City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order for Watertown City Council meeting for May 4th of 2026. Please rise while Watertown Fire Rescue Chaplain Hank Rosso leads us in prayer. Thank you. Our heavenly fathers, we gather here this evening. We thank you that you're here in this place. Lord, we ask for wisdom, and unity, good collaboration. We thank you, oh God, that that's what draws us together is much greater than that's what separates us. As we stand here shoulder to shoulder, we don't always see eye to eye, but Lord, we love this community, and that's the great thing we share. We ask your hand of protection in our police and fire, and those who protect us throughout the night, throughout the days. During this time of year when people are out and about, we ask for safety on our highways and out in the fields. And each one as kids are getting out of school, Lord, we ask for your protection for each one of those kids as well. Thank you for this time together and for your love for us. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I 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 Bobzine, please call the roll. Okay. Allen. Here. Hoyer. Here. Pauline. Here. Mormon. Here. Jarrens. Here. Peters.

Here. Shutty. Here. Thank you. Everyone is here. Quorum is established. We'll go straight into a conflict of interest. Does anyone have a conflict of interest to disclose tonight? Councilman Hoyer. Uh Mayor, there is an assortment of alcohol approvals tonight. I will be abstaining from those. Okay. Thank you very much. So just for the record, that would be items 12A essentially through H. H. Correct. Okay. Thank you very much. Please note that. Any other conflicts of interest? Hearing none, the motion Can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Motion made by Councilman Peters. Seconded by Councilman Shutty. Uh actually, let me rephrase. I apologize for that, Council. I had a request from two different councilmen to remove two separate items from the consent agenda. So unless there is an objection, I will go back and make the agenda motion to approve the tonight's agenda with items 8D and 8F removed from consent and placed at the beginning of the regular agenda. Um just the question was is is there a reason and it was just uh we had Councilman Hoyer ask to remove 8D just to ask a question on it and Councilman Mormon uh requested 8F to be removed just to have a quick talk about it. So that was the motivation. I thought it was justifiable. So I don't have a problem with that. So if you would like to not make the motion, but if you're okay with it, I'll stick with the motion as was with those two changes. So any questions on that? Motion is to approve that revised agenda. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries.

So now we will go straight into item 8D, which is an authorization to declare miscellaneous property as surplus and sell at online auction. Oops. Oh, sorry. Thank you very much, Councilman Shorter. [clears throat]

I skipped over open forum. Is there anyone who would like to bring something up in front of the council tonight that is not on the agenda? All right. I don't hear anyone come going forward. Thank you very much though, Councilman. So now we'll go on to item 8D, an authorization to do to declare miscellaneous property as surplus and sell at online auction. We go to our city manager, Alan Steger. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh before you tonight is a request to declare several vehicles and pieces of equipment as surplus and then the next item is to actually place these items on an online auction for sale. Uh these items have been identified as items that are no longer needed in the operation of the city. We do this periodically and we've had pretty good success utilizing PurpleWave Auctions to dispose of of equipment. I'll also note that Purple Wave is also used by Watertown Municipal Utilities and they have also had some recent success uh with online auctions disposing of excess equipment. There any questions on any specific piece of equipment, I I'd be happy to take those questions at this time. Thank you very much. And just to explain something to council, if for some reason we were to vote down 8D, we could take up I mean, 8E essentially becomes meaningless at that point. So, we probably don't need to dispense with it, but if we did need to for some reason, we could suspend the rules and bring it back up even though we essentially just approved it. But, with that said, can I get a motion to authorize this declaration? Motion made by Councilman Mormon. Need a second. Seconded by Councilman Councilman Jurrens. We'll open it up for questions. Councilman Hoyer, do you have something? Yes, I do. Uh this is probably for Chief Toomey. Um my question is I see that we have a 2018 Ford Explorer with 103,000 mi and then a

2015 Dodge Charger with 112,000 mi on it. Um just wondering is or do we have a cycle program that we're doing where we move these out or what is the justification for surplussing a vehicle at that mileage or maybe City Manager Stahlecker can take this too. I'll actually take it and it's a great question because I get to highlight an improvement we've been making in the city. We've actually convened what I have as a fleet management committee that consists of Captain Kirk Ellis from the police department, Assistant Chief Youngblood from fire department, Superintendent Baynen from streets, and soon to be added Superintendent Bransrud from Park and Rec. And those four individuals really oversee fleet across those divisions. We rely quite heavily on Captain Ellis who has developed the fleet standards for the police vehicles. And through that team, um we periodically review the fleet and determine when cars get moved into other departments versus when it makes sense just to dispose of the asset. Um, it may be an asset that's had some body damage or miles or particular engine issues. And so that is worked out very well and and through Captain Ellis and his review of the fleet records, that's how we chose these two vehicles to dispose of versus, um, relocating elsewhere into the city. I'll also say that since I joined the city, I've looked at our overall fleet and we have, uh, I'll just say we have too many vehicles for the number of people we have. And so that fleet management committee is helping me understand where we can dispose of additional fleet. These two vehicles just happened to be the first that have hit the list. Councilman Hoyer, the floor is still yours. So, point of clarification, with these vehicles, are we surplussing them with the intent that we're minimizing our fleet size to appropriately fit the

staffing that can actually manage them or did they just reach the point of switching them out cuz I think preemptive sale and then going for something that's going to last is also smarter than just letting it blow up and then you're sitting with nothing. So, it it's actually a series of fleet moves that take place. For example, every year including this year, we have put, uh, four new, maybe five new patrol cars into the police fleet and then we recycle the vehicles as we go into other departments based upon the need and the usage and the condition of the vehicles. Ultimately, these are coming out. We did have some new ones, uh, that came in and we also will have another round of vehicles that will come out too to equal at least the five new ones we put in, probably more. Okay. Councilman Allen. Um So, I'm not sure I'm tracking. So, these are going out and they're not being replaced or they've already been replaced and we're just They have already been replaced. Our objective is to overall reduce the size of the fleet. Um this is the first step in the reduction. Last fall, we also surplussed probably six vehicles and did some fleet reduction at that time as well. Thank you. Council, any other questions? Motion is to authorize the declaration of miscellaneous property. All those in favor will say I, opposed nay. Finance Officer Bobzien. Okay. Allen? I. Uh Hoyer? I. Pauline? I. Mormon? I. Juron? I. Peters? I. Schutty? I. All in favor. Motion carries. Item 8F is an authorization to declare the Lake Kampeska phosphorus filtration plant

located at 336 South Lake Drive as surplus and sell at a future sale. City Manager Steiger. Thank you, Mayor and council members. Similar to the vehicles, I have been reviewing various assets of the city uh including the water filtration plant on Lake Kampeska. Uh this facility [clears throat] uh ceased operations uh for WMU at least 15 years ago and for several a several-year period after that, it was used for a phosphorus remo- removal um program on Lake Kampeska. For at least the last decade, it has sat vacant and as I have toured different facilities and assets, it became apparent to me pretty pretty early on that it's deteriorating. It soon will become not only a a a source of blight and an eyesore uh on Lake Kampeska, it will soon start to deteriorate to the point where it will be a safety hazard for people who may be on that property. It makes sense to dispose of it, and this is just the first step in a process. Before we take any further action, it will be brought before you to consider various proposals. I wasn't prepared tonight to talk about the full details of what we could do in terms of a disposal, but directionally, I can tell you what I would like to do. I'd like to ask for redevelopment proposals from the public and developers to give us some solutions for the site versus merely listing it for sale and seeing what we might get from a from a dollar standpoint, recognizing the cost of disposing of the existing facilities, and the location, it's kind of tough to weigh what the value should be. And I

think instead of value, the seven of you might want to look at it by the merits of the redevelopment proposals for the sites rather than purely an economic an economic consideration. But that will come in the future. For now, the first step is to declare it as surplus, and quite honestly, it's been surplus for a decade, so in many ways, this is just a housekeeping to to reflect the status that the property currently is. I'll stand by for any questions. Thank you, city manager. Council, can I get a motion to authorize the this as surplus and sell and sell at a future sale? Motion made by Councilman Shutty. Seconded by Councilman Jurrens. Thank you, Council. Any questions? Councilman Mormon? I just want to thank you Mayor for moving this Um off of the consent agenda just so we could explain to the public. When I put the agenda on social my social media account last Thursday or Friday, I really thought there'd be a lot of people that would reach out wondering why we're selling this because this is a very hot spot to go fishing at. You know, there's been times I've gone out there and literally walked down the long steps only to turn around because there was no space left on the concrete wall to stand there and cast. But I did not have I did not have anybody reach out to me over the weekend, you know, with concerns about selling this or a desire that we don't. So I if there if there was any, I would have expected people to reach out to me. The only question I did have was somebody that lived near there was just wondering about what it might be zoned. And according to City Manager Steiger, it sounds like it would it would probably depend on what kind of development they're looking at there. I'll I'll let you expand on that a

little bit. Today I believe it's zoned R1. But one of the benefits that you as a council have and still having the property is as we would get closer to requesting redevelopment proposals, you can pre-zone it to reflect what you would like to see there and by doing that you would would sort of steer the number of or the types of proposals that you might get if you have a desire. Or we could request proposals as R1 and leave it on the buyer to do a potential rezone in the future. Follow up Councilman? Okay. So I appreciate you answering that question because that would be a concern right away that the citizens that live close to it would have. And yeah, I just want to say thanks that we could move it off the consent consent agenda and help explain a little bit more to the people why why we are moving to sell this or do something with it. Councilman Shetty. Any other questions? Thank you very much. The motion is to authorize this property as surplus and to sell at a future time. All those in favor will say I, oppose nay. Finance Officer Brabazon. Okay. Allen. I. Boyer. I. Pauline. I. Morman. I. Juron. I. Peters. Shetty. I. All in favor. Unanimous motion carries. On to items 10A, which is an approval of a bid award for the 2026 solid waste improvements trust hoop building to Berg Enterprise LLC in the amount of roughly $140,000. We will go to our city engineer Justin Peterson. Thank you, Mayor. Uh this project is a hoop storage building out at the landfill. It will be um the intent is to

be uh store the composter and some trash cans and various other equipment. Uh we got five bids and with the low bid at a little over $140,000 to Berg Enterprises, which is under budget and we recommend approval. Stand by for questions. Thank you. Motion can I get a uh Council can I get a motion to approve? Motion made by Councilman Morman, seconded by Councilman Peters. Any questions, Council? Any comments? Councilman Morman. Just for the public knowledge, what is uh the intention for the use of this hoop building? I can take it if you'd like. It's for equipment storage. The primary piece of equipment is our composter, which is a large piece of equipment that's used to recycle and turn over the compost pile. And then secondly, we have things um such as the actual trash and recycling receptacles that take up a lot of space in our current shop area. And this just allows us to better utilize utilize our space to store that stuff in this building. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments, questions? Councilman Hoyer. Just with it being a truss hoop building, um what's the typical lifespan on the outer fabric of that? Or what is the outer material of that building? I don't know the lifespan. I would I I would assume it's roughly 20 25 years. Okay. Engineer Peterson, do we have any other buildings like this? There's a similar one at the street facility and I'm don't recall when that one was constructed. I'd add this, Councilman Hoyer. The uh street facility hoop uh building has been in service for a number of years.

In fact, we are looking at moving that to a future street facility site and just replacing the covering. And so the structure does have have a a life cycle similar to a a standard building. We may need to uh replace fabric every couple of decades, but I do think it's a good solution for what uh what we are putting in it. Councilman Hoyer. I would agree. I just I double-checked it. I just did this crazy thing called Googling. Um 15 to 25 years is usually how long the fabric last, so. You're right on. There you go. All right. Thank you very much. Since we had a few questions, we'll find out how we vote. Finance Officer Bob Zien, if you're in favor of this, by the way, you vote aye, opposed nay. Okay. Alan? Moyer? Aye. Pauline? Aye. Mormon? Aye. Jurin? Aye. Peters?

Aye. Chatty? Aye. All in favor. Unanimous motion carries. Item 10B is an approval of a change order number one for the neighborhood street reconstruct 5th Avenue North project to SiteWorks Incorporated in the amount of roughly $51,000 for a new contract price of $2.9 million. City engineer Justin Peterson, tell us more. Uh thank you, Mayor. This uh change order is for 5th Avenue North. It actually serves two purposes. The first one is a adjustment of the substantial completion date. The contractor is ahead of schedule, would like to move into phase two, has a plan to um um kind of speed up the process. And so, they they've agreed to uh move the special completion date up to August 21st, which is 2 months ahead of where where it originally was planned. And then, the second part is uh addresses some unknown service lines that came up. Anytime you dig up a street, you come up with you never really know what you're going to find. But, there are some service lines, and this kind of addresses that additional work as well. So, stand by for questions. Thank you, engineer Peterson. Uh before I get to questions, I need a motion to approve this change order. Motion made by Councilman Jurin, seconded by Councilman Peters. Councilman Peters. I got a question for you, Justin. You mentioned um that they've come up with a plan to speed this up. That's that's quite a bit. You know, that's a few months there. Um what did they come up with to to speed up that timeline? Well, there's a lot of things that happened. They they were able to start earlier. They've made really, really good progress progress installing the utilities. And um instead of having their crew leave, go to another project, do that project, who knows when that's going to be, and then who knows when they'll come back, they just if they can continue that utility Moving forward, it they estimate it'll save them two months of time, so That's good news. That might be something we can issue in a PR, a press release. I think

people will be happy to hear that. There's been a lot of traffic diverted from that area, so that's good news. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Allen. Um a couple of questions about it. Uh and I don't get what a service line is. Uh so, if you could explain that to me, so they discovered something in digging up the streets. Service lines would be like what? Uh the So, there's mains that are typically in the street, and then there are service lines that connect to that that main. Um there are some service lines that we didn't know were there. And so, they they found them when they were digging, and so this is um the to repair the service lines and and put a main in, so that's Okay. doesn't So, we discovered things we didn't know existed, and and in plowing through those, we have to replace them, and that adds to the cost. Yep. Um the other question I had is relative to uh what's getting um demolished, and it or torn up, and and my question is really my understanding of the project was that it stopped short of the Mallett house. And yet, the street across from the Mallett house, that would go, for example, in front of that alley, and on down past the house that exists there, is torn up. And uh I just drove it the other day, and had to bump my way across that to get to the alley. Um it wasn't impossible to do, but when I reached the end of the alley, there was a sign that looks like a sign that somebody put up. It's kind of

up against a pallet there that says, you know, no no exit. Uh and so discourages people coming from fourth to go to use the alley to get up to Mallett House. And what I'm thinking about is that when the Mallett House opens here in the next few weeks, probably. I'm not exactly sure what their timeline is for that, that we need to be able to inform people about how they can actually get there. And if it's only via Skyline Drive, that's that works, I think, but we would need to kind of know that. And so I'm a little bit confused as to why it's been torn up a little beyond what we had originally said it was. Is that going to be to put sidewalk there, or do you do you know? The the the project goes kind of through that Third Street intersection. So it ends, I think, right before the alley you're talking about, if I'm understanding you. That's where the project ends. Um Did I Is it Did I answer your question? It well, so what they they've gone beyond that because the road's torn up. It's uh the pavement's gone, and there's gravel there, and and so they went beyond what the what I thought the stop point was, too. So maybe we need to just investigate that and figure out kind of what's going on there. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, Council? Councilman Hoyer. Um I would just like to ask as we continue to work in these older neighborhoods, cuz I think we have some more reconstructs coming up, but just bearing in mind that all these neighborhoods predate zoning and a lot of code and a lot of laws that we maybe build in a contingency fund at the start of it. Um

I know when we first approved it, I literally brought up that this was going to happen. Um it happened the last time we did a section up in that area, too. So, just maybe us getting ahead of it a little bit make sure we kind of have that pre set aside at the start of the project. I know we have the ability cuz we're under budget already, but just be good to know that we already have it kind of set up and if we don't use it, great, but it'd be great to have it earmarked. Thank you. Councilman Allen, did you want to say something City Engineer Peterson for that? It's It's up to you. It's fine. Okay. Councilman Allen. Um the other thing I wanted to bring up and I think we've we've had some I know City Manager Staggers had some conversations about this with uh Chiefs and others about access uh to the hospital um maintaining a number of intersections that need to be open. We can't have ambulances coming from the south part of Watertown having to go all the way down to either Highway 81 or on the other side Highway 20 to come around to get up to the hospital. That that's a lot of time uh as opposed to just coming up Third Street or whatever. And I And I know that there's been conversation about the need to keep Broadway and Maple open. Um I just want the public to know that we're cognizant of the need for access uh for emergency vehicles, police, and others that they have to have some way to to get across Fifth Avenue that's not uh pushing us all the way to the highways. Does that make sense? I'll take that one. Uh two points, actually. Uh Councilman Allen, I did bring up the map from a couple meetings ago and and it did extend on the map to that alleyway. Uh I just didn't have that committed to memory when we spoke earlier. So, it is is the original scope of the project. Secondly, on the uh

on the communication, there will be a public service announcement coming out tomorrow morning um to notify the public of where we are at and the various construction projects. As our city engineer noted, the project is about 2 months ahead. And that uh has caused some issues with our communication plan because not only are we trying to deal with all of the intersections with 5th Avenue, we're also dealing with several um utility replacements of water mains in the same neighborhood. Uh the direction has been given and reiterated today that we do need to always maintain there may be some extenuating circumstances, but at least two north-south routes through the intersections with uh with 5th Avenue. Now, recognizing the amount of coordination that we have to do, there may be times when an intersection does need to be closed for a couple day period of time. Our intent is to ensure that that's coordinated so we can provide some public notice, and nobody should be surprised some morning that an intersection is suddenly closed unexpectedly. Um that announcement will come out tomorrow. I I will just say that it's been a great construction season, and we're getting quite a bit of work done in that area of town. And the neighborhood will be in good shape for uh for the next several decades. I'll stand by for any additional questions. Thank you. Council?

Okay. All right. Thank you very much. The motion is to approve the change order. If you're in favor of that, vote aye. Opposed, nay. Finance Officer Bobzien, please call the roll. Okay. Allen? Boyer? Aye. Pauline? Aye. Mormon? Aye. Jurgens? Aye. Peters? Aye. Shetty? Aye. All in favor. Motion carries. Item 11A is a first reading of an ordinance amending business licensing provisions by amending pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers license requirements and house moving business license requirements in the revised ordinances in the city of Watertown. Finance Officer Bobzien? Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, in front of the council for this first reading of the ordinance, it essentially is taking a few of our business licenses and moving the approval process to more of an administrative. So, giving that city manager or designee um the the final approval of the license versus the city council. Um none of the processes to get to that point of approval changes, so we would still be checking everything that we normally are to get to that point. Um the other thing that we did update in there is the appeal process, and that would mimic what we currently follow for um taxi cab licenses if anybody ever appeals the denial of a license. So, if there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you. Thank you. Uh it's just a first reading, so it's just questions. Uh Finance Officer Bobzien, just at the very end when you mentioned taxi cabs, please um I was Yep. looking for

So, essentially, if uh taxi cab license would ever be denied um by the finance office, essentially, there is an appeal process that they can go through. And we put that same language in. That's kind of the safeguard to the applicant that there's a standalone appeal process. So, it's not just a final you don't get it. They get to go through a process to appeal the decision. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, Council? Councilman Heyer. Do we have any current licenses that already utilize this process? Um so, the taxi cab license is approved by the finance officer, and our contractors permits are also approved by community development. So, it's kind of standard for a few of the licenses, and that's why we're kind of trying to make it so, you know, gas fitters, the ones that we're doing here this Yep, this time around. Uh our attorney just pointed out as well, the cannabis licenses are all administratively approved as well. So, it's kind of trying to streamline that process for all licensing. Okay. Council, anything else? All right, we'll hear that back in the next Council meeting, I think. Item 11B is a first reading of a zoning text amendment to chapter 21.61, fences, walls, and hedges of the revised ordinances of the city of Watertown. Community development manager, Brandy Hatton, you're going to tell us more. Yes, thank you, Mayor. So, this is kind of a cleanup to a our fence ordinance that we amended last year, and then just utilizing it, we realized that double frontage lots run into issues with not allowing fences greater than 48 in in in the front yard setback. So, this is allowing the secondary front yard to utilize a up to 7-ft fence for one of the yards. With that, I'll stand by for any

questions. Council, does anyone have questions? Councilman Heyer. Sorry, I'm just full of questions tonight. Um just to clarify, the second front yard, is that kind of like a situation where you have a house with the entrance to the home and then a driveway and then there's more yard to the side there and they're asking that they be able to basically make a standard fence on that section of it. Yes. Okay. Yep, so it'll really be the property owner declaring what they want to designate as their front yard and clear view triangles will always be protected for driveways and whatnot. Councilman Shudy. Uh, yes, so the Board of Adjustments has had a few of these uh, requests in the last couple months and so just watching them work through that, they've I think they've approved it unanimously both times and so um, they've been able to work through this and and I think it's kind of just cleaning up some details for us as a council. So, yeah. Anything else? We'll move on to item 11C, which is another first reading of a zoning text amendment to chapter 21.10, summary of district regulations of the revised ordinances of the city of Watertown. Community Development Manager Hatton. Thank you, Mayor. So, again, this is another cleanup of just things that we're realizing working through the ordinance and again, we did an overhaul on title 21 in 2025. So, it's been just about that much time to understand what problems the amendments have made or caused. Um, so this one is mainly um, amending the accessory structure um, or like requirements, uh, overall size and then um, the amount of stalls that you can have facing one side and then for decks, um, seeing a lot of decks needing

replacement and if they are replacing them in the same footprint as they were previously, that would not require a variance. We've had three of those requests come to the Board of Adjustment in the last eight months and other one a lot of other discussions that we've had with people that haven't come forward um that we just thought that it would it was reasonable to make that request or to propose that change and just trying to be proactive on things that we're seeing coming consistently to the Board of Adjustment and just making the ordinance amendment instead if we are approving them consistently. Stand by for questions.

It's the first reading. We encourage questions. Does anyone have any? Councilman Hoyer. Why not? Um Brandy, when it comes to an attached garage and the maximum allowable size, the number of 2,352 square feet, where does that come from? Is that just a number we arbitrarily picked or It has been uh I think it's really for like to allow it used to be a 56 by 42. And that must have been considered standard. For a three-stall, I don't know. But it's just been the um Yeah, I guess the square footage that we've had an ordinance for a while. Um it's still a very large garage. For sure. Um the following question to that just cuz I get asked about it quite a bit is um even with a garage that size, what is the size you would need for a minimum for your living space to go with that? 160 square feet. So that would make it a primary structure. You have to have sanitary facilities, so toilets, shower, um a kitchen or a way to cook and a sleeping area. And obviously, you can do a studio apartment type situation. It has to be separated from the garage space. Um So yeah. That's 12 by 13. Right, good to know. Thank you. Any other questions? All right, we'll have that one back in a few weeks. We are now moving on to item 12A. And Council, just so you know, we are going to basically ask our finance officer, Bob Zein, to talk about items A, B, C, and D together because they're all very similar, but we have to take independent action upon each of them.

So, with that said, the first one is going to be a renewal of a retail malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine license for Magic LLC, which is Legends. So, finance officer, Bob Zein, please tell us about this one and the others.

Okay, thank you, Mayor. Uh yes, it is renewal time for our malt beverage uh licenses. The four that we're going to talk about here all did have violations. It was under sale to a minor, essentially. Um part of the requirement is if there is a violation on a license, they do have to come before the city council for a public hearing. Um if you do look at consent, you would see there was a list of the other renewals without violations that we can just approve. So, essentially, that's the process. With these, all fees have been paid, notice has been published, and everything is in order. So, if there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you. Thank you. The first one is Yeah, I already said that, Magic LLC as Legends. So, I am going to open a public hearing for anyone who would like to comment upon this. I close the public hearing. Can I get Council action to renew this license? Motion made by Councilman Jurrens. Seconded by Councilman Peters. Any questions, Council? All right, I feel confident going to a voice vote. All those in favor of renewing this license, please say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item 12 B is a renewal of a retail malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine license for Stone Oil Company Incorporated or Prairie Stop. We have already had a description on this one. I will open a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to testify on this? I'll close the public hearing. Council can now get action to renew this license. Motion made by Councilman Shutty. Seconded by Councilman Peters. Any comments, questions? Motion is to renew the license. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries.

Item 12 C is a renewal of a license for Al Aldi Incorporated or Aldi Foods. So, I am going to open a public hearing and I know that there is someone, the manager for the store, who is here and since she showed up and it's the very first time you're here, I thought it might be nice to invite you forward. So, just please say your name when you press the button, just make sure that the red light is on. Okay. Darcy Esslinger. I'm the store manager of Aldi and this is our first violation of alcohol sales. So, I just I have some training materials for the employee that we made him redo after the violation and again this year. I just wanted to speak on that we did give him a written documentation that if he does this again, he will be terminated from Aldi. And we now require him to type in the date, the birthday and everything in the register, so it will flag automatically if they're underage. So, then there's no discrepancy and no way to accidentally sell to a minor. All right. Thank you very much. You can stand by. I don't know if anyone would have any questions for you, but we can find out. But thank you for coming forward and uh hope Welcome to Watertown. Thank you. It's been a year now. All right. Um Council, can I get a motion to renew this license?

Motion made by Councilman Allen, seconded by Councilman Shutty. Council, any questions? Councilman Shutty. I just want to thank you for being here tonight just uh and taking some steps to to to help rectify the problem, make it be hopefully it doesn't happen again. And um sometimes we we don't want to minimize these things. These are a big deal. So appreciate your work on that. Thank you. And I would echo that. Thank you for coming to the council. I know we don't require it, but it is very nice and it's especially nice to that you come forward to the council and I know everyone involved would agree that we hope it doesn't happen again, but it might. But thank you. All right. Motion is to renew this license. I'm just going to do a voice vote unless there's an objection. All those in favor of renewing the license, please say I. I.

I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. 12D is another renewal of a same uh malt beverage and South Carolina farm wine license for Walgreen Inco- Walgreen Company doing business as Walgreens. And we've already heard the explanation. I will open a public hearing. I'll close the public hearing. Can I get council action to renew this license? Motion made by Councilman Allen. Seconded by Councilman Jurans. Any comments, questions? The motion is to renew the license. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Items 12E and F are very similar. They're two separate items. We will take motion separately, but they're both to the same establishment. So, I will ask our finance officer Bob Zine to testify one time for both items, but of course, if you have questions, you can ask them independently. Finance officer Bob Zine. Okay, thank you, Mayor. Yes, in front of the council is an application for a new retail on-off malt beverage, South Dakota farm wine, and as well as a wine and cider license um for Kinlen Ramen and Sushi Teriyaki Incorporated.

And this would be the old downtown sushi location. So, the location was approved by our community development department. Everything is in order. Fees have been paid. Notice published. If there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you I catching me. I didn't actually say what the item was, which is an application for a new retail malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine license to Kinlen Ramen and Sushi Teriyaki Incorporated. I will open a public hearing on this item. Is there anyone who would like to testify? I'll close the public hearing. Go to council action. Can I get a motion to approve this? Made by Councilman Allen, seconded by Councilman Was Jurrens. Thank you. Any questions, comments? Motion is to approve this application. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Item 12F is an application for a wine and cider license to Kinlen Ramen and Sushi Teriyaki Incorporated. I will open a public hearing. I'll close the public hearing. Can I get council action to approve this application? Made by Councilman Allen, seconded by Councilman Peters. Questions, comments? Motion is to approve this application. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Item 12G is an application for a transfer of a retail liquor license and video lottery. So, items 12G and H are also very similar. Same location again. Basically, very similar. So, I will do the same thing as last time, which is ask Finance Officer Bob Zine to testify one time for both. Open it up for council questions, comments on both. So, this is an application for a transfer of a retail liquor license and video lottery license from

Bobby D's LLC at 724 Stony Point Trail to Bobby D's LLC doing business as Captain Beaver's at 665 Stony Point Trail. So, slight difference, but Finance Officer Bob Zine, please clarify this for us. Okay, thank you, Mayor. Yes, in front of the council is an application to transfer the on-sale liquor license with video lottery as well as a retail on-off sale malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine license. Essentially, this is a transfer of the location, not the ownership. Um, everything has been approved. I know it's been worked through with the community development department, as well. So, all fees have been paid and notice has been published. If there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you. Thank you. So, this is specifically on the liquor and video lottery license. I will open a public hearing if anyone would like to come and testify on this. We'll just note that someone is here who could testify on it if there was any questions. Council, can I get a motion to approve this transfer? Motion made by Councilman Peters, second by Councilman Allen. Questions? Comments? Councilman Shutty. Thank you, Mayor. I guess I do have a question just on the the relocation. Just I'm not real familiar. I mean, I've been up there and driven around there, but what's the Where's the Where's it being relocated to from and to where? And could I could I have you come forward testify? I know that the public would like to hear it and not just us. There was. Yeah, so

[clears throat]

just down the road from 724 Stoney Point Trail there's a white house that's located there. In the basement of that house we have constructed a kind of a convenience store. So it's right next to the boat ramp. So you can pick up bait, you can there's a little mini bar in there, there'll be convenience items in there. It's kind of a combination thing. And then there's a big concrete uh deck out there as well. So that people can gather and have fun. So they can grill a steak or do whatever they want to do. That kind of thing. So All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Comments? All right. Motion is to approve the transfer. All those in favor will say I, oppose nay. Finance Officer Bobzien, please call the roll. Okay. Allen? I. Hoyer? Oh, he's abstained.

Got me there. Hollean? I. Morwen? I. Juron? I. Peters? I. Sheddy? I. All in favor. All in favor, motion carries. Item 12H is an application for a transfer of a retail malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine license from Bobby D's LLC at 724 Stoney Point Trail to Bobby D's LLC doing business as Captain Beavers at 665 Stoney Point Trail. Public hearing, same thing. Council, can I get a motion to approve this transfer? Motion made by Councilman Sheddy, seconded by Councilman Peters. Council, any anything to ask? Motion is to approve the transfer. All those in favor will say I. Actually, we'll just do a voice vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Item 12 I is a second reading of an ordinance 26-09 amending the zoning map of the city of Watertown for a portion of property in the Prairie Hills development first addition from C-2 local commercial district to R-2 single family attached residential district. Manager Hatton. Thank you, Mayor. Um if IT wants to go to page 109 and you guys can see the the vicinity map. Uh so, this is a rezone request for a piece of property at the Prairie Hills development addition. Um second edition, actually. No, first edition. Uh it's currently zoned C-2 local commercial district and they're proposing to rezone it to R-2 single family attached residential for approximately 1 acre. The These will be subdivided into three lots. Um 109? Page 109? I think you're on a different one.

Um so the adjacent zoning districts are also zoned R-2 single family attached residential and this is in conformance with the comprehensive land use plan. And with that, I'll stand by for any questions. Thank you. I will open a public hearing on this item. Is there anyone who would like to testify? I'll close the public hearing. Can I get a council action to approve this zoning amendment.

So moved. Motion made by Councilman Hoyer. Second by Councilman Mormon. Thank you. Council, anything to ask? All right. Hearing no comments or questions, I feel comfortable going to a voice vote. All those in favor of approving this zoning text amendment, please say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item 12J is annexation and zoning of lot one of Burbans addition. There will be two separate motions, but one discussion. Well, unless Council wants to ask questions specifically about one or the other. But, I will read them both here. Item one will be an approval of a resolution initiating annexation of a tract of land contiguous to the city of Watertown. And item two will be a second reading of an ordinance establishing the zoning designation of C3 Highway Commercial District. Is this uh Manager Hand for this one? Yep. Okay, thank you. Please take it away. Okay, thank you, Mayor. So, this is the second reading of an annexation and zoning for the property at lot one of Burbans addition. This is um along Highway 212 and just to the east of 31st Street Southeast. It's approximately a 10-acre piece of property that abuts city limits on three sides. It'll be zoned C3 Highway Commercial District and that is in conformance with the comprehensive land use plan. So, with that I'll stand by for any questions. I will open a public hearing on both of these items. Is there anyone who would like to testify? All right. Council, can I get a motion to approve

the resolution 26-14 on the annexation? Motion made by Councilman Shetty, seconded by Councilman Mormon. Council, you have the leniency to ask questions or make comments about either item one or two. Does anyone have anything? The motion is to approve the annexation. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Item 12 J2 is the second reading of the ordinance establishing the zoning designation of C3 Highway Commercial District. Public hearing. Close the public hearing. Council, can I get a motion to approve the zoning designation. Motion made by Councilman Mormon, seconded by Councilman Shetty. Any Well, technically now I should do the public discussion. Sorry. Public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to testify in front of the council? Close the public hearing. Go to council discussion. Anything? Motion is to approve the zoning designation. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Item 13A is an approval of resolution 26-15, a plat of East Point Addition. Community Development Manager Henton, please tell us more about this. Thank you, Mayor. So, this plat is before the council, um as this area has been platted previously. This is a replat, um as the property owner is looking to sell off some of the properties. So, that is the reason for the for needing to subdivide, and why it's before you and not administratively approved is because this portion of 14th Avenue

didn't have an I don't know if IT if you want to pull it up. It's on page 122. Um doesn't have sanitary sewer in the adjacent right-of-way. So, these properties will be served by private um sealed holding tanks, which is allowable within title 17 in our ordinance when the property is over 200 linear feet away from the public sanitary sewer. Um it's just not our preferred method, so that's why it's before all of you. Um but it is still meeting ordinance requirements. So, with that I'll stand by for questions. Thank you very much. I will ask council, but first just a quick note on these wonderful new handheld devices. If you want a picture of something going up and down and you try to switch it, it switches the picture. So, maybe want to tweak that. So, yeah, cuz it starts up here and then it goes that way if you want to look at it in a different way. So, anyway, love them. By the way, it's great to look up more information, but uh I don't know if that's a tweak that IT could have, but I would appreciate it. So, but council, can I get a motion to approve this resolution? Motion made by Councilman Peters. Seconded by Councilman Mormon. Any cogent comments unlike mine?

[laughter]

Councilman Allen. I don't know if this is cogent or not, but so uh no sanitary sewer here. Uh so, we're going to let them use holding tanks. Uh at what point if as the city expands uh and we end up with sewer access, do they have to they have to tie in? According to ordinance, at the point in time that there is a sewer main constructed within 200 ft, they are required to tie into it. In this case, there is a sewer line 500 ft away that's connected to a a low-volume lift station. And we are exploring the possibility of asking them to connect to that line. There'd be some cost-sharing of about $125,000 across several property owners. Absent connecting to that lift station, this is a developed area. There are no development plans where we would foreseeably be installing a sanitary sewer main in that that particular street. Um, this is really coming from a development 40 or 50 years ago prior to modern planning methods, and this property was platted without any plan to put in the infrastructure, and didn't sell for quite some time, probably because of the distance from the nearest sanitary sewer line. Councilman Allen, the floor is yours. Any other councilman have anything to say? Anything else, council?

The motion is to approve this resolution. If you're in favor of that, you'll vote aye. If you're opposed, you vote nay. Finance Officer Bob Zein, please call the roll. Okay. Allen? Aye. Lawyer? Aye. Pauline? Aye. Mormon? Aye. Jurens? Aye. Peters? Aye. Shady? I. All in favor.

Motion carries. Item 13 B is an approval of a resolution of support of an application for financial assistance to the South Dakota Housing and Development Authority by Hi-5 Development LLC for the benefit of single-family housing. City Manager Steger, please tell us more. Thank you, Mayor. Um Mayor and council members, uh this is a a resolution of support similar to resolutions that you have passed several times this year uh in support of developments throughout uh the city. In this case, a developer, Hi-5 Development, is planning a second phase of the uh Prairie Haven development, and this resolution allows uh the developer um to submit to assistance programs through the South Dakota Housing and Development Authority. There is no commitment on behalf of the city in issuing this resolution of support. It's essentially stating that um we have a need for housing in the community, we have a need for the infrastructure that will support the housing in the community, and that we uh uh are in favor of this developer's plan uh to develop uh uh continued housing in their development. Thank you. Council, can I get a motion to approve this resolution? Motion made by Councilman Peters. Seconded by Councilman Mormon. Councilman Are there any Any Councilman Allen? Um so this doesn't really do anything. So, other than to say, "Yeah, we we support this effort." So, why are we doing it? Well, this does do something for the developer. So, in other words, he probably can use this to access additional resources. Is that the Correct. This does not provide any

obligation on behalf of the city, but this does support um support some uh credibility to the developer's plan that indeed if the developer develops housing, we are stating that we need housing in our community. Okay. Council, any other questions or comments? Motion is to approve this resolution. All those in favor will vote I, opposed nay. Finance Officer Bob Zieman. Okay. Allen? I. Hoyer? I. Pauline? I. Mormon? I. Juranth? I. Peters? I. Shady? I. All in favor. Motion carries. Item 13C is an approval of a resolution establishing a special disposal incentive program related to demolition and redevelopment in the city of Watertown. City Manager Steiger, please.

Thank you, Mayor. Um the background on this one is really related to our housing initiatives. You'll recall last October we had a housing summit and laid out for you and others uh some of the key areas of focus to develop housing in the community. And I'm happy to say that many of our areas of focus in housing are showing some rewards. We've seen the multi-family projects that you have been involved with in recent months. You've just recently as recently as tonight saw the resolution of support for single-family housing. A few meetings ago you you had a similar project come before you for single-family housing. Similarly, we have uh efforts going on in student housing with Lake Area Tech and as well as transition housing through uh the Codington Connects organization. The one area we really have not seen any traction in is the re- redevelopment of housing in our community, including infill housing, um, and replacement of housing within the community. And this program before you is our attempt as a staff to try to incentivize some people to take some action in 2026 to develop some housing units that ordinarily are not being developed. We're highly confident that if we can find a way to assist developers, uh, with either disposal costs or building permit costs on on uh, disposing of houses that are no longer serviceable, um, we will get some new houses built. Uh, this program, um, uses a the amount of money that, uh, the developer of a new house will pay at

the landfill, um, as a credit against a future building permit. The reason why we're doing it as a credit against the future building permit is we want some assurance that a house is actually going to be built and that this program isn't used merely to get a a discounted landfill fee. So, the disposal in this case will take place as any other disposal. Um, the applicant will apply for a demolition permit. The applicant will tear down the structure and bring the the building products to the landfill where where they will be weighed and appropriate disposal fees at $60 a ton will be paid. A credit in the future will be issued for 50% of the disposal fees paid. And the way we intend for that to work, and by the way, the demolition permit will be tied by the property record to the new building permit is if a new building permit is issued within 18 months, the um applicant brings in the documentation that they paid the landfill fees, and we will then reduce the value of the building permit up to 50% of what they paid for the disposal of the house. It's not a refundable credit. So, for instance, if they paid more in disposal fees than the value of the building permit, it'll be capped at the building permit value. Uh we think this is a small action that that doesn't come with a huge monetary amount, but it's a creative way to try to get some activity in this construction season on some needed housing in the community. Stand by for any questions. Thank you, city manager. Council, can I get a motion to approve this resolution? Motion made by Councilman Allen, seconded by Councilman Jirens. Any comments? Councilman Peters.

Uh I got a question for you, Allen. I love this uh idea. I got a question though as it relates to primary homeowners. It looks like they can use it. They would qualify. Correct? Primary homeowners. A- Any homeowner that is applying for a building permit to replace a dis- uh structure that has been demolished Okay. is eligible. Got it. I read this initially when I was first looking at it this weekend as it had to be a vacant house, perhaps, and torn down. Okay. That sounds good. Thank you. Councilman Moorman. I just want to thank the staff and city manager, um Alan Stager. When I had a developer reach out to me about 6-8 weeks ago wondering if we had anything like this. At that time, we didn't. Um I didn't know if we would be able to get something through in time to help him with uh with his project and plans but I appreciate that this will all come in um in a timely fashion and we're able to get this accomplished quick enough so that uh right away a developer will be able to take advantage of it. Councilman Heyer. I just like to commend you as well. This is very progressive for Watertown and forward-thinking for our development. I I mean honestly anytime we can incentivize infill it helps us out. We're not putting new roads in, we're not putting new utility lines in. We're taking existing blighted space and then hopefully switching out. It doesn't have to be blighted. I mean if we're owner-occupied we're just switching out. But I've seen a lot more infill housing in the last couple of years or even just specifically this last year than I have in probably the last five. And so anything to keep that momentum going, keep going what we already have going. We don't have to service new roads. We can put new homes in older neighborhoods. That's that's a big win for Watertown. So every little bit helps. So thank you.

Any other council comments or questions? The motion is to approve the resolution. If you're in favor of that vote I. If you're opposed nay. Okay. Allen? I. Heyer? I. Pauline? I. Mormon? I. Jurgens? I. Peters? I. Schutty? I. All in favor. Motion carries. City Manager Stehly, do you have anything to report? A couple of things that I'll report on the semi-quincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is this year. We have several groups across the city of Watertown who have major events and minor events planned. Um as a city we will sponsor some things such as a parade and fireworks and be an active participant with the other service clubs and groups in the community. Uh there will be a a calendar coming out. We're working with the Convention and Visitors Bureau on um a calendar recapping all of the activities in the community. I also recognize there are a couple of groups we haven't connected with yet, but we will in the coming weeks to ensure that we have full coverage of those events uh within the community as as we celebrate. Second item I have, uh next week is Police Week. We have several events next week to celebrate. Uh we'll also have a torch run with a uh mayor's proclamation next week, so watch the news and social media feeds for information on Police Week next week. Um I mentioned earlier the construction activities in the public service announcement coming out tomorrow morning. Uh bear with us as we work on the construction projects to ensure we we have the uh timely communication out. Uh we will

do those public service announcements uh frequently as the situations change on construction. Uh We also will be having a media event uh on Wednesday of this week. Uh we'll be going through some summer safety uh items with the Police Department. We'll go through some construction updates, as well as uh an important and exciting announcement coming from the zoo. So watch for that midweek as as well as any questions our media partners might have at that time. Um that's what I have for updates this week. Thank you, city manager. Before I turn it over to the City Council, I will just say with in regard to the semi-quincentennial, if you do have an item that your group organization is working on, please contact Visit Watertown to make sure that we get it on the calendar. So, and this is going on for quite some time. It's It's not just specific to the fourth, it's anytime over the summer into the fall. We are encouraging a lot of events. So, if you have an event, contact Visit Watertown. From a city perspective, I have kind of volunteered to be the point person. So, if any person, organization, group has any ideas or anything that you'd like to do or like to see the community do for the semi-quincentennial, please contact me directly at city hall. And in regard to I think um the torch run is for Special Olympics on next Monday at 4:00 p.m. starting at Nelson Park. So, it's a good event. And the proclamation for the police uh fortunately, all of our police

officers have been safe this last year, but it's a obviously a very dangerous line of work, so we want to commemorate all the men men and women who put their lives at risk to secure ours. So, Council, any other comments, announcements? Councilman Mormon. Just a couple quick shout-outs and uh one question. Um I just want to congratulate We had uh several Watertown Arrow athlete uh guys and gals um that placed in the Howard Wood Dakota Relays uh over this last week. And I think it's probably even more difficult uh to place in an event at Howard Wood Relays than it is probably at the state tournament or at the state meet. So, congratulations to some of our uh great student athletes. Um one other thing I'd like to just a shout out is most of our meetings um Pastor Hank Rosso delivers the prayer and I just want to thank him for that and I just want to mention that uh for all the parents out there at his camp on Wednesday nights at 8:00 Fellowship of Christian Athletes meets and currently they are having over 100 kids that will attend that. So, if you're a parent and you would like a great place for your child to get plugged in and probably meet a lot make a lot of new friends um Wednesday nights at 8:00 uh there's always a huge group and you probably don't even have to be an athlete to show up. They'll they're welcoming to anyone. And then just one other thing a quick question um we have at least one department where we lose a tremendous amount of employees and I know as a city council there's not a lot that we deal with as far as the staff but just wondering if we have come up with anything as far as a reset time or any protection when it comes to the individual that is on call. You're talking about the wastewater?

Correct, yeah.

have a a policy proposal under review by our wastewater superintendent and we will look at formalizing that as part of the the union process this fall. Okay, thank you. Um yeah, cuz just just a quick follow up um the amount of people in the last 10 years that we've lost out of the sewer department is epic and the the amount of money it takes of tax dollars to retrain um is definitely something that the money issue is definitely something we deal with as a city council. So, I appreciate if some it's if something uh gets done there. Thank you. Would any other councilman like to say something? Councilman Allen. Um and this was mentioned by uh city manager Stager at the last council meeting. Um, but I think it bears repeating. And that's that uh school's going to be out soon. Weather's warming up. We're seeing increased traffic on the bike paths throughout the city with e-bikes and scooters capable of speeds up to 28 mph and the common use of headphones and earbuds by people walking and riding and the number of strollers with babies and pets and so forth. We just uh I just want to urge the public to be careful. Um, you know, if you're biking, you can yell on your left or something. I mean, frequently people don't hear you coming up. And if you're on an e-bike going 28 mph, you're going to be on top of people before they realize it. It happened to me just the other day. And one little misstep uh or your dog pulls the leash and suddenly you've got a bad accident. And and I know that uh I just think people need to slow down

uh especially as you approach people that are walking or pushing strollers or walking dogs or whatever they're doing. Uh it just you know, I know we call them bike paths and I talk to people who bike a lot who say, you know, well, it's a bike path. It is, but it's a multi-use path and I just think that we're going to have a serious problem or potential for it if we're not careful. And so I just urge everybody to slow down, chill out a little bit, and once you see an open path ahead of you, then crank it up and zoom away. But uh be careful out there. We want people to be safe. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. That gives me a good segue to say that there will be more discussion on this from some experts at the media briefing on Wednesday. And I would also like to take this opportunity since the media briefing is still relatively new to the community, we'd like to say if anyone in the community does have a question that they would like to ask at the media briefing, you can reach out to any of the media outlets or you can contact our public information officer and we will get you an answer. Councilman Hoyer. Um just three things quick. Um I got reached out to you by a some constituents kind of in the 5th Avenue area. Um just curious what our policy right now is for how we notify people, not the ones directly adjacent, but do we do anything to outreach like in a one block radius to it because it does affect their commute, it affects a lot of traffic going down their roads. And then if we don't do that, could we maybe look at possibly considering like notifying them the same way we would the ones that are directly adjacent? We can notify people through Code Red down to that geographically targeted area. I actually don't think it's a good idea though. We are, as I mentioned, intending to broadcast to the entire community the various intersection closures. I don't know what would be specific other than the intersections

on 5th Avenue. Sure. I think for them it was not knowing the scope of the work, which I know is somewhat on the public to look up things, but at the same time I don't think it's a fault to over communicate with the public. I'm not saying that we do a bad job, but also we haven't been successful in the past, so we might want to entertain a new way of reaching some of these folks cuz even with Code Red, I'm signed up for that stuff and I don't get every notification sent to me. Um so it's not a perfect system. I would just let's maybe consider something, brainstorm a little bit, and see. I would be interested in seeing an example of what we need to uh communicate specifically to people on a block basis, and we can certainly look at it. Um similarly, I'll say this, it's it's easy to listen to a constituent and say, "Yeah, we need to communicate better." We hear it every time something comes before the Board of Adjustment or the Planning Commission. We heard it recently from the Lake Conroe Water District on an item that went before this council two times. And they complained at the final hour. So, we can't get into what I'll just say spoon-feeding to every constituent exactly what they want to hear. We need to communicate broadly as a community. And and we're going to be disappointment disappointed anytime we try to pinpoint exactly what it is you want to hear. And as much as I'd love to tell you, "Yes, sir, we'll do it." it's a bad idea. Okay. I can respect that, and we'll circle back to it eventually. Uh the other things. So, just a shout-out PSA, not this Saturday, but the following Dash Around Conroe will be occurring around the lake. So, just a heads-up to people driving around the lake. Um Starts at 7:00 a.m. And uh just keep your eyes peeled. There's going to be folks kind of crossing our bike path. It doesn't stay to one side of the road, so there are some crossings. They do a good

job notifying, but just so you know, it might affect your commute. And also, you can just honk at people, cuz that's fun, too. Um on top of that, because we're coming up on this as well, just a reminder to everybody, primary election's coming up June 2nd. Voter registration deadline is May 18th. Exercise that right to vote. There's some good stuff coming up on the primaries, so make sure you take a look at it. Thank you. Councilman, will you be running in Dash Around Conroe? You betcha. What will you be wearing? Um that's [laughter] I don't have I don't have I don't have a costume this year. I don't have Some people wear costumes. That's why I was asking. I mean [laughter]

Uh probably shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. But, uh, no, the funnier thing is when you guys go around it, uh, there are stations along the way at each mile, and so some of them theme their stations, and there's a specific one that's a hoot every year. So, it's, uh, it's a very fun event, and a lot of folks put a lot of work into it, including our police force. So, it's a good one to participate in. I should have thought about that question before. [laughter] But, no, it's a fun event. A lot of people dress up while they're running it. A lot of people at the, uh, way stations. So, all right. [laughter] Okay, I'm going to stop this meeting right now.

[laughter] But, I need someone to make that motion to adjourn. Councilman Jurado. Sec- seconded by Councilman Peters. [laughter] Any questions? All right, the motion is to adjourn. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Good night, and God bless you, Watertown.