City Council - Regular Meeting

That's my concern. Thank you, Don. Next is Justin Pierce.

Hello, my name is Justin Pierce. I live at 1301 11th Street Southwest. I too am up here just to talk about the lateral inspection that went through. So with that, uh, mine's a little bit different. It was my father who was up here before. So I'm a homeowner. I have a few rental properties as well. So this is something that affects me in that sense. So I read through a little bit on the ordinance and there was just a few things that kind of struck me on that. So in there, I believe it was section 16-91. So prohibited discharge in the collection system. It says that all inspections must be done by a licensed plumber. So I guess a concern on me for this is so this needs to be done and according to the city correct and then it needs to be a licensed plumber that comes in and does it and I work with a lot of plumbers and there I know a lot of great plumbers but at the same time everybody's also going to know that whatever they say needs to be done needs to be done right. So it could be a system that would normally keep on working for years, but they know in order for you to sell this property, you're going to have to do whatever they say, you know. So that seems a little off to me in that sense. And then there's no there's no option but to do what they're asking you to do. So then it's the question of do you go through and do you get a second opinion? Whose second opinion is that? So there's a lot of questions to be had with with the plumber aspect of it to me. And then also it is uh section number five. So it states if the lateral was constructed of materials deemed be unacceptable by the director of public works including clay, cast iron and orangeberg. So with that so clay, cast iron and orangeberg. So those were all very common before I believe it was uh 1975. So if you look at the city of Wilmer, so from 1 Street to, let's say, 9inth

Street Southeast, from 1 Street to I'm on, you know, 13th or 11th Street Southwest. My house was built in 1965. So when I go to sell my home, I automatically fail. I've never had any issues and I'm going to have a $10,000 bill because I'm going to have to dig up my sewer line that works just fine. And this is being forced upon me by the city. it just doesn't seem like something that's right to me and I feel like there's a lot of people in the city that would feel the same. So with that, I I just don't agree with that. And then the other aspect of it, so I think it was number seven and there it says that the director of public works shall determine the extent of repair required and a more limited repair may be completed of the lateral may be permitted at the sole discretion of the director. So with that, there's a lot of different options versus digging up your entire yard when it comes to replacing or fixing, but so it needs to go through the director versus going back up to the top where we talked about a licensed plumber, right? So that doesn't make sense to me either. So why am I going to the director versus the plumber that actually knows everything about it? That doesn't make sense to me either. So either way, no matter what the plumber says, it's going to go through the director there. again back to the city. So, just something that I don't agree with. And then at the same time, everybody's talking about housing costs. So, how does this help housing costs, right? How does this make housing more affordable in Wilmer?

Yep. Very good. Thank you for your time.

Next is a public hearing. Third one. Third one. Was there three? Oh, yes. I'm sorry, Corey. I'm sorry.

That's okay. My name's Corey Wiggman. I live at 1318 Sixth Street Southwest with Kelly Shepy. And I'm too here to discuss our confusion with this ordinance. Uh, we put our house up for sale the end of November. We went and we had the sewer inspection that my realtor told me we would need because we're planning on closing in February. And on December 4th, I received this inspection notice with the Wilmer letterhead that said, "Piping appeared functional over its length. No infiltrated noted connections appeared adequate." So therefore, that was on December 4th. On December 8th, we or December 7th, we finished the purchase agreement, signed it, figuring everything was good. And then our realtor sent me an email on de that was December 7th. On December 8th, we received an email from Sarah Seitsma saying that it wasn't functional. So then we sent several emails trying to find out what was going on. And then we were going to try to get into the last city council hearing and uh the city clerk said, "I'm sorry that this has been an alarming situation for you." Upon speaking with our director of operations, I was told the sewer line situation has been resolved. You will not be required to replace the line so long as it passes with no failures. And we had the inspector. So again, we thought it was taken care of. During the last city council meeting, administrator stated, "My direction to staff was that if a functioning if a line is functioning, working well, we should not be asking our citizens to replace it. We should be telling our citizens what do they should be expecting in the near future." then should re consider replacing that line. If it's working, it's fine. I also instructed staff that they need to be clear on why they are saying this needs to be replaced. And in that they need to show pictures of what issues is so that the resident can have a clear understanding. We have received

no objective data, no pictures from the department of wastewater. Um I had another inspection done on December 23rd. Again, it says there was some scale buildup, but the line didn't appear to have any cracks or breaks. The bids are anywhere from $10,000 to $17,000. And then we received a letter from the wastewater department saying that my entire line needs to be completely replaced, the cast iron section, where in other times they said that we could possibly do a lining, but if it needs to be completely replaced, I'm going to have to tear out my sidewalk, tear out the steps, possibly cut a tree down. And I don't even know who's qualified to do it when I've had two people, two inspection companies come in. And the one Northern Services I know makes a living off of replacing failed lines. I would think that they would be more than happy to tell me that my line was failed. Also, um they they talked about insurance. If I don't have a specific failure, a leak or a break or root intrusion, there is an insurance company in the country that's going to say, "Oh, yeah, it looks like it's corroded, so go ahead and put in a new line." So that's our concerns and I'd be happy to email you all the copies again and thank you Mr. Ask for replying to me today and Mayor Ree. I we didn't hear from anybody else. So thank you. Now we go to the public hearing and consideration to amend the section 4.02 02 subdivision 4 of the city charter. I'll call on Christopher Corbett, the planning and development director.

Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, this evening I had planned to request approval for three city charter amendments. As you know, charter amendments require the affirmative vote of all council members, including the mayor. At this time, I am requesting a continuation of the public hearing for agenda items A 9 A through C. With that note, I will like to proceed with um Attorney Robert Scott and the presentation of the next three um agenda items. Each of these items um each of these proposed charter amendments is are designed to streamline our planning and development processes and ensure alignment with Minnesota state statute guidance. And council was briefed on all three amendments on November 3rd. And I want to emphasize that these amendments are not simply staff driven um proposals. They represent solutions to existing inconsistencies and process improvements that will strengthen our ability to serve both our board and commission volunteers as well as our community. Importantly, uh each amendment has been reviewed and endorsed by the planning commission and was formally recommended to be heard at city council um by the city charter commission at its October 28, 2025 meeting. The agenda items have a memo from planning commission uh in your packet recommending the edit and draft minutes of the city charter October 28th and meeting were approved by city council at your December 15th meeting. I'll turn it over to attorney Robert Scott to run through the three um agenda items. Thank you, mayor, members of the

council. Um, as director Corbett stated, the process to amend the charter is, uh, specifically provided in state statute, there's a number of requirements to amend the charter by ordinance. One of which is that in order for it to take effect, it must be passed unanimously by all council members and the mayor. Uh given that there are two council members absent tonight, our recommendation would be uh that the council open the public hearing for each of the three proposed charter amendments and continue the hearing until the council's next regular meeting on January 20th. Um there are basically four things the council needs to keep in mind when considering a charter commission or charter commission recommended uh charter amendment. Um, one is a public hearing must be noticed and conducted. That's what we're going to start the process for tonight. Um, the second is that within one month of closing the public hearing, the council has to take the vote. Uh, and again, that vote only will succeed in passing the ordinance if it's unanimously approved by all members and the mayor. And then the third thing to remember is um there lots of different ways a charter amendment can be initiated. Most of them require a special election or an election by the voters to be approved. The one method that can take effect without an election is doing it this way, amending the charter by ordinance. But even this one, if it does, if any of these ordinance amendments do pass and the charter amendment is approved unanimously, um it's still is subject to a 90-day delay during which point there could be a reverse referendum if enough uh citizens uh voters of the community came forward with a petition. So um there is still a kind of waiting period even after a

charter amendment takes effect. So, with that, um, what I would recommend, mayor, is that you go ahead and open the public hearing for the proposed charter amendment for section 4.02, subdivision 4 of the city charter. So, we'd recommend that you open the public hearing for that agenda item, the first of the three charter amendment ordinances. I'll open the public hearing for section 4.02, subdivision 4, the city charter. Thank you, mayor. And I will just give a a I have a presentation prepared that gets into the kind of the context of this charter amendment that's been recommended by the commission in the context of the municipal planning act. Um, I'm going to I think given that we're going to continue this hearing and reconvene when all council members are present hopefully on January 20th, um, I'm going to skip to the quick summary of what this amendment does. Um, the key changes uh, contained in the proposed amendment of section 4.02 subdivision 4. This deals with the official responsibilities of the city planning commission which are defined in charter. It's also something that's addressed in state statute. State statute contemplates that once a city has a comprehensive plan adopted, uh certain things require planning commission review for consistency with the comprehensive plan before they can be finally enacted. One of those is to review and uh advise the council on whether proposed capital improvements of the city um or any other public agency within the city with jurisdiction are consistent with the requirements and the uh content of the comprehensive plan

as currently drafted. The city charter section 4.02 2 actually imposes the burden to come up with the list of proposed capital improvements on the planning commission itself. Um so just for context here the existing language of the charter is on the screen right now. It requires the planning commission to prepare and submit annually to the city council and the other boards and commissions like the municipal utilities commission and the Rice Memorial Hospital Board. um recommended capital improvements that the planning commission thinks are necessary for those entities. That's much broader and kind of a different role than state statute contemplates, which really envisions more of an advisory review and comment on the cities and other agencies proposed improvements, not the affirmative obligation to come up with a list of recommended improvements. The key changes contained in the proposed charter amendment for section 4.02 2 are to kind shift that back uh that responsibility back off of the planning commission onto the city council onto the utilities commission. Uh in this case, we have the unique situation with the hospital board. Um but in any event, it would not be an affirmative planning commission obligation to prepare a list of improvements that it thinks these entities should be pursuing. rather it would be restored to a review and comment advisory role um that is consistent with the uh planning commission's role under state statute. Um this amendment would also clarify the scope of review for the planning commission. um clarifying that the planning commission's job is to review these proposed capital improvements solely as to the question of whether the proposed improvement is consistent with the principles and goals outlined in the

comprehensive plan. And again, that's a change that existing language in the charter was not uh clear as to what exactly standards the planning commission should be applying. Um, this would clarify that it's really as the statute contemplates to review proposed capital improvements for consistency with the comprehensive plan and to issue a report to the council on that question. It would also include statutory provisions for what happens if the commission receives a uh proposed list of improvements from one of these entities and does not respond in time, in which case silence is deemed the planning commission's approval. And secondly, uh there is the authority for this entity, the city council, in any given situation, if it thinks that a proposed capital improvement really isn't relevant to anything in the comprehensive plan, by a twoth3 supermajority vote, the city council can dispense with that requirement in any given case. Um so that's what uh charter section 4.02 does. Um, with that for the procedural reasons, uh, I covered before, the recommendation would be that the public hearing be continued. But first, if there is anyone in the audience here tonight, since we were noticed for a public hearing tonight that wishes to address the council on this amendment, I'd recommend that they be given that chance.

All right. So, is anyone from the public here to speak on this? Anyone here to speak on the amendment? If not, would it be proper for me to continue the public hearing and table the agenda item in one? That would be my recommendation. We're in the public hearing now. My recommendation would be that there would be a motion to continue this public hearing until the January 20th regular city council meeting and table it. I think that would be kind of go hand in hand with it. Yes. Okay. So moved.

Second. Okay. We got a motion and a second to continue the public hearing and table the agenda item until our next meeting. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Gilbertson. Hi. Gardner. Hi. Baggerly. Hi. Davis. Hi. Shoulders. Hi. And Osk. Hi. Six. eyes, zero nos. That passes. Go ahead, Robert. On B.

Yeah. Thank you, Mary. And I'd recommend at this time that you open the public hearing on the second proposed charter amendment ordinance of uh an amendment for charter section 4.02 subdivision 8. I'll open the public hearing as he spoke of.

Thank you, mayor and council members. This is a similar amendment to the one we just covered. Um again, it's to section 4.02 of the city charter. Um that defines the planning commission's roles and responsibilities. Just as the planning commission under existing charter was charged with the responsibility to um actually develop a list of capital improvements. It's also um required under the charter. Um, it is a requirement under the charter that before any city real estate transaction can proceed, whether it's buying or selling property, that it must be submitted to the planning commission and approved by the commission prior to that transaction uh being approved by the council or closing. Um, that again is something that state statute addresses. does require generally that any real estate uh transactions involving the city or other city entities within uh the municipal boundaries be submitted to the planning commission for review. But state statute contemplates again that would be more of a review and comment advisory role, not a um essentially a almost a veto authority over the transaction as it appears to be the case under the current charter language. The key changes in the charter amendment ordinance before you uh that's the subject of this public hearing are that it would eliminate that language that would require planning commission approval before a real estate transaction can proceed. It would eliminate language that is also in the uh city charter currently that would require the planning commission to review and approve any leases of real property entered into by the city of three years or longer in length. It would uh again restore the planning commission's role to a an advisory

review and comment uh scope again consistent with state statute. And it would also clarify the scope of the planning commission's review of real estate transactions. Similar to the previous subordinates, again, it's the purpose under state statute for the planning commission to have that input on a city real estate transaction is to uh review whether the proposed transaction is consistent with the principles and the comprehensive plan. Again, that's uh under the current charter language that is silent and that has been a source of confusion for the commission before. Um there's been questions about whether the commission is should be uh scrutinizing and offering an opinion on whether the terms negotiated by the city are acceptable to it. That's really kind of beyond the scope that state statute contemplates for the planning commission. This proposed amendment would clarify again that the planning commission's role is to review the proposed transaction just to determine to offer its opinion on whether it's consistent with the comprehensive plan. And like the previous amendment, it would also incorporate the statutory provisions that uh if the commission is silent on any proposed transaction submitted to it after a certain time, it silence would be deemed the planning commission's approval. Um it would also um allow the city council again to dispense with a requirement that the planning commission review any given transaction on a two-third supermajority vote if the council determines it has no bearing on the comprehensive plan. So again, mayor, I'd suggest offering uh or asking if anyone in the audience wishes to address the council and if not uh recommend this public hearing also be continued until January 20th. Okay. Is there anyone here to speak to this change in the charter? Anyone here to speak in regards to

amending this part of the charter? If not, I'll take a motion to continue the hearing and table the agenda item. So moved. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Gardner. I. Baggerly. I. Davis. Hi. Shoulders. Hi. O. Hi. And Gilbertson. Hi. Six eyes. zero knows.

That passes. Next is uh 4.06 of the city charter. And I'll once again call on city attorney Robert Scott. And again, mayor, I'd recommend that you begin by opening the public hearing on this proposed charter amendment. I'll open the hearing on amending section 4.06 of the city charter.

Thank you, mayor. Members of the council, uh the proposed amendment before you for chapter uh charter section 4.06 now deals with the roles and responsibilities of the city's board of adjustments and appeals. The board board of zoning appeals as named in the city charter. This again like the planning commission is an entity that state statute uh authorizes cities to establish and gives some guidance on what the role of this entity this agency is supposed to be. The primary role under state statute is to hear variance applications and hear and rule on appeals of rulings made by city staff or the city council under the zoning ordinance. The proposed amendment of this section of charter is not going to change any um of the actual official responsibilities of the board of zoning appeals. What it is going to do is authorize the city council by future action to assign those duties to the planning commission so that the planning commission could um fulfill the responsibilities of the board of zoning appeals itself as opposed to relying on a second city board or commission to do it. This amendment would not be um self-executing so to speak. It would not if passed initially or immediately make that change. It would just provide authority for the city council to by ordinance adopted in the future assign those duties and responsibilities to the planning commission and eliminate the need to have a second um planning board in the form of the board of zoning appeals. And I know the need for this and I sure director Corbett can speak more to this, but I know that the city has had challenges uh filling all the seats on the board of zoning appeals. So

it I think is a recommendation from the department for sure as well as the planning commission that this change be adopted. Um, again, mayor, I'd recommend asking if anyone in the public wishes to speak to this amendment and if not, or at the conclusion of those comments, uh, continue this public hearing until January 20th as well. Right. Is there anybody here from the public that wishes to speak to the amendment section 4.06 of the city charter? Anyone here to speak on this issue? I will uh call for a motion to continue the public hearing and table the item.

So moved. Second. Motion and second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Faggerly. I Davis. Hi. Shoulders. I Osc I Gilbertson I Gardner I six I's zero nos motion passes.

Next is consideration to codify the city of Wilmer zoning ordinance number 1060 planning uh and and development director Christopher Corbett will take us into that. I should probably open the hearing right away. Okay. If you so like.

All right. Um, mayor, members of the council, this is this item was actually brought to you back in November of last year. Basically, it is just a um process to clean up our current zoning code and so we can move forward with the zoning code rewrite. So this evening, I'll be looking for a motion to approve by ordinance codifying the Wilmer zoning ordinance. That's ordinance number 1060 along with all amendments into chapter 14 article one of the city code. And the second motion would be to publish by summary of publication. The cotification is a formal process of organizing and integrating ordinances into a structure municipal code. Uh it ensures consistency, clarity, accessibility by consolidating related regulations, updating cross references and correcting minor errors errors while preserving the original legal intent. So currently this motion and this item would not change any of the zoning code uh language. It will all stay the same. It's just a modified or codified version of it. I'll stop there and ask answer any questions that you may have. Um, I've got the hearing open. I'll open it to the public at this point. Anybody here to speak to the cotification of the Wilmer zoning ordinance 1060? Anybody here to address this subject? If not, um, call for a motion to approve the ordinance codifying the Wilmer's zoning ordinance 1060 along with all subsequent amendments into chapters 14, article one of the city code.

So move to approve. Second. We got a motion and a second. discussion. You want to say anything more about it? No. Okay. Being no discussion, roll call. Council member Davis. Hi, Schultz. I Gilbertson. Hi. Gardner. Hi. And Faggerly. Hi. Six eyes, zero nos.

That motion carries. Next is call for a motion to publish by summary of publication. Second motion and a second discussion. Roll call. Council member Schelis. I Gilbertson. Hi. Gardner. Hi. Fegerly. Hi. And Davis. I. Six eyes's zero nos. That motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Next, I'll call on city engineer Jared Vogi uh in regards to Fourth Street reconstruction.

Good evening, Mayor Council. In your packet this evening is a topic related to the Fourth Street Reconstruction Project. Uh at the December 1st city council meeting, uh council reviewed a number of options associated with the configuration of the street. specifically as it relates to trails and sidewalks along the corridor. Uh council at that time did identify three options and asked uh that staff seek additional public input related to those options. Uh I do have some slides here this evening that we'll take a look at just as a refresher of what those options were. Uh however, staff did mail individually to each of the property owners approximately 70 along the fourth street improvement project. uh individual postcards. Postcards contained a QR code that linked to a survey on which they could identify their priorities A, B, and C. And in addition to that, an open house was held um out at the civic center for the um for the various options and provided an opportunity for residents to provide their input. Just by way of reference, the existing conditions um of Fourth Street, you can see those there. Uh we have sidewalks on each side, um driving lanes that are 18 ft wide as well as parking lanes on each side uh with 7 foot boulevards. Option A presented um to the residents and also included as part of the preliminary engineering report and the project scope that was authorized by council consisted of a street diet reducing the the lane widths to 11 ft still accommodating the 8-ft parking lanes and maintaining those existing 5-ft concrete walks. You'll note that the boulevard width uh with the reduction in street width increased from

7 to 14 feet on each side. Alternate B um also included 11T driving lanes with 8ft parking lanes. However, one side was identified for a uh 10-ft shared use path. Um and then the sidewalk would be maintained on the other side of the street. The final option presented to the residents um identified the same street width however um a two-way bike way um in addition to the sidewalks on each side of the street. So what did the survey results say? So we received 18 survey responses which is approximately 25% of the overall um project area. Alternate A was ranked as the highest design option. Um 83% of the respondents identified that as their preferred design. Alternate B and then um alternate C. The second graphic here gives kind of a bar graph of how everybody responded. You'll note that in order of preference based on those responding, uh their first choice was alternate A, second choice alternate B, and the third choice um alternate C and each of the responses uh received through that survey are identified there. So with that, Mayor Council, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Uh staff is looking for council direction and a motion to proceed with the alternative whether that be A, B or C uh desired by the council so that the um project design can be initiated.

I find it interesting that the different options they aren't there isn't a huge amount of difference in cost. There is not council, what's your desire on this? What option? I think it's pretty clear that the people that responded like alternative A. So, I would make a motion that we proceed with forced to rec construction using alternative A.

Second. We got a motion and a second to use utilize alternative A. A motion and a second. Discussion. Rick. Mr. Mayor. So, it's going to be concrete sidewalks on both sides then. Correct. Yep. Thanks. Anything else? Roll call. Council member O. I. Gilbertson. Hi. Gardner. Hi. Baggerly. Hi. Davis. I should I six eyes, zero nos.

That motion carries. Thank you, Jared. Thank you, councel. Next is a review of the sanitary sewer ordinance by environmental specialist Sarah Seatsman. Seatsman.

Yeah. Good evening. All right. So, uh, mayor and council, most of the time the public only thinks about the sewer system when it stops working. Tonight, I want to discuss the pipes that appear to be working and explain why the invisible failures in those pipes are costing the city more in the long run than a simple backup. We will examine how we define a healthy system, the current lack of state standards for contractors, and how our department is protecting your budget through proactive oversight. So for the benefit of the council and those watching online, I want to provide a quick refresher on INI or inflow and infiltration. So inflow is the extraneous clear water entering the system via direct connections such as roof drains, basement sumps or manhole covers. It is essentially snow melt and rainwater. Infiltration is the clear water entering through joints and cracks in the pipes and this is caused by groundwater and high water tables. Problems arise when this water enters from private sources through breaks, defective joints or root intrusion. The result is unauthorized releases from the treatment plant, increased treatment costs and basement flooding. And when we design for excess INI, we're forced to plan for increased capital and operational cost for pumping stations and treatment facilities. The recently passed INI ordinance is a triple protection strategy. It's designed to protect the cities, the property owners, and the taxpayers investments. The most expensive project we can undertake is upsizing our treatment system because we ran out of room. When we allow INI into our system, groundwater steals capacity reserve for new homes and businesses. By addressing leaking laterals now, we avoid multi-million dollar price tags for large remains or added capacity at the treatment plant. It's far more effective

to keep the water out than it is to build bigger buckets to hold it. A home is the biggest investment most people will ever make. By maintaining high standards for laterals, we protect new families in our community from moving in and being hit with an emergency repair six months later because a functional leak was ignored. This isn't just about fixing old pipes. It's also about capacity management. And by ensuring these laterals are watertight, we're protecting our infrastructure from being overwhelmed, protecting our residents from predatory hidden costs, and protecting our capital budget from the need to build bigger and more expensive facilities. Addressing our leaking sewer system is essentially a rate stabilizing strategy for every person in the city. Here's where I think we will clear up one misconception regarding the regulatory landscape. It's important to note that CCT contractors are not the same as ISTS or septic inspectors. There are no lateral inspectors. A licensed plumber or an HVAC technician may lack the specific experience needed to evaluate large-scale municipal infrastructure. Currently, there's no state licensing category for televising collection systems. And while many of these CCT contractors hold valuable credentials in plumbing or HVAC, these do not equate to the specialized diagnostic skills required for municipal infrastructure. The videos that are being done by televising are not inspections. Our internal review process serves as the necessary safeguard against these non-uniform industry standards. Unlike external contractors, our team consists of licensed wastewater professionals who perform the final review of all the CCT videos. This ensures our determinations

are accurate and our investments are protected by staff with dozens of hours of specialized diagnostic training. To clarify another area of confusion, we must move away from the idea that a pipe is functional just because it isn't backed up. A truly functional lateral must satisfy two conditions. Wastewater must leave the home efficiently and the pipe must be watertight. To a homeowner, functional means the toilet flushes. To the city, functional means the pipe is a sealed vessel. When we allow functional but leaking pipes to remain in the ground, the city loses money in two specific areas, treatment cost and robbed capacity. The city pays for every gallon of water that passes through the wastewater treatment plant. When a sewer lateral has cracks or failed joints, it acts like a vacuum during rain events or high water tables. Investing in a watertight system is not just an environmental goal. It's a fiscal necessity. By identifying and repairing functional leaky laterals early, we protect our treatment capacity for future development and prevent the catastrophic soil erosion that leads to sinkholes and emergency road repairs. So, what do the numbers actually say? We have approximately 135 miles of sewer mains in the city and 125 miles of private residential laterals. only private residential. One leaking lateral, which can leak at a rate of a gallon per minute, totals 300,000 gallons annually over just the wet months, 7 months. At our 2026 rates, treating that clean water cost 1,454

per year from a single lateral, and there are more than 8,000 houses in Wilmer. Looking at the citywide picture, this graph shows the total monthly flow um from March through November of 2025. And the line, the orange line in it is the monthly precipitation. In March of 2025, our average daily flow was 2.1 million gallons. March essentially has no ini. By June, that average daily flow tripled to 5.9 million gallons. And during the significant June storm, our peak flow hit 18.8 million gallons in 24 hours, well above our design capacity of wet weather for 7.5 million gallons. Treatment cost for that one day, that one day that we were at 18.8 8 million gallons reached an estimated 90,289 compared to an average day in March of $10,1. So over the 6-day response to that one rain event, the six days that our flows were increased in June, that treatment cost was $312,000 alone, purely treatment. That's not pumps, that's not equipment, that's not additional lab costs, and that's not staff overtime. So we've also received several questions regarding acceptable repair methods and we can touch on that tonight. Also there are trenchless technologies and these are the um higher tech lower disruption methods. So cured in place lining which is essentially a pipe within a pipe. A resin saturated liner is hardened inside the pipe creating that seamless watertype pipe within a pipe. That's what the picture is showing here. Slip lining is when a smaller pipe is slid into the existing one and then the space between that old pipe and the new

one is grouted. It's cost effective, but it's only allowed if the existing main or if the existing lateral is 4 in in diame greater than 4 in in diameter. We need to be able to maintain that minimum 4 in pipe bursting. Um a conicle head breaks the old pipe while simultaneously pulling in a new one. And then we have the traditional method open cut excavation. It's straightforward dig and replace though it carries the additional cost for replacing the asphalts, the curb, the sidewalk, things like that. So in conclusion, shifting our definition of functional to a watertight standard provides crucial clarity for all the parties. Removing groundwater from our sewer system is the most effective way to avoid unnecessary sewer rate increases. In a landscape without state standardized licensing, our internal licensed wastewater staff serve as the ultimate safeguard, ensuring that non-conforming laterals are identified and repaired. There is a distinct distinct difference between having a license and having the right professional training and experience. A pipe that is merely flowing but is not sealed is a liability and it robs our system of capacity. By requiring leaking laterals to be fixed, we're protecting our subsurface assets, our homeowners, and our sewer rates. So, we're asking that you support this high standard of oversight to keep our infrastructure sustainable and our rates stable. And I will stay for any additional questions I can answer or clarifications I can provide tonight.

Thank you for your information. It was very well done. Any comments? Justin, can you talk to us about the different types of pipes that we're running into? We've heard a lot about cast iron and other, you know, similar pipes that have been used in the past that would no longer be the ideal choice. What are we doing with those right now?

Yeah, so we've seen cast iron. We've seen videos of cast iron laterals come through. We've seen some um of asbestous concrete. We've seen one of clay tile even. All of them are showing significant deterioration which you would expect. Root intrusion, leaking joints, things like that because they are more than 50 years old. Materials wear out, right? Same as you have to replace your roof because everything has a life expectancy. Those materials had a life expectancy. They've had those. the soils um have been working on them from the outside in for more than 50 years. So what we're seeing um if I can offer some generalizations especially in the cast iron um is that there's significant deterioration for the entire length of those cast iron pipes or in the one case when the middle section was that was left was still cast iron significant deterioration. And so the video quality that we're getting in um is sort of standard quality. It's not high definition quality. And so that means that we can't identify probably all of the hairline cracks that are there. Um so we have to look at sort of the secondary effects of um the inflow and infiltration like the weeping joints, like the mineral buildup, things like that that tell us um that that pipe has been experiencing I ini for quite a while. We've seen um so all of the um videos that have come in, I think we've had 11 of them so far submitted um to the wastewater department. We have seen some that are PVC that look great that are in compliance, they've received that letter. So, would it be fair to say that just because a pipe is cast iron, would that then fail your standards?

Or are you talking Just because a pipe is cast iron does not mean it will fail. And I haven't seen a cast iron video submitted yet that conformed to these standards when our staff has reviewed them. Okay. If we get one that comes through that looks wonderful, of course, we're going to pass it. And if I'm being very I and I Yeah.

which is what we expected, right? Because same thing on our mains that were cast iron or clay. They're of the same age. And we've been televising our mains for more than 10 years now. And so if we were going to extrapolate our experience from that into these private laterals, we expected to see what we are in these private laterals that are cast iron. They are not in good shape. And so functional again, I think is the term that's being used. That means two completely separate things depending on who's using the term. So if I have an inspector come out who's got some plumbing background, they're going to tell me it's functional. I'm going to be led as a homeowner to think that I'm in an okay situation until I receive letter from you who has a different a different standard here. Right.

Can you explain, Mr. Mr. Wegman earlier tonight in the public uh comment section um spoke about receiving a letter on city letter head.

So what he was referring to is not a letter. Um it's the form that we have provided the contractors who are doing these videos. So they can make note of the date, the contractor, the property address, the pipe material, the diameter of it, um and if they're going to note anything in that video as they go. Say maybe there's a plumbing connection at footage 45. Maybe there's tree roots that, you know, footage 29, whatever it is. We we provided that form. So, it is on city letterhead, but it's what the contractors are filling out and submitting to the wastewater department with those videos as supplemental information. So far, we've been able to tell every time um you know, what the pipe material is. That might not always be the case depending on the quality of the video um or the age of the pipe, but it's really helpful to know the diameter of it, approximate depth of that service, the length of it, things like that.

So, from your point of view, I'm assuming that you would prefer that these plumbers who are conducting the video would not pass judgment on the video that they're taking.

That would help clear things up. Yes. and I understand that they are often working in more than one community. Um, and so what they may be used to for an ordinance and a program in one community is not the same as what Wilmer has. And so again, when they're making those comments that might say this one is functional, it might be in a different community. They might have a different set of criteria. Their ordinance might look completely different than ours. um and it has created confusion then when the wastewater department sends a letter explaining that you know due to significant deterioration or root intrusion or whatever it is the lateral is non-conforming and needs to be replaced

and working with real estate agents in the community I imagine I mean in my opinion it would seem like that would be a great avenue for us to communicate if they knew what the standards were going to be they can let their clients know just because the plumber said this. Let's just wait. I could not agree more with that. Appreciate that. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So, in that influx of water in June, how much of that was from leaks and how much was it from the sump pumps?

It's a great question. Um, so this graph is a little bit hard to show because it's or to see because it's on such a light background. The blue line at the bottom, so the um access along the side is gallons. It starts at 050,000 and then it tops out at 400,000 gallons. This is just a depiction of flow at our fairgrounds lift station. So the blue line at the bottom is day at a time in January. It hovers right around 29 or 30,000 gallons per day through that lift station. Again, we would not expect I ini. And then the orange line is June. Um and so June never even gets to the January with no I ini. Um and after a June storm, we hit 350,000 gallons that day. So that's more than 10 times the volume um of flow going through after a rain event. We can't you can um measure that if you put flow meters in everywhere. Um, and you could probably, I'm sure there are studies out there, um, that we could figure out what is coming from leaking laterals, what's coming from mains, what's coming from illicit connections like sump pumps. We don't have an idea what part of that additional flow is sump pumps versus laterals. So, we're trying to address both of them,

but I would think it's mostly the sump pumps. I would not make that same statement, but I would. And then I mean if this is going to be an issue and it's going to cost homeowners 10 to 17,000 to replace their lines, you might as well have an ordinance they can put in their own septic systems in in town, which aren't allowed. This is ridiculous. We want to have people move into town. We do. We want to keep our sewer rates stable.

We want to not violate our wastewater permit. And we want to not increase our mains and our lift stations and our capacity at the treatment plant, which would be more costly than a5 or $10,000 private lateral repair or replacement. Yeah. But who pays that extra money when you guys have overcharges? It's the customers, isn't it?

Right. So, in a sense, either everybody in town is paying because of increased rates because we're treating all of this clear water, or again, we start sealing up the system and we can keep our rates stable. There will be a point where the MPCA will not permit us to increase our capacity at the treatment plant because we show clear signs of an INI problem. They have not permitted in other cities until they've addressed their INI. Building a bigger bucket isn't the answer and it won't be an option eventually.

Was there any grants or anything available for homeowners to replace their sewer lines? So, at this point, staff has not identified any funding um options out there. We've looked. We continue to look. We have questions out to other communities. um organizations um cities are not eligible for the specific funding assistant grants that are um issued by the MPCA to counties um or watershed projects for in or upgrading ISTS your individual septic system. That's the common one that everybody knows about, but cities aren't eligible for it. So, okay.

Sometimes the state does put funds out there to address INI. We haven't seen anything in the wastewater industry for several years, but we will definitely be looking and trying to find any financial assistance we can. I know my phone and my email is going crazy. I've heard seven closings have been eliminated of sales in the last month. We got to do something to help the people out. along that same line of what you were just talking about, Rick, uh, grants. Now, I'm not saying the city should do this, but would it be in our interest in any way of paying for part of the um lateral line?

You mean offering like a cost share on part of it? I staff can look into if we have funds available, but given that we just had to raise our rates to pay for our PFA loan balloon payments through 2029 or 2030, we will look. I'll be surprised if we find extra funds. Um, had one other question. Oh, the glass lining. Mhm. Um that's been around for many years and they used it on main sewer lines.

Yep. We've done some in the downtown area. It works really well with the cast iron. Does the glass lining stand up if the if the cast iron deteriorates?

I can only speak to our experience in the sewer mains. We have done it in our sewer mains especially in the downtown area and a few other shorter segments. Um we're getting uh you know guarantee from these vendors from these companies of 40 to 50 years. So, yes, and in the letters that we send um these homeowners or the re litters, if they're the ones coordinating these things, if it's a non-conforming line that needs to be um replaced, whether that's in its entirety or a section of it, we do say that um CIP lining is an option that they can look into. um that the city does consider that the same as replacement because it does create a seamless and watertight seal

and you don't have to dig up your yard, your sidewalk,

right? It is not necessarily in our area as coste effective as open cut trench is. Um there are fewer contractors doing it, so the prices are still a bit high. That being said, um if your entire lateral needs to be replaced and you have sidewalk or steps and then you have, you know, curb and street, those costs probably need to come into account to decide the total project cost and which one makes more um fiscal sense to do. There there is a contractor there are a few contractors within a 50 mile radius who do lining. Um, there's a couple contractors even more locally that do pipe bursting. Slip lining is an option, too. Slip lining is not an option if your lateral is not straight. So, if your lateral has a bend in it, typically slip lining is not going to be an option for replacement on that.

Um, we've got our local local option sales tax, wastewater earmarked dollars. Can any of that be utilized for a cost share program or even like a loan type store? Is that storm water only? I think it's storm water that qualify. The local office sales tax is for storm water, not for waste water. So it would not qualify. It is an infiltration by definition. Storm water. Well, you're learning journey. All right. not coming from the house.

I believe it's for um increasing storm water treatment capacity in the city. And by capacity or holding capacity

both and by eliminating storm water from getting into our sewer system, we're creating we're putting the storm water back where it belongs. We're not letting the wastewater system treat the storm water. So it would be less storm water treatment by sealing up the laterals. Uh mayor, members of the council, I have no reason to disagree with what staff said, but if you want a definitive opinion on eligible uh projects for the local option sales tax dollars, I would have to bring that back to you, Steve.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Uh Sarah, so since we live in a part of the country where you can't put a shovel in the ground for at least five months out of the year, are our homeowner owners by default automatically have to have the most expensive option? You can't dig into somebody's front yard in January.

That's correct. Um and so in the ordinance, we accounted for that. We put in a default 120day timeline and exactly right after that said that any homeowner can request in writing an extension of that timeline. And we've uh communicated that in every letter that's gone out and all of the um outreach and education that we've done too. Made it very clear that they do not have to take care of it in the winter months. Um if they're closing, then that would just be up to the buyer and the seller to negotiate who's going to be the responsible party for that. Okay. Then another op would another option be, you know, we've talked about uh plumbers and HVAC guys not being certified to to review tape or whatever. Uh would it be worthwhile to have some sort of certification program hosted by the city for those contractors to be able to pass judgment on that or is that taking too much liability or passing too much liability onto the city by doing that? I think that would take away from uh the I I think that the intention on this ordinance was to make sure that there were not so many people involved reviewing this that had discretion on what passed and what didn't. And I think you'd be opening ourselves up for a lot of individual opinions and discretion. I do not think we could craft a certification program that could come close to taking the place of the a the highest level wastewater license, the education and the training and the continuing ed that goes into that. Um, and right now our wastewater superintendent and Foreman both hold those licenses. The A license also

includes the entire wastewater collection system licensing. Um, and they're the ones reviewing all of these videos with myself. I don't think that we would be able to create a training that could take the place of those years of experience.

Okay. And then then my final question is, is there a situation where you could see deterioration in a pipe but still pass it because it's not leaking? Yeah, there is because there would be there can be um like rusting and pitting you know different levels of scaling. That would be what we know through our training and experience is from the years of use of internal water throw flowing through that pipe, but is not a sign um of the external groundwater mineral buildup and things coming in.

Thank you. Yes, I have a quick followup based on that last question from council member Gardner. So, you had said earlier that there were some videos that you've seen where you can't get like a definitive answer, but you're looking at other signs of deterioration in the pipe. Did I Is that a correct summary of what you said? Um, yeah. So the secondary indicators of

INI. So I mean would would the burden of proof uh so to speak need like would it be fair to say like unless you can see a specific leak it would be okay to to pass that or are you going to then look at those secondary indicators which may not always be accurate indicators. So, I would say the secondary indicators are accurate because they've been produced over a longer length of time. Um, and unless you have a storm event happening or high water tables, you likely won't see a active leak coming in. So then that would require us to

I'm not even sure how you would enforce this ordinance then with only if if you had to say in the televising can only take place with those specific circumstances. So but you can tell the difference between what you were just describing to council member Gardner as that internal corrosion that takes place over years of internal water and that external water. Right. Because your training you've Yep. Exactly. That's part of the continuing ed that goes in um that the MPCA, the Minnesota Rural Water, and the Minnesota Wastewater Operators Association, MWA, they all provide that training and those examples. Um so over and over and over years and years of that.

I got one more question, Mr. Rainer. Okay. Um Justin Pierce mentioned in his open forum uh one of the reference sections within the ordinance that I I don't believe that we intended to pass that I think may have unintentionally been passed was where if the pipe does not meet current code it has to be replaced even if it's functional by both definitions. I don't believe that was our intention when we pass that ordinance. And if that is written that way and what what's what was the second section you mentioned, Mr. Pierce?

I have it right here. So it states that the lateral shall be considered defective if any of the following or of any of the following conditions and then further down. So it talks about displaced joints, root intrusions. At the bottom of it, uh, section G of that explanation says that the lateral was constructed of material deemed to be unacceptable by the director of public works including clay, cast iron, or orange. Yeah, that's Thank you. Uh, that was a section. And if it's my understanding those materials are not currently allowed by building code, correct?

Like we can't a plumber if I build a house today, I can't put a cast iron lateral in, right? Correct. It's got to be PVC, right? But there's a bajillion houses in town that have cast iron laterals that are functional by your definition and by the homeowner's definition. Let's assume there are. Let's assume. Okay. We don't know for sure that not all. Correct. Right. Okay. The way the code is written, if somebody goes and runs a camera down there, finds a cast iron lateral, they have to replace it. And I don't think that was our intent at all. And if it does say that, I would recommend that we do something to fix it.

So that is what's in the ordinance. I do not know if that was your intent as council to pass what was written when we first brought this to council on September 15th as an informal introduction. um the specific criteria not in that entire section um was not listed because that is not commonly listed in the model ordinance or in ordinances of other communities. Um council wanted additional details um to be included the criteria specifically to be included in the ordinance so that staff didn't have wide openen discretion on what was going to be conforming and non-conforming. So we put that in the ordinance brought it back September or October 6th. I did formally call attention to the um page and section where that criteria was listed the October 6th meeting when you heard the ordinance language and set the public hearing. Nothing changed in the wording between that October 6th meeting and this November meeting where you held the public hearing and adopted the ordinance.

I agree with I agree with all that. Um, but I still think that at least my intention with my vote was not to require people to change functional material. Right. So that was that's my ad. But I I did not believe the intent of the ordinance was to make people replace functional material. I I think there's a I'm on your side with with all of this, okay? But I think there's a middle ground here. If the material is functional, we shouldn't make a homeowner replace it just because they're selling their house, right?

I agree. And I think that we can um I think that we have been applying the ordinance that way. Um we have not seen a lateral come through that has been clay, orangeberg or cast iron that has been city's definition of functional. If we do see that come through, we will pass it because it's clear that that's the direction we're given. Um, again, based on our experience in our miles of mains, anytime we televise a man that's clay or cast iron, it is horribly deteriorated and we don't leave it in place. So again, extrapolating our experience from there and applying that to laterals that are of the material of the same vintage. I think we are likely to more often have cast iron and clay laterals that are going to fail because of their condition, not simp not because of their pipe material. And in a way, they're nearly interchangeable. pipe condition means it's more than 50 years old and everything we've seen so far significantly deteriorated. We're happy to um issue a notice of um compliance which would be good for 3 years if we have a lateral come in of any of the materials listed that is completely functional and sealed and not leaking. Another question. In the case of Eagle Lake, can we enforce our ordinance outside the city? It's my understanding that we cannot enforce a ordinance outside of city limits. Even though this city owns, maintains, and operates that collection system. So, we are missing Eagle Lake. It's a very small part of our collection

system right now. Although, at some point, I would love to address it. Uh, I think our current ordinance will make headway over the next decade. Um, and at some point in the future, maybe we can figure something out for Eagle Lake, too. We've got a huge system that collects from a long ways, a lot of distance, and a lot of lines.

Yep. We can um we can enforce the sump pump part of our ordinance and the other prohibited discharges which we do. Um and we've even done you know a sort of canvased certain areas. The highway 12 lifts previous highway 12 lift station basin was one. Eagle Lake has been one um that we've, you know, hired contractors to go doortodoor um and go in the houses and see if sump pumps are connected to their sanitary sewer or not. Provide that education. A lot of them have no idea. You gain some compliance for a season, but it is not longlasting. We can spend those dollars to continue to do some pump inspections. And I believe most wastewater staff will tell you that's not the wisest way to spend our limited dollars because it's temporary compliance.

Well, anybody else? How many miles of our lines are cast iron? I don't know that off the top of my head. Not sure our engineer knows it either, but I I bet we could come up with a decent guess.

Can I ask Administrator Valiant just a quick clarifying question? The last time this came up at a public meeting, we had conversation and you had stated that uh that you believe the intent was not to force anyone to replace a functioning line as well. Um, since we've had some uh clarification tonight about what level or whose definition of functional, uh, could you offer what definition of functional you meant when you said that? Exactly what Sarah had put down as functional because they still are looking at the pipe and the condition of it. And just because water can flow through it doesn't mean that it's functional to the city.

Thank you. else.

Uh, mayor, members of the council, I just want to add as well that city administrator Valiant has contacted our office and we've discussions on that exact provision that council member Gardner you asked about. Um, and I do understand that uh we will need to be drafting an ordinance amendment to change that language because as pointed out as drafted it does state that the composition of the pipe itself can be grounds for determination that the pipe is deficient. So it will be coming back to you in the form of an ordinance amendment to fix that. Okay.

Anything else council? Right. Well, Sarah, thank you. I appreciate your time tonight. All right. Um, consideration to approve job position for planning and development department. Call on Christopher Corbett, our planning development director.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Um, tonight I'll or this evening I'll be looking for a motion to approve the economic and community development specialist position within the planning and development department. Uh, it's I know during the budget season we discussed at length kind of our the planning department needs and our budget overall and this position came up. It's kind of hard to talk about just a position without getting a full understanding of our entire department and what department looks like today. And so I'd like to go through some of that now. So in order to get a full understanding, I broke it down into four core responsibilities. And the planning department, as you might know, is planning and zoning. So that's the dayto-day the land use application sign permitting um updates of ordinances um as we talked about today the codification of the zoning code. So that's our planning and planning and zoning division if you will. The next one is permitting and inspections. This is more of the trans the transactional part of the planning department. And you're probably aware of um you're probably aware of this one too. We talk about the monthly building reports. Um, so the permits that we issue, the fees that we collect and the revenue that we generation that goes into the general fund. And then we have de development and long range planning. Our partners are primarily KCED. Um, but a lot of the long range planning is for example the comprehensive plan with Wilmer U which was adopted last June. and we take a look at the industrial park and make sure that we have um business retention and different

segments throughout the city. And this last um division of it is or core responsibility is code enforcement. We just want to make sure that properties are complying with city codes and regulations to maintain safety um the safety and community standards. And so we um that is actually managed by our city code as you know. to kind of meet the team. Uh again, during the budget season, I think it's really important that you all kind of see who works in the department. So, we have Robin Rash who is our administrative assistant. Chris Frank, you all know Chris Frank as our city planner. Jason Swaggererman is our building official. He also primarily looks at or inspect commercial properties and code enforcement. Jason can actually do our rental inspections as well as residential as our building official. Josh Larkcom is building official limited so he can only do residential inspections and code enforcements as well as a shared responsibility when it comes to rental inspections. And then you have Jordan Clever who just started in the department early last year. And Jordan is the primary contact and inspector for our rental housing program and code enforcement. And there's one position that is vacant. It was vacant at the beginning of 2025. That's our main street coordinator. I'd like to review some of our recent accomplishments. So, adoption of the long range plan with will with the Wilmer plan in June of 2025 as well as a future land use map and safe streets for all adopted in June. And then in 2025, we worked with parks and wreck to uh have the bike pedestrian trail plan adopted as well. Uh implemented

software. So we launched in 2025 online per permitting portal um with Tyler Tech as well as the my Wilmer app so we can engage with the public and making sure that all of our online permitting um process is now streamlined and all in one place. And then we reg regionalized our building permitting and inspection services to Atwater, Candy, Ohio, and New London. And that was in the first quarter of 2025. And we have since um extended that contract from 2026 to 2027 with those cities. And then we increased public engagement and some of this between 2024 and 2025. We've hosted and participated in over 30 community engagement events. We launched we launched social media campaigns and changed the way that we communicate our um our goals and our responsibilities outward. And then you all remember that um the Minnesota APA conference was also held here too. So just to highlight some of our um accomplishments. So by the numbers permitting last year for 2025 issued 701 permits and that's a building valuation about 60 million and revenue is close to 500,000 that we brought in last year. Code enforcement out of uh all of the code enforcements probably 86% of them um fall into compliance with that first notification. That's great. is a testament to the work that the guys are doing, especially Jordan, when it comes to um communicating with the homeowner or property owner about what to do. Each of those code cases um we counted about 75 of them. 8% of them were unfounded. So, we investigate every single one um that comes to our department. We share some of the code enforcement with public

works um but that's not represented represented um in this number. For registered rental units, we have about 3,600 uh or 3,700 and we are on track to renew about 700 over 700 units next year or this year 2026. Some future priorities that we have for the city, uh I broke them down into four. The zoning code rewrite, which you all approved and will be starting soon in late January, February. Um the second one is asset management. So coming up with a real estate um plan and to take a look at property that and plan for property that the city owns to divest and invest in. Number three is the downtown pilot. And so last year we did some work on rebranding of downtown and we want to keep the momentum going with that. Uh we've been in contact with a lot of our businesses and residents in our downtown area and finding out some of their needs. And so the pilot program that hopefully will launch this spring summer uh we'll take a look at recommendations that came out of the comprehensive plan and safe streets for all and and to make sure that we're looking at traffic calming efforts as well as economic development strategies too. And then the fourth priority here is economic development. Spending more time and being very intentional about how we're marketing and selling um property in the industrial park and bring bringing businesses here. So we have a big year in front of us for 2026 and the department is doing great work. We're moving away from doing a lot of the transactional things and being really intentional on the planning. A lot of the um stuff that the items that we have accomplished was really that

foundational part of planning. Uh and with that, even though our department is amazing and great and wonderful, uh I am here to talk to you about some of the opportunities to and finding ways to close the gap. So, I kind of laid this out in fours. uh we need to increase funding and resources and be more of a resource to uh the community engagement. I think every community no matter where you are can always do engagement more and so we want to make sure that the public know about policies and ordinances uh making sure that things are like affordability um and inclusion across neighborhoods. So making sure that we're really um getting into like a grassroot area, grassroot um efforts to make sure that we are communicating and engaging the public. And then I would like to switch from this transactional part of planning to more programmatic and policy innovation. And so we want to formalize outreach uh to existing businesses to identify needs, prevent closures, and encourage growth and urbanization and growth. So we need to expand beyond physical improvements to include a cultural programming, small businesses, incentives, and placemaking. Some of this is happening, but what I'm looking for is to do it more consistent. And so we're working with um director orgon as well as KCED to get some of these things done, but we can be a lot more efficient and uh if we had a new position and that position in front of you and in your packet is the economic and community development specialist. Uh currently in the budget right now, I am not requesting any funding. um a position is already funded in the department. So this would replace it and so I would not in theory I would replace

this with a main street coordinator position. Um the range the salary range is about 61 to 82,000 and basically and it's not uncommon that once you have a comprehensive plan a municipality would have someone or a group of planners involved to make sure that the comprehensive plan and other plans that have been adopted are actually implemented too. Uh some of the work that this position would do is more that outgoing outreach to businesses, community members to make sure that businesses are here. Uh making sure that they are targeting different industries that we want. Making sure that and this isn't just for downtown as the main street coordinator was. This is for gateway quarters that we identify. So, Highway 12, 2371. Um, the uh downtown and industrial park as well. Um, this position is, I would say, is a great need. It's a more elevated position for planning department. Um, but I'll I'll stop there and if you all have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Excellent. Yes. Uh can you clarify exactly how this will be paid for? Where is it coming from? Yep. Great question. So currently right now in the budget um this is the similar salary that's already budget in the budget for main street coordinator. So I would not hire a main street coordinator. If you all approve this, I would hire an economic and community development specialist. So the funding is already there for this position. Okay. So it's essentially just replacing a position that we've already had just gone unfunded or unfilled. Correct.

Yes. So that kind of takes us back to the smoke and mirrors that Mr. Gardner has referred to with creative ways to make it look like we're cutting the budget, but in fact we're still spending money.

Uh I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. What um what happens is it was already budgeted for and this position lives in our department. Um yeah, I wouldn't agree with that statement. This is um in theory I could just pose for uh a main street coordinator, but during the budget season, council's told city staff to do the hard work, I believe is the exact term you all use to make sure that one, we are not just working, a person leaves a position and we post for the same position. So the hard work part is taking a look at some of the needs that we have and creating a position that will better suit the needs of of the city. So I hope that uh you're not looking at this as a as a switcheroo but doing the hard work.

Well, not yeah not a beat and switch or anything like that. I just I I fear, you know, we we the last budget was hard. This upcom up upcoming one is going to be even more difficult. I think um I don't want to all of a sudden now we're spending money on a position and trying to cut money at the same time. Um if this is money that we've budgeted for that, that's great. If it's already there, I it I have a hard time if this is an additional $75,000. No, it is not an addition. It's already budgeted. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, you know, I was one that voiced concern over this when we had our budget meeting in the last cycle for the 2026 budget. And I think at that time I I said that my belief was that the current staff model might be might be unsustainable moving forward without tax increases. Um we did a great job working together with staff uh and the council was able to uh to not raise not increase the tax rate for 2026. Um I'd like to do that again for the 2027 year. Um I don't know how serious my colleagues are up here about doing that. Um but if we don't add this position, that is $80,000 that we now have to work with um for other needs that are going to come up in the next year. I will say that at the moment though, my larger question for you um would be um with the goal of being efficient and working towards this community growth. All of this is great, by the way. if there was $80,000 growing on a tree, I'd love to just move right forward with this. You talked a lot about working with KCED. Um, being on the joint powers board over there, I I know, as I think all of us do, that they're in a staffing transition right now. They're looking for a new director, but that's not the only staffing issue that they have right now. And they're going to be spending some time looking at what's the most efficient way for them to staff. And I know over at KCED they're talking about how can they work with Wilmer's planning department to come up with, you know, something that works for both of us. Would it not be wise to wait for them to hire a new director? They're meeting this week on Wednesday to start that process and then once we have a new director at KCed for you to work with that person and come up with the staffing solution that works best for the citizens of Wilmer and Candy County. Okay,

it might be a question for my colleagues. No, I I'm always committed to work with KCED. There is some instability that has happened. Um, but that shouldn't stop the city of Wilmer to move forward on a lot of our initiatives that we have. We have a plan. We have priorities for this year in order to accomplish them. I think I don't think but it is behoove of us to have our priorities and take leadership or ownership of those and partner where partnering um where we can but so you would not want to wait no I do not wish to wait

I think uh your slide showing that $60 million of uh development in our community has helped add to our tax base and and so forth. Um, this is probably a role that is not maintaining uh but helping to grow our our community and bring some great businesses in and targeting specifically Wilmer,

not necessarily the the outer regions of our county so forth. Um, from that perspective, I think from the grant writing responsibilities that uh are essential functions inside this uh job description, I hope that we would see the fruits of it. Um, here. Um, but I I think you're right. Uh there there's some concern there that uh if those fruits aren't yielding that we would when it comes to areas to to forgo it might be on the chopping block in the future. But I think right now with the instability at the EDC um it might make some sense to take the lead on this so that they can look to us uh as that beacon instead of elsewhere. So

I would agree. I think this is great. And council member Gilbertson, I appreciate you bringing up one fact that I heard was this is a potential revenue generating um position too. So it is a small investment to what we could potentially have in in our area.

Ricky, I agree with Tom. I feel like it could be money well spent. Um, and that you could work with the KCED and also the grant writing could be really beneficial for us and um, also working on downtown would be good too. Yes. So, I support this. Thank you. We had Do we have a motion to approve? I'll make that motion. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion. Further discussion. Roll call.

Council member OS. No. Gilbertson. Hi. Gardner. Hi. Beerly. No. Davis. Hi. And shoulders. Hi. Four eyes. Two nos. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Christopher. Next is a review of outside employment policy. Call on our human resource director, Alyssa.

Good evening, mayor and council. You have before you today a copy of the city's current outside employment policy. Staff were asked to bring this policy before council for review and discussion. I'd like to provide some background on what we're allowed to include in such a policy before I open it up to your questions. Um, the National Labor Relations Board issued an opinion in December 2023 that expressly said that rules or contract provisions directly or indirectly prohibiting moonlighting are generally unlawful. There are some types of outside work or moonlighting um that can be prohibited, but there's a fairly narrow limit to what can be restricted. Employers are allowed to limit outside employment if it interferes with the employees ability to work the hours that they're scheduled to work. If it significantly impacts their performance, such as working a night job and then showing up the next morning too exhausted um to do their work. If there's a conflict of interest between their full-time job and their second job, such as working for a direct competitor or sharing trade secrets. Our current outside employment policy does include all of the legally allowed restrictions on outside employment and establishes a mechanism to evaluate any concerns or complaints related to outside employment that may violate the stated conditions. Having given you that background information, I'll take questions that you guys have about our policy.

Questions for Alyssa? Justin.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I know that at least another council member and I have asked for some conversation around this um, in the past due to um, complaints that I think we've received from the public. At least I know that I've received from the public and from from members of the staff as well, specifically around the roles of um, department heads that have secondary employment. Um, for the roles of those department heads, those seem pretty uh pretty demanding. Uh, the hours seem pretty demanding. They seem in many ways like 247 jobs, and I think they're compensated accordingly for that. Speak to me a little bit about what it looks like for roles like a department head where they can be called in at any moment to have an outside employment. Would that not violate some of the what's included in this policy?

Um, you start with the easiest question. Um, I think we would have to, um, look at a specific role and what the actual call-in requirements are. Um, yes, most of our department heads can be called in for different emergency situations. Um, but they don't necessarily come in for all of those situations because they have a staff. So, the police chief is not necessarily called in for every big crime that happens. Um, the the public works director might not be called in for every flood event or snow event. the the fire chief might not be called into every call. Um so realistically, while there is an expectation that our directors do participate in those things, we can't require them to be available 24/7. I mean, if they're on vacation, they're not going to come in. If they're partying it up for a a graduation party, they're not going to come in in that condition either. Um, so it gets a little bit tricky to say you can't have outside employment because we might need you to come in sometime. Um, if we haven't defined a specific time that they're being required to be there, we can't require them to be there, unless we can't prohibit something that would prohibit them from being there. Mhm.

Um so, uh within a specific director's job description, if we have clear expectations of specifically when they would need to be there, then we could say you can't have employment that would prevent you during these specific times. But it can't be written so broadly as to prevent them from ever taking any outside employment because they might be called in at any point in a 247 365 period. Uh it just won't hold up under law. Did that answer your question?

Sure. Um, but again, I would assume that that the on call nature of some of those jobs would make that incredibly difficult. So then you get into a situation between writing a stricter policy, which essentially we cannot do, and enforcing our current policy. If there were legitimate examples of a time that something happened that we would have expected a director needed to be there and they weren't because of outside employment, then we could address that within the existing policy and say like, listen, you didn't make this event. You didn't make these three emergencies that are at a level that we expect a director to be at because of outside employment. So that's become a problem. If it's still theoretical, we can't tell them you can't have that that outside employment because we worry that someday you might not make it. If they're still showing up to the things that they're expected to be at and there's not a specific incident that we can that we can point to as not having met their expected duties, we can't restrict something theoretically. If there is specific instances, then the policy gives us room to enforce that. Those can be brought to the city administrator. She can review those and she can require someone to drop their outside employment. If there are specific examples of them being unable to be at expected work situations or uh not being able to function within the the confines of their job description.

Okay. So, sounds like what I'm hearing is that the council has done its work in in setting a policy and we've set it to the legal maximum that we can. Yes. And that when members of the public or other staff members from the city have concerns, they should address them to administrator Valiant. Yes. Okay. And I'm assuming, attorney Scott, that you would agree with the what's been said. Correct. Okay. Anybody else? This is for information, right? Yep. Nothing to do. Thank you.

Next, Sunday liquor license renewal. City clerk Verie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. I have just one more Sunday liquor license for approval tonight. Um, it has been approved by the police department and it is for El Tapato Mexican Restaurant. Move to approve. Second. A motion and a second to approve. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Gilbertson. Hi. Gardner. Hi. Baggerly. Hi. Davis. I should. Hi. And Osk. Hi. Six eyes. Zero nos.

That passes. Then consideration of PNS Stores LLC. That's Westside Liquor. Uh, city clerk Bernie Larson. It's actually Westside Market located on County Road 5. Um, they are changing ownership and the new owner is applying for a a on sale or off sale intoxicating liquor license. They have been through uh approval by the police department and so I think they've passed their background check and they're looking for approval. Move to approve. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call.

Council member Gilbertson. I. Gardner. I. Baggerly. Hi. Davis. Hi. Child. Hi. And hi. Six eyes, zero nos. Final item, resolution to acknowledge donations for the fourth quarter. Uh, city clerk Bernne Larson. Once again,

council members and Mr. mayor tonight for your acknowledgement and um adoption of the resolution accepting these donations. $296 from the New London American Legion for the Wilmer Police Explorers. $165 from Sarah Soul Care LLC for the Taylor Swift event at the community center. $100 from pre pest pro 2 for the Taylor Swift event. $100 from Carrie Visser as the cleaning lady for Taylor the Taylor Swift event. $100 from Elmquist Jewelers for the Taylor Swift event. $100 for from the Insurance Center for the Taylor Swift event. $50 from Dawn's Building Center for the Taylor Swift event. $50 from Hair We Are for the Taylor Swift event. $250 from Live Edge Construction for the Taylor Swift event. $250 from Casey's General Store for the Taylor Swift event. $800 from Charter Communications for the Taylor Swift event, $750 from Julie Hovie with OSIC Wealth, Inc. for the Wilmer Community Center programs, $1,500 for Walmart for the Shop with a Cop. $2,500 from Jenny O'Horell Financial Services for the 2026 community growth programs. $20,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield for the 2026 community growth programs. $250 from the American Legion Post number 167 for the Veterans Coffee Social at the Community Center. $100 from Vuter 1413 for the V Veterans Coffee Social at the Community Center. $250 from the Legion of St. Michael LEMC for the Wilmer Police Explorers. $300 from Iron Warrior Club for the Wilmer Police Explorers. $250

from the Legion of St. Michaels Lemc for the Wilmer Police Explorers. $500 from Beverly Faulk on behalf of Edward Jones for the Wilmer Police Department for discretionary use. $300 from the Iron Warriors Warriors Motorcycle Club for the Wilmer Police Explorers. That's that's the end of the list. Looking for a motion. So move. Second. Got a motion and a second to approve. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Faggerly. I. Davis. Hi. Shel. Hi. Osk. Hi. Gilbertson. Hi.

And Gardner. I. Six eyes. Zero nos. Motion carries. Any announcements? Hearing? None. Motion to adjurnn. Move to adjurnn. Second. We are ajourned.