The Hampton City Council met on Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at the Hampton City Hall for the regular scheduled meeting. Present were Mayor John Knetter; Council Members Jerry Huddleston, David Luhring, and Nick Russell. Council member Anthony Verch was absent. Also present was Brad Fisher and Angie Smith with Bolton & Menk as well as Luke Nicolai and a few Residents.
Regular Meeting called to Order - Mayor Knetter called the Regular Scheduled Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Disclosure of Interest – None
Approval of August 20, 2024 Special and Regular Scheduled Meeting Minutes – Motion by Luhring seconded by Russell to approve the August 20, 2024 Special and Regular Scheduled Meeting Minutes. All voted in favor. None opposed. Motion passed 4:0.
Approval of Disbursements - Motion by Russell seconded by Luhring to approve the September disbursements. All voted in favor. None opposed. Motion passed 4:0.
Public Comments – Luke Nicolai addresses the council with some questions he had about city council meeting protocol. He was wondering if the audience were allowed to interact, question, and comment during the meeting. Mayor Knetter told him, no that the council follows Robert’s Rules of Order, which outlined under the public comment section on the agenda, is up to 15 minutes long. Every person can speak for 3 minutes until 15 minutes has passed. The Mayor contuined to explain that if what was in question was on the agenda, it would already be talked about and if not, it would take a unanimous vote of the council to add it to the agenda for further discussion. Nicolai then went on to ask additional question asking what we are doing an AUAR for? It was explained to him by council and Angie Smith of Bolten & Menk that it was for an environmental study of the site. Smith went on to state that she would explain more in her presentation later on.
Mayor Knetter recognized a Deputy at the meeting. He thanked him for bringing the speed trailer to Belmont Street and that it helped immensely. If speeds do pick back up some stop signs will be put up at the corner of Belmont Park. Mayor Knetter then addressed the rest of the council and ask if they had seen any improvements to the speeding on Belmont and for the most they agreed that it has been better, it comes and goes, and weekends can be very busy. The Sherriff stated that they have their speed trailers at various other locations and concluded that he had nothing else to report beyond road construction and speeders.
Petitions, Requests, and Communications:
Special Meeting for Final Approval of Levy – The Levy will be addressed later on in the meeting.
Review AUAR Order and Scoping Document – Bolten & Menk (Cory Beinfang, City Engineer; Jenni Faulkner, Senior Planner; Angie Smith, Environmental Planning Practice Area Leader) – Angie Smith of Bolten & Menk to walk through where they currently are in the AUAR process and requesting of the council to approve of the draft AUAR Order and the Scoping document for a 30-day public review period. They are still at step one, the scoping stage of a large AUAR process. The basic premise is that the draft document outlines what the study area is going to entail, the 140 acres to the east side of HWY 52. It also includes the two development scenarios that are currently proposed for the review process, and additionally what the public comment period will entail. Basic premise is that it will get released to the Environmental Quality Board next Tuesday (17th) and then one week from then the 30-day public comment will begin from September 24th thru October 24th. During that time comments will be accepted on the scenarios to review as well as any additional factors that should get incorporated into the draft AUAR. Comments will be specifically about just the two scenarios ensuring that the study area is correct and any additional factors in the draft AUAR for additional assessment. Comments will be submitted to the City Clerk via email and then forward to Bolten & Menk. Additionally, Bolten & Menk is recommending a public open house, an information session – not a public hearing, where they can do two brief 15-minute presentation overviews at the top of the hour followed by individual opportunities for people to submit comment or talk with them individually on the project as it entails now.
Moving forward Smith continues to walk through her presentation. She states that there will be numerous Planning Commission public hearings, City Council approval processes, etc. So, there will be numerous opportunities for the public to continue staying involved throughout the process. Next there are three major steps of the AUAR process. Step one being the Scoping document itself, the step that we are currently in, step two the draft AUAR, step three the final AUAR. Step two the draft AUAR will have a deeper dive into the two scenarios that are being studied and it will be looking at everything from water resources to land use to cultural history to threatened species, etc. The draft AUAR will also have a 30-day public comment period, where the public can comment specifically on some of those factors that are addressed, identify any missing information, identify additional resources that might need to be referenced and that information will be brought into the final AUAR. The two scenarios are listed with topics that are going to be introduced, land use like compatibility with adjacent land uses, water resources will touch everything from surface water to storm water to wastewater to ground water, water utilities. Additionally, threatened native species, significant water systems, visual and noise impacts, there is also a requirement for the greenhouse gas and climate resilience section of the current Minnesota documentation as well. There will be a traffic impact study that’s conducted to identify any transportation or traffic concerns in the area. To remain very transparent, it is recommended to have a public open house, which was decided to be October 1st 5:30pm – 7:30pm at City Hall. Motion made by Luhring seconded by Russell to approve the Scoping Document and Draft AUAR and release for public comment. All voted in favor. None opposed. Motion passed 4:0.
Ordinances and Resolutions:
Resolution 2024 – (12) Approving the 2024 Tax Levy – The clerk read out a loud a memo that the City Treasurer had sent stating that the budget will add $1,000 to the Consulting/Tech Support in the General Fund and reducing $1,000 from Insurance in the General Fund to reflect that the 2025 budget will remain the same as 2024, $14,500. Motion made by Luhring seconded by Russell to approve the 2024 Tax Levy. All voted in favor. None opposed. Motion passed 4:0.
Reports of Officers, Boards, and Committees:
Engineer Report – Brad Fisher of Bolten & Menk had one verbal updated he need to share and that was that the water tower project is currently in the bidding process. There has been a lot of interest, a lot of plan holders, so he is hoping that will drive some good prices. Bid opening for that project will be coming later next week and returning next month with results and potentially consideration of awarding that project. Fisher also stated that things are going very well. Fisher then touched based on the existing water tower from recommendation from the Planning Commission. He stated that one thing that will happen when the project bids is that they are going to get a base bid, which is everything they have to do bare bones for the project and then there is going to be two alternates. One is to demolish the existing water tower and two is to salvage the water tower tank and just have the contractor place it on city property. What the city wants to do with from there will be up for the city to decide. Once the city gets the prices and awards the contract, then the city will have to pick either alternate one or alternate two and the prices will help to determine if the existing water tower tank gets demolished or salvaged. The Council and Fisher went on to talk about paint for the new water tower. After discussing what colors and what combinations to paint the new water tower it was agreed upon, painting the top red, the body silver, and the bottom either a darker gray or black and having a graphic of the old water tower painted on the body of the new water tower.
Water / Sewer Report – Maintenance has been done on some lift stations and samples have been taken for fall discharge, have not heard what they are yet, but does not anticipate that there will be any issues with the samples.
Park Report – Wasp removals, graffiti on both the playgrounds is in the process of being removed. The company hired to clean it just needs more detailed pictures of the graffiti and what material the playground equipment is made of so they can ensure they have the right cleaning products to clean it up. It was also noted a complaint about weeds that need to be cleaned up.
Street Report – Nothing to report on streets. Just a note about a complaint about parking on public streets.
Unfinished Business:
Re-use of existing water tower tank by the city (Recommendation by Planning Commission to keep the tank intact and place in playground area of park south of the ballfield) – There is communication about what to do with the existing water tower tank, there just isn’t enough information to decide as of now. Huddleston made a comment of maybe taking the old water tower to a place like Rice County Steam and Gas Engine Show or Little Log House where is could still be like it is today, he stated that he wasn’t a fan of the idea of taking off the legs and setting the tank down in a city park and putting a fence around it. Some concerns mentioned by other councilmembers where the maintenance of the old water tower and the fence and grass around it, children climbing and playing on it and whether the old water tower can handle it being so old, possible graffiti, and so on. Mayor Knetter mentioned that he would like to understand the cost difference dropping it to the ground, it would need a very big crane to do that and then probably the removal of residents to the south. Fisher stated that he’ll have the numbers next month which will aid in making a better decision.
Engine break ordinance – Update the noise ordinance to not allow engine braking within town at all. Fisher mentioned that he and Corey have reached out to MnDot to determine what the process is and what they allow and don’t allow, no answers yet but Fisher wanted to assure the council that he and Corey were already in the process of figuring it out. The council did agree that they liked Sauk Centre’s Engine Retarding Brake ordinance, but as of right now it will be tabled until next city council meeting.
New Business: The tenant at old city hall sent a letter saying that his insurance will drop him if he doesn’t get the shortcomings on the electrical panels fixed. Mayor Knetter addressed a resident in the audience, Marlin Reinardy, if Brett could please give them a price on what it would cost to fix it, Reinardy said that he would talk to Brett to get a price. Other members of council stated that he has been a very good renter, keeping the building and property clean and they were all in agreement to get his issues fixed.
Adjournment - Motion by Huddleston seconded by Luhring to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor. None opposed. Motion passed 4:0. The meeting adjourned at 7:49 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Roan
