All right, then. All right, we're going to start our meeting for tonight. Um, welcome to everyone here in the council chambers and watching our recording. Uh, this is our city council meeting for Monday, July 14th. And we will start with a roll call. >> Council member Spriggs >> here. >> Council member Denine >> here. Council member James >> here. Council member Biskins >> here. >> Mayor Marquez Simila >> here. Thank you. Uh we will start our meeting with the pledge of allegiance. So if you're able to please stand and join me in saying the pledge >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Next, we have our approval of the agenda. And does anyone on the council have any items they'd like to change or have questions about? All right. Seeing none, then I have a motion then to approve the agenda as presented. So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion by council member Tenine and a second by council member Spriggs. Any discussion? Seeing none, then all in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? And the motion passes. Next, we have our proclamations and we will start with our mediation center anniversary celebration and uh council member James will read this proclamation. >> Thank you, mayor. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the science of spir spirituality meditation center. The city of Columbia Heights recognizes and celebrates the 10th anniversary of the science of spirituality meditation center located at Van Beern Street in Columbia Heights for a decade of dedicated service to individuals seeking inner peace, mental clarity, and spiritual growth. Since its founding in 2015, under the guidance of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Marahaj, the center has become a beacon for community well-being, offering accessible meditation programs, cultural enrichment, and compassionate outreach that foster peace, resilience, and a place of belonging. The Science of Spirituality Meditation Center has formed meaningful partnership with the city of Columbia Heights, including providing meditation sessions to our police and fire departments. These sessions support our first responders in managing the emotional toll of serving our community with compassion and courage. By cultivating a welcoming space for reflection and healing, the center has helped countless individuals connect more deeply with themselves and one another, demonstrating that inner peace is a powerful foundation for community harmony. Thank you. Now therefore, I, Amada Marcus Simila, Mayor of Columbia Heights, do hereby recognize and congratulate the Science of Spirituality Meditation Center on its 10-year anniversary and encourage all residents to reflect on the importance of mindfulness, compassion, and peace in building a stronger and more connected community. And this evening um Arvid Nike was not able to attend. So we will just hold on to the proclamation and give it to him the next time I see him. Um our next proclamation is for his holiness the 14th Daly Lama day. And I will read this one. Uh July 6, 2025. His holiness the 14th Daly Lama Tenzen Gatso born on July 6 1935 is globally recognized as a spiritual leader Nobel Peace Prize laurate and a tireless advocate for peace, compassion and nonviolence. July 6 marks the 90th birthday of his holiness the 14th Daly Lama. Throughout his life his holiness has dedicated himself to four principal commitments. promoting basic human values such as compassion and forgiveness, encouraging interfaith harmony and understanding among the world's religious traditions, preserving Tibetan language, culture and identity while advocating for the rights and autonomy of the Tibetan people and fostering awareness of the importance and ancient Indian knowledge particularly concerning the mind and emotions through education and dialogue. His holiness has inspired Columbia Heights residents through his visits and his personal example encouraging mutual respect, inner peace, and a shared commitment to the common good. Columbia Heights celebrates these principles of compassion, respect, and unity as essential to our community and our way of life. The Tibetan-American Community Center in Ianti actively upholds the teachings and legacy of his holiness through cultural preservation, education, and service, enriching the cultural fabric of Minnesota and our city. Since 1992, the Tibetan-American Foundation of Minnesota along with local Tibetan organizations has supported the vibrant Tibetan community in our state. Minnesota is home to the second largest Tibetan population in the United States in w which continues to enrich our cultural, economic and social landscape while honoring their heritage and advancing human rights. Colombia Heights affirms its commitment to uplifting the Tibetan community through continued learning, cultural exchange, and meaningful collaboration. Now therefore, I am Amada Marcus Simila, Mayor of Columbia Heights, do hereby proclaim Sunday, July 6, 2025, as his holiness the 14th Daly Lama Day in the city of Columbia Heights, County of Anoka, state of Minnesota, USA. And we have some guests arriving to receive our proclamation. And we are so happy to have you here this evening. Yes, thank you. Yes. and welcome. Thank you. in the middle. Just don't think Perfect. for you. >> I was helping you Well, thank you so much for coming in today. We're so happy to have you and um just many many blessings for you to come in and share with us today. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> And if you could introduce yourself again. >> Yes. Um my name is Damuel Tiki. I'm the chair member of the spiritual care for Tibetan American Foundation. We call it TAPM. Um u first of all madam I would like to thank you for honoring this um proclamation for his own dam on July 6th birthday day and uh thank you all council member for um approving this proclamation as well. Um I would like to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to speak in front of you all on behalf of Tibetan board members. Um um I would like to share a little bit of information about um uh his holiness of Daly Lama and about a little bit about Tibet. Um his holiness was born on July 6th 1935 as marked this year as uh 90th birthday. He is a renowned global spiritual leader and long life advocate for uh peace and compassion. His holiness not only pre uh preached the value of love and compassion to the world leaders but has also uh embodied these principle through his commitment to peaceful dialogue and nonviolence and meaningful reforms. Um it is important to note that neither his holiness nor Tibetan living inside or outside the Tibet are seeking for full independence uh from China. Instead, we are advocating for genuine autonomy, a framework that allow uh all the um allow for the preservation of Tibetan culture, language, religion, education and natural resource within the uh people people republic of China. Uh Dalama formally retired from his political leadership role on March 20 uh March 10th of 2021. Oh, sorry, correction. 2011, his announced his decision to step down from his position for political leader for the Tibetans in exile government, paving the way of democracy uh democratically elected leaders. Um sorry there's so >> it's okay. No, no, no rush. Um his uh his holiness uh the Daly Lama has been awarded to Nobel Peace Prize in December 10th of 1989. Uh also a US congressional gold medal in 2007 and recently awarded the gold Mercury award for peace and sustainability in 2005 by gold Mercury Internationals. Also a little bit about Tibet. Uh Tibet is called the roof of the world and also the third they also call it third pole also and the water tower of Asia. So most of the rivers in uh Asia like all the waters are flowing from the Tibet mountains. So that's why they call it roof of the world. uh as a uh has facts uh faced challenges to the autonomy of spiritual condition by people um republic of China since 1949. This led to Tibetan speaking refugees in Nepal, India and the west. The Tibetan community in exile led by his holiness Daly Lama works to uh preserve Tibetan language, culture and religion inspiring global admiration. Tibetan culture emphasizes peace, compassion, and resilience. Minnesota is the home of second Tibetan largest community in the United States. Uh we have about uh 5,000 Tibetan people. I think there's more. We're still counting because we have a lot of babies born being born at the moment. So uh uh Tibetan Foundation of Minnesota um registered nonprofit 501 uh C 5013C um in 1992 established as residential uh resettlement program organization. Uh US immigration act of 1990 granted thousand immigrant visas to Japan living in India and Nepal. uh 160 Tibetans settled in 1992 to 1993. So they all moved from Nepal and India to United States and this uh 2025 second largest Tibetan community in North America. M uh majority Tibetan uh lives in the Twin Cities. Um there's a lot more moving now in Blaine and you know furthermore as well too but majority like in in the Twin Cities. So um um the the last part of the Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people. In Tibet, simply holding a portrait of his holiness um or displaying Tibetan flag can result into arrest, imprisonment or even dead without trial or due u pro process. The peace impression of culture and spiritual identity are threat as a crime. But here in the United States, the country now I call home. Uh this is my rights. Here I can honor my heritage, speak Tibetan freely and hold up the image of uh our spiritual leader, his holiness Daly Lama and uh the flag without the fear. uh this freedom uh is something I cherish deeply and something I hope one day utan insight will be able to experience. Uh finally thank you all for um you know taking the opportunity to let me speak here in front of y'all um and um recognizing the proclamation u of joy July 6 as as the peaceful compassion day. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for coming in tonight and um >> I hope I didn't mess up. >> You did great. >> I tried to speak slowly, but this is my first time >> and speaking publicly is the first time, so it's like nervous. >> This is the perfect place to try it out. And um thank you for being on the board. I know how much work it is to to do those sorts of things and it can be thankless. Um, I was just in Ianti for the 90th birthday celebration and there must have been a thousand people >> I think so >> there. It was an incredible celebration. So great job working on that and keeping all of that everything moving forward. But we are so honored to have you here. Um, I also know the mayor of Edina. >> He um also signed a proclamation. >> Yes. and he received a letter from China, the Chinese consulate in in uh Chicago. Um but >> I didn't want to go in depth of that one because you know it is little private conversation I guess you know I don't want to be rude or anything like that. >> No, that's okay. But I say that even though I know that that is a a possibility to receive that we still um have many Tibetans in our community and we stand strongly with you >> um and all people that are displaced. So we're very happy to stand by your side. I think I can say on behalf of our council. >> Thank you. >> So thank you. >> And we're also hosting next year as uh Tibetan Midwest in Minnesota. We we do rotation uh from here Madison and then to Chicago as in west of uh the United States. So this next year following uh on July like in the month week of that July 6 through whatever dates we're going to be setting we'll be having a big celebration. All the community is going to be joining in from different states playing cricket, soccer, um basketball and all kinds of games. And you know we will be having a lot of uh different community coming in into the Twin Cities to celebrate his holiness next year. >> Great. Well, let us know >> and please join us if you guys can in advance. >> Well, thank you so much. Thank you again for coming in this evening and you're welcome to stay. We have a um another recipient for our proclamation and um and then we have some reports. So we have kind of some more fun things to listen to. So you're welcome to stay or you may leave whatever your schedule allows. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you >> for for the time. >> Thank you. Um, and now before we go, we will actually ask um our friend and neighbor Arvid Nike to come on up to the um podium. We have just read the proclamation for the um 10 year anniversary and so yes, absolutely. Yes. Um so if you'd like to speak um about the um spirituality center, the science spirituality center and then we would love to do a photo with you both. Perfect. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. So glad you could make it. >> Thank you so much uh honorary mayor uh madam and the city council. Thank you so much and the city staff management uh and the staff for helping and also the honorary guests uh from all over the world in Tibet our beloved Tibet and uh you know science of spirituality it's a global non nonforprofit spiritual organization dedicated to transforming lives through meditation under the guidance of Sant Rajendra Singh Gi Maharaj he's a spiritual master a scientist an engineer who travels around the world helping people find inner peace through meditation and we strongly believe that um the inner peace of human being will lead to the outer peace. If individuals will be peaceful they will help lead to the peaceful families and peaceful families will lead to peaceful communities and the peaceful communities will eventually help make a peaceful world. uh but it all begins with me or begins with us and that's where the meditation plays a very critical role uh with its uh centers about 3,500 centers around the world uh science of spirituality strives to help individuals and communities achieve deeper richer and inner and spiritual life and a stronger sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. We're uh um we have millions of people around all nationality, races, faiths. Uh we're deeply committed to bettering ourselves uh and the world through the spiritual way of living based on meditation, ethical living, and regards to life. We welcome you to join our centers and it's only a few blocks away, probably a couple of blocks from here. uh a Minneapolis meditation center. We're celebrating 10 years uh this year uh of the center and thank you ma for being at the center at the center and giving a wonderful speech and enlightening us and uh looking for a great partnership with the city of Columbia Heights. Uh we consider it a city of peace. uh and uh yeah so uh throughout the and what why meditation just a quick word uh you know this meditation is ancient thousands of years uh wisdom has been taught and and no teacher says they invented it just because humanity across the world knows about it we call it different words different names like inner peace uh silent prayer prayer with attention going within inversion and so forth so Um but we know the science behind it is that whatever we call it uh it helps achieve peaceful fulfilling life through uh by one experiences profound peace within because we are spiritual beings having a human experience and spirit by nature is very very peaceful and full of light. So we all have to just experience it and when we experience it we also see that the same light in all other human beings and we're also very family friendly. My wife uh she has been teaching children for her life or many many years. I'm not going to say how old she is. So but she has been teaching and uh our center is uh thriving with little kids from two three year old to 20 year old young people. So and uh anything you want to add and yeah we are free all of our center activities are free completely everybody's just a volunteer we all have our jobs our professions we only come here because we we care about our own peace but also help other peaceful people. So it's all free and we also offer a good vegetarian meals after the end of every program. So even if you are not interested in meditation, a good delicious vegetarian meal uh won't won't be bad thing to experience. So uh thank you so much. Uh do you want me to re read this or what do you want to >> Well, actually we'll have you come up and we'll do a photo together. >> Thank you so much. But really really grateful for all the Columbia High City and and the city staff and everyone. So thank you so much. >> Thank you so much for coming in. All right. Our next proclamation is for uh disability independence day. And Connie, before you start, I just wanted to read a little thing quick. We'll have council member Bisgens is going to read it, but I wanted to share uh something personal. My daughter lives with long COVID and she has um brain fog, joint pain, reduced lung capacity, and she now uses a wheelchair and she is 32 years old. Um watching her adjust to this new way of life has taught me a lot, not just about her strength, but about how society still falls short in supporting people with disabilities. One thing I've learned is that disability is the only minority group that anyone can join at any time. It can happen suddenly and without warning. I'm grateful for the protections the ADA has provided, but I also see how much more work we have to do to make spaces truly accessible to listen and to lead with empathy. So, this is uh this proclamation is personal to me. Um and so, Connie, if you could read the proclamation. Thank you. Um, July 26th marks Disability Awareness Day in the United States, celebrating the landmark signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, in 1990. This groundbreaking federal legislation prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and mandates that employers make reasonable accommodations to ensure qualified employees with disabilities can perform their job responsibilities effectively. Beyond commemorating this historic milestone, disability awareness day serves as a platform to recognize the continuous efforts made throughout the year to advance disability awareness and advocacy. The observance emphasizes the critical importance of building accessible communities, fostering inclusive environments, and ensuring that individuals with disabilities have equitable access to all areas of society. For community members of Columbia Heights with disabilities, this day carries dual significance. It honors the transformative civil rights victory achieved through the ADA while also acknowledging the persistent work required to guarantee comprehensive inclusion across every facet of community life whether in educational institutions, workplaces, public facilities or civic participation. The day reinforces Columbia Heights commitment to removing barriers and creating pathways for full community engagement for all residents regardless of ability. Now therefore, I, Amada Marcus Simila, mayor of the city of Columbia Heights, do hereby proclaim July 26th as Disability Independence Day in the city of Columbia Heights, County of Anoka, state of Minnesota, USA. Thank you all. Um, and I would just like to take a moment to also, um, have a round of applause for our guests for coming in this evening. Thank you for speaking. Thank you so much for being here. We're going to move forward with our strategic plan, but you're welcome to um to leave or stay however you'd like to. >> Thank you again. >> Hello. Welcome, Phil. Hi there. >> Um our next part of our our meeting tonight is our final strategic plan report and this will be presented by Phil Kern. So, welcome and thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of the council, city staff. Um, great to be with you here tonight and share with you the uh results of your work, our work on uh developing and updating your strategic plan. Uh, we uh developed this over the course of several workshops earlier this year. And uh I'm going to present for you tonight a summary of that work and talk a little bit about uh how we reached uh what is in in the report for you to consider this evening. I understand uh it is an action item for you on your consent agenda tonight. Um but I would like to take a few minutes to uh talk through both the process and uh the outcomes that we are recommending uh for your adoption tonight. Uh the strategic planning process uh really encompassed about encompassed three activities, three uh large-scale um discussions uh that that we engaged in over the course of a couple workshops. Uh those discussions focused on uh developing and establishing a long-term direction, a vision for your uh organization uh as you lead the community. We also discussed and evaluated uh current conditions, what is happening in your community today and what are the things that uh that both you need to uh be prepared for that you have the opportunity to build upon uh and the the things you have the opportunity to take action on to lead your community in the direction that uh you all see fit. And then lastly uh the strategic plan develops a short-term goals plan for you which I will talk about uh in this evening's presentation. So uh starting starting from the uh the the long-term vision uh the long-term direction uh we developed a series of core strategies as a statement of of the vision of the community, a vision of your organization. Uh those core strategies um identify the the pillars of the organization, the pillars of the community and how you see uh the organization best leading the community. We identified six core strategies. uh those strategies as they appear on the screen uh are that that you envision uh the organization leading in a way uh where the community grows with purpose and equity that you have highquality public spaces for a healthy and sustainable future. You're a city that is safe, accessible, and built for everyone. You're an organization uh that is engaged, effective, and forwardthinking. uh that you see a future having a resilious resilient and prosperous economy and that your community is one that is inclusive and connected where everyone uh is welcome. Now each of these core strategies uh we spent a a considerable amount of time talking about um what that means to you and how do you uh define that? How do you see these six pillars, these six core strategy statements uh impacting the community? Uh I won't read these verbatim, but just in terms of a summary of them, uh looking at each of those six core strategies and those vision statements, starting with a community that grows with purpose and equity. Uh this statement um uh is is supported by uh six strategic objectives that you envision growing intentionally through vibrant mixeduse development, supporting economic vitality, housing options for all and the culture of a close-knit community. Uh your redevelopment will reflect core values uh that you will ensure the availability of full range of housing options that support residents at every stage of life and income level. that you'll look to signature redevelopment projects that will enhance your identity. Uh vibrancy of corridors and expand business opportunity. Uh that you envision making land use decisions that will embrace density in the right places to support transit walkability, commercial viability, and safety. And that redevelopment will support a stronger tax base for your community while complimenting your existing and established neighborhoods. The second core strategy of highquality public spaces for a healthy and sustainable future. Uh you envision creating public spaces that are beautiful, attractive, and welcoming. Uh designed with community input, prioritizing health, connectivity, sustainability, and designing spaces with fiscal responsibility uh to meet uh current needs while also uh considering the needs of your future generations. The third core strategy ensuring that you have a city that is safe, accessible, and built for everyone. Uh you will get there uh through the process um that that you envision a community where people of all abilities feel safe, supported, and free to move about um by foot, bike, transit, or car. Uh you your public safety approaches will be proactive, community-based, respectful to all, and professionally staffed. uh that your infrastructure decisions utilizing smart designs, prioritizing safety, visibility, walkability, vibrant neighborhoods. You'll continue to invest in multimodal infrastructure and transit. And you'll uh foster a culture of shared responsibility where all residents feel secure and respected. Fourth, engaged, effective, and forwardthinking organization. Um, as uh elected officials and city staff, uh, you will lead with integrity. Um, excuse me, equity, integrity, innovation, and excellence. You're committed to and invested in organizational success. Uh, you'll be guided by a strategic plan, uh, investing uh, in systems and technology and staff to meet evolving community needs. Uh, communication will be a priority. Um, you'll be timely, transparent, inclusive. uh with the intent of building trust within your community. Uh you will continue to modernize your internal processes so they're flexible, effective, and outcome driven and proactively support developing talent and succession planning uh to maintain that organizational strength. The fifth core strategy strategy the resilient and prosperous economy. Uh you envision a destination uh for businesses, entrepreneurs, and investment um that are supported by economic diversity and long-term opportunity. Uh your commercial corridors will be attractive will be active, attractive, and complimentary to your neighborhood identities. Uh you'll support innovation, enhance job creation, uh and create investment that create investment in the community. Uh and work towards a reliance and e uh easing reliance on residential property taxes. building that commercial base to uh to help shoulder some of the property tax load. Uh fiscal planning that will balance affordability with a delivery of high quality services and infrastructure and connectivity uh to support business success and community access. Uh lastly, the sixth core strategy uh you envision an inclusive and connected community where everyone is welcome. I just have to say as a as a guest um that has been with you and and made this presentation several times over the year, it's always fun to see these proclamations and you welcoming uh different members of your community and uh living this very core strategy that you have here. Uh but you you will uh continue to celebrate and embrace uh your diversity, encourage participation, foster strong relationships between neighbors, businesses, staff, council, and organizations. uh your entire community will have access to information uh and you will try to you will seek opportunities for engagement that reflect your cultural and linguistic diversity. Uh you envision uh your city leadership reflecting your community, your board's commission and city leadership. Uh creating pathways to civic involvement and leadership for youth and underrepresented groups. encouraging outreach uh or encouraging connection through outreach, community events and programs and that your community members will be uh will feel welcome, heard and empowered to shape the future of your city. So with that as a basis of your long-term vision, a statement of your priorities and statement of your organizational uh long-term strategy, uh we went through the process of discussing what's happening in your community today as it relates to those priorities and brainstorming uh potential goals, uh things that you could work on now in the short term, uh things that should be organizational priorities over the coming two to three years. Uh once we brainstormed uh that list of goals uh we went through a prioritization process where you had the opportunity uh in the strategic planning process to identify uh which of those brainstorm goals were most important to you. Uh we present those to you as uh we work through them that evening. You have the opportunity uh obviously to modify this should you see fit. Uh but ultimately we came up with eight goals that um that uh generated a consent at least a majority of the council's support in terms of being of the of the highest priority. Uh those those goals were to develop a financial plan for major projects including a timeline for redevelopment of the municipal services center hall renovations. Uh that plan it was noted should should outline multiple funding sources and potential ways to uh fund those projects. A second uh high priority goal was to develop a campaign to support businesses uh during the upcoming Central Avenue construction. Ideas like creating a survival kit, making sure that uh during that process you have active engagement and you're getting feedback from uh your business community uh as you implement that STR or that that goal. Third, completing your road zone safe streets for all plan uh including funding short-term projects uh and completing alley replacement. Fourth, conducting a staffing study and developing a plan for updating your personnel policies, having programs for retention, making sure that you're able to uh retain your employees uh that are doing the work of the city. Uh fifth was developing a new parks master plan. six was creating a public art plan for purpose of developing a sense of pride through art and plantings and design. Um I think that has been an item that has continued to be uh on your on your goals list and your strategies list over the years. Uh as well as number seven, developing a climate action plan. Uh I believe the uh one of the objectives was to aspire to implement purchasing guidelines move your city up to green step three level. um in uh in the partners with energy program. And then lastly, the uh uh eighth high priority goal is developing tenant protection policies uh and ordinances. Uh we had a few goals that uh received some support uh that I shouldn't say some support that is that's the wrong way to characterize it. Uh I gave you a limited amount of goals to to prioritize. So, these were also goals that had a priority of the council and staff. Uh, just didn't have quite as many dots when we went through the exercise. But, uh, these would be goals that I would recommend as opportunity goals. They're still goals that are important to you. And as opportunities present themselves, uh, over the next couple years, you invest, uh, and focus on them where you can. Uh, one of the goals you came up with was creating partnerships with post-secary and trade schools to create internships and apprenticeships uh, in the trades with the goal of not just recruiting locally but also leading uh, to increased opportunities for full-time employment uh, for the members of your community. Fully establishing a code enforcement system was another goal. Uh, another goal was bettering um, I think there's a typo there, but strengthening the bond, increasing engagement um, and exploring partnership uh, between businesses and and city events, those events that you have where you would have the opportunity to partner with some of your businesses um, expanding those partnerships that you have. And then lastly, reviewing your zoning code um and uh considering reform to meet some of the housing needs that were identified in the process uh and align with that strategic vision. So with that, uh you'll you'll hear some of the same recommendations. Some of you have heard from me in the past. Obviously, now is the time as you adopt these priorities and you set this long-term vision uh and short-term goals uh for you to continue that process and your staff would continue that. Um developing action plans um coming up with measures and action steps uh to accomplish those goals and then implementing and monitoring that progress. um you have the opportunity, I appreciate the opportunity to share this with you tonight as a means to uh communicate your work and your priorities to your community uh and to continue to stay in touch and engage with your community as you go. Uh and then lastly, you know, the we uh we we meet over the series of a couple uh workshops. Um they have a you know, a set time and place. Uh but the world changes, things happen. um uh uncertain times uh uh take place as we implement this. So uh keeping consistency is important to this but also revisiting making sure that you uh revisit and refocus uh as need be over as time goes on. But I appreciate the opportunity to share this with you. If you have any questions for me, be happy to answer them. But thank you again for the opportunity to work with you and look forward to seeing your progress and successes as you move forward. I'll just say thank you for coming in and it's um so great to have a visitor who also gets to be a part of a celebration with our community and to have you recognize um how inviting that is to to have that. So, thank you for pointing that out. Um and uh any other comments from the council? Well, I would just like to also have a little round of applause for all the work we did as staff and council with Phil's help to come up with these plans. Thank you. Next we have our um community forum. Is there anyone here to speak on the community forum? >> There is not and there's no one online either. >> All right. Okay. And if we have no one here then for the community forum, we will then move to our city manager's response um to our past community forum questions. >> Erin, thank you. >> Madam Mayor, members of the council, thank you. So, not a lot of um back and forth Q&A, just a recap of kind of what happened in the community forum last meeting. There was a lot of individuals that came to speak about Medronic site redevelopment plans and then also some Solvin Lake uh Solvin Park plans as well. A lot of those questions and comments were answered during that meeting right after the community forum. Um there's a couple that I would like to address, but then also like to emphasize to individuals that were interested in those topics that the next significant hearing um for those items for the Metronic site uh land use approval process is coming up on July 28th at the next regularly scheduled council meeting 6 p.m. here. So, if you are interested in building height, densities, um storm water, and all of those various questions that were discussed, um please join us at that next um upcoming council meeting. Within the questions, um related to the fitness court and the park redevelopment, there was one specific technical question that we couldn't address um during the the back and forth at the last meeting. There were comments about um impervious surface and you know why is the city installing a sport court with a large concrete um foundation when we have concerns about um impervious service in the area generally and how does that play with the lake and what is the size of that um fitness court concrete. So, uh, it is just under 3,000 square ft of concrete. Um, and is well within, you know, the park is bound by the same impervious surface calculations as a private redevelopment site. And, um, the park doesn't come anywhere close to, you know, being at that max threshold of 35%. It's about 4.75 acres of parkland, and that would allow us to have about 1.6 acres of impervious. So, um, we don't have that many buildings or, um, play structures or trails that, uh, get close to that. So, we're actually removing about 14,000 square feet of impervious surface with the tennis courts. Um, so there's a push and pull, a significant reduction. and some of that might get be added back in as we go to redesign the rest of the park and decide are there going to be basketball courts or some other type of court but um we'll be monitoring imperous surface in the park system just as we are on the Metronic site and then there was comments about uh the city had authorized a significant contract for the sport court foundation concrete specifically um the amount of that that contract is $86,000 and is um funded by community development block grant funds from Anoka County. That was really the only specific question that I would like to address in response to um community forum questions that weren't answered in that in that same meeting. Um the mayor did pass along some questions from somebody um regarding city truck traffic on on roads and if it's more traffic than what's considered normal. Um we'd love to reach out. It could be a project in the area to see what's going on. Um but generally speaking, you know, city vehicles are going to be operating on city roads just like any other vehicle. In the case of a specific project, um the city does look into um excess wear and tear and then we'll account for that on occasion. This project, the city hall project is a good example of that. Um there was significant truck traffic on the roads in and around the vicinity and resident complaints that led to um an increased scope of work for street repair. So, if you have any questions, please reach out. there wasn't a specific area, you know, for that uh concern that we've identified, but if that individual um would like to contact uh either the public works department or myself, we'd be happy to talk that through. And that is all I have. Madame Mayor, >> yes, we're always happy to um have anyone use the report a problem um space on our website if there's any concerns. uh we are happy to get back to people with answers to their questions and if and who knows it may bring up a concern our staff isn't aware of yet but we definitely will look at that. So thank you for for that. All right then we are going to move on to our city or do you have like sorry do you want to do your city manager? Uh sorry we'll do council reports. We're switching things up this meeting. All right so we're going to start with our city council reports. Um, and Council Member James will go first. >> Thank you, Mayor. Since our last meeting, I was able to attend the League of Minnesota Cities annual conference. Some of the sessions that I attended were with the mayor of Duth who spoke about their housing goals in their city and building affordabilities. I also listened to presentation by Carth Foster on the power of community cultural connections. The Metro Cities organization held a housing panel with the Minnesota Housing Finance Association. And so we talked about how they're working on a task force for tenant protections and also for collaboration with um building highdensity housing on transit lines. One of the more interesting sessions that I went to that was really just amazing to hear was from Burnsville. their police chief, fire chief, and city manager prep did a lesson called preparing for the unimaginable, lessons in community crisis management from when they had several of their first responders killed in responding to an incident. And the theme that they talked about was resiliency teams and partnering with other agencies and how like the police chief had to care for her officers that were in there. So neighboring police chiefs took on the role of providing policing and the same thing with the fire chief had to work with the families. So neighboring fire departments took over that and so encouraged everyone in all of our roles to who would you call that would show up on a Sunday morning. I think it was about 6:00 a.m. to help you do your job. Um, then I went to a legislative update impacting cities, a session on active listening, one called 10 things your city attorney wants you to know. And so, oh, they wrote really fast because they spoke really quickly. And then, um, a civility project with two journalists from Detroit. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn in the city of Duth. And then that same Friday was the Jamberee parade. So, thank you to everyone in Columbia Heights who came out. Um, especially to all of our city staff who did so much work to set up for that event and to make it a wonderful time. I got to ride in the new fire truck and that was a great experience. And thank you to the Lions who helped set that up and laid that event and the fireworks were wonderful the next night. Also, we had our July EDA meeting where we worked on a facade improvement grant for the Take Five oil change on Central. I'm really excited to see a new business coming into our community. And we had our work session where one of the things that we went over was our draft um transportation plan. And following the work session, I had a lot of conversations with neighbors who had questions and who wanted to provide feedback. And I just wanted to note that um we are each project will still receive a full consideration as it comes up. But now that we have our plan together, we can move forward on accessing grants and other funding. And then finally, we had our sustainability commission meeting on July 8th, and I'm announcing to everyone in the community that there's an event coming up to remove invasive species in our city. This month, they're going to work on getting buckthornne out of Label Park on August 23rd from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Um, it's going to be led by our city forester, Liam, as well as a task force from the sustainability commission using grant funds that they received. >> Thank you, Mayor. That's it. >> That's great. Thank you so much. Um, Council Biscans. >> Hello, everyone. This feels strange because I'm used to doing it at the end for years, so it's pretty cool. But anyway, um I continue to take care of the immersion flower pots and uh they're taking their sweet time growing right now. So I apologize for that, but we are I am watering them and weeding them. So um attended the MW executive board meeting to go over the next agenda. Um I attended the safer street open house. Um they did a very thorough job in the city and there's a lot of red blotches everywhere showed that serious parts of our residential streets that need help and but they provided a lot of great ideas that hopefully we can implement over the next probably five 15 years um as we go through our road maintenance and reconstruction. Um currently continue to work with volunteers at the Blooming Sunshine Garden. Come check us out. There's several things um that are ready to harvest. um pool with a cop. Great turnout. A lot of busy lot of conversations with folks there. Um was in the jamboree parade and was so impressed with the crowd. I don't think I've ever seen a crowd that thick along around where the Catholic Church is down 40th. I I bought last year I had a thousand pieces of candy that got me through the entire parade. This year I had,00 and ran out before Fifth Street. So I apologize to all the kids there that weren't able to get any for me. I felt bad. um attended the fireworks, a great show, nice attendance. And then the next day was the fire department's pancake fundraiser. That was uh fun to visit with folks. Um then uh as along with the rest of the council, attended the joint school board and city council meeting. Then we had our MWO board meeting. Um, one thing when I was watering plants the other, I think it was last night getting ready for this serious heat we've been having today and tomorrow. I was watering the flower pots immersion and noticed uh uh kids playing soccer in our baseball field. So, when I was going through the check dispersement report for this tonight's meeting, it just it just made my heart sing because sooner than later in 2026, they'll actually have soccer fields. they can have pickup games instead of using the baseball field. It was real interesting how they made that arrangement, but it was it's it's very much needed in our city. So excited about that. Um, speaking of, you know, our goals that we were talking about earlier tonight about connectivity and different groups feel having them feel welcome and meet with each other after the group from our Tibetan proclamation and our meditation center. They were meeting and talking to each other looks like for the first time, introducing each other and then taking a picture together. And that to me is connectivity. I mean, they're just meeting each other for the first time. But just things like proclamations can bring people together as well as all the other things that we try to do in our community. So that was that made me smile. And the other thing just to point out to folks, I don't know if everyone's been noticing, but there are there's a lot down from my house, but we the city has put up signs and our vacant lots where we are now pling to grow pollinator turf. So take time to check out the sign and if you're interested in it, Liam can contact the city. Liam has been working with that throughout our city and some of our parks. Very excited about that. And once that turf gets established, our staff won't have to mow as much. And it also provides food for our pollinators, which is desperately needed because our pollinators are in trouble. So, very happy to see those signs. And that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Biskkins. Next, we'll have Council Member Denine. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, on June 24th, I attended the safe streets for all open house as well with uh, council member Biscans. Uh, we discussed dangerous street areas and possible safety solutions that could be implemented. It was really great to have a lot of discussion around those areas. Um, on June 27th, I attended the J Jamberee parade as well and got to ride along with our wonderful Columbia Heights Fire Department. It was wonderful to see the community out celebrating and enjoying themselves. It was a beautiful night. I got to ride a fire truck. What more could I ask for? Um, I had a great time. And then on June 29th, I attended the fire department's pancake breakfast at Merion Hall, which is always delicious and a fun time to see everybody come out and support our fire department. On June 30th, I attended the city council and Columbia Heights school board meeting where both entities gave updates as well as the CHPD. It was wonderful to hear about our outreach methods that have been implemented in our schools as well as the improvements and absenteeism. And then we're also learning about a new clean air initiative taking place at Value Elementary. That was really interesting. Um on July 1st I acted as leazison for the city planning commission uh where we discussed impervious surface in relation to the proposed Metronic development site. On July 5th, I was a panelist on a panel hosted by Mayor U Marquez Simila at the local convergence convention in downtown Minneapolis where we talked about our inspirations for running for office and what makes you know being a geek fun and what inspires us to be up here and uh kind of our inspirations there was super fun. We had actually a lot of community members from Columbia Heights come out uh to convergence and see that too. So that was super fun. got to answer a lot of community questions and talk about some fun things. And then um on July 7th, I attended the EDA meeting and council work session. And on July 9th, I attended the Columbia Heights Pride Planning Meeting. As a reminder, our familyfriendly Pride event will take place September 13th from 11:00 a.m. to 4M at Cordiac Park. So, we look forward to seeing everyone there. We have some really great performers lined up. There'll be a lot of family activities and vendors and organizations out there that you can stop by and learn more about. And that is it for me this week. >> Thank you. Everyone's been so busy even though we had a holiday in there. All right. Thank you so much, Council Member um Spriggs. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um also attended the EDA and work session with the rest of our council and had a great discussion at that. Um, I was able to watch back our last planning uh meeting from the planning commission um just with a discussion about the Metronic site. Um, I was also able to ride in the Jambbury parade and I was able to ride in the new little mini van that public works has. Um, we got quite a lot of comments as we were writing about what is that and I want one. So, um, that was very popular and people enjoyed that. And then just a um update about the multicultural advisory committee meeting tomorrow has been cancelled. Just wanted to put that out there. So, our next meeting will be in September. September 16th is the date. >> Thank you so much. Um, also had a busy week or a couple weeks actually because we had our third week um where we didn't have a council meeting, but um I have been attended the EDA meeting, council work session with the rest of our council. Um, of course, I meet with our city manager weekly and check in on all things city and get updates on what's what's happening. Um there was no library board meeting uh because of the holiday for July 4th. Um June 30th we attended the joint um school board council meeting and discussed the safety along 49th Avenue is is one of the uh safer street spaces. So talked about bumpouts that will be in place on 49th. Um but also the role of our youth engagement officer who works at the Highlander Center and is working I think evenings for the summer. um July 26th in the parade. Got to ride in a fire truck, but not a fire engine. They are different vehicles. Um and I got to ride along with our new fire assistant uh assistant fire chief Brad. Um but it was so good to see so many community members. I just want to say thanks to the volunteers, city staff, our police, fire, public works department who work a lot of extra um overtime hours to make sure our jamboree is a great success. And of course to the Lions Club for moving all that forward. Um attended the fire department pancake breakfast which is a fundraiser for the fire uh department association. Um continue to connect with residents about central avenue redevelopment. Um alley brush and long grass traffic concerns uh fireworks concerns. But thank you for sharing your voices and ideas. We do work on these together. Um, I also wanted to say that u I'm very thankful to see this in the newspaper, but the loss of Manny Collins continues to weigh very heavily on our community. Um, my heart goes out to his family. I was not able to attend the um the uh vigil that was um his family had hosted. But just so grateful that our community was here to support um the family and friends and grateful to our police and fire department for their long hours searching for answers. Um and I appreciate our city's ongoing commitment to mental health check-ins for staff as they've been managing the emotional toll of this work. Um, as I mentioned earlier, I attended the 90th birthday celebration for his holiness the 14th Daly Lama and that was at the Asanti uh Tibetan Center. We celebrated with butter tea which I don't know if anyone's had butter tea here. It's in it's it's tea with butter. Um which is very different but after the first cup I had a few years ago and I look forward to it when I go I'm like I'm gonna have butter tea. Um and had food from Nepal in India but it's an honor to uplift the Tibetan people and reflect on the experiences of displaced communities around the world. Um on a lighter note I've had monarch butterflies in my yard. I have a lot of milkweed and um it's just a joy to see those butterflies and our pollinators coming and visiting our community. Uh and then finally, this is kind of a nod to our fellow geekiness. Um I did see the new Superman movie and as a lifelong geese geek, one quote stuck with me. Um it isn't the role you play, it's the choices you make. Uh and that really resonated with me as a mayor. Um, I strive every day to make choices that I'm proud of and reflect our shared values and to support the people here in Columbia Heights. So, thank you. And now we'll go to our city manager report. Oh, Connie, you want to say something? Yeah, that's all right. No, >> sorry. Um the school, one thing they did mention that I forgot to mention is that they are placing they're building a geothermal uh heating and cooling system in the Valley View School, which is very exciting for our community. So I just wanted to add that. Sorry. >> Yeah. No, that's all right. >> Thank you. All right. Uh council me or council member, city manager Erin Sherpick. >> Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the council. Just a few items of note. So, um, we've been receiving some inquiries regarding door-to-door solicitors. So, just a public service announcement that Columbia Heights does require door-to-door solicitors, peddlers, and transient merchants to be licensed by the city. If a solicitor approaches your home, it's important to ask them to show their city issued license. Uh, this license should be visibly displayed or easily accessible for ver verification. If a solicitor fails to provide a valid license, uh, please report by calling 911. Uh, music in the park. So, we've got a music in the park event scheduled for this Wednesday, July 16th, that we want to note could be p postponed due to inclement weather uh, in the forecast. The city will make an announcement on noon on Wednesday regarding the status of that event. We need to start gearing up for National Night Out. There'll be a few meetings where we can announce this, but uh Columbia Heights neighborhoods are encouraged to participate in National Night Out, which is Tuesday, August 5th. If you're hosting a block party and would like to request street barricades or a visit from the police department, please register by July 23rd on either the city's website or by calling Officer Tabitha Wood at 7637068110. And finally, um, the library would like to announce, um, that on Saturday, July 19th, from 11:00 am to 1 pm, the Columbia Heights, uh, public library and the Somali Museum of Minnesota will have a traveling exhibition of traditional Somali artworks. That event is free and open to the public. Madame Mayor, >> great. Thank you so much. All right. Oh, yes, Council Biscans. >> Quick question for Erin. Is it possible to get a to print or put on our city website or Facebook page what the city license looks like for the peddlers and the solicitors that come so people know and can compare it maybe because I have no clue what it looks like. >> Yeah, good point. Uh, council member >> possibly. That's a good point. >> I think that's something that we could uh we could do. Yeah, >> Council Member James just mentioned it might make them easier to replicate. >> Oh, >> I don't know. Good, good point. >> So, it's up to we'll have to talk about it. So, >> yeah, I think the point is if you feel uncomfortable, you can, you know, be empowered to ask for that identification and ultimately um, you know, call for police assistance if it's uh, persistent and problematic. So, >> and a reminder, calling 911, you can always say this is not an emergency and it doesn't take away from anyone receiving emergency help. So, it doesn't necessarily mean you're saying someone's a criminal or that there needs to be police presence. You're mostly just making a note that assistance is needed. All right. Well, thank you everyone for our reports and adjusting them towards the beginning of our meeting. Now, we will move to our consent agenda. Are there any items that anyone has questions on? I uh I know that the city manager will go through all the items, but um Council Member James. >> Thank you, Mayor. On number nine, review of the bills. I am interested in page I think it's 120 119 where we have our professional services as council Biskin mentioned the um planning services for the soccer field and the fitness court but also specifically my question is on the engineering firm SRF consulting group. I'm very glad that we are hiring a firm so that we can continue to move forward on these plans. My question for the city manager either now or in the future is what's our plans for continuing to contract this work out? Is this a limited scope? How long? It's on page 120. The engineering consulting group. >> Just trying to get down there. >> Okay. SRF consulting that looks like it's denoted for safe routes to school and you thought that it might be related to the soccer fields. No, I was saying both 119 which delineates. My question is on these outside consulting groups that we're using. Um what's the scope of work and our plan for using them going forward? >> Consult. So WSB for the soccer field scope of work is the engagement process for um community engagement and designing um soccer layouts on multiple potential locations in the city. working with the plan uh parks and recck commission and um the city council to um to develop that entire process. We expect that that concludes in late fall of this year with WSB. um the fitness court. So WSB and Associates did um some of the the layouts that we the council saw for uh potential park amenities in relation to the fitness court. So those schematic plans um they would be the consultant that the city would rely on to bring uh Solivan Lake Park residents through the the engagement process around refining um the rest of the park amenities outside of the fitness court and we expect that process also concludes this fall. Um page 120 SRF consulting related to safe routes to school. I'd have to ask engineering, but that must be um ongoing certification that the improvements. So, there's there's a hold over restoration work related to last year's safe route to school improvements at the at the various school locations. So, I think it's just um winding down those contracts from last year, but I would have to to reach out to to engineering to be certain on that. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions before we have our city manager go through the items? All right. Hearing none, then Erin, would you take us through the items? >> Yes. Okay. So, item one is approval of the June 23rd, 2025 city council meeting minutes. Item two is approval of the June 3rd, 2025 joint city council school board work session meeting minutes. Item three is approval of the July 7th uh city council work session minutes. Item four is acceptance of the June 3rd planning commission meeting minutes. Item five is consideration of resolution 2025-60 which is a rental density cap exemption for the property located at 45384th Street. Um the report I think did a good job of articulating, you know, why it's before the council on appeal and if there were any significant questions that you could pull it. Um since it's not been pulled, I assume the council um agrees with that recommendation of of uh the um issuing the exemption for this property. Item six is adoption of 2020 of the 202526 strategic plan and goal setting report that was reviewed earlier in the meeting with Phil Kern. Item seven is the license agenda which approves uh routine business licenses for the city. Um item eight is the rental occupancy licenses for approval. And then finally item nine is the review of the bills. I would note uh beyond what we discussed specifically that it's a uh a significant amount this term. So about a million dollars more than what the city's used to seeing um in any given month. And the reason for that is that the city recently acted as pass through for the Medronic bond request. So, uh, the developer of the Medronic project had made requests to Minnesota management and budget for low-inccome housing tax credits. The city has to technically make that application and transfer funds from the developer to the state. Um, and for the two projects, the two LITC proposals, it totaled about a million dollars, little over a million dollars. So, over a million dollars of that is um, just pass through. um it'll be coming back through the system because the developer we found out recently was not awarded um the in this round which is what was anticipated by the city. So we'll have to return those funds. They'll come from MMB and go back to the developer um where we expect them to make application again uh in January. So it's a bit of an anomaly that uh is worth explaining. And that is it. Madam Mayor, Council, thank you and thank you for the additional information. Any questions? All right. Hearing none, then I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Have a motion by Council Member Biskins and a second by Council Member James. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none, then all in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. We have no public hearings this evening. So, it takes us to item 10 under ordinances and resolutions. The St. Paul Area Association of Realtors Key Communities Grant Award and Emily Voit, our uh community development coordinator, will introduce our guest and take us through this item. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Yes, I'm happy to inform you this evening that the city of Columbia Heights has been selected as a 2025 key communities program grantee. The city will receive up to $4,500 in grant awards from the local and national branches of the Association of Realtors. A little bit of history about this um this application process in this program. The city's EDA applied for this grant in December 2024 on behalf of the city. The application was through the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors, also known as SPAR. And um as you mentioned, Mayor Becky WGshed from the uh the government affairs director for SPAR is here this evening to give a brief overview of the organization and the history of the program. But if I can quickly quickly summarize it before she starts to speak, it's a program endeavoring to build partnerships, connections between SPAR members and local municipalities by supporting initiatives related to home ownership, placemaking, walkability, and similar themes. This is going to be the fifth year of the program and I will turn it over to Becky to give us a bit a bit more information. >> Thank you and welcome. >> You're doing so much for housing. We're very spoiled that we have organizations such as yours that we get to work with um daily. So, I'm very glad to hear that housing continues to be a priority for Columbia Heights. Yeah. So, Emily did a great job at summarizing um what SPAR is, what we do, but like she said, my name is Becky Wickshide. I am one of the government affairs directors for the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors. Uh we are the trade association for about 7,500 a little over 7,500 realtors on the east side of the river. Um so our territory spans teenytiny townships of 200 people all the way up to St. Paul which is our core city and we have um in our juris jurisdiction all the way up from Max County to good hugh county. So our territory is quite expansive and with that we developed the key communities microrant program to hopefully get to know communities outside of St. Paul especially a little bit better just because as you folks know St. Paul um it's a large city, it's the largest in our jurisdiction and it takes a lot of our bandwidth. So this is our hope um through the key communities microrant program is that we build these connections with communities in our first and second ring suburbs. Um, so specifically with the key communities program, like Emily said, this is our fifth year. We worked with 15 different communities um from both the northern parts of our jurisdiction and the southern parts. Um, so some uh different projects that we've worked on include some placemaking. Um, we've worked with uh a couple in St. Paul, a couple neighborhoods if you're familiar with the Grand A and then the Rice and Larpenter areas of St. Paul. We've also worked with uh Rapids and then Northfield and Burnsville. So those are specifically placemaking projects. So a lot of that comes down to um you know community banners, um like I said, flower baskets. So some different placemaking projects to really build that sense of community that you obviously take very seriously here. A couple other grants that we worked on are uh walkability and wayfinding grants um specifically with areas that have a large trail um system in their community. So we've worked with Bayport connecting to that St. Croy trail system and then also with Farmington and Farbo. So planting the seeds if you folks want to get in on that walkability and wayfinding studies for next year. Um, and then we've also worked with Blaine on housing opportunity grants. So, home improvement, um, as you folks know, aging housing stock is a big issue. So, um, working on home improvement, um, for those those existing housing stock that we have in our cities. So, those are just some um, other projects that we've worked on. But like Emily said, um the project that we're working on with you folks here in Columbia Heights is specifically I want to make sure I get the verbiage right. Um just so we can start publicizing it because it really is a unique um resource that's going to be available for the the community members here in Columbia Heights. Um so you folks with the EDA um are leading a multilingual workshop series aimed at breaking down barriers to home ownership access. uh um across language groups, which we all know is a massive um feat right now. Inventory is incredibly low. I know I'm preaching to the choir. Um but SPAR is a huge advocate for safe, available, and affordable housing. Um which is why we take this so seriously, especially for historically um left out groups when it comes to housing access. Um especially minority groups. And we are so fortunate here in Minnesota to have many diaspora um and they obviously need different access to those resources which is why this multilingual um resources class that Columbia Heights is offering is going to be such a gamecher for those communities. Um so the workshops will provide essential information on financing tools and resources and local regulations ensuring that the content is accessible through native speakers and reliable trans translations. Um just as a an anecdote I bought my house about a year ago a little over a year ago and I work in the industry and it's like learning another language. So, I can't even imagine how um inhibiting it is when you are not a native speaker and you're going through this process. Um so, it's great that the community is is taking this seriously and really making an effort to get um more groups into housing that again have historically been left out. And with that, I'm just really looking forward to continuing this project. Both Emily and Mitch have been phenomenal and just knowing that this is a a joint effort with everybody in the city is really it's profound and it really makes a difference. And I can tell you that every time I talk about this specific project with um some of our members, especially members of our DEI committee, um they're very excited and they like they would like their involvement to be um widespread and they'd like to help us spread those words. So yeah, so happy to stand for questions. Um but again, thank you so much for the time. >> Thank you, Council Member Biscuit. >> I'm off with the button tonight. Um first off, thank you very much for the grant money. It's very well appreciated. I was just curious, you talked about because I was looking at you said promote multilingual resources for home ownership in Columbia Heights. you've explained what the goal is and I was wondering if it's something to think about maybe not it could be for this program or for future programs um once they get into their homes to provide resources and information of things um that can help them with maintaining their home if they want to remodel what things do they need permits for and what not. I know there's, you know, we have a lot of people from various countries and cultures that are owning homes in Columbia Heights and sometimes they're not familiar, but that could be another possible little pocket of information that once they get the homes to help them learn what they need to do to help take care of their home kind of. >> Absolutely. Yeah. We want to ensure that people remain in like attaining the home is one thing, but remaining in a safe property is a whole other thing. I was speaking recently um with a city in on the eastern side of our territory and like I said, you know, reading code, reading city ordinances, it's really hard and I'm a self-professed geek as well and I do this for a living and I still find it difficult. So, yes, I completely agree that that that is should be um if not for this project, definitely one that we can work on again next year. So, >> thank you. Well, if there's no other questions, then just I think we all share our thanks and um you know, fair housing month is really important. We always do a proclamation for that in partnership as well. And so, we're happy to have you here and thank you for joining us for our meeting this evening. >> Yes, it's been a beautiful meeting. I really appreciate that this was the specific one that I got to come to. So, thank you so much. >> Well, they're all beautiful, just so you know. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Okay. Well, then may I have a motion then to uh wave the reading? >> Move to wave the reading of resolution 2025-059 there being ample copies available to the public. >> Second. >> I have a motion by council member Spriggs and a second by council member Denine to wave the reading. May I have um there's no discussion then everyone say I if they're in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> And the motion passes. And next I have a motion to approve the resolution. Move to approve resolution 2025-059. Excuse me. A resolution accepting the key communities grant from the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors in its affiliated national chapter. >> Second. I have a motion by Council Member Spriggs and a second by Council Member Denine to approve the resolution. Any discussion? Hearing none, then all in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. Um, I also will say that I used to be a realtor and I appreciate hearing the word realtor and not realtor. So, >> yep, exactly. They're the same. Yep. This is pronounced realtor, not realtor. Um, so thank you for coming in. Uh, this evening we have no bid considerations or new business and reports. So, that takes us to the end of our meeting. If there's nothing else, I have a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. I have a motion by council member James and a second by council member Bisgens. Any discussion hearing? None. Then all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the motion passes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you and good night.