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City Council Minutes 01-10-2022REGULAR MEETING — MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL Monday, January 10, 2022 — 6:30 p.m. Mississippi Room, Monticello Community Center Present: Lloyd Hilgart, Jim Davidson, Bill Fair, Charlotte Gabler, and Sam Murdoff Absent: None 1. General Business A. Call to Order & Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Hilgart called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. B. Approval of Agenda Councilmember Fair moved approval of the agenda with the addition of item 2M. Councilmember Murdoff seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. C. Approval of Meeting Minutes • Special Meeting Minutes from December 13, 2021 • Regular Meeting Minutes from December 13, 2021 • Special Meeting Minutes from December 30, 2021 Councilmember Gabler moved approval of the three sets of minutes. Councilmember Davidson seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. D. Citizen Comments None. E. Public Service Announcements • Holiday Hours for Martin Luther King Day were noted. • Hi -Way Liquors will be closed January 16, 2022 for inventory. • Registration is open for FatBikeFest, which takes place on February 12, 2022. • Public meetings on the MonticellGLOW parade are on Wednesdays, January 5 — February 23 from 6-8 p.m. The parade is scheduled for February 26, 2022. • E -Sports registration ends January 17, 2022. F. Council Liaison Updates • IEDC — Councilmember Fair noted that the commission elected officers for 2022 and discussed agenda items for the year. • Planning Commission — Councilmember Gabler noted that the commission conducted one public hearing on a Conditional Use Permit for cross access for Deephaven. City Council Minutes: January 10, 2022 Page 1 1 6 G. Department Updates • DMV— Carolyn Granger, Deputy Registrar Manager, and Sarah Rathlisberger, Finance Director, presented the annual update. The presentation included information on revenue and operations. In addition, they noted the move to the new DMV facility. Hi -Way Liquors — Randall Johnson, Liquor Store Manager, and Sarah Rathlisberger, presented the annual update. The presentation included information on revenues. There was the assumption that revenues would decrease significantly from 2020, but this was not the case. They also touched on the face that they had a lot of staffing issues in 2021. The hiring of another full-time person alleviated some of that. 2. Consent Agenda: Councilmember Fair moved approval of the Consent Agenda excluding 2M. Councilmember Murdoff seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. A. Consideration of approving the payment of bills. Action taken: Approved the bill and purchase card registers for a total of $604,508.85. B. Consideration of approving new hires and departures for city departments. Action taken: Approved the hires for the MCC, DMV, and Administration. C. Consideration of approving the sale/disposal of surplus city property for the Fire Department. Action taken: Approved the submitted list. D. Consideration of adopting Resolution 2022-01 approving donation of $500 from the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association and a donation of $1,570 from the RiverFest committee, both for the Fire Department. Action taken: Resolution accepting donations was approved and adopted. Consideration of approving an application for a temporary liquor license for the Knights of Columbus for an event to be held Saturday, February 19, 2022. Action taken: Approved the liquor license. F. Consideration of approving an amended schedule of 2022 Regular City Council and Commission meetings. Action taken: Approved. G. Consideration of approving annual designations and City Council Appointment for 2022. Action taken: Approved. H. Consideration of approving an amendment to the fiscal analysis contract with Northland Securities, Inc. for strategic planning related to the Community Energy Transitions (CET) Grant. Action taken: Approved the amendment to the contract with Northland Securities, Inc. Consideration of authorizing the preparation of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) for the proposed Capstone/BCI development project and approval of escrow agreement for City review expenses related to the EAW. Action taken: Authorized preparation of an Environmental Assessment City Council Minutes: January 10, 2022 Page 2 1 6 Worksheet by Kjolhaug Environmental Services and S2 Traffic Solutions, conditioned on: 1) Verification of consultant scope and submission of information materials meeting the City's requirements for the EAW preparation; 2) Execution of escrow agreement; and 3) Submission of the required escrow. Approved an escrow agreement for the expenses related to the City's review of the Capstone/BCI EAW. J. Consideration of authorizing a Request for Proposal for an Industrial Feasibility Analysis as a component of the CET Strategic Transition Plan. Action taken: Authorized the RFP. K. Consideration of approving 2022 Wright County Annual Highway Maintenance Agreement. Action taken: Approved the agreement. L. Consideration of adopting Resolution 2022-02 accepting Feasibility Report and setting a public hearing for February 14, 2022 for the 2022 Sidewalk Improvement Project. Action taken: Adopted the resolution. M. ADD-ON ITEM: Consideration of approving the repair of the loader mounted snowblower to be completed by Macqueen Equipment with an estimated cost of $11,108.93. Action taken: ITEM WAS REMOVED FROM THE AGENDA. 2A. Consideration of items removed from the consent agenda for discussion M. Consideration of approving the repair of the loader mounted snowblower to be completed by Macqueen Equipment with an estimated cost of $11,108.93 Councilmember Gabler removed the item for discussion and for clarification on the quotes that were provided to the City Council. The quotes provided in the email were correct, however, the quote placed on dais had missing information. Matt Leonard, City Engineer/Public Works Director, provided clarification. Councilmember Gabler moved approval of the repair with an estimated cor-t of $11,108.93. Councilmember Davidson seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. 3. Public Hearings: 4. Regular Agenda: A. Consideration of approving a vaccination, testing, and face covering policy Rachel Leonard presented the item and provided a review of the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which requires all employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. As an alternative to the vaccination requirement, employers have the option to require all unvaccinated employees submit to weekly COVID-19 testing and wear face coverings while in the workplace. The cost of the testing is the responsibility of the employer. It was noted the legality of the mandate is pending a ruling by the United States Supreme Court, however, there was no ruling as of January 10, when the mandate was required to be implemented. City Council Minutes: January 10, 2022 Page 3 1 6 Staff recommended approval of the policy as proposed with a testing option and following the face covering requirements. The Council was given the option to amend the policy and require all employees wear a face covering regardless of vaccination status. Tracy Ergen, Human Resource Manager, provided clarification on the number of days someone would be out for COVID-19 if testing positive. In addition, she noted that the City would conduct two tests at a City location two times a week. Mayor Hilgart spoke in support of having all employees mask regardless of being vaccinated. This is to prevent a conflict between vaccinated and unvaccinated. Councilmember Davidson supports alternative under Decision 1, however, would like it to include a policy review timeline so as to not leave open ended regarding an expiration date. Councilmember Fair commented that the City had a responsibility to follow the mandate and do what is best for public health. Councilmember Fair moved to adopt the vaccination, testing, and face covering policy with amendment to require face coverings for all employees pending United State Supreme Court ruling allowing implementation of the Emergency Temporary Standard. Councilmember Murdoff seconded the motion. Councilmember Davidson moved to amend the motion to add a re-evaluation of the policy monthly. Councilmember Fair seconded the motion. Mayor Hilgart invited members of the public to speak on the item and noted that it was not a public hearing. Sean Peters, 19776 214th Avenue NW, Big Lake, addressed the City Council. Mr. Peters stated "United we stand and divided we fall." He commented that there are powers that want to divide us as a nation. He spoke on the law of the land and contended the mandate was unconstitutional. He was concerned about the level of coercion taking place, making people do things they do not want to do. He read passages of the Nuremberg Code and suggested the COVID-19 vaccines are experimental. He also spoke of false information presented on COVID-10 and use of masks and causes of death. Mr. Peters also questioned why the agenda item disappeared from being online. Councilmember Fair took offense to Mr. Peters comments and suggested Mr. Peters claims were false. Mr. Peter's responded again that these mandates are coercing people. Rachel Leonard responded to the missing agenda information. She commented the agendas are posted on Thursdays prior to Monday's Council meeting. There was a special meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. prior to the regular meeting to discuss the details of the policy and OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) before the Supreme Court provided any guidance. There is no action taken at special meetings; the meeting was purely informational. These meetings are open to the public to attend. City Council Minutes: January 10, 2022 Page 4 1 6 Rachel Leonard noted the City's responsibility to provide a safe place for employees to work which means taking the necessary steps to comply with the OSHA ETS. If the Supreme Court rules against the policy, the policy won't be implemented further. The Council is being asked to follow applicable laws presented as of January 10, 2022. OSHA has a variety of regulations the City is required to follow, or they will be fined for violating these regulations. Mr. Sean Peters responded to the comments and noted that mandates are not law. Corey Peters, 8842 Kagan Court NE, Otsego, addressed the City Council and commented on VAERS, which is the monitoring system that accepts reports of adverse effects after vaccination. He gave statistics on the number of adverse reactions from the COVID-19 vaccine. Mr. Peters noted 80% of COVID-19 patients hospitalized are vaccinated. Councilmember Davidson responded that the claim is false, as he is an employee of CentraCare. Mr. Peters noted his information is from the CDC website. Rachel Leonard noted that the City Council has limited jurisdiction, which is a responsibility to implement the necessary policies for the people that are employed by the City of Monticello. Any of these other issues are beyond the scope of our jurisdiction. There was some confusion on the motions made. Jennifer Schreiber, City Clerk, repeated the motions for clarification. The motion to amend the motion to add a re-evaluation of the policy monthly as introduced by Councilmember Davidson and seconded by Councilmember Fair carried unanimously. The original motion as amended was then brought up for a vote. The motion to adopt the vaccination, testing, and face covering policy with amendment to require face coverings for all employees pending United State Supreme Court ruling allowing implementation of the Emergency Temporary Standard and review this policy on a monthly basis as proposed by Councilmember Fair and seconded by Councilmember Murdoff carried unanimously. Rachel Leonard then spoke on two additional issues. The first is to require face masking of employees if the policy in question is not implemented because of a stay of the Supreme Court. The second issue related to CentraCare requesting that community partners to implement policies that would require face coverings on indoor spaces and that indoor gatherings be limited. The City Council discussed and did not proceed with implementing either of these policies at this time. 6. Adjournment: By consensus, the meeting was adjourned at 7:57 p.m. City Council Minutes: January 10, 2022 Page 5 1 6 Recorder: Approved: Jennifer Schreiber" 'I AttE City Council Minutes: January 10, 2022 Page 6 1 6