City Council Workshop, May 26, 2026

Meeting was called to order at 5:00 P.M.

Council member Beise was absent and the Mayor participated virtually.

Dog Park Discussion. The original dog park was funded and established primarily by citizens and had operated for 14 years until it was removed in 2023 at the request of Prairie Island Indian Community. It was located on sacred Tribal burial mounds. When the city removed the work that the community had built and funded, the community was promised that a new dog park would be established. Michelle Leise, Community Engagement Specialist, shared results of a community survey that showed a high interest in a dog park. Public Works staff Sean Blaney and Patrick Ramaker shared pros and cons of several potential sites for a new dog park. The city has set no funds aside for the creation of the park and city staff are looking for direction. Michelle has the names of 4 or 5 individuals that have expressed interest in working on this citizens group and Mayor Iocco has the name of one individual willing to assist with funding and fundraising. The mayor has offered to be the point person between the city and the community group. Michelle was asked to reach out to those people who expressed interest to encourage a community committee be formed. Ultimately, the council came to consensus that a public private partnership may work in moving this forward and gave staff the go-ahead to crunch the numbers for site development of two possible locations.

Noteworthy – Council member Ron Goggin expressed his preference to discontinue the dog park relocation effort. 

Weed Ordinance Discussion. City staff presented that enforcement of current ordinance is difficult with different enforcement rules governing private property vs public property (city right-of-way). State statue was changed to allow turf lawn at 8 inches rather than our current language of 6 inches. Staff is proposing the city adopt a tiered fine rather than hiring a contractor to mow on private property and possibly continuing with a contractor to mow the public property. Sustainability Commission will be asked to look at the proposed language before the council will vote on changing the ordinance.

Noteworthy? Council member Goggin stated that ‘lawns are getting worse and worse’ and suggested that staff keep the ordinance at the current 6 inch height  even though staff explained earlier in its presentation that the state statue changed enforcement at 8 inches or higher. Since the enforcement of these ordinances are exclusively complaint-driven, it appears to this observer that clearer definitions of pollinator gardens, turf grass, natural landscape and ‘properly maintained’ would be helpful. Not an easy task!

Meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.