City Council - Special Meeting

It is seven o'clock and I will call the special work session of city council meeting for June 15th, 2026 to order. We do have a quorum. Public forum. Individuals may address the city council about items on the agenda or not included on the agenda. Speakers are required to state their name and address for the council record and limit their remarks to three minutes or fewer. Speakers are requested to frame their comments around items that fall within the authority of the city council. Generally, the city council will not take official action on the items discussed at this time, but may place the item on file, take the matter under advisement, refer the matter to staff or a committee for a future report or direct the matter to be placed on an upcoming agenda. Does anyone wish to speak?

Good evening, everyone. My name is Parva Watton. I'm with the Little Falls Area Chamber and Tourism, 200 First Street, Northwest Little Falls. So myself and one of our board members, Miss Kathy Lang, is here today. And we just would like to give you some quick statistics about why lodging tax is so important to us. I know it's on the agenda here upcoming. So we just want to give you a few quick numbers. So, with the amount of work that we do, I have a report here from 2025. And this report measures the awareness, consideration, and conversions generated by our social and digital engagement that Visit Little Falls experienced in 2025. So a couple of the highlights for blogger visits best-ever year on our metrics across the board whoo-hoo again And then also we earned some media spotlights on KSTP World Atlas where Little Falls was named three times in a row for being the best retirement community and one of the best downtowns wjon and Lakeland News PBS because we had a nice documentary that happened and So, awareness-wise, did people actually see it? Is the real question, right? So, our total impressions across social media, website ads, our website visits and digital ads and newsletter delivers 4,756,585. was our total impressions, out of which 3,257,277 was our social media itself, which is up by 56% from 2024. So those are some pretty big numbers there. And did they actually care? So our total engagement for that across our social media, website clicks, digital kicks, and newsletter opens was 171,040, which means a good chunk of people actually cared and clicked on the ads that we had out there. And out of which, 75,000 almost interacted with them, which means that they either got their tickets, or they clicked on something, or they went to someone else's website. So we've been busy, as you can tell. Any questions at this point about any of the engagement?

I just want to thank you for all the work you do and what Mary does. And after losing two of our employees, you are still keeping us in the run there. And I greatly appreciate that. So thank you both.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And thank you so much to the council and also for the city staff for working with us. Thank you.

The only question I have is could, Is there some way I could get some of your enthusiasm and energy? Because I could use a little bit of that.

You're very kind. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, we all want Perva's enthusiasm for sure. Kathy Lang, I am a member of the Little Falls Chamber and Tourism Board and speaking about that today, I've been a member of the Chamber for probably 20 years and Perva gave you all those great statistics. I don't have that in my brain, she has that, but I have the heart and soul of the Chamber because all of the networking they do and the connections they give organizations and businesses to resource, resources really strengthen our community, and I just would ask that you support the lodging tax we lost out on the restaurant tax, which is $100,000 hard hit to the financials of the chamber. But we'll get it figured out, and I just really want to reiterate your support for the Little Falls Chamber. Thank you.

Thanks, Kathy.

Anyone else wish to speak?

I'm LaLanne Doucette, 710 First Street Northeast, Little Falls, Minnesota, 56345. I had a violation, $100 fine. I had talked to our mayor, and then when I tried to get back to him, his mailbox was full. And the day of caring, raked my lawn, cleaned it up very nice. You have one city council member that I was there.

Yeah.

I thank you so very much for coming. She really, they were really, really the day of caring people are real. I appreciate them very, very much. And I thank you for coming.

I believe you got the prize for the most bags that we filled that day.

Well, they have a picture of it. The kids wanted to get me in the middle. And I guess I got in the middle. And then I have a garden in the back. And we had the bad weather with no snow. And the grapevine, I had a lot of loss in the grapevine. And it took time for it to grow again. And it's growing beautiful. And it's going to be budding. It is budding. It's going to be blooming. So I'm going to have Concord grapes again. So, and I was a little frantic because we didn't have no snow. I usually throw the snow on top of it, but there was no snow and then no rain. So it kind of been de-lab and I talked to Mr. Kim and thank you so very much for listening to me. And thank you for so much being so kind to me because I'm not, I'm not used to talking too much, but thank you, Mr. Kim. I would like to say if other people got violations, come and talk to the city council or talk to Mr. Kim and see what can be done. A lot of people don't know and they're getting fines and one gentleman I know, I heard, through the grapevine, that he is on Social Security. And by the time he gets his bills all paid, he's got about $30. Well, he's painted half the house, but the other half, he does not have the money to go and get the paint and fund some of my friends wanted. but he they said they can't pay them can't buy the paint either because they're on tough for themselves and so he was afraid he might sell have to sell his house so i would say please counsel let it be known that if people are being fined let them come and talk to you or let them talk let it be unknown that they can come and talk to somebody a lot of people don't know that they can come and talk to you guys and to talk to our engineer too. I thank you so very much. Thank you for your time. Thank you for everything. And thanks for the day of caring so very much. And thank you for helping us. I appreciate it so very much.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Bruce Muller, since 15, 9 1⁄2 Street, Southeast. I basically am interested in putting out what's called a pod or a shipping container as a storage unit on my property, and, you know, pretty much long-term. So I talked to some people, and it really isn't in the city code of what they do with that, so it's... something that you should, you know, decide if you really want them or you don't want them, you know. That's pretty much where I stand on the issue.

All righty. Thank you. Anyone else?

Good evening. Mr. Mayor, Council President Nafla, and the Council, I have not yet the pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Lisa Watson, 9900 Delridge Road, Bloomington, Minnesota, and I'm a senior real estate manager for Quick Trip that is now coming to your community. and would just like to talk about a few things this evening, and one is the reminder of just the investment we now will make in your community. Obviously, the purchase of the land and the building of the store creates some great opportunity, and one of those is 25 to 40 full-time, part-time jobs. We always say part-time because usually there's a need to fill those gaps, but we always look for full-time. Every store has approximately three to four managers that are full-time who run the food, run the operations. And so that is a really great investment where we know we can provide a livable wage for your community members. Obviously increased tax base for this parcel and this building and these things that we are currently building. And then participating in many community events. Ironically, the chamber is here. We will be joining the chamber, welcoming them to our grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony along with all of you. But we give back significantly to the community. We participate with the local food shelves to give away a lot of our unused food. We participate in school sports, fundraising opportunities for different community events. Again, participating in the chamber. And we like to support anything city related also. So you're gonna see us at parades, at different events. And we have many opportunities to participate in your community. The reason I wanted to speak tonight is why we chose this spot, but also to talk a little bit about the sign variance. This was one of the very few spots that was left in this corridor that creates an opportunity for convenience for the drivers coming through the Highway 10 corridor going north. As you well know, this is a long time coming for your community, and so this was an opportunity we looked at. We wanted to be close to Highway 10, where there's significant traffic, but also be with the other key commercial providers that are in your community. Many times, a stop at our store creates a stop at other businesses because, oh, Johnny forgot his swimsuit, or forgot some of his summer clothes, or we need to get more groceries anyway, so we're gonna make another stop at Aldi, at Walmart. So it creates an opportunity for other businesses when people stop at our stores. We also, we want people to know where they're going with the sign. It is critical when people are flying down Highway 10 at 70 miles an hour plus that they have a safe opportunity to get to that right turn lane, be able to exit safely and not create an incident. So we look for that and it's critical because right now our lot is behind a two-story hotel, behind some other buildings, behind significant woods and trees along Highway 10. So we don't front the Highway 10 frontage and so that's why we're asking for this 80-foot sign. 40% of gas station stops are impulse stops, what they call impulse. So that means when people are driving, they look down and they see the fuel light come on. They hear a kid in the back go, mom, I'm gonna get sick, I'm gonna throw up, or I gotta go to the bathroom, I can't hold it any longer. So impulse stops are key to our convenience, and that's why the sign is key, so mom and dad can look farther ahead and say, hey, we're gonna make this stop. A sign gives a clear, visible stop, and not all people are looking for the blue highway signs. A lot of times, even myself, when doing road trips, you miss them and go, oh wait, what's coming up on the next stop? I don't wanna look at my phone, I don't wanna try and pull it up on my iPhone, so I'm looking for those big signs to know that it's coming.

We have about 30 seconds left.

Okay, and then create a fair business advantage among the competitors in the area. Our sign will blend in and look very similar to all the other signs in the area. Thank you again for this opportunity. We are excited to join your community and look forward to being a part of these meetings moving forward.

Thank you. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak? Anyone else? Anyone else?

OK. You can hear us. It's on, isn't it?

While you're figuring that out, I'm just gonna move ahead and then just give me a sign when we got him online, okay? So let's move on to bill discussions right now. Is there any discussion on the bills? Hearing none, consent agenda items. Any discussion on the consent agenda? Hearing none, we'll move on to council information only items. Person on the list is short-term rentals update. Morrison County, two minutes. Alex.

Thank you, Council President. So I know that we had previously spoken about the Airbnb, Vrbo, short-term rentals in our community. While we were looking into the restaurant lodging side of that, there was also some discussion that had come up regarding the inspections of these properties to make sure that they're safe and kept up on. Well, I was, I had a lovely discussion with the county and I learned that they actually do that. Two years ago, legislation, there were legislative changes that made it a requirement. So the inspections that they do on hotels now also apply to our short term, um, rentals in that capacity as well. It's quite in depth. If they are not on city water, they're doing water tests. They're looking at septic, making sure square footage is sufficient for the appropriate size. in all sorts of other items there. They inspect on a two-year cycle, so they are actually just starting their first or their renewal process. But they're working through that. If there is any short-term lodging that you may know of, feel free to reach out to the county. This goes to anybody. They have eight with a Little Falls address. We believe that we're still looking... they got me the list. I haven't reviewed it yet to see which ones are in the city limits, but they're able to provide us those lists to use on our lodging tax to follow up with those. But this is something that they are actively working on, identifying them and making sure that the rentals are inspected and safe for the community.

What about licensing? Are these places licensed?

Yes, they do receive the license through them through that. Yes. Okay.

Do hotels, Are hotels licensed to the city? That's also the county. That's also the county health department? Yes. Thank you.

Any other discussion on that? If not, item two, use of e-bikes and electric scooters within the city limits. Mayor.

Mr. President, I've received numerous phone calls on e-bikes. They were telling me that they're Uh, running down the sidewalks downtown and going very fast. And they're also, um, going around our circle at about 40 miles an hour with, uh, what's probably a 12 year old kid. And, uh, I'm just afraid someone's going to get hurt. So that's it.

Okay. All right. Anything else?

Um, Mr. Council president, you and I, I talked to you about the pods that Bruce was talking about. Would you explain to him what you explained to me about they could be used for so long, but if they put a roof and a door on them, they can stay there. Is that correct? Or,

Well, it depends on whether it becomes a pod or it becomes a shed. Right. That's right. Yeah, if you put the siding and a roof on it, then it's a shed. Did we have that in ordinance, or were we looking at that to include that in that ordinance?

Well, the pods.

The pods, yeah.

So a container, there's a specific program for those. However, in talking with Paul, and Bruce was at that meeting, basically, If you make the container look like a shed, now it's a shed.

It becomes a shed and has total different requirements there. Correct.

Okay. That help you, Bruce?

Sure. I mean, the short version is without any changes. If you want a container, you need to make it look like a shed. Otherwise, it's for temporary use only.

Like 16 days for a year, I believe.

I guess I haven't seen it. Now we're going to get into zoning. And I don't know how it's zoned off the top of my head.

Couple. Thanks for pointing that out so we can look at that.

Yeah, we can look into it and see. I have a couple things, if you don't mind. Are we done with that topic of conversation? I just want to point it out. That's fine. Go ahead. So I think I brought this up at a previous meeting. With Bryce, are citizens getting a warning like, hey, they're just getting fined?

No, they get warnings first. Uh, okay. It varies depending on how length, what the length of time is, depending on the severity of the violation. And then the second one was when they would get that fine.

Okay. Um, yeah, cause I think it's very appropriate to get a warning. Okay.

And we've, I have the first, uh, hundred dollar fine. I do not get no warning. I got a hundred dollar fine right away.

So it should be the warning first and then the fine after that. Okay.

And then May 11th, that letter that you all got, I brought it with 11 26th, the 11th of May. And I told them the,

Well, thank, thank you for coming and letting us know this problem.

Did we, did the city waive those fines for her? Yes, we did. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. I feel. Mr. Kim has called me at 1.25 this afternoon and told me it's been dismissed. And I thank him very much. And I will let the other ones know, Mr. Kim, that they have a problem coming to you in terms of the council.

Yep.

I appreciate you very much.

Um, yeah, I think it's appropriate for a warning, a warning letter. And then if nothing, no actions taken. Agreed. Yeah. So, um, then the other issue, and I brought this up at our retreat and, and I talked to Alex about it. I'm curious, is every, is every uptown business going to have a cattail slew in front of it?

When you say uptown, you mean?

Well, the new businesses that are required to put in these drainage. Yes.

So depending on like Les Schwab tires, Schwab does, depending on the type of infiltration or, um, stormwater treatment, there are some where like Les Schwab, technically theirs is a infiltration. So they've got an under drain underneath where that, where the water sits to allow it to filter through. It really depends on the underlying soil. So if you're closer to the river where it's mainly sand, that's going to drain away pretty quick. If you're up on 18th Street, it's a little bit heavier. So you're probably going to have to have similar to what a Schwab put in and under drain underneath there so that they can filter that water through a little bit quicker.

Okay. And you know, I understand, I understand that we need to have the drainage ponds. I just feel that we need to, we need to not let them be cattails. If, I mean, if every business in that, in that Walmart and that, you know, quick trip Walmart area is going to have a cattail still in front of it. And like the lady says, we have a lot of traffic visitors coming to little falls. And, and I just feel that, um, an example, a good example is, um, emblem brandy funeral home. They have the holding ponds. They keep the holding ponds clean. They look nice. They're functional. When we get two inches of rain, they're full. And I feel we need to set some sort of boundaries as far as I mean the one example that I've used in the past, I'm not going to name names as trash trees, you know, we actually growing out of it and um, I feel we need as a community with visitors coming through, especially being that such a highly traveled traffic area, we need to do a better job of not having these areas and at least setting, at least having maybe planning and zoning could look at, there's, there's some, there's some mandates for keeping these areas.

And that goes to the underlying soil. So emblem Brenny, they have very coarse sand soil underneath there. So whenever we get rain, yes, there's will infiltrate in up the other one that you're referring to up on 11th street. That one doesn't have very good drainage. Um, and so it does hold the water.

And you, even if they're just straight cat tails, I get it. Okay. But when we get like hackberry trees and own trees and all these, and then it's just like, it looks like a, I mean, it looks like ducks could live there and they probably do. Um, I just really feel that that's not a good look for our community. Sure.

Well, I don't, are you talking about something that's on public right away?

No, no, they're on, they're on private property. Because they're on 11th street.

I'm going to have to cut this discussion short here because Matt's on and I'd like to get him in. So Matt, if you can hear us, you got three minutes.

We're using my phone.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Matthew Webke, science project manager for Quick Trip. The address is 1626 Oak Street, La Crosse, Wisconsin. But don't worry, I'm a Vikings fan, not one of those folks. so a quick trip hired a science survey company to examine the site uh the survey suggested a foot tall sign would provide visibility in both directions my understanding from discussion with staff was that 80 feet tall was likely about the sweet spot for this sign As you know there are several other highway oriented businesses out in this corridor that either have friends from highway 10 or maybe seen from first avenue northeast. Some of these have signs 16 to 65 feet falls so not too much shorter than what we're proposing tonight. Of course most of those are closer to the road than we are as well. What I think may be the most important point is the comprehensive plan designates this site as highway commercial. So logically then it would follow that such a property would have a sign that you would see from the highway. carry out those activities. The site is about, or the site sign I should say is about 950 feet from the center line of highway. So it is set back a good amount. As Lisa said, there are a lot of trees in the way and other buildings, some of which are multiple stories tall. Now for what the science survey found, northbound traffic you have to round that curve there coming north before anybody sees whether it's our sign or any of the other signs there the first view would be about a quarter mile from the exit southbound traffic's a lot harder there are a lot more obstacles particularly the trees to see over and around the visibility is more limited in this direction there's a gap where you'll come in from about seven tenths of a mile to about a half mile in and then it disappears behind the trees and then from about a quarter mile to of a mile before the exit, you can see the sign over the Walmart. You can find in that report, that survey report, some photos where you can see what the science did and you can see what the view was and where he superimposed the sign. He tries to do that at scale on those photos. One other note is at the northbound photos, about two tenths of a mile from the exit and half the exit, notice the proposed quick trip sign, and then notice some of the other signs and the holiday sign. I think what we'll discover is because the quick trip signs set so much farther back off the road, it actually would appear from the exit northbound to be about the same height as some of those other signs. Finally, in terms of the variance points, does the proposal put the property to use in a reasonable manner?

It's zoned B2.

It's the signs compatible with a business in a highway-oriented area, consistent with the comprehensive plan, as I said a moment ago. Are there circumstances unique to the property? As Lisa said, this was the closest site we could get when we were looking for property here. It's screened from view by the buildings and the trees, and QuickTrip, of course, did not create those factors. Finally, with the variance maintained, the essential character of the locality, there are several other businesses that have taller signs there at the Highway 10 exit. And then again, this is also zoned highway commercial, so it would make sense to have a sign that you can see from the highway for this sort of thing. So I appreciate your time, and I will let Allison relay any questions to me that you have. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Matt. Any other constituent messages? And we will adjourn at 729 to a regular meeting at 730.