young. Okay. Alrighty, everybody on the air. There we go. Let's go ahead and call to order the regular meeting of the Oakdale City Council, November 10th, 2025. Sarah, will you please take the role? >> Council member Moore, >> here. >> Council member Morham, >> here. >> Council member Severson, >> here. >> Mayor Zabel >> here. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All righty. First up in front of us is approving our agenda. Do we have do we have the Met Council item on here? >> No. Mr. Mayor, I'd suggest you add it as an amendment during the under the amendment to agenda section. >> You'd add it and it will be a consent item. >> Okay. >> And I think it might it was on your place upstairs. Do you still have those? Sorry, I left mine upstairs. Okay. [laughter] >> Uh, do we just have a resolution number on it because we just >> 102. Resolution 102. >> Item J HI J. Okay. and then we will upload it as soon as the meeting is over. Mr. Mayor. Okay. So, council members, we're going to add consensus motion J. No, I wanted to vote against it. I'll I'll live. Um, we're going to add consensus motion J, which is a motion to approve resolution 2025-102. Um, okay. So, council members, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended, adding consensus? Motion J uh to that section. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion, a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? And the agenda is adopted. >> All right. Approval of minutes. We have three sets in front of us tonight. Workshop meeting minutes from October 28th, 2025. Council members, any changes or corrections here? I'll look for a motion. >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. I. >> Opposed. And the workshop minutes are adopted. Next up, regular meeting minutes from October 28th, 2025. Any changes or corrections here? >> Look for a motion. So move. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And the regular meeting minutes are adopted. Last set are from a special workshop we had on October 30th, 2025. Any changes or corrections here? No. >> All right. I look for a motion. >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> And the last set of minutes are adopted. Uh first up in front of us tonight is a public hearing. We do have one related to a conduit conduit debt financing approval. Perfect. Our finance director and community development director joining us. Tag teaming. Who wants to take it away? Mayor council. I'll kick this one off and um we're happy to answer questions as well. Uh the item is for a uh conduit debt finance issuance for Eenezer York Associate Assistant Living. They are the owner of uh Oak Meadows facility at 81314 Street in uh in Oakdale [clears throat] and they have requested the city issue condo revenue obligation bonds under statute uh chapter 462C to finance improvements and refinance costs for acquisition construction equipping equip equipping of senior living assisted living and memory care facilities at the 8134 uh North Street location. They're also combining that with another project in Edina at 3451 uh Park Lawn Avenue North known as York Gardens. Uh the Oak Metals project specifically, they're going to use this for addressing some deferred maintenance and upgrades. Um and but not not any major uh um expansion or reconstruction. The Togo aggregate principal amount of the bonds to be issued is estimated to be no more than uh 25 million. Uh city does have a conduit debt policy that allows this tax tax exempt financing to proceeds of the projects provide a benefit to the city. Uh Oak Meadows being located in the city and investing in that facility in our community um would be a would be a benefit. Uh financial uh considerations, Ivon can certainly address these as well. I mean these are special limited revenue obligation bonds. Um they are not being pledged by taxpayer dollars. the um uh uh Ebenezer is is solely liable for for the payment and re and repayment of those. Um we also um as part of our policy and as part of our adopted fee schedule, uh we do require a $3,000 application fee which has been paid and we have a five.5% fee on the portion that's uh for refunding and a 1% fee on the portion that is for financing um as part of that arrangement. So that estimated fees to the city for this financial deal is uh estimated to be up to $217,000. Um under state statute uh a uh public hearing is required from uh to be to be held at by council here tonight and there is a resolution in the packet for your consideration. With that uh Yvon and I are both here to answer any questions. >> Council members, questions for either Andy or Ivon. >> I had one. Um, oh, Gary, why don't you go ahead. >> Um, just wondering, um, there is no possibility, correct me if I'm wrong, there's no possibility for this to impact the city's credit rating negatively or positively. Correct. >> No impact on credit rating, debt limits, nothing. >> Okay. >> Uh, my question I shared with our city administrator regarding um nonprofit status of the applicant. Um, Chris, did that get shared? No. >> No, we didn't get the answer. >> Oh, we didn't? No. >> Okay. >> Um, but we can ask them right now. >> So, my question was, um, I believe it's in our policy that the applicant has to be a nonprofit or not for profofit. Correct? No. Andy shaking his head. I thought >> Well, they don't need to be a nonprofit. They can be for-profit. They just have to meet the other criteria like providing housing is one of those criteria. >> Oh, okay. For some reason, I thought it had to be a nonprofit and then my question was going to be Oak Meadows pays property tax. So, how are they a nonprofit? [laughter] But >> mayor Andy, is that in the policy or is that in the conduit bond um qualifications? >> Um do you have the policy in front of us? >> I'm I'm glancing through it just um >> just to make sure, Mr. Mayor, that I think the one difference is too if it is a nonprofit, that's where they can have that um a different rate than if it's a forprofit. >> It's a different line item in the fee schedule. >> I'm going to go ahead and conduct the public hearing while you guys look for the answer. We can always check back in. Um as Mr. Getsoff mentioned, we are required to host a public hearing. So, we're going to do that this time. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. This is an opportunity for anybody in the audience joining us that would like to speak to this agenda item only. Please feel free to step up to the podium, state your name and address for the record and proceed with your comments. We actually have one tonight. That's so exciting. >> Hello, mayor and council members. Brett Anderson for the record. The Ebenezer CEO. So, just want to say thank you. Uh while your colleagues are looking, I'll just say Ebenezer is not for profofit. Uh state law dictates what is or are exempt from property taxes. So happy to be a a property taxpayer in the city and your partnership, but just want to say thank you uh for uh considering this tonight and uh we're excited to continue to expand uh business in the community and serving older adults. >> Great. Thank you. >> Uh is there anybody else that would like to speak under the public hearing for this item tonight? >> Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back for council consideration. Um I think we have the answer. We're good, staff. Thank you. Um well we can follow up with a email response as well tomorrow just for clarity sake. >> That would be great. Thank you for that. Uh council members, any final questions? >> All right. Who would like to make the motion? >> I will make a motion to wave and adopt resolution 2025- 100 approving the plan of financing for housing and healthcare facilities in the city and authorizing the issuance of conduit revenue refunding bonds. Therefore, approving a housing program, authorizing the execution of documents, and taking other actions in connection there with Ebenezer Obligated Group. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. Final comments. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. And resolution 2025-100 is approved. Thank you. Uh next up uh is open forum. This is an opportunity on the agenda for anybody that wants to talk about anything that's on your mind. Please feel free to uh step up to the podium. Same rules as before. State your name and address for the record and proceed with your comments. Seeing none, we'll move into our consensus motions. Council members, we have A through J. We added that um last resolution on there. Um second a motion to approve consensus motions A through J as amended. >> So move. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. and A through J are approved as amended. Uh let's check in with our advisory boards and commissions. Uh planning commission is the only one that met. Uh council member Severson, you are their liaison. What is our planning commission up to these days? >> Well, they they uh had a public hearing for conditional use permit for an accessory building and residential property. Uh they also had a uh considered resoning for the live work units on uh Glenn is that Glen Brook small area plant highway 36 >> and they took a look at their work plan for 2026. So that was that was their meeting. >> They had a busy meeting. >> Yeah. >> Wonderful. All right. Let's move into award bids. Nothing. Staff reports. We'll check in with our visiting city attorney, Sam. Do you have anything for council tonight? >> Uh mayor, members of council, nothing uh from the city attorney. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Anybody have any questions for Sam? Nope. All right, let's check in with our city administrator, Miss Vulkers. What do we got, >> Mr. Mayor? City Council, I do not have anything new. >> Nothing there either. It's like everybody knows there's a Packer game I want to go watch. [laughter] >> Uh, council presentations. What do we got tonight, Council Member Moore? Anything? >> Not watching a Packer game. >> It's going to be good. All right. How about over here, Council Member Morham? Nothing here. Council member Severson. Hope to enjoy watching the Packers lose. [laughter] >> No. Stop it. All right, I got a few. Uh, city offices will be closed tomorrow, November 11th, in observance of Veterans Day. On behalf of the city, we want to thank everybody. Thank all of the men and women that have served this country. Um, especially those in our community. Um, absolutely. you know, for elected officials that we get to do because we get to do what we do because of what they did um is entirely profound and it's not lost on us every single day we sit up here. Um on behalf of all of us, we thank all of our veterans, especially those that work here in city government, we truly do appreciate um everything they do and have done for us. Um just a reminder that even though city offices are closed tomorrow, emergency services are always available on on holidays. So if you need that, please feel free to reach out. Um, our first Oakdale indoor market of the season will be held this Saturday, November 15th, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Discovery Center. Uh, stop on by, get a jump start on your holiday shopping. Always usually a couple dozen vendors out there. Um, selling a wide variety of baked goods, uh, food products, arts and crafts, jewelry, everything. So, um, you can you can get a lot of your holiday shopping done while shopping local, which is pretty cool. Uh the following weekend, come on back to the the Discovery Center for the Art Discovery Fair Saturday, November 22nd from 10:30 uh 10 to 3 p.m. 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Uh again, do a little holiday shopping, find the perfect gift. Uh there will be more than 20 local artists and crafters out there. It's a free to attend event um just in time for the holiday season. There will also be live music by Jewels Music from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. So, we hope you can join us back at the Discovery Center for that. Uh voting is now open for Oakdale's annual photo contest. Six six finalists have been selected and you can vote for your favorite photo on the city's Facebook page by selecting like on that photo through November 30th. The top three photo photos with the most likes will be named the winter the winters. The winners. There we go. Finally, uh December is coming up far too fast, but we have two really exciting events we want to talk about. First, uh the city is excited to host our first ever tree lighting uh with Santa event. It will be held on Thursday, December 4th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. right here at city hall. This event, this event is free and will feature Santa on a decorated uh firetr, a tree lighting ceremony. We will have a bonfire, s'mores, music, and more. Um really excited to start that event here. Um we're pretty proud of that. So, we hope everybody will come out and join us right here at City Hall on December 4th. You can also join us for the Winter Wonderland event on Saturday, December 20th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Discovery Center. This popular annual event will feature horserawn hay rides, a petting zoo, bonfire, holiday crafts, Santa face painting, food, and more. Uh, for this event, we want to offer a very big thank you to all of our friends and partners at the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce. Every single year, they do such amazing work uh with this event. We love it when, you know, we're out of parking spaces, their cars are parked up and down Hadley. It's such a family favorite event, and uh it would not be possible with our friends at the chamber, but also our recreation department. Um Julie and her team do an absolutely amazing uh job with all of these events throughout the year. So a big thank you to them as well. Uh final for final item for me is I want to say a very big thank you to everybody that served as election judges uh last week. It is a thankless job. It is a very important job. um and at any given moment throughout that day, they may encounter um a smiling face or a crisis and they take it all in stride and they do such an important duty for um for our city, for our community, for every city. Um so, a big thank you to everybody that volunteered once again to be an election judge in 2025. We really do appreciate it. Claims, we got bills to pay. Uh 2.9 million in change. Well, got to pay the bills. Uh claims roster is October 29th through November 10th, 2025. 2.9 million in change. Council members, anything on there we wanted to remove for additional information? >> Who wants to make the motion? >> I'll move as presented. >> I'm sorry. >> I'll move as presented. >> Oh, perfect. Thank you. Um I was thinking about the football game. Sorry. Uh motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. And the bills are paid for another two weeks, which is all good. Uh, next on our agenda is administering the oath of office. Um, as you may know, uh, former city council member, uh, Susan Willenbring resigned back in June. Um, and we are very excited to offer, uh, the oath of office to, um, Katie Rich, who will be joining us, uh, as a city council member here in the Oak uh, here in the city of Oakdale. So, at this time, I'm going to invite Katie up, city administrator Vulkers, to come on over and administer the oath of office. Council members, let's flank off. Take your chairs with you. Come on up, Katie. >> Okay. Uh, raise your right hand, please, and repeat after me. I, Katie Rich, >> I, Katie Rich, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. >> the Constitution of the State of Minnesota, >> the Constitution of the State of Minnesota >> and the ordinances of the city of Oakdale >> and the ordinances of the city of Oakdale. and that I will faithfully >> and that I will faithfully >> and impartially >> and impartially >> discharge the duties >> discharge the duties >> of the office of council member >> of the office of council member >> for the city of Oakdale >> for the city of Oakdale >> for the term >> for the term >> for which I have been appointed >> for which I have been appointed >> to the best >> to the best >> of my judgment and ability >> of judgment and ability. >> So help me God. So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Congratulations. [laughter] >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> We're so happy to have you. >> We are. >> No pressure. >> Over here. >> Where is she sitting? >> Down there. >> Down there. >> Awesome. >> Katie, we are so excited to have you join us. There is a lot to do in the city and having another set of hands is always appreciated. So, congratulations. Uh, but now we got to get to work. So, that's the deal. [laughter] Is there anything you would like to say? >> Um, I'm looking forward to serving Oakdale and learning more about this amazing city. So, thank you. >> Fantastic. Uh, Council Member Rich, would you like to make the motion to adjurnn? >> So, moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. We are adjourned. >> Uh, Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry. Point of order. We had an action to actually do the appointment. [laughter] >> Details. [gasps] >> Rewind. >> Oh, we should have done that before the swearing in. Yeah. >> I'll make a motion to appoint Katherine Rich to the vacant city council member city council member seat for the remaining term ending January 4th, 2027. >> Second. >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. All right. Uh, Council Member Rich, would you like to make the motion to adjurnn again? >> Yes. So move. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Motion a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. We are adjourned. Are we good? We're good. >> Okay. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you. [applause]