City Council - Regular Meeting

June the 1st, it's 5.30 p.m. and I'm at the City of Fergus Falls Council meeting. The invocation this evening will be by Tim Moltler and then we will follow that with the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you, Tim.

Let us pray. Dear God, as we gather for the City Council meeting, we ask for your guidance and for your blessing. We pray for wisdom and collaboration and respect that would shape our conversations. We pray the decisions made here would serve the good of everyone in Fergus Falls. We thank you for our public servants who keep our city moving, our mayor, council members, city staff, and the crews who work behind the scenes. We lift up our police officers, firefighters, and first responders. We ask that you keep them safe, Lord. We thank you for their courage and their sacrifice. We pray for peace and prosperity in our community. We ask that you would bless our businesses, our schools, our churches, nonprofits. Help this community to continue to be a place where lives are enriched and neighbors thrive. Pray that you would give our city leaders integrity and compassion and clear wisdom tonight. Pray that you'd help us as citizens to stay informed and engaged. and united in building a stronger community together. And God, as our nation draws closer to celebrating 250 years, remind us that life, liberty, and true happiness are found in knowing you, our creator. We pray, Jesus, that you would be our example, guiding us to lead with kindness and humility in all that we do. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

And we'll call this meeting to order. Roll call, please.

Here. Here. Here.

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We have a quorum. The next item on the agenda is open forum, a time to address items of city business that are not on this evening's agenda. Does anybody wish to speak? State your name and the city in which you reside.

I'm Kim Embertson. I live in Fergus Falls and I have the privilege of being the chairperson of the Public Arts Commission of the City of Fergus Falls. I wanted to bring some good news of celebration. We were able to establish our second year of the Sculpture Walk in the downtown area. New sculptures have been established. I'm sure many of you have driven by and have seen them and maybe some of you even were able to be on the tour on Saturday when we were open to the public. and had a chance to have people walk by. The work that we do in the Public Arts Commission has been fun to see results happen. And part of that is because we work in collaboration with the City Council. So when we had grantors that were willing to fund the idea, City Council was saying, well, we'll welcome that money, that extra money to do the work, and we'll also provide administrative staff to help do that. as well as to set the blocks of limestone. We need city workers that help us do that to be able to get the sculptures all established. So it is this really collaboration of both council members, staff, public members. One of the things we're looking towards in the future, we're trying to set up a parallel situation like the library has friends of the library, so that if people want to support public arts in the community, there will be a separate entity that will allow them to do that so that they can take the tax deduction and handle that money properly. So the Public Arts Commission is working on doing that. It will be a separate piece, but that way, if people want to help out, they'll be able to step up and do that. The funding with the Vadim Trust lasts for another year. This is the second year of the funding. So we're looking at ways to continue to invite people to engage with the art. We watched some family members walking down with their two children, and the parents were holding their hands, and the kids dropped their hands and started touching the art, and the parents had to turn around and come back. But that's part of public art, is the idea that We could have art be part of everyday life. When they least expect it, they discover it. And that's why we're glad to be able to have that additional benefit here to Fergus Falls. So thank you very much, mayor and council members, for being able to support us in our work with public art. Thank you.

Thank you, Kim. Are you sure they were touching it, or was one of those particular kids looking to vandalize it?

I think art brings out all kinds of emotions in people. We just never know quite what that is. You'll notice that you do have both the card of the map, so if you do want to take a tour, and of course the coloring book. So if the meeting drags on a little bit today, you've got something to keep you occupied.

I think it would be worth just mentioning about the additional one at the library, Kim.

Yes. This year we were able to do an expansion. Gail Hedstrom had talked to us about the idea that both the Friends of the Library and the Foundation wanted to see if we could have a sculpture there. So they were able to put the funding together. We worked with the city to get an extra limestone block and were able to get that established. So now instead of six, we have seven. And we're hoping in the future we can find the funding to be able to continue to add to that, to add to the quality and variety of art that we have downtown.

Thank you, Kim.

Thanks very much.

Anybody else wishing to speak? If not, we will move on to the approval of the agenda. Would somebody care to make that this evening?

So moved.

Thank you, Scott. Second. Thank you, Jim. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those against, same sign. Hearing none, the motion is approved. The first item on the agenda this evening is a positive one about the Minnesota Investment Fund public hearing, and I will turn that over to Clara Beck.

Thank you, Mayor and council members. I am going to channel James, our economic development consultant, by reading a memo that he actually wrote. This is in reference to the SCR project that we've been talking about for months and months and months. We are reaching a point where we're going to be sending in an application to the state of Minnesota with your approval. to get some money from the Minnesota Investment Fund. So I'll just go through some of the high points that James has highlighted for us. The purpose of the memo is to recommend city council support for a Minnesota Investment Fund MIF financing package to assist the expansion of SCR Solutions in Fergus Falls. SCR Solutions represents an important existing employer and industrial growth opportunity within the community. THE PROPOSED PROJECT SUPPORTS CONTINUED BUSINESS EXPANSION, OPERATIONAL GROWTH, LONG-TERM JOB RETENTION AND FUTURE EMPLOYMENT CREATION WHILE STRENGTHENING FERGUS FALLS' POSITION AS A REGIONAL CENTER FOR MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRIAL SERVICES. AFTER REVIEW OF THE PROJECT AND CURRENT FINANCING ENVIRONMENT, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE CITY PURSUE A MIFF STRUCTURE CONSISTING OF A $200,000 low interest loan at 2% interest over a seven year period. A $100,000 forgivable loan component tied to performance metrics and project outcomes. 100% of that participation will be funded through the state of Minnesota's MIFF program. the recommended structure reflects several important strategic considerations first the city's existing revolving loan fund portfolio under the joint oversight of the city and the business development for fergus falls board is presently well capitalized and does not require additional recapitalization support at this time and he's bringing that up because often with when you work with the state they give you the option of a forgivable loan YOU CAN KEEP SOME OF THE LOAN INCREMENT THAT'S COMING BACK AS THEY'RE PAYING THAT BACK TO HELP RECAPITALIZE YOUR OWN LOAN FUNDS THAT THE CITY MANAGES. IN THIS CASE, OUR MIF FUND IS VERY WELL CAPITALIZED, AND IT'S A BETTER STRUCTURE FOR THE STATE IF WE ARE ACTUALLY NOT KEEPING THAT REPAYMENT, SO IT JUST MAKES IT KIND OF A CLEANER DEAL FOR BOTH PARTIES INVOLVED, SO THAT'S WHY. I, as our BDFF executive director, am saying that it's totally fine to go forward without trying to recapitalize that fund. Yes, does not require additional recapitalization. As a result, utilizing state participation as a primary funding source allows the community to preserve local capital capacity while still supporting a high value economic development project. Second, the proposed 2% interest rate structure provides an appropriate mechanism to offset administrative compliance servicing and reporting costs associated with the management of the MIF award and related oversight requirements. which the city will be in charge of overseeing all of the administration of the loan. The money comes through from the state to the city, the city administers that. So 2% interest is going to cover those costs from the city perspective. THIS CREATES A FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE STRUCTURE FOR THE CITY WHILE MAINTAINING A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE FINANCING PACKAGE FOR THE COMPANY. THIRD, THE FORGIVABLE COMPONENT IS JUSTIFIED BASED ON THE BROADER PUBLIC BENEFIT ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROJECT, INCLUDING PRIVATE INVESTMENT LEVERAGE, WORKFORCE STABILITY, TAX-BASE ENHANCEMENT, INDUSTRIAL RETENTION, AND LONG-TERM ECONOMIC GROWTH POTENTIAL WITHIN FERGUS FALLS. STRUCTURING A PORTION OF THE ASSISTANCE AS FORGIVABLE ALSO IMPROVES THE COMPANY'S ABILITY TO DEPLOY CAPITAL TOWARD This recommendation is consistent with the city's broader economic development strategy of supporting scalable employers, strengthening the industrial base, encouraging reinvestment by existing companies, and leveraging state resources to maximize local economic impact. The SCR Solutions project represents the type of targeted industrial growth initiative that MIFF was designed to support. The recommended structure balances fiscal responsibility with economic competitiveness and positions Fergus Falls to retain and expand a growing business within the community. Accordingly, I recommend City Council authorize continued development and submission of the MIFF application package in partnership with SCR Solutions and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. So that is what James submitted. What we're doing here tonight is going through a public hearing process, which is a recommended or required part of the application process through the state of Minnesota. So we will capture the minutes from this meeting. We will capture a resolution from you, the board that would make the decision about submitting that application and then That all gets combined into the application package and sent into deed for their review. It is looking very good that the structure of the loan is going to be accepted and returned to us as is, and we'll be able to move forward with that project. But I just wanted to quick highlight what you will also be agreeing to as part of the resolution, because there is specific language. Oops, I missed it. Where's my exhibit? Sorry, give me one second. Maybe you want to open the public hearing now, and then I'll come back with the resolution language when we get to that point.

Okay. With that, I will open it up for public comment. If anybody wishes to speak to this subject, please come to the lectern, state your name and the city in which you reside.

Dwayne Cookman, Fergus Falls. How many jobs will that be? Did you mention that? Ten jobs? Okay. Thank you.

Any further comments? Hearing none, we close the public hearing. So back to Clara to read the resolution.

Great. I found it. Thank you. All right. So the resolution that you will be agreeing to tonight states that the city will act as the legal sponsor for the project, which is normal. We will provide them with authorized signatures, et cetera, as part of this agreement. Be it further resolved that you have the legal authority to apply for financial assistance as a municipality in the state of Minnesota, you do have that power. You have not violated any federal, state, or local laws pertaining to fraud, bribery, kickbacks, collusion, conflict of interest, or other unlawful or corrupt practice. I think we would know if that were the case. So we do have another page that we sign that says that there are no legal issues for us submitting our application. And that we have the ability to enter into a grant contract when we get to that point. It does come through as a grant contract, a loan agreement slash grant contract. The grant would be for the $100,000 that's forgivable toward the end of the loan. So that money comes in last, the forgivable part of it, and it only comes in once certain benchmarks are met. But just agreeing that we will enter into an agreement with the state of Minnesota that hits all of the points that they need it to hit. and that we have obtained credit reports and credit information on the applicant and that after review that we have no adverse findings or concerns regarding tax liens, judgments, court actions, and filings with the state, federal, other regulatory agencies. Yes, we have done our due diligence. We have not found anything that is outstanding or concerning at this point. We will continue to do some more checking before we do the final submission. But that is what the resolution will be stating that we will then send into the state. So I'm happy to answer any questions.

With that, would somebody care to make the resolution? I'll offer that. Thank you, Scott. Would somebody care to second it?

I can second it.

Thank you, Laurel. Any questions of Clara? If not, then roll call, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

The resolution is approved. Thank you.

The next item on the agenda is a resolution awarding the bid for the 2026 mill and overlay projects to Mark Lee Excavating in the amount of $395,898.50 for the base bid plus alternates 1, 2, and 3. And with that, I will hand it over to the city engineer.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. On the 2026 city mill and overlay projects, we opened bids on that project on May 19th. We received five bids. Low bid was from Mark Lee Excavating for $395,898.50. Bids ranged all the way up to just under $585,000. As part of the bid, you'll see there's three alternates on there. What those are is we had a base area that we included for the mill and overlay. We added three blocks. Each alternate is an additional block onto the contract so we could see when we got the bids, if they fit within our budget, then we knew right away to add those into the contract. So based on the good bid number, we are recommending to add those three blocks into the project and do those at this time with the money that we have. So tonight, we are recommending awarding a contract to Mark Lee Excavating for the bid of $395,898.50.

Thank you. Would somebody care to make the resolution?

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Jim.

I'll second. I've got a question.

Thank you, Scott.

Didn't we have trouble with Mark Lee excavating with uneven when they go down with their paving? We had to come back and have them grind. There was an issue someplace. I can't remember, but they were good about the timeline, but it was not the quality of the...

I WAS INVOLVED LAST YEAR WHEN THEY CAME AND DID THAT PROJECT, WHEN THEY DID THE MILL AND OVERLAY PROJECT, AND THEY'VE DONE A NUMBER OF THEM FOR THE CITY. LAST YEAR'S PROJECT WENT VERY WELL. I CAN'T REMEMBER ONE YEAR IT WAS... I KNOW WE HAVE SOME SETTLEMENT ON A PROJECT DOWN ON SUMMIT THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT FIXING THAT WASN'T MARK LEGAL.

OKAY. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE KNEW ABOUT THAT AND WE COULD WATCH FOR THAT. YEP, FOR SURE.

Kyle, where are the three blocks that were added?

I don't have that plan sitting in front of me right now, but I can get that information.

I figured you'd just pop. All right, thanks.

Roll call, please. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution awarding the bid for the 2026 seal coat project to Asphalt Preservation Co Inc. in the amount of $102,611.95.

ALL RIGHT, THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL. AGAIN, THIS IS THE OTHER PART OF THE SAME PROJECT. THIS IS THE SEAL COAT PORTION OF THE PROJECT. THAT'S WHERE WE GO AND WE ADD THE OIL ON THE STREETS AND PUT THE ROCK CHIPS OVER THE TOP OF THE SEAL COAT AREA. SO AGAIN, WE OPEN BIDS ON MAY 19TH. WE GOT TWO BIDS ON THE PROJECT. one at 102-611 and one at 116-931. Both of those, or that bid, the low bid, again, is within the budgeted amount of what the city put forward. So recommending awarding a contract to Asphalt Preservation Company for their bid of 102-611.95. No, somebody can't make that resolution.

Thank you, Laura. I can second. Thank you, Laurel. Any questions?

I HAVE ONE. CAN WE GET THE MAPS FOR THESE AREAS ON THE CITY WEBSITE SO PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS KNOW WHERE THINGS ARE HAPPENING?

THEY ARE. THEY ARE AT THIS POINT.

OKAY. THANK YOU.

WHERE ARE THEY AT ON THE SITE?

THEY'RE UNDER UTILITY PROJECTS.

UNDER UTILITY PROJECTS. THAT WILL PULL UP THE GIS MAP AND ALL THE PROJECTS ARE ON THERE.

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM. YEAH. THEY'RE KIND OF TOWARDS THE END OF THE PROJECTS. ROLL CALL, PLEASE. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. The resolution is approved.

The next item on the agenda is, oh, there are no petitions and communications. So the next item is the consent agenda, which consists of a motion approving the minutes from the May 18, 2026 City Council meeting, a motion approving licenses, a resolution accepting a $500 grant from Fergus Falls to the Public Arts Commission, a resolution declaring police vehicle units 2081 and 2098 as surplus equipment and authorizing their disposal, A motion directing the city attorney to rezone 1420 West Alcott Avenue from RA to R4, contingent upon the approval of the River Oaks Meadow Platte. Resolution approving a conditional use permit to create a planned unit of development at 1420 West Alcott Avenue. in an R4 district contingent upon the approval of the preliminary and final plats. A resolution approving a 40 kilowatt ground mounted solar array at 500 West Fir Avenue in an RA district. And a resolution approving a variance to place a detached garage in the front yard of 616 East Adolphus Avenue. And finally, a motion directing the city attorney to rezone the parcels at 1701 West Lincoln Avenue West Parcels 7100, 399, 203, 2000 and 7100, 399, 203, 3000 from R4 to B2. Sounds like going to the dentist. But somebody had to make that resolution. Thank you, Laura. I'll second. Thank you, Jim. Roll call, please.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

With that, the resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution accepting the 2025 audit. Obviously, we previously had a work session on that presented by Nancy and Bill. Would somebody care to make that resolution?

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Laurel. Would somebody get a second? Thank you, Scott. Roll call, please.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution declaring June 27th, 2026 as show as a community festival. There is a memorandum in your packet, and it kind of covers both this and the next item, which is over the River Summer Splash as a community event. Obviously, I think Sander is here from the airport. This would be the first air show in Fergus Falls since the 1980s. And the bulk of this is fundraised money. And I will let Sander just touch base on what it is. But obviously the city owns the airport, so it is a city piece of property.

Good evening. It's a beautiful airport, not just an airport. It's amazing. Yeah, the air show June 27th, free to the public. So that's a really good start, I think. It's a full day of all kinds of activities. We have a lot of static displays. um there's an aerial portion to a midday and we end the day with some music there's food vendors there to be a bunch of stuff going on we uh we hope to see many people and we hope to make it an annual event so we hope to grow it every year air shows have the potential to attract an athonda size at least five to seven thousand people when it's built out properly and over the years. It'll take some time to get there, but I'm fully confident that could happen. It's a great way to showcase the airport, to draw people to Fergus Falls, and all those people that do come, they will be looking to spend some money while they're here. I think it's one of those things that can only be good. It's not political. It's not really polarizing in any way. It's just free, fun, and it has airplanes. So that's pretty much it. So I hope it can be recognized as a great event like that.

Thank you. Would somebody care to make the resolution? I do. Mark, who would second it? Laura? Okay, thank you, Laura. Scott, you got a question?

I've had some people talk about this, looking forward to it, and they're curious about how the parking is going to be handled. Can you talk about that a little bit?

I sure can. Parking will be at Life Church, and there will be buses running between Life Church and the airport. VIP parking will be at the airport. So technically we could park at the airport, but we're a little bit worried about if it rains the day before or two days before, we would not be able to accommodate those cars. Life Church is a safe bet, and I think it will be pretty seamless from there. If we run out of parking, then there's some overflow to the north of it.

Handicap parking is where for those that want to attend that have handicap needs?

It'll be at the airport. That's a good question, by the way, and I say that with confidence, and I will be working on that after I leave here. That's Sanders. 26 days. 26 days.

Sanders, thank you for this. It's a great deal. When pilots get together, it's good, clean fun. Is there going to be an agenda or some type of an outline for the public to see as to the events that are occurring?

I'm also going to answer this with a yes, and it will be up very shortly. I'm learning a lot. Yeah. So there will be another great ID, handicap parking agenda for everybody. Yeah, we have an agenda. It's not public, so we will put a timeline out there.

If you need any help, give me a call.

I absolutely will. Thank you.

I think we'd just be fair, there's three acts. Do you want to just describe what the three acts are?

Five acts.

Five acts.

Yeah, so we have a Red Baron aircraft. Some people are familiar with that, some people are not, but... It's the last remaining Red Baron flying. So they're all stunt aircraft, so they all do about a 10 to 12-minute performance. The Red Baron will be there. We'll have what they call a jet Waco. It's an older biplane, which some crazy person has mounted a jet engine to. and it makes it a spectacular aircraft. It's quite amazing. They put on a great show. There's a gentleman that comes with an aircraft. It's an RV-8, but his skill is what he's bringing in that aircraft. He pushes the limit on it pretty hard, and he engages the crowd pretty nicely. There's another gentleman. There's one surprise act, so I can't talk about that. You'll have to come out and watch it. And there's another gentleman that climbs up to 6,000 feet, shuts off his engine, and does aerobatic maneuvers all the way down while talking to the crowd, and then hopefully lands at the airport. That's it. So, yeah, those are the five acts.

70-mile wins.

Thank you, Santa. So it should be a good, fun day for the whole family. Absolutely, yeah.

Obviously there's food and there's other entertainment. Tell me about that.

There is, yeah. So we have music starting at, for sure, 7 o'clock. We're trying to add an X, so it might actually be 5 o'clock. We'll update the agenda once it's up. And there will be bouncy houses there. And we have some interactive displays from the armed services. We have some, yeah, quite a few different things.

I'm proud of the event. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. With that, roll call, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Right. The resolution is approved. The next item is a resolution declaring July 25th, 2026 over the river summer splash as a community festival. And this is basically the city had approved shop move and groove as a summer event. downtown, but obviously for reasons that's not taking place, and so in its place is going to be over the river, Summer Splash, in its place. And so this was a housekeeping thing to tidy up terminology so nobody came back and said this one was not approved by the council but that one was and there is a poster and I think my son Paul is actually here if you wish somebody to speak about it because Chris who is the person leading it is at home and on bed rest at this point in time so with that Paul

So I was kindly given a little script. So the Over the River Festival is a free winter festival hosted in downtown Fergus Falls that has grown in popularity since its inception almost 10 years ago. Now being operated by the Fergus Falls Events Council, our goal is for the Over the River Festival to be recognized as Fergus Falls' signature winter event. The festival features art activities for kids and adults, shopping opportunities, games, carriage rides, visits with Santa, and is capped off by a community tree lighting and fireworks. And so what we're trying to do with this is create a summer version of the Over the River Festival. And so we've got lined up vendors. We're hoping to get the Classic Car Club to line up. We've got a dunk tank, so if any of you would like to participate. and really give the people of Fergus Falls some reason to come out. We'd really appreciate that. But we've got lots of different things coming up, and we encourage all businesses that if they'd like to participate and just kind of show what is great about Fergus, We'd appreciate having you there.

And music?

Oh, yeah, we've got music, we've got food trucks, we've got all of that stuff that you expect at any downtown event. Music will be going from 11 to 7, so it's an all-day event, and we're hoping to get everyone down and sort of enjoying Fergus again.

Would somebody care to make that resolution? Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Laurel. Any questions of Paul?

Yeah, I'd like to make a motion that the Mayor Hicks is the first one on these.

There's a good chance he probably would be. Yeah, I would second that.

But if you make the motions, you have to commit too.

Thank you.

I'll have a vote. There was a motion.

We have a resolution first that needs to be addressed.

I have a question. Are we going speeds for this mostly or main street?

No, so the hopes is that we do the whole main street and kind of think crazy days sort of that we used to have. I mean, I know if you go to the historical society, you'll see pictures of sort of everyone packed downtown Lincoln. And that's the vision we have in our heads. We realized that with the first year, it won't be quite, but hopefully it kind of keeps growing and we can get to those days when you couldn't move downtown Fergus Falls.

I think it would be fair to say that you're not looking to charge vendors to come to this event.

No charge for vendors, no charge for anything. We just want to showcase what we have here at Fergus Falls.

So it's organizing people to come and participate. And if it's a vendor that obviously wants to sell their wares, then that would be their reward for coming down.

That's a grand idea.

The lady wishes to speak. Could you come to the podium? Thank you.

Mary Jo Egglestead from Fergus Falls. I just have a question. Is this replacing Summerfest or is that going to happen too?

No, this is separate from Summerfest. It's replacing shop move and groove.

Okay. All right.

Thank you. With that, roll call please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Thank you. The resolution is approved.

And there is a motion on the floor.

Exactly. On the floor. That's exactly where it is. But I think Paul was looking for 20-minute time slots and felt kind of dunking, so probably be about 15 minutes. And I know he's asked several of the coaches, and I know he's asked a few of the people that would be like a police chief and a kind of fire chief as well. So I think any public figure that would like to be dunked, go for it. Hopefully it's a warm day. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is presentation of claims in the amount of $1,471,132.40. Would somebody care to make that resolution? I'll offer the resolution to pay the bills. Thank you, Jim. Would somebody care to second it?

I can second it.

Thank you, Laurel. No questions? Roll call, please. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. The resolution is approved. There is no old business, no new business, miscellaneous announcements. June 10th at 7 o'clock there will be a council retreat. And June 15th at 5.30 there will be a city council meeting. And June 19th will be most offices and facilities closed for observation of Juneteenth. Garbage and recycle picked up on the Friday will be collected on Thursday, June 18, and Thursday's collection will be picked up on Wednesday, June 17. With that, we are adjourned.