[0:00] meeting um on Monday, December 8th, 2025 at OSFA City Hall at 700 p.m. Um if we

[0:08] would all please rise to the pledge of allegiance.

[0:14] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:19] republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:26] justice for all.

[0:36] We've got a few people in attendance, so maybe we should do roll call.

[0:42] » Stephanie Henan, city council. Laura Bros, city council.

[0:46] » JD, mayor. Tim Doroom, city council. Randy Anderson, city council. Larry Del

[0:54] Craig will say sorry chief

[1:01] » Jason Murray >> and Angela Jacobson.

[1:06] » Um if we could look at the agenda. Is there

[1:10] anything any changes that anybody needs to make or can we approve the agenda as

[1:15] presented? >> Motion to approve the agenda.

[1:20] Motion has been made and seconded to approve the agenda. All in favor say I.

[1:24] I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Um I

[1:28] will now entertain a motion to suspend this regular meeting to go into our

[1:32] first public hearing through the taxation.

[1:36] » I'll make a motion to suspend the meeting.

[1:40] » Motion has been made and seconded to suspend the regular meeting to open

[1:45] public hearing truth and taxation. All in favor say I.

[1:48] » Oppose. same sign. We will move on to the truth and

[1:53] taxation hearing. Um,

[1:57] » pardon me. >> Come up and Yes.

[1:59] » Yes, please.

[2:06] Tonight, uh, we're having the public hearing we're required to have for our

[2:11] budget. So, I did have for everybody in the public here to get this sheet that

[2:15] says OUS um city highlights. Everybody receives

[2:19] this in their newsletter in the fall. Um, so it's not changed from then, but

[2:24] just wanted to go over some of the details of that and not read everything

[2:28] off, but just for the public's information is that um the council is

[2:33] looking at a 5% increase to our tax levy and that's $44,09

[2:40] and that's proposed for 2026 and that would cover the general fund

[2:44] expenditures um reserve fund and our debt levy. And

[2:50] right now the taxes that the city does collect is approximately 47.59%

[2:58] of the total budget that the city uses throughout year in their general fund.

[3:03] The expenditures that we're looking at this year are 7.2%

[3:08] increase 426 from the 25 budget. Um the main um changes are our parks, beach,

[3:17] community center, trails, and ice rink and the police department are the

[3:21] biggest changes in our budget. For the revenues, it's also increasing

[3:26] by 7.2%. And the main items that we receive that

[3:33] cover the cost of our general fund are um the local government aid, taxes, and

[3:39] grants. and we do transfer some money from um other funds to help with the

[3:43] budget. Um so in the main part the council is looking at tonight adopting

[3:50] that budget. So like we talked about in our preliminary budget we had a 5%

[3:57] increase. I did have in the packet tonight um I went through the budget and

[4:03] finalized some numbers based on some changes that we had recently. there was

[4:07] a uh carryover of $4,889.

[4:13] So, we could reduce the uh levy mode to 4.5%

[4:18] and still stay uh within not affecting the budget that we had set up in um

[4:25] September. But if the council wanted to go a little lower, we'd have to reduce

[4:30] some of the reserve funding in order to do that. So the council tonight can open

[4:34] it up to questions from the floor and then move into making a decision on

[4:39] that. Any questions for me first of all?

[4:46] » Nothing for me.

[4:51] » Thank you.

[4:55] » And do we have any questions from the floor or any comments from the floor?

[5:07] If not, um, I will entertain a motion to close the

[5:12] public hearing. >> Motion to close the public hearing.

[5:14] » And do I have a second? Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to

[5:18] close the public hearing at 7:06 p.m. All in favor say I. I. Oppose. Same

[5:25] sign. Motion carries.

[5:30] Um, and with the information that Angela has provided to us, um,

[5:37] my feeling, um, is I don't think you want to reduce it to, uh, 4%, I would

[5:43] rather not have to pull from reserves, but if she's comfortable with us

[5:48] bringing it down to 4.5, um, I would, uh, appreciate that. Um,

[5:56] any discussion? Um on this from you guys

[6:12] that

[6:19] I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2025-30

[6:22] the uh 226 final Excellent. 4 and a2%.

[6:30] » Second. >> Motion has been made and seconded to

[6:34] approve resolution 2025-30 uh for final tax levy of 4.5%. All in

[6:40] favor say I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries.

[6:48] » There are two more items on the duty too.

[6:53] motion to approve the budget.

[7:04] » And do I have assistance? >> I'm sorry. It's

[7:07] » okay. >> Motion has been made and seconded to

[7:09] approve the budget for 2026 as presented. All in favor say I. I.

[7:14] Oppose. Same time. Motion carries.

[7:18] And then uh last meeting we discussed the um

[7:24] new um water and sewer rates which Angela has provided to us here

[7:31] also. >> I'll make a motion to approve the new

[7:36] rates for 2026. >> Motion has been made and seconded to

[7:41] approve the water and sewer rate for 2026 as presented. All in favor say I.

[7:46] I. both same sign. Motion carries.

[7:56] We have a few minutes before the next public hearing. So, we will look at the

[8:00] consent agenda and item, please.

[8:13] I will make a motion to approve the consent items and pay the bills of

[8:17] $367,2395.

[8:22] » Sorry. Motion is made and seconded to approve the consent agenda and approve

[8:27] bills of $367,23925.

[8:33] All in favor say I. Bullet same sign. Motion carries

[8:56] on to um item number 60-1 ordinance rental. Um, I know we um tabled this at

[9:04] the last meeting. Um, I know that uh Angela and Lynette have

[9:11] given me some more information regarding the number of units that we have in

[9:14] town. Um, I do feel that um

[9:21] we should have further conversation on this. Um,

[9:26] but if it's okay with the council, u I would like the table to have a February

[9:31] meeting. This January gets to be a little hectic,

[9:34] too. Um, unless you guys have some other thoughts or any other information that

[9:39] you would like um the city girls to get together for us.

[9:46] Um, I know I can have Angela share what she's already the information that

[9:50] they've already gathered.

[10:02] Okay. >> I'll make a motion to table the rental

[10:08] ordinance project number 16-1 to the February

[10:12] meeting. >> Second.

[10:14] » Motion has been made and seconded to table the ordinance for rental units uh

[10:18] till February. All in favor say I. I. >> Oppose. same sign. Motion carries.

[10:33] Um project number 60, ordinance meters. Um

[10:39] the public works department has been working to replace the water meter

[10:42] batteries for properties that are receiving estimated bills. Uh we

[10:47] currently have 24 properties that have received three notices to have the meter

[10:52] battery replaced and they have not complied. Uh public works is looking at

[10:58] um us changing our ordinance for a

[11:02] compliance a non-compliance fee. Um I think this is probably something

[11:07] that we should have looked at.

[11:12] Currently, we're allowed to shut them off, not charge a fee,

[11:17] » but we can't do that during winter also. Correct.

[11:20] » Well, shut them off. You're legally required unless they heat with water,

[11:26] but typically we don't do it because of the cold weather rules and having to

[11:30] find the curb stops and shut them off. It causes problems. So, we don't on a

[11:35] typical basis. So, now you can't shut anybody off for non-compliance. So, we

[11:40] discussed this fee that we saw other cities do on compliance, but wanted to

[11:45] see if it was even worth investigating or have an attorney look at some draft

[11:51] language before I went that far. But I did have some here just to get you an

[11:56] idea of if we did do something that would be something that would look like.

[12:02] So just so I'm understanding this correctly.

[12:06] So they're not replacing the battery. So are we just guesstimating then what on

[12:12] average what they've used and that's what they're getting for the bill. So

[12:16] ultimately they it also could get a surprise if they're using a lot more

[12:21] water. >> And we we have had so it the system

[12:24] estimates it itself. It goes off of people's average and we have had some

[12:30] that are really close. So, we've had some that their bill is $300 or more and

[12:35] then they come in and they're complaining. It's like, well, they've

[12:37] been estimated for a year now and now we have people that have gotten three

[12:42] notices and haven't complied. So, is there a reason why they aren't

[12:51] keeping up with it? I don't know. Or don't want to do it. We're not sure. I

[12:56] did have a gentleman that complained about having to do it to me and um he

[13:00] said he didn't get his first two letters.

[13:02] I can't say that he did or didn't. I we sent them out, you know, to him. And so

[13:07] these 24 people we are actually today calling them just saying, "Hey, did you

[13:11] know that you're supposed to be doing this and seeing if we can get a few more

[13:16] people just don't want to do it?" The matter is they just don't want to

[13:20] have anybody in their house. So >> we don't have an accurate rating to

[13:26] know. >> I get that. But we also are providing

[13:29] them with water. We have to have a way to be accountable for their benefit as

[13:35] well as ours. We all need to be on the same page. So

[13:39] » I have no problem with going forward with that. I mean,

[13:43] » if if they don't want to do that, then they shouldn't live in city limits, I

[13:47] guess. I mean, we need to have it accurate for

[13:52] » when it's for both. I mean, we're billing them. We don't want to

[13:54] overcharge them, but we have no idea where estimate if it's too much or not

[13:59] enough. >> I did ask Lynette to take these 24 lease

[14:02] and look back and figure it herself just to make system isn't figuring it wrong

[14:08] because the closer we can get the better. Otherwise, like you said,

[14:11] there's going to be two, three, $400, and it's like they don't like that when

[14:16] we send that to us, >> right?

[14:18] » We've had people complain to us. It's like, well,

[14:21] I'm sorry. But >> I was going to say the news and Lynette

[14:24] and I had a conversation about the new system, too. The way it averages it is

[14:29] weird. >> It's

[14:32] just I mean, the system doesn't go back to look at the time period.

[14:38] It just I don't know where it comes up as a number and Lena has no idea either

[14:44] » but I know Steph you had >> we had ours and we had it estimated and

[14:50] then we got our actual bill and truly for us it was more that we used 10,000

[14:55] gallons and I'm like good lord you guys are done showering.

[15:00] » So that was more my shock but then as I talked to Judy and I talked to a couple

[15:04] of my neighbors they're like don't worry about that number they have to start

[15:06] somewhere like Okay. >> Yeah, cuz I get a final reading when

[15:10] they do it and when they replace this battery at zero,

[15:13] » it starts over. So then they give us that reading. That's what we build as

[15:17] that final rating. >> And so it probably was underestimating

[15:20] some for your >> Oh, I'm sure.

[15:22] » Yeah, >> it went down again this month. So I'm

[15:24] okay. >> Yeah.

[15:26] » Yeah. But I

[15:28] » sounds reasonable after three times that reason

[15:33] » and and maybe in if we want to go forward and look at this because I don't

[15:37] think that it's a bad idea. You know, people have to understand that we have

[15:42] to replace these things.

[15:46] » Well, we couldn't predict that they would fail early either.

[15:49] » Yeah. But maybe we in the language we can put you know three letters and then

[15:53] follow up with the phone call and if we can't get any anything after the phone

[15:58] call >> Yeah.

[16:00] » done due diligence. >> Yeah.

[16:01] » Yep. >> The under monitors our

[16:06] water that comes out of our wells and if we can't

[16:11] » Yeah. We have to keep within that 10%. >> Yeah. So, I will make a motion to

[16:17] approve moving forward. >> The motion.

[16:20] » Yeah. >> Last year, I had my water meter freeze

[16:23] up and broke. They gave me a new water meter. I put it in. Not I don't know if

[16:29] that has a battery in it or what it might hooked up.

[16:33] » Mhm. Yeah. You have to put in They won't put it in, but this is just a the unit

[16:38] on top of it is the battery, and that's what sends it to their

[16:42] reading. So, as they drive around, that's how they get the reading from.

[16:46] » Okay. How does the battery in it >> when I got it?

[16:49] » Yep. >> How long are they usually last?

[16:51] » Well, what what we're doing now is between 10 and 12 years.

[16:55] » Oh, okay. >> That's what we're doing. Yeah.

[16:57] » So, if you just got a new one, you should be good for 10 years hopefully.

[17:01] » Okay. Just making sure. >> Cross.

[17:06] » Beautiful. So I will make a motion to approve moving forward to prepare

[17:09] language to amend our meter ordinance and allowing for non-compliance fees.

[17:14] » Second. Motion is made and seconded to approve moving forward and prepare

[17:19] language to amend our meter ordinance to allow a non-compliance fee. All in favor

[17:25] say I. >> I post same sign. Motion carries.

[17:33] Now I will ask or entertain a motion to suspend our regular meeting to move on

[17:38] to um our tax increments public hearing. So move

[17:44] » second. Motion has been moved and seconded to suspend our regular meeting

[17:50] um and open public hearing for tax increments. All in favor say I.

[17:56] » Oppos. Same sign. Motion carried. Jason, if you know, join us.

[18:04] » Good evening, mayor and councel. >> Good evening.

[18:06] » Tonight, you're holding this public hearing just on the modification of of

[18:11] the uh original sus properties uh tax incurren financing district 1-5. It was

[18:17] originally established back in 2000. So, it's it's hitting its last few years of

[18:22] life. And so the main reason why we're modifying this is the city of Oasis has

[18:26] been very uh aggressive in how it's used in to support specifically single family

[18:33] uh housing uh improvements within the city. It's also looking at I know the EA

[18:38] is talking about some future housing uh new development and that. So we want to

[18:43] maximize this tiff district as best we can. So the tiff plan governs how the

[18:47] city can use this increment over the life. So really looking over this life

[18:52] of this 26-year district. So the key piece of this diff plan is really that

[18:56] budget that's on page I think it's page three. It maximizes what we're trying to

[19:00] do is maximize that budget um to make sure that we have the ability to collect

[19:07] the increment. So right now um right now if we we didn't if we didn't approve

[19:13] this you see that total from modification number one that 1.8 8

[19:17] million would be the maximum increment we could collect. Um nice the the the

[19:23] the experience this tiff district has had is we're hitting that capacity. So

[19:29] in order to make sure that we can use this tip district through its life

[19:32] through the end of 2027. We just want to modify this this budget maximize this as

[19:37] much as we can based on all the activities. So really with this little

[19:41] dis modification really tried to balance out. We've had a lot of land sale

[19:46] proceeds over the years. So we want to make sure we're accounting for that the

[19:49] increment and maximizing this budget. So again council we're not adding parcels.

[19:56] This has nothing to do with anything new from the standpoint of adding parcels.

[20:00] It's mainly a budgetary uh amendment or modification at this time. Um we'll see

[20:07] in a couple years where the where the council and EDA want to go as far as the

[20:10] use of this um district and at the end of 2027 we'll no longer

[20:16] be collecting increment but if there is some funds available within that tiff

[20:20] district from these activities we can continue to use it as long as it's

[20:25] supporting housing that meets specific income levels whether rental or home

[20:31] ownership and so uh the council and EDA has been very aggressive over the last

[20:36] few years of trying to do the single family home fix up. It's been a very

[20:40] good program for for the city here. Any questions on the modification

[20:46] council? It's just uh again just trying to maximize that that the use of this

[20:51] tip for the city.

[20:58] » I have no questions.

[21:03] » Thanks. I'll step back if there's any questions. Thank you.

[21:09] » And it was in our minutes was requesting

[21:18] and I'll now entertain a motion to um close the public hearing.

[21:27] » Second. A motion has been made and seconded to close the public hearing and

[21:32] return to our regular meeting. All in favor say I. I oppose. Same sign.

[21:37] Motion carries.

[21:41] So in order for us to do that, we have to um approve uh the resolution that

[21:47] Angela has attached.

[21:51] » I'll make a motion to approve the 2025-32

[21:55] resolution uh approving the modification for the

[21:58] TIFF 1 through five. Second. Motion has been made and

[22:03] seconded to approve resolution 25-32

[22:09] approving the modification of TIFF district 1-5. All in favor say I.

[22:14] » I. Opposed. Same sign. >> Motion carries.

[22:19] » Angela, the last sentence on this document, do we need to make a motion to

[22:22] pay that invoice? >> No. They'll send us one later on

[22:29] estimate. Yeah.

[22:38] » Okay. Then we will move on to project 299-489

[22:43] bond lift station main lift station. Um

[22:52] Jason you're back up.

[22:57] » Well perfect. Well, this has been uh kind of a fall project for you and

[23:02] improving this lift station. So, uh mainly due to kind of the timing timing

[23:08] of it and the need for funds, uh we decided best option was using Minnesota

[23:12] water to uh to issue this deck. And so, you have in front of you a loan

[23:17] agreement resolution that would approve the issuance. Um, trying to find the

[23:22] cheat sheet here. Dropped into

[23:29] I had bonds. I just wanted to hit the highlights on

[23:37] sorry um first and foremost this is a utility so

[23:42] we are collecting shore and water earlier. I know that uh during your

[23:45] budget conversation um you improved the water new water and sewer rates. So,

[23:50] that's something Angel and I have been speaking to uh speaking with over the

[23:54] last few months here just as we prep for this borrowing this issue. $759,000

[24:00] total bond issue. Again, it will pledge sewer revenues. There was there was some

[24:04] mixtures of some generators in there for the water plant, but there was also a

[24:08] grant to offset that. And so, this is going to mainly pledge sewer runs uh for

[24:15] that uh main lift station. So, um, if council wishes, we can lock in tonight

[24:22] and, uh, within a couple weeks, we'll have funds in the bank for you to make,

[24:26] um, construction

[24:30] invoice or pay instruction invoices.

[24:35] » What rate are we looking at? >> I knew you were going to ask

[24:39] 4.4. >> Yeah, that's what I locked in.

[24:43] » That's what I locked in. I did some I was uh on my way up here panicing a

[24:46] little bit. There was a couple 4.65s that came in today. I was uh confusing

[24:51] myself, but yes.

Osakis City Council Meeting 12-8-2025

Transcript