. Please get to Hi quick. >> And for that, Hi is closer. No. Yeah, Hi Ve is closer. >> Hi closer to you. >> All right. So, a couple things. First of all, um we didn't mention it earlier. Obviously, uh the city of Cottage Grove every year um highlights uh Black History Month, uh with a proclamation along with Hispanic Heritage Month and so on as we go through Asian-American. I could keep going uh because we we understand the importance of of culture. Matter of fact, I don't know if you noticed in our public safety department, there's a lot of different uh I'll say nationalities or ethnicities that are behind us and or meaning that they were behind us here. And so we we love to make sure that what happens within our uh community, our public safety department mirrors it. But I also want to just acknowledge that uh Mo'Nique uh is our first ever African-American council member for the city of Cottage Grove. So very proud of her and the work that she's been doing. Uh just got reelected not that long ago. Yep. >> Because she gets to do all and you're right into it again. So uh we I just want to say thank you uh for being part of our community. Thank you for your support on the council and we wish you great luck in the rest of the year. So, I wanted to share that. >> Thank you for having me. >> Absolutely. Um the other thing I want to mention, believe it or not, it's it's so weird the way Easter is sometimes because normally so far out from um Ash Wednesday, you have the fish fries, right, happening. And believe it or not, it's coming. Uh and so I just want to acknowledge that the uh Friday fish fries are going to be back at River Oaks Golf Course. And that actually is starting February 20th and it will be ser uh service will run at uh the River Oaks from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. Uh you do need to get reservations. So please just go online to River Oaks uh golf course and event center. Um and you can book your uh time if there's not a specific time available in that. They'll they'll give you other options that are within there. I will tell you it fills up very quickly. >> You can also call if you're still a person who uses a >> Yeah, that's true. Which I am. Um, and so if if you are interested in that, you're welcome to do that. I do know there'll be other fish fries around town, but I u want to just really give a plug to uh River Oaks because they do a phenomenal job every uh every year. And then lastly, on uh Valentine's Day, um they're having a Valentine's night skate event uh which is going to be held in the West Rink in the in the Cottage Grove Ice Arena uh from 8 to 9:15. And what's nice about the West Rink is they have all the fancy lights and the disco ball stuff. And um uh the last time that they did I think they did Mighty Ducks uh over like New Year's or that and they completely sold out. So if you are interested uh admission is $7 per skater. Uh you can pay it at the door uh but I would get there soon because what we heard last time we don't want to turn anybody away but we had an overflow uh which just goes to prove our parks and recck department does an amazing job because everybody loves the programs that they're running. So I just wanted to uh acknowledge that. All right. So, with that, I am going to uh there is no workshops that are open to the public, nor are there any that are closed to the public. So, I'm going to look for a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> All right. We have a motion by council member Garza. Do I have a second? >> Oh, second. >> Second by council member Clawson. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. We are adjourned.