They want to do away with single family homes and put in multi duplexes and apartment buildings. And let’s stack everybody in on top of each other. Single family homes is the American dream and the politicians want to take it away. Why don’t we get a home anymore? How about affordable housing for seniors that have lived in Plymouth all their lives? And now you’re pricing them out?

We’ve been exploring having a small event in 2026 that will be family oriented with food, games, music, exhibitors and who support the LGBTQ two plus community. We’ve received great amounts of encouragement and support from other organizers of pride events in the metro area, and decided that we will have a small event on October 10th.

I think the other thing that we need to always hold in equal weight is making sure we’re honoring and supporting our constitutional obligations and privileges and the rights of you guys and, and your citizens that you serve.

We believe the Plymouth uniquely positioned to help us to continue important work together can build a stronger, more connected with the Plymouth where the resident. And regardless of the background, feels the value to hear. It’s great to continue to support, ensure the Somali American constituents remain engaged. And celebrated within the city of Plymouth and also this event we do in our channel.

But what we were able to get this year is a bonding bill that included $5 million for the city of Plymouth, for a city center redevelopment.

So those home addresses will now the street addresses of candidates, donors, vendors, lobbyists, party units, etc. um, will be private.

I try to help my colleagues understand that while Plymouth is a community that does much good within its own boundaries, it is also a regional hub. And so that the expenses that are incurred sometimes help the entire region and grow the economic viability for the entire region. And for that reason, we are asking for those members who come into our community to also help share the cost of those amenities.

A big piece of legislation, uh, that took a great deal of work with many community partners. Was the police impersonation. Bill and I would like to thank the Police Chiefs Association and Yuichi Fadden for your work on that bill, and also for the rank and file, who were very supportive of that work that we did together to enhance the penalties for anyone who would impersonate a police officer and destroy the public trust.

Gun violence prevention is something I think the four of us really wanted to see happen. Specifically, um, action after the, uh, the, the murder of our colleague, the Annunciation School shooting, we were hoping to see action on high capacity magazines, on assault weapons that did not pass, even with a 48 hour sit in happening in the house.

I will tell you, nobody knows tax law better than Senator Rust. And it’s like all our legislatures are shaking their heads. Yeah, and I still remember being in front of the Senate Tax Committee and like getting a special tack testifying for a special tax TIF district. I tell you, like most of them don’t even know what a TIF district is and is like and knows everything about taxes.

I proclaim June 23rd, 2026 is an rest day in the city of Plymouth and recognize and honor her for more than 40 years of distinguished service in the Minnesota State Legislature, and extend the gratitude and appreciation of the Plymouth City Council and the residents of Plymouth for her enduring contributions to our community and our state.

She took. I can’t even say how many hours at breakfast one day to sit down and talk with me about this job, about her job, about the legislature, about all the things that had to do with politics starting at the local level, all the way up to the state level. And again, it wasn’t just her, but she was a big influence on Plymouth. And it was the happiest day when I got to be back into this Senate district and be part of the whole Plymouth.

As our role as the independent auditors, we’ve issued what is known as an unmodified or a clean opinion on the basic financial statements. So meaning that they’re fairly presented as of December 31st and the results for the year then ended are fairly stated with the information provided.

I want to just say a thank you to our staff for making it boring, because the lack of findings the, the, there’s the clear demonstration of the management of the city is it’s an honor to serve with staff that are so rigorous on keeping it simple.

You know, there’s only a handful of cities in the whole state that have AA bond ratings, and Plymouth has been one of those for a long, long, long time. We’ve been financially, financially. So well managed for so long. We have the lowest tax per capita of any of our peer cities.

This year, our residents walked 1.477 million times around that track, which equates to 184,695 miles. The commitment to walking in circles of this community cannot be understated.

One of the things I’m most proud of that we were able to accomplish this year, is with our scholarship program. We doubled the amount of money of funding that we put towards our scholarships for our residents who are at need, or who our programs are just a touch out of reach. One of the ways that we’ve done this this year is we started offering scholarships to our residents who are over 19.

I just want to commend the Parks and Recreation Department for their leadership, especially on things like adaptive programming. Uh, I mean, in the last few years, I’ve noticed a lot more of that, you know, from the silent disco or, you know, um, meeting sensory to time in the cube, all of that kind of thing.

We have the fourth largest economy in the state. Uh, so we are definitely a driver of of the state and the region. Uh, and we have amongst the lowest, um, tax rates among our peer communities.

So we’re seeing a lot of activity in commercial, industrial and residential, which I think, um, represents the fact that, you know, we’re doing we’re doing a lot of things well here in Plymouth. We’re seeing a lot of investment in terms of projects that are under construction.

And then lastly, the bring it home rental assistance program. Um, you know, funding for rental assistance, like the Housing Choice voucher program, which is, um, financed by HUD, that funding has been stagnant for decades. Um, federal government has not expanded that. So the state has really stepped in and has provided assistance. And and because we administer that program, we were able to apply for assistance. And now we’ll provide rental assistance to an additional 36 households in Plymouth.