City Council Special Meeting with LMC · City of Nowthen public records

Agenda spine

3 items as recorded in the packet and minutes.

1Call to Order
Call to Order, Pledge of Allegiance, Roll Call, and Approve Agenda.
The meeting was opened, roll call was taken, and the agenda was approved as presented by 5 ayes.
- agenda approval
Approved
p. 1p. 1p. 1
2Discussion with the League of Minnesota Cities on Teambuilding and Roles and Responsibilities
Discussion with the League of Minnesota Cities on teambuilding and roles and responsibilities.
The Council held the workshop and discussed roles, team dynamics, open meeting law, recorded work sessions, weekly staff updates, the interim administrator job description and salary process, and council-staff working relationships; no formal vote was recorded on this item.
- LMC workshop
- roles and responsibilities
- team building
- open meeting law
- staff updates
- administrator job description
Discussion only
p. 1p. 1p. 1p. 1p. 2p. 2p. 2
3Adjourn
Adjourn.
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded, and the meeting adjourned. The signed minutes state 9:03 p.m.; the transcript closing states 7:32.
- adjournment
Approved
p. 1p. 2p. 31:21:24

Issues addressed

What this meeting did about specific topics, organized by issue rather than by document.

Agenda approval
The Council opened the special worksession, recited the Pledge of Allegiance, completed roll call with all council members present, and approved the agenda as presented by a 5-aye vote.
Agenda: 1. Motions: M1. Speakers: Mayor Hybben, Council Member Breyen, Council Member Rainville.
League of Minnesota Cities teambuilding and roles workshop
Amy Gourlay of the League of Minnesota Cities led a workshop on council and staff roles, team development, decision-making, communication, conflict resolution, and governance versus management responsibilities. The session was informational and no formal council action was taken on the workshop content.
Agenda: 2. Speakers: Amy Gourlay, Mayor Hybben, Council Member Breyen, Council Member Glaser, Council Member Swenson, Council Member Rainville, Natalie Johnson, Fire Chief Miller.
Recorded work sessions and open meeting-law transparency
The Council discussed open meeting-law constraints, whether work sessions should be recorded, and the tradeoff between transparency and allowing freer workshop dialogue. The minutes state the Council agreed this should be revisited during future policy planning.
Agenda: 2. Speakers: Natalie Johnson, Amy Gourlay, Mayor Hybben, Council Members.
Weekly administrator update emails
Natalie Johnson asked whether her weekly update emails had the right level of detail. Council members said they appreciated the transparency but preferred a shorter, higher-level summary with notable operational issues or resident-facing matters highlighted.
Agenda: 2. Speakers: Natalie Johnson, Mayor Hybben, Council Members, Fire Chief Miller.
Natalie Johnson job description and salary process
Council and staff discussed preparing a formal job description and salary action for Natalie Johnson’s interim administrator role. Johnson said she had not received a formal job description and was compiling one from the duties she performs, while the Council encouraged her to draft it based on actual responsibilities so a formal resolution could follow.
Agenda: 2. Speakers: Natalie Johnson, Council Members.
Council working relationships and future onboarding
Council members and staff reflected that trust, communication, and teamwork had improved since the start of the year, while also recognizing that healthy disagreement is part of good governance. Gourlay encouraged the Council to document norms, expectations, and onboarding materials for future elected officials and staff.
Agenda: 2. Speakers: Amy Gourlay, Mayor Hybben, Council Members, Fire Chief Miller.
Adjournment
The Council ended the worksession after a motion to adjourn by Council Member Swenson and second by Council Member Rainville. The signed minutes and transcript disagree on the adjournment time.
Agenda: 3. Motions: M2. Speakers: Council Member Swenson, Council Member Rainville.

Motions and votes

2 motions on the record. Split votes are highlighted.

M1MOTION BY COUNCIL MEMBER BREYEN, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER RAINVILLE TO APPROVE AGENDA AS PRESENTED.
moved by Council Member Breyen, seconded by Council Member Rainville
Passed
- YMayor Hybben
- YCouncil Member Breyen
- YCouncil Member Glaser
- YCouncil Member Swenson
- YCouncil Member Rainville
p. 1p. 1
M2MOTION TO ADJOURN BY COUNCIL MEMBER SWENSON, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER RAINVILLE.
moved by Council Member Swenson, seconded by Council Member Rainville
Passed
p. 2p. 3

Memory cues and prior history

When someone tried to remember earlier business, we cross-reference the corpus and write a short related-history note.

um when people are uh experiencing issues then um my office does more in-depth kind of help as well and I mean I actually originally talked with folks before the election and then it was kind of put off because there was a lot of change
— Amy Gourlay
What this is about
Amy Gourlay recalled earlier contact before the election and that the workshop had been delayed because of city changes.
4:32
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what I understood I had a meeting with um council member Ray Brier Brian Brian um and your mayor uh and I talked with Natalie a little bit as well um just to kind of understand what it might be that I could bring that would find you would find interesting and they talked about roles and responsibilities and working as a team and problem solving. Can I ask when when was that meeting? That was in like March or something.
— Amy Gourlay
What this is about
The speaker recalled a March planning meeting with a council member, the mayor, and Natalie about what the LMC workshop should cover.
6:22
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Um, I would like to just mention and again I could bring this up is when we met um it was Council Member O'Brien, Natalie and myself. Um, in March, I think we're a very different council when we hit June. Yeah.
What this is about
The speaker recalled the same March planning meeting and contrasted the Council’s condition then with its later improvement.
44:33
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and um I mean last night was reflective of that I think the only vote that wasn't a 5-0 was when I voted no on the the county wanting money for the ball last streaks uh project.
— Council Member Rainville
What this is about
Council Member Rainville recalled a previous night’s vote involving county funding for a ballfield-related project.
45:33
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you know we've got the personnel policy done. We got um the the role the what our goals are. We got the issue of an election special election the fire department going permanent part-time chief.
— Council Member Rainville
What this is about
Council Member Rainville recalled earlier Council decisions on the personnel policy, goals, special election, and making the fire chief position permanent part-time.
46:57
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Um, I think Dan and I talked about it and he's gonna do up a like a resolution with a job description and a salary and that kind of stuff for me for the and we'll probably do it at the fire meeting on Monday only because Lori needs stuff for budgeting.
— Natalie Johnson
What this is about
Natalie Johnson recalled a prior conversation with Dan about preparing a resolution, job description, and salary for her position.
50:16
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chief wants to buy a fire truck. So that was our problem statement. So we're going through this and and we're asking him to take it back and collect some more information. So we're really looking at generating alternate solutions. I I think we've had good discussion as a council group. we don't agree, which is which is fine. So, taking it, sending it back, tableabling it, and getting some other options out there, right?
— Mayor Hybben
What this is about
The mayor recalled that the Council had sent a fire truck issue back for more information and alternatives.
1:08:03
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even from the time you're elected, I don't I don't know if you felt the same way, but from the time you're elected to the first meeting, it would be great to have some training before you go into that instead, oh, first council meeting, go figure it out. And we got we did get training. I think we went what February or March.
— Mayor Hybben
What this is about
The mayor recalled that new council members did not receive training before their first meeting and that training came later in February or March.
1:11:34
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The public forum. Public forum. However you do that. Cool. We learned a tough lesson on that.
— Mayor Hybben
What this is about
The mayor recalled a prior difficult lesson about public forum practice.
1:19:31
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Well, and a lot of the things that we have had consensus on, we've like almost negotiated in meetings like Natalie's uh pay raise or the boots. I mean that was sort of a silly issue but I mean it was negotiated in the meeting and that's why we all voted 50
— Council Member Swenson
What this is about
Council Member Swenson recalled prior meeting negotiations over Natalie’s pay raise and a boots item as examples of consensus-building in public meetings.
1:17:26
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Sources

Every document and recording archived for this meeting.

Show a sample of the transcript (561 segments, 1:21:45 total)

Meetings

Agenda spine

Issues addressed

Motions and votes

Memory cues and prior history

Sources