Good afternoon. I'll call to order this meeting of the Henipin County Board of Commissioners. It is Thursday, February 12th, 2026 and 1:32 p.m.

I'm honored to be here today to present the success and legacy of 25 years of Henipin County's environmental response fund, the county's brownfield redevelopment program that supports the cleanup and assessment of polluted properties.

For the past 25 years, Henipin County's Environmental Response Fund has helped fund the costly cleanup of hundreds of polluted, vacant, and underused community sites, transforming them into community assets.

Menow Bea Disney. It means living the good life in Ojiway.

With more than 6,000 sites still in need of cleanup in Henipin County, the Environmental Response Fund will continue to play a critical role in revitalizing communities.

I just want to say that I remember when the brownfields was legislation because I was actually down there supporting it. Um, and people didn't realize this is a jobs bill because hooked with any of the cleanups are living wage jobs.

Um, thank you, Madam Chair, I also just wanted to say congratulations. um 25 years. It's amazing. And um I want to thank everybody who's a part of the work now and has been a part of that work.

And um I want to thank everybody who's a part of the work now and has been a part of that work. Um just really marvelous history. Um speaking of the history that you shared, I it's my honor to serve St. Louis Park.

I like policy gold because that's exactly right. So, [laughter] thank you. Uh, congratulations to everyone who's been a part of this. This is not just, you know, community building and resilience. This is environmental stewardship.

So, I'm this is a a program that I'm very proud to say that Henipin County offers. It's funding that I'm very proud to say goes a long way in supporting families and the communities that we serve and the land in which we're on. So, thank you.

I just want to add and say how much I support support you again in these efforts to especially as we're going into the legislative session. I think you know there will be those who will look at that packaging bill and want to try to tear it apart a bit and we have to defend that because we have one of the most aggressive packaging bills in the nation and we need to set that kind of an example.

We won't get to zero waste without the legislature. and they really need to decide to start passing some of these bills we're bringing forward.

Today we are proclaiming February shop local month in Henipin County in partnership with Governor Walls and the state of Minnesota. We're encouraging all residents to support small locallyowned businesses, particularly those who have reduced foot traffic and heightened fear and uncertainty due to the ongoing federal immigration enforcement presence in our county.

I think what we're seeing from an impact perspective, you know, is the entirety of the small business community very primarily here on on each street is impacted um significantly across, you know, lower foot traffic, folks not feeling safe to come to work, the operational expenses [clears throat] that come along with that. Um, it's created a you know a really significant humanitarian emotional uh fiscal um crisis in in our small business years along the corridor.

No one here along this corridor has been asking for a handout. They just want customers. They want to be part of community. They want folks to remember that we are here and that we are an integral part of the cultural fabric that is the Twin Cities and that is Minneapolis specifically.

Our uh small business community is demonstrating incredible courage and generosity in the face of this crisis. Many small businesses are standing up mutual aid and serving our communities at a time when our own their own livelihoods are threatened and often at great risk to themselves and their businesses.

Um, thank you, Madam Chair, and um, Commissioner Catill, thank you so much for highlighting this and bringing this forward. I wanted to underscore some of the things that you said. Um, first of all, I wanted to actually underscore something that Miss Frell said about how it it's this like seventh or eighth question when somebody when a business owner asks for the help that they need.

This is for seniors services and our seniors are vulnerable people and they are being taken advantage of. They are the subject of fishing scams etc. What this funding will allow us to do is to provide digital skills training um helping vulnerable seniors stay safe um and one-on-one SC uh small group formats for youth but for not youth for senior groups.

Yes, we need to be thinking about how we're spending money very much so and I think we are. But I do think that programs like this that align with disparity elimination for all vulnerable populations are important dollars to spend.

Um, thank you, Madam Chair, and and thank you, Commissioner Eden, for raising this super important question that I think is on all of our minds and and I appreciated what um, Commissioner Anderson said last week on this particular item as well as um, the great remarks shared by Commissioner Connley about why this is great work.