City Council - Regular Meeting

It is 7:30. I will call the regular city council meeting of February 17th, 2026 to order. We do have a quorum. Please rise for 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. We have one council member who is uh zooming in tonight and Zoom is always a couple of sec or a second behind everybody else. And that's why you hear that's why you heard that. All individuals are asked to either silence or turn off all cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices that may disrupt this meeting. Approval of the agenda. Approve the agenda as posted in accordance with the open meeting law. And here in place all agenda items on the table for discussion. What is the wish of the council?

Mr. President, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. We did revise that, right? Yeah. For a resolution. For a resolution removing the first we should uh public hearing. We're moving resolution 20 26-14. Right. Right. So that will still need to have postpone. So we're going to postpone when we get there. So we'll postpone. Okay. So we'll have we'll still have that action item but we'll have to have a postponement after that because we do have a public hearing for this evening. So we'll still have to hold that. All right. So we'll hold the public hearing but we'll postpone the voting on the measure. That's correct. Okay. Perfect. Got it.

I second place motion. Okay. We have a motion by council member Hansen, second by council member Glaze. Any discussion hearing? None. Call roll please. Yes. Meyer. Yes. Kafa. Yes. Glaze. Yes. Hansen. Yes. Gochek. Yes. Carries. Approval of minutes. Special work session meeting of February 2nd, 2026 and the regular meeting of February 2nd, 2026. Approve. What is the wish of the council? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. Second.

Motion by council member Glaze. Second by council member Ligran. Any discussion hearing? None. Call please. Meyer. Yes. Kafla. Yes. Glaze. Yes. Hansen. Yes. Gochek. Yes. Garry's approval of bills. Electronic checks 4057 through 4080 and checks 113983 through11453 totaling 681,52.31. Approve. What is the wish of the council? I'll make a motion pay the bill. I'll second.

Motion by council member Ligr and second by council member Meyer. Any discussion hearing? None. Call roll please. Kafa, yes. Cle, yes. Hansen, yes. Gochek, yes. Vulture, yes. Meyer, yes.

Carries. Awards, donations, presentations, and proclamations. We do have uh donations tonight. Uh Westside Improvement Association donation uh repair dot panels at Labor Park. Mr. Jensen. Yep. I'm Brad Jensen with the Westside Improvement Association and we'd like to donate $10,000 for the repair of the deck panels in Loberg Park and also for some swings in uh Gamrap Park through tonight. So,

wow. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Who uh who should I present this to? I guess it's going to be me tonight because the mayor is not here. I'll take it.

Is it like a checker like right now? This is kind of cool. It doesn't automatically. Very good. I don't want to know.

One, two, three. Once again, thank you very very much. Um,

Alex, do you need the police chief to guard you on your way up? Caroline going. So, do I have a motion to accept the donation? Yeah, absolutely. Second. Yes. Motion by council member Meyer, second by council member Glaze. Any discussion? Hearing none. Call roll, please. Glaze, yes. Hansen, yes. Go, Muldrin. Yes. Meer, yes. Canopla,

yes. Carries. Moving on to the consent agenda. Items tonight are the 2025 annual fire report. Receive animal control report January 2026. Receive application for exempt permit helping hands 365 raffle October 24th 2026. Approve application for exempt permit and temporary liquor license. Holy Family Church June 14th, 2026. Heritage Preservation Commission meetings minutes February 2nd, 2026. Receive lower potency hemp edible retailer license application. Quicksave and rustic saloon. Approve. Morrison County Chapy agreement 2026. Approve. Offsale malt and tobacco licenses. Assidian Inc. DBA Little Falls Market. Previously MBS Store LLC DBA snack attack number 94. Approve. Petition vacate right-of-way request portion of Fourth Street Northwest. Receive. Police report January 2026. Receive. Recommendation of interview committee Allison Vote. Deputy clerk. Accept. Appoint. Recommendation of interview committee. Brandon Cheetah Burray. Uh, assistant golf course superintendent. Accept and appoint. Recycling report January 2026. Receive. Reviewed financial statements, Friends of London Hill, Schlenner, Winner and Company, December 31st, 2025. Receive. Reviewed financial statements, Friends of Pinerove Zoo, Schlenner, Winner and Company, December 31st, 2025 and 2024. Receive. Reviewed financial statements, Senior Citizens, Inc., Schlunner Winner and Company. Uh, December 31st, 2025 and 2024. Receive. Wastewater report January

2026. to receive water report January 2026 receive. What is the wish of the council? I'll make a motion to receive and approve the items on the consent agenda. I'll second. Motion by council member Hansen, second by council member Meyer. Any discussion, Mr. Council, if I may. Sure. Um, I talked to Greg Alex about this, but should I talk to you about the financial statements of the zoo and the senior center? You know, I don't know where to go with it. I just have some questions and Oh, so questions about their financials. You can bring that up with me and I can Okay.

get that answered for you. That would be fine. I forgot. I wasn't going to do it today and I forgot. I'm sorry. Um what was one other thing but it was and why are we why is this gentleman want portion of first for street west vacated? That's just a petition. So we just received that petition and then it'll be brought up for discussion at a later date. Okay then I'm fine. Thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none. Call roll please. Hansen. Yes. Gosh, yes. Ligrin, yes. Meyer, yes. Kafula, yes. Glaze,

oh, yes. Carries. Moving on. Public hearings and letings. We do have a public hearing tonight. Uh, that is on resolution 2026-14, ordering surface and or utility improvements, public improvement 416, 1st Avenue Southeast. Adopt. Greg.

Thank you, Mr. President. As you noted, we are uh we have the public hearing for our 26 2026 improvements. Get this started here. All right. There we go. Uh we are looking at uh 1 Avenue Southeast is the project area that we're looking at this year. To give you kind of a visual, uh it runs all the way from Wood Street all the way over to Fourth Street uh on the southeast part of town. Um the project that we looked at um mainly runs between First and Second Street uh on that First Avenue portion. Um because there is uh quite a bit of pavement deterioration in that section. The other portions of it, you'll notice that is a little bit better condition. We're looking at doing a mill and overlay and so a little different than what we had in our our feasibility report. Um the sections from Wood up to first street is a mill and overlay. So we had to update the um the assessment role for that. Because that's a milling overlay, those are considered just maintenance activities. So you'll see in later sections here, the um the assessments are not as high as what the feasibility shows because that is maintenance area. So those won't have assessments. um between First and Second Street that would have assessments because it's a full reconstruction curb, gutter, sidewalk, um batuminous pavement and the likes. Uh utilities are still good. So, we wouldn't be doing anything on the utilities um for for assessments on that. And then from second over to fourth, that would be just a a mill and overlay and so we wouldn't have assessments on those and I'll get on to that uh in a little bit here. So, the paser rating on that stretch is a four, which says it's fair, but it needs structural improvements. Um the water man is anywhere from 1931 up to 2022 6 inch cast iron and ductal iron mix of those two. The sanitary right now it's

an 8 inch um clay type clay pipe. The age is unknown which is not good but we did televise it in 2025 and it looked in good condition. So we're not looking at replacing it at this time. Um and then the storm sewer is a 15 in um as well in in good condition of unknown age. So, looking at the project uh need in terms of the the street view from from Google here, you can kind of see one of the things that caught our attention as we were driving the the streets. U you'll notice there's a lot of cracking um on this stretch. This seems to be an area where we're filling potholes quite a bit. Um and so that's kind of what brought our attention to to to this area. Again, another picture in that stretch between First and Second Street. Uh a lot of pothole patch, a lot of cracks in that in that area that we're looking to looking to to repair. Um, so the section that we're looking at replacing this with is a 52-in urban section with curb and gutter. Essentially matches what's there right now. 7 in of aggregate base, three and a half inches of batuminous uh consistent with a 10 ton road. Uh ADA improvements because right now the the the ped ramps at the intersections do not meet ADA uh requirements and so we'd be looking at improving those. And then storm sewer improvements uh to make sure we get the catch basins in the right spot uh to catch that that storm water. As I mentioned, the remainder of the project, anything from Wood Street over to First Street, that's going to be an one and a half inch millon overlay. And then from Second Street over to Fourth Street, that would be a one and a half inch millon overlay. At Kitter Street, we do have to bump it out a little bit to get the ADA requirements to get the ped ramps. Um the ADA requirements are are really strict in terms of the slope that you can have. And so we'd have to bump that out a little bit. Right now, I think it's a 36 foot um section. we'd be bumping it down to a 35 just to be able to get the get the um the slopes proper for for ADA compliance. So, looking at the opinion of probable costs, um the total project from Wood Street all the way over to Fourth is uh

construction cost estimated $828,56. Contingency coming in at $82,86. And then engineering uh legal and fiscal will be $27,014 for a total of 1,117,876. Looking at the the funding and this is just the surface improvement portion of it. Uh and mind you between first and second is really the main area that we're looking at for for these assessments. The assessments come in at $29,022. Um, with the city picking up because we have two parking lots on that stretch, $10,883 and the remaining 18,139 would be split amongst those private property owners. The remainder of that for the surface improvements, the city would be would be uh responsible for that in the amount of 597,811 for a total surface portion of it to be $626,000. If you took notes, um the total project is just $1.1 million versus the $626. That leaves the remaining $491,042. That would be a combination of state aid, utility funds, as well as general fund. Uh we do put away money every single year for street improvements. The milan overlay portion is what would be considered those street improvements that we'd be looking at uh using those funds for looking at the assessment role uh in the assessments for it. So, in that 52 foot wide section, um, all of those are are businesses, so they would qualify for that 52 foot wide urban section. That's at $48.37. We do not, um, charge for the sidewalks. We don't charge for any of the utilities because obviously in this section, we're not doing any utilities. Um, and we are doing the the curb and the gutter and the sidewalk, but the sidewalk is is borne by the city. As I mentioned, this is city project number 416. Uh we may include this with other projects throughout the throughout the year for combining it for bonding purposes. Um I don't envision bonding,

but we we have the potential to do that. Um property owners that are disabled or meet income guidelines 65 years of age or older may apply for deferment and as well as Minnesota member of the National Guard uh and other military reserves who are ordered into active military service as defined by section 190.05 05 subdivision 5B or C may qualify for a deferment. So the next steps on this uh we've got the public hearing this evening. Uh we'll look to do the design throughout the month of February here potentially advertise for bids in March. Uh open bids in April and then construction spring summer of 2026 with a special final assessment hearing is anticipated in September and October of of this year. Uh and then construction will be complete in the fall of 2026. Any questions on the the project as a whole?

Yeah. Uh, I have a question. Is this in like one of our I mean, we have these meetings where we're putting out our 10year, fiveyear plan for improvements. Yes. So, we've got a five-year CIP those. Um, so we've got a 5-year CIP that we put together. Uh, we also have state aid funds that would be used to to do this. Um and then we also have uh money put away for for street improvement fund for that mill and overlay portion whether we do crack se ceilings, slurry seals. We've also done some millon overlays that would come from there and then we'd also tap into our our state aid account to be able to to use these funds. So it will not affect the levy in 27 28 29 or any other years

because Yeah. I I didn't realize this was on the docket of things. I mean and and there's been so many conversations about improvements. Yep. In our streets. Yes. But I didn't realize First Avenue was on the docket. Um there's not going to be a lot I can't imagine on that avenue there's going to be a lot of uh assessments. There was there's like $10,883. What's that? $10,883 in assessments from private property owners. Right. And there's not because there's not a lot of private correct out of 1 one. Right.

Yeah. So there's not a lot of private property owners on that. That's Croucher Road. So um yeah, I mean as long as it's not going to affect affect a levy in any regard and this has been planned for correct, I'm I'm fine with it.

Okay, then I will open up a public hearing at 7:48. Um with that if you wish to speak um please raise your hand and I will acknowledge you and ask you to come up to the podium. Um typically individuals will be allowed up to two minutes and should be gerine and concise uh and further shall not exceed two times with a maximum of two appearances. Does anyone wish to speak? Please, if you would come up to the uh podium and state your name and address, please.

Hi, good evening. Um, I'm Dorothy Bon. B A C H an uh let's see, you want I'm here for Great River Arts Association. So, do you want my personal address or the arts association address? Give give me your address.

Okay. 808 and Marie Circle, apartment 404, Little Falls, Minnesota. Okay. Um, I just have uh we received the letter and so then I I'm just trying to understand uh as I said, I'm on the board. I serve on the board of directors of the Great River Arts Association. So, I'm just trying to understand uh within our letter, it said that the improvement would be what the improvement was and then there was a cost of 70 $7,255.50. So, is So, I'm just wondering trying to interpret what that means to us as an organization being in that.

I will turn you right over to Mr. Kimman. Thank you, Mr. I can ask that question. Explain. So, um, because you are west of First Street, Yep. you will not have an assessment on this because we're doing a milling overlay. So, essentially, we're going to grind an inch and a half off of the black top and put an inch and a half back onto the black top. Okay.

Um, there will be some additional um curb work and uh ped ramp stuff done on not Kder. Yeah, Ker Street. um right at that intersection, but that's part of our cost for the uh the maintenance project that we're considering west of of of First Street. So, you don't have an assessment. I took a second look at it uh last week as I was putting this presentation together and noticed that it was the mill and overlay as opposed to a full-blown reconstruction. So, um those letters had to go out two weeks ago and it had that in there, but after taking a second look at it, there's no assessments for for those portions.

Okay. So, then the actual construction that will be going on the first I mean first you know the avenue part of it uh what as we as the building on the corner what can we expect to be happening during that project I mean as far as uh are will there be any sidewalk work on that on our our side on your portion of it? No. Okay. No, your portion no curb and cover on that side either. The the existing curb and the existing sidewalk would stay in in that stretch. Yes. Okay. Where you're at that that makes sense. And then when do you when what is your kind of target goal to start all the the project?

First, we'll have to to bid it. Um depending on what the contractor's schedule, we're looking at bids in April. This project shouldn't take all that long because there's a lot of mill and overlay. Um and really one block of reconstruction. So, it shouldn't take all that long. Maybe six weeks tops to from beginning to end. Um, but I don't know if they're going to start May, June, July, or August. Um, once we get a contractor on board, we'll have a pre-construction meeting with them and get their schedule. Um, because we don't know what their what their workload looks like and when they plan on doing that. So, once we have that information, then we'll be able to to send out a letter newsletter to the residents along there and the property owners and let them know when it's anticipated to start. Okay, that sounds good. Thank you.

Welcome. Does anyone else wish to speak? Anyone else? Anyone else hearing? None. I will close the public hearing at 7:52. What is the wish of the council? Uh please postpone. We need to postpone this one. Yes, this was since this is a city um

this is a city initiated project or and so we would need 7/8 vote to vote in favor in order to move the project forward. So I would ask the council to postpone this until the next meeting um where we could potentially have a full council to take that vote. Do they have a motion to postpone? Yeah, I'll make a motion. Second. Motion by Meyer, second by Glaze to postpone this item until a future date. Moving on, we have Letings 2025 plow truck, news truck, and equipment amend award. Greg, Jerry, should we have done a roll call on that? Oh, previous one. Yes, we should have. My fault. My bad. Call roll, please.

All right. Uh, go. Yes. Lagran, yes. Meer, yes. Canopla, yes. Glaze, yes. Hansen, yes. Carries. Now we'll go on to the 2025 plow truck newest truck and equipment amend award. Greg,

thank you, Mr. President. When we ordered our plow truck, um the memo and the approval was for the purchase price of the plow. This was back in January of 2025. Uh the quote that we received from Nus Truck was in the amount of $156,712.80. 80 cents. Uh we would like to amend that motion to include tax, title, and license for the vehicle. Um which brings the total amount to $167,723 and that would be charged to the equipment fund. What is wish the council? I'll make a motion to approve. Second.

Motion by council member Meyer, second by council member Lil Jigrin. Any discussion? Yes, Mr. Council President, if I may. um $11,000 for title and license. Does that sound right to everybody or just you think it's good? I don't know. That that is what the state charges. Uh we pay the same the city pays the same sales tax for tax title and license as um as a regular uh resident. And how much is the truck? Can you repeat 156? 167 with the tax title and license. Yeah. In fact, it seems like a lot of money, but you know, it is a lot of money. You're not wrong.

No, but if that's what the state charges, what are we going to do? No, we're just driving around without a license plate. If that's what the state charges, I mean I mean there that's the statement right there. I realized that are are we talking about like for one year or we talking like So when you buy your vehicle, it's sales tax. That's the same sales tax sales tax. It's 6.875%. 875% just like any other product. Okay. I didn't I I guess I didn't hear sales tax. Well, I can give you a little bit more background information, right? Because the first time the the roll out the last time they bumped up

the sales tax, they exempted vehicles and kept that at 6.5%. Well, obviously, um, the state looking to grab more money waited a few years and then jacked up the tax on that as well. Um, I I don't know. This is something I'd petition our local lawmakers to get fixed, too. If somebody wants to email the state statute number, I think it's absolutely ridiculous that we're a municipality and we have to pay state sales tax. I agree. I would agree. Yeah. But I guess Well, that's kind of like what that uh tax we were talking about earlier. I mean, you just make up stuff

for the motion in front of us. So, we have to pay the we have to pay the sales tax. If we want the truck, we got to pay tax. We got we got to get this done. Yes. And then maybe they'll give us a refund. I'm I'm being hopeful. Sorry. Good luck with that. Yeah, hold your breath for now. Yeah, let's let's let's just let's just move forward. So, yes. Any other discussion on this? If not, call roll, please. LGR, yes. Meer, yes. Canopa, yes. Glaze, yes. Hansen, yes. Go. Frank, you're muted. Frank, did you go to sleep? You hang up.

He's muted, that's all. There you go. I can't hear you for the moment. Now you can. Yeah. Okay. Okay. What's your vote on the um 2025 plow truck? Carries. Thank you. Moving on. Now we have proposal for for PIFA source redu reduction work uh Antia Group wastewater award. Greg,

thank you Mr. President. If you recall, we did get a grant to explore where PAS uh would be located in our sanitary sewer system. Uh we've basically narrowed it down to a couple of one area in town is where we're seeing a lot of the uh a lot of the PIA coming from. We did get a proposal from Antia Group uh to do some testing on some particular service lines to see what if any is coming from uh from that uh from those service lines. The quote that we received from them is $18,340.60 that would come from the PAS grant. There is a 10% local match. So we would be responsible for the $1,8346 of that uh of that amount. We are asking the council to approve uh the group within TIA group to move forward on the PAS testing.

I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. Motion by council member Glaze, second by council member Meyer. Any discussion? Hearing none. Call roll please. Meer. Yeah. Canopla. Yes. Glaze. Yes. Ma'am. Hansen. Yes. Go. and LR. Yes.

Carries. Moving on to old business. Uh we have ordinance number 60 7 series authorized sale of property sprout. It was introduced on 1226. Um Alex.

Thank you, Council President. Um, so this is, uh, like you said, coming over from the last council meeting where I was directed to reach out to the neighboring properties along that, uh, potential community garden location. It was six neighbors that were reached out to. We did hear back from two. Um, one neighbor that actually say shares a property line with that. Um, and I'm reading directly from this email, uh, that they're just a little concerned with my privacy, having a community garden that closed, concerned about the upkeep of it, the parking, and the possibility of people coming onto my property, and possibility of vandalizing or stealing. I kind of hope that it doesn't end up here, but I love the idea of a community garden. We also had another individual who called me, lives in one of those six properties, uh, and he vocalized that he was very strongly against having the community garden there, um, citing traffic, parking, and just an overall not great location. So, we those are the two bits of feedback I did receive from the nearby neighbors. uh to revisit this one. Sprout had uh requested to put in a community garden at initially the parks board said no and sent it over to the HA. This particular parcel was owned by the HR. uh they had voted through to do the garden there, but it the property had to be conveyed to the city in order to do the sale for the $1, as this agreement is written, $1 uh for the community garden. Should it ever cease being a community garden, it would go or the city would be able to purchase it back for a dollar. Oh, and to note, um, if there is concerns with the particular use being a community garden, there are some items that the city can do. We can put in

place essentially policies that say community gardens must be maintained. Any composting must be in the appropriate containers, not creating odor, etc., etc. So, um, should that be a wish to continue forward as a community garden, we can put in some additional rules in place. What is the wish of the council? I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Motion by council member Glaze, second by council member Hansen. Any discussion? Yeah. Um, I'll go. Okay. Frank, you go first.

Okay. Uh, I said in the past that I'm against your location. Uh, it's too close to the school. too much traffic. Uh they're always picking up and dropping off kits in that area. It's just going to add to the congestion. I don't feel the property is that great for such a location. I don't feel the soil's that good. It's pretty sandy through there. But uh anyway, I oppose it and I can give other reasons. I feel still an option. I I don't know why they voted against it that one day. I wasn't there, but uh I feel we put up building there. We put water in there for that purpose. It was an expense to the city and I feel that's where it should go. And it would cost sprout anything. We could leave the tomb for a long term and that area park. It would actually be beneficial. It would look nicer there. And that's my opinion.

Okay. Any other discussion?

Yeah. Um I again, as I said two weeks ago, I'm 100% in favor of a project like this. I am not certain. And and this is and I I don't want to get into a sticky spot like we got with the a holding pond on the west side where neighbor, you know, we all of a sudden plopped a a water holding pond into their neighborhood and they were upset about it. I just I and I said two weeks ago, if one person's against it, I got to go. I don't I it's what that's enough for me because it I I drove by the property. It it doesn't seem to fit with the style. I mean, if the city wants to sell the lot, great. Let's sell the lot for a market value and make the money and then let's collect the taxes on the property value of that lot. Um I don't I I'm I'm 100% for for Sprout. I I if if Gamrat's a better option, I'm 100% for that. I am 100% for a community garden. It's just I'm not entirely sure about the location and I have to respect the neighbors that might be against that location. If it does go through, I would love to see a fence like where Sprout has to put up a fence.

Are they putting up a greenhouse? What? Are they putting up a greenhouse? Well, they whatever. I mean, this this Don't imagine the whole thing

again. And this seems a lot sim so so so close to a commercial site compared to a residential site that I have paws about the type the property use. And I'm I'm going to be of no vote on this unless we get and if if the rest of the council goes along with it and they're fine with it, that's fine. I get it. Um, but I would really like to see a fence. I would like to make sure there's some sort of a um stipulations put as far as odor control if they're planning on composting because, you know, I compost my grass clippings in my yard. Well, that's 100% different than like, you know, a commercial kind of type of compost. And I and I really feel this is this is skewing the lines of commercial use on this property and I just don't uh and and as Alex right as you said one person said they're 100% against it. They don't want to see this one against

and that's enough for me and that's that's where I'm falling in line. Um, and I see their point of view and my my concern is the fact that I do just do not want to see a recreation of the holding pond on the west side where neighboring properties were upset with what we put there without their consent. And I'm glad I I appreciate that the fact that you guys reached out. I think we did our due diligence, but I have to respect what the neighbors say. Mr. Council President, if I may,

number one, um, one out of six is not a great thing. That's my opinion. Um uh number two, it's next to school and to me in the fall that would be for the school to go over and learn stuff about that. That would be a great thing because it's really close. And number three, Sprout's been around a while. They're not going to screw up anything. They they've really done well. And uh I just I I number four is that land's been there for god knows how long and before your time Dave or my time and before Leif's time and nobody's wanted it.

Somebody wants it now. Wait a second. I'm not through. Oh, somebody wants it now. Why Why do Why not? I mean, it's a good thing for the community. I think it's a good thing for the schools. And I think Sprout will be very diligent in trying to keep the peace over there without people going on their lawn and stuff. There's other ways around to get to that without going over that person's lawn. But anyway, that I I'm I'm all for it. I mean, it's a step in the right direction for the community and and I'm going to vote yes because I'm all for it.

Okay. So, please please don't misunderstand me and I and I think I've said this clearly. Um, I'm for the project. I'm for Sprout. I think they're a wonderful asset to our community. What I'm asking is if if if this were to come to a well, it will come to a vote, but um, can we put some stipulations on the property? Like you I mean, one neighbor one one neighbor is super concerned about a fence, right? And so let's put that fence up. Or no, let's let's have put the fence up. Yeah, let's have them do it.

I mean, we're not gonna I mean, we we've already been around. We I mean, we we're learning from our own mistakes, and that's what I'm trying to say. I if if you if you disagree with me, I'm 100% okay with that. I know. I know. What I'm trying to say is let's just be as responsible as we can with the property and let's make and not not make but let's ask Sprout to do all the due diligence as far as being a good neighbor. I think that we can do that in that lease or what you know we sell it. We can stipulate that kind of stuff. I believe Alex mentioned that earlier. For a second. Sure.

What's going on? because there's too many people interjecting at the same time. Let's try to keep the meeting in order so I can actually hear what's being discussed. It's partially because of the delay. It's just been a back and forth here between it's just the two Daves. Go ahead. Sorry. We'll pause. Go. Um, I believe Alex mentioned earlier before we started the discussion that if we wanted to have some of those stipulations put in that we can write that agreement up that way. Yep. You know, instead of us trying to do that now, we can talk to, you know,

so the initial P. So the agreement is before you we could approve that as written. Um, and then as a city policy for any community garden that may be made, have that stipulation of fencing. um if there's composting using certain containers, o odor control, general maintenance of the property, that sort of thing. So, it's not just the one garden, it would apply to any across the city. Okay. Okay. Now, Frank had mentioned that he was in favor of Gambbrand Park. Um but it was voted down. Any rationale for why that was voted down for the location in that area?

Yeah, we wanted to have um we didn't want city control over it. We wanted to have Sprout be in charge of it since they were to be the ones managing it. Um, we've done a lot of work at Gamero Park as far as bringing a lot of playground equipment in there and the park board felt that they wanted to keep it more of a playground as opposed to try to mix those uses for it. Um, and so that's why they decided that it wouldn't be a good fit for for that location that you know potentially over by well the lot that you're looking at now would be a better fit for it. Um, is what the park board had suggested. Okay. Okay. Makes sense. Any other discussion?

Uh, yes, Mr. President. I'm not going to rehash everything that I said the last time we talked about this. Nothing has been brought forward to change my mind on that. I think this is a a bad use of land. Uh, to offer counter to some points made here. It's been available. It's still available because we've done a poor job in marketing what we have for open land and re and marketing this stuff and getting houses on it. This lot is a perfect example. I mean, it is a nice big lot near a park which is desirable for houses the last time I checked. Uh could fit two on it. So, I'd like to see us do something. I know southeast where I live on the east side of Fifth Street was vacated railroad land. So, we're coming up on 30 years ago and one of those guys that purchased it at that time told me there was some kind of incentive. It was a really good price, but they had to break break ground or build on it within a year. I think something like that is worth looking into. Um, if we're looking at this being a quasi school asset, the school has an empty lot twice the size of this one exactly a block away, a a block to the east, wide open, same size. Um, I I don't know if Sprout has said anything about working with the school students, but if that was part of it, then they'd be better off talking to the school, not the city. Um, once again, I I'm not against what Sprout is trying to do. I'm against this location.

I'd agree. I I think I made myself clear. Okay. Any other discussion? If not, call roll, please. Kopa, yes. Glaze, yes. Hansen, no. Gosh, no. Logrand, yes. Meer, no.

Fails. Moving on. Um, resolution uh 2026-15 adopting citizen participation plan and calling for a public hearing small cities development program project. Adopt. But before we do that, Mr. President, I think you skipped uh 9A. Oh, I did. I did. Sorry about that. Okay, back up. Change order one. Dean Well, well, for rehabilitation approved, Greg.

Thank you, Mr. President. If you recall, we are looking at rehabbing or we are rehabbing well number four is right outside here on our parking lot. when they pulled the um the stand pipe or the drop pipe for the well, um they noticed that there was quite a bit of pitting on the top section um as well as a number of the threads that were on each of the the pipe sections were um starting to to rust away. And so we requested a price from them to replace all of that uh that pipe in the in the casing, which comes to $5,77. uh that pipe itself actually is what the water comes through and it actually holds and suspends all of that equipment, the pump, the motor and everything um in that casing to keep it. So, we have to make sure that that's in in good structural condition before we put it back in. Um so, we are asking the council to approve change order number number one with Tywell uh in the amount of $5,77 and that would be charged to the water improvement fund and we do have funds in our improvement fund for this uh for this as well.

Okay. Okay. What's the wish of the council? I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Motion by council member Glaze. Second by council member Ligrin. Any discussion? Yeah, council. Okay. I'm I'm I'm going to dive a little deep here. Um they pulled it up. Yes. That's how they got a visual. Correct. And now that they got the visual, they're they're saying it needs to be replaced. yada yada yada. I mean I mean I I I I have some experience with this. If you're going to pull up a sandp point, you're probably going to replace it.

No, it's the it's the well pipe out there. So, we've got a outside casing that goes down and then there's a screen and then inside that is a secondary pipe which actually takes the water, holds the pump, and holds the motor at the bottom of the well. So, before you see any of that, you got to pull that all out of the ground to be able to see what's there. And they assumed it was going to be good. We assumed it was going to be be good. Yes. Yeah. That's Is that a good assumption?

Normally, yeah. I mean, to see the the amount of effort to pull that out. You wouldn't expect multiple contractors to pull it out and take a look at it ahead of time. Uh we did send out quotes to contractors so we could compare apples to apples. I think there was three of them that we got back. Um we assume that it was still good pipe. We usually don't have to replace it. It I mean, this was last replaced in 1984 or 85. Um, so yes, we expected it to be good, but when it came out of the ground, it it was not. Okay. Well, you know, I'm all for keeping our our infrastructure good, but it's like you kind of think that would be part of the project.

Not necessarily. Um, if if the pipe is good, I wouldn't want to replace it. Just like over on First Avenue, we televised it, looked at it, it's it'll last. All I know is when I charge like extra stuff for my customers and it's, "Hey, this is bad piece. They're not happy. Sure. And I think I can speak on the behalf of the citizens that but I understand. I mean, we need to make sure that the infrastructure is good. So, correct. Sorry. I just wanted to like push a little further on that one. I don't know why. I just wanted to roll on. Any other discussion?

Really quick question, Greg. I'm not I'm just looking at the price of the overall project. What's the long range plan for the potential new well sites? And I'm just thinking out loud if like this looks to make sense to me, but at some point we we need to transition from rehabbing these to saving that money for new wells. Correct. Not

correct. So, um this particular well, I'll speak on on this one. Um, it does have the capacity. I don't know if I've included it in here or not. It does have the capacity for quite a bit of water. And so, it's not one of them that we'd want to get rid of. There is a pump house right out over here as well. Number one, that one, when that one is in need of rehab, we won't rehab it just because it doesn't produce a lot of water. It's only about 250 300 gallons a minute. This particular one, uh, when they put it in originally, it was about 1,000 gallons a minute, uh, is what it was producing. Now, it's dropped to about, I think, 550. We're looking to get it back to about 650,700. Um, and so it does produce quite a bit of water for us for this, okay, for our treatment plant. Um, but we do evaluate that to see which ones make sense and which ones don't because you're right. We're we're looking to get over by uh St. Autos and get that one up and running. Um, but this was one that I just wasn't ready to let go just because of what Thank you. That was exactly what I was looking for.

Any other discussion? Hearing none. Call roll, please. Glaze. Yes. Hansen. Yes. Gosh, no. Wiltran, yes. Meyer, yes. Kafla,

yes. Carries. Now we'll move on to resolution 2026-15 adopting citizen participation plan and calling for a public hearing small cities development program project. Before we go on with that, I do have a statement that I need to read. Uh, and this is a conflict of interest statement. Prior to any council discussion or action on the matter of the small cities development program funding application and through all subsequent discussion and voting on the matter thereafter, any city council member who has an actual or potential conflict of interest related to this application should disclose so and abstain from any council discussions and decisions on the matter. A conflict of interest may be present when a council member is able to use his or her judgment to influence other council members and subsequent voting power on a matter that would financially benefit them either directly or through indirect gain to an immediate family member, business, or organization with which they are involved. to eliminate the conflict. If any member of the council feels this could apply to him or her, please state so for the record your intent to abstain from further discussion and voting on the matter. With that being read, I will turn it over to Greg.

Thank you, Mr. President. As you recall, uh one of the projects that we're working on is First Street Northeast. Uh we've been going after a number of grants, uh for that particular project. uh small city small cities development is one of the grant uh funding sources that we're looking at going after and so this is the resolution to call for a public hearing to be held on March 16th 2026 at the regular council meeting for that um just so that everybody understands and I don't think anybody has the conflict of interest on it but what that is essentially saying is if somebody on the council has um let's say some sort of construction business that would be potentially doing some work on it they would have to um indicate that and then abstain from any votes um for or discussion for the project. Like I said, I don't think anybody has it, but it is a requirement of small cities to read that and and indicate that if that is the case. Um so this resolution particular, we're asking to to approve it, which calls for that public hearing on March 16th, 2026.

What is the wish of the council? I will make a motion to adopt resolution 2026-15. I'll second motion by council member Meyer. Second by council member Glaze. Any discussion? Hearing none. Call a roll please. Hansen. Yes. Go. Yes. Ligrand. Yes. Meyer. Yes. Canophyla. Yes. Glaze. Yes. Gar. Resolution 2026-16 declares surplus property and authorized sale thereof. Adopt. Alex. I'll grab this one. Mr. President.

Okay. Um, we had a 2020 a 2012 Dodge Charger that we used as the uh airport courtesy vehicle. Uh, we got it from the PD back in I think it was like 2022, something like that. Uh, we used it for a year or two and then at after that we got the current one that is out there right now. Uh, we just haven't had a chance to declare it surplus. So now we are asking the council to declare that one surplus um so that we can dispose of it um and we no longer need it or use it. So asking the council to approve resolution 2026-16. What is wish the council? I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2026-16. I'll second.

Motion by council member Hansen. Second by council member Meyer. Any discussion? Hearing none. Call roll please. Gochek. Yes. Molturean. Yes. Meyer. Yes. Kafha. Yes. Glaze. Yes. Hansen. Yes. Carries. Resolution 2026-17, joint resolution of the city of Little Falls and Little Falls Community Schools future use of the middle school facility. Adopt. Alex.

Thank you, Council President. So, this uh joint resolutions come before council today. Uh the school district is asking for the consideration on adopting this. The uh resolution essentially states should the school district vacate the middle school that the city would be interested in furthering discussions on the possibility of use of that property. So essentially if they vacate we're saying we want to come to the table and talk. There is no obligations of follow through monetary um any any funding or any items like that. Just a public statement that we are looking to discuss it should it be vacated.

What's the wish of the council? I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. Motion by council member Glaze, second by council member Meyer. Any discussion?

Uh yes, Mr. President. Um, I reviewed back the comments that I had back in June when we talked about this and I still hold the same opinion in in that my concern is that we take action that lends to the decision-making process at the school district, which is something I think we should stay completely out of. They need to analyze their situation and decide if they close that school or not. Uh to me, this looks like something they want on reserve or is part of their pitch maybe to the public on their referendum. Look at this is what we're going to do and oh by the way, the city has interest in this building. I think we should just stay out of it altogether. They need to decide if this building makes sense to close down or keep of their own merits. I I am not in favor of this at all. We need to be separate.

Any other discussion? Yeah, Council President, and I I agree with you and that's a a wonderful point that you make. Um, I will say though, in my opinion, all we're talking about is having a conversation. Correct. Correct.

Okay. Um, what what makes what makes a community a community is the is having something in common. I mean, that's kind of like the root word of community. So, um, the school district is a part of our community and they and this could be a win-win. And I I know I've expressed some concerns with you earlier this afternoon as far as what I would like to see that I don't want this to be a bailout of independent school district 48 42.

Yeah. Hey, it's been a long time since I've been in high school. So, u I don't want this to be a bailout sort of situation where the where the citizens of Little Falls have to bail out or or uh um fund a a building of theirs. But I do I am interested in hearing the conversation and that's all I'm willing to give at this point. uh is a conversation of this has to be a situation where it it benefits the citizens of Little Falls more than it benefits uh in school district 482. So I I mean and you know negotiations what they they are what they are but I'm just saying um I agree with what council member Hansen is saying but I also feel that we the in the bigger bigger picture of a community we need to have this conversation.

Any other discussion hearing? None. Call roll please. Lilrin yes. Meyer. Yes. Canopha. Yes. Glaze. Yes. Hansen. No. Go. No. Carries. No. It doesn't. We have two absences and two no votes. It fails.

You are correct. Uh, any announcements? Um, yeah. I, you know, I'm I'm I'm kind of up and down about the uh the snow plowing and uh I'm going to say this as light-hearted as I possibly can, but I think I caught no

no snow. No, no, no more snow. But uh you know, my my neighborhood didn't get plowed and I took my skid steer around and plowed it. And I got and I know one neighbor was mad about that. But here's the thing. It was the last snow that we had was a 3-in snow. And we my neighborhood did not get plowed. So I scraped the street. And I'm I'm not being personal. I'm not trying to be self- advocating, but uh I just uh if if if if it needs to get done. I mean, if we're if if the if the rule if the guideline is two inches of snow, it needs I have most of my neighbors in my neighborhood are 70 plus and it's ridiculous to ask them to walk to their mailbox. That's all I'm saying. So, I I appreciate what the city workers are doing,

but if we have these guidelines in place, then it everything needs to get bought. So, that's fine. I'm not joking looking for an answer. I'm just saying it for for the sake of saying it. So, any other announcements? If not, we'll adjourn at 8:29.