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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPSC 01.08.24 Agenda Packet COTTAGE GROVE PUBLIC SERVICES January 8, 2024 COMMISSION 12800 RAVINE PARKWAY SOUTH COUNCIL CHAMBERS- 7:00 PM 1. Call to Order 2. Pledge Of Allegiance 3. Roll Call 4. Approval of Agenda 5. Approval of Minutes 5.1 11.20.23 Minutes 6. Presentation 7. Business Items 7.1 Ravine Parkway Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons 7.2 Commission Terms 7.3 Officer Appointments 8. Commission Comments 9. Staff Updates/Reports 10. Council Comments 10.1 City Council Agendas 11. Adjournment 1 City of Cottage Grove Public Services Commission Meeting Cottage Grove City Hall Council Chambers November 20, 2023, 7:00 p.m. The Regular Meeting of the Public Services Commission Meeting was held at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on Monday, November 20, 2023, in the Training Room. 1.Call to Order Chair Lisa Kons called the Public Services Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2.Pledge of Allegiance Chair Kons asked everyone to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. 3.Roll Call Roll Call Taken: Snowmobile Club Representatives and new Fire Chief Jon Pritchard in attendance. Absent: Commissioners Kelsey Moyer & Jenny Olson 4.Approval of the Agenda Vice Chair Ron Kath made a motion to approve the agenda; Commissioner Nate Lotts seconded. Motion carried: 5-0. 5.Approval of Minutes A.Approve minutes from the September 11, 2023 meeting. Motion by Vice Chair Kath to approve the September 11, 2023 meeting; Commissioner Tracy Jenson seconded. Motion carried: 5-0. 6. Open Forum Chair Kons opened the Open Forum and asked if anyone wished to address the Public Services Commission. No one spoke. Chair Kons closed the Open Forum. 7. Presentation - None. 8. Old Business or New Business A. Snowmobile Club Annual Meeting Ryan Burfeind, Public Works Director, said this will be an annual update; we’d like to talk about if there are any changes with the trails, and he’ll talk about pending impacts of any development. There are three Snowmobile Club members here tonight, so he asked them to introduce themselves, they did so: John Udstuen, President and C.E.O., Washington County Star Trail Association; Ben Larson, Trail Coordinator, Star Trail; Jeremy Goebel, President, East Cottage Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 2 of 21 Grove Travelers, also a member of Washington County Star Trail. Director Burfeind asked them to speak to the commissioners about what it is they do and their role in area snowmobile clubs. John stated Ben is our new Trail Coordinator, he just came on this year, replaced Chris Voligny, so we’re excited about that; Chris is now our Gambling Manager for our charitable gambling end of the line with county Star Trail. We’re still working on getting Jeremy a tractor here, as currently we’re still sharing/using a tractor from Bayport. We believe in 2024 we will actually have our own tractor assigned to the Cottage Grove area; they’re about $150,000, and in today’s world, it’s tough even getting a used one for that. We are fully committed to placing a tractor down here, exclusively for Cottage Grove. It’s hard to imagine but that would make the trails here nicer than they already are; Jeremy has done an outstanding job, we’re fortunate to have found this Snowmobile Club, and we’ve made a great partnership with Jeremy. Ben stated he’s just learning this role. He’s an avid snowmobiler, works in construction safety, so, his main focus is safety. Driving along the Star Trail, he wants to make sure that the signs are properly marked, so people are stopping at the stop signs, seeing caution signs, all of these precautions. He works on funding, too, as he wants to make snowmobiling a safe opportunity for everyone in the county. Jeremy stated our club started doing the Vintage Dust ‘Em Off show, which is held right by a farm field by Carbone’s. It gets bigger and better each year. Last year was our first year working with the Cottage Grove Lions Club; they sell food and beer for us, and we worked out a deal with the proceeds, and donated them to a charity. This year we’re trying a new process, getting an AED put out at Lamar ballfields. We’re already talking with Teddy’s dad, of Teddy’s Heart; hopefully, we can take our proceeds and get an AED out there. If you’re not familiar with Lamar, it’s a Park and Ride for snowmobiles and its handy, right off the trail. In summertime, there are multiple events out there, so we’re pretty proud to be able to do something like that for the community. The show is a good time, its fun, we’re looking at ways to make it bigger and better each year. He wanted to do a Radar Run this year, just to see some of the vintage sleds, but he got the quote back from the insurance company, and it was awful; we’ll figure it out, one way or the other. It’s always a fun day, it's great to see the kids get excited about it. If you’re around, stop and check it out, as it’s free. Council Member Olsen asked if they had Washington County and Cottage Grove Public Safety folks out there last year. Jeremy replied yes, Director Koerner and Officer Schoen were both there. We do a vintage ride from the show down to the park here, have a snack, have a bonfire, and they make a loop through Old Cottage Grove and back to the farm. So, they actually brought the side by side down and checked that all out. Washington County Sheriff’s deputies were there, too, checking out the snowmobiles. Its a great event and it draws a lot of people. We had people travel from far away, so to show our appreciation, we actually were going to do a gas card giveaway to the furthest-traveled snowmobilers that entered the show. People come from far away and stay here for the weekend, so, it’s really fun. Council Member Olsen asked the commissioners to introduce themselves to the snowmobile club members, and they did so. Tracy Jenson stated she’s lived in Cottage Grove for about 25 years; she happened to drive by last year when they did the vintage snowmobile event, and it looked like a lot of fun. Lise Rediske stated she’s never been on a snowmobile, she’d love to, and she’s lived in Cottage Grove for 20 years. Lisa Kons stated she is a lifelong Cottage Grove-St. Paul Park resident. Ron Kath stated he’s been a resident for about 26 years, is an avid snowmobiler, since age 12, his dad used to be the trail captain for the Inver Grove Club; he has to see if he can get a membership for Cottage Grove because he’s joined about 18 clubs. People don’t understand that snowmobile trails are all done by volunteers; they get some reimbursement funding from the State, but they have to go out and do the work. With the snow we had last year, the number of hours Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 3 of 21 clearing trails last year was unbelievable; he thanked them for what they do to keep the trails safe, open, and groomed. Nate Lotts has been a Cottage Grove resident for about 14 months. Commissioner Lotts has not ridden the snowmobile trails, but they look fantastic; he knows they don’t just groom themselves, so thanked them for getting up in the morning and staying up late at night, typically grooming then, to make the awesome trails. He doesn’t think people respect all the work they do on the trails, but they sure ride them like crazy. Jeremy stated it’s a lot of work, but he enjoys doing it. He explained in detail how, after they’re done farming, they groom, plow, disk, then use a land roller to roll the trails so they’re smooth and stable. We also mark the trails, that was just done on Saturday, so today he just double checked what the four crews had done to make sure everything was done properly. Commissioner Lotts thanked them for hosting this event; he’d only lived here a couple months and didn’t really know it was taking place until he drove past and thought, wow, that’s incredible. Jeremy stated it’s getting bigger and bigger each year, we’re just trying to find new things to add to it, to draw more people in, and keep everybody active while they’re there. If we sell hot dogs and beer and have a bonfire, we’ll have people show up. Council Member Olsen asked how many club members they have; Jeremy replied he believed it’s either 74 or 76, including kids. He stated they have meetings once a month, at Carbone’s in Cottage Grove; their activities include: A Poker Run, depending on snow conditions, we go to the VFW, Carbone’s, and then a lot of us farmers have sheds; so, we go to the different farms and hang out. We also host a Christmas party for the club members. We normally have a club trip to Barnes, WI, but this year we’re going to Solon Springs; it’s somewhere a little bit bigger and accommodating for the club members because the other one was a little small, and this place has a pool and a hot tub. Vice Chair Kath stated when he used to keep his sleds in Cottage Grove, with the Star Trail we rode from Cottage Grove and made a trip to the Grand Casino in Hinckley. We stayed overnight at the casino, and then rode all the way back here, made it a two-day trip, and it was just a blast. John commented on something Vice Chair Kath said, asked Ben how much funding we’re receiving this year; Ben replied about $41,000. John said we went backwards, which is odd, it’s unfortunate, as we used to get about $43,000. In 2019, our account for the Washington County Star Trail was pretty much a bust. We were running VR160s, which is relatively junk; one of them is rotting over here in Jeremy’s shed somewhere. In 2019, our operating costs were $63,000. Our Grant-in-Aid funding that we receive is so much per mile, and we’re getting paid for maybe half the miles that we actually have. Working with the DNR is incredibly challenging. In 2020, our operating costs jumped up to $67,000, so we had a shortfall of well over $20,000. That’s when he and just a few other people went on a mission to get charitable gambling; that is the other title that he carries, which is C.E.O. Without charitable gambling, financially, the Star Trail was probably going to be gone, the trails wouldn’t be groomed, this wouldn’t happen. He brought this up because we’re estimating our current operating costs for 2024 at $71,000, almost double what Ben, our Trail Coordinator, tells us we’re going to get. He owns a company, and his biggest expense is his employees; here, they’re all free, nobody’s getting paid for anything. So, imagine that, our operating costs alone are $71,000, and we’re getting $41,000. That’s without our largest expense, the employees, all of us in this room, as none of us gets a dime. That strikes a huge nerve with him when we talk about this because it’s amazing and not everybody knows what they’re saying; we’ll be out there on these tractors, and the DNR thinks we’re getting $25-$30 an hour. It couldn’t be further from the truth. When you’ve got someone dedicated, like this, that’s huge, and he loves it when people say something like that. It really perks him up because it’s unbelievable what happens Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 4 of 21 behind the scenes. These are all people who are working 40-50 hours a week, struggling to make house payments, they’ve got families, and then we pull them away on a Saturday and say, hey, can you help? We need you to take time away, and it’s amazing. So, God bless you for learning and understanding. Vice Chair Kath stated it’s an aging group, too. So, getting younger folk involved and then getting them into the activity of running a club is probably the other biggest challenge that you have. John stated it’s not just here, it’s all over the United States, in every club, on average. The average age of a snowmobiler kind of changes from year to year, but is like 48 to 57. So, I ask who wants to be president? They say, oh, you’re doing a great job. Well, that’s fine, I enjoy it, I love it. Council Member Olsen asked Jeremy what we made on this event last year. Jeremy replied it was over $2,000, maybe $2,300. The Lions Club donated that to us, and then we turned around and donated the entire amount to the School District, for the school lunch fund. Council Member Olsen stated he thinks it will be bigger this year since everybody had such a good time last year. Jeremy stated especially now that we know who we want to donate to, we’d like to get some signs made so everybody knows that proceeds are going to this specific AED fund. Council Member Olsen stated this is a great group of people, they do incredible things. They’ve seen their trail system get reconfigured and squeezed because of development, so sometimes they have to change some things, which is never fun for anybody. The Star Trail system is incredible. He asked how many total miles that is, as its massive. John replied it’s about 130 miles. Council Member Olsen asked if they did a new map last year, or two years ago. Jeremy replied yes, we updated it. Just this year, we have a member, Roland, who has Polaris RIDE COMMAND, so he can access that now; we can go in there and finetune the trails because they weren’t 100% correct on RIDE COMMAND with our map, which is correct. So, people were getting confused, but now, we’ve adjusted that. John stated but even with what you see up there, we’re not getting paid for that from the DNR. Our funding should be in the upper $70s, close to $80,000 a year, if we got paid for everything that we actually do. Commissioner Lotts asked how do you rectify that; John replied for us, it’s charitable gambling. Council Member Olsen stated we’re going to have to sit down with Senator Seeberger and figure that out. John stated yes, that’s a mess. Everything we were told is to make sure our mileage is correct and we have to upload it to the DNR website. Then, when there’s funding available, they’ll go right back and they’ll adjust. But there hasn’t, nothing’s changed in he doesn’t know how many years; Jeremy said nothing’s changed in probably a decade except trail pass fees. The DNR is getting rich, but we don’t know what’s even going on with that money. Ben stated he doesn’t know how often the DNR updates their Grant-in-Aid program, but he’s just learning this, working with the lady at the DNR, through our county sponsor, Alex McKinney, our Parks and Recreation Director. We work with him, as he’s kind of our trail sponsor for us with the DNR, so, we’re working with those two people. We have to present our case and then when they go to add more funding, even though they’ve increased the trail fees, it takes a while for them to catch up to the Grant-in-Aid; it could be two-or-three years before they go back to the table and actually get the money. Council Member Olsen asked if it should take that long; he told Jeremy to call him, so we can get together and talk with Senator Seeburger, County Commissioner Karla Bigham, etc., to just figure it out. John stated if you really want to see how messy this thing is, we get a percentage of gas tax. ’s really where it starts, and he thought that went all the way back to the 1980s, when we were Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 5 of 21 maybe paying $1 a gallon. If you also look at the increase in gas that’s consumed by the automobiles, he doesn’t know where that money is going. He doesn’t think anybody knows where it’s going; that’s how our government is. We applied for a Federal grant for a Heubel tucker, and he doesn’t know how the government even functions at that point. It took us a year to get that grant done with some really smart people. We have tenfold the number of vehicles on there, gas is much more expensive than it used to be, but the percentages stay the same. Simple math should tell you that it should be tenfold; that’s an animal that Ben’s going to work on. Jeremy’s part of Minnesota USA, as a Regional Director, so we have good people in place. He thinks that’s something that we’re going to have to continue to smack until we can figure out what’s really going on with that money, as its not coming to us. Jeremy stated that was brought up at the Region 6 Fall Workshop, in Lakeville, with the people who work with the legislature. They’re more proud of changing the stickers than anything. So, you used to have a little sticker and your numbers displayed. Now, they’re getting rid of all that and we’re going to be like Wisconsin, with one little sticker and that’s it. They’re working on putting a QR code on the sticker; so, if a cop comes into a parking lot, he can just scan all the snowmobiles, and it will tell the cop everything about that person, if they’re in trouble. If you’re going down a trail, they can scan you as you go by. They were more proud of that than trying to figure out getting more funding for us, and all our costs have gone up, repairs, fuel, and things aren’t cheap. They’re working on it is all they told us so far, but it’s a never-ending battle. John stated he brings this up at every meeting of the Star Trail. It’s on the minutes, and he doesn’t let it sleep. We’re going to have to keep smacking that beehive, but he thinks it’s going to take another level to get attention on that. Council Member Olsen asked if there were any more updates on this event, anything new, fun, or exciting they wanted to share. Jeremy replied, no, just that we’re looking to do a Radar Run, but we’re not sure. He’s assuming there are a couple members who are in the Army; he’s assuming they will be there with a display gun. We may or may not have a big crane with a big flag on it, like Perkins, we’re working on that. Council Member Olsen asked if they’re working with Officer Schoen and Director Koerner on all the necessary permits. Jeremy replied they have to apply for a banner permit, because we want to put our banner up on the corner, so we’ll do that later this month. It’s the first weekend of January, so, hopefully, there will be snow. Council Member Olsen stated it was a little nippy last year, but we actually found ways to keep everybody warm; Jeremy replied lots of firepits played a role. Commissioner asked if there’s not snow, what do you do, reschedule? Jeremy replied no, we will still have it. We have skids we built that we pull behind four-wheelers, so if people don’t want to drive their snowmobiles, we can drag them all out and put them on each sleigh. One way or another, we’ll make it work; we haven’t had to deal with that. Commissioner Lotts asked if somebody from the Air Guard wanted to set up a display there and recruit, basically come and hang out, should they reach out to you? Jeremy stated yes. Commissioner Lotts stated he’s actually going to be meeting with one of the head recruiters for the State. Jeremy stated absolutely; Council Member Olsen stated the more the merrier. Jeremy stated last year we had the Army out there, they had a Hummer and then they had a big tow truck, which was pretty cool. They had a separate display, as one of the members of the Snowmobile Club had asked. Commissioner Lotts stated the reason he asked was it’s the first weekend in January, so ’ll be looking for places to fly jets, so. He’ll have to really grease the skids with some people, but he’ll see what he can do. Jeremy replied that’d definitely be cool. Commissioner Lotts stated as you can imagine, it’s a very bureaucratic process. He’ll mention it and see what happens. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 6 of 21 Jeremy stated as far as the trail goes, we’ve already marked a bunch. He doesn’t know if there are any concerns or something you want to change; he’ll go back and change it if he has to. Director Burfeind stated down on 100th Street, there was an issue where the ditches were all holding water; that should be fixed now, but he doesn’t know if Jeremy saw that when he was out there. Jeremy said he’s going to go down there tomorrow and double check it, he’ll have a crew do that. One thing he saw down there before they marked was from Ideal to Jamaica, there’s a sidewalk now, there’s no boulevard, then there’s a signpost, and then the 3M fence. He asked about the chances of that short section not being plowed. Director Burfeind replied our plan is to not plow that section because there’s nothing on that side of the road. We put sidewalks on both sides because in the summer that’s pretty standard, the county likes them on both sides. But because there’s no development on that side, no need to cross there, the current plan is not to plow that section. Jeremy said once you get to that house, it’s plenty wide there. Jeremy said his other issue was by Airgas, there’s some silt fence in the ditch. Director Burfeind said we were just talking about recovering that from there. Jeremy said it’s probably about 100-150 feet long, it kind of zigzags, its not like on the bottom of the ditch, its coming out; Director Burfeind said it’s on the north side of 100th Street, which Jeremy confirmed, said basically its from Airgas’ driveway to the east. Director Burfeind said, okay, we’ll look for that. Jeremy said if that could be removed, it would be greatly appreciated. Jeremy stated he spoke with Noah, the Parks Foreman, and they’re going to put a snow fence up again along Lamar Field to keep snowmobilers from going in there; Jeremy said he pounded in a bunch of “No Snowmobiling” signs today, like he normally does. Other than that, we don’t have any concerns. He asked Director Burfeind if they were okay with everything. Director Burfeind replied he thought they were good. He said 100th Street is a big project, and we’ve been making sure that the trails are going to stay on 100th, won’t be going away, and that’s going well. There is really no additional development that would change anything at this point. Jeremy asked Director Burfeind when they were going to do the future road expansion in there; it looks like they’d kind of cut the new roadway in, to tie into 103rd Street. Director Burfeind replied that will be next year; once again, we have a 180-foot Right-of-Way going through there, so the road will actually get even narrower there than it is by Renewal by Andersen, so you’re going to have all sorts of roads that come through. We should talk about that more. He said officially, there’s a trail end at 100th and Hadley. Jeremy stated there are people who ride in that neighborhood, and they snake their way down behind the tanks and get out in St. Paul Park, down the road, but we don’t mark any of that. He asked if Director Burfeind thought in the future, he’s sure the residents of St. Paul Park would love it, if they would have a better connection, rather than sneaking through there. Director Burfeind stated that will be a change for next winter, but we’ll have plenty of Right-of-Way again, more than enough room for the trail to go along 100th. Then it’s going to go up Hadley, it’ll be really good, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Jeremy said the railroad must’ve done some work there, down by 3M, as they pushed all the railroad ties into the ditch; so he just pushed them back onto their property so they weren’t a hazard to the snowmobiles. Otherwise, everything’s the same as last year, so he thinks we’re good. Director Burfeind stated another reason he likes to have the Snowmobile Club here with the commission is the commission helps inform the Council of things, and you’re the voice of the community. So, you can hear about the Snowmobile Club, learn what they do, and all the work ’s put in so you’re more up to speed on things. Jeremy stated he appreciated the commissioners’ time, asked if they had any questions or concerns. Commissioner asked if there was a better way to contact him; Jeremy said call his wife, Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 7 of 21 and she’ll relay the message to him. To reach out to us, we also have a website, but Facebook is the best way. Council Member Olsen and the commissioners thanked the Snowmobile Club members for being there tonight, and they thanked the commissioners for their time. B. Cannabis and Tobacco Update Director Burfeind stated he wanted to give an update as obviously this commission and the Parks Commission had a Joint Meeting in September to give feedback on cannabis and tobacco. We did a follow up survey to get more information, as some of the commissioners were unable to be there. There were three ordinances put in place based on that direction from the two commissions: 1) Ordinance 1074, Cannabis Use in Public Spaces and Public Property: If you remember, State law says it is illegal to use on public property and public places, but there was no fine. So, that was a big discussion, and the general direction from both commissions was that there should be a fine. It is a petty misdemeanor for use in a public place, which is defined as generally open or accessible to the public; that could be the Walmart parking lot, for example, as that’s a public place. It is also illegal to use it on public property, anything owned or managed by the City, specifically, vaping or smoking of cannabis. 2) Underage Use of Cannabis: Once again, both commissions were in favor of having a fine for that; once again, it was illegal per the State laws, but there was no fine for it. So, that is a misdemeanor and a $100 fine, which matches Underage Alcohol Use. 3) Tobacco Use: We obviously talked about this quite a bit because tobacco use, specifically smoking of tobacco, was allowed in parks at the time. That was discussed, it was also in the survey, we got a lot of good feedback on that, so ultimately an ordinance was put in place prohibiting smoking and vaping of tobacco in public parks. It was really seen as a public health issue; if you’re going to prohibit smoking and vaping of cannabis in public parks, you should also not allow tobacco, and that is specific to public parks. Obviously, there are other Clean Indoor Air laws for buildings and areas close to buildings that are still in effect. The one thing that was not included in that is the River Oaks Golf Course, as that wasn’t seen as a typical park, as people pay to use it. Those ordinances were finalized and put into place based on the feedback and all the work of the commissions, so that was good and very helpful for the Council. Commissioner asked if signs will be put up saying No Smoking in the parks to make people aware of the change; Director Burfeind replied he imagines that will have to be the next step. That’s something that Director Dockter and his team will be working on. Director Burfeind asked if there were any questions on those. He just wanted to let the commissioners know, after all the time and effort they put into it, how it had been finalized. Commissioner asked if smoking in public parks was going to be treated just like marijuana, you can’t do it, but what’s going to happen if someone does. Director Burfeind replied that’s also a petty misdemeanor with a fine of $100. Commissioner stated he will be interested to see public feedback, if there’s any negative feedback on it. Council Member Olsen stated actually, so far, it’s been positive. Commissioner stated people with whom he socializes feel positive about it, but he’s just wondering if it’s going to be a ton of public feedback. Council Member Olsen stated once it becomes more visible, more people will chat about it, but the feedback for the people who know what’s going on thus far has been overwhelming positive. Chair Kons asked what’s the education behind this campaign to the public; is there an education period, or is it already in place, and how are we planning on letting everyone know about it? Director Burfeind replied it is in place, it is in effect. He’s not sure if Public Safety has talked about that at all or to Director Dockter. Police Captain Greg Rinzel stated he talked to Director Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 8 of 21 Dockter, and we’re going to use our first year or so as educational, like we do on pretty much everything. So, we’ll do that moving forward, he just doesn’t envision us becoming smoking police. Chair Kons stated that’s right, because with people you don’t know what you don’t know. Captain Rinzel stated it will be educational, there will be a percentage that just says no, then we’ll have to decide on how to handle that; we’re hopefully not going to get involved in Use of Force over smoking cigarettes. Chair Kons stated she’s just thinking about the use in parks in the spring, that typical time of year, and so if it’s happening in the fall, things kind of go dormant, and then all of a sudden, boom, here we are. It’s so much like the four seasons. Commissioner asked about the grandpa who wants to comply, but he can’t kick the habit. So, he goes off into the trees; that’s still not okay, right? Does he have to go into his car? She was told yes, he does; Director Burfeind stated the trees are all part of the public parks. Director Burfeind stated it’s probably not a bad time right now. If this went into effect in the spring, all of a sudden summer’s here, and no one knows about it. So, we’ve kind of got that winter where generally, it shouldn’t be a huge issue, and it will give us more time for it to be known. Council Member Olsen stated we have a new Communications team, so this might be something good to put on their plate and have them figure out how they want to move forward. He asked Director Burfeind if he maybe wanted to chat with City Administrator Jennifer Levitt about that. Director Burfeind replied yes, he could do that. Director Burfeind said the way all of you held a Joint Commission Meeting to get together and develop this so it could go to the Council was fantastic, that was amazing. Council Member Olsen stated it turned out exactly the way we hoped it would. We got really good feedback from the two commissions and that 100% formed our decision, no doubt about it, and that’s what our goal was; so, we’re very grateful that everybody was willing to share their thoughts. Commissioner Lotts said that was just like his maiden voyage and he was just taking it all in, and how it was executed was fantastic. Council Member Olsen stated that’s the purpose of the Advisory Commissions. Commissioner stated she thought the timing was really good, too, because she thought it was within a week or two of that Joint Meeting that St. Paul announced that they were not going to allow cannabis in parks, too, so, we were spot on. Council Member Olsen stated there are several communities who have done this. 9. Commission Comments and Requests Vice Chair Kath stated that now that he’s an official fulltime bus driver, this is more of a Public Service Announcement: When bus drivers put out their stop arms, and you see the flashing red lights, that does mean to stop. He’s been amazed, he’s already had five stop arm violations himself, and he bets the district averages about three a day. A significant amount of discussion followed: Council Member Olsen asked if they’re still reporting those. Vice Chair Kath replied, yes, there’s a red button in the bus, and there are high-definition cameras on the sides of the buses, so it will take a picture of what the driver sees, and then we call it in. We try to get a license plate, identification of the driver, the vehicle, etc.; we fill out a form, and then it goes on to the Police Departments throughout our district. He’s just been amazed, and thank God we haven’t had any children ever hurt. Violations he’s witnessed have been where he hasn’t yet released children from the bus, as drivers kind of get the sense when a car is not stopping, so, we keep the kids in the bus before we release them. So, please, folks, if you’re out there, if you see the yellow light start to flash, start slowing down, and even stop then. Once those red lights come on, it’s your obligation to stop. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 9 of 21 Chair Kons asked if South Washington County buses got the grant from the Department of Public Safety to have cameras on every single bus; Vice Chair Kath replied yes, every bus has it, and that was done recently. He stated that’s probably going to be the biggest issue for the School District, to maintain them as time goes on, but it’s great to have it on the buses. If people would just stop, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it. Chair Kons asked Captain Rinzel is a violation still six months without a license. He replied we have a system set up with our City Attorney for people who don’t have an egregious violation, so they don’t lose their license; they have to pay a fine and go through some education. That’s a change from the original penalty, as people used to lose their license for one violation. Council Member Olsen stated Council Members meet with the School District every month, on a rotating basis, so Mayor Bailey just met last week with Julie Nielsen, Superintendent, and Dan Pyan. He’d be curious if that was one of the topics of conversation, so he’ll ask. Vice Chair Kath said being a former School Board member, that’s one thing he’s shared with administration. Council Member Olsen stated it’s a pretty serious deal. Vice Chair Kath stated yes, he’s been really shocked about how often it occurs. There are cameras inside the buses, too, of the students. He noted with the radio chatter on the buses, we have to call it into the base that we had a stop arm violation; we give as much information as we can, as we usually can’t stop and write down the license plate, but he can speak it and they can pull that off the video inside the bus, too. Chair Kons stated that’s a statewide and nationwide issue, and it’s out of control. Council Member Olsen stated unfortunately people don’t always obey the rules. Vice Chair Kath stated another important part is educating the children on how to exit the bus when there’s a stop arm. Those stop arms don’t regulate the whole intersection, it’s just certain parts of the intersection. When you get kids coming out of the bus, they ought to go kitty corner, and we’re educating parents to meet us on this side of the street because your kid is not supposed to run through the middle of the intersection to get to the other side. So, as a bus driver, we’re constantly trying to educate the general public to stop, plus we’re teaching kids of the proper way to exit a bus and where is the safest spot. Commissioner Lotts stated a viral Tik Tok video would probably fix it all, at least they’d learn from it. Chair Kons stated the Department of Public Safety tried that, but we’re not allowed to put anything on Tik Tok quite yet, so she’ll defer to Cottage Grove. Nothing federally or state funded can be put on Tik Tok. Director Burfeind stated our Communications team could put something on our Facebook page. Chair Kons stated they won’t even pay for us to have anything created, even a 30-second video, and it does work, but it’s not allowed. Commissioner Lotts stated the roads look fantastic, with the hot patches that Public Works did. Director Burfeind said thank you. Commissioner Lotts stated he’d never really looked at the roads, like the hot patch quality, until he started on this commission. Now he drives around other cities and thinks man, these guys really need to get to work, then he gets back home and he’s like man, this is fantastic, our roads are so nice and so smooth. He goes to Duluth and it’s potholes. 10. Staff Updates/Reports Buildings: Director Burfeind stated shortly after our last meeting, we had our groundbreaking ceremony for our Low Zone Water Treatment Plant. That’s our first permanent PFAS Water Treatment Plant, its down by 110th Street and Ideal Avenue, that was very exciting. All utilities are going in the ground right now, mass grading of the site is done, and they’re going to start concrete work in December. It’s almost a full year of concrete work, that’s how much concrete there is, as it’s all big water storage under the building, with all the protective things, so, it’s a year of concrete pours. They get that ready, and then next fall they’ll put up the Tilt-Up panels, put the roof on, Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 10 of 21 enclose it, and then they’ll finish it out. It will be operational in June, 2025. We’re designing our second one, which is about three times the size, capacity wise, not building wise; we’re actually using a different technology that will be smaller, but it’s still a bigger building. That will be kind of behind the Central Fire Station, on some City property, and that will serve the rest of the City with permanent treatment. That one is about two years’ worth of construction with all the concrete. It’s a lot of work, but it’s good to see this going. He said hopefully we’ll have a new Public Works office building, specifically for our Utility and Engineering Division, and that will go next to that first treatment plant, off of 110th Street. We have to take bids tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. on that project, so, we’ll be excited to see how those come in. Streets: Director Burfeind stated with East Point Douglas & Jamaica, the first phase of that project wrapped up; we’re kind of in that interim phase right now where everything’s done on Jamaica, the new signals are operational up to 90th Street. Obviously, for the winter, we still have a temporary signal at the Target and Cub entrance. Chair Kons asked about that signal. It’s a double turn lane in, and the far left-turn lane is a left- hand turn only into Cub, and the other one goes straight. So, what happens is people don’t realize when they’re double turning in, they can only take a left-hand turn and they’re flying over to people in the right lane. She’s very concerned there’s going to be multiple crashes there, not because it’s a double turn in, but because the far left has to go left, into Cub. So, if they don’t want to turn left into Cub, they’re waiting until the last minute, then pulling over in front of people in that right lane. Director Burfeind he thought it was showing a double left right now. Captain Rinzel said she’s talking about southbound Jamaica. Chair Kons thanked Captain Rinzel, said yes, southbound Jamaica onto East Point Douglas Road is a double left. Captain Rinzel said it’s a double left, and then if you want to go straight, you have to move from the left lane back to the right. Council Member Olsen stated it’s the same as when you’re going to Hy-Vee; that’s a double left and everybody goes oh, no, I didn’t want to turn left. Director Burfeind stated that situation is temporary, but you’re right, because that will change once the permanent work is done, and that’s just a right in, right out. Then it will be two lanes going through, but over the winter because we haven’t built the roundabout yet, we haven’t built out the second lane. Chair Kons stated so her concern is you fill in ice and you fill in snow, and they’ll still be switching lanes. Council Member Olsen asked if there’s a way to mark it better. Director Burfeind replied they could do some temporary signage or something. That’s a good point because that’s one of those weird things that once we’re all done, it won’t be like that. Chair Kons stated yes, it will be perfect. Director Burfeind stated for the winter, it’s going to be like that, so that’s a good point. He’ll work on that with our traffic engineer. Purple Streetlights: Director Burfeind stated he’ll talk about the purple lights, the Vikings fans like it, but it’s a nationwide issue. There’s one type of light, called a Cobra head, a little light over the intersection or wherever it might be. Its an LED light, with failure nationwide; Kansas City had 3,000- 4,000 that turned purple. We have about 30-35, so we’re not that bad, it’s just that era of lights. We have new ones coming now, under warranty from the manufacturer, and they actually pay for our staff time, as our own staff operates and maintains the streetlights. Rick Alt, our Utilities Superintendent, tracks that and he will submit that for reimbursement. So, it’s not intentional, but it’s all over the place, and they are very purple. They were starting to turn purple at the end of last winter, but it was hard to really tell, but it took them that long to come up with a fix. Commissioner asked what’s the ETA on getting the fixed ones in. Director Burfeind replied ’re starting to arrive now, so, we’ll start putting those up soon, in the coming days. Our bucket truck, used to do streetlight repairs, was actually down for service for a while, so, that delayed it a little bit, but we’ll keep putting those up instead of more purples lights. We’ve heard some concerns if that was intentional; someone was concerned it was a black light and was emitting UV rays, and Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 11 of 21 ’s not what they are, but that’s what it feels like. Captain Rinzel asked if County had this same issue; Director Burfeind replied yes, they’re doing the same thing, replacing them, but they have them Countywide. They don’t do them, though, unless they’re at a signal or roundabout. Commissioner added we have some in our neighborhood, off 65th and Hadley, and it’s out in the middle of nowhere. Director Burfeind asked if it was in the neighborhood; she replied it was on the corner of 65th and Hadley, so right where Wooddale is. Director Burfeind stated yes, that’s another one of ours. So, it’s on a County road, but County doesn’t do regular intersection lighting, so we’ll be replacing that light. He’s sure its on Rick’s list, but he’ll just make a note of it. Snowplowing: Council Member Olsen asked Director Burfeind if he wanted to let them know about the plow routes. Director Burfeind stated the Council authorized us to add a 14th plow route, actually two years ago, but the way the supply chain issues have gone, we put the order in for the trucks two years ago and still don’t have them. It used to be, like Gary had said, a year at the most, so, we’re hoping to get the first one by Christmas. Gary stated we actually went out and witnessed the production of it right now. Chair Kons asked if you get them from Aspen Equipment, which Gary confirmed, stated it's a new chassis, so it’s a challenge for our mechanics, as they’re custom built. Council Member Olsen asked if they’re still using the two old ones, which was confirmed. He asked how old those are now, was told the oldest one is 1997. He stated so, as you’re giving thanks on Thursday, give thanks for our mechanics as they’re just keeping the old plows working. They wanted to add the 14th plow route last year. Director Burfeind said, yes, ideally, it would have been last November if we would have had that truck. It will be really nice to get that in place because the south end of town has been growing; the north end has, too, but that plow route was implemented a few years ago. The south route wasn’t able to, so, those couple drivers down there are driving a lot of miles. He said our average route is like 13 miles of street, and they each have about 20. Council Member Olsen asked if they’re queued up, as soon as they get the truck, they’re ready to go. Director Burfeind replied yes, absolutely. Gary has a new driver and he’s training in a cul-de- sac route, and he’ll be ready to go. Council Member Olsen stated these guys have so much pride in what they do, especially in the winter with plowing snow. He knows it drives them crazy that they don’t have that 14th route because they were excited about that, and now they still don’t have the truck. Director Burfeind said last year was when we need it, with so much snow; we don’t need a repeat of last year, that was hard on everyone. Council Member Olsen asked if they were good on salt; Director Burfeind replied yes, we’ll be good, and we can always order more because the new State contract is out. He said we’ll be ready. Personnel Updates: Captain Rinzel said he’ll speak mostly about personnel updates. As you know, we went through a budget cycle, and we were approved to increase our staffing from 44 to 46. So, with that, we had some movement: We knew Captain Randy McAlister was going to retire in March, 2024, as he gave a six-month notice. We backfilled his position, Deputy Director of Public Safety, which is an internal promotion only; so, we had to promote someone to the rank of Sergeant from the Patrol Division. Sergeant Brad Petersen will be promoted to Captain/Deputy Director, beginning January 1, and will be Captain of the Patrol Division. Captain Rinzel stated he's been captain of the Patrol Division 14 years and was ready for a change, and this was a good opportunity to do so. Captain Rinzel will now be captain of the Investigations Division. With that being said, looking at our entire structure, he’s had a dream for many years, a structural change in how we’re doing business and what it will look like. He’s wanted to add an Administrative Sergeant and add a Sergeant for Community Impact. We have many different division people doing Community Engagement, Officer Dan Schoen; we have a Case Management Unit, Narcotics, Major Crimes, School Resource Officers, and they’ve all kind of been lumped into Investigations. So, we had one supervisor essentially supervising 11 people, and that’s too many people to supervise in Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 12 of 21 that type of unit. We went to the drawing board and drew up a proposal, kind of last minute, after we had already done our Council budget presentation. We were able to make the numbers work with people retiring at a high dollar amount, being replaced at a lower dollar amount; taking all of that money and spread it across the year, so we made some changes. With Sergeant Petersen being promoted to Captain, we then had to backfill his sergeant position; we’re actually adding two additional sergeants, which is a huge jump for us. Going to 46 officers, we’re really adding two sergeants; the Patrol Division stays the same, but all the duties that the Patrol Sergeants had are now getting pulled away from Patrol and moved into a Specialty Division with a Detective Sergeant, Community Impact Sergeant, and the Administrative Sergeant will do the lion’s share of all administrative duties. The Patrol Sergeant will then have time to just go out and actually supervise their Patrol Division. He thinks it’s an add plus, with six people, even though you might say we ’t add anyone to the Patrol Division, he thinks we did. We added the people who were already there back into the position of being able to do that job. We had 11 apply for Sergeant, which is a crazy number; he can honestly say all 11 of them are capable of doing the job. It was actually a hard decision, as it’s hard to pick which one is the best, and where do they fit in. Dan Schoen, Nick Bailey, and Pat Young have all been promoted to Sergeant, so they are all going to the Patrol Division. We don’t move anyone into a specialty immediately, as they learn how to cut their teeth in the Patrol Division and then go to specialties from there. With him moving over into the Investigations Division, he will oversee two supervisors. We moved Justin Henseler to the Investigative Sergeant position, which was held by Mike McCormick, who is now the Community Impact Sergeant. With Captain McAlister leaving, me moving in, and another Sergeant moving in, we wanted some consistency within the Investigation Division also. Mike has a specialty with Community Impact and the Case Management Unit, as he was originally kind of the founder of that, so we’re having him stay in that division. Sergeant Torning, who is retiring his K-9 Gunnar in December, will start as our Administrative Sergeant in January. The Administrative Sergeant is not a new position; in the past, he was an Administrative Sergeant for a couple years before he was promoted, so, we’re just reinstating that. So, it’s a ton of change in a very small amount of time and some frustration within the organization; unfortunately, in law enforcement, nobody really likes change very much. Working through that was very interesting, to say the least, but January 1 we will have a whole different group of people: The night sergeants will all be new, with the exception of one. Pat Nickle will be a night power; other than that, the two night sergeants and the night power are all brand new sergeants. However, they have great experience. Dan Schoen has been an officer for over 20 years, he understands what it takes to be a supervisor. Nick Bailey is a Team Lead on the S.W.A.T. team, has been an officer for close to 15 years now. Pat Young is the same, he was in the Case Management Unit, really took that and moved it into a great position, of where we are today with that, and he has over 12, 13 years of experience. So, great people moving into good positions; he’s looking forward to the change. We kind of moved a lot; it seemed really easy, just talking about it here, but he didn’t sleep much for a few days. Council Member Olsen stated of course then you had to backfill some regular patrol officer spots, too; he asked how many applicants did we have for that. Captain Rinzel replied he thought we ended up with 28, and we’re hiring four. Captain McAlister is retiring, Officer Ronning is leaving law enforcement altogether, he’s getting into a business with his wife, and then the two new positions. So, the first round of interviews has taken place, and we have eight-or-nine candidates left; they will interview on November 28, and the last four standing will start February 5, 2024, in field training. Chair Kons said that’s a lot; congratulations to you and the department because in a world that’s in a state where people are leaving law enforcement, and there are many departments scrambling for help, we never seem to have that issue here. And that speaks volumes, so thank you. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 13 of 21 Captain Rinzel said 10 years ago, if you have said I’d have less than 30 applicants, I’d have been screaming. He thought Oakdale had four applicants, there are departments that have had none apply; so, to have almost 30 is nice. St. Paul doesn’t get any more than 50, and they’re taking in their Academy, in a year, they’re only having 50, the numbers just aren’t adding up. So, we have some very good lateral candidates again, and then some of our C.S.O.s, and just some other people that we were not aware of; so, it’s actually pretty good depth. Captain Rinzel said other than that, he’s on vacation mode, getting ready for the holidays at our house. He asked if there are any questions related to Public Safety, other than Fire. Vice Chair Kath stated he thinks it reflects back on our community and our Council, too, the support we put into our first responders and law enforcement. At least while he’s been living in this community, he’s never had a feeling that that wasn’t top priority for anybody. He thinks that’s the culture we’ve built here, too. He doesn’t think a lot of communities have that anymore. Captain Rinzel said he thinks our hiring process hasn’t changed a lot, we’ve tried to condense it a little bit, but there are agencies that once they receive an application, they do one interview, and it’s a job offer. We go through an interview panel, a second interview panel, which includes a firearms proficiency test, a simulator proficiency, report writing on the simulator, and an essay; ’s all in one, that’s the last part of their interview. There are departments that take an application, call them the next day, and offer them the job. There isn’t enough competition that they can pick and choose. Chair Kons said to that point, that’s also saying a lot about you and your staff because your time investment in looking at all that and deciding, from looking at that, who the best candidate is. That’s a good program. Chair Kons stated next is our short timer, Fire Chief Rick Redenius. Chief Redenius stated yes, if you have not heard, he is short time; he is retiring at the end of December, with 34 years with the City in the Fire Department. He started as an Explorer, but that time isn’t counted in that; so, basically, he’s been around bothering members in the Fire Department since 1983. His “next up” is here, Deputy Chief Jon Pritchard, he was selected and appointed by the Council. Jon started with us in 2019 as the Deputy Chief of our EMS Division. He totally radicalized that division and brought it back up to snuff, to what it needed to be. Moving forward from that, he’s been mentoring Jon since he got here, and we are both of the same mind and mission. He has complete faith in Jon that he’ll continue the mission that we sought together for our division and our City. So, congratulations to Jon. He will obviously be stepping in for me at the meetings. Chief Redenius stated with Jon’s promotion, that creates another internal position of Deputy Chief. So, that advertisement went out today, and that’s internal, so we’ll see what happens with that advertisement and that process. Fulltime Staff: We also are replacing fulltime staff who are leaving; one staff member left to another agency about two months ago, and one is also planning to retire in January. So, we’ve started the hiring process for that; we’re down to two candidates, they’re in the background stage right now. One would right away backfill a position, and the other fulltime staff would start in January. Parttime Personnel: There’s a shakeup here with that also, we’re going in a new direction with parttime staff. Our current parttime staff works as parttime, but they are still working with a pension that’s under the State PERA Board. After that group discussing with the City and with me, we came to an agreement of dissolution of that. What that means is the parttime staff, all the way back to the deferred members, will get a payout from their fund. That will be paid out, and it will end the Parttime Relief Association; that group then if it would like to stay, reapplies with the City as a parttime member, again, but this time they’ll come in and their retirement will be under PERA Coordinated. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 14 of 21 So, if they’re still receiving any retirement benefit, it becomes vested for them after three years. A lot of our longtime and experienced staff are like, I’ve done it, I’m good, I’m taking my money, I’m out of here. We knew this, we projected this to happen. We have no qualms about them doing that, we totally understand it. We started a parttime hiring process in October, and we’re seeing 17 of about 26 of our parttime staff return despite that dissolution process. So, we’re very happy with that great experience and that great group of folks coming back. We have 17 of that staff coming back with experience with the City, with the department, and our current response model. We started the process to backfill, knowing that we’d be down some people. So, right now, there’s 11 people in that process. We want to continue to have a 21 to 25 number in the parttime system to make sure the schedule works appropriately, not only for the City, but to have a good response as well. Some of them are already trained, and some of them have no training, other than EMS. So, some of them will be going to firefighter school in January, some of them will start FTO in January. It’s nice to make it so we don’t have so many people in FTO at once. For the ones that end up going to school, they’ll be in school until graduation, which is about in May, then they would come out of that, long after I’m gone. Calls for Service : Chief Redenius stated it’s been a while since we’ve given an update on calls; he shared call information from July through October: EMS Calls: July, 323; August-319; September, 322; October, 322. Total EMS Calls: 1,286 So, we see a pattern there. Fire/Rescue Calls: July, 101; August, 110; September, 114; October, 120. Total Fire/Rescue: 445 We were pretty busy, we were averaging 15 calls in a 24-hour period, on a lot of shifts. At that time, because of decreased staff and open positions, a lot of times they were running ragged. Now, we’re getting into that sickness time of year again, so things will start to pick up. Other Items: We’re still doing some Public Education events: Our Open House in October was done a bit differently this year. We held it on a Thursday evening, instead of a Saturday, and the weather did not cooperate; it was cool and rainy, but the Public Ed team did a great job, did what we could inside the station. We did some displays just outside the doors of the station, so those that came could stay somewhat warm and out of the rain by the station. We didn’t do too badly, but obviously, we would like nicer weather for that. So, the Public Ed team will see how things went and talk about next year’s event. Jon kind of heads up that Public Ed team, too. Hometown Holiday Event is on November 29, up here at City Hall, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Fill a Fire Truck benefit for the Friends in Need Food Shelf on December 2, at Woodridge Park, from 10:00 a.m.-Noon. That coincides with the Friends in Need Food Shelf and the Holiday Train online Silent Auction; those who have the winning bid will come to that location to pick up their items. We also have a donation drop off at that time for paper products and cash donations. We have a fire truck there with staff, and with the Holiday Train Committee, we collect those items for the Friends in Need Food Shelf. There will be reindeer there and it will be a bigger, better event than last year and hopefully warmer. Holiday Train will be here on Sunday, December 10, which means more people, but it’s at the same location from 3:00-7:00 p.m., near the Youth Service Bureau, the train will stop at approximately 5:00-5:15 p.m. Council Member Olsen stated parking will be coordinated at All Saints Lutheran Church and also at the Armory, and in partnership with the businesses in Cottage Square there will also be some parking. Chief Redenius stated there’s also parking at the Park and Ride, with tractors pulling wagons to the site. Chief Redenius stated our 1996 GMC/Volvo 2,000-gallon Engine/Tender is back in service, after Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 15 of 21 the fire in the engine compartment in late June. During that time, we had multiple agencies help cover us for any type of mutual aid we would need for a tender operation in our areas without hydrants. Deputy Chief Pritchard stated Chief Redenius has done well over the last couple years in creating better partnerships with Woodbury and South Washington County. So, now, every quarter, we meet with Newport and St. Paul Park to see how we can better work together. Every month we’re meeting with Woodbury and Oakdale to discuss if one of our tanks went down, instead of us panicking, wondering where are we going to come up with a new tanker or a new plow truck or fire truck, ’ll be our backup. We also offer to provide our new ladder truck and other things to other cities. So, we don’t have to worry about coverage with those great partnerships we’ve developed. It’s ironic as we don’t typically think of fire trucks catching fire, but now that its back, we’re hoping to get a few more years out of it. Chief Redenius wasn’t able to get it replaced, and he knows that’s one of his big regrets, but we’ll get him for him one of these days. Chief Redenius stated a plow truck replacement was mentioned, right now a brand new fire truck will take three years to get. The ambulance that we are hoping to see in 2024 was ordered two years ago; the backlog is why that takes that long. The only one we’ll get one fairly quick is to buy a demo, and a lot of people aren’t going to do that. Chief Redenius stated last month he and Jon attended a gathering down in Lakeville where we were fortunate enough to receive a $130,000 grant from FEMA for Fire Prevention and Public Safety. This will allow us to meet up with homeowners and businesses in the community in person to talk about fire prevention in their homes and in their businesses, and prepare their homes and businesses so they can better protect from fire starts. The inspections will generally be people who are not on shift, so we’re not taking away from the response crew when we’re coming in to do this. We’ll do a checklist with them, if they need carbon monoxide detectors, they’ll get that, if they need smoke detectors, they’ll get that. They’ll talk with seniors about false detection, etc., but there will be a lot of one-on-one contact. Jon put a lot of work into getting this grant; we were actually kind of the talk of the awards ceremony because there were many other agencies there, but we were the only ones who got $130,000, thanks to Senator Angie Craig, so that’s very nice. It goes to the testament of what we’re looking at when we talk to each other and what our vision is, for not only our department, but also for our City. What are we going to provide to the City as a department. Commissioner asked how are people going to find out about this service. Chief Redenius replied that program will probably roll out in 2024, so it will probably be a Facebook post; he’ll work with the Communications team on what their proposed startup is going to be and what they’ll start out as. Jon stated we’re in the last phase of the actual design, what does it look like, and we hope to start advertising in late December or early January, obviously, the holidays, and then personal business the first of February. We kind of had a little jump start because we’ve been doing this for older adults in the City, so this has been formulized well for everybody to do it. It should be rolling out, and we can give an update at a future meeting, too, on how that’s going. We’re very proud of that and we’re excited to do it. We’re also going to team up with the new Community Engagement Officer, Ryan Pierre, and give him forewarning. We’d like to also offer some other home safety things, it doesn’t have to be fire, but one of our firefighters suggested we bring gun locks with us. So, if we get to a home, and they don’t have locks on their guns, we can offer them. It’s really meant to be interdisciplinary, but Public Safety, firefighter and police, will get the credit for making their homes safer as we’re moving forward. Chief Redenius stated that will be his last update. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 16 of 21 Commissioner Lotts thanked him for his almost 40 years of public service, that’s amazing. Director Burfeind stated we got some cupcakes for Rick, we did a good job of hiding them in the kitchen. Gary Orloff, Streets Supervisor, stated obviously you’ve seen how we’ve been patching; hopefully, we actually finished today. They hit the town pretty well, they’ve done a great job smoothing them, we truly break it out and feed it in, which gives a better ride, and it’s also a lot nicer to plow in. Today we finished calibrating the trucks, so that’s the last thing we do on the dump trucks, so we dump the correct amount per lane mile. So, the trucks are all ready for our snow, but not until at least December 24 though. With things not freezing up, the guys put off putting a lot of the plow stakes out because they don’t like pulling them out of the ground; so, we try to get them in as close as we can to freeze up. So, homeowners are already putting them in, and we’ll get ours out hopefully this week yet. The guys are out mowing the ponds, we typically can’t start them until late fall, just for habitat stuff, so ’re getting that all done. We’ll be sweeping leaves until it snows again, we’re just about through the whole town. We’ll hit the areas where the mature trees are and get that swept up. We finished our MS4 reporting; there are sumps in the bottom of the catch basins, we clean all of those out and go through every inlet and outlet in town with the mowing to see what needs to be repaired for the coming years. Other than that, we’re pretty much ready for the snow when it happens. Vice Chair Kath asked with that last little snowstorm, we didn’t put any chemicals down anywhere? Gary stated all we did was truly on the #1 roads, so, 80th, Jamaica, very little. It’s kind of nerve wracking the first time; he and Director Burfeind spoke, and we knew it was going to warm up. The County had a lot of white out there, everywhere. Vice Chair Kath he knows County Road 19 was a disaster with the buses, it was crazy that morning. Gary agreed, but stated that’s all we did was our #1 streets. 11. Council Comments Vice Chair Kath asked Council Member Olsen with leaves, he knows Rumpca runs our compost site. Is there any update that can be shared or maybe how late its going to be open, and what the vision is moving forward? Council Member Olsen confirmed when he asked how long they’re going to be open, you’re not just asking this season, you’re referencing long term. He stated that piece of property that Rumpca sits on, they’ve never owned that property. The owner of the property ended up selling the property to Kwik Trip, aka QuikTrip in Oklahoma. Quick Trip bought that property, they’re also looking at two other sites in the City right now. Rumpca understood that that day may come, and they’ve had some other sites in mind for a period of time should they need to relocate. So, we’re working with them right now on some potential relocation. He’s not supposed to say where yet because they don’t want that information to get out in the public. What we’re telling people is there’s also a compost site in Old Cottage Grove, past Lamar, Manning and Lamar. Of course, there’s the County compost site that people can use, but if he had to bet his house, his suspicion would be that Rumpca will be relocating elsewhere. They’re a valued service, they do a good job, and they’ve always been somebody that’s been easy to work with, and they’ve been easy to work with on this, too, because they knew it was coming. Council Member Olsen stated the new apartments on Hardwood, there are two separate buildings; if you’re going north on Hardwood, towards Woodbury, the first one on the right is called Aurilla Apartments. They are filling that, they’ve been doing open houses. If you haven’t seen the building, Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 17 of 21 it’s awesome, they really did a good job. These are experienced apartment developers, that’s what they do. So, they definitely did a very nice job of amenities, they’ve had a lot of very positive feedback from people in the community who might be looking to downsize, especially some of our older population who maybe don’t want to deal with a house anymore. They also take pets. The next one down the street he’ll let Director Burfeind talk about it, as they’ve had more challenges. For that developer, this is kind of a new thing for him to develop apartments, and we’ve run into a few snafus with some of the exterior materials and different things. He’s been an interesting guy to work with; he asked Director Burfeind if he knew where we were at with him. Director Burfeind stated in terms of the building size, he doesn’t have the most recent update on that. He knows that there was an issue with the building materials. Even with the site work, with the turn lanes on Hardwood Avenue, their paving contractor didn’t do a good job. We have a letter of credit to make sure they do it right, so we actually had to draw on that; in his 10 years here, that was the first time he’s ever had to draw on a letter of credit, to basically default on their loan. It’s a very long process, our staff and attorney have been involved, but it’s their debt money, and we hired someone from the State Credit Bureau. So, that was a big deal. Council Member Olsen stated it was his understanding that he may have purchased some additional property in the City with the intent of putting up an apartment building; that is going to be a difficult push for him based on the current performance. Commissioner stated before you move on, with Arvilla, she asked what’s going in to the right side of that. Council Member Olsen replied O2B Kids, which is a child daycare facility. Council Member Olsen stated Dunkin’ Donuts is going in near the Grove80 Apartments. We finally got all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed, everything is moving forward. He asked if Director Burfeind knew what their anticipated opening date is, as he knows they’ve changed it a few times. Director Burfeind replied he thinks it will be sometime in mid-winter. Council Member Olsen stated it was his understanding that they wanted it open before January, so he doesn’t know if that’s going to happen based on how construction can be. Commissioner asked if they will have a drive through, Director Burfeind confirmed, it will be on the north side of the building. Council Member Olsen stated we had to reconfigure the building as there’s another apartment developer who wants to build there, too. Council Member Olsen stated Chief Redenius talked about the Holiday Train; we are super pumped about the Holiday Train, as it’s the number one fundraiser for the Friends in Need Food Shelf. The past two years they’ve raised in the $100,000 plus range, and the reason they’re so excited about it being on a Sunday is because that means they’ll have a good chance at raising more money. Cottage Grove is the largest stop in the United States, so they’re pretty excited about us having that. Please mark your calendars and get there early. With Fill a Fire Truck, they’re really looking for paper goods and cash donations. If you plan to help fill the truck on December 2, Santa & Mrs. Claus will be there, too, and they would really see paper products. Commissioner asked with the Holiday Train if there’s going to be a concert or a singer. Council Member Olsen asked if she’d ever been to it; she replied she heard about it, when Sheryl Crow was here. Council Member Olsen stated Sheryl Crow was here as a reward for us being the biggest stop. Each year the train actually pulls up, stops, then there are boxcars that have different musical artists in them, so they sing and dance, and it’s fun. It’s a good time, and there will also be vendors there, food trucks, and different activities for people to participate in. It’s on Sunday, December 10, this year, and the Holiday Train arrival will be at about 5:00-5:15 p.m. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 18 of 21 Earlier that same day is the City’s Santa Breakfast at River Oaks Golf Course. Santa will meet everybody for breakfast and then he’s going to go on the Holiday Train. The Santa Breakfast is always a fun event, too. Council Member Olsen stated tonight somebody had mentioned Senator Angie Craig, and he wants to give her a shout out. Regardless of your political affiliations, in his time as a City Council Member and/or commissioner for the City of Cottage Grove, 2004, she’s been the very best partner we’ve ever had in Washington, D.C., bar none. We have great relationships with Senator Klobuchar and Senator Smith, pretty good relationships with some of the other folks, but Angie hits the top. She’s provided us with so much support and grants and roadway funding. In fact, Director Burfeind and Mayor Bailey go to Washington, D.C. each year for the Transportation Advisory Board to lobby on behalf of our City for funding. Director Burfeind stated Senator Craig hosted us this year, and we got $3 million for a project two years ago, we got $5 million for 80th Street last year, and this year we’re close to getting somewhere between $1-$3 million for the 100th Street extension. Council Member Olsen stated she comes here for all of our big events, she’s very present, she’s easy to talk to, and she gets it done. He just has to give her a shout out, as she really does a good job. Council Member Olsen stated on Halloween, he drove around with Community Engagement Officer Schoen for the second year. We just visited with people and handed out candy. Earlier, somebody talked about supporting our Public Safety. We have a lot of Public Safety personnel from other agencies who live in Cottage Grove, and we ran into a bunch of them on Halloween, and here’s why: They think they live in a community that’s, first of all, safe, and secondly, that supports what they do. And that’s super important, and a huge amount of credit to the public. That night we were constantly hearing thank you for your service, we really appreciate what you do, etc.; it is never ending. Just being out and about on Halloween for the past two years has been really refreshing in terms of our connection to the community and the response that we see. We had people inviting us into their houses, it was unreal. It was really, really great, but it starts with the community here; the community here appreciates their first responders, by and large. We need to continue to do that, and that’s why we get the applicants, that’s why the people who are part of our department don’t apply to go elsewhere, generally speaking, because they like it here. Plus, as you heard Captain Rinzel speak about earlier, they all get opportunities to rotate through different versions of the job, Investigations, Narcotics, K-9, Case Management Unit, you name it. Captain Rinzel and the management team are constantly looking for opportunities for officers to continue to broaden the spectrum of what they know. We really owe a debt of gratitude to the leadership in the Public Safety Department, from former Chief Woolery to Chief Koerner and all the captains and sergeants for making that part of the deal. It’s a big deal, so, again, pass the word. Council Member Olsen stated regarding the parttime firefighters, Deputy Chief Pritchard and Chief Redenius talked about it a little bit. He asked if the commissioners exactly understood what they were saying as far as the dissolution of the Relief Fund and the fact that they’re now part of PERA. He asked Chief Redenius and Deputy Chief Pritchard to clarify the difference between the two. We know what it is, but the average person doesn’t know what it is, and then what the ultimate outcome was, relative to the way that we recruit parttime firefighters. Chief Redenius stated back in the day, Fire Departments started their own pension fund, which was run by the firefighters themselves. They did this through fundraising and things like that. Cottage Grove was no different, we were doing that when he started back in 1987. Over the years, the fund has grown. Depending on what the amount of the fund was depended on what your payout Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 19 of 21 could be for year of service, depending on what level it was being set at. As the fund grew larger and larger, you would receive a higher and higher payout. What we decided to do with the City, in 2017, working with the Relief Boad, it got to the point of not really anyone wanted to be on the Relief Board anymore, and they did not want to take care of the fund. The City was helping them out, they weren’t advising them on their fund, but the City was helping them out with actuaries and auditing services. So, there was some cost that the City was absorbing in that. The group also was looking to increase their benefit amount to a certain level that was guaranteed by the City. If their fund dropped below 90%, the City would help us to bring that back up; it never happened, ever. In 2017, after a discussion with the Relief group, $6,000 was settled on. When you went into the investments with PERA, they manage your money. It’s very, he wouldn’t say conservative, but it generally is not going to be high risk. But once you go in there, you’re frozen for five years. You can’t do any increases. That’s what you’re going to get, so this is an amount that the City and the Relief Fund agreed upon, they said at that time they’d go with the five years. So, the Relief Board kind of disbanded a little bit, there were still some folks in there, involved in that, but they didn’t have to worry about what’s going on with the money. They didn’t have to worry about actuaries and audits because the State handles everything on that end. Moving forward, some discussion started taking place on how can we improve wages for parttime staff, how can we offset costs to get more staff. So, some discussions started taking place with the Relief group saying you have this amount of money in your fund, what are your thoughts of doing a payout; let’s dissolve the Relief Association. Current members and those that were considered deferred, who hadn’t collected yet, because you had to be 50 to be a retiree, so they’re in the deferred group. Everyone gets paid out, depending on where they were at when they left. The savings from that and also the City receives money every year from the State, called 2% money, and that comes from insurance premiums. That money was agreed upon many years ago that that would help fund the Relief Association, so the City didn’t have to contribute to the Relief Association. So, in Chief Redenius’ entire time here, and what he earned before, when he had first started, the City had never contributed to the Relief Association in a monetary way, other than helping with audits and the actuaries. They did not set aside at budget meetings, we’re going to give $200,000 to their pension; the City had never done that. So, the City Administrators over the years did agree, though, that the 2% money went to that. A few years ago, law changes occurred with the 2% money, what it could be used for, and some of it was to offset retirement costs and pension benefits. So, it didn’t have to be just for equipment and things like that or pensions; it could also go into the fulltime pension side, to help offset the City’s costs of putting money into that pension. So, we’ll move forward a little bit more here with the Relief Association, about a buyout and then what that would mean for them. The City Administrator and the Council talked with Director Malinowski in Finance, HR Manager Fischbach, Director Koerner, and me, and came up with a budget plan, per se, for what a pay increase could be across the board for parttime staff. Because one of their issues was we’re unpaid; through a look around the metro area, they were a little bit underpaid for what they’re doing and the number of calls that we’re doing, etc. So, a step program was brought up, and a pay increase was brought up, with the idea that if we dissolve the Relief Association, we’re going to offset costs for your pay increase with 2% money. We’ll also be able to offset costs for fulltime staff, pension payments, etc. After several meetings, the Relief Association members came to an agreement that yes, we want to do it. So, that’s where we got for that. We’re still working to the end because it won’t be effective until the end of the year, but the staff that is staying here are seeing a pay increase. They’re still going to receive a pension, as mentioned, it’s just the PERA Coordinated Fund. The ones that are leaving will either have a payout directly, cash, or they have the option to roll it over into their own account. Right now, many of them are under age 50, so they can’t touch the money. Now, they get the money, and they can start investing as they see fit and start making money on their money. Because who knows what it’s going to be Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 20 of 21 down the road. The ones who are over 50 that haven’t collected yet, we finally got hold of them, said, hey, you probably want to take this money because this is what’s going on. So, we’re down to like two people that we haven’t been able to get hold of yet. He thinks one of them we can contact through PERA, and one of them we’re going to try to contact through the IRS. So, if they paid their taxes, we’ll try to get hold of them that way, find our what their current address is. We’ve tried Google and Facebook, and we just can’t find this one guy. We’ll also try to reach out to the State and IRS to see if they have a current mailing address for him. Commissioner asked is the 2% that has been earmarked to go to the raises, is that 2% going to be earmarked every year then. Chief Redenius replied yes, it is, but it will be split between parttime and fulltime. There’s discussion of adding three fulltime staff in the first quarter of 2024; if that were to come to fruition, that money would be towards that also. Council Member Olsen asked we also got the State money for Public Safety, so the three fulltime staff would initially be supported by that. Council Member Olsen stated the reason he wanted Chief Redenius to explain this is he wanted everybody to understand this was done in partnership with the firefighters, with the Relief Fund; this was not something that we’ve done to them, it was done with them. Frankly, it was kind of their idea. There was a long process prior to that where we brought in our consultants from Ethical Leaders in Action, whom we use for our Strategic Planning session every January. Jamie, one of the directors there, is a former firefighter, so he was intimately aware. This is not just Cottage Grove doing this, we’re seeing it more and more and more because this generation of firefighters seems to be a little more focused on what am I getting paid right now as opposed to what am I putting in the bank, it’s just a generational change. We wanted to be able to be competitive in that regard. He thinks by and large it’s met with very positive feedback; he asked if Chief Redenius and Deputy Chief Pritchard agreed. Deputy Chief Pritchard stated we did over 20 parttime interviews, and he’s never seen that before, and he was in the parttime world for almost 20 years. He thinks it’s because we are now so competitive. Council Member Olsen stated we also made some adjustments to some other parameters relative to how do you become a parttime firefighter for the City of Cottage Grove, what steps do you need to take, what things need to be in place, how close you need to live from the station, etc. The pay rates he thinks are very attractive at this point. For those who are leaving us, 17 of 26 are coming back to the City, so several of those who are leaving are people who were planning on retiring anyway; so, this is just a bonus for them, they’re happy, and they’ve put in many years, and ’re comfortable with the way things go. Ever since former Deputy Chief Beasley left, the Board ’t really been managed very effectively; in fact, they even forgot to recertify themselves as a Board, so that got a little weird. The long and short of it is it’s a good thing. He wanted the commissioners to have the process behind it because there will be people who will say things, and he just wants them to know that this is a positive thing, and it was done in conjunction with our firefighters. Chief Redenius stated yes, so much so, Council Member Olsen, in our work with PERA and Finance Director Malinowski, we were kind of maybe creating a template for other Fire Departments because it’s gone so smoothly. Council Member Olsen stated it went really bad in a couple of other Fire Departments. Chief Redenius confirmed a lot of other Fire Departments did not have this happen very well, and PERA has outright told us this is going to be a template for other Fire Departments. Public Services Commission Meeting November 20, 2023 Page 21 of 21 Council Member Olsen stated just so you know, our City Council’s mantra has never changed from the day he started in 2008, relative to Public Safety: Best facilities, best training, best equipment, best people, and everybody comes home. 12. Adjournment Vice Chair Kath made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Commissioner Rediske seconded. Motion carried: 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:46 p.m. Minutes transcribed by J. Graf and reviewed by Kari Reubish. To:Public Services Commission From:Ryan Burfeind, Public Works Director Date:January 3, 2024 Subject:Ravine Parkway Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons Background Over the past few months, the City has received requests for crosswalk enhancements to be installed at two locations on Ravine Parkway, between Keats Avenue and Jamaica Avenue. Specifically, the requests have been for the installation of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs). Currently, four of these devices are installed in the city along arterial th roadways, below is an example of what installation looks like. This RRFB is located along 90 Street, by Woodridge Park. The cost to install an RRFB can range from $10,000 to $20,000, depending on the amount of work that is required to make the pedestrian ramp ADA compliant. Due to this high cost, staff are seeking feedback on the priorities and timing of potential RRFB installations. If an installation is recommended, further cost analysis would be completed and brought forward during budget discussions with the City Council. The installation of an RRFB is based on MnDOT guidance in the Traffic Engineering Manual, which is attached, and dependent on the characteristics of the Roadway. Ravine Parkway is classified as a Major Collector, has a 40-mph speed limit, and the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is 995 vehicles per day. For a major collector, this is a relatively low traffic count. Roadways such as Hillside Trail and Indian Boulevard have between 2,000 and 4,000 ADT, for comparison. New RRFB installations are not recommended on roadways that have a speed limit greater than 40-mph, so RRFBs would be allowed on Ravine Parkway. The figure below shows the two locations along Ravine Parkway where requests for RRFBs have been received. The first location is at the intersection of Joliet Avenue and Ravine Parkway, at the entrance to Glacial Valley Park. This location does not currently have crosswalk signage, as it located at an intersection where crossing is allowed per state law. This request was based on the new community park, in anticipation that residents from the neighborhoods to the south would cross at this location. Also, while the parking lot was maximized in the park itself, a combination of large tournaments and building rental could result in some on-street parking on Joliet Avenue requiring people to cross Ravine Parkway. At this location, the roadway would be characterized as a three-lane section with a raised median. Based on the ADT and posted speed limit, an RRFB would be a recommended crosswalk enhancement. The second location is at the trail crossing that follows the old Military Road corridor. In this area Ravine Parkway is a two-lane section with a raised median. Given this is a mid-block crossing, this both crossings do have existing crosswalk signage, and example of which can be seen below. Based on the ADT and posted speed limit, an RRFB is above and beyond what would typically be recommended as a crosswalk enhancement. Rather, an in-road pedestal style sign would be recommended. An example of this sign is shown below. Typically, this pedestal style sign would be placed on the centerline of the road, between two traveled lanes. Given there is only one lane of travel in each direction, separated by the large median area, this type of sign would not typically be used. An overhead sign, which would be in addition to the existing crosswalk signage, would be an option as well. Once again, with the single lane crossing, there is good visibility today of the existing signage, so an overhead sign may provide little benefit. A final option would be to add an additional crosswalk sign on the left side of the road. If additional signage is not recommended at this time, this location will continue to be monitored. Recommendation Receive information on the Ravine Parkway RRFB requests and provide feedback to staff on recommended installations. DDDDD 45 mph CCCCC > 15,000 40 mph signs. BCCCC 35 mph (R1-9b) Vehicle ADT CC BB A (R1-9a) 30 mph DDDDD 45 mph CCCCC 40 mph > 12,000 - 15,000 CC ABB 35 mph Vehicle ADT C AABA 30 mph DDDDD 4 45 mph CCCC B 24.28! 40 mph > 9000 - 12,000 C BBB A 35 mph Vehicle ADT Pedestrian Facility Treatments B AAAA 30 mph ) and/or geometric improvements DDDDD R1-9b Table 13-1 45 mph 9000 BCCCC 40 mph C AABA 35 mph Vehicle ADT AAAAA 3 30 mph 1,5 2 Consider pedestrian hybrid beacon, pedestrian traffic signal, or grade separated crossing. Consider installing a raised median refuge island if one is not present. Consider installing marked crosswalk and appropriate crossing signs along with a pedestrian activated Consider installing treatment options from Type A treatments. Add curb extensions or median refuge islands. : Consider installing marked crosswalk with advance warning signs (W11-2); use S1-1 signs for school crossings. Consider in-roadway (R1-6) or overhead 2 Guidance: Roadway Configuration 2 lanes (with or without a raised median)3 lanes with raised median3 lanes without raised medianMultilane (4 or more lanes) with raised medianMultilane (4 or more lanes) without raised median Treatment Descriptions:A. Consider marked crosswalk and signs GuidanceB. Consider marked crosswalk with enhanced signs (R1-6a or R1-9a Guidance:C. Consider marked crosswalk with signs, geometric improvements, and pedestrian activated warning devices D. Do not install marked crosswalk. Guidance:Specific Notes:1. Advanced stop lines and signing (R1-5b or c) should be used whenever possible if a multiple threat crash issue is present. Overhead signing, RRFBs or other overhead treatments should be used to mitigate multiple threat crash risks. 2. Do not install a marked crosswalk where there are 3 or more through lanes per direction. Consider a pedestrian hybrid beacon, pedestrian traffic signal, or grade separated crossing.3. Traffic calming measures should be considered to reduce speed. 4. If a median cannot be or is not currently installed go to Treatment Type D.5. Minimum acceptable median width to provide a refuge is 6 feet.General Notes:1. Adding crosswalks alone will not make crossings safer, result in more vehicles stopping for pedestrians, nor will they necessarily create a false sense of security. 2. Crosswalks have not been proven to create a false sense of security - research shows that pedestrians scan the road more at marked crosswalks.3. Whether a crosswalk is marked or not, additional crossing enhancements should be considered. See the "Additional Treatment Considerations" section.4. See MUTCD Section 3B.18 for additional guidance on using this table.5. Lanes are total cross section. To:Public Services Commission From:Ryan Burfeind, Public Works Director CC: Date:January 1, 2024 Subject:Commissioner Terms Introduction/Background Below is a list of the new term details for each Commissioner. Reminder that each Commissioner may serve up to four (2-year terms) before their term limit. CommissionerTermTerm Expiration nd Kath2February 2025 nd Kons2February 2026 nd Rediske2February 2026 st Moyer1February 2025 st Jenson1 February 2025 st Lotts1February 2025 st Olson1 February 2025 Recommendation No action required at this time.