City - Regular Meeting

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. Uh we'll open up for the public comment. Um, if you care to make a public comment, please limit it to 3 minutes. Please state your name and address. And, uh, just remember, we're on TV, so keep the language PG if we can. Hello there. Uh, back from my sabbatical. Uh, just wanted to bring up some old business dealing with the fire department. I know last fall that I had some concerns about what had happened in the past and Bobby had directed me that she was directed to hire this attorney by the act of of council member Herbert and council member Stanganger. After that, it was brought to my attention that both them council members were to stay away from the fire department with a legal document that the city had paid a lawyer for. Are you aware of that, Brian?

Mhm. So, you did something illegal. You know, you're sitting up here telling about everybody what they should do in the legal process. You need to look in the mirror. So, are you just going to retire tonight then or what? I'll gladly sit down and talk to you and explain that to you. Well, what's there to explain? It's all in black and white. And I can tell you exactly what the city attorney said, too. I read the letter. It's stated right in there that the both of you were to stay away from the fire department.

That's the letter of memorandum. But I'll tell you what the attorney had said and the league attorney. Well, I know. But where is it in writing? I don't know if they put that in writing or not. It's on the minutes cuz in the in the v in the audio because he was at the council meeting. Well, I guess we'll have to look back into that. You certainly can because I certainly don't understand why either you or Mr. Stang or we're even dealing with the fire department.

I'm sitting up at this ca dis. That's I have every right to be involved in the fire department. It's part of the city structure. We we all up here make decisions for the for all of the not not if you're recommended to stay away from them. I hear what you're saying, but that's not the way the law is written. So, you're recommended by an attorney to stay away from them, but you don't think you should? I don't recommend that.

Okay. Um, other than that, I guess we're just going to have to get it on the agenda for next council meeting and get it looked into and get it figured out to see who did what was wrong. Thanks, John. Yeah. Anyone else for public comment?

Yeah. Jerry Tippold 12318 235th Street, previous council member and Leia is on to the fire department. And I beg to differ with some of those comments. Uh, we've got what, $30,000 in investigation fees that got us nowhere. Now I understand we're doing some mediation stuff. We keep running around and nothing's getting solved and these firemen keep getting kicked around like a dog. Uh back when this mess all started, two council people went up to the fire hall and we're going to tell the firemen how to work safely, not suggest it, make demands on them. That's what started this mess. And as a result, we had a special council meeting. council chambers were plum full of people and that's when we had the attorney here and the memorandum of understanding was drawn up and that memorandum of understanding said the leazison and the fire chief are to try to resolve the differences if they can't they go to the administrator and if that doesn't get us anywhere we're to sit down with the attorney and see if we can come up with a plan well we went to the administrator at least three or four times the chief and and was ran into a a dead end because she had the checkbook and we weren't allowed to talk to the attorney. If the memorandum of understanding would have been done from the start the way it was supposed to be, we wouldn't be in this mess. But we keep getting hiring outside firms to try to solve the problem and all we keep doing is spending money. We're going to be out of money and out of a fire department. It's time to bark the bullet. And if somebody wants to sue us for something, let's have at it. Let's get it done and let's shut the door. These guys are volunteers. They sit here at a council meeting. Why? I don't know. We got leazison that should be talking to the

fire department and if there's information that needs to be passed on to the council person, then so be it. When I was a a leazison, I had a meeting with the president of the fire chief association of Minnesota. You know what the biggest problem is for fire departments? Council people sticking their nose in the fire department's business. Council people have no experience how a fire department is supposed to run. Uh the chief is the boss. Everybody needs to recognize that. Once that happens and they answer to the boss, there's not a problem. The problem we have is people are going through the back door talking to administrators and council people and everything else and it's not going through the proper channels. Until we change that, we're going to have a big problem. We're not going to have a fire department. We've got people up there that are pretty disappointed. I don't know why they keep coming to do what they do, but I am very thankful they do. And not only are we going to be out of money, it's the safety of the city. We need to recognize this. If these guys quit, where are we going to be? I don't know. They're volunteers. We shouldn't be treating them like they're full-time employees and holding them to to whatever we do to full-time employees. They're volunteers. They volunteer their time. I'm going to make a suggestion here that we uh we censor Councilman Herberg and the administrator. Any business that needs to be done with the fire department goes through the leazison. Anybody that wants to has any business to do, if the administrator has business with the fire department, it goes to the layers on first because we've got too many cooks in the kitchen

and we just keep running in problems and that has got to stop. And until that happens, the I don't know why these guys keep showing up. I I I I com commend them for doing that. They should even have to come to a council meeting. The leazison should report to you guys what's going on. They they spend enough time doing work for this city without coming here every month and begging to keep operating. That it doesn't make any sense. We need to quit that. Thank you for your time. And the other thing I want to bring up is I see we're got a three-year contract for our administrator. No other employee has got a contract that I know of with the city. I worked for an alter for 36 years. Never had a contract. Do my goddamn job or go home. That was the contract. I hope you guys realize that. Thank you. Thanks, Jerry. Anyone else for public comment? Going twice, going three times. We'll close the public comment. All right. Additions to the agenda. Uh, we have E or Department reports E-5 part-time help for public works and 11- C for the mural for Rockville. Any other additions?

I don't think so. That was it. I make a motion to approve the agenda with the two additions.

I would like to add something to the agenda. Um, I would like to talk about our um our policy surrounding the attorney. It seems like it's very hard for us to get legal advice because of how it is currently set up. So whether it's tonight or next council meeting, I would like it to be on the agenda to talk about. Uh, let's see. We can add it to other. So you're recommending a policy change, Ashley?

Yeah. I don't know if we can how how quickly available it is to look at it, but all right. You're adding that to the motion, Brian. Yes. Okay. And a second. I'll second it. A motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I.

Any nays? Hearing none, that move forward. Okay, we're going to open up the abatement hearings for 518 Oak Street for a nuisance violation. Uh Bob, you want to update us on? Yep, absolutely. So, I did go up there and take new pictures uh just before the council meeting tonight and all of the uh excess material has been removed other than the wood piles. So, the only thing remaining on that property now is the wood piles. Okay. And the property owner is not here, correct? So, come out. No.

Okay. So we you wanted a motion to enforce the action or to let it resist just let it stay. What does council want to do at this point? Do you want to say we're okay with the wood piles being there or do you want to continue to pursue having the wood piles? Well, my question is going to come back to they own the property. Yep. Correct. Mhm.

And anywhere you go here in the city of Rockville, I bet you'll find a pile of wood. Okay. My only concern of this is that what are we going to have that if you leave the wood piles there, which I'm fine with. I'm going to be honest. I'm fine with them being there. But when they start having parties and having fires, which everybody else in Rockville does the same thing, is it going to become now the neighbors are going to be upset about this whole thing that the city's not doing anything about it, but they do own the property? I mean, so that's my question on it is I don't have a problem with the wood piles being there, but the question is when are we going to have the first complaint about something? And we've done everything as a city to make him do everything that you've asked and he's doing it. It's just now the wood piles. And any other place you go, they've had wood piles. I mean, we have them on the side of our side of our garage and we have fires in our driveway. So, I mean, that's not stopping them from doing it on their property either.

I would assume at that point that would fall into the noise ordinances that we already have in place and quiet hours and correct. If someone believes that something is being a, you know, law or an ordinance or a nuisance violation is happening, they can still call the sheriff's office. It took a while to get here to get that to get that lot cleaned up. So, I mean, I'm good with the wood pile, but I mean, it would be a different story if you still had stuff still sitting up there. And if it starts coming back, then we're at a new step again. But I don't have a problem with the wood piles, be honest with you. So we can enforce the nuisance violation if the problem comes back. Correct. Absolutely.

So have we incurred any charges on getting anything cleaned up there yet? Just attorney other than legal fees. It would just be the legal fees. What about the towing? Who paid that bill? I'd have to go back and double check. I don't I don't recall ever seeing a bill come in for them. So, I'm I'm not an expert on towing, but I don't I don't know if the owners of the vehicles got a bill for the towing and not the city. I never I do not recall. Did we We were the ones that called and said they want we wanted it to

generally when whoever's vehicle is towed when they want to get it out of the impound, they have to pay they have to pay the towing fees and if if it doesn't get paid and they abandon it then the towing company has the right to sell them or do whatever and that's how they get recouped. So I don't think we need to worry about that portion of it. But the legal fee stuff to fight him on this I I think we should be tallying that up and at the end of the year or whatever give him a bill and if you don't pay turn it over to the tax role. I'm good with that. I agree with that. Yep. So moved. Second.

So motion a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. Move forward. Okay. The approval of the March 2026 bills paid. I didn't see any issues with anything.

I only had the one question with the fire department for the conversation um employment investigation teams meeting with the mayor and Bobby for $582.62. Um that was under the fire protection area. That's that's where it's coming out of unless council would like it to come out of somewhere else. If you'd like it to come out of the general fund, that can be included in the motion. I don't really think it should come out of the fire department. I would rather see it come out of the general fund. It's up to council. So, you want to make that motion?

I'll make a motion that the $58262 of the um employment investigation meeting that was taken part of the mayor and Bobby and that was done on 310. I would like to see that uh funds come out of the jungle, not out of the fire department. and approval for the rest of the bills and then I will approve of the rest of the bills. Okay, we have a motion as wait for a second. I will second it. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I.

Any nays? Move forward. I'd like the record to show I abstain from check number 24184. Thank you, Brad.

All right. Consent agenda. Approval of Rockville city minutes from March 11th. Uh acknowledgement of the March 2026 building permits. The sheriff's report from March. The review of the first quarter journal entries. the March 26 month end reconciliation and then approval of the street closure for Stony's for June 13th for the ride for Heroes that we'd like that has a great turnout especially if the weather's nice, right? So that's part of the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. I'll second a motion to second. Any further discussion on that hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Move forward. All right. Department report. City engineer. Cody, you're up.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Our first item is the Lake Road improvement project. Um at the end of March, we finally received notification uh that the city had not received any funding through the the uh local road improvement program. So uh since that point, we've been working with the Sterns uh conservation district on uh getting the final design and uh getting that ready for bid. So brought that to Artub at the April meeting um and then looked for a council approval, C council action on getting that if we want to go for bid, um we would do that here in May and then bring that to uh bring the bids to the June uh council meeting if council decides to go forward.

The water the the water portion is not on this bid, correct? So the you're talking about the cost estimate? Yeah, the cost estimate. Yes. So that's all combined into the one base bid now. In the one base bid.

Correct. Yeah. Before last year it was an alternate and then once we got that funding approved um through the Sterns County um conservation district, we combined it all into one base bid with that um funding approved. So that's why that's there. Okay. What's the wishes of the council? Well, I think before we can go forward to actually going through with the project, we need to know what it's going to cost. And by getting to know what it costs is going out to bid.

And if you're ready to do that, I think we're ready to pull the trigger. Unless you guys want to just leave it as is. You can't leave it. It's been going like that for three years, right? Well, that's I mean it's I think the can is here. We need to we need to step on it now instead of keep kicking it. So, we need a motion to approve going out for bids for Lake Road. I'll make that motion. I'll second. Have a motion, a second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? I will abstain from the vote just because I live on the road. So

resolution passes. Second item that we have is the Agot Beach Road cvert. Um as far as the update for that, uh we have been periodically reaching out to FEMA, I would say once a month at least, trying to get some information back from them. Last time we reached out was in February I believe and still they they keep telling us they won't tell us any information on ongoing reviews. So uh they did tell us to contact the local rep representative and I think the city did do that. Is that correct? Yep. We reached out to Tom Edward's office and asked them to kind of plead our case. Yeah. Then we've gotten

and that's gotten nowhere as well. Yeah. So, we discussed that art tub as well um here in April and that uh committee directed Bolton Mink to reach back out to the DNR and get their uh opinions on if we can go back to the original project design, which was far cheaper. I looked up the bids. It was around 300 grand um which was the low bid. That was two years ago now. Um so, I've not heard back on that. Um that's been less than a week here. So, we're going to continue to pursue that and see if we can get them to agree to allow us to go back and then hopefully we can get that out to bid this summer. Okay.

If they approve, assuming they approve.

There are um Jim called me today and there are many residents that are severely worried about the road. Um there was there's been a lot of traffic in the past year um with people building houses, etc. out there. He did take some time the other week and crawled down in there and took some pictures. I haven't seen the pictures, but he said the other side it it doesn't look that great. Um, so we're we're also potentially looking at a safety concern. He expressed that um he he's fine if he has to drive all the way around the lake, but if there's a fire or medical call, it's it's going to hurt hurt those residents. So, we got to get moving on a solution for them.

Cody, can you keep the city up to date that Absolutely. what we find out from the DNR? Yep. Thank you. Okay. Fire department. Jeremy, you're up.

Uh, so I think the only thing brought really out on the schedule was just the the sale of the ambulance, uh, unit 10, which we had brought up at the last console. on the injectors are out on it and the value of fixing it is not worth the value of what the unit is. Um we do have a potential buyer for $2,500 for the unit. Um most of the stuff that is valuable hasn't been taken out. There is a few items that we're going to take out yet like the radio and stuff in it uh that we can keep and utilize in another unit down the road as needed. So guess we're just looking to make sure that we can send it on down the road. Um, we literally

Yeah, literally. All right. So, we just see a motion to from us to sell it. I'll I'll make the motion to approve to sell it. I'll second that. Motion a second. Any other discussion on it? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays?

Passes. Okay. Uh, Bill, you're up. Uh, council member, we had a planning commission meeting on April 1st. Um, a little overview of the what we talked about was we had Angie Burton from Sterns County Environmental Services present on short-term rentals. Um, wow, she did an excellent job. Uh, covered all of our questions and then and then some. Uh so at the end of the all this discussion and communication uh we decided or we're recommending that we put together a subcommittee uh consisting of council and planning commission uh to take a further look at short-term rentals and see what we really want to do and then go down that road. Um you have mayor, you have a uh a list of committee members that you recommended um or are recommending.

Yeah, it was uh uh Ashley, Jason, uh Dave Meyer, Luke, and Jim Bar. That's one other. I'm trying I don't have that. And Bill. So then I guess I would ask the most important guy. Who do you want to uh lead that group? Well, I can have you if you don't mind just lead lead that group and then Bobby will set up the times for you to meet once we get Jim on board as well. Yeah, she did. Uh Angie did an excellent job. She did.

Um secondly is a qualified minor subdivision on your agenda. Uh this is uh Jim Matthysse, Nate, and Amy Arts uh at rest the corner of County Road 139 and 260th Street here in Rockville. Request is for a qualified minor subdivision to subdivide 19.82 acres from 75.12 acres. Um this property is a 40. Uh if approved, the property uh will be reszoned with the approval of you folks tonight. Purpose of the application is subdivide for building purposes. Again, uh 19.82 acres. Uh Nate and Amy have signed purchase agreement with the Matises contingent upon approval of the commission and the city council. Tonight, uh property currently has multiple field field approaches. Uh the QMS did not require a public hearing but does require a commission and approval of the city council. So the commission is recommending approval of that subdivision. So I am looking for a motion to approve and we're approving it to a correct if I remember right Bill.

Yeah. Then we're going to talk about reszoning. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve to change it from an A40 to just an A. We got to approve the subdivision first subdivision. Sorry to minor qualified for minor subdivision. I'll second. Okay. Have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays?

Hearing none. Uh next now is the uh request is to reszone uh the 198 19.85 acres from the A42 egg as the parcel will no longer contain 40 acres and will no longer meet the A4 requirements. Uh property is currently a 40. Uh Nate and Amy Arts intend to build a home on the 19.8. Uh applications do require planning commission council approval for reszoning. Uh there are no city services such as water or sewer available at this time. Uh we did hold a public hearing. There were no days or positive comments during the public hearing. Uh the commission is recommending approval.

Okay. I'm looking for a motion to approve the the resoning. I'll make a I'll make a motion to reszone from egg 40 to egg. 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. We'll move on. I just want to thank uh the members who attended. It's great communication. Great to We should do that more often. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, Bill. That's good. Yeah, you had a light group that night as well. Uh, Parker, Ashley.

Um, so Parker met last night. Um, they I think the big exciting thing that they're looking at is updating the blue park in town. Um, so they're going to be meeting um with a couple more people and getting a little bit more details and then hopefully they'll be releasing to the to the public of the idea of what they're looking for. Um, and we had talked about reaching out to the sportsman's club to see if they would like to send a representative over to be part of the parks and wreck and we're still taking applications. So, Okay. Anything else? Any questions for Ashley at all? No.

Okay. Public works buried. Good evening. I'll do a quick update on the art of meeting. Uh it's the first on the agenda. So, we did a roll call. Um uh there's only three people absent. Uh Don, Mark, and Mike. Um uh we did approval of no additional items. Uh discussion uh the chair with position was open. Uh and Jim Mossman agreed to do one more year. Uh and the secondary position is filled by the city administrator writing down the minutes. Uh we talked about the 5-year reconstruction plan. Uh first we talked about the crack filling this year and the following years. Um and if there's any leftover to push on to the next year for crack filling roads on the uh in the budget or the reconstruction plan. Uh we also talked about the uh silicode budget numbers for this year and the following years. Uh and we were under budget this year which is always nice. Um, we also talked about graveling, um, which, uh, we made a motion to go out for graveling bids, uh, to come back to the art tub, uh, because we decided to go per, uh, per bid per road on the graveling uh, so that way they can discuss if we need to cut a road or which road if need be uh, to make it in our budget for this year. Uh we also talked about the street improvement bond and the filtration and infiltration on Lake Road project. Also, it's kind of more of an updating. Uh we talked about the drainage issue on County Road 88. Um and that uh the culvert itself on the homeowners is not the responsibility of

the uh city, but the right of way and the ditch cleanup is the city's rightway. We end up uh I looked into that a little more and it is within the right of way and the slope of ditch. Um so we're looking at cleaning it up and then letting the homeowner know that he has to clean up the culvert and keep an eye on the ditch. That's kind of what we're looking at to bring forward to the council as an action item later on the list this year. Um let's see uh there was update which Cody just brought about the Agot Beach culvert and uh a lot of the members were upset that it's been 3 years now that the agot beach has been left the way it is. So they're looking at hopefully pushing forward to at least go back to the DNR like we saying to get uh at least something done with the road before it's totally collapses type of thing. So, uh, we also discussed, uh, striping of the roads. Uh, Chairman Mossman discussed that he was looking into, uh, a couple of bids for that. We're going to bring them back to the, uh, next month's meeting. Um, I also reached out to a striping company. I did get a quote back, uh, uh, just before the council meeting here. Um, and it's was $1,200 to do a mobile and then it's 12 to 15 cents a foot, which according to my calculations is going to be about $35 to 43,000. Um, but we'll bring it to Artub looking at which roads they want to do and whatnot. But it's just a shouldering or striping of fog lines, just the outside lines, not the center line. Um, and that was about it for the art tub. Thank you, Barry.

Um, and then we got resolution 2026-15 accepting of the uh road rating bids. Uh, we got two bids to come back. We had one from uh Joe Hendricks that's out of uh Kimble. His bid was $175 an hour. And then we had one from Brian Herberg for Herbert Construction. His bid was $100 an hour. Can you explain the difference just looking at this what the per mile charge means and the fuel search charge pending how I just want to know apples to apples how these compare? Why there's different information in each.

So our gradient bid went out. We went per hour versus per mile and we're supposed to get two bids. Uh the per hour is uh once they start grading it's or had to drive that's per hour. Uh per mile would be okay 230th is you know just over a mile or just under a mile. So they would only get paid for just doing the one mile of road and then they would be eating the cost on the drive time. That's why it might be a little more expensive for the Berlin whale. So, just to clarify, Barry, we asked we asked in the advertisement for them to bid both ways. Yes.

And um Herbert Construction did bid both ways and Joe Hendricks did not. So, we don't have a second from Joe. Thank you. And that bid has always been hourly prior to this, correct? Yes.

Okay. What are the wishes of the council for the grading for this year? Personally, I think the the reclaim should be done annually just from a snow plow problem, right? And the and the gravel and stuff being pushed out. So, that's just something that I think we should do annually anyway. So,

yeah, we do, like I said, the city does have a reclaimer. Then, usually we have to sub sublet a tractor out because our tractor isn't big enough to pull the reclaimer. So that'll be fixed if you get a new tractor. Is that correct? Bigger tractor. Yes.

So with a bigger tractor, would the city ever be able to do some of this grading as well? No, it's a little underside. Uh should be able to get a snowblower hook hook up to it, though. So we could blow up human lane with a snowblower. It'd be a rear facing snowblower, but it would be backwards. So Barry, was there any any explanation in this fuel search charge? The fuel charge. So that's cuz like right now we're obviously we're at over $5 a gallon for diesel fuel, but is it is it a difference between 350 and what the current price is or?

Yeah. So anything above 350 would be would be that many gallons would it would be put into the the billing. So So if it's if it's at 350 and it's five now it'd be $2 a gallon roughly. So then you'd have to figure out the gallons and that would be one point of difference, right? So, did Joe's bid Hris did he have any fuel charges at all? So, Herbert's bid is is $100 an hour plus fuel. Mhm. His bid is $175 an hour including fuel.

So, that and I'm not a great at knowing how much diesel fuel you use in every hour, but what is Do you have any idea what that would what that difference would be? I mean, we're not because we're not exactly apples to apples here if it's Yeah. So, I'm sure you'll burn through like one full tank of fuel grading more than likely. Um, in an hour. No, not in an hour. In a day. So, 8 hours. In a days. In a day's work. Yeah. So, how many hours would that be then? Eight. Yeah. Be eight hours. uh times I'm not not exactly sure how big a 50 gallon tank a 20 gallon tank I'm not sure

the machine burns about five gallons an hour and so if you get if you're at five it fuel it's five bucks a gallon and which it's not right now I mean off-road fuel is like 475 480 so base price was 350 so you're looking at a$110 a gallon on five gallons an hour sold So, I'm struggling with this for $5 an hour for fuel extra. If the fuel price stays up there, if it gets back down to the 350, it goes away.

I'm struggling with this for a number of different reasons. The first reason um is that Herburg's bid is open-ended. So, fuel fuel charge may apply if it's over. what are we going to get charged over that? I feel like we asked for an hourly rate and we didn't we didn't get that from Herburg either. So, that's reason number one. Reason number two, Herburgg has been doing this for quite a while and he knows where these bids are going to come in and everyone in the area also knows that it's most likely going to get awarded. That's why you're not getting bids from people in my personal opinion. Number three, I am not okay awarding a contract with someone who hasn't paid their taxes. I don't mean to be the bad guy, but I've had numerous complaints and I just I I can't I can't give city money to someone who's not contributing at this point. So, does somebody want to make a motion on the grading bid either way? So, I was about to suggest to go back to a more of a per hour bid from Herburgg and include the inata inata fuel and have your bid, you know. So, if I did the math, your your even at a $5 a gallon gas, your your hourly rate should be around $130 at five gallons of at five gallons of fuel per hour. Um,

it'd be $5 an hour more. Well, well, okay, but no, your your original bid is is $100 an hour plus 350 a gallon, right? Or no, and that's at 350. That's at 350. So, then it would be a dollar. Okay. So, like $5 an hour. Okay. Only when the fuel is high. When it comes back down and goes away,

go ahead.

It's really hard to have um Herbert Construction rebid considering he's now see Joe's bid. So, I mean, that's the other part of it. he's already seen it. Um, so I mean it's really hard for him to rebid unless you go out and get rebids on it all. I mean that at that point then the other three that didn't give you a quote or give you a bid could come back and come back better for us. You know, I mean it's I mean I see where a lot of this is coming from. I mean, the other thing is I've had people ask me in the past, and I'm just repeating what people ask me is how many times Herbert Construction see the bids before he actually put his own in. Um, I hope that's not happening, but um or he hears about what they are. I have heard that from numerous people wanting to know is that happening. And I said, I can't answer that because I'm not there. So, um,

I'll make a motion we accept Joe's. I'll second. Any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? We move forward. I abstain. Thank you, Ron. Okay. Barry, you want to talk about the tractor?

Yep. Uh, so we're going uh we're bringing up looking at a tractor and a disore. um in our council packet here, I went out and I got uh four bids on tractors. Uh uh in the fall, we had looked at purchasing a tractor in Dismo and we decided to push it off to spring. Um so we're looking at a John Deere tractor. Um it is uh just a tractor is 87,684.54. Uh this more behind it is 20,488. Now the trade in value of our existing tractor is 11,5775 through John Deere which would be a grand total of 95,000 9 $99.79. Um we also looked at the farmall 75C uh through uh Arnold's down in Kimble which is 62,250. Uh they have a dis mower at 16,000. Uh the trade in value on the tractor is 11,000 uh for 72,293.75. Uh we also got a K Cabota uh through Arnold's as well uh at $63,750 for just a tractor. uh 16,000 for the St. dismiller. Uh and then 11,000 for the trade in also at $68,750. Uh and then there was a TYM tractor from Red River Power uh at $59,299 for the tractor. at Embraci Dismoower at 13,855 with a trade in value on our tractor at $77,000 for a grand total of 64,954.

Um, the only thing is the TYM doesn't have turf tires, so we would have to uh look at buying turf tires and putting them on. So, and just in fairness to to the biders, the the Arnold's bid on the tractor has t $5,000 of the tax. So, that number is actually 67 250, not not 72293. Oh, sorry. Just want to make sure we're

Yeah, you corrected on the second one. The first one you forgot. Got it. So Barry, you stated on the TYM you would have to buy new tires if we're going to use that in the parks. Is that right? Yep. For the turf tires, which would be estimated at just over 2,000 if I remember correctly. So that put about 66,000. Um I don't What did we have for a budget for this? I don't remember. I'm sorry.

So for the uh I had in there is a 100,000 budget for the year um through the finance committee. So that's part of the our capital improvement plan that we went through for all the equipment and machinery. So that's part of that revolving stuff. So So this year I have 100,000 in the budget for it. Which which one are you leaning towards, the John Deere or the K Cabota? I'm sorry. I I would say probably one of the two lower bids would probably be the K Cabota or the TYM. So, I leave it up to the council to pick which one you want. I would like to point out I did do some checking the K Cabota and the Case IH1 are 75 horse. The John Deere one is a 95 horse. So they're completely different.

Different critters. Yeah. So it's going to make a completely different price. So do you want to redo you want to rebid that John Deere before you make I think you should to make it comparable. Comparable. The other thing isn't the one from River Power. Um, that's a 9 in mower and the other one's smaller. Or did I misread that? Those are 10 10 foot mowers. So they're bigger. They're Yeah, it's that's nine cuts like nine and a half. So why are we getting such differences in bids? They send them all the same info. So it's

I think that I think what Brian is saying in this John Deere is oh next level up. That's why that is so dramatically different. And theoretically, the bigger one would be better. So, I think you should rebid the other ones would be my opinion to the higher horsepower. Mhm. It's going to work better for the reclaimer. It's going to work better if you're going to put a snowblower on it. It's It's just all around. If you're going to use it for a loader, it's heavier. It's just It's a better deal.

But we still use this tractor in the parks, and that's where I want to get away from that heavier tractor in the parks. Okay. So that's why we're trying to keep it a compact tractor. Trying to find a medium set because even on the 95s, if you look at it, it says compact tractor on it. So would it would it hold you up would it hold you up, Barry, from doing the work if we held off one month until we get corrected that John Deere bid to be comparable or the other ones up to the same horsepower?

No, like I said, our first well for the dis until we usually do our first cut in June. So, we still got a few months. Uh, parks, like I said, open in May. So, you're still looking at probably around May to start cutting. I mean, we can still use the old old one for now. So, it's if you want to push it off a month, I guess we can. I don't know that we need to, but it would be nice to have a comparable on the John Deere, I guess. But if and if I'm hearing you, you would prefer a 75 horse tractor over a 90 horse. So then would you want to ask John Deere for a bid on a 75 horse? And I can I

because they do have a 5075 versus a 5095. So they do have a model comparable. But if you got the bid in a a week, this could be done a council vote via email to get the process started and then just do a verbal on in May. Correct. We could do that. I'm good with that. I don't I don't want to hold them up, but I want to make sure we're looking apples to apples again or as close to

I mean, unless you're unless you really think you're going to would rather have either the Capabotto or the TYM. It looks like that would be our choices. No, it it doesn't matter. It's we're looking at height and like I said, width and the size of the tractor. So, have you had good luck with the TYM you have now? Uh, it's pretty good luck. So, it does drive fairly good and it does handle good also. Just have a few leaks here and there, but it's just hydraulic stuff. So, what are the wishes of council? You want to rebid the John Deere so apples to apples or do you want to make a decision? I would have it rebid. Yeah, I would agree.

Just send just do it as an email, Bobby. It'll be easier and then we can keep keep him going. Keep Barry going. So, do you want us to We're just going to table that approval for now. Okay. Yeah. So, could I Mr. Mayor, could I just get a motion statement and table it? Yeah. I'll make a motion to table it until we get one more bid or the an equal bid on the John Deere. So, fairness, I'll second that. Motion a second. Uh any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I.

I. Any nays? Okay. Next item there. Barry, are you going to talk about that too? The POS or who's going to talk about that?

I think that's Bobby. Yeah. Yeah. So last month uh we brought it to council's attention that there uh you're aware that we welt who has been found to have PAS in it and then um the public works was at a water convention and they spoke with attorneys there who um are actively going after settlement money to help cities offset the costs that are incurred whether it be drilling new wells or whatever needs to be done. Um, so then at the last council meeting, council directed me to reach out to our attorney to reach out to that attorney, kind of go through the chain of command there. And so we did that and Joseph came back with a retainer agreement, um, which is in the packet. Um, so basically it just kind of runs through if if this were have to go to arbitration. Um, he said historically in cases like this, it very rarely goes to arbitration. usually that they put forward a class action lawsuit. If it gets, you know, gets approval, then the city would get funds back to us. But we do have to have a routine in that in case there was a need for arbitration.

And this is just a money's already there. It's just we're just going to apply for it. We're going to apply for it and see if we get awarded. Yeah, I'm I'm good with the retainer. I'm good for it, too. So, I need a motion to approve the retainer agreement. I'll make a motion to uh for the retainer of the agreement um for the PF FAS settlement. I'll second. So, a motion, a second for the retainer. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I.

Any naysay? Hearing none, we'll move on to number five, part-time help. So, hi. We're we're looking at getting a part-time seasonal mower, uh, if the council wishes it. Um, most other cities do do a part-time seasonal. Um, it would help free up our parks guy to help do on the some of the bigger projects this year. Um, if you want to do a trial this year and see how it goes, I'll be for that and then we could look at it. But it is up to you guys. It will save uh a lot of time and help with the bigger projects. Like I said, for shouldering, tree work, uh we're redoing some of the ball fields. It would be nice to have a guy running 32 hours just mowing because it takes us 4 days uh to mow our parks with one person.

And we and we did budget for that for Yes. And we did budget for that. Bobby, we already have that set up in in the whatever the employee policies as far as um like if we have a part-time person as far as starting wages and and things like that. The city has hired seasonal help in the past, so that's all that ground work is there. Yeah, I would be in favor of this. Dan has a lot of stuff he wants to do and he didn't have time to do most of it last summer. So, I would really really like to see him be able to focus on getting some of our parks updated and taken care of. I agree. Way better allocated if we can. Yeah. Yeah. Else motion. So, you're making a motion there, Ashley?

Yep. I'll make a motion to hire part-time help. I'll second it. Motion and second. Any further discussion? Just one is Bobby, you can reach out to um I can't think of her name now. exhausted about getting summer help for kids that need help. I will absolutely send an email tomorrow to Janelle Kendall's office to let them know that we do have opportunities available. Okay. Thank you. Do we need to put dates in that motion or cut off time for this part-time person? Well, if you want to include in the motion that they're being brought on for seasonal mowing, would that be? Yeah. Okay. Okay. We'll add seasonal mowing to the motion. Second, Jason.

Yep. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Hearing none. All right. Uh, resolution 2026-16, the display of the old state flag on the city property. Brian, you brought this up.

Yeah. So, last month I brought it up. Um there's gaining a lot of momentum across the state of Minnesota to bring back the old state flag. Um it was really talked about at the Republican convention. Um and I just watching how the swell is growing in the different cities that are adapting this. I I think we should go back to flying what their original flag was. And this is what the res resolution is about. I'll make a motion to pass it and I'll second that. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. Can I get the resolution number in that motion?

Yes. The resol I the motion is to approve resolution 2026-16 to display the old state flag on all city property.

Anybody second? I do. Is is there an effective date on that? Like do we have a goal date as far as when we want everything switched? Can start tomorrow, can't we? We have five flags on hand and it will be put out tomorrow immediately. Okay. Motion and a second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor by saying I.

I. Any nays moving forward. Um, let's let's get B and go to the other two first here. So, the Merrill for Rockville. I think I I'm okay with this going forward on it as long as we know we're getting the grant and that if we don't get the grant, we're not stuck into the design. So, I'd rather know that we have the grant first before we pay her, you know, $750 to $900 for something that we're not going to be able to use if we don't get the grant.

Correct. And you can make that, whoever makes the motion, that can be part of the motion. I'll reach out to her right away tomorrow. That clarification, if she comes through and says, you know, if we don't get the grant, $0, then I can move forward. If she comes back and says, then I'll send an email to council and you guys can decide what. Just a question though. Does that um design have to be part of the grant application? Um I guess I'm not 100% sure on I'm just kind of curious because I would think the people looking at the grant are going to see what they're granting. Yeah, I would agree. So I'm wondering if we'd be out that regardless, I guess is what I'm looking at.

When did she have to have the grant applied for? So I believe uh that it opens up August 1st. So we have time. We have time. Yeah. I would I would I would make the motion to table it and reach out about the questions and then we can make a decision. Yeah. Well, yeah. Otherwise, you were I mean I think you were saying like if it is like we would not be on the hook for the $700, $900 design fee, we could move forward. Correct. If we're not on the hook yet, we'll move forward. But if we are on the hook for that, you know, and we don't get the grant, we're out that 750 to 900 for something.

And I'm sure she did a beautiful job designing, but it's just, you know, where are we going to use it if we don't have the money? Because I I don't know how many residents would be happy we spent $9,000 on a mural if we didn't have something to back it. For sure. Yeah. you know. So, we have a motion to table that until next council meeting so we have some more answers on it. I just need a second on that. Y I'll second it. Motion on a second. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Any nays? Okay. And then the policy change. Ashley. Um I tried to find it while we were sitting up here and I can't. So, we might have to add it to next unless you have it

or someone has it. Looking for it as well. Um, we could table it until next month and get it in the agenda. Mhm. Okay. You want to make a motion to table it? I'll make a motion to table and I'll second it for you. Okay. That will be on the agenda for me. Thank you. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. I.

Any naysay? All right. Uh, the next item is the approval of a new three-year contract for the city administrator. Uh, I looked through the contract. I'll be honest, this is a this was kind of a shock to me because I didn't know this was existed. Um, so I I have some reservations about a contract, but I I'll make the I'll ask the council for their wishes. I think if we're looking at a contract, I don't I reached out to some past council members and they didn't necessarily remember a contract either. So, I would really like it to be reviewed through the attorney if that's what we're going to do moving forward because I have I have quite a few questions about it as well that no one has been able to answer. The city has actually been in a contract with the administrator since the merger back in 2003 when Reena started. There's been a contract in in place for every year of service. That's just been standard procedure. Right, wrong. So,

but then sorry everybody once um I was just going to say without a contract then we're just you just you're an employee, right? It would be a like any other that we have in the city. So yeah, I guess I would be confused too as far as to why contract necessarily is needed. I think it's to protect the city. I think it from what I've from what I've gathered asking around it's it's very common for them to be the city to be in contract with um an administrator. But I I don't have much knowledge past that. So, I would like some time to Yeah, I guess I would like that as far as to what the city's benefit is, correct?

To be contract. I mean, I guess it's I guess it's a two-way sword because it protects us from all of a sudden being shorted administrator and not the contract helps not being able to the city as far as be no time and a half because they're in a contract. there's they're specific their their base pay is based off the 40hour and they're expected to whatever there's some parameters I mean that's just salary right but but that puts you into that so if she goes as just an employee then she'd be eligible for um time and a half not salary I'm not eligible for time and a half yeah I'm not eligible for time and a half for salary

I I would like some more time to ask some questions Because when we when we went through Bobby's review, etc., we we asked for some guidelines for information and no nowhere did anyone forthcom. So I was also a little shocked, a little irritated. Um, so I'd like some more some more time because we've only had this information for about a week. So I don't know if we can I don't want to prolong it very long. I don't know if we can schedule a a follow-up meeting in a couple weeks, but that would be my recommendation. So, is your wish to reach out to the attorney to ask those questions? Is that your wish?

I would like the attorney to be a part of it. Yeah. So,