City Council - Regular Meeting

call to order for the Watertown City Council meeting on February 17th. Please rise while Hank Roso leads us in prayer. Thank you our heavenly father. As uh nearly the entire globe celebrates the season of Lent coming up, we acknowledge your presence here tonight. We thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you, Lord, for the common bond we share, this love we have for Watertown. We thank you for this great state that you've blessed us with. We ask our legislator meets that you'd give them wisdom and understanding as they make decisions in this coming session. And Father, we thank you. We're needy people. Oh, we have warm houses and plenty of food to eat. But um our needs are greater. Help us as we have a need to be more compassionate. We have a need to be more selfless and a need to consider others as more important than oursel work in us. We thank you for this love here tonight and for your kindness to us in Jesus name. Amen. Okay. Finance officer Bob Zen, would you please call the role?

Okay. Colleen absent. Mormon here. Jirens here. Peters here. Chy here. Allan here. Hoyer here. Thank you. Forum is established. Uh before we move on to approval of the agenda, does anybody have a conflict of interest that we need to disclose before the meeting starts? Uh seeing none, I'll need a motion to approve the agenda. Moved by second. All those in favor, please say I. I.

Opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Next, we're up to uh open forum. Is there anybody here that wishes to discuss something that is not on tonight's agenda? All right, seeing none and we're moving on. We're going to skip down to uh 9A, presentation and reports. Uh it's a Watertown Regional Library annual review. Go to Maria. There you are.

Hi. Yeah, they finally gave me a seat. It could you sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh share my screen. Excellent. Um so tonight is the annual review of the libraryies statistics. Um, we're required to do this every year by state statute. Um, the entirety of the survey is attached to the agenda if you'd like to read it. The PowerPoint tonight is just some of the highlights of what's in there. And so this is Wartown Regional Library, a year in review. Um, first we have just some general information about the library. Um, I'm the library director and I've been working in libraries for 29 years. Um, although I've only been the library director here for since November of 22. Um the photo that you're looking at is our full-time staff. That's the library director, the assistant director, and all of our library specialists. Um of those featured, two of us have an ALA accredited masters in library science. And we have seven full-time staff who are featured and then nine more part-time staff who are not featured. Um we are open seven days a week and in the last year we had 91,74 visitors. um our lovely library board who um their key responsibilities are helping us set policies um helping us approve library expenditures and submitting a budget at that time of year and then they also help us engage in our strategic planning every five years. Our current library board members are listed Michelle Spies is our president and Gable is our current vice president. Um our other library board of trustees are Dave Wel, Gene Molton, Sandra Neoner and then uh Councilman Shuddy is our city council liaison. uh for the year, our operating income that we had to work off of um the city gave us 96% of that, which was um 1,74,000. And then our other operating income, which was mostly from our fines fund and grants that we had accepted, was another 41,550. Of that, um 52% of that was spent on

salaries and wages. Another 18% was spent on employee benefits, so about 70%. Um, another 15% was spent on print materials, electronic materials, and other materials that we've bought, such as our library of things. And then the last 15% were spent on all of our other operating expenditures, such as keeping our lights on, our library holdings. Um, there's a graph if you can see it. Um, obviously print books are our largest holdings. We have, um, 101,147 of them. Um, we also have 6,800 audio books, our books on CD and music CDs. We have 9,600 DVDs. We have 250 other physical items which include our junior kits and our library of things, our bikes, that kind of thing. Um, for our electronic or digital resources, we have 13,475 ebooks and then 1574 audio books. Those are just the ones that our library has purchased. We also have access to everything in the South Dakota Titles to go consortium. Uh for circulation, we had 124,100 or 55 books circulate. Um so if you were looking at ratios for every book that we own, they circulated approximately once. Um we also had 6,000 books on CD and music CDs circulate, 23,800 DVDs circulate. Um the other physical items, we had 1,900 items circulate. And for a ratio for that is about for every item we own that went out about eight times. So our other physical items are really popular. Um we had ebooks 25,47 and then e audio is 38,000. Um e audio has really been trending up every year and so that's been having a higher percentage than the ebooks every year for probably the last three or four years. And then um we also have e-erals which are our um online newspapers. We have newsbank where you can go and read the warton public opinion as well as

newspapers from around the country. And so we had 12,286 newspapers read by our patrons as well online. Um our events are very popular at the library. Um kind of broken down um you can see that children ages 0 to 11 we held 390 programs um with 6,274 attendees. The young adults we held 173 programs with 282 pro attendees. The adults we had 150 programs with 2516 attendees and general interest which is families altogether. Um that would be 41 programs held with,236 attendees. Uh the one-on-one programs which you might not know what that is. Um that is us proctoring tests. It's our daycare deliveries. It's our homebound deliveries to anyone who can't make it to the library. anytime we kind of interact one-on-one with a with a patron. And so that was 2,818. Most of that was actually homebound deliveries. We do a lot of those to people in the care facilities and people who can't really get to the library. And then here's just kind of a snapshot of all of our statistics together. It's one that we tend to share online after all of our reports are done. Um so on there we had 3.9 visits per capita. um reference questions or anytime somebody comes up and asks us for help um outside of where is the bathroom and how do I you know find this general location in the library. Um so we answered approximately 4,628 of those. Um we have 18 public computers and of those we had 591 sessions. That's every time somebody logs onto one of the computers in our library. And then we have 17,209 um Wi-Fi interactions. And so that is kind of a general overview of how our library did this year. If anyone has any questions.

Perfect. Thank you, Maria. Any questions or comments from the council. Ahead, Councilman Shy. Just being on the board, uh, I just want to thank you for your your leadership and the whole staff, everything that you guys do there. It's been a pleasure to see to have a more of a front row seat and how things go there and to see the attendance increase from last year to this year just with the all the libraries and trying to come up with new and creative ways for people to come and enjoy that public service. That's we're doing something right there. So, appreciate that. Allen,

uh I would also echo that. It's really impressive to me that, you know, you had over 91,000 visits and it's a tremendous asset for the community. Uh, not just for all the students and all the children that use it and so forth and the adults. I mean, it's really a huge asset. So, thank you for your leadership and your work. Very important. Thank you. And one thing I didn't mention since you mentioned the door attendance is that our attendance has actually gone up every year for the last three years. So, we're at a new peak. That's awesome. Council J

Maria, what are you seeing for trends in I know you mentioned some trending in this, but overall for people that don't use the library and wonder why we're funding things, why we're doing this, is it growing, why is it growing, but what are some trends that we're seeing that are maybe expanding what you guys are doing for the community?

Sure. Um some of the trends that we're seeing are um programming has become extremely important. People see the library much more as a social space than a place just to check out books. And so we've been really expanding on what we offer patrons and the different types and diverse programs that we're offering them. Um we keep trying new things like this spring we're trying ASL classes which we've never done before. So we kind of try to do a combination of fun with educational at the same time that's been bringing people in. Um, one of the other trends really is the growth of um, e audio books. Um, especially with adults because they're busy because we're have much more variety. Um, the number of people using adults using digital items has gone up. Um, children still prefer to have a print book in their hands. Um, so really more the digital trend is just primarily adults. Um, I'd say the third trend we've been seeing and it's been over the last 10 years so it's not recent is really that library of things. people who maybe aren't strong readers are finding reasons to come into the library for the different variety of items we can offer them. Maybe one-time use, things they want to try out before they buy. Um, on top of the educational experiences, we have zoo passes, concert tickets to the community series, um, just kind of things they maybe couldn't afford that they can then experience in the community. So, that's kind of been the three trends that we've been seeing. [laughter] Councilman Shetty.

So, Councilman Jern, back when we were in college, the libraries were just books, we thought, but now you can chuck out a ukulele there at the at the library. They got all kinds of library of things, it's called, and pretty cool.

Okay, thank you, Maria. Any other comments, questions for Maria? All right, thank you very much for that presentation. We're going to move right along here. Uh 9B is an authorization of to for the city manager to sign the 2025 annual municipal separate storm sewer systems report. We're going to go to city engineer Peterson to tell us more. Uh thank you acting mayor Peters. Uh each year the city must submit a report for MS4 activities in the MS4's uh the acron municipal separate storm sewer systems. Um the uh this year the the state performed an audit for the first time uh since its inception in 2004. Um there were a handful of items that they wanted us to improve on or or update which we have done already and it's reflected in the the report and I uh guess I'll stand by for any questions.

Sounds good. Uh we will need a motion for this one since it's an authorization. So I will need a motion. So first by Councilman Allen. I'll second. Second by Councilman Mormon. Uh questions, council. Seeing none, I guess I'm comfortable taking a vote right now. Is the mayor on line? Okay. So, we'll just do a voice vote. All those in favor, please say I. I.

Opposed? Same sign? Motion carries. All right. We're going to move on to 10A, contracts and change orders. Uh, this one is an approval of a bid award for the Fifth Avenue North reconstruction project number 253 to Site Works, Inc. in the amount of uh big number there. I won't repeat that. So, we're going to go to city manager uh Allen for more.

Thank you, acting mayor. Um, I'll also get some assistance from city engineer Peterson on this item. Uh, this is a a relatively large project. I I think we are reconstructing nine or 10 blocks of 15th uh Fifth Avenue North in 2026. Um this project was was designed in 2024 and it's being completed in conjunction with some planned uh municipal utility infrastructure that needs to be replaced. Uh the budget for this project was about 3.5 million. We had a very favorable bidding environment. We had 10 respondents to the bid on this award. Um the winning bidder was Site Works Inc. in the amount of 2,870,000 uh which was uh below both the in the budget and the engineers estimate. We uh as a staff recommend approval.

Sounds great. Thank you. On this item, here's how we're going to do this one. We do not need to open it up for public comment. So, what I'm going to do is ask for a motion to approve. We'll do council questions and discussion, then we'll pull up people from the uh the crowd. All right, we'll deviate. Mr. Pollson, why don't you come up and say a few words. We'll probably just keep it to a few minutes here, then we'll move on to a question. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, so I just wanted to Yes. I'm sorry. I'm not here to state your name. Paulson with J&J Earthworks.

Uh we were the second low bid on the project. Um and due to unfort unfortunate circumstances, uh we would have been the low bid had uh the procedure been followed and the procedure was not followed correctly. And we were not added to the plan holders list even though um there was a request made for that. And um that led to us not getting a quote from Concrete specifically, that would have saved $156,000 on our bid. Um and when I did more research into it, um I was informed that they did send it to all the primes on the planolders list. And so since we were not added to that planolders list, we did not get that quote. And after reviewing the numbers, um it was very evident that we would have been the low bid by over $40,000 on this project. So, um I do want to highlight that that um bidding procedure was not followed. And if we want um if we want true and and good uh bidding um procedures, um we don't think it was followed and and for that um we are asking that this not be awarded and either a uh it be rejected and uh rebid or um I mean we've had discussions with the engineer and and the city manager on this and we were hoping for a different result. But um I'm not here to beg for for you to award it to us obviously. But I do want to highlight that because it did affect who the low bid was on this project. Um,

and it's really unfortunate because we're local and uh you're going to be awarding if if you do approve this, it it's not awarded to a local contractor. And um with that combined with the fact that um bidding procedure was not followed correctly, um this could lead to other other um avenues to move forward. Thanks, Colin. So, what we're going to do here is we'll take a motion and then any council questions. We can we can call uh Mr. Pollson back up if there's questions for him. So, I would ask for a motion to approve. So, moved by Councilman Shuddy, second by Councilman Jury. Uh discussion council. Any questions? Councilman Mormon. Question for uh city engineer Justin Peterson. if you could just uh explain for um my own knowledge and for the general public's knowledge how a plan holders list is put together uh kind of what it is and who's responsible for making sure everybody's uh on that list or is notified of that list. the uh plan holders list is uh a collection of in information um from known plan holders I guess um just kind of share it's kind it's an optional um it's kind of a a service that that the city can provide. Uh we typically don't uh you know it's about a week before we t the week of the bid we really don't like to um release um new addendums or or plan holders list. We release the plan holders list with addendums most of the time and we don't like doing addendums uh

the week of that answer all your questions. Is it is it uh city staff that's responsible for getting that information out to the contractors or is it the engineering firm's responsibility to get that information of for the plan holders list out to the contractors that may be bidding? In in this project, we have a consultant and so the the uh folks that want to be on the plan holders should contact the consultant to be on there. Okay. Um, is our our consultant is that CDI? Yes.

Okay. Um, I would I would like to ask Colin Pollson a question if that's possible. Yep. Try to keep it short though. Yep. Yep. Ju just a quick question. Um, when you say the procedure wasn't followed, what would for all of our uh knowledge, what would be that specific procedure that should have been followed?

Um, yeah. So, if on the city website there's a bid page and then it has all the attachments at the bottom. And so, that's what we kind of use is [snorts] who's on the planer list, who should we reach out to if we need a quote um for the things that we don't do. So there there's only a I mean every contractor is different obviously, but like we would go on there and be like, "Oh, we really need a landscaping number or we think that this one's high." So we we would reach out to one on the planet's list if possible. Otherwise, we do our own research uh or kind of um reach out to different contract subcontractors that just do that too, especially local ones. Uh we do try to use local, but um on this specific one, I went to that page and it did say that the contact was um a city employee. Um and I had reached out for a different question, a general question, and then I just followed up with him because I was already on that page. I said contact. So that's what I did. Um got confirmation that that would be done and it was not done and so that led to us not getting this specific quote.

Yeah. One more follow.

One more quick followup. Um for our city attorney, is there legal ramifications that the city could face in a situation like this? Yes, but actually probably from the low bidder. Um, so I want to take this opportunity to just clarify some things. So our state statutes focus on properly providing the plans and specifications uh advertising publicly available available to everyone which is why we post them on the website. Um so this project complies with state law. So we this project was uh advertised as required by state statute. The plans and specifications were made publicly available to all interested contractors. Any contractor had the ability to obtain the plans and submit a bid. Um the planh holders list was a discretionary item. People were urged to be on the list but it wasn't a requirement. um mostly because some people don't have you don't have to be on the list if you don't want to be on the list. Um I think it's important to note which is why I say the risk is on the other side is that the low bidder wasn't on the list. So they complied with everything just as everyone because even the second lowest bidder obviously submitted a bid. Um, in this instance, it's not a statutory requirement and it wasn't a requirement of the bid package and it doesn't determine their eligibility to submit a bid. So that's why there has been compliance with state statutes. In this instance, a contractor requested to be added to the list, albeit three days before the bid opening. So this bid opening or this bid process had been open for quite a while.

The contractor submitted a bid without restriction. Uh the contractor was not the lowest bidder and the lowest responsible bidder was also not on the plan holders list. Um the opportunity to compete was open to all. No bidder was excluded from participating. All bids were publicly opened. This is also part of the statutory requirements that they're publicly open and evaluated according to the published criteria. That was also met. Now, if you were to reject the bids, and this goes into the, you know, risk that we take. So, under state statute, the city has the authority to reject any and all bids and readvertise if the bids are unsatisfactory. That wasn't the case here. We had nine biders and they all were responsible biders. If there is or so they can reject if and readvertise if it is unsatisfactory or if there is an evidence of an agreement amongst the biders to prevent competition and that wasn't the case here either. So there's no evidence of collusion, [clears throat] restricted competition, procedural irregularity. In other words, everything was met by staff, the firm that was hired to help all of that. We met all the statutory requirements. Um, so the law would require that we actually award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. Um, there's a concern that other biders, especially the low bidder, could reasonably question, why did I not get the bid when all of the statutory requirements were met? So that's why we are recommending that you uh accept the bid.

Thank you, city attorney. Um Councilman Shetty,

thank you, Deputy Mayor. Uh well, first off, just thank you, Mr. Pollson, for sharing because I I mean, I didn't take it lightly. I'm listening I'm listening to what you said, listening to city engineer, even Councilman Mormon. The questions you asked were things I was thinking myself. So, um, but I also appreciate city attorney Carico's, um, legal advice on this. So, I guess as I'm working through listening and processing this, I'm just I understand your concern just does it does it how does it affect our decision here um for this particular project? So, anyway, I appreciate chair.

Any other questions from the council? Councilman Mormon.

Uh not so much a a question but a comment. Um this is a perfect or this is an unfor unfortunate scenario where um I believe that city staff um failed Mr. Pollson and J&J Earthworks and having not advised them um or let them know of these other bids for them for J&J then to uh submit a bid that would have been a winning bid. I believe, you know, let the record show that uh our mistake on the city staff end cost the taxpayers 40 could potentially cost the taxpayers $4ome,000 that we could have been spending on other street department projects. So, you know, some errors we make are minor, some errors we make can be quite devastating.

Thank you, Councilman Mormon. Uh city manager Stagger, do you have something you want to add there? I'd add a couple of comments. I don't think an error was made on the part of the city staff at all. Uh city staff did their part and forwarded the request to be added to the planholders list to our consulting engineer. Our consulting engineer is available online and and in the council chamber here to to comment on the process at all. I I just I'd like to thank Mr. Pollson for raising the issue. Uh we did learn um we learned several things as part of this. This entire thing would have been eliminated uh if our consulting engineer just would have issued a new uh planholders list. It may or may not have impacted the outcome. For it to definitively impact the outcome, you'd have to assume that either J&J or the low concrete bidder came to a meeting of minds together and decided to work together on the project. That that's a big assumption that that would have happened. And and so as city attorney Carico has pointed out, the real disenfranchised partner party here would be the low bidder. if we were to reject these bids. We've spent quite a bit of time over the last several days trying to see if there was a technical irregularity in the tabulation of the bid or anything that we could look at to give the benefit of the doubt to the local contractor who we would love to do business with and we have other bid opportunities coming up. Um we just couldn't find it. Um, I I will invite uh uh Jeff Culie from uh Civil Design, Inc. to say a few words if he would choose to. Um, but from a staff standpoint, I do need to stand by the staff. This is not a a staff mistake.

Thank you, city manager. Well, hang on one second. You have a question? Okay. Anything you want to add? Come on in. Yep. State your name. Just make one last statement.

Let's let Jeff talk and then we'll come back. Jeff Kulie with Civil Design, Inc. Um, and so, uh, I guess a couple comments, uh, just for the the record, um, the procedure was not followed correctly, um, from the contractor standpoint of reaching out to the engineer of record for the project. Um so that was an an aspect that I think we just need to be clear in accordance with the bid documents which was referenced uh by city staffed but that that pro procedure wasn't followed. Uh secondly um during uh one of your statements it was mentioned about um getting the numbers from the um subcontractors. We don't have any part in that and that would be city uh CDI as well. um were unable to have that because that would effectively be the collusion which uh Lisa referenced earlier. So just those couple things that I want to make clear. Um as far as when we found out about the addition to the planh holders list that was on Tuesday which would have been about 24 hours before the bid opening. Um, and so from that aspect, um, I understand, uh, Allan, exactly where you're coming from, but I think there needs to be a little bit of forgiveness and and time to adapt, get it onto the website because that requires us to update it, get it back to city staff, and then get that uploaded to the website. and at the 11th hour which we were in um then it could be viewed the opposite of not all biders getting access to the updated plan set. So I think it was a very um tricky area um

for us to navigate at again the 11th hour. So, I think um we need to be uh understanding and I I completely understand uh the contractor's perspective. Um understand the questions being asked by the council. Um but there also needs to be reactionary time to make sure we're not making a mistake through the process. Thank you, Jeff. Colin, [clears throat] I know you've got some things you want to you want to add. Um I'm going to see if there's any questions for for Jeff first and we'll go back to you. Questions? Any other questions for Mr. Pollson? Okay, since we're on council discussion, uh we'll finish this out here with your comments.

Okay, thank you, Councilman Peters. Um I do want to point out that that's not true actually um what was just stated. Um I sent an email to our city manager um showing the details um exactly when that was made um the 5th and then they issued an addendum and a new plan holders on the 6th. We were not added to it. We were not added again the following Monday. Um our attorneys uh did look at this. Uh they do have a a slightly different uh take than your city attorney. um the plan holders list becomes a de facto bidding document because it is offered to everyone and because of every everyone's on that list that has requested to be there except for us um that becomes a deacto bidding document that is available to everyone and so when we're not on it after being requested to be on it um their take is is slightly different um than um Miss Carrick goes and and so be it. Um I don't want to go down that route, but I did send an email showing proof that it says right here contact person and it's a city employee. And then I also sent proof of when we made those requests to our city manager. Um and so what was being stated was not true. I just want to point that out. Um so I I guess um we I appreciate your time. I just wanted to point this out. Um, I made my request to you guys already, but um I've sent the proof. I've sent the I I've made my request and uh unfortunately Jamie and Jeremy cannot be here tonight um because they're out of town. But um

it's just an unfortunate circumstance and um yeah, it leads to Watertown losing tens of thousands of dollars over this and um it's just another action that it it really shows that there's no uh no loyalty the local contractors and keeping things local and and this isn't the only aspect And I will be back in the coming meetings um showing everything um how the city has has cost these taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions. Actually, I know it's millions. Um and so actions like this are just one thing, but I can prove and I have the proof that have shown that um actions taken from the previous city manager and assistant city manager and the previous councils have led directly to our our taxpayers losing a lot of money out of their own pockets and buying land, buying property, building houses, it all

count. Let's keep it relevant to this that I'm just saying this is related to that and you'll you'll you'll see in the coming meetings. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Appreciate that info. Uh Councilman Hoyer, sorry I I just it brought up a follow-up question. I'm sorry, Colin, if you wouldn't mind. Um the employee I don't need their name. I just want to verify the employee that you're referring that you reached out to, is it the one that was on the document for the point of contact? Yes, it was same one. Yes. Thank you. Any other questions?

I I have a question uh for Lisa. I've got a couple here. I'm just going to rattle them off. Uh is there any perceived conflicts that you see throughout this process that we need to be aware of before we vote between the staff and and the bid or any relationships? Oh. Um, for me, I guess I just, uh, found out recently, I don't mean that as a bad thing, it's just I had no idea. It just never occurred to me. Um, is that, uh, I believe that an employee that is at CDI is related to the city engineer.

And do you perceive that as a conflict for the council? No, because the processes of the like I said we still complied with state statute with regard to the entire uh bidding process and it's more about the contractors and what is given to them. Okay. Last question I have is were the bid laws followed from your point of view? Yes. Yep. Absolutely. Thank you. Uh any other questions before we do a vote? All right. Finance officer Bob Zane, please call the role for this. This is the the approval of this uh project to site it works inc. Mormon I

Jens I Peters I Allan I all in favor all in favor motion passes. Uh we are on to 13A. It's an approval of a resolution 26-05 requesting the South Dakota DOT hire civil design, Inc. to perform the 2026 bridge inspection services for the city of Watertown. We'll go to city engineer Peterson to tell us a little bit more.

Thank you, Councilman. Uh each year the city of Watertown recommends the DOT uh to hire a consultant to do bridge inspections. Um city has 13 structures that are staggered on alternate alternate years and this year we have five structures to be inspected as part of that program. Um that that makes the program makes city the city eligible for state and federal assistance uh to maintain those bridges. Uh c the city has used civil design inc past several years and again recommend using CDI for the 2026 bridge inspections. Uh, this program is uh 20% local local share, so it's estimated to cost uh about $1,600. Um, the contract itself is with the DOT. But with that, standby for any questions.

Sounds good. Thank you, Justin. I will need a motion for approval. So, move by Councilman Allen, second by Councilman Jirens. Questions for uh Justin or we do have Mr. Culie here again to answer any questions we might have.

Councilman Mormon. Uh, thank you, Councilman Peters. Quick question for city engineer um Peterson. As I'm reading through this, it says, "The resolution requests the city's desired consultant from the DOT list of approved firms. City staff reviewed RFPs from five qualified firms in 2022 and recommended via resolution that DOT hire Civil Design Incorporated in them." RFPs. My question is is was uh Civil Design Incorporated were they the low bid? I don't know. I I don't believe there was any any fees associated with those RFPs. Um the former city engineer was kind of in charge of that that process. So, I I don't recall um what was even in those RFPs at the time.

Okay. Uh follow up then with city attorney Lisa Carico. Um is there any legal ramifications if we're hiring somebody and not taking and not ensuring that we're taking the lowest bid? Not to my knowledge, but I I would need to know how the DOT is involved because it's my understanding that we're kind of hiring them through the South Dakota DOT. It's just that they need the recommendation from us as well, like approving the selection. So really, the agreement is going to be with the DOT and it seems like city finance officer has some comments as well. [laughter]

I'll just jump in. So when an RFP is done, an RFP removes the low bid requirement because it's a professional service. So then it allows more flexibility for us to pick um based off past relationship consistency. So that's the difference between an RF actual request. Okay. One other quick question for city engineer uh Peterson. Um, just for public disclosure, does your is your brother a project manager for Civil Design Incorporated? City engineer, do you wish to answer that? He is a project manager, but not for the bridge inspections. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Any other city manager stagger? I I just point out for the public, this is an $8,000 contract. Uh, the state share is 80%. So obviously we should assume that the state is in the driver's seat in terms of selection of the party. This is $320 per bridge structure in our community. I think the staff did the right thing without any conflict of interest and I fully stand behind them. Thank you. Any other comments or questions from the council? Councilman Hoyer.

Well, I'm just curious um with the history. Do we have history using this company? Have they been doing our other bridge inspections? And then would they then have that legacy of knowing where we're at with all our other bridges?

Yes, Councilman Hoyer. In fact, the uh Civil uh Design, Inc. was here about six weeks ago and gave a very detailed presentation on our bridge inspection process and our bridge inspection results. And that continuity of service year after year brings value not only to the city but it brings uh cost synergies to the uh professional firm conducting the bridge inspections. It's no different than when we look at a a financial audit of the city. We don't go out and find a new audit firm every year because quite frankly we couldn't afford that bill. Any other questions? All right, seeing none, finance officer Bob Janei, please call the role.

Orman, hi. Jirens, hi. Peters, I Allan, I. All in favor? Thank you. All in favor. That's going to pass. Uh, we will move on to 13B. It's an approval of a resolution 26-06, a resolution of intent to enter into a lease agreement with Lyall Both DBA uh LNJ Farms and Ranch for city-owned re real estate. It says I can go to either Ian or Allen. So, let's go with Mr. Merryweather. Tell us more.

Good evening, Councilman. Uh so, this went out for RFP in November. Um and we was selected in December. Um, now this isn't the actual lease, but just the ability to enter into lease with LJ Farms. But this will bring um substantial revenue that is desperately needed um from departing from just hanging the land, but farming a mix of farming and hay as well. Very good. Thank you. Uh we'll need a motion for approval. So moved by Councilman Allen, second by Councilman Mormon. Any questions for Ian? Seeing none, we'll do a voice vote. All those in favor, please say I.

I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you, Ian. We'll go on to 13C. It's an approval of resolution 2607. This is an intent to enter into a lease agreement with Andy Wick for city-owned real property located at the Watertown Regional Airport. We'll go back to you. Uh, this is just a continuation of Watertown Motor Ford Company's hanger lease that he Mr. Andy Wick is assuming. Very good. Motion for approval for this item. Councel. Motion by Councilman Shetty. Second by Councilman Mormon. Any questions for Mr. Merryweather? All right. Comfortable with the voice vote. All those in favor, please say I.

I. Oppos? Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Ian. All right. We are up to 14, which is city council member announcements and introduction of topics for future discussion. Is there anything council has? Councilman Mormon,

just a couple quick shout outs. Um, and then one question. Uh, I just want to say congratulations to Dan O Marine, uh, Randy Sherman and his staff. They were, uh, they were a top 25 Ranger boat dealer for the whole nation last year. So, we just want to wish them a congratulations. Uh, local business. Um, and then the other other shout out I have is for a young young uh gentleman here in Watertown by the name of Jacob Bich. Uh, he earned his Eagle Scout uh, status. So, we want to congratulate him and when you achieve that rank, Eagle Scout rank, um, that's definitely a title that goes with you for the rest of your life. So, congratulations to him. Very well earned. A lot of work goes into that. And then just one quick question. I'm starting to get a lot of uh questions from constituents asking about uh roads that are going to be fixed and you know going into this summer. And I'm just curious for the public's uh own knowledge. Um and this question is for city engineer Peterson, what would be a rough estimate of how much one block to mill and overlay with asphalt would cost? a lot.

Yeah. And the reason why I asked this is, you know, sometimes you feel like you feel field so many questions about roads that people think we can pave the entire town every year, but it'd be kind of interesting to have kind of a number of what what kind of money we're looking at per block. I'm drawing the blank of what the mill and overlay costs are. I uh the estimate for a full reconstruct is roughly 320,000. So, it'd be less than that. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Justin. Anyone else? Any topics? City manager report.

I have a a couple of things to share this this week. Um, as mentioned, we have some tax increment financing districts coming forward for approval. We have two on the planning commission agenda for this Thursday, February 19th. uh one is for the uh Oaks 2 in East Watertown and the other one is for the Dakota Commons Reserve. The the process will be uh those tax increment financing district boundaries will be considered by the planning commission as well as the overall plan. The planning commission will make a recommendation to the city council and all of you will review that recommendation and and either ratify it or deny it. um at the meeting on March 2nd. The next point I have uh we are planning uh to enhance our communication within the city in two two ways. Uh number one, uh beginning in March 11th, we'll have a special media event uh where staff and and selected officials will be able to present our public safety statistics to the media um all at one time. and and we will hold that here. Um, also around communications, many of the uh variety of communications that you maybe have received in the past from either the fire department or police department or park and wreck or from city hall that come from different people and different email channels will now all be coming from a single source through our PIO. They'll be coming from communications at watertown uh sd us. So, we're consolidating those communications into one point. Um, I'll make a call again for volunteers for boards and commissions. I know I keep each meeting

pointing out the fact that there's a a button on the center of our website. Uh, we still have not had very many people come in, so I'd offer this. If uh people are struggling with the website, they should feel free to call city hall and we will make sure they get on the list as well. And and just finally, I won't go into the detail, but we're we're cover we're following several pieces of legislation that are going through uh the the legislature this session that have some impact on cities and I'd be happy to answer any any questions you might have on legislation that you have heard of. Sounds great. Thank you, Al. Any questions for Mr. Stagger? Okay, seeing none, there's no need to go into executive session. So I would look for a motion to adjurnn. So moved by Councilman Shetty, second by Councilman Mormon. All those in favor, please say I.

I. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you and got