City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you all for attending this evening. Will the city clerk please take attendance?

All council members are present, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda?

So moved.

Second.

Are there any comments on the agenda from the public? Council have any comments, questions? Please call the roll.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye. Item 4, open forum. In order to provide equal access to all during the open forum and public comment portions of the meeting, each individual offering comments shall not exceed the allotted three-minute period. The podium light turns green, then to yellow, where there is one minute remaining. Your time for comment is expired when the podium light turns red. Is there a member of the public who wishes to address the council on an item that's not listed on tonight's agenda? Okay, we'll move on. Action on the consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda? Seeing none, entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved.

Is there any public comment on the consent agenda? Council, any questions, comments? Council Member Duren.

Thank you, Mayor. I just had a quick clarifying question for 5H. As we move forward with the discussion of the future of the Dakota Bank Center, does this agreement, is it potentially affected with discussing the future of our partnership with OVG at all?

What do you think?

I can reword that. Sure. Okay, so 5H, looking at the wine operating agreement for the Dakota Bank Center, is that going to be affected as we move forward with conversations of the future of our partnership with OVG operating in the Dakota Bank Center? Is this contract separate, or will it be affected by any options of continuing or not continuing with OVG, since that's in discussions right now?

YES, COUNCILMEMBER DURAN, I'LL EXPLAIN THAT FOR YOU. SO THE ALCOHOL LICENSES ARE SEPARATE FROM THE AGREEMENT. SO WHETHER IT'S THE DAKOTA BANK CENTER WITH OVG OR ANOTHER PROVIDER, THE ALCOHOL LICENSE WOULD COME BACK TO THE COUNCIL AT ANY POINT IN TIME TO EITHER BE DISCONTINUED OR TRANSFERRED. SO THAT IS NOT THE SAME. IT'S NOT TIED TOGETHER. OKAY.

PERFECT. THANK YOU FOR THAT CLARIFYING.

ALL RIGHT. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS ON THE CONSENT AGENDA? PLEASE CALL THE ROLL.

Tilton Byrne? Aye. Wendell? Aye. Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Heger? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye.

Is Josh here? Next thing on the item is proclamation for park and rec. And Josh, oh there you are, you're hiding behind John. All right. Real proclamation. Whereas parks and recreation promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of residents by providing opportunities for exercise, relaxation, and connection with nature. And whereas the city of Brookings is fortunate to benefit from a strong system of parks, trails, recreational amenities, and dedicated professionals who enrich the lives of residents every day. And whereas parks and recreation agencies provide valuable services, including wellness programming, environmental stewardship, recreational opportunities for people of all ages and abilities, and whereas parks and natural areas enhance the beauty and environmental health of our community while helping ensure resilience for future generations, and whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction. And whereas July is recognized nationwide as Parks and Recreation Month in celebration of the essential role parks and recreation play in building healthy, vibrant, and connected communities. Now therefore, it be resolved that I, Opeke Garrett Niemeyer, Mayor of the City of Brookings, do hereby proclaim July as Parks and Recreation Month.

Yeah, so just to explain a little bit about Park and Recreation Month, this July, Parks and Recreation Month is highlighting the power of. So whether that's the power of community, connection, play, nature, or belonging, that power of encouragement or the power of for Parks and Recreation is just an experience for everybody to be had in our community. Those are just a few examples of how the power of can affect the community as a whole and I just want to encourage everyone to get out there and experience what the power of Parks and Recreation right here at the City of Brookings can provide for our community. Thank you.

Okay, next on our item is official reports. And Brianna, do you have a report for the hospital?

I do, yes. Okay, in our previous meeting, we started it with a pretty significant update from SADAHO, which is the Association of Healthcare Organizations in the state. We discussed funding as well as priorities in the legislature that was discussed this previous session. And as we talk about the legislature, just a reminder to go and vote in the primaries, as well as being aware of how funding sources and healthcare priorities are being discussed. In previous meetings, we discussed the application to the FARM program, which is a USD program for a medical student where they have a rural location for a nine-month rotation. And this program would allow for an exceptional educational experience in rural medicine as well as recruiting talent to Brookings. The health system has been selected as a final site, and there will be an in-person evaluation later this month. We also discussed an update with the Northern Plains Health Network. This is an LLC with four founding member hospitals around our area that creates a network strategic roadmap of collaboration, advocacy, and resources. It was created in 2015, but recently in 2025, it had kind of a reengagement with surveys to create a strategic plan and discuss challenges that we bring up every month of workforce development, recruitment efforts, challenges around IT system integration as well as just managing referral agreements. So making sure that there is a more cohesive strategy around serving rural health. We also discussed a strategic plan update of Epic. So this is a system that Lisa and I brought up every month on kind of how it's been progressing. It officially went live at 4 a.m. on Saturday, May 30th. And we just discussed a couple of short-term challenges that the health system has been experiencing. Really talking about flexibility around adding appropriate access and optimizing those workflows, just different housekeeping items of the equipment going live and working as it should. So overall, it sounds like it was a successful transition, just kind of working through those various challenges. We did want to put in a plug that if you've recently visited the health care system, you've probably heard comments around adjustments for that. So check your portal if you have it. Make sure that all of your information is correct and put in a ticket if anything is not to make sure that you're adequately being served. I really wanted to send an appreciation to VHS for undertaking this change. Epic has about 80% of the market share, so it's pretty frequent throughout the healthcare system, and so I'm glad that we got updated into the software with the major effort that it took from staff, and I really appreciated the transparency of the organization with the community around this adjustment and the continued effort it has taken. We also discussed around workforce efforts. Over the past two years, the laboratory has experienced significant staffing challenges through departures, retirements, just staff transition. And they had a targeted recruitment campaign and incentives that it is now fully staffed by Brookings Healthcare System employees and not traveling technologists. So big win for the healthcare system. The hospice caseload stats reflect a record number of nurse visits in a month from 191 when the previous total was 171 in December of 2025. And then they also submitted two major applications for EMS and IT around, or they're completing them, I'm sorry, for the South Dakota Rural Health Transformation Plan. So we'll have an update on that. And then finally, just a measles update, since you've probably seen some news updates around that. So as of June, 2026, South Dakota reported 10 confirmed cases with three being in Brookings County. Six of those cases did involve unvaccinated children for various beliefs and reasons. And overall, we just wanted to send a reminder that measles is a highly contagious airborne virus with no specific treatment and has the potential for serious complications. So BHS is actively monitoring the situation. They have posted signage, if you've seen any of their locations, directing patients and visitors to call ahead if they're experiencing any symptoms. And I really appreciate the staff of BHS of constantly cleaning and sanitizing spaces to make sure that our community stays healthy. And that is it. End of report. Thank you.

Thank you, Bree. Council have any questions for Bree? Bonnie, do we have a BMU report?

Yesterday's BMU meeting is delayed till this Friday. Okay.

Thanks, Bonnie. All right, move on to item 7A, contracts and change orders, action on resolution 26-045, a resolution awarding the construction contract for the main fire station and amendment of architects and owners representative professional service agreements. John Thompson, our public works director, will present this item.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, John Thompson with Public Works. Before he denies the resolution authorizing the construction contract for the city's new main fire station and authorizing the city manager to amend the professional services agreements for the architect and the owner's representative to reflect the project's current delivery method. The city advertised for this project for bids on June 12th in accordance with state Dakota law. Bids were opened on June 30th and we received nine responsive and responsible bids, demonstrating a strong competitive competition and interest in this project. The bid package included the base bid along with four additive alternatives. After reviewing the bids with the design team, staff recommends awarding the base bid along with alternative number one, which includes a fire pole. We determined that alternatives number two and number four did not provide sufficient value for their additional cost. And alternative number three did not generate a meaningful savings. Based on this evaluation, staff recommends awarding the contract to Lloyd Construction LLC of Sioux Falls, the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, in the amount of $3,990,300. The resolution also authorizes a city manager to amend the architects and owners representative agreements as needed to support the construction phase services. Those original agreements were developed with the expectation that the project would be using the construction manager at risk delivery method. Since the city ultimately proceeded with the traditional design bid build process, minor amendments are going to be needed to align those agreements with the selected delivery method. From a financial standpoint, the project remains in a very favorable position. The adopted fiscal year 2026 budget includes approximately $6.3 million, which is more than sufficient to fund this contract. Additionally, the total projected cost of the project, including construction, professional services, owner-furnished equipment, furnishings, and contingencies is approximately $5.56 million. That's roughly $667,000 below the design team's estimate that we prepared right at the time the project was sent to bid. This recommendation is consistent with state procurement requirements, the city's procurement policies, and support several strategic plan goals, including fiscal responsibility, service excellence, sustainability, and maintaining safe, reliable public facilities for our community. Staff recommends approval of the resolution awarding the construction contract to Lloyd Construction LLC The amount of three million nine hundred ninety thousand three hundred dollars in authorizing city manager to execute the contract and amend the professional services agreements as necessary Representative from Lloyd's construction LLC and jlg the city's architectural firm are in the audience tonight and we're available for any questions. That's Ends making presentation.

Thank you. John entertain a motion to approve so moved second Second is there any public comment on this item? Okay. Council have any questions, comments? Council Member Wendell.

Thank You mayor I have a question that we may not know the answer to this evening but I'm wondering if we've contemplated the almost $700,000 savings associated with this project will this project be completed in time for us to know whether or not that will impact the amount we'll need to bond for the police department facility would the timing allow us to confidently put this up $700,000 toward the police facility

It will become it will not be completed in time for that for sure. However, we're going through the construction manager risk process delivery method in the police department. So we should have a guaranteed maximum price. Hopefully, if design goes well here in the next few months by December, And then Ashley will have a strong number on the bonding. With this and the award tonight, this already gives her a good idea. And we've already had some schematic budgets for the police department, but they honestly go all over the place until we get down to the nitty gritty. This went all over the place until about the last week. But yeah, by the time Ashley needs it, we'll have some good numbers for bonding.

Thanks, John.

Any other questions, comments from council? I guess I have one for the contractor that won the award. How many local trades are you planning on using or going to be able to use in our area?

I'll let Dan respond to that, but he does have a couple.

Thank you.

Yeah, so Dan Kurtz with Lloyd Construction. Appreciate the opportunity here to be here tonight. So I don't want to get the cart before the horse. We haven't made commitments to people. But the way it stands, of our estimate, we've got probably half or better that would come from local contractors or from the Brookings community. All right.

Thank you. Oh, Troy? Troy, do you want to speak at all to this?

Well, first off, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, just thank you for this opportunity. I was involved in a conference a couple years back in Phoenix, and the average age of these facilities when they're replaced is about 79 years old. So when we build this this next year, we need to be thinking that this is going to have to last us 60, 70, maybe even 80 years. So I think we've done some good work. I'm really happy with John. John and I were kind of on the same page about being efficient with the dollars, trying to get things done, but not have a lot of fancy arches and things like that in the building to cost money, but still having the things that we need to protect our firefighters, like decon facilities so they can go to a fire. That fire doesn't know, the carcinogens doesn't know if it's a volunteer firefighter or a paid firefighter, so we still owe them that possibility to come back to the station and get cleaned up. So they don't have to take that home to their families. And this station will provide that. The other thing this provides is that second floor will be unfinished. So we have space in the future to expand as needs expand over the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years. So it's really going to be a great project. We're working with PD, too, because PD, I don't know if you know, uses our east fire station as kind of a substation. So when they have officers on that side of town, they can come to the station and do reports and still kind of stay in their response area. When PD moves out toward the east side of town, this station will become their substation where they can be downtown and still do reports and get their work done. So it's been a great partnership with Chief Drake and the police department to get this put together, too. So thank you.

All right. Council, you have any questions for Troy? Council Member Dern?

Excuse me. I'll just have a quick follow-up comment to that I really have appreciated how much you have considered the well-being of our firefighters and our staff in this design It's been a really big priority during your time here of not just serving our community But servicing our volunteers and I really really do appreciate that.

There's not a job.

That's more important for me All right, thank you very much Please call the roll Wendell Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. This is the first reading of Ordinance 26-022, Amendment Number 5 to the 2026 budget. On June 23rd, Council approved the contract with CJR Design Studio for the Dakota Nature Park Art Installation Project in an amount not to exceed $250,000. This budget amendment is the next administrative step in that process. And specifically, the amendment establishes a total of $250,000 of budget authority within the public art long term projects account so that expenditures can be incurred as the project moves through design, fabrication, and installation. Of that $250,000, $96,230 is existing budget authority that is being transferred from the public art fund contracted services account into the long-term projects account to ensure that project expenditures are all recorded within the appropriate budget line item. The remaining budget authority of $150,770 represents the additional appropriation needed to fully fund the project with public art fund reserves. The second reading of this ordinance will be July 30th, and I'd be glad to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley. Is there any public comment on this item at this time? Council have any questions, comments? All right.

Council Member Wendell. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to make a couple of quick comments. I think there's been some public chatter around the Public Art Fund and the Public Arts Commission. And I think the emergence of this project has maybe risen the awareness of folks in the community of the existence of the Public Arts Commission. And some folks may not have been aware that we have a Public Arts Commission. that about 1% of capital expenditures on an annual basis are directed to the public art fund. And the Public Arts Commission administers that fund very thoughtfully and strategically. About 25% of their annual budget goes toward the ongoing maintenance and repair and preservation of existing art throughout the community. About 25% of their annual budget contributes to art programming and short-term installations and some other projects in the community. Think of the utility box wraps we enjoy throughout the neighborhoods and a number of other projects that have, I think, enriched surprising spots in the community. Then about 50% of their annual budget is to be dedicated to large-scale permanent installations of this nature. And when that 50% of their budget hits a certain threshold, they start to explore an opportunity to do an installation. I think the last one we did was at Bob Sheldon Field about four or five years ago. The threshold was hit again, and so they explored another opportunity to install art in a high traffic area. went out for a competitive bid process or a request for submissions for this particular installation. They received 167 submissions from throughout the country. Two of them were South Dakota artists, but through a very thoughtful juried process, they selected this particular installation, which I think is beautiful, will really compliment the area it's going into and sort of celebrates the Dakota Nature Park. And I just want to commend the commission for really thoughtfully bringing this recommendation forward. This is an installation that will endure long past any of our time on the council and will be here for generations into the future to enjoy like so many public art installations throughout the community are. Meredith from the Public Arts Commission is here this evening. Lisa, the current chair of the Public Arts Commission, has done tremendous work. And really, the whole commission invests so much time and energy into thoughtfully placing public art in our community. And this is just one really outstanding example that I'm excited we can celebrate and just commend the commission on their work. Thank you.

All right. Any other comments, questions from council? All right. Thank you. All right. Move on to the second readings of public hearings. Item 9A, second reading in action on ordinance 26-020, an ordinance authorizing budget amendment number four to the 2026 budget. Paul Brissino, our city manager, will present this one.

Thanks, Mayor, City Council members. This budget amendment appropriates $450,000 from economic development reserves to acquire strategically located location downtown to cover closing costs. The property is contiguous to existing city-owned land, creating opportunities for coordinated future development in the downtown. This request does not increase property taxes, does not increase sales tax, does not require debt financing, and does not impact current service levels. The funding comes entirely from economic development reserves, which were established for strategic community investments. This investment supports the goals and visions outlined in your downtown master plan, and staff recommends approval of the budget as proposed.

Thanks, Paul. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Moved and seconded. Is there any public comment on this item?

Howdy. Gino Wex. I visited with Councilman Hager and she said this is going to be used for public art and the question would be shouldn't it be the Arts Council that approves this kind of thing? Second of all, Matt Fenske, actually bid four hundred thousand dollars for it and as i calculate based on property taxes it'll take 65 years of his property taxes at 400 000 to pay that 450 000 dollars And so I would encourage you to rethink the idea of this because we could put, when we talk about economic development, economic development would be increasing business, not putting public art in. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Any other comments, questions? All right, move on to the council. Questions, comments?

Lisa? So just to clarify, when I was having my conversation with Mr. Wicks, I mentioned that in the long term, one of the things that could be done with the co-op, rather than it having to be taken down, would to be possibly having a public art piece on that. We've seen that in a variety of other communities. There's nothing in the works as of right now with respect to that property and public art I was just simply mentioning that that is one potential option as we would move forward with that property and Private development that would align with our downtown master plan Just the master plan in general and our economic development master plan Sure

If it's not going to be used for public art, it will probably cost between $1 and $2 million to tear down. That would be, in general, if you know anything about those old elevators, they are literally full of nails and metal. And to spend between $1.5 and $2.5 million on something that REALLY DOESN'T, IT'S NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY PURPOSE. AS OPPOSED TO HAVING AN INDIVIDUAL WHO WILL PAY $400,000 FOR IT AND USE IT, I WOULD OCCUR YOU AGAIN TO CONSIDER YOUR PURCHASE.

THANK YOU.

ANY OTHER COUNCIL COMMENTS? COUNCIL MEMBER AVERY.

Well, I think we do have some other options rather than just hoping that we generated enough property tax over the next 90 years to pay for it. Because I think the facility still is functional, still has a value. As we saw, there was other people that were willing to purchase it. There's a demand for that possibly is to lease those facilities out, generate revenue from it on an ongoing basis until we would have some other plans in the future. I think it's a long-standing thing in real estate. You need to buy something when it's for sale. If it fits into our plans for the downtown Brookings, this was the time to acquire it because this was the time it was for sale. So we have it. There's other uses for it. It'll generate revenue. It doesn't need to be tore down. It's just part of our downtown master plan that fits into our goals. So I think we We had good sound reasoning when we went after this piece of property.

All right. Any other comments, questions? Council Member Durin.

Thank you, Mayor. I would just add to Councilmember Avery's comments that we really look at using those workable plans and how we can activate spaces. So in a lot of our meetings over the last few years, we have talked about how can we create a really intentional, connective downtown, connecting it to our neighborhoods, connecting it to other park spaces, creating that economic revitalization in the area as well. And so when we look at moving forward with land or intentional development with land, we are using our guiding documents at the forefront, but we're really looking at those long-term plans. So it might seem like a short-term kind of large investment, and I look forward to bringing more updates in the future as we work through those options, but we really are looking at how we can connect the community with our downtown beyond those borders of those streets.

Okay. Any other comments, questions from council? Please call the roll.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell?

Aye. All right. Item 9B, public hearing and action on resolution 26-038, a resolution authorizing the city manager into a 10-year on-sale liquor operating agreement with Mamacita's LLC, Brookings. Owner, Louise. I'm going to say abundance. I entertain a motion. Bonnie, would you present the rest of this?

CERTAINLY MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL, THIS ITEM IS THE RESULT OF A REQUEST TO TRANSFER AN EXISTING ON SALE FULL SERVICE RESTAURANT LIQUOR OPERATING AGREEMENT FROM THE END ZONE TO MAMACITA'S LLC BRICK GANES. MAMACITA'S WILL BE LOCATED AT 1300 MAINE AVENUE SOUTH. The city enters into operating agreements for a period of 10 years with a required five-year midterm renewal. If council approves, all required paperwork would be submitted to the State Department of Revenue for final review and issuance. Owner Luis Abundes is present this evening if the council has any questions for him. Staff recommends approval.

Thank you, Bonnie. Entertain a motion to approve. So moved.

Second. Second.

Public hearing on this item. There's is there any public comment?

This is your opportunity to have free advertising sir Thank y'all my name is Lisa bundes Miss Bonnie mentioned looking to open a new Mexican restaurant in town, please get closer to the mic.

All right, I

Looking at the get this Mexican restaurant south of Maine for so long where me and my company been looking to be in Brookings and looking for a good spot and we found this in South Maine so very proud of that and hope you guys considered to approve the liquor license that takes a lot of effort and to get it instead of South Dakota's quite hard to get a liquor license among the other states that I have restaurants on so I am very happy to be here working and try to put out this nice small restaurant in South Main that much needed it. Me and my chefs and team, we do an exam and we think everything on Brookings, again, it's on 6th Street when it comes to businesses and food and everything, and we think... The town is growing up south and there's not many food choices some South so we're very proud to be where we are and I hope you guys considered to approve it and It was a good opportunity and I'm grateful to be here today Well, thank you for making the investment into Brookings.

Thank you any other public comments questions Council questions comments When you opening well

It'll probably be a month from now. Okay. If this is going well, everybody asks me the same question. It's like a big puzzle with a lot of loose pieces. The liquor license is one of those pieces. If it's approval, it's one more done, and we're counting now. I probably want to say a month or so. Sign us up. Remodeling inside is going to be beautiful. You guys probably been there when the other restaurant wasn't there. You guys will not believe what a change is going to be. It's just going to be great. I do have another restaurant. little bit bigger in vermillion literally a block away from USD so I hardly believe that college towns are really strong and I mean if vermillion is really strong I mean Brookings is just this way way bigger and it just I'm very excited to be here so as soon as we put everything together we get you in for some burritos all right looking forward to it all right thank you thank you council questions comments please call the roll

Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye. Avery?

Aye. Congratulations. Look forward to it.

Gracias. Thank you.

Public hearing and action on special event temporary alcohol beverage application from the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance for Downtown at Sundown. Bonnie Foster will also present this.

Mayor and council members, the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance is seeking the issuance of a special event, temporary alcohol beverage license for the Downtown at Sundown five-week event. This will be the 11th year for this event in downtown Brookings. Kristen Jezdell is present this evening. If council has any questions for her, staff recommends approval.

All right, entertain a motion to approve.

So moved. Second.

Open public hearing on this item. Is there any public comment? Well, here we go.

Hello everyone, Kirsten Jezdahl, Community Development Director with the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance. I'm looking forward to the 11th year of Downtown at Sundown. The dates are up on the screen behind you, but it's every Thursday from the last Thursday of July through the end of August. Gates open at 5.30 p.m. with the band starting at 6. We have a really wonderful lineup this year. So we start on the 30th with our kickoff night in the Lizzie Hofer Band. The August 6th is Bobcat Night, so come cheer on the Bobcats with Undercover Band. The 13th is the New Resident Welcome Night with Shallow Lee Band, so we look forward to seeing you all there to welcome our new residents. The 20th is Multicultural Night with the Tara Faber Band. And then we end on the 27th of August with SDSU Night. So I hear there will be some free SDSU ice cream and the Devon Worley Band. So just a reminder to the general public, bring a chair. come hungry don't forget the kids either at home or at the concert um and just to thank you for the city for their support of that coming into our 11th year it's a very exciting thing to kind of reach that point and also of course a big shout out to our headliner sponsor for spanking trust for their support of that concert okay my memory is somewhat short but did i ask for a motion for that yes i did all right

RIGHT OVER TOP OF MY HEAD. IS THERE ANY OTHER PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS ITEM? ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS? LOOK FORWARD TO IT. I'M SURE THERE'S A LOT OF PLANNING THAT HAS GONE INVOLVED IN THIS. ANY NEW ADDITIONAL THINGS FROM THE YEAR'S PAST?

I JUST ORDERED SOME NEW PICNIC TABLES TODAY. I PERSONALLY AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THAT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE GENERAL PUBLIC WILL BE.

Aye. If we don't have any other questions, comments, please call the roll.

Hager? Aye. Nehmeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn?

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye.

Okay, Item 9D, Public Hearing and Action on Ordinance 26-017, an ordinance amending the subdivision regulations of the City of Brookings pertaining to Article 6, Subdivision Improvements Design Standards for the Purposes of Administration of the Subdivision Regulations. Ryan's going to present this. Ryan Miller, our city planner, will present this item.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. This is the second reading and public hearing on Ordinance 2617 in order to amend our subdivision regulations. Earlier this year, staff started exploring some changes to our subdivision section of ordinance. looking at making some changes to our improve our connectivity we proposed a few changes and we did also include the Public Works Division also included some changes to the street acceptance policies during this process this is originally introduced to the Planning Commission I think back in May There was quite a bit of discussion then in regards to the warranty periods that were being modified and then the street exception portion of the ordinance revision. So staff took some time to revise our changes and came up with some language that Planning Commission was more comfortable with at the June meeting. Now we're bringing it to the council. Some of the big changes that were being made were to the cul-de-sac limitations and allowances, reducing the overall length allowed for a cul-de-sac, as well as kind of redefining where a cul-de-sac would be allowed based on what criteria a cul-de-sac would be allowed, trying to kind of improve our restrictions on cul-de-sacs to improve connectivity. Additionally, we added some language to require more connectivity in subdivisions in regards to locating streets between legal blocks and a legal description. And then lastly, we did include, as I mentioned, some changes in our street acceptance warranty process. It'll now be a requirement that after streets are installed, there is a one-freeze cycle year that must take place before paving streets and gutters. And then after that, there would be a two-year warranty beyond that. This was a unanimous approval from the Planning Commission, and staff would stand for any questions.

Thank you, Brian. Entertaining motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Open to public hearing on this item. Is there any public comment? Council, any questions, comments? Council Member Hager.

I have a comment. So anybody who's been watching our meetings as of late when we've been dealing with this issue has heard that street connectivity is an issue that's very important to me. So I just really want to, again, take this opportunity to thank our staff for addressing all of the issues that are in this particular ordinance, but that one in particular specifically. also really appreciate their engagement with developers and ensuring that a proper balance has been struck between Addressing city needs but also not unduly delaying projects or increasing the cost of development projects Okay any other comments questions Councilmember specker

Ryan I was just wondering if you could explain like currently the warranty is one year I think and Like these examples that you have up here of settlement if that happens say two to three years After the roads are accepted who pays for that.

I'm gonna let a better expert address that I don't know Address that

Yeah, currently we have a one year warranty on all streets that are accepted as public ways. After the one year warranty is expired, it's in the hands of the city for any repairs that need to be done. The pictures that you see here are from a street or streets that are about three years old.

Okay. So this should help with costs for street replacements within the city?

Correct. And what we're trying to do is in trying to have standards that would be enacted. So in conjunction with this warranty, we're going to be improving our standards and requirements for an inspection. And we've gone through materials. We've gone through how we design roads. We've gone through with and revised the inspection requirements on these streets. So it's not just the one thing that we're trying to use here to address these settlement issues. It's multiple avenues and trying to rectify issues like this that we're facing after the street has been turned over to the city.

appreciate the work that you've done on this thank you all right council member wendell

Thank you, Mayor. Charlie, I don't want to get us too far out into the weeds, but I noticed in the Planning Commission minutes there was some discussion about BMU also kind of looking at their standards for some trenching right now that perhaps would also impact some of this work. Are those standards being updated by BMU kind of concurrently to us looking at our standards? Is that happening in concert with BMU, or are those two totally separate?

Yes, over the past several years, we've been working together with BMU to look at our standards, try to better understand what's causing these settlement issues. So it's been a serious effort between BMU, ourselves, Banner, and Geotech, who's a geotechnical engineer, to better formulate a way to prevent these issues from happening. This warranty extension is just a small part of what we're trying and how do we try to address these issues.

So it sounds like some of those standards that could positively impact this would be

be updated by the city but there would be others that would need to be updated by BMU and hopefully both entities will take that action correct okay and and over the last couple years BMU has been working on updating theirs so we've had some very positive discussions with BMU and whether it's geotechnical engineer so we believe this is the right path on how to address these these issues what we're facing is spending thousands of dollars each year repairing these issues and These roads should last 20 years and we shouldn't have to come back within those those 20 years to do to repair issues like this.

Thanks, Charlie All right any other comments questions Please call the roll Nehmeyer aye Specker aye Tilton burn aye Wendell aye Avery aye Doran aye Hager aye

Okay, on to 9E, public hearing and action on ordinance 26-021, an ordinance to change the zoning within the city of Brookings, block two of Northern Plains addition from a business B2A office district to a planned development district with business B2A underlying district. Ryan Miller, our city planner, will present this item also.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. This is the public hearing and action on Ordinance 2621, petition to rezone block two of Northern Plains addition from a business B2A to a planned development district with a business B2A underlying district. Northern Plains Addition, it's located on South Main, just south of 15th Street. This is a property that was previously rezoned from residential to the business 2A, a B2A a few years ago. It's been developed on the south side into a dental office and some townhomes to the east. There's an area undeveloped in this yellow box to the north of the dental office. There's a possible use that wants to go on there that would be retail focused, and the business B2A does not allow for retail. So the property owner and the prospective tenant, they've proposed to do a planned development district. where they would simply take the B2A zoning and they would add retail as an allowable use with some restrictions on that retail. Restrictions being that the businesses would be open between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. They would be prohibited from serving alcohol, selling cannabis, tobacco, vape, or nicotine sales. Convenience stores and drive-thrus would be prohibited as well. This does come with a unanimous recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission, and there's also an initial development plan that will be reviewed subsequently after the rezone. With that, staff will stand for any questions you have on the rezone.

Thank you, Ryan. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Is there any public comment on this item? Please come forward. State your name.

Yeah, Jeff Borah with Dakota Land Design, and I guess I'm representing the developer, Northern Plains Professional Properties, on this, and also an interested party in one of these lots. I guess the goal of this PDD is that, yeah, the developer would just like to allow for some very specific retail businesses that would be kind of low impact and complementary to the medical plaza and the apartments to the east. And Ryan kind of stated those those stipulations with the regular business hours and you know prohibiting some of those items there The developer will retain architectural approval on everything there and they still control sales of the block so they will still have say in involvement in what what businesses they would consider there and Benefit of the PDD would just be that anyone who wants to build there would still have to go through a final approval process so it's I guess we kind of view it as a maybe a win-win for the developer and in the city and then I guess yeah, hopefully attracting some some new businesses there, so I Guess that's all I have and I'd stand by for any questions.

All right. Is there any other public comment on this item? I'll switch right over to console console any questions for Jeff I All right. Thank you. Please call the roll.

Specker. Aye. Tildenburn. Aye. Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran. Aye. Hager. Aye. Niemeyer.

Aye. Other business. Item 10A, action on initial development plan for block two of Northern Plains addition. Ryan will also present this item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. For planned development districts, the process involves a rezone followed by the initial development plan and in some cases a final development plan. So we'll be looking at the initial development plan now for that block two of Northern Plains addition. which includes proposed three retail office buildings located along Main Avenue South. I think the primary first phase for the development would be the south building where the prospective tenant is looking into. The initial development plan shows that there would be two access points, one off of Mayfield Drive and one off of Cloverfield Place. No access to Main Avenue South individually to the buildings. The initial development plan does include a request for reduced parking with this shared parking layout here. It's hard to see on this. It's kind of the blue horizontal lines is roughly where the potential for three lots would be located within block two. So they would be sharing, it would be a cross sharing parking on that north south parking lot. showing 49 parking spaces. And if you use the retail calculation, it'd be 54 spaces total needed. So a slight reduction in parking as requested. The initial development plan, again, it outlines the allowable and prohibited uses in the B2A PDD that was just established in their petition to rezone. It does show a proposed max height of 60 feet. These are likely going to be quite a bit less than that as likely single story or slightly higher retailer office buildings. One note on this initial development plan is within the commercial corridor design review overlay district. So these buildings would need to be built according to all of those standards in the commercial corridor design review overlay district. And if they do meet all those requirements, they would actually not go through the final development plan process. They would go through the commercial corridor design review overlay district process, which would be an admin review so long as they meet all of the requirements of the commercial corridor. If they weren't to seek any variances to the standards of the commercial corridor overlay district they would come back to Planning Commission City Council and Planning Commission again did approve this unanimously through the review of the rezone and staff at Stanford any questions Thank You Ryan entertain a motion to approve So moved second certainly public comment on this item Council questions comments

councilmember wendell thank you mayor i'll maybe just make a a comment that sort of echoes the sentiments i shared last time we discussed this development uh i'm really encouraged by this and i want to thank the developers and those that are potentially considering locating here for being thoughtful about how they develop this particular block and putting some stipulations in or agreeing to some stipulations in terms of hours of operation or business type i hope that this sort of gets our gears turning around the way we can start to integrate some retail activity close to existing neighborhoods we talk a lot about connected neighborhoods and a walkable city and the ways folks want to live in their neighborhoods and know their neighbors and go to a neighborhood store and be able to pick up essentials close to where they live instead of having to drive to a super center across town and i think this represents maybe what we think of as the start of some of that neighborhood and retail integration. And so I appreciate the thoughtfulness around this development, and I hope that it helps us to think about the way we can look at some retail that could be adjacent to existing neighborhoods really thoughtfully and responsibly that I think actually will enhance the quality of life in some of our neighborhoods. So thanks for that.

All right. Any other comments, questions? Please call the roll.

Tilton Byrne. Aye. Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran. Aye. Hager. Aye. Niemeyer. Aye. Specker. Aye.

Item 10B, action on Resolution 26-044, a resolution authorizing the acquisition of real property, authorizing the expenditures of funds for the purchase of the real property, and authorizing the execution of the documents to effectuate the terms and intent of this resolution. Paul Persino will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. This resolution authorizes the purchase of property located at 210 Front Street. This includes associated closing and legal costs for the amount not to exceed $450,000. The purchase agreement has been reviewed by the City Attorney. Funding for this acquisition will come from the City Council's Economic Development Fund through a previously approved budget amendment tonight. If purchased, the property will be incorporated into the city's long-range planning efforts, including future downtown redevelopment and infrastructure planning processes. As future opportunities for the site are evaluated, staff will return to City Council in a very public process to include any recommendations, as well as public engagement for any significant redevelopment decisions that may be made into the future. Staff does recommend approval for Resolution 2644, authorizing the purchase of the property at 210 Front Street. as you can see noted here the current land outlined in white is city-owned land which is roughly three acres by adding this additional site it'll add an additional one acre for four total acres once again as the city continues to plan this for opportunities for redevelopment in the future it'll not only include public engagement but also many many public engagements with the city council all right thank you paul entertain a motion to approve

So moved. Second.

Is there any public comment on this item? Council have questions, comments? I truly believe this is a smart investment. Obviously because it's contiguous to property that we already own and we have ample opportunities to do something really good in this area here. I see a lot of really interesting things that could happen here. I'm just making a comment. Vanderint, I think, is the name of the town south of Des Moines. They have got an area where they are doing a downtown development, and they are including the silos as part of it. And it's kind of interesting some of the renditions that they've already come up with. There's really huge opportunities of what we could do with this downtown area. So with that being said, please call the roll.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tilton-Byrne? Aye.

All right. On to item 11, progress report. Johnny Mays, our deputy city manager, will present this item.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. TONIGHT I'M GOING TO PRESENT THE JULY PROGRESS REPORT. THE ENGINEERING DIVISION HAS BEEN WORKING TIRELESSLY TO KEEP OUR ROADS CLEAN AND SAFE FOR PEOPLE TO TRAVEL. And to ensure our roads across the community are smooth, several street overlay projects are set to start. Currently in progress, 11th Avenue, 3rd Street to 6th Street, Medary Avenue, 7th Street to 11th Street is scheduled to start July 15th. 13th Avenue, 3rd Street to 6th Street is scheduled to start July 29th. And the 20th Street South Hill Removal at Rapid Valley is scheduled to start July 20th. As always, you can learn more about these projects on the community construction website. Moving on to Parks and Recreation. July is officially Parks and Recreation Month, celebrated nationwide to recognize the impact of local parks and outdoor facilities. I would like to give a big shout out to the Parks and Recreation Department for all the great things they do every single day for this community. On July 4th, the city hosted the Uncle Sam Jam. Peak attendance was estimated at 350 patrons with a total of 700 throughout the event. We received positive feedback from members of the community and vendors. Uncle Sam would like to thank everyone who came out to this event to celebrate America's 250th birthday. Also, we had several other events. There we go. Several other events that happened throughout this past weekend that drew large crowds. These events included the Brooklyn Summer Arts Festival, Buffalo Wild Wings Tournament, and the Brookings Tennis and Horseshoe Tournament. These community events are a testament to what a good idea and a lot of hard work can do. If you've been driving around town, you might have noticed that the skate park project is moving along. The contractor informed us that the project is three to four weeks ahead of schedule, and we hope to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony sometime in August. Another project scheduled to begin her so is the edge were golf course project. The city attorney just recently finalized the easement agreement was so bent on within 30 minutes ago. So we're going to hopefully get that signed tomorrow will get the contract to the city manager to sign and give the notice to proceed to the contractor. So construction should start anytime soon more to come. Just a reminder, the City of Brookings has accepted nominations for the 2026 Mayor's Generational Leadership Award. The award recognizes the importance of young leaders who help make the community vibrant and dynamic. The nomination deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, July 31st. End of report. I'll yield back for any questions.

All right. Thanks, Johnny. Any questions, comments from Council?

Council Member Avery. I was just going to add a little bit to the report. We talked about briefly the Brookings Summer Arts Festival and that was just a tremendous project. Year after year Josh and his crew park and director just instrumental in making that thing work but it was all the entities that the city has that were came together to help on that we have the police the fire department the emts of the hospitals involved with have the ambulance VMU provided the Wi-Fi towers this year, so all the merchants were able to charge their customers using their credit cards. So I thought high testimony to how happy everybody was that when I walked around, nobody was complaining. So if humans have that tendency to complain if they have some problems, they just didn't seem to have any. So I think the weather, Mayor, you were supposed to work on that a little bit with the temp dial that temperature down but other than that I think it was a very successful man everybody involved can take a you know part in that and just works with a whole bunch of volunteers and I get to spend a lot of time this weekend with Josh and because I was on call it didn't do much but I was all prepared to all the time so But again, thank you the park and rec and all the other entities in the city that that made that thing happen, so All right, so it makes the city great Any other comments questions?

All right, thanks, Johnny. All right, we'll move on to introduction to topics for future. Let's talk about the advanced agenda for the July 30th meeting, which would have been on the 28th, but we have an election or a primary thing going on, so we've moved the meeting to July 30th. It will still start at 6 o'clock, and we have one proclamation for Disabilities Act. No change orders or first readings at the moment, and we have a couple second readings from what we had tonight for our first. Other than that, is there any other topics of discussion that somebody would like to have in the future? All right. Entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Stay cool, everyone.