City Council - Regular Meeting

Roll call.

Mayor Reese.

Here.

Council Member Osk.

Here.

Nelson.

Here.

Gilbertson. Here. Gardner.

Here.

Baggerly. Here. Davis. Here. Butterfield.

Here.

Enschuldes.

Here.

Nine present, zero 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, and indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Proposed additions or deletions to the agenda?

Mr. Mayor, I offer an amended agenda removing item H, city administrator appointment and employment contract that has not been completed.

SECOND.

NO. OKAY.

Do I need to make the motion of the consent agenda right now? Is that you want me to do that right now?

No, I've got to do another. It's for consent agenda. Yeah.

We have a motion on the table. We should vote on that motion. Yes. And then make another motion if you would like.

Roll call.

Council Member Gilbertson.

Aye. Aye.

Baggerly.

Aye.

Osk. Aye. Nelson. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Davis. Aye. Butterfield.

Aye.

Enschedez.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

That motion passes.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to amend the consent agenda to add approving the separation, to approve the separation release agreement of Wilmer City Administrator Leslie Valiant to the consent agenda. Second.

Okay. Vernee, am I supposed to be putting this in before or after they make the motion?

They make the motion and then we vote to approve their amendment. If you would like, you could also then approve the rest of the agenda at consent agenda as presented. But this is, you could approve the rest of the agenda as presented with H being removed and the addition of the item to the consent agenda. Or you could vote on that separately.

But the scripting, I read that after the motion.

You read that, you read the scripting after the consent agenda is approved.

Okay, all right. And right now we have a motion and a second.

To amend the agenda.

All right. Any discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Davis. Aye. Butterfield.

Aye.

Nelson. Aye. Gilbertson.

Aye.

Baggerly. Aye. Schuldes. Aye. Osk. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Eight ayes, zero noes.

Motion carries.

Motion to approve the additions and deletions to the agenda. Unless that was just done. That was just done. We had two amendments and now the actual final one. No? No. Okay.

Mayor, members of the council, at this moment, I believe the agenda has been amended to remove item 10H from the end of the agenda and to add the item to approve the separation agreement to the consent agenda. So at this point, you're ready to move on with the consent agenda as amended. And I read the script. All right.

We have to vote on the consent agenda first.

Okay.

So we would.

I would move to approve the consent agenda. Second.

Do we have any discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Davis. Aye. Nelson.

Aye.

Schuldes. Aye. Osk. Aye. Butterfield.

Aye.

Gardner. Aye. Gilbertson.

Aye.

And Fagerle.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

The motion carries. I will entertain a motion to amend the consent agenda to add the following item. Approve separation and release agreement of City Wilmer City Administrator Leslie Valiant.

Mr. Mayor?

Yeah?

We've already passed, we're past that. Go to section two.

Okay. Because the separation and release agreement of the City of Wilmer City Administrator Leslie Valiant has been approved at this meeting, Minnesota's Statute Section 465.722 requires that the City Council make public the financial terms of payment to settle any disputed claims at this meeting. These terms are as follows. In consideration for Leslie Valiant's waivers and releases described in Article II of the agreement and the entire terms of this agreement, employer will, A, pay Valiant a lump sum payment of $13,733.33, approximately equivalent to one month of Valiant's salary at an annual rate of $164,800. The lump sum payment will be made by payroll on the first payroll That is at least five calendar days after the expiration of the 15-day period provided in Article 6 of this agreement and subject to any appropriate deductions and withholdings. Employer makes no representations to Valiant as to the proper tax treatment of this payment to Valiant. If the lump sum payment provided in Article 2, Section 2.1.A of this agreement grant a portion of the lump sum to be contributed into Valiant's 457 Deferred Compensation Plan as allowed or otherwise limited by law. Should Valiant timely elect for continuation of health coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, employer will pay 100% of monthly premiums for a period of three months immediately following timely election. Employer makes no representations or warranties as to the deadlines for timely election of benefits under COBRA. Should Valiant make a timely election, said COBRA benefits paid to the employer pursuant to this provision should be for the months of October, November, and December 2026. So I need a motion for that right now?

No.

No, but we have a motion.

No, there's no motion on the table at this time.

Okay. But we don't need a motion at all?

That has already been approved through the consent agenda.

Okay. We're on six, eight. Oh, okay. And that's the open forum. And we have three people that are gonna speak about the same subject. You'll have three minutes to address the issue and just leave your name and phone number, please, and address. So I have Mark Bolshan.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Mark Beshen. I live at 909 Irene Avenue, and I've called Wilmer home for 43 years. I spent 14 years working for this city, and I know many of you and many of our police officers personally. I am here because I am concerned about how flock cameras affect the privacy of Wilmer residents. And I want to be clear, I am not accusing the Wilmer Police Department of misusing flock. I trust our local officers and I understand why the cameras can be useful. But I think the privacy concern is sometimes oversimplified. The concern isn't that a camera can see my plate on a public street, of course it can. The concern is what happens when thousands of these sightings are saved with a time and location and are searched later. And Flock can search those records by plate number and vehicle characteristics like make, color, or bumper sticker. Flock, a private company, promotes its nationwide network as a benefit. That network part is what makes Flock useful to police. It's also why we need to think carefully about privacy. I have heard comparison to phone location data, but there's an important difference. Police usually need a warrant or some other legal method for protected historical phone location data. With Flock, authorized officers can search vehicle location records directly. My larger concern is that we're building surveillance infrastructure that can become broader, more connected, and more capable over time. And something important just happened. Flock itself just announced stronger privacy safeguards, including shorter retention, tighter sharing controls, and stronger auditing. Those are positive changes, but they sure don't answer the larger question. Should Wilmer be collecting and networking this information in the first place? Flock can change its safeguards, but responsibility for protecting the privacy of Wilmer residents still belongs here in Wilmer. I've requested Wilmer's flock access, sharing, and audit records because transparency matters. My preference is that Wilmer discontinue these cameras. I don't believe the public safety benefit justifies creating a searchable history of vehicle movements involving thousands of people who are suspected of nothing. If the council disagrees, then at least please choose a locally controlled system. But usefulness alone shouldn't decide whether Wilmer accepts this technology. The best way to protect data we don't need is not to collect it in the first place. And Mr. Mayor, I would ask that you would open this forum to more than three people speaking about flock tonight. Thank you.

Next is Duane Campstra.

Hi, Dwayne Kamstra. I live 5487 Highway 71 northeast north of Wilmer. I also wish to speak on these flock cameras. While I have a lot of respect for the professionalism of our leadership of our local law enforcement, I have concerns of all the cases I have read about of we'll call it officers going rogue and using the data in the system for purposes for which it wasn't intended. Stalking people they know and other such things. I drive by a camera right over on Wilmer Lake over here every day on my way to work and I just don't see why my personal information that somebody needs to track me going by. Now, I realize that there are legitimate purposes that law enforcement can use this system for, but I think it's really outweighed by the privacy concerns. And I really would urge the city of Willmar to terminate any contracts with Flock. That's pretty much what I have to say. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you, Dwayne. Next is Spencer Mooch.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Spencer Much. I am not from here originally, but I moved here in 2024, and this is the first place that's really truly felt like home, and I care a lot about it. I want to make my stance on the City of Wilmer's use of flock cameras clear from the start. I strongly object to the City's partnership with flock. I strongly object to my taxpayer dollars being used to fund this partnership, and this will remain probably the most important issue when voting for public office, such as Sheriff or City Council in the future. The job of these offices is to represent us, to represent the community, and I have not heard a single person in this community that on a personal level feels that these flock cameras are necessary or justified in their violations of privacy. I could discuss All night, you know, the ethics of surveilling a community without their consent. We could talk about the 50-plus well-documented cases of law enforcement officers using this to stalk romantic partners, to track citizens without warrants, and also to conduct unauthorized personal surveillance. We could also talk about their problematic venture capital funding, but that's a larger conversation for another day. At the end of the day, in my eyes, in this community, the issue is simple. The people don't want this here. The people don't want their privacy violated in the way it is when it is connected to this flock system here. And we do not want our tax dollars paying for this thing that we did not ask for and we do not consent to. I would really like to ask you guys one final question. You've heard from the community tonight. you hear our opinions on this, if you decide to continue to work with flock safety, whose interests are you representing? Because it does not feel like ours. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have a public hearing, or the 2026 assessment hearing, and I'll call on City Engineer Jared Volk.

All right, good evening, Mayor, Council. As the Mayor indicated, this is the assessment hearing for the 2027 Improvements Project. I do have a presentation that I'll run through with this, and then public hearing can be opened so that any public testimony can be received. And then upon closing of the public hearing, we do have a resolution this evening adopting the assessment role. So...

I should probably open the public hearing.

You certainly can. All right, so the primary project that we're here for this evening as it relates to the assessments is the Fourth Street Southwest Improvement Project. And we'll get into some of the details as it specifically relates to the assessments. This is just a map aligning the area of the improvements. I think everybody's generally familiar with them. Just a couple things that we wanted to review as it relates to the assessments and how those are calculated. The assessments are based on the front footage method. Standard lots, essentially that just means that the frontage along the street in terms of feet is the footage that is used to calculate the assessment. Rectangular variation lots, we do have a few of those within the project area. That's simply an average of both the front and rear footages of the lot. Corner lots, I know that's been a topic of discussion in the past, but essentially corner lots are assessed when the improvement is completed on the short side, and then if an improvement is completed on the long side, for street and storm, only 30% of the long side is assessed. So there's a break, if you will, on corner lots, meaning that not all frontage is adjacent to the street are assessed and then Double frontage lots simply the full length of the side serviced plus 30% of all other sides adjacent to the street frontage Summary of the project costs broken down by street, sanitary sewer, water main, and storm sewer. You can see the street improvements are the vast majority of the costs associated with the improvements at approximately 2.97 million. Sanitary sewer just under a million dollars at $968,500. The water main, $928,100. And then the storm sewer, just over a million at 1.028. total project of 5.894. The assessment rates for the 2027 improvements, you can see a historical breakdown of the 2025 assessment rates, but I'll focus on the 2026 for now. All the rates are within three to approximately 4.5% of the rates from 2025 with the exception of the sanitary sewer service, which is a little bit higher than that. So for street reconstruction, the cost per foot is at $69. The sanitary sewer, $17.75. Sanitary sewer services at $950 each. the water main reconstruction at $22.50, and then the water services at $1,150 each, and the storm reconstruction at $15.25 each per foot. So a breakdown of the assessments. Private properties, total assessment amount is $761,611.50. There are city properties that are also part of this assessment roll. They total $5,055 for the total amount to be assessed of $766,666.50. The assessment term, 15 years. The assessment rate is identified at 5.697%. So in terms of an estimated annual payment over those 15 years, a good estimate would be $101 per $1,000 in total assessment. So the assessment payment policy is shown on the screen there for you. Prior to October 31st of this year, partial prepayments or full payments of the entire assessment without interest can be made to the city clerk. After October 31st and prior to November 16th, or November 1st to November 15th, payments can also be made to the city clerk, but it will include daily interest from the date of the bond sale, which was in July. After November 15th, the 2027 payment, will include interest from again that bond sale date of July through December 31st of 2027. The payments then will be collected annually as part of the property taxes through the distribution of the property tax statements by Kandiyohi County until the assessments are paid in full. First payment due date for property tax is May 15th, second payment due date annually is October 15th. And then the final item as it relates to the assessment payment policy payments after November 15th of 2026 Will be in the year of the payment so regardless of what your the payment is made Those will be made to the county auditor with interest through December 31st of the year of the payment and then after November 15th Again payment to the county auditor with interest through December 31st of the subsequent year So with that, Mayor, Council, I'll pause. I'd be happy to answer any questions as it relates to the assessments associated with the 4th Street Improvement Project. If there are construction-related questions, we'd certainly be happy to answer them outside of the public hearing as well.

We've got a pad up there that... when you come up to speak that you would put your name and address on it and then pull the mic down in front of you. So we got the open hearing. Anybody want to speak to the assessments? Anybody wishing to speak?

Hello, Larry Bruss, 710 Southwest 4th Street. Question, if I was to sell that property, does that assessment go with the property or does it come with me as the landowner that I have to pay for it before I sell it? Go ahead.

Mayor, council, the question that was asked is related to the assessment. Is that the responsibility of the property owner or the purchase? That is a negotiated item within the purchase agreement, but the assessment ultimately would become due upon sale. So it's a negotiated item between the buyer and the seller.

Second question, all right. My driveway almost butts up with my neighbor's driveway. There's eight foot in between two of them and then there's a 24 foot span in between the edge of my driveway to the south, my neighbor's driveway to the north. I called Bolson and Mink and asked them if they would consider leaving that space open, no curb in between the two, and I never heard back from them. Is that something that I got to talk to Bolson and Mink about or is it the council here or whoever?

Mayor counsel, we'd be happy to meet with the property owner related to that. Every situation is unique, however, without seeing it in person, typically we do not allow curb cuts between properties simply for the fact that there are driveway setbacks associated with all properties. And we don't want to create a nonconformity as part of a city improvement. but we will get in contact with the property owner.

Anybody else?

Hello, my name is Abdur-Zaghm Habub. I own the property of 804 4th Street in Willmar. And this project, I did not understand completely. Is this improvement of the road, the water? You know, because we pay all that when it comes to the streets, of course, we always pay taxes on that, and we also pay the water systems and everything that comes to it. So I didn't understand why we have to pay this assessment after we pay all these taxes and all these other expenses. So I want to understand, is it an improvement of the roads, or is it an improvement of the utilities?

Yes.

Yes.

Go ahead. Mayor and Council, the 4th Street Improvement Project included the complete reconstruction of the street as well as the replacement of the sanitary sewer, the water main, the storm sewer, and the water main and sanitary sewer services so that it's a full reconstruction project with all utilities, streets, curb and gutter, sidewalk being replaced as part of it.

So the project is all of the utilities, so I will kindly request, you know, we're already paying for that. So I don't understand why we have to, you know, pay additional money for this project. Thank you.

Hello, Zach? Did you put your name and address? Oh, yeah, I put it on. Yes, sorry.

Thank you.

Anybody else? Thank you, Zach.

Good evening. I'm Jennifer Mendoza, and I live at 1024 Street Southwest. Hold the mic.

Thank you.

And I'm just wondering if they considered bike paths when they had this assessment made so that it would bring down our bill. Because there are funds, I'm sure, through bike paths, Minnesota money. And as we know, 4th Street was one of the widest streets that we have in town. So that would be a great place to have our bike paths. It also goes to downtown, which has bike paths and leads on the whole trail. So I would like to put that up for conversation because that could have taken a bite out of what we owe. Thank you. Oops, hold on.

Council as it relates to the comment related to the consideration given to bike paths along the street For the benefit of the public there is an extensive multi-meeting discussion As it related to what that corridor should look like should be sidewalk should be on road bike path off-road bike path it was discussed prior to the design being initiated. And ultimately, the discussions where they landed was that sidewalks would be replaced as part of the project and no bike path or trail would be constructed with it.

Thank you. So I would like to follow that up with, was there no funds available or was it just not considered? Because again, as a Wilmer committee or community member, I don't mind paying for the street, but we really need to make it more accessible for everybody in town.

So as part of the discussions as it related to the trail versus sidewalk, the costs associated with the various pedestrian facilities were discussed. The corridor itself was discussed as to whether or not 4th Street was the appropriate location for a bike path, and ultimately it was decided that the sidewalk Fourth Street corridor would only be sidewalk along there. So in terms of specifically related to the question about funding that was discussed, and there were no grants, if you will, identified as part of the project timeline.

Sharon Tine. I have property at 411 Monongalia, which is right between 4th Street and 5th. Will the service be brought up to my curb on Monongalia? Thank you.

You want to fill out your name and address on that, please?

Mayor and council, as it relates to the property with the service line, we do have a couple properties that are adjacent to 4th Street that are served by utilities within 4th Street. Those property services will be extended to the 4th Street right-of-way along the street. So it won't be, I didn't catch the last end of the question, but it won't be brought to the home, it won't be brought to Montegalia. It's going to be to the right of way on 4th Street. So that's where that extent will end.

Anyone else? Larry Brussigan, I was gonna ask you are these numbers for the square footage for every utility you're doing comparable to other cities or are they higher or lower or where we stand on that?

So, Mayor and Council, as it relates to the assessment amounts, each city has a different assessment policy. What, based on my experience, what I've seen these rates, if you will, cost per foot prices are lower than other cities are currently charging. We have discussed And this was brought up during the improvement hearing early on in the project, which described the improvements and the anticipated assessments. But council has had a concern about the assessments based on feedback provided at various assessment hearings. And per the city bonding requirements, has elected to keep it as close to 20% as possible to ensure that the burden placed on properties is not excessive. So short answer to the question is, I do not believe that Wilmer is high in those rates based on council's actions to try to keep the assessments as low as possible.

Anybody else?

All right, last question. It looks like the project's going pretty darn slow. Do you think they're actually going to get down to Trout Avenue this year? They're really struggling down there. And if it doesn't get going, do we really got to start paying if they don't even come down our street? Yeah.

As it relates to the project schedule, we do meet with the contractor weekly, and then we do have a construction progress meeting monthly. The last progress meeting was held last week, and conversations with the contractor, there are currently no concerns related to the completion down to Trott Avenue. And when I say completion, I mean bituminous on the roadway. and that expectation has been clearly communicated to the contractor from the time the project was awarded, and we fully expect that they will complete the project prior to their completion date.

All right, anybody else?

Sorry, does that mean that if they do not complete by the contracted date that they will have a penalty? Is that written into their paperwork somewhere?

Mayor and council, as it relates to completion dates with all construction projects, there is a date that is identified. Certainly, we don't know exactly what's gonna happen between now and November. Prior to the project being completed a couple falls ago. We did have a wet October So those are items that definitely need to be taken into consideration but the The contract does include Provisions that can be negotiated should the contractor fail to meet that completion deadline

Does that mean that those penalties will come to the people who live on 4th Street and are forking over this bill? Because again, I really want to support my community. Thank you.

Mayor.

Mayor, council, as it relates to those penalties and the potential of them being refunded, Should the project not be completed on schedule, there is a cost obviously to the city. Historically, we have not had penalties being returned to any property owners and we have historically not had a project that was not completed on time.

Anyone else?

No one else. Mr. Mayor? I was waiting to see if there was others, but there are three residents that are in the back of the room that asked me to read these questions for them. The three residents are Mary Dockobocken at 924 4th Street Southwest, Mary Jo Muehlner at 924 4th Street Southwest, and Kay Clancy at 912 4th Street Southwest. Their questions are, since the street project started late and has run into a few unexpected issues, when does the city expect the street project to be completed, not including next year's final layer of asphalt? When the street project is completed, how soon can we expect trees to be replanted? If the street project is not completed by October 31st, why are property owners expected to pay before project is completed? If street project goes over budget, will property owners' assessments be increased? And what progress has been made on determining the cause of the Forest Street sewer backup on Friday, July 31st, 2026? And I'm happy to repeat those for you, Jared, or if you would like, you can have a copy of this.

If I may.

You certainly can.

the when does the city expect the street project to be completed that is October 31st and that for this year that would be the time at which we would expect the first layer of bituminous to be installed trees will not be planted this fall trees I I would have to consult with our Public Works Department However, typically it's either the year following construction, which would in this case be 2027 or two years following, which would be 2028. So I would anticipate that some trees would be replanted in 2027 and 2028. If the street project is not completed by October 31st, why are property owners expected to pay before the project is completed? The City of Wilmer has bonded for these improvements. The City of Wilmer is making payments to the contractor, and as a requirement of those bond payments and requirements, those assessments are needed to be collected per the provisions of the bonding agreement. If Street project goes over budget will property owners assessment be increased This is the final assessment hearing the numbers that were mailed out to all the residents in their letters Are the final assessment amounts if the project does go over budget that is additional city cost there will not be a subsequent Assessment hearing or additional assessment loans levied What project or what progress excuse me has been made on determining the cause of 4th Street sewer back up on Friday That sewer backup is currently under investigation and has been since July 31st. We're anticipating that as soon as the results of that investigation are available, they will definitely be shared with council. And I believe that completes the list of questions.

Can I ask a question?

If I don't live on 4th Street, but I do live in Beaumont and it pertains to this assessment,

What was that? Come to the podium, please.

Ian Berg, Fifth Avenue, Southeast. You mentioned the backup earlier where everybody's basements were flooded, et cetera. If you looked at the radar today, we have a storm coming. And it's not super great. It doesn't sound super great. So I wouldn't be surprised if something similar also happened right now. You can probably imagine that weather is crazy. If you get giant dry spells followed by giant wet spells, Bad stuff happens. So the question is, does this assessment or will future assessments include any kind of alternate? Would you shut that off, please? Include any kind of alternate mitigation systems other than just the standard, what we always do, pipes and asphalt fixing, et cetera. That's my question. Thank you very much.

Mayor, Council, the sewer backups in that area of town are not new. As part of the city's capital improvement plan and replacement of infrastructure, the city is replacing their infrastructure to reduce the amount of inflow and infiltration into it. similarly residents Upon sale of their property are expected to review their sewer laterals for inflow and infiltration so the city in partnership with property owners are Attempting to reduce the amount of inflow and infiltration within the system ultimately we do have as many of us know within Wilmer we do have a significant groundwater. I would use this as an opportunity to ask any resident who currently has their sump pump discharging into the sanitary sewer to remove it from their floor drains or showers or whatever drain might be in the basement and direct it outside. When we have a significant number of sump pumps discharging into the sanitary sewer system where it does not belong, it overloads the system and certainly does not help the situation during rain events. If there's no one else, Mayor, Council, I would recommend that we close the public hearing and adopt the resolution approving the assessment rule.

So we all understand that nature's nature, right? But that day that it was raining, I got an alert on my phone that said it was going to flood. When I came home on 4th Street, construction wasn't there. The pumps now that we hear all day and all night were put in about two or three days later. So I would like to ask the council that in the future, we're foresightful to ask our contractors that when it says we're going to have a flood warning, to take it serious. Put your pumps on then. A lot of my neighbors have lost tens of thousands of dollars on their basement and our time. So if we can't fix what already happened, let's use our foresight so that people don't go through this again.

All right, I'll close the public hearing. Call for a motion, please.

Motion to adopt the resolution approving the assessment role for the 2026 improvement projects.

Second.

We got a motion and a second. Discussion? Justin.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Jared, you mentioned that the investigation to the sewer backup is continuing and that at some point you will bring or someone from city staff will bring an update to the council. Any descriptions of what that investigation looks like, what that process has been and is?

Yeah, so there are insurance adjusters working on the situation, and I am not certain what their process is, but I do know that they've been talking to both city staff, the contractor, and things of that nature. As I mentioned, there's been a history in that area of backups and they are developing a full understanding of that history and the circumstances surrounding that as it relates to rain events such as the 4.5 inches we received in less than 12 hours on July 31st.

Okay, thank you.

Steve.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vogue, I remember at the time we were talking about this project, we were presented with many options as it related to the width of the streets. Widely known, 4th Street is the widest street in town, but it's not a standard-width street. So we discussed what I think we labeled a skinny option at the time. We looked at bike lanes, either on-road, off-road. I remember a pretty healthy discussion at the time talking about what was best for the taxpayer and what you had learned through going to your meetings with the property owners on 4th Street. And it seemed at the time that many of the property owners favored the most budget-friendly option, which is the current option that we have, that does not include a bike path. So I just wanted to refresh everyone's memory on that. It doesn't necessarily ask you a question, but we did have that discussion at the time. And because we want to be very budget-friendly and standardize our street, we went with the skinny option versus the 52-foot road that is currently there. Yes.

Tom? Jay, I don't know if this question was for you or for the city, but Price got brought up a little bit. Do you know exactly when we went from a 10-year bond to a 15-year bond? Was it three, four years ago to help reduce the rate that people would have to pay?

It was in that time frame, three or four years. That was based on... To your point, Council Member Butterfield, the discussion was suggested by property owners at that point that at least moving from a 10-year to a 15-year term would reduce the annual amount of the payment for the assessment. I think you're right in that three to four year timeline. I don't remember off the top of my head, but it's been a number of assessments since.

With the 15 years making their property taxes lower than it would be the old way up there.

It would make the annual assessment payment lower, correct. Tom's got some information.

2022 was the first 15 year bond issue.

Any further discussion? Roll call.

Councilmember Davis. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Gardner.

Aye.

Baggerly.

Aye.

Osk.

Aye.

Schuldes.

Aye.

Nelson.

Aye.

And Butterfield.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

Motion carries. Thanks, council. Thank you, Jared. Next is flock cameras, and I'll call on Police Chief Mike Holm.

Mayor and Council, with me tonight is Hannah Wind, who's in public relations.

Use the microphone, please. Use the microphone, please. You were too far away from it.

Oh, sorry. Council and Mayor, with me tonight is Hannah Winn, who's of Flock Public Relations. With their system also is Jonah Johnson, Director for the city. We're gonna start out with a presentation that Hannah will first present regarding Flock.

Good evening, Council. As Chief said, I'm Hannah Wind with Flock Safety, the public affairs manager for Minnesota. So thank you for the opportunity to present today. So why I'm here, I'm here today to share more about Flock as a company. You have a wonderful PD and we know you trust them. So I'm here to clear up any misinformation that there may be and share more about the safety and security measures that Flock has in place. So about Flock, we're an American company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Flock built technology that helps communities deter crime, respond to emergencies, and investigate safety incidents. Our mission is to eliminate crime and build safer, thriving communities. We are trusted by over 6,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, and we believe communities shouldn't have to choose between public safety and privacy, that both are important. So Wilmer PD has what is called a transparency portal. So this is available to the public and outlines an overview of how your agency utilizes the LPR license plate reader technology. So here is what the top of the page looks like. And then here is a bit more about how your agency utilizes the license plate readers. So you have a 30-day data retention after this data retention period. All images and data are hard deleted, so they cannot be recovered. There are 13 cameras, 12, that are live right now. And then it shows the numbers of usage, number of searches, and then from there also the alerts that you have on as well. So like I mentioned, Flock license plate readers, LPRs, are motion-activated cameras that are paired with cloud-based software. So Flock's LPR cameras capture a point-in-time image of a vehicle traveling on a public roadway. They do not provide continuous, real-time tracking of an individual. They are a snapshot in time of a vehicle traveling on that public roadway. So the use of LPR technology aids departments and offers a collaborative policing technique. And the technology is a force multiplier that enables agencies of all sizes to solve significantly more crime and improve the quality of life in communities without having to increase staffing. So you see here what an image would look like. So flock cameras, like I mentioned, capture objective public vehicle information such as a license plate that is a public document as vehicles pass through that defined camera location. So this includes license plate number, the vehicle make, color, body type, and then also the date and time of the image selection, and then the general location of the detection based on where that camera is installed. So here's an example of what it looks like on the law enforcement side if they were to do a search. So every search conducted requires that the user provide a law enforcement justification, such as an offense type. And Wilmer PD also requires the use of a case number for any search that they do. So these offense types are a drop-down menu that need to be selected, and these come from the National Incident-Based Reporting System. So this is the national standard nationwide for law enforcement crime data. So within every single search, there is a comprehensive audit log of what that search contained. So like I mentioned, the 30-day retention, that data is deleted. So the image is deleted after 30 days. But there is an audit log that remains forever that outlines who did the search and what was searched and the date of that search. So here is another example of what would be typed in an incident. Say there is a homicide, an officer can type in that search window. They're looking for a black Acura and the following images would show up on what comes up for entering in those specific items. So like I mentioned, it only has the license plate number, the vehicle make, color, and body type, the date and time of the detection, and then the general location of where that camera installation location is. So FLOX platform is designed with built-in safeguards that gives each agency control maintaining accountability through comprehensive auditing. So your agency, every department, owns and controls 100% of your data. The agency establishes its policies that govern the technology's use and who they choose to share it with. FLOC provides each agency with a transparency portal, as you saw at the beginning, and this allows agencies to publicly share their LPR policies, the usage of that data, and the public safety outcomes in their community. FLOC also has an audit assistance tool that proactively identifies unusual search behavior and alerts agency leadership for review. So this is something that Wilmer PD has turned on as well. So we are built with privacy in mind. What that means is, like I mentioned, your agency owns 100% and controls 100% of your data. So Flock automatically deletes after 30 days. That is our national original default retention period, as you may have seen in the news. For new upcoming customers, the recommendation will be seven days. But each agency does have the authority to adjust what is best for their community when it comes to a retention period. So like I mentioned, that only takes an image of that publicly available information such as the license plate on that public road. And also your agency decides who to share with, not flock. Like I mentioned with your agency controlling 100% of the data, that means your agency decides what agencies they want to share with. Do they want to share with the county? That is up for Chief and his staff to decide. So as for secure storage and standards, so industry-wide, this is becoming more common, but for Flock specifically, data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and while it's securely hosted in the AWS cloud. This is infrastructure that is industry-wide standard and security practice that are common within the tech industry. So FLOX security system is independently audited against recognized security standards. Here under the secure storage and standards is a number of the audits that we work with. And so we have certifications through those. So they cover our security, our privacy, and from there, the best compliance items that there are. So all of our products that are here in your community are National Defense Authorization Act compliant, which also is important to some communities as well. So here's another example of what a transparency portal can look like too. These are customizable for what your department thinks is best shared with your community. So like I mentioned, every single search is saved in a permanent audit trail that does not expire and is uneditable. So we also have national partnerships with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This has become something that we are very proud of and this technology has utilized over 100 missing children cases that have been resolved thanks to the assistance with Flock for Leeds. And then similar with Mothers Against Drunk Driving is another one of our partnerships. The speed at which officers are able to aid in finding crash and accountability for victims has also been significantly improved through license plate readers. So we know there are some myths out there, so we thought we would set the record straight for some common misconceptions that we hear. So one of those is LPRs can track people and show police everywhere they go. As I mentioned, there is a point in time image that is captured through license plate readers just of that rear of the vehicle and on a public roadway. There is no continuous tracking of that vehicle. And then another myth is LPRs are a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Over 40 courts nationwide have ruled that they are not a violation of the Fourth Amendment due to a public roadway and the public document license plate being captured. And then along with some of the controls that are in place with the flock system, with the data retention, the audit-specific search results, and the data retention piece and the security that goes along with that as well. Flock does not sell customer data. Like I mentioned, your community is in charge of your data specifically. That is with ownership and control. And there is no private information that is captured, and there is no facial recognition either. So the camera, I think of it like a digital camera. It just takes the clip of that public document license plate on that public roadway.

OK.

So some things that were brought up like where do you find our license plate data on what our policy is that's on our Wilmer Police Department page where you can click on what is our policy that's so the public can find that. where the cameras and stuff are located we have to report everything to the BCA within 10 days of a fixed camera going in place so if you type in and I just typed on a general the BCA you can click on Wilmer and then it shows where the locations of the cameras are and that's who's monitoring that as far as the audit We're required to do an audit every two years per state statute. Our last one was on June 3rd of 2025 by a private firm. As far as like when you hear the camera part, not everything is a flock camera in Willmar. There's five flock cameras with the locations on the system. If you're looking would be, some of them are camera systems on second, sorry trotting first Street where it has the cameras up on there those are part of making the lights change too and it's recording that part but it's not doing the license plate reader on that same what there's a camera on first and Wilmer that is just a camera system that records it's not doing anything with license plate or notification on that and same with another one on Wilmer and fifth Street previously had two other camera systems that were in squad cars that was when this first one in that wasn't part of flock we've let that contract go basically we weren't satisfied with the data because the company got sold out or the system just didn't work it was kind of a flop so those are no longer working on the squad cars as far as some positive things. For our agency, this is very brief, Flock has supported multiple arrests, vehicles being recovered that were stolen, firearms, a lot of drug seizures. Flock has also helped us or assist us as a tool in homicide investigation, drug overdose, sexual assault, missing persons, targeted assaults, welfare checks, drive-by shootings, firearms with assault rifles, critical information, with some of those on the travel of direction that helped investigators put closure on some of the cases. I guess I would ask if you guys have questions on that or anything.

All right. Questions from the council. Steve.

Good evening, Chief Holm. Ms. Wynn, I have two questions. I was going to ask three, but one of the success stories, and you mentioned some things specifically that FLOC has helped you guys, some of the situations where FLOC has helped, I assume those are local police department stories or anecdotes that you were saying, right?

Yes, these are on our local thing. And there's, I can't give specific details on a lot of, like there's a lot more in the last month and a half, two months, But I can't, anything that's pending, I don't want to give details because it would trigger. It definitely has its place as a tool. But to go in on, this is probably ad-libbing on something else, we still have to correct We still have to go through and verify the information. We just had one the other day where a plate hit that it was a stolen plate. And we all know how many different plates there are in the state of Minnesota. There's wildlife ones, state park ones. There's a different combination. So their computer systems can err. They can all of a sudden say a five, they think is an ass you know the computer says that so it is up to the officer individually is just because it alerts or says this this doesn't mean that all I can stop this person they have to verify make sure does displayed ask a wise seven one five and it's Minnesota they've looked at the the pictures is that a verification or was it typed in wrong so they get a picture of what they're looking at and this one here was the computer was reading it wrong it wasn't an asset was a five so There was nothing further on that. So we also, I probably should answer your next question. No, that's all right.

I have one question for you and one question for you. The first question I had, Chief, is, and we've heard that The search query doesn't require a valid case number. You can type anything in there and it will give you whatever you want. So can you confirm or deny, and that sounds like you're on trial, you're not, that you need an actual valid case number when registering your query within the system?

You're asking me?

I'm asking you specifically, yes.

Yes, we have ours defaulted where you have to have a case number for Wilmer cases.

So you can't put in just any random number so I can track my girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend, by the way. I'm happily married.

Don't even talk to me about it. It also triggers if somebody's, why did they search this? So as we look at this, it's gonna throw flags. If somebody's running something and it's not legit, well, it's not gonna let you, because you're gonna have to put a case number in. If it's somebody running it 75 times in 10 days, this information, Why so many times? So that can come into the stories of flock, and I can't answer for... I can answer for here, but as far as across the United States, I mean, it's in the paper. Something happened in Georgia. Something happened in... Wisconsin, an officer misused the system. The system is also, you have to log in. It knows who misused it. It's gonna end in termination of employment, possible criminal charges. So it's kind of one of them. Can there be a bad officer somewhere? Yeah, we've seen that across the United States. So it's one more catch tool for that.

Thank you. Ms. Wind, I have a question. You showed in one of your slides your mission was to eliminate crime. So if FLOC is reactive instead of predictive, how do you propose to eliminate crime?

Thank you for the question, Councilmember Gardner. I would say FLOC, within that, we serve as a tool for law enforcement, so we're here to aid law enforcement in seeking that to end crime.

I'll take that, I guess, but it doesn't really answer the question. Yes?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Steve, you said you had two questions. I have seven, so thanks for hanging with me. First of all, Chief, you stated tonight that there are 13 cameras. Is that correct? I think Flock Transparency said 14. You said 13. BCA says seven fixed and two mobile.

Right now we have... So to make the story make sense, we have in our system currently, we have five flock cameras that are permanently in a spot. We have one more that's a portable. We had one in our system that was the sheriff's office that was tied in with ours. They have their own system. So one of them goes with them. And then the rest of our cameras where it's counting is just our camera systems that are tied in for viewing and recording cameras. But why the discrepancy between the three reporting? Well, then two would be out of the squad cars, which we no longer have. So that would be, so five, six, if it's counting four is 10, and then 11 and 12 is the two on first and Wilmer and Wilmer and fifth.

Okay, but BCA says there's only seven fixed and two mobile. Correct, and we got rid of the other mobile with.

So we have five. Okay overthinking it five that are stationary and one that's portable and our squad cars are gone So that's okay, but you stated tonight earlier that there was 13 and Flock transparency says 14 cameras that would be the county staff then well we have one that just got moved so it depends on what it it would be on their portal now, so I don't know if that's picked up on that portion and

I would also just quickly add that that total, the 14 and then the 13, includes license plate readers and the additional cameras that the city has. Okay.

That's helpful. So when is the contract with Flock up for renewal, the city's contract?

So it's broke up, and I'll let, it's broke up where one part of our system is going to be expiring on 9-19 of 26. So it's coming up within one week, which is one part we're looking to probably pause that part. The rest of them, the other three would be... through June of 28, 5-17 of 28, and 1-18 of 28. Okay, thank you.

The policy that the department has for LPRs, that's written by you and other leaders within the department, yes? That's not something that's come before the city council? Or is that something that we've approved? That portion is through our agency. Okay. I don't expect every aspect of law enforcement to come before City Council, so I just wanted to clarify that. And then both of you have mentioned, I think, this audit that would take place, that there's a record of every single search that ever happens. But in our own department, is anyone reviewing that, and who and how often?

We have designated myself, Captain Anderson, and then a couple others in the department that oversee that portion. Any sense of how often that happens? Those who are our designees are looking at it all the time.

Okay. Okay. And then three more. Council Member Gilbertson. I may have gone over seven already. So the case number that's necessary to conduct a search, how does FLOC actually verify that that's a legitimate case number for the Willmar Police Department? Like that there's aspects of software that do that?

That would be on our side of things. It'd be, you know, with our case number, that's like from the audit, that's where we're, what we're investigating would show up on our portal.

Right, and so I get that it's a case number from the department. What strikes me as odd is that the FLOC software, and again, I've never used it, so I'm just kind of assuming the FLOC software that sits before me, I put in a case number that's specific to my department. FLOC doesn't know a thing about that department case number. How does it verify that it's a legitimate case number to block my search if it's not? I think this gets to Councilmember Gardner's question, too, that we've heard that you could put down seven random numbers and the search will continue. Will it actually stop the search from happening if I don't have a legitimate Willmar Police Department case number?

Well, yeah, that's a very good question. Chief? I can pitch in a little bit.

It would not verify it. However, that'd be part of the audit of where those people need to cross-reference it with our case management system to ensure that it's relatable. If it's not, it's flagged. So it's not going to stop the search from happening, but it would flag it for abuse? Correct. That's where the audit would come into play, where they would cross-reference it. Thank you.

I would also just add, if it is a case number that does not exist, there would be no results.

Why would there be no results?

Because there's nothing to search. If it's a random seven numbers that's typed in, and there is not a case number, like you mentioned.

OK. OK. Two more questions. Chief, given the controversy, the national concerns, the local concerns, do you believe that continuing to operate the cameras under our current policy is worth what I would call the loss of public trust that we're experiencing? What do you think about a temporary suspension, reviewing that policy? It sounds like FLOC just moved down to seven days. Where are you and your department at right now?

Well with flux just recent change because that's within the last week and the state of Minnesota requires 60 days So we were already going on the 30-day model It's certainly something we could you know look at we're looking at more stuff to protect us and control This from within as well. So I

And then that kind of leads to my last question. What would other safeguards possibly be to, again, if you're going to continue to use this as a tool for law enforcement, how do we safeguard it? What policy changes could be possible for regaining some of that public trust?

Well, I think, I mean, we've had examples last week. We were called by a federal agency who asked for our assistance on something. I won't say what federal agency. It had nothing to do with ICE. But it didn't meet our things. We can't help you. That's a violation of Minnesota law for us to use this. So the officers look into that part, and if it's a violation, they're not using it. So it isn't like, oh, here, let me plug this in. We can't create... not gonna violate the law for that purpose. But I guess we're always open-minded. We're always reading as things change, like more restrictive MOUs on how we're using it. We're not allowing federal use. We're not doing other states to use our system. It's all been just in Minnesota. And part of that is because in Minnesota, it's all on the same, whatever, I don't know the laws of Georgia, if they have a lesser something to go allow them in because they might be violating our law if they were using it.

I would just add too, when it comes to federal agency access, there is a three-step process, but that aside, Minnesota does not allow for national sharing network. So any of the agencies that are from different states that Minnesota agencies may choose to share with, that is a one-to-one sharing agreement that has taken place.

Okay, thank you all for responding to my many questions.

What does it take to create a case? Say it again. Well, what does it take to create a case number?

What is it? Well, you actually have a case number. So creating a case number is... A hit and run. So that case number for Wilmer would be 2600 and whatever case number that is, so 8307, which would link in our program. That would be base because that's in the public records of it's saved in part of our data.

How many open cases are there currently?

Open cases as far as?

Number I could type in.

Like it's a lot? For like the flock search part is what you're saying?

Yeah, if it requires a case number. How many cases are feasibly out there that an officer could type in?

You know, you still have to meet the state guideline for what you're looking for. So if it's not good information, I don't know if there would be 200 in the system. I mean, it isn't going to just indefinitely... run this portion, I mean.

Yeah, I guess if I have a cold case that was never solved 20 years ago and it still has a case number, I could feasibly type in that case number and then access the records, correct?

Yes, you could come back into that or if you have new information, that would be what would get used on it. Okay.

I've got more, but I'll let somebody else go. Anybody else? Audrey.

Thank you, Mayor Reese. When you were talking about the number of cameras, does that include the one that we have at Rice Park and the ones that we have at Robbins Island?

Completely separate system. Okay. So those are surveillance cameras. They're in a separate system that flocked.

So how do we monitor those?

That is access space per group that we control, an IT side of things, and we have records of when officers log into them.

Okay, all right, thank you. I just was gonna say, I was a real advocate for having those in the park, both parks. And so if this helps you, I know there's been a lot of questions about it, but I don't completely understand about not having cameras. I mean, there's cameras downtown that people have on their buildings that you can get access to or they will give you access to with that. And so I'm questioning the concerns that are out there, I guess, for this system.

So regarding the flock system originally, like on some of this when it was created, it would have allowed business owners, people with the camera systems to tie into flock. We don't have anybody that's currently allows us access. So some of the cameras that you see downtown, those are owned by the people who own the buildings, but they're not in our flock system.

And I would just add private customers do not have access to the law enforcement data side.

Tom?

First off, I'd like to thank Kyle Box and Chief Holm for getting all the information tonight that I asked you guys to present with all the community. I'll cry on going on this for the past few months. I do have a question. Minneapolis has a case number. They enter it in, or they call you up, enter it in. Can they just randomly search, say, I got a hunch Tom Butterfield was in here. Here's his license plate. Can I punch that in and see if he was in town this day or not? And Minneapolis is trying to search it based on your license plate? Yeah. Call you up and say, hey, we've got a hunch. We think Tom Butterfield did something here. Here's his license plate. Can we search it with this case number? And see if he was in Willmar or if he was over here.

If we're allowing access to any of the other agencies, they would have to put their case number and we'd have to share the camera system that they would use. But it would be based on their license. their case number, but they wouldn't, it wouldn't look for you. It would look for the plate. Like we don't get, we don't get told when a, when a plate runs, you know, if it says this plate, it's not telling us who owns it. That's, that's that data you'd have to verify through the CGIS system.

So, you know, my place would be ABC one, two, three, and they call up, say, Tom Butterfield was here. Here's his plate number. Can you enter it in? You know, at that point, won't you guys really need a warrant to,

doing that I know I know it's all you know public access and stuff like that but you know now we're going we're starting to track this license plate yeah I mean it would it would come into if they were searching that they would have to still be meeting the statute what allows you to look for that they'd have to have a crime if you're involved in a hit-and-run and you're tripping on you know plates or is it going to the next thing I mean we've had somewhere it could be they've this plates involved with something that's tripped and it's also above and beyond that where somebody's doing a ping on you for a phone and it's trips at the same time like he just went through this one and this match this as well you know where somebody was wanted you know there was a search warrant tied into that because this would not be used that way

One of the concerns that I've heard is that the flock cameras are being used for ice to catch people. Is that true?

Not here in Wilmer. We're not using ice. We're not sharing with federal entities on any of that, so.

And I would just add too that Wilmer PD has the ability to search immigration as one of those drop-down options turned off. So even agencies that they are sharing with, both sides have consented to, that's not an option for those agencies either.

Thank you. Rick. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So these flock cameras, they only take pictures of license plates and cars?

They're only capturing the rear of the vehicle. So the way they're designed, they take a snap photo of that rear of the vehicle. And that's what you're looking at is that in that picture. So then you'd verify, like I said, with multiple different colored license plates, something might look like it's Oregon. You'd still have to verify, is this Oregon? Is this Minnesota? You know, on that picture. Because the computer could be wrong. You know, I mean, you can have something where it triggers the wrong thing.

If I'm walking down First Street, it doesn't take a picture of me? It doesn't take a picture of a scooter that shouldn't be on the sidewalk? No.

It's designed for the lane of traffic.

The lane of traffic.

Yep.

Okay. So how does it kind of different like Facebook? You go on Facebook. You want to go on vacation somewhere and you punch it in and you get out of Facebook and then all of a sudden you get all these remarks like come visit here or there or whatever. So someone's watching us on Facebook too.

I don't know on that one. Anybody else?

Carl? So, excuse me, you mentioned a couple of times about the 30 days before it deletes, and FLOC is now going to seven days. Mike, is that something, or Chief Holm, is that something that Wilmer is going to do, is adopt that seven-day delete? So it deletes after seven days, or is there a reason that we wouldn't do that?

It's certainly something we can look into because that just came out on Thursday last week. I think there's, is there another statement coming out on your guys' behalf with more details? I thought I read something on that.

Yeah, there's more details and these will be implementations that are often for new customers. Existing customers are allowed to reevaluate their retention period if their community decides that's the best fit. But the 30 days is for existing customers, the recommended retention period.

As those terms are updated, it sounds like we are currently in a contract. Are we able to exit out of that contract if the terms are changed?

So your contract specifies the 30 days in your master service agreement. So yours is 30 days unless changed via, it does take democratic control usually to have a democratically elected group or the chief works with you all on that. So that would stay, your 30 days would stay unless you maybe did an addendum or an amendment to your existing contract.

What if FLOC changes some other terms inside the contract or some other terms that you have out there?

The terms for Wilmer are the master service agreement that was signed on the day you began. So that remains the same.

So I guess in the event Flock sells themself for billions of dollars to some other third party down the road since they are privately owned, which they can do, and the new company comes in there and says instead of Wilmer owning this data, we now own the data, can we exit out of that contract or are we stuck in the contract?

I don't have that answer in front of me. I'm happy to check with our legal department and get back to you if that would be helpful. I know that for the existing structure of FLOC, the master service agreement that was signed by the chief at the time and the representative from FLOC that worked with and walked through the contract, that stays the same as you are a customer unless the chief or Authorized personnel decide to update that contract or those terms, but it would stay as signed Chief home, what are we currently paying a year and fees to flock right now?

Are thirty three thousand fifty dollars And then

And then with that, say we got one contract coming up 9-19 of 26. We don't renew that. Would that one come down and then we just pull that camera? How could all this work if...

So your question on that one, if that contract didn't get renewed or we did nothing, that's $7,800. So then the contract would go down to $25,250. And then later on?

would we be able to get the seven days or is it gonna still tie to the master agreement?

Yes, so your for all the existing the contracts there are specific ones you know say you started with one camera and then after a year decided to move up to another camera that is a specific more invoice order contract but the master service agreement is referenced in each of those additions that the master service agreement stays the same.

Thank you, Mayor Reese. We were given this for information only tonight, and I was wondering if we could request that maybe at our next meeting that you could bring or send it out to us for review, your policy that you said you have a policy written for this.

So you're asking to see our policy on the license plate?

Right, and my second question is just to understand how you work with the Sheriff's Department. I mean, are they two separate entities? They have their contracts, but how do you cross over or, you know, you're in the same building. So I'm just curious with, you know, if I trust the Willmar Police Department, how are we sharing the information with the Sheriff's Department and what are they doing with that information?

Yeah, that's where you can allow it. You can do a MOU on the allowing of it where you can recant it or stop it. Because some of the, like for the sheriff's office, the task force, you know, where it's a multi-jurisdiction, so it's all from our building. So we have officers that are working Wilmer cases that are right here in Wilmer using it.

So does the sheriff's department give information out to ICE?

I can't answer for the sheriff's office, I'm gonna say no.

Okay, but that's my question, is if we're comfortable with what you're doing is different than if we don't have an understanding of what the sheriff's department is doing, because you are in the same place. Its beauty is also its demise in one way, too. So I just would like to request that if we're being asked for any kind of opinion.

I can get what the sheriff's office has or what their license plate policy is.

I'm back. What kind of penalties exist for the city exiting the contract and what procedures would take place in order to do that?

I think it's, I guess in the contract it would be If you exited early, would you owe to finish out the contract in 28? I'd have to read the exact fine lines on that.

We'd have to pay for two years of service, basically, that we wouldn't be utilizing.

Yeah, because the three contracts are, like I said, with those cameras, would be 614 of 28, 517 of 28, and 118 of 28.

Okay, do you have any intention on acting on that September contract?

I'm looking to, it's not what we're looking for, so it'd be one of them. I WOULD LIKE TO PAUSE THAT PORTION OF IT TO LOOK AT A BETTER OPTION FOR WHAT IT WAS INTENDED FOR. IT HASN'T GOTTEN USED. IT'S KIND OF A DIFFERENT PACKAGE.

JUST RECOGNIZE THAT IN THEORY THE COUNCIL COULD MAKE A MOTION TONIGHT, OF COURSE, BUT IN THEORY THIS IS INFORMATION ONLY. It's the possibility before we are able to meet again that you could execute that contract That's up for renewal and now we've got a financial liability for years into the future with no way to exit that Yeah, go ahead. Well. It's the chair's call. I guess I have another question, but time we follow up

Chief if we reduce your budget by thirty three thousand fifty dollars Would you choose to keep flock or would you choose to reduce your patrol persons?

Those are very tough questions.

I mean they're You don't have to get back to me today, but I would like to

It's a tool. I mean, obviously, we need human bodies to execute certain parts of things. But as far as right now, with answering what the council member asked back on that one, where we're at right now, I would not want to renew that portion of the contract today. So that's what I'm going to move forward to revisit. what other options to pause that portion.

Okay, so you won't renew that part? Correct. Okay, thank you for that. And then it strikes me as odd that this is a private company. I mean, I'm sure there's some other tools out there that you use that are private companies, but Why, if this is so necessary for law enforcement, why isn't there something that the city, the county, and the state share? Why doesn't the BCA keep this data on their file? Why are we outsourcing this important information to a private company?

But it's, Council Member asked, it's holding the plates. It's not holding the... your personal information, where you live, that's in a separate system through the BCA. So it's the image of your plate. It's not saying where you live, your height, weight, any of that portion.

But in theory, the BCA could be doing this too. They're not. Maybe. I mean, there's a lot of platters. I guess I'll just say, to kind of summarize where I'm at, I'm not convinced that the existence of this technology in and of itself is an invasion of privacy. I'm certainly not alleging that you or any of your officers have misused it. And as much as I do dream about being a Supreme Court justice, I'm not one. And so I am not an authority on deciding constitutional law. BUT PUBLIC TRUST IN LAW ENFORCEMENT MATTERS, AND I KNOW YOU AGREE, BECAUSE YOU AND I HAVE TALKED ABOUT IT ENDLESSLY, AND YOUR DEPARTMENT HAS BUILT UP A GREAT TRUST WITH THE COMMUNITY, AND THAT'S WHERE I SEE THIS MATTER REALLY COMING BEFORE AND BEING IMPORTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL, BECAUSE I THINK WE'VE HEARD FROM THIS COMMUNITY THAT THEY HAVE CONCERNS, AND IF WE NEGLECT THAT, I DON'T THINK WE'RE DOING OUR JOB.

OKAY, JUST A MINUTE. I'VE GOT JUSTIN, TOM, CARL, STEVE, AND TOM. So you're going to have to wait. So, Tom.

Well, you just answered my question on not moving forward with September 19th. I was just going to bring that up. If you'd be willing to pause that until we figured out what, you know, the city wanted to do with these cameras, like Justin just brought up. You know, it's the public that elects us. We are the voice for the public. YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT HERE FOR THE CITY. WE ARE HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PUBLIC, WHICH I TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN DOING. SO I APPRECIATE YOU LOOKING AT JUST SPENDING IT UNTIL WE CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT WE WANT TO DO.

OKAY. CARL? I THINK I DON'T REALLY HAVE A QUESTION, MORE OF A STATEMENT. We've heard a lot of valid concerns from people tonight and things that we need to take seriously. I also think we could play the what if game and go down rabbit hole after rabbit hole after rabbit hole and we need to be very careful about that. If you look at the big picture, it's a tiny, tiny, tiny number of issues that have been created in this system. Now does that diminish the people that have been affected by those problems? Absolutely not. Do we need to be careful to avoid those problems? Absolutely. But let's not play the what if game. What if this? What if that? What if that? We could do that ad nauseum. So let's look at the reality of the system. Make it work for Wilmer if we can as best as possible. And I agree. I forget who said it before. I think this is a valid tool for law enforcement with a very small window for abuse, and then the smaller we can make that window, the better, so.

Steve. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I hate to ask this question after you just had your wonderful discussion about rabbit holes. I have two points. First, Councilmember Gilbertson asked you if we cut your budget by $33,000, which is about .2% of, or 20% of an officer, what would you do? I'm gonna ask the other side of that coin. Would you want this system if a child was abducted and you had the ability to find that child?

100%, I would like to have this tool for that purpose because you can look at, go back in time when this didn't exist and go into Jacob Wetterling. Could this have gave a clue that would have helped? That's probably not a good example, but just to have this data of a vehicle that could have, gave us a clue. I mean, we've had this stuff happen where that one clue, that one license plate that ties in. It's an incident that happens at 4.30 in the morning. It can rule out somebody. It can give us a clue. It is just a tool in our toolbox, and they all have their different issues. If I had to pick and choose which tool, if I had to get rid of a tool, I would probably say I'd rather get rid of my taser than I would this tool. So...

That's fair. To answer Council Member Oss' question that he asked you why, if this program is so important, why hasn't BCA developed it? I would guess I would ask the same thing of every personnel deployment department in government because government didn't develop personnel databases. They're all owned by private companies. So this, in my opinion, And I'm not voicing my opinion pro or for FLOC right now, but there's a reason private companies develop these things and then market them to government agencies because government in and of itself doesn't develop things like this because it's very inefficient and it would cost us 50 times the cost. So I think, I don't know if that asked your question, Councilman Ross, or not, but I think it would. We don't want our government developing things like this because it's very inefficient.

It's been too long. You forgot your question. BEEN TOUGH TONIGHT HERE, BUT, YOU KNOW, THE ONE THING THAT I'D SAY, I NOTICED A FLOT CAMERA WAS DEPLOYED ON LAKELAND AVENUE, PRETTY NEAR THE YMCA IN LAKELAND THERE, AND WE HAD ONE OF THE NUMBER ONE REASONS WHERE PEOPLE WERE REACHING OUT TO ME AS A COUNCIL MEMBER WHEN I WAS FIRST ELECTED WAS BECAUSE OF THE SHOOTINGS THAT WERE GOING ON IN WILMER, AND I KNOW THAT THOSE HAVE DECREASED CONSIDERABLY. I'M NOT SURE IF IT'S SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE OF THAT FLOCK CAMERA AND ITS PLACEMENT AND EVERYTHING ELSE LIKE THAT OR WHAT ULTIMATELY IT IS, BUT IT IS, IT HAS CHANGED. I GUESS, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN SPEAK TO? because that was a major concern as I was knocking on doors, was why are there so many shootings taking place in the city of Willmar?

And that camera there, yes, in the location of where it was at from the homicide, it was definitely a tool that was used. Some things are just put in a timeline. Some of these things are, we've had people who, maybe we don't get told that they're looking for them, but they're missing and they're a suicidal and it's a delay. And then just to put like, the vehicle's found, the person is deceased and they were in the city. Some of that can be in a timeline. When did they come to the city to help establish, okay, they were last, they got hit on one camera five days ago. And it just kind of puts that, and then they were in their car is how they passed. So it is a tool to help with the investigation purposes. So that's what that other, like those cameras will do. You still have to prove everything else to the judge jurors.

Anyone else? Otherwise, this is for information only.

I just appreciate you coming out to Wilmer here today to set some of the answers straight. Hopefully you can get us a couple of these extra answers. And I do appreciate being able to actually ask a person who represents the company here today. So thank you. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Hannah and Jonah and Mike. All right, next is consider approval of the updated classification and job description in our call on Human Resources Director, Alyssa Gambrill, and Private Chief, Frank.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. We have brought before you tonight an updated job description for the fire department mechanics slash building maintenance position. This position has evolved and the requirements of this position have evolved a bit over the past few years. The original job description primarily focused on kind of the custodial duties of maintaining the fire station and the grounds. but currently this position actually does quite a bit of the vehicle repair and maintenance, quite a bit of the mechanic work that previously would have had to be sent out, contracted out. In addition, the requirements for this position, the qualifications for this position have increased due to that work as well as the need to have an actual firefighter, in particular an apparatus operator during the daytime. So this person is required to have those certifications so that they can be a fire truck driver now so that we have at least one driver. during the day when fewer of our on-call firefighters are available to actually take some of those calls. So for those reasons, we worked with Chief Hansen to revise the job description. If you look at the marked up version, you'll see significantly revised. the job description to add in some of those additional duties and expectations. Along with that we regraded this on our base pay schedule based on the criteria that we use to determine pay scales for jobs. So with those increased qualification requirements and job expectations we regraded this to an appropriate pay scale for the work that we're expecting this position to do. So this evening, we are looking for a motion from the council to approve that updated job description and reclassification of the pay grade. And with that, I will take any questions that you have for myself or Chief Hanson about this job.

Questions? Audrey?

Thank you, Mayor Reese. This was revised in January of 2025.

Yes and no. Sorry to interrupt, Audrey. The job description itself wasn't. That was simply when the base pay schedule was adopted by the union that this job is in. So it simply added the pay grade letters to the top.

Okay, does this give, is it giving any supervisory capacity or it's just, it's still staying the same as it was before?

Correct, this job does include assisting the chief and the deputy chief with occasionally providing some training to officers who may not be able to come to a scheduled training and might need some one-on-one, but no supervisory tasks. Thank you.

Any other questions? Rick.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So is he supposed to be a mechanic too?

It is partially a mechanic job, yes.

On the engines or just the equipment?

I will let Chief Hanson speak to those details.

Currently, our person works on all the small engines, which used to be sent out. He also works, he does work on the fire trucks, the engines there as well, as much as he can with the tools that he has.

If it's under warranty, you'd still send it out, wouldn't you?

That's correct, yes.

You wouldn't want someone that's not a certified mechanic working on...

Engine yes, and currently the person we have is a diesel mechanic But if it's under warranty it goes to or they they bring in the person to fix it Only work on the fire equipment then or does he go to the garage? Um he has helped out at the city garage when they've got behind in the past It's not very often, but he does go out there when they ask Yes

So the 4% increase would be covered by your current budget already? This would not be an increase to the overall budget? That is correct.

Any other questions? I'll ask for a motion to approve.

So moved.

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

Council Member Osk.

Aye.

Nelson. Aye. Childers. Aye. Davis. Aye. Baggerly. Aye. Gilbertson. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Butterfield.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

That motion carries. Thank you, Frank. Thank you, Alyssa. Next, consideration approval of a master services agreement. I'll call on operations director.

Joe.

You get the redhead instead.

ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY. BEFORE YOU FOR APPROVAL IS A MASTER SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH COST SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. IN ORDER TO EFFICIENTLY MANAGE ONE MORE CONNECTED COUNTS AND EQUIPMENT, BSS OSS SOFTWARE IS NEEDED. THIS SOFTWARE WILL ALLOW CITY IT STAFF AND THE CITY'S NETWORK MANAGER TO PERFORM MULTIPLE OPERATIONS. SOME EXAMPLES. This would allow us to have a centralized ordering portal for Wilmer residents and businesses to order service from any participating ISP on the WilmerConnect network. This will allow us to track each participating ISP's customer accounts to help me prepare monthly billing invoices. It will help manage any network hardware we have in relation to WilmerConnect. It'll also integrate with participating ISP systems to automatically perform service changes, i.e., if you go from a 500 megabit plan up to a gigabit. And it also would give us an internal ticketing system to help track customer or internal issues and service requests. So the motion I'm looking for is to approve the Master Services Agreement with cost systems, subject to any non-material administrative or legal corrections, and authorize execution by the appropriate city officials. And I will stand here for any questions.

We have a motion.

So moved.

We have a motion, how about a second?

Second.

Discussion?

Steve. Director Johnson, thank you for coming today. Let's assume we somehow manage to get 3,000 customers signed up for WilmerConnect, which I hope we do because I hope the system doesn't fail because we voted for it. Let's assume we do, based on what's in your master service agreement, based on the monthly fixed fee and the monthly fee per customer, that's $66,000 a year. Where is that $66,000 coming from, whose budget is a fall under, and was it accounted for in the initial pro forma for WilmerConnect?

That will fall under the Walmart Connect operations budget. As for the Performa question, I will relay that to Mr. Box.

Help me get to 60, sorry, Council Member Gardner, 66,000. I don't believe we're anticipating that high of amount this first year.

Let's just say we get to 3,000 then.

Sure, so what the Performa anticipates is a smaller customer count that would ABSORB THAT. THE NUMBER ESCAPES ME WHAT IT WOULD BE THIS FIRST YEAR BASED OFF THE PERFORMER THAT WE'RE PUTTING IN. I BELIEVE IT'S AROUND $1,700 A MONTH BASED OFF $1.25 PER CUSTOMER FOR THE FIRST 3,000. SO EVERY CUSTOMER WE WOULD ADD WOULD BE BRINGING ADDITIONAL REVENUE INTO THE NETWORK THAT WOULD COVER THOSE INCREASED COSTS. SO THERE ARE

I'm obviously not explaining my... No, that seems like a little bit of voodoo math to me because those, in theory, those extra customers are supposed to be covering the actual cost of the project to pay off the bond to put all this fiber in the ground, right? So...

Multiple things, yeah.

I get that. But looking at the pro forma, the most recent one I have, and the operations budget, I don't see anything in here about master service agreement software or controlling software, right? I'm just wondering where it was accounted for because this will be at least the second or third time since this thing was unapproved that these expenses keep coming forward that are not in the spreadsheet that we were given before the vote was had. And that troubles me.

I understand. I can work on an answer for you if you give me a minute. I don't have the document in front of me.

All right, Tom.

On this contract, I'm gonna just piggyback a little bit off of Gardner on that. On this contract, monthly fixed fee is 17.50. I believe the last number I heard was we only had 500 people signed up to get it installed. So we have 500 people and we're gonna be paying 17.50 for this. MONTHLY FEE IN ADDITION TO HOMETOWN FIBERS, CORRECT? THIS WOULD BE IN ADDITION TO, YES. SO NOW BASICALLY THIS FEE FROM THE NUMBERS WE WORKED OUT BEFORE, YOU KNOW, WE NEED ABOUT 1,200 PEOPLE IN PHASE ONE JUST TO MAKE OUR PONDS FAMOUS. NOW WE'RE GOING TO NEED, YOU KNOW, ANOTHER I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE. I HAVEN'T DONE THE MATH ON IT YET AT $1.25. to pay for this. So now we're probably up to about 1,500 people just in phase one to break even.

Yeah, the pre-order numbers are looking very good, but council was made aware that phase one was not going to be profitable itself.

Well, I know that, and I voted totally against this because we weren't there yet. You know, I want to wait to make sure we had... The customer signed up that's going to pay for this, but we're not buying it at all.

Correct.

So I'm totally flabbergasted, just like Gardner said. Every time we turn around, there's more and more and more and more hidden costs to the taxpayers. What happens if we don't approve this?

Then you're having to pay the IT department a lot of labor to make sure this goes off without a hitch so that we can get some money coming in.

I know that it's not fun to get this fee, that we weren't anticipating, but I do agree that they definitely need to use this. I think it would be really hard to keep track of all these accounts, all the billing, managing hardware, all of that without this software. I feel like it wouldn't run as smoothly as it should if we didn't have it.

Well, I thought the ISPs were supposed to do the monthly billing.

This is for internal. We need to be billing the ISPs themselves to ensure we collect the service fee for a customer to help pay for the bond on top of the cost for the NOC that they have to pay.

So... Basically, is this City of Wilmer's fault? Is this hometown's fiber's fault for not filling this in?

I'm not going to place blame on anybody. This is just something that has come up as the project has matured and progressed that we have found we need.

Council, to come back to where the dollar's coming for this, it's within the operations budget of Wilmer Connect of the Performa. It is not a specific line item in the budget. But if you go to, we'll have to provide this information, but there is under the city expense category, under operational costs, there is a total that was in there. It's roughly anywhere from, well, about $300,000 a year. That would cover hometown fibers, the network manager's costs. which this would be incorporated within those dollar amounts. So this was accounted for. It's not a specific line item on the Performa page. This was a product that we knew we would need to have. We've spent several months negotiating with several different companies on the best product and best service that we could get. And if we need to do this standalone, it would be very difficult. We are not equipped to provide this service, this specialty service currently. IF THIS CONTRACT WAS NOT APPROVED, WE WOULD BE COMING BACK WITH ANOTHER SOLUTION THAT WOULD LIKELY BE MORE EXPENSIVE IF WE NEED TO DO THIS ON OUR OWN. WHAT I WILL COMMIT TO THE COUNCIL IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE IS UPDATING OUR PERFORMA WITH OUR NUMBERS, ANY NEW COSTS AND CONTRACTS, MAKING SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE MOST CURRENT AND UPDATE INFORMATION. including the additional signups that we've had since the construction has started earlier this summer. I'll pause there, thank you.

Mr. Box, you indicated that you've been working with other software possibilities as well. That's accurate, right?

Correct.

I heard you say that, thank you. Is this the cheapest of those? Yes.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Have we checked with the MUC? Could they do the billing since they do our water and sewer?

Different type of program. This is... Right. They just rolled out a new one with Tyler Technologies, strictly kind of focused more on the electric and water billing. This is more specialized with service ordering, having all the different packages for the ISPs in there. It also takes care of managing the network hardware that are in customers' homes and businesses to ensure that If you're not paying your bill, your internet is turned off, so on and so forth. So it's a little bit more complex than what that one would be able to handle.

Wouldn't the ISP turn off the internet? They aren't paying their bill to them?

Right. So how can I phrase this? We also... The ISPs have their own platform. This is what helps us integrate with them because we will be having certain ISPs using city-provided equipment, so we need to have a connection with the ISP to allow the services to work correctly and the back-end management work correctly.

Okay. Is that all?

No, I got one more question.

So Kyle, you just brought up we've had some more people sign up to get the line. What are we up to about now for phase one?

We'll see who gets there first.

Program-wide, we are at 1,555. We've gained five more since this morning. Phase one is at 611. We had initially projected and aimed for 212 when we started in phase one.

So we're about halfway there to make the bond payments and everything, just off of the construction.

Just to reiterate, Council Member Butterfield, we will be looking at financing options. Included in this bond structure is capitalized interest. TO COVER INTEREST PAYMENTS FOR NEXT YEAR'S BOND PAYMENTS. SO NOT UNTIL THE FOLLOWING YEAR IS WHEN WE WILL START TO NEED TO LOOK AT USER REVENUE, PLUS IF THE COUNCIL IS INTERESTED IN USING COMMUNITY INVESTMENT DOLLARS OR POTENTIALLY LEVYING, AS Y'ALL COUNCIL IS WELL AWARE, AS A BACKSTOP. BUT AS WAS EXPECTED IN JANUARY OR THROUGHOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, PHASE ONE BY ITSELF WILL TAKE QUITE A FEW YEARS TO BE FINANCIALLY THE CASH FLOW. PHASE TWO IS WHERE WE'LL BE LOOKING AT ADDING ADDITIONAL DENSITY TO SHORTEN THAT GAP SIGNIFICANTLY SO THE PROJECT HAS POSITIVE CASH FLOW MUCH SOONER. PHASE TWO RIGHT NOW IS APPROXIMATELY 534 USERS. PHASE THREE, 251.

Can I ask quickly for the targets for those phases?

I don't have those in front of me, Council Member Osk. I will work on that. It should be very similar, though.

Any further questions? Roll call.

Council Member Childers.

Aye.

Osk.

Aye.

Baggerly.

Aye.

Nelson? Aye. Gardner? Aye. Butterfield?

Aye.

Davis? Aye. Gilbertson?

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

The motion carries. Thank you, council. Thank you, Toronto. Next, we have consider an award of concrete work for WilmerConnect Network Operations Center.

I'll call on Kyle Box. All right, good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council. Continuing on with WilmerConnect items here. are two back-to-back actions that we're asking for council consideration on. First is the award of concrete work at the Network Operations Center. The council had previously authorized staff to release plans and specifications for the Network Operations Center. Those plans have not yet been released. Following the acceptance of the federal EDA grant, Supporting infrastructure within the industrial park staff and consultants, you know had to take another look and evaluation of the network operation center since those federal funding dollars would pay for Portions of or would pay for you know, those portions of the knock Which you know what in what What that does is, after taking a look, it's significantly reducing the overall scope of that work. Originally, we had anticipated approximately $300,000 in improvements for the NOC. That was the number that we had bonded for the Network Operations Center. With the revised scope, we now anticipate this project coming in at approximately $175,000. Again, this is for Phase 1. That's excluding the industrial park. and divided into four primary components, including minor demolition and site preparation, concrete and block work, which is the action before you currently, and then we'll be releasing an RFP for HVAC and electrical work. This particular item deals only with the concrete and masonry portion of the project. Staff and consultants contacted five different local contractors, three out of Wilmer, two out of New London. Two out of New London area did respond to the bid of Lakeside Concrete, Masonry, and Construction, submitted the low quote of $23,000.00. with Johnson Concrete submitting a quote just over $25,000. Lakeside's proposal includes the removal of windows and masonry infill work, interior concrete work, repairs, and exterior slab, including the revised within the revised project scope. Based on these quotes received, staff recommend awarding the concrete and masonry work to Lakeside Concrete in the amount of $23,000 with the cost paid for from the construction fund or the bond fund. The requested action is approval of the requested action. Sorry, I had stated that already, Mr. Mayor. I apologize. I'll stand for any questions.

Steve. Thanks, Director Box.

You mentioned the plans and specs are not done, correct? They have not been released. They are completed. We do anticipate releasing those as early as tomorrow.

Then how did we request bids if we don't have plans and specs?

They were direct quotes for so in there in your packet. You can see the The scope of work that will be done for concrete so it was specified on that You know as the con as the as hometown fiber worked on the plans and specifications the plan specs continued to grow and grow and grow with the reduction of the industrial or with reduction of the industrial park and The scope of work was continuing to be modified. We're putting ourselves into a little bit of a pinch point of needing to get the project done timely. So going with the direct quote work for the concrete portion in the timing sense made the most sense for us to bring this action forward now. Still allowing for us plenty of time to do direct, excuse me, RFPs for the HVAC and the electrical work. I can, if that answers your, hopefully that answers some of your questions.

So I guess my question is, who decided which five concrete companies to call? Were they just somebody's buddy? or were there other concrete companies that maybe would have liked to bid on this since it is very public money on a very high profile project that didn't get the opportunity?

Yeah, so Minnesota law allows us under a certain dollar threshold to go for direct quotes. We made a very intentional effort to look at local vendors and that was direction that we gave to the vendor to do that.

What is the threshold for going for direct quotes?

I don't know if Attorney Scott knows that off the top of his head.

Mayor, council members, competitive bids are required for any contract that is estimated to exceed $175,000. Below that amount, the city is free to negotiate directly with With vendors, it is required to get multiple quotes before awarding a contract.

So based on that, Mr. Scott, then we have no requirement to go out for bids on any portion of this project if the total project value is estimated to be $175,000.

That could be viewed that way, but we do anticipate going out for bids.

Well, we did it with concrete.

That's correct, yes. I mean, if the council would prefer us to go with direct bids. No, I don't prefer it.

I wish we could publicly bid everything.

Yeah.

But thank you.

We need a motion and a second. So moved. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Schuldes.

Aye.

Waterfield.

Aye.

Nelson.

Aye.

Gardner. No. Osk. Aye. Gilbertson.

Aye.

Davis. Aye. McFaggerly.

Abstain.

I have six ayes, one no, and one abstained.

The motion carries. Next is consideration on amendment number one, Wilmer Connect Phase 1 Professional Services with Hometown Fiber.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Council. adding on to the revised scope of work because of additional delays with not having the plans and specifications done. There is additional site prep work that needs to be completed at the Network Operations Center before concrete and construction can begin. Hometown Fiber has proposed completing this work at no cost to the city as an in-kind contribution to the WilmerConnect project. The work is intended to prepare the building for subsequent concrete improvements in the remaining, in prepping for the HVAC and electrical work, not doing any work, but again, just getting the site prepped and cleaned. Because Hometown Fiber is already serving as the consultant on WilmerConnect project, the proposed arrangement is being incorporated through an amendment into the existing phase one consultant services agreement. The amendment identifies the additional work and maintains the city's contractual protections, including insurance, indemnification, subcontractor requirements, and other standard provisions. Morcom, which is a company through Hometown Fiber, has offered up to 80 hours of skilled labor. with an estimated value of $6,800 to assist with the preparation of the Network Operations Center. The proposed work includes demolition and tree removal, the removal of two furnaces, installation of telecom backboards, and other miscellaneous work needed to prepare the building for construction. Um, the proposal also discloses, as you can see in your council packet, that more calm owner, Kyle Moorhead is a principal partner and CEO of hometown fiber, which is the city's consultant for the Wilmer connect project. Staff do believe by accepting this contribution allows us to reduce the overall cost and operation center, the knock at while continuing to move the building towards completion. Um, staff are looking for approval, um, from the city council to approve the amendment to the phase one, um, Wilmer Connect Phase 1 Professional Services Agreement with Hometown Fiber. Again, at no cost to the city and authorized staff to coordinate the completion of this work.

So moved.

Second.

We got a motion and a second. Discussion?

Steve? Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Director Box, it's a very generous donation by Morecom, recognizing that Mr. Moorhead is associated with both organizations. Do you know if drive time is gonna be donated as well, or will it be charged $720 every time they drive out here to donate their time to the project?

I'm not sure, Council Member Gardner. If Mr. Moorhead is comfortable answering that, he is in attendance this evening. Mayor, Councilor.

To answer your question based on your concern about travel and that it was in the agreement before, we're not charging for that. In this donation, we're not charging for anything. I mean, it's on us, right? And we're doing it to speed up the project because we're coming into the fall. And it needs a little boost. And we're, you know, the city operating as a general is a little slower than we had hoped.

Well, that was going to be my next question, is what are the reasons for the delays? We voted to release this RFP a couple of months ago, and we're still here, haven't released the RFP. Correct. So now we're talking about we've got to speed things up. So what happened? Okay.

Are you asking me?

I'm asking either one of you that's going to answer the question.

Well, for us, there was changes in the project, like Kyle said, about the industrial parks in, the industrial parks out, and then there's the normal construction that we were working on on the outside plant, which delayed us, as Hometown Fiber, from getting the RFP out sooner. So it's not necessarily any... fault of the city, for example, for the RFP. We were just being a little bit too reactive to the conditions in the field and with the changes to the project and the deductions that were coming with the change orders. And that massively changed the scope of work for the NOC. As Mr. Bach said, it's reducing the necessity for some of the things that we had originally planned. in phase one to be modified. Because unless you guys do phase two, these things aren't really required for phase one to work. So we just reduced the scope. So all those moving targets took a slow while to get the RFP together.

But haven't we been reasonably reassured that we're taking the industrial park out and then we're definitely adding it back in because we're getting federal money to pay for it?

Correct. It'll be in the next round. I believe it's scheduled for phase two, Pat.

Yeah, so we have to, in regards to the industrial park grant, we have to, we can't account for anything in this bond. That's why you saw, the council saw the initial change order. That was just for the infrastructure work going out in the field. I didn't account for all of the change order work that'll be coming in the NOC. That's a change order that's yet to come, along with additional deductions that the council will see at a future meeting. So that was the back and forth. over the last couple of months of making those additional changes, making sure that we stay at or under budget, removing additional product that was going to be placed in the field that can now be a part of the industrial park grant and just going through with a fine tooth and comb with Hometown Fiber, with Bolden and Mink and city staff and the contractor.

So is the industrial park going to be contingent on approval of phase two or is that going to be a standalone phase that we approve?

The industrial park is a standalone project. which would include more than just fiber infrastructure. It will tie into this Wilmer Connect project, yes, but it will be an industrial park infrastructure project.

All right, thank you. Yes. We have a motion and a second. Roll call. Roll call.

Council Member Gilbertson.

Aye.

Butterfield. Aye. Davis. Aye. Osk. Aye. Gardner.

Aye.

Schuldes.

Aye.

Daggerly.

Aye.

And Nelson.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

Motion carries.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council.

Next, I'll call on City Engineer George Voege for 71 Bridge Preservation, a bid award.

Yeah, good evening, Mayor and Council, and your packet this evening. Two action items that are being requested. First is the resolution accepting the bids and awarding the project. The second is adopting the as-bid budget. On August 11th, we did receive three bids for the 71 Bridge Preservation project. The low bid was submitted by Redstone Construction of Mora, Minnesota, in the amount of $153,930. The funding associated with this project is the city's state aid account for the project, so there's no direct impact to the city budget. And with that, Mayor Counsel, as I mentioned, we have two resolutions before you, and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Do we have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

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

Council Member Gilbertson.

Aye.

Gardner.

Aye.

Childers. Aye. Davis. Aye. Haas. Aye. Butterfield.

Aye.

Paggerly.

Aye.

And Nelson.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

The motion carries. Next, a motion to adopt the resolution approving as bid budget for project 2605A. So moved. Second. We got a motion and a second. Discussion? Roll call.

Councilmember Fagerle.

Aye.

Schuldes.

Aye.

Butterfield.

Aye.

Osk. Aye. Davis. Aye. Gardner. Aye. Nelson. Aye. And Gilbertson.

Aye.

Eight ayes, zero noes.

The motion carries. Thanks, Council. Next, I'll call on Shane Stefanik. for the 2026 Protect Community Forests for Community and Resiliency Grant.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has confirmed the presence of Emerald Ash Borer or EAB in Kandiyohi County. Good news is that grant funding is available to help communities prepare and respond. The 2026 Protect Community Forests for Community Resilience grant is offering applicants up to $150,000 with no matching funds required. If awarded, these funds could support important work on city-owned property, developing an adopted EAB management plan, removing and replacing ash or other high-risk trees within the city, maintaining our existing tree canopy, and educating residents about EAB and proper tree management. The grant application is due September 14th with an award notification expected around November 13th, depending upon the volume of applications. Grant funded work would begin following a contract execution in March 2027 and must be completed by June 1st, 2029. This is an opportunity to take a proactive approach to protect Wilmer's community's forest, maintaining our tree canopy, improving public safety, and preparing for the impacts of EAB while leveraging outside funding instead of relying solely on local resources. I respectfully ask the council to adopt the resolution to support submittal of an application on behalf of the Willmar Public Works Department and acceptance if awarded for the 2026 Protect Community Forests for Community Resiliency Grant in the amount up to $150,000. Move to approve.

Second.

Your motion and discussion. Roll call.

COUNCILMEMBER OSK?

AYE.

GARDENER?

AYE.

BUTTERFIELD?

AYE.

DAVIS? AYE. GILBERTSON?

AYE.

SHOLDES? AYE. BAGERLY? AYE. AND NELSON?

AYE.

EIGHT AYES, ZERO NOES.

THE MOTION CARRIES. THANK YOU, MAYOR. THANK YOU, COUNCIL. NOW WE HAVE H WHO IS TAKEN OUT. CORRECT. SO WE HAVE ANNOUNCEMENTS. ANYBODY? No announcements. We call for adjournment.

Move to approve. Move to adjourn. Second.

We're adjourned.