City Council Work Session

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 5:30 PM Baxter City Hall, 13190 Memorywood Drive, Baxter, MN “A Growing Community” CALL TO ORDER Mayor Olson called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor Darrel Olson and Council Members Connie Lyscio, Patrick Sundberg, and Mark Cross were present. Council Member Zach Tabatt was absent. City Administrator Brad Chapulis, Assistant City Administrator Kelly Steele, Finance Director Jeremy Vacinek, Community Development Director Josh Doty, Public Works Director Trevor Walter, and Police Chief Matt Maier were present. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Hwy 371 Overpass Project City Administrator Chapulis summarized the format of the meeting. Matt Kilian, executive director of the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce, presented the position of his members. Mr. Kilian’s presentation included the purpose of the Chamber’s advocacy; timeline of their involvement with the project, letter of support they provided for the project; summarized top feedback received from the business community, and specific business concerns. The Chamber is asking for a business-friendly design. Those guiding principles include limit access complexity, minimize backtracking, and reduce speeds. At a minimum the improvements to the proposed buttonhook design should include restoring highway 210 eastbound access at Fairview Road and Golf Course Road, restoring highway 371 northbound and southbound access to Design Road, enacting lower speed limits and traffic calming strategies, and approval of blue “supplement guidance” signs and a relaxed city sign ordinance. 104 businesses in Baxter signed a letter of concern regarding the proposed project. The Chamber is asking if MnDOT is willing and able to make changes to the project at this point. The Chamber is also asking what is the process for delaying the project so the design can be revised or restarted and how will MnDOT react if the Baxter council denies municipal consent. The council did not have any questions for Mr. Kilian. Eric Schiller, principal project management for MnDOT District 3, presented an update related to the project since he last spoke to the council. The council discussed if the project will decrease speeds. Mr. Schiller explained the project will remove conflict points. The council inquired what will happen if the city does not provide municipal consent. 10/21/2025 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 2 Mr. Schiller explained this is a significant opportunity and if the funding went away there would be less tools in the tool box to make improvements to the intersection. If there are further crashes, access restrictions would be implemented by MnDOT. The council discussed several design changes to the proposed project, including having the highway 210 roundabouts placed closer together to allow for the left in at Golf Course Drive. Mr. Kilian asked the council to consider the feedback from the business community. ADJOURN MOTION by Council Member Cross, seconded by Council Member Lyscio to adjourn at 6:59 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. Approved by: Respectfully submitted, _____________________________ Darrel Olson Kelly Steele Mayor Assistant City Administrator