Council - Regular Meeting

I haven't after being in the ER today. I have I don't have anything but he has everybody in during public.

Yes, ma'am. Is that Dy? Did you sign or is that Daryl? Did you sign?

Yep.

Just Right.

Call the meeting May 13th city council meeting to order. Please rise. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Johnson here. Light here. Bend here. Basky here. Hubert here. Open public input. Uh David Evans. Yes, sir.

Please take the podium. Live 102 East. You guys are trying to vacate my uh alleyway, which is the approach to my driveway, to my garage. It's been there for 80ome years. You guys are tired to do maintenance on it. It takes you five minutes to plow it. I ask maybe every other year to drop a little gravel in there. Back when I had a car, I rub coming out of there. Why is that? I was wondering why you guys are trying to vacate my alleyway. The access to my garage. No, Andrews.

It's not being vacated. What I heard it was cuz the one going north and south was getting vacated. It It's already been vacated. if you would like to respond with city administrator. Um so currently signed on the agenda we do have a discussion regarding alley and right ofway there was a partial vacation that was done on um west west uh first west Washington I think um

the discussion that we will have tonight is not about a vacation so if you would like to stay and during the old business and listen to the discussion that the council or mayor will have. But the clarification is there's there is a difference between a vacation and maintenance and that will be the conversation for other um alley and right away in the city. Okay.

Terry Dolan. Yeah. All right. Um, uh, I think that we need a four-way stop on the top of Brush Avenue. And I think it's brush and then the street with bars on. What is that? Wood.

Yeah, I think we need a four-way stop there. It's it's just a roll of the dice if you don't run into somebody in the morning when you're coming up that hill. You stop and you ease your way out there and you still run into somebody or you happen to on your brakes. And I've heard about I've heard about this is just hearsay though about kids having some problems up there. And so, yeah, I think I don't you we have one over by the by by St. Mary's and I think there' be it'd be better to have one over there, too, cuz it's just a very sketchy proposition. And the other thing I'd like to talk about is uh the people in the apartments have on the same stretch of property of town. They all are allowed to have dogs, but they have no place to deal with their dogs going to the bathroom and the people that own the property in that surrounding area have to deal with it. And so I think something has to happen there. If you uh Yeah, anywhere around there, it's a it's a [ __ ] show literally. So yeah, I think something has to happen there. Either the person that own the owns the apartments needs to take responsibility or there needs to be an ordinance or something because it's no blame.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Mallerie Murphy. Um, so this is in regard to the alley that will be likely maintained, not maintained by the city, I should say. Um, similar to what David was talking about earlier. So I live at East Jefferson at South, which is north of that alleyway. We moved in back in 2023. We moved in in October. Um, the property was vacated for about 10 years. So in the spring of 2020, reach up to the city and asked for gravel to be placed to where there was grass just to get back to our garage which at that point was city maintain is to this day. Um at that point I had spoken to Trent who moved to Jennifer request and at the time we were told it was also basically went into the trash at the time. it was disregarded. My email was never responded to um at that point in time. So, we asked for the city travel so we could get rid of those in the way um with no response at all. Um we wanted to figure it out on our own. At the time, we invested upwards of probably $1,500 to wake gravel again on as of right now that um that's not including the time and fuel and the labor to sprinkle gravel. Um, we feel as if it's one of our rights to be upset about the situation given all of the issues up to this point. Um, for this city to suddenly walk in a 200T alley would put us in a very difficult and comfortable situation. Um, we would then have to get equipment to remove snow. That's huge for us. It's a 200 foot alley. We can't we don't have the equipment to do so right now. Um, we would have to get

smoke trackers to clear all of that. Um, in my opinion, the cost over the course of a couple years for the city to continue to maintain that is a lot less in the grand scheme of things. It could be maybe $600 over the course of four years, which I don't think is an overexaggeration to ask on our part as a taxpayer to continue that option. Um, during the last meeting, the excuse me, I'm not a great public speaker. Um the building out back was referred to as a shed. It's not a shed. It can house up to four cars back there. Um with the harsh winters, all of those cars would be trapped in that way without the help of the city and the plowing that is already in place. Um we request that you keep in mind we would appreciate the maintenance plan already in effect. Um and think that that's a very reasonable request given the circumstances. Thank you. Dwight. Sorry, I can't read the last name. Well, I'm sure you know it. I'm here because I have a lot of questions about this. Who keeps coming up with these flower garden ideas? Who keeps coming up with these flower garden ideas?

Yeah. Who keeps coming up that we need more flower gardens? Parks and recreation. I think is that what you were saying?

Do you folks have any idea how much time it takes to maintain these things? I myself was in an accident here about a year ago and I took out five big flower gardens which actually if he took half of them would be a lot bigger than what you guys are even planning and I know how long it takes. I know the cost to maintain this stuff. I used to take care of the states on Rosedale Road. If you're not familiar with that area, that's where Clark, the stmmates and hedges and all those people live that have 11 15 acre estates. I just cannot believe that you folks want something else to maintain where you've got a welcome tour sign out here that has even been pruned from last year with last year's dead grow. You go up a few hundred feet and it's a farmers market. Little flower bed there all overgrown. Yeah. This mess outside of the city hall last year that the previous mayor was humiliated. So they dug it out the next day with a back hole. And then what really is really good first impression, not that because it's been straightened out. You got flower pots out here on your retaining walls with three years old crack that's been dead. You guys can't even maintain that. How do you intend to maintain this and this other pollinating garden or whatever? Sure, you can say it's a grant. It's not going to cost us anything, but where does this grant money come from? It comes from all the taxpayers, not just us. Everyone. And back in 2000 and 2005,

this land up here was set to be for the development for businesses on the main drag to bring back revitalize our downtown. And now we're going to put like a flower garden there that probably will be a patch of weeds because I'm sure if you get a few volunteers, it's not going to last. It never has. It's just going to be another weed patch. And your employees do not have the knowledge to take care of things like that. And like this mess up there, you hired blooms out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa to put them old benches in things. Thank you, sir. Sure. Don't surprise me. That's you guys. And you can keep that money in the county. And I would love to stick around, but like I said, I was in a car accident and it's very hard for me to that's food for thought. You guys, you should get sir. Start paying attention. Show some respect.

Thank you, sir. Are there any changes to the consent agenda?

If not, do I have a motion to approve the consent? Make a motion. I'll second.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Light. Yes. Thompson. Yes. Do I have a motion to open a public hearing pertaining to the application of the CB CDBG funds from the Iowa Economic Development Authority. These funds will be used to create a pocket park. I'll motion to open the public hearing. Second,

yes. Hubert, yes. Vasi, yes. Light, yes. Johnson, yes. Over here as well.

Okay. So, tonight we do have a public hearing for the city of Urbana for a pocket park CDBG grant. So information has been shared um since we found out about the opportunity to apply for such a grant um which is particularly for a 0.25 acre it needs to be a 0.25 acre lot. So this concept has been discussed with the parks board previously to other grants that were available um in discussions where we were discussing where to locate pollinator parks. This had been brought up um a couple of times actually for the need for a so social gathering space. So, as you know, if you've lived in Urbana, um for example, Urbana Days has uh typically will close the entire street. Um we do have a local business in the district that has closed the street because there's not a specific area where people can socially gather. So, um this is the first year I believe the Iowa Economic Development Authority has put out this grant. So, um, the city thought that we could go for an opportunity like this to see what we get. Um part of the grant which is a lot of what's gone out on social media as well as um the website was the information regarding because this is federal funding there was a LMI um income survey which is a requirement I think of all CBG grants most all so that is a low to moderate income survey so in particular um how this had to be figured was we had to take the location of the grant proposal and I think I explained

this a couple of times but um from that location we have to build a 10-minute radius from the park location. So within that 10-minute um uh walk and radius there were approximately 300 residents and from the 300 residents we had to do a sample local uh excuse me low to moderate income survey that was randomly selected. Since ECP COA is helping to administer the grant and the process um they did the development of the survey which meets the requirements of CDBG. They also were required to do our random sampling. So that we could the survey is not anonymous but it was confidential. So when the surveys went out, that simply means that there is a master list of the addresses that it goes out to, but all of the surveys when they come back simply have a number, a random number on them. So for example, when they're returned, um the city office personnel would know obviously because they're scanned and sent back to ECO. So, um, in order to qualify for this grant, we do have to have 51% of the surveyed people to meet low to moderate income. Um, and we do not have all of those surveys back yet. The grant is due May 22nd. So, again, tonight is an opportunity to share more information. We also have um kind of a a rendering from the landscape engineers that will be working on the project if we were to receive the grant. Um just to kind of share a little bit with the concept that is up there. There's al I also printed it for you. Um this is a very short

amount of time. So, we simply gathered um we've actually only met virtually with the parks and um parks lead and the engineer to just give them an idea. So, this concept is what came in um when they actually submitted their application. And so we just made some minor tweaks to this concept because um we don't know that we have the funding yet, but we did want to be able to give um people in the community an idea of what this could look like. So one of the things that we did kind of want to keep um we knew like some of the history that there had been a gazebo or two gazeos in the downtown that kind of had the um grain bin type look to them. So that's where we wanted to kind of keep a tin rustic look to that park. Um, and the rest of it is native pollinator. Um, we do find value in the native pollination and this would also be part of the cross-pollination that will happen between the pollinator garden, central crossing park as well as the few small areas here that will have the landscape pollinator planting to it. Um we it will be ADA accessible. So we want to be able to reach all members of the community. Um that's why we did include kind of like a porch swing type uh idea there. We there is something within the grant that certain structures have to be um tell me again.

Everything will be fixed.

Fixed it has to be fixed. So the concept was that underneath the pavilion like shaded structure, we did want to keep it somewhat open. We feel that this would be an opportunity that if we were to bring in or a community member brings in um local music or things like that, we wanted to make it as versatile still as possible. So if um somebody came in, there was actually lawn where lawn chairs could be brought in. um the idea of being able to have um picnic tables there, things like that that still keeps this somewhat versatile for the community to use. So, with that said, um the total amount that the city will be looking at in a grant, which I would like to put out that yes, taxpayer dollars do pay for local and federal grants. However, if you don't go for local or state federal grants, then your taxpayer dollars go to another city town. And therefore, I do believe as a city administrator that it is important to go for opportunities that will better our community and bring some of those taxpayers dollars that are already going out state and federally and bring them back to our community. That's why these um grants are available. That's why opportunities are out there for communities. In the past, um the city has not necessarily had someone in a position that has been able to provide opportunities like this to come back to our town. So, I do take pride in being able to find opportunities like that that will come back to the community of Verbana. Um, with that said, we're looking at approximately um, which when I sent the uh, information to you, we didn't get the actual bud budget back probably until right before the meeting. Um, I do apologize. I had a family emergency, so I didn't get back here until a little bit later. But Tom and I

were able to get this printed off. So, I think the total grant amount that we're going to try and go for is $149,719. Correct. Yeah.

Okay. And then the local match which can be inind or cash monies is the $49,96. So um so for example what I'd like to share there is the same type of opportunity that happens that when we have some of these larger projects like this if we have opportunities where we can do some of the work possibly which um depending on the scope of the project if we can do some of those things in kind that would be the hope that we could do some of that in kind. Um so these three resolutions that will be presented after the public hearing those are just very specific to the also the requirements of the grant. Um if you take a look at this particular budget you want me to go into that or did you want to share more about that? Um this particular piece right here is where we were trying to reflect on the left would be um the grant and then we highlighted in green where we thought specific things that could be possible in kind would come from the city. So that's where we were highlighting the different areas to get close to the 49,000 percentage that the city's match whether it's inind or monies or both would come there. So, that's the budget piece of it. And because this is a CDBG grant, um did you uh have anyone that signed in to speak other than that part on this?

There is no one applied for public. Okay. So, because Okay. Because this is a CDBG grant, um there are some very specific things that Tom's going to go through now for the actual um public hearing part where unfortunately a lot of it is federal. So he may have to actually read some of it from the computer. So um is this a good spot to just kind of turn it over to you? Sure. Yeah.

Do you guys have any questions so far? Because that was kind of a lot to like throw out there. I have questions but I don't know if it's we can go through what Tom has. Okay. U will be similar to what is stated already but um the minutes will reflect this requirement. Um probably just

um uh so yeah I'll read this and I can go through the those are those are the kind of application materials and I'll go through what those are.

Um but there's like nine elements that I have to get through. So um so yeah as concerned with how the need for the proposed activities uh was identified um the city currently has 1.66 acres of parkland between central crossing and all park um and that comes out to a total of 1.07 acres of parkland for 10,000 residents. Um and according to the National Recreation and Park Association's uh 2023 agency performance reviews review um the median amount of park land um so there'll be uh 50 med amount of parkland per 1000 residents for communities under 20,000 uh is 15 acres um so the the city is quite under that mark um uh I was concerned how the activities will be funed and the sources of funds. Uh the as I said the current project estimate is $199,625 uh with design and construction estimated at $179,625 uh and then 20,000 in granite administration and potentially historic preservation costs. uh there is an amount in the budget that's uh on the way high end. So there's less um potential for to have to come back and talk about um uh historic preservation costs um which kind of just I think is not very likely to be an issue but you never know. Um and then uh grant assistance is being requested from the CBP program uh to help support the total cost of the project. Um that's concerned what's the date of

the application uh we submitted by May 22nd 2026. um was considered as a requested amount of federal funds. Uh that request is $149,000700 $149,719. Um and then uh as concerned with the benefit from federal funding, again the qualification for this project is the low environment income benefit. And um so again our uh what we did for who would be most likely to use it on a daily basis would be the households within a 10-minute walk. Um and that's 300 households. Um and that would be an estimated population of 842 people with the city's current average household size of eight. Um and again to qualify uh for federal funding at least 51% of that population uh as we established through the survey would have to be local income. So would um serve at least 430 LMI persons. Um and then as concerned where the proposed activities will be conducted, the pocket park is proposed at the city owned parcels at 311 West Wood Street in um and then as concerning with plans to minimize the displacement of persons or businesses as a result of the funded activities and plans to assist persons actually displaced. Um the the because of the nature of the project um there's no property acquisition that uh city already controls the site um and there's no housing or businesses on that property. So there wouldn't really be any businesses that would be uh temporary or permanently that would temporarily permanently lose access for the project. So um there

won't be any displaced persons because of the project. Um and then as concerned with the nature of the propos proposed activities uh the uh grant project uh comprises a construction of a pocket park in the city's downtown. Um so yeah, one thing I wanted to uh mention on there was the um uh again with the historic preservation. Uh I think the most likely outcome is that the city would have to do a desktop uh review um with a qualified historian um or archaeologist. Um and for because it's on previously disturbed ground that was a business probably the most likely outcome is they say that uh additional investigation like the presence of uh historic cultural artifacts is not likely. Um, but I have there's additional uh money included in the budget in case that does become an issue. So, and that that was $5,000 to include the desktop review uh which would be a small portion of that. Um, and then some additional funds if they came back and said that uh archaeological investigation should happen. Um but I wouldn't anticipate uh we'll have we'll get the full depth of the vaccination that would be required for it but I don't think it would be extensive um if we further um make it less likely that we have to do that larger scale investigation. So, um I do have one other component um as far as a grant application that I haven't covered in the uh public hearing and that's community development housing needs assessment and um so I will need to take a few minutes to um ask for some input.

Um, but this could be a good time to stop or to pause for a few questions before I do the community. Um, but there'll be like three broad questions that I'll ask and um and I can take public input on that as well. My question is um is is this just for the perforated line outline part or would this include fixing the sidewalk city sidewalk that butts up against the street?

I believe that was That's about it. So, I think there would be a possibility that that could be um part of the project, but that's in the not in the included in there right now.

That's that's that would be a waste. Oh, yeah. fix that process. Was that that sidewalk is in really bad shape. So, we're tearing into all of that, but then it's not even it's not ADA compliant today. So, we would have to do something. So, it looks like it is on the picture. I I think maybe we should just confirm like that's part of where it says concrete sidewalks. So, that's a good question. So I think we would have some flexibility to um refine the plans a little bit too.

Other questions is that from anybody? Maybe I can ask questions. Um, how about for you guys? I be doing the community development housing needs assessment and leaving it open for Unfortunately, no one signed up to speak for this.

I still wonder who's going to maintain it. We have that noted in here previously. But you have to, if you plan this out, you have to have some idea who's going to make it here. I would think just want to make sure there weren't any other questions. Um, Um so for um this um part of what requires is a community development has a needs assessment. Um so I guess normally this where I would be asking for like uh input on the three items are um the community development has a needs of LMI lower income persons in the community. um other community development housing needs. Um so just more generally for the community and then plan our potential activities to address housing and community needs. Um so uh it's um not typically at this project seek from wherever from the public. So activities, needs and rationale for the first one was what? How

community development has the needs of We have a question. Y I was looking closely at that picture because you had the question. It looks like the existing sidewalk is excluded by this picture. If you look close enough, you can see the lines. Yeah.

Yeah. And and again like we were saying this picture was just a draft like concept. It's certainly not exactly. So I I will find out about the budget of that as well as the sidewalk for Ash and I have to double check the grant require or what the grant allows to um I think sometimes they have a little bit more leeway for what they call removable architectural barriers which is kind of making things more accessible. Um, so I'll have to see if the ramp would uh can like extend into the um the the rightway in the sidewalk soon, but we'll we'll double check on that.

So, you're asking at this time council as well as our community representatives here if anyone feels that there is a need in our bana, housing needs in our bana. at all. Yeah. Community development and that's just what what is needed for the lower matter income population in the community. I didn't

I didn't understand what you guys just said. What what did you say? So are so low to moderate income are people and do you have one of the surveys that would show so what the there's an income level which would categorize certain individuals as well as families as low to moderate income. So specifically some this used to be what I believe um communities it was HUD is that correct? The um the opportunities that came for local or low to moderate income was it previously HUD? It's money. Yeah. Yeah. It comes through the state, but it's

so so basically for students with or students um individuals or families that have lower income, do we have a need, do you think, in Urbana for housing needs that could help meet the needs of um low to moderate income individuals or families? And I don't even I can't say off the top of my head what the income level is without

that turning. Well, right now that area is a place for dogs that belong to people that don't have a place to go to take their dogs to do their business. So, when you're worried about what they're going to do to maintain it, that's what they're doing to maintain right now. Oh, that's that that's what's happening right now. So, maybe if we get a park built there, maybe maybe they'll stop that from happening cuz that's what's happening right now. If you want to walk through that green space right now, you better be aware of what you're walking through

cuz it's Well, they couldn't force do this. I'm just saying you're tipping through the you're, you know, you're tripping to the tulips right now. It's not good. But it maybe it would be better if it was maintained as a park. Maybe. But cuz it's not good right now. Who's going to police it? I imagine the town. I don't know. Maybe there'd be an ordinance instead. If it's actually something that belong to town, you probably write an ordinance stop that from happening. Maybe there be one. I don't So, so at this point, I just need input for the community development housing assessment. Just the ideas that you have.

Give you idea. The uh for a family of four that would be an income under $79,800. should go and knock on their door. Maybe they can give you information. Well, the low income apartments got one at a time, please. Sorry.

The low income housing always got to seem like a place empty. proper name as it used to be senior citiz.

Are you referencing like a specific location in town or you just specific location? You're low. You're talking about low income. Well, you got empty low income apartments. So, do you know where he's talking? I think he's talking which just to be clear that that is included in our survey area. So, people were randomly selected and had an opportunity to submit a survey or make public comment. So, thank you.

Yeah. Oh, uh, one thing we did as part of the survey too, it's still ongoing. Um, but for the responses that we got so far, um, 83% uh, said that they supported the project. Go ahead. We sent out a survey almost.

So, we have mailed surveys twice and we've also um had individuals go doortodoor to get surveys back. um if they're not at the door, surveys were left. So after tonight, we'll probably do another um send out of surveys again. Uh probably will include the actual concept. I think there was some misinformation out there that this would be a children's park. It's not necessarily a children's park, but a social gathering area. So that and each time that we have done the mailing, it includes a survey with a two-page uh front to back. So, it has all the information about the grant as well as questions and answers on the back to try and get as much input um information about it as possible. So, yes. So, we've sent out twice um door to door and then we'll probably do another push here before the 22nd.

What were the results of the So, so far did you say 83% for support for the project? Um, and then it wasn't, you know, 17% against. There were some people that just didn't respond to the question. Um, and like 1% actually responded. Um, and then, uh, what is the current results, but it fluctuates a fair amount at that level. Um, it it's showing 43% LMI. So, so we have to get to 51%. Right now, we're at 43%. Um, so I think yeah, the more information that we can keep putting out for the people that um,

we have 43% of the we have 43% we have to get no so we have to get 51% of the households meeting the uh, low to moderate income. Right now we have 43%. So the more surveys that we would get back would would likely increase that number um because the threshold would be like getting to 51% right to get to and if we don't get to the 51% then we would not qualify for the grant. When is the grant due? May 22nd. So we have till May 22 up to right after the deadline right the 22.

Yeah. I didn't have anything else prepared before. And you might have said this already and I missed it. How many surveys did we send out?

So we started with the random sampling is 200. Of the 300. So there's 300 homes in the area. There's 200 of the random sample that we've sent out. Now, this next time since we've done like at least two full mailings plus a door to door, we may be able like if we get what we can I don't even know if we'd go into that, but if you get a nonresponse like say we've sent a particular home three times and got no response, then we can do I'm going to just say random shuffle because I don't know how it's done, but you basically get a random shuffle and it can kick back like here's 30 more for 30 people that didn't respond. But it still comes out of that 300 bite it which is the radius of the 10 mile mark or 10 minute

walk. And how many have we received back out of the 200? 70 right now only 60 are like valid and people didn't fill in the income information. So

sure it's not helpful. Got it. Yeah, probably the door will be key for um so I have the two other items on there. wasn't hearing anything else for uh means for um community development housing needs for lower persons unless there's any other uh and then just generally means for the community I do have park space in here um since you know that that's low compared to one national benchmark so just kind of general needs for the community so I can take it from the council or the public

so Yeah. Can you think about that? Not limited to the el population. Is there a dog park in this town? Is there a what a dog park?

Because it sounds like you need some space for people to go out and run their dogs and use the restroom and pick up after themselves. And personally, I I don't live in this town, but I'm here to support it. But, uh, you you want Dogs have to go to a bathroom somewhere. Um, people don't know unfortunately pick it up, but I think I'd rather have them in a field somewhere in a fenced area for the dog to be safe. They can run and use the bathroom and hopefully they'll pick it up there. But if you're asking for this here is a really nice space. The dogs unfortunately are going to go to the bathroom there and that's in a really nice area you guys are trying to do. So I don't know who's going to that might be something to look at. You got another spot that's got some grass somewhere. the fence of I mean I can tell you if you survey somebody that's a low income they probably want somewhere that's because if they're an apartment unfortunately you don't have a backyard everyone for the input the last item was just planned potential activities to address housing and community needs. Um, so this one might be more of a council. It could be a new um topic. So just projects that are

I just have one. Um, I do know sometimes city hall does get uh phone calls of asking about rental spaces if we know of like um houses to rent or apartments to rent in town. Um, so I think that that is probably a need. Um, But of course that could have to do with the housing market. It could have to do with load of mind with income. It could have to do with a lot of things. Um and then just for planned or like kind of planned activities you have related to housing needs.

So these could be things project the grounds to school project. But I just want to go on record to say I have zero iota of care for people that get pets that go to the bathroom somewhere where they don't have a plan of how to take care of it. None. I don't want our town to some facil somehow facilitate that. I don't think it's our job to facilitate people who buy pets without a plan on how to take care of them and for us to somehow provide a space for them to defecate, whatever you want to call it. No, I I'm not for that.

But you're on enforcing enforcing them ordinance.

If you want to allow them to do something and then they don't do it, yeah, then yeah, absolutely. But I am not about you buy a dog, you get a cat, you do whatever you do. I I'm not here. I don't think that it's our job to help you take care of your pet. So yeah. Uh so yeah, I don't think we have to build a facility to help somebody have his dog take a dump somewhere. No, I don't. No. No. You buy a dog, you have a plan. Thank you, Terry. Let's get back to the pocket part. Yeah,

I think you could put in there, this is previous though, too, but Terry did mention um a safety need or safety concern with a four-way stop. Maybe looking into something like that that's kind of in that same district area. What was that? It's a four-way stop. Um garage which would be the same area

any other planned or potential activities um housing community well we we did the our plan right we've already put that together for the next five 10 years that's all what's all on I mean, we we do we can put that in there that the city has prioritized that capital improvement plan. Um, it goes through 2029. Okay.

And there's some utility upgrades. So, the safe routes to school project um that's is going to be a it's a city funded project right now, but there's also um a grant that will be due in October that the city is going to go for that grant to help also with that same safe routes to school. Okay. And I'll follow with some of these things later so that all the details in the meeting. So that that's all I need.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Uh just in terms of the application material. Um the there's the just going over uh this is one of the resolutions about the docs that we submit application. uh there's a specific uh certification of procurement compliance. Um so since it is a federal grant, there's a lot of like rules and regulations that go along with it. That's why we would be the grant administrator if there's a project funded. Um and then the first one just about um competitive compliance, but just like I worked with the city on the uh RFQ for the landscape architect. Um uh we would be a resource that go through the um any procurement that needs to be done. Uh most of that's just going to be the would just be the public bidding. Um and that's going to be processing requirements. Um then there's a required acknowledgement of environmental review requirements. Uh so there would be an environmental review required as part of the the project. I would do most of of that. Um I I'll actually draft it as part of the application. Um but I won't have all the details. I'll finish it uh afterwards. Um but um the best way to lose uh grant funding that's been awarded from the federal government is to make a choice limiting action um prior to completing an environmental review. Um so basically that means uh until we complete the review uh the only work that's really going to be done would be the the like the uh final design work continue with escape architect and um the drafting of the construction documents um and

uh but just the kind of the administration work to uh get required policies in place and um get the environmental work done. Um so that's basically what you're all that can be done from the time the grant application is submitted until the uh environmental review is uh approved. So then there's um this next form the 424 it's just the application basically the application but it says that the um city will meet uh these requirements which would look similar to all the kind of standard contract requirements um that contractors have to uh have included in their project. Um so these are just the requirements. Um but it's most of these things aren't too ownorous. uh Davis Bacon prevailing wages would be the kind of more homeous part of the uh grant requirements and um that's again where we would be uh I'd be doing the um compliance stuff for that to make sure the contractors are um uh then the the high 2880 this is just another kind of general application one, there's a couple questions here. Um there's uh that doesn't apply since it's a CVG block grant. And then another one is if you anticipate um getting $200,000 of money during this fiscal year, um which you wouldn't because you haven't applied for any other funds for this project. Um

so the second page has been filled out with that. Um uh so those yeah that's mainly it for like the items that the decided this application other parts are going to be the budget uh grant application budget grant narrative kind of described documentation of the uh procurement for landscape architect documentation of this public meeting um sub to show that it's not fluctuation. So that's all I have unless you had other things you wanted to cover or there any other questions from council

unless council has additional questions. Any questions? Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? Make a motion to close public hearing at 7:25. Second. All those in favor?

I hear games clos director, do you have any additional input for us? Stay here. Do you have any additional move on to old business? Open discussion on the rightway maintenance discussion. Okay. So, from our last conversations with the alley rightway um maintenance discussion, I've put together a binder with um kind of trying to develop a process which I believe um council member light maybe had asked too that we put together kind of a case by case of the discussions of different alleys. So, just to be specific, um previously about probably over a year ago, the city started looking at um current areas within the city that are no utilities not maintained, no utilities maintained, utilities not maintained, and utilities maintained. and started to try and color code some of these um specific alleys and rightways. And um the purpose of this is trying to get past some of the the

language of we're going to do something because we've always done it or nobody knows why we started to maintain something but we've always just continued to do it. So, we were looking for a process to try and start standardizing what maintained, not maintained um looks like. And to be clear, the discussion tonight is not about a vacation, which is also something that I think um the language there is getting confused that a vacation is when the city actually vacates the property and no longer owns it or has an easement to that. We are not making that discussion tonight. We're looking at um maintenance of alleys and um right ofways. So after putting together the map with the city engineer and public works um superintendent, we did this by Ali. Um I feel it very specific that this is done by ali because when you talk about systems and organizations and making decisions these things should be independent of a person or personnel. So in talking about these these are alley IDs. They are not somebody's personal driveway or parking. Um and so that's kind of where we then colorcoded some of these things made very specific notes. Um and so I then went to each of the um specific cases that are brought up. There are three of them which I will refer to as E13, E04 and W0405. So I wanted to kind of give you an idea of what this specific um tabs and what you'll find within your finder. I went out and took first of all real life pictures because I do believe

that it's important that if we're going to have this discussion that everybody see in real time where specifically we're talking about what it actually looks like and what's currently there. We then also went on to Beacon. So know that this is not um this is just off Beacon. So property lines are not exact on Beacon. We are just trying to do this the best we can. The other thing that you'll find is um some information that myself, the um public works um superintendent as well as the engineer looked at different options and how some of these maintenance would look. Again, it's about standardizing a process and getting to the point of m what maintenance looks like and what is the standard maintenance. So um so we put together some things there with actual cost estimates. Then um I have also included after each case I also included um two very specific samples and the purpose behind C01 and C02 is to give the council and the mayor um a a real time look at current status. So for example, if we have a utilities maintained, what does that look like if it is a alley or a right ofway that is chip sealed? And what does that look like if it is current status utilities maintained at a grade and um gravel and what that looks like. So again getting to a very specific um standardized process of what what these should look like if they are going to be considered um maintained. So, do you have questions so far before we

get started in terms of a specific um so tonight I I don't believe we don't necessarily have anything that is an action on the table, but more specifically um getting you looking at what the real documents show and looking at what the process for the council to start being able to make decisions. ision on when we make a decision to um maintain and not maintain an alley or a right of way.

We're just referencing these first three. So, right now, if you were to go through all of the alleyways and the um right ofways in town, we currently have um where it is utilities, excuse me, no utilities maintained, which is yellow. We currently have three of those. Is that correct? We have three, which are the three cases that I am bringing forth. So the first case that was brought up was E13 is the alley ID. That specific case was brought up simply because of the previous vacation, the partial vacation that was done over on East Washington. Um so if you take a look at behind the E13 tab during that time there was a discussion about a um the street and there being a lip between the street and the alley and the first picture there that you can see is what that lip would look like. So, if the city were um which the city whether this is a no utilities not maintained which if you guys are looking for where I'm at it looks it's this picture right behind E13 tab. So each case has a tab. This one is E13. This specific lip right here whether this is no utilities or not maintained. This is where the street meets the alley or the right of way in this particular situation. This would be where the city would continue to still dump gravel there to maintain that portion of the street. If you look at the second page, this is very specific looking at an alley, the E13 alley where there are no utilities, but it is currently maintained. so that you can see that there is a driveway on

um uh the house that's right there to the right on the picture. So that shows going Do you see where we're at, Mayor? Or um I'm I'm finding a picture that doesn't appear to be what it's labeled. So this one right here. Yes, it is the 13. It's a view that I'm going to discuss. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. So on the current view, which is the second page there, that would show you the one resident that lives to the right. Um, and the home that is to the left in the picture, that home does have a driveway that is not necessarily this particular alleyway. So, the third picture there is just another view. If you go to the next picture, this shows a view going up that particular alley. And then if you turn the page, it's coming around that corner, which is where you can see a garage that leads to one property owner's garage, second garage, if that's what you call it. Then if you turn the page again, this is actually a picture that shows down the alley, which is the portion that was partially vacated. But as you go down there and you see that that is grass, all grass in between the um garage and where we partially vacated, there is an alley that the city does currently maintain with an easement to the utility that's there that I believe is a storm utility. So city still has access to that. So in looking at this particular um option because this is the first one that we looked at the next page you'll see this is just all the options that the city engineer went through option 1 A 1 B option 2 A 2 B and after reviewing those options which me included in here

um giving what looks to be um and maybe I can even refer to Shane on this uh that we're looking to try and get to what we would consider um if the city were to maintain an alley that we have to have a certain standard that this alley meets so that we can maintain it. The question is, does the city want to put in the money to get it to that standard so that a dump truck could go down and um put gravel or a dump truck could possibly plow. The reason for showing this is we also as city um council we also have to look at uh how city resources are used and how it benefits the city. So, um, these are the different things. Shane, I'm just going to kind of maybe turn it over to you just a little bit if you don't mind sharing some of the information, um, that you provided to us where we were then making a decision of this would probably be the best option.

Yeah. So, to Jennifer's point, you know, it's not just putting down a little bit of gravel. You know, driving a a personal vehicle is different than driving city maintenance equipment. um putting some gravel down over some grass. Um if if the city wants to maintain a roadway as a roadway, the city should establish a standard for the roadway. Um and what we looked at was in those examples that Jennifer pointed out was a 22 foot wide gravel drive or a 26 foot wide gravel drive and we looked at extending it east and then turning north to get to that back driveway as one option. one going all the way up to that storm sewer is the other option. So those are options 1 A, 1 B, 2 A, 2B that John referring to. But if you're going to put in and you can see those cost estimates because you're going to want to cut out the top soil, all the grass in there, put in appropriate block to get it maintained as a roadway, not just a private driveway, as a city street. Um, so you're talking tens of thousands of dollars to do that. So, you know, coordinating with Trent, it's like we're going to do it. We want to take it all the way up to the storm sewer. We want to do it 26t wide so you can get two-way traffic in there so you can get the maintenance you see maintenance equipment. So that's what we're looking at. We're not just looking at putting down some rock periodically here and there. It's it's to Jennifer's point. It's you're going to do it and getting consistent, you know, on all of these. Each situation is unique, but they're all kind of grouped together. They serve one or two lots, maybe three. Um, and they're kind of used as driveways, but if the city wants to maintain them, the city should maintain them as a street. And then what is the city standard for those streets? Does that make sense?

So to that, thank you very much, Shane. So to that, um, again, we have three that good city currently has no utilities that we are maintaining. So if you take a look at um E04 which is the second example um like I said there are three in town that the city is currently still maintaining. So the second example E04 this would be a specific um alleyway that has three property owners that are currently accessing this. Um, but what I want to note on here is that all three property owners also have street access. So, all three of these property owners have street access to their home, driveway, garage. This is currently um being maintained for the three property owners that are currently here. Now there are other cities that in my research that I found that typically when it becomes a no utilities not maintained like for this example it would be the responsibility of the three property owners that are currently utilizing it to um you know snow plow split the cost do those things. The next one that I included that is a no utilities um currently maintained is the W0405. Um this one actually I have a current picture here where it shows just the one property owner. Um, it's almost easier if you turn the page to look at the beacon where this particular alley is actually W4 W05 where it looks like part of it is a personal driveway and the second portion of it which is W04

is actually grassed over all the way to the fence. um which again right now I believe that this particular property owner and you can correct me if I'm wrong has chosen to maintain that at this time. Um however the city technically is still responsible for the grass that you can see that is the other portion of it. Um so again within the city we have these three examples to start with for the no utilities that are currently maintained and then um behind that are the two examples which kind of gets to the point of the um standard that that Shane was discussing in terms of you know is this a standard utilities maintained that we would do chips seal or is it something that could the um utilities maintained an example of graded gravel and what that would look like. So like um W I guess it's W4 W5. Does this do we need to retain that alleyway in some way or could it be vacated?

Which one? So we have no utilities maintained for part of it and then no utilities not maintained for the grass part. No, technically they're both no utilities maintained. So it'd be very similar to the E13 where there's grass. Technically, it's still supposed to be maintained according to our current standard.

I was just looking at this map. But either way, does uh I guess what I'm going is if if if there's no utility and they're not we choose to not maintain them, do we does the city have any reason to retain ownership or could we, you know, go through the vacate process on it? Maybe that's this guy right here. And you're specifically asking about the vacate question with W0405. I think so. Maybe I'm looking at the I got my areas mixed up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is this drill

right here. This one.

Yeah. That one there. We can't pay here because if we did, this property owner, this property owner uh would get half of each of them, which would cut this guy's garage access off. They would have to go with a vacation with an easement if they did. Okay. So right now there is not action per se on the council agenda. This is providing the information, the background, the conversation. Go ahead. Let me uh so I think from a staff level when we encounter complaints or requests on alleys such as we've heard in public input um there is no defined policy that the city council has set for us to determine what alley should be maintained, which one should be graded, which one should be plowed. And within a twob block radius of the the alley in question and public input, we have an alley that the city owns does not maintain the two properties access from uh two blocks the other direction.

We have a city rightway that has served one resident that the city has chose not to maintain the sun in the past and the property owner does. And it and to be clear when we we talk about sprinkling gravel in here or there um that that isn't maintaining that's what continues to drive the complaints because there's no clarity at the staff level on what we're supposed to be doing on publicly owned road that isn't a through street. There's no defined policy at which the council has set that says yes we are going to maintain this stretch of road to function as a driveway even though it's public property. the city's going to do that. And then if we are going to do that, that's where Shane is saying we need to start if we're going to do that, we need to do that at a level that eliminates the complaints and the request for rock or you plow the snow in front of my wood pile or you got into this the sod because the alley isn't built wide enough for snow equipment to go in there or a piece of our equipment gets stuck in your yard because it can't see where it is because it's only 12 foot wide instead of 26 foot wide that would allow it. That's what I think when Shane and I are speaking to the council has got to work towards a policy that when the city administrator's office and calls and says, "I have a complaint or a request for gravel at this or why wasn't the snow plowed in this alley?" We have something to answer to. I I can't speak to any of these. I've been here for a while as to why we do any of them other than the two in the downtown block because there are city-owned utilities in them and they're servicing the post office which is taking delivery of mail and that's why that alley was sealcoded and maintained and it is wide enough to get two vehicles by each other in it. So I I just there is no consistency in how the city has chose to do this. In fairness to the people that uh that are using them, it I guess makes it

difficult for us at a staff level and for them using it to have any clarity on what either of us are supposed to be doing without, you know, them being irritated at lack of our response because we don't have clarity. And us, we can't, we at a staff level just can't pick and choose which alleys that we are going to go put rock in for two residences or three and which ones were not. That's not it's not real. It's not functional. It's not a policy. It's not how to navigate this. So I I I think that's what we're our input from Shane and I is level to Jennifer is saying here's what if we're going to maintain an alley here's what you should be doing and calling that your minimum your minimum standard and then it's up to council to decide which one of these alleys which of these alleys should rise to that level to warrant that sort of maintenance by the city. So is the ask to make really an alley and right away ordinance. I mean that's my hearing, right? And then from there based on what policy we're putting proposing and approving we get to that point then we make decisions on this. Is that what I'm hearing? So through this process in doing this work, I've gone back and forth with drafting and reddrafting what I think could look like a policy um to exactly what what Trent's saying that um we have to come to a consensus of what we are going to consider maintenance and what we're going to consider not maintenance and what we're going to standardize and not standardize. And um and I do appreciate the respect to the property owners here um because this unfortunately it please don't think that this is about

a property owner. It really isn't. Which is why for a purpose like this it has to be an alley ID. it because these processes and decisions have to be made regardless of who is in a house or who is at a at a certain place in time. Um when I leave here, we have to have a process that moves forward regardless of who the personnel are. I think that goes to what um uh what Trent is saying and that we we are a small town but there are certain things that we can't always do things just because that's the way it's always been done. The reason for that is just exactly the example that he said. It's too difficult for staff to receive a complaint regarding an alley and we choose to do it for one person and then we choose not to do it for another person. And that is becoming extremely difficult when there's not a process for the staff to follow. people are angry with us personally and we can't handle that in in a sense that we're taking it because we don't have a process. So what I would like to do is yes develop I believe there's already ordinance there. I think what we need to do is define what we want the policy to look like, what we want the standard to look like, and then yes, we need to decide if this is an alleyway that property owners are going to choose to continue to use, then is that something in this particular situation or case that that's their responsibility as a property owner to do that? or is it something that we have to choose to say it needs to be a standard street, rightway or alley? Therefore, it needs to be brought up to be maintained as such. Which is why we did the pictures.

We're trying to do these things to give you an idea that um it's not about individual people. It's not about individual properties. It's about trying to develop a a process that can be followed and maintained regardless of who's here and who's not. I just do have a question. Okay, say we stop maintaining put the gravel out and these who's going to is it the the homeowners that live around that area is their their responsibility to mow that alley now or is the city still going to mow that? No, because it's city owned property. So,

are are you discussing something very specific or you No, no, I'm just just in general. Say this the back here that they put gravel back there. Okay. Say we let that grow up. That's city property. Who has to who has to maintain it and mow that? That's normally the case of the uh adjacent homeowners u over by us. We we mow the the right away that still belongs to the city. Yeah, I understand. I got two I got two on my property and I maintain them, but it's just and that's that's been

But if if they decide just to let it grow and not take care of it because it's technically city's property and not their property, are they going to get in trouble for that? And again, I think we're discussing the same thing. There's no ordinance really laid out to make to say who does it, who doesn't. But so I think that's the direction that Trent's trying to say. We got to figure out what ordinance we want to actually put in place, what gets maintained, how it gets maintained, that type of thing. I mean, that's kind of what I'm trying to hear.

Yeah. And I think in the examples, you can see that. So, for example, some property owners choose to use more of a driveway. So, it becomes something that has gravel on it. Maybe it has some gravel on it because there's some gravel on there because that's what was pre previously done by the city. Some of them are overgrown and and adjacent property owners mow that. That's where we have to decide what what is the current status. Are we going to leave it? no utilities maintained in these specific pieces that we're talking about. That's why we had the engineer put together the proposals of if we're going to standardize this and make this a public street that we're going to maintain, we have to get it to a standard level then so that it's not overgrown and needing to be mowed. There has to be a decision made and a policy in place to say how do we move forward so that it's not something where it's yep we're going to do it for this person but we're not for this but yet we're not making that decision based on actual information. I think that's what I was going to make a comment as well as I've actually kind of looked around at some of the local towns, you know, near this across the state, that type of stuff. Some have ordinances that actually lay out the way the alleys are supposed to be maintained. Um, some don't, you know, but we kind of follow into that. We don't have identification on what needs to and what doesn't. Um but there are some I I think we definitely need to start looking at what needs to be maintained, how it needs to be maintained, you know, get a schedule even with the what you exactly what you stated. Summer time comes, you know, maybe there isn't an alleyway anymore because a lot of smaller towns have gone away from letting alleys go. Um homeowners in some areas are responsible for maintaining that and in other ones

it's a city. So, I think we've got definitely have to try and find a way to get a policy to state that. I think the biggest one with this one, the three examples here, is that the city doesn't have the utilities there, which is why we're making a discussion of do we continue to have a level of maintenance if there's no utilities there.

Yeah. I mean, I grew up on an alley and it was never plowed by the city. that I lived in. It was pretty much the homeowner's responsibility. More often than not, it didn't get plowed or snowed at all. Um the gravel was loosely maintained by the city. If you requested gravel, it might come, but they were, you know, they were more had a higher traffic volume than say these, but um plowing I think is pretty rare. um relatively rare. Um my only concern is just if we if we chose not to m you know maintain like this specifically just making sure that we outline the expectation of the adjacent homeowners because if you know just well I'm going to pay you to put ground you didn't pay you didn't help or you know that concern of who's paying who's not paying who's plowing who's not plowing. Um just we want to make sure we avoid those kinds of controversy.

Could that at that point can we just vacate that alley and give the homeowners the option purchase that? I think that's that's kind of where I was going with that. But I don't know that that's an option in all of those without unless they wanted to unless there was an agreement. But maybe some of these we need that access for um the utility. I don't know. You have to work it case by case. Did you said you already started a draft?

I started a draft policy um that simply defines certain things um in terms of right away in terms of alley. What does not maintain look like? Um no utilities maintain just trying to get an idea that would give better guidance. Um it's in no shape or form to share right now as a public document, but I'm just saying um we wanted to get this process started um for the same reason. You know, mowing, maintain, not maintain. Um, I think the biggest purpose tonight was I wanted to make sure that I had binders prepared because that was a request from the last meeting to provide information to provide um pictures if people if council members did not get an opportunity to go look so that you could see specifically the three that we're discussing that are the no utilities that the city's currently still maintaining and then to elicit the expertise of the engineer to get us to a standard um and what that standard would look like, what the cost of that standard could be uh to help us move forward with such policy or some of this decision making. Um I would have to look more more closely I think at specific things. I didn't look at whether or not these would be considered a vacation. I didn't even look at that actually. Um, after I've looked at these pictures a little closer, looking referencing back to E13, I see that there's power lanes in there. So, um, just kind of out of curiosity, would we still we would probably still need to have some kind of road base there to fix.

I don't see a utility pole. I'm looking at if you read the franchise agreement anywhere they're operating within it utility ement right away the utility company's responsible access okay so whether it's USA communications or align energy the RA. Okay.

Because you you go throughout town, you'll find their poles are in places there aren't gravel access for ways. So if they had to get back there, their responsibility for throwing rock down or whatever.

Yeah, that's what I was So, um, like I said, there's not action on tonight. It was to bring forth more information. If there is a request for more information before possibly developing a draft policy or next steps, um, please let me know. Uh this of course took a considerable chunk of time to put together. So um if there's something in here that is incomplete or you feel like you need something else to demonstrate the specifics of these particular cases, let me know. Um otherwise I believe the next step would be to look at the ordinances which I don't believe are what's going to help us as much as developing a draft policy that gets at um what we would expect that to be and then once there's a draft policy then yes I believe that there needs to be solid decision on to start at least three properties that have been identified in the the binder. um simply because that's the logical place to start because the city does not have utilities.

I'm good to go next. I don't know if you want council person's assistance before get through that, but I think that's what I would say is we need to put together ordinance or revise our existing ordinance I guess right clarify clarify yeah I think I don't know that our current alley like the definitions and public streets I'm not really sure at this point that it's actually an ordinance that it would be more policy driven I didn't find

no um where there are discussions of alley and rightway it's within multiple so that's why I feel like the best avenue would probably be to draft a policy. And part of that policy would be um a level or a standard of maintenance and what that would look like. And I think that that could be the help of the documents that the um city engineer has already put together and then basically a narrative that kind of gets at, you know, is this a maintained, not maintained, has city infrastructure, no infrastructure. You guys know what I'm talking about. It's kind of like what has already been presented, but um so if there's not more on that, again, it's not specifically for action, but um more gathering of information to help make better decisions on developing a a solid process, I think, would be good. So more more gathering of information and if council members would send you any requests that are pertinent uh between now and the next meeting.

Yeah, I think that's fine. Um anything else otherwise? I think just working on this revision of maybe getting a draft policy to a place that could be presented to council maybe could be something that I'll work on.

Okay. Is there any other questions before we close the discussion? New business discussion on the community development block grant pocket park. Thank you.

Um so these particular uh resolutions um A, B, C, and D are all portions of what Tom has presented from the public hearing which are specific to the grant. Um so initially we had done um 2026 216 I believe which was just giving us permission to move forward with the grant process. These are more specific to each of the requirements um for the grant application which is what Tom went through. So uh did you have specific questions about some of those? We did, we do have, if you look at D, um, Mccclure was awarded the landscape RF um, Q if we were, um, given the, um, grant funding. So, we do have uh, 2026 248, which is a master services agreement. That would be the full agreement if the city were to have um received the funding. um in there specifically. I believe that it is um exhibit C. I think I put it in the email is the subconsultant contract which basically is we would be paying them hourly from now until we submit the grant for any um work that is acred between now and then. Um, I don't want that to scare you, but it did we did put in there like a do not exceed or not to exceed I think of 12,000 um which would include uh renderings, any grant work that they do leading up to that which includes the budget which also includes um project timeline, anything like that. Um, I did specifically ask them if they really

thought that we would get to that number and the answer was no, but they do put that in there because if it is hourly and suddenly the city's asking and requesting a lot of work between now and then that they would be paid hourly for that. So, I did want to specifically point that piece of the contract out because that's the piece of the contract that we would be working on from now until the grant submitted on the 22nd. Otherwise, the other three um are approving the application and I did go in when I initially sent you these drafts, those were highlighted in blank, but now that we did get um timeline as well as the project in here, we do actually have those numbers. So, I've gone into them and provided you I think it's on your desk the numbers in 245, 246, and 247. So, all of those are in the copies now that you have on your desk and previously those drafts were highlighted and that was not filled in and um they are filled in now.

On 246 there's this just photo.

Yes, I caught that. Is it the exclamation point? I did circle that and highlight it. So, just for reference to Jess, I do have an error. I put accidentally put an exclamation point for my one in625. I have circled that. So when I go in and do that, I have that correction to make. So ultimately we could approve all of these But if we don't get the response and the the amount for the online percentage, it's all it's a m point. But

well, it would be a move point until February if we wanted to because I believe it would reopen again. Was it February that this opened up? So like if we didn't get it, but we have gone through the work and we decide we want to do it when it opens back up in February. Um the

Yeah. you when uh you wouldn't need to procure a design professionally. Um so yeah, there's we I've worked on grants before where um you know an application either um has been submitted and not uh well yeah I have worked on grants before where application was submitted and not approved the first time around and then it was approved the second time around. So, um this is the first year for this program. So, I would anticipate they would um I think their intention is to have that as kind of their permanent program for um the next few years. They they just went through the process of updating their their programs. And if they don't, what's they is it up or down on the the amount we're requesting or would they say we'll um award you $80,000 or is it only the amount you request? Uh it could be possible that they would um fund a lesser amount. So um but the what cities are eligible for eligible for is up to $150,000. So, um, so if they came back and it was a lesser amount, then we'd have to

go to the drawing board, make some adjustments, we can make a decision that would our match change then because the the match is three to one. It's a percentage. Yeah. So, and I would assume if we we didn't get it like I mean and we wanted to do it again in February, we would have another resolution for council at that time to say yes, resubmit in February, right? Right. Still be requirements then. So, these are contingent on yes receiving a CDBG grant,

but you would need to agree with care for Right. So really just item D. Sorry. Yes. The contract part. I should probably Yeah. Am I? Yes. Okay. Well, just to clarify your question, are you asking would we still need to redo resolutions A, B, C, and D? We would probably because they're different. Yes. Yes. So yes, so these are these are resolutions that are contingent with this particular application and this particular public hearing. Yes. Thank you. Yep.

Any other discussion? I would say I do think Dwight's comment is valid. Maintenance of this would be significant. I think just how it's drawn. So I I think that it's important we remember that. um our public works. I know we've got an additional mower lined up for the summer which I I would assume that will help allow additional support of parks and vegetation and so um I mean it's just it's a valid concern. There's definitely it's not you can't just plant stuff along the way. Hopefully these are lower maintenance plants.

I mean I don't want anybody to be pee over at me. I mean, all in all, you know, kind of makes sense to take care of some of the projects you got going first, finishing them up, you know. Oh, I thought that's right. I forgot I can't speak. So, I I was just commenting that I think it's valid. That's all. I think we need to, you know, we want to talk about plans, being prepared, having policies. If we're going to go through all this effort and have a beautiful uh pocket park, which I think it would be amazing because there's there's a demand for it. It can't be ignored. It just can't move. So, overall real quick,

right? Um, so I just, you know, I think that is something we need to consider. I'm sorry. What did you say? That if no, you don't have somebody to maintain it. It's going to grow real quick. I mean, right.

Yeah, she asked what I said. Um yeah, we'll have a discussion about the maintenance. Um the application went on this was uh I I actually kind of really frustrated me uh because they put the application deadline for the new programs that they announced in February uh with a May deadline. Um, and typically I would have wanted to like get started a little bit earlier on a grant application. Uh, but that that was the window that they provided. Um, so we'll we'll have a we need to include a maintenance plan as part of the application. So Jennifer I will work on that have a good a good plan in place and Jennifer would assume the cities but they're already it would be a different type of maintenance. Any other discussion? Do I have a motion to approve the uh resolutions 2026, 245, 246, 247, and 248?

You want to do them all together? We can do them all together. They're all contingent on the uh grant being approved. Um, okay. I will make a motion to approve 2026-245 through 248. Second. Baski. Yes. Light. Yes. Johnson. Yes. Yes. Pendle.

Yes. Let's do legal RFP review discussion. Um so the legal RFPs were sent to council members and evaluation um rubrics were sent out to the council. Um we did have a small committee that met to review the legal RFPs. Um, was that today or yesterday?

Yesterday. And so the city is recommending resolution 2026 239 which would be awarding the RFP. Oh goodness, I don't even have it in front of me. To Simmons Pine uh law firm, which is the current city attorney. I'll make a motion to approve 2026-239 awarding the RFP for municipal legal services and appointing the city attorney to senance prime. I second.

Bashki, yes. Johnson, yes. Light, yes. Medall, yes. Yuber, yes.

Discussion on City of Urbana Memorial Bench Program. So, we have had um multiple requests actually that had been coming in when the pollinator park was um created. We had a couple interests in people in the community wanting to do park dedications um purchasing a bench and dedicating that then to a loved one as a memorial bench. So, the parks committee has been working on that. Um, and uh, Nathan provided a draft of what that city memorial program and application could look like, which is what I sent to the council. And because this has not been done previously, um, I did do a resolution and this would not include a memorial bench at Veterans Park. This would be a different memorial bench that could be throughout the city. I think that um the veterans memorial would be discussed um separately because those discussions have previously happened and though if there were to be a memorial bench at veterans park the discussion was that those would be um need to meet the granite higher level um to match the current park that is there. So, this would be a city memorial bench program application that could go to the pollinator parks or the um well, possibly to um pocket park or even currently like at Central Park. So, this is more a concrete type bench uh memorial that would be done and that's what the parks has been working on.

I think it's great. I motion to approve 2026-244. One moment. Oh, sorry. May the mayor ask a question?

Of course. Uh the cost for the memorial, does that uh shall we say include perpetual care of the memorial bench or is that the just the installed cost? No, that would include like I would assume like the maintenance level because it would be maintained by the city. I mean if unless somebody else wanted to personally maintain it, but it would be maintained by the city. So for example, I'm assuming like if if a bench were to crack or for some reason that would be maintained by the city. Is that your question?

The the question is is is the uh shall we say donation level high enough to cover? They believe so. That was a question. Thank you. You have a motion to approve 2026-244. I second. Yes. Johnson, yes. Hubert, yes. Baski, yes. Light, yep. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting?

I make motion. Second. All those in favor? I post journal. I don't want to take much time.

Yeah. part of town that's in the old part of town.

No business. How about that? Okay. We brought it