All right, then it looks like we are ready to start our meeting. So, welcome to everyone here in the council chambers. Tonight is our meeting for Monday, June 9th. And could we have a call to order, please? A roll call, I mean. Council member Denine here. Council member James here. Council member Bisins here. Mayor Marquez Simila here. Thank you. So, welcome to everyone here in the council chambers and anyone watching in this on the recording. Uh we're so happy to have you be a part of our community meetings, a place where you can share your views and opinions, concerns, and maybe some joys uh for the city. Um we will start with our pledge of allegiance. So if you're able to please stand and join me in saying the pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Next, we have an approval of the agenda. We do have one item that we would like to um remove from the agenda, which is item number 15. Any questions or comments from the council? All right. Then I have a motion to approve the agenda then um as presented except for removing item 15. Second. I have a motion by council member Biskkins and a second by council member James. Any discussion hearing? Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Next we have our proclamations for our council meeting. And this evening we have our first proclamation which is for immigrant heritage month. And I will read through this uh proclamation and the other ones will be read by council member Danine and council member James. Immigrant Heritage Month for June 2025. Immigrant Heritage Month is a time to honor the invaluable contributions made by immigrants to our community, enriching our cultural fabric, strengthening our economy, and enhancing our social diversity. We should use immigrant heritage month as an opportunity to advocate for fair and just immigration policies, ensuring that newcomers to our city are welcomed, supported, and provided with the resources necessary for their successful integration into our community. The city of Columbia Heights embraces the diversity of cultures, languages, and traditions that enrich our neighborhoods and foster mutual respect and understanding. The city of Columbia Heights recognizes the significance of welcoming and aiding immigrants, fostering an inclusive atmosphere that values diversity, and upholds the ideals of justice and equality. Immigrant Heritage Month provides an opportunity to promote cross-cultural understanding, bridge divides, and strengthen the bonds that unite our community regardless of background or country of origin. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, ama Marcus Simila, mayor of Columbia Heights, do hereby proclaim June 2025 to be immigrant heritage month in the city of Columbia Heights, County of Anoka, state of Minnesota, USA. [Applause] And to receive the proclamation is Lewis Luis Sacta from El Tequila Business in Our Community. But first, we're also going to do a photo with the council if you don't mind going down. Here [Music] you go. Wow. Thank you. [Applause] Hello. Um well, thank you for uh this um certificate. Uh I just want to thank everybody uh all the departments of the city of Columbia Heights, the fire department, the police department. They're all being so helpful to my business and myself. And I would say also to my family that live in the area. unfortunately had to move out uh just for family reasons. No, nothing negative about the city of Col. I still love it. Still is my second home where I spend most of my days with my family. And uh I just want to thank you all for uh like I said before making me and my friends and my relatives and co-workers and everybody feel welcomed and like in like in our our homes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Louise. [Applause] I love when people are able to bring their children into the into the council meeting. Yes. Oh, yes. Yes. Because they're promised some elo some ice cream after this. [Laughter] We're all invited. Okay. Because we can get through this meeting quickly then. Thank you. Um, our next proclamation is for Pride and um, reading this proclamation will be Council Member Denine. Thank you. Proclamation for Pride Month, June 2025. The Stonewall riots from June 28th to July 3rd, 1969 marked the start of the fight for LGBTQIA plus equality in the US. In 2025, we celebrate the 56th anniversary of the Stonewall riots when LGBTQIA plus communities stood against police harassment. Each June, people in Columbia Heights and worldwide honor these those who fought for LGBTQIA plus rights. Minnesota passed the Human Rights Act in 1993, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender. Minnesota legalized same-sex marriage in 2013 and the US Supreme Court upheld this right in 2015. The state the Safe and Supportive Schools Act of 2014 protects students of all sexual orientations and gender identities. In 2023, Minnesota banned conversion therapy and established itself as a safe place for LGBTQIA plus individuals. Minnesota became a trans refuge state in 2023, ensuring access to gender affirming healthcare. We recognize and affirm that GBTQIA plus people deserve respect, compassion, and a place to be their authentic selves, and we recommit to being a city where our LG LGBTQIA plus community members are safe and thriving. Thank you. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Amada Marcus Simila, mayor of Columbia Heights, do hereby claim proclaim June 2025 to be Pride Month in the city of Columbia Heights, County of Anoka, state of Minnesota, USA. [Applause] And um it is a big thing to celebrate here in Columbia Heights. Um we're so happy to have uh Columbia Heights Pride Festival here. Um, and now we will step down for our photo with our recipient J Ray Muno and his family. Oh, very good. [Applause] Now, is the mic tall enough? So, so on behalf of the LGBTQIA community and the Columbia Heights Pride Committee, I'd like to thank the city for this. Columbia Heights has been a very supportive um community for the LGBTQ community. Um, our pride festival is September 13th, so we're not in the month of June. In Minnesota now, there's over 40 regional pride festivals. So we we got moved to October one year because of date conflict and we've held it in September the last few years and it's worked out really well because there's so many of them in June. So anyways, thank you very much. Thank you. And just to take a moment to share other ways that our city has become more inclusive. We've really worked over the last five years to um make our our city ordinances and resolutions genderneutral. Um just because we've even had ordinances that said things like when the bus boy uh cleans up whatever whatever or the instructions and no one uses the term bus boy anymore. Um or it would say like when the contractor is done with his work he can go apply for a permit. So, we've taken out that um those uh just very limiting gender pronouns so that way it's more inclusive for everyone across our city. We also have um ensured that at city hall here we have a genderneutral bathroom that is open to anyone so everyone can feel comfortable. Um, but I just want to kind of share those things that we've really done to make sure that we are um not just having a festival, not just, you know, decorating and wearing rainbow colors certain times of the year, but that we really want to be inclusive to everyone here. So, thank you for coming in. Our next proclamation is for Junth, and this one will be read by our council member Rachel James. Thank you, Mayor. Junth freedom day June 19th 2025 in August 19 1619 about 20 to 30 enslaved Africans arrived at Point Comfort Virginia marking the beginning of slavery in the present day United States. On July 4th 1776 the Declaration of Independence affirmed the principle that all men are created equal. On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing millions of enslaved people. Although enforcement was inconsistent in Texas, slavery persisted due to the lack of Union troops and enslavers viewed it as a refuge for slavery. On June 19th, 1865, Union troops arrived in Gavston Bay, Texas, declaring all enslaved people in the state free. A day now known as Juneenth. Juneenth encourages reflection on our history, celebrates the contributions of African-Americans while highlighting the need to address systemic racism and ensure equal protection and dignity for all. On February 3rd, 2023, Governor Tim Walls signed into law legislation establishing Junth as an official state holiday held each year on June 19th. Junth marks our country's second independence day celebrating freedom and justice and calls us to commit to equality, equity, and justice. Now therefore, I am Amada Marcus Simila, Mayor of Columbia Heights, do hereby proclaim Thursday, June 19th, 2025 as Junth Freedom Day in the city of Columbia Heights, County of Anoka, state of Minnesota, USA. [Applause] And um to receive this proclamation is Nanesha Perry who is a Valley View PTO member. Um and she's going to come up to receive the proclamation. Your family can come up too for the photo. There you go. There you go. [Applause] Hello everyone. Um I am short. It's okay. Um, I just wanted to say thank you to the city of Columbia Heights and thank you Mayor Mada also that Junth is important for myself, my family, and my kids and my community. And it's great to see that it's now beingcome a bigger thing than what it has been. A lot of people in my community did not even know what Junth meant to us. And now my children are now understanding like, yo, this is when my people were like able to do things that for themselves, able to own businesses and build homes. Yeah. A lot of times it didn't go the way that we planned for it to happen, but we're trying to rebuild that history. Um, I had some things written down. Take your time. Uh, Junth basically a time for us to celebrate and remember our ancestors and drink a lot of red drinks and eat a lot of red food and and and have fun and enjoy that community that we don't really see the rest of the 365 days of the year. We come together, we show love, and eventually sometime soon in Columbia Heist, we will have a celebration of our own. I'm definitely going to make sure I do that before I leave this city. So, With that being said, I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for coming in. Well, thank you so much for all of our community members who've come in to receive a proclamation. And those proclamations are for you, but of course, they're kind of on behalf of all the communities that you're a part of. So, I appreciate you taking the time to come in and um kind of have that vulnerability of being here in the council chamber to to also accept it. So, I mean, our community's immigrants so important. You know, our police department, fire department, and city have done done so much to learn more languages and be inclusive about hiring so that we can speak to more community members. um as I said about our pronoun usage and different ways we're making sure people are you know appreciated and as their identifi identity that they choose and then also Junth really having education on that how it's so important to our community um and to all of us to learn these things. So thank you. You're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting, but we are going to go into the more business section. Um, so if you'd like to um get ice cream, um, this is the best time and if you're going to stay for community. All right. All right. Dilly bars. Uh, we don't have no ice cream rolls like in the chamber, so I don't have a problem with that. Right. All right. Good night. Thank you so much. Our next part of our meeting is our community forum. The community forum is an opportunity to address the city council about items not scheduled for a public hearing. All speakers must provide their name and connection to Columbia Heights. You don't have to give us your address. In-person speakers should complete a form for the city clerk and introduce themselves at the podium. Virtual speakers also may attend. Is there anyone attending virtually tonight? All right. Um, comments are limited to five minutes. Disrespectful language is not allowed and the council may ask questions or refer or refer items for followup, but typically the council does not take action during the forum. Um, that being said, if you do have questions, we defin we will definitely take note of them and the city manager will go to staff to get the correct answers and we will provide an update at the next meeting so the public knows what those answers were. But in the meanwhile, generally we will have time to reach out to that person as well to give them a follow-up. That being said, uh Sarah, could you introduce our first speaker? Person would like to address the council. Thank you. Thank you and welcome. And if you don't mind adjusting the microphone, otherwise it isn't recorded. Thank you. Thanks for this opportunity. Teresa Carson, I live at uh Parkside Village Town Homes, which overlooks Sutherland Lake Park. So, our concerns are the placement of the playground equipment. On your plat, it shows it moving right up next to our property fence. And you know where the playground is now, it's next to the pavilion where parents can keep an eye on their children. Moving it across the park next to our fence line brings, you know, unsupervised children and a lot of noise that we're not used to having. you know, we don't have any kids at Parkside Village, so that's not something that we're used to having around. And then the pickle ball and basketball courts are very close to, you know, this is going off the pictures that I've seen are very close to our lot line. They're, you know, within 50 ft of what we're looking at. And with the sport court there, can they be flipped so that pickle ball and basketball which make noise can be moved further away where the sport court is going to be a much quieter kind of a facility. And then the lift station placement, you know, it's coming out from where it is now and it looks like it's going up next to 51st, which I don't know, I guess it's fine, but it kind of blocks the view. you know, we paid premium prices for parkside view for a view of the lake, and that kind of wipes out some people's view of the park and the lake. And then, of course, we're concerned about the overflow parking coming from the new Metronic development because, you know, there's not a whole lot of extra parking available in that area. So, we fear 51st is going to become like an adjunct parking, you know, running people through the park all the time. And then also the hours of operation of the park, they go until 11 o'clock at night. Does that mean there's going to be pickle ball and basketball going on until 11:00 at night? Which, you know, those are noisy. The city of Maple Grove now is having a noise issue with uh pickle ball courts. They're trying to get them moved. So, those are some of our concerns. And the other thing is the last time they did improvements to Svin Lake Park, we were all notified and were able to attend the meetings and this time there was nothing, you know, we were never invited to have input and some of that input that we had the last time they actually listened to it. You know, they thought we made sense and took it into their consideration and that's not being done now. So, thank you. Thank you very much for coming in and sharing. It is a a very big discussion the Medronic site and all those changes to the park as well. Um, so we'll definitely have answers for you that we know are going to be, you know, have a good breath of answers at the next meeting unless did you want to share something now? Um, I would also offer staff would be happy to schedule a phone call or individual meeting with anyone on this topic or any other topic. So, um, if you wanted to connect, we could get, um, contact information for community development and city manager's office. Um I would add the park improvement planning is parallel but running through a separate commission. So, um park improvements would be taken up by the city's parks and recreation commission um but in conjunction with the Metronic redevelopment efforts and um so multiple opportunities to engage with a variety of commissions on this topic um including the city's planning commission and there's going to be a lot of um public hearings coming um for both the park improvements and then as Metronic moves its way through uh city council uh the city's economic development authority and um other hearings uh related to not just the the reszoning that was heard at the last meeting, but each individual site plan for the Metronic site will come through the same process. So, thanks for coming tonight, but it'd be great to connect um and have a more kind of open dialogue as we move through the process. Thank you. And I will say also um that we always are listening. So we will be listening and I know sometimes and I I'm not speaking to a specific thing in any of your questions that you had but there's a lot of times things seem that they are totally 100% decided and it's just what we're showing at the time and things flux as well. So um just so you know that we are listening and things will be a part of the discussion. So, I really appreciate you coming in and sharing. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else who'd like to speak this evening? Yes, Jennifer Piper Man would like to address the council. Thank you. Welcome. Good evening. Um, so I live uh up from 37th where the redevelopment happened. Um, red 37th. And one thing I've noticed since the redevelopment happened is there has not been any kind of bus stops put in. And I did connect with somebody at um the Central Avenue redevelopment from um uh Metro Transit and she was going to try to connect me with somebody who could get me an answer on when we might get any kind of bus stops, even a bench. That went nowhere. Um, and so I'm wondering if you guys know when we might get a uh some kind of Some of them had benches at them. And the other thing that's really missing is garbage cans. Um, there used to also be a concrete garbage can on the other side of Hart Lake that you could slide the thing away. It was pretty pretty stable and could put stuff in there. the ones that was next to the bus stop by Top Value, that was just a white open one and garbage could blow out of that. I don't really like those, but I'm just wondering, can the city put some garbage cans that have lids in anywhere around in that area? Because since Speedway went away, I'm dealing with a lot less of Speedway trash, which I don't miss that. But I am majority of my garbage that I do pick up comes from the liquor store. And I know I asked this maybe three, four years ago. Do we have to sell tiny bottles of alcohol? Why are we selling tiny bottles of alcohol? Because they can't be recycled. They're too small. And I'm sick of picking them up. And um either that or just jack the price so high up that at least we're making a nice profit so we can have a nice garbage can right by the liquor store at the bus stop down by 37th in the nice rain garden. I'm always picking up people's bottles and stuff as they're waiting for the bus. They like to just toss it in the rain gardens. So those are just things if we can get any updates on those um I would uh greatly appreciate it. And um I'll just make a plug since I'm here. The Columbia Heights Heights Next Garden Tour takes place um Friday, July 18th at 5:00 p.m. starting at the Blooming Sunshine Food Forest at the Lomiaki Park. It's a free garden tour. There are eight residential gardens that will be open to the public and we would love to have you come and check out all of the beautiful gardens that people have been working on uh in Columbia Heights for you guys to see. So, thank you for your time. Thank you, Jennifer. And I'll share Jennifer is this year's uh community outstanding citizen of the year. Uh she picks up, as she said, a lot of trash along 37th and Hart Lake. So, thank you for all of that. Um but thank you for your questions as well. We can definitely have questions and also follow up with Metro Transit and see, you know, where things are at with bus stops and trash cans, etc. So, thank you for bringing this up. Anyone else to speak in the community forum? All right. And everyone again, I'll just ask one more time if anyone here would like to speak on an item that isn't in the agenda. Seeing is not, then we will continue with our meeting and move to our consent agenda. These items are considered to be routine by the city council and will be enacted as part of the consent agenda by one motion. Items removed from the consent agenda approval will be taken up as the next order of business. Um, and so to the council, does anyone have any questions or items they'd like removed? Seeing Oh, nothing removed. And uh, so then I'll ask our city manager to take us through the items. Thank you, Madame Mayor, Council. 14 items this evening. Uh, the first being approval of the May 27th, 2025 city council meeting minutes. Item two is the June 2nd, 2025 city council work session meeting minutes. Item three is acceptance of the April 1st, 2025 planning commission meeting minutes. Item four is acceptance of the May 7th, 2025 library board meeting minutes. Item five is acceptance of the February 26th and April 23rd, 2025 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting minutes. And item six is acceptance of the May 5th, 2025 regular EDA meeting minutes. Item seven is second reading of ordinance 1714 which is amending the city's ordinance for the rental density cap. Item eight is adopting resolution 2025-47 which is appointing a youth commission member. This is uh Libby Power to the city's planning commission. Item nine is resolution 2025-48 which amends the city's fee schedule. These um updates were discussed at the last work session. Uh fire permits and some community development related license permits um updates to that. Item 10 is resolution 2025-51 which is authorization of an application to u for the safe streets for all implementation grant. So the SS4A um plan is uh about to be approved and reviewed by the city council in June or July. Um but timing for implementation grants is u end of June. And so the city would like to put in um a grant for central avenue improvements to try to cover the differential between uh funding from state of Minnesota mind and uh the gap of what the city would have to contribute um along with other partnering partnering jurisdictions. So, a little bit ahead of final acceptance, but still uh a condition of submitting a grant is that we do have the plan complete and so they're coming very close in timing, but wanted to make sure that we had authorization to apply for that grant. Item 11 is uh Axon contract renewal. Another item that was taken up by the um council at the most recent work session. This is for um the police department's um taser equipment which is provided by Axon and then also um body warn cameras, dash cameras that go in the squad vehicles. We're in the four out of fiveear um we're in a five-year contract. We're in the fourth year, but there's been several upgrades to this uh equipment and so we've rebid um at this time. And and just a few highlights um of what Axon has added recently to kind of their um software offerings. Real-time translation. So the body warm cameras can actually translate um multiple languages real time. Um there's AI report writing feature that can take the video uh in multiple languages, create a base report um that is then reviewed by um department members. But it really is an efficiency in in cutting report writing. Uh one of the things that the police department spends a lot of time on. Um auto transcription of the videos as well. License plate readers integrated into the dash cams um which have been very um integral in several uh investigations over the last year since that technology. And then coupled with the flock cameras in the city. uh the latest in the taser upgrades, um the least leth least less lethal um uh tasers for the department and then also the VR training that goes with that. So, just some of the highlights of what's being added. Um there was a significant cost increase between the city's base contract and these new um items being offered by Axon to help um phase that into the city's budget. It's being proposed that we use the one-time um public safety money that uh was granted to the city from the state, a total of $252,000 um over the next four years to kind of soften that um absorption into the city's budget. Item 12 is uh routine licenses for approval, business licenses, and item 13 are the routine uh rental occupancy licenses for approval. And then finally, item 14, review of the bills for this period, which in this case total $1,167,685.33. Madame Mayor, thank you. We have any questions from the council or comments? Uh, council member James. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, city manager. Um, yeah, I just wanted to speak on item number 11, the Axon contract renewal. Um, this is an opportunity for us to use the state granted public safety funds to really make a difference using all the latest technology in our city. Our officers, we need them to be responding to calls, not sitting behind a desk writing a report when AI can do a really good job. And then they do, they have really, we looked through how do we make sure it's accurate and they have a lot of blanks that have to be typed in and you have to read things to make sure that you're doing that it's not just approving it. And so that's really wonderful. The translation software, it's it works so well. It has a speaker, so I could speak in English and the person speaking back could speak whatever language it would translate. It's not perfect. We'd still use real life human translators, but in a quick situation, it's going to get you a long a lot of the way there. and our officers are really excited about that opportunity with our diverse population and so many different languages that we may not even have a staff that speaks it. I'm very excited about all of the cameras because we need accountability and transparency and this is a lot of money, but we we all discussed it for a long time and we we know that this is a way for us to take the officers that we have now and make them even more effective and help them have a good opportunity to retain their job satisfaction so they're getting things done and getting making a difference. So, I'm hopeful and I know that we'll keep looking at this contract and looking for ways to make sure we're we're making it correct, but um for this five years, I'm really excited about that. Thank you very much. Anything else, Council Member Denine? Yeah, I just want to say that I'm really excited for a new youth commissioner and I'm excited to welcome her to the city planning commission. Can you tell me how many youth commissioners? Is this our only one at the moment? Uh, great question, Council Member Denine. Currently, yes, this would be the only um youth commissioner seated. We're working on efforts later in the agenda actually to try to um recruit more youth and align um the terms that they serve with the school year more closely. So, perfect. Super excited. As always, uh if anyone has uh anyone that might be considered um a good candidate, please reach out to the city. Perfect. Thank you. Um yes to like the youth commission. I'm so glad to have uh youth and we're happy to invite youth to join all of our commissions and boards. So that's kind of the evolution is that initially we had a youth commission that was only youth. Um but it was really hard because those students were very eager students and sometimes four or five of them would be in band and then they wouldn't attend the meeting because they had a concert or they would be in theater or they'd have a sport event. So, um, so it was just hard to get a lot of attendance at certain times of the year and, uh, and so thinking that maybe having one or two youth on each commission. So, the library, planning, parks and wreck, sustainability would be a place a way to get youth voices kind of in all of our commissions and boards. So, it's something because we still want to make sure that youth have a voice and are heard. So, this is kind of an evolution step two of uh how how can we do this in the best way. So, glad that she's going to be here. Um and then I'll just echo everything Rachel said. As mayor, I work very closely with the police chief. Um and so we have been talking about this contract for a while and the offerings. Um and it seems like such a smart way to spend money, to spend those funds, and to help our our community and our police. Um, and then I'm really excited that we're moving forward with another step in our safe streets for all. This is something that the staff have worked on for quite a while. Um, probably two years since the very beginning, maybe. Kevin, did you want to add anything or Oops, wrong one. Too many microphones. Either work. Mayor, members of the council, yeah, we this actually started about four years ago, okay, with the PEL study, and we've been working on the um leadup, not even really designed, but the lead up to this point. And I think right now it's uh the money is available out there. So, I think we have a very worthwhile project. I think it'll score high um to make up the deficit and that's significant. It's just that everything's coming together. Um timing wise, it could be it would be better for us. We're about three months out, but when they're available, you got to go after the becomes available. So, you know, this is for 2028 federal money. So, I think the tend great. So, I'm just going to repeat that that four years ago is when this kind of started. Um, as a council, councelor Bisgens and I were around, councelor Bismins has been asking for more ways to have safer the safer city and myself as well. And so, it takes a while to get all this data and have consultants be a part of this. So, we're in the home stretch. It's very exciting. So, I appreciate how well our staff and council work together. All right. Well, if we have no more comments, then on the consent agenda, might I have a motion to approve? So, moved. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Denine and a second by Council Member James to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? The motion passes. Thank you, um, the city manager. Um, next we have our items for consideration under ordinances and resolutions. Number 16, uh, the first reading of ordinance number 1715, an ordinance amending chapter 8, section 8.403 403 of the Columbia Heights city code relating to fire services fees authorizing the fire department to charge for fire watch services. And to take us through this item, we have our fire chief Dan O'Brien. Madame Mayor, members of the council, good evening. Um the ordinance amendment before you completely replaces the current code section that empowers the fire department to recover costs for its services. Um while configuring the new Tyler Enterprise permitting and licensing software, I researched um this code section realized that a comp comprehensive review was needed to be performed. Uh in the review, I determined that a full rewrite was the best way to modernize the language of this section. So, uh just some highlights of the amendment. Basically, uh first of all, that conforms to state law. Our cost recovery authority is aligned with current Minnesota state statutes. Uh it's easier to use. This section has been reorganized so residences residents, businesses and staff can quickly find what they need uh and broader coverage. It expressly allows the fire department to bill for any service emergency or non-emergency performed within the scope of its duties. Um with that I can stand for any questions council may have for it. Council Biscuit, I just want to say thank you for all the work in updating this. I know there's a lot of things that both uh community development and different departments, fire department are working really hard to update our codes and ordinances and language and I really appreciate the time bring us into the 21st century. Thank you. Thank you. Um could you also just share with the community a bit um because I think on on first reading it, it sounds like authorizing the fire department to charge for firewatch services. So if someone made a call that it would look like now we're going to have to pay money to have. So if you could just share kind of what more in a more like um when it comes to billing for like residential structure fires. So basically the current code uh the present code already permits billing for that uh for a house fire but the language is vague because it relies on a cross reference to state statute. Uh under the new ordinance uh we adopt a form we'll adopt a formal policy that spells out one residential building. um applies. U some kind of examples would be like a a fire caused by they make let's say like an illegal homebased auto repair shop that was you know non non-code compliance or against city code something like that or you know some sort of negligence causing extra loss a blaze where the homeowner's failure to take basic precaution leads to a significant damage or destruction of the fire department equipment. Um, we don't typically, like I said, there's always a little damage here and there. So, for the breadand butter type fires, you want to call them that, we wouldn't typically be uh charging for that. So, it'll be policy based. Um, basically, we'll make sure the policy uh that charges are imposed are only in cases of clear negligence and non-compliance with city code stuff. All right. Thank you. I think that clarifies things. Thank you, Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Fire Chief O'Brien, thank you for this work. What have you found in your research of other local cities are doing? How does this align? I I know you had said it brings it into law with state law. What What's the practice that you've seen in other communities? Some cities actually do bill for uh for structure fires in single family homes. There's a clause in most um insurance policies that will actually pay $500 to the fire department um for for response to a fire. Um, like I say, a lot of cities will do that. It's it's kind of a mixed bag here in Anoka County, too. So, some do, some don't. Um, so just kind of how it is. My my concern wasn't so much for the emergency response. It was for all the other things that we do. We also didn't have anything in place. Uh, we're a licensed BLS ambulance service. We have nothing in place prior to this amendment to charge for the services for our ambulance. So, um, just wanted to add that's a piece that we added to this. So, Thank you. Um, all right. I think it's interesting because we all think that these ordinances are just always um current day written documents, but they are they really have to have staff go back and check on them and make sure that they make sense for today while you're still doing all the day-to-day work. So, thank you for all the work you and your team have put into this. All right. Well, if we don't have any more um comments or questions, then could I have a motion to wave the reading? Move to wave the reading of ordinance number 1715. There being an ample copies available to the public. Second. I have a motion by council member Biskins and a second by council member Dean to wave the reading. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The motion passes. And next we have a motion to set the second reading. Move to set the second reading of ordinance number 1715 and amending chapter 8 section 8.403 of the Columbia Heights city code relating to fire service fees for June 23rd 2025. Second. We have a motion by council member Bisgens and a second by council member Denine to set the second reading. Um any questions or discussion? Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. The next reading will be at on June 23rd. Number item number 17, first reading of ordinance number 1717, an ordinance amending chapter 3.315 of the city code relating to the youth commission and our and city manager Erin Sherpick will take us through this. Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the council. We've already discussed it a little bit, but a brief history on youth commission. So, it was created in October of 2021. As the mayor had said, originally uh the youth commission was a standalone commission. Um and we've since made changes uh to bring further alignment to the city council's goals as well as efforts to recruit and retain youth commissioners to kind of meet um youth where they're at in their schedules. And that's where we've changed to um appointing liaison youth liaison to each of the individual commissions rather than uh having their own commission. So, in an effort to to further refine and um try to uh promote membership at the the last work session on June 2nd, um it was discussed with the council some changes that would uh allow the city to mirror the period or term uh for that of the school year. So, changing it to June 1st through May th June 1st through May 31st. Um and then also kind of some policy changes were discussed to accept applications on a rolling basis and then appoint commissioners commissioners um as qualified applications are received. So just being more flexible um take applications as they come appoint uh you know whenever possible more or less and then allow um alignment with schedules from from a staff perspective. And if you had a graduating or not graduating, but a student going into um their summer, you know, and they have more free time now, um can join um June 1st and and carry through this the next school year. So, pretty basic as far as the ordinance language changes go. Uh just the date changes and then some refinement around policy. I'd be happy to answer any questions council might have. Thank you. Any questions? All right. I know we kind of like you said talked about this during the consent agenda, but All right. Seeing no questions, then I have a motion then to wave the wave the reading. Motion to wave the reading of ordinance 1717. There being ample copies available to the public. Second. I have a motion by council member Denine and a second by council member James to wave the reading. Any questions? Hearing none, then all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? The motion passes. And next we have a motion to set the second reading. Oh, move to set the second reading of ordinance 1717, an ordinance amending chapter 315 of the city code relating to the youth commission of the city of Columbia Heights for June 23rd, 2025. Second. I have a motion by council member Denine and a second by council member James to set the second reading. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none, then all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Thank you. Next, we have item number 18, consideration of resolution 2025-049 authorizing the green core host site agreement. And taking us through this item is our community development director, Mitch Forny. Madame Mayor, members of the council, um before you is an item that was talked about at the March 3rd city council work session in the um where staff brought forward the idea of applying to be a host site for a green corps member. Um min the Minnesota green corps is an Americanore program dedicated to protecting Minnesota's environment while training the next generation of environmental professionals. One of those environmental professionals is our own city planner, Andrew Boucher. Um, so definitely an idea that he brought on, definitely something we're excited for. Um, so in applying for this, city staff conducted interviews with the Minnesota Green Corps team and ultimately the city was approved as a host site in May. So, we have received notice that we will be receiving a green corps member in the future and the resolution in front of you is just approving the receipt of that green corps member and then also the the agreement that we have with the green corps moving forward. Um the only items that the city is responsible for is of course supervising that green corps member, you know, helping um them with some educational items and some learning items and then also um giving them direction in the projects that they'll be doing going forward. All the items related to the green core member already in community development's budget. So there's no budget items with that. just a little more staff time. That member will be taking over kind of as our intern is now out of the community development department. Um the last item is I do have to you know caveat that there are funding um some funding uncertainties at this point in time um as a Marore program that does have some federal funding and then also um some state funding uncertainties with the state budget still unpassed as of yet. So, we are not 100% sure that we'll be receiving the green core member. Um, but we will know more once the state establishes their budget hopefully in the upcoming special session. With that, I can stand for any questions. Thank you. Any questions for Mitch? No. Any comments? Councor Biscans. Again, very excited that we're moving forward with the green corps and I look forward to seeing thinking positively that the funding will be there and um we'll see what the sustainability commission has for ideas for them. I'm sure there's going to be lots of uh discussion about what the priorities will be for this person. I'm glad we have them for 11 months, too. So, thank you. Thank you for applying and thanks to the sustainability commission. All right. Any other comments from the council? All right. Thank you. We're so excited. Um, Andrew spoke so highly of his time as a Green Corps member. Um, and I just feel like taking this is like the next step for our city and and things we've asked for like a climate action plan and bringing forth a sustainability commission. Like these are all things that are going to help us have a a larger vision of where our community stands as as far as being a sustainably developed city. So, um, I'm just I think this is one great part in our in our visioning here. So, thank you. All right. If we have no other comments, then I have a motion to wave the reading. Move to wave the reading of resolution 2025-049. There being ample copies available to the public. Second. I have a motion by council member James and a second by council member Bisgens to wave the reading. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The motion passes and next we have a motion to approve the resolution. Move to approve resolution 2025-049, a resolution authorizing execution of a host site agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for participation in the Minnesota Green Corp program. Second. I have a motion by Council Member James and a second by Council Member Bisgens. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none, then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Next we have item 19, consideration of resolution 2025-50, Excel Energy Partners and Energy um energy action plan adoption. And taking us through this is also our community development director, Mitch Forny. Madame Mayor, members of the council, just a second here as I get the slideshow pulled up. All right, madam mayor, members of the council, um this is another great item to kind of come forward as we had talked about at our previous work session. Um, city planner Andrew Bucher and the partners and energy team has been working very diligently to research and develop the energy action plan that's for you for approval tonight. Um, with us this evening our members of sustainability commission then also our energy action team um, partners in energy. Um, I will rather than diving into it, I'll let them come up and kind of talk through the presentation and then after that I can kind of talk about how we're going to move this product forward and work with the partners on energy team to, you know, build these items into our work plans and our items moving forward with the green core member and then also the community development team. So, um, before we get into that, I'll ask them to come up and run the presentation. Yeah. Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the council. My name is Anna Deator. I am one of the partners in energy facilitators um working with Colombia Heights. So just to give you a little background about what partners in energy is um it is a two-year collaboration with Excel Energy and we help to develop and implement community's individual energy plan goals. Um so it's broken up into three parts. The first four to six months is developing the plan which we have gone through. uh we had five workshops where we worked with energy action team members um to help uh develop this plan. Then the next phase would be implementation which is about 18 to 20 months um where we help actually implement the plan. Um and then after that we continue to help communities working with their energy action goals. So just to give you a little picture of the energy action team here, we had members of the council, members of the sustainability commission, we had residents, we had teachers, a pastor. Um so very good um representation of Columbia Heights. So this is another snippet of what um our timeline with Columbia Heights looks looked like. Um so we started recruiting in summer of 2024. Then we went into the planning phase which again was five workshops. Um then we got to writing the the plan and now we're hoping to move into implementation. So to create the plan, we break up um the process into several steps um to develop like the priorities of the city. This is the executive summary of the action plan, the energy action plan. Um so the plan itself is about 60 plus pages uh going into a lot of details. The executive summary kind of gives that snapshot of what's in the plan um and the priorities. So again, we throughout the five workshops that we held, we had a lot of different activities to get the group talking and figuring out what are the priorities for Colombia Heights. So we created a vision statement, we identified focus areas, and we created a communitywide goal. Um after that we started creating strategies that talk about how exactly we are going to get to reach our goal. So those were just some examples. Um and then after or once we move into implementation, partners in energy continues to support the city with marketing, marketing, data tracking and measurement, project management, program expertise. We offer a lot of resources. Um we have uh quarterly events. We offer online toolkits for communities to to learn about potential projects they can do. We offer monthly webinars. We have a newsletter and of course we have a website. These are just some examples of previous u marketing tools that we have created for other communities. And then finally, this is a snippet of the work plan that we have at Columbia Heights. And it uh shows um who would be the primary uh I guess role taker and then who would be the support um and then the time frame of the projects. And now I want to open it up for any questions or discussion. Thank you for the presentation. Um yes it folks in the packet it is like 60some pages of information uh very detailed but this is a really great summary to give us an idea of what it is but um yes I don't have any specific questions. Council Biscans, I just wanted to thank you and your organization Excel for bringing this to our city and Andrew Buchcher for bringing it and helping to work on and all the community members that participated in the groups um to get us where we're at today. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And show of hands who worked on this in the in the audience here. Thank you. Yes, it's been a big lift and I know staff has done a great job of like reaching out to the community members and anytime someone's kind of been at a meeting and talked about anything with energy, they're like, "Hey, by the way, we're starting this up. Would you be interested in some monthly meetings?" But how long have you all been meeting again? Um, has it been a year? Just about. Yeah. The first workshop was in August. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So, very dedicated community members. So, thank you very much. Um, thank you. Any other comments from the council? Council member Denine. I will just say that I had the pleasure of working on this with council member Biskkins and so many community members. And I went in there kind of green. I didn't know a lot about sustainability. I knew like the basics and it was such a learning experience. All these discussions were so in-depth. They were so thoughtful. They were so tailored to our community. And I want to thank your you guys for your leadership and your help to get us to this point. And I'm really excited to keep partnering with you and then have Mitch and his team kind of come in and really get these things going. It's really exciting for our community to know what, you know, cost-saving measures there are, what things we can do within our community to just get us to that next step in being a green sustainable city. So, I'm super excited. So, thanks for being here. Of course. Thank you. Thank you. And also, I'll just call out Emily, a new staff member came in and just was went right into it and yeah, she was like, "What do you need? I'm here for this. Let's move this forward with our community." Uh, council uh James, thank you so much. I appreciate our two council members that were on this and as well as all the workers. Um, I just wanted to highlight that I really appreciate that the four focus areas really do fit Colombia Heights specifically energy efficiency, renewable energy, but also beneficial electrification and reducing the energy burden for our lowincome residents. Um, we have a lot of multicultural community and that was a big part of this is how are we going to reach out to all of our neighbors and how are we going to help us pay less money and also help our environment at the same time. So, we I know as a as a homeowner here, I want to pay less money and I want to help our environment at the same time. So, I really appreciate that focus on cost savings as well as helping our helping our environmental goals. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, madam madam members of the council. Um just to kind of finish off here with the discussion and just kind of what does this look like going forward. Thank you very much for speaking. Um the partners and energy team wanted to hit the ground running. We actually met with them last week and they've already provided us resources, marketing resources and items to have at our art and infoare. So they've already started the the marketing of all the programs and everything like that. So, we'll continue to meet with them and identifying the path forward for this program along with some of the other goals that the city council and the sustainability commission has had and then looking at as we kind of hire a new planner and then also the member of the engineering department that'll be helping with the sustainability commission and the green core member will be looking at an official kickoff um hopefully sometime this fall to actually do a larger event with the sustainability commission and uh maybe some other community members to really kick off this plan moving forward. So um this is definitely another strategic item in our toolbox as we look at sustainability as a city. We have you know the city council did their goal setting put to you know sustainability as a a broader goal but then also the sustainability commission has established its goals and then we have our green step goals and then now our partner in energy goals. And so the next step is kind of bringing this in with our other goals, really establishing a work plan, and then also kind of what items can we build momentum with, what items kind of kind of solve the goals or complete the goals from the multiple strategies moving forward. So um before you this evening is approving the energy action plan and then also theou. Um we do enter in an agreement with the energy action team and that is just talking about how they will support us and how we will support them in achieving the goals of the city. Um one thing to note is the motion at the bottom of the packet to not get the new resolution title in place. Um so it just says adopting the city a energy action plan when the actual resolution name is approving the form and substance as well. So, I'd just request um staff would request um that resolution change make it into the second motion. Could you could you repeat what it needs to So, page 193 in the council packet has the correct resolution name for this. Just not in the agenda. Yeah, just not in the agenda. Okay. Thank you to one more Sarah for scrolling through our screen. Yep. All right then. Well, thank you for um bringing a summary to that. Thank you so much for the presentation again and for being here this evening. Um then may I have a motion to wave the reading? Move to wave the reading of draft resolution number 2025-050. There being ample copies available to the public. Second. I have a motion by council member James and a second by council member Denine to wave the reading. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. And next we have a motion to approve. Move to approve draft resolution number 2025-050 being a resolution to adopt the city's energy action plan and to approve the form and substance of the partners and energy memorandum of understanding and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement on behalf of the city. Second. Have a motion by council member James and a second by council member Denine to approve the draft resolution. Any discussion hearing? None. Then all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Yeah. Thank you. Nice work. Yeah. Um item number 20, consideration of Lincoln Avenue Communities 853rd Preliminary Bond Resolution. And taking us through this item again is Mitch Forny, the community development director. Madame Mayor, members of the council, um this project has been before you many times and will continue to be over the next couple of months. Um, as of right now, the project at 853rd has gotten through the PUD preliminary plat and vacation easement process at the city planning commission level. Um, that was passed on the first Tuesday of this month. The project is currently awaiting an EAW, public review process. So, as part of the project, it's required to submit an environmental assessment worksheet that is now open to the public as of well, we are currently accepting comments, but it officially gets posted and open to the public tomorrow um for that 30-day comment period from a bunch of different agencies within the state of Minnesota, different community members and everything and the public and all sorts of other. So after that 30-day period, then the PUD preliminary plat and those other items will come to the council for that item to move forward. And then we'll continue to kind of jump into that project. But in front of you today is a request for the city to be the conduit for tax exempt bonds for the first two phases of the project. Um just a quick reminder, the first two phases of the project are the kind of the two L-shaped affordable housing buildings right in the center of the project. Um taxexempt bonds cannot be applied for for market rate housing. So that is why there is not an application forward for the town homes or for the market rate mixeduse development at the north side of the project. So this is just for the two L-shaped buildings. Um the Lincoln Avenue Communities has requested that the city help finance this proposed project. The city acts as the conduit for these bonds. Even though the bonds are issued and run through the Minnesota management and budget, we act as the conduit, as the pass through for these bonds. They're requesting a principal amount not to exceed $30 million for each phase. And ultimately, there is no obligation to the city of Columbia Heights. Um we do not have to pay these back these bonds back. There's no obligation to our taxpayers. Um the obligation rests solely on the developer and that is off of the rent collected from the completion of the project. Um moving forward, the city also receives a 1% issuance fee. So we actually make a little bit of money off of acting as the conduit um for these bonds. This step this evening is just the preliminary resolution approving the issuance of the bonds. um the application requesting um the city will have to apply to MMB for the bonds after the preliminary resolution, but ultimately the final approval of the bond issuance doesn't take doesn't take effect or doesn't take place until a subsequent subsequent council meeting. So, we're approving the preliminary resolution. Um community development staff, our attorneys will work with the developer to apply it to MMB. the developer does have to put down a fairly large down payment for these bonds. So that's why they try to get some of the approvals done prior to this resolution coming before the council and then um later down the line the city council will get the final approval of that bond application moving forward. So with that I can stand for any questions. We also have the developer here to um answer any questions from the council as well. All right. Thank you. Any comments from the council? No. All right. No comments then. Um, and I think you did a great job of explaining it about where the city's at with the responsibility of it and not taking on that and how it's a pass through and that we actually earn 1% for that transaction. So, um, thank you very much. Oh, okay. Council member James, thank you. Sorry about that. I forgot what I was going to say. um the the details of all of the um the planning commission review process last week. I really appreciated the planning commissioners and their work through that and the developer for submitting their traffic study and the environmental study so that the public can read those items and um we are looking carefully as a council at each step along the way. This step is just the bond resolutions and I um we went through this impact on our city and as our community development director described this is this is something that um isn't going to be a financial obligation of our city and they the this developer has been passed through our planning commission and I know that every part of the site as our city manager said before will have to go through the same process. So there's a lot of work to be done as the mayor said it's not a done deal. I know some people have asked me is this all a done? We're working on it bit by bit, but this aspect to apply for these grants is a wonderful opportunity for us to bring some muchneeded affordable housing into our city. So, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Then if there since there's no other comments, I may have a motion to wave the reading. Move to wave the reading of resolution 2025-052 and resolutions 20253. There being an ample copies available to the public. Second. I have a motion by council member Biskins and a second by council member James to wave the reading. Any discussion? Hearing none. Then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Next we have a motion then to adopt. Move to adopt resolution 2025-052, a resolution granting preliminary authorization to the issuance of revenue bonds or other obligations under Minnesota statutes chapter 462C as amended to finance the cost of a multifamily housing development phase one approving the preparation and submission of a housing program with respect there to approving the submission of applications for bonding authority establishing compliance with certain reimbursement regulations under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. six and taking certain other actions. Second. I have a motion by council member Biskkins and a second by council member James to adopt the resolution. Any discussion? Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed. The motion passes. And next we have a motion then to adopt. Move to adopt resolution 2025-053, a resolution granting preliminary authorization to the issuance of revenue bonds or other obligations under Minnesota statutes chapter 462C as amended to finance the cost of a multif family housing development phase 2 approving the preparation and submission of a housing program with respect there to approving the submission of applications for bonding authority establishing compliance with certain reimbursement regulations under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. six and taking certain other actions. Second. I have a motion by councelor Bisgens and a second by council member James to adopt the resolution. Any discussion or comment? Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Thank you. All right, moving on. Then item number 21 is under our bid considerations, accepting bids and awarding a contract for the 2025 Sullivan Lake Fitness Court construction city project 25506-B. And our city engineer Kevin Hansen will take us through this. Thank you, mayor, members of the council. As you know, this project was originally bid with our alley program and we inadvertently emitted some language for bidding requirements out of that. Um, so we did have to pull it out of the alley project and rebid it, but those requirements for the funding were included within that primarily focusing on data station for that. So we advertised and received two bids on this and I will note that there's about $600 separating the two bids that so there was no actually no change from the original bid when it was bid with the alleys. The extent of the work is really the um site preparation, the concrete slab with a new fitness court will be placed by others on that and then also access block so that folks can get to the new fitness court. Uh this has a completion date of the end of July. Right after that, the folks from the fitness court, the National Fitness Institute, NFI will come in and install the fitness equipment. We currently have that uh in our garage at public works. And then we'll do a grand opening in September. And that work also includes the artwork that the city has previously seen. So, uh, mayor, members of the council, we recommend approval to Equity Builders, who's actually the same contractor as Thank you. Any comments or questions? All right. Um, then I have a motion then to accept the bid. Move to accept the bids and award the 2025 Sullivan Lake Fitness Court concrete slab city project 25506-B to Equity Builders and Construction of Rosemount, Minnesota based on their lowqualified and responsible bid in the amount of $86,180 with funding from fund 412 6400 and furthermore to authorize the mayor and city manager to enter into the contract for the same. Second. Have a motion by council member Denine and a second by council member Bisgens to accept the bids. Any discussion or comments. Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Thank you. I do have a a question comment, but it wasn't going to affect my vote, so there wasn't a reason to ask it in that moment. But is there a place on the website where people can look up kind of the plan for Sullivan Lake and the sport court and that kind of stuff? Is there anywhere that someone could if they had been in the park? Also, I'm not sure if it is up. We have a preliminary master plan, but as the resident had indicated that we still have more work to do in terms of uh public involvement with that before we go ahead with other work there. So the other work is not planned for until at least 2026 and we have time to do the public involvement. The work that we did was really focusing on the fitness court and focusing on the timing of that. Um so the other work shows how um items can be laid out but you heard tonight and speaking with the city manager. We probably need to do a little bit more work with finding that. So um it has to do more with that than anything else. So to answer your question, yes. Okay. Uh to answer my question, there is not a place to find it. Excuse me. I don't think that there is. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then um and then just to clarify that tonight um we just voted on accepting the bid to do this work. And that's that's a whole different thing than saying exactly where things are going. That's what I'm hearing from you. Is that correct? This is just This is only fitness court. Yep. Just the fitness court. But do we have a location for the fitness court? We do. Okay. So the fitness court and for a variety of reasons that we looked at and then thank you. And then also the park and rec commission had looked at um was on the south side um just for visibility with that new fitness. All right. And that is not available on a website to see that yet. If it's not we'll get it. Okay. And then also we can because we have a mural done by a local artist. Uh, and so if we can have that included as well, I think that'd be great for the community to to know what's coming along. So, I just wanted to kind of clarify that, but I'm very excited to um award the bid though and move forward. So, my question didn't have anything to do with that part. All right. Thank you. Um, that takes us through the um items for consideration. We have no new business or reports, but that takes us to our city council administration reports or administrative reports. And our first council member to share for this evening will be council member James. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first I would like to congratulate Mayor Amada Marcus Simila for winning the Bush Fellowship Award and it listed Mayor Connector Cultural Resilience Builder and I really think that is so wonderful. You have been an inspiration to so many in our city. Congratulations on the prestigious Bush Fellowship. I don't know if you guys heard that's pretty big deal. Also, um, congratulations to Columbia Heights resident Muhidan Warfa who is an advocate for language equity in schools and works in Minneapolis public schools but lives here in Columbia Heights. And also congratulations to Arif Bakar who is a Blaine resident but his work as an educator and community builder happens here in Columbia Heights at the school. So, we have connection to three Bush fellows in our city. It's really fantastic. Also, my heart goes out to the family of Manny Collins. Um, uh, there isn't any information that I have to offer, but I do invite you to look at the press conference and the press releases that have been posted by the city of Columbia Heights Police Department and the Yoka County Sheriff's Office. Um, all of us on council have been kept in the loop and we are wishing good things. I am praying for the return and just worried about um that family and praying for them today. The other items on my report um on May 29th, I was able to visit our new Wings Financial Credit Union that is relocated here in Columbia Heights right in this very building for their grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting. It's wonderful to see businesses investing here in Columbia Heights. On May 30th, I was able to speak at the civics class at Columbia Heights High School. I know others have as well. Uh we had an invasive species removal committee project and it was so much fun to uh pull all sorts of garlic mustard and thistles and other Virginia creeper from around our city's uh the ponds that are above the Silver Lake boat launch. And if you haven't heard about those ponds, they're just a fantastic way to keep pollutants from going into Silver Lake. and they're very high-tech and they're high-tech in a really cool way, but they have a lot of plantings and so we worked with our city forester as well as some members of the invasive species committee of the sustainability and we had a great time. I also visited the Columbia Heights Powow at the Columbia Heights High School. The highlight for the community to know is that this is our 11th annual pow-wow and the 11th straight year that Columbia Heights Native American community has had a 100% graduation rate. So it's pretty fantastic to see. And then this year to mark the occasion, they received an eagle staff from elders from one of the reservations. So it was very special. Uh the mayor and I had a meeting with the school resource officer team to work on next year's contract. Met with the city manager for our EDA work sess work last month uh or last week. We did a facade improvement grant for a new business coming into Columbia Heights right across from um from Sarna. there's a new business and so we're working with that and then we had a discussion on how are we going to help our um naturally occurring affordable housing in Columbia Heights especially the multi-units because we all know things are expensive so we're looking at developing a program to do some loans or assistance for people who have two units or more to fix up the buildings to make sure that they can keep those affordable housing in Columbia Heights and then we had a work session and one thing I just want to share with the community is our water meter replacement project is going good and part of that was checking on how are we doing on lead pipes in our city and we got back that I think we're at 98% of all the water meters and residences have been replaced so we're getting close and of that so far only one of them was identified as having lead so that's really good but 60 have galvanized steel which might be not perfect for your health and so they're working on those but that was a really great report to hear and I'm sure once we complete the project and we have the final numbers that will be public, but we're ongoing. That's a preview. Um, on June 5th, I attended a meeting with the Metropolitan Council about what's happening with the wastewater rates. Wow. Basically, why is it so expensive? And and it's just it's a regionwide problem. They're doing infrastructure updates. They are working with their staff and they're planning out how to keep our water in our area healthy for years to come. It was very detailed. And if you're interested in knowing, they are publishing all of that on the Metropolitan Council website in detail of what are their plans for keeping the different regional wastewater safe and how are they working with that. On June 6th, I attended the Columbia Heights Business Council with leaders here in our area and we listened to a representative from the Minnesota Multif Family Housing Association. Also, I visited some garage sales. So, thank you to those who hosted the garage sales this weekend. And then upcoming um it was mentioned today in our proclamations Junth is coming up and Columbia Heights does not have a celebration but Silverwood Park which is bordering Columbia Heights has their annual Junth celebration. They're actually doing it on the 18th Wednesday night and um it's from 5 to 8:00 p.m. So if you can't make it there the whole time at 6:30 the band Brass Solidarity is playing and it's right next door. It's a fantastic I've been able to go for the last several years to Silverwood Parks Junth and you are all invited. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. Yay. We're so excited for you. Oh, thank you. I guess thank you for the celebr celebratory words. Um thank thank you and council Biscans if you'd like to give your report. Hello. Um hello everybody. Um first off, congratulations to the mayor for winning the Bush Foundation. Bush fellowship from the Bush Foundation award. Thank you. That's very cool. And uh second um also extend my um sympathies or just care about what's happening with Manny's family and and the search for him. I hope they are able to find him alive. Um so um and the third just to piggyback off of uh Rachel's discussion that we had in the work the work session about the Noah. I'm very excited that we're moving forward with that because I know we have 149 apartment buildings in Columbia Height, small ones, a lot of ones that were built in the 60s and 70s and many of them need help in uh renovating their buildings to keep their to help keep their rents low so that we can keep our affordable housing that we already have. So, that's really cool. Um the other thing with the wastewater just again piggyback off of Rachel if I think we're still doing Kevin's left but we're still working on the INI for our residential properties and I know people might be a little upset if they find that theirs needs to be replaced but this does this is one thing that helps keep our wastewater fees lower. They're going to go up but they're a little bit lower because if we can't get a hold of the INI situation in our city the public pipes have already a lot of them and have already been taken care of. Now we're focusing on residential. If cities aren't able to do that, they may be forced to build a new or expand on the wastewater treatment plant that they already have, which will be much more expensive than what it is now if we um if we can manage to get all those INI issues. And INI is when water in clear water rainwater infiltrates your storm sewer um pipes goes into the wastewater management. And so they're paying it's they have to process that too. And so it keeps it brings the prices up. So if I know people might be upset, but it it is very very important that we uh help with that. Um the next item I want to speak about, it came up in the newspaper where I believe I was misqued about u me saying I don't want a grocery store in Columbia Heights. That is not it was taken out of context. I want people to know it's not that I don't want a grocery store. We've been Aladdis who's bought the rainbow site has been looking for almost four years plus for a grocery store to come into our community. They've talked to every business um grocery store in the state of Minnesota and we have not been fortunate enough to nail anyone or have anyone come into our city. So my content my comment was I do not at this point after four years because that's part of the reason it took us so long or has taken us so long at least for the first two or three years is that we were looking for a grocery store is I believe that it's that I do not want a grocery store to hold us back from redeveloping that site in a more timely manner. Um it's uh we could wait years with the way the markets change with grocery businesses and I think it's really important. This is too important of a development to hold it up for that. So that was what I meant if I mis if I misspoke but also I might have been mis uh quoted. So I want to bring that forward because several people have come and talked to me about it already. So just want to put it on record. Um continuing to work in the BS the blooming sunshine garden. Uh most of the annual veggies are planted and this year we decided we're not going to plant deer food. So you will not find tomatoes or peas or green beans or squash. We planted all the foods that deer don't like. So we have, you know, there'll be other sources for that later. Um attended the park and rec commission. Um they are finalizing the park passport. Um attended the alley public hearing for our next six alleys that are going to be reconstructed this um summer. So that's pretty exciting. Some of those are in really bad shape. And then yesterday I had an I was um I attended the eyid picnic for a group of uh kids and um that's led by that learn that play soccer with uh their leader Ged Ged and uh I I I announced what the council had voted on that we approved um the construction of soccer fields in our city and told them that you know make sure they keep an eye out for all the community and those for those folks out there too. There'll be community meetings to get input from the community as far as where it's going to go, how many soccer fields, what sizes, all that kind of stuff. And um the one thing, so they were all very excited. They were super excited because they've been playing in different spots all over town for years. And Guy has been teaching, you know, 70 plus kids a year soccer. So very excited about that. And then one very touching thing that I wanted to share with the council and the audience. I was in my car getting ready to leave and my window was closed and this kid, I think it was around 10 years old, walks up to my window goes, "I want to talk to you." So I lowered the window and he said, "Thank you for the soccer field." And it just was such a touching moment and it meant so much to him and to me it's makes me teeyed, but um it was very meaningful and it was really cool. So he thanks us for the soccer field. So and that's it. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Hopefully we can get a soccer field before that little boy grows all the way up. And that is that is only because things take a while. It's not that is not a dig to the city at all. It just takes a while to get a plan and do it with the right intention and make sure we have the right outreach. So we want to do things right. It sometimes takes a little while. Um thank you council member Biskkins. Council member Denine. Thank you, Mayor. I did want to echo what uh Council Member Jameson Biskin said. Congrats to all of our Bush fellows within the community and our mayor, of course. Um I also wanted to say that the search for Manny Collins is on all of our minds and we are thinking about that family and that young man and hoping for his safe return and reunification with the family. And you know, we can't imagine what that's that's like or what that's what they're going through. Um my other report activities um on May 29th I visited with Mr. Herbert's Civ Herbert's civics class at Columbia I can't speak today Colombia Heights High School. It was a really exciting opportunity to talk to students about public life and local politics that influence their lives every day. We also talked a bit about the youth commission and several kids were really excited about it. So I'm excited to get some more commissioners here soon. Um, on June 2nd, I attended the EDA meeting and council work session with other council members have already gone into, so I won't rehash. Um, on the 3rd, I acted as council leazison for our city planning commission. Um, on June 5th, I attended the alley construction meeting at city hall for those residents whose alleyways are going to be undergoing construction here this summer and into the fall. Um, our city staff led by public works director um, Kevin Hansen did a wonderful job explaining the timing and answering questions for all the residents in the neighborhood who are going to be impacted for roughly 40 days. Um, on June 6th, I attended the business council meeting at city hall where we heard a presentation from the Minnesota Multi-ousing Association. And then I also this weekend got out to enjoy some of the garage sales. It was interesting to see what everybody had and see people meeting and and getting to know each other through through the sales. So, that was fun. That's all for me right now. Thank you. Well, thank you everyone for your kind words um about receiving the Bush Fellowship. It is a a major honor. Um this year 980 people applied for it and there were 81 semi-finalists was announced in January and then yes I found out that I was one of the 29 recipients. So um yeah, a big big honor for me to invest in my leadership and the main thing being that as a leader, how do you sustain your leadership and not um burn out, not get so, you know, you get so invested in your community? Um I think when you when you're in public office, as Council Member Biscans just said, she was just driving her car and and somebody recognized her and wanted to talk to her through her window. So, um, we I think I can speak for the council that we all love being out about in our communities and we love running into people here and at the same time it it does pull on us. Um, for instance, there's really wonderful stories um like Connie Bis just shared. Um, also I had um a community member reach out to me to share um she's a senior citizen. And then I met her at the senior in a painting class and she called to let me know that her son had passed away. Um, and so those are the ways that like we really connect with our community that even members just want to let us know because they know it'll be important to us to hear where their families are at and stuff. So we get very we're very invested in our community and sometimes that can be a lot. Um, so thank you. the Bush Fellowship will be one of those ways that I can see how I can uh continue to move forward and keep having our community be part of that. Um over the past two weeks, I've had the honor of representing Columbia Heights at many things and conversations. Um on May 29th, I served as an MC for the mediation restorative services second annual summit. Um this is an organization that one of our police um officers is on the board at the mediation restorative services and our police chief used to be a board member. Um but really we our police department reaches out with mediation and restorative services to just um kind of help themselves with learning how to um dig into their values more but then also learning a lot of techniques about mediation. So, it was a real powerful um conference. Um really shows people about listening, showing care for others, withholding judgment, especially I think with our police department. Um those are great skills to have. Um I was out of town visiting family, uh dealing with a lot of health issues with my family. So, unfortunately, I missed the last council work session, but I do want to thank council president Rachel James for running the meeting and stepping in on in my absence. So, thank you for leading. Um, and um, but I did submit my comments and questions in advance, but I really appreciate the continued collaboration of our council um, and appreciate the support of the council to of course support me and making time for my family um, and understanding the importance of that. And of course, that means sometimes we miss our council responsibilities too. But, uh, we just always are talking talking with the city manager. So, we're are very much in good conversation. Um, on June 2nd with Council Member James, I met with the school board, our police about our student outreach officer um and how our contract is uh evolving and and where we want it to go. So, that's been an ongoing conversation. I think it'll always be a living document that we're making sure we respond to our schools and students and community in the best way possible. Um, I attended our monthly operation pollination meeting where we share updates on the school garden, our blooming sunshine garden at Wianaki Park, and then brainstorming other volunteer ideas to support pollinator habitats in Columbia Heights. Um, I joined our final planning session for our upcoming peace breakfast. Uh, and I'm just one of the volunteers on it, but it is at Merion Hall tomorrow um at 7:30 in the morning at uh at for breakfast. The breakfast is going to be catered by a fixed coffee. Seats are $20 a person. There's still a few seats left, so if you just want to come in and grab a seat, you're welcome to do that. Um, and then all of the uh profits are going to Missions, Inc., which is a supportive housing um location that's here in Columbia Heights and across the region. I attended the library board meeting uh last week where commissioners received updated training materials on how to respond if a public meeting is disrupted and I just want to share how grateful I am to our volunteer commissioners and board members for helping shape our city's success. I volunteered with the Every Meal program delivering food to students at Valley View Elementary. Um, and thank you to all who help support addressing food insecurity in our schools. And I know council member Denine also volunteers in that program as well, but this is our last one of the school year. Um, so, uh, excited for our children and students to move into summer. Met with the city manager for our regular weekly check-ins to stay updated on city operations. Um, today I met sorry I attended the regional council of mayors meeting where we heard from conservation Minnesota, the Minneapolis Foundation, Minneapolis downtown council, and the attorney general's office. And the focus was about 2025 being declared the year of water, which I heard other council members talk about. So really highlighting the importance of protecting our w water quality in our homes, our lakes, rivers, and streams. Um, and we definitely play a role in sharing this responsibility. But it was interesting for me to be at that meeting for lunch today and then hear both of you have different stories about how water is impacting us. But with the amount of money that uh, Council Bisgens was talking about with needing to have another plant, I mean, there are communities that are in Minnesota that are really struggling and they don't have uh, the best water. they it's going to cost $400 million just to redo their water. I mean the there it's it's astounding and we just cannot take water for granted. So um it was just was interesting that we are all talking about this because it's that important. I also made a note to bring up um Council Member Bisgens being misqued in the newspaper because I've received phone calls as well and I have very much set that very clear to people and they have said right away, "Okay, thank you." Because I was surprised. I didn't think she would say she didn't want. So, what Connie Bisgens has said is she would love a grocery store, but let's get also also let's get busy getting moving forward with this uh location. So I have definitely cleared clear clear the air on that. Um and then the last thing I want to share uh which um also along with the rest of the council just letting people know that I have had multiple conversations with our police chief regarding the ongoing search for Manny Collins and it's been going people have said kind of like why wasn't discussed earlier. this has been worked on since the beginning and there's just a lot to a lot of details to be sensitive about with the family and that's the most important. So, as the public, if you feel like you didn't hear something the first day, there's maybe a reason for that. Um, but our police chief, the county sheriff, there everyone has been very, very invested in communicating and searching for Manny. Um, who is a 16-year-old boy has been missing for over a month. Um, but my heart goes out to Manny's family during this really terrifying and painful time. And I'm just grateful to our officers and staff who are working overtime to find answers. So, that is all I have to share, but um I'll take it over to our city manager. Thank you, Madame Mayor, uh, council. Just a few updates on some events. So, the annual art and info fair is next Wednesday, June 18th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Huet Park West near the splash pad. Highlights of the event, um, there'll be 40 plusformational booths, uh, 10 plus arts and crafts vendors. There'll be free tacos from Tacos Los Primos while supplies last. That part of the event is sponsored by Magnify Financial. and there'll be a Raptor Center uh presentation at 5:00 pm. Um the passing of a Columbia Heights former Columbia Heights police officer is worth mentioning. Um the city's deeply saddened to hear and announce the passing of former officer Mike McGee. He passed away on May 22nd, 2025. Officer McGee served the Columbia Heights community for over 30 years 1977 to 2007 in various roles including uh investigations, school resource officer, and street patrol. Uh reminder that city offices will be closed on June 19th in observance of Junth. And then um finally, just another reminder of the EAW, the environmental worksheet related to the Medronic site. There's a public comment period open. So, um, get in contact with the city's community development department if you'd like to know more. But the EAW is a document that evaluates the potential environmental impacts of that proposed project. It's required by uh Minnesota Environmental Regulation and it's designed to inform decision makers and gather public input before the final project approvals are granted. And I was notified um by the city's communications and engagement coordinator, Will Rottler, that we do in fact have a website or web page dedicated to um the Svin Lake Park redevelopment plans. It doesn't include um the artwork, but if you search um fitness court at the city's website, you will be um taken to that web page that um has a description of what's going on, plan changes, and a timeline. So, Madame Mayor, thank you for sharing that, and I appreciate that staff are involved in the meetings current in real time and can get us information like that. So, I appreciate um the update on the website and the website is always in flux. So, there are things that are always changing and we respond as best we can to having updates on the website. But, um if something's missing, I have always found staff is amicable to get it up as soon as possible. Um any other comments from the council. All right. Well, then thank you everyone for joining us this evening. I feel like this was a really robust amazing meeting actually. We've touched on so many um so many uh what should I say? So many important things in our city. All right. If there's nothing else, I might have a motion then to adjourn. Uh the community forum is at the beginning of the meeting in January. Sorry about that. Yeah. If you'd like to leave a note though, you could we can contact you. But the next meeting will be in two weeks then. Um, not during the meeting, but uh, the city manager and I could talk to you at the end of the meeting. All right. Thank you. Any Can I have a motion then to adjurnn? So moved. Second. I have a motion by council member Denine and a second by council member Bisgens to adjourn the meeting. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And the meeting is adjourned. Thank you and good night.