City Council - Regular Meeting

this evening. Maybe it's because everybody wants to get back to see uh Chris Tungath on American Idol. So, um with that, uh city council obviously meeting February the 2nd. It's 5:30 and we're grateful to see uh Pastor Doug Dent here for the invocation. We'll follow that by the pledge of allegiance.

Thank you. Please join me in a prayer for our community and for our state. Faithful God, we ask that you bring peace to our communities, still the hearts of those in conflict, calm the unrest in our streets, guide us away from violence and toward reconciliation. Healing God, we ask that you reveal the truth and bring justice. Heal the deep wounds of division and oppression. Empower our communities to build bridges and restore trust. Sovereign God, grant to those who govern wisdom, courage, and compassion to make decisions that serve the common good. Help them to listen, to understand, and to lead with integrity. Reconciling God, we ask you to break down the walls of prejudice and fear, to help us see one another as neighbors, to walk in empathy, and to find common ground for a better future. Compassionate God, we ask you to protect the vulnerable, comfort those who are hurting, and strengthen those who serve. Keep our community safe, and open our hearts to one another. All this we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. I aliance 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.

I call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here we have a quorum. Uh the first item on the agenda is open forum. It's a time to address items of city business that are not on tonight's agenda. If anybody cares to step forward, please state your name and the city in which you live.

Good evening, mayor, council members. My name is Ron Spangler, Jr. My wife is also here with me this evening. Um, we reside in Fergus Falls. I'm here tonight on behalf of my family to express my sincere gratitude following a fire at my parents home just over a week ago. Um, because my parents were traveling out of the country, they were not able to be here to protect their home, but this community was. First, I'd like to thank our neighbor whose quick thinking and 911 call saved that house from being a total loss. I think if it had been later in the evening or in the overnight hours, things would have been drastically different. To the Fergus Falls Police Department and Fire Department, your response was absolutely fantastic. Your teams didn't just respond to the call. You treated my parents' home with the same care that you would have had it been your own. fire department not only contained the fire quickly but showed genuine compassion for my wife and I when we arrived at scene and throughout the evening. Later that evening, the fire crews were being released. Few of the firefighters who had been there for several hours already stayed longer to help a friend of mine and I put some sheeting on the roof. Staying longer to secure the roof shows exactly the kind of people that are here to serve this community. and we just can't thank you enough for just sticking it out with us to help make sure that house was protected. My parents haven't yet seen the damage, but they know from conversations with me how bad this could have been, how much worse it could have been. We're very fortunate to live in a community where neighbors come out and take care of one another, and our first responders are so dedicated. So on behalf of the Spangler family, thank you to every one of the first responders for all you do to keep us safe and protect us every day.

Thank you. Thank you, Ron. [applause] [applause] [applause] Anybody [snorts] else wish to try and top that? [laughter]

If if not, uh, thank you, Ron. And I think you you're right. I've had the opportunity to use both of them in a in a situation like that. And and as you say, they're dedicated and they do it with compassion and they do it without without asking. So right then the next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. Any new items must be stated and approved by unanimous consent. Would somebody care to make the the motion or motion the resol motion for the agenda? Thank you Al. Would somebody care to second it? I can. Thank you Laurel. All those in favor say I. I.

Always again same sign. Hearing none. The agenda is approved. There are no public hearings this evening. There are no awards to a bid. No bids to award. Um the next item is under petitions and communications. We have a resolution acknowledging the retirement and 37 years of service from Mark Toso. And whereas Mark has submitted his intent to retire effective January 31st. And whereas Mark was hired on July 11th, 1989 as a light equipment operator working in the refuge recycling department. He has held that position throughout his career with the city of Fergus Falls. And whereas he was hired in in the infancy of our recycling programs and was instrumental in establishing our commercial and residential routes. Mark's service with the city was marked with his steady, reliable commitment to his position, his duties, and his suggestions to complete tasks safer. And whereas Mark's dedication and flexibility over the years has always been appreciated. If if a mechanical issue with a refuge truck arose, he was willing to alter his schedule, even if it required him working overnight, so the regular refuge service could go uninterrupted. His service and pleasant personality will be missed. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to accept the resignation of Martoso, and thank him for 37 years of dedicated service as an employee of the city of Fergus Falls. The above and forementioned resolution was offered at a regular meeting of the city council held on February 2nd, 2026 by council member.

I'll offer that Jim Fish who moved its adoption was seconded by council member. Second. Is it Scottwami [snorts] and adopted by the following vote? All those in favor say I. Call. Yes. [snorts] Yes. Fish. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. [clears throat]

The retirement resolution is approved. And I think I think Guy Taylor wishes to say a couple of words. Thank you, your honor. Come on up, Mark. [laughter] So, yeah, it's my privilege to uh be here and stand with Mark and thank him for his 37 actually 40ome years of service counting some part-time work that he did in the park. Um, but number one on the overall senior seniority list of the city. So, um, you were working here before now some of your co-workers were even born. Yep. So, [laughter] so um one thing that marked uh Mark's career was, uh January 2005, we had a loss of water in the city. I mean, we we lost all our water. And uh it was an all department effort to try and find where this water had been lost. And it was Mark's Keenai who spotted this water that shouldn't have been in a low spot in a new development. spotted it and came to a resolution of restoring water to the city. So, um, just an example of his attention to detail and doing his work, uh, doing it well for 37 years. So, thank you, Mark.

Thank you. [applause]

I just want to say thanks for the city. Uh, it's been awesome working with you guys for the last 40 years. But moreover, I want to thank the residents and the businesses in Fergus. They're the ones that were always paying our wages. Uh it's been a pleasure working for all you. And I hope in some capacity you guys feel that you got a little bit of work out of your money that you invested. So, at least in the recycling department. [laughter] And other than that, it's uh thank you for the 40 years. and Elvis is leaving the building. [laughter] Thank you. [applause]

The the next item on the agenda is um Police Department Life-Saving awards and I will call upon Police Chief Justin Paul to lead the conversation. Good evening, mayor and council members. One of the most one of the reasons that I believe law enforcement is truly one of the most rewarding and noble careers is due to the fact that on any given day, you can be thrust into a situation where you put your training, tools, and tactics all together in order to save a life. You never know when it might happen, but you can only be prepared to react when it happens. Tonight, it is my absolute pleasure to honor and commend three members of the Fergus Falls Police Department who, when duty called, were prepared to do what needed to be done. This action without hesitation saved two lives. First, I would like to call up Officer Andrew Rener. So, on December 2nd, 2025, at 8:12 in the morning, officer Andrew Rener was actively searching for an individual who was reported to have left home, likely not dressed for the for the frigid weather conditions. While searching near Veterans Bridge on South Tower Road, Officer Rener noticed what looked like a jacket on the ice with marks in the snow leading to the shore. He quickly walked the riverbank and found the individual who had an altered level of consciousness and was unable to move. Upon finding the individual, Officer Rener recognized the seriousness of this emergency and immediately provided life-saving assistance, including calling for EMS, fire department, and requesting air medical. His actions helped stabilize the individual and

prevented further injury while awaiting additional medical care. Officer Rener's ability to quickly assess the situation, remain calm, and take appropriate action directly contributed to saving a life. His conduct reflects great credit upon himself and the law enforcement profession and exemplifies the highest standards of service, dedication, and commitment to the safety and well-being of our community. Thank you, Officer Rener. [applause] So, I have a nice plaque for Officer Rener and then also a um a citation bar that he will be able to proudly wear on his uniform. There's that. Now, a little bit about Officer Rener. Um maybe some of you have heard some of the nicknames that have come about. Steady Eddie is one. Rancher is another one. Uh but but Andy was hired on July 23rd of 2007. So, he's closing in on that 20-year career mark here of service to the community of Fergus Falls. Now, throughout my career, I have seen many instances of officers that have become complacent after serving 10 to 15 years. They do not take their calls with the same level of thoroughess that they did when they were first hired. Some of those officers might just drive through a park or a parking lot looking for a missing person, but they never actually get out of their car and walk around. Despite the less than ideal outdoor temperature, Officer Rener got out of his squad to do a thorough search of the area, and that's what led him to see the jacket on the ice. Now, when I talked to Officer Rener late on that morning of December 2nd, I told him that I'm sure he did not come to work that day thinking that he would literally save another person's life. And once again, Mayor and Council, that is why law enforcement is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling

careers that there is. I have nominated Officer Rener for a statewide life-saving award through the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association. I should hear back by the end of February, but if selected, Officer Rener will be invited to receive his award on April 15th at the MCPA statewide banquet in St. Cloud. Now, when Officer Rener radioed for assistance, the calvary came and I know officers don't particularly like being in the spotlight, but I'll ask those that are here tonight to stand and be recognized. Officer Josh Mogard, Officer Dustin Kitsman, Detective Matt Estep, Sergeant Abram Silveragle, and Lieutenant Connor West. Also, we had the fire department that assisted, and Ring Dolls played a vital role. But thank you for the assistance that you provided. [applause] Now, our second life-saving award award and event just occurred two days after this. And I would like to call up Sergeant Lucas Delaney and K9 Officer Joe Matson. On December 4th, 2025, Sergeant Lucas Delaney and K9 Officer Joe Matson responded to an EMS call for an unresponsive individual in a vehicle in the Lake Region Healthcare walk-in clinic parking lot. Now, upon their arrival, CPR was already in progress, and I'll talk about that in a minute, but CPR was continued and an AED was attached. One shock was delivered ahead of the arrival of an ambulance with another delivered within one minute after their arrival. The actions of CPR and AED use by Sergeant Delaney and Officer Matson contributed to saving a

life. Their conduct reflects great credit upon themselves and the law enforcement profession and exemplifies the highest standards of service, dedication, and commitment to the safety and well-being of our community. Thank you, Sergeant Delaney and Officer Matson. [applause]

Give your dad a pen. You want to give this to your dad? So now once again the citation bars that you can proudly display and reflex. And I will say uh so for Sergeant Delaney, we had a an inservice uh departmentwide meeting and I congratulated him on what I thought was his first life-saving award. He very humbly held up a three to give me [laughter] a clue. So So his he'll be replacing his two with a with a pin that has a three on it. So thank you again both. [applause] Now, while we are trained and prepared to answer the calls for service that our radio puts out, it is completely different for a private citizen who chooses to act on their own behalf. At this time, I would like to ask Katie Peterson to come forward.

Is Katie here?

So, Katie, this is just a temporary certificate. You will you will get a you'll get a plaque similar to what the officers got. But I'll just read a little bit about this. Yes, if you if you're good with it. A chief [laughter] certificate of appreciation is designed to recognize a member of the public whose actions contribute to public safety in the city of Fergus Falls. Thank you, Katie, for stepping in and performing lifesaving CPR and acting without hesitation. I along with your community appreciate you FOR DOING THIS. [applause]

I WOULD LIKE TO PUBLICLY THANK THE Helmsley Charitable Trust that provided a grant for AEDs and all of our patrol squads. The purpose of this grant was to equip first responders with AEDs to improve the survival rate of cardiac arrests in rural America. These AEDs along with proper CPR greatly increase the survivability odds for an individual suffering from cardiac arrest. And lastly, the best equipment is useless without proper training. I would like to thank those that helped put us in the best position possible to perform. The part the fire department led by Chief Mukau and with the assistance of division chief Dan Lipson has spent hours teaching us and refreshing us on how to adequately perform CPR. that training absolutely played a part in these successful outcomes. So, thank you, Chief. [applause] And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any.

Anyone have any questions other than to thank both the officers and and as you say and the members of the public for stepping up? I mean, I think we've all done that CPR class in almost like hope that we never actually have to use it, but um the fact that somebody, you know, did is is a credit to, as you say, not only just to them, but to the community that we have people prepared to step up and do what's necessary when it's necessary. So, thank you. And and Justin, I would just like to to thank you for what the words that you say when you stand up there and talk about your offices and the community. You're very eloquent and and you you remind all of us of what it means to serve. So, thank you for what you're doing.

Thank you. I appreciate that very much. Thank you. The next item you go. [applause]

The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. And as it's rather long today, I'm not going to read read it all. Um but obviously it's uh generally the minutes of the meetings obviously the licenses there's quite a number of memorandums regarding sick and earns earned sick and safe time paid family medical leave time and updating policies regarding that there is a resolution accepting a $750 donation to the fire department from Lake Region um and which will go towards u um purchases and uh resolutions regarding the public improvement uh projects on Kavore, Cleveland, and Douglas. So, if somebody would care to make that resolution, I would be grateful.

I will offer that, your honor. Thank you, Jim. I'll second that. Thank you, Laura. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is uh ordinance and resolutions. The first one being resolution approving a space lease at 921 Western Avenue, Bigwood Event Center with the new owner of the Country Inn and Suites. And I will call upon Andrew Bren.

Yeah. Thank you, your honor. Members, good evening. Um, as I mentioned last Wednesday, there is a uh proposed buyer for the Bigwood Event Center or excuse me for the Country Suites attached to the Big Woody Event Center and uh they're set to close that transaction towards the end of this month here in February. Uh the request that was made by the prospective new owner was to either assume the existing agreement or put a new lease in place with identical terms. With the city attorney's help, we have the new lease prepared with identical terms to the existing lease uh to allow the hotel to keep their front desk and lobby space within the footprint of the city's uh event center. So, that uh agreement is before you this evening and um we could look for the council to approve that. We'll get back to the uh buyer and the agent and ensure that they're able to close their transaction here at the end of the month. Then would somebody care to make the resolution then second then we can discuss it?

Thank you Scott. Would somebody care to second it? I'll second your honor. Thank you Scott. So any discussion?

Thank you your honor. [snorts] Uh we have an opportunity to review this lease which I don't know when the last time it was reviewed. Um, currently based on uh the information I've gotten from the finance department that the city utilities were roughly 45,000. Uh, this facility holds 16% of that property. So, uh, they uh assist the city by reimbursement ofly roughly $7,200 in addition to that rent and they also take care of the lawn and the mowing. Um, I've investigated commercial leases in Fergus Falls. The most recent one came in at $19 a square foot, but range anywhere from 10 to 15. Uh, I propose that we study this a little bit further, analyze uh the actual cost of this facility. Uh, the holding cost, as we've described before, uh, some 85,000 bucks, uh, if it were to go black, so we're not including any uh, auxiliary expenses. Uh, with that being said, uh, that would be a $4.20 lease. Uh, I I just feel that the council and the committee the whole should review the lease in a little bit more detail. Uh, bring this a little bit uh, more towards a commercial lease. And, uh, one other thing I don't know is what the actual costs were be for the mowing and the snow removal. So, uh, I'm just thinking that the the current lease is is, uh, too inexpensive. It should be more like, um, 5 6 7 8 9 $10 based on per square foot, uh, in reflection of what the actual costs have been for the snow and mo mowing. [snorts]

Thank you, Mo. Any other comments? Laurel, do we have an estimate? I mean, if the city were doing the snow, have we ever looked at that guy or do we have any idea if we were doing the snow and the mo mowing what it would take? Okay.

I think it would be kind of a good idea to maybe have uh you know, if that was disclosed by the former owner what those fees were. Um I'm sure it would cost the city more than what uh they're paying a private company or whoever was doing that. Um so I don't think we can go with what the city would would charge on that. um you know, if we're keep going in the we're not even breaking even on that. And um I think I I looked at some of those numbers, too. And I'd like to see a little discussion on that also. I would have to agree with Mr. Leighton.

Any any other comments? If we wait for information, more information, if that's the the will of the body, what does that do to this agreement, the timeline for their closing on their sale, which I'm assuming has some contingencies, things like that. We don't want to kill a deal because we ask some questions, some more questions.

Yeah, thank you, your honor. Council member Kildy, um we we still have a council meeting between now and their closing date, but if we're going to look to alter the terms of this agreement substantially, um that would take place at that meeting and then we would not have another council meeting to approve it before closing. So, I think um it's a little bit complicated given the timeline. The timeline was not a creation of the city. So, um, you know, that's not something that should necessarily, uh, be the end- all beall, but the reality is it may delay the closing or it may complicate the deal a little bit. Um, one of the [clears throat] things that this agreement does have is is a very uh, loose out clause. It's a 60-day notice. Um, it's month-to-month status after the first year, but there is a 60-day notice requirement that can be called at any time. And then uh the reality is the city holds a lot of leverage in this particular instance because um if we were to exit the agreement and force the hotel to um vacate that space that's a very significant hardship for them. So, I would be more inclined, I mean, certainly the will of the council will prevail, but you know, I'd be more inclined to um stick to the agreement that we know, get the new owner in place, understand how the operation is, get to know more about that individual, uh knowing that we have the ability to make a change if necessary, and uh make sure that we aren't the ones that are going to get blamed for any delay in a sale.

Andrew, would could that be uh discussed during a committee as a whole meeting? It certainly could. And then we could we vot it on at the next council meeting then? Certainly could. Yep.

Um [clears throat and laughter] it's it's hard to I don't want to see the deal go bad either or go south or whatever you want to call it. I want to see this happen for these these people and continue with some good business. But there again too, I don't think um we should just let it go as it was prior to this because the the numbers, [snorts] they're not lying on that one. I mean, it's it's very definite that, you know, it's not a lot of extra money, but yet any little bit helps to offset our losses on the Bigwood. And you know, they've got a great opportunity to have more rooms rented out with that facility being there than if it wasn't there. And you know, they've got a great uh uh uh entry there and uh for their desk and it's it's a nice uh area and u I'd just like to if we could do that, I would really like to see that if if we may. Thank you,

your honor. [clears throat] Uh, one one other thing I want to mention too, and I mentioned this to to Mr. Leighton um within the last week, is if we get into a situation where we start charging a price for this space, right now there's no exchange of dollars, right? It's it's services in exchange for uh the space. If we get into a situation where we say we're not being compensated enough and we put a number on this, you could quickly find yourself in a situation where this facility becomes taxable. because then all of a sudden you have a a business for-profit operating, there's a business lease in place and and I don't think we want to find ourselves in that situation because that would be an unintended consequence that would greatly impact the city as well. So, I've been kind of trying to softly say, you know, we should we should probably do this with a lot of fanfare and then we can massage the thing as we get down the road a little bit here. Um, the percentage that we charge for utilities is maybe one of the levers we can we can look at. right now that's tied to the actual square footage knowing that you know the space that we heat in the event center has very tall ceilings and is probably you know one to one a bigger user. So trying to trying to find the levers without saying hey we need to collect $1,500 more a month or $1,000 a month and all of a sudden we're flirting with some dangerous territory where um that triggers the facility to become taxed which would then likely apply to the entire building. So, or the parcel I should say. So, um there is that to keep in mind too when we're trying to figure out what that right path forward is.

I uh just want to say thank you for the discussion on this because uh it's nice to have an open discussion of something that affects the uh taxpayer here in Fergus and uh everyone knows it. Thank you,

your honor. Thank you. Uh Mr. Bremth, we have had some great conversations on this and it's [clears throat] also my opinion that we have a new person coming in. I don't want to in essence lowball them and then in one month or six months or one year uh you know kind of put it to them. Uh we're looking at not necessarily making a profit on this based on the square foot. Uh the actual cost of that square foot is like $4.20 a square foot. I don't think that would become taxable, but clarification would be nice. um you know that let's say he's reimbursing us for the current owner of the motel is currently paying us 7,000 bucks a year which is a reimbursement of real estate uh utilities and let's say he's got another 3 4,000 bucks in mowing and snowing. So that's 10 grand. Um, that's pretty cheap rent. If we were to take this thing up to uh45, $6 a square foot, uh, we're talking 15, $16,000 bucks, um, for that facility, which is a very nice facility, uh, which is well under the local market. Um, I'm not so sure that that's abusive. Um, I would like to see this come back to the committee the whole and and uh be discussed further and then brought to the next council meeting. Your

honor, I just I agree with Andrew. Just let's uh get this deal done. We don't want to have a butt every time somebody wants to do something, but you know, I don't like this. It'll give us a year to work with it. We can work with the new owner, and I think it'll work out best for everybody. So, that's I'm going to vote yes.

Mike. Yeah, your honor, I I think one of the the worst things you can do to somebody that's putting millions of dollars into a business is come with something when they buy it and then a few months or a year later change that. I think we owe it to two people. One, the community to talk about this. This is a thing that's losing money. So, we need to talk about how we can uh change a little bit of that. And we also owe it to this owner, the guy that's buying this that, hey, he's looking at the council here, and we're trying to make a very fair trade with him and be very transparent upfront to do this. Now, the council has all the ability tonight to to vote to just go forward, which which they may do, but I think there's nothing wrong for this business owner and for the citizens of this community to at least discuss a process here that is beneficial to both. I really do. So, I'll be voting against the current lease and and trying to discuss this over the next committee, the whole get it into the next council meeting and uh get it on its way.

Can you remind me of the timeline again on the closing of this? Do we have another council meeting before this? [clears throat]

Your honor, Council Member Job, um I don't know the exact day. I was told the end of February. So, we would have the February 16th city council meeting, but we would have to have amendments to the agreement in place for the council to vote on at that meeting. Um, so if we could accomplish that during the a discussion at a committee of the whole and have those amendments made, certainly could do it. So basically on the 11th of February committee of the whole we would basically need somewhat of a draft of the agreement that's approved somewhat by both sides um or to bring back then to the 16th council meeting for kind of final final ratification and approval. So we could

technically work on this. Yep. And in between the committee of the whole and the council [snorts] meeting, would that have time for the new owner to review? That's tough. Theoretically, yes. Obviously be up to the owner as to how quickly he wish to move on it, but if he doesn't have it, he's not going to close, right? I'm assuming Scott,

given the numbers that have been given to us or spoken of uh from Mr. Leighton and others, it looks like we're talking about $6,000 on an annual basis. And I don't think holding up a million dollar, multi-million dollar deal for $6,000 is worth much more discussion at this point. And I would ask that we move ahead with the vote in favor of this and we'll have plenty of time to review this. There can be plenty of discussion at next committee the whole or any other committee of the whole. Again, the opt out is in there with the 60 days. It's only a one-year deal. And uh if if this conversation ends up blowing up the deal, we're going to look a whole lot more foolish than if we step back and and fiddle around with this thing. I say we go ahead with it and uh do it now.

Your honor, can I say one other thing?

I guess I'm looking at this from a couple of different perspectives. first would be it's my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong that they're working to reopen or the intent is to reopen that restaurant out there. Is that accurate that that's kind of out in the plans or the hopes? Your honor, council killed, they have inquired about what a liquor license process and cost would be and they've indicated that they would desire to have restaurant and bar um as part of the the transaction at some point. And to my in my mind, we're trying to market a Bigwood Event Center that one of the things that's holding us back is the lack of a restaurant on that property. And so if we get a restaurant back out there, I think the bottom line of the city is going to be impacted much greater than the $6,000. That being said, I have some concern about the tax situation. I don't want something similar to like what happened with Red Horse Ranch where that became taxable and all of that to impact their operation or our operation out there because that will cost the taxpayers way more money. So, if we're going to look at negotiating, do we look at something where we say, you know, we want this much inkind advertising, talking about our event center along with your country suites advertising to offset that dollar amount. So, maybe that's something we can talk about because we need marketing like we've been talking about for the Bigwood. And so, maybe we say something where we find some inind that can work.

Anybody else?

Yes. Go ahead, M. I just want to add, your honor, this is this is kind of what makes this council great. Uh is we we discussed this stuff. A lot of times this comes in front of a council in the past went right through and there wasn't any discussion. Uh council member Kildy just came up with an idea for some marketing. Somebody else comes up with an idea to assist this owner. But and MrWwami uh I would have to agree in a sense you don't want to see the deal fall through. But if I was standing here watching tonight and I knew the council was going to make a very reasonable deal with me within two weeks and I was able to look at that, that would be great. What I'd fear the most is if a council was going to make an unreasonable deal in 6 months or a year for me after I put it in there. So transparency, I think, is where we're at. But I I love the conversation. I love the discussion. That's what makes this council, I think, different. Uh it can be difficult, but it's for the good of the city when you do it. Thank you. With that, um, roll.

One final point. I can appreciate the council's position as to where they stand, but I've heard this many city people come forward and say it's just 25 bucks here, 25,000 here. Um, if that be the case, then maybe these council people should write the check, not the taxpayer. I think most of them do because they pay taxes. [laughter] So, with that, roll call. Yes. No. Fish, yes. Joel, no. Yes. No. No. No. The resolution fails.

With that, do we need to make a motion to bring it back to committee of the whole or how do we because we need to get this done. Yep. Somebody needs to make a resolution now to I'll make a resolution that we come back to committee of whole with some options looking at uh if this will impact taxability out there [snorts] from ARP. No, can't do that. I don't want to raise that question, your honor. Okay. So, can we just say looking at options for leasing different lease incentives or what what can we say? What are the terms? What are the terms you guys want? You'd like us to bring Yeah, you tell us the terms. I think your idea regarding in I can't hear you. Sorry. Oh, sorry. The um inind for marketing would be beneficial.

Okay. Okay, I'll make a resolution that we bring this back with some kind of inkind agreement for marketing of the event center attached to the hotel at the committee of the whole with the current. [clears throat] Yeah. Okay. Right. So, we have a we have a resolution on the table. Would somebody care to second it? I'll second. Thank you, Scott. Th this this does not though include looking at the dollar amount. No, it's just in kind above and beyond what we're doing now. I disagree. Thank you. So, roll call, please. Rachel, yes. Yes. Fish, yes. Joel, yes. Yes.

No. No. Yes. [snorts] The motion is a the resolution is approved. So, it'll come back at the committee of the whole on the 11th. The next item on the agenda is the res resolution approving the 2026 utility rate increases and amend the 2026 landfill fee schedule. And uh Bill, did you have a brief word to say about that?

Thank you, your honor. Council, I noticed you used the word brief, so um yeah, we went through this in detail last Wednesday, so I will not go through any of that again. Um the summary is in your packet for you of um you know based on a residential utility bill. Um and then the landfill schedule is in there. I'll just summarize briefly you know when you're looking down your regular utility bill. So the garbage service looking that going up 4%. And that would include the um the dumpster service as well because that's all part of residential commercial um because we have dumpster schedules for all those various sizes that we have to adjust as well. So we'll go the same route with that as we do with that normal garbage can. So that's 4%. The disposal of what's in there um 8% up that's tied to what the city pays to get rid of it. Our costs for that are going up 8%. The waste management tax is um just follows that. That's 9.75% of what's above. So as those go up, that tax obviously will go up a bit. Recycling going up 50 cents or 6.3%. So going from 8 to 850. Um sewer wa sewer and water charges going up 5% on those for this year. And storm water going up a dollar or that would be 10% because we're going from 10 to 11 on that. but a dollar for that flat charge per month. That comes out to um a monthly increase of $75. And I will say that's based on a utility bill where water usage would be about 6,000 gallons. That's maybe a little higher than the average customer here in Fergus Falls. But we use that because remember those rate um surveys I passed out? Those are all based on 6,000 gallons. So that's why we want to kind of do our comparisons that way. So based on that 6,000 gallons a month, the bill

going up about $75 or 5.5%. And then we had those various fees out at the landfill um you know for things like the tires um the garbage charges out there again if someone brings their normal kitchen waste out there. um raising that the tires, the bypass out to um Gwenner, North Dakota to the Dakota landfill and some of our hourly charge if our people have to kind of maybe sort through some loads, do some things like that. We are looking at these rate changes being effective here in February. If you approve this, we'll change the landfill right away, probably in the next couple days. Um the bills that go out the end of February for the usage would then be where they're adjusted except for sewer. That will get changed in April when we set those rates for the year. Uh that is based on the winter months of water usage. So we set those once a year. So we don't want to set them now and then change them again in April. So that's typically when we change that. So I'll stop there unless you have other questions.

If somebody would care to make that resolution, I'll make that. Thank you, Laurel. Somebody care to second it. Thank you, Al. Any questions? I think we discussed this at length on Wednesday. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is um a resolution approving the purchase of a streets sweeper. So I'll call upon Guy Taylor to kind of go through the memo which he updated with a variety of bits to it. Thank you, your honor. I'll just note here I've got uh Dan Gaines, our fleet coordinator, and he's got Mike Gunderson from ODRA Sales here with him as well. Um Dan does a lot of the research behind the scenes and brings recommendations forth that I bring to you. So um regarding the sweep street sweeper um just one change to the memo um that I presented on January 10th, the um warranty that we have available to purchase for $11,000. Um, just talking with Mike before the meeting, he he doesn't really feel that that's a need for a city to purchase, he said companywide for warranty claims, they had $16,000 last year. So um he said it was okay to share that information, but uh um so I don't know that a $11,000 warranty or extended warranty is in our best interest. Um so the the finance options are still uh the same. uh 5.05% interest. This is a lease to buy. Um [laughter] that's a 5-year term, six-year term at 5.3%, 7-year term at 5.5%. Um so those options are out there. Again, um ODRA, they don't make any money on a finance option. they they go through cap city

cap first

cap first and uh so um they won't make any more money on a a lease to buy option like that. Um from the January 10th meeting it was asked that I inquire on uh contract sweeping services. So, I did that. Um, contacted Pros Sweep out of West Fargo and um just basically what I have in the memo is their base price to sweep would be 49,000 almost $50,000. That's for [snorts] 260 hours of sweeping. That wouldn't include um any of our parking lots. It wouldn't include our seal coat projects. Um and it would [clears throat] not include our downtown retail area. Also, um, on top of that $49,000 base price, the city would then have to furnish trucks and labor to haul the sweeping the debris that swept up um to a disposal site. So, uh, the cost that I put at that conservatively was six employees, so six trucks hauling debris um roughly about $62,400. So, um, between the base price and the labor to haul the debris, um, in 2 and 1/2 years, we'll be paying out, um, the cost of the sweeper at 262,000. So, um, the resolution I'm looking for is surplus of unit 239 and then purchase of ODA sweeper.

Would somebody care to make that resolution? I'll offer that. Thank you, Jim. Second. Thank you, Scott. Any discussion? I go ahead with Mr. Mortensson. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. I appreciate it. Uh, did you say you were going to surplus the old unit? Uh, and do you have an idea of what it's worth? Uh, is it worth surplusing or is it better to have as a second unit standby type of thing here? It is probably not worth keeping as a standby unit just for the maintenance costs that we've had up to this point. We would prefer just to surplus it and send it down the road. Any idea on the price for that? Uh what you can get? Any idea?

No, we've seen some others that are for sale and have sold at auctions and they're garnering less than 10,000. Having worked with a sweeper, they're not the nicest machines. They're in a tough environment. Yeah. Yeah. They're they're they are a maintenance nightmare. Yeah. So, however, this odor unit, they do have a good history with their maintenance. As long as you keep up on the regular maintenance, the breakdowns, the major breakdowns are minimal. Any other questions? Your honor,

the history The history of this new one unit I talked about is it goes back quite a ways and it's a it's a good unit. I mean it's a the last unit we bought. We we had good reviews, but obviously that was wrong. But the [clears throat] salesman sitting here right now, I'm sure he's you want to have him talk and speak to that. No. I just I just know it's been a good unit. Yeah. Any other motions?

Yeah, your honor. Thank you. Uh first of all, I want to express my appreciation to Mr. Taylor administration for their cooperation on analyzing this. Uh we've made uh some headway and some savings uh for the city. Um five grand here, six grand there means something to me. Um for clarification, uh what was the rate for the 5-year lease? 5.05. 05%.

Right. Uh I did go to a public uh lender and uh they were at 4.95. So I think the extra paperwork would probably be difficult to compete with. Uh unless the dealers got a little better rate, that'd be nice. U it I found this process very rewarding. Uh we had the opportunity at the last meeting to bring this back to council fulfill the information that we all requested. Uh this is going to save us 15 grand uh over the life of this project. That's including the warranty. Uh I'm still proponent of the warrant uh warranty. Uh, I would just hope that uh I would just hope that this council would run a little bit better on fiscal responsibility. Uh, again, I appreciate Lynn's uh cooperation on this thing. We've had a lot of conversation. Uh, I'm going to continue to look at the fundamentals of this city's fund, uh, finances, uh, city revenues, expenses, capital investments, uh, planned and breakdown. Uh, with this lease, we got money in our pocket, so we're going to earn money on that money sitting there. So, the net lease is, uh, pretty favorable. Again, we're going to make, uh, we're going to save some money on this deal. So, uh, thank you, uh, Mr. Taylor administration and uh your your staff as well as the uh dealer.

Your honor, I think we need to clarify the resolution. Yeah, we don't have a motion or a resolution yet. We have a resolution on the table to purchase it, but we don't we're not the resolution doesn't say whether it's with with or without warranty or lease versus paying cash. Right. Was your motion to purchase outright? No, there hasn't been a motion made. So I guess but it was I made it. Yeah. For not keeping up on the notes. Yeah. Yeah. So as I understood it, it was that that's what I Right. Let me back up. As I understood it that the motion was cash without warranty. Okay. That's what I thought it was. That's what I understood it to be too. That's what I thought it was. Right. Yeah. Thank you. Just for clarity.

Really, you don't want to save the money. So the question is whether we're going to save money or not. And the reality is we've got the cash. It's something that we budgeted for. It's something that we've planned for. And we can go through the hoops of this for a small percentage savings to be able to say that we went through these hoops and had a small percentage of savings. I think that the process that the street department has done and the work that our staff has done to present this as a cash purchase and the planning and all of the work that went into it uh shows the value in the work and I suggest that we continue on that. Thank you, your honor.

The opportunity cost lost on this deal is 51,000 bucks. 51,563 money sitting in our account. I think you'd have to kind of clarify that. I'm not getting those. The 275 is going to sit there for five years and I'm assuming our current earnings is 375 on an installment, a lease. [clears throat] The cost of this financing is 36,700. We're saving $15,000 over the next five years. [sighs and gasps] How how can you vote against this? Where where's the 15,000 come if I don't get I don't know how we're getting these numbers.

All right, the lease is going to Maybe you need to put a memo together to go with it to Okay, what's more saving 51,000? But I think you've got to quantify where the 51,000 is coming.

51,000. You're going to take money out of your checking account in the amount of $275,000 and give it to the dealer. That money now is no longer earning you interest. The interest you earn on that is currently $3.75. [clears throat] Over the next 5 years, you're going to earn 51 grand on that. This lease is going to cost like a mortgage or car loan 36,000. to me 50 $51,000 in my pocket and I'm going to give you 36. I still have more money in my pocket.

This is a simple lease purchase agreement. We have liquidity in our checking account for emergencies. That's right. I think the point though is the we don't have a crystal ball and know what the interest rates are going to be. Although this last year we had some terrific returns and Bill would show that our returns on our investments were very good. Two years ago the numbers were not anything near that well. So I think that again we should go forward with the cash.

Mayor if I just may say one thing this is this is typical retirement financing is what Mr. Leighton is talking about. you know you're what you have invested you're getting something out of it and you can actually purchase things without depleting your principle to nothing. So therefore you get nothing in return. You know it really is very simple when you step back and look at those numbers. It's typical retirement financing that we're putting towards a street sweeper. My question is just how do we clarify how we purchase this with with bill? Because if if we if we put 275,000 into uh an account to grow interest, isn't that going to be cascading because we're going to have to make that payment yearly? So isn't you know so at the first year it'll be 275,000 but the second year it'll only be 225,000 that we're making interest out. Is that is that correct? Is that how the math figures out?

Then the year after not really because we we still have to make the payment. We still have to make the payment on the unit. Is correct? Yep. So but you've lost the 275. But I you haven't lost it. You have a piece of equipment in its place. You've you've used it and it's in the budget in the first place. I'm not I'm not questioning your math. I'm just trying to figure out in in the future how I do my job. If I'm going to do lease options, I want to know exactly how this fits out, how we pay it, so we can try to come up with those numbers as well.

You're going to have half them over the 15, five years, you're going to have half the money in your pocket all the time. How would you? I think uh we can argue lease all night. So, let's roll call, please. Rachel, yes. Yes. Fish, yes. Joel, yes. Yes. No. No. No. The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution accepting a proposal for tax increment financing analysis contingent upon the receipt of a tiff application and required fees. And I will call upon Tyra.

Thank you, mayor and council members. Um this is the culmination of a couple weeks of um seeking out some proposals for a tiff process. Uh best practices in um creating new tiff districts is to hire out a third party who comes in and uh does the uh but for analysis proforma work etc and also handles all of the um legal side of the tiff process. So we got responses from three different firms. We have David Dron and Associates, Ellers, and Northland Public Finance. Um, so they've each put forward a proposal. They are offering um different amounts that they do the work for, but essentially the work will be the same amongst all three. I don't necessarily have a preference between the three. We have not worked with um any of these in the last six years that I've been with the city, but I know Ellers um does most of the tiff work for the county. Um, as a reminder, the TIFF fees are not being paid directly by the city. We receive um an application fee and then keep uh an escrow amount in order to pay the TIFF process as it unfolds. So, any selection that you make tonight will be contingent upon receipt of that application fee, the application itself, and the escrow amount. Do you have any questions about the proposals that were received?

Somebody can make the resolution. I will thank you alone. I will make a resolution that we go with David Don and Associates after reviewing the applications. Would somebody care to second that? I'll second your honor. Thank you, Scott. Your honor, can I speak to that?

I [snorts] reviewed all three of the applications and not looking at the dollar amount. Um, I was really impressed with the David Donan Associates packet. I felt it was the most detailed. Um, it gave references that I thought were um, well well done and good relationships that were listed. City of Alec, Little Falls, City of Albany, City of Olivia, um, a managing director for an economic development services that's well known in the metro. Um, I was very, not nothing wrong with the others, but I was very impressed with the David Drone and Associates packet, and I'm wondering if you felt the same way.

Yeah, I did think that they did a good job. They were also I when I requested the proposals I did ask for a timeline what the turnaround time would be on on the creation of a new tiff district and they are actually the only ones who provided that information. So it it was a well done proposal. Any other questions with that? Sorry. Yeah. Do I dare ask what's the total cost? It's on the paper. That one's uh $7,000 plus mileage. Yeah.

Uh the question that I would expect would be where the district is proposed to be um where on the map are we talking? Sure. This is related to the um STR solutions expansion project. So um at present the port authority is negotiating a a purchase of port property. It's about 8 acres. Um the tiff district at this point in time would be uh considering that parcel and including the existing parcel but again to be clear we do not have an application in front of us to to know specifically for me.

Any other questions? Mrs. Beck just a question for you. I think we had uh it was correct 23,000 with the escrow and the application fee at our disposal to to do this TIFF uh project. If if it comes in at 10,000 8,000 because there's some other fees there that we really don't know what the cost will be. Is that money then refunded back to the applicant that extra amount or what happens? Yes, we do refund whatever is not used. So let's take the reverse of that. Let's just say that something occurs here. This is a big million dollar $10 million project and we get over 23,000. Does that come from the taxpayer or do we go back to the applicant to get that amount? We do go back to the applicant and ask for further payment

somewhere. Then one of the last things uh is, and you probably don't know this, but it's it's you maybe do. I don't want to say it's not because you're you're not in it, but is this type of a fee for the TIF program? Is this an allowable expense under the the TIFF program? So, they'll be able to shuffle that in and actually the the taxpayer or the TIFF project will pay for that. Um, yeah, that's a good question. I do think you can structure your tiff to uh pay some of that administrative stuff. We probably want to double check with bond council. I know city can pay administrative fees off of the tiff district once it's established. I don't want to say no, but

potentially what what I don't want to see for the taxpayers is everybody's listening tonight that uh the applicant's going to pay 23,000 to have this done. There's no cost to the city and then it comes back in as an expense back in the tiff that the city ends up actually paying for. And so that's the only question I have and it's just something to look at as we go down the road. So yeah, we can think through that. I think some of our other tip projects when I think of the expenses that we're documenting those have not been included. Not to say they couldn't but they haven't been in the past I believe. Okay. Appreciate it. We can seek clarification. Mike

I think it'd be good good for clarification. No other questions. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The resolution is approved. Thank you. Uh the next item on the agenda tonight is a presentation of claims in the amount of $646,535.73. If somebody would care to make that resolution for the resolution to pay the bills. Thank you, Jim. Somebody care to second it? I'll second.

Thank you, Scott. Any questions? If not, roll call please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The resolution is approved. The next item is um under old business unfinished business, a regional treatment center RTC phase 3 update. And I will call upon Clara or Kyle. Don't fight about it. Duke it out. Guy gets to be part of this, too. Oh, really? It's like, do you want Guy up there?

Just want to kind of get up there and build. Do you want the whole team?

Everybody. So, uh, this is coming back to after probably a few couple months of inactivity, but, um, we'd been waiting on some costs for an expense that popped up that we was not on our radar when we first started these discussions about the, um, the RTC and any remaining state dollars that may exist from a previous bonding package that was done in, I believe, 2018. Um we have clarified with uh the state that we do they are willing to work with us on continuing to access those funds. It's going to depend on the project that we that we ultimately move forward with and we'd want to make sure that we have all of those approvals in place before we expend any dollars. Um but there um based on on previous agreements with the state, we have about $390,000 remaining from a 2018 bonding bonding session to be used for um the envelope of the RTC uh protecting it uh enhancing it to make sure that it's potentially usable into the future. And so initially we had been going back to some work that Stantech had done in I think it was 2019,

correct? um and reviving a list of of work that could be done inside the building that could potentially open it back up for people to tour or look at. Um since that time, uh if you've been up to the RTC campus, you may have seen that there are some barricades that have been put up around the tower building. Are they still up there, those barricades? So, um, what had started to occur was the, uh, terracotta or clay tiles that are on the the main tower and then the two towers to the side. Some of them have started to slip. Uh, and so we sent up the drone from the police department to do just a check. You could be up here too, I guess. [laughter] Um, just to see what was going on a little bit. And uh what we discovered was that there's probably some work that could be done on the roof of the building which would uh be a good fit for that state money in that it would help secure the envelope against water seepage which is something that we do see inside and contributes to mold creation etc. So um this is some of the drone footage. You can see some of the places where uh it is likely that water could be getting in or where tiles have fallen from the roof. Um, so we got one quote just to see kind of what the cost estimate could be for work on the both the the middle tower and the two side towers. And um Kyle's got it in front of him more readily than I well no uh we we determined from that quote that it would be about $110,500 for just the main tower. So then take that probably times about three the other towers are smaller.

But do you want to add anything else to that?

Yep. So, so looking at those towers, we were uh estimating about $275,000 probably to re- roof those three towers. Now, um just to maybe go back and touch upon the cost estimates that we had looked at from Stantech before, which was all fixing up stuff inside of the building. uh essentially fixing up some doors uh in the building, putting a new door uh where the structure goes into the the larger piece of the structure to split it off. And then the two big costs of that estimate were the mold abatement in the building, which was about $275,000 for the mold abatement. And then the largest was to put a ventilation system within the building to keep it ventilated to keep the mold from growing which was about $450,000. So the total estimate back then was $844,000 of which those two items were huge. So when we started looking at these issues with the roof, there's water getting in on the roof and then there's also issues with the windows. We have had some windows boarded up uh on this building, but there are there is glass windows in some of them which have been busted out as of recently. So, we want to make sure that we get the building uh waterproofed prior than going in there and fixing up the inside uh while we're still getting water in there. So, um what we would like to do is move forward with fixing up uh the roof and what we would do is we would get those quotes internally. Uh we believe that that is an eligible cost and eligible way to procure uh the construction for that and then the

dollars that were left over look at what we can repair for windows uh within the building to get it uh waterproofed up. I think if we do that, that's going to take up a large share of that grant funds that we have. Unfortunately, we're not fixing up stuff within the building. Uh, but I think we need to take care of getting the building waterproof before we take care of those pieces on the inside. Thank you. Any questions? You want resolution or a question? Oh, no. No. I mean, there's no, we're not looking for a resolution. One question is, is it going to be similar tile? I mean, architecturally, are we looking at something similar?

Exact. So, it's on the National Register of Historic Buildings, and the contractor that did the nurses cottage, he actually found the contractor, the company that makes these tiles still in existence, still in business. Um, what I was mouthing to Clara was to mention the liability issue. These tiles are falling off the roof and, um, unless we can fence it, um, we still have people that love to walk around that building. And uh one of these tiles coming off onto a resident, somebody walking around there will do some damage.

Your honor, Mr. Taylor, are you saying that um due due to it being on the historic register, it has to have these exact replacement or can we switch these out to go to asphalt because I don't know. I'm just throwing out the Carnegie Library. I have imagined that that's on a historic register. They had these same tiles. They got rid of them. They went with asphalt. And I think that's where the cost savings would be. I know it's not exactly what's there, but uh is that something we know for sure today before we go ahead and spend that kind of money for those type of tiles? We would have to run that through Shipo. Am I speaking out of turn on that? Okay. No, I Okay, go ahead. I'll fill in when State Historic Preservation Office would dictate and on the nurses cottage they did say they had to match.

Okay.

Yeah. Just to expand on that, your honor, [clears throat] council member Mortonson, one of the things you have to do because it's on the register is consult with Shipo at 30 60 90% of plan sets. And um if you're going to do something that impacts the integrity or the character of the historic designation, which they would determine that would most likely, then you have to do uh mitigating strategies and you negotiate with them as to what those mitigating strategies are. And those will also likely cost money because we've played the game a few times. And um the mitigating strategies are it can be a range of things, but they're they're typically things that impact other parts of the property to ensure that those things remain in compliance with the with the integrity of the designation. [snorts] Yeah.

So, Scott, as far as next steps go, um are we at a point where we can uh make a motion to have the staff prepare uh detailed plans and specs for this or does it need to go to another committee meeting or or what's the next step in this process? What we were looking to come out of this meeting tonight, if it is your wish, is to authorize us to go and get those quotes. Uh so essentially putting together the the bid package uh for getting quotes for those. I'll offer that motion. I'll second that. Bill, do you have anything you No, they just said it. I wanted to make sure this over 175,000. Right.

Correct. And I think with the dollars that we have, we have to bid it as well. Your honor, and we have enough money in the savings yet. 390. Okay. I I didn't hear. I wasn't sure how much I heard. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

One one more question, your honor. Uh this would come to uh Mr. Bremath to to go to Shipo mitigate talk about this. Is there any cost to do that or look into that or is that uh no cost to the city to try to do that? The reason I'm bringing this up is we have $390,000 here. We're going to replace some of the most beautiful ceiling you have here, but literally have no money going forward to do anything else with this facility. And if it gets to where this city has to tear this down, which I know nobody wants to see, you're going to tear it down with some of the most beautiful roof you've ever had on it. So, I mean, this kind of doesn't make sense a little bit. If we have to sacrifice a little bit and if you can mitigate it and do something there, Mr. Bith, and you know better than I do, to put a roof on here for half the price, you know, replace more windows to save this thing longer. Sometimes you got to do that. That's what I'm looking for here for the city. Yeah, your honor, Council Member Mortonson, the cost of negotiations with Shipo is just staff time. There's no fees that are associated with that. Um, we want to have, we've already run it by deed from the sounds of it to ensure that it's eligible expense for the grant. I think that's the first step. And then we have to communicate with Shipo to ensure that there's buy in. What basically we present the plan to them, they react to the plan. So, um, if the council approves this, as I'm understanding the motion that's on the table right now, we would be presenting the plan to them that replaces the roof like it is today. Um, if the council's desire is to try to preserve some of that funding or or get that as low as possible, then I would say we want to present the plan to Shipo as asphalt shingles or whatever that is. and then they'll say, "Okay, then we need to negotiate the mitigating mitigation impacts or things we can do to mitigate the impact of that change to this facility." And you just don't know until

you get into that dialogue and back and forth how it'll shake out.

I I would suggest this council that we at least have that dialogue so we know. You know, if it's $275,000 for the beautiful shingles and it comes down to $80,000 for regular shingles and we can replace more windows, I think we almost have to do this for this facility to save it at this time. If you can if you can get shingles on here that are asphalt that are cheaper and you can use some of your money and you get some longevity here enough for somebody to grab this thing, that's what you're looking for. But I don't think in business I would ever replace a most beautiful thing when everything else is falling apart with all of my money. I just I don't think I can do it. So it'll be the council's wishes, but I would I would like to move forward with looking at this, but looking at it through the shipo and what Mr. Brim has said for for other options on roofing.

May maybe Andrew can just make a phone call. We can Yeah, your honor, we can have that conversation with Shipo. I think you can move us forward on this step tonight. Anything's going to have to come back whether we get quotes. We can get quotes for uh asphalt and clay tile or whatever this is called. I missed the technical term. Um but if uh we can get an idea of just having informal dialogue with Shipo how that will play out and we can come back. But I I don't think you need to delay moving this forward tonight on that basis. So my sense is is Chipo might feel differently being that we're talking about the tower structure versus the wings. There might be a little more attachment to that tower. Yeah.

With that roll call. Oh, it's a motion. So, all those in favor say I. I. All those against same sign. Hearing none. The motion is approved. There is no new business. Leon. Was that a no? Oh, okay. Sorry.

Thank you. Um, miscellaneous announcements. On February the 6 at 8:00, the city council retreat at the Bigwood. February 11, 7 a.m. Committee of the Hall meeting. Uh, February 16th, the city will be closed in observation at President's Day. Uh, garbage and recycling normally picked up on Monday, will be moved to Tuesday. Um, Tuesday's garbage will be collected on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will be normal. Uh February 17 will be the next council meeting at 5:30 and uh just one more plug for Chris Tungsworth from Fergus Falls who is on American Idol this evening. So we wish him the best of luck. So could I just say one thing please and it's kind

book talk about a book. No, it's uh on number 13 on the consent agenda. You know, I saw this early where it was Dolores Simornne who had given $500 for dress uniforms to the fire department. I just want to say thank you to her that that's what great makes Fergus great, these citizens like this to donate. I still remember her husband as I was a small little boy sitting in church and Leverne's pager would go off and he'd take off and I didn't know what that was at first

and my mom would say he's going to help someone. So, what a perfect night uh to have that also approved and given to the fire department and thank you to Dolores Simorne for that. Thank you. With that, we are ajourned. Thank you. [clears throat] Yeah.