[0:02] This conference will now be recorded.
[0:06] » All right. Welcome everyone to the uh
regular council meeting for August 10th,
[0:10] 2026. We'll call the meeting to order. A
roll call shows that Mayor Ferguson is
[0:16] absent. Let's all stand for the pledge
of allegiance.
[0:20] [clears throat]
I aliance to the flag of the United
[0:25] States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under
[0:31] God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
[0:42] » Anyone have any changes or additions to
the agenda?
[0:46] Uh, I'd like to move uh the resolution
2611 down to
[0:52] uh either unfinished business or new
business if we could do that.
[1:00] Other than that, can I entertain a
motion for to approve the agenda?
[1:05] » So moved.
[1:08] » Second.
>> Motion a second. All in favor?
[1:11] » I opposed.
Consent agenda.
[1:18] Make a motion to approve the consent
agenda items.
[1:21] » Second.
>> We have a motion in a second. All in
[1:24] favor?
>> I oppose.
[1:29] Public comments. Anyone wishing to
speak?
[1:35] Pardon?
Councelor.
[1:39] » Yes. I understand the ambulance was
discussion last week. Um the director
[1:44] out to me uh asked me to be there if
possible. I wasn't able to, but I did
[1:49] write
[1:56] a couple spots because
I get a chance
[2:04] members, mayor, administrator.
[2:09] My name is Josh.
[2:13] While I'm not a direct constituent of
New Richland, nor the New Richland
[2:17] Ambulance Service, many of our sheriff's
office constituents in this area are
[2:21] covered by the New Richland Ambulance
Service. I very often work directly with
[2:25] the ambulance service to save the lives
of these commun community members when
[2:29] they need immediate life-saving medical
treatment. One of these community
[2:32] members is a man named Kim who's
actually here tonight. I will never
[2:36] forget Kim because he's the very first
person I directly saved in my career.
[2:40] Kim had a medical issue that would have
killed anyone who didn't receive
[2:43] immediate medical care. And myself, my
partner,
[2:46] uh, now director Sarah Sunby and Sarah
Joe Balkan got to give Kim time. We
[2:51] saved his life. Another minute or two
and we would have been after I returned
[2:57] to work for my own near fatal injury. I
spoke with Kim and Kim said I clearly
[3:01] had more work to do in my career save.
It didn't take long for that to come
[3:05] true. I responded with Sarah to the golf
course where a man had fallen on the T
[3:09] box injured his
um if not for the original ambulance
[3:14] insisting that he go
[3:19] another amate
[3:24] didn't want to go in just heart rate
but Sarah urged him to go to the
[3:31] hospital and get checked out and on the
way his heart failed in the ambulance
[3:35] it's another person that I was at a call
with uh with Sarah and
[3:41] yeah, if it wasn't for the ambulance
service, that constituent of ours
[3:45] wouldn't be here.
[3:50] » Um without original ambulance service,
when we get to a scene, all we have is
[3:54] an AD and oxygen bottle and CPR. We do
now have a Lucas device as well, but
[3:58] that's all we have very
[4:03] fast
[4:09] ambulance service isn't just calls to
the care center direct life saving are a
[4:14] valuable resource to the entire service
area. I have a recent medical just last
[4:17] week I had a conversation with a new um
fire rescue member of the fire
[4:21] department where I expressed my optimism
that fire rescue may soon respond to
[4:26] medicals with the ambulance service like
we do in the city and that we do in
[4:30] Jamesville. That's that's our dream as
deputies as we get as many people there
[4:33] to help as we can because we have lives
to save. [clears throat]
[4:37] We're in the business of saving lives,
ladies and gentlemen. North is a good
[4:40] organization, but they're simply too far
away at times. I don't see a decision to
[4:44] give up the original ambulance services
as a responsible decision when seconds
[4:48] count saving lives. I believe people
will die if the ambulance service is
[4:51] discontinued and I pray that they don't
die in my arms. My father, Phil
[4:55] Langanger, a long time Wasiki County
deputy, one time chief here, uh was once
[5:00] told long ago by the Jamesville mayor
Els people die and you can't save. I say
[5:05] that's and we're going to
absolutely try to save every single
[5:08] person. Thank you for your time and
thank you last week.
[5:27] Please,
>> Jody. Thanks for your service.
[5:32] » Thank you.
>> Gosh, good to see you,
[5:36] Matt.
[5:39] » I know what you were doing. I think we
met.
[5:42] » Yep. Thanks. So it's good to see all of
you. Let's talk a little bit just
[5:47] history.
My mom graduated from N in 1950.
[5:54] 1942 she watched her uncle Helmer
Blackner go off on a train in his
[5:59] uniform
World War II killed in Germany on the
[6:02] bridge of the Mgan
never came back came back. and he stood
[6:07] there on that train and waited until he
was You're old enough to remember a new
[6:12] region. It was Tim's cafe, had my first
orange soda there. So then I went in the
[6:17] military and I did 23 years and I came
back. I've sat where you've been. I've
[6:22] been in a hot chair. I've been where
I've had to make decisions that are
[6:25] unpopular and it's not fun. But there
also is you have to make a decision
[6:30] that's going to benefit most for
everyone, not just for you. money.
[6:37] I'm pretty sure if you put a bond out
there says we can keep our ambulance if
[6:41] we raise the taxes because if we don't
it isn't a matter of if you're going to
[6:46] die it's when
I'm coming up on nine years and these
[6:52] are two that say give me permission to
speak. Was I dead?
[6:56] » Yes,
>> I'm dead. There no pulse there nothing.
[7:00] Want to come to church? I'll tell you
what I saw.
[7:04] That's a church.
[7:09] I'm alive. And guess where I came from
today?
[7:12] » The golf course. I love to play golf. I
also retired. I'm also a substant
[7:16] teacher here. Do a lot of that. I taught
an average of four days a week from
[7:20] January to the 1st of June. Four days
teaching at that high school.
[7:26] If I was dead, there wouldn't have been
somebody to do it.
[7:29] So when you're saving a life, you don't
realize how that's going to affect down
[7:33] the line
or the next time they get called out.
[7:40] Be your
loved one. I said it isn't a gift. It's
[7:45] when
you need more money for that ambulance.
[7:54] A lot of other things you can do beside.
[8:07] [clears throat]
Anyone else need to speak?
[8:13] » All right, we'll move on to Commissioner
Doug Christopherson.
[8:19] Good evening
council. Thanks for letting me come in
[8:26] tonight. I got this is some information
that was we had an open house here a
[8:31] couple weeks ago
on our justice center.
[8:39] Gives you some of the highlights. We
won't go over all this, but it's
[8:42] something for you guys to take home and
read.
[8:46] is uh kind of the
history and and why we're in the
[8:52] situation we're in.
My biggest reason for being here tonight
[8:56] is to tell you where we're at in the
process
[9:00] and how we plan to finance it to
keep it from being burdensome to our
[9:08] constituents. uh on this bill. Um
this has been kicked down the road for
[9:16] many years. When I got on the board 12
years ago, it was a issue uh with our
[9:22] aging le building
[9:32] on close to 60 years of that building
which um when I first got on I struggled
[9:38] with
[9:48] But there's many things with it that are
insufficient uh in DOC standards
[9:53] nowadays uh with sightelines with uh
recreational area for inmates,
[9:59] sunlight,
um many different things that they have
[10:04] stated that it's just an aging facility.
Uh, another large problem is
[10:12] transporting your inmates to the
courtroom. Uh, we have to go through the
[10:17] public area to get them to the
courtroom.
[10:21] Um, in our inability, it isn't
inability, but the difficulty of
[10:26] securing the courthouse on court days
um makes it difficult with our present u
[10:35] setup there. So a facil a new facility
would would uh
[10:41] address all those things along with uh
handicap accessibility
[10:49] more efficient building and it would
also eliminate
[10:54] uh the use of the east annex. We would
get all county um
[11:01] departments across the street. we would
all be on the same block and hopefully
[11:07] long term that East Annex would turn
into something more productive
[11:12] for the community.
Um
[11:17] so that's kind of why we're here. Uh we
did also make the decision to uh
[11:28] not build a full scale uh class jail
going to be a 72hour facility. Um
[11:37] biggest reasons for that is uh cost of
the building and cost of operations.
[11:44] Um
we can do a lot of the same things under
[11:50] a 72-hour facility. Uh we can still have
sentence to serve. We can still have
[11:55] work release. We just can't have that
consistently in there for 72 hours at a
[12:01] time. So, there are ways to continue the
programs that we're doing u with this
[12:09] facility that we're planning to build.
Uh [clears throat] when I first talked
[12:15] to Tyler about coming here and talking
to you, um the plan was is that we would
[12:20] have we would have had bid opening by
now and that we would be
[12:26] u breaking ground end of this month. Um,
we ran into a snafu with the bid process
[12:34] and so we have to because of the winter
now we're going to have to push that
[12:38] back to a spring breaking ground in the
spring which
[12:43] » hopefully won't cost us a whole lot
because we won't have that winter then
[12:47] dealing with uh the cold weather. So if
everything goes as planned, we're we're
[12:53] talking about breaking ground next
spring and then we would move in fall of
[12:59] 28.
So that's where we are timelinewise. Now
[13:05] if you guys on the back page years, it
shows the
[13:10] um
>> the financial part of it um
[13:16] along with soft cost. So everything
all the construction costs, soft costs,
[13:23] we're looking at right at $33 million
project. Um
[13:28] we've got
7 million in in savings and reserve.
[13:34] Um that has to do with um
we in back in 2021 we started budgeting
[13:43] 750,000 a year anticipating this
project. Um we we were able to do that
[13:51] through
increase efficiencies and operations. Um
[13:57] we didn't
obviously if we would have taken that
[14:01] off the levy that would have been a
benefit to the constituents but we
[14:05] didn't add it on to the constituents. We
found efficiencies within the county to
[14:10] to start uh saving that money. Um
1 million of that seven million is
[14:19] coming from Men Prairie Human Services.
We've uh developed a plan there so that
[14:27] when the reserves get too high within
Men Prairie, they come back to the
[14:31] county. So they're only going to be
holding a certain percentage for
[14:35] reserve.
Um, and we've been able to pull some of
[14:38] that money back to help uh with some of
these CIP projects. Uh
[14:45] and then the
2.5 million was was also
[15:11] and we presented
our application to get some
[15:15] congressional
direct spending from the feds and uh she
[15:20] has assured us that we are going to be a
we are going to get 3 million out of
[15:24] that and the reasoning for the 3 million
the ask was to try to cover our soft
[15:32] and so
we're we're 90% sure that we're going to
[15:36] get that money but nothing's for sure
until it's uh done in Washington.
[15:43] » So, we've got 10 million that we're
going to be able to draw down right
[15:46] away. So, we're going to be looking at
about 23 million
[15:54] service $23 million of bond. Going to
take about 1.65
[15:59] million a year over a 20-year period to
service that bond debt. Um, our plan to
[16:04] do that is uh we've got bonds falling
off in 2830.
[16:10] that's going to um equate out to
625,000.
[16:15] Um we've got operational savings through
the sheriff's department
[16:20] with with what we're doing. We're going
to be saving there's going to be some
[16:24] savings there. There's going to be some
extra cost too obviously for transit,
[16:29] but there's going to be uh some savings
with running the facility itself. So
[16:36] that that we're estimating at about
400,000 a year and then what we've been
[16:42] budgeting already is 750. So that gets
us up to 1.775.
[16:48] So that in itself
all things going the way planned
[16:54] should service that that bonding. Uh
the other thing that's out there that
[17:01] that we applied for this year was local
option sales tax to help pay for it. Uh
[17:08] right now we have a half a percent local
option sales tax. This would be 38%.
[17:14] Um it was
uh passed by the state that we are
[17:21] allowed to do this for these kind of CIP
projects. Um
[17:27] it it looked like it was going to go
through. It was in the budget bill.
[17:31] There was 45 different communities
within Minnesota that had
[17:37] uh CIP or these local option sales tax
proposals.
[17:42] And I and I don't I' like to brag about
our administrator whenever I get a
[17:47] chance because he's he's topnotch.
Um,
[17:53] our Tom Ston, our representative said
they were using his as a template, our
[17:58] application. So, he did an excellent
job. It looked like it was going to go
[18:05] through and through last minute
negotiations up in the capital, they
[18:10] took them all out. They took all 45 out.
So,
[18:16] um, we will continue to try that again.
And even if we get the facility built,
[18:22] we still have the ability to apply for
that.
[18:26] This is something that has to be passed
before we break.
[18:33] Um, a lot of people, I don't know how
you feel about local auction sales tax,
[18:39] but
nobody likes another tax,
[18:44] but local option sales tax in a county
the
[18:56] brings in 30 to 40% of that money
outside
[19:05] of the county. That's not the whole
burden isn't going on.
[19:12] So that that's really why I I feel it's
a good option because it brings money
[19:16] from outside of the county, especially
when you have a big box store like a
[19:21] Walmart. Uh it brings people into the
county.
[19:27] So
is there any questions for me? I guess I
[19:32] just wanted to update you guys and kind
of give you an idea when you're talking
[19:35] to
citizens in in town here, you know, and
[19:39] I know the biggest question is
[19:50] I noticed you said that they'd
authorized to put it on the ballot for
[19:53] 2026. So now is it going to have to wait
to 2028 before we put it on the ballot
[19:58] again for us to vote it in?
>> Yeah, I thanks for saying that because
[20:02] yeah, even with this local ops and sales
tax, even if the legislation would have
[20:06] passed it, it would go on the ballot. So
constituents have to
[20:11] » the the road tax that we did the half
percent that didn't need to go on the
[20:15] ballot but this does.
>> So this will have to get passed but no
[20:19] it can be a special election.
>> So we would probably if it gets passed
[20:25] in 27 we would put it on
[20:31] the chair
people in attendance here able to ask
[20:34] questions.
>> We'll see why not.
[20:37] » Yes sir.
>> [clears throat]
[20:43] » discussion.
[20:51] » Yeah, I I did read that article and I
knew that there was talk about that that
[20:57] it's
I think
[21:01] I don't know what went on there, but
also in that article they had
[21:08] Dodge County Sheriff has already
identified more
[21:14] three other counties that are
so I think that we pull them out of
[21:19] homestead fairly quickly
that that's something that'll have to be
[21:25] addressed because yeah it's a concern.
No doubt. No doubt it's a concern if if
[21:30] you get
the situation with Homestead that that's
[21:36] got to be very frustrating for Dodge
County. Um but but we have several jails
[21:42] around us that are have room uh steel
lass. Um so I I
[21:51] it's a concern but I think it's workable
concern.
[21:55] char.
[22:03] » Well, yeah. You know, like like Dodge
County, they have uh they've never had a
[22:08] jail. Um so, yeah, they don't have any
facility,
[22:13] not even a holding facility. So, it it's
something they've been able to work, but
[22:18] I get the concern, but I really think
there's enough. Obviously, we don't want
[22:23] to start transporting 200 miles away,
you know, so
[22:26] » we don't want to do it, [laughter]
>> right? Right now, we have pretty good
[22:32] working relationships with some
neighboring
[22:39] that way for us. But yes, I that's
disturbing that homestead.
[22:44] » How many offenders will this new uh
facility hold at a time? We will just
[22:49] have three holding cells and then I
believe there's a soft cell
[22:55] » and within 72 hours we'll have to
transfer them to another.
[22:58] » So how does that work with the sentence
to serve and stuff like that
[23:02] in Steel County or something?
>> Well, I I don't think so. I I the way I
[23:09] was told it is that it they can as long
as they're not in that facility for 72
[23:15] hours straight, you know.
come back. Not sure on the sentence.
[23:21] Maybe
[23:28] » uh I know we have the ability to do it.
Whether we're going to do it, I I can't.
[23:35] » When you say there's three holding
cells, does that mean there's only three
[23:38] people that can be held or can you fill
each cell to 20, 30 people?
[23:41] » No, three. Just three. [clears throat]
>> What is it now? Eight.
[23:46] No, it's right now we have
>> what is that?
[23:49] » We have six Huber cells and or we have
six Huber beds and 20 straight cells.
[23:55] » We have 20,
>> but only three, huh?
[23:59] » We into a wreck room. So, the
>> Are you going to build to the north of
[24:03] the present building there in that big
>> where those old houses used to be that
[24:08] you
>> cleared out? Yeah, it'll be really kind
[24:11] of diagonal from the the straight north
of the old the LC building right now.
[24:18] » And then that will be parking lot.
>> Okay.
[24:24] [clears throat]
[24:28] » Right. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thanks.
[24:32] » Next up is Abdo with preliminary audit
presentation.
[24:43] Um hello. Um just a quick introduction.
My name is Kelsey Gertr and I'm a senior
[24:49] associate at ABDO. I was in charge of
the new audit this year. So I will kind
[24:55] of go through um the financial statement
results which includes the audit opinion
[25:02] legal compliance results current
findings and recommendations along with
[25:06] a highle review of the city's general
fund other governmental funds enterprise
[25:12] funds and then I will also go through
some key performance indicators.
[25:21] So the city received an unmodified
opinion under GAP this year and this is
[25:25] the opinion that we are looking to
issue. An unmodified opinion means the
[25:29] financial statements are presented
fairly in all material respects in
[25:33] accordance with GAP. Um and then we did
not have any instances of
[25:39] non-compliance.
[25:43] So our fiscal year 2025 findings
um they're mainly related to internal
[25:48] control findings.
which they are the preparation of
[25:54] financial statements, limited
segregation of duties, reconciliation,
[25:58] proper supporting documentation and
material audit adjustments. Overall,
[26:03] these findings are very common for
smaller cities um where staffing and
[26:09] resources can make a full segregation of
duties difficult. There's a lot of pros
[26:15] and cons to it. um you could hire more
people, but then you're going to be
[26:19] paying more people. So, typically it's
easier for less employees and then the
[26:26] council just has oversight of all the
financial information. Um overall, the
[26:32] key takeaway is that management and
council should continue focusing on
[26:37] review controls, documentation, timely
reconciliations,
[26:41] and then maintaining support for
transactions.
[26:46] And this is just the prior year
findings. Um they all kind of roll
[26:51] forward into the current year which is
not unusual at all especially when they
[26:56] relate to staffing staffing structure
and urine processes.
[27:05] Um and then our recommendations overall
they are really focusing on to continue
[27:11] improving internal control documentation
and this includes developing written
[27:16] policies and procedures, documenting
employee responsibilities, documenting
[27:21] processes
and overall this will improve internal
[27:25] controls to help with staff turnover.
Um, also we would recommend having the
[27:31] city staff review all of the outstanding
loans and verifying all loan.
[27:41] Now I will move on to the general fund
and I do apologize our years are off by
[27:47] one year. Um, sometimes we have issues
with things moving to the PDF. So it
[27:53] should be 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26.
Um, overall this chart is showing the
[28:01] city's general fund reserve levels over
time compared to the city fund balance
[28:06] policy. The city's reserve position has
remained well above the 50% policy level
[28:11] and continues to remain strong and this
indicates that the city has a strong
[28:17] financial flexibility
[28:26] general fund budget to actual overall in
the general fund the final budgeted
[28:31] revenues and expenditures were
approximately $1.4 4 million.
[28:37] Actual revenues came in a little bit
under at about 1.3 million. And this was
[28:42] mainly due to reduced billing related to
ambulance revenues. And this was common
[28:48] with a lot of cities that we saw this
year with the old ambulance billing
[28:53] company. The name is my head right now,
but there were a lot of issues
[29:00] with the billing. I'm hoping going
forward with the new billing service
[29:04] that should improve.
And then looking at our actual
[29:08] expenditures, they were also about 1.3
million, which was slightly under
[29:12] budget. And this was mainly due to less
medical needs than were budgeted for.
[29:18] Overall, even though revenues were less
than budgeted, expenditures also came in
[29:23] under budget, which did result in a
positive change in fund balance for the
[29:28] year.
[29:32] And this slide is just showing the
general fund revenues by type. Um just
[29:37] kind of comparing revenue from taxes,
intergovernmental charges for services
[29:41] and then kind of miscellaneous revenues.
[29:48] And this slide is very similar just
showing the expenditures by type. Um so
[29:52] you can see general government, public
safety, streets and highways. again kind
[29:56] of like another category
overall public safety has the most
[30:02] expenditures.
Yeah. again overall.
[30:14] So our special revenue fund balances um
at the end of the year the total fund
[30:20] balance was about $45,000 compared to a
deficit in the prior year of about
[30:26] $8,000. So overall this fund the special
revenue funds increased by about
[30:31] $54,000.
[30:35] nothing
from last year.
[30:42] And then the capital project fund
balances um this year the total fund
[30:46] balance was about $1.1 million compared
to about $784,000
[30:52] last year. Um so an overall fund
increased by about $350,000.
[30:58] the major capital fund
um increased mainly due to the bond
[31:05] issuance for the 2025 street project. So
you can see um the orange for the
[31:10] assigned increased quite a bit from 24
and that's just mainly due to the bond
[31:15] issuance
[31:20] and then the debt service. This slide is
summarizing the city's outstanding debt
[31:24] which totals about $2 million and this
was quite a bit higher from last year.
[31:30] However,
mainly due to the 2025
[31:34] pay improvement bond and as you can see
that makes up the largest portion of the
[31:40] outstanding debt shown on the schedule.
Um, but overall things are still looking
[31:47] good with debt. the city did pay off
their 2012 AGO improvement bond during
[31:52] the year. Um, and then again, I'd just
like to point out that the increase is
[31:57] due to financing infrastructure
improvements for the year.
[32:05] Kind of getting into the enterprise
funds. Overall, the water fund has an
[32:10] unrestricted cash of about $400,000
compared to the recommended amount of
[32:15] almost $58,000.
Um so the water fund is definitely in a
[32:19] very strong financial position. Um and
as you can see to on the far right the
[32:27] top table there um receipts are covering
all operating costs and
[32:36] funds. Um the funds did have negative.
[32:45] Um I will note that is an improvement
from last year. So that is good to see.
[32:50] But the operating receipts are not quite
covering all the operating costs and
[32:54] debt payments. So this is an area that
we would just kind of point out as the
[32:59] council should be watching this one a
little bit closer with the receipts
[33:04] being less than dispersement.
[33:09] kind of the same thing with the nursing
home here. Um, overall
[33:14] the receipts were not quite covering all
the dispersements.
[33:18] Um, but again,
I know that it's a different auditor for
[33:23] the nursing home, so they might have
other recommendations for the financial
[33:28] stability of it. But just something for
the council to keep in mind that there
[33:32] were more dispersements than receipts in
25 and kind of been a trend for the last
[33:36] few years as well.
[33:40] And then to your point,
um unrestricted cash of $93,000
[33:48] 25.
Um so that was looking good. And overall
[33:53] here operating receipts are greater than
operating dispersants. That's always
[33:57] kind of the goal with these enterprise
funds.
[34:02] And then again, I do apologize. This
should say um this is cash amounts, not
[34:08] general fund expenditures by object
code. Um so this c this graph is just
[34:13] providing a highle overview of cash
balances across the city funds. It's
[34:18] shown that the co total cash balances
have remained relatively stable over the
[34:22] last several years um with enterprise
funds and capital project funds
[34:27] representing significant portions of
total cash which is very common.
[34:35] Now moving on to the key performance
indicators. Um this will kind of go over
[34:39] your taxes, debt and expenditures.
Overall, this slide is just comparing
[34:44] the city's tax rate and taxes per capita
to other cities of similar size and in
[34:49] Mosa County.
These indicators allow us to compare the
[34:54] city's tax burden to similar communities
and historical trends.
[34:59] Um, while taxes per capita increased in
2025, the city's tax rate remains below
[35:06] where it was just a few years ago. So,
there has been improvement on the tax
[35:10] rate overall.
These measures are intended to just
[35:15] provide context rather than identify a
good or bad result. Um they're just
[35:20] simply showing how the city's tax burden
has changed over time and how it
[35:24] compares to classified cities and
cities.
[35:33] » No, it's okay. You can move on.
>> Yep. So debt here um obviously during
[35:39] the year um with a debt issue once that
debt per capita increased significantly
[35:45] um and it's also important to like when
reviewing the debt levels it's important
[35:51] to remember this debt was issued to
finance long-term infrastructure assets
[35:55] that will benefit the community for many
years to come.
[36:01] And one thing here that I'd like to
point out is although long-term debt
[36:04] increased during the year, the annual
debt service remains a very manageable
[36:09] percentage of the current year
expenditures as shown in that table on
[36:14] the right there. It's been very steady,
the orange line.
[36:22] And then lastly, this table is showing
current expenditures per capita has
[36:27] remained relatively stable from the
prior year, including operating spending
[36:32] levels um have remained very consistent.
On the table on the right, there was a
[36:38] significant increase in capital
expenditures this year. However, this is
[36:42] really relating to the city's investment
in infrastructure during 2025.
[36:48] Um, and also important to note, these
are not routine spending costs, but
[36:52] rather long-term investments within the
community.
[36:57] Now, overall, this was a very positive
audit. The city received a clean
[37:01] opinion, no Minnesota legal compliance
findings, and continues to remain having
[37:07] a strong general fund reserve. Um, we
appreciate the cooperation provided by
[37:11] all city staff throughout the auto
process, um, and the opportunity to work
[37:15] with you guys. That's all I have. If
anybody has any questions,
[37:21] either now or later, you can feel free
to reach out. I know you have all of our
[37:25] contact information. So,
reach out to us.
[37:31] Thank you.
[37:40] Public hearing schedule. Uh, department
reports, analyst report.
[37:59] Okay. So, there's actually three people
that need the refresher for all first
[38:05] responders. Um, so it would be a total
of $375
[38:10] for those three people. And we do get
reimbursements. So, at the end of this,
[38:15] once they're done, I'd be able to go in
and put in my refresher and a couple
[38:19] other people's refreshers and get some
money back for for that. Also,
[38:25] um
then the ambulance needs to be get it
[38:30] all changed and it kind of pulls to the
right. So, we're going to work on
[38:33] getting that taken care of. Um the
director will kind of go through that in
[38:38] just a minute, but I'd like to get those
refreshers approved for those people.
[38:46] made a motion.
>> Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve the
[38:49] refreshers for those three folks.
I'll
[38:52] » second. We have a motion, a second. All
in favor?
[38:55] » I opposed.
>> Motion carries.
[39:01] » Okay. So, um we've been working on a lot
of different things recently. I worked
[39:06] on some response times for the sheriff's
department. Um Tyler had reached out to
[39:11] him and I made got it taken care of and
he had uh got my report and he's looking
[39:16] and verifying those. Um Sarah and I met
with South Central EMS had a Zoom
[39:22] meeting for potential um grants for new
programs or treating in place. Um that
[39:30] is due on the end of this week. So I'm
going to get that sent in. We already
[39:33] got the signature form for that. Um,
it'll help with little things like
[39:38] people that need doctor appointments
that can't go to the doctors. We can go
[39:41] and check on them. Um, granted with our
staff not being here in the morning, uh,
[39:47] we don't have morning staff, that's
hard, but we'll be able to do that at
[39:51] nights and stuff like that and make help
them out if they need to. Then we decide
[39:55] whether or not they need an ambulance to
go to the hospital or not. Um, that is
[39:59] going to be a trial period, so we'll be
part of that. It'll be a good thing for
[40:02] the community. I also reached out to the
school because I know last year they
[40:06] were reaching looking for a full-time
ENT. Um there is a way that we can have
[40:12] a first responder of some sort be there.
Don't have to have the ambulance per se.
[40:16] The football games we need to have the
ambulance there. Um but a first
[40:21] responders, anybody that is on the
ambulance crew can be at any of the
[40:24] games and be able to help. we might be
able to work out an agreement with the
[40:28] school to kind of get some funding there
to help with that and have somebody up
[40:32] at the schools during the games just in
case something happens until they call
[40:35] an ambulance. Um we are also looking at
a six-month program of recruiting
[40:41] process.
U Mark has got the paperwork. Um there
[40:45] was just another death at Southland
forms, so that might be just a little
[40:48] delay on that, but um they're going to
we're going to be working on getting
[40:53] that going and getting some flyers. You
should have a flyer come in to be able
[40:56] to clear the water bill.
>> Our main thing is to find coverage for
[41:00] daytime. There's
there's lots of different options we can
[41:04] go to, but some of it's going to cost
more money.
[41:08] » Unfortunately, everything is going to
cost money. No, nothing's free anymore
[41:11] in this world. But I can tell you this
much the proposal that you're getting
[41:14] from North to buy everything for a
dollar.
[41:17] How are you going to make money off
that? Because you're selling you're
[41:20] getting rid of all of our equipment and
everything like that. But you want to
[41:24] keep us on.
But then you got to buy equipment again
[41:30] so we can respond first response cuz
you're not going to get fired.
[41:34] You might get one or two.
[41:38] That's something you need to think
about. There's about $500,000 worth of
[41:42] equipment and ambulance and stuff back
there.
[41:45] » You can't sell for a dollar. If that's
the case, let's put put a sign on the
[41:48] side of the ambulance and say for sale.
Dulas offered me a dollar.
[41:55] I thought long and hard about this. I'm
not doing it for myself. Doing it for
[42:00] every single person in this room. I may
not be a be available for some of the
[42:05] people that came, but this weekend I had
my somebody that's younger than me had
[42:10] their second heart attack.
[42:17] We had to take him to the airport.
this guy here.
[42:23] And I'll never forget that day. That was
my first ever say right here in this
[42:28] room right here. This guy. I stood above
him. Thought I said it in my head. I
[42:32] said,
[42:36] "I don't care who you are or what our
differences are. I'm there for you." And
[42:42] so is every single person in my crew.
There's ways to reach out to all of our
[42:47] townships that are here and try to help
get funding to keep the same. Our
[42:52] billing company, we are starting to get
money in. We don't have a negative
[42:56] balance. We're in the positive for that.
We got to give it time. There's also
[43:01] ways to cut on that, too. Sarah Joe used
to do the billing. So did Karine.
[43:07] There's a way to send her to training to
do that in house, too. There's another
[43:11] way to cut it. I know Sarah's been
working with you on ways to cut the
[43:14] budget. There is ways to cut it, but
there's ways we can't cut it.
[43:22] So, I'd like you all to think and hard
about that before you make that
[43:26] decision. We may not be here
every hour of the day, but when we are
[43:33] here, we're responding under seven
minutes or less.
[43:38] If you don't have us, it could be 30
sometimes 45 minutes.
[43:44] I don't want that for anyone in this
room. I don't want that for myself. I
[43:48] don't want that for my mom who's just
had a stroke.
[43:53] Each one of this per each one of these
people in this community mean more to me
[43:57] than anything they will ever know.
Cuz you know what? When they call me,
[44:03] I'm going to be there.
[44:08] So, I'd like you all to think about that
and
[44:13] I know eventually down the line it might
happen,
[44:18] but it's going to be a long process and
we get everybody and the first
[44:22] responding to be able to work together.
>> Thanks.
[44:28] » Thank you, Sarah.
>> Thanks,
[44:31] Department. Excuse me. Get a
report. I'll make I'll make a motion to
[44:38] approve the amnest report.
>> I'll second that.
[44:40] » We have a motion second. Is there any
discussion?
[44:43] » If not, all in favor?
>> Opposed?
[44:47] Motion carries. Fire department report.
Uh they have one mutual aid calls
[45:07] the point where they're worried about
how many people they have
[45:19] motion.
department.
[45:24] » We have a motion to second. Is there any
more discussion?
[45:27] If not, all in favor?
[45:31] » Motion carries. Police department
report.
[45:34] » Uh, please respond to any calls for
service in the month of July.
[45:50] July
weekend
[45:53] issues
updated the old backup radios
[45:57] successfully
in the use of force and firearms
[46:01] training will take place this month. Uh
two applications that were received
[46:14] $250
and
[46:18] supposed to school September 1st
[46:22] application Thursday.
>> Um we're not sure.
[46:25] » I'm not sure.
[46:30] » So that's still in limbo on the full
time police officer.
[46:40] We get a motion to approve the police
department.
[46:42] » I'll make a motion to approve the police
department report.
[46:46] » Second.
>> We have a motion, a second. Is there any
[46:48] more discussion? If not, all in favor?
>> I
[46:51] » I opposed. Motion carries.
>> Care center report. Um, average census
[47:00] is at 39.5
[47:24] fulltime openings. nursing department
agency use is down significantly as a
[47:28] result. Uh residents have been going on
bus trips to get ice cream.
[47:48] Motion to accept
[47:52] a second. Any more discussion? Not all
in favor?
[47:56] » I opposed.
Motion carries. People service report.
[48:06] » Yeah.
[48:11] » [laughter]
>> We got rain.
[48:15] » Got rain, rain, rain. Lot of rain,
>> lot of inches rain events through the
[48:21] whole month. 10.27 inches for the month.
Um July 8th, I did drive around that
[48:27] storm pipe at the west of the school was
half full. That's 5 foot storm pipe.
[48:33] That was half full. So if it gets a
fuller, it goes into the school. So, I
[48:39] had an exhaust fan repaired. I had
mercury samples for the permit,
[48:45] took them out at the creek. Um, I
attended a Rushford um water class.
[48:52] 20th we had quite a bit of rain. I was
not here. I was on vacation, but her was
[48:57] here for that.
from the [clears throat] August bioolid
[49:01] sampling soil samples
[49:10] or
completed on time and I have monthly
[49:15] cyber security training every month that
has to be done. So yeah,
[49:21] any questions?
[49:26] » Nothing. Nothing major repairs or
anything.
[49:30] » We don't say that word because you know
>> is everything running good
[49:36] » with what we what
[49:41] yeah it's going good.
I hate to say too much because it could
[49:46] go the other way around.
[49:51] » Yeah.
[50:03] the parts. There's a few parts inside of
it, the handle and stuff.
[50:12] So, I am getting the parts back the very
[50:22] but otherwise for now everything's okay.
Wonderful. Very good. Good news.
[50:27] » Yeah.
>> I'll make a motion uh accept the
[50:32] people's service report.
>> Second.
[50:35] » Have a motion and a second. Any more
discussion?
[50:38] If not, all in favor?
>> I
[50:41] » opposed.
Motion carries. Thanks, Shell.
[50:45] » Yeah. Thank you.
>> Maintenance and utility report.
[50:49] » Um see here, blue cards residents this
month.
[51:04] finish up street project. Uh let's see
there
[51:09] everything [clears throat] completed for
city days mower is still in the
[51:12] shopower.
[51:36] So, we're using a loner.
>> We got Mike out there with some fiskers.
[51:45] » I was thinking that's what it was.
Starting with the water updates and
[51:50] control 7125 and expected to be done
91625.
[51:54] They are we're at 90% done. We're
there's progress. We're we're trying not
[52:00] to call too much attention to
[52:12] water.
[52:17] They're
[52:26] going to start shutting down Legion
field the lake and the water tower clean
[52:29] up.
They have all their metrics for uh
[52:33] pumping and such if you're
interested in looking at that.
[52:40] We're still on the docket for painting
the water tower by next year. I believe
[52:44] that's next year's plan.
[52:50] The bleachers order.
>> They're not ordered yet. I just spoke
[52:53] with
[53:22] Motion to approve
[53:26] a second. Is there any more discussion?
If not, all in favor?
[53:30] » I
motion carries.
[53:34] » Um, the EDA report doesn't require
Sorry. Go ahead.
[53:38] » Step on your toes. The EDA report does
not require
[53:46] research
study
[53:50] plan reviewed uh new Smith grant
guidelines uh communication with first
[53:55] children's finance on the I don't recall
what it stands for but it's basically
[54:01] financing for
[54:07] and see
[54:32] on unfinished business. Three entrance
to city hall.
[54:36] Um, so this is the basically the same.
[55:25] We really need an engineer to figure
this out. A good cement guy could
[55:28] probably give you the same
with the nature of the damage. It's not
[55:34] just a patch. It's
[55:39] solution.
>> It kind of goes all the way back to iron
[55:44] also the whole
>> glass.
[56:02] It's only 100 years old.
[56:07] » All right.
[56:10] » What do we need to do, Tyler? Um you can
look to spend the money um to repair it
[56:18] or we can work to try to come up with
other solutions.
[56:23] I think this is based on conversations
with the engineers. It's our best best
[57:08] Yes, I think this is
[57:38] There he is.
[58:02] certainly try discussion.
[58:09] Some of it's likely to be this is a low
intensity activity handed off to them as
[58:15] as it happens.
[58:21] » A lot
[58:30] used a lot special events, right? So the
day-to-day business everybody kind of
[58:35] uses.
[58:54] » Yeah.
>> If you put a sign up then it's no
[58:57] brainer. You can't go in because it's
been worth that too.
[59:11] Phil next month until you can get
written in Eric on what they could
[59:14] possibly do.
>> I think until they they see what the
[59:18] thing is,
>> right?
[59:47] motion. Is there a second?
The
[59:50] » motion was up to $25,000. I need to see
[1:00:00] Second.
[1:00:04] » Okay. So, we have a motion to second.
Any more discussion?
[1:00:09] All in favor?
>> I
[1:00:13] motion carries.
>> Okay. This is
[1:00:22] same thing that was last.
[1:01:02] I thought our water then I saw what
[1:01:07] $42.
>> 46 and 46.
[1:01:11] » 46. That's right. $92 before you even
turn a tap on every month.
[1:01:16] » That's ridiculous.
>> Yeah, they got brand new.
[1:01:18] » Well, yeah. Yeah. And they were
mandated.
[1:01:22] » Yeah.
[1:01:31] » Who came up with those numbers?
[1:01:35] State I think state of Minnesota stepped
in and said these are your new numbers.
[1:01:41] » Ouch.
[1:01:44] » You're buying water and sewer.
>> We're
[1:01:52] don't need to move on this.
[1:02:33] 177 to 220. Is that what you're talking
about with the same money before?
[1:02:37] » It was It was like a $30 jump.
>> Current current four person 174 up to
[1:02:43] 220.
>> Yeah. Current 174 up to 220. If the
[1:02:49] water rates were adjusted so that
100,000%
[1:02:57] And is that average 100,000
[1:03:02] the numbers that were plugged into the
work
[1:03:08] year?
[1:03:21] This is a sample.
[1:03:25] I have four.
>> Okay, that's what I was asking.
[1:03:33] » I personally look at it as the stuff's
got to be done and we got to pay for it.
[1:03:37] So, I have no problem paying for it. It
hurts, yes, but
[1:03:41] » we got to pay for it some way.
The thing I keep coming back to is
[1:04:07] Well, that's what we're doing.
>> That's exactly it.
[1:04:11] » Should have started like 40 years ago.
>> Oh, yeah. Right.
[1:04:16] » I remember when bills are 17 and $20,
>> but our water fund is pretty flush like
[1:04:22] you said. But
>> it's got a 400,000 I believe.
[1:04:28] sewer.
[1:04:51] It could be done. Basically, you set the
time that it that it goes into action.
[1:04:59] » It could also it could also be phased.
This year we've been target 5050.
[1:05:07] » Well, then why don't you come back with
something like that for next month for
[1:05:10] us?
>> Yes. 5050 100.
[1:05:16] Oops.
[1:05:31] Jan is here. She's the utility building
expert.
[1:05:35] » Yeah. I mean, I personally don't see
anything that I would say is outrageous
[1:05:39] from the prices going up
[1:05:47] because you're buying a commodity,
things that need to be done. So we're
[1:05:51] monitoring.
[clears throat]
[1:05:59] » Wait on that till next move.
>> Should we move the table?
[1:06:02] » Yeah, I think so.
>> Somebody moved the table.
[1:06:05] » Yeah, I'll move the table on the water
and sewer rates till next month. I'll
[1:06:09] second that.
>> We have a motion and a second. Any more
[1:06:12] discussion?
All in favor? I
[1:06:17] » opposed.
Motion carries.
[1:06:21] city don't. And just to clarify just in
case AI is
[1:06:26] no action
[1:06:48] of the
It is currently
[1:07:18] talking about
[1:07:31] The unlawful
is already
[1:07:41] resolution.
[1:07:52] ways to
[1:07:56] every
three to four years they have to rent a
[1:08:00] loader
to push the
[1:08:04] » right
maybe this program is such that that
[1:08:09] mitigates how much that actually cost
the
[1:08:19] This is going to be part of the board
down there.
[1:08:26] » There's a lot of
>> lot of stuff getting blown out of
[1:08:29] proportion
going to get charged and it's like come
[1:08:33] on just can't believe everybody what the
hell they talk about.
[1:08:37] » Anybody that lives in town does not get
charged to you.
[1:08:40] » They are
I mean, I've had four people.
[1:08:44] » It was in the paper.
>> It was in the paper.
[1:09:00] » I was kind of curious.
[1:09:23] I was going to ask the same question. I
would say no. The the plan is that if
[1:09:28] it's for somebody in town like an
arborist removing trees and such then
[1:09:33] basically businesses would have to check
in and say this is for this address and
[1:09:38] they get pass but if it's somebody
coming from out of town to do it then
[1:09:42] it's a different story
>> and and how do you how do you control
[1:09:46] that? How do you maintain
>> a record of it?
[1:09:49] » So we we have uh the cameras out there
now
[1:09:54] more or less
[1:10:17] It can't be much of a problem
[1:10:21] or during storm after a storm.
The only I live right up on the street.
[1:10:26] The only time I ever see anybody go by
there is in the spring when they clean
[1:10:29] their gardens in the fall when they
clean their yards. And occasionally if
[1:10:34] there's a storm, you see some guy with a
with a a golf cart dragging a branch
[1:10:39] down the street or something. But, you
know, I I I just I just don't know that
[1:10:44] I I don't understand why why it's why
it's even a problem to be honest with
[1:10:48] you. If you've got the the illegal
dumping thing in place and everyone
[1:10:52] knows it,
why it wouldn't just why that wouldn't
[1:10:56] be good enough.
>> The thought process is to give people
[1:11:19] are aware of that.
>> Um yes, there was one issue.
[1:11:37] It's not they're not so this is
enforced. It's not like they have to
[1:11:41] watch camera film for days. it clicks a
picture and sends it straight to you.
[1:11:47] » Right.
>> So, it's not like it's going to be any
[1:11:50] extra work on their half behalf. I drove
out there after I got questioned 50
[1:11:55] times the other day and I could see
where the cameras are even located. So,
[1:12:02] » I'm getting take an extra person.
[1:12:06] and the division of like the department
[1:12:16] ideally will be self
[1:12:31] instructions on the dropbox.
[1:12:37] I look at it this way. If somebody goes
out there and they think it, they'll go
[1:12:41] out there and find the person, say, "If
he says he's working for him, it's a
[1:12:45] done deal. No problem." So, I don't
think we have to worry about it.
[1:12:52] A lot of whatifs,
right?
[1:12:56] Because I don't think anything's going
to happen to it. You You'll catch the
[1:12:59] people that are doing it illegally. Yes,
but if it takes a couple days for you
[1:13:04] your friend to say, "Well, it was
working for him." Who cares? It's done.
[1:13:10] Nobody gets a problem.
>> I guess we run it and just see what
[1:13:14] » Yeah.
>> what fines came out of it for illegal
[1:13:16] companive.
[1:13:24] » I agree.
>> I think the $200 is a little bit
[1:13:26] excessive, but
>> illegal dumping. I think it should be
[1:13:28] five.
>> Absolutely.
[1:13:30] » Don't dunk.
Yeah.
[1:13:34] » Well, depends what they're dumping.
>> You're not going to get that.
[1:13:39] » Yeah. You're out of town.
>> You're not
[1:13:44] a city
>> or if you don't make a payment. Yeah. If
[1:13:48] you're not a city resident and you don't
make a payment in time, it's $200.
[1:13:51] » Well, right now it should be $200. No
matter what the city because it's not
[1:13:54] open to non city residents.
>> That'll stop a lot of people.
[1:13:59] » I hear that. I I paid when I lived in
Rochester.
[1:14:03] » Yeah.
>> No matter where the hell I went, we
[1:14:06] paid.
>> But I mean, the idea behind it is it's
[1:14:10] supposed to be a city for city.
>> And before we got the camera,
[1:14:45] bring it back up.
>> If it's, you know, five, six
[1:14:50] » finds a month, you're seeing lots of
people out there not
[1:14:54] » that shouldn't be out [clears throat]
there, then maybe revisit the
[1:14:56] » okay
>> closing it down but I would say
[1:15:00] with illegal dumping fine the way it is
suffices for now
[1:15:06] would be my thought [clears throat]
[1:15:09] then um
so this was the memo for there was also
[1:15:40] Second,
a second. Any more discussion?
[1:15:46] All in favor?
[1:15:50] motion table.
[1:15:58] » The resolution 26-11
to max amendment to appendix D of the
[1:16:04] city of Richmond code ordinances
addressing the fee schedule for the city
[1:16:07] of New Richland.
The only change is the unlawful
[1:16:11] disposal.
[1:16:17] » I didn't see the storms were Storm
[1:16:27] on our water bills $5. Should that be on
the speed schedule?
[1:16:31] » You're not talking sewer, right?
>> No, storm sewer.
[1:16:34] » Storm sewer.
[1:16:38] » Sewer. I have seen that on other copies
of this.
[1:16:42] problem
[1:16:46] with these
[1:17:00] I have another question probably sounds
silly to you but I see there's
[1:17:04] connection fees and disconnect or
connection fees for water and for sewer
[1:17:09] how is that
[1:17:15] sewer service connection fee of $50.
What do you connect? It's already
[1:17:19] connect.
>> No,
[1:17:23] » I think that that is when the house is
constructed.
[1:17:28] That's the
>> your plumber. It's already
[1:17:32] should already be stumped in with the
lot, isn't it? Yeah, it's it's there's a
[1:17:36] lateral coming off the sewer main and
then your plumber hooks on too.
[1:17:40] » Plumber does all that [clears throat]
charge
[1:17:43] » charge for that
>> sewer hook up one time.
[1:17:48] » Is it charged ever to anybody
>> new service? Is it new construction?
[1:17:55] » But it's charged then.
>> Mhm.
[1:17:58] » You have to Yeah, there's a few on seven
you'd have to look back. I can see maybe
[1:18:02] with the water service because you have
to put a meter in and all that stuff. I
[1:18:06] kind of understand that.
[1:18:10] » Yeah, I just wondered about
connection.
[1:18:17] Anyway,
[1:18:20] » that's all I had. Anything else?
[1:18:27] I get a motion to approve the fee
schedule or resolution. I'm sorry.
[1:18:31] » Yeah, it's a 26-1 correct
just the
[1:18:38] I'll make a motion to approve resolution
26-
[1:18:45] » I'll second that.
>> Motion to second. There's any more
[1:18:47] discussion? If not, all in favor?
>> I opposed.
[1:18:53] Resolution is adopted.
Moving on to new business. July check
[1:18:58] register.
[1:19:19] I saw two payments for C of $4,100
like pretty close together.
[1:19:28] We had another
[1:19:44] saw
for $990.
[1:19:49] notice of public hearing that
>> take a whole page out
[1:19:54] ordinances,
>> right?
[1:19:58] » I don't I don't get the paper, so I
didn't actually see it.
[1:20:01] » Came out to a block like that with all
the the text.
[1:20:10] » We don't pay for white space.
>> Seriously, that's what they do. They
[1:20:14] have a lot of white space in those
notices to charge for. I will keep the
[1:20:18] paper.
[1:20:22] » Yeah. Just You should be getting a tear
sheet with your Did they send you a tear
[1:20:27] sheet with your invoice?
>> I'm not sure what tear sheet is.
[1:20:31] » Tear sheets a copy of the page that was
printed.
[1:20:34] » Yeah.
>> Okay. So,
[1:20:36] » you should get one looks like
>> I I don't believe we're getting
[1:20:41] one. It's almost I think it's almost
requirement
[1:20:46] for audits. I don't
[1:21:00] check register.
[1:21:04] » I'll make a motion to approve the July
check register.
[1:21:08] » Second. Have a motion in a second. Any
more discussion?
[1:21:12] If not, all in favor?
>> I opposed. Motion carries.
[1:21:18] Selling the lots on Broadway.
So, there are two lots.
[1:21:49] What I would recommend doing
[1:21:56] home condition is where you begin
construction within a year and if you
[1:22:00] don't complete within a year we clock it
back.
[1:22:04] Given that it's business.
[1:22:32] Exploring
[1:22:41] website.
[1:22:48] They can sell real estate through
[1:23:03] What's the value
[1:23:09] estimated value is 7500
[1:23:18] » one of the properties to the south one
of the properties to the north
[1:23:36] years.
[1:23:56] Favorite song of
You're looking for a motion to give you
[1:24:01] the authority to go talk to them to see
what can happen.
[1:24:05] » Yes. And if and if
>> the plan of of a dollar and and the
[1:24:11] clawback is amenable to that.
[1:24:17] » I'll make a motion to go ahead with the
plan you got here and I'll
[1:24:21] memor.
[1:24:25] » We have a motion to second. There's any
more discussion?
[1:24:28] If not all in favor
[1:24:33] sell the lot
that rolling. All right. Um
[1:24:40] in the north proposal and the cost they
got to do the
[1:25:02] purchaseable equipment for a dollar
cover for free in perpetuity. However,
[1:25:08] are conferring with the analyst director
and assistant analyst director as well
[1:25:11] as the analyst department from the city
council
[1:25:28] as well.
[1:25:37] There are several programs that
[1:26:06] I was not aware of this proposal until I
got my packet on Thursday. Um,
[1:26:14] so I really was blindsided and I thought
this
[1:26:18] » Can I Can I say something? When it comes
to the Anthos department, I am the
[1:26:22] director. Anything that you want to know
about anything with the area, the
[1:26:27] community, anything like that or looking
into things, please reach out to me
[1:26:31] because that's my job as the director.
That's what you guys have me to do.
[1:26:35] That's what you want me to do.
I could have came up gave got you a
[1:26:39] whole bunch of all this information and
it would have saved you time to do
[1:26:42] something else.
That is my job. I'm here for that. I'm
[1:26:48] here for the city and I'm here to do my
job. If I can't do it then right then
[1:26:57] why why am I here? Please come to me. I
will help you as much as I can. And if I
[1:27:02] don't have the answers, I know where to
get them right then and there. So, we
[1:27:08] need this. Like I said, there's plenty
of options out there. We got the
[1:27:12] townships that we can go to. We are
making money now finally on the with the
[1:27:18] billing. You looked at the budget that
is actually positive now. Um,
[1:27:24] » well, based on what I'm hearing,
>> I think we should look at the budget,
[1:27:30] look at what we can do there, and then
re That's say revisit the selling of it,
[1:27:35] but revisiting if we have to fix
anything next time.
[1:27:41] It's like I I read this as saying you
don't want to do this anymore.
[1:27:46] » I don't want to do it in the first
place.
[1:27:49] » How come anybody else go about this? I
was totally
[1:27:54] as aware.
>> I was not aware
[1:28:04] that meeting
was never any decisions to get rid of
[1:28:08] the ambulance.
>> We worked on back channels in the
[1:28:11] meantime to figure out what the meeting
was about, right?
[1:28:15] » Which was fine. You have all the right
to do that, but the meeting was that is
[1:28:20] not business.
>> Thank you.
[1:28:25] I am I am aware I mean but I could have
came up with a lot of that stuff and got
[1:28:30] that for you. That is my job as the
director but I was not reached out to
[1:28:35] for nothing. instead I get goes to the
sheriff's office asking for response
[1:28:39] times and then told me that he went that
north contacted him when he contacted me
[1:28:46] » and I told you that I'm spoken
>> that was a lie
[1:28:50] » very hard so it that's not a way to
start a meeting that's not any way to
[1:28:57] build trust or respect
>> meeting
[1:29:02] is not good
you know that
[1:29:06] What I'm what I'm telling you, Sarah, is
the meeting on Tuesday was designed to
[1:29:08] give you the opportunity to bring this
forward. This was never a we're going to
[1:29:12] shut the ambulance down and on next next
meeting we're going to
[1:29:15] » That's great.
>> That was never the idea. So you we need
[1:29:17] to get back.
>> This is the idea. You just you went to
[1:29:20] them to try and get money to have them
buy up. So you were trying to get the
[1:29:25] ambulance.
>> No, it was an option.
[1:29:27] » We're all looking at options. We have
due diligence. We have to do the due
[1:29:30] diligence.
>> This to me says that when we found a
[1:29:33] proposal and the city
[1:29:47] I called to make sure that we
[1:29:54] got blown ways
never been an issue in the first place.
[1:29:59] » Well, let's move on. What are we going
to do for the budget? What can we do
[1:30:02] next year to make this an even more
money-m opportunity?
[1:30:06] » I think that's where we should.
>> How many employees do we have
[1:30:09] » right now? We have 10. We have one as a
student. She's going um so right now,
[1:30:16] but when she gets done and hopefully
Josh and Sarah get their EMT. We will
[1:30:21] have the opposite. We'll have six EMTs
first for first responders.
[1:30:28] » What? Uh
>> we always need more.
[1:30:31] » Yeah.
What?
[1:30:32] » And it's a dying field everywhere.
>> I say that you got you're looking into
[1:30:36] some programs, right? To try you're
trying to get some help.
[1:30:40] » Yeah.
>> So, we can maybe start covering, you
[1:30:43] know, because I I I've been hearing, you
know, I know Kim very well.
[1:30:49] » Uh what happens if we want to add
anybody on? And it was during the day,
[1:30:53] you know. So, that's that's where it
goes, too. You know, it'd be it'd be
[1:30:57] great if we could get enough coverage
where we could reap the benefits for the
[1:31:02] whole use of the ambulance for for
everybody.
[1:31:06] » That's why that's why I was just asking
if there's what we need to do to be able
[1:31:10] to get to that point. I mean, there's
never gonna be 100%. You're never gonna
[1:31:14] be able to have full thing or pay people
full,
[1:31:17] » but
>> we don't ask for 60 hours a month.
[1:31:22] That's two and a half days.
If we had 30 people and they all put in
[1:31:29] that 60
hours,
[1:31:33] we'd be perfect. We'd have full time
coverage, but we need that. We need the
[1:31:39] day coverage. Everyone has full job. We
don't make there's no way we can all
[1:31:43] make those money.
>> There's I I wouldn't expect anybody
[1:31:48] » to do that.
>> But they know that up front, too.
[1:31:51] » Pardon me.
>> They know that up front, too,
[1:31:54] » right?
>> So, I don't see that being an issue, the
[1:31:56] pay or what, how much it get made. It's
whether they're going to be have enough
[1:32:00] people to cover the diaper. You guys,
>> I'm sorry. I can't hear you.
[1:32:03] » I would say it's going to be getting
enough people, like you said, to have
[1:32:06] the coverage through the day, right,
that you need,
[1:32:09] » right? And that's going to be a
continuous thing.
[1:32:11] » It is. It's going to be contin
[1:32:38] volunteers,
but then it costs
[1:32:43] and right now we the mutual agree mutual
aid agreement we have with Minnesota um
[1:32:50] with North Mayo, Minnesota Lake, Reborn,
Ellenale, Wells.
[1:32:56] None of that costs us anything.
And I have copies of every single one of
[1:33:02] those mutual aid agreements. And the one
for north says we they are granted up to
[1:33:09] 108 hours a week.
We use about 60 60 to 70 depending on
[1:33:17] the week.
>> So we're not there.
[1:33:21] » Am I hearing you say just recently here
that
[1:33:25] because we've switched from that
provider that didn't give us the we want
[1:33:30] now we're starting to get paid back for
more. So next year could even be a
[1:33:34] better payment for
>> it could be a better revenue next year
[1:33:37] » because we got it taken care of.
>> Yeah.
[1:33:39] » Bookwork wise moving in that direction.
>> Then then I think all we need to do is
[1:33:46] » wait until maybe May June of next year
to see how things work.
[1:33:51] » Each year it changes so depending on how
many runs we have. Correct. So, but
[1:33:56] you're gonna by the end of this this
year, we should have a full year
[1:34:01] and you'll be able to see the revenue
that has been.
[1:34:04] » Well, hopefully that is not going to be
a problem anymore. It's just getting
[1:34:07] enough runs and having enough people to
cover those runs.
[1:34:11] » And in all fairness, North Memorial has
a Royal North always has a paper for
[1:34:19] help
everybody else.
[1:34:22] It's not unique to New Relic.
[1:34:28] » It's everywhere.
>> It's even full-time services that don't
[1:34:31] have it. So, it's but there is ways to
kind of work on it. Jen, who is one of
[1:34:37] our one of our EMTs also has where she
does classes.
[1:34:42] We find enough people in the city of
Richland that'll want to take even if
[1:34:46] it's just a first responder class.
We can have one,
[1:34:52] you know, as long as we pay her
something for that first responder
[1:34:57] class. We get people that come on. That
would be amazing. Benefits her, benefits
[1:35:03] all of us.
Drivers, same way. They can just be a
[1:35:08] driver. They don't have to have a first
responder. All they need is their CPR
[1:35:12] and a driver's license. Good thing
driving record, of course. But that's an
[1:35:16] option, too.
If we had that during the day, somebody
[1:35:21] that's retired and wants to just drive
the ambulance when the painter goes off.
[1:35:25] There we go. And we find an ENT that
would be there during the day.
[1:35:30] That's full-time ENT. Monday through
Friday would be another option. I mean,
[1:35:34] first coming out of school, we go to
South Central, we can go to Riverland.
[1:35:37] We can go all over and find one or two
EMTs that split those full-time hours.
[1:35:44] Then I could give delegate them some
stuff and take off some of those times
[1:35:49] that I have. There's ways to work around
it,
[1:35:54] and I'm willing to work on that, but we
need to be able to meet and communicate
[1:35:58] that stuff. That's what I'm trying to
get across.
[1:36:04] We don't need to do anything with this
member.
[1:36:06] » No, you can choose to reject the
proposal or you can
[1:36:13] say we already reject the proposal.
>> I'll second.
[1:36:18] » We have a motion, a second. There any
more discussion?
[1:36:22] » All in favor?
[1:36:29] Proposal rejected.
Clerk's Academy Lod
[1:37:00] Could
[1:37:15] attend this also?
>> She could. So, we paid $250 to go to the
[1:37:22] thing. So,
[1:37:28] » I think we all benefit from this
training. I looked at the course outline
[1:37:32] or syllabus, whatever you call it, and
it looked like uh it would, you know, be
[1:37:37] it'd be beneficial for her as well.
>> Would you think to have both attended at
[1:37:42] the same time, you'd get more value out
of it, each run separate
[1:37:47] potentially? I mean,
>> sometimes when you heads together as far
[1:37:50] as doing things together, they got works
better.
[1:37:52] » The only downside was it wouldn't all
>> um there is
[1:38:17] Yeah, just I think
[1:38:34] question,
>> right?
[1:38:36] » And then if it was a different time,
then then the office wouldn't be
[1:38:39] unmanned or or unwoman.
[1:38:44] Yeah, there you go. I'm sorry. Empty.
[1:38:54] Why don't we just approve it up to him?
Well,
[1:38:59] » there you go.
$275 for
[1:39:12] » you.
[1:39:23] What are you saying?
>> What I'm saying is you cover parking
[1:39:27] that cover your meals, too.
[1:39:36] Whatever.
>> Whatever it cost
[1:39:40] » 600.
>> Yeah.
[1:39:42] » Yeah.
>> Well, just approve expenses for
[1:39:55] » second. Motion second. Any more
discussion? No.
[1:40:00] » All in favor? I
>> oppose.
[1:40:05] Go to the academy.
[1:40:10] It's
>> not the one in Colorado.
[1:40:34] contest child care and had a
conversation about initiatives that
[1:40:37] could be undertaken here. The home
condition property sales are now
[1:40:41] complete construction.
[1:41:03] Why do we think of this?
[1:41:10] » Um, and then we discovered that most of
our computer issues are being actually
[1:41:15] caused directly by manual. It's a old
software that is not playing nice with
[1:41:21] all the new stuff anymore. Um, so
there's opportunities to improve, but
[1:41:28] they're they are not cheap.
[1:41:36] That's the short version.
[1:42:07] This thing has been a problem for some
time. Other cities are having the same
[1:42:11] issues.
>> Bion got the word that people are a
[1:42:15] little bit frustrated with their
product.
[1:42:17] » It's it's the backbone that they built
it up.
[1:42:28] It's a good piece of software.
[1:42:53] So this this came out before I got the
power systems to replace
[1:43:03] that work session.
>> Bring that back next.
[1:43:07] » Well, they're talking about the work
session.
[1:43:11] We
That's not it's it's not it's not
[1:43:15] inexpensive
and the conversion fee is $63,000
[1:43:25] but that also takes over
funding uh payroll HR and um
[1:43:35] point of sale. So in aggregate right now
we're paying about $13,000 for those
[1:43:41] things. The annual expense of Tyler
Technologies is about $19,000.
[1:43:46] And having used some of the Tyler
Technology stuff in the past, the the
[1:43:50] improved workflow, you you make up for
that difference. Your yearly fee, your
[1:43:56] conversion fee
takes a little while to come.
[1:44:00] » That's that's kind of a yeah, a bad
thing anyway. Conversion is always going
[1:44:04] to be them.
>> I mean, even if we convert it to cells,
[1:44:29] Does that
[1:44:34] push this out to them? Does the savings
that you're talking about include the
[1:44:38] time frame? you would have been doing if
we didn't push it out to a private
[1:44:44] market.
>> Say private.
[1:44:46] » So we we handle the payroll and stuff.
They're the ones that process the
[1:44:50] payroll. So they do all the compliance
and stuff on the back.
[1:44:53] » That neither one
>> they're not completely thinking.
[1:44:56] » No, they're not taking it over. It's
just it's the software.
[1:44:59] » All right.
[1:45:04] » It's worth looking into because of BY
screwing us up. I I think last week I
[1:45:09] spent four and a half hours
[1:45:17] and a half
[1:45:39] I make a motion accept the administ
administrator's report. I'll second a
[1:45:44] motion to second. Any more discussion?
If not, all in favor?
[1:45:48] » I oppose.
>> Motion carries.
[1:45:53] Anyone have any comments
from Madias?
[1:46:05] We get a motion to adjourn.
[1:46:12] Motion to second. We have a motion and a
second.
[1:46:17] All in favor?
[1:46:23] » Thank you everyone.
BMB that's all.