This transcript features the Hastings City Council meeting from December 2021. Based on the context provided and the phonetic pronunciations in the transcript, I have identified the speakers. **Note on Council Names:** The transcript contains phonetic variations of names. For example, "Vaughn" refers to **Councilmember Lawrence** (or a missing name from your list, though in this specific meeting it is Councilmember Tina Folch), "Brocks/Brock's" refers to **Councilmember Fox**, and "Folch/Folks" refers to **Councilmember Folch**. I have used the names provided in your list wherever possible. *** [0:14] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** welcome everyone let the role reflect that all council members are present and a quorum has been established before we start tonight um we are with drawing items 1x dash 2 and x dash c dash one regarding the zoning definition of family from consideration tonight we are also going to have a reaffirmation of the resolution that we presented back in 2018 that we jointly signed with the city the school district and the [1:00] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** ymca prior to that i would like to make a statement that a week ago i made a statement about the weights family and the mistreatment that it happened towards them since then my eyes have been opened more and my ears continue to hear the stories of people who feel they cannot be authentic their authentic self in our community and they do not feel safe they fear of hate bullying surrounds them in their neighborhoods i attended the rally on saturday for the kelsey weights family along with the lgbtq and the trans community [1:46] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** i stood proudly with many others in their support i will admit and people know this about me that it has not been comfortable for me to have these discussions i have now started to have them for three years and i feel i'm starting to learn and be educated what some of the communities in our city of hastings are going through i've had diversity inclusion and equity uh trainings and we'll continue to have more and more conversations and i will continue to learn and show up when i'm asked [2:33] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** i'd like to make an amendment to my statement of last week i support the lgbtq community the trans community i do not condone these actions of hatred bullying bigoting bigotry that the weights family or any other human being that lives within this community tonight as i said we will re read the joint resolution we will reaffirm what that states that all hastings are welcome councilmember vaughn [Lawrence] [2:43] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** thank your honor we are gathered on the 29th day of april 2018 to resolve and proclaim our common beliefs aspirations and commitments to ensure that hastings is a safe and caring community for all persons whereas diversity may be identified based on any factor including but not limited to ethnicity race sexual orientation religion language competence socioeconomic status physical health mental health gender identification age cognitive ability physical ability cultural affiliation immigration status family structure or employment status whereas we acknowledge that hastings enjoys a rich heritage because of the contributions from diverse persons in the past the population is continually becoming more diverse and the common [4:07] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** understanding of diversity is continually broadening we know that diversity will be will continue to evolve and increase we accept our obligation to be well informed and ready to meet the needs of our ever-changing population whereas we appreciate the diverse perspectives contributions and talents of all people and we believe that we are better stronger and more resilient collectively because of their diverse oh my apologies because we are diverse whereas discrimination occurs when any person is treated differently based on their diverse status we believe that no person should be treated in a negative way because of their diverse status whereas [4:52] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** we will not accept intolerance discrimination or harassment toward any person because of their diverse status we are all weekend when any citizen student neighbor colleague client customer visitor or community member is degraded whereas equity enable enables all persons to participate fully equity provides for the fair treatment of all the people by intentionally considering barriers to access and working to eliminate the barriers that limit full involvement in our community whereas equity is provided through individual actions and systemic procedures and practices that ensure access to all of the resources needed for a person to be healthy connected and productive [5:40] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** whereas providing equitable access for all requires systemic change and continuously reflective practices in formal organizations and whereas providing equitable access requires individual persons to consider their own innate biases and question how those biases affect their day-to-day interactions with others therefore as elected officials we will systematically defend the rights and privileges of every person to fair treatment and full access therefore we will consider the disaffected and unempowered people we serve we will consider the impact of our decisions and represent their needs and perspectives as we work to serve our constituents we will not accept intolerance [6:26] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** discrimination or harassment we will advocate for the people we serve whether they are present or absent as we make decisions therefore we will continue to monitor and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data that will help us to accurately understand the diversity and hastings and the experiences of diverse persons we serve therefore we will share information regarding of diversity and equity with the community through publications training and educational programs and therefore be it resolved and proclaimed hastings will rise to be a community where all persons will receive fair treatment and full access [7:13] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** in hastings all are welcome [7:21] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** we have a number full number of wonderful people in the audience tonight to recognize this evening and we will take a few photographs after that and with us we will have dan would teach our city administrator do a little presentation for us thanks dan [7:35] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** thank you we we have a number of new employees hired in the last year uh because of crowds uh if uh and not everybody's here i understand people are busy but because of of the crowds and just logistics when i'm reading the recognition for you if you're here please stand if you're not we'll we we still celebrate your your uh employment and part of our team [8:07] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** i am pleased to introduce the employees of the city of hastings who were hired in 2021 as we recognize those who were promoted or took on new roles within the past year we are fortunate to have their service and their expertise on staff and are pleased to have some of them with us tonight employees will be recognized by department we have one new hire in the community development department building official travis dunn is one of our longest serving new employees having started january of this year as head of the building safety and code enforcement he performs a plethora of complex duties related to all building activities travis's passion was instilled by being [8:54] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** raised in construction and farming which fostered his lifelong determination to master his skill all skills in construction he has provided more than 20 years of public service in a variety of capacities as a public servant in hastings he works to safeguard the public health safety and general welfare of its citizens travis enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter and continues with personal construction projects outside of work [Applause] new employees in the administration department include the following lady jones began employment with the city in april as a city hall [9:39] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** receptionist in addition to her front desk duties she assists with the cash receipting process which includes ambulance and utility payments she also helps the building department with filing and recording permit applications her most recent job prior to joining the city was with loving care nursing and home care in west st paul lady lives in cottage grove with her husband and her two children she spends most of her free time at her kids activities which lean heavily towards sports [Applause] dave hook's dad began employment with the city this morning [10:28] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** as our iit manager dave brings a wealth of i t of municipal i t experience from the city of fargo he will oversee the operation of the city's i t infrastructure and systems working closely with each department on technology needs and long-term planning dave enjoys hiking and traveling with his family dave and his wife have three children his daughter started his daughter started college this year and he has two sons that are in high school and middle school welcome dave [Applause] kelly murtaugh was hired as assistant city administrator and human resources director in may this is the city's second ranked [11:15] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** administrative position and oversees human resources information technology city clerk including elections and communications previously she served in executive roles in higher education including at dctc st paul college and metro state she has quickly become a valued and trusted member of our team collaborating across departments building strong relationships and supporting professional development kelly is a hastings resident and regularly experienced with the highway 316 construction and detours this summer she also golfs and runs [Applause] [12:00] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** attorney corey land of the firm levander gillen and miller joined us in february corey is the chair of lavander's municipal practice group she is a past president of the minnesota city attorneys association and she frequently presents at mcaa conferences she provides newly elected officials training through the league of minnesota cities over the past year we have found corey to be personable and professional and have appreciated new perspective and creative suggestions he has brought to developments and ordinance enforcement in cory's free time she is a champion curler [Applause] [12:47] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** henry skip shafer joined us as prosecuting attorney in february he has 28 years of experience in criminal law in minnesota and has worked exclusively as a full-time prosecutor for the law firm campbell knutson for 17 years he works closely with patrol officers and investigators in 2016 skip was winner of the outstanding prosecutor at madd's statewide recognition awards skip is also a veteran of the south metro law enforcement polar plunge and has run with local law enforcement in the torch run for special olympics [Applause] [13:34] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** we have two new paid on call firefighters emergency medical technicians julia napper comes to us as a fully trained firefighter emt she has previous experience as a miesville firefighter and is planning on attending paramedic school to further her ability to help our community we thank julia for joining us and look forward to her future with the city of hastings [Applause] robert bob erickson comes to our department with a background in law enforcement and currently serves as sergeant for the dakota county jail bob had begun his emt training has begun his emt training and will begin his [14:19] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** firefighter training in december we thank bob for his willingness to serve and look forward to his contributions to the city of hastings [Applause] in the department of public works [14:41] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** the script is out of order excuse me i just want to double check it in in the department of public works joe spagnaletti was promoted to public works supervisor joe began his employment to see eight years ago already and has taken a strong hold on all aspects of public works he has been very involved with planning daily activities as well as with as well as large-scale projects joe and his family recently purchased a new home and they are very excited to get settled in and make it their own [Applause] we also had a leadership change a couple [15:27] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** of leadership changes at the fire ems department chris paulson was promoted to assistant fire chief earlier this year he has been with the department for 23 years serving for the past six as fire captain he has been involved in various department activities over the years including the dakota county special operations team northern dakota training academy and is a fire training coordinator and fire training captain he also has been involved in grant writing to secure funding for self-contained breathing apparatus air tanks and has worked to build specs for vehicles and equipment he is currently working on his bachelor's degree in fire and ems service administration [Applause] [16:17] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** chad jensen was promoted to fire captain this year chad has been with the department for 15 years he began as a paid on-call firefighter and was promoted to full-time engineer paramedic in 2010 he has been involved in ems education cad integration managing pagers gas analyzers and ems supplies he also manages cardiac arrest data for the department [16:48] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** david usadas was promoted to the role of full-time engineer paramedic david began with the department as a paid on-call firefighter in 2019 during his time here he has been involved in ems education ems committees and is always willing to contribute to the department dave has a background in ems education and served as an ems instructor at inver hills community college for 12 years [Applause] in the police department officer whitney ranowski was named as the city's first community engagement officer a role that shifts her duties from 9-1-1 response to increasing partnerships [17:35] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** between and among city departments community organizations neighborhood groups and our citizens the position is funded through a three-year federal grant her work is quickly shown to enhance communication inspire collaboration reduce homelessness and improve the quality of life of our residents ranowsky transitioned from her 911 response duties to the community engagement role in january she joined the hastings police department in 2014 [Applause] in april officers nick cross [18:20] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** and zach nakamus were selected to serve as operators on dakota county swat like hastings the team is made up of volunteers from most if not all dakota law enforcement agencies over the next few months they attended regular training including basic swat school at camp ripley among other specialized technical training cross has been with us since 2018 and alchemist since 2020. [18:49] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** [Applause] two of our officers rotated to other appointments within the police department including officer jeff latch who was selected to serve on the dakota county drug task force dtf in early june prior to this appointment he worked the night shift in the patrol division in addition to his duties jeff is one of our firearms defensive tactics and taser instructors field training officer and dwi drug recognition officer jeff's experience in drug interdiction during his patrol duties and hastings aligned well with the current needs of the hastings police department jeff replaces officer nate wood who [19:35] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** served on dtf since 2018 and has now returned to patrol division [Applause] also in june officer chad schlichte was appointed as an investigator and assigned to the investigative division chad joined the hastings police department in 2019 as after serving as a police officer in saint james and deputy sheriff in martin county during his tenure he received a great deal of investigative training and practical experience all of which aligned well with our current needs schlichte replaced officer or investigator paul young who served as an investigator since 2018 and [20:20] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** has since returned to the patrol division these are good [20:31] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** don't want to get in the way of clapping these these appointments in the police department along with k-9 school resource and school resource officer sro are rotated every few years in order for others in the agency to enrich their careers we always encourage those who have a passion for one of these specialty assignments to start preparing early so they align themselves for the next opportunity in october we named ryan stimsky as interim public works director the city has contracted with focus engineering for city engineer service for six years this has been an embedded position with ryan part of our department's hierarchy [21:16] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** and operations to the point that some may not even realize he's not actually a city employee he brings invaluable experience with several ongoing and major projects for example highway 316 highway 61 wastewater treatment plant and several housing developments and with our partner organizations for example met council mndot and dakota county ryan and his wife miranda just welcomed their fourth child a couple weeks ago their fourth under age [21:56] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** eight think we missed a photo so apologies for that so back to public works department and new hires uh we also welcome alex kiefer who began work as a public works operator in september he comes with a background in blacktop paving and as an equipment operator in his short time with the city alex has experienced many new job tasks such as learning how the city water system functions storm sewer system maintenance sanitary sewer line maintenance and the city hydro plant operations just to name a few of the many tasks a public works operator encounters on a daily basis alex is excited to get behind the wheel of a snow plow truck when the white stuff hits [22:42] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** to make the roads safe for all motorists [22:50] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** we are fortunate to have the knowledge and dedication of these employees and look forward to their continued contributions to our community thank you for joining me in welcoming our new employees and and in congratulating those who have earned promotions this past year we could briefly break and get some group photos with the council and employees that are are here tonight and then we'll get back to the regular meeting thank you [23:34] [Break for photos and transition] [26:21] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** okay council we're all here okay council members are there any corrections to the minutes from the workshop or the regular meeting on november 15th in the special meeting on november 29th seeing none they are approved today we have comments from the audience and for public comments we have options for comments to be mailed prior to the meeting as well as interactive featured during the meeting for the emailed comments they have been forwarded to the city council and their receipt is acknowledged please recognize that items not on the agenda will not be discussed this evening for live comments they may either [27:08] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** through our zoom link or in person we ask that attendees either raise their hand in person and use the raised or use the raised hand feature in the zoom they have they will be invited in to speak one at a time i also would like to remind everyone that the public comment period is not intended for an extended dialogue is there anyone on zoom that would like to speak to the council at this time okay seeing no one on zoom is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak to the council at this time sure please come up to the um microphone and state your name and address [27:56] **Kelsey Weights:** thank you my name is kelsey weights i live at 1602 fallbrook court in hastings this is actually my last city council meeting as a resident of the city of hastings and so i wanted to take a moment to address the council [28:22] **Kelsey Weights:** so thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak i'm here as a current hastings resident and an active community member i imagine sorry i am going to try to we're going to keep the emotions in check a little bit tonight i imagine you're all aware of my family's story and what has happened over the last few months i wanted to address that here tonight and also how it relates to the proclamation you reaffirmed just moments ago first thank you mayor mary for amending your statement and thank you for to the council for reaffirming uh that proclamation that was initially made almost four years ago however statements and proclamations are [29:09] **Kelsey Weights:** not enough reaffirming this proclamation and actually leading by its values are two very different things proclamations like this are an opening for the conversation but they are not the work itself since the proclamation was initially made many in this community have remarked on the noticeable lack of leadership from city officials to actually do the work that is needed in our community while the cnn story is my story it is about much more than me it is about the hate and bigotry that festers in this community it is about how the silence of our friends our neighbors and our elected leaders fuels this hatred and fear the [29:54] **Kelsey Weights:** cnn story has shown but one glimpse into the difficulties of being marginalized in this community and importantly it has shown that through only one lens of marginalization what this story doesn't mention is how four years ago when kitt came out we approached the president of our play group to let her know about kitt and ask whether we would still be safe to participate she responded that she could not guarantee our safety and we were forced to leave our play group and the only friends we had in this community to emphasize that we were told that a four-year-old was not safe in this community what this story has not mentioned yet [30:39] **Kelsey Weights:** are the ripples of fear that flowed through the lgbtq plus community in this town after eight local religious leaders not only signed a letter against transgender people but invited the minnesota family council to speak while the name seems benign the minnesota family council is an affiliate of the alliance for defending freedom a recognized anti-lgbt hate group i went to that meeting and was horrified not only by the hate speech and easily disproved lies but by the 100 plus community members who were in attendance and were emboldened by this hateful rhetoric leaving this meeting was the first time i felt truly unsafe in our community and that feeling was amplified by the [31:24] **Kelsey Weights:** silence of our elected officials while this story does tell how these facebook posts were brought into my husband's workplace how they were discussed at hair salons and how they impacted us at the playground it does not mention how local elected leaders including some of you were aware of these posts you were aware of what was happening and still you stayed silent coming forward with our story in such a public way was not easy i cannot tell you how many hours i have spent crying over this decision but just because it wasn't easy doesn't mean that it wasn't right after spending almost four years watching our leaders remain silent after [32:11] **Kelsey Weights:** listening to many of you repeat time and time again that hastings is a welcoming place and claiming that it is not your role to do the hard work of creating an equitable and inclusive community enough is enough we all play a role in changing the narrative in hastings someone needed to speak up i am not alone in my story stories of hate speech and bigotry in this community are abundant if you take the time to listen at the same time the burden of change should not be placed on marginalized groups we should not be forced to relive our trauma over and over again so that you can better understand i am sharing my story so that others in [32:57] **Kelsey Weights:** this community do not have to i am sharing my story in an attempt to save lives there is work that must be done in this community and as our elected leaders you have a responsibility to take a stand you have a responsibility to say enough is enough you have a responsibility to stand up against hate and live the values vote for the values that are a part of the proclamation you have reaffirmed the world is literally watching us right now but more importantly our community is watching as gandhi once said silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly will you continue to stay silent or will [33:44] **Kelsey Weights:** you let each and every member of this community know that you stand against hate and bigotry will you let us know that you will truly begin the difficult work of creating a community where all people are welcomed safe and valued not just through words but through your actions being a welcoming community is about more than reaffirming the proclamation that was made earlier and i urge you to be better so that you don't lose more people like me thank you [34:22] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you kelsey is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak the council at this time that's it okay okay please step forward and uh address you with your name and address [34:35] **Patrick Wesselman:** yeah hi my name is patrick wesselman i live at 3839 shannon drive um i saw this meeting notice on in the newspaper and i wanted to come before i thought it was going to be about taxes more or less especially property tax i think you have a an increase in the levy i believe that's for next year i believe yes well [35:08] **Patrick Wesselman:** not that um i'm complaining or anything i understand where things have been the um and i understand that the city has no assessed value assessing value as far as they don't do the assessments the county does okay well my my assessment's gone up fifty five thousand dollars in three years okay so of course also then my tax of course my property taxes have gone up along with that as well as well as the city share as well so i don't quite understand exactly where well i can understand where the money goes you know services and stuff that the city provides and all that and that's great the um [35:54] **Patrick Wesselman:** i just don't understand why we have to have such a high tax levy increase from the city when you've been getting an increase from at least for me on my property for the last three years it's gone up this then this year's levy on my property is going up 9.4 already for a proposed bill that i just received um i don't have any plans of leaving hastings or anything over it but that's pretty steep because i moved here in 2006 and taxes were nineteen hundred fifty dollars they're now three thousand seven hundred dollars it's a lot it's a lot to deal with you know i i'm lucky i'm you know i have the i have [36:41] **Patrick Wesselman:** money to pay for it right and then i use escrow and all that kind of thing but it gets pretty i could see where somebody who's not quite as well off as i am and i thank god i am that's going to be really hard for him it's going to make a lot of big difference to him so if you can see fit and you know i don't know how long it's been if you got to review it yet but that's what i thought this this meeting was far was to mention some things about that tax increases and stuff and also with all the inflation that's going on now and whatever the cause is depends on who you listen to so it's not going to help the only other thing i want to mention is um since i lived close to the 316 project i watched him i was out there the other [37:28] **Patrick Wesselman:** day i was in the neighbor's backyard and uh saw the pile trucks go through for the first time they had a rough time they knocked down a couple signs so um you know there was a small accident there too while they were plowing so that didn't help matters and a lot of ruts and stuff from trucks cutting it off but the two major things that we were that i'm hearing from neighbors since i live on the other side of shannon i don't live against the back side of where 316 would be against the back of my house the um the neighbors all said that one thing that's really happened since the project is trucks coming into town to slow down for the uh around the first round about their [38:13] **Patrick Wesselman:** tuttle they're hearing a lot of jake breaking coming into town and it's really driving them crazy and then from the other direction where they're heading out of town because of the roundabout it used to the speed used to get started increase there right at the end of like 33rd street they would already start accelerating at that point but now they accelerate real heavily after coming out of the roundabout so now that noise has also increased for them so right now it's about oh other than that i am going to call the county and i'm going to see if i can get a reassessment done to see if we if i can get a little relief from it so i appreciate you hearing my voice [38:58] **Patrick Wesselman:** kelsey i'm sorry you had to go through what you're going for i don't know what else to say to you thank you very much [39:07] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you for your comments yes [39:16] **April Bailey:** hi my name is april bailey um view is my married last name um but i am my address is 2614 yellowstone drive and i'm a member of the nonprofit idea a mother of three beautiful children and a resident of hastings community for almost a decade i'm here today because my child is also transgender kelsey is not alone in this community there are other mothers of us that are scared of exactly the same thing that she went through i actually met kelsey because of this a couple months ago i was looking for advice on the facebook group hastings mom sadly kelsey reached out to me to let me know that things were not safe for trans children [40:01] **April Bailey:** i took down my post that day after hearing her story i was heartbroken i was scared but i was still hopeful before it was taken down i was messaged by several moms one of them asked me are you sure she hasn't been abused sexually abused so not only did i get the feeling that my son was not going to be socially accepted and instead misgendered i was also going to face people thinking that he was sexually abused my stomach wasn't not and still has ever been ever since hastings has been a safe place to me before this i love this town i do not feel safe raising my son here anymore change needs to happen in this community change starts when people of power start [40:47] **April Bailey:** advocating for those with choir divorce my son's voice will grow strong one day but just like kit and their mother kelsey i'm also his voice and we need you to be even louder so that we know that you are we are not alone thank you [41:08] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to speak there is someone oh they left okay okay thank you for your comments council members are there any items to be considered okay and consent agenda i would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda [41:35] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** [Makes motion] [41:37] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** [Seconds] [41:40] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** any discussion oh i'm sorry councilmember life [41:43] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** point of clarification that we have pulled item number six correct correct and move that to administration is that correct yes thank your honor second [42:10] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** okay any just any other discussion all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye aye those opposed state by saying nay that motion prevails tonight we have a warding of contracts and public hearing we have a warning of a contract for the hastings business park ag league and tonight elise i'm sorry and tonight we have with us john hensman welcome john [42:24] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** thank you mayor city council members before you tonight is an agricultural lease for 80 acres within the hastings industrial park this is a program that we've had available for about 20 years or so the vacant industrial land we lease off offer that out as for bid you can generate some income back it's a great way to take care of the fields and the the open space and to bring a little income in so we did go out for bid for a two-year contract had two bids that did come in ultimately how the bidder dave and joe burke were the ultimate high bidder on this project and they were also the last person to win the bid two years ago [43:08] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** so they will continue on in serving so this means another eighteen thousand dollars or so coming into the city uh annually for this project we're asking for you tonight is to authorize the uh contract with the brook brothers in the amount that was bid within your packets which is 226 dollars and 50 cents an acre and i can stand for any questions thank you [43:35] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john any discussion council okay council had to accept a motion to approve the terms and conditions of agricultural lease agreement city of hastings industrial park egg lease [43:45] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Makes motion] [43:47] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** [Seconds] [43:49] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion council all those in favor of the motion state by saying i i those opposed to the motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails tonight we were going to have that public hearing but that was withdrawn from consideration we have a public hearing also tonight in the truth and tax taxation for the 2022 budget for this item we'll have an introduction by city administrator dan mattico followed by a public hearing and several potential actions by city council welcome dan [44:43] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** as mentioned during the public comments earlier there is a public hearing this evening on the city's budget i will give a brief overview and presentation we'll open it to the public and then potentially there are several budget related actions that the council might take tonight or at a future meeting but as noted the purpose of this truth and taxation hearing is not just to give an overview it really is to hear from our taxpayers about are these in the right direction are there concerns answer potentially questions as noted earlier the the market valuation is done by the [45:30] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** county and that's not for the city council that's not really the purpose of that this tonight but but it is something that obviously does have an overall uh uh factor in the the pro the the taxing process as mentioned there are several actions to enacting the budget and those might happen this evening if council would like we can certainly bring them back in two weeks if you need some time to think about it or want to look at some other options but the statutory deadline is the 28th of december so tonight in the 20th are two scheduled meetings this is a process that started [46:16] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** back in the spring it does every year council gives some general direction to staff on where their mind is towards levels of revenue levels of taxes some priority areas staff brings those general direction and works on the the needs the wants within their individual departments it brings those recommendations to me to the finance committee we get additional feedback and dialogue back and forth we had a city council workshop in september and based on on that workshop and and the that point in the process [47:02] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** the city council had a resolution setting a preliminary budget and levy which legally sets a cap so that's the no the amount that was in the notice that went out to our taxpayers the city council could choose to leave it at that level or could choose to reduce it but it cannot go above the amount that was in that that september decision and notice to the the community county set out those estimated tax impacts are hearing tonight and whether tonight or later in the next couple of weeks the council will adopt the budget and levy in setting the the budget [47:47] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** it looks at a num we look at a number of principles uh you know they're you know it's easy to talk about taxes but it really it translates into the services that we provide as a community whether it's parks or police uh the variety of employees that we recognized earlier today the services that they provide our our residents and businesses we try to set revenues particularly taxes at realistic levels and also need to make sure that we maintain adequate reserves and amount in the bank because there can be unforeseens that also does play a positive role when we're taking on debt for long-lived projects [48:33] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** particularly the last several years the council has a strong it has had a strong emphasis on maintaining our infrastructure particularly streets and and the pipes underground i know at the staff level when we're talking about our departments and our budget aspects we do review the city's core values of communication optimal service respect for resources and enthusiasm and ideally we also look at support for the city strategic initiatives and this summer in september after several months five four five six months the city [49:18] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** council recognized several priority goals for the next year and a half two years so it was late in the the budget planning process but obviously with those conversations going on for several months we knew the direction that those those goals were going so a number of the the budget requests do reflect those a quick overview the budget itself all departments all sources is about 43 million dollars this is a busy city and it is commented during the public comments it is a 1.25 one and a quarter percent increase [50:04] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** in the tax rate uh i'll show that a little bit later in a graphic uh raising it to 58.6 uh mills a few of the items that that should be noted in the budget didn't recognize do do very much recognize an upfront that there is an increase in the the levy rate over the past year we certainly look at a prioritization of our capital expenses these are vehicles and buildings and and infrastructure not everything that that the departments asked for got funded by any means we have a significant neighborhood project a street sewer water project coming up this year as we've done the last several years [50:49] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** upgrading police and fire radios this is the second of two phases that's you know for their communications and safety but it's also for interoperability with other departments in the county a new ambulance says dump truck but although it's got a dump on it this time of year it's a plow truck these things aren't cheap but but they're they're needed we are looking at realigning our building department staff with better cross training and succession planning that's partly meeting current needs but it's also looking forward to future needs as we're seeing a lot of construction coming on as well as quite frankly a couple of our inspectors are every day getting a little bit closer to [51:35] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** retirement it's not immediate but it's it's coming as mentioned the the goals that the city council talked about over the spring and summer there was a strong emphasis on parks maintenance we're adding a proposed adding a parks keeper position to staff also adding a fire prevention and rental housing inspector to staff that ties in with that building uh reorganization the building office we are adding a shared position with the cities of rose mountain farmington to handle recycling particularly in the areas of new county requirements for uh recycling [52:21] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** it's a matter of the respect for resources and trying to be cognizant of you know it's easy to want things but how do we best provide these and in this case there's an opportunity to to share that with other cities instead of each of us having our own position we can we can economize there is a three percent cost of living adjustment on wages essentially across the board and we are uh doing a compensation and classification uh study current or at the front end of it it'll probably be completed uh late spring uh but uh there is money in the budget uh towards implementing that really it's a matter of we have seen indications that our pay rate for [53:07] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** employees in many cases not all but in many cases lags behind some of our peers and it has a factor in recruiting new employees love the ones that we recognized earlier but it can be tough recruiting and it also has a factor in retaining and keeping good employees and experience so i i'm thankful that the the city council is supported looking at uh how do we compare and budgeting money to adjust those wages one thing that i want to point out that's not in the budget is funding for trails we've done some trail work the last couple of years we continue to work with dakota county with them taking on some pieces that can fit their regional system [53:52] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** we had a study done a few years ago and the trail system in hastings 30 miles of trails plus some parking lots five million dollars to rehab those to the level we would like them to be not new but but acceptable level throughout the system we've been funding it at the last couple of years the range of 150 to almost 200 thousand dollars it take forever to hit 5 million so the finance committee's discussion this fall was rather than putting another hundred thousand dollars towards it and chipping away at it we really need to to sit back and look at what is a sustainable realistic [54:37] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** funding plan so we can address needs for for trails i i would roll parks into that that also and and we do have a lot of other infrastructure needs but but the discussion started with trails in addition to taxes there are a number of fees that are proposed to change a year ago going on two years ago we worked with our financial advisors at ellers on a utility rate study and in it looking at needs in the the water system the sewer system projections for growth of our numbers of households and businesses [55:22] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** trying to have something that's manageable over time it it proposed three and a half percent increase in water one percent in sewer and four percent in storm water um and and this carries that forward we're proposing a number of uh changes in fees in the fire and ems department notable in that is the ambulance fee the charge for service it's been five years since we adjusted those this is an increase overall but it also simplifies the system and instead of having two separate rates for city residents and city non-residents it sets in place a consistent fee [56:07] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** we are required to provide the state requires inspections of schools hotels churches which we've been doing essentially for free it's not big dollars but in contracting with the state we can receive payment for those similar we do fire extinguisher training for a number of groups and the the cost of time the cost of supplies and equipment we've been doing it for free it's a nice service it's certainly beneficial to the community but it's it's helping small groups rather than the community at large so recouping those costs there are proposed increases in the parks department [56:53] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** particularly at the pool in the arena those are essentially balanced with increased seasonal staffing costs as well as some operating costs at the arena we are looking at still in the slide we're looking at some consolidation of fees in the building department building construction fees i will say that those are not in the resolution tonight but something that because although there is an increase that largely is trying to simplify and change things uh in talking with staff last week preparing for this we felt it was better to have the finance committee meet and look at those specifically so it's [57:40] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** coming discussion but it's it's pulled from the the budget proposal and water meters the cost of the the meter actually the reader system on it inflation it's gone up so we need to make sure that's covered as well as as we install those uh cover that cost for the installation of the readers so it's not just taxes but fees are certainly a part of our budget we also have outside money coming in roughly 2.4 million dollars over the next three or four years don't have to spend it all at once the american rescue plan act federal dollars the budget includes about six hundred six hundred forty thousand [58:26] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** dollars uh here's the item specifically for several additional uh police radar signs and we'll put around town you are going 35 and it flashes at you and a way to bring people's attention to their speed and safety while they're driving and not have to put that burden on the patrol department also several portable safety cameras that can be deployed to areas that might be having vandalism or break-in concerns we can certainly use for events and gatherings but again trying to use technology to assist the police department accounting software it's not fun [59:13] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** it's not exciting but it touches all of our operations and our existing system is certainly not user friendly it became even more difficult with some remote footing for employees during covid it needs to be updated and funding for that through through arpa we are proposing to add special purification filters about three thousand dollars a piece to each of our fire apparatus certainly helps in this pandemic environment but also they go into smoky nasty places and if it helps reduce some of the carcinogens that might be on their their clothing on their vehicles helps keep them from [59:59] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** breathing that contamination dave's here to talk about cyber security penetration we actually have talked with a basically hire a hacker to test our system and make sure that we're addressing any vulnerabilities as well as some upgrades in our our servers everything's runs on computers these days and we need to make sure that we keep that infrastructure up to date too so although there's outside money coming in uh this is a hint at what's in the current budget there's roughly 1.7 million dollars that's undecided that council have future discussions on how to utilize that [1:00:44] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** the tax impact itself property taxes are the biggest part of our our budget as i said the proposed rate increase next year is a one and a quarter percent increase to 58.6 uh the levy itself uh the tax property tax levy uh at six little over 16 million dollars is about a six point four percent increase part of that i i don't sorry i don't have the dollar figure but a little over five percent of that uh is strictly due to increased property values whether it's increased valuation or new construction a portion of it about one percent uh is [1:01:30] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** uh actually a little over one percent is actual increase in uh the levy amount itself in the the budget talking 6.41 try to translate it to dollars one percent of levy equates to approximately 163 000 if we look back at that list of some of what's in the budget and grant these are just the capital items that plow truck that i mentioned is 260 thousand dollars the new ambulance is 295 thousand dollars uh three squad cars are almost a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for three of them um but give some perspective on why the increase although we try to keep [1:02:17] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** it uh as as tight as we can uh that there are legitimate needs in in in the budget proposal and some perspective on how those dollars shake out this graph i think is very uh a good illustration of that change in the the the property values uh the gold bars are the total tax capacity in the city and whether it's new construction or increased property values you can see that those have been increasing somewhat steadily in this period from 2013 to 2022 the green line [1:03:03] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** which is slightly increasing is the amount of the property tax levy so as you recall i said on the far right end 16.3 million dollars roughly a million dollar increase over last year but what's interesting to it is the red line and that's the tax rate so the amount per thousand on somebody's uh taxes as we've seen an increase in tax capacity whether it's new construction or increased values over the last this is nine ten years we've had a general trend of utilizing that increased value to cover the increased levy and actually seen a downward trend [1:03:49] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** to the tax rate on the far right side last year from 2020 to 2021 we held it even or almost even a slight decrease from 57.39 to 57.35 yes this year we're proposing an increase at up to 58.6 um but do take stock in the overall trend being down and actually the tax rate is still a full percent less than it was two years ago in 2019 a little bit of perspective this is based off of preliminary [1:04:34] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** levies everybody's having their tax truth and taxation hearings right now in the next few weeks this is our neighbors across dakota county and we're at a 3.34 percent increase in the average residential homestead property that's certainly more than rose mount or apple valley burnsville it's right in line with lakeville shade less than eager and it's less than invergrove less than south st paul but give some perspective on how do we compare to other communities and their budgets that they're working with or at least the property tax side [1:05:20] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** similar map for commercial properties excluding tax increment financing it actually shakes out to a 0.2 percent decrease on the commercial side it's not as large as burnsville or eagan or apple valley but it's in line with empire and rosemount and it's certainly better than the increases in lakeville farmington invergrove south st paul just a little bit of perspective on how hastings compares to other communities obviously every property is going to be different but those are the overall trends i do want to note mention there's [1:06:06] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** several actions tonight although there's an action on the property tax levy of the city in general there also is a separate action for the hedra levy it is limited to .0185 of market value as we have done for a number of years the proposal is to use the full amount that's allowed under the law which is about four hundred thirteen four hundred fourteen thousand dollars about half of heddra's overall budget of eight hundred fifteen thousand dollars i do wanna note three specific capital projects and mentioned these really because of the way that they've come up or changed during the budget process these weren't [1:06:54] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** planned in the fashion that we we started way back in may we're looking at painting it sounds simple but it's a matter of maintenance the water tower out by the school earlier this year we were planning on that being 750 to 800 thousand dollars we're looking at it now being 1.4 million and possibly higher propose that being covered through a bond issue was proposed that before but obviously it's bigger which means bigger future payments uh and expect that in the coming year we will be meeting with ellers and seeing if our long-term projections need some updating [1:07:41] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** as as projects have changed her costs have changed we last year received a 2 million dollar grant from the state of minnesota for this building rehabbing the the historic domes as well as some hvac improvements in the building it's early in the architectural design process and at this point our estimates range from rough roughly two million dollars which is covered to close to three and a half million but depending on the extent of how much work might need to be done part of that will be regulatory by the state part of that will be decisions by the city council part of that certainly will be putting the project out for bids and [1:08:27] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** seeing what construction prices come in but there's a huge range of costs we've got 2 million covered there's potentially some contingency plans we could go back to that arpa funds that's not usable they're not used if we need to to cover it but really we're waiting to see more precise where those numbers come in before we start specifically addressing what what target do we need to meet the other one that came up this past year is a storage building we have currently about 10 000 square foot of storage in the old ubc lumber building in the north one we purchased that building a dozen years ago intending to have it redeveloped and build tax base and jobs or services or [1:09:14] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** housing value to the community but in the meantime for a dozen years we filled it up with stuff but stuff is things like road graders and bucket trucks and snow plows things that we use and things that we need to protect and maintain rather than sitting out in the weather and being potentially vandalized or sitting in the you know just the mistreatment of mother nature that building wound up being sold or proposed to be sold by hedra this year it's what we intended it for redevelopment but in the meantime it means we need to find 10 000 square foot of storage and looked at a number of options looked at places that we might lease or purchase [1:10:00] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** in the end looking at instead constructing a new building on the public works site the construction estimate at last was two million dollars the number may change we're hoping we can have some value engineering to bring it down the number might go up um it's not a great time to be building mentioned everybody's suffering from inflation but it's something we're needing in the near future we did enter a 18-month lease to buy us some time but it'll take that long to put up the building half of it we're proposing to cover with existing funds and the other half we would be looking at some sort of debt instrument to cover it [1:10:46] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** and there will be processes coming through the the city council for issuing those debts those bonds at the end of my presentation next steps we have the truth and taxation hearing tonight there are several actions to adopt the levy approve the the fee schedule some of which might happen tonight if council is is ready some of which might not happen until our next meeting on december 20th but with that i could probably take a couple questions from council if there's clarification otherwise i'd open the floor to the public hearing itself sure [1:11:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you dan any discussion any questions okay at this time i'll open the public hearing at this point i see no one on zoom is there anyone in the audience would like to speak on the public hearing on the truth and taxation again is anyone in the audience that would like to speak on the truth and taxation okay this time we'll close the public hearing and counsel any discussion at this point if not i would accept a motion to conduct a first reading in an order of public hearing for december 20 2021 to consider an ordinance amendment adjustment for the various cities council members [1:12:12] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** [Makes motion] [1:12:14] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Seconds] [1:12:17] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** and all those in favor stay by saying i i opposed it by saying and that motion prevails then council i would accept a motion to adopt a resolution adopting the final 2022 city property tax levy and final budget [1:12:48] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** [Makes motion] [1:12:52] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** [Seconds] [1:12:55] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** any discussion council council member vaughn [Lawrence] [1:12:57] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** thank you honor i just wanted to highlight a few things of this budget i think dan and i talked today and i think it was important to let people know what things cost it's ridiculous if you ask me some of this one percent increase just doesn't get a lot for our money today when i hear that a plow truck costs that much it's difficult so as the chair i'm the one that said start at the lead to say we got to start to increase the start to pay for some of this these trails that we have are beautiful in our community that they're falling apart and we as a council to let the public know [1:13:33] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** need a dedicated funding source so we know that that doesn't get gobbled up somewhere else these trails are that important to us so we're going to discuss that going forward but i think the one the best highlight out of this whole budget proposal is this community investment fund we as council have talked about creating a fund in the community that that shares with the community if a community group has an idea or anyone as a resident bring it forward we hope that this budget is going to allow that partnership between the community and the city tax levy to do good to do some up and above the core duties that we're proposing in here so i think that's worth highlighting and i think the community needs to know that there'll be more to come out about it but i think it's that important to let [1:14:19] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** them know the community that we want to listen to you thank you [1:14:21] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you councilman councilmember fulch [1:14:24] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** thank you your honor um i i agree with the dome and spoke earlier it it does seem shocking when you look uh back historically at your property taxes and how much the values of homes have gone up in the last decade it is just astounding um and so it does the sticker shock does get to be a little much to be quite honest and so i understand we've been looking at the finances of the city in the last few years since covet had happened and last year we tried to hold the line as best we possibly could considering everything that was going on [1:15:07] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** throughout our nation and here you know within our community and so we try to minimize you know the increases as little as possible and so what has happened and i know most of us you know realize this that there's been a substantial amount of inflation just in general and so if you look at what the budget increases um it's a 6.4 increase over last year a 6.4 increase but then if you look at what the consumer price index is for the urban consumer in the last 12 months so looking at october um to october it's been a 6.2 increase and so really what we're doing is [1:15:54] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** holding the line in the amount of what we can purchase with with our finances um for a very long time you know i i feel that the city council was overly conservative in what it is that they were allowing for budgets and asking staff to cut year after year after year after year after year after year and now we're in this position where we are so far behind in infrastructure improvements for our roadways and our trails and on that mr wietecha we're saying earlier that we just it's difficult to even begin to see how it is that we catch up in this infrastructure improvements and so um although it does feel like it's a drastic amount um we're just trying to [1:16:40] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** be supportive of maintaining city operations that you know what we've had in the last two years you know kind of in that respect for purchasing power and also um so i just wanted that to be said that we recognize you know the impacts and it's been a hard decision we've had a lot of discussion about it and if we're quiet up here and we're not saying a lot is because we have spent so many incredible hours going over the budget already and talking through a lot of these issues where we're almost a little exhausted so please don't hear that we don't don't think that we we haven't been passionately having these conversations [1:17:23] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** my question is about the utility rates and that was based on my recollection there was several years where the utility fees were going up is this the last increase that was recommended as that because it was a stepping up structure where it went up slowly over time is this the last [1:17:48] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** i do not have the graphs at my fingertips but i know that it was increases for a number of years and there are still some in the projection. [1:18:50] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** any additional discussion council there is a motion on the floor at this time all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye aye opposed to the motion state by saying me and that motion prevails uh we also have a i would accept a motion to adopt a resolution approving a final 2022 hedra and h our a special tax levy [1:19:15] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** [Makes motion] [1:19:17] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Seconds] [1:19:19] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** any additional discussion council all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye aye opposed to the motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails one final council i would accept a motion to adopt a resolution adopting the 2022 budget to 2026 capital improvement plan cip and capital equipment plan cep [1:19:40] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** [Makes motion] [1:19:42] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Seconds] [1:19:44] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion council all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye aye opposed to that motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails as well thank you dan uh tonight in the community development the withdrawn from consideration for the um definition of family has been taken off the agenda and uh john you can go to the next week okay [1:20:22] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** thank you mayor city council members tonight before us is a site plan approval for a reconstruction of 1217 vermillion street into a jersey mike so this is uh vermillion street very close-up view here this is the old enterprise auto former taco john's building this building would be demolished and essentially rebuilt in about the same location in similar configurations so this is what before this is after here so entered system for million street would remain the same drive-through would be going around the building as such meets our landscape requirements our architectural standards and so forth so existing picture [1:21:08] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** this is what the building would look like afterwards size of the building's a little bit smaller it's not quite as deep as the other building but the parking lot and parking is very similar to it planning commission did review this on november 22nd voted 7-0 to recommend approval we had some discussion over parking on the site wanted to ensure that parking met the requirements and that drive-through stacking was adequate looking at our ordinance requirements for both we are fine on both of those so we are recommending approval of this along with the planning commission based upon the resolution within your packets we also have some representatives here from property owner joe schnell uh if you have any questions for him as well thank you [1:21:53] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john council any discussion council member vaughn [Lawrence] [1:21:56] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** thank you john it sounds like you talked about the parking but do we have to get mndot's approval i mean i've seen other places on vermillion that back up unfamiliar does mndot have any say in that do they just sure [1:22:11] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** council member yes mndot anytime that construction occurs upon vermillion street uh mndot is involved we have involved them in this circumstance here they are fine with the entrances they are unchanged and with the configuration being proposed [1:22:30] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** with that i would accept a motion to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of hastings granting site plan approval for jersey mike's restaurant located at 12 17 vermillion street [1:22:42] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** [Makes motion] [1:22:45] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** [Seconds] [1:22:50] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** any additional or new discussion council all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye aye opposed to that motion state by saying name and that motion prevails also with us tonight we have the best property which is the summergate companies trunk highway 316 and michael avenue for this item john you may continue okay [1:23:15] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** thank you mayor city council members as the mayor pointed out looking at a property here with two actions on this that the property itself and the eventual development here into single-family housing will come before the council in various uh forms of land use approvals over the next few months this is the first stage of it here asking officially for consideration of a first reading and to order a public hearing for annexation of the property from marchand township into the city of hastings and also a resolution to a mentor comprehensive plan to extend the metropolitan urban service area boundary i'll go through what those are here particularly in just a moment here but the property we're looking at is about 71 acres redwing boulevard highway 316 here and michael avenue at this location hope lutheran church here city limits of hastings ends [1:24:03] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** right here at the south side of shannon and tuttle and this would bring this property into the city when we take a look at at development in growth we take a look at a couple of things one our comprehensive plan and what that says for growth and development our 2040 comprehensive plan identifies this property for development and associates a designation of what's termed low residential which means primarily single the proposal as a concept plan that is being proposed by summergate is consistent with that it's 159 homes that would be located on the site within the future we'll dig down a little bit deeper into the specifics of that in particular with the preliminary plaid final plat and those those actual [1:24:48] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** uh engineering and planning reviews that would come in the future here so annexation is bringing property in so when we look at annexations one thing to bear in mind is we plan for annexations of the city we don't actively seek plan for development what we do is we respond to the private market if the owner of a property is desirous of annexation and the property is adjacent to the city and within our capacity and our desire for development then we will consider that for annexation that is the case here this is a piece of property that has been planned for many years for development incorporation into the city that's been in our 2040 plan and i think the last two plans at least before that the one thing that really was stopping it was highway 316 and the [1:25:35] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** conditions with the improvements to highway 316 recently with access controls this this property has become ripe for development here so just to be clear this is something that is being brought forward by the private owner for development we as the city would look to accommodate that development that's the annexation portion of it what we would do is order a public hearing that would happen in january the second meeting of january in 2020 2022 to meet our statutory requirements on that there's been conversations that the applicant has had with martian township so they're aware of what's going on here as well and we would consider the formal annexation at that time the other portion of this pertains to the comprehensive plan now the [1:26:22] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** comprehensive plan does look at this property for development and as a low density residential however the action of extending our urban service boundary to incorporate it does require an amendment to the comprehensive plan itself so it is consistent with what we're doing with the comprehensive plan but we would be physically moving that boundary what does that mean it means that this property would now be in the sewer district for metropolitan council's wastewater treatment plant downtown that they would be able to serve this property anytime service if a property comes into consideration it really needs it really is the urbanization of it the development so that's the actions we have before you tonight this kind of shows the land use plan [1:27:08] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** guided here low density residential and the inclusion in the uh the future muse of planet what's termed stage two development you can kind of see a bunch of area here that is outside of this red boundary which is the city limits which is a swath of land that could be developed in the future so this is consistent with that we did have the planning commission review this on the comprehensive plan amendment at their last meeting they did recommend approval of this on a unanimous boat we did have a couple of residents uh adjacent to the development that shared some concerns about maintaining separation and asked for for a fence or some other consideration there so that there would be better separation in the future so that's what we have before you tonight i can stand [1:27:53] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** for any questions we have representatives from summer gate development here as well if you have questions for them also within your packet we have a concept plan for the development itself again we're not approving this plan that'll come forward as a preliminary final plan in the future but to show some general locations of access points along michael avenue hooking up into south pines here and an important part with this property is the uh the set aside of this san cooley area towards the bottom of the ridge here which would not be part of the development at least the active development portion so i could stand for any questions thank you sure [1:28:38] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you john and he just council member folks [Folch] [1:28:41] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** thank you john i think you mentioned that you're going to work with mndot and i just want to state that we didn't have a preliminary conversation within a council committee and so we did discuss this and i just want to reiterate that i'm very concerned about the access coming onto 316. we just spent a lot of money you know to fix the roadway and put in the roundabout at tuttle there to um to eliminate the left-hand turns and all the problems that were being had and now we're just recreating the problem here at this point that it's um because i think that the change in speed is right there at hope church which is and so i don't know what the intentions would be to move the speed but this is where the it's going to start to [1:29:28] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** happen again where it's going to be dangerous um so i can't emphasize that enough to make sure that the roadway design has done to the best of our ability and then also i don't know if the developer was here earlier just so you know that i represent this award and a big problem that we have uh as the commercial trucks are coming into town as they're going north is that they begin to break in this area and there's a lot of bracket a lot of noise has been jake drinking and such and so i would encourage you to create berms or some kind of sound barrier to try to soften the effects of the of [1:30:13] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** the semi trucks as they're coming in here to decelerate from going 65 miles an hour to john what's the current speed at the roundabouts is like 35 right i don't know if it's 35 or 45 now used to be 45 but i i'm looking at the expert over there [Ryan Stempski] [1:30:43] **Ryan Stempski (Public Works Director):** which when you get to the roundabouts the new section where the roundabouts are in between there it's 35. there's no sign that says that comes in from that direction coming into that direction oh really interesting it's a sword there's an electronic sign that has 40 that says 45 it doesn't say anything about 35 but other than that there's no 35 miles [1:31:29] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** so it's a problem thank you for um but just so that the developers are recognizing that there are challenges with the noises that the residents will be experiencing thank you and thank you because we're excited to see this this development come in a question question with the plan well i've heard about the development movement do we think any trafficking that has come through [1:32:03] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** sure question that was asked from the audience here was how the traffic patterns may affect the south pines development going to the north i mean there's there's two entrances going in i think the main one would be here coming off of michael avenue in this location but there also is a connection point here i think this is thomas that goes up into south into south pine so yes there would be a way for people to connect in here would that be a way that people would go with the diagonal here because you'd have to go north and then west to get onto that i don't know it seems like this is more of a shorter way to go uh back to the questions that the council member filtered [Folch] brought up about mndot we have got mndot involved in the project as we speak now they provide provided some preliminary comments and suggestions on intersection improvements [1:32:49] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** at michael avenue so that will be incorporated when we take a look at the preliminary and final plot when that application comes forward thanks john [1:33:04] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** john do we know martian township is amenable to [this]? [1:33:12] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** council member i haven't had any direct conversations with the township i think in general townships are not don't do cartwheels when annexations occur i have not heard strong objections from them at this point what we do as a general practice is we have the applicant go to the town board to explain what's going on with the development i know in past discussions that i've had with martian township and this goes back many years when development was occurring 10-15 years ago it was a situation which they were desirous of having a boundary that we would grow to and not over and so that was part of our discussions about 10 15 years ago [1:34:00] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** i'm sorry the other thing i just remembered was the green space that's to the east of the development have there been continuing conversations who may take over that space of the city correct council member yes the applicants have been meeting with the dnr to see if that might be a potential inclusion into the sna the scientific and natural area that abuts it to the north with the with the uh the prairie area that they have preserved there so that's in discussion i think the the important part here is it's not part of the development i think the developers desire us of having another entity manage that [1:34:41] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** no additional questions council i would accept a motion to consider the first reading and order a public hearing for january 18 2022 to consider incorporation of the site into the city limits of hastings [1:34:55] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** [Makes motion] [1:34:58] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** [Seconds] [1:35:01] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you uh additional council or a traditional discussion council okay all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye opposed to those motions stay by saying name and that motion prevails also under this heading council i would accept a motion to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of hastings amending the city of hastings 2040 comprehensive plan [1:35:32] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Makes motion] [1:35:34] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Note: Tim Lawrence or Lisa Leifeld seconds] [1:35:35] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional discussion council new discussion okay all those in favor of this motion stay by saying aye aye aye always by the motion state by saying and that motion prevails today we have a first reading and order of public hearing under the ordinance for annexation resolution comprehensive plan amendment and extend urban service boundary thank you [Applause] okay under administration we have the emergency oh sorry [1:36:14] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** okay at this point i would open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this in the audience okay that's why i stopped and then i went back to it sorry okay tonight under administration we have emergency paid sick leave [1:37:00] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** in 2020 the federal government enacted ffcra at this point i don't recall what it stood for but it was in response to covid it essentially required all employers to provide 80 hours of emergency paid simply to their employees there's mother nuances to a based off of a case of school because of school closures or daycare closures that expired december 31st last year 2020. [1:37:44] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** since then the city council took three actions extending it to march to june and then december of this year volunteering obviously so the proposal from the management team unanimously is a to extend that further in addition six months to the end of june if the pandemic is still out there we're seeing getting past the current school year the other part of our proposal our recommendation of city council is to replenish that 80 hours so when the federal government initially landed 80 hours for each employee when this expired a year ago the city extended we just left it at whatever they had left. [1:39:41] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** the relative low cost or risk of low cost a little bit of perspective over the 20 months that uh that's roughly a third of our employee force over making sure that our employees are protected. [1:41:12] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** mentioned this earlier to you but i think it's important for folks to hear um you know what are the steps that the city has been doing to um to encourage uh staff to become vaccinated and uh you know like our council hasn't really discussed what had happened with the biden administration having passed the the mandate you know that was uh the league of minnesota cities looked at the issue and decided that cities were going to have to comply with the administration requirement that all uh staff be either vaccinated and show proof of vaccination or they would have to be weakly tested and the city would have to pay for that and so you know it's currently pending [1:42:15] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** uh i think the courts have held it up as a osha regulation and so but i i do believe that we should be encouraging staff to take measures um so that when and or if that regulation comes back forward um then we're you know better positioned you know to be in compliance with that um and then furthermore um before this council meeting we had a lot of discussion about uh fire department and the fact that it is sorely sorely understaffed and so i i would be greatly greatly concerned if we were to lose any staff due to those requirements that all staff you vaccinated it would put us in a very bad place that we had to start taking disciplinary action um so um so thanks and i'd love to hear what it is that you're doing um in regards to that things thank you sponsor member coach [Folch] [1:43:10] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** dan i'm not there to try to answer the more specific question pieces of that what have we been doing to encourage uh employees being vaccinated really it's been some direct messages to our employees encouraging vaccination making sure that we [Music] agree with our interpretation but allowing the infrastructure from somebody that you know or trust with some intimate medical details begun into low employees i know from our during our weekly management meetings [Music] [1:44:43] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** the executive order for osha to mandate uh employers over 100 employees to require vaccinations is very aware that initial um [Music] are there incentivize employees and uh eight hours operations it's not the community [1:47:28] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** great thank you dan personally i am in favor of having incentive programs to encourage those perhaps you haven't been vaccinated yet or you know to get your booster shot as we're going along you're supposed to be getting it every six months because of the effectiveness rates of the immunizations going down dramatically and so i would much rather provide incentives to staff rather than being heavy-handed if that requirement comes through so anyhow thank you again [1:48:07] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you council member for thank you dan additional discussion council okay then i would approve i would uh accept a motion to approve the extending the emergency paid sick leave through june 30 2022 and replenishing the amount to 80 hours effective december 6 2021. [1:48:21] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** [Makes motion] [1:48:23] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** [Seconds] [1:48:26] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** new discussion council all those in favor of the motion state by saying i i opposed to this emotion state by saying name and that motion prevails council member do council members do you have any announcements oh yes so at this point we pulled the council wages from the consent agenda and dan can explain that please [1:48:58] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** this has come up at least the last couple of years in budget discussions um during the workshop this summer there seemed to be more general support or interest in it than there had been a year before uh it's been at least seven years since uh wages were adjusted and for speed for years but i know you've certainly said we don't take this job for the money but it is in many ways based off of the prior discussion or you're interested in saying something we should look at rather than doing every seventh century some number of years i looked at comparable cities based off of population and metro area that's consistent with prior city council policy currency council policy like this [1:50:09] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** got data is each of those cities i think it was around 31 or 32 cities took the mean average of those mathematically and the way that state law works if he passed it now but it came up during a bunch of discussions [Music] [1:51:46] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** thank you thank you dan um when we chatted about this and i has to pull it from the consent agenda just to let you know why i pulled it i didn't i didn't like how it read there was no not a single person sitting at this dia said hey we're not making enough money and we should get paid more i want that noted we all were like clearly isn't why we do this right the reason this came up is we are going to be doing a comp and class study for the entire staff here within the city and as a council we also if we're going to be paying for this comp in class to see it just seemed that we'd be part of that i think that's how i interpreted that entire conversation [1:52:32] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** was we would be part of that common class study that being said dan has provided information just now and as well to me earlier today that the comping class when they add us to that we don't know are they going to say oh that's no work whatsoever we'll just do that or are they going to say oh wait a minute now we got to do that are they going to charge us a thousand dollars are they gonna charge us three thousand what are they gonna charge us right i don't want the city to pay more money for something that could be as simple as the data that dan has been able to collect quite easily but i want to go on record saying that not a single person here said boy we're just not making enough [1:53:18] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** money that is not why this got brought up it was brought up solely on the fact that we are looking to make sure that we are competitive in the market with cities like us and that's what this was about it wasn't about our peso dan i appreciate your ex explaining that it just seemed like it didn't present well to me when i read the words you know in you know increasing mayors and you know i didn't like the way it said so dan i really appreciate your time and your explanation in helping me with that any additional discussion council member folger [Folch] [1:54:05] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** i think your honor you know i have to agree about pulling it from the agenda because we had given direction for it to be included within that conversation and this is the first time you've seen the information presented to us it hadn't been provided in a workshop setting so that we could um ask any questions and so it feels like it's a bit of a blind side that it was um throwing it on that consent agenda in its current state there is no data that was provided to go along with it it just says what the low and the high was and that here's the average and um and then furthermore it was based i don't know in what year um if it's you know 2021 data but it would be um over eight years that forty one dollars extra a month is only a seven percent increase and inflation just this last [1:54:51] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** year alone is six percent and so you are looking at 2001 data and then you're applying it in 2023 and so there's an adjustment and so i guess my point is that we haven't had any conversation about any of this there's no data behind it there's no explanation it's just here's the high here's low here's the average so we're closing okay let's just have a hearing on it and so um so personally i guess i i want more i want more detail i'm just a little like as i said i'm a little off put as to how it is that the information was given to us that we that we weren't and we didn't have more of a conversation about it and i guess [1:55:38] **Councilmember Tina Folch:** we'll have a public conversation about it but um when this comes back i am hoping that a lot more detail is provided as to how this information was pulled together and really is you know what it is that we're looking at in the future thank you miracle look for a motion then to accept this movement to with to accept more information i mean it literally just says here's the low here's the height here's the average and that's it it doesn't say what it is you know you know where the information had come from you know typically when you do a salary study you don't use an average or a mean you're supposed to use a median and so i mean just the method on how it is that this information was gathered in the nl system wasn't you know provided to us and so um so yeah i guess i i don't know i would you like to make a motion and see how it goes emotion for moving it forward for the next or well i think it should be table and we should have conversation about it and we provided that information and then bring it forward again but because we had all agreed for it to be within the compensation salary study and so that's why it just seems very odd that it's being presented this is so little information and that we're being asked to act on it now okay [1:57:15] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** and council members i don't remember us all agreeing to it being part of the comprehensive study yet but i think what's in front of us tonight was the first reading of a public hearing and that's what we're voting on now that that's being asked of us and then in two weeks we come back i think the recommendation could come from what councilmember fulch is asking for is more data for us to make that decision in two weeks in two weeks if we don't think we have enough data then we can take one in my opinion so i think what's in front of us today what got pulled was just to get this the first reading for the public hearing we'll have that discussion two weeks i'll make that motion okay [1:58:08] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** [Seconds] [1:58:12] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** additional new discussion council all those in favor of that motion state by saying aye aye those opposed to the motion stay by saying me and that motion prevails uh now counsel do you have any announcements okay i have a few okay [1:58:39] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** after a delay due to the pandemic our new city council group photo is now in the city paul lobby thank you to cindy at macmagoon portrait design studio a reminder that snow emergency automatically goes into effect when two or more inches of snow have accumulated vehicles must be moved off the street until the road has been cleared from curb to curb cars that are in violation may be ticketed and towed recycle your old christmas lights or lights at the city hall holiday lights drop off collection residents can drop off their unwanted light strands at the joint maintenance facility at 920 10th street west during the holiday season from december 1st to february 1st and i went today and it's wonderful so city of offices will be closed from 11 15 to 1 15 on tuesday december 14th to accommodate the employee holiday party the met council will hold a virtual open house about its plan for relocating the water wastewater treatment plant at 6 pm tomorrow wednesday i'm sorry wednesday 15th med council will also hold a formal public hearing also by zoom at 6 pm on wednesday january 5th information and registration at hastings wwtp.com meetings coming forward are thursday pedro meeting at 6 pm monday december 13th planning commission 7 pm tuesday december 14th parks and rec commission 7 pm and monday december 20th 5 30 city council has a dakota county cba workshop and 7 p.m on the same day as our regular council meeting december 20th and council i would look for a motion to surrender usually pearl harbor not the same year so at that point thank you dan and council um a motion to adjourn [2:01:05] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** [Makes motion] [2:01:07] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** [Seconds] [2:01:10] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** no discussion all those in favor say by saying aye aye opposed stay by same name and that motion prevails thank you all