City Council - Regular Meeting

Bye. Thank you. Just give me...

Emily, Emily, Emily, do you have anything? Do you have anything under reports?

All right, we'll call the meeting to order. Please stand if you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance. Good evening and welcome everyone. Bree, take the roll call please.

Mayor King.

Present.

Councilmember Atlarge-Austin. Present. Councilmember Waller. Present. Councilmember Baskin. Councilmember Postma.

Present.

Councilmember Helley. Present. Councilmember Obala.

Present.

Councilmember Fisher. Present. Mayor King, we have a quorum.

Thank you, Brie. Item number one is a motion for the adoption of our agenda. So moved.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item number two is a motion approving our minutes for our May 18, 2026 meeting. So moved. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries. Item number three is our consent agenda. Need a motion?

Motion to approve. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries on to recognitions and awards. Item number four, we have a new fire chief, or new fire, we have an interim fire chief, and we have a new firefighter, Matthew Hatton. Interim Chief Troy Tigner, what do you got for us, brother?

Well, Mr. Councilmember and Mayor, today we are proud to recognize Engineer Matthew Hatton. Matthew joined our department in January of 2024 as a pay-down call firefighter. Before that, he served in Mapleview. In April, Matthew accepted a temporary full-time position with our department, and shortly after retirement, he was appointed to the permanent engineer position. Outside the fire service, Matthew has worked as a mechanic restoring tractors since 2020, which will be a big help with his mechanical ability at our fire department. His wife and family members are here. Sidney will have the honor of doing the pinning of him. Mr. Hatton. I guess the family wants to take some pictures. to definitely getting younger.

Congratulations, Matthew. And do you want to say anything, Matt?

You're welcome to it.

Absolutely. And you've got a great department now. You're obviously well aware it's a great department there at Austin Fire.

Just thank you for this opportunity. I'm really grateful to get to work with the fire department and for you guys, and I'm looking forward to serving the community forever. Hopefully around 30 years would be my goals. Let's make it happen. Sounds good to us.

You've got great support with your fellow firefighters here, and I know some family members and friends here, too. So it's good to see that, and congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And on to item number five under that, presentations. We have Patty Mueller. Representative Mueller is here. Welcome.

Thank you, everyone, and thank you for giving me a moment to give you a little update from the end of session. This won't be as fast as what we've done the first three items, or four items, but hopefully it will be good and informative for you. We ended our session on May 17th and ended the biennium and Sinai died on that day. After having a historic tie, it was a rather interesting session to be able to see how we could bipartisanly work together to get things done for Minnesota. I will say that I'm very proud of the things that we were able to do as a body. during the first biennium, making sure that we are able to keep essential services, but also cutting the budget by $5 billion. This session, as it is... Oh, yeah. I was expecting that.

It's okay. I get it.

This session is normally reserved for policy changes or bonding, and the House had a pretty strong... belief that we were since we were tied that we needed to make sure that we did as much obviously we had to do bipartisan work as possible which meant that a lot of our bills were single subject and small in nature. I would like to say that we had several really good wins for Minnesota. The first one is that we got to pass this office and inspector general bill. Many people have been following this for the last several years and I believe that with the work that the bipartisan and bicameral committee did over the last year and a half that we have a pretty decent OIG that will make sure that we can have accountability for our agencies that is regardless of who is in office. This is an independent Office Inspector General with subpoena power and is able to be able to look at anomalies and be able to talk and hold anything that's happening in our agencies and other people who are committing fraud accountable. We know that we wanted to be able to kind of offer a little bit of relief on what's happening in our state, and so we were looking at about $400 million of tax relief. This includes $125 million in property tax relief and $250 million in car tab fee reduction. This is only one time, and we'll start January 1st. and then some of the other things that I think that you guys would be interested in is increased medical assistant rates for rural and critical access hospitals and a building on some of the Investments that we did during the first year of the biennium where we invested heavily in updating the SSIS system for our counties We did some more IT modernization so that you're able to update any of your IT if you talk to County workers who are trying to give out benefits many of our counties have working on systems that were from the late 80s early 90s and I know that at that time I was in junior high. So it's one of those things where probably one of those Operating systems is not equipped to handle what we do in 2026 Major investments in IT modernization, which is really really important. We had some really good safety for school safety measures that were passed, such as about $12 million for mental health services, about $5 million for anonymous threat reporting, and another $8 million for mobile health crisis money funds. And then there was also $10 million in compensatory funding, of which Austin will be receiving some of that money, some of that funding. Probably one of the things that is the most exciting for here in Austin is that we were able to get some $1.2 billion in infrastructure funding, and that includes being able to get some funding for Blooming Prairie, but also for you guys, we were able to get $4 million for the Hormel Institute and their IMBEC Center. And so that was a really important investment for them as they continue to work on their education center, as they continue to work towards getting a fully operational IMBEC the bioimaging center that will be literally leading technology in our region, not just in our state, not just in our, you know, but literally in the Midwest, the whole part of this area, we are attracting scientists and, you know, researchers from around the world. And that's been really exciting. And then, okay, so I, was trying to remember all of the different provisions in the housing bill, which I think is really exciting. There was $100 million in housing infrastructure bonds to build and preserve affordable units, $40 million for the Family Homeless and Prevention Assistance Program, $14.3 million for workforce housing for Greater Minnesota, and $4 million to improve infrastructure of manufactured home parts. Now, what was really exciting about this is that the funding bill did not draw from taxpayer revenue. Instead, Representative Igoe and Representative Howard, bipartisanly, found that there was $99 million in interest that was sitting in the Minnesota Department of Housing. Because during the previous biennium, there was a billion dollars put into housing for in that area, and you can't physically spend that much in two years. But there was millions and millions of dollars of interest accruing And so now, rather than having something that is going to go from our general fund, we were able to secure funding by reclaiming interest earned on state funds and repurposing unused settlements. And so I think that's going to be a really good precedence as we start looking towards the future of how we can make sure that we use our funds wisely with that. Overall, I'd really like to thank you for your work as a city council, knowing that You guys have been tireless in advocating for some of the things that you have been working for, such as any type of increase in LGA or any type of county funds. It's been a difficult year. I know that you wanted to also get approval for the local option sales tax, which also got kind of blockaded. Working in a tie means there's a lot of different consensuses, and some of that means no one gets all that they want, which is really difficult. But thank you so much for your work, and thank you for being good advocates for your area. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to do that before I jet off to Brownsdale.

Thank you, Patty. Representative Mueller, I would like to know, the lost local after-sales tax, I know you pushed hard for it. I appreciate that. It was just the tax chair, I think, was the one that wasn't letting it get to your herd. THE EVEN AND ODD YEARS GET MIXED UP BETWEEN BUDGET AND POLICY. ARE WE ABLE TO COME BACK AGAIN IN 2027 AND WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL 2028 FOR THAT?

AT ANY TIME YOU CAN ALWAYS GO AHEAD AND REQUEST A BILL TO BE WRITTEN UP FOR GETTING APPROVAL OF YOUR LOCAL OPTIONS SALES TAX. IF THAT'S SOMETHING YOU'RE WANTING TO TAKE ANOTHER CRACK AT IN 2027, THAT WOULD BE TOTALLY APPROPRIATE TO DO. IT'S JUST A MATTER OF WHO'S THE CHAIR OF THE TAX COMMITTEE. Hopefully there isn't a weird tie like we've had these last two years and that we'll be able to convince whoever is the tax chair at that point to be able to hear those. I would like to say that Representative Davids, who does represent the farthest east side of Moore County, who was the Republican tax chair at that time for these two years, that he was very much in support of the local option sales tax and made sure that there were two days that was nothing but hearing local option sales tax. And I know City Minister Clark had to wait around until the very end and then got like, I think, 35 seconds to be able to give your case. But as I said, we've done what we could in the constraints that were given to us.

I appreciate your efforts on that and all the efforts for representing us. Anybody else have anything for Representative Mueller? Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for coming.

Thank you so much, guys.

All right. Looks like under petitions and requests, we have requesting approval of an ordinance amendment to the city code chapter 11. Holly?

Yes, thank you, Mayor and Council Members. This amendment is to facilitate expansion of housing options and allow a diverse range of housing types compatible with existing residential neighborhoods. Twin homes, also known as zero lot line two unit townhomes, provide attainable homeownership opportunities and utilize existing infrastructure efficiently. while maintaining compatibility with single-family residential districts. These housing types have previously been utilized successfully in the community. However, our zoning code did not explicitly allow zero lot lines to accommodate a shared wall, which is a defining characteristic of this type of home. The ordinance amendment will apply to single-family and multi-family residential zoning districts, and the ordinance will be effect upon publication and apply retroactively to twin homes in the same districts.

Very good. Anything, councilor, questions on item number six? They're looking for a motion for the preparation of the ordinance. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Also for a resolution for adoption of the ordinance. So moved. Second. Three.

COUNCILMEMBER POSTMA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HELLEY. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER OBALA.

AYE.

COUNCILMEMBER FISHER.

AYE.

COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER ATLARGE-AUSTIN.

AYE.

ADOPTION OF THE AMENDMENT TO CITY CODE CHAPTER 11 IS APPROVED.

THANK YOU. ITEM NUMBER 7 IS ADOPTION OF OUR 2045 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. OLLIE?

Yes, we started this project. It was the City of Austin, Maurer County, and Impact Austin collaborated on our comprehensive plan updates. All of the information about the plan has been on our project website throughout the project. The final draft plans are also available online and then an interactive story map, which gives kind of an overview that's a little less dense if you want to just get a general idea of the plan. The So the procedure to adopt the plan is to have a public meeting, which we had May 12th with the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission made a recommendation to Council to adopt the plan. The plan was then presented again to Council at our work session on May 18th, and the Council voted to move it forward to this meeting where we were asking for approval of the plan.

Thank you. Yes, formal resolution of adopting the 2045 comprehensive plan. I'd like to thank Holly and then Nick Novotny. Val Sheedy is here. Tremendous amount of work. I think we were told from our Consultants was the first time a city and county ever came together for these this kind of an activity And I know there was about eight billion touch points Nick was there for all eight billion of them Just a tremendous amount of work, and we're hoping to utilize that as we move forward into 2045

So, Mr. Mayor, you're joking a little bit about $8 billion, but I did hear some pushback from the community that we were rushing into this plan, and I just find that, I mean, what was the true number of community touch points?

The plans combined, it was 16,000.

Yes, so there were 16,000 chances to give input on this plan. We worked on it for a couple of years, so I guess I find the criticism that we haven't really thought this through to just not hold any water. Wanted to get that on the record.

I appreciate that All right anything else looking for resolution on the matter so moved second three Councilmember post my hi councilmember.

Helly I Councilmember obala I Councilmember Fisher I Councilmember Waller I Councilmember at large Austin I resolution passes 6-0

Thanks, Bree. Item number eight allows the Planning and Zoning Department to the power to contract for removal of the junk and or legally stored vehicles at the location of 607 6th Street Northwest, the Wynn property. Need a motion. So moved.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item number nine is approving our Ellis Ditch Climate Resiliency Study. Stephen.

At the last council meeting, council reviewed and approved a grant from the MPCA which was a climate resiliency grant for the Ellis Ditch area. That grant, the total amount of the grant was $106,000 and a portion of that $96,581 was grant dollars and $9,658 was either to come from our stormwater utility fund or in-kind services from our city staff. So before you tonight now is a proposal from WHKS to complete the work that is part of the grant It involves evaluating rainfall events in that Ella Stitch area and coming up with ways to lessen the impacts to our residents in those neighborhoods with storm sewer improvements, sanitary sewer improvements, roadway improvements, possibly some ponding and water storage as well. That will all come as we're working through the study of this work with WHKS. This project is identified in our five-year CIP And we look to move this project forward with the help of WHKS. Their proposal before you tonight is in the amount of $96,600, and it would be covered by the previously approved resiliency grant, and we'd request approval.

Very good. Thank you, Stephen. Council, any questions for Mr. Lang? I was looking for resolution, approving item number nine. So moved. Second. Three.

COUNCILMEMBER POSMA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HALEY. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER OBALA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER FISHER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER AT LARGE AUSTIN.

AYE. RESOLUTION PASSES 6-0. THANK YOU, BREE. ITEM NUMBER 10 IS APPROVING OUR CENTRAL GARAGE ROOF REPLACEMENT. STEPHEN.

This is identified also in our five-year CIP for 2026 thousand dollars set aside for roof replacement at our central garage. That's where we store all of our equipment from our snow plows to our, our, um, our trucks and our loaders. And that, that building was built in 2003. It was that roof was, there was some maintenance work done on it in 2020, and now it is planned for removal. So with that, we'd recommend council approving this contract with WHKS in the amount of $9,300 to develop plans and specs for bidding out the re-roof of this project. Costs for the funds for this will come out of the project budget, which we have set aside at $500,000, and we'd request approval.

Appreciate that. Thank you, Stephen. Council, any questions? Mr. Lang? Looking for resolution, moving it forward. So moved. Second. Brie, please.

COUNCILMEMBER POSMA. AYE.

COUNCILMEMBER HELLEY. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER OBALA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER FISHER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER AT LARGE AUSTIN. AYE. RESOLUTION PASSES 6-0.

VERY GOOD. THANK YOU. MOVING ON TO CITIZENS ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL PART OF OUR AGENDA. ARE THERE ANY CITIZENS HERE IN THE CHAMBERS WISHING TO SPEAK WITH COUNCIL ON ITEMS THAT WEREN'T ON THE AGENDA? Sure, come forward please and just give us your name and address for the record.

My name is Heather Novak and my address is 611 14th Street NW, Austin. I'm a good evening mayor and city council. My name is Heather and I am a resident here in Austin. I'm standing before you tonight as a homeowner who is being directly severely and negatively impacted by the new point of sale ordinance that took effect on March 1st. This past year has been the most difficult. I inherited my home from my dad, who passed away in April of last year. Over the next five months, I poured my entire savings into cleaning up that property, cleaning it out so we could stay there and then sell it. Then in October, my mom passed away. and neither one of them had any life insurance. So I was left with the bill for both. We put the house up for sale once it was ready. And then in April, we finally received an accepted offer on the house. And that's when we were hit with the unexpected city mandates. I was shocked to learn that under the new ordinance, the previous sump inspection was no longer accepted and I would now have to pay for that out of pocket. On top of that, I was hit with the new requirement of the full sewer inspection and the camera footage, and right now, I owe Patterson Plumbing $700 just for those inspections, a debt I am struggling to pay while barely managing my monthly bills. Because of the delays and the issues, my buyer backed out, and to make matters worse, the sewer line inspection failed also due to an intentional drill hole at the top of the line right before the city main in the room, alongside some other chips. I've hired another plumber just to start the repairs, but before they even touch the line leading to the main, I'm already an additional $4,800 in debt for the basement clean-out, new concrete, and inspections, and I can't even get an estimate for the rest of the work until that first phase is finished. The appeal to the council, I am losing money and I do not have every single day. This ordinance has caused me severe financial and mental hardship.

It is actively harming me, and I know for a fact I'm not alone in the community.

THE CITY ORDINANCES ARE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT AND IMPROVE OUR COMMUNITY, BUT THIS ONE IS PUNISHING AND WORKING WITH RESIDENTS, AND I'M CAUGHT IN AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION. IT'S SUPPOSED TO HELP HOMEOWNERS, AND THERE'S NO GRANTS AVAILABLE. The low-interest loans are only digging us deeper into debt, and I'm asking the council to listen to the real people telling you we can't afford this. I ask that you review the financial hardships this ordinance is causing in grandfather and recent prior inspections, which now doesn't affect me, but it could someone else. And establish the true grant assistance for the residents facing thousands of dollars in mandatory repairs. I just thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Novak. Sorry about your loss of your appearance. Stephen, are you aware of her situation? It's probably too early to have the insurance portion of this, but I got it anyway. Were you aware of her situation? This particular one?

No, not specifically. The only thing I'll add is from the description, she described a hole in the top of the pipe. which is what we've been finding. That's where footing drains are connected into the sewer services and then drain clear water into our system, which is what we're looking to try to eliminate as part of this program.

Right. You know, personally, Ms. Novak, I can just sympathize with you. Again, sometimes we sit up here as a council and try to, always we try to make the right decisions, but these are things that nobody likes to hear and the expense nobody likes to see. $700, though, is just for your inspection? It seems high. It seems very high.

I've heard 150.

I appreciate that.

This is a new ordinance to the city. Other cities certainly have it. We did a pretty nice, I thought, deep dive into trying to make it work and had some interplay back and forth with some mortgage folks and some realtors and city staff and come up with what we thought was the best. It just started April 1.

March 1st.

March 1st. Hasn't been a ton of time. I'd like to see at least six months through before we really look at addressing it differently. I haven't heard directly from any realtors other than Molly Cass sent something. But I'd certainly like to. I'm okay with readdressing or looking at it. I'd like to give it some more time. The instances where I've heard, I heard from one, I turned it over to Mr. Lang, and he did tell me the other side of the story, too. There's always both sides. What do you got?

Chris Heichel. I just want to address, we would love to have, I reached out to Craig about this too, that we'd love the work session that was together to get back together again just to address the things that we're seeing and what is happening over the course of, what have we been, two months, three months? Just to work through some kinks. I mean, as you know, nobody in our industry is supporting the point of sale, but here we are. It's where we are at. Our goal with the work session was to make it the best thing as good as we possibly could. It's now been a few months. There are issues. We would like to sit down and resolve those issues to the best of our ability, working with the city and with the council to try to make these things happen. Closings have been delayed. Unfortunately, I think we're at a, what, two and a half week turn time, Stephen, would you say, right now? No? What are turn times?

I'll let you finish.

Okay. But Sales have fallen apart because of this. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with the council, but just to give you real life experiences, they're escrowing for these things to happen post-closing. It happens post-closing. People's landscapes are being tore apart. Plumbers then go in and unfortunately have to take out drywall. Then the drywall is not being repaired. So then now we have new buyers. that agreed to have this escrow thing happen and now they have a property that was not at all what they were expecting to have, agreeing to do it post-closing. I'm not a realtor, I'm obviously a lender, so I don't see the minute details that the realtors do, but I do see delays in closings and just closings falling apart altogether. Extensions that have to happen on people's loans, block extensions that they have to pay for. I was under the impression, and maybe that is incorrect, that it was about two and a half weeks is what the turn time was for sewer scoping. But maybe that's for the approval or denial from the city.

Thank you, Ms. Heichel.

Steven, do you have something? I do have some information. We have conducted 197 inspections in the first three months of the program. 85% of those have been turned around in six days or less The other 15% have taken longer for reasons of large quantities generally But 85% are turned around in six days or less Some more information on how the program is going again 196 inspections 128 or 65% of them have passed and 38 of them or 19% have failed. So one out of every five sewer service is failing because of issues that we are wanting to try to address as part of the program. And then 30 of them or 15% are incomplete for some reason. That reason is generally due to not being able to see everything we need to see on the video. Again, just looking at those numbers, 65% are passing, 19% are failing, and 15% are incomplete. Out of those, again, 196. So that's just some stats on where we're at with the program to date.

So could you clarify, too, the 19% that have failed, that means that we know that that home is introducing clean water into our wastewater? Or it might be some other reason that it's failed.

The main two things that we're looking for are the clean water entry. So we're looking for illicit connections. The second is we are triggering where there are failures in the pipe or there are offset joints that could cause blockages to the new homeowner and things like that. So we're looking for those are the two main factors that are causes of failure. Roots are not a cause of failure.

Thank you.

I guess I would be in favor of maybe getting that group back together again not waiting the six months I think I mean 196 in this shorter period of time I think that's a pretty good number and there's some other items that have come up glitches or Problems that some people have seen that maybe we need to address So I don't know that we need to wait another three months to get the group together Maybe if we could get together sometime this month and get talk about some of these things.

I think it'd be worthwhile I agree with Councilman at large I think we have heard a lot of a story that a lot of people they may not have a the opportunity to come and speak up here, especially those who are closing delay and offer. I would love to see this group come back sooner to see because there's a lot of issues we're seeing out there that individuals like what has been shared in front of us here, they may not have the courage to come and share it in public. The intention, before I look at it on both sides, but seeing now in real life, you know, we have seen a lot of, seem like it's a punishment for other people. I think it would be love to see, to look into more ideas where we can move forward instead of waiting another six months.

And, yeah, I have no issue if that's what the council wants to do is hook that group up again. But the city has shown light onto the issue. Now, if you're a home seller and a home buyer, regardless of the ordinance, I think this is on their radar. You're going to have someone do a sewer line inspection, and it may fail, and that might cause delays or cancellations. So I don't know that the ordinance is hampering that because the light that was shined has shown onto this issue. So again, I'm in the camp of it's new. We're obviously turning it around at a decent rate, but I get the hardship, but I'm interested in, reviewing it, but I'd sure like to get this ordinance a little bit more time before we jump to get that group back together again, but I don't vote here.

What if I make a couple comments quick? Sure. Matt Bartholomew. Norton House Real Estate Group. Joel's been swamped recently, and... As Chris said, we've got a couple that have taken like two weeks. I got two right now I haven't seen in a couple weeks. So, Steve, I know you guys are maybe thinking about having Tia help out with reviewing those videos, but it seems like we might need another person on staff to handle the workload. So I got one closing on Friday, and we don't even know what's going to happen with the sewer yet.

Is some of this because it's new ordinance? Is that why we're under the gun a little bit?

It's closing Friday, and you haven't gotten anything back from us yet? No. Okay. So explain more. Submitted 11 days ago. It was just submitted 11 days ago for the first time? For review, yeah. The first review was submitted to us 11 days ago?

Correct.

Okay. And your closing is when?

Friday.

So two weeks before closing, we received the video? Yeah. Approximately.

Something like that. It was a quick one. I have a lot of them if you want me to put together a list. But I think there should be a process for priority review based on closing date. Put into place or considered as well. If that makes sense.

Yeah, I can understand that to a point too.

It's not the order they came in, but the order of the closing date.

Sure. Sometimes there is circumstances that aren't in the home seller's control. But again, we do need to have a plan. When you sell a home, you think generally you plan for it, but maybe there's cases where it's not.

I know you have to do everything you can to help them out. I think Joel's a little overwhelmed right now.

I hear good things I do. I have heard of one property... through what's the Hormel buyer. They leased their real estate out to Altair, and it was a delay on their end, not ours, but we did move that one up for a priority's sake for that individual.

Yeah, I think some kind of a system. I know with the home ownership system, board and improving some of those loans, we get them kind of short notice because of closing dates and we're kind of rushed on those. It's not necessarily first come, first serve, but we do have to kind of prioritize some of those things and maybe have to look at that with this too as well.

Thank you.

Yeah, I think the council will discuss an option of when we do get back together if we want to get back together. You guys will be the first ones to know. Molly.

Hi, Molly Cass. I just wanted to say that we were told this would take two to three days when this happened. I don't know if you remember that or not. So there's that. And there are issues. I was part of the Altair one that there were issues because we couldn't, there were three plumbers there that couldn't get their cameras around the corners. And so they would hire another plumber, couldn't do it. And it's another corporation, right? So it takes longer to hire it. I was not the listing agent, but yeah, My buyer made some phone calls and got that one processed right away. I'm wondering why that person was able to get that one processed right away, but others aren't. I don't think you probably want that information out there.

It was a call to a council member who was able to get that moved forward, yeah.

Right. So I will say that I have not had a seller that hasn't had their closing happening on time because I do tell them to do it right away. But now plumbers are telling my sellers, we're two, three weeks out before we can get there. So this isn't because we're negligent on getting it there. There's a lot of circumstances. And sometimes we have two-week closings. That just happens.

Yeah, we're not alone in this ordinance. Other cities have it. So maybe it's just growing pains. I'm not sure.

Well, I do think that there's a lot of time spent of agents, lenders, title companies, buyers, sellers, making phone calls to Joel saying, hey, where's this at? I would like to see something that we could reference to, hey, this address, here's where you're at. Here's where, you know, we received both portions of the inspection. You're 15th in line. Just so we're not bugging him all day long. I try really hard not to email him every time I have a question or call him every time I have a question because I know he's busy. But Two weeks, being told it was going to take two to three days, that's a huge difference. And I disagree with Matt. I don't think we need to hire anybody else because this is the busiest time of the year. There's going to be times where Joel's bored with sewer inspections. It's going to get slow in the next couple months for sure. He started drinking from a fire hose. This is our busiest time of the year. But I think if we would get some processes in place, something that we can all reference, even if it's a Google doc, he's got this one, he's got both sections, because there's some agents out there that are really not good, right? And there's people from out of town selling houses here that don't know what they're doing. So there just needs to be more information for all of us to be able to reference without having to bug Joel every time we have a question.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Molly. Joel is our complete housing resource officer. He's doing this as a welcome to the neighborhood. This is now your new task. But he will not be bored once this is over. Steven, what else do you got that you could talk to about a queue, some kind of a queue or information that could go out weekly a couple times a month? I don't know where they're at or in the standing.

Yeah, Molly has asked about that. We've inquired with the county of any ways to post information there and I don't think that's real time enough for what we're looking for so we'll have to research a way I agree that would be a good informational tool if we can find a platform that can where information can be entered and they can see it in real time how theirs is progressing through the process where it's at just need to find something that fits for that type of use.

I wonder if maybe our new Civic Plus partnership would have something, you know, if we brought it to them, what we're looking for. But yeah, I think it would save Joel and Stephen time and it would save all of our realtor friends time as well.

Greg, do you have something? Anybody else have anything? Alright, thanks for your folks' comments and thanks for showing up. We'll be in discussion a little bit further on this issue. Thank you. On reports and recommendations.

Thank you, Mayor. Members, come to a close here. Wednesday will be my last day. It's a bittersweet after 11 and a half years. This isn't just a job that you do, but something that you invest yourself personally in. My kids grew up in Austin. Emma, My youngest was a first grader when we came to Austin and now graduated this last Friday. So a lot of memories that have happened here in Austin. Met some really amazing people. The people of Austin are hardworking people and worthy of great recognition. Just thanks to all that supported me in this position and encouraged us over the times. This position can often be contentious and long hours but The push for a stronger Austin is well worth it. I want to thank my wife, Anita, and my children. Thank you. Thanks, Craigie.

Congratulations on your new position. Right on. We wish you the best.

Thank you. Anybody else have anything?

Julie. Julie.

Yeah, follow it up. We'll get back to it. I just wanted to make sure we knew that summer reading started today. So June 1st through August 8th.

That's all you got, Julie, after this? That's all you got?

That's all you can do?

Summer reading is a big deal. Thank you.

I think Emily had something too, I believe.

I have a little more than Julie, I guess. So as you know, over the last six months since I started in December, finance has kind of been just constantly trying to keep up, and we are definitely not short of talent by any means in our department. We've got Kim and Melissa, who are both very good at what they do and have been here both 18 years. With My arrival at the end of December and Tom's departure in September, there was a little bit of a gap between when he left and when I started. And with that, there's been some catch up and a learning curve. And as you know, the audit has been first and foremost as far as tasks go for the last six months. One area that we are working on with the auditors We have kind of played with the idea of possibly requesting an extension through the state auditor's office just to accommodate the learning curve and working out some of these spreadsheets and different work papers that we need to get to the auditors. With that extension, we would be afforded a few more weeks to get the audit finished without any penalties. So the state auditor's office, you know, it's not something that we want to make a habit, of course, but the city of Austin does not sound like has ever requested an extension. So this would definitely not be a new trend or it would not be something, you know, that we're habitually doing. So I just want the council to be aware that that is an area that we are kind of playing with. And then with that extension, we would also request an extension from the government finance officers association. So that way we can keep our, um, excellence award for our, uh, annual comprehensive report. One area that I also would like to maybe have the council consider as well. Um, right now we are, you know, really knocking out as much as we possibly can. We did lose 30 years worth of knowledge when Tom left, and sometimes it's a humbling thing to admit, but sometimes it's just easier to go to the subject matter expert on some of these items. And consulting with individuals who have the knowledge readily available would be very helpful for us to get through this audit so we could progress onto the budget process and kind of get things going. get, you know, set up for success for the 2026 year. So, um, I guess my ask of council is, um, well, first of all, thank you for being patient with us for the last couple of months, because we have been a little tardy on some reports and things, um, keeping everybody in the know. So we are getting that caught up. But, uh, my primary ask is just, um, you know, if you're willing to entertain the idea of us, maybe getting some outside assistance to get this audit wrapped up and, um, you know, keep moving forward and getting on track with the 2026 or 2027 budget process. We appreciate that.

You said that by asking for the extension, we wouldn't face any penalties of any kind?

The only time that it starts getting into territory where there would be penalties would be if we pushed it out past September 1st. September 1st, the OSA will send a letter to all of the mayors who are in cities that have not submitted their reports. at which point if you do not adhere to the letter and get the reports to them by September 30th, then there is a possibility that they will withhold your LGA contingent upon submitting that report. I don't foresee us going into August at all. I think, you know, that September would be worst case scenario and, you know, I don't think we're to that point. I know that we can crank it out in the next, you know, Six weeks at the most, probably.

I guess I wouldn't have any problem reaching out to Mr. Dankert. I think he's more than willing to help out. I'm kind of disappointed that we haven't taken on his services before this, especially given the fact that there was a considerable gap between him leaving and you coming. I mean, he's the best darn resource for this transition that I think and the best training you could have had was to learn from him. So if we can get that get him engaged in this, I think that would be fantastic.

Yeah, we've been meeting with the auditor, too, so they're well aware that the extension's coming. It'll give us until July 31. Craig has invited, and I know Emily's met with the finance director of Albert Lee. Thank you, Albert Lee, for allowing that person to come over and help get us through this. Mr. Dankert has always been in the mix, so if he can be of assistance, that's great. But I think we'll get through it. We'll just have to file that extension and move on. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anything else?

So is there a specific ask for help? Are you asking for a temporary hire?

Well, you know, with the 2027 budget process coming up, you know, finance never slows down. But I think we are staffing-wise in a better place than we were a couple weeks ago maybe. But, you know, also being conscientious of the budget that we currently have for this year and, you know, the personnel or I guess salary situation where we don't really have the means to bring somebody on temporarily. In a perfect world, yes, that would be great if we could have, you know, a summer temporary person come in and help us, but knowing that the budget doesn't allow for that, I think, you know, we are on track now. You know, we have our days where Melissa and Kim are both here well after 5, sometimes well into the evenings, a lot of weekends. We do a lot from home. You know, it's It's a collaborative effort that I don't foresee being a permanent situation, hopefully. But, you know, if we could bring in outside help, a resource that can efficiently get us the information that we need, that would be ideal. And that way we can just kind of keep plugging through it and get it finished as accurately and quickly as possible. So.

In other words, we should reach out to Mr. Dankert and ask him if he's available.

Well, I guess I'm confused about the budget piece of this.

Yeah, I feel like this is important enough. We have some contingency monies. Like, if there is, you know, a temporary... Obviously, Mr. Dankert has his own big full-time job right now, so I'm sure he's very happy to pop in and answer some questions, but I'm getting the impression that you could use... Somebody who would be hourly billing us to help during the workday. Is that correct?

Yes. I mean, if that is on the table, that is definitely not something.

Is there a place that we could find somebody with those skills?

There's been some discussion. Craig can elaborate.

Yeah. I mean, we're committed to bring whatever resources are necessary to be able to complete the audit and be prepared for the budget. So that's not, we're not operating on an assumption that we wouldn't be able to bring that forward. What's that vendor? There's some outside vendors that do. ABDO does it. There's a couple others that do it as well. So we're just trying to narrow down what it is we have to finish and how we can get there. And would include talking with Mr. Dankert as well.

So, Mr. Mayor. If we know already what we are expecting, if we met the deadline, so knowing that where we are now, we are pressured with time. Instead of waiting the last minute to reach out to the person or the resources we need to complete the job, I think it would be wise enough for us to make that decision now. Instead, last minute, August coming, and then we are reaching out, the person declined. I think it would be good. what we need to do to complete this work. We started now instead of waiting the last minute, especially if Mr. Denker, he offered to help because we haven't heard from him yet because we have not made that reach out yet.

Well, let me just be clear with Council Member Obala that we have not waited till the last minute on this. This has been a moving parts, moving pieces along the way, the whole way. Understanding that Emily might be, you know, certainly behind the eight ball coming into this, but there's been a lot of discussion on how to help. And if there is need for help, those discussions have happened. So we've trusted along the way that we're going to get there. Let's get moving with some help.

Can we trust this? Let's talk about the help and get her some help. Get the department some help.

Yeah, I'm concerned that there's a message out there that there's no funding for this. The council has not been asked to fund anything.

I would suggest then that we really look closely at ABDO doing it all. Coming in and doing it all.

Great.

It may come to that. All right. Well, more to come, certainly. On to reports and recommendations. We'll start with you down there. Rebecca, what do you got?

I just want to say thank you, Clark, for all your assistance. I appreciate everything, and I wish you luck in the future. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you.

Actually, I bet Laura's going to talk about Fourth Avenue Fest, so I'll let her have that one. I'll also appreciate giving my thanks to Craig for the many years. I was fortunate enough to know Craig before I even got started in some of this civil service as neighbors and having the Clark family over to our house. I'm just going to miss seeing them around, but it was great to watch their kids grow up. Watch their dogs get walked by my front door. They've been great neighbors. We are going to miss them.

Thanks, Mike. Jeff?

Yes, Mr. Clark. Thank you for your time here in Austin. You definitely were very dedicated to the city and did your best to help improve where you could. Having been on the council when you were hired, I guess I've been here three years. I do appreciate what you've done for us. I want to say thank you. Sincerely thank you and And wish you good luck in your next endeavor. Thank you, Jim.

Laura. So it's June. I want to officially say happy pride to all who celebrate. Also congratulations to all the high school and college graduates, including at least one in this room. It's a great month. As Mr. Postma said, I'll be... Talking about 4th Avenue Fest, it's coming up in two days. So Wednesday, June 3rd, 4 to 7 in the Horace Austin Park. That's the one between the pool and the library. It is free. It is a rain or shine event. And we're going to have lots and lots of family activities, arts, culture, healthy living, all kinds of things, including our brand new ladder truck from the fire department. So Hope to see everybody out there We are grateful to the Austin Area Foundation and Friends of the Nature Center for help with funding that particular item and then finally thank you to Craig Clark I I too worked with Craig before I was on the City Council back in the vision 2020 days and He was one of my favorite people to sort of talk about the wow idea, like, wow, what if we could do this? And I know he really has a heart for Austin, and I also appreciate what he was saying. It's a city administrator job. It's not just Craig's job. The whole family is part of the package. And saw many of you over the years helping out with various things and being involved in things, and I appreciate that as well. So congratulations and good luck to you.

Thank you. I have two things. First, Mr. Clerk, thank you for everything you have done, especially for putting Austin on the face of the map of the United States to be a welcoming city. I do remember my first time when I moved here, running around to where to get involved. I received your first phone call, you know, getting especially on the committee, starting from the Austin Human Rights Commission. And finally, when I talked to the mayor. So I have seen all the work you have done. A lot of people in Austin, especially someone who look like me, when they come to the city hall, you're always there to answer their question. You're going to be missed. And I wish you all the best in everything you're going to do. I know you will put the next city to be a welcoming city, too. Just continue those in your heart, knowing that you're not just looking outside of people, but you're also looking what is in there. Second thing, I want to thank the people, the team of POS for continuing the advocating, not giving up. So I know there are a lot of work that has taken place in the background, but continue advocating. If something, issue come up, looking forward to hearing more, where we can see, because we want to bring people to in Austin, their job offer being declined due to not getting the house they want. So looking forward to hear more through your work. Thanks a lot.

Paulie. Craig, thank you. I got out of council, I think, whatever, nine, ten years ago when you were new here. We developed a great friendship together. I've enjoyed you as a city administrator. I see your followers. Waterloo is very fortunate to get you. They're getting probably one of the best city administrators they could get. Obviously, we'll be in contact. But thank you. Thanks, Paulie. You're a good friend.

Thanks, Paulie. I got several things here. I'm going to first read the June anniversaries. Trish Weekman, 26 years. Congratulations. Human Resources, Kim Hansen, Finance, 19. John White, Park, Rec, and Forestry for 10 years. Stephen Schmidt, Wastewater Treatment, 10 years. Megan Evenson, Library, 9 years. Dwayne Natz, Park, Rec, and Forestry, 4 years. Ryan Hansen with the Police, 3 years. Chad Peterson, Wastewater Treatment, 3 years. Terry DeRoyne, Human Resources, 1 year. Stephen Lang? Steve Lang? Steve Langy? There's two of you for one year? Of course, there's two of us.

There's two of you out there?

Street maintenance for one year. L-A-N-G-E. Steve Lang. Justin Bickler, paid on call fire 13 years. Nate Peterson, paid on call fire 13 years. And Ernie Hammerow also paid on call fire for 11 years. So we thank you, those folks, for years of longevity, even though it's been one year or 26 years. We thank those folks. On to Craig II you know I got to start out by saying I cried a beer commercial, so I'm hoping I can get through this but Craig has been just an outstanding person I when he came to us I was a councilmember and and certainly there's some exposure to the city administrators a councilmember, but nothing like being the mayor Craig has been my absolute right hand never leaves me without any information always in contact just the amount of work that this man does is outstanding unbelievable always giving of his time for the best interest of Austin there's no doubt about it his heart is absolutely in Austin I'm going to miss the heck out of him but he has been my guiding light throughout and just a buddy thank you Craig and I got a key to the city which I'd love to have his family we got Peyton, Emma, Garrett and Anita in the audience I'd love to take a picture with Craig getting the The key to the city right in front of us here. You want to come up? Council, if you want to join us, you're welcome to join us.

Okay. Thank you.

Well, with all that, you want to make a note that we are having a going away celebration for Craig on Wednesday, June 3rd in the council chambers. It'll be a Steve's Pizza extravaganza between 1130 and 130. You're all welcome to attend. And we thank Craig for his years of service and just a few initiatives that he did spearhead were the Mill on Main Project 1 and 2. I remember our first field trip over to Mankato. to drum up a developer to help us with that. And he, along the way, called me fastidious. And once I went home and looked it up, he's right. I am fastidious. So I learned that word on our first field trip. But, you know, also I think new tech, going forward with that, that huge development and them coming here was going to get a lot of impact, whether in our housing, getting our tax abatement through, and some of our street assessments, the way we really assess and do things differently. A lot of credit goes to Craig for those things. So we as citizens of Austin certainly benefited by your time here, and you've always been a visionary. Helped me in a lot of conversations I had with Craig. Well, he'll see something, and he's right. I don't see it that way because I'm kind of a native, and I see it as differently, and it can't be changed. But Craig sees it. Hey, if we do that here, what does this look like over there? And he does plant some seeds in my head there. So I always appreciated that. So thank you, Craig, and you're all welcome to come for the pizza party on June 3rd.