Call this meeting to order. Uh, could you do roll call? Council member. Kaiser. Here. Council member Vanessa Rosen here. Council member. Reshevsky. Here. Council member. Cummings. Here. Mayor Deshler is absent. Council member. IBO. Here. Mayor. Pro tem Khamis. Here we have a quorum. All right, let’s rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. All right. I am looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda, or I’m sorry, to approve the agenda. I’ll make a motion to approve the agenda. Second. All right. Uh, any discussion? Wait. We don’t need to do that, do we? Sorry. Um. All right. Number three. Uh, Chief Hubbard has a couple of awards he would like to present. Good evening. Mayor pro tem and council members. Uh, I am honored to share a couple recognitions with you tonight. The first one I’ll have officer Frank to come forward. Front and center so everybody can see you. It’s my honor tonight to introduce you to officer Frank public, who as of May 19th, shared the rookie title from his name as he completed his probationary period. As you know, candidates who were hired as crystal police officers endure a rigorous process prior to being given the opportunity to wear our uniform. Candidates complete an application, go through two interview panels, participate in an interview with the chief deputy chief and city manager, conduct an extensive background investigation, a full psychological screening, a physical screening, and physical agility testing before being offered a position. After they are hired, they complete two weeks of administrative and initial training and are given the oath of office by the mayor and complete three months of individualized field training with an experienced officer. After successfully completing field training, they are approved for solo patrol and are assigned a shift for the remainder of their first year. Once they have successfully completed their probationary year, I approved them for permanent status, which is the benchmark we celebrate with officer to Bleek tonight. Frank was born in Robbinsdale and grew up in the northwest suburbs. He graduated from Armstrong High School in 2019 and currently lives in the area. In his free time, he loves spending time with his dog and is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying fishing, boating and hunting. During high school, Frank saw a table promoting the Crystal PD, explorer post and decided to join the post. Frank was an active member of our Explorer Post for four years and credits that with piquing his interest in a career in law enforcement. In 2022, Frank joined the paid ranks of the department as a community service officer and served diligently in this role for three years. Frank’s hard work, commitment, and focus on his personal growth in the CSO role is what moved him into the dark blue uniform. He pushed himself to learn, grow, develop and mature, and all of that hard work put him in a position to be promoted to police officer. He earned the respect of his coworkers during this time, and was highly recommended by those he works with. Frank obtained an associate’s degree in law enforcement from North Hennepin Community College and completed his law enforcement skills program at Hennepin Technical College in 2021. During Frank’s background investigation, his references described him as mild mannered, a d escalator, fun, smart, intelligent, trustworthy and honest. These are all qualities we look for in officers that are going to join the Krystal team, and Frank has shown each one of these traits and so many more daily since becoming a police officer. So please join us in officially congratulating officer Frank D Blake on completion of his Crystal Police Department probationary period. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Spin around once and stay here. As you know, crystal police officers do outstanding work every day to serve, protect and assist those in the community who live, work, and worship here. Most of their work goes large and recognized, and we all understand that it’s part of this job. However, there are times when the actions of officers far surpass our normal motto of service with compassion, integrity and professionalism. As a part of the police Department’s recognition program, we feel there are times that accomplishments should be recognized in front of the council and community, which is why I’m going to share a couple with you tonight. I’m honored to recognize three of our team members whose work has met that threshold. The first award is a life saving award for officer Frank Public and Officer Jeff Clevenger, who couldn’t be with us. So you’re accepting on his behalf, like the Oscars on May 28th, 2025, officer Frank Public and Officer Jeff Clavin were dispatched to an unconscious person call at the Grandma’s Place Apartments. Upon arriving, Officer Kevin noticed him, noted a male subject was unconscious, not breathing, but had a pulse. Officer Kevin had knowledge of prior drug overdose incidents at that address. Officer Kevin assessed the patient administered four grams of four milligrams of Narcan and inserted an oral airway. Officer oblique then provided rescue breaths to the victim. After several minutes of breathing for the patient, he regained consciousness and began to breathe on his own. The patient was subsequently transported to the hospital by paramedics for evaluation and care. If not for the medical intervention of these officers, the victim would have died from lack of oxygen due to an opioid overdose. Congratulations. Great job. Thank you. Thank you. And crime analyst Matt Hafner. In your speech, ready? On Sep 20. On September 25th, 2025, Crystal police were called to respond to a theft of condoms from the Cub Foods store. Upon officers arrival, a juvenile female was determined to be the suspect in the theft. She was determined to be with an adult male that was unrelated to her. The juvenile female was trespassed, cited for theft, and arrested on warrants. Crime analyst Matt Hafner, while sifting through calls for service and notable activity reports, came across this theft case. It caught his attention as likely being more than just a misdemeanor theft. Recognizing the female was a juvenile, that she was caught stealing condoms and the adult male with her was not related to her. Hafner decided to run the juvenile through a sex trafficking website, a website database that uses facial recognition. He received confirmation that the juvenile had been sex trafficked when the trafficking database facially recognized her and found her to have current ads up on a common prostitution advertising website. Analyst Hefner researched the juvenile female and found that her mother reported to police her as missing from a neighboring state in January of 2025, indicating the juvenile had been missing and possibly trafficked for more than nine months. Analyst Hefner sent the information to colleagues who work human trafficking cases at both the BCA and the FBI. Both agencies were familiar with the human trafficker in our case, and were actively investigating him already. The Crystal Police Department Award of Merit is presented to department personnel for an extraordinary act, achievement or accomplishment during the performance of their normal duties and is being presented to crime analyst Matt Hafner for his actions, commitment and persistence that saved a 16 year old female from a life of daily victimization. Because of his work and diligence. A mother was reunited with her daughter and a Crips gang member involved in human trafficking is looking at a hefty federal prison sentence awaiting him. The members of the community we serve are safer because of the actions and efforts of analyst Matt Hafner on a daily basis, but his observations and actions taken in this case are truly commendable and worthy of his recognition. Thanks for. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let’s move on to the consent agenda. The Council will consider the following items, which are routine and non-controversial in nature in a single motion. Approval of minutes from the following meetings. City Council work session on May 14th, 2026. City Council meeting on May 19th, 2026. City Council work session on May 19th, 2026. Approval of disbursements over $25,000 submitted by the Finance Department. Approval of the list of license applications submitted by the City Clerk. Approval of the appointment of Daniel Heron to the Sustainability Commission. Approval of the appointment of Alex Willard to the Employee Review Board. Adoption of a resolution reported reporting on state performance measures. Gambling funds update. Adoption of a resolution recognizing Flag Day in the city of Crystal, and adoption of a resolution recognizing Juneteenth in the city of Crystal. Does anyone want to make a motion? I have some questions. Sure. Uh, item 3.2 disbursements over 25,000. I think I’ve asked this before, but the HRG curbside cleanup, that is not like that’s not just for Crystal. That’s all the HR participating communities. I think we’re the past two or something. Correct. We the. City. Crystal, operates basically does the bookkeeping for the HR org. Um, we’re not the manager, but we do the finance. So we process all the invoices and then collect the reimbursements from the other communities. Do we have a sense for how much of that? 851 we make up? I do not. It would be about, uh, you know, they because we do it. It’s done every year, but it’s alternated with Brooklyn Center one year and then Crystal and new Hope the other two years or the other year. Um, and so it’s it’s about the same each year. Um, so it’s about we’re on the hook for about a third of that. Okay. Each year. Okay. It’s a large dollar amount, but I know everyone loves it. I love it, uh, it’s just very expensive. Um, okay. And then I’d like to pull 3.7 gambling funds update and request that we put that at the end of the regular agenda. Do we need a vote on that or anything? No. Okay. And then lastly, I would like to just read 3.9. Uh, I don’t want to pull out. I just want to read it if that’s okay. Can I do that? Yes. Okay. Um. Resolution recognizing Juneteenth 2026. Whereas a priority of the Crystal City Council is making Crystal a welcoming and inclusive community. And whereas recognizing Juneteenth and what it stands for is directly related to the city’s efforts to be a more welcoming and inclusive community. And whereas June 19th has a special meaning to Americans and is called Juneteenth, combining the words June in 19th and has been celebrated by Americans for over 150 years. And whereas Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, it has been celebrated under many names, including Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Second Independence Day, Emancipation Day and Whereas, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1st, 1863. However, notice of the signing of the emancipation Emancipation Proclamation was not received in Galveston, Texas until after Union General Gordon Granger traveled to announce the General Order on June 19th, 1865. And Whereas Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17th, 2021, and in 2023, Minnesota’s 93rd legislature formally established Juneteenth as a state recognized holiday. And whereas our African American residents freedom contributions and achievements are acknowledged as part of our American history. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the city of Crystal that June 19th, 2026 is recognized as Juneteenth Freedom Day in Crystal and the history, contributions and achievements of African Americans and Crystal and the US are recognized. Adopted the second day of June, 2026. Thank you. All right. Does anyone want to make a motion to approve the consent agenda with 3.7 pulled? Of course. So, John. I second the motion. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. Uh, next is open forum. Uh, city council appreciates hearing from citizens about items of concern and desires to set aside time during each meeting for open forum. Um, this is limited to three minutes for topic discussion or three minutes of speaking time at ten minutes per topic. Um, and we have one person. Uh, Bert, would you like to approach? Thank you. April. Town council, Burton orange, 6,760th Avenue North. And I will be brief. Okay. I’ll use myself as an example. I do contemplate maybe some bucket list trips. And the reason I bring this up is with regard to early voting. And if I should happen to fall outside of that parameter. I’m just curious. I know it’s probably efficiency or efficacy that you’re probably trying to reduce that timetable with regard to early voting, but just I’m just making a comment that I may not be able to vote if I’m not around. Thank you. But, Bert, you can register to vote by mail. Still. I mean, so you basically will receive a ballot for the primary, but what what we’re talking about is actually coming into the city hall here in voting. I realize so, yeah. So you don’t want to restrict any options. That’s my my point. It’s understandable. I hear what you’re saying. But, you know, with your concern of not being able to vote, I want you to be aware that there are options for you to be able to vote, even though you’ll be out of town. So I realize that this was a little bit on short notice, but, you know, I did check right up until about 6:00 that the, you know, the PDF for the council agenda was even on the computer. It was like a blank slate. So I didn’t really get a chance to review the document in total. And well, that’s my fault. But it’s just a thought. Okay. I doubt I’m going to change any minds. Thank you very much. Any other questions? No thank you. Thank you.. All right. Um, the council will receive the 2025 annual financial report from Bergen CDV. Do we have representative? I assume. You want to control the slides, right? Yeah, that’d be okay. All right, I’m going to share the screen. Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. Yeah. That’s all right. Thank you. Council. My name is Aaron Dahl. I’m an audit manager with Bergen CDV, and I appreciate the opportunity to present here tonight and the opportunity to serve as your city’s auditors again for 2025. So we’ll jump right into the audit results with our independent auditor’s report. We just like to point out that management is responsible for the financial statements. And then we as auditors are responsible to and to express an opinion on the financial statements for the year ended December 31st, 2025. We did issue an unmodified opinion, which is the best opinion we can give as auditors. With that opinion. We’re providing assurance that the financial statements do fairly present in all material respects. Other reports that we kind of issue, along with the audit. So we have a report on Minnesota legal compliance. So that’s where we take a look at things like collateral bid testing, conflicts of interest, things of that nature. I’m happy to report no compliance findings for 2025. We also issue a report on government auditing standards. We did note one internal control finding. They’re related to the lack of segregation of accounting duties. So that’s one you’ve seen in the past as well. There’s just not that complete segregation when it comes to kind of all aspects of the financial statements and putting that together and that can relate to controls and access or review and approval. So it’s not always cost efficient to have that complete segregation, but it is something we do point out again for 2025. The last report is the communications letter. Within that report we do show some required communication again relating to the audit procedures and then also some financial analysis. And I’ll focus the good part of my presentation here tonight, kind of taking a look at some of those charts and graphs and taking a look at the trends for the city in 2025. All right. The first one we have here relates to the general fund balance at the end of December 31st, 2025. The fund balance was a little over 10 million, which was an increase of about 27.5% compared to the prior year, or about 2.2 million from that 2024 balance. As you can see, the majority of that went into the unassigned portion. So that went from about 6.5 million in 2024, up to over 9 million there in 2025. There’s also a committed piece there for compensated absences, which is which is just a little over 1 million for 2025. And then also a non spendable piece of just 33,000 related to prepaid items or inventory that is in the general fund. Next, we have that fund balance as a percentage of the budget. So, um, comparing that to the 2026 budget, which called for an increase in expenditures of about 10.9%, or about 2.5 million compared to the 2025 budget. Uh, fund balance at the end of 2025, as a percentage of that subsequent budget is shown here on the chart for the past five. Years. The city’s policy is to maintain unassigned fund balance for cash flow reserves equal to 40% of the general fund budget for the subsequent year. So as you can kind of see in that chart falling just a little below that 40%, but definitely trending in the right direction here. So as you can see, the unassigned portion up to 35% from 28% in 2024. And then that total fund balance jumped from 34%, up to 39%. So definitely trending in the right direction when trying to get in compliance with that fund balance policy. Next, we have the budget to actual results for 2025. Uh, so revenues were under budget by about 0.2% and expenditures were under budget by about 4.2% for the year. Um, revenues came in 45,000 under the budget. The largest variance here was revenue in the other revenue category, which was about 227,000. Over budget based on investment income, outperforming the budgeted amount, along with some additional revenue from reimbursements that was partially offset by intergovernmental revenue, which was 184,000. Under budget, due to less state aid being received for projects such as the Broadway Park and then the Minnesota Project. Um, also related to that was kind of the state aid and how that was accounted for during the year. Um, traditionally, it’s kind of been a pass through item where it shows us both the revenue and an expenditure. So basically zeros out. Um, there are some different kind of accounting for that in 2025. So that kind of contributed to the both revenue and expenditure side. Um, we’ll see when comparing intergovernmental revenue and then public safety expenditures as well. On the expenditure side, the total expenditures are about 949,000. Under budget for 2025. Um, again, that public safety expenditure amount was the main driver there being under budget by about 683,000. Uh, due to budgeting conservatively for salaries and benefits, along with, again, budgeting for state aid to be passed through their additional transfers of over 1.2 million were approved for 2025 to transfer some public safety aid to the general Fund and to reimburse the general fund for utility costs that are now being funded by the Building Internal Service funds. So kind of overall, that bottom line, you can see a variance there of about 1.4 million. On the positive side, when comparing the actual results to the budget. Next we have the general fund revenues for each of the past five years presented total revenue. Revenues here of about 22 million increased from about 20,000,000 in 2020 for that increase of about 2.7 million occurred in property taxes due to an increase in the amount of property tax levied for the general fund for the year. Intergovernmental revenue decreased by about 339,000. Again, related to some of that fire, state aid accounting licenses and permits decreased by about 165,000, with less building permit activity in 2025. And then the other revenue category increased by about 150,000. Related to that, increased reimbursement revenue. On the expenditure side, we have a couple pie charts here, kind of breaking it down, kind of based on the, um, function for each of the years. Um, overall, that allocation was relatively consistent between 2024 and 2025. The main changes was public safety decreasing, um, going from about 52% down to 48%, with most of that being kind of offset in the Parks and recreation, which increase from 11% to 14% for 2025. Next, we have the expenditures for the year overall for 2025. Those did increase by about 1.4 million, or 6.8%, from the prior year. Uh, the biggest jump there was Parks and Recreation. That increased by about 887,000 with higher salary and benefit costs, with additional staffing along with greater pool expenditures. As it was reopened in 2025 after reconstruction occurred in 2024, public works saw an increase of about 570,000, due in large part to some fund building service charges for park maintenance. Uh General Government increased by about 197,000 with salaries and benefits, with new positions being added along with higher professional service and inter fund service costs. There. Um public safety decreased by about 219,000. That looked like that related again to the accounting change for that state fire aid. Next, we’ll jump into the enterprise funds. So starting with the Water Enterprise Fund, first, uh, operating revenues here increased by about 335,000, uh, as a result of an increase in rates for the water fund. Operating expenses increased by about 920,000 compared to the prior year, with noted increases for water charges during the year. The end result was operating income of about 937,000, which was a slight decrease of about 584,000 compared to the prior year. Next we have the sanitary sewer fund. Uh, operating revenues here increased by about 323,000. Uh, based on billing rates and then also billing units, operating expenses increased by about 176,000, with increased sewer disposal charges. Uh, operating income here was about 940,000, which was an increase of about 138,000 compared to the prior year. Next, we have the storm drainage Enterprise Fund presented here. So, um, operating revenue increased here, jumping from about 1.4 million up to 1.5 million. Similarly, on the expense side, uh, that stayed relatively the same. So just over 1 million. Uh, the net income here increased from about 452,000, up to 625,000. So kind of all three of those were at their highest points in 2025 when comparing to the prior four years. Similarly, for the streetlights utility fund, uh, operating revenue here increased by about 13,000. Uh, operating expenses increased by about 16,000, with net income increasing from about 65,000 to 85,000. And again the highest of the five years presented. Finally, we just have some charts here, kind of presenting some per capita revenues and expenditures. Uh, taking a look here, uh, in 2025, that intergovernmental revenue per capita decreased again with less Minnesota construction activity and state fire aid in 2025. On the property tax side, that increased with the increase in property tax levy. And then on the expenditure side, the per capita increased here with um, total expenditures per capita due to more capital project costs in 2025. And then lastly, we have a chart here kind of showing the tax capacity, uh, the certified levy and then the tax rate as well. Um, the tax capacity decreased by about 1.1 million, or about 3.7%, uh, with taxable market value increasing at a faster rate than the certified levy over the last five years. Uh, the city’s tax rate has increased from about 48.4% in 2021, up to a high of 58.5% in 2025. So with that, I’ll open it up to. Any questions or. Comments the council may. Have. Toshi. I have a question on the general fund balance. Um, one of your earlier slides. So okay. So which one is which line is more important for us? Or do we base our, um, you know, 40% off? Is that the unassigned fund balance or the total fund balance? It would be based on the unassigned. So yeah, the 35% for 2025. Yep. And is this, uh. I mean, are we ahead of schedule? I mean, this seems quite. Quite essentially. Yeah. There, as was explained in 2025. There are a lot of different factors, um, that contributed to it. But we had a surplus of, you know, unplanned of about I think it was, you know, about 900, just under $1 million. So we had an extra million dollars that go that goes towards the fund balance, which is essentially like this year. That’s what we also planned for a surplus. Um, so this as we get into budget, this will I mean, it’s great news. It’s not necessarily, you know, we’ll get into the details of why that was. Um, like I said, there were multiple factors as to the reason for that, but this does put us ahead of where we were in our long term plan. For replenishing the fund balance. That’s great. And is the the state auditors kind of. What what. Is the. The state auditor. guidance guideline? The guidance is the 35% city policy is 40%. It was 45. It last year was 45. That was something. It was in September. I believe that the council changed that amended that from 45 to 40. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That’s great. First I. Have two questions. Hopefully the first question is quick and the second question might. Not be able to be answered here. Um, first question is related to the unassigned fund balance. I know that the state auditor’s accounting method for their standard is slightly different from ours. Um, is this calculation based off of I forget if it’s next year’s budgeted or is it last year’s budget or it’s the denominator is, I think, different on one or the other. Which one is this? This is based on the 2026 budget. So the subsequent year. Okay. And that’s our policy. That’s what the city’s policy. Yeah. Okay. Do you know what the percentage how are we on at this at the state auditors? Um, kind of threshold, using their metrics. You know, I think that would be the 35%, so. Yep. Okay. Okay, so it’s 35 for both calculation. Both formulas, even though they’re different. Yep. Yep. Okay. Um, second question is related to the water enterprise. Okay. Um, fund. And I don’t know how much you can answer this or if this is a question for Jesse, but, um, I think certainly my eyes kind of bugged out a little bit when I saw the operating expense increase from 2024 to 2025. There. Um, what what was that increase? Uh, like what accounted for most of that increase? We had noted water charges. Um, there might be other things on top of that. Like, so, like. Repairs and maintenance and stuff like that. That’s always tough to pinpoint on how that’s going to play out for the year. Um, yeah. Your finance department should have more specifics on that. If you’re looking for. More specific. But your notes noted that the wholesale price of the water was the biggest thing. Okay. I feel like that’s kind of been common throughout the state, kind of those inflationary costs, um, across the board for a lot of those enterprise funds. Okay. I would be curious if staff could kind of share a more fine breakdown on how much of that 900, some thousand dollars increase is just wholesale increase for Minneapolis or what else? I’m just kind of curious. So thank you. Oh, and then I did have one other question. Sorry. Of course. That’s true. I know, luckily, Julie’s not here to, um, do whatever she does. Uh, anyways. Uh. I on the last slide there with the chart. Sure. Um, is. it. You know, this is the only city I’ve been on. City council of, um, and really looked at budgets this much of. Is it bad that our city tax rate is above 50%? I wouldn’t say so. Yeah, it kind of depends. That one’s tricky from city to city, kind of based on the market values. What those are doing. Um, obviously with your tax levy, you’re kind of counting on an increase with that each year. So it just happened to be one of those where the tax capacity dropped a little bit. The levy went. off. Um, and it kind of looks like a pretty big jump on that chart. But in reality, it’s probably not a huge deal. Kind of looking back to 2021, it was at 48. So, um, that’s one that can definitely fluctuate from year to year. Okay. And that’s just the market trends for crystal decreasing. Okay. Well we’re getting some new buildings. So that’ll help. Yeah. Um, Madam Mayor, I should add to that there’s a lot of confusion, and sometimes you hear it at the truth and taxation, hearing or other hearings that involve taxes. Most taxes are a percentage of something that people can readily identify with their income, how much they purchase at a store. This tax rate is not like that, right? It is a percentage of the tax capacity of each property. So this jump, while there was a big levy increase last year, this jump kind of exaggerates what the actual effect of that change in tax rate was. It’s not like the sales tax rate or kind of what a normal tax would be. It’s a and the the tax capacity on a single family owner occupied home is 1% generally of the taxable market value. So it’s 58.5% of 1% of whatever the value is. So the actual calculation of the tax is is different than what most people perceive a tax rate when they see it. There’s also one other factor, um, with the values. It’s a year behind. So we’re studying the taxes for the next year based on the previous year’s value. So there’s this lag that they don’t line up perfectly, especially in cases where there are changes. Um, it kind of exacerbates that, that difference. Yeah I appreciate the the reminder and the explanation. I think charts are very easily scary looking, so.. Right. Especially when lines cross. So thank you. Does anyone want to make a motion to accept the financial report? John I’ll make a motion to accept the 2025 annual financial report from Berger and CDB. David I will. Second that. All in favor? All right. Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. Thank you. Aaron. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Council will consider a resolution authorizing agreements with the Metropolitan Council for Light Rail Transit system for. This thing go away. There’s a 3D rendering. Go ahead. There you go. Good evening. Mayor Pro tem, Council members, I am returning to you today to discuss the cooperative construction agreement and the subordinate funding agreement for design of the Blue Line Extension project. So, just a reminder from the last session, uh, the cooperative construction Agreement establishes the terms and conditions under which the city and the Metropolitan Council will cooperate in the design, construction and implementation of the Blue Line Extension project. Um, some key details from the CCA that we talked about last time is that it outlines the roles and responsibilities and obligations of each party. It defines the bidding procedure and outlines the surveying and utility locate requirements for the Public Works Department. It describes the maintenance of traffic process. It outlines corrective work and warranty claims and defines the terms of final acceptance. Uh, as I previously stated, city staff and Met Council have gone through 12 revisions in total between the two agreements. And we’ve discussed each detail, each section in detail. Um, to ensure that these agreements protect the city. The subordinate funding agreement in this case for design, uh, establishes the budget and reimbursement framework for the design phase of local work. So the local work for this project for the city is sanitary and water main improvements. Water main lining. Irrigation in the proposed medians on Bass Lake Road east and west of Bottineau. Um. Future construction. After design a construction SFA will be presented to city staff and later the council. Um at a future date. Uh, last council session, we had talked about risk mitigation and the most notable item that hadn’t been addressed was the Elmhurst crosswalk. Crosswalk. Our fear rectangular rapid flashing beacon. Uh, so previously, city leadership requested a signalized crosswalk at Elmhurst. Project staff and the county previously agreed to that. But as of recently, a few months ago, it was pulled from the project. Um, county staff raised concerns about the traffic impact from the RFP system. And in our last session, the council needed to see more detail on a greater level of commitment to ensure that this crosswalk was added back into the system. With the correct infrastructure. So city staff took the council’s feedback and went back to the project and directed them to make the changes. Based on the feedback. Hennepin County staff openly received the council’s feedback, as well as Metro Transit and the designers and the RFP drawings were produced specifically for Crystal and have been added to the Cooperative Construction Agreement so it can no longer be valued engineered out of the project without an amendment to the contract itself. Um, this is a render that I actually put together and sent to the Blue Line Extension project, just as an idea of kind of what we’re looking for. It’s missing some details, which I can point out, but I just wanted to show you this is kind of what the poll would look like. Um, in this case, it has two RFP signals, one on the post and then one on the mast arm. Uh, there is also a sign noting that it is state law to stop for any pedestrian in the crosswalk. Um, in addition, uh, these will be green. And which matches the city street lights on Bass Lake Road. And it also will include, um, a luminaire on the top of the post to ensure that the crosswalk is lit and the crosswalk is as safe as possible. So this is the actual drawing that’s included in the. Um, so a few things to point out is you could see on the north and south side of Bass Lake Road, there are two poles with massed arms and two are in both of the median refuges and the Z crossing in the middle. Uh, there is a single post RFP, so essentially there’s three signals for each direction. So if you are looking directly at the crosswalk, there’s one to your left, one to your right and one right above the street. Um, as I said, these will be lit crossings. But in addition to that, we’ve directed the project to ensure that the Z crossing in the middle is also lit. So that helps produce light for the turn turn lane. And then also ensures that the Z crossing is well lit as well. So the entire crossing should be well lit. Uh, this is a drawing of what that system will look like. As I mentioned, there are two RVs on this. And then a second or third one on the post in the medians. Um, for Ada compliance, the push buttons will also signal, uh, that it is safe to cross, and it will essentially tell you that, uh, the RFB is flashing, indicating that you can cross the street. Now. Can I just ask a quick question on those are FBS is it? You push a button and it automatically flashes, or is there like a delay at all with it? That is a great question. Jessie. Mayor, mayor. Pro tem, Council members, uh, they flash pretty much right away when you when you push them. Now, I would caution people from walking out in the road right away after pushing the button, make sure vehicles are stopping both ways. But, um, yes, they start flashing right away. And there’s no way to make it more like a stoplight where maybe, um, a few people could gather. So it’s not constantly, you know, stopping traffic. There’s no way to put in a delay. Nope. Okay. Nope. Okay. Uh, that reminds me. And I’ll. Chris and Jessie. I don’t know, maybe you can maybe just raise your hand from the back. Um, regarding the. I mean, as far as the traffic laws, though, the cars are not required to stop unless somebody is actually in the roadway. So if there’s nobody present, you know, obviously the drivers have to be safe and check because that’s what, you know, get their attention. But cars don’t have to stop to, you know, create a backup. If there’s nobody there. So I don’t know if that’s kind of getting at what you’re. Yeah. I was just thinking, you know, if I don’t know how how often people are crossing out that crosswalks just so that it’s not like every couple of minutes they are having to stop. You know, I didn’t know how active forest. Or I would just surmise that if it got to that level of a problem, then we’d probably have to fix it. But then that just means there’s like a tremendous demand for pedestrian crossings. And we should probably look at that. So I think this is a good this is we can always look at things in the future. And if there’s a future safety hazard, it can be changed. Hopefully. One other point that I’d like to point out is this the project is including a two system approach. So when an RFP on one side, say the south side near Becker Park is pressed, it will get you to the Z crossing in the median. So that is timed specifically for that. And then in the median, you will then be able to press the second RFP. So it won’t pause both directions of traffic at a time. It’ll pause just one direction of traffic. Okay Chris, can you adjust your microphone over? Yes. There you go. Yeah. Jeff, have it over. There. And this is what the post in the medians and the and the Z crossing will look like. This is the third RFP. And the app’s push button at the bottom. There. So as of today, we are at the CCA and SFA authorization in June 2026, the application for federal funding is in the summer of 2026, and 100% plans are estimated by the end of 2026, with pre-construction and construction starting in 2027 and 2028. So staff recommendation for the council is to adopt the resolution approving the Cooperative Construction Agreement and the Subordinate Funding Agreement. Just a quick question. I’m assuming that those also have for site impaired. There’s a voice that says that it’s okay to cross as well. Yes. Okay. Yes. So as soon as the button is pressed, it will tell you that it is safe to cross it. I think it just says. The lights are on, lights are flashing. Yeah. Okay. First. Uh, yeah. I just want to say thank you very much to you and, uh, all city staff for one, just generally doing a great job negotiating with two parties that are tough negotiators. So thank you for that. And thank you to for going back and, um, and getting this, this from them. So I’m really pleased and really thankful for all the great staff and all the great time spent on this. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilmember. All right. Does anyone want to make a motion? John. I make a motion, um, approving a resolution recommending the authorization of the Blue Line extension agreements. Second. All in favor? Aye, aye. Opposed? Uh. Motion passes. Thank you very much. Council members. All right. Uh, Council will consider a resolution opting in to the 18 day early voting period. Uh, City Manager Adam bell. Yes. Uh, thank you, Madam Mayor. Pro tem. Uh, members of the council, um, I had mentioned this. This was a legislative change, uh, kind of at the last, at the end of the session. Um, it’s something that I’ve actually been talking to our legislators about for a few years. Um, so I was really pleased to learn about this change and what it is. Uh, if everybody’s familiar with kind of the concept of absentee voting, uh, absentee voting starts 46 days before Election Day. Um, in 2022, there was seven days of early voting, uh, in person, where ballots were still being processed differently. But in 2024, they extended that. They expanded it to 18 days. Um, and so you still had this 46 day early, you know, absentee ballot period. Um, the legislation, uh, what it allows is cities to opt into just holding the 18 days of in-person early voting. Um, or continue that for the full 46 days, including the first 28. Um, just one thing that because it was mentioned earlier, the absentee voting is not changing. People will still be able to vote by mail if they show up to City Hall with an absentee ballot. Um, we still will have to process that with a county. Um, this just changes. The biggest change is that instead of we no longer staff would have to no longer have 2 to 3 people dedicated to election staff for that full 46 day period. Um, one of the, uh, I just handed this out before the meeting because we just got this wasn’t in time for the packet. Um, but as you can see here in Crystal and these this information is from Hennepin County. The first 28 days of absentee voting is, you know, it’s a very small percentage based on the last 18 days, which is what we are talking about. Um, in the 2024, uh, primary and the general election, you know, it was 85% of our voters voted in that last 18 days. And that’s not including actually Election Day, because that’s obviously still the same. Um, but then in the general election, it was 83%. So the Hennepin County average is actually 70%. In that last 18 days. Um, so we’re even above that. Um, there, we don’t want to have there be concerns. We want there to be concerns from the public that, you know, anybody’s going to be disenfranchised. Um, we want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to vote. Um, but it is a large, as I mentioned, having multiple staff dedicated, uh, we don’t have separate election staff. Krissy, as the city clerk and a couple the you know, she the deputy clerk, uh, they manage a lot during the entire election process. Um, in presidential years, we have the presidential primary. Um, and so that’s an extra 46 days. Um, this really would reduce the amount of staff time having to dedicate to in-person voting. Um, but everybody will still be able to vote. Um, and as the data shows, uh, the majority of the vast majority of the voters will be able to, you know, exercise their franchise in person. So because as I said, the the city has the option to opt into the 18 day early voting or the 46 days of the full absentee staff’s recommendation is to opt in to the 18 day early voting for in person and opt out of the the first 28. Um, so are there any questions from staff? Christy and I are happy. to answer for staff. Christy and I are happy to answer them or. Any idea what that is costing staff wise. Because we don’t have extra or extra staff. There have been on some years where we will bring in a seasonal kind of a temporary, uh, employee for that, um, which that I want to say depending on the election year, if it includes a presidential or not. Um, we were, uh, I want to say it was like 45, almost $50,000 for, you know, it’s about half a year. Um, you know, it’s 100 plus days, um, so that we we would no longer need that. Presumably. Um, there’s still plenty of election work that goes on. Um, outside of, uh, an election year, as Christy can attest to. It’s, you know, it’s kind of all year. So she starts in the fall of the, the year before. Um, I don’t have a specific dollar figure of the amount of staff time. We don’t track that because we, the staff are expected to do their current jobs, their regular jobs as well. Um, and so when we have to go into the precinct or the, the polling place that we set up, um, they bring their laptops with them and they try to do it, but it’s not as effective. It’s not as efficient to have to do that. And then you do have, um, occasional interruptions. Um, it’s just not conducive to being as productive as when they’re sitting at their desk. Okay. Um, being able to focus on that so we can reduce the amount of staff time having to manage the elections. Any other questions? I just want to say I’m up for free and make it as easy as possible for people to vote. But this seems like a no brainer to me. I mean, people are given ample opportunity to vote, whether it’s in-person, early, or by mail, or wait until Election Day. I mean, probably a drop in the bucket as far as cost. But I spend money we don’t have to spend. Those are my thoughts anyway. Does anyone want to make a motion? I can make the motion. John. I’ll make a motion for a resolution. Resolution. Selecting the option to conduct 18 day of in-person early voting and opting out of the 46 days of in-person absentee voting in the city of Crystal for the 2026 elections.. Of course. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed. Motion passes. Just a comment. Um, I voted by mail for many years, and you can track your ballot all the way through the system. Um, the ballots themselves are handled by the United States Postal Service. They’re handled separately from from all mail. Um, they’re tracked throughout the system. I mean, they’re basically, um, under under guard the whole time, from the moment the a mail carrier picks up the ballot to the moment it gets to the election judge. So I feel very comfortable with that process. And I’ve done it for many, many years. And, uh, feel that, um, that’s probably the most effective way to vote. That way you’re able to research the candidate at your home, at your leisure, and be able to verify, um, who’s on the ballot. I think one of the biggest issues with, with voting is that people tend to, um, under vote their ballot because they don’t know who the who’s on the ballot. And I think voting by mail helps improve that. Um, that opportunity. So that’s my opinion. Thank you. All right. Uh, back to the pulled item. 3.7 gambling funds. Tasha, you wanted to. set. Um. Yeah. So just some, uh, point of clarification. So gambling funds pay for the PDS dog. Has that been true for a while? Uh, well, we we received. Donations. Private donations. As well. Um, which does, uh, fund a significant portion of that, specifically donations from not not gambling funds for the canine program. Okay. But one of the like there was last year, uh, there was a request to the to the west metro, uh, for. Um. For funds specifically for the new canine. So. So this so gambling funds kind of make up the difference or what? The. Yeah. Well, it’s it’s an eligible cost. And so depending because it does vary somewhat year to year. Um, depending on like this last year or this, you know, within the last year, uh, we had a canine retirement. So that was replaced. Um, so that was an extra, you know, 15,000 to acquire the new dog and train. It. So that that can fluctuate. And that was the reason for, um, the request for those additional funds. Um, because we did receive funds beyond gambling funds, beyond the 10% contribution. Um. Okay. Um, yeah. I mean, so my questions historically have been around, you know, we have these gambling funds that I feel like we don’t have. Very good. Um, structure around how I understand there is some structure and understand basically, City manager can direct where these funds go. Within our charter. The. I have a $25,000, uh, purchasing authority. Uh. we there’s also restrictions on what the funds can be used for. Yeah. Um, and we have a past, you know, kind of practice of what these gambling funds have historically been used for year to year. Uh, some years. Again, the revenue does fluctuate a little bit. Um, the last several years, we had higher revenue than some of the previous years. So we do have a somewhat, you know, fairly healthy balance that we’ve been able to do some additional things, you know, increase some of the amounts. Um, but it has not been. So if your question is, can the city manager. Yes. Will the current city manager know that’s a conversation that we have, you know, are having, um, if there’s something specifically that the council. would like to spend the gambling funds on, that’s what, you know, we we should have that conversation like we have with some of the other, um, donations that we’ve made, uh, to the food shelves as As well as the Nazarene Center. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s. And I guess I’m just not sure how to approach this. I mean, I don’t know if it’s so. So we have these. These are core. Do we get quarterly updates on this? I’ve been providing quarterly updates on the the gambling funds. Um, but the revenue comes in once a year. It varies year to year. Um, it as it has been. You know, we were talking about frolics, a couple of meetings ago and the frolics committee, the way it had been working is the Frolics Committee would make a request directly to the, uh, the, uh, West Metro Relief Association that manages the the gambling funds and those amounts would then be sent to the city because we we are the ones that were getting it and it would, you know, then we donated them to the frolics as an eligible expense. Um, because that amount has changed. Um, like last year, there was 26,000 that were dedicated for or, you know, kind of earmarked for frolics. Um, this year it was the 5000. So we haven’t, uh, the timing of the revenue varies year to year. There’s a specific request for something. We we can make the request. Um, we get the revenue sooner by. No. It has. We’re supposed to get the revenue by the end of the year. That 10%. We don’t have a set schedule. Um, for, you know, it’s not monthly. It’s not quarterly. It’s kind of as as we receive it. So that timing varies year to year by. We have to file a state report every year by March. So we get there, we find out what that 10% should have been. Um, and if there’s a shortage, then we have to go back to them and, you know, request your however many dollars short to sell that because they are required to contribute that much. So again, the timing really fluctuates, varies year to year depending on what the requests are. Yeah. And I don’t I don’t want to overengineered this. I mean we’re dealing with you know maybe 100, $125,000 here. Uh, but it is I mean, it’s these are dollars. These are. I mean, it does matter, so I just I don’t know if it’s, you know, once a year, twice a year or quarterly, but the council and I, maybe we already do this but provides direction on how we want some of these dollars spent. I understand there’s kind of we already kind of have okay. We’re always giving to the frogs to some extent. We’re given to the airport open house. Okay. But as I have suggested before, you know, can some of these dollars be used to support the Indy Commission and whatever endeavors they might pursue? Is there anything that, you know, the Sustainability Commission could benefit from, especially as we think about, uh, that work plan? So, you know, but because, okay, things kind of fluctuate in the dollars change year to year, and the revenue comes in at different times. I, I don’t know how much rigor we can put around this. Um, and I mean, I like the idea of having some money that is quote unquote unassigned so that we can give to, you know, food shelves when they’re significantly in need or something. So, I don’t know, I, I don’t I don’t really have a specific ask or clear direction and maybe, you know, these quarterly updates are sufficient and the council will just provide feedback. Um, as these updates come at just again, it just feels, um, a little awkward that it’s like, okay, we have this fund of money that, uh, for my opinion, we don’t have very clear direction on. I understand there’s like, we can only use it for so many things, which is great. But within that, I would prefer more kind of consistency and clarity on how we use that. But maybe how it is, is, is fine. Does anyone else. Have thoughts? Well. What kind of are you saying? Like you want more structure just so that we wouldn’t this this couldn’t ever, like put the city in a position where like, if we were unable to donate to something, but we did donate to something else, like there wouldn’t. ever be a position that the city would get put in where. We’d have to say no. Is that what you’re trying to say? Well, like where we would get in trouble for maybe, like, cherry picking who we’re donating to? Well, there’s always that concern with any of our, you know, services or funding that we provide to anything or on anything. Um, you know, the list. I just pulled up the resolution that the council adopted last year. Um, listing, you know, what specific eligible expenses we can use the gambling funds for? Um, the like regarding the IND and the sustainability activities. It would have to fit within one of those categories. And these are these are statutory or, you know, state guidelines or state rules. Um, so there’s not a lot of flexibility in that. Um, you know, festival organizations like with frolics, they qualify for that. That’s why it’s a community festival. Um, so there’s certain things that are simpler. There’s some that we’d have to, um, you know, really scrutinize to make sure that they, they are eligible expense. Uh, the difficulty with, you know, that’s why in the at the beginning of the year, back in January, the first update or maybe in December, you know, at the basically at the January 1st, we knew what our balance was. And I listed, here’s all the things that, you know, historically, we have been funding. Um, this is kind of what, what the projected uses are. Um, there really weren’t many new ones. And so, like I said, the year to year we’ve been spending the gambling funds on a lot of the same things. Um, the, the, you know, the, the center, the the Nazarene center. Um, that was an additional one last year. We started doing the, you know, the food support for the food shelves. So that’s what we had been doing. But we put that kind of back on the on the list. Um, so it’s really tough. Now if there’s something at the beginning of the year or at any point that could be kind of we talked about this last year and if we kind of have an idea of what our revenue or what our balance is going to be, and so we have an idea of, I mean, we should always be able to come up with, okay, what programs do we want to continue funding? Um, you know, the airport open house. Uh, we, you know, Winterfest, um, the kickoff to summer or frolics or, you know, those types of things that are we do every year. Um, those we should be able to estimate how much we will need of that balance. Um, if we spend it and we don’t, you know, revenues down for that year, that would be the following year that we’d have to as long as we don’t overcommit in that year. Um, before we know what the revenue is going to be. Uh, we’d have to have that then future conversation. Um, but the the revenue has been fairly, fairly stable. Um, in the last five years, like I said, of between 40 to 80,000 total. Do we have to keep a we don’t have to keep a minimum balance. There’s not a minimum balance. But, uh, the state does not, uh, look at it too friendly. If the balance gets too high. Okay. Um, we are required to. If we get it, we need to put it back into the community one way or the other. Um. So, Taji, would you be in favor of something like, um, like a, like a percentage of our projected balance? Um, would go to, like, city things like airport, open house or frolics, and then maybe another percentage would be for like food shelf or food services, like, are you talking like sort of that type of a structure, like percentages that would go which would kind of give us a framework at least. As opposed to hard dollar amounts? Well, as well, we wouldn’t know our dollar wants because we don’t ever really know what our balance is. But if we kind of maybe did a percentage of what our projected balance would be, and I just feel like maybe if we did that, it would also kind of give us more guideline. Just so that it wouldn’t put the city in a position where we would be like, you know, well, you donate it to them, but not us. I mean, if we have these guidelines, would it kind of protect us a little bit more. If there’s if any decision we make that’s less arbitrary always protects us legally. You know, take the human discretion out of it. And if we have a policy or if we have guidelines that we follow, that gives us a better, you know, standing. Of course. Um. So the one thing I would. just echo of what Taji had said was, oh. I. Is, um, I think we had discussed a lot about having ind commission and commissions generally have, um, some discretion over these funds. Uh, and have the, these commissions essentially direct the funds within the limits of, you know, the allowable types of activities, but directed by the by these commissions. I agreed with that back then. I still agree with that right now. Um, for me, and I don’t know if this is opinion, but I kind of get the sense it is. It’s not so much that, like, it’s what we’re spending the money on right now is like bad. It’s more, well, I’d like to try something new. And I think the commission direction of funds is a good idea. Um, and I, I don’t really know about, like, a percentage thing. For me, it’s more. Well, we know we’re going to get a certain amount. Like, I would like to throw out like, $5,000. Um, and across the, um, Sustainability Commission, the or I guess the Sustainability Commission is probably getting that grant. So we don’t they don’t really I don’t know, certain amount. Let’s have we could we could. I’d like to see staff’s proposal on the amount. But nonetheless, um, I support what Taji had said earlier about the commission’s directing some of the funds. That’s what I would like to see as a change. I feel like we already discussed this and agreed on it, so let’s make it so. So there. And I think that’s my like, is there anything more we need to do to to make it so like and again I’m not I don’t want to pass resolutions or I would. But if it’s just you know, the commission liaison you know the council members to our liaisons kind of bring this to their commissions. Or if the staff folks that are on those commissions, I mean, just say, hey, we have this fund, the council would like, you know, to empower commissions to, you know, come up with ideas that support, um, whatever the criteria are. You know, I’m very interested in engagement and how can we more creatively and intentionally engage our community. So if there’s ways that any of our commissions want to do that, I’m just, you know, there there are resources here that we could, you know, um, allow our commissions to kind of direct. So, so again, I don’t know if it’s just a conversation that we bring to the commissions that we each are on or if there’s something more formal or not. Um, yeah. Can I interject here? So as long as I’ve been on this council, um, initially we would have a discussion about charitable gambling in March, basically. And that’s when the, when the actual hard number would come out. And that was the case. We, we would primarily would donate money to the food shelves. Prism. Um, and that would went away probably midway through my tenure. You know, where the discussion about the charitable gambling and, and also donating into the community itself. And it’s great that we’re we’re having that discussion now. I, I think it’s awesome that we get a quarterly update on on this. Um, um, possibility for us to be able to put money back into our community in a very pointed way. And I think it’s good that commissions help us decide, like, you know what? We should be, um, investing in this way. I look at it, um, obviously, um, um, our chief talked to us about the Nazarene Center for for compassion, because we basically went through a crisis this past year, this winter, you know, involving, um, um, um, you know, an interjection into our community and us being able to be able to support families that were felt. Uh, how would you say, um, singled out or identified and weren’t able to leave their homes to be able to to, um, meet their basic needs? And I think, I think that was a great way for us to get up and support a specific item in our community, whether or not that’s a need that’s going to happen going forward. I realize that needs change. I’m looking for suggestions. I mean, I wouldn’t necessarily probably bring this back to the Parks and Recreation Commission because we already have a budget where we’re focused on things that are going on with within our park system. I think we’re doing a pretty good job. But, um, and definitely, like Ford said about the Sustainability Commission, you know, they already have they’re looking at grants and, and ways in which they’re able to expand and get their commission to work better. But the one thing with when I was on the Human Rights Commission and also with the Indy Commission now, we always talked about like we never really had any kind of funding to be able to do something within our commission. We always felt like we’re always kind of like, yeah, on a backburner. We never really had the budget of the park and rec commission. And so I would be in favor of like, you know, creating, you know, if there would be some way in which we could, you know, start with a small budget for them to at least feel like they’re they’re in the game. You know, I would be okay with that. Um, it’s really difficult. Um, to, um, do a lot of things with this fund because there is so many asks, you know, and the idea is, is that we, like Adam said, you know, we can’t sit on the money. But the other thing is, is we don’t want to get ourselves to a situation where, um, we don’t have the revenue to be able to cover what those needs may be as they come up, because given this past winter, you know, the event that all, you know, Minnesota went through a lot of cities did not or would not be able to support members of their community. And we did. And I think that, you know, using this fund as a way of being able to, um, identify and and bring forth an answer to a need is essential. It’s essential of who we are. So I think further discussions going further forward is great. And I think there’s a, you know, um, there’s a lot of, um, flexibility here. And so I think on a quarterly basis, we should continue discussion on this. I don’t think we need to like answer that question now, but I do think that you have a great point going back to your commissions and and and putting forth in an ask and seeing what people think about it. I’m sure they’ll jump on it and you’ll get a lot of recommendations. So thank you. Sorry you were waiting before John. So I let you go, but I do. I did just want to say one really quick thing. So everything I said before I’m in favor of obviously because I said it. But what I don’t want that to get misconstrued as is saying, like, let’s just go to our commissions and say we have some money. Like, what do you want to do? Because I think that’s like not a productive use of time or funds. And I think especially maybe for the Indy Commission, it could just kind of like overwhelm them a little bit. So I would prefer actually looking if it’s within Sarah’s capacity, you know, as directed by you. Looking at what? Because I know other cities and other similar types of bodies like the Indy Commission do have community micro grants or funding or different things like that. Like the like this wouldn’t be super innovative. I’d be curious if within this year, Sarah could look into some of those options and then maybe shop those processes with the Indy Commission that we know work in other communities. And then if that seems like it’s working, then we can give them the money. I, I just was like hearing myself talk and everybody else talking. And I was just saying I was like, yeah, I just really don’t want to go and say, we have some money. What do you want to do with it? Because I do think that would that would just kind of not be the most productive thing. So I’ll just I just put that in there. Uh, Madam. Mayor and council, I guess one just one clarification. So I maybe this answer gets to some of what you were asking about. Um, I have not proposed anything new or big or, um, you know, we talked about the gaming funds quite a bit last year. Um, with the with the updates, with the reports. You know, that’s kind of the here’s the balance. Here’s what we have planned, which is most of it’s the same year to year stuff. Um, we can staff can come up with a program, uh, to include the, you know, the Indy and the sustainability or something, something along those lines. Um, we can also look into the micro grant program. Uh, but I’ve been for, you know, I guess I was, because it’s been asked about of, you know, what do we want to do? What can we do? I may have been waiting for the council to come up, like make a suggestion of, hey, let’s can we use the funds for X, Y or Z? I have not been bringing those to to the council as here’s an idea. Um, so if that’s something that council wants, however they gets here, whether it’s staff and or the commissions, um, we can do that. We just haven’t we just haven’t done that yet. So that if you’re looking as to how else we can spend the funds within the the parameters, um, to put them back into our community, we can come up with those. And again, I don’t know, I’d be reluctant on coming up with too strict of a, you know, this is the way we’re going to do it every year because it does fluctuate. But we can come up with some general guidelines of, you know, staff really hasn’t done any work in. Here’s an idea of how to spend some of these funds. You know, there’s been some conversations, but we haven’t brought any proposals to the council. And O’Brien has asked about. or made a suggestion. Or two. Well. I would just, uh, regarding the K9 specifically, I don’t I don’t deal in the gambling funds. But I know this piece just two things that I would mention. One is, I think just so that it’s clear the the council has control of 10% of the gambling funds. If an organization, i.e. VFW, gives over 10%, it really is a donation. And so the council has to accept the donation. But the council could say you’ve donated money for the K9 fund, but we’ve decided to put it into the parks fund. The council would be able to do that, but in theory has followed the will of the donor. I would say, um, I would then add, at least as it relates to the K9 donation from last year, that the VFW basically gave that fund. Adam’s been working really hard to try and help them understand the 10% in the donation platform, but they basically said we would prefer this money to go towards. We know they’re having we have a new K9. And so it was really kind of following their wish, knowing that we don’t have a line item for K9. So I would just say at any point that there could be a choice to reverse that. But I think that was the mentality. And to that particular donation, because the VFW loves K9. And so we’ve we’ve tried and has typically given over there 10%. Correct me if I’m wrong. Um, and that has been their will. So just a little bit of clarity on that, that their donation was larger than last year because they knew that that expense was coming and that the city doesn’t budget for that. So I don’t know if that I’m not trying to take a position, but just clarifying that specific donation because it was large. Um. I think my question is, I mean, I get I think I get the donation stuff. They love canines, but also like, why don’t we budget for canines? Why don’t I mean, when I see Swat equipment? Okay, West Metro, why, why, why aren’t some of these things in our budget.? That was it was the firefighter medic for the for to be a part of the Swat. The relief Association donated or contributed funds um, specifically for equipment for their people that were now going to be part of Swat so that we don’t normally we we do fund our Swat, and we get grants and other ways to. But that one was a specific for a specific purpose. Okay. And then, you know, yeah, I just I think I could spin on this for a long time and I don’t want to, but even. Okay, kickoff to summer. Like if this if that thing’s a success, which hopefully it will be I mean, at what point do we build that into our city’s budget versus this budget? Maybe we don’t need to. I’m, um, so I don’t know. I don’t I don’t want this. I don’t want this charitable gambling funds to, um, uh, take the place of line items that should actually be in our budget. You know, because this fluctuates and because it changes year over year. So I just want to be mindful of that. The I will just give the history piece and and John, you maybe were here when this happened, but the evolution of the canine program when it started in the mid 20 tens, um, was that the city did not fund it and decided to get donations to start the program. And I don’t need to tell anybody sitting at this dais that the community loves the dogs. And so it’s been fundable. Um, and, and it and it has been completely outside fundable through donations that have been accepted since, uh, certainly if if the directive is we’re not ever using charitable gambling money, work it into the budget and I’ll add it into next year’s request. Uh, but it has been something that the community has rallied around and been funded. So that’s the history at least. And we’ve never had any point since I’ve been here, had conversations about budgeting it because it hasn’t seemed like a need. Um, and but certainly I think the point is taken that I will say to the Swat, to the to the medic gear, really? That was partly we made the decision to add some Swat medics to the team. Um, West Metro signed on to it and nobody we were looking at some ways mid-year to not have to incur that expense to to make that huge value add for that team happen. And it seemed like an appropriate fit. And, um, the Relief Association was very interested because their members who were joining the Swat team benefited from it. So if if there was, we don’t that was a very unique situation where we would be saying, well, someone help us fund this. Uh, I agree with that. On our Swat team in all three cities is funded very adequately to what they need to do. Okay. The, um, frolics 25,000. That was just kind of to help them get restarted, right. Or is that that’s not going to be a yearly thing. 25,000 there and 25,000 to the kickoff to summer. The. So this year, when we met with the frolics several meetings ago, that was kind of the traditional amount that had the city had taken as part of the 10%. And uh, contributed to the frolics, um, because of their financial situation. It was I mean, I don’t want to speak for the council, but staff’s recommendation was, at least in 2026, the city will, you know, on its own, contribute that amount, uh, to make sure that happens this year with the hopes that they can kind of turn the financial ship around and be able to get more donations from outside of the gambling funds. Um. And then the kickoff to summer, is that something that they’re hoping for every year as well? I mean, is it going to be 50,000 every year that they’re hoping for. The, well, the kickoff of summer that was, you know, that was the family festival that we split off from frolics. And so that that amount was about. I. Don’t remember exactly. Um, it was increased to 25. Uh, we’ve because it was all kind of combined. Um, we spent between 16 to 19,000 a year on the activities. Um, we wanted to do a little bit more this year. And so we raised that to 25, um, because we also had, you know, the 185 at the beginning of the year. Um, but that’s if the council wants to continue doing that kickoff to summer event. Um, this is an eligible use for it. So I think that that becomes we haven’t budgeted for a lot of what we do because of, I mean, the residents have been getting a great deal, uh, for a lot of what has been going on in Crystal for many years. Um, you know, the K-9 program that has not been funded with general tax dollars? Um, you know, that’s one example. Frolics, general tax dollars. We haven’t been spending that, um, you know, this kickoff to summer. Now, the separate event, Winterfest, and we’ve been trying to spend because it’s an eligible expense and there hasn’t been a call from the council during my time to put that in as a line item of the budget to fund it with tax dollars, because we have this other we have this pot of money that can only be spent on certain things. So let’s, you know, put that money to good use. Um, but that if we ever get to the point where we are gambling funds are declining and we’re it’s not sustainable to keep doing these things like the canine. We will be coming to the council as part of the budget process. We’re going to need. We you know, one does the council want to continue this program or service? We’re going to have to add a line item. For it. Um, so obviously staff manages this. Um, you know, throughout the year. Um, then when we get to budget, but we haven’t had to do that because we’ve had these funds available for some of these programs. Um. Do you know when we’re going to have a discussion if we’re going to continue the kickoff to summer for next year? Uh, well, I think obviously when once it happens, um, we’ll see how that one goes. And through, you know, because we’ll have to start planning it not too long after it starts or after it happens. Um, that’ll be a conversation that will have to have with recreation and, you know, determine what we want that to either continue or change as. So we’ll have a discussion, not just them coming with their budget with that in it. Like we will have a discussion about it. Yes. I mean, I don’t have a specific date yet, but yeah, because this is kind of the first year where it’s a separate event. Um, so we’ll see how that goes and make adjustments with, you know, recreational have obviously there kind of debrief their recap of what they thought of it. And then staff will discuss it and we’ll bring it to the council. of what else do we want to do or differently. Or okay. Are you satisfied? Yeah. I think I’m satisfied. I don’t know if there’s clear direction. I think, um. Again, I appreciate the quarterly updates. Um, I think, yeah, we should continue talking about it. And however, I mean, Theresa, you’re the liaison to Indy, right? You know, and so I think it’d be appropriate to kind of convey some of this that, you know, if there are, if there’s an opportunity for us to support some of their work or ideas, you know, the council can has the means to maybe support some of that. Um, so. We have a meeting tomorrow night. Oh, great. I mean, I think especially as they’re building out their work plan and, you know, um, that might be nice for them to know. So, yeah, I think this is, uh, I think it’s good. So thanks for the conversation. All right. Uh, announcements. Um, parks and Rec Commission will be holding a meeting with city residents at Valley Place Park on June 3rd. So tomorrow, um, music begins at 5:30 p.m., and the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.. City’s kickoff to summer celebration is Saturday, June 13th, from 11:02 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Becker Park. The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, June 16th at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall and via zoom. City offices will be closed on June 19th in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. Crystal airport, Open House and Fly-In is Sunday, June 21st from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Metro transit will have a community update meeting about the Blue Line Extension project on Thursday, June 25th from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Crystal Community Center. The city is accepting applications for several volunteer positions on our boards and commissions. For more information, please go to. Please visit. Go. Gov. Backslash. Volunteer City Council meetings and work sessions are open to the public, current and previous meetings are available for viewing and listening at. Gov. Uh, any other announcements? The one thing before I let before I let the council go, um, so as I let the council know earlier about the city did receive a petition to create a Lake improvement district, um, from some residents, uh, there’s 36 properties on Twin Lake in Crystal, and I don’t know the number, but there’s, you know, quite a few in Brooklyn Center. So both cities have been contacted and we’ve had a petition delivered. We did deem it as complete as of today. So we’ve sent those to the DNR and the MPCa. Uh, the city is now required to hold, provide notice and hold a public hearing. Um, we have to give the state at least 21 days. They have to create an advisory report. Um, so as I asked the council earlier, um, there’s kind of that week timeframe, uh, after the 24th, uh, through the first ish. Um, is, uh, so is there a I know the mayor had asked if we, um, asked me if we could not have it on Tuesday. Um, but have it on a Wednesday. So I believe that’s July 1st. Um, would be that following Wednesday. Otherwise the 24th, uh, would kind of fall in within that notice period. Um, or that the public hearing period. And that would be the only item would be a public hearing. Um, we have to notify, uh, we have to put it in the newspaper for two consecutive weeks. Um, so that’ll probably be on the 11th and 18th or the 18th and 25th, depending on when the hearing is held. Um, but if we could, if the council could kind of choose a date. You just not quorum correction for us. Will be there. We would need at least a quorum. Uh, the council will be asked to either approve or reject the the petition for the district. If it’s rejected, then it can go to, uh. It can be appealed to the commissioner, the DNR commissioner. And they would hold the public hearing and, uh, they create it for the city. Um, or one of the other options is if after we put the notice out, if 26% of the residents are part of the district, they could also call for a referendum. And I’m hoping we don’t have to do that just because of the logistics of having to have a referendum on the issue. Uh. We have to get more information as to how that actually would work. But, um. I’m not aware of the Brooklyn Center, uh, opposing it. Uh, so staff’s recommendation would be to, you know, allow it. We will give the council more information on the actual what we’re creating. Um, we’re just we’re very early in the process because we were not initially included. Um, real quick. So this is just a public hearing? No business matters will occur like we won’t. The quorum of Council there won’t be deciding there whether or not to approve it. That will be at another business meeting. Or will it be there. If the end. Rachel, I don’t know the timing. The timing is very up in the air or confusing. The council will need to make that decision. If they don’t do it that night. Uh, at what point do they need to? Is that the 30 day? It’s not clear. Yeah. Honestly, Adam, I’m not sure. It is a pretty complicated process. I can get back to you on that and maybe try to get you a better timeline. If the entire council or, you know, a substantial amount, you know, 6 or 7 of the council are going to be at the public hearing, it would probably be. Best to just. Have the decision made. Um, Okay, then and. Then Brooklyn Center has to do with two, um, I would be in favor of having it, uh, the week before the week of the 4th of July, because, um, with the fourth being on Saturday, I think many people, myself included, will probably be taking a long week at that time. So but if other people can make it that day and that works better, that’s fine. I can do either. So I’m open. So we’re we’re trying to nail down the date and see the 24th of the 25th correct of. June, the. 24th of July. 4th of July. The first or the. 24th. June 20th 4th or July 1st. Right. That was what I thought. Yeah. Oh, I would prefer the I think the. 20 council can do it on the Thursday. Yeah. That that’s what you were saying. Yeah. The 2020 fifth. Yeah. That’s uh. It’s the same. Day as the Blue Line open house. Oh yeah. So. I’m going to be out of town that week. So, um. Like open House, doesn’t it? So. Okay. It’s on the 25th. And we’ll verify when the council has to make the decision. Um, it’s not clear, um, but that, you know, if that makes a difference. Um. Still, at 7 p.m.. Yeah. The next scheduled city meeting. Um, it won’t be until July. July. Uh, 21st. So there’ll be, you know, less than 30 days, but almost a month between if the public hearing is held and no decision is made. Um. So it’s not ideal timing. But. I guess, is there? What? This is always clunky. Part of trying to logistically schedule at least 11. I can do June 24th. I can’t do June 25th. I don’t know. I cannot do the 25th either. I can’t do either of those. Things. And any date works for me. So the 24th is fine. 24th is fine, 24th is fine. And what time? 7 p.m.? Seven. Any time after 4:37 p.m.. And that’s here. It would be here? Yes. Well, can I ask, how long do you. It seems like you. Just three hours. Oh, God. What? Ten minutes? Probably the public hearing. Yeah. It’s like the DNR giving a presentation. Like, what is the like if we’re starting, like, 730? I mean. The well, we have materials that we’ll have to make available to everybody with the proposed plan, the proposal, um, there is a so again, uh, this will if it passes, if it’s a, if it’s created, um, the organization or the group that’s wanting this, it would be $280 a year is their estimate for it’s essentially a tax or it is a tax to create this district. So just the homes, the residents within the district, uh, the deadline is the end of July, July 31st to for us to send it to the county, where they would add it to the 27 tax rolls. So these residents would pay an additional $280 annually, um, that the city would collect and then redistribute to the district so that, you know, that’s part of the timing. I don’t know, it doesn’t affect everybody. You know, it’s only that that district. So 22 of the 36 signed the petition to create this. Um, I have not heard any opposition. We haven’t heard any, um, so that, you know, that public hearing is the council gives the opportunity for everybody impacted. Um, to voice their opinion. And as of right now, the majority of the impacted residents. Yeah. Sounds fine. I just. Didn’t know if there was going to be, like. A big, like a. Big presentation. By the mob, like. No, I mean, if it’s just public engagement, that’s one thing. It’s another thing. If we have like the area hydrologists come and like, and. I would be. Inviting the organization, um, the Lake Association to come and present their proposal and, um, so that’s, you know, then have a public hearing, I don’t. All right. I don’t know how long it would take, but, um, I’m afraid I don’t want to jinx it by saying it. Shouldn’t take long. It is fairly straightforward. I mean, there’s there’s not a whole lot, uh. Think about. 30 people. If there’s any indication of based off of how long this discussion has taken, I. It’s good. It’s clear. Why? All right. Thank you. Any other announcements? Uh, would anyone like to make a motion to adjourn? Make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Second. I’ll second. All in favor? Aye, aye.