City Council - Regular Meeting

us. It's just our show. All right. It is 6:30. We will uh call to order the Monday, May 11th, 2026 city council meeting. If you could please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Thank you. With that, do we have any additions to the agenda tonight?

Uh, one addition and one correction. Uh, the addition to the, uh, agenda would be to adding under consent to move the second meetings in May. So, our upcoming meeting, move it from Monday to Tuesdays. Uh, since we have Memorial Day on that Monday. So, shifting that to Tuesday. And then the second item would be to add in corrected minutes uh for the April 28th uh council meeting. Uh we had some council members that were listed as present that were absent and then we had a correction on who motion and who seconded on the approval for summer hour staff. And then a minor correction to the agenda. But we have to consider approval of the 2 April 27th city council minute minutes and that should be April 28th.

All right. Thank you. I'll look for a motion to approve the agenda with those three corrections. Motion second. We have a motion and second. All in favor say I. I. Oppos same.

Motion carries 4. And with that we'll move to public comments. If there's anyone who would like to discuss anything that is not on the agenda, please come forward. And seeing none, we'll close public comments and move to consent agenda. Is there anything on the consent agenda that needs to be pulled for further discussion? Hearing none, I'll look for a motion to approve the consent agenda with the addition of moving uh the next city council meeting to to from Monday to Tuesday because of Memorial Day. So that's May 26th. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Is that right?

So, do we have a motion to approve consent with the addition? Motion. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Motion second. All in favor say I. I. Post same sign. Motion carries. 40. With that, we will move to business items. Consider approval of quote for splash pad fencing.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, this is an item that has come up from the park board. Uh the park boards acts as an advisory committee to the city council. So uh they can't necessarily do things on their own. So they have been discussing at a couple of their meetings uh the addition of a fence around the splash pad. Uh the discussion came up uh late after the splash pad season last year and then uh was taken up again here the couple meetings ago and more earnestly. Uh after discussion on it, the the park board uh recommended is recommending approval of a 4ft high decorative fence to be installed as shown here on the diagram. So when this is a 2024 imagery, so you can't really see the splash bed, but it this is where the transition points are as it goes in and then connects to the pavilion. So it would be around there with a 4ft walk gate on the northern side. as the northern side was designed with some green space in mind if people want to bring chase lounges or lay a towel down and just be in that grass area. Uh park board looked at this they had some feedback from families saying that when we had the temporary fencing up that it helped with uh keeping the kids in there helped with supervision of those kids and that's where it comes from as recommendation as a whole. Um, anything I any questions we have? Uh, Ryan here uh gathered the quotes on the park board's behalf, so I thank him for the work he did on that. This is a picture of what the fencing would look like. Decorative uh steel uh fencing would go around there like that. And then it would open it up for conversation.

And how does it attach? So this would be attached in this portion for the majority of it. Down in this portion uh it would be surface mounted. There are so many pipes running through the ground here that this portion would be surface mount. The rest would be core drilled approximately 6 8 in in uh for added stability. But given there's so many pipes running in this area, to locate every single one would you'd have to hand dig the whole thing and precisely map it out. So, we're just going to go with surface mounting on these posts in this area to avoid accidentally hitting a pipe for one of the features.

And the other core drill, they go down four feet actually. It's a sleeve and then they stick the pipe into that sleeve. Okay. So, is there a reason we only went around the splash pad? Didn't like make it like a whole park area versus so, you know, kids would kind of be inside the fenced area completely or I think there's more discussion since we have that hill right there. It's easy for a kid. Would you mind coming up to the podium?

Thank you. Um, it's pretty easy with that hill as we discussion if you have a couple moms talking or people talking and their kids just all a sudden disappear down the hill was basically just to contain them in that area a little bit to help with that. That seemed like what people were addressing and wanting. If I could add to that, it was essentially to slow down without it being fully enclosed and gated. Yeah. Um the parking lot was an issue too, which is why it comes around the front. Um so kids wouldn't be running into the parking lot and getting hit by a car or whatever. So,

and keeping grass out of there, too. It help. I mean, it's it's m, you know, it can help with a lot of things. You know, kids going out in the grass, coming back in, dragging grass in there, and then getting the filters. And if we have more maintenance issues with that type of thing, too. Okay, thank you. Makes sense. Did if the fence does get approved, did park board talk at all about what what will happen with the blocks that are in there? We have to move them forward. We're just going to push them forward a little bit so the fence can be put in.

They're still recommending keeping them. I've heard feedback that a lot of they're not really versatile. People aren't sitting on them. Okay, is what I've heard. But I assume there hasn't been discussion then at parkboard board level about those. Yeah, I we haven't heard that. So, but we can certainly discuss that. Yep. I haven't seems now would be a time. I think it would be tomorrow, right? It seems it makes if the decisions to move them, it seemed like this would be the time now before the fence goes in. Exactly. Yep. Yeah. It might give Yeah, it's I've heard they're uncomfortable and a little too high that kids obviously can't sit on even adults are a little too high for an adult to sit. Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah. Then maybe just move along in front of the parking area in case a car would hit the gas or something, you know,

and they could probably get some use. But I'll I'll look for recommendation. I mean, I think it's something that should be considered. Certainly. And it might even give more space for families to move about now that have a fence would enclose it. Oh, yeah. And if nothing else, you could probably just put a few metal benches in there. Well, we've talked about we getting new park benches, so we just integrate that with that order type of thing. Well, and I think the original idea behind the stones was to act as somewhat of a fence, but it's just not enough to enclose Got it. the area. So, yeah, we should discuss that at parkour. And we have a park board tomorrow, so we can we'll get it going then. Perfect. Maybe everybody needs to go sit on them.

Yeah, it's not a bad idea. Well, as little kids, yeah, it's tough for them to get up there. Yeah. Thanks. And they look nice. It's just correct with the fence now. Yeah. Are they in the right spots? Cut them in half the little kids. It may be redundant if and if they're not getting use then Yeah. And how about signs? Will there be signs? Do not climb on the fence or are we going to address anything from Was that discussed? Um we discussed maybe signage before, but and I'm assuming that the gap is small enough that they can't stick their heads through. Yeah, it's four 4 inches or less. Yeah. Okay.

Is it pretty good if it it it's not really going to get too wet from the splash pad, but water will get on it. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. It has no problem. It's aluminum. No, it's a powder coated steel. It is. And it's a thick grade steel. It's the better grade. We didn't go I had a we had a price for a little bit cheaper and we get priced because the other two companies priced the the better grade and I just fear rust and stuff with water and chemicals and stuff with steel versus aluminum. We don't have salt or anything so I don't think we have to worry too much with that. No, with

kids throwing stuff around and who knows what, you know, if it gets marked up at all, you know, it it's going to rust in Minnesota. Did the splash pad, who we purchased that from, did they have any input and recommendations on what to use and were they concerned with the chemicals? You know, I assume we use chlorine and other chemicals. Did they express any concern to you about where I didn't splash pad company? Oh, no, no, no. I mean like the fence. You said the fence company, right? No, I was ask more splash pad. I mean, if they're the experts that they would know what, you know, material would be best for a fencing. No, they weren't consulted,

but we certainly could. I just I wouldn't mind seeing what aluminum cost because it would last longer, I would think. But I could be wrong. It's not as strong. You know, you get some kids in there that Drew reef on it real good have issues with steel. It's going to hold up. Drew, just thinking out loud. No, no, no. I mean, I understand the Well, I was thinking that at first when we first bid it out and the all the fence people were like, "No, we'll go with steel." Okay.

All right. Any other questions for any park board members or for city administrator? Um, one more. If a is it sections? Yeah. Okay. So, if a section gets damaged, it can be easily replaced. Okay. All right. If there's no other questions, I'll look for a motion to approve the quote from shed and fence for $12,5582. Motion. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? So, I can tell you for me, I wasn't big on a fence like this. I did want more of a natural surrounding. I think would have looked nice with the blocks, some bushes in there. I think that would have been a better way to go. I think it would have looked nice. Um, I don't know how much I love this. Well,

or I wasn't big on this part right now, but you know, a blockade is fine. I'm not overly concerned with the parking lot. You know, it's people are moving pretty slow in there. But I I get kind of keeping your kids coralled in, but there's no different than our parks where there's not a corral or, you know, anything else like that. So I I just there was yeah this there was a lot of discussion about that about the aesthetic portion of it how it wasn't originally for that but I myself have received multiple uh feedback multiple uh parents telling me are you going to keep the fence because that really helped

and then also Lauren who's on the pork board received the same feedback and that's what kind of prompted this discussion and they and the parents were concerned about little Johnny running into the parking Even with people moving slow, kids are little. You know, that's why I was questioning, you know, if we were going to go further around versus right around this because it would be more aesthetically pleasing. That's where I've always been on it is I think we could really utilize some natural surroundings to kind of take care of this. Now, if the rock part of it, we can bring the rocks out and use that as your landscape then. Yeah. Yeah. There's I still think some things we can do to make it look nice and we paid a lot of money for that for everything out there. I really want to keep it looking.

I mean I just struggle where we had nobody ever gives us feedback on anything we do a lot and this was a feedback that we received and a lot of people received it. So, I think it's important that we listen also to that feedback and yes, like aesthetically pleasing, all that, but these parents are concerned about the safety of their child. And I agree with having it in that area because then if you it's outside now, you've got this one matted area of grass. How are they going to mow it? If the fence was on the outside of the cement, then you're bringing in dirt

and you're bringing in the grass clippings. So, I don't know. For me, I just feel like this was like a loud conversation that was people were speaking up about and they liked having that ugly construction fence, right? They didn't care. They thought that was they were didn't want that to come down because they felt it helped. I agree. I agree. But and I didn't get to finish. Um but now I'm leaning more towards I I I think this would be good for those reasons that you just mentioned. I It really struck me and it came over the weekend. was thinking about it's the grass clippings. People with their wet feet get out in the grass and they walk back in. So, I do think this is probably the way to go

versus the other other way. But, um cuz kids will be kids. They're going to run around all over the place and they're I think it'll help. It'll help with the long They're still Yeah, they are. But that's all I have. Any other comments? Any other concerns? I mean, I just I appreciate what you said because that's exactly where I came from. I didn't think it was a big deal until parents would come to me. I'm like, "Parts, you never don't have young kids anymore." Yeah. Parents never talk to me about stuff. Right. Right. Well, I thought I I agreed. I I mean, that was one thing I think I brought up at Parkboard was this is a safety and we need to listen to our town um over the looks of it, right? So, not to downplay I mean, I get what you're saying, too, but Oh, yeah. No.

Yeah. I'm for aesthetics, too. I wanted to look at eye pleasing. And you know, with a a black fence, it should look good. But yeah, if we can do some shrubbery or flowers to make it, you know, we're not doing like an aluminum chain link fence. The fence is actually on the outside, do some landscaping, some bushes, keep the big rocks in there, you know, or the big, you know. Yeah, it'll be nice. All right, any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Post. Same sign. Motion carries 40. Thank you for your work. Yeah, thank you. Thanks, Ryan. Thank you. And to the entire parkboard, of course. Yes. Um, so that will move to city council reports. Council member health, anything to report on? I have not had any extra meetings. Council member McNeely?

Nope. Council member Jackson, you've heard it. And I had uh public works, and this was also Nick's report. Uh, we had public works last week to uh start conversations about extending a a trail from Casey's down to DG. Oh, yeah. So we um met out there. We walked the whole thing. It affects probably about I think it was nine or 10 properties. Some are bigger impact than others, you know, with the grading and so we're going to start sending out some letters, try to get some feedback from the homeowners, kind of get a flavor, see what their feel for it is, and and go from there. So we'll keep you posted as we get more information. Excellent.

Still thinking on the 25 along 25 on the on the east side of 25. Okay. I mean, my perspective since I live on that road, I see kids on there all the time. It would be great if they had a trail because we don't have some in before. It's a little challenging with with the existing stuff that's in people's yards and but we're looking at it. We'll see where it goes. And a lot of concern on Facebook I've seen. Right. All right. That's all I have. So, with that, I'll look for motion. Real quick, just a couple quick items I just want to bring up. Uh

splash pad opening for the season. We're going to be looking at the weekend, probably that Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Trying to aim to get that open. The weather's getting nicer, opening it for that. Keep an eye on that. And then the new uh utility billing portal opening that week after Memorial Day as well. So, we'll get that implemented. Perfect. That's all I have. Thank you. And that reminds me of one other thing I forgot to mention. I just want to thank Waste Management for spring cleanup. Oh, yeah. They did a fantastic job. I didn't hear I haven't heard anything negative from anyone, so it sounds like it went well and ton of residents used it. Yeah, they and I think a lot of residents cleaned up for them, too. So,

so it's good to get exposed properly and um a great service included in our bill. Traffic. Yep. Lots of traffic. So, that's good. That's good. Let's move it out. So with that, a motion to adjurnn. Motion second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. Post and sign. Let's go wild. We are journ.