City - Regular Meeting

Call the meeting to order. We'll stand for the pledgece 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, all the councils are here. U we move the public's comments section to the to the video portion of the meeting. So at this time, if you wish to make a public comment, please limit it to three minutes. Uh step to the podium, give your name, address, and uh we'll open it up. Hi, I think you know who I am, but Amy Grinsteiner, 111279 Hubert Lane. Really trying to not be a pain. Um, but administratively, we shouldn't be here. Um section 28 subdivision five says termination an interim use permit is terminated on the day it expires. So Brian you were concerned last month I understand you know about legality of denying it it expired. It was a non-issue the end then the council can make um stipulations for additional for renewal of IUPs. I read all the documentation in the ordinance. I thought this and I checked with the county and they confirmed. My question was does the IUP expire on the date listed and essentially everything start a new meaning the council can add additional stipulations for the new IUP. They said yes this is common practice

when hearing an IUP renewal. They cited an ordinance I can send you as well if you like. And they said the city attorney would agree that case law and state allow a governing body to add conditions for an IUP renewal. So what you were wanting to do last month absolutely could have happened. There's another item in section 28 subdivision 8 that applicants should apply within 60 days of when their permit expires. That's another detail that we're not adhering to. Lastly, I asked the count county about moratoriums and how does it work renewing an IUP when we have a moratorum. The county's response to say it's up to legal interpretation, but we haven't asked for legal interpretation yet, right? So, um she said sometimes moratoriums will address how how to handle reapplications. So I went to our moratorum and section three says until the city has completed a study related to the affformentioned findings the city shall not accept or process applications issue licenses or allow for the construction or development of STR housing in the city. We have information on the books that gives you the authority to add stipulations to the renewal. The renewal that actually has come in 60 days late. I have one more minute where I can talk to you. So, I just wanted to bring some visual aids. I'm out of time for the video. Um, but I did bring a handout because I feel like it's not really gone. Can I ask some Can I give these to you or how does this work? And do you mind putting it on the screen? So, this is just a color calendar. I've been trying to say 27 days out of 31 in August were rented. Brian, it's not about the I think the 7-day issue how you keep repeating it is not what we are talking about.

Not a single person rented for seven days in August. And I think it helps visually when you can see the colors how frequently the place was rented. Some days two different people September. So, this was one of the stipulations that didn't get written into IUP as we've discovered. Legally, that should have been if we played the video and you heard why you were agreeing to it, that could be called into question. The other item on the back side of the calendar is the actual written application. This too is information that did not get followed up on. They said it would be rented for part of the summer. It was rented for half of September, twice in October, and as we discovered starting already in March. So I ask if this gets approved to renew that these original stipulations that they led with be written in to the agreement. Thank you.

Thanks, Amy. Thanks, Amy. Uh, anyone else for public comment? Mark, they get closer to the mic. I can do that. Yeah. Um, I also have a hand. Make sure I'm giving you good.

Okay. Uh, as I begin here, my name is Jeff Ingolome. I live at 11 uh 11279 Hubert Lane. Um, I wanted to comment about uh what Joy had mentioned uh that she had reached out to us because a few council members had encouraged them to do so. Uh but no one from the council reached out to us and uh we don't believe asking for written communication was simply not too much to ask especially when a topic was not presented for the discussion. They simply said they wanted to talk. Um we tried our best to meet them halfway and received no response. And again for clarity to us a 7-day rental never meant that someone must rent for 7 days. What we were concerned about was the frequency of rental. So, if somebody wants to rent for two days, that's fine, but then not having a renter until that 7-day period is passed. That's that was always our intention with that. Um, I would like to point out um section 34, subdivision 3, item E number four of the 2025 Rockville zoning code that states short-term rental must be located on a conforming lot. It's a non-negotiable requirement. The ordinance uses the word must. According to the official Sterns County plat, the parcel at 11253 Hubert Lane is 14,73 square ft. Under the city lot standards, a conforming repairarian lot in this zoning category needs at least 15,000 square ft. That means the parcel is too

small to qualify as a conforming lot. Also, the attached garage is only five feet from the road, very much out of line with the minimum setback requirements. This also puts it outside the bounds of a conforming lot. This isn't about personal feelings, neighborhood disputes, or anyone's intentions. It's about applying the ordinance the way it was written and adopted. The city put the conforming lot requirement in place to protect our lakes, our shorelands, and our neighborhoods from exactly the kinds of pressures that short-term rentals bring. Increased traffic, constant turnover, more intensive use of small properties. All we're asking is that the conforming lot requirement of short-term rentals as enacted by the council and the zoning ordinance of October 2025 be followed consistently and fairly. Short-term rental cannot be approved on a non-conforming lot. And since this property does not meet the minimum lot size or setback requirements, it does not qualify for an interimm use permit for a short-term rental. We respectfully ask the council to uphold the ordinance as written and deny the IUP for this property. Thank you.

Thanks, John. Thanks, John.

Anyone else for public comment? Hey, it's Joy Do again from 11253. Couple of things. I have minimum lot requirement for an R1 to be 10,200. The um survey that I had done in 2024 shows that our lot comes in at uh 14,900 in some odd. So, um I'm showing that that we are conforming. In addition to that, you know, there's something about property rights in autonomy and a property uh ownership traditionally includes the right to use and modify one's land within legal bounds. I feel like in this situation legally we have gone through the steps and we have gotten the permits that um are needed. And to um to not be able to do as a owner what what you want legally within your property is is not right. Whether an interim use permit succeeds would depend less on its merits than who happens to live nearby. A reasonable request might be blocked by one unreasonable neighbor while an identical request elsewhere succeeds. This creates arbitrary inequality. Your property rights should not depend on your neighbor's temperament. An illustration of this inequal treatment is the existence of the interim use permit for the short-term rental property located on Pleasant Lake or Lake Road.

Thank you. Thanks, Joy. Thanks, Mark. Before we go any further, I know somebody closed the door. We have to have the door open to make it a legally open meeting.

So, the door has to stay open. Just real quick on the point of order with that survey, uh the survey does show uh and probably the city folks would know that the lot where the garage is shifts from the road being 16 ft to 10 ft. So legally, the uh our lot extends into what neighbors would consider the road. Uh it's significantly more than 5T. You could actually park a vehicle there. Um, and the metal posts are driven into the ground. They're under the Well, one is dug up and the other one of course was run over uh by people going up and down the lane to mark it. Uh, but it's significantly more than 5T just to clarify. And we I can give you guys the sur if you want it.

Thanks, ma'am. Anyone else for public comment? Going once. You don't get to speak twice, right? Uh three minutes. Sorry. Yeah. Going twice. Going three times. We're going to close the public comment. Uh additions to the agenda would be 12B 2. Yep. The approval of the additional bill for the fire department. Is that right? Yep, that is correct. Is that the only addition? I think so. Okay. Make a motion to approve the additions to the agenda.

I'll second that. Okay. Motion a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. Uh resolution 2026-8, the acceptance of uh January 2026 donation. It was a $750 donation from St. Augusta Lions. Correct. Am I the Luxembberg? I'm sorry. Luxembourg Lions to the fire relief. I'll make a motion to accept. Second. Second. Motion in a second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I.

I. Any nays? Hearing none. Okay. the approval of the January 2026 bills paid. I'll make a motion to approve the January 2026 bills paid. A motion to approve. A second. I'll second it. Motion a second. Any further discussion? Go ahead, Brad. Got a question in regards to the attorney bill. Um for the $85. It's check number 2470. Yep. for $85.50.

That was my call to the attorney that I'm still waiting for a call back on some answers for questions I had from him from December 28th. I guess my question is how did that get authorized to contact the attorney? You guys approved it. We discussed it in our meeting. Wasn't that for whether Bobby was in her legal rights as far as starting the investigation, not for male or um potential conflict of interest. He status administrative leave. That's what was quoted from the attorney on the bill. Yeah. Why he said that, I have no idea because there was no conflict.

So, I'm just just checking. No, that's fine. So the it was approved in November and I reached out to him and he didn't call me back. So I reached out again. I think it was the 28th, the Monday the 28th and I had some other additional questions and he was he has yet to get back to me. So Bobby said to reach out to him again because sometimes he doesn't always get back. So um that's the reason for that. If that's the case, no, I have no problem with it. Just perfect. All right. Any other discussion hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I.

I. Any nays? Hearing none. Uh the consent agenda, the approval of the Rockville County, the city council minutes from the 14th, uh acknowledgement of the building permits, acknowledgement of the sheriff's report, um month end reconciliation, and the approval of the gambling license for the Mary of Immaculate Conception for March 13th. I'll make a motion to um consent agenda.

I'll second. Okay. A motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any naysay? Hearing none. Um do you you want Jason to talk before the public hearing, Bobby? Certainly. Good life. Council, you're up. Jason,

good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh, I'll take I guess I'll introduce both uh public hearings here during the comment here. Uh, the first public hearing is uh the 5-year to review and receive comment on the 5-year street reconstruction plan. This is the second time that the the council has went through this 5-year planning process to improve some roads in the community. Uh this plan will run from 2026 through 2030 and will authorize up to 6 million of debt proposed amongst four four roads. Lake Road, Lena Lane, 263rd Street, and then Prairie Drive, Prairie Court. That's part of those streets were identified as part of the overall uh street improvement plan for the or the uh potential road reimprovement road improvement projects identified by uh staff and through finance committee conversations. And so this plan basically uh will kick that will kick off here in 2026 and run through 2030 and allow the city to issue debt in accordance with this plan and those identified projects. If council, two things. If borrowing potentially on these roads over the next 5 years exceed the 6 million, we'll then just have to reddraft the plan, rehold the hearing, and move forward with and identify any of those additional projects and not to uh to to allow the borrowing, so to speak, in within this 5-year plan. So this is this is amendable at at certain points, but we're trying to give you the most capacity that we can over the next 5 years to address some of the roads that's been identified through committee conversations and that.

So you just asked answered one of my questions. So we can amend this. Uh and the only reason I'm questioning this is 263rd Street. Um it's kind of been recognized. Yes, it needs some work, but that that would be put on hold for the possible developer to end up taking care of that for the city with sewer and water going in that road instead of us tearing it up, fixing it, and then them tearing it up when the development happens. So, would we want to move that to a different road now or can we do it later and not have a problem? council member, you can do it later. And and just because it's identified in the plan doesn't require you to borrow for it or doesn't doesn't say, hey, doesn't lock the council and to say, hey, we have to do this road within this 5 years. It's just giving you the flexibility that if the priority comes up

that if these lake roads been a priority for a number of years now, that's obviously the first one that's going to be addressed during this. Y the next ones were just identified again just to give you some flexibility. So if another XYZ street comes up and takes priority, we reddraft the plan, look at it at that point. Then you know that 5-year window, rehold the public notify, rehold the public hearing and and approve the plan at that time.

Okay. So then I I just had a question too on that lean on that lean lane project, Barry, you mentioned it in your public works report earlier. So what's the timeline and and what what's the plan for what will be done? Were you saying we're going to resurface part of that now, but then in 2028, completely redo it or No. Okay.

Oh, it'd be at the same time that we're doing Lake Road, it'd be a perfect time to do that Lena lane that 980 ft going up the ma matching existing stuff that was already overlaid. So, it it wouldn't be possible. So then whatever would happen later on in the 2028 plan that wouldn't touch what we just are doing now. Correct. Okay.

Okay. Jason, do you want that's you want to talk about the other the tax abatement? Certainly. As well?

Certainly. As I stated last month, it's basically an an authority question. Uh street reconstruction. does the street, the existing street as far as rebuilding it, mill overlay, reconstruction of it. With Lake Road, there's some additional storm water um curb and gutter uh storm water collection that is outside the the statutory authority allowed by street reconstruction. So, the tax abatement allows you to use uh to to basically have the authority to borrow the funds and to use it to pay for some of those storm water improvements. Now, tax abatement, as we've noticed in the public hearing, there's 21 properties. With tax abatement, it just it it's a a procedural item on paper, a pledge of paper that that says from these 21 properties, we have enough principal portion of the city portion of the taxes to make this bond payment. But it is spread just like any other debt service across all properties in the in the city. No ill will. It's not a special assessment or anything like that on just those properties. It's a paper pledge to meet the statutory authority to be able to borrow the funds. And so it's just a procedural item that we have to have the public hearing tonight. Once these hearings are out of the way uh completed and the 30-day for the street reconstruction is completed, the city will have the authority then to move forward with in this case Lake Road, the bidding, design, bid, and construction if if you so choose.

Okay. Thank you, Jason. So, we'll open the public hearing for the street reconstruction portion first. So, anybody care wishing to speak, please step to the podium and limit your that conversation to about 3 minutes. Give your name and address as well. So, that that is open now. So, the public hearing for the street reconstruction bond is now open.

Jerry Tipult, 12318 235th Street. Uh, I just want to be sure that this is all subject to the approval of the art committee and the finance committee before this moves forward. You understand we still have 10 years to go on the previous bond. So, don't get us in tax trouble. I just want to make you alert sure of that. Thanks, Jerry. Thanks, Jerry.

Bill Becker, 25844 Lake Road. Um, I guess I would just like an explanation of what this does to the property owners for tax- wise, the cost. And am I am I speaking too early for this? You're you're speaking too early for the tax abatement one. All right. Thanks, Bill. Uh, anyone else wishing to public hearing for the for the street reconstruction bond? Going once. Going twice. Okay. I need a motion to close the public hearing. Make a motion to close.

Second it. A motion to second. All in favor say indicate by saying I. I. I. Okay. Um, now we need to vote on the resolution 2026-10 adopting the street reconstruction plan. Now this Barry, I'm going to ask did we did all of this go through art and finance as well or no? Yes, they were at both meetings. It was a 25 to 30year plan. It was discussed at art. It went to finance also that was discussed there.

Excuse me. Did he say it did go through or will go through? Did go through the committee? It went to art at March 2025 meeting. Okay. Great. All right. So, we make a motion that we adopt the resolution 2026-10 adopting the street reconduct construction plan. Bobby, do you have the date when I went through finance? Not off the top of my head. I just know.

It would have been the following month. I remember correctly. So, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure I'm writing this down. No, Brian, you started the motion of the resolution.

Yes, Brian did. Yeah. Have a motion. Any a second? Are we sure it went through finance? That's the only thing I'm struggling with because I don't remember, but I don't remember everything. So, it was you were there. It was. You were there, Barry? Yeah. Council, I can I can share. I know we did some preliminary conversations around August because I did some preliminary bond schedules to look at at the end.

I remember that. And I know that the at that time the uh finance committee had talked about maybe bidding it yet last fall and trying to trying to get it under that existing street plan and we just said we just kind of said time out. Let's just slow it down. Let's redo the plan. Let's let's take a look at the next 5 years. Good. And so as far as anything formal from finance, I don't recall how they move this forward. But this is what brought us I believe to today's conversation about this next. I remember I I know

if I recall our tub wanted to keep this project under a million dollars if I'm remembering correctly and since then there's been some storm water stuff that's been added to this that's brought that expense up and who's our engineer again Cody. They're they're looking at pursuing some grant stuff to try to get that storm water stuff taken care of. And we're not going to know where the price is going to be until we go out for bid. So when we go out for bid, if it's too high, guess what? I mean, we're not going to do it. So

there's some components that have to fall into place just because what we're doing tonight. Yeah. This isn't locking us that we're going forward. This is just the formalities of what we need to do to keep moving forward. Yep. Is that kind of in a nutshell where we're at? Yeah. Okay. This just so people don't think that we're out borrowing $6 million tonight. That's not what we're doing. No, I just I want also but I also want to make sure that we have we have committees set up for all of this, too. It's a given by make sure we're utilizing those in the proper way. And I don't I I remember Jason's meeting, but I didn't remember we went through art on this already. So, I'll I will second the motion.

More discussion. I I just want to hit Jason for one more thing. So, in this, if you look on, excuse me, on page 35, the tax estimated market value, what our taxes are based on for the city of Rockville. Our debt limit is $16,825,000. Correct. With what our outstanding debts are, it leaves us with a $14 million 580 that we can borrow. Not saying that's what we're going to do, but my question to you, Jason, is how does this impact the city when we looking at doing the sewer treatment plant that could be 10 or 11 million? I'm assuming it doesn't, but if you want to answer that.

Very good question, council members. Basically, under statute, there's certain borrowing um general obligation borrowing authority that net debt limits apply. Specifically, in this case, it applies to street reconstruction, any capital improvement borrowing, which generally is your city halls, your fire halls, and that stuff. So net debt limits apply in those and that's why we make this calculation for general obligation borrowing that entails utilities tax abatement tax increment financing that is outside net debt limits we don't make this calculation so to specifically answer your question council member in the short term in the shortest possible ways utility debt does not count against debt limits

and I I think it's important that people out about hear as well. Oh, for sure. So, no. Thanks, Jason. Update as well. All right, we have a motion, a second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing? None. We'll open the uh public hearing for the tax abatement portion. So, you're welcome to step forward now, Bill. If you could just expand on what this would cost the taxpayer.

Certainly. Certainly, Bill. Basically, what this tax abatement does is again it is a pledge on paper of of property taxes that equal the principal portion. So, I wish I could sit here today and say every property in in in Rockville is going to pay X related to this portion. We just don't have the bids yet. What this is doing, as I said last month, it's giving the council the capacity to borrow up to 651,000 for those storm water retention. So, storm water improvements to Lake Road um as a as a ability to borrow for those. The only other way, as I stated last month, would be to special assess the project. And the the council has over the years chosen in a very broad use of to avoid special assessments. So the only way the only way to get Lake Road done and to give yourself or this community the ability to borrow the funds is street reconstruction for the construction of the road and then using tax abatement for the storm water areas and so the storm water improvements for the lake road area. And so the best I can say is that the impact to each property tax parcel at this point is the ability to borrow up to 651,000 over a 15-year period to pay this debt. And I say that in a broad context cuz we just don't have the bid numbers yet. I can't sit here and say the storm water portion of this is X. I know there's been some local road improvement that's also been been requested for some of this project. So hopefully that buys it down. But again, procedural wise, we're just moving through the process again to empower the council that if you want to move forward with the Lake Road project, my guess is if you want to move forward, excuse me, with the Lake Road project that you this gives you the ability. My guess is once you have those numbers, finance committee, is it Art, the other committee will probably see this, see

those numbers and then be able to make a recommendation to council to move forward. So yes, we've done it in some broad plans, but once we get into the final steps here that it's been bid and we're moving towards borrowing, um I would make the assumption that that those committees are going to see that. So and just to clarify that too, it the it's affecting those 21 properties on Lake Lake Road, but it's not assessing them specifically for that curb and gutter, the water retention. So just to make make sure we're clear on that.

Correct. is the the pro the city portion of the property taxes as we know today total up to the principal portion of the 651,000 on an annual basis. And so on paper, we're telling bond holders we have enough property taxes to make this bond. Once this bond goes into play and and and it's formalized, that'll be spread across all parcels, not just those 21. It's not a special assessment or just those 21 parcels. Okay? It's a paper pledge. The best way to say it's a paper pledge.

Thank you. Okay. Public hearing is still open. So if anybody else has wishes to step up and make a comment or ask questions. Going once. Going twice. Need a motion to close the public hearing. Motion to close. Second. Second. Any uh all in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any naysay? Hearing none. So again, we're voting on the resolution 2026-11 for the tax abatement just for the just to borrow the money if needed when we get the bid for this job for project for the storm water

for the storm water portion. I make a motion in that regard for resolution 2026-11. I'll second that. Okay, a motion and a second. Any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. Uh, number 11, city prosecution contract update with Janelle Kendall.

Good evening. I'm back for my annual update and I will keep it short because I see you have a lot of business tonight. As always, we start with that one on the top of the people that we don't prosecute due to our uh diversion policy. We did have two juveniles out of Rockville this last year. Always remind you guys if you have some public service projects that you'd like, um please do let us know. Um we got actually a lot of those done this last year and a lot of them did come from our city clients. So if you have some painting or some cleaning up, something like that that you need, um please let us know because we've got people coming back through. I can tell you there are less diversions in the last couple years than they have been in the past. They're just less firsttime offenders. Our diversion is truly for people who have not been in trouble before. And most of the people we see have been in trouble way more than once before. So those are just simply going through the court system. But as you've probably heard locally, statewide, nationwide, um crime is generally down. We can tell you that in Sterns County, we are attributing most of that to the change in the marijuana laws. The way that we used to get into cars, Keith knows, the way that we used to get into cars is when you're doing a traffic stop and you roll up and they roll down the window and the marijuana smoke comes come flying out. Then we're into the car and we're able to search the car and that's where we find the bigger drugs and that's where we find the guns. Now that we can't do that anymore, in fact, it also took some of our drug dogs out of service because they can't tell us which drug they're smelling. Um, we no longer get into those. So your drug numbers and your drug prosecutions are down 25 30%. But it's because of that change in the law. It's not because there are less drugs or less guns out there. We're just finding less of them right now. So when we turn to your city misdemeanor that we do for you on contract, you'll see that those numbers are pretty much the same as they've been. Those are the traffic stops. Those are the people driving without a license. Those are the regular low-level firsttime DWI. So we aren't really seeing any change there at all. But when you jump to the next page with the felonies, you'll see those numbers are down a little bit across the board.

As I say, in all the jurisdictions across the county and in fact across the state, um the number of felonies that you had were down a little bit because of that, not a lot. A couple of those felonies or people going the wrong way on Highway 23, what happens to be in your jurisdiction. So, um some very good law enforcement work. I went ahead and read those felonies today. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer those. But that's what's going on in Rockville. Any questions for Janelle? No. Thank you, Janelle. Thanks for the update. Thank you. Uh, we move on to the sheriff's report. Keith,

uh, I'm Keith Simon. I'm going to be new here. I'm taking over for Lieutenant Whitmer, so I will be designated to Rockville and St. Augusta. I will continue to try to make quarterly meetings. If something comes up and you need me sooner, let me know. Um, I gave Bobby several of my cards so you have my contact information. Uh, Lieutenant Whitmer had sent out the January 2026 report. Um, just kind of looking over some of the numbers of that. There was 38 contract hours that we had handled, 48 calls for service. Uh, I kind of looked through the traffic stops. There was 21 traffic stops the month of January with a total of nine citations that were written. Some of those citations included more than one violation, but a total of nine traffic stops that were involved in a citation, but that's all I've got as well.

Okay, any other questions for Keith? Thank you, Keith. Thank you. Okay, public works Barry.

Good evening, council. We got a few things to go on the list here. Um, we're looking for approval to go out of bids for silicating. Um, we did go through the art tub committee. Uh, this is the second year of the 5-year plan. Um, and we're also silicating or or crack filling hopefully in front of the silicating on most of these roads. Um the roads that we are doing are hopefully are First Street West, First Street West, Alley, Fourth Street East, Fourth Street West, Aspen Court East, Aspen Court West, Birch Street, Caroline Lane, Cedar Street south, Cedar Street North, Cedar Street Alley. There's a Chestnut Street north. Uh the alley behind City Hall, Cottonwood Street, Cypress Street or Court, uh Elm Street North, Elm Street South, Fireh Hall Lane, Maple Street, uh Mil Street South, and the alley. uh Oak Street and the Oak Street Alley, Omar, Pine Street, Perry Drive, Tarmagan Lane, Tarmagan Drive, Tamarack Court, Walnut Circle, and Walnut Court. U the budget that we had approved for the crack filling is 175,000. Um if it is over that, then we'll have to uh cut some of these roads off. Um, for crack filling, we only budgeted 25,000. So, in front of these roads, I'll go out when the snow's all gone and I'll look at which roads are the worst for the crack filling part of the bid. Um, I suppose we talk about siliconing. So, that's siliconing. I guess that's approval of number one.

Have any questions? Any questions for Barry? You want to make the motion to approve to go out for bid? I'll make the motion to go out for bid. I'll second. Motion a second. Any further discussion on the seal coding? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. Okay.

Okay. Uh number two on the agenda is the approval to go for bids for crack filling. Uh so the same roads that we're looking at silicodating, we're going to try to crack fill the worst ones or maybe all of them. Um and our budget for that is 25,000. Um so we're looking for approval to go out for bidding on crack filling. I'll make an approval. I'll make a bid. Excuse me. Yeah. Whatever that is. Go for a bid. Yeah. Approve to go out for bids on your crack filling. I have a second.

A motion. A second. Any further discussion? Now, I'm assuming we can get this done before May or sometime so we will the road still opened up so we get a good penetration of the crack filling. Yeah, it'll be hopefully I'll I'll bring it back to next council meeting for the bids so then you guys can vote on it and hopefully they can get it done right away. Yeah. Motion a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. Any nays? Okay. Very.

Um, number three, we're looking for the approval to go out for bids for dust control. Um, we put in our budget uh this year for 46,000 for dust control. Last year it was just under I think it was 44,000. So, um, I don't have all the roads that we do dust control on, but it's the same as last year.

I'll make a motion to go for a bid for dust control. So, I just have a question on dust control before we get into because last year we remember we we did the dust control shortly after there was some pretty heavy rains that kind of messed up some of it and then we also had an incident so to speak where um where some tires also wrecked some of it. So, once that if once there's an event that dust control is no longer useful, right? No, it's it stays all summer. It does stay all summer even if even if there is even if there is because I remember some of the some of the gravel roads got pretty potholeish to to it doesn't eliminate the potholes,

right? But that's because of the dust control, right? That creates those don't. It's that's just traffic does that and the the the the dust control helps keep all the fines there so that you can you got something to work with to put it back together. And so last year the dust control actually worked really well, but it doesn't eliminate the need for doing any touch-up grading or whatever. You still got to do some of that. So if you do grade over the top of it, the dust control is still there. It's still working.

The one thing that happens when when it's been sprayed is don't get very aggressive with the road grading because the dust control only goes in about the top inch and a half, two inches maybe. And so we work with that. Just keep it on the top so we don't dig into it and and get it stirred up. The only drawback is is they don't go to the outside edge. So you get some of that untreated gravel pulled in when you grade and it gets mixed in and makes it look like it's not working, but it's still there. So Well, the timing of the rain last year helped as well. Correct. Yes. The rain the rain's a good thing. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. So, we have a motion. I'll second it.

Motion and a second. Any further discussion on dust control bid? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Any nays? Hearing none for the gravel.

Okay. For for number four, we're looking to go for bids on the approval uh after I bring it through our tub in May or March. Uh we're going to go through and look at all the roads and I'll bring it to see which roads if we need to do all of them or just part of them. then come back. But uh on our uh routine or our next year's project or this year's I should say is 123rd uh 125th Street, 234th, Sock River Road and Spodden are would be the next ones in the rotation for getting gravel. And what dollar value was appro did that have on it?

Uh 69,000. I'll make a motion to go for bid for gravel. I can second it. We have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Any naysay? Thank you, Barry.

Um, number five is the purchase agreement for land for portion of land for well number six. Yeah. So, there was some discussion at the workshop about this. So, I did go and pull uh the meeting minutes uh for finance from October 7th, 2025. And the motion is as follows. Um a motion by Hang, second by Broman Shinkle to recommend to council that they purchase the property for low 6 and only pay for expenses incurred with planning tract E. Motion passed unanimously. So, this issue did go before finance and had their approval and it came to council for approval as well. So once council gave me approval that I reached out to the attorney to have him draft that purchase agreement and that is what you have before you now.

Thanks Bobby for looking into that. You're welcome. Yeah. And the dollar amount is like 6800. I'm check $6,800 even. Correct. Mhm.

I make a motion that we continue on with this. get this locked up and be done with it. I think you have to put the dollar value in there, Brian, for the 6,800 which is in the when the which is in the um purchase agreement. I'll second that. Okay. So, we have a motion, a second for the purchase agreement. Any other discussion hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Any nays? Okay. Uh, fire department approval of purchase for two dehumidifiers.

You want to talk about that, Bobby? Well, we do have our first Jeremy. We'll put you on the spot, Jeremy. So, you just have questions about the humidifiers or

Well, that was an addition to the piping project and stuff, correct? Yes. So, uh, talking with some of the, um, members of the fire department and then going outside and doing some research, um, it was brought to our attention just the humidity that we're getting in the trucks from, uh, the onboard compressors running. Um, it's part of our reason with our air quality issues on our trucks and the freezing running into brake issues, governor issues on the compressors. Um, so pulling that humidity down in there. Um, putting two commercial dehumidifiers, one on the south side and one on the north side of the building to help pull the humidity out of the trucks or out of the building from the trucks. So, we want to make a motion to prove the We should be tax exempt on this though too, right? So, we want to prove the dollar amount of 5758. Is that correct? That's correct.

Y. Okay. So, we need a motion to approve the dehumidifiers at 5758. So, got a question for Jeremy. So, we put a a compressor in the building to plug into the trucks, right? To to charge them for air. Yeah. So, the onboard electric compressors will no longer be being used. Correct. It should not be. Okay. And we're still getting or that project hasn't been completed yet.

That's not completed yet. Um, but that's going to be pulling inside air for that compressor, which the compressor does have a spit belt on it. And there's also a spit belt on the air system with a dryer for that. So, this will also help eliminate what moisture is coming through. help keep the floors dryer. So, like we go out, what we run into a lot of times and you drove by the firewall and seen it um in the summertime, we'll uh crack the doors 6 in on a nice day where there's breeze to help draft out of that out there. So it's not just in the summertime or winter time, we're going to do it in the summer time, but bringing trucks in that are wet or, you know, if they wash trucks in the wash bay and pull stuff up, you just get that draft and humidity in the building um itself, which keeps everything. So this will help with our um we run fans right now. If we go out on a structure fire and our gear gets wet, uh we end up hanging the gear out but then have to put formal fans out to help circulate the air in there because the humidity stays high. Um so this will actually help hopefully dry our uniforms out and make them last longer. So

um I'll make a motion to approve the purchase for the 5758. I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. And then the next one is the approval. Oh, wait. Hang on one second. I think Jeremy, do you have anything else you want to add?

Chief Rodney did send me with just some side notes. Um, so some of the current work um that we've been doing up there, we're working on a few different grants right now that are available. Um, one of them is the skid unit grant that we kind of ran for last year. Um, that came back out again. Uh, so we're actually trying to apply for two skid units this time. Uh, one for unit 9 to replace that old system on there and then one for unit one, which would be the flat bed that we can replace what we put together on that truck. Um, so we're kind of in the works with that one. Uh, getting that information word to our grant writer and helps get that submitted. Um, one of our other firefighters is actually working on there's a grant out there for an engine tender mix. Um, so it would be a truck that would hold 3,000 gallons like a current tender, but also has a pump unit on it also. So you could use it for structure fires. Um, so he's working on that. And then there's also a loose equipment grant um which will work with uh like 30 radios uh another uh extraction set uh the battery power extraction gear um hoses nozzles and fittings. So something's putting together as of right now. Um we've had a bunch of vehicle repairs um as previous meetings we've talked about our bigger chassis units have had air issues. Um, one of that being our engine tube. Um, they replace the top end of the compressor unit on that um, as it had malfunctioned and wouldn't compress air anymore uh, intermediately. So, that got repaired. Um, some sensors on that one turbo oil drain tube um, and main engine filters got serviced. Um, our tender or tanker um, there was a radiator cap leak. uh main engine got serviced, air filters, power steering reservoir cap uh needed to be replaced and rear brakes and drums. Um so with that truck, if it

sits for a long period of time um and we go to release the brakes and drive it out, the brakes are actually seized on it. It won't allow us. So we have to end up either backing up or driving forward or tapping on the brake drum of the handler to get the brakes off. Um so I know that one I don't think the rear brakes and drums have been done yet. that are actually coming through a little bit for that one um at the current moment. Uh engine five, which is our older pumper, uh the backup, uh just some minor lights on that needed to be replaced. Uh rear pinion seal was leaking. Um and a hooded selector uh shaft boot was ripped. um kind of going on to our ambulances and this kind of hits on uh one of the other agendas that uh Chief Rodney Schaefer had here. So, our two ambulances um our frontline one unit 8 um is having having a bunch of issues and home emergency apparatus has been working on that one in and out. It's actually been down at their shop a few different times. Um Monday night when we actually had a meeting, we took that unit to Coulspring in case we had a medical. Um we ended up having getting halfway there and turning around and bringing it back um as it was having engine issues again. Um so I know emergency at be coming back up to look at that one. Um and our other ambulance number 10 was is having engine issues also. Um we actually took came and got that one take it there and on the way there that one started acting up and the check engine light also came on. So I know unit 10 was given to us from uh gold cross before it turned into mail. Um so that you know they had deemed that one basically out of its life service we gave to us as a backup unit. Um and unit 8 was actually a used one that we got from cargo back in the day. Um kind of something we're working on right now. We

talked to Mayo ambulance right now. They're looking at decommissioning a few more of their ambulances currently um that we might be able to get on a list of getting one. Maybe we can kick these ones out out the door. Um just from the issues we've been running into um we've been heading out on calls and ran into issues and taking a different rate to help get there in time. Um, so something we wanted to look at is um, you know, we're looking at maybe if there's a grant out there to help with the ambulance or if we can get something from mail that is newer, less mileage, better usage for us and or do we need to look at just decommissioning these two and getting something different um, with the money we're sticking to. Um, and then the other one we've had to work on was our brush one truck which is which is unit one. Um, that one just needed some brakes and drones. So, any questions on that maintenance stuff?

A lot there.

Um, the other kind of note he had here is he wanted to um kind of throw the new captains. Thank them for stepping up. Uh Jim Guerrero, Josh Kite, Jordan Schaefer, and then uh Nate Mo is going to be within time um as he's needing a little time before he rolls into so Mike Schlungan is just helping immediate time until Nate's ready up to par. Um and then we wanted to send a thank you to uh Rick, Travis, Mike, Dan, and Tim uh for their help and support and guidance over the last years and helping serve the Federal Department of Leadership. Awesome.

And then the last note is the fish fry for the fire department fundraiser is March 20th. Um and it's at the parish center for takeout only uh from 4 to 8:00 p.m. or until um fish is left. Perfect. Thank you to me. Yeah. Thank we do have one one other thing is the the piping bill for the air compressor that came in a little bit higher due to some extra labor and charges was so do we want to approve the whole 12,000 we have to say we can go up to up to that 12,000 yep 6922

okay so we need a motion on that I'll make a motion for the invoice um to go up to $12,6922. I'll second it. Okay. Motion a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. Okay. Uh action item administrative view on the IUP on Hubert Lane. So, when the original IUP came through, Bobby, this that was a one-year term, correct?

That was not stipulated as part of the IUP. It was up for a six-month review. It was up for a six-month review, but it didn't No expiration date was put on the Okay. What are the wishes of the council? Well, keep in mind there's been no violations.

I'm not so worried about the violations. They're more so worried about what we're doing here as a whole because we put the word review in there, but I thought we were giving it a six-month period and that and then it was going to be up for renewal because our whole our whole idea about putting that 6 months on was that we were rewriting the ordinances and we were going to have new ordinances in place to take care take care of the answer which we have not done. So I I firmly believe we put that six months as the period of it if it wasn't written that way. That's that's shame on us for not dotting our eyes and crossing our tees. But that's that's what I personally was voting on for. And now that we have a moratorum on them, I don't see how we can let it go forward until we do put stuff in place.

So this was issued before the moratorum. So the moratorum has no effect on this one. It does if it needs to be renewed. So that's that's where I'm in this limbo because no one can tell us if we're renewing this that they need to reapply or what what is that what does the word review mean here?

Review means that we look at it to review if there's been any issues if we need to look at revoking it because of those issues. And there has been none. So, I think I made the original motion um to approve the IUP was changed it or or changed it in the middle of it to a six-month and yeah, I don't remember if it was review or or just a six-month to end it. Um the the the my reasoning for switching it to 6 months because there was a ton of concerns of it being a party house. Um, and that would give us a time to to find out if there were any formal complaints, if there were any sheriff calls. Um, if there were any reasons to to not move forward. Um, like Brian said, there was no there was no uh there was no formal complaints on it. Um, the dos in the original in the original meeting did clearly state several times 7 days. My personal feelings is on that I do not believe there should be a 7-day stipulation on a on an IUP rental. We wouldn't do that with any other homebased business out there. We wouldn't we wouldn't restrict the number of clients that a person would be allowed to have in homebased business. Um, I don't I don't see any reason not to allow the DOS to continue um the IUP in process, but I do think we need to get the the committee that we talked about doing as far as uh firming up our ordinances because I I don't think I don't think it's fair for the person wanting to rent the IUP to have to come here every six months and argue their and argue their case. Um, you know, the objections, we can hear the objections before the IEP is either approved or denied in the first place. But then that too, I think we need to just move forward from because I I firmly believe that if if you're somebody and and you're against having your neighbor having a a short-term

rental next to you, you're you're going to come up with any any thing possible to to try to get to stop. And I think if we have some some clear ordinances in place, some clear guidelines in place, and as long as everybody is abiding by them, um then there's no reason that that we spend this much time every every couple of months discussing it. So I agree.

Um in the packet here, it says that it came before the council on May 14th. Is that the day that the IUP was approved or was it June? because regardless of what we say now, their year is up either in May or June and there's still going to be a moratorum. So, they are not going to be able to re reapply for an IUP again for the following year. So, regardless what we decide tonight, come whether it was May or June, they're not going to be able to reapply for the rest of the summer anyways. My personal feeling on that is I would like to move forward with the with the moratorum and and either have a if if you know if the move is to ban ban them then fine otherwise um we need to come up with some ordinances and lift the moratorum

right I just want the dos in complete transparency fairness that you guys know that it's it is up either in May or June and it cannot be renewed.

I believe it was approved at the May 14th. Yep. So, we have some homework to do that too as a city, right? To get the to get the ordinance cooking. I I'm with Jason. I I think it's is your property as a taxpayer. You should be able to use it as you wish. There's been no complaints. So, allowing it to go through May I I'm good with. And then we as a city council need to get the homework done on the rest of the ordinance. Um and that needs to get done. That should have been done already. We just haven't done it. So

are we going to set up a special committee for that? Did we decide that or is that going to run through planning commission? I think it's going back to planning commission in in March. Yeah. Okay. We'll we'll get those guys working on it right away. So, and they have to have a decision done right away for that or as quickly as they can. Correct. I would like to I would like to at least give them a goal of of May to have it back before us to uh Sure.

to to either decide or deny it to deny an IEP. And uh and then back to the workshop thing, I I I would like to be at that planning commission meeting. I'm sure members of us would be too. So post that one for sure to make sure that there could be council there. Just to make sure I heard you correctly, you said you want them to have it back to council by May. I would like that to be a goal. Yes. No, it's Yeah, it has to be a goal, too. Well, if they can, I sure don't want them to rush it and make it a hasty decision and then we're back here looking at the thing again.

It's like that's just stupid. It's been it's been talked about a lot. There's a lot of data available. I think it's just sitting down and them discussing it and coming up with our rules are in place. But there's adjustments right? Yeah. And we're just covering I mean by doing this we're just making sure that the other one that's in the city of Rockville and anybody else that would want to add one we have it set up correctly that there's not going to be any questions or in doubt going forward. Okay, I'm looking for a motion on this. Do we even need a motion? Because they're they're we do

need to extend it. Well, I guess I I'll make the motion that we let them continue to the end of their one year anyway. May 14th. Yeah. May 14th. I'll second it. A motion to second. Any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. I. Any nays? Okay, we got our homework cut off for us. Bobby, um, approval internal controls policy for 2025. So, this was just a change of policy for how the utility billing is collected and downloaded and all that.

Yeah. Every year we're required to update this and look through kind of the delegation of duties is and so can we do this with still have having three meters hanging out there? Can we Okay. All right. How much time out of curiosity is it saving us not having to read meters? Uh just over a day. Day and a half. Day and a half. That's if everything reads properly. Sure. Have we had any complaints on where someone felt it was not correct or not? Yes, there's been a few complaints about that. Um, but for the most part it's been we've helped people establish if they have leaks and where money is going. So,

um, we've had quite a few residents download the ion water app. And I would encourage anybody that hasn't that has a meter to download the free ion water app because it can give you hourby- hour breakdown and can show you if you have a water leak in your house. So, it's actually a very valuable tool. I do look at it every day.

So, just because I mean I was trying to decide if it was really being accurate or not. So that's why I was watching it very clearly here for the last couple weeks just trying to and I was comparing other people that has the same size home and people in the home because I wanted to know was it tracking correctly and what I'm finding it is you know because I be honest my husband was gone all last week and the water usage was way down cuz I'm like why is it so low and it's one less person in the house made a difference. So but I do feel it is a a thing for everyone. You should download it. I do know one of the business owners has it going um themselves and we were comparing the other day on this how many gallons I was doing in a day and how many they were doing. So um it's worth looking into just if you haven't downloaded do it.

Okay. I guess I'll make a motion that we amend the internal code polic or control policy with the new changes the revision of 21126. I just have like one more question since it's in here. Um, under investments, how did we do by changing our funds around? Do you know? So, I mean, what what do you specifically want?

So, we changed it. So, um, we moved all of all the financials in order. Yeah. So, do we have I didn't see that on the reconciliation. Do we have a total that came the interest? Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. Sorry. I'll second motion and second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I.

I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. Any other discussion, Bobby? At all. Nothing. Anybody else? Do we need to make a motion about the meeting for the six-month review since it's a special special meeting technically? Yeah, we will need a motion for that cuz it's going to have to be closed. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve that March 10th meeting at 5:30. I'll second that. Okay. A motion and second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I.

I. Naz. Hearing none. And then looking for a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. All in favor indicate by saying I. I.