City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Good evening everyone. everyone. And I'd like to call this meeting of the Chesa City Council on Monday, November 3rd to order at 7 o'clock. Can everyone 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. Um, Melissa, will you please call roll? Council member Hatfield here. Council member Bennishes here. Council member Chevlin here. Council GRA here. Mayor Hubard here.

All right. Next, we have the adoption of the agenda. Does anybody have any additions or corrections to the agenda? Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion to adopt. Motion to adopt the agenda. All right. Got a motion from council member Gra. Second, and a second by council member Benes. All those in favor say I. Opposed. Agenda is adopted. Next, we have visitor presentation. Is anybody in this room here for any thing that is not on the agenda? I do see some gentlemen that maybe are earning a a badge that maybe would like to come up and introduce themselves. One said something about communications, which means they probably want to talk. Maybe. [laughter]

Don't worry. We'll keep it pretty simple. Come on up. Say your name and where you're from. All right. My name is Jack Schwarz. I'm part of Troop 174. We've got some other members of troop 174 back here working on the communication mirror badge. I believe before the meeting I already went over uh the requirements, but basically we need to listen to an issue you guys have and then use active listening skills as it says um as part of communication and write down some points as an objective pros and cons of each point. Um this is one of the eagle required merit badges. So, everybody back here is on their way to Eagle. So,

well, congratulations. That is not an easy task, I know. So, I commend all of you for doing that hard work. Um, your projects are always a benefit to the community as a whole. So, thank you for being here and great job. Yeah, great job public speaking.

I know it's a little intimidating to stand before all of our YouTube viewers, right? All right. Well, wonderful. Well, thank you for coming and being a part of our meeting tonight. And does anybody else here have a visitor presentation? Otherwise, we can move along on the agenda to approval of the meeting minutes. Looks like we have two rounds of meeting minutes to approve. We just approve them both in one swoop, right? Or do we do one at a time? Okay. So, both uh we have the meeting minutes for October 6th uh 2025 and also the meeting minutes for October 20th uh 2025. Does anybody have any additions or corrections to the either set of minutes? Otherwise, I entertain. Motion for motion. Motion to approve.

All right. Motion from council member Shlinlin. Second. A second from council member Benes. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Meeting minutes are approved. That moves us along to our consent items on the agenda. These items uh really receive little to no discussion unless there is uh anybody want to pull something off the agenda or consent agenda for full discussion or else someone has a simple question. I had one simple question on the seven C. Have we used Windber construction before? They're the ones that won the bid. Believe we have. I just haven't. I wasn't familiar with that name.

Yeah, we we've used them before. It's been a while, but They actually have contracts. So they have the underground. You better come up here. They have both contracts. They have the one that is currently underway that's happening over by Victoria Drive. So putting That's the water main extension. Yeah. So connecting kind of the the new pump house 11 and 12. Um, so they're under contract for that and then they just were a little bit on the sewer extension for the new water treatment plant.

Okay, wonderful. Thanks. All right, that was all I had. Does anybody have any questions? Otherwise, entertain a motion for approval of the consent items. Motion to approve consent. All right, we have a motion from Council Member Hatfield. Second, and a second from Council Member Gro. Any other discussion? Otherwise, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Consent items are approved. That moves us along to our one action item of the night. That's 8A. Adopt resolution number 2025-79, award bid for Seminary Fence C-2 ravine stabilization project.

Mayor and Council, the item in front of you tonight is actually it's I think it's our third or fourth project that we've done to try to stabilize bluffs around the seminary Fen uh area. for the boy scouts here in the room. Uh if you haven't heard of a fen, a fen is a rare uh sort of prehistoric uh wetland. Uh and they're very you you don't find them very uh very often anywhere. And so having one uh right on the outskirts of town, sort of out by the old Getty plant uh is pretty special. And so the DNR really wants to protect that. And so we've done projects uh over the last several years to try to stabilize their beans so that they don't uh basically erode and and go down there. So, Brent Alcat, our water uh resources coordinator is uh gonna give a presentation basically sort of talking about uh the stabilization projects we've done, what this project would entail, and also the dollars he was able to uh attain, which really sort of brings our actual local cost down to like only 7%. I mean, which is unheard of. So, um so I'll turn it over to Brent. Good evening everyone.

Good evening. Brent Elcott. I'm the water resources coordinator. Uh work with Matt out of the engineering department.

So excited to be here tonight to talk about the seminary fen ravine stabilization project. Um just to give you first a little uh sense of direction of where this is at. So it's on the east side of town uh near the Chanhass and Chaska border, east of Ottabon, north of Angler and Flying Cloud Drive. um on the so the image in front of you the the wetland is on the bottom of the picture to the north of the wetland is the bluff area and there's a series of ravines three ravines that drain from the north to the south into the wetland. Um over the years there's been quite a bit of erosion and soil loss from those ravines that has moved down into the wetland itself. the first ravine uh that we named C1, there was a project completed in 2016 that stabilized that portion of the ravine or that ravine itself. Now, we're moving on to the next ravine, C2, um in between uh the the other ravines there, C1 and C3. The area that's crosshatch is the drainage area that drains to the ravine that we're looking at restoring. It's about 5 acres in total. uh it takes development drainage from that uh from that development as well as Hazeline Bluff Park. So what got us here? Uh we did a feasibility study in 2022 just to identify what the sources or the causes of erosion um in the ravine are. What we found that the storm sewer system, there's a structure on the top of the ravine during large storm events that becomes overwhelmed and results in really high storm water runoff rates that go into the ravine. That results in some scouring in the ravine bottom. And as that sediment moves downstream toward the wetland, the steep ravine slopes that are consisting of really sandy soils with no real

vegetation, those slump down to fill in the void that was caused by the scouring of the ravine bottom. So, the project that we're proposing to fix the erosion, uh, first we're proposing to build a storm water detention basin at the top of the ravine to reduce the runoff rates coming from the park and the development to the north. And to do that, we'll have to relocate a portion of City Trail just a little bit to the west. Uh, and I'll show you in just a minute what that looks like to facilitate the construction of that storm water pond. Um, so that addresses the rate the storm water runoff rate issue. And to fix the ravine slopes uh themselves, we'll need to go in and remove those trees that are on those ravine slopes and then regrade them so that we can replant them with native vegetation that will hold those slopes in place. Um lastly, to prevent scour in the bottom of the ravine, that channel will be lined with rock so that uh it's stable and conveys those flows from the top of the ravine to the bottom without additional erosion. And lastly, and I'll talk about this more when I get to the um some of the work that we did talking with the neighbors, were proposing to extend the storm sewer down the ravine a little ways so that we could facilitate some uh better grading uh on the top of the ravine uh in response to some of the feedback we got from the neighbors. Um so this image is configured where north is actually to the left just to give you some perspective. So on the bottom of the image is Hazel team Bluff Park and uh you'll see on the left of the of the of the image on to the north where the storm water pond is proposed to be constructed. In orange is the storm sewer extension that would convey that storm water to the bottom of the ravine and then that crosshatch area is where that rock line channel would be to convey the storm water flows. Um, all of

the ravine slopes that are proposed to be graded would have those trees removed for a couple of reasons. One is we need to get in there and actually reshape those slopes so that we can grow vegetation on them, but then as well opening up that tree canopy so we can get sunlight down into the ravine bottom to help support the plant growth that we'll be planting in there. Um, this is the upper portion of the ravine. Uh the next slide just continues on uh down the hill to the south again with regrading those slopes and a rock line channel. Uh we started communicating with the owners of this project about a year ago. We sent out initial project notification that we were looking at uh at doing a project here. And then once we had a concept designed, we had reached out and met with the homeowners individually to talk through some of their concerns and what the the project would look like or could look like. Uh, everyone was generally on board. There was some concern about the loss of trees and we explained of why it was that we need to remove the trees. Um, and they with that feedback we went through another plan iteration, met with them again. uh after when we got to the final plans, they were generally on board or they were supportive of the plan and ended up did signing right of entry to give us permission to go in there and do the improvements over their property. Another thing we're working on in terms of the communication piece is working with our project partners, the Carver County Water Management Organization in the Lower Minnesota WH District to develop some educational materials to have for fairs or put a sign up in the park just to kind of highlight the benefits of what the fan is and the project that we did with the ravine. Um, like I said, we talk with all the neighbors uh directly adjacent to the project. Um, but we also want to go out and talk to the greater community in general. There are a lot of people that

use that park uh for Hazeline Bluff Park. So, we're planning on creating a city web page that uh highlights the project along with putting a sign up in the park so people know that there's a project coming and then putting a mailing together to send out to the the neighbors in the area so that they know that there's a project that will be starting soon there. In the staff report, we did talk about a bid alternate. Um there was an idea or a plan to install a drain tile system over a portion of the ravine. And what that would do, it would help collect private drainage from some of those properties and route it to the bottom of the ravine. Um, it is located on pri it would be located on private property outside of the grading limits. Um, we our hope was that we would have bid prices that would support its construction without the additional city costs because it would be a privatelyowned system. Um the bid prices came back such that if we did move with the alternate, it would be an additional cost to the city. Um so we're recommending that we don't move forward with the bid alternate at this time, but we'll continue to work with property owners if there's any interest and they wanted to take on a project or wanted some help with a project to for some private drainage improvements. I

think one of the challenges there is I mean it would have been great if the grant would have been enough to be able to cover that. Um if we were to go and do private drainage improvements uh you know that drain into public uh drainage improvements and uh you know if we paid for it with city funds it would be in inconsistent with how we've done private drainage. We'd have to assess them, right? we'd have to assess them. And our general uh it it generally seemed like at least at this point the neighbors were, you know, hey, if we can get the grant and the grant can pay for it, great. If not, yeah, we don't but but in this case, it really does allow for it to still happen in the future if if people wanted it to.

Sure. Yeah. And the project was designed such that it can still be completed without the addition of the drain tile. Sure. I have a quick question. Yeah, you might get to it, but on Chanhassen city page, it says this is their land. I mean, maybe there's a joint ownership, but it's on their city page that it's theirs. So, are they contributing at all? Um, Chanhasson is not. Uh, so the seminary fen crosses crosses both the city and uh Chanhassen city. So, the and I'll show you where that is in just a second, but in the wetland complex itself, right about in the middle is where that city border is. Okay. the the ravine is on city property. Okay. Or on Chaza property.

On Chaska property. Yes. Uh so those three ravines that I showed you, those are all on the Chaza side and then Chan Hassan would be to the east of Okay, fair enough.

Um so we did go out for bid. Uh we received a bid from Sunramm Construction. Uh they were the low bidder on the project. Uh taking the bid price into account, the total project cost uh comes in at a little under $1.2 million. So far, uh, to date, we've se re received a little over a million dollars in grant funding. So, $900,000 from the board of water and soil resources and $180,000 from project partners, uh, the Carver County water management organization and the lower Minnesota watershed district. Um, so like Matt had said, our portion of the of the project would be around $84,000. We're estimating between 80 and $90,000 which is uh what we also need to use for a grant match for that uh board of water and soil resources grant that we got for the $900,000.

Sure.

Uh in terms of uh construction timeline, like I said, Sunramm Construction was the the low bid on the project. They are familiar with this type of project. Uh they were actually the contractor that completed the restoration of the previous ravine project that we did in uh in 2016. Um they're hoping to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions. It being a relatively dry fall, hoping to get going pretty soon. So mid November is when they're hoping to get started. Mid late November. It's going to take about eight weeks to construct. Um, and there may be some cleanup items in the spring, uh, just with some replanting and making sure that all the vegetation is growing. If there's any questions, I'm happy to answer any questions or go through any photos I have too of the area.

If we get snow, does that impact the project? No. No. uh the the seed that they'll put down, they'll seed the the soils and then use a product that essentially glues the soil down. So even over winter time, the seed will stick and then they use um essentially it's like a paper mulch mixed with glue that they spray on the hillsides and that will hold over winter until the plants get a chance to germinate in the spring. Anybody have any questions for Brent? Good job getting those grants. Thank you.

Yeah, that's I mean that's saves a lot of money. So appreciate the time and diligence on that. Uh I imagine that's really challenging work too to to go in there and it sounds like kind of take a little bit of a scalpel to something to kind of fix the erosion. So yeah. Yeah, it'll be an interesting project with the with the equipment in there. Um I didn't even know this place existed. So that's kind of cool to even know that it's there. Yeah.

So just to kind of give you a sense of what it looks like now. Um in the image in front of you, you can kind of see how there's the vertical slopes on the very edge of it where the trees are just barely hanging on. Just behind there is where the grading limits would start. Um one of the side channels where there's quite a bit of erosion. And then I have a picture here of where you have some of those vertical faces uh where the trees are hanging on. So we remove those, reshape those sides, and then um replant it to give you a sense of what it would look like at the end. Um here's the previous ravine that was done in 2016. Wow. So same same approach. Um and this is kind of what the you could expect.

Yeah, it looks more filled in. Yeah, [clears throat] absolutely. How long does it take for I mean you said 2016. And how long does it take for the vegetation to really fill in? Sure. So, we include a cover crop um in the seed mix. So, that's a really quick growing uh plant, usually oats or wheat that grows the first year. Sure. Um for full growth, two to three years until you get uh until a lot of the plants mature where you start to see some of the flowering plants. But um end of year one, you'll have a lot of good growth. Year two, it's going to be very filled in.

Great. Well, anybody have any questions? Otherwise, we have a we have a motion to adopt resolution 2025-79 awarding the bid of the seminary fence C2 ravine stabilization project to Sunra Construction Inc. and the total low bid amount of $948,421 and then authorize the city engineer to finalize and execute grant agreements with the Carver County Water Management Organization in the lower Minnesota River Watershed District. Does anybody want to repeat that?

Uh, so moved. [laughter] All right, we have we have a motion from Council Member Hatfield. Second and a second from Council Member Bennish. Any other discussion? I you did a great job presenting and um I know this is something that obviously is a work in progress. So, uh otherwise uh all those in favor say I. I opposed.

Motion carries. All right. Thank you. All right. Well, that moves us off of our action items and on to the bills. Uh, does anybody have a question on on a bill at all? I just have two. My first one is the very first page. It's uh bill for the speed trailer. Just was curious. I think it's for like $1,500. Well, I'm assuming it's not for a new trailer because that seems really low. But did we need to like I think it's like software upgrade. Okay, that's what I figured. It was something to do. I was like, are we get a second one? I was like, there's not for 1500 bucks. [laughter]

Okay. No, that is a very useful tool in our community to kind of So, uh, one big difference between the speed trailer that we used to have and the one we have now is the one before just registered the speed and people saw it and it was something to just indicate how fast they're going. The one we have now actually keeps track of all the speed data so that we're able to go in during a time period provide the people who have said, "Hey, I think people are speeding in my neighborhood." To be able to give them the actual data.

Yeah. I mean, I find that that is really helpful because sometimes perceptionally it can feel that way, but in reality it might be something different. And I also think, you know, if any of you live in Chaza that are here, you know, if you ever feel like I just feel like people are speeding in my neighborhood, this is something that can be requested. You know, it's something that helps monitor engage that because it could be that people are speeding. But also, it's just an awareness tool of people like, "Hey, you need to slow down." And it's it's quick. I mean, if people want to to get it put up in their neighborhood, I mean, they can just email me. Um, and usually within 2, three days we can get it up uh to a spot and we'll usually keep it out there,

you know, couple days uh just to sort of get a good sampling what's going on. Yeah, it's really nice. I think it's currently on Big Woods Boulevard by my house actually. I think I've driven by it a few times on 41 next to it. I was trying to run next to see how [laughter] fast. That's what I do. I just try and reach I think it was flashing. Slow down. I think there's one on able to register. We there there are permanent ones in certain spots. There's one on 41 as you come down the hill. There's also every entrance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Every major entrance to downtown. Those ones don't have uh history monitor. They just show the speed, but they don't keep the speed monitoring. Yeah. So, it'd be cool if it took a picture of the license plate that was feeding so you could

Oh, [laughter] boy. Iowa. That is a can of worms. Trust me. Iowa. That's Iowa for [laughter] you. That's Illinois, too. careful. Might get something in the mail. Yeah. [laughter] Uh well, that answers kind of that question and it brings up a great topic. Um the other one I had was on page 16 and it was says trauma plates. I just was curious. It's from Tactical Products and Services. Those are for ballistic vests. Oh, okay. That's the plates that they actually put. What does that mean? They call it a rifle plate. It's meant to stop a caliber rifle round. Okay. Well, I learned something new today.

And I don't know how often do you guys change those? Um, [clears throat] excuse me. The are the rifle place of simar.

Sure. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Wonderful. I had one other question and I don't I think I forgot to ask it up at the beginning for nonaction items. Um but I saw there was a thing for the vending opportunity in the community center. Yep. And we had just talked about that like two sessions ago. Yeah. That's uh we had uh if you remember remember we at the community center we had the arts consortium in the space that was sort of above the pool for

I don't know probably two or three years. they had their shop in there and it just became really difficult for them to staff it and so when they moved out we said well we should move vending machines back in there because there's quite a few people like during swim lessons and stuff that hang out up there. Uh one of the machines is going to be a healthy option machine so that so it's not just junk food. It's it's actually healthy options and the other one's a coffee machine. Oh cool. Okay. Wonderful. All right. Does anybody else have any questions on a bill? Otherwise, and entertain a motion to pay the bills. Motion to pay the bills. All right. Motion from council member Shavelin. Second. A second from council member GR. Roll call, please. Council member Hairfield. Yes. Council member Bennishes. Yes.

Council member Shlinin. Yes. Council member Gra. I. Mayor Hubard. Yes. All right. Those are passed. All right. That moves us along to other business. Um, Council Member Hatfield, take it away.

Yeah, a few things coming up. It is my favorite weekend in downtown Taska coming up. Well, one of them. I feel like I like the vibes the most on this one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] November 8th for Deer Weekend. Uh, there's always like really good shopping. The shops have their like holiday stuff out usually. So, highly recommend going downtown. And it's still Sip and Shop Saturdays. So, if you're of age, you can go have a little drink and shop around. So, that's happening. And then, of course, the fireman's tree park tree lighting is November 23rd. That's earlier than normal.

And then small business Saturday the 29th and Hometown Holiday the 6th. So, all of those, there are lots of things happening downtown and it's sip and shop Saturdays. So, highly recommend heading downtown for those. Um, and then the other thing I was just going to mention is, um, Elise, Mayor Hubard, and I got to speak at the, um, Chaza Historical Society's annual meeting, I think it technically was, and it was just, um, I want to say thank you to historical society for inviting us, but it was just really fun. Uh, you know, we sit up here all the time together, but, I think we all three probably learned something new about each other and certainly got to um, you know, have some good conversation. They were really hard questions. So, uh, it's just I'm so glad we have the historical society and the night before I wanted to look a couple things up and was able to pull out the Chaska history books and that's not something every city can do where um, they have access to those. So, they're on sale at the historical society. They make great Christmas gifts um,

and you get a free membership and you get a free membership. So, um, so yeah, just thank you to the historical society and just grateful we have them in our community. So, um, feel like there was something else I was gonna say and I can't remember. We'll just say, well, we can you can always Yeah, if I think of it, you can always let me know and I'll round back to you again. I think that's it. All right. Well, Council Member Bennish,

uh, the only thing I was going to mention is uh that it now being November, we celebrate Movember and I don't know if anybody saw today on Chesa Fire Department's Facebook page, but there are several members of the department participating. It'll be very exciting to see their different stages of growth of their mustaches over the coming month. So, [laughter] um, good luck, guys. So, that's all I got. Okay. Wonderful. All right. Uh, Council Member Shin, I actually don't have any. All right. Well, that that's all right, too. What about you? Uh, sure. Uh, I was ask Matt, I do this every year because I think it's just good to educate every all the masses. Talk a little bit about the hund club and upcoming and what that is and

what that means. So, the Hundred Club is a it's a separate nonprofit organization uh that uh was put together back in the mid 80s that basically raise raises money for all of the holiday decorations that we have around the community in town. So, the city does not pay for the holiday decorations. Uh it's the 100 club event that does. So, each year there's an event uh that's held. It's basically a 2-hour ordurve uh dinner at uh the event center that's uh uh right before the tree lighting ceremony uh outside and then the uh money that's raised from that event then uh then goes to go and purchase new decorations. So like last year we had the new uh Santa chair uh that was right outside the or right next to the big tree for photo ops. Um it purchased the Santa sleigh uh which is uh going down has been pretty popular. So um so it's it's uh just it it's an event that's a lot of fun. So if there's anybody that wants tickets for the event, it's uh uh $200 and it gets you two people into the event and you're uh in for all your food and prizes and then whatever is made from that event goes to to pay for the decorations.

Awesome. Thank you. I just I just think it's fun to get that out there because um and it's on November 23rd. Perfect. Yeah. So, it's earlier than normal. Earlier than normal before Thanksgiving. It's going to sneak up. Yeah. I just think people drive around uh and sometimes wonder how those gets purchased for and and and it's it's just cool because consider myself one of those who wondered like how that happened and then learned about it and just the fact that, you know, it's not city, it's not taxpayer money that's buying that stuff. Um so, super fun. Uh, and then tomorrow is November 4th, which is there is a referendum. So, go vote.

I won't tell you how to vote. Educate yourself to vote. I will say though that, you know, we as a pass the resolution supporting the referendum. I personally view strong cities and strong school districts go together. Um, so really encouraging people to to go educate, make yourself heard, go vote. Um, and that is tomorrow as well. and it is at the Chaza Event Center. Normally in years past, we've done it they've done it at the community center, but with the road construction, not really knowing, you know, if when it was going to be finalized, they moved it this year. So, I think that's good to point out that polling the voting area is down there for sure. And that road is open now, right?

Yeah, the road opened about week and a half ago. Yes. Okay. Do you like it? All right. [laughter] But is it closed to the next one down then? No, because they said something about Press Drive was going to close or uh No, they just had a lane closed because they had they took out the median there during the construction so that people could actually cross. Okay. Uh they went back and actually reconstructed that median and that's done now. Okay. Uh so they're really getting wrapped up. I mean they're actually putting in the trees and landscaping and stuff. So uh it's it's coming along very quickly.

Yeah. Very nice graves. And then lastly, just a a thank you and a shout out to all the volunteers. This last weekend, the Chesa Basketball Association, CABA held the BA boys basketball tournament uh for Chesa High School. All lots of schools get used. Lots of visitors come in. Uh I spent a lot of time in the gym space. You know, they sell food and concessions, which is great. You also see a lot of people buying different types of food from the area community. So people probably saw influx of people in town and that's a lot of volunteers, a lot of board members who plan that the referees thank them. Um, you know, it's interesting. I observe I've now coached my oldest for three years. It's the same referees, good and bad, uh, every year that I see, but it makes me worry sometimes because you don't see new people wanting to do it. And sometimes there are some people I'm just like, I just want to tell them thank you, but it's right like we need to find a replacement. like not in a bad way, but like sometimes like just mobility like like it's crazy like they're dedicated. It's a group of people. So, if you're interested, there's my shout out. I'll turn that into a shout out. If you're interesting in in giving back, it's a not a fun always fun environment to be a referee. Um, it's a crazy world sometimes, but it's it it's fun to see kids, the referees that are really good, the ones that talk to the young kids, interact with them, educate as well as officiate, I think, is important. Uh, because I tell you, I spend a lot of time on football fields, baseball fields, and basketball fields. It's the same group of people, too, that a referee. Like, I go from one week to a football co referee to a basketball referee. So, just thanks for everyone. Thanks to those individuals, thanks to all the coaches and all the communities. Uh it's uh we were talking as a small group of parents and coaches about some other districts or other cities have kind of merged like Bloomington for example actually merged their program and you think like Bloomington would be able to like with the Jefferson and Kennedy would have tons of teams and

they've actually merged and some of that just really goes to you need committed people to run an organization to get coaches to volunteer. It isn't solely like how many people do you have live there. You have to have good people and Chesca does a lot of good things with that. So, just shout out all those people that uh we sometimes just assume the event runs and we show up. Uh and my I will also shout out that my oldest took third place. So, shout out for that. So, awesome. But they had good refs. Uh [laughter] of course they did. Of course they did. That's all good. So, uh and that is all I have here. Okay. Well, wonderful. All right, Elise, nothing to add tonight.

Okay, Kristoff, M. Uh, just a reminder, the next meeting we will at 5:30 have a work session. That'll be our final budget work session, and that'll be for all of our utility funds. And then, uh, the following meeting, December 1st, will be our annual truth and taxation, uh, hearing. So, the county sends out the, uh, truth and taxation property tax statements. I'd say in about two weeks, okay, uh people will get it and then it gives people sort of indication of where they can come for the truth and taxation hearing if they uh want to come and talk or just learn. Okay, perfect. Wonderful. I remembered my thing. Oh, go for it.

I was just going to share with um everything going on with the government shutdown, our food shelves are really taxed at the moment. So, it's been amazing how the community has shown up for them. But um very exciting. Bountiful Basket, which is our local food shelf, who does an amazing job. So grateful for them, um just announced that uh they're starting early giving for Give to the Max. And Comac Comcast and Exfinity gave a matching grant of $10,000. Their board is matching that. So they're matching up to $20,000 of giving. And you can start the Give to the Max donations now. So you can head to their website and do that. Um, and obviously any giving if you want to drop off food. Um, but that's pretty cool that that monetary gift will be matched. So, just encourage people to to if you can um give back a little. So,

well, and the money goes a long way because they they go to Second Harvest for purchasing their food and the amount of food that they can get for what you'd buy in a store is Yeah, it's pretty significant. Yeah, I think that that's always the most beneficial way. I mean, the food donations are always appreciated from the food shelves, but I think they can spread those dollars and really fill in the gaps of what they don't have um really easily. So, I have a neighbor that I think [clears throat] she works there on Wednesdays or something, but she said that the other they've actually had to turn some of it away because it's so much as Costco. Gives a ton of food to them. So, interesting. That's good.

Yeah. Um, I was trying to find the information, but kind of piggybacking off of that, Bountiful Basket, actually, it sounds like there is an additional food drive event that's happening this Thursday out on Stoutton. Um, I just don't know the times. I'm sorry. I was trying to find it, but I I'm not fast enough. We can check it. So, put something out there. there is always a you know once a month one but there's actually an additional one which I think is really beneficial especially right now with yeah those benefits being frozen at this point. So, uh, uh, a couple things just recapping Halloween, uh, lots of fun celebrations, uh, last weekend on Uptown Chaza, downtown Chaza. Um, yep, at the community center. Um, Jonathan Association even had an event at the Mcnike Park. Um, so lots of really, really fun times. Lots of kids in costume. It all looked really fun and fabulous. I was there for some of it. Uh the Katrina event that was hosted by Latino Voices in partnership with our police department and also um Human Rights Commission was a really fun event. Um it was great to see all of the I came in towards the end because I had to work and I got there late, but to see just the excitement, the the booth vendors that were there and it sounded um like their parade that they did was really big this year. um even though attendance was maybe down just a little bit but that a lot of people were excited and it was it was a great time. Um and then the bonding tour we had our Minnesota House of Representatives capital investment committee come uh not last week but the week before that was really wellreceived um very excited for

that to move forward. Hopefully that stays on the top of the agenda for the capital investment committee when the legislative session starts and keep that keep that momentum going for City Square West. Uh we have a new business that just recently opened, the Chazatire restaurant opened down in the um old Tommy malt shop over um at the hotel downtown. Uh my family did to go and they were very overwhelmed on Saturday. I felt really bad. Kind of so bad that you kind of just want to roll up your sleeves and just kind of help, but there's nothing that you can do. Um, but the food was so so good. So, I'm I'm very excited. I'm sure they're going to work out all the kinks. I mean, it was really everybody there was understanding and I think there was a level of excitement and it's just great to see something dining options like expanding downtown and being able to have that diversity of restaurants. So

yeah, they they have a location in Hastings and in River Falls. I I had a chance to drive by their Hastings one which looked great and the reviews are fantastic for the food. It was really really good. We asked for like mild spice, you know, expecting it to be like pretty spicy and it wasn't. Um so I went for spicy. I was there Wednesday. It was really good. Yeah, I would love to do it. My stomach can't do it. So

um but yeah, wonderful. And congrats to them. Thank you for being a part of this community. And then couple of upcoming things. You talked about the election tomorrow with the school referendum vote. Uh our human rights commission is hosting an India celebration on November 14th from 5:30 to 8:30. Um which is a Friday at the Chesca Event Center. There is the Veterans Day ceremony that's at the Chesca Middle School West. I believe it starts at 8:40 with the um the color guard and then they move into the gymnasium and do a program which is really great. So if you guys have the opportunity to be a part of that or see that it's it's really really nice event. Um, and uh, oh, you mentioned it earlier and maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but uh, the commission application window is open for our human rights commission planning, parks, and heritage preservation. I don't know. I only know that there's four openings on the human rights commission. Otherwise, I don't know what the other ones are at, but maybe

if you go to our Chasa website, if you go under um the job openings, it's posted under job openings, even though it's for a board and commission. So, planning commission has four open positions. Park and Recreation Board has three open positions, one of which is for a student age 16 to 20. Human Rights Commission has four open positions. One of those is also for a student. And heritage preservation has three open positions. That sounds like it's worth a merit badge. [laughter] It's that act of listening, right? Yeah. Now you can do the pros and cons of what would [laughter] you take to There you go. Just think you could be a part of this all the time. I mean, isn't that exciting?

Yes, he's excited over there. They're all saying bedtime. for all of our viewers in the audience here, if you know of anybody or you yourself are wanting to get more involved, there are opportunities and a city commission is a great introduction into things. So, uh we hope to see lots of people interviewing for said spots and make it an challenging choice for us, right? Which I will say last year there was some great applicants. There was some really great lot of impressive individuals. So very impressive of people that chose to get involved.

Yeah. And then otherwise the next meeting is on November 17th which we mentioned. I think that's it. So does anybody want to suggest a motion to adjourn? Oh, I just have a couple questions. Uh okay. So I've never been here before. So that's that's okay. Nope. That's all right. Well, come you refer to the city events place where you go to Baltimore. I'm from here, but I'm at the community center all the time, so I'm not sure where the city. It's where the curling center is. Uh, it's just one block to the north here. Yeah, it's just on the corner where fire you know where fireman's park is that. So, it's the building that's right there.

Okay. Like attached to fireman's park. Cricket. Yep. Yep. Yeah. It's the same building as crooked. Okay. Yeah.

So, my next question I know we're getting ahead of ourselves, but when the US writer when the writer took us here a couple years ago, more than a couple years ago, we had a whole bunch of stuff downtown for the patrons, right? We got shut out because the buses for to drop people off went to the high school and you were literally locked in. You could get off the bus in the high school, walk across the street, and once you came back and got on a bus, you either went back to Valley Fair if you were a volunteer or you got dropped off at the horse track that you were, you know, up. And nobody from those thousands of people we were able to attract to downtown. If we want to do something different this year, we need to start working with the the rider cup people now to say, "Hey, we want to have a bus that can park here that'll take people back and forth because that's where they're going to go."

Yeah. Otherwise, we're not if we do anything, we're not going to get anything. Very true. Yeah, you you're very correct. And that is definitely a high priority of my um of mine as well. And so I'm not sure when those discussions start with, but they've already started. I was going to say they're Yeah. No, and we've been and actually as part of the last Ryder Cup, we talked to them 3 to four years in advance about that same thing. Um, we did have a shuttle uh that came from the high school downtown to the to the event that we had down here. Uh, so people could take that. Uh, what we found is that people weren't taking that. Um, I didn't even know there was one available.

Yep. No, we I live in Jessica, so I

Yeah, so uh Southwest Transit uh provided a bus that went uh actually the trolley from the high school down to the park. Uh we actually had quite a few people that actually came. I think most of the people were probably local uh that were uh uh in the event. It it is a high priority. Uh, I I can tell you that um the uh PGA is very particular about about how they um how they get people in and out of the events. But um I I'm certain we will have a shuttle again that u we'll be able to get people down and then I think to your point uh maybe we can find different ways to get that information out to people.

Yeah, I think that's the big thing is how people from Can you do me a favor? Can you come up to the microphone? Will we broadcast this? The microphone doesn't pick up on it. And then can you also give your name and address for the record for the minutes? So, I'm Jim Beick, 1887 Waterford Court in Chesca. So, we're just trying to figure out how to do the writer cup thing better. So, yep. And then you made a comment earlier about the construction down by Park Ridge and how it's now coming down to the last um roundabout. Has anybody driven from Angler into the roundabout and then going into it like Gordon towards a community center?

You have to make a 85 degree turn to get into that street now that goes back into that subdivision. And if you're towing a trailer, you can't get in until everybody that's coming out is out. I mean, I don't know. They took that whole like triangle of land and they blocked it off. So, you can't just make a nice graceful curve in there. You've actually got to make more than a 90 degree turn. And it's very, it was actually purposely designed that way.

Well, slow traffic down for sure to slow traffic down because what we were finding is that there was, uh, getting to be some real pedestrian issues, uh, that were down around that corner. And so, uh, making a T intersection forces that street to stop, uh, before they actually, uh, turn to go down the street. So that that was actually purposely designed that way. I kind of figured because I knew there was a lot a lot of uh especially when you get soccer stuff. And then the other thing while we're on that is is there going to be no parking signs from that roundabout all the way up to that tea because once season starts with those kids,

everybody parks on both sides of the street all the way up through there. And I'm sure they're going to have common sense now going, "Well, this street is not as wide as it used to be. I really can't park here." But I guess we'll have to play that by ear in the spring when soccer starts up. But yeah, if you start getting [clears throat] cars that parked there, you're not going to get two cars that are going to go back on the other side. So yeah, I mean I don't There's our city engineer there, so he can probably answer the question better than I can. Uh my sense is that that there probably will not be no parking signs on the street that goes into the middle school. Uh, but if there was no parking signs anywhere, it would be in the street going into the neighborhood, probably on one side.

Okay. Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out when when you can't drive up and down it. Someone's going to start complaining. So, y but yeah, my biggest thing was the writer cup because I had no idea how to get from there to downtown and then for anybody else to explain. It's always a challenge because I think their intent is to make sure that they transport pe masses of people efficiently with parking and also you know they had all those security checkpoints and all of that is just you know has to be done to the tea. Oh yeah.

But I agree with you. I think that as a host city that our businesses that you know are here and they've they have woven themselves into the fabric of our community and made the investment of being here should benefit from that sort of national tourism. So I think it's working strong and and having those conversations with both Hazel team and the RDER Cup personnel to really identify and be strategic problem solvers to figure out how can we um you know designate this, market this, make sure that everybody knows that this is an option for people that are coming to visit. Give them easy transportation even if they are parking at Canterbury or you know wherever in Shakipi. I agree. We need to solve all of those problems to make sure that they have that opportunity to come and dine and shop and do everything that we want them to do downtown. Spend their dollars here.

And it's more than nationalists. The Europeans are here, too. I mean, there's a lot. Yeah. International. You're right. You're totally right. So, I mean, we volunteered. My daughter was on the dance team in high school, so all the high school clubs volunteered there. And it was a great great thing to volunteer for and I learned a lot about how they do things. And it's like I had no idea. And people were asking, "Well, how do you get downtown?" I'm like, "You can't because I didn't know how to tell them to do it because I didn't know there was a bus that went that way." Well, if you get on the show, they have the Yeah. So, I just was hoping that there's something that they can play it up other than just having a bus sitting there without a sign saying, "Hey, I go to downtown. Here's restaurants and stuff and shops." But yeah, that's that's all I

No, I I appreciate you coming forward. I thank you for, you know, making those suggestions and having those questions. This is that time and space to have that. So, thank you for coming down here tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to our guests who stayed all the way to the end. We'll get [laughter] you. You beat your out. Yeah, they took off. I know. I don't know if they I don't KNOW IF THEY REALLY DESERVE THAT BADGE. They did stay till [laughter] you're so close, but you suck it out. Yep. Good job. Um, well, with that, I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. All right. Motion from Council Member Hatfield. Second, and a second from Council Member Chevlin. All those in favor say I. I.

I. Opposed. We are journ. Thank you everybody.