[0:00] We're good.

[0:00] » We're good. Thank you.

[0:03] » All right. I'd like to call this meeting

[0:05] to order for the city council of

[0:07] Minatrista. Um but first, I'd like

[0:11] everybody to rise to say the pledge of

[0:13] allegiance

[0:19] to the flag of the United States of

[0:21] America and to the republic for which it

[0:24] stands. One nation under God,

[0:28] indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:30] for all.

[0:36] » Well, Mayor Whan is out ill tonight and

[0:40] her normal replacement, uh, Kathleen

[0:42] Refkin is out, I think, on vacation. So,

[0:46] uh, so I'm Peter Vickery and I'm taking

[0:48] over tonight. Um to to my left I have

[0:51] council member Claudia Lacy and Brian

[0:54] McGovern and public works director Gary

[0:58] Peters

[0:59] » [clears throat]

[0:59] » Uh assistant county excuse me assistant

[1:03] city manager Paula Bowman and to my

[1:07] right Jasper Krugal the city manager and

[1:11] Craig Swear is the safety director. I'm

[1:14] not sure if anybody's on remotely.

[1:17] » Uh let's see. I think we do have a few.

[1:20] Um, let's see. Yeah, we have um we have

[1:22] Yan Meer off the the city clerk, David

[1:24] Ael, the um community development

[1:26] director, and then Sarah Solo, our city

[1:29] attorney. Oh,

[1:29] » Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh, so

[1:32] before we begin, I understand that there

[1:34] are two items that will be taking off

[1:36] the agenda.

[1:37] » Uh, yes, if I may. Um, Council Member

[1:41] Vicky, uh, the two business items, uh,

[1:43] we're proposing to take off the agenda.

[1:46] Um the one requires a supermajority vote

[1:48] which is a four fifths vote in order to

[1:50] pass or to be denied. Um and the other

[1:55] item is kind of paired with it as well.

[1:57] So um due to scheduling we would push

[2:00] that to February 18th. Um on February

[2:03] 18th we should have a full city council

[2:05] here.

[2:06] » Okay. All right. So do I have a motion

[2:09] to approve the agenda?

[2:11] » So moved.

[2:12] » Seconded.

[2:13] » All in favor? I

[2:15] » All right. Well, before we proceed with

[2:18] that, it's my pleasure to honor Michael

[2:21] Kirkwood, who has done so much for this

[2:24] community and Lake Minnotonka

[2:28] as a member of the Lake Matonka

[2:31] Conservation Board. Um, how many years

[2:34] have we been on there? Looks like six.

[2:36] All right. Well, [clears throat]

[2:39] » If we could get a little photo op here

[2:42] with you and council member Vickery,

[2:44] that'd be great. I think um Paul I can

[2:46] grab something. Thanks

[2:59] be

[3:04] » All right. Congratulations. Thank you

[3:06] very much. Pleas

[3:17] I want to do

[3:21] [laughter]

[3:31] » Smile together. Thank you.

[3:36] Thank you, Michael.

[3:47] » So, we just have one person to be heard.

[3:49] » Oh, Christian.

[3:52] » All right.

[3:54] Uh, well, next we'll go to persons to be

[3:57] heard and I understand that Bob

[3:59] Christians you want to see. Could you

[4:02] come to the microphone? Of course, we

[4:04] all know you, but could you give your

[4:05] address as well?

[4:07] » Okay. Well, first of all, as a member or

[4:11] board of directors for West Community

[4:14] College conference now called West, I

[4:16] first of all, I'd like to say thank you

[4:18] to all the people here at Trista for

[4:20] your support of all the events that we

[4:22] take place in. Uh it's really

[4:24] appreciated as uh uh as Jasper knows and

[4:27] and Craig, you're coming up with the

[4:28] next polar plunge, which is next

[4:30] Saturday. away from Saturday. Hopefully,

[4:31] it won't be 40 below windchill because

[4:34] then Claudia won't jump in the lake when

[4:35] it's that cold. But anyway, I'm sorry to

[4:38] be here. I've been a resident here in

[4:40] West Taka for uh since 1989

[4:44] and this has never happened before and

[4:45] I'm sorry to have to take your time. I I

[4:47] appreciate all you do. I used to sit in

[4:50] that chair myself years ago. Uh but uh

[4:53] we had a situation come up where uh I

[4:55] got my water bill and uh I I I didn't

[4:59] know what to I mean it was crazy. And so

[5:01] I immediately called my plumber and

[5:02] Jasper I was talking to my plumber uh

[5:05] regarding what happened. So he checked

[5:07] everything out and went through

[5:08] everything and he found out that there

[5:09] was a problem. And the problem was from

[5:11] the Minatrista city water line. There

[5:13] was some debris in the line that created

[5:16] and caused this to be open. So I mean he

[5:19] said it's really nothing you could have

[5:21] done. It's it's basically the city's

[5:23] response or fault whatever be. So, what

[5:25] I'm asking for is not for you to forget

[5:28] the whole bill. I'm here as a hopefully

[5:30] I think is a reasonable cause is if you

[5:32] just split it with me and pay the cost

[5:34] of what it is could cost me uh and split

[5:37] it 50/50. And I put that on the notes

[5:39] that I think Jasper has given you.

[5:40] Correct.

[5:41] » Yes.

[5:41] » Each of you have that. And I hopefully

[5:43] that we can resolve this. Uh uh we all

[5:47] got better things to do and it's going

[5:49] to be cold. So stay warm this weekend

[5:51] and be safe and hopefully we can come to

[5:53] a resolution where I think asking you

[5:56] for 50% or half of what the cost would

[5:58] be is is reasonable and fair. So thank

[6:01] you for all you do and thank you for

[6:02] your time. Any questions?

[6:04] » Thank you.

[6:05] » Do you have

[6:06] » I don't have questions.

[6:08] » Okay. I don't know what happens now.

[6:11] Somebody tell me what happens now. Do I

[6:12] leave here? Well, like somebody I mean,

[6:16] » It sounds like the two of you have been

[6:18] talking. Uh, how how long has this been

[6:21] going on? And

[6:23] » Yeah, I think I I'm not sure. It's been

[6:24] probably a few weeks, I think, since

[6:26] we've been corresponding. Okay.

[6:28] » Um, but I did talk to talk to uh the

[6:30] plumber and got a little bit more

[6:32] information and and cooperated the the

[6:34] the

[6:36] story, I guess. Um, couple things that

[6:39] we could do. um you know staff doesn't

[6:42] have discretion to modify utility bills,

[6:44] right? So that's a city council thing.

[6:46] Um if if if there's a desire to look at

[6:49] this further, I would say we we put it

[6:51] on a work session f future work session.

[6:53] I have some um ability to to pull a

[6:57] policy together that that I've worked on

[6:59] in the past in a past city where you can

[7:02] look at some of these things and and and

[7:03] and look at what happened and and come

[7:06] up with a a solution potentially with

[7:08] this if that's something that you'd like

[7:10] to look at. Um we could do that at a

[7:12] future council meeting. Um I would say

[7:14] probably the 18th would be the best

[7:16] since we're going to have a full

[7:17] council. Um, but if there is no desire

[7:20] to to look at this and create a policy.

[7:22] I would say I I wouldn't recommend doing

[7:24] a one-off thing, I would say should if

[7:26] we're going to do it as a city, we

[7:27] should do a policy so that if it happens

[7:29] to another resident that we have the

[7:31] ability to to say here's a form, fill it

[7:33] out, we'll bring it basically bring it

[7:35] to city council, you guys evaluate it

[7:37] and either approve or deny it.

[7:39] Forunately, it is a very very rare case

[7:42] and I don't know why mine was, but it's

[7:45] it's probably very very rare that it

[7:48] ever happened. So,

[7:51] anyway, thank you. Yes.

[7:53] » Well, I was going to say, Carrie, is

[7:55] there anything you could speak to on

[7:57] this?

[8:01] » Um, quite frankly, I mean, I do not

[8:04] believe that there was any debris.

[8:06] There's no debris in our water that

[8:07] would cause that. I would say it's more

[8:10] of a [clears throat] mineral issue

[8:11] either, you know, because we do not take

[8:13] out iron. There's always calcium in the

[8:15] water. So, you know, I mean, that's why

[8:18] every six months you should be cleaning,

[8:20] you know, running a cleaner through your

[8:22] softener. I mean, we've had issues with

[8:24] this in Huntress, we had one that

[8:26] happened, too. And um, you know, I I

[8:30] find it hard to believe that it was

[8:31] anything in the water that caused this.

[8:33] I mean, it's, you know, it it to me it's

[8:36] just, you know,

[8:38] mindboggling that there'd be a quote

[8:40] unquote chunk of plastic in our water. I

[8:43] mean, it's just it's it's not

[8:46] reasonable. I mean, it can happen, I

[8:47] suppose, but I've never seen the 13

[8:50] years I've been here already. So, I've

[8:52] never seen it happen either, but I'm

[8:53] just going with my plumber saying this

[8:54] is what the problem was. So, I I you

[8:56] know, I wouldn't be here. I just want to

[8:58] make sure that we can resolve this thing

[9:00] in a friendly manner.

[9:03] Okay. Any questions? Anybody else?

[9:06] » Great. No questions.

[9:09] » Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for

[9:11] your participating in the all the events

[9:13] that we take place in.

[9:15] » Thank you. Well, I think maybe we should

[9:18] bring that up to the general counsel and

[9:20] in the work session and figure out a

[9:23] policy. So

[9:24] » Alison as well

[9:27] would be good. Somebody contact me to

[9:29] let me know where we're going with this.

[9:30] I think it's what best at some point in

[9:33] time.

[9:33] » I will.

[9:34] » And it's something that I could probably

[9:35] like, well, obviously before the bill is

[9:37] due, which is sometime in February.

[9:39] » Well, if you stick around for like maybe

[9:41] a minute, they'll probably give you

[9:43] direction and then you'll know right

[9:44] away.

[9:45] » Yeah.

[9:46] » Well, yeah, it sounds like we're in

[9:48] unison that we would like to bring this

[9:50] up at the B session on February 18th.

[9:54] And I think Alison

[9:56] will [clears throat] need to as well

[10:00] » Yeah.

[10:04] » All [snorts] right. So,

[10:05] » February 18th, work session 5:00 p.m.

[10:09] » February 18th. Uh, you know what?

[10:12] » The bill is going to be due by then.

[10:14] » Well, I'll talk to our utility. If it's

[10:17] all right with you, I'll talk to the

[10:18] utility billing and put a hold.

[10:19] » I think the bill is due with 16.

[10:22] I think you're right.

[10:23] » I don't want another problem. I just

[10:24] » Yeah. No, we'll we'll make sure that

[10:26] nothing happens. It'll be

[10:29] Yeah. Well, thank you for paying half of

[10:31] it.

[10:32] » Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh let's see. So,

[10:37] there are no other people to be heard,

[10:39] so we'll close that session. Um then

[10:43] we'll move on to the consent agenda. Are

[10:46] there any additions or items that anyone

[10:50] would like to remove?

[10:52] Nope. No. All right. Well, uh let's go

[10:56] through those then. Uh so, u item A is

[10:59] approve the city council regular meeting

[11:01] uh minutes uh from January,

[11:04] uh 7th. Uh item B is resolution number

[11:08] 8-26,

[11:10] approve claims. Uh C is resolution

[11:14] number 926 approve extension of

[11:17] preliminary plat for highlands at Whale

[11:19] Lake, excuse me. Uh item D is resolution

[11:23] number 1026 approve simple subdivision

[11:27] between 3265

[11:29] and 3320 Williams Lane. Item E is

[11:33] resolution number 1126.

[11:36] Authorize ex execution of accessory

[11:39] structure agreement with the MCWD

[11:42] at 6300 Painters Road, excuse me,

[11:46] Painter Road. Uh item F is resolution

[11:49] number 1226, approved purchase for

[11:53] replacement of the ditch flail mower.

[11:55] Thank you for getting a little better

[11:57] price than that we estimate, by the way.

[12:00] Um, and then item G is uh, resolution

[12:03] number 1326, accept improvements and

[12:06] authorize final payments for Minneapolis

[12:08] Avenue drainage work.

[12:11] Do I have a motion? So moved.

[12:15] » Second.

[12:16] » All in favor?

[12:17] » I oppose. Passes unanimously.

[12:22] » Okay. Uh, I don't think we have any

[12:25] public hearings. Okay. you know, we're

[12:28] not going to discuss the business items.

[12:30] Um,

[12:32] okay. Administrative items. We have

[12:34] staff reports.

[12:36] » Uh, yeah, Council Member McCree. Um, the

[12:38] only thing I want to bring up is uh the

[12:40] strategic planning uh session. We have

[12:42] that scheduled for uh February 26th

[12:46] starting at 3 p.m. Uh we're hoping that

[12:50] can wrap up by 6 PM and then uh we have

[12:53] a joint city council meeting with the

[12:55] city of St. Bonafacious here at our city

[12:58] council chambers starting at 6:30. Um so

[13:02] hopefully it works out for everybody.

[13:03] It's it's you know scheduling is is

[13:05] challenging so if if you can't make it

[13:07] just let me know. Um but I think St.

[13:09] Bonnie has four out of their five that

[13:12] are able to attend. Um and in general we

[13:14] we kind of crafted an agenda that talks

[13:17] about the fire partnership. Um St.

[13:20] Bonnie has an annexation request uh from

[13:24] uh Minatrista. a little portion of land

[13:26] that Minatrista is in is in the

[13:29] corporate limits of Minitrista that

[13:30] they'd like to discuss with us about

[13:32] possibly giving to them. Um and then the

[13:36] third item is the water interconnect

[13:38] agreement that we um have been working

[13:40] on on and off for probably the last

[13:42] three years. Um and hopefully we can get

[13:44] get that finalized. So those are the

[13:46] three items.

[13:47] » Okay, great. Um any other reports from

[13:53] staff? Oh, council reports.

[13:56] » Um, well, I guess I can say that, um, I

[14:00] had a board meeting with the Gillespie

[14:02] Center last night and their their

[14:06] biggest issue right now is they have a

[14:09] 25-year-old HVAC system and it's quite

[14:13] costly. The most, I think, competitive

[14:16] bid they have is about $188,000.

[14:19] And so, um, I contacted Gary because he

[14:23] knows a lot about things like that. He

[14:24] gave me some additional people just to

[14:27] maybe run that by and do some checking.

[14:30] Um, gosh, they have a new president um

[14:35] on the board who's wonderful, has a lot

[14:38] of business experience, corporate

[14:40] experience. She's lovely. And her name

[14:42] is

[14:44] uh

[14:47] Carlson D. I want to say Donna Carlson.

[14:50] I I'm not her last name is Carlson. And

[14:53] uh she's wonderful. Um

[14:56] that's really about it as far as that's

[14:58] concerned. The Minnesota or the um Lake

[15:02] Minnetonka

[15:03] Community Commerce um organization was

[15:06] kind of like our chamber of commerce is

[15:09] changing names. Um, I mentioned last

[15:11] time to connect West Hanka has like a

[15:15] logo with a bridge kind of connecting

[15:17] nonprofits, forprofits,

[15:20] the the city government, um, all things

[15:23] down in the western suburbs. Um, they've

[15:26] got Plan Moose, which is um, kind of a

[15:29] wonderful marketing company that's going

[15:31] to be helping us kind of really get up

[15:33] and running and bring it to a new level.

[15:36] So, City of Manista is uh one of their

[15:39] uh members and um the charity I run is

[15:43] also a member. So, we're um giving them

[15:46] quite a bit of support and hopefully

[15:48] it'll drive some more business and

[15:51] interest to the little community.

[15:54] » That's about it.

[15:56] » Brian, no updates for me.

[15:58] » Okay. Uh well, I was at the Pioneer

[16:02] Sarah Creek watershed board meeting and

[16:05] um uh they're promoting the uh

[16:08] responsible use of salt, which seems

[16:10] very appropriate given all the icy

[16:12] conditions that we have out outside

[16:14] here, but they're pointing out that just

[16:16] a tablespoon of salt will

[16:17] [clears throat] ruin five gallons of

[16:19] water, which Mike probably knows. So,

[16:23] they're really trying to rain that in

[16:26] and just use it where it's absolutely

[16:28] necessary.

[16:29] Um I talked with Gary about this in the

[16:32] past know that the city is very

[16:33] responsible for this item. So that

[16:36] that's encouraging. Um so that's it for

[16:40] me. Um

[16:43] well um guess this is a

[16:46] » What do we use other than salt here?

[16:48] » Uh well gravel or what do you call it?

[16:52] Not sand but uh

[16:53] » What was the question?

[16:55] » What do you use besides salt?

[16:57] um supposed to be still using like a

[16:59] salt sand mixture other words treated

[17:01] salt to cut down on it. But I mean

[17:03] that's really you know sand or straight

[17:04] sand you know it's that the the problem

[17:06] with you know straight sand is it's a

[17:09] more expensive cleanup cost in spring

[17:11] you know it gets into the um the sumps

[17:14] the sump the catch basin sumps and stuff

[17:16] and it causes a lot more deltas in you

[17:18] know at at the drainage points but salt

[17:21] is equally as bad I mean that gets in

[17:24] the lakes prevents it from turning over

[17:25] I mean it's you know really bad so but

[17:28] yeah you're you don't have much choice I

[17:30] mean they they've did try different

[17:31] liquid treatments

[17:33] with molasses, with beets, different

[17:35] stuff like that, you know, and stuff to

[17:36] try it. But, uh, you know, um, you know,

[17:40] it's nothing beats salt, unfortunately.

[17:43] So,

[17:44] » Gosh, that's too bad.

[17:44] » Well, the gravel roads you put down, uh,

[17:47] » Chips. Yeah, that Yeah, that's uh, you

[17:49] know, 38, you know, rugged, rough chip

[17:52] is what it is. A limestone chip

[17:54] » For those slid up live on gravel roads

[17:57] » Because a gravel road will freeze on it

[17:59] faster than a than a paved road. I mean,

[18:01] like we had those little bit of

[18:03] raintorms and it hits there and it just

[18:05] you got glare ice in a matter of minutes

[18:08] and they're terrible. So,

[18:10] » Yeah, I've noticed that the city salt

[18:12] trucks, they'll put a little patch down,

[18:14] then go down like 50 to 100 feet and put

[18:16] another one down, then let the cars kind

[18:18] of spread it out.

[18:19] » Yeah, they're um so in the the actual um

[18:24] controller itself in the truck, it's

[18:25] programmed for lane miles. So you can

[18:27] set it so it drops either you can spread

[18:30] constantly or you can set it up for the

[18:32] staggered drop you know stuff like that.

[18:35] So um a lot of the guys just do the you

[18:37] know depend on where it's at and let it

[18:39] go through and intersections of course

[18:41] we can hit the blast if we want to do

[18:42] more but you know all the trucks are

[18:44] calibrated every every season beforehand

[18:47] so we keep the right amount of salts

[18:48] going down. We don't want to try to over

[18:51] apply or you know or underapply. So and

[18:53] then we do pre-treat our salt. We take

[18:56] our same um chemical that we use for

[18:58] dust abatement. We actually water it

[19:00] down because it's a little bit too

[19:01] thick. We add water to it and then we

[19:03] add that to our tanks and that sprays

[19:05] onto the salt. So what happens is that

[19:06] salt starts to break down faster. So it

[19:09] actually starts working faster on the

[19:10] roads.

[19:11] » So that's why you see the side tanks or

[19:13] the tank in the back of these trucks.

[19:15] It's a brine solution to help the salt

[19:17] activate faster. So,

[19:20] » But there's there's tons of different uh

[19:22] ideas out there and stuff, but uh salt's

[19:25] still the still the best thing, you

[19:27] know, and so we try to keep it to a

[19:28] minimum. The the real culprit are the

[19:30] private contractors that are doing

[19:32] parking lots and stuff like that just

[19:33] because the slipper falls. You ever look

[19:35] at a parking lot a few days after a

[19:37] storm, they're completely white with

[19:39] salt, which is really sad.

[19:40] » Is that what they use at the airports?

[19:42] Like that scares me.

[19:43] » Yeah, I mean they Yeah, I mean the

[19:45] airport use a lot of liquid chemical too

[19:47] though. Um they use a lot of calcium or

[19:49] mag chloride to help break it down

[19:50] faster. So but a lot of that stuff too I

[19:53] think is in a containment area too that

[19:55] they you know where they stuff I'm

[19:58] assuming it would be in a containment

[20:00] area so that it's not just going into

[20:02] the environment that it comes back and

[20:03] stuff. So

[20:05] » But

[20:06] thank you.

[20:08] » Well with that do I have a motion to

[20:10] close the meeting?

[20:12] » So moved.

[20:14] » I second that. All in favor?

[20:17] [laughter and clears throat]

[20:18] » I

[20:20] » Oppose.

[20:22] No, I guess not. That's an easy one.

[20:26] All right.

2026.01.21 Minnetrista City Council Meeting

Transcript