HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-1-17 FOC Meeting Minutes
HERO TRAINING CENTER 1/17/2024
FACILITY OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
10125 85TH STREET SOUTH
COTTAGE GROVE, MINNESOTA 55016
REGULAR MEETING – 2:00 P.M. (In-person or TEAMS)
1. CALL TO ORDER at 1402 hours
2. ROLL CALL
Committee members present: Clint Gridley (Woodbury), Pete Koerner (Cottage Grove), Jason Posel
(Woodbury), Jennifer Levitt (Cottage Grove) and Brenda Malinowski (Cottage Grove)
Others present: Dan Anselment (HERO Manager), Bri Zeterlu (HERO), Kori Land (Attorney), Tom Ehrenberg
(Woodbury) CHAD WEINSTEIN (Consultant) and Crystal Raleigh (Cottage Grove)
3. PRESENTATIONS
4. CONSENT AGENDA
A. HERO FOC Meeting Minutes – September 19, 2023
Staff Recommendation: Approve the Meeting Minutes from September 19, 2023, regular
meeting.
B. HERO Financial Statements
Recommendation: Receive Information
Motion to approve the consent agenda made by GRIDLEY and seconded by MALINOWSKI. Motion carried 5
to 0.
5. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS
A. Approve payments from 9/14/2023 to 1/10/2024 in the amount of $80,401.01
Motion to approve the disbursements made by LEVITT and seconded by GRIDLEY. Motion carried 5 to 0.
6. REGULAR AGENDA
A. HERO JPA Amendment – Attorney Kori Land
Recommendation: Discuss amendments to the JPA.
LAND advised that she added some words to the JPA agreement and then removed historic language that
was no longer necessary.
Motion to approve the amended JPA to both city councils made by GRIDLEY and seconded by MALINOWSKI.
Motion carried 5 to 0.
B. HERO Roof – Attorney Kori Land, Asst. City Engineer Crystal Raleigh, Daniel Anselment
Recommendation: Discuss a plan to move forward.
LAND stated that the League of MN will only cover 2/3 of the roof repair cost.
GRIDLEY inquired why only 2/3? If the roof is under warranty then why do they not have to cover 100% of
the repair costs?
RALEIGH advised that Carlile claims that the issue was not with their material yet, with the construction of
the roof.
GRIDLEY clarified that the material warranty from Carlile has coverage yet, the construction warranty had
expired after one year. How did the League of MN arrive at the 2/3 coverage vs an entire coverage for the
repairs?
LAND informed the committee that the League of MN stated that 1/3 of the roof was not damaged
therefore, there was no need to pay to fix that portion.
RALEIGH stated that the League of MN would cover up to a certain dollar amount and nothing more than
that. RSI provided a bid for the repairs at $347.5K.
GRIDLEY asked ANSELMENT what he needed from the FOC at this time.
ANSELMENT advised that he was looking for direction on how to proceed.
LEVITT inquired about obtaining a bid and if the new roof will not provide a warranty then can the FOC go
back to the League of MN with the updated information.
GRIDLEY then questioned if the damage was due to installation or material?
RALEIGH advised that the RJM and Carlile blame one another and that the League of MN would not take a stance due to there being no proof either way.
ANSELMENT then informed the FOC that there is a $50K deductible.
LEVITT then stated that the current policy is held under the city of Cottage Grove and asked when it can be
transferred to the HERO policy?
GRIDLEY we should have a third party complete a roof analysis with bid specs.
LAND advised to run information past the League of MN and confirm that they would indeed cover new bids
for a roof replacement.
ANSELMENT advised that LEO Daily may be willing to provide floorplans or drawings of the roof in order to
assist with a roof bid.
C. HERO Facility Use according to the MMB – Attorney Kori Land
Recommendation: Discussion
LAND advised the FOC to create revenue strategy plans and then present them to DPS. Make the plans
broad.
LEVITT stated that the FOC should go to DPS with the proposed language.
MALINOWSKI stated that HERO should create an estimate of potential revenue and state if it will be tax
exempt or not.
D. HERO Center Strategic Plan Draft – Chad Weinstein
Recommendation: Review the Strategic Plan Draft and discuss, if appropriate approve the plan.
WEINSTEIN stated that the retreat did not result in large changes needed and that reasonable constraints
were addressed.
GRIDLEY asked about the SWOT Analysis and advised that this was still a major concern. HERO needs to
capital improvement plan yet, at this time there is no realistic way to fund that. Additional concerns are the
increasing competition with several other facilities being built or proposed along with Police Department
staff shortages that prevent training. GRIDLEY would like to place a higher priority of financial stabilization
for the future.
WEINSTEIN suggested that HERO focus on obtaining other public safety groups such as Fire, EMS, Allies, ETC.
An additional issue is small staffing levels at HERO. Marketing and sales assistance would be useful yet, this
would potentially need to be a part time position or if the current staff handles this then it may just take longer to get started. The short-term limitations are short staffing within Police Departments and the long-
term limitations for HERO as the other agencies that are creating similar training facilities.
GRIDLEY stated that HERO should reach out to other neighboring agencies such as Maplewood or Stillwater
and try to obtain customers from other markets.
ANSELMENT informed the FOC that Cottage Grove and Woodbury Police Department are currently utilizing $288K worth of training space at HERO for 2024.
GRIDLEY advised that the net for both cities is $170K which allows them to be first to pick their reservations
however, this also means that both cities take on the risk and need to pay in $118K.
WEINSTEIN stated that HERO should focus on obtaining customers that use non-day time range hours along
with shoulder space.
LEVITT asked what ANSELMENT should focus on to achieve faster revenue profits.
WEINSTEIN stated that service expansion should be the number one priority. I did reach out to agencies and
inquire if they could be incentivized to use more of the shoulder time and they stated no due to not wanting
to pay any OT to their staff for afterhours trainings.
GRIDLEY advised that if the FOC approves WEINSTEIN’s report then ANSELMENT should move forward with
the action plan.
LAND asked the FOC if they could change the language in the grants/documents to allow for the facility to
be utilized for additional sources of income? Create an action plan and then present it to DPS.
WEINSTEIN stated that HERO could promote future law enforcement, youth and community engagement as
part of their action plan to DPS.
Motion to approve the amendment to grant agreement and strategic plan made by GRIDLEY and seconded
by LEVITT. Motion carried 5 to 0.
E. New chair member vote
Recommendation: The 2023 chair member was from Cottage Grove so the 2024 chair member
must be from Woodbury.
Motion to approve Jason Posel as the new chair member made by GRIDLEY and seconded by MALINOWSKI.
Motion carried 5 to 0.
7. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by LEVITT and seconded by KOERNER at 1459 hours. Motion carried 5
to 0.