City Council - Regular Meeting

We'll call the meeting of the Wilmer City Council to order. Roll call.

Mayor Reese.

Here.

Council Member Osk.

Here.

Nelson. Here. Gilbertson. Here. Gardner. Here. Baggerly. Here. Davis. Here. Butterfield. Here. Enscheldes.

Here.

Nine present, zero absent.

Please stand for the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag,

both additions or deletions to the agenda mr. mayor I would make a motion to approve an amended agenda adding in front of 9a so this would be the new 9a just a quick sewer issue update from city staff second

We got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Butterfield.

Aye.

Nelson.

Aye.

Davis. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Gardner.

Aye.

Fosk. Aye. Schuldes.

Aye.

And Fagerly. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

That motion passes. Next is the consent items to call on City Clerk Vernee Larson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. Tonight for your approval, I have the city council minutes of July 20th, 2026. The Wilmer Municipal Utilities Commission minutes of July 27th, 2026 is a draft. The Human Rights Commission minutes of July 28th, 2026 is a draft. the Pennock Lions Club lawful gambling application, the Kandiyohi County Pheasants Forever lawful gambling application, consideration to approve a two-year lease and advertising agreement with the Wilmer Warhawks for facility and ice usage at the Wilmer Civic Center, the airport snow removal equipment acceptance of federal grants, and the accounts payable report of July 16th, 2026 through July 29th, 2026.

Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second.

We got a motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Butterfield.

Aye.

Baggerly.

Aye.

Gardner.

Aye.

Gilbertson. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Davis. Aye. Childers.

Aye. And Osk. Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

The motion carries. Next is the open forum. And you get three minutes. And you need to state your name and address when you come up and speak into the mic. And next, first is Jill Benson.

Hello. Wilmer is being blindsided again by the presence of a flock camera in town. Who ordered this? And where is it located? It is not a safeguard, despite what they'll say in two weeks. But instead, it is a dystopian, all-seeing eye, monitoring the people who are ice-weary to their bones. Here, flock could be used for immigration purposes, And so a way ICE could find anyone anywhere, whether they are correct or not, we need to eliminate our flock system.

Thank you, Joe. Next is Mary Jo Milner. Is that right?

Yes. I'm bringing my support staff. Hi, my name is Mary Jo Molnar. I live at 924th Street Southwest here in Willmar. And I have with me two of my neighbors. They've asked me to do the speaking. Mary Dockenbocken has wrote this and feels uncomfortable reading. Sorry. We're here to address the sewer backing up into our homes this past week on Friday, July 31st, around 3.30 in the morning. Sewage began backing up into the basement, coming through the floor drain, shower, and toilet. At 3 a.m., I, Mary, had checked my sumps, and they were both dry. At 3.30, my alarm for the sump pumps went off. Water was pouring out of all three places. This continued till around 8.30 or 9 a.m. I ran three transfer pumps and both my sump pumps were running the entire time and still had standing sewer water, not just water, sewer water. um... over half of my basement. Now I am removing carpet, drywall, studs and more to be able to return my home to livable space. I am here to make sure the city is aware of the issues and to ask what steps are being taken to resolve this problem as I'm currently being asked to pay about nine thousand dollars for the fourth street improvements. For that amount of money, I would like to know if these improvements will prevent future issues. If not, what is the city's plan? Five inches of rain in over seven hours should not create the issue like this. I am not alone in this street. Multiple homes on 4th Street are dealing with the same problem. Many of them did not discover the water until much later and had even more damage to them. There's approximately 20 plus houses that had sewer. Four to... 12 inches? Yes. Sewer water in their basement. So, we'd like to know what your thoughts are. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, Koolor.

Good evening, Council. My name is Kulor, and I'm the Community Development Officer with Southwest Initiative Foundation. This evening, you have a room that is a little bit more full because we have a cohort here learning. They're here to observe on how local government happens, and so I just wanted to make that aware that we are in the room sharing the space with you all. Thank you for having us.

Thank you, Kulor. Ian Berg. Ian Berg.

Okay, thank you, council. My name is Ian Berg, 2205 Fifth Avenue. Okay, please let me draw a clear line here. I'm here to talk about flock and our flock cameras that are popping up everywhere in Willmar. Privacy and hiding is not the same thing. They are not the same thing. Hiding requires a seeker. Flock cameras and automated license plate readers force every citizen into a state of being sought. Cameras that automatically capture, catalog, and store this analyzed data without cause is literally a Fourth Amendment violation, no matter how much the flock CEO, Garrett Langley, says it's not. I am here to formally request that you cancel the flock contracts, ban future ALPR expansions, and restore our privacy because we are not hiding. We are free and to restore the human judgment of our police force that it desperately needs. What we as citizens need from you, the council, to know is crime really going down. If that's the goal of these flat cameras, a Forbes article from the Last year says it's not. In Dayton, Ohio and Austin, Texas and many other cities, Flock likes to claim that they decrease crime. In Dayton, Ohio, Flock has been saying that between 2018 and 2020, it has decreased crime by 43% when Flock cameras didn't even get installed in Dayton, Ohio until March of 2020. So that means the trend in Dayton was already going down. Flock does not get to take credit for that. After that, Dayton decided to spend $830,000 on upgrading its current Flock system. That is an obnoxious spending of money for not knowing any actual hard data of Flock. evidence of what is appropriately feasible from these flock cameras, right? From these ALPR cameras. So we need to know where our money is going. We need to know where these contracts are coming from and who is paying for it. I have not yet gotten my public records request yet back. So I'll probably be back here next meeting with more information on that. When it comes to police misuse, I have nothing to blame for our police department, but I have national stories of anywhere and everywhere police misusing flock cameras, even though, again, flock states that there are no unauthorized users or their users are not available. There is an EFF investigation for these flock cameras. EFF has investigated. abuse of flock cameras by police departments, by people who just happen to get access to a flock camera because there's also internet-facing flock cameras that don't even have passwords on them or encryption of any kind. I'm sorry, your three minutes are up. Okay, so with all of this, I'll make a final statement then. With all of this, There is AI in these flock cameras. There is very high potential for police or anyone using these flock cameras to misuse them. And it is a Fourth Amendment violation that is well documented in the court documents. And I have a giant document with links to prove it. So please come and talk to me afterwards.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ian. That's the last one in the open forum. Next is regular business, and Justin, you wanna?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Having visited with some members of the public earlier today, I just would like city staff to make a quick comment. Mr. Box, if you'd be up for doing that. Just so folks in Willmar of know where things are at, what's happening. The city's certainly heard the complaints from the sewer water and just want the opportunity for the public to be aware.

Sure, thank you Council Member Ross, thank you Mayor, thank you Council. So we're all aware that Willmar experienced a heavy rain event Friday morning, July 31st. What we're ASKING FOR INDIVIDUALS RIGHT NOW, PROPERTY OWNERS RIGHT NOW, IS TO PLEASE GIVE US YOUR INFORMATION. THERE'S A COUPLE OF STAFF MEMBERS IN THE ROOM IF YOU WOULD WANT TO RAISE YOUR HAND. BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS EVENING, MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION TO US SO WE CAN FOLLOW UP WITH YOU DIRECTLY IF YOU HAVE ALREADY. WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING NOW IS STAFF HAVE BEEN TAKING THAT INFORMATION AND IT IS BEING PROCESSED THROUGH OUR INSURANCE CARRIER FOR, YOU KNOW, THROUGH THE CLAIMS PROCESS THAT WAY. This is still being investigated. There's some obvious things, but we still want to go forward with the investigation, but we want to make sure we have your information so it can be filed and processed the correct way through the insurance company. So before you do leave tonight, if you haven't already contacted the city, Director Stefanik is in the back corner, Public Works Director. Make sure you connect with him or another staff member and make sure you provide us with your contact information. THANK YOU, MR. BOX.

ALL RIGHT, NEXT IS THE CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF ISP MASTER SERVICES AGREEMENT. I'LL CALL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR KYLE BOX AND JONAH JOHNSON, OUR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR. GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL. Before you this evening is a request to approve an internet service provider master services agreement with Broadband MN, Zuma Internet, and Intellipop. This agreement is one of the foundational operating documents for WilmerConnect because it establishes the term under which each internet service provider may use the city-owned fiber network to provide retail service to residents and businesses. WilmerConnect is structured as an open access network so that under that model, the city owns the physical fiber infrastructure while multiple private internet providers compete for customers using that same network. The agreement is non-exclusive. It requires the city to provide qualified providers equal access without preferential treatment. The agreement also clearly separates responsibilities between the city, its network manager, and each ISP. The city, through its designated network manager, Hometown Fiber, will be responsible for operating, maintaining the physical fiber infrastructure This includes the network operation center, fiber facilities, network monitoring, maintenance and repairs, customer connections and disconnections, and network documentation. The ISP will be responsible for the retail customer relationship. This includes setting their service plans and retailing price, providing internet connectivity, billing customers, responding to customer questions, providing technical support, and maintaining any ISP-owned equipment located beyond the city's established point of demarcation. Providers must be capable of offering service packages with a minimum speed of at least 100 by 100 megabits per second for download and upload. Each provider must also work with a yet-to-be-established broadband commission to offer an affordable service option or another approved program intended to serve lower-income households. The agreement establishes service fees that will be paid by the ISP rather than being directly billed by the city to individual customers. Additionally, charges may apply when an ISP requests services such as additional fiber rack space, wholesale internet capacity, static IP addresses, remote technical assistance, any dark fiber leases, splicing, or other network work. The agreement provides that fees are applied uniformly to all providers. The council retains the authority to adjust fees annually, generally subject to a 10% annual limitation and at least 90 days advance notice for the ISPs to make adjustments. A significant part of the agreement is Exhibit A, which establishes minimum customer service standards for every ISP operating on WilmerConnect. These standards are intended to ensure that customer service receives reasonable and consistent levels of service regardless of which provider they select. Among the principal standards, an ISP must provide a customer support contact center available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, offer telephone, email, and online support, respond to emergency services within two hours, complete standard installations within 10 business day when no special construction is required, and maintain at least a 99.5% service availability. The providers must also give advance notice of scheduled maintenance, price changes, service plan changes, and potential disconnection for non-payment. They must provide payment methods, multiple payment methods, accurately bill their customers, publish service and pricing information, protect customer information, and submit quarterly reports to the city and its network manager. The City will have the ability to monitor compliance through performance reports, customer complaints, audits, service testing, and other appropriate measures. Repeated failure to meet the standards may result in corrective action requirements, financial penalties, suspension of new customer additions, or termination of the agreement. Any penalty imposed through the Broadband Commission may be appealed to the City Council by the ISP. The agreement also contains protections for the city's infrastructure and financial interest. An ISP may not alter or connect equipment to the network without prior approval. Each ISP must maintain the required insurance, indemnity, indemnify the city for claims arising from its operation, protect the network against liens, comply with cybersecurity and privacy requirements, and remain responsible for its employees, contractors, equipment, and customer services. Importantly, the agreement contains customer transition protections. Shall an ISP leave the network or have its agreement terminated, the city may assist affected customers in moving to another participating provider. The departing ISP must cooperate with the transition so customers are not unnecessarily left without internet service. So in summary, this agreement accomplishes four primary objectives. It establishes equal and non-exclusive access to the city's network. It clearly assigns operational and customer service responsibilities, creates a uniform fee structure, and provides enforceable service and consumer protection standards. Staff are recommending approval of this agreement with a motion to approve the WilmerConnect ISP Master Service Agreement and Incorporated Exhibits for Broadband MN, Zuma Internet, and Intellipop subject to the completion of the ISP specific information. and any non-material administrative or legal corrections and authorized execution by the appropriate city officials. Mr. Mayor, I'll pause and stand for any questions.

Any questions from anybody? I have some questions, but I'll move to accept this before. Okay.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Go ahead, Tom.

A couple of items as I was looking through this. The first happened to be the terms and the length of term that each company or ISP has. Is there a reason why we have three-month quarterly terms rather than two, three, four, five years as this is a long-term piece of infrastructure?

Yes, thank you, Council Member Gilbertson. The answer for that is the tax-exempt status with our bonds. Bond Council had incorporated that language to ensure our bonds stay tax-exempt. So in order to accomplish that, there cannot be, I believe it's a 100-day maximum on contracts. So this is a way for us to ensure our bonds stay tax-exempt while ensuring the long-term service with our ISPs. YES, IT DOES GIVE THE CITY THE AUTHORITY TO END THE CONTRACT EVERY 90 DAYS, BUT WE ALL FULL WELL KNOW THAT INCONSISTENCY WOULD NOT BE A SUCCESSFUL NETWORK, SO THERE IS NO INTENTION TO ANNUALLY OR QUARTERLY REVIEW EACH OF THESE CONTRACTS UNLESS THERE IS A SPECIFIC REASON TO.

CAN I KEEP GOING? SURE. THE NEXT ONE IS THE CYBER SECURITY INCIDENT REPORTING. There's no specific time frame outside of what the statute says, and so I was curious if you're looking at adding in a certain time requirement of when they need to report any type of cybersecurity incident.

Yes. So specifically, as part of the agreement, the ISP acknowledges that ISP, by virtue of this agreement, is subject to the requirements of Minnesota statute for reporting to cybersecurity incidents impacting the city. I think there's an opportunity for us to instill in our ISPs on the necessary requirements, not only reporting to the state, but that comes with our monitoring as well. I mean, we'll have eyes on from a network standpoint, not like a residential or business standpoint, but we'll be able to see traffic on the network itself. I DON'T KNOW, DIRECTOR JOHNSON, IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT TO ADD TO THAT ON THE CYBERSECURITY STANDPOINT, BUT WE'LL MAKE SURE TO HAVE THAT IN-DEPTH CONVERSATION WITH ALL OF OUR ISBs ON THE TIMELINESS OF REPORTING.

UNDER THE NETWORK AVAILABILITY SECTION 5.2 OF THE APPENDIX, OR THE EXHIBIT A, Serving as the liaison for the Wilmer Municipal Utilities, they strive to have five nines, which is 99.999% power to all of the residents here in Wilmer. Looking at the network availability of 99.5, I guess I'd like to see that higher if that's possible, because I know when I turn on my lights, I like to see my lights turn on. which I think many people take for granted. But I also want to see when I am connected to the internet that it is there and available as well.

Absolutely. It's very important for us to ensure that the network is available. Again, as the document states, 99.5% of the time, excluding any unforeseen events, scheduled maintenance and stuff like anything along those lines. When it comes to maybe industry standards, I might have to lean more on technical staff. TO SEE WHAT INDUSTRY STANDARDS ARE, BUT THESE ARE NUMBERS THAT THE ISPs AND THE CITY IS COMFORTABLE WITH AT THIS POINT. AGAIN, WE'LL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS AND AS PART OF THE BROADBAND COMMISSION'S DUTIES AND MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS THAT WE NEED TO.

BE NICE TO GET A REPORT TO SEE HOW CLOSE TO THAT 99.999% WE CAN GET TO. KNOWING PERFECTION IS VERY DIFFICULT. WE'LL STRIVE FOR IT, ABSOLUTELY.

I think that was it. Thank you. Anybody else? Rick.

Mr. Mayor, so we have three ISPs that are ready to sign this?

Correct.

Okay, if there's additional ones, do we add an addendum then to this contract?

Council Member Fagerle, thank you for the question. Each ISP will receive the same contract. So they are, again, non-exclusive. They're all treated the same, same prices, no matter what they want to bring in. So with the three that are in the agenda tonight, that are being requested for approval tonight, WE DO HAVE THIS CONTRACT OUT WITH OTHER PROVIDERS THAT ARE INTERESTED IN LOOKING. SO WE'LL BE BRINGING BACK THOSE ACTIONS IF THEY CHOOSE TO BE A PART OF THE CITY'S NETWORK. THIS WOULD BE A SIMILAR ACTION IN THE FUTURE TO APPROVE THOSE CONTRACTS.

THANK YOU. JUST TO HELP THE CLASS THAT'S HERE, INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER, ISP. YEAH, SORRY. Any further discussion?

Steve?

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Director Box, inside the master service agreement on paragraph 5.22, I believe it's in exhibit A, it requires the ISPs to maintain 75% of their listed bandwidth. It seems like if most of us delivered three quarters of what we promised or what we sell to our customers, we'd fall short. Is that an industry standard or can you talk more about that?

From what we have, thank you for the question, Council Member Gardner. From other similar structured fiber networks, that is a number that we've seen in a number of places. It does a couple of different things. And again, I may rely on technical staff to correct me. But it also prevents over putting in higher end equipment or higher speed equipment. Let's say you're going to sell half a gigabit plan but you're buying equipment for one gigabit so it's you're overloading our network so we want to make sure that there isn't that we can buy and prepare for the amount of information and switches that are coming in but from a customer standpoint yes I absolutely don't resonate and don't disagree with you you know if that's a number we can look at changing I'd be Open to have absolutely open to have that conversation.

I don't know Mr. Morehead from hometown fibers here as well If you if there's a comment you want to make on the network or the bandwidth capacity, yeah the way I would look at console is Not everybody hits the internet full at the same time like you're not downloading a gig everybody at the same time So the ISPs will stagger that out sometimes 100 to 1, 1,000 to 1, depending on how much bandwidth they're bringing into town. It depends on what customers they have and what their customer needs are. What we were saying or trying to put a frame on is that we don't want you to sell it 100 to 1 and 1,000 to 1, right? We want to make sure that you're at least bringing in 75% of what you're selling. So you can get the multiplier without it being too extreme. So that was kind of where that came in. But as Mr. Bach said, It also helps you plan for your infrastructure to know that, hey, they're going to be selling these services, and so our back end needs to look at least to these capacities so we can optimize the cost of building it out and still get the services to the public. Thank you.

One more question, Director Box. Did I hear you correctly? If you said if any of these, let's say pick one, they're rejected from their service agreement or they're back out of their service agreement or it's not renewed or whatever. Did I hear you say that the city is going to take on the responsibility of relocating customers to another ISP?

assisting with that process, yep. So what it could look like is the ISP would be responsible for providing us basic contact information, name and address. That can be communicated to those residents or those users that here's your other, in this case, if there's two other options for us to be able to provide them information on selecting a new internet package. Technically, do we have the ability to make that switch for them? Yes, but we would not, we would want to make sure the billing and the customer relationship between the ISP and the customer is established. The only part we want to be able to, we just want to be able to assist with that step, but it would still be a private transaction from customer to business and then from business to customer from that point.

Thank you.

Justin.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Box, I think we've been spending some time looking at that service quality standards section of the agreement. What are the consequences for failing to meet that?

Yeah, so that is spelled out in the MSA. And let me get to the starting point. Which section?

Article 6.

Article 6. All right. So in Article 6 is the quality and performance and oversight. So an ISP shall meet or exceed the customer service standards that are detailed in Exhibit A to this agreement. These standards establish a minimum performance benchmark that all ISPs on the network must maintain to ensure the end user receives consistent high quality support regardless of which ISP they choose. It describes which key elements are a part of Exhibit A. You know, the city reserves the right, as I had mentioned earlier, to review and monitor ISP compliance within the customer service standards. So if they continue to fail on that side or if there's enough issue to bring up to the Broadband Commission, the Broadband Commission may impose penalties for the city to impose for failure to meet those performance standards and those customer service standards set forth in Exhibit A. So within the first occurrence would be a written warning The second occurrence is a $1,000 penalty and a mandatory meeting with the city representatives. And a third occurrence would be a $5,000 penalty and potential suspension of new customer additions. Then it goes into dispute resolution if our resolves, if the issues cannot be resolved, dispute resolution to see if something mutually can be agreed to. And then I suppose at that point, we would be looking for legal counsel to help us beyond that. But there are initial steps built in.

Anybody else? Roll call.

Council Member Gardner.

Aye.

Gilbertson.

Aye.

Butterfield.

Aye.

Davis. Aye. Baggerly.

Aye.

Schuldes.

Aye.

Osk.

Aye.

And Nelson. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Council. All right, next is the Public Works Salt Shed Roof, and I'll call on Public Works Director, Shane Stefanik.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here to talk to you guys about the Public Works salt shed roof. On June 28, the storm passed through with wind gusts over 60 miles an hour, which caused a complete tear in the Public Works salt shed roof, basically from end to end, exposing our salt within the shed. We received a Sourcewell State contract from Greystone Construction in the amount of $37,350. And we would like to ask the council to accept this quote.

Okay.

Do we have a motion? Okay. Second. Motion and a second. Discussion? Rick?

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So where's the money coming from then?

Oh, yeah, my apologies. It's coming from the insurance deductible line item.

Tom? Oh, I'm sorry. I think he's done. When was this roof put in place? 2013. Okay. Because we did something with them not too long ago too, so I just didn't know what roof it was.

Yes, in 2022, I believe, the back wall was replaced.

Anybody else? Roll call.

Council Member Fagerle. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Osk. Aye. Schuldes. Aye. Davis. Aye. Butterfield. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

That carries. Thank you. Thank you, Shane. Next is project number 2601A, change order number one. Call on city engineer, Jared Fogey.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Closing your packet this evening, as the Mayor indicated, is change order number one for the 4th Street Improvement Project. This is a request that has been submitted to us from the Willmar Municipal Utilities based on the configuration of their system near Willmar Avenue and some of the struggles that they've been having with that system. Ultimately, the project did not intend to enter Willmar Avenue, but stopped the project limits short. They have requested that we replace some valving and piping within that intersection, so that is what is before you this evening. Pricing was obtained from the contractor, and the change order being presented to you this evening is in the amount of $57,588, and we are seeking council approval for that so that it can be incorporated into the project.

Motion to approve change order number one. We got a motion and a second. Discussion?

Go ahead, Tom.

Will this result in any assessment increases for our neighbors on 4th Street?

No.

Thank you.

Will the utilities be paying any proportion of this?

They'll be paying 100%.

Steve.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vogue, there's a couple lump sum items in here. One of them is $10,000 for traffic control. Is that industry standard?

Yes, as we're aware, the Wilmer Avenue is a highly traveled roadway, and there's a significant amount of traffic control required for that. So we did review all the pricing with the utility, and we are in agreement with the pricing submitted. All right, thank you.

Anybody else? ROLL CALL.

COUNCIL MEMBER OSK?

AYE.

SHILDZ?

AYE.

DAVIS? AYE. GILBERTSON? AYE. NELSON? AYE. GARDENER?

AYE.

BUTTERFIELD? AYE. VINFAGERLY? AYE. EIGHT AYES, ZERO NOES.

MOTION CARRIES. THANK YOU, CHAIR.

THANKS, MAYOR COUNCIL.

NEXT IS BENSON AVENUE AND 5TH STREET SOUTHWEST SANITARY SEWER REPAIR PROJECT. WE'LL CALL ON PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR SHANE CIFANI.

Short break. What's that? Give you a short break. Yeah, I appreciate that.

That's good.

Good evening. So between Benson Avenue and Litchfield Avenue on 5th Street downtown, staff discovered a sanitary sewer line passing through a storm sewer while performing smoke testing. There was a break in the sanitary sewer line within the manhole resulting in sewage leaking into our stormwater. A temporary repair has been since completed by staff, and the line is no longer leaking. As part of the permanent repair, the sanitary... Sewer line will be relocated so it no longer passes through or interferes with the storm sewer manhole, improving both reliability and the sanitary sewer system and the integrity of the storm sewer infrastructure. We received two quotes for the project, one from Crow River Construction in the amount of $54,775 and Hoffman Construction in the amount of $37,279.50. We recommend that we move forward with Hoffman Construction and the repairs will be paid for from the Wastewater Collections Operating Budget. And attached, you can see a map of the repair, proposed repair.

We have a motion.

So moved.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Gardner. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Childers.

Aye.

Fosk.

Aye.

Baggerly. Aye. Davis. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. And Butterfield. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

That motion carries. Next is Airport Apron Security Lighting MnDOT Capital Funding Award. Let me call on Shane Stefanik.

Thank you. So operations at the airport are increasing, particularly during early morning and evening for corporate travel. Additional security lighting on the apron is required to allow for safe fueling and access to the terminal building. The city requested funding from the MnDOT Office of Aeronautics, and after the review of annual capital requests, Wilmer Municipal Airport was awarded $21,700 for this project. The total estimated amount for this project would be $31,000, and MnDOT's contribution would cover 70%, and the city would need to contribute $9,300 to cover the other 30%. This is just a formality notifying the state of Minnesota that we're wanting to proceed with the project. And I was hoping that we could pass this.

What was the two amounts?

Oh, so for the MnDOTS portion, it would be $21,700. And for the city's portion, it would be $9,300.

We have a motion.

Move to approve.

Second. Here we have motion and a second discussion. Rick.

Who's going to be doing the work? You have to get bids?

Yeah. Yes, this is just.

To get the funding.

This is just acknowledging to the state that we are still interested in pursuing this project.

Steve.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Director Stevanek, I don't know that it mentioned what's the funding source for this, and I'll ask the same thing for F&G. So what's the funding source of our portion for this project?

Yep, so we would be allocating that into the airport's budget. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Box.

Council Member Gardner, these would be capital improvements. This particular project has not yet been identified in our CIP. We're not anticipating being so fortunate to get three out of three grants with MnDOT. The opportunities in front of us, I think, would be advantageous for the city to pursue it, whether it's through additional CIP levy dollars or fund balance that the airport has as well.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Any other questions? Roll call.

Council Member Gilbertson.

Aye.

Gardner.

Aye.

Osk.

Aye.

Childers.

Aye.

Nelson.

Aye.

Davis. Aye. Baggerly. Aye. And Butterfield. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

That motion carries. Next is the Airport Building Water Well Sump or Pump Replacement MnDOT Capital Funding Award. You tell me what's going on there. I will.

So the existing water well pump for the terminal building was originally installed in 2005 and is in need of replacement. This project will install a new pump to adequately maintain pressure to service the terminal building. The city requested funding from the MnDOT office and in their request, our request was approved for $18,200. The total estimated cost of the project is $26,000, so the 70% is the $18,200 from MnDOT, and the 30% will be $7,800 for city, and I believe this was in the 2027 CIP. We have a motion. Move to approve. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion?

Rick? Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So does the pressure tank need to be replaced, too, or just the pump?

I believe it's just the pump. Okay, thank you.

Anybody else? Tom? How much is in the CIP for it? Is it the full amount or just the $7,800 that we were budgeting for in the future?

Oh, I think Mr. Box is pulling that up.

It's real close to this number. If not, we budget maybe just a hair more.

The 78 or the 18?

The local share only is what we would have budgeted for.

All right, thank you.

We can verify that with you, Council Member Gilders.

Any other questions? Roll call.

Council Member Davis.

Aye.

Butterfield.

Aye.

Baggerly.

Aye.

Gardner.

Aye.

SHOLDERS.

AYE.

NELSON.

AYE.

OSK.

AYE.

AND GILBERTZEN. AYE. EIGHT AYES, ZERO NOES.

MOTION CARRIES. NEXT, AIRPORT HANGAR ACCESS ROAD CONSTRUCTION, MNDOT CAPITAL FUNDING AWARD. SHANE.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The airport now has four commercial hangars located off the main apron. Two of these hangars were constructed in the past five years. The existing parking lot does not extend far enough to serve the employees and the customers of the two new commercial hangars. This project would construct an access road to the hangars to allow the hangar owners to then construct private parking lots off of the road. The city's requested the funding from the MnDOT Office of Aeronautics and in their annual review approved us for $201,950, which is a 70% match for a project total of $288,500. And the city will need to contribute $86,550 to meet the 30% match. This is also scheduled in the 2027 CIP. I cannot confirm the total.

We have a motion. So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Discussion? Rick?

So we've had a lot of water issues out that way. Is this road going to be built up high enough and tiling so different flood?

I can't confirm the tiling, but it will solve the water issue for the roadway.

Okay, just for that?

Yeah, just that portion.

Okay.

Any further discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Schuldes.

Aye.

Baggerly.

Aye.

Davis. Aye. Gardner.

Aye.

Osk. Aye. Nelson.

Aye.

Gilbertson. Aye. And Butterfield.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

Motion carries. Thank you, Shane. Thank you. Next is need to set a budget work session. I'll call on Kyle.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We are in the midst of our 2027 budget. Staff are requesting the council to schedule a budget work session Monday, August 31st, 6.30 p.m., located at the Rice Home Medical Building, 1033 19th Avenue Southwest. And this would be an opportunity for staff to present the entire council with the potential or the head of the preliminary budget on September 8th.

So moved.

Second. Motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Osk.

Aye.

Davis. Aye. Toldiz.

Aye.

Butterfield.

Aye.

Baggerly. Aye. Nelson.

Aye.

Gardner.

Aye.

Gilbertson. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

Motion carries. Next is Wilmer Municipal Utilities Capital Facilities Tour. Kyle, you want to tell us about it?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. For information only, tonight, WMU, Wilmer Municipal Utilities will be conducting their annual capital facilities tour to review current and future projects. This meeting is scheduled during one of the commission's regular meetings, Monday, August 24th at 11.45 p.m. This is a wanting to extend that invitation to the council and some staff members to attend that meeting. So just for information tonight, Mr. Mayor.

Yeah, I'm wondering, when we met with WMU jointly in this past year, we discussed that meetings during the day don't work very well for the city council and that we had WMU's commitment to try to make those more city council friendly or have conversations with the council about a time that would work for us. Clearly, this is something that they're doing with the commission, and that's part of their regular meeting, so I understand that. Would WMU staff be willing to offer council members who work during the day an alternative time to go on that tour?

Council Member Osk, I can absolutely have that question answered for you. General Manager Smith and I have been communicating. We meet probably once a month here, or twice a just to discuss ongoing partnership between the city and the utilities. And we are working on scheduling a joint session with the council and the utilities. And during an evening meeting, probably middle of this fall, with some key agenda items that the utilities would like to discuss with the council. So we would be looking forward to a joint meeting. Hopefully get that scheduled here in the next month.

Okay. Thank you. That's great to hear. And again, if they could offer an alternative time for some of us, that would be great. All right.

Thank you. Next, I'll call on City Human Resources Director Alyssa Gamble for hiring recommendations.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight, you guys have an opportunity for the follow-up discussion from the Thursday interviews that you conducted for city administrators. So I invite the Council to have whatever discussion you want to have about who you would like to recommend. And then when you are ready, the motion is there in your packet to make that hiring recommendation.

Anybody? Tom. I'll make a motion to have the city work on with Kyle Box as being our next city administrator. Second.

Here we got a motion and a second.

Mr. Mayor.

I'm just reading.

Thank you. I noticed that it asked us to designate council members to negotiate with the candidate. Is that something that you would be looking for tonight as well?

So the default would be the same group of people that were on that ad hoc committee that developed the hiring process, unless the council would like to designate differently.

That's what I was looking for, too. That's what I was reading.

I had seen it earlier. Yeah.

Yeah, it would be those same designees unless you guys want to change that, which you absolutely can.

I mean, before you said that, my thought would be Mayor Reese and Council Member Gilbertson was going to be my suggestion. I don't know if we need quite so many to negotiate the details, but I'm happy to move forward with the ad hoc group.

Audrey? Who is the ad hoc group?

That is... Justin and Tom. And Vicki. And Vicki. I said I don't.

Yep. You just run things.

Yes, Audrey.

Do the three of them want to do that? Vicki's saying yes. Sure.

I don't think they have a problem.

Okay, good.

All right.

I just want to voice my support for Mr. Box in this position and just say that the years that he spent in his current position working with us have been just a tremendous blessing to the council, to the community. I appreciate your ongoing professionalism. I appreciate your passion for the work of the city, for your the ways that you really try to, I think, to serve the community and look forward to working with you into the future.

I'll echo that. Very professional and very in-depth knowledge of especially the Connect Wilmer. YOU'VE DONE A VERY GOOD JOB. I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

ALL RIGHT.

ROLL CALL.

COUNCILMEMBER GILBERTSON.

AYE.

OSK.

AYE.

NELSON. AYE. SHOLDES.

AYE.

BUTTERFIELD.

AYE.

DAVIS. AYE. GARDENER.

AYE.

And Fagerle.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

That's eight. Thank you, Kyle. Congratulations.

All right.

Announcements? Anybody? If not, we need a motion to adjourn. So moved.

Second.

We are adjourned.