City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it's 5:30. We'll start the meeting. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance if you're able. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Good evening. Welcome everyone. Uh, Brie, take the roll call, please. Mayor King, present. Council member at large Austin present. Council member Waller, present. Council member Baskin, present. Council member Posma, present. Council member Hely, present. Council member Obala, present. Council member Fischer, present.

Mayor King, we have a quorum. Thank you, Bri. Item number one is a motion for the adoption of our agenda as amended. So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Item number two is a motion approving our minutes from February 17th, 2026. So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. That motion carries. Uh, nothing under recognitions and awards. And item number four is the consent agenda. Need a motion? So moved. Second. All in favor? I

opposed. Motion carries. Um, let's see. The the first thing out of the gate we're going to is the ad the uh presentation by uh from Smart Transit with Chris and Kirk and step up and give us your presentation, please. Happy to have you here and welcome.

Um thank you to the city of Austin for our continuous fort success. Um I just have a few things. In 2025, SMART provided over 113,000 rides in the city of Austin and Mau County. SMART currently serves about 250 students from pre preK all the way through high school in Austin for the 202526 school year and 20 adult learners through basic education. continue partnership for 2025 and 2026. Um, with support from the Mayo Health Care Community Investment Program, all passengers aged 55 and over receive free rides to and from medical appointments in Albertly and in Austin throughout the community and the county. This includes the trips between Austin and Albertly um on our shuttle. Is her mic gone?

Oh, I'm sorry. I think I might not be talking close enough. Yeah, it sounds like it is. Sounds like Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't like to talk. [laughter] So, I'm kind of quiet sometimes. So, um that's better.

Austin has provided over or excuse me, Smart has provided over 3,000 free rides to seniors in our community. Our work route which offers transportation for employees at quality portal smite international paper paper and other businesses has increased its hours of operation and this has allowed us to boost ridership to 11,000 rides for smart in the employees for those um operations. Uh we continued a partnership with United Way of Ma County Foundation providing 33,000 rides for preschool students in the five preschools in Austin. Um SMART closely works with other area schools, businesses, community partnerships to help those in needs, including the elderly, people with disabilities, lowincome, and children. much better.

All right. Uh, thank you, mayor. Thanks, council, for having us in. Um, [snorts] Chris obviously, uh, talked about some of the stats and whatnot. I want to talk more, uh, big picture stuff. Um, you know, we were in here probably 18 months ago. We talked at that time, I think it was our 10th anniversary. Um, but big picture, we do operate in four counties. um here in Austin Moore County, but also to our uh west in Albertly Freeborn and then up north in Otana and Wasika. So Steel County and Wasika County um continuing to work closely with MDOT and in the FTA um with uh providing the public transit here in the area. Currently we're working on two projects with the FTA, two facility projects. One of those is here in Austin [cough] and then another one in Wasika. We're also part of a a better program with MINDOT that uh we received some FTA dollars for some EV buses. Um so working through that as we speak. Um but really just want to focus on um some potential challenges we're going to face in the future. As we all know um there, you know, CS state and federal. Um we don't know what that's going to look like for uh public transit at the moment. Um but really just want to advocate for public transit obviously here but throughout the state um as well because um you know when I go and talk to people I always talk about the importance of public transportation. You know all probably everybody in this room or a lot of us have cars. Uh we take transportation for granted. We can go to our garage. We can get in our car and go wherever we want uh whenever we want. But there is a large section of of the population that doesn't have that luxury uh for a variety of reasons. um lowincome elderly uh people with disabilities. Um and that's where public transit can really step in and help out and and specifically when we look at the elderly population and visual disabilities, public transit can help people uh keep people in their homes, which also is a significant cost savings for um both

counties and and the state. Um, so, uh, you know, we're going to continue to do everything we can to, uh, provide transportation to, you know, the communities [snorts] that we serve. Um, and and we'll deal with the challenges the best that we can. Um, you know, when we look at costs, um, you know, prime example of of some of the challenges we're facing. In 2020, we bought a bus and it was about 90,000. We just took delivery of a bus a couple weeks ago and it was 200,000. So we're looking at over 100% increase in in vehicle costs. Um not to mention labor and and maintenance and all the other things. So um a lot of challenges that we're facing. Um we do appreciate all the support that we get from uh you know Austin Moore County and all the communities that we serve. Um be happy to take any questions uh from the council here if if there are any.

Kirk Chris, thank you. That you referenced 250 students. Is that daily that are riding the bus? So you're offsetting some of the Palmer bus service. And so we provide um transportation um transportation for a large majority of the preschoolers in Austin um through our rainbow routes um which service five um preschools in town. Is there still a waiting list for that rainbow route? Always. Yeah. And that's something. Yep. And then we also take kids to the YMCA from like the elementary schools and IG and Ellis. So great. Yes. and then kids just going home from school. Excellent. Thank you.

I'm curious, can you talk a little bit about kind of your I mean, you guys do great work in the community. I mean, fill an obvious gap. Um like how do you what are your funding sources? Like, you know, as you think about like how to offset the cost, how are you thinking about overcoming some of those challenges?

Yeah, great question. So currently um just like all public transit agencies, we do get a significant amount of funding from state and federal resources, right? So uh the feds pour in uh money into MDOT. Um MDOT is a pass through for rural agencies in Minnesota. Um so we apply for operating capital grants every year with MDOT. Um and then they've basically uh you know divvy that out to all the agencies through a formula grant that we have to apply for. Um, other revenue sources for us are, uh, we do advertising on our buses, which is a decent amount of money. Um, we also apply for grants. We get money from, uh, the United Way here in North County. We have a great partnership with them. We have for a long, long time. Um, so we get some some assistance from them. And then also the United Way in Steel County. Um, city of Wasika helps um, uh, financially a little bit as well. Um, so we're we're constantly looking at at possibilities for increasing that revenue.

Okay. No, super helpful. Thank you. Absolutely.

Well, I want to say you guys been doing a great job and um the smart transit has helped a lot a lot a lot of people in town especially uh new immigrant coming in town. So and we appreciate like at where I work you know most of them you know they will just apply for that and that's the first thing you know when they apply where where where will I get transportation and uh when we share we have um smart transit you know it relief them so I just want to applaud you for the work you do and um our early community too they appreciate that so um we are here to you know applaud you for everything you guys do. Yeah, appreciate that. You know, just an interesting note on uh as Chris mentioned, we have this work service that we've been doing. Uh actually, it predates Smart. Um but Austin's very fortunate. Um in rural Minnesota, we're probably the only city that has public transportation on the road about 22 hours a day. So, we we our first bus goes out 5 in the morning. Last one comes in at 2:30 in the morning. So, we're doing a lot of that shift work, you know, as as you mentioned, hormone food, quality pork, and and I know Chris alluded to that. Um but it actually was so interesting um that the Center for Transportation Studies at the U of M came down about a year a little over a year ago um and and did a video documentary on specifically that work route. They actually hopped on the bus late at night, went around with the bus and and did that. You can find that on the University of Minnesota web page. But um yeah, it's a it's a great service and like I said, it's been around for for decades. Um and we're happy to continue that.

I have a question. Yeah. Uh, are you guys struggling with hiring? Do you have Oh, constantly have open positions for drivers and uh, [laughter] what's your secret in that case? Uh, yeah. Ironically, um, so Chris just got back from vacation. Today was her first day back. And while she was gone, I I I filled the last spot. So Oh, nice. Um, I don't know, maybe that's a secret. I She's just got to go on vacation more. I'll take [laughter] um I vote for that.

But yeah, normally I would have said, you know, a year or two years ago, we would have said absolutely. Um we actually've had reduced services in all four counties uh over the last four years because of uh not enough uh you know individuals to hop in the bus and drive for us. Um but right now we're we're actually doing really really well. So we're thankful for that. Correct. Yep. In Austin we we actually expanded that late last year. Um so currently now Austin all of our service hours are back on the road. Congratulations. Yeah. Thank you. You don't know what the secret is. We're very lucky to have a great group of drivers. They're all very courteous. They're a great team that we work with. So, we're very lucky.

Keep it up. Well, thanks for the update and thanks for uh the service you provide the citizens. We appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for your time. Thanks, folks. Thank you.

Okay. Moving on. Under bid uh opening and award, we have item number five is a resolution receiving bids for batuminous material. Stephen This is asphalt that is used for our street maintenance crews to do the patchwork that they do um all around our community throughout the summer. We bid that out to different uh asphalt companies and then it locks us in for a price for that material. We haul the material ourself and then we place it in the streets. So, this is just to produce the material at the asphalt plant. Yulan [clears throat] Brothers were the low bidder at $234,500 for the bid. We figure in a mileage component. They are their plant is closer to Austin, so it costs us less money to transport the material, but ultimately we would recommend awarding this bid for asphalt materials to Yulan Brothers.

Excellent. Thank you, Council. Any questions for Mr. Lang? Otherwise, look, go ahead, Stephen. I think this weekend and today reminded folks of the volatility of oil prices. Uh, so this will lock us in for our rate all summer regardless of what happens with oil per barrel prices. That's correct. Perfect. Yeah, good point. Thank you. Looking for a resolution frame number five. So move. Second. Three. Council member Posma. I. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. I. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. Hi.

Council member [clears throat] Baskin. Hi. Council member at large Austin I. Resolution passes 70. Thank you. Item number six is a resolution receiving bids for asphalt. Stephen, this is also part of our street maintenance program, part of the chip sealing program that we do where we spray down oil on the street and then we add and embed chips into that oil to um increase the longevity of the pavement surface. On our asphalt roadways, we had one bidder on this project. It was Henry G. MIGs with a bid amount of $83,678.40. Our overall budget for this program is $100,000. So, we would recommend awarding this bid. Very good. Council, any questions, Mr. Lang? I had number six.

Do you have any concerns about only receiving one bid? Uh, we've only received one for the past handful of years, probably even going back before 2020, we were just receiving bids from this contractor. So, no, I'm not I'm not concerned. Thanks. Thank you. Anything else? Prices last. I was looking for a resolution. So moved. Second. Bri, please. Council member Postma. Hi. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. I. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. Hi. Council member Baskin. I. Council member at large Austin. I. Resolution passes 70.

Thank you. On to petitions and requests. Item number seven is a resolution approving an engineering design proposal for the Hope Street Lift Station. Stephen,

this project is in our 5-year CIP planned for some improvements at Hope Street Lift Station. [cough] Those improvements involve um what we anticipate are installation of a bar screen and also coatings to improve the longevity of the concrete that is in that building. We requested proposals to do engineering design services for this project from Bolton and Mink and WHKS. And you can see in your memo that Bolton and Mink was the low provided the low proposal on this project at 9 $99,564. The funds for this project would come from our industrial budget and we would recommend awarding this bid to Bolton Mink for the engineering design services contingent upon um Hormel's final review and approval.

Very good. Council, any questions? Stephen, I'm used to seeing WHKS bid on things. The Bolton M feels new to me. Are they new to the city or? [snorts] No. No, they're not. Um we've have our engineering department has a long history with Bolton and Mink as well. Okay.

Um we've we've had recent projects in 2021 with them designing a street reconstruction projects out by out by Todd Park for us. Um even in the late teens they did multiple projects for us. But as you know and uh has been the big one that we brought forward in recent years with all the different treatment plant stuff and then um WHKS with our collection system. This is a little standalone building. I think both consultants will be able to do a fine job. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Have nothing else. Looking for a resolution. Move to approve. Second. Great. Council member Posma. I. Council member Hely.

I. Council member Obala. I. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. I. Council member Baskin. I council member at large Austin. I resolution passes 70. Thanks. Pam 8 is a resolution approving the construction administration services proposal for WHKS for the Oakland and 1st Avenue Southwest project. Stephen,

so kind of to Mr. Postman's qu last question there. We only went [snorts] back to WHKS to give us uh proposals on this work because they were involved with the original design. They helped us in 2025 with the construction administration and their knowledge and intricate knowledge of the project made us feel comfortable that going back to them again and continuing service with them on um phase two of the Oakland Avenue project here in 2026 just felt like the right right method to do. So, um they are assisting us with shop drawing review, construction site visits, uh reviewing of quantities and pay applications, preparing change orders, overseeing progress meetings, and and helping us work through uh weekly tasks of reporting and EEO uh documentation. And for that work, they've estimated a cost scope of $95,000 to complete that work. Um, in addition, city staff will also be doing the on-site inspection. Uh, we will also be involved in all of these meetings and decision-m process. So, we're we're closely involved, but they help us with some of that day-to-day operations. So, uh, for the 2026 phase of work on Oakland Avenue from work will begin at 1st Street Northwest and continue west to 12th Street uh, in phases. Uh, work is planned to start hopefully in early April and we would recommend awarding these uh, administrative services to WHKS.

Very good. Thank you, Stephen. Council, any questions? Mr. line. If not, looking for resolution for item number eight. So move. Second. Three. Council member Posma. I. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. Hi. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. Hi. Council member Baskin. I. Council member at large Austin. I. Resolution passes 70. Thank you. Bri. Item number nine has a couple resolutions approving a liquor license for Pundit Beer Company LLC. Brie.

So, I received an application for a brewer tap room on sale license from Pundant Beer Co. Um, it is a license transfer request. It was previously held by K&J Holdings. [clears throat] That would be Angry Hog Brewery and Tap Room. They also requested a license for Sunday brewery tap room on sale, small brewery off sale with 128 ounces per day and then Sunday small brewer off sale for 128 ounces per day. So those are the new license liquor license requests. So I have two resolutions. One first approving the license transfer and then second approving the on sale and offsale liquor licenses to include the Sunday sales. Um, they've given us all the required documentation, so the clerk's office recommends approval.

Very good. Thank you for any questions. Nope. Move to approve. Um, 9A. 9A. I've got a motion to approve 9A. Is there a second? Second. Bri, Council Member Posa. Hi. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. Hi. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. Hi. Council member Baskin. I. Council member at large Austin. I. Resolution passes 70. Thank you. On 9B is approving the Sunday Brewer uh tap room on sale and approving an offsale liquor license to include Sunday sales. Need a resolution. Second. Three.

Council member Posma. Hi. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. I council member Fischer. Hi, Council Member Waller. Hi, Council Member Baskin. Hi, Council Member at large Austin. I resolution passes 70. Thank you. On item number 10 is a resolution approving the 2026 to 2028 labor agreement with Austin Employees Association. Craig,

uh, thank you, mayor, members. Before you tonight is a 2026 to 2028 extension for the Austin Employee Association. This is our broadest employment group which covers individuals from our library engineering tax to nature center. We've reached mutual agreement on topline parameters set by the council related to wages and healthcare. This includes provisions for the new sick and safe time with adjustment with adjusted payout and amounts and overall cap limit. Uh it incorporates the new vacation schedule recommended by our market study and other items as noted in the backup. Be happy to answer any questions.

Very good. Thank you, Craig. Council, any questions? I'm looking for a resolution f number 10. [snorts] So, move second. Three. Council member Posma. I. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. I. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. I. Council member Baskin. I. Council member at large Austin. I. Resolution passes 70. Thank you. Item number 11 is a resolution approving a contingency request from the Austin Public Library. Julie,

yes, mayor and council members. Thank you. Um, I bring to you tonight a request for contingency funds. The the tech closet at the library has always been a bit of a mystery. We have a combination of things that the city IT guy works on and then Selco, we also um pay for them to help us with some of our tech. With the recent installation of the city's new telephone system, we ran into some problems that we've been working through and trying to get things sorted. Um, as a result of that, it kind of came to our awareness that we are out of compliance with the current -ate rules. Our phone lines and our internet lines are mixed together and we need to separate those out. In order to do that, we need to create more ports for the the internet lines. And um, we did a couple of bids. Michael Gocha had a couple of bids come through. The lesser of the two is the Fox Electric to run those lines and um including the panel that we'll need to create that. The nice part about it is if we can get this done, Selco is going to come in and organize everything and label everything for us and get those sorted so that we can walk in, see what we need to do. Um, a few years ago, we had a vendor come in and accidentally patch a switch port into itself, which is really, really bad, and shut everything down for a few days at the library. So, we want to get that sorted. Um, so with that in mind, on behalf of the library board, this request seeks approval from the city council for the use of approximately $10,520 from the city's contingency funds to cover the cost of this project. And if you have any questions, I can answer those.

Very good. Thank you, council. Any questions? Looking for resolution item number 11. So moved. Second. Bri. Council member Posma. I. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. I. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. I. Council member Baskin. I. Council member Atlarge Austin. I. Resolution passes 70. Thank you. Item number 12 is a resolution approving a legislative citizen commission on Minnesota resources. [snorts] um grant request from the nature center. Looks like Luke's doing it. Yeah. Good evening. Thank you for having [laughter] me, Luke.

Um so this will be the third LCTMR grant we've written. Um this funds uh one naturalist and then one intern, which changes every year for three years. Uh these two staff offer us the capacity to do environmental education outside of Austin. Um we've never had uh city taxpayer funds go toward this program. Um the first first one of these the friends of the nature center provided a 20% match. The second time the state did 100%. Uh this time we have Mau County uh who has agreed to do 20% match on this project. So we're very excited about that. Uh we think getting the county's involvement really offers us uh a much better chance of uh receiving this grant and continuing on with this program. So, uh, we're looking for you to pass this resolution which allows, uh, allows me to apply for this fund.

Excellent. Thanks, Luke. Appreciate the effort on this grant. Council, any questions for Luke? Just want to say, uh, good good job in your presentation to the county and getting them to come on board. That's excellent. Thank you. Motion to approve. Second. Second. Agree. Council member Posma. Hi. Council member Hely. I. Council member Obala. I. Council member Fischer. Hi. Council member Waller. I. Council member Baskin. I. Council member at large Austin. I. Resolution passes 70.

Thank you. Item number 13 is a motion approving the Austin Fire Department part-time relief association bylaws. Chief McCoy. Uh, mayor, councel, included in these updates are the amounts approved by council in the allocation agreement and also some recommendations by the state uh auditor. If approved tonight, um the bylaws will go up to the office of the state auditor for final approval. Recommend approval of the bylaws. Thank you, chief council. Any questions? So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. The motion carries. Item number 14 is approving a revised vacation policy. Craig.

Uh thank you, mayor, members. Um based on our market analysis and contract negot negotiations, we're bringing forward a revised vacation policy. This would be effective as of January 1st, 2026 and applies retroactively. The policy focus on focuses on having time available at the start of an employees hire. Uh expediting years of service for approval. Uh grandfathering current employees with the maximum acrual while capping new hires at 200 hours. Provides carry forward of four 40 hours and provides a partial cash out for vacation hours for exempt or salaried employees. Happy to answer any questions. Uh looking for council approval.

Very good. Thank you, Craig. Council, any questions on this uh item? I have a question. Could you just talk a little bit about how this vacation policy affects or doesn't affect the um labor [clears throat] negotiations that are still open with some of the bargaining units? Um I would say it um aligns the future negotiations and makes clear council's positions for negotiations. Okay. Thank you. Okay, any other questions? Otherwise, looking for a motion on item number 14. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I

opposed. The motion carries. Thank you. Item number 15 is a resolution approving the 2026, 2027, and 2028 base pay structure. Craig.

Uh, thank you, mayor, members. Following the 2019 compensation plan approved by council, it included several recommendations. Those include conduct [clears throat] additional market survey to determine the market uh pay rate for positions ensuring pay rates are internally equitable and make appropriate adjustments to base pay or base pay plan base pay plan structure. Uh the 2025 budget included uh worked with Flina Hood to conduct the compensation update and internal review for the city uh to review, analyze, and recommend any adjustments to the city's BPS plan. And these recommendations are consistent with our previous goals. Uh city management and Flity and Hood provided and presented results and recommendations to the city council um late summer and late fall into the wintertime. Uh this uh is also relevant to the agreement that we've had with four of the eight contracts thus far and has been our practice to bring forward uh uh non uh non uh union bargaining employees. Uh so this BPS plan would be effective for 1126 for non-UN employees. Uh the city will continue negotiations with the remaining bargaining units and we will uh use the approved 2026 through 2028 BPS as a continued foundation for the city's ongoing negotiations. Uh we're requesting approval of the Tach attached resolution approving 2026, 2027 and 202028 uh base pay structures. Uh the base pay base pay plan structure maintains the 36 pay grades and seven steps per grade. Uh updates the starting step for BPS increases from 70% to 75%. Um follows the outlined step

differential differentials listed in the backup. Adjust the BPS in 2026 by 3.75%. uh 2027 by 3.75% and 2028 by 3%. This also would apply to non-union and other bargaining groups uh as those come forward relative to the BPS. Uh this follows the analysis of Flity and Hood to increase the pay grades by one for the following positions which were more than 7% below market and were re-evaluate re-evaluated with increased job points. city administrator, city clerk, human resource director, and the information services manager. Uh the proposed wage increases were included in the 2026 budget. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Good. Thank you, Craig. Council, any questions on this matter? Yeah, I have a a couple questions. Uh were are the positions listed there getting an increase in paygrades because of the additional duties uh because we restructured when the director of administrative services left. Uh no there they would just be based on the market analysis of comparable cities.

So it didn't didn't include any change in job description. It's quite a coincidence that it happens to be those four positions that are uh absorbing extra job duties. I guess I also uh want to understand how to make our budget we were cutting a position essentially through a retirement incentive, but all the while we had already built in pay bumps for these poor four positions in the 2026 budget. Is that what you're telling me? Uh yeah, I mean I think we had as a guiding principle to um ensure that our staff that we have are adequately compensated the [clears throat] um market analysis was something that was of significant importance to uh the employee engagement efforts um to make sure that we were treating people fairly. So doing that analysis I think was something that we wanted to be able to do both um for internal equity but also um contract negotiations that were coming forward to you know we basically said from 2019 we were kind of no longer going to put our head in the sand and um not acknowledge the inflationary and uh marketplace changes for various positions. So, we need to I think you talked about, you know, eating the expired yogurt. It's not necessarily fun, but um we want to remain competitive in our positions and this was just a broad scale assessment of all our positions and that was the findings that Flareity and Hood came back with.

Yeah. I I Oh, go ahead. the the timing seems like it's it's an issue, but we first talked about this in June when Brandon Fitz Jim Simmons came down and gave us that uh chart of where everybody was at and we met several other times after that but it was a it was a glaring difference. We did what 12 12 like cities Trish about 12

13 total including Austin. So in those 12 cities um the I know the administrator position was the lowest of all uh cities and with this bump I think it gets the administrator position to ninth lowest now and uh it was a similar for for our clerk position HR director and IT director. So this is something that we've talked about and we approved enough time for the 2026 budget. Yeah. So I recall the the discussion in June but at that time I recall it being just two positions which was city administrator and human resources director. Was it always four positions? Yes,

there was always four I believe. Yeah, it you know they what 36 positions are listed right? Is that what they were? 37 positions. Yeah, we have they did a total of 39 positions and and every one of them was you know certainly not in the middle. Some were more in the middle than others. uh our our wage comparisons to those uh like cities are certainly we're not at the top in in any one of them I don't think but this is one of those moves that uh again to stay competitive and be fair with the rather the other 34 employees

couple questions on my end one is I remember the June conversation when else did we talk about this because I remember the June conversation hey here's some information. Was there another conversation we had as a council that I'm just not remembering? [clears throat] [snorts] I think we had a few close session. We did. We had five, I believe. I'm trying to look that up. We had five council sessions where we talked about this work sessions or close then we talked about contract negotiations and relative um wage increases and overall BPS discussion. Do we know when those were trying to

I don't recall. I know that during that time that's when I joined the joined back the council. So I know we talk about the overall labor negotiation but I don't recall any conversation about this at all unless I'm missing something.

The second question is if I do recall back to the June conversation we had some positions that were lower [clears throat] than market. There were also a decent chunk of positions that were higher than market. As we think about judiciously using tax dollars, why are we only taking the positions that are low and going up and not doing anything about while at the same time positions that I mean there were some that were 35% higher than the comp? Why are we only doing one side versus both? Um, yes, good point. We did talk about that. I think our consultant talked about the difficulty in in addressing that and um essentially uh recommended against that. Okay. Any other discussion on this?

Yeah, I guess in my opinion there's there's an awful lot lumped together here. Um, I guess if we're going to vote on this as a whole, um, I don't know, either table it so that we can discuss this a little bit further because obviously all the discussions that we've had have been lost on most council members. Um, if we're if somebody wants to move the vote forward, I would ask that we pull out some of these things and vote on them separately. But maybe the best thing to do is to table it at this time. I think I would be open to the idea of tableabling it for a little bit, having maybe another discussion if that's what's needed.

Have a member. Yeah. Yeah. I can't I can't vote for this as it stands. Um so I would agree with the idea of tableabling it and having a discussion. Then I make a motion to table this. Second. Second. [clears throat] I appreciate that. But we Yeah, we did have five closed sessions. Um, but we can certainly have another one and go over it all again. So, we got a motion and a second to table item number 15. Yes. Yes. Bri.

Council member Posma. Hi. Council member Hely. Hi. Council member Obala. Hi. Council member Fischer. No. Council member Waller. I. Council member Baskin. I. Council member at large Austin. I. Motion passes six to one.

Thank you, Bri. Item number 16 uh is a resolution accepting these donations into the city treasury. $100 gift from Michael and Susan Greg for the 2026 flower program. $1,000 from the Austin Morning Lions for Lions Park and $10 per police and Austin fire employee for uh the addition of the uh 24-hour access membership to the YMCA for those that are existing members. So, we appreciate uh all those folks and the gift they give to the uh city of Austin. Need a resolution to accept them. So, moved. Second. Bri. Council member Posma I. Council member Hely. I council member Obala I council member Fischer

I council member Waller I council member Baskin I council member at large Austin I [snorts] resolution passes 70 thank you Bri item number 17 is uh granting the planning and zoning department the power to contract the removal of junk and or legally stored vehicles at the following location 17A address is 1208 Fifth Street Northwest the Clayton property need a motion so moved second all in favor I opposed. Motion carries. Item number 17B, the address is 600 [clears throat] A Northwest, the Iverson property. So moved. Second. All in favor? Opposed?

That motion carries. Uh on to citizens addressing the council. Any citizens in the chambers wishing to speak with council on items that weren't on the agenda?

DJ, name and address, please, for the record. Thanks for reminding me to turn on the microphone. My name is Diana Jean Ryther, Highway 218. And uh I've written some notes this time. I just want to appreciate the uh smart transportation system that we have here. Coming from Boulder, Colorado, we have an incredible RTD system. I've uh stood before council before encouraging uh community transit. So, it's good to see that continue to expand and serve the needs of the community. Um I am also thankful for having Ali's come into Austin. I don't know if anybody else has gotten to stop in there today. It's a pretty awesome place or yet. Uh I'm really hoping that we can continue to grow commerce in our community. We are a worldleading community. We should have worldleading provisions. Um I am concerned and I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place, but I did notice there's some gravity and some stop signs that need to be replaced. I'm not sure if that's uh the diligence of the city county or if that's up to the uh property owner. Um, and also, I don't know if you guys have heard, there's quite a movement of other communities across Minnesota. There is currently a petition out by a lady named Miss Anne Alexander on change.org to um request that we bring back our original Minnesota flag.

Um, [snorts] people are really I think seeking resolve in return to patriotic roots for love of God and country. Uh we didn't have the opportunity to vote on uh the change of the flag in 2024. Um our original flag was in 1983. I've gotten to do some history and just looking into this and I encourage you guys to check it out. It was uh embroidered, handstitched. It was revised or simplified in 198 I'm sorry, 1953 and again in 1983, which is this flag here. Um the community of Champlain City Council voted to pass a resolution to return our original city flag to all city, I'm sorry, our original state flag to all city buildings and properties. And I'm not sure what that entails, if I need to make this an agenda, if this needs to be something we need to have discussion in a work session on, but I do want to start that process this evening. Um, always thankful for our law enforcement and fire department. Um, [clears throat] we have had some protests recently. Um, I did have to speak with law enforcement on that. Um, [snorts] I guess I was a bit misled. I saw a lot of American flags. And when I got there, I noticed that there were some other flags with some issues that I don't necessarily agree with, but we do live in the wonderful American uh we have American rights for freedom of speech, freedom to protest. Um, I would just request that if we are going to have protests that they would be um somewhere safe, not near traffic. um speaking with these protesters. I was uh physically assaulted. I um was

threatened with physical violence and I was also threatened to be pushed into traffic. Um [clears throat] I don't expect this to happen in our community at all. Um, and back to if we're going to if we're going to have protests, we need to have law enforcement present. Uh, I will probably never step out of my vehicle again. I parked at Riverland, went up to thank the veterans because I noticed there were a lot of veterans, but it it was not what what I thought it was. And I thanked the veterans. I talked to a few people questioned their intentions and their motives and their understanding of what's happening in the world today. There are no kings in America still. [laughter] Thank God for that. We're a constitutional republic where the power of the vote reigns. And uh I just expect more for Austin. I do. I really do. I want to see the graffiti taken out. I'd like to see the city come together. I work with all the churches, well, not all the churches, but several of the churches in the community trying to build better community efforts for the youth so that they're not wavered. Uh they're being bombarded by social media to disrespect law enforcement, disrespect our elders, disrespect our veterans, disrespect our properties. And this this is all kids. [snorts] Just to make that clear, we need to rein it in. I'm becoming more involved politically, standing in front of city council, county commissioners. I'm going to the school board. Uh we got to reel it in. We got to get back to God. And

every time I stand here, I'm going to claim Austin for God. I want us to restore to godly principles. That's something that we shouldn't disagree on. It's it's something that's in pretty much every religion are those basic principles. So I just encourage Austin strength and just let's clean it up. Let's find ways to bridge the gaps, make sure our kids aren't running around causing problems and and that they are educated. I did meet with local law enforcement both on [clears throat] the city of police. I met with the sheriff's department. I'm with the National Guard and we're trying to bring something to the community so that we can come together, ask the questions that need to be asked without disrespect. We need to do it within our schools because again, I believe if they knew what they were protesting, they wouldn't protest. So, back to safe schools, safe streets, safe communities. Thank you for your time. God bless you all. God bless the city of Austin and God bless America.

Very good. Thank you, Miss Ryther. Anyone else looking to talk to council? Come on up, Bill. Give your name and address, please. [snorts]

22037565th Avenue, Austin, Minnesota. I have a question about well I manage the truck wash for parks trailer wash uh for the parks company out of Oakwood Illinois and we specifically wash out the hog trailers that go into Hormal and has I have some pictures here of what they sent me of the two we have a a storage tent over here that we put a skid loader in during the day. There's it's just a two bay wash. We don't have room inside because two semi trucks back in and we got an office and Ernie can verify there's not much room in there and and so we put this tent up and put this skid loader in it and plugged it in so it's in out of the weather and this other trailer sitting there. It's a semi-trail without wheels and we get we go through uh p or semi load of bedding every month and it comes from northern Minnesota and sometimes it's this weather or so we got this trailer here for backup bedding because the bedding is very important to keep the pigs comfortable on their way into town. So that's what that's that's all that's for is either that or we'd have bedding setting outside. So and I and I talked to uh the city administrator about it and asked him if he could work with me on it if I would remove the tent. If I remove the tent and we do something different there, but we could keep this trailer, which there's thousands of

trailers sitting out in that whole area out there. We're in the industrial park, [clears throat and cough] you know. And how this all started is a gentleman, local resident, evidently had a camp in his backyard and he came out and you guys made him take it out and he took pictures of ours. And I just don't understand. the commercial versus residential. Yeah. So, we got till May 1st to get these these out of there.

I I popped out there and Bill and saw your issue. So, it's just that it's a it flies in the face of an ordinance with having non-permanent structures. Holly, can you speak a little bit more to the issue on this? [snorts and clears throat] Um, from what I recall, there are three structures out there that you use for storage. There's a a storage container that you keep bedding in. There's a tent structure that you keep a I think is it a can't remember what it's a skid loader.

Skid loader. Yeah. And then there was a semi-trail that is used for some kind of storage. We were only commenting on the storage container, which we don't allow anywhere in the city except temporarily. And the the the cloth structures are just um very temporary. They're not meant to be out year round. They just won't they just won't withstand the weather that we have here in Minnesota. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And I think you said that you were willing to take the tent piece down and we did talk a bit more about um did [clears throat] was extending the timeline still in play

that if you wanted a year to figure out some other kind of storage situation that that would be uh we would be amendable to that. I mean is there are there any plans to build some kind of additional structures? I [snorts] I guess if you look at it, if you're you're the owner of the place and you got a $3,000 trailer here that's doing the job and just keeping storage, you know, and they they said, "Well, why don't you just build a, you know, $100,000 building and it it it just doesn't make any sense." sign.

I think it's, you know, if that's something that you're going to have on a continual basis and you want to invest in your property and make it something that would be attractive to maybe someone who might want it after you were done managing it, I would think that investment would be good. Bill, Holly, what's the issue with the trailer? The Are we talking about a trailer or a storage container? the the I think it's the because we have not said anything about the semi-trailer that's being used for storage talking about the storage container right our our ordinance does not allow storage containers so if we want to change the ordinance

uh I would have to bring something to council to do that if the council wants to change the ordinance that is certainly an option I just don't understand why the residential and the commercial you know we've got McFarland truck line and we've got semis and we got there's There's a lot of other storage things sitting around out there. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we do treat industrial very differently than we do residential. Not on this one. Well, you have a you have a semi-trail out there that you're using for storage as well, right? I mean, we don't allow that in a residential area. Well, the semi-tra they bring down is a load of bedding in that and this other trailer is for backup.

There's like steps that go up to the semi-trail. when I went past there. Yeah. And that's you've been using that for a long time, right? That comes and so that speed that changes out every month and has it has bedding in it. Yeah. Okay. So, you need additional bedding space. Oh, yes. I see the the we go through a lot of bedding. I don't see the issue with the storage container in the winter time. You know, it comes from 400 miles north of Minnesota. So, sometimes they can't get here. And so when we're out of bedding, it's it's it's not good. But you think that will be sufficient? You won't need any additional storage on top of what you currently have?

But what we have right now is not working for us. So you wouldn't So you wouldn't need any other storage than what you have right now? No, this this works just fine. You know, e either that or we just pile up the bedding, you know, stack them up on pallets out [clears throat] out in the open. Yeah. I'm just trying to just just trying to figure out, I guess, would there be some additional, you know, structures added, you know, or additional containers added in the future if, you know, if this was the Thank you, Craig.

Yeah. And we're probably not going to solve this tonight, but appreciate you bringing it forward to our attention. The biggest um challenge is it's against our ordinance, right? So, that's something we'd have to take a look at and appreciate uh council if you have uh feedback on it. Globally speaking, we're um you know, part of it is aesthetic, part of it is tax base and um competition and other businesses that we require those things. So, that's all something we can consider and um appreciate any feedback that you'd have that you could provide to Holly and I on that. Otherwise, we're happy to work with Mr. Nickel uh in the short term here and uh we'll we'll go from there. So, Bill, if you take us up on that year and I think continue to work with Holly and see if there's some kind of resolution. If it's an impass, we'll bring it back to council again, but see if you can't do something.

Well, you're going to give me a year. I guess that's what it was. The year. Yep. Yeah. So, we just drag it out then, huh? Yeah. Maybe see if you can't work something out with Holly. Okay. Appreciate it. All right. We are trying to buy G&R out. Thanks. Okay. Good. Okay. Well, thank you, uh, Bill. Uh, anybody else here speak to council of items one on the agenda? Sir, name and address, please. [clears throat]

Scott Soderberg, 2408 16th Avenue Southwest. I had a question on your your [clears throat] base salary structure that you had analysis done. You said there were four uh positions that were below whatever average was. What are those positions? That that'd be the city administrator, the city clerk, the IT director, and our HR director. And what was the differential on the pay difference from what they suggested and what it currently is? Was it more than 7%? More than seven. More than 7% reduction

for each of those positions. And then you said that the other positions, there were some that were 35% higher than than the actual pay grade there. Yet, remember Baskin picked up on that. That was his comments. Yeah, I I think in general I mean we get

we will generally get a report giving an assessment of you know all positions in the city where are they at versus the market piece that generally is kind of private information that we don't get into specific detail on but it more helps us to make sure we're in the ballpark. you know, our negotiating partners usually have something similar to and and so it's more to let's make sure we're not dramatically different than the market piece of it, but there's I mean, this is like a 30-page report with a bunch of nuance in it. And again, but there's no no correction there on the people that are paying way more than [clears throat] would say they would expect to be paid. Yeah. I mean, I think in general, it's a there's a lot of things that go into determining compensation

and I understand that. Yeah, because you do, [clears throat] you know, analysis and under Minnesota statute, you give the top three salaries in the city. And as I understand, Mr. Clark, you are the top paid official within the city. And am I mistaken, on your website, it shows that Mr. Clark makes 1,00 or 171, 900 some odd odd dollars for a salary. Correct. Correct. And then you're asking for a pay raise. Uh the study indicated that I was the last of any comparable city paid administrator.

Comparable. Okay. [clears throat] Well, I did some research and ERRI, Economic Research Institute, compiles the best salaries, cost of living, and executive compensation survey data available. And what I found under their survey with cities averaging 15,000 to 25,000 population the average salary is 70 or the medium salary is 75,843 a year and they range between 53,000 plus to 92,000 plus as top pay grade. So, uh, [clears throat] you know, and they say that basically all you need is a bachelor's degree to hold this position and looking at a salary that you're making. Um, I think you're well compensated for the city of Austin. So, I think we and especially when we went through all the budget earlier prior to the new year, sorry. And and we had an issue with finances within the city of Austin and how much we keep escalating escalating our budget. And like I said, you may say Austin's growing. It I don't see that we're growing. We have an aging population. They're on fixed incomes. And as I've seen, you might as [clears throat] well say every 10 years you're going to double our taxes. That's about the rate in which it's been going. And I think you're going to price some of these people out of their homes. You talk about affordable housing and we get these units built in Austin and then I see the HA is subsidizing people to live in these places if it's affordable. How can we subsidize these people who live there? I mean, it's not saying that that's affordable. and and and in retrospect going back to the the point here is that I think we need to watch these salaries. I mean, you've got some

people like you say within the city that are making more money than they should and others that aren't now you're going to bump them up and leave them others. So, we keep escalating things and all of a sudden they'll all come into the same level where we need to give them all more money. And I think some of these positions I've never ever heard where you couldn't find people to fill a position, especially at because we always say we got to make sure we pay a justifiable amount to get the best people needed or to fill the position. I've never seen once where I've heard that they can't fill positions in city government or the county. So, I think we need to look at that as far as how much can we continue to escalate what we need to get from taxpayers to pay all these things. I don't know how I could make it on 171,000 plus a year living in Austin. That's all I have to say. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Scott. Anyone else wishing to speak to council? Seeing none, hearing none. On to uh reports and recommendations. Craig or department heading? Uh, no. City [clears throat] Council Paulie. Nothing, your honor. Obala. Nothing, your honor. Laura,

I want to say thank you to the YMCA for investing in our um uh police department and fire department with their um donation so that those folks can access the Y 24 hours a day. I I really appreciate that. And I um think it's a vote in confidence of uh the city of Austin and how we use our resources. when you have a nonprofit willing to um support uh the city. Um I also uh just want to mention um the demographics of Austin are changing and the the dialogue that we're an aging city is no longer correct. Um there are 30% of our population is age 0 to 19. Another 30% is a 20 to 39. Uh the cohort that's 60 plus years old is a maximum of 24%. So, we are the the idea that we're an aging population, I think, is uh not no longer accurate. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't have seniors that we want to keep in our communities and that we need to make sure things are affordable for. Uh I just I I um I want to challenge what might be some outdated [clears throat] data. Um the Culture and Arts Commission has opened up a new request for qualifications. We're seeking a sculpture artist to help us create a public art project at the intersection of Oakland Avenue and Main Street. Um that is an intersection that's really the gateway to our downtown district and we want to highlight it and um a space for that sculpture was built into the Oakland Avenue reconstruction that happened this past summer and so we're now looking for an artist to partner with us um on that project. Uh applications for that are due [clears throat] March 16th. So time is of the essence of that. Um and then the parks, recreation, and forestry um board is uh doing a lot of great work. There's really so many things going on. We're going to hear later about um pickle ball, which is great. Um

[clears throat] they're also uh as a board working on a long-term um sort of right sizing of our parks. Um, I think we pursued a strategy many years ago to try to have a small neighborhood park um, everywhere in Austin and uh, we've ended up with a lot of small parks that don't get a lot of use. And so we're looking at long-term what are we going to do? Um, we're not interested in just saying, oh, we're closing the park, but we're not doing anything. But we are interested in saying what does the community need? Would housing fit here? Would a business fit here? and um making plans for those uh parks and um uh making sure that that what we have and what we're paying to maintain is actually serving our population and our current needs. And then um finally, just a teaser that they're working on a really creative um community project for Todd Park. Um so stay tuned to hear about what um fun new thing might be happening out there.

Very good. Thank you, Laura. Jeff, uh nothing, your honor. Um, excited to hear that Impact Austin has a new event coming to Austin this June, Saturday the 13th. Uh, [clears throat] Downtown Dish is going to be an arts and eats festival. So, mark your calendars and stay tuned to learn more. Uh, excited to see more arts and food entertainment in downtown Austin. Are they going to have pop-up band stages, too? A couple of them. I don't know a lot of details, but I imagine so. I heard that. All right. There will be bands. Very good. Thank you, Mike. Jason,

uh, two quick things. One, just a fast followup for context. The Fairbo city administrator makes $23,000. Albertly is $179,000. So, I think that's probably closer to the comp um piece that the at least familiar what we've seen. Second, um I think a big congratulations to our local area athletes on some really nice success recently. So, you had um Cali McCrae in gymnastics going to the state tournament. Um, fantastic for her. Our swimming team for the Austin Packers, really good. Brent Dah finishes second in backstroke in the state all-American swimmer. I just incredible. Um, one of the most successful swimmers in the history of that program. Also had a relay team at the state tournament which was great. And then the Austin Packer dance team with its 25th straight trip to state. Um, just incredibly impressive. And apparently it doesn't just stop at the college or at the high school level because Austin alumni Elena Kennedy who's a freshman at Boston University in diving actually won the league conference championship in diving as well. So um thank you to all the people in our community who volunteer who put their hearts and souls in coaching and helping and all the parents that as we well know drive to all kinds of different places. So great to see local athletes getting some good success.

Thanks Jason Becky. Nothing your honor. All right. I want to report on there's seven employees that had anniversaries in in uh March and it's always good to see the longevity of our of our fine folks. Chad Herd wastewater treatment plant 25 years. Ernie congratulations Ernie Ammer over there wastewater treatment 12 years now. Jim Hatton streets 10 years. Tim Donovan building for 10 years. Alex Kaiser engineering 10 years. Ted Sherwood Austin police four. And Anna Leup library with three. We thank those folks for their continued service and it's