[0:00] I think it is 7 o'clock. So I will call
the meeting to order and we'll begin
[0:04] with the pledge of allegiance.
[0:08] » I pledge to the flag of the United
States of America and [clears throat] to
[0:12] the republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
[0:18] liberty and justice for all for all.
[0:24] » All right. Um, I said a couple of things
before we jump into our agenda. Um, one
[0:32] thing I just wanted to give a shout out
to the um, TCA Tri Community Arts. They
[0:37] just finished the um, musical this
weekend at the [clears throat] high
[0:40] school in town and it was fantastic. Um,
I'm a little prejudice because my
[0:45] husband was in it, but um, it was just
the best example of community and
[0:50] passion and [clears throat] people who
just volunteered their time and threw
[0:54] themselves into it. So, if you were
there, I hope you loved it. And if you
[0:57] weren't, um, I really encourage you to
go next year because there's just such a
[1:01] bunch of talented people is really just
a super thing for our community. So,
[1:06] hats off to the Tri Community Arts. Um,
a couple other things, too. I just
[1:12] wanted to be able to communicate with
um, the community a little bit. Several
[1:17] people have approached me in the last
couple of weeks and I know that others
[1:20] have contacted the city office with
similar concerns um regarding political
[1:24] candidate advertising signs on the
welcome to on and around the welcome to
[1:29] Winthrop sign on the west end of town.
Um political signs are prohibited on
[1:34] city property and because cities
shouldn't look like they're supporting
[1:38] any candidate of any kind. um that
welcome to Winthrup sign has been an
[1:42] issue um and the city does not own the
property. So although driving by anyone
[1:48] would assume that um it is city
controlled and it looks like we're
[1:52] violating those bans on um political
advertising, it's not something the city
[1:58] can control. Um, but the only thing I
would do is um encourage residents if
[2:03] they have concerns about that and they
don't think those signs are appropriate,
[2:06] they could um contact the property owner
and um if you're wondering about that,
[2:10] property ownership information can be
found on the Sibly County website.
[2:15] Um, and then I would also just like to
remind everybody that if you have
[2:21] questions or concerns about anything,
city programs, um, something the city
[2:26] council is voting on or not voting on or
considering, there's lots of ways to
[2:30] register concerns or ask questions and
get more information. You can stop in
[2:34] and talk to our city staff. You can call
them. You can email and call anybody on
[2:38] council.
What doesn't get you timely or accurate
[2:42] information is depending on Facebook or
another social media post. The city
[2:47] doesn't respond to comments um or get
into debates on social media. And for
[2:52] myself, I make it a personal policy to
avoid Facebook discussions. I don't
[2:56] spend a lot of time on social media and
I just don't think that's the best
[2:59] platform for um good communication.
And I'm making a point about this
[3:05] because when we get tagged with the city
or me um or another council person, if
[3:12] we're tagged in a post and we don't
respond, it probably looks to people
[3:16] like, "Ah, she doesn't care. She's not
going to take the time to respond to
[3:20] that."
And and that's really not true. We we do
[3:25] not we cannot govern by Facebook. We do
care about what residents have to say
[3:30] and what you think. Um, but everybody
has to be willing to talk to us so that
[3:34] we can listen to what you have to say.
And I I think people would be surprised
[3:39] by this. I looked back at my email and
my call log for the last two months.
[3:44] During that time, I didn't have a single
email from a resident with a question or
[3:48] concern. I did have a couple of calls um
after the June meeting. Um, people
[3:55] called me about that and nothing since
then. Over the weekend, I read a couple
[4:00] of Facebook posts and I reached out to
the individuals who had um raised some
[4:04] concerns. I shared some information with
them and um answered some questions they
[4:09] had and I happy to do that, but I had to
initiate that. That was not something
[4:15] that they felt comfortable coming to
meet with. None of us sitting here is
[4:19] afraid of having conversations with
anyone. In fact, we welcome
[4:22] conversations with residents. It's the
only way you can get answers to
[4:26] questions is if you ask. I think this is
especially relevant um because we're
[4:30] doing a budget work session tonight.
There's a lot of information and um if
[4:35] you're like me, you'll probably think
about it and tomorrow afternoon or
[4:40] Wednesday morning you're going to say,
"Oh, wow. I wonder about that." If
[4:44] questions come up, please reach out and
ask us because we really do want to talk
[4:50] to you and um especially city staff if
it's budget related things, they can
[4:54] answer questions very efficiently. So, I
just wanted to make sure that was clear.
[5:00] Um and with that, we'll move on with
approval of the agenda.
[5:08] » I move to approve it. [clears throat]
>> Second. Motion to approve and a second.
[5:14] Um, any discussion? Any discussion?
All those in favor, please say I. I. Any
[5:20] opposed? Motion carried. Um, onto the
consent agenda.
[5:25] The minutes of city county financial and
sewer adjustment forms.
[5:36] Anybody have questions or want to make a
motion?
[5:40] There's only three of you, so you're
gonna have to
[5:42] » jump in and take turns.
>> I'll make the motion.
[5:44] » All right. Motion to approve by Jenny.
>> I'll second.
[5:47] » Second by Don. Any discussion? Any
discussion? All those in favor, please
[5:52] say I.
>> I.
[5:53] » I. Post. Same. Motion carried. All
right. New business. Um, the small
[5:58] town's grant application.
Who's telling us about that? Heather or
[6:02] Michael?
>> Michael.
[6:04] » Okay. Uh so about two years ago we
applied for a blind grant to do a
[6:09] community garden. It's something that
the community has on multiple occasions
[6:13] brought up that they want somewhere to
plant and have it in the community. Um
[6:19] South Park is um a good place for this.
It's um probably one of the places that
[6:27] is not um the most used especially with
our parking permit instead of the large
[6:32] park. Um what we put before you was a
full proposal that we put together for
[6:38] Blandon. Um the grant is only $10,000.
So obviously we won't be able to do
[6:44] everything in that grant proposal. Um we
have to match it uh with 2500 of the
[6:50] funds. So um you know there's things in
there like running a water line. Well,
[6:56] right away I don't think we really need
to run a water line or we don't need to
[7:00] have a shed for um for tools and stuff,
you know, the first couple years. We can
[7:06] figure that out later on. Um but this
grant proposal um we haven't submitted.
[7:11] We're just asking council if this is
still something that we're interested
[7:14] in, if we want to continue to do it. Um
if we do, we'll apply to the Southern
[7:20] Minnesota Initiative Foundation with
this grant and some of the proposals.
[7:25] Um,
I think that, uh, [clears throat] with
[7:29] the amount of money that they're
getting, the amount that beds cost,
[7:33] especially the raised garden beds and
the ADA accessible ones, uh, Troy and
[7:38] public works will actually pour some of
the concrete for the pad. Um, so that'll
[7:42] save quite a bit of money. Uh, but you
won't actually take most of South Park.
[7:47] Maybe half of it to begin with, and then
we can add on just depending on
[7:51] community need. Um the parks committee
like three gosh maybe it's only four
[7:58] years ago actually already worked on a
policy for community gardens within the
[8:02] city of Winthrup. Um that policy never
passed council. So if we do get this we
[8:07] might want to work on that but it's you
know basic stuff like take care of your
[8:12] garden bed if you have extra fruit or
vegetables donate them to the farmers
[8:17] market on Monday etc etc. Um,
so this proposal is just to submit the
[8:25] grant. It's not committing any
additional funds. And again, we can
[8:29] scale that back. If we don't want to put
a water line right in, that's completely
[8:33] okay. We have a water cart that they can
certainly use until we can figure out a
[8:39] fundraiser or something to improve it.
Again, the shed, I think, was like three
[8:43] or $5,000. We don't need to do that
right away. Um, if we could just do the
[8:47] basics, buy the garden beds, get some
good soil in there, do a path, um, that
[8:52] would be put in the spring of 2027.
>> Okay.
[8:59] » So, SAS is just looking for permission
to submit the grant.
[9:06] » So, do you want a motion to submit the
grant or you want to discuss it?
[9:10] » Yeah, either. I think I I'll make a
motion to um submit the grant.
[9:17] » Okay.
>> I think it's very important to have
[9:20] something like that down there.
>> Okay. So, we have a motion to um submit
[9:24] the grant. Is there a second?
>> I'll second.
[9:27] » All right. Any discussion?
>> Any discussion?
[9:31] » Maybe somewhere down the road somebody
will donate like a shed or like kind of
[9:35] like the
>> Oh,
[9:36] » I mean if it kind of gets going and
people like it.
[9:40] » Yeah. That could be a community.
>> Yeah.
[9:43] » Supported thing, too. That's a good
idea. Um, any other discussion?
[9:48] » All right. All those in favor, please
say I.
[9:50] » I.
>> I. Oppos. Motion carried.
[9:53] Uh, 4.2.
Um, quick before I go on with that,
[9:57] how's the how are the microphones
sounding? Is it helping?
[10:00] » Okay, great. Wonderful. Um, so 4.2,
part-time utility services coordinator.
[10:07] Um, I'll just talk about this for a
second. This is something that we've um
[10:11] at the admin committee has talked about
for um some time because with only two
[10:18] city staff in the office um it's it is
difficult to make sure that we're open
[10:24] all the hours we want to be and it's
also very difficult for them to um
[10:30] effectively work on longer term projects
more intense you know must focus on
[10:36] things when they have to hop up and
answer the door in the phone. And um I
[10:42] think this is a really good example of
effective use of our city resources. Um,
[10:48] you know, we're we are paying the city
clerk and the city administrator
[10:54] more than we should be for somebody
who's going to and not that there's
[10:58] anything wrong with them answering the
phone or interacting with the resident
[11:02] when that happens, but it would I think
it makes sense to have someone else um
[11:07] in that position for a certain number of
hours per week so that um the clerk and
[11:14] administrator can focus on some of the
other things.
[11:17] So there's that. Um Michael, you want to
give some more
[11:23] background on it?
[11:26] » Yeah. So this came out of the admin
committee. Um and we've been talking
[11:30] about
um whether we want to, you know, shut
[11:34] down on Fridays and get staff time done
or hire this um part-time individual.
[11:43] And I think, you know, with backing up
the points that Julie has, you know,
[11:49] again, this week I'm I'm gone. I'm on
vacation. Heather has a medical
[11:52] appointment on Friday and we're going to
be gone on Friday. So, city hall will be
[11:57] closed on Friday. Same with the primary
in the general election. We have new
[12:01] judges. Heather and I have to be there.
Um so during the primary which is the
[12:06] 11th by the way if you don't remember um
uh the city hall will also be closed and
[12:13] you know it's not always convenient uh
to be closed on Fridays and it's not
[12:17] always convenient um you know even
during lunchtime uh you know we
[12:22] generally stay open because we
understand that that's when other people
[12:27] uh you know can make it work in their
schedule. Well, you know, we generally
[12:32] don't get uninterrupted break times or
lunch times, which is fine. I mean,
[12:35] Heather and I are flexible when it comes
to that. Now, you march down to the post
[12:39] office during lunch and they're closed,
right? That's because it's actually a
[12:42] law that says that they get
uninterrupted breaks. We're fine with
[12:45] it. But that type of um
distractions like MMPA's call on Tuesday
[12:53] last week, they had a special one. It
was a three and a half hour call and I
[12:58] got interrupted multiple times when
we're talking about upcoming rates and
[13:01] changes and you know we were talking
about data centers and energies and
[13:06] substations and those things were really
important right and you know getting
[13:10] interrupted multiple times um because
Heather was with someone you know and
[13:14] there's another two or three people to
lobby anyway so that is really important
[13:19] so this came out of the admin committee
for a solution to say well what if we
[13:23] hired someone you know part-time, 20 to
30 hours. Um, you know, this is a 15 to
[13:29] 20 hour, a dollar an hour job. If you
look in the packet on page two, those
[13:35] financial analysis and scenarios, I
think, are really important. This is um
[13:39] would be paid for out of our enterprise
fund, not the general um levy. Um, so
[13:44] water, sewer, and electric.
And if you look at just some of the
[13:49] scenarios, and we couldn't cover all of
them, but if they were to work about 20
[13:52] hours a week, which is actually what we
would propose, um especially during the
[13:58] first two weeks of the month, those are
always our busiest in the office. It's
[14:01] obviously when everyone is making
payments and we're doing a lot more. Um
[14:06] it's also when we get ready for council,
it's just busier those those times. And
[14:11] so th those 20 hours um as you can see
the annual cost is about $17,000 that
[14:16] would go to the enterprise funds. Each
one of those enterprise funds would
[14:20] absorb about $6,000 worth of um funds
which um you know based on the audit
[14:25] last year and our financial standings
this year u those three funds could
[14:30] handle that. Um, if we get a more
qualified person or if they're there,
[14:34] you know, if there's a cap of $20, even
if they worked 30 hours, uh, that's
[14:39] about $35,000 a year, um, or $11,000.
The other financial considerations are
[14:47] this is we would have to buy a new
computer or reuse one of ours. It pretty
[14:52] minimal to wipe a computer.
Um, but we wouldn't uh set them up with
[14:58] full Microsoft. Uh, it's just not
something that they're going to need.
[15:02] This person is a coordinator for a
reason. They're going to really focus
[15:06] on, you know, taking bills from people,
doing work orders to public works, you
[15:11] know, they're not taking really a whole
lot of Heather's job. Um, which was kind
[15:16] of what happened in the past. They
started doing financial things um as a
[15:20] utility clerk. We're not asking them to
do that. Um, we're just asking them to
[15:24] help the public and help public works
coordinate.
[15:28] Um, other than that, there's really uh
not a lot of
[15:33] other expectations for that employee.
Again, it's part time.
[15:38] » I wanted to clarify that too from um
admin committee. It [clears throat] this
[15:41] is a part-time position. We're not
looking at it growing into a full-time
[15:46] [clears throat] benefited position. This
is meant to be a a limited part-time
[15:51] position.
>> Yes. but really about dog takes and ATV
[15:54] things and taking payments.
>> Sorry, question. Um, if
[16:00] you didn't need the person, like if it
got slow, would they be able to go home
[16:04] or would they work more hours the first
two weeks of the month and then work
[16:10] lesser hours the last two weeks? You
know, would it be flexible like that?
[16:17] Yeah, I I think that um it would be very
flexible like that. Uh honestly, the
[16:23] last two weeks of the month are usually
our kind of our dead months, our dead
[16:26] weeks. Um it's just over that time that
time. So, um
[16:32] » so they wouldn't be guaranteed, you
know, a certain number of hours.
[16:37] » No. Okay.
[16:41] And I think um the the example that um
came to my mind was um there's a nice
[16:47] new bench if you look down at Honeybee
Heights. Um it was put there a family in
[16:51] Tom Tom's Plumbing and Heating had a
business there and his family is a
[16:54] memorial wanted to put a bench there
with a little inscription and um you
[17:00] know it that sort of thing would be
perfect for a person in that position.
[17:05] they could be the, you know, they would
be the face that someone would see when
[17:08] they come in to talk to somebody. Um,
they could just move through that
[17:11] process. It, it got done and it's great,
but that kind of project, while it's
[17:17] really important, probably isn't as
important as getting utility bills out
[17:21] and, you know, the the things that the
clerk and the administer have to get
[17:26] done all the time. So, I don't want
things like small things like that that
[17:31] are important need they they still need
attention. And I think to have someone
[17:35] someone there um as the face of you
[clears throat] know when they walk in I
[17:40] think would be helpful also.
[17:46] So does anybody on council have a a
thought about that? Do you want to make
[17:50] a motion in support or
>> I think the other question that staff
[17:54] needs answers is this is for the 2027
budget or do we want it immediately? I
[18:01] think that needs to be discussed at some
point. And I know in admin we kind of
[18:04] discussed it as a this will be a 2027
budgeted item.
[18:14] Where's our how's our budget looking
right now? I mean 426 if we
[18:21] do we have money
would you know if if we if it seemed
[18:26] like a good time to start training
somebody in say October or November
[18:29] could we start it earlier or um without
unduly burdening the budget.
[18:34] » Yeah, between those three enterprise
accounts, they're all sitting fine right
[18:38] now. Also, it's really hard to train in
January, February, March because of the
[18:43] audit. So, we don't really enjoy I mean,
but we will be flexible. We don't we
[18:49] don't car. So maybe it would be worth
considering hiring in the fall
[18:57] so that you could Would that make more
sense to hire to train someone before
[19:00] you get into January, February
potentially?
[19:06] I'm Yeah, I would say that it's easier
to train in the falls than it is during
[19:13] the springtime
>> because I think that would have a
[19:15] relatively small impact on the 26 budget
if you were adding a part-time employee
[19:20] for
limited hours in November and December
[19:25] or even halfway through October.
[19:30] But council, what are your wishes?
I think I would like to look at the
[19:36] budget for 2027 a little bit before we
decide on this tonight. Um I don't know
[19:44] if maybe we could table it till next
month and you know we can look at the
[19:50] budget a little more but that's my idea.
>> I think I'll with that.
[19:56] » Okay.
We can table it till
[20:00] September.
>> Okay.
[20:03] All right. Um 4.3
water, sewer, and electric ordinance
[20:09] update.
[20:13] » Um go ahead.
>> My voice is loud enough, I think. Can
[20:18] you guys hear me? No.
[20:25] » No. I'm going to have to talk normal
because mine comes through really clear.
[20:28] Uh this is just the second reading. I
did go ahead and make the adjustments to
[20:33] what you guys said last month as far as
taking the dollar amounts out and
[20:37] putting as assigned by council on the
fee schedule. Those were the only
[20:41] changes that were made. So, this is just
the requirement of the second reading of
[20:45] the
ordinance before it goes to the paper.
[20:51] » Okay. And you don't need any action from
council or do we need?
[20:55] » Yeah, we need approval of 4.3 and 4.4.
The same thing. They're both a second
[21:00] reading. The um the updates then we'll
put put in the paper and then we have 30
[21:05] days and then we can codify them.
>> Okay. Would you like those as separate
[21:08] motions for the record?
>> All right. I'll make a motion for the
[21:12] first one.
>> All right. There's a motion. Is there a
[21:15] second?
>> I'll second.
[21:16] » Motion and second. Um any discussion on
water, sewer, and electricity ordinance?
[21:21] Any discussion? Any discussion? All
those in favor, please say I.
[21:24] » I. Opposed. Uh motion carried. And then
chapter 9 updates and revisions.
[21:32] » Uh these revisions actually came um out
of just confusion above are adopting a
[21:39] Minnesota peak schedule. So it's just
changing the language at the top letting
[21:42] them know that they need to look at the
appendix for the cost for per building
[21:47] permits. Um I will tell you that chapter
9 is probably going to go through a lot
[21:51] of revisions. Planning and zoning is
working on on chapter 9 right now. So,
[21:56] they're going to be recommending quite a
few changes to chapter 9.
[22:01] » Okay.
Anybody like to make a motion regarding
[22:05] that second reading of chapter 9?
>> I'll make a motion again to approve that
[22:11] » motion. Is there a second? I'll second.
Uh, any discussion? Any discussion? Any
[22:17] discussion? All those in favor, please
say I.
[22:19] » I. Same sign. Motion carried. All right.
Um, we can move on to committee notices
[22:25] and updates,
administration and EDA.
[22:29] » Um, so I've been trying to put the
inserts that we put in the utility bill
[22:33] in the agenda packets. I don't know if
that's helpful or not, but just to get
[22:37] another look at them. Um, right now
we're really working um with streams and
[22:43] the MDH, the Minnesota Department of
Health is kind of holding this process
[22:47] up. um or sorry MPA and the PCA sorry uh
and we we just have had some problems
[22:55] with fluent limits. So before we can
build something that is substantial we
[23:00] have to know how to build it and that's
what the affluent limits are going to
[23:04] give us. So what we can discharge into
the stream um is really difficult
[23:09] because New Auburn right now they they
irrigate. So they're not like us.
[23:13] they're not like Lafayette and so the
permitting process has been a little bit
[23:18] challenging plus the two industries uh
that would have a significant user
[23:23] agreement with they're involved with
that too which have two different
[23:27] discharge permits. So we're still
working on streams. I just want to let
[23:30] you know that you know we're kind of in
this holding pattern as the PCA um
[23:36] continues to review that. Um we're also
in contention um
[23:42] doing a um grant for workforce
development housing that is still going
[23:46] through. We have not heard back I would
assume sometime this fall um with a
[23:50] spring date. Um there wasn't very many
applications uh honestly and we take
[23:56] priority because we're a population of
5,000. So it's likely that we'll get it
[24:00] um which is good.
>> Great.
[24:04] » And then obviously they worked on the
EDA budget this last time and um they'll
[24:09] have another meeting upcoming.
>> All right, any questions on admit uh
[24:17] library?
[24:20] Yes. So, I wasn't able to stay at the
last library board meeting for very
[24:24] long. Um you and I left early for the
Gaylord Try Line. Uh but we did have a
[24:30] board meeting on July 20th and our next
meeting is August 17th.
[24:39] Um I don't know if Lori or Jamie, you
have anything to add.
[24:45] Our programs have been going really
well. We had a successful program today
[24:49] » with back to school bingo school
supplies and blue animal balloons and
[24:55] face painting. So
>> great.
[24:58] » No, it's okay. Official
>> and I know that uh some people from the
[25:04] library are meeting with the county
commissioners on August 25th.
[25:09] » Yes.
>> To talk about library funding.
[25:12] » Yes. So, and we did talk at admin
committee too about um hiring a very
[25:18] part-time or limited number of hours
position for the library to cover some
[25:22] of those evenings and Saturdays so that
the library can be open for people to to
[25:27] be there. So, [clears throat] that will
look for that to come. Jo, could I say
[25:32] something?
>> Yep.
[25:33] » I attended the last two um what was the
zoo one?
[25:38] » The zoo.
>> The red zoo.
[25:39] » The red zoo. Um, it was packed in here.
It was awesome program. Kids loved it.
[25:45] And the one today, the bingo was a
blast. In fact, Jean had to set up more
[25:51] tables because there was more people
there. Awesome.
[25:55] » So, keep up the good work, library.
>> Thank you.
[25:57] » Yeah, I you two are doing a fantastic
job. It's It's fun to see.
[26:04] » All right. Um, good. Moving on to public
works. doing anything or
[26:12] » um the the only thing that uh that
really comes to mind is, you know, just
[26:17] general maintenance, street sweeping. Uh
we do have um I guess this is more
[26:22] utilities, but we do have a water main
break on Fourth Street. It's a very
[26:26] small trickle, so you're going to see
some work done on Fourth Street. Um
[26:31] we're also replacing some storm sewers
by like the drive-in. There's one by
[26:35] Zion, the church's personage that is
still broken. Um, so we're working on
[26:40] that stuff that's kind of the season
type of thing. Um, there was also some
[26:46] irregularities in our pumping to our
ponds and we couldn't figure out where
[26:50] it came from. Um, about two months ago,
our actual pumps in the water plants
[26:56] started acting up and they weren't
coordinating very well. We have um
[27:01] enlisted some help from pump works to
make sure that their the VFDs are not
[27:06] misfiring again. It would pump really
heavy and then overflow and then it
[27:11] would stop and it would get really low.
Um but some of that actually had to do
[27:16] with where the missing water was coming
from. So a lot of people don't know
[27:19] this, but we keep track of all the water
we pump out of the ground and all the
[27:22] water we discharge and they should
pretty much equal out it. And there was
[27:28] a significant amount of water that we
were not accounting for through a water
[27:33] meter or you know somewhere where
through our force man. So we did figure
[27:37] it out this week but I just want to
report that we were we were working on
[27:40] that. So if you saw people running
around and popping bang holes that's
[27:44] what was going on. Um the park's been
very very busy. Uh I want to thank the
[27:49] public for keeping the bathrooms clean.
They have done a really good job about
[27:53] keeping bathrooms clean. Um, I opened up
on Sunday and poked my head in, got the
[27:58] cleaner out, and I didn't even need it.
It was that clean in there. So, we
[28:01] appreciate that. Um, there's going to be
some mild spraying. The sod has some
[28:07] weeds coming through just to kind of
regulate that and control it. Um,
[28:12] but a lot of use on the public path, so
we're going to try to keep those swept.
[28:17] We know that there's been a lot of wood
chips everywhere. Um and then uh there
[28:21] was some um obviously we'll talk about
this at the budget, but there's some
[28:26] alleyways that are the entrances are
really failing. So we're going to have
[28:29] to address that at some point.
>> And a quick note about parks. Um I have
[28:33] a friend who works for dispatch for
Trailblazer Transit and they saw last
[28:37] week and she said, "Wow, you have got so
much traffic going on in that park.
[28:42] She's been scheduling rides for families
and groups that and they're headed to
[28:47] Winthre to use the splash pad. So, I
thought that was really nice to hear.
[28:52] [clears throat]
>> All right. Um, any questions for
[28:55] utilities or public works? Um, ambulance
got anything? Kristen, you got anything
[29:02] to report?
[29:11] Okay,
sounds good. Um, fire, I've seen
[29:15] nothing.
>> Uh, nothing. Um, so last week, I think
[29:20] it was last week and maybe the week
before. Um, the fire departments in
[29:24] Sibly County actually held a meeting uh
with the West
[29:27] » Oh, yeah.
>> burrow. I'm going to screw up their
[29:29] name. Westboro Fire Department District.
It's something like that. It's the west
[29:34] side of the metro. There's like five or
six cities that actually join one fire
[29:38] district. Adam had them come down and
have a great conversation with the fire
[29:42] chiefs in Sway County. Um Henderson was
here, Gaylord was here, Arlington and
[29:48] given
new law show. There's anyway there was
[29:51] five. Um
it was a really good discussion. Um you
[29:57] know they had the same problems we had.
It's really about cost savings on the
[30:02] back end. you know, um buying six pumper
trucks between Gibbon Gaylord and us
[30:09] just isn't necessary for how much we use
it. So that's millions of dollars um
[30:13] that could be saved if we combined in
one district. So um
[30:18] just, you know, just a lot to cover
there. Uh Adam has some really good
[30:21] notes and we talked about it this last
Friday. So I just wanted to let you know
[30:25] that they've been having those
discussions.
[30:28] Okay.
>> Uh police
[30:34] What you got for Logan?
[30:44] » Um, [clears throat] so we posted for
>> I do that.
[30:52] » There you go.
[30:57] Oh, that's
[31:01] » okay. So,
>> we posted for our full-time officer um
[31:06] with admin admin committee's approval.
We already have four applicants um for
[31:12] the posting. Mike and Michael and I will
be um scheduling interviews here um over
[31:18] the next couple weeks.
Um,
[31:22] I just got back today from Roseville PD.
Um, I was the assessor for the Minnesota
[31:29] Law Enforcement Accreditation Program,
uh, for Roseville PD. So, that was a
[31:35] really enlightening experience. Um,
they'll be the first agency to be
[31:39] accredited in Minnesota and then we're
right on track uh, behind them when we
[31:43] get to the mock assessment phase. And so
that was very very cool experience. Uh
[31:51] just wanted to give another heads up.
National night out tomorrow. Um
[31:55] hopefully everyone can make it. We'll
have some hot dogs, chips, and some
[32:00] drinks and stuff out there. So should be
a good time. Can Nash will be there if
[32:05] anyone wants to see him make an
appearance. Um, and then like Kristen
[32:12] said, that opiate settlement funding
money, uh, Sibly County has been
[32:17] allocated several hundred,000
um to for opiate combating opiates. So,
[32:26] um, I did submit for that. Um, it's
actually a device that I think I
[32:30] mentioned before, but it's to identify
all the 35,000 different types of
[32:37] substances that uh can fall under
[clears throat] the opiate opiate thing.
[32:40] So hopefully we can get that. Um, it's
not something that we would be able to
[32:46] afford if without this money and I think
it would be uh really beneficial to
[32:51] officers in all of Sibli County to use
it.
[32:55] » Who you submit to? Is it like specific
county that they got the money and and
[33:00] that's who you have to submit a request
to or
[33:03] » Yeah. So, we I submitted it back in
earlier this year and they uh revised
[33:09] their protocols and they're accepting
applications until the end of October it
[33:14] sounds like now. And then the
commissioners will uh review the
[33:17] applications and then grant money for
whatever the projects are. Okay.
[33:24] » Any questions for Logan?
I just want to clarify the posting for
[33:29] that position. Um, it's it's that's not
anything new. That's fully covered in
[33:34] our 2026 budget and department plan. So,
we're just filling a position from that
[33:40] Reed when he moved on and left.
>> Yep.
[33:43] » Was open.
>> Yeah. So,
[33:44] » so good. Great. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[33:50] » Uh, cable commission.
>> We have not.
[33:54] » Okay. Then we can move on. The last
thing is adjournment and then we can
[33:58] move into the budget session. Um,
somebody like to mot to adjourn the
[34:02] actual council meeting.
>> I'll make a motion to adjurnn the actual
[34:05] meeting. Okay.
>> Is there a second?
[34:07] » Second.
>> Uh, all those in favor?
[34:10] » I.
>> We are adjourned.
[34:12] » All right. Then we can move on to the
budget work session. And um, we've done
[34:18] it. We'll probably do it kind of like we
did last year. Um we'll go over um
[34:23] probably Michael and Heather will do
most of the talking because they're the
[34:26] people who know all the numbers. Um when
we do each um kind of individual budget
[34:32] section um when we're done council
discussing that we'll open it up to um
[34:38] anybody from the public who wants to
comment and we'll you know everybody if
[34:42] you can so that we can get through this
um relatively efficiently. Um, if
[34:47] everybody can, you know, limit your
comments to about two minutes and one
[34:52] comment per person per category, I
guess, if you want to look at it that
[34:56] way. Um, so let's move on.
>> Sure. Um, so I just want to clarify,
[35:03] we're dealing tonight with the general
budget, so not um any of the enterprise
[35:09] funds. So we'll talk about water, sewer,
and electric um this next budget work
[35:15] session. it's just a lot easier and far
more clear to talk about that stuff when
[35:19] it's separated. Um,
just to let the public know and those in
[35:26] the audience, uh, there's three
[clears throat] primary work budget
[35:30] sessions scheduled. So, obviously
tonight, um, August 17th, uh, uh, is
[35:37] also Monday at 7 p.m. we'll have another
budget work session. That's the one
[35:40] where we're going to talk about
enterprise funds. We're going to talk
[35:42] about rates for water, sewer, electric.
Um, and then September 14th is our
[35:49] normal council meeting because, uh, it's
Labor Day weekend, the weekend before,
[35:54] so we can't, uh, hold meetings on
holidays.
[35:58] So, September 14th, uh, will be the day
that's really going to drive me. it's
[36:04] going to be the day um that we'll
actually pass the preliminary budget if
[36:09] council feels um prepared and ready. Um
otherwise, we'll have another um council
[36:15] meeting and budget session on September
21st. Uh we'll make that decision
[36:19] obviously on September 14th. Just a
reminder, by the end of September, the
[36:24] last day by 5:00 p.m. we have to have it
in to the county. Um if we don't, they
[36:29] take the last year's number. So, our
preliminary lobby needs to be sent to
[36:33] the county by the 30th.
[36:38] So, the work session agenda, like uh
Julie said, is really going to be mostly
[36:44] department overviews and direction from
council on what to fund and then uh
[36:49] community input
uh that we'll take questions on. I will
[36:54] tell you that we'll try to answer
questions tonight and look up stuff.
[36:57] Heather's going to be on our financial
side. So, um if council wants category
[37:01] breakdowns or uh whatever, we'll bring
that up tonight. If there's something
[37:06] that we can't answer for whatever
reason, um we can certainly put it on
[37:11] the parking lot for now and answer it at
a later date to give you a full summary.
[37:16] Um the community funding request. So,
this was new this year. that we we sent
[37:20] out to past recipients of public dollars
and asked them to make a request to city
[37:26] council. One was um well, there's two of
them and you'll see that in the next
[37:31] slide, but it's totaling $25,000.
Um debt uh the department funding
[37:38] requests are going to be those projects.
And that's really what this slideshow is
[37:41] about is about the projects that the
department heads are requesting. And
[37:46] some of those requests, I will tell you,
come from citizens Um and then some come
[37:51] from the department heads themselves.
So let's jump into it. Um like I said,
[37:58] this is about the funding requests from
the community uh 501c3s and nonprofits.
[38:04] Uh there's two funding requests that we
received from the city. Uh one was from
[38:08] the Winthrop Historical Society in the
amount of $5,000.
[38:13] The other one was from the Farm City
Funfest Committee or the Lrop Chamber of
[38:16] Commerce for $20,000 to continue funding
um Farm City Funfest. So in the past um
[38:27] for the historical society we have
funded it between seven to $5,000. Last
[38:33] year we cut them back to two. Um
the Farm City Funfest is a little bit
[38:41] different. So, we've always helped out
with portaotties because our bathrooms
[38:45] were not in any condition to continue
use for that long. Um, but when we did
[38:51] the park improvement plan, we put a new
water line in. So, if you guys didn't
[38:54] see, hardly anyone was using portaotties
at the festival. They were all waiting
[38:58] in line for the bathrooms.
>> Can't imagine why.
[39:01] » Can't imagine why. Um, so I think we
actually fixed a lot of that. Not that
[39:05] we were not going to get portaotties
next year, but we can drastically reduce
[39:08] the number that we get. Um
[clears throat]
[39:13] specifically also so the softball
diamond always gets a porta potty in the
[39:17] summer all summer long and then they be
it gets [clears throat] really expensive
[39:22] and I think it's time to just ask people
to walk over to the restrooms um and cut
[39:27] that from the budget. Farm City Funfest
also um uses the city for tents. So the
[39:33] tent is normally paid for by the city um
that you see in the park. So, um,
[39:40] eliminating that budget, um, like we did
last year puts a strain on them. Um, so
[39:46] that's the two requests that we've
received.
[39:49] We're going to go to the department
heads funding requests. Again, for
[39:54] probably the last two months, we've been
going through budget numbers, projects,
[39:59] capital improvement, comp plans, and
saying, what do we want to accomplish in
[40:03] 2027?
And with that, we have some funding
[40:06] requests from department heads that are
above and beyond our normal requests for
[40:11] funding.
So, in Sibly County, uh the police
[40:15] department in Winthrop is the only one
that has a less lethal option. Uh we
[40:20] have deployed it multiple times this
year um in different situations. the
[40:25] less lethal option um upgrade that we're
asking for is more accurate and um we're
[40:32] asking for $3,000 within the funding
bucket.
[40:37] » Do you want to say anything else about
the
[40:44] » just use that? Thanks.
>> Yeah, you're welcome.
[40:47] » Um yeah, so this is just for um we
currently have our shotguns uh converted
[40:54] over to less legal right now. Um
those rounds that we use in there for
[41:01] certain situations
um are quite a bit less effective than
[41:06] what we're anticipating if you guys
approve this to uh purchase. They're
[41:10] actually a 40mm grenade launcher. um and
the the sponge rounds that are used in
[41:18] them um are much more effective and
safer to the person that you're
[41:22] deploying it on and also for the
officers for liability. So um especially
[41:28] given that we're the only agency in Sy
County that has a less legal option. Uh
[41:33] we want to try and upgrade that. Um, in
addition to that, you know,
[41:40] we can utilize our our previous shotguns
and maybe donate them to other uh
[41:45] agencies that don't have that option
right now and we can train them. I know
[41:50] Henderson PD has reached out and
inquired about those shotguns. So, at
[41:55] least there's another option there and
[42:05] » [laughter]
[42:07] » Um, so the other funding requests that
we're getting is streets. So alleyway
[42:11] approaches, like I said earlier, um,
have been a concern. If you actually
[42:16] just walk down one block on Third Street
here, um, in the alleyway across from
[42:20] the parking lot for First Lutheran, uh,
that one completely disintegrated um,
[42:26] and it actually fell in on itself about
a month ago. So we, you know, we fill it
[42:29] in with rock. we make it as approachable
as possible, but there are multiple
[42:33] alleyways.
Um,
[42:37] so with this, uh, we're asking for
35,000 that will get about three
[42:41] alleyway approaches completed.
Um, and we kind of have a list, a
[42:47] running list through public works to
say, you know, this one has to be
[42:51] replaced. Um, there's one up on in the
900 block of Main Street that is also
[42:58] very bad.
[43:01] So, snow. Um, they're asking to replace
the 1978 snow hauler. Um, it just has a
[43:07] lot of issues. Obviously, we'd use it,
we buy a used one, something that was
[43:12] efficient. Um, other cities also lease
theirs, so that is an option. The only
[43:17] problem that we have with leasing is um
it's always on their time and it's not
[43:22] usually convenient. So, they pick up
downtown pretty early in the morning to
[43:26] not affect businesses and um it always
becomes a problem if they're relying on
[43:33] other people to come. So, the lease is
an option, but it's a reoccurring
[43:37] expense every single year. Um like Troy
said, you know, $18,000 will buy a good
[43:43] used snow hauler. they can use it for
dirt during the summertime um or gravel,
[43:49] but it's it's time to somehow replace
the the snow hauler.
[43:56] Uh this is uh parks and trees and
there's a lot to this so I'm going to
[44:00] try to break it out as best I can. So in
the park right now, the main park, the
[44:05] parking lot has disintegrated past the
point of us being able to seal code it.
[44:11] Um they actually took a a look at it
this not this last year but the year
[44:15] before and said steel coating is not
going to help you. Um so the boys want
[44:20] to kind of do a 50/50 replacement of the
parking lot. They're going to pour the
[44:24] concrete themselves, save the city a
little bit of money and spend more on
[44:29] supplies and do cement all the way
through. Uh we also had MR Paving look
[44:34] at it and do like a mill and overlay and
they said you're going to it's a
[44:38] complete replacement. So, um I think
their quote on a was 75,000
[44:44] um to do a complete replacement of the
parking lot. So, that's one portion of
[44:49] the park and tree budget that you're
going to see within the budget request.
[44:56] The other is tree removal and tree
replacement. So, as our boulevard trees
[45:00] continue to age and as ashbor becomes a
bigger and bigger problem,
[45:06] um you know, we we've just taken a lot
of trees down this year and um some of
[45:12] them were damaged by storms, some of
them were destroying sewer lines, etc.
[45:19] And we actually have not bought
replacement trees for the park
[45:22] boulevards um really anywhere in almost
three years. So, um, there is some of
[45:28] that. The caveat to that is that we are
applying for the Department of Natural
[45:33] Resources Ashore grant. I mean, most
likely we'll get it, but it's really
[45:38] dependent on the grant. Um, if that is
true, we can take this out of the
[45:43] budget, so we'll know that this fall or
you could get rid of it and just keep
[45:47] trying for the grant. So, that's a
caveat to all that.
[45:53] » How much is the grant? I'm sorry. It
really depends on what the DNR has left
[45:57] over. Um, but we applied for $20,000.
Uh, we actually had
[46:04] Brody map out and GPS every single ash
tree uh this spring. So, we have that on
[46:10] a a map. So, we know exactly where the
ash trees are. The the problem is is
[46:15] taking all of them down. [clears throat]
It will be about $50,000 at an estimate.
[46:20] So, I mean, it's only going to solve
half the problem, but we really want to
[46:23] get after all of our trees, trees in the
park. I don't know if you've been to New
[46:28] Wall lately after this last year. Um,
like their ash trees are gone
[46:34] everywhere. So, it's goes pretty
quickly. I know there's a couple trees
[46:37] on my property that I was hoping like
one more year, you know, the bushes that
[46:41] I planted, one more. No, they're not
going to make it. Um, the library has a
[46:46] department funding request. This is
actually a request from TDS and their
[46:51] staff of new computers. Uh the computers
downstairs are aging and TDS would like
[46:56] them replaced
>> and they do get used
[47:03] in the library.
>> Yeah.
[47:07] » Um department funding requests from the
EDA um their only request right now is
[47:12] to start adding to every loan fund. Um,
right now their revoling loan fund is
[47:17] zero. So, they're requesting $40,000.
And that's I should stop there, but
[47:25] we'll go that over the budget. But, um,
you know, when we did the Gunner's loan
[47:30] through the EDA from city council's uh
approval, um, the last two years, we
[47:36] have not moved any public funds from the
general fund to the EDA other than the
[47:42] the loan. So,
Um,
[47:47] we'll clarify that more in the budget
discussion, but I just wanted to make
[47:50] that clear. Um, the fire department. So,
the fire department has actually quite a
[47:55] few needs, but right now they're asking
for $15,000 for nozzles, airbags, and
[48:00] cribbing.
And their turnout gear. So, turnout gear
[48:03] is very expensive to replace boots,
helmets, coats, pants. Anything that you
[48:08] touch in the fire department is very
expensive. Um, and so they are
[48:12] requesting that we start doing that. We
did replace three three pairs of boots
[48:18] this last year.
>> No, four
[48:20] » four year. Um and it was
>> a lot of money.
[48:24] » A lot of money. It's it's really
expensive. So, we need to start um
[48:29] there's there's an expiration date on
all that year and some of it is is going
[48:34] to expire. There's three sets this next
year that expire.
[48:40] ambulance is also making a funding
request.
[48:44] So, uh, two years ago we did an EMT
class with cadetses. You might remember
[48:48] because it was pretty successful. We had
five EMTs graduate um, and a sixth on
[48:53] their way.
U, the EMT EMT classes are expensive.
[48:58] They're an investment to Win. Um, so
right now the cadet program is not going
[49:04] to cost us $20,000.
Um but books, materials, training uh
[49:10] probably will at some point um get us to
that amount. It'll probably be more like
[49:16] 10 and it will depend on how many cadets
apply.
[49:21] Um
especially when we're talking about
[49:24] lure, paying instructors, etc.
The life pack. So, the life pack um is
[49:31] $25,300 that we have left, but the whole
piece is $42,000.
[49:38] So, uh there's just a lot of equipment
needs and ambulance. Kristen has uh gone
[49:43] out of her way to write some grants and
uh if the opioid settlement comes in,
[49:47] this won't even be on the budget come
this fall, but it's something that we
[49:51] need to prepare for because that has to
be replaced in the backup.
[49:55] » It's no longer
[50:07] Mike, can you just give everybody that
they couldn't hear Kristen?
[50:11] » Yeah. So, Kristen said that uh the the
life pack that we have currently in the
[50:14] back of the ambulance is no longer to be
serviced. The company will not service
[50:18] them anymore. They have an end of life.
[50:25] As we go through this, I just wanted to
say that all of this information on the
[50:29] budget is actually online, has been for
a week. Um, it has been uploaded to with
[50:34] amendment.gov.
Um,
[50:37] the column that we're going to be
working on, the recommended is from
[50:40] staff, from community input, etc. All
the things that we just went through.
[50:45] The adjusted is where we're going to be
working tonight. and Heather is going to
[50:48] be [clears throat]
keying like a fool um asking opinions
[50:52] from council what we want to do. Um the
adjusted is what we're going for and the
[50:57] final obviously is the next time around.
I wanted to break this up by oh man by
[51:04] spending category u because there's been
a lot of questions between enterprise
[51:07] and general fund. Um this pink
[clears throat] purple salmon I don't
[51:12] know what color that is the one that's
taking up half the pie. if you were to
[51:16] not count anyone else's wage or um other
employees, that is what the police would
[51:21] take up. So when we did the tax
calculator last year online, it was
[51:25] brought up multiple times that man the
police take up half the budget, which is
[51:30] not true. This is another view. This is
uh everyone else's wage and all the
[51:35] other expenses that come in through the
enterprise fund, that yellow pie piece.
[51:41] So as you can see, you know, police goes
down to 35% and the rest of the
[51:45] enterprise expenses are about 23 24%.
So I just wanted to bring that up
[51:51] because last year um upon the advice of
many in the audience and city council,
[51:57] we switched where we were paying some of
the public works directors u myself and
[52:03] Heather. So that um definitely made the
pie look a lot different.
[52:12] Okay, next time I'll remember to restart
the computer.
[52:18] Um, so we're going to go into this. Uh,
and, uh, if you have questions or I need
[52:25] too quickly, please let me know. And I
know at home it's, uh, out in the
[52:30] audience, it's going to be really hard
to see. Like I said, there's copies, um,
[52:34] online.
[52:38] » Whoops.
So, the the couple things that we really
[52:42] wanted to point out in the and we're
working again in the pink column to go
[52:47] to the adjusted column
is uh revenue. So, without any taxation,
[52:54] the city of Winthro takes in about
$665,000
[52:57] off the general fund. Um, a large
majority of that is local government
[53:02] assistance that comes from the state.
That amount this year just got updated
[53:07] today. Uh, so it's different in your
packet than it is online. Is 490269.
[53:13] You might say, Michael, how did they get
to that figure? Well, there's about 29
[53:18] different categories. Uh, you can
actually look at it online at the League
[53:22] of Minnesota Cities and on the
Department of Revenue website. Um, I can
[53:26] also pay put this spreadsheet on, I
guess, if people are that interested.
[53:30] Um,
but that's the number that we get from
[53:34] the state of Minnesota. As you see from
year to year, it does not change a whole
[53:38] lot.
We also get small cities assistance. Uh
[53:42] we project that that is not an actual
number. We project um small cities
[53:47] assistance to be about $27,000.
The other um main one that we have for
[53:54] use is building permits. So building
permits is always a guess on revenue
[53:59] because it just depends on who's
building the deck, what Heartland Corn
[54:02] Product and rest of the industries are
doing. Um you can see in 2024 um we took
[54:09] in over $80,000 worth of revenue. That
does not mean that's pure profit. Uh we
[54:13] also pay uh Darren out of this. So
you'll see that later in the slide.
[54:18] There's a cost to having building
permits and having that person check
[54:22] them. But we do have to count them as
revenue. We estimate uh that it will be
[54:27] around $50,000 next year. That is based
on the trend the last three years plus
[54:32] this year's midway point which is um
$25,000.
[54:37] The other thing um that we have to
account for is interest earnings this
[54:41] year will be around $60,000.
Um and then uh total the total highway
[54:48] charges um on the 3400 or 34,000
category is the thing that you actually
[54:54] just approved tonight. the Cassaw mutual
agreement with the with the county. Um
[54:59] they pay us about $16,000 to help
maintain roads during the wintertime.
[55:03] That includes Main Street, Second
Street, and one that comes into town. So
[55:09] we help maintain those. They pay us a
little bit and they also give us salt
[55:12] sand for free. So
overall, [clears throat] that's an
[55:17] overview of the revenue. Do we have any
council questions?
[55:30] I don't have any questions.
>> Okay. Do we have any questions from the
[55:34] public um about revenue?
>> If you do have questions, if you could
[55:39] come up and um use the mic would be
helpful for anybody who does have
[55:42] questions.
Anything on this particular slide.
[55:49] Okay. And let's move on.
[55:54] » [laughter]
>> try to
[55:59] Oh boy.
No.
[56:08] Okay. So, this is council. Um this is
your spending categories. Um in wages
[56:14] and salaries each year, uh it'll be
$12,500 for a projected in 2027.
[56:21] Um, that's kind of what we're
recommending. Um, and then I I'll just
[56:26] be really transparent. We're not going
to go through FICA, Medicare, Medicare,
[56:29] employment. That's just a percentage. If
you really want to know them, we can
[56:32] tell you, but it's just a percentage.
Training and education. Um, you'll
[56:37] notice that in 2026, we went over a
little bit in budget already. Um, I
[56:43] would recommend to council to have a
little bit extra in there. Um, we're
[56:48] going to have uh new counselors on the
council next year. Um, we're
[56:53] recommending around $800 to $1,200.
Uh, travel expenses ditto. Uh, gas is
[56:59] only going up and the IRS just raised
mileage reimbursement yet again. So, um,
[57:07] that'll cost more. Notices and public,
sorry, general notices and public
[57:12] information. Uh you'll notice that it is
um we're going to go over it this year.
[57:19] Um and that we suggest to council that
we raise that um back up to its 7 to
[57:26] $8,000 range.
[clears throat]
[57:30] Uh last year we had a miscellaneous
category. We are not recommending
[57:33] anything in miscellaneous. That was for
the flags and flag holders down Main
[57:37] Street, Second Street. Uh so we're
getting rid of that. Dues and
[57:41] subscriptions. Um
I think that is
[57:46] the um newspaper is what we put under
general counsel and then the historical
[57:53] society. So we put this category under
here. Um it is obviously the historical
[57:58] society is not part of the city. It's a
separate entity but uh we wanted a
[58:02] better way to track it rather than
putting it in a miscellaneous category
[58:05] since we were helping fund it for so
long. And um anyway, that is general
[58:11] counsel. Any questions?
>> Um I just looked the cost of the um
[58:18] newly elected officials workshop for
leaving Minnesota cities is $350
[58:23] for the person. So um you know,
potentially you could have three or four
[58:28] people attending that. Um, so I think
you and that is incredibly important for
[58:35] elected officials to um to take if they
have not been a part of um a public body
[58:42] before. So I think we should um raise
that budget because um that would be
[58:47] necessary a necessary expense.
>> Will you just go over what the general
[58:53] notice says or is that the minutes and
the newspaper and
[58:58] Okay. Thank you.
[59:02] The other thing I wanted to point out
was that even though the historical
[59:05] society um is listed here, sometimes I
think anything um that says Winthre
[59:13] City, anything just gets lumped together
and everybody thinks that it all falls
[59:18] under this that it's part of the city of
Winthrop. Um, and I I see it. People
[59:24] think that the the chamber and um the
historical society and even sometimes
[59:30] the Lions are all just well that's the
city. Um, and I just want to point out
[59:35] that the historical society is its own
separate entity. Um, and I'm not saying
[59:40] that the city shouldn't um put some
funding toward that, but it is not one
[59:44] of our departments. So I just want to
make that clear because
[59:50] » last year
to ask for money
[59:55] [clears throat] we suggested
fundraising.
[59:58] Has that ever does anybody know did that
take place or was there money raised or
[1:00:04] » they did have
>> what's that?
[1:00:05] » They did have sale.
>> They did they had a um a garage sale
[1:00:10] like
>> so was it successful or
[1:00:13] » I think so. Um I'm not sure how much
[1:00:19] » I mean it wasn't thousands of dollars
but
[1:00:24] [laughter]
>> well since last year's request I've kind
[1:00:28] of been watching
the building I mean when I go by
[1:00:35] when are they open what I mean
I know far they advertise that they were
[1:00:41] open but I haven't seen a whole
abundance of people that frequent that
[1:00:47] building.
>> I think Sundays, Sunday afternoons
[1:00:51] they're open and by appointment maybe
and I think some of that information
[1:00:58] like if they did any fundraising. We had
we have a new form correct that they
[1:01:03] that um organizations were supposed to
fill out and submit if they were
[1:01:07] requesting city funding. So I think that
was one of the questions in that form
[1:01:11] was where their other sources of income
were. So that would maybe give us a
[1:01:16] better picture. Okay. Thank you.
>> Yeah, I think I can bring that up. Just
[1:01:21] give me one second.
[1:01:27] » Uh it says other revenue sources and
funding partners. It says uh memorials,
[1:01:33] donations, grants, and the yard sale. Um
but it doesn't say
[1:01:40] like how much they're raised or how much
they get from it. She just gave us an
[1:01:44] estimate about her expenses
>> and I know they do have um private
[1:01:52] private sources of funding. Can't talk
um because I did go visit with um with
[1:01:57] them there and they they do have
benefactors who will you know support
[1:02:02] the the historical society too. So thank
you.
[1:02:12] So, does council have um any feedback on
funding, not funding historical society
[1:02:19] or training,
travel expenses, anything?
[1:02:29] » Well, I would agree with Julie that the
new um elected official training is very
[1:02:36] important.
You know, I I learned quite a bit from
[1:02:40] that. So,
>> do you think that it should be higher
[1:02:45] then? We only have $800 budgeted.
>> It should probably be I mean, if you had
[1:02:51] four people going, that would be $1,400.
I think we should probably make it
[1:02:55] $1,500 because that
doesn't allow anybody to go to anything
[1:03:01] other than that.
And I think it's important for
[1:03:07] um council to be able to go to any of
the workshops that the league puts on
[1:03:12] throughout the year or um the other
small cities.
[1:03:18] » Yeah, the coalition.
>> Yes, that's the one I'm trying to think
[1:03:20] of.
[1:03:28] » So now it's at 800.
>> Oh, sorry.
[1:03:33] » It's at 15 now.
>> Oh.
[1:03:47] Yeah, I think we should uh make it 1500.
I think training support
[1:04:01] um the $5,000 with historical society. I
think before we um decide on that, we
[1:04:06] need to find out how much money they
made on their road sale,
[1:04:14] you know, because that was one of the
things last year was that they needed
[1:04:18] to, you know, raise some money to go out
and fund raise. So, I think before we
[1:04:22] give them that $5,000, we need to see
what they made on their on their um rum.
[1:04:29] So, do we want to request somebody to
come from the historical society maybe
[1:04:35] talk to us next time?
>> And also, you know, what what else are
[1:04:38] they going to do to fund raise? I mean,
are they going to do more than once a
[1:04:42] year?
[1:04:48] » Okay.
>> Yep. I can definitely do that.
[1:04:53] » Any comments, questions from the public
if council
[1:04:56] » on this
I would agree that we need to fund the
[1:05:01] the training for the new council members
at a minimum with 1500. Is there enough
[1:05:06] for the other training that needs to be
done?
[1:05:12] » Actually, I was also looking at travel
expenses because if you have people
[1:05:16] attending,
it's probably going to
[1:05:20] » there's going to be mileage involved or
>> Yeah.
[1:05:25] [clears throat] So, I'm questioning
whether 1,500 is enough.
[1:05:30] » Probably a legitimate question as well
as the travel expenses.
[1:05:35] » I mean, how staff has handled that in
the past as like, you know, it's first
[1:05:39] come, first serve, whoever signs up
first, but also with, you know, knowing
[1:05:44] that we could have a brand new council,
you probably want some additional funds.
[1:05:49] Mhm.
>> You say that the train was $350 per
[1:05:55] person
and it's usually
[1:06:01] um I know it's been in cities, it's been
in Alexandria, it's been St. Cloud, it's
[1:06:05] been in Rochester, it's been in Duth. I
went to
[1:06:09] » Yeah, there are some closer locations,
but you know, it depends on
[1:06:15] » where it is and what fits everybody's
schedule.
[1:06:21] We should probably look at the travel
expense.
[1:06:25] » Yeah, the travel like in 25 travel
expense was 850.
[1:06:30] » So, do you want like a,000?
>> I think so.
[1:06:38] » And then the training budget in general
is 1,500 right now. Do you want to
[1:06:42] increase that?
[1:06:50] If it [clears throat] is increased,
what's going to be like the slot? Is
[1:06:53] there like a first come first serve?
What's going to be the cap? Like so we
[1:06:56] can also make sure there's additional
funding for it. Like if there's not
[1:07:00] quite enough with the travel offer
that that's a good question.
[1:07:06] » Can you repeat the question?
>> She was wondering if there would be like
[1:07:09] a cap for spouse, you know, like first
come first served. Um,
[1:07:15] » generally we want the first years to go
before they take the advanced league of
[1:07:21] Minnesota cities.
>> So, generally once we're out, we're out.
[1:07:27] Um,
luckily that happens. You know, they do
[1:07:30] that training like in February, March.
>> Um, then they they do the advanced one
[1:07:36] in the summer. I think is in June, July.
>> They sometimes do them at the same time.
[1:07:41] » Yeah.
>> Depends.
[1:07:42] » Yeah, they have in the I guess.
>> Yeah.
[1:07:44] » But I think, you know, as a cap,
whatever we set it at, that's, you know,
[1:07:48] how much we're going to spend.
[1:07:54] » So, council, do you want to raise that
at all or leave it at 1500?
[1:08:01] See what happens.
I think leave it at 1500 for now.
[1:08:08] Okay.
Do we have any other comments on council
[1:08:13] line items?
[1:08:17] » Okay,
let's move on.
[1:08:22] » Can I pause?
>> Can we do the library? So,
[1:08:25] » yes, I actually was just going to push
the button.
[1:08:27] » I totally forgot you guys were supposed
to remind me.
[1:08:30] » Okay, we are going to go to library
right now.
[1:08:38] » Thank you.
[1:08:45] Okay. So, um right now, you know, we no
longer have full-time employees. So, the
[1:08:50] part-time employee wage um is set at the
same level as 2026. Um their current
[1:08:57] spending um is way below what is
budgeted. So, um, you know, keeping it
[1:09:03] at 66 and hiring a part-time person, um,
probably won't have a huge financial
[1:09:08] impact.
Again, I'm not going to go through PAR
[1:09:12] and FICA, um, or the paid family leave
every single time, but know that they're
[1:09:17] are there. Um, and yes, we have to pay
them.
[1:09:22] um the library
in general um you know went up about 10%
[1:09:30] of their ask the office supplies um you
know one thing that is inherently good
[1:09:35] about it being a city library is that we
share a lot of supplies. So when it
[1:09:39] comes to copier paper or staples or
whatever um we kind of all share
[1:09:45] that expense and then two years ago we
bought a boatload of paper and envelopes
[1:09:51] um that we're still going through. So we
really haven't spent [clears throat]
[1:09:54] excuse me we really haven't spent a lot
of on office supplies but I think it's
[1:09:58] important to keep it in there because if
if something happens where they need you
[1:10:02] know a widget in the library they have
that option. Programs and services. So,
[1:10:08] I will tell you that over the years,
we've gone from $10,000 worth of
[1:10:12] services to 3,000. And I just wanted to
say thank you to Genie because she is
[1:10:17] really utilizing a lot of TDS grants uh
which uh if you notice, they've had a
[1:10:22] lot of programs this year, but only
spent $1,500. That's because we're
[1:10:26] getting credit uh in that line through
the grant program through TDS. Um I
[1:10:32] believe we're also working on a Prairie
Lakes one together. So, uh, it's $3,000
[1:10:38] does stretch a lot. You know, we're
halfway through the year, more than
[1:10:41] halfway through the year, and we
haven't, um, tapped the entire budget.
[1:10:46] Computer supplies. So, that was the ask
of the library in that first slideshow.
[1:10:49] Um, is that's that ask is coming from
TDS to replace the the computer training
[1:10:56] and education. Um, we're still uh
planning on sending them to some TDS
[1:11:01] training, some library training in Medo.
Oh my gosh.
[1:11:07] Why didn't to do this a half an hour
before I started? Um, books and
[1:11:12] operating supplies. So, uh, we used to
spend about $10,000. Before that, it was
[1:11:16] 30. Um,
>> yes.
[1:11:19] He did not speak that incorrectly. It
was we spent $30,000 on books and
[1:11:23] materials and now we're down to six. So,
um,
[1:11:27] » so it's hard to cut that any more than
we already do. I will tell you that the
[1:11:31] library does a great job at managing um
spend per quarter. So they order kind of
[1:11:37] one time. I'm sure USPS loves it, but we
get um a lot of books like at one time
[1:11:42] now instead of ordering six or seven
times during the month. They do um they
[1:11:46] do a great job managing that quarterly.
Um services and technology service
[1:11:52] agreements. Heather, is that the copier?
What was in the copier?
[1:11:57] » Um so we got rid of the copier. So,
you'll notice that it's gone down
[1:12:01] recently. Um, so we don't pay that
service agreement. The copier is still
[1:12:06] there, but we no longer service it
through Metro Sales. We buy our own ink
[1:12:10] now. It's a lot cheaper on Amazon than
it is going through them. The only thing
[1:12:14] is is we lost some capabilities. So, you
can't email from your phone and make it
[1:12:18] print um on the printer anymore, but you
can certainly log into one of our
[1:12:22] computers. Um, the amount that they were
charging us to do that, by the way, was
[1:12:26] like $900 a year. So um just did it make
sense.
[1:12:33] Anything else in that category?
>> The remaining is Hoopla.
[1:12:36] » Oh that's right. Hoopla. So obviously
streaming is the is the future of the
[1:12:40] library and Hoopla [clears throat] is
used a lot by the citizens. Um we just
[1:12:44] reloaded the account I believe. Um so
that's the remaining $3,600.
[1:12:51] Some of the money categories. Um the
other thing that I wanted to talk about
[1:12:54] is TDS. So TDS uh yes they do charge us
uh a fee to use their services but that
[1:13:01] includes the software program that we
use. It includes ebooks and e-ate.
[1:13:06] » It includes getting books.
>> It includes inter library loan. It
[1:13:09] includes quite a bit of services for
$8,500.
[1:13:13] Uh and then we have county uh simply
county reimbursement. So, I don't know.
[1:13:17] Um, it says preliminarily and we heard
that there's going to be some cuts at
[1:13:22] the county level and I don't know what
that looks like, but right now we left
[1:13:26] it at the level that uh is currently
funded. So, the the library system um
[1:13:33] gets funded through the state of
Minnesota and then the county puts some
[1:13:37] um monies in and they reimburse us right
now at the rate of about $75,000 per
[1:13:43] year. Um we heard um some whispers about
cutting it to half, meaning the state
[1:13:51] minimum requirement. Um which
would have city council make some either
[1:13:58] some major cuts or some major tax
increases too if they want to keep the
[1:14:03] library open and functioning.
The library staff is here so they can
[1:14:08] answer any questions, comments.
>> Michael, I thought we added bookcases.
[1:14:12] ask me why I bought here. Didn't we have
bookcases on here?
[1:14:18] » No, I don't have that. Did you want to
add bookcases? Do you remember how much
[1:14:21] that was or did you get an estimate? I
thought we were going to ask the school
[1:14:25] to do all
>> Oh, yeah.
[1:14:28] » I have sent an email to the industrial
tech teacher.
[1:14:32] » So, if there be expenses, it maybe
probably would be just materials, but I
[1:14:36] don't have a quote.
[1:14:40] » [clears throat]
[1:14:43] » We can maybe bring that up when we have
an estimate.
[1:14:48] I think it's a good time to say again,
we brought it at the last meeting, but
[1:14:52] for anybody who uses the library and um
feels so inclined to reach out to your
[1:14:57] county commissioner
um you know, just encourage them to
[1:15:01] think about the funding and um a dollar
spent in the library goes a long long
[1:15:07] way to um providing services for so many
residents [clears throat] in Sibly
[1:15:12] County. So um I think it's money very
well spent and explain one thing.
[1:15:17] » Yes, please.
>> I don't know if I have to turn.
[1:15:22] [clears throat]
[1:15:25] » So, the monies that we do get in our
five four or five sibling county
[1:15:29] libraries
divided by our population
[1:15:34] is less than $30 per person per year.
So, what else can you buy? I think it's
[1:15:40] around $27.
>> Yeah, $26.79.
[1:15:46] per year per resident.
You know, can you buy a book for that, a
[1:15:51] game for that? So, it is well worth our
money, well worth our $30 per person
[1:15:57] because I don't know where else you can
get that kind of value. So, just letting
[1:16:01] you know how much libraries do, you
know, do cost for each resident. That's
[1:16:08] it.
>> Thank you.
[1:16:10] » Thank you, Lauren.
Any
[1:16:15] questions from council?
[1:16:19] If not, anything else from anybody?
>> I would recommend that we consider
[1:16:25] forecasting the revenue from the
commissioners at the um proposed 50%
[1:16:30] level so we don't get caught in a budget
corner if it comes in less than the
[1:16:35] current 75 that's on the page. Now
either that or have a firm contingency
[1:16:40] plan in the event that they do cut the
funding.
[1:16:44] But I think since we have to submit a
minimum or maximum uh assessment in
[1:16:49] September 30, if we don't have an answer
from the uh district by or from whomever
[1:16:56] by from the
>> commissioners
[1:16:57] » commissioners by then then we should
probably go in with the assumption we're
[1:17:01] going to get less. So worst case we end
up with more than we had counted on. We
[1:17:07] are there is a meeting August 25th. Yes.
>> I believe. So we should get
[1:17:12] » more at that time
>> and that should be with commissioners
[1:17:18] and admin
library board
[1:17:22] from the library. Yes.
>> It it has been really frustrating. The
[1:17:27] only information we've gotten from the
county commissioners was the proposal to
[1:17:32] cut 40%.
um rather in I mean it wasn't even an
[1:17:36] official proposal. It was kind of an
informal meeting with the city
[1:17:39] administrators in March or something
like that. And um many library people um
[1:17:48] people from elected officials and
library staff have asked for
[1:17:52] clarification from the commissioners and
I don't think anybody's gotten anything
[1:17:56] back. So, um, Lori,
>> yes, there [clears throat] is a work
[1:18:00] session at the end of August, but it's
just a work session. I doubt we'll have
[1:18:04] any commitment whatsoever. So, I do like
Bob's
[1:18:09] idea, Bob.
Um, I think we need a safety net if
[1:18:16] we're going to save our library
[1:18:20] and
it will I think we I I agree. I think we
[1:18:25] have to be realistic about it and um
[clears throat]
[1:18:29] I think the library is one of the best
assets we have in our community and it
[1:18:33] brings people from every demographic,
every age. Um and so we'll I think it's
[1:18:39] something we really have to fight very
hard to keep funded um and maintain the
[1:18:44] hours that we have. I think we if you
look at the library budget over the last
[1:18:48] few years, we've trimmed everywhere. I
don't think there's anywhere we can trim
[1:18:52] anymore. Um and keep it open and
functioning in the way that our
[1:18:57] residents deserve.
[1:19:02] So I think I had the number somewhere.
It's like it's a 40%
[1:19:07] reduction if they do the whole
[1:19:12] » which is 45. Sorry.
>> Yeah, your head. That sounds about
[1:19:16] right.
[1:19:19] » Which means the levy increase would be
134%
[1:19:23] increase. just based on the the budget
numbers.
[1:19:26] » What's that mean? Sorry.
>> So instead of levying 25,000, we would
[1:19:32] have to levy 57,000. So the the amount
that we would need to levy just for the
[1:19:36] library would double.
>> What would that be for a house?
[1:19:42] » You went through it.
>> I can do that when I get the tax
[1:19:45] calculator ready. [clears throat]
>> It's hard because it depends. So it
[1:19:50] depends on your house value, the market
value. Um it depends on overall levy and
[1:19:54] so um I'm hoping by next meeting we can
update the tax calculator and you'll
[1:19:59] know exactly like if you've been I heard
through the grade fund that our values
[1:20:03] are not changing this next year. So
it'll be a good year to compare year to
[1:20:06] year. Um so we can update the tax
calculator because we created it and it
[1:20:11] will actually tell you exactly how much
per household that is.
[1:20:18] » Well, if I can just say that the people
that use the library
[1:20:22] are the people that don't have the extra
money. And I'm not saying everybody is
[1:20:27] like that, but there's a lot of people
that don't have streaming, don't have
[1:20:32] internet, don't have computers, and
they're the going to want they're going
[1:20:36] to be the ones to suffer if we, you
know, shut down or have less hours and
[1:20:43] stuff like that. So, I guess the people
who really really need it are the ones
[1:20:48] that are going to hurt if we do have to
cut back our hours or even shut down.
[1:20:56] So, I have a story. So, two years ago, I
brought my mom a brand new iMac and it
[1:21:01] sits in her kitchen nook and it's never
on when I go there. Uh, and it's she's
[1:21:08] going to kill me. It's because she
doesn't know how to use it, right? So
[1:21:11] now when you get Social Security
Administration statements, you can't get
[1:21:15] them on paper anymore. They have to come
online. And um and one of the excuses,
[1:21:21] by the way, in that committee on the
federal level is because they can't make
[1:21:25] sure that they're delivered from the
USPS, which is isn't that funny? Anyway,
[1:21:30] so
>> bizarre. So I have this brand new
[1:21:34] computer at my mom's house, and she
never turns it on because she doesn't
[1:21:38] use it very often. It's just not her
thing. So economically it would make
[1:21:41] more sense for people to go to the
library to use it because that's where
[1:21:45] she goes because someone will help her.
So I just think that it's um it's one of
[1:21:50] those things where you know not even
people that are you know in financial
[1:21:54] need or can't spend money on getting
books or whatever. It's just common
[1:21:58] people like
>> that want to file their taxes or you
[1:22:01] know they want to apply for something
apply for a job. So,
[1:22:05] » and historically there's really been a
trend and you can follow it for decades
[1:22:09] as the economy starts to get tight.
Library use goes up because people can't
[1:22:16] buy that book but they come to the
library. And I love if you've been in
[1:22:20] the library if you check anything out at
the bottom it has a little um today you
[1:22:24] saved x number of dollars. The last time
I went home with four books and it said
[1:22:27] you saved $119
which I was more than happy to check it
[1:22:32] out.
>> Yes. I I have to agree with what Michael
[1:22:37] said about his mother because [laughter]
if it weren't for these two gals at the
[1:22:44] library, I would be so
a lot.
[1:22:49] They have really helped me a lot with
computer work.
[1:22:53] » I think libraries have become the the
public help desk.
[1:22:58] » It's true.
>> We don't have the geek squat anymore. We
[1:23:00] have librarians.
[1:23:05] So I I
>> I'll put it in the budget as a
[1:23:08] reduction, but know that you know
somewhere we're going to have to make
[1:23:11] that up.
>> Yeah.
[1:23:13] » Anything else on libraries?
[1:23:17] » Okay.
>> Yes, it is important.
[1:23:22] » Thank you again, Gina and Laura. You
guys did
[1:23:25] » an amazing job with our library.
>> Thank you guys. Okay,
[1:23:32] » Michael, can you go to ambulance?
>> Oh, you're there. Look at you.
[1:23:39] » Kristen, you're going to have to come up
here because you're a soft
[1:23:52] question.
>> Yes, we're gonna go to ambulance just
[1:23:55] for Kristen's sake. Okay. Um
so first I just want to say ambulance
[1:24:03] has a lot larger broader um
discussion and at some point we'll
[1:24:10] probably have have another emergency
services meeting. I know we had one
[1:24:13] earlier this year but I just want to
commend ambulance for um their very
[1:24:19] steady performance this year. So unlike
our neighbors who are spending um a
[1:24:25] quarter of a million dollars on their
ambulance service, our ambulance service
[1:24:28] is actually ahead right now, $55,000. So
they're making money for the city yet
[1:24:33] again. Um some of that's based on
grants, some of it's based on just
[1:24:37] common sense. Um some of it's based on
billing. You know, we changed billing
[1:24:42] partners. They trained us on April
sometime in April, right?
[1:24:46] » March.
>> March. Okay. I was close. Um, but we had
[1:24:49] the billing company come in and and
actually train us how to code things
[1:24:52] correctly so we get bigger credits.
Anyway, all of that is to say that uh
[1:24:57] ambulance is doing really really well,
but they're still a very expensive
[1:25:00] department because every year is
different in ambulance and you just
[1:25:05] never know who's not going to pay
whether Medicaid or Medicare um pay. I
[1:25:11] think the statistic in Minnesota is that
90% of individuals that um use the
[1:25:17] ambulance service either are Medicaid,
Medicare um or they don't have
[1:25:21] insurance. So if you transport 50% of
the people that don't have insurance and
[1:25:27] they never pay us, that is going to
financially impact your budget. So even
[1:25:32] though ambulance is making money right
now, we can't expect it to we can't
[1:25:38] expect it to make uh revenue.
So right now um wages come in about
[1:25:44] $75,000. Um just like most volunteer
ambulance services, we pay per call um
[1:25:51] and per hour depending on if that call
takes longer than normal. Um so we pay
[1:25:58] them stipent. It's not an hourly wage.
It's just a stipend per call. Uh, and
[1:26:02] you're like, "Wow, that's a lot." Well,
they it's really really not because some
[1:26:06] calls take four hours uh and they lose
out on on their regular pay. So, that's
[1:26:12] always a conundrum.
Um, I wanted to go down to um education
[1:26:19] and training. So, we like I said before,
I don't I think that is very maxed out.
[1:26:24] I don't think that um we're going to
spend that much on education and
[1:26:29] training, but I I will say in 27 we are
going to start a cadet program. We're
[1:26:34] also applying for a grant to help pay
back our education costs. So, you'll see
[1:26:38] a credit in our education costs right
now. Um and that is because the state is
[1:26:45] reimbursing us for some training that
happened.
[1:26:49] So, that number, the $35,000 could
definitely change. Um, but we need to
[1:26:53] know, um,
we need feedback from council, I guess,
[1:26:58] is what I'm saying. That's why it was on
the slideshow about how many cadets do
[1:27:01] we want to have go through? Um,
what kind of training program do we
[1:27:06] want? Um, and you know, it it was very
very lucrative last time. Yes, it's
[1:27:12] expensive, but we also got EMTs and EMRs
out of it. Um, we have another EMT
[1:27:18] training. Was it was this test today or
tomorrow? Okay, he's going to pass. It's
[1:27:23] going to be fine. So, um that is one of
the big questions, you know, as we get
[1:27:28] down to the other other budget sessions.
If council wants to reduce that, I think
[1:27:31] we're definitely all ears. Um but I will
tell you that the year before we had the
[1:27:36] cadet program, it cost us almost
$30,000.
[1:27:42] Uh operating supplies, um this is just
normal operating supplies. um each year
[1:27:48] it kind of fluctuates, but I will tell
you that uh last year specifically we
[1:27:53] did a really good job managing supplies.
We looked for different suppliers and u
[1:27:59] we try to reduce that cost as much as
possible. Um so we're still sitting at
[1:28:04] $12,000 because of inflation and you
never know what we have to replace. The
[1:28:08] problem with ambulance in general and
this is just for all ambulances is all
[1:28:13] things expire. So, even though we have
to have an EpiPen, that EpiPen expires
[1:28:18] and they're very expensive. Um, how much
are they now?
[1:28:23] » I think they were like 500 bucks or
something. They're ridiculously
[1:28:26] expensive.
>> They're super expensive.
[1:28:28] » Um, and so then when we don't use it,
it's not like we can just like, you
[1:28:31] know, like at home, you know, that can
of tomatoes, you're like, well, I mean,
[1:28:35] it's a couple pes but we can't use it,
right? Medically. motor fuels. Um,
[1:28:41] consistently, uh, ambulance is about
$5,000 worth of motor fuels every single
[1:28:47] year. They're actually down a little bit
this year, but again, that's going to
[1:28:50] have to depend on where they go and how
far they go, uh, depending on they're
[1:28:56] using backup or not. [snorts] Small
tools and minor equipment. Um, again,
[1:29:00] this is just minor stuff that they need,
stretchers, etc. That's $3,000 that
[1:29:05] we're budgeting. Um, they've been pretty
consistent. Um, SP is about three grand.
[1:29:11] How much are they?
>> EP is 165.
[1:29:14] » We went to We went to buy We went to B.
We used to have the EP pens which were
[1:29:18] way more expensive and that's right.
>> That is why
[1:29:22] » that is why. But they used to be like
500 bucks and we switched it.
[1:29:25] » They were 35052.
>> Yeah, it's expensive.
[1:29:28] » And glucagon. That's fine. That's 31138.
>> Yes.
[1:29:33] » And that's only one use.
>> Yeah. One use.
[1:29:37] » One use. single use
professional services. Um, how do we
[1:29:43] explain that in this one? So, we pay a
company to do our billing. They deal
[1:29:49] with Medicaid, Medicare,
um, and then they charge us for that.
[1:29:54] And I believe Heather, correct me if I'm
wrong, that's where this professional
[1:29:58] services account is coming from. Sorry,
they're in there. But it is also when we
[1:30:02] have ALS transports that we meet up
with. But we get build when Ridge View
[1:30:08] or Wina come do ALS for us because we're
a BLS service. Um, one of them charges
[1:30:13] us $200 each time. The other one charges
us $400 each time. And it just depends
[1:30:18] on where we're at with our call.
>> And the building guys in there, too,
[1:30:22] right?
>> Yeah.
[1:30:27] » Um, consistently, as you see, three-year
trend. Um, it's been about 20 grand
[1:30:32] every single year. Telephone, they do
have cell phones. Um, sorry, I only left
[1:30:39] because when they expired, that was such
a fiasco. Uh, they they cost about
[1:30:43] $3,200. They are in a reduced rate, but
it still cost money to to do them. Um,
[1:30:51] travel expenses, we hadn't really been
spending um a whole lot, so we don't
[1:30:55] budget for it. Um, this last year, we
did and a couple individuals to
[1:31:00] training. Um, excuse me, we got a grant
for it. That's where the training and
[1:31:04] education are. That's where all that got
stuck. So that 1300 is really a wash.
[1:31:09] Just so you know, we receive some grants
and aids, but um mostly um you know
[1:31:16] ambulance is dependent on taxation runs.
So obviously we charge for runs u
[1:31:23] Medicaid, Medicare and individually. Um,
we are about a 100,000 to 115, but
[1:31:30] again, it really depends on who uses it.
Cost share is new this last year. That
[1:31:35] comes from the townships. So, we do
charge them um $65 per section to have
[1:31:42] our ambulance service and then that goes
in. It is not all the 26,000 though. Um,
[1:31:48] that's a little bit um because Given
pays us $65 per call, which theirs is
[1:31:53] about $13,000
depending on how many calls they get per
[1:31:57] year. Um, so we and they got a lot this
year.
[1:32:00] » Saturday it was four.
>> Yes. Yes. Saturday it was four. Well,
[1:32:03] that's good. Um, so they do help pay
into that. Uh, it's their one small
[1:32:09] amount that they give us.
[1:32:14] » Oh, I'm sorry.
uh property insurance obviously we pay
[1:32:21] and then the electric utility
consistently. So the mini splits that
[1:32:26] are in the ambulance bay right now and
the old ambulance barn is coming out of
[1:32:31] this account. We are hoping to winterize
that building. So we no longer have to
[1:32:35] pay many that's not many gas centerpoint
energy and electric out of that. The old
[1:32:42] building isn't
>> Oh, it's not, but it was before
[1:32:46] » Yeah.
>> Um,
[1:32:48] maintenance of repair and equipment. I
will tell you that as our ambulances
[1:32:52] age,
there are going to continue to be
[1:32:55] repairs, especially on the old ambulance
rig. Um, it's got some front end issues
[1:33:01] right now. It jostles pretty bad. We're
going to have to repair that. Um, I
[1:33:05] recommend the council to keep that at
5,000 because you can see two years ago
[1:33:08] we had to get new tires, new struts. It
was really expensive. It cost us 10.
[1:33:14] Uniform allowance. Um, again, there
there's going to be a need for new
[1:33:19] uniforms with cadets plus other people
graduating EMTs. That's 3,000. The
[1:33:24] miscellaneous of a,000 and due
subscriptions um is 5,300.
[1:33:34] So, um total tax levy right now is
$100,000. That's a 24.8% 8% increase.
[1:33:45] » I think one of the things
>> Why is yours different by mine?
[1:33:48] » Yeah,
>> mine is different.
[1:33:51] » So that 5,300 actually needs to be
2,444.
[1:33:58] » That is their Microsoft Office.
>> 2,41
[1:34:08] [laughter]
Where's the dot on this thing?
[1:34:14] » And something else is different.
>> Yeah, we can check it. But is there any
[1:34:18] additions, corrections, questions about
the categories that we can dive into?
[1:34:25] » I have kind of an odd question, Kristen.
So, when when are there too many cadets?
[1:34:32] like what is what is your
perfect number of EMTs to have
[1:34:38] available?
>> There's never perfect number for EMTs. I
[1:34:40] will tell you that we are always short.
Um especially day crew. Um
[1:34:45] » there's there's three of us that
literally are the only three that can do
[1:34:50] day crew. And that's 6A to 6P and that's
five days a week. And if myself, Aaron,
[1:34:58] or Austin would ever quit the ambulance
service, you would not have a day crew
[1:35:02] of service at all.
>> So there's never there's never enough
[1:35:07] » there's never enough EMTs.
>> I think that's one of the things, you
[1:35:11] know, right now it's got $35,000 in that
line item, which looks like a lot, and
[1:35:16] it is. Um, but that's [clears throat]
one of those instances where I think we
[1:35:21] should look at it and say that seems
like a lot to spend today, but what is
[1:35:26] it going to save us next year and 5
years down the road? And if we don't
[1:35:31] invest in that, we're going to end up in
the same situation as some of our
[1:35:35] neighbors down the road that don't have
coverage. They don't have they don't
[1:35:39] have people. They don't have volunteers.
So, they're paying um outsourcing. We
[1:35:45] don't and we don't all have EMTs. We
have EMRs also, but you cannot leave the
[1:35:50] barn until you have an EMT and an EMR.
EMR cannot go by. Hold
[1:35:55] » on. Okay.
>> Um, we just do not There we go.
[1:36:00] » We just do not have um EMTs. It's EMTs
and EMRs. So, EMTs have to have an EMR
[1:36:08] or an EMR has to have an EMT leave the
barn with them. You cannot just leave as
[1:36:12] an EMR from our facilities. You have to
have an EMT take patient care.
[1:36:20] » Yeah.
But
[1:36:25] » so I you know it is really important and
having those volunteers
[1:36:31] saves us a lot of money because there
has to be am ambulance coverage somehow
[1:36:38] and if we didn't have volunteers we
potentially have to contract with Alina
[1:36:43] or Ridge View or something and that
they're going to charge us a lot more
[1:36:49] than it cost us to train new cadets.
>> Michael, what's Gaylord shortage this
[1:36:55] year?
>> They're spending.
[1:36:59] » Yeah. So, Gaylord right now um has a
service area. They didn't sell their
[1:37:03] service area to Richview. So, Gaylord
retains their service area, which I
[1:37:08] think is important to point out. Like,
we have everything, you know, west of
[1:37:12] here. We go all the way to the county
border. Um, so Gaylord spends about
[1:37:18] $235,000
just to have Richie recover and they
[1:37:21] also don't recover any of the revenue
>> and that's just during the day.
[1:37:25] » That's just during the day. At night
they have to have
[1:37:28] » the volunteer service there. So there's
an extra expense on there too.
[1:37:32] » Y so
>> and for day um if you cover at night you
[1:37:38] do get just like a like a $2
>> an hour um with their nine members. So,
[1:37:44] they have nine uh members just gathered
alone.
[1:37:48] Um if Ridge View has their employees
cover overnight, then it's a full wage
[1:37:53] cost. It's not your $2 an hour. It's
Bridge View's wage cost of the EMT or
[1:37:58] the paramedic that has to stay because
they cannot have the volunteers cover.
[1:38:04] » We also [clears throat] have some that
are getting up there in age. So, we need
[1:38:08] to prepare for the retirements that are
eventually going to come. There are some
[1:38:12] that have served.
>> I mean, we have Scott that's been on for
[1:38:14] 50 years.
>> Yeah.
[1:38:16] » Yeah. People do retire.
>> They some people get to a point where
[1:38:20] they're, you know, other life
commitments are more than they can
[1:38:23] manage. So, we do need to have some new
people ready to step in.
[1:38:28] » And I think the other part of this
discussion is could Ridge View, Alina,
[1:38:32] Hudge Health, whoever even take us on.
We're in a really weird area um between
[1:38:38] the hospitals. I mean, Ridge View,
honestly, they've told the city of
[1:38:42] Gailor, they're losing $100,000 on that
service every year, and they're not
[1:38:47] going to do that forever. I don't know
if you know, for-profit companies, other
[1:38:52] nonprofits,
>> they're not going to do that forever.
[1:38:55] And I don't know if Alina even has the
people and manpower to do that. I will
[1:39:01] tell you I worked this weekend at Alina
out of New
[1:39:04] and me and Cheryl Malheim were the only
truck in town and we had four transfers
[1:39:10] that we could not even take out of New
because we had no other trucks
[1:39:14] available.
So we are very shortanded on our trucks
[1:39:18] also.
So no and Hutch is very understaffed all
[1:39:24] the time and Glenol is too. They're
constantly trying to hire people. So,
[1:39:29] » so if you know somebody who volunteers
as an EMT or an EMR, tell them thank
[1:39:34] you, thank you, thank you.
We appreciate it very much.
[1:39:39] » 25300. That's where the 5300 moved to.
>> Um, council, do you have any more
[1:39:46] questions?
>> No, I don't. Just personal opinion. I
[1:39:49] don't think this is the department to
make cuts to.
[1:39:53] » Anybody in the audience have questions
for us or comments? I'm a little
[1:39:58] confused on why there isn't any cost
share in this budget.
[1:40:04] » Don't we have Yeah, we have cost share.
Um you talked about referenced a little
[1:40:08] bit that that's the count
>> that cost share is the difference at the
[1:40:13] end of the year after we get all the
totals in. That is this the amount over
[1:40:18] if the ambulance goes over their budget
and we share that cost with the
[1:40:22] townships. That is their portion that
comes in. We can't budget for it because
[1:40:26] we don't know what we're spending for
ambulance until the end of the year.
[1:40:32] » It is very likely that we won't have a
cost share this year because the
[1:40:35] ambulance is going to make money not
lose money.
[1:40:39] » But does the what we take in the the
townships all pay contract fee and yeah
[1:40:44] that's under contract fees. Okay.
>> Got it.
[1:40:48] » Yeah. The contract fee is the 8775 is
what the townships and Taylor pay sorry
[1:40:55] give and pay uh each year but then that
cost share is anything over. So the the
[1:41:00] $57,01040
that we were over last year on the
[1:41:04] budget that cost shares with everyone in
our district.
[1:41:10] And another comment I'd like to make is
someone just said it. I know the library
[1:41:15] is very valuable to a lot of people, but
this to me is the most one of the most
[1:41:18] this and the police are probably the
most important services we provide as
[1:41:21] community service is not an area I would
think we should skip or allow ourselves
[1:41:25] to be short staffed on
[1:41:31] » All right. Anything else on ambulance?
[1:41:36] » All right, move on to the next. Thank
you. Thanks very much.
[1:41:48] Next we are going to go we're going to
go back to the beginning right after
[1:41:52] council was general spend.
[1:41:59] So in 2027 um there are oh my gosh
I wish this would scroll easier.
[1:42:09] Um we don't have any actual employees.
the employee that is part-time in there
[1:42:14] is our um
lack of a better maintenance. Yeah. The
[1:42:20] ground ski for the person that cleans
the restrooms, restocks everything. Um
[1:42:25] that costs about5 to $6,000 every single
year. Um that's also why we do some
[1:42:31] charges up in city hall. Um, if we go
down to office supplies, uh, which is
[1:42:38] category 200, uh, that's a $2,000 spend.
Um, that includes
[1:42:45] pretty much our library,
honestly, most of every we kind of just
[1:42:50] did. So, before we started this, we used
to have a budget and everyone used to
[1:42:55] spend about5 to 7,000 on the same amount
of pens, the same amount of paper, the
[1:43:00] same amount of envelopes, and it was
insane. So, we cut everyone back and
[1:43:04] everyone kind of dips into the same area
and then we divvy out that amount unless
[1:43:09] it's department specific.
Um, so office supplies will definitely
[1:43:14] spend uh computer supplies. We are
planning um on getting a new laptop, so
[1:43:20] that $3,000 is probably going to be
necessary. I will tell you on the back
[1:43:25] side of this, we asked our IT person,
you know, our our server right now is
[1:43:29] about 5 years old. um end of life for
servers is about seven. He is not at
[1:43:35] this time recommending that we actually
renew our server. We should use it until
[1:43:40] it doesn't work anymore. But um he is
recommending that we go full cloud
[1:43:45] because the League of Minnesota cities
is requesting that cities have
[1:43:49] multifactor authentication and our
server does not currently have that and
[1:43:55] to upgrade that is like I don't know
like $30,000. It's not worth it. Um, so,
[1:44:01] uh, you know, we were saving kind of a
replacement server. He's recommending
[1:44:04] that we do not. Anyway, training and
education. So, we did put, um, more in
[1:44:12] training and education this year. Um, I
plan to go for my
[1:44:17] um, certificate, which is a two-year
program.
[1:44:20] Uh we also um have some other trainings
and um conferences that we're going to
[1:44:26] go to including the League of Minnesota
Cities
[1:44:29] and um the coalition. So there is more
in that fund. Small tools and minor
[1:44:35] equipment um just 500 bucks just in case
technologies and service agreement. This
[1:44:42] is a very large category for the city of
Winthrop. includes a lot of things and
[1:44:47] Heather, if you
could list things that are under that
[1:44:51] category so people understand what's in
there.
[1:44:54] » The majority of it is all of the city's
emails, um, our Microsoft licenses.
[1:45:04] Before we held all of it in this
category, this year we're trying to
[1:45:08] break it out by department so that it's
more specific to what we're spending
[1:45:12] where. We used to just take that bill
and dump it into this one, but we're
[1:45:17] noticing like the ambulance now has more
licenses than they used to. The police
[1:45:22] department has more licenses than they
used to. So, it's now spread out into
[1:45:26] the correct departments, which is why
you're seeing the downshift.
[1:45:30] » And I don't think that I have the right
number in there, Heather. I don't know
[1:45:33] if I got the wrong file.
>> No, you did. It's right.
[1:45:36] » So, our recommendation is 35,000.
>> No, it's the 135.
[1:45:41] Oh, no. That's wrong. 135 is what?
Sorry. 1300 13,000. Oh my gosh.
[1:45:48] » Yes, I got it.
>> Thank you.
[1:45:50] » Yeah, because I was going to say that
should have went down.
[1:45:52] » Are you on the Gmail one?
>> I pulled it off the hard drive, but this
[1:45:56] thing is I don't think it's I think I
don't think it's all functioning. The
[1:46:00] numbers are pretty basic, but there are
some things that we demi out. So, like
[1:46:04] Yeah. So, like Heather said, the
Microsoft accounts um
[1:46:10] they are very expensive, but in order to
have secure SSL emails, um you know, we
[1:46:16] we have to function.
>> It's also our server. It's the
[1:46:19] » it's also the server. It's also all text
support, all Wi-Fi routers, everything
[1:46:24] in the building,
>> but we did divy that out to different
[1:46:27] accounts
>> and our part of our system.
[1:46:32] So part of our financial system is paid
for by the general fund. The other funds
[1:46:37] also pay for it. So electric, water,
sewer also help pay for Cassell.
[1:46:44] » Take the 500 off, please.
>> Is it just 13,000?
[1:46:50] » You're welcome.
>> Thank you.
[1:46:52] » Um so for professional services, um
$2,500.
[1:46:56] Um, kind of remind me what is in 300 for
general spend.
[1:47:03] » That one
>> is one second.
[1:47:07] » So, telephone is
all of our telephones. Um,
[1:47:13] the the actual lines that we pay for is
about $8,000 every single year.
[1:47:18] Travel expenses. We did up that this um
last year and we expect to hit that or
[1:47:26] more. Um especially if strings continues
to go on, we're going to have to go
[1:47:30] lobby Washington and go up to the state
capital quite a bit.
[1:47:36] » It is our ACPS from Perennial Bank. It
is our site grown website, our domain
[1:47:41] subscription quarter and the MEI
elevator service fee. Perfect. So,
[1:47:49] praying bank fees,
>> those are gone now.
[1:47:52] » And
um
[1:47:56] most of our website is on that. So, our
so our actual win.gov
[1:48:02] site is on in professional services. And
then in dues of subscriptions, Heather,
[1:48:08] is that number correct? I have 12,000 on
my screen.
[1:48:11] » That one is correct. That one is the
[1:48:19] constant contact
Adobe
[1:48:24] » Constant Contact Adobe
>> Opti Signs Home Base.
[1:48:28] » Home base is what we use to punch in or
punch out.
[1:48:35] » Constant contact is how you can notify
residents of
[1:48:38] » Yeah. So constant contact is used um for
weather alerts. Um
[1:48:46] and we use it for other reasons too like
survey certificates. The chamber also
[1:48:52] uses it.
>> Uh the crime business,
[1:48:56] the Google workspace.
>> We got right at Google Workspace, but we
[1:49:03] won't have that next year. So any
questions about general spend? We did
[1:49:07] reduce this category by %
year-over-year. Um, but any feedback we
[1:49:12] would be happy
[1:49:16] » any questions?
[1:49:22] » Okay.
>> Comments from the public.
[1:49:25] » Yeah.
>> The phone expense hardware or services.
[1:49:30] » Um, so all of our phones are Verizon.
Our whole office is run through Verizon.
[1:49:35] So, it's the desk phones downstairs.
It's um a forwarding service to forward
[1:49:42] to our cell phones when we're offsite so
that if we're closed, we can still
[1:49:47] accept calls where we are. Um I think
that's pretty much just Verizon.
[1:49:53] » I'm pretty sure it's just Verizon.
>> Okay. I was just wondering
[1:49:56] [clears throat] if there's like cheaper
option through VIP or anything like
[1:50:00] that.
>> That's what it is. We have a BIP. Um, we
[1:50:03] had RS Fiber and they were almost double
the cost.
[1:50:06] » Um, second question,
do we have adequate cyber security
[1:50:12] consulting services available to us
through League of Cities or what people
[1:50:17] like?
>> Yep. So, we um hire Tech Unlimited.
[1:50:20] They're the same ones that do um sleepy
US Portland. I don't know. He does a
[1:50:25] number of cities and he's actually
certified through the Minnesota cities.
[1:50:29] Okay. And then do we is our hardware up
to date? I think like the recent cyber
[1:50:35] security with the water had to deal
with.
[1:50:37] » Oh yeah, sure. Hardware.
>> Yeah, I can address some of that. So we
[1:50:41] do use SCADA um which is a normal
operating system for wastewater and
[1:50:48] water. Um the great thing is is when we
put our SCADA system in, it's a direct
[1:50:53] connect. So the how it communicates is
actually not online. It's a direct
[1:50:58] connection. And so from our water towers
all the way down to the lift station. Um
[1:51:03] it's directly connected. It doesn't
actually get updates the normal way like
[1:51:07] ours.
Um and also I just you know our our
[1:51:12] water plant is from 1950. It does not
have automatic feeds. So um
[1:51:18] the way we do chlorine is not through
computer animation. It's actually
[1:51:22] through a drip and then we test it and
etc. It's not. So, a lot of the concern
[1:51:27] about water plants getting packed is
because you can screw up with chlorine
[1:51:33] and fluoride, right? And you can get
very sick very quickly. Um, it they
[1:51:37] would not be able to do that. They'd
physically have to be in the plant.
[1:51:40] » So, no no obvious hardware updates that
we need to provide for the budget is
[1:51:45] what I'm hearing or software.
>> Yeah. No, the SCADA system that we do is
[1:51:49] pretty secure. It's also, like I said,
it's not directly connected.
[1:51:53] » Thank you. question about water. Do we
ever [clears throat] update our filters
[1:51:58] in the water? A couple years ago when I
was coming to a meeting, there was two
[1:52:01] filters that needed to be replaced. And
the reason I'm asking is when our kids
[1:52:05] left for a slow three-day vacation, when
they came back, their water ran rusty
[1:52:12] for a while.
>> Yeah, there's there's a couple reasons.
[1:52:14] They may have flushed a water man uh
when they were gone. Um the fire
[1:52:19] department may have opened a a hydrant
and so that becomes it becomes rusty
[1:52:24] because it gets all that sediment kind
of kicked up. Uh they did recharge the
[1:52:29] medium about
maybe three years ago. Um but they have
[1:52:34] not replaced them fully. That's
>> so what is that going to have to happen?
[1:52:38] What's the cost?
>> Yep. So um they're about half a million
[1:52:41] dollars to replace the the median.
>> So we're good for a year or two. We just
[1:52:47] had it tested last year, I think year
before, because the state makes us, you
[1:52:52] know, that's why we don't use well
number four right now because it had
[1:52:55] really high maganesees and so we
couldn't use well number four. Um, so
[1:52:59] the the health department shut well
number four down. Um, and in order to
[1:53:05] rehab it, it was like a half a million
dollars. So it really wasn't worth it.
[1:53:10] Um, and at that time they tested our
filters and medium inside.
[1:53:17] The telephone category also has the
internet for the city parks in it.
[1:53:20] That's why it's said it's RS fiber.
>> It's RS fiber, too.
[1:53:26] [snorts]
[1:53:28] » Other questions?
>> I guess mine is more of a general
[1:53:32] question as far as where the budget's
currently at. Are we operating within a
[1:53:36] deficit? And if we are, how are we
carrying a deficit for the future?
[1:53:41] » We do not operate at a deficit.
>> Okay. So, we're not operating on a
[1:53:45] negative balance at all.
>> Correct.
[1:53:52] » I don't think we've ever have been in
the years that I've been on council.
[1:53:56] » The only year that we did was when we
started Second Street, but then that was
[1:54:00] covered by bond proceeds.
>> That's right.
[1:54:01] » Yeah.
>> Okay. Any other questions about the
[1:54:07] general spend?
If not, let's keep moving. So, we can
[1:54:13] » elections we can skip. We're not having
elections next year. So, that was an
[1:54:17] easy category to say zero in. Um,
unfortunately, it wasn't a very big
[1:54:21] category. This is auditing, assessing,
and attorney fees. Um, so professional
[1:54:26] services, uh, specifically,
you know, we have these building permit
[1:54:31] things. That's where we pay. Um,
it's not the right one. It's not all the
[1:54:38] way over. Um but that's where we pay um
the county um to do assessments is that
[1:54:44] second category that 816,000
is where we pay the county to um do
[1:54:50] assessments and property evaluations. Uh
we pay for that service. Obviously our
[1:54:55] legal fees uh it's a little bit skewed
from our actual to budget. It takes a
[1:54:59] while for him u to do quarterly budgets.
So we've spent more than $10,000 on
[1:55:06] legal fees. I can guarantee that. Um,
but it'll be about $30,000. Uh, in 2023
[1:55:12] was the actual um last time that the
count the city attorney was um in city
[1:55:18] hall like during city council meetings
and that kind of stuff. And the year
[1:55:22] before that was about $50,000. So not
having them directly in the meeting.
[1:55:30] I don't recommend moving any of these.
>> Does anybody have any questions about
[1:55:36] them?
[1:55:44] There are some things that are just sort
of not negotiable and I think they're
[1:55:48] kind of boring.
>> These might be all right.
[1:55:52] » So this is
So this is the professional services
[1:55:56] from the auditors and then planning and
zoning has the contractor fees for the
[1:56:01] professional services for Darren um for
building code enforcement. Whoops.
[1:56:07] Nope.
Um, so Darren Cus, um, you know, just
[1:56:13] depending on the year, if you remember,
2024 was a big year, we had a lot of
[1:56:17] industrial expansion. When we go through
that permit review, they become
[1:56:21] increasingly expensive. So when
Heartland Farm Products puts an $8
[1:56:25] million um building up, that permit gets
really expensive. It has to go through
[1:56:30] state fire marshall. There's more
permitting involved, PCA,
[1:56:34] etc. So 2024 is kind of a weird outlier.
Um the professional services there will
[1:56:40] cost us about $105,000.
We normally budget about $40,000. Um
[1:56:46] this year I will tell you there's been a
lot of movement with building permits.
[1:56:50] Um we're probably going to go over that
especially I know there's some larger
[1:56:55] permits coming.
[1:57:01] » Kind of like snow. You can't predict it.
Yeah, it's it's just depends on what
[1:57:06] people are doing.
>> Just got to deal with it. Um questions
[1:57:10] about planning and zoning in terms of
council.
[1:57:15] » The other pay, by the way, the planning
and zoning commission does get paid.
[1:57:18] They just haven't regularly met. Um so
that $800 will be used this year because
[1:57:22] they are meeting quite a bit and next
year.
[1:57:27] » Any questions from
anybody else on planning and zoning?
[1:57:34] Okay, then we can move on to are we
doing municipal next?
[1:57:45] Um
this is our municipal budget. Uh so
[1:57:50] copies, costs and operating supplies are
under this. Um
[1:57:57] we generally have been pretty good about
this category. Um, I would ask that
[1:58:03] council approve the 3000 because I would
like to get more tables up at city hall
[1:58:08] at some point. U, we've had a number of
complaints. Um, some of them broke a few
[1:58:13] years ago. We threw them away.
They were used at a community picnic and
[1:58:18] then never returned.
And so we're down to like eight tables
[1:58:22] total. Um, so that would come kind of
out of this operating supplies budget,
[1:58:28] maintenance and repair supply. You know,
we have to call a plumber every once in
[1:58:32] a while, electrician. Um, it's kind of
the unforeseen. Um, we're asking for
[1:58:37] $1,000 in that category. Um, small tools
and equipment repair 3500 or sorry, 350.
[1:58:45] Read that wrong. Uh, professional
services. Heather, what's in 300 in this
[1:58:50] one? Um, so that is like when our
toilets clogged downstairs and we had to
[1:58:55] call BNR two years in a row. Um, anyone
that comes in
[1:59:00] » when we repaired the HVAC system.
>> Yep.
[1:59:06] » Postage we don't take out of this
category. Most of that is on enterprise
[1:59:10] property insurance. You'll see that
throughout the categories. Um, that is a
[1:59:15] pretty um close number. We do break them
all by category. now um they hadn't been
[1:59:21] so now we are um so you don't see a
reduction in there but that is because
[1:59:25] we worked them out and our property
insurance did go down a little bit this
[1:59:28] year
[1:59:32] um electric utilities you'll notice that
um there's no budget for those so last
[1:59:38] year during the council uh budget
session unless council wishes we stopped
[1:59:43] paying um electric utilities to
ourselves
[1:59:49] which obviously puts strain on the
electric department. So it is accounted
[1:59:54] for somewhere but just not in these
categories.
[1:59:59] Maintenance and building repair. Um
I don't know what that is. Heather, can
[2:00:04] you the 15,000? What did we spend
this year? That's not
[2:00:12] » Oh.
Yeah. Check on that. That just seems
[2:00:16] miskey or something.
Um, rentals. Uh, we on occasion just
[2:00:23] don't have the equipment to do things
and we have to go go rent it. Um, little
[2:00:28] back hose is a great example. Um, the
shredders to take down some of the trees
[2:00:33] by the ponds, that kind of stuff comes
out of here.
[2:00:38] Uh, dues and subscriptions. Um, honestly
Heather's going to have to look that up
[2:00:43] because there's just so many different
ones. Um, and then the miscellaneous
[2:00:48] category under municipal is really where
we, you know, budget for the unforeseen.
[2:00:53] » It's this,
which we got reimbured through MMPA. It
[2:00:57] was
>> Oh, gotcha. The check just hasn't been
[2:01:00] put in. Gotcha.
>> So, the 15,000 was all of the lighting
[2:01:04] upgrades that we did in study hall and
electrical upgrades, but we got
[2:01:08] reimbured.
>> What else did you want to do in
[2:01:11] subscriptions?
>> Dues and subscriptions.
[2:01:13] Minnesota cities, the PO box,
>> LNC, the PO box.
[2:01:20] » That's the only things that are in there
right now.
[2:01:21] » And then you'll also see CC processing
fees. So that $6,000.
[2:01:27] Um, you know, council has voted on this
one way or the other. This is our
[2:01:31] processing fees that come through Zift,
our online provider. Right now, we
[2:01:35] absorb those and we have to account for
them somewhere. Um, so that those
[2:01:40] credit card processing fees are from our
online portal when people pay their
[2:01:44] utility bills. Every year it costs us,
it just depends between seven to $6,000.
[2:01:50] So, um, if council wished, you know, we
could certainly start charging to use
[2:01:54] the portal. Um, but we're we're
honestly,
[2:01:59] um, hoping that people use it more
because postage continues to go up.
[2:02:05] » All right. Um, any questions on this
category council?
[2:02:10] Any questions from the
public?
[2:02:18] » If not, we can move on to
>> we're going to move to police.
[2:02:22] » Yes.
>> Coming soon.
[2:02:28] » Whoops.
And you can pipe in anytime you want cuz
[2:02:33] he manages his budget.
Um, for full-time regular employees, um,
[2:02:38] we're expecting about 431. I will tell
you that is on a high increase. I will
[2:02:44] remind council that it is a union year.
Um, so
[2:02:49] um there are budget negotiations
currently going on between the union and
[2:02:53] council. So that is why we we did budget
high on all wages. Um, but we really
[2:02:59] think that that probably could come down
um part-time employees. So this year
[2:03:05] we've obviously used more part-time than
normal, especially after officer
[2:03:09] Mitchell left. Um we've been filling
that that void. Um especially with our
[2:03:17] great part-time staff that fills in.
Um so we are expecting um to use that um
[2:03:25] or less this upcoming year for 2027.
Uh we'll also be FTLing quite a bit. So
[2:03:33] that first part of the year will
probably need additional staff.
[2:03:39] Um training and instruction. So um I'm
going to zoom down a little bit.
[2:03:47] Oh my gosh, I don't know why it seems
like. So training and instruction uh
[2:03:52] were ex um $7,000.
So we budgeted $7,000 this year and you
[2:03:58] can see it doesn't look like we used any
of it. is because we still rely on
[2:04:02] grants um and reimbursements through the
state of Minnesota to get some of that
[2:04:07] training dollars back. So that 863 is
not a reflection of our total budget of
[2:04:14] actual training that we put in. However,
just like every year that budget is
[2:04:19] always scrutinized at the state of
Minnesota and whether they have it next
[2:04:22] year or not, we do not know. Um kind of
the same song and dance as we had in the
[2:04:28] past.
operating supplies. The police
[2:04:31] department is asking for $5,000.
Is that where?
[2:04:37] » Yes, you're covered.
>> And so this is where his less lethal
[2:04:41] request is from the PowerPoint
presentation earlier tonight, which
[2:04:45] seemed like an eon ago. Um
uh that is where that request is coming
[2:04:51] from and where we put it is an operating
supplies. So, we went from 2500 this
[2:04:55] year to 5,000 and that's that $2,500 ask
from the police department.
[2:05:01] Motor fuels um again
gases go gone up so you know it's
[2:05:08] dependent but we think that we can
really keep it on about $10,000. That's
[2:05:12] been consistent through the last three
years. Um
[2:05:16] minor tools and minor equipment just
things that break we need to fix a
[2:05:21] thousand bucks. professional services.
So, this includes a lot in the police
[2:05:26] department. Um, Axon camera, um, Axon
tasers, the body cameras, Microsoft,
[2:05:37] » your professional services owners,
right?
[2:05:39] » Yeah, because we up Microsoft.
>> What is the total?
[2:05:43] » 49,
$148.
[2:05:47] » Okay, we're just going to put 49,000.
[2:05:52] Um, and so the professional services,
uh, includes their servers, it includes
[2:05:57] all their Microsoft accounts, it
includes, um,
[2:06:01] um, Axon, it includes the body cameras,
all the things that we need to continue
[2:06:05] to operate a police department, phones,
um, just like the rest of us, we have a
[2:06:11] phone bill. Um,
uh, and then we also have a department
[2:06:16] cell phone and cell phone statements are
coming out of here as well.
[2:06:20] Postage. Um, sure. They do some postage
and some certified letters. I would
[2:06:26] probably keep that. Um, travel expenses
for the different conferences. Um,
[2:06:31] they're right on line with their budget.
We budgeted $5,000 last year. Police
[2:06:36] state aid has not come out yet. That
usually comes out in the fall. Um, and
[2:06:41] that is about $50,000 that we received
from the state of Minnesota. Ignore
[2:06:46] 2023. That was because we received it
late. That's why it says $100,000.
[2:06:53] Property insurance. So, um the breakdown
of property insurance for police
[2:06:57] department is $15,000.
Maintenance and equipment. Obviously,
[2:07:02] squad cars have quite a bit of
maintenance. Um we hit that budget
[2:07:07] almost every single year of $10,000. The
uniform allowance is 4,000.
[2:07:13] Um the K9 program. So, in the past, we
hadn't been
[2:07:18] um
putting of money into the K9 program.
[2:07:21] They still have money left over. Have to
remind me is it 7,000 so I don't just
[2:07:26] scroll over. We have about $7,000 left
um from the from the fundraising that
[2:07:32] happened
and uh we assume that we're just going
[2:07:37] to start needing to fill some of that
fund. So right now as it looks uh the
[2:07:42] police department is asking for a 10.7%
increase and either Chief Anderson or
[2:07:48] myself can help answer questions about
the budget to council
[2:07:54] » questions for Logan.
>> So can you explain again why the
[2:07:58] professional why is it? Yeah, the
professional services is going from 28
[2:08:04] to 49,000.
That seems like a big
[2:08:09] » Yep. So each and every single cop has
their own Microsoft account and that
[2:08:13] used to be in our fund in the general
spend fund and we moved it to police. So
[2:08:20] um every cop has a full Microsoft suite,
full SSL encryption and an email address
[2:08:26] so that their legal notices and
obviously not public information is
[2:08:31] going through a secure email.
>> So that [clears throat] is a good thing
[2:08:34] that money actually isn't new. It's just
right. actually was reallocated from a
[2:08:40] different
>> That's an important thing to point out
[2:08:42] » because it does make this budget look
like it quite a bit.
[2:08:45] » Same with property insurance. I don't
know if you remember this, but two years
[2:08:47] ago we lumped property insurance and
casualty insurance all in one and we
[2:08:52] broke them all all the departments this
year. So it it looks like all of a
[2:08:56] sudden we're spending more um in
property insurance than we had in years
[2:09:02] past. Uh it's just that we broke them up
by department so that there's a better
[2:09:06] view [clears throat]
on how much they're costing.
[2:09:10] Same with work comp. So the work comp
premium insurance you'll notice that it
[2:09:14] looked really weird. The work comp
premium insurance comes from the LMCIT
[2:09:19] and they're about $38,000 a year but
that is not a new thing. It's just we
[2:09:24] reallocated it from a different account.
>> Thank you.
[2:09:30] » All right. Any more questions from
councel? Anybody else have questions?
[2:09:35] » So, what impact does this have with the
talks with try? What are we looking at
[2:09:40] that would impact this budget at all for
us on that side of it? Are we still
[2:09:46] pursuing the triang where we basic
responses from we haven't heard anything
[2:09:52] back from their council
[2:09:56] » and trial's proposal? But, you know, our
responsibility is to provide police
[2:10:02] services to the city of Wroth. And if
Trieline moves forward, then we could
[2:10:08] look at that. But our our responsibility
for 2026 and possibly 2027 is to follow
[2:10:15] our our plan and our budget and continue
to provide the services that we are.
[2:10:22] » So, what does have to let us know?
>> They have a meeting on Wednesday that
[2:10:29] they're going to discuss that. Um, and
it I don't know which direction they're
[2:10:35] going to go. It's definitely up to their
city council and what they their wishes
[2:10:40] are. So, it's definitely not off the
table. It's definitely not happening
[2:10:44] yet. There's a lot of un
[2:10:54] citizens want to know that factor too.
Are we are we still looking at pursuing
[2:10:59] regardless but given or are we looking
to just remain our police department at
[2:11:04] that
>> I don't think there's been a decision
[2:11:08] either way
I will tell you that we've run numbers
[2:11:11] with Kevin and financially it comes out
even it's not a cost savings
[2:11:23] but that also was not the entire point
of try line I think it's about a safe
[2:11:27] community.
>> Yes.
[2:11:33] » So, and you know, I I would say probably
the important thing to communicate to
[2:11:37] community at large is that whether it's
trial line or it remains with police
[2:11:43] department, um we're still committed to
providing good solid law enforcement and
[2:11:50] protection for the city.
So another way I see it also if I
[2:11:56] understand from the Triine proposal this
budget if Trieline is successful and
[2:12:01] launches for 2027 we'll spend this or
less potentially under that model. Yes.
[2:12:07] Worst case we're covered continuing
operators we are with this proposal
[2:12:11] proposed budget.
>> Exactly.
[2:12:14] » Yeah. Even when it comes to like the
work comp insurance and property
[2:12:19] insurance, it's it's the exact same when
we got quoted from other cities.
[2:12:24] » Really? There could be savings. No,
there's not.
[2:12:27] » Yes. Actually, if if we combined there
would be savings, but some of those
[2:12:31] categories would be the same in in both.
But the proposal, if
[2:12:39] Triline would go through actually, yes,
had substantial savings for all three
[2:12:43] cities.
How was that? Was at the meeting or was
[2:12:48] the numbers? Maybe Logan can explain
this.
[2:12:51] » Yeah, I don't think you were at the
workshop meeting here.
[2:12:55] » Yeah, that thing was that didn't have a
lot of that didn't have a lot of helpful
[2:12:59] information.
>> A lot of the information um can be found
[2:13:02] online, but when we presented the
numbers during our meeting, we
[2:13:06] specifically said that they did not
include any revenue. Um, and
[2:13:12] they that was not presented that way
that night. And it's really unfortunate
[2:13:16] because the long-term lasting budget
effects of continuing to run three
[2:13:22] departments
uh is very
[2:13:26] budget impactful. When we're talking
about replacing squad cars, when we're
[2:13:30] talking about replacing um equipment,
well, we have three contracts right now.
[2:13:35] Three different contracts for cameras.
Three. It's insane. It's the same when
[2:13:41] we talk about fire and ambulance. I
mean, if you guys want real tax savings,
[2:13:45] trialine should have been like trumpeted
throughout the towns. And why why people
[2:13:50] showed up and against trying to save tax
dollars in the future is beyond me. I
[2:13:55] mean, we wor we've worked six months on
try line. We have a pseudo joint powers
[2:14:01] agreement so that council can look at
that. We ran the budget numbers like
[2:14:05] three different times.
That included a $100,000 capex account,
[2:14:10] which didn't even need to be $100,000.
So when people go around saying, "Well,
[2:14:14] there was no savings." Well, without
revenue, without any revenue, we would
[2:14:18] have saved $40,000 right off the bat.
Then you add revenue back in and it's
[2:14:22] almost 100,000 per town. So yes, there
was a cost savings. Unfortunately, it
[2:14:28] was not presented as such.
I went back over some of the meetings
[2:14:35] and
some of the meetings say that we'd have
[2:14:38] 24hour coverage in all three cities and
some of them say it's 24 coverage in
[2:14:45] between all of the cities and I'm just
which is it is it are we going to have
[2:14:50] 24-hour coverage in Gibbon and at the
same time win and at the same time
[2:14:54] Gaylord or is it 24 coverage between the
three because it's just a cuisine. They
[2:14:59] would have 24 hours between the three.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[2:15:05] » With normally two officers on at a time
>> other than the early morning hours.
[2:15:11] Yeah. Which is which is very common in
law enforcement for the population size
[2:15:17] of roughly 4,500. Um that's
[clears throat]
[2:15:21] just falls into the normal range. And
right now there are gaps in all three
[2:15:26] cities where nobody has 24hour coverage
all the time right now.
[2:15:32] » Yeah. That and that's that's literally
the point of it is you would be doubling
[2:15:37] the amount of coverage in the early
morning hours rather than having one
[2:15:40] deputy cover the entire county in those
early morning hours. if we went to Try
[2:15:48] Line, there would be another officer
working in the county to back them up.
[2:15:54] And that has caused extreme officer
safety issues um that I I don't think is
[2:16:01] acceptable, but um that's where we're
at. And Triline does help that cause to
[2:16:07] looking at officer safety.
It's unfortunate that um that hasn't
[2:16:14] been
talked about enough, but um
[2:16:19] this project not only helps the towns,
it helps everyone around us and our
[2:16:25] officers to stay safe. So I really don't
all the presentations they gave and all
[2:16:31] the the
[2:16:37] » all the all the presentations these guys
gave and all the meetings that were
[2:16:41] attended. I don't think anybody went
into that. Not anybody. There's a lot of
[2:16:45] people that did go in open-minded.
>> It was a power struggle. It was no
[2:16:52] saving money.
I don't I don't want to do that,
[2:16:56] shopping.
>> Yeah. I mean, that's the whole point of
[2:17:00] it, right? That we're trying to be
creative,
[2:17:03] » correct?
>> And and get the the service that we all
[2:17:07] deserve
and we have to
[2:17:11] » we have to actually start having real
conversations about um
[2:17:18] » what what do we want because, you know,
there's talks. If you want county
[2:17:22] coverage, yeah, we can certainly go to
county go to county coverage. Um, but
[2:17:28] what do you lose from that? Um,
a lot
[2:17:32] » county coverage is not the answer.
>> I can tell you from the citizens that
[2:17:36] I've talked to, they do not want to see
a county coverage only because of the
[2:17:42] fact that you have to pay for the amount
of time that that officer will cover
[2:17:46] that area. meaning that you are exposed
with a large gap if you're not willing
[2:17:51] to pay for that officer for the majority
of your
[2:17:55] » you're going to have an officer come in
here and take them if I call 911 and
[2:18:01] I've got something going on at my house.
First of all, we have no idea where the
[2:18:05] deputy's going to be and 25 years at
Sibly County. Uh, well, I suppose I
[2:18:12] better go do my hour in Green Isle or I
better go do my time in New Auburn. So,
[2:18:16] now it's going to be I suppose I better
go do my hour in Winthrop.
[2:18:21] I don't care which citizens are wanting
county coverage is doesn't does not
[2:18:26] work.
>> The danger is the drug problem.
[2:18:31] » The danger is Yes. Where are they coming
from?
[2:18:34] » What they don't what the majority of the
population doesn't understand.
[2:18:37] » Correct. Where you have a gap in police
coverage, police presence. Presence
[2:18:42] means more than anything else.
>> Absolutely.
[2:18:45] » Where you don't have that presence is
where the drugs are going to move.
[2:18:49] That's where they're going to happen.
>> Medelia, Minnesota.
[2:18:52] » Medelia, Minnesota.
>> I almost hate to say it's even closer
[2:18:56] than that.
>> Well, I'm saying that they lost their
[2:18:58] police department and now they're
finding out what it's like to have
[2:19:01] county coverage.
>> You only need to look at new
[2:19:04] » county coverage does not work.
It's just a different type of policing.
[2:19:09] We're not saying that the sheriff's
office is bad or doesn't do a good job.
[2:19:13] What we're saying is that it's a
different type of law enforcement and
[2:19:17] they want to do deputy things. That's
what they signed up to do. Um, and if
[2:19:24] you think that going, if anyone thinks
that going to county coverage is the
[2:19:28] right option, um, well, then the
sheriff's office is also going to have a
[2:19:33] crisis on their hands of losing deputies
because deputies didn't sign up to be
[2:19:37] town cops and sit in the town all day
long and do ordinances.
[2:19:41] » First of all, they're not going to do
ordinances. So, there's a lot that goes
[2:19:46] into this that I think maybe now is a a
good time to talk about. Um, but the the
[2:19:52] ones that have lived this, Heather was a
dispatcher in Mloud County, I was a a
[2:19:56] deputy in Mloud County. Um, the love and
care that you get from your police
[2:20:00] department is not there for county
coverage. So,
[2:20:03] » plus the current, excuse me, is, you
know, staffed, but they can cover their
[2:20:09] responsibilities right now. They don't
have staff to take on coverage in the
[2:20:14] city. Exactly. You know, you look at the
cost of hiring an officer and outfitting
[2:20:18] them and field training and all the
things that you have to do. The the cost
[2:20:22] of that would be
>> that falls back on the city then too.
[2:20:26] And and you get no return on your
investment
[2:20:29] » and we would have no control over that.
>> Yeah.
[2:20:32] » Okay. That interrupt, but I don't want
to be here tonight.
[2:20:34] » I know we're only halfway through.
>> Okay.
[2:20:38] » Any other questions about police or
police?
[2:20:42] » We should have served coffee. It went
well over two minutes. I'm just
[2:20:46] » um so civil defense sounds um like we
have tanks rolling in Winthrop, but it's
[2:20:52] not. It's it's mostly our sirens. Um
they we do have a contract each year
[2:20:56] that we have to pay. Uh they come and
test them. They make sure they work.
[2:21:01] We always put $1,000 in there. It
usually covers it. As you can see,
[2:21:04] sometimes we go over. In 2023, we
actually had to replace one of our
[2:21:08] sirens. the box. I'm sorry that the
siren
[2:21:12] um but but it normally evens out. So
$1,000 is what we're recommending.
[2:21:16] » It's 15.
>> What?
[2:21:20] » It's 1500.
>> We're recommending 1500.
[2:21:23] » I don't know what file that is close
>> streets. Um so those alleyway
[2:21:29] approaches. Whoops. I'm sorry that's
really small for everyone.
[2:21:35] The workers compensation insurance, just
so you know. not a new
[2:21:40] » category. It's just we reallocated it to
streets. Um Oh my gosh.
[2:21:48] [laughter]
[2:21:52] » Um
>> so streets is also recommending this is
[2:21:56] where we put the alleyway restructure.
Um so in that 224 category, the street
[2:22:01] maintenance materials. So that would
include this year the
[2:22:06] um seal coating and the alleyway
replacement. So whether you know it's
[2:22:11] this year or next year um we can we can
certainly dial that down and not do
[2:22:16] alley replacements and try to do gravel
again. I'm just letting you know that
[2:22:20] citizens have brought it to our
attention and that's why we added it. Um
[2:22:24] operating supplies, they usually stay
within about $4,000. Uh when it comes to
[2:22:28] fuel, um uh the reason that 2024 was so
high is actually we put a fuel barrel
[2:22:35] in. I don't know if you guys remember
that. Um so we actually allocated that
[2:22:39] in there and supplies [clears throat] um
operating supplies and it has actually
[2:22:45] saved us quite a bit of money. Um and we
also don't have to deal um with outages
[2:22:49] at gas station. Shop supplies $2,000.
Again, that's like tools, normal like
[2:22:55] shovels, etc.
Um, I don't know if you want me to go
[2:23:02] through anything else. Everything else
is pretty much the same. That 32.4%
[2:23:06] increase is really coming from the
alleyways and the maintenance on alley.
[2:23:10] So,
[2:23:14] » any questions about that.
[2:23:18] So, what would it cost to do one alley
or two alleys?
[2:23:23] » Um, depending on the like the width of
the alley based on concrete, it's about
[2:23:27] $15,000 per apron
>> is what we figured.
[2:23:32] » So, we were thinking this would
approximately three.
[2:23:35] » It would do approximately three. Yeah.
>> Plus, we would still do sealing next
[2:23:39] year.
[2:23:43] » Sure.
>> So, we could cut back one and two out.
[2:23:47] You sure could.
[2:23:51] » I hope nobody wrecks their car.
>> I hope nobody wrecks their car.
[2:23:55] » I mean, some of them are pretty bad. I
mean, I went through them this on Friday
[2:23:59] or Thursday. And uh, you know,
>> if you look at this over the years, too.
[2:24:04] I mean, we have spent we cut that pretty
substantially last year when we were
[2:24:08] trying to trim the budget. And that's
one of those things, too. We can It's
[2:24:12] looks like an easy way to save some
money right now, but it that is not
[2:24:17] Yeah, we're going to feel it.
>> And you have to start somewhere. Kind of
[2:24:20] like sidewalk replacement, like you have
to start somewhere, which we haven't
[2:24:24] even talked about, but it's been a comp
plan since 2008. And I
[2:24:29] » it was kind of like the city. The guy I
talked to, I forget where it was. Um he
[2:24:32] he was a council member in a city in the
metro area. They replaced every single
[2:24:37] street in their city in 1971. Every
single one. Think about how old those
[2:24:42] are now. They were all failing at the
same time. So the message to take from
[2:24:47] that is maybe we should think about you
know replacing a few every
[2:24:53] [clears throat] year so that we don't
run into those sorts of what do we do
[2:24:57] moments.
>> So does council wish to reduce the
[2:25:01] street materials the alleyways
[2:25:07] » I think I
know
[2:25:11] » and one
[2:25:15] We figure that street materials um when
it comes to paving uh and seal coating
[2:25:20] next year will be about 35,000.
[2:25:28] » Can we leave it in there for tonight?
But know that that might be we want to
[2:25:31] discuss.
>> Okay.
[2:25:33] » Yeah.
>> All right. That's good.
[2:25:35] » Um any other questions on streets from
council?
[2:25:39] Anybody else? Questions about streets?
Okay, we can move on.
[2:25:48] » Making our way through.
>> Making our way.
[2:25:52] » Okay.
>> Yeah. So, snow uh snow is one of those
[2:25:58] categories
that we just don't know. So, we had a
[2:26:03] lot of snow this last winter. we had a
lot of overtime um in the end of 25
[2:26:09] going into 26
um and then in January February is when
[2:26:14] we got more snow. So, um, this is one of
those categories that council kept
[2:26:20] cutting and then we didn't really use I
mean 24 25 we really didn't have a lot
[2:26:24] of snow it we just didn't use the snow
plows but then when we do man do we and
[2:26:31] um so it it's our recommendation to keep
it at 15,000 but again
[2:26:36] » based on trend you could probably lower
it a little bit. The other thing is the
[2:26:40] maintenance uh machines and repairs
equipment
[2:26:44] which is 404 on the list. Um we're
upping that a little bit. We need some
[2:26:49] new blades um and some um regular
operating supplies uh in that category.
[2:26:56] Uh rentals
for snow.
[2:27:00] » That's housing the equipment.
>> Yes, we so we pay to house some of the
[2:27:05] equipment because we don't have room in
our own barns. So,
[2:27:11] » all right. Questions?
[2:27:15] » And again, that increase is coming from
new uh new plates for the
[2:27:20] » and snowfall.
>> And the snow is the 18,000 that we put
[2:27:23] in.
>> I don't think we mentioned that. It was
[2:27:25] in small print um in the original slide
on that request that the current one
[2:27:30] doesn't have heat.
>> Correct.
[2:27:32] » Um this one did have heat. I I did an
error. It was the other 1970 that did
[2:27:37] have heat. This one does have heat.
>> That's
[2:27:40] » I updated that my slide, but yes, it
did. It does. It does have heat.
[2:27:45] » It still had an electrical fire, but
this one has heat.
[2:27:49] » That's reassuring.
>> Yeah, they're not.
[2:27:53] » Any other questions about the snow
budget?
[2:27:57] » And if you got rid of if you got rid of
the 18,000, it reduces it quite a bit.
[2:28:02] So, that's just something to to think
about
[2:28:07] and you could maybe ask around and see
if someone has a rental for us for a
[2:28:11] year or two, but
I'm just giving you options,
[2:28:15] » right? But then with the rental you do
run into, is the downtown going to be
[2:28:20] cleared
>> for businesses there and that is service
[2:28:24] too.
>> Okay. Do we want to move on from
[2:28:28] » Yeah. Any other questions, comments,
concerns?
[2:28:32] What is snow hauler? Is it different
than a dump truck?
[2:28:37] » It's like a dump truck. Yes, it is a
dump truck.
[2:28:41] » We would prefer a side load, but it
doesn't really matter to us. It just
[2:28:45] hauls the snow away
from downtown. We blow it in to it and
[2:28:51] then it hauls it away.
>> Is there a way to look at what the cost
[2:28:55] would be to hire out the trucks, the
company?
[2:29:00] We did Gaylord sanitation and I forget
the other company. Um, you know, there's
[2:29:06] a cost to that of about $10,000 a year
just depending. The other problem is is
[2:29:11] that if they're also busy or if it's
during a holiday, sometimes they just
[2:29:15] aren't going to show up. Like Christmas
Eve, it snowed this last year, they
[2:29:19] won't been here.
>> You know what I mean? Um I think
[2:29:22] Arlington
>> I was going to say
[2:29:24] » does this they they rent
>> and hire out most so and it's like
[2:29:30] 30,000
>> it was huge
[2:29:32] » it was a very large expense
>> pretty expensive
[2:29:38] » and that's the company we check but I
can't remember their name right now okay
[2:29:42] so sweetie
um this budget really has not changed uh
[2:29:48] we put some money into it a couple years
ago we had Um just minor welding
[2:29:52] modifications. Again, it I mean on the
pieces of material that are super
[2:29:57] important. This one's more cosmetic and
minimum maintenance. So I mean it's
[2:30:02] still running at about $6,300 a year.
>> Any questions?
[2:30:09] » Moving on.
>> All right.
[2:30:11] » Okay. Um,
so parks budget is u there's a lot in
[2:30:17] here that could be erased or council
decision. Uh, the parking lot request
[2:30:23] I'm going to start from the bottom. Is
that okay? Because that's where the
[2:30:25] requests are. The boulevard
[clears throat] tree the tree
[2:30:27] replacement again if the DNR comes
through I think we can get about $40,000
[2:30:31] anyway. Um, I know given just received
theirs. Um, that would take $25,000 off
[2:30:38] the bottom line. The capital outlay is
the parking lot request to start redoing
[2:30:43] that again. We would do kind of like a
half and half. We would do the entrance
[2:30:47] and all the way back to the light poles
and then stop for a year or two and then
[2:30:51] do the remainder. Um but I think the
point is that we're going to have to do
[2:30:55] something at some point.
Um
[2:31:00] » especially since the traffic in the park
is not getting less,
[2:31:06] » right? Yeah. And then the request from
Farm City Funfest is $20,000. I just
[2:31:11] updated that. It's updated in your
packet. I think
[2:31:15] we put it under the rentals uh because
that's where the tent and part uh porta
[2:31:20] botties come out of during farm 75 fest.
Um I can zoom in. Sorry.
[2:31:26] And so that is one of those things where
if you deem it necessary, we can
[2:31:32] certainly go with that.
minor repairs and equipment. Um, I will
[2:31:38] tell you that some of our lawnmowers are
getting a little bit older. They have a
[2:31:41] lot of miles on them. They're going to
need some new repairs, just new blades,
[2:31:46] normal stuff this upcoming year.
Operating supplies. Um, again, uh,
[2:31:54] chemicals for the splash pad is coming
out of here. The permit is coming out of
[2:31:58] here. Um, we opt this because obviously
we're going to have more chemicals. The
[2:32:05] bathroom cleaning is more important. Um,
you're going to have more operating
[2:32:09] supplies.
Motor fuel, that's just lawnmowers and
[2:32:13] well, reips and such is about $4,500 per
year. You could go a little bit lower.
[2:32:20] We didn't spend all of that last year,
the last two years.
[2:32:25] Any questions, comments, concerns?
um the request from the chamber for Farm
[2:32:34] City Funfest. Um I I mean Farm City
Funfest is a fantastic coming together
[2:32:40] community thing. Do we have any idea
what how the chamber comes out on that?
[2:32:46] Is it a money-making thing for them? Is
it a is it one of those things where
[2:32:51] every organization just throws a lot of
money into it and we all spend share the
[2:32:58] expenses? Is that my question clear?
[2:33:06] » It's clear.
>> Okay,
[2:33:08] » Crystal.
>> Yes, I can check on that. Sorry, I was
[2:33:14] it.
>> Okay. I I think that would be helpful
[2:33:17] information.
>> Yeah. So, if they were making $14,000
[2:33:20] off of it, but we're just really
subsidizing it. Is it
[2:33:23] » Yes. Okay.
>> I think that's
[2:33:25] » I can definitely check. I'm on that
committee, but I'm not on the chamber,
[2:33:28] so I don't
>> Oh,
[2:33:29] » I don't look at financial. I don't know.
>> Um, other questions from council?
[2:33:36] » Nope.
>> Like I said, the parks committee, the
[2:33:39] park and the tree budget like could
really swing one way or the other
[2:33:43] depending on the grant.
>> Let's hope for the grant. Um questions
[2:33:47] from anybody else? Yes.
>> So with the pork tree that um would like
[2:33:52] the fruit trees be something that begin
like looking to more as an option versus
[2:33:56] like ash trees stuff like that. Um I
guess one you can do a lot of things
[2:34:00] with it especially like with apple
trees. If we're talking about being
[2:34:02] serious about putting a community garden
together any apples that fall off are
[2:34:05] not good quality are something that can
easily go to community garden
[2:34:10] right composting. All you really need is
just mulch leaves. That's it. you throw
[2:34:15] that in to get your moisture, get your
nitrogen. Um, but then it's also getting
[2:34:19] excess can go to the food pantries
around here. I mean, it's not something
[2:34:23] that you [clears throat] need in say
Minnesota either to have like a license
[2:34:26] to even sell like those additional
apples. They can just be given away
[2:34:29] because they're not like they're not a
ingredient. They're an ingredient item,
[2:34:33] but they're not an altered ingredient
item. So, let's make an apple pie. Now,
[2:34:36] it's an altered ingredient.
>> Sure.
[2:34:38] » Um, could that be something that we look
into? Um, and is that is an option. I
[2:34:45] mean, can we donate
because like I know cheeseburger being
[2:34:49] could be an option for the park. I'd be
happy to donate a couple.
[2:34:54] » Well, I know one of the things that
everybody talks about in replacing trees
[2:34:57] is variety. Nobody wants to do we we
don't want to do the oh, we've cut down
[2:35:02] all the Dutch elm trees, so let's put up
ash tree or put in ash trees and then we
[2:35:06] cut down all the ash trees. So, yeah,
everything all the guidance is a lot of
[2:35:11] variety. So, I I don't know. I think I
think that would be worth checking the
[2:35:16] park committee.
>> Will that add maintenance or budget
[2:35:20] though? Because we're still going to
need people.
[2:35:22] » I will just say I'm not planning to buy
a splash path. [laughter]
[2:35:27] » You you'd be surprised though. I mean
like one apple tree for instance, I mean
[2:35:31] easily provides for an entire community
with how many they
[2:35:34] » I think if you were going to do that
you'd want [laughter] so that it was
[2:35:37] easier to maintain.
>> Yeah. be something you'd want one of one
[2:35:42] corner
>> or maybe like in the community if we got
[2:35:44] the community garden,
>> right? Like that would
[2:35:48] » Yeah.
>> So you don't want it's very very
[2:35:54] trees.
>> Yes.
[2:35:57] » All right. Um other questions about
parks.
[2:36:02] Yes.
>> Is there an option to treat some of the
[2:36:04] ash trees or have we looked at we
consider
[2:36:07] » I think it's pretty expensive and not
>> it's not very effective.
[2:36:12] » No.
>> Um
[2:36:14] a lot of arborists won't even do it
anymore because it's become so invasive.
[2:36:19] Um the DNR grant does approve like if we
have a really important ash tree at a
[2:36:25] corner or something, they do approve um
in the grant they approve treatment of
[2:36:31] the tree, but you have to do it every
>> Oh, it's a lot. My sister's got a couple
[2:36:35] that really shade her house and they're
trying very hard to keep them, but
[2:36:38] they've spent thousands of dollars to
keep those trees.
[2:36:42] » Yeah, it's very expensive.
>> Yeah.
[2:36:48] How do we want to keep most of these
figures for now?
[2:36:52] » We sure can. And then we can revisit
them.
[2:36:53] » Yeah, I think that's
>> especially the
[2:36:57] » Yes.
>> Um EDA is all um
[2:37:05] about the same. I will tell you that um
if you actually look at the totals from
[2:37:10] 2425
um you'll notice that the EDA uh really
[2:37:15] hadn't been spending a ton of money and
asking for public dollars. Um and then
[2:37:20] in 2026 uh obviously we helped fund um
Gunner's restaurant which is
[2:37:25] operational.
Um that was a pretty big investment. We
[2:37:29] own half that building along with the
bank. Um, so we're asking to start um
[2:37:37] putting
money back into that revolving bond fun
[2:37:40] bond and we're asking for $40,000.
We're also asking for CEDA to come in if
[2:37:46] you guys remember that conversation. Um,
and that's $15,000 a year from us given
[2:37:51] and Fairfax. It's a $45,000 contract a
year. The first year will be covered by
[2:37:56] the Southern Minnesota Initiative
Foundation grant. Um but the 2027 budget
[2:38:01] which we'll start paying for uh will not
be covered. So we will need a little bit
[2:38:06] of um funding for that.
Um the facade grant program has been
[2:38:12] pretty popular uh in the first year and
then nothing in the second year. We're
[2:38:17] asking it to be funded to $15,000.
Again,
[2:38:21] a lot of them have been corrected, uh,
but not all of them downtown, and we
[2:38:24] keep sending that up to businesses. Um,
if they, if council wanted to cut that,
[2:38:29] I think it could be cut.
>> I think the, um, CEDA and, you know, the
[2:38:37] revolving loan fund, it's it's hard to
overstate how important that can be for
[2:38:44] small businesses.
there there aren't a lot of resources
[2:38:48] around here. Our a lot of counties
provide economic development. Um Sibly
[2:38:54] County doesn't doesn't do much at all.
So it it has fallen more to the cities
[2:38:58] and um there's you know it's not even
always a main street business. It might
[2:39:02] be somebody wanting to run a business
from their home or um you know something
[2:39:07] that you don't necessarily see um as
you're driving down the street, but
[2:39:11] those all have a real impact um on our
community and you know potentially bring
[2:39:16] in jobs and other good things.
[2:39:24] Um questions from council on EDA
[2:39:34] Do you think there's any interest on the
for the facade grants?
[2:39:37] » I don't think so. I I mean, we've mailed
them out like two years in a row and I
[2:39:42] haven't The last one that did it, I
think was a longer and that we haven't
[2:39:47] really heard anything.
Sometimes it's okay to let for ramps die
[2:39:50] for a while and then come back to them.
[2:39:57] » Did it come up? Did EDA discuss that as
part of their
[2:40:00] » We're going to just discuss it again
this upcoming month.
[2:40:03] » Okay. Do we want to leave it in for now
until we get feedback from EDA or do you
[2:40:07] want to take it out?
>> I would say just to leave it in until we
[2:40:11] talk to ED. But I think Yeah, I think
that'd be a good conversation to have,
[2:40:14] you know, with EDA.
Okay. Anything else in the EDA proposal
[2:40:24] council? Any other questions? Anybody?
Anybody else?
[2:40:31] » Nothing. I don't want to move forward.
>> This is the last category.
[2:40:34] » Oh, yay.
>> I know. So, um,
[2:40:39] when it comes
>> I'm not enjoying spending time with
[2:40:41] them. [laughter]
I was getting close to my bed.
[2:40:44] » Um, me too. So, the wages and salaries
we kept the same this year, I'm not
[2:40:50] going to say it, but there has been less
calls recently. I know.
[2:40:56] You guys are so superstitious. Okay.
>> Because it's true.
[2:40:59] » It's not true. Okay. So, anyway, so
we're keeping that the same. Education
[2:41:03] and training we kept at $7,000. Supplies
and operating we pretty much kept the
[2:41:08] same. That um airbag nozzle and cribbing
uh request from Adam the fire chief is
[2:41:16] $15,000. That's the thing that's really
um going to get a little bit more
[2:41:21] expensive.
Um, which one else went up? Professional
[2:41:27] services. So, professional services
again that Microsoft account um goes up.
[2:41:34] What else is in fires? Uh, Heather, not
to put you on the spot.
[2:41:37] » Uh, for professional services.
>> Yeah.
[2:41:40] » Sorry, I was copying over.
>> That's okay. I'll go on. So, we also do
[2:41:45] contract fees uh in fire. So, there's
some revenue. Uh we take in about
[2:41:51] $15,000 or more just on contract fees
with the townships.
[2:41:57] Um
[snorts]
[2:42:00] for the runs we also I'm sorry 30,000 we
up that it used to be 14 million now
[2:42:05] it's almost 30,000 for contract fees for
runs. Uh it's really hard to tell. uh in
[2:42:11] 2025 it was a fantastic year meaning we
had really large fires and they got
[2:42:16] really expensive for the taxpayers
and
[2:42:21] so uh we uh are only estimated about
$15,000 worth of runs. Um as you see
[2:42:28] this year we're at 6800. We're halfway
through the year. It's been typical for
[2:42:32] us um about 15,000 professional
services. Um, so that's your active 911,
[2:42:38] which is how they receive their alerts,
is Med Compass, which is the physical
[2:42:44] testing for all of our
firefighters. [clears throat]
[2:42:51] » Sorry,
>> what do you mean you can't see?
[2:42:53] » It is Windfit subscriptions.
[2:42:59] It is B&R Plumbing. Had to go do some
stuff out there.
[2:43:07] What was that one? The other
>> which one's talking? Professional
[2:43:12] services.
>> Oh, that's professional services. That
[2:43:14] $15,000 that we plan. So, it's Med
Compass Active 911, which is the thing
[2:43:18] that goes off on your cell phone when
you get a call. um
[2:43:22] » windfits
>> windfits
[2:43:24] and whenever they get you know BNR the
fire extinguishers that
[2:43:33] » Alex apparatus it's their um air quality
test on there
[2:43:41] » pink
>> um the other request
[2:43:49] » was the turnout gear which is under the
uniform allowance.
[2:43:54] Um
that is a $5,000 request uh from the
[2:43:59] fire chief.
>> And to answer your question from
[2:44:02] earlier, we replaced three and it was
$10,932
[2:44:07] for those three
>> for the turnout.
[2:44:10] » So three three turnout gear full suits
costs around 10 grand.
[2:44:14] » 11
>> 11 grand. So we can only do
[2:44:19] » that if we
[2:44:23] are expiring
>> three
[2:44:25] » three.
>> Oh,
[2:44:27] » they're usually set up to do like three
three
[2:44:32] » but there's I can't remember. Adam
showed me the sheet and I don't remember
[2:44:35] if there's a year in between which is
why he did five or
[2:44:39] » there was a gap. Yeah.
>> And it depends on how many service
[2:44:43] members you get in. Like last year we
had three new
[2:44:47] » Yeah, we had three new people. So those
three new people need to hear.
[2:44:51] » So
[2:44:54] » all right, questions about fire. Are we
fully staffed? Don't fire a fire
[2:45:00] department?
>> No.
[2:45:02] » No.
>> Um fire kind of like ambulance man, the
[2:45:05] more the marrier. We have a problem
during the daytime as all fire
[2:45:08] departments do. Um there's a lot of
discussion statewide about how can we
[2:45:15] Adam told me this statistic last week on
Friday and I looked it up and he was
[2:45:21] absolutely correct in the entire United
States for fire department funding.
[2:45:26] Minnesota ranks 49th.
>> I I read that
[2:45:30] » um we are just not adequately funding
fire departments. And the thing is is
[2:45:34] fire departments do so much more um than
put out fires, you know. agriculturally
[2:45:41] uh we need them because Heartley Corn
Products and DFA would not be able to
[2:45:44] operate if they weren't here. Um so it's
definitely something that we continue to
[2:45:49] revisit.
I had a meeting today with uh the
[2:45:52] superintendent about how can we bring
cadetses and police and fire and
[2:45:56] ambulance into schools in a better more
productive way. Um obviously he has more
[2:46:01] educational background experience with
kids, kids in general. Um, and so we
[2:46:08] were just bouncing ideas off of how how
do we get um more firefighters and
[2:46:13] people mindful that it's not just a
voluntary thing, but it's also a
[2:46:17] community building thing. So, we're
working on that.
[2:46:21] » So, with turn off gear, [clears throat]
he's only asking for 5,000.
[2:46:25] » That's was my question.
>> I think that the relief association is
[2:46:29] also paying for some. I think that was
their plan. I know that I
[2:46:34] » they're going to put some of my head to
the
[2:46:36] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. Well, there again, we don't want
[2:46:39] our firefighters going into a house fair
with chart off those,
[2:46:44] » right?
>> Yeah. And we're asking a lot to them.
[2:46:48] So, and I I think most people probably
know that, but it's not multi-use. It
[2:46:54] those are fitted for each firefighter,
so they can't mix and match.
[2:47:05] Any other questions about fire
council?
[2:47:11] Anybody else questions about the fire
budget?
[2:47:13] » I had similar question on two lines that
one was is 5,000 enough for the turnout
[2:47:17] year when we know we have three
expiring.
[2:47:19] » Yeah, that it'd be a good question to
just check with Adam.
[2:47:23] » I was just at the meeting, but I'm
pretty sure that the religious
[2:47:26] association's putting money into it. And
then 15,000 for the professional
[2:47:30] services when our run rate rates been
closer to 20.
[2:47:33] Is that
[2:47:39] [laughter]
[2:47:43] because it's averaged over three years?
[2:47:47] » We can definitely look at category 300.
>> If I remember correctly, there was
[2:47:52] something that fell [laughter] off
that we don't do anymore. I know that we
[2:47:57] got a different fire extinguisher guy.
>> Yeah,
[2:48:00] » because he was very expensive. I just
did whatever he wanted.
[2:48:04] » Okay.
All right. Any other questions?
[2:48:10] » I guess I'll get a gold star. This was
long and there were a lot of numbers
[2:48:13] that
>> So, the problem is is that we increase
[2:48:16] the levy. So,
>> yes. Yes. Um, I guess from on a a staff
[2:48:20] perspective,
um, from council, where do you want us
[2:48:26] to go from here? How much do you want us
to try to cut? What do you guys want us
[2:48:29] to take out? Do you want to just cancel
off special projects? What is it that I
[2:48:35] mean, unless you want to settle at a 24
or 25% increase, uh, which I doubt you
[2:48:39] do. Last year, just a reminder, we
started at 80% increase, right? So, this
[2:48:44] is much more manageable, but as staff,
we're still
[2:48:48] » 25.
>> Okay. It's 25.
[2:48:53] » Um,
[2:48:56] can we when's our next meeting?
>> Uh, two weeks.
[2:48:59] » Yes. Okay.
>> Yeah. Two weeks is our next meeting.
[2:49:02] » You know, if we can get some information
from some of the ones we had questions
[2:49:06] about. I know some of the grants we
won't know. um
[2:49:11] you know I think we could revisit some
of that then.
[2:49:15] » So 20 um so 25% increase equals around
let's just round up Heather numbers lady
[2:49:22] is about $250,000.
Um, so
[2:49:27] you know, if you're telling staff, you
know, by next meeting we need to be down
[2:49:33] another 100,000, we can start digging in
and make recommendations like we did
[2:49:38] last year. Um, just to get that
percentage down or
[2:49:42] » I'm going to try and reach out to the
county commissioners again and just say,
[2:49:46] you want to give us an, you know, an
idea what you're thinking about for
[2:49:49] library funding. You know, can you even
give us a Well, you know, we think it'll
[2:49:53] be a 10% cut or a 20% cut. It would
really [laughter] help if we had a
[2:49:58] ballpark.
>> Yeah.
[2:50:01] » That amount is about 3%. You know, that
that a larger am a large increase amount
[2:50:08] from when we started to where we
finished was the library. So
[2:50:11] » yeah, I think you should also make the
statement about the difference between
[2:50:16] the preliminary
>> versus that's very important.
[2:50:20] » Yeah. So the preliminary budget allows
um council to set something so that we
[2:50:26] can send tax notices out um every single
year. The preliminary budget is not what
[2:50:32] we're going to end. Um, so we can go up
to that amount, but we legally cannot go
[2:50:38] over unless the state does an exemption,
which is unlikely. Um, so once we set
[2:50:44] the preliminary levy in September, you
know, that's pretty much it. So let's
[2:50:49] pretend the county commissioners say,
"Nope, we're not going to cut you." But
[2:50:52] then they do cut you. Um, we're going to
have to figure that out amongst council
[2:50:57] because you're going to have to reduce
something.
[2:51:04] And then we set the actual levy in
December.
[2:51:08] » So after the preliminary you can always
go down but you cannot go higher. So it
[2:51:13] is a trend to set it on the cautious
side because then you can go down by
[2:51:19] December. So while residents get their
tax statements and it shows, oh my gosh,
[2:51:24] we're getting a 25% increase. You're not
actually getting that. That's what it
[2:51:28] was prelim at. Your final increase will
come from the final budget.
[2:51:34] » Yeah. And I always the And it's not that
your taxes are going to go up 25%. It's
[2:51:39] the overall levy which is based on your
property values and all those other 52
[2:51:43] categories. So
>> that's how they look at
[2:51:47] all.
[2:51:50] » All right. Well, we'll continue to try
and do some homework. And as I said
[2:51:55] earlier, you come up with questions
tomorrow or next week. you know where to
[2:52:00] find us.
Um, all right. Thank you all very much.
[2:52:06] Were the microphones better?
[2:52:19] » We couldn't figure out what stance. See,
like hers is still too short. tricky. It
[2:52:24] needs to be longer and
>> but you know it doesn't hear me. Okay.
[2:52:28] I'd rather not
[2:52:41] » you can have them all on. We turn them
all on and threw them in a box and like
[2:52:45] not
>> So guess how much $4,000.
[2:52:56] Can we use our old speakers?
[2:53:11] » [clears throat]
[2:53:20] » The thing is is that there's eight of
[2:53:26] [clears throat]
those also expand.
[2:53:36] » Yeah. wire kind of stinks because you
have to charge it,
[2:53:40] » but you can put them anywhere, right?
[2:53:45] » Oh, hey, we should stop eating.
Put it