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CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE Equal Opportunity Employer 2897 -458-Fax 651 2800 -458-651 gov.mntagegrovewww.cot Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016 12800 Ravine Parkway
MINUTES
COTTAGE GROVE CITY COUNCIL July 20, 2022
COUNCIL CHAMBER
12800 RAVINE PARKWAY SOUTH
REGULAR MEETING - 7:00 P.M
COUNCIL CHAMBER
1. CALL TO ORDER
The City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota, held a
regular meeting on July 20, 2022, at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway.
Mayor Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The audience, staff, and City Council Members stood and recited the Pledge of
Allegiance.
3. ROLL CALL
City Clerk Tammy Anderson called the roll: Mayor Bailey - Here; Council Member
Dennis - Here; Council Member Olsen - Here; Council Member Thiede - Here. Mayor
Bailey noted Council Member Khambata would be a bit late as he was stuck in traffic.
Also present: Jennifer Levitt, City Administrator; Korine Land, City Attorney-LeVander,
Gillen & Miller, PA; Tammy Anderson, City Clerk; Ryan Burfeind, City Engineer/Public
Works Director; Gretchen Carlson, Director of Economic Development; Christine
Costello, Director of Community Development; Joe Fischbach, HR Manager; Pete
Koerner, Public Safety Director; Brenda Malinowski, Finance Director; Amanda Meyer,
Assistant City Engineer; Mike Mrosla, Senior Planner; Emily Schmitz, Senior Planner.
4. OPEN FORUM
Mayor Bailey opened the Open Forum. As no one wished to address the Council,
Mayor Bailey closed the Open Forum.
5. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Council Member Dennis made a motion to adopt the agenda; second by Council
Member Thiede. Motion carried: 4-0.
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July 20, 2022
Page 2
6. PRESENTATIONS
A. Present the Citizen Life-Saving Award to Michael Chernick
Mayor Bailey asked the Council to join him in front of the dais for this presentation,
noted involved Public Safety staff would be joining them as Pete Koerner, Director of
Public Safety, would present this award.
Director Koerner asked Mike and Pam to join the City Council members in front of the
dais. He stated that this is a wonderful night, noting heart disease runs in his family,
and he’s had his own cardiac issues. It’s incredible for everybody to be able to get
together, thank each other, and see that Pam is doing great. He stated on May 2, 2022,
at 5:50 p.m., while shopping at Menards, Pam collapsed after her heart stopped.
Michael Chernick, an employee of Menards, called 911 and spoke with the 911
Dispatcher, Michelle; she was able to give Mike instructions, and he was able to provide
CPR to Pam until the police officers arrived. Officers arrived pretty quickly, applied the
AED, and continued to render aid. Shortly after, our firefighter paramedics arrived, and
they continued all those lifesaving efforts. Pam was transported to the hospital, and
amazingly was discharged from the hospital within a week. Director Koerner stated
those first couple of minutes are crucial, and we’re really focused on working toward
being a heart-safe community, so this was a great way to kick that off. When he spoke
to the responders, they all said, ‘I was just doing my job.’ Yes, they were doing their
job, but professionally they saved a life. He knew that Pam would argue with them that
it was more than just doing their job.
Director Koerner recognized Michelle Swenson, who answered the first call from
Michael; she was the calm one who gave him the CPR instructions. While she’s not an
employee of the City of Cottage Grove, she’s part of our Public Safety team; we’re
honored that Michelle could be here tonight with her supervisors and the Washington
County Sheriff because we all work very well together. Often, after the dispatcher does
their work, they’re forgotten; they hang up and they don’t hear what happened. He felt it
was very important for her to be involved tonight so she could meet both Mike and Pam
in person.
Director Koerner also recognized Cottage Grove police officers and firefighters who
rendered aid to Pam: Officer Matt Sorgaard, first on scene with the AED, Officer Joe
Pierre, Officer Mackenzie Foster, Officer Mike McClain, Officer Jude Torning, Acting
Fire Captain Brandon Ekren; he noted the other firefighters weren’t able to be here
tonight. Of course, the reason we’re here is so we can present Michael with this Citizen
Life-Saving Award, which Director Koerner read aloud. Director Koerner presented
Michael with the award and thanked him.
Michael thanked Michelle and all police officers and firefighters, who thanked
Michael, as did the Council Members. Director Koerner noted he had Letters of
Commendation for all of the involved Public Safety staff and stated they’d get
photographs of everyone together.
Pam thanked the City of Cottage Grove for doing this for Michael because it really
means a lot to her. She thanked everybody that helped her that day, stated they’re all
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July 20, 2022
Page 3
her heroes, and she really appreciates everything. She also thanked them for helping
her friend, who was with her that day and was understandably very worried. Mostly,
she wanted to thank Mike because he’s her big hero, she loves him, he’s great, and he
saved her life. She thanked everyone again, and all applauded.
Mayor Bailey congratulated Mike and thanked him for stepping in. One thing he
finds honorable about being the Mayor of Cottage Grove is people wanting to get
involved, who want to help others. He sees that consistently in this community with our
Public Safety members or workers who want to get involved or a dispatcher on the
phone giving direction to a person rendering aid to somebody in need or simply calming
down a concerned person. He thanked Mike for getting involved, thanked everyone
present tonight for showing their support, and thanked the officers for the work that they
do. He said if you’re going to get sick or you’re going to need help, Cottage Grove is
where you want to be; our staff get to the scene quickly with some record response
times in the state, and we have great people who get involved. On behalf of the City
Council, all of our staff, and all of our citizens, he thanked Mike once again.
B. South Washington County Schools Referendum
Julie Nielsen, South Washington County Schools Superintendent, thanked Council for
the invitation to be here. We, too, as a School District are grateful for our partnership
with the City of Cottage Grove. It’s nice to be reassured of the fast response times; we
know that when there’s an emergency, we want to ensure that help can respond as
quickly as possible.
Superintendent Nielsen stated she’s here this evening, along with Dan Pyan,
Director of Finance and Operations, because as we prepare for the August 9 election,
we wanted to share some information with the Council.
She displayed a sample ballot for August 9: Shall the board of Independent School
District No. 833 (South Washington County Schools), Minnesota be authorized to issue
general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $462,660,00 for
acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to,
construction of two elementary schools, expansion of three high schools, improvements
to facilities districtwide, and land acquisition? As you can imagine, the land is getting
bought up quickly, and we need to make sure that as we move east, that we have room
for schools. We’ve been asked why an election on August 9; we actually were going to
be on the ballot in February 2021, because our planning actually started before the
pandemic, but August 9 allows us those three additional months to plan and prepare so
that schools could be open for August of 2025.
The School District certainly realizes that that is a large amount of money; it would
be the largest bond in the State of Minnesota. She noted in 2019, the White Bear Lake
School District, only 8,700 students, successfully passed a $326 million bond.
Superintendent Nielsen reviewed voting options and stated all of that information can be
found at mnvotes.org.
Superintendent Nielsen stated if the bond doesn’t pass, she knows they would need
to make some extensive boundary changes prior to 2025. We serve four larger
communities and three smaller townships; it can be really difficult when students have
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July 20, 2022
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to go from one community to another in order to attend school. We would immediately
begin an alternative long-range facility planning process, looking at all options:
Explore temporary portable trailers outside of schools.
Look at the potential of alternative scheduling options, as well as looking at grade
configurations and how we’d organize.
Perhaps we’d be increasing rental space and additional costs for learning and
instruction.
We added a number of staff at the high school, middle, and elementary schools,
but we can only add so many staff to reduce class size before there are no
classrooms available.
Return to the voters with a new election in February 2023 because East Ridge
and all three of our high schools are significantly over capacity, and we need to
do something.
Director Pyan spoke about school funding. Most operational dollars come from State
funding: We receive funding per student, and we multiply the number of students by the
formula, which is 2.45% for 2021-2022, and 2% for 2022-2023. This formula has not
kept up with inflation, so every School District now relies on local operating levies; the
operating levy last fall passed. Levies are for learning and bonds are for buildings. The
levy approval was tied to inflation, which will really help our operations.
People ask how we can afford to have or run all these new schools. The schools are
coming because we’re going to have more students; with more students, we’ll have
more operating dollars, based on the number of students multiplied by the formula. The
only way School Districts can build something is to have a bond referendum. There are
ways to repair and replace our buildings through long-term facility maintenance; to build
anything new, the only way to find the money is to have a referendum and sell bonds.
The bonds allow the District to borrow money, then pay it back over time, much like a
mortgage, so the only method we have for new construction has to be passed by voters.
Construction funding does not take money away from education funding; if we have
more students, then we’ll have more dollars coming in for general revenue.
On the ballot, the cost of this bond is $462.6 million, which includes financing costs.
He gave the project breakdown: Elementary Schools, $194.9 million; Early Learning,
$1.7 million; Middle Schools, $58.8 million; High Schools, $159.6 million; Special
Education and Support Sites, $47.5 million. Tax Impact: The average home in the
School District, per Washington County, was about $300,000; the tax impact on a
$300,000 home would be about $25 a month, or $305 a year.
Superintendent Nielsen said sometimes we forget where we’ve been as we’re looking
forward. It’s often asked why didn’t the District plan ahead or think about that earlier: In
2015, we had three questions on the ballot: 1) An operating question, which was
successful. 2) The first bond question built Oltman Middle School; if you recall that
question passed by two-or-three votes, it was very tight, so there was a recount. 3) The
second bond question would have provided those additions and improvements at our
high schools and upgrades to several elementary schools, but that did not pass.
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July 20, 2022
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The 2015 need for improvements and upgrades remain, have now increased, and
looking forward to 2022, we have increased growth in the community. In 2021, a long-
range facility team updated the School Board with current and projected enrollment data
and housing developments. The City of Cottage Grove is aware that the School District
works hand in hand with them; when housing developments are approved, we have a
staff person who is made aware, and then we can do our planning. Even during the
COVID years there was still work being done behind the scenes. In March 2022, we
presented one facility package to the Board; in April, that package was approved. We
were asked to put one facility package together for 18,000+ students, and it had to be a
ten-year plan, so, looking at implementation in 2025. With all of the communities in our
School District, we’re looking at an additional 8,000 new homes, so approximately 3,500
new students. At that point, if we did nothing, we would have 15 schools over capacity.
We’re out in the schools all the time, so we get to see what our spaces look like. We
wanted to make sure that Council Members could see what our schools look like inside,
so she displayed photos of the following:
This is a small closet that’s converted to an office space for occupational therapy.
These are traditional 1960 schools that some of you may have attended. They
have two straight hallways with one set of restrooms there for use; what’s important to
think about is the more time students spend waiting for the restroom, the less time
they’re in classrooms. When we have some of these schools at 400 or 500 capacity
and you have two, three, or four kids that have classes to get to, each day that time
accumulates. If it takes 10 minutes to wait to use the restroom times one week, we’re
talking about 50 minutes of time; so, one of the renovations is additional restrooms.
Anybody who has driven on 80th Street has seen the lineup outside of Park High
School; this photo shows that.
On the southern end of the School District, you’re familiar with Next Step; we
also have Pathways, which is our 18-to-21-year-old programming. Currently, that
programming is split into two, a south side and a north side, and our hope is to
consolidate that to better meet student needs.
If you look at our Alternative High School, you can see a parking lot space, no
green space, and no Career and Technical Education (CTE) space. So, we want to
ensure when we think about programming and delivery and supporting students, that
those things are in place.
This is a photo of Woodbury High School’s cafeteria on any given day. If you
went into any of our three high schools during lunchtime, you would see many students
sitting on the ground because there simply is not enough space in the cafeterias.
This is really the way it looks at East Ridge High School in hallways, stairs, and
classrooms. As noted, East Ridge is the high school that is the most over capacity.
Director Pyan gave details on each of the components:
Elementary School Overview: Key upgrades and improvements for aging infrastructure,
improvements (restrooms and cafeterias). Adding and renovating collaborative
workspaces to address student growth. Additions to some schools, including Cottage
Grove Elementary and Grey Cloud. Transformation of Newport Elementary into an
Early Learning Center. Construction of a new Crestview Elementary in a central district
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July 20, 2022
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location in Cottage Grove. Repurpose the current Crestview building for the Alternative
High School; create a campus between Park High School and the Alternative High
School and change some of the traffic pattern to get the congestion off of 80th Street.
Construction of new Pine Hill Elementary, on the same site, while current school is still
open. This plan would provide the most minimal attendance boundary changes. Early
Learning Overview: Liberty Ridge Site II will continue as an Early Learning Center.
Expand Early Learning programming by repurposing Newport Elementary into an Early
Learning Center. It’ll have Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), preschool and
pre-K programming, early childhood screenings required before children enter
kindergarten, Early Childhood Special Education. Assessments, evaluations,
intervention visits and intake meetings for approximately 900 students, from birth to age
five. Middle School Overview: Key upgrades and improvements for aging infrastructure
(restrooms, cafeteria, etc.) Increasing capacity, especially at Oltman. When we built it,
we built it planning to expand when needed, now finding we need to expand it even
sooner. Construction of new, secured entryways in our middle schools. Increase
capacity at each to 1,400 students. Minimal attendance boundary changes districtwide.
High School Overview: Not proposing to build a new high school but will expand three
high schools’ capacities. Construction of classroom additions. Expansions of cafeterias
and kitchens. Creation of multipurpose space for online learning. We started an online
school, it’s coming this next year; that doesn’t mean everybody’s sitting at home for
school, they’re taking one-or-two classes so they’re still coming to the building but need
a collaborative space for them to learn online. We’ll be creating CTE spaces. Moving
the Alternative High School over to the current Crestview building. Redesign sites at
Park and Woodbury to improve traffic flow. Increase capacity to 2,400 at Park High
School, 2,200 at Woodbury, and 2,500 at East Ridge. Special Education and Support
Sites Overview: Construction of centrally-located District Service Center (DSC) on new
Crestview Elementary campus, to consolidate support staff, community education,
enrollment services, and space for meetings and professional development. Renovate
current DSC for Next Step and Pathways transition programming, ages 18-21, and
retain current warehouse and storage; so, we can end our current leases with two
spaces. Renovate Central Park for use by SoWashCo online, adult basic education and
special education. Construction of a satellite transportation space for more school bus
parking in addition to that on West Point Douglas Road, as it has run out of space.
Purchase 120-to-160 acres of land for future use, which would be enough to actually
handle a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school; we just feel now is
the time to get the approvals and work with the cities and have land ready for the next
ten years, after this next ten years. Projected Enrollment: Director Pyan displayed a
graph of current capacity, projected enrollment, and proposed capacity; it’s easy to see
that we’d be over capacity on all three levels if nothing was done.
Superintendent Nielsen stated our District webpage contains answers to frequently
asked questions and our communications team has developed a website,
sowashco.org/facilityplanning, where impacts for every school are listed and what each
school would get if the bond were successful. She stated they’d be happy to take any
questions from the Council.
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July 20, 2022
Page 7
Council Member Olsen thanked them for their presentation; a public information
campaign is really always challenging. They’d mentioned levies are for learning, and
bonds are for building, and there’s a lot of confusion about that. Some comments that
he sees and things that he hears when he talks to people are that the School District
has been very irresponsible with its money, the bond rating is not good at the School
District, if the School District was a business, they’d be out of business, etc. His
response to those people is that they’re talking about two different things, children
coming to school, which is the learning part, and they’re not talking about the bonding
part. If the School District was a private business, they could charge whatever they
chose to provide the service that they provide in order to remain solvent. So, as far as
he’s concerned, that’s not an issue.
He asked them to address for the public: 1) We hear about the legislature, who
passes school funding bills, or they don’t, as was the case this year. We’re hopeful that
they’ll come back for a special session after the election in August, but there’s no
guarantee of that. A bill passed the House for $1.15 billion (as a portion of the surplus
that the State currently enjoys of over $9 billion) for school funding; that’s not for
building, that’s for learning, so that wouldn’t have any impact whatsoever on this
referendum; he asked them if that was accurate. Superintendent Nielsen and Director
Pyan replied that that’s correct. 2) He stated historically, in an even year, the legislature
does a bonding bill, but they did not do one yet this year and didn’t know if they would.
He asked Director Pyan if schools could get in on those bonding bills or not. Director
Pyan replied no, that’s not part of the school funding repertoire. You would think there
would be pretty high bonding bills if all the schools got in, too, and he wondered if that’s
one reason why we can’t participate. He added they just had their property appraised
for their insurance policy, and we’re over $1 billion in buildings right now.
Council Member Olsen stated he’d asked that question because he already knew the
answer but wanted the public to know that bonding bills at the State legislature are for
special projects like the HERO Center next door to City Hall. But public schools can’t
get a piece of that pie, so the only option they have is to go to the voters.
Council Member Olsen spoke about the value of District 833; he admitted he’s
biased, as he went to 833 schools, graduated from Park High School, his kids attended
833 schools, and both graduated from Park High School. The reality is it’s a good, solid
School District, well rated, well thought of, it delivers excellent service, is absolutely
critical to having a healthy community. He knows Mayor Bailey strongly believes that,
too. The City of Cottage Grove is better because we have 833. People move to this
community, and one reason we’re building so many houses is because people want
their kids to get a quality education. Also, when you have good public schools, crime
rates go down, and there are a whole host of other benefits because schools get
involved in community education and so many other things, like Kids Club, basketball
camp, etc. So, our schools get used year round; it’s not just September through May
and then we mothball those buildings. They are constantly in use, and they are
massive contributors to the overall health of a community. When you don’t have good
schools, you don’t have good communities.
Council Member Olsen spoke about facilities. If you want to attract good talent,
which he knows they do, they want to have great teachers and really good
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paraprofessionals, your facilities have to be much more than just adequate. Right now,
they’re struggling along with adequate in many cases because you’ve got people
learning in closets. If you want healthy schools and healthy communities, you need to
have facilities that speak to that. You can’t just say, hey, we’re a great School District.
It's just like any business: If you walk in the front door and the business is not well kept
or it’s old and there’s failing infrastructure, etc., you’re not as appealing as the business
next door, that might have a new storefront.
Council Member Olsen spoke about safety, which he thought was the most important
piece. They briefly touched on it in their communication; he asked if they could take
another minute to talk about the fact that not only are you talking about capacity, etc.,
but we all hear in the media about terrible things that happen across the country. If you
want to keep kids safe, safe school buildings is a big deal. He knows that many of the
facilities that they’re planning would have significant upgrades in safety. He asked them
to touch on that. Director Pyan stated it’s mainly providing secured entrances because
that’s really where everything can be controlled. Some of our middle schools have a
secure entrance, but once someone gets in, they kind of have full reign. So, we’ll
readjust those so that if you went into some of our other schools, you’d know that you
have to go through a maze to get in, just to make sure that you go through the office
before you get into the building. We’ll get that done at those middle schools that don’t
have the secure entry. We’ll be looking at more camera upgrades, etc. Much of the
safety needs everybody’s help: If visitors at schools see something, let someone know.
Don’t let people in through doors they’re not supposed to go into, etc. But, yes, as part
of the bond, we’re excited to get those secure entrances, especially at Cottage Grove
Middle, Lake Middle School, and Woodbury.
Council Member Olsen stated he appreciated so much good information in their
presentation. He knew people liked to talk about things that aren’t necessarily relevant
to this, but if they wanted to get answers, how should they do that; is it best to plug into
the website, or is there a phone number they should call to get that information?
Superintendent Nielsen stated they can email any one of us at
super@sowashco.org; we are available, and we answer a lot of questions every day.
There is another link where people can go online and just fill out the information; we will
certainly get back to them.
Superintendent Nielsen stated she appreciated Council Member Olsen’s comments.
She thought the value of education and the cost of education have both increased over
time, and we’re all in competition with each other. What we pay our paraprofessionals,
our bus drivers and mechanics, and every single bargaining group, we’re all in
competition. Having been with South Washington County Schools since 1991, she
knows how much we’ve grown and how much we’ve changed; the opportunities,
programs, and course offerings that our students have access to is first class. There
are so many options for students, and in order to do those things, it costs money. When
we do budget adjustments, that’s an extremely difficult process because every program
has value for a student or a group of students. She thanked Council Member Olsen for
acknowledging the importance of our School District within the community of Cottage
Grove. She stated that’s greatly appreciated.
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Council Member Khambata thanked Council Member Olsen for his very good questions.
He stated he spent a good amount of time on the Planning Commission before he got to
the City Council; with almost every project, we built things, including this building, with
long life expectancies. So, as we invest in infrastructure, we’re not looking at what
today’s needs are, we’re looking for needs ten years from now. Budget planning has
many nuances; he appreciated them explaining their logic, the projections based on
estimated number of houses and how many children they expect, etc. He made an
observation that the elementary schools have more kids than the high school, so there
must be some attrition. He asked if they saw kids moving to specialty schools or
moving out of the District; he was just curious about that. Also, in crunching the
numbers, if we’re at 18,000 students, a 3% or 5% growth means a lot to us; if you’re a
School District with a few thousand students, it’s easier to absorb 30 or 40 students
versus 500 students. He just wanted to dig a little deeper into where those students go,
and also how you kind of anticipate where they’re coming from.
Director Pyan replied if you’re just looking at the graph, the elementary schools have
more grades than the high school. We actually have more enrollment; the grades get
higher as they go up mainly because St. Ambrose only goes to 8th grade, so many of
those kids will move into our system. So, we pick up a lot in 9th grade, which is where
we have a bubble. He likes to look at enrollment and we look at these bubbles that
come through. Generally, what happens in our District is we get a little bump in 9th
grade, basically because of St. Ambrose. We had our highest enrollment ever in 2020,
18,754. Of course, when the pandemic hit, everybody lost; statewide, he believed there
was a loss of 60,000-to-70,000 students. Of course, we lost some, too, but they all
went to private if they could keep going; the private schools filled up pretty fast. We lost
maybe 200 and most Districts lost more; he’s not sure why, but now we’re just slowly
crawling back. He believed that next year we might get back to our record number
again if things keep moving, but we had a little hiatus in our enrollment growth.
Generally, we’re growing; at least since he’s been here, we’ve grown 1-to-1.5% per
year. When you multiply that out by the numbers, that’s 180 kids. Superintendent
Nielsen stated that’s seven-or-eight elementary sections for sure. Director Pyan stated
those just come naturally, and then with all of the new housing, more are coming.
Council Member Khambata thanked him for that information.
Mayor Bailey thanked them again for coming here tonight; he thought the information
was important, and they’ve kept all Councils informed on this process, where the
numbers are coming from, and liked that they’ve got the website and a lot of frequently
asked questions on that. He stated his entire family, including his grandchildren, have
attended South Washington County Schools. He’s very proud of all of the years of work
and dedication to our community and others. He had actually attended Pine Hill
Elementary School, and it’s had some additions since he went there. When you look at
what the needs were then to what the needs are today, and how many things have
changed over the years, those particular schools have not changed. He believed they
were trying to modernize schools and make them more efficient. He knows people
often comment about a lot of ‘waste’, with the number of people in this building and that
many in another building; the reality is you can’t not have a janitor and not have a lunch
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July 20, 2022
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person in these different buildings. Every building has to have somebody, so if you can
actually build something that’s more efficient and has more capacity, it’s less likely
you’re going to have to do some expansion into the future, at least to the extent of
having to build entirely new buildings. He thought their efforts to try to work on some of
these issues with some of these older buildings within our School District is important to
bring up.
He mentioned that costs aren’t getting any cheaper; he knew that they were hearing
a lot right now because of inflation, etc. Even before inflation, when the City first started
talking about a Community Center referendum, the price tag when it was first discussed
he thought was around $13 to $15 million; by the time we actually went to a referendum
question, it was $42 million plus. So, when you talk about some of the things that you
were trying to do back in 2015, that would have taken away the need for such an
expensive bond referendum for this year. That goes to show you when you delay
projects, the needs don’t go away, they just get pushed down the road farther; at some
point, you’re going to have to pay the piper. Again, he appreciated the fact that they’re
trying to get it done all at once.
Mayor Bailey stated we hear a lot of talk about Newport Elementary, so he liked that
they explained the future of Newport Elementary, that it will still be a school. It’s going
to be repurposed to Early Childhood Education, birth to age five, so it’s still going to be
an important part of the School District. He asked if that’s for everybody in the School
District to use. Superintendent Nielsen replied yes, they’ll be programming from across
the District. The great thing is that the School District still owns the school building;
should things change in the future, such as needs or population, we have options
available. We were intentional about making sure that we continued to own that, and
it’s just a remodel or a renovation and a repurpose of the building.
Mayor Bailey stated he thought it was important that they’re trying to plan for the
future, even beyond what we’re talking about; he’s referring to purchasing land. As
we’ve learned recently, by the time the School District comes around and says we need
a new elementary school, so we need some property, pretty much everything has
already been purchased. That’s not just in Cottage Grove, that’s in Woodbury and all
the surrounding communities. He thought the fact that they’re looking to secure funds in
advance to plan for the future was very important, and that should be acknowledged
and appreciated; they’re trying to look well down the road so should the need arise,
there’s actually something already there, and they’re not paying premium dollars for a
property.
Mayor Bailey thanked them and wished them good luck with the bond referendum.
Superintendent Nielsen and Director Pyan thanked him.
C. Night to Unite Proclamation and Event Overview
Staff Recommendation: Proclaim Tuesday, August 2, 2022, Night to Unite
in Cottage Grove. Receive a presentation providing an overview of the
event and the scheduled activities.
Officer Dan Schoen, Community Engagement Officer, stated it was an honor to be here
to talk about Night to Unite 2022. It will be held on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, and we’re
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July 20, 2022
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looking forward to having lots of people join in on this community event. It’s another
time to exemplify the great work that is going on in the City of Cottage Grove and Public
Safety in general. The purpose of Night to Unite: Heighten crime and drug prevention
awareness that we do and that we need to do; Generate support for participation in
anticrime efforts; Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships;
Send a message to criminals, letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and
fight back, this is our town, and we’re going to look out for one another.
Night to Unite has the Police Department, Fire Department, elected officials, and City
staff visit many gatherings as part of this crime-prevention event. We asked our citizens
to register by July 26 to guarantee a visit; he noted we’ve been doing Night to Unite for
quite a few years.
We also have two campaigns: Fill the Bag, where neighbors donate food that is
collected to the Friends in Need Food Shelf; and Fill the Backpack, where neighbors fill
a backpack with school supplies, and the backpacks are also donated to the Friends in
Need Food Shelf.
A coloring contest is being sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department. The
grand prize is a shelter rental at the Highlands Park Splash Pad; download that form
from the City website, and we ask that that form be turned in before 4:30 p.m. on
Tuesday, July 26.
This is truly an all-City event, as Public Works will be helping by bringing out
barricades so people can have their parties. All activity information is also available on
the City website. He acknowledged all of the work that Charlene Raymond, who works
in the Records Department of our Police Department, has done for Night to Unite. She
puts in a lot of time on this, gets it organized with spreadsheets so everybody can visit
the parties that they want to go to; we take requests from people who really want a fire
truck to stop by or they really want to see Mayor Bailey, Council Member Olsen, City
Administrator Jennifer Levitt, or whoever they want to visit their party. She organizes all
of that, which is something that’s beyond his capabilities, so he thanked Charlene for all
of her work on that.
Officer Schoen stated he’s been here for 21 years, but he’s never worked in a time
when we, the Mayor, City Council, and City Administrator take such an active role to
make sure that the citizens know that we’re here to serve them. We also need their
help, and we’re going to work together. Night to Unite is part of that effort. He thanked
Council for all of their support of this event.
Mayor Bailey asked if somebody still wants to have a party if they can still register or if
that deadline had passed. Officer Schoen replied they can register until next Tuesday,
July 26. He stated that Charlene told him that they’re already at over 50 parties; when
we were at 40, both Director Koerner and I both said that’s pretty great, we’ll be happy
with that. Charlene said, no, we need to be over 50 because our City is growing and
there are new neighborhoods, and they need to know each other. She’s worked hard to
make that happen, so we’re over 50.
Council Member Olsen read aloud the Night to Unite Proclamation for Tuesday,
August 2, 2022.
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July 20, 2022
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Motion by Council Member Khambata to proclaim Tuesday, August 2, 2022, Night to
Unite in Cottage Grove; second by Council Member Olsen. Motion carried: 5-0.
7. CONSENT AGENDA
A. Authorize MN Department of Natural Resources Natural and Scenic Area
Grant Agreement for land acquisition at the future Mississippi Dunes Park.
B. Accept the donation of the medical stimulation manikin from
HealthPartners Clinical Simulation Center to be used by the Cottage
Grove Fire Department and authorize the City Administrator to execute the
Donation Memorandum of Understanding.
C. Approve the Pipeline Crossing Agreement with Northern Natural Gas.
D. Receive information regarding the Reimagining Recreation online survey.
E. Approve the Permanent Utility Easement with NP BGO Cottage Grove
Logistics Park, LLC.
F. Authorize issuance of a single-occasion gambling license to St. Rita’s
Church at 8694 80th Street South on September 16-18, 2022.
G. Approve the issuance of rental licenses to the properties listed in the
attached table.
H. Accept and place on file the minutes from the Planning Commission
meeting on May 23, 2022.
I. Approve the 2022 Grant Agreement for Municipal Recycling Grant
Distribution for $56,210.00.
J. Adopt Resolution 2022-106 approving the conditional use permit for
installation of three antennas to the City of Cottage Grove water tower and
ground-mounted equipment on the property located at 8520 81st Street
South.
K. Authorize issuance of Tobacco License to CG Smoke Shop, Inc. at 8457
East Point Douglas Road South, and terminate the current Tobacco
License for CG Smoke Shop, Inc. at 8461 East Point Douglas Road
South.
L. Authorize issuance of a Temporary Liquor License for St. Rita’s Church at
8694 80th Street South for the Fall Festival on September 16-18, 2022.
M. Adopt Resolution 2022-108 updating the Non-Represented Pay Plan with
four position reclassifications.
N. Adopt Resolution 2022-107 approving plans and specifications and
establishing an August 11, 2022, bid date for the River Oaks Golf Course
improvement project.
O. Receive 2022 Mid-Year Storage Plan Progress Report.
Mayor Bailey stated he wished to speak about two items on the Consent Agenda; the
first was Item A, the Minnesota DNR Natural and Scenic Area Grant Agreement, as staff
has been working hard to ascertain funds from different groups and agencies to
purchase land for parks. We’re also trying to purchase land along the Mississippi River
and the Mississippi Dunes golf course area. Staff received notice from the DNR that the
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July 20, 2022
Page 13
City of Cottage Grove is eligible for a Natural and Scenic Area Grant Agreement for
$500,000. We’re working with Washington County to see if they’ll match that with us,
because there are some matching components, and we believe that that will happen.
This will help us purchase additional acreage that we want to add on to a future park
there. He thanked the staff members who completed the grant applications to make
that become a reality.
The second is Item D, Recreation Survey Results and Update. Staff provided us
with an overview of all the information that we received from the citizens of Cottage
Grove over probably the last four-or-five months. We just wanted to hear from the
public about our parks and what they’re looking for in the future. There was a lot of data
received, but five key takeaways were: Aquatics, Buildings, Indoor Features, Outdoor
Features, Visually Aesthetic Requests. Staff broke it down a bit further: Aquatics:
Splash Pads, sprinklers, water slides, a pool, or a manmade lake. Buildings: A music
bandshell, having opportunities to use buildings in the winter, creating a food truck park,
a refrigerated outdoor ice rink, similar to the oval in Roseville. Indoor Features: More
restrooms, not porta potties, an indoor track, indoor fitness equipment, better
accessibility for people in wheelchairs and with other physical limitations, a Ninja
Warrior course, sensory features for all ages (dirt tables, bubbles, water foam, etc).
Outdoor Features: Fitness equipment, more walking and biking paths, playground
equipment for a variety of ages, access to the Mississippi, outdoor grills, benches,
community gardens, better accessibility for people in wheelchairs and other physical
limitations, another dog park, a sledding hill, a Ninja Warrior course, and sensory
features. Visually Aesthetic Requests: More trees for shade, better landscaping with
native plants, more flowers and plants for pollinators, more signs with historical
information about the area.
Mayor Bailey stated he really appreciated the number of people who participated in
the survey and the amount of feedback that we received. The data was very extensive,
and staff was able to determine what citizens wanted, which was very good. At this
point, we’re still sorting through all of the data; some things mentioned we’re already in
the process of doing, and we may be looking at some others down the road as options.
Motion by Council Member Thiede to approve the Consent Agenda; second by Council
Member Khambata. Motion carried: 5-0.
8. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS
A. Approve payments for the period of 7/08/2022-7/21/2022 in the amount of
$907,638.37.
Motion by Council Member Dennis to approve disbursements; second by Council
Member Olsen. Motion carried: 5-0.
9. PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Church of St. Rita Fall Festival Special Event Permit
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July 20, 2022
Page 14
Staff Recommendation: 1) Hold the public hearing to consider the Special
Event Permit application for Church of St. Rita. 2) Authorize issuance of a
Special Event Permit to the Church of St. Rita, contingent upon conditions
outlined in the memo from Public Safety Director Koerner and Community
Development Director Christine Costello dated July 14, 2022, and all
applicable state and local statutes.
Pete Koerner, Public Safety Director, stated St. Rita’s Fall Festival has been held for
many years, it’s very well run, but they applied for this Special Event Permit. It’s been
reviewed by necessary departments, and notices were sent out for the public hearing
without any responses. Tonight, we’ll be looking for approval of the permit. He reviewed
their permit, noting their layout seems to work pretty well. Public Safety didn’t have any
suggestions, but there’s going to be something there for everyone; he personally is
excited about their pig roast dinner, so we’ll be stopping by. He reviewed the Hours of
Operation: Friday, September 16, from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m.; Saturday, September 17,
from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Sunday, September 18, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Director Koerner stated the Special Permit was in the Council packet, along with the
conditions, and really nothing has changed. They have a great location because they’re
neighbors to our Central Fire Station, so additional parking and First Aid work out really
well. Emergency Preparedness Plan: We take this very seriously, and we’ll make sure
we have updated plans if things in society should change. The church works well as a
shelter should there be any severe weather. Food Sales: They obtain their permits
from Washington County; something new this year, of which they’re aware, is any food
trucks need an annual license, so we’ll also work with the applicants on that. Noise:
They get a permit for the temporary stage, as they want live music on Friday and
Saturday night until 9:30 p.m.; they have it set up so that the music doesn’t really affect
any of their neighbors. Liquor License/Gambling Permit: Were on tonight’s Consent
Agenda and were approved. Parking: There are times when it gets pretty busy, but all
of the neighbors realize for one weekend of the year people might be parked on the
street; again, we open up our visitor parking lot at the Central Fire Station. When we
built the Central Fire Station, they let our vehicles park in the church parking lot, so
we’re returning the favor.
Mayor Bailey opened the public hearing. As no one wished to speak on this item,
Mayor Bailey closed the public hearing.
Motion by Council Member Khambata to authorize issuance of a Special Event permit to
the Church of St. Rita, contingent upon conditions outlined in the memo from Public
Safety Director Koerner and Community Development Director Christine Costello dated
July 14, 2022, and all applicable state and local statutes; second by Council Member
Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0.
10. BID AWARDS - None.
11. REGULAR AGENDA
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July 20, 2022
Page 15
A. Dunkin’/Baskin Robbins Conditional Use Permit and Variance
Staff Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2022-105 approving a
conditional use permit for a drive-through order lane to be located at 7584
80th Street South and a variance permitting a trash enclosure to be
constructed with a zero lot line setback.
Emily Schmitz, Senior Planner, stated this conditional use permit (CUP) and variance
are for the building located on the northeast corner of 80th Street and Hemingway
Avenue. The building has been there since about 1970, with multiple tenants over the
years, and it’s certainly in need of a little bit of a facelift. The CUP will allow for a drive-
through on the northern portion of the building for a Dunkin’/Baskin Robbins. They’ll
use the existing access in and out of the site and will do some other site improvements.
It’s important to note with the parking and the stacking of the Dunkin’/Baskin Robbins
joint venture, the business model is focused on the drive-through aspect, but there will
also be several interior tables. The way the site plan has been oriented allows for our
Code stacking minimum of six on the site. This proposed flow also allows for some
potential additional stacking, to keep it on site, as opposed to extending out into the
public right-of-way on Hemingway Avenue. The Applicant is also proposing some
screening on the north end with some potential redevelopment opportunities into the
parcel on the north; that fencing will allow for just a little bit of a buffer. We would look
for some landscaping, but with the site as it currently is, it’s a little bit tricky to fit all of
that in there so it will still serve the purpose.
Planner Schmitz stated the variance request is for the dumpster enclosure; there’s
currently no enclosure on the site. With the redevelopment of the site, a dumpster
enclosure will be constructed so the Applicant has found the area on the site that keeps
it most visually appealing. It will be kept away from 80th Street and will be tucked in on
the site as best as they can; the parking lot currently extends all the way to each
property line, so placing that dumpster enclosure on that property line certainly aligns
with a variance request and that practical difficulty on the site. Those materials will
complement the building itself, as the colors will mesh and match, so it will really blend
into the site.
Other items on the site that they’re planning to improve include the monument sign;
the Applicant will use the existing base but will improve the sign’s appearance, as they
plan to use some of the same materials as the Grove 80 sign across the street to blend
the two redevelopment sites together. They’ll paint the building and create some more
storefronts for future tenants on the south side of the building; they’ll replace some
windows, doors, and will add some canopies, so are trying to bring the site back to life.
Planner Schmitz stated the Applicant, Lisa McCormick, is here tonight, and she may be
able to provide some more details on timing. Staff is also here to answer any questions
from Council.
Council Member Thiede asked how much of the building will Dunkin’/Baskin Robbins
be using; he also asked if the existing tenants were staying and if it’s intended for there
to be three other tenants. Planner Schmitz replied potentially there would be four
City Council Meeting Minutes
July 20, 2022
Page 16
tenants. Council Member Thiede asked if one of the doors actually went into two
different areas, and Mayor Bailey replied that right now it actually does.
Applicant Lisa McCormick stated it was a pleasure to be here tonight; this has been a
while coming and we’re excited to be at this stage. The Dunkin’ franchisee had a
previously planned vacation, so he wasn’t able to be here tonight, but asked her to
convey his appreciation for the support of City staff and Council. Ms. McCormick stated
she’d answer any questions, noting site improvements on which they spent the most
time, aside from the drive-through, were the monument sign and the trash enclosure.
They did their best within the constraints of the site to improve it to the extent they could
bring it closer to conformity; they felt they came up with a reasonable plan that works.
Mayor Bailey asked when they thought that they’d be open for business. Ms.
McCormick stated that they’re hoping mid-fall. Mayor Bailey stated he knew that
supply-chain issues have been a factor for many and thanked her for speaking tonight.
Motion by Council Member Olsen to Adopt Resolution 2022-105 approving a
Conditional Use Permit for a drive-through window and a Variance to allow a zero lot
line setback for a trash enclosure located at 7584 80th Street South; second by Council
Member Khambata. Motion carried: 5-0.
B. CBD & Cannabis Interim Ordinance
Staff Recommendation: Adopt Interim Ordinance 1060 prohibiting the
establishment of new uses or the expansion of existing uses related to
cannabis and nonintoxicating cannabinoids (CBD) sales, testing, or
distribution for one year.
City Attorney Korine Land stated she’d provided a lot of historical information just to
show the roadmap of how we got to where we are today. Even a month ago, she would
have said she knew where we were and where things were going until everyone
realized that the legislature had thrown a curve ball into their last-minute adoption of a
very large omnibus bill. That law basically defined certain CBD uses that contain THC
that would be legally able to be sold in the State of Minnesota. It is a one of a kind;
there is no other state in the U.S. that has a similar law, and reasonable attorneys’
minds disagree on exactly how it can be interpreted, what can be sold, and how it can
be sold. So, many City Attorneys in many cities are taking the same approach that
we’re recommending tonight, which is we need to take just a little bit of time to study the
issues, determine where these uses are appropriate, how they should be best
monitored by the City if needed, whether that be through zoning, licensing, or both. The
only way to do that is there’s a tool in law called an Interim Use Ordinance, and it is a
moratorium. It just takes a time out so that the City can study the issue and then come
back with appropriate regulations as the policymakers feel are best used for this
community. So, that’s what we’re recommending tonight. It is officially a 12-month
moratorium, that’s the maximum it can be in place, but it can be terminated earlier upon
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July 20, 2022
Page 17
adoption of any regulations that Council chooses, or upon abandonment; if you decide
that you don’t want to do anything at all, you can just terminate it at any time.
The effect that it has on existing businesses that are already selling these products is
they can continue to sell in the same manner and volume and type that they are doing
today. They cannot expand once this moratorium is adopted, nor can any new
businesses choose to sell these products or open for business. That is what a
moratorium does, it stops things in place today so that things don’t get bigger than you
anticipate or than you expect. You can then put your appropriate regulations in place
that you see fit and have the community grow the way you want it to; so, the
recommendation is to approve this moratorium tonight.
Council Member Olsen stated Attorney Land mentioned that one of the benefits to the
moratorium is it gives us some time to analyze what’s really going on, how we can best
monitor it, etc., but she also said that anyone who is currently selling can continue to do
so, without any expansion of what it is that they’re currently doing. The moratorium is
intended to hit the pause button for anybody new, who might want to sell. He asked: 1)
If we pass the moratorium tonight, how do we know who’s already selling so that we can
say we know these people are selling, these people are not, so that we can ensure that
they don’t expand the use in which they’re currently engaged? 2) How do we
communicate to other potential retailers that they cannot put this product on the shelf
until such time as we have a discussion as a Council and put reasonable regulations,
monitoring methodology, etc. in place?
Attorney Land stated if this is adopted tonight, we’ve actually prepared a
communication to be distributed tomorrow, by mail. For those businesses that the City
staff is aware are selling these products, they will personally visit the sites next week,
once we’re sure that everybody should have received the letter, to be personally
informed of how it affects their business. For those that we don’t know they’re selling, of
which there are many types, retail or some kind of a service establishment that has a
little product line off to the side by their cash register, we won’t know about all of them
that are selling today. We’ll send the letter to every business that we can possibly think
of that could be selling them, perhaps through the Chamber of Commerce.
Council Member Thiede asked what if people in town just start selling it, kind of like they
sell stuff on eBay?
Attorney Land replied as we become aware of them, we certainly would contact them
and tell them to just pause until we can figure this out. We’re not going to go in and take
people’s products off of their shelves, but if they open a business during this
moratorium, we will inform them that they need to stop. Once we adopt something,
that’s when the moratorium will stop.
Mayor Bailey stated he felt the biggest thing about this was there were no parameters
when this bill got passed. For the public, this could be sold almost anywhere. There
are certain limits that we put into place in our community for not having two liquor stores
next to each other, not having adult uses in certain districts, etc. So, the idea behind
this is for us to hit a pause button and to be able to actually set up an ordinance or a
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July 20, 2022
Page 18
process so that should they want to come in, and we’re not saying they’re not going to
be able to come in, we just want to make sure that we’re always aware of some of the
limits. There aren’t even parameters in this bill that was passed that addresses who
can sell it, the ages, etc. He was frankly surprised on how it came out, and he’s sure
Attorney Land was, too. Normally, if somebody’s selling tobacco, there’s a process,
there’s training, etc., the same with alcohol or guns or whatever. There isn’t anything
with this, but this obviously could impair someone’s driving, etc. We want to make sure
that we’re keeping our community safe. Eventually, it will be here, and we’ll change the
ordinance, but we also want to make sure that there are various parameters in place.
Motion by Council Member Khambata to Adopt Interim Ordinance 1060 prohibiting the
establishment of new uses, or the expansion of existing uses, related to cannabis and
nonintoxicating cannabinoids (CBD) sales, testing, or distribution for one year; second
by Council Member Olsen. Motion carried: 5-0.
12. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS
Council Member Khambata stated that he’s really looking forward to Night to Unite. It’s
really encouraging, as we saw with the School District here and our award ceremony
tonight, how engaged and involved our community is.
Council Member Olsen thanked the public for their attendance at this year’s Fourth of
July celebration at Kingston Park. As part of the Cottage Grove Lions Club, this is one
of our favorite events in which to participate. Due to concerns about weather, people
didn’t really start showing up until closer to 8:00 p.m., but we had our most successful
event ever. When the fireworks went off, we saw that the entire park was just packed,
including people who were in their vehicles up at the top of the hill by the middle school.
It was nice to see that so many people came out, it makes for a very fun event, and it
also spoke to the strength of our community and the fact that people want to engage
and participate. He thanked the public for that, and he thanked all of the City staff
members from our Public Safety team, our Public Works team, etc. who gave of their
time to make sure that the event went off without a hitch and we could execute the
event safely.
He also thanked Economic Development Director Gretchen Larson for joining him for
coffee yesterday. He had a really great opportunity to chat with her; she’s relatively new
with the City, but she comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience from working in
municipal government for so long. It was really neat to hear her philosophy on how to
approach economic development, etc. He’s also grateful that we have somebody on
our team with her attitude, enthusiasm, and knowledge; she’s really embraced the
community in her time here, so thanked her for that.
Finally, he thanked City staff for all of the hard work and effort that they’ve been
putting forth for months, but especially in the summer months. People don’t always see
what goes on behind the scenes, and we could spend hours talking about all of the
different programs that are being executed right now through Parks and Recreation, the
upcoming Safety Camp with Public Safety, the Fourth of July event, Strawberry Fest,
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July 20, 2022
Page 19
and all of the various development things that are going on, including the trip to ICSC in
which staff also participated. There’s so much going on that it just boggles his mind that
our staff can keep up with the volume of work; that’s due in large part to the dedication
that they have, their willingness to stay late or come in early when necessary, to
participate in different events, and be present for ribbon cuttings, etc. We have got just
a top shelf City staff; it’s the best team that he’s seen in his time as a Council Member,
and the culture that Administrator Levitt has established through her work with the
various directors and the line staff in all the various departments is just unbelievable.
Our citizens benefit from that tremendously. He again thanked the staff, as he knows
that they’re all up to their elbows in work, but they continue to do everything that they do
professionally, with excellence. Director Larson told me when we met the other day that
Cottage Grove doesn’t do ugly, and Cottage Grove doesn’t do shabby. Administrator
Levitt is probably as close to a perfectionist as the world has ever seen, and the fact of
the matter is that staff delivers in a big way.
Mayor Bailey stated he agreed with Council Member Olsen’s comments, as those
were perfect.
Mayor Bailey stated as the public is very much aware, we’ve had some challenges in
particular parts of our community with some Xcel power outages; some of them were
just flashes or surges, with the longest being up to 12 hours. If any citizens or
businesses have experienced this recently, he apologized for that happening. He
stated it’s not the City that’s having an issue, but it’s some challenges that Xcel is
having. We’ve been having ongoing conversations with Xcel to get a deeper dive into
what’s going on and perceptions that are out there, whether real or not; we want to
know as a community. He’d recently put a post on Facebook about the power outages,
and asked citizens to tell him where they live and how long the power was out. He had
more than 300 citizens reach out to him; some gave him the actual times, some talked
about extra surges and trends outside of the two main times that happened, that there
are certain areas of our community that have had power outages up to four times in the
last month to six weeks. He felt that was unacceptable. He read comments about our
seniors, as all of our senior facilities in Cottage Grove were without power, one time for
12 hours, so that’s a challenge. Over 50 businesses reached out to him, some of them
restaurants, including Dairy Queen, and Whispering Gardens, in Old Cottage Grove.
He wanted the public to know that the City, our staff, and the Council care about this;
we will be having a meeting with Xcel, who will be provided with the information
received, and they’ll be investigating further to understand what’s going on. They’ll
determine if they’re infrastructure issues or what’s causing the power outages; going
forward, we can hopefully minimize them to storm-level events. All of those who
reached out to him said that they’d understand if a storm came through, especially if a
tree fell on a power line. But with these power outages of such long duration,
something is just not right, so we’ve got to figure that out. Mayor Bailey thanked
everyone who’d provided information to him on this issue. Xcel will be at a future
Council Meeting to give us their feedback and tell us what they’re going to do to make
sure that these power outage events are as minimal as possible.
City Council Meeting Minutes
July 20, 2022
Page 20
Council Member Olsen stated our former State Senator, Katie Sieben, is part of the
Public Utilities Commission, which regulates Xcel Energy; he knew Mayor Bailey had
been in contact with her on several occasions about some of these issues. Mayor
Bailey is really pulling out all of the stops, so the residents are very lucky to have Mayor
Bailey being actively involved in this, and he felt we’re going to get some traction.
Mayor Bailey stated we will get some traction, as this is unacceptable. If he was
living in these areas and his power was out for hours multiple times during the hottest
days of the year, that’s just not acceptable. So, we’ll get these things fixed and make
these things be an issue of the past.
Mayor Bailey stated he’d also spoken with Public Works Director Ryan Burfeind
about what effects these power outages had on the Public Works side of things. He
learned lift stations went down, water pumps went down, which of course meant that we
had to use generators, but our Ice Arenas went down; as a matter of fact, so much so
that the ice was truly melting, and the white color that’s put in the ice started coming to
the top. All of these things even affected us as a City in a variety of different ways. The
reason he brought that up was because he wanted to give kudos to our staff; as soon
as these things started happening, Director Burfeind had called me right away, Director
Koerner was on the phone with Xcel, and our staff was called out to ensure there
weren’t issues with stoplights or our pumps.
Mayor Bailey stated as previously mentioned, staff had acquired money for open
spaces; while we haven’t yet received this, a bill made its way through the House, and
we have really been working hard to find pots of money to help with projects within our
City, whether for future roadway infrastructure improvement or the Shoppes at Cottage
View. We know that we need to finish the last section of 80th Street, and we were
informed that in the omnibus bill that there is $7.9 million that has been directly
allocated to the City of Cottage Grove; that has passed the House and now it goes to
the Senate, so we’ll obviously be in touch with them. That would be money that would
be put towards the reconstruction of the 80th Street and East Point Douglas Road area;
that area is only secondary to Jamaica Avenue and East Point Douglas Road South,
which we are going to be doing next year. He wanted the public to know that our goal is
to try to lessen the tax impact on the residents and businesses. That’s why we always
try to find additional sources of money; we’re keeping our fingers crossed on another
significant road project, and should that come to fruition, he’ll be more than happy to
announce that. He also noted that State Representative Angie Craig had called to tell
him that the work for 80th Street had made it through the House bill; we appreciate all of
the work that she’s done for the City of Cottage Grove.
Mayor Bailey stated tonight’s workshop is open to the public, and it will be held in the
Training Room. We’ll be discussing our interim water treatment plan, our utilities and
engineering division building, and additional workspace for the City Hall/Public Safety
building. There are not any workshops closed to the public tonight, so we’ll be
adjourning this meeting from the Training Room once the workshop is completed.
13. WORKSHOPS - OPEN TO PUBLIC - TRAINING ROOM
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July 20, 2022
Page 21
A. Interim Water Treatment Plan
Staff Recommendation: Receive information on Cottage Grove’s Interim
Water Treatment Plan.
Director Burfeind spoke about the City’s PFAS situation and where we stand today.
Right now, we have three interim water treatment plants: Wells 3 and 10 were treated
in 2017; the third treatment plant, built in 2020, could treat either Well 7 or 8, but it can’t
treat both of those. The four wells listed are four of the wells that had a health advisory
put on them in 2017; that means they exceeded the health-based values (HBVs) that
the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) had set. Two of the six chemicals we have
in the water are PFOA and a little bit of PFOS; those are really the main drivers of PFAS
contamination, they were the first two in the 2000s that came out with HBVs. Right
now, the MDH is at 35 parts per trillion for PFOA, 15 parts per trillion for PFOS, so there
are just very small amounts in the water. Parts per trillion is a very low number, it’s
basically one of the few chemicals the MDH looks at that they measure, and a very
small amount can trip the threshold requiring treatment. The EPA has always been kind
of behind them; so, when MDH was at 35 and 15, the EPA was at 70. The EPA has
always been higher than the State of Minnesota, and the State has always been kind of
ahead of the game, looking at scientific studies and making sure the water is safe.
On June 15, 2022, the EPA released new health advisories, but these are not
enforceable advisories for those two chemicals; basically, its 4 parts per quadrillion for
PFOA and 20 parts per quadrillion for PFOS. The reporting limit is 4 parts per trillion, so
they’re 1,000 times lower than what they can even detect, based on today’s technology.
So, basically the EPA said we think 0 is all you can have; if you detect anything in your
water, it is too much. This has really wide-ranging effects, not just in the East Metro, as
many other communities in the State actually have these chemicals in their water, just
lower levels that don’t create an issue; but if this becomes a reality, it’s going to create
decisions across the entire U.S. The health advisory is not enforceable, so this does
not impact us right now. What the MDH has in place is still what we follow, but they are
looking at Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), in 2023, and that is an enforceable
standard that cities across the entire nation will have to follow. They could be higher
than the health advisories, but we fully expect and basically they said that the detection
limit is 4 parts per trillion; so, once again, if you detect anything in your water, you can’t
use that well.
Council Member Thiede asked about the basis for these numbers. Director Burfeind
replied it’s interesting, everything today with the MDH and every other state is looking at
very scientific studies. This is an epidemiological study on humans, actually children in
the Faroe Islands, off the UK, and if they had this in their blood, they tested vaccine
efficacy. So, it’s the first time ever someone has tried to use a more human-based
study, which you think would be more accurate, but it’s really not how things are done.
Health departments are having a lot of concern with that, so they’re reviewing this pretty
heavily, and he thinks they are really going to push back on these levels.
Director Burfeind stated either way the MDH has said based on this, we are going to
again look at our HBVs, and we’re going to implement new HBVs in early 2023. It’s
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July 20, 2022
Page 22
similar to our position in 2017, when it just kind of happened, and summer hit so we
didn’t have time to react to it. Right now, we’re planning on the study with the detection
limit of 4 parts per trillion; basically, we’ll look at all of our wells, and if they have this in
it, we really can’t run those. The good news is with our current treatment plant, it will
take it completely out of the water, so that will not affect our treatment plant. They can
lower it all the way down to 0, and it won’t matter because we treat to 0 right now. So,
those current treatment plants will be just as effective. What it really means is we need
to look at an additional temporary treatment plant; that might sound odd, because we’re
working on a permanent treatment plant, but that permanent treatment plant process is
a process. Right now, we’re looking at our first one being operational in the spring of
2025. It has to go through a very extensive design effort and cost justification to the
State because the State holds the purse for that money. With the final design, just
ordering panels for those is a 10-month process. So, we’re quite a long way out.
Council Member Khambata stated so the resiliency strategy here is more likely
when, and not if, any of our wells show contamination, it’s going to trigger the need for a
temporary treatment facility; Director Burfeind confirmed that.
Council Member Khambata asked if our actions moving forward were going to start
the process of procuring funds for that. Director Burfeind confirmed that and stated
we’re not fortunate that we have so much contamination, but because we do, we have
treatment plants, we have a funding mechanism in place, and the State’s given us kind
of a verbal go ahead to use that funding to start designing new plants. Because we
have wells today that have a health advisory, they meet the criteria for treatment; we’ve
been very aware of those funds, haven’t overused them or abused them, and we built
what we needed as we’ve gone along through this whole path of PFAS. Now we’re
saying we need two more, as we’ve analyzed this and our potential need. We actually
ran all those numbers just assuming a worst-case scenario, and we’re looking at a new
dedicated treatment facility for Well 7. We had installed that in 2020, and another small
metal building right next to it, and then we need peak season treatment for Well 2,
which he’d explain.
Director Burfeind stated we want to continue to be a water management City; we
want to have new temporary treatment in place by next May so we can meet those
demands. We’re not looking at watering bans and things like that. Other cities aren’t as
fortunate; these new values will hit them hard, but they don’t have wells so they can’t
spend any of the State money. They will either use their own money, which is
expensive, or sit and wait for these values; so, in that aspect, we’re kind of fortunate.
Council Member Olsen stated he knew one of the reasons that the EPA was giving
advice on what their recommendations are was because previously they didn’t do that,
and so you had states that did not have any consistency relative to their HBVs. The
Consent Decree that came out of the 3M Settlement stipulates that that money is
managed through the MDH. If the MDH has a different value than the EPA, does that
supersede what the EPA advisory is? Or, when the EPA makes a recommendation and
actually gets it passed through Congress, etc., will that supersede the MDH HBVs?
Then does that have any impact on what we need to do relative to the Consent Decree?
Because the Consent Decree is managed through the MDH, so he assumed MDH is
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July 20, 2022
Page 23
saying communities who received this funding, this is your target, whereas the EPA
target is going to be significantly lower.
Director Burfeind replied there are two parts to that: If there is an MCL from the EPA,
from just a water system standpoint, that sets the bar. So, that’s what we need to treat
to, but the Consent Decree is very specific that it’s based on State HBVs; he thinks
that’s why the State is probably going to be smart about that and make sure they’re in
line. That way, they won’t have the weird situation where the federal government says
you need to treat, but the Consent Decree won’t provide the money. So, they’re going
to want to keep those consistent.
Council Member Olsen stated he suspects that’s going to be true of every state in
the union; he knew Wisconsin’s AG just filed suit on this same issue, as a result of
these new EPA numbers. He didn’t think the MDH could have much choice; he asked if
they would need to fall in line. Director Burfeind replied that’s what it looks like, and he
thought they wanted to get out ahead of it by doing the new HBVs. Council Member
Olsen confirmed with Director Burfeind that that’s why we’re planning for this.
Mayor Bailey asked if Well 7 was a permanent plant or if that was temporary; Director
Burfeind stated it’s still temporary. We can treat Well 7 or Well 8 now; we’ll have two
plants there, and one will treat Well 8 and one will treat Well 7.
Mayor Bailey stated when this is all released to the public, how do we communicate
HBVs versus a health advisory, because people are going to be confused. Director
Burfeind stated at our meeting with MDH, PCA, and the EPA, Administrator Levitt told
them that this was going to be confusing. This is another drastic change, just as 2017
was; since then, the values have crept down a little, but it’s been very minor, and no one
really pays attention. Yesterday we said the water is safe, and today it’s not anymore.
Now they’re at 0, so that’s the furthest they can go. He thought all the states were glad
that the EPA was finally stepping in, but it was surprising to all of us that they went that
low as we only had a two-day notice that these values were changing.
Council Member Olsen stated the states are going to have to alleviate that concern.
Council Member Khambata noted Director Burfeind had stated that we’re currently
filtering the water to 0. So, when we say here’s the new incremental limit, but we
already filter to 0, he thinks that will have a positive impact on whoever we’re trying to
convey that message to.
Mayor Bailey stated our challenge, though, is some of our wells that are currently
above the HBVs will be below. Director Burfeind stated we blend them; so, the reason
we need this new treatment plant is blending them will no longer be an option, so that’s
where these two plants are key. It’s unfortunate that these two we want to treat are
over now; so, we have the funding and the justification to get that.
Director Burfeind displayed the overall water system; the red circles are where we
have treatment plants today, and the yellow circles are where we’re proposing them.
The reason we’re treating Well 2, the one that’s been shut down since 2017, is it’s
actually on a corner lot in the Thompson Grove neighborhood at 87th and Grenadier,
and there’s really not room there for a building so we never treated that. But Well 1, up
by Norris Square, that’s going to go over; it’s already almost there, so that will have to
be shut down, but they both have the same capacity. So, if we can treat this and flip to
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July 20, 2022
Page 24
that Well, we’ll still maintain our demands that we need to meet; so, there will be no
history for us. From a permanent treatment standpoint, Well 13 will be our new well to
replace Wells 1 and 2; they’re all being treated, so whatever treatment method we
choose they’ll treat to 0. Really, it’s just Well 1 that could be over now, and then that
would be treated down here; so, we’d have to run a water line from Pine Tree Valley to
get down there. Well 12 has no detection of either of those substances, somehow it has
readings of 0 for those chemicals, but things can change; when we have our own
projects or raw water lines, in the future, Well 12 could be treated also.
Council Member Olsen asked about all of our private well users. Director Burfeind
replied that’s going to definitely change things for them. Many of ours are quite high
and have treatment today, but it will definitely add more in East Cottage Grove and then
a few more on Grey Cloud Trail will need treatment. Council Member Olsen stated also
in Pine Coulee because we checked the Coulee last year or the year before, and they
came in under HBVs. Director Burfeind stated yes, but they have a little bit.
Administrator Levitt stated there may be a changeout in those systems earlier than they
usually anticipated as one potential situation. She stated another thing to think about is
if the federal EPA now makes these guidelines, every state will experience this. With
just the communities in Minnesota, there’s a finite number of tanks and tank suppliers.
She’s asked staff to figure out where those tanks are and put our name on it; we need
to figure out where the tanks are, we need to get some money down on them and get
our name on them. Director Burfeind can do a building, but he needs tanks; if he can’t
get tanks, every person in the country is going to be looking for tanks. So, we’ve raised
a concern with the State, asked if they could do a master contract, if they could do
something to procure the actual treatment vessels. So, we’re trying to act very quickly
and try to use the tanks that we procure for temporary treatment, to also be used in our
permanent facilities. This is going to be a real issue, and she thinks we are ahead of
the curve, as we’re trying to procure those and secure those for our facilities; that is
going to be a race, so she wants Council to know that we are the first horse out of the
gate. The team behind me is finding us some tanks, so know that that is a serious issue
that we’re facing.
Director Burfeind spoke about Well 7; this is the existing building that’s in Foothill Park,
off of Foothill Road. We are proposing something very similar to be built, just to the
east of it a little bit. There’s not a lot of impact to existing City properties, although
homeowners who butt up to this park would have to live through another summer of
construction. It will be less now because we had to do a lot of improvements the first go
round to get the right piping, the right sewer, and upgrade the road, but all of that is in
place. Now we’re really just simply building a small metal building, and we’re actually
looking at purchasing the tanks because we really won’t need these facilities in the
winter; so, we could purchase these tanks and not waste Settlement money, and then
we could move them to our permanent facility once the permanent facility is ready.
Right now, we rent those tanks because we need them; those are going to be in place
until our permanent ones are in place. Here we could actually buy the tanks and then
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July 20, 2022
Page 25
move them over to our permanent plant behind the fire station, so it could be a little
more cost effective.
Director Burfeind stated with Well 2, when we talk about peak season treatment, you
can see there’s not room for a treatment plant on this site, but we’re looking at
companies that actually make these treatment systems, basically on a trailer, and it
could just be parked in the driveway for the summer. We really need it in the summer,
and during the winter, Well 10 has plenty of capacity to meet the south side of the
highway, the low-pressure zones. We’re looking at something like this just to treat Well
2 with just some temporary piping for the next two summer months. It has been done at
other places, and we haven’t done it yet in Minnesota, but it was something that was
talked about a little bit in 2017 when we had our major issues. This would be a good
option to also not spend too much money and preserve those funds for the permanent
systems that we really need to build. It’s definitely necessary, and he thought it would
be a cost-effective way to do that.
Mayor Bailey asked if that was going to make any noise; Director Burfeind replied it
really shouldn’t because it’s the well that pushes the water through, and the well is
enclosed in that really soundproof building. So, there really shouldn’t be any noise that
people would hear at all. Mayor Bailey stated it’s literally in the neighborhood; even
though it’s ‘temporary’, there might be a need for some type of temporary screening if
we’re thinking about that. Director Burfeind stated we’ll be looking at that also from a
security perspective, just some temporary venting that will kind of hide it a little bit so it’s
not an eyesore for the neighborhood but will also provide some security.
Next Steps
-We’ve begun the design of the plant, using the existing grant that we have in place.
-We need to receive final approval from the MPCA; at a lower staff level, they’re very
understanding of our system and what we need, and there’s a lot of support for us to do
this. At the higher levels, there’s some hesitancy to spend temporary money, they’d like
to just do the permanent plants.
-If we don’t build these, we’d be in some kind of a watering ban, maybe not as drastic as
2017, for the next two years; this is not an option for us by any means. So, we’ll be
working on some communication with some of our legislators to get support for this. We
need to get this across the finish line with the higher level, the co-trustees. Administrator
Levitt stated we may need our senator and representatives to chat with the DNR
Commissioner and PCA to make it very clear that this is going to be an essential thing.
Other cities have been able to treat more of their systems temporarily than we have.
Unfortunately, at the Commissioner’s office, they don’t seem to embrace it as strongly
as the line staff that we deal with; we’re giving them about ten days to figure it out
before we call in the big guns.
-Once we receive final approval, we’ll look at ordering those vessels, because there’s a
six-to-eight-month lead time to acquire them, complete construction prior to summer
2023, and one other thing we’ll look at is a well line; that’s in that intermediate zone by
the Central Fire Station. We still want to look at if we need to do treatment for that also;
that is not over the limit, it does not have a well advisory right now, so we can’t spend
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July 20, 2022
Page 26
money on it without spending our own funds. We’re going to keep analyzing that and
see if we also need to treat that in the next two years.
Council Member Olsen asked about the new well. Director Burfeind stated the new well
that we’re going to drill will be over the limit when we do this, just as most of our City is,
so we will build that probably over the next year to year-and-a-half, and it’ll be ready to
supply the well zone treatment plant when it’s commissioned over the winter of 2024.
Director Burfeind stated that’s our plan, moving forward; we’re pretty aggressive, we
have the plan in place, and will execute it. We want to continue to get out ahead of this
issue, especially because we’re butting up against some of our other communities to
acquire this equipment before it gets taken. We want to just move ahead.
Council Member Olsen stated to get those tanks, obviously we want to have that be
funded through the Consent Decree, but he asked if we needed to put our own money
down and then get reimbursed or how that would be done. Administrator Levitt stated
at this point, if they’re not going to fund it up front, it’s something that would be in our
best interest to put our own money down and fight for reimbursement later; that would
be her advice.
Director Burfeind asked if there were any questions, and noted they’d obviously be
giving Council updates as they go.
Council Member Olsen asked how much money we’re talking about. Administrator
Levitt replied that it’s hard to say how many tanks we’d need at this point as we look at
our design. She stated that today the PCA indicated that they would approve us to do a
design, because right now we’re launching into the design of two treatment plants, but
we’re treating with the assumptions of today’s wells being treated. If you take these
new guidelines, additional wells will be treated, meaning the design is about much-
higher capacity and a slightly different configuration. Today they said that they would
fund the design in essence of the larger-scale system; now, we have to change gears
midstream to design larger facilities with the assumption that they’re going to be funded.
They’ve indicated there’s $183 million of contingency; so, they’ve said that we would be
fully funded for our capital. They’ve indicated there’s a potential, though, that our
Operations and Maintenance (O & M) could be reduced over the life expectancy from
what they originally said, it’s in the Water Supply Plan. The thing that we struggled with
when we addressed the federal EPA today is they provide funds, but those are loans.
So, those big dollar values that they put in the infrastructure bill are loans; we thought
we were going to go after them because we weren’t sure if we were going to get all of
this 3M Settlement under consent. We thought maybe we needed to go after these pots
of money, and then we found out they’re loans. Administrator Levitt stated the State is
thinking maybe they’ll have to go for a bonding request to help out so many other
communities; they feel the 14 communities in the Settlement are very well positioned
because we have a funding source, but other cities across the State are going to have
to rely on State bonding.
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July 20, 2022
Page 27
B. Utilities and Engineering Division Building
Staff Recommendation: Receive the information and provide direction to
staff for the Utilities and Engineering Division Building.
Director Burfeind stated the Utilities and Engineering Division could both be located
near our low-zone water treatment plant at 110th Street and Ideal Avenue. He reviewed
the history from 2019 to present, noting a Space Needs Study was completed for Public
Works. It looked at a full buildout or partial buildout of Public Works and Parks, which
was quite expensive, between $30 to $50 million. Then, we looked at an option to
provide about a 20-year life on our current site, at a cost of about $15 million; that’s a lot
of money to put into a site that we’d eventually vacate. The next option was to do a ten-
year project, do some remodeling and some expansion of our current building with
some additional metal buildings; even that got complicated because our building has
been added onto so many times that it would be very expensive to do even a small
expansion project. After that, we went down a new path, knowing that we would have
this treatment plant here, and it would be very efficient to have a utility building next to it
to house our Utility Department. That would really help solve our space needs at Public
Works to move out an entire division, and with this new building there would be some
additional storage. With the treatment plant going in there, the State needs to pay for
any water, sewer, electrical, and some site work, like ponds; it would be much more
cost effective to co-locate a City building on this property that had the space for it.
Since that time, we took the Space Needs Study and worked with architects. We’ve
come up with some concepts and the costs to do them. Knowing in the future we’ll
have a full Public Works facility, we wanted to ensure that they could become one
building in the future, with the ability for the public to go to just one building. We looked
at bringing Engineering down here, as they’re part of Public Works, and Utilities is a
division with which we work the most; they’re at City Hall right now, but there are a lot of
space needs issues at City Hall. We have some temporary measures to get by for the
next two years, but for the life of City Hall we need to make more room. Director
Burfeind introduced John McNamara with Wold to give more information.
Mr. McNamara stated that we took a look at the previous Space Needs Study,
combined that a little bit with this site, thinking this could be the first building to go on the
site. With the idea of adding Engineering to this building, we asked if there were some
programatic elements that we should bring into the Utility Building that would benefit the
overall building. We talked about taking the program from the study, figured out which
components of that really made sense to be part of a Utility Building from the standpoint
of lobby space, restrooms, conferencing space, etc. that you’d put into a larger building;
it would make sense to bring some of those elements into here and take a deeper look
at how we might not only have the common lobby area, but as we add office space in
the building and bring Engineering into the building, what would that look like for an
administrative area. So, these two programatic areas are a little bit different than what
was in the Space Needs Study because we’re combining a few of those things together
and pushing and pulling a few things. What we have is the Engineering Department will
have an office for the city engineer, it will have two offices for our assistant engineers,
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July 20, 2022
Page 28
and then some workstations in that area, not to take what we need for today but also
planning out for the full buildout of this facility. We had the same conversation for the
Utility Department, with a couple of offices, some workstations; this also envisions
putting some workstations in here for utility billing. Generally, there would be some
locker rooms for staff. Those are the two office areas of the building.
Mr. McNamara stated as they looked at vehicle storage, they took the square
footage, but we worked closely with Director Burfeind and his group to look at what
vehicles we’d be storing here so we could create a program around vehicles. So, these
are all the vehicles that would be stored in the utility bay, along with some other vehicles
that would allow for some future changes in this as the overall Public Works building
gets built, such as some deeper stalls for plow trucks and some of those larger vehicles
that could either reside in this building or reside in the larger Public Works building when
it comes on board. We put some future vehicles in here for growth. As we looked at
some of the other spaces, just for generalized storage, we have a cold storage
component to this, probably 5,000 square-feet, but we also have space in here for
streetlights, water meters, and then a mezzanine area that would be built up over the
top of some of the storage areas.
Mr. McNamara stated when we get to the totals in here, we’re looking at usable
square footage of a little over 29,000 square-feet; put a net-to-gross factor on it, and
we’re right around 34,000 square-feet. If you look back at the original Space Needs
Study, that was approximately 39,000 square-feet; looking at how we’re using space
and moving some things around as far as vehicles, we were able to keep the building
reasonably close to the same size as what was in the original study.
From a concept diagram of the building, we focused on a couple things: 1) How to
create a lobby area that could then become the lobby area for a larger Public Works
facility; we determined that the lobby would be on the north side of the building. We
ended up putting the offices in this little area with a service counter across there,
assuming that that lobby would then also serve the other Public Works folks; there could
be another service counter on the north side of that. We put some of the shared spaces
in the zone, in the middle, where we’ve got conference rooms and meeting room space,
some locker rooms, some storage space, and then the larger part of the building is our
vehicle storage area. Here’s where we were able to fit in some larger, deeper stalls that
could be used for some other things, and then our full storage area is over here. A
drive-through garage is what’s preferred; that’s generally how Public Works buildings
are designed today, so we’re looking at an entry, drive through-drive out circulation path
for the building. For our open office area, we pushed this slightly out so that it’s similar
to some of the other design work that we’ve done; we’ll get some daylighting into some
of those office areas. 2) We talked a lot about what would be the best use of the site;
how this building could become part of a larger development here. The decision made
was that the Utility Building would push up and be connected to this future Public Works
building, which is this lighter, dashed outline. From the program for the previous study,
that building was about 215,000 to 216,000 square-feet; this will be about 34,000 of that
larger building. By putting visitor parking and the main entry here, that would be able to
expand up here, where we’ve got this future parking, which would allow this to just grow
to the north. One discussion we had was how far south do we want to go; working with
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July 20, 2022
Page 29
Lee and his team, we’ve kind of shown where this potential treatment plant would be,
and we’re kind of pushing the parking down, to be in between these two buildings to
maximize the space around the edges of the site. As you look at the development on
the south side of the site, we’d have a parking area that would be in between. With the
building being located here, there’s potential for some growth on this building that really
kind of set the southerly portion of how far south we wanted to do that. That leaves
quite a bit of this site still available for expansion of the treatment plant and/or the Public
Works building.
Mr. McNamara stated we spent a little time talking about the budget, what will be
happening in the future, especially two years out. This is envisioned to be in 2024; so,
we’re trying to align with the development of the water treatment plant. We have about
$1 million in site work; again, this is one variable, depending upon how that project
develops. Right now, we’re focusing our site development just in and around the
building, assuming that some utilities, etc. are already there. There’s some coordination
that needs to be done if the timing of this needs to align with the treatment plant. We
have about $9 million for the building; our escalation from today to 2024 is about
$750,000, so right now it’s about 6-to-8% annually for construction inflation. There was
a lot of discussion related to recession slowdown, etc., which might have an impact on
that, but most information we have today is that there are still going to be shortages and
pricing increases for the next few years until things settle out. We spoke with Kraus-
Anderson and feel that this is a good placeholder for escalation to get us to completion
in 2024. Project soft costs for fees, testing, contingencies, furniture, and equipment
puts a total project cost of $14 million for that facility. Right now, we haven’t gone much
beyond just this early schematic design. Our assumptions are that this would be a
precast facility with walls and materials more appropriate for an industrial area, maybe
some brick and different textures on the precast, like some other buildings you might
see. Looking at it from a design perspective, we’d also want to include enough money
in the budget for any sort of mechanical or sustainable features that we might want to
put into the building. So, we’re trying to get to a cost per square-foot that’s manageable
but reasonable for the type of building that we’ve done for the City in the past.
Mr. McNamara stated from a schedule side of things, we are now finished with this
Concept Design, looking for feedback tonight. We have some time here because the
building won’t be complete until the fall of 2024, so that allows us a fairly generous
procurement process. As previously stated, precast wall panels are in the 10-to-12
month timeframe right now, steel and bar joists are about 8-to-10 months; ideally, we’d
want to start procuring the project in the spring of 2023 so that they could start
construction in the spring of 2024; we have approximately 6-to-8 months of construction
once all the materials and coordination is done for that. We’re looking at a completion
date of early fall 2024.
Director Burfeind spoke about funding options: We’re just having a discussion about the
work that’s been done. We’ve had a lot of high-level discussion about this building in
the CIP in the last two years, what this could mean, and if it’s something with which we
want to move forward. It would be different, it wouldn’t be bonds through the general
levy; this is a Utility Building, so it would be funded through Revenue Bonds paid for by
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July 20, 2022
Page 30
our Utility Fund. With that size of building, based on information from Ehlers, it would
be $1.2 million. If this building were built, it would be paid for by our base rate and
some of our base fees. We did an analysis, knowing that we’d be updating our rate
study. An average residential user uses 6,000 gallons of water a month for in-home,
essential water use; that’s really where we would capture the cost to pay for this
building. So, at a 6,000-gallon a month usage, Cottage Grove residents currently pay
about $9.30; on average, for nine communities, including Cottage Grove, for 6,000
gallons a month the average payment is about $17. If this project moves ahead, it
would be about a $5-$6 a month additional rate on the water bill for residents. Even
with that, we’d still be below average. Compared to other communities, we’re quite low
on the base fees and the first tier; as we go up the tiers to the high tiers for the heavy
irrigation users, it starts to balance out, although we’re still on the low end. We have the
lowest rates of those communities. Realistically, we could really fund this project and
still be in line and under what an average user pays in the East Metro.
Administrator Levitt stated to provide an overview big picture, on August 3 we’ll be
talking about the CIP and discussing this further. The budget discussion with Public
Works is on August 10. This is just a precursor of things to think about. One of the
things that we’re trying to be very cautious of is to ensure that it doesn’t affect the
general levy. That’s why the Utility Department made the most sense; obviously, with
the functionality at the site, that’s really the critical part because our system is going to
grow significantly with our water treatment plants and need for staffing that goes with
that growth. Obviously, the 3M Settlement pays for some of the staffing that goes with
that, but our Utility Department is definitely going to see a more robust growth for the
demand that’s placed on it.
Mayor Bailey stated regarding the $5-$6 increase on water bills, he assumed in this
particular case it would be an increase to whatever our current rate is, not a separate
line item on the utility bill. He asked if he was correct that the cost per gallon would
increase a certain amount to make up that difference; Director Burfeind replied yes,
noting the current base fee is $3 per month. Other communities’ base fee, on average,
is $8 to $12 per month. So, our base fee is also quite low, so there may be a $3
increase in the base fee; on the first tier, $1.05 per 1,000 gallons, which is very low
compared to other communities, is where we’d make up the rest of it.
Council Member Dennis asked what this design cost; Director Burfeind stated the
Concept Design work cost $25,000. He asked if the Council had authorized that or if
that was authorized by the staff; Director Burfeind stated that was authorized by the
staff. Council Member Dennis stated when we’d had this discussion, we came to a
compromise that we’d have some structures put up at the current location; he didn’t
recall when those were going to be built. He stated he’s 100% for doing what’s
necessary and right to have clean water for people and wanted that put on the record.
Again, he reminded that we have yet to pay off any one of the structures, he knew he
was like a broken record on this, and he’s not going to change his position. We can’t
keep going deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into debt. He doesn’t care if it’s
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July 20, 2022
Page 31
private sector, he doesn’t care if it’s the peoples’ business, he cannot support this. He
cannot do it because we need to clear some of the material off of our books; we do
what’s necessary to run a good business and keep people healthy and well for that. But
as far as this whole thing here, he stated he’s sorry, but he just flat out can’t support it.
Council Member Khambata stated his question was partially answered by the
presentation, but what is the long-term projection for future need? His concern with the
placement of that water treatment facility was you’re flanked by 110th Street and Ideal
Avenue, so his concern in the long term is that water treatment facility will become
landlocked. He asked if that’s a concern of theirs. And what’s their long-term projection
for capacity; with the size of that area in 50-to-75 years, when we’re at 90,000 residents,
are we going to hear complaints that we can’t develop that site any further?
Director Burfeind stated we looked at that with the water treatment plant layout here;
this work is funded by the 3M Settlement. This darker line is the initial build; we know
from a capacity perspective, with full buildout of the City and also full buildout of our
lower river area, Grey Cloud Island, we would need to double the plant size. So, we’ve
taken that into account with an addition off the back and an addition in this area; so, we
have planned for full buildout of that plant, kind of assuming the worst-case scenario.
We’ve also retained this space here; if we were to get funding for water softening at
some point, that would have to happen at the same location, so we have the space in
that southeast corner for the water softening full buildout.
Council Member Khambata clarified that the water treatment plant is going there,
and the budget debate tonight is about the adjacent building; so, the land has been
acquired, the water treatment facility is going there, but what we’re talking about is the
budget and timing of just the building. Director Burfeind stated that’s correct.
Council Member Olsen stated to be clear, he asked Director Burfeind if they’re still
anticipating use of the current Public Works facility; this is a second facility to take the
pressure off your current facility and also City Hall, in terms of where people are officing.
You want to try to create a little bit more synergy relative to the groups that work
together so they’re not so split apart. He asked if that’s what he heard.
Director Burfeind replied yes, that is correct, that’s one reason. With Engineering
and Utilities, Utilities was mainly chosen because of their proximity to the treatment
plant because it’s a synergetic use. Engineering is part of Public Works, but they
definitely work with the Utilities the most, they have the most work and effort together,
so it also really provides a lot of good synergy from that standpoint.
Council Member Olsen stated another issue that Public Works has dealt with for
quite some time is storage for our vehicles, trying to keep them from being exposed to
the elements. He asked if there were any short-term plans for this year or next year on
that, or if this is the plan.
Director Burfeind replied at this point, there are no concrete plans to do any work at
the current site; while we’ve talked about that, any work we do there would be only for
the life of our time at the current facility. We’re not able to move that or change those
buildings; we met with Kraus-Anderson about what it would even take to expand our
current building because there have been multiple additions over the years. We asked
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July 20, 2022
Page 32
for a per-square-foot cost to expand locker rooms, lunchrooms, and it was just
astronomical due to the way the building is constructed. At this point, those plans have
not been brought forward just due to the cost. This is really the most efficient way to
deal with those space needs.
Council Member Khambata asked if there were any grants or matching-fund
opportunities for this type of a Public Works structure. Director Burfeind replied there
aren’t really for buildings; they’re really essential services, and the City provides them,
and it’s really not something you can get State bonding for or any grant funding for. For
parts of the project, if we want to be more sustainable, we can get storm water paid for
by the Watershed if we get creative with that. If we want to have some energy
efficiency, there are grants through Xcel Energy; there are certainly options like that for
components of the building. On the whole, it’s really funded through utility funds.
Council Member Thiede asked if this is going to cost $5 or $6 more a month on our
water bill. Director Burfeind replied just to give Council an idea, that was our initial take
on it based on how many customers we have; we split it between residential and
commercial-industrial. Certainly, it would be looked at harder: What’s the existing
fund? What’s the revenues versus the expenditures? Are there ways to use some of
the existing rates to help buy that down? At a high level, if the whole $14 million was
paid for by a rate increase, it would be about $5-to-$6 a month.
Council Member Khambata asked if they’d calculated the total cost of principal and
interest over the life of that bond. Director Burfeind stated that was part of that
calculation: It’s $14 million total, and it’s about $8 million in interest.
Council Member Dennis asked why we can’t do this in the same way this City Hall was
paid for; that was money that was set aside over a period of time, and it made sense.
At the time this facility was built, the City took advantage of record low labor rates,
record low material costs, and it came in under time and budget. Why can’t we start
thinking along the lines of replicating some of the past successes, instead of always
saying let’s just take on more debt. There’s going to come a tipping point with this, and
it’s not going to be good for people in our community that we keep spending money at
this level. We’ve got the previous item we just discussed; we may have to use money
to buy those vessels to hold the water. He just thinks we’re looking at it in the wrong
fashion; we’ve got some time, there’s no gun to anybody’s head, and he thinks we can
structure it properly and still have opportunity. But, financially, we’ve got to make some
progress and clear off some of the debt. He knows we’re getting closer every year that
goes by, but there’s nothing wrong with thinking or doing it that way. Right now, we’re
hamstrung by paying at the top end for labor, by paying at the top end for material
costs; that doesn’t make sense. He wouldn’t make that decision at home, why would he
do it here? It’s not conducive to a good outcome. We’ve got time.
Council Member Olsen told Brenda Malinowski, Finance Director, as she was here
when we built this building, that we had a nest egg that we used to buy down the initial
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July 20, 2022
Page 33
cost; then we borrowed internally from ourselves, we borrowed from a variety of Utility
Funds to pay for the rest of the building. He asked her how we reimbursed ourselves in
those Utility Funds and if we made that a debt levy.
Director Malinowski replied that we did; last year, we paid off the Water Fund portion,
and now we have ten years remaining on the Sewer Fund.
Council Member Olsen stated we did that to essentially pay off the loan to ourselves.
He asked if we sold any bonds to build this facility; Director Malinowski replied that we
did not. He asked if that’s because we just funded it ourselves; Director Malinowski
replied that there was a petition, we were going to sell bonds, but we didn’t sell bonds,
we decided to do the Interfund Loan instead.
Director Malinowski stated what she would propose we do, as we do this utility rate
study going forward, that we kind of look at this proposed building; if we had just done
the utility rate study this year and knew that this building might be coming online in a
couple years, we wouldn’t know what the rate structure should be. So, we want to
include the proposed building in here, and as we do the utility rate study, we can look at
the capital; maybe there are some existing funds available in those utility funds that we
can buy down. We just need to do the rate study to do that; we need to look at the
upcoming capital in water and sewer utility funds to see it. We don’t want to just pay
cash because we wouldn’t have enough cash to pay for it, but if we had upcoming
capital in the next ten years that we needed to use existing cash for, that’s why we need
to do a long-term capital study of our utility funds.
Council Member Olsen stated she’s saying that she wants to factor this potential
outcome into that study; Director Malinowski replied that’s correct. Council Member
Olsen stated that makes sense; information is free so we might as well factor it in and
see what we come up with, and then they can give us that information.
Mayor Bailey stated we’d done a Public Works study, and we looked at different areas
of our community to see what made sense and how much space they would need on a
full buildout. He’s pretty confident in whatever the future holds on this site, with the rest
of the buildout, and also with the sale of the current Public Works buildings when some
redevelopment happens there. The question here is if we have that time, like we did
when we were planning this facility; should we do the rate study and include the
proposed building? His answer is yes. The challenge is if we’re not going to build this
for another year or so, we’ll probably come in at the high end with the cost of inflation.
Council Member Khambata asked why we can’t just bring our base water rate up and
start stockpiling; he spoke of a couple who lives in North Branch who can’t afford to fill
their swimming pool as it would cost too much. He’s sure this building is going to
happen, but when we’re talking about millions of dollars for treatment plants, it doesn’t
come to the front of the line. If we could say we have $3 million, so don’t have to bond
$14 million, but just $11 million, the more money we have to put towards it or towards a
treatment plant, if we’re below average on our water rates, no one’s going to complain
that water is expensive.
Mayor Bailey stated they will. Council Member Olsen stated once we established
the tiered system, we got plenty of complaints; Council Member Thiede agreed.
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July 20, 2022
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Council Member Khambata stated when he forgot to turn off his sprinkler for two days
and had an 11,000 gallon water bill, he blamed himself. The way he budgets, he
always has extra left over, he’s not paying interest on anything; he would really like to
see us adopt that strategy so we’re not like North Branch, not planning for something,
and then we just get this overwhelming cost that really upsets everybody. He’s been
through Public Works, and we went over this. It’s hard because we always get one
thing at a time, and then we have to try to prioritize in our minds which pool of money
it’s coming out of, where does it stand in the list of priorities from that pool of money.
Council Member Dennis said that his position is not going to change on how we’re
funding these things; my position is if we need it, as we saw with the School District,
waiting seven years isn’t going to make it cheaper. Knowing that it’s going to come
anyway, why can’t we start putting money into the pot for when it does finally make it to
the top of the list for priorities.
Council Member Olsen stated that will be part of our CIP discussion, that’s what they
do; they give us all the various needs, and then we look at prioritization and where
within the time continuum those things need to happen. He felt Director Malinowski said
what Council Member Khambata just said; that’s why they’re doing the rate study right
now. Council Member Khambata stated if we started pulling $5 a month from 13,000
properties in 2018, it would be halfway paid for by now. Council Member Olsen stated
we also have several other funds in which we may have some available capital to
potentially buy down the debt, and that will all come out in the budget conversation.
Council Member Dennis asked Director Malinowski to outline the two types of debt,
good debt and bad debt, as it’s looked at through the eyes of measuring our bond rating
and things like that. Administrator Levitt asked when Standard & Poor’s talks about our
debt, how do they analyze that type of debt when we look at a bond rating; is that or is
that not targeted against us. Director Malinowski said that she would say it’s not. She
said if we did not have enough to run our operations and we were issuing debt, that’s
bad debt. If we’re issuing debt as part of a CIP or capital planning, they would
understand; they would look at that capital plan, see that we were anticipating issuing
that debt so that our future users of that facility were paying the debt on that building.
Council Member Olsen stated with we’d previously been in a position where we
needed to buy an ambulance and weren’t sure if we could afford to do that without
issuing bonds; luckily, we found the money, but that would be bad debt, too.
Council Member Thiede stated we’ve often talked about our reserve of 55%; Director
Malinowski confirmed that that’s in the General Fund. He asked if any of that could be
used. Director Malinowski replied she would think we’d want to look at our Utility Funds
first, our Water Fund and Sewer Fund, before we look at our General Fund, which funds
our operations. We’ll look at that as part of the process.
Council Member Khambata asked as we bring more tax base online if there was a way
to incrementally allocate so next year we’ll have 5% more in revenues from our tax
capacity. Is there a way to say here’s our ceiling, here’s our budget now, and anything
above that gets special consideration for projects A, B, and C?
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July 20, 2022
Page 35
Administrator Levitt stated the rate study will assume a certain amount of growth for
residential, commercial, and industrial, so that growth will be in there. You’ll be able to
see that in a rate study.
Mayor Bailey told Council Member Khambata that usually at the end of the year,
after we’ve paid all the bills, there’s generally money left over, it depends on the year.
We usually take that money and put it in different buckets, including Equipment
Replacement, Closed Debt, and Building Fund. So, those have been the three; frankly,
a fairly significant chunk of the money that helped get this building off the ground was
the Building Fund. That Building Fund maybe by the end of tonight won’t have anything
in it; there isn’t that bucket of money out there. We haven’t been putting money aside
for projects like this in our budgets because we’ve been trying to keep the budgets tight
over the years, with the exception of maybe a little bit in the Utility Funds and some of
those other funds. We’ll be talking about those things once we get into our budget
discussions.
Mayor Bailey stated he thought what he’d heard from the Council was to get the rate
study done. He thought it was important to do that, to get to a number soon to start
putting money away to help offset how much we’d need for debt, etc.
Council Member Olsen stated when we do budgets, whether it’s CIP or later on in
the process, one of the things he always asks for is all of the various fund balances that
we have under the big umbrella, and what, if any, statutory limits exist relative to the
way that we can spend that money. That would probably be something really good to
go through again this year in some detail; we might have money in a fund, but its use
might be restricted.
Council Member Thiede stated a lot of times we see where different cities or
businesses will use a building that’s already built, and perhaps if we need space for
people, right now Capp Industries hasn’t been filling that building up on West Point
Douglas Road South. Administrator Levitt stated that Agco should be taking most of
that and should be moving in there; we did look at that, as Council had directed staff to
look at other buildings and look at the feasibility of how it would work with our
operations. She thought issues were with synergy, reportability, security, so there were
a lot of challenges with it. Council was very clear at the last CIP discussion that you did
not want us to put money on the existing site because we had just over $2 million for
that cold storage building; your direction to us was look at what you do for cold storage
here, would it be a more permanent location versus trying to do cold storage on the
existing site. You can see that it’s only a very small fraction of what the overall building
would ultimately need to be just buying this time.
Council Member Thiede asked what we put in cold storage; Director Burfeind stated
a lot of our equipment is in cold storage, so a lot of our tractors, tractor plows, etc.
Council Member Thiede stated it could be a pole barn somewhere, actually. Director
Burfeind stated its also our seed, our signs, etc. That’s what we were looking at for
Public Works was a metal building on our existing site; we were going to take down an
existing metal building and make it bigger and kind of grandfather ourselves in. It’s just
unheated storage, not refrigeration.
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July 20, 2022
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Administrator Levitt stated we can circle back to this through the CIP and budget
discussion and see how the rate study goes.
C. Additional Workspaces - City Hall/Public Safety Building
Staff Recommendation: Review and discuss the additional workspaces for
the City Hall/Public Safety Building for an estimated amount of
$131,261.97.
Director Burfeind stated this is a much smaller-scale item, but still an important one with
all of the staffing discussions that we’ve had at City Hall and throughout the City.
At City Hall, on the general government side, we’re definitely out of space, from offices
to cubicles. Some changes have been made: IT was moved over to the Public Safety
side because they have the security clearances necessary to be over there, and that
bought us some time. There are maybe some changes in Utility Billing, the proposed
addition of a City Engineer and additional staff, including support for the Finance
Department, as they have a heavy burden with the 3M Settlement. We’ve come up with
some options to provide one additional space at City Hall, some additional cube space,
and then some additional space over on the Public Safety side. He asked Mr.
McNamara to speak further on this.
Mr. McNamara stated this was pretty straightforward; as IT moved over to the Public
Safety side, it seemed we could eventually take over where the IT workroom is located,
so that was the first area that we looked at. The size of that existing IT workroom works
pretty well just to convert it into an office. Changes in this area are fairly minor; there
are some door security issues that we have to change because it has a security lock on
it, but mostly it’s furniture. Using some of the building standards, what we’re intending
to do is just put a typical workstation in there and change out some things on the door.
On the Administration side, Director Burfeind had noted along the outside wall we’re
going to squeeze it a little bit more and gain a couple more workstations in that area.
We’re going to tuck in a small workstation on the south side; these are not building
changes, it’s just furniture rehab and reconfiguration.
On the Public Safety side, an existing storage room was always planned to be a
future detective’s office, so we’re going to change some doors around and add some
furniture; we’ll put in a workstation that matches up with the other workstations in the
detectives’ area. That then frees up this existing file room, which is where the IT
workroom is going to relocate. We’re going to move their existing workbench, but we’re
going to add a couple of fairly inexpensive shelving units. We’re going to close off the
hallway on the south end, add a door on the north end, and put some filing cabinets in
there; we’re just adding a door and a wall for that. Those are the pretty minor changes
proposed for City Hall.
Mr. McNamara stated they looked at the budget for this, using Sourcewell, which we’ve
used in the past for small projects. Kraus-Anderson, using the Sourcewell software,
came up with a renovation cost of around $82,000 to do the building modifications; that
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July 20, 2022
Page 37
includes electrical, security, and any mechanical changes that have to be made to
support the office work. The furniture modifications are a little over $36,000.
Architectural fees are $12,500 for all of the construction documents. That gives a total
project cost of a little over $131,000 for changes.
Council Member Thiede stated it said construction, but all he saw was a little piece of
wall and a doorway. Mr. McCormick stated there was a bit more to it; he can get him
the whole set of working drawings for it, but there’s some demolition that has to occur in
various areas. This is a storage room right now, so we have to change out some
mechanicals, etc., so there are little odds and ends. We can get the detail of the cost
estimate, but most of it is really related to the modifications in these areas.
Council Member Khambata asked in terms of staffing capacity, what is the level of
increase from the current to post renovation; how many more workstations are we
getting and what’s the increased capacity for staffing.
HR Manager Joe Fischbach stated it was a total of three additional workspaces.
Administrator Levitt stated the IT workroom on the general government side is
completely inefficient, so they’re never going to move back to the general government
side because there will never be room for them. If they’re going to stay on the Public
Safety side, it makes more sense for their workroom to be immediately adjacent to
them, so there’s efficiency there. The workroom is freed up to create an office, and then
we can create two more really small cubicles as we reconfigure the office space to take
on this additional staffing; it’s just three positions. The detective office had previously
been planned, so Director Koerner can speak about who would use that office there.
Director Koerner stated when Investigations moved in there in 2012, we didn’t have
the Case Management Investigator and Major Crimes; we also have two additional
detectives, so we’re out of workstations there. What helped us on the Police/Public
Safety Administration side is the Central Fire Station, as we used to have the Fire Chief
and the Fire Marshal with us, but now they’re at the Central Fire Station. It made sense
to bring IT over because we had open offices there.
Council Member Khambata asked if this alleviated some or all of our staffing needs
and if it concurred with our staffing plan that we’ve been discussing for the next three-to-
five years. Administrator Levitt stated she wouldn’t say five years. Council Member
Khambata asked if it alleviated some pressure in the short term, and Administrator
Levitt replied that’s correct.
Council Member Olsen stated Director Burfeind had mentioned that when the Public
Works second building comes online, it would move staff out of City Hall to that location;
so, we’ll gain quite a bit of space here should that occur. Director Burfeind stated that
will be five additional spaces, which will provide more future growth down the line.
Mayor Bailey stated when we designed this building, he didn’t recall if there was an
opportunity in the future to expand the general government portion of this building; he
asked if we ever put that in the plans. Administrator Levitt stated it was designed for
that wall to eventually go west. Mayor Bailey stated the only thing he’s mentioning for
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July 20, 2022
Page 38
thought, moving forward, is when you walk in on the west side and go down to her
office, he asked if those two food stations were truly used or needed. He just thought if
we got to a point in the future where you need space for a couple more workstations,
the only thing he ever sees on those two tables is maybe a couple big drawings and
treats.
Administrator Levitt stated Planning is using the one area for plan review; so, with
every Building Permit that they issue they have to go and crosscheck things with the
drainage, etc. and so that plan review station is used to verify elevations and such. We
looked at it, but there would be additional demolition costs associated.
Mayor Bailey stated the cheaper option is what they’re proposing here. He’s just
saying he’s not seeing those two areas used very often. If there’s an area where we
can create a couple more workstations when needed, that might be the way to go in the
future.
Council Member Olsen told Administrator Levitt that at one point she talked about
investigating alternative scheduling to give people some more flexibility in terms of work
from home, different start times, etc. He asked if that was something they’re still
considering.
Administrator Levitt replied they have a draft policy that they’ll probably be sending to
the Council in the next couple of weeks, as we’ve looked at many of our policies. Many
of the workstations could be more the landing stations; so, if you’re working remotely or
if you’re out in the field, you can have a place to come in. A lot of that is also related to
construction, so it’s not something that we’re going to see year round.
Council Member Thiede stated to him, that seems like a lot of money for needing three
workstations. Administrator Levitt stated there would be four, if you count the area in
Investigations.
Council Member Olsen asked Mr. McNamara if that was a lot of money; Mr.
McNamara stated it didn’t seem unreasonable for what we’re asking them to do.
Certainly, we can get you more detail on that; we just wanted to give you an update
tonight on what the plans are. Sourcewell is an open source available to cities for pre-
bid items, it’s an analytical thing; they plug in all of the information for the documents
that we have, and it just calculates out what the commodity costs would be. That’s how
Kraus-Anderson kind of arrived at that number.
Administrator Levitt stated we used that same system for River Oaks when we did
the expansion of the kitchen.
Council Member Thiede asked if we’re using the same type of workstations as the
ones we bought when we built this building; Mr. McNamara stated those weren’t high
end, but were average, and former City Administrator Schroeder was involved with
those decisions at that time.
Council Member Olsen asked Director Koerner how they’re doing with space in the
downstairs of their building, if they’re okay in terms of their evidence storage, etc.
Director Koerner replied the Evidence area and Booking Room were awesome and
we’re fine with the space there.
City Council Meeting Minutes
July 20, 2022
Page 39
Council Member Khambata asked if this expense will be coming out of the General
Fund; Director Malinowski replied no, we’re proposing to use the Building Fund for a
portion and then the rest would come out of the General Fund with permit revenues for
this year. Council Member Khambata stated so we’re using our own money; that was
confirmed for him. Council Member Khambata stated he’s not dealt so much on the
commercial side, but he’s seen people spend $80,000 in renovating a kitchen, so that
number doesn’t seem erroneous, as there are some electrical infrastructure things that
might have to change; it doesn’t seem like a really high number to him. As long as it’s
been checked over through that process, if it helps to meet the staffing need for three
years, we just need time to figure out what we’re doing with Public Works and
reallocate. He thinks it’s the lesser of two expenses and kind of meets our short-term
needs and gives us time to figure out our long-term needs.
Mayor Bailey stated staff wanted to get Council feedback, and then they’ll come back to
us with an official document at a future Council Meeting.
Administrator Levitt stated we can discuss it further at the CIP and at the budget
discussions. If it’s something that you felt passionately about tonight, you could say
yes, bring it back to us on August 3. If you want to dialogue more about it in the CIP
and budget, we could bring it back in September.
Mayor Bailey stated he didn’t think this was something that we need to dialogue as part
of the CIP; he thought the CIP was going to be a more significant discussion.
Council Member Olsen agreed and said his opinion was they should just bring us the
information.
Council Member Dennis stated he would put it off because he’s had discussions of
what that number might be, and he’s getting mixed messages. He’s saying we’ve got to
find a way to cut things, we don’t know what to cut, but he’s seeing all this extra asking.
So, he doesn’t know what world he’s living in here right now; it feels like it’s not real, so
do we want to do one thing, or do we want to do the other? That’s the question; this is
not going to be easy, this is going to be a heavy lift, and decisions are going to have to
be made. But when we get to the bottom line here of what the budget is going to be,
these are all things that have to be factored in, it just has to be.
Council Member Khambata stated we should just get everything together and look at
it as the big picture.
14. WORKSHOPS – CLOSED TO PUBLIC - None.
15. ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Council Member Olsen, second by Council Member Thiede, to adjourn the
meeting at 10:01 p.m. Motion carried: 5-0.
Minutes prepared by Judy Graf and reviewed by Tamara Anderson (City Clerk).