Since the original transcript did not include specific timestamps, I have used `[00:00:00]` placeholders to maintain your requested format. I have also corrected phonetic misspellings of names (e.g., "Hearn" to **Matt Hirn**, "Jich" to **Nick Dragisich**, and "McCraus" to **Nick Kragness**) based on the provided official list. *** **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Stand with me for the pledge of allegiance. **[00:00:00] All:** 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. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Well, we just have a very uh well, we really nobody no community members as audience today, but if you happen to be watching um if you want to follow along, you can pull the packet up on uh online. Our video equipment seems to have a little snafu and and so we're not able to project that on the screens at this time. So, first of all, we have uh approval of the agenda. Do I have an amendment to the agenda? I know that was discussed earlier. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Yeah, if we could pull number five from the consent agenda to the regular. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Is there a second to pulling number five from the uh consent agenda into the regular agenda? **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** I'll I'll second I'll second it. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** So pulling approve Lions Park Playground cost adjustment into the regular agenda. We'll put that as item number two and move fourth quarter goals update to three. Given that amendment, can I uh entertain a motion? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Motion to approve the amended agenda. **[00:00:00] Nick Kragness (Council Member):** Second. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** We have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended with number five consent agenda being pulled into the regular agenda. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. **[00:00:00] Council Members:** I. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** It's approved. Uh we do not have any public comments or inquiries this evening. Um we had the minutes in our packet from the council meeting on the 6th of January. I'll entertain a motion for approval of the minutes. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** So moved. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Second. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** A motion and a second to approve the minutes from the city council meeting on January 6, 2026. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. **[00:00:00] Council Members:** I. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Those are approved. In our consent agenda this evening, we have approved payments and dispersements. Accept improvements and approved security reduction for air lake Elmo. Accept improvements and approve security reduction for Northstar second edition. Approve release of warranty security for launch crossroads. Approve rescheduling of February 3rd, 2026 council meeting and approve public works director hiring. I'll entertain a motion on the consent agenda. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Second. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** All those in favor of approving the consent agenda as presented, please signify by saying I. **[00:00:00] Council Members:** I. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** All right, we jump into our regular agenda this evening is approve plans, inspects, and authorized advertisement for saw 14 water main improvements. City engineer Nate Stanley presenting. **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, so as noted, you know, we're not our tech is failing us a little bit. Um, so if you just want to kind of follow along in your packets, I will get going here in one second. Okay, so yes, thank you. The item before us is a uh to approve uh plans and specifications and authorized advertisement for bid for the Cass 14 water main uh improvements. This stretch of water main or stretch of road in question is between Lake Elmo Avenue and Leighton Avenue. Um, so I'm going to recap a few things that I've discussed before you before or before you previously. Uh, talk about the proposed improvements, uh, where we're at with an estimate cost right now, and then talk about schedule and next steps. So, just to recap, the this is um, one of the early pieces of water man that was put in town back in the 1960s. It's a 6-in water man. Um it extends kind of along the southern boulevard of Casaw 14 between Lake M Avenue and Leighton Avenue. Um the the pipe has a pretty significant history of breaks with um seven breaks in the last six years. Um and actually five of those have been over the past three. So it's rapidly deteriorating as it as it sits in the ground. Uh this line again was not included in the scope of the old village improvements that was completed um a few years ago. Now uh the idea was that we've wanted to uh sync it up with the Washington County project. Um however uh this stretch of road is not yet in Washington County CIP and with the condition of the pipe we just can't wait anymore. So, we have worked with the county uh on a conceptual um on a conceptual basis to make sure to kind of situate this in in a spot where both we and the county staff believe it will not be impacted by a future county road project and will still be suitable for um service and maintenance. Um and then to recap, uh the plan and spec authorization uh came this past October. So I have a figure up that I'm looking at right now and I guess the you know describing the the project limits and I guess like the keys to this figure are the ex excavation pit locations you know and we're proposing to install this line uh trenchlessly to um save on any sort of restoration costs but also uh to try and keep traffic operations um moving as normally as they can. Um that said, there will be um some interruptions to traffic and traffic control. The scope of improvements includes replacement of approximately 1,700 ft of water man, upsizing the main to 12in line, which will match um what we're tying into on the let's call it the east and west ends. Um the main will be again installed underneath the eastbound lane of Stillwater Boulevard 14 with approximately 8 and 1/2 ft of cover which is just a little bit more than we usually do again to try and avoid any sort of future uh conflicts with the county project. Um the this construction will uh require eastbound traffic on Ster Boulevard to be rerouted during um during during the construction project. So um but but service will be uh maintained throughout the project with uh you know temporary lines as necessary um for both residential and business operations. Um and then um the service lines to future development areas at Lake M Elementary and Fury Motors will be upsized to accommodate um anticipated future needs. The proposed cost, uh, this was originally estimated at at a capital improvement plan level of about $850,000. Right now, we're our estimate is $940,000. And I guess to provide a little insight, you know, first and foremost, I just want to stress that this is just our estimate right now. Um, actual construction costs will govern uh that we get from from, you know, bids when they're received. Um, but there's a lot more It's a lot more nuanced project than it might seem, you know, with um you know, the levels of traffic on Cass 14 and and um just like the kind of area that it fronts. So, um unfortunately, you know, the the CIP estimate kind of fell short as a placeholder. Um we're hoping that this uh um the final estimate comes or the final number comes down uh once we we do get bids. And then to talk project schedule today on January 20th, I'm asking for approval of the plans and authorization to bid. Uh looking at a bid date of the 19th of February if we go today. Um, and then looking at a count or a contract award date of March 3rd, which will allow us a lot of runway uh this spring to have a contractor on board and and have everything uh ordered and and again hopefully um you know, doing the pro, you know, going through the the project development right now. Um bidding in the winter when contractors are really actively looking for work. uh we'll hopefully see that pricing uh go down uh being being early to the game here. Um so that said, um I'm asking council to approve a resolution approving the plans and specifications and authorizing the advertising for bids for the Cass 14 water main improvements. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Thank you. Questions for Nate? Council member Holtz. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Thank you for that. on I am not an engineer. So when it's going from Yeah, it's very much a good thing for everyone's public safety for to go from the 6 in to 12 in. Is there I mean is 12 in pretty much where the city will probably need for the next 30 40 years for size? I mean at what point is there a size that's even larger? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Yep. So um thank you Councilman Holtz. The 12inch line will complete a loop. So, right now, I I'll get to the second part of the of the question here in a second, but right now, we've got a 12 in to a 6 in to a 12 in. That's the situation. So, we're completing a 12-in segment right now. So, we've got, you know, where where the main's been rehabilitated. We've been kind of working towards the middle here. Um the 12-in line will be um able to sustain service needs moving forward for, you know, for the next, you know, several decades. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Yeah. Gotcha. Thank you. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Council member Hirn. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** just for a little clarity for um costs on this when when there is a leak like this. I mean, what is kind of the the economical the financial cost of that? And obviously like the the lack of service kind of cost. If you could just speak to that a little bit each time we have a leak, you know, how much are we looking at financially as a city to to have to cover those? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** It's it's hard to gauge that. I'll call it like a a loss cost, you know, um depending on where it happens and who's put out. But I what I can speak to is that every time we need to have the repair completed, these are these are always on an emergency basis. It's not like, well, we'll just leave the line go in the middle of this county road and, you know, a water bubble up. Um it's anywhere between, you know, uh 20 and $40,000 um to to patch a leak like that in an emergency situation. probably earing towards the higher end these days. So again, you know, thinking back on um you know, five breaks in the last three years, we've we've sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into um fixing leaks that we'd like to just, you know, put in a new line and not have to worry about it for the next um 50 plus years. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Okay. And I think I saw one I think it maybe happened in Still Water this morning when I was driving by. I think they had one. It's not like a seasonality type thing, right? I mean, these leaks can occur at any part of the year. This isn't a problem only in the summer or problem only in the winter. Is that correct? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Um, that is correct. Uh, typically you do see them a little more in the winter. I would say the age of this pipe is such that um, you know, it's bound to happen anytime. you know, it's the a potential breaking come any time when you're you got a 60-y old cast iron pipe in the ground um with questionable soils around it. But, um typically you start to see more movement during warming and and cooling cycles like early winter, late winter. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Okay. And I I guess my reason for that is just trying to think like time if you know timing wise, do we want to speed this up? Do we want to wait? You know, I guess that was kind of my my thought on it. Thank you. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Just curious um Nate, we know that CASA 317 and trunk highway 36 is going to be going on and when we've experienced uh Manning Avenue project or something on 36, it really and on 94 traffic on 14 really sees quite an uptick. **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Sure. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** And I'm just wondering if you have or if the city has taken steps to coordinate with the county between the projects given that there's likely to be I see substantial completion in August and I want to say that project's starting in June. **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Yep. There will uh Mr. Mayor, there will be some overlap. uh we are actively working with the county and state staff on any sort of traffic impacts from the 36 CASA 17 project. Now, what I will say is those great big projects, you know, um as as you're aware, um sometimes they take a little while to get going, you know what I mean? So, we're we're kind of hoping that we can get in and um get our project done before any sort of substantial closure start diverting, you know, um greater levels of traffic towards us. And and it's a little hard right now for um for them to be able to um give us anything concrete. There are staging plans um but as far as dates associated with those plans, you know, uh they they really need to wait for to get a contractor on board. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** What is the material we'll be put installing? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Uh it it'll it would be an HDP. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Okay. And so as you mentioned, I think I recall you said parts of eastbound 14 will need to be closed on when the pits go in. size of the pits are roughly what, eight by eight? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** No, they're bigger than that. Um, you know, it's it'd be it's not going to get as far into like, you know, the you know, the other traffic lane, but you can bank on, you know, like a 20 by 15. And it's 8 and 1/2 ft deep. It'll be a little bit, let's call it 10 feet because you need room to maneuver. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Okay. Just out of curiosity, was there any I don't even know if that's common practice to do a pipe bursting or anything like that? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** So there's there's twofold uh here going from a you can you can with pipe bursting in a situation like this, you can typically upsize one pipe size. So like a six to an eight, eight to a 10 um without too much trouble. A six to a 12 would be I don't even know if that's feasible. Got it. Um, and then we also, like I say, we're we're actually kind of relocating this a little further out into the road to avoid any sort of try to mitigate for future impacts. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Okay. And do we know we'll be deep I'm assuming everybody's taking a look that we'll be deep enough to avoid any other utilities that may be in that roadway section? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Yes, sir. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Stanley? **[00:00:00] Nick Kragness (Council Member):** Yes. So, back to the question that Councilman Hirn had about the repairs. Have the 12-in pipes needed any repairs, or is it just the 6-in section that's needed the most repairs? **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** Uh, yes, Council Member Kragness, it's just this 6 in section we're talking about. These 12in legs that it's tying into are much newer and better. Haven't had any leaks or anything like that. **[00:00:00] Nick Kragness (Council Member):** Okay. No problems. Yeah. Cool. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Anything else? All right. With that, I'll entertain a motion. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Motion to approve resolution number 2026-008 approving the plans and specs and ordering the advertisement for bids for the CASAW 14 water main improvements from CASA 17 North Lake to Leighton Avenue. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Support. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** We have a motion and a second. discussion hearing. None. I'll call the question. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. **[00:00:00] Council Members:** I. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Approvements are approved. Thank you. We'll jump into uh the item that was pulled from consent agenda. It's approving Lions Park playground cost adjustment. Um I guess I'll just try and give a little bit of background. This was something that the parks commission has put through was in our CIP uh went to parks commission. It was tabled initially and at which point uh it came to um the council a little bit later than than hope than as I understand it. I don't know if I got all my dates right, but there was a a cost break if we would have done it earlier. And since we accepted it at the time that we did, that early discount uh was gone. And so basically, Mr. Swanepoel who's not able to be here this evening indicated that there's basically two options. I'm trying to get to the page now where um additional cost because of that that early um purchase wasn't met would increase the cost by $7,295 over the approved amount. Um it indicates that the contractor's installation cost of the safety chips for the project is $12,000. Uh council decides not to increase the project funding. staff could purchase safety chips for approximately half of that cost, which Adam has included a couple of estimates for those chips in the packet and then have the maintenance um workers or the the public works uh employees spread the chips uh at at less than it still would cost us something, but just not the $12,000. So to that I'll turn the floor over to council member Hirn who wished to bring this into the regular agenda. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Yes. I think uh I just will add to that when speaking with uh with Adam here about this. I just wanted to clarify a few things with him as far as you know the the line in here that would keep the project within budget if it's purchased by the city and installed. confirmed that. Um, I followed up with, you know, well, the next follow-up question was, well, you know, how do we factor in the time that uh the public works employees are spending on this? And I I I agree with his take on this. Um, but this may be more my opinion as well that uh the public works, these employees are already hired. um they're already here to to do public works roles. Um and and this is is kind of serving that role. So um you know I guess the way he saw it was that this wouldn't be taking away Well then I the followup was would this be taking them away from other public works duties that would you know should take priority at this time that the project would be going on and he said he has no concerns with that. Um the follow-up question after that was okay if we you know are you going to be here tonight? He said no he's not going to be able to be here tonight. Um he said you know if you guys t if you want to table this um he's not going to be able to be here at the first city council meeting in February. So you know this would get pushed back to that second city council meeting in February. So I said, you know, are we going to get in a similar situation then where we have a price increase again as a result of this? And he said, 'N no, we, you know, we've already have the contract with Landscape Structures. Um he wasn't concerned at all about the safety chips price going up. Um I asked about um I think that was the main piece. So Adam's direct, you know, when I talked to him on the phone, he said, you know, if you guys obviously if you want to make a decision on it, make a decision on it, but if you if you need me there to talk through this more, um that you should probably table it and that we could have it at that second uh meeting in February. I think I'll leave it at that. Probably anything else I say is probably more discussion. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Okay. any more? Well, I suppose we can't really ask questions. So, I'm gonna make a motion just so that we can get into a discussion and see where Oh, you got to be kidding me. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Well, I'm happy to make a motion cuz I'm the only one that wants, you know, I want to move forward with this. So motion to approve the purchase and installation of the Lions Park playground set not to exceed $327,000. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Support. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Can I make an amendment friendly amendment to your motion? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Sure. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Had to allow public works department to purchase the uh safety chips and spread them with public works employees. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** I am making the motion that's just presented on there because if I'm the only person that does not want to go that direction um you know then I'd like to see an amendment for keeping it at 317,000 not changing the budget and does that make sense? I lost my um have to give me a second here. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** So to confirm, council member Hirn, your motion is to do allow the increase if I want to have the discussion. All right. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Because if I'm the only person, I don't want to push this back a month. Gotcha. Okay. So, I'm I'm fine with it, you know, if I'm the only person on that. That's I'd rather keep it rolling. But I just thought, you know, since it was on the consent agenda, make that point that, you know, we could do this for cheaper. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** I had seconded already. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** All right. So, there's discussion. Go ahead. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** All right. Yeah. So again, I mean, I guess probably kind of showed my hand there as is, but I just I think this is an opportunity um to keep it within the budget uh that already has been raised from what we originally were planning on it. Um you know, I again I I feel like I was pretty fair with asking questions to make sure um that this wouldn't take um resources away from other critical things that we need to be doing. I, you know, made sure that this isn't going to cause price increases if we if we do make this change. Um, you know, there was conversation brought up that Adam has a group that he's had helped with for other projects like similar to this for um volunteer type work. So even like that type of stuff could be used for this. I just I think this is an opportunity to save $10,000 because we'd be jumping the price up from 317,000 to 327,000. So I think it's because that's what the where the request was for 327,000 up to. So I just I think this is an opportunity to save the taxpayers $10,000 and it's um a good use of public works time. So I I don't think we should increase it. **[00:00:00] Nick Kragness (Council Member):** I agree. I mean, I think if public works, if this isn't going to affect any of their other projects going on right now and it gives them a task or a project to accomplish for the amount of money we were going to pay them anyways, then it makes sense to just buy the safety chips and have them do it. So, I agree with that. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Any other discussion? I think this is something they have to install in the spring or summer. They can't do it now. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** No. And that's a busier time of year. I'm kind of concerned that wouldn't this be in like the April time frame or May time frame? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Can I speak on that because again I want to talk in the conversation with Adam. I sorry I should have mentioned that. I did ask you know when are we looking for doing this and he said since that delay did happen. We're on their schedule now but it's for more mid to end summer is when they would expect to be working on this project. Got it. So he because he did say he said, you know, if this was that transition from winter into spring, it'd be a little bit more of a concern with it being in the summer, not as much of a not a concern. Again, this is where it's like if if we want to table it and have him come back, you know, and you want to hear it out of his mouth versus me saying what I, you know, telephone tag here, I I'm open to that. If if I'm the only one again, you know, if we don't have enough agreement on that, I'm fine with moving forward. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** But Adam's not concerned about the resources? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** No. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** I would suggest that we approve it to 327 because we're going to have a new public works director before then who may have a different view of whether the staff would be time would be better spent some, you know, somewhere else and spreading safety chips. We don't know that yet. Um, but if we approve it at 327 and the staff isn't available, we can have it done. And if the staff has the time and resources to do it without affecting other operations they need to accomplish at that time, we don't know what might come up between now and then either, you know, that um, we we have the best of both worlds. We don't have to come back to, well, we need another 10,000 because we're got this going on and we just don't can't free the staff's time. I mean, I like to save the 10,000 too, don't get me wrong, but I think, you know, the new public works director may have a different view as to whether their time will be better spent doing something else, might save more money doing something else. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Yeah, that's a fair point. I didn't think about the new public works director. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** I guess I personally it's nice to save I don't I don't know that it's saving well it's 12,000 if you had them do it and the quotes on the the chips from the two that we got were what 2 and dollars. And let's see here. We got one quote for 2,000. So that would bring this. Yeah, that's about a $10,000 savings. And the other quote is uh $2900. So assuming we went with a lesser um it's yeah would be a $10,000 cash savings. The only thing to remember is that like you indicated uh we do have the employees we we do pay them to work on a general work week. Um, I think the estimate time involved would be four full-time equivalents. Take them roughly four hours, they said. So, I'm sorry. I'm going to put that to probably six hours to do it. Clean up, get it all done. So, you're looking at 24 uh employee hours. If you take a loaded rate on that, even if you're really conservative, that's probably in the neighborhood of 125 bucks an hour. Um, that would be low. So, you're looking at another 2400. So, you're saving really probably about five grand at the end of the day ballparkish um or 7500, excuse me. So, I mean, I'm okay with saving that. I don't I don't think it's a you know, half a day's work. Um, you just got to spread some things around and maybe you get lucky and you have one of these volunteer groups that's come in and done um, wood chips at some of our other playgrounds that I think uh, there's a couple church groups that have come in and done uh, carriage station park by my neighborhood. So, I understand Council Member Dragisich's position, but personally, I'd be okay cutting it and and having our public works guys do it. and the new guy's going to come in. And I'm I'm sure I guess my best guess is if Adam says it's going to be okay, that he's been around a few years, he knows what our program's like, and you know, if nothing else, you know, uh, council member Holtz can go out there and help him break it in. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** I'm okay with that public works for doing it, too. I was just trying to with the motion we have provide flexibility either way we would have to come back and so is there is there a way to do that and say uh can we can we do the full amount but then um contingent on public the new public works director assessing the situation with the preference being to purchase the chips and put them in? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** I think that's really fair. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** I'd like to offer a friendly amendment that would say um if if the public works has the ability to solve the chips that would be our preference to save the money. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Yeah. The only I I I think that's really fair and I appreciate that. I again that might be though where we want to discuss that with Adam because I I don't know what that negotiation looks like with the wood chip company. I mean, does he have to secure that now if he wants those to be available for delivery? And so again, that's just I my would be my one concern with that. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** I think that these uh playground equipment suppliers have these chips readily available. Put them all over the metro area. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Okay. Um, is the amendment to have public works install or supervise the install? Because again, if it's volunteer led technically they're not installing either or either install or supervise the installation of because in any event even if there are volunteers that are willing to do that uh public works will have to put the chips on site with their equipment. Right. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** So are you accepting that friendly amendment? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** What was it again? **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** The friendly amendment would be it's so it still is the 327, but the preference of the council is to save the wood chip money by having public works install or supervise the installation of the wood chips. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Yeah. So, we're still approving up to 327 if needed. If the new director says, you know, this isn't the priority, but the preference, but we're letting them know our preference know is to go that direction. Correct. Support. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** All right. So, I'm going to call the question on the motion as presented. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. **[00:00:00] Council Members:** I. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Motion passes. Thank you for the thoughtful discussion. Item number three, formerly item number two on our regular agenda, is fourth quarter goals update. Thank you, Administrator Miller. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um, so included in the packet is the fourth quarter goals update, and it is just a continuous, um, we keep tracking our progress here. So, um, new this quarter, I highlighted the new things in quarter 4 are in yellow. So, seems like a while ago, but it wasn't really that long ago. We completed our urban land institute, the technical assistance panel for the 180 acres. staff is currently uh corresponding with ULI um folks on the final report and that will come back um shortly to council. Bolton and Mink has been asked to provide a proposal with a cost estimate for a comprehensive plan. Uh I know that community development staff is meeting with them um next week to kind of go over the scope and to get more information, but ultimately um that will come back to council for approval at a later date. Um the appraisal survey phase two have all been completed for um the the um old fire station and the old parks building and uh community development staff is in in u correspondence with the the folks um that were selected to move on. And that should be coming back pretty soon as well um potentially to a close session to talk about um purchase price. And then as we saw that was made public, the Valley Community Center, they signed the purchase agreement for the old um Lake Elmo Elementary School site here. Uh and they have come in and have met with community development staff quite a few times to talk about their um wishes for that land going forward. And then recently, our community development director um walked our old city hall site with a broker to find out um their opinion on how much it would cost to to get that building um ready to um potentially lease um to someone. So, we'll have that come back um for further discussion. Um that's not uh scheduled yet, but we'll likely come back with that as well as kind of more parking analysis to council. And then we had our finance director who presented the at the um financial planning workshop um when we um she presented and the council accepted scenario 2 for her to to base her um her budgeting on going forward. We adopted the the CIP in December and um of course I'm sure you're all aware the new website did launch in August and we had um our communications plan came forward to a workshop. Now that is um going to come back for council adoption um probably just on consent. We're waiting for the conversation to go forward through planning commission on the public hearing notices, the increasing the distance as well as um kind of coming back for further discussion about using social media for public hearing notices. So, but that will come back for final final approval. And then our um communications coordinator did work with our finance director on creating that budget info sheet. And since um she created that, she's also created a franchise fee info sheet. And um our plan is going forward kind of major policy decisions. We'll be creating those info sheets so we can utilize that um for our community and as well as staff. And then last, we did add a few more uh staff members to our group. So we have our admin assistant that supports public works and fire as well as our two building inspectors. And that is what we have. And then we've been already starting to to track our work that's been completed in quarter one of 26 already as well. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** All right. Any questions for Administrator Miller? **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** Are those budget info sheets? Is that on the website? **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** Yes. Okay. It is. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** That's a great idea. I love that. I don't have any questions. I just I want to say thank you for your focus on this and your really great leadership of taking what I'm sure we provide as very muddy direction sometimes and bringing clarity to it and um it's that this is great. It's really nice to see and I really appreciate that um that you're doing this and sticking with it and um making sure that we're moving towards what we say we wanted to do. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** Thank you. It's it's a a time I think to to celebrate and to show what staff is working on as well. So I do um get input from all of them because sometimes I forget what we've all accomplished. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** I think it's a it's a testament to the city and and you guys supporting that uh being transparent on the happenings that are going on in Lake Elmo so that residents can see some of the things that are being accomplished. I don't I don't know that we um tout those things enough. There's a lot that happens without really it being a a visual presence to a lot of the the residents within Lake Elmo. So this gives them an opportunity to see uh besides just the the the stuff they see on the surface happening uh some of the works that are are going on um that they may not be aware of. So that's very much appreciated. All right, council reports. Council member Dragisich. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** Yeah, council member Hirn brought up an interesting point which I thought would be be good information for the council to have. That would be it would be uh interesting to get a report on our unaccounted for water as a percent. You say your unaccounted for is just 12% of your pumpage or whatever it would be and what that dollar value represents. So if we sold that water at our normal rate, you know what's the percentage and the and the um loss revenue. Just a piece of information. I don't think it's bad. But I I couldn't find anywhere on our website when I was looking. Um, but typically you like to see somewhere 10% range, you know, somewhere 7 to 10% is kind of acceptable starts getting much over that, you want to, you know, take a look at what's causing it and bring it down. I'm guessing ours is probably pretty good, but it would just be a good piece of information. And if it is above where we'd like to see it, then we got work with our engineer to address the that piece and minimize our losses. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Is that something typically the public works would know based on water quantities and things like that? Is that **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** Yeah, they take the the pumpage and volume and then they subtract the volume that was built. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** I believe our current utility billing software has that capability or our new census meter program. I know that um finance staff have talked about that. So that's probably pretty easily readily readily available information. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** And if it's not readily available, then you know, don't you need to spend huge amounts of time. It's just an information question we can get to it over the course of, you know, 2026. It's just be a good piece to know and know if we should be doing anything to, you know, make sure we don't have too much unaccounted for revenue. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** Yeah, I I think we can get that pretty. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Thank you, Council Member Holtz. I'll defer to you for the meeting with Representative Johnson. No other report for me. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Oh, glad you brought it up. Um, yeah. So last week Friday right uh administrator Miller, Council Member Holtz, myself, uh, met with, uh, rep, uh, Chief Kalis, and city engineer, uh, Mr. Stanley met with Representative Wayne Johnson and discussed some of the priorities for uh legislative priorities for the city of Lake Elmo going into 2026 which he indicated was going to be primarily a bonding year. Um, we did, uh, as probably predicted, uh, focus highly on the, uh, water impacts to the city of Lake Elmo and and, uh, we're we're advocating for getting some language changed and, uh, potentially look into um, just a small language change in in one of the bills that was presented a couple years ago. What were the other items? I don't can't bring up **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** funding for 36. **[00:00:00] Jeff Holtz (Council Member):** Oh, yeah. And just make sure that uh if there is a funding gap for 1736 along with the county that the state be able to cover that that gap if there is anything um on that project. So, or M for PFAS. Then looking forward into we do have some some grant money where we're looking at the treatment. Uh we we're looking at trying to make sure maintain that the cities much like Woodbury and Cottage Grove ourselves that are putting in treatment facilities are able to get uh operational and maintenance money um that would otherwise be burdened by the residents of the city uh for that long-term uh need. So, thanks for the help on that. And that's all I've got. **[00:00:00] Nick Kragness (Council Member):** no report. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Staff reports. Got a lot of staff here tonight. But just you. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** Yes. But I do want to give a big shout out to all staff, including our financial um our finance staff. Um we are on the second week of implementing our new financial software. So they have um been training and doing real time updates with the BSNA staff that have been on site. This is their third week they were here um go live too. But they're working their butts off, but also to all staff who have taken training. We've been trained in um entering invoices and our time sheets. Payroll in our new system was successfully completed today, so we should get paid. Um, but staff have have taken the time to attend the training and to be patient. Some things needed some work, you know, fixing as we went along. But, um, and I'll channel my inner Clarissa. She always says, "Thank you for purchasing this." But I can say that it's been really easy to use compared to our old financial software, at least for what I've been trained in so far. AP time sheet management. Um, I'm sure it will continue with budgeting. So, it's got a lot of dropdowns, search areas. We customize our own dashboards for what we want to keep track of. So, so far so good. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Great. That's really great news. Oh, one last thing. I just want to confirm with the changing of the meeting to February 4th. I know Council Member Hirn, Mayor Cadenhead will not be in attendance. So I just want to make sure the three of you will be here. **[00:00:00] Nick Dragisich (Council Member):** Yes. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** Okay. Thank you. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** Do need a quorum or can't conduct business. **[00:00:00] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** You can have a remote attendance. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** You can't you can't predict when the kids get sick. Anybody would like to join that way. **[00:00:00] Matt Hirn (Council Member):** I could probably remote in if needed. **[00:00:00] Nate Stanley (City Engineer):** No report. **[00:00:00] Charles Cadenhead (Mayor):** All right. With that we will uh conclude this evening meeting. I will adjourn it at 7:50.