Here is the transcribed town hall meeting with speaker names added based on the context provided. [0:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: like to welcome everybody to the January regular City council meeting um I'll call to order and the first order is budget [0:20] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:39] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: next is the approval of the agenda. is there any additions to the agenda? if not, is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? [0:53] **Council Member**: second. [0:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: all in favor? [Council responds "Aye"] opposed? passed. Consent agenda A is the regular City minutes from December 11th, 2024, special city council meeting minutes December 26th, and the special organizational City meeting January 2nd, 2025. Is there a motion to approve of that? [1:18] **Council Member**: so moved. [1:19] **Council Member**: second. [1:20] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: all in favor? [Council responds "Aye"] anybody opposed? have B is financial reports: City accounts payable for December 2024, city financial statement December 2024, and the liquor store profit and loss statement December 24. Is there a motion to approve that? Any questions? [1:58] **Council Member**: make motion to approve. [2:00] **Council Member**: second. [2:01] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: all in favor? [Council responds "Aye"] opposed? pass. Public comment: this time is reserved for comments from the public on matters not listed on the agenda. please keep comments to three minutes. Seeing none, we'll have Department reports. A, the Carlton County Sheriff's Office. [2:14] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: thank you Mr. Mayor and council members. uh you should have your packet already um some information that was sent which is uh a couple reports. one of them is for the month of December which included uh the self-initiated and the calls for service for the contract Deputy as well as a separate uh column for all the other County deputies that responded um for the month of December as far as calls for service and self-initiative activity. [3:00] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: so there was uh it looks like 44 um total calls by the contract deputy and 88 by the other County deputies for December. also included in your packet is the statistics for 2024 um for the Moose Lake police department which was the seven months from January 1st of 24 to July 31st of 2024 and then the contract Deputy stats from August 1st when the contract started until December 31st. is there any questions on that that was provided? [3:46] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you. [3:47] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: you're welcome and I know um that Lieutenant R had come to the previous meeting but indicated that we would have another deputy and we're still on schedule for that here towards the end of the month to begin. so you'll see a second one then and we are actively working on— [4:05] **Council Member**: yeah have a question on the old school. uh there seems to be a couple of doors down there that have the or the windows were broken out and they had put the plywood over it and the plywood has been pulled off now. okay and that's on the East Side, the one of the doors that's close to the old football field and then there's another door in the corner on the east on the east side on the back side. but there's also when I went and looked in there and there the windows are are broke are broken to get in but then there's another set of doors right after the first set of doors and I don't know if those are locked or not. I did I did bring it to the attention of one of your deputies here last week but I just don't know what to what the situation is exactly with with that. [4:56] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: well we've had some correspondence with the city administrator as well as the owner of the building um the owner made it very abundantly clear that he does not want anyone in that building so we have instructed the deputies that unless it is a life safety matter that they are not to even go in there. now if there's certainly someone in there and there's a life safety issue then yes they're going to go in there and take care of that and make sure that you know no one is is in danger in there but outside of that um again he's made it abundantly clear so until the city does something different with that building or that is resolved I don't know if— [5:47] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: you know we don't have any other action that we would take with that really. directed to you, are is there any way we can force him to um am I trying to say secure building? [5:58] **Council Member**: secure the building more than like a piece of plywood because that's easily uh removable. [6:03] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: um we've been in consistent contact with him um regarding securing the building um he will meet the requirements and the obligations and then something will occur or there'll be additional vandalism or somebody will re-break in um and so he has met the requirements to secure the building um but there does continue to be entrance and um damage. he's actually um been more recently engaged with the city and the EDA um in discussions about the building um so we have the county EDA involved as well so we're going to continue to have dialogue collectively as a group to try and come up with some solutions um so there'll be more information uh for Council on that uh but we have all parties um actively meeting and engaging um to try and be proactive versus uh reactive regarding the building. [7:15] **Council Member**: it seems like he's setting himself up for liability also when he leaving it unsecure with these windows. [7:20] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: right and and as Sheriff Lake mentioned he has communicated to both the city and the sheriff's office that um we are nobody is allowed on the property. [7:29] **Council Member**: I'm talking about people that are breaking in, that’s where his liability is. [7:34] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: understood. yep. um you know long-term those are things that the city's working on um short-term are are hands are a little tied uh so we've tried to do some research and get creative about different Avenues we can take and those are the things that we started to engage with him on. [7:53] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: we will certainly try and you know maintain contact in that in any engagement we can just to ensure the safety of the people you know even if they're going in there when they're not supposed to or illegally we certainly don't want anybody to get hurt. [8:08] **Council Member**: yeah I just don't know if he's aware of what that those doors are. [8:12] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: he's well aware. [8:13] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: okay he's well aware. [8:19] **Council Member**: I just find it kind of you know unfair that we ask the taxpayers you know to look over his property and it it costs the city to do that you know and he needs to take responsibility for that that building himself. [8:35] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: yes I don't disagree with that. [8:38] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: further questions for the sheriff? thank you. [8:45] **Sheriff Kelly Lake**: thank you. [8:48] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you. next we have City Superintendent. [8:55] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: Mayor, members of the council, Mr. RS um starting the water department: the water department distributed 4.9 million gallons drinking water for the month of December. uh the last couple curb stops that were needed to repair at the distribution system were fixed uh in the month of December um water system is all in the it's all winterized and got a winterized State. as far as we're trying to pump more water through that tower on a more frequent basis to try to keep any type of ice from accumulating in part of the tower. nobody wants the water tower to freeze, that would be a nightmare for everybody. uh didn't have a communication issue with the water tower in the wellhouse this last Sunday um um that got resolved so we're back up and running there. [9:36] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: Sewer Department collection system: uh collected 10.7 million gallons of waste water the month of December um and uh as far as that goes I'll still be looking for um—I'm sorry I jumped ahead—um we'll be starting our sanitary sewer cleaning program if the weather allows. if we can maintain 25-ish degrees during the day. run a lot of equipment with water moving pieces and parts and we don't want things to freeze up but with the frost depths right now the easement and the right-of-ways in the backyards it's a lot easier to get to a lot of those places so we're going to try to capitalize on that uh but we're not going to do it at the risk of equipment either so um you'll be probably seeing some of that happen here in the next couple possibly couple weeks if the temps come up a little bit. [10:21] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: uh treatment facility ponds: they're all winterized for the winter they're just kind of sitting there building ice. um I will be attending Minnesota Water conference in March in St Cloud again um that's that's such a valuable place to go like that's where the bug program came from that that I brought back up here to you guys a couple years ago and some of the other things that that we're doing that's trying to find other options for treatment and building capacity. [11:00] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: and uh Street right-of-way Department: there's no snow being plowed, we all know that, but there's a lot of right-of-ways getting cleared. so if you see a skid steer or piece of equipment down in a ditch with a bunch of dust flying it's just us cleaning back the right-of-ways. so a lot of stuff that hasn't been done—there's some streets in town that have never been done—so we're trying to get back on top of that maintain those. um cemeteries: uh they're they're pretty quiet. we do have a burial on Friday so we've been uh dealing with a couple of issues out there today but uh we should get that in and taken care of. the campground is all shut down for the winter along with the parks. the arena: the new compressor system is working well, working out a couple of bugs with it but that's uh it's going to be pretty normal on a on a newer bigger system like that so um storm sewer nothing pretty quiet. [11:50] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: Gardening Department shut down for the winter. recycling shed: we will be burning that brush pile as soon as we get 3 inches of snow. we have notifications out there: Fire Department, dispatch everyone will be notified. so um other than that I will have 2025 safety videos going out to department heads and the rest of Staff by the end of January so we can get that taken care of for the year and then I think everything else is later on the meeting so any questions for me? [12:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you. [12:12] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: yep. [12:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: next is Motor Vehicle Department. [12:14] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um I don't have a whole lot to report um just a little few things um this winter has—um the winter has been a little different this winter than it has in last year so we're getting a few things done this winter that we couldn't do last winter. um catching up on some stuff getting um papers where they go. um what else are we doing? we are—me and Tracy got our Deputy recertification test done that had to be done by the end of December so we got that done that happens um we're required to do that every 3 years um so that's nice to have that out of the way. [13:14] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um we've been able to have our own department meetings um we started that in December so we hope to be able to keep that up um just to keep in communication without any interruptions and stuff like that so that's kind of nice to have that um just doing storage um in the back room trac's been shredding all kinds of stuff that we don't have to keep anymore clearing up some space back there it's getting a little crowded she's taking out a lot of bags she's a good shredder I keep telling her that. [13:46] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um otherwise our office um we've been busy with uh snowbirds calling us people that are out of state right now that are buying Vehicles out of state and just that communication and um they have the process and all that that takes um a lot of time and um communication back and forth with them but it it all works out. we're still doing our monthly trainings every month um every third Wednesday we close the office for like hour and a half to do our trainings they have become very um overwhelming at times they continue to do a lot of changes for us a lot of by the time we're done with our training we're like they've added more work for us so it's a lot of we're always adding some more stuff for our daily life so that's sometimes a challenge. [14:48] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: uh our State website has been down a lot um we've had to send people away a lot because they must be doing some updates and changes on their website also so there's a lot of times where we have to send people away and come back um and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better but we just have to live with it um one of the changes they have made to us in our last meeting was that we have to look up uh MSRP values on vehicles even old ones um the state wants their tax um you have to look up their tax what the value of their vehicle is and that's very gets to be very time consuming also and we always hope at the end that it's good news and not bad news and they owe us more tax so and when they have the bad news then they they'll pay it you know I'm sure the state uh thinks that a lot of people don't tell the truth about how much they paid. [15:46] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: so so that's uh one of the things um just recently um a change for eyeglasses which is a big deal eyeglasses and hats you can't wear those for your driver's license any longer so that's a new thing for us to remember um we only had one customer that was not happy about it and wasn't going to take off his hat and but then they're have to fill out a form bring it to their get a variance we have to send it to the state and then it has to be approved and he goes oh I'll just take it off so I know otherwise it's a long a little longer process. [16:34] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um um I guess I don't know if anybody knows but uh we can actually sell you roadable—roadable aircraft license if you yes I don't know if anybody has seen any of them I did have somebody that um saw one on the freeway um we have not sold one yet but um that's another new thing for us too. [17:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: what was that? [17:06] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: it's a—it's a roadable aircraft. it's like a airplane where the the wings fold in and they can drive them down the road but they can't take off or or land on the freeway unless it's an emergency but they can also fly out of a airport so it's kind of—I know—interesting I know and they can go up to 160 miles an hour. I don't know who makes those I don't know who makes them yeah I don't know who makes themable aircraft isn't that funny. nobody's come in with one yet thank goodness. [17:39] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: uh we're always getting new plates in our office also um they just came out with a Rotary International um it's called it says Service above self um it goes to donation goes to community service organizations. uh they they came out with a Minnesota unite um it has a loon on the front of it and this benefits the loon restoration project to preserve loon breeding habitats. um just to let you know Minnesota has over 120 specialty plates right now and they keep going and that's not even including just the radio plates yeah so there's a lot. [18:18] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: uh we just got word about the blackout plates too um they have sold almost 260,000 in the state that's one of our most popular ones um so that means the state has made 8 million on those plates this year um I know our association is trying to um get some of that for our deputies so hopefully that will happen this year we're hoping. yeah let's see um um DNR: we had a little delay on our DNR registrations. the vendor that makes the stickers was not supplying us with the stickers um behind they're usually—usually to us before December 1st and we didn't get them until—we couldn't start selling them until January 2nd so we had to send some people away for that also. [19:11] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um DNR is also introducing a new program in March um which will allow customers easy access to the registration including fishing licenses so we should be doing some training on those too. um I just My worry is that we will lose business from that so but we'll find out more about that from February. our driver's license exams are changing from 30 minutes to 40 minutes to give the customers more time which is nice um some people have a hard time comprehending so um that is a good thing we're glad we're doing that. [19:54] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um our 100% disabled customers we've been having more and more come in which is wonderful um they can do two free vehicles with at no cost no registration no filing fee they don't pay anything and also for their driver's license and if they buy a vehicle they don't have to pay any sales tax on vehicles and there's no limit to that so and we're very happy to do that for them. [20:25] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: um we have been seen a big influx about DWIs um in our office also we get a lot of people um thinking that they can just come in and pay and just be done um it's not that simple and it's a long process to try to explain it to them what they have to do and there's steps and we try to help them as much as we can um but we do they pay the reinstatement fees and if they have to take test so that does benefit our office but we also um get some angry customers they want to be able to walk out with a driver's license and that doesn't usually happen. [21:13] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: yeah um let's see uh do any of you know when a deadline for real ID is? no. May 7th 2025. if you're going to fly into a military base or uh into a federal building you have to have a real ID or in hand or a passport yeah and we've been seeing a lot of that coming into because it's been advertised quite a bit so. [21:49] **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry**: well some of the improvements that we'd like to um do are just—we're having a language barrier issue with our foreign customers that come in for their driver's license so I've talked to Ellissa about this we're going to get a iPad to try to communicate with them better if they don't have somebody with them so that's been a issue for us. our passport photos: we've been having a lot of lighting problem. um me and Tracy had a little time to play with it today and um I think I I moved the screen up above and that seemed to help a little bit um when we would hit the picture to save um people with white hair their hair would turn iridescent and we can't accept those pictures um usually people with dark hair it was fine but if you had white white hair it would—it would just light up everybody's hair so we're working on that and hoping we fixed it because we were taking pictures of each other and we'll keep checking it out. we've been selling a few of those. I guess um that's about it that's about it any questions? [22:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you. [23:02] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon**: Good afternoon members of the council, Mayor Michalski, Administrator Owens. uh liquor store: we installed the point of sale screens yesterday everybody seems to love them it went seamlessly which often doesn't happen when you're on systems but it went great the screens are bigger and they seem to be at least 20 to 30% faster so everyone's happy. next up will be the computers down there which we approved in the budget last month. [23:40] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon**: uh let's see we're fixing the dishwasher. inventory went pretty well I couldn't be down there I was sick but I was in the office up here so thanks to all the volunteers that stepped up Jim himself too thanks for everybody that that pitched in and made that go well. um uh let's see we're working on the thermostat down there with uh Gartner and yeah just just been busy with stuff. [24:14] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon**: there are some new cannabis things coming out from the Department of Revenue cannabis Department um so we'll bring that to the liquor committee meeting next week um as of right now the the actual licensing with the state has been put on pause because of a lot of legal things that have come up so it actually buys us a little extra time which is nice um but there'll be a lot more to come on cannabis here in the near future questions store? [24:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you. yeah technology, Library Department. [24:43] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon**: yeah um there's some things I'm helping Sarah with as far as old PD related stuff I'm not sure how much I can talk about that but I'm also looking into quotes for on new iPads for you guys so that'll be coming soon too. [25:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: questions? all right thank you all right thanks. C, the engineer. [25:12] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: uh yeah so I just want to highlight a couple items within the meeting minutes from the January 2nd um monthly update meeting. so the trunk Highway 73 Phase 2 Trail project is um planning is nearly complete for this uh they're still working on some um some easements and paperwork items. the county and the city agreement um as far as the county acting as the city's Fiscal Agent um has been executed that's fantastic. um in addition the county is participating um in determining whether or not um they will be able to clear trees for the project that will save some um some monies um all indications at this point is that they will be able to uh they're working on getting approvals from MnDOT and we'll have more information to come on that. [26:05] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: um there'll be a January 10th meeting with MSOP it'll be a coordination meeting we're going to talk about introductions there's some new peoples in new roles on both sides um get everybody up to speed regarding background. we'll talk about the trail there is um an easement past that facility uh we're going to discuss a—an SIU agreement with the um MSOP facility and um also kind of update them on some of the city's um Grant applications and um funding opportunities that we're seeking that would contribute to a lining project that would directly impact their facility as well so um more to come on that after the January 10th meeting. [26:52] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: um the city Engineers are also working on an updated Pond capacity memo so um that occurs every January so to speak January February so we'll present that to council as soon as we have that um that's always um really interesting to see the progress that's been made from the city efforts for lining so more to come on that. um we have not heard back yet on the two MPCA Grant applications that the city has submitted but I will most certainly keep uh Council informed of that as well. [27:31] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: um and then just a note on the 2025 sewer lining project: so we've talked historically about moving up our um the bidding process for our lining projects um in hopes to be able to have projects bid simultaneously with other area projects. a lot of times if other entities in the area are ready mobilization fees and things like that can be reduced um we're in a little bit of a holding pattern to see whether or not um there would be a different project that would be recommended in the sewer fund versus a lining project for 2025 um but we're working closely with the engineers, the attorneys, the district um in order to kind of hash those things out so that we can make appropriate um um adjustments and or uh for Council to be able to have good information for decision making on that item as well. um I think that's it again the meeting minutes I think were up to six or seven pages if you have any questions when you're reviewing them please let me know um and I'll be happy to answer any questions. [28:28] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you next is the Chamber of Commerce. [28:29] **Chamber Representative**: thanks uh for having me today um I'll just go briefly through um recap the meeting we had with the chamber today um excuse me um we did approve the 2025 budget today so that should be set to go um that's been a bit of a challenge along the way just because we made some structural changes with hiring a full-time director and such but this year will be the first time since happened where we're projected to show uh a positive net income so that's a good move for us. [29:15] **Chamber Representative**: um we are going through and and looking at some of our events again like for example the The Brew Fest which I believe last year was done on on the municipal parking lot um don't know for sure where that's going to go this year but we are looking at um a couple other options um for that maybe different times of the year maybe different venues again um so we're not really sure where that's going to land yet we'll keep we'll keep you guys updated as we learn that. um the other big change is with the triathlon I believe last year we opened it up to roughly 90 between 90 and 100 and I believe that the potential for that is going to be opened up to 150 this year participants which is a pretty big um increase so I don't know for sure what that'll mean in terms of changing for example traffic control and those kinds of things but um um we'll keep obviously the city in the loop on that too. [30:02] **Chamber Representative**: um and the thing I guess I really wanted to bring attention to—and it's probably the biggest event that happens in Moose Lake all year long—and that's the Agate Days event. and there are three primary outside of the city there that I'm aware of there are three primary Partners in that which includes the Chamber of Commerce um the the Carlton County Gem and Mineral Club and Art in the Park um I think primary sponsors. and something happened recently um and and I'm not going to get down into the deep of it but there are some things that happened recently that might have an impact on those partners and what Agate Day weekend would look like. so um again I don't have a lot of information that we're ready to share at this point but uh that's something that will definitely keep the city apprised on because that's a pretty big event in town. [31:01] **Chamber Representative**: so um other than that we're reviewing we're going through and reviewing things along the lines of the website facilitator that we have our insurance coverages and things like that um just to get them I guess in line with current pricing there's some pretty pretty significant price changes that we can discover in that process so um that's really all I have on behalf of the chamber um any questions for you? [31:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you yeah thank you. Previously discussed business A is the Riverside Arena cooling system replacement project close out. [31:35] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: yes I just wanted to provide visibility to council regarding the um cooling system replacement at the arena and the Mighty Ducks uh Grant award. so the city was able to complete all necessary processes in order to submit for reimbursement. this city did receive reimbursement in the amount of $27,988 that is what the expectation was as far as the grant award. um that was able to be booked in December so that's fantastic in and out within the same year. all in all that project was relatively um seamless um and as uh City superintendent Entner mentioned the cooling system's running great so project is closed out and um definitely a thumbs up and a um a thank you to all parties who collaborated on that project. any questions? [32:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: is the 2025 Senate Capital finance committee request. [32:33] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: um so in the packet the council received the city submission um for the 2025 local government Capital request. this is a $3.1 million um project request for the Moose Lake inflow and infiltration reduction um um essentially I wanted Council to have visibility to the uh answers and or project description just in case there are questions that happen um you know from a community perspective and or just uh sharing of transparency and information. [33:14] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: uh the city's match for this uh project would be 50% so it would be 1.5 million um the city is already engaged with the engineers regarding a couple of uh Grant applications that could contribute to the city's match um if the city was awarded uh the state monies for this project and we'll continue to look for other um grant opportunities in preparation of uh potentially having this approved. not only was this application submitted to the Senate Capital finance committee it was also submitted to Senator Rarick's office and representative Dotseth’s office as well so um if anybody has any questions on this happy to answer um but also just wanted to to share information with Council. [33:55] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: any questions? move on to new business. G, River Snowmobile Club farewell gambling discussion um want to just state your name? [34:03] **Sean Adams**: yeah Sean Adams I'm the vice president of the Kettle River Snowmobile Club and the future gambling manager for the club. um thank you for having us today um was kind of short notice but I'm glad you were able to add us to the agenda I appreciate it. um I guess to start with I'll give a little bit of an overview of the Kettle River Snowmobile Club. 2025 is actually our 50th year of the corporation um so we've been connecting communities specifically Motorsport type communities for—for the last 50 years. we currently maintain about 60 miles of of trail system. the main thoroughfare is runs the Soo Line from Moose Lake to just short of um Lawler. um that's the main thoroughfare then we have the Ground Road Trail which goes south of that parallel but South and then a trail that cuts over and connects Barnum and Mahtowa. [35:20] **Sean Adams**: and um we are looking at um per request from this Moose Lake snowmobiling Community we are potentially looking at reopening roughly a 15 mile section of old trail that used to connect the Soo Line to Denham. um that just—just to get that on—on the record I guess that that section would not be maintained by the DNR's Grant-in-Aid program. they're not currently offering Grant-in-Aid on new Trail at this point so that would be something that would be club cost both to um open and maintain so that's kind of who we—we are as a club. [36:04] **Sean Adams**: um we are currently in the process of changing from it was a 501(c)(7) to a 501(c)(3). the paperwork we're just waiting for the paperwork at this point and the reason we've done that is we previously had only received DNR Grant-in-Aid funding for the trail system and with current snow situations both last year and this year um inflation where it is um and the fact that Grant-in-Aid will be reduced not only the remainder of this year but very likely for the next two or 3 years to come with—with the lack of snow. so um funding for our organizations across the state are going to face some obstacles and so we're trying to jump out in front of that hence changing our organizational type to a 501(c)(3). [36:52] **Sean Adams**: what that does is allows us to—it allows us to do fundraising. with a 501(c)(7) we weren't allowed to do anything so part of that is we've as example we've started—this would be our first year—but we've started an annual ball but that's going to happen at the Starr Club on March 1st. um and the second thing that we're doing is um I'm in the process myself of being licensed as a gambling manager so the club is being licensed as a gambling organization and we're kind of at the final stage of that process and that final stage includes having to have a premise contract signed with somebody who we can facilitate pull tabs or gambling through. naturally that's a little bit of a challenge because there's nobody around that doesn't already have pull tabs that can have pull tabs so it's it's a hard venue to get in without stepping on toes which we don't want to do um but we have to ask. [38:01] **Sean Adams**: so um a little bit about gambling um I assume most of you you're already aware of this because you have a gambling organization now but 70% of the net receipts a minimum of 70% of net receipts are supposed to be donated back to the community whether—whether other nonprofit organizations whether it is a I mean it can be schools it can be churches it can be um a lot of different organizations it can even be if if you're trying to raise money for a family for example who had a traumatic experience um those are all eligible expenses that we can donate to. um I don't—I have no disparaging words about your—your existing gambling manager your gambling organization I'm not here to talk about them I don't know how they spend their money I don't know who they donate it to um it's really none of my business but I do know that for us part of the reason that we're doing this is well beyond um the snowmobile or Motorsports industry. [39:07] **Sean Adams**: just about every nonprofit organization that I'm familiar with in the area has challenges in in meeting their budget ultimately and so for us having the ability to get involved and and not only fund our own um projects but then get involved in at a bigger scale in the community is something we're very interested in. so um what I—I'll just kind of continue down the list here but um the um again with the lack of snow there's not only a likeliness but a probability that our Grant-in-Aid funding will be significantly affected more next year and the year after than this year but it's going to start already late this year. [39:55] **Sean Adams**: so um what I'm here for today ultimately is to ask the city of Moose Lake to help us get rolling in this process and in order to do that we have to have a venue that we can gamble. you can't do it without that so um naturally I think everybody in the room is probably aware that the Tower Tap is no longer in operation. that's the one that's right in our wheelhouse um so we're—we're having to venture out further to get involved in the same thing. [40:35] **Sean Adams**: so um the—the benefits to the city are are potentially a few um I don't know exactly the—the percentage of net receipts that the city is earning for rent but I have a ballpark and we can offer if that's correct I think we can offer more than what the city is currently getting in terms of rent for the—the space inside the mun um and for anybody that doesn't know that's based on a percentage of net receipts um both for paper pull tabs and then for electronic pull tabs. so um there are State limits to what percentage that facility or any facility can earn for rent but I—I'm under the impression that probably there's some room left to go there. [41:26] **Sean Adams**: so that would be the benefit to the city. the other part is my understanding is that the city takes those funds and uses those to donate out to other organizations in the community and obviously I mentioned a little bit ago that the Community Focus is part of our interest and so even if that—even if that increased value there isn't us giving it away it's still something that's going to impact the community and that's really what we're driving for. you know we're a volunteer organization we all do this for nothing um so anytime we can see an advance in how it impacts the communities and and keeping our communities together whether it's by trail system or whatever it is I—I think we have to do that. [42:15] **Sean Adams**: um so the other thing that I—and again I'm not criticizing who's there—I don't know whether it was a choice by by the city or not there's a lot of opportunities that currently aren't happening within the municipal liquor store. so just as an example um there's no—no tip boards there's no—um there's no game boards like for example Viking Game boards and things along those lines um there's some there are some horse racing softwares that can—that can be used to simulate horse races within the building um and that has proven pretty much across the state to be a really big draw for gambling or or gambling facilities. [42:57] **Sean Adams**: so I think not only could we increase uh the—the offerings but I—and it would increase your gambling Revenue but I think it would also increase your beverage Revenue beverage sales revenue so I think it approaches the city's budget in a number of different ways um and what it does for us um is obviously pretty dramatic. so um what people don't necessarily always understand is the years without snow are probably our most expensive years because we're able to get on—on trail systems and do things that we otherwise wouldn't be able to do. so for example we—this year we've already replaced um on the Cromwell Trail between Pine River and Cromwell we've already replaced an 80 foot bridge that crosses the river um so naturally anybody who knows anything about bridges that's not a cheap Venture um but it has to be done for the safety of the Riders of course. [43:47] **Sean Adams**: which leads me to the second thing that we want to do: there's a pretty gross Statewide under facilitation of the safety certification both for ATVs and snowmobiles um there are kids that are backlogged sometimes for two three years before they can get safety certified and because there just aren't enough organizations doing this and that's one of the focuses that we would want to do um wherever we get in and get gambling as we would like to get more involved in that safety certification program so that the local kids in this area have more classes to attend rather than one or two a year. I think Carlton is probably the only one really doing it consistently right now and I think they do two a year. so there's just a lot of things along those lines that um we can do. [44:33] **Sean Adams**: we currently have two or three trails that are being that are going to need reroutes um in order to stay on permissible land and all of those things have costs of course um and then I guess in closing um I'd just like to say thank you for your consideration um I know this is probably not on the tip your—your thought process um but it's—it's something that I think would be beneficial to the city as well as the snowmobiling Community as a whole. any questions for me? [45:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: well thank you. I think it was more of an informational thing it would have to go to the liquor board anyhow before— [45:21] **Sean Adams**: yeah sure. [45:23] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: thank you so much. [45:25] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: thank you so much for your thorough presentation um we will have discussion about it at the liquor committee level um it does impact Council from a gambling uh perspective and it has implications for the mun um from a liquor committee perspective so we'll start th those dialogues next week um and make sure that council's informed and that—that we continue to bring um those discussion pieces forward to council as well. so thank you. [45:51] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: B, Arrowhead Transit 2025 subscription Transit service agreement. [45:57] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: so this agreement is um an annual agreement for the city of Moose Lake this is the 2025 agreement the uh monthly billing amount is $500 per month. uh the agreement or contract length is January 1 to December 31st uh the billing amount is the same as last year any questions? [46:17] **Council Member**: I'll make a motion we accept the 2025 uh Transit service agreement. [46:26] **Council Member**: there a second. [46:27] **Council Member**: second. [46:29] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: any further discussion? all in favor [Council responds "Aye"] opposed? carried. C, the Sturgeon Lake area Lions application for to conduct offsite gambling. [46:44] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: yes so this is the Sturgeon Lake Lions area application this is for the ice fishing contest event on February 15th. uh this is an event that has occurred year-to-year um and the Sturgeon Lake area Lions Club has been um a part of this event um historically as well. [47:04] **Council Member**: is there motion to approve? [47:06] **Council Member**: second. [47:07] **Council Member**: there a second second any further discussion all in favor [Council responds "Aye"] opposed? carried. D, the Minnesota State Lottery contract. [47:15] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: oh yes once again this is an annual contract uh for city of Moose Lake the uh agreement term is from February 15th 2025 um to February of 2026. I did review the contract um in comparison to last year's and the compensation slash payout amounts uh to retailers the percentages of commission are exactly the same as year-over-year so I did review that um and looking for council's approval on this. [47:50] **Council Member**: motion to approve. [47:51] **Council Member**: so move second. [47:52] **Council Member**: second. [47:53] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: second any further discussion all in favor [Council responds "Aye"] carries. E is Short Elliott Hendrickson Incorporated supplement letter. [48:02] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: oh yes so this is for City Engineering Services um in the past we engaged in a 2-year contract and then did a one-year extension. uh we did have discussion at our most recent City uh monthly City engineering meeting talking about um doing the same three-year term based on the previous two-year one-year extension. this contract is for services from 2025 to 2027 through SEH. [48:33] **Council Member**: motion to accept. [48:34] **Council Member**: move second. [48:35] **Council Member**: second. [48:36] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: any further discussion? all in favor [Council responds "Aye"] opposed? carried. F, the 2025 City of Moose Lake fee schedule. [48:42] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: yes so uh Council received a copy of the proposed 2025 uh City fee schedule. all items that were highlighted are items that have changed over the course of 2024 to 2025 um but all of these items have been reviewed by Council previously. for example the campground increases were approved, Water and Sewer rates, EDU charge, things of that nature. um we did put on here a public data request fee which was per City attorney recommendation. one thing that Council will see in February is a new uh data practices policy that our city attorneys have um prepared for us for the city to adopt so this fee is in line with those recommendations as well. um so looking for approval for the fee schedule in totality. [49:44] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: is there a motion to approve? [49:46] **Council Member**: I just have question uh on the public data request is that enough? because if we have all three of you in the office that doesn't cover the— [49:57] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: receded free. thank you. so we are supposed to have one designated staff member primarily to facilitate this. it is that person's wage per hour um and they will be the designate for the city um per the upcoming policy that will be presented to council. so it is a per hour—it is based on statute—it's what we are um able to charge per hour. [50:23] **Council Member**: thank you. [50:24] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: any other questions? is there a motion to approve? [50:28] **Council Member**: so move. [50:29] **Council Member**: there a second. [50:30] **Council Member**: second. [50:31] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: all in favor? [Council responds "Aye"] carried. G, Skid steer quote discussion. [50:51] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: so in 2025 budget was a purchase of a new skid steer trading in our old skid steer for a new one upgrading um page 108 you will find an estimate. uh shows our trade-in value—I apologize my green highlighter got really carried away—it's $33,000 on a trade-in value of that machine that we're currently have. uh you'll find the estimate just below that um couple pages of submittal specs that kind of thing. um be looking for a trade-in value of 33,000 for our existing machine total machine sale price of the current machine we're looking at is 79—just a little over $79,000—with a total balance due the city of Moose Lake of $46,452.26. there's one code this is State pricing. [51:40] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: so one thing to discuss in addition is in the 2025 budget the city budgeted um $50,000 for the skid steer. so what city superintendent Entner has provided is the option uh for Council to review regarding an uh a warranty in um combination with the purchase of the machine. so superintendent Entner has highlighted a couple of different options um both of those options then can fit within the total budget allotment for the skid steer if the council so chooses to subscribe to an additional extended warranty. superintendent Entner, can you weigh in with your recommendation or how you feel about the—the warranty? [52:25] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: my recommendation would be uh 5.6.22 to uh 5-year 3,000 hour powertrain and hydraulic and technology warranty. that technology one is the biggest one that has machines with a lot of computer equipment on. um our current machine that we're trading in is is starting to nickel and dime. um we're—we're getting down there to where we're starting to have some electrical issues and it's no longer under warranty it's not cheap to fix those things those call outs are fairly expensive. [53:05] **Council Member**: so the difference between the two is the number of hours on the— [53:10] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: yeah I'll be honest with you uh 5.6.15 was a mistake on my end so I actually ignore that one. okay so yes that 5.6.22 would be my recommendation. our—our current machine has just about 3,000 hours on it it's 7 years old it's about the best fit for what we currently have. [53:29] **Council Member**: might be a simple question but um 5 year 3,000 that's whatever comes first is that— [53:35] **Superintendent Phil Entner**: yes. [53:36] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: any other questions? if not is there a motion to approve by new skid steer? [53:41] **Council Member**: I'll make that motion and do you want to also add the extended warranty? [53:48] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: yes. [53:49] **Council Member**: I'll add the warranty that noted as 5.6.22 5 year 3,000. [53:57] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: is there a second? [53:58] **Council Member**: second. [53:59] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: any further discussion? all in favor [Council responds "Aye"] opposed? carried. uh next we move on to seven reports of Correspondence of the is Carlton drug prevention Coalition meeting minutes. [54:06] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens**: this is simply just for council's information um we've been uh putting these in the packet on a monthly basis. there's a lot of great information in there, events um so it's simply just for your review. [54:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: on eight committee and board meeting minutes: A, Moose Lake Park Protection District meeting minutes from December 10th 2024 and B, the Park and Recreation board meeting board meeting minutes from January 6 2025. just for information. moving on announcements: the Moose Lake City regular Moose Lake City Council regular meeting will be February 12th 2025 at 4 p.m. here in this room. Moose Lake Economic Development Authority Wednesday January 15th 2025 12 p.m. in the small conference room. Moose Lake Water and Light commission Tuesday January 21st 2025 1 p.m. at Water and Light office. Moose Lake Housing and Redevelopment Authority board Monday January 13th 11:00 a.m. at the Hillside Manor office. Moose Lake Fire Protection District Tuesday January 14th 6:30 p.m. at the Emergency Response Center and the Moose Lake Parks and Recreation board Monday February 3rd 5 p.m. in this room. left is there a motion to adjourn? [55:49] **Council Member**: so move. [55:50] **Council Member**: second. [55:51] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: all in favor? [Council responds "Aye"]