Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The Red Wing City Council held a workshop on Monday, November 2, 2026, beginning at 6:00 PM. Mayor Yaco attended online and Council Member Bisee was absent. The two primary topics were an update on the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) expansion options and the 2027 budget.
Update on LEC Renovation Options and Proposed Lease Agreement
Chief Sather presented two expansion options for the LEC to address critical deficits in office space, storage, safety, and interview privacy. The current facility has ~25,000 usable square feet. Option A ($11.7 million) consolidates the Red Wing Police Department on one level but sacrifices training and locker room space. Option B ($13.5 million) adds a second level for investigations to preserve these spaces. Both options include a dedicated garage and are proposed as additions to the existing building, which the city leases from the county. The city currently pays $363,000 per year in lease.
A cost comparison and lease rate framework for a potential new building is pending with a consultant and is expected in 60-90 days. Benike Construction provided hard cost estimates for the renovation options.
Council Member Joe expressed frustration over the four-year timeline and sought clarity on the county's financial contribution and guaranteed lease rates. Council Member Yaco advocated for exploring the recently vacated Copeland site across the street as a potential location for a new building, promoting a "buy once, cry once" approach. Council Member Vicky questioned the high cost for a relatively small increase in dedicated office space (5 FTEs predicted over 20 years). Council Member Becky weighed the investments against the city not owning the building and potential space sacrifices. Council Member Ron supported seeking concrete figures before deciding and emphasized the need for public engagement on the investment.
The council directed staff to engage BKV to provide a high-level conceptual cost analysis for developing a new police station at the Copeland site, to be presented as a third option against the expansion plans.
2027 Budget Update
Finance Director Marshall presented the 2027 budget, which is currently based on a 3.85% levy increase. The city proposes using $0 in unassigned fund balance in 2027, absorbing a reduction in debt service costs into the base budget. The fund balance is approximately 89.7%, leaving about $6 million in unassigned funds after accounting for policy reserves and known encumbrances.
For the ambulance fund deficit (~$4.2 million), a plan was proposed to transfer $840,000 annually over five years.
Council members broadly supported the ambulance fund repayment plan. Council Member Vicky and Mayor Yaco emphasized the need to also cover annual operating losses to prevent the deficit from growing again.
The council debated several options for lowering the levy further. Mayor Yaco proposed a 2% target and specific cuts to the Skate Park CIP ($290,000) and the Riverfront Trail study ($46,000). Council Member Ron advocated for a 0% increase using fund balance and supported similar cuts. Council Member Becky favored a 3.5% target, supporting the Green Fund policy and opposing cuts to performance pay without a plan. Council Member Beth also set 3.5% as a maximum, opposed pre-empting the citywide Park Plan on park projects, and supported holding on performance/longevity pay due to union relations. Council Member Joe supported a ~2.5% target, delaying the skate park for the park plan, reducing playgrounds, and retaining the Green Fund for solar repairs. Council Member Vicky strongly supported funding parks as a top community asset but was willing to delay the skate park for the park plan.
Staff noted that the Green Fund ($32,000) is needed to partially cover an additional $28,000 in necessary solar panel inverter repairs.
And we have two items tonight. Again, the LEC discussion and the 2027 budget. And I know we might be waiting for some consultants, but we are just going to be flexible. And then the mayor is online, and then council member Bisee is unable to join us tonight. So Chief Sather, I'll hand it over to you. Good evening. Hi. So tonight we're going to go over an expansion of what an expansion would look like in the law enforcement center. So last month or so ago, we talked about what it would look like if we build a new building and costs associated with that. Tonight I'm going to go over what it would look like to build onto the law enforcement center in conjunction with Goodie County and some cost associations with that. Unfortunately, tonight I don't have the numbers as far as like what a rent allocation would be. If you're going to continue that relationship of renting a new building, we've hired a consultant to go through that framework, and it has not been completed as of yet. So I'm going to go through what it would kind of look like, what the building would look like, some ideas, maybe some conflictual areas that we might have just due to the space confinement there. But we'll continue. And then TSP, who is the architect company that was hired by the city and county to work on this project and came up with this idea, which I'm gonna tell they're really good people because they literally took a square and put a triangle in it somehow and figured out how to put space in a confined area. So we did they did the best they could do with the space that they're allocated. So to start off. So we talked about this last time, so I'm not really gonna talk about this a lot today, but basically, why is the space needed? Um we're just we're out of office space. Um we have people that are constantly being relocated. Uh we have a grant that I'm hoping to hear on the next couple weeks, while that we get a social worker coming in. Um we just our storage is exhausted, we don't have storage space, uh, safety and operational aspects aren't working, and then we just really don't have making privacy areas for people to come in. We have people in full sort of sitting for people coming in out of geolab conversations, it's just not workable. Uh currently at this point. So our existing building. Currently, we have roughly 4200 square feet dedicated to the county, uh, roughly 1,600 to the Red Wing Police Department, and roughly about 19,000 square uh shared space that we currently have. So the total is roughly about 25,000 square feet. Okay, so this will put them put in perspective later just so you have an idea.