City Council - Regular Meeting

Wow.

Call the order for Watertown City Council meeting for July 20th of 2026. Please rise while Pastor Ryan Odens of Grace Point Church leads us in prayer. Just come on up and make sure the red light is on.

Thank you. Would you bow your heads in prayer with me? Lord, we thank you for tonight and just the time for us to come together and just pray for everybody who's here, all the leaders of our city and our communities. Lord, I just pray that you would show us your will and that you would open our hearts and minds to lead and to your will. Lord, I just pray for tonight and all the people who are here that you would lead us well and we would know your will and Lord, I just pray that your spirit would be here and that we can rest knowing that you have a plan for each and every one of us and that you love us and care about us and want us to help us meet the needs of our community. And we love you and we praise you and we pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Finance Officer Bob Zien, please call the roll.

Okay. Shetty?

Here.

Allen?

Here.

Hoyer?

Here.

Pauline? Here. Moorman?

Here.

Jurins? Here. Peters? Here. Thank you.

Quorum is established. Chair will ask if anyone has a conflict of interest tonight. Hearing none, can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Motion made by Councilman Peters, seconded by Councilman Moorman. Any discussion on that? Hearing none, the motion is to approve the agenda. All those in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. We're on to open forum. If anyone is here tonight to discuss anything to the council that is not on the agenda, now is your time to do so.

Thank you.

Just please say your name and who you represent, if anyone, or just by yourself, or represent. Is that light on?

Nope. Can you hear me? Sorry. Thank you. Brittany Scott with the Watertown Event Center. I've worked at the Watertown Event Center for a combined 10 years, including the last four as general manager. Like many in hospitality, I wear many hats, sales and marketing, event operations. maintenance, janitorial work, client relations, and everything in between. Because of that, I have firsthand understanding of both the opportunities and the challenges that this facility faces. Since opening in 2004, the Watertown Event Center has been one of our community's greatest economic assets. Under WR Hospitality's management, this facility successfully hosted thousands of weddings, conferences, meetings, trade shows, and community events. While no business is perfect, it operated professionally, profitably, and rightfully earned its reputation as a premier event venue for Northeast South Dakota. With 32,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and South Dakota's largest indoor amphitheater, there's no other facility in Watertown capable of hosting large weddings, multi-day conferences, and events with hundreds of attendees. Those visitors fill hotel rooms, dine in our restaurants, shop locally, and contribute directly to our local economy and third penny sales tax. When WR Hospitality announced they would be ending their management agreement following the hotel sale, the event center entered a period of uncertainty. Communication was limited, No clear direction was provided, and opportunities to explore experienced management companies were not fully pursued. During that period, we estimate we lost approximately 20 weddings for 2026, representing a minimum of $147,000 in revenue. Since 2020, we averaged approximately 35 weddings annually. This year, we booked 14. Throughout that transition, I repeatedly expressed concerns regarding operations, budgeting, facility maintenance, and shared spaces. I prepared financial projections showing that transferring additional building expenses to the event center would not be sustainable, especially following such a significant decline in bookings. Unfortunately, those concerns were not reflected in the final decisions. This current contract was not a win or mutually beneficial for the facility or the new management company. Over the past year, staff has faced continual operational challenges, Shared city-owned spaces have not been properly maintained, city-owned equipment has been damaged or misplaced, and the event center has repeatedly absorbed the costs of cleaning, repairs, and replacements. These are not isolated incidents. They have become part of our daily operations. These examples are only a general overview of the issues we have encountered. If the council would like more in-depth information, I would be happy to provide documentation, photographs, and invoices that have been compiled over the past year. At the same time, the building itself continues to age. Much of the furniture, kitchen equipment, lighting, carpeting, HVAC units, air walls, wallpaper, and landscaping remain original from 2004. We have aging mechanical systems, significant light failures, deteriorating finishes, and equipment that has exceeded its useful life. These are issues that have been communicated to the city over several years. Despite these challenges, our team has continued moving forward. Even after beginning the year with over $100,000 less in expected revenue due to lost bookings and taking on almost that much in bills, we have recovered approximately $90,000 in new sales, and our 2027 bookings are already trending upward. That demonstrates the demand for this facility and the dedication of the staff who continue to serve our community every day. I also have the complete economic impact and our actual versus projected sales for 2026 and our projected sales for 2027. Those figures demonstrate that if we have the right management agreement and company, this facility can not only operate in the green, but continue to grow and generate even greater economic benefits for the city of Watertown. My purpose tonight is not to assign blame. It is to ask that we recognize the value of this facility and begin treating it like the economic driver it is. The Watertown Event Center deserves a long-term operational strategy, clear accountability, and responsible stewardship of city-owned assets and a capital improvement plan. If there is no Watertown Event Center, these large weddings, conferences, conventions, and community events simply cannot or will not come to Watertown. There is no other facility in our community that can accommodate them. That means fewer hotel stays, fewer restaurant visits, fewer retail purchases, and ultimately reduced sales tax revenue for our city. Our community has shown it's willing to invest in new facilities. I hope we're equally committed to investing in the maintenance of those facilities because that's what protects the taxpayers' investment for future generations. This building has served our community for over 20 years. With the right leadership, investment, and collaboration, it can continue doing so for decades to come. I simply ask that we make decisions that protect this asset, not only for those of us who work here today, but for the businesses, organizations, and residents who rely on it in the future. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the council?

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Lindsay Stangle and I serve as the Director of Business Development for Visit Watertown. I'm here today to express my support for Brittany and the management team at the Watertown Event Center. Together, they represent more than 40 years of experience at this facility. In the event management industry, that kind of longevity is incredibly rare. Their institutional knowledge, relationships, and commitment to this community are assets that cannot easily be replaced. From Visit Watertown's perspective, the event center is much more than a building. It's one of our community's most important economic drivers. Brittany and I work closely together, prospecting and responding to requests for proposals for multi-day conferences. These events are especially valuable because overnight visitors tend to spend two to four times more than day visitors. This supports our hotels, restaurants, retailers, and local attractions. Conferences are one of the greatest opportunities we have to bring significant numbers of visitors and their dollars to Watertown. To continue competing for those opportunities, we need an event center that is supported by a mutually beneficial operating agreement and guided by a long-term capital improvement plan. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to address the council?

All right. I will close open forum.

We'll go over to presentations and reports. Item 9A is an introduction of the executive leadership of Crenlow Engineered Cabs. We'll go to our city manager, Alan Stager.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the council. I'm excited tonight to launch what I hope is the first of many introductions in our community. As I've been engaging with many of the economic drivers and business leaders in our community, I've realized that the partnership between the city and the knowledge of who our businesses are and who they are led by really isn't strong enough. If you think back, years ago, many of our major businesses were owned and led by local people. That's no longer the case, and that's neither good nor bad. That's not a value judgment. But I think working together and understanding who the owners and leaders of our major employers are is important, too, you as a council as you make decisions, and also important to the business leaders in our community as they make business investments and decisions going forward to know that they've got a supportive council behind them. So this evening, I'd like to introduce the executive leadership of Crenlow Engineered Cabs. Some of you may recognize Crenlow from its early days in the community, like many of our businesses. They moved here in the mid-90s from Minnesota as Angus Palm Industries. They were subsequently acquired by Worthington Industries, and today they are owned by Angeles Private Equity, and they're operating as Crenlow Engineered Cabs. This is really a great story as the team comes forward. Today we had in town Adam Lerner, who is the operating partner with Angeles, We also have Craig Potter, the chief financial officer of Crenlo, Jesse Spurgeon, the plant director of the local plant, and Katie Larson, the vice president of human resources for Crenlo. And the story that they are able to tell of the workforce in Watertown and their desire to make investments in our communities is, Really is something we hear a lot. We have an outstanding workforce in our community. They know we have challenges with housing childcare Employee recruitment they're willing to help with that and partner with us And they have seen the benefits that that we have gained in just their short period of ownership So with that I'd like to invite the team to come forward and say a few words. I

Well, thank you so much for having us here tonight. Thank you, Alan, for the kind introduction, and to Chris Clifton as well. My name is Katie Larson, and I lead our human resources organization at Crenlow. I've been with the organization for about a year, and I'm based out of your neighboring state, Minnesota. I love coming over to South Dakota and sincerely what Alan has said. What I find when I walk into our plant in Watertown is a palpable feeling of positive culture. And you don't find that in every plant. And so to walk into a plant that's collaborative, there are bright individuals, people who want to engage in the community, Our plant itself engages in a lot of different community service events, monthly, quarterly, and just to see the way this community comes together to support its own is really special. So as Alan has said, we are looking to grow this site significantly. Today, I have over 24 openings for welders, material handlers, assemblers, painters, and this is just the beginning. As Craig and Jesse will tell you, we have made a very strategic decision to do new product launches in the Watertown facility because of the quality of the people, strictly because of the quality of the people. And so I wanted to come before you tonight just to tell you that you have a partner in Crenlow. When you're looking to potentially invest or build more workforce housing, again, as Alan mentioned, Child care, we have a first shift. We hope to have a second shift. That requires a different type of child care for our people to be able to be fully present, knowing that their children are cared for. So again, while I'm based in Minnesota, I'm here frequently. And just know that you have a partner in me from a human resources perspective. So thank you for inviting us tonight.

Thank you. All right. Thanks for having us. It was a great day today, spending some time with Alan and other team members from Watertown Economic development group as well as spending some time with Larry Roden and his staff. It was really fun to be able to show them what we've got going on out at Crenlo. They're able to physically see some of the new product launches we're doing as well as the investment that Crenlo leadership and AEP has allowed us to move forward with in Watertown location. Just really looking for the opportunity to figure out how we continue to build that relationship and really figure out how to support the staffing requirements. As Katie mentioned, we've got 24 open positions right now. Just really looking at projections going into next year. That's going to double and probably triple by 2028. So definitely looking for thoughts and ideas on how we can collaborate to get more people to the city of Watertown through affordable housing and making sure we're just supporting them where we have to do to get them here. I've been with the organization for going on 16 years, I believe. So been through the Angus Palm, been through the Worthington, now Crandall. This team believes in us. They believe in the Watertown location. So really look forward to what we can do together. Thank you. Could you please introduce yourself? Oh, sorry. Jesse Spurgeon. Thank you.

Well, once again, I'm Craig Potter. I'm the CFO of the company, and I'm not from Minnesota, as you can tell from my accent. But I represent the leadership team that's in Bentonville, Arkansas, and has responsibility for all the criminal plants. And we are so appreciative of this city and this council, Al and Chris, and the support that they're showing for this organization. We do believe in this plant. When we look at our investments, this is the plant that we have put in over $5 million of investments in to expand the building and put in a laser system that will make us better, be able to expand our capacity. But the key thing we need is kind of like what I told the governor this morning, is we have to have people. Because we can have the best equipment in the world, the nicest building around, but if we don't have people, it really doesn't matter. And so what we have today is a great workforce, so we're very confident with the people we add. We'll continue to add really good people that will help drive our business forward because we want to grow it. We feel the potential of growing that business because we can double it over the next few years We've got a lot of good customers that are already coming into the business and like I still told the governor this morning is our customers have choices and They choose to be here. They like what they see. They like the facility. They like the people so we're really excited Appreciate all the city has done and will continue to do and we look forward to a very strategic partnership going forward So, thank you very much

Thank you very much. Thank you for coming here tonight. Thank you for being here in Watertown and wanting to do more. I'd like to thank City Manager Stager, Watertown Development Company Director Clifton. City Manager Stager, would you like to add anything?

The story that we have here that we've heard from Crenlow is just hopefully the first of many. We have many businesses in our community that are the leaders within their companies and and the leaders within their industries. I'll just leave you with this thought. I mentioned that they are owned by Angeles Private Equity. We have several businesses in our community now owned by Private Equity. And if you're not familiar with Private Equity, they are large investment firms that invest billions of dollars in assets And they have very sophisticated analytical teams that analyze everything about a location, a site, or a business. And to see private equity investing substantially in our community is really a sign of the economic engine that Watertown is, especially around manufacturing. And we should be proud of that position, and we should recognize our ability to continue to grow in the future as we have an economic engine here that many communities would envy.

Thank you. And I will open it up for council, but I would just say some of the things that you were talking about are some of the things that Watertown has been working hard on for a few years now. And we hope to continue the success that we've already seen, but we also hope to increase it at a faster rate. Council, would anyone else like to say something? I know I speak on behalf of council to say thank you for being here and what you're wanting to do in Watertown.

Councilman Jerns? I wasn't really prepared to say anything, but I followed this company for the 33 years that I've been in Watertown, mostly because one of their former employees who's now retired, his wife has worked for me for close to 30 years. So I got to know John Kelvin, got to know the philosophy of got to know who their good customers were. Maybe some of that's changed, but for those in the community that are listening in tonight, they were in the cab business for many years. I'm guessing they're still in the cab business, and I do remember their number one buyer a few years ago was Caterpillar. So those were just a couple of things that I thought maybe the community would like to know about this employer, but They have employees that have stuck around there for years and years and years and years. And a lot of those employees that have retired were bought out of some profit sharing, sort of. I know there's terminology in the HR world for that. And those people stick around here, and they're still solid members of our community. So I think it's just really good to recognize companies like this. And thanks, Alan. And thanks, Chris, and thanks for your team to come in and highlight this. Good to hear that you met with some good people today. And some of the things that we get to talk about, this is like boots on the ground. Appreciate it. Thank you. Council, anyone else?

All right. Thank you very much for being here tonight. will move on to item nine b which is the election of deputy mayor just to explain to people what we're going to do here is required on an annual basis for the city council to elect someone to serve as deputy mayor the deputy mayor takes over meetings when i am not present or if i'm incapacitated or gone and along with a few other but small powers the deputy mayor has but uh... It's an important position, and we are going to open it up for election now. I will take any nominations from any member of the council. It can actually theoretically even be from the person who wants to run.

I actually have a nomination, Mayor. Councilman Jones. Nominate our current deputy mayor, Kyle Peters.

Thank you. It does not require a second. If anyone would like to give a second, they sure can, but it's not required.

Okay.

Are there any other nominations? Councilman Allen.

Yes, I'd like to nominate Michael Hoyer, and it's not in any opposition to the current deputy mayor and the job that he has done. But I just think that it might be good for us to train another person into this role going forward. And Michael's got several years left on the council, and so I think he'd be a good choice. And him being on the council previously brings some expertise to that as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Again, it does not require a second, but if anyone wanted to give one, they sure can. Okay. Are there any other nominations from the council? Okay. I am going to give each candidate a chance to speak. I'll give you five minutes. I'm not sure if either of you need that much, but we will go in order of the nominations. So, Councilman Peters. I'm actually going to need ten minutes.

Is that okay? No, I'll be brief. Thank you, Councilman Jerns, for the nomination. And I would just say that I've learned that the deputy mayor position is very much behind the scenes, and it's not a public-facing position, which I think suits me well because I don't meddle in anyone's business, and if there's a problem to be solved, the mayor shoots me a text, and we meet up and we solve the issue. So I look forward to another year of support for that. Thank you. Thank you. That was my second right there.

Councilman Hoyer. Sure. Just first, I want to thank Councilman Allen for the nomination. Not really a role I was actively seeking, but I want to share what I guess I could bring to the table as the Deputy Mayor. And first off, I will reiterate too, Kyle has done a wonderful job this last year. So I would just say test leadership. It's my second term. Help navigate everything that was going on in 2020. Reid remembers that time. It was pretty hectic, but that's a pretty unique skill set and experience to go through something like that, coming out on the other side with that experience. But I've also learned from some of our past decisions that haven't panned out as expected, and it just gives me a little more critical and experienced perspective moving forward. Strategic continuity. Councilman Allen kind of touched on it, but I've got three years remaining left in my term. whereas currently Councilman Peters respectfully has one. Choosing someone with a longer runway provides this council with some efficiency, stability, and some certainty. I'd also like to offer just total transparency. So baseline is just to over-communicate. If I'm ever privy to a closed-door conversation or information in the role, I just want to make sure that you guys are all briefed up on everything that ever gets talked about, and so we're all on the same page with things. Also, on that note too, I don't get called away for business very often. So, so far my attendance has been perfect at every meeting. So, I'm here. Actionable momentum, ready to collaborate with everybody. Just, I think it'd be fun even as a council more if we just start identifying some goals in each of the ward to try and push forward some of these things that need to get done that you see on a day-to-day basis. We can come together a little bit more, maybe find some ways to get those things done. Pulse of the public. I mean, you guys know I'm in a forward-facing job. I'm talking to people that I don't get to choose who's coming in front of me every day, and they corner me from time to time, too, to talk about stuff. So I get kind of a unique perspective from everyday work and people pretty consistently about their concerns and can help bring those up a little bit more, maybe. and then um just focus on the future uh so raising three kids between the ages of four and twelve keeps me pretty acutely focused on how we build a unique and positive watertown experience one that can just retain our kids get them to come back here settle here but at the same time recruit those new families and get them to come here identify those things that are making us plant roots so anyway councilman peters Great father, great councilman, wonderful community member. Repeating the approach from last year is certainly an option. But if we want to try driving a little bit different, because we all lead a little differently, I'd be honored to have your vote. Either way, continue to work hard in my capacity, as is alongside all of you, to make the city better.

Thank you, councilman. This is how the vote is going to go. We have ballots in front of us. They are blank. Each councilman is going to write... his choice for deputy mayor. You can write the last name, the first name. I'm sure we can figure it out. You will fold the ballot. You will not show it nor share it with anyone. They will be collected by our finance officer, Kristin Bobzien. I felt that this was appropriate because she's the one who calls every vote according to roll. Actual vote itself is going to be secret. We are not going to know how many votes are for which person we will only know the outcome Since there are two people one person will get the majority vote, which is required every council member must vote and if either candidate for deputy mayor would like to appoint someone to oversee the vote and just to make sure that the ballots are kosher, everything is okay. Otherwise, Finance Officer Bob Zien will collect the votes. They will be counted by herself, City Attorney Carrico, and City Manager Steger. And then Finance Officer Bob Zien will reveal the vote to us, and that will be it. So at this point, you have however much time you need to write down someone's name.

30 seconds.

One, two, three. What's your toughest day? Turn the microphone off.

OK. The elected deputy mayor is Kyle Peters.

Thank you. Congratulations, Councilman Peters. Thank you very much, Councilman Hoyer, for running for the position. I think it's a great situation to have to have excellent candidates. That was the cheapest campaign we both ran right there. We'll move to item 11A, which is in first readings. Item 11a is a first reading of an ordinance providing for a supplemental appropriation for the general fund and capital improvement fund, as well as budget line item transfers. We'll go to our finance officer, Kristen Bobzien, for more.

Okay, thank you, Mayor. Yes, this is a first reading. It's kind of a two-part. There's a budget supplement and then also a budget transfer. You're used to kind of seeing this at the end of the year, but we had some things that were discussed and approved by council from January till now. So sometimes to help the departments, we just kind of do a little bit of a cleanup to the budget so everybody kind of stays in line. The first page goes over what we consider as supplements. All of these items were approved at some stage from the council. It's just kind of the housekeeping end of the accounting. And then the next one is to actually take budget authority and just transfer it. So that really doesn't transfer or supplement a budget. It just kind of moves the authority around. So if there's any specific questions, I can answer them. Thank you.

Thank you. This is a first reading. There will be no official action, therefore no No motion is required.

I would encourage council to discuss this councilman Hoyer I only had one question on this just when I was going through it earlier So looking at the transfer from park and playground improvements It's $30,000 to kick over to support the airport equipment relocation project very worthy project and So I'm wondering, with it being under that title, are those the funds that we would use to improve our local playgrounds? Because I'm thinking on that, knowing that we do. Go ahead. I'll let you go first.

OK. So when we knew that the airport tower was happening, and we knew we were going to kind of need some other budget authority and some dollars, we went through. And the only reason you're seeing that in there is it's part of the playground bid. And it was under budget, essentially. So it's just to kind of take that what was already established and reallocate it to a different project instead of just finding something else. We identified what the need was. It's out of Fund 212, so it has kind of that ability to support other areas.

City Manager Steger, would you like to add anything? I would. You might recall as a council about well, late summer last year when we went through the budget hearings and had the budget discussions, I talked about the budget philosophy that we would be operating under, which was a budget philosophy that was really providing what we needed. And at that time, I reminded all of you that a supplement or an appropriation transfer should not necessarily be viewed as a negative thing. As we look at the city as a whole and as we may be running under in a bit in one area but running over in another, this is our ability to manage that within an overall budget without just inflating budgets and giving everybody excess authority and budget over truly what their needs were. We haven't taken any projects out of any of the CIP for the playground equipment. This is purely we ran under about $30,000 on a $750,000 set of projects, and so we're moving it to a place that we do have a need, which was the airport relocation project.

Thank you. Councilman Hoyer, the floor is still yours.

I remember that conversation. and 100% respect it. I just sometimes struggle a little bit with it, knowing that some of our parks continue to kind of get worn down. I've personally reported plenty of things that have been broken on our equipment with the hopes of getting it replaced. And so I guess for me, I'm just reflecting that maybe we could have found $30,000 somewhere else. There's been a lot of other projects. But if we can't, understand. I'm just saying in a first reading, if we could find it somewhere else, that would be swell, and then we could reallocate those funds to do some more maintenance, perhaps. It's just a sensitive area, being what it is. But again, if there's nowhere else for it to come from, and I understand we went under budget on another thing we already bid, it'll be it.

I think we may just need to philosophically disagree. I'm not going to go through every line on the budget and give every one of the seven of you complete ability to run that, that's not in line with the charter.

Thank you. Councilman Hoyer? Want to relinquish the floor for a bit? Okay, thank you. Councilman Allen?

Yeah, I had a question about the pickleball courts and what that, which pickleball courts?

So as part of the new courts the association that we were working with Requested extra lighting and then a practice board that is fully supported by donations So they backed that but we still have to give the budget authority. So that's essentially what it did So there's no revenue needed from the city It's just to give us that spending ability and the donations have already been in.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that um And then one other thing I think I don't and I'm just going to push back on the city manager a little bit here I don't think in asking the question about shifting budgets around that were That councilman Hoyer is act asking to you know sort of line item every item in the budget It's informational. I think and as he said I Think it's okay to raise that question I think it's okay for you as a city manager to shift funds like that where it's appropriate And I don't think anyone's questioning that So I just wanted to weigh in on that a little bit.

Thanks Thank you any other councilman would like to say anything I Thank you, this will come back for a second reading Item 11 B is a first reading of an ordinance amending the zoning map of the city of Watertown For lot six of jurns Schulte industrial addition from I won light industrial to c3 highway commercial district community development manager Brandi Hannon will tell us more

Thank you, Mayor. So if IT wants to pan to page 27, I believe, or 28, this is a request to rezone the property that Super 8 Motel Hotel currently sits on, and it's currently zoned I-1 Light Industrial. They are petitioning to rezone it to C3 highway commercial which makes the use conforming to today's ordinance everything else about the property is also conforming and it allows for them to Yeah, just bring it into conformance the Planning Commission recommended approval unanimously at the July July 9th meeting With that I'll stand by for questions Counsel do we have any questions or discussion on this item?

Councilman Hoyer.

The only one I had for you, Brandy, was just are there any other properties in the area that are kind of similar like this that might benefit from transitioning out of light industrial to commercial highway?

You know... There could be, but it's always just petition based where these guys are the ones abutting the highway. So I think it's most appropriate that for them as the boundary to rezone. The comprehensive land use plan also shows that. But yeah, sometimes we look at it holistically like that. But for a property that is also abutting other C3 properties there along the highway, it's appropriate.

Any other questions? Councilman Mormon.

Just one quick question. Was there a specific reason why they wanted to change this, or did they just want to change it to bring it into conformity? And the only reason why I ask is it kind of surprises me that they would want to change it from industrial to commercial just for resale value or whatever, because industrial gives... Gives them so much more options for what to use on that land. We're going down to commercial Probably is gonna restrict them.

So I'm just kind of curious on that So it actually it brings the use of the hotel motel into conformance Otherwise as I won they would have to get a conditional use To for this to be if it wasn't a legal non-conforming use on this property. So This it actually and it's along the highway. So you see three probably is more fitting for for future expansion or you are just the uses to To have the ability to utilize Okay, thank you Council Councilman Shetty Thank You mayor Yes, just to add to that the at the Planning Commission meeting that we had on this

If you want to look back some time and watch that or look at the notes, it's not included here with the petition, what they petitioned that they said they were going to do with the property, but it's quite extensive. They actually have a plan to, in the years to come, to not just renovate a room with new paint. They actually want to do an addition. They want to do potential little camping spots for a few. I mean, granted, there's limited space, but they Kind of have a broad view on what they want to do with the property in the commercial.

I believe the commercial Zoning would help them move forward what they want to do in the future so just to add to that a little bit from the Planning Commission meeting and In the reason for that so yeah, that was with the Board of Adjustment and so then this is just we're just looking at the land use itself for the rezone and And then the conditional use was granted conditional to this rezone being approved. And if it's not, it won't go anywhere.

Thank you. Council, any further questions or comments? All right. We'll see this back at the next meeting. Item 11C is a first reading of a zoning text amendment to... Create Chapter 21.33, CD Campus District. Community Development Manager Hannon, back to you.

Thank you, Mayor. So the next four items are related, but we will discuss them separately to reduce any confusion. So this is the campus district. This has been something that has been in the comprehensive land use plan for a long time. It is to create a conventional zoning district that fits the needs of institutional or medical type campuses that currently have been kind of retrofitted into the conventional zoning districts that we have today. A lot of the times you'll see it, them utilizing the R3, multifamily residential, and then anytime there's expansion, which campuses tend to do, they have to go in front of the Board of Adjustment or look at rezoning. So this conventional zoning district would allow properties such as Lake Area Technical College or the hospital to rezone, which would also have to come back to the Planning Commission and City Council to utilize this campus district to allow for more efficient development. And it includes all of the permitted uses that that we would expect and that are appropriate. So like I said, this was supported by the comprehensive land use plan. It has been something that we've talked about for my entire time here. So it was just that time to get this done and get it before you. With that, I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you. Let's see if council has any.

Councilman Allen. Brandy. You mentioned the hospital, but this doesn't impact the hospital, right?

There's another map, too. So we're showing a map that is Lake Area's campus. So any campus-like property that is over 10 acres could rezone. So it doesn't necessarily have to be only the hospital or Lake Area either. These are just the examples that we kind of kept in mind in creating the district.

What are some other examples that would fit under this?

I mean, potentially Harmony Hill. Yeah, if other areas that are campus-like, yeah. We wanted to do 10 acres, though, because we think it's appropriate that, you know, like you're, Elementary schools intermediate schools that they stay zoned as residential just because Those are they're appropriate to be within neighborhoods as you know with children Utilizing them that it can be walkability whatnot convenience anything like that, so Yeah, this is really for these larger institutional type businesses or uses That makes sense to me I I just I was thinking about the hospital because of its proximity to Milat so it's right next door to the elementary school there, so You know does that get sucked into that or and it could actually It's really because they're that's this map is showing that 300 foot buffer where if say that a property isn't directly adjacent to and somebody wants to petition to rezone, there really would be no purpose to do that as far as Millette and the hospital goes, but let's say that the hospital owns a piece of property within that lighter blue buffer that they want to turn into a parking lot, then they could rezone it to the campus district as well.

As long as we're not closing Millette. Just kidding. Thank you.

Any other questions?

Councilman Hoyer. I just wanted to say thanks, Brandi, to all your staff working on this. I know that a section of it, and we'll see more of it as we get going in these, but addressing the student housing aspect of it is incredibly helpful just because we do have a lack of that in the community. So finding a way to get increased density, something a little more akin to dormitories, I think it's going to make a big difference for our campus and allow it to continue to grow and flourish. So thank you.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. I would echo Councilman Hoyer's comments. I think this is a great step forward for one of the true assets for the community. And it's not just an asset as LATC, but for all of the businesses in Watertown that employ students who get educated there. So thank you very much for doing this. And we'll move on to item 11D, which is a first reading of a zoning text amendment creating chapter 21.21 R35, Congregate Living Residential District of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Watertown. Back to Director Hanton.

Thank you, Mayor. Perfect, thank you, IT. So as stated, this is the congregate living multifamily district, congregate living residential district that is similar to the R3 multifamily residential district. However, as Councilman Hoyer alluded to, the main thing here is it allows for higher density And it also is determined differently because of the configuration of dorm-type living. And so this district only, it allows for them to be, the density to be regulated by gross floor area versus the per-dwelling unit density that we have seen previously. Let me find here. So yeah, I mean, the purpose here is the student housing, we left it open with calling it a congregate living. So if in the future, we want to expand what we allow within this district, but it's really just a step to allow for higher density in our residential zoning districts today. That'll stand by for questions.

Thank you, Council. Councilman Shetty.

So yeah, so bringing up Planning Commission again, this is one of those they heavily debated on and there was some concerns or questions about location with, for example, using the college as an example. Has there been any research done since the Planning Commission as far as other communities that have this such of a zoning? Versus like having the having this kind of housing close to the college post proximity or is it can be anywhere in the community? I guess any thoughts that you may have on that that was one of the challenges that the Planning Commission was Where to put this if we should limit it to close to a college for example?

I

Right, and the reason for not limiting it at this time is just really seeing how it can be utilized. A lot of areas around the college or campuses that would potentially utilize the campus district, are developed and to be able to really see this utilized because we kind of wanted to to leave it open and it still has to go through the rezoning process so if if a neighborhood or area is not appropriate then the planning commission and city council will hear that feedback petition by petition follow-up

And yes, understandable, because there isn't probably a whole lot of available property close to the college, for example. Just as, yeah, I was curious if other communities have tested this. This isn't a new thing, I don't believe, right? So I'm just curious what you've found from other communities. Are they putting these in other areas of the community, not in close proximity to a college, for example, or?

Yeah, so, and this research has been happening for a long time, so I did compile the information and examined other communities, but, I mean, everybody's, everyone's ordinances are different on how they regulate, where other communities do allow for, like, student housing type districts, and then also the higher density in general. So specifically, I can't recall. Anything more?

Councilman Hoyer.

So I had done a little cursory research on it just because I've talked to the college before about there's goofy state laws when it comes to tech schools and if they can have on campus dorms. And is it a college? Is it not a college? Is it a tech school? Is it not a tech school? It gets really weird at the state level for some reason. But Southeast Tech does have on campus housing. They're on campus, but they also have some off-campus. The other ones do have some university-owned off-campus things, like four miles from campus for Western Dakota Tech, Lake Area, none, just off-campus. And then Mitchell doesn't have dorms, but they have the campus tech apartments right next to it. So it's kind of all over the place state-wise. So regardless, there's such a need for it here. All I ever hear from those students is tough to find apartments. So if this can help, great.

So all of the housing has to be privately owned. So there's the Lake Area apartments right to the east of the campus, but it's not under their ownership. It's nice to have them close by, though.

It would help, but you're right. There's limited land in that area.

Councilman Jones.

Well, 11 years later, it's good to see that we are recognizing that this is an important part of what we have that's special in our community compared to others. We have Lake Area Tech, who is growing faster than pretty much any university percentage-wise. And what it's done is it's, because we don't have housing within proximity, It takes up the housing that we were talking about earlier for workers who want to come to town and for people reaching that next step in life, the 24, the 25, the 30-year-olds that that need something affordable and there's just nothing there. So I say 11 years ago because I went back and forth with Planning Commission, City Council, Planning Commission, City Council, Planning Commission, Planning Commission to get some housing approved 11 years ago in 2015. And if we can simplify that and actually get some information out there to developers that we are here to be your partner. I believe this is a good step to get that out there because this really, really looks much better on paper. I know it still needs to go through those situations, but you wouldn't believe the challenge it was to get an apartment building, to change it from a three bedroom to a four bedroom Thought the Planning Commission and the council we're gonna have a cow over that now We're reaching a different level here. In fact, the mayor at that time brought it back on and without his support I don't believe it would have gotten done. So good thing. By the way, that apartment, six months after that apartment was built, there was 96 bedrooms in that thing. It's never, ever not been full by February, March of the previous school year. So that's a testimony to the demand of these kids wanting to live in proximity to be able to walk to school even though you know you get those good welder guys and those those boys down there on the south end that like to rev their trucks up and load everybody up in them and go but you know they'll drive from the north end down to the south end but hey it was a great place and now diesel technology students have a really, really good place to find a place they call home and to take that demand away from others. I hope to see this get utilized. Thanks, Brandy. Thank you.

Councilman Mormon. I appreciate the work that's been done on this, community manager. Brandy Hinton and everything that's gotten accomplished to get this campus district moving forward and also for the work that's been put into this housing I do Echo kind of what my colleague councilman shut he said I'm a little concerned about this being a zoning unit that right now could go anywhere within the within the city and My main concern is the fact that and I think this will be coming up in the next thing we look at here is the fact that this could be up to 60 feet tall and You know I'm concerned that if we allow this to be placed anywhere within the city and If it's next to your house or whoever this would be going in against, besides, we're going to have a room full of people here not wanting it in their backyard. So just something to consider.

Question, Director Hanton. So we've had two councilmen ask about that concern. Is there something that you feel that is in the ordinance as written that would protect from that happening?

We do, and it's actually addressed by the next ordinance amendment. But once a building is over 35 feet in height, then every additional foot requires a half a foot of the side yard setback increase. So, I mean, for example, if you're going to be, well, let's see here.

Let me pull up the chart.

Make sure that my memory is serving me. Okay, so when a structure is greater than three stories in height, this side yard shall be increased by one half foot for every one foot in additional height. So when you're over 30 feet, say it's going to be 60 feet, and this is like not good for me to be doing math on the floor here. Alan, do you already have this figured out?

I think it's an additional 12 1⁄2 feet.

Perfect. 12 1⁄2 feet would be the additional side yard that the property would need, and that's really to help with, you know, shadowing as a structure is taller. Thank you. Thank you, Manager Stager.

Councilman Borman, back to you. Thanks for that information. I would say, even if it is set back farther, I can't think of many neighborhoods that are going to be excited to have a 60-foot high apartment unit that's possibly packed full of LATC students right by their houses But with that said obviously there's a need for this a great need for LATC to continue to have options at affordable housing But I just know just since being on the council here with all the concerns that we continue up to this day itself with the changes that went on out of Dakota Commons and

Could see this being a being a very hot-button issue down the road Council any final councilman Jones I'd like to say I can appreciate councilman Shetty and council Mormont's concerns The Planning Commission City Council will have a chance to vet this very well and That gives me more confidence in this. Being on the developer side though, this is important. This is giving them the ability to give it in an affordable way instead of adding cost on it. I don't remember the exact number of having to dig a hole deep enough to abide by the current height of the building, but the cost to run that dirt out of there, truckload after trainload after truckload, was incredibly expensive. And those $200,000, $300,000 bills just to keep it under a certain height are some of those hidden things that we don't understand until we start diving into projects like this. So I wanted to just share that perspective. I personally support being able to go up. And the other reason is, is we have so many LATC students that are commingling right along with families that have kids, single moms. They want to sit in the back of their pickups out in the parking lot. More housing we can get where they're in one spot because they want to be in one spot. They don't want to be mingling all over town and maybe our law enforcement would probably you know could be a good good place to ask some questions about how that works and and just eliminating the The friction I I can I can really see why we need to do this. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilman Peters. Thank you, Mayor. Randy, do you remember how tall the Plains apartments are over on the north side of town? They have to be pushing the maximum of 55 feet, don't they?

I believe they're four stories, so they're probably around like 45 to 50. Okay.

Well, I was just going to throw it as an example as I was looking at these comparisons. comparing the over 12 units of multifamily to what we're proposing here for student housing, it's really not that much of a difference in terms of how many feet. Certainly 45 to 60, an extra 15 feet is taller, but I guess I would say we live next to the Plains Apartments, and anybody can go over there and check them out. It's a nice property. It's a sizable property, but it doesn't really constrain us living next to it, but I would just implore anybody that wants to go check out something comparable to go check those out.

Thank you. I will note that our development company director, Chris Clifton, did acknowledge something about the height. If you wanted to add it, you sure could. Yeah. But thank you. Councilman Shetty.

Thank you, Mayor. And yes, I bring it up for having a conversation on it. I also understand that The way the land the way we were developing It's kind of hard to imagine this being within a you know how many blocks of the college so I can see this most likely I've come for this absolutely for this. I just bring it up more for conversation just in case we're not missing something, but As long yeah, that's where it's got to trust the developer the Board of Adjustments You know council as we work through this process so in the future I

Councilman Hoyer. I just had another question with it, Brandy. Just out of curiosity and kind of thinking again of the developer too, do they have the ability in these properties to put commercial space below them? I'm just kind of imagining if somebody decided to do like a block of these things or like a big area of them and then decide to actually put some amenities in there for them, knowing that they're going to have a built-in audience. I mean, do they have that ability or is that separate?

Not in this congregate living district that is strictly residential, and then the only permitted use is for congregate student living, but if they were within 300 feet of a campus, then they could utilize the congregate student housing use through that district. And then so that is where, when you're getting a little higher, Or let's say more commercial-esque uses. We don't necessarily want to encourage that within neighborhoods, so that's why we have the distance requirement of the 300 feet for people to utilize the campus district then instead. So this R3S is strictly residential, no commercial mixed use opportunity.

I'm just kind of imagining that because there is such limited space down in that area specifically There might be some opportunity for somebody to stick something like this either on the north east west where we've been expanding And then put a bunch of it together With those amenities, so they are within walking distance. I'm not saying rewrite this but maybe There's another form of this that could be considered It isn't an apartment

And that, I do think, though, that for what you're talking about, I think the campus district would meet those needs. Because then they're within walking distance of the campus, you know, as it expands. Because you can do, you can be zoned campus and have student housing, right?

but they'd have to be directly next to the university, wouldn't they?

Within 300 feet. So you can't, it wouldn't be, like, you would have the opportunity to utilize the campus district if you're within 300 feet, which is, like, a good walking distance. Consider, like, this R3S can be anywhere at this time. Right.

Okay. Good enough. Council, any further comments, questions? Item 11E is a first reading of a zoning text amendment to include new CD campus district and R3S congregate living residential district. Director Hanton.

Thank you, Mayor. So this is, as stated, largely just that of adding the new districts that we're creating into the existing areas of ordinance that apply. The only thing that I want to be clear, and so like that is adding it into like the height and placement regulation charts, and then, but what I want to point out for transparency is because we're looking, we're amending these sections of the ordinance, we also, actually IT, if you could pull up page 44, slash 45, that's staggered. Through discussion with the Planning Commission and other applications that have come forward with Board of Adjustment, looking at slightly increasing the density of the R3 district and just our housing goals in general, that is being done within this ordinance amendment as well. The other thing is to add the incentive for when people have enclosed parking underneath the main roof of a building it actually really hinders or limits their allowable parking or like the allowable density that they can have because of the parking requirements and that being it not really being acknowledged that they're accomplishing the parking underneath the main structure so that let's see a little further down I'd 40, 45, I think. There we go, right there. So that was included, and then also just ordinance amendments that we've approved previously that were included in one section and not another by an error. So like the alleys that allow for the nine foot setback when garage door is open perpendicular, that was a previous deal that we did, but it wasn't included in this chart. And it should have been. So little cleanups there. Otherwise, nothing substantial. So with that, I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you, Brandy. Any questions from the council for Brandy or staff?

Seeing none, Veronda 11F. 11F has a first reading of a zoning text amendment to include terms associated with the CD campus district and R3S congregate living residential district. Director Hinton.

These are just the added definitions from the new districts. There's only four of them there, so with that I'll stand by for questions.

Let's see if there are any. Council? We'll move on to public hearings and second readings. Item 12A is a second reading of a zoning text amendment to Chapter 5.0301, building codes adopted with modifications of the revised ordinances of the City of Watertown, updating the International Residential Code from the 2018 edition to the 2024 edition. Director Hanton, you're on all of these tonight, pretty much.

It's my day. It's my lucky day. SO YES, THIS IS AN ORDINANCE AMENDMENT BEFORE YOU TO UPDATE OUR INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE FROM THE 2018 EDITION TO THE 2024 EDITION. ADOPT EVERY OTHER CODE CYCLE. SO NOW THAT THE STATE HAS ADOPTED THE 2024 ADDITION AND THAT HAS BECOME EFFECTIVE NOW AFTER JULY 1ST, SO THAT IS WHY IT'S BEFORE YOU ALL TO ADOPT. AND WE ARE AWARE THAT IT IS 2026 AND WE ARE ADOPTING THE 2024 CODE. It suffices and it does not include substantial changes as noted before in the work session and at the first reading we the the major change was with the snow load and we have a we've It was showing to go from 50 pounds per square foot to 64.4 pounds per square foot. And we did not want to add substantial increases to building costs. And so at this time, we have modified it, which we do have the ability to do, to stay at 50. So with that, I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you. This does require a public hearing. I will open one up now. Is there anyone who would like to talk to the council about this? I'll close the public hearing. Council, can I get a motion to approve the zoning text amendment? Motion made by Councilman Hoyer. Seconded by Councilman Allen. Council, any questions, comments?

Councilman Mormon. Just a comment. I appreciate the fact that we're keeping it at 50 pounds per square foot instead of going up with 64. I don't think any developers or homeowners or people that are building homes need any more expense added to their house than what they already have. And since we are not seeing roofs collapsing under snow load, there's definitely no reason to increase it. So I appreciate that.

Thank you. Council, any other questions or comments? The motion is to approve the zoning text amendment. All those in favor will vote aye. And we're just going to do a voice vote. We've done this twice before. So all those in favor of adopting this zoning text amendment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. motion carries Item 12 B is a second reading of a zoning text amendment to the building codes adopted with modifications of the revised ordinances of the city of Watertown updating the international building code from 2018 addition to the 2024 addition director Hinton Thank You mayor so

Again, this is international building code. This is what oversees the non-residential or commercial type construction. And again, just adopting a more updated code. With that, I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you. I will open a public hearing on this item. Is there anyone who would like to address the council on this? I will close the public hearing. Council, can I get a motion to approve the zoning text amendment? Motion made by Councilman Shetty, seconded by Councilman Peters. Council, any discussion? Councilman Shetty.

Before we vote, I'd like to hear from the building official what he thinks of it.

No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. We're good. We're good.

Any other discussion, comments, questions? The motion is to approve the zoning text amendment. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item 12C is a second reading of a zoning text amendment to the fire code in prevention of the revised ordinances of the city of Watertown from the international fire code from the 2018 edition to the 2024 edition. Director Hanton, your last one of the night.

Thank you, Mayor. And I guess I should also state, though, that for the record, that the building official, Reed Peterson, and the fire marshal, Adam Bloom, are present. If there were more in-depth questions, they are the masters of this code. But again, this is the International Fire Code going from the 2018 to the 2024, no significant changes. I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you. I will open a public hearing on this item. Is there anyone who would like to address the council? I will close the public hearing. Council, can I get a motion to approve this amendment? Motion made by Councilman Hoyer, seconded by Councilman Moorman. Any discussion, council? The motion is to approve the amendment. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. We are on to other business. I will actually do something at the open forum. We did have testimony. And one thing was referenced in regard to a possible handout. Brittany Scott, you had referenced that. If you wanted to pass that out to the council, I would like to give that opportunity to you now. I'm not opening it up, I'm not opening up your comments to any discussion, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to get the information to council that you wanted to get out. Thank you. We are still on other business. Is there any other business for the council? City Manager, anything to report?

I thought maybe I'd hand it over to Community Development Manager Hanton since she's had the rest of the agenda. Couple of items. Since our last meeting, we have appointed a new director of park, recreation, and forestry. Matt Bransrud is in the audience. I think you know Matt, but maybe I could ask him to stand up so you know who our new director is. Secondly, we are approaching the budget season, and as you will recall from last year, as we worked through the budget process, we had several work sessions. We would like to start to schedule the first work session To cover a couple of items and I'd like some feedback from you. You can give it to me later Whether August 10th or August 17th works out logistically the best for a work session That would be when we would would first of all look at our tops top tier strategic items for the next several years including your council priority projects as well as the CIP plan on a preliminary basis and Also that work session, I know you've been waiting for this, but the city engineer would like to take us through some information on sidewalks. Just the more education and background that we get as we have the sidewalk discussion, I think the better and it will lead into next year's planning. Another item, there's been quite a bit of activity the last couple of days at the Dakota Commons Reserve. project. As you will recall, there are some concerns with that project. What I can report to you is the permits have been issued to Dakota Commons Reserve. All of the requirements of the permit have been met, including a connection to the adjacent commercial property which will eventually connect to 19th Street NE. We're still working with the owner of the commercial property, the Mills Development, owning Dakota Commons, to complete that connection to 19th Street. But I did want to acknowledge that the developer, Dakota Commons Reserve, has met their requirements. Also, you can see right adjacent to the building here, the Air Stay Hotel. Again, has construction activity. Second Street has been shut down to accommodate that activity. As you can see over the last couple of days, quite a bit of work has taken place with the vertical erection of the precast concrete materials, so quite a bit of activity there. street projects Again, we're making progress both at the WMU level and at the city rebuild project that we have in place Just thank the public for their patience as we we work through the the communication as those projects get closer to the end We also have a couple of projects. We are working through the budget that we would like to get in this year They're not certain but we will continue to work through them. The first one is the mill and overlay. We are trying to stretch as much work as we can possibly get done in the northeastern quadrant of the city. We're also looking at a long-awaited project on 21st Street Southwest where we will do a maintenance procedure called a blotter top to really trade off some of the ongoing weekly maintenance of grading the gravel road with this blotter top surface. And then finally, we would like to redo portions of 14th Avenue North this year, including a seal coat and a re-striping plan. Today, under the current striping, we're actually utilizing the shoulder as driving lanes, and we're concerned with the longevity of that road the stroller and so from a safety perspective going back to a Lane on each side of the road without the center turning lane is what staff is recommending This may be the very last project we get in this year, but certainly we're planning for it.

I Have nothing else this week Thank you Item 15 is City Councilmember introduction of topics for future discussion. Do we have any councilman Allen? I

Couple things that I'm just gonna beat the strategic planning drama again Because I think we we need to do that And It's reinforced I think what we heard tonight from Crenlow for example, but also from Brittany with regard to collaborative planning to be Successful as a city and so I I don't need to hammer on it, but I think we should begin to plan, do some strategic planning as a council. And the budget process is an excellent place for that to happen, but we need to do some collaborative strategic planning in order to move forward effectively, I think, as a city. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other councilmen? Councilman Mormon.

Just a quick question and comment. Getting back to the Dakota Commons, City Manager Stagger, Just for the public's information, an access to 19th Street, was that a requirement of the TIF that was given?

It was. The TIF plan is a contingent item because the dollar amounts were not known at that time. Therefore, there is a contingent estimate placed by Dakota Commons Reserves Subsequent to that, they've been unable to work with the owner of the property to actually get access to 19th Street. Those discussions are ongoing. We continue to press hard from a staff standpoint and we do believe a solution will be coming forward real soon.

Okay, thank you. And then just one other thing. I was at the last airport board meeting, and I know we've talked about it a little bit, but the infrastructure that could be added out on the airport grounds to facilitate building more airplane hangars for private ownership or mechanic shop down the road, I know it's It would be a costly undertaking that the city would probably have to invest in, but I would definitely, as we're going into the budgeting season now, I would welcome any conversation on that, or if there's any research or anything I could do to help make that become a reality, I am more than willing to do whatever I can.

Councilman, I think you're about two weeks too early. I'll just recognize airport manager Ian Merriweather. He has prepared the first draft of the airport strategic plan. I've been through it. We're going to review it with additional staff members tomorrow. And then the airport board, I think it's the 4th of August. And in that plan, he has several options put forward to extend utilities in the area that we've been talking about. So it is well-timed. That doesn't mean that there's a guaranteed path forward because it's competing against many other dollars, but turning our airport into a center of economic development, I think, is something that will continue to set us apart as a community.

Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman? Council? Councilman Hoyer.

I've just got a couple things. I WAS WONDERING IF I COULD JUST REQUEST A PRESENTATION OR MAYBE JUST AN UPDATE ON MAYBE WHERE SOME OF OUR DEVELOPMENTS ARE RIGHT NOW, JUST PROJECT-WISE, SOME OF THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN OPEN FOR LIKE FIVE YEARS OR MORE OR THEY'RE PAST THEIR CURRENT PERMITTED TIMELINE, JUST IDENTIFY WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO CLOSE THEM OUT AND SEE WHAT WE CAN DO TO MAYBE HELP THEM ALONG AND GET THOSE THINGS WRAPPED UP SO WE CAN CLOSE A FEW OF THEM.

WE CAN PROVIDE THAT. I BELIEVE OUR CITY ENGINEER HAS IT. I THINK WE HAVE SIX THAT ARE CURRENTLY OUTSTANDING AND APPROACHING OR BEYOND THE DEADLINE.

JUST AN UPDATE. WE'LL CIRCULATE THAT. AND THEN A FOLLOW-UP ON LOGOS ON THE SIDEWALKS DOWNTOWN, JUST ENFORCING IT'S A WALKING ZONE. I will say that I saw enforcement happen in the last week. So just a big thank you to Chief Toomey and the officers at the PD. It's kind of hard to walk up to kids and tell them, hey, guys, we're going to need you to walk your bike. But I just really appreciate it. It's kind of been a big safety concern in the area.

I'll comment on that. Two things. And when Councilman Hoyer says Chief Toomey, he really means Chief Toomey. I was able to chase down a few bandits. We are bringing change to Title 19 next council meeting, which will go through the readings on the sidewalk and the prohibitions on use of the conveyance vehicles on sidewalks. So that is coming forward.

Okay. And then the last thing I had, and then I'm all done. Just if we could have the option to possibly list our phone numbers on the city website. Once upon a time, back in 2019 to like 21, they did that. Used to get a lot of engagement with the public that way I'd be and I'm not saying required of us But like I'd be more than willing to put mine out there in that situation So I used to get a lot of calls from like Lance burger God rest his soul But like that's how he got my number that there's no staff objection to doing that Council members if you have objection talk to me But otherwise, I think that's a great idea.

I

Councilman, any other topics? All right, we do have a reason to go into executive session for personnel matters and consultation with legal counsel on contractual matters. Can I get a motion to go into executive session?

So moved.

Motion made by Councilman Allen.

Second.

Second by Councilman Hoyer. Before anyone leaves, wait for the vote. All those in favor of going into executive session, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. I would advise the media to possibly stick around. There is the possibility of action afterwards. So with that said, we will, in case we're not back, I'm going to say good night and God bless you, Watertown. But if we are, then we will alert the media. We will alert our IT department. It will be broadcast if we come back. Anything will be broadcast. We do not know if we are coming back. I just wanted to be transparent and let everyone know that that is a possibility. So, counsel, we'll be at ease for about five minutes while we get ready for executive session.