City Council - Regular Meeting

March 30th. Um, I call this meeting to order at 7 o'clock. While every room, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, Elis, will you please call roll? Council member Heatfield here. Council member Bennish here. Council member Chevlin here. Council member Gra. Mayor Hubard here. All right. Sorry. Okay, that moves us along on the agenda to adopt the agenda. Uh, I would entertain a motion to adopt unless anybody has any additions or changes for the agenda. Motion to adopt the agenda.

All right, we have a motion from council member uh Benish. Second and a second from council member Hatfield. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Agenda is adopted. And that moves us on to visitor presentation. Is anybody here for a visitor presentation? See no one here for a visitor presentation. We're going to move on on the agenda. Um to approval of the previous meeting minutes. These meeting minutes were from March 16th uh 2026. Does anybody have any additions or corrections to the meeting minutes? All right, I entertain a motion for approval then. Motion to approve.

All right, a motion from council member Hatfield, second from council member Chevlin. Uh, any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Let's move us along to the consent items. These items received little to no um discussion. Uh although something can certainly be pulled off and have a larger discussion or if anybody has any questions on anything. I just have a small question on 7A. Um do we know like how much they're expanding the organics management place? They are trying to go to capacity. I'm unsure right this minute what that means, but they are only operating at a partial capacity.

Okay. But it's not like they're adding on a lot from like when they presented before. Okay. No, I think um for some reason I can't it's not loading up for me, but it does say that in the I think it's in the letter of support it talks about how many metric tons. Yeah, I didn't know if it if that was I think I got confused if it was like what we had seen before. Okay. Or if it was like they're adding on, but Okay, I get what you're saying. Yeah, I just I was I was more curious. I had a discussion with Matt earlier today just in regards to like has anybody ever contacted the city with complaints of like smell or anything like that and it sounds like from our awareness that no one's, you know, reached out to the city at all.

I feel like it's usually at night like I drive by sometimes and it smells but it's like at night it's and very like actually kind of rare. So yeah, it's also by the dump though too. I think the dump smells worse. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Oh, it's like when you when you're driving like just across over kind of by where the entrance to um the Renaissance Festival. Yeah. So, all right. That was my only question. Yeah, it's a good question. Any other questions at all and anything? All right. Well, with that, I would entertain a motion for approval on consent items. Motion to approve consent items. All right. So, a motion from Council Member Chevlin. Second. A second from Council Member Bennish. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I.

I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. Consent is adopted. Uh that moves us along to action items. We just have one 8A. Approving resolution number 2026-23 accepting feasibility study for the 2026 downtown reconstruction. Who would like to talk?

All right. Uh may council member, this is an item that uh is coming back to you. Uh there's a number of different steps we have to go through in a street reconstruction program in order to both plan for the the program but also to be able to go through the assessment uh for the uh for the project itself. Uh I think that Alex is probably pulling up uh the actual project. Um, we've talked about this before, but the project itself is going to be uh the ex uh Elm Street, which goes from Fourth Street down to Third Street.

Oh, give me not uh from Fourth Street down to Third Street. And then third Street from Elm Street over to Hickory Street.

Uh is going to be There we go. All right. So, you can see that in red uh there. So again, Elm Street uh going down to Third Street and then uh the section of uh Third Street that hasn't been constructed over there. Uh one of the reasons that we have not constructed uh reconstructed this section uh of road uh is primarily because uh of that red sort of diagonal line that's through there. Uh that is the old creek bed. Uh and there is two bridges uh that actually cross or that the creek bread sort of crosses underneath both Third Street and Hickory Street. And we waited for quite some time thinking that the bridge on Third Street was going to fail and that we'd be able to get state dollars to be able to uh replace that. Uh that bridge is not going to fail anytime soon. And so, uh, we've sort of reapproached that project and how we're actually going to reconstruct that and looking at putting an actual culvert, uh, through that instead and saving the actual structure itself, uh, so we can move forward with reconstruction of that actual, uh, road. Uh so going through and accepting the feasibility study is sort of the next uh phase or stage of that uh process that we have to go through to set up the project for uh reconstruction uh this summer. Uh as part of that process uh we do meet with neighbors. We provide notification uh of what the proposed assessments would be uh which in this case would be the same uh as the assessments that everybody else in downtown uh received uh for uh for the streets that were reconstructed uh in front of their homes. And with the exception of the uh areas that are in yellow uh that you see around uh what is city square uh west

and then a portion of city square park itself. Uh there's really not uh many any other sections of downtown that haven't been reconstructed. So this is really sort of finishing up uh those sections that uh uh that were sort of remnant pieces uh in the downtown area. Uh, I'm not sure, Alex, if you have anything else that you wanted to share. Um, I do. I have a whole presentation, but I can whip through it quick. Oh, there you go.

Um, all right. Well, I'll kind of go through the the meat of the feasibility report for you all just to introduce the project. So, um, I'll just point out on this first map here, you know, we're over on the west side of town by the bus garage. And that's important because now on this map I flipped the bus garage and north to be to your right. So it's necessary with how this is laid out. But um you can see here the bridges that Matt called out in red. The one is along Third Street which is in kind of that street part of this project area. And then the channel shown in yellow. Um I thought it'd be best to illustrate with some photos. So if you haven't driven out there lately, you can see the pavement's deteriorated. We've done quite a bit of patching out here. It was a snowy day when I took this, so you can't see how the street width varies, but similar to past projects before the city reconstructed, the street width is non-typical. Um, and we'd be looking to, of course, make it a a typical width with the project. This is, um, Elm Street here. Uh, and you can see the nice pavement in the foreground, which was part of a project that happened previously. And then, um, of course that deteriorating pavement in the kind of background. I'll note two, you know, sewer and water utilities in here are very old, um, in need of replacement, similar to the past, you know, 15 years of reconstruction in the area. So, I don't have any photos of that, but um, noting that, you know, it's old infrastructure underground as well. I thought I'd include some images of the drainage channel in case you haven't looked over the edge of any of the bridges here, so you can kind of get a sense of what we're talking about. In some spots, it's this like rock and mortar um channel. In other spots, when you look off the Third Street Bridge, you might see the the metal edged version of the channel. And then if you look off the Hickory Street Bridge, it's actually got concrete walls. So, kind of varying states of of a drainage channel,

I guess you'd say. And then I just thought this was a cool one showing that the Third Street Bridge was actually built in 1939. And the plate that's on the bridge tells you the year it was built. So, kind of a historical piece there. So, proposed improvements, um, as Matt alluded to, constructing the streets, uh, similar to other areas of downtown where we'd have the drive aisle in both directions and a parking lane on both sides. And then including sidewalk with that, there are areas out here that have sidewalk, but not all of it connects into the city system. Uh, we'd install storm sewer where it's needed. water main would get replaced including services up to the right ofway line and then sanitary sewer would get replaced including services up to the right ofway line. There's also an option with the project for residents to elect to replace their service from the right of way into their home. Um that's an option that we would work one-on-one with them. So this illustrates those utility replacements. Blue is water. Green is sewer. The gray is that drainage channel. Then the the street improvements showing the drive lanes, the parallel parking kind of showing that we'd have that typical width out there with the the narrowing at the intersection similar to all the other many other blocks downtown and the sidewalk on both sides. I do want to just point out too with these projects there are usually some amount of tree impacts. We review those with our public works staff who's very well verssed in um how trees handle excavation and whether they're you know at the end of their life or diseased and we work with property owners once we have that analysis done. Um as you probably know too we do replace trees at the end of the project between the curb and sidewalk. So, um, the drainage channel is the other part of the proposed improvements.

We're looking at what it might take to actually put a pipe in the bottom of the channel and then fill the channel with dirt, similar to a project that was done kind of farther down um, this creek area. So, what kind of allows this to be looked at is at some point, West Creek served many, many acres of drainage way outside of Chaza. because of the levy project, it really only carries 30ish acres of drainage, which is the right amount to be able to put it in a pipe and put it underground. What we found with the project, though, is um we're looking at um how to get that that part of the project done. And that would require easements from neighboring property owners. And so that would be an element of the project if if the city did pursue filling in that that channel. So, as you probably saw in the report, we looked at four options to try to give us as many um ways of looking at this as we could. Uh starting from the least amount of replacements all the way up to the most amount of replacement of the infrastructure that's out there. So, option one was let's get these streets done. We know we want to do the streets. We know we need to replace the utilities under the streets. What if we left the third street bridge in? um even though it it is nearing the end of its life, we wanted to look at that option. We'd have to replace the sewer and water utilities using special methods, which at the end of the day actually ended up costing about the same as just removing the bridge and putting the utilities in with normal construction methods. So, option one kind of got set to the side. Didn't seem like a fair use of um resources. And that bridge is actually eligible for state funding for replacement because of its age and um not only the age, I guess, but the performance and the long-term maintenance it would need to continue to serve the traveling public. Um so then we took it, we said, okay,

option two was let's remove the bridge. Um but what if we expanded that to then fill the channel? So that's option three, remove the bridge, fill the channel, put in the storm pipe. And then we took it to option four. Well, what if we replace the Hickory Street Bridge as well, so this whole channel was actually just totally underground. Um, and what we found was with option 4, the Hickory Street Bridge is in fine condition. It was built in 1981. Um, it just is not it's not eligible for reimbursement or funding from the state at this point. And so it it wasn't an option we were willing to recommend. So between options two and three, so if we kind of reorient with these two, option two is just the base. Let's replace the streets and utilities. Let's replace the third street bridge. We were looking at a $2,45,000 project. Um the other option that's being considered is doing all of the base work, but then adding in the drainage channel work. So putting that pipe at the bottom of the channel, filling the channel. Um and that would have an additional cost of 688,000. And then a reminder, we we'd have to work with all those neighbors to make sure we got a permanent easement from the city in order to not only do the work, but then maintain that pipe underground in perpetuity. So, next steps is April's going to be a big month for both Matt and I to go meet with these property owners and start to gather feedback, present the project to them. Um, let them know not only about, of course, the street and utility replacements, but start to get the feedback on that drainage channel and understanding whether people are wanting to offer that easement and have the channel filled in. So, in May, we'd be back to continue the steps that Matt alluded to. That would take the city through the improvement hearing, then the assessment hearing in in June and authorizing the project kind of June, midsummer, bidding the project June and

July, and then constructing the project the back half of summer and into the fall. And that's all I have. So, happy to answer any questions if there are any. Yeah, I would just say one uniqueness part of this project if you bring back up the channel, right? I mean, part of the uniqueness we found is, you know, not only the bridge is old, right? Well, downtown is old. Um, and platting of things, you know, was done back in the 1800s, right? Um but recognizing that a lot of these folks's properties, you know, with a channel being next to it, uh really their property is bounded within the channel. Um so when Alex is kind of alluding to, we really need to, you know, work with these folks if in fact the option with the channel is something the council wants to pursue. um because obviously there are costs separate from our street program that would go into the channel. It's really that uh it would have to be a uniform decision, right? The neighbors would because they all have shared common uh property with the channel. The way we're approaching it just so that you know um in either case the base scenario of the project, Alex explained stays the same. what we would do is uh go in and repair or make sure that the drainage channel at a minimum would function when we're done. Um it's been a long time since we've actually I mean our obligation is to make sure that the water stays flowing through the channel. So I mean one thing with the base project is us saying working with these property owners and saying hey at a minimum we need to come in and you know clear up clean up the channel but now would be an

opportunity uh for us to improve it right beauties in the eyes of beholder. Some of these folks uh what it would take is essentially them dedicating uh portions of their property which don't have easements on them today. uh putting in the pipe and then obviously having us having the ability to go back in and maintain it long term. Something we you know it's prescribed today, right? Um we have the rights to basically go in and fix things up to make sure that the water can pass through, but essentially the the walls and things we need the folks to agree that that's something they want to pursue. Um, but it's going to take a little bit of time between now and like Alex said in April. We're going to just preserve that time to kind of engage with some of these folks, see what it is that that people will. Ultimately, what we need to do as a part of the next step like Matt said, you know, when we do have projects that have assessments, there's really three key things that need to happen. There's the feasibility study, which is this evening, right? We talk about the costs. We talk about the overall impacts. We talk about how the project's being set up from a feasibility standpoint. The next step is the improvement hearing. Um at the improvement hearing, basically there'll be notices and things that we would be sending out to all of the property owners who would propose to be assessed. Okay. Uh Alex and I will be meeting with them prior to that time, sharing with them kind of what it is that our standards have been. We'll talk about the channel. We'll talk about all these things. So, this will not be the first time that folks have heard it. Um hopefully we can answer all those questions, but essentially what you'd see probably coming in May is that improvement hearing time. At that time, what we would do is basically be

recommending a project, right? um the channel no channel option is really what we need to flesh out and understand but really come that May time frame we we would have those costs known we would be coming forward or recommending a project and then also we'd be sharing the initial assessments like Matt said the assessment amounts that staff's proposing are stay uniform they would stay at the $7500 amount while you know uh the reason for that obviously is, you know, the sequencing of how projects have happened in downtown. Um they're of no control to the property owners. It's really a matter of how it is that sewer needs to get put in. Um and then a matter of how much can we actually take on. So for that, it's really just working through the assessments, answering any questions to these folks, and then once we go through the improvement hearing, there'll be an assessment hearing that we would have probably later in June. Uh so that we would tee up for that July construction timeline.

How much weight are you?

One quick note, too. I just got to say one quick put on the economics of it too. the whether we fill the channel or not doesn't really determine the assessment amount for the individuals. The $7500 is the assessment amount they'll get. Um we if you area uh or the the area up on the Hickory Street Bridge uh if you were to just continue to go further uh or up on that on that map, that's the area that we filled in uh going uh you know farther to the west of there uh back probably 20 years ago,

2011. Um, so it was part of the street reconstruction project over there. Um, and that was not an additional cost to the the homeowners. It was part of the overall cost of we ended up dealing with the storm water over there. I think like Matt said really the decision on what we do on with the the ditch is really going to be sort of a combination of you know speaking with the neighbors who about the the drainage ditch and is there some consensus about what they'd like to see happen back there and then also what do we think is the most sound way to deal with with storm water that's going through there in the long term. Yeah, I think he just answered my question. That's how much weight do is put into, you know, the decision in regards to just outreach with the the residents. I know when I door knocked that neighborhood um two years ago, I did have some neighbors that showed an interest

in that. But obviously they could have moved or you know a lot of things can happen between now and then. So I think the engagement process is important and I know um we've had another resident reach out in regards to like the street itself. So, uh, this is great that we are putting this into motion to, you know, figuring out what what should be done and and kind of at at a bare minimum, you know, addressing the the street um and, uh, figuring out, you know, with the channel what what would be appropriate.

Ask a quick um, and I just may not really understand channels, but it looks like today when you showed those pictures of it, it's like a ravine or, you know, man-made, but like a ravine like a creek when it fills up with water or something like that. If you bury a a pipe, I understand then the water runs through the pipe, but what happens to all that those p like do we concrete over it and then put grass or is it just like a big concrete median that you're looking or Yeah. So, good good question, right? Uh what is it that we intend to mimic when we replace the channel channel?

Yeah, exactly. So previously the the section that was done before one of the design takes into account is actually trying to mimic the same volume of water that can be stored and pass through underneath the channel obviously by filling it in over top. We're not recreating the same den same scenario but trying to essentially give folks back a more usable property but also being able to say that we can manage the conveyance that will have significant amount of storage in the pipe. The unique part of this project is it's also tied to as a part of our levy system. So downstream from this is actually we call it outlet outlet A. It is the third line of third series of gates that we actually close. So when we do actually uh the channel that exists where it is today was actually replaced by the US Army Corps of Engineers diversion channel. So folks who have lived or have been in this area, particularly a handful of them because I've been working in downtown for a long time, um they do remember and some of them actually were pre92

uh when the levy actually went in and they are very thankful that the core of engineer channel actually happened and that we have a levy. So, I mean it simply what Alex is saying is it's really an obsolete portion of downtown in terms of channel. Um, which gives us the ability to put it into a pipe. So, I mean, we'll see if folks want it. Yeah. Um, but hopefully that

it secondary to that question, if you think about like 44 and Creek Road and all those things that come down to this area, they're all much higher up on a hill. Um and so you know like not that this happens all the time, but if we were to have gotten 3 ft of snow two weeks ago when we only got a foot, um if that all were to melt off really quickly again, would there be enough room in a pipe this big or would we all of a sudden see flooding in these people's yards because

all of the channel would be the the side the pipe sizing and things is set up such that it conveys at a minimum the same volume of water that's coming to it today. um it would be under that gate closed gate condition that we're kind of being conscientious of how much storage can actually go back into the system while we continue to pump it over the top of the river. So that's why the pipe is actually in in in volume it's probably twice the size of how big it needs to be to actually just take the drainage that's there. It's how much can we store in it at the same time. Perfect. That's what I was wondering. Okay, good questions.

Does anybody else any Does anybody else have any questions at all or Matt or Matt or Alex? Well, this sounds like we're kind of getting the ball rolling. Um, and so if there's no other discussion in regards to this, I look forward to seeing what comes of your discussions with neighbors. Um, I like I said, I think a lot of them are going to be excited uh for this discussion to see what happens and I'll be it'll be interested to see what comes of it.

All right. Well, with that, we have uh a motion to adopt resolution 2026-23 accepting the feasibility study for the downtown reconstruction project for 2026. Motion to adopt resolution 2026-23. All right. Right. So, a motion from um council member Hatfield. Second. A second from council member Bennish. Any other discussion? All right. Uh all in favor signifies by saying I opposed. All right. Motion's adopted. Thank you. Have a fun April. Yep. So, you guys will be busy.

You will be busy. All right. Well, then that uh moves us along to bills. Does anybody have a question on a bill at all? No questions. But it's just exciting to keep seeing like all the like public safety building things like their softener salt. Yeah. Which I was like, "Whoa, dang. That's a lot of salt." And then I realized it's probably like the equipment, too. But um it's just exciting to keep seeing that in the building being basically done. Filling in the details. I know. I was excited to see all of the golf shop merchandise. Yeah, that's always a sign of summer, too.

So, no, that is exciting. We're getting things started for summer. Uh coming around the corner. All right. Well, if nobody has any other uh questions on a bill, I'd entertain a motion to pay these bills. Motion to pay bills. All right. So, a motion from Council Member Chevlin. Second. And a second from Council Member Bennish. All right. Uh roll call, please. Council member Hatfield, yes. Council member Bennish, yes. Council member Chevlin, yes. Mayor Hubard, yes. All right. Bills are paid. Uh, and then that moves us along to other business. Uh, Council Member Hatfield.

All right. Um, few things. Coco and Cops coming up this Wednesday. Yes. At 11 at the Ice Arena. So, that's always I think this is like the second or third time they've done it. It's always a nice event. Um, on the same Speaking of the Police Department, uh, the Battle of the Badges starts tomorrow.

Oh, yeah. So, um you can check out Bountiful Baskets Facebook or website. Um so, police and fire are having another battle to see who can raise the most pounds of foods or dollars. So, every dollar equals a pound or you can actually donate items. Um and you choose to either donate for the fire department or for the police department. And we'll see who the winner is. I feel like the police have taken the last couple of times, I think. So, we'll see if Fire can uh pull through. Maybe the maybe Fire took it last time. I can't remember. So, um that's always a nice time and raises items and funds for Bountiful Basket, which is always amazing. So, that starts tomorrow and goes through the 6th at 3:30, I believe it was. Um, then just want to say congrats to the Hawks and the high school basketball team specifically and coach and Hayes on their win because that was very exciting and um fun. I like the obviously the game is a fun part, but my favorite part is when police and fire escort them to and from um in Chaska. So that's I always just like love it. It's just a vibe. So that's that. But congrats. Um, I always like to mention when our uh department head council retreat is coming up because I think it's a nice time like if you've been sitting around thinking about something in Chaska and you're like, gosh, I should tell my city council member or I should tell the mayor, now is a good time to do it because it's when we get together with the department heads and as a council and kind of look out into the future. So, if you have something, it may be relevant for us to know. So, there's been something you've been thinking about, shoot us an email or give us a call. It's a good time to do it. I mean you can anytime but I always think it's a nice reminder that um when you mention things they often come up for whatever reason and it could come up in our council retreat. So just like to mention

that that's happening on the 9th and 10th. So um and then oh I had a question um Matt you had in the bi-weekly about um the KFC site and I'd got some questions. They have for lease signs up now. So, I was just wondering if we'd engaged the property owners or anything or if they knew um because the the for lease signs certainly were raising some questions from the community.

Yeah. So, uh yeah, so the the people who own it and police it because we have not come up with any deal uh with them. We're currently in the process trying to work with the uh uh not the land trust but the uh uh land bank. Help me Alisa. Land escaping me. Land bank.

Land bank. Yes, we're trying to work with the land bank uh to uh develop a plan to uh to be able to go and put a deal together to actually uh purchase it. Uh so until that point we fully expect that they're going to try to lease that space. Uh we have had people who have have tried to lease the space. They have significant issues uh within that space that need to be brought up to the code uh which often times sort of stops projects in in their tracks. So yeah, that's sort of what we've been working through and why we're really trying to aggressively work with land bank now. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Um, that's all I had.

Yep. Wonderful. All right. Uh, Council Member Bennish, I just wanted to say congrats to the Chesco Hawks boys basketball team for winning the state championship this past week. So, way to go and look forward to hopefully seeing you guys here soon. So, wonderful. All right, Council, um, to echo that, congrats to the boys. It's very exciting and very exciting for um, the whole community to rally around that. And then just a happy Easter to everybody out there. It's uh um spring break week, Holy Week, Easter week, all these kinds of things. So, whatever you choose to celebrate, I hope you enjoy. Wonderful. Uh Kristoff,

nothing to report, please. Nothing. Dy, you got anything? He's like, why did you put me on the spot? I know. Matt. Matt, you Matt. Well, I got a couple. Yeah. Yes, go for it. Oh, wrong mat. No, no, you you're the mat I was talking to. I'm just look glance happen to glance over there.

Okay. All right. Um, well, a couple of things. Uh, first of all, in relation to the uh retreat that we have coming up on the 9th and the 10th, so that will be up in the new public safety center. So, we'll be the first group that ends up using the the new EOCC center. Uh, so that'll be sort of fun to uh to be the first group to utilize that. Uh, and then to prepare us for uh the retreat uh uh next Monday. Uh we won't have a council meeting, but we will have a work session. So, the work session will be up at the community center at 5:30. And uh it's going to be sort of a twofold thing. We're going to do a tour. Uh Marshall and some of his staff are going to take us on sort of a behind thescenes tour of the community center to sort of look at some of those things you don't typically see within the community center as a public to sort of see how the community center functions and those things that we have worried about as staff as we, you know, look into the future of the building. And then uh and then spend some time afterwards really getting everybody up to speed on what the committee center master plan is all about. uh because three people of the council members were here during that time, two weren't. And so we just want to make sure going into the retreat session that everybody's on the the same page uh for the new center master plan. So that's coming up next week. And then uh congrats to the Chescott Hawks boys basketball team. That was really really fun to watch that the end of the game. But also congratulations uh the uh the Curling Center hosted the club uh this last weekend and Chaza's own team Caldwell won uh the national championship uh which was really cool to see. It's not often that the home club is the team that wins the national

championship. But uh it was pretty cool to see. So that's all I have.

Yeah, that's a good report. I was actually going to mention that. Um great. Wonderful. Uh, so I guess to recap between this last time we met and this time, we had a few legislative things that we um participated in. We had um our um TIFF extension hearing within the Senate uh tax committee and um Elise and I went and spoke on that. And then I also did go and speak in front of the um Senate Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee as well for uh the legislation to help the Brandenale neighborhood. So just to give you a little bit of report on that one, uh it did get it did get approved. Um, and then it also so it moved on to the judiciary uh committee and it sounded like it got approved as well in a recommendation to be to be passed. So we'll see what happens, you know, as far as what happens with it as it hits the floor.

Um, but that kind of was hopeful for that. Uh, we had our employee recognition breakfast for the city. Uh, it did end up getting delayed a day due to I showed up the wrong day,

the snow and travel travel plans for certain individuals, but it it worked worked out all right. So, sorry, but Josh and I were able to kind of be able to hand out all those wonderful recognition awards. Um, and it was just a really nice breakfast and really great to be able to show our appreciation to everybody that's here in the city and all their contributions. So, uh, and then, um, Elise, Matt, and I also went to the county commission meeting, or no, sorry, not meeting, work session this past Tuesday and discussed the plans for the library as far as just gathering together a task force, our general budget, you know, our general location of where we where we're looking to put the library and start those discussions off with the county because, as we all know that while we are um building the library with the city with the funds that we've been raising um with the tax levy with our building uh program, the county funds the staffing and resources. So, it's kind it's a partnership and so we started the groundwork for that. Um and then talked about the curling championships. Congrats to team Codwell. That's our local Chesa team. And then team Roth, which I think they're out of um where are they out of Matt? Do you know?

They're out of Madison and Madison. That's right. Roth, who is the skip uh was an Olympian. So, um so it's sort of cool to hear her play there.

Yeah. So, it sounded like it was a wonderful time. It was I was there for the opening ceremony and it was really fun to be a part of that and just to see the number of athletes that come from all over the you the country to compete. It was really cool um and be able to showcase our our curling center. So uh let's see. Congrats to the Chaza boys basketball. I um I and I happened to catch like the last five minutes of the game on TV. It was an exhilarating last five minutes of the game that I watched. I can only imagine what the rest of the game looked like. I um and then I was I ventured over to the high school to greet the boys uh back from their win. So, it was really fun to see the community come out. Uh it was like almost midnight, so it was kind of a late night. Um but it was great to see all the students that were there and just one of the fun moments that uh and council member Gra he was there with his his family and his boys. Um to see the like the young kids just kind of run up to the players and just uh you know give them the support and just admiration and see those uh high school athletes kind of soak that in. that that was really really really fun to witness witness the community come together for that. So congrats to them and yeah I look forward hopefully they can come to a future meeting and we can all celebrate together on their state championship win. So um a couple things we the uh Legion the American Legion auxiliary hosts an Easter egg hunt. It's this Saturday at the uh City Square Park. It's at 10:00 am and don't come late because they'll probably be over at 10:01 a.m. goes quick. Um, but I'm sure they'll have plenty of fun treats for

kids to run around and find and then I I think typically they usually have the Easter Bunny come and have some pictures. So, I'm hoping the weather is going to be all right for them. I'm not sure what this weekend looks like. Nobody say the S word. Oh, okay. I'm so sorry I mentioned it. It's so nice today. It just feels like it should just stay. But it's spring. It's Minnesota. And on that note, because spring is always a turbulent time, you know, hopefully Easter is has decent weather. Maybe the next day, who knows? But wishing everybody a happy Easter who celebrates um time with their family. Uh and I think we have an EDA meeting following this. But otherwise, our next council meeting is next Monday, April.

He just meeting just Oh, yeah. You're right. Sorry, I went into autopilot there. Uh I don't know when our next official Oh, well, it's Yeah, it's uh April April 20th. Sorry. Our next official meeting is April 20th. So, uh and that's all I have. Otherwise, we have an EDA meeting following this. So, uh if anybody has anything else, otherwise I would make a motion to entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. All right. Uh motion from council member Shlinin. Second. Second from council member Hatfield. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Council meetings adjourned.

Thank you very much. We're going to head right into our um meeting for the economic I got to switch gears. Hold on. All right. Uh All right. Uh switching gears. Economic development authority meeting. We're going to start that off. Uh, calling that to order. Will you call RO, please? Commissioner Heatfield here. Commissioner Benes here. Commissioner Chevlin here. Commissioner GR. President Hubard here. All right. All right. So, we have adoption of the agenda for the EDA. Uh, entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. Motion to adopt the agenda.

All right. We have a motion from Commissioner Benes. Second. A second from Commissioner Hatfield. All those in favor say I. I opposed. All right. Agenda is adopted. And then that moves us along to previous meeting minutes. Our meeting minutes were for March 16th of 2026. Uh does anybody have any questions or additions or corrections to the minutes? Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. All right. So motion from Commissioner Hatfield. Second. A second from Commissioner Bennish. Uh any discussion? All those in favor say I.

I. I opposed. All right. Minutes are adopted. And then that moves us along to our um action items which is first one is approve the lease agreement with uh Copperfield Chesa LLC at the Curling and Event Center. I don't know. Okay.

All right. Uh Mr. President and uh commissioners. Uh the item in front of you tonight is coming off of our work session that we had at the last council meeting or last EDA meeting uh in which we uh talked about uh bring uh bringing in the new restaurant for the curling and event center. As you know, uh this is our 10th anniversary right now uh over at the curling and event center. We opened up uh the restaurant and the curling uh center in very late 2015. Uh it it was uh December of 2015 uh when we opened that up and have been uh operating ever since with Crooked Pint as being the restaurant that's been in that space uh uh since its inception uh and uh now hitting its 10ear mark. Uh when we originally set up the lease with Cricut Pint, uh we set it up as a 10-year lease with two five-year renewal options. Uh Crooked Pint uh did uh well, first their their current lease actually ends at the end of April. Uh the reason it ends at the end of April, not the end of of last December, is because we did have some extension of the lease because of CO. uh it was closed down for a few months during COVID and so the lease got extended for a few months because of that and so uh the end of April is when that current lease uh actually extends. Uh we did get notified by them uh uh based on the the when they needed to in the lease that they were interested in extending uh the lease for their next five-year renewal option. Uh and at the same time we got that uh they did ask us at that point if we were potentially interested in looking at a different concept uh through uh their parent

company which is hightop hospitality uh to look at taking over the cricut pint space. Uh so uh for the last several months uh Marshall Graange who's here as well and myself uh have been uh meeting uh with uh Hightop Hospitality and Paul Dubnar who is uh the president of Hightop Hospitality and was at the last uh work session talking about the concept of a restaurant called Copperfield. Uh so Copperfield is uh one uh piece of the uh hightop hospitality company uh that is a little newer uh concept than the Cricut Pint. Uh they currently have a restaurant in Mandota Heights uh which is uh been around for just about five years and they have one that they're just opening up in Rosemont. Uh now, uh Copper Field, uh from a restaurant perspective, uh is um you know, it has some of the the the same handheld and appetizers and beer selection and things like that that Crooked Pine has, but it really sort of differentiates itself in a couple of different ways. Uh first of all, it offers uh many more dinner entre. So it sort of takes it takes it up sort of a notch for uh not just having handheld type things but also having quite a selection of entre uh and dinner time. And one thing that sort of excites us especially because of some of the events that we have within the facility itself is that it offers full service breakfast uh seven days a week. uh which is uh something that uh with the amount of you know pearling events and and different things we have uh in uh the building uh really is something that we've really lacked uh over the the last uh 10 years

uh as we have people who are in the facility in the morning for different events but really don't have the food service to be able to to uh supply them. Uh so uh we've been talking about you know what what it would take to uh sort of put this uh together. Um you know one of the uh benefits of working with Hightop is that we have been working with Hightop for the last 10 years. So it's not completely new to us. Uh probably the biggest differentiator is that uh Crooked Pint uh was uh at least with us it was the franchisee uh that was working directly with us uh Jeremy Brown. uh in this case probably be through directly through HighTop Hospitality which would be uh through corporate ownership which would really open up some opportunities for us to be able to do uh more from a marketing perspective and uh being able to dip into some of the resources that they have from a corporate standpoint uh to really expand our opportunities within uh the restaurant itself. Uh we also talk about uh at the work session the opportunity exists within the catering space. Uh as we talked about at the work session uh hightop hospitality actually has five different uh catering companies that they work with. They also have catering venues that they actually own and they're catering those from sort of very basic uh type of of uh catering that has a very low price point to uh catering that's a much higher uh end catering that has a higher price point. It's really uh providing a number of different things in between. Uh the other thing we talked about uh at the work session was um you know the one thing that we do get a lot of uh within our event center space is uh people who

uh uh need ethnic cuisine that you you can't get from a typical restaurant including hightop hospitality and they recognize that too. And as we talked about at the work session, one of the things that uh that we've worked out with them is that uh uh they they do sort of two things because they really heard uh when when the discussion was occurring how important that was to to be able to to meet that market because we do have a lot of uh of events that use very uh ethnic uh type of food. Uh that is is not easy to you know to find sometimes. uh they would go through and actually create a a vetted list of options. So making sure that they're uh uh restaurants that uh have the right lensure that they uh have the right safety protocol uh that they have the right price point and quality and those types of things that uh would be uh good for for being able to provide uh the event within the event center. uh they would act as a conduit to get uh the food to the end user but would not provide an upcharge uh from what the the restaurant's actually uh charging for uh that food. Uh beyond that, if there was a restaurant that uh like if none of the people who none of the restaurants that they felt were on that list were able to meet their needs, uh they would allow another restaurant to uh come into that space. Um they would need to go through a vetting process to make sure that, you know, that they meet safety standards and can and meet all, you know, meet all the standards that we need to to to serve within the space. there'd be an administrative fee to do that, but they'd have access to be able to bring those caterers in. So, it gives people

really sort of that ultimate options uh if they have specialty foods that uh that their five catering companies through hightop hospitality are not able to to meet. Um in the staff report itself, you'll see uh sort of the uh conditions and terms uh of uh what we're uh discussing uh for uh the the restaurant catering itself. Um you know that uh just like the the first lease that we talked about 10 years ago, uh we would recommend uh that we do another 10-year lease with two with two fiveyear options. Um we'd once again recommend that we do a percent uh base uh rent that has served us very well. Uh if you look at the uh per square foot rent that we have with in the crooked pint right now it's over $40 a square foot which is much higher than we'd get if we were actually to go out and lease that space on a per square foot basis. It's good for the business because, you know, you know, if they if if they do worse, they don't have to pay as much rent. If they do better, they have to pay more rent, but they're also doing better. It's good for us because we get the upside uh of, you know, when they do better, so it it uh so it helps us to help them. Uh so, uh we'd set that up a little very similar to before. Uh we'd actually tar it uh so that we'd start with a 7% uh for the first $4 million uh annually and then have it go up uh from there based on uh the increase in in rent that we'd actually get or increase on revenue that they'd actually generate uh within the the facility. On top of that, we would

get uh 2.8% 8% additional uh uh percentage of their net uh sales uh that would go towards uh utilities, common space areas, those types of things uh to to cover our costs of those uh different types of uh spaces. Um the uh uh they would uh be required to uh operate under a copper field. uh uh uh brand and would not be able to change that unless we as the owner or the lesser uh would give them permission to actually do that. Um as part of this uh uh arrangement um we had talked during the work session that one of the things that we're really excited about is that uh the restaurant has agreed to give up the seating uh that's down by the uh down by the ice along the glass. Um, so there's seating that's beyond sort of a glass knee wall there. They would actually be pulling that knee wall back about 4 foot and make that entire area down by the glass uh an area that's uh stadium seating uh that's dedicated for our curling members. Uh so this is really good news when we were hosting things like if we would have had like uh that seating this last weekend for the the uh uh the club nationals. It would have been a really nice spot to to be able to have people be able to sit, not feel obligated to have to order food if they're there, but have a place to be uh have a place for teams to go after league. Uh and be they can order food if they want. They can order a drink if they want, but they don't have to feel obligated where now they're taking tables from the restaurants and it's it creates a sort of a situation where you feel almost

obligated that you have to to order food. So, we would really take over that space uh create the the stadium seating in there and then they would take over the uh the rest of the restaurant. Uh as far as the improvements themselves, uh we uh we would be responsible for the curling seating itself and then we would split uh the cost of the uh uh the remaining improvements within the uh facility itself. We estimate that estimate between the curling seating and the rest of the improvements themselves, there'll be about $750 to $800,000 uh in total uh for the improvements that would be uh made uh in that uh uh in that space and uh that it would take about 3 months uh for us to be able to uh complete uh those improvements. Uh if the lease were to be accepted or approved tonight, uh the plan would be to actually close down the restaurant uh right after Easter brunch uh uh next week. Uh start up with construction on April 6th and then have it opened up by June 15th. Uh which gets us open up in time for uh the Chaska Rock Celebration which is on June 20th. And then fire and ice is really what we want to be uh open for and have all the bugs and and stuff uh worked out before uh that moves forward. Um the hours are going to be uh uh quite a bit different uh than the hours that were existing for the pint. Uh because it does serve breakfast. uh we put minimum hours in there of 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Uh but I think we'll uh very often see especially on weekends uh those hours go from 7:00 a.m. till

midnight uh just depending on demand. Uh so uh we'll have a lot uh more hours that were actually open uh in there. And as far as a banquet facility then uh uh they would uh keep the same percentage uh that they would uh provide to us uh that they provide now which is uh 12% for food and 15% for uh beverage. Uh they would have the exclusive for uh providing food. uh but for that they need to provide those the five uh different options uh that they have for catering and then like I mentioned before they need to provide those ethnic options to uh to uh uh people coming in uh for things that they just can't provide. Um I think I've hit most everything. Marshall, is there anything that uh that I've missed? I

think you covered it well. Uh, couple questions for you that I just was thinking about. One, are we going to have signage now since inside of the restaurant somewhere or somewhere maybe kind of at the entrance that will signify that people can come in and be able to use that stadium seating just to spectate, you know, like you said, kind of allow for that more of that open welcome. like you don't have to order food or beverage, but you know you can and that sort of thing. Is that is there going to be some sort of signage?

Yeah, I think I think that would be appropriate, you know, but I would hope too that just the staff as they greet them are going to make kind of provide them that option and, you know, welcome them to sit down there. Okay. Yeah. because I know like sometimes we have, you know, obviously with

I was going to say with different events that happen down there, you know, sometimes people are down there for different things and they might pop over and want to just watch for a few minutes or something along those lines. So, I think that would be good. My other question too is in regards to the remodel, obviously, if this, you know, goes through and we say yes and everything, um, and the timeline of the remodel, what is the plan for communicating to the general public? uh are is there going to be signage outside of you know to say like hey we're on a remodel or this is turning into this you know I just want to make sure that the community knows that this is kind of the brand sort of shift you know the company sort of shifting the brand and that you know it's going to be under remodel obviously people won't want to come and you know eat and stuff like that you just don't want people You just want to know before you walk walk in the door.

We actually have a we actually have a communications plan that's all ready to go. Okay. Um it's contingent on your decision. Yeah. Okay. I just So, but but yeah, that we're we have a a a communications uh that we're going to be getting out in different forms uh tomorrow morning. Okay. uh uh if this is to get approved and then we'll also have the the signage that that goes down at the events or down at the curling center as well. Okay. Okay.

And I can expand on that just for your awareness. So, um working with Kevin, we'll plan to get uh social media posts sent out through the city's Facebook page and then also through the um curling center uh Facebook page. um informing the public about this change. We have a press release prepared that's going to go to the Carver County Local News and then that'll also get posted up on our city website and the curling and event center website. And then we'll be following up with a direct um message to our curling members through our email list serve um with with details about this change. And then staff um will be working to contact all of our corporate learn to curl groups that are scheduled um while the restaurant has closed to uh talk through the change and um provide them um the options that are available to them. And then staff will also be contacting all of the groups that have events um scheduled in the event center throughout that closure. and just um same thing talking through the changes, reassuring them that their event's going to go off um without any hinges um you know, but certainly want to be open and honest about the changes that'll be um within the building.

Yeah. No, I appreciate that. I think Yeah, I think it's important Go ahead, Matt.

Go ahead. I was just going to say I think it's important to point out that while there's remodel of the actual uh restaurant where customers are, there is not not a remodel of the kitchen. Uh they have to put a flat top in there because they're doing breakfast uh in the kitchen, but the rest of the equipment actually stays. So they'll have the ability to if if we have like our learn to curls that want to have uh like uh appetizers, things like that, we they can provide those for them. And then if there's those events that are in the event center that already have a booked for a wedding or whatever, they'll able to use use the catering kitchen uh their kitchen or potentially they even have their kitchens are offsite that they can even cook there, bring them in and use our catering kitchen to to be able to serve them too.

Sure. Yeah, that's that's good to know. Um as well. So yeah, I think we'll get uh something in the next um Chaza today's newsletter. Yeah. Well, so

yeah. Yeah. Okay. And those are my questions that hadn't been asked. I think it's good to note that we had a really robust discussion about this at our last um well, it was a work session, wasn't it? Yeah, it was a work session, but we uh at the last council meeting prior during our work session had a really good robust discussion, met with the owner um and were able to answer a lot of the questions that you guys had touched on tonight in regards to just some of the specifications of the lease and what the remodel would look like and the menu and especially the catering component, especially with the, like you said, the diversity of different events that happen down there and just making sure that we are providing um cuisine options for them um for to fit their their needs as well. So, does anybody else have any questions or comments that they'd like to share? No, I think this is exciting. It's nice to see reinvestment into the restaurant and I do think to your point the communications plan will be important because I've already just seen fake news as I call it out on the Facebook. So um I think that'll be an important piece. But

yeah, I think generally like people you care a lot about Chaza the curiosity um in regards to that. I think too some of times some people can kind of um be misinformed to think that one is closing because something was wrong and that's not the case here. It's underneath the same umbrella brand and just wanting to provide

something different and have more options in regards to just offering breakfast and offering a little bit more versatility when it comes to even the catering menus um options for for people and everything. So, uh, I think it would be very important that I I know you can't stop everything from happening as far as people drawing conclusions, but I think having a a really good communication plan will help point to something from us coming from us. So, that's important. All right. Well, with that, if I'm not hearing anything more, I know we, like I said, we have talked about this prior. So, um, I would entertain a motion to approve the lease agreement with Copperfield Chaza LLC for the use of the restaurant and banquet facility in the curling and event center and to authorize the executive director to execute the final draft of the lease with all the attachments complete. So moved.

All right, we have a motion from Commissioner Bennish. Second, and a second from Commissioner Shiblin. Any other discussion? All right, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. All right. Wonderful. And then that we have one more discussion item tonight and that is um item B which is adopt resolution 2026 uh-25 bond sale reimbursement.

Uh so president commissioners this might look very similar to something you saw in the council meeting uh because it is. Um so this deals with the this also deals with the copper field restaurant. So, uh, one of the things that, uh, one of the things that we haven't quite decided, uh, what to do yet is whether we're going to internally just finance, uh, the improvements that we do and then just pay ourselves back uh, or whether we tie uh, or or whether we tie this uh, these improvements into another project that we're doing. So, for instance, we've looked at, you know, maybe we'll tie this into bonds that we sell for the city hall plaza uh that we're doing this summer or another project. Maybe it's a street reconstruction or something. Um, what these reimbursement resolutions do is they give us flexibility uh to be able to say that we can go out and spend the dollars uh because, you know, we'll start the remodel process, you know, pretty quickly here. uh allows us to spend the dollars and then if we do decide to go out and and sell bonds to be able to pay for it, it allows us through the IRS regulations to reimburse ourselves with those bond proceeds. Um if we don't do that, then we cannot use bond proceeds to reimburse ourselves. So, it's not obligating us to use bonds. Uh but it gives us the ability to use them if we decide that's the right option to to go. So, I always like putting these on uh when we're doing uh projects like this because we may or may not use it, but I like to keep the flexibility in case we decide that that's the right route to go. So, staff is recommending that that uh uh council approve or the EDA approve this uh reimbursement resolution.

All right. Um, does anybody have any questions in relation to this? Pretty straightforward. All right. All right. Well, with that, uh, entertain a motion to adopt resolution 2026-25 uh, to establish the reimbursement of bond regulations under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. So moved. All right. Motion from Commissioner Chevlin. Second. A second from Commissioner Hubard or Hatfield. Sorry. I'm Wow. Third from Hover. There we go.

Yeah. Wow. Okay. Um well, with that, uh any other discussion? All right. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. All right. Does anybody have any other business for the EDA? All right, hearing none, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. All right, we have a motion from Commissioner Hatfield. Second. Second from Commissioner Venish. Can't believe I made a mistake for my own last name. All right, all those in favor say I. I. All right. All those opposed. All right. We are adjourned. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Bye, man.

Have a good night. Have a good night.