City Council - Regular Meeting

We'll call the meeting to order. Roll call. Mayor Reese.

Here. Council Member Osk. Here. Here. Council Member Nelson.

Here.

Gilbertson. Here. Gardner. Here. Baggerly.

Here.

Butterfield. Here. Soldas. Here. Council Member Davis is excused. Eight present, one absent. INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

MR. MAYOR, I WOULD MAKE A MOTION TO ACCEPT THE AGENDA AS PRESENTED. SECOND.

WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. DISCUSSION. ROLL CALL.

COUNCILMEMBER NELSON. AYE. FAGERLY. AYE. GILBERTSON. AYE. Gardner?

Aye.

Shoulders?

Aye. Osk? Aye. And Butterfield? Aye. Seven ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Consent items. Kyle?

Mayor Reese, members of the City Council, tonight for your approval are the City Council minutes of June 15th, 2026, the Wilmer Charter Commission meeting minutes of June 23rd, 2026 as a draft, Wilmer Municipal Utilities Commission meeting minutes of June 22nd, 2026 as a draft, the Park and Rec Board meeting minutes of March 2026, the Police Civil Service Commission meeting minutes of June 16th, 2026 as a draft, Consideration of a state one to four day temporary on sale liquor license permit for Kandiyohi County Fair Association. The Wilmer Hockey Boosters Blue Line Club lawful gambling application. Consideration of a resolution appointing election judges for 2026 primary and general elections. Wilmer Municipal Utilities Commission application. Consider approval of a contract with Garage Technology Services Incorporated. and the accounts payable report 6-11-26 through 7-1-26.

Motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second.

We're on a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Mayor?

Yes.

I appreciate a little more information on J, the contract with Garage Technology Services.

Who's handling that? Frank? Fanson.

Mayor, I guess I just have a question as to the contract and how that works. If there's some local fire departments around the area that are in need of any ladder trucks and things like that, Are we able to exclude certain area distance if we promote that, or maybe everybody's equipped at this point in time?

So with this service agreement with Garage, basically it's just allowing them to advertise throughout the nation. If we find a buyer, local, or someone approaches us on it, this service contract doesn't hold us to them. So it's just a contract that says that they'll advertise. If they come up with a buyer that's willing to pay the agreed price, then they charge a commission of 10%, but then they do all the paperwork. They come and pick the truck up. whatever they have to do. But if we find someone local, we can do all that ourselves and this contract or service agreements null and void.

Okay, yeah. It's the wrong color for Spicer, but maybe New London would be interested in it. They have one. I've been trying to teach them.

You could have two maybe, so we'll see.

All right, sounds good. Thank you.

Thanks, Frank. You're welcome. Next is Lakeland Drive Pass at home. We didn't do that, did we? Any other discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Butterfield. Aye. Osk. Aye. Soldes. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Fagerly.

Aye.

Seven ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Next, I'll call on City Engineer Jared Volge for the Lakeland Drive Path Improvement Project.

Mayor Reese, I believe 9A is the donation consideration.

Flip the page.

All right. Yes, donation of a construction project.

All right. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council. Happy to present or open this agenda item here for you. A few weeks ago, Dunnock Inc. had come to the city with a project idea that they'd like to talk about and present to the city council. So tonight with us is Chris Dunnock, president of Dunnock Inc., who will provide a little bit more information and detail about the upcoming project for your consideration.

All right. Thanks, Kyle. Thanks, Mayor and Council, for allowing me to come before you tonight and just kind of share with you some of the things that we've been thinking about. So as Kyle stated, my name is Chris Dunnick and I represent a family business. I'm a third generation family member that's been involved in the construction business for about 40 years myself. So not quite half of our 100-year celebration, which we're celebrating 100 years this year. And I believe that 100 years ago, we worked for the city of Willmar. So we've had projects with the city of Willmar off and on for over 100 years doing a lot of construction work here in the city. And it's just been great to be able to mark this achievement. And one of the things that we're mindful of is a strong company that can last 100 years is only possible with strong employees. And a lot of our employees come from the city of Wellmer area. So they're born and raised here. They're educated here with quality school systems. They get the medical attention that they need. So we're really grateful for the city of Willmar because it provides us with employees that we need to be able to build construction projects in quality ways. So we like to partner with the city of Willmar and we look for employees from here and we love to be a part of this community. So our tagline is building strong communities. And, um, you know, so we're hosting our 100 year anniversary, uh, this summer on July 25th, um, out here at the civic center and the public is open or welcome to come. Uh, you're all invited. Of course. Uh, we'd love to love to see you out there. And at this event, what we'd like to do is showcase a project, um, that we are looking at donating to the city of Willmar. So there's the trailhead for the Glacial Lakes Trail is there, and as you know, it's a pretty convenient cut across to the Civic Center for some rambunctious teenagers once in a while. But we thought, what could we do to kind of spruce up that area, give a nice paved surface? So if you don't mind popping that... the drawing up. What we're proposing to do is donate to the city of Willmar this parking lot, which you can see the Civic Center off on the west there. And what this would do is have a nice delineated spot for parking for people that want to use the trail, as well as it's going to be built with the possibility for future expansion. We've been working with Mr. Box and Bolton and Mink to get design ideas and bring things together. And this is something that we'd like to potentially do a ribbon cutting for the construction of this project at our event on the 25th. And as I stated before, there's no financial obligation to the city of Willmar whatsoever. It's an honor for us as an organization and for a family to I'll be able to give back to the community in this way and ask for your permission to go ahead and do that. So if you have any questions, I can answer to my best of my ability.

Chris, I've worked with Dunik for many years, going back to another city, Hutchinson. And I worked with your dad and a number of others. It was Dunik and Gilchrist at that time, and now you've expanded into many different areas. You've got huge numbers of companies under your umbrella, and we are very pleased to have Dunik come up with this idea to finish out the parking lot at the trailhead. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Carl.

Thank you for this. This is outstanding. Just to clarify, though, this would cut off that driveway, the path through to the Civic Center parking lot.

Yes, because that's, I don't know, and maybe the city design was never for that to be a throughway.

No, I don't believe it was. Yeah, it was just a convenient.

Because there'll be a, if you look at the west edge, that's a thick and edged sidewalk. Okay, yep. And then on the east side is a curb and gutter for drainage. Thank you. Anybody else?

Yes, Justin.

I just want to say thank you. Your family's generosity is clearly something that's noted throughout the region and here in the community. And so I'm not surprised to see you guys doing something like this. But it certainly goes beyond anything you'd be obligated to. And so thank you means a ton to the community. It's going to be great to have it out there. And super cool to think that 100 years ago you guys did a project with the city. I'm assuming that Council Member Faggerly voted yes on that project.

I think I did, yes. Yeah.

I'd be happy to make a motion to approve this.

I'll second that. We got a motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Gilbertson. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Foss.

Aye.

Begerle. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Schuldes.

Aye.

And Gardner.

Aye.

Seven ayes, zero nays.

That motion carries. Thank you, Chris. Again, your ribbon cutting is on the 25th? July 25th. At what time?

The event starts at 11 and goes till 2 in the afternoon. And it's free lunch. I probably didn't say that part. Unless you get there too late and it's gone. So then you're on your own. But yeah, 11 to 2 is the time that we're going to be out there. And the exact timing of the ribbon cutting, I don't know. But you'll all get personal invitations. If you can join, that'd be great. That's awesome. All right, thanks for your time. Thank you, Chris.

And we voted on that. I didn't check it off. All right, next is our position of planner. going to our planning and development. And I'll call on Kyle Box to tell us about it.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. So we had advertised our director for planning and development position after the departure of Director Corbett, the city received eight applications and interviewed three applicants for the position. Each applicant was scored, followed by initial interviews with three of those applicants, both in person and virtually. Two finalists were selected for these interviews. For second round interviews, the interview panel consisted of Council Member Gilbertson, myself, Park and Rec Director Baumgarn, Finance Director Odins, Public Works Director Stefanik, and Human Resource Director Gambrell. At the conclusion of the applicant review and interview process, the panel unanimously recommends to the City Council of the hiring of Christopher Frank as the Planning and Development Director for the City of Willmar. The pay grade for this position is noted in the agenda item here, pay grade LM, and the salary range follows, 102,000 to 138,000. We are recommending approval.

Do we have a motion? I'll make that motion. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion?

Mr. Mayor. So I'm assuming then we will begin the process of hiring a new city planner.

Yes, we are eagerly looking forward to the next step. So we'll have still some interim duties to fill within the department, but we'll meet PROBABLY PRETTY QUICK ON THAT TO GET A PLAN TOGETHER TO GET THAT POSTED AS SOON AS WE CAN TO BACKFILL THAT POSITION. ANY OTHER? ALL RIGHT. ROLL CALL. It's okay, Mayor, I'll do it from up here. Yes, that's fine. Council Member Rosk. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Fagerle. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. And Scholdes. Aye. Council Member Nelson. Aye. Seven ayes, zero nays.

Motion passes. Next is the Police Department Command Center and SWAT bus. I'll call on our Chief, Mike Holm.

Council and Mayor, here to go over, this is part of our CIP. We're looking to do requesting to approve to purchase a used 2022 Model 1 StarCraft Starlight 24-foot bus, which is on a Freightliner Sprinter chassis. It's got a diesel engine in it. It's made from Model 1. The purchase price of this vehicle is $53,574 with an additional $1,062 for delivery where they would bring it right here to Willmar for a total cost of $54,636. The vehicle was previously used as a lease unit. It went into service on December 5th of 2023 and returned to Model 1 on March 2nd of 2026. The vehicle currently has 74,746 miles on it. Once a purchase agreement is made with them, everything on the unit would be gone through to make sure everything is accepted before we would accept it. We'd have the right to reject it if it came here and it wasn't up to terms. This would be replacing our 1999 Ford Eldorado that we toured or showed you a couple years ago. That vehicle goes back to, I'm not sure exactly if it was 2003 or 2004, it's been in the police department possession where we've used it. And it's pretty much at end of life for our use. It's kind of where it's coming right now. I was looking for the pictures of it. So it's a little bit smaller than the one we have now. It's about 12 inches less. Features on this one that our whole kind of SWAT unit and people like is on the back end of the bus. It's kind of a close. You can see the white door on the rear. That's like a 30-inch compartment where we can put equipment that the normal people won't have access to. We'll be able to lock that up in there and then still be able to use it as a command center or out at Rockin' Robbins, different events, and not have anything there. accessible to it and the outfitting of it would be you know putting the lights and doing all that would be stuff that we would try to do just with our city garage here um just kind of adding some radios a few lights and putting some decals on it so okay i'll move to approve the purchase of this second second

OK, WE GOT A MOTION AND A SECOND DISCUSSION. JUST A QUICK QUESTION, MR. MAYOR.

GO AHEAD.

CHIEF, I'M JUST WONDERING, LISTED IN OUR FORM HERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONSIDER OF A 2023 STARLIGHT. IT'S MORE EXPENSIVE.

Yeah, that one, everything on these, because it kind of seems like why the years back, they get them in shipments because they're building a lot of them. So the 23 has never hit the road. So they have a new one, which is like $30,000 more. That's an option to consider, but I think for the amount of miles that we would put on this unit would be somewhere in that 500 to 1,000 miles a year. I think we're better off to buy this used one. This one, I got a little bit of the back history. It came from a hotel chain that did a lease contract. For it to run even during that time, it was used. I don't know if it came out of Colorado. I don't know if they use as much salt and slurry as Minnesota does, but Hopefully not.

So you'd rather have those extra dollars to purchase squads or other vehicles for the department?

Yeah, because this would be coming out of that, our CIP part, so it would still leave us in the shape to still get two squads this year. Great. Thank you.

What's the lifespan of this vehicle you're looking at?

Well, it's a little, you know, that 3.0 diesel. I mean, I don't think we'd ever run it to the ground. I would think you'd get 20 to 25 years out of it, so... Kind of like our one right now, it's just, it's kind of aged out where the reliability, unless somebody's looking to buy it, you know, everything works.

Any other discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Gilbertson? Aye. Nelson? Aye. Osk? Aye. Gardner? Aye. Soldes? Aye. Baggerly? Aye. Butterfield? Aye. Seven ayes, zero nays.

That passes. Thanks, Mike. Next is the Eagle Lake Sewer Lift Stations 1, 2, or 1, 3, and 4 control panel replacement. And I'll call on Jared Volke.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. As the Mayor indicated, this is the preliminary budget for Eagle Lake Lift Stations 1, 3, and 4. This is a 2026 capital improvement plan item and ultimately what this consists of is updating the existing panels out there and improving the SCADA so that city staff can more effectively communicate with those panels and monitor their performance. So with that enclosed in your packet is the preliminary budget and we'd be looking for council approval and be happy to answer any questions you might have.

QUESTIONS OR A MOTION?

MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE.

SECOND. WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECONDED DISCUSSION.

YES, TODD. I GUESS I JUST HAVE ONE QUESTION. IT MIGHT BE DIRECTED MORE TOWARDS OUR FINANCE DIRECTOR, THE FUNDS TO PAY FOR THESE IMPROVEMENTS OF $203,000, IS THAT PRIMARILY FROM THE UTILITY IMPROVEMENT CHARGES AND AVAILABILITY CHARGES, OR EXCUSE ME, $400,000? IS THAT WHERE THOSE FUNDS ARE COMING FROM, OR IS IT THINGS THAT WE'RE ULTIMATELY LEVYING?

Yes, thank you, Council Member Gilbertson. This would be part of our 2026 CIP. This is part of our 2026B bond issuance. So it would be paid for by the system. It's not out of a specific line item as you had asked.

Any further questions? Roll call.

Council Member Osk?

Aye.

Gardner?

Aye.

Gilbertson?

Aye. Beggerly? Aye. Butterfield?

Aye. Nelson? Aye. And Scholdes?

Aye.

Seven ayes, zero nays. Motion carries.

Next, Jared, Lakeland Drive Path Improvement.

Yeah, thanks, Mayor. This item is related to the agreement associated with the state grant for the Lakeland Drive Path project in the amount of $203,953.21. It's a specific number. It was based on the bids that we've received for the improvement. This agreement is required to be approved prior to any construction on the project so that we can ensure that we as a city are reimbursed through those state funds. So with that, there is a resolution in your packet this evening and we're recommending its adoption. A motion?

Move to approve.

Second. A motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Councilmember Osk? Aye. Gilbertson? Aye. Gardner? Aye. Butterfield? Aye. Begerly? Aye. Soldas? Aye. Nelson? Aye. Seven ayes, zero nays.

Thanks, Jared. Next is the sanitary sewer lining project. A call on Public Works Director Shane Stefanik.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Wastewater staff has identified two sections of sanitary sewer main located on Becker Avenue and the Old Highway 12. These require repair due to significant root intrusion, failing clay pipe, and groundwater infiltration. This naturally increases treatment costs and decreases system capacity. So to address these issues, we solicit quotes from two qualified contractors. We solicited two quotes for a UV cured in place pipe lining, a trenchless rehabilitation method that installs a resin liner inside existing pipe and cures it with ultraviolet light. This extends the lifespan of the pipe by 50 years. So we received two quotes, one from Insituform Technologies USA in the amount of $111,668.10 and another from Subsurface Incorporated in the amount of $67,498.05. This will be paid for out of the wastewater collections operating budget, and we recommend awarding the sanitary sewer lining project to Subsurface Incorporated. All right.

Making a motion to approve. Second.

Okay, we got a motion and a second. That will remove all the bills. of all of the old pipe that you're gonna be running this, right?

Say that again, sorry? Takes out the bell. Oh, so it removes, These pipes have their joints are failing, so that's causing water to flow in, or there's roots coming in in the joints, or in some parts, the clay pipe is actually caving, collapsing in on itself. So this will actually just reline the inside of the pipe with a brand new pipe, and it'll be almost like new.

I'm familiar with the type of project. But the roots and the collapsed Old pipe how do you clear that oh?

So that actually stays in place This this liner goes on the inside so the old pipe will just stay there This just creates a harder shell on the interior of the pipe so this is a

Liquid that goes over the inside and gets hard. Yep, it is. Yep, okay I'm trying to figure out what happens to the roots and the collapsed pieces of pipe.

Gotcha, yeah. So the roots get cleaned out beforehand. They use a tool, it's called a cutter, and that'll remove all the roots. And then they flush the line, vac out the roots. And then for like the collapsed sections, they actually have a tool that spins, and it's got a little chain on it, and that'll remove those collapsed in pieces, restore the spherical nature of the pipe, and then they push the liner through. Okay.

And then it fills in the bell of the pipe.

Yep.

Okay. Very good. Tom? What about... What part of Becker's southeast from 1200 to 1500 block?

So included in your packet, there was a map. Forgive me. It is from Robert Street southeast and then headed east towards, it looks like 1101 Becker Avenue southeast.

Yeah, that's a bad intersection there.

Justin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Will there be any service outages during this project?

So temporarily, when they push that cure, that lining through, and then they cure it with the UV light, And then they bring in their little tool that cuts in the service laterals as, I mean, shortly after it's cured. It takes seconds to cure it. Should they just run the light through? So it would be minuscule, if any, but a notification would be sent out to residents if there was to be any prolonged outages.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So how big is the pipe here? Is that like 8 inches?

Yeah, so it's 8 inches and 12 inches, and I believe the old Highway 12 is the 12-inch section and the Becker is the 8-inch section.

What is it normally on the house? Is that four inches?

Yeah, generally you'll see four to six, depending upon how generous the contractor was.

I've noticed there's been a lot of houses that have their yards dug up, so people are replacing their sewer lines. Is it too soon to tell if that's really helping at the waste treatment plant?

So out of the... That's a good question. Out of the... 170-some inspections we've had, about 50% have been replaced or are designated to be replaced. And I think at this time it's too soon. I think we would need more time, maybe a couple years, to really see an impact.

This is costly for us. All right.

Thanks. Thank you. ANYBODY ELSE? ALL RIGHT. HEARING NO DISCUSSION, ROLL CALL.

COUNCIL MEMBER FAGERLY. AYE. GILBERTSON. AYE. SHOLDAS. AYE. NELSON. AYE. BUTTERFIELD. AYE. OSK. AYE. CARDINER. AYE. SEVEN AYES, ZERO NAYS.

THANK YOU. THE MOTION CARRIES. THANKS, SHANE. Next is consideration of a wine and intoxicating liquor license. Yeah, I can't pronounce it.

We'll call on Kyle. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Marisco Citaco Salviejon has applied for a on-sale wine and 3.2 intoxicating liquor license. This is an existing business here in Wilmer that is moving, I believe, off of Business 71. They will now be established at, on Highway 12, I believe, located near Home State Bank. Previously, they have not had a liquor license, but with this move and new business reopening, they will be applying for a liquor license. Staff are recommending approval.

Motion.

So moved.

Second. Motion and a second. You said that like you said it before, Kyle. Back to stall weekend. All right. Discussion. Roll call.

Council Member Butterfield. Aye. Baggerly. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Haas. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Soldas. Aye. And Gardner. Aye. Seven ayes, zero nays.

That motion carries. Next is a resolution to acknowledge donations for the second quarter of 2026. I'll call on Kyle once again.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. As we concluded the second quarter of 2026, we had received a number of donations, $250 from Hagelin Catering for the Kids Kitchen Program, $25,000 from Viking Coca-Cola for scoreboards at Swanson Field, $1,000 from Wilmer Rotary Club for the 2026 International Heritage Festival, and $1,000 from the Donna Middleton and Acura Wealth FOR THE WOODSHOP PROGRAM, SANDER, AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER.

WE HAVE A MOTION. SO MOVED. SECOND. WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, ROLL CALL.

COUNCILMEMBER GILBERTSON. AYE. SHOLDERS. AYE. NELSON. AYE. GARDNER. AYE. OSK. AYE. BUTTERFIELD. AYE. AND FAGERLY.

AYE.

Seven ayes, zero nays. That motion carries. Any announcements? All right. We're going to go into closed session. This portion of the regular meeting of the City Council will be closed pursuant to Minnesota statutes, section 13D.05, subdivision 3C, The following real property will be discussed separately in the closed session. Parcel 95-003-4820 and 95-003-4830 and 95-003-4940. I need a motion. So moved. Second. We got a motion and a second. Roll call.

Council Member Soldes. Aye. Haas. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Fagerle. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Gardner. Aye.

Seven ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. The council is now in closed session pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 13D.