City Council - Regular Meeting

Call a meeting to order. Roll call. Mayor Reese. Here. Council member Ask. Here. Gardner. Here. Fagerly. Here. Davis. Here. Butterfield. Here. Scholdus.

Here. Council members Nelson and Gilbert center absent and excused. Seven present, two absent. Please stand for the pledge. 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. Motion to approve the agenda as presented. Well, you're Johnny-on-the-spot tonight. Second. Second. Yeah. All right. We got a motion. [snorts] Did we have a second? Yes, sir. Okay, we got a motion and a second. Discussion.

[snorts]

Roll call. Council member Fagerly. Aye. Ask. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Scholdus. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Davis. Aye. Seven or six ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Next is the consent items. Call on Kyle Box, the operations director. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight for your approval are the city council minutes of April 20th, 2026, the planning commission minutes of April 15th, 2026 as a draft, the Willmar Municipal Utilities Commission minutes of April 27th, 2026, the statutory municipal liability coverage limits, the advertisement for bids for airport runway 15-33 pavement maintenance, the sale of low potency hemp edible retail 2026 registrations, the memorandum of understanding between the Oh, and excuse me, as well as the memorandum of understanding between the City of Willmar and AFSCME general unit, the accounts payable report for 4-16-26 through 4-29-26, and for the council's information is the is an application for the Willmar Municipal Utilities Commission. Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion.

[snorts] Roll call. Council member Butterfield. Aye. Ask. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Davis. Aye. Fagerly. Aye. And Scholdus. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. Um The motion passes. No open forum tonight. Um Project 2601A, 4th Street [snorts] Southwest bid award. Call on city engineer Jared Fogle. [snorts]

Good evening, Mayor and Council. As indicated, the first item in your packet this evening is the 4th Street Southwest bid award. Uh we had a great showing of bidders on April 22nd. We received nine bids in total. The low bid was submitted by Ryan Contracting of Elko, Minnesota in the amount of $4,685,156 and 10 [snorts] cents. Uh two actions before you this evening. The first is the resolution awarding [clears throat] the project to Ryan Contracting, and the second is to approve the as-bid budget. And I'd be happy to answer any questions a council might have. Move to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Davis. Aye. Scholdus. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Fagerly. Aye. Ask. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. Motion to approve the as-bid budget for the project. Second.

[snorts]

We have a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Davis. Aye. Scholdus. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Fagerly. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Ask. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Project 2608 seal bid award. Jared. Yeah, thanks, Mayor and Council. Uh on April 22nd, we received three bids for the seal coating and crack filling improvement project. Uh the low bid was submitted by Asphalt Surface Technologies Corporation. They're out of St. Cloud, Minnesota in the amount of $136,238 and 5 cents. Uh similar to the previous item, we have two resolutions for your consideration this evening. We need a motion to adopt the resolution. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. No, I can adjust this. I'm waiting longer for discussion.

[snorts]

Roll call. Council member Butterfield. Aye. Ask. Aye. Davis. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Scholdus. Aye. And Fagerly. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Now we need a motion to adopt the resolution approving the budget for project So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Davis. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Scholdus. Aye. Fagerly. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. And Ask. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. The motion carries. Next is project 2605B stormwater improvement. Jared. Yeah, thank you, Mayor and Council. The final item here on my report this evening is related to the stormwater improvement project. Uh we did solicit quotes for the improvements. We did receive six of those. And the low quote was submitted by Hoffman Construction Company LLC in the amount of $122,155.49. Um two resolutions for your consideration. Anybody willing to make a motion? Motion to approve the Motion to adopt the resolution awarding the project 2605 to Hoffman Construction. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Fagerly. Aye. Ask. Aye. Scholdus. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. And Davis. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. The motion carries. Next is a call for a motion to adopt the

resolution approving the as-bid for project 2605B in the amount of $168,000 [clears throat] $800. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Council member Scholdus. Aye. Davis. Aye. Fagerly. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Ask. Aye. Six ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Next is Thanks, Council. Thanks, Jared. Next is the advertisement for bids on the knock. Information Technology director, Jonah Johnson. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Before you for adoption is resolution authorizing the advertisement of bids for the Willmar Connect Network Operations Center, also known as the knock. The knock is necessary for Willmar Connect to operate. An existing city facility is to be remodeled to house critical equipment for Willmar Connect's operations. If you have any questions, I'm here. Make a motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the advertisement for bids. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. Steve. Jonah, I've heard that the city's going to operate as a general contractor on this one. Is that true? That is correct. Is that the best course of action? I'll defer to Kyle, Mr. Box, for that. Thank you for the question, Council member Gardner. Uh there are I believe four different areas that the city included in the advertisement for bid that the city would maintain and um that would manage those general contracts with the assistance of

Hometown Fiber, which was previously approved as project manager to assist in some of this. Um we do feel that this does save the city some dollars. Um you know, anywhere from 8 to 12, 15% in in other costs. Um and we believe that these smaller portions that are cumulative within the project are manageable by the city. Do you know what those scopes of work are off the top of your head? Um I I believe they are included in the packet um under the cost breakdown. We don't have that, I don't believe. All we have is a resolution and something saying Uh apologies, Council. Um That should have been included in the cost breakdown of the areas. Of the of the categories. If you give me 10 seconds here I can pull it up and send that to you. I'll make sure that's uploaded into the packet.

[snorts]

So included would be exterior windows, replacement of windows, concrete would be putting a surface floor on top of the existing floor. There's some interior work for walls, framing, again with the raised floor for the rack and equipment to sit on, wood wall acoustic paneling, there's H back work that includes demo and install of new units, AC units. Electrical work. And then racks and trays would be under the general contracting. So there should be a total of four different separate contracts that would be awarded or potentially to be awarded. You just brought up like six or seven different scope areas though. How do you do that in four contracts? Um. So. Concrete and interior work will likely be combined depending on who the contractor is as well as potentially H back and electrical depending on how the contracts are received. Bid. So there'll be. From my. My memory there are four different areas that would be bid or four different bids that could be received.

[snorts] Thank you. Any further discussion? Roll call. Council member Scholdus. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Davis. Aye. Ask. Aye. Begerly. Aye. And Gardner. Aye. Six ayes, zero noes. Thank you all.

Motion passes. Thank you Joel. Next is announcements. Well, we've got. Capital improvement budget work session. On Monday May 11th. At 6:30 p.m. at the Rice Home Medical Building. Is there any other announcements? I have. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to um. Just say for your for anyone that missed it last night out at the fire department they celebrated the new truck, the new ladder truck. It's a good crowd of folks there from the community coming out to to be there with the guys from the department and. Um. It's a big day. It's something I feel like we've been working on on this council in the CIP process for a couple years and so it was great to see the brand new truck out there and the investment that we've made in public safety. Steve. Mr. Mayor this is a item for the next meeting but. I moved one I move one to reconvene the executive session to discuss evaluation of performance of Leslie Valiant pursuant to Minnesota statute. 13D.05 subdivision 3A of November 17th 2025. At the May 18th 2026 regular city council meeting and to the city legal council provide appropriate notice to city administrator Valiant of this reconvening. Second. We got a motion and a second discussion. Roll call. Council member Ask. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Begerly. Aye. Davis. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. And Scholdus. Aye.

Six ayes, zero noes. Motion carries. Um. Under announcements uh. You don't. Know it yet but uh. Thursday is the mayor's prayer breakfast. If you [snorts] haven't gotten tickets you can still get them. Online so. Would love to see each of you there. Believe that's it. Move to adjourn. Second. Third. We're adjourned.