City Council - Regular Meeting

Salt Fergus Falls, August the 3rd, 5.30. We'll start this evening with the invocation by Dale Hexham from Good Chapel, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let us pray. Lord God, we thank you for this day that you have given us. We thank you for the many good gifts you continue to give us. And Lord, forgive us when we take all of those good gifts for granted. We thank you for the gift of living in this country, a country that is far from perfect, but nevertheless a country that is greatly blessed by you. We thank you. for the privilege of living in Fergus Falls. And we pray that you would continue to bless our community. We pray that we would be a community full of good neighbors, people who love one another and care for one another. And we pray for those who have placed in government, those who have been given the responsibility to make good and just laws and uphold those good and just laws. We pray for our leaders on the national level and on the state level and on the local level. And we pray specifically tonight for this council and our mayor and the rest of our city staff. Give them wisdom and discernment. Give them both patience and persistence. Use them and guide them for the good of this community and for the glory of your name. And we ask all this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I will call this meeting to order. First item is roll call.

Here. Here. Here.

Here.

Here. Here.

Here. We have a quorum. First item on the agenda is the open forum. It's the time to address items of city business that are not on this evening's agenda and relevant to the city. Anybody care to speak? Please step forward to the lecterns, state your name and the city in which you live. Seeing no one, we will move on to the next item, which is the approval of the agenda. And I know we have an item to add under old business. We've actually finally got word back from Shippo on the bell tower for the building. Any other items on the agenda?

The removal of, Your Honor, Councilman Relayton requested item number seven to be removed from the consent agenda.

Thank you. Would somebody care to make that motion?

I will.

Thank you, Mark. Would somebody care to second it? Thank you, Scott. Michael. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those against, same sign. The motion is approved. There are no public hearings this evening, and there are no bids to award. The first item on the agenda is, under petitions and communications, the Fergus Falls HRA housing study overview. And I know the lady from Maxfield is remoting in to give a brief summary of the findings from the study. Maybe. Can you hear us?

I think she's muted on her side, isn't that?

Hello.

Hello. Can you hear us? Can you hear us now?

Yes, I can hear you now.

Right, thank you. The floor is yours.

Okay, is there, did you need me to share my screen or is there already the presentation is?

No, you would need to share your screen.

Okay, okay, that's fine. I can, so then I think somebody needs to allow me to do that.

Thank you. Thank you.

Have you tried sharing your screen again?

Yes, I'm doing that right now.

Now we can see it. If you go to full screen.

Yes, I'm changing the screen presentation. Is that working?

It's... it's not full screen it's showing obviously this okay let me see here change this how's that nothing oh that's better oh that's it okay great right Mary, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Mayor and city council members, thank you for letting me be able to present to you the summary of the comprehensive housing needs analysis for Fergus Falls this evening. I appreciate that. And I will be going through, it's a relatively high level summary of the report. And we can either take questions while I'm presenting, or if you would prefer, we can hold questions until the end of the presentation.

Right. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Okay, this is just a little bit about Maxfield research. We do these types of studies all over the upper Midwest, and we've been in business for a little over 40 years. So the objective of the analysis was to provide a custom comprehensive housing needs study to identify current and future housing needs for residents in Fergus Falls and provide a framework for meeting housing needs. We identified short and long term housing needs. We provide recommendations to guide future housing development and then comment on some tools and policies to implement different types of housing developments. So the kickoff was in April of 2026. Data collection was April to June 2026. We issued a draft report in June and a final report in July. So Fergus Falls of course is the largest city in Otter Tail County. It's a regional center for employment, education, healthcare, and other items. So as you can see from the map here, we identified this blue area as the primary market area for the analysis. It's based on community orientation, commuting patterns, proximity to other communities and Maxfield's general knowledge of housing draw areas. So we estimate that 75% of the housing demand that is identified will be generated from this PMA and the remaining 25% will be generated from outside of those boundaries. And this is pretty standard. We do adjust these percentages depending on the community that we're working in and other factors that may affect that. But I would say generally we look at a split. Usually we try and draw a primary market area that will reflect this type of housing generation. So between 2010 and 2020, the population of Fergus Falls increased by 7.5%, adding 981 people. Households increased by 6.1%, 357 households. From 2020 to 2031, we anticipate that the population will increase by 7.9%, adding 731 people, and that households will increase 21.4%, adding 449 households. Between 2031 and 36, again, that's only a five-year period then, population is projected to increase by 4.4%, adding 375 people, and households 12.1% or 260 households. So the 75-plus group is projected to be the largest or the fastest-growing age group. And I don't really think that this is a surprise to anybody because we're seeing all over the state that we have a generally aging population and the baby bloom generation is one of the largest in the state. And especially in our rural areas, that group is growing on a percentage basis, that group is growing the most rapidly. Here in Fergus Falls, we also have the 45 to 54 group, which would be, it's the second fastest growing group with anticipated, well, actually it's the third fastest growing group with anticipated growth of 19.7%. those ages 20 to 24 are expected to increase by 23.5 over the next 10 years some of that is affected by the educational higher educational institutions that are in the area here so living alone is 45 percent of people are living alone it's the largest household type in fergus falls as of 2026 and it's followed by married couples without children at 24 percent again these are trends that we as you can see they're trends that are occurring generally in throughout the area But we are also seeing those trends throughout Minnesota as well as in the Twin Cities metro area as well and other similar metro areas in Minnesota. There are similar proportional breakdowns in both the primary market area and in northwest Minnesota as with Fergus Falls. So there's strong growth in renter and owner households. both categories in Fergus Falls. So in Fergus Falls in 2026, 38% of households were renting their housing and 62% owned their housing. We see this generally in larger cities as there will be a little bit of a higher proportion of people who are renting their housing primarily because the cities allow higher density housing versus the outlying areas. Renter households age 35 to 44 had the highest growth from 2010 to 2026 in terms of the renter household base, followed by householders age 65 to 74. So a larger proportion of, or a larger number of that group over the term and the period had decided to rent their housing. We also had strong growth in owner households that were aged 35 to 44, very encouraging because we don't often see that. So that was very positive. And of course, because of the aging of the baby boom generation, we saw strong owner household growth in that 65 to 74 and 75 plus categories. So household incomes forecast to increase overall. So median household income in Fergus Falls, 54,940 as of 2026. In the PMA, 67,691. That by 2031, Fergus Falls median income is projected to increase to 61,040. And then the PMA, 76,642. So based on the 2026 median household income in Fergus Falls, a household could afford an apartment renting for about $1,374 a month, according to the industry benchmark of spending 30% of your income on housing costs. It could afford an approximately an owned housing cost of somewhere around 155 to 160,000. So with employment, there is strong employment growth projected and over 2025 to 2035. So employment trends over the 2010 to 2019, Fergus Falls actually lost 293 jobs. Between 2020 to 2025, they lost about 71 jobs. The projection over the next 10 years, though, is that they will regain all of those lost jobs and then add additional jobs. That's primarily based on growth that we've seen in Otter Tail County and Fergus Falls proportion of that growth, as well as proportional employment growth that would occur in the overall Northwest region. So as of second quarter 2025, which was the most recent data available from Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the largest employment sectors are education and health services at 35% and trade, transportation and utilities at 23%. This is similar to a number of different cities, municipalities that we see, that we see very high proportions of employment in these two sectors. In addition, depending on different communities, we might also see manufacturing have a relatively high proportion as well. Total employment and wages in Fergus Falls increased by 8.1% between 2024 and 2025, which is quite significant. We don't usually see an annual employment or an annual wage increase of that level. Highest wages were in public administration, about 1,600 a month. I'm sorry, that's weekly. Manufacturing, 1,338, and professional and business services, 1,258. Fergus Falls is generally an importer of workers. So about 5,762 workers commute into Fergus Falls daily. Most are relatively close by. The highest proportion of workers coming into the area are age 30 to 54 and earn more than 40,000 a year. Workers employed in the city, so Fergus Falls 41%, Battle Lake 1%, Pelican Rapids 1%, Elbow Lake 0.7 and Wahpeton 0.7. So there's a lot of people both live and work in Fergus Falls. So some community interviews and feedback, there is overall a shortage of all housing types in the Fergus Falls area. Employers recognize that workers are having difficulty finding housing that meets their needs. They note that a lack of housing options in Fergus Falls is likely having an impact on their ability to attract new employees to the area. They noted there's an urgent need for the following housing types, moderately priced housing owned and rented, targeted to the area's workforce and entry-level buyers, housing alternatives for older adults and independent seniors. Those would usually be single-level living, townhomes, twin homes, villas, and higher dense or higher density apartments. And that's for these groups who may want to relocate out of their single family homes usually to have a more convenient lifestyle. There's also a need for move up housing to facilitate turnover in the entry level market as households transition into larger homes. So about information on the direct market. So there were a total of 514 building permits, residential building permits issued for new units from 2010 through 2025. That's about an average of 32 new units per year. The pace of development activity has increased recently for single family. Multifamily construction was more active in the previous decade. Higher interest rates have been a factor in limiting the development of new multifamily housing, but also I would say single family housing as well. So low vacancy rates in the rental market. So we surveyed 33 properties with 963 units, a blended vacancy rate of 1.9%, surveyed 40% of the rental units in Fergus Falls. 665 units, 22 properties. There was a vacancy rate of 2.3%. Average rent was $838 a month, about $1.21 per square foot. The average rent for new properties higher, $1,100 at a per square foot rent of $1.40. We surveyed 271 units among 11 properties for affordable and subsidized. So there was a vacancy rate of 3.4% for affordable and 2.8% for subsidized. The average rent, this is primarily among the affordable properties, was $828. And so as you can see, the average rent for market rate at 838 is near that average rent for the affordable properties. And the reason for that is primarily because those affordable properties are newer than the overall average rent that we included quite a few older properties in the market rate. The per square foot rent was $1.11 per square foot. So this shows a senior housing product continuum, and this shows all the way from the single family home, various different types of senior housing products that have been introduced into the market over, well, basically since the middle 1980s, and all the way up to skilled nursing. So 65 plus is driving senior demographics. So aging of baby movers led to a 37% increase in the 65 plus population between 2010 and 2026. Again, most of the growth is really accounted for in that 70 to 74 age group, 59%. And then over the next 10 years, the highest growth is going to occur among seniors ages 75 to 84. and then those ages 55 to 64 are expected to have a modest decrease during the period and that's primarily due to demographic trends and that group age group is part of the baby bus generation which came directly behind the baby boom and it was a period of much lower births in in the entire country but also in the upper midwest So there's a significant difference between the median household income of those 65 to 74 and then those 75 and older. So as you can see in 2026, those ages 65 to 74 have an estimated median household income of about almost 63,000 versus about 39,300 for those age 75 plus. So Otter Tail County does attract a large number of people who retire to the area to live on one of the local lakes or in the more rural areas. Many reside in single family homes. A portion of those may elect to purchase a twin home or villa later if they decide to move off the lake. The low median income for those 75 plus suggests that a portion of those 65 to 74 leave the area as they age to move back to the Twin Cities or elsewhere to be near family. So the senior housing market in Fergus Falls actually has quite a diversity of product. So there were, we identified 654 age-restricted units among 15 properties. There are 73 units of active adult owned housing, 90 units of active adult rental, and those are both market rate categories. The independent living, there's 116 units of independent living, 103 units of assisted living, and 50 units of memory care. Active adult affordable or subsidized properties, there's 222 units among those properties. So home resales, actually they're not quite up 105% since 2015, but close to that. So from 2019 through 2025, the median home sale price in Fergus Falls increased from 208,500 to 311,000, an increase of 49% or an annual average increase of 6.9%, which is still quite substantial. Home sale prices in Otter Tail County in the region are slightly lower than in Fergus Falls, but these areas also experienced significant price appreciation over the period. Otter Tail County's average annual increase was 8.4% each year during that period, and the region's was 6.6%. So I will say that these increases here, even though home values have been increasing significantly across Minnesota, I will say that these particular increases here in Fergus Falls and in Otter Tail County are a little bit higher than what we've seen elsewhere in similar areas. So we have seen healthy increases, but most of those annual increases have been somewhere between 4% to 5% annually, not up to between 6% to 8%. So 91% of home sales since 2023 have been detached single family. The market time for that has increased from four days in 2019 to 66 days in 2025. And in Otter Tail County, the market times have fluctuated over the period, but as of 2025, it was 89 days. So because of the higher mortgage interest rates, homes are not selling quite as quickly as they were before, along with the rise in home prices. But still, I would say that 66 days is not, I mean, that's still a relatively reasonable period of time for a single family home to sell. Detached single family, again, that median sale price for Fergus Falls in 2025 was almost 246,000. In Otter Tail County, it was nearly 310,000. for owned multifamily, which would be townhomes or twin homes in Fergus Falls. And this is really, it was 197,500, but the reason it was lower is it had been higher in some previous years, but there were fewer of these units sold. and they were lower priced in 2025. So typically what we've been seeing in Fergus Falls is that median sales price for owned multifamily is somewhere in about the mid 200,000 or even up to 300,000. And the median in Otter Tail County was 305,000. So there were 34 active listings and that was back in April. and made. It was 270,000 as a median price for single family and 364,950 for multifamily, again, because of newer product. 30 of the listings were for single family homes and four were for owned multifamily. New construction is quite high priced. So there were 55 active listings at a median price of 445,000 for single family and 410,000 for multifamily. 67% of the listings were for single family and 33% were for multifamily. So this just shows the trend that occurred of interest mortgage interest rates as they really ratcheted down and then how they increased and about where they are currently. So they've ratcheted up a little bit more again recently, primarily because of the national economic situation. And right now they're not projecting at this point that mortgage interest rates are going to drop in the near term. or won't drop significantly in the near term. So there's 97 vacant lots in terms of a lot inventory in Fergus Falls. There were 10 vacant lots in six subdivisions that were actively marketing. 100% of the lot supply is detached single family. Again, the median size among those six subdivisions, 28,401 square feet, median lot price of 105,000, which is high, but there were two or three quite large lots versus some smaller lots. Per square foot price, lot price of $3.70. So looking at affordability, housing cost burden, Fergus Falls, The owner households overall, 18% are cost burden, relatively low, but it's similar among the rest of the areas, both the PMA and Northwest Minnesota. Severely cost burden is 43%. Renter household, renter households overall was 43%. 44% severely cost burden for renter households, those that earn under 35,000 with 75%. Based on cost burden data, there remains significant demand for affordable rental housing in Fergus Falls, particularly for those with incomes under 35,000 annually. So this just shows a little bit about the minimum incomes required for different price points, both for entry level single family detached and for for sale townhomes and move up housing, whether it's entry level or move up. So as you can see, of course, as the price goes up, the percent of owner households that can afford that home price decreases. This just shows a little bit about housing affordability for rental. So what the renter household incomes would be able to afford for different levels of rental pricing based on either existing or new construction. So demand, so we recommend about a three to five year lot supply. There is a current tight, very tight lot supply in Fergus Falls, about 1.6 years, and a need for diverse lot types. Over a 10 year period, 2026 to 2036, We project demand for 355 single family and 236 owned multifamily. So I broke this down into what this would mean on a per year basis. And this is a little bit more than what the historical rate has been. So the historical rate has primarily been focused on single family homes, but there was about an average overall for all types of both rental and for sale at about 33 homes per year. So this is a little bit higher, but there is a significant demand in the community. So strong need remains for entry level and move up housing in addition to options for older adults and seniors to relocate. So again, rental housing demand, 873 units over a 10 year period, 437 market rate, 175 affordable and 261 subsidized. There's demand for all incomes, household types and product types. Some suggested concepts are rental townhomes, traditional multi-story buildings, and then mixed income as a way to accommodate some of the need for affordable and subsidized demand. Demand for senior housing is projected to increase as the older adult population grows. We identified demand for affordable and subsidized, 404 units. Service enriched, which means that is either independent living, assisted living, or memory care, and that's 292 units. And then active adult market rate, 178 units. Recommended initiatives focus on first-time homebuyers with programs and housing products, development of affordable rental housing, either standalone or mixed income, development of housing to serve active and independent seniors, preservation of the existing affordable housing stock, and then a mix of initiatives targeting different housing segments to support a more balanced housing market. So there are three local housing programs. There are also a variety, of course, of the state programs and other types of other types of partnerships and other programs with regional and local agencies, but we focused on these primarily. The Otter Tail County Housing Trust Fund, loans and grants to assist with the creation of and preservation of new affordable workforce and mixed-income housing rental and owned, family homeless prevention and assistance program, Those programs, that program can include down payment assistance, home buyer loans, rehabilitation loans, housing, education, et cetera. And then community growth partnership grant, matching grant cities in Otter Tail County of up to 50,000 per year. Funds can be used to develop affordable housing, redevelopment, commercial rehabilitation, public infrastructure, and pre-development planning for a project. So there are three, well, we identified with help from the city that there are three city-owned sites in Fergus Falls ready for development. Stanton Avenue that could accommodate 40 to 50 homes targeted to ownership housing at a price point of about 300,000. Products that could be developed include twin homes, smaller detached homes on smaller lots, that it also could incorporate modular home products on those smaller lots and also attached row homes. So the Norgren property, the largest, well, not necessarily the largest property, but can accommodate 360 homes would be a phased residential district that would emphasize higher value housing while maintaining some flexibility for mixed housing products. The site would include amenities such as walking paths and open space, should offer a mix of product types, price points, ownership formats targeted to various age and lifestyle segments. Phase 1 may include up to about 60 homes. That's the current estimate. RTC Kirkbride redevelopment, of course, the historic property site is highly challenging. I think this could be a strong candidate for potential legislative funding. I'm working with legislators at the state to try and encourage the state to provide financial support for the redevelopment of this property. Some key takeaways, moderate but steady growth, 5% population and 7% household growth, and then 3% population and 4% household growth from 2031 to 2036. Aging of millennials and baby boomers increases of 20% and 29% forecast over the next 10 years. From 2010 to 2020, there were significant increases in renter households, but also I would say too, in that middle and older age group also increases in owner households as well. Modest income growth over the next five years, so 2.1% in Fergus Falls and 2.5% in the PMA, that's annual. Living alone, empty and never nesters are growing as the two largest household type segments. Workers again commute to Fergus Falls for employment. 32% live and work in Fergus Falls. The total employment is projected to increase and need more housing to attract workers to the community. A tight rental market, 2.3% vacancy rate for market rate rental housing, which is quite low. It's under that 5% for a balanced market. There's a broad range of senior housing and pent up demand for owned and rented age targeted product. Pricing of for sale homes is rising at between 6% and 8% annually. There's a lack of supply, especially entry level. High interest rates impact sales and affordability. A low vacant lot supply, and there's a need for additional lots to meet growth. Supply is not keeping up, and demand continues to outstrip production across all housing types. And I'm happy to open it up for discussion and questions.

Thank you, Mary. It's a lot easier than the 170 pages, so thank you for the time and effort put into making that happen for us. Does anybody have any questions of Mary? Mark?

A very good presentation. Thank you very much. Mike and I have reviewed it. Generally looking at the history of employment increases per years around 7, which is a difference from what we've experienced in the past where it's declining. Of the employers in town, there's 13 listed, but there's only five private. They're either public or nonprofit. We have a population growth of around 7 a year based on the 26 to 31. I'm trying to figure out how we can validate new housing in addition to like 13 a year. We only have a growth of seven. So is that gonna ultimately end up with more homes for sale? How do we explain that?

So really what I would say is in terms of your population and household growth projections, there's a relatively, I mean, at 7% and even 4% over the next three to 4%, that is actually more than we're seeing in a lot of different areas. So some of that demand is gonna come from people moving into the community. And then on top of that, we have there are people who are living outside of Fergus Falls right now because they cannot find housing that they need. So it's, so the projections are intended to look at what the projected growth will be, but that also is intended to look at if new housing is developed, which is needed according to the current market conditions, that that could potentially increase your population and household base beyond what the projections are. So I think it's really what's most important to focus on is I think that employment. So existing employers are having some difficulties finding employees. They need to attract more people to the community. One of the ways to do that is to provide a broader variety of housing. And I know that housing is, price points of housing are very, very difficult. It's very challenging to try and get more entry-level housing. It's very challenging to even be able to develop any housing that's not at that 450,000 level and above. And I think part of what we're trying to look at here is trying to make use of some other types of funding tools to be able to get more housing that's at a moderate price into the community. And then also satisfy demand from some of the people who actually could afford some higher priced housing with that Norgren site. And so a really broad mix of housing with some amenities in that area. I think another area where we've looked carefully is that we have a lot of communities across the state with very old housing stock. And a lot of them do have rehabilitation and home improvement products. But recently I've been talking with a number of different communities to, and a lot of them cap that rehabilitation level to like somewhere around they can, somebody can get a loan for maybe 20,000 or 30,000. But some of those homes, they and at the cost of of improvements they may need a new roof they may need new heating plan i mean all of a sudden you're up to 60 to 80 000 even if you're buying a home that's at 150 and for a lot of entry-level buyers they just can't afford that you know they they have enough problems just getting into the house and then suddenly they're faced with some potentially huge expenses So I've been talking to a number of communities about trying to expand that program to offer more of that money to be able to rehab. And then of course, that's also taps into preservation of existing older homes that are affordable. to be able to try and bridge some of that extra gap between what those homes need and what an entry-level buyer can afford. And that may be a combination of loan, maybe some of it's a grant. It doesn't necessarily all have to be a loan or it doesn't have to all be a grant.

Well, I appreciate the goal that Mike is working for and this report. I've listened to other communities that have the same question or the same concerns. Employers can't find employees because there's no housing. Is that pretty much a broadcast in Minnesota? Well, it's.

It is it's true. I mean we I mean there are other reasons for that. I mean we are seeing. We are having problems, I would say, just generally attracting workers overall to Minnesota. Now, potentially that will change with, we are seeing some relocations that are starting to happen because of affordability. We're starting to see some relocations from the coast coming to the Midwest because housing is more affordable here. So we are seeing a trend in some communities across the upper Midwest that we may as a state and our neighboring states may be able to attract more younger people here because housing is absolutely and completely unaffordable on the coast and more people can work remotely. So we are trying, I guess, to look at some options or opportunities where we can attract more people into Minnesota, more young people into Minnesota, to live in different areas and take different types of jobs.

Any other questions from other people?

I just wanted to make one. I'm sorry. I wanted to make one other comment. There is a severe shortage of housing across the board. in Minnesota overall, in every community.

Laurel.

Did you, thank you for your presentation, very helpful. Did you happen to identify what the average age of the first time home buyer in Fergus Falls or Otter Tail County is and what the average demographic family, is it single, is it two owners, is it a family? Do we know those facts for Fergus Falls?

So I don't know those facts offhand, but I can certainly find them out, and I am happy to do that and share that.

Thank you. Anybody else got questions?

Thank you for your time. A wonderful presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mary.

I think it was interesting, obviously, and thank you to HRA for doing this and the county for also financially helping support get this done. I think it shows that there is a need. Now we've just got to figure out how we kind of work towards filling that need. So thank you, Mary.

Thank you very much.

Thank you all.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for your time. We will move on. The second item is Visit Fergus Falls update by Ryan.

Thanks for having me. A couple of notes since I was here six weeks ago or so. We have extended our leadership agreement with Visit Fergus Falls, so we will be continuing on until May 2027 to align with the contract that the city has with Visit Fergus Falls. So that's probably one of the bigger items. Potentially removing that interim label and we'll stay on and be directing some of that leadership. Our first focus as we're diving in here is on the marketing, our main goal, marketing Fergus Falls and visitors. And we've identified five target markets that were market segments that we're going to attack first. And that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about today. So Lake Country Day Tripper is our first market segment that we're looking at. So those are seasonal lake home dwellers, people who are visiting resorts in the area. We are working to target them to have them come to Fergus for our resources, things that are available here, restaurants, dining, shopping. Walmart, Fleet Farm, Home Depot, those supplies. And we'll be targeting those some through direct mail, some through social media, and then also our email list and outreach through there. The second market segment that we're looking at is the event driven visitor. So visitors that are coming to town already for events, be that hockey tournaments, wrestling tournaments, basketball, those sports things, or the concerts at the Kirkbride. things like that, we are looking at targeting those through some geofencing campaigns, outreach that way. How can we have somebody who's say coming to the concert last night at the Kirkbride, how could we encourage them or reach them ahead of time to say, maybe you wanna come for the farmer's market Saturday morning, enjoy dinner in town Saturday night, spend the night and then go to the concert Sunday. How can we target more of that side? Or if it's a hockey tournament, how do we draw them out? It's not your time to play. Here's other things to do within the community. So doing outreach to those. The regional weekend visitor. is our third segment. So these are people who are coming to town or that we would like to come to town for the weekend. And maybe it's Fergus Falls as a base camp to visit Glendalough and Maplewood and maybe go see the trolls, but a central location to be able to go and do all those things and come back to Fergus for the evening for our things that way. The next one is group and conventions. So that's utilizing our resources, Bigwood included or Bigwood especially. How can we attract more of these events to come to town? How can we? We've been doing some outreach already, just research on what what are conventions looking for, different conventions in the area. or that have hosted in the area, what do they need for supply? What are they looking for for a number of people hosting facilities, those things? And then the final group that we're targeting, this is a much smaller group, but the event, we want to be an event incubator. We have done some of that through our event grants. We're expanding our event grant program. So in 2027, it's not finalized yet, but As of right now, it stands. We have our small event grant that we do currently. It's up to $500. Very simple application. Can only be spent on marketing. Both of these can only be spent on marketing. But we're looking at a large event grant. So doing a bigger pool and up to $5,000 for a large event, something that brings people multi-days, a large number of people. So we are working on a scoring system. We have it laid out, not ready to present it yet, but both the small event grant and the large event grant will have a scoring system. So it's not, you will be able to see what are we looking for in these event grants prior to even applying, but there'll be points for a multi-day event in the large event grant points for certain number of people coming to town. I'm trying to think of the other categories, but off the top of my head, I don't remember them. And so those would be to support, we're looking for ways that we can grow multi-day events in town and really help those events to draw more people in to stay. So that's kind of that's a target markets. The other update that I have is we do now have our own placer AI subscription, which we are going to be using one to help support the marketing to these target markets so we can track. who's been here, who hasn't, who's coming, who are the demographics that are at the events that we have currently and how do we reach more of that type of person? But two, just have KPIs in general. What are those indicators that we can track? year over year, Placer AI goes back to 2019. So I just got access on Friday. I don't have a whole bunch of data yet, but we will be gathering those. And currently in my in my marketing segments, I have, I think, 15 KPIs that we're going to start trying to track. So growth year over year of events, growth for weekends, growth on traffic around the I-94 corridor, which obviously is way down at the moment since it doesn't exist, but trying to track some of those things in. And that's as we go forward with reporting to you guys as the council, we'll have some of those laid out and we'll be using that data in three ways. So us ourselves to track the performance of our campaigns as we're marketing. And two, reporting back to our board so that we have a performance to compare to with our board. And then three, for you guys as the council to show, here's where we've had success, here's where we're underperforming. and going forward on that. The final item that I have on my list is with the Bigwood strategy. We are meeting this week, but we've been moving forward with that group and we've identified a number of key options and that group will kind of look at those options this week. We're meeting on Wednesday and then hopefully from there have some recommendations coming back this way. Broad based there. Any questions from you guys?

Any questions of Ryan? Laura?

Where are we at with the Bigwood website?

The Bigwood website is substantially complete. The content is there. We need to do photographs, and those are being scheduled now. We are doing some staged photos to finish off the website. I have a meeting with the developer on Friday to finalize some of those items. But the development of it is complete. There's just some content items left for that.

Any other questions? Mike?

Yeah, thank you, Your Honor. Mr. Tongseth, thank you for being here. It's obvious that things have shifted in a different direction. That looks like it's a positive direction to me. One of the things that I want to know, though, is you talked about your group being kind of on until 2027. Are you the executive director, or is your group the executive director? How does the rank structure go down here?

Yeah, absolutely. So I am the executive director. The way it works, my role is primarily strategy and development. So the outward facing, doing things this way. I have two employees that their focus is on content development. So that photos, design, those items. And then I have one employee who's an admin research assistant who helps me on the development side.

One thing about Ryan, when they laid this out and we decided to go to March, or to May, excuse me. May, yes. Thank you. The money is the same amount of money we were paying for the executive director before and the photographer, I believe. So it's not costing Visit Fergus Falls any more money to hire you to do it than what we were spending before. And so what we're getting actually four people instead of just one, or we had two photographer, but four people doing it. And it's really worked out really good communication in the meetings. And Ryan's doing a good crack up job and it's enjoyable to work with.

Thank you.

Scott. My question has to do with the location. Are you going to continue to be in the same office that you've been in or are you looking to change locations?

Yeah, we are moving into City Hall here this month.

Any other questions? Thank you, Ryan. I think from my perspective, I like to see the fact that you're starting to put together not only a strategy, but something that supports that strategy in developing the KPIs that show, as you say, where whether we're going forward or going backwards, and that will help us change direction. But I think it's refreshing that we've actually got somebody talking about strategy and KPIs. Thank you. That's what we do. Thank you. With that, we will move on. Thank you, Ryan. The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. The motion approving the minutes from July 20th, 26, City Council meeting and work session and the July 29, 2026 Committee of the Whole meeting. A motion approving licenses, an updated version was on your desk. Resolution authorizing the Fergus Falls Police Department to act as the fiscal host for the towards zero deaths program and authorizing the submission of a TZD traffic enforcement grant. A resolution authorizing entering into a contract with work steps to administer a physical agility test for new police department hires. Resolution authorizing entering into a joint powers agreement with the City of Fergus Falls Police Department and the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. A resolution approving the 2027 Fergus Falls HRA levy request. a resolution approving the amended water booster policy, a resolution approving the amended data practice policy, a resolution approving an airport optimization planning study, and a resolution declaring items as surplus property and authorizing their disposal. Would somebody care to make that resolution?

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Laurel. Would somebody care to second it? I'll second it. Scott. Roll call, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item is a resolution approving the engineering task orders number 6, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, with more engineering. And Mark, you asked for this to be removed.

Thank you, Your Honor. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK KYLE IF THIS IS EMINENT. THE LEVY COMMITTEE IS NOW CONTINUALLY WORKING ON THEIR FUND BALANCES AND THE BUDGET. I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS MATTER TABLED UNTIL WE GET THAT PROJECT COMPLETED. WOULD 30 DAYS, 60 DAYS HAMPER THIS?

Your Honor, do we need a motion before we start discussion on this?

Actually, thank you.

All out for the motion.

Thank you, Jim. Would somebody care to second it? I'll second it. Thank you, Scott. Go ahead, Mark. Sorry.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Layton. As we talked last time, the reason for starting some of these projects right now is to really for us to get the proper information put together, get the preliminary designs put together so that we can go to the residents in a timely fashion and have the proper public hearings, get the proper information out to them so that we're doing it in a timely fashion. We are at the point now from a workload standpoint, we gotta go out and do surveys and things of that nature. That's gotta be completed before it starts getting cold out. And then some of these projects are imminent that are on this list. We have the dairy trail that's starting the Otter Tail Valley railroad projects. We've got to get preliminary information into the railroad. They're waiting for it right now for us to put that preliminary design and start getting that out to the railroad. And then also to note that by us starting on these projects, we are not absolutely making the decision that we're moving forward with him. You really have up until you award, we bid the project and you award it to a contractor before you are really tied into doing that project. Now, keep in mind though, we are spending time, you are spending some money on the project. If it were a project, you want it, we got part of the way through the design and we wanna push it to next year. that time and effort would not be lost in doing that.

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

So then just to add, I think the projects we need to start moving on are going to be the Channing Avenue water main replacement project because we're doing that ahead of the mill and overlay project that's federally funded. And then we have the dairy trail project and then the two Otter Tail Valley invoices. Those I think we need to do right away. The other four projects then, those are the ones that we presented as CIP projects. All of those projects are in severe need of being done, and those would be the ones that I guess you would decide as a council to do those or not.

So if we focus on the four CIPs, that's what I'm looking at. Do we have affordability of the four? Do we have affordability of the three? Or do we have the affordability of two? Because obviously this is a unique year for the city. So I'm asking the levy committee, I'm asking the council to just stand down on that capital improvement plan other than those first four items you had. That's my input. I'll rest, Your Honor. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from people? Scott?

I would take a different approach. I think as Kyle mentioned, we've not said we're not going to do these. We expect that we will do these projects, all of them. And the sooner we get rolling on them, the sooner we can get the information in the hands of our residents. I think in this last year, we saw, particularly in the Douglas Avenue work, where some of the residents there felt like they really didn't have enough time to prepare and know ahead of time how much money to be saving for their work on their street. I think that shortened time frame kind of gave us a black eye in that project. And in this case, if we were able to get the information together and have a better handle on what the overall costs are, the sooner the better. And I think that it's in our best interest to go forward with this. And I'm going to encourage everyone to vote yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Laurel?

I guess I have a question. I thought after our meeting on Wednesday when we went through all of these and saw all the pictures of these conditions, I thought we all voted yes to move forward with these. So I'm a little confused at which ones. Are there certain ones that you're thinking you don't want to do next year, Mr. Layton? I'm just wondering what are the priorities? Because I thought we left Wednesday with everybody on the same page, but maybe I missed something.

Thank you for the question. I'm not going to pick and choose which capital improvement plan there is. Globally, I'm looking at what can we afford to do in one year. All the streets are urgent. All the underlying utilities are urgent. But we can't catch up in five years what we've missed in 50. And again, it's a unique year. for the city, 26, 27, and these projects aren't going to go out. Let me see 26, 27. And these projects aren't really designed for 27 or 28.

We'll, we'll start designing them immediately. I understand, but the actual constructed in 27. Okay.

And then start paying for them in 28. Yeah.

So I'm just, I'm asking, AND MAYBE WE REST ON THOSE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLANS FOR ONE MEETING, LET THE COMMITTEE, THE LEVY COMMITTEE SAY, OKAY, WE'RE GOING TO BRING A RECOMMENDATION TO THE COUNCIL AS TO IS IT ONE OF THEM, IS IT TWO OF THEM, IS IT THREE OF THEM, IS IT FOUR OF THEM, RATHER THAN JUST BLANKETLY DOING IT BLINDLY. I DON'T WANT TO WASTE YOUR TIME AND I DON'T WANT TO OVERBURDEN THE TAXPAYER IF THOSE ALL COME DOWN IN 27. It's a conversation point. Thank you.

You are.

Laura? I think moving forward with this, though, is helpful in actually giving us some solid numbers, where we're going to be kind of at the point where we're guessing on what are those numbers going to come in at. So I mean, I'm in favor of moving forward with this, because it's going to give us more solid numbers to work with. So we have an understanding. You take Union. What is that project going to cost? What's the estimate project? Is that one that we then put aside and move forward with West Seventh Avenue? So I think having numbers is going to help us be strategic.

And with Mark, you kind of answered your own question. You're not going to spend any of this money in 27. You're making a 27 budget. You're going to come back with a recommendation for that. We need to get all the understanding, like Laura said and Scott both said, we need to get the understanding and get it out into our public to understand what it's going to cost everybody. But we're not going to be doing our budget for next year. This has nothing to do with it. It's gonna be 28 is when we're gonna be, that budget is when it's gonna be spending the money. So I'm all in forward, moving ahead. The sooner we can get going on it, the more education we can have for it, get the people out. And if we're ready to do bids like we did before, we saved a bunch of money this year because we got out early. And we were bidding them in January, was it? I don't remember.

February, March. And there's my point. We don't have to do this immediately. We learned last time that we go with a late, quote October, November, December, and we're just in August. This can be decided in a month.

Can I ask one follow up? Some of these projects that we're talking about maybe stalling out here on, aren't they state aid projects? I mean, some of this isn't even money that would be coming out of our budget.

Yeah, some of the portions of these projects are.

Right, would be state aid.

That very well could be a point of which ones we proceed with immediately.

I mean, personally, I think we have to have the data and then we make that commitment going forward. I mean, obviously, Mark, we appreciate your concern. Yes.

I think it's time that we kind of... And Mr. Rachel's, I don't look at 26 or 27. I'm looking at 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. These bonding costs and operating costs and the surprises that we come up with in this city... like bells, are important. Thank you.

Thank you. Roll call, please. No. No. Go ahead. The motion is a resolution approving engineering task orders number 6, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, with more engineering, which are Union Avenue, 7th Avenue to Maple, 7th Avenue to Broadway, Sheridan, Channing, Dairy Trail, Dairy Crossings, two Dairy Crossings with Ottertail Valley. There's eight projects.

Yes. No.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item is a resolution approving the settlement agreement with Carlton Companies. Would somebody care to make that resolution?

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Scott. Would somebody care to second it? I'll offer that. Thank you, Laura. Andrew, did you want to say a couple words?

Yeah, Your Honor, council members, the settlement agreement was discussed with the council previously. The terms haven't changed. The full agreement is enclosed within your packet. If approved this evening, we will wire the funds tomorrow, and the issue will be behind us.

Thank you. Roll call, please.

Yes. No. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution approving the removal of two parcels from TIF District 414.

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Laura. Second. Thank you, Jim.

go ahead it's okay i was just waiting for you that's just fine just a little bit of um explanation of this this is the development up by the regional treatment center it is a tax increment district where the city is collecting and will be collecting the tiff over the years to pay for the bonds so the city bonded put in the infrastructure using tiff to to make those payments now um AN OWNER OF THOSE HOMES HAS TO EITHER BE INCOME QUALIFIED, AND YOU ALSO HAVE TO BE A PERSON. YOU CAN'T BE A TRUST AND OWN THAT AND QUALIFY FOR TIF. SO WHEN YOU DON'T QUALIFY FOR TIF, WHAT THAT MEANS IS WE REMOVE THAT FROM THE TIF DISTRICT. THAT PARCEL GOES ON THE FULL TAX ROLLS, SO IT'S BASICALLY DONE WITH THE TIF DISTRICT, BUT THEN THOSE OWNERS OF THOSE RESIDENCES NEED TO PAY THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS THEN OVER THE LIFE OF THOSE. So they're not getting the TIF benefit. They're paying the special assessments and it is back on the tax roll. So to me that is just fine. We are covered on that because we're collecting the special assessments to use that to make the bond payments instead of the TIF we were going to collect. So on these two, one of them is not income qualified and the other one is owned by a trust. Thus bringing it for you to have it approved tonight. We need to let Otter Tail County know this then by the end of August so they can get that changed for next year's tax rolls.

I make a motion.

I THINK WE ALREADY HAVE ONE. I THINK LAUREL AND JIM. ANY DISCUSSIONS?

MR. SONWAR, I APPRECIATE IT, YOUR HONOR.

MR. SONWAR, ARE YOU TALKING JUST ABOUT TWO INDIVIDUAL LITTLE PARCELS HERE? IS THAT KIND OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT? CORRECT.

YEP, BECAUSE LIKE IT STARTED OUT AS 36 OWNER-OCCUPIED PARCELS, IT WOULD BE. AND THEN THERE WAS SOME RENTAL PARCEL. So this is just two out of those 36. We removed four previously a couple years ago. We're just doing two more now.

Do you know the length of the TIF district, how long it is for that location?

Boy, it goes out to, it's the full 26 years, right, Clara? So 26 years. So now these will not be part of that. They'll be on the tax roll starting next year. So.

Just a curiosity, is the trust require or you can't have a trust be in the TIF district? Is that unique to Fergus? Is that a state regulation?

That's a state regulation. And that's for the first owner. All of this is for the first owner. So now if someone that currently owns one has been qualified and if they sell, we are not concerned who they sell to. The law is it's the first owner.

Roll call, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a presentation of claims in the amount of $1,166,125.42. Would somebody care to make that resolution, Jim? Thank you. Would somebody care to back it up?

I'll second that.

Thank you, Laurel. Any questions of Bill? If not, roll call, please. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. Under old business, we have the clock tower update and request of the council. I believe it is... An initiation of Public Improvement Project 403-9509 and authorize staff to solicit bids for this project. And with that, over to Len Taylor.

Thank you, Your Honor. Yes, as you mentioned earlier, we did get approval letter from the State Historic Preservation Office to uh... go ahead with project as they determined that uh... the plans that have been put together by scott the martin lair uh... do not show any negative effect uh... to the historic designation of city hall so seeking the resolution as you mentioned to go up for bids and uh... As you mentioned, or as you see in the memo, the architect's estimate for the project is between $150,000 to $210,000. That money for the project would come from the general government buildings budget, which there is sufficient funds to cover the project.

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Laurel. I'll second. I got a question. Thank you, Scott.

What's our timeline going to be if it's approved tonight?

I'm still hopeful for this year. I don't know. We'll have to see what contractors come back with. And I didn't mention, but I did give you the wrong plan set. The reconstruction does include reinstallation of the bell.

That was the next thing. I was going to say there's no picture of the bell in here.

I can see the B, but that's it. Yeah, it does include that.

Glenn, is this going to be all rebuilt or just restored?

Rebuilt, yes.

Is there going to be reinforcement to the base of which it sits on?

It was looked at, but I think it was determined that it is substantial up there. There was a lot of work done to the tower with some microlam beams that were put up in there probably 20 years ago. So the underneath structure is solid. Mike, do you have a question?

Yeah, I think so, Your Honor. Mr. Taylor, where are the bids going to go out to? Is this a specialized thing that somebody does, or is it somebody that local can do it?

Local contractors should be able to do it. Okay. So it'll go out in the newspaper and on the CDX bid posting.

Any other questions? If not, roll call, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I should have a belt ring. The resolution is approved. There is no new business. Miscellaneous announcements. Primary election day polling begins on August the 11th. I believe that is next Tuesday, 7 a.m. to 8. On August 12th, it's 7 a.m. Committee of the Whole. August 17th, 5.30, City Council meeting. With that, we are adjourned.

There's the National Night Out tomorrow.

Oh, and there is National Night Out