CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER

Jackson, Minnesota Emergency City Council Meeting July 6, 2018 The Jackson City Council met in Emergency Session in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, July 6, 2018 with the meeting called to order by Mayor Wayne Walter. On the roll call, the following persons were present: Mayor Wayne Walter, Aldermen Matt Madden, Ken Temple, Donnie Schoenrock, Dave Cushman and Larry Anderson via conference call. Also attending were City Attorney Brad Anderson, City Clerk/Council Secretary Dave Maschoff, Street Superintendent Phil Markman, Jackson County Sheriff Shawn Haken, Jackson County Chief Deputy Sheriff Kelly Mitchell, Jackson County Attorney Sherry Haley, Jackson County Coordinator Steve Duncan, Jackson County Commissioner Don Wachal, Jackson County Public Works Director Tim Stahl, Jackson County Emergency Management Director Tawn Hall, Regional Program Coordinator for Homeland Security and Emergency Management with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Mark Marcy, City of Jackson Water Department employee Ron Bezdicek, MRES Electric Distribution Superintendent Jeff Becthold, MRES Jackson Distribution Maintenance Foreman Jeremy Boogerd, Jackson County Public Works employee Dave Luhmann, Vice-President of Svoboda Excavating in Jackson Paul Fishel, Thomas Nelson of Community and Business Development, Steve DeKok, Jeff Becker, Kenny Pell and Dave Schmidt of KKOJ/KUXX radio. (Alderman Brandon Finck was absent.) (A quorum of the City Council was present.) CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Walter called the Emergency Meeting of the Jackson City Council to order. He said a quorum of the City Council was present. Mayor Walter thanked everyone for attending. 1

Council Discussion Items DISCUSS PLANS AND TAKE NECESSARY ACTION TO DEAL WITH FLOODING EMERGENCY IN THE CITY OF JACKSON Mayor Walter explained the purpose of the emergency meeting was to declare a State of Emergency for the City of Jackson. He said Jackson County and the State of Minnesota have already each declared a State of Emergency. Mayor Walter said the City Council needs to approve a resolution declaring a State of Emergency for the City of Jackson. Mayor Walter then read the resolution declaring a State of Emergency: WHEREAS the City of Jackson, Minnesota, has sustained losses of a significant proportion from flooding, brought on by excessive and continuous rain beginning on the 16 th of June, 2018. WHEREAS the Flooding event has caused significant damage to public and private property; and WHEREAS the Jackson County Department of Emergency Management requests the Jackson City Council declare the City of Jackson in a STATE OF EMERGENCY for the FLOODING event of June 2018; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Jackson City Council declares the City of Jackson, Minnesota in a STATE OF EMERGENCY for conditions resulting from the FLOODING event beginning June 16 th, 2018. ADOPTED by the Jackson City Council this 6 th day of July, 2018. WHEREAS acting on behalf of and for the people of the City of Jackson, the Jackson City Council declares on this the 6 th day of July, 2018, that a STATE OF EMERGENCY exists within the City of Jackson with all the powers and responsibilities attending thereto as provided by Chapter 12, Minnesota Statutes. Mayor Walter said a motion was needed to adopt this resolution declaring a State of Emergency in the City of Jackson. SCHOENROCK/MADDEN moved and it was unanimously carried to adopt the resolution declaring a State of Emergency in the City of Jackson, Minnesota due to flooding. 2

Cushman asked officials attending the meeting for an update on the flooding conditions. Mark Marcy, Regional Program Coordinator for Homeland Security and Emergency Management with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said he lives in Windom. Marcy said in his travels on the morning of July 6 th he met with Governor Dayton and toured the Marshall, Slayton and Talcot Lake areas. Marcy explained there s a massive amount of water in the watershed that s feeding the Des Moines River. He said all that water flows through Windom and Jackson. Marcy said the Emergency Management Director in Windom did some calculations and based on the different crests of the river the last time it crested, it s anticipated there will be another two-and-a-half foot rise in the river in Windom. He said it s unknown when that will arrive. Marcy said that was confirmed by the National Weather Service. He said the Weather Service is saying it will be similar to the flood Windom experienced in 1969. Marcy said they are just starting to see the effects of that in Windom. He said Windom is actually putting plans in place this afternoon to close off parts of Fourth Avenue in Windom. Marcy said eventually Highway 62 will also have to be closed along with other measures. Marcy said River Road and possibly Highways 60 and 71 may also be affected along with some other areas in Windom. Marcy said the Windom City Council declared a State of Emergency in Windom. He said the City is looking for volunteers to help sandbag starting at about 12:30 p.m. today. In anticipation of what s occurring in Windom and the water flowing to Jackson, Marcy said from the State s perspective they think it s a good idea for the City of Jackson to declare a State of Emergency just in case the City of Jackson has some issues with flooding. He said with a disaster declaration, there could be a request made for reimbursement from the State of Minnesota or FEMA due to flooding damage. Jackson Emergency Management Director, Tawn Hall, said she called the National Weather Service just prior to the Jackson City Council s emergency meeting. 3

Hall said the Des Moines River in Jackson is expected to rise another half-afoot. She explained because of the flow rate of Jackson verses Windom, the City of Windom is expected to get more water than Jackson is. Hall said right now, the National Weather Service says the river gauge at Jackson shows a reading of 12.7 feet. She noted on Sunday, the river gauge at Jackson was at 12.8 feet. Hall said the Weather Service is expecting that between Saturday and Sunday, the river level in Jackson will be at 13.1 feet. She said the Weather Service is fairly confident in that just because of the bends in the river and the flow rate that Jackson has. At a river level of 13.1 feet, Schoenrock asked if anyone knew how that may affect downtown Jackson and the other side of the river. Street Superintendent Phil Markman said it s believed the river gauge at Jackson is not accurate. He said the gauge has been moved three times since the dam was removed. Markman said the City s gauge is located by the intake down at the end of First Street. He said at 12 feet, we were at level full in that intake. When the level was at 12.81 on Monday and there was a plug failure, Markman said he was standing in almost three feet of water on the street. He said you would probably add a foot-and-a-half to two feet to what the river gauge currently reads. Markman said we re capable of handling where we re at if it gets to that point again. Markman said he s confident it won t be worse than what it was on Sunday, July 1 st. Markman noted in 2010, when the dam was in place, we had a river crest of 16.87 feet. He explained the City pretty much has the same things in place that we have now. Markman said back in 2010, the water reached just the edge of the mat on Highway 71 between Dan s Island and Albertus Field. He said the water covered the shoulder and just to the edge of the actual asphalt. Markman said sandbags may have to be added to the sandbags already in place on Kimball Avenue. Markman reported currently there are people filling sandbags. He said there s a trailer full of sandbags on a pallet already. Markman said the Street Department took all the jersey barriers from the skate park in the municipal parking lot and placed them between Jeff Luhmann s property and Mitch Jasper s buildings. He said they were going to get plastic to that location and start sandbagging in that corner of First Street. 4

Markman said the Street Department personnel have installed additional plugs into the different storm sewers that are backing up. He said as long as we don t get any rain with the additional water flowing down the river, the City should be sitting pretty good. Markman said there are jersey barriers, plastic and sandbags already in place from July 1 st at Dan Pike s and Larry Clymer s properties along the river. Markman said the unknown is that Windom or Jackson has not had this type of a flooding event since the dam in Windom and the dam in Jackson have been taken out. Markman noted Jackson County Public Works Director Tim Stahl had traveled in northern Jackson County on Thursday. He said Stahl travelled back to Jackson through the Bergen area and feels we have some wiggle room in that area because the Bergen area is not as saturated. Markman said he travelled up to the Lilleberg Bridge a couple miles north of Jackson and noted there is some room for water in the fields. He said he s hoping that s going to absorb some of the water. Markman said we truly have an unknown right now. He said he would rather have the City be proactive than get caught unexpected by flooding problems. Cushman asked, anticipating the worse, has the City done everything possible at this point with sandbagging to protect the downtown business district. Markman said yes they have along with what they plan to continue to do. Markman said he has been in contact with the Minnesota Department of Transportation regarding circumstances if Highway 71 in Jackson becomes flooded. He said if that occurs, traffic will be detoured onto Springfield Parkway to County Road 53 and then back to County Road 34 to avoid traffic going through on Highway 71 between Dan s Island and Albertus Field. Markman said there was an unfortunate incident around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 5 th, with a rendering truck that spilled part of its load on the curve on Highway 71 just north of the junction of County Road 34 and Highway 71. He said there s a little bit of a mess on the curve through town as well. Markman said information has been sent out through various outlets asking for volunteers to head up to the joint City/County Maintenance Facility to fill sandbags. He said City and County employees are already filling sandbags. Markman said as volunteers arrive, the City Street Department personnel will start sandbagging operations in areas where the gaps need to be filled in. 5

Cushman asked how late volunteers will be working tonight. Markman said he had no idea. He said on Sunday, July 1 st, the call for help went out at 10 a.m. Markman said the Jackson Fire Department plus all the Street Department personnel started sandbagging. He said the Lakefield and Alpha Fire Departments were also paged to assist. Markman said there was a good response to their call for help. Markman said they worked until about 4 p.m. on Sunday. He said how long they will work today depends on how many volunteers they get from the general public. Markman they are going to try to do that first so they can keep the Fire Department and EMS personnel for any other emergencies and keep them at their jobs until they need to be called in. Markman said there were a few volunteers starting to arrive at the County/City Maintenance Facility. Markman said he s been in contact with John and Walt Svoboda of Svoboda Excavating who have offered to help if the City needs anything. Mayor Walter asked Sheriff Shawn Haken if he had an update. Sheriff Haken noted there was an emergency meeting at the Jackson City Hall at 9:30 Friday morning. He said at that time the figures were that the river went up a foot overnight in Windom. Haken said officials were expecting that foot of water to arrive in Jackson within 12 to 16 hours. He said then there was potentially another two feet of water coming. So based on that, Haken said the Sheriff s Reserves are going door to door along First and Second Streets downtown letting the business owners know this is potentially what s coming but we don t know yet. He said there will be more information coming. Sheriff Haken said the Sheriff s Department and Reserves will also be canvassing River Street, Kimball Avenue and the area around Dan Pike s business about the potential additional rise in the river. As a precaution, he added residents in the apartments at Ashley Estates have been contacted or information flyers left for them if they weren t home to let them know that the river could potentially come up another two-plus feet and more information will be forthcoming. City Attorney Anderson asked if residents that are really in the flood prone areas have been personally contacted. Sheriff Haken those residents will be contacted following this meeting. 6

Mayor Walter asked MRES Electric Distribution Superintendent Jeff Becthold and MRES Jackson Distribution Maintenance Foreman Jeremy Boogerd if they had any comments regarding the electric service in the downtown area. Becthold said he thinks everything will be alright regarding electric service in the downtown area. He said Boogerd checked things this morning. Becthold said the electric service down by the theatre was their biggest concern, but it appears that will be high enough to avoid any problems. Becthold said the water would have to rise a lot more than two feet to cause a problem. He said they should be able to keep electric power to the buildings downtown. Becthold said there are a couple other areas they are going to check, but everything should be alright. Boogerd explained they already put sandbags around the switch in Dan s Island so that should be OK. Markman said Tim Stahl has offered his survey services so they can mark certain places instead of eyeballing the water levels so they can more accurately determine the level of the water in case sandbagging or additional sandbagging needs to done in certain areas. Mayor Walter asked Ron Bezdicek of the City Water Department if he had any comments. Bezdicek said as long as it doesn t rain. Mayor Walter asked if County Public Works Director Tim Stahl had any comments. Stahl said everything has been covered. Marcy informed Mayor Walter and the City Council that Governor Dayton wants to come to Jackson and tour the area. Marcy said the Governor is currently touring the Tracy and Balaton areas today. He said on Monday, the Governor wants to tour the flooding situations in Windom, Jackson and Blue Earth. Marcy said the Governor will need a place to meet. He said those present at the emergency Council meeting, City Council members and County Commissioners, are invited to attend the meeting with the Governor on Monday. Mayor Walter said the Governor could use the City Council Chambers at City Hall for a meeting if he would like. Marcy said he would provide additional information about the Governor s visit as details are made available. 7

Jackson County Attorney Sherry Haley reported permission was secured from the Jackson County Fair Association and the County Fair Board Chairman that if any of the downtown businesses want to move some of their property up to the fairgrounds buildings they can do so. She said the buildings would be locked at night. Haley said there would be waivers for the businesses to sign so they know it s unsecure and the County is not responsible. Haley said it gives businesses a location to move their property. Haley said she would be working with County Emergency Management Director Tawn Hall to get everyone notified. Mayor Walter thanked Haley for the information. He asked if there were any more comments or questions from anybody. If not, he would ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, SCHOENROCK/CUSHMAN moved and it was unanimously carried to adjourn the meeting. Mayor Walter thanked everyone for attending and their support. David A. Maschoff, Council Secretary 8