[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

Regular Council - Aug 03 2026

Transcript