City Council - Regular Meeting

call to order for a Watertown City Council meeting for April 6th of 2026. Please rise while Hank Roso, chaplain for Watertown Fire Rescue, leads us in prayer. Thank you, our heavenly father. As we come to you this evening, we are so grateful to you, oh God, that even as you watch over our troops over in Iran and astronauts on the other side of the room, you're not spread too thin that you can't watch over us tonight. So, we thank you for your kindness to our community and these leaders and each one as we uh come together, we pray for wisdom and insight. And Lord, our hearts are so thankful for the first responders that take care of us, protect us, watch over us. each one of these here tonight and their leadership talent and the time they invest in in us. We thank you for these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Finance Officer Bob Ze, please call the role. Okay. Peters here. Shetty here. Allan absent. Here. Colleen here. Mormon here. Durance. I see. Please let it be noted that Councilman Jurns is here. Thank you.

So, all right. Thank you. Is there any conflict of interest anyone would like to disclose? I don't see any. We'll take action to approve the agenda. Can I get a motion?

Motion made by Councilman Peters, seconded by Councilman Mormon. Any discussion on that hearing? None. The motion is to approve the agenda. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Motion carries. We're on to open forum. Is there anyone who would like to address the council on something that is not on the agenda? I'll close open forum. We'll go right into presentations and reports. We have an old friend of ours here tonight, former councilman, current state senator Glenn Vilhower is going to talk to us on a presentation on the last legislative session. Welcome back, Councilman. Well, Senator, sorry.

Thank you, mayor. It's always good to come back here among friends. Kind of a homecoming uh week for for me whenever I stop by her. So, uh, thanks for having me. I promise I'll keep it short. Uh, I know I've been in your side of it, uh, many years that, uh, you want these presentations to be kept short. So, I'll do my best unless unless somebody brings up a bunch of questions. Uh, last Monday was the last day of the legislative session. It was veto day. So, uh, uh, we are officially done now for, uh, this last session. I kind of jokingly say that we did enough damage for one year, so they send us home now. And, uh, Reed, you're smiling there, so you act like you know what I'm talking about. And uh uh so uh it was challenging. Uh there's no doubt about that. I think anybody out there would would agree to that. Uh just as for for example, there were six about 600 bills that were introduced. Uh and that's the most since 1998. And of those of those 240 made across the finish line were signed by the governor. So you can see that there were a lot of bills that just didn't cut muster with uh uh the legislature out there and fell by the wayside for one reason or the other. So, uh, but 240 did cross the finish line. I just want to highlight a few bills that I think, uh, uh, as members of municipality, uh, city council staff, etc. want to be aware of and probably already are. I know throughout the course of session, uh, Alan Stagger and I would would communicate back and forth at on occasion as far as a bill coming up. You know, what's your thoughts on this, Allen? And so, anyway, uh, but I will touch on a few that I think might be of some interest. Uh, first I'm going to hit on I also want to put a plug in with Southakota Municipal League. I tell you what, they do a very nice job of of monitoring what is going on out there and keeping us as legislators uh in tune. And I know we get that Municipal League magazine all the time and probably flip through and throw in the garbage. Well, I tell you what, there's some good information there and they did a very nice recap of of bills that

affected municipalities this last session. But I'll just hit a few of those now. Uh probably the one that I think has some real promise for for something like for a community like Watertown or any municipality would be House Bill 1245 which allows for a capital projects tax. Uh Kristen, you're nodding your head. You must be somewhat aware of it obviously. Uh you think about the uh the options uh that we that we tried a number of times to build the county jail, for example. Tried something along those same line. Well, the the capital projects tax is a tax that again uh we a city could levy an extra up to extra 1% sales tax uh designated for a specific project and then once that money is collected the project uh gets taken care of uh that that uh you know it now it then stops. So I think it's it was something that it was kind of a novel idea and a number of different times it was attempted in some fashion out there. So I think this is something that does have some possibilities uh if you are looking at uh you know a project for a municipality. So I think that one's got some some uh prospects going forward. Uh one that I was involved in u I got uh I got involved through our our fire chief Don Roland that was I'll call it it's a carryover from the bathroom bill last year. If you remember, the bathroom bill uh requires that uh it was p primarily designated for schools where students use the bathroom of the gender at that they were born at. Well, there was some parts of that thing of that bill in in later in the later part of the uh language that I think kind of unintended consequences. one would have affected fire fireplace or you know fire uh departments that have uh you know opened sleeping areas such as uh we aren't we are we were okay here in water

but I know Sou Falls had some real issues with that. So this is kind of a closing of that loophole that specifically stated that uh we that did not intend to uh get fire departments and police departments uh as part of that bill. that I think that was a good move uh that we got that we got through um going into the session. I think there was boy Allan you might know better 11 or 12 different bills that were attacking tiffs in some form or another. The point that if those bills would have passed probably would have rendered tiffs almost unusable or or just not of any merit and by a tiff a tax increment financing. I think at the end of the day uh there was some some good compromise done that the the bills were boiled down into one bill uh that really passed pretty easily once it was the compromise would reach. So I think the tiffs survived for the most part uh and you're nodding Allen so I I think you would tend to agree because we communicated on that. So that was good for Watertown because we have take advantage of tiffs over the years and hopefully will continue going forward. So I think that was some a a good bill that came through. Uh there was a bill that provided 5 a.5 million of funding uh for victims of crime act what we called VOCA that directly benefits a Beacon Center here in town. So that was something that was not part of the governor's original prop uh budget proposal. Uh but that that came through. The Beacon Center will see some uh uh benefit from that. Uh Senate bill u I'm just going to rattle off a few more here. Senate Bill 46 had to do with um making sure that your agenda was little that your agendas tell people what is going to be discussed at a meeting. So you might have to expand and maybe expound a little more on your agendas uh that you're putting out there for open meetings. Um Senate Bill 47 kind of a counter, you know, kind of a partner to

that had to deal with executive session issues. Um Lisa, I'm sure you'll be involved in that. It expands the use of executive sessions a little bit. Uh trying to also curtail some abuses in executive sessions. So I think overall it's probably some good changes. You'll probably see some some tweaking of that as you have a need to go into executive session or considering it going forward. Um House Bill 10:30, for example, has to do with timing of elections to fill open seats that might that might occur within a a council, for example. uh some provisions that that deal with, you know, how we fill those open seats. Um, Senate Bill three, I think that I'm looking at looking at Brandy now over there. Senate Bill 3 has to do with permitting. Uh there were some uh changes in the per as far as what would require permits uh when a when a project is being undertaken uh in a you know a house for example that re reduces some of the things or eliminates some of the things that required a permit in the past. I think there are some mixed feelings on that probably within this own body here. uh it's probably going to cause some loss of revenue, but I think in general it was probably a good change that would help facilitate some some minor uh improvements on a a house, for example. Um so with that, you know, I rattled off a number of bills here uh that I'm sure you'll get there's probably going to be some sessions dealing with, you know, with the municipal league uh throughout the course of summer and get more information on this, but uh uh these were some of the bills that I felt like probably impacted municipalities the most. One thing that concerns me uh that I've seen the last couple years now is trying to tie the hands of local bodies such as councils, school boards, county commissioners, and take some of the control away at the local level, those that know what's going on best, uh and

trying to put it in the hands of of the legislature or, you know, putting it in state in state statute. That concerns me a little bit. So, I I hope we can continue to maintain the control that we need as a local body as we're going forward. Um, and something else I want to stress that it is so important to have good collaboration between all factions of of a of a city, and I'm talking city council, I'm talking county commissioners, I'm talking school board, talking legislative people, that we all need to work together and be in the same page uh for the best interest of the, you know, the the the city that we're looking at. Um, so with that, I I'll kind of cut it short and if you have any questions, I'll open up for questions if you have anything uh for me. If not, I appreciate your time here tonight. And thank you, Senator. And I will allow any questions if anyone does have one. I do have one, which is the state legislature did take action on something that Watertown was a trailblazer on, which is the THC infused drinks, did they not? What happened there is, you know, when I when last time I was before this body, which is back in early January before session started, um I I had a bill that was proposed uh that that did get proposed. At the same time, the attorney general introduced almost an identical bill just a few words different. It was actually a little bit stronger uh than the bill that I had proposed and and that one did pass. Now, is that going to be the final word we see on this as the chemistry changes on some of these on some of these uh products? Uh but but that's what became of the of what you're referring to, Mayor. Uh and the attorney general, I kind of stepped aside and let you know ran with with their let him run with his bill then. Uh because that did that did pass.

Thank you. And I know you're on appropriation, so you definitely earn your salary. Does anyone have any questions for Senator Vilhower? All right. Thank you very much. And thank you for your time and look forward to seeing you in the future. All right. Thank you. Item 10A is an approval of a bid award for the 2026 Park and Recreation Improvements 14th Avenue Northeast project 2607 to Beyond Concrete Incorporated in the amount of 125,928. We will go to our city manager, Alan Stagger, for more information.

Thank you, mayor. I am filling in for our city engineer this evening. He he had to be absent. Uh I also have support from park and recck director Dusty Rodic if you've got specific questions on the next four items. The first item before you is a concrete trail um bid award and it's to improve the trail system on 14th Avenue Northeast. uh a stretch of trail that begins at 19th Avenue East. And we recommend approval of this. It is slightly below budget and came in at just under 126,000. Thank you, city manager. Council, can I get a motion to approve this bid award? Motion made by Councilman Peters, seconded by Councilman Hoyer. Council, any discussion? Councilman Hoyer. Uh just for clarity uh with this piece of trail that's going is it going to be directly abuing the roadway or are we creating some separation?

I believe there's some separation but we can bring up park and wreck director. Director Rodic. Okay. Oh, and Matt, I can't remember your official title. Full official title. uh parks and forestry superintendent. Okay, thank you. Uh this one would be it's close to the to the road, but due to the utilities being there, it will not be directly next to the orb. So is there grass separating it from the actual roadway? Okay, great. Um not not all of it, but it's pretty much if you look at it right now, it'll be close to the

Sure. I haven't been out there to it. The reason I just bring it up is purely for safety concerns. We often bring them up as a council. Um, currently as it stands, many of our trails do go directly next to major roadways. Uh, we don't have ballards or anything that separate them. I would ask that as we move forward, maybe we consider some ways of mitigating that risk of pedestrian traffic alongside vehicular traffic. Yep. This will still be up on a curb or up above the curb. Um, I'm just bringing it up just because there are sections of 14th, not specifically this one, but that do tuck down into the roadway. So, just as we go forward. Thank you, Councilman. Any other questions? Councilman Morman.

Uh, just a quick question. Um, it says it starts at 19th and it's kind of got a shaded area here. Does it does it run all the way to 27th Street? Then it would go from 14th Avenue and 19th Street. It'll go east to the entrance of Eastwoods, the where the trail goes south into Eastwoods Park.

Okay. Okay. The only reason why I asked is because I know like like the portion from uh 27th Street, then coming back to the west to where then it goes through the drainage ditch, Eastwoods Park. Um I think that's pretty new, but it's rough bad. So, I was just curious how far it went from the intersection of 14 and 19th. Yep. It would meet up with what was overlaid last year. Thank you. Any other councilman would like to talk? Hearing no one. The motion is to approve the bid award. All those in favor will say I oppose. Nay. Officer Bobsine. Okay. Peters. Hi. Shuty. Hi. Hyer. Hi.

Pen. Hi. Morman. Hi. Durren. We'll give him a moment, but would you say motion passes? Item 10B is an approval of a bid award for the 2026 park and recreation improvements project 2609 to Austream Excavating. I got that right. I think that's

LLC in the amount of $182,000. City manager stagger. I will actually address this item along with item C as well. Um, these two items involve a project to do asphalt paving, uh, refurbishment of various trails as well as paving some areas in Mount Hope Cemetery that are not currently paved today. And so what you'll see in item B is the initial bid award. This initial bid award for the scope of work bid came in um substantially under budget and typically in the past what you would see on these is you would award the bid award and then some months in the future staff would bring you a change order. What we've done in this case is we're actually bringing you the change order upfront along with the bid order uh bid award to extend these quantities so that you have a chance to give an opinion on the entire scope of the project. So similar to the concrete award, the trail improvements are at various sections in the north central and northeast part of Watertown primarily and then the Mount Hope Cemetery. This year we we have scoped out the gravel roads on the west side of the cemetery uh to pave those that have not been paved before. We may not get all of the gravel roads paved within this year's budget, but we will make a substantial uh substantial improvement to that newer section of the cemetery. I'll stand by for any questions. And again, staff is here as well to address any questions you might have.

Thank you. Council, can I get a motion to approve? Motion made by Councilman Hoyer, seconded by Councilman Shetty. Open it up for discussion. Council, I will grant you the leniency to ask about both B and C if you would like. Any questions? I'd just like to say thank you for the work at the cemetery. I know that it actually gets used quite a bit, not just for funerals, but a lot of people go there for walking, running, whatever. So, all right. Hearing no questions, I feel comfortable with voice vote. All those in favor of approving this bid award, please say I. I.

Any oppose say nay. Motion carries. On to item 10 C, which is an approval of a change order for the 2026 park and recreation 26 project 22 2609 in the amount of 147,000 roughly $148,000 for a new contract price of $330,000 roughly. City manager Stagger any new on this one? I have nothing else to add on this one. Council, can I get a motion to approve this change order? Mot motion made by Councilman Peters, seconded by Councilman Mormon. Any discussion, council, Councilman Hoyer.

Um, on this one, this has that highway 212 section, correct? I believe it does. Okay. Um, where is that? Is is that adding on in that area, Mr. Bransard? Uh, the 212 one would be where Days In starts. I call it the Walmart intersection. Okay. Um where days in starts going east to the road that would go up Mickelson Drive or the road into the Redland Art Center. Okay. Very very few know there is a trail there, but it's in pretty rough rough shape.

Didn't um just cuz you know I've utilized some of those ones out there too. And then the one on 14th Avenue. Where's that section? That would be by the Olive Place House. It would be the water tower and we would go down the hill to the railroad tracks. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Any other questions? Since that was just a clarification question, I feel okay going to a voice vote. All those in favor of approving this change order, please say I.

I. Any oppose say nay. Motion carries. Item 10D is an approval of change order number one for the Stokes Thomas Lake City Park drainage project 2528 to level contracting LLC in the amount of $57,000 roughly for a new contract price of $136,000. City Manager Stagger.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh this is a project that the council may uh remember a couple of months ago was awarded. We had quite a bit of discussion about the uh drainage system planned for Stokes Thomas Park. Um at that time, you might also recall that we were substantially below the budget level in the bids that we had received back. Um staff has taken the opportunity to address some of the questions that were raised at a prior council meeting and have confirmed uh with project engineer as well as the contractor that the system as designed is is believed to be the right solution. Uh there was one minor change which was to change some perforated pipe to a solid pipe in certain areas of the project but that was uh relatively minor in terms of scope and budget impact. The main impact that you will see through this change order is demonstrated on the map that accompanies the item. And we have been able to extend the area to include more camping spaces. I think there's about 12 or 15 additional camping spots that we are able to to complete uh with this budget in 2026 that ordinarily if we push this off to another year, we wouldn't receive the same prices since we already have a contractor mobilizing for twothirds of the project. I will stand by for any questions and again staff is also here if needed.

Thank you, city manager. Can I get a motion to approve the change order? Motion made by Councilman Shetty, seconded by Councilman Peters. Council, Councilman Shetty, just have a question on the timing, I guess. What's the timeline of the project? When they expect to possibly start and then also how long does it take? Is it does it affect camping spots where there won't be some camping for a while or just just how does that affect the the whole campground? I guess I believe I know the answer, but I'll have uh Mr. Rodic answer director. Thank you.

Yeah. So, what is this something they're going to be doing in the spring? And also, how long does it take and what how does it affect the campers that are there and reservations and all that? Councilman Hoyer.

Um I'm just curious. Do we know what the scope of the work kind of looks like for landscape impact? Um is there a lot of displaced earth? Is it primarily just going to be kind of like when they put in cable utilities where you just kind of cut a hole and place it in? And then just wondering do we have any extra measures we can take to just for any type of erosion control since it is next to the lake. We have had some history with development along the lake where we have some problems with that. Just making sure we do anything extra that maybe could mitigate that.

Typically they do, but we have seen that not put up in a timely fashion and we've seen it not actually follow through on. So, I just want to make sure do we have things in place? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Motion is to approve this change order. All those in favor will say I oppose. Nay. Officer Bobsine. Okay. Peters. Iman. Hi. Durens.

Hi. Motion is unanimous in favor. Motion carries. Item 13A is an approval of a resolution designating the district boundaries and adopting the project plan for tax increment financing district number 23. City Manager Stagger.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, this tax increment financing district is similar to the other two that uh have been before you in in recent months. Uh this particular plan uh is a tax increment district being created. Uh the Harmony Hill edition that was recently approved and the second part of the Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony Hill edition that was recently annexed in and zoned. Um this will be for single family houses in this particular plant. It is uh for up to 40 houses. As you consider your deliberations in this tiff, I would ask you to maybe consider three topics. The first is the district boundaries um that that is proposed for this particular development to ensure that the development of single family residential structures fits within um fits within this designation and I will point out that the planning commission also considered this um boundary designation and voted unanimously to approve it. Secondly, we can talk about the numbers involved in the tiff. The tiff plan includes the developers valuation of of the uh uh postdevelopment properties as well as the project costs that are eligible for the tiff and the developer is showing that there will be sufficient tax increment generated in a 20-year period of time to recover the amounts expended on eligible infrastructure. And third, and finally, um, it asks that in your deliberations, you consider whether or not the improvements in this tiff district will enhance the general economic welfare of the area. Um, in the

past you have considered housing projects and recognized that we have a need for housing um, in support of workforce development in the community and as such you you have concluded that a housing project does improve the general economic uh, welfare of of the area. I can stand by for any questions. I believe we might also have um a representative from Collier's online with us to walk us through the tiff plan as well.

And I would welcome public testimony. First, I'm going to get a council motion to approve the resolution. Motion made by Councilman Hoyer, second by Councilman Peters. Is there someone who would like to testify on this item? I know that there's some people in the audience and maybe online. Otherwise, you can stand by and answer questions. And while I recognize you and you're both good friends of the city, uh, just please identify yourself for the people watching. Oh, and the red light should go on. There we go. Thank you. Are we on? Okay. Joy Nelson Hogan Nelson really and on the board of directors out at Harmony. I'm

Michael Claude, a strategic adviser to the Mother of God Monastery, also on the board of directors. I think it's no secret that workforce housing is is much in demand and for what the Harmony Hill development has contributed, you know, to the city in Watertown and will continue to. The housing development up there is critical and much needed by, you know, by the city of Watertown. I think as you look at that tiff, it's kind of a textbook tiff. I mean, this is just exactly what tiffs were designed for and will really enhance the city of Water Thompson. I just add you know with the housing committees and housing conference it also hits a number of goals that the community's identified will be a blessing to have that and long-term with this the whole campus as it develops continue the blessing for the community in terms of tax revenues will continue to be enhanced but uh on behalf of the sisters we thank you for your consideration.

Thank you very much. Would anyone else like to testify? Say Mayor Toby Morris with callers if I may. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity to teams on in. I think uh as with consistent with the other tips that you have done, this is not a liability on the city by any means. It's a pass through. The developers taken the 100% responsibility of any debt that's incurred with that. Um, you know, we've done to our best ability with the projections as we've seen this year with the legislature allowing to modify u sales tax to reduce the county's uh owner occupied could have some potential impact. We don't know what that's going to be. We're still trying to study that. But at the end, I think um uh what what Harmony has done out there uh it may not fit the belief the religious belief of the sisters, but I would love to clone them to put them in other communities. So, it's a it's just a super wonderful project.

Thank you very much, Mr. Morris. Anyone else like to testify? Okay, I'll close public testimony, but keep you open for any questions from the council. Council, any questions, comments? Councilman Hoyer. Um I was just wondering, so I'm looking at some of the renderings right now. Um first, I appreciate the scale. They look much more reasonable than some of the homes we see that kind of get pitched as affordable housing. I'm kind of curious in your models that you're doing. What is kind of your average square footage that you're proposing for these affordable homes? And you have a target price point you're trying to hit? And just please identify yourself.

Yeah, Seth Frier. I'm with, excuse me, SEI Development. Um, so to to your first question, right now are them houses range anywhere from 736 square ft all the way up to 1,400 square ft. Um, price ranges. We we were tasked by the sisters to keep those houses at 300,000 and less. So, we did that with an economy of scale being able to push these out. Um I foresee the 1100 square foot that 10 1089 probably being a very popular option. Um and within those what we did is we created three different structures under that square footage. We did that with all of them to try to break that up so that community looks quite different. Um, and then 1400. Some of them do get a little bit beyond that 300, but we wanted to keep those just so that that way if somebody in the community would approach and say that they have a a budget that's bigger than that, we'd be happy to accommodate them and be able to get them something.

Followup. Um, so first off, I agree with the comments that the sisters have really done so much with this development to try and do positive, lasting things that have a good legacy. Um, I warn you that with the public, they'll see that $300,000 number and you'll probably see comments. Um, are you aiming any lower than that? Yes, absolutely. I I know that's the cap you're kind of shooting for, but No, absolutely. So those those 736 square footers will come in at about 160,000.

Beautiful. And then that 1089 um there's actually one currently for sale in Hatai that we just did build and that one's listed at 274. Okay. So um most of them will actually hit fairly well under 300,000. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Peters.

Yeah, just make a few comments here. Um, kind of piggybacking off of what Joy said, just to put it on the record here for the public because I know tiffs have fallen under scrutiny here in in recent months, this is a very well-ritten tiff and I'm just going to rattle off some examples of why that is. And number one that stands out to me as a council person is that the city's not guaranteeing the payment. So if the developer falls short or this isn't assessed appropriately, we don't get left holding the bag as a city. So I think that's a very important note for the public to know. And then number two here is they're only requesting dollars that are for infrastructure. So nothing vertical. It's just the sewer and and things like that that are needed to hook up this development. So to to take what Joyce said, this is exactly how they should be written. And I just wanted to put that on the record for the public. This is a good thing for the community and to drive down the cost that Councilman Hoyer is talking about. This is the tool that's needed to make sure that those costs stay low. So thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Any other comments? Welcome back. Oh, just make sure the red light is on. There we go. Got it. Yeah. Okay. I just want to make another comment on the dollar amounts that Seth had just shared with you. Being in the real estate business, these are the people that are calling me that I cannot accommodate and um I have nowhere to put them um other than a rental. This is their opportunity to be able to have home ownership. and we worked really hard to get those numbers down to where they would be affordable for families. So, we were really happy with the numbers that we came back with. So,

thank you. Any other comments, council? I'd just like to echo some of the comments from my councilman who spoke before me. Just to say I know that we've seen this development come forward so often in the last year and a half, two years that it's easy to take for granted and we should not. It is a wonderful development that is going to do great things for Watertown and I applaud the council of the city and uh especially the sisters and the people the good people that they have working with them. So thank you for that. The motion is to approve the resolution. All those in favor will say I oppose. Nay. Finance officer Bob Zen please call the role. Peters. Hi. Shut

mo

motion carries unanimously. Item 13B is an approval of resolution providing for the repeal of certain capital expenditure appropriations and allowing for the carryover of other capital expenditure appropriations from the 2025 fiscal year budget as authorized by the home rule charter. Finance officer Bob Zen, please tell us more. Okay. Thank you, mayor. Each time during month of April, I reach out to all departments. Um, we review last year's budget and any projects or equipment that was either started, not finished, and we need to carry those budget dollars forward. Um, this is allowed for in home rule charter. Um, before you as a resolution that breaks it down based off of the fund. Um, everything is kind of in order on this one. I won't go into the detail on each item, but if there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you. Thank you, council. Can I get a motion to approve? Motion made by Councilman Shetty, seconded by Councilman Mormon. Any questions or comments, council? Hearing none, I feel okay going to a voice vote. All those in favor of this resolution, please say I.

I. I.

Any oppose, say nay. Motion carries. Any city council member announcements or introduction for topics for future consideration? Councilman Mormon. I would just like to thank the street department um and uh their superintendent Rob Bean and I had a chance to work at the street department today, shadow those guys. Um what a wonderful opportunity. What a wonderful group of uh uh guys and gals um that work over there and I just really appreciate um them letting me do that. And I I would just like to say as we look at building a new street department building, um I had an opportunity today to really see firsthand how much we need it and how much they need a very large amount of floor space and a place to clean their equipment. And I don't think any one of us if we owned our own business um excavating business, earthworks or whatever, the amount of equipment and how valuable that stuff is that the city of Watertown has just sitting outside because they don't have room to put it inside. Um if we were a private business, there's no way we would let that many millions of dollars and that many piece of equipment um just sit outside. So I there is a huge need for a street department building. Um and I know we are working on that. Um but boy, when you when you spend a day working with uh that crew, you really see that need. And so I just want to say thank you for that. Uh thank you for city manager Stagger for that opportunity too. And um I would encourage any of my colleagues to uh to do that also. Um it was really really really fun day. And then the only other thing I had, um, just a quick question

because this is an issue that as long as the street is closed in front of County Fair Foods, um, the public is going to be pretty antsy about it. I just have a quick question. I know city engineer, um, Justin Peterson is not here, but a a quick question if I could get some clarification with the street closure over there right now. If I look at ordinance 18.20003, I'll just read that out loud. Um, permit to place items on streets or in rideways. It states, "The city engineers authorized to grant permission to any person to deposit and keep dumpsters, building materials, contractor trailers, or other approved items in any public street, road, or alley for the requested period of time not exceeding six consecutive months. But such permission shall not excuse the obstruction or occupancy with such item of more than 1/ half the width of any sidewalk or more than 1/ half the width of any street, road or alley or placing of such item in such a way as to impede the free flow of water, side gutters, etc. It goes on just a little bit. My question is as we have a road that is completely closed off, um where where is that option then in relation to where other ordinances say they can only close off half the street?

City manager, would you like to take that?

I I'll take it and I'll get some assistance from the city attorney as well. um when it's necessary for the completion of a project and for public safety, we can order the street completely closed. And in this case, a permit was issued for up to the six-month period of time. And in working with the developer, it was concluded that in this case, they need the complete street closure to complete the project. uh portion of the project that isn't visible yet, but will be real soon, is the next phase involves bringing in a 100 ton truck crane. That crane has a footprint in in excess of 30 ft wide. Uh just with the crane, not even including the amount of materials that need to be staged alongside of it. And so in his authority, the the city engineer has issued the permit for up to six months.

Okay. What uh what is the end date on that? Do you know by chance?

The end date on the permit is the 31st of May. Um and by the 31st of May, the paving that has been ripped up on the street also needs to be repaired. Um as soon as possible though, there are two street closure plans that are documented as part of the permit. One is a complete closure which we have essentially been in. The second one is a plan that opens up two lanes, one in each direction of travel as soon as permissible to do that. And the the key to permitting that is the repair of the street cut. Okay. So basically, if the public asks, we can feel comfortable giving them a a hard end date of May 30th. May 31st is a hard date.

Okay. Okay. Thank you, Councilman Hoyer.

I got a couple things. Um, city just put this out 10 hours ago, but I'd love to just kind of shout out and highlight it a little bit more for residents. But the relief program kicked off and so starting April 24th, residents can get up to $100 back for planting one of the approved trees per property through the Relief Watertown program. I I really recommend you do it. It's an opportunity to get some trees up. Um, we've had contention with some coming out. Um, this is a good opportunity to get some back in. And I always feel that trees beautify a community, especially when we live in a flat plane that doesn't have a lot of them. So, it's the one thing that makes us stand out over North Dakota. So, let's take advantage of it. More trees for us. Um, on top of that, uh, some topics for future discussion that I'd like to see us maybe look at is potentially a ban on glass bottles in public spaces. I think that would be very helpful. In many of the downtown parking lots that are utilized kind of around some of our bars, there's just a lot of litter that happens with glass. Typically, they shatter. It's a hazard for vehicles, um, hazard for pedestrians. I'd like to see us maybe examine that. Um, other communities have done similar things. It's not banning glass bottles period. It's just in those public spaces because it is more difficult to clean that up than it is to pick up an aluminum can. Um, on top of that, just seeing if we because it came up on that 14th Avenue section of trail. Um, if we have any options and retrieve was also or relief was mentioned as well, but maybe looking at some options for putting some trees along the drainage area that's down there along that trail path. Um, it should help with some of the water mitigation that occurs down there anyway, but then it would also help beautify that area a little bit because right now it ends up looking a little sloohish. And so this would assist that and just give it a little more break up like other sections of our trails have and it's not terribly expensive to do. Um, and then just because we're coming into road repair

season and you made me think of it, Councilman Mormon, um, maybe there's um, some different ways we can look at some of the stuff we do. I know a lot of citizens often have feelings about potholes. Um whether each spring we kind of consider doing something like a pothole task force or a competition amongst crews to see who can fill the most and then there's some sort of incentive for that hard work that they put in. See who filled the most. Um just something to kind of lien it up and competition never hurt anybody. So I thought that'd be a fun way to maybe look at incentivizing us to identify some more. Maybe it gets them moving a little quicker too. Who knows? Maybe we look at some of the new modern tech for repairing potholes because I don't know the last time we took a hard look at some of the options that might be out there. I feel like there's some simple ones that you can get it done in a shorter amount of time than kind of some of our older techniques and what that looks like and maybe I just don't know some of the things we do too. But that's all I had. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other councilman would like to any topics? All right, city manager. Anything to report? Yeah, I would just like to announce that uh the finance department has received notification that they've received the government finance officers association award again for excellence in financial reporting. I think this is well over 30 years 43 years that we have received uh received this recognition. I have nothing else to report. I'd just add something. It's kind of like what we said about the development with the sisters. It's easy to take it for granted because you get it every year, but job well done. All right, we have no reason to go into executive session. Therefore, I will take a motion to adjurnn. Motion made by Councilman Mormon, second by Councilman Peters. All those in favor of adjournment, please say I. I. Any oppose, say nay.

Motion carries. Good night and God bless you, Watertown.