City Council - Regular Meeting

No, that won't work. You are really important.

All right, let's call the meeting to order and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Thank you. Teresa, please take the role. Okay. Mayor Jones here, Kill here, Carlson here, Bowen here, Matson here, and Heric and Shillian are absent with notice.

All right. Do we um can I ask for that change on the uh Todd Mo called and asked that we move his request for the Hartford area fire and rescue to the next meeting. So when we approve or ask for approval of the agenda, I would like that noted that we are going to move that line item to the next meeting. Motion to approve the agenda with the exclusion of the Hartford area fire and rescue request for 2026 budget allocation. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Carlson, yes. Matson, yes. Bowen, yes. Gee,

yes. All right. Uh, we have no checks, right, Karen? No checks. Public comment, you're here for something else, so we will the minutes back up to the minutes. All of us should nah he is trying to make up time. Motion to approve the minutes of our previous meeting regular council meeting 420 2026. Thank you Travis. Any discussion I'm off my game. Hey no worries. Uh if not we'll vote. Ke yes. Bowen. Yes. Matson. Yes. Carlson. Yes. All right. Now I can ask you carry any bills. No bills. Okay.

The public comment we already discussed. We're past 7:05. Right on it. That's a good thing. We're starting a little late. We're right up to our hearing time. How's that sound? First, first item up tonight is to approve the 2026 2027 malt beverage licenses. They are in your packet. Uh the only thing of note is is that the goat is not renewing theirs because they have not they don't have enough off sale to justify retaining that license. We've had no uh issues in the last year and uh the rest of the information is in the packet. Any action on those? Motion to approve the milk beverage licenses for as listed for 202627.

I'll second. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Carlson, yes. Madson, yes. Bowen, yes. Gil, yes. All right, we will move on to reports. First up, deputies. And we got double duty tonight. We got Jonah. And as we're going to quit calling him, new guy. Yeah. You want me to go first? You can introduce yourself. Yeah, that'd be great. My name is Deputy Alex Wall. Um, been with the sheriff's office for 4 and a half years now. Uh, like I said, I I've done uh I did 40 years in Minnesota prior to this and uh I'll be starting here beginning of June hopefully. So, yep.

Happy to happy to get started and be on day shift. You bet nights. I've been on nights for days. Awesome. Yep. Yeah, we're good. Absolutely. Uh Jonah's done a great job. We've had a good uh track record of deputies from the department. So, we look forward to having you here. And like I said, I told you earlier, you know, when you see the blue truck swerving at you. Absolutely. Well, it's very nice to meet you guys. You bet. All right, Jonah, run through your

All righty. So, April was taken through April 1st to April 30th. Uh total calls for service were 307 calls which was an increase of 78 from last month. There were six accidents which was a decrease of one from last month. All those accidents were without injuries. There were four assaults or domestic violence. Uh calls for service which was an increase of four or two. Um 12 check well beans which saw an increase of five from last month or seven arrests. Uh 28 case reports which was increase of six, 19 citations and 56 traffic stops.

Does that I was when I was looking through this Jonah is that 56 is that number stay pretty consistent month in I should look back this one sometimes. I mean depending on how weatherwise how crummy of a month it was like being in the summer 50s is probably in the right where it runs. Uh little more chatter this week on the on the dirt bikes and stuff down on off of Mickelson. I think I got one of them taken care of. So Okay. Okay. What do we text the videos to to you? Yeah. Yeah. We'll get the deputy's contact info.

I sent him quite a few when we were on our way here. So, and then I sent his number to Teresa. All right. Sounds great. Yeah. Um, just, you know, I know you guys are aware of that, but we just got to keep an eye on that. As the school gets out, the scooter deal is just going to go crazy. So, yeah. We just got to keep on top of that. I just I just don't want to see somebody get hurt. So, all right. Any questions for the deputy? I see a lot of signs for it. Is it Phillips? Mhm. He seemed to be in the lead or I think he's dead, didn't he? Did the other guy?

Um I think I think the other guy got his petitions then. Did he? Okay. I'm not sure. I think I haven't really confirmed it, but I know that they like someone someone said they checked like his website and it was still up. So, okay. There is a Yeah. So, there's two people on that. Okay. All right. Ready? Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, you going to be your one more meeting or is this your tailgate? Your tailgate for us? Depends. I guess I don't even know what the first Tuesday of next month is, but We'll see. I don't know. It's like the third or fourth of June or something like that. Something like that. Yeah.

I think the people that are going through field training for patrol, we're just short on patrol. That's kind of what the hangup is. Yeah. Once we got two going through field training and I think they're done like the 5th of June. So I think it'll probably be either what what day of the week is the 5th? Friday. Yeah. Friday. So probably first meeting must be like the 2nd, right? First Tuesday is the 2nd of June or first Tuesday is the 2nd of June. Friday. Yeah. You'll be here. Okay. Well, we see you one more time then we can give you a send off or something. There we go.

All right. Good enough. Thanks. Good meeting you, Alex. Yep. You meet you guys. All right. Let's move over to the most exciting time of the evening, the city engineer report. Mr. Michael, what do you got for us?

Good evening, everyone. On the general engineering side, uh continue to review site plans and plats uh for the various developments throughout town. Uh and continue to work on that storm water management um private storm water management memo um following since foot last week. Uh so I anticipate having that for the next couple of weeks uh just with some ideas, options, potentially a path forward there. Moving on to project status updates. Uh water resource recovery facility punch list activities continue. A few odds and ends really at this point. Um continuing to meet uh as necessary to uh maintain focus to get those items knocked off the list. Uh moving on to the Mickelson shared use path. Uh 60% plans have been provided to city staff as well as opinion of probable cost. Um continue to work with the state there as part of that. uh the grant process. We'll be submitting some environmental docs uh shipo state historical preservation office documents uh and related items just as as part of that funding uh to keep that one moving forward. Um moving on to the Kelly Avenue study. Uh following meeting with residents uh prior to the previous council meeting uh took their feedback, looked at some various uh cross-sections both trying to incorporate standard elements and non-standard elements. uh have a few that that we've talked about um uh within ISG working on some visualizations for those cross-sections within the neighborhood just to give a scale of what that looks like actually on the street. Um working through revising that now and plan to discuss that with uh Theresa and Craig at our next meeting. Uh and then following any input from them, bring that to you for discussion and um then follow a follow-up meeting with those residents. So uh that is all I had on the uh report side. happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Um, what's going on out on uh Western with trying to get the grass? I see there had been some emails regarding along the I had been with the weather kind of being so up and down. I was I was kind of waiting till it was getting consistent. I did send an email out to the contractor yesterday to get those areas seated. Okay. Uh, and in that same vein, I did send an email to uh Zacharias for Swenson Park. Uh, that grass just hasn't hasn't come back. So, and it's the same subcontractor for seating. So, I'd anticipate they get um both of those done at the same time. Okay. Yep. Okay. Yeah, because I kind of paid attention. I what I was out to coffee cup and I kind of paid attention after I seen that email come across. It is rough out there. Both sides of the road. So,

seems like there's always a problem with this grass. Yeah. Just like I mean there's just no way around it. Bad seed or what's going on last two three years has been terrible. uh that section south I mean the north section north was come back incredibly well but then they also seated that I want to say in July so it had time to grow and establish whereas the stuff on the south I want to say was seated in October so it didn't it didn't have much time to really get so it that's why it's patchy the stuff that shot up earlyed the rest just didn't All right anybody else got anything else for Michael

when do we anticipate having the uh Kelly Avenue information available as far as the um roadway sections and that um standard non-standard road option. Yeah. So, uh the our visual visualization team got some stuff to me today. I I gave them a few comments just for some some clarity, help out the visual. Um I'm hoping we can review with Trace and Craig this coming Thursday. Um any changes will should be quick from there. Hopefully, Craig. Um, and then be able to provide those to council for your review ahead of a the next meeting and give you a little synopsis of each and the thought process that went into each. What's a visualization team?

A visualization team. Uh, so this is more for our vertical, our building architectural staff. Uh, but they are the ones that make the pretty pictures. Got it. I figured. I will admit roads and sewers are not the um prettiest uh things to look at as necessary as they are. But the vis visualization team is the one that makes the makes it look nice and really helps uh sell the idea. They put the cars and the people and the trees and Yes. Correct. Got it. Photo grading all that. Y hopefully looking at those pictures will get an idea if you go with this object. Here's what it will look like, you know. So they'll see how their yard will look. You know, those are worried about it being

not an engineering cross-section with no context. The visualization would provide context of what it would actually look. We started some photos of of the street. Sure. So, we're kind of overlining those, too. Just dump it into some AI program and then they doctor it up and call it good. They do a lot of doctor. So, this is our dream of our non our standard for non-standard. Yeah. Non-standard standard. Repeat that. Yeah. Well, uh I said our our standard for non-standard roadways in town. It could be standard. A couple other neighborhoods that have similar issues.

Yeah, I think I mean each case is unique. If you want to make the non-standard standard, then certainly, but you know, you can it's your roads to the city. You can choose what to do based on each unique situation. Depends on if they meet the criteria. Correct. All right. Right. Thank you. All right. Anything else for Michael? I see you have one uh action item in here for a pay request. Correct. uh pay request number 28 uh to Rice Lake in the amount of $4,862 uh for some contingency items as well as the ballards at the legislation. Okay. The ballards weren't just thrown in as a design oversight.

I could try pretty good. You really don't notice that white color. Yeah, they really they do sort of blend in. Yeah, they do blend in. That was a good I still think that was a good idea. Right. It was yours. I'm not taking credit for it. It doesn't matter whose idea it was. It was a good idea. Yeah, it does. All right. Action on this. I'd make a motion to approve pay request 28 to Rice Lake Construction Group for $4,862. Second. We'll go ahead. We'll second. I like the engineers. All right. Uh, any discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Ke,

yes. Bowen, yes. Matson, yes. Carlson, yes. All right, Michael. Anything else? That is all. Is that it? Is that the last payment to them? No. Figure out way. We're going to figure out there's some left in the contingency. There's still some left in that contingency. I mean, it came out. Yeah. Here we're going to visualize what this looks like without our trailer back. You know, hey, will the placement of the uh flag out there going to is that going to require the vis visualization team? Is there a change order coming for that or I might just talk to electrician have one that's out there and have just put it out. It'll be out of contingency though through Rice Lake.

You get the electrician involved. We're not going to be able to afford it. That's true. All right. Thank you, Michael. We'll move on to Craig's report. Uh about the only update is uh with the pool. Uh Neil's been filling it. Uh he's got pumps running and he did fire up the heaters and shut them back down. So everything's working and should be in good shape. We figured we'd try to save a little money this year and not run the heaters. So uh I've already had about a half dozen people said make sure that you got the heaters turned on. So that I'm in charge of that. So uh so we'll make sure they're working. Oh yeah, I know you are. They just won't be. And then the only other stuff is uh action items I guess coming up.

Um how we doing right here next door with the uh light pole. Uh they've got the wire brought in. So I was going to talk to Tom and see if we can go ahead and get the concrete put back in there. So Okay. They board that in from the alley. Yeah. Okay. We had to take the one panel out. We thought we' have to remove two, but we got five just Okay. Okay. And then uh heard about uh bids for the for the what's this building called? The senior house. Engage house. Is it in there? It's in there. I didn't scroll down for coming up. Was that I got hung up at the There's one right there. Never mind. Thought it was in there. All right.

All right. Your action items are in here. First one is the pickle ball courts. Yes. We brought this up at the um last park board meeting and we discussed it and Keith has anything to say on that too. Um they um decided that they thought for the amount of money and that that they would rather see without the post tension. So yeah. Yeah. Just almost driven 100% by cost consensus. Not sure yet. Sure. Absolutely not. Yeah, we get it. And then we discussed the fencing too and they thought that the fencing height was proper, adequate. So, okay, because I said now's the time to raise it up. We want to bring it up.

Right. But they want to add doors at all. Um, that's something we'll make ourselves and put on. I was actually at a in Morris, Minnesota. They have about the same setup we have. Yeah. Um, their fence was uh probably 8t on the outside, but the in the middle fence dividing was only like four. Correct. Um, they didn't have any gates on theirs, but we could certainly look at putting them on, but those will be something we'll have to make. So, we'll weld them up and stuff like that ourselves. No kidding. Make sure the size is right. Sure. Sure.

Okay. Um, I have reached out to our potential sponsor. Just haven't heard anything back, but I'm working on that. So, I guess it's up the final decisions up to you guys what you want to see there. What's your uh You got a timeline. When I get a decision, it'll be as fast as I can. Okay. Okay. So, all right.

I'm going to approve um proceeding with pickle ball courts as per previous uh design and uh per the budgeted amount. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Carlson, yes. Matson, yes. Bowen, yes. Ke, yes. All right. Thank you, Craig. What's your next one?

The next one is a discussion on the gauge house. Um, I was down here in the spring and well, I've been down a few different times throughout the last few years, whatever, and it's real damp down there. there's some issues with maybe a little bit of molding and stuff like that, but it just it's hard on the the structure right there with the uh dampness and that. Um I did look into it before I had budget time to get some money put together. I got a hold of a company to get a rough idea what it was going to cost to do it. Um since then I got the number from those guys um which is Blackburn. Um I did talk to the crew. They came out looked at it. They thought at first they might be interested in doing it, but they wouldn't be able to do the drain tile or anything like that. They said that'd be something like Blackburn, that would be doing that for them. Um, they were looking at maybe doing a bunch of tuck pointing this and that for the rocks that are in there. Um, I did talk to the another company in town here, Ser Pro. They took a look at it and got back to me and said they weren't even interested in it. So, I wish I would have took some inside pictures. I don't know if you guys have ever been in there down the basement or not, but it's

it's rough. Yeah, it's rough. So, this is basically I mean, this isn't going to fix the place. It's going to just try to get the moisture out of there, try to seal up what's in there to keep the moisture and the mold and stuff like that from coming and hopefully clean it up down there. So, and you're really pretty close to what you had estimated for. I mean, you're a little over, but Yep. We we budgeted 70,000 and the cold was a little over 76, I think. 769.

Yeah. And I think most of that was um because the the floor is some little bit of concrete here and there and then it's just dirt floors. It's unlevel. And originally, I think they were just looking at just putting some P rock down and just throwing that uh heavier plastic down just to walk on. But since we do have the furnaces down there and we do go down there occasionally, they thought it'd be better to put a heavier type floor in there so you could actually walk on it without poking holes in the flooring. So, so that's why I bumped the price up just a little bit. So, does the um price or do you do you envision needing um any kind of a dehumidifier or air exchanger down there in the future?

So, they we do have dehumidifiers down there. Okay. There's a couple of them down there right now in their quote and I don't know how much of that I probably didn't send it over to do all this. Well, there's a breakdown here. I see some I put the whole Yeah, I see some in there. So, there's some sump pumps, backup pumps, you know, for Yeah. So, but nothing with the air the air quality really. No. And we'll just have to keep the dehumidifiers running down there and just have them dump into some pitch, whatever. I didn't know if those furnaces were going to pull from there if it would be a good idea to induce some fresh air. Yeah. So the you know it all pulls up above. Nothing pulls out of the basement. So it's all pulled up and above the return. I see the cold returns are up on that floor, right? Yep. Coming down. So got it.

So I mean if that's something we want to look at in the future, we can certainly get numbers from budget. I know another item that I mean we're going to be it's kind of a money pit. The outside So the outside I'm going to get somebody that um did the front work on city hall. Um, city hall needs it on the south side, too. It's all crack and all the water's come loose to stuckle. So, I'm going to get price on redoing some of the city seniors building, gauge house, and then also city hall for budget next year. So, so we'll have some more expenses coming. It needs it.

Y. All right. It's just a typo, uh, Teresa. Um, but it says in the paperwork that this is going to be $76,000 over budget. Yeah, I noticed that. I was like, yeah, okay, take the seven off there. 6,000 the fiscal impact. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's we budgeted 70,000. So, it'll be 6962 AD budget. I guess just out of, you know, I'm I'm okay moving forward with this, but I guess the question that comes to mind is um what's the future of that building? You know, I think that's same discussion. We've had that discussion.

You know, like this is, you know, it's it's a substantial amount of money and you know, what's the what's our long-term vision with that? You know, are we happy to get three, five more years out of it? I don't need an answer now, but I just think nil now or the new council coming in like because you're right, there's going to be more expenses that are going to come with that building and this building. I mean, they're both old. I would if I would guess eventually there would be a building that would house city hall, gauge, library all separate community center probably is kind of what we're thinking out there probably

complex and then I could see that place getting sold. So, any improvements or anything you can do to help hold the value a little bit. Um because it is an old building. You're going to find somebody wants to come in and fix back up. And I mean the upstairs is huge. I mean, and we haven't touched that. Yeah. You know what you want to go that we don't want to improve that and then rent it out. You know, good good winter project for us. Depends on what you said your rent out of there. So I think I I don't see the building getting tore down unless it would actually have some major issues. So I I do see it getting

city selling it down the road and building something that would accompany you know take care of everything. So that's another question. Can the city sell buildings or not or do we have to transfer that over to um kind of you know like with land different ways of going about it? Yeah, there's different there's about three different options you can do. Pretty much the same thing with land, right? Exactly. Where the vehicles when we sell them, we have to go through different steps. Sure. You got to get them updated. Okay. All right. Motion to approve the proposal from Black Rim Foundation Repair for 76,962.88.

Second. Any more discussion on this hearing? None. We'll vote. Ke, yes. Bowen, yes. Madson. Yes. Carlson. Yes. All right, Craig. Anything else? That's all I have unless somebody has something for me. All right. Thank Can I get a tour of that building sometime? Sure. Okay. Just give me an honor. All right. Yeah. You ever want to have a little fun? Just go over and have lunch with the senior sometime. I want to do that. I should bring the whole crew down there. Nice donation. If you want to find out if we're doing things right or wrong, just come along with me sometime when I'm over there. Most of our work gets done in the afternoon.

All right, we'll move to Karen's report. My report's in the packet. I don't have anything to add. All right, questions. Anybody got any questions for Karen? Assume everybody had their paycheck in their account. I'm assuming. Thank you. Thanks. It's always nice to get paid twice a year. That's my property tax. Yeah, that's what I said. All right, we will keep moving forward. Teresa, what would you like to add to your report?

I don't have much to add to my report either. Um, just let you know, I've been working with the state to get payment out for our community access grant. I mean, since Western Avenue is basically substantially complete. I mean, usually they give you a portion, you have to give the project portion at the end. Well, we're pretty much at the end. So, I just need to basically give them all our paperwork, our payouts, our change order, kind of follow through on all that stuff, and then we will get a a check from them. So, I'm working with them on that. Um just an little I put an update on where we are with some of our grants. Um did receive word today that our AED is in and um it was Linda Hartman that called me about it and she said she's going to be picking up one for the coffee cup this week. So she's going to pick up ours too and bring it to us. So we even get it delivered. So that'll be nice. Once we get here we'll get it put in. Um otherwise I'll give you a little update on where we are with our summer hires. We have now got all our public works staff hired for we're going to hire through the summer. Like I said last time we have everyone for the pool and that's set to open um the 22nd I believe it is when it Friday and May 22nd and it's set to open. So they're working on getting that ready. Still looking for a park rec coordinator. I still have not received any um apps on that. So uh we'll revisit that at the beginning of June probably. We need to decide what we're going to do there, but we'll keep advertising there. Um, and then I I put this out with your updates. Um, but we have tonight to look at three economic development proposals. We had the previous one from West Central Schools come in and then we have three more to look at tonight. So, those that'll be on future here um in a little bit. And then just give you a little update. Um Travis and the mayor and I did meet with Sam Mass and talk a little bit about the tiff. I think he's going

to try to put something together and present something different than what the previous one is to us. So that'll be a future item that we'll What do you think of our new tiff guidelines? You know, as soon as we passed them, he he knew about them because when we passed them last year when he was going through his first one, so he already had them and knew them. it just so um I I don't think those bother him. I think it's just going to all come down to the need and the amount probably assessment of that. So, we'll see what he comes up with. Yeah, we had a pretty good meeting with Sam. Really? Yes. I mean, yeah, we had pretty good meeting.

Yeah, good conversation. I think he's going to revise his ask and and then come back to us. So, so we'll be looking for that. L there's um I don't have anything I think to add on top of it that you guys don't know about. And I see you had one item in there that you needed to approve the submission for that transportation plan grant.

So then the one item I got is that so I brought it up, you know, at our last meeting that SECOG has a grant out there for um to help cities develop a transportation plan. Um very similar to um you know it's a study. very similar to what the safe routes is doing, but this would just be directed solely on Hartford. Um, it'd be a a study and a plan that we could have just like our our water study and our sewer study or whatnot. It's a pretty good deal because really all you do is have to submit and say that you're interested and you want to apply for it and you're pretty much guaranteed the fund because then they budget funds for you and you got it. And it's roughly um uh 8020 grant. So it's only 20% with us. Um actually it's a little over. It's about 81 I think 0.95%. Yeah. That they paid for. Um last time we thought it was only going to be about 40,000 for the plan. So that kind of put our share down there. After we found out what the scope of the study needed to be to meet their guidelines is probably going to be about a h 100,000. So I want to run by you guys. our share of that's going to be about $18,000. So, I just want to I do want a motion to see if you guys want to move forward with this plan or not. Um, just so we can let them know for sure because uh if I say we'll move forward, they will put it in their budget and then this would be a 2027 project. So, we could budget forward at our budget meeting. But just need to know what you want to do moving forward. Is this um I guess you say it right in the right in the first paragraph, but I mean definitely having this on file makes us ready to submit.

It does. It really helps. So grants the grants nowadays really want you to have a study bind whatever it may be. You know, if it's for transportation or if it's for water, having that water study helps or you know, sewer. They really want to show that you've done a research and show that need for it that you have. So, it does help having this with grant submissions. They will look at not only um like transportation with our streets or whatnot, but they will look at our sidewalks that we've kind of been looking at our trail system, all modes of transportation. Um look at our you know currently what we have and then as we grow out what our probably future needs will be. So it also help guide us to as you know do we need to have a trail on this area or do we need to you know improve this street or what you know

uh um and maybe I'm wrong but I feel like we have plans and maybe I'm wrong but we have our uh I don't know what that big plan is called. I feel like to me it seems a little redundant if I'm using the right word. Like it seems like we've got some of our some some of like this information and so because you know it's great because there's 81% of it's paid and that that that's awesome like that's a good way to lead right um I guess have we ever done this before in in the history of Harvard? Nope.

And so then just logically I'm just like okay we've never done it. I think we've done a good job. We've got our uh engineering what's that big plan like where we look at future development. Yeah. Or we don't we look at that every year and that's great. Um this might be a little more indepth to see what like I said our current transportation um patterns are and where as we grow, you know, if we're going east, where do we need to beef it up there? I think it'll be a little more in depth of a study. Um ICE G is the one we call to probably do it if know if you've had experience with um trying what

I'm just curious. It's it's a lot of the larger communities truthfully. I know recently the city of Canton updated their major streets plan which I believe is a subset of this one. What that helped them establish is their planning jurisdiction. So as one of their one of their drivers was as souall was growing if they wanted to have control of the areas closer to them and not let sou falls encroach upon them. Uh, another thing it can do is um with the expansion of oh, Veterans Parkway, right? That's been a study that's been since early 2000s, right? They they've had that route established, you know, they've done that study. So when those areas that they wanted to put the roadway in, they can uh came to a reclap, they could say, "Hey, we have this identified for a road and use the study as justification of uh obtaining that rightaway um or how to get dedicated for rightway. Um you know, statutory rightway is 66 ft, but say we identify a road such as Second Street to the east of town needs to be a collector or arterial where it needs to be 80 foot wide or 100 foot wide. um that that study could help provide justification for that to the developers. So it's not just we believe these are going to be collectors based on the way city is growing whereas we have studied it we are confident that these are what the roads are going to be classified as.

I mean that seems like an important thing to to do for us just watching how quickly the growth is coming and um if we can have that in place like you said to retain more control. I just think like I remember in Marion Road was like a dirt road forever. So when you think about going north of Sou Falls and you know east of Hartford that that whole area the traffic is going to start coming west. Would this be a rounds and what will they be?

Would this be a companion piece to our cap kind of to a certain extent? to a certain extent. Yeah. As developments would come, you know, we'd be able to identify for road expansion just that wouldn't be coded by those developments. It'd be the the main thorough players to identify those projects. To Sean's point, I get it. Are we just doing a study to do a study? Well, then I have another point that's 150%, you know. So, I guess I'm I'm also curious, you know, going from 40 to 100,000. Well, with that, like we didn't have all the information on what the scope was at the last meeting. That's why last night I didn't have you vote on anything because I wanted to get more information. Yeah. So, and to find out exactly what we need to do and what it would going to

it is only 18,000. I I think just how quickly watching city fill up out there like what are those other Yeah. cross streets and things that we should be these are all tuned for future grants. Plus, if there's something that just comes up out of nowhere and you have to have the studies done right away, this you'll have a jump on that. So you might you won't miss out on that grant. I mean I get it. Yeah, I get it. But I don't think it's bad money. I really don't think it's bad money spent. And we we still have an opportunity to I mean it's going to affect our 2020 27 budget, not this budget, right? Which is nice. Sure. Yeah. You're not spending out of this. So like at budget time, you know, it'll come up again and Right.

Okay. Is there an expiration date on these uh on this study? I mean, let's say it's 5 years or 10 years. I mean, are we spending 20 grand for for five years for or 10 years or whatever and then this maybe makes more sense if it's an extended thing or if it expires in three years, maybe we put this off for a year or two. So, when we did the study for Western Avenue, okay,

we looked out 20 years. So, that road is designed for traffic at the current growth rates out to 2045. Do these uh do these studies uh I I doubt if they go down in value but I mean do they stay like uh general let's say you know this transportation study is going to be 100 grand so if we wait for 3 four years I mean it just go up just because of labor or or is it uh or these sort of things just sort of so if we if we did it a study today and we had to redo it or update it due to some massive change or just growth far in excess of what we were expecting we could we could do basically an amendment the study or wouldn't be the full wouldn't necessarily be the full cost, but we'd go through that exercise again. We'd have all of our our

baseline laid out or we could update it and build off of it. I think if I'm if I'm hearing you correctly, you you're saying if we waited three years to do the study, what would it cost us? Right. Well, that would it be 120,000? 150,000. Do we really need this? Because we are small. I mean, yes, I mean, I get it. Sou Falls is coming, but I mean, I don't see it coming. I think the wild card is how much would we be reimbursed in three years? That's the really that's the real unknown. I don't know that the the SECOG funding would pay 81.95% of that plan in three years. Okay. And this grant may not be out there in three years. This is not a continuous grant. They they have some funding available now. So they're looking at helping with transportation plans.

Um they not they don't always have that out there. So it may not be available in three years. So yeah, I have a big fan of these eight. So they're nice. Yeah. You notice that the cost always goes up proportionally. Yeah. Oh, you want a storm shelter for your uh for your for your restroom out there? Oh, it's going to be $600,000. All right. Action on this. I make a motion to approve the grant submission for the transportation plan. I'll second that. Any more discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Ke, yes. Mullen, yes. Matson, yes. Carlson,

yes. All right, Teresa. Anything else? No. Anybody got any questions for Teresa? If not, we'll move to old business. We got one item there. It's to discuss our America 250 Hartford 130 celebration that's coming up July 17, 2026. biggest event of the summer. Well, that's what I'm saying. So, keep moving on this. Like, you know, we've um passed the resolution to proclaim it. Um Emry's incorporating it. Craig mentioned uh at our last meeting that Mike Smith is going to donate a a Liberty Tree. It's out there. It's out there. And Yep.

We should get a plaque. We should I would love We're gonna But he doesn't want his name on. No. Yeah. I I but I think we should look at getting a plaque out there. Yeah, we're looking. Okay. Can we use his alias? No, we've asked that too. We might know that. So, I think what we'll probably do is put uh Smith Family Farm or something like that. Yeah, that's right. He doesn't want his actual He does. He goes, I do so much work in town for all these people I don't need to be recognized. So, yeah.

Classic. Uh-huh. And then um the mayor and I did meet with Jill with the chamber. I said probably the biggest thing is um kind of have some discussions. We talked about how we want to do a a summer celebration. So we met with Jill and try anytime now, but you their block parties. It's usually in July. They have a Wednesday in July. We talked about moving that to a Friday in July kind of so we can kind of build up on it. Um they are all on board with that. they'd like to incorporate, you know, all of us working together. I kind of put down some things that we talked about um as far as having it on that Friday from like 6:00 to 9:00, having a free community meal, entertainment, music, fireworks. Um and the gentleman that did their fireworks at their fall festival, he is available that night. He's kind of penciled it in so everything moves forward. talked about free giveaways and prizes, um, t-shirts, banners, or kind of the whole kitten kaboodleoodle, we thought. So, I guess just to get your guys' input of what you guys think and probably kind of one of the biggest things as we start to plan, what do we want to budget for this? That's what I was ask that's that's going to be the thing of how big do we go and yeah,

the first thing that jumps into my head though is the Friday night might you might see 50% of this community out of town because the 4th is Saturday, right? No, this we're going two weeks after two weeks after I missed the date there. 17th. 17th. Okay. We're going to move it off the 4th. Okay. Because like I think so, too. I think Fourth of July, you long weekend. You You'll lose people. There's bigger celebrations and there's other bigger celebrations going on. You lose people. So, this I think it's good not having it on the 4th actually. I think it'll help us basically there. Yeah. Feel good. Okay. And they and Joe kind of thinks that too that it'll just like you said and with it not being on the fourth that helped us secure the fireworks because otherwise for sure. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Well, there I was uh processing those numbers. I'm still trying to figure out how all the flags can be so much more. Yeah. But anyway. Oh. So is this are these all things that the chamber already had planned and budgeted for or are these things that need to be

um So they don't usually have a free meal. They have food vendors come out there and people buy it. So that would be something that we probably look that would throw, you know, we'd contribute on a cost for that because um they will have vendors out there normally. As far as the banners, Jill kind of mentioned she thinks she can get sponsors for the banners so that if we buy them, we could probably get reimbursed on some sponsorship with them there. Um, if we are going to do t-shirts, um, we've kind of talked about with GirlCots, we could set up with them, get a design going there and let people pre-order them and, you know, pay for them that way and be able to wear them to the event and then maybe purchase some more and have them be able to buy them at the event. So, purchasing some extra ones would be a cost, too, coming there. um entertainment. They have had DJs there before, I think. But we're talking about a band. Arts kind of talked to what did they call them? The the Brassholes.

I don't know if you've ever heard of the Brass Holes. They're really great. They play all uh cover age 70s and 80s rock songs on all brass. They Travis has heard them. They're a lot of fun. It's They're a lot of fun. It'll really be a great show. So maybe that and and we kind of talked about maybe having another person play for an hour. We've talked about getting the West Central Band in. Um that probably be no cost, but there's going to be with the food and the entertainment and and um if we do some prizes and giveaways, there's going to be some costs associated there and and doing the banners, they're going to be upfront costs anyway with those for sure. Yeah. Looking at that.

I wonder if they could just who was ever working on this like I'm just be curious on Yeah. What do they need? Right. It's kind of hard for us to say here's our amount. Be nice to have a So, um, the morphing committee with the chambers kind of working on Jill's taking it to them. They meet on the 19th, I believe. I have it on my calendar. I'm going to go to that meeting with it and we're going to kind of talk through everything. I might have a better idea at that time. That next that meeting that night. Yes, exactly. So, I'll be going that morning. So, our next meeting, I might have a better idea of a cost or whatnot, but I wanted to kind of throw this out there for discussion a little bit. You guys thinking about it?

I thought it was great that we put that $10,000 uh in there for marketing promotions. I mean, that's exactly what we did for marketing promotions. Well, and that comes out of the third penny. That's where we budgeted at. How much money do we have in there, Karen? Third penny. This is a I mean for a lot of people this is a once in a lifetime deal. I'm one of the old people that was around in in 200. Yeah. In 17 in 1776 I was there and then 1976 I was there. My brother graduated in 1976. Yeah. So it's a big deal.

45. Okay. We got 245 on the third penny. Yeah. So that if you could mention to the chamber, you know, if we could pre-order some of these things like if we wanted it or a t-shirt or something. Yeah. And then that's kind of what Jill kind of talked. It'd be nice to meet them on July. Yeah. It'd be nice, right? Right. Get it set up, get it designed, and so people can pre-order them and then especially if they're t-shirts, they can wear them to the event and whatnot. So yeah. I saw the city of Deadwood had pre-sold some uh what do they call those? Buntings.

Buntings. Yeah. And they had to extend the the date deadline or the close date twice because they were getting so much uh participation. Buntings. I do a little bunting. I don't even know what underneath the windows. The bumpings like you swag the red, white, and blue. That's a bunting. Oh, I could put some of those in the office. That'd look kind of fun in there. It'd be cool if you did. That thing's been around since 1776. I just had I just had a thought of an IDF, but I'm going to run it past uh I'm going to run it past the brewery before I say anything. You got You're talking about doing a 250th commemorative beer. Not a beer. Jeez. Not a beer. Not a beer. They'll be serving my beer. I hope. Mayor beer.

Mayor beer. All right. But I I'd say let's get a let's get a solid if we can a solid dollar figure. But more I think tonight we just wanted you guys to be aware. I I really think this is going to be a great this is going to be a great I mean I really want to have this be a tens of thousands of dollars to spend. Tens of thousands of dollars. Tens of thousands 10 of thousand in the third penny. One question for tonight. Do you guys want to order some American 250 flags for the city to fly? I think we should do that now. I was going to say we could order get them ordered and get them up at city hall and out of the park and whatnot. So,

yeah. Do we need to pick which one? I I was thinking if you would pick a vendor, I I think it'd be nice to incorporate 250 and the 130th onto a flag and and all of them says they can work on a design with us. So if you want to go down that road, we could do Oh, you want to do America 250, Hartford 130 on the same flight? Man, that'd be Could we incorporate our logo into a flag? Maybe not. But yeah, maybe. I don't know. I'm just spitballing ideas.

Be cool to have like a Harford flag that has our logo or something. I don't know. I'm just spitballing ideas. something that is, but also the flags they have on here are pretty cool, too. So, I'm just all for getting flags up. My flag goes up tomorrow. I saw them in Florida last week. All right. I'd say work on that. So, you want me to work on a design? Yes. Columbus design. When you look at the when you look at it, I mean, it seems like it'd be easiest whoever quote two is, you could get everything in one spot for about the best price. for the best price. That's kind of what I wanted some direction. I mean, it'd be nice to buy in Sou Falls, but what?

Yeah, that's where I ordered mine. I ordered mine from Confirm. Put that over. They're going to be up one year. Okay. I've got a question on that cuz I'm trying to find these quotes. It's page 50. I would love I I think one question that we should ask these vendors is where are their flags manufactured? That's all. I asked I did check that after the last that is on there. That's all you knew last time. Oh, I was here. I was here, but I forget. So, I did all three of them. Made in America. And they they do in Minnesota. Yeah, they almost as bad as China. Sorry. I don't care. I don't care.

All right. All right. Do we need to pick a flag design down there or do you want to you going to work on a narrow? We're going to work on a design that would um Well, we we have the design, but do we want to do just the one of these standard? Um don't do the southbend one though. We can let the chamber do that. Yeah. Who Who's got these options? Is any Yeah. And these are just some examples, but they all said they can work on pretty much any design we want. So, I was just kind of giving you Yeah. Well, it's exciting times and it's coming quick. It is. That's why it'll be gone. Just as quick. 75 days. You know what it is?

Yeah. About I just bought tickets today. So for to the UFC fight at the White House on July 1st. So I don't I don't know. All right. Thank you. Any other questions for Trees on the 250? No. No. Great. Grand. All right. We're moving past the Hartford area fire. We moved that. We're going to go to the second item under new business. Uh approval of the shields signage option for Swenson Park. Motion to approve the per the park and recck board's recommendation to move forward with the shield signage as presented. Second. Any discussion?

You know, I would like to give a shout out to Duncan. I mean, he is doing outstanding job on fundraising on I mean on all of this stuff. I mean it's not just this thing and I mean I'm impressed that he had more money on it but uh but you know with all the banners and everything Yeah. He's done great with his sponsor. He has really done a great job. I told I said you have to throttle the back a little. How are you going to beat this next year? Worry about it. Yeah. All right. We have a motion in a second. Uh, any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Carlson, yes. Matson, yes. Bowen, yes. Ke,

yes. All right. Next up, we have an abatement application for parcel number 23568. It's in your packet. Make a motion to approve the abatement for parcel 23568. I'll second that. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll vote. Keel, yes. Bowen, yes. Madson, yes. Carlson, yes.

All right. Next up, we have a review of our municipal ordinance 760 fines and fees. We made a couple changes. One, uh, of note that we discussed last meeting is to remove the verbiage on family pa cap of the family pass. Everybody in the family will need to have their own individual pass. Correct. Correct. That's what we decided. And they clarified the verbiage on on premise fullervice restaurant liquor licenses. So that's also been cleaned up.

Yeah. Basically the only thing that what you have in your packet is just those two verbiage changed. We did not change any dollar amounts. Um except for Keith as you remember the other ones. We did a few changes. Um, last year we did about four or five different changes, small changes in some of the licensing or whatnot. Um, Craig and I and Karen have all reviewed it. Um, we're not suggesting any for this year, but of course that's up for discussion for you guys if you want to do any changes to it. Um I'll make a motion to um pass the review of the municipal ordinance 760 fines and fees.

Okay. And what we'll do so so this is um to make those verbiage changes. We'll have to basically have a first and a second reading of a new ordinance. This is just for discussion. So I'll bring it you. All right. If you guys don't have any other changes, I'll present at the next meeting for first reading an updated version of this. I looked through I don't know if there was anything else I thought because I we cleaned this up last year. I think we did a pretty good review of it last year of it. Um some that were really outdated. Like I said, we did some slight changes.

Um I did hold off a little bit, but like I put in my report, I did have planning and zoning review our building permit fees. um we haven't done did that in quite a few years. So I wanted to go through that process to see if they had any suggestion for changes. We did a a big comparison of um our valuations and our our uh amounts we're charging for both our residential and commercial. They took a couple meetings to kind of really discuss that and they're suggesting no changes on those either. We feel we're we're pretty right in line with other communities. We're we're not the lowest but we're not the highest either. were kind of midline and we think we're pretty fair across the board with the other communities for development. So, we didn't do any changes in that.

All right. So, hearing none, I think we're good. If you bring us uh first reading, you guys don't have any other suggestions. I will bring we'll have first reading at the next meeting and obviously you can still have input at that time as well. But one thing to note, I should have brought this up. Um, I've got a pretty um, valid complaint from one of my neighbors near Six and Oaks. Um, they got a young family and they've ran into a couple times where there's been dogs that, you know, that the property owner just let out, you know, to without a leash. Yeah. Walking their kid in a stroller and they've had

a situation recently where that dog is lucky to be alive. And I he came up like, "Dude, call the cops." And Definitely call the cops and call that. But if you could just put a note on c like it's kind this on oaks and six and I've I've had an instance a couple years ago. I was walking at night and somebody's letting their dog out there and they Yeah, it was I would just hate to see somebody get mauled or, you know, bitten or something. But just make a note to Kyle to be if you have some more specific details. I I do. I can just email that. Yeah. Okay. That'd be perfect.

Yeah. All right, good enough. Anything else? All right, we'll move up to the la or move on to the last item, which is review additional economic development proposals. We know we had uh one earlier on from uh West Central School District. We have three others that have since came in. We want to discuss these tonight. I guess we have Christa's here from the one that was put in by Christ Lutheran Church. If we had any questions on any of them, she would answer to hers.

I think Brad's here on the music association, correct? And this is the M. Yeah. Okay, good. And then S Metro Growth Alliance has put one in and that's in your pocket.

Yep. So I guess I would like to say to the council if you have not what I did today just for my own benefit as we know I don't get to make a motion or I don't get to vote but I went through all of the proposals printed them off they all have in our application we have a criteria to evaluate to rate them by numbers I did that if you haven't done that what I would ask the council to do before our next meeting for sure to do that. Give us some paper forms or how do you want to tabulate them?

Yeah, I I printed them, but if you want to What I could do is uh email all four proposals out to you guys with the criteria sheet on it. Yeah, you could. Yeah. Yeah. Just not in a PDF. Yep. I was too lazy to figure out how to hook up my printer at home, honestly. Maybe just I can print them all off too. I mean, does that work? I can stop by and take mine up. I don't care either way. Just if I can modify it. Yeah. Or print it. Do we have

Yeah. If Yeah. If we could have Maybe we just need to access to Adobe and we could just mark these up. We have we have Well, you don't have Yeah, you got the free version of you don't have the pro. It's not our budget. I need the help to authorize it. I mean, I can read the proposals, but it's just like I said, I didn't Yeah. The easiest way I just I just on my home computer. I just printed them off so I had them so I could lay them all out and take a look at them. It was that was for You're right. You want to come over and connect my You want to vote on this? put the No, I we're not going to vote tonight, but I want you guys to go through and rate them. Okay. But then that's how we're gonna sort of pass these.

That's how we're gonna That would be the first cut. Okay. In my opinion, Keith, I think that's our first cut. Should we have Should we have that done and back to Teresa before our next meeting? I would say we should. Nice if you guys would do that. Send it back to me. Then I can do a compile of Yeah. criteria number one as this compiles or criteria number two as Yeah. Right. I was going to say I'd like to speak to ours a little bit. Sure. Absolutely. We're not going to reach. Yeah. How how you know I I saw that the proposals we have $100,000. Is that correct? Correct. That is what we

But if you add all these up, we're going to go over 100,000 and then is there a way is there can we reduce some or that is all at your discretion. You can fund it in full, fun it in part or at all. That is all at your discretion. There might be a certain combination where you can't do it, right? Never. So that's what the mayor does here in speak to their proposal. So you guys ask questions and then by the next meeting we have further discussion. So all right. What was your name? Brad. Brad. Brad. Brad. Sorry. Former councilman. Oh, been a while. Brad,

it's been a long while. Yeah. So, I get a little passionate about this. Uh, so if I get a little long-winded, bear with me a little bit. Uh, so I want to talk a little bit about Play It Forward. So, good evening, Mayor, Council Members, Sue Stad. Uh, Brad Beerard. I serve on the West Central Music Association board. I've been involved with them for the last seven years. Um, and tonight I'm here on behalf of the organization to ask for your support for Play It For. Uh we are requesting $35,000 to help purchase new band instruments for the West Central School District. Um the total project uh projected need really is $50,000, but as an organization, we've already raised $12,000 through grants, uh community support, magic funds. Um and we're asking for the city of Harper to help us close the gap so we can meet the needs of our students and our community. Um before I go further, I do have a quick question. If you guys want to raise your hand if this applies to you, by show of hands, how many of you in the past year have heard the West Central Band had a football game. That lead. How about a school concert? Prayer of Lights, GM Green Days. You guys all been there? So, we're all impacted by the band is my point. Um, so it's a part of our school culture. It's part of our community, our identity, and the quality of life here in Harford. Um, so what's driving? I mean, over the last several years, participation in band has grown significantly. Um, and all signs for that growth, uh, point to it's not going to slow down. Uh, this last fall, the high school band is expected to have more than 100 students, um, which is roughly one in five high school students will participate in that. The middle school marching band was recently brought back and that has been a huge success. And last fall alone, more than 80 fifth graders expressed interest in joining band. Those students will feed

into larger middle school and high school bands for years to come. The growth is exciting uh but it creates some challenges for us as well. Um the need is especially high for larger more expensive instruments. Tubas, French horns, baritones, melons, symbols, percussion equipment. Uh these are all instruments that many families cannot simply afford to go out and purchase on their own. Uh they cost thousands of dollars and because band participation is scoring across the empire, even renting an instrument has gotten darn nearly impossible in some circumstances. For many families, especially in elementary school, the middle school purchase purchasing an instrument is financially simply out of reach. Um and as if a student cannot access an instrument within the first few years that they show interest um in participating the chances of of them coming back to music is slim to none. One of the central goals of play for is is simple. A family's financial situation should not determine whether a child gets to participate in band. This project is practical, realistic and ready to be implemented. The music teachers have already identified all the instruments that are needed for the next three years. The projected list again, $50,000 and we've already started working our way towards that. A little bit about the school district. They do what they can, but just like you guys, you're working on the budget. You got to make the math math. Uh Mr. I get about $10,000 every year through the capital outlay for new instruments along with $2,000 for repair for school owned instruments. While that support matters, it doesn't keep up with the growth. That's where our organization, the West Central Music Association, comes in. Uh we exist to bridge the gap between traditional funding uh and what can be provided and really what the needs are um in partnership with the school district, music teachers, families, businesses,

and community support. Um I live out by Alison McGildry, the West Central School Board President, and I asked her about it. said, "What do you think of these school organizations and how well they partner with uh and how we partner with the school board and how they partner with the West Central Association of the Booers Club. So, um she provided a statement which I want to share with you guys. On behalf of the district, I want to express a strong support for many community organizations and booster groups that partner with us to enhance educational opportunities for our students. As a district, we are diligent to meet the diverse needs of our students, teachers, and the wide variety of programming we offer. However, we are truly fortunate to have exceptional partners who help extend and enrich those efforts. Our music boosters, athletic boosters, and other supporting organizations play vital role providing additional resources that allow our students to experience opportunities beyond what traditional funding can support. Their con contributions have expanded programs, fostered student engagement, and create experiences that have a lasting impact. We are grateful for these partnerships and remain committed to working collaboratively to ensure all students benefit from the strong support of our community. So, as you can see, we work in tandem with them and we have their support and recognize that we're here to help work with them and not against them. Um, and I just want to be clear too, um, Mr. I is leading the program. He's organized, responsive, fiscally responsible, and passionate about doing right for the kids in our community. In fact, he's recently moved his family from Sou Falls to Harford to show uh, he's truly committed to our community and his program. Uh so I want to talk a little bit about your scoring criteria and just go through some of that a little bit here and really what does this uh request and and this project that we

have before us and how does that contribute to our community. Um the West Central Band performs throughout the year at events that bring people together. Jambbury days, homecoming parade, parade of lights, football games, basketball games, volleyball games, school concerts, community appreciation events. We're all over the place. um music program reaches out to the elementary schools, leisure living and community celebrations. When the band performs, it's not just entertaining folks. It creates pride. It brings families downtown. It fills stands. It gives our students a visible role in the life of the city. Um and this is an equitable investment because instruments purchased through this campaign will not serve just one student for one year. Most of these st most of these instruments have a shelf life of 15 to 20 years. They will be used for years to come across multiple grades and many students over time. That is community impact. This project also aligns with the city's broader goals and vision. Harford is a growing community. Families are choosing to live here and build their lives in this community. When they do, they are not only looking for streets, utilities, and housing. They're looking at schools, activities, opportunities for their children, and overall quality of life. A strong music program helps make Hartford a place where families want to live, stay, and invest. The band also aligns with local regional partnerships. These students represent not only Harford here at home, but throughout the region. In the last school year, West Central students compete and performed in communities including Marshall, Beardsford, Lever, Brandon, Meno, Sou Falls as well as Vermillion. They brought home awards, recognition, and positive attention to West Central as well as Harford at festival bands of Sou

Falls, one of the largest competitions in the area. West Central earned first place in prey doubleA class. People's choice award award, second place in class LA field and fourth overall. The program also receives awards for wins drum line drum majors and overall performance throughout the season. West Central has also received the NAMM best community and music education award, a South Dakota record-breaking 18 times. That recognition matters every time a student performs. They carry the name of the community with let's talk a little bit about return investment. Um because this is a one-time purchase that lasts many years. Uh like I mentioned before uh or earlier 15 to 20 years is a shelf life. This will reduce financial barriers for families. Uh they will keep the students involved in school. They strengthen a program by bringing recognition to our community and they will support and develop young people who become future workers, volunteers, leaders, parents, and community members. Music education builds skills far beyond music. Students learn discipline, responsibility, teamwork, preparation, leadership, problem solving, accountability. They learn how to be a part of something bigger than themselves. We see that in our own students. Band students are often the same students working in our local businesses, volunteering in our community, and leading in school organizations, earning academic recognition, and coming back after graduation to build lives here. I see this my own two sons. Um, my middle son, Camden, uh, started off with the French horn. uh my family had a major health event so there was no way I could afford uh to buy a French horn at the time so access to an instrument gave him a starting point. He eventually found his

way into other areas of fine arts including theater and choir. A few weeks ago he was lead for Mercy Jackson. He excelled in school. He's one of uh 46 national merit finalists in South Dakota. Um and we actually had two in West this year. um and they both participated in band. He's now graduating, plans to attend SCSU for engineering with the interest in physics, calculus, eventually serving in our nuclear propulsion program. My oldest son Anthony, but because of his side at the time, he started off with a baritone instead. We couldn't find one that was available to buy or lease. So, I mean, that problem has been around for a long time. But the band instructor over in Humbled uh indicated that she thought she had one in storage and she pulled it out and it was a little older, a little banged up a bit more. It gave him a chance to learn how to play an instrument. And he went on to learn trombone, piano, guitar. He served as rural major his junior and senior year and completed his Eagle Scout requirements and is now studying nursing at SCSU. We ask him about his long-term plans. He says he wants to come back to Harford and plant roots here. Um he has a lot of interest in uh trauma work. Um and he would be a great uh participant as a volunteer firefighter for our local department. That is return on investment. When we invest in students, we not only help them today, but we help shape the future adults that may one day become nurses, engineers, business owners, firefighters, and our neighbors. Um, round in the corner here, it's much more cost effective to grow a strong community from within than to spend money later to try to recruit people to move here. Supporting our students gives us a reasonable way to stay connected to

Harvard and eventually come back. job creation. Um the grant this doesn't create a job. What but what it does do is it absolutely supports the workforce development. Band is education. It is leadership training. It's job skills. Students learn to show up on time, practice consistently, take feedback, work as a team, manage pressure, perform in public, and follow through on their commitments. Those are the same qualities our local employers are looking for. Many of our band students already work in local businesses while they are in school. They keep those businesses running. They serve residents. They contribute to local sales activity. More importantly, they develop the habits and character that many strong employees and strong citizens want within their communities. A healthy school program helps produce the kind of these young adults into what we all should model and be after. um environmental and sustainability standpoint. Um this is very responsible. We're not asking for funding for something that's disposable or short-term. Again, these instruments are around for decades. It can be repaired and and used by multiple students over the over the life of the hardware. Um when talking about infrastructure, that's part of criteria as well. Uh we think of physical and social communication that was in the again in that rubric that you guys have. Instruments are the tools that allow the music program to function. Without them, students cannot participate. With them, they can continue to build strong bands, strong performances, strong student engagement, and strong community traditions. When we think of infrastructure, we often think of the roads and utilities and buildings. But communities are also built through shared experiences, traditions, relationships, and opportunities for young people. The West Central Band is one of those building blocks for our

group. It connects students to schools, families to events, and school district to the larger community. Um the funding the plan is already on the way. Uh the total again we're need is $50,000 and we've raised about 12 and we we're requesting 35 for the city offered to move us to be fully funded and to allow the district to move me to allow the district and music staff to purchase the identified instruments as soon as possible. The timeline is clear. These needs are identified in fall of 25 and are projected over the three years. With the city support, we can purchase these instruments sooner, place them into the hands faster, and give the band directors more flexibility as they prepare for the growing number of students entering the program. Um, in conclusion, I I just ask that uh at the beginning uh everyone kind of raise their hand if they've been impacted by the band within the past year. uh the the impact is clear. We're it it really is a community item. So, if you're looking for a project that has fair, equitable community impact, this is it. If you're looking for a project that improves quality of life in Harford, this is it. If you look for a project that is feasible, sustainable, and ready to implement, this is it. If you're looking for a project that supports education, workforce development, community pride, and long-term economic growth, this is also it. And if you're looking for a project with a strong return on investment, I believe it is harder to find a better one than putting instruments in the hands of students who use them for years to come. This is more than an instrument request. It is an investment in access, opportunity, community pride, and the young people who shape Hartford for decades to come. On behalf of the West Central Music Association, I respectfully ask for your award of $35,000 to play it forward

campaign so we can purchase instruments to support the kids and future needs of our community. Thank you for your consideration. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. I think you and your boys a long time ago, you guys scouts, right? You used to knock on doors and do the Was it the wreaths or wreaths popcorn? Yeah. I was like I haven't seen that for a while. So your your boys that were in it, they're all out of it now. Uh well, I got one more. No one's knocked on my door for a while. Yeah. Yeah. So, um we kind of have our tool in the neighborhood now. Yeah. The it's growing so much, too. So, you got to move on. All right.

Thanks, Couple things. the uh I mean I think it's the the I love hearing the band um early in the morning uh in in the summertime seems to carry all the way to my house and uh but in a good way in a good way but um you know I love all the awards um that they that they won. It's very impressive and I think they're knowing that before I left and and I appreciate you coming in here, but the um I'm having trouble why um why the school won't pay for this. Um it just comes down to funding, right? I mean, they're they're in the same boat as any other organization that is out there. So, while they're like you guys are trying to figure out to spend $100,000 on a feasible study a worthy investment or not, they're also trying to figure that out with all their different levers that they're trying to figure out how to pull. Um, I'm not going to knock the school district for what they've done. Um, but the organization has grown faster than they've been able to fund. And I guess if you back up about 5 years ago, we probably had a season that was less than satisfactory and Mr. I's eyes. Um, and when we really drilled down into what's the difference between previous or what's the difference between where we're at, where we want to be, it wasn't lack of potential, it wasn't lack of drive, um, it wasn't lack of discipline. It just came down to funding. So that's where we've formed the boosters uh for the fine arts. Um that's where the three trailers came from equipment that's in the stands. Uh but the the the district themselves have provided a new set of uh percussion, you know, that that I don't have exact numbers on me, but it's like 50,000 bucks. New uniforms 100,000

bucks. So they're certainly doing what they can within uh their budget restraints. Um and so we supplement that and partner with them. Uh and when this grant is available because it's an economic grant and what band does and what that produces my two boys I talked about are just two examples. There are many more uh students that exemplify uh the same qualities and traits as my two boys. And I know that's a long-winded answer to your question, but again, they're battling the same thing. Sure. Oh, go ahead.

Oh, and I was going to say and really for the play it forward and and how it aligned with the rubric for scoring for this grant, we felt felt it was a good fit. Are you pretty familiar with the uh the fundraising out of I mean you're you're the are you pretty familiar are you part of the budget of putting it that you're not school board budget but the budget that you guys need for the kids for um you know when you on your request here that Oh yeah yeah yeah I'm I'm very yeah I'm I'm very well verssed in this

if uh if you had a reduced amount let's you asked for 35,000. Is there is there a a point where we could reduce that into a more of a critical help the kids at really I mean is there a number somewhere less than 35 we have because we have a number of different requests here and uh I mean in different phases and then it sounds like it's going to be a negotiation that uh of the four deals because it it won't fit into the 100,000. So can is there somewhere where where number we could impact a bunch of kids or or not or is sort of a 35,000 or we're going to be in trouble.

It's certainly not an all or nothing deal, right? We just sort of getting uh a little more creative. So that baritone that we we need three, but we can buy one. So now, how can we come up with an extra one maybe from another school district or uh someone has one laying around that we can borrow and that extra one is going to be shared between two students, but what stinks is that student isn't able to bring it home or they're alternating nice to practice with it. So um you just get creative and that's just what we do. All right. Anything else?

Nope. But thank you for that. Thank you. I didn't realize the impact. So, it's awesome. Y All right, Ca, we'll let you have your uh my moment. Do you want to have you want to hand your stuff off? Yeah. We um have to use a restroom. You guys obviously got the one that's in your email. We can keep the meeting going, right? Um I'm Christa from CLC daycare. Obviously, I'm here for Kelsey. She had to coach her daughter's softball tonight, so she said, "Can you go stand in?" I said, "Sure." that I am the infant toddler manager um at CLC. Um I just became that January 1st. Um but we just kind of made shortened version of what you guys have in your email.

Thank you. Um just you know shortened points of I don't know if you guys want to look at that. Sorry. We have enough for everybody. If you want to look at that too. Yeah. And I have Okay. Um so let me like I said I'm nervous. Sorry. I don't I've never done this before. You're doing fine. You'll do five.

Okay. Um so we like I said, this is our shortened version of our outline of our request for funding. Um we I guess looking around 35 to 40. Um or whatever you guys feel graciously to support us with. Like you know, we would take anything at this point just to kind of help us get started. you know, since we are nonprofit at the church, um we don't have a lot. Otherwise, we're going to have to, you know, raise tuition, um do what we can to try and fix things ourselves. Um we are first off, um our playground that is the very first one, if anything, we would love to make new or better for our kids. Um, you know, it's the first playground visible when entering from Hartford on Highway 38 and Main Street, you know, coming down Main Street, that's, you know, the big one. You look to your right and oh, there's a playground, but it looks it could look run down, you know. Um, it's obviously used daily by the children in our in our care um and frequently by families throughout the community, you know, because from 6:00 to 6:00 it's daycare's property, so to say. And then after 6:00 p.m. anybody can use it. Um, so we want to make sure it's safe for everybody. Um, and then, you know, it's a community resource for everybody. Um, and so we would love to make it safer. um an accessibility improvement obviously for everybody. Um and in with that we we have some unsafe worn ground surface. You know, we want to reduce injuries. We have toddlers that play on the side with the concrete. You know, if they fall, they're going to get hurt. We did have an incident obviously the other day. A toddler fell just this far and had a bump on the back of their head. You know, like we can't always just get there so fast. So, we would love to get rid of that. I would love to get rid of

that concrete. I am a toddler teacher. I don't like it. I I think it's very unsafe. Um we do have holes and not even areas over on the preschool side. They have actually dug down in the dirt far enough that they hit a they found a pole. They found um piping underneath. That's awesome. Our teachers try to keep them not digging, but you know, they want to play in the dirt. It's sensory.

You know, they love to get dirty and who who cares? Let them get dirty, you know. Um, and obviously we have some outdoor toys that are aging. Our play structures, um, the play structure on the toddler side, we see they're secure, but the bolts are starting to come out a little bit. We want to make sure it's not going to fall down one day and there's kids up there. You know, we don't think it's very safe. You know, three, four, five kids up there at one time. You know, I want to make sure that's safe for all of our children cuz one and twoyear-olds play on that side. Um, and then we want to, you know, appropriate play environment supports children of all ages and abilities. You know, if you're you have a child who's disabled or can't climb up the slide or we want to make lower playground area. Um, and then we would love a shed. So like our outdoor toys in the winter time and it would just this the shed would be just for the daycare. you know, our play toys, our little ride-on toys, you know, anything that we don't want to get worn in the winter time, we could put in that shed. Um, or our water tables for summertime, our pools that we use in the summertime. And if we had a different playground, maybe we could put our pools over in our playground area instead of on our concrete right outside our door, you know. Um, uh, and then they would, this says, you know, more safe and reliable for everybody. Um, second, our gym and kitchen facilities. Um, upgrading our gym floor. You know, if nothing else, just a good waxing and maybe in the future, you know, totally redo it. It's old. Um, and you know, our and we would love to replace the kitchen appliances. It wouldn't benefit the daycare, but also the church. And you know, the church rents the space out, the gym out. You know, there's pickle ball, basketball, family gatherings. Um, it's shared. So that would love to make it look better for everyone when people are using the floor.

Is it still like that? I I did basketball practice there probably 20 years ago. Is it still that blue? Is it like a blue floor in there or what? Or there's tile. It's tile. We have carpeted walls. Yeah, man. That was a long time ago. Wow. Yeah. And you know, we have to make sure, you know, there's stuff marks and obviously, but you know, we have to make sure we scrub it good when we're mopping, but if we had maybe different floors, maybe we wouldn't have to scrub so hard, you know, cuz they are so old.

Um, so that would be it would help everybody. Um, and then lastly, um, our workforce and capacity. Um, with your support, we can strengthen Hartford's workforce by improving wages. Um, supporting staff retention, creating additional childcare positions. Um, it would impact local employers and families. Um, currently we have nine families on our wait list. Um, simply because we don't have staff because, you know, we we want to get more people in to Hartford. Um so you know investment this investment would support the children the families entire of Harford um for everybody the whole community um in years to come. So with that, let's see. Oh, and on there where it talks about the build Dakota on

Yeah. What is that? Um it's a sponsorship through STC. Um it we sponsor a college student and it helps them pay for schooling. Um and then afterwards they work they have to work for us and at our daycare for three years. Okay. So that keeps staffing like that. It's the same stuff. Uh the trades they do it in the trades. Yeah. Right.

Um, so you know, and with our if we with the kitchen, we would love to get a new sanitizer. It's old and, you know, doesn't do all all the things we need. We would love another stove or we only have one stove right now and our cook, it takes her a long time to cook all the meals that she does for us cuz, you know, she's two or she has two. Yes, there is. I was like, was one of them broke? Sorry. I was like, wait a second. But we they would love another one, you know. And then we definitely need new freezers. Ours are old and they're full all the time. Need a walk-in freezer. That would be amazing, but I don't know where we would put that. Um,

so yeah, I don't know. Does Do you guys have any questions or um what's your what I should know this how many kids you have right have there right now? Oh jeez. I don't even know that. Um there's like 72 or something between I have 11 in the debate room now. 10 20 30 46 57 Yeah, there's roughly 75ish. Yeah. In right now. You got nine families on the waiting list. Yeah. One of my workers just got him and his wife having a baby at the end of the year and I know they're they live in Sou Falls, but he works in Arbory. He's place. Are they on our waiting list?

No, he's in Oh, okay. What the um what's it? Long was the last name. Long. Okay. Maybe they just I have some questions for you too, Brad. But um number of staff, how many So you talk about the economic impact and Yes. the community impact there. So, you know, there there are good skills that are built. Yes. Um because they're able to hire young young adults, both boys and girls. Yep. We do have uh So, currently, how many staff are are there? Both full and part full and part-time. Yeah. Roughly 30. That's what I was thinking. So, one of the bigger employers. And some of our high schoolers are leaving.

We actually had two We had two high schoolers leave already. Um, and some of our college students, we have a couple going to school, so they're only going to maybe put work one day a week if that. So, you know, we're going to have to hire new staff coming up also because those staff are we have a staff moving back to Brookkins. We have another staff going to another two of them actually moving to Brookkins to go to school and one just moving back home. So, we're going to have to hire more staff because we're not going to be able to, you know, do it. So, so if there's 75 kids, let's just use that number. Do you know how many families that impacts? Um, those 75 kids, are they coming from 30 families or from 50 families?

Some of them, a lot of them do have siblings. I'd say roughly half of the like maybe 25 to 30 families. Yeah, probably I'd say 30 families roughly. All right. You know, and obviously all the ages. Obviously babies don't really go out right now but we you know all the one kids from one to school age we all play on that playground and you know also so even if we could get like the school aers get so bored there's not really stuff for them to do outside right the daycare budgets around 600,000 with about 250,000 of that being payroll if I remember right so that's kind of an economic impact good number for community

uh impact act, you know. So, yeah. Full disclosure, I'm on the daycare board. So, Kelsey reached out to me and I'm like, I do know I've got a I've got a defer. I I can't point you in the right direction here or the wrong direction. Yep. But, give it give it your best shot. Yep. And so, she sent me. I don't know if that's your best shot. I think I think I she did a good job of laying out on the various points. I think for me it would be helpful maybe to clarify because that's a lot and so when you think about ear marking money for something in particular we would love the playground if nothing else we would love to update and make that playground better and I appreciate that if nothing else

I appreciate that being because I live just down the road on Sixth Street and on Saturday mornings during the summer we I'll take the kids down there and walk down there and go play for 10 15 minutes that's Really? Mhm. Awesome that you guys have opened that up to the public. It's a hidden gem. So, I don't want everyone out. No, you don't. It is. But if it's safer, then maybe more would go play at night in the summertime or on the weekends because if you go out there and look at it, you're like, I don't want my kid to play. They're they're going to get hurt. Yeah. I I have three kids. I don't care anymore. It's like what?

I understand. I have a 19 and a 16year-old. I totally understand. Yeah. Probably what 15 years old. The only reason I know that that's cuz like Anthony was right when when you guys built it cuz that was basic, right? I don't know. I only worked for the for years. 20 years. 20. It's been 20. I think it's been 20. Right after I was deployed. I think they I think I just bought the house of the owners of that. Maybe they were. No. Okay. No. I didn't. Yeah. So is is there a way that we can uh take the funds or say a smaller amount and direct it

specifically for one thing or isn't that that economic thing? We can do whatever we want. It's the city's money. Just just point though, we do have a brand new playground um that we built in the park. I know it's a little way but but our toddlers can't walk there. in the summer because they're one and two. Our they and they're like ones here and you know we only have one to five kids. It's very hard to get five kids. That's a long walk. That's a long walk for children. Yeah. It doesn't have a van that can load them in. No, we don't have vans or anything. They're not going to They don't make them walk that far.

We have one stroller, but it's a six-seater, so only one class could go at a time. All four of our toddler rooms right now can go outside and play. Um, so like I said, we can't that's a long walk for our little kids. Like the preschool and school age, they can they can walk they walk to the park, but unfortunately our toddlers don't. I was tough in the van, so I wanted to be tough with the little kids. No, that's totally fine. You go right behind me. It's kind of nice having a mean guy on here. You know what? I would be the same person. I really would. You know, I'm I'm kind of the tough one in the daycare. Kelsey's more a nice director and I'm the the operations person. You're the hammer. If I have to be, I totally will. Yes. So,

well, this Yeah, this is good. This is the kind of information, Brad, Christie. This is really, I think, what we wanted from them to see because really, we're going to have to lay these all out and just see how to how do we pencil this thing really? I mean, and like I said, we any you know, and like I said, if we have to do one thing, we would love the playground to be fixed and any amount if you guys are willing to help us, that would be amazing. We would be grateful for anything at this point. All right. So, any other questions? No. Thank you. Thank you. Good. Thank you. So, uh kind of in that same vein, uh Brad, like how many kids are in band? Maybe you said it and I didn't write it down. You said 100 in high school band, right?

In high school, middle school, I'm familiar with, but they they're bigger than previous years. So, I'm going to guess maybe close to 50 per grade. Eighth might be a little less than seventh and seventh might be a little less than six, but we had 80 express interest in doing ban last fall. Um, so the interest is certainly there. Okay. And then how many families does that impact roughly? If you were to guess, I'm going to say 100 100 families. That that's like best educated guess. Yeah.

And then uh dollars spent uh on and you know you mentioned the trailers and things of that nature. Any any idea what that equates to financially? Uh we have an operating budget usually between4 and $50,000 as an organization. As your organization. Yep. And then Okay. Those other expenses have been paid for by the school district as you mentioned. And you fund raise 100,000 out for the uniforms and that sort of thing. Okay. You fun they fundraised all the trailers I think. Yeah. But like the uniforms the uh school paid. Yeah. For the most part.

The school has done like the the percussion and most of the instruments uh over the years. Uh I would say we really didn't really start gaining traction until 5 years ago. Play it forwards 5 years old. What's that? Play it forward is 5 years old. No, that was 12 of 25. organiz that as a separate initiative outside of our district. Okay, got it. Thank you. I apologize if I details.

All right. Uh the other one we got previous was from Dr. Knight for the West Central School. You guys should have that from one of the previous packets. So when you're doing your uh rating, make sure you do that one also. Uh the fourth one that also came in is from the uh from Sue Metro Growth uh regarding their uh uh desire to put together u I'll call it a liaison package for the Hartford LA area development SMGA and with the city to a certain certain extent. Um, and I would venture that if we if we needed um some of the people from SMGA to come and answer any questions, they would sure do that.

I I did let them know it was on the agenda tonight. Yeah. Yeah. You have a pretty good idea of what what they're at. Pretty selfexplanatory their proposal. Yeah. I think it's fair to say that uh with with Amy's uh position um going away and her taking a new job, I think the HADF reached out to SMGA to see if that liaison or not even leazison if they could act as an economic development, an EDO I think is what they commonly refer to themselves as,

right? And then um with the SMGA being, you know, affiliated with the city, you know, we hold the the membership per se with them. So yeah, I guess maybe I'll let you finish because I maybe I'll look in the packet, but but it's so they had reached out and and asked if the SMGA could could directly represent them. Had right. Okay. Y Okay. Right. And so this proposal I don't I don't know that that SM obviously SMGA thought there should be some um connection with the city, right?

And with this what do they plan on doing though? I think that's what Tyler could come in. I think that's probably TBD. I I think um you know we've talked a lot about how do we get things going um again and it seems like this might be a good triangular relationship to do that. Yeah. Well, and they they've got pretty much the one development going right now to where we were I mean I I guess I don't know how much city they would need. You know what I mean? Because they got the one development the roads already in the Yeah, just got Thank you.

need to fill it up and it'd be nice to have discussion around what goes in there and they have other property yet to Yeah. Yep. So, yeah, I'd also say that one uh by all means make sure you score that also. If we could get those scored and get all that information back to Teresa, we at least have a some sort of a initial spreadsheet, if you will, to look at.

I'll um like I said, I'll I'll send the work form of all four proposals to you guys. Um and then if you need printed copies, just stop by city hall. I'll make you printed copies, too, and then stop by city hall. So, for next meeting, I guess in my mind, um that's probably where we're going to have a more of a robust public discussion. We don't have to make decisions next meeting, right? Because there's going to be, you know, like I I I look at this and I'm like it, you know, hearing the four that have been presented to us or at least three in person. You two and Eric was here or Dr. night and um you know there's this is not going to be an easy no

you know like there's there's a lot of lot of things at play. So, like I don't want to be pushed to make a decision of like here's a dollar amount for everything we're going to do next meeting. But I would love to have a robust discussion and then come with a decision after that like that first meeting be ready that first meeting in June to probably start divying out money. We want to call it that. Correct. I would agree.

I think it will be helpful. That's why we have the score sheet too um to see what those scores look like. And we really appreciate you guys coming because this is, you know, this is kind of new for us too to, you know, throw this out and just say, hey, what are we going to get? Cuz we really did not know what kind of response we were going to get. Seat of the pants motion. Yeah. It was kind of one of those, hey, we got some we got some money. What should we do? And so we thought we'd try this. It's a great opportunity. And I think, you know, if you have the chance to do it again next year, you'll get more ideas and more momentum with it,

too. Yeah, I would venture. Yeah, you're right, Brad. If people see that we do this and that there's money there. Well, and I think we've got to be clear, though. This isn't like meant to fund something over time, right? Yeah. You know, it's a grant. It's a one time. This has got to be a one shot. We're going to give you your best shot at us and then, you know. Yep.

But Yeah, I like I told the council earlier, I I printed them all off and laid them out on my counter and read them all this afternoon. And it's, you know, it's really interesting when you can read one and read them back to back and think, "Oh, well, that makes sense." And I'd go back to this one and said, "Oh, they said this, this, what, you know, so yeah, I think it'll be good when these guys get a chance to look at that." So, at least you know, I had an hour. Nice work. Thanks. I tried. All right. I think that's good. Anything any other comments? Any other questions? I don't know that we got anything for uh Do we need to go into exec? Do you think economic development?

We'll go into exec for economic development. Just for a quick minute. Motion to go into executive session for economic development. Second. All in favor? I. All right. Thanks, Brad. Thanks, Christa. Nice meeting you. You, too. I feel like I remember You're a crisis activity. But I want you to know we were all like, "Oh no, he'll be here." And Travis was saying, "Come on, Keith. Stay away. We're going to call this baby off." And then put your two and a half hours by. All right. Motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. All in favor? I You want to hit that button, please? Thanks you guys. Yeah, by all means get the B.