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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-07-17 City Council Meeting COTTAGE GROVE CITY COUNCIL July 17, 2024 12800 RAVINE PARKWAY SOUTH COTTAGE GROVE, MN 55016 COUNCIL CHAMBER - 7:00 P.M 1. CALL TO ORDER The City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota, held a regular meeting on July 17, 2024, at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway. Mayor Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The audience, staff, and City Council Members stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL City Clerk Tammy Anderson called the roll: Mayor Bailey-Here; Council Member Garza- Here; Council Member Khambata-Here; Council Member Olsen-Here; Council Member Thiede-Here. Also present: Jennifer Levitt, City Administrator; Tammy Anderson, City Clerk; Ryan Burfeind, Public Works Director; Zac Dockter, Parks and Recreation Director; Koerner, Public Safety Director; Amanda Johnson, City Attorney-LeVander, Gillen & Miller, PA; Brenda Malinowski, Finance Director; Emily Schmitz, Community Development Director; Brad Peterson, Public Safety Captain. 4. OPEN FORUM Mayor Bailey opened the Open Forum. As no one wished to address the Council, Mayor Bailey closed the Open Forum. 5. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion by Council Member Olsen to approve the agenda; second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. 6. PRESENTATIONS DARTS 50th Anniversary Proclamation Staff Recommendation: Proclaim Wednesday, July 17, 2024 as DARTS Appreciation Day. Mayor Bailey stated Craig Egerman, the DARTS Manager of Home Services, will be speaking, but he first asked Council Member Garza to read aloud the proclamation and then Council will make a motion to approve it. Council Member Garza read aloud the proclamation for DARTS 50th Anniversary. Motion by Council Member Garza to proclaim Wednesday, July 17, 2024 as DARTS Appreciation Day; second by Council Member Olsen. Motion carried: 5-0. Mayor Bailey stated now that it’s official, he invited Craig to step to the podium to speak. Craig Egerman stated I’m the program manager of Home Services at DARTS. He thanked Mayor Bailey, the Council, and City staff for having them here tonight. We’re in our 50th year, and Cottage Grove is the latest city that we have started to serve. We started the loop five years ago, and now we are expanding into Southeast Washington County. We are honored to provide outdoor chores, home repairs, the loop, and volunteer opportunities for seniors in Cottage Grove. So, thank you very much for the honor, we are happy to be here and hope to be around for another 50 years. Mayor Bailey stated thank you, our relationship and partnership with DARTS has been amazing, especially with the loop, as you’re calling it, in Cottage Grove. It was funny I was talking to Tammy a little bit earlier, and she was commenting when she worked down at Public Works the number of people who would call Public Works looking for somebody to help. She commented, “Boy, back then I wish I would have known that we had this great service,” which we do now, so, we’ll make sure that that message does get out. I also know in speaking with our Washington County Commissioner, between the City and the County, we’re kind of looking at possibly expanding the services within Cottage Grove with DARTS due to the extra transportation dollars that are out there that we can maybe serve more of our community. Predominantly it’s more of the elderly going to those facilities, but we also go up to the library and the neighborhoods up in that area, too. Craig said yes, and we’re honored to serve this area, and we’re excited for the partnership with the City of Cottage Grove. Mayor Bailey stated the Council would like to take a photo of presenting Craig with the plaque to honor their 50th Anniversary bash. He asked Council to meet him and Craig in front of the dais where Craig will be presented the plaque and photos taken. Photos were taken and all of the Council Members congratulated Craig. Mayor Bailey stated displayed on the screen is a poster for Thursday, August 1, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., at The Wexford at Emerald Greens, in Hastings, there is actually a DARTS 50th Birthday Bash. He asked if the public is welcome, and Craig replied it is a ticketed event. Mayor Bailey stated so, if you want to attend, it looks like you can register at DARTS50thbashgivesmart.co m. It looks like there will be a silent auction, music, drink tastings, games and prizes. Obviously, all of this benefits an amazing cause, DARTS. Mayor Bailey thanked Craig again for servicing the City of Cottage Grove and our residents. B. Night to Unite Proclamation Staff Recommendation: Proclaim Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Night to Unite in Cottage Grove. Mayor Bailey stated he’s asked Council Member Khambata to read aloud the proclamation, we’ll vote on it, and then we’ll have the presentation. Council Member Khambata read aloud the Night to Unite proclamation. Council Member Khambata made a motion to adopt the proclamation proclaiming Tuesday, August 6, 2024, as Night to Unite in Cottage Grove; second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. Mayor Bailey introduced Pete Koerner, our Public Safety Director. Director Koerner thanked Mayor Bailey and the City Council for having him speak tonight. He stated I have awesome staff that does this. We started as National Night Out back in the late 1980s with Officer Greg Reibel, and we had a big City celebration at Woodridge Park. Officer Gail Griffith took it to a new level with Night to Unite; I was always content when we had about 30 or 40 neighborhood parties, but of course that’s never good enough for the Mayor and City Council and you challenged the community. So, last year, we had 58 parties, and I spoke with Charlene Raymond, who coordinates all of this, and she said now we’re going to have upwards of 70 parties this year. That’s a lot of parties for us to be out mingling with the public, it’s been a phenomenal opportunity for us to engage. From the proclamation read by Council Member Khambata, originally it was all about crime prevention, saying goodbye to crime, and we’ve taken it to a whole new level with it’s not just the police officers; we all know police show up, kids like the squad car, fire trucks, and we get pushed out of the way. It’s the same way with the City Council, everyone wants to know what developments are coming and what restaurants. I go with the Mayor, and I feel like Council Member Thiede should be up here with his Strawberry Fest enthusiasm and get people all riled up for this. Council Member Garza, you’re in for a treat this year because we like all the Council Members to go with us and represent the City. It’s become a lot more, it’s really community engagement; it’s not just the Police Department. When we do the noon-outs for the seniors, Public Works brings their truck down, and Parks staff comes, so it’s really an all-encompassing event with all of us. We really want to invite our residents to sign up, it’s really easy, and there are some parties that have 8 people and other parties are a whole development with 200 people. It’s just an awesome opportunity, and it’s not just police anymore, it’s all of us with the City. Our Public Safety Board is a huge contributor to this as well. We started the noon-outs years ago where we go to senior housing developments. I just love that picture of Firefighter Bill King, as he was escorting all the ladies to the table. The other picture obviously shows us at The Legends with our ambassadors, Council, and all of our staff. We’re maintaining a couple of the same campaigns: Obviously, there’s the Fill the Bag Campaign, where we ask for toiletries for the Friends in Need Food Shelf. We used to do food, and now they need paper products, toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, diapers, etc. That picture shows Sergeant Schoen last year. It was phenomenal, we filled up the whole truck. The Public Safety Board took it upon themselves to purchase backpacks for any neighborhood that wants one; when we say Fill the Backpack Campaign, it’s crazy, people do more than fill a backpack. All of that goes to the Friends in Need Food Shelf and kids are able to come down and pick out needed school supplies, notebooks and pencils, so they have a similar shopping experience, too. It’s just an incredible opportunity. We partner with the Parks and Rec Department to do the Coloring Contest; Director Zac Dockter has awesome staff, too. Molly’s been so involved with us, and they offer a prize package with rental of an outdoor park, sidewalk chalk, sports balls, S’mores supplies, and more. How do you sign up? It’s all on the City webpage. We’ve done quite a few social media posts already. Our Communications Team will continue to put things out, and I think it’s also been in the last Cottage Grove Reports so go online, fill out the registration form. The one thing we do ask is that people register by August 1, just so we have a total. We have a whole Command Center where they have the maps up, and Charlene is assigning who wants the K9. The Mayor and I are always the bottom of the list; everyone wants the fire truck and the K9. We look forward to any kind of involvement, and it grows every year. Director Koerner stated I have to give a shout out to Community Engagement Officer Ryan Pierre, who is leading this, as well as our support staff as Charlene Raymond, who really runs with it. Everyone else steps up that day, and I get to reap the benefits, have fun, eat good food, and socialize. Thank you very much. Mayor Bailey stated thank you. I know like you said, Council Member Garza, this will be your first year doing it this way. You get tired by the end of the night, but the people and the visits are absolutely amazing. Everybody’s excited, no matter who is there. Director Koerner said many of us bring our spouses with to keep us on time, and my wife is not afraid to tell me and the Mayor that we need to move on. Mayor Bailey stated she does; otherwise, we could talk forever. Director Koerner stated we’ll talk for hours. Mayor Bailey stated I will just say one last thing about that, they all know where the good food is, too, so word gets out over the radio who has something special or unique, so that’s kind of fun, too. Director Koerner stated it does kind of go by seniority, so. Council Member Garza stated I’m open for all these things, so my family is hosting Night to Unite as well, so I’ll get back just in time for the movie, so it’ll work. Mayor Bailey thanked Director Koerner for the presentation. 7. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve the June 5, 2024, Regular Meeting Minutes. B. Approve the June 26, 2024, Regular Meeting Minutes. C. Approve the June 26, 2024, Special (Closed) Meeting Minutes. D. Approve the July 8, 2024, Special Meeting Minutes. E. Approve the April 9, 2024, Economic Development Regular Meeting Minutes. F. Approve the issuance of rental licenses to the properties in the attached table. G. Approve the Tobacco License application for Sherif Elbarawi, First Smoke Shop, LLC, located at 6990 80th Street South, Suite #100, Cottage Grove, Minnesota. H. Authorize Public Works to advertise and sell surplus property on Cranky Ape. I. Approve the June 2024 Change Order Requests for the Utility & Engineering Building Project. J. 1) Authorize Change Order for credit on the Kraus Anderson contract for the Glacial Valley Park Building Project in the amount of $212,313.27. 2) Authorize Resolution 2024-108 approving final payment to Kraus Anderson in the amount of $44,654.72 for the Glacial Valley Park Building Project. K. Approve the Easement and Encroachment Agreements with Gerber Collision. L. Approve the hiring of Daniel Fanning as Communications Manager. None of the Council Members wished to pull any Items on the Consent Agenda for further discussion and/or approval. Motion by Council Member Thiede to approve the Consent Agenda; second by Council Member Khambata. Motion carried: 5-0. 8. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS Approve disbursements for the period of 6-20-2024 through 7-11-2024 in the amount of $6,319,901.48. Motion by Council Member Olsen to approve disbursements; second by Council Member Garza. Motion carried: 5-0. 9. PUBLIC HEARINGS Oltman Middle School - Easement Vacation, Drainage and Utility Easement Staff Recommendation: 1) Hold the Public Hearing and Adopt Resolution 2024-106 partially rescinding, terminating, and releasing a permanent easement and temporary easement for watermain for Lot 1, Block 1, New Oltman Middle School. 2) Approve the Temporary Drainage and Utility Easement over a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, New Oltman Middle School. 3) Approve the Permanent Drainage and Utility Easement over a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, New Oltman Middle School. Emily Schmitz, Community Development Director, stated as the District starts to work through some of their improvements at some of their facilities throughout town, one of them is at Oltman Middle School. They’re planning for a classroom addition, kind of on the south side of Oltman Middle School. In preparation for that, they’re getting awfully close to a watermain. So, as part of the approvals and reconstruction, that watermain looping extends around the entirety of this building; as a part of this addition, a small portion of that watermain actually needs to be relocated. This slide helps to have a visual: That super light blue line is the current watermain location. Because of that addition, that watermain needs to be relocated to more of that dark blue line. As a part of that, we do need to vacate that segment of the easement that exists today and relocate that easement over that relocated watermain. Again, in preparation for that work that they’re planning in 2025, we’re being proactive and adjusting that easement at this point. There are several recommendations before you this evening. If you have some technical questions, I and the School District’s Engineer are available. Mayor Bailey asked if there were any questions from Council, and none were asked. Mayor Bailey opened the Public Hearing. No one spoke, so Mayor Bailey closed the Public Hearing. Motion by Council Member Thiede to Adopt Resolution 2024-106 partially rescinding, terminating, and releasing a permanent easement and temporary easement for watermain for Lot 1, Block 1, New Oltman Middle School; second by Council Member Khambata. Motion carried: 5-0. Motion by Council Member Khambata to Approve the Temporary Drainage and Utility Easement over a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, New Oltman Middle School; second by Council Member Garza. Motion carried: 5-0. Motion by Council Member Olsen to Approve the Permanent Drainage and Utility Easement over a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, New Oltman Middle School; second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. Summer Valley - Easement Vacation, Final Plat, Development Agreement, and Development Plans Staff Recommendation: 1) Hold a Public Hearing to vacate public drainage and utility easements within the proposed development parcel (PID: 0302721210003). 2) Adopt Resolution 2024-103 vacating the public drainage and utility easements within the proposed development parcel (PID: 03022721210003). 3) Adopt Resolution 2024-104 approving the Final Plat for Summer Valley. 4) Approve the Summer Valley Development Agreement with Summergate Development, LLC, with minor modifications as approved by the City Attorney. 5) Adopt Resolution 2024-105 approving the Summer Valley Development Plans dated May 21, 2024, prepared by Westwood Professional Services, Inc., subject to final approval by the City Engineer in writing. Director Schmitz stated typically you don’t see these Final Plats, but we’re going to encompass it in because this particular project does require some easement vacations. Summer Valley is kind of that final puzzle piece in this area, north of Military, kind of at our Woodbury border; it’s fun to see this area finally come full circle and complete. There are a couple of easement vacations needed before we can move forward with the Final Plat of Summer Valley. A handful of easements as the properties surrounding it have developed for some turnaround purposes, as well as some utilities, have extended onto this final piece of the puzzle. So, we kind of need to wipe the slate clean before we get that Final Plat recorded over top. The Final Plat is 71 lots, 65’ wide, very similar to those developments that you see surrounding, Parkview Pointe, Rolling Meadows. Summergate Development is the developer; they are working with DR Horton as the builder, and they’re out there moving dirt if you’ve been in the area, but having some lots available this fall. Finally, with this one, I get really excited about this final trail connection extending into the Watershed District and their plans; they’ve made this beautiful connection with our wonderful Glacial Valley Park building that’s finally completed. This project is going to create that connection into their future trail connections up to Woodbury, down to Glacial Valley Park. So, I really wanted to highlight that as a part of this wonderful project. With that, there’s another very wordy recommendation before you, but I am available, as is the developer, for any technical questions if there are any. Mayor Bailey asked Council if there were any questions on this item for staff or the developer, but none were asked. Mayor Bailey opened the Public Hearing. As no one wished to speak on this item, Mayor Bailey closed the Public hearing. Motion by Council Member Khambata to Adopt Resolution 2024-103 vacating the public drainage and utility easements within the proposed development parcel (PID: 03022721210003); second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. Motion by Council Member Garza to Adopt Resolution 2024-104 approving the Final Plat for Summer Valley; second by Council Member Khambata. Motion carried: 5-0. Motion by Council Member Thiede to Approve the Summer Valley Development Agreement with Summergate Development, LLC, with minor modifications as approved by the City Attorney; second by Council Member Khambata. Motion carried: 5-0. Motion by Council Member Olsen to Adopt Resolution 2024-105 approving the Summer Valley Development Plans dated May 21, 2024, prepared by Westwood Professional Services, Inc., subject to final approval by the City Engineer in writing; second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. 10. BID AWARDS Summers Landing 5th Addition - Bid Award Staff Recommendation: Award the Summers Valley 5th Addition Final Street Improvement Project to OMG Midwest, Inc., DBA Minnesota Paving & Materials, in the amount of $233,967.00. Ryan Burfeind, Public Works Director, stated this is the Summers Landing 5th Addition Final Street Improvement Project. This is the last addition of Summers Landing; I remember being here in 2016 when we awarded the bid for the first base improvements. I think at the time it was supposed to be 10 or 12 years to wrap up this development, so it’s gone very well and it’s kind of exciting to award this last and final project. We took bids last Tuesday, July 19. Four bids were received and we got good bidding for this project. These Final Street projects are pretty straightforward, pretty fast projects that contractors can move through. So, the bid was below our Engineer’s Estimate of $262,230. You can see the low bid there from OMG Midwest, DBA Minnesota Paving & Materials. With that, the recommendation is on the screen before you, and I will say that this contractor has a long history of working in Cottage Grove; prior to this, they were known as Hardrives, so we have many projects going back with them, so we’re very familiar with this contractor and comfortable with the award. Mayor Bailey asked if Council had any questions for Director Burfeind on this item, but none were asked. Motion by Council Member Olsen to Adopt Resolution 2024-107 awarding the bid for the Summers Landing 5th Addition Final Street Improvement Project to OMG Midwest, Inc., DBA Minnesota Paving & Materials, in the amount of $233,967.00; second by Council Member Thiede. Motion carried: 5-0. 11. REGULAR AGENDA - None. 12. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Council Member Khambata stated I just want to wish everyone a safe weekend. I know that we’ve had some unfortunate accidents with regard to swimming and using our public waterways. We’re coming off of a lot of flooding and I just want everyone to be safe out there. Council Member Olsen stated first and foremost, I want to thank the public for coming out to our unfortunately rain delayed Fourth of July celebration this year at Kingston Park. We had an amazing crowd when we moved the event from the Fourth, which was a Thursday, to Sunday. I appreciate the Public Safety team kind of watching our backs, they saw the potential for severe weather on the Fourth was pretty high in partnership with the National Weather Service, and so, they encouraged us to make an adjustment, which we did. We had a record crowd, it was unbelievable. We had our Cottage Grove Lions Meeting for July last night, and all I will tell you is the generosity of the public at that event was unheard of in the several years that we’ve been participating in this. So, we are taking a very strong look at potentially making this a Sunday after the Fourth of July event on a permanent basis; it seemed like it worked out very well for many members of the public. I also wanted to thank the sponsors, who allowed us to have the fireworks this year. I know Mayor Bailey has mentioned them several times, but I don’t think we can really thank them enough. We had five $5K sponsors: Tennis Sanitation was very generous, as well as 3M, Hy-Vee, NorthPoint, and Renewal by Andersen. So, we’re very grateful for their participation. Like anything else, the price of fireworks has gone up as well, but we’re going to make a really concerted effort next year to try to put on a $30K show; so, mayor, I’ll be asking you to twist some additional arms at some point. But it was a really nice event. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank all the members of the Public Safety team and the Parks Department who helped make the event a safe event for families to come and participate in and also to keep the park in very good shape, checking garbage containers, etc. We had Mike Dandl, Richard Greene, and Sam Anderson from the Fire Department who were there with the big ladder truck, and I think they probably had 300-or-400 kids climb on that truck throughout the course of the event. They did it with a smile for the first child and the last child. We also had our Community Engagement Officer, Ryan Pierre, as well as Sergeant Mike McCormick on hand, in addition to numerous other members of the Public Safety team, including Sergeant Nick Bailey. Again, they made sure that the event was safe for everybody involved, and the kids loved getting the tours of the police cars, as well as the fire truck. In fact, Sergeant McCormick brought the UTV out, which is something a lot of people don’t get to see all the time, so they thought that was pretty neat. Council Member Olsen stated I also wanted to take a moment to congratulate one of our own, who is in the room tonight, Zac Dockter, our Director of Parks and Recreation, as the new president of the St. Paul Park-Newport Lions Club. If you’re not aware, Zac has been a very involved member of the Lions Club for numerous years, and I know he’s served in various leadership positions, including treasurer, but this year he became the president of that club. That’s a one-year term, but if they love you enough, it will become a two-year term. I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate Zac, as it’s a real honor to be placed in that position. Council Member Olsen stated the other thing I wanted to mention, mayor, is during Night to Unite, one of my favorite things is we now have staff members who travel with us. I know over the last several years we’ve had our City Administrator, who’s gone to numerous parties. It’s a great opportunity to gather feedback from the members of the public. Our staff members aren’t just there to smile and say hello, but they actually take copious notes on the things that people bring to us, as you might imagine, when somebody has our ear, they certainly want to share their thoughts and ideas for how to improve the community. Oftentimes, they want to compliment the way in which City projects are getting done and being run, so it’s a real advantage to have City staff out there with us, taking notes, and then they can respond, in kind, to those folks. We’ve had a lot of really good outcomes that have come out of those ideas; for example, I mentioned Zac earlier, it was either last year or two years ago, the Sunnyhill Park group came out and they were asking us about getting some soccer nets and kind of put some additional equipment out there for the members of the community. Zac and his team did a great job with that, but that was borne out of those conversations. Council Member Olsen stated one of the things that people love to talk about is, of course, roads. Good or bad, they like to talk about road construction, road construction projects, etc. There are an awful lot of questions that are asked out there, last year we heard a lot about the Jamaica Avenue and East Point Douglas project, which is now in year two. So, I just thought maybe our Public Works Director, Ryan Burfeind, could take a minute and give us a quick update on how that project’s coming along. I drove by there earlier today and it really seems like it’s tracking well. So, if you could just give us a moment or two of your time on where we’re at and what’s left to be done, I’m sure the public would appreciate it. Director Burfeind stated certainly; so, as you mentioned, we are in year two. It’s kind of a different challenge this year; year one was the constant traffic control changes at Jamaica and East Point Douglas, and this year was kind of moving through those different phases. We did the roundabout first, we got an early start this spring, of course, with the lack of a winter; their goal was to have that roundabout open by July 4, and they were able to beat that date, so that was good. Then we moved behind Target, and that was a challenging area because the road is too narrow to do the full reconstruction that was needed but then keep two lanes of traffic open; it just physically wasn’t possible. So, we had to kind of strategically do this one-way traffic pattern, both to try to best serve the area but also keep access to that 92nd Street cul-de-sac that has all the townhomes. So, that first phase of Phase 4, we call it Phase 4-A, that will be wrapping up in the next week. And then we’re looking at about the week with July 27, so the following week after that, that we’d switch to the other side. So, we’ll be complete with the first part of that total reconstruction, and we’ll flip to the other side of the road with that continued one-way traffic pattern. So, folks will have to bear with that for a little while longer. While they’re doing that, the final piece of the project is the Mill and Overlay from kind of Wells Fargo down to Menards, that last stretch of the old section of road. That section’s not as old, the curb is in a lot better shape, so that was really good for a Mill and Overlay. You’re probably seeing that the old streetlights have been taken down, the ones that had turned purple at one point and were fixed because they were a problem for us. We have the new streetlights going up, so that’s very exciting to see as well. So, we’re probably wrapping up sometime in September; it seems like Mother Nature is going to cooperate a little better moving forward with not quite as much rain. I hate to ask for no rain after two years of drought, but we could use a little break to get these projects wrapped up. Council Member Olsen stated thank you very much for the update. I know that people have been eager to see that finished product when it’s all done. As you predicted, when we first authorized this project, it was going to take two construction seasons, and it certainly is going to take all of that. The good news is if we get cooperative weather, sometime in September the whole thing will be open and people will be able to enjoy much better traffic flow and a much-safer experience as well. Thank you to you and your team for doing that. With that, mayor, I’ll turn it back to you. Council Member Thiede stated one of the things that I kind of wanted to mention is that over this past month, we had both the Police and the Fire Departments present their Five-Year Strategic Plans. They were very well done, in similar formats with the two, so they’re easy to kind of follow along with and understand. Some great metrics that are being shown that are going to be done and everything; so, I would highly recommend to people that if they’re interested at all with that to contact the City, I don’t know if it’s available on the website. It’s a good read and a good way to kind of understand the mindsets and the direction that our Public Safety Department is headed down. So, it was an excellent job, and I got to see both presentations twice, being the liaison to the Public Services Commission. Council Member Garza stated I don’t really have much, I’m just looking forward to Night to Unite, getting out there and continuing to meet our community and our neighbors. It’s going to be a fun evening, so I’m just looking forward to that. That’s pretty much all I have, but everybody be safe this week, pay attention to all the things that are going on out there, we don’t want any more accidents. Mayor Bailey stated I just have two items for the public: This last Friday night we had the makeup event for Movies in the Park, and the good news is this coming Friday, which is July 19, at 7 o'clock, we have another Movies in the Park event happening. By the way, the movie this week is Migration, which, believe it or not, my wife and I just watched less than a week ago, and it’s absolutely amazing, it’s fun. Again, it’s at Highlands Park near the Splash Pad. They have a lot of extra events that are happening there, a lot of things that are free, but also things available to purchase, including items from food trucks. When I was able to drive by there this last week, there were a lot of people there, so you can tell that our community and maybe some of the surrounding communities, too, are very excited about having Movies in the Park. So, I encourage everyone to come out, and it’s supposed to be a nice weather day. Hopefully, we’ll see a large crowd there, and come enjoy this movie Migration; it’s fun for both kids and adults, I will tell you that. Council Member Garza stated one other thing is now we are going to offer the movie in closed captioning for any of our community members that would love to come out. I figured it out and we will have closed captioning for everyone. Mayor Bailey stated I apologize I didn’t bring that up because we learn things as people reach out and ask hey, can you do this or can you do that. One of the things that was asked of us for people who obviously are deaf or hearing impaired was if we’re able to do closed captioning. You found out how to do that, so that’s pretty amazing, and we’re glad that we’re able to see that happen. Mayor Bailey stated lastly, I just want to mention the City of Cottage Grove is just starting to give information out to the public regarding the Local Option Sales Tax referendum that’s going to be before the voters this coming November. The staff is working to put information out to the public, and it’s truly just that, to give good information to the public. When you decide what you want to do, as a citizen of Cottage Grove, whether you want for it or against it, it’s totally up to you. The idea is to give you as much information as possible so you will be informed. The reason I’m bringing that up is I happened to see one of our City postings, where we had put out a map that kind of shows sales tax effects in other communities around the metro. I know there was kind of a feeling on that thread that basically made it seem like, well, just because everybody else does it, so we have to do it? I don’t believe that that was the intent; my belief is the intent is a lot of us are shopping in these other communities and don’t realize that we’re supporting a sales tax that is providing parks, infrastructure, or whatever in these other communities. I do appreciate the fact that staff worked together to put that information out; again, it is just that, it’s information. When you’re going to another community and you’re buying things in those communities, many cities are already doing this tax and have been doing it; other cities, like the City of Cottage Grove, are looking to do it very specifically for our projects. The next thing I want to be very clear about is these Sales Tax Referendum questions have an end date; these are not something where the City of Cottage Grove can say okay, we’re going to keep going. That’s not legal, that’s not possible, and so I just want to mention that. Lastly, on that topic, if you want information, there’s a very good website, which has all the information. If you have a question, it has an opportunity for you to submit a question and you’ll receive an answer; that website is preserveplayprosper.org. There is a video on there, you can find information on there, you can see a fact sheet, the cost, the whole nine yards. So, we definitely want to make sure that the public is very informed as they vote later this fall or as early as September, as that’s when early voting starts in Minnesota. That is also why you’re starting to see more and more information come out because we know there are a lot of people who want to vote early; so, no matter if you decide to vote in September or if you decide to vote in November, we want everybody to be informed. I’ll just add, for those of us up here, if there are any questions whatsoever, feel free to reach out to us; if we can’t answer it, we’ve got great staff out there that can help us get you the answer and be upfront, truthful, and honest about the whole process. 13. WORKSHOPS - OPEN TO PUBLIC - None. 14. WORKSHOPS - CLOSED TO PUBLIC - None. 15. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Council Member Khambata, second by Council Member Thiede, to adjourn the meeting at 7:42 p.m. Motion carried: 5-0. Minutes prepared by Judy Graf and reviewed by Tamara Anderson, City Clerk.