[0:00] All right, we'll call the regular city council meeting to order of Tuesday, August 25th. All members are present in the

[0:05] account for it. First item is a pledge of allegiance. If you'd please rise and recite the pledge of

[0:09] allegiance with us.

[0:27] Thank you. Go on to the approval of the agenda. We have one item to be added under

[0:36] H8. This would be an application for exempt permit for St. Catherine's Knights at Columbus Raffle on January 6th of

[0:44] 2027. With that addition, do I have a motion to approve the agenda?

[0:50] So moved by 1, 2 seconds second by acre. Any questions? If not, all in favor, sing the five of

[0:56] the saying aye. Aye. All of those same sign. Motion carried.

[1:00] Item D, the approval of minutes, we have the July 28 City Council minutes and the August 10th

[1:06] Special City Council minutes.

[1:08] I have a motion to approve.

[1:09] Some of.

[1:10] Move by Thorson.

[1:11] Second.

[1:12] Second by Crock questions or discussion.

[1:15] If not, I'll unfair.

[1:16] Sing the five by say and aye.

[1:18] I'll approve.

[1:18] Same sign.

[1:20] Motion carried.

[1:21] Recognition of guests.

[1:22] If you'd please introduce yourself for the record.

[1:36] All right. Welcome everybody. All right. We'll go on to the public forum and for staff and consult reports. The first item is the city of excellence award from the League of Minnesota cities and tonight with us is Luke Fisher and Lisa Schaefer. So thanks for coming down. I'll turn it over to you.

[1:57] Yeah, thank you so much Mr. Mayor, remember to the council. I'm a Fisherman Executive Director at the League of Minnesota Cities.

[2:03] We're here tonight to do some really fun stuff to recognize the city of Lover.

[2:09] For a lot of hard work that you've put in on a big project that I know you're proud of and that I know we're really proud of.

[2:15] Before we do that though, I think it's really important to provide some context about just who it is that's giving you this recognition, right?

[2:22] You know us well, but everyone that's watching at home or the public maybe doesn't know who we are so as an organization

[2:28] We represent 842 of the states 856 cities are largest member. I'm sure you can all guess this city of Minneapolis, but our small

[2:38] Members the city of Barry do you have any guesses on Barry's population?

[2:44] 61

[2:46] 42. 42

[2:49] 37.

[2:52] 80.

[2:54] I would go probably 22.

[2:57] Man, if we're playing prices, ready rules, you're all out.

[3:01] You're very, as a population of just 19 people.

[3:05] So as an organization, it's our job and our obligation and something that we love to do is support everyone from many

[3:12] the capital of RRN, if you think about who we are as a community of cities.

[3:18] Most of the cities in Minnesota are small.

[3:20] Most of them are in greater Minnesota, 70% of the cities in the State

[3:23] have a population of a few or even 4,000.

[3:27] If you think about if you think about Austin's

[3:28] in organization, Austin being in greater Minnesota,

[3:31] is right at home, when you consider about 100 cities in the

[3:34] metro area, which is great and something that we really enjoy.

[3:38] As an organization, we do all kinds of things.

[3:42] We see you at training conferences and events when we convene people.

[3:46] We answer about 5,000 questions from our members every year.

[3:50] Everything from how do we pass a chicken organs to how do we open a daycare, right?

[3:55] We've got an HR team that's led by Lisa Schafer and her crew that handles about 2,500 HR

[4:02] inquiries every year.

[4:04] That's the one thing you probably shouldn't fake, conducting your business, right?

[4:08] almost a fake HR and we handle about 8500 insurance claims on behalf of our members every year.

[4:15] So all that is to say is we get to see the very best of the best and local leadership

[4:19] and we get to see people in times when things are challenging and when they're hard we get to see folks rise to the occasion.

[4:26] And that's one of the best and most rewarding parts about working for the league is seeing folks that care about their communities.

[4:31] That know how to make a difference and want to serve and step up to do that.

[4:36] I know it's a really, really, really hard time right now to be an elected official.

[4:39] I don't think anybody would say that your job is easy. No one would say that at all.

[4:44] There are a number of races across the state that we know where there aren't people running for office, right?

[4:50] So it's a big deal that you've stepped up and that you've decided to serve.

[4:53] And I just wanted to say on behalf of our organization, behalf of our members.

[4:56] Thank you for being the folks at serve your communities if you're elected.

[5:00] If you're city staff, we know that this isn't easy.

[5:02] even if you're the sheriff right appreciate your service to but it takes all kinds of people

[5:08] to make your communities really wonderful places to live and whatever and what be what it is

[5:12] without you. So with that I'm going to turn it over to Lisa who's going to talk a little bit about

[5:16] the recognition that you received from the league. All right. Thank you Luke. We are here to recognize

[5:23] the city of Leverne and present to you at 2026 City of Excellence Award. This was first presented

[5:31] at the League of Minnesota City Conference.

[5:33] This is all of the awards are my favorite, but of course this one with the City of

[5:37] Laverne is my favorite.

[5:39] I would say that it comes up in frequently as I'm visiting with member cities that

[5:45] daycare has been a huge issue that communities are struggling with and one that affects

[5:50] really every aspect of a resident's life and ability to work and live in the city.

[5:56] And so this recognition is really important to us.

[6:00] The City of Excellence Awards annually recognizes projects

[6:03] and programs that enhance city services

[6:06] introduce innovative solutions,

[6:09] adapt existing programs to local needs or save money,

[6:13] all while maintaining or improving results

[6:16] and engaging residents and staff

[6:19] in the decision-making process.

[6:21] As you all know, capacity for childcare

[6:23] as a recurring problem in Minnesota cities, sometimes driven by unplanned declines of providers

[6:29] or population growth, and that was certainly the case in Rott County. It poses economic

[6:34] and quality of life issues, often forcing families or local businesses to consider relocation.

[6:41] So in response to the challenge, your city organized stakeholders to take on a problem-solving

[6:46] effort through a clear vision, assessment, resourcefulness, and securing financial resources.

[6:52] as your award nomination narrative noted, the city goals were to create stable child care,

[7:00] strengthen the local labor force by reducing a key barrier for working parents and delivering

[7:06] high quality learning, aligning with the kids' rocks mission to build a solid foundation that

[7:12] prepares children to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. And I think the most important

[7:18] part of that is that it has an amazing name as well.

[7:22] Kids Rocks is, you can't really argue with that.

[7:27] So given the scope of childcare challenges in minutes.

[7:30] Minnesota leveraged stands at the forefront of community-based solutions for cities and regions. The kids rock project will continue to provide quality of life benefits for years to come.

[7:40] So now we will hear from what some of your colleagues had to say in the video that was played at the 2026 Annual Conference this year.

[8:02] The Child Care Center really is possible because it's a collaboration of public, private, non-profit, funds, and everyone working together on this.

[8:12] The City, obviously, is the public entity.

[8:15] We have also partnered through grants with the Federal Government, the State Government and Rott County.

[8:20] The need to have something that was open five days a week from six a to six p.

[8:26] that offered all of the flexibility that working families needed was critical.

[8:32] We had stories of some individuals driving their children as far as 30 miles away

[8:38] and then returning back to Laverne.

[8:41] Vervent Technologies had bought this building from Total Card, which was a credit card process

[8:46] in facility, but they only used 25 to 35% of the building of all of this.

[8:51] city purchase of facility and we received a 2.6 million dollar Congressional

[8:56] directed spending grant from the USDA. So at the city and the USDA grant, we

[9:02] also did a million dollar fundraiser from our community and the county

[9:06] contributed 550,000 as well. Trust and relationships are a very big part of the

[9:13] success of raising funds and I really feel like the process in which we went

[9:20] through as a community, as the public and private parts of it, really showed people that

[9:31] if I give to this important project, it's going to not just benefit me, but the generations

[9:40] that are going to follow me.

[9:42] We are already seeing families move to Laverne just because they care availability at Kids Rock.

[9:48] And without kids rock, we would not be even able to entertain that option for families or businesses that could move to

[9:57] the room to have that piece of infrastructure.

[9:59] A lot of these projects move forward comes down to the support of your elected officials.

[10:04] They need to care about it.

[10:06] They need to be passionate about it and they need to be willing to lead the charge on it.

[10:10] It takes time and it takes money and it takes a lot of resources to make something like this come to fruition.

[10:15] success is a vibrant community that we have families that are moving to our community. We have

[10:21] businesses that are growing that we have the labor force that's there. We have a place for workers

[10:26] to take their kids and all of these revolve around economic development and growing in our community,

[10:33] growing in our tax space. That's what a success is.

[10:47] It's a word with, right? You actually brought it

[10:50] from the conference, but we're going to share it with you with us award.

[10:54] Sure.

[10:55] Well, on behalf of the council, this is their project.

[11:00] Everybody backed it, we supported it, but it's a council ultimately that said,

[11:06] yes, we are going to fund this, we're going to do it, and someone hats off to the council

[11:10] for taking that leadership role and making those decisions.

[11:14] They're tough decisions.

[11:15] But what would we do without daycare today with 150 kids over in it?

[11:24] And what would families do?

[11:25] Travel 30 miles for daycare.

[11:27] And we have families moving to our community, which

[11:29] is just a wonderful feeling to know that we have that.

[11:33] So thank you very much.

[11:36] Council, let's get up to it's everybody that I'm

[11:39] with the council, Mr. Petri, too.

[11:43] You saw how that worked out again.

[11:45] That's it.

[11:45] This is going to be a picture like a

[12:04] You're a project

[12:29] Thank you.

[12:30] Thank you.

[12:31] Thank you.

[12:31] Thank you very much.

[12:32] Congratulations.

[12:33] Thank you.

[12:35] Thank you.

[12:36] I will just add the word for the league.

[12:41] One of them.

[12:43] I know you helped the staff quite a bit with different things, but one of them, my favorite

[12:48] pieces was as a new member, the new member workshop that the league sponsors.

[12:53] That was invaluable for me when I first started and I would highly encourage other people

[12:59] to attend that because it's so informative and just gave me a little bit more of a footing

[13:04] to stand on and just feel better about what I was getting into.

[13:09] Absolutely.

[13:10] And remember, we do have our newly elected training that'll be available right after the beginning

[13:14] of the year.

[13:14] We also have our experienced officials training, so you guys all have a good reason to come

[13:18] back on with us.

[13:19] But how your name is about that, too.

[13:21] It's really important that we continue to lift up and train people so they can be the best

[13:25] public servants that they can be.

[13:26] Yes.

[13:27] Totally agree with what you said.

[13:28] Yeah, it was a great experience.

[13:30] So thank you.

[13:30] Thank you.

[13:31] Yes, thank you.

[13:33] Thank you.

[13:34] All right.

[13:37] And I'm going to actually back up to the public forum.

[13:41] Mr. Hale, did you have anything for public forum or comment?

[13:45] OK.

[13:46] Tammy?

[13:48] OK.

[13:49] I apologize.

[13:50] I didn't ask you if you were here for public forum,

[13:52] but just to see city government.

[13:54] So yeah.

[13:55] Hale, Hale from Seattle, Washington,

[13:57] New Reson in the Lover.

[13:58] And welcome.

[13:59] Yeah, welcome.

[14:00] Thank you.

[14:01] All right.

[14:02] We'll go on to item G2.

[14:04] This is the League of Minnesota City's 26 Legislative Distinction and with this up at our conference,

[14:13] the League of Minnesota City's awarded Senator Bill Weber on behalf of the 842 member

[14:19] cities.

[14:20] The Legislative Distinction League's behalf and member cities officials told me appreciate

[14:27] is a accessibility and it's consultation with them on any legislative impacting our communities

[14:34] and for a strong education for cities of our size and everyone that he represented, particularly

[14:42] to environmental regulations and state support for city program and infrastructure needs.

[14:48] Their staff have a mobile, willing to hear the city's perspective and in helping get

[14:54] These cities concerns addressed, so I'll leave this on.

[15:00] How the city's presented him this award at our banquet, which was well-deserved, prior to him retiring. So, that was a nice award that him and Barbara.

[15:13] All right. Going on to item G3, we have Sheriff Matt Sornson here tonight for the Sheriff's Office, quarterly report. Welcome, Sheriff.

[15:23] Good

[15:28] evening, so the quarterly report is actually for the months of April, May and June.

[15:35] We went over the first quarter earlier and we'll touch a little base on that sheet that we put out.

[15:47] This month period we had 1,199 calls for service.

[15:53] So it was up about 14% from the first previous comments and reasons for some of the increase

[16:02] is probably the nicer weather around people are getting outside and moving around and

[16:07] seeing things.

[16:12] So that's the overall calls.

[16:15] I'm going to talk just a little bit about ambulance calls and fire calls.

[16:19] There was 115 ambulance calls last month and along with that there was 16 calls at the RUNet

[16:27] unit.

[16:27] out the quick response to the fire department. That was about 14% of their calls they went on.

[16:35] Looking at the way the city is set up right now with the detours and all that in effect.

[16:41] I almost think it should be more because the ambulance comes from north of town and drives

[16:46] all the way around and today we were on west of of 75 and thankfully the ambulance is actually

[16:56] else the town, so they got there right away, but had they had to come all the way around and

[17:00] around.

[17:02] Some time until they get that intersection opened up at Dodge.

[17:08] So I think the MRU calls are going along pretty well.

[17:13] A lot of that is based on what information the dispatcher gets at the time.

[17:19] Occasionally they're not needed and occasionally they ambulance gets there and says we need

[17:24] more help.

[17:24] So, um, along with that. So, then I'm just going to touch I kind of went through the sheets and on the first page, uh, the one that stood out, uh, that increase was weather. And obviously, that probably increased with the thunderstorms and the weather alerts and things like that that we started getting in the summer and, uh, that kind of increased that number. But overall it's, it's amazing how the numbers are with the end of the,

[17:54] first three months, you know, one or two or three or three off. So I kind of highlighted some of them that I just picked out paper service went up a little bit that I have no idea why it can be, you know, any time somebody gets civil process paper it went up a little bit in town. So, and then next time that could go down, but I have no reason for that.

[18:21] Then we jumped down to mental, it says mental case, but I want to call it mental health issues.

[18:28] Went up from 12 to 21%.

[18:32] Again, I relate a lot of that.

[18:35] We're getting a few calls that people are outside and people get noticed.

[18:40] We get sent there to check on these people and kind of,

[18:45] some of this goes along with the welfare checks, which is down just a little bit further.

[18:49] people are acting a little bit different or lost or confused.

[18:54] I think that's part of the increase is mental health is a big concern to probably

[19:01] everybody out there, but it's one that's hard to control.

[19:08] And I think the numbers up there are just because there are people that are out.

[19:12] Being observed and not in their homes and not being noticed.

[19:17] So, transients, that of course is nice weather, they're out here, they're not going to be up here in Minnesota weather very often, moving around, but usually those folks are travel and through and keep going, but.

[19:31] Um, and then we get down in and as we're going to, just, just activity, it was up, uh,

[19:38] up quite a bit.

[19:41] 30 to 33 and, uh, I've been saying right from the get go of somebody, see something that they

[19:50] think is odd to call, not that I want our numbers to increase, but I like seeing that because

[19:56] and people are seeing things and letting us know that something doesn't look right, we can go

[20:02] check it out. So, as I said, I don't like to see numbers increase, but if that number is the

[20:10] public is letting us know and hopefully we are getting concerned. Citizens that are thinking

[20:16] something doesn't look right and they're given us a call and they're going to go look it over.

[20:26] left in the strips and scams, fraud, counterfeit went from two to four.

[20:36] The controls were out there, and I guess I don't know if that was in July.

[20:41] We've had a few counterfeit bills get passed here and there.

[20:47] Nobody, you know, bank is usually the one that catches it.

[20:51] but we've had a few of them and a side note of that yesterday we got called to a business.

[20:59] Found a money sleeve from a local bank and I'm not going to say which bank because they don't

[21:05] have anything to do with it, but there was I think it was $14, $100 bills in there that said motion

[21:11] picture money. Now, you feel them, they're a little bit lighter, different that, if a business

[21:19] isn't a hurry and passing stuff, they're easily, or $100 bills probably aren't as easy

[21:25] as a $20 bill, but if you see somebody holding a money sleeve that says, from the local bank,

[21:32] you assume that's probably good money. The business called us turned that in, they found it out

[21:38] parking lot. So it wasn't inside, but that was kind of an interesting

[21:43] fine. We're a counterfeit or fake bills, and you can just buy it.

[21:52] So the one that I was happy about up in that theft and scam,

[21:57] from 12 to 7,

[22:01] and crashes, vehicle crashes are pretty consistent

[22:06] to get and run went from 3 to 5. Well, we don't know we like

[22:09] and run crashes, of course, but injuries were two to four and then property damage 18 to

[22:14] 19 crashes.

[22:18] Pretty consistent. It seems like so there's no, I can't track them to a specific

[22:24] weather item or something like that. So that's basically the

[22:30] The rundown of the numbers, I can talk just a little bit about in July, which is not in the quarterly report.

[22:42] We had the homicide on Southwest Park here in Laverne. That was reported that evening.

[22:48] came in as a welfare check,

[22:52] the gentleman had been sending messages to the family member

[22:56] that he had harmed her sister, so the deputies were called and they found a victim deceased,

[23:04] which in turn kind of spread the process up to have us, they notified me and I notified

[23:13] the investigator in the drug task force, violent crimes member, who then in turn called

[23:20] his team mates up. And as I told the county commissioners, we had him and we had three other

[23:27] members that showed up from that team to assist. So being a member of that brought three extra

[23:32] bodies down here within a half hour to 45 minutes they arrived of the arrival. The gentleman was

[23:41] arrested that night he called the turning himself in but he wouldn't tell us where he was when

[23:46] we were able to locate him using nine one one services and he was arrested in and basically

[23:57] processed and currently the Minnesota Bureau of Communation.

[24:03] Criminal apprehension was called, help process the scene, I gave a call to John Stoffell that

[24:10] night and asked for some barricades or some cones to close the street off and he was Johnny

[24:16] on the spot so I like to praise him for being right out there with cones and that helped

[24:21] restrict any flow of the traffic there. We didn't have to worry about traffic coming down

[24:25] that street but we spent the night there and I thank him for being very helpful with that.

[24:32] That night I put out just a short notification on Facebook and our sheriff's app

[24:39] That said that we had a suspicious death in the town or in in the area and we had a suspect in custody

[24:47] That the public was not in danger and I think I had the family had been notified. So

[24:54] Part of that I I wanted to get out there right away because

[24:58] How news travels and I think by that time already people were out with that somebody had been killed or or hurt seriously or something

[25:07] so I wanted to try to put the public at ease as much as I could without giving too much information

[25:14] so I just put that short verb out. So I actually had one lady come to me to run into her

[25:23] someplace I guess and she told me that she was very happy. I put that out on the Sheriff's App

[25:28] Facebook feed because she's seen it that night and knew that there's nobody out running around

[25:34] look and so that also helps us and if we were going to look for the guy all night long,

[25:40] people call and pretty soon they're running cat and mouse that don't even need them calls.

[25:46] With that, I'm going to give our sheriff's app a plug for phones.

[25:53] If you don't have it, we have a QR code that you can look up or if you go into your app store or Google

[25:59] play store and type in Rock County Sheriff's office app. You'll come up with our app and on that is

[26:07] lots of

[26:10] what we do and some of our services that we provide emergency notification system

[26:17] and just a news feed. We use that to notify you public just like I described to the homicide

[26:26] of any bad weather or things like that if we need to close down or something like that we can send

[26:31] over that app. Probably the number one reason it gets used and I'll say that because people

[26:36] look at it is there's the Raccoonie inmates are listed there and photo there so that

[26:44] gets looked a lot. But if anybody wants to look that up and join that I would highly

[26:50] recommend it as a emergency notification way that we also send it out. That night we did not

[26:59] use our average nexal, I didn't think it was a necessary to send out that, but we also have

[27:05] that for bad weather or road closures or in your winter time we use nexal a lot for a snow

[27:13] emergency. If they take to the number 888777, that would sign them up for the nexal account,

[27:24] which they can get emergency notifications on that.

[27:27] Again, that number is 888777.

[27:32] So, in the last thing, I'm just gonna touch real briefly

[27:35] on as scams.

[27:38] One of the frustrating things for people and citizens

[27:45] and we hear very few scams get reported to us,

[27:50] often we can't probably help a lot because a lot of them are overseas and they're generated

[27:58] here but we do like to know that people are getting scammed because if I like to put it out

[28:05] there on Facebook so somebody else can get maybe prevent from getting scammed even if you didn't let

[28:12] us know what way they were and probably the most common one I've heard lately and are not most common

[28:19] But one of the common ones is the Microsoft Office pops up on your screen and says call this number something's wrong.

[28:27] And Microsoft Office will never pop up on your screen and say call this number.

[28:32] I've had two people call that one and recently and that actually called the number and they wanted all kinds of information and don't tell anybody don't tell your family, don't tell anybody because this is private.

[28:45] And don't ever give out your bank account numbers and things like that.

[28:51] And one gentleman did, so we told him to quit all the bank and make sure that things didn't get moved around and things like that.

[28:59] But he even emailed him a authentic letter and about halfway in and it says, don't tell your family you got this letter.

[29:06] And I'm from I forget what from federal agency there from but I'm.

[29:11] I don't think they would not tell you not to ever tell your family, so that's a dead giveaway.

[29:17] So that's what I have there. Any questions?

[29:20] I do.

[29:22] I think I know it will be open at Dodge Street when school resumes.

[29:28] And any plans for changes in where deputies will be or be available in the morning?

[29:34] Because they're always so good about being on Highway 75 before the premier.

[29:37] Do you want the general public to know about when school starts?

[29:42] You know, I kind of in contact with Robert Snowler a little bit there.

[29:48] So I think they'll have between Dodge and bark open for traffic.

[29:54] So we'll probably be up in that area.

[29:56] Obviously it's not going to be speeds, but it'll be more.

[30:00] First couple of weeks, lost people. Trying to look around and just make sure that we're a present and seeing people as they come in.

[30:12] The speed obviously is going to help and the kids crossing because the traffic is not going to be there, but that's some concern.

[30:19] Thank you for that.

[30:20] Yeah, and the Dodge 75 D2 has been

[30:25] First half for three quarters has been pretty good. We've had a couple little fender benders little minor injuries

[30:31] That takes 16 corner, but I'm very impressed on how well that corner went. I thought we'd be there every other day

[30:38] always

[30:39] How was the corner of

[30:41] Lehman and Maine going here?

[30:44] Actually I sat there this morning for about a half hour

[30:48] check in my emails on my phone and watch in some ice and I think we have to have a

[30:55] little discussion on parking on the diagonal, which I wanted to go back and video a couple

[31:01] trucks as trucks or cars are waiting there. They're running out of room basically to turn.

[31:09] They need a little bit more. We might have to close a couple of diagonal parking spots just to give

[31:13] that truck a little more angle to run around.

[31:17] The next concern is Warren and Freeman.

[31:23] We had a fender bender here.

[31:25] Somebody run into the back of somebody there last night

[31:28] at the stop sign.

[31:29] I say that's just not watching what they're doing.

[31:32] But we've had in the time the deputies are there.

[31:35] They said they had about had three misses right there

[31:36] when people are coming down Warren

[31:39] because they don't think that stop traffic doesn't think Warren

[31:42] as a through-street. So I'll have to watch that a little bit and see how that flows.

[31:51] Yeah, the first week is always a road construction. I've seen many projects over my career

[31:57] of road construction. And the first week of signage is always looking maybe correct.

[32:04] Some, if we can. And there's some out here. I have some ideas. I hope Mr. Snuller sees it the way I do.

[32:11] And generally, that is, we noticed that with the first one, they had a detour for bike and pedestrian and

[32:19] sent them, them people up 75, but most of the people all, as I seen, it was a detour and arrow and

[32:25] pretty soon everybody was going up F.D.

[32:28] So we got that sign adjusted.

[32:32] So if you see something, let somebody know and, or myself, and we'll try to make some adjustments.

[32:39] answer. Work with them. Obviously, it's a long project and it's going to be much better than it was,

[32:47] I hope so. But yeah, and you're right. I mean, that first week was took a time to settle down,

[32:54] but thanks for paying attention to this and watching that. That's not a good long ways. And that's

[33:00] what the people on Warren and down here are noticing right now. You know, they're noticing all that

[33:06] traffic and they're they're already had a couple calls of people going real fast and

[33:12] them like well they're probably not going as fast as you think they are just because

[33:16] there's tent cars and there used to be one. So it's frustrating and I realize that but

[33:24] we'll we'll try to have somebody down in that area occasionally and just a present but

[33:28] that doesn't always help but it's hopefully will help a little bit.

[33:33] But a couple of things today, we had Senator Klobuchar down at Kiddrock and Sheriff's Office

[33:40] has asked to be there for security, Governor's race or something, and anyway, Sheriff's

[33:46] learned something was down there, but he'd never toured Kiddrock, along with your investigator

[33:50] was there, and so they walked through the facility, and we mentioned that, you know, for

[33:57] law enforcement, if you want to have a tour, you know, when hopefully nothing ever happens

[34:02] or but law enforcement to be fully understanding of the layout and between the sheriff

[34:10] and his deputy or investigator they talked about well, how about key access, because it

[34:15] is a key access building. And I thought that was an outstanding idea, and we talked to the

[34:21] board right after that way of meeting. And so yeah, we're getting cards made for the deputies

[34:26] they have them for the school, they have for the hospital.

[34:28] So that in the event that there's a 911 or anything that down there, it's just a little

[34:34] bit better prepared to be on top of things.

[34:38] So thanks for that suggestion and you're investigated too.

[34:41] And then also during our city-counting meeting, we started the initial contract discussion

[34:47] for the next five years of law enforcement, and so that I think that'll go fairly smoothly

[34:54] and without becoming up before the end of the year, correct?

[34:58] So, yeah.

[34:59] Thank you.

[35:00] And any other questions for the sheriff?

[35:03] Just one.

[35:04] In the public order on the reports you've got liquor laws, and you have tobacco laws.

[35:12] Will there be a separation for any cannabis?

[35:16] Or would the cannabis be be listed in there if there is any?

[35:23] You know, I guess I, that we could, we could make something up with, with that, um,

[35:30] probably really haven't had much calls there yet for, in which it's, and that's great.

[35:36] Yeah.

[35:36] I just didn't see one in there.

[35:38] So I didn't know if they were, if they were mixed in and we were just missing it to

[35:41] her if there would be a separate one.

[35:43] I can touch on that too a little bit, because we really haven't been called it

[35:48] businesses much, I stuck in and visited a couple of them and they are very organized and

[35:54] they're running. I can think of one call that we've had related to the cannabis businesses,

[36:01] but I don't remember which one he went to and it doesn't make any difference. He brought the Greyhound

[36:05] or the I call it the Greyhound bus over from South Dakota because he could buy marijuana.

[36:11] Smoke too much and missed his bright homes meant tonight here. That's probably one of our

[36:17] We went, we went, I got a call of him up in the school grounds, sleeping up there and ended up arresting him on a warrant that he had out of salt Dakota.

[36:28] So, that's good planning.

[36:31] Mr. Boss, don't miss the boss.

[36:36] Yeah, he didn't have to take the bus back.

[36:40] But that's really, we've had a couple, I guess there's a couple little accidents down in the parking lot.

[36:47] but we've gotten them figured out.

[36:49] It's been really low key from what everybody kind of

[36:53] doom and gloomed that it was going to be as not developed that way.

[36:59] Yeah, come on, I've seen it.

[37:01] I think people were expecting lots of people here backed up and

[37:10] yeah, running out of money and stealing and stuff and I guess that's not happening,

[37:15] which is good. We don't want that part. Thank you.

[37:19] Yep. All right. Any other questions for the sheriff? Thank you. Thank you very much.

[37:25] Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Next we have the city.

[37:31] You know, I'll touch on the Highway 75 project that's work is still continuing on that, and as Sheriff

[37:39] Sournt said their hymn and his department, as well as the men that engineers are watching traffic flow

[37:47] right now with the phase two construction in the new detour. The truck route goes from heading to Freeman,

[37:59] and

[37:59] chair of Sorenson said seeing if parking needs to be taken out, if signage needs to be changed.

[38:05] So also I'll just reiterate what he said if anyone sees anything, you know, you could let staff

[38:11] here know or chair of Sorenson and we can pass that along. The face to is the four corners.

[38:21] So that corner of Maine in 75 that's what's closed and that's where the work is continuing

[38:26] And that also includes our part of the landscaping there, and that is being paid for as you remember.

[38:34] By Mindat, we said, when you guys do a construction, we want this return back to its original state or in a better state.

[38:42] So we worked with and architect out of Sioux Falls, and they will be replacing those four corners.

[38:50] in a slightly different location because they're rounding the corners and they'll be a wider

[38:54] turning lane but that will be taking place in the next phase two and phase two is to be 40 days

[39:03] per the contract. As far as city work we are replacing water valves and that is just north of the

[39:12] library on Main Street and sanitary sewer lines and that work should be completed by Thursday

[39:19] or Friday of the week.

[39:20] We plan on having it done pretty quick and then as soon as they can get the street patched

[39:25] up, they'll get that open so there's access to cowbells and residences and other businesses

[39:32] on that block.

[39:34] Street lights are starting to go up, move the electric as a town and they are replacing

[39:39] The existing street lights that we had, we stored up and they're putting those back up,

[39:44] so they'll be lighting up 75 again soon.

[39:48] On Blue Mount Avenue, public works is installing new benches.

[39:53] They're replacing some of those older benches.

[39:57] They're trying to do a couple of every year just to keep them looking nice.

[40:02] Um, if you notice a lot of them have been donations from families that have left a memorial.

[40:10] Um, they look very nice.

[40:11] They're heavy black benches.

[40:13] They put a little patch of concrete that they sit on now with two flower pots and a garbage can.

[40:18] Um, they did five this year and then plans to do another five next year.

[40:24] And then if you know of anyone who would like to donate, we'll always take those donations and have those little benches and memory of a loved one.

[40:32] as well.

[40:35] Blue Peak is continuing to call in Locate, so our lecture department is staying as you

[40:39] with that.

[40:41] They're working out of Transformer today and continuing to eat those Locates in last week.

[40:48] I attended the MFUA in New Comprehensive, Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association, excellent

[40:55] conference. They talked a lot about what's going on in the industry, you know, ways,

[41:02] new ways for capital planning and, you know, what the future of the industry looks like as well.

[41:11] So a lot of good stuff, a lot of good contacts. It was great conference.

[41:18] Do you know how much longer blue peak is anticipating at all? They're just

[41:25] are just everywhere, which is great, I guess, if you want to use that word, but, yeah, they want to get as much on your ground as possible before the ground freezes.

[41:36] Yeah, they're saying they'll get it done this year.

[41:39] They're starting to do the hookups in the house.

[41:43] So, pronations of the fiber at the pedestals are happening.

[41:47] So, yeah, I'm scared to be hooked up in the house September 10th.

[41:52] Are they calling to set up appointments?

[41:53] You'll get an email. Let's hear a customer.

[41:55] Okay, for a text message.

[41:57] For a text message.

[41:58] Okay.

[41:59] So customers look out.

[42:01] I know our neighbors did not see an email.

[42:04] So for the viewing public, if you are a bloopy customer,

[42:07] and you want fiber pulled to your house,

[42:09] which is much better bandwidth for streaming devices,

[42:13] which that's the method they're using.

[42:15] Please call bloopy as as while they're here pulling fiber.

[42:19] Get that done.

[42:20] So it's incumbent upon the homeowner to contact.

[42:23] correct yep

[42:28] so any other questions I know I have taken some calls from some businesses and I know

[42:35] a few of them are going to put they got approved for signage at Freeman and Maine for their

[42:43] businesses right there for that first block cowbells Zika, high fidelity cannabis and I did

[42:49] take a call from some business on the other side so Mary Lafler is working with them and

[42:58] then I know the chamber has been a huge vocal opponent for those as well so trying to do

[43:05] what that we can for them and the chamber has been helped to help them do. Bluebound liquor has been

[43:11] seeing a decrease in traffic too so they're going to work with men that to try to get some better

[43:15] signage as well. Yeah. One additional question. There was quite a bit of cyber threats

[43:25] in the water department, water waste water areas. Did we fair okay with that? We did.

[43:31] We contacted our IT. We have a contract with high point and have them do some security testing

[43:36] and look back, there were 192 incidents, but none of them were any, it wasn't a threat

[43:45] on our system, it wasn't cyber security.

[43:47] Also, we have a very good cybersecurity contract in place, and so we were very happy to

[43:57] know that it's working, and we were not at any threat of being at, yeah, compromised at all.

[44:05] And like our electric utility, where we have hired the IT side of Missouri River to scan our network that controls our electric.

[44:14] Same thing on the water sewer, where high point scans our network for vulnerabilities and patches them within our switches.

[44:21] And you know that might be an access.

[44:25] I'm thankful that we are aggressive on that.

[44:28] Yeah. We are, too.

[44:32] All right.

[44:32] If nothing else, we'll go into consent agenda.

[44:37] Do you have any items under the consent agenda to be pulled for discussion?

[44:46] If not, the motion be in order to approve the consent agenda.

[44:50] Two more.

[44:51] One more.

[44:51] Second.

[44:52] Second by now.

[44:54] All in favor signify by CNI.

[44:56] Aye.

[44:57] I'll oppose same sign.

[44:58] Motion carried.

[45:00] All right, under new business, item J1 is proposal resolution to lead with civility dignity and respect. I'll turn this over to our city administrator Joe Wolf.

[45:10] In March of 2026, the National League of Cities adopted a resolution, which was encouraging local governments to promote civility and respectful public discourse.

[45:21] The League of Minnesota is also adapted its own stability resolution and is encouraging

[45:27] member cities to consider adapting their own local stability pledge.

[45:32] The League emphasizes that effective local government depends on trust, collaboration,

[45:38] and respectful engagement amongst the elected officials, the staff, residents, and community

[45:43] partners.

[45:44] If the council were to adopt the civilian pledge, it demonstrates a commitment to have respectful

[45:49] governance, constructive communication, and serving all residents with dignity and respect.

[45:58] Questions?

[46:01] Here's the civility pledge.

[46:04] They had some graphs there that they kind of thought were where you were in your community,

[46:09] and it was really interesting to go through that Gill and Carolyn and I were up at that conference.

[46:16] All of us thought that this was something that was very well worth looking into.

[46:20] And, you know, document my resolution to, say yes, this is how we're going to treat our citizens and our staff and any job.

[46:31] Can you do that?

[46:32] You know, I think that they talked a little bit about it at CGMC conference.

[46:37] You know, recent past.

[46:41] It's a good reminder to us all as well as the citizens that we need to do the best we can to do our duties,

[46:50] but also to treat each other as good human beings would treat one another, and that includes

[46:56] our choice of words and actions.

[47:00] Sure.

[47:02] That would be totally true.

[47:05] Absolutely.

[47:05] You're right.

[47:07] Luke Fisher, the executive director from the League of Minnesota City, as we had a meeting

[47:12] earlier today, and he said there are just a couple of cities that I've had to table

[47:18] discussion and the mayor has had to stop it and say this does not, you know, follow the rules

[47:24] of our civility pledge. We have taken a civility pledge where we will have respectful communication

[47:28] only and they've fallen back on this, but yeah, I agree. It should be common sense, but we'll adopt

[47:35] it and have it in place if we ever need it. Yeah.

[47:43] Any other questions or discussions?

[47:46] motion to approve.

[47:47] So moved.

[47:48] Oh, by.

[47:49] Second.

[47:50] Crock.

[47:51] All in favor.

[47:51] Sign.

[47:53] Motion.

[47:55] Go on to item.

[47:57] G2.

[47:57] This is a proposed resolution.

[47:59] The electronic records maintain the laser fish and human resource information systems.

[48:04] Paycom.

[48:05] As original documents and official city records, I'll turn it over to our operations manager.

[48:10] Jessica.

[48:11] The proposed resolution updates, resolution number 31, dash 13, so that was a dot, you know,

[48:20] we officially designated laser fish as our data for records retention. Since then, of course,

[48:28] the technology updates, we have made more operational efficiency changes within the organization,

[48:35] and see the needs,

[48:44] the official record system, so it will live in in paycom, which is our new

[48:51] HRIS, the human resource information system. So this resolution formerly recognizes all the records

[48:58] scanned in and maintain in laser fish. That doesn't change. But we're adding that the records for personnel,

[49:05] payroll benefits leave, other HR records. Those are way to maintain in paycom.

[49:12] As the official city records, we'll have to follow the, obviously, the laws of the retention schedules with those records, as well as the city management procedures.

[49:24] Records management procedures.

[49:27] This resolution affirms the.

[49:29] Further, we'll serve as the official record copy, as long as they're complete, accurate,

[49:35] accessible, secure, and protected from unauthorized alterations, which is quality control

[49:40] requirements for scanned documents outlet, and hold this decision procedures according

[49:46] to state law, authorizes the destruction of eligible paper source documents, once it's been

[49:51] verified.

[49:53] And a copy has been created.

[49:56] Reserves those requirements for permanent and archival records.

[49:59] We do have some records that we're just not able to scan and we'll kill those in paper and paper files.

[50:06] Resolution also establishes security, access, backup, and disaster recovery expectations.

[50:11] And authorizes the city administration to implement any related procedures.

[50:16] It's overall this resolution just brings it up to date.

[50:20] Matter of modernizes our city,

[50:22] reference, management practices, analyzing some with our current technology.

[50:30] Very old, very old.

[50:38] We're talking about it.

[50:38] Okay,

[50:41] changing times.

[50:42] Yes.

[50:44] With that being said, motion to approve.

[50:47] So move.

[50:47] Move aneth.

[50:48] Okay.

[50:48] If not,

[50:54] all in favour of seeing the five of us say aye.

[50:56] Aye.

[50:56] All opposed same sign.

[50:58] Motion carried.

[50:59] All right.

[51:00] Going on to item J3.

[51:01] This is a proposed resolution to approve the Missouri Basin Municipal Power Agency Power

[51:05] Sailor Agreement S1 amended and restated effective January 2nd, 2027.

[51:11] I'll turn this over to our city of Mr.

[51:12] Sure.

[51:13] The S1 Agreement is our power purchase agreement with the Missouri Basin Municipal

[51:18] Power Agency.

[51:20] Our Wapa allocation is, makes up a portion of what we buy.

[51:26] That's our lower cost, hydroelectric power that we have.

[51:30] But in the 1970s, Wapa discontinued allocating anymore power.

[51:36] So what we had as an allocation in 1976 is what we continue to have today.

[51:42] As we've grown a supplemental power purchase,

[51:46] which are above and beyond that WAPA allocation.

[51:51] And so that's when in 1976, the city of Leverne

[51:54] entered into an S1 agreement or a power

[51:58] with the Missouri Basin Municipal Power Agency.

[52:01] Since we've had this agreement in 1976 to purchase power,

[52:07] we've had to extend this, I shouldn't say we've had to,

[52:10] we've been able to extend this agreement six times

[52:14] and this would be five times.

[52:16] this would be the sixth time and Emma's and the Western Minnesota Municipal Power Association

[52:25] ask their customers or

[52:30] Members that are purchasing power to have a 30-year contract, because that helps the Western municipal

[52:36] Minnesota municipal power association with their bonding. It gives a lot of security for their bond financing.

[52:45] They get a more favorable rate. And Western Minnesota municipal power association is the financing arm for

[52:52] So essentially by having all of their members having that 30 year power purchase agreement it gives them security when they're going out for bonds when they're financing generation and transmission projects, which in turn benefit their customers or us as their members.

[53:13] So, this long term commitment can also help the city of Le Verne and Le Verne municipal utilities

[53:19] to have more stable and cost effective wholesale power costs.

[53:24] So, essentially what this resolution is doing is taking our existing S1 power purchase agreement

[53:28] and extending it in additional 10 years.

[53:32] So, we already have it in place through 2057.

[53:35] This would extend it in additional 10 years until 2067.

[53:39] And that asked for that additional 10 years extension

[53:41] is again for the bonding security for Western Minnesota Municipal Power Association.

[53:50] I think the last one we did was the Red Rock Hydro Power project where they bonded for about

[53:56] $500 million and knowing that the bonding capacity of all their members were going to be buying that power,

[54:03] that's where we amended our S1 agreement for that project.

[54:08] So I believe they're doing a solar project.

[54:11] Transmission lines.

[54:13] Transmission lines.

[54:14] up by big stone in Alexandria. And the gas project out in South Dakota.

[54:21] Toronto. It did not pass, but they're looking for a new location for it, so that would

[54:28] also be part of this as well. So, and yeah, they're part of some of the significant

[54:35] Minnesota.

[54:38] So it gives them some power when they're working on their bonding and the benefit

[54:43] us is that it will allow us to have lower costs, more stable rates, more stable rates and

[54:50] cost effect rates.

[54:53] Power is definitely a big topic and big issue that the entire nation is facing and will continue

[55:01] to face as we move forward.

[55:04] And just it also highlights the lead time that the two of these huge projects done, you know 30, 40 years in planning from planning to finished is not unusual and so I mean as a city government we need to be having thoughts and plans of that far.

[55:34] or art of structure as well.

[55:36] Yep.

[55:38] And yeah, they're looking at a 30-year project.

[55:41] Yesterday we sat in a Lewis and Clark meeting

[55:43] and they're looking at a project in 40 years.

[55:47] So you're absolutely right.

[55:48] We need to be looking for projects for that next generation.

[55:52] No thank us in 30 years.

[55:56] Or 40.

[55:57] Or 40.

[55:58] Or 40.

[55:58] We appreciate all those people 30 years ago, with 40 years of experience.

[56:03] And that thoughts that they put into this.

[56:05] Absolutely.

[56:05] We would be where we're at.

[56:09] So if Council passes the resolution, we'll execute.

[56:13] We'll have an attorney's opinion.

[56:15] And that will be Kennedy and Graven.

[56:19] They're an attorney at law.

[56:20] Emers uses Flurity and Hood as their attorney.

[56:23] And so when we deal with municipal power, we use Kennedy and Graven.

[56:27] law firm. And what's the time to turn around on this point too? Yep, so Missouri

[56:35] remember once the finalized executed agreement back by the beginning of November.

[56:42] Yep, so if we execute it now, and then we get it to the attorney, that should

[56:45] give us adequate time to get it back to them. And on top of that, the last S1

[56:53] agreement every community signed it. Yeah, in the last couple that I I don't know one that has it. Yeah, so I'll all the members of Missouri River.

[57:03] All right, any other questions?

[57:07] If not, I motion to approve. So I'm on Baker. Second. Second by Thorson.

[57:13] All in favour of saying the five of us saying aye.

[57:17] I'm sorry.

[57:18] Motion carried.

[57:20] Any other council reports?

[57:25] Like I said earlier, Senator.

[57:27] Global shower was here in a tour.

[57:28] Kids rock on our 87 county tour.

[57:31] We had represented Finsted.

[57:33] Visited with the joint powers board and the Minnesota members yesterday.

[57:38] To talk about the feasibility study for Losing Clark 2,

[57:41] Which, by the way, is a, looks out to 40-year project.

[57:47] Levernd, if that were to happen, Levernd, would be connected in 2070.

[57:55] So, it's long ways out.

[57:57] So, the feasibility study right now is the request of Representative Finstead to get $2.5 million

[58:04] in congressional funding for that to make that happen.

[58:07] And that's the first step in it.

[58:09] So, yeah.

[58:10] I'll be mad, anybody else? Yes, airport fly in on Saturday morning. You must. It's going to be

[58:18] weather permitting. It'll be a very busy Saturday morning out there. Come on out and check out the

[58:24] planes and the cars and the fun stuff. Yep, eight hand cakes.

[58:30] Jerry Annison, Quentin Annison, son is going to be in coming in too. Oh, fun. That's cool.

[58:35] All right, if nothing else, motion to adjourn, moved by Thorson, second by Cracked, all in favor.

[58:45] All right, meeting adjourn. Thank you.

City Council Meeting

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