Okay, we'll call to order the City Council meeting for Cannon Falls Tuesday, January 6 16th roll call Yes me here growth here Jepson here Johnson here Cronenberger here Lundell here in Montgomery is absent and we'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Can I get an approval of the agenda? Second approval by Jepson second by Lindell all in favor aye opposed carries So public input there's two public inputs on Zack and Joe But you are speaking to things that are on the public hearing so you can speak during the public hearing time does that work? Okay, so then there's no public input and moves us to the public hearings so the first Public hearing item a is the introduction and first reading of ordinance 402 in ordinance amending sitting code title 3 relating to fees charges and rates Neil, did you want to speak to that or do you want me just to read the background? Can you hear me? Yep. I'm getting a lot of feedback. Yeah, I can take some of the fees here. One of the things that was brought to my attention by you, Laura, was the recycling fees. That's not on there. The recycling fees are actually a contract with waste management. All we do is the administration on that. So that's not part of our fee schedule. And the sexually orientated business fee that you mentioned is actually got to be done by resolution when we adopted that ordinance back. I don't know when that was, I guess that never got done. So we'll bring that back to you and we'll just add it to the fee schedule when it comes by resolution. okay so the police department uh we'll start out with the water and sewer rates um as discussed during the budget cycle we did a two percent water and storm water increase um and then also a three percent sanitary sewer increase um residential water whack and sack water and sewer access that was increased to one thousand per lot and that's excluding the meter. That was including the meter in last year's, now it's excluding the meter, so that will be billed separately. The park board increased most of their fees mainly in the pool, the daily admission, the water aerobics, the lap swim all increased by a dollar, annual passes and the lessons all increased by $10. and the splash parties actually increased the most up to $200. At $200, that's still fairly covering our guards and our people that are there for the private party. Police department, they did some increasing changes. As I talked to the chief, they're mostly admin changes, changing things around and really no increases. He can touch on that. I believe the chief is there, correct? And then the rest of the fees, they're all staying the same. But we will come back with the sexually orientated business fee at another time by resolution. I'll have Shelly look into it on what we can charge and what's the investigation fee charge. And I imagine there'll be two separate resolutions. Okay. And that's all that we're changing for this year. Is there any questions before we open the public hearing? No. We can talk afterwards, all right? I mean, sure. We can do that if you want to, Diane. Okay. Okay, so with that, I will open the public hearing. So if anybody would like to come forward and speak regarding the 2024 fee schedule, please do so. Okay, and second calling for public input for the public hearing for the fee schedule, and third and final opportunity. okay with that that closes the public hearing um if there's any further discussion and or we can um approve the the reading amending the code related to fees and charges one thing i want it's too late to do it for this year but um for next year i'd like us to look into lowering the liquor fees for the restaurants and bars um they're almost three thousand dollars right now unless that's like a price set by state or something I guess I'm not sure that just seems pretty high considering liquor stores are like 200 the breweries like 400 so too late to do this year but when we do this again this fall or next year it's something I'd like to look at why can't we do it this year? Hasn't been through any committees I don't know state limits I just don't know and they have probably already paid for this year this is just the first reading too so we can come back oh because I - I mean, maybe we-- - And I just said so. - Maybe unless Neil says we're allowed to do it now, I guess without knowing more information about it, I wasn't sure that we should. But Neil, is that something we could do now or would we want to do that? - Remember back in, remember when the pandemic hit, we reduced their fees that one time? So we did it in midstream and we can do that again if you guys are wanting to do that. I believe Zach is sitting there, correct? I think all the fees have been paid, aren't they, Zach? That is correct, yeah. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, if they've already been paid, it's something we maybe don't have to do right now unless everyone wants to. Name the prices again. So off sale is $200. The wine is $750. The tap room is $400. And the on-sale liquor is $27.50. That would be like your restaurants, your rancho local, your Brewsters. And there's an on- and off-sale combination for $29.50, but I don't know that we have any of that in town. I don't think we do. No. So it's, you know, $2,000 more than the winery or the brewery would pay. And, you know, they have, you know, I don't know. Restaurants are just hurting right now, so just looking for any little thing we can do to help. Right. Right. What would you feel would be a fair? I would say if we got it down to like the same as the winery or the tap room, you know, $750 or so, unless there's a state statute that mandates a certain amount, I have no idea. Why don't we bring this back to the finance and I can do some research on it. I know liquor laws are based on a certain, I know we can't charge too much It's because it's how much it costs to do investigations and how much the police and if Joe or Jeff wants to chime in some he can, but how much it takes to cover, you know, the liquor licenses. But I think we should get some input from Shelly and bring it to the finance. And if there's a, if you guys want to bring back or transfer back money to them, that'd be fine. Okay. Yeah. That sounds fair. In terms of the fee schedule to me the the incredible increase in the water hookup and the sewer hookup Because we went from water hookup from 550 to $556 plus that included a meter to a thousand dollars that doesn't include a meter and the sewer hookup went from 194 to a thousand which just seems rather steep especially as we continue to increase you know water sewer and storm water fees every year by two and three percent and i'm really not comfortable because i really don't know how much is in those enterprise funds how you know the accounts and how much we think we're going to be needing you know kind of a what's our cash flow situation on those designated accounts to justify i mean we're sitting here saying we want more families to move into town we want new homes to be built and now we're really stocking it to them both in ongoing costs and in hookup fees. Laura, do you remember what yours were? A little bit. I mean, so I don't know if I'm, where is the, which specific one are you talking about, Diane? Water hookup fees are pretty close to the top. How come they went up so much? Do we know? Well, it's on page five for this year's. For last year's, it's on page five, so both ways. I mean, for that kind of an increase, I know there was some talking about the fact that the water meters cost a lot of money. So I can see charging for that, but considering the old rate was $556, which included a meter, and the new rate is $1,000 plus a meter, that's a lot of money for people we want to have build a home and move into it in Cannon Falls. You know, unless I can see documentation that says this is where we need all this money for. Because, I mean, when we do an infrastructure repair, we charge the residents a lot of that money. And we don't have many of those coming up except hardwood estates, and we've already committed that money. Do you know, Neil, what the conversations were about the justification for the increase? Yeah, we were talking about area towns, how much they charge, what Cannon Falls charged in the past, which was a considerable amount of money. And $1,000, it really is very reasonable for a hookup. What the hookup fee is, it's the right to buy a certain, I shouldn't say percentage, but you're getting all this facility and that upkeep of that facility, and you're getting that for $1,000. Okay. And to be honest with you, $1,000 is very reasonable in the area. So it's up to you guys. If you want to reduce it, you can do it at this time. I guess it's up to you. Do we know how much a cost of a meter is? Not to the penny, but it's probably $400. Jed could probably answer that. I don't know off the top of my head, but $400 sounds about right. For the meter? Yeah, depending on whether it's a three-quarter or one-inch meter, it's, yeah. So that's just for the meter, Laura, not the hookup, not the city fee? For both or for each? 825, sorry. Oh, 825. Does that include a meter or without? The meter is separate. So we're not too far off the mark, really. Mm-mm. There again if we're trying to encourage people to come I if our fees had been a little bit higher before I Everything that we have this huge bump It seems like it would be nice if we could kind of gradually move ourselves into it as opposed to You know I mean, I I would be okay with 500 for each and you know, the house pays the meter cost to you know 500 plus a meter Well, what was the one before? 550 something? I don't think we should go backwards from that. Well, 556 included a meter. So, 556 plus if it was 300, that would be 856. Okay. And the sewers hookup was only 194. Right. Where do you see that? But for $1,000, you get a lifetime of giving. Okay. i don't know when you're building a 450 000 how is the 500 hookup fee doesn't seem absorbent yeah i mean if you want to leave it that's fine as i say i i just would like to see where the money is going and why we need it i and probably more importantly the two percent and three percent increases in the fees do you know when the last do we know when the last time we increased these fees last year They've come down considerably from what they used to be. You've got to remember that, too. Oh, you mean the hookup piece? Yes. Where they were over $1,000 before? I think they used to be several thousand. Okay. I think they were $8,400. Okay, $8,400. Yeah. I'm cool with $1,000 apiece. So we went from $8,000 to $500. Now we're going back to $1,000. It sounds like we don't know what the hell we want to do. I'm good leaving it at $1,000. I'm okay with leaving it. yeah i think it seems reasonable i don't know someone want to make a motion or do we want to what do we want to do um well this is just the first reading correct yes yeah but we but if we're going to change something please make orders to approve yeah we do approve it i'll make a motion that we approve the ordinance as written i'll second it so a motion was made by um lindell and Second by Jepson. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Diane Abstain? Okay, motion carries. That brings us to the second public hearing, item B, introduction and first reading of ordinance 403, an interim ordinance authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on the operation of cannabis businesses within the city of Cannon Falls. Chief McCormick, would you like to elaborate on this prior to opening it up? Sure. So during the 2023 legislative session, the sale and manufacture of marijuana or cannabis products was legalized, but not until after the state sets their rules. You probably saw on the news they appointed a commissioner or director for the Office of Cannabis Management, which lasted about a day. and now they're back trying to fill that position. Until that position gets filled, that department gets up and running, there just isn't any guidance on what the state intends to do as far as regulations. And so the League of Minnesota Cities has recommended that cities consider putting in place a moratorium so that it buys time before somebody just opens something up without any local regulation, and then you try to regulate it after the fact. and you may not have the ability to do so. And so the council sent this to the police commission. Police commission discussed it, gave some parameters on what they wanted to see done, and then we created the moratorium that's in front of you. It's important to remember that the state has given certain abilities to local government for regulating things like reasonable restrictions on time, place, manner of operation. So, you know, essentially zoning controls. They can restrict the number of businesses based on population. and they can prohibit things like operating within 500 feet of a daycare or a residential treatment center or 1,000 feet of a school. But those are all things that you would have to do at a local level if you wanted to have those restrictions in place. And so this moratorium, one of the things that the police commission discussed was ensuring that we didn't inhibit the current operations of sales of edibles that are occurring in Cannon Falls or the manufacturer production wholesale, I guess, operations. And so those were excluded from the moratorium. That's an exception. It's outlined within Section 5, which is exceptions. But the other parts of cannabis, while the possession is legal at the time, Sales are still controlled by the state and the state hasn't put the rules out so the production, manufacture, sales of cannabis not already permitted under statute are essentially unknown until the state propagates the rules that are going to control it. so this moratorium is intended to provide the city the ability to see what type of rules the state puts out and then determine if they want to put any additional rules as it relates to the state's or the city's control of the areas permitted by the state and If you have any questions, I can gladly answer them You can open it up for public input and then ask me questions later. Whatever you prefer. I Let's open it for public and then we can talk about it. Does that work? Very good. Unless anybody really has something burning you want to talk about before the public. Okay, so with that, we will open the public hearing for the introduction and first reading of Ordinance 403, if anybody would like to come forward and speak. My name is Zach Rohrer. Thank you, Council Members, for being here tonight and hearing this. i think the police chief did a great job of outlining what the moratorium is for um but you know this is our business my business has many grown i'm here with my business partner my uncle joe who's been a lifelong resident of cannon falls um you know this we understand kind of everything that's going on up at the state capitol and the timeline for this and you know one thing to keep in mind with this moratorium is that you know we are waiting for the ocm to put these rules into place and it's it's going to take a while everything that we're hearing is that licenses won't even become available to be applied for until january of next year which is when this moratorium would expire so if we just look at timeline on things you know really this moratorium if it must expire by january 1 of 2025 Cannabis businesses aren't even gonna be able to apply for licenses until that point. What's the point of this moratorium? You know and I also just kind of want to point out, you know the intent, you know behind You know this moratorium you know basically says the city desires to conduct a study for the purpose of considering the adoption of Reasonable restrictions on time place and manner of where these sales can occur, you know, I think we've seen since last July of 2022 that The citizens and the people who are selling these products in cannon falls know how to do it responsibly I haven't heard any negative incidents around town so I just kind of think The idea and intent behind the moratorium. I just questioned it a little bit being that the city's already proven that we can do it very responsibly. On top of that, businesses that will get a cannabis license from the OCM will be the best cannabis businesses in the state. They're going to be the most regulated. They're going to be the most tested. they're going to be simply the best businesses. So I just think that the idea that the city is going to provide further protections beyond what the state's already going to provide and the regulation and the input into that program, I just question the intent behind this. The last thing that I'd just like to point out is that there is a small chance that it could affect a business like ours. Let's say the OCM does get into place here, first quarter, maybe this summer, and they decide that they want to start issuing licenses to businesses that are existing that have proven themselves, The way that this language is written is that during the term of the moratorium and it's a violation of the ordinance for any business person or entity to establish or operate. So that language to establish really concerns me because if we do get an opportunity, aren't fortunate enough to get a license, we want to be able to start rocking on our operation right away. We're already working with the tribes throughout the state that want to grow for us. We're talking with local farmers in the community who want to get involved. I don't think the city should really be stepping in the place of You know business that's happening. You know that's going to be allowed throughout the state and license as such I guess I'll just conclude just you know asking the council to not pass this moratorium You know it would have no effect as written as is The only effect that I could possibly see is that it will hurt small businesses I don't think that it's protecting the citizens of the community of cannon falls I think that we're taking care of each other as is Thank you Okay, second call for input to the public hearing for the cannabis moratorium and third and final call Okay, so that closes the public hearing for the ordinance 403. Is there any questions? I do have a question I know we did something similar but a couple two three years ago and I had the same question then as I do now if I If you're not allowed to apply or to even open a store because, you know, the state's agency isn't even up and running yet, what is the moratorium accomplishing? Because there's already an effective moratorium by the state, correct? Correct. Well, there's actually not a moratorium in effect by the state the state the state effectively has said you cannot operate a Cannabis business without a license. Okay, state's not issuing licenses yet. That could change tomorrow We have no way of knowing so as far as a timeline We're hoping that the state will put together the rules that are going to regulate and provide cities an opportunity to give input and But as we know from last year's legislative session or the correction the 22 legislative session You can't be guaranteed the state's going to take input. You know, they legalized cannabis Not cannabis hemp edibles without really any notice on it Most of us found out that it was buried within a bill and this time they at least vetted it quite significantly and but they left a lot of the rules to the Office of Cannabis Management. We have no idea what those are gonna be yet. So there are some statutory prohibitations, but we don't know what they're gonna do beyond that. And the purpose of the moratorium, the reason the League is recommending it is, is that this isn't just a moratorium on The license and sale of marijuana, it's on allowing cities time to figure out the zoning, how many do they want to have. You can't prohibit it per se, but you can restrict the number of licenses and it's based on population. That population is off of I think 12,000 or 14,000 population. We don't have those numbers. So are we going to see an overriding ordinance at the county level that's going to restrict the number within the county total? We don't know. What I do know is that our input from the police commission was that they want to permit a cannabis dispensary if we're able to. We just don't know all the rules on it yet. And essentially the purpose of the moratorium is not to prohibit businesses from looking at it. It's just to control when they open, how they function, etc. I'll give you an example. You were asking about sexual-orientated businesses, right? The fees on it. When I was an officer in an agency, somebody opened up a sexually-orientated business. When they applied for their permits, they applied for the permits for just a retail store, giving the impression that they were going to sell clothing. That wasn't what they were selling. And that created quite a problem for the city. But they hadn't already put in place some of those ordinances that would restrict and control. And the problem was where it was located relative to other things like schools or churches. And so this moratorium buys time for you to consider how you want that to function. Is it processing is going to occur in a certain part of the industrial park? Is it going to occur in anywhere within the city? All of those things would be things that would get regulated through the zoning. And so if the state were to come back and say in June, hey we figured it all out, here's what it is. This moratorium wall can last until December 31st of 2024. It does not have to. And I don't think you're gonna see moratoriums in many cities last until the expiration unless the state hasn't fulfilled their obligation, which is getting the rules out before the end of that time. Their original estimate was they anticipated having draft rules out probably in early April, late April, with licensing expected sometime late summer. Now I doubt if they're gonna be on that timeline. as Mr. Rohrer indicated, it may be December, beginning of January of '25. And while we certainly would hope that if they're interested in getting into that business and can obtain a license, that we're going to do everything we can to facilitate that continuing. They've been a good business for us, community-wise, but I think that the moratorium does serve a purpose and would recommend City Council approve the And we can take it off any time. Yep. I guess we're essentially just waiting for what the state's guidelines are going to be because then we can draft the rules that would allow us not to violate because we can't be more restrictive than they are in some areas, but we can be in others. So, for instance, when they legalized marijuana, they didn't address parks. So you could have people using consumable marijuana, whether it's a vape or a smoke, next to a playground within a park. And maybe that's okay, maybe that's not. That's not for me to decide. That's up to you guys as the policy makers for the city. Yeah, I guess I'd just like to see us Stay on top of things so when the state does get you know their act together We're not lagging behind and we're ready. Nope the the intent was you know if you recall when we discussed edibles We had already done some of the research on that we worked you know with Mr. Rohrer and give you some of the information Sadly when the council said they weren't interested in providing any information. We didn't hear back from mr Rohrer to our inquiries to further our research It is true both I on and I reached out You know this moratorium is limited scope to basically figuring out where the city wants businesses to sell and make this You know all these things, you know what the police chief is going into about trying to get ahead of this get ahead of that the city can't get out of these things the state's gonna decide when this all rolls out and and this isn't even going to happen until next year so the purpose and the effect behind this i just i i don't see it again mr rower is assuming the state won't roll this out before 2025 i have no idea that's why my recommendation is to follow the guidance from the league and recommend that the council approve this What we were looking at is structuring this similar to the liquor ordinance as far as creating a matrix. So if there are violations of businesses engaging in retail sales, they know what the penalties are. It's not a surprise. And we wanted the rules to be clear for everybody, both at the retail and any other function within the cannabis business. I think it's a joint effort for the state and local government. It's not just one or the other. I would like to, if we're going to do something like a moratorium, then I would like the police commission to have all the ducks in a row in terms of everything you want to see, where it can be, where it can't be. it all there if the state comes up with a lot we can tweak it to match and So that if once the state says now you can get a license I think we need to be able to say within two weeks We'll open it up and not wait any longer because otherwise We're putting our own businesses at a disadvantage The only thing I would say is that you would end up having to enact these by ordinance So you wouldn't be able to do it in two weeks, but you would be able to do it in two council meetings because you'd have a first reading and a second reading that puts it a month out and i'm hoping the state will give us more than a month's notice on what the rules are going to be is that going to put our businesses at a disadvantage if it's a month i mean i think with all due respect you know to the ordinance and you know the laws and regulations of the state and city if a business does has the opportunity they're really going to look at it and say we'll sit around and wait for the city you know to hopefully get this together or Is the chief gonna come write us a misdemeanor ticket and we'll go fight that in court? I mean, what are we really talking about here? It's legal to sell marijuana. We're gonna issue misdemeanors for violating this ordinance? No, I mean, it just seems a little... - We have no idea what the state's rules are gonna be yet. - Well, I mean, I guess my thoughts are it's, this is all future business right existing business continues status quo we're not hurting any existing business that's happening everybody continues to you know do what they're doing today it just is going to delay when if someone gets a license They would have to wait for us to have our ordinances in place and I would think we would want to have ordinances in place I know that the police commission is Committed to getting this taken care of they're not I mean, I think in 2023 We met more times and we did it in the last previous five years though I think there's a commitment from the Commission to get it taken care of That's I don't know refresh my mind. Um When this whole same debate came up with the moratorium on, I'll call it hemp, I know it had THC or something, whatever. My recollection was that the council did not put a moratorium on that. It wasn't a moratorium. It would have been regulations regarding the retail sales of edible products that are produced by hemp. but we didn't do that. No, it was not a moratorium and the council decided they did not want to put any regulations in place. They wanted the state to do it. Right. They're aiming for a moratorium though. Yeah, there is a proposed moratorium. In front of them tonight? No. Or previously? Yeah, previously. Previously it was not a moratorium. Previously it was regulations. But we didn't do it. No. The council did not do it at that time. Correct. The thought was is the state should be regulating this instead of just saying cities take care of it. Right. So if we did the moratorium and then Minnesota state of Minnesota says yep we can do licenses is it gonna hinder any current like can mini grown get their license ASAP or do they have to wait on the city? The city would if there's a licensing decided by the city that they want to do it my recommendations would that you would then you would have to, just like you did this evening, you'd have to set the fees, and the fees are required to be set by ordinance. - Right, but they would have to be licensed through the state also, correct? - Yes, just like liquor is licensed through the state, but then you have a local license as well. - Right, so, because the state isn't handing out licenses yet. - No, the state is not. They haven't even set the parameters for what that will be yet. - Right, once they are, if we do a moratorium, would that hinder We'll just say it would really depend on how much Advanced notice the state gives to saying okay. It's open Okay, if the state were to say in 60 days, these are gonna be the rules in effect We could certainly have an ordinance in place within two council meetings To get lit to put those rules in place and lift our moratorium. Yes It's open It's going to be very strategically rolled out. The licensing process alone will take up to six months, if not longer. That'll go from probably January of next year until July, and then businesses will start to be selected. You won't even start to see dispensaries until 2026. Okay. It's a waiting game. Yeah, but if they do move things, if the timeline does get moved up, let's just say the OCM starts to license this year in July, we get licensed, this would prohibit us from starting to establish our business. And things are already started to, you know, when we're talking about the amount of tribal land in the state of Minnesota, all these folks are already doing this stuff. Companies like us can already work with them. You know, it's, I just see this having very little benefit to the community of Cannon Falls. I think that's what moratoriums are aimed at. Well, does this moratorium at any way affect the are established businesses in town right now no as it sits legally no any other thoughts say something ryan i think we need it you think we need it i think so you do or do not i do just because we can lift it so fast you know yeah i mean i i don't think that it hurts the city of cannon falls the the people of cannon falls by any imagination um that's my belief I think it just puts safeguards in place to allow us to roll it out correctly. Even if we got all our stuff done in police commission, we could pull it off after, you know, we have everything written. Right. So would this stop someone new from opening up a store in town? It would stop somebody from opening a non-hemp edible at the current moment. So if somebody wanted to open up a cannabis dispensary, they would not be permitted to under this moratorium. Which would hamper us from selling at our facility. But you can't sell until the state puts the restrictions in. Correct. Is it possible to put in this moratorium that the minute the state passes that license, we have to have... Well within 30 days the moratorium will expire unless we you know and that'll give you 30 days to Well you could do something like that I think the problem would be is you know as indicated by Mr. Rohrer the state may roll it out in progressive steps. What would be the trigger? I think the the easiest way we would look at it would be just setting the moratorium till they ended as permitted by statute And just knowing that the objective for us is not to inhibit any of our businesses that are interested in getting in this. It's just ensuring that we have the opportunity to put the regulations in place that seem appropriate for our community. - Do we have to do it for a year? What if we did a six month moratorium? So from now till, what would that be, July? - So let's just say we did one till October. - If we do it for six months, that'll give us plenty of time to make the rules and regulations and then in July we can decide to extend it or just be done with it. - If you did it for six months but the state hasn't given us any guidelines in six months, Then you're back to, do you want to do it again in six months? And we can't. Whereas written, you can withdraw it once the state finally comes out with some guidelines. What guidelines do we expect to see from the state? We have no idea. I think I'm with Derek. The state's not going to weigh in any further on time, place, and manner of the distribution and sale of products in the city. They've already been clear in the statute that they're leaving that up to the city, so what are we waiting for the state court? We're waiting for the state to put up an office of cannabis management and propagate the rules that are going to control the industry. I would think we'd be able to do it for six months and then come back and revisit. If we do it for six months, then we are forced to revisit it. Sometimes when we put things in for a year, we forget we've done that. Well, you aren't putting it in for a year because it would have to expire on December 31st. - We have a tendency to forget. - Yep, but the effective date of this, remember, won't be for roughly another month because you've gotta have a second hearing and then you have publication, so it doesn't become effective until publication. - But it can't be for six months? - It's entirely up to council. I wouldn't recommend going any earlier than the end of October, just so you don't have to go through having another public hearing the stuff that goes with that. Maybe the state will give us some direction by that too. We're not asking the state for direction, we're asking to put a city moratorium in place so the police chief can study for a year where this where the stuff should be made and sold within the town. We're not waiting for the state for anything. We're waiting for the Office of Cannabis Management to propagate the rules that are going to regulate the industry. We have no idea what those are going to be yet, and they will be more than what the statutes provide. It's indicated within the statutes. And I do not want to study this for a year. Trust me. There's a part of me that says, much as I think the bigger government we get, the more possibility there are for Oops is and and not always being efficient I think for this I think the state will come out with good rules and regulations to cover it As I have a feeling if they don't whole lots people are gonna have their heads roll And so I'm not a hundred percent sold on the need for a moratorium But I you know, I do understand our concern and I you know, I want to say yes I don't want it sold near a school. I don't want to sold playgrounds in the park and But there again, I assume that's all gonna be covered. I know that's a bad thing, but-- - No, it's fine. It's just, remember, if the genie pops out of the bottle, you don't get to put it back in. If you don't have anything in place that prohibits it. Much like your moratorium is placed on residential treatment centers. If one pops up and you don't have a moratorium in place, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. - Well then I would certainly encourage the police commission to have get your own set of rules regulations so that the minute the state Begins to do something in this thing and has something come out that we can go ahead and pass our own ordinance governing it And I would say that the police commission has indicated the same thing and you've got two members of it sitting here that Can answer that question we have to vote on this tonight, or is it just let it go? No we do I So we would we need a motion and approval of the ordinance to implement a moratorium on operation of cannabis business ordinance This is first reading so it'd be back two weeks from now for a second reading also in there It does say that it can be rescinded. Yes, anytime This body would be able to reset it earlier if they chose to I'm gonna make that motion Motion by gives me do we have a second? No second. I'll second it so Motion by Guesme, a second by Jepson. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any nay? No. Roll call, please. Guesme. Aye. Give me just a second. I'm going to jot names so I can write the results. Guesme was aye. Aye. Groth. Nay. Jepson. Aye. Johnson. Nay. Cronenberger. Aye. Lundell. No. So we don't have a tiebreaker. Not tonight. So... It wouldn't it wouldn't move forward but I don't know if it would have to Come back before the body because there's not Maybe Neil can weigh in and on the process. I'm not familiar with that with a tie it fails Okay Moving on to the consent agenda Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as council business. A, Justin Crick claims accounting period ending December 31st, 2023. B, Justin Crick claims accounting period ending January 11th, 2024. Item C, meeting minutes for January 2nd, 2024 city council meeting. D. Resolution 2730, accepting a $75 subway gift card donation from Freeborn Manor residents and management to the police department. E. Resolution 2731, accepting a monetary donation of $41,000 from Cannon Falls Fire Department Relief Association to the fire department. F. Approve 2024 fire department officers. G resolution 2732 approving preliminary plat amendment for timber ridge H resolution 2733 approving a variance for timber ridge I approve new 3.2 percent off sale liquor license for speedway J approve purchase of swans and trade current swan K approved 2024 street overlay project was i supposed to ask if anybody wanted to pull these down yeah we did the agenda i do it now yeah okay i'd like to pull down j and k j it's funny we can trade in a swan j and what okay j and comment on else before we get too far j and k okay so um j will be um business a and k will be business b any others No, but I'd like to comment. Okay. Aren't we allowed to do that on one without pulling it down? Sure. I think, well, the fire department officers, um, and i'm not sure if this is the time but i think we offer a word of thanks to our second assistant chief steve sullivan for his retirement and years of service and for i guess the upcoming retirement of our chief mike eltoff for his years of service well i think we can pull that down and decline it right oh there we there okay With J and K being moved to council business and Motion to approve the consent agenda, or do we just so move a second? All right motion by Diane second by Lindell all in favor. All right those opposed, okay moving to council business item a approve purchase of swans and trade current Swan Jed, do you want Jed to explain what this is, or do you... Part of my thing was, and I've been asking around town, when did the tradition of having a pair of trumpeter salons at Mineska Parks begin? And one person I said said it was way back when a gravel pit closed, and so somebody donated the pair that they had there. It was Tilly and Tully or something like that. I don't remember what the names were. Okay. But I guess my real question is, to take a wild bird and clip its wings so that it has to stay in our fenced-in pond area, you know, is... Is for our enjoyment people enjoy the swans I've heard lots of people think they're really neat to have them there if they're a breeding pair and the offspring is raised and I guess One other person said they used to take them down to the Iowa DNR and have them released in the wild then it can be a program where we're reintroducing the birds, but I I was just curious before we just go ahead and continue something about You know, if this is really something we as a town want to do, and if so, you know, then fine. Just a question, kind of. So my records that I could find on the swans only goes back to about 1999 when we applied for a permit for the DNR for the swans that we had. You know, I've only been here for six months, so I have no idea when the swans initially came to town. But I know that... Some of the the people I've talked to they they don't remember minieska park without swans and they've been here their whole lives so We're talking somewhere around 30 maybe 40 years that we've had swans in town These swans that we have are they're not like they're capturing out of the wild clipping their wings and putting them in a park They're they're they're raised On a farm or you know, there's there's a hatcheries that raise them and you're so you're essentially you're buying a you know It is a trumpeter swan, but it's it's a it's a farm raised one. It's not not a wild swan So they are you know, their wings are clipped when they're very young. So there's minimal trauma to the animal And quite honestly, they the water never freezes at minneaska the uh breeder i guess we'll call him uh up in uh lakeville ash absolutely loves our our pond because it's a it's ideal you know that we buy i think we're 20 or 30 a month in feed of cracked corn and oats to feed them i mean they're They're treated very well. When we do take the, it's been years and years since we have taken the offspring down to Iowa, but when they came, they were very impressed with the The health of the the babies that we we delivered down there, so they're treated very well. There's no predators So I mean it's kind of like having a house cat you know they're they're there they're protected and and and Constantly fed so they got yeah What else you want what questions you got for me I I When the swan died, I didn't know anything about our swans and had to go digging to find information. So I did reach out to a couple of breeders in, like, Indiana to just get a single swan to replace it, and we were looking at over $3,000. And a breeding pair was $50,000. I can't remember, $5,600. Off the top of my head. I was blown away at how much it cost. So having a... Guy in Lakeville that does this as a hobby. You know it kind of has a little hobby farm that he he does a waterfowl I think it's pretty good deal to to trade in our Swan and get a pair who may Breed and they may not know we don't know because they're juvenile so but apparently the only way that you can tell the sex of a swan is to pluck the feather and send it to some... Yes, you can get a kit. I think it comes out of Florida. I can't remember exactly. But we don't know if they're male or female. Can't you ask them his name? Right? Right. I have two comments. I probably should have brought these up at the meeting, the parks meeting, but I didn't think of them until after. Do we need two swans? They do better in pairs. They're... Generally, a male and a female tend to get along better. We don't know what we had before when one of them died, so we have no idea what sex is still there. But they tend to thrive better in a pair. The other one that someone just kind of brought up to me is, is it Is it kind of cruel to take the surviving swan that's lived its whole life down here and just ship it off somewhere else because its best friend died? It's kind of cruel, I guess. Get out of here. Can we go to a farm with I guess yeah, I guess can we have three years? No, but he won't give us the deal without the trade in they they they do good well in Paris not in a threes not in threes and They're very territorial So yeah, he would have a hard time Okay, if we and he'd probably be a lot older than the other ones right? Well, that's the thing is we can get some juveniles or Yeah, okay. So All right, so does anybody want to make a motion to approve the purchase of a pair of swans? I'll make that motion. Motion by Grote. Second by? I'll second. By Derek. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, motion carries. And business, council business item B, approve the 2024 street overlay project. Yeah, it's item B now, though. Okay, I counsel Business item B approved 2024 Street overlay projects. This one's you again Jed was approved by the public Park and Public Works. Do you want to? Give the background so We have many streets in Cannon Falls that are in need of an overlay. And when we talk about an overlay, you have two lifts basically on a road. You have your base layer and then your wear layer. When that wear layer gets worn down, if the base layer is still good, they call it a mill and overlay. They'll mill it down and then re-overlay the wear layer again. So hopefully get another 20 years out of it. We have many streets all throughout town that are in varying needs of an overlay or even a total reclaim and And re-asphalt. The reason we went with industrial boulevard or not industrial, sorry, Holiday Avenue is because of the heavy truck traffic that is there. The wear layer is almost gone, but the base layer is in still pretty good shape. We were afraid if we wait another few years that we will ruin the base layer with all that truck traffic on it. And we would... Doing a full recon not a reconstruct but a reclaim instead of just a mill and overlay There is I had a this was hard for me to figure out I'm a water sewer guy and so I had to do a lot of research on the streets and what the varying conditions of our streets to come to this point I reached out to WHK s you know as an engineer and we we both came to the consensus that we need to take care of holiday and uh industrial park next year to preserve them before it becomes too expensive some of our other streets that we have that are in need of a or overlay may be beyond an overlay and are probably closer to a reclaim so that's how we got to that point um but you know on this side of third street you know on this side of the bridge third street uh i can't remember all the names of street right now but um i think you got second over there um I can't remember the name of the street, but there are several streets that are in pretty rough shape, but because it's only light car traffic compared to our industrial park that has all those semis that go in there, we wanted to tackle that first. So any other questions? Do we have kind of then, you know, having talked with the engineer earlier, Kind of a game plan of what streets were tackling when going in the next five ten years. Yes like I said, I mentioned Second and third Street that on the south side of the bridge and I think about that one behind st. Pius Church and the post office that is not in good shape. Right. And the thing is, depending on the winter and the freeze and thaw cycle, things change. And so we have, you know, we have kind of a general list of all the streets that in 2026 that we're going to look at, and at that time we'll evaluate them, and the worst is going to get tackled first, you know. Well, and didn't you, wasn't there another one that was brought up, but that is maybe... Worse off, but it's gonna be part of something else in the next year or two So it doesn't make sense to work on it now when there's gonna be a different project in the next right Well, you're something so just right over here on my maps not loading so I can't name the streets now so but uh just down the street here to the north of us there's a we have a Total reconstruct project in the works that that will take care of I It's not loading. I can't think of the names. But Colville Street, I mean, you've got the east side of Colville Street is in pretty rough shape up there, going up the hill a little bit. And then, yeah, there's several that are going to be part of a reconstruct. You've got, is it Viking, the neighborhood in Viking that is going to be on the reconstruct here in the next 10 years. But there is several streets, Colville, Yeah, there we go Stoughton Street with that Water Street over there. Those are also streets that are on the list So because it that would be helpful in terms of how much money we need to start having available for all these upcoming projects Thank you. So right now we we kind of set aside about 200,000 a year for for overlay projects Five years ago that that took care of eight blocks now that takes care about five or six blocks So the cost of everything is skyrocketed. So we're still running on that same $200,000 budget, but only accomplishing about half as much so Okay, so can I get a motion? To move forward with the 2024 overlay of holiday avenue so moved um Motion by Diane second second second by Jepson all in favor any opposed motion carries All right that moves us to reports Maggie good evening council. I'm just a couple quick updates from the chamber I Tomorrow night is our chamber annual business recognition event and this event celebrates and recognizes the chamber's yearly Accomplishments as well as our local businesses and the important role that they play in our community Everyone here should have gotten an invite you're more than welcome to come tomorrow night I just ask if you do to let me know before then so I can get your name on the list It is at the winery and it starts at 5:00 p.m. So And then hopefully somebody or most of you have seen we put out some information on Facebook about Cannon Fever Days and it should be coming up in the weekend here. This is taking place January 27th. We're trying to resurrect this. That used to happen years ago in Cannon Falls. Won't be as big as it used to be but hopefully we can get back to that eventually. So this is the weekend of the alumni basketball. There's also going to be an alumni volleyball tournament. There will be a medallion hunt by Keith Myers, CFP, a cardboard sled race for the kids, hopefully, if there's snow. We don't ever want to wish for snow, but we want to this weekend. There's Bingo by the CF Masons, Hot Chocolate and S'mores by the Cannon Falls Elementary PTO, and then Tilling is hosting a chili contest amongst a couple of the restaurants and bars in town, and then the winery has a dinner and comedy show that night also. So, should be a fun night. In Cannon Files, the goal is to try to bring business downtown to our retailers and restaurants since it's usually such a slow time in town. And just the last thing I have is we're beginning to plan for our 2024 Discover Guide, which is our Cannon Files booklet that we send out. And so we are accepting submissions for a cover photo. So if anybody has a photo that they would like to submit, they can contact me, they can email me, or give me a call at the chamber. Any questions? Yes. I'm really glad to see cabin fever days coming back. Yeah. Yeah. When I was younger, that was a really big deal. So hopefully we can build on it. That is a 27th. Yeah. No, I'm very pleased with the organizations and businesses who jumped in and wanted to take part in it. So yeah. Thank you guys. I got your entry fee covered. If you run down the hill on cardboard, only if I can wear the windchill costume, that's still around. We can amend the rules so you can enter. Thank you. Thanks, Maggie. All right. Thanks, Maggie. All right. EDA. Ms. Laura? Just a couple things to update you on. We were successful with receiving the Active Transportation Planning Assistance Grant. I think that was last time I was in front of you from MnDOT. So it's not a Dollar award it's more of an engineering award. So it's worth about twenty one thousand dollars about But what that will do is that they will help create that master bike and walk plan for the whole community Where there are some gaps in the whether it's the walking biking or where can we create more safe? Spaces for walking and biking or where can we put some of those? connections to help prioritize some of those areas moving forward and then we can once we have that done then we can move forward with applying for an infrastructure grant where we can actually from the priority list where would we want to implement a trail, you know, to connect with our inner city trail or a sidewalk or something like that. So, and that's separate from any of the Safe Routes to School project grants that we could apply for. These could be anywhere within the city. So we did receive that. And then last week we did have a status update meeting with John Birch Park, with our John Birch Park supporter team. and WHKS engineering team where we got to see kind of a snapshot overview of kind of like the first rendering of what it might look like. and then got feedback from the John Birch Park Bears team and then kind of they went back with what the suggestions and then I had a quick meeting today with the deed grant management team that we're getting the funding from the bonding bill just kind of with some last-minute things that they're seeking for the application and we should be Moving forward on that. Otherwise, that's what I've had. Okay. Thank you, Laura Finance Committee. You're the president man. I Can take it Thanks, Neil We we talked about we had one agenda item. It was the cannonball assessments we had a discussion on assessments and procedures the owner of the mall had a request and and uh um they answered the the question of of what about what the assessments were and i have some homework to do on how much it would be to pay it off and and we'll talk about it at the next meeting and that's it that was all on the agenda all right thanks neil um library board isa We chose a slate of officers, same as last year. And Nicole is looking to get in touch with people who homeschool their kids. So if they need materials or help researching or whatever they need, she wants to help. So put the word out. All right. Planning Commission. Mr. Gizmi, is that you? I was looking at Zach, but I'll take it. We... We cleaned up a few items on the Timber Ridge development. We had to approve a variance, and also we approved the preliminary plat. We also discussed the new ordinance addressing rehab centers and where they can be located in town. And what I missed, Zach, was that it? That's everything except we just talked about that used car dealership. Used car dealership. back to where Miller Motors was up across from, well, it was at the old Imperial Station for all of you that have been here forever. So that was it. All right. Public Works and Park Board. Do you want to take it, Derek? Sure. It was just the two things we talked, the swans and the street overlay project. Yep. Okay. We go around. Chief, anything? Just a reminder that... Just a reminder that we got a little taste of snow, not very much, but eventually I expect we will. And we want to make sure to remind residents to move their vehicles off when plowing is going to occur. There's not a set number of inches. It's determined by public works depending upon typically the amount of snow, the weight of the snow, anticipated temperatures all become variables that occur. And when that happens, we do our best to get notice out through the city's Facebook accounts as well as the officers will usually try to do an assessment and let people know if they're out there. However, the officer assessment is really dependent upon just how busy our evening is. If it's a busy night, they usually are unable to do that until they turn their attention to ticket and toll. So it's always best when there's snow to get your vehicles off the roadway, even if that notice doesn't come out, simply because it allows Public Works to get out and get that area right in front of your house really clean. So do not park your car just in front of the neighbor's house. Just get it off the road completely. That's all I got. Okay, thank you. Laura, anything else? Zach? Jed? Chief already kind of touched on it, the snow. We did have several cars that the guys had to plow around and then go back and clean up afterwards. Also, the PCA came in and did an inspection of the wastewater treatment plant. Everything was great. So, yeah, I think he'll do a final report, but the preliminary was that we're doing everything right. So, yeah. all right derek diane steve nope mr jepson nope lisa um well yeah the only thing i was going to say is that um reiterate what diane said earlier um thank you to chief altoff for your years of um being our chief of fire um as well as steve sullivan and Good luck and thank you for everything you did for Cannon Falls. And when is that going to be? Wait a minute, I didn't know it was him. All right. All right. Well, with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Aye. All in favor? Aye.