City Council - Regular Meeting

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. Brie, can you call the roll, please? Mayor King. Present.

Council Member at Large, Austin.

Present.

Council Member Waller. Present. Council Member Baskin.

Present.

Council Member Postma.

Present.

Council Member Helle.

Present.

Council Member Obala. Present. Council Member Fisher.

Present.

Mayor King, we have a quorum.

Thank you, Bray. Item number one is the adoption of our agenda. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item number two is approving amendments from our July 6, 2026 meeting. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That also carries. Item number three is our consent agenda. Need a motion? So moved. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The motion carries. Item number four, the recognitions and awards. We're recognizing four firefighters today, Josh Kunze, Matt Wise, Matthew Hatton, and Ian Caruso. I want to read a letter that I got from the council and I got from the mayor, Sheriff Sandvik, Moore County Sheriff, As Mayor King and esteemed members of the Austin City Council, I am ready to express my sincere appreciation and commend the members of the Austin Fire Department who responded to a mutual aid request for a fast water rescue in Leroy, Minnesota on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. During a significant flooding event, the Austin Fire Department was requested to assist with the rescue of a family of four and their pets who had become trapped in their home by rapidly rising floodwaters from the upper Iowa River. Firefighters Josh Kunze, Matt Wise, Matthew Hatton, and Ian Crusoe responded with the department's water rescue equipment and successfully assisted in the rescue of two adults, two juveniles, and seven family pets. The response to Leroy was particularly challenging due to the widespread flooding affecting roads throughout both Austin and Moore County. As conditions continued to deteriorate, the crew was required to repeatedly assess changing circumstances and alter their route to safely reach the incident. Despite these obstacles, they remained focused, adaptable, and committed to the mission. While providing mutual aid is a routine part of emergency services, the professionalism, dedication, and teamwork demonstrated by Josh Kunze, Matt Wise, Matthew Hatton, and Ian Caruso deserve special recognition. Their expertise and willingness to respond beyond their jurisdiction were instrumental in the successful outcome of this rescue. Their actions exemplify the highest standards of the Austin Fire Department and reflect great credit upon the city of Austin. On behalf of the Moore County Sheriff's Office, I extend my sincere gratitude to these firefighters and to the Austin Fire Department for their continued commitment to protecting lives throughout our region. Please accept my appreciation for supporting a department whose members consistently answer the call whenever and wherever they are needed. Respectfully, Steve Sandvik, Moore County Sheriff. So I just got that letter, and I can't help but recognize you folks publicly, you four. I know it is out of our general jurisdiction. Like he said, you usually do mutual aid calls, but this was something that obviously impacted the lives of those folks and their seven pets. So I understand maybe a couple years back we got some new water rescue equipment, probably came in pretty handy for that event. So if you guys want to step before the folks here and we'll come down and maybe Trish will get a picture, I'd certainly like to. If any other fire and PD is here, it's great to see that kind of support for you folks. I know every day is your heroes every day. But to have something like that, we can't help but recognize that extra effort. So appreciate it, Matt, Ian, Matthew, Josh. So why don't you come forward.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

And again, remarkable that the folks came to support him. I know these folks are generally probably off duty right now, so I appreciate the time to come and help us with that recognition. Thank you. On to number five, a presentation from Crystal Vandivender, Parenting Resource Center. Crystal here. All right. Maybe next time we can get her. I know that Watsana Theravong is here for the STARS Mentoring Program. Watsana, oh, hold on.

Oh, yeah. There we go.

We've got to get a picture of that.

Come to the microphone, please, Watsana. So Watsana is the executive director of the STARS mentoring program and here to talk about the cook-off we have between myself and Mayor of Albert Lee, and now we also have the Mayor of Conger joining us, I think it's this Friday. And, yeah, so take it away, Watsana.

Thank you, Your Honor, and city council members for this opportunity to share the joys of community. My name again is Watsana Thiravong. I'm the executive director of the STARS Mentoring Program, a mentoring initiative serving rural communities, several, including Austin. I am here today with Alani, our junior advocate, and Taylor McCalla, the board president. Tonight we recognize that leadership makes a meaningful difference, especially from the unique advantage point for those who serve our communities. Mayors hold the ability to shape our cities, uplift our residents, and inspire others through advocacy and example. I did not have the opportunity last year to formally acknowledge the Mayor King support of our mentoring program during the 2025 fundraiser, where you earned your mayor cook-off competition while proudly promoting STARS mentoring program. It is my honor to present that award to you this evening and in the same spirit of fun and friendly competition, also take back as you will once again be competing for the title this Friday at First Lutheran in Elverlee from 5.30 to 7.30. We deeply appreciate your partnership and advocacy for the STARS program. You have shown us the true meaning of leadership and community, the kind that rolls up its sleeves and stands shoulder to shoulder with our small but mighty and cohesive caring adults. Together, we have fostered meaningful connections and created powerful impacts in the lives of our young future leaders. Your support has helped build the community where mentorship thrives and where every child has a chance to grow, belong, and shine. I now yield to Alani, who is our junior advocate, and Taylor McCuller, our board president. Good evening.

Welcome back, Alani. She was our mayor for the day.

I'M GLAD TO BE BACK. GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL MEMBERS. AS A STUDENT AT AUSTIN HIGH SCHOOL AND A JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE STARS MENTORING PROGRAM, I HAVE SEEN FIRSTHAND HOW STRONG LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT CAN MAKE A MEANINGFUL IMPACT ON THE LIVES OF OUR YOUTH. I AM GRATEFUL TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHADOW MAYOR KING. for a day and have him become one of my mentors as he has taught me the importance of leading with compassion, integrity, and authenticity. I have used these skills to be a strong role model for my peers and mentor other youth through the STARS mentoring program. We are so thankful for your continuous support and I look forward to seeing the positive impacts we can continue making on our communities. And Mayor King, good luck this Friday, and I hope to see you become the back-to-back cook-off champion. Thank you.

Thank you, Alani. I'm hopeful. Taylor, how are you tonight?

Good. How are you? I'm the board president, Taylor McCullough, of the STARS Mentoring Program. I want to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support and continuous contributions. and commitment to the STARS mentoring program. Every year, I look forward to this annual fundraising event, the banter and comedy that come along with it as well. Thank you so much for everything that you do for our little program.

Appreciate that, Taylor. Thank you, Alani. Yeah, sure, and you're going to take this back. I'm happy that Taylor mentioned the banter, the good-natured banter. We were on the radio show, myself and Mayor Murray over in Elberle last week, and he's good-natured about it, certainly, but even though I Pretty much waxed him last year by one vote. We'll see what happens this year. We've got a third mayor now from Conger participating.

Yeah, we can get a picture. I'll get that.

I don't think it was mentioned, but it does need to be mentioned that Hormel Foods does sponsor the pork chops that we cook. So thank you to Hormel Foods. We're pretty good at making chili. Moving on under public hearings. We have reviewing tax payment from HRA property.

I believe it's a it's the twin home breathe Correct so we have a tax payment being requested from the HRA They're proposing to build a duplex down dwelling is located on a vacant lot on 24th Avenue Northwest each home would be valued at three hundred and eighty five thousand dollars and The application is in conformance with the city's policy for a tax abatement, and the clerk's office is recommending approval of each of the applications. This is a public hearing.

All right. Does anyone hear from the public wishing to speak on this matter? Hearing none, counsel, any questions on this tax abatement?

I would just add it's really exciting. I know the HRA has been working for a couple of years to try, you know, they've done a house every year and they've been fantastic. So to be able to bump up to a twin home is very exciting. And part of that is due to the large number of students that Riverland's been having through their great construction program. So we're doing double the houses this year. So kudos to Riverland and HRA. Excellent.

Thank you, Mike.

LOOKING FOR A RESOLUTION ON 6A.

SO MOVED. SECOND.

COUNCIL MEMBER FISHER. AYE. COUNCIL MEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCIL MEMBER BASKIN. AYE. COUNCIL MEMBER POSMA.

AYE.

COUNCIL MEMBER HULLEY. AYE. COUNCIL MEMBER AT LARGE AUSTIN. AYE. RESOLUTION PASSES 6-0.

THANK YOU, BRIE. AND THE OTHER SIDE, 6B. SO MOVED. SECOND.

Councilmember Fisher Councilmember Waller I Councilmember Baskin I'm Councilmember postma I'm Councilmember Helley I Councilmember at large Austin I Resolution passes 6-0.

Thank you very moving on to item number 700 bids and awards we have the 2026 sanitary sewer lining project Steven

As you described, we did a project for lining sanitary sewer. This is where we install a pipe inside of an existing sewer main, and then we cure it in place, and it becomes essentially a sleeve inside of that existing sewer main. And describing it a little bit more is when these old clay sewers were installed back 50, 60, 70 years ago, there is a joint every two or three feet. So by putting this sleeve inside, we're able to go about 400 feet and eliminate all of the joints, all those opportunities for root infiltration, groundwater infiltration. And then what they do is they come back with a machine and they cut out where all the services are connected. So it's a less intrusive process than complete reconstruction. It's able to happen in a fairly short amount of time with very little impact to adjacent property owners. So before you tonight, our bids from two contractors with In-Situ Form Technologies USA being the low bidder at $1,443,068.29. And the project is being located in the southwest part of town down by the fairgrounds. We're going from First Avenue Southwest down 9th Street. At 4th Avenue, we're going west to 12th Street, and then we're continuing down 12th Street by the fairgrounds and ending our project at 11th Avenue Southwest. So with that, we would recommend Council Award for the low bidder.

And Stephen, do they access them through the manholes? They don't cut up the roads? That's correct. They access them through manholes. Excellent. Thank you. Council, any questions, comments?

I have a question. Sure. Steven, I noticed that the engineer's estimate was about 25% low compared to the ultimate bid. Do we know why that is? Is that any cause for concern?

I think it's just reflective of the current status of the bidding climate for these types of contractors. We usually give them a very large window. I think we have about a 12-month window for them to complete this work. It really doesn't matter to us if they do it tomorrow or they do it 11 months from now. So we try to give them a wide variety to allow them to fit it into their schedule. So we feel like we've given them a good window to try to get as competitive bids as possible. We do have two bids. Yes, they are both above our estimate and looks like we just need to refine our estimates and get them up to where the current industry standard is for some of this work.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Yeah, you sort of answered it, it sounds like. So we don't know when this is going to start. And second question is, will folks see any disruption of service, turn off, any of that sort of stuff?

Yeah, so because this is a trunk sewer, it's a 24-inch pipe that runs along here. So we will be bypass pumping. We have to reroute the flow of the wastewater around the work area. So there'll be coordination with adjacent property owners as some of those above-ground pipes for bypass pumping might impact driveways, things like that. There can also be an odor that comes from this. When the resins are curing the pipe material, there is an odor that comes off it. We were recently just... A week and a half ago, we were doing pipelining on 4th Avenue Northwest, and there are some odors in some of the downtown businesses that were occurring during that process. But letters are sent out to adjacent property owners to try to coordinate and minimize that as much as possible. Thank you.

Very good. If nothing else, looking for a resolution for the sewer lining project. So moved. Brie.

Council Member Fisher. Aye. Aye. COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER BASKIN. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER POSMA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HELLY. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER LARGE-AUSTIN. AYE. RESOLUTION PASSES 6-0.

THANK YOU. MOVING ON TO PETITIONS AND REQUESTS. WE HAVE ITEM NUMBER 8, APPROVING CITY HALL SECURITY SYSTEM UPGRADES. SPOKE ABOUT THAT LAST MEETING OR TWO. LOOKING FOR RESOLUTION. SO MOVED. SECOND. AGREE.

COUNCILMEMBER FISHER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER BASKIN. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER POSMA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HELLEY. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER LARGE-AUSTIN. AYE. RESOLUTION PASSES 6-0.

VERY GOOD. THANK YOU, BRIE. I'M NUMBER 9, APPROVING AGREEMENT WITH THE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER. I NEED A RESOLUTION. CHIEF HARTMAN DID PROVIDE BACKUP. IT'S THE SAME CONTRACT AS WE'VE BEEN DOING FOR ABOUT 25 YEARS, AND IT'S VERY HELPFUL. SO WE'RE JUST WISHING TO RENEW THAT AGAIN TO HAVE TWO CS, SRO OFFICERS IN THE SCHOOLS.

I know they are very appreciated by the schools. They are heavily utilized, and I think they do a great job with the kids and probably preventing a lot more issues. So I would move to approve. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Three.

Councilmember Fisher. Aye. Councilmember Waller. Aye. Councilmember Baskin. Aye. Councilmember Postma. Aye. Councilmember Helley. Aye. COUNCILMEMBER LARGE-AUSTIN. AYE. RESOLUTION PASSES 6-0.

THANK YOU, BRIE. ADD MEMBER TANNER, APPROVING UPDATE TO THE DATA PRAXIS POLICY, JUST ADDING DAVE UNMOCKED AS A DATA PRAXIS POLICY. NEED RESOLUTION. SO MOVED.

SECOND.

BRIE.

COUNCILMEMBER FISHER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER BASKIN. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER POSMA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HELLY. AYE. Council Member at Large Austin. Aye. Resolution passes 6-0. Thank you.

Item number 11 is approving extension of the conditional purchase agreement with the Austin Utilities with the second indoor pool over across the street, the water tower. That was in 2016. We were going to do a 10-year, I think, and then take it down. I guess it's in great shape. Austin Utilities wants to keep it for a little while longer, so Mr. Byrum did a nice job with Austin Utilities to extend that resolution or that time period, how long that will last. WAS ALSO INVOLVED, AND THEY HAD NO PROBLEM WITH IT. COULD I GIVE ANYTHING MORE TO SAY ON THAT? LOOKING FOR A RESOLUTION ON THE EXTENSION OF THAT WATER TOWER. SO MOVED.

SECOND.

THREE.

COUNCILMEMBER FISHER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER WALLER. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER BASKIN. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER POSTMA. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HELLEY. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER AT LARGE AUSTIN. AYE.

Resolution passes 6-0 thank I'm number 12 is resolution approving an application to conduct Off-sale gambling for the fraternal order of the Eagles and that's still they can gamble at the fairgrounds during the fair week looking for resolution So moved Second bring Councilmember Fisher.

Hi Councilmember Waller. Hi Councilmember Baskin. Hi Councilmember postman. All right Councilmember Haley. Hi Councilmember at Large Austin. Aye. Resolution passes 6-0.

Thank you. Item number 13 is granting the Planning and Zoning Department the power to contract for the removal of junk and or legally stored vehicles at the following location, 607 6th Street Northwest, the Torres property. Need a motion? So moved.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item number 14, granting the Planning and Zoning Department the power to contract for the removal of junk and or legally stored vehicles at the following location, 711 12th Ave Southwest, the VP Rental Property, LLC. Need a motion? So moved.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to citizens addressing the council. Is there any citizens in the audience wishing to speak with council members of items that weren't on the agenda? Sure, Nick. If you could, Nick, just name and address for the record, please.

Personal address or the company address?

Whatever you want to give us.

All right. Nick Novotny with Impact Austin and the Development Corporation of Austin, 329 North Main, Suite 106L. On June 13th, Impact Austin hosted Downtown Dish. It was a first-year event, and I just wanted to come and... kind of lay out my gratitude to some specific folks within the city. Doing events is very difficult, and one of the biggest challenges is navigating how to make some of these things happen with licensing, permitting, equipment, all the fun stuff. So I just wanted to personally come and thank a few folks, Jason Sehan and the Parks and Rec Department, as always, are rock stars. Chief Hartman, Captain Clennon, Lieutenant Wallenberg, community service officers with the APD, very helpful again with road closures, all of that sort of stuff. And as a first time person doing an event in this community, uh, kind of learning how to do these things, uh, Brianne Wolf and Wanda Hatfield with clerks and going through all of the licensing and Stephen Lang with engineering. Um, again, it's a challenge doing these sorts of things and I've done events in other communities and run into significantly more roadblocks with, uh, interacting with municipalities for these kinds of things. And, uh, City of Austin staff and folks made it an absolute dream and made it really easy to help answer all of my questions that I had. And so I just wanted to come and say thank you publicly to all those folks in supporting Impact Austin, the DCA, and our mission of supporting local businesses and making Austin a really awesome place to live, visit, and work. Because we had over a thousand folks from the community and abroad come downtown back in June 13th, and we just appreciate all the support from the city on that.

Thank you, Nick. I appreciate the gratitude. And also, you know, I know you come to this position with several planning events over in Rochester. So to say it was seamless and did a nice job, I take that to heart because I know you're highly involved in what goes on over in Rochester too, some of these places. So are we going to have one more?

That's it for this summer, but we're already making plans for next year. So see how we can grow it.

Okay. Thank you, Nick. Anyone else wishing to speak with council on items that were on the agenda? Welcome. Just name and address, please.

My name is Becky Rector and my address is 1707 3rd Avenue Northeast here in town. As we all know, we had a major flood event again on our street. My neighbor's basement caved in. She's not the only one. Apparently there were a couple more in Austin. We had not those kind of problems until you fixed our street, which is not a fix. I was told the last time I was here, is an artery for first, fourth, and fifth. You need to fix something because we cannot do this year after year. And I get a nod. I mean, the work that we put into it to get back to where we want to be.

Seventh Ave as well. Seventh Avenue? Seventh Ave, Northwest.

And the southeast part of town.

16th Street to 4th Avenue or whatever it was from 6th Street Sure, I'm sorry for the that's more than inconvenience It's just tragic when you get water is it sewage water that's coming up.

I tried calling the city I did call the city and and I got said you need to talk to so-and-so and I got Transferred to that person that person hung up on me. I don't even know who it was because I didn't get any That was rude Because I said, you need to come out and you need to check these sewers. I mean, my house was literally an island.

The rest of you are here for the same reasons.

When you turn the pumps back on, because I get the treatment center doesn't want to be flooded, everything went down like in 15 minutes.

Thank you, Ms. Rector. Stephen, can you respond to what the city has been doing and is aware of?

We don't shut any pumps off. We add pumps. And to try to help the situation. So just to call that theory, we do not shut off pumps. We actually add pumps. Yeah, so the northeast and southeast neighborhoods east of Eastside Lake and down near the Ellis neighborhood were hit hard during the 2024 flood. And I think we had a full council chambers the very next council meeting after that. And a lot of those same property owners are here tonight. or were hit again from the events that happened around the 4th of July. Just a little more background on it. So we had the six inches of rain on the 2nd of July, and then about a week later we had another six inches of rain. And I had sent some information out to council following the second rainfall event, and I mentioned that we Our flows at the treatment plant were 17 million gallons per day. They were actually 27 million gallons per day. Our normal dry weather flow is about 4 million gallons per day. So it was a huge increase for us as we tend to see during these events. But following the 2000, so there's, The basement collapses that occurred. Unfortunately, when we hear about those, they happen in the northeast part of town. It has to do with the clay soils and the way those clay soils move or don't hold water during rain events. So that's a rain-related issue. And that volume of rain and the intensity that it came down on that afternoon was just something that, some of these basements couldn't handle due to the age and condition of those block walls. But as it relates to the sanitary sewer, since 2024, we've initiated a couple studies with WHKS to try and understand more about our system and ensure that our system is sized properly. And for us, through those studies we have been able to ensure that our system is sized properly I believe it's even sized for about a three times the normal flow is what the system is sized for which is a normal engineering standard unfortunately what's happening in these areas is we're getting excess flow of greater than that standard three times flow. We're getting four, five, six times our normal peak. So that is what's happening in these neighborhoods. And we have, I know these folks are along Third Avenue Northeast, but we do have some projects planned in 27 and 28. We have about $3.5 million worth of projects planned along Sixth Avenue Southeast and Ellis Ditch, as that area has a large number of sewer backups. We have also, since the 2024 flood, we've implemented the point of sale program. That is a program that was implemented to try to find and eliminate these footing drain connections as a source of clear water into the system. So we are, unfortunately, there isn't one smoking gun solution that's going to fix it for everybody. It's going to be a slow process where we're gonna continue to pick away at it. As a homeowner, One thing I would always encourage homeowners to do that they have the opportunity to do is, but it costs money, is to install a check valve. By installing a check valve, you are giving yourself some sort of security to try to prevent sewer backups and water coming back up into your home with a check valve. A lot of these homes were built in the 60s and 70s. In the current building code, check valves are a standard installation on a new home build. But it just was not when these homes were built. But that's something that individual property owners could do if they are, as the city works through this on a multi-year, decade-long plan to really make improvements in a neighborhood, a check valve is something that a homeowner could do on their timeline in a much more quicker turnaround. So that's just one of many things But that's some background of what we've done and also for the homeowners, things that we've been looking into. But it's a long-term plan to try to work at a solution for this.

And that check valve, does that involve digging the yard up or where does that get installed?

The goal would be to install it inside of the house in the basement so that you have access to it at all times in the future for cleaning and different things like that.

Thank you. Sir, you can come to the microphone, please. Give us your name and address.

Are you talking in front of people?

I do, too.

Hi, Steve. Welcome.

Name and address, please, for the record.

Scott Novitski. I live at 710 Oakland Place, Northeast. And so I got 7th Ave on one side and Oakland Place on the other. My question to you, Steve, which I'm sure I've asked before, what did y'all do differently... When you guys did these streets, is there a different grade with these sewer lines or what? Because a lot of these houses have never had issues before, ever. And I just had an estimate for a check valve put in. I got two. The first one was $3,600. And I'm waiting for the other one to come back. So, I just don't understand how we go from... dry basements you do the sewer work and then I had five feet of sewer water in my basement my basement's demolished just had a new water heater put in today thankfully insurance is covering that but I just don't get how you go from never having issues all of a sudden I don't get it

I don't have an answer.

I've talked to Scott a couple different times. I've looked at a video of his sewer service. We've looked at the sewer improvements or changes that we did during the street project. Scott's at a dead end line. It doesn't make any sense why he's experiencing sewer backups now.

Most of my neighbors have not gotten anything. I mean this time the one did.

So you took on water on the year 24 flood and that was high water.

I've been there two and a half years.

That's been a crazy amount of storm water.

Ultimately it's going to impact whoever has the lowest basement in a neighborhood. That's who's going to be impacted first and Based on the lay of the land, we'd have to do some surveying and double-check, and it may not solve a problem. It would give us more information, but Scott's basement might be the lowest in his neighborhood, which is why he's seeing more impact than others. It's going to happen to the lowest basement, but we've looked at it, we've talked about it, and I just don't have a good solution for Scott. We did Yeah, we've talked about footing drains and other things as well.

And I'm going to this time around.

You're disconnecting the footing?

Also $3,600. I'm sure as hell we ain't got that laying around.

You'll be disconnecting the footing drains? Is there a footing drain that's connected? That is the problem. So you're going to cap those off. Okay. Thank you for doing that.

My name is Jody Bertland. I am speaking in regards to my mother, Myrna Stopey. She lives at 1709 3rd Avenue Northeast. She is the one that received the wall collapsing. She has lived there for 60 years. We've had previous heavy rains in those past years, like when Keynes, all that, flooded out. So her basement maybe had a trickle of water coming in, but never had sewer back up like she's done it. This has happened in 24 and this year. 24 insurance covered, new furnace, new hot water. This year, they're not covering anything. She's 90 years old. And as far as what you said about the lowest in the basement, so are you saying that everybody here on 3rd Avenue and some live above them and they had sewer backward, that they have the lowest basements? How does that work?

They're in the condos behind my mom, Becky, a few others.

And the last two years they've also, since you did the streets, have had backup, sewer backup. Insurance companies are going to start denying the claims and cancel them. What's the city going to do about that?

Ma'am, please, if you could just keep it down a little bit. I understand your anger, but Stephen, what's WHKS? Do they sculpt these things? You've used an outside engineering agency. What's their...

Right, so we have in our CIP a plan to do a more aggressive, pretty much a point of sale, but the city would actually go out and scope these services looking for connections to try to reduce that clear water impact. But fortunately it keeps getting moved back on our list just based on time and other projects and things going on. And I know that's not what these folks want to hear, but it's also... We've talked about that through our point of sale is why doesn't the city initiate a program like we did with the sump pump inspections. But to do a sewer service inspection is a lot more intrusive to a home than the sump pump. The sump pump was just a visual inspection, but a sewer service inspection may involve pulling someone's toilet to get access to the sewer line. It may be cutting in a new clean out to be able to get access. And any time we as a city go into someone's house and make modifications like that, we become liable for things. And there's a lot of risk with that. So that's why we've shied away from implementing a city-based inspection program like that. Yes, we have hired WHKS to study. We continue to look at the main size. We have a lift station up in that area that also pumps into this system that we're trying to reduce flow into that lift station, which would then reduce flow into this system. So it's a large network, kind of like the tree behind you. Lots of different layers, lots of different lines coming into it. Lots of different things could be impacting it. And we're working to try to identify those sources and eliminate them.

Thank you.

Well, this is my daughter. She lived in the house at the time, her and her daughter. They are now homeless because of this.

Would the check valve be the same situation for these folks? Not on that. That's water pressure around your foundation that's going to collapse a foundation. That's not sewer related.

Water we never had there, though, until the road was done. Exactly. It was our entire yard. All the way in the back and up the hill to these people. Never once until that road was done. Even the church across the street. And they're okay.

We had intersection flooding everywhere around town. there were homes in neighborhoods all over town that had water coming in their egress windows because of just the amount of water flowing across the ground because it rained so hard. I've been here for 25 years and I have never seen the amount of water in intersections like I did on July 8th. That was the most intense rain.

You realize this has all happened since you guys did the streets. Like I said, my mom's been there 60 years. Becky and Gary have been there 20-some years. I'm not sure about all these other ones. They never had the flooding. We literally watched it come, stop, do the road, and literally go all the way up the street of 3rd Avenue.

Us, the city, rebuilding 3rd Avenue does not impact the weather.

But it did, because you put a 32-inch pipe into a 38. When are you going to fix that? Because that's what you said the last time.

Our street pipe. project does not impact the weather.

It did. It doesn't impact the weather but it certainly impacts my house.

This is what you guys did.

Why is everybody blaming Stephen for 13 inches of rain?

I'm not blaming him.

I think what I want to impart though is that the city is aware of it and we're doing what we can to eliminate that and you also, I appreciate Scott's willingness to go get a check valve. I lived in my house in Southwest for 21 years. I've never gotten water. I got water in my basement.

My other question is for these valves. I have heard that sometimes that can cause so much pressure that your pipe can blow, your sewer pipe can blow and can go all the way out in the street. So if all these people do that and that happens, who's going to be reliable for that? Them?

I suppose you're getting into some old infrastructure in your home.

Yes, it could cause increased pressure in the sewer mains. That is... That could be a result of it. Instead of it spilling back into your basement, it would increase pressure in the main possibly.

Okay, well, so not such a good idea.

And the downsizing of the storm sewer would require us to excavate or get across Oakland Place.

And when is your plan to do that?

It's currently not on the list.

One thing to remember about previous floods That wasn't caused by rain in the city of Austin that was caused by rains north of us That flooded Turtle Creek that flooded the Cedar River that flooded Dobbins coming into town which caused those floods it wasn't like these events where we're having excessive rainfall in a short period of time to cause that kind of flowage.

So can you explain then when... Ma'am, could you please come to the microphone, please?

We'll get this on record. Name and address, please.

When all of us walk...

Hold on. Name and address, please.

My name is Jackie Mickey, and I live on 3rd Avenue along with these people. And... Our place isn't that old. It was built in 93. We've lived there since day one. Never had water ever until two years ago after the street was done and the pipes were put in wrong. And I have never seen, I wasn't home when this all happened. And they sent me pictures. My neighbor girl sent me pictures. And our whole street was like a river. And I've never seen the water like that. And we've had a lot of water in town before when places have all been flooded, but we never were. Now you put all these berms around different areas of town, but nothing on our side of town to help us like the other side of town.

The berms are for the river water, not rainwater.

Well, see, I don't know all this. I'm just bringing up what I know. But I would think if the problem is these drains being the wrong size, I would think that would be a priority because otherwise our property goes down in value. Like they said, people won't get insurance anymore. You know, it's a real headache when after 30 years, we never had it.

So something needs to happen with, with the storm sewer. Um, that, The rain event that occurred, we had six inches in six hours. And that equates to a 100-year storm event, rain event. Our storm sewers are not designed for a 100-year event. That 30-inch, 42-inch storm sewer, as large as that is, that's probably designed for a 15- to 20-year event. So we... It would take four of those pipes to handle a 100-year event, and there just isn't the space in the road, there isn't the money available. No city designs their storm sewer system for a 100-year event. It is standard to design it for anywhere from that 10- to 25-year event, and that's what the storm sewer is, excluding the crossing of Oakland Place, but the storm sewer on your road, was constructed for that 15 to 20 year event.

Here's another perplexing thing to me. Okay, so all this water is there. Everybody can see it. And all of a sudden, you must open up a drain because it's like, and it's gone. That happened two years ago and it happened again.

Yep, it just takes time for everything to catch up. Did it stop raining when the, did the water finally go down when it stopped raining?

I wasn't here when it happened, but I was here two years ago. Okay. But it's like you open up a drain or something because it just sucks it down.

So if our system is designed to cover 25% of the rain, our system handles that. The other 75% ponds or runs over the surface, and then as the rain event stops, the system gradually catches up, and then the water is gone.

It wasn't gradual. It was like instant.

I drove around between 7 and 9 o'clock the night after that That happened about 4 o'clock. We got that deluge, and I saw the streets at the time over the curb into the entrances of businesses downtown. By 7 o'clock, though, it looked like you'd drive around right now. It was gone. So it is, I think, like Stephen says.

It's like when you fill a bathtub and you pull the drain, but the drain, it doesn't go down right away. It slowly goes down. This is like instant.

Amazing, yep.

So, you know, that's a perplexing thing.

There's no shenanigans from the city about a drain plug somewhere, so I don't assure you.

Thank you, folks. I have a question for Mr. Lang. When we have asked WKS to look at these neighborhoods, have they found any evidence that there was a problem with the street project from a few years ago? or that there wasn't a problem from the street project a few years ago? Are they actually examining that to find out if that is a factor in what's happening?

We televise all of the sanitary sewers in the city. So we started that in 2018 with WHKS. And then after some of these street reconstruction projects occurred during that time, and then they get televised after it is complete, and we have not found any Any issues that would point to the sewer reconstruction being a cause? No. We have not found anything with either our own inspections or WHKS.

Is there a reason that there's only on just the long block of 3rd Avenue before you hit the second block to go to the airport, is there a reason there's only four... Inlets? Storm sewers. Is there a reason on that whole block there's only four?

Not particularly, no. No specific reason for or against it.

So for is appropriate for that big a block, which is like two blocks normally.

Yeah. Yes. Yes.

All right, maybe we can move up that under Oakland Avenue, put in the CIP project and see if we can alleviate some of the problem there. Thank you, folks. Sorry for what's happening to your homes.

So next steps as we think about it. We'll take a look at the CIP piece of it because I think it is worth a, if we've got stuff that we have plans to do, it's worth us looking at how do we potentially move some of that stuff up because I think that's fair. And then I think just for the last, and I get the frustration piece because there is nothing worse than getting water in your basement and especially multiple times in it, period. Stephen, am I understanding it correctly that The difference between probably prior floods and what we've seen, at least 24 and 26, is the right way to think about that. The biggest difference is previous flooding was generally, as Jeff was talking about, from a tremendous amount of rain, rivers would come up over the side, and we've built a lot of flood mitigation in order to deal with The difference the last two times has been just the intensity of the rain that has come down in a short amount of time, which is stronger than what we've seen historically. Is that the right way to think about it?

Yeah, I believe that would be accurate. You know, people talk about climate change, whether you believe in it or not. Our storms are changing. Our summer thunderstorms are changing and they're getting stronger and more intense. Yes. Dropping more water in a shorter period of time.

So then as we think about the neighborhood, I think we can look at, I mean, and it wasn't just, this one was obviously impacted, but I know we saw a lot on the southwest side, you know, streets that were flooded. We saw, I mean, areas that frankly of town I've never seen flooded before that were flooded. I think it's worth us as a council as we go through the CIP, and I think Stephen, you and your team do a really nice job of looking at the We've done a lot of great mitigation work around river-based flooding. Are there some things that we need to be looking at as well that can help to mitigate longer terms if this is the new kind of reality we're living in? Obviously, it doesn't solve any of the short-term issues, but I think it's worth strategically making a look at that pivot. So thank you for coming out, guys.

Mayor I think mrs. Ogier has a question You come to microphone please give your name and address Northeast didn't we get it in 2000 and 2004 get a lot of rain in a short period of time also in 2004

That was more flooding over the riverbank, so that wasn't groundwater, I don't believe.

We didn't get a lot of rain. Had to have.

We probably got it from the north, too. I think one of the more fortunate things, because Amy Klobuchar's southern district guy lives in Faribault, if we would have had any rain north, it would have been a completely different story. But that storm was right over the top of Austin and poured on people's lawns. Blooming Prairie had 15 inches left. That's why Lyle and Leroy got impacted.

We also got a lot of rain in a short period.

2004, I think, was more river water.

And there still wasn't any sewer backup in those two events.

I agree. If we can move up the CIP and elevate that a little bit. Hold on. Thank you.

We'll get to it. Just so I understand, I don't want to, because I will agree, I saw water intersections in my neighborhood that I have never seen before, and I think one of the things that really struck me about the storm, because I was kind of home working, watching the whole thing, is you say six inches in six hours, but it was really like four or five inches in like two hours. It just opened up and didn't stop, and so that's where I just saw ponding in places I'd never seen before. Did Did you say that we went from 4 million gallons in our sewer system to 27 million gallons? So obviously, there's been a lot of discussion and things we've done as a council on keeping clear water out of our sewer system. There's still a lot of work to do. But then you also mentioned starting to... And I understand what you're saying about we can only inspect so much because it's a little intrusive. But I'm also... If we're going to have some inspections that are not point of sale, folks might find some big repairs that they have to do without a way to pay for it. So is that, are we going to be looking at doing some of those inspections? What does that look like?

Yeah, we have it identified as a three-year timeline. Again, I keep moving it back. It was probably 26 to 28 originally when we put it in there. Now it's probably... 28 to 30 is our timeline for doing those. And our concern is, like you're saying, we piggybacked the point of sale because that's a time when money is exchanging hands. If we come in and just knock on someone's door and tomorrow we inspect it, well, it's noncompliant. Where are they going to come up with the money to fix it? So that's why we're a little hesitant to initiate a program that doesn't occur during point of sale because how does someone fund it when we just show up at their door? So But right now, I'd have to look at our CIP that we'll be reviewing it with the council here coming up in less than a month, and we can talk about where that fits in our five-year timeline.

Thank you. Sir? Name and address, please.

Tim Tolliver, 400 Oakland Place Northeast. we weren't impacted by the sewer backup also. So I know the city's been doing a lot. I mean, obviously Steven's been answering questions here about your relining pipes, you're doing sump pump inspections, you're doing sewer televising and doing all that. So in theory, we should be reducing our inflow or our flow going through the sewer system. And as you guys are doing street repairs, my understanding is now you're putting seal down lids and all the manholes. And so we should be getting less clear water going into the sewer system. But is there an opportunity where the sewer system is taking on a large amount of storm water? Obviously we had a lot of streets that were flooded. Is there opportunities there that can be addressed that's gonna help this on the sewer system? Because obviously we should be reducing flow with all these programs and policies that are being put in place. And so if we're doing good things, we should be doing that. We should be decreasing the amount of water coming into the sewer system. But obviously, historically, we're seeing a bigger problem with sewer backups than what we've seen. And I know a lot of people got up here and talked about the past floods in 2000. That flood, there was 6 to 10 inches of rain in Austin, depending on where you're at. 2004, there was 10 to 12 inches of rain. So we're talking about a similar amount of rain that we're talking about in 2024 and 2026. And now we're seeing different impacts from that same amount of rain and different influences on the sewer system and people that are getting impacted from it. And again, there's a lot of people in here that are getting impacted. that probably can't afford some of the repairs that they need to make to their homes, or they can't afford to put in one of the backflow preventers. And I think backflow preventers are great, but all we're also gonna do is push that further down the line to somebody else that does not have a backflow preventer in their system. We're gonna build up more pressure in that area and it's gonna go to somebody else. So we're increasing that. The one thing I would ask of the city is, is if the city can reach out to any resources, whether that's state level or federal level, that can help some of these people that may not be able to afford these repairs to their homes or put these backflow preventers in. If they can find those resources, obviously the city has people that know where to go find those dollars, whether, again, state level, federal level, and help some of those people out or give them access to those funds. Thank you.

Thank you. City generally does a pretty good job looking out for grants. I don't know if this particular thing might have a grant available somewhere, but I appreciate your perspective.

Can I chime in? That's an excellent point, and I do know, call the Austin HRA. They have a CHIP 1 and a CHIP 2 program. My guess is this would fall under CHIP 1. It is not a grant, but it is a very low-interest loan for those who qualify for on home improvements, and so I think this would fall right in there. So I recommend, and I believe there's money right now available in that program, so reach out to the Austin HRA.

Good recommendation. Thank you. All right. Sorry again, folks, for what you're going through. There's no easy fix, but the city's aware of it and trying to do the best we can to mitigate it. Reports and recommendations. Stephen, you have something unopened?

Phase 3 of Oakland Avenue closed today from 4th Street to 8th Street. So we currently have closure now from 4th Street to 12th Street on Oakland Avenue West. And that will remain closed until we start pouring concrete on Phase 2, which is the stretch down from Apollo to Quick Trip. So we've got some closures that just changed today on Oakland Avenue West.

And then when's the Muffler Center down to 14th? When's that going to be done?

Right, so we're working on Storm Sewer down there, which... Like these folks are talking about storm sewer during these big heavy rains is about the worst time to be working on it. So that's what's delayed us a little bit. We've got storm sewer. We have gas work. Then we have to start building the roadway back. I would say our goal would be to be working on concrete in August. And tentatively right now, maybe by before Labor Day, we could have that phase two open to traffic from...

Apollo to the muffler Center Thank you appreciate motors patients on these projects. Thank you. Mr. Lang Any other department heads have anything to report? Nothing

I just want to say congratulations to the Austin girls playing in the Little League World Series regionals right now. I think they're playing as we speak right now. First team, just a little perspective, I think there's six girls from Austin, all kind of 12, 13 years old. This is the first team in Minnesota history to make it to a regional. I just think a fantastic representation of our community. knowing a lot of the girls, having had an opportunity to coach them as they were younger, just couldn't think of a better group to represent our community. I know they're having great memories. They won a couple games already, which is fantastic and I think represents our community and our region really, really well on the national stage. Congratulations and good luck to those girls.

Thanks, Jason. This is the Softball World Series?

Little League Softball World Series, yes.

Thank you. Will it be? Nothing. Jeff? Nothing, Your Honor.

Lauren?

I wanted to say thank you to all the city employees. When we do have big water events, flooding and sewer backup, it's extra work for streets and for police and for fire. And I know it's a stressful time, especially in the summer when we tend to be a little bit understaffed. So I think we all have had kind of a rough July as a community and I appreciate everybody pulling a little extra weight. And as frustrating as it is for homeowners to have these backups and flooding events again and again, it is an opportunity for the spirit of Austin and helping our neighbors to come through. And I have seen examples of that in this last month and expect to continue to see that. That's who we are as a community. We help each other. I also want to say thanks to the Parks Department for opening up the pool some extra hours this past weekend when it was so, so hot. Hopefully we won't have a need to do that again, but I appreciate that they were able to extend hours and give people a place to cool off over the weekend. That's it. Thanks. Thanks, Laura. Paul.

Also want to thank these staff. I'm sorry for you folks for going what you're going through I had some water my basement as well It's not fun, but maybe we can get it resolved in the future and also like Laura said thank you the city staff police Everybody involved the city crew for going out in those events keeping people safe And just being what they can do so thank you All right Looking for a motion to adjourn into our and wait five minutes for our work session so moved second second

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? We're adjourned. Thank you. We'll do about a five-minute break and then we'll do the work session.