City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order for a Watertown City Council meeting for November 19th of 2025. Please rise while we allow Hank Roso, the fire chaplain for the Watertown Fire Rescue, to lead us in prayer. Thank you, your honor. Please Please join me in prayer.

There's the right button. Thank you, your honor. Please join me in prayer. I sound like a parrot, don't I? God in heaven, as we come to you this evening, we are so grateful to you. We take so many things for granted. Your love for us is displayed in so many ways, including this time here in this great community and uh these people working together, our city leaders and um each one and all the departments. And we want to just say thank you this time of year and always. We ask for safety for those in law enforcement, our first responders at the st fire stations. Thank you for safety to those in utilities and uh and the street department and each one. We take these for granted. We thank you for your wisdom and understanding. You give freely for those who ask and for your presence here in this meeting tonight. And it's in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Finance officer Bob Zen, please call the role. Okay. Mormon here. Jirens absent here. Oh, never mind. Here. Peters here. Shetty here. Allan here. Hoyer here. Holene here. Thank you.

All right. We are all here. Quorum is established. Chair will entertain a motion to approve. Well, actually, first I'm going to ask if anyone has a conflict of interest they would like to disclose. Council. Councilman Hoyer. I'm going to abstain from 12 alpha and 12 Bravo. All right. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Please note that on the minutes if we do a voice vote. But um I will go to approve tonight's agenda with one change. I'm going to be removing item 8F off of the consent agenda and we will place that. Where would we like to place that? City manager.

Go 13B. I'm good with that. That's good. Okay. So, I will be taking 8F off of consent and putting it as the last agenda item on tonight's business. With that change, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? Motion made by Councilman Allen, second by Councilman Mormon. All those in favor of approving the agenda with that change, please say I.

I. Any oppose? Say nay. Motion carries. Now, we are on to open forum. If there is anyone who would like to address the council on an item that is not on tonight's agenda, now is your time to do so. I'll close open forum and move on to tonight's agenda. Item 10A is an approval of a change order for the 2024 park and recreation improvement sign project with MAC landscaping and irrigation for an increase of roughly $11,000 for a new contract price of $128,26846. We'll go to our city manager, Alan Stagger, for more information.

Thank you, mayor. This change order is related to uh changing the uh quantity of signs. Uh since the project was initially scoped, uh we've added a pickle ball court and we've also added a River Ridge Park. We had uh room under the existing budget line item to add these two signs. Uh in the future, as we add new parks, we will include the uh signage uh as part of those projects. I'll stand by for any questions. All right. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to approve the change order? Motion made by Councilman Shuddy.

Seconded by Councilman Hoyer. Let's open it up for council questions or comments. Councilman Hoyer. The pillars look nice, got to say. And I've been receiving lots of compliments about the signs as well. So, I think it was long overdue and it's a nice change and I think the public is appreciative. So, thank you for doing that. Any other comments? I feel confident doing a voice vote. All those in favor of approving the change order, please say I. I. I. I. I. Any oppose? Say nay.

Motion carries unanimously. Go on to item 11 A, a first reading of an ordinance amending title 7 city government chapter 7.01 city limits and datim line. City manager Stagger.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, this item is being brought to you as part of an ordinance cleanup. Uh you may recall over the last couple of meetings we we've been trying to bring some of the small changes that don't require a tremendous amount of study or debate to you uh so that we can clean up and streamline the ordinance book. Essentially, what this change does is it removes a meets and bounds description of the city from ordinance, which currently spans over six pages, and replaces it with reference to a city map, as well as um instructions for where that city map is retained or maintained in the office of the city engineer. Um we recommend approval and we'll stand by for any questions.

Thank you. This is the first reading. We don't need action, but I would encourage questions or comments. Council, and I just want to make it clear to anybody listening, this is probably something long overdue in the age of computers and accurate maps. we can basically show you the lines of the city limits and we don't need to be describing them with paragraphs or pages long of you know where the city ends or begins. So that's what is essentially happening here. Any other comments? We'll go on to item 12A, a renewal of a retail liquor license for Watertown Mavericks LLC doing business as Maverick Stakes and Cocktails. And we'll go to our city finance officer, Kristen Bobine.

Okay. Thank you, mayor. Uh yes, before the council is a renewal of the liquor license. Uh the reason this is in front of you is because there was a violation. This was heard at their previous malt beverage license renewal. Um, so we've already kind of discussed it, but in terms of this one, fees have been paid, notices published. If there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you. Thank you. I'll open a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to testify on this item? I'll close the public hearing, open it up for council action. Can I get a motion to renew the license? Motion made by Councilman Shuddy.

Seconded by Councilman Mormon. Thank you for that. Any comments or questions, council? I always wait just a little bit longer when we've got two councilmen online so just in case they want to say something. But I feel pretty confident this is routine. As finance officer Bob Zeen said, we already dealt with this and with the with their malt beverage with their malt beverage. So pretty common sense. So I will go to a voice vote. All those in favor of renewing the license, please say I. I. I. I

any oppose say nay. Motion carries. Item 12B is a renewal of a retail wine and cider license for Aldi Incorporated. And we'll go back to our city finance officer Kristen Bobsine. Okay. Thank you, mayor. Yes, on this one, this is a renewal also of the wine insider license. This is a new violation. This violation did take place in July. Um this was also a sale to a minor. Uh all fees have been paid. notice is published. This uh license holder did receive a letter notifying them that the meeting was scheduled and that if they wanted to attend, there would be a public hearing. So, there's any questions, I can answer them. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll open a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to testify on this? I'll close the public hearing. Can I get a motion from council to renew the license? Motion made by Councilman Shetty, seconded by Councilman Mormon. Any questions or comments? This just um did we receive any communication back from the company? I did not receive any communication. Okay. But we're also not aware of anything egregious behind it. Okay.

All right. Thank you. Feel confident to go to a voice vote on this. All those in favor of renewing the license, please say I. I. I. Any oppose? Say nay. Motion carries. Item 12 C is a second reading of an ordinance amending the zoning map of the city of Watertown for a portion of property to be known as Innovative Adjusters Addition from R2A single family attached residential district to C3 Highway commercial district. Community development manager Brandy Hatton, please tell us more.

Thank you, Mayor. If I could get my screen up, I can show the corresponding map. So, as stated, this is the second reading of this reszone request for the properties at 812 and 820 West Kemp. Uh, it will be reszoning this small portion here that I'm pointing out on the map uh to C3 Highway commercial to combine it with the existing property at 812 West Kemp. And then the existing R2A, which is single family attached residential district, will remain for um 820 West Camp. And both of these lots are conforming to the minimum lot size requirements. And then the only thing is um at the time of replatting which will be done administratively there will be an easement that will intersect this property running north and south where there's an existing gas line from um serviced by WU. So with that I'll stand by for any questions.

Thank you. I'll open a public hearing. Is there any outside testimony on this? I'll close the public hearing. Can I get a motion from council to approve the ordinance amendment? Motion made by Councilman Allen. Seconded by Councilman Shuddy. Any questions or comments? Council. All right. We had been through this before, so uh it had been properly vetted. I will do a roll call vote on this one, though. caught me off guard. [laughter] Okay, here we go. Mormon.

I Jens I. Peters Shuddy I. Allan I. Hoyer I. Holene I. All in favor. Motion carries. Item 12D is a second reading of an ordinance amending title 13 offenses and regulations specifically chapter 13.02 02 regulation of the sale, purchase, and possession of hemp derived products. City Manager Stiger.

Thank you, Mayor. As indicated in the title of the ordinance and as discussed in several prior meetings, uh the intent of this ordinance is to prohibit the sale of various hemp derived products to individuals under 21 years of age. This is intended to close any possible or perceived loopholes in state law just to make it clear that they're regulated products not to be sold to people under 21 years of age. I'll stand by for any questions. Thank you. I will take it up to the council. Can I get a motion to approve the ordinance amendment?

Motion made by Councilman Shuddy. I'll second. Seconded by Councilman Mormon. Any questions or comments? Councilman Shetty. Really just a a comment just, you know, when we had some folks testify of of uh what they've experienced and seen and and even an establishment themselves that sell products like this, having everybody get involved to come together as a community to to just be make it a safer place at least for our youth uh in this category. So, appreciate everybody that got involved. Any further comments or questions? Councilman Mormon.

I just want to make a quick comment, too. I just want to thank the staff, uh, city attorney Lisa Carico, city manager Alan Stagger, and and everybody that worked on putting this together. It was a lot of process and there was a lot of time and research that went into this. And so, I just want to acknowledge all the work that staff had done for this. I'd also like to point out I'm not going to suggest that Watertown was the small town that forced the federal government to finally take a look at this, but if anyone was paying attention to the news when the when Congress voted to end the shutdown, they also added some different rules. And some of those rules are the rules that we as Waterton have been working on for quite some time now, for several weeks to deal with these hemp infused beverages. And I would say that our federal government, I'm pretty sure they came up with the idea on their own, but I'd like to say that Watertown was still out at the forefront. We definitely are in the state addressing this issue and I appreciate all of the testimony that we had from people who came forward to say that this is a problem. Whether or not it's actually happening on a large scale here in Watertown is somewhat beside the point. The fact that it could be happening and that it was completely left unregulated is more the issue. um if we knew that something was a potential public hazard um and we were unregulating it that would be upon us and it would be our fault if we did not address it. So in this case I applaud council as well as all of the staff to deal with this and uh also want to thank the federal government but it's going to take them a year for that to be in effect on the federal level. At

least here in Watertown we're going to be safe for the next year. So any other comments or questions? Motion is to approve the ordinance amendment. All those in favor will say I. Oppose. Nay. Finance officer Bob Zen, please call the role. Okay. Mormon. I. Jirens. Hi. Peters. Okay, we'll pass. Shy. Hi. Allan. Hi. Hoyer. Hi. Holden. I motion

motion carries. Item 12E is a second reading of a 20 of the 2026 budget appropriation. Uh we have two separate motions in here. One is going to be the ordinance for the city budget appropriation and number two is going to be the enterprise funds budget. We will take those separate when it comes time to vote, but we will take them together when it comes time to discuss. City manager Stagger.

Thank you, Mayor. The first item is approving the operating budget for the city. Um you have in the agenda package a a fairly large schedule of the the various funds that will be approved. Uh we this is the second reading but just as a reminder the overall budget is 65.4 million for 2026 which is a reduction from 2025 by about 10 million. Uh the primary driver of the reduction is uh the completion of some of the major wastewater projects um that have that were included in the prior year's budgets. I can stand by for any questions up up to this point. I've not really received any detailed questions. Uh so there's nothing new to address here, but we'll try to address anything as they come up tonight.

Thank you, council. In order for us to discuss, I'd like to get a motion to approve item one, which is the city budget appropriation ordinance. Motion made by Councilman Allen.

Seconded by Councilman Jurns. Thank you very much. Let's open it up for any questions. And again, council, you can ask questions on either item one or two, but u we will be voting on just item one. I just like to thank the city manager and the city finance officer and all the department heads for putting together what I believe is a very good budget. And also I appreciate the conversation that we have had as a council dealing with the city manager and the department heads and all the staff as far as understanding where we prioritize our money but also understanding that um this is setting it for the next year and changes are always possible. So, we will take that into consideration and we look forward to working with the staff as any of those changes might come up. So, any other comments? We're going to vote just on item 12E1, which is the city budget appropriation. All those in favor will say I. Oppose? Nay. Please call the role.

Okay. Mormon. I. Jens. Peters. I Okay, Shy. I Allan I Hoyer I Hen I. All in favor? All in favor? Motion passes. Item 12E2. Can I get a motion to approve the enterprise funds budget? Motion made by Shuy. Need a second here. I'll second. Thank you, Councilman Mormon. Any comments or questions on this hearing? None. I'm going to do a roll call vote. Okay, it's a big enough vote. Okay, here we go. Mormon I. Jern, I. Peters, I. Shotty, I. Allan,

I. Hoyer, I. Holene, I. All in favor? All in favor? Motion passes. Item 13A is an approval of the long-term capital improvement plans for 2027 to 2036. City Manager Stagger.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, as a reminder, we have been through a review of the capital improvement plan in in some level of detail for 2026, as well as discussions on the council priority projects as well as a review of the city's debt level and anticipated future funding level. This plan puts before you uh to review the plan going out to the 2036 period. This is essential for our long-term planning to ensure that that we have adequate revenues or debt levels in place to be able to support these plans uh to continue the operation of government. Uh this plan again is a point a plan at a point in time which is today. It can and will inevitably uh evolve as we go through the next few years. But this does help provide both the public and the council some insight as to what uh what we are collectively thinking as we go forward as a city. I'll stand by for questions. Thank you. And we will get to those questions after I get a motion to approve the plan. Can I get a motion to approve?

Made by Councilman Mormon. Second.

Seconded by Councilman Shuddy. Council, any input? Councilman Allen? [clears throat] Uh, city manager Stagger, could you just talk a little bit about the process that you go through with the departments to establish that because I know it takes a lot of work in the departments and planning for what their needs are in the future etc. We do start, this is actually the first thing that we go through in the budget process each year and it does involve the department heads where we go through and have a discussion with all department heads represented around the table and we speak in some level of detail about what they have in each of their individual plans. And the benefit of that process is everybody gets to see what others are thinking. And so we we come with a consensus for what is in the best collective good as a city as a whole because as you know and as we've worked through with our sales tax revenues we're dealing with a pretty limited pool of funds. Generally this capex is covered by our second penny which is great because for instance the entire team can see the benefit or the the requirement um of maintaining streets at about three and a half million a year and it really leads to more cooperation across the departments. So I'm really happy with the way the team came together this year and put the plan plan together. Any followup, Councilman?

Councilman Hoyer? I was just going to say um specifically we're really excited, at least in our neck of the woods, to see that with the improvements that happened to some of the park signage that we do have some things slated for some of our older parks to do some equipment replacement. There's a number of them kind of in the older parts of town that have been pretty for want. And so, we'll be excited to see those coming here in the next one to two years. Good. Not sure. Do we still have any of those old slides that are made of metal that Nelson Park Nelson Park? Personally, out of nostalgia, I'd like to keep those. Uh, [laughter] you know, and Mary Gur's too, but anyway, they took that out of

I know. I know. [laughter] Anyway, Councilman Marmet,

uh, just a quick question and maybe just for the, um, general information for the public out of these different sections that we look at like public safety, public works, health and welfare, culture, um, if we look at the previous 10 years and then going forward um, in the future for 10 years, is there any of those areas where you feel like uh, it's going to be required a substantial amount more money be spent, whether it's because equipments is getting more expensive or whatever. Is there is there one that uh stands out as like this area is going to be considerably more than what we had to spend in the last 10 years?

I would say streets and the equipment required to maintain streets. Uh because the large pieces of capital equipment, they're growing at a the price is growing at a rate faster than inflation and our sales tax revenues grow at the rate of inflation. So, we do need to keep our eyes on streets so that we can continue to maintain at the level we have the last uh last really four years the councils have stepped up with some enhanced funding of streets. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any other input?

The motion is to approve the long-term capital plan. All those in favor will say I oppose. Nay. Finance officer Bob Zen. Okay. Mormon I Jens I Peters Shetty I Allan I Hoyer I Holene I. All in favor? All in favor? Motion passes. Item 13B is 8F off of consent, which is an approval of a professional services agreement for services associated with managing risk, compliance, and the reporting of misconduct and other incidents for a total contract in the amount of $4,18.39. City Manager Stiger.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council, for pulling this off of the consent agenda. it it allows me to speak about this program which I think is extremely important in our city. Uh NAVX is a company that that offers uh various compliance solutions primarily to publicly traded companies. Uh if you go way back to 2002 following Enron and the major financial scandals, many people asked, well, why didn't somebody raise their hand and say something was wrong? And as a result of that, the Sarbain Oxley Act of 2002 was passed which requires publicly traded companies to have various reporting mechanisms in place. So companies such as NAVX who you may recognize uh doing business as ethics point have really become the standard across most large organizations uh in the business or in the private sector. I was a bit surprised coming into this role and also during the interview process to really learn on the governmental side we don't have this in place. Um you might recall that there was a charter review by a group of citizens midy year uh that was conducted um following interviews across many of the city staff members who raised concerns and issues at that time. As I was in the interview process for this job, I was absolutely shocked to read that there were some employees who didn't feel comfortable even responding to that survey. In the private world, that just wouldn't happen. And so during the interview process, I pointed out to the council that yes, we need an ethics reporting hotline. We need some ethical reporting tools in place so that our culture and team um can operate in an environment

where full transparency and disclosure is something that uh can take place without fear of losing jobs or repercussions. And so I fully support this and and again thank you for pulling it off the uh consent agenda so that I I can speak to it a little bit.

Thank you, city manager. I would also like to say something for those who are watching or listening. The colloquialism for this would be a whistleblower hotline. I prefer to think of it as an information helpline because if anybody who works for the city or has information regarding what the city is doing, it is a good avenue to offer people is a place where their voice can be registered and heard. And if there is information that could help the city do a job better, then that is something we want to know. But we need to we need to have people confident that they can share that information without retribution or consequences. Um, still doesn't mean that every tip that comes in is 100% valid. You also always got to factor that in. But it does mean that people will have the assurance that their voice can be heard if they feel the need that something needs to be said and factored into any deliberation with the city at any level. So on that I will open it up for council action. Can I get a motion to approve the agreement? So move

motion made by Councilman Allen, seconded by Councilman Hoyer. Council, any comments? Councilman Mormon. Uh yeah, I would just want to say thank you uh city manager um Alan Stagger for for this opportunity and uh for creating this hotline for the for the employees. Um, I had a a former employee reach out to me when he heard about this opportunity of what we were going to institute and um, he sent me a letter uh, his name is Devin Quaznooki and he wrote up uh, his experience um, having worked for the city and basically uh, detailed why why it is valuable to have a hotline. So, I'm just going to read his letter. I appreciate him uh, reaching out. I appreciate him sending this to me and I'll read it and we'll go from there. Uh, city employment under corrupt leadership. What started out as a positive looking new option as a city engineering employee turned into a shamfest by everyone from the city engineering manager and to the uh to the rest of the city in HR. As a South Dakota National Guard soldier at the time, I carried myself with pride and honor in every aspect of my life. I also had a government top secret security clearance at that time. There would be nothing that I would do to jeopardize that in any form whatsoever. When I was asked to have a meeting with HR and the city engineer and was informed that they had found and had been looking they found that I had been looking at porn on my work laptop. I immediately replied with a quote, "Show me the proof." With a smile on my face, I knew that there was zero proof as I am happily married man and have zero need to look at porn in the com comforts of my own home as

well as zero need to look at porn at work. Doing such an action would cause me my sec cause me to lose my security clearance and my job. I was then told that they would get the proof together and I would have days off until hearing about the matter. Once that day came, as I sat inside the police station meeting room in front of their best show of a Gustapo to try and strongarm me in fear, I was confident that they had nothing on me. And that's exactly what they cowardly said. Instead, they said I had internet time during work hours looking at non uh nonwork-related websites. All the while, there were many others in the office that looked at websites all day long about things that weren't work-related. It was an attempt to scare me into submission. I did not back down and I will tell anyone who would like to listen about the corruption within the city engineering and HR departments. So I just read that verbatim essentially what he had to write. I appreciate him reaching out. Um long slow hand salute to a former red leg for having the courage to do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments or questions? council. I would just um take the opportunity to end this on a positive note because I think this is a very positive development for the city. It is something that is going to help people in the in the future, all city employees. It can help uh anybody share information that they think is pertinent, important um in any situation when it comes to personnel, but also in decisions for the city because I I'm not even exactly sure what what tips we might be getting, what information we might be getting shared. But the fact that we are providing this avenue for people to share information that could be pertinent is a good thing. So I appreciate that and I'm going to focus on the good things that are going to come of this. All right. Any other comments? The motion is to approve the agreement. All those in favor say I. Oppose. Nay. Officer Bob Zen.

Okay. Mormon on behalf of a lot of employees who have been wronged in many situations um over the last four years I very happy to say I okay journs I Peters I Shy I Allen I Hoyer I Pauline I all in favor

motion is unanimous in favor motion passes we're on to city council member announcements and introduction of topics of future discussion I would like to just say something out to the public that as always, if you are interested in serving on any board committee for the city of Watertown, we do have an avenue on our city website where you can go and submit your name, your interest, your maybe background, why you're interested in serving on a specific border committee. We are always looking for good people to serve and help the city. So, please consider that if you're interested, or you can also just contact me or a councilman. But um actually going through the city website is probably a really good avenue of doing it. So any other announcements?

Any city manager report?

Uh couple of things for the the group uh tonight. Uh first of all uh on Monday of this week uh we switched over and and began the commissioning process on the new portion of the wastewater treatment facility. It's a pretty significant milestone with the large amount of money that has been spent there. Now, the next phase of the project will turn to uh retrofitting the older portion of the plant. And so, uh although it's an area the city most people don't see, we're spending about $60 million to ensure the infrastructure for the future growth of the community. Um secondly, uh we approved the enterprise funds tonight. I really just want to call out the airport board uh who had their monthly meeting yesterday and our airport manager Ian Merryweather. So although they are an enterprise fund um we struggle as most most small uh airports do in in terms of generating a profit or covering the costs. And it's really commendable how Ian Merryweather, the airport uh manager, has started to dig into the financials and the numbers and also walk his board through strategic actions that can be taken to really create the the airport as a center of economic development in the community and not just an asset that's that's there for general aviation and the uh commercial activities that we have. Finally, with the help of two of our council members and city staff, we we've launched a deeper dive into the new street facility. Uh our next step in that process is to engage with um the architectural firm who we have been working with to see if they are willing to work with us and to complete their unfinished project at a reasonable amount. Uh if not, we'll have to go a

different route um and bring in a new firm. But I I would say I think we're about as close to launching a real RFP on that project as we've probably been in years. And so thank you to Councilman Mormon and Councilman Shuddy. Uh both have invested several uh several lengthy afternoons uh the last last couple of weeks. So we know who to blame if it turns out poorly. [laughter] That's my takeaway from that. No, no. Actually, thank you for putting in that time and uh hopefully we will I'm sure I speak for everyone on council that we look forward to bringing that project to completion. All right. We do have a reason to go into executive session tonight for a contractual matter. We will not be taking any action when we come out. So therefore, anyone who's here, you can leave. Um but we will be adjourning later. But with that said, can I get a motion to go into executive session?

Motion made by Councilman Hoyer, seconded by Councilman Allen. All those in favor of going into executive session, please say I. I. I. Any oppose, say nay. Motion is unanimous. Motion carries. Good night and God bless you, Watertown.