City Council - Regular Meeting

So, very positive thing for our community. So, anyway, the first kickoff this evening will be an invocation by Pastor Eric Ogerud, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, if you'd care to rise.

or new firefighters being sworn in, so let's pray for them as well. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we once again thank you for this beautiful and wonderful city to live in, and we pray for wisdom and guidance.

Lord, you are the one who fills us with both love and knowledge, so we pray.

for that tonight, for wisdom and discernment for all decisions that are being made, that we might be able to live peaceful and quiet lives here in this city. And Lord, we thank you for those who serve in this city and particularly now for these four men who are being sworn in as firefighters. We pray for your blessing on them and your protection over them and their families. Thank you for the work that they are about to do. And Lord, we thank you for all who protect and serve here as well. May your blessing and protection be on each one of them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I will call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Frank Meyer.

Here.

Harrison. Here.

Rachel was absent. Hillary. Here. Christian was absent. Joan.

Here. London.

Here. Wait.

Here.

We have a quorum. The next item on the agenda is open forum time to address items of city business that are not on tonight's agenda. Anybody wishing to speak, please come forward. We have had a request by somebody who's running late to speak and we'll try to slot them in if we can. Seeing or hearing nobody, we will move on. Oh, sorry. I didn't see you.

Hi, Cecily Cookman, Fergus Falls resident. I did have a couple of maybe comments or questions on some of the agenda that I was able to look at. the skating rink or this arena out there i guess i'm curious as to why it's just a curiosity question as to why the city is still subsidizing that i don't believe it's a city property and it's so i'm curious as to why it's 17 and a half percent or almost 110 000 we're still subsidizing that

THANK YOU. I THINK THAT WILL GET ADDRESSED WHEN IT COMES UP.

OKAY. AND THEN MY SECOND QUESTION IS, OR MAYBE JUST A COMMENT ON M-STATE. the solar panels going up, I guess I'm rather disappointed in those going up there. They are such an eyesore. They're such a strain on the community and on our taxes. They're subsidized so heavily.

I think, just to assist you on that one, there's only like half a dozen solar panels going up and it's for a training, so it's for their training program. They're starting a new program for solar panel technicians at M-State. And that's kind of the purpose of the solar panel. So I don't think there's physically many panels.

Okay. I wasn't aware of what they meant by two parcels. It sounded large.

No, no, no. It's a very small, it's not a solar panel that's going to power a lot of anything. It's probably a golf cart.

Good to know. Thank you.

It's a good thing for M-State because it's the first technician program hands-on. So it's a positive thing for the community.

Okay. Thanks for clarifying that.

No problem. The next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. And I know Council Member Jobe has a conflict of interest for item seven on the consent agenda. If not, would somebody care to offer them? I will. Thank you, Laura. I'll second. Thank you, Laurel. All those in favor say aye. I'll say aye, yes. Aye. Aye. So, getting ahead of myself there. There are no public hearings this evening. There are no awards to bid. Then we come to the main event of this evening, which is the petitions of communications and the swearing-in ceremony of firefighters. And this could be a bit of a hash job, so maybe... Maybe the fire chief would like to read off their names so that I don't embarrass myself even further this evening by trying to pronounce Vandermin Burakunofshi.

Thank you, Your Honor. That is exactly why these members put in one year of service before we do a swearing in. So I learned their names. There's still a couple. I seriously don't think I get them right. But yes, thank you, members of the council. It is an exciting night to be in front of you this evening for me as the fire chief, along with our team of firefighters, and especially those that are getting their badge pinning this evening. The badge painting, it's a milestone within the fire service and within our fire department. It illustrates the accomplishments and the continued dedication of the four firefighters that'll be coming forward this evening. Our Fergus Falls firefighters, we value commitment, teamwork, pride, honor, and integrity. And I'm quite confident that these four coming forward this evening illustrate and demonstrate those values for our team. The badge our firefighters wear, it's a symbol. It's a symbol of a promise to serve and the sacrifice that they make to protect the lives and properties of those that we respond to. It also symbolizes the brotherhood and sisterhood of the fire service, one that is supportive of one another. of our firefighters that will be receiving his badge, Nate Johnson, he came to us with several years of experience from a neighboring department. The other three that will be receiving their badge, Vadim Bezkrovny, Matt Hintz, and Tyler Rowland, they were part of our inaugural fire training academy that we did in-house, led by our training chief Dan Lipson, and they completed nearly 300 hours of training since they came on board with us last year, September. So that is probably one of the first times that we've had new members within 10 months complete all of their required training. We usually give them three years. So hats off to the three that came on board to do their initial training. And also thank you to our neighboring department for training one of the members that we now have. So it's a good return on investment. So in addition to them receiving their badge, our training chief Dan Lipson will be providing them their firefighter certification frame. That is an internationally recognized certification. So pretty cool deal that our firefighters here in town do. And I found this fitting quote that just deals with training and the fire service in general, but before you learn the tricks of the trade, you need to learn the trade. We have a lot of lingo and I don't want to call them shortcuts, but tricks of the trade in the fire service. But these members have given us or shown the example that they've learned the trade prior to them learning all the tricks of it. So hats off to them. So thank you, Vadim, Tyler, Matt, and Nate, and along with our fire family, our friends, your family, we are proud to do this badge pinning ceremony this evening. So if you four would come up, and then those that are gonna pin your badge, you can line up over here by this window. The mayor will read the oath of office for our firefighters. And this is really the true test, so we'll see how you do. I wasn't told.

I wasn't told. No, oh, you can, you're fine. You need a good picture so these families have one.

All right, Mayor, they're all yours.

Right, okay, thank you and welcome.

I'll read the kind of the sentence and then you repeat after me and I'll see whether I say state your name.

I'll see whether your real name as opposed to kind of what I say. I, state your name, do promise to serve and protect all citizens and guests of Fergus Falls.

As well as my fellow firefighters with pride, honor, integrity, commitment, and teamwork. I promise that I will at all times

I promise that I will at all times conduct myself in a manner that reflects positively on the fire department and the city of Fergus Falls.

Conduct myself in a manner that reflects positively on the fire department and the city of Fergus Falls.

Lastly, I promise to follow the policies set forth by the department and city.

Lastly, I promise to follow the policies set forth by the department and city

Uphold the laws and constitutions of our state and nation.

Uphold the laws and constitutions of our state and nation.

And that I will faithfully discharge my duty as a firefighter to the best of my ability, so help me God.

And that I will faithfully discharge my duty as a firefighter to the best of my ability, so help me God.

Now I think it's over to Ryan for the actual pinning of the badge.

Yes. So from there, thank you. And the badge pinners, go ahead and pin the badge on your firefighter.

We do have an EMT in the room.

EMT is a PA. We've got a lot of people here to help. Doctor. That's pretty good. All right, thank you, Mayor, members. You guys can come on this way, and Dan will hand off your training certificate. Congratulations. And then Mayor, Council, just as they're receiving that, and just to also give credit to the employers that support these firefighters. I know you guys have a flyer, but just for the general public to know as well, but Vadim, his full-time employment is with Ziegler CAT, TYLER WORKS ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE FIRE STATION, SO VERY CONVENIENT, BUT AT STENDERSON LUMBER. MATT IS AT LAKE REGION HEALTH CARE IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, AND THEN NATE JOHNSON'S AN ENGINEER OUT OF VALMAT. SO PRETTY DIVERSE GROUP THAT WE GET THAT COMES ON BOARD. SO NOT ONLY DO WE GET THEIR FIRE SKILLS, WE GET THEIR EVERYDAY JOB SKILLS THAT REALLY HELPS MAKE OUR TEAM WHAT IT IS. SO THANK YOU.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, AND GOOD LUCK. THE NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA THIS EVENING IS THE CONSENT AGENDA. And on that is a motion approving the minutes for the August 17, 2026 City Council meeting. A motion approving licenses. Motion appointing Travis Johnson to the Fergus Falls HRA board for a five-year term. A resolution approving the 2027 Community Arena exhibit. agreement exhibit a resolution approving the submission of a dnr protect community forest for community resilience grant resolution authorizing the submission of a community growth partnership grant request on behalf of rzn athletics a resolution approving an interim use permit for the installation of a 40 kilowatt ground mount solar array on two parcels within the m state campus A motion directing the city attorney to draft an ordinance rezoning 301 North Union Avenue from R4 to B3. If somebody would care to make that resolution.

I'll offer that.

Thank you, Scott. Would somebody care to second it? I can second that. Thank you, Laura. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved. The item on the agenda that got removed was the resolution approving a motion directing the city attorney to draft an ordinance rezoning portion of Lake Region Health Care Campus from R2 to R3. B3. B3. OK. What's B? Would somebody care to make that motion?

I'll make that motion.

Thank you, Scott. Would somebody care to second that motion?

I can second it.

Thank you, Laurel. All those in favor say aye. Aye. We have one, two, three, four, five, four, and one abstention.

We should have five.

Five.

It's a motion. It's a motion. It's a motion. It's a roll call. Majority. Majority.

Yeah. So, okay, the motion is approved. The next item on the agenda is under ordinance and resolutions. There's a resolution authorizing the mayor and city administrators to sign a letter of support for the Lake Region Healthcare USDA Rural Development Community Facilities application. If somebody would care to make that resolution.

I'll do that.

Thank you, Laurel. Would somebody care to second it?

I'll second.

Thank you, Scott. Any questions on it? If not, roll call, please. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Abstain.

Yes.

Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution approving a change order for PI5966, the Cavour Avenue Improvement Project. And I will call upon Kyle, city engineer, to talk it through.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, city council members. Tonight I have a change order in front of you for a few items we ran into during construction. So this change order is for the intersection of Mill and Cavour. when we were digging in that intersection we ran into some areas small spotty areas where we ran into organic material about three feet under the ground and there was a layer a foot to two feet deep in this area and we had to excavate that out because we don't want to build our new street on top of organic material It consisted of almost, you could almost see the old cattails. So there must have been a slew or, you know, a low area back in the day when the street was originally built and they just must have put material over the top of it and built the street at that time. But we could see those cattails in there. We wanted to get that out of there. So we excavated that out and brought in good material and put it in there. So when we build the street, we're on good material and we don't have any type of settlement in the future. What'll happen is that organic material will decompose over time and we'll start to settle out. So we got that out from underneath the street, brought in good material and put that in.

you

The other piece that we ran into was an old sanitary sewer line, 8-inch sanitary sewer line that was under the ground, which had been abandoned at some point. And we didn't want to leave that open because what will happen is if moisture gets down in there, it starts to bring the sediment with it and starts to fill that pipe up. So what we did is we filled it up with concrete so that we don't have any type of settlement issues out in the street in the future. And then the other was we actually ran into our second fuel tank on the project that we had to deal with and take care of. So this change order includes those pieces. So the change orders for $54,123.09. Just to give you an idea of where we are on the project. So what we've done from a budget standpoint is we've looked at where we're at today. We've looked at all the items of what we need to do to finish the project and kind of came to an end of budget. And so where we're sitting now after this change order, we'd have about $24,000 left in contingencies yet. TO DO THE ALLEYWAY AND THE CAVOR PROJECT. SO WE'RE GETTING CLOSE, BUT WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO THE END OF CONSTRUCTION TOO, SO.

CAN YOU TELL ME WHEN THEY'RE PROJECTING CONSTRUCTION TO BE DONE?

YES. THEY'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO START PAVING ON THURSDAY ON THE ONE PART OF THE PROJECT WHERE THERE IS CONCRETE. And then also concrete crew is coming in to finish out the other part of the roadway that hasn't have concrete. But their completion date is October 21st, I believe, to be completely done, substantially complete. I think they might be done a little bit before that, but right around that timeframe.

I think the businesses downtown are hoping that they are.

For sure.

We are too. Can we get somebody to make a resolution for it? Thank you, Laura.

I'll second it.

Thank you, Laurel.

Just a question on the scheduling, though. Will they come and do the streets and get them paved and open and then go to work on the parking lot? So will there be sort of a step in this, or are they going to wait until everything's ready for pavement and then do all the blacktop at once?

They're going to pave the streets before. Like I said, part of it will be paved on Thursday.

okay yeah i think that would be a real help they'll get in and get the streets thank you mike mr meyer i appreciate it uh we can't help some of the lines and some of the tanks and everything's like that but how big was this area of what you call cat tails and are we talking a 10 by 10 area because 54 000 what portion of that was to get that out of there do you know how big was the area

Yeah, the portion for the cattails is about, uh, well 23,000 plus 17. So what we did is we excavated that all out, but the area was probably about the intersection of mill street and then go outside of Cavour, probably a hundred feet, um, both ways on Cavour. And then about, you know, a hundred feet or so into mill street.

So this takes me back, and I apologize if this has been talked about or fixed or whatever, but this takes me back to that initial boring test that we had done. We had all these areas bored. We thought we were good in all this. Tell me if this coincides with that. Like, should they have seen this or not seen this? Because now we're on a change order of something that we had a boring problem with before. I'm just wondering, you know, what's going on here, I guess.

Yep, so where we're at, if they would have bored in this exact area, they would have seen it. We had corings and we had borings. We had three borings on the project, three throughout the project. We did not have a boring right in this intersection. But we are still battling with that testing agency, so this is another item that we will put in our pocket to use towards them.

All right, sounds good. No more?

I'm going to follow up on Mr. Mortensen. How big was this area? Help me out. Is it like the size of a basement, the size of a football field?

Well, think of the intersection of Cavour and Mill Street, the entire intersection. 60 by 60? About it. Yeah, and then you go 100 feet back either direction on Cavour. So another 100 feet this way, 100 feet that way, and then 100 feet on Mill Street. So sizable. Yeah, and what we did is we, this includes taking that material out, bringing new material in, and then we actually put a geogrid over the top of it. That's a fabric type material that adds strength and rigidity to the soil, because what we wanted to do is make sure that it's bridged. So if there is any type of settlement, we bridge it with this material.

Thank you.

Roll call, please. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is a resolution approving an agreement for decorative lighting along Lincoln Avenue. And I will call upon Guy Taylor and myself to help fill in the gaps.

Thank you, Your Honor. So yes, we've had a donor offer to fund, partially maybe, installation of decorative lights downtown between Union and Cascade. That's an exhibit of what it could look like. That's what the idea is anyway, to string lights between the building fronts in that three-block stretch. uh the initial estimate i've got to do the project is about thirty thousand dollars so the the donor he will be approached with that figure and then if there's a shortfall then we'll then go to the vadine trust and see if they would like to fund the the total of the project of the remainder of the project i should say we've got a couple different styles of lights that we've been given and they're in your packet That style that I would suggest would be the type with the cover over the bulb, similar to what we have at the pavilion. And that would just prevent any light from casting up into the second floor apartments downtown. So the ask to the council is to draft, ask the city attorney to draft an easement for the building owners that would have anchors in their building that the cable would attach to their building. If you're agreeable with doing the lights, then we'd have city attorney draft that easement.

This was a local businessman that basically would like to fund this, would like to see obviously downtown look a little bit more inviting, you know, throughout the year. And, you know, obviously this is not, we're not asking this evening to do this. This is for the attorney because we have to get an easement of every building owner downtown to anchor it because we can't fix it to the light poles. Because it has to be tall enough for semi trucks to go down, down the road. So there's some work to be done. And obviously, if we get if, if the majority of building owners are not willing to do this, then obviously, the project will kind of die at that at that point. So with that, probably if we can get a resolution, then people can ask questions. I'll offer another question. Thank you, Laurel. Somebody get a second. Nope. I'll second it, Your Honor. Yep. Thank you, Mike.

Mr. Taylor, maybe you said it already and I might have missed it. How many blocks are we doing the three blocks downtown with this, all three?

Yes, correct. Union 2 Cascade.

Yep. All right. I think from a council, not from a council standpoint, from a citizen standpoint in this community, I love this. And I encourage the businesses that are downtown to go along with this easement and do this for our community. One of the things that we've lacked for a long, long time. I mean, I'm old, but there used to be the big lights in the middle of the things. And to have our downtown lit up again, I think it's a great thing. And so whoever is donating or generously doing this, I thank them very much as a council member, but I encourage the community to be part of this and go with this if they can.

Will this interfere at all with the current Christmas lights that are put on the light poles? Because it would be we need to make sure we can still do both. I think I agree with Mr. Mortensen. This this should happen. And I think it's wonderful and we're very grateful. But will it interfere with what we currently do? It will be higher.

Right. It's going to be higher than the lampposts.

So our intent is to do both come the holiday season.

Yes. And these lights would be up year round. Right. Yep.

Thank you, Mayor. Are these only one single color, white, or are they programmable?

We're just planning for white.

And they're going to be lit every day out of the year as you're up?

That's the plan. They'll have a photo cell that will energize them as dusk comes on, and they'll turn off when the light, when the sun comes up in the morning.

I'm not familiar with this type of lighting, but I don't know if there could be. Is it LED? Is it filament? Could it be color changeable? You know, white's going to get stale after a while.

They are LED, so low energy consumption. I don't have an idea what the electricity cost would be per year, but we can look to see if we could do colorizing.

Yeah, I'm just throwing the idea out that, you know, You've got various colors for various seasons. And I'm glad they're up your round. I don't want them up and down.

To do the colorizing, we'd have to have some kind of a control box. And we're just planning for a simple connection point.

Investigate it and report back, please.

Will do. Any other questions? Scott? I think that there's several places where there's awnings or things like the Fergus Theater Marquee and things like that that will have to get negotiated around how it fits and all. I think the general idea is good. What I remember from past years when there was lighting similar to this is it was at the intersections primarily and not necessarily up and down the block. And maybe it'll be possible to do it all. Maybe there'll have to be gaps depending on the awnings and things like that. But I think the decorating idea is a good one. And if the businesses along the street just support it, I think that'd be great.

I would also like to, I agree with that. I remember when the lights were on the intersections.

Sure they were lights and not candles?

They were both. I believe there were candle lights. It's nice to see the beautification of the city. I drove by, which I felt guilty that I wasn't there helping today, of the park and saw a council member with his wife and father hauling mulch in a wheelbarrow. And there was some city workers there also then. That's great to see. And we need more of that community involvement And people are going to see this and jump on board with it. So I thank that person who is looking to help fund this greatly for that, because that person cares about his city or her city. I don't know who it is. And I think it's a good idea. Thank you.

Thank you. With that, roll call, please.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

The resolution is approved.

Your Honor, if I may, one more thing. To what Councilman Cramire is saying, with the beautification project in Wright Park, there is going to be an opportunity for all to be involved. We're planting 275-some plants tomorrow. And if you have time, you are welcome to come and join.

What time?

We're going to start at 8.30. Some of the plants are in place today. We've put in 28 of the more permanent larger plants today and also 45 yards of mulch in there today. And it's along the, like we talked about before, along the wall of Wright Park in there. I wanted to just give a shout out. I had two young city employees that were helping me today, and I said, I either have good news for you or bad news for you. And they said, what? Just young guys. I said, you're dedicated to me today, so I don't know how this will go. But I asked them today, these guys worked like I maybe could have 30 years ago, maybe. They gave it everything they had, 45 yards of mulch that they did with buckets and different things that we did. And I said, should I say your guys' names tonight? What do you think? Oh, they weren't sure about that. But I have to give a shout out to Enzo Naramere and Luke Velde. These guys, I know Luke was just brought on this last summer to the city. But if this is the type of employees that the city hires and goes through HR and under Andrew and under Len, this is the kind of guys we want in this city. They didn't stop at anything and worked very hard. And so I'm very proud of those guys as employees. Yes, my wife and dad helped me today, but tomorrow it's open to anybody that wants to come and help. There's 200 and some plants to be planted in that area. And it's going to take a while to do it. So everybody's welcome. Everybody's welcome.

Bring your own spade.

There's a possibility we're short on spades. It depends on how many show up. I mean, the city truck has a few. I've got a few. But yeah, if they just want to show up and be part of it, it's really cool. We're hoping to trim a few more trees, brush tomorrow, so the residents can see through the plants to the old trestle bridge. There was some of it opened up, and I appreciate Mr. Taylor's work on that. There was some of it opened up at the benches, But the way I remember it as a kid is you could see all the way through the plants to the trestle bridge. And we're hopefully going to have that open up tomorrow. There'll be nobody that'll be able to drive by that and not see the impact that that will make to be able to see that bridge and see the plants that are there with it. One of the things that would be nice to do and I've talked about it with mr. Taylor we might as well say it on the air is That old trestle bridge is so classic that if we could get something done your honor with railroad Where we could put a larger white Fergus Falls on that trestle bridge. I think that would be impressive for that area of the city I know the railroads difficult to deal with it might be one of those middle-of-the-night things that you need to do for us and to get it done, but it's something that we're looking at, and I think the city could be proud of that. And this was the first year. We hope the second and third can be, but tomorrow anyone can come and plant flowers.

Thank you, Mike. your honor uh the guest who wanted to have the open forum is here i'll get to that i'm sorry i didn't know if you saw it no i we might as well finish the agenda then when we get to all business so the next item on the agenda is presentation of claims in the amount of three million five hundred and eighty five thousand six hundred and forty eight dollars and eighty nine cents if somebody would care to make that resolution

On behalf of my very close personal friend, Jim Fish, I'll make the motion. I'm sorry I jumped over that item. I was just trying to save three and a half, nine bucks.

Thank you, Mark. Would somebody care to second it? I will. Okay. Thanks, Laurel. Any questions, direct them to our finance director. If not, roll call, please.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. The resolution is approved. On the open forum, I think Debbie Smith had something she wanted to say. So Debbie, come forward. State your name and the city in which you reside.

I'm Debbie Smith, and I reside in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. And I want to thank the council members and Mayor Hicks for accommodating me. I'm sorry I haven't been able to make it to some of the meetings. I'm going to have to dash out of here after I'm done speaking. But this has to do, as you all know, with some politics that is statutorily mandated for both major parties. We have an issue here in Fergus Falls where we have run out of space. We've had to go to other towns for the mandated caucus, which happens every two years. And this is both parties, both major parties. Give you an example, in 2026 in February, the lovely month of February, we had five different caucus sites. And the one in Fergus Falls was at the school. And we had accommodated for the maximum we thought would show up based on how many have shown up in the past and adding a few more. We ended up with 90 more people than we had expected. And this is just at one site here in Fergus Falls. We are literally having to move the caucus out of town because we are running out of space. SAME WITH CONVENTIONS, WHICH AGAIN, ARE MANDATED BY THE STATE. BOTH PARTIES And so I am asking, is there some way that the Bigwood Center would be able to accommodate what we have to do as major party members? And it's all voluntary. We don't get money from anybody. Forget about what's happening this Saturday at the Bigwood Center. That is a major Senate GATHERING, WHICH IS PROBABLY BEING PAID BY A LOT OF DIFFERENT PACS. WE DON'T DO THAT NORMALLY. WE DID IN 2022. I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO GET THE RECORDS. THEY JUST WERE NEVER MADE AVAILABLE TO US. AND WE SUSPECT IT WAS PACS THAT PAID FOR THE BIG WOOD HERE IN 2022. So I just wanna make the city aware that when we have conventions, there's the Otter Tail County Conventions, both major parties, mandated again by the state. There is the Congressional District Convention, which is even larger. And it turns out, if you're familiar with the map of Congressional District Seven, Fergus Falls is smack dab in the middle. Right now, people are being forced, especially in the agricultural areas, to drive many miles rather than being able to centralize it because of no room or we can't afford the space. I would like the city council, which means we end up the businesses, for example, Thumper Pond. The last time we had a convention, Thumper Pond accommodated us. I don't know if it's appropriate to give the numbers here. I have provided it to other city council members. but they have been much more inviting because they like the fact that we bring business into their towns. If some places, for example, we did a convention in Perm because it's the only place that would accommodate the number of people and parking. Parking is a big deal. PERM loves us because we bring in business when the people are there. I'd like to see some of that business come to Fergus Falls. The restaurants, if people come to stay overnight, you're looking at being able to rent out rooms. in some of our hotels and motels. So please consider finding a way that it can be affordable. Remember, it is volunteers having to come up with the money. And we end up paying for everything. If we have a meeting, we end up paying for that, although it's much less where we find it. Some places offer it free because they know it's something that is a civic responsibility. So please consider opening up the Bigwood and making it affordable. Otherwise we have to bring the business to other towns. I'd rather whenever possible it be brought here. Thank you.

Thank you, Debbie. Moving on, there is no new business under miscellaneous announcements. Obviously, with Monday being a holiday, your Monday's garbage got picked up this morning. Tuesday's garbage will get picked up tomorrow, Wednesday. September 11 at 7.30 a.m. is the annual 9-11 Remembrance Ceremony at the fire station. On September 14 at 6 p.m., there will be a public comment session on the proposed use of body-worn cameras by the Fergus Falls Police Department in City Hall Chambers. And then on September 16 at 7 o'clock, there will be a Committee of the Whole meeting followed by a Port Authority meeting. And the goal of that is we're going to limit things on the Committee of the Whole agenda for about one hour so that the Port Authority meeting would start at 8 o'clock. And then on September 21st, 5.30, there will be a City Council meeting here.

With that, we are... Can I ask one question on that body-worn camera? I got a question of someone that heard about it. Can we clarify here on the record, this is not talking about a flock camera system, this is strictly body-worn cameras, because there seems to be some confusion that those are interchangeable words, and there's been a lot of media around that type of camera.

Sure, Mayor. Alderman Kildee, thank you for the question. It truly is just body-worn cameras. It's state statute that we host this open forum for just questions or comments, but has absolutely nothing to do with the law.

Very exactly like that. If somebody has a concern about their use and how they are, this is the ideal time for them to come and talk to somebody that's knowledgeable as opposed to reading it on Facebook. So with that, we are adjourned.