City Council - Regular Meeting

Exactly. You don't have to dress up extra for me. Good evening. Today is Monday, the 31st of October. I hereby open the session of the town mayor and the emperor. Please rise for the flag.

I sincerely praise the flag of the United States of America and the republic for which it stands, a nation indivisible under God, with freedom and justice for all.

All right, Lisa, would you please be present? Yes.

Hetfield is present. DATRAD member Benes. Present. DATRAD Chevalier.

DATRAD GR is present. Prime Minister Hubert.

Well, that brings us to agenda item 4, the adoption of the agenda. Are there any changes or questions on the agenda? If not, I ask for an application for the adoption of the agenda.

I apply for the adoption of the agenda.

Application by city council members. Supported by city council members. Are there any further word messages on the agenda? I don't hear any.

Who is for the adoption of the agenda in the preceding form, please say yes. Yes.

Opposed? Same sign. The agenda has been established. We come to the visitor presentation. I don't see anyone here for a visitor presentation, so we skip the visitor presentations. That brings us to point 6, approval of the previous meeting protocol. This concerns the city council meeting on the 17th, 18th, 26th.

Appointment for approval of the previous meeting protocol.

Appointment by city council member chief. Second. Second by city council member Hetfield. Are there any further word messages? For the approval of the protocol of the session of August 17th, 2026, please say yes. Yes. That's fine. Same sign. That's accepted. We come to point 7, the consent points. We have five points on the list of consent. Remember, these are points that do not need discussion, but can of course be discussed if there is a need for clarification. Are there any other questions about the consent points?

You only notice that the summer is coming to an end when you see the event with the Guardian Angels and the many music and food offers.

It all comes to an end. But no further comments, I agree to the application.

Application from Council Member Herr Thiel. Second. Second from Council Member Bernisch. Are there any further comments? Who agrees to the points, I say yes. Same sign. The points have been accepted. Please take a look. We are quickly at agenda item 8a. Adjustment of pension benefits for the fire brigade Chesa.

Mr. Mayor and council members, the point that is in front of you tonight is something that you see from time to time when our fire brigade Chesa comes to the city council to apply for a change or increase in the level of performance. And some time ago we set up a kind of formula when exactly applications can be submitted to create a certain consistency for the future. I now hand over the floor to Null, who worked as a representative of the city at the Chaser Fire Relief Association. In addition, our fire chief and Chris Pierce are present, who are also part of the Fire Relief Association, to answer your questions from the fire department's point of view.

Thank you Matt, the representative mayor, members of the council, thank you for the opportunity. As Matt already said, the Chess Relief Association will come to the council this evening to apply for an increase in the salaries. This is an increase in both the monthly pension and the one-time payment. The reason why this is proposed to the council is the obligation of the council to finance this pension in the future. So there is a moral obligation. If the performance has to be increased, the Council must approve this. And then this becomes a obligation for the members. The proposed performance increases would only come into force on January 1, 2027. This will be handled in such a way that the members know when the performance will come into force. As Matt mentioned, the 2021 Resolution Parameter was approved, which must be fulfilled by the aid association before it provides the adjustment to the council. And we are trying to determine this performance on January 1st of this year, so that the members can plan when the performance will be effective. This is important when you take the one-time payment into account, because when a member leaves the department, it is determined on this level of performance. Whoever chooses the monthly performance will be pushed up until he begins the reference. After that, he will receive this performance as well as all future increases from this time. The decision to meet today's evening before the Council is a request to first approve the new performance levels and secondly to reduce the changes in the provisions of the Fire Relief Association, which reflect these new performance levels with an effect on January 1, 2027. As mentioned by Matt, the mentioned resolution sets a minimum financing requirement of 85%. This is determined on the basis of an insurance mathematical report, which is created every two years by the Fire Relief and must be submitted to the state accountant. Should the degree of financing be below 85% for any reason, the resolution prescribes that the aid association does not request an increase in performance. If the value is above 85%, there are additional parameters in this resolution that the board takes into account. How is the current financing status? What income is available? Are there expected or unexpected needs that should be checked before a recommendation? And if a recommendation is made, the financing level could drop, but not below the 85% that were discussed in the previous resolution. At the present time, the financial report from January 1, 2026 gave a financing rate of 90.90%. So the board has a proposal with the current check to increase the monthly and partial services, which would lead to a financing rate of 85.2%, which is still above the agreed minimum value of 85%. On the second page of the RFA, there is a comparison that shows the current performance levels and the current city contribution. The city is obliged to make a contribution annually according to the insurance mathematics study, based on the financing of our normal costs for each member and the compensation of the not covered liabilities, i.e. the drop of 90% to 85% over the amortized period according to state law. The necessary urban contribution in our budget for 2027 was therefore 24 dollars. As a result of this proposed performance change, this amount would increase by 16,033 dollars. This would raise the city's necessary contribution to 221,062 dollars. This amount has already been planned and is included in the general household, which was checked with the city council. We have found that the request matches the parameters of the resolution and we have identified funding sources to cover the required annual contribution. I am happy to be available for any questions. Otherwise, I invite Chris Pierce, the president of the Chaska Fire Relief Board, to come forward.

Are there any questions?

No questions for you. Thank you, Chris.

It sounds like we might be right.

Well, thank you for inviting me. I would like to thank the fire support association and the fire department in the name of the fire support association and the fire department. We appreciate your continued support. Any questions?

It seems as if, in addition to updating the pension benefits, a revision of the formulations in the statutes also took place and all parties involved had the opportunity to take a stand. Correct. So each of you was able to exercise your right to speak. I just wanted to make it clear because it seemed like a double effort with the benefits. But it was also about cleaning up the language and adapting some wrong things. I just wanted to make sure that all parties in charge had a right to speak with us and that we were satisfied with it. That's why. Yes.

We have a law firm that advises us about this on the basis of legal provisions. And that will then be submitted to our members for review. We'll leave it there for a few months so that they can look at it. Then they come back to it, talk about it and then vote.

That the members had the opportunity to check, that's the important point. Okay, that was actually my only question.

Just so everyone knows, because maybe there are a few people here who don't know how the aid organization works. Basically, firefighters and retired firefighters are represented in this committee. There are city employees involved and then we have an elected official, in this case the mayor, who is also involved. So the board comes together and thinks about which changes should be proposed. And then, as Chris already said, the entire membership is presented and it only continues as a recommendation to you as city councilor when the entire fire brigade membership has actually agreed on it and says, yes, we agree with the changes in performance or the changes in placement. Correct.

I just had a clarifying question or thought about it. It is obviously also about recruitment and binding when people decide whether they are interested in a volunteer fire brigade and where they go. If I understand this correctly, there is a partial inviolability of 60%. That means you have to serve at the fire brigade for 10 years to reach 60% and then at 15 years you will be 100% inviolable. I'm just curious if there were any considerations to increase the monthly performance amount to achieve this 85%? To the other costs, you could lower the limit of inviolability or things like that. That has never been mentioned. You don't know the market, you know. What do other fire departments do regarding inviolability? How does that work? There are different ways to reach the 65%. Well, we have actually changed ours.

Yes, I just wanted to say that. That came up a few years ago. In the past, it was 15 years for 60%, 20 years for the full claim. We have lowered it to 10 years for 60%, 15 years for the full claim, because we saw that the people who did not reach the 20-year mark You were punished because you went earlier. In addition, other competing markets, i.e. other cities around us, attracted firefighters and personnel because they offered something that, you know, required less.

And we are now at 15 years in the right area. Yes.

When we were 20, we weren't. I mean, it was just too long.

Yes.

I mean, yes.

I mean, like I said, I think you asked me what I'm going to do in 15 years. It's crazy to imagine that now, isn't it? But I understand it.

Okay.

That's the only question, because I said, obviously these are things that also affect the 85% threshold. Because if you lower it, it costs ... Yes.

We check it all the time. We can look at it. Every two years we make a kind of record and make some changes. So we can look at it in two years and check how it would affect and then continue from there. It wasn't a problem so far.

Will the change to a full-time team affect it in the future?

Um, not in my opinion. Everything that happens is that the full-time team only increases the number of... I would say the required hours that you require from the people, right? Because they have more coverage, which they have to cover with the existing personnel. So you would either have to stock up the personnel or increase the demand. At the moment there is no problem with increasing the demand. We cover it. So you work similar hours. We are paid hourly for it. And you still get the same rent. Thanks.

Is this pension running outside of the city or what?

How do you call it? It's outside of the PAR. So it's a good thing. Firefighters have the opportunity to go over PAR if they want to. Some cities do that. I think our fire support association has always been very strong and we've always had the feeling that it's our own association for the group of Vorteil. But I'm sure you've already talked about it. Yes, the same applies here. It requires people who are interested in a board like mine to participate. If you don't have any more people who want to be in this board, you don't have the members who can make the decisions to control the ship. At this point you have a few possibilities. You can hand it over to the state, which then manages it for you, or you can dissolve it completely and then move on to a kind of part-time job.

Are there any further questions? No one is coming back? Thank you.

You're welcome.

Just as a follow-up to your question about the inviolability, this would be a performance change and would also fall within this framework of the decision-making. So if you would suggest lowering the inviolability levels, we would have to check it from a financing point of view to ensure that the 85% limit is still maintained. Yes, that makes sense to me.

And then I would like to introduce Stephen Cross, the fire chief, because he wanted to express how this performance I thought you told me he wouldn't do anything.

I really thought so. I really thought I'd get through with it. That was almost perfect. Council members, thank you for handling this application tonight. As you have already discussed, there is a rather unique relationship that must exist between the fire department and the support association. The Chess fire brigade has 47 members. 48 of them are paid volunteers or part-time workers who benefit from this association and this increase. We could not offer the service we offer to our inhabitants without our paid volunteers and the commitment of the citizens. This is an extremely important part of our organization. President Pierce and the board of directors of the association worked tirelessly to ... to work together with me since I started to improve our relationship with it four years ago and to ensure that we constantly evaluate whether it is the inviolability or the performance levels to ensure that we remain competitive against other organizations. Once again, we have been profiting for a long time from a complete list of paid volunteer firemen, while other organizations around us have difficulties recruiting. Thanks to our aid association, we did not have these difficulties. So it is an enormous part of what we do. The aid association also organizes events such as our fishing competition. So they do far more than just manage our pension. They bring our community together. It is a great tool for us to gain staff. So if you have any questions for me, I am happy to answer them now. A big praise to you all, the boys, the mayor and everyone in the board are doing a lot of additional work. You meet very often and about the voluntary work at the fire department. I have great respect for your work, which, in my opinion, distinguishes us from other departments.

Are there any further questions?

There are not many departments anymore that have aid associations. I mean, it's changing. Yes. In the past, probably every fire brigade had one aid association.

That is no longer the case today.

I think that's a good point. What makes the CSCO fire department so unique is the connection to our retired employees. The aid association is the most important link that brings in our pensioners. When I talk to colleagues in this area, the CSCO fire department is very special in this respect. It is something that we have to maintain. We have to preserve this heritage and I am happy to support this application.

If there are no further questions, I will ask you to accept the application.

Thank you. I will now read it out and then ask for an application and support. The application is the approval of a revised performance structure of the CSCO Fire Brigade from January 1, 2027, as well as relevant changes based on a amount of 36 dollars. Oh, that's strange, then? Yes, that's too many decimal places. I thought so. 3.6375 per month for the monthly service and 9.85 per month for the one-time payment. I only ask for a request and support.

Request accepted.

Uh, request from council member Hetfield. Second. Second by council member Mesch. Further discussion? I don't hear any. Everyone for it, as with the measure, as with reading. Requested and supported. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes. Opposition, equal sign. Application accepted. Thank you. You. Thank you. This brings us to 8B. Resolution No. 2026. Move the hearing to improve the South-East Collector in the South-West area, Savannah Way.

Mr. Mayor and Councilmember, this is one of the cases where we normally ask you for something. Now we ask you not to do anything. We originally had, and I already mentioned it, planned to move to the south with the designation for the extension of the Savannah Way from County Road 44 later this autumn. As we talked about the development of the park in our last work meeting. If we look at the time schedule for the park, we know for sure that PY will close its real estate in March next year. So they won't do any work there. It really doesn't make sense for us to proceed with it now. It makes sense to do this next spring. We have already sent the notification. We have already spoken to each individual Udawuba. So we are very aware that we know and support that we postpone this public hearing. But basically this would be the appeal for improvement. We would move it from today's meeting to April 19, 2027, which would give us a good timetable for the actual construction of OU on this street. Results.

Questions?

That's as simple as that. I request an application for approval of Resolution 2026-78 to postpone the public hearing on the improvement of April 19, 2027 for the South-East Collector of Savannaway and South-West Jesus. An application from Member of the Council, Banish.

Second.

Second by Member of the Council, Chaffee.

Any further questions, comments?

Everyone say for it. Same sign. Approved. Brings us to the bills. Any questions on the bills? If none, I would ask for an application. Then we will apply. Application?

Application for compensations.

Application for compensations of the bill by Council Member Chavlin. Second by the Deputy Mayor of the GDR. That was strange to say. Elise, please call the list of people present.

Rathwitz. Council Member Wenisch. Council Member Schliem. Mayor Prom. The bill is paid.

All right. Other business, I'll write it down quickly. We start over there with council member Hetfield.

All right. It was the last concert of the summer concert series last week. And that makes me really sad, because it feels like summer is ending. But it also means that an exciting autumn is beginning. So the farmer's market continues. I think there were questions about that. So the farmer's market continues to take place on Thursday evenings. There is only no music in the park anymore. But sometimes Redbench has some, which is also nice. And then the community center. If you haven't seen it yet, new devices that look really good. In the gym and everywhere in the community center, after they closed for one or two weeks. One week.

We did a lot. You did a lot.

That's why I asked. It was only two weeks. Yes, but even better on Facebook. Just go there, look at it yourself and get it yourself and get it with you. But it looks really good. So thanks to the team, I'm sure. You worked hard, because you probably thought we only have a week to do so much without people here. So thanks to everyone who helped. And then some other things that are happening. I wanted to go to the trade fair with Southwest Transit. And it always runs very smoothly. It's so nice to just get in, you know. We had a children's car with us, a big old children's car. And they invited him for us and it was air-conditioned. And it was just nice when we were ready to go, because it was very hot today and we were very ready to go. Now a short walk to the Southwest Transit bus and then he takes us straight back to Chaska. So I highly recommend taking SEA Southwest. I literally can't imagine doing anything else to get to the fair. And then run fast. So six dollars. And it's BOGO. You pay for one and you can go to the other. So if you spend six dollars, you can go to the state fair and the runfest. I just wanted to share that. And then a few things that are coming up this Thursday. Pizza with a policeman at 16 in the Red Bench bakery. It's always an entertaining experience. And the pizza from Red Bench is great. So I can highly recommend it. It is then cut with a butcher. That will be nice too. It's basically during the day. And then comes the Community Academy 2026. You can sign up online. It's Wednesday night from September 16th to October 28th. These are always fantastic weeks, a few weeks. You can do a lot of great things there and learn a lot of cool things about the city and the police. And I'm sure they've built in other things, but you can sign up online. It's full quickly, so I'd be quick. In addition, September 16th is in front of the door. And then on September 14th, the day of the open door for public security is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. You should take the Southwest Transit from the East Creek Station, jump into the very nice tram, which is mostly well-climated, and drive to the day of the open door. They will be there in the 50s. I heard that even a llama should be there and everything. So it will be a good evening. And then the Legend Food and Music Festival is on Friday, September 18th. So it's always a fantastic time. It's from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Music, food, fireworks. And we eat a lot of fireworks in this city.

It's fun.

We love our fire station. I thought the drone show was cool. That was all I had.

Shortly before the day of the open door at the fire station or at the public security, at 4.45 p.m. the bandage is cut through to officially open the facility. Yes, hang up. Boss, the big scissors. We actually have a big ... sharp scissors. I have the big one. Looks like you could take off your arm.

Park. Another park. I was involved with the goats, you know?

They also made the street with it. I don't know if it was in 1941 or what.

It's like a novelty album.

Well, I'll keep you posted. I will. I blink. Oh, I knew it.

Well, Michaela, as she said, the bus to the trade fair is great. We also took it. And it's just so much easier than parking. And I can't imagine taking something else. So that too. And I know my children started school today. I don't know if others have that too, but I know this week, probably until next week, it will all be. So you know, as always, good luck for the children, the teachers and everyone else. Just drive slower and pay attention to buses, traffic, playgrounds and people who go to school by bike or on foot. Because this time of year has just begun. And I think that's it from my side.

Thank you.

Member of Parliament? I fully agree, because on the day of the open door of public security I wanted to mention the inauguration ceremony and the first day of school in our area.

Maybe it's not the first day of school for everyone, but it is for Chaska in East Carver County.

So think about it, put your cell phones away, get up and watch what's going on out there. I know traffic is closing. And so are the accidents. So just be careful and use the skills you learned in driving school. Elise. Chris. I would like to mention one more thing. The local candidate forum for our offices in the city of Czarska will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m. Organized by the League of Women Voters. It takes place right here in the council hall. I would like to note one more thing for the listeners. We currently have a construction site on the square in front of the council hall. The entrance to the town hall is located on the side of Pine Street. That's exactly on the opposite side. But if you park on Pine Street, you'll see a large sign with the inscription City Hall. Go in there and you can easily get up to the town hall. That's all for now. Yes. All right.

I have a few more points. A few questions that I haven't asked you before, so I'm going to go over them a little bit now. Because I drive by it every day and don't actually know the answer. And you would ask me what happened on the corner of Czaska Boulevard and Begurz Boulevard. Do we know that? It looks like all middle strips would have been torn open, as if they were laying huge pipes there. The traffic is a bit crowded there.

This is the pressure tube line, right? Yes. So this is actually the drain line that the new, uh, what's the name of this settlement?

Sorry, Heids.

High Point Vistas.

Understood.

So the drain line has to go through under 61 and then be connected to the connection line of the Met Council, which basically runs along the cycle path.

Yes, it is a bit tight with the traffic at this needle ear. I stand in there every day. And it looks like they would have worked a little and suddenly you think, wow, a lot is happening there. So I'm just curious. I still have another question. Maybe there is no update or we haven't won yet. But we weren't lucky this time at the water competition at the State Fair, right?

No, it didn't go well this year.

Not that the water tastes worse. Maybe it just didn't meet the taste of the fair visitors.

I told him that I went to the urban service building. It was on Thursday. I was there in the morning and saw him standing outside in the pub because the water temperature has to reach room temperature. I think they let him stand outside for too long.

It went fast. All right. The last thing I have is an acknowledgement for the fact that the Chess Cup season ended yesterday against Coon Rapids. I have to admit that I tried to help, because interestingly enough, the baseball club coach of my son plays for Coon Rapids, which I didn't know. He said, I'm trying to pre-link our Sunday game so I don't miss my game. And I said, well, as long as you don't play against the Cups. And he said, no, then you definitely can't be there. He assured me that he was just a relief pitcher and hopefully would not be needed. But it ended in the last inning.

He was the closer.

We didn't need a closer because I don't think we were the home team. We lost in the ninth inning. Through a wide pitch. Which, to be honest, is a heart-wrenching way of losing a game. But thanks to everyone involved with the Cubs. I like to say that again. I said that last time too. I think it's great that the entrance for children is free during the season. While the playoffs only cost $1. It's overwhelming for adults, because it's good family baseball to bring in children. The prices for a Saiyan game are also good and it's great entertainment. On some days probably better than on the Twins. On the Twins it tends to get more expensive, especially with food and everything around it. Even more fun with these games is, if you want to stuff your children with sweets or sugar, you just have to tell them that they should chase the flying balls, because they get free things if they bring the balls back. If they bring the balls back. So there can even be free food for the children. I just think how important the growing interest in baseball is, which everyone here knows that I have a very strong interest in baseball with my family and my children. It's just great to have this opportunity in your own city in front of your own house and the opportunity to watch summer baseball there. Pretty cheap.

Can I add something?

Sure.

Last two Fridays, when the Caps won their first starting game, I helped out at the stand and I don't know if I ever had more fun. It was a lot of fun. You have a fantastic view of the game and it was just a lot of fun to work at the stand. There was a lot going on, but if not, you could follow the game. So it's really a lot of fun. You don't even notice how many volunteers are needed to set up an athletic park. It takes a lot. So thanks to all the volunteer helpers during the whole season. And if you haven't done it yet and it sounds entertaining, you should work at Imbiss-Stand, because it was a lot of fun.

I especially want to praise the people at Imbiss-Stand who make the burgers.

Because it's hot there.

On these hot days. And they're on the grill. I think, how many years ago were we the main judges? It was probably 2022, I think.

Yes. I wanted to say five years ago.

I had signed up for the baseball association and had to help with the burger roast. And you were on the grill.

It was so hot.

I was in the front. I have to say yes.

There are positions that are not on me.

I was in the front and did the cash register and had a lot of fun there.

It's like my league baseball. Yes. In any case.

I mean, I go there, I manage to play a few games if my children don't play. And you see the regulars again, who are always in the first row. You know, it is great to have this opportunity again, because there are many places where this possibility does not exist or where the visit is expensive. That was all from my side.

So, last round.

If nothing else matters, I would like to welcome an application for submission. Application for submission. The application for submission comes from Council Member Hetfield. Please support him. Support. Supported by Council Member Benesch. Who is for the submission, please say.

Opposite sign.

We are tired. Thanks to everyone.