City Council - Special Meeting

It is 7.01 and I will call the special work session of the city council meeting for August 17th, 2026 to order. We do have a quorum, public forum. Individuals may address the city council about items on the agenda or not included on the agenda. Speakers are required to state their name and address for the council record and limit their remarks to three minutes or fewer. Speakers are requested to frame their comments around items that fall within the city with the authority of the city council. Generally, the City Council will not take official action on the items discussed at this time, but may place the item on file, take the matter under advisement, refer the matter to a staff or a committee for a future report, or direct the matter to be placed on an upcoming agenda. Does anyone wish to speak? Does anyone wish to speak? Does anyone wish to speak? Seeing none, we'll move on to bills discussion. Is there any discussion on the bills? Hearing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Any discussion on the consent agenda items? Hearing none, we'll move on to council information only items. And under that, we have the 2027 budget meeting proposed schedule. And I will turn that over to our finance director, Sonja.

Thank you, Council President. As the city prepares for the 2027 budget season, staff is requesting that the city council establish dates for the upcoming budget work sessions. The proposed schedule is as follows. Monday, August 31st from 3 to 5 p.m. for a budget work session. If during that work session we determine another one is necessary before the setting of the preliminary budget, we have a date of Thursday, September 10th from 3 to 5 p.m. selected. On the council meeting on September 21st, we will set the preliminary budget. October 26th from 3 to 5 p.m. would be another budget work session and then November 9th from 3 to 5 p.m. would be the final budget work session before the December 7th council meeting where we would do the truth in taxation presentation and setting of the final levy. So just looking to have that schedule verbally approved or adjusted as you guys need.

What was the one in October?

October 26th from 3 to 5 p.m. and that is a Monday.

Okay, well, let's look at the calendars and see what we got here. The Monday, August 31st one, how does that look for everybody here?

Looks good.

Fine.

All good? Yep. Anybody else have a problem?

Fine.

The 31st of August.

Yep.

It starts at 3, so I'll get here at like 3.10. That'll be fine.

Okay. So the 31st looks good, Sonny. Thursday, September 10th. How does that look for everybody?

Good.

That's good. Good.

I'll make it if I can. Like I've said, Thursday is... the worst day of the week for me to have meeting outside of my regular job. But if I'm in town, I'll be here.

And that meeting might not need to take place depending on how that first one initially goes.

It's good for me.

Okay. So September 21st, that was a preliminary and we'd set that.

And that's just the council meeting. So nothing special. I just wanted to put it on there for the flow of the budget process.

Okay, and October 26th, that would be the next one that we discuss more stuff with, correct?

Correct.

Oh, it's for me too.

5th, 19th, 26th. That's from 3 to 5. There's an EDA meeting at 3 that day.

I was going to, if council approves this meeting, I will reach out to the EDA to reschedule that meeting. And currently, I don't know if we'll have much on the agenda.

Okay. What does October 26th look like for you guys?

Fine. Right now, I'm ready. Should be good. Yep.

Okay. So that's good. And then November 9th, 3 to 5.

And that one was also an HRA meeting that evening, but I will do the same thing, reach out to the HRA to either move it up or reschedule to a different day.

Does that work with everybody?

Yep.

Okay. Man, we're so agreeable tonight. Unbelievable. And then December 7th is a regular meeting.

Correct.

So those dates all work.

Wonderful. I will get invites sent out to everybody tomorrow.

Perfect. Thank you. Okay. That was the only thing we had under council information items. Constituent messages. Okay. Mr. Goshek.

We're getting a lot of complaints about e-bikes. Young kids driving them, pretty high speeds, zig-zag. zigging in and out of traffic. On sidewalks. On sidewalks. Some people, through hearsay, heard or hit. We didn't check if it was accurate, but there's a lot of people concerned about them and the electric scooters. So other communities have been addressing this, and especially the cities with the scooters down Highway 35. So anyway... I think it's something that needs to be addressed. They don't allow them on the bicycle trails because they go too fast.

And they shouldn't be on the sidewalks because bikes aren't allowed on the sidewalks.

We have bike lanes.

We have bike lanes, but they're not using them.

Well, then we need to do some education.

Education, and they're also kids at a certain age. I can't remember what the cutoff is. It shouldn't be on them. It's either 14 or 16. Anyway, just thought I'd bring it up.

Dave?

Yeah, Mr. Council President. I had a gentleman call me and he was just enthusiastic about how many people were using the splash pad. He said this was one of the best things he's seen in Little Falls in a long time. I just wanted to to bring that up, but he said there's just tons of kids he thinks out there using that splash pad. But he did say, as Frank and Greg talked about, there's a road that goes by and there's a lot of kids riding their scooters and e-bikes and stuff. He said that was a concern for him. But again, he was amazed at how many people were using that splash pad. He said it was just fantastic.

And along with that too, I saw there's going to be a splash pad party.

Great River Arts. Are you referring to the We Are Water?

Yeah. Yes.

So the chamber partnered with Great River Arts. They got grant dollars for a We Are Water celebration event. So they are going to be hosting a part of that at the splash pad.

Cool.

What's the date of that? Yes. It is, give me a moment. Let me get back to you on that one. I'll send out an email to all council members when I dig that up.

Any other constituent messages?

Mr. President. I had a brief talk with Mr. Kim and before the meeting started, um, I've been getting phone calls and seeing stuff on the internet, uh, regarding the levy and they all think that I am in charge of the levy, which of course I am not. And also I've been getting phone calls, a lot of phone calls regarding, tall grass and yards, messy yards. And they think that I take care of it. And I guess they think the mayor does everything, but he doesn't. And so I usually pass that on though to Greg when that happens. But I just want people to know that I don't run the city by myself.

Mr. President. Go ahead. One other thing. Some people at the splash pad, there's a black cover on something and black conducts heat and they're claiming that their kids are getting third degree burns. Well, I know they're not getting third degree burns, but anything that's metal and you paint black, It's going to get hot. Greg, you know which item I'm talking about? It's a flat lid or a cover, and it's black.

I don't. I'll have to go out and take a look. Yeah, just paint it a different color. Sure. We'll take a look and see what it is. Okay. Yeah.

But I doubt if they're third-degree burns.

Sure. We'll take a look.

Okay.

Any other questions?

I do have the date for the we are water event. Um, it's actually this Thursday, the 20th from four to 7.

It's a picnic.

So I think they're going to have, I don't know if fire department was able to make it out to that one, but they do have a number of community partners. That'll be out there to help celebrate water. It's a very kid friendly event.

Cool. Good place to have it.

Yep.

Any others? If not, uh, we will adjourn at seven 12 to our regular meeting at seven 30.