City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting of St. Peter, Minnesota. It is Monday, May 26th, 2026 at 7 p.m. We are called to order. Would all please rise for the pledge. Everybody should have received a copy of the packet. Are there any revisions or corrections? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the agenda?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor of approval, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Our agenda is approved. The minutes are printed on pages five through seven of the packet. Are there any revisions or corrections to the minutes as distributed? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the minutes?

So moved.

Do we have a second?

Second.

All those in favor of approval, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Our minutes are approved. As is regular, we have time on our agenda for visitors. Is there any visitor who'd like to address the council on any agenda item? Hearing none, we also have time for general visitor comments. Is there a visitor who'd like to address the council on an item that's not on the agenda? Hearing none, we'll move on to the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda begins on page eight and concludes with a resolution that appears on pages 17 through 18. Tonight on the consent agenda, there are numerous employee appointments, The names, the position, and the wages are listed within the packet as well as the budget associated with the position. There are many licenses as well. I'm not going to read them. We have on-sale liquor, off-sale liquor, Sunday on-sale liquor, 3-2 off-sale beer, 3-2 on-sale beer, and brewer off-sale malt liquor. For each of those categories, we have the business, location, and the dates of the license or permit listed within the packet. We have the installation of a dead end and no through traffic signage on 4th Street north of Union Street, a proposal from Peterson Floor Surfacing for the refurbishment of the community center gym floor in the amount of $32,867, as well as the schedule of disbursements for May 7th through 21st, 2026. Is there any discussion of any item on the consent agenda, Brad?

So, Todd, I've asked this in the past. I know the answer to it. But can you explain, why do we have a Sunday on sale liquor? Why don't we just put it all together under one liquor license?

It really relates to how the state statute is formulated. And so those are different licenses that also have to be approved by the state of Minnesota. So that's really what governs why it's broken up into two parts, Sunday and then other days but Sunday. So it's not just the city looking to collect extra fees? It is not necessarily the city looking for extra fees. Okay. Thank you.

Any additional questions? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the resolution approving the consent agenda?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Call the roll, please. Council Member Johnson? Aye. Council Member Pettis? Aye. Council Member Sharstrom? Aye. Council Member DeVos? Aye.

Mayor Noel? Aye. The resolution is approved. Our first item of new business tonight, we have no old business before us, is Memorandum of Understanding for Youth Development and Youth Service Programs with School District 508.

Mayor members, information is included in your packet. As you've seen, this is an agreement and really a partnership that we've been involved with the school district and specifically community ed for now over two decades. This is an exchange of resources and I could talk a little bit more about the history if you'd like. But the memorandum of understanding itself has gone relatively unchanged over that time and it really is us providing services to the district based on some of the resources and the criteria that they have in place. You've typically entered this agreement and it generally starts here or it does start here right at the start of summer of July and runs through January 2nd. I would mention as usual that the amount of dollars that exchange or the amount of dollars that you are paid to provide these services hasn't changed significantly over the past really decade and a half. And so because you provide these services, if at some point there's a determination that they're no longer affordable or you no longer wish to provide them for the dollars that are provided, then that really does put you in the position of terminating those programs not community ed now that might sound nuanced but i always try and point that out because i think that's an important part of this that you are really acting as their agent in providing these resources the recommendation is to approve this memorandum of understanding with the district and community ed and the information and the resolution for that is included on page 23.

All right, thanks, Todd. Any questions or discussion? Hearing no discussion, the resolution authorizing execution of Youth Development Memorandum of Understanding appears on page 23 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Call the vote, please. Council Member Pettis? Aye. Council Member Sharstrom? Aye. Council Member DeVos? Aye. Mayor Noel? Aye. Council Member Johnson? Aye. The resolution is approved.

Next up, Minnesota River Valley Transit Lease Update.

Mayor members, this is something that we talked about a number of times as the MRVT Transit Board. This really is driven by your new city hall and the development of space, which includes additional garage space for buses and some additional office space for the personnel there. The goal here, and my hope as a part of the resolution, if you approve it, is that this then is approved by the city of St. Peter and will then be provided for approval to MRBT. The board there and members have seen a draft of this lease. The numbers have not changed since that draft. And because we are partners with LeSueur in this joint powers agreement, Joe Roby from LeSueur has seen this and had the opportunity to comment as well. The information is included in your packet. I think the most salient points really are threefold. One of which is that this would be MRVT paying you a little bit less than $30,000 a year for leasing that additional garage space and office space as compared to what they pay now, which is a little bit over $14,000. We are not changing the amount per square foot. This amount per square foot is substantially similar to the amount we pay the city of LeSueur for space in what they call their emergency services building. This really reflects only the expansion, the number of square feet is growing as a part of this. The lease is included within your packet. Again, I said three items. I've already covered two. The third one is that this is a little bit of an unusual lease in that it doesn't really have an end date. There is a provision to provide notice to get out, but it was really envisioned in 2016, 2017, when this was moving forward, that... the way this stops is in one of two ways one of which could be well d.o.t says there's going to be regional transit and then some of these things get cancelled and there's a whole scale change in how this works that would drive or independently either st peter or lesseur could say we want out of this deal and so there's a notice provision within the joint powers agreement that matches this So that would go away at the same time as the lease would go away. So they're connected in that way. That's why it's not till 2027 or till 2028. It's really piggybacking on the terms as a part of the joint powers agreement. The lease is included in your packet. I think it covers all the salient points and again is not substantially different than the previous lease that you entered into with MRBT back in 2016, 2017. The resolution providing approval is in your packet and that's on page 31.

Thanks, Todd. Questions? Brad.

So, Todd, the new space, it can fit six buses? Yes, it can fit six buses, which is three more than the three we currently house. And the office is a little bit bigger. And then also, as you saw kind of in my notes, and you'll see within the body of the lease, there's a mechanical room that's associated where they'll have a refrigerator and microwave, and there'll be some storage for things for buses and that kind of thing.

And so Daryl and I are both on MRVT. And one of the advantages of having more indoor space for the buses is, particularly in wintertime, they don't need as much time to warm up as right now in wintertime. Several buses are outside. They need to get running, get going. And I'm assuming the same would basically be in the summertime from an air conditioning perspective. They wouldn't need as much time to cool down as well. Yeah.

I think also it's important to note that one of the reasons this has become important, at least from an operational perspective for MRBT, especially as you mentioned during those super cold times during the year, there are times within the city of St. Peter where every bus is moving. And so if we have a bus and the weather's 20 below and it doesn't start, that's a substantial problem for parents and riders and all those things. So we are trying to minimize the impact that those kind of events have on operations.

Any other questions or discussion?

Can I make a quick comment to follow up on what you just said? Could you please come up to the microphone? There's a significant cost savings associated with that. And as you see, the lease is increasing to $14,000, which is a large amount of money. And I'm glad that Councilman DeVos brought that up because it saves a lot of money, not just in time, wear and tear on the buses, and a lot of other things. And this is part of our growing, but I think it's always important to remind ourselves this is why we're doing it. And so I appreciate that question. And that's something we really need to keep looking at. Sometimes we are kind of been watching this process the whole time. But as I look at this and try to track how dollars are going to change, to me, It's more money, but I think we're going to see savings in the long run for MRVT. Thanks for recognizing it.

All right. I don't see any other hands raised. The resolution approving a lease agreement with Minnesota River Valley Transit, aka MRVT, for use of space at the new city hall is on page 31 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Call the roll, please.

Councilmember Sharstrom? Aye. Councilmember DeVos? Aye. Mayor Noel? Aye. Councilmember Johnson? Aye. Councilmember Pettis? Aye. Resolution as approved.

The other item that I mentioned with this is that this will go in front of the MRVT board to finalize at their July meeting, and then the lease itself will be dated relative to your move date or MRVT's move date.

I'll take the opportunity as well to thank everybody who serves on the MRVT board and for the staff of the bus drivers in our city. Recently, the council had a chance to meet with members of the county health and health and human services department? Does that sound right? Public health, maybe. Yeah, public health. Yeah, Spencer's from public health. Public health, and part of that meeting highlighted to me just how important our local transportation options are for residents, how important those buses are, and so I just want to thank everybody who's involved in making that work for our community. It's very important.

It's kind of fun to think, and I know the board members know this, and they see the use numbers every board meeting, but we'll do almost 60,000 rides within St. Peter in the calendar year. That's an amazing number. And so it's a really important service for those folks that utilize it.

Absolutely. Moving on, next item, City Assistance Request Gustavus Alumni Event.

Mayor members, this is a request that you've seen in previous years. This happens to be from May 30th from 8 to 11 p.m., and the event itself will be on the First National Bank parking lot. They've asked for some various forms of assistance that you see outlined in the information that they've provided, and an approval provided as a part of the resolution going forward. So there's nothing significant here and certainly not different than what we've seen in previous years. This has been a very nice and Frankly a very low-key event in downtown st. Peter that has drawn people into the area The resolution providing approval for this is located in your packet on page 37 Questions or discussion?

Just out of concern for transparency, whenever this comes up annually, I like to let folks know that I do work at Gustavus. However, I'm not a member of the Alumni and Parent Engagement Office, and so I don't have any role in organizing any part of this event. So just like to be transparent about that when Gustavus related items come up on our agenda. All right, I don't hear any other questions or discussion. The resolution approving city assistance for Gustavus Adolphus College alumni community event is on pages 37 through 38 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

All those, oh, let's call the roll, please.

Councilmember DeVos? Aye.

Mayor Noel? Aye.

Councilmember Johnson? Aye.

Councilmember Pettis?

Aye. Councilmember Sharstrom? Aye.

The resolution is approved. Next up, new City Hall change order.

Mayor and members, this is for four change orders, and this gets you, I would say, 95% of the way home related to change orders. As you know, you established a process for review of change orders that included a certain level of approval through my office that coincides with your purchasing policy, and then a building committee that would review those changes. uh... the information within your packet i think is very complete and shows all the change orders that have occurred and so i know it's printed a little bit small there but if you're on your computer you can zoom in and see what happens i will mention that in the final analysis at least thus far it does mean that you've overspent your contingency by about six thousand dollars the contingency that you had to start was very small at least related to a remodel project. And it's also important to note that if you're really calculating the numbers, about 40,000 of the dollars that are included in this change order are for a lightning strike that took out some of the smoke and fire alarm protection systems. It was determined that that would be better to have incorporated into this overall contract so that it would work seamlessly with the rest of the building since it's not multiple buildings, it's all one building. So you're still in good shape here financially. We've also included a copy of information that Perry put together relative to the entire budget for the project. It's really important to note that a lot of it will flow in over the next couple of months, but so far you're in great shape and continue to move forward. it is appropriate that you do pass resolution relative to all of the change orders. That is something that we would expect. And again, they're outlined in that log. And I'm happy to talk in a lot more detail as long as you aren't talking to me about very technical issues like the difference between a mortise lock and a regular lock or something like that. Then I can get some more expertise to help cover that. But again, the information is included in your packet and the resolution is on page 44, I believe, the packet.

All right, questions for Todd? Any discussion?

I would mention that members had an opportunity to tour about a week ago and some of you took us up on that opportunity. There'll certainly be more opportunities for you to be there. As of today, I would say we're probably at 95 plus percent construction, maybe 98 plus percent construction. We're waiting for technology implementation and the installation to go on. Furniture, all those kind of things will be coming. So hang tight. One of the holdups that we have currently is ensuring that the fiber that's necessary to support interconnectivity is placed there appropriately. Now, someone might say, you know, I thought there was fiber there. Wouldn't Scholarship of America, wouldn't they have had fiber? Yes, but because of the kind and type of traffic we carry on system, that includes state of Minnesota, law enforcement and court, traffic there's a higher standard related to that and so co-location isn't really practicable to meet all the requirements so anyway we're on a little bit of a hold with that but things will continue to move forward and as soon as we have a date for move we will make sure to let everyone know including members of the council

All right, seeing no raised hands, a resolution approving change orders one, two, three, and four for the new City Hall project appears on page 44 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Call the roll, please. Mayor Noel? Aye. Councilmember Johnson? Aye. Councilmember Pettis? Aye. Councilmember Sharstrom? Aye. Councilmember DeVos? Aye. Resolution is approved.

Next up, Maintenance Engineer FTE Edition.

Mayor members, this is something that was planned for as a part of your 2026 budget. This does relate to the new city hall, but not entirely. We have cleaning that goes on at the current city hall, so it's not like there'll be a full person that will be at your new city hall, although additional FTE, additional horsepower is necessary here. This would go into your folks that do this type of work, and some of these hours would be spread across other facilities as well, including the building that we're sitting in here, the community center, fire hall, wastewater treatment plant, water treatment plant, and certainly public works. This is really driven by an analysis that shows that an increase in FTEs was needed um not only to make sure that we were covering all and the additional square footage that was in place but to make sure that we were appropriately using our staff rather than contracting as many things out we would continue to use contract help but that would be primarily driven by what we would call project work and so again this was budgeted for as a part of your 2026 budget process we would be advertising this or are advertising this position currently if you provide approval

the resolution is included within your packet and again it sets the FTE allocation within that division at five happy to answer any questions that you might have of course questions for Todd or any discussion hearing none the resolution providing for the addition of one full-time equivalent custodial position is on page 46 of the packet is there a motion to approve

So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Call the roll, please. Council Member Johnson? Aye. Council Member Pettis? Aye. Council Member Shorstrom? Aye. Council Member DeVos? Aye.

Mayor Noel? Aye. The resolution is approved. Next up, social media and internet use policy update.

Mayor and members, I am happy to be quiet and ask Cori Johnson, who is your communications and sustainability coordinator, to come up and talk about this. I know she will tell you that you talked about it at a workshop, and she'll explain a little bit about it. Cori, if you would.

As we talked, you know, not too long ago last week, this is really an expansion of our current social media and internet use policy. We found that we really needed to have a better reflect our current communication processes. We have increased security standards that we needed to be mindful of. And then also thinking of records retentions, accessibility, and then also having a little bit more clarifying role for employee responsibilities when it comes to these accounts. And so we really kind of just modernized our current policy, expanded it a little bit. really so that it can help support our broader communication strategy, make those standardized workflows a little bit more transparent for both employees and the public to understand how we go about who has access to what accounts, how do we monitor them, comment on them. And so we really reflected that in this policy. I'll note it seems kind of odd that maybe it's an appendix that's going from being in the policy to an appendix. That's really because this new policy, it still talks about personnel use, how do employees engage on social media, when do they not engage on social media. And so we really wanted to make sure it stayed in the policy right now so that every employee reads through it and understands what's going on in terms of their role and their accountability in that matter. But we did add a lot in terms of process and how people go through things. You know who and how you get approval, and so we really wanted to make sure that that had its own kind of standalone spot for it. And so right now it makes sense to be an appendix. Eventually that might look to be its own standalone policy, but we're kind of in a transition phase right now, and so it makes sense to have it joint. Another thing that I'll note is that we're really trying to make sure that we keep away from having employees use their personal accounts to comment on social media. I don't know how many of you are on Facebook or have account pages that you have to manage, but it's very easy to accidentally maybe switch between a profile and you might think you're on your account page and all of a sudden you're on your personal page. And so this kind of erases that for us because we really are having all of our employees use our social media management software. which is currently buffer, and so it removes that entire possibility of an accident happening. It's not that we don't trust our employees, but things like that do happen, and it can be very quickly just a toggle that you miss. Additionally, we talked a little bit more about how we go through getting approval of who comments and when you comment, which we previously did not have in the policy before this. And then we really did expand on our role for accessibility. That's a huge thing for us. We just redid our whole website to make sure that we are being, you know, meeting the state and federal standards for that. And then our records retention to make sure that we have those if something comes up within the state or anything like that or a data request. Those are my key points. I don't know if anybody has questions. Or Todd, if I missed anything.

No, you covered it very well, Madam Mayor and members. If you have any questions, we'll do our best to answer.

All right, questions for Corey. Considering the role that social media plays in most of our lives, either personally or professionally or both, is I think the good time to update what we have on this for our employees. So thank you for all your work on it. The resolution approving social media and internet use policy update is on page 57 of the packet. Is there a motion? Sorry, 56. Is there a motion to approve?

Madam Mayor, Member Spiker.

I mentioned the resolution really does two things, which is updates or approves the appendix, but then also removes the sections that are being moved to the appendix within the current policy. And so that's item number two.

All right. Any additional questions? Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

So moved.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Pettis? Aye. Council Member Sherstrom?

Aye.

Council Member DeVos?

Aye.

Mayor Noel?

Aye. Council Member Johnson? Aye. The resolution is approved. Next up, we have a resolution calling for a closed session.

Mayor members, the recommendation for this is to cover two items that are allowed for under Minnesota statute. One is streets union contract negotiations and then the potential for real estate transaction at 1305 Old Minnesota Avenue. I would expect that we are likely to come back into open session to take action on one of those items and then adjourn or provide for reports and then adjourn.

Okay, so we're going to stay in this room? Yeah, I think we're going to stay in this room, yeah. All right. Hearing no questions from the group, is there a motion to approve the resolution calling for a closed session?

So moved. Second.

Council Member Shorstrom. Aye. Council Member DeVos. Aye. Mayor Newell. Aye. Council Member Johnson. Aye. Council Member Pettis. Aye.

The resolution is approved and we will adjourn to an executive session at 726. We are returning to open session at 8 10 p.m. The item before us is... Let's see, a resolution approving contract by and between the City of St. Peter and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 70 AFL-CIO streets for calendar year 2026.

So Mayor and members, what I have in front of you and what we've talked about a couple of times in closed session, including tonight, is entering into agreement with this group. This would be starting on January 4th of 2026 and concluding on December 31st of 2027. So it's a two-year agreement. There would be a 3% wage increase across all categories within this bargaining unit in each of those years. So what we would typically call a three and a three. It would increase uniform allowance at start to an additional $125 and establish a carryover amount, which most of your other groups have a carryover amount. And so that would be established at $650. It also provides, and going back to language that was provided pre-2022, I believe in 2021, 2020 and before that, where they have an ability to start work a half an hour early and leave a half an hour early on the day before a holiday. Other than that, there aren't any substantial changes or modifications to the contract other than signature names, dates, and typos that may have come about over the years. The recommendation is to approve the resolution that's on top of your desk. Again, entering into a two-year agreement with AFL-CIO, the streets local.

We did have the opportunity to discuss this in our closed session, but are there any questions or additional discussion? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the resolution before us? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the roll, please.

Councilmember DeVos? Aye. Mayor Nowell? Aye. Councilmember Johnson? Aye. Councilmember Pettis? Aye.

Councilmember Sharpton?

Aye.

The resolution is approved. That was our last item of new business. We'll move on to reports. I just will briefly thank the members of the Legion for putting together a wonderful Memorial day program. They do a great job year after year. Of course, The governors also contribute. Students from St. Peter High School, musicians also contribute. And our city administrator provided the keynote address this year. It was a great and meaningful ceremony as always. And we're very, very fortunate to have a beautiful memorial in Minnesota Square Park. So thanks to everybody who contributed to our Memorial Day event this year. Any council members with reports at this time? Brad.

I would just like to make a note also on the Memorial Day service yesterday. Our humble mayor also gave a very meaningful and inspirational speech yesterday as well, and she should be commended for that. And I will second that. Todd gave a great keynote address yesterday as well.

Very kind. Thank you, Brad. All right. How about reports from our city administrator?

Mayor, members, I don't have anything else for you tonight. It's a beautiful night. I've maybe kept you long enough.

All right. Hearing nothing further, no further business before us, is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We are adjourned.