[0:07] We adjourn.

[0:10] To the city of South Saint Paul.

[0:11] I call this meeting to order

[0:14] for Monday, NOVEMBER 4th. MISS

[0:17] Werner, will you please call

[0:19] the roll? Toen here. Council

[0:21] member Hanson, Council member

[0:23] Kaleski. Council member Pod

[0:25] Gorski, Council member Sberg

[0:27] Council member Thompson, Mayor

[0:28] Francis all present. Thank you

[0:29] very much. Please stand and

[0:31] join us in our Invocation and

[0:34] our pledge of allegiance.

[0:36] Heavenly Father, we come to you

[0:38] today asking for your guidance,

[0:39] wisdom and support as we begin

[0:42] this meeting. Help us to engage

[0:43] in meaningful discussion allow

[0:45] us to grow closer as a group

[0:46] and nurture the bonds of

[0:50] community. Amen. Amen. I pledge

[0:53] allegiance to the plan of the

[0:55] United States of America and to

[1:00] the Republic nation under GOD

[1:02] individual with liberty and

[1:07] justice for all. Good evening.

[1:09] We have no presentations today,

[1:10] so citizens

[1:11] comments is next.

[1:12] Anybody here with anything that

[1:13] is not on the agenda. They wish

[1:15] to speak about. This is the

[1:16] time to do that. Please step

[1:22] forward. Seeing none. Look for

[1:23] a motion to approve our agenda.

[1:26] So moved, Your Honor, that

[1:27] there was moved by Seabrook,

[1:30] second by Bakke? Is that

[1:32] correct? All right, just making

[1:34] sure. All in favor? I any

[1:37] oppose? Our agenda passes. Our

[1:38] consent agenda, all the items

[1:40] listed on our consent agenda

[1:42] are considered routine and will

[1:43] be approved in one motion.

[1:44] There will be no separate

[1:45] discussion of these items

[1:47] unless a council member or a

[1:48] citizen so requests. In that

[1:50] event, it will be removed from

[1:51] the consent agenda and

[1:53] considered at the end of our

[1:54] consent any items to be removed,

[1:58] council. Public, any items to

[1:59] be removed from our consent

[2:01] agenda. Can we slow down a

[2:03] little bit here? Sure, we can,

[2:07] Michael. Thank you. The consent

[2:09] agenda, no other items to be

[2:12] removed from the public or the

[2:14] council with that I look for a

[2:16] motion to approve, so moved.

[2:16] It

[2:18] s like a moved by Kalzeki,

[2:21] second by Thompson. MS. Warner,

[2:21] will you please read those

[2:24] items and then call the roll

[2:26] resolve the city of Sault Saint

[2:27] Paul does hereby approve the

[2:30] following. City council meeting

[2:32] minutes of OCTOBER 21st, 2024.

[2:35] Accounts payable. Declare costs

[2:37] to be assessed for the concrete

[2:38] exchange improvement project

[2:41] number 202401. Approved master

[2:43] control agreement. Turf

[2:48] maintenance services. Award

[2:49] streetscape services to

[2:50] curbside landscape and

[2:52] irrigation. To declare costs to

[2:55] be assessed for the 7th annual

[2:58] Avenue South Reconstruction and

[3:01] I-9494 water main improvement

[3:04] project number 2023-12. Retain

[3:05] Kraus Andersson Construction

[3:06] Company as the construction

[3:11] management advisor. Approved

[3:12] resolution 2024 131

[3:13] acknowledgment of lawful

[3:14] gambling exempt permit for Holy

[3:16] Trinity Catholic Church.

[3:20] Council member back in. Yes.

[3:21] Mayor Francis Councilmember

[3:23] Hanson, yes council member

[3:25] Kalaski, Council member Pod

[3:28] Gorski, Council member s Seberg

[3:29] Council member Thompson. 70.

[3:32] Thank you very much. Consent

[3:33] passes. Next is our public

[3:37] hearing. This first one is

[3:38] certifying unpaid charges to

[3:40] the county auditor. Hello,

[3:44] Clara. Welcome. Good evening.

[3:46] Um, the items that we are

[3:48] certifying or asking you to

[3:50] certify this evening. Our

[3:52] abatements, re-inspection fees,

[3:54] code enforcement citations, and

[3:54] rental license citations, all

[3:56] of the property owners received

[3:57] a letter indicating that these

[4:00] items would be on this

[4:00] evening

[4:01] s agenda, including the

[4:02] public hearing notice, in

[4:03] addition, public hearing notice

[4:05] was published in this, uh,

[4:08] Pioneer Press. Um, each of the

[4:10] properties was notified of the

[4:12] code enforcement or, um, rental

[4:16] license. Uh, infraction by the

[4:18] department invoices were issued

[4:20] by finance, uh, statements were

[4:21] sent out for the bills as they

[4:24] were not paid. Uh, these

[4:26] invoices were issued between

[4:28] OCTOBER of 23 and SEPTEMBER of

[4:31] 24. All charges are past due as

[4:32] of NOVEMBER 1st in accordance

[4:35] with city code. All the

[4:36] property owners have until

[4:38] DECEMBER 4th to pay the

[4:38] original invoice amounts

[4:42] without interest. Um, as

[4:45] allowed by statute. At that

[4:48] time, any charges not paid will

[4:50] be certified to the county to

[4:52] be collected with the 2025

[4:54] property taxes. These are one

[4:57] year assessments. Um, one

[4:58] correction I would like to make

[5:00] is that we do have a pin number

[5:00] that

[5:01] s incorrect on the

[5:03] resolution, we will make that

[5:04] correction before we submit it

[5:08] to the county. I myself and

[5:09] other staff are available if

[5:13] anyone has any questions. Uh MS.

[5:16] Elders, you, uh, you said you a

[5:18] property id number was missed.

[5:22] Ok. One of the property IDs is

[5:23] incorrect and the 113 3rd

[5:27] Avenue South. Very good. Uh,

[5:28] and the total assessments being

[5:32] levied to the auditor is 34,776.

[5:33] Is that correct? And we will

[5:35] again, like I said, we

[5:36] ll

[5:36] deduct anything that

[5:37] s paid

[5:38] between now and DECEMBER 4th.

[5:42] Very good. This is a public

[5:43] hearing, I guess I will open

[5:46] that up. Anybody here wish to

[5:49] speak on the items for the

[5:50] certifying unpaid charges to

[5:51] the county auditor. Anybody

[5:53] here whose address is on there

[5:57] that wants to discuss or

[6:00] Anything further? Asking again

[6:02] if anybody here from the public

[6:03] wishes to speak on the

[6:05] certifying the unpaid charges

[6:09] to the county auditor. Seeing

[6:10] and hearing none, we

[6:10] ll close

[6:12] the public hearing, look to

[6:15] counsel for questions. Comments

[6:19] Emotions Your Honor,

[6:20] Councilmember Sberg move to

[6:21] approve with the correction to

[6:23] 113 3rd Avenue South. We have a

[6:26] motion to approve by Councilor

[6:27] Sieberg, seconded by Podgorski

[6:29] for approval. Further

[6:35] discussion. Seeing none. MS.

[6:37] Werner, please call the roll.

[6:39] Mayor Francis, yes,

[6:41] Councilmember Hanson, Council

[6:43] member Kauski, Council member

[6:45] Pat Gorski, council member Serg

[6:47] Council member Thompson,

[6:48] Council member Bakke. Yes, 70.

[6:50] Thank you very much. Motion

[6:54] passes. Thank you. Clara. Next

[6:56] up is an assessment hearing for

[6:59] concrete exchange improvements

[7:01] project number 2024-01. MR.

[7:03] Williams, welcome. Good evening,

[7:04] Mayor and members of the

[7:06] council. Uh, one second as I

[7:24] load the presentation. At least

[7:24] something

[7:29] s happening. Sorry

[7:31] about that. There it is. At

[7:31] least it

[7:33] s on my screen. I get

[7:35] it. Ok, there we go. All right.

[7:37] Good evening mayor and members

[7:38] of the council. Uh, tonight is

[7:41] the assessment hearing for the

[7:42] Concord exchange Improvement

[7:43] Project, uh, brief presentation

[7:43] I

[7:44] ll go through this evening,

[7:46] then we can open up the public

[7:47] hearing and answer any

[7:51] questions the council MAY have.

[7:53] So the agenda will go through a

[7:55] summary of the project costs

[7:56] and funding sources talk about

[7:57] the special assessments, and

[8:00] lastly, the councilor action.

[8:02] So location we have Concord

[8:03] Exchange, uh, kind of broken up

[8:06] into two projects. We have the

[8:07] streetscape improvements north

[8:09] of Grand and the medians, uh,

[8:12] that was uh funded through the

[8:13] developer through the yards

[8:15] development, and then we have

[8:17] the reconstructions and

[8:19] streetscape improvements, south

[8:20] of Concord Exchange between

[8:22] Grand and the southern access

[8:24] that did include a full upgrade

[8:26] of storm sewer system as well

[8:29] as water main improvements. So

[8:30] before the project, you can see

[8:32] some photos here, uh, in the

[8:34] streetscape area. We had some

[8:36] deteriorated sidewalk

[8:37] conditions, various uplifts, um,

[8:40] you know, kind of some outdated

[8:41] streetscape amenities, which

[8:42] were all improved with this

[8:45] project. Uh, you can see, uh,

[8:46] in the reconstruction area,

[8:47] some pavement that

[8:49] s in poor

[8:50] condition, potholes and things

[8:53] of that nature, um, you know, a

[8:57] sidewalk again varied and, and

[8:57] various locations inconsistent

[8:59] wits, um, and then some kind of

[9:00] outdated, uh, street lights

[9:01] that we replaced with this

[9:06] project. So a summary in the

[9:08] streetscape area, we, uh,

[9:09] updated the landscaping and the

[9:11] medians, uh, replaced all the

[9:14] sidewalk through that, um, that

[9:14] Northern peace streetscape

[9:17] features, new benches, uh,

[9:18] trash cans, things of that

[9:20] nature, all the street lights

[9:22] got upgraded. Uh, we also did

[9:24] put an irrigation system in for

[9:26] the medians, so public works

[9:26] doesn

[9:27] t have to water that, so

[9:28] it

[9:29] s all self-sustaining.

[9:31] Reconstruction area, full

[9:32] roadway reconstruction, new

[9:34] aggregate base, new pavement,

[9:36] new curb and gutter, uh, new

[9:39] sidewalk throughout, um. New

[9:40] skatescape features similar to

[9:42] the, the streetscape piece, uh,

[9:43] irrigation as well and all the

[9:46] plantar areas. Uh, sanitary

[9:48] sewer upgrades, um, so with all

[9:50] the developable properties that

[9:51] could be on Core exchange, we

[9:53] stubbed out sewer and water to

[9:54] those properties, so when they

[9:55] come in to develop, we don

[9:55] t

[9:56] have to tear into the new

[9:59] street. Uh, storm sewer, some

[10:00] pretty massive storm sewer

[10:01] upgrades, improved drainage,

[10:03] and again, the street lighting,

[10:05] we, uh, really added, um, a lot

[10:06] of improvements to the street

[10:07] light system out there to

[10:09] really make sure it was very

[10:13] lit during the evening hours.

[10:16] So this kind of uh a neat slide

[10:18] showing the pre-construction,

[10:19] um road conditions versus post,

[10:22] uh, you can kind of see what it

[10:24] looked like from Aeroview, uh,

[10:25] previously, um, just, you know,

[10:28] road was just kind of beat up,

[10:30] poor condition, had a really

[10:31] inconsistent kind of road with

[10:33] throughout, no real consistency

[10:34] through anywhere, through the

[10:36] corridor, uh, and then at the,

[10:37] and then the slide at the

[10:40] bottom shows kind of the post

[10:41] condition, um, you know, we got

[10:43] our, uh, 11 ft lanes, 9-foot

[10:45] parking, being a commercial

[10:46] area, um, the lines you see

[10:48] there are the striping yet, the

[10:48] striping is supposed to happen

[10:49] today, but it didn

[10:50] t happen

[10:51] with the rain, but that

[10:52] s just

[10:53] for illustration purposes, but

[10:56] kind of get the idea, um, of,

[10:59] of how it looks today. With

[11:02] that, um, that would show a

[11:04] quick drone video for all those

[11:06] who are interested, uh, about

[11:07] 30 seconds long and I can kind

[11:10] of describe. What we

[11:10] re seeing,

[11:12] so this is kind of going south.

[11:14] You can see the old Vendela

[11:16] glass, see the street lights,

[11:18] we got our new sidewalk, you

[11:21] can see the planter boxes, um,

[11:24] again those are all irrigated,

[11:26] uh, new curb and gutter, um,

[11:27] that car is not going that fast.

[11:28] It

[11:28] s the, it

[11:29] s the drone

[11:30] footage that actually makes it

[11:33] look that fast, so just so you

[11:34] know so it gives you a kind of

[11:35] idea of, of the improvements

[11:36] that we did. I

[11:37] m very proud of,

[11:40] of what, how it looks. Groups

[11:45] Yeah ok, sorry about that. Ok,

[11:47] on to project costs and funding,

[11:48] uh, looking at a total project

[11:50] costs of just under 4 million.

[11:53] That is under our as bid amount

[11:55] by about 320,000, um, pretty

[11:56] fortunate that we didn

[11:57] t run

[11:58] into any unforeseen conditions

[12:00] along that corridor, uh, given

[12:01] the history of Concert Exchange,

[12:03] we kind of anticipated we might

[12:07] run into some buried debris,

[12:07] building foundations,

[12:09] contaminated soil, things of

[12:11] that nature, um, but we were

[12:12] fortunate that we, we didn

[12:12] t,

[12:12] so we

[12:13] re able to deliver it

[12:15] under Budget, um, you know,

[12:16] also during construction, um,

[12:18] you know, Tom and Kelsey both

[12:20] looking at ways to save money

[12:20] during construction. We

[12:20] re

[12:22] always trying to find little

[12:23] tweaks here that we can save

[12:24] some money on this, then we do

[12:25] that? That

[12:26] s kind of a big part

[12:28] of our job. So you can see, uh,

[12:30] those costs did come in, uh,

[12:35] less than our as been amount.

[12:37] Funding sources so various

[12:37] funding sources for this. We

[12:38] got our municipal state aid is

[12:41] a state of road, about 1

[12:42] million uh tax increment

[12:44] financing of a million, uh, the

[12:45] developer fund I previously

[12:46] mentioned for the street skate

[12:48] piece, um, that was kind of on

[12:50] their plate to do, but we added

[12:52] it to our project. It was just

[12:53] easier that way. Uh, special

[12:54] assessments, which we

[12:54] re here

[12:58] to talk about tonight,

[12:59] approximately 40 545,000. Our

[13:01] water utility, sanitary sewer,

[13:02] and storm sewer make up the

[13:07] rest of that, um. Cost. So this

[13:10] is proposed to be specially

[13:12] assessed through the city

[13:12] s

[13:15] assessment policy that rate is

[13:17] $90.40 per front foot, uh, all

[13:19] the properties on this corridor

[13:21] are commercial retail, high,

[13:22] high density residential, so

[13:24] there, there is no maximum for

[13:25] those commercial properties, um,

[13:27] they are kept at 5%, but the

[13:29] reason being is they have a

[13:32] more intense use more traffic,

[13:33] more heavier vehicles, kind of

[13:35] more wear and tear on the road,

[13:37] uh, as opposed to a residential

[13:37] property there. There

[13:40] s no max.

[13:43] So if adopted tonight, um,

[13:45] property owners have the option

[13:46] to prepay the assessment within

[13:48] 30 days of tonight, which would

[13:49] be DECEMBER 4th without

[13:51] interest. If not, it goes on,

[13:52] automatically goes on property

[13:54] taxes over a 10-year period, uh,

[13:56] with a 5% interest rate. And

[13:58] there are deferment options

[14:00] available, um, for those who

[14:02] qualify if, um, senior citizens,

[14:03] older fixed income, disabled

[14:05] veterans that usually applies

[14:07] to residential properties, but

[14:08] there are different options

[14:11] available. So the action is to

[14:15] hold a public hearing first and

[14:16] then consider resolution

[14:17] 2024-126, adopting the

[14:20] assessment role of the Cocker

[14:21] exchange improvement project.

[14:22] Uh, with that, I could stand

[14:23] for questions. If the council

[14:27] has any. Very good. Uh, this is

[14:28] a public meeting, your public

[14:30] hearing? Uh, so I will open it

[14:32] up for public. Anybody here

[14:34] wishes to speak about the

[14:36] assessment on concrete exchange

[14:36] improvement for the concret

[14:38] exchange improvement. This is

[14:39] the time. Please step forward.

[14:40] I know there

[14:41] s some business

[14:44] owners here present, not sure

[14:46] if they wanted to discuss or um

[14:48] talk. But this is the time, so

[14:50] if anybody here would like to

[14:53] speak from the public about the

[14:53] assessing for concrete exchange

[14:59] improvement. Uh, seeing none,

[14:59] hearing none, I

[15:00] ll close the

[15:02] public hearing. And turned to

[15:06] council for questions. Comments

[15:08] or motions. Your Honor,

[15:10] Councilmember Sberg. Nick, you

[15:12] pointed out that it was capped

[15:13] at 5% for commercial properties.

[15:15] Can you tell us why that is and

[15:18] how that complies with state

[15:19] statute on assessments for

[15:21] street improvement projects.

[15:23] Sure, that was adopted through

[15:24] the city

[15:24] s assessment policy as

[15:26] a way to, you know, kind of

[15:28] limit how big the assessment

[15:29] amount would be, um, kind of a

[15:30] council decision at the time

[15:32] through our policy is to have

[15:32] an amount that

[15:33] s not, doesn

[15:33] t

[15:37] exceed that. And then we are

[15:39] obligated, so if somebody wants

[15:41] to contest their assessment,

[15:41] we

[15:43] re obligated to follow state

[15:45] statutes, so we have to prove

[15:48] that a property went up in

[15:51] value equal to or greater than

[15:52] the assessment that was the

[15:54] state statute part I was

[15:55] getting at, um, so we

[15:55] re

[15:57] complying with that. We make

[15:58] sure that that

[15:59] s the case in

[15:59] our opinion doesn

[16:00] t mean we

[16:00] re

[16:01] always right, but that

[16:02] s what

[16:04] we try to do, and then the

[16:05] different pots of money that

[16:08] made up The revenue that went

[16:10] into this, we had Minnesota

[16:12] state aid in addition to the

[16:13] developer

[16:13] s money that happened

[16:15] north of Gran we had the

[16:17] sanitary sewer fund and the

[16:18] storm sewer fund, sanitary and

[16:21] storm, we had some differences.

[16:22] You might say substantial

[16:24] differences in the pre-bed

[16:27] versus the post. Those are

[16:27] separate enterprise funds

[16:28] that

[16:29] s a city operates, correct?

[16:30] Yeah, Mayor remembers the

[16:31] council, that

[16:32] s correct. Um, so

[16:34] yeah, if, if somebody does

[16:35] appeal, there is a process on

[16:37] the, on the amount, but We do

[16:38] have the, those enterprise

[16:39] funds are kind of separate pots

[16:41] of money, if you will, for the

[16:42] individual pieces of the work

[16:47] that we do. Thank you. Others

[16:47] can

[16:49] t remember Kalzowski.

[16:50] ,

[16:52] you and the entire staff and

[16:54] all the contractors did a super

[16:55] bang up job on that looks just

[16:57] great. Kudos to all of you.

[17:00] Thank you. Thank you. Very good.

[17:05] Thank you, Councilor. Others? I

[17:06] would agree that it does look

[17:10] nice, um. I also know that We

[17:11] did everything underneath the

[17:17] ground. Sewer water New base so

[17:19] this this road should last us

[17:20] quite some time. I

[17:21] ve noticed

[17:22] now on your drone footage as

[17:23] well as driving on it that

[17:25] there are no cuts in that.

[17:25] That

[17:27] s a one straight. There

[17:28] s

[17:31] no cuts inside the. Asphalt, um,

[17:31] that

[17:32] s nice as well. There

[17:33] s no,

[17:33] there

[17:34] s no noise. And is that a

[17:36] new thing or is that uh the

[17:38] standard of, of roads today

[17:41] that there are no cuts in those.

[17:42] We certainly do everything we

[17:43] can to not have a cut into the

[17:45] new pavement, um, sometimes

[17:45] when you

[17:46] re raising manholes,

[17:47] if you, you know, there

[17:48] s a

[17:48] process to doing that where you

[17:51] can have a cut into the road,

[17:52] um, but we, another reason why

[17:53] we stopped the utilities out so

[17:54] we don

[17:56] t have to cut it in the

[17:57] future, so our goal is always

[17:58] to not have cuts in the rope,

[17:59] but sometimes, you know, we

[17:59] can

[17:59] t. Can

[18:00] t always help it,

[18:00] but that

[18:02] s the goal. Very good,

[18:04] thank you. Your Honor,

[18:06] Councilor s Seberg, I would

[18:09] move to approve Resolution

[18:12] 2024-126. Second Moved by

[18:13] council member Surg, seconded

[18:17] by Bakken. Further discussion,

[18:19] Your Honor, just one more thing,

[18:20] please, please receiver and

[18:22] then Nick, thanks to the

[18:24] businesses down there too,

[18:25] street projects are never fun.

[18:29] Uh We were blessed a little bit

[18:32] with some some decent weather,

[18:33] uh, for the latter part of the

[18:35] summer anyways, but we

[18:36] understand the inconvenience

[18:37] and we appreciate everybody

[18:37] s

[18:37] patience. It

[18:38] s not just the

[18:41] businesses, but on the next

[18:41] project. It

[18:42] s challenging.

[18:42] There

[18:43] s no good way to

[18:46] sugarcoat that. Um, but we

[18:49] appreciate The accessibility

[18:51] that not only the contractor,

[18:53] but Tom had in answering

[18:53] people

[18:53] s questions, so we

[18:56] appreciate that. Yeah, I would

[18:58] echo that Councilor s Seberg

[18:59] with the last year

[18:59] s Concord or

[19:00] the two years prior with

[19:03] Concord. Street and now with

[19:04] Concord Exchange those

[19:05] businesses have gone through a

[19:07] lot, so it is uh probably test

[19:09] of their patience, but now I, I

[19:10] just, I council member s Seri

[19:12] says, thank you for that and

[19:13] appreciate your investment in

[19:14] South Saint Paul. We

[19:14] re hoping

[19:17] Quality Auto will be there

[19:17] another 25 years. So you won

[19:18] t

[19:21] have to see another street

[19:24] project, right? Ok, uh,

[19:25] anything further council, we

[19:29] have a motion a second. Seeing

[19:31] none, MISS. Werner, please call

[19:33] the roll. Council member

[19:34] Steberg Council member Pod

[19:36] Gorski. Council member back in

[19:39] council member Thomson, Council

[19:41] member Hanson, council member

[19:43] Kaluski, Mayor Francis, 70.

[19:45] Thank you very much. Motion

[19:46] approved. Thank you for

[19:48] investing in South Saint Paul.

[19:48] The businesses there on

[19:51] Concrete exchange. Now we move

[19:53] along to assessment hearing for

[19:54] 7th Avenue South reconstruction.

[19:57] MR. Williams, good evening

[19:59] again, Mayor and members of the

[20:01] council, uh, one second I load

[20:03] the presentation. Ok, here we

[20:05] go. This this is the assessment

[20:08] hearing for the 7th Avenue

[20:09] South reconstruction project

[20:10] similar to the last

[20:11] presentation, uh, brief

[20:12] presentation will go through

[20:14] and we can open up, uh,

[20:14] questions and the public

[20:18] hearing at the end. Talk about

[20:19] the summary of the project,

[20:21] cost and funding, uh,

[20:22] assessment policy again, as

[20:25] well as the council action. So

[20:26] this project was the

[20:27] reconstruction and JULY proved

[20:30] the 7 Avenue South from I-494

[20:32] to South Street, 5 blocks of

[20:34] 7th Avenue South and also

[20:36] consisted of the uh water main

[20:38] improvements along the under

[20:43] and along the I-494 corridor.

[20:44] Pre-construction conditions,

[20:46] you can see the the road was

[20:47] definitely past its useful life

[20:48] as well as the water main,

[20:50] being 84 years old, um, did

[20:52] have a history of water main

[20:54] breaks, sanitary sewer was also,

[20:57] uh, old and we were able to, to

[20:58] rehab that roadway drainage was,

[21:00] was kind of lacking. We were

[21:02] able to improve that, and then

[21:04] there was a, uh, sidewalk gap,

[21:06] uh, on the east side between

[21:07] Dale and South Street that

[21:07] s

[21:08] been identified in in several

[21:10] city plans in the past and we

[21:11] were able to, uh, to put that

[21:15] new sidewalk in. And then the,

[21:16] the I-4994 Waterman crossings,

[21:17] this work isn

[21:19] t accessible work,

[21:21] but very important work as we

[21:22] had multiple crossings under

[21:25] that, uh, interstate, um, that

[21:26] were not encased old pipes in

[21:29] the Risk there is if those

[21:32] pipes were ever to burst, you

[21:33] could potentially have sinkhole

[21:34] develop on a major interstate,

[21:36] which nobody wants. So we were

[21:37] able to correct that with this

[21:41] project as well. So the

[21:42] existing conditions, 60 ft

[21:45] right of way, 44 ft wide, um,

[21:45] it

[21:47] s kind of oversized for our

[21:49] new standards, um, twelve-foot

[21:51] lanes, 10-foot shoulders, uh,

[21:54] and then the 7 7.5 ft sidewalk

[21:56] between 494 and Dale. Uh, again,

[21:57] the no sidewalk, there was a

[21:59] gap between Dale and South

[22:02] Street. So what do we consider

[22:03] during road design? Well, this

[22:04] is a state aid road, so that

[22:04] s

[22:05] first and foremost, make sure

[22:09] we meet state aid standards for

[22:11] line width and parking. We did

[22:12] include a 5-foot boulevard for

[22:13] our city

[22:13] s new tree ordinance

[22:15] so we could plant trees in

[22:18] those boulevards. Uh, we

[22:20] addressed that sidewalk gap uh

[22:22] between uh Dale and South that

[22:24] was identified in our 2014 bike

[22:27] plan as well as our comp plan.

[22:29] And we want to make sure it

[22:30] meets our complete streets

[22:31] policies the council adopted in

[22:34] 2019, which, which it does, and

[22:35] then kind of standard is we

[22:37] always try to avoid property

[22:38] acquisition, expensive

[22:40] retaining walls and things of

[22:41] that nature on all projects we

[22:45] we do and reconstruct roads.

[22:46] Summer of the project, so a

[22:47] couple of photos you can see

[22:50] again, I, I think this really

[22:51] turned out amazing, you know,

[22:53] with brand new water main, new

[22:56] services to the curb stop, uh,

[22:57] reline the sanitary sewer

[22:58] manholes when you realign the

[22:59] sanitary sewer, it

[23:00] s basically

[23:02] a new pipe after you reign it,

[23:05] just cheaper to do that. Uh,

[23:06] all brand new storms were

[23:08] through there, uh, replacement

[23:09] and really upgraded the, the

[23:12] drainage of the road, uh, full

[23:13] roadway reconstruction,

[23:14] sidewalk installation, uh, the

[23:14] street lighting, kind of

[23:16] matching. Our new street light

[23:17] standard that we

[23:18] ve seen on

[23:19] Congre Exchange, Concord Street,

[23:21] uh, trying to have a consistent

[23:22] kind of light standard. So if

[23:23] we ever do replace streets,

[23:25] street lights, we have the

[23:28] parts handy. And then, uh,

[23:28] boulevard tree planning, we

[23:29] weren

[23:30] t able to do that this

[23:31] year with the, with the weather,

[23:32] the fall, um, but we are

[23:33] planning to do that in the

[23:34] spring. We

[23:36] ll be contacting, uh,

[23:37] residents about they want a

[23:39] tree, we can work with them to

[23:43] get one. And then 494 work

[23:44] really removing all those

[23:45] redundant crossings, putting

[23:47] one big crossing in, casing

[23:48] that pipe, if there

[23:49] s ever a

[23:49] problem, it

[23:49] s casing, it

[23:50] s not

[23:52] going to undermine the, the

[23:53] surface under the road under

[23:55] the interstate. And then we

[23:57] also upgraded the system with

[23:58] kind of looping it and, you

[23:59] know, kind of making sure it

[24:00] s

[24:04] more resilient, more efficient.

[24:07] So similar photo, um, of the

[24:08] pre-construction versus post,

[24:09] uh, you can kind of see the

[24:10] center lines matching up. You

[24:11] can gives you a good idea of

[24:13] kind of how the road changed,

[24:15] right? From it, it did narrow a

[24:17] bit. Again, that

[24:18] s for our new

[24:19] standards trying to 11 ft lanes

[24:22] with 8 ft parking, uh, I will

[24:24] confirm the parking is 8 ft.

[24:25] From the face of the curve to

[24:27] the middle of the stripe, so

[24:28] that

[24:29] s been verified multiple

[24:32] times, so any concern? That

[24:32] s

[24:33] been addressed, um, and then

[24:36] the 5 ft sidewalk we put in, uh,

[24:39] to have a, a complete sidewalk

[24:45] from 494 down to south. Similar

[24:46] to Congress a cool video to

[24:47] show again, about 30 seconds

[24:53] long. Play that now. So I was

[24:54] traveling southbound on 7th

[24:56] Avenue South. You can see we

[24:58] have street lighting, the

[24:59] 11-foot lanes, 8 ft parking,

[25:02] new curb and gutter. Matched in

[25:04] all the driveways, um, new

[25:06] carriage walks for people, um.

[25:09] Got the new so. Pedestrian

[25:13] improvements with new curb

[25:13] ramps, um, so that pretty much

[25:14] just continues along the hill 5

[25:15] blocks of the road. So thank

[25:19] you to, um, Jacob Steiner, our

[25:20] communications coordinator for

[25:20] for filming this. It

[25:20] s nice to

[25:29] have. Sorry about that. Oops

[25:35] Sorry, ok. Oops, sorry about

[25:41] that. Try this again. Ok, sorry,

[25:42] a little glitchy. All right, on

[25:44] the project cost funding, so,

[25:46] uh, Project To came in about

[25:47] 3.7 million that happy to say

[25:48] that did come in under budget

[25:51] as well. Similar to Conquer

[25:51] s

[25:52] Change, we pretty fortunately

[25:53] we didn

[25:54] t run into any

[25:56] unforeseen conditions. We had

[25:57] good soils, no real, you know,

[25:59] issues. A lot of times they

[25:59] ll

[26:00] run into sub-grade issues. You

[26:00] just, you never know what

[26:01] you

[26:01] re gonna get into when

[26:01] you

[26:02] re, when you

[26:02] re

[26:04] constructing a road, so we got

[26:06] pretty fortunate with that. Uh,

[26:07] everything went very smooth. Um,

[26:10] as you can see by the pricing,

[26:11] uh, everything was, uh, you

[26:12] know, uh, came in, came in

[26:14] really good, so really happy to

[26:20] see that. As far as uh

[26:21] Assessments are concerned,

[26:22] again, this is specially

[26:24] assessed for the city

[26:24] s

[26:26] assessment policy, that rate,

[26:29] uh, is $90.40 per front foot.

[26:33] Uh, there is a 7 75 ft maximum

[26:34] accessible for residential

[26:35] properties. Yeah, if you have a

[26:37] corner lot, you only get

[26:38] assessed on the narrow side,

[26:40] not the long side, and those

[26:42] are also capped at 5%. Uh, you

[26:44] can see the table to the right,

[26:45] kind of what the amounts are,

[26:47] uh, most of the lots on 79

[26:49] South or in the 50 to 40 ft

[26:54] frontage. Payment options have

[26:56] adopted tonight again they have

[26:57] 30, 30 days from tonight, uh,

[27:00] which would be DECEMBER 4th, if

[27:01] adopted to prepay without

[27:03] interest. If not, that does go

[27:05] on property taxes over a

[27:06] 10-year period, 5% interest

[27:09] rate, and, uh, there are

[27:10] different options available if

[27:13] anyone does qualify, uh, senior

[27:14] citizens, fixed incomes,

[27:15] disabled veterans are, are the

[27:17] kind of the categories if, uh,

[27:20] for deferrals. Actually seeing

[27:22] is to hold public hearing and

[27:26] then to consider resolution

[27:27] 2024-127, adopting the

[27:29] assessment role for the 7th

[27:30] himself and I 494 Water main

[27:32] Improvements Project. Uh, that

[27:33] concludes staff

[27:33] s report. I

[27:33] d

[27:34] be happy to answer any

[27:36] questions you MAY have. Thank

[27:38] you, MR. Williams. This is a

[27:39] public hearing, so we will open

[27:42] it up for the public. Anybody

[27:44] here wish to speak about the

[27:45] assessment on 7th Avenue South

[27:47] for the reconstruction. Uh,

[27:48] this is the opportunities.

[27:52] Please step forward. We have

[27:52] questions, comments, or

[28:07] concerned. Welcome. Hello, um,

[28:08] I really don

[28:09] t know anything

[28:13] about this process, but why?

[28:16] Thank you. Why isn

[28:18] t um Why are

[28:21] you holding a hearing now?

[28:22] Rather than before the

[28:25] construction happened. We held

[28:27] a hearing. I, I think you, I

[28:28] remember you being here and

[28:30] speaking at that, right, but

[28:30] now you

[28:34] re Voting on the or

[28:35] Going to determine the

[28:36] assessment if it

[28:38] s Going to

[28:39] follow through or not follow

[28:43] through or Yes, that

[28:45] s, that

[28:45] s

[28:47] the process we, we, we hold it

[28:48] before we let people know we

[28:50] have the call for the bids, we

[28:52] bid it. It gets constructed,

[28:55] and then we assess afterwards.

[28:56] Isn

[28:57] t that like putting the

[28:59] cart before the horse. Well, I

[29:01] think MR. Williams could

[29:04] explain that the The formula is

[29:05] already set, and we talked

[29:07] about that in the beginning as

[29:09] I, I think, again, you had some

[29:12] concerns with that being um. On

[29:14] a fixed income and homeowner,

[29:16] correct, all those things, yeah

[29:18] exactly because it, it almost

[29:18] feels like we never had a voice.

[29:23] We had a voice, uh, for the

[29:25] levy for the proposed increase

[29:27] in our taxes for the schooling

[29:31] uh 1.5% raise in our property

[29:32] taxes to uh additional funding

[29:33] for schools, you know, when

[29:35] they got brand new computers

[29:36] and everything, we voted on

[29:39] that. No problem, but this one

[29:40] I, I feel like we never got a

[29:45] say in the whole matter. And

[29:45] Now the work

[29:48] s been done. But

[29:48] now you

[29:53] re Trying to basically

[29:55] say now should we charge Each

[29:57] and every person that lives on

[30:01] 7th Avenue, an assessment. What

[30:01] if it doesn

[30:04] t pass or I guess,

[30:05] is there a chance of it not

[30:10] passing. I, I, I don

[30:10] t

[30:12] understand the reasoning or the

[30:14] why for here because It feels

[30:15] like we never had a vote in the

[30:18] whole matter. Or we weren

[30:18] t

[30:22] hurt. You, Your Honor,

[30:23] COUNCILMAN Sberg, you bring up

[30:27] good points. I understand where

[30:28] you

[30:28] re coming from, but

[30:28] individual street projects do

[30:32] not go towards a citywide vote.

[30:32] That

[30:32] s not good government.

[30:33] That

[30:36] s Pushing off our

[30:39] responsibility to fix up our

[30:41] infrastructure to a popular

[30:42] opinion at the time. Nobody

[30:44] wants to pay for anything. The

[30:47] first option is free. As you

[30:49] looked at the breakdown, the

[30:51] community as a whole is paying

[30:53] for the overwhelming part of

[30:54] this project. It

[30:54] s important

[30:58] for us to provide good, safe

[30:59] city streets. In addition to

[31:00] that, it

[31:02] s important for you to

[31:04] have adequate water and

[31:07] sanitary service to your curb

[31:07] light. That

[31:08] s not a votable

[31:09] thing. That

[31:10] s not like a levy

[31:12] where you get to say, yeah, you

[31:12] know, we

[31:13] re going to put that

[31:15] in front of everybody in the

[31:15] city. We

[31:18] re going to redo. 5

[31:21] blocks of 7th Avenue South from

[31:24] 494 to South Street. So your

[31:26] vote in this matter and the

[31:26] reason we

[31:27] re certifying this is

[31:27] because it

[31:29] s got to go on the

[31:31] tax rolls to either be

[31:33] collected over the next 10

[31:35] years at a 5% interest rate,

[31:38] which is a good interest rate,

[31:40] or if you qualify for a senior

[31:44] deferral or a fixed income

[31:45] deferral or disability deferral

[31:47] that ball starts. Rolling this

[31:50] evening, so There, you MAY have

[31:51] a difference of opinion on

[31:52] whether we should do a street

[31:56] or not, and we do care. We

[31:56] ve

[31:58] delayed street projects. Which

[31:59] hasn

[31:59] t been the smartest thing

[32:00] to do because we get a room

[32:02] full of folks. Well, this

[32:02] street doesn

[32:03] t need to be done.

[32:04] Well, the price doesn

[32:05] t

[32:07] generally go down. It goes up.

[32:11] And we try to set a fair amount

[32:13] on the front footage that

[32:15] covers a portion of the cost

[32:17] that is set in the state

[32:20] statutes. You can, you have

[32:22] every right to contest that

[32:22] what we

[32:23] re charging is not what

[32:25] you got. In other words, if you

[32:26] don

[32:28] t think the value of your

[32:30] home went up by the amount

[32:30] you

[32:31] re being assessed, you can

[32:33] challenge that. You have every

[32:34] right to do that. It

[32:34] s up to us.

[32:39] To only assess what we believe

[32:42] the value of the homes went up.

[32:42] That

[32:43] s our responsibility, so

[32:43] we

[32:44] re not, we

[32:46] re not trying to

[32:48] do anything sneaky, but if we

[32:50] literally voted on every street

[32:51] project in the community.

[32:52] Hardly any of them would get

[32:57] accomplished. Because again, or

[33:00] If the city paid the entire

[33:02] cost of every street project.

[33:04] The amount of assessments on

[33:06] this project that get assessed

[33:09] back to the homeowner is what,

[33:17] 4 462. What was it???????

[33:18] 4,621,462,000. If we added

[33:21] 462,000 to the general levy.

[33:26] Either in this year or in 2025

[33:27] to pay this, everybody

[33:28] s taxes

[33:30] would go up in the finance

[33:31] director just left. My best

[33:33] guess. And don

[33:35] t quote me on

[33:36] Facebook on this because that

[33:36] s

[33:39] what the finance persons for

[33:43] would be over 5%. So we don

[33:47] t

[33:47] have the luxury of paying for

[33:47] all street assessments or

[33:49] paying for the entire cost of

[33:53] every street project. The the

[33:55] water services in the street.

[33:58] Is paid by you and me. The

[33:58] city

[34:00] s portion of the street is

[34:01] paid by you and me and

[34:03] everybody that lives in the

[34:04] community that

[34:06] s not assessed,

[34:07] so street assessment hearings

[34:09] are always the hardest hearings

[34:10] for us because we

[34:11] re asking

[34:14] people to pay money. What we

[34:14] ve

[34:16] consistently tried to do

[34:17] through the time I

[34:18] ve been here

[34:21] is treat them all the same so

[34:21] nobody gets preferential

[34:23] treatment. We

[34:24] re all paying a

[34:25] portion of everybody

[34:27] s street.

[34:29] The the project before yours

[34:30] was concrete exchange. You paid

[34:32] for a part of that. You

[34:33] re not

[34:34] getting assessed on that

[34:35] yourself where you

[34:36] re writing a

[34:37] check every month. But through

[34:39] your property taxes, you paid a

[34:41] portion of that. You paid a

[34:43] portion of 5th Avenue. The

[34:44] people on 5th Avenue are paying

[34:46] a portion of the 7th Avenue

[34:47] Street. It

[34:48] s always been our

[34:51] thinking that all of the public

[34:53] streets are truly public and we

[34:54] all have an investment that we

[34:57] need to make. In that

[35:00] infrastructure to keep our

[35:01] streets workable and travelable

[35:03] to keep our sidewalks in good

[35:05] condition, but more importantly

[35:07] for us to make sure that when

[35:10] it rains, The water drains and

[35:12] it goes someplace. And when you

[35:14] turn on your tap, You

[35:14] re

[35:16] getting water that comes out of

[35:19] your tap, and believe me, we

[35:19] ve

[35:21] run the numbers countless times

[35:22] over the years. If we can

[35:25] afford to pay for everybody

[35:25] s

[35:27] street projects entirely. We

[35:29] would love to do that, but it

[35:30] s

[35:31] not necessarily the fairest and

[35:34] most equitable way to do it. So

[35:34] I hear what you

[35:35] re saying. I

[35:38] appreciate you coming here. The

[35:39] only thing that uh leftover

[35:43] thing that I have is When I

[35:44] turned the faucet on, water

[35:46] came out. When I flush the

[35:52] toilet. It went down, um. To my

[35:53] knowledge, there wasn

[35:53] t a

[35:58] problem. I know that the street

[36:01] itself looked. Hideous. To say

[36:11] the least. Basically He gave

[36:13] the street a facelift. We read

[36:14] no, that

[36:15] s not true though. If

[36:16] I might point that out, we

[36:17] didn

[36:19] t give the street a

[36:22] facelift. We gave him an

[36:23] extensive rebuild that

[36:23] s going

[36:25] to last another 25 years, that

[36:28] water main that was under there

[36:30] was 84 years old. It

[36:30] s like

[36:32] your house. How long does your

[36:35] roof last? I

[36:37] m asking you about

[36:39] Can you put it off another 2

[36:40] years of times are tough. Sure

[36:42] you can, but then what happens?

[36:42] It

[36:43] s got to be done at some

[36:47] point, right? And it generally

[36:47] Doesn

[36:49] t get any less expensive.

[36:51] Understandably so but there

[36:51] wasn

[36:53] t a problem. There was a

[36:54] huge problem with that street.

[36:56] It was laid out in the

[36:57] presentation and in the public

[36:58] hearings six months ago about

[37:00] the sewer system and the water

[37:02] system. There was no, it was

[37:03] televised. There was a

[37:04] challenge with the water and

[37:06] sewer system. It was being

[37:07] degraded and it was going to

[37:09] start to leak. We

[37:10] ve had

[37:12] multiple water main breaks

[37:13] coming under 494 and in the

[37:15] south end of town that had to

[37:16] be addressed. We just couldn

[37:16] t

[37:18] put it off any longer because

[37:21] your taxes and my taxes, pay

[37:23] for the water department to fix

[37:24] those water main breaks every

[37:24] time there

[37:26] s a water main

[37:29] breaks at a certain point it

[37:30] becomes more economically

[37:31] feasible for everybody that

[37:34] lives in this community. To

[37:36] redo a street where you have

[37:38] multiple challenges instead of

[37:39] patching it with asphalt,

[37:41] digging up the street to fix a

[37:43] water main break, digging up

[37:45] the street to fix a sanitary

[37:48] sewer break. If I had my way, I

[37:49] wish that everything would last

[37:52] 100 years. It would make our

[37:54] Our obligation up here much,

[37:55] much simpler and we wouldn

[37:55] t

[37:58] have to send you a bill, but

[37:58] that

[38:00] s not reality. To my

[38:03] knowledge, the, I think the

[38:04] company

[38:06] s name was Inogenesis

[38:09] or the, the, the sewer guys.

[38:14] They lined The sewers From 494

[38:17] all the way to South. They were

[38:20] just lined. There were no

[38:25] actual pipes. Removed From my

[38:27] understanding. Now I was out

[38:28] there seeing them dig every day.

[38:32] Spoke to one of the foremen,

[38:35] they said, well, This is almost

[38:36] better than replacing the pipes,

[38:38] that type of thing. It

[38:38] ll last

[38:43] another 20 years. And I just

[38:47] found it. Pretty interesting

[38:48] because the reason why all the

[38:50] digging up and everything else,

[38:52] I believe. Was because we were

[38:55] gonna get New sewer pipes, or

[38:58] at least You know, upgraded

[39:01] ones, but You know, I saw them

[39:05] do the lining and everything.

[39:05] So they

[39:07] re good for another 20

[39:10] more years or so. So if a

[39:13] problem happens, Are we looking

[39:18] at this all over again? And not

[39:18] being cosmetic in front, you

[39:20] know, make it look nice because

[39:22] it does look great. It looks

[39:23] fantastic, you know, 7th Avenue,

[39:24] but that

[39:25] s not gonna last if

[39:27] they continue having semi

[39:28] tractor trailer trucks drive

[39:29] down the road. Let

[39:30] s, let

[39:31] s let

[39:33] that Nick uh answer the lining

[39:35] question? Sure, yeah, Mayorman

[39:37] is the council. So sanitary

[39:38] sewer lining as opposed to

[39:40] water main, you, you can line,

[39:41] a sewer. It

[39:42] s a, it

[39:42] s a process

[39:45] called, um, cast in place or

[39:47] cured in place, uh, piping, so

[39:49] it basically ends up being a

[39:50] brand new pipe when you

[39:50] re done.

[39:52] So the, the beauty is if it

[39:52] s

[39:54] in good enough condition is you

[39:55] can just line it, which ends up

[39:56] being a brand new pipe in the

[40:01] end. Basically it gets the same

[40:02] useful life you just you get

[40:03] more than 20 years out of it,

[40:03] we

[40:05] ll probably get 50 years out

[40:06] of it, um, you know, so there

[40:06] s,

[40:06] there

[40:07] s no need to replace the

[40:09] pipe at that point when you can

[40:10] light it. Now Waterman, you

[40:10] can

[40:11] t do that, and the water

[40:13] main, has to be fully replaced

[40:14] and removed, and that

[40:15] s what we

[40:15] did in this situation. And

[40:17] there was a history of water

[40:19] main breaks through that

[40:20] corridor and that

[40:20] s the reason

[40:22] why we, we needed to replace

[40:23] the water main, um, to answer a

[40:25] couple more questions, she

[40:28] mentioned, um. Is we during the

[40:30] assessment process, we have a

[40:31] feasibility study that that

[40:31] s

[40:32] done and a public improvement

[40:34] hearing at that hearing,

[40:35] everyone

[40:36] s kind of told what

[40:38] the preliminary assessment role

[40:40] will be. So that was presented

[40:41] at that public hearing, and

[40:44] everyone got a notice of what

[40:45] the proposed assessment would

[40:47] be, so this is really not new

[40:47] information we

[40:48] re providing

[40:48] tonight. It

[40:49] s just kind of the

[40:51] formality of the assessment,

[40:52] adopting it, um, and then we

[40:54] also presented that at at the

[40:55] uh neighborhood meeting, which

[40:55] I, I know you

[40:55] re at, we present.

[40:58] That kind of assessment

[40:59] discussion at that as well. So

[41:00] i just wanted to let the

[41:02] council know about that. Your

[41:05] Honor, just just I could ask.

[41:09] Council Please, by officially

[41:10] adopting the assessment, it

[41:13] gives Residents who are being

[41:15] assessed, it starts the time

[41:16] clock on contesting the

[41:19] assessment, does it not? So

[41:20] that

[41:22] s part of the formal

[41:24] process too, and Again, there

[41:24] s

[41:25] no hard feelings if you don

[41:26] t

[41:26] believe that you

[41:27] re getting

[41:27] your money

[41:28] s worth out of this

[41:33] project, you can pursue that.

[41:34] The only difference I see was

[41:36] that what was said at the

[41:37] preliminary meetings like you

[41:38] were stating and everything as

[41:40] far as uh And what we were

[41:46] presented with. The main reason

[41:50] Was to replace 85 year old

[41:53] pipes. That was the crux of the

[41:56] meeting to replace 85 year old

[41:57] pipes after Inogenesis did

[41:59] their evaluation and they put

[42:01] the, the, the camera, the

[42:01] microscopic camera through the

[42:05] tube and everything. One of the

[42:06] foremans kind of stood up and

[42:08] said, why do we want to create

[42:09] a problem when we can take care

[42:13] of it this way. And that

[42:13] s when

[42:15] the lining came into play and

[42:16] everything else and I don

[42:16] t

[42:20] know Much about uh, you know,

[42:22] lining or this or that or. I

[42:22] don

[42:25] t know, but What I was

[42:28] expecting and what I was.

[42:30] Believing what would happen was

[42:31] 85 year old pipes would be dug

[42:33] out of the ground, which is why

[42:35] they were going to The massive

[42:38] area in front of my house. And

[42:43] Replace The sewer pipes,

[42:43] because they

[42:46] re 85 years old.

[42:46] That didn

[42:47] t happen. They lined

[42:51] the sewer. I don

[42:52] t know about

[42:53] the newer technology. I don

[42:54] t

[42:56] know about anything else and it

[42:58] probably is going to be ok, but

[43:01] what was said at this other

[43:04] meeting was not what happened.

[43:04] That

[43:04] s what I

[43:07] m getting at. And

[43:09] for residents like myself that

[43:11] saw every single day. The

[43:12] construction and everything

[43:15] moving along with it. I felt

[43:17] kind of helpless. Because I

[43:18] didn

[43:18] t know exactly what was

[43:24] going on. Sure. And um MR.

[43:25] Williams, uh, you had mentioned

[43:27] that there was a reduction in

[43:29] cost would that anything to do

[43:31] with uh the The lining of the

[43:33] pipes. I know we were under

[43:35] budget by the foreman told me

[43:37] that too at at right after they

[43:41] put the micro uh or the Scope,

[43:43] the scope down and basically

[43:46] said, If we started cracking

[43:48] into the sewer pipes and

[43:48] everything. We

[43:51] re gonna put

[43:53] Newer technology with older

[43:54] receiving pipes and everything,

[43:54] we

[43:58] re gonna cause a problem.

[43:58] And that

[43:59] s why I understood

[44:00] what he was saying, but what

[44:02] was said at the meeting and

[44:03] then said, and then what

[44:08] happened? To me, there are two

[44:09] different things, and

[44:09] somebody

[44:11] s got to be aware of

[44:12] this. MR. Williams answer that,

[44:13] and then, uh, can

[44:15] t remember.

[44:16] Yeah, mayor and members of the

[44:18] council, the plan was to always

[44:20] line those sewers, if you look

[44:21] back at our feasibility stage.

[44:23] The plan was to always line the

[44:24] sanitary sewer again, there

[44:24] s

[44:26] no need to replace the pipe

[44:26] when it

[44:27] s in good enough

[44:27] condition where you can line it

[44:29] because you end up with a new

[44:31] pipe at the end. Um, as far as

[44:33] the costs are concerned, um, it

[44:35] was always a plan to line it,

[44:37] um, the cost reduction you see

[44:38] is we have less services that

[44:41] we run into. So sometimes we,

[44:42] if the services are where the

[44:44] water main is, we have to

[44:45] replace their service and so

[44:47] sometimes that can get costly,

[44:48] so we have to assume we

[44:48] re

[44:49] going to replace so many in

[44:50] this case we

[44:51] re able to do that

[44:52] work without replacing those,

[44:54] but the plan was always line it,

[44:55] we shared that at the

[44:56] neighborhood meeting, we shared

[44:57] that in a feasibility study

[45:00] that was always the plan. I

[45:00] can

[45:02] t Hanson and I also think

[45:03] that um it

[45:06] s a good example. To

[45:07] the residents of how we hire

[45:09] people to go in and do a

[45:10] project, and if they see

[45:12] something or some way it can be

[45:13] done better. I think that

[45:13] s a

[45:16] good thing. So even they

[45:17] expected something different

[45:18] what you got was probably

[45:21] better so. I appreciate the

[45:23] fact that that our employees

[45:25] and the people we hire take the

[45:26] time to check that. I

[45:27] m, I

[45:27] m

[45:29] impressed that you were able to

[45:30] talk with them and they

[45:30] explained it all so I think

[45:31] that that

[45:35] s great. And if I, if

[45:37] I MAY add, um, during

[45:39] construction, we, we go above

[45:40] and beyond to communicate the

[45:41] the items of work that were

[45:42] happening. I, I don

[45:42] t know if

[45:44] you were on the email list that

[45:48] Kelsey had sent out weekly, but,

[45:49] um, we did communicate um very

[45:50] frequently with, with the

[45:51] neighborhood to let people know

[45:53] what was happening, what to

[45:54] expect, all of our contact info

[45:55] was there. I think you

[45:55] ve

[45:57] talked to Tom a few times in

[45:59] the field during construction,

[45:59] so you

[46:00] re kind of aware of what

[46:01] was happening. I just wanted to

[46:02] make sure you were, you were

[46:08] aware of that. Ok. But um Maybe

[46:12] just uh And update or advise us,

[46:15] you know. The difference

[46:18] because uh The yard got torn up.

[46:22] My tree roots, the big tree on

[46:25] 7th Avenue takes up lot of

[46:28] space, um, were exposed. They

[46:29] put side on it, but uh I don

[46:30] t

[46:30] know if that

[46:30] s going to catch

[46:34] in. There

[46:35] s a possibility of

[46:37] that huge tree which was there

[46:39] since before I was Even moved

[46:40] into the place and everything.

[46:40] I don

[46:41] t know if that

[46:42] s gonna

[46:43] survive because they really did

[46:45] cut in. To the property line

[46:48] and the root. So I

[46:48] m hoping

[46:51] that it comes back. But I

[46:52] m

[46:53] pretty sure that when they were

[46:54] cutting and everything, they

[46:55] were cutting to replace the

[46:57] sewer line. And not just Line

[47:02] it. So What

[47:05] s your address?

[47:06] 1120 7th Avenue. So, the

[47:09] massive tree in the front yard,

[47:09] that

[47:14] s my big baby. Ok Thank

[47:16] you. Thank you. Thank you for

[47:18] coming down. This is a public

[47:20] hearing. Anybody here else wish

[47:22] to speak on the assessment

[47:23] hearing for 7th Avenue South

[47:24] Reconstruction. This is the

[47:28] time, please step forward. This

[47:29] is a public meeting and it is

[47:32] open. For public consideration,

[47:36] comment. I

[47:37] ll ask one more time

[47:39] if anybody is here that wishes

[47:40] to speak again on the

[47:41] assessment hearing for 7th

[47:45] Avenue South Reconstruction.

[47:47] Seeing none a closed public

[47:51] hearing. Turn to council for

[47:53] questions, Councilor Hansen. Um,

[47:55] first of all, I would like to,

[47:58] uh, make a motion to approve

[48:00] the project number 2023-12.

[48:01] Then after that I have

[48:03] something else to say. Motion

[48:07] by Hansen for approval. 2 by.

[48:11] Kalzewski. Further discussion,

[48:14] Councillorhansson. I was so

[48:16] impressed by how that project

[48:17] turned out. If you haven

[48:18] t had

[48:21] time yet to take a drive down

[48:22] 7th Avenue South. It

[48:22] s

[48:23] beautiful. I hope all of our

[48:25] streets end up looking like

[48:27] that in town because it, they

[48:30] did a great job. I heard

[48:32] nothing but compliments about

[48:33] McNamara, the construction

[48:34] company that worked on that,

[48:35] and obviously, it, you know,

[48:37] just the way they talk to the

[48:39] the people that live there,

[48:41] they were all more several

[48:42] people actually came up and

[48:44] told me what. A great job they

[48:44] did, and they

[48:45] d be out there

[48:45] working and they

[48:46] d be cleaning

[48:49] up, and he said, um, they were

[48:50] just very impressed by the

[48:51] company that did the work and

[48:53] so that makes me feel good that

[48:56] we made a good choice and we

[48:57] did have some discussion about

[48:59] the width of the street, and

[48:59] I

[49:00] m pleased that it turned out

[49:03] very well. That

[49:04] s it. Thank you,

[49:09] Councilor. Others. I would echo

[49:09] Council member Hanson

[49:12] s um,

[49:14] Comments about the project, um,

[49:16] I was not for the sidewalk, um,

[49:18] I think I was the only

[49:19] dissenting vote for for the

[49:24] sidewalk, um. But Like most

[49:26] projects, when there

[49:27] s a

[49:28] dissension and approval. We

[49:30] continue to support that and

[49:32] having walked that whole strip

[49:34] with uh Tom Madigan, who is our

[49:36] project superintendent. I, I

[49:39] too was impressed at at how it

[49:41] turned out and um. Also we

[49:41] re

[49:43] very fortunate in the city of

[49:43] South Saint Paul, ma

[49:44] am, you,

[49:45] you met with Tom and others

[49:48] have met with Tom as, as well.

[49:51] Uh, he spent An absorbitant

[49:52] amount of time making sure

[49:53] people were aware of what was

[49:55] going on and making sure that

[49:57] it was the project came out the

[49:59] way it does from designing um

[50:02] to Execution to working with

[50:05] the contractors and folks I can

[50:07] tell you that we are so lucky

[50:09] to have Tom on our team for

[50:10] your sake, he

[50:11] s there to make

[50:13] sure that the project gets done

[50:14] to the specifications and that

[50:16] nothing gets missed and there

[50:16] s

[50:20] no no things cut corners cut

[50:20] and so again we

[50:21] re, I

[50:22] m very

[50:23] impressed at seeing that, um,

[50:23] I

[50:27] m. More of a fan of sidewalks

[50:29] than I was before. I think that

[50:32] it turned out. Better than I

[50:33] anticipated with a sidewalk,

[50:36] and I think it really does help

[50:37] our connect our community from

[50:38] north to south, and so I

[50:39] m, I

[50:39] m

[50:40] impressed with that. So thank

[50:41] you, Councilmember Hanson for

[50:43] bringing that forward.

[50:45] Councilor Bakken, I actually

[50:47] have a question and a comment.

[50:50] I love the sidewalk, actually,

[50:51] um, the track team and the

[50:55] cross country team use it a lot

[50:58] to run and as we redo a lot of

[50:59] the projects in South Saint

[51:00] Paul. We

[51:03] re an old city. And

[51:04] accessibility wasn

[51:04] t

[51:05] necessarily a thing when we

[51:07] were created back in the day.

[51:09] So the fact that we have 3 ft

[51:12] sidewalks, kids. Anybody

[51:14] wheelchairs, they all can get

[51:16] down, um, to upper fifty-fifth

[51:18] safely. Um, that was a pretty

[51:19] wide road to just have

[51:20] pedestrians pretty much on the

[51:22] street or in people

[51:23] s yards. So

[51:27] I, I think that um, is, um, I

[51:27] think that

[51:28] s the prize of it

[51:30] all, other than the, the road

[51:32] being redone. I do have a

[51:34] question, a follow up about the

[51:37] trees, um, will people get an

[51:37] option to have a tree? You said

[51:40] you were going to be contacting

[51:41] residents or um, are they, are

[51:43] they just going to be planted

[51:47] in a certain Sure, uh, Mayor

[51:47] mayor and members of the

[51:49] council, we will be asking

[51:51] people if they want a tree. Now

[51:51] they

[51:54] re certain. Criteria

[51:56] involved if we have private

[51:58] utilities or our our water main

[52:00] or sewer in the way, then they

[52:00] can

[52:02] t put a tree there on their

[52:03] property. We don

[52:03] t want that

[52:05] growing into our new pipes, but

[52:06] we are giving people the option

[52:08] if they do want a tree, um,

[52:08] we

[52:09] ll be reaching out this

[52:11] spring and, uh, offering those

[52:12] up to people. So they do have

[52:14] an option, yes. Perfect. Thank

[52:21] you. Others Xinan motion the

[52:23] 2nd. MS. Werner, please call

[52:26] the roll. Council member Pad

[52:28] Gorski. Yes, council member

[52:31] Thompson. Yes. Council member

[52:34] Keleski, council member back in

[52:36] Mayor Francis, council member

[52:37] Hanson, Council member Curg.

[52:42] Yes. 70. Thank you very much.

[52:44] Motion is approved. Thank you

[52:45] all residents for investing in

[52:47] South Saint Paul and uh those

[52:49] that worked on that project,

[52:50] getting that buttoned up before

[52:53] the end of the year. Moving on

[52:54] from our public hearings to

[52:58] general business. First is a

[52:58] preliminary development

[52:59] agreement llc at the Hardman

[53:05] Triangle Phase one. Doctor

[53:08] Garcia, welcome. Thank you. MR.

[53:10] Mayor, members of the council,

[53:11] uh, item 10a. Tonight we are

[53:13] seeking approval of a

[53:14] preliminary development

[53:17] agreement with That llc or eda

[53:20] owned property. At the corner

[53:21] of Grand Avenue and Concord

[53:24] Street. Um, just a quick

[53:26] summary, the agreement is

[53:28] enclosed in the in tonight

[53:28] s

[53:29] packet, uh, but just a quick

[53:32] summary of that agreement. This

[53:34] establishes an exclusive

[53:35] relationship between this

[53:36] developer and the eda and the

[53:39] city. Uh, to explore a

[53:40] development opportunity at the

[53:41] southwest corner of what we

[53:45] call the Hardman Triangle. Um

[53:46] Key provisions of the agreement,

[53:49] the eda in the city for this

[53:51] agreement agreed to provide the

[53:53] developer with various studies

[53:55] and data and reports about the

[53:58] conditions impacting the site

[53:59] and impacting the development.

[54:01] The eda and City agreed to

[54:02] identify and evaluate potential

[54:04] public costs that might be

[54:06] associated with pursuing the

[54:08] developments such as new

[54:10] streets or utility extensions

[54:11] to serve the development and

[54:13] the eda and the city agreed to

[54:16] negotiate in good faith. Uh,

[54:18] the execution of a purchase and

[54:19] development agreement or, uh,

[54:22] agreements plural. The

[54:24] agreement also obligates the

[54:26] developer to develop and submit

[54:27] development plans for city

[54:30] approvals in a timely fashion,

[54:31] uh, to conduct their own due

[54:33] diligence on the feasibility of

[54:36] the development. Uh, to obtain

[54:37] financing to complete the

[54:39] project, and similarly to

[54:41] negotiate in good faith with

[54:43] the eda and cities towards the

[54:43] purchase and development

[54:49] agreement or agreements. A

[54:51] couple of other key provisions,

[54:54] the agreement itself is

[54:55] effective through AUGUST 30th

[54:58] of 2025, the developer has

[55:00] indicated a desire to uh

[55:02] hopefully break ground in the

[55:05] late 2nd quarter to early 3rd

[55:10] quarter of 2025. The agreement

[55:11] proposes option payments

[55:12] $15,000 due at execution. This

[55:15] would, uh, be, uh, not only to

[55:17] secure that exclusive right to

[55:18] pursue the development of this

[55:20] property, but also, uh, to

[55:22] cover any of the EDAs or the

[55:23] city

[55:24] s administrative costs

[55:25] that might be associated with

[55:28] reviewing this development such

[55:29] as financial consultants.

[55:29] There

[55:30] s a master plan that

[55:30] we

[55:32] re looking at as well on the

[55:34] eda agenda tonight, uh, some of

[55:34] those other administrative

[55:39] costs. In addition to that

[55:41] $15,000 if the agreement is not

[55:43] terminated before these

[55:45] milestone dates additional

[55:47] $5000 progress payments to keep

[55:50] the site under option are due

[55:53] on JANUARY 1st of 25, APRIL 1st

[55:58] of 25, and JULY 1st of 25.

[56:01] Final point, um, The agreement

[56:02] itself does contemplate and

[56:04] acknowledge that there MAY be a

[56:06] request in the future for

[56:08] potential financial assistance,

[56:09] whether that

[56:10] s through various

[56:12] grant and loan programs that

[56:15] the eda is aware of or through

[56:17] the establishment of tax

[56:18] increment finance district for

[56:19] the project. The project, as

[56:21] you can see, does propose

[56:23] multiple phases of mixed-use

[56:25] development, uh, the site is,

[56:29] as everybody knows, um. A

[56:30] former former industrial campus

[56:33] location for Swift and Company,

[56:35] uh, meat meat processing, uh,

[56:37] and we have encountered some

[56:38] underground conditions in our

[56:40] due diligence of the site in

[56:42] our demolition of the buildings

[56:43] that were there previously. Uh,

[56:45] so there MAY be a need for some

[56:46] of those financial assistance

[56:48] programs to To make the

[56:52] development a reality. If that

[56:53] financial assistance is

[56:54] ultimately pursued in the

[56:56] future. It would require the

[57:01] eda to review and approve, uh,

[57:02] development plan confirmation

[57:04] again independently through our

[57:06] financial consultant of any

[57:07] financial cost estimates for

[57:08] all phases and components of

[57:10] the project. And it would

[57:11] require its own public hearing

[57:13] and review again at a future

[57:15] date once some of those terms

[57:16] and conditions are, are

[57:19] understood. But at this stage

[57:21] we are looking for approval, a

[57:24] motion to approve a preliminary

[57:25] development agreement between

[57:29] sas. The city and the eda. Uh,

[57:30] which would thereby authorize

[57:32] the mayor and the city clerk to

[57:34] execute the agreement, subject

[57:35] to minor revisions meeting the

[57:35] city attorney

[57:36] s approval. Happy

[57:38] to answer your questions. Thank

[57:40] you, MR. Garcia. Very exciting.

[57:42] This is, um, can you go back to

[57:45] the, the picture and and

[57:46] perhaps maybe just go a little

[57:47] bit into detail on, on the

[57:51] house, yes, and uh what each of

[57:53] those would entail just for the,

[57:54] for the general public. Thank

[57:59] you, yeah, um, the developer is

[58:00] 11 NOVEMBER 2024 schematic

[58:03] concept for the site, uh,

[58:05] proposes a building along

[58:07] Concord Street. This would be a

[58:08] residential building. Market

[58:11] rates. Apartment development,

[58:14] about 140 to 150 units total.

[58:15] With underground parking under

[58:18] building parking. Uh The other

[58:20] component of that first phase

[58:21] of the development as they

[58:21] re

[58:24] proposing it is about a 30,000

[58:26] square foot, what they call

[58:27] destination retail, uh, right

[58:27] now they

[58:30] re working with. A

[58:30] group that

[58:32] s interested in um

[58:33] establishing recreational

[58:36] indoor sort of commercial

[58:37] recreational indoor pickleball

[58:39] facilities so folks could go.

[58:42] You know, rent a court and

[58:44] joined friends for a friendly

[58:47] spirited game of pickleball.

[58:50] That concept is also tied to an

[58:53] independent um full service

[58:54] restaurant which has the number

[58:58] 4 on the map. On the screen

[59:01] should be again about a 300 to

[59:02] 5000 square foot full service

[59:04] restaurant with um with, you

[59:06] know, indoor and outdoor

[59:08] seating, uh, full kitchen, uh

[59:11] bar that would be Really not

[59:12] not directly affiliated with

[59:13] the destination retail but

[59:14] would have some shared service

[59:17] opportunities there. Um And

[59:19] then uh with number 2, there

[59:20] are housing b, that

[59:21] s a

[59:23] potential future phase of

[59:24] additional residential

[59:25] development. This schematic is

[59:28] still pretty early. We are

[59:29] looking at other concepts for

[59:31] the site in terms of how it

[59:32] would lay out and uh whether

[59:35] all of those buildings would

[59:37] actually uh work and fit on the

[59:39] site, so this is subject to

[59:40] some revision again as we get

[59:43] into that due diligence process,

[59:46] but um this is again the

[59:47] preliminary schematic concept

[59:48] really anchored by that that

[59:50] housing, that first building

[59:52] along Concord Street and the

[59:52] destination retail and

[59:54] restaurant development. Very

[59:58] good, thank you. That, that

[59:58] shouldn

[59:59] t get people excited.

[1:00:03] Um, it should be noted that um.

[1:00:04] Economic development has been

[1:00:06] working on the Hardmann

[1:00:09] Triangle for 7 to 8 years and

[1:00:13] this. Agreement is helping us

[1:00:14] move that forward, that vision

[1:00:17] forward and really is going to,

[1:00:21] I believe, um. Catapult that uh

[1:00:23] piece of property into more

[1:00:24] development New Concord Street,

[1:00:25] New Concord Exchange, great

[1:00:26] opportunities down there. Thank

[1:00:28] you for the presentation.

[1:00:29] Questions, comments from

[1:00:34] council. Motions Your Honor,

[1:00:36] Councilor Sberg, I would so

[1:00:39] move approval. Second, moved to

[1:00:40] approve by Council s Seber,

[1:00:43] seconded by Thompson. Further

[1:00:44] discussion, Councilor Murray

[1:00:44] Thompson, I

[1:00:46] d also like to

[1:00:47] basically echo your statements

[1:00:49] that I think, you know, for the

[1:00:50] public to understand that this

[1:00:51] is a really exciting

[1:00:52] opportunity, I think, to get

[1:00:55] the Harbin Triangle to start

[1:00:56] the development that we

[1:00:57] ve been

[1:00:57] talking about for years, you

[1:01:00] know, we have, we have people

[1:01:01] living down there now, and now

[1:01:02] this is another development

[1:01:02] where we

[1:01:04] re, we are looking at

[1:01:04] potentially getting a

[1:01:06] restaurant, uh, retail

[1:01:08] destination, a place for people

[1:01:10] to go. People somewhere where

[1:01:11] people want to go, come into

[1:01:13] South Saint Paul and enjoy

[1:01:16] something and so this is, I

[1:01:17] think, I hope the springboard

[1:01:18] to continue to develop in

[1:01:20] Harbin Triangle, so, um, I

[1:01:20] m

[1:01:21] really looking forward to the

[1:01:22] development of this project.

[1:01:29] Thank you. As am I. Others

[1:01:32] Hearing none We have a motion

[1:01:33] to second, MS. Werner, please

[1:01:35] call the roll. Council member

[1:01:37] Thompson. Yes. Council member

[1:01:39] Kal Zeski, Mayor Francis,

[1:01:41] council member Bakke. Council

[1:01:43] member Hanson, Council member

[1:01:45] Curg, Council member Pat Gorski.

[1:01:48] 70. Thank you very much. Motion

[1:01:51] passes. Uh, thank you to, uh,

[1:01:54] Zavvi and te Miller Development

[1:01:55] for um looking to invest in

[1:02:00] South Saint Paul. That does it

[1:02:02] for our Business here tonight,

[1:02:04] our general business. Uh

[1:02:08] council Communications would

[1:02:09] like to start. Can

[1:02:09] t remember

[1:02:11] Kalzewski. Thank you, Your

[1:02:13] Honor. Uh, last Thursday,

[1:02:14] Halloween over on Marie Avenue

[1:02:16] was just fantastic. Did anybody

[1:02:17] get a count of how many people

[1:02:19] were there. I guess I made it

[1:02:22] out about 3000 people. There is

[1:02:23] a tremendous crowd there,

[1:02:25] tremendous, uh, great night, a

[1:02:27] little cold but but great night

[1:02:28] and uh everybody had a great

[1:02:30] time. Some great costumes there

[1:02:36] too. And also my lawn service

[1:02:37] note for the communications

[1:02:38] keep those leaves out of the

[1:02:39] street, please use the compost

[1:02:40] site. I

[1:02:41] ve been down there a

[1:02:43] couple of times. That place is

[1:02:45] fantastic. Buck a bag. By big

[1:02:46] banks, it

[1:02:47] s only $1 so it

[1:02:48] s uh.

[1:02:49] Well worth it for everybody

[1:02:50] down there to dump all the

[1:02:52] leaves off. Very good. They can

[1:02:54] find that information on our

[1:02:56] city website and good luck to

[1:02:57] the candidates that are up for

[1:03:00] election, so. Thank you,

[1:03:02] council member. Others?

[1:03:05] Councilor Hanson. Um, first,

[1:03:06] I

[1:03:09] d like to, um, tell everyone

[1:03:11] about Thursday, NOVEMBER 14th,

[1:03:12] which is coming up soon. It

[1:03:13] s

[1:03:15] the South Saint Paul senior

[1:03:16] citizens Thanksgiving dinner,

[1:03:17] so it

[1:03:18] s free for the over 55

[1:03:20] year old group. Sorry, I

[1:03:20] m not

[1:03:23] going to be here to go, but um

[1:03:24] it

[1:03:25] s being sponsored by

[1:03:26] Protouch Wakota Federal Credit

[1:03:28] Union, Lyons, and the partners

[1:03:30] of South Saint Paul School

[1:03:33] District, Boy Scout to 9095 and

[1:03:33] Mayor

[1:03:35] s Youth Task Force. You

[1:03:36] can find more information on

[1:03:37] the website and Facebook if you

[1:03:38] need it, but that

[1:03:38] s coming up

[1:03:39] quick. It

[1:03:41] s hard to believe

[1:03:42] that it

[1:03:42] s practically

[1:03:43] Thanksgiving. Um, the other

[1:03:43] thing I

[1:03:45] d like to mention too

[1:03:48] is um council member Kalzowski

[1:03:49] talked about Halloween, so I

[1:03:52] was at the, the event and Marie

[1:03:54] and after was all I went home

[1:03:55] and I decided, well I

[1:03:56] m gonna

[1:03:58] hand out some candy. So I did

[1:04:00] and I have to tell you I was so

[1:04:02] impressed by all the kids who

[1:04:04] came to my door. They were all

[1:04:05] always happy, smiling, and from

[1:04:07] the littlest to the the older

[1:04:10] ones, they were very polite and

[1:04:10] I

[1:04:12] m just impressed by the, the

[1:04:13] kids that came around on

[1:04:13] Halloween, and I

[1:04:14] ve heard that

[1:04:17] from a few other people too, so

[1:04:19] kudos to the kids and

[1:04:20] appreciate them for how great

[1:04:21] they were. Don

[1:04:22] t forget to vote

[1:04:22] tomorrow. That

[1:04:23] s all I can say

[1:04:28] about voting. Thank you Council

[1:04:29] Councilor Podorski, thank you,

[1:04:30] Your Honor. Yeah, I too would

[1:04:33] just like to say um thanks for

[1:04:34] the Halloween event on Marie

[1:04:35] that the city helped sponsor. I

[1:04:37] just want to thank our staff

[1:04:39] and, uh, the volunteer

[1:04:41] businesses, uh, because without

[1:04:42] those businesses and and others

[1:04:43] helping put it together it

[1:04:44] really wouldn

[1:04:44] t be the great

[1:04:46] success, um, that it is so

[1:04:48] great to see, uh, kids and

[1:04:49] family out on a, a little

[1:04:52] chilly night as, uh, council

[1:04:53] member Kalzewski said that we

[1:04:53] were handing out candy together

[1:04:56] for a little while and um It

[1:04:58] was a little chilly at times

[1:04:59] when the wind would pick up,

[1:05:01] but great to see the, the kids

[1:05:02] out there, just want to say

[1:05:04] thanks again to all those that

[1:05:05] helped participate in that. And

[1:05:07] yes, um, I also would like to

[1:05:10] say get out and vote and let

[1:05:11] s

[1:05:12] stay friends after tomorrow, uh,

[1:05:15] NOVEMBER 5th, um, I think

[1:05:16] people are staying pretty

[1:05:18] respectful, but please try and

[1:05:19] be respectful to your neighbors,

[1:05:21] family, friends, and voting

[1:05:23] staff, uh, as well. I know, um,

[1:05:25] a number of people are feeling

[1:05:26] like this is some challenging.

[1:05:28] Times and people are maybe

[1:05:29] getting a little tired of uh

[1:05:32] some of the the rhetoric that

[1:05:33] goes along with elections, but,

[1:05:35] um, I

[1:05:36] m looking forward to it

[1:05:38] being done, and I know a lot of

[1:05:38] other people are as well, and

[1:05:39] we

[1:05:41] re gonna get through this

[1:05:41] all together, so thank you,

[1:05:44] Your Honor. Very good. Thank

[1:05:47] you. Councilor Bakken. Sure,

[1:05:47] I

[1:05:49] ll go. Um, I think a good

[1:05:52] number of us were at the great

[1:05:53] Halloween get-together and uh

[1:05:55] My plus one was with me, and I

[1:05:57] think we might have beat you

[1:05:59] all with how much candy we

[1:06:00] handed out, but you know,

[1:06:01] that

[1:06:02] s just, um, but the, you

[1:06:04] know, the costume, I love, I

[1:06:07] love seeing the Old school

[1:06:08] costumes maybe, and then the

[1:06:10] fancier ones and I think I

[1:06:11] counted like 8 bananas. I mean,

[1:06:12] who doesn

[1:06:13] t want to be a banana

[1:06:17] for Halloween. So, um, that, uh,

[1:06:20] it just as always a fun event.

[1:06:23] It was the 23rd annual, uh, get

[1:06:25] together, and I remember the

[1:06:26] first annual get-together when

[1:06:29] all of our kids were small, and

[1:06:30] so I think it

[1:06:32] s very cool that

[1:06:34] kids that have attended that

[1:06:35] when it was a um a beginning

[1:06:37] tradition. Um, brought their

[1:06:38] own kids, um, that evening as

[1:06:39] well, and that

[1:06:39] s kind of what

[1:06:41] South Saint Paul is all about,

[1:06:42] you know, um, growing up here

[1:06:45] and. Raising your family here,

[1:06:47] um. Speaking of voting, yes,

[1:06:50] please go out and vote. However,

[1:06:52] I would like to just take a hot

[1:06:53] minute to say thank you to

[1:06:58] Deanna. And your staff. And the

[1:07:00] election judges, I mean, we

[1:07:00] ve

[1:07:03] had a banner turnout here at

[1:07:05] City Hall and you were open

[1:07:06] Saturday and Sunday. I heard

[1:07:08] you were here all day yesterday,

[1:07:11] so I just want to commend, um,

[1:07:14] your, uh, role in all of this.

[1:07:16] I actually attended the

[1:07:18] election integrity, uh, Deal

[1:07:21] you put on to watch how our, um,

[1:07:23] you know, our machines work.

[1:07:24] And there

[1:07:25] s just a lot of

[1:07:28] behind the scenes that happens

[1:07:30] and I just appreciate you and

[1:07:30] everything you

[1:07:31] ve done, and

[1:07:32] just your knowledge about the

[1:07:34] whole thing, how you did that

[1:07:35] whole meeting. I was just like,

[1:07:38] look at her ghost. So perhaps,

[1:07:40] props to you and thank you and

[1:07:44] I hope you survive tomorrow. Me

[1:07:44] too. That

[1:07:45] s all. Thank you very

[1:07:46] much. That

[1:07:48] s my receiver.

[1:07:49] Thanks, Your Honor. There

[1:07:50] s

[1:07:51] been almost 1.4 million people

[1:07:54] that took advantage of early

[1:07:55] voting according to the latest

[1:07:56] statistics from the state. I

[1:07:59] saw earlier today, I think it

[1:08:02] was 1,372,000, which is about

[1:08:05] 35% of the electorate. So it

[1:08:05] s

[1:08:07] an awesome thing. We

[1:08:08] re looking

[1:08:09] forward to tomorrow. Keep in

[1:08:10] mind that it

[1:08:12] s your friends and

[1:08:15] neighbors that are working the

[1:08:16] polling locations in South

[1:08:17] Saint Paul. They don

[1:08:17] t have a

[1:08:18] preconceived agenda. There

[1:08:19] s

[1:08:21] people from every party there

[1:08:22] working on behalf of doing this.

[1:08:24] A number of them have

[1:08:26] volunteered for years. So get

[1:08:29] out, do your job. Your civic

[1:08:32] duty and vote, um, and to, to

[1:08:33] my friends here that are

[1:08:36] running, best of luck to

[1:08:38] everybody that has put their

[1:08:40] name in to be considered for

[1:08:42] counsel or mayor or school

[1:08:44] board, it takes courage to do

[1:08:47] that. Thank you for doing that.

[1:08:47] It

[1:08:50] s not easy in 2024 with all

[1:08:53] of the digital means to

[1:08:54] question things. A lot of the

[1:08:56] discussion is good. It

[1:08:56] s

[1:08:57] constructive. Some of it you

[1:09:00] kind of wonder what planet it

[1:09:00] s

[1:09:02] coming from, but Um, at the end

[1:09:03] of the day, it

[1:09:04] s a democratic

[1:09:06] process that we have, and it

[1:09:07] s

[1:09:09] extremely important for us to

[1:09:10] continue that democratic

[1:09:11] process, not only in South

[1:09:13] Saint Paul and Dakota County in

[1:09:15] Minnesota, but in the United

[1:09:15] States, it

[1:09:16] s a fair and free

[1:09:21] election. Make sure that we

[1:09:22] exercise our constitutional

[1:09:23] right to vote, and we

[1:09:23] ll see

[1:09:25] where the chips fall, but we

[1:09:25] re

[1:09:26] looking forward to the future

[1:09:28] here in South Saint Paul. And

[1:09:30] again, thank you to the

[1:09:31] election officials and to our

[1:09:31] team that

[1:09:32] s put in so much work.

[1:09:35] It truly is in our community

[1:09:37] and with the number of team

[1:09:38] members. I always call them

[1:09:40] team members, and not just

[1:09:41] staff, they

[1:09:42] re team members

[1:09:43] that we have. It

[1:09:44] s an all hands

[1:09:47] on deck process. We don

[1:09:48] t have

[1:09:50] a department of 100 people

[1:09:51] working on elections. We

[1:09:51] ve got

[1:09:54] a team at City Hall under the

[1:09:56] direction of the city clerk

[1:09:58] that works on elections, and we

[1:10:00] appreciate you and we want to

[1:10:01] thank the buildings that allow

[1:10:04] us To go in and conduct

[1:10:05] elections on election day in

[1:10:08] the primary, so. Thank you,

[1:10:10] Your Honor. Very well, thank

[1:10:12] you, Councilor Thompson. Uh,

[1:10:14] slow day in the news for me

[1:10:15] today, I guess. Um, I guess the

[1:10:17] one thing I do want to say is,

[1:10:20] I want to say again, thank you

[1:10:23] to MS. Warner and her excellent

[1:10:25] staff for their hard work, um,

[1:10:25] they

[1:10:26] ve, they

[1:10:26] ve gone through

[1:10:27] some tremendous numbers in just

[1:10:28] one building, you know, so we

[1:10:29] have, how many, how many

[1:10:32] precincts again? 5 precincts,

[1:10:34] but over 2000 early votes,

[1:10:35] right? 2000 early votes. I mean,

[1:10:36] so that

[1:10:37] s, that

[1:10:37] s tremendous

[1:10:39] all coming in here to get the

[1:10:42] job done, um, so I just want to

[1:10:43] thank staff and, uh, the

[1:10:44] election judges for putting

[1:10:45] their time and effort and

[1:10:46] energy into this and making

[1:10:48] sure that there is a good

[1:10:50] honest selection here, um,

[1:10:50] that

[1:10:52] s all I have. Thanks. Very

[1:10:53] good. Thank you. I would like

[1:10:56] to thank the team, uh, all

[1:10:58] departments actually the

[1:10:59] engineering department at this

[1:11:00] time of year, year after year,

[1:11:01] we button up all these big

[1:11:03] projects that we started and

[1:11:05] your team has a lot to do with.

[1:11:06] Orchestrating those and trying

[1:11:08] to keep everybody on time and

[1:11:12] keeping Keeping the issues low

[1:11:14] and the progress high and

[1:11:14] sometimes those don

[1:11:15] t

[1:11:15] correspond, but I, I, you,

[1:11:15] you

[1:11:17] ve all done a really good

[1:11:19] job, uh, not only your

[1:11:20] department but the water

[1:11:22] department and all the public

[1:11:23] works department who are doing

[1:11:25] all of those things on the

[1:11:26] backside that we don

[1:11:27] t see, um,

[1:11:29] many times in the middle of the

[1:11:31] night, many times early in the

[1:11:32] morning when contractors need

[1:11:33] to get things started. So thank

[1:11:34] you and please pass that along

[1:11:36] to your, to your team. Because

[1:11:39] it does take all of us to make

[1:11:41] this happen and it is um I

[1:11:41] m

[1:11:44] quite proud of the work that

[1:11:44] You

[1:11:45] ve all done making sure all

[1:11:48] these things happen every year

[1:11:48] and now we

[1:11:49] re going to start

[1:11:51] preparing our public works

[1:11:52] department for snow and the

[1:11:53] winter and the cold and the ice

[1:11:56] and so all those things are

[1:11:58] coming together now in NOVEMBER

[1:11:59] and so I just want to recognize

[1:12:01] those staff members that are

[1:12:02] that are continually working

[1:12:03] hard for us and those that back

[1:12:05] them up, and of course, it

[1:12:06] s

[1:12:08] been said about our, our city

[1:12:09] clerk and all the work that

[1:12:09] that she

[1:12:11] s been doing and her

[1:12:13] team have some grace. With

[1:12:15] people if things are a little

[1:12:16] long tomorrow if if things

[1:12:16] aren

[1:12:17] t, uh, you make a mistake,

[1:12:17] it

[1:12:18] s ok, have some grace with

[1:12:20] yourself, go back and work out

[1:12:22] to get another ballot and and

[1:12:23] redo that. Don

[1:12:25] t be afraid to

[1:12:26] ask ask questions if you

[1:12:27] re, if

[1:12:27] you

[1:12:27] re concerned about

[1:12:30] something, they are all trained

[1:12:31] and are are there helping and

[1:12:32] as council member s Seberg said,

[1:12:35] they are. All of them are our

[1:12:36] neighbors. These aren

[1:12:36] t flown

[1:12:38] in people. These aren

[1:12:38] t

[1:12:39] professionals. These are moms,

[1:12:41] dads, uncles, neighbors that

[1:12:43] are that are out there doing

[1:12:45] this on our behalf to make sure

[1:12:46] that everything goes well, so

[1:12:47] thank you to them and thank you

[1:12:49] to you all for getting out and

[1:12:51] exercising your vote. With that,

[1:12:56] uh, I look for a motion to

[1:12:56] adjourn our council meeting

[1:12:58] that was moved by council

[1:12:59] member Serg, seconded by

[1:13:02] Councilmember Kalzeki. All in

[1:13:04] favor of adjournment. Any

[1:13:07] oppose? Meeting is adjourned.

[1:13:10] We will Thank you very much. We

South St. Paul City Council

Agenda

Transcript