[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.

Elko New Market City Council Meeting - August 27, 2026

Transcript