City Council - Regular Meeting

the city of Fergus Falls council chambers. Um the invocation this evening will be uh read by council member Scottwami followed by the pledge of allegiance.

I'm not a pastor so I just wanted to point out that there's a little change in the routine. You might say wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the pastors who are members of the Falls Ministerial Association that normally take this responsibility. I'm grateful for these folks and for their service to our community and the many churches that they serve. And I'm grateful for their willingness to volunteer their time and take turns opening our city council meetings with an invocation. Last week was the high point of the year for Christians around the world as we gather on Palm Sunday and Monday, Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday to remember and celebrate the redemption and salvation offered to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. [snorts] He is risen indeed. Please join me now in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your saving grace that we just now celebrated these last several days. We thank you for the city of Fergus Falls and for the many blessings that we receive and are a part of being able to live here. We pray tonight for your hand of protection over our first responders, many of whom are here tonight with us to celebrate one of our fire department people's retirement. We pray you would watch over our firefighters, our police, and other first responders. We pray for those who are otherwise gathered here tonight for the various items on our agenda. We pray for wisdom, pray for patience. I ask that you would also bless and encourage our city staff. Are thankful for them and grateful for the work that they do. We ask you to be with our discussions and our actions tonight. May we honor you.

We thank you for your love and care for us in Jesus name. 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. with that I will [clears throat] call this meeting to order. A roll call please. Here here here here

here. We have a quorum. The first item on the agenda is open forum. Time to address items of city business. Um, if you'd care to come to the podium and state your name and the city in which you live. Seeing nobody, um, we will move on to approval of the agenda. There's a couple of items uh to to move around. We're going to remove um the acknowledgement retirement Chad Nelson to the top of the agenda. um add um the resolution setting uh public hearing for the Douglas Avenue project um and subsequent uh um project update and then uh we're going to um remove a visit Fergus Falls um item off the agenda and schedule a work session for the 20th of April. Um it seems that there's enough uh debate about what we should and shouldn't do with that contract that I think it would be healthy if uh we just had a a general discussion about it as a group um in open so that everybody can air what they want and then use that to help formulate where we go forward with and then um under um new business Mark Leaden has a graph that he wishes to show regarding uh city city tax taxes property tax. Um I would just add that obviously this is a graph that Mark has done. It's not analysis done by the city. And with that would somebody care to approve the agenda?

I'll I got a question too, your honor. Thank you, Scott. I'll second. Thank you, Jim. Time on the work session. Um see a time we said I I probably 4:30. four between 4 and 4:30. Okay, thank you. [clears throat] Um, with that, all those in favor say I. I. I.

The agenda is approved. There are no uh public hearings this evening. Um, the first item is the resolution acknowledging the retirement and 30 years of service to the F Fergus Falls Fire Department from Chad Nelson. And whereas Chad Nelson is retiring from the Fergus Falls Fire Department effective April 11, 2026 following s 30 years of service. And whereas Chad began his service as a firefighter to the city of Fergus Falls and the surrounding area on December 11, 1995. And whereas Chad has held numerous formal roles in the Fergus Falls Fire Department, including firefighter, lift tenant, captain, and fire relief association secretary. And whereas Chad's dedication to serve others at a moment's notice with a near 100% attendance record provided him experiences in which he shared created an atmosphere of support amongst fire department members and those he responded to. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to accept Chad Nelson's retirement from the Fergus Falls Fire Department, and thank him for his 30 years of steadfast and dedicated service to the city of Fergus Falls and surrounding area. The above and forementioned resolution was offered at a regular meeting of the city council meeting on held on April 6, 2026 by council member

I'll offer that Jim Fish. I can second. who moved its adoption and was seconded by council member Laurel Kildley and adopted with the following vote. All those in favor say roll call. Roll call. Aan. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Fish. Yes. Yes. The resolution is approved. It does actually say resolution at the top. if I just read it. Um, but so thank you very much. Does uh Chief Mako wish to say a few words?

He's got papers in hand. [laughter] That That's something separate. Always walk around with papers. [laughter] Um, thank you, your honor. Members of the council and Chad, come on. Come on up here. Yep. Um, so Chad and I, it's been a uh it's been a fun uh a fun deal. Chad and I have a very uh maybe unique bond in that uh Chad was uh my substitute teacher in high school.

Um and as he was studying to be a firefighter here in town, the the person that I am and the interest that I had in the fire service, I asked to have Chad's workbooks and uh to start learning the craft of firefighting while I was in high school. Um, but it has been a a true honor to get to know Chad my whole fire service career. Um, and I thank you for your 30 years. But I also want to acknowledge Elizabeth tonight as a as a wife of a firefighter or spouses of firefighters. Um, that is just as much of a commitment and maybe even more of a worrisome than what we as the responders go out and do. They're the ones that are left after the pager goes off most of the time not even knowing where their firefighters going because we leave quickly. Um because as we all know uh seconds matter in firefighting. So Elizabeth, thank you for your uh sharing of Chad for 30 plus years with us on the Fergus Falls Fire Department.

Go ahead Chad with your with your scroll. Oh my three page. [laughter] It's not three pages, I promise. [clears throat]

Um thank you Mr. Mayor and council members. um to this department. What an honor it's been to serve alongside all of you that are here tonight. To the current members and those that have retired since I restarted that I started, thanks for letting me part of your journey. Being a paid on call firefighter means dropping everything when the pager goes off and making their way our way to the station. This leads me to my biggest thanks to my family. Thank you for the patience, support, and all the late nights, miss meals, and family gatherings. Sorry for leaving you at various stores, restaurants, and yes, even alongside a road one time. [laughter] Somebody did come pick them up. Um, I couldn't have done any of this without you. It's been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Excuse me. To serve in this capacity, serving the city of Fergus Falls and the surrounding townships. It's been a good 364 months and I'm officially done on 411 at 9:11 in the morning.

Thank you.

Thank you. [applause] [applause] Thank you, Jim. Your honor, may I [laughter] say thank you, Admirable. Hey, the um next item on the agenda is um a awarding of bids. Um a resolution awarding the bid for PI 5966, the Cavore Avenue street and utility improvement project to KCL. Keley Underground Inc. in the amount of $2,426,4719 Caval Project Alleyways and Alternates 1-4. Over to Kyle.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Uh, as we talked before, we opened bids for uh two projects uh last Tuesday, Kabore and Cleveland, and then we opened projects for Douglas on Thursday and got very good bids. So, uh we're going to run through some information tonight on the bids and show you the numbers and show you where everything came out.

All right. So, uh we'll start with Cavor. So on Cavore, um this is the one where we bid uh the Cavor project which included Cavor Avenue, Court Street, Mil Street, and the alleyways along with three parking lots and then some drain tile within the alleyways uh between uh Union and uh Mil Street. So I'll go through those uh one more slide ahead. All right. So just as we go through the numbers, this is going to show you where uh the projects are. So uh on the left in the middle is the Cavor Avenue and alleyways project. So when we talk about uh part one and part two of the project or the base bid, that's the piece that we're talking about. So it's uh cavore along with uh court and mill and then and then alleyways as well. Alternate number one is on the bottom left. That is the uh that's the parking lot in between and see

Port Street and yeah just just to the uh west of Court Street and then uh alternate two is between Mill and Court Street. That's the uh the parking lot there. Alternate number three is triangular parking lot over uh just next to the cascade. And then alternate number four, that's the drain tile [snorts] uh that is put in be uh in between mill and court and the drain tile piece uh was put in to help some of the buildings there that are getting some uh underground water into their basement. Uh, so the drain tile, we'll put it in as deep as we can with the storm sewer there and that will catch some of that water. It may not completely help, but we think it'll alleviate some of the issue that some of those businesses are getting with water within their basement. Okay, so there's a lot of numbers here. I'm not going to go through every single one uh but uh just a couple of of the large ones and then we'll talk about the totals. So uh part one on cavore just to give you an idea of where the bids came in. Our engineers estimate uh for that piece was at 2.6 million. Uh low bid for Keeley Underground is uh 1.9 million. So, uh, significantly underneath the engineer's estimate. And then you can see the other bids, uh, went all the way up to 2.9 million. The alleyways, the engineers estimate was at 276,000. And if we go over to Keeley Underground, they were at 297,000 for that piece.

Uh and then uh you can just go through and see the different alternates and and where they came in and where the bids came in. So the total the total for Keeley Underground was uh just over 2.4 million and our engineers estimate was about 3.1 million. So uh bids came in very well.

You open to questions or do you want a motion? I just let me let me run through one more piece of information. So, uh if you look at the uh the third column there where it says alley and parking lot 2025, those are the numbers that we bid last fall uh when we open bids and did not award. So if you look at the difference between the parking lot and the alleyway is now from what we bid last year, we bid the exact same project. Came in $181,000 less than our bid last year. So big time savings just from waiting to do that project now.

Okay, next slide. I think that's okay. So that's it for cavore for the numbers. So, what we're looking for for tonight is to award a contract to Keequley Underground as well as going through and setting up the final assessment hearing for the project. And then before we go to that, just uh just so you know that awarding the contract tonight, that is moving the project forward. uh we will be we will need to bond for a portion of the project and and so making that decision tonight will be saying that [snorts] we're going forward with the project

would somebody can to make that resolution I'll offer that I'll offer the resolution so Scottwami and Jim Fish is that with the alternatives or is that with the alternatives with all alternatives okay all of them so discussion I have a question on the drain tile I think That's a really important aspect of this. These businesses have had water issues. Do we know that the area we're drain tiling is the only area we should be drain tiling? Like, have we surveyed the businesses and we know which areas specifically or or where are we at knowing that we're doing enough? Yeah. So, uh I know Interstate Engineering did visit with the businesses up there. This isn't uh the alleyways and parking lots is Interstate Engineering's uh design. Mhm.

Uh we bid the exact same project that we did last year and they did visit with some of those businesses up there. Okay. Any other questions of Kyle on this one? Thank you, Mr. Meyer. I appreciate it. Uh yeah, we have to go forward with the project. That road is really bad this spring now and uh I don't know how this city would ever made it to 2029 with what we had there. It's it's really gotten bad. So, I appreciate it. What kind of impact are we looking at for downtown businesses? I think uh if they're watching, if they're listening, you know, we have the Chamber of Commerce sitting here. What kind of impact time frame are we looking at with them?

Uh we visited with the contractor. Uh the contractor that got this bid also got Cleveland Avenue. So, uh we we did talk to them to see what their timing is, what they want to do. They do want to get in on this project as soon as they can. Uh so once uh they can get their equipment here, get their stuff ordered on the project, they'll be getting here. Uh they're going to start on Cleveland Avenue first and then move over to Cavore. Uh but during construction, we will keep the uh the street open to traffic. Uh the the street will get tore up. Uh we will have construction going on during times in different parts. we will require the contractor to maintain the street. Uh but when they're digging water mane through or digging sanitary through a spot, you know, that area may be closed down for a couple hours. Uh as they move forward with that construction, they will come behind and backfill and then open the traffic. Now, when I say it's open, it will be dirt at times, it will be gravel at times. Uh so we'll try and maintain uh traffic through to those areas, try to maintain entrances to different parking lots so they can get in one side, you know, while we're working and then shifted over to the other side, things of that nature.

Time frame impact, how long? 30 days, 60 days. It this project will be from start to finish, you know, it'll be two months. Do we have a communications plan in place for downtown businesses and downtown residents that may have rented parking spots, things like that? Like, do we have a really solid plan for how to communicate this as well as possible? We do have a plan we're working on. Uh, that's something we need to visit with you guys on on how we want to do that. Uh, I'm getting a meeting set up with some of communication people from our office to help out with some of the stuff with our projects as well as maybe some other things within the community.

Is that roll call, please? Oh, I'm sorry. There's been talk on Cavore about narrowing and widening. Have we seen any options there or what's going to happen? Uh right now the way that this was bid was to narrow it from what it is now down to 41 ft. Uh which would give us parallel parking on both sides of the street. And when I I appreciate Councilman Morton's concern about driving in and out if Kabor is closed, is the alley still open? They can get in out of that parking lot there. And at the north you could still get into the uh the tire shop and correct furniture.

Correct. Yeah. So we'll utilize the alleyway. We'll utilize cavore, you know, when we get into this and sequence the construction and that will be the contractor's responsibility as they go through. But yes, we will we will utilize the alleyway for you know getting to to businesses when cavore is tore up and then shift traffic around as we move with construction. And I I believe before we also had conversations about green space. Can we just avoid the green space? I mean uh it would be on the south side.

We do have some green space in this project. Um if that's something that everybody wants to eliminate, we can we can fill it in with concrete. Do you mow concrete or just concrete? I just mow grass. [clears throat] Thank you. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Fish. Yes. Yes.

The [clears throat] resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution awarding the bid for PI5964, the Cleveland Avenue Improvement Project to the same contractor in the amount of $1,910,00054168. Again, over to Kyle. Okay, these numbers will be much easier to uh go through. I apologize for the formatting. Uh that wasn't like that on my computer. [laughter]

But that's all right. We we get the gist. So, Cleveland Avenue, uh from Franklin to Fur, uh we got four bids on the project there. The uh engineers estimate was at 2.2 million. Low bid again, Keeley Underground at uh just over 1.9 million. Uh bids ranged all the way up to 2.75. So again, good numbers uh from the contractors bidding on the project. Would somebody Thank you, Scott. I'll second that. Thank you, Laurel. Discussion,

Mr. Meyer, on both of these contracts. Uh are they are there penalties in if this thing lasts for uh three years? There is. Yep. Yep. We have uh just like most of the contracts that the city of Fergus Falls has done, there's a there's liquidated damages built in per day that they are not done uh after the completion date. Thank you. And then roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mortensson. Yes. Rachel, yes. Yes. Yes. Joel, yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution setting the public hearing date for PI5966, the Kavore Avenue improvement project for May 5, May 4, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers. Would somebody care to make that resolution? I'll thank you, Laurel. Thank you, Jim. Laura, [laughter] close. It's a nail. Mhm. It's an L. Um, roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Fish. Yes.

Yes. [clears throat] The resolution is approved. The next item is a resolution setting the public hearing date for PI5964, the Cleveland Avenue improvement project for May 4, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers. Would Laura care to make that resolution? I will offer that. I'll second it. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Laurel. [snorts] Isn't there a conflict with another meeting? [laughter] Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Rachel. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is um the improvement of uh Douglas Avenue and it would be um resolution awarding the bid for PI 5967 um 2026 street improvement project on Douglas Avenue to Ryan Contracting Co. With that, over to Kyle again.

All right. Thank you. Okay. So, uh again, looking at the bids, uh we got very favorable bids on this project as well for Douglas Avenue. Uh as you can see again, the engineers estimate was at 1.6 million. Uh the contract, the low, uh bidder was Ryan Contracting at just over 1.4 million. Uh, and bids ranged all the way up to 1.9. Got six biders on the project. Couple more than than the other two projects. So, um, good competition. Uh, but, uh, very favorable and good numbers. I'll offer that and then I have a question. Wait. Thank you, Laurel.

Second it. Thank you, Scott. Question. Can you talk a little bit about how for people that might watch or follow this meeting if regards to their assessments when these bids are coming in favorably? I know that then their assessment estimates go down, but can we talk about when that will get communicated to these land owners?

Yep. So, the process now after tonight uh that we've set that hearing for May 4th. We will send out another letter to every one of these property owners stating what the number is now with the price per foot and the price uh of their total assessment. Uh and then they will be able to come and you know if visit with the council on that assessment on May 4th. Uh but uh just so you know because the bids came in very favorable that means the letters you got uh back in February on the preliminary assessment it is significantly less than that on these projects now but you will be getting a letter and a notice in the newspaper uh on these hearings and what your new assessment number is now.

Any other questions?

Yes sir. K, you and I have had a long discussion on this. I cannot I I cannot support this [clears throat] at this time. Not because it's not a good project, not because the road doesn't need it. It's just that we're we're just trying to bite off too much for our taxpayer in one year. Uh 27. Uh we currently have a great deal of existing debt service and we're just going to throw another $2 million on it or whatever it breaks down to after uh the funds are paid. Um, I urge the council to uh review the current debt service that the city has the effect of the taxpayer and not blindly accept this uh contract. Thank you.

Any other comments? Mr. Meyer, can you fill us in again? We had to do Douglas Avenue to get to Union. Was that kind of the the deal with this? That was the sequencing. Yeah, because uh it when we do uh when we do union uh we didn't want uh construction traffic. If we would have done union first, we they would have been using Douglas uh for construction traffic and we didn't want uh that traffic ruining our new road on Douglas. Is South Union still on the agenda for next year? Is that the the rough plan? It's Yep. Okay. It's treacherous this spring. Correct.

Yeah. I think you meant to say you didn't want to ruin Union, not ruin. Did I go backwards? Yeah. Yeah. The There is a sequencing there uh that we want to do Douglas first so that we don't ruin it with construction traffic. It's it's it's it's built that way for a reason. So we don't use Union. Correct. For for Douglas. Correct. Correct. Sorry. That roll call, please. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Rachel, yes. Yes. Fish. Yes. Joel, yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item um is a a resolution to approve the calling for a public hearing on project P 5967 on uh May 4th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in city council chambers if somebody would care to make that. I'll offer that. Thank you, Scott. Would somebody care to second it? I'll second. Thank you, Jim. Roll call, please. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda. I think maybe just to add that this is going to be the year of road construction in Fergus Falls. And as as kind of council member Kildy brought up, communication is going to be key. um between exit 54 and the projects downtown um you know there's going to be a lot because this included in this area is also kind of rail crossing improvements as well. So um the the residents of Fergus Falls wanted infrastructure improvement. This is a year they're going to see a lot of improvement. Thank you very much for voting it at through. On the consent agenda, we have a motion approving the minutes for the March 16, 2026 city council meeting and the April 1st, 2026 committee of the whole meeting. A motion approving licenses. A resolution accepting a $4,095 matching grant award to the fire department from the Minnesota DNR Fire Department Assistance Program. A resolution accepting a $500 donation from Vernal Dressel for class A dress uniforms for the Fergus Falls Fire Department. A resolution to obtain the municipal advisor services of David Drone Associates, Inc., a resolution approving an engineering task order for phase one of the lead service line replacement project. A resolution approving varied budget adjustments. and a resolution approving a budget adjustment for a diesel tech intern. Would somebody care to make that motion resolution? Sorry. Thank you, Al. Would somebody care to second it?

I'll second. Thank you, Scott. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Under ordinance and resolutions, uh we have uh the first item is a resolution sending a public hearing to establish TIFF District 417 and proposed business subsidy for Northwood Industrial Services LLC on Monday, May 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers. And I believe Jason is going to address that. [snorts]

Good evening, mayor and councel. Yes. uh requesting uh the council hold that public hearing on May 18th for in consideration of the economic development tiff district application from Northwoods Industrial Services. I will point out council I did share a letter just re uh just affirming again our services as part of this tiff district. You saw most of that in your RFP response here about a month ago. So again just reaffirming that. And then uh there is a schedule in there. I do want to point out one correction. I have the public hearing on my schedule is 5:45. Uh and it's at 5:30. So again, that was that was my clerical as I get used to how the how the council conducts business. Uh and uh I'll address that in future schedules and that stuff. So I apologize for that. Uh but uh this will hold that public hearing. Again, it's both for the TIFF and business subsidy in a combined public hearing. Any questions, Mayor Councel? with that.

Mr. Mayor, I may have one comment. It might be district 418, but we can tweak that number. That's just the number. You know which district it is, but Yes, Bill. Yes, there was I believe the I believe about a year ago the council did consider application for a district 417, but I just reused the number. So, again, maybe it's more of a clerical as I start. No, we use it then I'm great. [laughter] So, good. Thank you. With that, um, uh, we need we need somebody to make that resolution. Thank you, Laurel. I'll second. Thank you, Jim. With that, roll call, please. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Fish. Yes. Yes. Resolution is approved. Um, thank you, Jason. Thanks, councel. And the next item on the agenda is a resolution approving the reszoning of 1397 South Tower Road and from RA to B2 and I will call upon Mr. Clara.

Thank you, mayor, and thank you council members. This is a continuation of the discussion that started at our um last committee of the whole meeting where it was presented to you that the planning commission had um approved a resoning request for 1397 South Tower Road um and then has sent it on to you as the council to make that final decision. Um there was good conversation held both at the planning commission meeting and at committee of the whole with um people both in favor of and against the the resoning request. But the um planning commission ultimately did find that the reasonzoning request is reasonable that it um is upholding the tenants that it needs to uphold for the city to make a a comfortable decision regarding resoning. And um I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about the application or the process with the planning commission, but um ultimately I'll leave the conversation up to you.

Would somebody care to make that uh resolution before we have discussion? I'll operate on Thank you, Scott. Would somebody care to second it? I'll second. Thank you, Jim. [snorts] Any discussion from council? I think we've talked about this long.

I have one question. Is there anything to say that there would be able to be added more truck parking after this plan is approved? Like once we reszone it, if a truck or if a gas station goes in there that has truck parking, is there any any limits that would be put on the able to be expand that truck parking beyond what a proposed plan could have now? Um, the only tipping point I think that the that would enable the city to be able to say no more truck parking would be if we think it's getting into the um getting into the territory of being considered a truck stop. Um, but again, that would require us to then have that definition of truck stop that we've been working with be adopted into ordinance.

Thank you. With that roll call, please. Can we um No, I think we've heard from I mean we it's been discussed since like November of last year, so I think everybody's aware of kind of what people's feelings are towards it. Thank you. Roll call, please. Yes. Abstain. Yes. Mortonson. Yes. Rachel, yes. Yes. Fish. Yes. Joel,

yes. The resolution is approved. Thank you for all the work from both sides on that. The next item on the agenda is a resolution approving an easement for with the school uh with the Fergus Falls School District. And I think Kyle is going to take that. All right. This is a request for an easement uh from the school district for a 75 by 400 ft easement uh just uh east of Hilltop Drive uh off of Cascade Road. Uh this is a piece of property that uh or the school district has a piece of property up there uh and they're looking for additional ingress egress easement. Uh so this uh in the the city has has a lot up there that they own and so uh looking to pass a easement onto the school uh for that ingress e eress. Uh and this came from a discussion with the school district on one of our city projects uh where we uh got an easement uh from the school district to the city. So uh this is their request.

Thank you. Um I know we've had some discussion um on with varied council members. Um I don't know, one of the questions that got brought up was whether or not we could give an e, you know, whether it had to be a perpetual easement or whether the easement could have uh some form of you know due due date or kind of you know ends with the sale or transfer of the property. And so maybe Ralph would just care to speak to what are some of the options as opposed to just giving a blanket easement.

Sure. Thank you. Um what we could do and what I've done is basically change the terminology of this thing to a temporary easement. It's not going to be permanent. And uh there could be some triggering events that would uh make it terminate earlier. we could state a given date that this thing would terminate by and that could be December 31st, 2020, 2030, I don't know, whatever that date may be. Um, the other option that we could be looking at is that it would trigger upon an event such as the school district transferring its interest in its property that uh this is supposedly to benefit. So that this would terminate at that time. And another way to terminate it would be upon written notice provided by the city to the school district that we're simply terminating it for whatever reason or no reason. Uh we're just deciding to terminate it upon x amount of days notice. So that's what I've kind of incorporated into an updated document. I don't have it in front of you, uh, but I've drafted it today. Uh, that, um, I would suggest, uh, would protect the city to allow us to, uh, basically, uh, terminate this easement, uh, at a later date if necessary because I don't think the intent is that it would be, you know, if the school district sold the property to someone else down the road that the intent would be that's their easement now. Correct.

Mhm. Um, are you looking for a motion? Yep. I'd make a motion that we uh move forward with an easement uh to the city attorney's liking that would uh protect the city's interest and allow this easement to be in effect for the purposes of a school development. Does that solve what is needed? I mean what's the ultimate intent for the for the benefited property for the use of this easement? Is it access for a school I think is what we had talked about. Access to a school to a school. So if they understand okay so if they build a school would this be an access a continued access? Yeah. Yes.

Okay. That does help. Um so uh then my suggestion would be is that this easement would uh be uh an easement that would go into perpetuity provided that they accomplished that built a school that serviced it. But if they sold it off to someone else and didn't build a school it would terminate. Okay. Would the terminology then include the words non-transferable or how is that how you would do it? You make it's a non-transferable easement. Correct. Thank you. Without our consent.

And I do think keeping a date in there um where I don't know what the council's appetite is, but I would see a date like at 5 years. We could look at renewing for those purposes or something. If it's if it's not going to be a school anytime in the future, then we want to have access to it, I would assume, for development or for someone else to purchase. Sure. So, you want five years that it terminates. That'd be my suggestion. Sure, that's fine.

So, we have a we have a resolution to um have an easement drafted that would say it's for school um school purposes only. If you transfer the property, then it dies and it would terminate within 5 years. If if there if there's no school will built. Would somebody care to second that resolution? I'll second your honor. Thank you, Scott. Um, discussion, just a comment. I don't think I've ever seen Ralph smile at me before. It was Are you sure?

Um, I just I I guess I want to get some clarification on that on the uh Fryberg easement first if we could. And it is it regarding the width or Yeah. So, as as we did this project, uh unbeknownst to us or even city records that the um the the right of way essentially went right up to the curb and gutter of the road. So, typically uh the the right of way would go beyond the road, even beyond the sidewalk, and then that's where their property would start.

Well, it didn't do that. So our project was fixing the road as well as fixing ADA ramps onto the sidewalk. So we with with that easement that we got from the school, we basically brought the ease or the right of way back to what a normal right ofway would be in every other block within the town. Would you need that easement if there was no sidewalk? If we were not doing any sidewalk work, we would not have needed that easement,

I guess. So, it kind of falls into the superintendent's hands and the school board. Um, you know, for safety purposes, you need to have a sidewalk there. You know, I would think that they would just out of the goodness of their heart grant that easement with no questions asked and not try to barter with another easement on something else. I guess that's my issue that I have. The city of Fergus Falls has been very generous I feel um with things that the school has wanted. We've tried to, you know, help them prosper and uh I feel kind of hamstrung on that a little bit that uh it has to do with the sidewalk um that is on their property, which just giving the easement saves the sidewalk, lets the city do what they need to do, saves the taxpayer money, uh that sort of thing. um instead of trying to go for another easement to a property that they own but don't have any access to that. Am I stating that correct? Do they have access to that property that they own?

They have some access. Yes. Okay. But they want that other 44 feet of width there for them to use for access. Okay. So, I guess that's where I'm at with it. will probably vote it through. But um I just wanted to be that to be very crystal clear that uh you know that's in the superintendent's hands that if that sidewalk is there or not and that easement uh is being uh granted with the school board and and the superintendent out of safety reasons it shouldn't even be an issue in my opinion. Thanks Kyle. You bet. Your honor he did sign that easement completely. Cleveland one is signed right? Yes, he did. That is signed and done. Yeah.

Whether we did anything tonight or not, it's still done. Y with that roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Rachel, yes. Yes. Yes. Joel, yes. The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is anou with Ottertell County for the use of county 1 highway department garage during severe storms and uh we call upon Ryan Mo.

Good evening again, Mr. Mayor, councel. Uh so the fire department has uh locations that are designated throughout the city and um most of them are city buildings to where we can put our trucks into ahead of an advancing storm. And typically the storms we're talking are tornatic storms. Um and what we do is disperse our fleet and our personnel so we don't take a direct hit to the one sole station that we have. Uh but as we were looking to expand out some uh the county one garage seemed like a pretty good fit based on a sturdy building. Its location to where yeah it's it's just outside of city limits but yet it's still within our protection area. and we very easily can get back into that that portion of town by having this uh county road one garage be one of our designated storm stations. Um why we you haven't maybe heard of this before is we haven't had to do anou before um just simply because we've had our own buildings. So this one here being another government agency, it was felt between both parties that we do anou. Um it has been reviewed um by county administration along with you know city administration as well. Um you know for formatting and that it seems like it's it's a good good fit for both parties. There is no cost to theou unless we were to damage the building while we were on site. Then obviously within theou there's some terms in there that we would pay for pay for damages. But it's not a matter of we need to pay a yearly fee or anything like that to have access to it. Um that access is part of the part of theou. So I do think it's good for for the department along with the city just to have that good continuity of operations following a severe storm. And uh I guess I'll stand for any questions that you may have.

Would somebody can make that resolution? I will. Thank you Mark. Thank you. Thank you Al. Um questions. Chief, good job. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. If not, roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The next item on the agenda, sorry, the resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is presentation of claims in the amount of $938,258.58. Would somebody care to make that resolution? I'll offer the resolution to pay the bills.

Thank you, Jim. Would somebody care to second it? I can do it. Thank you, Laurel. With that, any questions of Bill? If not, roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The resolution is approved. Um there's no old or new unfinished business on new business. Uh council member Leighton wish to show a graph on property tax if you'd like to do that. Mark,

I appreciate the opportunity. [clears throat] Uh the city council knows that I have analyzed the city of Fergus Falls over the many years to all cities and equivalently uh cities the same size. Um constituent approached me the other day and and showed me some of my early election brochures about how I was going to cut the budget and uh indicated I could. Uh there was some kickback but we had some good support in the uh levy committee last year. Uh I think what happened here is we've moved from a a government budget to a businessman's budget. This is the in one year. This is this represents just [snorts] two real estate taxes that an average home pays [clears throat] in Fergus Falls. that's assessed by the city only, not the school, not the county, and the FR H. You can see what we did in one year. My constituent came to me and I asked him, I says, "When was the last time you saw your real estate taxes stay flat?" He's been here his lifetime. He's 83 years old. He says, "Never." Now, I've been warned. I shouldn't maybe say that's so loud, Mr. mayor, but this is my numbers based on the Minnesota auditor's reports. Every city has a little different tweak, but Fergus Falls doesn't have an income or revenue problem. We have a spending problem, and it's my vow to continue to cut that. Now, we had challenges last year. We will have challenges this year, but I've spoke to a few of the department heads and they're already

looking at a net zero increase this year. We can do it. Um, I've been honored to sit on the living committee. I think uh the staff has done a great job. Some council members have given me some kickback thinking I couldn't do it. I'm sorry. Uh, budgets and me just get along. I just add it's not just you, Mark. That's where I was going. I said singular effort. It was a team effort. And I'm sorry for being interrupted.

Yes, Lord Job has been there. She gave me great insight because she's been on that board for a while. Andrew and Bill were there and they gave me support and Honorable Hicks allowed me to be on the committee. So yes, that's where I was going to close on. We had a great team and uh we look forward to doing it again. I appreciate the administration. I appreciate the department heads. It was a tough year and uh we'll just focus on it again. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Just want to remind [clears throat] people there is no I in team. It takes all all nine of us to get there because at the end of the day, council members, you know, even if they're not on the committee, weigh in a lot of support. The next item is miscellaneous announcements. Um, April 15th, 7 a.m. committee of the whole. Uh, April 20th, 5:30, uh, city council meeting. And prior to that will be a work session, um, on visit Fergus Falls. Their next item on April 28th at 4 p.m. the D Lagoon campground grand opening celebration. And April 30th at 9:30 a.m. board of equalization meeting for Fergus Falls residents at the Ottertale County office I believe that is um so everybody should have received their property tax statements. If you have a an issue with that um basically contact the county and um you will be obviously put on the agenda for that particular meeting. The next item is uh we are adjourning to a closed meeting to discuss a real estate transaction on North Tower Road as allowed by Minnesota statute 13D.05 as well as um a real estate action or discussion regarding 2010 West Lincoln Avenue. Um we will close the meeting now, ask you to vacate the building, but we will be opening the meeting back up again. With that, this portion of the