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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 10-05-2022 CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE Equal Opportunity Employer 2897 -458-Fax 651 2800 -458-651  gov.mn.cottagegrovewww Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016 12800 Ravine Parkway  MINUTES COTTAGE GROVE CITY COUNCIL October 5, 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 October 5, 2022, at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He shared the Council’s condolences to Mayor Bailey and his family with the passing of Mayor Bailey’s father. 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 - Not Present; Council Member/Mayor Pro Tem Dennis - Here; Council Member Khambata - Here; Council Member Olsen - Here; Council Member Thiede - Here. 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; 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 Pro Tem Dennis opened the Open Forum. He noted three people wished to speak, and he informed each of them that they would have three minutes to speak; he asked they state their address for the record. Zach Hartfiel, 8068 Hornell Avenue South, asked for more information on the donation from Pancentral, CGC Holdings, in the amount of $150,000 for economic development activities. He wanted to know who they are and why they donated so much money and City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 2 what they consider economic development activities. He asked the Council to clarify that for him tonight. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated that matter would be referred to our staff, who will send him a letter with an in-depth explanation. Bonnie Matter, 6649 Inskip Avenue South, requested that Consent Agenda Item 7M be pulled from tonight’s Consent Agenda. She submitted a Public Data Information Request, which she’s sure staff is working on, but these should be things that are already known before you review it and approve it. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis informed Ms. Matter that’s an item that is on our agenda, which has been fully vetted by our staff team. He stated he didn’t believe it would be in our best interests to pull that item at this time, and a big reason is our being able to access building materials. We’re still in the COVID economy, and we must get out in front of material shortages. He informed Ms. Matter that we’re not going to discuss it, and we’re also not going to be pulling that off tonight’s agenda. Ms. Matter stated they won’t be doing this in 2023, so there’s no rush on this, and they’ll probably have to push it out to 2024. That’s why she’s asking Council to please pull it from tonight’s agenda, look at the questions she submitted in the data request form, and then come back and approve it. Jennifer Mauer, 7700 74th Street South, stated she’s lived in Cottage Grove for the last seven years. She loves the Cottage Grove community, the parks, the trails, more shopping, and coffee shops. In the last seven years she’s seen the community really grow. Her three children attend school here, one at Park High School and two others attend Crestview Elementary. She’s pretty concerned about her children’s safety crossing the intersection of Hinton Avenue and 80th Street to get to school. On May 26, 2022, her kindergarten daughter was riding her bike to school with her third-grade brother. She watched them turn the corner onto Hinton Avenue, thought they were safe on the sidewalk, but for some reason that day she felt the need to get into her car to make sure they got to school okay. She drove down Hinton Avenue and was stopped at the intersection of Hinton and 80th Street, waiting to turn right; she kept looking in her rearview mirror to see them come up behind her to make sure they got to school that day. She saw the crossing guard’s eyes get really big and knew something was wrong. When the light turned green, she turned the corner and parked her car on 79th Street. Her heart sank when she saw her six-year-old on the side of the road crying with a crowd of people around her. Her third-grade son was standing helpless next to her. There were other parents, students, teachers, police, firefighters, and amazing first responders coming to see what was wrong. By some miracle, her 30-pound six-year- old kindergartner only had one scratch on her chin from her helmet; that was her only injury. After speaking to the police and her son, it was deemed a driver had failed to yield at the crossing of Hinton and 79th Street, which is also a busy intersection. Her daughter’s bike was totaled. She asked the Cottage Grove City Council to be more proactive instead of reactive with the safety of our kids when they cross the street at that school. She doesn’t want to see another tragic accident happen to anybody else. Her daughter has residual mental trauma; she used to love riding her bike to school, and now she doesn’t want to ride her bike at all and doesn’t want to walk to school. Ms. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 3 Mauer has been driving her to and from school every day. She’s worried about that intersection, as it’s so busy; now, Caribou Cabin has been added to the area of Hinton and 80th Street. She feels this is a huge hazard to everyone who walks there and crosses the street. Kids are pretty impulsive, but they’re going to trust that adults are going to stop and yield. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated she’d spoken for three minutes. We’re very empathetic, grateful she shared this, and thankful her daughter did not have serious injuries. He would ask our staff to look into this and provide a response; that response will be placed into a future Council Agenda so everyone can read the response. As much as the Council might know about the process, we really have to turn this issue over to our Public Safety team and our City Engineer, as they know and understand those details. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis told Ms. Mauer he appreciated her sharing her information with us; we’re very committed to making sure that everybody here in the community is safe and secure. Ms. Mauer stated she loves Cottage Grove, but thinks we can do better for the safety of our kids. She doesn’t want to be reactive and have someone else get hurt; we need to be proactive. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated he appreciated her initial comments about the growth and the different opportunities that have come to town; we work very hard to try to provide that for the community and thanked her. As no one else wished to address the Council, Mayor Pro Tem Dennis closed the Open Forum. 5. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Council Member Thiede made a motion to adopt the agenda; second by Council Member Khambata. Motion carried: 4-0. 6. PRESENTATIONS A. Fire Prevention Week Proclamation Staff Recommendation: Proclaim the week of October 9-15, 2022, as Fire Prevention Week. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis asked Council Member Khambata to read tonight’s proclamation. Council Member Khambata read aloud the Fire Prevention Week proclamation, with the theme “Fire Won’t Wait, Plan Your Escape.” Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated there’s a staff recommendation that we proclaim the week of October 9 through October 15, 2022 as Fire Prevention Week, so he asked for a motion. Council Member Olsen made a motion to proclaim the week of October 9 through October 15, 2022 as Fire Prevention Week; second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 4-0. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 4 Pete Koerner, Public Safety Director, stated public education and community involvement are extremely important to us; with COVID, we continued to do things, including drive-by parades for birthdays of kids and veterans. Night to Unite neighborhood parties were extremely successful, but he alone didn’t make that happen. Fire Prevention Week has been recognized for 100 years, and he’s excited that we’ll once again be opening our doors at the Central Fire Station to do some tours. He asked Fire District Chief Jeff Brown and Lieutenant Mike Dandl to speak about all of the events planned for Saturday. Lieutenant Dandl stated he’s the Public Education Officer, overseen by District Chief Brown. This will be our first open house in three years; we’re looking forward to having everybody back at the fire station. His goal is to make this interactive for everyone, children and adults. The Central Fire Station opened in 2018, so it’s fun to see visitors impressed by what they see. They’ll be able to go inside all of our trucks, including our brand new ladder truck. We’ll be doing kitchen fire demonstrations. Regions Hospital representatives will be there, as they’re our EMS medical directors. Marathon Refinery hopes to be there with their new fire truck. He’s also received confirmation that 3M’s E Squad will be there, so that will be nice. The Lions will be there, preparing food, and members of Beyond the Yellow Ribbon will also be there. There will be a makeshift house where children can practice putting out fires with hoses. There will be a car that adults can whack with sledgehammers; of course, safety is first, so adults will first gear up with helmet, eye protection, and gloves for that. Cottage Grove Fire Department plastic hats and stickers will also be available. We hope to have a great turnout. Chief Brown stated it’s very important to have smoke detectors as studies have shown that people cannot smell while they’re sleeping. They won’t smell the smoke, but hopefully something else will wake them up before it’s too late, which is the smoke detector. He also mentioned the “Close Before You Doze” campaign; it’s important that parents and children close their bedroom doors at bedtime because a closed door is known to give people an additional 30 minutes worth of protection in the event that they can’t get out of their house or their room. Keep the door closed, as it will prevent smoke from coming in. The kids can get up and feel the door; if it’s hot, keep it closed. Big killers in house fires are bedroom doors left open, smoke detectors go off in the middle of the night, and people get out of bed and stand up; the smoke is above, so its where they stand up. People are mainly found either steps away from the door, going out the way they always come in, or right by their bed because they stood up and took a breath or two and dropped right there. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis thanked them for that information and for the work their entire team does on behalf of the community. We’re very supportive and are happy that they held their “Fill the Boot” campaign again, which was nicely done and successful. 7. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve the September 7, 2022, City Council Special Meeting minutes. B. Approve the September 7, 2022, City Council Regular Meeting minutes. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 5 C. Approve the issuance of rental licenses to the property in the attached table. D. Authorize executing agreement for professional services with Dr. Amy Schweigert of True North Psychology & Consulting. E. Authorize the Cottage Grove Fire Department to apply for a Leary Firefighters Foundation grant for $25,000 to fund a much-needed project to purchase CAD interface computers for fire apparatus. F. Adopt Resolution 2022-132 accepting donations received between April 1 and September 30, 2022. G. Authorize the plan to move forward with a new K9 to replace Gunnar and authorize Public Safety to pursue funding through the USPCA and Public Safety Board. H. Authorize staff to place the order for pickup trucks and hoists as part of the 2023 Equipment Replacement budget for an estimated total of $438,000. I. Adopt Resolution 2022-131 authorizing the installation of a stop sign at Pine Arbor Alcove South at the intersection with Pine Arbor Lane South. J. Approve Change Order #2 revising portions of the project design and scoping, and increasing the contract total by $527,813.34 to a total contract amount of $7,302,466.20. K. Adopt Resolution 2022-129 authorizing the preparation of a feasibility report for the 2023 Pavement Management Project for portions of the Thompson Grove Estates Neighborhood and the south 80th Street frontage road from Hemingway Avenue to Hyde Avenue. L. Adopt Resolution 2022- 2022-134 awarding the 2023 Pavement Management Project-Jetting and Televising project to the accepted quote supplied by Pipe Services, Inc. in the amount of $39,981.28. M. Adopt Resolution 2022-133 approving plans and specifications and establishing an October 27, 2022, bid date for the River Oaks Golf Course improvement project. Council Member Olsen wished to pull Item F, Accept Donations Received 2nd and 3rd Quarter, for further comment and/or discussion. He spoke about donations received between April 1 and September 30, 2022. He wanted to acknowledge those who took time to give back to the City in some way, as follows:  LSP, LS Power, has consistently been a very generous donor to our Economic Development Authority (EDA). They made a donation of $150,000 to the EDA to be used for economic development activities for things like the ICSC conference. We are very grateful for their continued support.  Northwoods Smokehouse donated $500 for the Fourth of July fireworks.  Tennis Sanitation donated $5,000 for the Fourth of July fireworks.  Renewal by Andersen donated $5,000 for the Fourth of July fireworks.  Hy-Vee donated $5,000 for the Fourth of July fireworks.  3M donated $5,000 for the Fourth of July fireworks.  Lions Club of Cottage Grove: Council Member Olsen stated as a member, the Fourth of July event is something we really enjoy doing, as we grill hamburgers, City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 6 hot dogs, brats, and provide door prizes for the kids. It’s a family quality time event, and the highlight of the event is the fireworks show. The Lions Club also donated $500 in gift cards for Police community engagement; those were recently used to replace a backpack and some belongings for a person who’d had a bike accident on their way to school.  3M donated $5,000 to the Strawberry Fest.  Joe Fischbach donated some exercise equipment to the Fire Department, valued at $4,000. Joe is the Human Resources Manager for the City of Cottage Grove.  Linda Rodenberg donated a memorial bench to the playground at Meadow Grass Park; that was valued at $1,500.  Dennis Brothers Liquor donated $250 to the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as Discover Cottage Grove, to sponsor a hole at the Public Safety Golf Tournament at River Oaks Golf Course.  Stantec donated $2,100 in support of The Season of Giving event.  Rumpca Excavating donated $2,000 to the new landscaping at Oakwood Park. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated all donations, no matter how large or small, are always appreciated. It makes a difference and helps make our home be a better place. Motion by Council Member Olsen to approve the Consent Agenda; second by Council Member Khambata. Motion carried: 4-0. 8. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS A. Approve payments for the period of 9/16/2022-9/29/2022 in the amount of $5,625,235.34. Motion by Council Member Thiede to approve disbursements; second by Council Member Olsen. Motion carried: 4-0. 9. PUBLIC HEARINGS - None. 10. BID AWARDS - None. 11. REGULAR AGENDA - None. 12. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Council Member Khambata stated he attended the ribbon cutting today at Oakwood Park, and the Parks Department is doing fantastic work. He stated he’s visited many of our parks, and just this last week with the changing leaves, he visited Camel’s Hump Park, and Woodridge Park is one of his kids’ favorites. He thanked City staff for giving his kids someplace safe and fun to play. He appreciated that we continue to invest in our community in that way. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 7 Council Member Thiede stated it turns out that Strawberry Fest is throwing a party to show everybody how fun it is to be on the Strawberry Fest Committee and how fun it is to work together to bring a fantastic event to the City of Cottage Grove. This party is on October 13, at River Oaks Golf Course, at 6:00 p.m. We encourage everyone to come down and see how fun it is to help plan all of the Strawberry Fest events. The more the merrier! The Monster Bash parade is also on October 29. We’re just starting to plan for next year’s Strawberry Fest, and we need some really good, energetic, smart people. He knows there are a lot of smart people out there who like to have fun. So, come join us on October 13 at River Oaks Golf Course at 6:00 p.m. Be there to have some fun. Council Member Olsen stated tomorrow night is a Police Department Open House, right here at Cottage Grove City Hall from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Council Member Olsen and Mayor Pro Tem Dennis will be working there in our yellow shirts tomorrow, as we’ll be representing our Beyond the Yellow Ribbon team for the City of Cottage Grove. The Cottage Grove Lions will be there in their black shirts, and they will be grilling all kinds of good food and supplying chips, water, etc. For anyone who’s interested in learning more about the Cottage Grove Police Department or has an interest in a law enforcement career, this will be a great opportunity for you to check out the facility, and ask some questions of our police officers, community service officers, and our police reserves. Stop by and see us tomorrow night, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., right here at City Hall. There will also be some demonstrations, the Minnesota State Patrol helicopter will be here, and there will be some other fun and exciting things taking place at the HERO Center. You’ll be able to see that facility also, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll be very impressed. Council Member Olsen reminded people that early voting has started. You can cast your ballot tomorrow if you’d like; just go to the Washington County South Service Center in Cottage Grove and cast your ballot from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It’s very easy to do. You get an in-person absentee ballot, fill it out, put it in an envelope, and hand it to staff at the Service Center. It doesn’t take long and then you’ll stop receiving phone calls and items in your mailbox, because as soon as it’s known that you’ve voted, the various candidates will stop calling you and mailing you items. Please make sure that you do vote in this year’s election, as it’s very important. Council Member Olsen stated regarding the donations, there was a question in Open Forum tonight about some things that the donations support. Staff will provide more information, but we have an Economic Development Authority (EDA) in Cottage Grove; they are a separate branch of government, they are their own entity. Mayor Bailey is the President of the EDA, the Vice President is Mayor Pro Tem Dennis, and there are residents and business owners who sit on the EDA. The EDA does a lot of really neat things for the business community in Cottage Grove. Donated funds go towards the Façade Improvement Program for businesses in Cottage Grove, funded through the EDA; we match grants for businesses that want to improve their building’s appearance. During the COVID pandemic, many of our restaurants and bars were really struggling and many were closed by the governor’s decree; even when they reopened, they did so City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 8 on a limited basis. The EDA also offered grant opportunities for local businesses that were having a difficult time finding grants that they did not have to pay back for operating their business, keeping people employed, keeping current with their payroll, etc. The EDA also purchased land, perhaps a vacant business site for redevelopment, to be sold to an interested end user in the future. It’s another great way to make sure that our Cottage Grove business community stays vibrant so we can continue to attract new businesses while retaining our existing businesses. LSP has been a very generous donor for many years, and the EDA is very grateful for the funding that they provide so we can continue to grow our business community. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis and Mayor Bailey have recently filmed some Facebook Live events about the value of the growth that has been brought to our community. The City is very healthy as a result of some of those investments. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis added that the money received, to be used by the EDA, is a donation; he wanted to be very clear that those are not taxpayer dollars, it’s not money coming from residential property taxes. We use that money to help build a vibrant local economy to structure a healthy business environment and to do things that have been very successful over the past eight years. When you look at the almost $2 billion of economic development growth, if you back out the housing component, we’ve had a lot of things happening in our Business Park as well as retail and commercial space. We’re doing quite well, we’ve got a great program, and in many instances, we have been the talk of the town with our success. We owe that to our commission members and our great staff who really do the heavy lifting to get the job done. He thanked Council Member Olsen for bringing that up. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis wanted to piggyback off of Council Member Khambata’s comment about today’s ribbon cutting at Oakwood Park, 7851 Harkness Avenue South. Our Convention and Visitors Bureau has a fantastic website, discovercottagegrove.com; its very user friendly, if you want to learn about parks, trails, local businesses, or other substantial local amenities. It’s a great way to discover things happening in our City. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated the Cottage Grove Lions cook burgers, brats, and cheeseburgers; their bacon cheeseburger is amazing. There’s another upcoming event in Cottage Grove that provides an all-you-can-eat meal opportunity at Acacia Lodge #51, 11094 70th Street South. The Cottage Grove area Masons are having their annual spaghetti dinner on Saturday, October 8, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Prices: Adults: $10, Kids 4-12: $5, Kids 3 and Under: Free. This is the biggest fundraising event for our local Masons; they provide local young people with educational scholarships. The spaghetti is fantastic, and it’s a great service by a group of fantastic people. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated Council Members are aware there has been a bit of a challenge with the company that we use for water billing services, OPUS21. He had a constituent visit him today, who had some questions, and wanted some feedback and direction on where we’re at in this process. He asked City Administrator Jennifer Levitt to provide some details for the community; he believed this mostly affected the rural areas. We’re looking for a good outcome for our affected community members. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 9 Administrator Levitt stated we’d notified Council that our vendor did not actually mail over 400 bills last year to our rural residential customers. These customers only receive a bill once a year, so it’s not something that they expect every month. Some pay electronically, but some just rely on that mailed bill. Unfortunately, we became aware of the situation after we sent over 400 delinquent letters to those residents. Our residents take an amazing amount of pride in paying their bills and being responsible citizens, so we apologized to them in a letter that we sent shortly after we realized the error. Clearly, we did not mean to insult them in any way. We’re providing an additional grace period to be able to pay that; they won’t need to pay their 2021 bill until January, 2023, and there won’t be any late charges assessed. In November, they will actually receive their 2022 bill; to reduce confusion, at that time we will provide individual statements to make sure that there’s clarity for those who have paid their 2021 bill and those who have not. They’ll know exactly how much to pay. We’re working with our provider to give those very detailed letters. She assured Council that they’re taking action with our vendor to prevent this from happening in the future. Unfortunately, the vendor does some of their printing out of state, so we’ve asked them to bring that printing back to the State of Minnesota; we also asked them to rectify this situation and work with us. We extend our apologies to those residents who received the delinquent notices, and we’re working to correct that. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis thanked Administrator Levitt for that explanation. The resident with whom he spoke today stated he knew the City would never seek to create a problem for the residents on an issue like that. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis explained to him that we live in a very imperfect world right now, so sometimes there can be room for a little bit of understanding and empathy and compassion as we try to bring things together without necessarily having all of the parts there. Council Member Olsen asked Administrator Levitt to pass along very positive feedback to Dar; some of his friends in Pine Coulee reached out to him about this situation, and they said as soon as they called Dar, she took care of it, she was wonderful with her patience and understanding. Obviously, some people were upset about something that the City screwed up, and Dar is the person we want to handle it. Please let Dar know that what she’s doing certainly softened the blow a great deal. Administrator Levitt thanked Council Member Olsen for that information, and stated she would pass that along to Dar, as she’s been fielding many, many phone calls. She’s taking her time to make sure that we educate, inform, and apologize for the mistake. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated being transparent, open, and honest to the community is very important. He knows that we all strive to do that on a daily basis as we work on behalf of the City. Some may be aware that there was very recently an article and a Letter to the Editor in the Cottage Grove Journal newspaper; the letter was regarding the Mississippi Landing court case in which we’ve been involved. He read a statement to provide some transparent, factual information that can be put on a timeline as we work our way through the process: “In early 2021, the City of Cottage Grove prepared the Mississippi Dunes Master Plan to help the City determine the highest and best use for the former Mississippi Dunes Golf Course, located south of 103rd Street and north of the Mississippi River. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 10 After extensive visioning, planning, and a public engagement process, the Master Plan was reviewed by the Planning Commission, who recommended it to the City Council for approval. The Council approved the Master Plan in November, 2021. Following the approval of the Master Plan, Pulte Homes proposed a residential development called Mississippi Landing. The proposed development will include nearly 70 acres of open space, which is double any applicable legal requirement, including a 12-acre increase in the State’s Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural Area (otherwise known as the SNA), and then 30 acres for habitat preservation, and 25 acres for a river buffer park and open space along the Mississippi River corridor. These plans were consistent with the City’s Master Plan for the land; however, some members of the public, primarily environmental activists outside the City, desired to see the entire parcel taken and preserved as open space. Minnesota law requires that an environmental review be conducted for certain projects that could impact the environment. An Environmental Assessment Worksheet, known as an EAW, is the most common method for this environmental review. It is a document designed to lay out the environmental facts of the specific project being proposed, and it analyzes and reviews topics such as existing groundcover, zoning, geology, water resources, air quality, noise, ecological resources, hazardous materials, and traffic. The bigger purpose of an EAW is to determine if a more robust analysis, called an Environmental Impact Statement (otherwise known as an EIS) is required for the project. As part of its project proposal, Pulte Homes submitted the mandatory EAW. As required by law, the Draft EAW was published with the Environmental Quality Board for a 30-day public review and comment period, as well as published on the City’s website. After conclusion of the 30-day comment period, on February 2, 2022, the City Council held a hearing and took testimony on the EAW. Based on all the evidence in the record, including the 371-page report from the consultant, which found that the project would have no potential for significant environmental effects, the Council made the determination that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was not required for the project. On March 16, 2022, three individuals called relators and filed a position with the Court of Appeals. They requested that the Court review the City’s determination that an EIS was not required. They sought a declaration that the City’s decision was arbitrary and capricious; in other words, they wanted a declaration that the City’s decision was not based on substantial evidence. The Court of Appeals accepted the petition and issued a Court-ordered Writ of Certiorari on March 17, 2022. This authorized the Court to conduct a review of the City’s decision. Anyone here at this Council Meeting tonight knows that we do things by procedure; the same is true with the Court process. There is a strict procedure that must be followed. When the Court issued the Writ, the relators were required to serve the Writ on all required parties within 30 days, and this included the City and Pulte Homes. The relators timely served the City with the Writ within the 30-day timeframe; however, they did not serve Pulte Homes until September 9, 2022, which is about 176 days late, and only did so after the Court brought the failure of service to its attention. City Council Meeting Minutes October 5, 2022 Page 11 The exciting news is that on September 20, 2022, the Court of Appeals dismissed their appeal because the relators failed to timely serve Pulte Homes. Therefore, the City’s determination that an EIS is not required stands and the matter is concluded. While the City believes the Court of Appeals would have upheld its decision due to substantial evidence and support in the record, the City is pleased to have this matter decided in its favor so that we can move forward.” Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated as he closed this statement, on which our staff and our legal team assisted, he wanted people to know for the record and understand a little bit about how we do our job here at this dais. He brought in his swearing-in statement from four years ago and read that because he thought people needed to know that there’s a legal process and requirement that we have to follow. So, he read it verbatim: ‘I, Steve Dennis, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Minnesota and that I will faithfully execute and discharge the duties of the office of Council Member for the City of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, State of Minnesota, according to the law and the best of my judgment and ability.’ We all do that, and we do that every single day. We’ve taken an oath to do that, and it is at the heart of the very business that we serve here for the people of our community. Mayor Pro Tem Dennis stated because those letters were published in the paper, he felt it important that members of our community, as a few had asked him, be provided with a little bit more clarity and detail for the historic record on exactly what happened. Based upon the circumstances, we are now in a position to move forward. 13. WORKSHOPS - OPEN TO PUBLIC - None. 14. WORKSHOPS – CLOSED TO PUBLIC - None. 15. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Council Member Thiede, second by Council Member Khambata, to adjourn the meeting at 7:50 p.m. Motion carried: 4-0. Minutes prepared by Judy Graf and reviewed by Tamara Anderson, City Clerk.