[0:12] To the flag of the United States of
[0:14] America and to the standice
[0:31] agenda.
[0:31] >> No, Mr. Mayor.
[0:36] » So moved.
[0:39] >> I'll second.
[0:44] Hi.
[0:44] >> Hi.
[0:54] » Comments.
[1:04] » Good evening, mayor and city council
[1:07] members. My name is Don Whitel, 26340
[1:11] Thomas Avenue. And uh Janelle Kousnia is
[1:15] on um is at this meeting also and she
[1:19] will be starting out this evening.
[1:35] » Can you hear me?
[1:36] >> Yes. Okay, good. Good evening, Mr. Mayor
[1:40] and members of the council. Thank you
[1:41] for allowing me to appear virtually. My
[1:44] name is Janelle KNA, 26775
[1:48] Grand Avenue, Elco, Minnesota. Um, I'm
[1:51] here with Don Whitel to ask the council
[1:53] to partner with us to provide private
[1:55] water testing to residents of Elco New
[1:58] Market and New Market Township. Um, I
[2:01] should say private wellwater testing.
[2:03] Um, tonight we're asking the city to
[2:05] take advantage of a unique opportunity.
[2:07] Uh, Twin City Water Clinic has
[2:09] generously donated 150 comprehensive
[2:13] wellwater testing kits to our community
[2:16] and for an additional $18,750,
[2:20] the city could match that donation with
[2:22] 150 more kits and making tests available
[2:25] for up to 300 local well owners. This is
[2:28] imp particularly important at this time
[2:30] because the city has increased pumping
[2:32] from the aquafer and there have been
[2:34] concerns about water changes and water
[2:36] quality in some private wells. Minnesota
[2:39] generally recommends that private well
[2:42] owners test their water regular
[2:44] regularly. However, when there are
[2:46] significant changes in local groundwater
[2:49] conditions, testing that may be several
[2:51] years old may not tell residents what
[2:53] they're drinking today. So testing is
[2:56] recommended more frequently. Recent
[2:58] groundwater sampling also gives us
[3:00] reason to encourage more residents to
[3:02] obtain current information. In September
[3:04] of 2025, the city's report showed that
[3:08] the aquafer and confirmed that there was
[3:11] iron, manganesees, and hardness are all
[3:14] common in in area wellwater. Maganesees
[3:16] exceeded the state health standards in
[3:19] some sampled wells and on one site ours
[3:21] was above the standards. We are not
[3:23] suggesting that every well has a
[3:25] problem. Residents simply need more
[3:27] current information and the best way to
[3:29] know what is in their water is to test.
[3:32] The city has already recognized the
[3:34] importance of water testing by
[3:35] allocating money for testing up to 50
[3:38] wells with Braraw Intertech. We
[3:41] appreciate that commitment and our
[3:43] request is not to replace the city's
[3:45] current testing program. It's an
[3:46] opportunity to complement and expand it.
[3:50] We also understand that participation in
[3:52] the city's current sampling program has
[3:54] been limited. There may be several
[3:56] reasons for that. Some residents may not
[3:59] want staff on their property. They may
[4:01] have difficulty scheduling access or may
[4:03] have concerns or questions about the
[4:05] access agreement. This program offers
[4:08] another option. Residents can
[4:10] voluntarily collect their own samples
[4:12] and submit them for testing. They would
[4:15] not need to schedule someone to come
[4:16] into onto their property. A testing
[4:19] program is most valuable when residents
[4:22] feel comfortable about participating.
[4:25] By making testing simple and accessible,
[4:27] we may be able to reach more well
[4:29] owners. This is also an opportunity to
[4:33] make a generous private donation go
[4:35] twice as far in combination with the
[4:37] Twin City Water Clinic commitment of 150
[4:41] free tests to our community for a
[4:43] relatively modest in investment of
[4:46] $18,750.
[4:49] The city's matching donation could then
[4:51] provide up to 300 residents with current
[4:54] information about their drinking water.
[4:56] Residents who rely on private wells do
[4:59] have a responsibility for monitoring
[5:01] their own water quality. But when
[5:03] conditions in the local aquifer are
[5:05] changing, homeowners cannot necessarily
[5:08] anticipate what they need to test or
[5:10] from weather or whether water quality
[5:14] may have changed since their last test.
[5:16] Providing affordable and accessible
[5:18] testing helps residents take that
[5:20] responsibility seriously and make
[5:23] informed decisions for themselves and
[5:25] their families. Our request tonight is
[5:28] simple. We request that the city council
[5:32] provide funding for 150 additional
[5:34] testing kits either through a portion of
[5:37] the funds already allocated for water
[5:39] testing or through another available
[5:41] funding source. This is not about
[5:44] assigning blame. It's about providing
[5:46] residents with information about the
[5:48] water they drink today. We hope you will
[5:51] support this effort as a gesture of
[5:53] goodwill to the residents of the city
[5:55] and surrounding township and as another
[5:58] way to demonstrate the city's commitment
[6:00] to the health, safety, and well-being of
[6:03] all Elco New Market residents, including
[6:06] those who rely on their private wells.
[6:09] Thank you for your time and your
[6:10] consideration.
[6:13] >> Thank you.
[6:20] » [snorts]
[6:30] » Hello everyone. My name is Wes Hoffman.
[6:32] Uh I live at 9845 Blackpool Court. I
[6:35] first off my script here. Uh I think the
[6:37] city does a great job. Uh especially all
[6:40] the the public works. I love it here. So
[6:42] um that said, um I got to take off my
[6:45] glasses. Sorry, I'm a little nervous
[6:47] here, too. I'm not a public speaker. Uh,
[6:49] good evening, mayor and city council. As
[6:51] my name is Wes Hoffman, I'm a resident
[6:53] of Elco New Market and founder of Dream
[6:55] Green Cannabis Club at 531 Main Street.
[6:58] Thank you for your time tonight. Before
[7:00] I share the latest progress, I want to
[7:02] take a brief moment and share a little
[7:04] bit about who I am. Who I am is a man
[7:06] that is defined by a character and
[7:09] discipline and a deep abiding philosophy
[7:12] that guide my life from a positive
[7:14] mental attitude and strategic execution
[7:17] to relentless commitment to building
[7:18] genuine goodwill and in everything I do.
[7:24] [sighs]
[7:25] I [snorts] would I'm sorry
[7:26] [clears throat] once again little
[7:27] nervous up here. I would be more than
[7:30] happy to sit down and talk with anybody
[7:32] at a future date about my background, my
[7:34] values, and who I am as a community
[7:36] member. But tonight, I am thrilled to
[7:38] give you an update on Dream Green
[7:40] Cannabis Club. When I reflect on my
[7:42] journey and bring this vision to life, I
[7:44] am filled with incredible pride in the
[7:46] path that I've traveled. It has taken
[7:49] two and a half years of dedicated work
[7:51] to get to this point.
[7:53] Got to breathe here too because it is
[7:55] deeply important to me from day one not
[7:58] to just take shortcuts. As John Wooden
[8:00] taught, true success is peace of mind
[8:02] attained only through self-satisfaction
[8:04] and knowing that you made an effort to
[8:06] do the best that which you are able and
[8:08] capable of doing. I approach this by
[8:11] doing things in a certain way with
[8:13] absolute purpose, commitment to building
[8:15] lasting goodwill, close and transparent
[8:18] work working relationship with the city
[8:20] and leadership
[8:22] to build a foundation designed to last
[8:24] and serve the neighborhood safely.
[8:28] Got to catch my breath. Sorry, I thought
[8:30] I had two minutes. [snorts]
[8:32] Um to borrow words from Ralph Waldo
[8:34] Emerson, what lies a what lies behind us
[8:37] and what lies before us is tiny matters
[8:39] with compared to what lies within us.
[8:41] Everything that I've accomplished
[8:43] through navigating local requirements
[8:46] designing a space rooted in integrity
[8:49] comes from the exact commitment to doing
[8:51] things the right way. I'm getting closer
[8:53] every day to opening my doors and I want
[8:55] to personally invite each of you to come
[8:58] and take a look at my space and
[9:00] celebrate my progress. Thank you for
[9:02] your time.
[9:08] » Anyone else?
[9:11] » Public. All right. Close public comment.
[9:15] We'll move on to consent agenda.
[9:23] Anything in the consent agenda you guys
[9:24] want to pull out, discuss?
[9:27] No. All right. I'll take a motion to
[9:29] approve consent agenda.
[9:32] So moved.
[9:33] >> Second. Any discussion?
[9:36] >> All in favor?
[9:37] >> I
[9:45] no public hearings. Uh general business.
[9:49] So item on general business is awarding
[9:52] the sale of bonds um for uh the land
[9:55] acquisition and well number five um
[9:58] improvements and water treatment plant
[10:00] modifications. Normally we would have a
[10:03] representative from Ellers typically
[10:05] Bruce or Rebecca that would be here
[10:07] tonight. Unfortunately Bruce had an
[10:08] unexpected medical situation with his
[10:10] family and Rebecca's out of town. So you
[10:13] guys will have to put up with me. I've
[10:16] sat through enough of these I think I
[10:17] can wing it. Um so we issued or went to
[10:22] market today um for the sale of bonds um
[10:25] for the land acquisition for the
[10:28] approximately 4 acres north of city hall
[10:31] to basically round out the land
[10:32] acquisitions for our future municipal
[10:34] campus. um for the construction of well
[10:38] number five and the water treatment
[10:40] plant modifications which included which
[10:42] were related to the well and also um for
[10:45] providing for bypass capabilities at the
[10:47] well or blending capabilities
[10:50] at the at the plant um market today uh
[10:54] we went out uh we are recommending
[10:57] awarding the sale of the bonds to
[11:01] give me half a second here
[11:13] to Beard, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Uh they
[11:17] were the lowest of five biders with a
[11:21] true interest cost for the bond at
[11:23] 3.7755%.
[11:27] That's approximately 22 points below
[11:29] what was estimated. Um, so we were very
[11:32] close to what we expected to get within
[11:34] the market. The fact that we had five
[11:36] biders was very solid in my experience.
[11:39] Typically you get three to four.
[11:40] Occasionally you may get more than five
[11:42] or more. So I would say that this is the
[11:45] market means we hit it on a good day. We
[11:48] went out there's a lot of people and
[11:50] interested in buying our debt. Um the
[11:52] other biders on the project also
[11:54] included
[11:56] um Northland Securities, Stifel Nicholas
[11:59] and Company Incorporated, TD Financial
[12:02] Products, and Bach Financial Securities
[12:06] um with uh their proposals ranging from
[12:10] 3.79
[12:12] to 3.93.
[12:14] Um, I should also notice that the
[12:16] offering um included a premium of
[12:20] $131,000
[12:22] um which uh we would accept and then
[12:24] that would just be applied against the
[12:26] bond par. So basically just lower our
[12:28] debt service. So with that, the city
[12:31] council is being asked to approve
[12:32] resolution 25 or 2658 authorizing
[12:35] issuance awarding sale prescribing the
[12:37] form and details and providing for the
[12:39] payment of 2.145
[12:43] million in general uh for 2.145 general
[12:46] obligation bonds series 2026A.
[12:54] You just say so moved.
[12:57] >> So moved.
[13:03] Are you seconding it or are you asking
[13:04] first?
[13:06] >> Oh, second.
[13:14] » Thank you.
[13:25] » [clears throat]
[13:26] >> Um, I don't have anything specific for
[13:29] council update unless you have any
[13:30] questions on any items.
[13:35] » I don't have anything specific, but if
[13:37] you have any questions, I'm here.
[13:43] » Happy to say that uh we interviewed uh
[13:45] four candidates in our final interview
[13:48] process and we moved uh three on to
[13:50] backgrounds for two spots. So fingers
[13:53] crossed that maybe we can finally fill
[13:55] the three openings. Uh we're
[13:57] anticipating um potential start dates in
[14:01] October, be able to do two and then the
[14:04] third person probably started in 2027.
[14:07] Um and then also update on the scourge
[14:11] of the scooters and the emotos.
[14:15] Um there's been an uptick in the emotos,
[14:18] the electric dirt bikes going around
[14:20] town. My officers have been very active
[14:22] in stopping kids, demanding helmets,
[14:24] talking to parents. Uh we have had now
[14:27] two cases of the kids on the motorcycles
[14:30] fleeing from us. Um we were able to
[14:32] identify them. Had some interesting
[14:34] conversations with parents, actually
[14:38] charging one of the kids for fleeing. Um
[14:40] hopefully that will put a dent in some
[14:42] of this behavior. But uh they are
[14:45] active, they are out there, they are
[14:46] stopping and having awkward
[14:48] conversations with parents and kids. So
[14:52] [snorts]
[14:53] >> anything for fire
[14:55] related?
[14:57] >> Um on the fire department uh we had our
[15:00] uh discussions on the fire pensionou
[15:03] with the representatives from the
[15:04] relief. um the their representatives um
[15:08] agreed to the terms that the council had
[15:12] directed us to propose which was
[15:14] basically all the same terms generally
[15:16] remaining the same three-year with a 3%
[15:20] increase per year. Uh they'll be
[15:22] bringing it back to the relief for
[15:26] um ratification um at their first
[15:29] meeting in September. So you can expect
[15:31] to see it on consent agenda at the
[15:32] September 10th meeting.
[15:39] engineering.
[15:42] Um, I have a 5-year-old daughter. She'll
[15:44] be turning six here in November. So,
[15:45] she's starting in uh starting
[15:47] kindergarten here in about a week and a
[15:48] half. Uh, so today she actually have
[15:51] they have to have like a little
[15:52] assessment thing where they go in meet
[15:53] their teacher and they do a little
[15:54] assessment just to see how ready they
[15:56] are for kindergarten. Um, so she
[15:58] actually she had that today and the the
[15:59] teacher asked her. Um, so if you have $1
[16:02] and you ask your dad for another dollar,
[16:04] then uh how much money do you have? Uh,
[16:06] and my daughter responded, $1. The
[16:10] teacher's like, "Okay." So then she was speaking with my wife after and
[16:13] she goes, "Yeah, um, not sure Lily
[16:17] understands uh, addition quite yet." Uh,
[16:20] to which my daughter responded, "You
[16:22] don't understand my dad." [laughter]
[16:26] Um, but other than that, no, I nothing
[16:28] formal here tonight unless you guys have
[16:29] any questions. Anything [laughter]
[16:36] [clears throat] from community
[16:37] development?
[16:40] » Passed on?
[16:41] >> No. Um, not at this time.
[16:43] >> Anything from parks?
[16:44] >> Nothing from parks.
[16:47] >> Anything passed on from CC?
[16:51] >> Um, we had the community picnic uh this
[16:53] last weekend. It was very successful.
[16:55] Um, in the past with regards to
[16:57] attendance, we would kind of do the
[17:01] this looks right and we do the one and a
[17:03] half hot dog per person math. Um, this
[17:06] year we actually tried to be a little
[17:08] more formal and use the clicker and we
[17:11] are confident that we had at least 260
[17:13] attendees considering all men, women,
[17:15] and children, infants um, in attendance.
[17:19] And if that's the and it did feel like
[17:20] it was one of our most well attended um
[17:23] community picnics. The weather of course
[17:25] um helped um we didn't get out as much
[17:29] advertising in advance as we have in
[17:31] previous years. So uh if we had done
[17:34] that we honestly could have expected.
[17:36] It's become one of our most appreciated
[17:40] and expected events from our from our
[17:43] residents especially families. But we
[17:46] saw a lot of um
[17:49] non school age kid um families attending
[17:52] as well.
[17:58] All right. Anything from scale?
[18:07] Um our big item from scale executive
[18:10] committee for this month is we had an
[18:12] update on the um co-responder
[18:17] um program in Scott County and this is
[18:19] where you have mental health
[18:21] professionals that will assist um and
[18:24] work directly with our law enforcement
[18:26] agencies to respond to calls. And the
[18:28] idea is that they can help with those
[18:30] individuals ideally put them in touch
[18:33] with the resources um that in the long
[18:36] run will help them with whatever their
[18:39] current situation is and ultimately
[18:41] reduce the number of calls to those for
[18:44] those individuals. Um the program has
[18:46] been successful and has seen some
[18:48] response or there's some benefits of it.
[18:51] The uh some of our larger neighbors to
[18:53] the north, they actually have full-time
[18:54] individuals that are embedded with their
[18:56] police department. Um the smaller
[18:59] communities on the southern and western
[19:01] portion of the county have um because of
[19:03] the volume of calls, they have an
[19:05] individual that's assigned to multiple
[19:06] cities to assist them with that. You can
[19:09] ask the chief about effectiveness. Uh
[19:12] [snorts] this program was a funded
[19:13] through opiate dollars um due the
[19:15] settlements with opiate companies to
[19:17] help um fund this program. Those dollars
[19:20] will be and and other revenue sources
[19:23] will begin to not be able to cover the
[19:25] cost of that by 20 of the late 2020s or
[19:28] 2030. And so there are future
[19:30] discussions that will need to be held
[19:31] about the effectiveness of the program
[19:33] and how it would be funded going into
[19:34] the future. And so more to come on that.
[19:37] As far as the effectiveness of the
[19:38] program, I defer to the chief. [snorts]
[19:42] We've been pretty happy with it. Um they
[19:44] have that access. We let them in our PD.
[19:47] So we see our sign person periodically.
[19:50] It's nice. the a lot of the stuff we end
[19:52] up getting asked to handle is civil,
[19:55] which cops aren't great about doing
[19:57] civil. We're not supposed to. Um, so
[19:59] it's nice to have a kind of a subject
[20:01] matter expert and find resources, mental
[20:04] health, um, programs, things like that.
[20:06] They've been very good about that. They
[20:08] don't respond. These aren't your typical
[20:10] co-responders that go right to the house
[20:12] with you during something that's
[20:14] happening. Um those are programs you
[20:16] tend to see in bigger cities, bigger
[20:18] counties, better funding for those kind
[20:19] of programs. Um but we feel it's been very helpful and beneficial to have
[20:25] access to that. Um even if they spread a
[20:28] little thin between the four smaller
[20:30] agencies. Um but it is nice to at least
[20:32] have someone that can help at times.
[20:42] » That was service delivery. Um we had
[20:44] scale exeact last Friday. Um the
[20:47] discussion there uh revolved around
[20:50] again the
[20:53] uh the lobby's contract. Um some
[20:56] discussion about the upcoming session
[20:58] and um preparing for the legislative
[21:00] platform associated with that. Uh there
[21:03] is also discussion about upcoming
[21:05] meetings. uh they're looking to have
[21:08] multiple sessions related to school
[21:10] funding because it's such a complex um
[21:13] issue. I've heard more than one
[21:15] legislator joke that there's only three
[21:17] people that really understand how it
[21:18] works and they're not allowed to travel
[21:19] in the same car. Um it's but um uh in
[21:24] all seriousness it's it's a more complex
[21:26] issue and school districts would like to
[21:29] try and provide more information that
[21:30] and now with the constitutional
[21:32] amendment that's coming out they would
[21:34] like to try and also provide objective
[21:37] um information related to what it is and
[21:39] what it mean what it actually is because
[21:42] if you look around there's not a lot of
[21:43] information out there right now on it.
[21:45] In fact, I just had a discussion this
[21:46] afternoon with the Lakeville school
[21:48] superintendent [clears throat]
[21:50] um on on the topic and a lot of that
[21:52] information is forthcoming.
[21:54] Um so those were the those are the
[21:57] primary topics that were discussed.
[21:58] >> Maybe somebody will ask you know when
[22:00] school districts decide to do special uh
[22:03] elections and special things that they
[22:06] don't um
[22:08] try to
[22:10] change access to voting and things like
[22:12] that. And uh you know maybe some of this
[22:15] is a good conversation to have of how
[22:17] things may or may not be manipulated at
[22:20] times or appear manipulated. I shouldn't
[22:22] say that they are but um yeah and they
[22:27] won't be there because it's not probably
[22:30] they're not scale. So not that there's a
[22:32] good example that I'm alluding to.
[22:37] [laughter]
[22:41] » Yes. will be back in September.
[22:47] » Just wrapped up second month of those
[22:50] meetings. Uh the next month will be the
[22:53] last one where changes and proposed
[22:55] amendments. So this is where first
[22:58] meeting was intro to what happened.
[22:59] Second meeting was a bunch of
[23:00] presentations on stuff. Some good
[23:02] presentations from transportation stuff,
[23:04] met council stuff, uh some housing
[23:06] pieces. Uh and now it gets into the guts
[23:10] of any proposed changes or things like
[23:12] that. So, as soon as those comes out, I
[23:14] can share those and if there's comments
[23:16] or feedback, whatever. The Northwest
[23:18] Suburbs are going to do another push on
[23:20] group home stuff. So, that'll be another
[23:23] fun session dealing with that. So, um
[23:26] but we're going to do things differently
[23:28] here. we're or that's what I'm going to
[23:30] hope to uh promote because I think
[23:33] there's a good way that local
[23:35] governments can insert themselves into
[23:37] those types of discussions and there's
[23:39] not a good way to do it and
[23:42] we're going to continue to have that
[23:44] conversation. So,
[23:53] » any discussion by council?
[23:57] I'm just wondering, you know, with Don
[24:01] and Janelle's testimony or public
[24:04] comment earlier, knowing that the
[24:07] there's probably a hard deadline for
[24:10] some of this stuff to be considered, it
[24:12] feels only fair to have a further
[24:13] follow-up conversation if folks are
[24:15] interested in having a conversation. Um,
[24:19] since we didn't really do a whole lot of
[24:21] back and forth because we don't
[24:22] typically do that for public comment.
[24:23] So, just want to throw that out there to
[24:25] see if anybody was interested in
[24:27] discussing it further. [snorts]
[24:32] » I believe there's statutory limitations
[24:33] in what we can do
[24:36] and I think that
[24:39] will [clears throat] dictate what we do.
[24:44] >> Andrea, do you have back
[24:46] >> discuss that? So for any uh spending
[24:50] that the city does uh it is required to
[24:54] have a public purpose and typically
[24:56] you've got to look to uh constitutional
[25:00] state statutes to determine what you're
[25:02] authorized to spend on. Uh this is
[25:05] essentially a private
[25:08] gift or grant and there really isn't any
[25:11] specific
[25:13] uh basis in law for that sort of funding
[25:17] public expenditure.
[25:19] >> Now, Andrea, when you're saying public
[25:20] purpose, you're saying a public purpose
[25:22] that is justifiable for the city,
[25:25] >> correct?
[25:26] >> Where other units or levels of
[25:28] government,
[25:28] >> they have that authority. There are
[25:30] counties that do uh provide free test
[25:34] kits. For example, Dakota County does
[25:36] that. Uh the state will sometimes have
[25:39] grant funding which they give to
[25:40] counties for that. But there isn't
[25:43] anything I was able to find for cities
[25:45] to do this sort of grant.
[25:50] And it feels like that what you just
[25:52] said there probably justify or confirms
[25:54] a lot of the stuff as I was trying to
[25:56] educate myself on is there any other
[25:58] cities that do this and it didn't look
[26:00] like from what I was able to find that
[26:02] there were any other cities but counties
[26:04] there's several counties that do it in
[26:05] Noa Dakota Dakota Henipin and others and
[26:09] then maybe cities play a role in
[26:10] facilitating or whatever but not
[26:12] necessarily the ones purchasing those
[26:14] kits or subsidizing them or anything.
[26:17] Yeah, we did u make a call to Scott
[26:20] County um to see if they had any
[26:22] programming. Uh Corey actually made that
[26:24] call just to say, "Hey, do you guys have
[26:26] anything that might you might be able to
[26:27] bring to bear um to assist with the
[26:30] clinic?" And the county indicated that
[26:32] they currently don't have that type of a
[26:35] program currently. And historically, the
[26:38] staff person that we spoke to doesn't
[26:40] recall that they had done that in the
[26:41] past. doesn't mean that they haven't,
[26:42] but that is not a there isn't a source
[26:45] of funding today for that type of a
[26:48] program through Scott County. Doesn't
[26:50] mean that there might not be in the
[26:51] future, but for purposes and given the
[26:52] timelines of the clinic, it's unlikely
[26:54] they would have something to bring to
[26:55] bear.
[26:58] >> So, legally, we cannot
[27:02] fair or accurate.
[27:06] >> May I ask a question?
[27:09] >> Sure. Ask a question. Could it be done
[27:12] if the city
[27:19] could it be done if the the city worked
[27:22] with directly with the company instead?
[27:25] Uh
[27:27] >> again, it's asking for funds from the
[27:29] city and that we legally cannot
[27:30] >> that's a good
[27:31] >> to organ well to organize a testing.
[27:34] >> That that's a good question, Don. So the
[27:36] testing that we're doing is directly
[27:38] related to that we do when we have water
[27:41] quality complaints is directly related
[27:43] to our permit and permit is part of our
[27:45] authorized function. So there's a direct
[27:47] nexus with what we're doing. In this
[27:50] case we would be doing testing on
[27:54] private wells that isn't related to any
[27:56] of our public operations. It would be
[28:00] [snorts] it would whether we worked uh
[28:03] regardless of how we provided it in this
[28:05] circumstance given who the recipients
[28:07] are and what the purposes um it's hard
[28:09] to draw that nexus for the public
[28:11] purpose.
[28:13] >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for consider
[28:16] bringing it up.
[28:19] For what it's worth, I've been digging
[28:21] around on the internet and I know that
[28:22] Andrea will probably shake her head at
[28:24] me, but I know I know that it's more
[28:26] than nitrates that you want to be
[28:28] tested, but the Scott Oil and Water
[28:30] Conser Conservation District does free
[28:33] nitrate testing once a year. So, if that
[28:36] is something like a a resource that
[28:38] could possibly be used to and I don't
[28:41] like this isn't going to be something
[28:42] that that we would do as a city, but
[28:44] could possibly be tapped into to see if
[28:47] they would be interested in doing more
[28:49] testing more things rather than just the
[28:52] nitrate testing.
[28:54] >> That's a call we can I mean, we may not
[28:56] be able to fund it, but we can make
[28:58] phone calls and make inquiries because
[29:00] we have, you know, relationships with
[29:02] those agencies.
[29:03] >> I was trying are they at scale
[29:05] they are they also attend service
[29:07] delivery. So that actually could be a
[29:09] >> that might be like a project that scale
[29:12] could consider.
[29:13] >> Yeah. I mean this it's good that the
[29:14] question came up but that would be
[29:16] something that I could and we've had
[29:17] discussions as you know at scale where
[29:19] they've talked about um various uh
[29:22] groundwater work that they've done as
[29:23] the county and collection of data and
[29:26] they're currently working on a
[29:27] groundwater study which doesn't have a
[29:30] completion time at this date. Um but the
[29:33] idea of offering um uh trying to provide
[29:37] more opportunities for well owners um
[29:39] might be an opportunity and those
[29:42] agencies might have where they it's part
[29:44] of their clear authorized purpose. They
[29:46] might have more opportunities to to
[29:48] provide that. So it's something I could
[29:50] bring up at service delivery as a as an
[29:53] item and just see if there's a there.
[29:55] Soil and water isn't always there, but
[29:57] if they're not, then I can just make a
[29:59] direct call to the director.
[30:00] >> Yeah. because I feel like well early on
[30:02] at the scale exec committees we talked
[30:04] about like different projects to bring
[30:06] up and project ideas
[30:08] >> and so I don't
[30:10] >> I don't have my notes for what I
[30:12] scribbled down at that point in time to
[30:14] see if it fit fits the bill but
[30:16] >> just from the politics of the
[30:17] organization it might actually be better
[30:19] to bring up an executive committee
[30:21] because um then they can push it down um
[30:24] so to speak to the committee u both work
[30:28] but it might it might actually be more
[30:30] effective if it's brought up at at the
[30:31] executive committee level. Um because
[30:34] you have a lot more of the players
[30:36] there, so to speak.
[30:49] » Janelle, did you still have something
[30:51] you wanted to contribute?
[30:55] I was just going to say as far as
[30:57] nitrates goes, we've held two um well
[31:00] clinics here and we've tested over 500
[31:02] wells and I think we had one and that
[31:05] well was south more south by Fairbolt.
[31:09] Um so really the nitrate issue because
[31:12] we have such thick till here in the area
[31:15] doesn't become isn't isn't the primary
[31:18] issue. The the primary issue is
[31:20] manganesees and arsenic. Um um so just so you know I mean we've tested
[31:26] over 500 wells already and we nobody has
[31:30] had nitrates. So and I'm I'm well aware
[31:33] I think the grant money that Dakota
[31:35] County has comes directly from the state
[31:38] and the next opportunity to apply for
[31:40] that is 2020 aid and I've been in
[31:42] contact with uh Scott County and um the water resource group there. So
[31:49] that's all. Thank you.
[31:52] >> Thank you.
[31:54] >> Any other discussion?
[31:55] >> Have we had any had any state
[31:57] representatives, senators, candidates
[31:59] reach out about coming here at all?
[32:01] Seems like there's a lot of campaigning
[32:03] going on and nobody seems to give a crap
[32:05] about us down here.
[32:06] >> No.
[32:07] >> Just curious,
[32:08] >> would would the council
[32:12] » I mean, come on, man. I know it's only
[32:14] August. It's almost September, but
[32:15] hopefully we'll get a few coming down
[32:16] here. Usually it comes later in the
[32:18] session where they come for the um hi,
[32:20] I'm running for office under public
[32:23] comment. Um however, it has been our
[32:25] practice in the past to um set up
[32:28] meetings
[32:29] uh with those individuals either prior
[32:31] to or after the election preession to
[32:34] make them aware of our priorities in the
[32:35] community.
[32:41] » Any other discussion council
[32:44] hearing? None. I'll take a a motion for
[32:47] adjournment.
[32:48] >> Motion to adjurnn.
[32:50] >> Second.
[32:51] >> Any discussion? All in favor?
[32:53] >> I adjourned.