City Council - Regular Meeting

To approve their agenda as presented, I don't think there's any changes or corrections. So moved. Second. Yeah, I got a motion by Rick Seiler, second by Bruce Wolf to approve the agenda as presented. I guess the only difference is the claims of payment are going to be roughly $4,000 higher. Oh, that's consent. That's the next one. I'm sorry. Okay, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Passes 5-0. Consent agenda. We do have to add roughly $4,000 to the amount for New Day Church, I think. Was it under? And the new total instead of 168,000 should be $1,687,428.81. And that will pay for our portion of title. I was closing costs. Can you say the number again? $1,687,428.81 instead of the $1,683,000 even. Thank you.

And I do want to note, Bruce, since you're writing it down, they did tell us that that would be the maximum as it's a preliminary settlement statement.

Is what we got that number off here right after City Hall closed today, so That would be the most we're paying Okay So that's the really the only change so that would change the claims for payment by roughly 4,000 if move to approve the consent agenda Yeah, I will second that I got a motion by Rick Seiler second by Chuck Nikolai to approve the consent agenda if there's no other questions concerns and All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Next, we have government agency updates. We are very honored to have County Commissioner... Is this on now? Yeah, why? Do you want to start swearing at me before it goes on? Welcome, Dennis.

Good evening. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. So, yeah, a couple things going on in the county. We're still working on our Vision 2050, our comp plan. getting feedback from Citizens in the county on their opinion on what should be done. What shouldn't be done We had about a four-hour work session last Tuesday after a meeting going over all our ordinances One one of the highlights For me was we're considering right now. It's one house per 40 acres in the county We might be dropping that down to one per 20 and There's a lot of spots in the county that we don't have to worry about disturbing ag land. Obviously, we want to preserve our ag land in the county, but there are certain spots where there might be a little chunk of woods over here that no one's farming. That would be nice to put a hose. So plugging away at that. I see on your agenda, County Road 60 or First Avenue. I'm pleased I've had a lot of phone calls on that in the last month with the condition of that road. Our county engineer, our highway staff did an overlay on that, really light overlay. So I think our future is to hopefully redo that all next year and hopefully that's in your CIP. Our county veteran service officer, Mark Reimholt, retired. We just hired a new Veteran Service Officer Joe Fisher. He's got a quite extensive background, so pleased to have him on board. If you know any veterans that are in need of help, please send them your way to the county there. Another big thing that we're getting phone calls is if you turn on the news, data centers, people are calling us, what's your plan for data centers? We have No interest in a data center right now. I talked to Liz Krochak, who's on the board with MVEC, and they haven't had anybody approach them. We've had nobody approach us as far as wanting to put a data center up, but people are concerned. Obviously, the water, the energy that it's pulling from.

Did you guys actually do a formal... We did a moratorium.

So right now, 12 months, there's nothing that can be done. Okay. Today started the construction on Highway 13 and 99, so south of Montgomery. For those of you that might be going to Bullhead Days over the weekend, I would allow probably 10, 15 minutes extra to get to Waterville from here. That's going to be a big project and go, I believe they're, going well into the fall.

Because they're putting in a roundabout there, right?

A roundabout, yeah, sorry. I get phone calls on Highway 19 going west out of town. I just drove into town today again. They're patching the heck out of it, but according to MnDOT, that road's not going to get resurfaced for a long time. I know even Highway 13... from Montgomery to Waterville, I think that's projected 2030, and then New Prague to Montgomery is 2032, and I think 19 might be more than that, which it is what it is. Third Mondays, you guys also have meetings here, your first and third Monday, just to let you know, Heidelberg, or yeah, the city of Heidelberg also has council on the third Monday, so it I like to try to make those, so I'm going to try my best to be here on the first Monday of the month for you guys. If anything pops up that you think I should come or you have questions, feel free to call, and I'd be happy to make a point to come here on that third Monday. But I think for right now, I'm looking at probably coming here, try to make the first Monday, and then Heidelberg the third Monday.

That's it. All right. Any questions for Dennis?

Thanks, Dennis. Thanks, Dennis.

Thank you very much for updating us, what's happening on the LeSueur County side. Public hearing or public forum, there was no one that signed up, was there? I don't.

I don't believe so. There's nobody on the.

Okay. Well, I'll give anyone an opportunity if they would like to speak to the council at this time. Okay. If not, we'll move to, we do not have any public hearing scheduled. Uh, city engineer updates. Um, Chris is going to take those.

Yes. All right. Welcome Chris. Good evening everybody. Um, so I do have on your packet a, uh, our project updates. Um, that's necessarily to add into their couple of those we've talked about. a little bit later after this item. So unless there's questions on the project updates, I'll move on to the next item.

What about the 2024 project? Where do we sit on that?

So, uh, the contractor should be in town tomorrow and complete the paving repairs. And I understand they did the service repairs two weeks ago, a week and a half ago. And we should be getting, we're waiting for the televising to confirm the work that was completed. So with that, the work on the contract should be complete and then we can move hopefully towards, close out, which is probably going to have some more discussions on liquidated damages. So with the work performed, um, at least that portion of it behind us at least. So that's, that's where I expect to be is that, uh, by the next meeting we'll have everything work wise performed on the contract.

Okay.

Does anyone have any questions with the 25 project 26 or first Avenue turn back? I know that was, we'll probably be discussing that later. Yes. Alton Avenue, that's not, so. Lead Services, I think we're going to do phase two on that. I think, have we applied for that? I know that.

Yes, so Lead Services is applied to the intended use plan last year. It is on the 2026 intended use plan, and we're waiting for certification of plans to come back from Department of Health, which should be done by Friday. I think that's the requirement, is that it's done by June 5th, so.

Okay. On the Alton Avenue feasibility study, the way it's, uh, the wording here is near the studies nearing completion and then, um, design items to be discussed June 11th. Can you just update us on, so if it's nearing completion, there must've been a lot of work already done.

Yeah. So, uh, as far as where SDH is on, um, on the reports, uh, I believe we've assembled a draft of it at this point. We haven't shared it with the city yet. Um, so we've, we're at the point of, um, basically having our cost estimates done, our figures done, and, um, needing to share that with the, um, with both, uh, Scott County and the city of New Prague still. So the design items are to discuss at that point is basically anything we've reviewed at the last meeting. We confirm the changes, um, at our next one. So maybe I didn't quite word that correctly, but we do have everything integrated into it.

So the, the, uh, The major, or I would think one of the major issues is the alignment. Is that already? I believe our alignment is set. I'm sorry. I believe our alignment at this point is set.

Now, everything is, we're not at the point of actually acquiring right away or getting to the point where this is going to be used for that type of a process, but the alignments for Alton Avenue and I guess it would be 12th Street in the northeast, which would connect into it. At an intersection, those are all part of that preliminary design, and those are pretty well set at this point.

Yeah, I know there were preliminary sketches a long time ago, and I just didn't know if they'd been revised or changed or if something moved. Nothing significantly, no.

No, nothing in the last maybe two or three months we haven't changed anything, I guess. So, as far as the items that we have right now, and I'll be reviewing some of these things with city staff before sharing with Scott County as well, but just reviewing the sanitary sewer, water main, storm sewer, those types of items, overall costs, I think a lot of these items will be put into that report and hopefully find a way to kind of share that as well with council and also the public.

So, if you're already... doing cost estimates, then you must already have a phase in plan that you've agreed to or?

I don't think anything's necessarily agreed to formally. I think we've had a lot of discussions as far as what we expect the phasing to be. So you, you just made assumptions on what the phasing is going to be then? Assumptions, but we've, I mean with, uh, with new Prague staff and also Scott County staff, I think we've come to an agreement on what we expect the phasing to be. Sure. But a lot of it is development driven. So I mean phasing could always change depending on what the needs might be.

What's the timeline that you feel that you would be presenting or at least sharing any of that with us?

We'll have the draft complete prior to our next meeting, which I think is on the 11th. 15th, okay, I'm sorry.

Yeah, would you present that to council on the 15th? Oh, present it to the council?

I guess we haven't discussed it yet. It's ready for that. So we have a PMT meeting, which is just all the parties involved in it, and whether we present it that quickly or if we would present it at a meeting afterwards, I guess. I'm not sure.

Okay, thank you. Okay.

All right. Then I guess we're going to go to item number eight, which is, uh, 2026 improvement project, uh, accepting the bids and, uh, yes.

So, uh, in front of you, I do have a memorandum kind of outlining the, the bids that were received on the project. Um, there were four bids received on the project. Uh, the low bid was from SM Henches and Sons Incorporated out of Jordan. Um, they, uh, uh, have a base bid amount of, $989,998, which is about 50,000 or closer to 60,000 below our final engineer's estimate. Um, other bids received on the project were above the, uh, engineer's estimate. Um, one thing we were waiting on for approval on this was the signed title sheet from, from MnDOT, which was received a day after your last council meeting. So, um, now we have that, uh, received. Uh, we would now be in a position that that project can be awarded and, uh, um, I do have a resolution in the packet to allow that.

And we're going to pay you state aid money. Do you recall what the amount of that state aid money we're going to, I think it was like $924,000.

It's about $900,000 of state aid. I'm sorry, I should have included a summary of that in here, but I believe it's about $900,000 for state aid and the remaining would be local funds.

Okay.

There's no sewer or water component to this one because it is just a, there's some storm water, I guess, components potentially, but that's actually covered by state aid, so I shouldn't really have that, I guess. So yeah, it should just be local funds and then state aid funds. Okay, thank you.

Any questions regarding the bids?

Make a motion to pass Resolution CC-26-06-01-01-2026, Street Improvement Project. Accepting bids. Second.

Okay, I got a motion by Bruce Wolfe, second by... Rick. I was going to say Sean. I heard it coming out. Rick Seiler? Well, there was an S in there. So if there's no other questions, comments, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay, passes 5-0. Next, you're going to talk about engineering scope and proposed fees, I assume?

Yes. So as with our other street projects, SEH has provided proposals for different phases of the project as the project progresses, so. Uh, we've previously provided a proposal for feasibility, um, study planning last fall that moved into final design. And now that the project's been awarded, the next phase of the project would be, um, construction and post construction services. So, uh, construction services, our construction administration observation, um, staking and anything related to, to that. Um, we do propose to have a different inspector on the project this year. His name is Doug Mater. Um, he's been helping out, um, with, uh, close on, on the last couple of projects. Previous, um, previous inspector has retired since, uh, since then. So John Boyd has, has now retired. So, uh, we'll have, um, Doug Mater out here. Um, very experienced RPR that, uh, has been working for us for quite a while. Um, and he'd be the person on the project when this goes to construction. We also include post construction services, which would be record drawings and assessment services. So next fall we'll, go through the assessment process with the number of properties that are affected by that. And, uh, that's included in that, in that final task. So we have these split as task three and task four. Um, when all tasks are accounted for, the total engineering costs end up at $280,600. Um, what are your, what we're looking at right now are just approval of tasks three and four, then tasks five and six. And, uh, Those are for $171,700 and then $14,000. CHRIS JERRAM, JR.: Matt, you were OK with those numbers?

MATTHEW P. Yep. CHRIS JERRAM, JR.: It seems like they've really jumped up higher than inflation over the last few years. Is that?

MATTHEW P. No.

Okay, thank you. Do we... When there'll be a robot or AI would make this cheaper. You're working on that, aren't you? If we get there, we'll let you know.

When do you think we're going to get a schedule from Hingis on when the timeline that they're going to do this project? It says it's a two-month project, roughly, so...

So I've been in communication with, uh, SMH is, you know, we were hoping to work two weeks ago, but we weren't able to cause that, uh, process we need to follow. But we have gone through with all of our submittal documentation so that we're able to tomorrow basically send out contracts and get those processed. Um, with the assumption that everything would of course be awarded. Uh, so I was expecting to see a schedule early this week. Um, and uh, um, I guess hopefully by tomorrow or Wednesday we'll see something. We do have our neighborhood meeting already scheduled for next week, Thursday, 5.30 to 7 o'clock. So we have that scheduled, and we have our pre-construction meeting already scheduled for next week. So at the latest, we'll know by the pre-construction meeting next week, Wednesday. I would expect to see some earlier than that. The dates that are kind of set are going to be substantial completion, which is the end of August, and then that's having the road drivable. Everybody can use the roadway and then work off of the roadway can happen for about two more weeks after that.

How long will the road not be available to be passed by?

It'll officially be closed throughout construction. Um, as far as maintaining access, we do have a 30 day closure allowed for third street because the roundabout construction. So once they close that for west east traffic, um, they have 30 days to open that back up for that direction of traffic. Uh, for first street southeast, um, that has to remain open continuously. So they'll have to do one side at a time. So that will maintain access to first street, which has, um, well,

I say, will we, will we be closing down 10th in its entirety all the way down or will we keep it open so people can kind of loop through the neighborhood if they have to?

Yeah, we do have a requirement to try to leave, um, the south portion from 29 up to, um, the Colsky open, uh, when possible. So they'll mill the pavement. Uh, we don't want to have truck traffic, but if we get local traffic, that should be okay. Um, so we do have it in there trying to leave that open, but we don't have a, an official, you have this much time to start and finish that work type deal. It's technically going to be closed the whole time, but I do expect we'll see local traffic still utilizing portions of it. And then the two, there's two streets on the west side that have no other access but from 10th Avenue. Um, and they will be required to leave access from one side or the other to get to those two streets.

I don't remember how this all works, but since this does have a lot of non-local traffic, do we automatically have Google notified for maps and some of those?

So we can send out closure information. I know we can send it to MnDOT. I think we can send to Google. I haven't done that, but that could be a process I could look into.

Yeah, I thought we did that for Main Street, but... I'm just suggesting, Josh, maybe you should think about how we better or more communicate this than just the neighborhood meetings because we will have out-of-town traffic that does use a bypass, I believe. Yeah.

No, I think it's just a CYA effort on our part to...

I just want to reduce the number of calls you might get, Matt.

Sure. Yeah. We did do that with Main Street. We did it in form. I should say in form, but had it all there to Google, and they had Google Maps and all that. I know it was kind of a pain. I remember the first couple of months, we couldn't get it. I think it was, I forget her name, though, Kendra.

She's the one that emailed me weekly saying, it's still not working, Matt. I'm like, yeah, we're working on it. So hopefully that's not the case, because by the time this project would be done by the time I got it to work. Yeah. We'll definitely see if we can do a little bit more.

Okay.

Chris, did you say that third street's closed then for a month, both east and west? It'll be, it'll be closed for, for, yeah. So how about those townhouses where are they going to have to park and then walk to get into there?

I mean, yeah, there's really no other access out than third, Well, I think it's just the intersection, not all. Cause I think the, they're far, they should be far enough in on the block. I would assume that they could get out. Oh, okay.

So with the phasing and the project, we do have a requirement to allow traffic to go either north or south from those townhomes. Okay. So if they, they would just go north towards first street or, or outward, I guess towards the north, um, when the roundabouts closed. So it's, Depending on how the contractor decides to phase it, if they mill it all at one time, they also might. It's mostly a milling project with some repairs that are kind of going to affect traffic a little bit. But anything on the north side of the project, we don't have as much. We don't have any storm sewer. We don't have anything significant from 3rd Street to 1st Street. So besides the roundabout, it's just pavement replacement. So it should be relatively quick operation. Between 3rd and 1st should go pretty quick.

Oh, because they were very concerned how we're going to get in and out of here. So they all are very well aware of what's going to happen during the project and that they should have access majority of the time. And I recommend it to all of them that speaking with IB to see if they would let you park in that far south area. You know, it might be a day or two, you know, when we're doing concrete work in front of that driveway. But they all seem...

Okay. Well, there really isn't access to the north to get out unless they come out on third to Chilupski and then pass like the Walgreens and that, right? Is that the only, that'd be the only way?

Yes.

Okay. Well, when you guys are saying out the north, I was trying to picture if there was going to be a temporary road to where that stub is or something that they could somehow, I don't know.

Okay.

Sean are you talking about the townhomes that are south of Hy-Vee or the ones that are over there south of the church? That are east of Hy-Vee. On 3rd Street. Okay, yes, those ones on 3rd Street can go over to Chilupski. Right. They're talking about the ones that are directly south of Hy-Vee. I know which ones, yeah, yeah. But I was thinking of the ones that are to the east across the street. Yeah, see those guys can go over to Chilupski.

Yeah, that's why I asked about 3rd Street when it was closed. You said closed both east and west. Oh, sorry. Yeah, anything going in my head.

The road limits actually stop at the road that goes into those towns. Okay. I got it. Okay.

This might be a personal question, but... How are you going to go first?

Yes. He's going to have to take the trail.

Am I going to have to go to Chalupski and to the roundabout and then go... No.

During that roundabout, you will have to find a detour out.

Go all the way down and then to Lexington and cross over?

So I think if you go north to Pryor Lake, please provide a police escort.

Okay.

You can go down Fifth and then up to 8th Street Circle there and then take the path into the... Don't tell them about the path.

It's paved. Oh, shy.

Yeah, okay. Yep. I make a motion to approve an agreement for professional services with SEH for construction and post-construction of the 2026 Street Improvement Project per proposal of May 26, 2026, involving tasks 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Okay.

I will second that.

Any other questions? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Are you handling the turnaround, turn back also?

I am, yes. So the next time I have in your packet is in regarding to the turn back of uh... was a potential turn back of us or county uh... cassara out sixty also knows first avenue southeast between office trains fifteen street southeast and main street uh... we've had discussions with uh... was sort county for a couple years now regarding a potential turn back of this roadway from uh... was sort county to the city of new break uh... the city has been through a couple turn backs uh... in recent years on the scott county side with uh... columbus uh... avenue and I guess the former saw 37, 7th Street, 10th Avenue, Northeast area. This would be kind of a similar type of approach to what we have in South County to do with LeSueur County. What I have for you is a proposal to create a preliminary engineering report which would outline the proposed improvements that are needed for, um, for first Avenue Southeast, uh, along with the cost and a potential cost splits between, um, county and city. Um, at this point we've had conversations that we think potentially will be needed for the roads. Um, but, uh, this would be to kind of outline those, um, outline those improvements and figure out what the costs are going to be. Um, in their current condition, um, in the, in the current condition, uh, first Avenue Southeast would not be acceptable. So it doesn't need to be brought up to a certain standard, um, before you'd want to take ownership of that. Cause it, once you take it, it'd be on, on a new prey to maintain it and to do any, any further improvements. So, Um, the roadway was constructed over multiple phases going all the way back to the eighties. Um, so some of that, uh, um, especially in the far south end and middle portion of our south half, I should just say of, uh, of this roadway hasn't really seen any significant improvement, um, since its original construction. The north half of the roadway is certainly in much better shape due to 2004 reconstruction, but even that area is going to need some amount of improvements before you want to take that on. This proposal is mostly, I'm not going to call it a feasibility report. A feasibility report is what we usually utilize for anything having assessments. And with this being a cost share between LeSueur County and the City of New Prague, I don't want assessments to be part of that conversation since the county does not work with those. So it would be basically trying to outline all the pavement costs, sidewalks, road restoration, curb, those types of things, and be used towards development of a memorandum of understanding. And that memorandum of understanding would be used towards completion of a turn-back agreement. So there would be a process followed with the turn back. Um, that would mostly be, um, done next, next spring, assuming everything goes through such that the turn back would be ready for, uh, January of 2028 when it'd be officially a city road if everything moves forward.

So I have a few questions. Um, so reading through the material, it seemed like from the onset we're anticipating this to be a phase project. Would that in, Could you explain how it would be phased and what are the triggering events for the next phases?

So the phasing might just be on the implementation of the improvements, not necessarily the process of turning the road back to the city or over to the city. So there might be a number of ways this can be done when it be a lump sum payment. if we make a determination that the roadway needs X dollars worth of improvements. Um, but some of those improvements may not be needed today, but maybe in five years it'd be a better time to do it, such as a mill and overlay of that north half of the roadway. So, um, you look at the condition of the payment, it should be milled and overlaid to bring it to a modern standard, but the roadway could probably last another five years for instance. So the phasing might be that phase one would be, take care of the worst of the road, maybe the south half, for instance, and then maybe the north half becomes something you'd perform later.

So through our discussions, negotiations, or what have you, we agree upon a certain standard that has to be complied with. Even looking into the future, if we don't need a mill and overlay right away, our agreement might ask for money for something that's going to be done five years from now.

Correct.

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. So there, there are different ways this can be done. One is that we'd bid the project out and we just, it's just percentage of the project goes to each of the two.

It's not phasing in the sense that we're going to start a main street and not go all the way to the end of the, to the County road.

it would just be that, uh, how the improvements are performed would be the only phasing. So, so we're going all the way to the, it'd be the entire roadway would be turned to the city.

Okay.

Um, so the full length of, of 60 and city limits would now become a city street. Um, it's just that you may not perform the construction in one season. You might perform the construction in, you know, 2027 you do one project and then in 2030 you do the other project, but you'd own that road. during the time in between.

At the end of the day, we'll have a clear agreement with clear understanding of this is going to cover everything. Yep. That'd be the intent. Yes. And then in the write up, you mentioned that there would be, uh, things assessed. What, what are we talking about there?

So it'd be, uh, with, with improvements to be assessed similar to any kind of city led project that you have now. So a mill and overlay project like we're talking about for 10th Avenue Southeast does carry an assessment towards a budding properties. So if a mill and overlay or reclamation, road, uh, robot reclamation or any kind of street improvement, I guess. Um, those Vol carry assessments. That's the north side of the north part of the entire entire length. So, uh, the, uh, Columbus Avenue project, um, Scott, uh, was assessed to neighboring properties even with funding coming from Scott County. Um, so both of the last two, both of these, uh, turnbacks you've done in the last 10 years have had assessments to me.

So that would be at least our county assessment. It wouldn't be, well, it'd be to the properties.

Um, Lisa doing it though. No, it'd be the city doing the assessments.

And why would we, since we're not, we don't own the property.

So you take ownership of the roadway and the assessments would be, I guess, done at the same time or they'd be done. Well, they, well, we actually, we did the assessments on Columbus Avenue the year before the city took ownership. Is that ownership of that roadway actually took an extra year?

Yeah, I was thinking Scott County assessed the 3711.

Yeah, counties don't normally assess. I don't know if they do or not, but I haven't seen it done before, I guess. So mostly something that cities will do, but it's pretty rare for, I guess, a Minnesota county to do it.

So if the county would upgrade this without our participation, it would just come out of these counties?

There would be, yeah, the county would just perform all the work.

And there would be no assessments then?

That would likely be the scenario, yes. We'd also want to meet the city standards, potentially.

That's interesting, though, isn't it? A taxpayer in New Prague.

There's a lot of benefits to having it become a city.

Okay. Yeah, the assessments are meant to be a benefit to the property. The city has the ability to assess that benefit that they are receiving the same way you would on any other kind of project, whether it's Highway 19, Main Street. You also do assessments on that one. you know, paying for a good portion of that project.

I'm not going to belabor it. It's just kind of interesting to me for a mill and overlay, which is kind of a maintenance kind of thing, a property owner in the north side of this road is going to be assessed for it. But if the county would do it because it's normal maintenance, they wouldn't be assessed for it.

Yeah, you're not wrong. Uh, the city has always, uh, uh,

Right.

Why wouldn't the county build it to the standards that the city would want if they wanted to take it over? have to make it a 910 road if that's not what it is. That would be up to the county 100% on how they want to build that road.

Well, it's great. We got our commissioner sitting right here in the audience.

But I mean, if it's our road, we have full say in how we want that road to be done. We want to narrow it. We can narrow it. We can do anything we want with it. Where it's a county road, they could, honestly, I'm not saying they would. They could just say we put an inch and a half mill and overlay on it. It's good enough for 10 more years. Where if it's ours, we have full say in what we do to that road. And I'm not saying the county would do that. I'm just going to go back to that and try to work

Yeah, if they weren't turned back, they would just do a mill and a little and probably not correct. Well, we're negotiating something here, so I guess I thought everything was on the table.

If everything is on the table, all I'll say is we're following exactly what we did with the county.

With Scott County, you mean? Scott County, sorry.

With Scott County, what we agreed upon with Scott County is what we proposed a couple weeks ago, just talking back and forth. I think that's fine.

If I didn't, I don't remember if the residents were assessed on 37 they were. Okay.

Um, and I just want to remember as far as where we're at right now, we're at the, um, basically the scoping stage. So we're figuring out what needs to be done, how much is this going to cost? Not necessarily. Uh, there is a development of an MOU, a memorandum of understanding at the end of this. as a draft form. Um, there'd be something that had to be agreed to and signed off by both, uh, will sort of county and city of new Prague. So, we're not at the point of actually determining exactly who's paying for what. Um, I think our expectation is that most items roadway related are paid for by Alasura County. Um, prior to this project, you know, having, uh, you know, moving forward with the project. So it's not the, um, the cost share on this report that I have reflected as a 50 50 just mostly you both have to determine what the costs are going to be and, and uh, what needs to be done. Um, my expectation is when it goes to construction that those, It's not going to be 50-50. It's going to be a quite a bit higher percentage. That would be, um, Lucera County.

So just conceptually, what, what do you think will be the responsibility of our general fund to, as far as funding this project?

Um, I'd say if we identify anything over and above, um, for improvements. So I should probably, When I say that is if we think the road needs a reclamation or we need a partial reconstruction, but you decide to do more than that, um, that would become a city portion.

Most likely like sidewalks would be part of it.

And sidewalks could be still a cost share, but, uh, we, we, that's part of our, our, what we're kind of figuring out, I guess. So, If there's an existing sidewalk that needs to be improved because it's not ADA compliant, I would expect that to be a significant county participation. If it's adding sidewalk or adding trail, that might be a higher city share.

Is it fair for me to ask you, is it like 20% or 10%?

In my mind right now, I think road-related should be 100% LeSueur County. As far as sidewalks go, I think, and I don't want to Scott County had different participation policy before, but I think that was 50-50 on sidewalk repairs. So as you kind of figure it all out, it should lean very heavily. Lucero County, I would be surprised if it's less than 80% or 90%. You got that, Dennis?

Right.

We do follow state aid policy, by the way, so it's not necessarily that we're trying to be creative with it, but we're saying what would state aid pay for If LeSueur County did the job, they'd pay for it with 100% state aid funds. So the expectation would be that if it's state aid eligible, that it should be eligible for funding from LeSueur County.

How long is that stretch? It's a mile. It is a mile, exactly. And then how about you? You weren't around. It was your predecessor that did 37. Um, but that's close to a mile probably.

Matt was a little, a little over a mile.

Okay.

I think this project would not be the full mile that we're looking at replacing. Um, in 2020, uh, seven, we would be looking at the 700 block to the south and then, um, everything kind of what he was talking about. Future project, a mill and overlay on the 700 block to the north. That's the newer section. That's what 20 years old. that's actually in fairly decent shape. Um, but again, I would never expect the counts or ask the council to approve taking that street over a 20 year old street without having some protection down the road when we have to do a mill and overlay hopefully in five years. So it's not the full mile. It's what I'm getting at that we would be doing next year.

But it's advantageous for the count for the county to turn over streets to cities because they can take that state aid money and then put it on another county road in,

another part of the county that they can kind of do that. Um, so with the change over, change over to being a city route, it would go on to, um, every year I do a certification, your mileage and your system. Um, there is a separate column. Uh, so as you may, may know, 20% of the mileage on city streets can be apportioned as an MSA route. Your municipal stated route, like 10th Avenue Southeast. Uh, if you take in a Casa route as a turn back, it does not count against that 20%, but you still collect what we call needs on it. So you'll, you will collect money towards, um, maintenance of this roadway on an annual basis after you take the roadway. Um, there are less benefits, to turn, there are still benefits to turning the road over such that this sort of county doesn't have to deal with it anymore. Um, but uh, I don't know specifically they can just take that mileage and put it onto their system because the money is still being paid by Minda. It's just going to new Prague instead of going to the sort of county. So, um, initially, right. But then after that they're still entitled to so much state aid. They still get an apportionment of state aid, but if they have less miles over on their system because they sent a road to you, they won't be able to collect on that. So they still have the same requirements for how much of their system can be put on the state aid system. Um, so at one point they're asking if the city would take the road over as an MSA route, which would count towards your mileage. And that's, that's why we are doing this now instead of two years ago. So that's part of the conversations. We don't want to take it as an MSA route because then you won't be able to use that one mile towards other roads in town. Um, so you want to take it as a turn back. So you do collect, collect benefit towards it. Okay.

Okay. Any other questions? If not, I guess I'll make a motion to approve the engineering services amount. I think it's $20,700 or $900? $900. $900?

$900, yes.

$20,900? Anyone in a second?

I'll second.

A second by Maggie Bass. If there's no other questions, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay, pass this 5-0. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next ordinances for introduction. We do not have any ordinance for adoption. We look like we have our second reading of our massage therapy licensing ordinance. And I noticed that we did change that one line was read for members of their immediate family was taken out of the first reading and highlighted in our second reading. So anyone have any questions on that? If not, I guess I'll look for a motion for ordinance number 362.

I'll make a motion for the second hearing of ordinance 362 requiring massage therapists to be licensed by the city.

Second. I got a motion by Maggie Bass, second by Sean Ryan. If there's no other questions, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay, it passes 5-0. Next, adopting amended I assume the only amendment is regarding this ordinance?

Yeah, so the only two fees that we are proposing be changed and basically our added fees would be the massage therapist license for a two-year period at $50 basically $25 a year and a initial Investigation fee of $150 so on that first year if they've never been licensed before that obviously charged $200 and every renewal for every new two-year renewal will just be the $50 again. And I did want to note that we did put that information in the packet, that we researched a number of area cities and believe this is right in line with other cities in the area and obviously covers staff time to do that investigation and any of the paperwork for the license. Again, trying to cover our fees and not make any profit off of it.

Can I recall, are we starting this ordinance January 1st?

Um, we actually did not talk about that. We, you have it right now, uh, taking effect immediately on its publication, which at this point we have on July 1st, July or no, excuse me, June and the exact date in the ordinance here. Apologize for that. Uh, June 11th is what we have for the publication. We could certainly delay that to a different date if you'd like to delay that.

Are we going to be contacting the massage therapists that are currently in business?

Yes, we would plan to do that.

Okay.

What do we think? Do you want to start it now or do we want to start it at the beginning of the calendar year?

I think it makes sense to start at the beginning of the calendar year.

I'm fine. Yeah. Just a curiosity question. How do we handle fees? Do we pro rata it? Rate them if they come in the middle of the year or all our fee structures annual January depends on the fee We'll put on the fee schedule if we're gonna prorate them or not.

So it's a mixed bag on a number of different fees I know for liquor Tim and maybe I'm wrong Those are prorated but a lot of the other lesser fees are not prorated They just pay the whole year if they start in July or correct. Yeah Okay, so we could do it. We could do a prorate. It's really up to the council's wishes on that

Well, some of that too, Bruce, is some of those lesser fees especially, the fee is really based around the staff time it takes to review the application in general. And so whether you submit it in November or January, the staff time is still the same that you're expending.

That's why I'm kind of wondering about staff. Is it better for us to do a certain time of year besides January? Is January, if we're doing all the, I don't know how many people we're talking about, but there's a lot of lookup involved in the first go around here, a lot of background. Is it better to do them in November or?

I guess short of putting it in, yeah, well, if we're going to be renewing everybody in January, short of doing it in January every year, I would hate to start creating different time schedules that we got. Okay, we got massage therapists we're checking in November. Maybe we got liquor we're doing in March. We got, so lining them up as much as possible while it does, I think, create a job. It also makes them easier to track about who's going and doing what. And I think, I assume it makes it easier for citizens as well then to know that licenses, whatever you're doing, are due on January 1st.

Okay. But I'm just thinking out loud, it seems fair if somebody came in in May of next year that we prorate instead of having to pay a whole year's fee. But, I mean, that's up to everybody.

And I think it would be, yeah, I think if we were, for some reason, the fee was going towards something else, like we were leasing space or something like that. But I think since the fee is really trying to just cover staff time, Staff time is the same whether they submit it in May or January.

Right. That's the $150 one. Correct. Yeah.

I mean, if the council wants us to prorate, we can certainly look at that. But I know how we base the fee is an attempt to cover our costs as much as possible and not deviate from that.

Yeah. I think the background check or the, you know, that's a flat cost. The $50, I think, is very reasonable. So it would make sense for... in my opinion, to prorate it.

I mean, because it's a two-year, $50.

It's a $2, yeah.

Well, it's only a year and a half if you come in.

Well, right. But even so, I mean, it's not a lot of money. I think if it were a lot higher cost for some other type of license, we could consider that. But this is really, this is $50 for two years is less than it costs for one massage.

Right, but if you apply in November, you're going, oh, crap, I'm paying $50,000.

Well, I understand. I understand. I just think for the ease of administration, it doesn't make sense to me.

So the only way to change is from June 11th to January 1st?

Yeah, we can just have the effective date. Yes, we can just have, say, specifically January 1, and that would match with the license term in the ordinance, which is already written license period from January 1, so that will just match those up so you don't have anybody paying now and then getting basically a year and a half to your point, Bruce.

That's what I would recommend if the council would agree to that. Do you need a formal motion on that?

Yeah, the resolution in the... you're talking about when to have the publication. So you already talked about the ordinance, maybe amend that, uh, approval of the ordinance so that the publication is not effective until January one. So maybe I'll keep that separate from fees. Okay. Kind of go back and take care of that.

Okay. I'll make a motion to, uh, but approve the publication to January one, 2027, 2027. Second. I got a second by Rick Seiler. There's no other questions. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Now, this one deals with the fees, the fee statement update. I guess, does anyone else have any questions? I think the $50 for a two-year fee is very reasonable.

Agree. I'll make a motion to approve resolution adopting an amended official 2026 fee schedule. Okay.

I will second that. If there's no other questions or comments, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Next, election polling location.

I thought it was going to be the new PD.

No, there were some issues with that. So Robin is going to entertain us.

Sure. Um, so in December we had proposed, um, the new police department and then walking that space, um, once we were able to and get in the garage and such, we were finding some roadblocks and realizing bathroom accessibility would be a challenge for residents that may need to use the bathroom. They'd have to go to a, should I call it a confidential area? I have it on the memo. Um, but they'd need to be escorted by a police officer anytime somebody would need to go to the restroom based on where they're located. um, the door for entry and exit would also just not be very accommodating for people coming in and out to, um, the area. So we felt like although elections take up some of our time, we didn't want to make adjustments to our structure just for elections. Um, so we are asking for reconsideration, um, based on state statute of, availability of space and, um, seeking consideration for elections to be at what would be deemed as the new City Hall, 1201 First Street Northeast. Um, the space there would anticipate it to not be, um, City Hall to the public quite yet, so it would be easy for setup, um, and, only available for elections during that time. And there's large enough spaces and adequate entry and exit to also meet any ADA accessibility. So.

So on the east side of the building, there is that large room. Does that have a separate entrance?

We think we'd still have people come through what I'll call like the main entrance, the big doors in the front and go through that, um, through the hallway to that space. But they could potentially exit out that door on the north, northeast side.

So would they be closer exits depending on how we lay the space out to more easily access that from the north as well.

So I understand the proposed chambers council, you'd come in through the main doors and head to the left. But the room to the east, or to the right, Are there going to be any accesses to sensitive areas?

We would plan to have staff, a staff member in that hall directing people on where to go besides signage. Because the space, I think, will fit elections nicely, I think it would be appropriate, like we normally have a greeter and somebody basically there when people exit, like to pass out the I voted stickers. So I think that would be a good place for the, the greeter and the person that's watching people exit to stand and watch people either come in or, or try to exit.

So I'm trying to get a visual that you come in the main doors, you go down the hallway to the east and there's that large room. I thought there was a door then to exit. Okay. And we can't use that door for an entry as well so that they don't have to go down the hallway past offices.

Well, depending on the layout, which we visited a week ago, I'm just to try to get a lay of the land there. We just don't want people, coming in like where the tabulator is and where, you know, like we tried to have it be like check in, um, make sure they're registered or get registered, get your ballot, move on to the tabulator and then exit that way. So depending on how we get things to flow, we are looking for a little flexibility. Um, Josh even mentioned maybe using one of the other north entrances to avoid like the hallway if that would deem, easy enough for people to get in and out. You know, we're thinking like wheelchair ease and like, of course it's ADA accessible. Like where would they have to get on on the sidewalk and then go to like a different door type of thing.

There's kind of a main door on the very north side of the building to the, actually the larger northern parking lot that could be used as well. And again, it'll be up to, you know, directing people and go left to right and, I think there's multiple options there. I think the primary will be a good test of how that flow will work with a smaller number of people and then we typically will adjust from that primary election day.

We would like to not have as much traffic down that hallway either, but should the flow of operations feel like that's the route we have to go or like the obvious route, we want parking to be easy for people. And so we don't want people to have to exit out of that, um, out of a side that they were parked on the opposite side of the building, you know, so we don't want them having to walk around either.

So, so as pre-seeing one, the sewer County, I would just go, don't put much stock into the labels because we can,

So you haven't decided which?

We just put that there's room for each precinct there.

Right, but I just, so once you guys determine, because probably, you know, I don't know what volume is heavier. Scott County. You know, so then, yeah, we should make that area probably more easy, more accessible to, because we still only at the August 11th, we still only have one bathroom, right? Yes. Which you'd go by the hall if you came to the main, by the hall to that east deal. Right.

Yeah. I just want to make sure that there's enough security and staff that we don't have people being curious about what the building looks like, you know, and venturing into areas there.

And certainly by November we'll probably have some of that updated. I know. I mean, we've got secure, a lot of secure doors around here that we will probably start taking equipment from this building and moving it over there and we can start securing some of those doors rather quickly. So,

Well, I think that needs to be an assurance if we're going to be officially changing our polling place that we have security measures in place. Not just a, well, we should, it's just that we must.

I think if we're not operating out of there, it isn't obviously as big of a concern. Agreed. But we want to make sure that we set it up that... not just this year, but into the future. Yes.

Yeah.

Operationally function on there. And I think there are many options to see that. And I think, uh, you know, the bulk of the, the core office area is kind of behind that, that, uh, say the entry reception area. Yeah. That will be easily secured, uh, just for, you know, our general operation like we would here. So we'll, we'll definitely have that, uh, that challenge to get that, the east side more secure than it is today.

Okay, any other questions? If not, I guess I'll make a motion to approve CC-26-06-01-03 election polling location. Second. Yeah, I got a second by Sean Ryan. If there's no other questions or comments, All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Passes five zero. Next, uh, we have two people who resigned from, they didn't resign.

They didn't renew.

It didn't renew. So we had four people who were up for renewal to renewed, which was Brent class and Maggie Bass and Kay Wilcox and Brad Carlson did not renew. So we had to fill their spots on the charter commission. And we were fortunate to get two people, Phil Kala and Dick Berger to say that they would be willing to serve on the city charter commission. Uh, so we need to make it a resolution here to approve theirs. And then that goes through the district judge.

Correct. So the resolution actually recommends the district judge who should be on there. Um, our local district judge does take recommendations from cities. Not all of them do. Um, And so yes, this would send the names to the district judge and I know that they would then make the final appointment and send them back to us.

I was reading something about how they have to send a letter or something accepting if they get approved.

Is that correct? Yeah. So I mean, yeah, theoretically if, so I know if you go up into the Hennepin County area, Um, I know speaking with our city attorney, they don't take, take recommendations from local judges on who to put on the charter commission. So then theoretically the judge would say, okay, we would like Chuck Nikolai to serve on the charter commission. And then you would be able to either then accept or deny, I could put an ID, the right word, not accept, um, being on that charter commission. So yes, um, I believe we then have to then notify people that you've been recommended beyond here. Do you agree? That sort of thing. Okay, and then do we have like a form letter they can sign or yes? Yeah, we usually work with Kennedy engraving to put all that stuff together, okay Okay anyone Now all four people are would be being approved correct correct. Yes. We are recommending all four people Any other questions

I guess I'll make a motion to approve resolution number CC dash 26 dash Oh six dash Oh one dash Oh four approving the recommendations for the city charter commissionment commission appointments. Second.

Um, Josh, in your opinion, should I recuse?

I don't know if we're accusing it like because you aren't financially gaining anything out of this. I don't know if it's necessary. You certainly can if you want. Um, it is, it's not going to hurt either way, I don't believe, but this would not be something where you necessarily have to.

Okay.

Just a education question.

There's nine total members.

It says, uh, yes, that is correct. And only four have to be, uh, approved. So no, they require appointment. Well, so it's every two years we do another batch. So in two years again, we'll, we'll go for the other five seats. So every, so on the, on the even, well, I guess they're all even years. So here in 26 we're doing four members in 28 we'll do five members in 30 we'll do four members, 32 we'll do five members. So that way you never, it's roughly half potential turnover every two years. That way, if for some reason the whole batch of them, didn't want to reappoint, you would at least still have some continuity and people sitting on there that kind of understand the system and can help bring along the others. Yeah. So they're all required to be appointed by the judge. Correct. Yeah. So yeah, in two years we'll do the other five seats. Just so you get different term links or different term years.

Just like council.

Correct. Yeah. So I got a motion by Chuck Nikolai, second by Bruce Wolf. There's, No other questions or comments on favor. Say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Next, uh, proving conditional use permit in variance.

Uh, yes, I have a quick PowerPoint. I will run over here for this one and I thank the applicant for, patiently waiting through our other items here tonight. Um, so yeah, this is V2 2026 and conditions permit C2 2026 is for a chiropractor's office or clinic. Um, and then an apartment above the first floor of this building and the variants specifically are for, uh, reduced parking lot, uh, requirements. So, uh, again, the property is at 204th Avenue Southwest and the applicant, uh, Andrew Fouch is here tonight if you have any questions. Uh, Again, he's requesting this variance and CUP to use a legal non-conforming house. It previously was used for a tailor shop on the bottom floor, if people recall that from roughly 2003 to about 2020, 2021. Nancy Unger operated out of there and then the other floor, actually part of the first floor and then the remainder of the upper floor was used for an apartment or living quarters. So the applicant is looking to operate his- Wasn't it-

photography place at one time when it first opened? Mel Farley was in there. Could be.

Yeah, it was a photography place. So it has a history of commercial use.

That's where I had my senior picture taken. We won't say how many years ago that was.

We didn't dig back that far.

Was that on a metal plate?

Yeah. So anyway, no, the main point is, It's in a commercial zoning district and it has had commercial uses on the main floor with the upper level being residential. So the applicant is looking to continue to utilize it in a similar fashion. Um, regarding the parking, um, he's generally looking to just utilize the space that's there, but add a couple of spaces on the south end of the building for, uh, the residential, um, occupation. And, um, that would be really the only area of the parking lot would be expanded. But, Uh, we'll put up a map here in a second, um, on the overhead show showing the property outlined in red and we'll zoom in, uh, again, everything in red is the B three highway commercial zoning. So it's a commercial area. So that's why the home was legal nonconforming, uh, when it lost that status back in 20 to 2021. So this is a map I wanted to show. Um, so, uh, his chiropractor office, uh, the clients come and go very quickly. Um, the variance would vary from the normal number that you're normally required to be at four spaces, but the clients are seen very quickly, you know, three to five minutes, uh, and they're out and he's a one person, uh, practice. So he's not seeing multiple people at one time in the office. So three spaces should be more than enough, uh, parking for the clinic. Uh, the spaces and for the clinic are indicated in red, the teal or light green light blue or green column. Those before the, uh, apartments, there's one in the garage, one directly outside of the garage, and then he would be adding a couple of other spaces, um, on the south end of the building there. All of them will be, uh, striped and then appropriately labeled for either being for the clinic or for the apartment. Uh, I do want to note that we had quite a conversation with men that, uh, regarding access to the highway. They do not have any issue with it based on the, uh, low volume, uh, of the patients that would be at the site. And then with the, obviously the previous use having been similarly type, um, use with the residential and the commercial. So they'll continue to have that direct access over to, uh, trunk highway 19 or us, probably 21 and 13. And then on the North end, I do want to note that, uh, public works, um, uh, Matt rented pointed out that, uh, that's in partially improved, uh, first year with gravel. Uh, we did put some conditions in there that if, uh, the, uh, level of traffic causes an issue for either dust control or just general upkeep on the road, that is something we could revisit with the conditions permit and potentially look at making a, at least a road improvement up to the, uh, driveway off of first street. So, uh, we do have that, uh, worked into the resolution, uh, for approval here tonight for consideration. Um, just an interior layout, basically the very north end of, of the building, um, would be used for that clinic space and where you have the garage and, uh, the upper level, um, that would be used for the, uh, residential portion. So, Again, just a view of the home from the highway there. So right side of the picture clinic, left side and the upper level for the residential. And then you can just see the gravel road first street there in the driveway directly to the property. So one thing as far as the parking layout, they're really not adding any additional pavement towards the highway. They, they can't do that too much of a degree because the highway right of way extends quite a distance into this property. And that was another topic we talked about at planning commission. You know, why can't they add landscaping along a trunk highway 1319 there? And basically the reason for that is you've got the right of way coming right up to the pavement, uh, for the highway there. So there's just really no room to add trees along there without being in the higher highway right of way, which they do not allow. Um, so with that, uh, staff and the planning commission, um, recommended at their meeting to approve, uh, in a four to zero vote, uh, that the council recommend this variance and conditions permit, uh, for the chiropractor clinic and the, apartment on the second level is there any signage required oh for like the commercial business yeah he certainly can i guess i don't know if you want to answer that if you plan to put in it we don't require it okay that's just for the parking spaces whether they're for the commercial or the residential portion gotcha okay and there's just one unit up one rentable unit above it yes and I failed to notice that he did actually apply for the rental license already okay should this be approved tonight we would obviously do the inspection and get that on our rolls for the rental property as well okay any other questions comments so I'll look for a

Well, I guess I'll make a motion to approve resolution number CC-26-06-01-05, approving conditional use permit number C2-26 and variance number V2-2026. I'll second.

Go ahead.

I've got a second by Maggie Bass. If there's no other comments or questions, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Good luck. Thanks for your patience. General business 18 day up Steve voting period are you taking that Ken? Where's Robin gonna do?

We're gonna read it in tandem. Oh I Don't know Robin went to the training

Oh, okay. I'm getting time over here. Um, back in, I think it was 2022 we started doing absentee voting per, um, Scott County. That was a requirement. We do not do early voting for lease or county. Um, and to be clear, folks can vote at the county during the absentee period. Um, the city was just acting basically as like a satellite voting office for Scott County. We do get some folks that come in over the years. Um, in the beginning it was many asking about lease or county as well. And of course we direct them to the county. But um, in recent legislative action, we have the authority now to only do 18 days here as a satellite location. Folks can still go to Scott County and get in their absentee voting. Um, prior to the, 18 days. Um, but for our, our location here, we would be asking council to consider the 18 day period. Um, it's something that we've wavered over the years. It has become fairly popular. not popular enough that we have felt like we need somebody staffed in there all day, but popular enough that we get waves of people coming to the office to vote. Um, you know, we'll hear things like, oh, my friends just came in, so now we came in. So, um, it is a disruption to the day and staff cost associated with our time, um, And following the 18 days would actually eliminate doing, if you've ever done early voting, um, prior to 18 days you have to do the envelope method. We would not have to do that and we'd be able to do direct balloting unless somebody requested to do the envelopes. Um, so it's just a more rigorous process to do, um, the early voting instead of putting a ballot directly into the tabulator like folks do during election day.

So can you limit the time they can come in? I mean, can you say it's between 10 to two is the only time you can, I believe we could do that.

Um, we let the County know what our hours are for them to publish that. So we just follow city halls hours.

Um, but is it 18 days calendar or business days or

it's, um, business days, but we do have a couple of Saturdays that we're required to be open. So this would still fall in the, that we'll have two Saturdays that were open. So.

Okay. 18 days before the November.

Correct.

And is it all or nothing 18 days or could we do 14?

No, we, we have to do the minimum of 18. So I feel like we either have to do 18 or stick to the 46.

Historically, too, we've only been doing this four years or the two previous periods. Prior to the direct balloting, very light traffic compared to the 18 days when people know, oh, I can put my ballot directly into the machine. I think there's more comfort with that. We wouldn't be taking anything away from putting your ballot directly into the voting machine with the 18 days.

I think it's a great service. I appreciate it being in Scott County. Are we mandated by Scott County to be a satellite?

Yes.

And so reduces the supplies that we need as well. Just doing the 18 days. Um, I think it would be still a good experience for folks coming in to do it that we're allowing the service. but it would be a lot quicker as well that staff is just doing the direct balloting instead of the envelope process. And it also eliminates what the envelope process, you can correct me if I should be using a different term, we need what's called ballot board. So every so many days we do need to bring at least two people in to review the ballots. From different political parties. Yep, from different political parties to review and match up the envelopes we receive, match what we've told the voting, our election system for transparency and accuracy.

Republicans vote on Tuesday and the Democrats on Wednesday, is that?

Sure, we can put that in there.

Everybody, regardless of party, votes in the same.

Is it, is it, Two parties, is it just a Democrat, Republican, or can it be independent and a Republican or independent?

A major political party. Yeah. Okay. I forget what's been viewed for that in the training.

No, you don't have to be in a party. I think they just said for two. Major, and I don't know what they consider major. Major, right.

There's so much votes in the last general election.

But you have to be registered as a member of that party. No. There is no registration. There is no registration.

This is for people who come in and check to see the accuracy. I'm just wondering, how do you verify it? They just tell us.

For any of our judges, we have to ask, because we need party balance.

There's no verification of that. So nobody is double checking to say, well, how did you actually vote? That is still maintained private. So truthfully, one day somebody could tell us they're one party, and a different day say, I've changed my affiliation. So it's just their declaration.

Interesting. Now this 18 day, is that also for the primary?

Yes.

Okay.

So again, that's where really when we would start for primary in June, if we had the 46 days, it almost feels like our election period if we were at the 46 days goes from June all the way to November because there's only a small break in August. Um, after the primary before we have to start up again for the general.

Okay.

Okay, I'll make the motion.

Staff is recommending that the city designate the new 18-day absentee voting period for the upcoming 2026 and future city administered elections.

For Scott County only. That's not what it says. Yeah. That'll be sure. No, this is just Scott County.

It's just Scott County.

So people will be sure it can't.

No, we have to drive to the center. We have to drive all the way down there. Yes. We carpool in numbers.

That's right. It's terrible that you're treated differently.

We're trying to get equality by doing the 18 days.

Yes. I'll second that motion. Any other questions? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Miscellaneous. Rick, do you have anything? Nothing. Bruce? Nothing. John?

No, I feel like I should try to come up with something.

Maggie? No, sir. Josh? Two quick things, just for Sean. One, I know every year we kind of review our committed funds sheet during the budget process. We will actually be bringing that back to you here at the next meeting, just because we do have those funds that are I want to say earmarked, but more or less committed earmarked for the, uh, the future athletics complex that we had said we were going to use towards city hall. So just so that you guys can see that list and you can kind of see where things have been moved and then if you have any comments yourselves on that list, so that'll be coming at the next city council meeting. And then the other one, just as a reminder, we do have that special meeting on Monday next week. Um, which is formally to discuss the first kind of steps in the long-term financial plan with APDOE, as well as just to get a really high-level precursor discussion on the budget to kind of help guide staff a little bit. And I'll be getting some questions out to you here in the next day or two so you can think about prior to that meeting. And that starts at 4? Correct.

OK. 4 on Monday.

4 on Monday, 11. The 8th. The 8th, yep. Ken, do you have anything else?

Nothing.

Robin?

Nope.

Tim? Nope. How's that police station going?

Good.

Okay.

Real descriptive there, Ken. Good. I asked Michael today if we could get like a, or Wold, I guess, an updated date. And it's just hard to. nailed down with the contractors, but he's going to work on getting like a date and then work backwards from that date. So hopefully we'll know something here this week.

Are they on punch list or anything yet?

Today he said start punch listing next week, hopefully.

Okay. Matt, do you have anything? Mitch? Patrick? The only thing I have is where do we sit with Randy Kobusch?

Yes, so I sent I we got the agreement back from Scott he sent it over to Mr. Kubish the only one we're still waiting on to get from Kenny engraving is the Eastman language So I did just see an email bouncing around here during this meeting about that. So hopefully I'll have that sooner because I know Randy is waiting to see that as well Okay. Yeah once we've got that and we've got signed, I'll put it on an agenda for us to talk about.

Sounds good. I don't have anything else, so I guess I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second. Second by Rick Seiler. If there's nothing else, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? We're out of here. Thank you, everyone.