[Music] if we could uh convene. It's 5:15. Uh we have a quorum. In fact, we have everyone here tonight. So, I will call the meeting to order. and Holly indicated we want to change the agenda. So >> you can do minutes first and then >> Okay. All right. >> So uh the first thing that we have on the uh agenda is the approval of minutes. We have two sets of minutes. I think we have to approve them separately. So I would understand a motion for the approval. It's on page two of your package which are the minutes from from October this is October 21st. for the this September 16th meeting. >> Move that the minutes be approved. >> Commissioner Peterson moves. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Any additions or corrections? If not, all in favor, please sign by saying I. I. >> Opposed. Motion carried. 70. >> Then we have another set of meetings. The the resolutions on page five of your package. So I would and this is for our last joint meeting that we had on September 30th. >> I'll move those as well. Motion made by Commissioner Peterson, second by Commissioner Hunt. Any Rob, do you have a >> Yes, I'd have an addition on item three under item 41 I'd like to see put in if uh the commission would think it'd be okay. I'd like that is it authorizes the use of interest on transferred increment which increases the amount of spending plan TI TIF available for future projects to I'd like to see the number that it would be increased to at that point. >> All right. It's 95 some million, right? >> Um, Commission President and Commissioner Lens, I'm sorry. Could you reread your sentence that you would like to change again? >> Could you reread it for me one more time, please? >> Says that these changes authorize the use of authorize the use of interest on transferred increment, which increases the amount of of the spending plan TFI available for future projects to. So, um, >> dollar sign and put the number in. >> President Ericson and Commissioner LZ, commissioners, the reason we didn't put an amount on that is because the interest continues to grow. So, we can't put a precise amount on that at this point. >> Could we put in there at at this point or approximately 95 million or whatever it is? >> You could put in at this date. >> So, if we put in at this date, you're okay. >> Yeah. >> Commissioner Nelson, >> is there any conflict? Because I believe the council approved these minutes on yesterday. Is there a conflict if we approve different minutes >> or concurrent? >> I I never thought about I never thought about that. >> We can we can have >> Oh, here. Go ahead. Oh, okay. Um, mayor or mayor, uh, commissioner, president and commissioners, right? That's where we are. Um, uh, so I believe that they did act on it last night. Um, there was a cadence to the adoption of the meeting minutes on purpose to have the council do them last night, uh, and the board do them tonight. Um, as compared to waiting until the next time you all had a concurrent meeting to take action on them. So, here's the risk in in in doing the approach that we did, right? there's an edit by one of the bodies. So, um I don't see this as being a necessarily substantive uh differing edit. Uh you're merely offering additional information that's clarifying. And the other thing as a reminder that's happening is that the port and the council are meeting contemporaneously. And so although we bundle these minutes together, you could theoretically have your own minutes from what happened because you literally had two separate meetings. So, if you're if you're all comfortable with proceeding with a with a minor edit, um uh I would be okay with that as well legally. The other thing I'd offer though is you could have the minutes reflect that clarification from this meeting. Um if you'd like to just put that on the record um so that it's preserved because it would be in minutes. It just wouldn't be in the minutes from when you all got together. Up to you. >> Well, Commissioner L. I think the other thing that could be done is staff could simply send out a a memo or whatever email detailing what it is now and could give you some projection or something in the future too. So, whatever we're comfortable with doing sounds like it will work. So, do you do you want the the language or are you comfortable in voting on as it is with some clarification from staff? >> I'd like to see it in there myself just because it's a point in time. it's grown to this and we might want to refer to it and whenever see how much grown the next time and it's it it it's it's it's fuzzy like this I think. >> Okay, Commissioner Peterson, >> the minutes are filed alongside the agenda of the meeting, right? >> Um President Ericson, Commissioner Peterson, yes, everything is is together and is accessible from the public website. So the the the agenda has that number in it. >> So if somebody wanted that number, it's available in the >> the agenda on the on September 30th. >> Yep. I'm reading I'm reading the agenda right now and I can see the number in there. So I I think it would be okay to adopt these the way it is. I think that number is in there to be >> I think it would too. Okay. >> I didn't check the agenda. >> Why would that be in the agenda? >> Well, thank you, Commissioner Peterson. You know, as usual, your comments are elucidating. So at any rate, uh we we now have the We have a motion made and seconded. Uh any further corrections or discussion? If not, we will then adopt in the form as originally printed. So all in favor, please signal by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries 70. Okay. Now you want to change our agenda so that we can have some important introductions of our new city manager. >> Absolutely. Thank you, President Ericson and commissioners. And I may actually bifurcate this. I'll do one administrator update. We'll move on to the rest of the program and then I'll do the remainder at the end. Um, but this evening, I actually wanted to turn the floor over to Mayor Busy to introduce our new city manager. Mayor Busy. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Holly. Appreciate it. Uh, commissioners, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce Zack Walker, our new city manager here in the city of Bloomington. He started yesterday, came back for a second day, so that's always a good thing. And uh we are so very excited to have Zach join our staff. Uh so very appreciative to the work that was done to get us from the uh the time from the resignation of our previous city manager here uh to where we are now. Kathy Haden and Elizabeth Tolsman did an outstanding work as our interim city managers and uh greatly I'm grateful for the work that they did and for the entire staff rallying around and making sure that basically we never missed a beat here within the city and I really do appreciate that. That being said, I am very excited to have Zach on board and to start a a new era with our new city manager in in Bloomington. As we had the conversation last night, Zach is the fourth city manager in Steve might know better than I fifth So, since 1960, the the fifth city manager. So, uh it uh it it's not a a small change that we make here when we change our city managers. And uh I'm excited about the future and I'm excited about what uh Zach is going to bring to the role. And wanted to introduce him and invite him up to the uh the podium and and maybe share a little bit more about himself and answer any questions that you all might have. >> Welcome, Zach. We're glad to have you here. And yet, as the mayor was saying, it's been a long tradition of really having very stable government at the city level here, which as a resident for 45 years or whatever, I have appreciated it. So, >> well, uh, thank you, President Ericson, and members of the commission. I'll, um, be brief with my remarks, but I appreciated the invitation of the mayor to come tonight and to introduce myself. Um, that's really an important part of what I'm trying to do in my early time here in Bloomington is get out and meet as many people in this community. Um, professional city staff, volunteers such as yourself, um, members of the community, um, because I think that's very important to fulfilling my understanding of the community and its needs and its opportunities. So, I do welcome the opportunity to join you uh, briefly this evening. Um, I'm coming to you from uh, the Kansas City metropolitan area. Um, I've been in local government about 20 years now. And in the last nine, I served as city manager for Independence, Missouri, uh, fifth largest city in the state and the, uh, home of President Truman. Harry Truman is kind of what it's, uh, famous for. Um, very, very excited to be joining what, um, from the outside looking in was a very, um, incredible community. And having been here a little over a week now, uh, suspicions confirmed. um wonderful city staff here, very strong um um governing body um and a great community that not only supports uh the work of its city but sets its expectations high forward progress and forward momentum. Um I'm looking very much forward to um building upon the great foundation that's been laid. Uh that was very attractive to me um in in the city management profession to come somewhere where uh there is a history and a tradition of excellence and to um work alongside um professionals in in this business to help build this community uh um even more so than what it's been. So I'm very excited. I'm very honored uh and I'm looking forward to working with members of the community such as yourself to uh make all of our hopes and expectations come true. So, thank you, president. Thank you, mayor, and thank you, members of the commission. >> Well, thank you. I I would guess that since you're from Independence, Missouri, and you want to emulate Harry Truman, that you maybe are going to have a sign the buck stops here. Well, I I hate to let the cat out of the bag, but yes, I have one of those. It's up in the office in brown paper wrap, ready to be unpacked. >> Great. Commission members, any questions, comments, or anything? Steve, >> I'll just say, you know, we we do have a tradition of folks sticking around for a long time. I was on the city council for 14 years, and I I never got the chance to hire a city manager in that 14-year period. Um, and that was our that was our second city manager effectively. And so, um, you know, uh, we've we've had a strong history of getting good city managers who've done good work and have had consistent support from the city council. Um, Mark always used to joke that he needed to make sure he was keeping four city council members happy and it didn't always happen to be have to be the same four that it could it could change as time went along. Um, but I think even even for people who maybe got elected to the council because they were opposing something as opposed to supporting something, felt like they were supported by the city manager. Um, and I've gotten comments about that from from people across the political spectrum that they felt like the staff has always operated professionally and wanted to support the initiatives of the council um, in what they're doing. And so um, I also think there's a there's a history here of the city managers kind of generating ideas and bringing things to the council. And so, um, I think there's an opportunity, you know, for things that you see that need to be done to kind of go to council, go to the council and say, "Hey, this is the sort of thing that we need to be doing." Um, and then finally, and the folks here have heard me say it a lot, is that, um, and this is it applies to the economic development area, but also I think in general, is that, um, we need to do things that in the city that kind of uniquely leverage the resources that we have. And if you look at the like in the development area, things like transportation for example, we've done a really good job of levering that. And then then doing things that are are kind of uniquely our ability to to do. Um and things like the expo, which was a you know, if you looked at it honestly, it was a a low probability sort of thing. It, you know, it wasn't like there was a guarantee that it was going to come out. was it was a you know I I gave it like a 20% chance of being successful but if you if you do the math and look at the expected return on that the expected return was so great on that that it was worth putting the effort and the money into it to go do it. Um and that's the sort of thing where we've had support for those sorts of things in the past. So so wellreasoned risks that that people could pick at and say oh we don't that's a dumb idea. Um it wasn't a dumb idea it was actually worth that's an example of something was actually worth doing. And so I would encourage you, you know, once kind of get your feet underneath is don't don't hesitate to think big because this group has had a history of kind of taking big ideas and and supporting them. Um, and that's what our community needs and that's that's that historically is what differentiated our community from many other um governmental entities in this area. So that's what I'd encourage you to do in your job. Um and so we're there no no pressure you know to come with that sort of thing but um eventually you know you'll come up with an idea like that and um and thinking about that and saying this is this is something we ought to be doing is a really worthwhile thing. So anyways I'll say welcome and we're looking forward to your success. >> I appreciate that. I think that's an admirable charge. Um I think what Bloomington has is very special but it requires a great deal of diligence and responsibility to continue to drive that forward. So your words are taken in in good spirit. >> Yeah. Well, and just following along with what Commissioner Peterson was saying, the Port Authority was created specifically, and it was a big risk at the time to take and and deal with the the ballpark site where they they had left. And I will never forget Jim Linda, who was our neighbor, and and uh uh was telling me I we were at a we had a progressive dinner party in on New Year's Eve, and and I said to Jim, "Well, it's really a shame that the city has lost this." and he said, "Oh, Bob, it's this great opportunity." And of course, we went off and and and again, but I I think it was something that the city was willing to take risks. There was a lot of litigation, a lot of things that were involved, but I think it was something that was has been very worthwhile and and clearly the the city has benefited tremendously from taking a risk. uh it has to be judicious and what we've tried to do from a financing standpoint everything is this goes back to Lyall Olsson who was one of the early chief financial officers of the city when I started working with it was he wanted a belt and suspenders in other words we wanted to make sure we could pay for things without any problem and when there was changes in tax law etc etc we were in good shape because we had the built-in suspenders and we really didn't have to to dig so at any Great. We'll look forward to to working with you. We obviously have a a major project that hopefully is coming down the line in terms of the water park project which is a huge project and and uh again not without controversy and things but at the same point in time I think it's something that we've carefully looked at and thought about and and uh so we will be under your tenure reaching a conclusion on that project uh one way or the other. But at any rate, uh, welcome and we will look forward and would clearly like to have you attend as many of our meetings as you can. >> I'll look forward to doing it. And I'll I'll leave you with this. During my interview, Council Member Nelson asked me why I would want to leave a a large city and a winning football team. Uh, I told him because I wanted to come and do big things. And so I'm looking forward to partnering with you and so many others to do big things for this great city. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> Okay. So, did you want to do another administrative? >> You want >> We'll do do new business next. We'll go back to administration. >> Item two then new business. >> All right. President Ericson and commissioners. I'd like to welcome Evan Iikabonyi, small business procurement program coordinator to join us this evening. We wanted him to come here and talk about this program. We've previewed it a few times with you that the city is now exploring what it would look like to actually have our purchasing reflect our values in trying to work more closely with our small business community and local businesses. So Evan's been hired. I hope you give a little bit of your background too um before you launch into your presentation and we're so glad to have you. >> Welcome Evan. >> Thank you so much. Thank you president. Thank you commissioner. So um my name is Evan Ikabone. I am the new small business procurement program coordinator here at the city of Bloomington. Uh before uh starting this position, I was at MINDOT for uh six years also working in um small business procurement there um applying innovative contracting methods to support small businesses priming uh for um horizontal construction projects. Um so yes, I've uh been in my position for a little less than two months now. So, I'm I'm new. I'm showing you all um some facts, figures, and my plan as uh we move forward in this area. So, um >> Evan, can I ask you the favor of getting in into the microphone a little bit more? >> Yes. I'm sorry. Is that >> even even pull it closer to uh >> Oh, goodness. >> Perfect. That's great. >> This is this is good for everyone. >> Yes. >> Okay, good. >> Thank you. >> I will try to remember to speak up here. Um great. First rule of business, figuring out how to >> You're You're experiencing the typical meeting. >> Thank you. >> It's a right of passage. >> It's a right of passage. >> Right arrow, right? [Laughter] >> This This affect vexed our old city manager as well. So, it's You can feel very comfortable because there some of us are are are really >> dinosaurs on technology. Now we have some like Steve that you know soar in these things but a lot of us are not very competent. >> Well, we're we're all on a learning path. So here here we go. Um, so I wanted to start off by grounding my uh presentation tonight with speaking about why a small business program procurement program matters. Why are we talking about small businesses? Why is this important? Um, so and and I know this board knows this, but uh local local small businesses are a key aspect of our local economy. Um, 71% of Bloomington business owners live in Bloomington. Um, small businesses create 63% of new private sector jobs in our economy since 2005. So, investing in our local small businesses is just an essential part of of growing growing our our local economy. Small businesses also provide innovation. Um, so when you get uh a diverse set of vendors, you get new ideas. Um it's important in um ensuring that we're on the edge of of what we're providing our citizens. And last but not least, um when we support our small businesses, we increase competition. Um small businesses grow, they can bid on larger items that the city puts out. And of course with uh more businesses bidding uh we increase our competition and hopefully can drive more value to uh the citizens here in Bloomington. Hopefully this works this time. Yes. Okay. So to provide a very abridged history as to where we are today, why I'm in my position today. Um in 2022, uh Bloomington recognizes the need the need to strengthen equitable economic development um initiatives to meet its strategic priorities. Um around the same time um the city um participated in early vendor analysis and capacity building efforts around small businesses. In uh 2023 to 2024, there was alignment with best practices. This is internally within the city um and identified as part and the city identified its participation in the joint disparity study um which I will speak about a little bit later on in a later slide and then also the development of the economic strategic plan which I I know you're all familiar with as well. Um in 2025 the joint disparity study was released. Um uh Bloomington joined 15 other local agencies um in uh focusing on inclusive procurement and um analysis around equitable contracting as mean excuse me as means of growing the local economy. And then also 2025 um the Bloomington economic strategic plan is released and I'll link my conversation back to that plan uh later on the presentation as well. So um some highlevel results of the disparity study and as I mentioned um Bloomington took part in the 2025 disparity study. It was the first time the city took part in that study uh with 15 o other Minnesota based agencies. Part of the work of the disparity study is to look at market capacity of small businesses and compare this capacity to Bloomington's consumptions of good and services. So, what can the market bear and what are we consuming? As you can see, uh 50 uh between 2016 and 2023, 53% of contracting dollars went to small businesses as either prime or subcontractor. So I'd see that as a really positive result of um the study. Another positive outcome is that we can see that small businesses really want to work in the public sector. So 35% of firms identified um desire to work in the public sector and for um prime or subcontracting. And then um one area to take note here and perhaps uh an area to look in a bit further um the disparity study also looks at uh womenowned businesses and minority owned businesses and how they are also represented in uh city of Bloomington's consumption of of goods and services. So um the disparity study found that 17.8% 8% of Blooming Contracting dollars could have been won by local small businesses, excuse me, uh, minority owned businesses and womenowned businesses. In that same period, only 6.4% of those dollars actually went to those businesses. So, um, through some seeing an opportunity here for some targeted outreach for some of our small business community. So, in addition to the disparity study, of course, the um economic development strategic plan identified uh by local as a key objective. Um as part of this effort, the city of Bloomington is looking to increase consumption of goods services from small businesses. This is where u my role comes in from the procurement side of things. Um and this of course is in addition to the efforts of the port authority in providing small business assistance and resources. Um so really I think um what this is showing is that we're starting to provide more wraparound um conversations with our small businesses. um also stepping up to the table and saying, "Hey, we want to buy uh your goods and services as well as the city. So, in thinking about what a small business procurement program can do to support small businesses, to connect with um our small business community, there's a few um levers we can pull. Um one of these is small business outreach. And I mentioned that already that um I'm lucky to be joining colleagues in the port who already have wonderful um outreach and programming with our small businesses. Um there's also um a need or another level the lever that can be pulled here is utilizing certification and certification networks. So, um, one, uh, certification network that we will most likely be using here is called CERT, and that is, um, run by, um, uh, co coordinated through a few different local entities to provide a small business certification in a centralized location. So, if you are a small business, you just apply in excuse me, in one place and, uh, you're able to carry that certification in other areas as well. Certification is also important as we start to benchmark the dollars we spend to small businesses as we can clearly identify which businesses um categorize themselves as small businesses. So in addition to certification, there's also contracting methods that can be applied. Excuse me, I need to switch my notes here. So um another level lever to pull here of course is as I mentioned the contracting methods. Um aligning the best contract contracting methods that support small businesses is essential. Um and then also looking at what requirements we we have for our contractors including insurance bonding those can really be um an adherence to small businesses. So really aligning um our risk with um what uh small businesses are able to provide in terms of contracting. And last but not least, and I um spoke a little bit about this at my role for my role at MIDOT, but uh looking at uh debundling larger projects so that um we can right-size contracts and make them obtainable for small businesses to to win bids or quotes on. Can I ask a question? Absolutely. On that subject, what's a sheltered market? I guess I don't know what that is. >> Sure. A sheltered market would would uh be a process in which you um say, "Oh, um we'll only allow certain uh certifications of businesses to apply for or bid on a on a specific project. So, um for example, um Henipin County has run a very successful sheltered market program. uh particularly I believe in their IT area um where vendors pre pre-register to bid on projects and that pre-registration list is the only pool that can um bid on work as it comes through. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So, um, as I mentioned, I'm less than two months into my my role here. Um, and there's a long road ahead, but I just wanted to lay out some some ideas that I'm working or some some items I'm working on now and then sort of a what's next up on on a long list of things to do. Uh, so currently I'm I'm reviewing purchasing procedure to understand pinch points and opportunities. And again that eye is towards um how can we support and provide small businesses um additional um leverage when bidding on or or uh when bidding on the the work that we put out. Um an another item that I'm working on currently is create resources to guide businesses through procurement through the procurement process at the city of Bloomington. So, how-to guides, um, what is the bonding we will be requiring up front so that our small businesses can plan, um, if there is work coming down the pike that they would like to bid on. And then, um, last but not least for right now, look at our data systems to organize and track consumption with small businesses. Um and up next would be um using that data to establish benchmarks and metrics um so we can start to push um push the economic development forward in terms of investing in our small businesses um and provide project owners at the city with tools and resources to identify and find vendors. So, of course, um part of my role is partnering with, uh folks at public works, um at at the HA. These are all, uh my colleagues who go out and try to buy goods and services. So, um be a a support network for them as well and ensuring that they can find uh small businesses to perform the work they need done. So my last slide here um is really speaking more broadly about um how one could um look and utilize look to and utilize the small business network we have. Um, so of course networking is um key and there's a few um and and networking events are are I found to be um essential in terms of finding and understanding the work that folks are doing. Um so uh an event that just happened was the Bloomington business forum. I I was able to meet and network with a few small businesses and direct them to um that certification board um and uh supplier events as well. Uh also industry groups um many of them have mentorship programs for small businesses and um and are provide a lot of um technical support to the their particular industries. And another um area to find small businesses, of course, we have a whole list of databases and acronyms. So I I won't go into all the acronyms here, but um for the the metro area, the direct directory provides certification for small businesses. That's the SBE. Uh the emerging small businesses, minority owned businesses, and womenowned businesses. Um the state of Minnesota administers the TGEDVO vendor list. Um and that includes targeted groups, economically disadvantaged groups, and veteranowned businesses. And then last but not least is the uh federal DBE program, and that's disadvantaged business enterprises. So, all of the the this alphabet of um of different certifications are just different ways and databases folks can um find and utilize the the small business community we have. So, that's my formal presentation. I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Well, Evan, thank you very much. Having been the chief financial officer of the University of Minnesota, I know how difficult it can be to deal with large public organizations. And I I think the whole thrust the city has had is trying to really create opportunities for everyone in the community. I I think we realized that for years we did a pretty good job of listening to our big players, but we probably didn't listen as well to the small smaller players. So I think to the extent that you can do this and it's not glamorous work. It's just a matter of taking and creating these things and getting out there. So uh I applaud your efforts and we'll look forward to hearing future reports from you. So >> mayor you haven't >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Evan, thank you so very much. And have we have he's been introduced at the council meetings yet? I don't believe you have. >> Next week. >> Next week. That's why I have Okay. I was wondering >> doing the rounds as well like the minutes. >> Well, thank you for this. Thanks for the information and and thanks for your work on this. I think it's an important step that we need to take and couldn't agree more the systemic ways of doing things. The debundling I think that's so important and and you have mentioned that. But I I think you also mentioned and I couldn't agree more the importance of the outreach and the networking. uh over the past year or couple of years, I mean, Barb has taught us how the the face-to-face contact, the the direct work with our business community that they know they have somebody in city hall who has their back and and they've got their the phone number and your business card and their phone number is just the most vital thing that I think can be done to to establish those relationships, to build on those relationships, and then to help them through the a process that can sometimes be a little intimidating and maybe not as easy to navigate as as we'd all like it to be. So, I'm I'm glad you're here. I'm glad we have a person in this role now. I'm glad it's you and glad that you're going to be able to make these connections and and really help us move forward in this. So, thank you much for being here tonight. >> Thank you. >> Other questions, comments? Commissioner Nelson. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, President. Um just a couple quick questions. How is a small business defined? Is it volume, number of employees, more subjective? >> Absolutely. So the um certification um at least the C certification uses the federal um small business association um threshold for small business. So I believe it is income uh or profit generated over a certain period of time but I I can certainly get you the exact numbers around that. >> Okay. And then will you also track just local business because I think there's a little bit of an overlap between the positive benefits that we see as a community if we use a local business even if they're big um and a local business that's small. Do you are you going to track both of those as you go forward? >> So the um the short answer is yes. the um that C certification um looks at the um the the metro area. So in order to get that certification of business needs to be based here and also meet the small business association threshold for small business. So that's basically what that SBE certification means. um for larger businesses. Um I would say that I I wasn't part of the the plan right now, but I certainly take your your point that that that is part of the local economy we have here as well. Um and certainly something that I can keep in mind as we start to data build and report on um how the city's procurement um supports our our local economy. Um, and then conceptually I I support the many of the concepts here, but are there any concerns with regards to debundling or any of the other things that would increase cost to the city, would increase um staff time to manage and put um more pressure on them? Are there concerns about those aspects of it? And >> yeah um so I can say that um we are already practicing that debundling method in some of the larger projects. So um you know part of my onboarding here is understanding our current procurement processes and I'm lucky enough to be partnering with public works on uh facilitating the um contracting process with the new fleet garage and that that project is is one that we are bidding out in different different uh packets. So in a sense we are we are practicing some of this already. Um in terms of increased cost um I I think that is something we need to measure as we go forward. Um I have seen in my experience that the increased cost can be somewhat marginal when you also look at that economic benefit. So um I would say that um that there is a risk there but I think part of uh benchmarking and measuring this program is understanding um what that implication is and what the return is on our our investment because really that's what all this is talking about investing in our local economy to get that return in our investment and you know through that we're we're purchasing the things we we need already. So, um, that would be my response to that question. >> Commissioner LZ, >> I hope this is a quick question. I'm just a little Where does the small business procurement program fit? Is it part of the port authority? >> It is not. I should have said that in my introduction. I am so sorry. So, I'm in the the uh finance department in the purchasing team. Um, I am very lucky enough to be working closely with the port and right this is this is as I kind of mentioned a group effort in in supporting our local small businesses. You know, one of the things that comes to mind is I think anybody that's involved with our small business programs and everything else can be a communicator and one of the things that we're we're dealing with now because of the impact of tariffs is we have a vehicle the foreign trade zone vehicle that's available in Bloomington and I don't know how many businesses are aware that that's here and for small business in particular it could make a major difference. So I think one of the things I would urge you to do and everybody else involved is you're a communicator for the city on all programs and if you see something that you out when you meet with somebody about being eligible for bidding etc etc to take the opportunity just to explain you know different things that may be available uh to them and and it could make make the difference and again I think part of that is just the welcome and we want to do for all businesses and and retain them. So, so thank you very much. Any other questions? Good. We'll look forward to hearing future reports. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, we're down to item three then, Holly. Thank you, President Ericson and commissioners. I will introduce this item and then our city attorney will also be joining us at the podium to give some additional background. Um this is to appoint a new general and special counsel and to terminate an interim agreement for our um for the Port Authority. We had previously worked for a while with Kennedy and Graven, specifically with Julie Edington. Um Julie and a number of other attorneys changed law firms to QTAC Rock. And so that actually prompted us to enter into an interim agreement with that firm and to issue an RFP to select new legal counsel. The port has outside counsel as its general counsel and its special counsel, but we are also under legal advisement from the city attorney's office. So Melissa will explain some of those technicalities. Um and so we did issue that RFP. We received seven proposals. We interviewed four of them and we have decided to move forward with Kennedy and Graven as general counsel and QTAC Rock as special counsel moving forward. And then would you like to join us Melissa? >> Thank you U president and commissioners. this um this particular pivot uh the law states that the city attorney is the legal adviser to the port authority but the law also allows the port authority to employ and contract for additional counsel. So as the port has gone citywide in the change to the um the evolution of services and in the the lo the location where folks are working. Uh we looked at what are the the opportunities here and um spent a lot of the past year looking at internal process and streamlining um our our workflows and um trying to clarify things and set up uh durable templates. And as a part of that process, we embarked on this RFP. And as a result of many many hours of conversation, um we came up with a plan. And so the HR has uh uh two contracts for general and special and this and they'll be looking at those next week. And then this is the port tonight, general and special. So although they did the RFP process together, we have prepared documents that we believe are the most durable and flexible as you all move forward to tackle the the opportunities and challenges that are um in the future. And so our local um or not local I guess but the the folks upstairs and the city attorney's office are still going to be here um and will help as needed and we'll still use the um services of our risk and litigation department and all of those things. Uh and we'll continue to be involved in all of those projects where the city is involved um as a as an entity. Um but we just thought there needed to be more legal resources brought to bear and um we thought that this was a cost-effective way of tackling it. Uh the also the other thing to mention is that this is a five-year max agreement um renewable on an annual basis which is something that the port has done historically during my time here and that will provide you with additional opportunities to pivot and adjust as needed. So each year it'll come back before you with the first term ending at the end of December of next year. Thank you. Any questions? So really what we're doing is you're just asking to to make permanent what we've been doing on interim basis and this really follows along with what we've been doing for a number of years with really this essentially the same people although our primary attorney now has has changed for legal work from Julie Edington to >> yeah President Ericson and commissioners just a slight clarification for that we haven't been working with Kennedy and Graven very much this summer we really alli relied on Gina Bini from QTAC Rock and so we'll be using Kennedy engraven as general counsel so preparing resolutions and some of our more basic work um but we've been spending a lot of time with Gina and she will continue to be our special counsel at QTAC so we have two contracts with two separate firms as um Melissa sorry as city attorney Mandershide uh stated we are looking to have maximum flexibility because we don't know the nature of the future projects that we may have. So, we may wish to work with an attorney in either one of those firms on some of our projects moving forward. And because these are one-year extensions, we also have the opportunity to pivot and change firms in the future if we need to. Okay. Thank you. Port authority questions. >> If not, I your the motion is on page 18 to authorize this. I would entertain that motion. >> Mr. President, I'd uh move a motion authorizing the administrator and the president to enter into professional services agreement with Kennedy and Graven for general counsel and Koutac Rock for special counsel to the port authority authorizing termination of the agreement for interim legal services and authorizing related actions consistent with this motion. >> Do we have a sec? Motion made by Commissioner Busy, second by Commissioner LZ. Any addition any further discussion? If not, all in favor, please sign by saying I. I opposed. Motion carries 70. So, we're on to I I see we had a report in here, but that's just report that we don't need to. >> That is right. President Ericson, just on to a few updates. Just a few highlights from that. That is the opportunity housing ordinance report. In the past, you've seen a presentation on this. This year we elected to present it to you as a memo so you could read it on your own time. Um if you have any questions about this we have assistant port authority administrator Kevin Kane with us who is well acquainted with this report and manages Kenny Neimire our housing specialist. Um I think that is that is the major thing we wanted to share with you. But also to note that while we have been generating an impressive amount of affordable housing, a lot of it has needed subsidy to be created. And so we will we have been using a tool called the affordable housing trust fund that is very close to depleted if not entirely depleted. And so we'll be looking for help securing additional resources in the future. We'll be looking at our partners like Henipin County and the state, but that may also be something we need to explore internally within the city to help solve some of those problems. So, if anyone had questions that they wanted addressed from that report, Kevin is here to take those questions >> or if there any questions. >> Commissioner Hunt, I had a question. I noticed this is something that has been monitored internally by staff the the reporting from the different projects and so forth as I as I recall and now I see a comment that you're exploring the benefits of engaging in outside service is that something you'll bring forward in the future or >> President Ericson uh commissioners commissioner Hunt so that comment is in regard to uh review of their ongoing compliance with the ordinance. So there are organizations that do that work and uh they do that on behalf of a number of other cities. If we were to elect to do that, that would be something that we would have to explore within the uh requirements of our contracting requirements. Um so that would be something that most likely yes, we would need to bring back to it would potentially be dependent on the costs associated with the contract for that work. Um, but generally speaking, the intention would be to engage the authority if there was a change in the work of the port authority. >> Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Lance. >> I just have a request. The easiest thing in real estate is to go look at the property and I I find it's very interesting and I've seen the overhead maps where they're all identified, but could you get the address on them when on these like we got the arter? I know where that is. The other three I'm not exactly sure where they are. We just put the address on there. >> Yes, we make that up. >> Drive around for sure. >> Thanks, Kevin. >> Well, along those lines, I enjoyed seeing the pictures because I I've been driving by the one on that I I I thought it was actually here. I find out it's Bloomington because it's on that that side of the road. But at any rate, it it's helpful to have those. So, any other questions or comments? I don't This is not an action item. So if not, I think >> few more. Uh >> okay. All right. >> Thank you, President Ericson. I have a few more updates to share. Um for your own scheduling purposes, we anticipate potentially another waterpark meeting in December. And so Marett, our office support specialist, has been reaching out to ask about your travel plans, vacation plans, availability for December. So please make sure to respond to her. Um, we are also going to share some updates from the creative placemaking team and that includes that there are four new artbox utilities uh four new artbox utility box clusters now to look at in South Loop and then the hometown poetry program which helps stamp poetry into the sidewalks has actually been implemented at city hall now with our sidewalk project. So we hope that you notice that coming in. It definitely brings some interest to the walk-in. And the citywide creative placemaking plan was awarded an APA Minnesota award for advancing diversity and social change. Very exciting. Um, they just completed a request for proposals and call for art for Bryant Park to add a sculpture to the park. I got to preview some of those, which I don't usually get to do, and I'm very excited with the choice that they made. And then the upcoming big grand opening on November 8th will also feature the muralist Adam Turman who um will be there from 12 to two to unveil a new mural as part of BIG. We also wanted to thank the entire team that helped with the first business forum on October 1st. I think we had about 80 people in attendance. It was very successful. We had a number of our economic development partners tableabling and that was preceded by our CEO round table. So, it was a busy morning. We put the mayor through his paces. Thank you. Um, and Commissioner Peterson joined us, which we very much appreciate. We'd love to see you all at future events. And then finally, very good news. Colonial Market is open. >> Wow. >> In the South Loop, and we saw Commissioner Luns there for the grand opening last week. So, we hope that you will go and patronize their business. >> Their guacamole is off the charts. And that on that note, I'm gonna stop. >> Great. Well, that's exciting to hear that that is open. We've been anticipating that for a while. So, at any rate, well, if nothing else, we are adjourned. [Music]