City Council - Regular Meeting

15. It's more or less 7:00, so I'll call the meeting to order. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Here we have a quorum. They there is a couple of or there is one addition to the agenda. um an item regarding a land lease which uh Guy Taylor will address u regarding mindot wanting a temporary kind of police. So we'll get to that. The first item though on the agenda is wellhead protection plan public hearing and call upon Guy Taylor to introduce that.

Morning. Thank you your honor. As I mentioned before when we set this hearing, um we implemented a wellhead protection plan back in 2017. We're required to update that every 10 years. And so we're going to start that process and to describe what we're going to be doing and walk us through it a little bit is Dan Droode from the Department of Health.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. Again, yeah, my name is Dan Dude. I'm a source water protection planner with the Minnesota Department of Health. Again, thank you for your support in the surface water plan that was uh recently approved. Now, we're uh moving on to the groundwater plan since we have uh the community is relying on both groundwater and surface water as the drinking water source. So, uh um the groundwater plan is based on uh Minnesota rule 4720 and there's certain procedures which includes this public information meeting. Uh it's it's trying to help with the transparency and hopefully getting uh civic engagement with this process. Um as uh Guy mentioned, this is not new to the city. About 10 years ago, uh we went through this process. Uh the plan is a 10-year plan. It's time to amend it. Um so we haven't approved part one. Part one is the science of where the water comes from. MDH uh did that work. We did the delineation and the vulnerability assessment. Up on the screen you can see uh the DWISMA drinking water supply management area for the groundwater uh for the community. The red line is depicting the modeling that was done to show a one-year time of travel to get to the well. Uh the blue line is the 10-year time of travel to get to uh the well. Again, uh 10-year time of travel is the minimum that is required in order to delineate those dismas. But again, this is uh what's going on under the ground. And what we've done is they snap that out to uh streets uh visibly uh identifiable features on the ground in order to have a protection area. So that's your yellow area which is called DWISMA. So if you help with the next slide, how is that different from uh the previous delineation? It's much smaller. Um one

of the new uh changes as far as uh the modeling is they took away the surface water contribution area. Uh so just uh the moderate vulnerability of the DWISMA. Nothing that uh is uh anything as far as what the city is doing wrong or anything. the geology, the hydrogeeology of the area and understanding that that clay layer is leaky uh but there is not a problem and uh they took away that surface uh water contribution area which makes the the protection area quite a bit smaller. So um why do we do these uh drinking water protection plans? Again, hopefully it's it's your community safety, it's your community health, but it's also asset protection for the city for the long term. Um, why do we do this? Uh, recognition that the protection is much less expensive than treatment uh removing contaminants and uh uh removing problems. So, why do we amend it after uh 10 years? uh that that's just a requirement just uh recognizing that uh there's new modeling, there's new studies out there, there's new data. Um there are new partnerships to engage. Uh there might be uh lessons learned that we are incorporating as well as uh last plan. There's uh some accomplishments that uh we can take off the books and and uh and move on. So what's next? Uh we'll be working with Guy as far as a scoping two event. um notifying the partners that we anticipate uh that will be engaging through the plan. Uh we'll be selecting a plan writer and uh eventually really talking about what's appropriate as far as strategies for the next 10 years. After the plan is drafted, that will be

sent out to partners for review. Um we will uh be holding a public hearing at that point asking for the city to take action as far as approving it and then it would be state sent to the state partners uh and requesting a state approval. So that process will be approximately uh a year but again the intent is that we're not going to let your old plan expire. We're going to amend the plan and get you set up for the success for the next 10 years. Who the local partners are

Yep. The local partners obviously uh we have dwismas that often times extend outside the jurisdiction of the city. So typically uh townships obviously the county uh most often as far as what makes uh when we talk about activities appropriate oftentimes you get into land use controls. Uh so again uh soil and water conservation districts engaging uh producers uh homeowners on lakes oftentimes there's lake associations but uh again uh partners will also include uh getting input from the the DNR uh board soil and water conservation district uh uh Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions of either Guy or Dan? If not, we What action do we need from this? Not at this point. Not at this point. So, it's informationational technically. Do we open it for any of the members of the public to as it's a public hearing? Yeah, it was a misunderstanding. I thought we would be, but that'll be coming after the scope meeting.

Okay. Right. All right. So, we can move on. Right. The next item on the agenda is um overview of TIFF District 418 and business subsidy. Uh Jason Murray. This is relative to Northwoods Industrial Services, you know. Thank you. Good morning, Jason.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. Whoops. Hopefully everybody can hear me. All right. I'll move that just around. Um, thank you, Mayor and Council. I just thought it'd be a good opportunity before Monday night's uh public hearing just to kind of give you an overview of uh the TIF district, the project, and kind of our relationship in this being this is our first new first new relationship or first tiff district with the city. I thought it'd be a good opportunity for council to have a little discussion here this morning on the on the proposed tiff district. Also, my comments will stick most to the to the tiff district. If there's project related questions, I may deflect Clara or James uh city staff just to answer some of those project related questions. So, I'll jump into it. Council, you have my letter and TIFF plan in your packet along with uh business subsidy um summary because this potential assistance is going to be over 150,000. There is a business subsidy component, which means jobs and wages requirements that will be part of the public hearing on Monday night. Uh the project itself is a new 22,000 foot facility on a on on a single parcel adjacent to uh SCR solutions. And so the tiff plan outlines that council. I'll just kind of make a few comments here before I jump into my letter on the tiff plan. It is a one parcel tiff district associated with uh this manufacturing expansion. It is an economic development tiff district. We'll talk a little bit about the specifics of that here in a minute as I get into my letter. And then uh finally, it sets the budget of about 556,000 of a max collection of incremented expenditures over the 9-year life of this tiff district. And so uh I make a comment my letter uh keep in mind council that the tiff plan governs how the the city uses the the the increment. The development agreement, subsequent development agreement that will be drafted by Mariple Taff Law Firm will define that relationship if approved uh

by council will define the relationship between uh the developer and the city. How much, how long, eligible expenses, those type of activities uh for this development. So, jumping into my letter, mayor and councel, uh, first and foremost, there's really three components I just want to make sure that we walk through, and that's the determination of the eligibility for the TIFF district. Uh, the the the but for finding, and then finally, that that market value analysis, and that market value analysis is part of the TIFF plan as as, uh, exhibit five. Uh, I've shared a little bit about the background of the project. Um, the developer is requesting 295,000. um over the life of this tiff district uh to assist this project. Uh there is a subsequent uh kind of source and use statement in the back. Keep in mind that a lot of developers will make tiff a source and use um you know declaration. Um but as I note in my uh summary there on the on the exhibit in my letter, this is payment over time. So it's not an upfront. And so I want to be I want to be clear with the council that the TIFF plan and the subsequent development agreement will be as a pay as you go situation. Meaning you will pay potentially the developer 90% of the increment over the life of this tiff district each year uh based on the increment collections. Uh sometimes developers will put the request and consider tiff up uh tiff as a source and use and that's considered more of that upfront or if the city's uh fronting this these dollars to the development. That's not happening with this situation. This is a strict strictly a pay as you go uh relationship with this developer. The developer states some uh business subsidy component components which we'll talk about uh job increase uh uh job creation increase in local tax base

diversity of uh business and tax here in the community and then uh the f fulfillment of the city's development objectives which I believe is uh further development of the city's industrial park. Um again type of tip district this is an economic development um manufacturing does qualify and this is a manufacturing component um u business. So uh no issues as far as the use of uh economic development tax increment financing. So based on the uh facility being manufacturing we believe it fits as a as a eligible uh tiff project. But for this is where a lot of um discussion takes place as far as but for uh but for this assistance this project would not move forward. The developer has disclosed that in in the application to the city and subsequent requests saying this assistance is needed to further this project. We generally look at three things three to four things. We we analyze project scope. We look at perform analysis and then we also look at the equity contribution as part of the project. And in this case, I break that down for you council in my letter. Project scope, we find it to be uh within the realms of similar size projects as far as a cost per square foot. Thus uh um thus the comparison information obtained from the from the project and external sources it it meets that. So we don't see an excessive uh project here as far as when it when you break it down to a project per square foot uh component basis. Proforma we tend to take a look at uh debt service coverage ratio. I like to use debt service coverage ratio mainly because that's established by the bank. It's not something our firm or the city establishes to meet the uh lending requirement part of this project. It's a

bank established uh ratio. And in this case, uh, the bank's going to be requiring a 125 debt service coverage. And you can see by my analysis with and without, uh, the tiff assistance. And basically, I look at a three-year stabilization. And then the full tiff district. And so you can look at the three-year stabilization, that debt service coverage is just over uh is about 1.3 over the life of the tiff district is 1.7. based on the numbers that I have received from the developer in in doing my due diligence uh in in walking through and review of this tiff district. So uh I also like to use just look at a quick cash on cash. It measures the equity. You can see it with and without there um through the life of of this tiff district both on that stabilization the life of the tiff district. And then finally the equity contribution roughly the equity contribution and this is this is looking at bank financing um and the basically the u total project um cost of about 3.6 million. Let me just find my summary here quick. Sorry I flipped through some pages here. This is looking at just bank bank financing and and the owner contribution. And I do want to make sure that I believe the the applicant is moving through some Minnesota investment fund with the city, some process with that to secure some uh loan through Minnesota through deed. However, that is not part of my analysis because it's not committed yet. So, I left that piece of the financing out of it. It's either going to that piece of it from my understanding is either going to reduce the bank um bank debt which most likely because it comes at a higher interest rate they'll reduce that borrowing from the bank or potentially reduce their their equity contribution. But being that the the interest rates are a little bit higher on the on the bank side of it. My guess and I haven't I haven't spoke to the developer on this is that they'll be using that Minnesota investment fund to offset the bank commitment uh for the

financing on this. And then um moving into the market value analysis as I as I stated that's an exhibit on on page or exhibit five of the last page of the tiff plan. um that finding has been made and does meet the the use of of the statutory requirements for tax increment because this is a business subsidy component. I did take a look at the city's business subsidy policy uh just to further it looking at job creation there are talking about 10 new jobs at about $30 per hour that will be part of the agreement um both if they both from the tiff side and if they pursue the uh Minnesota investment side um the deed loan uh they'll those those components will be measured increase in tax base I did I did have the county assessor take a look at this uh based on this project based on the the uh preliminary cost and project layout. It's about $2.7 million new market value. Th that number also assisted in generating the tiff plan and some of the budget numbers in the tiff plan traction of new business linkages. This will support the expansion of SCR highest and best land use obviously expanding in the and further the city's industrial park goals. And then the but four which we just went through. Um last piece of it council I did put a summary of of uh the the the relationship between the developer and the city as part of the terms. Generally um this being my first relationship with the city. Sometimes we like to have that contract as part of the tiff plan. in uh Monday night public hearing. Um we'd move forward with public hearing and then subsequently ask council to both approve the tiff plan and the business subsidy agreement or the contract with the developer. In this case, being this my first one, I thought we'd walk through this process, make sure council's comfortable with it, and then

we'll engage Marupal once uh once we get through the public hearing, and if if council so chooses to move forward with the establishment of this tiff district, that'll be a subsequent uh measure that the council will take up at a at a later meeting, that formal contract, but that there's a summary in there that is a basically a quick uh summary of the relationship between the developer and the city uh and that. So there's just a couple things I know in reviewing past questions of council uh just on some of the tiff process and that stuff. This uh the max max relationship with this would be 295,000 paid over. We would be signing some interest to it. The city has generally looked at both uh when I say interest they've assigned interest to some of the PGO relationships because again it's you're paying this developer over time with the use of increments. So sometimes in this in in the case of financing, you assign that interest rate or an interest associated with that uh payment over time. And in this case, it would be 295,000 at 6% and the city would agree to pay about 90 pay out 90% of what it receives on an annual basis. That's that's strictly set by the county's value and tax rates at the time. the 10% would be retained by the city for administrative purposes for tiff reporting uh and other administrative requirements. Um in the past I believe council has questioned the use of um tiff to reimburse administrative expenses, legal costs, city staff time. As you as I stated in there, traditionally the city has not allowed that as an eligible expense. I think that was a question that came up at the last one of the last TIFF TIFF public hearings about um the ability to reimburse some of those expenses. It is not traditionally been listed in the contracts uh with the city and the devel and past developers that those administrative costs be covered by

increment or be allowed to be covered by increment to reimburse the developer. And then finally, there was some questions at one of the one the last public hearings just on understanding how much each entity uh potentially would kick into this tiff district over time. So on the last page there, number four, just tried to show you the breakdown. Again, tax rates and things even though we create the tiff district over time, tax rates do tend to we freeze the tax rate, but market values will move, tax rates will move. In fact, um, just over the last few years, just on looking at some of the city's existing tiff districts, that tax rate that was frozen and created that and where the tiff district is today, it's been is is significantly lower. So, those things move, but based on what we know today, uh, roughly about 228,000 would be the city of Fergus Falls portion of this 295,000 um, projected uh, with this tiff plan. So with that, mayor and council, I'll pause for any for any questions uh that you may have.

Thank you. Motion. Yeah, Mr. Murray. Yes. Wonderful presentation. I support this project. I have a few questions technically. Uh again, number one, your your presentation was above anything I've listened to for a long time here. you indicated on the on the on the jobs you will monitor those jobs. What happens if those jobs don't develop?

Mr. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Leighton, uh there is a there's a clause that's usually a default clause in the contract that would state that if the jobs aren't created, the the um developer would be then in default and this council has options and at that point they can they can uh extend the agreement, provide some um additional time to meet those jobs or at the other end of it cancel the agreement, cancel the tiff district and and walk away from the relationship. So jobs will be a component of it. They are monitored specifically if if a uh because there's a state program involved with this. Uh they will be monitored. They will have to do some reporting.

I found the the construction costs to be most in line with this project. It's at hundred and some dollars a square foot. That was remarkable. Yeah. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, uh, council member, yes, it's based on based on our information, it's right in there. It's close, uh, based on a range, and it does come into play. Is it metal? Is it precon, you know, is it is it is it uh there's some of those factors in there. I tried to look at it as an applesto apples building comparison. So, again, a wonderful presentation. I'm in favor of this project. Um, thank you very much.

Mike, you got a question? I I think so, your honor. I appreciate it. Not so much a question. Uh, thank you, Mr. Murray, for being here today. I I think you're exactly what we want for this council and for this city. Um, your explanation of TIFF today, the way you went through it, uh, educated me beyond, uh, anything that I'd had with TIFF before. So, I appreciate that very much. Uh, I think the thing that that I want the public to know is is that this isn't a a fancy economic development deal here, but this is a solid economic development deal for this city. And these are the kind of deals and the kind of expansions and the kind of economic growth that will drive this city forward. I mean, it's not fancy like a new Chipotles or different things like that, but it is solid. And I think the other thing that the city should know is that without the the the strong work of staff and Dr. Leman and the economic development, the mayor and the council doing land and all the different parts that we did to this, we really had a risk of possibly losing this corporation to another community. And uh I think the ability for this city to step in now and and reverse that is a testament to what the future will bring for other economic development. So I want the city to know that hey we're not we're not just giving something away here. We're strengthening the city, strengthening this business so we can have others and grow. The other thing I just want to say is uh for all the companies here in the city that are watching. Now is the time. Now is the time to grow. Now is the time to do the things that you maybe wanted to do. we have the right people in place uh economically and I think um if they're looking to do it now is the time reach out to the city.

Thank you. Any other questions for Laurel? I see that the tiff plan is a one parcel plan. That's the new parcel. There's no intent to combine the existing parcel with that. So the existing building will still be getting taxed as normal. Is that correct, Mr. Mayor? Council member. Yes. That is my understanding that that'll stay separate. These are my understanding separate ownership parcels. So, um we did not include or I did not include the existing SCR operations in this tiff plan. So, because it appeared to be a standalone um based on the plans and specs that were submitted. So, thank you. Any other questions?

I just wanted to I don't have a question. I just want to make a comment also kind of on the back side of Mike here. Uh, Council Member Mortonson, it is the time. Uh, so there's other um businesses in town that um have uh looked at uh expanding and I think that's going to happen also. So I think that those of you who are listening u business owners or want to startups now is the time to do this and uh I I see great things coming for Fergus Falls. Thank you with that. Thank you uh Jason. Um I don't think there's any action. It's just going to be on Monday night's agenda and we'll probably see you again on Monday evening.

Yep. We'll be here on Monday night. And so um Mr. Mayor, members of the council, we'll hold the public hearing. Then I will be asking at a point in time on the agenda to approve the tiff plan and move this forward. So great. Thank you very much. Thank you. See you Monday.

Thank you. The next item on the agenda is uh RTC roof update. Call on Kyle Mayer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Uh just a quick update on the RTC uh roof update. Uh just wanted to let you know that uh we're finishing up uh a bidding package for uh putting together plans and specs uh to put out to bids for the the roof and windows on the RTC. So, uh we're getting really close to having that completed. uh over the next week or so, we'll go through uh with Guy Taylor on that. Just finish that up and then uh we'll start advertising that for bids. So, uh you'll see that in the next uh couple weeks, getting that advertisement out and then uh putting that up for bids.

I got one question. Where's the funding going to come from in this? We have we have complete funding for that. Uh I don't recall the agency that we got the the money through, right? But there is money there. there is money that's set aside uh just under $400,000 that uh we actually need to use up uh otherwise we'll lose it. So um that's where the money's coming from. Mr. Myers uh thank you for your time.

As these cont your contract goes out to a if you will a roofer who do the roof. I believe there was earlier conversation in this council is will that let me start over. The earlier conversations was why are we putting on a roof on a foundation or a building that's not worth saving? Will that contractor look at the conditions of the facility first or as well during this or would that be independent?

That would be independent. We'll have the contractor as he takes the the materials off the roof, we'll have him look at the roof. The building itself will not be looked at, just the roof of the building. Do we have a do we have any indication from a contractor of the condition of the walls and the foundation? No, that will not be part of this contract and we don't have one in file. I have not seen one. 2021 there was a a plan review that was done of the building and it was found at that point to be structurally sound. I missed it. I'm sorry.

Uh she said in 2021 a foundation and structural was looked at and it was found to be sound. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other questions on regarding that? If not, we will move on to uh city project update.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. I'm going to run through uh project updates. Uh there's going to be a lot going on and we want to make sure that we're keeping everybody up to date on what's happening. So, one of those things that we do have and this is what we implemented last year. So, anyone listening, you can go on the city website, if you click on the utility projects tab, that will bring you to this page. And I don't know if this shows up on the uh YouTube or not, but it will bring you to a story map page which will show all of the different construction projects that we have going on in town. And we keep this updated on a weekly basis. So, if you look at the the map, uh the full map, you can see it's got the different number systems on there for each project. We have 14 different projects that we're looking at happening at some point in time. this construction season. So, those are the projects that we'll be managing this this season. So, I'll run through uh all of those just to tell everybody where we're at and what's going on. So, the first one's Highway 10 uh interchange project. So, that has started now. I'm sure you've all noticed that uh they're starting with removals that that's happening right now. Just been going on for a couple of weeks. But uh the big thing there is that interchange is shut down now and and closed and will remain closed throughout the summer. And the uh the bridge across the interstate that that will maintain traffic throughout the project. So uh we'll kind of keep you up to date on what's happening there uh as project goes and as we get information from mind. That is a mindot project, not a city project. Then moving on uh to the next project, the Lake Alice grit chamber. That project has not started yet. Is going to start uh mid June with construction. We

have notified uh those uh houses around the lake there. We are currently right now lowering the lake level. So, if you've noticed that, and the homeowners may have noticed that, but we did get letters out to the homeowners to notify them that, hey, we are lowering the lake level for construction. Uh, and then we'll bring it back up once construction is completed. The downtown Ottertale Valley rail crossings, that project is going to get started right after Memorial Day. They're going to start on Cascade with that crossing uh and then move on to the other crossings, but Cascade will be the first one. So, Cascade will be the first one to shut down. So, that's going to start the Tuesday right after Memorial Day. And it takes we're going to have two different contractors that will be working on this. Uh Taisac Construction will be doing the the road work and concrete work. And then there will be a separate contractor that underneath Taisac that will uh do the actual railroad crossings and they do about one crossing per week is what it takes them. So each one of those crossings will take about a week to do and then right behind it will be the concrete work and road work to tie it all back in. So that project will get going on uh right after Memorial Day. Next project on the list is Cavor Cavor. Uh the contractor that's doing CVORE is actually working on Cleveland right now. And uh maybe just kind of touch on Cleveland first because uh that's the one they're working on. So they've started on the they've done all of the removals on Cleveland. The they've started utilities on the south side of of Cleveland and uh it's going very well. They've got about two blocks of utilities completed already. The they

will start over and start tying in some of the uh services to the homes and then continue moving to the north. So, that project's uh going well. And then uh they're actually going to start doing removals on Cavor uh again, I think uh May 28th. So, that's coming up quick here. And so we've we have sent letters out to those uh businesses on Kavor when we uh got the contract started. Uh but we'll send additional letters out to notify them that we're going to get in there now and start doing some removals. So your honor, I think Laura, the the parking lots are not blue, but they are going to get replaced. Correct. Okay.

Yeah. And and maybe we can update that. Yes, the three parking lots uh on the north side uh of the alleyways, those will all be replaced as well. Thank you. Y just just on that has autotail power and all that the utility work that's was in there is that now complete? That's complete. Yep.

Y So that will all So that will all get cleaned up. As you've driven around that area, there's some crossings through the streets that's all tore up and it's been tore up for, you know, almost a year now. The alleyway is all tore up. That will all get fixed up and will be brand new. Okay, moving on to Junius. Junius, for the most part, is complete. There's a there's a little bit of concrete work that the contractor has to come back and finish up on Junius. I think over the next month that work will get completed. So final quote done

and final and final lift of asphalt. Yep.

Okay. The landfill project. Uh we are uh the contractors out there working right now on the landfill. We're getting close to the final elevation of the new cell out there. This last week, we did run into some organic material that we have to move out first before we finish up uh and start working on compaction. That organic material that we ran into, we did not know that it was there, but within the contract, we did have it in there to remove organic material if we ran into it. So, um that is part of the contract that we'll be able to do. So, that'll take about maybe three extra days here to remove some of that material and then uh and then we'll start working on compaction of the liner for the for cell 3B. Your

honor, again, could you show on the map or tell us where the new cell is? I I know where it is, but I just would you show everybody else. Yeah. So, the new cell will be uh kind of right where the maybe go up just a little bit there. Right about where your cursor is is where the new cell is going. Oh, the other way. Right. Right there. So, right in there is where the new cell is going. Just to the right of the existing cell,

right?

Your honor, Mr. Mayor, how long will that cell last? Well, it will last forever. Um, well, usable. Yeah. I think we've planned like eight years, uh, 8 to 10 years to fill it up. Now, what we've seen is some of the material going in there is maybe not going in as fast as what we thought. So, maybe longer than that, but we're planning 8 to 10 years before it would be full. And it's a 10-year permit, right? Correct. Goes with it.

Yep. We update it every 10 years. Okay, moving on to the next one. Cleveland, we already talked about that one. Uh, Douglas Avenue. Douglas Avenue, we have not started construction on that one yet. Uh, contract has been awarded. We will get a precon set up, but the contractor is looking at starting around mid June to the end of June uh to start on Douglas. We'll see you work there. Gas companies over there. Yeah, gas company is there now doing some work ahead of our contract that's going to be happening. Y

can I ask a question on Douglas? I know we had some assessment things that went out with changes. Can we just make sure the whole council's aware of that because I know some of us have gotten calls on that.

Yep. We sent out uh we sent out assessment notices when we calculated the final assessments when we looked at uh well the way the city looks at assessments for corner lots uh when you do the street in front of your house and the side lot you look at what is the longest side of the lot that you would assess. Um, so when we when we put the final assessment numbers in for the corner lots, that's what happened. We took the long side of the lot, but we're not doing any work on the sides. So, that was incorrect. We we noticed the error right away. So, we sent out a notice to uh those homeowners with an updated assessment numbers. So, the number changed a few days after we had sent out the first notice. still within the time frame. So, we're able to make the change. Uh and and so it was confusing, but we we sent us a a separate letter notifying every resident of the change and what happened. And then as well with that, Josiah and I did go out and knock on doors. Uh we were able to get a hold of majority of the people and just explain what happened and why. Um, so we still have a few houses we got to contact yet, but um, but we did go out and visit with with all of them. Okay, moving on to the next one. Uh, Pebble Lake Fryberg Overlay. Uh, that project uh is a uh total grant project through federal and state and we we've gotten now approvals of our plans to uh bid the project. So, uh, we will have the bid opening on that project on June 16th.

And then moving on to D Lagoon Road. Uh, same exact thing with that one. Uh, that was another state project. We had to get approval uh from the state and get some variances on that project due to some of the uh uh the speed limit out on on the road because it's a it's a it's parks money that we're using and uh they look at different uh design criteria for for speeds and and our speed limit is not what what their criteria is. So, we had to get some different variances. But um but we've got that all approved and so we're looking at uh opening bids on June 16th that so that is out to bid already. Next project is the lead service lines. So we'll be doing some lead service replacement uh through the state that will be uh with 100% grant money. Uh plans and specs have been approved sent to the health department for approval. They have until June 30th to get those approved. And then once we have that approval, we'll go to bid with that project as well. And then the city mill and overlay projects, we've completed plans. We're going to be opening bids on that project on May 19th. So that's coming that's just around the corner. And then the last of the 14 projects is the Dair Trail project, which we just awarded contracts uh to the Dair Trail. Uh so those are we're working on getting contracts put together and then uh get a precon set up and see when they'll start work on that.

So that was a quick run through questions. I I've got a question on something else not this was on uh summit in ward three there. Um update maybe the council on that too because that's probably going to be coming up shortly I would think. Um

yeah, on on a project that we did a couple of years that the city did a couple years ago, the um there was some uh settlement and grade issues with the street and uh draining on that project. So, we are going to get in there and get that fixed. We're going to get a contract over there this summer. Uh we're going to replace some curb and gutter and do some milling overlay on that project to get it fixed up and draining the way that it should be. Thank you. Any other questions?

Your honor, just Yeah, a couple of them. So, uh, Mr. Meyer and the staff, I I hope people call into the city and say, "Hey, I can't even get around anymore because there's so much construction going on." And, uh, that's what I'm hoping for because then we know we've done the right thing for the constituents of this city because that's what they've been asking for is a long time, 13, 14 projects. So, I think that's awesome. Let's go back to project number one, Mr. Myers. And you may not be able to answer it at this time. You and I talked about uh those bike paths. Are they going to go across the road? Are they going to go under the road? Do you have an answer today?

I I I don't have the exact answer. I've got to call into mind. So when we when we went with the when we worked with the mindot team, there's like 15 people on the team. So I got to call into the person. He's figuring that out for me. So, I'll have an answer here shortly on uh how that trail is crossing the roundabouts. There was some question on that as to um just the safety of the trail to make sure that um how that crosses. Is the crossing over the road where the where the people using the trail will cross over the road or is there a culvert that would go underneath the the road um so you don't have to actually cross the road? So, I'm

Sounds good. finding out. I appreciate that. Sounds good. Uh, project number seven, Cleveland Avenue. Uh, I had a question from a constituent where I remember the council talking about the sidewalk being right up to the road, which was kind of unusual for us in a residential, but I don't remember the city or the council, and anybody can chime in about our requirement of that resident to clean the sidewalk. What was our consensus as a council, as a city, I don't remember. Do they have to clean it? Can they get a a relaxation for the winter? Where are we at with that?

That's something we need to talk about yet. Um I I've had the same question. And we we just need to determine because we in the city of Fergus Falls, we do require the residents to clean their sidewalks. And in this case, it may be difficult for certain months of the winter to clean the sidewalk when it's right up against the curb. Because what's going to happen is we move snow off the street, we're going to wind row that right onto the sidewalk, which would be very, very difficult to remove the snow off the off that sidewalk the entire length of your yard. It's tough enough to do it through your driveway. So, um that may be an instance that we just talk about and yeah, relax that for that specific area.

Yeah. Do we remember how many blocks that is? It's only a couple two two three at the most. I don't even think it's two blocks where it'll be up against the Yeah. um street. I'll leave that to you and city staff and the mayor to to start the discussion. Thank you. Is that something where we could possibly work with the school district who's doing commercial storm removal already and maybe do a contract where we contract with them to keep that clear? Well, do it's something too. Do we do any does the city do any snow removal where we could I mean that might be another way of looking at it to keep it clear so it's not correct an onus on those homeowners we do do a lot of snow removal um none really up in that area

that's what I was thinking the school might be closer um the blade could pull off the majority off the sidewalk and then park go by sweeper yeah it Okay, your honor, one last question. Mr. Meyer, I'm a new guy to the city of Fergus Falls. You indicated on Lake Alice, you're dropping the water level. Are you looking for the train? Was there something that like a train lost in the lake? Mhm. That's new to me cuz I'm new here, too. Jewelry store lost. Pardon me. Jewelry store. I think it was

there was something down there. If you want to know the answer to that question, I think the historical society is doing a walk around Lake Alice. So maybe you could join that and then you could ask the question of the most knowledgeable person on Lake Alice. Maybe it was a team of horses. I someone told me there was something on the bottom of this lake. Let me know what you find. And then um I want to go back to Mr. Mortonson's comment about uh hopefully it's tough to drive around. I disagree with you. I hope it's not tough to drive around because we're trying to keep uh access to all of our projects when we're doing them. So,

going back to Mr. Leighton about is we had that uh Lake Alice completely drained what 10 12 years ago and they were dredging out there and of course we didn't find anything else except for a boat maybe or something.

Dang it. So I I I think you know one one thing that just is worth noting and I brought that up on Friday at the chamber meeting was that you know ultimately this year we're spending you know on infrastructure there's going to be about $34 million spent in the city overall and about 74% of that is actually externally funded by the state and the federal government. So, um, you know, as you, as you know, council member Mortonson said, you know, you asked and we're delivering on infrastructure improvements throughout throughout the community. So, thank you. Thank you.

I think the next item on the agenda is the city hall coupler bell tower update and plans and I think uh called upon Guy. Thank you, your honor. City Hall stood intact for about 98 years until last fall when it was no longer fully intact.

Um, so it was built in 1927 and we did discover some rot up in the bell tower last uh fall, September I think. And uh since then we've had a local architect uh actually a HPC member Scott Demardair working on plans to rebuild reinstall the coupula and question for council this morning is he's drawn up plans that would include either keeping the bell in the tower or not having the bell in the tower having electronic chimes so it would still chime on the hour and the half hour but then have the bell on display in the lobby here at city hall. So, he's designed it both ways. Um, but we have not submitted it to Shipo um to this point. Just wanting to get your input on that idea. So,

question, your honor. Could it be a recording of the actual bell chiming or would it be some kind of AI bell? It would be something electronic, but maybe we could Well, I don't know how we would get a recording of it actually right now, right? I mean, it's on the ground, but we could maybe artificially knock it and record it. I I think the big question is like structurally is is the building capable to hold the bell or would we have to reinforce the roof? So, to sorry to support the bell.

Yeah. So, it has been looked at uh structurally by Interstate Engineering and um the concern was that the bell was actually part of the structure and needed to be there to keep that coupula from sailing away. So, it's been looked at both ways. So, it could be reinstalled um or it could be on display in the lobby and the structure would be fine. How much does the belt weigh? 1,514 lbs. So, we'd have a a nice structure built for it to be on display in the lobby, uh, is the thought. Um, but it's Do we have cost estimates one way versus the other?

We don't. Okay. It would be significantly cheaper though to not reinstall it and ease of construction would be way simpler for sure. Your honor, is it Chipo's decision to make that? It will ultimately ultimately be up. So, I think that's probably where it's getting ahead of the horse a little bit. So, they've given some early indication that they would maybe be they'd be open to looking at it, but anybody got strong opinions either way? I don't think we're going to have a choice. They're going to tell us what to do. Right.

Yeah. Sh was going to tell us. So, I mean, do you submit to Shipo with it in city hall and see what that outcome is? Have you had a lot of public opinion on putting the bell? I know there's a lot of opinion on the Koopa needs to go back up. Have you had a lot of or city staff had a lot of feedback on the bell one way or another? It hasn't been widely discussed. So, this is first a lot of people are hearing about it. We did discuss it at the HPC and they are interested in seeing the belt in the lobby. A lot of them think that would be a really cool way for people to interact with the history of the building. Right. But I mean any any other comments?

One quick one, your honor. Thank you. Right. Right. Uh this thing has lasted till 1927 to today. Uh I think the cost return there was pretty insignificant if you will. It's been part of this community forever. Uh, again, unless it's a billion dollars to put it back up there and $7 to put it in the lobby, I believe it belongs on top of the city building.

Any other comments? I think submit your application and we'll see what Shipo says and see how long it takes them to make a decision. Yeah, we'll do. Um, yeah, my hope was to have it reconstructed by Fourth of July, but not sure how realistic that is anymore. Right. Thank you. The next item is a snowmobile permit for city trails. Andrew Bren,

thank you, honor. Members, good morning. This is coming after the discussion that the port authority had about uh a month ago and getting the um permits updated for Octa. They came and met with me after that and have requested that we update the permits for the city trails as well. In my memo, I said the last time we issued a permit was 1999. It was actually 1991. The Port Authority permits were 99. I found the original city permits. It's 91. Um, a majority of the trail work was done in the '9s. And so the the request today is simply to um put a new permit in place that encompasses all of the existing trails. If you look at this map, um all of the trails are currently covered under the 1991 snowmobile permit with the exception of the areas highlighted in pink with a marker. So it's really those um kind of corridors on the edge of town as people are um connecting to and and from the city. The police department was instrumental in the '9s in creating the snowmobile routes through town to get traffic, you know, from somebody's home out to these more designated corridors and area or trail areas outside of the city. The one section that you see there on 210, which is kind of the only one that's central on the map, that is actually a state uh rightway, but they wanted to just make sure that they're covered from all angles. So, I mean that may or may not be included, but um the city is that it is part of city limits as well. So, um that's the request just simply to uh renew the permit to include all of the existing trails. There's no new trails being proposed that don't exist today and um continue to to be good partners with Octa as they uh maintain the trails. I am going to have further dialogue with them uh related to

signage and some of those things. Right now um they ask us to do um sign maintenance along these trails which I don't think is the norm outside of city limit. So I'm going to revisit that with them and see if they can take on some of those uh duties in the city as well to uh relieve those duties from city staff. But today all we're looking for is a new permit and um that will cover the existing trails and and the advantage of this is that the the insurance.

Yes. So if your honor, thank you. If um you have a permit with a snowmobile club like this, there is state statute that protects the land owner, in this case the city, um from liability. if you get into a situation where exchanging funds, those protections go away and you assume some of your own uh risk related to that uh the use of your land. So that's why you see these things happen voluntarily free of charge. Thank you. Would somebody care to make the uh motion? One question. Can we get a motion? I'll make a motion. Okay, I'll second.

Mark will make a motion. Laurel will second it. Right. Go ahead, Mark. In in addition to this contract with the county for the the mo the uh snowmobile trails, what is the city policy and in regards to people just driving their snowmobiles on the streets, getting from home, getting to the country? Have we have we addressed that as well in this new policy?

Yeah, thank you, your honor. Um, Council Member Leighton, separate from this action, we encourage people, we we've signed and we've created um, you'll see the map's hard to read. I understand it's it's the red lines that kind of go through the city. I think Channing is maybe one of them, but we've created designated snowmobile routes where we're encouraging people that are living in the city limits to use those routes to get to the trails out of town. Um, the police department, like I said, back in the '9s identified those routes as kind of the least disruptive, the safest travel corridors. So, we we encourage people to utilize those first. Now, of course, if you don't live on one of those streets, at some point, you're going to have to go off of those streets to get home. I would defer to maybe Justin on how they would handle it, but I I assume it's um, you know, get home as safely and quickly as you can and and be smart about your snowmobiles. Yeah, it typically be education and uh you know, but if there was, you know, something more serious or egregious, then we would deal with that with a citation. That's what it

and for the public's interest. Thank you. It I don't want anybody to to have a misunderstanding that I can't drive my snowmobile on the road to get from my home to a trail or to get out of town just because it doesn't line up with the red line that I don't know about what the red line is. Yeah, you know, I I think if if there was a lot of instances of people just going anywhere and everywhere and blazing up and down the streets, it would be the education of here's a map.

I mean, I remember as a kid I I once had to talk to an officer about snowmobiles and I was reminded the best route to take to get to the trail and it was a learning experience and then I took that route going forward, you know, but it was I had a more fun route in mind. But anyway, uh the the um that's what it would boil down to. I mean, certainly people are are able to ride on the streets, but if they're, you know, there's some logic behind where we want Oh, absolutely. There's some common sense. Nobody's ripping up the streets. It's just getting from A to B. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other questions on it, right? If not, um all those in favor say I. I.

All those against same sign. Hearing none, the motion is approved. Everybody good with that on the consent agenda? It's fairly straightforward, right? Um Al, I think you wanted to bring up uh flowers. I did. Blue.

Couple things. Um I reached out to the gentleman who takes care of uh kind of the property over there at the federal courthouse. As we've seen for I think I know the last three years, maybe it's been four, there's been a tarp over that north step along with sandbags. I also spoke to um Jason in the building department about that also if he knew this gentleman and um he called me back the um the caretaker did and he said to me what do you suggest and I said I don't know we need to speak to the council I think is one of our um procedures and I need this to be very transparent uh since I reached out to this person I want uh opinion on Um, I said, you know, we're trying to get our city tidied up and for one of the nicest buildings in this city to see sandbags and a tarp on it for the last three and some years. Um, I'd like to clean that up, especially being our 250th year as a nation. I think that's something to be proud of. And I would like to um extend that invitation to everybody to um keep things tidy, make it look nice, especially now between now and the weekend. I think it would be a great thing. There's going to be people in town, a lot of people in town. Let's make a good impression. And uh hopefully that there's not a lot of uh free stuff on the curb uh between now and the and Memorial Day would be nice. um if it is uh please take it off and put it back out when you can. But actually, I spoke to that gentleman then and he said, "What uh getting back to the federal courthouse um what do you suggest?" And I said, "I don't know, but we need to

talk about it." I spoke to um the mayor a little bit and kind of came up with an idea too was, you know, maybe at least on the north on the north steps they could go have a chain with a sign on it that that says please use the other stairs because those steps are falling apart there. I think there's some undermining of some water that's gotten down in through there. And I think it would be kind of a good idea to use some expanding foam if you can get that in black. Um to fill those holes and those cracks with some major expanding foam and then at least they that can be cut and h look halfway decent until they do get some funding to uh to fix that which it sounded like they were working on. So that that's a good thing. And maybe I don't know, Guy, if you could maybe look into that or talk to Jason and just kind of proceed with that somehow if we could do that. Um, I'd really like to see it done by the weekend if we could. And I couldn't bring it up any sooner because I wanted everyone to hear this. and uh hopefully I don't know if it would fit in his schedule or not over there, but um his phone number is right on the on the door um of the federal courthouse and uh Jason also has his number.

Got it. So, thanks. If I've talked to him before, too, and he's told me that yeah, they're just in line for fed funding from the federal government for that repair. Right. But if this would be kind of a a little stop gap fix, let's see if we can do that. I mean it would just look better for sure. Thanks. Thank you. And then um from the a number of announcements today um sorry oh you want to do the land lease? Yeah. Okay. Land lease interrupting. No no that's fine. I was so the land lease that Mr. Guy Taylor wishes to speak about.

Yeah, sorry. It's just very timely. The uh contractor out on the roundabout and bridge project, park construction, they approached the city uh about a location to place a job uh trailer that'll act as a lab for testing their soils. And um they asked about 1960 Collegeway, the old uh roller rink and Royal Tire site between Subway and Security Insurance. So, we talked with them um came to an agreement on $1,000 per month of a a lease rental rate and uh just wanting your blessing to enter into this lease. They would return the land to the condition it is right now, which is just basically gravel. The county has uh recycling containers and the disabled vets have their storage trailers on that site as well. But uh be a term of not more than seven months.

I make a motion. Thank you, Muk. Second. Thank you, Jim. And the recycling can stay. Yes. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. All those against same sign. And the motion is approved. Everybody good with the consent agenda?

Thank you. Now I can get back to my my stuff. Um so basically it is law enforcement uh day today. Um so there'll be about 400 little tikes uh running around the police department parking lot. I think this the road outside city hall will get blocked off for safety. So if your car is parked outside of city hall probably from noon onwards you could find a little note from the police department on it and a ticket. So um but hopefully that goes well. Um, obviously as Al alluded to, May 16th, um, is a homecoming parade for Chris Tungstith, um, which will take place downtown starting at 2 p.m. It's going to follow the Summerfest, uh, parade route. Um, so it's going to go obviously from Broadway, um, all the way through downtown to the school. Um, you know, the theme of the day is red, white, and blue. uh you know again supporting that you know all-American u patriotism that you know we want to see and um you know again I can't reiterate enough you know um if there's signs in the boulevard that don't belong there um I'm we're already starting to see some political signs uh cropping up um but you know let's get them out the get them out of the city you know right away and if you want to have a a political sign in your yard, keep it in your yard. And and uh let's put on a good face. And uh again, technically, it it's not permissible to put stuff on the boulevard that says free. Uh we do, you know, in in your utility bills, you got a free dump coupon. You know, use it uh for that that type of stuff. Don't just leave it there.

Um at 6:00 on uh on Saturday evening will be a concert at the Kirkbride. It will follow very much the same format as the Center for the Arts. Um we encourage obviously as many people to get there as possible uh to show support for Chris. Um hopefully the weather looks like it's going to be decent. So, you know, please come out and support support Chris in his next part of his journey. May 18th is a city council meeting. Uh May 25th, most city offices and facilities are closed in observation of Memorial Day. Garbage and recycling normally picked up on Monday will be Tuesday and Wednesday. Um and then May 27th there'll be a um committee of the whole at 7:00. The other thing that I did put on on your desk is that Otter Express. Um, you know, this is kind of something that's never been done before in in town, but basically, you know, with the construction taking place and overall construction taken everywhere, we're going to try an express loop uh which will be about an hour uh to go from the full circle and uh there's 14 different stopped places, you know, including obviously the clinic, you know, a lot of the apartment buildings and Elders, Walmart, Home Depot, Service Food Clinic, and uh as well as obviously the you know the YMCA. It's going to be a dollar uh to get on the bus. You can get on the bus at any of the stops and you can get off obviously at any of the bus at the stops and then you when the bus comes back round again, you can get back on the bus and obviously get back to, you know, a stop near near where you got on. And the the goal is to encourage obviously you know people to use it and hopefully then uh they they move on from that to understanding that you know you

can use Otter Express to go anywhere um for $2, but this is going to be a dollar just to try to you know stimulate people to use it. One question uh do we have estimated opening dates for the pool and the splash pad? We're getting questions on that. The pool will be open June 8th. the splash pad on uh the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Can we get that on a mic? Can you want to repeat? So, someone I know we're getting questions. Yeah, the the the splash pad is going to be open the the week before Memorial Day and the the aquatic center is June the 8th and the aquatic center is fully staffed. So,

yep. One other thing, um, for those who want to be in that parade, does anybody know when they line up and where that starts? Y Lynn, make an announcement. Yes, you do need to register to have a parade in the in the or a quote in the parade. The registration's online at the city's website. Clara did a great job of putting together a page of all the information about Saturday. Registration ends at 400 pm on Thursday. Line up for the parade is at 1 pm and that will be staging on kabore coming from college way

and we are very thankful for Eric Johnson who's run summerfest parade for many years is our main contact on that. So Eric is a you're not going to miss him when he's out there. He's going to be in charge and he'll be directing traffic for the parade.

There's also going to be a lot of volunteers to assist with parking up at the at the Kirkbride. Parking at the Kirkbride will be limited because we are expecting a large crowd. We're planning for 4,000 people. Um so there will be some limited parking for those that that need the disabled. We'll have a parking drop off area, but otherwise um carpool car pooling is encouraged. Um but also be prepared to walk um some distance kind of finding your spot and walking up to the concert. But beautiful night, great music, food and beverage vendors out. It'll be a fun night to show off for falls. I was some talk before. Can people bring a chair this time or not? Yes, do bring a chair.

Bring a chair to the parade. Bring a chair to the concert. Yeah, the the concert's going to be more like an hour and a half long as opposed to the half an hour that um American Idol was wanting. So, as you say, Yep. If you in need of it of of resting your your legs, bring a bring a chair. If you're standing, you're probably going to get moved. So, people can see. Is it now? Not if Lynn, not if I'm standing. So, are we're not delaying the open to RTC like American Idol or not? You people can get up there earlier than previous planned.

Venue will open 6:00 will be um the actual concert itself. We're going to be having a DJ to hype up the crowd prior to that. Um so, it's just be a lot of fun. A lot of lot of people enjoying Furnace Falls. And there's no ticket charge, right? It's free. It's free of charge. cannot fund raise. Um, but there will be some opportunities for people to donate to Chris to help him on the next steps of his musical journey. Not done by the city. Talking about that, too. Is there anything like they could do uh like they would do concert in the park and just pass a bucket? There will be some buckets and there could be a QR code. If people want electronic you donate, they could do it that way as well. Perfect.

With that, uh, there is nothing else. We are adjourned. Thank you. See you Monday.