City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St. Peter, Minnesota. It is Monday, March 23rd, 2026. At 7 p.m. we are called to order. Would all please rise for the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Um, everybody should have received a copy of the the agenda. We do have a modified agenda before us which adds under new business item number K which is uh new licenses and we have after reports an exe uh resolution calling for an executive session. So is there a motion to approve the agenda with those modifications or is there any discussion of other items on the agenda? All right. Um, all those in favor of approving the modified agenda say I. I. Any opposed? Our agenda is approved.

Next up, approval of the minutes. The minutes begin on page five of the packet. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as distributed or are there any revisions or corrections? All those in favor of approval say I.

I. Any opposed? Our minutes are approved. We now have time on our agenda for visitor comments. Is there a visitor who'd like to address the council on an agenda item? All right. We also have general visitor comments. Is there a visitor who'd like to address the council on another matter? All right. We will therefore move on to the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda uh begins with the memo on page nine of the packet and concludes with the resolution that begins on that is on page 16 of the packet. The resolution approving the consent agenda includes the following purchases. Event uh two Dakota supply group a magnetic flow meters and and spool pieces at the price and funding source listed within the packet. Gelner Underground is approved to com uh complete directional boring on electric utility installations for the 26 calendar year in an amount not to exceed $42,000. There's a rather lengthy list of employee appointments which I will not read um uh in full, but I'll read the names. The positions and wages are listed within the packet. Nicole Ruland, Noah Me, Tomley, Jim Seawart, Carson Gunderson, Colin Harris, Dean Purle, uh, Patricia Ko, Tobias Tweet, Cole Beni, Sam Molter, Cameron Olman, and Lillian uh, Feland, as well as the schedule of dispersements for March 6th through March 19th, 2026. Is there any discussion of any item that is on the consent agenda?

Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the resolution? So moved. Second. All those Oh, we have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Mayor Noel, I. Council member Johnson, I. Council member Pettis, I. Council member Ram, I. Council member Weisenfeld, I.

The resolution is approved. We have no items of uh we have no items of unfinished business before us tonight. So, we will move on to new business. Our first item of new business is the community center chiller change order. And John is here to talk to us about that. Good evening, may uh madame mayor and members of council. Thank you for your time this evening. Um as you know, we have been working on the chiller project for the community center for a while now due to primarily the lengthy wait time for the equipment. Um and as we have gotten into this process, we are nearing the finish line. But one of the challenges that came up as we were going through was um actually an error that goes back to the construction of this building um where blueprints and plans differed from the equipment schedules and how things were installed. And so um the building has been operating with a couple uh pumps that uh have basically been installed backwards due to the horsepower of these systems. Um, as we were looking at the chiller system, we looked at a few ways to proceed with this, including rebuilding or reusing the systems that are currently in place. But given the fact that they were 25 years old when talking um with Todd Pravky and um Perry from the finance department, we all kind of looked at that and saying putting in a brand new chiller with outdated and old equipment um is not necessarily the best use of our resources uh to make sure that this chiller goes incorrectly. Essentially what was happened like I said is these two pumps were installed backwards. Um one is to move them around and one is to around the entire building and that was the lower horsepower uh pump versus um simply pumping through the system itself. And so um we have worked with GOG our uh company to do this. They have proposed a change order. Um, all of the issues and details of the purchase or

change order are listed in the memo as well as I do believe the change order is part of this. Um, but wanted to bring this change order forward after talking with Todd and Perry. Um, we believe we have located uh ways to afford this and continue with the project so that we can have a chiller in place for more 80°ree days like we had over the weekend. So, um, with that, I would certainly entertain any questions, uh, the mayor or council have on this item. Otherwise, I would ask that for the approval of the resolution on page 20. All right. Anything to add, Todd, or questions from the council? Carrie?

Uh, well, what a discovery to find that that was installed backwards. Um, I imagine that impacted the efficiency and the the cooling of the building for a long time. Um, but what I'm curious about now is what uh does how does this impact the timeline going forward? As far as going forward, if it is approved tonight, the uh the contractor is ready to roll. They have been in constant communication with myself as well as Eric Borsth on this. They're just simply waiting for approval and hopefully the plan is still to have um the chiller completed in the next two weeks. Okay. Thank you. Additional question. Ben,

was there any contingency in the original bid that we got from the low bidder? We we typically do not provide for contingency as a part of the bids. as a part of the original estimate there is um but as you know the price of this project was higher than the original estimate based on the bids that we received.

Yeah. I just think some of this obviously a lot of this they wouldn't catch until they got into it but some of it you can see from the outside so it was a miss on the contractor's part when they did the bid. Um but that's something we have to do. Okay. Hearing no further discussion, the resolution approving the change order for the community center chiller improvements is on page 20 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Johnson, I. Council member Pettis. I. Council member Ramp. I. Council member Weisenfeld. I. Mayor Noel. I. The resolution is approved.

Thank you very much. Thanks, John. Next up, 2026 equipment purch certificate purchase a portable welder.

Mayor members, as you may recall, Pete is out of town, so I'm covering this one. This was part of, and the reason that it's on your action agenda is because this would be paid for through your equipment certificate. Um, so that's why it's here and not on consent agenda. This is a portable welder. It'll be utilized by a number of the crews, but it's primarily set to be used by your crew that fixes equipment, which occurs sometimes in the field. And so having a portable welder is something that we haven't had in the past and will make life easier in many instances rather than dra dragging a piece of equipment across town um to get things to work. Again, this was anticipated as a part of your general fund. It is included in the equipment certificate. And the price comes in underneath what our original cost estimate was for this. And so this would be a Trailblazer 330 airpack portable welder. Um, and again, as a part of the 2026 equipment certificate, I would also say, and I know the team out at public works added this, um, which I think is fantastic, this also has a jumper pack attached to it, um, so that it can resuscitate vehicles or jump start vehicles. So, that's necessary on occasion as well. So, anyway, um, that's what's included in your packet and we're recommending approval of the resolution, which is located on page 22.

Any questions for Todd? Hearing none. The resolution authorizing purchase of a Trailblazer 330 airpack portable welder on a 2026 equipment certificate is on page 22. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Pettis. I. Council member Ramp. I. Council member Weisenfeld. I. Mayor Noel. I. Council member Johnson. I. The resolution is approved. Uh, next up, North Fourth Street Plans and Specifications Approval. And Jeff is here to talk to us about that.

Good evening, mayor, council members. Um, before you tonight is a resolution, uh, considering approval of the plans and specifications for the North Fourth Street project. Um, this is a project that the city council initiated in January of this year um, with the feasibility report that was presented. And then on the 23rd of uh February, we also held the public improvement hearing. This is an assessment project. So these are all steps that are required as part of that project or part of the project. Um so the proposed improvements, the plan and the spec uh which I have with me tonight um include all the improvements that were discussed about in the um preliminary in the feasibility report and in the public hearing include sanitary sewer, water mane um replacement of services that need to be um new storm sewer um new roadway, new curb gutter and new um sidewalk. So, um, we did look at also, um, what we could do to improve pedestrian safety in that area. Currently, there's a four-way stop at the intersections of Chadam and for North Fourth and also, uh, Madison and North Fest. So, with those four-way stops there and the um the striping already in place, we thought that would be adequate for um the children that are crossing because it is a heavily used intersection. So, with that, um, we're proposing to open bids on this project if it's approved. If you decide to move ahead with it, um, we're proposing to open bids on April 23rd at 10:00 a.m. Uh, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions? Anything to add, Todd? No, nothing to add, Madame Mayor. All right. Hearing nothing further, the resolution approving plans and specifications and ordering advertisement for bids for the North Fourth Street from Chadam Street to Scarough Street project improvements appears on page 24 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Uh we have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Ramp. I. Council member Wisenfeld, I. Mayor Noel, I. Council member Johnson, I. Council member Pettis, I. The resolution is approved. Next up, Sunrise Turnback.

So, Madameir, I have this one and um Jeff is my backup just in case you have very specific questions about the engineering, but this this really relates to the discussion you've had with Nicola County related to a potential turnback of Sunrise and Traverse. Council's talked about this at workshop in the past. Part of our goal here is to make sure um should that go through, we are in the appropriate position for a number of different things which include long range planning for modifications to that roadway which could include elevation changes and other structural changes there including potential some utility issues. It also and maybe more importantly to the council based on your discussion about wanting to get that trail off the shoulder and into the ditch includes some of the right-of-way issues that we're hoping to receive additional collaboration and cooperation from Nicollet County on. And so this engineering is broken into three primary sections. Um the total of which is $70,000. The plan for payment of this is that it would come from general fund reserves and should you move forward with a turnback, the turnback would provide some resources to reimburse much of this cost as we move forward. We think this is a prudent action moving forward so that we really can kick the tires and know where we want to be as we start to do some of that work and elevation and reconstruction on this roadway will happen. not in the near term, but certainly we want to be have the ability to be on a fast track for the right-of-way discussion and placement or movement of that trail. Um, so this helps provide for that work to take place appropriately. The resolution is included on your in your packet on page um 28.

Uh, some folks at home who are residents of St. Peter might not realize that that is not a city street, that that is in fact a county road. So generally the area north of Traverse Road is a county road and the area south of Traverse Road on Sunrise is City Street. So the discussion for frankly a number of years has been turnback both on Traverse Road and um more recently on Sunrise Drive due to the concerns about trail

and for folks who might not have heard the term turn back. Turnback means that it would it's um providing ownership of the roadway to another jurisdiction in this instance from Nicolola County to the city of St. Peter. Generally that's accompanied by a bunch of resolutions and approvals engineering work as you see outlined here and then Nicola County would provide the city with some money um to accept this back and how one might think about it in an appreciated form. Yeah, thanks for answering those questions. I do think this is important and and residents uh

will probably be paying attention to it, I would imagine, as we move through the process. Um any additional questions. All right, hearing nothing further. The resolution got to get on the right page. The resolution appears on pages 28 through 29. That is a resolution authorizing Bolton and me to complete engineering services to develop rights of way plat for portions of Sunrise Drive and Traverse Road. Is there a motion to approve? So move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Weisenfeld. I. Mayor Noel. I. Council member Johnson. I. Council member Pettis. I. Council member Ramp. I.

The resolution is approved. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, Jack. Thank you. Uh, moving on to lead service line drinking water revolving fund uh revolving fund application. Oh, and Curtis is here to talk to us about that. Yeah, Madame Mayor, members, um, your water resources superintendent Curtis is here to talk about this one. Curtis has been chaperoning this and has done great with this.

Yep. Madame Mayor, members of council, I'm here as to move on in the process with our current lead service line replacement program. I'm asking for your approval to submit a grant grant application for the fiscal year 2026 drinking water revolving fund for the Minnesota public facilities authority for the leadline project. With this project that we've discussed several other times um couple couple meetings ago, you did approve our engineer Bolton Mink to uh prepare plans and specifications for the project. Those are due at March 31st to be submitted. Um, with that, if uh you do approve this, the money will come out of our water fund and then at the completion of the project will be reimbursed with the grant funds. Um, with also with this application, we are requesting city administrator Todd's signature on three certification forms that are also required with our s with our application. And if you have any questions, feel free. Otherwise, we are asking for you to approve the resolution on page 32.

Yeah,

Madame Mayor and members, I know this kind of feels maybe a little bit backwards, but it isn't. How this generally works with PFA and with um in this instance, the Department of Health and in other instances with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is that there's really a pre-application that occurs. And so then you hear back whether you're going to be successful on that and then they require the additional information to finalize that. So, in this instance, Curtis, we've heard back that you will be awarded as long as you complete these phases of the application, the full application process, which includes the engineering, which you previously approved, and somebody's got to sign for this stuff, and so they require a resolution that articulates that. So, this is that

questions for Curtis or for Todd? We have had multiple opportunities to discuss this. though. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to get rid of the very few lead lines that you have left in the community. Um, your public works team over the past many decades has done a great job and and sometimes it's a hard job ensuring that shortcuts aren't taken that provide for substandard materials that can cause problems. And so, compared to other communities, you're in really great shape. And this is a wonderful benefit to those homeowners that have either a portion or all of their service line is let galvanized or some other unknown um in moving it to copper. It's wonderful health safety issue. Yeah.

All right. Hearing no additional questions. The resolution approving application to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority Drinking Water Revolving Fund is on page 32. Is there a motion to approve? So move. Second. You have a motion and a second. Call the RO, please. Mayor Noel. I, Council Member Johnson. I, Council Member Pettis. Hi, Council Member Ram. I, Council Member Weisenfeld. I, the resolution is approved. Uh, we're keeping Curtis here a little bit longer. We're going to toss talk about wastewater treatment plant clean water revolving fund application.

Mayor members, Curtis can talk about that as can I. Again, as we talked about process last time, substantially similar process this time. I know it kind of feels maybe a little bit out of sorts, but it is not. This is how the process works. And Curtis, this is us really doing that last paperwork to ensure those resources can flow on modifications that you will bid at some point in the future and improvements to your wastewater treatment plant. And so I can put this in context again. Um, this isn't building a new wastewater treatment plant. This is replacing and in some instances upgrading the equipment a little bit in that wastewater treatment plant to meet the technologies that we're looking to provide for additional environmental sustainability and know that it's kind of like owning a car. At some point, if you own it for long enough, you got to put new shocks, you got to put tires, you got to put brakes on that car. This is in large part doing that. So, Curtis, I'll get out of the way and maybe I said too much already. Sorry.

Absolutely. Todd is correct. And again, same application almost this one is for the clean water revolving fund. So instead of the drinking water side, it's the clean water side. Um again, next step in our application, we are the loan amount is currently two 24,500,000 $24,500,000. with that that is that was that amount was set prior to our knowledge with our Seymar and as kind of a initial estimate since we have worked through with our Seymar our current construction estimate is about 16.5 million and that would be just strictly construction these funds would also we would cover um right now we are estimating about $3.5 million in engineering and administration fees which would include uh the fees for our facility plant that we already um completed a couple years ago which is also eligible for this are the preliminary engineering which has already been completed also the design engineering and the construction engineering. So with that all being said, we are actually looking at about an estimate of roughly 20 million for the actual total, but uh to keep everything equal as we run through this pro process, it it will show 24.5 million. That number can change once we reach a GMP with our SEAR, which is our guaranteed maximum price.

Thanks, Curtis. Any questions for Curtis or for Todd? Carrie, the Seymar is a construction management. construction manager at risk that we have hired Rice Lake Construction Company. So, they have been working closely with us and our engineer to work through kind of our the design of what the needs for the community going forward for the next 20-ish years will be on this project.

And um I just had a question about just kind of the difference between this resolution and the last one. With this one, we're not expected to spend funds and complete a project before you get the loan. How how does that that work? This is a substantial amount of more money. is a substantial amount of money and likely the process will be depending on a couple of the finalized issues with PFA will be is that we will have to find cash for a majority of this which would be a temporary debt issuance which we've done in the past and then we'll receive reimbursements. Now it's also possible that they'll give us the opportunity depending on their position where we'll be able to do that in um in phases. So, we won't borrow the $20 million all at once. We'll borrow it as the project moves ahead to reduce interest costs. So, um, think of it more like a line of credit as we move that forward. That's the most likely scenario for this.

Good question. Any other discussion? Hearing nothing further. The resolution approving application to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority Clean Water Revolving Fund is on page 35 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Johnson, I. Council member Pettis, I. Council member Ram, I. Council member Weisenfeld, I. Mayor Noel, I. The resolution is approved. Thanks, Curtis. Uh, moving on to the public works roof bid approval.

Mayor, members, this really relates to a partial roof replacement out at 405 St. Julian. So, the main public works facilities. It also includes some mechanical and electric improvements to bring things up to code. As you know, we had hired Inspect to do the work for us in the preliminary design and to get us through the bid phase, not to completion, but through the bid phase. And so, um, we started that process. And the bid opening was conducted on March 13th, so not that long ago. As you can see within the packet, not only in the memo, um, but in the rest of the packet, the biders, which we had four biders, the low bidder for this project was Greystone Construction. Um, while they we are familiar with them, and while they haven't done work for the city, we are familiar with them and Inspect has had them on other projects and believes they have the wherewithal to complete the project appropriately. Um, you might note here that the engineers estimate was just a little bit more than this. So we're happy for this kind of conclusion that work would start this year. Um the fiscal impact is that we would certainly be in paying for this ultimately out of some general funds and some enterprise funds based on the utilization of the building kind of a prata share of the square use or square footage use of this building. And so this would be through a future debt issuance. Again, we've talked about this on multiple occasions and you'll see the next agenda item relates to finalization of the administration and construction observation, but for now and for this item, the recommendation from Inspect and from city staff is to approve the resolution um that hires Greystone Construction to do the work out at public works. Resolution members is included on page 40 within your packet.

Questions for Todd? I would also mention that we have put so few dollars into that building over the last almost 30 years. It does not owe us anything. It is time. We've had roof leaks. We have code issues. We have weight restriction issues on these roofing structures. And so now is now really is the time to make this happen. All right. Hearing no further discussion, the resolution authorizing Greystone Construction Company to complete uh roof, mechanical, and electric repairs to the public's works building is on page 40. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Pettis, I. Council member Ran,

I. Council member Wisenfeld, I. Mayor Noel, I. Council member Johnson, I. The resolution is approved. Uh, as Todd mentioned, we're keeping on track with public works building and we're talking about the roof engineering approval.

Mayor, members, this is for what I would consider the last phase of work by inspect, we did not contract with them to complete this because until we went through the other two phases. Frankly, we weren't sure what the right solution was going to be here. And so now that we've come to that and we've bid that phase, it's appropriate that we um finish the agreement with them for construction administration and observation. So technically what I'm looking for here is approval of um their cost for that which is estimated at $88,300. The reason that I say estimated is because this includes about $7,500 in reimburseables. So if they don't spend all of that, we will not use all of that and it will be slightly less. Inspect has done a good job for us in this. This has been a complicated project with multiple roof lines. Code issues since that building was built I believe now more than five decades ago. Some of the code issues mechanical electrical have been complex and so this is a little bit higher frankly than we might expect overall. Um not necessarily the construction administration and observation part. Again, um this these costs related to engineering would be part of the debt issuance that provides um the financial support for this project. The resolution providing approval is included in your packet on page 43.

Questions for Todd or any discussion? Hearing none. The resolution authorizing the remaining engineering and construction phases for the public works roofing project is on page 43. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Ramp. I. Council member Weisenfeld, I. Mayor Noel, I. Council member Johnson, I. Council member Pettis, I. The resolution is approved. Uh, let's see. Gorman Park support.

Mayor members, this is a little bit unusual run, at least from my perspective. Typically, the council hasn't approved resolutions of this type, but in this instance, it is something that's been requested um by the state senator um that represents this issue and um your house representative members that represents not only this issue, but your area. Um we've talked about this on multiple occasions trying to get bonding resources for phase two of Gorman Park. Um, this resolution is something that, as I understand it, through your state senator is something that's becoming more of a requirement through the bonding committee to show that the council wants to continue to move this forward. And they're you're just not kind of asking for the ask. And so this resolution was drafted with that in mind. Again, there's no fiscal impact to this resolution in and of itself. The hope is is that it provides additional support for your funding request for this through the bonding committee. And um I the recommendation is for you to approve the resolution and provide that support as we continue to try and move this forward and receive state bonding dollars for phase two.

Uh any questions or discussion on this one? It is an unusual one. Daryl, just uh I think it's your fourth or fifth whereas you're showing a 500ths of a percent versus a half a percent sales tax. I have extra you have an extra zero in front of your There you go. Five. Thank you very much, Darl. We will solve that. Um so to be clear, this does not provide for or there is no request for additional sales tax percentage. This is using dollars hopefully that you have already and allowing for that as a part of bonding support for this. So anyway, that's our hope and that's the resolution on page 46.

Any additional questions or discussion? All right. Is there a motion to approve the resolution as modified uh supporting legislation modifying sales use and rules related to the to the state and locally approved sales tax for the St. Peter Fire Station. It appears on pages 46 through 47 of the packet. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the RO, please. Council member Wisenfeld. I. Mayor Noel. I. Council member Johnson. I. Council member Pettis. I. Council member Ramp. I. The resolution is approved. Next up, fire relief association lumpsum benefits modifications.

Mayor and members. This is a request from the relief association. and they have taken action um to request this from the city council. This is to approve an lump sum per service year benefit increase um $750 to $5,250. Um there's a number of things that go into this. This is something that the council sees generally on this timeline this time of year, but maybe not every year depending on performance of the investments from this group. It's important to note that the fire relief association is not an organization of the city. However, you have folks including the mayor and your finance director that sit on the fire relief association that make recommendations and administer those funds. Um, we've liked to keep it in this time frame in the spring of each year. Um, so that it ensures that there's continuity and process and timeline. So, as we're providing funding and budgeting if necessary into the future and as firefighters are making decisions related to their retirement or not, that we have some continuity and consistency across the timeline in this. It's also important and maybe even more important to note that this is funded primarily by what we call 2% money, which is a tax that the state levies against um property insurance, property and casualty insurance within the state of Minnesota. Those funds are dispersed to local jurisdictions for use in this manner and this manner only. The city council has a fiduciary responsibility to this group and it goes something like this which is that if the investments and the resources available in the fund are not enough to cover the needs of the fund should there be a catastrophe in most instances. um then you have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that there's enough money in that fund to make that go. Over the last decade or

so, you've maybe had to contribute $1,000 here, $1,000 there, 000 for a number of years. The investments have done very well. In this instance, the investments support over a 100% of this per service year allowance that's being requested. And so from a financial perspective, this entity and you are in very very good shape. Again, the request from the fire relief association is for you to increase that amount and to the $5,000 um $250. The resolution is included in your packet. We talked about this at a workshop setting. Um again, you've seen this type of thing in the past and the recommendation from staff is to provide approval based on that resolution on page 50. Any discussion on this, Darl?

Um, as we all know, I'm a member of the fire department and any action taken on this would directly impact and directly benefit me. Therefore, I will not be participating in any discussion and I will be abstaining for any vote on this issue. I appreciate uh letting folks know. Um, I'll only note that having been a part of the conversations with the fire relief association, I'm totally comfortable with this recommendation. And so, um, I have no concerns voting in favor of it. All right. Hearing nothing further, the resolution approving an increase in lumpsum pension benefit for the St. Peter Fire Relief Association appears on page 50 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Mayor Noel I. Council member Johnson I. Council member Pettis abstain. Council member Ram I. Council member Weisenfeld I. The resolution is approved. Our last item of new business tonight is uh this addition. We have a a memo and a corresponding resolution for two new treeworker licenses.

So madame mayor members I apologize for the late entry here. The reason for the late entry is really twofold. the primary of which is timeline till your next council meeting and um whether I believed it on Sunday or not, Saturday seemed to indicate that spring and summer were coming and so it is the season to do tree work and so we wanted to make sure we got this on there. Also, one of these folks is someone that you would approve for contract for emerald ashbor removal. Um and they believed that because they had a contract with the city um they were not required to have a license which is not true. they are required to have a license and so they've gone through that process and and paid the appropriate fee for that. So there are two licenses here that have both been through the background check. We see nothing that would prohibit them from having the license and so one is priority tree experts and the second is Northstar Tree Service and Land Clearing LLC. A resolution was on your desk providing approval for both of those. Um, as you may note, the licensing period here is relatively short because of the cycle and so they're they will likely come up again as we do renewals in another um month here or so. So, Madame Mayor, the resolution was included on your desk.

Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, uh, is there a motion to approve the resolution approving these two new licenses? So, move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Johnson, I. Council member Pettis. I council member Ram I. Council member Weisenfeld I. Mayor Noel

I. The resolution is approved. We will move on to reports at this time. I have one item today and that is proclaiming it Vietnam Veterans Day. Whereas the United States of America began military operations in the country of Vietnam on January 12th 20 or 1962. And whereas American involvement in the Vietnam War continued until the last American troops were evacuated from Vietnam on March 29th, 1973. And whereas more than 58,000 military men and women gave their lives in service to our nation during the Vietnam War. And whereas veterans of the Vietnam War deserve to be shown the respect and dignity of a grateful nation. And whereas Minnesota honors the sacrifice of these veterans and respects their dedication to the highest traditions of our armed forces. And whereas our nation stands stronger for the service of these veterans and Minnesota stands ready to honor their proud legacy at with our deepest gratitude. Now therefore, I Shannon A. Noel, mayor of the city of St. Peter, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim March 29th, 2026 as Vietnam Veterans Day in the city and hereby do encourage St. Peter residents to honor the sacrifices made by all veterans of the Vietnam War by attending the Vietnam Veterans Day ceremonies. And that is going to be on March uh 29th here in the community center. And I'm going to check the time so that I can tell folks when to show up. um that is going to be at 5:00 p.m. So, I hope that folks will attend as they are able. They always do a wonderful job with their program. Uh that was my only report this evening. Are there any reports from council members? Hearing none, we'll move on to reports from the city administrator.

Mayor members, I have two things that I want to report on. The first of which is, and I'm going to move back to my agenda, is that our recreation and service uh leisure services um director has tendered his resignation and he's off to a new adventure. And so, we certainly want to thank him for all the things that he's done over the past um couple of years within the city of St. Peter. He's played a very important part on many of the projects related to the community center and on additional developments of of programming. certainly a critical role within Gorman Park and so we want to thank him and so John's here so thank you John for that um John will be leaving us in about a week or so um but part of my report here and we can congratulate them all individually after the meeting um but I do want to mention that we'll be starting that hiring process um within the next week or so members please be ready for that and we'll provide some information you have a process that you've used in the past and we're likely to use something very very similar to that maybe a few tweaks weeks here and there and it is a process that will include opportunity for the public to come and participate, meet candidates, hear them talk, visit with them personally and to provide feedback as a decision is made towards hiring a new recreation and leisure services director. Um, I will mention that we've talked um internally and have discussed um this type of process in the past and I like to think that it's worked very well for you. And so, as always, we'll certainly make sure the council knows the dates and times for that activity to take place. And we will certainly be sending out additional information to a number of the core stakeholder groups like the soccer associations and the pickleball associations and all those folks to participate in process as as well as the community at large. uh everyone who has an interest in parks, which is frankly just about everyone in our community. Um so we're excited for that. Um this position also helps supervise library services. So those folks that use recreational library facilities, they'll be invited to participate as well. So um we'll get

that moving as quickly as we can. And again, want to thank John for his time with us and for doing really cool stuff as a part of his work here and again across all these different areas. Um it's a big job and he's done great with that. And so we want to thank him for that. Thanks, John. Come back and visit us when the new chiller's in and you can enjoy it. I will definitely bring you back to see the new Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Thank you.

All right, Madame Mayor and members, the next report that I have um relates to page 52 and something that you've asked me to do um for a number of weeks now. I want to go through the bullet points that are on page 52 and talk about federal agency impact. This is the reporting for that. I want to mention to you that since the last time we were together, we are unaware and we have not had any law enforcement contacts with federal agents um that we might have seen in the past. It doesn't mean that they weren't in town. We might not just have been aware or had any contact with them. From a us today um and tomorrow are important days in this process as shut offs will be occurring. And so, as I've said previously, we have maybe 8 to 10. Um, tomorrow and Wednesday will really be the big days in this and we'll know if there has been additional impact. Again, as people come in and try and make arrangements to get their power or their services turned back on, we have not been nor will we be in the position to say how is this happening to you? What's brought you to this point? We certainly work with people and give them a number of um different resources that we hope can be available to them in utilization. and we do our best to recognize and listen um if there are additional impacts based on this. But want you to know how we do that and what's going on with that. The third bullet point here is economic development assistance programs. You talked about this at your last workshop. The EDA continues to work forward and is likely to make a recommendation to you. If I remember, I'm going to test my I'm going to test Ben. Ben, the EDA meeting is it this Thursday or it's this Thursday. So depending on the economic development authorities's action and recommendation, we'll likely have a program really um put together and fine-tuned based on not only comments that you have provided, but comments from the economic development authority. Ultimately, that has to come back to the city council for action. So expect that maybe at your next meeting. And so we're excited to be able to provide that and move that

forward. Um facility requests is the next bullet item. So I'm unaware of any facility requests from federal agencies. Um, you've certainly had lots of collaboration with other local units of government, including a number of other local units of government asking you about the discussion that they've heard related to your economic development assistance program. So, we'll see what others are able or not able to do based on that, but that's a new development from my perspective. We've had zero data requests as far as I'm aware or knowledge that I can tie to this um this type of activity and the update on additional community communications. Um I will tell you from my perspective and all of you participate this in a number of various ways but from my perspective it's been quieter on this front than we would have seen a couple weeks ago plus to about 12 10 12 weeks ago. So in my world, the discussion, the communications, the questions have been um fewer and quieter um than it had been prior to that. So um those are the items that we had discussed that I would try and report on every time we're together. And uh again, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have and and continue was that this is really based on you wanting me to do it. So when you're ready for me to stop, I'm happy to stop. But until then, I'll keep reporting. But across all these items, all these bullet points, it's been much quieter over the past two plus weeks.

Carrie, uh perhaps at the goal session, we could just revisit this and talk about what kind of information we want to know moving forward now that it has quieted in our community, but perhaps we still want the reporting if something does occur. Um but that maybe that's something we can talk about as a council at that uh next meeting. Any other comments or questions for Todd? Any other announcements? Todd?

Um, Madame Mayor, I think that's it for me other than requesting an executive session. So, the hope of the executive session is to talk about potential real estate transaction or real property. The resolution was included on your desk as you came to the meeting tonight under Minnesota Statute 13D. I'm happy to answer any questions about that. I would expect that if you approve the resolution to go into close session, um we would meet in the Traverse to Sue room and we would only come back into open session to approve an adjournment. There would there's no direct action anticipated from this close session at this point. All right. Questions for Todd or a motion to approve the resolution?

So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. Council member Pettis. Hi. Council member Ram. Hi. Council member Weisenfeld. Hi. Mayor Noel. Hi. Council member Johnson. Hi. The resolution is approved. Uh, we will adjourn to close session at 7:45 p.m.