City Council - Regular Meeting

Ich eröffne die Sitzung des Stadtrats von Watertown am 17. August 2026. Bitte erheben Sie sich, während unser guter Freund und Kaplan der Feuerwehr von Watertown, Hank Roseau, uns im Gebet leitet. Wir danken dir, unser himmlischer Vater. Während wir heute Abend zu dir kommen, sagen wir dir zuallererst Dank für deine vielen Segnungen. Wir halten so viel für selbstverständlich. Our good health, our families, a loving environment in which people are safe, can greet each other and don't have to be afraid of being robbed or robbed of their car. We overlook these things often, although there are other parts of this country that are not so pleasant. And that's why we say thank you. Thank you for the criminal prosecution authorities, firemen and paramedics who protect us at night and watch over us in the darkest times. Thank you, Lord, also for the urban services that we enjoy, things that we see as natural. And we are so blessed tonight. Thank you for the common bond that we share, the love for the community. It is also quite pronounced here. God, we ask for cooperation. to put our ego back and to give good wisdom, insight and decisions for the work that is being done here tonight. And we say thank you. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Dan was, if you don't know who Dan is, you probably haven't lived in Watertown for a long time, but he was a man who really shaped Watertown and the community. So just a moment of silence.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, a nation under God, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all.

Finance Referent Bob Sendt, please lead the presence.

Poyer absent. Pauline.

Present.

Vormann. Present. Ehrens. Peters, Chetty, Allen. Thank you.

The decision is made. I now ask if anyone has an interest conflict this evening. I do not hear anything. Can I receive an application for approval of today's agenda?

2. Application made by Council Member Chetty, supported by Council Member Peters. Who is for the adoption of the agenda, please say yes. Who is against, please say no. The application has been accepted. Welcome to the open citizens' question time. If anyone wants to speak to the city council, now is the time to do so. Please only name your name. And that's it. Is the light on? I'll push the button.

So now it works. That would be done. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. My name is James Simmons. Thank you, dear members of the council. I actually wanted to address a few points, but for some reason I'm limited to one. I think this is possibly time-critical, if I'm not mistaken.

But the topic concerns a system that is used by the Watertown police, the so-called automatic license readers, or briefly ALPR.

For some reason, this has been a hot topic in social media for a few months. I don't know why. I've been very fond of it for a while.

And I don't want to offend you, Chief Toomey.

I have nothing against you. Chief Toomey was very generous. With his time, he sat down with me and answered a bunch of absurd questions that I had about him. I am grateful to you for that. The topic is current because the system here in South Dakota in the last, uh, in the last week. There were two different reports in the news. One from the federal prosecutor general, Jack Lee, who gave a public statement in which he recognized that these systems are susceptible to abuse. That is why he will introduce a nationwide guideline to address this.

You know, that sounds like people who pay attention to social media quite well, but I personally think it is too little and too late. Any nationwide guideline or even a guideline on the departmental level will only restrict how these gentlemen use the system here. And to be completely transparent, I don't think we have a problem with the officials here, with the police of Watertown or the deputies of the

County sheriffs have arms. I think we have pretty good officers. I don't think you need the system. My concern is primarily what happens to the data that these cameras collect as soon as they go to the third company that stores this data. You know, we use Watertown cameras from Exxon, which I'm sure everyone here knows. The main seat of Exxon is in Scottsdale, Arizona. So all of these cameras go to Scottsdale. They have it. They own the data. They can do what they want with it. They can analyze it the way they want. They can do anything with any part they want. And we can't do anything about it. And that's really the main concern that I have. There are no guidelines on the state level that designate. That's why I think that the guideline of the prosecutor, as I said, is perhaps too little and too late. Another public announcement this week was that the South Dakota DCI, i.e. the Department of Criminal Investigations, announced that they were introducing a nationwide ALPR program. I only heard this because the mayor of Aberdeen posted on his personal Facebook page that the DCI of the federal state had approached Aberdeen so that the city could participate in the nationwide program. So the mayor of Aberdeen posted on his personal Facebook page, hey Aberdeen, tell me what you think of it. And boy, did he get a lot of feedback. I can tell you, the comments were about 20 to 1 against the program. So he said, hey, you know what? The embassy is clear. We will not share the program. So hey, well done Aberdeen. Good for you. But we are here in Watertown. We already have the Axanar PRs in the system. System. I would like to see or at least understand whether we were contacted by the federal state to participate in the nationwide program.

I assume that we will of course be asked to participate in this program. I would ask what this program is made of. You know, the state spends about $300,000 on new equipment. Does that mean that we will get more cameras here in Watertown? If we participate, maybe not either.

But if we participate, who do we open the door to to get access to this information?

What will you do with the system and the collected data?

The biggest concern is again what happens to the data and who has access to it as soon as they leave Codington County. And if we participate in this program, all this data automatically leaves Codington County. So what happens with that? That is my biggest concern. So let's take part in this nationwide program. Who has access to this data? Does it contain additional technology or more cameras in our community? What are these answers? I would like to make a request at the end if I may. A meeting is taking place in Brookings this evening. which is exactly about this topic. Brookings has surveillance cameras. The sheriff of Coddington County has surveillance cameras. Sioux Falls has surveillance cameras. Sioux Falls holds a meeting on Friday evening on this topic. I would ask that we also organize a public forum in Watertown. I would like to invite the police chief, the sheriff and perhaps the mayor, the city director and the commissioners of Coddington County.

Let's all come together in one room, invite the public to it and just have an open, civilized conversation about it.

Let us see what the public thinks about it. And do you know what those who are against it think? And those who support this system? Let us see where we stand and whether it is the right thing for our community. I would be happy to moderate this kind of forum as good as I can. That's all. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much, Mr. Simmens. Is there anyone else who would like to turn to the council? I close the open forum. And we come to point 11a of the first reading of an order to change chapter 7 bicycles and other means of transportation of the title 19 traffic of the revised regulations of the city of Watertown, uh, Alkies. We hand over to our representative police officer, Ryan Remus.

Danke, Herr Bürgermeister, Mitglieder des Stadtrats. Wie Sie sich erinnern, war ich vor zwei Wochen hier und wir hatten eine andere erste Lesung zu diesem selben Thema, aber der Wortlaut wurde nach Rückmeldung von Ratsmitgliedern und im Gespräch mit Stadtdirektor Stegger leicht geändert. Was Sie heute vor sich haben, ist meines Erachtens eine zweite erste Lesung, eine weitere erste Lesung. Einfach um Verwirrung zu vermeiden. I would like to briefly point out some of the changes that were made to make the proposal for the council and the municipality more acceptable. In the first version, we used a kind of standard formulation from the existing regulations that defined the business district. Further clarification, this business district contains according to the existing formulation the First Avenue North, the First Avenue South, East to Second Street and West to First Street West. The feedback we received was that we do not necessarily have a known problem with wheels and vehicles on 1st Avenue South and 1st Avenue North. Therefore, we changed the word of mouth a bit to move away from the definition of the business district and instead refer to places where signs or other indications of driving are denied. This gives us the flexibility to make changes without having to adjust the regulation. This may sound frightening to some, but this is not a situation in which we simply put up a sign and change something. We would suggest that these locations be presented to our municipal traffic safety committee. And for those among you who may not know this, this is a group that meets quarterly. We take the whole quarter against feedback from the municipality and then, based on the comments from the public, make a daily order, consider speed limits here or bend tracks there, stop signs, advance rifle signs. All of this comes down to the daily order. And the committee consists of the city director Stegger, the police, the road construction authority and the city administration. And we all sit together to check these points individually. This would potentially be one of the points that we would check in this group to decide where exactly we want to ban vehicles with wheels. I can tell you at first glance, without having already met with the committee, that we mainly focus on the areas with the highest pedestrian density according to feedback. So, as I said, these are just first thoughts. From the UNMP Avenue over the Foundation Plaza to Broadway. So we are basically making a change. Instead of involving the entire business area of the city center, we are possibly limiting ourselves to such a small area. That's actually all I have for you, except that you still have questions about some of the changes that have been made two weeks ago.

Well, we ask you to stay ready for any questions, but city council, this is a second first reading, as the representative police chief said, but we welcome questions.

Does anyone have any?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy Police Officer. Could you please repeat which section you are considering? If this is said, we would wait until it is presented to the committee to really check this in accordance with the rules. Is that the right protocol for it?

Das ergebe für mich am meisten Sinn. Dieser Ausschuss hat sich erst vor zwei Wochen getroffen und tagt vierteljährlich, aber es würde uns keine große Mühe bereiten, eine spontane Sitzung des Ausschusses einzuberufen. Es gibt nichts, das uns an den vierteljährlichen Rhythmus bindet. Also, wenn wir wollten, oder wenn ihr wolltet, könnten wir schneller handeln, denn es gibt sicher eine kleine Wartefrist, bevor die Verordnung in Kraft tritt. Es gäbe uns genug Zeit, uns zusammenzusetzen und die Sache logisch zu betrachten. Wo wollen wir das tun?

Und der Grund, warum ich nachhake, ist, wissen Sie, wir erhalten Feedback aus der Gemeinde. Als Rat erhalten wir Feedback zu bestimmten Themen. Aber es ist immer klug, erst einmal durchzuatmen, alles zu durchdenken und das Komitee daran arbeiten zu lassen, anstatt überhastet zu reagieren. Ich schätze die Richtung, in die wir mit dieser Formulierung gehen, wirklich sehr, damit wir sie vielleicht auf bestimmte Bereiche zuschneiden können.

Daher würde ich empfehlen, dass das Komitee einfach zusammenkommt, wann immer der richtige Zeitpunkt dafür ist.

Wie, wenn es verabschiedet wird? Meine andere Frage wäre allerdings, welche Abschnitte hatten Sie denn auf dem Schirm, die dafür möglicherweise in Frage kämen?

Abschnitte der vorgeschlagenen Verordnung oder die geografische Lage? Die geografischen Standorte für das Szenario Fahrrad schieben. Exactly, what we have heard in feedback from some council members and what we see as a logical starting point would be the entire area of Camp Avenue in a restricted area of Camp Avenue from the Foundation Plaza. We call it, I think, the Third Street. This T-Cross on the Foundation Plaza. Further west, that would be Broadway.

So is the rule to push the bike in front of the Foundation Plaza or would that be

That would be the restricted areas. But that is also something that we will get feedback from you and the municipality, present it to the traffic safety committee and see what the different places want for this restriction.

The reason why I am addressing this is that we have set up this park in the city center and that will attract cyclists and the like to the city center. Vienna. I think maybe I'm wrong, but is the problem more in front of certain shops where pedestrians and customers enter and exit or come out of the streets? That would tell me that you may not have to push on the road, because that's not really the problem. But that's just the consideration of a single person in a direction. That's why I think it's good to get feedback, to get our committee to work on it. And I'm curious to see what comes out of it.

Another advantage that we have thought about for this area is that there could be another location in one year, purely hypothetically speaking. Maybe Lake Area Tech would like to adapt the walkways around their campus. This would therefore be regulated by the Committee for Description, without us necessarily having to change a regulation. And Lake Area Tech has not come to us. I'm just talking hypothetically here.

Dr. Peters. Just a few short questions to connect to what Dan said. What does it look like with residential areas, for example? And what exactly does the committee check when it comes together quarterly? Is it the vehicle numbers? It is, you know, the population density. What are the criteria to say that this is a highly frequented area? How is this defined?

We have not yet determined that. Currently, the committee does not necessarily deal with complaints, but rather with concerns of citizens who, for example, wish for a stop sign at a intersection or a speed reduction of 35 to 25 miles. Instead of reacting immediately, we present these concerns to the committee. It consists of representatives of the engineering office, the police, the road construction office and the city administration. And we evaluate together from different perspectives whether a change is logical or everything should stay the same. So it's mostly about parking problems, stop signs, speed limits or whether detours have to be added. Or can we reconfigure a traffic light switch so that it lights up differently? Understood.

Okay, that's helpful. What I wanted to get at is, what if a part of the community says, hey, we don't want these things here, and they meet the criteria regarding vehicle access or something like that. And 300 feet further says another quarter. Yes, that's okay for us. Do we have a carpet system where bicycles are allowed or not? And how do we monitor or control this appropriately? Thank you for that.

Council Member Allen or City Manager Stegger, did you want to add anything to that? I did, and I just wanted to point out that one of the advantages of using the committee is that we consider the traffic system for the entire municipality. Das Verkehrssystem würde nicht reibungslos funktionieren, wenn wir ein Schachbrettmuster hätten. Wissen Sie, Nachbarschaft A gegen Nachbarschaft B. Deshalb nehmen wir Änderungen sehr ernst und überlegen uns auch die Rücknahme von Änderungen sehr genau. Denn man möchte nicht, dass die Leute sich daran gewöhnen, wo ein Stoppschild steht und dass dieses Stoppschild dann von Sitzung zu Sitzung ständig hin und her verschoben wird. Ich gehe also nicht davon aus, dass wir hier jemals ein schachbrettartiges System einführen werden. Thank you, Council Member Allen.

Thank you, Deputy Director. Can you talk a little bit about the relatively long list of personal funds? What were your thoughts on this? Because I mean, skateboards and many things are probably not as problematic as e-scooters or e-bikes.

The list in the current draft is essentially the same as it has been for a long time. So it was already created by council members long before they were here. Well, we have proposed to change some things, just like, for example, that we use rollerblades instead of inline scales, because rollerblades are a brand. I would compare it to Kleenex or Pop Tarts. Es ergibt einfach Sinn, den allgemeinen Begriff anstelle eines Markennamens zu verwenden. Abgesehen davon ist die Liste meiner Meinung nach weitgehend unverändert geblieben.

Weil ich mir bei den Wagen nicht sicher bin. Ich weiß nicht genau, was ein Wagen oder ein Spielzeugfahrzeug ist.

I assume that a toy car is something like these little police cars that little boys and girls play with. remote controlled And maybe that's it, but I don't think it should be something remote controlled because you're not sitting in there. I assume we're talking about toy cars for little children. Someone in the council mentioned a toy car or a toy car with a battery a few weeks ago.

I've seen these little cabriolets or tractors or whatever children drive, they're...

Yes, I don't have a special problem with the number of personal funds, but I'm just interested in keeping it as simple as possible.

And my assumption is that I think if the people just let a little healthy human understanding grow, we would probably be better off than now. Because I'm sure they don't want to constantly issue fines because someone doesn't push his skateboard or something like that. But I ...

I know that our goal at the police is that this happens on a voluntary basis rather than that we ... I mean, we don't want to issue fines for driving people with a bike or a scooter. Wir haben das Gefühl, dass wenn sie gut sichtbare Schilder aufstellen würden, die anderen Passanten auf der Straße vielleicht jemanden schief ansehen würden und ehe man sich versieht, würden sie absteigen und sich aus Respekt vor allen anderen daran halten.

Thank you. Are there any more comments? I just want to thank all the police officers who have worked on it, as well as the community members and our staff. I think we are coming up with a good solution. Very close. And I would like to say that what I have heard from at least a few business owners in the city center is that the entertainment we have had in the last few weeks has already made a difference in consciousness. And that's a good thing. I also like the flexibility that this proposed regulation offers. The one concern I had with the old one was that it seemed so comprehensive with the entire inner city district, but this one seems to be much more appropriate to me. We use a scalpel to cut out the problem area instead of a broadsword. And I supported that. And it also gives you flexibility, because let's assume the awareness increases to the point where there is no problem anymore, then the police can adjust the area, reduce or enlarge it. And I think that's probably a really good thing. So thank you for the work that has been done here and we will see you again in a few weeks.

Thank you. Punkt 12a ist eine Annexion und Zoneinteilung eines Grundstücks, das als Martins Edition bekannt sein wird. Und wir haben dazu zwei separate Anträge. Der eine ist die Genehmigung einer Resolution zur Einleitung der Annexion eines attraktiven Grundstücks, das an die Stadt Watertown angrenzt. Und Punkt 2 darunter ist die zweite Lesung der Verordnung 2629 zur Festlegung der Zoneinteilung als R1 Einfamilienhausgebiet. Ich werde... I think we have to take two separate measures when the time comes. We give the floor to our manager for community development, Brandi Hess.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is the second reading on the annexation and zoning of a property that borders on an already annexed property and a building in the north. This presence covers 13,257. square foot and it will, as you can see on the map displayed, make a connection. The blue-scraped area is the property that was proposed for annexation and zoning as an R1 residential area for single-family houses. It will then be added to the property directly north of it, which has already been annexed and zoned, as it is in one hand. I am available for questions with this.

Vielen Dank. Ich eröffne hiermit die öffentliche Anhörung zu diesem Punkt. Möchte jemand dazu Stellung nehmen?

Ich schließe die öffentliche Anhörung.

Stadtrat, kann ich einen Antrag auf Genehmigung von Punkt 12a1 der Resolution erhalten?

Antrag gestellt von Stadtrat Chetty, unterstützt von Stadtrat Pieters. Und nochmal Stadtrat, Sie können über Punkt 1 und 2 sprechen, aber wir werden zuerst über Punkt 1 abstimmen. Stadtrat, gibt es Anmerkungen? Stadtrat Mormont.

Just a short question. Manager for community development Horn, for the good of the public, and because some people have asked me this question, how is it allowed for you to annex such a small piece if you normally need 35 acres in Codington County?

Genau deshalb beantragen Sie die Annexion und Zonierung, denn Sie haben versucht, im County eine Baugenehmigung für das Nebengebäude zu erhalten, was aufgrund der 35-Aker-Vorgabe nicht möglich war. Deshalb müssen Sie die Annexion und Zonierung in Betracht ziehen, da die Stadt für ein R1-Grundstück nur mindestens 9000 Quadratfuß verlangt. Deshalb gehen Sie diesen Weg.

Danke. Are there any other questions? Datrat Allen?

Basically, we are annexing, because it is your only option, since you have tried it via the county, but the decisions of the county are such that there is no flexibility for you. Haben Sie es versucht und die County? Kommissare sagten nein, das machen wir nicht. Oder wie ist das abgelaufen?

Es gibt den Anhang, der die Protokolle oder den Hintergrund zu den Maßnahmen des Counties bezüglich dieses Grundstücks enthält. However, it is actually advantageous if properties that are directly adjacent to the city border are annexed, zoned and regulated instead of being left only within the city. And that is also something that is protected by the regulation over the joint responsibility. That's why we'd rather see it that way. I'll take a look at it.

Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? The proposed application is for the approval of the decision on the introduction of the country's annexation. Everyone who is in favor please say yes.

Everyone against, please say no. Please read the list.

The application has been accepted. May I, dear members of the council, receive an application for section 12a2, which concerns the regulation for the determination of the zone division R1? Members of the council, an application has been submitted by Member of the Council of Mormon in support of Member of the Council of Pieter. Is there a discussion on this? Since there is none, we come to the final decision. Everyone who is for the approval of the regulation, please say yes. The opponent says please. The application is accepted. Point 12b is an application for the transfer of the ownership of a license for retail with malt drinks and southern Kurdish farm wine as well as a video lottery license from 727 Incorporated, Freedom Watertown, 220 West Camp, Avenue, Andy, K&L Investment Group Incorporated, Freedom Watertown at the same location. Freedom Watertown at the same location. Financial Referent Bob Zern.

Danke, Herr Bürgermeister. Ja, dem Rat liegt hier nur eine Eigentumsübertragung vor. Der Standort bleibt also derselbe. Alles andere ist exakt dasselbe. Alle Gebühren wurden bezahlt. Bekanntmachung veröffentlicht. Alles ist in Ordnung. Falls Sie Fragen haben, kann ich diese beantworten.

Danke. Ich öffne die öffentliche Anhörung. Möchte jemand zu diesem Punkt aussagen? Ich schließe die öffentliche Anhörung. Rat, kann ich einen Antrag auf Genehmigung der Übertragung erhalten? A motion by Member of the Council of Mormon, supported by Member of the Council of Peter. Is there any discussion? Since there is none, the motion is to approve the transfer of property. Anyone for it, please say yes. Yes. Anyone against it, say no. The motion is accepted. Point 12c. The approval of a 25-year lease contract is extended to an additional 10-year period with the Noire LLC over 5,000 square feet. of urban basic ownership at Watertown Regional Airport, on which the private 75-foot hangar is located. The hangar will be there in the amount of $ 1,025 per year, with an annual increase of 2%. Airport director Ian Meriwether is with us tonight to tell us more about it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

As the mayor said, Ratsmitglieder is a 75 by 75 foot wide hangar. And I would like to point out that it is the country on which the construction site stands. Man kann es also erwerben. Und das ist in diesem Fall geschehen. Es wurde von einer anderen Einheit übernommen und dementsprechend werden sie grundsteuerlich veranlagt. Es geht also lediglich um das Grundstück, nicht um das Gebäude selbst.

Und damit stehe ich für Fragen zur Verfügung. Danke. Ich eröffne die öffentliche Anhörung. Möchte jemand eine Aussage machen? I conclude the public hearing. Members of Parliament, may I receive a request for approval of the rental contract? A request made by Member of Parliament, Shadi, supported by Member of Parliament, Morgann. Members of Parliament, is there a discussion? Since there is none, everyone who is for the approval of the rental contract, please say yes. Is there an opposition? Say no. The hearing is adjourned. 13a is the approval of insurance policies and the authorization to pay the premiums for general liability, KFZ liability and criminal damages, criminal prosecution liability, building and inventory, equipment, criminal damages and equipment selection, cash and machine insurance, as well as the authorization of the finance board to issue a check. We now ask the finance board to tell us more about it.

Danke, Herr Bürgermeister. Das war ein langer Antrag. Nick wird das gleich aufrufen. Ich habe nur eine sehr kurze PowerPoint-Präsentation. Es ist also diese Zeit des Jahres für die jährliche Erneuerung unserer Haftpflichtversicherung. Ich wollte nur ein paar Dinge durchgehen, da wir letztes Jahr einige Gespräche darüber hatten. Von den 18 Gemeinden erster Klasse ist nur eine derzeit nicht Teil des Pools. I have listed everyone who is currently part of the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance. We have been members since 1991. In the last five years, only two members have left the pool and one has returned, although the return to the pool has a two-year deadline. Just so we are aware of it. Our current renewal for 2026-2027 is just under 1.2 million. This is a total increase of $ 1,048, so relatively even. Most of it was to return to the real estate values, which increased from 373 million to 401 million. Otherwise, the costs remained fairly stable. The next slide here only shows how we were in the last three years with liability, property and equipment failure. On the right side there is a comparison where you can see the change. I would like to mention that we have commissioned the fleet committee regarding the liability and car insurance to check how we handle the insurance protection for certain equipment items, be it for the full recovery value or only for liability. After this check, we have reduced the liability and car insurance by 11 percent and, as I said, increased the real estate values by 12 percent. Die nächste Folie hier zeigt quasi, was diese Änderungen verursachte. Die Hauptänderung liegt an den Immobilienbewertungen. Wir erhalten derzeit eine Inflationsschutzanpassung von siebeneinhalb Prozent. Der Grund dafür ist, dass wir noch keine vollständige Bewertung unseres Eigentums hatten. Sie waren diesen Sommer hier. HCA Asset Management was with us. They take photos of each individual property and building. They note all details, square meter numbers, which materials were used. The South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance will go through this. Then we sit down with them, check it out and maybe there are adjustments to our real estate assessments. And yes, we also looked at how the fleet parking committee checked our Kfz insurance. Last but not least, the share of the city at the premium is 866,000 and for the urban supply companies about 318,000. We look for a permit for this renewal. And the next steps of the employees are as soon as we Bewertung von HCA und der South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance erhalten, setzen wir uns zusammen und betrachten den Wiederbeschaffungswert sowie verschiedene Optionen für unser eigenes. Fragen kann ich diese beantworten?

Vielen Dank. Rat kann ich einen Antrag auf Genehmigung der Polizen erhalten. Antrag gestellt von Ratsmitglied Norman, unterstützt von Ratsmitglied Chetty. Rat gibt es eine Diskussion. Doctor Peter. I only have a short question. Kristen, thank you for this powerpoint. That has answered many of my questions. But why isn't Rapid City part of the pool? What do you think? Are you currently doing something different? Is it something we should also consider or what is the reason for it?

I don't know. I should probably contact you. I got on some other clothes. Brookings, Aberdeen. Who was the other one I contacted? Mitchell, I think. And yes, I think others have changed and never had the feeling that they could get the same insurance protection as we can get through the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance, simply because of some of our peculiarities, such as the liability for our criminal prosecution authorities and the like.

Understood. I would be curious to know who you would choose. Simply as a further option for the future, for the future of identity. Is there anyone else?

Council Member J.

Just because I'm in the industry, I'm not an expert for a long time. What I do know, however, is that when I drive through Rapid City and see hail protection equipment sold via trailers and vehicles, and they are the only city in the federal state that has this additional protection because these retailers have difficulties finding insurance protection, then we can really appreciate that they are not in this pool.

Because this week I had a hail damage application in my adventure.

I don't know if I understand everything correctly, but I definitely know where the hail damage comes from in South Dakota. Danke, Ratsmitglied.

Wird es noch weitere Diskussionen? Rat. Der Antrag ist, die Richtlinien zu genehmigen. Alle, die dafür sind, sagen dafür. Bonsam. Dagegen. Finanzbeamter Bob Sen. Wollen. Dafür.

Morgen.

Dafür.

Jebens. The application has been accepted.

We come to point 13b, the approval of resolution 2635, a resolution to approve the employment contract of the city director. We give the floor to the city lawyer, Lisa Karikou, to begin.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As you know, it's been a year since our city director has been employed at Watertown. According to the employment contract, you have then carried out a performance assessment. As far as I know, this was satisfactory. Congratulations. And as a result of the performance assessment, we have revised the employment contract according to the instructions of the council. It should be noted that his trial period is over. This part was therefore erased from the contract and the rough cornerstones, which are also in the resolution and in the contract, which you can read for yourself, are a salary increase of about 5%. A yearly contribution to a qualified plan for raised remuneration in the amount of $ 22,500. und wir haben den Abschnitt über Fahrzeuge überarbeitet, um eine Entschädigung für die Nutzung seines Privatfahrzeugs vorzusehen. Damit stehe ich für Fragen zur Verfügung, aber ich glaube, der Vertrag entspricht dem, was Sie als Rat angewiesen haben und ist bereit für Ihre Zustimmung.

Vielen Dank, Anwältin Carrico. Rat, kann ich einen Antrag auf Genehmigung der Resolution erhalten? Antrag gestellt von Ratsmitglied Peters, unterstützt von Ratsmitglied Chetty. Wir eröffnen nun die Runde für Kommentare des Stadtrats. Ich glaube, Ratsmitglied Jörens, Sie haben etwas dazu zu sagen?

Thank you. Actually, I did not intend to address this, except for this point. In the past, I have publicly expressed, whether it was in the media or during the city council meetings, that there are big differences in who you appoint and who you have as city director. And that applies to every city that has this form of government. and I will probably not express myself to the yes and no votes or compare us with Sioux Falls and Rapid City, but I will give a short comment on the amounts. These are factual amounts that the tax payer in the city of Watertown saved in just 12 months. And we saved that without I think we had the feeling that we were missing something somewhere. The first position was a position that was created by the previous administration, called representative city director, who had a salary and bonus of almost 200,000. And I think it's really Good for us all to know that this place was taken over by current employees and the city director. This place, including the apartment, costs $ 200,000. Yes, maybe we'll need that in the future, but in this year there were zero of these two. Second thing, there was a project that came up a few months ago and I thought, wow, most of the time you think about these engineering costs for motorway projects. You know what, that's how it works. You know, earlier administrations, I don't know if you didn't notice it, but our city director has something going on with the big project that is currently running in the northwest of Watertown with the engineers. And alone in the engineering area there were 140,000. On savings for the tax payer, the budget and the city of Watertown. And I mean, if you start to count the numbers and add things like the lack of vehicle buyers. In fact, you know a short story. The vehicle that was bought for 50,000 dollars a few years ago.

Because it was never assigned to the city council.

This vehicle is not used by the city director. This vehicle could be better used by the police. And I recognize that. Therefore, the small amount that our city spends for a vehicle bill, in my opinion, is incredibly fair. You know, you start counting everything together and suddenly pennies become dollars. You know the old saying, and before we get lost, dollars become 100,000.

That's really a very, very good evening for Watertown.

Don't let us talk about some of the controversial things that we had to deal with at the previous city council, namely in relation to travel. It was so difficult because we couldn't make any decisions about travel to put initials behind the names of people. And I'm for initials, but I'm not the type for that. I don't care if I have initials behind my name, because I Not on the hunt for ACM awards, statues, trophies, pins or plaquettes in the room. But only the travel budget was cut by 25,000 dollars last year. Things are summing up here and I had a message from a citizen. Great question. You think he can't understand why the city minister needs a salary increase?

How can he know enough after a year?

Well, you can learn a lot in a year if you invest time and concentrate on understanding our urban processes. And do you know a comment that I read on crazybook from a business owner from the city center was, which is really interesting, at 7.30 a.m. the vehicle is at the town hall and when I leave the city center in the evening, it is mostly still there. And since I know through the questions of the last few months that he leaves the office and spends time studying things like the insolvency case in Fargo because of the ruins and we are suddenly informed about it, We have been kept on the running and there are so many hidden things that we have been blessed with. Is it perfect? Do we have to be critical? Definitely. We have to continue to work together while we remain critical and have a dialogue about the things that are important for Watertown. Another thing. Previously, the city and the city council were forced to approve a $27 million facility for the Crete department. And we asked again and again, can we get something in the range of 7 to 12 million? I am here to report that we are working on something that will be important one day.

But that depends on the priorities.

The meeting will take place soon and I am looking forward to it. So these are a few things that I wanted to add to what we have in front of us in this discussion so far. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members of the Council.

There are further comments from the Council. Councilmember Mormont.

Thank you, mayor. I know everything to appreciate what councilmember Jörns said. I will vote against it. And the only reason why I will vote against it is simply that I believe that the salary and performance package of the city director should correspond to what the other over 200 urban employees have received. I think whatever your lowest paid employee receives should be good enough for your highest paid employee when it comes to salary increases and performance. That has nothing to do with city director Stegger. My decision to vote against it has nothing to do with him. It's about the position and not about the person. I appreciate the great working relationship I have with city director Stegger. Really very much. I am extremely grateful for it. Ich genieße jedes Treffen mit ihm und es ist eine wunderbare Erfahrung, in seinem Büro zu sitzen, Probleme in Bezug auf Watertown zu besprechen und Ideen hin und her auszutauschen. Deshalb danke ihm dafür und schätze sehr, was er für unsere Stadt tut. Ich weiß, dass viele städtische Angestellte diese Sitzung heute Abend online oder im Fernsehen verfolgen werden. And I just want to say, I remember my work for the city when we had a salary study about five or six years ago. And I observed how Sie können jedes beschreibende Wort verwenden, das Sie verwenden möchten. Sie können jeden beschreibenden Ausdruck verwenden, um zu beschreiben, was mit der Arbeitsmoral passierte, nach dem, was ich als ein zu 100% gescheitertes Desaster einer Gehaltsstudie bezeichnen würde, um bei der Rekrutierung und Bindung zu helfen. Also ich verstehe das. Ich verstehe, woher die städtischen Angestellten kommen. And I just want you to know that the reason why I can't vote for it is that I will never vote for something or support something from which I know that it has a negative effect on the morale of our urban community. And I simply believe that it is wrong to reach out to someone and give them much more money and services than others, while so many of our urban employees could present exactly the same argument for how hard they work and how much they additionally do for the city. Deshalb stimme ich dagegen. Wissen Sie, was ich hier sage, sind nur meine persönlichen Meinungen und Gedanken und ich schätze die Zeit, dies erörtern zu können.

Gibt es noch weitere Kommentare aus dem Stadtrat? Ich weiß, dass Ratsmitglied Jörns etwas dazu sagen möchte. Ich möchte nur eine Kleinigkeit hinzufügen, um der Öffentlichkeit zu erklären. Falls sie neugierig war, wie dieser Prozess abgelaufen ist, I would like to thank all members of the council. He put together a questionnaire that went to the city council, in which we evaluated city director Stegger based on a number of different performance criteria. Then we gathered the evaluations of all council members and conducted a very long and productive conversation among us council members a few weeks ago in a non-public session. Then we got city director Stegger to us. We listened to his wishes, what he would like to change in his contract for the future. After that, we had a meeting and according to our community setting, the representative, mayor, council member Peters and I took part in negotiations with city director Stegger, where there was a give and take, but overall they were very kind. And that is because the people have a common vision for Watertown, how it should develop and be led, and that is without hostility, without impudence and with the view always aimed at what you want to achieve. Die Arbeit eines Stadtdirektors ist sehr schwierig. Danach sind wir zum Stadtrat zurückgekehrt, haben allen das Ergebnis der Verhandlungen gezeigt. Und das ist im Grunde das, was Sie heute Abend hier im Vertrag vorliegen haben. Die Stelle eines Stadtdirektors ist im ganzen Land nur sehr schwer zu besetzen. The position of a city director is usually occupied with a much higher grant than Watertown currently does. What you see here is partly a comparison of city director Stegger to a certain level of what other municipalities pay their city directors. But we are still under this amount. What I would like to emphasize is that this sehr beeindruckend ist angesichts dessen, was Stadtdirektor Stegger leistet. Denn im Gegensatz zu anderen Städten hat Watertown tatsächlich genauso viel, wenn nicht sogar mehr, bei dem, was in den Aufgabenbereich und die Stellenbeschreibung des Stadtdirektors fällt. Ich weiß, Stadtdirektor Stegger hat es von A bis Z genannt. Angefangen bei einem Flughafen. Nicht jede Gemeinde hat einen Stadtdirektor, der ähnlich gut oder sogar besser bezahlt. Not everyone has an airport. Only a few have an airport or an airport that is as important for the local economy as the one in Watertown with ERS service and the necessity to analyze everything, including what we discussed tonight, such as hangars, solar panels over the parking lot and the like. These are obligations that not every city has to deal with. Commit to Z, that stands for zoo. Watertown is rightly very proud of the Bramble Park Zoo. And I think only two other cities in South Dakota have a zoo. And we all obviously know how much our budget burdens, how many people we employ there and what that means for the community. So these are things that not every community has. Then we have more green areas per head than any other community in South Dakota. That all falls into the task area of our park recreation. We have more streets per head than any other city in South Dakota. If you compare us to a city of similar size like Brookings, we have 70 miles more streets that we have to maintain every year. That all falls into what I mean. It's a team, but in the end it's up to the city director at the top. We have a river, we have lakes, we have all sorts of things. So it is a very difficult place to occupy. And I think the community saw that when it took many, many months until we found someone through a process that attracted applications from all over the country. And I am very happy with the person who is now playing this role. The ratings through the city council were very high, very positive. And that is reflected in the contract again. So thanks to Watertown for supporting us. I think we have a very good government system and we are looking forward to what we can achieve. Councilmember, does anyone else want to say something?

Councilmember Chetty. Thank you, Mayor. So yes, just to hopefully ensure clarity and to help the people in the city, our community and among our city employees to understand this process. You know, we have employees here who are sometimes facing a professional decision, sometimes it's about the salary. Maybe you switch from the job at the city to another authority, another organization, maybe to the district or maybe to the private sector. And sometimes the payment is the reason why they can maybe earn a few more dollars. And I absolutely do not accuse them, because we have to make decisions based on where we are in life. Sometimes that is not the decisive factor. Maybe it's not about the salary. Maybe we work where we work because we like the work there. There are so many, oh so many things that lead to it. Why do we do what we do professionally? Now, if I look at the current city director Stegger. You mentioned here, Mr. Mayor, that he is still below average. Ich muss glauben, dass er selbst mit einem Jahr Erfahrung in der Privatwirtschaft vermutlich für mehr Gehalt woanders hingehen könnte. Und das würde den ein oder anderen sicher motivieren. Er liegt unter dem Durchschnitt, aber es hat nicht den Anschein, als wolle Alan diesen Posten als Stadtdirektor wirklich wegen des Gehalts verlassen, obwohl er technisch gesehen vermutlich unter dem nationalen oder sogar dem staatlichen Durchschnitt für Stadtdirektoren liegt. Mein Punkt dabei ist, dass ich nicht glaube, dass es ihm ums Geld geht. Er macht das nicht nur für einen Gehaltscheck. Ich glaube, sein Herz hängt daran und er möchte gemeine Watertown dienen. Ich möchte einfach nicht, dass die Leute denken, es läge am Geld. Ich möchte nicht für Stadtdirektor Steger sprechen, aber wenn man ihn im letzten Jahr kennengelernt hat, ist es nicht das Geld, das ihn motiviert. Und... Once again, we can compare ourselves and some employees leave their position for the district because they earn a few more dollars there. You know, maybe we have to check that, maybe not, but what motivates us to work somewhere? And as I said, we don't lose them because of that. The other thing is why we came up with this special grant package. It was a kind of new beginning compared to the first year, when we as city council decided with city director Stagger to be at the lower end. And city director Stagger agreed with that. He wanted Watertown. He wanted a year to show Watertown what it can do and that it is fully operational. And it was again under what we might have offered someone else. That's why we saw this year as a new beginning, to bring him to an income that he deserves. And that's why we are all in agreement, some of us not, but as a team here I believe that we are all of the opinion that the work performance is right. So it's just about how to do it right. For those of us who have been here a little longer, this is a new start to the first year. I think if we move forward as council members say, I am also one of them. I am not there to show partiality. I don't want to show partiality. I personally don't see it as a preference of someone in the public. This is a position we can't compare. I guess you could look at the department manager. I don't know if all department managers earn exactly the same. There is probably room for play there. We are probably trying to be uniform. There will be positions that require more responsibility. There will be more payment. The city director is at the top. And this position deserves an appropriate payment and compensation. Es wäre etwas anderes, wenn wir zwei Stadtdirektoren hätten, die für eine Stadt arbeiten und einer würde x Dollar mehr verdienen. Dies ist die eine Position, die es verdient, dort zu sein, wo er sein wird. Ich glaube, wo wir stehen, ist fair und gerecht. Ich wollte nur diese paar Punkte mitteilen, dass dies keineswegs, dies könnte, ja. Wie Ratsmitglied Mohrmann sagt, das sind vielleicht einige städtische Angestellte. Ich würde den städtischen Angestellten sagen, haltet durch. continues to try to resist, to grumble and to complain, because there is a positive future ahead of us. But it requires the right person on the post to lead this. It needs the city council, it needs the city director and yes, it needs the department head and every single employee. No one is better than the other. Nevertheless, there are certain skills that we need in these positions. So we have the right competence as the city director.

Thank you, Member Peters. Mayor, I don't have to repeat what has already been said. I think Member Chetty has expressed it very well and I agree and support this resolution to increase the salary of the city director to the fullest. But there is a story that I would like to tell from today, tomorrow. Eine Bürgerin wandte sich an mich und sie war absolut nicht für diese Resolution oder die Erhöhung des Gehalts für den City Manager nicht etwa, weil sie einen nicht kennt oder nie mit ihm gearbeitet hat, sondern weil sie sagte, ihre Steuern würden ständig steigen. While we were talking, I asked her, well, what do you mean by taxes? And she referred to the fact that her basic taxes are constantly rising. I therefore wanted to take a moment to explain how we, or at least how I, look at the urban household and our income. A very small percentage overall actually comes from basic taxes for the city's income, for the city's income. We finance ourselves, I would say, by about 70 percent of the city's sales tax. When she explained it here, she was pretty satisfied with, I think it's 5%, for which we increased the sales tax. That just sounds right. Since last year. And when I explained and explained that the city is growing further and how much more complex everything is, and you know, yes, the basic tax revenues are significant and we need them, of course, for the business, but we are more focused on the growth of the sales tax. When I presented this, they were supported by the resolution and the assurance that we are more oriented towards other municipalities in the city. So I just wanted to take a moment to share with you that we are looking at everything wholeheartedly, but we are receiving income tax rates that have grown steadily month by month. And we need a good leadership to continue that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Members of Parliament, do you have anything else before I hand over the floor to Member Jones? Member Jones.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think we should talk again about the concerns of urban employees and listen to them. The city doesn't go anywhere if we don't have employees, no good work morale and no people who really come to work enthusiastically. That's why I would like to speak to the city employees and ask a question. Would anyone... Let's put it another way. Gibt es jemanden in der Stadtverwaltung, der seinen Job verlieren würde, wenn sich die Bürger von Watertown gegen die Regierungsform eines City Managers entscheiden? Danke, Bürger. Und fragen Sie sich selbst, würde irgendjemand von Ihnen seinen Job verlieren? Und wer würde sein? Ja, es gibt nur eine Person.

We have to look at this position in a completely different way.

And to be honest, I was one of the citizens who contacted me when I explained the considerable savings that we have made as a city in the last year. This local employee also said, I think people need to know that I mentioned these savings. So he was really motivated by a local employee who said, I understand this much better now. So a very good dialogue this evening. We thank you for that. There is another thing from some comments that a second citizen mentioned.

I'm not sure.

And you read very precisely what we agreed on tonight. I don't know anything, but I saw on Facebook that there are some incentives in this plan. He says... Ask if there are any incentives. Or whoever always said that.

I'm not exactly sure who said that, but... At least council member Petersen. Maybe a question to our city attorney. It is fair to say that there are no incentives in this contract, milestones or the like, that the city manager has to reach for an additional grant.

Correct. There is nothing like that.

Thank you very much. I think. Thank you, mayor.

That's all I have.

Thank you. Alan may be uncomfortable when he hears all the good things about himself. Then did you have anything else you wanted to add, City Manager Stegger? I'm sure I would come up with something.

I'm just saying it was great. I also want to say that some of you know who was already active in the city council. I am the worst subcontractor in the world. I sat down, I will not reveal confidentialities from the non-public meeting and said, I don't care if you pay me more. This is still fun and it will be fun and we are making a lot of progress. But also with regard to the restart, I would like to say publicly what I have also told you, my gentlemen, in the non-public meeting. This is a restart after the first trial year. This is not something we should do every year. This is a one-time restart. And as some of you know, I had a certain salary idea when I started. And you know what? It was actually $7,000 less per year than we had negotiated in the process. Die Personalvermittlungsfirma war am Ende sauer auf mich, weil ich nicht nach mehr gefragt habe. Denken Sie daran, meine Herren. Ich sagte euch, ich möchte wie jeder andere Angestellte behandelt werden. Und so wurde mir gesagt, jeder fängt bei Stufe 5 an. Da haben wir es. Less than what we agreed on last year. I therefore appreciate all your perspectives and your friendly words and I thank you for taking the time to make this adjustment for me and the position. I will also tell you the following. I very much appreciate council member Mormont. He has experience in public service and when he speaks, I listen. Er bringt eine Sichtweise ein, die ich so noch nicht gesehen habe und deshalb möchte ich nicht, dass jemand sagt, hey, Brent und Ellen verstehen sich deshalb nicht. Das tun wir. Ich schätze die Perspektive, die er einbringt, eine andere Sichtweise als meine und das ist in Ordnung. Danke. Gibt es noch etwas, das ich für Sie beantworten kann? Ich würde es gerne versuchen.

Danke, Stadtdirektor Stegger. Ich möchte mich bedanken. And Watertown can be happy to have you in their position. The proposal is to approve this resolution. Everyone who is in favor please say yes against it. Financial Referent Bob Zenn, please raise your name.

Pine. Mon.

No.

Evans. Peters. Allen.

The proposal is accepted. We come to the report of the city director.

I did not expect to have to give one. Um, a few things. And to begin with, I will hand over the floor to Stadtbaumeister Pietersen so that he can give an update on some of our major road construction projects. So we're looking at the screen. If Nick could call up the website. Ah, and the map.

Danke. Nur ein kurzes Update, wo wir stehen. Die Projekte laufen langsam aus. Es ist gegen Ende der Saison. Es gibt vier davon, die ich hervorheben möchte. Dieser Bereich in Rot, das ist die Fifth Avenue. Can you see my marking here? The other marking here in red is Forth and Highland. The middle area here, the blue area, that's the WU project. And then up here on the floor, Northridge is Milan. That's Milan Belagia. The Milan overlay project was carried out today. I assume that they are already finished, but that should be done today. This long road here in the middle of the WMU project on 2nd Street will be paved from tomorrow. That should be done by the end of the week. So the schools are exactly in this area. So that should be good. At the corner of Forth and Highland we step on some swampy material. Also haben wir eine sogenannte zementgebundene Tragschicht. Die Arbeiten sind gerade abgeschlossen. Wir haben die Tragfähigkeit geprüft. Es ist jetzt hart wie Stein. Wir werden also diese Woche mit der Planierung und den Bordsteinarbeiten beginnen. Und die Asphaltierung ist vorläufig für den 2. September geplant. Und die 4th Avenue ist ebenfalls vorläufig für den 2. September angesetzt. Thank you for this update. A few other projects. We have already expressed our desire to re-seal the 14th Avenue North, including a new marking plan.

only for complete transparency in the household. This was not a project that was budgeted for us this year. We believe that we can cover most of the existing road budget, but this is a project for which we will probably need a supplementary household. We think it is an important project for the municipality to protect the public who uses the cycle path and to preserve the road. I don't know if everyone is aware that the side strip on which we drive as a road track was not designed as a road. And also the confusing road markings where you can see the old and the new ones for safety reasons. We think that's important. Therefore, there will probably be a report. I would like to talk about Elmira Township. We have made a declaration of intent in the past. Das Township hat den Wunsch geäußert, dass wir weitere Abschnitte von etwa 1,5 Meilen der 26th Avenue Northwest übernehmen. Das ist ein Abschnitt, der laut Township stark vom städtischen Verkehr genutzt wird. Er wird tatsächlich sehr, sehr wenig vom Verkehr des Townships genutzt. Ich wollte Sie nur darauf hinweisen. Ich weiß, dass es dazu einige Meinungen gibt, manchmal auch sehr entschiedene Meinungen darüber, was wir dort übernehmen. Das nur als kurzer Hinweis. Falls Sie dazu Meinung haben, würde ich mich sehr freuen, diese zu hören. Die neuen Tempolimitschilder für Schulzonen wurden heute aufgestellt. Achten Sie also bitte auf diese Schilder. Unsere nächste Governance-Richtlinie, an der wir vor der Budgetplanung arbeiten werden, betrifft unsere Beziehungen zu externen Organisationen. I say conscious relationships and not just financing external organizations, because we have to clarify more than just who we support and how we do it. I would like to go so far with this guideline that we also determine how we call people into the committees of this organization. What are the requirements in the declarations of intent? I think that is something that the public would welcome and also the external organizations would appreciate this clarity in a governance guideline. Eine letzte Sache möchte ich noch ansprechen. Dieser Sitzungssaal und dieser Anbau, dem Sie alle zugestimmt haben, wird nur selten genutzt. Wir nutzen ihn zweimal im Monat für diese Sitzung und unsere Bürger haben Millionen Dollar darin investiert. Wenn ich aus der Sicht eines Bürgers an die Transparenz der Regierung denke und mir andere staatliche Einheiten ansehe, auch Ausschüsse und sogar unsere eigenen Watertown Municipal Utilities und feststelle, dass diese Gremien nicht den gleichen Grad an Transparenz bieten wie wir hier in der Stadt Watertown, möchte ich diesen Raum allen anderen Regierungsstellen der Gemeinde zur Verfügung stellen. Wir werden einen Weg finden, sie unterzubringen. We make sure that we have the recording and transmission technology, all the investments that were made here. And we can make Watertown the most transparent city in the state when it comes to an open government. That is the promise that we can make here on the part of the administration. You know, today the working group of the state has the right to assembly. Die Pflicht zur Aufzeichnung öffentlicher Sitzungen vertagt, weil die meisten Gremien nicht über die nötige Ausrüstung verfügen. Wir haben hier investiert. Wir haben die Möglichkeiten dazu. Es sollte keinen Grund geben, warum eine gemeinsame Planungskommission mit dem Landkreis und der Stadt in einem Nebengebäude ohne Aufzeichnung für die Öffentlichkeit stattfindet, endet. Daher möchte ich dies gerne zur Verfügung stellen. Kontaktieren Sie uns einfach hier im Rathaus und wir können einen Zeitplan für die Öffentlichkeit erstellen. Damit möchte ich Herrn Simmons auch dafür danken, dass er sich im offenen Forum zu Wort gemeldet hat. Ich habe mich bereits ein paar Mal mit Herrn Simmons getroffen. Wie er erwähnt, hatte ich auch mit Chief Tumi getroffen. Er hat bereits früh im Prozess viele der Datenschutzbedenken bezüglich einiger stationärer Kameras geäußert, über die nun auf einer breiteren Basis gesprochen wird. Ich habe das Gefühl, dass wir bei unserer örtlichen Polizei großartige Richtlinien haben und würde ein Gespräch mit der Gemeinde begrüßen, um zu zeigen, was wir haben. Ich weiß, dass wie von Herrn Simmons erwähnt weitere Gespräche stattfinden. Ich möchte öffentlich erklären, dass wir dafür offen sind und wir danken Ihnen, dass Sie uns über die Entwicklungen auf dem Laufenden halten. Damit gebe ich das Wort zurück an den Bürgermeister. Thank you. Would a city council member like to suggest a topic for a future discussion? Council member Mormon? Just a short topic, also for the public. Since we have already discussed the traffic committee this evening, some people have approached me about our new football stadium. Wenn man nachts von dort wegfährt, laufen so viele Leute über die Third Avenue, dass bei den Stadionlichtern, wenn es dunkel ist, die eine Straßenlaterne direkt am Fußgängerüberweg nicht angeht. Ich nehme an, sie hat wahrscheinlich einen Sensor. Und so haben wir hunderte beim bevorstehenden Football-Spiel. We will have thousands of people who literally walk across the street in complete darkness. And I'm sure that three parties are involved, the school, the city works and the city. I have no idea who is responsible for that, if you want to comment on it. Very briefly, during the varsity football games, both for the GPL and for the Watertown High School, this street is closed. They apply for a permit. This does not solve the problem of football and JV football games, but for these thousands of people you are talking about, you block this road. I think from 6 p.m. until everyone is gone. So no vehicle traffic. Only pedestrian traffic.

Thank you.

That could be helpful. But we will check the sensors at the top of the lamp. It's probably something that you didn't notice.

Mir ist es nur aufgefallen, als ich am Freitagabend vom Fußballspiel kam. Es läuft alles von Kleinkindern bis hin zu Erwachsenen über die Straße und sie laufen im Stockdunkeln. Also danke.

Danke, Ratsmitglied Shetty.

Just to make sure, someone has a birthday tomorrow.

Is that right? Does the mayor have a birthday? I'm sure someone has one.

Yes.

Well, all the best for your birthday tomorrow, Mr. Bürger. Thank you.

That's something for the confidential session.

Are there any other topics?

In Ordnung. Wir haben keinen Grund für eine vertrauliche Sitzung. Bitte um einen Antrag auf Vertagung. Antrag gestellt von Ratsmitglied Allen, unterstützt von Ratsmitglied Peters. Alle, die für eine Vertagung sind, sagen bitte Ja. Wer dagegen ist, sagt Nein. Der Antrag ist angenommen. Gute Nacht und Gott segne Sie, Watertown.