City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, good evening. This is the May 20th, 2026 Cottage Grove City Council meeting, which I'm calling to order. The first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you please rise. 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. Now tonight I'll say, would Joe like to do the role?

Council Member Claussen? Here. Council Member Olsen? Here. Council Member Thede? Here. Council Member Garza?

Here.

Mayor Bailey? Here. Next on our agenda is open forum. This is the opportunity to speak on anything not on tonight's agenda. There was a sign-up sheet out in the entryway, but is there anybody in the audience that wants to speak on anything that's not on tonight's agenda? Nobody? All right, I'll go ahead and close open forum. I'll move to number five, which is adoption of the agenda.

Move to adopt the agenda.

All right, I have a motion by Councilmember Garza, second by Councilmember Thede. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right, so next we'll move to presentations. We have an awesome one this evening. The first one is the 2026 Historic Preservationist of the Year for the City of Cottage Grove. And Max Erickson, our planner, is going to kick us off with this. Welcome, Max.

Good evening, Mayor and members of Council. Tonight I am eager to present the nomination for the 2026 Preservationists of the Year Award. As you're aware, each year the city opens submittal form to the public to nominate individuals for the Preservationists of the Year Award. This award is presented to an individual or organization who has gone above and beyond to promote the history of Cottage Grove and its community. Public nominations were open until April 10th this year. During the April meeting, the Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation elected to nominate Jake Jones, owner and operator of Medicinewood LLC for the 2026 Preservationist of the Year Award. Mr. Jones and his business specializes in conserving, repairing and restoring historic structures in a manner consistent with the original materials and methods used for their construction. Jake is currently working on two projects within the city of Cottage Grove. Mr. Jones has approached the city to preserve the Cottage Grove Old Town Hall. The Old Town Hall is currently listed in the city's Register of Historic Sites and Landmarks. He's actively working to evaluate and create a preservation plan for the historic integrity, to preserve the historic integrity of the structure. His work will include repairing the roof, walls, and windows of the building, and he's also documenting any interesting discoveries made within the structure. Jake Jones is also involved with the repairing parts of the John P. Ferber House, most notably the unique historic windows of the structure. The Ferber House is listed in the city's historic register of sites and landmarks, and is also listed on the national register. Outside of Cottage Grove, Jake Jones and Meadows Wood LLC have performed other notable works around the Swin City Metro, including repairs made to the Newport Public Library, restoring damaged and restoring the damaged exterior to the Henry Hastings Sibley House and more. Mr. Jones actively makes contributions to the historic resources of the community by providing his services to preserve these landmarks into the future. With these findings, the ACHP has recommended to council to award Jake Jones with the 2026 Preservationist of the Year Award. With help from TruLens Media, a short video has been created which dives into more detail of what he is doing, which I will share with you now.

Preservation is never fast. It's a very delicate process. We approach it like it's a piece of fine art. A lot of these trades that we focus on in historic preservation are not done on a large scale anymore. So we're the ones preserving that skill, that trade, that craft that used to be so prevalent. We're trying to pass it forward. My name is Jake Jones. I'm the proprietor of Medicine Wood, which is a historic preservation company. So what we do is exclusively work to restore and conserve historic structures. That includes private residences or house museums, libraries, things like that. Basically anything built before 1940, we're interested in restoring in the manner of its making. So bring it back a century or more to what it once was. Most of our clients come to us looking to restore their windows. That's a huge, huge market. It's an entry point for people to get into restoring their historic home. So when we fully restore a window, there's no reason it shouldn't last for another century. Energy efficiency, we can bring it up to a 97% as efficient as a new vinyl replacement. And then personally speaking, when you replace your old and historic windows, you lose a huge component of the architectural character of your building. There are many memories, many stories that took place, were born in that house, in that building, and are carried forward into the community. Some of these places are, for example, the Newport Library that was built as a Baptist church originally and has been a library since 1889. I grew up going there. My parents grew up going there. I bring my kids there and it's fun to preserve that structure and carry that legacy forward with the community. And my family on both sides has lived in the community of Cottage Grove, Newport, Denmark for 160 years. So I have very deep roots in the area and I have made it a point in my career to pay it forward with my skills and training to try to preserve the historic structures in the area. I worked with Cottage Grove to come to an agreement to restore the Old Town Hall building. It is largely original and has been untouched by renovation over time. Even on the interior, there's maybe two coats of paint and considering it was built in 1881, that's pretty remarkable. It has original six over six sash windows that had been preserved well by shutters and plywood. The thought to restore the building is to start on the exterior. The roof is, the biggest concern is leaking. So we're going to replace that with a split cedar shake, a split shingle roof this summer and then restore the original siding as well before turning to the interior where the floor will be repaired. Interior trim, the board will be repaired as well as the plaster. Our long-term goal is to return it to the community as a space where residents can meet, hold meetings. The Ferber House in Old Cottage Grove is a rare gem. It is largely original, exterior, interior. A lot of times, obviously, houses get updated as the decades go on and you kind of lose that originality, but Ferber House is very special. I just know that there's something about historic preservation and the history of these places that lights me up like nothing else. And I wanna save as much as I can while I'm here. And yeah, give back to the community.

We are joined by Mr. Jones tonight as well. All right, council, would you like to join me down up front? And Mr. Jones, you want to come up? Oh, and he's nice and tall too. So, you know, this is one of the, well, let me back up for a second. I'm just going to say, I know Council Member Thede has been very active with the Historic Preservation Commission. And one of the very first commissions that I was in charge of on the council was historic preservation. So there's a passion about the history of Cottage Grove that I agree is really neat. So the fact that you're doing the old town hall and the Ferber House and all the work that you've been doing, whether it's Cottage Grove, Newport, whatever, it's absolutely amazing. So this is a small token of our appreciation, but I want to read this and then present it to you, and then I'm going to ask you a question, then we'll go from there.

He's like, oh boy, here we go.

That'll be easy. It'll be easy. So it just says Cottage Grove, where pride and prosperity meet, preservation of the year presented to Jake Jones, for their work preserving the history by performing restoration work on historic sites and landmarks in Cottage Grove. And it is being presented, obviously, May 20th here, 2026. So on behalf of myself and the rest of the council and all those citizens of Cottage Grove, I just want to say thank you and congratulations. Now I'm assuming that's wife in the background. There you go. Nice to see you. So my question really is, this is what's neat to me. So quite a while back, council got the opportunity to go dig deeper, if you will, into Cedars Mansion. So I got to climb up into the rafters, got to go down in the basement, which was a little interesting. But the fact of the matter is, have you found anything? I saw a picture, but that's why I just want to turn it over to you. As you've been doing these restorations, is there anything that you came across that you weren't expecting?

Yeah, so that's part of what is so enticing about preservation is kind of the old house CSI you uncover as you go. Actually, recently I was telling Max... EMAIL I THINK LAST WEEK AT THE OLD TOWN HALL UNDER THE ORIGINAL LAYERS OF PAINT I FOUND PENCIL MARKS WHERE SOME FAMILIAR NAMES FOR COTTAGE GROVE HISTORY HAD WRITTEN ON THE WALL AND THE DATES OF 1890 AND SUCH INCLUDING GEO WOODWARD, PEOPLE LIKE THAT, LANGDON. YEAH, RIGHT. SO I'M GOING TO DELICATELY UNCOVER THAT SOME MORE SO WE CAN DOCUMENT EVERYTHING IN THE RESTORATION PROCESS AND WOULD EVEN CONSIDER CLEARCOATING THAT TO PRESERVE IT FOR HISTORY. I still don't know why they did that. That's a mystery. You may never know, but to know that somebody stood there with a pencil 140 years ago and was writing on the walls. Yeah. Yeah. It could have been. Also another thing that's very cool at the old town hall is it was a community gathering place. So they used to use like a rice glue and they'd put advertisements on the walls. And some of those are preserved under layers of paint as well, including a bank from in the 1890s. So be able to track them down a little bit and add to the history of the structure and YEAH, THERE'S MANY THINGS ABOUT THE JOB THAT I LOVE. FIRST, BEING A CARPENTER, WORKING WITH MY HANDS, PRESERVING THESE STRUCTURES, BUT THE HISTORY IS INTOXICATING TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE WERE HERE AND THAT THIS WAS THEIR COMMUNITY GATHERING PLACE OR THEY RAISED CHILDREN IN THIS HOUSE WHO HAD FULL LIVES AND WENT ON TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN THERE. LIKE THE FERBER HOUSE BEING A FAMILY HOUSE FOR MANY, MANY YEARS AND THE FERBERS BEING SO MONUMENTAL OF A FAMILY AND COTTAGE GROVE HISTORY, VERY SPECIAL TO to work on that project as well. So I'm lucky in what I do. So thank you. And this is validating for all the hard work.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yep. Always looking for more help. So feel free to reach out. And yeah, there are a few of us around who are fully dedicated to this on the trade side of it and always looking to grow future trades people to save these old structures and carry the legacy forward.

Fantastic. Well, thank you again. Thank you. I can see that, that discovery thing is just amazing to me. So that's pretty cool, that's very cool. All right, well it wouldn't be fitting if we just didn't announce our historic preservationists of the year here. The next item on our agenda is actually the Historic Preservation Month Proclamation. And Council Member D'Athede is going to read that and then after I'll ask you to make the motion to approve and we'll look for a second.

Whereas people have been gathering in this area currently known as Cottage Grove, Minnesota for many years before and after recorded history. And whereas each individual family or group who has visited or lived in this community has in some form helped shape the rich and unique tapestry that connects our past to our present. and whereas the Cottage Grove City Council wishes to recognize the importance of learning and keeping the knowledge of our unique history accessible and relevant to current and new residents, as well as the general public, and whereas the Cottage Grove City Council holds deep gratitude for individuals and organizations that gather, interpret, and share information and stories about our past. Now, therefore, the Mayor and City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, State of Minnesota, hereby proclaim the month of May, 2026 to be designated as Historic Preservation Month to be passed this 20th day of May, 2026. Mr. Mayor, I make this motion to declare May, 2026 as Historic Preservation Month.

ALL RIGHT, SO WE HAVE A MOTION. ALL RIGHT, SO WE HAVE A MOTION. THANK YOU FOR READING THAT, THANK YOU FOR READING THAT, COUNCIL MEMBER THEDE, AND FOR COUNCIL MEMBER THEDE, AND FOR MAKING THE MOTION. MAKING THE MOTION. DO I HAVE A SECOND? DO I HAVE A SECOND? I'LL SECOND THAT. I'LL SECOND THAT. ALL RIGHT, SECOND BY ALL RIGHT, SECOND BY COUNCIL MEMBER CLASSEN. COUNCIL MEMBER CLASSEN. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, SIGNIFY BY ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. SAYING AYE. AYE. AYE. AYE. OPPOSED? OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES.

MOTION CARRIES.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. ALL Sounds good. Anybody else? All right. Not seeing anyone else, I'll move it over to Council Member Olsen. Item H is Cost Participation Agreement, which is Neenah's Park Trail Improvements. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, the reason I asked to pull this is, you know, the item itself is very straightforward. But I wanted to share a little bit about why this item is so important to so many people that I know and to me personally. For those who aren't aware, the park that is indicated in this item, Nina's Park, sits directly behind Park High School on Ideal Avenue. And it is named for a wonderful young lady WHO WAS UNFORTUNATELY KILLED BY A DRUNK DRIVER MANY YEARS AGO. HER NAME WAS CHRISTINA WESTMORLAND. SHE WENT BY NINA OR PEANUT. THAT WAS HER NICKNAME BY HER FAMILY. CHRISTINA WAS A MEMBER OF THE COTTAGE GROVE, AT THAT TIME, ROYALTY. SHE WAS A PRINCESS WITH THE ROYALTY. WE NOW CALL THEM AMBASSADORS. AND THEY REMEMBER HER EVERY YEAR ON THEIR TRAILER THAT THEY USE FOR THE VARIOUS PARADES AND EVENTS AND THINGS THAT THEY DO. CHRISTINA STILL HAS FAMILY MEMBERS WHO LIVE HERE IN COTTAGE GROVE, INCLUDING HER SISTER AMY, and her brother Dan, her mother Kathy still lives in the Twin Cities as does her sister Lisa. Christina was one of those rare people who every time you talked to her she made you feel good. I was very lucky as a young man to spend quite a bit of time with the Seahutter family, the Westmoreland family, they're a blended family and I got to spend a lot of time Nina and her sisters and brother doing various things, whether it was going to the circus or just hanging out and reading books and talking. And that little girl, she was something else. And as she grew up, the sky was the limit on her potential to do so many different things. So I just wanted to take a minute to... MAKE SURE PEOPLE KNEW THAT IT'S MAKE SURE PEOPLE KNEW THAT IT'S NOT JUST A PARK. NOT JUST A PARK. IT IS A MEMORIAL. IT IS A MEMORIAL. WHEN MY KIDS WERE LITTLE, WE WHEN MY KIDS WERE LITTLE, WE USED TO GO TO THE PARK AND USED TO GO TO THE PARK AND THEY LIKED TO HEAR THE STORY THEY LIKED TO HEAR THE STORY ABOUT NINA. ABOUT NINA. AND HER MEMORY LIVES AND IT AND HER MEMORY LIVES AND IT LIVES ON VERY STRONGLY. One of the saddest things is the day that Nina passed, they were on vacation at Disney World in Orlando and they were driving from one of the parks to another park. And as I said earlier, they were hit by a drunk driver and her dad, or stepdad rather, and her mom and her brother Danny were all very severely injured. And unfortunately Nina passed away and that just happened to be her mom's birthday. SO EVERY YEAR ON HER MOM'S SO EVERY YEAR ON HER MOM'S BIRTHDAY, YOU KNOW, SHE LIVES BIRTHDAY, YOU KNOW, SHE LIVES WITH THAT MEMORY. WITH THAT MEMORY. AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW KATHY, SHE'S AN AMAZING WOMAN KATHY, SHE'S AN AMAZING WOMAN AS WELL, VERY INVOLVED WITH AS WELL, VERY INVOLVED WITH COTTAGE GROVE AMBASSADORS. THIS PARK IS A LEGACY. IT IS TRULY A MEMORIAL TO THIS WONDERFUL YOUNG LADY, AND I'M VERY PERSONALLY GRATEFUL THAT WE'RE WORKING TO CONTINUE TO IMPROVE THIS PARK AND MAINTAIN IT, BECAUSE IT'S A WONDERFUL PLACE TO THINK ABOUT, A WONDERFUL YOUNG PERSON WHO WAS TAKEN FROM US TOO SOON. BACK TO YOU, MAYOR.

SOUNDS GOOD. AND JUST FOR THE PUBLIC TO BE AWARE ON THIS PARTICULAR ITEM, WHAT IT IS IS THAT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE ARE JOINTLY WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE SURE THAT TRAIL THAT GOES ONTO SCHOOL DISTRICT PROPERTY IS UPDATED OR PROPERLY MAINTAINED. SO JUST FOR THE PUBLIC TO BE AWARE OF WHAT COUNCILMEMBER ROSEN IS SHARING AND WHAT THE PURPOSE IS BEHIND THAT. THANK YOU, MAYOR. ALL RIGHTY. SO WITH THAT, NO OTHER ITEMS WERE PULLED FOR DISCUSSION. SO I'LL LOOK FOR A MOTION TO APPROVE CONSENT.

MOVE CONSENT.

ALL RIGHT. SO I HAVE A MOTION BY COUNCILMEMBER THEDE. DO I HAVE A SECOND?

SECOND.

SECOND BY COUNCILMEMBER GARZA. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? SEEING NONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. AYE. AYE. OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES. SO IF YOU'RE HERE IN THE AUDIENCE OR AT HOME WATCHING, ALL THE ITEMS THAT WERE ON THE CONSENT AGENDA HAVE BEEN APPROVED. MOVE TO 8A IS APPROVED DISBURSEMENT OR PAY THE BILLS. MOVE THE BILLS. WE HAVE A MOTION COME BY COUNCIL MEMBER OLSON. DO I HAVE A SECOND?

ALL SECOND.

SECOND BY COUNCIL MEMBER CLASSEN. AGAIN, ANY DISCUSSION? SEEING NONE ON THIS ONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE.

AYE.

AYE. OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES. ALL RIGHTY, THANKS, EVERYONE. WE'LL MOVE TO NINE, WHICH IS PUBLIC HEARINGS. WE DO HAVE ONE THIS EVENING. IT'S A PUBLIC HEARING FOR CONDUIT DEBT HOST APPROVAL, WHICH IS KIND OF A MOUTHFUL. AND I BELIEVE, RONDA, IS IT SCOBY? SCOBY FROM TAFT LAW FIRM, THAT'S A BONDING ATTORNEY, IS GOING TO WALK US THROUGH THIS ONE, AND THEN I'LL OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING AFTER COUNCIL HAS A CHANCE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS THEY MIGHT HAVE. AND WELCOME.

Thank you. Mayor and city council members, my name is Rhonda Scobie and I'm an attorney with Taft Law and I'm here tonight as bond council representing the city. The public hearing and the request before you tonight relates to the refinancing of an issuance of conduit bonds for a senior housing facility located at 8200 Hadley Avenue in the city and operated by Presbyterian Homes and its affiliates. The project was originally financed in 2017 through the issuance of conduit bonds by the city of St. Paul Park, and it is proposed that the city of St. Paul Park would once again serve as issuer for the refunding bonds. So state and federal law permit a city to issue tax-exempt bonds for a project outside of its jurisdiction only when the host city holds a public hearing to approve that issuance. And in this case, Cottage Grove is the host city for the project. So you are asked to consent to the issuance of bonds by the City of St. Paul Park for the benefit of the Presbyterian Homes Project. And it's important to note that this city would have no financial responsibility or other obligation with respect to St. Paul Park's conduit bonds. The bonds do not count against the city's debt limit or affect the city's credit rating. The bond would solely be the responsibility of the borrower, Presbyterian Homes and its affiliates. Thank you, and I'm happy to take any questions.

Sounds good. It's always funny when we do these things, these particular deals, because everybody's going, what? When it comes to how it all works.

It's a pretty unique structure.

It is pretty unique. But, counsel, any questions? Thank you for explaining it. All right. Sounds good. So, thank you, Rhonda.

Thank you.

I will go ahead and then officially open the public hearing. If there's anybody who wants to speak on this item, is welcome to do so at this time. Seeing none, I will go ahead and close the public hearing, and I will look for the motion that's on the screen before us.

Mayor, I'll make the motion to approve Resolution 2026-076, approving the issuance of the Series 2026 bonds by the City of St. Paul Park.

All right, so I have a motion by Councilmember Garza. Do I have a second?

I will second that.

All right, second by Councilmember Claassen. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thanks for coming and doing that. Alrighty. Next on our agenda is bid awards. We do have one this evening, which is the 2026 Densler Park Project bid award. And Paul Sponholz, our engineer for the City of Cottage Grove is gonna take us through this one. So welcome, Paul.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and council members. As the area around 100th Street and Hadley Avenue has developed, and along with our previous work in the South District Street projects and the Prairie Dunes development, we put work into developing Denzer Park. It's a new park on Hadley Avenue just south of 100th Street on the north end of the Prairie Dunes development. On April 1st this year, Council did approve the plans and specifications and authorized bidding for the 2026 Denzer Park project. The project includes final grading and excavation, installation of a stormwater culvert, bituminous trail paving, concrete sidewalk construction, sport court construction, and the installation of concrete paths for park amenities such as grills, benches, and trash cans. This project is one of several phases of the work for this park. We advertised our bids and then opened them on May 11th. Nine bids were received as shown. with a low bid, just a little over $283,000 from Benson Excavating. The low bidder, Benson Excavating, is an excavating contractor from River Falls, Wisconsin. It is a responsible contractor by state statute. Staff recommends aborting the project to the low bidder. With that recommendation, here is our recommendation. I can answer any questions. All right, Council, any questions for you?

Interesting enough, you just made a comment about Nina's Park. This particular park is being named after a former mayor and his wife, Jack and Marla Stenzer. So some of the pieces to the park, if you will, actually have a theme because he used to operate a, their family used to operate Jack's Union 76 in Cottage Grove, which for those that have been, are old like me, had the big ball that spun around that was orange and the seven to 76 on it. So very well known in the community. So very excited to see this park get off the ground, Zach, and looking forward to bringing the family in, obviously, for the official ribbon cutting once it moves forward. Council, if there's no other comments or questions, I will look for a motion to approve.

Mayor, I will move we adopt Resolution 2026-84, awarding the 2026 Denser Park Project TO BENSON EXCAVATING LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF 2 MILLION. EXCUSE ME, 200. I THOUGHT YOU SHOULD CHANGE THAT. THAT WAS A BIG NUMBER THERE. $283,882.15. THERE YOU GO.

SO THERE'S A MOTION BY COUNCIL MEMBER CLOTSON. I HAVE A SECOND BY COUNCIL MEMBER OLSON. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? SEEING NONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. AYE. OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES. ZACH, YOU ALMOST HAD A MOTION CARRIES.

ZACH, YOU ALMOST HAD A REALLY GOOD BUDGET FOR THAT. REALLY GOOD BUDGET FOR THAT. I ALMOST WRECKED THE BUDGET. I ALMOST WRECKED THE BUDGET. THANKS, PAUL.

THANKS, PAUL. ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT. WE'LL MOVE TO 11, WHICH IS OUR WE'LL MOVE TO 11, WHICH IS OUR REGULAR AGENDA. REGULAR AGENDA. ITEM A IS QUICK TRIP, HIGHWAY ITEM A IS QUICK TRIP, HIGHWAY 61, PRELIMINARY PLAT, FINAL 61, PRELIMINARY PLAT, FINAL PLAT, CONDITIONED USE PERMIT, PLAT, CONDITIONED USE PERMIT, SITE PLAN, AND SITE PLAN

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. Quick Trip has applied for a preliminary plat, final plat, site plan review, and conditional use permit to construct a convenience store with regular and diesel canopies at the corner of Manning Avenue and Highway 61. The property is owned by Quick Trip and was previously used as cropland. The property is zoned B3, General Business District, and is guided as commercial in our 2040 comprehensive plan. The applicant had a plat prepared to dedicate 95 feet of right-of-way along Manning Avenue as requested by MnDOT and an additional 20 feet of right-of-way for 114th Street on the north side of the property. This additional feet is because the road is designated as a major collector in our 2040 comprehensive plan, that being 114th Street. The applicant proposes to use approximately 10 acres of that 30-acre site for the convenience store development. All of the convenience store buildings, canopies, and accessory shed will meet all of our property line setbacks and code requirements. The proposal will meet the city code 1145 for motor fuel station requirements. And the remaining acreage of the site may be developed in the future in compliance with city codes and obtaining appropriate permits. The access will be via a single driveway installed onto Manning Avenue that must be reviewed and approved by MnDOT. The driveway will be maintained by the applicant, and it will not be a public road that will be dedicated to the city. Turn lanes will be installed by the applicant on Manning Avenue for access, and these also must be reviewed and approved by MnDOT. There will be four driveway entrances off of that main driveway coming into the site for access to the store, to the... diesel pumps, and choose some truck parking. The applicant has proposed two monument signs on the property, one along Highway 61, which would be a joint monument sign for some of those future tenants that may come in on the additional land, and one along Manning Avenue. The sign along 61, as I mentioned, would have space for future tenants, and this is permitted via an Administrative Conditional Use Permit, or ACUP, which staff will review at the time of the building permit. Wall signage is also proposed on the convenience store and on the canopies, and this meets our city code sign requirements. Of note, the property is located outside of the Metropolitan Urban Service Area, or MUSA, so it will be on its own well and septic system. These systems will be permitted by the Minnesota Department of Health and Washington County respectively. Those verification of well and septic approvals and the plans will need to be submitted to staff before building permit issuance in the future. With that, there are three items for council's consideration this evening, and a representative from Quick Trip is here as well if there are any questions.

Sounds good. Thank you. Council first. Any questions for Sam? All right. Would the applicant like to come up and say a few words and just state your name and address for the record, please?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. My name is Scott Teigen. I'm vice president with the Quick Trip Stores. About 10 years ago, Mayor Bailey said, it's about time you get a Quick Trip in Cottage Grove. And now here we are approving the second one. Well, maybe we should build one first.

I would appreciate that.

That was one of my questions, as you know. One on the schedule for 26. This one's on the schedule for 27. So I'm here to answer any questions. It's Sam did a good job explaining it If there's any questions, I'd be here to answer it and we were excited To have the second store as well fantastic.

I know we are too and oh, yes that comes from our graffiti So I was just curious and you may not be even be able to tell us but is there any? Have you had any interest in in the out lots? What do you got a couple out lots there of what other?

We've had several requests, and we just never do anything like that until we get our store built, for several reasons. We need land for staging, and so if we get somebody else in there ahead of us, it'd just be a problem. So we just wait.

Okay.

But it'll fill up fast.

I kind of figured that. I've had some people reach out already, and we've been holding back, like you said, just because you want to wait and get the... ORIGINAL THE RIGHT THE GAS STATION AND FIRST AND THEN MOVE FROM THERE AS SOON AS WE OPEN IT'LL BE PUSH PUSH PUSH THAT'S OF COURSE AND YOU DID MENTION JUST SO I COULD SAY BECAUSE I BELIEVE ME WE COUNCIL MEMBER GARS AND I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE ICSC CONVENTION IN LAS VEGAS LITERALLY EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON AND I PUT A NOTE OUT ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE AND AND THERE EVEN THOUGH we've said that you're coming and now we're going to tonight have the second hopefully approval we'll see here for your second station do you you did say 2026 so you still expect to get the one on Jamaica open this year yes okay all right so we all heard that we'll do our best yes thank you Scott with Jennifer's help yeah we appreciate that any other questions for Scott all right thank you for coming nice seeing you too

Mayor, I'll move Resolution 2026-080, approving the preliminary and final plats for Quick Trip 1789.

All right, so I have a motion by Councilmember Olsen. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Second by Councilmember Claassen. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Who would like number two?

I'll move that we adopt resolution 2026081 to approve the conditional use permit for a quick trip convenience store to be located on Manning Avenue.

All right, so again, we have a motion by Council Member Thede in this case, or a second?

Second.

Second by Council Member Garza. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries, and then the final.

Mayor, I'd like to adopt Resolution 2026-082 to approve the site plan review for Quick Trip Convenience Store and Fuel Canopies to be located on Manning Avenue.

All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Garza, second by Councilmember Thede. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. So once again, you've heard it. You'll get your, hopefully we'll get our FIRST QUICK DRIP HERE SOMETIME YET THIS YEAR IN 2026 AND A SECOND ONE IN 2027 SO ALL RIGHT MOVING RIGHT ALONG HERE WE ARE NOW DOWN TO COUNCIL COMMENTS REQUEST AND I WILL START DOWN HERE WITH COUNCIL MEMBER CLAUSEN THANK YOU MAYOR NOTHING TO ADD TONIGHT THANK YOU NOTHING TONIGHT OKAY HOW ABOUT COUNCIL MEMBER OLSON I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING I DO I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE THE PUBLIC

TO JOIN US ON THIS COMING MONDAY TO JOIN US ON THIS COMING MONDAY FOR OUR ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY FOR OUR ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY EVENT HERE AT COTTAGE GROVES EVENT HERE AT COTTAGE GROVES CITY HALL WHERE THE VETERANS CITY HALL WHERE THE VETERANS MEMORIAL SITS JUST OUTSIDE OF MEMORIAL SITS JUST OUTSIDE OF THE CITY HALL BUILDING. THE CITY HALL BUILDING. THE EVENT TYPICALLY TAKES PLACE THE EVENT TYPICALLY TAKES PLACE OUTDOORS, WEATHER PERMITTING, OUTDOORS, WEATHER PERMITTING, AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE A NICE DAY THUS FAR, ALTHOUGH I A NICE DAY THUS FAR, ALTHOUGH I The event starts at 10 a.m., and this is put on by our Mississippi River Valley Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Network team. We have some very, very exciting speakers this year. First of all, Yvonne Miller, who is a local young lady who, at the time that she was at Park High School, was Yvonne Chavez. She will be speaking as our featured speaker this year. We also are fortunate to have Congresswoman Angie Craig, who will be here as well. And then Senator Amy Klobuchar is sending someone from her staff to speak on her behalf. So we very much look forward to another great Memorial Day event to honor the fallen. of our nation's armed forces. We will also have some resources available for those in the military, both past and present, who may be interested in mental health services as provided by several different organizations to support veterans and their families in active duty military as they deal with some of the ramifications of things like deployments and all of the various things that members of our military deal with. So please come join us 10 a.m. on Monday, Memorial Day, here at Cottage Grove City Hall. The event typically lasts about an hour. We also are fortunate that we have Park High School band will be here to play some musical numbers for us in addition to a young lady named Sasha McCauley, who also goes to Park High School and will be our guest vocalist. So it's going to be a great day. I also wanted to take a moment, Mayor, to make sure people knew that it is Public Works Week this week. If you weren't aware, I know we... said the Public Works Week proclamation at our last meeting, but it's actually May 17th through the 23rd, so we're right smack dab in the middle of it. We are very fortunate that we have an outstanding group of people who serve this community as members of our public works team. It's almost like the public works director, Ryan, is Willy Wonka, and he's got all of his various helpers helping him take great care of the city on a day-in and day-out basis, whether it's morning or evening. evening or whatever the case might be we're very grateful for all the hard work and effort of our public works team particularly during those winter months when they're out in those snow plow trucks taking great care of our roadways along with our parks personnel to make sure that you know we have that curb to curb plowing done you can get to work every day we always say there's nobody better than cottage grove when it comes to snow plowing and i'd bet my house on that one so PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO GIVE THANKS TO OUR PUBLIC WORKS PERSONNEL AND OUR PARKS PERSONNEL AS WELL FOR ALL THE WORK THAT THEY DO IN KEEPING OUR CITY STRONG FROM AN INFRASTRUCTURE PERSPECTIVE AND MAKING IT A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE, WORK, AND PLAY. AND WITH THAT, MAYOR, I'LL TURN IT BACK TO YOU. AWESOME.

THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER ROSEN. COUNCILMEMBER RATHENI.

YEAH, SO COUNTDOWN IS AT 29 DAYS TO STRAWBERRY FEST. AND AS YOU CAN SEE, THE THEME IS PURE IMAGINATION. And speaking of old WW, that Justin just mentioned. But we're going to have a great time. And it starts with Thursday night, June 18. Yeah, June 18. That's family day, and then Friday and Saturday are full festival, and then Sunday is just the amusement park and the rides and so forth. So it's going to be a great weather. It's going to be a great time. We've got the parade on Saturday, and we've got a fantastic drone show lined up. And the committee actually talked me into, yeah, I'm the treasurer for the Strawberry Fest, so they talked me into spending a little bit more money, believe it or not, for the drone show. So it's going to be a spectacular drone show, so you're not going to want to miss it.

They convinced you to spend money.

Yeah, yeah, it hurt a little bit, but, you know, I kind of got a crank in that neck.

Last year's drone show was absolutely amazing. It was very well done.

This is going to be even better.

Yeah, that's cool. Awesome. Anything else?

No. Okay.

Council Member Garza.

Thank you, Mayor. Well, this is going to be an exciting weekend here in Cottage Grove at Kingston Park. We have the One Family event. It's the annual Memorial Sports Fest and Street Fair event. that it takes place at the Kingston Park, and it's an all-day, two-day event, all day, from morning until the evening. But before you go there, you need to stop down at the Eagle's Grill at our golf course, and that opens at 10.30, and the food there is excellent. We ate there a few weeks ago, the truffle fries. Thanks.

YES.

DROP THE MIC. BUT ONCE YOU LEAVE THERE, THEN GO BACK ON OVER TO KINGSTON PARK AND HANG OUT ALL DAY. THERE'S FOOD TRUCKS THERE. THERE'S SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPORTING EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE. JUST TONS AND TONS OF PEOPLE THERE. AND IT'S A REALLY FUN, FAMILY-FRIENDLY EVENT. SO GO CHECK IT OUT THIS WEEKEND. IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE BEAUTIFUL WEATHER, TOO.

THAT'S IT. ANYTHING ELSE?

NO, THAT'S IT. OKAY.

WELL, I'M GOING TO PIGGYBACK A LITTLE BIT ON THE ONE FAMILY FESTIVAL. AND THE REASON I WANT TO PIGGYBACK ON IT IS I WANTED TO RECOGNIZE MARATHON FROM SAN PAUL PARK. One of the things with these large events that we have in Cottage Grove, whether it's Strawberry Fest or Fourth of July or an event like this, which is the One Family Festival, takes police coverage. And Marathon was gracious enough, and I actually got the check and presented it to our city staff today, put $5,000 towards our Cottage Grove police coverage that we need during that event this weekend. So I just wanted to acknowledge Marathon. By the way, I mean, I know you could say our gas stations are in Cottage Grove, but the fact is they are not even in Cottage Grove, but they continue to do things for Cottage Grove, if you will. I guess the tanks are in Cottage Grove, so I'll throw that in there, but The point I wanted to make is I called them up and said, hey, would you be willing to do this? It would really help for our public safety budget and things like that. And they came through with a $5,000 donation. So very excited for that. So thank you to Marathon. And if you happen to see any employees from Marathon Ashland or know any, mention to them how we appreciate the fact of their generous donation to this event and others that happen around Cottage Grove. THE OTHER ONE I WANTED TO MENTION REAL QUICK IS YOU PROBABLY HEARD A LITTLE BIT, I THINK IT WAS, I KEEP USING THE SAME THING, BUT 1159 P.M. ON SUNDAY NIGHT, WE DID FINALLY GET OFFICIAL APPROVAL OR OFFICIAL NOTICE THAT THE STATE OF MINNESOTA HAD APPROVED A BONDING BILL. AND IN THAT BONDING BILL WAS $9.6 MILLION PUT TOWARDS THE 100th STREET AND COUNTY ROAD 19 ROAD PROJECT. AND I JUST WANTED TO, FIRST OF ALL, REAL QUICK, LITERALLY THANK OUR REPRESENTATIVE WAYNE JOHNSON, WHO CARRIED THE BILL ON THE HOUSE SIDE, AND THEN ALSO SENATOR SIEBERGER, OBVIOUSLY ON THE OTHER SIDE, ALONG WITH SENATOR HOUSLEY FROM STILLWATER. AND THE ONE THING, YOU KNOW, THERE'S In the in the out there in the world right now, obviously there's a lot of animosity there feels like there's no communication or no camaraderie between Different parties Democrats or Republicans. Well what I just shared with you Is of these three specific individuals two of them are Republicans and one is a Democrat Not that other Democrats or Republicans didn't support the bill, because obviously it passed. But what I wanted to say, it was really refreshing for me personally, and I think for our staff, that they got together and they were able to provide this funding to us, along with other funding for other projects around the state of Minnesota. AND JUST SO EVERYBODY KNOWS, WE'RE STILL CONTINUING TO LOOK FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING, BUT THIS 9.6 MILLION DID PUT US AT THE POINT WHERE WE CAN ACTUALLY START CONSTRUCTION IN 2027 TO GET THAT NEW ROAD EXTENSION OFF 100th STREET GOING TO HIGHWAY 61. AND FOR THOSE THAT FIGHT THROUGH MORNING OR AFTERNOON RUSH HOURS, SO TO SPEAK, AROUND THE JAMAICA AVENUE ROUNDABOUTS, This is going to be a major, major positive effect on reducing that congestion on that particular area, but also providing access points and additional development opportunities through that new corridor that's going to be going through there. And I also wanted to just thank, matter of fact, our public works directors here, Ryan Burfine. We've spent many hours and time up at the capitals, and we've been in D.C., and we're going back to D.C. again in September. Our city administrator, Jennifer Levitt, and I want to mention also our county and specific county commissioner, Carla Bingham. for all the support to help us get to the point where we're moving this 42 plus million dollar project forward for the residents of cottage grove so i thought i would throw that in there and again thanks to our senator seaburger senator housley and representative johnson specifically for carrying that bill and getting the bill over the over the line and then the last thing i want to mention i think we talked about it briefly earlier BUT OUR CITY ADMINISTRATOR, JENNIFER LEVITT, OUR COUNTY, OR EXCUSE ME, OUR COUNCIL MEMBER, MONIQUE GARZA, AND MYSELF JUST GOT BACK LATE THIS AFTERNOON FROM THE ICSC, WHICH IS A CONVENTION OF DEVELOPERS AND RETAILERS AND SUCH FROM AROUND THE WORLD, LITERALLY, AND AMONGST OTHER THINGS THERE. AND I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT WE HAD A GREAT VISIT. I WON'T GO INTO ALL THE DETAILS TODAY BECAUSE WE'RE ALL STILL KIND OF GROGGY FROM ALL THE other than I guess I will just say this to you. So Jennifer was kind enough to have her little tracker on her wrist. So when people talk about, well, what do you actually do out there? Or when we say we're pounding the pavement, I mean, we literally are pounding the pavement. By the end of the day yesterday, just for yesterday, we had walked about eight miles. That was her little counter that she had on there. So yes, our feet by the end of the day were hurting. along with backs and everything else, but great introductions to some restaurants, retailers, business investors, and so on. So looking forward to see how that comes to fruition. We've got a lot of follow-up meetings. I know our administrator was sending messages back to Nate, who's in the audience, our communicator, ECONOMIC ADULTMAN MANAGER, AND HE WAS ALREADY SENDING UP MESSAGES TO THE PEOPLE THAT WE MET, WHICH WAS A LOT. AND SO THANK YOU, NATE, FOR DOING THAT. AND I'M ALREADY SEEING SOME MESSAGES COMING BACK, I NOTICED, BECAUSE I'M COPIED ON SOME OF THEM, ON THE NEXT STEP OR WE'RE GOING TO talk about this next thing there so more to come on that as we move forward here and then we can share with the public what are some of the the the winds if you will as things start progressing because there already are some that we've even heard about that's coming that we'll be able to announce here in the near future so with that I will and then I also I guess I will throw one more thing yes I'm the long-winded one tonight I just wanted to thank Councilmember Olsen and the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon group for taking care of the Memorial Day event this weekend. I know you mentioned it earlier. It is an important time to remember our veterans and people out there that sacrificed to our nation and the world. And so I just wanted to say thank you for spearheading that once again this year. Alrighty, so with that, we do not have a workshop that is open to the public this evening, but we do have a workshop which is closed to the public, and it's regarding a property acquisition. I'll just officially read in here. ON THE RECORD THAT IT WILL BE A CLOSED SESSION PURSUANT TO MINNESOTA STATUTE 13D.05, SUBSECTION 3C, TO DEVELOP OFFERS FOR THE PURCHASE OF PROPERTY AT PID NUMBER 2902721220004. SO IF SOMEBODY REPLAYS THAT BACK, THEY CAN GO ON THE MAP AND LOOK TO SEE WHAT PROPERTY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. BUT THE FACT IS, AND WE'LL SHARE MORE WITH THE PUBLIC LATER ON WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT DOING WITH, HOPEFULLY, WITH AN OFFER ON THAT PROPERTY. We won't be adjourning in here, so I'll just wish everybody a fantastic Memorial weekend. Stay safe, and we'll talk to everyone soon.