Call the roll, please.

Waters.

Here.

More.

Here.

Oh, Kane.

Here.

Scott.

Here, could we stand for a moment of silent prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance?

Underground.

Go to interview for boards and commissions.

Brett Watchcorn, Effective Fiscal Policy Public Committee.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to serve.

Never good to talk about myself, never good at selling myself, honestly.

I want to serve.

I ran for council this year, tried to get up there with you all, but uh didn't make it.

I'm hoping that this uh position will help me get a better understanding of the budget and uh possibly prepare me for a future run, which I plan to do again.

Okay.

Question.

Um just bring to uh everyone's awareness is the key effective fiscal and public policy is directed by council.

Um topics that we'd like to have investigated, researched, um, things like that, then we send them to the leader and uh chair, and that's when the work um is put out.

The research is done, the project might be done.

It could be anything we've done, anything from zoning changes, billboards, um renaming.

It could be any topic that the council would like some assistance and some guidance on.

I see.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, we'll let you know.

Thank you.

B is environmental advisory board, Bob Fritzmeyer.

Hey, Bob.

Go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Yeah, I I'm a member of the Sierra Club here in Northwest Iowa, the group.

And I would like to uh hold a position on the environmental advisory board, just thinking that hopefully I could listen to the others who are now sitting on the board and learn from them and bring my experience and knowledge to the helping Sioux City, you know, become more environmentally sustainable.

Okay.

Questions?

I was glad to see your name come up.

I know Grace has gone out to a couple different groups and and has been recruiting uh quite a bit.

So we're always looking to fill those seats on the environmental advisory board.

And I think you'll be a good fit.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

I think known Bob for a long time, so I always appreciated his dedication.

So all right, thanks.

Thank you.

We'll let you know, Bob.

Okay, thank you.

Museum Board of Trustees, Tim Clark.

Same thing.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and okay.

Uh my name's Tim Clark, and first of all, I want to apologize.

Uh the last council meeting, I got called away to back to the showroom, and I was told I caused kind of a fairest Bueller moment, bueller Bueller.

So I apologize.

I meant no disrespect to the council.

I just didn't want to disrupt things by saying I had to bow out, so forgive me.

Yeah, I have 30 years of experience in uh nonprofit work, both locally, uh regionally, and also on a national foundation board, and I'd frank I just would like an opportunity to now living in Sioux City, serve in the community in which I work and live.

So okay.

Sounds good.

I'm glad you made the application.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you for submitting it.

Any questions?

All right, appreciate it.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yamanaji sister city committee, Brett Myers.

Hello, I'm Brett Myers.

Uh I am the pastor at the first congregational United Church of Christ.

Uh I've started a local group, Solidarity for a Better World.

Um, and for most of my life, I've always tried to create a better world in whatever whatever way I can, and that starts locally, so that's why I'm asking to be on this committee.

Excellent.

It's a good idea, and I'm glad you applied for three vacant positions on it.

So I'm I'm glad we're gonna be able to fill that committee up with good people like yourself.

Thank you.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Nathan Schwartz.

Good afternoon.

Go ahead.

Um my name is Nathan Schwartz.

I've been serving on the Yamanashi City Sisters City Committee for the past three years.

Uh but my term is coming up at the end of the month.

I'm the current president of the committee.

And also I'm planning on my third trip to Yamanashi City two months from now.

And I'd be delighted to once again go on behalf of the committee and the city.

Great.

The past three years have been uh honor and a pleasure.

And if the council approves, I'd be delighted to serve another term.

I don't think that's gonna be a problem.

Any questions?

Appreciate your hands.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We'll go to the consent agenda, which is items three through eighteen up today.

You can consider them to pass unanimously unless a separate roll call votes asked for by a council member.

If you want to speak on an item, please come up as I read that.

Always remember to state your name for the record.

I'll move the consent agenda.

Second.

Three is a reading of the December 8th City Council minutes.

Four is a presentation of the Mayor's Youth Commission 2025 accomplished.

Always a great day.

We're ready for you, Mary.

The Mayor's Youth Commission Executive Council is very pleased to present to you the presentation or the accomplishments that we have done for this year 2025.

The students that are here today consist of our current executive council members and our new executive council members that will take uh that will take their oath of or their time in office starting January.

So I'm going we're gonna start with our current mayor, Layla Lilly.

Hello, my name is Layla Lily, and I'm a senior at North High School.

I serve as the mayor of the Sioux City Mayor's Youth Commission.

Members of the Executive Council would like to present NYC's accomplishments for 2025.

The mission.

The mission of the Mayor's Youth Commission is to explore, communicate, and provide for the needs, problems, issues, and activities affecting the city's youth.

Hi, my name is McKenna Cass, and I'm a senior at East High School.

The mayor mayor's youth commission goals are for youth to make a positive impact in their community and feel valued to encourage youth to develop into their full potential to hold leadership sessions for youth to increase their knowledge and skills to participate in community service and activities and to have the youth feel that they have made a positive contribution to society.

Hi, my name is Austin Cottle, and I'm a senior at Bishop Healen.

Growing Community Connections facilitates the activities of MYC and the Sioux City Young Ambassadors.

The Sioux City City Council is the liaison between Growing Community Connections and MIC.

Hi, my name is Tate Barns.

I'm a Sophomore at North High School.

There are currently 15 members of the Sioux City Mayor's Youth Commission Executive Council with six new members being added in January.

These members have served one year on the youth commission or were previously on a young ambassador.

Completed an application and interviewed for the position.

Hello, I am Xander Foland.

I'm a junior at West High School.

Mayor's Youth Commission members, 79, with 30 new members joining in January.

Young ambassadors, 58.

Total members, 137.

26 members were dropped in November because they moved or for non-participation.

Members are from Bishop Healen High School, East High School, North High School, West High School, Sulane Christian School, and Hinton School.

Hi, my name is Luz Morales.

I'm a sophomore at West High School.

And I would like to present the NYC member orientation.

An orientation was held in January for our new members, and their top concerns were mental health, underage, drinking, vaping, smoking, and drugs, bullying, social media and technology addiction, homelessness, and peer pressure.

Hello, my name is Vanessa Kelling, and I'm a senior at Sealand Christian.

Program topics throughout the year were based on these concerns and were as follows.

Orientation for new members in January.

Kindness connects us in February.

In March, the program for MYC focused on serving those with disabilities in Siouxland.

The April meeting focused on musical opportunities in Siouxland and beyond.

The May meeting was a celebration of the last meeting of the school year where we met at Riverside Park and enjoyed a pizza party, followed by picking up 24 bags of trash in the park.

Hello, my name is CJ.

I'm a senior at HELAN.

Um the September program focused on art therapy.

October concentrated on Red Wibon Week, Red Ribbon Week, and the young ambassador members made red ribbons for their friends, schoolmates, and family, as well as city councils, while the NYSU students participated in a substance use disorder prevention program.

In November, we had the privilege of walking into downtown for the holiday lighted parade, where 70 MYC and YA members and their families participated.

Hello, I'm Gabriela Alasuma, and I am a sophomore at Bishop Helene High School.

MYC also mentors the Sioux City Young Ambassadors.

Young Ambassadors is a recognition program for students in grades fourth through seventh who display good character.

All nominated students receive a free young ambassadors t-shirt, a gift certificate from book people provided by NYC in public recognition.

We currently have 57 young ambassadors enrolled.

Hello, my name is Elaine Dong, and I'm a he I'm a junior at Bishop Heel.

Sioux City Young Ambassadors.

From the 2025 nominations, all 15 students were selected to be mentored by members of the Sioux City Mayor's Youth Commission and were honored at a ceremony on September 9th in the council chambers at City Hall.

Approximately 80 parents and family members and guests attended.

Young ambassador keynote speakers were current NYC members and young ambassadors who spoke on their experiences with Mayor's Youth Commission and Young Ambassadors.

Members of the NYC will mentor the students throughout the years until they are NYC members.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jasper Morgan.

I'm a junior at Bishop Heel and High School.

As per volunteering, so far in 2025, NYC members have contributed 2,023 volunteer hours to our community.

Hello, my name is Meron Tagai.

I am a senior at North High School.

Some volunteer activities for NYC included Neighborhood Network, Family Fund Night, League of Women Voters School Board Forum, Random Acts of Kindness Day, Cone Park All Abilities Day, 25 on the 25th Litter Pickup Monthly Campaign, Faces of Sioux Land Multicultural Fair, and Siouxland Humane Society, Carmel Apple Fundraiser.

Hi, my name is Kevin Tran.

I am a junior at West High ongoing volunteering.

Hi, my name is Regan Ewell.

I'm a sophomore at Bishop Heelon.

The Mayor's Youth Minton 2025 Adult Advisors, Jenny Gosseway, Parent Volunteer, Joanne Gieselman, Growing Community Connections, Mary Coaster, NYC Coordinator, Tracy Markowski, Parent Volunteer, Kathy Moeller, Growing Community Connections, Sergeant Ryan Moritz, Current SCPD Liacin, and Sergeant Jim Cunningham, former SCDPD Liacin.

Thank you.

The Sioux City Mayors Youth Commission would like to thank you for your support of our organization and for giving us the opportunity to serve our community.

We invite you to attend and participate in any of our meetings and activities.

And we are happy to answer any of your questions.

Mayor Layla.

I have some comments to make.

Unbelievable what the Sioux City Mayor's Youth Commission does and its members.

And I'll tell you what, for this council member and for this person sitting here, you give me a lot of hope and faith in our future.

And I really mean that.

And you're really plugged in.

I mean, look at your look at your concerns, top concerns, social media, technology, mental health, underage drinking, vaping, smoking, drugs, and bullying.

And it just gives me so much hope.

And you're and you're so present and you're so involved and you participate.

Over 2,000 hours.

I mean, that's a lot.

That's a lot from the youth because you have everything pulling at you for your attention and for your activities.

And I'm and I'm also grateful for the parents and grandparents and guardians that support all of you so that this is a possibility.

And I just want to thank you, Mayor, for your leadership and what you've all done together.

You've really pulled together, you've learned teamwork.

And I love the fact that it's from the different all the different high schools that we have in Sioux City.

It's just a I hope this never ends.

I hope it grows and continues and goes on for years to come because I don't.

I hope you appreciate how much the council and the mayor, how much we appreciate all that you do.

So after comments are made up here, and I'm about ready to finish up.

I would ask that all of the mayor's youth commission members please come up here for a photo opportunity behind, and we'll stand up with you because I think you have earned not only that, but you've earned a lot more.

So thank you, Mayor Laley Lilly.

Thank you.

Yeah, there you go.

That's the attitude.

Anybody obviously Mr.

Moore gets pretty excited about this day, but we all do.

We thank you for what you've done for our community.

You are great examples of what we have good about our community.

So thank you for your service.

And I want to thank the the adult supervisors and that they go way above and beyond the call of duty to make your organization even better.

So thank you for what you do.

And this will be Mr.

Moore's last time to get pictures taken with you, so we we don't want him to miss that opportunity.

Maybe we'll just let him go solo.

Is Ann here?

Okay, you ready, Ann?

Come on up and just it's fine.

Come on, Mary.

You guys come up here too.

Yeah, come on, Mayor.

There you go.

Thank you.

It's okay.

It's exactly back over here.

And how wide can we go?

Can we go all the full yet?

We'll get them in here.

We'll get them all in.

Come on, shorter folks up front.

Taller in the back.

Shorter folks up here.

Don't worry, I'll sit up tall.

Squeeze your shoulders together.

Perfect.

Got them all.

Julie, can you bring up here back?

Okay.

All right.

Thank you, Ann.

Or we crash the mic again or something.

Right.

All right.

Now I'll sand it.

Beautiful.

And raise your right hand, please.

Oh, I was.

Definitely.

You, Xander Foland solemnly swear that you will faithfully and impartially to the best of your ability execute the position of the office of the mayor of the Sioux Cities Youth Commission during the year 2026.

And to the best of your building, uphold, promote, and support the ideas, activities, and missions of the Sioux City Mayor's Youth Commission by serving as a positive role model, leader and voice for MYC.

If you do, please say I do.

I do.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Good mayor.

Lane, please raise your right hand.

Do you Elaine Dong solemnly swear that you will faithfully and impartially to the best of your ability execute the position of the Office of the Mayor Pro Tem of the City, Sioux Cities Mayor's Youth Commission during the year 2026?

And to the best of your ability, uphold, promote, and support the ideas, activities, and missions of the Sioux City Mayor's Youth Commission by serving as a positive role model, leader, and voice for MY so MYC.

If so, please answer.

I do.

I did.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Take care.

We do need to approve our new members.

Okay.

That's on your agenda.

Next question.

Um we have 30 new members coming in from various high schools.

And it's all there in front of you.

And if you have any questions, you can ask.

Yep, that's next item.

So we'll do it right now.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay.

Oh, you're good.

Resolution appointing new members to the Mayor's Youth Commission.

I got out of order.

You're right.

So all right.

Sioux City Regional Conventions and Visitors Bureau and Explore Sioux Land presentation deferred from December 8th, 2025.

That's that's under the consent agenda.

It's on the consent agenda, so it passes, man.

So you're all good.

All right.

Tyler, it's a tough act to follow, man.

Good luck.

Yeah, thank you for putting me there.

Tough act.

I expect my picture after as well.

No doubt.

Yeah.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, City Council, City Manager, City Staff, thank you for having me.

Uh my name is Tyler Doherty.

I'm the executive director for Explore Tooland.

My intent to give you a brief rundown of what we've been doing here recently at the organization.

Um obviously, if there's any questions, I ask that you please cut me off.

So let's uh so very quickly, our team.

So uh introduce myself and then uh Stephanie is our destination marketing coordinator.

She's been with us um for about as long as I have here, about six months, and then we're uh nearing the finish line of filling our open director of sales and service position with the transition of Kristen from that post.

Um, hopefully have that individual place by the uh beginning of January, uh, if not sooner, if we can get an offer extended.

So who we are?

Uh we have the the pleasure to promote our wonderful community to the outside world.

Usually I define that as anybody 50 miles and outside of Siouxland.

We try to get those individuals to come to our community, uh experience and explore what we have to offer, frequent our restaurants, attractions, stay in our hotels, um, and really that's how we're funded.

And so how we are funded, we work with uh municipalities such as yourselves.

Um we have a benchmark that we try to obtain, and then we work with a collection of hotels in our community tend to be exact.

Uh and there's a 1.65% percentage listed on their folio.

Uh it's a voluntary fee that they collect and then uh submit to us, and then we use that to market our community uh and with our ad agency that we work with.

Agency of record is Madden Media, which I'll talk about in a little bit as well.

Um, but predominantly that is how our budget is is made up.

And so a little bit of what I want to talk about too is impact of tourism.

This leads into the state of Iowa and what they released here recently for their 2024 numbers.

And so we've got direct, indirect, and induced impact.

And so just to break that down, uh if a guest would come in and they'd frequent a restaurant, they pay for a meal.

That's your direct impact that you have.

The indirect impact from that is the restaurant actually buying the supplies or the food that they serve you.

The induced of that would be the employees that actually service you, the line cooks, that sort of thing that then gets spread throughout the community.

Um so if we take that a step further with the state of Iowa and their impact, uh they had about 46.1 million visitors to the state of Iowa, generating an impact of 7.5 billion.

So if we we try to relate that to our counterparts across the Midwest, we really do punch above our weight.

Uh you extrapolate out what the state of Iowa spends on a on a tourism-related budget relative to our peers, we are 48th out of 50 with two states not reporting.

So for these numbers, to me, that's very impactful for what we're able to do to bring those guests to our community.

Take it a step further if we go from 2022 to 24 for Woodbury County.

Uh, I want to direct your attention to the numbers at the bottom.

Uh, so that's visitor spend, total business sales, total employment, labor income, and then taxes that we generate.

All five uh are high water marks relative to the last six years historically for our organization.

Visitor spend up almost 16.7 million.

Uh we're not gonna take full credit for that, but I think it speaks to the community that we have and what we're able to promote.

Uh and visitor spend keep continues to rank uh ramp up.

Taking that a step further here, you can see uh on the right kind of middle of the historical context for the last five years, how that visitor spend relates to F and B transportation, lodging, retail, and recreation.

Again, we're doing very well from an historical uh reference um from 2020, kind of post-COVID.

Uh and with our organization starting in 2019, these are good benchmark numbers in my opinion to look at.

Again, we continue to do very, very well.

Taking it a step further too.

I want to highlight the state and local taxes on this one.

And this is a very important number that I want to highlight.

So I spoke with the state rep on Friday, and um thing I had asked her is hey, could you give me a number that uh screams to us or that we can promote with all the interest that we bring to our community, what that does from a tax generation, but also a cost savings to local constituents within our area.

And so what we do from a tourism aspect, if we weren't able to bring in what we would uh well, if we weren't able to bring in what we're doing, we save uh local households about $1,000 a year.

If you take that a step further from direct and induced impact, it's about $1,500 uh per household per year.

Again, not taking full credit for that, but you can begin to see the ramifications and impact of tourism that we have in our community.

And Tyler, if I could just make sure I'm understanding that correctly.

So what the state is kind of explaining or elaborating is because of the money coming into the community from those visiting for various events, whether it's conventions or athletic tournaments or conferences, what have you, basically the tax, the business that's generated and pumped into the local economy is saving taxpayers so that at least then you don't have to increase the tax levy to afford to pay for things like police and fire to where at least you can capitalize on some of the tax that's coming in from those visiting people.

That's correct.

Yep, yep.

And so how are we doing that?

And so I wanted to highlight very quickly the the top list of uh events up there is related to our sports commission within the community, and we work with the state, we have to apply for funding.

Um, 75,000 dollars to the state that we can use on sports related events.

Uh NAI volleyball championships is one.

Just to highlight that event, I know it's been here for 30 years, but if you looked at the 24 team field, we had states represent our teams represented from 15 different states.

If you looked at those rosters, we had representation from all 50 states.

If we tried to put a dollar value on the marketing to try and reach all of those states and all those schools, we wouldn't be able to afford it.

So just the ripple effect and the spider web from an event such as that is super important for what we do.

On the bottom section, then we just I wanted to highlight just the events that we have our hands in as it relates to September.

And again, not going to take credit for all these.

This could be as simple as us packing um welcome guides to us submitting grant monies to get them here to working to get them placed at a hotel.

We have our hands in, I guess, many different ways in getting those uh those events here.

But this is just a list list specific to September that you can highlight and see.

As it relates to uh to marketing, so as I'd mentioned, Madden Media is our agency of record that we work with, and we're gonna work through them through the end of the year, and then we have to uh either find somebody new or we're gonna continue to go with Madden.

But I want to highlight a few things here.

So SEM is search engine marketing.

Um we highlight that because if we really want to highlight an event very, very quickly, SEM is the way to do that as opposed to SEO, which if you're trying to Google something, uh we're really looking at brand recognition with that, uh, which we again we do both.

So Google prospecting and meta prospecting, that's exactly what it sounds like.

We're trying to reach those new individuals that maybe typed in a keyword specific to hey, we want to come visit the Midwest.

Because of what they've typed in, we can then prospect them and try to get them uh directed to our community because of what we have to offer based off of what they have typed in.

Two remarketing.

So this could be someone who has maybe explored Sioux City and they're looking for more information, um, and then we can remarket them.

So anybody has been a part of this.

If you looked for uh shoes for Christmas, and you didn't necessarily go through with the purchase, but then you go to the next page, and all of a sudden you see a shoe ad that pops up on your next search.

This is exactly what that is.

Um, and we continue to do that with our marketing then uh throughout the region.

Uh from an impression standpoint, so this is if you go to an ad and you see our ad on the Facebook uh Facebook page, you may see it five times, it's gonna count every single time.

The clicks is actually you going on it and clicking it, and then click-through rate.

Uh, we have a benchmark that we want to reach as well, uh so you can see those at the bottom.

But all in all, we continue to do very well marketing uh year over year and brand recognition for our organization.

And Tyler, just one other thing that I think gets misunderstood, is sometimes we think, well, gosh, you know, maybe we're all sitting here in this room and we don't see any of these ads, like why they're not coming to us, or I haven't seen anything marketing this, but a lot of times it's because you're shooting outside of the local demographic to actually bring people and individuals or events in, right?

Is that correct?

Correct, and that's usually a common question we get, and I to me that's okay, right?

We're trying to again appeal to those who are 50 miles and out.

So if you live within Sioux City, chances are you're not gonna see these ads unless we're sponsoring a local event or have grant monies that go towards them.

So again, we're trying to get people to the community to stay who haven't been here before.

And then just want to highlight, we still also dabble in print publications.

So here are some that we're uh also in, um, and we continue to have great partnerships uh with them as well.

So I wanted to make sure I left enough time for any questions uh that I can answer for you.

Tyler, I just a few comments.

Um first of all, I really like your positive energy, and I think you're doing a great job.

Um I was gonna try to call you and Stacy before today's meeting.

I didn't, I just didn't have an opportunity.

Too many things were popping up.

So I'll be giving you a call later just to talk about some things.

Um, but just overall, just from your experience in other communities that you've been in with Explorer Sioux Land.

What would you say?

What's what's strong and what can what can uh what needs attention and and improvement?

So, in my experience, I've been in uh Dubuque, Iowa, and Casper, Wyoming.

Um similar size communities.

Quite honestly, I think we have a lot to sell from an asset standpoint.

And so, just from my background in sports, um, we can sell quite a bit of that, and then proximity to major metropolitans, you can get to us.

Uh the airport.

I'm sorry, do we have any water that I can have?

Yeah, I know you're too.

I didn't mean to choke you up.

No, you're good.

You're good.

Um, so just accessibility to get here as well.

We have an airport that you can actually frequent, and you've got uh a flight that's gonna be going to Denver here the first of January.

So for us to just sell our community from an optics standpoint, that's so important because that's usually one of the first questions we get.

Hey, can we get to you?

And we can actually say yes, you can.

And here are the airlines that you can frequent.

We have the infrastructure to get here from that standpoint.

But from a leisure perspective as well, we can sell young families, in my opinion, and we can't spargo, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Chicago.

Um, we're a drivable distance for uh a destination for those communities to come and frequent.

Um we have work to do though, right?

We're 2019 is our organization was established, so just brand recognition for what we do and understanding at a local level on why we're important.

Um, we have work that we need to continue to educate and advocate for what it is we do.

Okay, thank you.

Yep.

Okay, thank you.

Seven's a resolution approving a letter of understanding with explorer Sioux Lennon and authorizing an annual contribution deferred from December 8, 2025.

Eight is resolution accepting a donation from the friends of the Sioux City Public Library for the Use Summer Reading Program and other projects.

Nine is a resolution adopting plans and spectrum of the Isabella Square and Lions Park area HMA research.

Can I talk about that just a resurfacing project?

Yes, you may.

Alrighty, Gordon.

Sorry I didn't give you a heads up.

This is our annual resurfacing project.

Yes, it is.

Right and fair city engineer.

Uh we're looking at doing two large areas in the Lions Park area and Isabella Square.

Yep.

Approximately 40 blocks overlayed.

I think it's 51.

Come out to 51.

Yep, I'm doing next week.

Which is great.

And our our goal is to hit at least 40 or up to 40 there around every year.

Yes.

If budget allows it, yes.

Budget allows it, right?

It's been programmed out so that we continue it, but got a pass every year in the CIP.

Um, this program came to light because in the top one, two, and three every year, potholes are the top point of contention for most citizens.

They want to know where their tax dollars are going if they're not filling these potholes.

This program isn't going to get rid of potholes, it's not going to stop new potholes.

However, what it's going to do because we can no longer sit back and expect funding to suddenly appear to start from subsurface up when we tear up streets and we try to resurface and make them smooth.

And 2023, I just kept giving that thought.

What's plan B?

Do we have a plan B for this?

And that's it.

Just came to me we need to get a mill and overlay program because Jim and Susan Smith, who work there 40 hours a week a piece, would like some smoother roads to drive home on.

So this is our plan B program.

Um and I think it's going to turn into a plan A program in the end.

I think it's going to be successful.

This is our first year.

It was approved last year to start fiscal 26.

So it starts this spring.

And I appreciate the team coming together and listening to me and not poo-pooing the idea.

Um my first stop was to the mayor's office when the epiphany came to me that day, and I said, Am I crazy?

What do you think of this?

And he said, No, you're not crazy.

I'd love to have something like this, you know, happening.

So council approved it.

We went through the work, your team did the work, and I so appreciate it.

I just want to say thank you for believing in the project, and here it is.

Jill Winderside's office was a part of that too.

Yep, absolutely.

Great.

So yeah, thank you, Gordon.

Yep.

Ken is a resolution authorizing any issuance of a certificate of appropriateness for the facade improvements on the property at 421 Pearl Street.

Petitioner is co-hazard architects and HSLF properties, the historic preservation commission commission recommends approval.

Mayor the petitioner here.

Anyone here for the applicant?

The applicant's not here.

I'm not sure he's on a suitful.

Wait, Schultz, uh, city planning also historic preservation commission representative or laia's on.

Do you have any questions?

No, no, I just well, I want to make some comments on this item.

Um, the Edgar H.

Stone building.

Uh this is really impressive.

I have not seen uh for quite a while uh uh an application, the certificate for appropriateness, that kind of thing.

So complete.

You have 45 pages.

Now, yes, there are a lot of pictures, but really cool pictures attached to this, but it's very thorough.

Um you're you're restoring the the three original storefronts that were built in nine 1912 design, and you have a lot of work cut out for you.

But I just want to applaud you for uh just so complete, just making a such a complete application, and with all of the the facts that we have before us, um it it's just it's very well done.

I just wanted to applaud you and the others that have submitted it.

And I hope you're successful.

Yeah, I hope the applicant and their architect were great to work with.

Uh we are working on some more stuff that'll come here hopefully within the next month or two to so stay tuned.

So we'll hear, yeah, we'll hear more about it uh during during the year 2026.

Yep.

Do you have some deadlines coming up that that you need to meet or that you'll get an answer back?

Uh so uh so there's a couple things.

We're working on a national register nomination for the Pearl Street District.

Uh trying to get the RFP put together here yet this month, and hopefully get that sent out either late yet this month or in January is the kind of the goal to get that going.

Uh it's been kind of a long work in progress.

Uh this year years, but go ahead with your story.

Yeah, it's been a tough part not necessarily a fault of yours, but yeah.

Uh we've been trying to find funding for and MERD gave the historic preservation commission 20,000.

Uh we are getting some other additional funds from ED, and so thank you to them.

And so hopefully finally getting to that point where this is thing is getting listed and funded now with the MERD and so this would open it up to both state and federal tax credits, which would help those areas help maintain those buildings long term.

So that it's a really great project, and so it's just kind of working together.

And we had actually had an inquiry about a different building today, and so it's gotta get the ducks in the row, but well, we're working on it.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Right, that's a great shot in the arm for that area too.

And I just wanted to wait, it's not for you necessarily.

And Dan, I guess I would just say I appreciate very much so your comments because I know that you've worked, and this is I mean, this type of real estate, and these things are a passion of yours, and you recognize the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of this application.

I would just share with the council um the media as well as those listening and tuning in that I uh through a friend of a friend, I know this petitioner, and I know the project um and the business that he holds in Sioux Falls.

And look, it's no secret that I'm kind of a foodie um and like trying a lot of different restaurants and places, and this project that he's bringing to our community is exceptional.

If it's anything like what he offers in Sioux City, I mean these are things that I get really excited about when people, whether it's internally and from our community are looking to build our community up, or they're recognizing that potential from other neighbor cities and investing in our community, and I think that his plans to restore this building to I think its true potential, which is what Dan is is alluding to in the application with those photos.

I mean, it's tough not to be excited about a project like that because I for one grow really tired of driving past what I think are these beautiful buildings and seeing them getting run down, dilapidated or not being invested in, not being cared for.

And I think that this petitioner is someone that's really gonna do right for that property, and so I I look forward to it.

And not the part that they're gonna have food and booze really excites you.

I know I follow you on Facebook.

Hey, I mean, you know, I know where a good time is, Mayor.

I just I gotta 11 reactions relating to boards, commissions, and committees.

A is a resolution reappointing Ron Wick to the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center's authority board of commissioners.

I'm gonna Mayor, I'd I would uh I just want to make a couple of comments.

I've been on the authority board now serving representing the city council and the city um for close to six years.

Um you were on it for the first the initial term of the authority.

One meeting.

One meeting.

For some reason that was enough.

You turned it over to me.

I said yes.

But no, Ron Ron Wick has done a good job overall as chair.

Uh we have a deadline of December 31 to appoint a third person to the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center Authority Board.

Um, and that's rapidly approaching us.

And the city attorney made it very clear that it's subject to the concurrence of Woodbury County.

We both have to agree on who will be appointed as that third person.

Uh as you all know, we're in the middle of uh mediation, and uh it's just important to have uh Ron Wick's uh institutional experience and all that he's been doing.

He's been on he's been on site a lot, and he's done a good job for us.

Yes, do we do we wish that project would have gone better a little smoother?

Absolutely.

But one thing Ron has said uh various meetings is that we are going to do it right.

There's always a temptation, I take that back.

There's sometimes a temptation to say, let's cut corners here and do this and do that, and we can get the accomplishment, get it done, uh, but we're not doing that.

We're making sure it's done right.

We want to have we just want to make sure it's done right, and I think it's the right thing to do.

I I hope we have uh the support of the city council and the mayor on this vote.

Yeah, I just wanted to say a few comments.

I I appreciated my conversation.

I was able to talk with Dan about his experience working with Ron and serving in this capacity because I think it's a big undertaking.

I can only imagine it has been a big undertaking um serving with him on this and and just trying to navigate what has become a difficult project, certainly.

Um I've also reached out to others in the community to get their take um and the perspective they have on how the authority, the leadership has been going and and what the hopes for the future would be.

After all, this is an additional six-year um six-year appointment, which I think is is a a long time when you're thinking and you want to make sure that you have the right person at the helm of this.

I went back and was reminded of some of the contentious public hearings or meetings where it was being discussed if he would participate in the mediation and go to some of that, and I I really fear that a lot of that public trust um has been eroded.

And I I agreed with Dan and told him such on the phone that it doesn't necessarily all fall on one person's shoulders.

I I understand that.

However, I do think that there are other concerns raised that that give me great pause, and I I shared these with Dan as well.

That the gravest concern that I have is, and maybe it's coming off of the recent vote with support of an organization in town, but I I worry about nepotism, I worry about favorite favoritism, and for me, learning more and more about the appointment of Ron and his son to the Baker group and working through that and Ron's willingness to still hold votes for salary increases or contract extensions and not see that as a conflict of interest, gives me great pause to the decision making.

Um, and I just I want to make sure that I can fully trust the individual that is at that that position because I think it wields a great amount of influence and obviously on a very important project in our community that's affecting all of us.

And so no, I it's not a decision that I'm making lightly or a concern that I feel is unjust.

I just really worry about what the next six six years would look like and where we are going if that were to continue.

But no, I I think that's that's all I really want to say at this time.

I just I wish wish I felt differently, but I just feel that I I worry about someone's judgment or ability to make those best decisions when some of those on record.

Well, we certainly hope that the next six years are nothing like the last six years.

But uh and that and that's been discussed.

Uh what you're referencing with uh conflict.

That's been discussed, that's been reviewed by the attorneys.

Um they they asked my opinion.

It wasn't any kind of advice or recommendation, they just asked me what my opinion or what my what my thought was.

You know, conflicts of interest, oftentimes what's the result?

What's what has happened that that it becomes a conflict?

So in any event, it's it's been discussed, it's been it's been dismissed, it's been and we're and we're moving on.

So but yeah, but you have you're certainly entitled to your your thoughts and clarified that discussion was and and their legal advice has told them that they don't feel it's a conflict either, that his son works for the Baker group.

Correct.

I think it's that it's a personal decision, right?

Is that the advice the attorney just emphasizes a personal I think if somebody really wanted to pursue it at that time, they would have if they really thought it was a meaningful uh a conflict, Julie.

And is was the public aware all along that yeah?

Okay.

Because that's where I don't know where the whole time.

Well, and I tried digging into this and learning a little bit more, and that's previous to Ron's appointment to this, I'd never worked for the Baker group.

It was only after Ron was appointed to this that I believe he joined and then became a part of that situation, and I I just don't know if I can agree with that experience and those decisions, and that's not something I would be able to stand by if my immediate family.

But it's it is a personal decision.

Yeah.

And there's no law there's no longer.

No, as of July, he resigned, and but it was three years, I believe.

So Alright, I guess I think the clerk's probably wondering how you're voting.

I would like to pull the vote.

Are we allowed to speak on agenda items individually?

Any agenda.

Sorry.

Thank you.

Uh Brett Walchorn here again.

Uh morning side now, I guess.

Um for this one is specifically, this has always been a thorn in my side.

I was not here when this whole debacle went down, because that's all it ever has been.

I just would like a little more clarification on why we would, after said debacle over the last six years, why would we want to reappoint the head of the snake after it's already bitten us?

Well, we haven't decided if it's going to be or not yet, so this vote is going to be.

But I'm just I'm just saying the vote, I would like to have some clarification on that.

Why would we continue something that has been a complete debacle?

For the reason that he that he shows leadership and and it's a very it was very difficult.

It was contractors, subcontractors.

There's there's a lot to that.

There's a lot to that that just making a decision.

Well, yeah, experience experience means nothing when it continues to happen.

Okay.

Dan.

Okay.

Call the roll, please.

More.

Aye.

Okay.

No.

That's well, it's going to be different.

I have to abstain because Ron's a client on advice of the city attorney, which I accept.

Watters?

No.

Okay.

So it fails.

B is a certified local government.

C is a wastewater treatment plant reconstruction and design advisory committee.

D is a planning and zoning commission.

E is a board of adjustment.

F is historic preservation commission and G is active transportation advisory.

12 reactions related to agreements and contracts.

A is a resolution to authorizing a pre-construction agreement for the primary road project with the IDOT in conjunction with the Floyd Riverfront Plywood Trail Connector Project.

B is a resolution awarding a service provider agreement to Midwest constructors.

The marina gang plank repair project.

C is a resolution approving a standard consultant contract for McClure Engineering for the downtown bike and pedestrian river connection project.

D is a resolution approving an arc flash information and demnification agreement with Mid-America Energy for the Gate 2 passenger boarding bridge replacement project.

E is a resolution approving a contract for transportation services with the City of Norse City, South Dakota.

F is a resolution approving an enterprise subscription services agreement with ONSOL for the purchase of code red on-demand notification software service as the service.

G is a resolution approving a citywide communication site management agreement with Pegasus Tower to oversee the city-owned communication structures and sites.

What do we gain from this one?

I read your email.

Oh and it looks like we're just paying somebody 25% to do what they do what we already do.

And I know that Alex won't be happy when I say this, but you know, OVG gets paid for a lot of contracts that were already automatics.

I've never understood why you pay somebody for something you already got in the bag.

I want one of those deals, but what do we gain in here?

Sure.

I with Brad's assistance, I can go ahead and answer this first.

What we've discovered is that because we don't have city staff that can monitor these locations and know exactly what equipment is being put on the towers.

We've received assistance from Pegasus in the past to help us monitor what's going on.

Um really understand the contracts because it's a complicated niche industry.

Um they provided a lot of insight to both Brad and to the legal department.

Currently, Debbie Rowe in our office helps us track uh the towers and the agreements and the sublease agreements.

Um she'll be leaving the city shortly.

And we're just really looking for some outside assistance to help us maximize what we currently have and recognize um.

I guess they're well versed in the industry and can tell us what's actually being placed on our towers and help us keep track of that.

But you're right, there's a lot of people.

But you pay you pay, I mean, I can say I can if you said they get so much for this, and then if they get new ones, they get more.

I'm okay with that kind of stuff, but I'm just not well I'm I'm it's gonna pass, but I just don't understand how but I think it is looking forward as well, right?

Sure, but why do you pay somebody?

I mean, we've had the NAIA volleyball tournament and basketball tournament forever, and we paid those guys a commission to do what 90 percent of us are gonna do anyway, renew.

It doesn't make those things don't make sense to me.

Not not a hundred percent commission, they just don't make sense to me.

Yeah, and just for clarification, too.

We already have an agreement with Pegasus or the watershouse, so this is expanding it to everything.

We currently do have an existing agreement.

But it's a loss of revenue on something that's supposed to be better.

That's what I don't get.

There's no there's no guarantee that they're gonna bring one more tower to this community.

That's true.

Yeah, that Brad Pitts Utilities Director, that is true.

Um I guess my what I would say about the the existing towers that aren't currently agreement right now, other than Deb Rowe.

There's nobody in the city that really monitors those locations at all.

We do with the existing agreement because all of them are placed on water infrastructure.

Uh and those are the ones that Pegasus oversees.

Now, when there's a question that comes in, we call them and they take care of it because I don't have the knowledge to understand uh what those agreements entail and what all of the requirements fail for them to make modifications to the existing uh radio communications on on the water infrastructure, and they maintain and they ensure that all of those requirements are going to be met.

Uh they do all the negotiations for the city uh to get the best price possible for revenue.

Um they just do an exceptional an exceptional job, and so these uh existing towers that are not in the current agreement, um, you know, they're gonna take over that.

And again, we feel that the little bit of loss revenue is a benefit to the city because in the long run, those sites are gonna be well managed, more so than what they are right now.

They're gonna have eyes on them intentionally, and it's in Pegasus' best interest to get us more towers and get us more customers if it's uh commission based.

Right.

There was a potential tower uh near the uh wastewater treatment plant.

We just didn't have a lot of information on it.

They took it, we asked the question of them to look into it, took it upon themselves to make some phone calls, uh, figure out what the details were.

And you know, now because of that we have all the information that we need going forward if if that tower comes to fruition.

Um we're also looking at potentially uh Pegasus Towers constructing a standalone tower at the airport uh so that we're able to decommission the airport water tower here sooner than later.

So just some of the things that we're looking at as we move forward uh with an with a new agreement like that pulled for a separate no, I don't plug my nose today.

Um just trying to get along.

H is a resolution approving a consulting services agreement with Snyder and Associates for a traffic study in the Bridgeport Business Park and Expedition Business Park.

Resolution is amending the city's health benefit plan by approving a binder agreement with Walmart to serve as a pharmacy benefit manager.

You know, a law just passed.

Is I I read or the governor signed it.

How could you just sign them into something that the legislative session hasn't met for a year?

Is that old news?

Because these big pharmacy groups are human groups.

But I don't want some employee to get an illness, and then we don't have coverage for it.

I you know what if we can't make sure that our employees have good medical coverage, shame on us.

Janet Fuller Human Resources.

Um the PBM bill that you referenced did pass, but it is currently under, it's being challenged in the courts, certain portions of it.

The parts that have gone through have been accepted.

Um with the coverage in place, we do have a pharmacy benefit manager today, which is Carroll.

The coverage when we um took this out for bid, which we do every three to five years depending to make sure that we're being fiscally responsible.

When we transition to Carolon, when we went from express trips to optum, optum to Carolon, there's we call it disruption and there's disruption every time, but we still do have coverage.

Um and so for those individuals when there is disruption, so if a uh prescription is not currently covered, they have there's several different things that happen.

They're offered an appeal process that they need to go through appeal.

There are alternatives that are provided to that individual, so they do have coverage if they need it.

Um in the appeal process, first they would go through Wellmark because they can obtain what's called a prior authorization.

And if the denial is upheld at Wellmark, they still have the right to go to the state board of insurance.

Here's my problem, just because I don't know anything about what you do.

Yep.

But let's just say I have to have some crazy drug and I need it.

How long does this appeal process take?

Because I don't want somebody two or three months that needs a drug today.

So what's the process?

There are timelines in place, and I don't want to misspeak, so I'd rather have it in front of me before I actually give dates.

But there are exped expedited appeal timelines, but again, I don't want to misspeak, I'd rather have it.

That's fine.

I just want to make sure there are because again, I don't I I you guys are doing a job, what your job, you're trying to save money, I get that, but I also don't I just people have conditions out there and there's only one drug for them.

Right.

Well, I could be mistaken.

Jan I don't remember, but it when I was down in the legislature last year, wasn't this the bill that was more focused on a lot of the smaller pharmacies were concerned about being pushed out and that it was going towards more of the large pharmacy systems and it is.

Am I remembering that correctly?

I mean that's a that that is a portion of the bill, but they're also talking about coverage and the availability of drugs and how they're costed out or how they're charged out at each pharmacy to make sure there's equity across the pharmacies.

Well, how are we handling it?

What what's the um process if I'm already I already have the prescription and now I have found out, and I think that's the case for some employees because they reached out to me correct that they're no longer going to be covered.

Right.

So what'll happen is that all under the N, is it an NF list that was coming out?

Is that what it was?

N F is non-formulary, right?

When there is a drug when we transition from one provider and one pharmacy benefit manager to another, there is a term called disruption, and that's the drugs that are no longer covered when you make the transition from one group to another.

That is across the board.

You're never gonna find any pharmacy benefit manager who covers 100% of the drugs.

Um there's reasons we have pharmacy benefit managers in place.

The prescription climate as we know it, we all know it's broken, but right now we're doing the best we can in the environment that we have.

So when an individual gets a letter that says NF, which is it's not formulary.

If there is a prior authorization in place, so if Carolon already has a prior authorization, Carolon is our current provider, then Wellmark will honor that prior authorization through the duration, and then the employee can go through through the duration of until it needs to be renewed or so.

If I have a prior authors authorization and I just got it in November of this year, generally a prior auth is good for one year.

And then next November they would have to go through the prior auth again with the new provider.

They would have to do it with the old provider too, because they still have to go through prior authorization.

We had at least one employee that only got that letter this Saturday.

The disruption letter did just come out this Saturday.

But they've already signed up for their coverage and or how much they're gonna put in their health savings.

Well, I don't think you call it that at the city, but well, we do have an HSA, but oh, what you're referring to is probably the flexible spending account.

Yes, yes, yes, flex spending.

So that's already been set for them.

They've already enrolled without knowing if they were on the NF list.

So now what's their recourse?

Because they can't increase that, it's too late.

That's a discussion that I can have with the city manager and the HR director if we want to look at having those people who are negatively impacted.

I think there's if we want to do something with that.

I'm gonna have more out of pocket if my drugs aren't going to be approved, then I need to make up for that in my flex spending account.

Is that something I I can't just unilaterally make that decision?

I'm not asking to make the decision.

I'm just asking.

That decision can be made.

We can okay.

I'm I'm gonna ask that we do that.

I mean, Saturday to today is not a very long time for anyone to prepare for that, especially if they have an expensive drug.

I mean, if it's something any drug, even if it's any $30 a month.

Right, right, right.

Any.

Um, but you know, we all know some of them are very cheap and some of them are very expensive.

So and it I just am concerned as the mayor is that everything is equitable as this thing transitions.

It's not going to be perfect, it's gonna have bumps in the road, but we just don't want to leave anybody hanging and put them in a compromising financial position over it, or be fearful that they're not going to get what they need by being forced into a generic drug or something like that.

And and just so that for the record, just because someone gets offered an alternative, it is not automatically generic.

We are not forcing people into generics in the say you were.

No, no, I'm not I'm just uh something actually came up earlier, so I just wanted to bring that out that um not every alternative is a generic drug.

Yep, absolutely.

Okay.

That's good.

Thank you.

J is a resolution approving a joint stipulation with attached consent order judgment and decree.

Thirteen are actions related to personnel, A is a resolution fixing the salary of the interim city manager, B is a resolution fixing the salary of the city attorney.

14 are actions authorizing payments.

A is a resolution authorizing payment to KP construction for the 1506-1513 Witcher Avenue utility repair project.

B is a resolution authorizing payment to subservical for the sidewalk assessment program project.

I need to abstain, conflict of interest 15 or purchasing.

A is a resolution authorizing the purchase of cyber insurance with Arthur J.

Gallagher risk management services.

B is a resolution awarding a purchase order to Bert Gurney and Associates for a new pump rotating assembly.

C is a resolution amending a purchase order issued Ferguson water work to cover the an excess of Neptune water meters and accessories.

D is a resolution awarding a purchase order to easy dock of the Great Plains for a floating dock for the marina.

E is a resolution awarding purchase orders to Hyman Freight equipment for three fire engine pumpers.

Sorry, Chief, I didn't get a chance to ask you.

Are these up in price from the last time you bought these pumpers?

And they're not those big obnoxious ones that you can't get down the cul de sac, I hope, are they, Chief?

Oh, Ronnie Collins.

Uh yeah, the prices did go up.

Um the last uh engines that we purchased were 2021.

Uh those came around right around 520 apiece.

525.

525 apiece.

Um that was four years ago.

And they're how much this time?

They're right at nine, nine twenty.

You can get a discount.

I don't even understand why we're I mean, I know you need the equipment, don't but this is unbelievably ridiculous that you can't tell me the price of steel doubled.

And that's all these are steel.

These fire truck, I mean, I hope the federal government finally steps in.

I it doesn't appear that they ever will on antitrust anymore, but if this isn't somebody has to explain where they're buying that steel from, yeah, and this is just not a local issue, this is a national issue.

I know it is.

I I brought it up a couple months ago.

And I hope we're joining that lawsuit because there's no way that they can justify these.

Labor certainly didn't double either.

And they all happen to be privately held, I'm guessing, so you can't see what they make.

Yeah, I would have to re I would have to refer to to city legal with regards to the class action uh suits that are out there.

My understanding is they're waiting for certification.

Uh there's a couple different uh class actions that are waiting for certification right now.

And my understanding is that they're opt-out class actions.

So if you're a qualifying purchaser, you're automatically in unless you opt out of the action if it were to be certified.

So are these great big ones too that I can't even get up into up for a parade, like yeah, they come with stuff stools.

Yeah.

You're always there.

And well, no, they they didn't used to have them this big.

Then you bought those great big ones, but you're not buying those, not those great big ones again, right?

You have gone back to a 21s were smaller.

Right.

Uh Kevin Kelleher, assistant fire chief.

Um, yes, so they're gonna be similar to the last ones that we bought.

Which aren't as big as those that you all that they're gonna carry quite a bit more water than the current ones, but the physical size is going to be the same.

They're not gonna be as big as let's say engine eight that's stationed on the west side.

Um that was kind of a one-off project there that didn't work out the best for us.

It didn't work out at all, but you're being charitable to your former assistant chief, so thank you.

All right.

The only question I had, and mayor, you'll probably hopefully remember because you and I talked about this at the League of Cities, I believe.

Is it Feldfire?

Is that one that's the local vendor?

Iowa.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

That was one of them that bid yeah, there was there was 17 proposals that went out for bids.

Well, the problem is there's there's one company that builds about three or four fire trucks now.

So you do you can bid to any one of them, but you're gonna get the same price.

It doesn't really matter because Snyder got sold out.

They all there's down to about three that actually manufacture that are that have that purchasing power and option B going with that.

I mean, I don't know, you could argue that both are the same.

I don't know if the Rosenbauer is any different or not.

I guess I was just impressed with that vendor when we were visiting, and I know.

Rosenbowers up in Sioux Falls.

So it's this and Chief Kelleher.

Um he he headed up a committee.

Um they they wrote up the specs, um, they reviewed the proposals, they visited most of the manufacturing plants.

Oh, did they spoke with the engineers, spoke with those that are on the line that are that are building these apparatus, so they kind of got a um not only take a look at the operation but kind of build that that trust and that human element that goes into these.

And the were you able to ask them why the hell the price is gonna be so high?

I mean, what do they attribute that to?

Honestly, it's the they have to be able to answer the argument is is labor and materials, and that's what the argument is.

And and they've testified in front of Congress.

Uh like that.

No, we're big.

You wouldn't have got three bids because the year that they bid that those big ones.

So specific.

Only one manufacturer could do the differential, and that's why you got one bid that year because you pulled that spec up so much that you couldn't get two bids.

So you must have done something better.

Oh, we went through that.

Um my team, we assembled probably 18 months ago.

Um we know what we're doing.

Um met the people that build them.

We've toured their facilities, we asked the right questions.

We're getting the product that's gonna serve us and the citizens the best.

That's what you need to do.

And I trust you, I just I remembered talking to that outfit.

And the scoring was 50, 25, 25.

That's correct.

20 one of the 25s was price.

Yeah, so 50% of the scoring was based on spec as we as we wrote it as what we want.

25% of it was weighted for price.

25% was weighted for time of delivery.

And I'll make mention too, the specs weren't designed for us.

The specs were very general in nature.

Right.

What everyone is able to either beat them or provide some level of exception uh to satisfy those spec requirements.

And it's was it nine hundred and sixty some odd days or whatever for uh for hymen it's nine hundred and thirty years.

Is that to the chassis build or to delivery?

Because I know if we make get pay them when the chassis built, there's opportunity for a discount, is that right?

Or what did I read?

So the 930 30 days is two delivery.

Okay.

Right, it we want.

And finance did look at that.

Isn't it worth it?

Finance director, actually.

Um we did do an uh cost analysis and determine that based on the current interest rates.

Um it's not worth it.

We would actually get more interest than we would SAVE.

I don't think that's worth it.

And you'll see in the um impact, we that's why we determined that that we pushed it out because we know it's going to be three years, and we can't bond for it now and wait for it for three years.

So we wanted to make that clear in the impact.

That's all I was asking.

Yep.

Good.

Thank you.

Okay.

All righty.

Thank you.

Six senior applications to cigarette tobacco nicotine vapor product permits, seventeen's application for a liquor license, 18 board commission, and committee minutes.

Anyone to be heard on any of those items?

Mayor on the on the sports commission minutes, just double check those because the staff present, the three council members, staff absent, we're the three council members, so that needs to be corrected.

But otherwise, everything looked good.

Did you get that?

You three were there and we weren't there.

All right.

Passes five zero nineteen is a hearing for the highway 75 water main upsize project, state revolving fund, environmental review process.

I'll move that.

Second.

Public hearings now open.

Anyone to be heard?

Seeing none the hearing is closed.

Passes 5020 is a resolution approving the Iowa State Revolving Fund Environmental Information Document for Highway 75 water main upsize project.

I'll move that.

Second yeah, just popped up.

Passes 5021's a hearing and resolution.

Accepting the proposal of Knife River mid-West for land in the combined Floyd River Urban Renewal Area and the authorizing negotiation for a development agreement.

I'll move that.

Second public hearings now open.

Anyone to be heard?

Seeing none, the hearing is closed.

This is challenging.

I this has been a long time coming.

I think it's a meaningful project.

I think it needs to happen.

I just worry.

Not that others don't, but people that we ask to do difficult jobs, and yeah, and they don't really have a choice, and and the timeline for moving them is challenging to say the least.

And so I hope that future councils um take that really seriously and understand the situation we're putting them in.

Hopefully, we can prioritize that moving forward.

My vote come through.

I did.

Okay.

Passes five zero.

Uh Isaac Deerlew.

One more.

Yeah, it was 2020.

What did I do?

I'm sorry, Isaac.

I'm sorry.

One second.

I gotta do 22 first, real quick.

Hearing and resolution accepting the proposal of Knife River for the lease of land in the combined Floyd River Urban Renewal Area and authorizing negotiation for a development agreement.

I'll move that.

Public hearings now open.

Anyone to be heard?

Seeing none, the hearing is closed.

Passes five zero.

Go ahead, Isaac.

I'm sorry.

Your turn.

Good evening, Council.

Say I um it was a week ago we were here on the uh May I please have your name here.

Isaac Durlow.

Thank you.

A week ago we were here on the proposed uh development on the north side, and um I'm just here to report that I've I've tried to contact the developer, the engineer, and even an engineer here with the city.

I haven't even had a return phone call.

Now it's it's not like it's there's a fire and that it has to be done immediately, but crickets, and so um I feel like my my request is really reasonable.

And I know that the board is you know really favor of this project, and I'm not even opposed to it.

I would just like it to see it be done tastefully, and what and so what I would propose is that and I asked for um when I met with the engineer Ryan Callahan outside the door there.

I said, Hey, you know, you know, can we get a tree line up, a buffer for trees?

I'm not asking for any more additional land, I'm not asking for anything.

I'm asking that our farm is not gonna be exposed to people building on top of a levee looking over the farm.

It's the old adage out of sight, out of mind.

You know, and so I want to have a good relationship with my neighbors.

I think it's I think it's uh it's essential moving forward that that the neighbors and that and and things like good fences make good neighbors out of sight, out of mind.

And but you know, I'm dealing with people that don't have a vested interest in that at all for me.

There's not I mean what would motivate somebody to to actually hear my concern when they won't even return my phone call, sir.

I I have I have a suggestion, um, because I've been meaning to call the same people, uh, because I have some concerns about some follow-up that was done, and and yours was one of them.

And so don't give me your number here in in public.

Okay, I'd like to get your number.

I'll call you if you're agreeable that and you and I can make a uh joint call together.

Certainly.

And I that was that's exactly why I'm here.

I'd like to see.

Because I yeah, because I and I think they can address those concerns that I have, but you raised you made a you made a good presentation, and I think they need to be addressed.

And and I I want to help with that because I think I can make a difference on that.

So let's see.

And if they don't return my call, then you realize that I'm just going off the city council, I guess.

But well, and you know but we'll work together on that.

I'm offering that to you.

And I and I would gladly take that offer.

I I'm out I I'm really not familiar with all the things that we can do, but I remember when Mr.

Callahan sat here or stood here and said that he was willing to work with people.

I'd like to see evidence of that.

I haven't seen any.

And I've called more than once.

And so, you know, you know, I'm just I'm a little bit nervous, and that you know, I don't know that I'm always available to show up every Monday to speak or to have my concerns addressed.

So, Mr.

Moore, I appreciate your help, but I would also I don't I'm my question, is there any further commitment we can make as a council to just gotta bring back a final something, right?

Gordon, yeah.

There's a they're only at 60 percent design right now.

Yeah, you gotta do that.

And Mr.

Callahan bills to Mr.

Lever, so he has to work under the direction of Mr.

Lieber.

Yeah, and I've called Mr.

Lieber too.

Right.

And again, I just have a feeling that might be kind of what's going on.

Is there a recommendation other than Mr.

Moore uh working with me?

Is there a recommendation from the council on how to ensure that something we leave it at that because they have a development agreement and nothing else that can take it?

They haven't made it, yeah.

Yeah, I just want to do my diligence in protecting the community and all the neighbors and doing what's good best.

Mr.

Moore, thank you.

You have my phone number to call me any time.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Anyone else be heard?

Seeing none, we'll go to Matthew O'Kain.

All right.

So uh Mr.

Watchmore, just to kind of address what some of your concerns were earlier.

Um I have been critical of the law enforcement center um since its inception.

They the Board of Supervisors very quickly moved against um union labor.

I found that offensive.

Um the the contracts that were awarded were almost entirely out of state.

I think the collusion to prevent the supermajority.

I was I was very skeptical for a lot of that.

I want to tell you why I voted the way I did today.

Mr.

Moore is our representative as city council on that board.

And so his recommendation I take very seriously.

One of the things that we do as a city council is we each have our own boards or commissions that we're involved with.

And so if there's a question about um like the WIC commission, I can expect my fellow council members to come I or or Councilwoman Shaner for a recommendation.

And I would hope that they would hear what my recommendation is.

I'm in that meeting, in that meeting every month, and so I I would be the person that would be knowledgeable about that.

And so I I took Councilman Moore's recognition part, and and I I voted along with what I believe was the best interest of the city in this position.

When I was younger, mind you, I like to consider myself still young.

I was fairly nihilistic.

And I took the nihilistic approach of let's burn it down and build something new from the ashes.

That's what just happened tonight.

We don't have anybody for that spot, and we have litigation.

We're not going to get anybody in through the the um end of the year.

And even if we do, the Board of Supervisors has to be on board with it, and they have to vote that way as well.

Otherwise, we're leaving it up to Kim Reynolds, who, as I've sat on the council, has been in Sioux City twice since I've been elected.

So I'm not sure that I feel confident leaving that decision up to Kim Reynolds to make for our community.

But more logically, we're not going to pick somebody that the Board of Supervisors will vote for, and they're not going to pick somebody that will be voted for by the City Council, and that's what'll happen.

So although the burn it down approach is the road we've chosen, um I really respected uh Councilman Moore's position on the matter.

And um frankly, heading into litigation where we're trying to recover money for the taxpayers of our community.

I think it's important to have somebody who is there when some of those missteps were taken by some of these out-of-state contractors who frankly were trying to take our community for what it was worth.

From what I've been following, we're never going to recover the 20 million over budget we went, correct?

It wasn't you guys everybody says that it was a bid.

What did the bids come in at 50?

When you were selling it to the community for voting, it was 50.

I didn't even vote for it.

I agree.

I know I'm just saying, I'm saying the people up there that did.

The bids came in over budget and they had to use ARPA funds.

So they haven't spent another 20 million here.

But we're never going to recover that.

No.

The bids came in and the counter.

The fact is we were never going to recover any of this.

So I don't know why appointing someone back again.

That's my point.

Listen to the mayor's explanation.

Supervisors awarded the contract and used ARPA money to fill the gap from the bonds.

This council didn't have anything to do with that.

And it came in over budget because of bad engineering numbers.

But they filled the gap with a whole lot of ARPA funds.

And so the bids were all the same.

The bids came in what the bids came in.

The engineer gave a bad estimate.

And we had those bids before removing the supermajority.

That was before the before the project was started, the three-person commission was formed, so that there would have to be a lower percentage to pass the threshold for the five.

Yeah, that's why it's a scam.

But we made that decision.

Oh, okay.

Well, you can call whatever you want.

We didn't there's no scam when you do it according to the law.

No, it's called a conspiracy.

Okay.

Anyway.

Everybody says there's all these change orders.

There's not, that's not it was over when it got bid.

Right.

Then we should have never avoided the supermajority is my point.

Well, you got that that building right there.

They awarded it.

We didn't.

Yeah, but you were on collusion with the avoiding the supermajority, correct?

No, we were on the illusion because we participated in it because we have offices in that out there in it.

Our county, our city attorney sits out there.

Yes, but the city council had to approve that.

So that's my point.

I openly admitted that we did.

I said we did.

Absolutely.

Exactly.

And you and you damned the entire county to be to something that the supermajority didn't want.

Okay.

That is true.

But I was saying the city law allows that.

Just because the state law allows it, doesn't make it right.

It doesn't make it right, Bob.

It doesn't, but we have to change with the state.

Now I will address you if you don't mind.

Absolutely.

Putting someone back in that position.

I agree, burning it down isn't always the best answer.

But in this case, when it was always a cluster and it continues to be a cluster, why would we put that same person back in charge of the cluster?

It doesn't make sense.

He's the one that's testifying in cases that are currently active in which we're trying to recover.

I am not sure how friendly he will be in his testimony when trying to recover money for the people of Woodbury County.

Then he shouldn't be there anyway.

That's fair.

And I hope Governor Reynolds appoints somebody fair and equitable.

We all know she won't, but you know, whatever.

It's better than what we have now.

But to your and there's no timeline that says when you have to have the person appointed.

No, that's true.

They can run it with two thirty.

Dan told me they could.

Oh, yeah, they can run it.

But December 31st is we could, but I don't want to.

I would three member authority votes on the three, and by the way, to your some of your points, a three-member board is really difficult to have because you can't yet you can't have any correspondence whatsoever because if if you're on the authority board with me and we start talking about we're having an illegal meeting.

Yep.

And that's good.

It should be it should be public.

It should be a hundred percent public.

And it has been.

It has been, absolutely.

Good.

Those are my always my concerns.

Thank you.

We've got to change the course of the state stuff.

Yeah, that's never going to happen.

Have you not lived here for 30 years?

I have.

And I remember a time when there was some more reasonable.

I just think we have the.

You must see it.

I never have.

Never.

All right.

What else you got, Matthew?

Thank you, guys.

Um, thank you.

I'm gonna go pick up the world's daughter and go to Mr.

Andy Less's birthday party.

And that is all I'm not sure why you'd be picking up one of my daughters, but go ahead and my daughter's busy.

Julie.

I have nothing tonight.

Alex?

I would just remind people.

Um uh I know that it's warming up now, but I uh the cold temperatures pose grave risks for individuals for pets for a lot of people, and I know that there can be a number of different concerns, even if someone is in their home.

So I would just encourage you to if you haven't seen your neighbors to check on them.

Um try to look after one another.

That's all I have.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

I have a few things, and I'm not extending this meeting because the second the second or last meeting, um, which has been difficult for me.

But I do have a few things I want to to uh bring up.

Cone Park opens.

I don't think the date has changed, December 19th, beyond Friday for tubing season.

So I'm looking forward to Cone Park.

I might even have a little more time in January to go down the slope.

There we go.

Yes.

Uh Saturday morning uh or Saturday at noon was the little yellow dog auction, and I want to just read because this is this is really important that the mayor very embarrassing, but go ahead with made the mayor come up.

Well when you present something, it's usually a good idea to have the recipient present.

Lifetime service award presented to Bob Scott in recognition of outstanding dedication and contributing to the spirit of the little yellow dog auction and the Sioux City Journal Goodfellows.

And it was awarded to him by the ancient and evervescent order of the little yellow dog 2025.

Dr.

Roach got one too, and he was much more deserving than you're deserving on that.

You've you've helped so much.

Um couple more items that I'm gonna take from uh the Sioux City Journal that you probably have all seen and read, but I have I it's worrisome.

Uh property tax overhaul by our state lawmakers and Des Moines.

No key elements of any proposal have been published.

But I hope uh those that attend legislative day at City Hall.

Hold your applause on that.

Uh you know, it's gonna impact the city's budget, or could really greatly impact the city's budget and the city's services.

And so I really worry about that.

The 2026 session begins on January 12th, and when I see property tax overhaul by our state lawmakers, I hope uh the impact isn't gonna be so severe and so negative that it's going to impact city services.

They're going to do a review of the TIFF, tax increment financing.

They want to place guardrails on TIFF to avoid unintended uses of funds.

And they want to put a sunset on TIFF agreements.

We are the role model.

We are.

It's incentivize developers to build in certain areas or TIFF districts by diverting property taxes on increase in property values to improvements in the district, including infrastructure.

The next item I just wanted to bring up that you all have read about because it was very quiet for months, is the law enforcement center transportation needs, and that has come up again recently, and there's ongoing discussions.

What I haven't seen that I think that they're going to work on.

And by the way, Simcoe has really stepped up to the plate, and uh Brian at Simcoe is really uh working hard to make something work.

But we need statistics.

We need to know the numbers of riders to the law enforcement center.

We need to know the time of day, the scheduling.

There's a whole lot to that came up uh several months ago, and it just got dropped and then it got quiet.

Um I it's my personal feeling that uh the city should should provide public transportation, and if it's a big deal, they can do like they do with some certain entities where they enter to a contract to provide that um transportation and and recoup their expenses.

So that one's gonna be probably ongoing.

Uh the county pretty much has decided to uh take the ball and run with it.

But Simcoe has stepped up to the plate, and that's a board I served on uh that I'll be going off of fact, Mayor.

I'm guessing that you have been working on committee assignments, so the commit all the committees and boards that I'm on will be uh fulfilled, but with someone there won't be a vacancy starting from day one because that's important to me that that they have coverage and that it's ongoing.

So with that, we have one more meeting, actually two more meetings, correct?

We have one on the 22nd of December and then January 2nd, and I'm not sure why we're coming back January 2nd.

Could you help me out?

Sure.

It has to be the first business day after the first of the year.

The new counselor members have to be sworn in by the time.

That's when you use Latin.

Sign die.

You mentioned that a couple of weeks ago.

I just didn't think you were feeling well.

No, sign I.

That's all I have, Mayor.

Thanks for listening.

So you can vote your last.

This is it, I'm out of here.

Uh you don't know how hard it is.

You know, it really is, it really is.

I love serving with all of you.

And uh you all bring something to the table, and I'll tell you one, there's so many things, so many things that I love about this council and the mayor, is that I think we as a group agree to disagree, and it's civil, it's respectful, and we all have our opinions, and we can we can voice those opinions, and we take the vote, and next week we move on.

And by the way, on a sad note, yesterday was my brother's Dennis's uh first angel versary, and he would tune in.

I've told the mayor that I shared with the mayor, he would tune in every Monday to listen to the City Council meeting, and he absolutely loved the Sioux City City Council meeting and how we deliberated how we discussed things.

He was an English teacher for 40 years, eighth grade English, and after 40 years, he retired for two weeks and he got bored, so he went to DMAC and he taught he taught composition, writing uh for those students, and he did that for 10 years, so he had 50 years of teaching, and I thought Matthew, you would really enjoy hearing that.

So, and by the way, I I by the way, turn off the cameras.

No, but by the way, Matthew and Alex.

I expect to see more out of you sometime in the future.

I don't know where or when, but I really hope you continue in some respect with public service because you both served well.

We and we disagreed probably on several items that we respect each other.

Respectfully disappear.

We respect and and we agree to disagree.

But Matthew, come back come make a comeback someday.

And I'm finally used to calling you Mr.

O'Kane because I knew the other Mr.

O'Kane.

Served with them for many years.

So thank you, Mayor, for letting me share that.

Difficult I'll miss you.

I'll miss everyone here.

Just was a just been a great experience.

That's all I have.

I move we adjourn.

Second.

O'Kane.

Aye.

That Waters.

Aye.

More.

Aye.