a such a big deal and B that there was like so much strategy involved yeah a lot of people think there's a lot of strategy involved yeah yeah but I mean no matter all the meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible thank you roll call please council member Cole here council member schwe is absent council member Wong here council member nordby here mayor mongi here can I get somebody to adopt the motion to adopt the agenda so move your honor so move council member Norby second second council member Cole all those in favor say I I I thank you first presentation all right thank you mayor um presentation this evening is uh Silver Lake Improvement Association sponsorship uh recognition welcome hi thanks for having us um my name is Joyce gshid I'm with the Silver Lake Improvement Association want to introduce yourself oh hi I'm Cheryl etlinger Treasurer I'm John meller member I'm Dem Clark and member yes welcome thanks well as you guys are aware we've had a great fundraising effort going on because we have an invasive uh weed issue in Silver Lake so we started fundraising last um summer and I wanted to give the council and the community an update on where we're at with that project um it was identified as a hybrid invasive mil foil that took over the whole lake so we engage engage the DNR and Ramsey County um bar engineering a whole bunch of different knowledgeable people that could help us identify what we could do to treat it so we used a a treatment called flone it doesn't kill the wildlife or the fish or anything like that but we did apply a treatment in October full Lake treatment the shoreline and the offshore and then we also did another hit of it in November so now it's just kind of sitting there we're going to wait until the spring when the ice comes off the lake and we'll be able to actually see how this treatment these two treatments worked um if we need to we'll do a bump in the spring um but it will depend on what our consultants and everybody tells us we're going to do so we were able to pay for those treatments to date our goal last summer was $220,000 and fortunately because of this great community and its members and fellow uh City Works um we were able to reach our goal of $20,000 so what we wanted to do today is just give a huge shout out to um all the people who contributed to this project for us um we had different levels of sponsorships and I'd like to just call out that the city of North St Paul um and Premier Banks the city of Maplewood North St Paul Green they don't exist anymore but they had a fund that they wanted to give to us and then Country Financial um homeowner buddy Martin who lives on 19th I'm sure you all know who he is so those were our platinums and we did have a plaque made for them so that they could display them in their business um our gold level was Max who was kind enough to do two um max gives back night outs you know those fundraisers for us so um that really helped us quite a bit as well um Morgan Dolly with um WSB and then we also Al got funds from the North St Paul class of 1963 Sue springborn everybody knows who sue is um and then our bronze was uh the VFW Post but in addition to those businesses there were a lot of community members who did give money so I want to recognize that there were two Anonymous Platinum level donors who live on the lake that that donated anonymously there were um three homeowners that were at the Gold level and there were 15 community and homeowners um at the silver level plus we had another seven plus who who gave 20 bucks whatever it was just all so fabulous and um I do want to especially thank um Daniel here he lives in Oakdale but he was one of the first people who sent us a letter sent it to Sheryl our treasure with some money so he is now a member of the Silver Lake Improvement Association and we wanted him to come tonight because he did send me another letter with some more money so I mean isn't it just wonderful to see that somebody outside of North St Paul really cares about our Lake just as much as we do and so for that we want to give you something Daniel so Cheryl has a little um Silver Lake ornament oh thank you very much Silver Lake ornament made especially for our donors at the different levels so any questions congratulations well thank you so much for for putting this on and being able to roll up your sleeves and work with the community and you know it's just a the lake is definitely for all of us it's a treasure for our community so thank you so much for all you did thank thank the city so much and especially Carrie um urin boach she was so instrumental in getting the word out to help us communicate um all over the city um and the websites and all that stuff so we really appreciate her too yes definitely thank you thank you thanks guys awesome thank you all right next is consented oh sorry all right s all right next up is agenda uh item a February 6 2024 Workshop minutes Item B February 6 2024 city council meeting minutes item C General claims of 1 M523 66 item d h claims of $50 item e resolu resolution to increase the 2024 budget increase the police department complement by 1 FTE related to the state of Minnesota BCA violent crime reduction unit item F amendments to the arts and culture bylaws item G project snowy purchase agreements item H Ramsey County library and North St Paul use of fiber optic capacity agreement item I met Council tbra Grant and subgrant agreements item J resolution accepting donations uh for January 2024 item K building permit report for January 2024 item L Emerald ashbo Grant definitions and item M accept the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Emerald ashbo removal Grant thank you uh anybody want to pull any I'd like to pull item e okay anybody else so we'll move item e down and then I would like to also pull item L item L okay everybody else good all right if that's good if you can move those two down Brian then we'll uh somebody motion to adopt the consent agenda with those items moved so moved so moved council member Cole second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I all right thank you all right next is meeting open to the P public first right I saw her come up I didn't know if you were all right I have two of them three minutes um John schul mayor council John Schall 2750 Chisum Avenue North St Paul um two items but the usual one is going on since July of last year The Disappearance of Lexus Nexus you'd think that there would be an answer by now and in making sure that I cover my certain part of my body I look at it at least on Tuesday morning to see what it says and this morning this uh intermittent reinforcement there was a report for noring Paul but it was minneapol or Maplewood PD because it occurred in St Paul or in North St Paul last Tuesday there were three of them all Maplewood no no North St Paul PD reports I think this is unacceptable and nobody has said anything about when it's coming back or what you're doing nothing absolutely nothing um second item the agreement between the library and North St Paul for the fiber optic I'm sure you all read it page uh from the first page to the end and probably if you did you'd be in the same state of confusion as I am because um I tried to figure out they gave a uh listing of um the people to contact uh when something goes wrong with it and it has for North St Paul a phone number for technical uh contact and contract contact um but the library has a person so I thought I'll call this number and find out who the person is and when I called the uh technical contact it came up as being um a person that said hello and I said I'm looking for the person who's going to be the technical contact for this cont contract with the library and uh the answer was who are you didn't want to talk to me but I managed to make him feel that I wasn't going to um end the world for him and they uh it's Metro inet the same outfit that uh does your normal uh work so uh it's interesting I suppose you all know about this and read all the 30 pages of this item to figure out what's going to happen but I think you're going to have an extra charge for the technical service to Metro inet what put in the [Music] budget all right thank you uh Matt and Ruthie Olstead welcome well thank you good evening we are here uh as longtime North St Paul residents Ruthie and I live up on uh 2677 2nd Avenue East uh Matt and Ruthie Olstead and we just wanted to come and speak to the issue of the proposed Community Center project and uh first of all thank you for the opportunity just to come and discuss our feelings regarding the proposed project and uh we feel privileged and blessed to be part of the North St Paul Community for 33 years now raised having raised our kids here and now we're in uh we're empty nesters anyway thank you for letting us come and uh talk to you all we um have read about the proposed project and uh overwhelmed by the amount of work that's gone into it we know the issues are uh probably beyond our comprehension in terms of really all of the things that impact on your decision to um accept this uh uh Grant or to reject and um we simply from our perspective want to object to the project on the basis that it represents an unsustainable tax burden on the North St Paul residents uh we feel that the proposed project requires an increased tax burden at at a time when the median income of residents is on the decline meanwhile other costs of living are on the increase as you all know and as we all are experiencing day-to-day uh filling up uh the car with gas and uh buying groceries uh we're we're uh feeling the pinch and we just don't feel like it is a sustainable uh or even wise uh thought to progress on something like that that's increased inreasing possibly our taxes by uh 12 125% is what we have come to understand so bottom line uh thank you uh for allowing us to come and uh express our opinions as to an A on that thank you so do we each get three minutes because I got three right okay here goes he took some of my thunder we've uh we're longtime residents and we love the city of North St Paul we've been here for a long time raised our kids we loved it some of my concerns which are on the side of his concerns is that um not only is the cost of running a building like that but the longevity and the possible strain in in the one 4 point I think the grant is $4.5 million for refurbishing of the community center and financially the reality of running a community center I mean the other Community Center I used to use years ago but I don't think very many people used it you know I only used it for a few years but I think it was uh I don't know I don't know how many $300,000 it cost that they lost in running the community center before and I know that there are other community centers around the area there's Maplewood Community Center if we look at Maplewood Community Center they're not doing real well and they've been there for a long time so that's a concern of ours and the fact that it was it you know I understand Community Center I understand the need for something like that but I see as we're building new buildings I think there's exercise uh rooms in those buildings we've worked at senior living places they have their own programs so they're not going to bring seniors to these programs that you have in this community center which it stated in the in the um information that it's for seniors and Veterans and um it's a community center for all people which is great but I think we're doing a great job already of building Community here in North St Paul with just the new things that we have been doing um I think that's just about it I guess I'm concerned also that there might be a few strings attached to this grant that we're getting and the grant to me seems like it's a 37 37 and a half year Comm what commitment that we would have to make so we' have to pay for programming for 37 and A2 years I don't know if we've even had the other community center for more than 30 years so there's a concern in that regard are we going to be able to sustain a 37 and A2 year without having to pay back $4.5 million and I think by the time we all um pull together you know when you add together the expense of having four people on staff or more to run it and and police I think we policing it more just security or something that's going to be a lot more money so I think we're adding heck of a lot more um burden on the people here in North St Paul so there thank you thank you for your time thank you both all right close the public meeting at 6:47 yes do we need if anyone's online oh anybody online thank you I appreciate you remembering that yeah um yep next is the public hearing all right next up uh Amendment to the membership of Economic Development Authority we have uh Brandy how our oh yeah sorry open the public hearing at 647 thank you for a reminder and Community Development director Brandy hell for this thank you uh good evening everybody um this item was placed on the agenda at the direction of the um city manager and the and the mayor as you probably already know the North St Paul Economic Development Authority was established by City Council in October of 200 um 2009 by resolution number 155 in the creation of uh chapter 34 of the city code at that time it was the desire of the city council that the creation of the Eda would result in a conscientious and coordinated effort to encourage and precipitate future development in the city to increase the tax base promote employment and enhance the health and safety and Welfare of this of the residents in 2009 the goals of the Eda were three-fold um first grow grow the city second Revitalize strategic Community areas and three change perceptions the Eda has accomplished many of its goals since its Inception um these include the addition of 547 new housing units downtown expansion of reflex medical and red velopment of the former anchor block the Eda also commissioned the preparation of two Redevelopment Master plans that focus on the longrange Redevelopment and reuse of land downtown uh last December the Eda lost three of its seven voting members to the terms expiring and resignations including two of its uh long-standing members Mr Robert du and Tom shiy with the departures of Mr du and Mr shiy the Eda lost over two decades of experience and one of its founding members um also in about December the mayor directed staff to explore the reorganization of the Eda where it would um transition away from its five citizen members and two Council appointed members to instead have the um the five member city council serve as the Eda similar to the organization of the Housing Authority um it was determined that as the Eda has Levy Authority decisions related to expenditures that affect ta taxpayers should be left to the elected officials so under the proposal the Eda membership would be transitioned to the city council and a newly created advisory a newly created Advisory Group would be established that would be the economic development commission U the powers and duties of the council L Eda would remain the same as they are today um the proposed Economic Development commission would serve as an advisory body that would make recommendations on economic development or Redevelopment projects acquisition of property leases sales um by the Eda the EDC would review proposals against the comprehensive plan and make their report on such to the council Eda in their recommendations um the proposed change from its current organization does not impact the eda's ability to um to Levy or the maximum Levy by which it may um apply on the taxes as it currently stands so the proposal in front of you tonight is to adopt a resolution amending the membership of The Economic Development Authority adopt an ordinance that would amend chapter 32 of the municipal code which would establish the economic development commission and ordinance amending chapter 34 of the city code which addresses the membership of the of the Eda I can provide any answers to questions if you like or we can open up the floor to the public so did we open and close the public hearing MH okay well I don't think it's been closed yet closed so it it's open is there anyone here that would like to oh me yeah anybody here like to speak on it anyone online okay okay I just want to open it and close it before we talked about it yep yep you're you're right on that part of it I did open it but I didn't close it again so close the nobody has any comments we'll close the public hearing at 6:5 too correct all right go ahead yeah um we've had lengthy conversation on you know since October and everything that's that that's happened with the resignations in the you know the tenure of of part of the commission just you know their their terms being gone I would actually like to recommend or suggest that as opposed to voting on it tonight we table it um I have concerns we haven't had a meeting since October we don't have direction as to what the council will do what it'll look like how it's going to be staffed um I would like to have at least one more Eda meeting so that the Eda can be involved in it and potentially a workshop around this as well um I am still in support of it so don't but I want to make sure that we hit the ground running um we're in a we're in an awesome time for our community we've got what 510 new housing units we've got the the Lily building coming under construction um now is not the time to pause with the Economic Development Authority um and so I just want to make sure that that everybody knows their roles and responsibilities as we move forward to make sure that we've got somebody out there marketing our city to ensure that we have what we need for whether it be a coffee shop whether it whatever the the needs and the services are of the residents and my fear is if we if we pause in in vote this we've we're not going to have another meeting for a month because uh in two weeks it's it's caucus night or election night so we're not allowed to have a meeting so um I just want to make sure that we all recognize what we're doing and and that we I'm suggesting that we table it um have yet another Eda meeting or two and a council Workshop as well um to make sure that we don't miss a beat before we turn it over um to the five of us up here so do I make make a motion to any more feedback first do I yeah once we do that you can make it yeah get more comments I would like to say I I'm in line with everything um that council member Cole said I would also like to add that I would greatly appreciate feedback on a wonderful email we got from one of our res residents from staff and legal and I want to give them time to properly because there are some questions there that honestly I don't know um so i' great appreciate giving them enough time to give us an answer to that email as well yeah yeah one of the questions that was called that that was brought to my attention that I didn't realize is I believe it state of the Eda can be made up of residents and business owners but not outside sources so I want to make sure we've got Clarity on that because one of my recommendations is do we hire an outside source to help us Market the city um so I'm going to I'm going to ask for some clarity around that as well for my myself as well we have um coming up with the Lily building finish we have live work that's going to be across that bottom and they have a year um to try to find um businesses to go into there just because of the way the markets shift with commercial so we really have to be ready for when that spot's done because we have a year and then if and after that then it can turn into a residence so we definitely have a little bit of uh pressure on us to be able to be ready for that yeah I agree that um a little bit more robust conversation around this topic is needed um I think the initial one was much more informational without discussion so there's a lot more to learn and um yeah I would also um agree with tbling it okay do you want to throw that motion so I make a motion to table the vote you're looking at me I'll I'll listen to you um there's uh two motions that are mostly the same thing so we can postpone until a date a set date in the future or we can table it which means we will take it up at an unspecified date in future when it's convenient again so probably we want a table based on what I'm hearing for the discussion sure table with a table I like to make table with urgency how's that table with urgency table with urgency yes I I would like to make a motion that we that we table the vote um until we have the opportunity to make sure that we've got the infrastructure in place before it or at least resolution to the infrastructure before it's turned over to council okay is that worded properly yeah I think that works for you any friendly amendments just the urgency part of it just so we can get ready okay so so you you your V of our seconded by council member Norby all those in favor say I I thank you thank you very much thank you Brandy uh next up City business action items and recommendations uh first up is the purchase of a fire department pumper with custom fire apparatus Inc and we have Chief minger here to discuss welcome chiefo hello mayor and councel thanks for having me uh so up tonight discussion related to replacement of our current engine uh 520 that we call it uh 1996 uh freight liner so uh obviously what we have before you but I can go into great detail of what we've been preparing for uh since about spring of 2023 uh at that time understanding the market place that it was going to be a good 2 to 3 years to uh get something put together and and manufactured we started working uh or actually I put together a uh six-person uh truck committee as we call it within the fire department that includes myself the assistant chief uh a captain uh three firefighters that are Engineers that uh specifically Drive the trucks work the trucks know how they operate um we first entertained uh the manufacturer of rosenb bar that completed our most recent truck from 2015 and we spent quite some time meeting with them and uh working off some drawings that uh we previously had in place of our current truck ultimately we took that truck that we had and we removed a lot of items that weren't necessary for uh an engine the uh generator lights Tower those types of things that we knew we're going to bring the cost down uh and help us out to obtain what we needed but ultimately after um quite a long time working with them four months uh The price came in at well over uh $940,000 and I knew that was unacceptable I wasn't just going to come and ask for more money I knew there was a way around this there's always uh a way to find something that is less expensive uh that will work for you so that's what we continue to do uh the next manufacture we looked at between um two different companies's uh manufacturer called Mees and they're out of uh basically Michigan uh but they brought us in a truck for us to look at and we talked to them quite a bit and met with them we ultimately uh did some work with them online and getting some base spec drawings together and they were able to be within our price range uh that we were looking at and what we have in the CIP um the difficulty that we had is working with a manufacturer that was so far away so we kind of placed that one uh off to the side and then went with to look at uh and talk to custom fire apparatus which is in Oola Wisconsin and who we actually have uh worked with before and built our current uh engine 520 and did a refurb on our ladder truck as well in the early 2000s uh within a short period of time we were able to come up with the spec that we have before you between our um committee members and the uh basically it's the son's owner of the company and uh worked with us quite uh diligently to get something together before the end of the year and thus we sent you the letter of intent uh to purchase with them to try and uh keep the price down so we feel we were able to build something that's or designed something that's uh what we need as uh for an engine for the Department um the the members looked at it from the standpoint of making it easier for themselves and creating less uh problems if you will such as just lowering hose beds so we're not having injuries uh some basic items like that uh after we did the letter of intent uh we're kind of at this point right now where we have a contract to sign with them they have tentatively well they have on our behalf ordered a a chassis in the um beginning of January and that could take anywhere from 8 to uh 12 months to be made uh thus why we have before you the resolution is because the funds are not earmarked until the 202 2 uh CIP so if that chassis does come in before 2025 we would have to pay for that in 2024 uh in the amount of uh 289,000 and could potentially take anywhere from 12 to 15 months as well from that point so we moved a little bit earlier than waiting until 2025 to start this process to unfortunately because we knew the costs of the trucks were becoming so out outrageously High uh difficult for departments to be able to uh pay so uh that's where we're at that's how we got to this point um still in line uh to keep a replacement um in 2025 or early 2026 I guess at this point if you have any questions for me thanks I just want to thank you Chief you're always very fiscally responsible and it's it's greatly appreciated make sure you've got what you need for the vehicles yeah so just you know we always we always appreciate you looking to to to save a nickel or save a dime but don't don't I believe don't go anything off on on safety please definitely so the first Builder was basically had an option up here and an option down below and what they had below um would have saved us a lot of money but it wouldn't have worked for us not over the long period of time not for the type of response that we do um it just would have been a much smaller truck that wouldn't have worked well for us um I give thanks to our committee CU really they stuck with what they felt they needed and also kept all the flashy bells and whistles off of it too to keep it um a working engine if you will that'll really work well for the next 25 and 30 years so um I'm I'm really happy about it I'm happy to be uh working with custom fire apparatus uh again and looking forward to to working with them on that thank you any more or you all right yep we to do the resolution next so we need purchase uh the fire department bumper with custom fire apparat St us Incorporated can I get a motion so moved so moved council member Cole second second council member Wong all those in favor say I I I thank you very much thank you mayor and councel appreciate it members will be very excited well we appreciate everything you do thank you very much thanks Jason next up is 11th Avenue sidewalk improvements we have uh city engineer Morgan Dolly here to discuss so is it spring is that why your Beard's gone do we got something we don't know about usually you got the what's going on yeah I don't I I just woke up and I I felt I needed to shave it it'll probably be back at the next meeting okay thought maybe you were assign a spring for us no no no no no kind of like patani Phil like Morgan you got up in the second shave yeah six more weeks of winter yeah no no no nothing welcome yeah thank you Mr Mayor members of the council uh these next two items before you hear are um a matter of uh protocol with respect to um Municipal contract law and putting uh public Improvement projects out to bid so and you've heard about both of these before the first one is um authorizing advertisement for bids on the 11th Avenue sidewalk Improvement project uh as you may recall this project uh is funded 100% on the construction side of the cost uh component for the project by mot active Transportation grant funding uh up to 456,000 ,000 uh the current estimate is $382,500 per of the items within the Construction contract should be eligible um but that 100% of the construction costs will be covered by those Grant dollars and reimbursement um once we get through the process uh at this point uh we do we're nearing the end of completion of the plans and specs for a state aid review it'll go into mind. here depending on how long they take to review it we anticipate then once cleared by them placing the advertisement for bids and then bringing uh the bid results back to the city council uh in in April or May at the latest depending again on state aid review time frames um of this year with construction planned for uh this season and um at this point there is a resolution in your packet authorizing advertisement of bids but again the advertisement for bids won't go out right away we do need to go through the state aid review process first so this is just preemptively kind of preparing for that so we don't lose any time with only two Council meetings every month so that we can get it out there as soon as we possibly can knowing that it might not correspond with the meeting dates so uh with that I'll stand for any questions again there is a a resolution the recommended action is to authorize by that resolution The Ordering of advertisement of bids for the 11th Avenue sidewalk Improvement project thank you very much any questions um it seems like the grant is um um it has is exceeds um the cost and so um curious on what the um um plan is for the remaining funds uh council member Wong Mr Mayor M of the council so the uh amount that was uh notated in the award for the grant was just based on a preliminary estimate so it just so happens that our more detailed estimates are coming in slightly less than the original kind of high level estimates that were used to apply for the grant um the grant is reimbursement for eligible costs incurred by the city so any excess funds in that award would stay with the state so it's not um the difference between the actual expenditures and the award of the grant does not sit with the city for you know for example for additional scope items to be funded or included um those would stay with the state so it's a a grant funding up to a certain amount but based on actual expenditures and actual construction costs thank you sure sure any other questions if not can we get a motion so moved I have to do I have to read it first or we good to go I think we're good okay so move council member Wong second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I thank you Mr with you oh sorry go ahead go ahead I didn't want to steal your payment project we'll have Morgan continue on just as a side note before we move off of that I'm excited for the 11th Street sidewalk to get put in um I can't tell you the countless number of times I watch people run back and forth across the street from the bus stop where there's no sidewalk to get over to Target or to get over into that shopping center um so I'm I'm looking forward to bring a sidewalk on that side and a couple of crosswalks to to assist have already been purchased which have already been purchased yeah Wai to go that's right yeah they will be put in by City staff in conjunction with the contracted improvements of of the Walk oh okay so uh our next item is similarly to authorize advertisement for bids for the 2024 pavement management project um this is something again that we've heard before it's several different areas uh I guessed I guess by uh enumeration there's areas one through four um there's a map in your packet that again has been discussed those are were identified based on the condition of the roadways in comparison with the whole rest of the city uh Public Works actually did a a kind of in-depth job of looking at the next two versions of this so the 2024 improvements and the next version of this project will be uh is planned or anticipated in 2026 um as we worked with Public Works to identify kind of the the approximate size and scope of this project um an assumption was made based on um how how much of the roadway was expected to need to be improved and whether that would be a less expensive Mill and overlay or a more expensive um full depth Reclamation or replacement of the pavement um at the time of development of the capital Improvement plan we don't have any sort of forensic information on the roadway condition all we can see is what's on the surface right so but between now and then we have uh completed roadway coring we know how thick the pavement is um and in a lot of instances many of these streets actually have less than 4 in sometimes 3 in and on one street actually the core fell apart there wasn't even a core left of the asphalt um and so really what we can't do in those instances is use a um a Mill and overlay type of improvement because the area of the road once you Mill the top piece off that just simply wouldn't hold up to construction traffic loaded asphalt trucks uh asphalt paving machine you you would simply kind of wreck the road while you were trying to fix it so that's certainly not a good expenditure of dollars in terms of Street Maintenance so uh we needed to adjust our cost uh allocations and we've strategically built in a couple of bid alternates and so what that means um is that for a couple of these streets depending on how the bid prices come in we will have the flexibility staff will have the ability to review all those prices within the available budgets funding sources for the project and we can recommend an award that it might be a street less than we originally planned but we'll be able to maximize the amount of work that we can do uh in this calendar year and then if we aren't able to include a street segment that will be pushed uh to the next project would be in 2026 so we're kind of building this so that we don't um have to not do a signif not do a a large portion of the project um we can kind of take it in bits and pieces and recommend for award as much as we possibly can within the funding constraints of the overall project so um with that and then again the outcome of that is yet to be determined once we open bids that's when we'll have a good picture of how much each street is what those bid alternates are and that'll be a part of the recommendation package uh back to council which would be planned in April of 2024 so more information on that forthcoming depending on the bids received um I can say that on the few projects that I've been made aware of uh early bids in terms of asphalt paving projects that um Paving prices seem like they are holding up and they're not extremely overly flated so I'm hopeful that we can do a good job of uh getting all of these streets done and if not all most of them certainly with the way that we've built this package so uh the action item in your packet is U to uh authorize by resolution um staff to advertise for bids for the 2024 pavement management project and with that I'll stand for any questions the council might have no questions do I get a motion to approve that so moved so move council member Cole second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I thank you thank you Mr Mayor all right reports nope item d uh oh sorry that's right we go down be a resolution to increase the 2024 budget and increase the police department complement by one FTE related to the state of Minnesota BCA violent crime reduction unit thank you so I just wanted to um ask for some clarification in regards to um increasing the budget um my understanding is at the BCA had covered the cost of an investigator one of our invest skaters and the idea is that we're increasing it so we can backfill that to two total investigators is that correct yeah they're backfilling the position they've already uh posted for that and some it's like they have um picked their officer that wanted to do that um so this will like you said back fill that position while that person is gone um it's been funded for 3 years so um which it could extend after that point but if at that point that officer comes back we would hope that uh we can make room for them until either retirement or um you know somebody moves on um and then we'd bring that back down to the believe the 20 officers that we currently have 20 I believe that's the full capacity for fdes Oh I thought it was 22 and a half and a half do they have a the CSO um C and then um admin for officers yeah so so 20 not including yeah you're right csos okay um I think um from my perspective if we have three years I think um we can give ourselves a little bit of time to fill that role um and so that's just kind of my thoughts around um increasing um FTE is that um we made a conscious decision to support the BCA efforts in the task force and um I think that um adding two more is is a lot that's just where I stand so like to put that up for a vote for the resolution to fund it as requested and then if not then we can vote on do anybody else have any more questions can one so council member one can you expand on what you're saying no I don't can you say expand on which part my understanding was we authorized an officer to go to this violent crimes unit and that this resolution just keeps us at the capacity we're at not losing that officer but what you just said made it sound like it was something different and I got confused is that my understanding that there is another position that is being added essentially that is correct so we could either um take an employee and they could go to that and you could not backfill that position or when that person goes you could hire another FTE so we're still at full capacity here since that officer will not be working in the police officer capacity for the city at the time I mean he still be an employee of the city but he will be full-time with the uh violent crime reduction unit I still think we're backfilling so wouldn't it be that we lose one and the be they're paying their salary and then we're bringing one in so it's a net same same neutral so that's what's confusing to me well you could look it in two different ways so if you if you didn't F that now and that officer went on that unit um we could get paid for that officer being gone um but we would be down a full-time officer a full-time officer for um being at a full capacity FTE yeah um so that in other words we would be down an officer if we're letting one officer go to that unit this way we're back filling and we're staying at full capacity um with that officer being gone and since we're being reimbursed that was always the intent was to stay at our capacity we just let one go and they get paid from that unit and then we still continue what we had that was my understanding up until now yep okay and it was also and it was also my understanding that the timing would you know basically is one one we might have a dip for a month where we got two salaries or whatever but it wasn't now I'm I'm trying to pull it back up because now I'm confused that's the way it was presented um yeah and hopefully by attrition we would I'm talking just stuff from the beginning in the beginning it be a net net neutral because one's gone one's in salar's being paid from the BCA we're going to pick up the new guy for the three years so there' be no no more money as far as we wouldn't be saving one being down an officer but we be at full capacity um this is kind of looking to the future of uh fulfilling that FTE so when the when he comes back we're not having to make this uh resolution at that point what this does is it allows for that at the end of the three years just say they don't have um any more grant money for it um we would have to or you would have to proove an FTE at that point because then when he comes back we would be uh full capacity Plus one so that's all we're doing with this resolution that clear up or or not yeah I I does that help answer you it it does thank you I appreciate that clarification okay so are we open for discussion please okay please all right okay uh so that wasn't when I originally read through the packet I was more of a of a net neutral I didn't understand the basically ask for an additional three years in advance is what I'm understanding so when if if in if in fact the BCA does not extend the program Beyond three years we're now we're now being asked three years in advance to increase our FTE for the police department that's correct correct so are we asking to guarantee that individual's job to come back or I have a hard time making a decision three years in advance on a full-time employee I agree and I understand a little better thank you I was that was well Lisa thank you for yeah pulling it I gain greater Clarity yeah because I was CU When when we discussed this it was three years and then we'd have to decide then if there's a spot so that's where we left off last time we talked about it this is the financial director just being proactive so this wasn't even a request from PD not at this point no okay I I view it somewhat though as guaranteeing a job for the person that goes to this program to have a job when they come back because without this resolution my understanding is they do not have a job when that program is over is that accurate potentially and by that time you could all of you guys could have moved on at that point um so we could have a complete new Council so it's us being proactive in that aspect correct I think that yeah having um making this decision three years in advance um is um it I just don't think it's necessary um right now truly um I think that we can make better different or otherwise um different budget decisions or FTE um so um mayor and Council if I if I may um just to correct what I I believe may be a misunderstanding of the um how the agreements will work the BCA the agreement with the BCA that still is a North St Paul officer yep so this resolution would be required or something like this resolution would be required to hire another officer to serve in the city of North St Paul for those three years this would create a permanent position um I believe you could probably do a temporary position as well if that was a concern new layer now so says to be discussed further what I read with what we're voting for tonight it says that the city council hereby approves an increase in the Personnel complement of the police department by one full-time police officer during the city's participation in the state of Minnesota BCA violent crime reduction unit it says nothing about going beyond that length of time no so that's the way I understood it when I first met it and then I got thoroughly confused yes I I believe that is correct okay so this would be to keep the you know the effective North St Paul police department within the city net neutrality sure okay that I support so again this is just to backfill is that a good way to put this you know for the three years because we have one of our guys going up to the BCA so this is saying we're going to increase that to for the three years that this program is going correct and that would keep us like you said at net neutral um until that person came back okay so but that's where we all of a sudden we got right into that for the future now so now is this where we're at right now we're looking at just this we're not talking about 3 years from now we're just talking about keeping the keeping everything the way it is until we're done with the program okay so Jack do you believe I'm sorry what what's the official way to refer to you that wasn't appropriate I apologize Jack is fine okay um your highness he likes too sometimes it's better than I call yeah no I I wasn't be respectful that um so the the with the last statement do you agree that the way this is worded if if we terminate they terminate or the program ends that we are not authorizing the city to increase our full-time Police Department by one this is just the duration well we are in participation of that program yes and so when the program ends the FTE at the North s paal police department will decrease by one absent other action at that time time all right good Perfect all right thank you so we have to based on all of that do we want to reread what's actually is being asked of us before we vote just for clarity yep should I read it this should be fun please all right resolution to increase the 2024 budget and increase the police department complement by one FTE related to the state of Minnesota be CA violent crime reduction unit so I have a motion so moved so move council member Cole do I have a second second second council member schwe all those in favor say I I what did I do wrong can I get two marks for that one I was doing so well I even read the whole resolution without Miss missing a word then I go trip up on the names oh man I I thank you missed it by that much n nay sorry all right appreciate it all right next item up is item e Emerald ashb Grant definitions hi Ron hello hi May and Council how are you hope yours is easier than the last one I'm nervous ask me I just want to thank you for um um applying for this Grant and um I think it's a great opportunity for the city um especially with um you know the emerald ashb being a real problem yes um I'm curious on um the uh decision for um this particular um definition of of low income okay um yeah we uh talked with the finance department Dan and win the finance director and he thought or we thought this would be the the best way to go about this as far as determining low income um for the grant the people can self verify their low income um that is acceptable to them so in talking about this how we would actually go about this I have not been involved with something like this for determining low income so talking with Finance we figured we'd keep it on how we um how we go with our like our water grants that we give for reimbursement for you know toilets or people using less you know water so he thought we this would be the best way to keep it consistent because that's how we um go with the other programs okay yeah I think my question is around um if the definition may be too n may be too narrow so we're so we're talking about low-income residents um how many of them own homes and then how many of them own homes with ash trees sure so it might not be reached out to enough people is that what you're kind of thinking yeah I'm just wondering like is that too is that too limiting and then I'm just not sure what the uh allocation for that is either yes so we thought about that too and again this is our first kind of shot at it and we don't know how how we had some of those exact questions of you know will we have anyone that will reach out for this to use this um so we thought we would go with it this way and we can adjust it you know for the following year you know if we don't have a lot of participation in it you know it's up to $5,000 per household um you know there's a a lot of stuff that's going to go into it basically Public Works is going to you know we're going to have to go out and verify when the people apply we're going to have to go out and verify that it is an ash tree you know that it's in it's in their yard we have to map it we have to and then we have to go verify when the work is done so um when the people apply for it you know once they apply for the grant um we will kind of take it from there we're going to get you know contractors for we'll get the bids for them um and then give you know the winning cont contractor or a contractor a group of trees to go out and bid for us so we can hopefully make it as easy on easy as on them as we can um but the it also we can adjust this as we go so and you know I'd definitely be open for some input you know if we have to you know make this a broader span to to reach out to people but um we'll start off with this and see how it goes okay thank you you yeah that answered my question I was just kind of curious on um you know what what what does that look like um in terms of number is it limit limiting but yeah that since we can uh yeah you'll adjust we we talked about it I know in talking to Dan he said there's a cap program I'm not real familiar with how exactly that works but we talked about that um he did some research I think that would have included like 200 people and for what you were saying they could live in apartments they could be renting they you know so they may not you know it might not matter to them so we'll see how this goes we have three years um to you know use this money so we'll uh adjust as needed to hopefully get as much of this work done for these people as we can sounds good thanks for your work okay you're welcome you want to pass that resolution so accept minota Department of Natural Resources Emerald Ash removal Grant I have a motion so moved so moved council member Wong second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I thank you all right next up is our uh reports from city manager and departments so fire department posted for the full-time uh code enforcement position Mackenzie Foster was doing that as a part-time position for quite a while she's the one that got the position she's done doing some training already with that next Monday is her first full day as full-time employee so welcome to her congratulations absolutely definitely um so there's going to be ice rescue training on Silver Lake tomorrow they'll be cutting out a section they cut that out tonight in preparation for tomorrow uh the ice rescue training for tomorrow um the crane is coming back for the Lily project here on March 4th spend a few days on uh sea and then they'll move it to a few days out on 7th Avenue while they're putting that cast Concrete in there um student build house moving along we got uh inspections for their Mechanicals the Electric and Plumbing um be moving on to drywall here shortly uh well 5 is getting rehabbed um the way it was explained to me that they uh after a while the well starts to build sand up at the bottom so they were there trying to remove some of that sand and get that water level or the sand level down so they can get more at the water um looks like uh we did a lot of wood chipping ourselves and uh used how many yards out there at Northwood 600 yeah they're running into an issue with uh the places for dump sites for this wood because because of the nice weather we're not the only ones who've been out there taking advantage of this and cutting down trees so the two places that we normally take them are not taking them anymore they've uh froze it until they can get caught up with their grinding so things we'll be uh piling that up at uh what at mcnight field in the old tennis courts temporarily for a while padding for tennis yeah say will it ruin the surface it won't hurt that surface could keep the weeds down I might be able to play um Electric's been working on their uh distribution system um just doing overhead work since with the nicer weather uh setting to new poles um their equipment came in for that chipa job like he John had mentioned earlier that uh they've been waiting for for a couple of years um Finance haded Auditors here for 3 days last week uh they'll be back in March to finish it all up um the PD had an interesting Friday night they had a vehicle going uh southbound in the northbound lane and uh there was an officer there at the time they did get them pulled over after he ran from the police for a while but thankfully nobody was hurt in that once they finally pulled over and rammed a police car that now has damage uh there was a foot chase and they got them nobody got hurt so turned out well and that's all I have thank you very much report from Council commissions and committees council member Norby the Planning Commission meeting on the first was canceled due to lack of um input and the next Planning Commission meeting will be March 7th thank you very much um as for the arts and culture commission um there were seven snows that were purchased throughout the community um and we had about let's see 15 artist um applicants or yeah applicants um so the subcommittee there is um looking to launch that here um this summer I believe and so um we'll have a lot more um activity um I think maybe at public works is where they discussed um having the artists um um paint these snow um we're having successful paint nights and um they're pretty well attended and so that will become more of a regular programming for um for the group um the art cart is um going to be coming back for music in the Parks um so they're just getting ready and Gathering um materials and then um seeking volunteers for for support on that art cart and then um utility box wraps um will be coming when the weather gets a little bit warmer and so we'll see a little bit more of that um and the next meeting is on March 6th thank you very much co uh next Eda meeting is supposed to be um Tuesday March 12th at 3:00 here in Chambers um I am hoping that we can since half of the Eda is here and there's only two additional members that um the four of us can find time to have an Eda meeting um prior to that so that when from the sense of urgency piece we'll be able to have a workshop and then be able to come back um sometime in the month of March as the first meeting in March we will not have council meeting will not be held um so we only have one meeting in the month of March so not a lot to report okay thank you thank you very much General business Norby I would like to invite everyone and remind everyone that one week from today at the Historical Society 7 p.m. um the city council is going to be there um along with some wonderful people to answer questions and have a really fun time and there's cookies got me cookies want yeah um I would like to kind of acknow um you know the um officers and responders that had passed in um Burnsville and to really um just remind ourselves that um we do put our um responders in In Harm's Way often times all the time and so um just really want to um think acknowledge that um I also wanted to say that I'm uh quite disappointed and feeling a little bit um Angry um about the article that went out on the community center um I felt that it was misleading um because we hadn't had a discussion about it um it stated the council Direct Ed staff to come up with this budget and that was not the case because we didn't have a discussion about it um it was also based on a generic model um and we've not had the discussion to observe or explore what different models could be um it's pretty standard practice to have multiple streams of revenue for community centers um so relying solely on taxpayers is just not viable anyways anywhere um even in more affluent communities um I think there's a lot more information that hasn't been presented um and a lot more information that we still need to learn and know um the past um the previous city council has voted twice to retain the the community center um we've invested in consultants and firms and so um we've we've invested a lot and there's a lot more for us to learn as well to see if this is a viable option um there are community centers that are successful um and I think it would uh be of interest to us to explore or learn a little bit more about what a successful um Community Center could be um and one example is the St Paul's um Conway Community Center um um they're doing a great job um bringing in funding and also serving the community community's needs and they continue to expand so it would be my preference that we continue to have public conversations around the community center so we can actually get things moving forward and having um consistency on on the information and a comprehensive look at the information that's all Al member Cole um I too I'm going to build on top of Lisa's comments um I was was very disappointed to see um misleading information come out in city news article um we received basically a copy of that less than 22 hours before it went out to print a lot of us didn't have time to digest look at read ask questions follow through um determine whether the model was the appropriate model to use from a costing standpoint um I just felt that someone felt that there was a need to rush this information to the community we're not holding any any information back but to not give full stories and appropriate information I believe is misleading to all the residents here um there were actually Four votes for the community center in my tenure here um two not to sell the building and to retain it and to move forward the other two was to hire a wal to act as a consultant as to what to do and the fourth vote was to hire a Lobby firm both Here Local and in Washington DC to lobby for the funding that we were able to get now it came with a lot of strings we didn't know that I'm of the impression that once we have the opportunity to look at that and digest that we have the ability to change back or or make recommendations to um some of the things that have been put in that bonding bill but um I just don't want to get the cart in front of the horse on this one and I felt that there was absolutely no need for a rush to to get this information out when Council hadn't even had a chance to digest it and with that I'm done okay thank you um I would like to address that also um I hear it a lot that it was 4 to one it was 4 to one as far as the previous Council we don't have those three people on the previous Council anymore so the information has to get out to all of us so that's what I you know that's we're here now we were elected we need to get the information too and that's what we've been trying to work on as well but I keep heing the past and yes everybody did the work and that but we also have to be able to um look at the information ourselves too and just get numbers and get history to me part of it was to understand what the history was was with the um Community Center and understand from the beginning our kids used it I was up there quite a bit for Bas or for baseball tryouts and different things like that and basketball so you know I knew some about the community center I didn't know a lot so I was really hoping we could get the history and that was part of it as well but I as the as two or two of us here now with the three new council members it's not to continue because you know we can build on it but we have to be able to you know get involved too as far as um being with with the work that's been done and just keep moving forward and that's what that's what I'm hoping we're going to do we're going to discuss and figure out what's best for the the community and just understand where we went and just make it better and and with that I'll make one final note the request didn't come from Council the request came from the mayor we weren't given the heads up that the financial request was being made and the information wasn't talked about vetted through or anything before it was given to public so personally felt ambushed okay all right now I'm done again sounds good my understanding is that we were supposed to have a presentation from wal um on the work that they have done um and I suspect that should be um something that is coming and a workshop soon okay no other business motion to journ so moved so moved council member Wong second second council member Cole all those in favor say I I I thank you