[0:57] Mayor: all right good evening we will call this meeting to order for the February 13th 2025 Apple Valley city council meeting I welcome everyone for any members of the audience who have signed up to speak this evening when your name is called please approach the podium uh to address the council and with that the first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance and I would ask everyone to rise and join us in the pledge pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liy and jce for all thank you next item on our agenda to approve the agenda and Tom any changes [1:42] Tom (City Administrator): this evening Mr Merck members of the council good evening we have no changes to no changes [1:42] Mayor: do we have a motion to approve the agenda [1:42] Council Member Kenall: so moved [1:42] Council Member Bergman: second [1:42] Mayor: motion by council member Kenall a second by council member Bergman all those in favor indicate by saying I I opposed the agenda carries the next item is our audience participation portion of the meeting this is for items not on the agenda I'm looking at Christina because I did not check the signup sheet she says no one signed up uh anyone in the audience who would like to speak who maybe did not sign up all right seeing none we'll move on to our consent agenda these items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or citizen request to pull an item council members any items you would like to pull from consent all right anyone in the audience [2:30] Council Member Mander: so moved [2:30] Council Member Hebert: second [2:30] Mayor: motion from council member Mander a second from council member Heber all those in favor indicate by saying I I iOS consent items passed moves us to our regular agenda and item 5A and our Fire Chief Matt Nelson's going to come up and talk about a uh award we recently received for the construction project of Fire Station 2 [2:30] Fire Chief Matt Nelson: I didn't receive it the city did but um welcome Mr Mayor members of the council so I'm going to turn it over to Ben Newan here from Terra construction he can explain a little bit more about the award thanks Matt [2:30] Ben Newan (Terra Construction): mayor uh council members uh the Minnesota construction Association is a Association uh specifically for Minnesota construction projects every year they host a uh Awards of Excellence Gala uh on that Gala they have a number of different categories you can submit nominate projects for uh project categories are goes under 5 million over 5 million publicly funded Renovations additions and then tenant interiors and so we nominated the Station 2 Under the publicly funded project and about six weeks ago we were notified the project one and just a few weeks ago we attended the award ceremony on behalf of the city to accept this award uh and so we're here today to present uh the award to the city and and prior to turning it over I would just uh I want to turn over to Ana back Ana has been our project manager for this project really spearhead of the project from a cost perspective management perspective coordinating with the city and that's one of the things that the award uh criteria was for collaboration cost Management schedule management quality safety Innovation the ability to work together as a team which this project really did exemplify and so thank you for your dedication to this team and thank you uh to to the city for your partnership anaely thank you thanks Ben [4:00] Ana (Project Manager): so I just wanted to recognize um what makes a su successful project is the partnership actually and this project was really enjoyable even though like any project we encountered challenges but with the fire department the administrative staff and particularly Charles gr he was just amazing so it was a really good project and cnh and myself actually have a history in the fired station side of things too so that was really enjoyable so I just wanted to say thank you and um I look forward to additional projects and actually have stuff going on for the parks so really enjoy working with Apple Valley and we'll be here till 202 seven so so hopefully we can win some more so thank you and we just wanted to present this so can we bring this up to you guys [4:46] Mayor: yeah gohe we're it up we'll set it up here thank you thank you thank you well done project there so the audience can see it those who have good eyes anyway so this tempered glass it won't break all right Charles did you want to try to get a picture Charles you're supposed to be the challenge is we need you in the picture Charles so Tom is going to have to how many project manager projects have you done Charles we want to um get maybe you guys in the front we can just stand up and maybe we can move in here and we can be just behind maybe that'll give us enough height that uh we canair I've done that make sure you see the cameras all right look good one two three one two perfect he's way up there I he's last project right Alex thank you thanks thanks Matt thanks to everybody I wor about knocking it over thanks thank you all thanks for coming out tonight too all right um our next item 5B is to appoint a Parks and Recreation advisory uh Committee Member and Christina we have a process and I know we have a number of our applicants here in the audience tonight as well which is great to see uh come up for this so you want to walk us through this uh this uh voting process and all those good things [6:19] Christina (City Clerk): yes mayor and Council this is always very exciting how many people are excited to be a part of the city of Apple Valley um so we had a or have I should say one vacancy on our Parks and Recreation committee um that is vacancy is for a one-year term it expires on March 1st of 2026 and it is the result of council member Hebert who was on The Parks and Recreation committee um being elected to to serve at the city council um so we began recruitment for this position um early in 2025 um applications closed on January 29th and we are excited to say we had eight applicants um for the vacancy um the council received the names of all the applicants and the applications under separate cover and in your packet you do have a list of all of those applicants as well the process this evening um first the council will formally accept the nomination so we typically would have have one council member read off those names and then um the mayor would call for any other nominations and then the nominations are closed and then our typical process is a balloting process where we um I have because I'm a city clerk I have ballots for everybody with the candidates name on there and um each council member initials the bottom of the ballot so we know how you voted and then you would vote typically vote for one fewer candidate than we have so we currently have eight so you would vote for seven up to seven and then I collect those ballots and the City attorney and I go out and count those ballots and then we come back um with the results uh a candidate needs at least three votes from Council in order to move forward in the process so then I come back with another round of ballots I remove any of the candidates who didn't receive that vote threshold and then we continue on with that process until we are down to um one candidate who has received a majority of council votes and then there's a resolution um that the council moves to formally appoint that person any questions on that okay thank you [8:38] Mayor: thank you for that detailed explanation council member grall [8:38] Council Member Grindall: thank you Mr Mayor um I would put all the names into nomination I think we have some great people who have applied for the position but I I'm going to make a motion we vote for five on the first ballot so three less three less it's the same math just want to make sure everybody understands it it's confusing right when we have all the numbers for five hold for five [8:38] Mayor: we'll give that a shot for the first one we can adjust as we move into fewer numbers so uh any other we see to ask there any other nominations I believe at this point is that would be typical looking at the audience one more opportunity are there any other Nom Nom nominations why is that hard to say this evening one final time any other nominations if not we have a motion from council member grall to advance the slate um as is presented in the Council materials this evening do we have a second for that motion [9:24] Council Member Bergman: second [9:24] Mayor: motion from council member grindall a second from council member burkman all those in favor indicate by saying I I oppos so I think we're ready to begin our balloting and you should at your station [9:51] Tom (City Administrator): or Mr Mayor we should probably Advance a motion to vote for the number that you wish to vote for the established resolution has one fewer if you wish to Al that [9:51] Mayor: that was actually um included in Ruth's original or excuse me council member grindle's original motion okay if that Wasing you were good with it on your second and we're all good with that so the minutes can reflect that accordingly they already do so refresh we're voting for five for five thank you did we need to read the Slate of candidates too okay okay thank you well it don't work a couple more at the end as well B one the City attorney and I will tally the vote in the meantime I believe um that yes we have some updates toat Tom [10:30] Tom (City Administrator): well while we uh this is like c music but better so uh go ahead Mr Mayor members of the council yes we have a number of Staff updates for you and we're going to start actually with a communication that we have been using here called the vibe and it's produced regularly by our Communications team we want to show you a more recent version that actually includes some uh timely updates on some Community items if they happen to come in before we're done with the video we'll just pause it and we'll pick it up uh once we're into round two [11:51] Video (The Vibe): exciting projects from the 2023 Parks referendum are well underway and you can expect to see some amazing changes in 2025 this spring we're breaking ground on a brand new youth baseball and softball complex at Hayes Park and we're also kicking off the Reconstruction of Redwood Park then as we move into summer work will begin at Kelly Park and on rebranding the trail at Cobblestone Lake Park but that's not all Johnny Cake Ridge Park is set for some major improvements this summer as well the newly remodeled Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center will celebrate its grand reopening we'll also start construction on eight additional pickle ball courts along with the state-of-the-art concrete skate park in addition to these exciting projects our neighborhood parks are also getting some well-deserved upgrades throughout 2025 we'll be installing new park signs and replacing features stay tuned for more details as these projects progress for more information visit APPL Valley mn.gov Parks projects the Apple Valley Senior Center offers a variety of activities for seniors one of the most popular programs is morning stretch this program is a great way to get moving and start your day feeling energized and refreshed sessions are held every Monday Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. for more information on senior stretch and other activities visit Apple Valley mn.gov Senior Center you can also stop by during the daytime for a tour of the facility Dakota county is hosting a fixed clinic on Saturday February 15th from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Galaxy Library residents are encouraged to bring up to three small household Island items such as Electronics clothing or jewelry for free repair assistance skilled volunteers will guide participants through troubleshooting and fixing their items no registration is required and items are accepted until 12:30 p.m. for more information and future dates visit the Dakota County website and finally a reminder that city offices will be closed on Monday February 17th in observance of the President's Day holiday that's the latest vibe in apple valy stay up to date by checking out our website and following us on social media [14:10] Mayor: well done as always so nice job it seems like our timing is perfect here they were waiting outside the window for the video to end that new lawyer announce not interrupting anybody's presentation that's great perfect [14:37] Christina (City Clerk): mayor and Council um after our first round of balloting we have six continuing candidates those are Cindy deas Nicole FY Angela low chappie thank you as a skippon I should get it right right right Patrick Luke Jessica Merchant and Hunter verra so at this point you will be voting for one fewer so we have six continuing so it's five votes again and then I will hand out the ballots and um you'll make your selections remember to put your initial [14:37] Council Member Grindall: a motion to vote for four is there any issue with that we vote for four as a motion yeah so a motion to vote for the math will still work right should still work fine [14:37] Mayor: motion from Council M grindle to vote for four this round [14:37] Council Member Mander: second [14:37] Mayor: all in favor of voting for four I I all right thank you we'll vote for four all right time what do we have next [16:22] Tom (City Administrator): one we'd like to do is another video with a brand new announcement for the community let's the first time this shows and it will be uh very much public after this so um we'll ask Tim to roll the next video maybe there it is [Video Audio]: great progress everyone I'm really excited about this big announcement let's pick this up after lunch but until then let's make sure we keep all of this information confidential got it hey team I hope you guys had a great lunch hey everybody hey chief what's up did you hear the news the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center is now called Splash Valley Water Park oh great whatever happened to keeping This Confidential wasn't the Secret's out the Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center is now Splash Valley Water Park and it's more than just a new name discover all the exciting new improvements at APPL Valley mn.com Valley I can't wait for some [17:29] Mayor: they didn't archive that yeah we thought that was bar didn't we show up again and again so just the backstory on that the the last Cannonball to be performed at the Old Redwood pool was done by our police chief and you just saw the video evidence of that and I believe the plans are in the works for when the new pool is in that you're going to kick that off as well all right we have a plan next up we'd like to call on our fire chief he has an announcement for the community as well Matt Nelson [18:26] Fire Chief Matt Nelson: hello again uh a little ways out but get people kind of thinking about it um our fire department will be accepting applications uh for paid on call firefighters in the month of April so you don't need to have any training to apply you just need to be 18 years of age or older have high school diploma or GED live within four minutes of one of our fire stations and have a driver's license and then we'll do the rest as far as training people if they're selected to move forward in the process so just wanted to get people kind of thinking about that and you can find more information on our website about that as well thank you chief [18:26] Council Member Grindall: Chief can you explain how the four minutes Works National Night Out somebody said they could couldn't make it in the four minutes and I thought they lived relatively close so how do you do that [19:13] Fire Chief Matt Nelson: to live within four minutes our policy state that it has to be four minutes with the fire chief driving that following all applicable laws so Google or Apple Maps may say you're within four minutes but when we actually drive it it may be a little bit longer um typically if it's kind of right on that border it'll be driven multiple different times different times of day possibly different routes to see if they actually do qualify for that 4minute route so and we're happy to do that if anyone's potentially interested and want to know if they are um within that four minutes [19:13] Mayor: good question good thank you yeah thank you um quick question and then we'll take our city oh I I was going to comment I happened to be at Apple Valley Station 2 taking a tour at one time and uh with with the former Chief the phone rang we were in front of the office that the incoming calls came and he said watch this he looked at his watch 3 and a half minutes later a truck pulled out with 10 guys on it I mean it was phenomenal impressive thank you Christina [19:59] Christina (City Clerk): thank you mayor and Council we currently have five continuing candidates um Cindy deis Nicole Fairley Angela lower shy shappy sheppy thank you Jessica Merchant and Hunter verah um so typically it would be four that we would then vote for on this round [19:59] Council Member Grindall: Mr Mayor I'll make a motion we vote for three [19:59] Council Member Mander: second [19:59] Mayor: have a second for that second from a motion from Council m grindle a second from Council M Mander all in favor Hi I hi thank you we'll vote for three thank you up to don't forget your inial thank you sorry unfolded all right Tom I I hope you've prepared more [21:52] Tom (City Administrator): we have a few more we'll see how many rounds of sakes uh next up we' like to call on our city engineer Brandon Anderson to talk to us about a uh project that we're doing jointly with Dakota County on C Road 31 [21:52] Brandon Anderson (City Engineer): good evening mayor members of the council um as you're aware the the city of Apple Valley has been working uh with Dakota County on numerous roadway projects planned for the next several years and we just want to let you and the general public to know that we're hosting another open house um here at City Hall in in the municipal center on March 11th from 4: to 6 with Dakota County staff and City staff this one is regarding some safety improvements um that the county is planning on Pilot Knob Road at upper 147th Street um that is an intersection that's had some safety concerns and at high accident rates it is a um I believe a wonderful project it would be great for the general public to show up and and and ask questions and get to know what the Project's um looking to head for um so initially the the the the uh open house will be March 11th there is a project website on the Dakota County website as well as a QR code if you know how to use that or you can enter and get more information um there will be a spring open house there'll be some final design there will be two other open houses after that later in the year and they're looking at a summer 2026 implementation or or or getting that project started so just a little background information we want to get some people more at Community engagement events that are upcoming so March 11th 4 to 6 regarding our County project thanks Brandon [23:25] Mayor: I we should probably recognize your work in getting it this far you've done a ton of work behind the scenes with the county and suggestions and sight lines and right we've seen some of that come through in email and comments and um just I want that to go on and recognize you've got a lot of work and helping them get to a what's probably a good outcome if we can get there yeah thank you this is this will be a an important Safety project one of the better ones so thanks thank you all right I'm talking slowly to see if the door opens um we do have a few more if we want to let's keep let's keep going we'll call back up our police chief Nick Francis who wants to inform the community about an upcoming teen Academy [24:11] Police Chief Nick Francis: oh yeah fortunately I can make this as long or as short as we as we need here so uh it may not feel like it outside but our teen Academy is right around the corner uh starts in um April it will run Thursday nights April 3rd through 24th we just put it out online put it out um to our uh all of our subscribers through email and registration is open right now so we're inviting um students preferably Apple Valley or 196 we are partnering again with um the Rosemont police department but uh it's a great way for kids that want to or even don't want to be in law enforcement just to get to know some of their police officers and get to know what we do for them in the community so it'll be on social media and and uh we'd love to have our kids come out and uh see what we do and there is a limit to the number of uh attendees or yeah usually it's in the mid 20s um it's we've we've had um we haven't really had waiting lists or anything else we usually get right around there so we're happy happy to have a full classroom great thank you Chief thanks [25:42] Christina (City Clerk): Christina mayor and Council after round three of voting we have three continuing candidates Nicole fle Angela low shapy and Jessica Merchant so we would typically then vote for up to two on those ballots that works don't you [25:42] Council Member Grindall: I'll make a motion for two [25:42] Council Member Mander: second [25:42] Mayor: all in favor I thank you first one to forget we got a long way through this before somebody forgot you would to recognize handwriting all right Tom I'm sure we have more [26:27] Tom (City Administrator): well I was hoping maybe we would forget this one but we're going to go ahead and say it anyway that tonight will be Alex Sharp's last meeting the city of Apple Valley Alex has been our uh city planner here for a while and before that a planner one who specialized in the economic development side of the community he's done some amazing work for the city and uh we're very sad to hear that he's accepted a position as the community development director for the city of wetta so uh wanted to let the community know that those of you who have processed various permits to our planning department over the course of uh past many years probably dealt with Alex he's always done amazing work for our community and on behalf of our residents and our certainly our businesses and growing our tax base for the community so I just want to wish him well and I probably stole all the Thunder but I'll ask Tim if he has anything left he'd like to comment as well uh [27:13] Tim (Community Development Director): Mr Mayor members of council um in my short two years tenured here I've lost three city planners I've always I'm starting to wonder is it me or is it just something going on in the water uh two of those retirement uh and one of them uh was a self-promotion uh by Alex uh he has been a wonderful asset to this City and uh a great uh helper to me as I was starting to learn everything about this community and about the department and he's been great to work with and uh why Zetta gain is our loss but uh uh we we wish him well and this is a more than logical step for uh an individual like Alex to start as a planner move up to city planner and uh transition to to uh community development director that's a track I took and this is the track I encouraged uh him to take so we're very happy for him and uh we hope that uh he does stop in and I hope to see him at some conferences and he can buy my first drink at those conferences well there you go yeah that's true so thank you Alex appreciate it very much thank you [28:49] Mayor: this also that's that's the Alex work stuff right I also know Alex has spent a fair amount of time in our local schools helping get right high school students and others interested in the uh planning track and the municipal careers and we need that to right build that pipeline up so Alex thanks for that time uh as well so um we'll miss you [28:49] Christina (City Clerk): Christina mayor and Council after round four of voting we have two continuing candidates Nicole Fairley and Jessica Merchant I will hand out the ballots please vote for one I'm going to initial it right away thank you good job sure I got it's only one double check thank you all right Tom what else do we have [29:33] Tom (City Administrator): uh one other since we're maybe at the last round here uh just a reminder that uh over the course of the last year the city council has worked with staff in the franchise fee development process and so many residents are been aware that there's a franchise fee that is charged on your Dakota Electric bill that you get uh regularly from them uh that basically is in recognition of the fact that the electric utility uses the public rights of way of our community uh for their infrastructure uh as part of the renewal of the franchise agreement with Dakota Electric uh that was now put into place uh Dakota Electric is sending out letters to all of the customers across the community you may be seeing those in your mailbox and you may well get questions about that uh we will be adding some information on our City website to describe more about the franchise fee process itself and uh happy to answer any questions that people have Revenue raised from that fund has in the past and will continue to do various infrastructure projects for the city we have buried electrical overline overhead electrical lines to add greater reliability uh to our system uh we have uh certainly have been looking and have been adding some of those dollars to assist with our street reconstruction projects which is a major expense of our city as we work our way through our 50-year plus uh infrastructure uh revenue from this particular franchise fee will go to assist that as well so we just want to get that information out there as much as we can help to answer any questions that people have as they receive this letter in their mailbox and happy to have more conversation if they wish great thank you Tom [31:44] Christina (City Clerk): mayor and city council after round five of voting Jessica Merchant received the majority of the votes of the city council um at this time if you're still inclined you could um make a motion for a resolution appointing Jessica Merchant to the Parks and Recreation advisory committee for aor expiring March 1st 2026 [31:44] Mayor: we have a motion to that effect [31:44] Council Member Grindall: so Move Motion appointing Jessica Merchant to the Parks and Recreation [31:44] Council Member Hebert: second [31:44] Mayor: motion from council member grindall and Lisa motion second from council member hbert all those in favor indicate by saying I I I opposed that passes unanimously uh thank you for uh all of our applicants it's not often we get eight qualified applicants to show up for these and we're happy they do we will have other openings um those apps will stay on file if you're interested in other things please reach out so thank you very much council member Heber [32:30] Council Member Hebert: um again I just wanted to say thank you I had a opportunity to talk to everyone and uh again the the passion and the commitment and the excitement to get involved and step up just really appreciate that and the amount of experience that everybody had and would bring to this role was really a tough decision I think we had to make but I just again want to say thank you to all of you and uh continue to get involved and and um again thank you for your interest thank you everyone appreciate it [33:19] Mayor: all right Tom do we have any other uh staff updates [33:19] Tom (City Administrator): Mr our staff is officially out of updates [33:19] Mayor: all right start accumulating again for next time um we first part of February we had been Winterfest uh happen here and just want to recognize uh everybody who played a part in pulling that together s l of works from Parks uh from other City staff from uh even team on Communications from police from fire we had uh fire trucks out there we had garden carts I don't think we tipped anybody over ran them over I think we did it safely uh we had a number of volunteers we couldn't have pulled this off without community volunteers who showed up throughout the day and made sure everything was there and you literally all had it cleaned up yes we had the art yes live band right hard to pull live music off in the winter we had the Arts Foundation sponsor a uh sponsor a live band out there and then we had um yep rotary rotary was there food trucks so a couple food trucks out rotary was there selling hot chocolate Rascal showed up to sell adult beverages turned up be a nice evening the wind probably wasn't in our favor but what do you do in the winter that's the whole purpose right we got to celebrate no matter what the weather brings us so thanks everybody for the work to pull that together that's right P 227 yeah 227 was out there helping so I'm sure I forgot somebody it's not because I intended to forget you it's because we had a lot of people helping thank you all any other Council comments all right the next um item on our excuse me I on our agenda is to approve the calendar of upcoming events our next regular city council meeting is Thursday February 27th at 700 p.m. and just a reminder that city offices are closed Monday the 17th in observance of the President's Day holiday we have a motion to approve the calendar [34:53] Council Member Bergman: so moved [34:53] Council Member Grindall: second [34:53] Mayor: motion from council member Bergman a second from council member grindle all those in favor indicate by saying I I I opposed all right item eight is to go into closed session and we're going to convene a closed session under the attorney client privilege exception to the open meeting law to review and consider real real property appraisal information related the city-owned property located at the northwest corner of 150th Street West County Road 42 and 147th Street West uh commonly known as The Frasier Edition Remnant parcel do we have a motion to go into close session [35:38] Council Member Bergman: so moved [35:38] Council Member Grindall: second [35:38] Mayor: motion from council member Bergman and a second from council member grindle all those in favor indicate by saying I I I and opposed uh we will hold that Clos session across the hall and we'll adjourn the meeting from over there so thank you okay