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Brooklyn Park City Council Meeting 7/28/2025
Brooklyn Park City CouncilMonday, July 28, 2025
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Transcript
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Go ahead and call tonight’s meeting to order a roll call, 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:19.467
please. Um, Mayor Protem Erickson. Present. council
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members song. Council member Kanowski. If she’s gone tonight. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:32.667
Mayor Winston. believe he’s out ill tonight. Ons member page. 00:00:32.667 --> 00:00:34.266
Council member McGarvey.
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Councilman Bertrand. She notified us she’d be absent as
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well. Um, Mayor part time, you do have a quorum. Thank you. Uh. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:01:08.567
rise for the Pledge of allegiance, please. on Thank 00:01:08.567 --> 00:01:13.467
you, we’ll move into public comment. Going to read the 00:01:13.467 --> 00:01:17.000
public comment notice here. Uh, public comment provides an
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opportunity for Brooklyn Park residents and business owners
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in Brooklyn Park to address the council about matters relating 00:01:22.367 --> 00:01:25.734
to council or city business, not otherwise on the agenda.
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Public comment may not be used to make personal attacks to air
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personality grievances or to make political endorsements or 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:34.233
for political campaign purposes.
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Council members will not engage in a dialogue with speakers.
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Questions from the council will be for clarification only. 00:01:41.033 --> 00:01:44.200
Public comment will not be used as a time for problem solving
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or reacting to the comments made. But rather for
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informational purposes only.
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Public comment will be limited to 15 minutes and individual 00:01:50.266 --> 00:01:56.467
comments are limited to 3 minutes. Um, I only have one
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public comment so far this evening if you are interested 00:02:00.266 --> 00:02:03.100
in making a comment, blue sheets are on the table. Um,
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Jay, do you have a response to prior public comment. Thank you,
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Mayor Pro Tem Erickson, uh, Mayor Pro Tem Erickson, members 00:02:10.934 --> 00:02:15.200
of council, uh, we had a number of public comments at the last
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uh full city council meeting, uh, most were sort of comments
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informing the city council, not necessarily requests, uh, but 00:02:23.467 --> 00:02:27.734
there was one request uh regarding Miss Shields 3641
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Brookdale Drive, uh, raising concerns, um, with regard to 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:35.734
the HOA and the management company associated um with her
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living situation. I know our our community development staff
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did um follow up with Ms. 00:02:40.834 --> 00:02:45.634
Shields, uh, in terms of what supports that we could provide,
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um, oftentimes HOAs fall in this limbo between the city and,
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and what we can and can’t do and ultimately um authority 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:55.634
rests with the state, but we do try to provide help when we can.
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And so that would be one response. Um, we also had a 00:03:01.166 --> 00:03:07.000
couple of comments, um, from this Guy Hempel and Miss Hill
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with regard to support for honoring the Hoffmans and the
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Hortmans, uh, so that was more of a statement. Um, we had 3 00:03:15.133 --> 00:03:22.467
members, Mr. Ferri. Mister, uh, to keep P and Mr. Meme with 00:03:22.467 --> 00:03:26.200
regard to supporting the sister cities trip. Um, we had one
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gentleman, Mr. um Ralph, who raised concerns with regard to 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.734
the franchise fees and related to that and then finally we had
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uh Miss Riddle who, uh, encouraged the city council to
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consider a humane pet ordinance, um, sort of, if that is 00:03:41.667 --> 00:03:45.500
something that the city council wants to do that, um. It would
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be something to bring forward if there’s interest. Thank you
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very much. Thank you. OK, we have one public comment this 00:03:55.533 --> 00:03:59.467
evening, uh, Josh Ula, please approach the die, state your
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name and address and share your comments. And Joshua, you have 00:04:04.133 --> 00:04:07.467
8457 Sumter Circle North. I’ll keep my remarks brief. I really
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just wanted to thank the city staff for all the events they 00:04:11.166 --> 00:04:15.467
put on over the course of the summer. Um, you know, I never
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really noticed how much work they put in, but they really,
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it’s a lot of events, it’s a lot of work. And you know, as a 00:04:21.233 --> 00:04:25.533
resident, I’m really glad they do it. I would further like to
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encourage the city to consider making things like the park
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cleanups and the town hall’s annual events. Um, you know, I 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:38.000
think it fosters a sense of community. And that’s something
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we really do need right now. Uh, speaking of which, if you’ll 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.200
permit me to pontificate just a tiny little bit, I would
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encourage my fellow residents to come to these events. You
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know, Communities don’t just happen. We have to, we have to 00:04:51.634 --> 00:04:56.400
work to build them. And honestly, it’s a lot harder to
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argue or hate somebody when you’re picking up letter in the
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park together with them, or at a town hall. And that’s all I 00:05:03.400 --> 00:05:04.533
have. I thank the city again.
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Thank you for your time and I’ll go sit back down. Thank
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you so much. Uh, we have now to move on to the approval of the 00:05:14.734 --> 00:05:20.000
agenda. I know there’s a few modifications to be made, 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.667
including um postponing. 10.1.
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Um, I think Councilor Page, did you have one? So what me. For 00:05:33.266 --> 00:05:46.100
further discussion or for further discussion. OK. OK, so 00:05:46.100 --> 00:05:55.667
we’ll pull 10 or 4.6 as well for discussion. Um, OK. So I 00:05:55.667 --> 00:06:02.266
will move to prove the agenda, pulling 4.5 and 4.6 for further 00:06:02.266 --> 00:06:08.233
discussion and postponing 10.1 to a future date. say I opposed.
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They had passes unanimously. Uh, we will now move on to public 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:35.200
presentations, we have annual comprehensive financial report. 00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:39.000
Good evening, Mayor Protem Erickson and council members.
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My name is Molly Lopez, and I’m the assistant finance director, 00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:46.934
um, first and foremost, I would like to extend my apologies for
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the audit reports not being included in this evening’s 00:06:50.266 --> 00:06:54.400
council packages, um, due to ongoing work to finalize
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documentation and ensure compliance with the extended
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certificate of achievement deadline of July 31st, we were 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:05.667
unable to distribute them in advance. So. Thank you for your
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patience as we work through that. This evening, I would
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like to introduce Ryan Engelstead of Bergen KDV. He 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:16.133
will present, um, a high level overview of the 2024 audit
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report. Following Ryan’s presentation, we will be happy
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to address any questions you may have. Yeah, I could maybe 00:07:37.934 --> 00:07:50.800
do that. This my Well Here we go. All right. Thank you, Molly. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:56.000
Uh, good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the council,
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thank you, uh, for having me here, uh. Tonight to present a 00:08:02.266 --> 00:08:07.233
recap of the uh audit results and some uh various financial
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metrics and and uh some added commentary, uh, to go with that, 00:08:12.400 --> 00:08:17.734
um, uh, related to the city’s financial, uh, health and, and
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so forth and uh prior to this meeting, I had the opportunity 00:08:20.934 --> 00:08:25.367
to meet uh with the audit committee and uh went through
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the details of what’s included in the slide deck here, um. Uh, 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:34.800
hitting on the various items and having some good discussion,
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uh, so the, uh, comments that I’ll provide as part of uh this 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:44.467
presentation here, uh, will be somewhat abbreviated in nature,
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uh, given that previous discussion with the committee
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and um you know, certainly I can uh address any questions as
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I’m going through it or, or at the end, but I will uh do my 00:08:53.133 --> 00:08:57.767
best to, to keep my comments to about 10 minutes tops here, so,
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uh, with that, uh, we’ll start moving. True, uh, so there’s 3 00:09:02.100 --> 00:09:07.467
deliverables that we have, um, As part of the audit process,
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uh, one of them being the comprehensive annual Financial 00:09:11.300 --> 00:09:14.467
Report, which, um, the majority of the information in there, uh,
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is that of the cities, uh, whether it be uh management
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discussion analysis, the financial statements, footnotes, 00:09:22.367 --> 00:09:25.533
supplemental schedules, but then towards the beginning is
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our independent auditors report that gets inserted into that
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document and within that, uh, Otter’s report for the most 00:09:32.567 --> 00:09:36.300
part it’s uh standard wording, uh. Some key items to to make
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note of there are the responsibilities that are
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included of both management as well as us as the auditors, uh, 00:09:43.166 --> 00:09:45.800
management’s responsible for the fair presentation of the
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financial information to us along with maintenance of
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internal controls our duty is to um plan and execute the 00:09:52.734 --> 00:09:55.467
audit that adheres to the professional standards and puts
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us in a position where we can provide a provide reasonable
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assurance that there will not be any material misstatements 00:10:01.367 --> 00:10:04.467
that would go undetected as part of the process. Uh, the on
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The key sections that gets looked at by outside users of
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the report is the opinion that is included within there, uh, 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:15.367
that we are rendering with regards to the city’s financial
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statements, uh, the type of opinion that is included is an
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unmodified uh the the the wording that’s often used is 00:10:22.634 --> 00:10:26.266
unmodified or also clean is uh uh the verbiage you may hear
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sometimes, that is the type of opinion that we’re including,
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and that’s the optimal result, uh, when it comes to a set of 00:10:32.266 --> 00:10:34.867
audited financial statements.
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OK. Uh, so then there’s also, uh, a couple of other reports
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that we issue or a documents and uh within there is a 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.133
variety of information, uh, one of them being a, a report on
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the internal controls over financial reporting, uh, that’s 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:53.533
required as part of every audit that’s done, uh, under
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government auditing standards, the uh uh uh item to point out
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there, uh, in, in, in, in from a collective basis, uh, the 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.800
report is very favorable. Uh, we did not id ent ify your
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shoes as it pertains to us, you know, uh, common internal 00:11:10.133 --> 00:11:11.800
control measures like segregation of duties, things
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like that, uh, the, the report is clean with the with that
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regards to that as part of the audit if there are items that
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surface that require an audit adjustment. Uh, we do have to 00:11:23.467 --> 00:11:27.367
uh make reference to that, uh, within the, uh, this report on
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internal control over financial reporting, so that’s the nature 00:11:30.400 --> 00:11:34.233
of the, the, uh, finding that is included, uh, some very
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technical accounting matters is what uh what was tied to that,
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uh, nothing that’s, um, you know, of any particular concern 00:11:43.767 --> 00:11:47.500
or uh indicative of a pervasive kind of issue, um, all in all,
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the, the city’s finance staff, uh, did a great job in closing 00:11:52.266 --> 00:11:55.100
out the year and even throughout the year, uh,
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getting the transactions, uh, in, in such recorded as, as
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they should, um, allowing for us to work through the process 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:07.266
with with just having a couple of minor again. very narrow
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technical issues to address from a uh adjustment
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perspective. Then, uh, we issue a couple of reports on 00:12:12.667 --> 00:12:17.367
compliance, uh, one related to Minnesota state statutes, the
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state auditor’s office directs us to look at various areas 00:12:21.133 --> 00:12:23.667
around such as deposits and investments, bidding,
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contracting and bidding, conflicts of interest, those
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types of things, uh, so of all the various procedures we
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performed in that regard, uh, there, there was this one 00:12:32.800 --> 00:12:36.634
finding that surfaced. Uh, it’s tied to uh requirement whereby
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if uh for deposits that are on hand with the bank, um, the 00:12:41.400 --> 00:12:44.734
Amount over the FDIC coverage, uh, would have to get, uh,
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there’d have to be an agreement in place with the bank to make
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sure that that excess is fully collateralized, and in this 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:53.767
case, there was one instance where there was some, some risk
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exposure, not that we expect, you know, there to be a, you
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know, the, the likelihood of um of a, of a loss on that deposit, 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.000
certainly, uh, remote and in most cases, but it is one of
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those things to, uh, from a recommendation perspective to
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take a look at and, and just uh work with that bank. to make 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:15.634
sure that they’ve got adequate coverage in place for any
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excess there. And then, um, The last piece on compliance, so 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:24.834
the city, uh, based on the various federal grants that are
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in place, uh, there’s a separate um audit that that
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comes into play, uh, looking at the federal awards specifically, 00:13:33.367 --> 00:13:38.000
and this is under the uniform guidance. The, the grant or
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program that we tested because of the significance of it, uh, 00:13:42.934 --> 00:13:47.100
in 2024 was the tied to the continued spend on the uh ARPA,
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the American Rescue Plan Act funding. Uh, kind of the, the
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last tranche of the pandemic relief funds from the federal 00:13:53.467 --> 00:13:55.767
government. So that’s where our focus was with the testing,
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kind of doing a deep dive, making sure those funds were
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being used as, as they should, and we did not run into any 00:14:02.133 --> 00:14:06.867
issues uh with that testing. So, uh, great job by uh the city in,
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in that regard as well. Uh, then our communications letter 00:14:10.734 --> 00:14:14.033
that we issue is the third document. Uh, there are, there
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is a variety of information that’s included in there, uh,
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touches on, you know, Uh, any, if there are particular issues
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that surface as part of the audit, things like that. It’s 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:26.100
all very favorable, uh, in in regards to those types of
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communications, uh, and then in addition to that, uh, we also 00:14:31.400 --> 00:14:36.233
report on or provide uh kind of from a value add perspective,
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uh, just financial metrics and trend information, uh, so
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that’s what I’m gonna use the balance of my time here just to, 00:14:41.533 --> 00:14:45.467
you know,, 34 minutes, uh, just going through a few graphs with
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you again, I, I went through all of these in more detail
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with the audit. committee, uh, so the plan here will be just 00:14:51.166 --> 00:14:55.567
to, to hit on a few of them and provide uh some, some comments
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of interest. So, uh, the first number of slides look at the
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general fund specifically as that often gets uh the most 00:15:03.467 --> 00:15:05.734
attention for governmental entities, and here, uh, you can
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see a 5 year trend where, uh, as, as would be expected,
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continue to increases both on revenue and and expenses, uh, 00:15:12.233 --> 00:15:15.767
the city is doing a good job on, on growing the fund balance.
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We’ll look at that, uh, on the next, uh, slide. Uh, that’s the
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orange bar in the graphs here, uh, but overall, um, for the 00:15:24.533 --> 00:15:30.166
2024 year revenues exceeded expenses, um, um, by about $5 00:15:30.166 --> 00:15:33.467
million and we’ll look at what drove that, um, uh, here in a
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couple of slides. OK. Uh, so here’s that growth and fund
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balance, um, year over year and uh they from a percentage basis, 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:50.400
it was about 18% was the growth there from 23 to 24, so just 00:15:50.400 --> 00:15:53.634
assign that uh uh the, the folks involved at the city
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across departments that are in charge of uh spending and then
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in the finance department, keeping an eye on, on things, 00:16:00.634 --> 00:16:04.900
uh, being good stewards of, of the city’s financial resources,
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uh, to allow for uh continuing to uh to grow that. On balance 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:12.934
OK, uh, and then from, from a fundal perspective, what often
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gets looked at is, uh, from a financial health perspective is
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how much coverage is there, uh, at, of, of the fundal as 00:16:22.467 --> 00:16:25.667
compared to the overall budget and what often gets looked at
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as the budget for the the subsequent year, uh, because, 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:34.900
uh, city governments, uh, the primary, uh, revenue source is,
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of course, property taxes, uh, as it pertains to the general
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fund, the first property tax settlements, as most everyone 00:16:42.900 --> 00:16:46.133
knows that you’re paying and, you know, twice a year, um, but
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the payments go to the county and then it’s about the first
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day or two in July before those before that first half 00:16:52.367 --> 00:16:57.100
settlement gets distributed out to the cities, uh, so the need
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to have, um, sufficient fund balance on hand at December 31 00:17:02.233 --> 00:17:05.367
to get through that 1st 6 months of the next year is
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critical. Uh, therefore, where the guidance comes in and how
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fund balance policies are often written. is that uh the goal is 00:17:12.166 --> 00:17:16.467
to have coverage, uh, upwards so that, you know, 50% level,
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uh, oftentimes a range, and I think for the city it’s 35 to
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50%. Um, you can see there that there was a bit of a dip in 00:17:24.367 --> 00:17:28.867
2022, uh, but then, um, over the last couple of years and
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growing that back up closer, uh, getting a bit closer to that, 00:17:32.533 --> 00:17:35.233
that 50% level. So again, getting back to my comment
00:17:35.233 --> 00:17:40.400
about uh being good stewards, uh, of the city’s resources. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:43.100
Then here uh budget to actual results. I went through a
00:17:43.100 --> 00:17:45.300
number of line items on here with the, with the audit
00:17:45.300 --> 00:17:48.400
committee and and made some comments uh with with regards
00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.734
to those. I, for sake of time, I, I won’t do that here, but 00:17:52.734 --> 00:17:56.500
overall, um, driving that that overall increase in fund
00:17:56.500 --> 00:17:59.800
balance, uh, favorable results on both the revenue and the
00:17:59.800 --> 00:18:05.634
expenditure side, about 3% of favorable, um, difference as it 00:18:05.634 --> 00:18:08.800
pertains to revenues, a lot of that tied to charges for
00:18:08.800 --> 00:18:12.000
services, things like that that are a little bit harder to Um, 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.367
to budget for and oftentimes there’s a conservative approach
00:18:15.367 --> 00:18:18.467
taken and then on the expenditure side, about 4%
00:18:18.467 --> 00:18:23.300
under the budget amounts. Much of that was tied to staffing 00:18:23.300 --> 00:18:28.467
vacancies, and that is, uh, you know, certainly something we’re
00:18:28.467 --> 00:18:31.734
seeing across local governments as well, uh, that challenge of, 00:18:31.734 --> 00:18:36.634
uh, filling the positions and, and, and so forth. Um, so, uh,
00:18:36.634 --> 00:18:40.000
we, um, the, the where the actual results, uh, shook out 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:43.367
was um, in line with our expectations because of uh
00:18:43.367 --> 00:18:49.400
those factors. OK. And then we’ve got some graphs, uh,
00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:52.467
included here on the general fund revenues and expenditures, 00:18:52.467 --> 00:18:56.300
really nothing to call out uh with regards to those, the
00:18:56.300 --> 00:18:59.100
allocation actually stayed, uh, exactly the same amongst the
00:18:59.100 --> 00:19:02.233
various categories year over year. It doesn’t change often 00:19:02.233 --> 00:19:05.367
by much, uh, maybe 1% here or there on, on some of the
00:19:05.367 --> 00:19:08.567
categories, but in this case, it was um it consistent as can
00:19:08.567 --> 00:19:15.567
be and the allocation stayed uh spot on year over year. OK. 00:19:15.567 --> 00:19:17.800
Then we’ll, uh, look at the enterprise funds here real
00:19:17.800 --> 00:19:20.867
quick. Uh, so the public utilities fund comprising the 00:19:20.867 --> 00:19:25.300
water, sewer, and, and recycling activities, uh, with
00:19:25.300 --> 00:19:30.000
this, um, the revenue stayed basically flat, uh, 23 to 24, 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:33.734
and, uh, the reason for that, and again, as we’re seeing with
00:19:33.734 --> 00:19:36.867
um uh other cities we work with and just kind of as, as you
00:19:36.867 --> 00:19:41.000
think back on the, on the two years, uh, 2023 was a very dry 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:45.166
summer, uh, which required a substantial increase in water
00:19:45.166 --> 00:19:50.367
usage. Uh, 24 came back down to be more uh of a normalized if 00:19:50.367 --> 00:19:54.934
you were to compare it back to say 2022. Uh, so that’s what
00:19:54.934 --> 00:19:58.734
drove that, that bump in 23 that came back down now, or
00:19:58.734 --> 00:20:03.467
kind of uh uh leveled off and, and the expense side of things, 00:20:03.467 --> 00:20:07.734
uh, an increase there, but certainly a very modest uh from
00:20:07.734 --> 00:20:12.000
a percentage basis and uh that’s really driven based on 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:16.800
some um inflationary increases tied to sewage disposal costs.
00:20:16.800 --> 00:20:19.567
Uh, what’s worth noting is that the public utilities fund as
00:20:19.567 --> 00:20:24.266
well as the other enterprise funds are generating enough 00:20:24.266 --> 00:20:27.000
revenue to cover expenses, including depreciation expense,
00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:30.767
which is a great result to have as it allows for putting 00:20:30.767 --> 00:20:34.533
dollars aside for deferred maintenance purpose to address
00:20:34.533 --> 00:20:39.300
deferred maintenance purposes, uh, without having to incur, uh,
00:20:39.300 --> 00:20:44.100
debt financing uh for those. OK. 00:20:44.100 --> 00:20:49.367
Uh, and then we’ve got slides on the other enterprise funds
00:20:49.367 --> 00:20:53.634
uh storm sewer, uh, street and Signal. Uh, the recreation fund, 00:20:53.634 --> 00:20:57.033
which would be the golf course and other, uh other type of
00:20:57.033 --> 00:21:01.734
activities, all those kind of a similar trend where there’s a 00:21:01.734 --> 00:21:05.934
continued increase on the revenue side and then um
00:21:05.934 --> 00:21:08.634
maintaining a modest increases as it pertains to expenses and
00:21:08.634 --> 00:21:12.367
touched on the fact that operating income is being 00:21:12.367 --> 00:21:16.133
generated across the board there. So and and then we have
00:21:16.133 --> 00:21:18.200
slides on unrestricted net position as well, so this is
00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:21.467
really the portion that’s more available for that spending, 00:21:21.467 --> 00:21:23.100
whether it be addressing deferred. maintenance or
00:21:23.100 --> 00:21:28.867
otherwise. Um, so, uh, again there, um, a signal of a good
00:21:28.867 --> 00:21:32.634
stewardship of the funds and uh putting the city in a, in a 00:21:32.634 --> 00:21:39.000
good position to address any unanticipated expenditures. OK.
00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.834
Uh, internal service funds, that’s kind of a unique thing 00:21:42.834 --> 00:21:45.000
to governmental accounting, uh, activity gets recorded there
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:47.734
and then allocated out to other funds and departments
00:21:47.734 --> 00:21:50.734
throughout the city, uh, the position that the city is in 00:21:50.734 --> 00:21:56.166
with with that uh is not unlike what we see elsewhere. Uh, as
00:21:56.166 --> 00:22:00.100
well, so it’s something to keep an eye on there too. Um, with 00:22:00.100 --> 00:22:04.667
that, uh, those are the comments I had, uh, as it
00:22:04.667 --> 00:22:09.634
pertains to our uh key points in our, our deliverables and uh
00:22:09.634 --> 00:22:12.367
some high level information on the financial results and 00:22:12.367 --> 00:22:17.467
trends. And as I mentioned, glad to address any questions
00:22:17.467 --> 00:22:34.000
that any folks might have in regards to, to any of that, so. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.367
You must have done a fabulous job. None of my colleagues have
00:22:37.367 --> 00:22:43.100
any questions for you. All right. Or we have to move to 00:22:43.100 --> 00:22:53.867
receive the item, OK. Go ahead and make the motion. I will 00:22:53.867 --> 00:22:56.634
move to receive the annual comprehensive financial report
00:22:56.634 --> 00:23:05.000
for the year ended December 31, 2024. There All in favor. Eh? 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:11.667
Pod motion passes. Thank you so much. We appreciate the 00:23:11.667 --> 00:23:15.367
opportunity to be of service to the city. finance department
00:23:15.367 --> 00:23:18.867
for doing a good job as well.
00:23:18.867 --> 00:23:31.667
OK. To What All right. The next item on the agenda. is a 00:23:31.667 --> 00:23:35.400
proclamation of August 5, 2025 as National Night Out in the
00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:47.133
city of Brooklyn Park. 00:23:47.133 --> 00:23:50.266
Proclaiming August 5, 2025 as the national night out in the 00:23:50.266 --> 00:23:54.266
city of Brooklyn Park. Whereas the National Association of
00:23:54.266 --> 00:23:59.000
Town Watch each year sponsors a unique nationwide crime, drug,
00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.266
and violence prevention program on August 5, 2025 called 00:24:03.266 --> 00:24:06.100
National Night Out, and whereas national Light out provides a
00:24:06.100 --> 00:24:08.634
unique opportunity for the residents of Brooklyn Park to
00:24:08.634 --> 00:24:12.266
join forces with thousands of other communities across the 00:24:12.266 --> 00:24:14.900
country in promoting cooperative please community
00:24:14.900 --> 00:24:18.200
partnerships for crime and drug prevention, and whereas
00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:21.000
Brooklyn Park residents play a vital role in assisting 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.467
Brooklyn Park Police Department in. ensuring stable
00:24:23.467 --> 00:24:25.834
neighborhoods in Brooklyn Park and in celebrating national
00:24:25.834 --> 00:24:29.934
night out locally. And whereas it is essential that all
00:24:29.934 --> 00:24:33.200
residents of Brooklyn Park be aware of the importance of 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.467
crime prevention programs. And the impact that their
00:24:37.467 --> 00:24:39.900
participation can have on connecting communities and
00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:40.567
reducing crime in Brooklyn Park. 00:24:40.567 --> 00:24:45.867
And whereas please community partnerships, neighborhood
00:24:45.867 --> 00:24:48.533
safety, awareness and cooperation are the heart of
00:24:48.533 --> 00:24:51.734
the National Night Out program. 00:24:51.734 --> 00:24:55.634
And whereas this 2025 national night out celebrates please
00:24:55.634 --> 00:24:58.867
Community partnerships by giving our community. A better
00:24:58.867 --> 00:25:02.133
place by making our community a better place because only by 00:25:02.133 --> 00:25:05.166
working together as a community can we truly give crime, drugs,
00:25:05.166 --> 00:25:06.367
and violence a going away party.
00:25:06.367 --> 00:25:12.834
Now therefore, I, Christian Eriksson on behalf of Hollis 00:25:12.834 --> 00:25:16.867
Winston, do hereby call upon all residents of Brooklyn Park.
00:25:16.867 --> 00:25:21.133
To join Brooklyn Park Police and fire departments, Brooklyn 00:25:21.133 --> 00:25:23.400
Park Crime Prevention Association and the National
00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:27.000
Association of Town Watch in support of the forty-second
00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:28.200
annual National Night Out.
00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:32.800
Festivities begin on Friday, August 1st, and go through 00:25:32.800 --> 00:25:37.667
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 with approximately 150 individual
00:25:37.667 --> 00:25:40.867
neighborhood block parties and our citywide movie in the park. 00:25:40.867 --> 00:25:44.200
Further, let it be resolved that I, Christian Eriksson, on
00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:48.800
behalf of Mayor Hollis Winston, do hereby proclaim August 5,
00:25:48.800 --> 00:25:52.100
2025 as national night out in Brooklyn Park and support the 00:25:52.100 --> 00:25:55.467
Brooklyn Park Crime Prevention Association, Neighborhood watch
00:25:55.467 --> 00:25:59.000
captains, and all residents in their efforts to make Brooklyn
00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:01.734
Park a thriving community, inspiring pride where 00:26:01.734 --> 00:26:03.634
opportunities exist for all through their national night
00:26:03.634 --> 00:26:18.400
out events. Thank you. OK. Now we are on to the consent agenda 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:34.500
minus 4.5 and 4.6. I OK, we have a motion from Councilman 00:26:34.500 --> 00:26:39.233
Jean. We have a second? Like Thank you, Councilor McGarvey.
00:26:39.233 --> 00:26:47.100
All in favor, say aye. I opposed. consent agenda passes. 00:26:47.100 --> 00:26:54.533
Thank you so much. Uh, we will now. Consider 4.5 involving 00:26:54.533 --> 00:26:59.400
that up in County housing and redevelopment Authority. Thank
00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:04.200
you, Mr. Acting Mayor. Um, members of the city council. Uh, 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:07.500
we do have our housing and redevelopment coordinator John
00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:10.734
Canar here to, uh, uh, provide some assist as well, um, but 00:27:10.734 --> 00:27:15.000
I’ll walk through this request, uh, fairly briefly here, um,
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:20.200
which is really, um, the developer’s request to Hennepin 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:22.834
County for county funding as part of that application
00:27:22.834 --> 00:27:26.166
process, the county then turns around and requires that we
00:27:26.166 --> 00:27:29.867
confirm that the project that occurs in our city conforms to
00:27:29.867 --> 00:27:34.367
our zoning code. Uh, so this is not, um, review of the project 00:27:34.367 --> 00:27:38.467
itself, that, that’s occurred in the past and it is not city
00:27:38.467 --> 00:27:42.100
dollars that are being asked for this project at this point 00:27:42.100 --> 00:27:45.033
as well. We don’t know a ton about the actual funding
00:27:45.033 --> 00:27:48.033
requests, the amount those items with Hennepin County.
00:27:48.033 --> 00:27:52.200
Again, we were asked because of county policy to adopt a 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:55.634
resolution, um, again confirming zoning compliance
00:27:55.634 --> 00:27:59.767
with the project. Originally this did come forward as a
00:27:59.767 --> 00:28:02.533
request to support um or otherwise endorse the project. 00:28:02.533 --> 00:28:06.233
Uh, we pushed back on that and said, I don’t know if that’s
00:28:06.233 --> 00:28:10.934
the role of our project here or our council, um, but I do think 00:28:10.934 --> 00:28:14.166
it’s fair to confirm that before public dollars,
00:28:14.166 --> 00:28:17.100
regardless of where they come, are going to the project that’s
00:28:17.100 --> 00:28:19.533
actually allowed by a zoning code. I’ll go a little off
00:28:19.533 --> 00:28:22.767
script here and just note in the resolution. Um, some words 00:28:22.767 --> 00:28:25.634
that we had already, uh, provided, um, that has been
00:28:25.634 --> 00:28:29.166
used in other similar situations is that it
00:28:29.166 --> 00:28:31.734
explicitly states that we are not endorsing this project and 00:28:31.734 --> 00:28:34.634
that there are not city dollars involved in that. So I just
00:28:34.634 --> 00:28:39.266
want to call out those last two now therefore be it resolved in
00:28:39.266 --> 00:28:43.467
the draft resolution. Um, so again, just out of scope, the 00:28:43.467 --> 00:28:47.800
project approval, um, or any EDA funding, um, just a couple
00:28:47.800 --> 00:28:50.934
of brief highlights, some dates and timelines based off of some 00:28:50.934 --> 00:28:54.133
conversations we had with council members in advance of
00:28:54.133 --> 00:28:58.467
this topic are this project already received zoning
00:28:58.467 --> 00:29:03.367
approval back in 2024, uh, more specifically August of 2024, uh, 00:29:03.367 --> 00:29:05.533
reviewed by the planning commission on August 14th, and
00:29:05.533 --> 00:29:09.266
then a couple of weeks later, the council at that point, um,
00:29:09.266 --> 00:29:11.266
did go ahead and approve, um. 00:29:11.266 --> 00:29:14.734
that project from a typical zoning site plan review
00:29:14.734 --> 00:29:16.867
standpoint. Um, we can get into some of those details if you
00:29:16.867 --> 00:29:20.367
like, but that’s really where we go through design review, 00:29:20.367 --> 00:29:25.100
setback, the zoning type of items and again, the permitted
00:29:25.100 --> 00:29:28.867
uses in that district. So a couple of questions uh that
00:29:28.867 --> 00:29:32.100
came up, um, let’s walk through this pretty quickly. Did the 00:29:32.100 --> 00:29:33.166
council approve the project?
00:29:33.166 --> 00:29:37.934
Yes, that was on August 26th of last year. Uh, do we have to
00:29:37.934 --> 00:29:41.634
approve the project? And I’ll speak specifically about the 00:29:41.634 --> 00:29:44.867
zoning review itself. Um, we do feel that, yes, we were
00:29:44.867 --> 00:29:48.100
obligated at the time to approve that project because it,
00:29:48.100 --> 00:29:51.800
once a project meets zoning code, we are obligated to 00:29:51.800 --> 00:29:54.500
approve that. It’s not a funding question at that time.
00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:57.200
It’s a state statute of once you have zoning, it project
00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:00.000
comes through and conforms with that zoning, uh, we need to 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:01.934
move forward and approve that.
00:30:01.934 --> 00:30:05.867
Um, that’s different than any funding request. Uh, next
00:30:05.867 --> 00:30:08.867
question was, is this the first time city council is seeing
00:30:08.867 --> 00:30:12.100
this project, um, the council as a whole, no, we’ve seen this 00:30:12.100 --> 00:30:13.734
on a few occasions in the past.
00:30:13.734 --> 00:30:16.467
Obviously, there’s been some changeover in city council
00:30:16.467 --> 00:30:19.100
since then. So for a couple of our members, this is the first
00:30:19.100 --> 00:30:21.867
time that you are seeing this project or any of its 00:30:21.867 --> 00:30:27.033
components. The funding was requested by the developer,
00:30:27.033 --> 00:30:31.266
developer, Walter Cooper, uh, to Hennepin County. Uh, so it’s 00:30:31.266 --> 00:30:35.166
not the county asking us, um, or it’s not a county initiated
00:30:35.166 --> 00:30:38.867
project. They again are reacting to a funding request
00:30:38.867 --> 00:30:41.934
as well. And then finally, I’ll just walk through a few of the 00:30:41.934 --> 00:30:45.367
details of the project again, this is not the subject of
00:30:45.367 --> 00:30:48.367
tonight’s review. This has already been reviewed and
00:30:48.367 --> 00:30:52.133
approved, um, approximately one year ago. But Sangrass Point is 00:30:52.133 --> 00:30:58.634
a 44 unit housing. Project, uh, 33 units are a multi-family um
00:30:58.634 --> 00:31:02.500
uh apartment complex, and then there are also 11 town home 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:04.934
units, um, with a little bit more of amenity, a little bit
00:31:04.934 --> 00:31:10.800
more of that townhouse style, um, on a 3.67 acre site more in 00:31:10.800 --> 00:31:14.667
our southern, um, part of our community, um, near sixty-third
00:31:14.667 --> 00:31:18.467
and Zane. High level overview of what that layout will look
00:31:18.467 --> 00:31:23.634
like. And then finally the council action today is adopt 00:31:23.634 --> 00:31:27.500
that resolution, which is confirming compliance with
00:31:27.500 --> 00:31:31.100
zoning code. So with that, I’m certainly happy to answer any 00:31:31.100 --> 00:32:04.767
questions you have or Mr. Kinar can assist as well. Thank you. 00:32:04.767 --> 00:32:11.200
Um, so I’d like to ask the attorney. The city attorney So 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:18.100
this is simply The zoning.
00:32:18.100 --> 00:32:23.467
Adopting a resolution confirming the zoning. Uh Can’t 00:32:23.467 --> 00:32:26.233
remember page and that’s correct. So if we already know
00:32:26.233 --> 00:32:29.200
the zoning, why are we doing a resolution to confirm just
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:33.533
share that with me. I believe it’s because the county the 00:32:33.533 --> 00:32:37.500
body just want that. So then, are we able to vote yes to the
00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:41.734
confirmation with. Are we stating in our resolution that 00:32:41.734 --> 00:32:46.367
we’re still not Supporting the project or it’s. That’s out of
00:32:46.367 --> 00:32:49.567
scope it looks like. It says Project approval is already
00:32:49.567 --> 00:32:56.567
approved. By the county I think I’d be referring to Mr. 00:32:56.567 --> 00:33:03.533
Gladhill on, on that. Who Who approved the project? So Mister 00:33:03.533 --> 00:33:05.634
Mayor Protem uh council member.
00:33:05.634 --> 00:33:08.500
The city approved the project as we would with any site plan
00:33:08.500 --> 00:33:12.000
approval. So that site plan approval, that zoning 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.200
compliance is a city action. We have the zoning authority, so
00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:19.100
when we approve zoning, some of those are staff level approval.
00:33:19.100 --> 00:33:22.834
That was not the case here, so we approve a number of uses if 00:33:22.834 --> 00:33:26.533
it’s permitted. In this case, a site plan review for zoning
00:33:26.533 --> 00:33:29.634
compliance is required and the city council granted that back
00:33:29.634 --> 00:33:34.934
in August of last year. First sight review. Correct. Site 00:33:34.934 --> 00:33:37.734
review and zoning compliance are one and the same site plan
00:33:37.734 --> 00:33:41.266
confirms the zoning, so that’s the typical process that you 00:33:41.266 --> 00:33:45.634
would see, but what we have here is a funding request. And
00:33:45.634 --> 00:33:49.867
so the attorney’s point. The county policy is they need a
00:33:49.867 --> 00:33:51.800
separate resolution to confirm that specific to their 00:33:51.800 --> 00:34:00.033
application. Is it OK if I ask a follow up? OK. So then, Did 00:34:00.033 --> 00:34:02.900
this, the council members who voted, did they know what the
00:34:02.900 --> 00:34:08.166
project was? Did they understand what the housing Uh,
00:34:08.166 --> 00:34:13.000
project was Mr. Mayor Pro Tem council, I would have to defer 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:16.166
to those council members, but if you look at the packet, the
00:34:16.166 --> 00:34:20.000
plans were included. The staff report of how it complied with 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:23.734
zoning were included in that report. Um, it was a consent
00:34:23.734 --> 00:34:26.867
agenda item at that point, but it was on a public agenda, um,
00:34:26.867 --> 00:34:30.467
and it’s I understand that there were aware of all the 00:34:30.467 --> 00:34:33.133
zoning compliance. Now, what was not included in that was
00:34:33.133 --> 00:34:36.800
any sort of city or county funding request, um, that came
00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:47.000
at a later date. OK, thank you. 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:50.400
And just a quick point of clarification. So, I remember 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:54.166
this coming before us. Lanning had approved it. We approved it.
00:34:54.166 --> 00:35:00.500
Am I correct in understanding that this is simply us 00:35:00.500 --> 00:35:04.467
confirming to the county. That this project is in compliance
00:35:04.467 --> 00:35:08.100
with city code. That’s the extent of our action tonight.
00:35:08.100 --> 00:35:10.367
Correct. OK. Councilor McGarvey. 00:35:10.367 --> 00:35:17.500
I think you may approach him and I was going to reiterate
00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:21.900
that and additionally or or add The funding you’re speaking of, 00:35:21.900 --> 00:35:27.100
Mr. Gladhill is from the county, not the city. They just need
00:35:27.100 --> 00:35:30.800
our approval or our confirmation of zoning code to 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:33.467
get that funding from the county. Correct. Thank you.
00:35:33.467 --> 00:35:37.200
Thank you Mayor Peartown.
00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:41.100
attorney Thompson, did you time Erickson the rest of the 00:35:41.100 --> 00:35:44.133
council. I just want to remind you, since there’s only 4
00:35:44.133 --> 00:35:45.200
council members present tonight.
00:35:45.200 --> 00:35:49.000
The city charter does require 4 affirmative votes on all
00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:53.266
motions, resolutions, and ordinances, so it does require 00:35:53.266 --> 00:36:04.500
4 affirmative votes, uh, tonight to pass this item. I, I 00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:09.200
will go ahead and make the motion to leave the reading and
00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:11.934
adopt resolution 2025 confirming zoning compliance 00:36:11.934 --> 00:36:15.266
related to the participation of the Hennepin County housing and
00:36:15.266 --> 00:36:18.867
redevelopment Authority for an affordable housing development
00:36:18.867 --> 00:36:24.200
at 5,869th Avenue North, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. The 00:36:24.200 --> 00:36:28.400
motion is 2nd all in favor. Say aye. Point of clarification,
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:45.734
can I have just one second please to read this? Mary, I’m 00:36:45.734 --> 00:37:22.400
just getting to it. So bear with me. Yeah. one OK, uh, city 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:25.100
attorney Thompson. Maples and, and the city manager just
00:37:25.100 --> 00:37:29.266
wanted me to clarify something, um, when the boat in the zoning
00:37:29.266 --> 00:37:34.133
did come before the um council last year, uh, has indicated it 00:37:34.133 --> 00:37:38.934
was on consent agenda, so it was unanimous approval. I’m
00:37:38.934 --> 00:37:42.667
trying to recall this particular one and um I do have 00:37:42.667 --> 00:37:49.233
a vagrant recollection of it, but at that time, I Don’t
00:37:49.233 --> 00:37:52.300
remember any reason that would have been upheld for a denial, 00:37:52.300 --> 00:37:56.000
so I mean they, they met all the zoning requirements in the
00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:01.533
code and It would have been difficult. Um, not to approve 00:38:01.533 --> 00:38:08.867
that zoning since it met all your gold requirements. So.
00:38:08.867 --> 00:38:10.467
Point of clarification then. 00:38:10.467 --> 00:38:16.367
This It’s incumbent upon us to pass this resolution tonight to
00:38:16.367 --> 00:38:19.000
do so would say that we acted.
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:24.467
Illegally in the past in some way. Yes, when the council 00:38:24.467 --> 00:38:28.100
voted last year, you approved it. So it is in compliance with
00:38:28.100 --> 00:38:32.867
your zoning code and All the county is asking for is for a 00:38:32.867 --> 00:38:46.300
resolution to certify that that is accurate. OK I guess what 00:38:46.300 --> 00:38:49.934
I’m asking about it is the developer may have some
00:38:49.934 --> 00:38:51.533
actionable legal grounds to stand on if we did not pass 00:38:51.533 --> 00:39:05.133
this tonight. Mr. Mapletem, I’d want to double check that. I 00:39:05.133 --> 00:39:11.934
mean, um, Man that Mister Tim knows. I, I don’t know that 00:39:11.934 --> 00:39:14.133
approving the financing is mandatory. I’d have to check
00:39:14.133 --> 00:39:21.533
into that. OK, uh, um. So, um, But all we’re saying here is 00:39:21.533 --> 00:39:25.934
that the city that it does match city code. Yes, you’re
00:39:25.934 --> 00:39:29.200
just stating, I mean, to put it another way, rather than have
00:39:29.200 --> 00:39:33.500
the city. The county go through your zoning ordinances and 00:39:33.500 --> 00:39:37.467
confirm that it does mean everything they’re just saying
00:39:37.467 --> 00:39:40.800
confirming that the council has made that decision that it 00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:41.767
complies with the zoning code.
00:39:41.767 --> 00:39:45.100
That’s, that’s what they’re asking for. OK. Thank you, Mr.
00:39:45.100 --> 00:39:49.367
Mayor. If I could just briefly talk about, you had a question
00:39:49.367 --> 00:39:52.667
about the legality if we don’t pass it, I don’t wanna speak 00:39:52.667 --> 00:39:56.667
for the city attorney, but experienced this before, we’re
00:39:56.667 --> 00:40:00.467
not obligated to adopt this resolution, um, if we adopted a 00:40:00.467 --> 00:40:02.634
resolution that says it does not comply. That’s where we
00:40:02.634 --> 00:40:06.767
would have issues, but there’s nothing compelling you to
00:40:06.767 --> 00:40:10.000
absolutely pass this resolution, but if we did not pass it, what 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:12.634
would happen is that application that Hennepin Coony
00:40:12.634 --> 00:40:15.934
would fail, um, and then that project would have to redo its
00:40:15.934 --> 00:40:18.567
finances, and I’m not sure the budget can continue without a
00:40:18.567 --> 00:40:21.400
little bit of assistance from what I understand. So I don’t 00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:24.367
know that it’d be a legal action if we don’t adopt the
00:40:24.367 --> 00:40:29.734
resolution, but, um, I just put that out there. OK, thank you.
00:40:29.734 --> 00:40:35.634
Uh, Councilor made you retracted your desire to speak. 00:40:35.634 --> 00:40:41.100
I will speak I I want to do the right thing here, so I just 00:40:41.100 --> 00:40:48.400
want to understand, so I apologize. So the The the city
00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:51.634
is letting us know, the staff is letting us know that it is. 00:40:51.634 --> 00:40:54.800
Uh, proper use of that zoning.
00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:59.166
Right. And so now we are doing a resolution, but if we don’t
00:40:59.166 --> 00:41:02.467
do the resolution. It’s just kind of going back to the, this 00:41:02.467 --> 00:41:05.000
is what allows them to be funded by Hennepin County.
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:13.000
Correct. OK. Being. Yes, this is a requirement for the county 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:14.266
to approve their financing.
00:41:14.266 --> 00:41:18.367
It’s a kind of a check off the box thing, but this is one
00:41:18.367 --> 00:41:19.934
thing the developer needs to do.
00:41:19.934 --> 00:41:25.734
I’m sure there are others, but this is one to have the council, 00:41:25.734 --> 00:41:31.634
the council to certify that, um, that the development meets the 00:41:31.634 --> 00:41:33.900
city’s zoning provisions, and when the council made that
00:41:33.900 --> 00:41:39.634
decision last year. That is the decision it made. That That the
00:41:39.634 --> 00:41:44.100
zoning was proper for this development. I’m I’m not sure 00:41:44.100 --> 00:41:51.367
that answered your question, but that, right. Bear with me. 00:41:51.367 --> 00:42:02.667
Um Can I, can I have just commentary at this moment? Am I 00:42:02.667 --> 00:42:06.934
able to do that? We’re still debating a motion on the table.
00:42:06.934 --> 00:42:11.233
So I can discussion. My concern is it’s another housing 00:42:11.233 --> 00:42:13.367
development with a company.
00:42:13.367 --> 00:42:16.100
That I’m not completely aware of, but I have a little bit of
00:42:16.100 --> 00:42:21.133
experience, um, I’m concerned from the feedback from the 00:42:21.133 --> 00:42:28.934
residents. of not wanting more additional housing. Um I’m
00:42:28.934 --> 00:42:32.000
concerned about that. And it’s the first thing I think about. 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:39.166
Hm May a time if I could, I, I think maybe I just noticed
00:42:39.166 --> 00:42:43.200
something here that might be causing a little confusion here, 00:42:43.200 --> 00:42:49.634
OK. The agenda item reads consider resolution approving
00:42:49.634 --> 00:42:52.834
the participation of Hennepin County housing and 00:42:52.834 --> 00:42:58.734
redevelopment Authority. The actual motion says, Adopt
00:42:58.734 --> 00:43:01.567
resolution confirming zoning compliance related to 00:43:01.567 --> 00:43:05.133
participation. So the RFC is not quite the worded the same
00:43:05.133 --> 00:43:11.000
as the motion, but you should focus on the motion, uh, that 00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:13.734
talks about just confirming zoning compliance, if that
00:43:13.734 --> 00:43:22.266
helps. It does if it’s just the zoning cause we don’t, we don’t 00:43:22.266 --> 00:43:26.634
decide that. It’s already decided. Correct. The zoning is
00:43:26.634 --> 00:43:30.367
already in place. That’s correct. So that’s where my 00:43:30.367 --> 00:43:33.934
confusion is of like I’m just certifying that what you guys
00:43:33.934 --> 00:43:37.667
told us is correct. The council took action to confirm that the
00:43:37.667 --> 00:43:40.367
zoning is that the project was compliant with zoning. OK. I 00:43:40.367 --> 00:43:47.200
got you. Thank you. OK, so there’s a motion in the 2nd on
00:43:47.200 --> 00:43:51.000
the table. All in favor, say I. 00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:55.800
Bye. proposed Motion passes.
00:43:55.800 --> 00:44:06.533
Thank you. Now we’re moving on to 4.6, I think council member. 00:44:06.533 --> 00:44:14.567
When Garvey had a question, but there’s a presentation. Um, 00:44:14.567 --> 00:44:17.400
just a comment or I just have a single questionnaire pro tem,
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:20.467
which I think will be easily answered, I hope, unless we 00:44:20.467 --> 00:44:23.100
need a presentation. I just want to know who does this
00:44:23.100 --> 00:44:28.934
eliminate Any jobs now or in the foreseeable future, this
00:44:28.934 --> 00:44:32.734
piece of equipment. Mayor Mayor Protem sorry, Mayor Pro Te 00:44:32.734 --> 00:44:37.100
Council Mayor McGarvey, council members. Um, this, the purchase
00:44:37.100 --> 00:44:42.200
of the autonomous mower will allow us to shift our staff 00:44:42.200 --> 00:44:44.934
resources to places that matter on the golf course or matter to
00:44:44.934 --> 00:44:46.567
the golfer on the golf course.
00:44:46.567 --> 00:44:51.367
So, this is designed to mold the driving range, um, it’ll, 00:44:51.367 --> 00:44:54.533
um, also do the kind of the short game practice area, but
00:44:54.533 --> 00:44:57.900
what the golfers care about is the 18 holes that they’re
00:44:57.900 --> 00:45:01.100
focused on, so this will allow our staff resources to be used 00:45:01.100 --> 00:45:04.233
in that manner. So there’s some other efficiencies it has with
00:45:04.233 --> 00:45:07.500
uh not having to close down the driving range to pick up golf
00:45:07.500 --> 00:45:11.166
balls and things like that, but, um, primarily it allows us to, 00:45:11.166 --> 00:45:12.033
to shift our resources that way.
00:45:12.033 --> 00:45:16.467
So it won’t eliminate any jobs that we know of. Yeah, it
00:45:16.467 --> 00:45:19.667
allows us to shift our seasonal staff around is essentially
00:45:19.667 --> 00:45:26.634
what it does. That answers my question. Thank you. Yeah. to 00:45:26.634 --> 00:45:27.500
Would you like to make a motion?
00:45:27.500 --> 00:45:43.734
What I do Oh Excuse me. I can go ahead and do it if you don’t 00:45:43.734 --> 00:45:47.533
have any motion to waive the reading and adopt resolution
00:45:47.533 --> 00:45:52.200
2025 to authorize amendment to the 2025 budget and purchase an 00:45:52.200 --> 00:45:59.400
autonomous mower for Edinburgh USA in the amount of $34,157.25
00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:06.667
from MTI distributing. Second, All in favor, say I, I. Hey 00:46:06.667 --> 00:46:20.033
Opposed? motion passes. And you OK OK, we are now on to. There 00:46:20.033 --> 00:46:24.400
are no public hearings, no land use actions, no general action
00:46:24.400 --> 00:46:29.734
items. So we’ll be moving on to discussion items, um,
00:46:29.734 --> 00:46:33.266
particularly the CAC improvements. Uh, Mayor Pro Tem 00:46:33.266 --> 00:46:35.500
Erickson, members of the council, Brad Talberg
00:46:35.500 --> 00:46:39.200
Recreation and Parks director, um, first item I have here
00:46:39.200 --> 00:46:43.000
tonight is the uh the next steps and discussion on the 00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:46.634
community activity center, um, really, uh, the purpose is just
00:46:46.634 --> 00:46:50.400
to provide a kind of a level setting of what the project 00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:54.233
entails, um, sort of the quick version of the history that, uh,
00:46:54.233 --> 00:46:58.567
we’ve been through on this project, and then, uh, seeking
00:46:58.567 --> 00:47:01.367
direction from council, um, as far as which options they would 00:47:01.367 --> 00:47:04.367
like staff to pursue. forward.
00:47:04.367 --> 00:47:07.634
So just quick, uh, high level, just a reminder, um, when we
00:47:07.634 --> 00:47:10.867
talk about the community activity center improvements 00:47:10.867 --> 00:47:14.634
project, um, while the gyms, uh, the addition of multi-core
00:47:14.634 --> 00:47:18.233
gymnasium space has been uh the primary focus in conversations,
00:47:18.233 --> 00:47:21.000
it does also include the improvements of to the 00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:24.834
entrances and corridors of the facility and then a creation of
00:47:24.834 --> 00:47:27.934
event space, um, on the green lawn or on the front lawn, um,
00:47:27.934 --> 00:47:31.800
on the south side of the existing CAC. Um, this project 00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:35.800
was part of the 2018 Park bond referendum where we had
00:47:35.800 --> 00:47:39.767
allocated $2 million to this project, um,, $2 million
00:47:39.767 --> 00:47:44.467
doesn’t go as far in 2025 or 2026, um, as it did in 20 in 00:47:44.467 --> 00:47:51.266
2018. Um, in 2023, uh, the state of Minnesota awarded us 00:47:51.266 --> 00:47:55.634
$5 million in state bonding, um, at that time it was for the uh
00:47:55.634 --> 00:48:01.467
conversion of an ice arena to um multi-core gymnasium space. 00:48:01.467 --> 00:48:04.133
That language was amended in the 2024 legislative session.
00:48:04.133 --> 00:48:08.934
So we still have that $5 million available to us, um, as
00:48:08.934 --> 00:48:10.467
part of this uh project funding. 00:48:10.467 --> 00:48:17.467
In 2024, we also made a request for $12 million to support the
00:48:17.467 --> 00:48:20.667
full project build out, as I mentioned earlier. Um, there 00:48:20.667 --> 00:48:25.467
was no bonding bill in the 2024 session, um, and one, just one
00:48:25.467 --> 00:48:29.266
quick item of note here. You’ll see the difference in the $12
00:48:29.266 --> 00:48:34.467
million in 2024 and the 9.5 million in 2025, um, or 2024 00:48:34.467 --> 00:48:38.266
request, um, was, did, did not require a match, so we asked
00:48:38.266 --> 00:48:42.533
for a little more money, um, to be able to uh help that project 00:48:42.533 --> 00:48:45.400
become reality, but, um, in essence, it, it really didn’t
00:48:45.400 --> 00:48:48.467
matter because there wasn’t a bonding bill. And then in 2025,
00:48:48.467 --> 00:48:53.800
we made the, uh,, $9.5 million request, um. with the, uh, the 00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:58.233
understanding there would be a, a, an equal $9.5 million match
00:48:58.233 --> 00:49:03.467
on the city side. Um, again, virtually no local bonding 00:49:03.467 --> 00:49:06.734
projects were awarded in uh funded in the 2025 legislative
00:49:06.734 --> 00:49:13.533
session. So we are back here tonight, um, kind of at the 00:49:13.533 --> 00:49:17.367
Take another look at funding options, um, and again, get uh
00:49:17.367 --> 00:49:20.000
council’s direction as to where they would like to see staff, 00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:26.467
um, options they’d like to see staff pursue. First one, is, uh,
00:49:26.467 --> 00:49:31.667
making a request uh for $9.5 million or or potentially more 00:49:31.667 --> 00:49:35.400
as the project continues to increase due to inflation or
00:49:35.400 --> 00:49:38.634
project cost increases due to inflation. Um, to make this
00:49:38.634 --> 00:49:42.934
request during the 2026 legislative session, um, to add 00:49:42.934 --> 00:49:45.567
the multicore gymnasium, the outdoor event space and improve
00:49:45.567 --> 00:49:49.800
the entrances and corridors. Um, I’ll have just a, a quick
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:54.200
bullet point or two, advantages and challenges of each, um, 00:49:54.200 --> 00:49:57.934
scenario here, um, obviously this one advantages it reduces
00:49:57.934 --> 00:50:01.000
the funding needed from the city of Brooklyn Park, uh, to 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:05.533
build out this project challenges that, uh, waiting
00:50:05.533 --> 00:50:11.133
until the essentially the end of the 2026 legislative session, 00:50:11.133 --> 00:50:15.533
uh, delays the project planning and, uh, you know, um,
00:50:15.533 --> 00:50:17.000
potential implementation and construction, um, quite a bit
00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:24.634
longer. er The second option is to further explore the private 00:50:24.634 --> 00:50:28.767
public partnership opportunities. Um, we’ve had,
00:50:28.767 --> 00:50:31.634
uh, conversations about Smith Arenas, um, here in council 00:50:31.634 --> 00:50:35.266
chambers. Um, there’s also another interested party, uh,
00:50:35.266 --> 00:50:39.400
looking to, um, potentially um get into a private public
00:50:39.400 --> 00:50:42.834
partnership with the city, uh, advantages of this scenario is 00:50:42.834 --> 00:50:46.867
that the partner would share in the, uh, the construction and
00:50:46.867 --> 00:50:49.033
operating costs, which would in turn reduce the city funding
00:50:49.033 --> 00:50:54.300
needs. Um, and it would be an RFQ or RFP process that could 00:50:54.300 --> 00:50:57.100
start in the near future, something that would happen, um,
00:50:57.100 --> 00:51:02.400
kind of in the short term. The challenges are that the uh the 00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:05.100
partnership um may not be the model that creates the best
00:51:05.100 --> 00:51:09.400
access for our community, um, as we talk about gym space and
00:51:09.400 --> 00:51:13.300
um access, um, as part of a partnership, we would likely 00:51:13.300 --> 00:51:17.233
sacrifice, um, some of that open access that our teams are,
00:51:17.233 --> 00:51:22.033
are requesting, um, for our partner to be able to make the, 00:51:22.033 --> 00:51:24.100
uh, the financial commitment work. Um, so, and then the
00:51:24.100 --> 00:51:27.867
other piece there is the potentially losing of, um, some,
00:51:27.867 --> 00:51:31.133
some degree of control of the operations. Currently, the CAC 00:51:31.133 --> 00:51:35.367
is fully operated by city staff, um, the potential of the
00:51:35.367 --> 00:51:38.000
partnership agreement would be that the partner would have
00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:42.800
some more operating authority. 00:51:42.800 --> 00:51:46.000
The next option to consider has been mentioned a few times here
00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:51.867
during public comment is um a voter referendum in the 00:51:51.867 --> 00:51:55.100
November 2026 elections, um, you know, advantage of this is
00:51:55.100 --> 00:51:57.200
it allows the residents of Brooklyn Park to make the
00:51:57.200 --> 00:52:01.200
choice on additional funding for this project, um, and 00:52:01.200 --> 00:52:05.767
challenge similar to the first one is that it does delay this
00:52:05.767 --> 00:52:09.000
decision until November 2026, um, which also shortens the
00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:11.133
timeline for planning and construction. Um, and you’ll 00:52:11.133 --> 00:52:15.467
see the note there that, uh, there is a, um, You could see
00:52:15.467 --> 00:52:20.800
it if I move this window. Um, there is a, an expiration date, 00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:24.734
if you will, on that, uh, the $5 million appropriation. It
00:52:24.734 --> 00:52:30.467
does need to be used by 1231, 28, so the end of 2028. Um, and 00:52:30.467 --> 00:52:34.133
it also has to be used for a project that includes the
00:52:34.133 --> 00:52:47.400
construction of, of gym space. 00:52:47.400 --> 00:52:56.467
I keep moving my window around here. Um, another option is to 00:52:56.467 --> 00:52:58.900
explore funding options outside of the partnerships and state
00:52:58.900 --> 00:53:02.567
bonding, um, these could be sales tax, additional lodging 00:53:02.567 --> 00:53:06.634
tax, grants, uh, corporate sponsorships, etc. Um, the
00:53:06.634 --> 00:53:08.400
advantage is it creates a revenue stream, not solely
00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:10.900
based on our, our property taxes and our property 00:53:10.900 --> 00:53:15.734
taxpayers. Uh, the challenges, um, some of these options
00:53:15.734 --> 00:53:19.000
require special legislation, which also delays the process,
00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:22.734
um, creates additional taxes, some of which would be paid by 00:53:22.734 --> 00:53:26.400
Brooklyn Park residents, um, the other piece is corporate
00:53:26.400 --> 00:53:29.367
sponsorship of this magnitude is, is really difficult to
00:53:29.367 --> 00:53:33.367
secure. Um, a lot of people, um, feel that, uh, we can, you know, 00:53:33.367 --> 00:53:35.734
knock on our neighbor’s door, our businesses around here and
00:53:35.734 --> 00:53:41.367
be able to secure a a 10 or $15 million dollar sponsorship 00:53:41.367 --> 00:53:43.667
agreement. Um, there’s a lot that goes into those uh those
00:53:43.667 --> 00:53:45.100
agreements as we move forward.
00:53:45.100 --> 00:53:48.834
So a lot of time and energy, not that it’s impossible, but
00:53:48.834 --> 00:53:58.400
um it is a um arduous process. 00:53:58.400 --> 00:54:00.634
Another option is to develop a scaled back version of the 00:54:00.634 --> 00:54:04.367
project, uh, potentially, uh, reverting back to the, uh,
00:54:04.367 --> 00:54:08.100
improvements to the entrances and corridors as originally
00:54:08.100 --> 00:54:11.800
planned in 2018, um, obviously, this would reduce the overall 00:54:11.800 --> 00:54:15.100
cost of the project and fulfill the promise made to the
00:54:15.100 --> 00:54:18.166
residents that voted in favor of the 2018 Park bond
00:54:18.166 --> 00:54:23.367
referendum. Uh, the challenges, you know, it doesn’t create 00:54:23.367 --> 00:54:26.200
multi-cour gymnasium space or outdoor event space, um, which
00:54:26.200 --> 00:54:30.000
is really what we’ve heard from the community is that, um, they 00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.734
want the multicore gymnasium space, um, somehow some way, um,
00:54:34.734 --> 00:54:37.000
that, uh, that is what’s needed, it’s needed for our young
00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:41.200
people, it’s needed for our, our programs, um, to have the 00:54:41.200 --> 00:54:44.367
multi-core gym space to, uh, to better serve our residents. And
00:54:44.367 --> 00:54:47.100
like I mentioned, the $5 million can only be from the
00:54:47.100 --> 00:54:50.734
state, can only be used if the project includes. the gym space, 00:54:50.734 --> 00:54:55.634
so dialing it back to, uh, just the 2018 Park bond, uh, scope
00:54:55.634 --> 00:54:59.367
would uh would keep us from using that uh accessing that $5
00:54:59.367 --> 00:55:06.266
million. And the last one is, uh, uh, you know, an obvious 00:55:06.266 --> 00:55:08.000
option, but not a great one.
00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:11.634
The, uh, you know, for local bonding to fund this project. 00:55:11.634 --> 00:55:17.100
Um, so council obviously has the authority to simply
00:55:17.100 --> 00:55:22.266
authorize the bonding for this, uh, um, expenditure to um Kind 00:55:22.266 --> 00:55:26.533
of filled the uh the gap, um, the total project cost is
00:55:26.533 --> 00:55:29.233
estimated at 24 million at this point, so, um, with the 2
00:55:29.233 --> 00:55:32.934
million from the park bond and the 5 million from the state of 00:55:32.934 --> 00:55:35.367
Minnesota, we’re still approximately 170 million short.
00:55:35.367 --> 00:55:40.400
Um, this would allow obviously for project planning and 00:55:40.400 --> 00:55:43.100
construction to begin sooner um allows us to access the 5
00:55:43.100 --> 00:55:46.900
million that we do have from the state, um, the challenge is,
00:55:46.900 --> 00:55:51.100
it does put the, uh, the onus squarely on the uh residents of 00:55:51.100 --> 00:55:56.400
Brooklyn Park to pay for this project. So with that, uh,
00:55:56.400 --> 00:55:59.800
going back to the uh original purpose or intent here was, uh,
00:55:59.800 --> 00:56:05.200
just, you know, looking for direction from council, um, on 00:56:05.200 --> 00:56:08.867
option or options that uh they would like to see staff pursue
00:56:08.867 --> 00:56:24.200
moving forward. McGarvey. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Um, Thank 00:56:24.200 --> 00:56:27.400
you for the presentation, Brad.
00:56:27.400 --> 00:56:31.233
As you know, I was in on a couple of those meetings with 00:56:31.233 --> 00:56:34.467
Smith Arenas and, and found what they had to offer very
00:56:34.467 --> 00:56:38.033
interesting. I agree with you on the concerns. Regarding, I
00:56:38.033 --> 00:56:44.467
would. A partnership. Of any kind, uh, calls into question 00:56:44.467 --> 00:56:47.233
how accessible it is then without some kind of membership
00:56:47.233 --> 00:56:51.900
fee, etc. to the community. So And they assured us that there 00:56:51.900 --> 00:56:56.367
was all kinds of variable ways we could pull that thing off. I
00:56:56.367 --> 00:57:02.133
would, I would be interested in continuing to pursue. What’s 00:57:02.133 --> 00:57:05.467
available through what they do, because again, they also Uh,
00:57:05.467 --> 00:57:15.367
are are They have access to that network of sports people 00:57:15.367 --> 00:57:18.667
at professional athletics levels that are that That
00:57:18.667 --> 00:57:23.900
invest in these types of projects. So I liked that 00:57:23.900 --> 00:57:30.300
aspect of working with them, but, uh, and beyond that, Um I 00:57:30.300 --> 00:57:33.567
like that last challenge on that last slide, which is
00:57:33.567 --> 00:57:36.300
putting the onus completely on the citizens of Brooklyn Park.
00:57:36.300 --> 00:57:43.166
I don’t want to do that. Um I do want us to I believe the 00:57:43.166 --> 00:57:46.000
state has to pass a bonding bill next year. I mean, they
00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:51.166
have to. Uh, and, and I would like to really go, continue to 00:57:51.166 --> 00:57:58.567
go after this. At the state level. Again, to Um I, I can’t
00:57:58.567 --> 00:58:01.834
do all the math, the mayor does every other week up here, but. 00:58:01.834 --> 00:58:10.467
Um Mm Brooklyn Park gets the short end of the stick on a uh 00:58:10.467 --> 00:58:14.100
on LGA and a lot of things, uh.
00:58:14.100 --> 00:58:19.634
And I would like us to pursue this at, this is just my, my
00:58:19.634 --> 00:58:26.367
opinion. And this discussion, period. That would be my 00:58:26.367 --> 00:58:28.500
preference is to pursue funding through the state through
00:58:28.500 --> 00:58:31.800
Bonding bill. That’s all I have. 00:58:31.800 --> 00:58:40.233
Thank you, Mayor Protown. Thank you, um, I have a question for. 00:58:40.233 --> 00:58:46.834
City manager and or Mr. Tolberg, if the city were to. Bond for
00:58:46.834 --> 00:58:51.467
this ourselves or Come up with the money in some other way. 00:58:51.467 --> 00:58:55.533
Would that weaken our position in state bonding negotiations
00:58:55.533 --> 00:59:04.300
in 206. I’ll defer to the city manager. Uh, Morro Temerrick 00:59:04.300 --> 00:59:10.233
and members of council, uh, um, if we were to locally bond. For 00:59:10.233 --> 00:59:16.634
this project. Uh, versus first attempt to try to get state
00:59:16.634 --> 00:59:19.467
resources. I definitely think it would, it would weaken our
00:59:19.467 --> 00:59:26.634
position, um. Because they would see that the local Entity 00:59:26.634 --> 00:59:30.000
had already stepped up with with funding the gap. Now that 00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.166
doesn’t mean that we couldn’t locally bond and go after
00:59:34.166 --> 00:59:36.834
resource state resources for another project. Um, I just
00:59:36.834 --> 00:59:39.033
know at the price point we’re talking about here relative to
00:59:39.033 --> 00:59:40.033
the other bonding we’re doing. 00:59:40.033 --> 00:59:44.734
Um That would be a, a pretty significant consideration for
00:59:44.734 --> 00:59:50.934
the, for the city council. My second question is actually for 00:59:50.934 --> 00:59:55.133
Director Gladhill. What’s the status of the $5 million from
00:59:55.133 --> 01:00:01.367
HUD. In conjunction with Huntington. Uh, Mr. Mayor 01:00:01.367 --> 01:00:07.233
Peartown, that is a $4 million grant from HUD to Aon. Um, we
01:00:07.233 --> 01:00:08.900
did receive approvals and actually, Mr. Tolberg probably
01:00:08.900 --> 01:00:11.500
has a little bit more information on this, but my 01:00:11.500 --> 01:00:15.233
understanding, we got approvals that are necessary, and we’re
01:00:15.233 --> 01:00:17.900
really down to paperwork at this point, which is taking
01:00:17.900 --> 01:00:21.200
longer than we anticipated, but we got good news on that. And 01:00:21.200 --> 01:00:24.100
Mr. Tolberg, if you want to correct anything, but that’s my
01:00:24.100 --> 01:00:27.033
understanding of where we are at. Mayor Pro Tem, members of
01:00:27.033 --> 01:00:32.000
the council, yes, um. We’ve been, uh, working diligently 01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:35.634
with HUD to, uh, get through this process. We do have, um,
01:00:35.634 --> 01:00:38.233
our approval on our environmental review. We do
01:00:38.233 --> 01:00:41.900
have authorization, um, to start accessing some of these 01:00:41.900 --> 01:00:45.900
funds, so, um, we do have a process still to, um, without
01:00:45.900 --> 01:00:49.400
getting too far in the weeds, the HUD has a number of
01:00:49.400 --> 01:00:52.100
different platforms that we have to fill out paperwork and 01:00:52.100 --> 01:00:55.834
such, we are working through what’s called the DRGR uh
01:00:55.834 --> 01:00:59.100
platform right now to finish up some paperwork there, but Um,
01:00:59.100 --> 01:01:02.400
everything is lined up for us, uh, to be able to use that for 01:01:02.400 --> 01:01:08.734
these AO project. So that would theoretically free up $4
01:01:08.734 --> 01:01:12.533
million we would otherwise have spent on Zane wood. And sort of 01:01:12.533 --> 01:01:17.934
funding gap could be as little as 12 million-ish. Potentially,
01:01:17.934 --> 01:01:21.934
yes, that, yep. That money would be Essentially freed up 01:01:21.934 --> 01:01:40.634
from the Zane Wood project. Mhm Um, proteer members of council. 01:01:40.634 --> 01:01:45.200
Just a, a note though, uh, with regard to the Zanewood
01:01:45.200 --> 01:01:49.767
expansion project. Um Uh, part of the proposal in terms of
01:01:49.767 --> 01:01:54.000
funding that was reshuffling some of the dollars that were 01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:58.533
Previously part of the original park bond and so I think it
01:01:58.533 --> 01:02:02.767
would be up to the council about um if we were to get this 01:02:02.767 --> 01:02:07.900
with a sub recipient of the $4 million. is the council’s
01:02:07.900 --> 01:02:11.100
preference for those um dollars that we were reshuffled around 01:02:11.100 --> 01:02:14.934
from other parts of the Park bond project to go back to some
01:02:14.934 --> 01:02:19.934
of their original. Um concepts in terms of investment or or
01:02:19.934 --> 01:02:26.567
how best to use those, so. Oh Just, just consideration as, as 01:02:26.567 --> 01:02:29.300
the council is considering kind of how to sort of identify or
01:02:29.300 --> 01:02:35.233
label that $4 million in a way it is savings. But it’s also um 01:02:35.233 --> 01:02:41.133
we’re also sort of. Uh, moving resources from other potential 01:02:41.133 --> 01:02:45.000
investment areas, um. Which I know is a a factor for the
01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:55.834
council’s decision. Is it still Likely that. There was a, there 01:02:55.834 --> 01:03:02.467
was a land purchase. Eventually for the blue line. Means 01:03:02.467 --> 01:03:07.166
facility that was part of the Zanewood calculations, right?
01:03:07.166 --> 01:03:13.033
Are we still expecting that to happen. So, uh, yeah, Mayor 01:03:13.033 --> 01:03:15.400
Prote, members of council, I think, uh, what you’re
01:03:15.400 --> 01:03:20.133
referring to is, um, there is a portion of the, uh, city-owned 01:03:20.133 --> 01:03:22.834
property that was going to be set aside for the operations
01:03:22.834 --> 01:03:25.800
and maintenance facility for light rail. There is a land
01:03:25.800 --> 01:03:29.033
purchase that has to happen for that as part of the Zainwood
01:03:29.033 --> 01:03:33.834
project, we had, um, shifted money that had been allocated 01:03:33.834 --> 01:03:39.166
in the park bond um for large picnicking area to be used for
01:03:39.166 --> 01:03:41.834
um the Zain project, but the, the money for the purchase of 01:03:41.834 --> 01:03:44.800
the land was separate from that, and so where that came into
01:03:44.800 --> 01:03:48.233
play when we had this discussion was we would
01:03:48.233 --> 01:03:52.734
eventually use the money from the sale of that land, um, to 01:03:52.734 --> 01:03:56.100
fund the development of that park at the beginning of the
01:03:56.100 --> 01:04:18.734
light rail. Uh, comes my page. 01:04:18.734 --> 01:04:24.667
Thank you. Um Well, we don’t want to lose money, right? So 01:04:24.667 --> 01:04:26.734
we have a time frame for that.
01:04:26.734 --> 01:04:36.467
And What we’ve been trying isn’t working. So we got to 01:04:36.467 --> 01:04:43.233
figure out how to get creative and to get this done. So I am 01:04:43.233 --> 01:04:48.033
assuming you don’t want to do all of them, um. It looks like
01:04:48.033 --> 01:04:52.834
it’s challenging with, can you Can you go back to just go back 01:04:52.834 --> 01:05:09.000
for me here for Um So here This doesn’t seem Can we do process 01:05:09.000 --> 01:05:12.100
of elimination? Is that a conversation we can have 01:05:12.100 --> 01:05:14.233
because this one doesn’t feel.
01:05:14.233 --> 01:05:19.266
Um, that it makes sense or that it’s easy. Um, it’s going back
01:05:19.266 --> 01:05:28.266
to We’re paying like. And we have a lot of cities involved 01:05:28.266 --> 01:05:32.367
in this. We have schools, we have all these people from all 01:05:32.367 --> 01:05:39.300
over that regularly use these facilities, so. We do have a
01:05:39.300 --> 01:05:46.233
regional activity center for all of those folks. So. How do 01:05:46.233 --> 01:05:49.734
we get them to help us pay for it? How do we, how do we figure
01:05:49.734 --> 01:05:53.166
that out? Where I’m sure you’ve all thought of this, I’m the 01:05:53.166 --> 01:05:56.300
new one again. We can do anything here in Brooklyn Park,
01:05:56.300 --> 01:06:01.233
but um. Is there, are there conversations with those 01:06:01.233 --> 01:06:04.900
entities of like their contributions and it’s I think
01:06:04.900 --> 01:06:07.634
of pups right off the top of my head. We were all paying for
01:06:07.634 --> 01:06:10.767
this facility, not in our city, and it looks like there’s a lot 01:06:10.767 --> 01:06:13.500
of organizations that are using our facilities, not in this
01:06:13.500 --> 01:06:18.834
city, but benefiting the the area. Um Is that in here
01:06:18.834 --> 01:06:23.634
somewhere? Is that part of that conversation? Uh, Mayor Pro Tem, 01:06:23.634 --> 01:06:26.800
uh, culture member Page, members of the council, um, it
01:06:26.800 --> 01:06:30.567
hasn’t been part of this discussion just because we’ve 01:06:30.567 --> 01:06:31.767
had some preliminary conversations with the school
01:06:31.767 --> 01:06:35.300
district, Os area schools, for instance, about, um, what’s
01:06:35.300 --> 01:06:40.133
happening at Crestview, um, they, there’s, there’s not an 01:06:40.133 --> 01:06:44.200
interest of uh co-developing a project, um. Uh, gym project in
01:06:44.200 --> 01:06:48.200
that, you know, in that space or as a part of this project.
01:06:48.200 --> 01:06:52.634
Um, so we’ve really been limited um to interested 01:06:52.634 --> 01:06:56.667
partners, if you will, or, you know, Smith Arenas and I
01:06:56.667 --> 01:07:00.500
mentioned another private entity, but, um, as far as 01:07:00.500 --> 01:07:03.734
other public entities sharing in this project or or bringing
01:07:03.734 --> 01:07:07.533
this forward there, they’re all focused on what they can do
01:07:07.533 --> 01:07:09.567
within their, their own domain.
01:07:09.567 --> 01:07:14.100
So this is separate of the, the ice rinks, correct? Correct. OK. 01:07:14.100 --> 01:07:20.834
So do we have groups that regularly book those courts 01:07:20.834 --> 01:07:25.667
that we have now. We just have one card at this point. Um, so
01:07:25.667 --> 01:07:30.500
we do have, you know, they are used, um, yeah, and, you know, 01:07:30.500 --> 01:07:33.734
the challenge is, is that we continually get, or, you know,
01:07:33.734 --> 01:07:36.734
our programs which are our dance programs and some of our
01:07:36.734 --> 01:07:40.500
youth sports programs that use school facilities, um, but also 01:07:40.500 --> 01:07:43.367
like BPAA and Park Center traveling basketball. They
01:07:43.367 --> 01:07:48.000
continue to get squeezed out by limited availability of times
01:07:48.000 --> 01:07:50.667
um within the school district space that they’re relying upon. 01:07:50.667 --> 01:07:55.500
So Again, um, we’re, you know, we’re created one more gym
01:07:55.500 --> 01:07:59.367
space at Zanewood at the new Zanewood Recreation Center.
01:07:59.367 --> 01:08:02.500
That’ll be, you know, help open a, you know, a little bit of 01:08:02.500 --> 01:08:06.734
time, but, um, again, the, the needs assessment we had was
01:08:06.734 --> 01:08:10.567
ideally we would add 4 courts to be able to start to meet the 01:08:10.567 --> 01:08:17.000
need, um, in our system, so. Um Yeah, so I, I guess I, I, there
01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:20.634
are a number of people that are interested in these, um, in 01:08:20.634 --> 01:08:23.767
access to these courts. It’s just a matter of being able to
01:08:23.767 --> 01:08:24.834
create the right number of them.
01:08:24.834 --> 01:08:30.166
So if I, if I could just also continue the discussion, so we 01:08:30.166 --> 01:08:32.400
would be interested in something similar to like Maple
01:08:32.400 --> 01:08:35.467
Grove Middle School, where they, we all, that’s what I know when
01:08:35.467 --> 01:08:38.266
we were on traveling basketball, that’s where we went, and
01:08:38.266 --> 01:08:41.900
that’s what we’re looking for is something like that, which 01:08:41.900 --> 01:08:44.100
is in 279th District, right?
01:08:44.100 --> 01:08:45.767
And, and there’s a participation with that because
01:08:45.767 --> 01:08:50.500
it’s attached to the middle school, I’m assuming. Um, so we 01:08:50.500 --> 01:08:55.767
just don’t have that. Here Correct. Um, so that was
01:08:55.767 --> 01:09:00.100
partially or, or primarily funded by, um, with the Aso 01:09:00.100 --> 01:09:03.834
Maple Grove Basketball Association. So it’s a kind of
01:09:03.834 --> 01:09:06.467
a three-way, uh, partnership, if you will, between the school
01:09:06.467 --> 01:09:11.400
district, the city of Maple Grove, um, and the os Maple 01:09:11.400 --> 01:09:12.934
Grove basketball Association.
01:09:12.934 --> 01:09:16.634
So, Brooklyn Park Athletic Association is not in or Park
01:09:16.634 --> 01:09:20.100
Center traveling basketball or not in a financial position to 01:09:20.100 --> 01:09:21.367
um participate at that level.
01:09:21.367 --> 01:09:32.100
Sure. Thank you. That’s John. 01:09:32.100 --> 01:09:36.900
Thank you. Um, Doctor Tolberg, can you go back to the slide
01:09:36.900 --> 01:09:44.533
with the bonding dollars at the legislature. This one. Yes, I 01:09:44.533 --> 01:10:14.233
think so. I just wanted to read it again. OK, um, I think what 01:10:14.233 --> 01:10:19.734
I personally would prefer. is to Unfortunately, it’s going to
01:10:19.734 --> 01:10:21.734
delay it, but then make another. 01:10:21.734 --> 01:10:28.367
Ask During the legislative session. Personally for me just
01:10:28.367 --> 01:10:35.033
because, um, I think with that 2018 park bonding bill. That 01:10:35.033 --> 01:10:38.834
promise is long overdue, um, and then also I understand that
01:10:38.834 --> 01:10:43.166
there’s a timeline on That 5 million as well too, so I know 01:10:43.166 --> 01:10:46.767
that we are in a time crunch.
01:10:46.767 --> 01:10:52.634
But I would like to say that. I don’t want this to again fall 01:10:52.634 --> 01:10:53.834
on the residents personally, um.
01:10:53.834 --> 01:10:59.300
And if we haven’t seen much happening at the legislature
01:10:59.300 --> 01:11:03.900
for the past, like what, like 3 years or so, um, I think. 01:11:03.900 --> 01:11:09.767
Hopefully We could finally see something um coming towards
01:11:09.767 --> 01:11:12.400
Brooklyn Park, um, within the next year. I know that it’s 01:11:12.400 --> 01:11:17.734
kind of like Grasping at like, you know, strands of hair, but
01:11:17.734 --> 01:11:23.133
um, I think I just don’t really want it to fall again on our 01:11:23.133 --> 01:11:27.500
residents. So This would probably be the option that I
01:11:27.500 --> 01:11:54.567
would consider. Yeah Thank you. 01:11:54.567 --> 01:11:59.367
Do we have options of The construction in terms of like
01:11:59.367 --> 01:12:05.834
pricing as well too. Like You know, um, like what we did for 01:12:05.834 --> 01:12:08.500
like the fire station and stuff like that, like, do we have
01:12:08.500 --> 01:12:11.734
options of what the corridor would look like if we were to 01:12:11.734 --> 01:12:15.467
budget for just this much, or if we were to actually get our
01:12:15.467 --> 01:12:17.834
set amount, etc. or is the budget that we have right now
01:12:17.834 --> 01:12:24.000
literally like That’s set in stone, Council member Sean and, 01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:27.400
uh, members of the council, um, we do have the, uh, cost
01:12:27.400 --> 01:12:31.467
estimates broken down to each portion of the project, so, you 01:12:31.467 --> 01:12:37.900
know, the entrances and corridors, the, um, Uh The
01:12:37.900 --> 01:12:41.033
multi-core gymnasium and then the outdoor event, uh, space. 01:12:41.033 --> 01:12:44.900
So there is the opportunity to phase this, if you would, um,
01:12:44.900 --> 01:12:49.033
to be able to, you know, create, uh, potentially the, the gym
01:12:49.033 --> 01:12:52.266
space and improve the entrances and corridors without doing the 01:12:52.266 --> 01:12:57.100
uh Um, outdoor event space, so there is some opportunity to,
01:12:57.100 --> 01:13:02.000
to do that, um, I certainly could bring back up to or uh 01:13:02.000 --> 01:13:16.266
bring back updated numbers at some point, um. Actually Yep, 01:13:16.266 --> 01:13:19.000
um, there’s actually, here’s the kind of the, the breakdown
01:13:19.000 --> 01:13:23.266
of how the costs are allocated, um, this is an old slide from, 01:13:23.266 --> 01:13:26.166
uh, a couple of years ago. So just gives you an idea of kind
01:13:26.166 --> 01:13:31.800
of how the Uh, portions work for reference, we’d be looking 01:13:31.800 --> 01:13:35.767
just, um, exclusively at the far right-hand column the gym
01:13:35.767 --> 01:13:41.834
edition, um, As the Arena one conversion was, uh, taken off 01:13:41.834 --> 01:13:48.934
the, uh, um by city council for consideration. Thank you. Again,
01:13:48.934 --> 01:13:52.567
these numbers are old numbers and don’t reflect the uh, you 01:13:52.567 --> 01:13:59.634
know, the inflation that we’ve seen over the last 2 years. The
01:13:59.634 --> 01:14:02.867
gym edition and the entrance corridor together, correct? So 01:14:02.867 --> 01:14:07.567
then that would make up for 25 million. Or we’re just looking
01:14:07.567 --> 01:14:12.467
at the gym addition. The so the courts is the gym edition. Um, 01:14:12.467 --> 01:14:16.133
so that, that number in bold there, if you did the entrance
01:14:16.133 --> 01:14:19.834
in, uh, corridor improvements, the courts and the exterior
01:14:19.834 --> 01:14:22.533
improvements where is 20 million, just over 20 million. 01:14:22.533 --> 01:14:28.367
OK, got you. I’m sorry. I don’t read in the parentheses. Thank
01:14:28.367 --> 01:14:43.000
you. Thank you. So how many times have we not gotten money? 01:14:43.000 --> 01:14:46.000
How many years? For our request.
01:14:46.000 --> 01:14:51.567
Is this the 3rd 1 or are there more? Uh, mayor pro tem Council 01:14:51.567 --> 01:14:54.667
Page, members of the council is technically it would be the,
01:14:54.667 --> 01:14:57.367
this would be our 3rd year. We have, we have 2 years, correct
01:14:57.367 --> 01:15:03.166
me if I’m wrong, Jay, the, um, the tour, we made a request in 01:15:03.166 --> 01:15:08.500
2024 to fund the The gap, if you will, and then again in
01:15:08.500 --> 01:15:12.233
2025. Um, so this request in 2026 will be our third time, 01:15:12.233 --> 01:15:17.634
which You know, there’s some, um, perspective out there that
01:15:17.634 --> 01:15:21.100
having multiple requests. Um, can be a helpful thing along 01:15:21.100 --> 01:15:27.100
the way as well. was that typical for those requests to
01:15:27.100 --> 01:15:31.533
be denied so many times, yeah a lot of times it takes multiple 01:15:31.533 --> 01:15:38.834
attempts before projects get funded. Thank you. I have a
01:15:38.834 --> 01:15:42.667
somewhat complicated question, um. Guessing Director Green 01:15:42.667 --> 01:15:47.900
isn’t still hiding out in the ether somewhere. Um, do we have
01:15:47.900 --> 01:15:53.233
any estimate as to the bonding cost for the $17 million like a 01:15:53.233 --> 01:15:59.166
rough estimate, and how that would bump up against the I
01:15:59.166 --> 01:16:02.533
think it was $200,000 a year in anticipated revenue from the 01:16:02.533 --> 01:16:07.734
basketball facility. It, uh, Mayor Protem, uh, members of
01:16:07.734 --> 01:16:13.033
the council, I do not have the, that estimated cost, um. I can 01:16:13.033 --> 01:16:16.233
work with finance Director Green to do that, um, but I do
01:16:16.233 --> 01:16:19.767
not have that uh estimated cost of, uh, what that would look
01:16:19.767 --> 01:16:25.767
like. OK. And um, Maybe the city manager can confirm if we 01:16:25.767 --> 01:16:31.734
did go to bonding on this. That would have to go. To residents 01:16:31.734 --> 01:16:35.467
in the form of an additional tax levy, or we could, could we
01:16:35.467 --> 01:16:38.200
offset that each year with revenue from, or at least in
01:16:38.200 --> 01:16:45.667
part with revenue from the facility. Uh, mepotem Eric 01:16:45.667 --> 01:16:50.367
members of council. There’s different pathways to, to bond 01:16:50.367 --> 01:16:53.133
for a specific project, um, in some cases you can do
01:16:53.133 --> 01:16:56.266
referendum to get approval in other cases, you don’t have to,
01:16:56.266 --> 01:16:59.266
just like the fire station project. I think, I believe
01:16:59.266 --> 01:17:01.100
that there would be a pathway. 01:17:01.100 --> 01:17:05.300
To do either, either to take it to a referendum or to for the
01:17:05.300 --> 01:17:11.767
council to um Uh, issue bonds. 01:17:11.767 --> 01:17:15.033
That do not require uh community approval for
01:17:15.033 --> 01:17:17.233
community activity center improvements. Um, but I would
01:17:17.233 --> 01:17:20.834
just, I know our finance director Green is not on just 01:17:20.834 --> 01:17:26.166
trying to verify that with Director Tolber or the Attorney
01:17:26.166 --> 01:17:29.367
Thompson or director Gladhill, um, my assumption is correct
01:17:29.367 --> 01:17:34.300
that there is a pathway to do it without counsel. without 01:17:34.300 --> 01:17:37.000
community approval. I guess I was more curious about the
01:17:37.000 --> 01:17:43.834
balance between. So, let’s say we bonded. $17 million. And the 01:17:43.834 --> 01:17:51.000
annual cost of bonding that was $500,000 a year. over 20 years 01:17:51.000 --> 01:17:56.400
or whatever. Now, if we’re estimated revenue at $250,000 a
01:17:56.400 --> 01:18:01.033
year. Can we offset what actually appears on residents’ 01:18:01.033 --> 01:18:05.467
property tax statements. Bye Adding in the revenue from the
01:18:05.467 --> 01:18:10.734
facility. Yeah, um, we’re pro temerrickson, members of 01:18:10.734 --> 01:18:20.634
council. Um I think the answer to that would be yes, uh, 01:18:20.634 --> 01:18:27.100
similar to Um Our city to the west is doing a big bond
01:18:27.100 --> 01:18:30.233
issuance for enhancing their community center, they’re using 01:18:30.233 --> 01:18:34.500
sales tax proceeds to pay for that. And so they are um using
01:18:34.500 --> 01:18:37.767
kind of a specific revenue source. I think similarly in
01:18:37.767 --> 01:18:42.000
this case, um, that the bond proceeds could be paid off with 01:18:42.000 --> 01:18:45.734
a combination of revenue sources, um, including revenue.
01:18:45.734 --> 01:18:52.634
OK. Thank you. So I guess I would like to see those like 01:18:52.634 --> 01:18:56.467
what this would cost us if we bonded it and how that compares
01:18:56.467 --> 01:19:06.133
to current projections for revenue from the facility. Have 01:19:06.133 --> 01:19:09.800
you gotten some of what you needed from us tonight. Um,
01:19:09.800 --> 01:19:12.500
yeah, Mayor Pro Tem, members of the council, uh, yeah, I, you 01:19:12.500 --> 01:19:15.767
know, we’re looking for direction. Obviously we’ve got
01:19:15.767 --> 01:19:20.000
uh, a, a few members, you know, missing as well, but, um, You 01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.300
know, I kind of hear the theme of we want to keep this as, uh,
01:19:24.300 --> 01:19:27.900
you know, as much off of, uh, the Brooklyn Park residents as
01:19:27.900 --> 01:19:32.200
we can, um, and kind of looking at uh some different options, 01:19:32.200 --> 01:19:35.867
uh, potentially. Uh, with the revenues and uh digging into
01:19:35.867 --> 01:19:40.300
that, I will say to that option, um, you know, there are some 01:19:40.300 --> 01:19:43.467
additional costs associated with the operation of the
01:19:43.467 --> 01:19:47.100
gymnasium that would, would eat into that too, so I don’t know
01:19:47.100 --> 01:19:50.300
how significant those dollars would be, but we can absolutely, 01:19:50.300 --> 01:19:56.734
uh, work through the numbers on that as well. Thank you.
01:19:56.734 --> 01:19:58.300
Anybody else have any further?
01:19:58.300 --> 01:20:09.634
moments. Thank you, Director Tomberg. 8.2 is Hortman 01:20:09.634 --> 01:20:12.166
Memorial requests discussion. 01:20:12.166 --> 01:20:14.934
Looks like Brad gets to stay here forever you’re done with
01:20:14.934 --> 01:20:18.100
me just yet. That’s why I brought my water up here to
01:20:18.100 --> 01:20:22.500
make sure my voice hangs out, uh, for the night. Um, so Mayor 01:20:22.500 --> 01:20:26.100
Protown, members of the council, um, since the tragic killing of
01:20:26.100 --> 01:20:32.533
Mark and Melissa, um, Hartman on June 14th, um, staff, um, 01:20:32.533 --> 01:20:35.200
have received numerous inquiries, um, via email, via
01:20:35.200 --> 01:20:38.467
phone, uh, community conversations, um, from
01:20:38.467 --> 01:20:41.667
residents and friends reaching out for ways to, uh, to be able 01:20:41.667 --> 01:20:48.734
to honor them. Um Some examples of the, uh, the requests that
01:20:48.734 --> 01:20:52.266
we have received, um, BPA has reached out about renaming the 01:20:52.266 --> 01:20:56.500
Central Park football field. Um, after the Hartman’s, a
01:20:56.500 --> 01:20:59.367
neighborhood group has reached out about creating a park in
01:20:59.367 --> 01:21:03.100
the city owned lot that is adjacent to the apartment 01:21:03.100 --> 01:21:06.100
residence, um, Tree Trust, which is a uh organization we
01:21:06.100 --> 01:21:12.000
work with to plant trees in our community has reached out about 01:21:12.000 --> 01:21:16.367
uh um donating trees to create a memorial tree grove, um,
01:21:16.367 --> 01:21:20.000
Representative Brad Tabke has called to discuss memorials, 01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:22.567
our memorial tree program, um, in case Melissa’s colleagues
01:21:22.567 --> 01:21:24.834
were interested in in donating a number trees here to the city
01:21:24.834 --> 01:21:28.567
of Brooklyn Park. Chapel Park swim alumni have reached out
01:21:28.567 --> 01:21:32.266
about memorial trees, uh, at River Park, um, we’ve had a 01:21:32.266 --> 01:21:36.734
couple of different requests and rename Edinburgh, Edinbrook
01:21:36.734 --> 01:21:42.367
Park, um, After the Hortmans, um, dedicating the plaza area 01:21:42.367 --> 01:21:45.634
in front of Edinburgh USA Clubhouse as the Mark and
01:21:45.634 --> 01:21:47.166
Melissa Hartman Memorial Plaza.
01:21:47.166 --> 01:21:51.200
Um, and then also you probably have seen uh a couple of weeks 01:21:51.200 --> 01:21:55.233
ago, there was a, a comment or a suggestion on Facebook, on
01:21:55.233 --> 01:22:00.667
social media, about uh adding gyms and aquatics, uh, to the 01:22:00.667 --> 01:22:04.800
CAC and uh seeking to rename um the new facility after the
01:22:04.800 --> 01:22:09.166
hormones as well. Um, we’ve had a couple of different uh
01:22:09.166 --> 01:22:14.367
occasions, uh, since they’re uh tragic death that uh folks have 01:22:14.367 --> 01:22:18.166
in public comment to talked about recognizing um them as
01:22:18.166 --> 01:22:22.467
well. So, um, really just that, uh, Jay and I thought the city 01:22:22.467 --> 01:22:25.734
manager Strobel and I thought it would be important for us to
01:22:25.734 --> 01:22:29.900
uh to one come to council and make sure you’re informed about
01:22:29.900 --> 01:22:32.367
the uh processes and opportunities we already have 01:22:32.367 --> 01:22:35.934
in place. Um, but then also get, uh, again, just like with the
01:22:35.934 --> 01:22:40.100
last item, get some uh console input or feedback about a 01:22:40.100 --> 01:22:44.266
potential ideas that you may have as well. Um First and
01:22:44.266 --> 01:22:49.634
foremost, uh, just want to be clear that this is uh uh
01:22:49.634 --> 01:22:52.467
information that we’ve uh received from residents, um, 01:22:52.467 --> 01:22:55.133
but any requests that we were to, to move forward to honor
01:22:55.133 --> 01:22:58.767
the Hortmans in the city of Brooklyn Park will be
01:22:58.767 --> 01:23:02.000
implemented in collaboration and cooperation and with the, 01:23:02.000 --> 01:23:05.767
uh, the, um, approval of the family itself, so, um, I just
01:23:05.767 --> 01:23:10.133
want to make sure that we, we level set that uh that um 01:23:10.133 --> 01:23:17.100
realization here as we move forward. So, um, the first one
01:23:17.100 --> 01:23:22.734
is, uh, we have an existing memorial bench program, um. 01:23:22.734 --> 01:23:26.000
Where, uh, we’ve, we’ve got a number of examples out in our
01:23:26.000 --> 01:23:30.800
community where, um, for $1300 people are able to purchase a 01:23:30.800 --> 01:23:34.133
memorial bench. This includes an ADA accessible bench, the
01:23:34.133 --> 01:23:38.233
shipping, the concrete slab that the uh benches uh mounted
01:23:38.233 --> 01:23:44.100
to and also that makes it um ADA accessible, um, and then it, 01:23:44.100 --> 01:23:46.800
uh, also a memorial plaque to recognize uh the person that it
01:23:46.800 --> 01:23:51.033
was the bench was donated in their honor. Um, they work with 01:23:51.033 --> 01:23:54.800
staff, by both operations and maintenance team and uh
01:23:54.800 --> 01:23:58.100
recreation parks team. I’m picking out the, uh, location,
01:23:58.100 --> 01:24:01.000
potentially a trail or a park for this, uh, for memorial 01:24:01.000 --> 01:24:06.567
benches. We also have a memorial tree program, um, for
01:24:06.567 --> 01:24:09.934
$400 includes the tree, the planting, and the ongoing
01:24:09.934 --> 01:24:14.100
watering and maintenance uh to ensure that the tree survives, 01:24:14.100 --> 01:24:18.033
um, we do not include a plaque in the memorial tree program,
01:24:18.033 --> 01:24:20.567
just, um, for maintenance purposes, trying to mow around 01:24:20.567 --> 01:24:24.667
it and uh and take care of that, um, it’s difficult, and then
01:24:24.667 --> 01:24:29.100
it’s uh not a good idea to affix a plaque to a tree, um,
01:24:29.100 --> 01:24:33.767
to begin with, so. Um, like I said, uh, both the staff from 01:24:33.767 --> 01:24:38.033
operations and maintenance and recreation in parks, um, work
01:24:38.033 --> 01:24:40.233
collaboratively to uh to support people that are 01:24:40.233 --> 01:24:41.767
interested in donating, uh.
01:24:41.767 --> 01:24:45.500
These items to our park system.
01:24:45.500 --> 01:24:54.533
I Um, the next piece is, um, they’re naming or renaming of a 01:24:54.533 --> 01:24:59.467
facility or park. Um, so back in 2016, City council adopted a
01:24:59.467 --> 01:25:03.734
policy and facility naming policy. Um, it features, uh, 01:25:03.734 --> 01:25:07.166
really a couple of significant criteria, um, and then some sub
01:25:07.166 --> 01:25:12.233
criteria, if you will. Um, the first are, um, significant 01:25:12.233 --> 01:25:15.100
financial contribution, um, or community comp uh contribution
01:25:15.100 --> 01:25:16.533
to the city of Brooklyn Park.
01:25:16.533 --> 01:25:19.300
So someone who enhance enhances the quality of life in Brooklyn
01:25:19.300 --> 01:25:24.033
Park. In addition, the person must demonstrate one of the 01:25:24.033 --> 01:25:27.734
following community leadership, uh, helping neighbors,
01:25:27.734 --> 01:25:31.033
demonstrated hospitality, um, promotes and preserves our 01:25:31.033 --> 01:25:33.266
American pastime, preservation of the heritage of Brooklyn
01:25:33.266 --> 01:25:39.467
Park, um, demonstrates, uh, patriotism, um, by honoring
01:25:39.467 --> 01:25:42.634
former and current military or having served in the military 01:25:42.634 --> 01:25:45.266
themselves and then serve the community through business
01:25:45.266 --> 01:25:48.100
ownership. So, just some criteria, um, as we went
01:25:48.100 --> 01:25:50.734
through the process, um, there’s a couple of different 01:25:50.734 --> 01:25:54.867
facilities that are named after people, um, in our park system.
01:25:54.867 --> 01:25:57.567
One is Jason McCarthy Field, which is a baseball field over
01:25:57.567 --> 01:26:01.467
at Zane Sports Park, um, another is the, uh, Todd 01:26:01.467 --> 01:26:04.567
Anderson wheelchair softball field up at Northwoods Park.
01:26:04.567 --> 01:26:08.834
Couple of examples, obviously we have other examples of uh of
01:26:08.834 --> 01:26:13.300
parks that have been named, um, after the the Temans, um, the 01:26:13.300 --> 01:26:20.100
items, etc. etc. throughout the uh throughout the years. Um, 01:26:20.100 --> 01:26:23.266
the request and the way the process works, um, if someone’s
01:26:23.266 --> 01:26:26.000
interested in that, they request and uh submit the
01:26:26.000 --> 01:26:29.834
justification, uh, to myself, um, the recreation parks
01:26:29.834 --> 01:26:33.367
director, which then in turn take, I take it to the 01:26:33.367 --> 01:26:37.100
recreation and Parks Advisory Commission or ARPAC, which
01:26:37.100 --> 01:26:39.867
Commissioner Uloth or vice chair Uloth, I should say, is
01:26:39.867 --> 01:26:44.033
in attendance tonight, um, at that point, our, our PAC will 01:26:44.033 --> 01:26:46.800
consider the proposal and review it, make a determination
01:26:46.800 --> 01:26:51.000
on the criteria I’ve mentioned previously. Um, with really 3 01:26:51.000 --> 01:26:54.867
outcomes to recommend, um, moving it forward to city
01:26:54.867 --> 01:26:59.567
council to accept the proposed name change, um, to not accept
01:26:59.567 --> 01:27:01.367
the proposed name change and, and not recommend it move 01:27:01.367 --> 01:27:07.033
forward. Or to conduct further community engagement, um, prior
01:27:07.033 --> 01:27:12.467
to making any decision, so. Um, so those are, uh, just kind of 01:27:12.467 --> 01:27:15.567
high level overview. Again, these are the, the things I
01:27:15.567 --> 01:27:18.800
mentioned at the beginning here where, um, ideas that have been
01:27:18.800 --> 01:27:23.367
brought forth, staff, um, has also had some conversations 01:27:23.367 --> 01:27:26.467
about uh potential ways to honor the Hartmans, but, um, we
01:27:26.467 --> 01:27:31.734
really believe that, uh, as a, you know, um, kind of organic 01:27:31.734 --> 01:27:34.233
community um engagement piece that this comes forward from
01:27:34.233 --> 01:27:38.533
the, the residents and uh. We are seeking the, uh, you know,
01:27:38.533 --> 01:27:40.767
any questions, I’m happy to answer any questions that city 01:27:40.767 --> 01:27:44.867
council may have about the uh the memorial bench and memorial
01:27:44.867 --> 01:27:49.300
tree programs or the naming policy, and then any uh input
01:27:49.300 --> 01:27:54.500
or feedback, um, that council has in, uh, in recognizing the 01:27:54.500 --> 01:27:56.634
uh Mark and Melissa Hartman.
01:27:56.634 --> 01:28:05.233
With that, I will, uh, Happy to answer any questions. 01:28:05.233 --> 01:28:13.233
Councilman Thank you. I still haven’t figured out the buttons. 01:28:13.233 --> 01:28:16.734
I’m working on that. Thank you very much. Appreciate the
01:28:16.734 --> 01:28:22.300
information. Um, I just have a little discussion point of um 01:28:22.300 --> 01:28:25.000
Absolutely from the very beginning, I think her family
01:28:25.000 --> 01:28:28.734
should be involved in all of the options from the start. Um,
01:28:28.734 --> 01:28:34.033
so that would be one of my um opinions and then second, I 01:28:34.033 --> 01:28:37.233
think it’s the perfect opportunity because this is a
01:28:37.233 --> 01:28:39.900
state. I mean, it’s all over the state. It’s just, it’s not
01:28:39.900 --> 01:28:42.767
just in Brooklyn Park and Champlain and, and the areas, 01:28:42.767 --> 01:28:48.533
um, that she served lived, um, it’s, it’s all over the state
01:28:48.533 --> 01:28:52.233
and all over the country. And so I think there’s an 01:28:52.233 --> 01:28:56.467
opportunity um to pull all of those resources together, and I
01:28:56.467 --> 01:29:01.300
think she would love. A basketball court or 4 of them 01:29:01.300 --> 01:29:06.100
or 6 of them with a large tree-lined area that’s, that is
01:29:06.100 --> 01:29:10.900
when I spoke with her before 5 weeks before the tragedy, all 01:29:10.900 --> 01:29:14.100
she wanted to talk about was the trees going down 85th
01:29:14.100 --> 01:29:17.300
Avenue, and every time I drive down there, I think of her
01:29:17.300 --> 01:29:21.634
because she really loved those trees, so I think there’s an 01:29:21.634 --> 01:29:24.266
opportunity here to do good in our community, do great by her
01:29:24.266 --> 01:29:28.000
family, and then do great by her. So, um, I would love to
01:29:28.000 --> 01:29:32.233
look. at those options to pool. 01:29:32.233 --> 01:29:35.667
The state’s resources to do something. Powerful and
01:29:35.667 --> 01:29:39.867
memorable. For her and the city that she served in and lived in.
01:29:39.867 --> 01:29:55.266
Thank you. Council member McGarry. Thank you, Mayor Pro 01:29:55.266 --> 01:29:58.500
Tem. And Director Tolbert, what is the timeline on this? What,
01:29:58.500 --> 01:30:04.900
what? What are we looking at as far as when a decision Should 01:30:04.900 --> 01:30:09.767
be made or needs to be made. Uh, Mayor Pro Tem, Councilor
01:30:09.767 --> 01:30:12.834
McGarvey, members of the council, um, I, I would think 01:30:12.834 --> 01:30:15.934
sooner, um, as we start moving through this process,
01:30:15.934 --> 01:30:19.734
connecting with the family, kind of start to walk through,
01:30:19.734 --> 01:30:25.000
um, what they’re, um, Priority, you know, outcome or 01:30:25.000 --> 01:30:29.300
recognition would be, um, I do think that, um, we want to be
01:30:29.300 --> 01:30:32.133
Mindful of all the different areas and different ways that 01:30:32.133 --> 01:30:36.734
they may be honored, so I think it, it’s, uh, you know, again,
01:30:36.734 --> 01:30:38.934
kind of getting counsels um before staff goes running off
01:30:38.934 --> 01:30:42.266
in in a certain direction to have councils input and 01:30:42.266 --> 01:30:45.367
feedback is kind of that step, and then, um, moving on and,
01:30:45.367 --> 01:30:50.100
and kind of Workshopping some of these ideas, um, with the 01:30:50.100 --> 01:30:53.834
family to, to find out um what their preference would be.
01:30:53.834 --> 01:31:01.367
Thank you. And if I may, and just um feedback. My 01:31:01.367 --> 01:31:09.367
perspective, uh, as it is. In my opinion, the most visible.
01:31:09.367 --> 01:31:13.734
Structure or or a facility in the city, the the community 01:31:13.734 --> 01:31:17.567
activity center, I would be in favor of renaming it regardless
01:31:17.567 --> 01:31:22.166
whether there was an aquatic center or gym gymnasium space 01:31:22.166 --> 01:31:28.000
or even any changes whatsoever, renaming the CAC. The Hortman
01:31:28.000 --> 01:31:34.467
Community Activity Center. Um Because If you’re in this city, 01:31:34.467 --> 01:31:38.634
you know where that’s at pretty much, how, you know, trunk or
01:31:38.634 --> 01:31:43.000
treat takes place right there or right near there, uh. How 01:31:43.000 --> 01:31:45.634
many countless hockey tournaments take place there
01:31:45.634 --> 01:31:48.934
and hopefully someday basketball tournaments. Um, but
01:31:48.934 --> 01:31:53.834
I just believe that’s one of the most visible. Uh, locations 01:31:53.834 --> 01:31:58.200
in our city, and I believe that’s The space that should
01:31:58.200 --> 01:32:02.233
bear that name, and that that’s my opinion. Again, I, I 100% 01:32:02.233 --> 01:32:05.900
agree with council member Page, the family needs to be involved
01:32:05.900 --> 01:32:12.900
from the get-go. Um But as I said to, to city manager 01:32:12.900 --> 01:32:16.200
Strobel this afternoon we were talking about this. I love the
01:32:16.200 --> 01:32:22.000
idea of some. Young Some junior high or high school student 01:32:22.000 --> 01:32:26.500
riding a bike up to the Hortman Community Activity Center, 20
01:32:26.500 --> 01:32:29.467
years from now and going, who are the Hortmans and then end
01:32:29.467 --> 01:32:32.634
up doing a paper on it, you know, having to look up the 01:32:32.634 --> 01:32:35.467
history, you know, that’ll happen only every once, once
01:32:35.467 --> 01:32:40.100
every 5 years or so, but that’s enough for me. History Once it 01:32:40.100 --> 01:32:44.500
happens, takes a long time to be forgotten if a few people
01:32:44.500 --> 01:32:47.567
are encouraged to remember it, which is why we have memorials.
01:32:47.567 --> 01:32:49.800
That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it. Thank you.
01:32:49.800 --> 01:33:05.166
Thank you. I, I think I agree with. My colleagues that Having 01:33:05.166 --> 01:33:09.533
the family involved. Early and often in this process is the
01:33:09.533 --> 01:33:15.367
most important part. Um, and if the family felt like the naming 01:33:15.367 --> 01:33:20.166
the CAC after them was. A way that they would want to honor 01:33:20.166 --> 01:33:26.300
their parents and their loved ones that. totally in favor of
01:33:26.300 --> 01:33:33.200
that. Um. I think that Speaker Hartmann would get a kick out 01:33:33.200 --> 01:33:36.800
of us going to the state and asking for funding for the
01:33:36.800 --> 01:33:39.400
Hortman Memorial Community Activity Center and getting it,
01:33:39.400 --> 01:33:43.667
I think that. There would be no end of amusement in that for 01:33:43.667 --> 01:33:51.166
her, but um. But yeah, I think unless the family’s on board, I 01:33:51.166 --> 01:34:06.233
would not wanna. Proceed down that road. Thank you. Does that 01:34:06.233 --> 01:34:10.033
get you what you need on this one. Yeah, if that’s, uh, the 01:34:10.033 --> 01:34:12.500
input, that’s, uh, we’re getting loud and clear. I think,
01:34:12.500 --> 01:34:21.200
uh, we’ve heard that, so. Thank you. All right. And the last 01:34:21.200 --> 01:34:42.367
discussion I was the resident survey. in the A pro tem 01:34:42.367 --> 01:34:46.667
council member Zach Granco Department of Administration.
01:34:46.667 --> 01:34:49.233
Last discussion item here.
01:34:49.233 --> 01:34:56.233
Sorry, just a moment. We just lost our quorum. Absolutely. 01:34:56.233 --> 01:35:09.567
Our quorum is returning. Our quorum was hungry. apology. 01:35:09.567 --> 01:35:15.467
You’re all, you’re all good. Um, Mayor Prote Erikson consumer at 01:35:15.467 --> 01:35:17.634
Kramka Department administration, our last
01:35:17.634 --> 01:35:19.767
discussion item is our uh.
01:35:19.767 --> 01:35:24.033
Resident survey, which will run through some background here 01:35:24.033 --> 01:35:27.767
and uh uh general timeline and then hopefully get some
01:35:27.767 --> 01:35:31.533
feedback on some potential topics to include as we engage 01:35:31.533 --> 01:35:34.734
with our residents in this way.
01:35:34.734 --> 01:35:38.166
Um, so the city has a long history of working with more
01:35:38.166 --> 01:35:44.834
leatherman Company. Uh, to, uh, Survey our residents on our 01:35:44.834 --> 01:35:48.800
behalf, and this is, uh, I just like to point out that Morris
01:35:48.800 --> 01:35:51.233
Leatherman has not only a strong history in Brooklyn Park, 01:35:51.233 --> 01:35:56.000
but across the Upper Midwest, um, to provide this service so
01:35:56.000 --> 01:35:59.467
they’re um very well respected in this area. We do it every
01:35:59.467 --> 01:36:03.734
other year, um, every odd year, and so that’s where we are in 01:36:03.734 --> 01:36:08.367
2025. Uh, really these results that we received from the
01:36:08.367 --> 01:36:12.100
survey are critical tool to get representative feedback from 01:36:12.100 --> 01:36:15.867
the community. Um, this is our, our one shot every 2 years to
01:36:15.867 --> 01:36:20.100
do that, um, related to the services we provide and the 01:36:20.100 --> 01:36:24.300
amenities we uh develop and provide as well. Um, generally
01:36:24.300 --> 01:36:28.634
we do like to see consistency from year to year because then
01:36:28.634 --> 01:36:32.467
it allows us to make comparisons over time, um, but 01:36:32.467 --> 01:36:37.100
within that there’s still space to ah make adjustments each
01:36:37.100 --> 01:36:43.567
round, um, for new topics as they arise. Um, in Brooklyn 01:36:43.567 --> 01:36:47.667
Park we sample about we sample 800 randomly selected people,
01:36:47.667 --> 01:36:52.200
and this is a representative sample across the community, uh, 01:36:52.200 --> 01:36:55.467
most cities sample half that, but, um, you know, our larger
01:36:55.467 --> 01:36:59.100
sample allows us to have a tighter margin of error and
01:36:59.100 --> 01:37:03.367
make a really meaningful demographic comparisons, uh, 01:37:03.367 --> 01:37:05.634
there’s up to 135 questions, that’s how much, how many, how
01:37:05.634 --> 01:37:07.634
many questions we did in 2023.
01:37:07.634 --> 01:37:11.367
Um There’s a phone call methodology and it takes about 01:37:11.367 --> 01:37:17.734
3 weeks to gather the data. Um, so in the month of July here,
01:37:17.734 --> 01:37:20.467
we’ve spent time uh on the staff side of things, 01:37:20.467 --> 01:37:22.834
brainstorming how we’d like to approach this, but then also
01:37:22.834 --> 01:37:26.834
here tonight we. Talking with you all cause you have a
01:37:26.834 --> 01:37:31.100
critical opportunity to provide your input as well, um, and the 01:37:31.100 --> 01:37:34.500
survey will be conducted likely in September and then, um, our
01:37:34.500 --> 01:37:40.734
vendor will come back to report the results later this fall. Um, 01:37:40.734 --> 01:37:43.467
so as I mentioned before, you know, we do like to have
01:37:43.467 --> 01:37:47.266
consistency, but, um, you know, each, each round of surveying
01:37:47.266 --> 01:37:52.467
we really do have an opportunity to um ask questions 01:37:52.467 --> 01:37:55.634
that can hopefully inform policymaking, uh, for the
01:37:55.634 --> 01:38:02.100
council. So in 2023, um, there are questions as an example 01:38:02.100 --> 01:38:05.367
regarding uh willingness to pay for water softening or central
01:38:05.367 --> 01:38:08.033
fire station. Um, there are some other policy questions as
01:38:08.033 --> 01:38:11.233
well. Um, as we went around to different departments. Um, I 01:38:11.233 --> 01:38:18.100
just threw up a few ideas that were generated, um, as far as
01:38:18.100 --> 01:38:22.900
potential options for 2025, so, um, even tonight, uh, you heard 01:38:22.900 --> 01:38:25.567
about our community activity center needs, but there’s a
01:38:25.567 --> 01:38:30.400
whole host of uh amenities and needs, facility needs that, 01:38:30.400 --> 01:38:35.166
that you are wrestling with as a counsel, so one of the ideas
01:38:35.166 --> 01:38:40.500
is to um provide a list of Uh, potential amenities, I’ll call 01:38:40.500 --> 01:38:44.867
them and ask people to rank which ones are more the most
01:38:44.867 --> 01:38:49.567
important to them, um, that could be helpful in the context
01:38:49.567 --> 01:38:52.300
as US council members wrestle with the timing of a lot of 01:38:52.300 --> 01:38:56.533
these investments, um, what, what should come first, what,
01:38:56.533 --> 01:38:58.834
uh, should be prioritized versus what is less of a need
01:38:58.834 --> 01:39:02.000
moving forward. And then there’s also dollars tied to 01:39:02.000 --> 01:39:07.867
that, so, um, You know, As I said before, we’ve asked
01:39:07.867 --> 01:39:11.834
related to the fire station, but, um, again, there’s always 01:39:11.834 --> 01:39:14.634
these capital needs, so how much are people willing to pay
01:39:14.634 --> 01:39:19.634
to help finance them. A waste container storage is a common
01:39:19.634 --> 01:39:24.300
topic that’s uh been wrestled with. Uh, by previous councils. 01:39:24.300 --> 01:39:27.500
And then uh transit needs. What we’re getting at there is we
01:39:27.500 --> 01:39:31.000
have uh two pretty big Uh public works projects coming 01:39:31.000 --> 01:39:37.667
into town. And um we know that um, People have last mile
01:39:37.667 --> 01:39:41.467
transit needs is kind of the, the buzzwords, so, uh, if we 01:39:41.467 --> 01:39:46.734
are gonna have folks. Utilize the investments to their
01:39:46.734 --> 01:39:51.467
fullest extent, um, what additional uh connectivity is 01:39:51.467 --> 01:39:54.233
needed in our community to drive people to the nodes of
01:39:54.233 --> 01:39:57.400
transit is how I would explain that. And then, uh, animal
01:39:57.400 --> 01:40:01.033
control has been a hot topic, um, so, uh, there’s been a lot 01:40:01.033 --> 01:40:07.000
of Talk in this area related to uh facility needs, but also how
01:40:07.000 --> 01:40:11.266
do we approach uh enforcement in our community. Um, so again, 01:40:11.266 --> 01:40:14.467
those were just some staff ideas, but really the purpose
01:40:14.467 --> 01:40:19.367
of tonight is to um hear from you all to Uh, get your input
01:40:19.367 --> 01:40:23.634
and I wouldn’t, if I were in your shoes, don’t worry about 01:40:23.634 --> 01:40:26.867
wordsmithing specific questions, think about bigger topics and
01:40:26.867 --> 01:40:32.500
then, uh, we as staff with our survey vendor can then zero in 01:40:32.500 --> 01:40:38.000
on how to ask the questions. So with that, happy to Answer any
01:40:38.000 --> 01:40:48.033
questions or get your feedback. 01:40:48.033 --> 01:40:50.200
Thank you, Mayor approach him. 01:40:50.200 --> 01:40:52.300
and thank you for that report.
01:40:52.300 --> 01:40:59.300
Mr. Crumka Um, just quickly, uh, a logistical question. How do
01:40:59.300 --> 01:41:02.533
we know animal control enforcement is a hot hot topic, 01:41:02.533 --> 01:41:05.467
aside from the fact that we’ve been discussing pops for a
01:41:05.467 --> 01:41:09.634
couple of weeks. Yeah, so the reason why I can tell you the
01:41:09.634 --> 01:41:12.367
reason why it’s on this list was this was staff level 01:41:12.367 --> 01:41:18.000
discussions. Um But you know this is really quality of life
01:41:18.000 --> 01:41:19.800
issue in the community. It’s kind of how I would frame it. I
01:41:19.800 --> 01:41:22.900
don’t know if she really has any comments he’d like to add, 01:41:22.900 --> 01:41:27.133
but uh the reason why it’s on the list was that staff staff
01:41:27.133 --> 01:41:31.300
internal. OK. OK, perfect. Like I said, logistical. Thank you. 01:41:31.300 --> 01:41:44.100
I mean more, but that was all for now. Thank you. My 01:41:44.100 --> 01:41:47.834
suggestion would be to broaden the waste container storage
01:41:47.834 --> 01:41:54.367
question to a more sort of comprehensive review of Like 01:41:54.367 --> 01:42:00.133
nonlife safety ordinances. So asking residents to. Rate the 01:42:00.133 --> 01:42:04.767
importance of Waste container storage versus commercial
01:42:04.767 --> 01:42:12.000
vehicles versus. Um Ugly bushes in front yards or whatever the 01:42:12.000 --> 01:42:19.567
thing is, um. To Get a sense of General importance to the
01:42:19.567 --> 01:42:26.300
community of the, the more nuisance sort of. Ordinances 01:42:26.300 --> 01:42:28.400
And how much effort the community wants us to spend
01:42:28.400 --> 01:42:57.400
enforcing them. Councilor McGarry. Thank you, Mayor Pro 01:42:57.400 --> 01:43:02.266
Tema. I will say it was refreshing actually, reading 01:43:02.266 --> 01:43:07.000
2023’s results again. And, and now after having been here, For
01:43:07.000 --> 01:43:12.367
a year plus. Um And seeing how things seemed to trickle, not 01:43:12.367 --> 01:43:16.634
trickle down, sometimes cascade down upon us, was really,
01:43:16.634 --> 01:43:20.233
really interesting to find out that only 12% of the people at 01:43:20.233 --> 01:43:23.467
that time pay attention to what goes on in Brooklyn Park on
01:43:23.467 --> 01:43:26.200
social media, and sometimes that seems like the whole world
01:43:26.200 --> 01:43:32.000
is caving in on social media, very refreshing. Um, and that 01:43:32.000 --> 01:43:36.367
the vast majority of people surveyed in 2023. We’re
01:43:36.367 --> 01:43:43.133
completely um. If not good, very good, or if not. I 01:43:43.133 --> 01:43:45.300
satisfied, very satisfied. I mean, of course, the higher
01:43:45.300 --> 01:43:49.533
number would be in the mid section, but you could
01:43:49.533 --> 01:43:51.734
technically say that most people are happy that they live 01:43:51.734 --> 01:43:57.567
here in Brooklyn Park, and that is not. Often evidenced on
01:43:57.567 --> 01:44:00.834
Social media, which I don’t even participate in myself. I 01:44:00.834 --> 01:44:05.100
get screenshots from other people. But so very, very
01:44:05.100 --> 01:44:09.100
refreshing. So thanks just for that, and I am interested to
01:44:09.100 --> 01:44:14.233
see if how much that changes and if that will change. In the 01:44:14.233 --> 01:44:17.934
2025 survey, but uh Again, very, very information. I’m glad we
01:44:17.934 --> 01:44:23.233
do this, so. Uh, mayor pro time Merrickson council member. 01:44:23.233 --> 01:44:27.000
McGarvey, I just point out too that um in the fall when the
01:44:27.000 --> 01:44:30.634
results are shared, not only will you see the results from 01:44:30.634 --> 01:44:33.900
Brooklyn Park, but, um, Mr.
01:44:33.900 --> 01:44:36.800
Leatherman will compare our results to neighboring
01:44:36.800 --> 01:44:41.000
communities, and you’ll really get a good, um, Opportunity to 01:44:41.000 --> 01:44:44.133
see that, you know, we are doing pretty well and in a lot
01:44:44.133 --> 01:44:47.800
of areas, kind of as you pointed out, but it’s not just,
01:44:47.800 --> 01:44:51.567
oh, I feel that we’re doing well, it’s actually comparing 01:44:51.567 --> 01:44:54.400
us to other cities they work with to really kind of validate
01:44:54.400 --> 01:45:02.300
that feeling. And if I could follow up, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. I 01:45:02.300 --> 01:45:08.634
do remember a time when the number of people surveyed was
01:45:08.634 --> 01:45:13.367
called into question. So I’m, I’m also happy that as how 01:45:13.367 --> 01:45:16.266
could it, how could it be an accurate survey if you didn’t
01:45:16.266 --> 01:45:21.467
ask every single person that lives in Brooklyn Park. I know 01:45:21.467 --> 01:45:24.100
pretty much how survey, the survey business works to some
01:45:24.100 --> 01:45:29.567
extent, and I do appreciate the fact as well that we do. Survey
01:45:29.567 --> 01:45:34.767
of twice as many as most. Most cities do for a survey like 01:45:34.767 --> 01:45:37.934
this. So again, thank you guys for this work. It’s, it’s good
01:45:37.934 --> 01:45:46.500
and I’m glad we do it. my page. 01:45:46.500 --> 01:45:50.900
Thank you, near prote, um. And thank you for sharing the 01:45:50.900 --> 01:45:55.734
information with us. I support Councilor McGarvey in regards
01:45:55.734 --> 01:46:01.500
to kind of the overachieving of it. I support. Much, much more 01:46:01.500 --> 01:46:04.767
than the minimum requirement, so I appreciate that. Um, I do
01:46:04.767 --> 01:46:10.734
want to ask, are you comparing the um retreat that we had, um, 01:46:10.734 --> 01:46:14.567
with the questions, do those match up, um, a couple things
01:46:14.567 --> 01:46:17.634
were specifically, you know, storytelling and, and what that
01:46:17.634 --> 01:46:20.934
looks like and what the opinions are on that as well as 01:46:20.934 --> 01:46:25.467
um Because we do have such good results from the survey, um,
01:46:25.467 --> 01:46:28.266
and that goal of ours for the narrative of Brooklyn Park, Juw
01:46:28.266 --> 01:46:33.033
of the North, all of that. Do you compare that list and add 01:46:33.033 --> 01:46:36.667
with those questions that you’re doing. Yeah, may
01:46:36.667 --> 01:46:39.300
approach to Americans and council member page, um, I know
01:46:39.300 --> 01:46:42.567
that, uh, we’re gonna have a work session that has now 01:46:42.567 --> 01:46:45.867
gotten moved to September, kind of getting at that topic, but
01:46:45.867 --> 01:46:50.033
uh these numbers were going to be a component of that 01:46:50.033 --> 01:46:53.266
conversation is my understanding, um, and, uh, I,
01:46:53.266 --> 01:46:55.900
I also wanna is isn’t totally your question, but I want to
01:46:55.900 --> 01:46:59.734
point out that when we were gathering input for the jewel
01:46:59.734 --> 01:47:04.533
of the North plan, uh, last year it was really, um, I, I, 01:47:04.533 --> 01:47:10.000
I’ll say gratifying to see the alignment. Between the resident 01:47:10.000 --> 01:47:13.033
survey from 2023 to then what we heard residents talking
01:47:13.033 --> 01:47:16.800
about, uh, what was important to them a year later. Um, and
01:47:16.800 --> 01:47:20.367
so, you know, it’ll be very fascinating to then again, you 01:47:20.367 --> 01:47:25.500
know, look in 2025 to see where there’s congruent and then also
01:47:25.500 --> 01:47:45.567
where things may have shifted a little bit. I can’t be done. I 01:47:45.567 --> 01:47:49.867
just can’t be done. Um, so then do, could we go a little bit?
01:47:49.867 --> 01:47:51.734
I’m going to use words of someone who’s helping me out a 01:47:51.734 --> 01:47:56.300
little bit, but Organizing my thoughts, um, go a little bit
01:47:56.300 --> 01:48:01.900
deeper in community pride. For questions. That pertain to that. 01:48:01.900 --> 01:48:10.834
Thank you. It’s a great topic. 01:48:10.834 --> 01:48:15.000
One of the things we do ask is, would you recommend to others
01:48:15.000 --> 01:48:17.934
living in Brooklyn Park, which is one of my favorite questions,
01:48:17.934 --> 01:48:21.567
but there’s a lot more we can dig into on that topic for sure. 01:48:21.567 --> 01:48:30.000
When do these questions need to be finalized. Um, Morro to 01:48:30.000 --> 01:48:34.767
Merrick and consumer, so we’ll, uh. be drafting in the month of
01:48:34.767 --> 01:48:37.400
August and then be back in front of the council later in
01:48:37.400 --> 01:48:42.300
the fall. Um, is, is my understanding. OK, so the final. 01:48:42.300 --> 01:48:45.900
View on the survey questions.
01:48:45.900 --> 01:48:54.000
creep. If we have suggestions that Papadoor had later, just 01:48:54.000 --> 01:48:57.467
email them to you. Yeah, that would work great. OK. Thank you.
01:48:57.467 --> 01:49:13.734
Any further questions? Seeing none. Thank you, Mr. Kramer. Um 01:49:13.734 --> 01:49:20.634
Verbal reports from council members. Councilor McGarvey. 01:49:20.634 --> 01:49:25.533
Thank you, mayor pro tem. I Speaking of thank you, I have
01:49:25.533 --> 01:49:29.300
several thank yous I need to get out here this evening. Uh,
01:49:29.300 --> 01:49:33.467
first of all, first and foremost, thank you to. The 01:49:33.467 --> 01:49:38.367
city staff, specifically Cindy Devenish and her entire team,
01:49:38.367 --> 01:49:42.634
Shay, Chris, and Cynthia and those, uh, I know there’s 01:49:42.634 --> 01:49:44.367
somebody I’m forgetting, shouldn’t have done that. But
01:49:44.367 --> 01:49:50.567
um, For all their hard work in, in, uh, putting together a 01:49:50.567 --> 01:49:53.166
great West District town hall last Tuesday night, and, and
01:49:53.166 --> 01:49:57.367
thanks to all the senior staff that was there to answer
01:49:57.367 --> 01:50:00.634
questions by those in attendance and finally, Thanks 01:50:00.634 --> 01:50:03.300
to all of the, the, the residents of the West District,
01:50:03.300 --> 01:50:09.400
including Our PAC commissioner Joshua Uoff for attending and
01:50:09.400 --> 01:50:14.500
having great questions. That’s one. Uh, secondly, over the 01:50:14.500 --> 01:50:19.400
weekend, I attended a couple of events, so I want to say thank
01:50:19.400 --> 01:50:25.100
you for gracious, um, recognition and acceptance at 01:50:25.100 --> 01:50:28.900
the Liberian independence Day parade, first ever Liberian
01:50:28.900 --> 01:50:32.634
Independence Day parade in Minnesota in the event 01:50:32.634 --> 01:50:37.467
afterwards where Lieutenant Governor. Peggy Flanagan read a
01:50:37.467 --> 01:50:41.166
proclamation from Governor Walls proclaiming it Liberian 01:50:41.166 --> 01:50:49.233
Independence Day in Minnesota, July 26th. Uh, and then, Back
01:50:49.233 --> 01:50:54.500
in the mid-seventies, Ed and Annalisa Wagner opened their 01:50:54.500 --> 01:50:59.934
first drive-in in Saint Louis Park. And then in 1988 opened a
01:50:59.934 --> 01:51:03.634
second location here in Brooklyn Park, which their sons, 01:51:03.634 --> 01:51:07.367
Jim and Ralph continued to run to this day, and they
01:51:07.367 --> 01:51:10.667
celebrated 50 years of serving the West Metro at their 01:51:10.667 --> 01:51:13.567
Brooklyn Park location, which I believe is the only location
01:51:13.567 --> 01:51:17.533
left, uh. On Saturday, they had a band, they had treats for the
01:51:17.533 --> 01:51:22.300
kids. They had, they had bouncy houses and games and I just 01:51:22.300 --> 01:51:26.200
thank them for their support of our community here, being in
01:51:26.200 --> 01:51:31.900
that one spot since 1988. Um And then finally in my remarks 01:51:31.900 --> 01:51:34.734
last week, I promised it would be my last mention of the
01:51:34.734 --> 01:51:40.467
national wheelchair games, it will not be, um, The 01:51:40.467 --> 01:51:42.567
forty-fourth national wheelchair Games held their
01:51:42.567 --> 01:51:47.900
bowling at Bowlero in Brooklyn Park, and I failed to recognize
01:51:47.900 --> 01:51:52.166
Ballero operations manager Jim her son and his team who were 01:51:52.166 --> 01:51:57.533
there at a bowling alley. At 6 a.m. each day when I arrived,
01:51:57.533 --> 01:52:01.000
so they were there before me getting this thing ready for 01:52:01.000 --> 01:52:05.567
this event, and I just, I really appreciate them for that
01:52:05.567 --> 01:52:07.734
and wanted to make that clear.
01:52:07.734 --> 01:52:15.300
So thanks everybody. Right out Thank you, Grandpa. Uh, 01:52:15.300 --> 01:52:22.800
Councilman Jean. Thank you. Um, Oh, I can’t remember McGarvey 01:52:22.800 --> 01:52:26.367
basically took like half of my speech, but I also wanted to
01:52:26.367 --> 01:52:31.500
say thank you to all of the staff and the um directors for 01:52:31.500 --> 01:52:34.634
um, being present at the town halls and putting them together
01:52:34.634 --> 01:52:38.634
for um all of our districts, um, and especially thank you to the
01:52:38.634 --> 01:52:41.900
residents as well too for coming and engaging with us and 01:52:41.900 --> 01:52:45.033
asking your questions. Um, a highlight from the East
01:52:45.033 --> 01:52:49.166
District town hall. I really wanted to share was I had a
01:52:49.166 --> 01:52:53.100
resident come up and ask me what goes on at River Park, uh, 01:52:53.100 --> 01:52:57.834
because they saw a huge amount of youth and like 5 volleyball
01:52:57.834 --> 01:53:00.467
nets up there and they were really interested in what was 01:53:00.467 --> 01:53:02.900
going on, um, and so I really wanted to just share that we
01:53:02.900 --> 01:53:06.867
have a lot of youth and young adults here in Brooklyn Park
01:53:06.867 --> 01:53:12.367
who love playing sports, um, and one of the really popular 01:53:12.367 --> 01:53:16.000
sports is volleyball. And so this past weekend, if you are
01:53:16.000 --> 01:53:19.400
wondering what I was doing, which I’m pretty sure you’re
01:53:19.400 --> 01:53:20.533
not wondering. I was in Walsall. 01:53:20.533 --> 01:53:28.233
For a tournament, um, to watch our youth from Brooklyn Park,
01:53:28.233 --> 01:53:32.000
who hosts those tournaments. A lot of the times here in our 01:53:32.000 --> 01:53:36.200
city, and they host those tournaments as a fundraiser to
01:53:36.200 --> 01:53:39.467
travel around the country to play in these tournaments. And
01:53:39.467 --> 01:53:43.133
so, um, I was actually really delighted that I got the 01:53:43.133 --> 01:53:46.867
opportunity to share that with this resident, um, and I just
01:53:46.867 --> 01:53:52.266
want to say, um, that our city council supports our youth in 01:53:52.266 --> 01:53:56.100
engaging in um investing in their hobbies and their
01:53:56.100 --> 01:53:59.567
interests, and I really want us to continue supporting that in
01:53:59.567 --> 01:54:06.367
more. reason one, and so just a shout out to um Their name is 01:54:06.367 --> 01:54:07.767
Chaos. Their team name is Chaos.
01:54:07.767 --> 01:54:11.634
They’re the ones who hosted the tournament, and they were the 01:54:11.634 --> 01:54:14.734
ones who went to Walsa and we went to go watch, and so shout
01:54:14.734 --> 01:54:17.867
out to Chaos for hosting the tournament at River Park. You
01:54:17.867 --> 01:54:20.734
guys are doing great and great job this past weekend as well 01:54:20.734 --> 01:54:27.533
too, and may y’all go far in your volleyball journey. Thank
01:54:27.533 --> 01:54:34.400
you, Councilman Brian Shelley. 01:54:34.400 --> 01:54:37.634
got to get it right. One of these days. Thank you so much,
01:54:37.634 --> 01:54:40.767
Mayor Protem. Um, so kind of the same thing, but a little 01:54:40.767 --> 01:54:44.100
bit different. I did want to thank Brooklyn Center for their
01:54:44.100 --> 01:54:48.467
mutual support of the Liberian Independence Day. My neighbors
01:54:48.467 --> 01:54:51.533
had the best time ever. Um, I was out of town, so I was not 01:54:51.533 --> 01:54:56.500
there, but they had a great time and it was Very, very
01:54:56.500 --> 01:55:01.133
festive. I was a little, had a little FOMO there, so, um, I 01:55:01.133 --> 01:55:05.533
also want to support one of our comments earlier for the annual
01:55:05.533 --> 01:55:11.300
events and making those annual events. A proactivity is a 01:55:11.300 --> 01:55:15.533
dream of mine, and I’m hoping that we can get those dates
01:55:15.533 --> 01:55:19.266
sooner than later for the cleanups and the town halls and
01:55:19.266 --> 01:55:23.533
maybe compress those um events so we can just get more, um, 01:55:23.533 --> 01:55:26.200
More time to talk with our residents and spend time with
01:55:26.200 --> 01:55:31.567
our residents, um, and less Of all the The paperwork and the, 01:55:31.567 --> 01:55:37.934
the everything, every single director, um, community
01:55:37.934 --> 01:55:40.100
engagement was involved in all of these events for the last 01:55:40.100 --> 01:55:42.867
couple of weeks. We’re playing catch up in many different ways.
01:55:42.867 --> 01:55:48.634
So I want to express my thanks for that. We see it, um. And
01:55:48.634 --> 01:55:52.900
again, the city, they, they take their job seriously. 01:55:52.900 --> 01:55:56.800
There’s just so much effort for me, you could probably simplify
01:55:56.800 --> 01:55:59.867
it for me. I like a little meal or something like that. ahead
01:55:59.867 --> 01:56:04.100
of time, but we don’t have to have full meals and full treats 01:56:04.100 --> 01:56:06.800
and all of that and tchotchkes and everything. So I just
01:56:06.800 --> 01:56:11.800
wanted to mention that um I appreciated all that extra 01:56:11.800 --> 01:56:16.000
effort and it, it just was above and beyond, so I’m not
01:56:16.000 --> 01:56:18.100
naming everyone because if I leave someone out, I’ll feel
01:56:18.100 --> 01:56:21.266
really bad about that. Um, but the last thing I’m gonna say is 01:56:21.266 --> 01:56:27.100
I was at two of the 3 cleanups, and I have to say I literally
01:56:27.100 --> 01:56:30.800
walk around these parks, and I just think we’re so lucky. So 01:56:30.800 --> 01:56:33.133
at some point, I would love to see, I’m sure you guys have
01:56:33.133 --> 01:56:36.200
done it, but if there’s like a bingo card or something that we
01:56:36.200 --> 01:56:39.800
can do for our residents who see every single park or go to
01:56:39.800 --> 01:56:44.133
every single park or something like that. I just think we 01:56:44.133 --> 01:56:46.800
forget how beautiful our city is when we’re in here or we’re
01:56:46.800 --> 01:56:48.800
in our meetings or we’re working from home or going to
01:56:48.800 --> 01:56:52.667
work. Um, and it, we truly are blessed with all the perk 01:56:52.667 --> 01:56:57.467
systems, um, and the green spaces in um Brooklyn Park, so.
01:56:57.467 --> 01:57:09.266
That is all. I will go last. I also wanted to think. Staff and 01:57:09.266 --> 01:57:11.500
residents for their participation in the East 01:57:11.500 --> 01:57:17.800
District Town Hall. Um, Several residents commented that night.
01:57:17.800 --> 01:57:23.400
How Gifted our staff is and teaching their work to 01:57:23.400 --> 01:57:28.133
residents. Um, a lot of people were there and some of the
01:57:28.133 --> 01:57:30.133
topics, especially in Northwest Development area can be 01:57:30.133 --> 01:57:36.033
confusing. Um, and numerous people commented that the staff
01:57:36.033 --> 01:57:40.367
was present was was really gifted at communicating what’s 01:57:40.367 --> 01:57:44.634
going on. So thank you to staff for sharing that with our
01:57:44.634 --> 01:57:51.467
residents. Um, I also was struck by the Liberian 01:57:51.467 --> 01:57:56.200
Independence Day festivities, I arrived at the Brooklyn Center
01:57:56.200 --> 01:58:00.533
event at about 3:30. It was scheduled to go until 7, just 01:58:00.533 --> 01:58:04.800
about the time that I got there, I Brooklyn Center had
01:58:04.800 --> 01:58:06.934
apparently ordered it closed because it had gotten too
01:58:06.934 --> 01:58:10.233
crowded. They were concerned about safety, I believe. Um, so 01:58:10.233 --> 01:58:12.800
I was showing up and everyone was walking out. I hope it
01:58:12.800 --> 01:58:17.734
wasn’t just me that arrived and everyone left. Um And then the
01:58:17.734 --> 01:58:21.367
event at Park Center also reached capacity and the city 01:58:21.367 --> 01:58:25.100
had to order it closed, um.
01:58:25.100 --> 01:58:31.000
This event is. Incredibly vibrant celebration of one of 01:58:31.000 --> 01:58:33.667
our largest communities, and I would love to see our city
01:58:33.667 --> 01:58:37.367
invest some time and energy and supporting them logistically to
01:58:37.367 --> 01:58:44.266
make the event more. I would hate to see the event shut down 01:58:44.266 --> 01:58:46.934
because it’s too successful. So if there’s anything in the city
01:58:46.934 --> 01:58:48.100
of Brooklyn Park can do to help.
01:58:48.100 --> 01:58:54.867
Logistically, if the organizers want it. Um, whether it’s Space 01:58:54.867 --> 01:59:02.567
or Um, Just nothing breeds success like success, and I 01:59:02.567 --> 01:59:05.834
think it’s in the city’s best interest for Liberian
01:59:05.834 --> 01:59:08.367
independence Day to be successful. So I’d love to see
01:59:08.367 --> 01:59:12.734
us participate in helping them do that. So that’s all I will 01:59:12.734 --> 01:59:18.000
say about that, um, city manager’s job. Uh, Mayor Pro
01:59:18.000 --> 01:59:20.634
Tem, Eric some members of council, um, I just want to 01:59:20.634 --> 01:59:23.266
thank the city council and for the community coming out and
01:59:23.266 --> 01:59:27.533
all the staff work around the town halls. Um, I know a lot of
01:59:27.533 --> 01:59:30.133
effort put goes into it by a number of different folks 01:59:30.133 --> 01:59:34.000
involved. And I think at the end, each of, each of them had
01:59:34.000 --> 01:59:36.634
their own flavor and it was really um nice to see sort of
01:59:36.634 --> 01:59:40.500
the, the differences among those and sort of how on the 01:59:40.500 --> 01:59:44.100
captured, um, You know, the different districts and excited
01:59:44.100 --> 01:59:46.233
about what we can do next year.
01:59:46.233 --> 01:59:49.567
Um, so it was one thing. Second thing was, as was mentioned
01:59:49.567 --> 01:59:52.734
earlier in the previous proclamation, um, but just, uh, 01:59:52.734 --> 01:59:55.266
National Night Out is coming out soon and it’s one of those
01:59:55.266 --> 01:59:58.000
areas where Brooklyn Park always shines. You know, we won
01:59:58.000 --> 02:00:02.934
last year as the most parties for a city of our population 02:00:02.934 --> 02:00:06.033
and our population group, so to speak, and hopefully uh we
02:00:06.033 --> 02:00:10.367
we’ll come in number one again and um. If the council hasn’t 02:00:10.367 --> 02:00:13.667
already, uh, you know, uh organizer from the police
02:00:13.667 --> 02:00:16.634
department will likely be reaching out shortly, so, um.
02:00:16.634 --> 02:00:19.500
You got to pick your side whether you’re police or fire,
02:00:19.500 --> 02:00:27.367
um, so. Be cautious about which, which way you go. Thank you. Or 02:00:27.367 --> 02:00:37.533
reckon Parker on. Also Can I go with the finance team? Yeah, 02:00:37.533 --> 02:00:46.467
yeah. I’m gonna wear a shakes. 02:00:46.467 --> 02:00:50.467
OK, I think we’ve reached the end of our agenda, um, meeting