City Council - Regular Meeting

Actually who's Called the order for Watertown City Council meeting for June 8th of 2026 Please rise while councilman Shetty leads us in prayer Heavenly Father

We thank you for this new day that you have bestowed upon us, you blessed us with. We ask for wisdom now, Lord, as we gather here in this room, we're gathering as a community. We're gathering here as all parts of members of the city of Watertown from various ways. So I pray, Lord, guide us now through the conversations. Lord, I ask you that help us to be slow to speak, quick to listen. And in that, Lord, help us to be able to hear, truly hear and listen to each other And then, in the end, come up with the right plan of action, Lord, to move forward on this particular agenda item today, Lord. So we thank you. In Jesus' name, 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 Bob Zien, please call the roll. Oh, sorry. Sorry. So, official title, Assistant Finance Officer Strickerts. Would you please call the roll?

Moorman?

Here.

Jurins?

Lynn, are you online?

He is not.

OK. I will text him just to make sure everything's going OK. But continue to call the roll.

Peters. Here. Duddy.

Here.

Allen.

Here.

Hoyer.

Here.

Pullein.

Here. Quorum is established. And I will ask for a motion to, actually, first I'll ask if there's any conflict of interest. Hearing none, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Motion made by Councilman Allen, second by Councilman Peters. All those in favor of approving the agenda, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. We're on to open forum. Is there anyone here who would like to testify on something not on today's agenda? I'll close open forum and we'll go into discussion topics. As I think everyone here knows, what happened is last week, a week ago today, we took testimony upon an item and we were not able to reach a satisfactory conclusion at that time, so we deferred action for a week and that meeting is today to conclude the action. So in my mind, and as I have discussed with the people here in attendance, we have already had a public testimony upon this. Now, out of respect for the people who have shown up who have not been here before, I will allow limited public testimony. And I just want to limit it to anything that is new or if council has a discussion on that, because we want to make sure we have time to properly vet everything. But with that said, first I am going to go to our city manager, Steger, to tell us where we're at now as opposed to a week ago.

Thank you, Mayor. Where we are at today as opposed to a week ago, we are bringing forward the exact same resolution that we brought forward last week. As a reminder it is a resolution essentially restating the authority staff has an ordinance to issue a permit for a street to be closed and The permit holder to occupy a public right-of-way, but we have done in this case due to the extended Length of the project as well as different concerns that have been raised We have introduced four conditions in this resolution associated with the permit. The first is a request for a construction schedule every two weeks. The second is a request that the contractors and developer will maintain two-lane traffic when at all times is reasonably possible and when requested by the city. Thirdly, we've asked that any requests for a full closure of Second Street be made, including notification to neighboring businesses at least 48 hours in advance of the closure. And finally, we've just reiterated the expectation that upon completion of the project that the condition of Second Street be returned to equal or better than its pre-construction condition. Over the course of the last week, I think many of you can see that two lanes have been opened up on 2nd Street. We placed a request at the last meeting for that to happen by the end of the day on Friday. I believe it actually happened on Wednesday of last week, and the city and neighboring businesses, I'm sure, appreciate that effort. Additionally, over the course of the last week, we continue to hear opinions on how to manage the project. And I'd just like to say this before you get into public testimony. The project has been vetted not only by city staff, but by the developer and the various contractors and subcontractors. And I don't think it's helpful today to introduce the types of suggestions that are more in the realm of, hey, have you thought of using First Avenue? Or why aren't you using City Hall property? All of those things have been appropriately vetted. And in the opinion of city staff, as well as a developer, for the safe operation of this project, in most cases, Second Street is the best option. We continue to make available, if there's a need to store materials on city property, that offer has been extended and remains extended to the parties. Also, over the course of the last week, we've heard from attorneys representing various interests who have recommended or suggested changes to the resolution, which in most cases are pretty perfunctory. They don't necessarily change the authority that we have, and therefore I'm recommending you take action on the resolution as presented. Finally, just maybe take a moment to remind everyone why we are here. We had a project that was delayed and stalled for several months, and so the public perception was nothing was happening on the site, and the concern was why is the street closed when nothing is happening? And we can let the developer and the contractors speak to what was happening on the site and allow you to draw your own conclusions. And as a result of that delay, we obviously have been asked to place some restrictions on further closures. I will point out that completion of the project will require closing Second Street. I don't think that's debatable. Under the schedule that the developer has put forward, that is now a defined window of time based upon various activities that will take place on the site. With that background, I will turn the meeting back over to you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, City Manager. Nick, Councilman Jerns is watching us on YouTube, but he did not receive an official invitation to the meeting. Okay. So it was set up. So Councilman Jerns, just let me know when you are online. And we will allow that so that you can vote and ask questions. But thank you for doing so. And I will now open it up. I'm going to ask council, does anyone have any questions for the city manager on what was just proposed on the four stipulations on the contract?

Councilman Hoyer. Just to walk it out a little bit more. There are some points on here again. I brought them up last time as well Reasonable or sorry, let's just read it verbatim reasonably possible and when requested by the city I just want to know what our enforcement measure is on that for making it happen and what that process looks like our Enforcement measure would be a forced opening of the street.

I I think I There'd have to be a violation of a pretty high standard that would justify the city coming in at city expense and moving materials on the street. What we're really looking for here is cooperation through the duration of the project. I think the difficulties encountered in the front of the project are behind the developer. As I've looked at the schedule, this project will be moving at a pretty fast pace in about a month.

Thank you. Any follow-up? Councilman, any other questions? City Manager, just one question on the notification of neighboring businesses. Is that just, what's the diameter of that notification and how do we ask how that's verified or?

I would recommend that we would do two notifications. First of all, the adjacent property owners on 2nd Street would anticipate there be a notification secondly we'll utilize the city's communication portals with the 48-hour advance request that we can notify the public in general of planned closures okay

Thank you very much. I will now open for public testimony on this topic. And we did have one request from the city manager to describe what was happening at that site, what has been going on. I think that would be good to hear. about, but I'm just asking that that was something that the city manager requested. I think that's a good idea, but I won't tell you exactly what to say, so I will open it up for public testimony. Just please announce your name and who you are representing, if anybody. Just make sure that the button— On?

We're good? Yes, there we go. Can you hear me? Thank you. Awesome. Good afternoon. I think we can say that right. It's past noon. I am Casey Olivier. I am an attorney out of Sioux Falls. I represent the Walford family and Prairie Pro LLC. I think that there was some communication or miscommunication last time about the necessity for them to be here and the testimony that would be needed. We really appreciate the opportunity for you to listen to us today. Just I know in the last meeting I watched the recording of it. I read the meeting minutes The Walford family has been here for 77 years doing development We've got third generation if not fourth generation of families that are committed to this community committed to the development of this community and the growth and the neighborhood and downtown and I think that they really want to express that they really do care a lot and they're not being careless at all and I'm here to provide a better Overview of what they've done and the difficulties they've run into particularly with this project And I even went back so far as to watch the meetings that you had back in October when we were looking at the sale of this property Its property had the old City Hall and asbestos was a really big concern asbestos is a big concern for any contractor especially for the city and It's not easy to handle, it's exceedingly dangerous, and it needs to be done right. And the Walford family, committed to Watertown, hired local people to help. And those local people also had other jobs, other projects they were committed to, and that slowed things down. Could they have gone to Sioux Falls? Could they have gone to other contractors and had them come in and do it fast and outsourced it? Sure. But they didn't want to do that. They wanted to keep it here. They wanted to keep it local. But that caused it to just be a little bit slower than I think everybody would have hoped. The next issue that they ran into was issues within the soil. So they found unstable soil when they started digging to try to get to their footings. So geotechnical engineers came in and stopped the project and said, you cannot safely build on this land until we redo the engineering for the project. As that happened, they found foundation from the original Franklin Hotel. Nobody knew it was there. So they had to come in and take out that land as well. That delayed the project several months. Realistically, they've submitted a schedule this morning. The city has it. They're still hoping to have this project done by December of 2026, absent no unforeseen circumstances. It's still construction, right? That is incredibly aggressive for this size of a project. Right now in Sioux Falls, we're not even able to build a home in nine months. And they're going to get you a hotel in a year. And they're committed to it. I know it doesn't always seem like, if we don't see construction workers out on the project hammering or doing something every day, that there's still not work that requires that closure to be done. And they were very open about that when they pitched this project. Their application said, 2027, we need road closure. They're not taking that lightly. They know that the Gambers are here, that the Gambers have a business across the street. Interestingly enough, though, this hotel project has full kitchens in every hotel room. And they fully anticipate every person that stays in those 30 hotel rooms will probably walk across the street and buy their groceries with the Gambers. That matters to them, right? It matters to both. It's a partnership between the community and the city to have this type of project going up. The next steps that we've looked at right now is we've completed the asbestos removal, the demolition work. And so now we're looking at the delivery and the erection of the precast and the main floor. The precast is scheduled to be delivered right after the 4th of July holiday. We know that the 4th of July holiday matters to the gamblers. They've said, hey, that means something to us. So we're looking at starting everything and closing everything back down on the 6th, right? That still gives them their holiday. That still takes that into consideration. then we once the precast is complete the second and third floors will be stick framed which is approximately going to take a little more than four weeks after framing the mechanical electrical plumbing and rough ends will proceed and then they'll move into sheetrock tape texture and paint and so realistically if i can pull my schedule here i know it'll just take me a second We've submitted a schedule this morning that says that we would like full closure from July 5th to July to September 29th. That provides all of those times for the precast, the walls to go up. They are having to bring in a very large crane. It's a very narrow street. The closure is minimal of that street. It is just the width of the lot line. It is not the entire street. Then they are looking at opening from September 30th all the way till November 29th. After that point, there will be a month of limited closures and then they're hoping full open. It is still construction. They are still asking for leniency, and they still know that things can happen, but they are committed to communicating with the city, putting these schedules together. I'm here now to also help facilitate if there's concerns, if there's issues going on. We've had Ryan, who's been in touch with people downtown, different businesses. I think he's been in touch with as many of you as he possibly can in a week's time to provide reassurances and to open those lines of communication. Are there questions that you have for me?

And there might be, but first I'm going to take all public testimony. No problem.

Thank you.

So, but yes, please stand by. Thank you for your testimony. Is there anyone else who would like to?

If I may, may or may I add one other question? We do have, as it relates to one three and four of the proposal we have no objection to those as it relates to two I think the one concern on section two as Mr. Sager had mentioned and I appreciate the kind words and the things that he has said this morning The concern is the forced closure. It does take about six hours to open and close that street That's a full day of construction that halts every time we have to open every time we close and There are issues too with safety of people not knowing when that street is open or closed. And so they would just like some reassurance that there's not gonna be unreasonable delay to their project, because then they're here explaining, hey, why is the project delayed? Community is mad at them, everyone's angry with them, and they're saying, hey, we don't have a choice, we're being told. So it's putting them in a very difficult position, both financially, stalling a project that could be done, and they're requesting, we did submit amended language this morning that we are hoping protects both the city and the project itself from undue delay. And with that, I will yield my time. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to testify?

Good afternoon. Jeff Gamper from County Fair Foods. I would have to say that probably the number one problem with this whole problem was communication. We're surely not against any kind of development if that was the case. We would put a halt to that when Craig's was doing that. We're for that. We are excited about that, the Air State Hotel going in. I think it will be a good thing for us, but sometimes not at the risk of our own business. According to the resolution, she did answer a few of the questions for that. We'd like to have a place at the table with any upcoming meetings or at least some kind of communication for all those things. When there's any closing of the street, those types of things. County Fair received a copy of the updated construction schedule as they were provided to the city. There will be no closing on Street from first to fifth which she did address that state at any time The street is closed during business hours Monday through Friday construction must be a be occurring The street is not to be closed on Saturday or Sunday absent extraordinary circumstances I guess I have talked to contractors that done things in high density areas and And most of those contractors say that they never had the opportunity to close the street at this long length of time. It's always been a short period of time, which is understandable. And we're understandable about that. But they say most high-density areas, they either haul their gravel in or haul their supplies in as they need it. They do not pile it up on one site and close the street. So we're just a little bit on some of the times it has to be closed. It seems kind of lengthy in a period of time that those have to be closed. But yeah, most of it, it's down to we'd like to have a little bit more communication. And I know the city would like to have more communication too. in order for us to maybe do something on our end. We had no idea that the street was gonna be closed for that six months period, and some of that not being done, anything being done that we see. So communication would be extremely helpful, but that's it.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Anyone else? OK, I will close public testimony, but stand by if there are any questions. I would like to ask a couple of the questions that came out in the testimony. First, we will go with a comment from Ms. Olivier. Is it Olivier? and that would be point two on the contract but then also if you wanted to answer some of the questions that came up from mr gamber as well which is a place at the table the questions about regarding the other contractors that's more of an observation but if you wanted to address if you had some information on that and then the length of the closure i i can real quickly answer some of those uh in terms of other projects and contractors

This is a lot line to lot line construction project on a 10,000 square foot lot. I think it's been a long time since this community has had anything equivalent to that project of that size, lot line to lot line. The question on communication, I'm more than happy to share construction schedules with the neighboring business owners. It may be more productive and more effective for the developer in this case to share the schedule with all parties at the same time. I've got no concerns with trying to bring people together that are stakeholders who want to discuss the various closures. It does sound from the most recent schedule that we're looking at one major closure for a period of intense activity at the site. Item number two, that Ayr State Watertown LLC shall maintain Second Street Northeast as two-lane traffic at all times, reasonably possible, and when requested by the city. So let me take the last part of that. The as requested by the city would be in an emergency situation where we may need the street open for something. We have already taken the construction schedule that has been provided and compared that schedule to planned events in the community, and it appears that those schedules line up. There are no conflicting events that we would ideally have Second Street open for. In terms of the request to maintain the two-lane traffic at all times reasonably possible, I think that's a fair request. I would also, though, maybe encourage the parties to have a conversation about the northeast corner of the construction site. There is a belief at one time that if the northeast corner can be kept open, it really makes the need to have the full north-south traffic less impactful on the neighboring businesses. And if that's something that can be accommodated, I would rather look at that. than looking at requiring the two lanes. But again, that requires some input from the experts in the project to see what can work best.

Thank you, City Manager.

One other item. The request that the Saturday and Sunday, I'll let the developers speak, but previously it was mentioned that opening and closing is a six-hour endeavor. I don't think it's practical to open up the construction site for short periods of time, but that's just my observation after listening to the comments made. If you guys would like to go a different direction, we sure can have that conversation. Okay.

Thank you, City Manager. Any comment on that? Actually, from either side. Yeah. Thank you.

I do. You know, so I have talked to Prairie Pearl. They are open to having the conversation on that northeast corner, if it's reasonable and if it's safe, right? They don't want to open a northeast corner if it's not safe for the public, depending on where construction is at and what they're doing. But that's definitely a conversation that definitely can be had. As for Saturday and Sunday, if they have to reopen, that takes out Friday and Monday. So that means you're losing two days. You're months down the road then on this project if we're going to have to do short closures like that every single weekend. We're losing weather. We're losing timing. I think that that would be unreasonable for them to continue the project forward and increase the amount of expense that it would cost because they have to put a whole crew on moving materials. One thing that I would like to correct on the discussion of I've talked to other contractors, every single one of us that has a job can say someone else can look at our job and tell us we're doing it wrong, but they're not doing our job, right? It's really easy for somebody to backseat a project when they don't know any of the engineering plans. They don't know the construction schedule. They don't know where the materials are. They don't understand the lot line to lot line limitations. and the thought process that went into the entire development of this project. And so I would just caution as we're going down, while I talk to X, Y, and Z, anybody can. Anybody can tell me what I'm doing right now is wrong, but they don't know, they haven't watched the meetings, they haven't been here, same thing. And so I think that we just have to be cautious about going down the plan of allowing input from speculative other parties that are not part of the project.

Yeah, thank you.

Mr. Gamber There's one thing I forgot to talk about too a little bit is and I've brought this up to you guys before but There is a public safety issue there we have at the road closure we have everybody diverting through our private our private lot and We got here. We have huge risk. I can't I Could see a little lady walking out there with her gallon of milk Could get hit from another running as a person running through our parking lot, but people are Diverting around in through the parking lot which becomes a big safety issue I'm assuming that will be on our dime. I don't know depending on all that has comes up, but if that happens if that happens I That will not be a pretty thing.

Thank you. All right, Council, we'll ask some questions. But first, I have a question for City Manager Steger. I want to go back to a week ago. One of the comments from Ms. Olivier was the speculative input from people who are not experts. I want to go back to a week ago where and remind people that this item did not even have to be on on an agenda for the public for the council to consider let alone be a public item would you go back and explain why that was because this in in every other instance of SITUATION LIKE THIS WHERE A PERMIT HAS BEEN ISSUED. IT'S BEEN HANDLED INTERNALLY WITH CITY STAFF AND IT HAS REALLY NOT EVER COME BACK TO THE CITY COUNCIL. WOULD YOU JUST EXPLAIN THAT JUST TO REMIND PEOPLE WHERE WE'RE AT AND ALSO TO PERHAPS LIMIT THE FOCUS OF WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. THAT IS CORRECT. TRADITIONALLY A MATERIALS IN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY OR OCCUPY THE RIGHT-OF-WAY PERMIT IS HANDLED ADMINISTRATIVELY. Ordinance allows us or the city engineer to issue a permit for six months, which is also extendable. Ordinance also gives us the ability to revoke a permit. And I think that's a unilateral right to revoke the permit. I'd have to get some counsel from Lisa. But we brought this forward as a courtesy. I know in several council meetings we've been hearing concerns about the project. as well as you on the council have had concerns with the project. So this is brought forward on the consent agenda as a courtesy to you as the council members.

Thank you. I will open up for public or I mean for council questions, comments. I will like to start off by just saying that it was never the intention with this project to hurt anybody's business on either side. We have obviously two sides and I know that The will of the council and the overwhelming will of the community is to see good things progress in the community. I think historically speaking, the downtown community, if you look back on some of the old H2O 2020s and things like that, a downtown hotel has always been a very high priority as something that people have identified would be good for downtown. this project would get us there i would personally like to apologize for anything that i said that told you not to be here last week i'm glad that you are here today so that we can get questions directed at you directly and uh so i would like to just from my personal viewpoint onward and upward for Watertown. I think this is in the long term good for Watertown. I apologize. It was never our intent to hurt anybody's business on either side, and hopefully we can find a path forward that is going to help everybody and get the project done that will be helpful to downtown for many years to come. That's my comment. I'm open it up for questions and comments from Council Councilman Jurins.

Thanks, Mayor. um i'd like to start this off on a on a positive uh and and just uh go a little further with my comments from from a week ago that we have a new city manager we have a new way of thinking and that development is going to be challenging at times challenging for neighbors going to be challenging for traffic um yet We need to support and trust. And trust is a hard thing, especially when we don't know everything and we don't think everything through and it gets emotional when we don't see projects moving, which is, in my opinion, disrespectful. 77 years doesn't give us an excuse neither does it a business like mine that's been in in Watertown for 33 years or a county fair been in business for 35 years that doesn't give us an excuse to not show up for a meeting with your partners to not communicate with your neighbors to maybe go to the and maybe it's not you know comfortable for you but I sure Like the communication today from your attorney, she's well spoken. I believe that having her involved is a positive thing. to just let the community know that there's a few of us that knew the issues that you were having, but the community does deserve it. When we see and we drive by projects of any type, not just yours, any type, and there's not equipment moved and there's not a pile of dirt that's not been moved for a month, two months, three months, we all start questioning ourselves going, what is going on? So that's just one point that I'd like to quickly make. There's a couple, I'm going to call them rumors going on in our beautiful world of social media. One of them is please open up quick care in the pharmacy as soon as possible. I think our community needs to know those two businesses were either planning on leaving or had left before this road even closed. So let's get the miscommunications, let's get the rumor mill stopped on that. QuickCare has devoted and will be devoting more energy and time to their other location. It didn't work out. They loved being the neighbor to County Fair. County Fair even let them use their bathroom when their bathrooms weren't working next door. mean it was a great thing but it's just it did not work out it had nothing to do with the road closure and and and the other rumor or or comments that are being made in social media that are that are that are challenging is from contractors yeah you're right everyone's allowed to have their opinion but hey just because I didn't get the road shut down three years ago or five years ago

It doesn't mean we can't shut a road down now.

We've got a new way that we need to be thinking in Watertown, and that is growth. Growth is going to help businesses like County Fair. Growth is going to help businesses that are downtown looking to move to and survive the next five years, 10 years, 20 years. Growth is about getting sales tax revenue up so we can build a road to the ice arena so that we can do things. Growth is about having a mindset that there was a new business person in the Watertown area that wanted to buy a hanger at the airport just a few years ago, decided to go to Aberdeen and buy one instead because of what we were doing and because of the obstacles that they had and what they wanted to do in Watertown. So we need change. We need we we've got great change. We got a leader in in in the mayor. We got a leader in the city manager and we got leaders on our city council that want and need to help change happen. And that is a mindset that I hope we can embrace and get better at. That being said, I've been to county fair 20 times in the last six months. I found no obstacles to get into the parking lot. This goes out to our community and to our residents that we can get there. We can support this business during these challenging days. we can get into their parking lot. I would challenge the developer to help or work with someone to put signs on the entrances. Jeff has got a great, great idea or thought there that it is dangerous. i would i wrote a note down while i was listening to his testimony right now the developer the street department county fair let's work together put some signs on the entrances into the county fair parking lot that that's not a drive-through and maybe we need to issue a few tickets to get the word out i hate tickets i hate law but sometimes law and order is needed in certain situations because I walked through there, and if there's someone in a hurry because they didn't want to go down to the next street to get to a business on Kemp, you know what? That is a dangerous little area when a little lady with a gallon of milk or a 15-year-old who's on their phone is walking out of the store and gets whacked. So could have happened before, but yeah, I get it, Jeff. There's more traffic because You know what? In today's world, everybody thinks we have to be in a hurry. So those are really some of my main points that I wanted to make is that change comes with challenges. I've been at a volleyball tournament in Phoenix for the last four days and the dang construction and road development and challenges here are the same as they are in Watertown. They're the same in Sioux Falls. It's not just our town, but we need to embrace this instead of complaining and complaining say oh oh gosh we don't really need to have to go around a barrier anymore yeah well you know we don't but I also challenge the developers to continue and I we've seen a good good change in the last week of how things can happen in the communication I want to thank the Wilfords and I want to I want to thank Mr. Walford for the communication and the movement. Jeff Gamber is correct. A little communication would go a long ways. So thanks for everything. I will likely, unless I hear anything different, likely to vote to See development see this development move forward, but I like the ideas from the city manager that we have to have Some respect in the language.

Thank you Council I have to ask for your grace on this I never actually took a motion to approve this resolution I so we really i need to make that official even though it was we we took it last week and we deferred action so i think that that motion is still hanging is still pending so i don't think that we need to do a new motion it is just renewing the discussion on a motion that was deferred i think you're correct you're you're bringing forward the motion that was made

A WEEK AGO, BUT YOU CAN MOTION AND RESECOND IF YOU WANT.

I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO DO THAT. COUNCILMAN ALLEN WILL MAKE THAT MOTION. CAN I GET A SECOND? Seconded by Councilman Shetty. Thank you very much. And I will go back to Council for comments and questions. First, I would like to point out one thing. In the effort of better communication, I would like to say The city did not communicate correctly with the developers that they had to be here last week, I want to liken it to several years ago, we had a big issue where some liquor licenses some liquor was sold to people under 21 and there was a long time family business like. several generations that was called in and they felt bad because they weren't here to defend themselves, but they weren't asked to be here either. And it just became a big thing. So I would like to say when you were requested, you're here today. So let's focus on the positive, and this is a great, huge first step in establishing the communication that is going to be effective in seeing this project through to completion and for the benefit of downtown. Council.

Councilman Mormon. Just want to thank everybody who's in attendance today, to all the businesses that are represented in the room. Every one of you is putting your money, your livelihood and everything like that on the line to try and make Watertown better and to provide jobs for this community. So I want to thank everyone that's here. I just have a couple quick questions. So we, just for clarity, we're asking for a complete road closure for another, essentially another three months from July 5th to September 29th. Am I correct with that? Okay. I would like to hear, at some point, I would like to hear the Gamber family's feelings on that thought of another three months of road closure. And I would like to ask also, and this can be for our city engineer and both for the Walfords and Wilfords as the developers, do we know what the sidewalk width to the east of the old city hall building is, plus what the width of what was the old existing parking spots is? I don't know if GIS would give you a measurement on that. So it's a five-foot sidewalk. And then I'm just looking at my Google Maps satellite photo here.

Yeah, please do. If you have an answer, please come forward.

So I believe I'm hearing we're into the sidewalk area now on what it previously was per OSHA regulations. So that doesn't, they have to go one foot out for every five feet, for every foot down that they go. And so that's an OSHA compliance thing. That's not a developer requirement.

Okay. Basically what I'm looking for is just... What kind of width would the developers be left with with the previous old sidewalk and the previous old parking spots that were on Second Street versus the width of a crane that they have to bring in?

The crane is, my understanding, is 60 feet wide, 30 feet wide. OK. Think about it.

Just please identify yourself chance Walford.

Thank very pro general contracting Okay, so the crane is gonna be about the width of the road when the riggers go out Okay, so and then you have 20 semi loads full of precast sure they're gonna have to be staged up somewhere So we're figuring they're gonna be staged down first Avenue, and they're gonna come in one by one. We'll pull our pieces off Okay

That answers my question. I was just kind of wondering what kind of footprint absolutely has to be for getting that crane in there. And if it's 30 feet, obviously we're looking at it would take a full road closure with that crane.

Once we bring in trusses and floor joists, they're 66 feet wide on a 30-foot road, and we're going to set them with our big telehandler. There won't be a foot left on that street when we're trying to put trusses 30 feet in the air. They're 66 foot long.

Sure, sure. And I'm sure I don't know all those regulations, but I'm sure there's amount that you have to have blocked off when you got something like that hanging overhead for people safety.

Every time we open the road and close it quickly, like we've already done, we already had one car drive into our pile of rocks. As you train the public to drive down and again, it's just a complete safety hazard.

Okay.

Yeah, so OSHA regulation does step in and dictate what they can do on size and what they have to have blocked off. And that's been chances. He's passionate about it. He's passionate about safety and the people that are coming in and out. He doesn't want anybody to get hurt, and he doesn't want there to be any casual, you know, any damage like that. And so just working on trying to work around the federal regulations that we don't have a choice to work around.

Sure, sure. Yeah, and that's very understandable. Absolutely. I guess my only other question would be, Mayor, is just if the gamblers could testify to their thoughts on another three months of it being fully closed.

Three months is a long time, but we're going to do our best to hold on. I mean, this has devastated our business at this point. But yeah, that's a long time. But what we're going to do, we're not quitters. And we're going to continue to move forward. Yeah. I guess I don't know what else to say about that.

Sure. No, I appreciate that. I just wanted to, for the public's information, for the contractor's information, and for all of my colleagues' information, I just wanted to make sure that we had both an idea of what we're looking at for a full road closure and what the feeling was with the general public.

We're going to try to survive, so we'll do what we can.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

Thank you. I'll go to Councilman Peters in just a moment. But I would like to say one thing at Christmas time, I always preach shop local that doesn't apply just in December. So if you are concerned about any local business, get out and support them. And that includes county fair, show your support for this business and for a mainstay in the community. And that helps everyone. It really does. Councilman Peters.

Thank you, Mayor. Alan, I got some questions on this resolution, if you don't mind. So I'm trying to understand this resolution based on what we've heard today for testimony. So I've got a bunch of dates that are flowing around here today. In this resolution, it says that this should not exceed six consecutive months. But what I just heard Mr. Moorman ask was through September is what they're requesting. So why wouldn't we have the resolution to reflect the date that's been said today?

There will be the need for additional closures within a six-month period. The schedule that we've received actually subsequent to drafting the resolution has the three-month window through September. And that's the schedule for what I call the most intensive construction activity that absolutely requires a road closure. There will be other points in time when portions of Second Street and honestly, portions of First Avenue also need to be closed to accommodate the project.

Okay, thank you. And then the next question I had here was, there was a comment made about the July 4th date. That's gonna be open? It will be open July 4th. Okay, and that's an agreement that we have with, The developer? Yes, correct. Do we want to put that in the resolution to provide some guard rails for the gambers?

I would prefer not to. Remember, we didn't need to bring this forward to the council at all, and I don't want to get into a situation where any time we're trying to enforce the authority that we have under ordinance, to have to bring it to the council to get people to comply. Got it.

Okay. And then just looking through here on the number two, it says it shall maintain two-lane traffic at all times that are reasonably possible. But are we, I mean, let's just speak in layman terms here. Is it safe to say that it's not going to be open for the next three months?

It's not going to be open for the month of, most of the month of July, August, and September, based on the construction activity that has been outlined.

Okay.

Okay, that's good for me for now. Thank you. Council, any other comments or questions? Before I go back to Councilman Mormon, would anyone like to speak? Before Councilman Mormon speaks a second time, would anyone like to speak for a first time?

I'll do something. Councilman Hoy? First thing, I kind of just want to Rope back to because there's been a little bit of positioning in the public and beyond that of like, and us versus them are like 2 parties against each other. And I don't really think that's ever been the issue so much here. All parties are pretty for downtown hotel. I mean, that's awesome. It's going to help everybody. It's going to help Watertown that matters. we do a lot of sports tourism those people love being around stuff that's authentic to the community and all the other spots we always need hotel spaces so it's going to be a big benefit i was around too for when all the windmill workers were here and having access to something that has a kitchenette in it goes a long way for folks like that too so i do think it's a blessing in that sense and i would say that pretty much every downtown business probably feels the same in that regard the biggest challenge that was faced is just again it goes back to the communication portion of it um nobody's against you guys i mean it's not like that i think it's just more so a case of not knowing what was going on and i would reflect this back to we keep hearing it didn't have to be brought to council well it got plopped in our lap because none of us got information about what was going on so we couldn't explain stuff to the count like the community and we just have kept saying well there's a delay there's a delay and so it's just really hard to guard that position and just say well i don't know I just keep getting told it'll happen next week. And then next week comes, nothing happens. It'll come next week. It's a hard position to be in. And I think anyone can be amenable to that. So just us knowing what's going on is going to go a long way. It gives everybody guidelines. It lets the gamblers strategize how they want to run their business around that instead of operating in the dark and guessing and maybe sticking a sale on a day where it's going to be tough because people are going to have a hard time getting in. I would also echo again the comment about safety. I do think we need some better signage in there as well. I would love to see a little bit of enforcement in there from people using it as a shortcut because we're not supposed to be doing that. I do know it's an issue, but I would just remind everyone that we're here in a spirit of collaboration. That's why we wanted everybody in the room because we just need to have the conversation and it needed to be out in the public and everybody hearing each other and we know everybody's hearing each other. Going back as well, I don't think anyone's here to shame anyone either or talk down to anybody. It's just working together because we just got to know what's going on. That's all. I'm going through my notes here real quick. The other side of it is the three-month period. I get it. I think every party 100% with the crane knows that it's going to have to be shut, and the trust is it's going to have to be shut. We get that. The moments in between, though, where we're staging things, you know, I like to think that we're creative and we can come up with creative solutions to things. In the event that it does not 100% necessitate it, and I understand convenience and stuff too and trying to make it timely, I would just ask that we examine any alternatives if there were. I'm guessing you guys did that work already. And if there were any, was anything an actual option to people? I like this staging idea with your precast stuff where you're going on first, you're going to bring it in one by one, slap it together. That's the benefit of doing that kind of construction. Makes a ton of sense in a small, dense area like this. but um when it comes to just staging other materials i'm guessing we're gonna have to do electrical all that stuff interior to it and if there's a way we can do that that makes the road accessible during that time if we can use a parking lot if we can do anything if those options exist were those examined what were they why are they not feasible that's kind of what i would ask sorry that was a lot but thank you councilman councilman shetty

Thank you, Mayor. And I echo other councilmen. I'm sure we all believe the same thing. We appreciate everybody that's here working through this together, communicating. There's been a few questions I've had that have been answered already. So I don't want to be redundant, but I'm just trying to get better clarity on this. I don't want to be the project manager, but this isn't my role either. It's just to get better clarity to make the right decision here. So just a question would be for understanding the footprint for the crane, footprint for sending rafters, that's going to be during that, well, just a week shy possibly of a three-month period. That is correct, right? Okay. Again, of course, in limited construction, one would think, well, what about for three weeks if this lull isn't being used or this crane isn't being used? Can it be open for three weeks? hopefully that though that's something that's not my place to figure out that's that's trusting a developer and and because it's mentioned that it's a it's a you know potentially a day's worth of labor to open up um so one of my questions was what will be what will it be possible to open up in between time periods of setting you know doing rafters versus the crane um maybe maybe not again i guess this is where we gotta in this as we're moving forward and we're communicating even better yet even though there's been communication with city manager they're not like there hasn't been but even better more so with with all of us involved as a together as a as a community of watertown i guess probably then it's just going to move forward with just trusting that that is you know the best practice um i get it there could be there could be rain delays there could be something that causes it to where we get past the September 29th. But then again, there might be something where all of a sudden it's ready to go by September 15th. Again, trusting in this process that as a developer, we'll do what we can to work together as a community. You know, Councilman Peters brought up, do we change the language here a little bit to give me more of a hard line in there to guard rails, I believe. And as much as that's a good point, and I understand that, but as City Manager Steger has said, I guess with this process here, with better communication comes better trust. So I guess I'm trying to be optimistic that we're going to, because we're having better communication, we can trust that it's going to be handled well, hopefully, by the developer. But you know what? Not just the developer, but as a community. Because honestly, this hasn't been handled very well as far as social media and people's emotions. I mean, somehow we've got to. There are some hardcore facts. It's affecting some families downtown. It's affecting some businesses. It's becoming frustrating for a developer. It's making the city look bad. I'm hoping moving forward today with not just having these four points, but having a plan now of July 5th to September 29th, give or take, September 30th to 29th being open, 29th of November. So if we can work through that, if that's what it's going to take, trusting the developer in that, if we can do a weekend as a community to work this out, that's, I guess, what I'm looking for. I believe that's what we're looking for, hopefully, as a community. I do have one question, though, about the November 29th to the finishing of the project. It was mentioned that it's going to be, I would assume that means it's going to be closed again then after the 29th of November. Curious what the reasoning is someone could answer that why the why the street would have to be closed for the finishing of the interior of the building I

So the last 15 days is the final staging of the property, and they need boom trucks to be able to lift the furniture in through the windows. So they're going to need to be on that street. Again, it's limited closures. It's not going to be a full closure at all times. I have been talking to them as you've been expressing questions and concerns, and they are open to having those discussions, talking about that northeast corner, but still working around safety and OSHA regulations of when we have a 30-foot crane, sitting on the street, that that's not necessarily safe for somebody to be walking around it. And ensuring that we are monitoring our federal requirements for safety for the public as well.

Thank you. Of course. So yes, and so basically even asking that question, other questions that have been asked, just helps again get more, now we all can, we understand why in December. It's not to sit here and try to now cross-examine. It's more about so we can just better understand what to expect as a community moving forward. So again, I guess that's where I'm at, is just trusting that this is much better how we're doing things currently. And I just, I'm believing that we can move forward in a better way. So if there is any, all of a sudden, a major change from the construction schedule, of course, right? We're going to be communicating with the city manager and with the public. I think we can make sure we do Let's do well at that, too, so all the facts get out. I think as long as we do that, hopefully it's a win-win for everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Mormon. Thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to end kind of with my last thoughts here, too, and it kind of reiterates what several of the other individuals have said. Anyone who's had a job or owns a business knows that future policy is always set by past instances or individuals. So yeah, I definitely think this is a live and learn moment for all of us involved, for city staff, for council and things. So I want to apologize for everybody that has been affected by this. I definitely believe we can and will be better moving forward as we continue to try and make our town grow and ask for development. And I would just say to the city staff and for us, we just need to be very diligent going forward. If we're going to issue a permit that we think might create some controversy and stuff like that. We just need to make sure everybody that this could affect is involved, has a seat at the table, and that we're kept in the loop. So that way nobody gets blindsided, and it's just a much more transparent space situation and So that we can discuss it Before some of these permits would get issued as opposed to having a problem to fix after The permits get issued.

So, thank you Any further comments council Councilman Hoyer.

This is just the last piece that I'm going to put out, and then we'll go from there. But I would just ask one, two, a couple things just to bear in mind. So if at all possible, and you are able to safely do it, if we can try and keep the crosswalk open on 1st Ave, I would just ask that you bear in mind this is one of the highest density wheelchair usage areas in the community. And so a lot of folks are wheeling down to County Fair to get their groceries. They don't drive. And so they'll actually... rather scooter down there. So just making sure when at all possible, I'm sure they've adjusted to go south a little bit. But if you can, I'm sure it would be appreciated. On top of that, you know, we've heard the comment of the benefit that the hotel is going to be for county fair. But I would also ask that you bear in mind the absolute benefit that having that grocery store across the street from you has and how much of a bummer it's going to be if it's not there on the backside. And so just bear that in mind and make sure you're working with them too. I know you're going to, but please just bear it in mind. And then also keep in mind, and this goes for us as well as everyone in the room, that people will always speculate and avoid So fill the void with facts, and they won't speculate as much. They're still going to. You know they are. But it's easier to quell gossip when there's actual information being put out. So just over inform, and then they won't be guessing so much, and then you won't have as much of a headache, I'm sure. Thank you.

Any further comments? Just would like to say thank you for taking on that project. I wish you all the success on completing the project and all the success for the other businesses downtown. Hopefully it will be beneficial to everybody. Seeing no further comments, we're going to vote on the resolution. All those in favor will vote aye. Opposed, nay. Assistant Officer Strickerts, please call the roll.

Mormon.

Aye.

Duren's. Aye. Duddy? Aye. Allen? Aye. Hewer?

Aye.

Hoyer, sorry. Holine?

Aye. Motion is unanimous. In favor? Motion carries. Forgive me, I'm an aye.

Thank you. Peters?

Aye.

Okay, thank you. Motion carries. City Manager, anything before us?

I think there's nothing else for today. We'll be back in one week.

All right. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion made by Councilman Allen. Seconded by Councilman Peters. All those in favor of adjournment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. Good day and God bless you, Watertown.