Based on the context provided and the dialogue in the transcript, here is the formatted version with speaker names identified. [4:39] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Good evening everyone, happy New Year. I’d like to call the City Council meeting for January 5th, 2021, to order. Can we have roll call, please? [4:50] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Bringl? **Council Member Bringl**: Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Duncan? **Council Member Bill Duncan**: Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Gesme? **Council Member Gesme**: Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Kronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger**: Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Lundell? **Council Member Lundell**: Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer**: All present. [5:05] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Okay, we'll rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, before we get into the meeting, we’ve got—I'll take our oath of office. All right. [5:34] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: All right, yep. Okay, Mr. Mayor. Laura has already taken her oath today. It was easier for me to run to her house and take it in person versus through Zoom. But Steve, Derek, and Matt all need to take their oath here in person if they would rise and raise your right hand and read your oath out loud. Same time? That'd be great. [6:05] **Mayor Montgomery / Council Members**: I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state of Minnesota, and that I will faithfully and powerfully discharge the duties of the office of members of the city. [6:27] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: If you would sign away and then I'll pick your oath stuff right away. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Laura, we want to welcome you to the Council. **Council Member Laura Kronenberger**: Thank you very much. I wish I could have been there but I'm fighting the cold, so I thought it best to stay home. [6:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Okay, can I have a motion to approve the agenda? **Council Member Bill Duncan**: So moved. **Council Member Gesme**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Bill Duncan, the second by Gesme and approve the agenda. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, we'll get right into the consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion resolution as council business. For you at home and in the audience, I'll go through the consent agenda. Item A: Just and correct claims for the accounting period ending December 31st, 2020. Item B: Minutes for the December 15th, 2020, City Council meeting. [7:42] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Item C: Resolution 2529 establishing license fees and compensation. Item D: Approve the 2021 appointments. Item E: Resolution 2530 designating the depositories for the city funds for the fiscal year 2021. Item F: 2021 cost of living adjustment (COLA) for our non-union employees. Item G: Statutory tort limits. Item H: Resolution 2532 approving a street vacation and lot split at 915 North Sixth Street. [8:28] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Item I: Resolution 2533 accepting a monetary donation from the Cannon Falls Fire Department Relief Association for eighteen thousand five hundred dollars to the Fire Department. And Item J: Approve equipment purchases and trade for the Fire Department. Is there anything the council would like to pull down? Anything? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? **Council Member Bringl**: So moved. **Council Member Bill Duncan**: I'll second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Bringl, a second by Duncan to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, we'll get right into council business. Item A: Selection of a Mayor Pro Tem. I would make a nomination of Steve Gesme as Mayor Pro Tem. Do I have a second? **Council Member Montgomery (Matt)**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motioned by the Mayor and second by Montgomery. Steve Gesme is Mayor Pro Tem. Any discussion? **Council Member Gesme**: I'll abstain. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: And can we make a second nomination? Don't just let it go. Okay, let it go. Any other discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? I abstain. One abstention, five yes. Okay, carried. Steve is our Mayor Pro Tem. Okay, number two: Designation of the official newspaper for 2021. Neil, you want that one? [10:25] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Sure. The only thing I've got with this is typically it's on the consent agenda, but the Cannon Falls Beacon is in the process of completing the requirements to become the legal newspaper. I think back when they were transferring ownerships that it didn't get completed. The only thing is January 6th will be their second publication of their requirements. So after January 6th, they will be a legal newspaper. That's all I got. I’d just take a motion to accept them as a legal newspaper after January 6th. [11:04] **Council Member Gesme**: Second. **Council Member Bill Duncan**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Gesme, a second by Duncan to approve the Cannon Falls Beacon as our official newspaper for 2021. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, Item C is professional service agreement for the Third Street bridge water main, WHKS. Neil, you want to start with that one? [11:32] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Yeah, Bill Angerman is here to discuss the Third Street water main crossing. The Public Works Commission took a look at it at their last meeting and made a recommendation that we look at doing the boring of the water main under the river instead of hanging it back on the Third Street bridge. Bill is here to talk about that. I believe his recommendation also is that it would be safety-wise and maybe even just the same price as hanging it back over there because of the costs. So he can take over, he's here to talk. [12:12] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: Thank you, Neil, Mayor and Council. As Neil mentioned, what we looked at was currently there's a six-inch water main on the bridge. That water main is an unknown age, but it's believed to be about the same vintage as the bridge, so we figured at least 50 years old, probably 75 or more. A six-inch pipe—maybe a little background—the City of Cannon Falls has three water mains that cross the Cannon River. There's two 12-inch mains and then there's one six-inch. This pipe here on the bridge, a six-inch pipe, is about one-quarter the capacity of a 12-inch pipe. As Neil and I and the staff were talking about that, it's not really that great of a backup. [13:02] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: So in essence, we're looking at what other options do we have. We talked about increasing the size of the pipe on the bridge or only having two crossings of the river. We did talk to the bridge rehab engineer; hanging a larger-sized pipe on the bridge is not an option. The next size up from a six-inch is an eight-inch pipe and it's about double the weight. Basically, the bridge would have to be reinforced and a bunch of changes would have to be made to support it. So what we came down to is: should we put a new pipe under the river? There is some risk to that because we're boring through rock. Or do we get rid of the pipe on the bridge altogether? [13:48] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: After consulting with staff, my opinion is we think that having a backup to those two other crossings of the river was prudent to do, knowing that there is some risk involved. Part of the reason why we're optimistic we'll be able to drill into the river is that within the last year or so, the gas company did bore the same size pipe underneath the river. Now, they told us they had some challenges with that, but ultimately they were able to do it. We have talked to that same contractor and they're reasonably confident we should be able to get a water main under as well. [14:28] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: Previously you had authorized WHKS to do some preliminary work and do soil borings, but after consulting with Neil, we decided not to do the soil borings; we would wait to see if the council decided to move forward. So the services you've already authorized, about ten thousand dollars worth of work, we hit the pause button at about twenty-five hundred so we didn't spend all that amount. We're going to roll that over into this agreement if the council moves forward tonight. So again, working with Neil, we're trying to make sure we're making some prudent decisions. Ultimately, as Neil mentioned, recommendation is to move forward with directional drilling that eight-inch water main underneath the river. So I'll pause and any questions or comments? [15:23] **Council Member Gesme**: Bill, would your—if we bore under the river, would you do it fairly close to where the gas line was put under, or no? [15:33] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: We would. Do you know where the sanitary sewer and that little bridge about 300 feet east of that? That's where they went closer to that. We would go closer to the bridge. We were thinking 20 feet, 30 feet, you know, plus or minus. One of the things that we'd have to do is make sure we know where all the utilities are in that area—telephone, cable, electric—make sure we're going to avoid that, but pretty close to the bridge. [16:03] **Council Member Gesme**: Okay, let's hope—I think the gas company didn't run into a lot of rock. If it's a lot of sand, let's keep our fingers crossed that's what happens here, I guess. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Well, that doesn't really matter even if they did. I remember when they did Third Street past the bank building and they said, "Oh we did a bunch of soil borings and it's only going to take us two weeks," and five months later they were still there digging. So you just never know in Cannon Falls. But hopefully we need it. [16:28] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: Yeah, one of the interesting things if I may: when you do boring, you either want to be all in rock or all out of rock. The hardest part is when you're in both, when you kind of jump in and out. In this case, we're actually hoping we're going to be in rock the whole way because under the middle of the river at the depths we're looking at, we know it's rock. So again, there's a little bit of art to this science or engineering as well. [17:03] **Council Member Gesme**: Yeah, I think we discussed that at the meeting too. If we could guarantee that the other two crossings wouldn't ever fail, we won't need this, but boy, you know, you almost got to have it for the guarantee that people are always going to be served. We'll cut off a lot of citizens if we don't have a backup and need it. It's really a prudent move. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Any other questions? All right, thank you, Bill. Do we want a motion to approve? [17:48] **Council Member Lundell**: Motion to approve the Third Street bridge water main agreement. **Council Member Bringl**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Lundell, a second by Bringl to approve the professional services for the Third Street bridge water main. Any other discussion? **Council Member Gesme**: Well, should we as part of that say that it's going to be bored under the river because we do have four options here? So I just want to make sure that people understand we're going with the recommendation that they made. Is that enough? Okay. [18:23] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: And Bill is recommending going under there. I think we're right, and I just want everybody to understand we're gonna do it under the river. Okay, anything else? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, Item D is approval of the 49ers union contract which is the Public Works. Neil? [18:41] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: The 49ers staff and council members—Morris Matson and Bill Duncan—have been working on the new contract for '21 through '23. The 49ers or the Public Works department came relatively with no changes in the language of the contract. So what we had to negotiate with them was just a general wage increase. If you remember back, the L.E.L.S. contract was a one percent in January and one percent in July for the three years. The 49ers have agreed to that and you'll find that in the contract, and that is the only addition to the contract from the one prior to that. Any questions? [19:42] **Council Member Bill Duncan**: Motion to approve the 49ers union contract. **Council Member Gesme**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Duncan, a second by Gesme to approve the 49ers union contract. Any other discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, Item E is Resolution 2531 providing for post-employment health care savings plan. That's for the 49ers? [20:13] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: That's the same health care savings plan that the L.E.L.S. had. They both expired along with their contracts. If you remember at the last meeting, we approved the same resolution. It states what they can and can't do with their health care savings plan, so it just goes along with the contract but it's just a resolution instead. Any questions? **Council Member Bill Duncan**: I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2531. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Duncan, a second by Montgomery to approve Resolution 2531 providing for post-employment health care savings. Any other discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, reports. Kyle, Chamber? [21:13] **Kyle (Chamber of Commerce)**: Good evening Council and community. First, I would like to thank all of the residents, businesses, and services who put up beautiful holiday lights throughout Cannon Falls. They are wonderful to see. I do apologize if I've missed any part of the community; I tried to drive around everywhere to see where they were. I would say that our map for "Light Up Cannon Falls" was the heaviest hit Facebook post that we've had, and so there were plenty of people looking for it. So that is wonderful. [21:51] **Kyle (Chamber of Commerce)**: Again, an announcement: Governor Walz will be speaking tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. We are all hoping and have our fingers crossed that our restaurants and bars will be able to get opened. There may be something on the sports but I haven't heard anything yet. So please be aware, 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. With the year ending, the Chamber actually had some accomplishments and so we'd like to share those with you. We had a total of 185 members, which included 13 new members, and I'll let you know as of today, I already know of two new members for 2021. So that's wonderful to hear. [22:49] **Kyle (Chamber of Commerce)**: In 2021, we sold over 13,600 Chamber Dollars, and that's the program where the Chamber Dollar certificates have to be used in our Chamber members. We have some in Mazeppa, we have some in Dennison, New Trier, but the majority are in Cannon Falls. And so those dollars are staying right here in our community, and so I thank everyone for using the Chamber Dollar program. The flower baskets last year, we raised 3,940 dollars to have all of the hanging baskets and the planters filled. We've already received our first memorial for 2021, and so the gates are open; you can sure send your memorials or in-honor-of contributions in this year. [23:36] **Kyle (Chamber of Commerce)**: We did hold our first annual Summer Sizzling Days and open-air fair. It was a fun event, it was like a sidewalk fair, and we had such good comments from the participants as well as the vendors that we will be continuing that into 2021. We did partner with the City of Cannon Falls in promoting Cannon Falls to the region, and so we hope to continue that for the next year. We did continue our 500 dollar scholarship to the Cannon Falls graduating senior. And also a big thing at the end of the year was creating the "Light Up Cannon Falls" events. With "Deck the Falls" being cancelled, we just needed to have something for the whole community, and I think we did a nice job of involving the whole community. [24:56] **Kyle (Chamber of Commerce)**: Our Facebook pages have almost 1,400 followers, which is incredible for a Chamber Facebook page. Our Instagram is 296. And so lots of things going on. I would like to say that people know Cannon Falls is here, and so I hope we see more of them all next year—or this year, it is this year now. Does anyone have any questions? It was a hard year, but it was a very good year. Thank you very much. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Thanks, Kyle. Okay, committees. Public Works, Steve? [26:05] **Council Member Gesme**: I'm gonna give it to Neil; I didn't bring my notes. **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: We talked about four items. One of them is the Third Street bridge water main that we just had the discussion with. We revisited the Grove Street pond up on top of the hill. We talked about how we're going to address that with the new development coming up; more to come on that one. That is a tough issue that's going to be hard to settle without the help of the neighboring property on top of the hill, and they said that they would help us with the pond. Hopefully, that will alleviate some of the water issues heading over the cliff and into the backyards of the residents, but it is going to take some time. [26:50] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: We also talked about a water service on Mill Street, whether the city had any liability for the repairs of it. As you recall, our liability starts at the main and water services are our customers' liability. We also talked about a street light on Northgate Circle. Their recommendation—Public Works Commission recommendation—was to not address another street light on the cul-de-sac; there's one in the cul-de-sac already. And that is all we talked about, those four items. [27:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Okay, Park Board, Matt? [27:36] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: The Park Board—our main two issues were the swimming pool. Neil gave us an update on that. Obviously, it's winter so no work is being done, but the crew did get a lot of work done before the snow fell. The cement work has been patched; we're just waiting for spring and repaint. No official decision has been made, but we are planning on having the pool open this summer. We'll see what capacity that is with how the state numbers are on COVID, but at this point, we're planning to open and have as regular a summer as we can. So that's good news with the pool; it'll be in great shape, it'll feel like a brand new pool again. [28:22] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: The other thing we did with the Park Board was we had a really good presentation regarding John Burch Park. It was mostly put together by the Bears and they did a great job. They've got some renderings; they have their traffic light—red, yellow, green—of what they need moving forward and what needs to be addressed quickly and what is the plan for years down the road. They've got some great plans and it's not just a wish list. One of those big reasons is to host state tournaments—Legion level and higher amateur baseball. To do that, they’d need a little bit of an update on the facilities. [29:08] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Just to name a few: the first base dugout, the rock wall behind there is pushing and pressing in against that. So that needs to be figured out. Also the third base dugout, the cinder block is starting to erode in the back corner. In their renderings, they've got some amazing plans of extending the bleachers from behind home plate down that third baseline, reconstructing the dugout, and having another concession stand or a media stand. I know that small-town ballparks are kind of iconic for the town. Keith Myers has shared with us that John Burch Park is usually a top 15 park in the entire state. So anything we can do to not only keep up with the times but not let something deteriorate. Right now, I would use the word "deteriorate" with the pictures that they have of the wall and of the dugouts. A great presentation from them. I also talked to Bill Angerman about the wall and they're gonna take a look at that and bring us a proposal to find out what this stuff will cost. [30:40] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: If you look at it, it's really long and it's tall and it's going to cost a lot of money. It's been there a long time. I thought we should probably get a cost estimate on it so we can at least go seeking for some funds. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Yeah, it was a great presentation and I'd like to see them come to the council and share it with all of you because it was good. Like I said, the wall is a big thing and those cement seats up there are kind of leaning down now; they're falling apart too. There's some serious work that's got to be done there. It's a great ballpark. Okay, Joint Powers Board, anything there? No? Okay. [31:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Okay, let's go around the horn. Jeff, you got anything tonight? **Police Chief Jeff McCormick**: (No update). **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Neil, do you want to discuss our meeting? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: I was going to leave that for one of you guys to touch on, but if you want me to. The Police Commission met. As you know, we're in the process of filling the position created by an officer's resignation. We anticipate a couple of possible other openings that could occur, and so the Police Commission decided to post for applications. That has been done; we're accepting applications to the 15th, and then we'll be getting back together to determine if we're going to move forward based on more information on if an opening is going to occur or not. If that won't occur, then we'll just notify the people that applied that at this point we're not moving forward with interviews. [32:45] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: You want to mention that we've posted internally first and we're moving forward with the internal reserve candidate for that position? **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Yeah. The potential future openings we are posting next. One other item: the Public Works staff is going to be working diligently on doing the ice rink. If we get some colder weather, which sounds like we're going to have here in the next week or so, we should be able to get a rink made quite quickly. That's all I got. [33:23] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Okay, let's go around the horn. Derek, anything? **Council Member Derek (Lundell)**: Nope. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Mary Jill? **Council Member (Diane Johnson)**: No. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Matt, one quick thing? [33:46] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: I received a complaint about the trail. The trail is wonderful this time of year for people who enjoy cross-country skiing. However, the complaint has been there's footprints from people who don't know that for cross-country skiing, you stay in the track. Somebody has been intentionally destroying the tracks and putting boot marks and walking in it. It’s not somebody walking their dog; there's no paw prints. It's a person. And there's also human waste that's been seen on the track. We want to enjoy the trail. Whoever's out there, let the people ski, enjoy the trail, and don't try to ruin it for somebody else. It's frustrating to hear that that's happening. Bill? [34:33] **Council Member Bill Duncan**: I just want to welcome Laura aboard, so I look forward to working with you. **Council Member Gesme**: Same thing Bill said, welcome Laura. Hopefully, you can be here in person someday. I look forward to working with you. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Yeah, I'll say the same thing. Welcome, Laura. We'll want to see you in person here next time. [35:05] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger**: Yeah, I definitely wanted to be there. I apologize that it didn't work out; I thought it would be best not to contaminate others. But thank you in advance everybody for your patience as I learn. I'm sure I'll be reaching out and asking questions and I'm really happy to be here. [35:19] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you. Just some meetings coming up: EDA meeting is Wednesday the 13th, Planning Commission Monday the 11th, Library Board is on Monday the 11th (that's remote), and the Power Board is Tuesday the 26th of January. Just to let you know what's coming up. Excuse me, John—Nicole probably wants to? [35:55] **Nicole (Library Staff)**: Hi. All right, so I just wanted to let all of you know what's going on at the library. We've got some fun new things coming up. For children's programming, we're doing a virtual "Seek and Find" on Facebook that's going to be this Thursday. There is a teen book club starting up on Friday at two o'clock meeting virtually through Zoom. Matthew's been working really hard with the teens and they've been coming up with some good ideas. [36:50] **Nicole (Library Staff)**: The following week, we have a Puppet Theater story time that Alexa will be doing on our Facebook page. We are doing a "Make it Monday" recycle art. Angie's doing that; if you want to do that particular craft, you can call the library and then reserve your kit, and then Angie's going to record it and post it on our YouTube channel so then people can do it at home. It's very, very cool. We also have a sample at the library and it's really pretty. [37:38] **Nicole (Library Staff)**: We have every other Wednesday, for children ages seven to twelve, a STEM take-home experiment. Kids can take home STEM kits from the front door and then try them out at home with adult supervision. We will be closed on MLK Day, the 19th. And then we also have a new anti-racism series that we're going to be starting on the 19th. That is actually really a cool program that was created through Densho, which is Japanese Americans preserving information about the Japanese internment during World War II, but then they also made it in conjunction with Holocaust survivors and the NAACP. It’s a free program for anybody who wants to learn more about anti-racism, and Matthew will be facilitating it online. Currently, we are still doing curbside service. I'm waiting to find out what the COVID numbers are for the rest of the week before deciding if that changes. That’s everything I’ve got. [39:10] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Thank you, Nicole. Okay, we'll get to the next item: public input. Citizens may speak to issues not on the agenda. Before speaking, please give your name and address for the record and kindly limit your comments to three minutes. Public comments must be respectful and pertinent to city business. The City Council will not take action on any issue raised by the public but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda. [39:56] **Brenda Shalik**: Brenda Shalik, 408 Oak Street North. And I now hold the dubious honor, I believe, of being the longest-working employee for the City of Cannon Falls at 40 years. I want to thank you first of all for the recognition I received from the city recently of some Chamber Dollars and a certificate, although the certificate recognizes me for 40 years of City Council service—and I don't know that anyone would ever survive 40 years on the City Council. [40:42] **Brenda Shalik**: But in receiving that, it also got me to consider the fact that you don't see people serving the city for 40 years any longer. And you ask the question: why? For me, it wasn't a matter of what I got from the city; it was the job I was doing. It didn't matter how you treated me; it was what I wanted to do. So whether you valued me in any manner or not, or how you treated me—and in some cases I was treated pretty poorly—you couldn't make me leave because it was the job I wanted to do and it was the people I cared about. [42:13] **Brenda Shalik**: And so it bothers me when I see people like Bonnie German leave the city without so much as a thank you after 38 years of service. Now, you may not like a person as an individual, but after 38 years of dedicated service to the citizens of the community, at the very least a person deserves a thank you. And the same holds true for a year ago when Janelle Endress left; that lady got a paper certificate. Granted, she got a little bit of a going-away party, but to me, a lady who had served the city for that many years and stepped in on more than one occasion as your City Administrator when the time was necessary got so little thanks for it. I think too often we forget to look at the value people are giving us and forget to extend them the common courtesy of thanks for a job well done. Thank you for your time. [44:30] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Thank you, Brenda. Anybody else? Public input? Public input, third and final call. If not, we'll close the public input part of the meeting and I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. **Council Member Bill Duncan**: So moved. **Council Member Bringl**: Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion by Duncan, second by Bringl to adjourn. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). [45:16] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Adjourned.