Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-3-17 FOC MEETING MINUTES HERO TRAINING CENTER 3/17/2026 FACILITY OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 10125 85TH STREET SOUTH COTTAGE GROVE, MINNESOTA 55016 REGULAR MEETING – 2:00 P.M. (HERO Center Conference Room) One or more members may be attending remotely. 1. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order by FOC board chair Jeff Dahl at 1400 hours. The meeting was held in conference room A at the HERO Center which is accessible to the public with all doors unlocked. 2. ROLL CALL HERO Admin Training Coordinator Bri Zeterlu took roll call. Committee members present: Jeff Dahl (Woodbury), Jennifer Levitt (Cottage Grove), Angela Gorall (Woodbury) and Brenda Malinowski (Cottage Grove). Board members absent were Chief Pete Koerner and Chief Jason Posel. Others present: Bri Zeterlu (HERO Admin Training Coordinator), Capt. Tom Ehrenberg (Woodbury), Capt. Brad Petersen (Cottage Grove) and Dan Anselment (HERO manager). 3. PRESENTATIONS A. HERO Center Manager Quarterly Update Memo Anselment stated that the online MN Permit to Carry Course is now live and has been doing well. There is a lot of opportunity to generate revenue with this new course. Students take the course online and then they schedule a time to qualify on our range over the weekend with one of our instructors. The instructor who completes the qualification or the students receives .25 hours’ worth of instructor pay. HERO is netting $85.00 per every $99.00 registration. Anselment then advised that Rasmussen University is hosting its first ever, fifth cohort this coming Summer 2026. The classes start at 1pm, which created some new challenges for reservations. However, this will generate $41,000.00 more for HERO during the 2027 fiscal year. Anselment then informed the FOC that Woodbury Fire Department has had a noticeable increase in usage at the HERO center. Woodbury Fire Department is up 521 hours from the previous year. Dahl inquired about what type of space the Woodbury Fire Department was utilizing and why. Zeterlu stated that they are primarily using classroom space and some of the exterior RBT for internal classes as well as a regional class. Anselment stated that with Woodbury’s Police and Fire Stations under construction the increase in use and need for storage space is a driving factor. Anselment informed the FOC the Zeterlu has turned in her letter of resignation to attend to family matters at home. With this resignation there will need to be some discussion on how to back fill the position. Dahl inquired about the unexpected passing of the HERO range safety officer LaBelle. Anselment stated that his family and the HERO staff have a strong support system and that the funeral service was a nice tribute to a great man. Dahl inquired if there are employee support services such as EAP available to affected staff members if they wanted to utilize them? Anselment confirmed that HERO staff is provided with resources through the city of Cottage Grove. Anselment stated that we also had a large group of college students from across the country, who are in a law enforcement professionals group rent out the facility on Monday. The group has a weeklong convention in Bloomington and chose HERO as their place to complete in agility as well as on the firing range. 4. CONSENT AGENDA A. HERO Financial Statements – 2026 Budget to Actuals Recommendation: Receive information B. HERO 2025 End of Year Final Budget to Actuals & Year End Contributions Recommendation: Receive information Malinowski stated that the detailed year-end balance was sent to Gorall for review. Once the review is complete then the contributions are established. We had favorable revenues over expenditures this year. We were anticipating that, combined, the cities would contribute $244,653.00, yet in reality, they had to only contribute $225,244.00. Malinowski advised that the contribution is distributed based upon the 75 Sworn Officers in Woodbury and the 46 sworn Officers in Cottage Grove. This count is from April 1, 2024 and what the agreement was set upon. Malinowski informed the FOC that for the first time there is a $70,000 amount for the year end fund balance towards capital improvements. These funds can be utilized towards future capital improvement for HERO Center. Anselment stated that the law enforcement agencies are aware of HERO facility, so it would be nice to focus some more energy of generating revenue from the civilian side. Gorall then inquired about the $70,000 contribution going into the fund balance or can it be segregated/ set aside? Malinowski stated that she had not come to a conclusion on this yet. There may be restrictions and the FOC could be viewed as an outside entity. This would all be up to audit. However, it can be assigned to capital at the end of the year. Placing it into capital would assist in covering expenses of system failures at HERO. Anselment advised that when the screen projector in the classroom failed it was a large, unexpected expense and these funds will help with these incidents. Dahl inquired about the water intrusion at HERO. Anselment informed the FOC that we were waiting for the weather to warm up and see what leaks are still prevalent. We have discussed obtaining an awning cover and are looking at quotes for the 2027 budget. Malinowski advised that during the 2027 budget process the Kraus Anderson study should be reviewed to determine what will be needing replacement in the near future. Anselment stated that he and operations specialist Joe Montey, will be reviewing the facilities equipment to determine what needs to be replaced and what can be kept longer than the Kraus Anderson Study’s recommendations. Capt. Brad Petersen stated that a revamping of the shooting simulator should be in consideration. Levitt inquired on how much it would be for an updated simulator? Petersen stated approximately $150,000.00. Levitt advised that in the past the cable commissions had assisted in financing HERO and that Cottage Grove did not have any capital in this year concerning the cable commission. Anselment advised that there are some new options out there for simulator training, some people are investing in TI, some are looking into VR with Axon. We need to have a conversation on what it is that the Officers truly need. Anselment then informed the FOC that he has been working with AXON in an attempt to make HERO a flagship location. As a flagship location, Axon would be using the HERO center to present on their VR systems to other agencies. Axon would also give HERO the VR system for no cost. Anselment advised that T-Mobile has also reached out to him regarding advertising from a public safety standpoint at HERO. C. HERO FOC Meeting Minutes – December 16, 2025 & December 29, 2025 Recommendation: Approve the meeting minutes from FOC regular meeting on December 16, 2025 & FOC Special Meeting on December 29, 2025. Motion to approve the consent agenda made by Levitt and seconded by Gorall. Motion carried 4 to 0. 5. APPROVE DISBURSEMENTS A. Approve payments from 12/9/2025 to 2/22/2026 in the amount of $90,176.58 Dahl inquired if there were any items that needed to be discussed concerning the disbursements? Anselment stated that all of the items appeared to be straight forward. Motion to approve the disbursements made by Malinowski and seconded by Gorall. Motion carried 4 to 0. 6. REGULAR AGENDA A. 2025 HERO Center Annual Report and Joint Council Meeting Prep for Cottage Grove and Woodbury. Recommendation: Receive and review the 2025 HERO Center annual report. Discuss the joint council meeting planned for April 29th at the HERO Center. Dahl inquired about what Anselment will be presenting at the joint council meeting. Anselment advised that he has the 2025 annual report already in a PowerPoint presentation format and then asked if there are any questions at the end. Dahl advised that the meeting will be at Central Park and requested that the meeting be consolidated this year. Gorall mentioned that the federal group “ICE” will most likely be brought up at the meeting and inquired if they are still utilizing HERO. Anselment stated that they have been and still are great stewards of the facility and very respectful. Dahl inquired if there has been an increase of use by the federal groups with more of them being in Minnesota. Anselment advised that it is difficult to gauge, we see the local, but there are several federal groups that utilize HERO such as the EPA. There was a two-week window of citizen’s calling but nothing since. Levitt inquired about Google’s response to the letter that the city attorney sent them concerning their disparaging remarks against HERO. Anselment stated that there has yet to be a response from Google. Anselment clarified that when searching HERO there was a “note” placed into the bottom of the facility description disparaging HERO for allowing federal agencies to train at a government training center. Anselment advised that there have also been issues with Facebook blocking HERO’s pages claiming that HERO is in violation of their policies. Anselment then has to prove that HERO is not in violation so that the page can be viewed by the public again. This occurs every few weeks and is always reinstated and no actual violations are found. Dahl then inquired about the recommendation to receive or review the agenda item and if anything else needed to be added? Anselment informed the FOC that the partnership that HERO has acquired with the BCA has proven to be positive. 612 Officers from various agencies from all over the state have come to HERO for BCA classes. Anselment stated that the civilian range numbers were lower in 2025 than in 2024. This could be due to the ebb and flow of when MN permits which expire every five years. Levitt inquired about the badge imagery used in the annual report. Anselment stated that he had highlighted the tier members and solicitation award members. Levitt stated that it did not make sense to highlight the solicitation award members as none of the other 60 plus agencies that use the HERO center are being noted in that manner. We should only promote the owner and tier members. Anselment agreed to remove the solicitation award members from the highlighted area as it was not appropriate to place them with the tier members. Gorall advised that the council members have a thought that some day the HERO center will sole be used by the owner agencies. Is there an increased cost to operate facility when 60 outside agencies use it? Anselment stated that this would have to be a conscious decision on behalf of the cities. Yes, there is more staffing, and you also have more expenditure from items such as damage to equipment and training areas which seem to increase with more agencies training here. You may be able to bring some costs down slightly, but it would not offset the expenditure to operate such a larger training facility. Levitt advised that there is $1,000,000 of expenditure to operate HERO that Cottage Grove and Woodbury would then have to pay. Dahl inquired about the five-to-ten-year plan for expenditures for both cities. Anselment stated that this is difficult to predict. HERO has a large contract with Rasmussen but if HERO were to lose Rasmussen who fills a lot of our “shoulder” space this would be a big issue. As the owner agencies grow size with more Officers, they will need to use more space at HERO. As that need grows then there will be less space available to rent to outside agencies. Levitt stated there are other outside factors, political movements such as defund the police that can also contribute to issues with rentals at HERO. Anselment stated that HERO has become the model for other states and groups who want to have a law enforcement training center. Anselment has been contacted by outside of the state agencies and in state agencies regarding how to make a facility like the HERO Center. Motion to approve the slight modifications to the annual report made by Levitt and seconded by Malinowski. Motion carried 4 to 0. 7. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Levitt and seconded by Gorall at 1453 hours. Motion carried 4 to 0.