All right, we've got five of our Bloomington City Council members uh present. I will call this listening session of the City Council to order. It's Monday, August 3rd. Welcome to everybody. We will get started. Uh we'll give Deb Have you showed up? Deb Har- Deb Harper? All right, then we'll go with uh Dr. Gretchen Buchanan. Good evening, doctor, and welcome. >> Good evening. Um I wanted to ask council if it was possible to I had initially signed up for this slot a while ago and um I'm coaching my daughter's soccer for BAA and we have a mandatory parent meeting from 7:00 to 7:30, so I have to be on Zoom for that. I don't know if I would be able to speak during that 2-minute time for the council, so I was hoping that I would be able to still talk about the Nine Mile Creek >> I I I just want to make sure we're fair with everybody and I know that we told a number of people they called and said, "Well, can we just come to this council session listening session and speak about it?" And we told them no. And I just wanted to make sure that we're fair to everyone that we did direct everybody downstairs. I know you do have a 2-minute slot downstairs and I'm sorry. Uh but it's uh uh if you could put it in writing and submit it for us, we could take it in that way. Uh but I I want to make sure it's equal and fair for everybody who's involved here. >> Okay. I'll hopefully be able to speak downstairs. Um either way, I will send my 5-minute speech to everyone. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> And I love oaks and I love savannas. >> Uh thank you much. Uh Ali Saad. All right. Uh Mr. De Concini. And just like that, we're way ahead of schedule. So >> Love it. Not sure I need this cuz I'm pretty loud, but we it it's uh for everybody in the room, but also for everybody on the recording as well. So, dive right in. All right, good evening. Welcome. Council, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I'm uh Chris from Gas for Less right down the street. Anybody need fogger out there? Anybody? Joe back here, my manager, has been there for 30 years. Okay? I'm getting to the point I'm a CPA where I'd like to retire and sell the station. I obviously can't. I'm not here to argue the provision. I'm not here to argue argue the sunset. It's simply the wording. Uh the other gentleman back there sitting next to Joe is my son, Jack. And we are both CPAs, and he's working for me, and I'd like to be able to transfer it to him. So, technically, and I'd like the council to receive this if if I give these to you. And I got several of them there, so if you can make sure they get distributed to uh the council members that aren't here, I'd appreciate it. So, I'm not here to argue about the tobacco and how that works. I'm just here to argue about between the provisions one and two, it talks about a sole proprietorship, you can transfer and and be part of the family structure, right? >> Okay. Yep. >> That is not in number two. And that's simply what I want to do is somehow merge the two. I was under the understanding, but Matt Brillhart just told me that there are two owners that are sole proprietors in the city of Bloomington. Now, I understand I'm a CPA. I'm a single-member LLC. I'm a 100% owner, which technically is a sole proprietor, okay? By by legal definition, I am a sole proprietor, but for tax purposes, I file as an S corp. So, it really doesn't I'm not sure where I fall into, and a good friend of mine is the city manager in Perham, Minnesota, where I live. Perham and and Detroit Lakes is where I work out of. Uh good friend of mine, John Smith, that really is his name, John Smith. He uh he he said, "You know what? Go talk to the council." He said, "A lot of times people get attorneys and do things. Go talk to the council. This seems like a pretty simple matter that hopefully that they can resolve." So, that's why I'm here to ask you to respectfully look at that and consider my situation. I want I want to give Joel 49% of the business and my son the other 51%. So, he's been map monitoring the store for the last 30 years, okay? The tobacco will not change. Nothing changes. I just got new tanks. I got new pumps. I have E85. I have E88. I have new concrete. Gas for less, and I know I've talked to traffic likes me to be there cuz they need me. And I'm cheaper gas. It's the same gas that you get at QuickTrip or Holiday. But it just seems like I don't think the intent of the council when they created this to be anti-small business. And it seems like long-term as it kind of plays out, it appears to be that way. So, I'm just asking you respectfully to look at that, consider my situation, and and let me know what my options are. >> you for bringing that forward. To be honest, it's been a couple of years since I've even thought about this since we passed this, and I see our city attorney writing furiously here, so why don't we I I you make you bring up a good point, and I think I'm we we can come to a Okay. A a solution here, I'm sure of that. But I appreciate your your coming to us and and having the conversation, and and tell John he was right. I mean, this is the way to do it as opposed to hiring a hiring an attorney. It's a >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Can I ask a quick question? >> please. Council member Dallas >> Hi. Thanks for being here. So, just to make sure that I'm clear, you you operate as a you are registered as a sole proprietorship in terms of your EIN, but you file your taxes as an S corp. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Okay. I did the same thing when I owned my consulting company. So, I just I understand where you're coming from. Thank you. Appreciate the clarification. >> Very good. Thank you, Chris. If we can get you to sign in, Chris, so we officially have you on record. And uh slide over to the side there. And uh Karen Lundquist. Karen, are you here? Paul Montgomery. Oh, we're just zipping right through here. Sally, you're up. Good evening. Welcome. >> From Bloomington Park System Master Plan, page 19, it states, quote, lighting gets challenging when there is less daylight, end quote. And yet, the city did not renew the shared agreement for the lighted Smith Park football field, soccer field on Darrell Field property. That does not make sense. Recall staff stated they have seen enough decline in the use of the fields for the youth sports on that site. Knowing lighting gets challenging when there is less daylight, stating there is a decline on a lighted field makes no sense. This is an example of how fraud happens when inaccurate information is provided, and what was provided about the Smith Park field is inaccurate. Thank you. >> Thank you much. Uh we'll double back one more time, and then we'll open it up to everybody if we could. Uh Deb Harper, last call for Deb. Ali Assad. Ali. There he is. Good evening. If we could I think you just walked in. If you could make sure you introduce yourself as you start. Talk right into the microphone so everybody can hear you. And then as you finish up, we'll have you sign in. If you could have a seat and just We'll give you You have 5 minutes. We can have a conversation here. Go ahead. >> Thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak up over >> Right up in Right up in there. There you go. >> All right. Better? All right. Um My name is Ali Zahid. I'm I'm the owner of the gas station and the smoke shop at 9200 Old Seward Highway South. Um The reason why I want to talk a little bit I know this is subject that's middle of time. So I know 5 minutes not going to be good enough because of the rules and regulation that we had. Uh A lot of We facing a lot of problem with the ordinance that you guys passed like 4 or 5 years ago. Part of it's selling our business. We can't sell it to anybody else. Uh Even if a family member like my brother, I can't sell him the business. Which is going to make uh our business like worth nothing. While we working for it for years trying to establish that. And the other part is uh losing a lot of our business came to other city. As first when you guys issued the ordinance, you guys promised us like when the uh marijuana license comes up, we'll you know, we'll replace uh part of the income from that. And till like today, I mean, we don't have nothing like that. And uh even those they carry like flavor, for example, they sell like lemonade, watermelon, you know, same thing with the liquor store. All that we're asking for just to adopt the same thing that Minneapolis did, St. Paul did. Just exempt just the smoke shop from that flavor ban because it does actually affect us. Um we're losing most of our business going to across the river to the city nearby. The tax is going to the city nearby because people that they come for a menthol cigarette, for example, they're going to cross the river and they're going to get it and it's not just that. It's the basket that comes with it because we don't make money from cigarette or from flavor. It's, you know, they're going to stop and they're going to buy gas, they're going to buy So, all that we're asking for just to look back at the smoke shop ordinance so we know how we're going to adjust to replace um our income. Particularly, liquor store, they can sell flavor because 90% of they sell it's alcohol. And same thing with with the age 21. And the city they send every year and we never failed with that either. Um So, I would like to know if there is a way we can actually, particularly with the license, too. Just so we know if we will be able to sell our business or not. I have been contacting a city um member here and trying to sell the business for my brother and just um one thing after another just because of the ordinance that was written. I can't sell it to anybody else. It I just I mean, it's worth a lot of money, but it's worth nothing if I don't sell it to a family member. And um we just hope that you guys can look at those ordinance again and see and compare it to the other city what they did like St. Paul, Minneapolis and talk to us about it again and let us if there's something we can do for it because we're willing to work anything just so we can figure this out too. I really appreciate your time and >> I appreciate you coming forward and I you you missed it to the second speaker tonight actually on this topic. So it's a conversation that as I said earlier this has been a few years now since we brought this up and to hear some of the feedback about how it's going well we'll take the council's temperature here to see whether if we want to consider pieces of this or how we want to look at this again but I appreciate you coming forward. >> I really appreciate it. Just one more thing and then they put like you can sell it to a family member but they put you can sell it to your wife or to your son. My son is 15 and I have a ex. I don't have a wife. >> Yeah, don't sell it to the 15-year-old. We don't want that either. So it's a it's a >> No, and I need to get rid of the business to my brother which is >> Understood. >> family member right there too. So it's like I don't know what different this is making. >> Yeah, understood. Thank you. Council, any questions? Quick questions? Very good. Very good. Thank you. Thanks for coming forward. Can we get you to sign in, Mr. Saad? Can we get you to sign in, please? Thank you very much. Let's see if there's anybody on our list who has showed up. Karen Lundquist? No Karen? Paul Montgomery? All right, with that we have time for uh probably about three speakers if folks are interested in speaking. Uh you just come on forward of course with the caveat that we're we're saving all the special stuff about Nine Mile Creek for a little bit later. So if you anyone has anything to bring forward, you're welcome to come forward now. Please. And if you could identify yourself? >> Mohammed from Akhtar Tobacco in Bloomington. We have business since 2000. >> All right, are you the brother? >> Uh no. >> No? Oh, okay. No, okay. Okay. >> Yeah, yeah, same thing. We have this business and uh since uh they allow now the THC and the dispensaries open in Bloomington everywhere they are opening. And uh all what they sell also is flavor. And I don't think it's safer than the e-cigarette. Like they have flavor THC, disposable, and flower, and the blunt. So, they can sell that, but when it's come for tobacco, we we we cannot do that. So, this is like what is the difference and things like things uh it's different than when they ban it. Cuz that like in the market now is different with the dispensary. >> Mhm. >> And they have more than one in Bloomington. So, and like the hemp most of the hemp they sell is a flavor and they can sell it. And for us, what is the future, you know? >> Yeah. I understand. >> take into consideration. Uh plus like we uh get customer like mostly out of state cuz we close to Mall of America. And they always ask for flavor and something. So, we need to see since they have uh the exemption, like we have the exemption in the price, like we are cheaper than any gas station. If they do the exemption like for the flavor and for the approved FDA flavor, that would be even our business. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Appreciate your input. Council, any questions here? Councilwoman Dotson. >> Thank you. Just a quick clarification. Thanks for being here. Um so, uh you you mentioned there are you are suggesting that there are certain FDA-approved flavors to for THC or for tobacco that you are suggesting we consider. >> For tobacco. >> For tobacco. So, FDA-approved I didn't know that was a thing. Okay, so we probably need >> Especially like uh like for the Marlboro and the first cigarette company they will they will be approved. And also nationwide they will approve in like 16 from Trump will approve 16 company will be sitting up. >> Ah, okay. Understood. >> So, if something approved by FDA and since the market everywhere is uh dispensary and all they sell is flavor, you know, why tobacco store shouldn't be the same? >> I understand. And so >> And no license for tobacco store anyway, so >> That that was going to be my second question. The clarification I guess is we if we choose to revisit this as a council the if you own a dispensary license, can you also own a tobacco license or can we come up with some combination of licensing in that particular scenario? I thought it's just something to put on the table, I guess. >> Yeah. And a good question. Good question. >> I appreciate the clarification. Thank you. >> All right. I'm sorry, once again, could you give me your name once again just so I make sure? >> My name Muhammad Al Khattaba. >> Al Khattaba. Thank you. >> Oxford Tobacco. >> Thank you. Thank you much. Appreciate you being here tonight. If you could sign in, please. It would be great. Anyone else wishing to speak tonight? Last call. Oh, if you'd like to, please come on forward. So, just to let you know, uh we do this this is voice recorded. But you you just don't want to Okay, I understand. You're cool with it? Okay. >> Just have community members who record the videos and then put them on Facebook groups where people aren't allowed to comment. And I'd just rather >> Okay. Please, if you could introduce yourself for the record, and off you go. >> Hi everyone, I'm Jamie Anthony. I live in Councilmember Revis's District 4. Um a couple of months ago, I came with some questions about how the Bloomington Police Department interacts with the federal agents who are in our town enforcing immigration policy. And we had a good conversation where you informed me about the Secure Communities process where a when person is fingerprinted, there's an automatic notification that is sent to um the federal agency. And whether or not BPD chooses to host the handoff of a person or chooses to release them and then allow ICE to do the handoff in the parking lot. So, since then, there's been two more arrests in Bloomington that did not involve fingerprinting, where ICE was then called and the people were detained and are now under federal Well, actually, they're not under federal detainment anymore because they filed petitions for um of habeas corpus and so they're now released. So, my question, I guess, I'm coming back with the same question, which is what can I do as a resident to thoughtfully and intentionally get some concrete answers. I don't feel like 5 minutes once every 2 months is really going to move the conversation forward. So, who can I talk to to learn more about the processes? >> Well, first of all, I I hadn't heard about these two additional arrests that that you brought forward. I don't I'd have to get details from from the chief and the police department to see any details or specifics on that. I think if you have specific concerns, I mean, I'd be happy to sit down with you. I'm sure as city manager, we we could have that conversation um and provide what we're able to provide regarding police department practices and procedures and what and and and best practices and procedures as well to to see exactly what that might be and and help you understand them a little bit better. Understanding your concern with what is going on and I again I I don't know the details on it and I to be able to share that as well and to see if we can't get some uh you know more concrete answers and more uh clarity as to what you're looking to understand more. >> Sure. Thank you. Okay, so contacting the two of you directly instead of using >> Please. Sounds good. >> Yep. Excellent. And just to for folks who in the room who were not at that previous conversation, my concern is that the city of Bloomington issued statements about what we would and would not do in terms of collaboration and the behaviors that are documented by both the BPD and the federal ICE agents do not align with the values that are stated. So that's what I am interested in is where's the disconnect? >> Understood. >> All right. Great. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else wishing to speak? Mhm. Going once. Going twice. Council no one coming forward I would entertain a motion to adjourn and head downstairs. Motion by Council member Rivas second by Council member Robertson to adjourn our listening session this evening. All those in favor please signify by saying I. Opposed. Motion carries 6-0. We'll head on downstairs. Thanks all for being here tonight.