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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-12-16 FOC MEETING MINUTES HERO TRAINING CENTER 12/16/2025 FACILITY OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 10125 85TH STREET SOUTH COTTAGE GROVE, MINNESOTA 55016 Regular MEETING – 2:00 P.M. (HERO Center Conference Room A) One or more members may be attending remotely. 1. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order by FOC board chair Jennifer Levitt at 1404 hours. The meeting was held in the conference room A at the HERO Center which is accessible to the public with all doors unlocked. 2. ROLL CALL HERO Manager Dan Anselment took roll call. Committee members present: Jason Posel (Woodbury), Jennifer Levitt (Cottage Grove), Angela Gorall (Woodbury), Pete Koerner (Cottage Grove), Brenda Malinowski (Cottage Grove) and Jeff Dahl (Woodbury). Others present: Capt. Tom Ehrenberg (Woodbury) who was remote. 3. PRESENTATIONS A. HERO Center Manager Update Memo Recommendation: Receive Information Anselment provided a quarterly update to the FOC. Anselment first discussed that HERO team is working on launching an online permit to carry course. This allows individuals to take the course online and come to the HERO center for the range qualification. Anselment mentioned that another online company brings up about ~40 shooters on the weekend to qualify at HERO. Anselment advised that if we could get to 40-50 shooters per weekend through our online program, we could generate some significant revenue. Anselment then discussed that the insurance claim for the lightning strike has been completed with reimbursement having been received by the City less the deductible. Anselment discussed the Inveris range glass that was installed recently and was manufactured incorrectly. Anselment reminded the group of this issue back when the glass was first installed. Anselment brought this issue up to Inveris prior to the glass being manufactured and it was still manufactured incorrectly. Anselment advised he was working with Inveris to get this resolved and was currently withholding all of the payment for the glass replacement for now. Anselment discussed Classroom A projector having failed and was not working. Anselment mentioned a tech service came to HERO and advised the projector should be replaced. With the guidance of tech and IT support a comparable replacement projector was found online that could still use the HERO current projector lens as a replacement saving an additional $3,000-$4,000 in the lens alone. The next year’s model projector was significantly reduced because it was discontinued model and was purchased for $5,998.00 and works great with the original lens from the other projector. Anselment wanted to recognize five of the range safety officers who celebrated five years with the city. These RSO’s have been with us since the beginning of the HERO Center. Director Posel inquired if anything was done to recognize these employees? Levitt advised that employees are invited to a luncheon and recognized and given a pin for 5 years of service. Levitt noted that many times part-time employees do not attend the luncheons. Anselment noted that Jim Smith did attend the luncheon and was recognized at that time. Lastly, Anselment discussed that HERO was now able to sell gift certificates online through Civic Plus which gives the purchaser a digital download code to use. Anselment asked for any questions and there were none. 4. CONSENT AGENDA Levitt advised that for the consent agenda, Brenda Malinowski requested that items A and D be moved to discussion from the consent agenda. Levitt opened the discussion for items A and D. Malinowski then discussed the HERO financials. Malinowski mentioned that with us being halfway through December we had a pretty good idea of how we would end up. Malinowski our budget deficit that 231,000 that we would be right in line with that despite insurance claims and the projector purchase. Malinowski stated we are doing really well and looking to be $37,000 better than what we budgeted due to increased revenues and decreased expenditure in utilities etc. Malinowski said they would bring the final number back to them (Woodbury) in early February for payment. Dahl then mentioned it sounds like we are doing better this year. Malinowski said compared to last year we were projecting contributions by the cities at $231,000 and this year we are projecting $195,000, so trending better. Malinowski also mentioned we had a lot of things last year with insurance claims etc. that affected our revenues. Anselment then mentioned that we are seeing $37,000-$40,000 more this year in revenue. Anselment also mentioned another metals recycling that could bring in another $7,000-$8,000 in recycling this year. Levitt asked if Malinowski could clarify the formula used for partner agency contributions and how that is split. Levitt stated it was based on the number of officers budgeted for. Dahl asked if was number of officers currently working or budgeted. It was verified it was based on budgeted for. Anselment explained that it was currently 63% to 37% for 2025. Anselment mentioned that next year shows 62% and 38%. Gorall advised that for 2026 Woodbury does have budgeted for 81 sworn. Anselment said that would move it back to a 63%/37% breakdown. Malinowski then discussed a small change to the financial policy. Malinowski stated under purchase order in the $5,000 - $24,999 they wanted to be consistent with the City of Cottage Grove, so they were adding approval by FOC chair and HERO Center manager. Levitt mentioned that this was the only change to be consistent and at that higher level to have consistency and checks and balances. Gorall inquired if $5,000 seemed a little low for a purchase order. Malinowski stated the City of Cottage Grove does require that except for professional services. Gorall was concerned that this was for utilities etc. Levitt advised it was not. Anselment briefly discussed the HERO Fee schedule and pointed out the requested hours of operations changing to 10-5Pm due to only less than 4% of our customers using the range on the weekends from 5-6PM. Additionally Anselment recommended a $5 discount for law enforcement, military and veterans with proper ID. Levitt asked if there were any concerns or comments regarding the discount. Levitt said we kept the resident discount versus moving to a one set fee. Gorall mentioned the discount was good especially to keep up with competitors. Hearing none, Levitt asked for motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion was made by Dahl and seconded by Koerner. Motion carried 6 to 0. A. HERO Financial Statements – 2025 Budget to Actuals Recommendation: Receive information B. HERO FOC Meeting Minutes – September 16, 2025 Recommendation: Approve the meeting minutes from September 16, 2025. C. HERO Center FEE Schedule & Range Hours of Operation Change Recommendation: Approve the fee schedule and recommend weekend hours of operations. D. HERO Center Updated Financial Policy (Last approved 2/18/2020) Recommendation: Review and approve the HERO Center financial policy. E. HERO 2026 Budget Proposal Recommendation: Approve the 2026 HERO budget proposal. 5. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS A. Approve payments from 9/10/2025 to 12/8/2025 in the amount of $94,382.11 Levitt then asked for a motion to approve the disbursements. Motion to approve made by Gorall and seconded by Posel. Motion passed 6 to 0. 6. REGULAR AGENDA A. HERO Center Water Intrusion Claim Update Recommendation: Receive information and provide guidance on how the board would like staff to move forward. B. HERO Center Owner Agency Usage and Cancellations Recommendation: Receive information and discuss as a board steps forward. C. Nominate FOC 2026 Board Chair from City of Woodbury Recommendation: Nominate and elect the 2026 FOC Board Chair Levitt then opened the discussion regarding water instruction update. Anselment discussed the first issue being the area outside of Pre-Training. Anselment advised that the architect was brought in and several others to explore what was going on. It was discovered that the Pre-training concrete floor that the windows systems is installed on is pitched back towards the building allowing water to enter the building. The recommended solution was to put a commercial awning system over this area to shed water away from the building and sidewalk to minimize water intrusion. The other alternative would be significant infrastructure repair and would be very expensive. Anselment advised by the time these issues were known the warranty on the original install work had already run out. Anselment advised that a claim was filed regarding water intrusion in the manager’s office and in several other locations, but the League of MN cities (LMC) essentially said they would not cover any of that except for interior repairs from water damage. Anselment stated that he filed a roof warranty claim with Carlisle, but Carlisle responded stating the original installer S.G.O. Roofing would be the ones that would come out to assess the warranty repair work and if found to be not under warranty we would be required to pay SGO roofing for the labor and service call. Anselment held off on having SGO roofing come out because we believe SGO roofing is largely responsible for the roof issues we are having through poor installation practices and craftsmanship. Instead, Anselment had the HERO operations specialist caulk some window areas above and flashing to see if that would resolve the issue. We will have to wait until after winter to further assess given the current temperatures and snowy weather. Anselment then discussed the even more significant issue with the window system in the main office area. Anselment advised that the architects came out and water testing was done, and drawings were looked at to see if the cause of the water intrusion could be identified. All the appropriate weather stripping and building wraps appear to be in place. It is believed that the water is not entering through the window system but in the building side near the corners and making its way under the windows getting the carpet saturated. Small holes were cut into the walls to get a look at the building wrap and tape materials. Anselment questioned if a commercial awning system would be a better, less expensive alternative over this leaking window/wall system too. If we could shed water away from the building with an awning system versus removing all the exterior stone and have a significant repair project with hundreds of thousands in repairs. Dahl asked if a city engineer was involved at all or had a chance to take a look. Anselment advised that no engineer has been involved but Anselment said he would welcome any resources because at this point nobody knows what to do. Anselment noted that even the architects were unsure. Dahl said he would have a city engineer from Woodbury reach out and connect with Anselment. Levitt then brought up the discussion of item D on the agenda, agency cancellations and no shows. Levitt requested the spreadsheet that Anselment printed for the no show log. Anselment provided a copy to the FOC for review. Anselment stated that each year the HERO Center keeps a log of no-shows or last- minute cancellations. Anselment mentioned that this topic was approached by the FOC during our June meeting regarding owner agency and the amount of space they were selecting during the schedule pick, and the topic of cancellations and no- shows also came to be. Anselment mentioned that the 2026 calendar pick was better for tier members to find space and owner agencies were more aware of the space that they were picking. Anselment mentioned that the challenge is we are asking owner agencies to pick one year in advance, which is hard to do with predicting new hire academies. Anselment mentioned that some issues with cancellations are due to new hire academy delays, background check delays and psychological delays in this process are all factors. Anselment mentioned is not just owner agencies having these issues other agency users have some of these issues too. Anselment said that he has held some of these agencies to the cancellation policy notice due to them renting so much range space and saying they couldn’t come, which directly affects our revenue. Dahl then referenced the no show log. Dahl stated that our owner agency cancelations are out of scale. Posel mentioned that they were clearly a culprit in cancelations. Posel mentioned that Woodbury has had to adjust academies based on laterals versus new hires. Posel mentioned that he got together with Anselment and Koerner to discuss a plan forward in the first quarter of 2026. Posel turned it over to Commander Ehrenberg for comments on moving forward and the plan to mitigate these cancellations. Ehrenberg wanted to acknowledge some of the shortcomings as a user and business partner and said Woodbury is trying to project one year out as to what is needed. Moving forward, training Sergeant will take a more active role in this process and limit who has access to book space. Ehrenberg mentioned connecting with Anselment to get reports 45-90 days in advance to review and make sure they can cancel space with enough notice, so HERO center rent that space up. Ehrenberg inquired if Anselment can send reports to Woodbury every 90 days. Anselment mentioned the computer systems has limits for auto reporting. Anselment said the system may be able to send quarterly reports but wasn’t sure if it was from the past or in the future to date. Anselment can also manually send quarterly reports to Woodbury. Levitt asked if this reminder is a text. Anselment clarified that this report provides a link to their reservation report. Dahl asked if 30 days is enough notice to fill the spot. Anselment advised that he does not know if 30 days is enough notice because agencies are unpredictable. Dahl asked if we had a policy. Anselment said we have a 30-day cancelation policy for users. However, for owner agencies are not held to any policy. Dahl asked if we (Woodbury & Cottage Grove) hold themselves to the same policy. Anselment said there needs to be some flexibility because schedules will change. Anselment said to keep relationships and customers there must be some flexibility, especially with groups that are not habitual offenders of cancelling. Given the nature of law enforcement and risk of critical incidents and calls that come up which are out of the agency’s control. Anselment did point out that his discussions with other training centers is not an isolated issue, and other agencies have the same problem with their own training centers. Anselment said he can send reports to agencies upon their request but due to limited staffing abilities it isn’t something we can do without a request. Anselment said we would try the quarterly reports to better assist. Levitt asked if there was any value having connection with trainers when space does come available so that it can be released. Anselment advised if a group calls and says they need space, Anselment said he will contact the owner agencies directly and verify if they do plan to still come because an agency is currently wanting range space. Anselment said that practice is already in place. Levitt then asked the group if they were good with what has been discussed and inquired if any policy needed to be written at this time or if the group should check in at the next FOC meeting. Gorall advised that we could keep this as a running agenda item. Gorall also mentioned that the jail has some cancellations. Anselment mentioned that it was not a concern with jail because they have certain set number of dates they can use and they aren’t using all those dates right now. Anselment also mentioned that ERO was paying for recent cancellations due to contract language requirements for no shows and short notice cancellations. Levitt then brought forward the 2026 FOC board chair role needing to be filled by Woodbury. Dahl asked about previous FOC board members and Levitt advised everyone present in the group have already served as board members. Dahl did inquire about the incident that occurred last week if the board chair was involved in a critical incident. Anselment advised that we utilize both cities PIO’s for any media requests. The process would stay the same regardless of who is serving as board chair. Levitt mentioned that the City of Cottage Grove responded because it occurred in Cottage Grove and wasn’t related to the board role. Dahl mentioned that he was fine with the position as board chair for FOC for 2026. Gorall motioned to approve and Posel seconded that motion. Motion to approve Dahl as FOC board chair passed 6 to 0. 7. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Koerner and seconded by Posel at 1453 hours. Motion carried 6 to 0.