like Ron could be a witness they could have one themselves the Tuesday January 7th 2025 meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al flag the United States of America stand indivisible andice all Mr getro I think I'll just turn it right over to you to intro then the swearing in part and we'll probably move down some of us will move down to the front so you have any to say as we do get up yeah thank you mayor and council members yes as you know we had an election last November 6 and we have two incoming council members that were reelected to city council that we will be swearing in before we conduct our business in 2025 our City attorney will be administering the oath of office and our two council members that are being uh elected reelected will be coming down for the swearing and ceremony a we said guess that's Chris come up with do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and Faithfully discharge the duties of the office council member of the city of Eden Prairie in the county of henin and state of to the best of your judgment and ability so help you [Applause] guys and then just if you want get in the middle no no definitely not that's okay all right thank thank you very much you want to come up it's my cousin from [Music] India do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the unit States and of the state of Minnesota and Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member of the city of Eden Prairie in the county of henan state of Minnesota to the best of your judgment and ability so help you guide I do [Applause] Thank you Lisa wants a picture Joyce Lisa if we could have just a picture with the three of us real fast and we'll be done yeah doesn't congratulations congratulations congratulations I find it um always um I think exciting is a good word to um start this first meeting of the Year especially after an election and having our council members sworn in this um is one of the rare councils at least in Eden Prairie history that I know of and maybe in the region that has had four years of exactly the same um con consistency or the five council members that are up here um and if you had two more years on it because we'll all be together God willing for two more years then um that's six years of all being the same Council uh which um thank you in residents for um putting your faith and trust in US typically during uh this time of the meeting I I read an open Podium invitation to our residents uh open Podium is an opportunity for Eden prair residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden Prairie City Government these open podiums occur prior to each council meeting Council meetings typically occur the first and the third Tuesday of each month from these open podiums UR from 6:30 to 6:55 here in the council chamber if you wish to speak at open Podium please do contact the city manager's office at 952 949-842-0774 I'm going to um go out of order a little bit or at least uh add an item in that's not on the agenda I wanted to make a statement this evening regarding an incident that two actually incidences that had occurred at our last meeting which was our December meeting and I'd actually like to um read a statement it's um it's from me it's on behalf of our city council however and um you don't have to speak after this but I'm I'll give you an opportunity if any of you wish to say something so speaking as mayor and on behalf of everyone sitting up here this evening we're all excited for the new new year and the continued positive growth in the quality of life that we believe is possible for Eden per residents I want to make a quick comment about an event that occurred at our last council meeting back in December we were certifying the levy for 2025 and if you recall the levy drives our tax rate and ultimately after a lot of other variables many of which are totally outside of our control it also gets into the calculation the levy drives our own individual property taxes for 2025 so everyone of us sitting up here this evening is acutely aware of the impact that raising taxes has on all all of you on our residents both positive in the sense that our it funds our Public Safety our infrastructure improvements our Parks and Recreation and our community events and amenities but also raising taxes can be problematic in that tax increases can cause financial burden on many of our residents we get that please know that we carefully weigh the benefits and the hardships of our tax increase decisions because of this council's past good decisions on staff's knowledgeable and expert advice as well and also on past council's good planning over the decades we were able to set one of the lowest tax levy increases in all of henpen County and that resulted in maintaining one of the lowest tax rates around uh really the region at the same time maintaining the highest levels of service that we all have become accustomed to living with here in Eden Prairie at our our last meeting in which we held a public hearing offering every one of you all of our residents a chance to give us their personal feedback on our Levy decision only two residents out of 65,000 people came to speak and address us on this issue both residents and I want to underscore this both had legitimate concerns about their personal home tax increases unfortunately and sadly however for all of us sitting up here both residents used inflammatory rhetoric and they were laced with perceived threats on us many people have reached out to me over the last month to express their shock and disappointment in the words that were shared on TV and such a public and anti-democratic fashion so tonight I want to say to all of you our residents that we commit all five of us I'm speaking on behalf of you but you can add to this that we commit to being the best representative we can be listening to you all when you call us or write us incorporating your thoughts and suggestions into our decision-making processes and making decisions that always represent the best outcomes for the most people across Eden Prairie but we ask each of you and I implore each of you as our neighbors and friends and colleagues and constituents to show respect for our Democratic systems and principles and to say and do whatever it takes to make our democracy stronger to make Eden Prairie a better community and to build strong relationships with each other that are based on kindness and compassion rather than anger and divisiveness this council is composed of five decent people I realize I'm speaking for myself there I hope that's accurate I believe it council members who have stepped up to Serve All of You by spending their time their energy and their efforts to make our community better I don't think I'm asking too much to ask every resident to come to a council meeting and be respectful of our elected officials our staff and the Democratic processes within which we operate it's an honor for us to serve one that we take very seriously and so we thank you for choosing us and entrusting us with this responsibility to Value to protect and to improve our town thank you Council you don't have to add anything is there anybody that wants I wanted to give you just a chance if you wanted to say a word think it's well said okay thank you Mark I think is kind of I was kind of shocked by what happened at that also I knew the one of the persons that was involved quite well and some that comes to mind is you can agree to disagree and this is has to do with whether it's local politics State politics or national politics what we've forgotten to do is to respect the position respect the position of Mayor and those that came before him respect in this case here the council members and those that came before him and I think that's what's lacking in a lot of politics right now and I wholeheartedly support your statement mayor and the way you handled it um thank you and what I found is that I found how I took that personally it wasn't directed at me but it was it was directed at every one of us and I you know highly respect what you just said and um I hope it it rings home thank you great is that good yeah okay Mr Gro uh proclamations and presentations we have a winter soft salt Awareness Week Proclamation anything you want to add to that winter salt I I will turn things over to our Public Works director uh winter winter is here in terms of the temperature it's not yet here in terms of the snow but it may be coming um but we do have a proclamation tonight yeah so mayor city council thank you I just wanted to take a couple minutes to talk about winter salt awareness week coming up uh the week of January TW 27th so um we know in Minnesota that salt is probably the most effective tool we have at combating ice and keeping our our roads our driveways parking lots our sidewalk safe and not universally used by just the city but state county a lot of private businesses and residents use it as well we also know that it's harmful to our Lakes creeks and wetlands because it does chlorinate them and chlorides can't be taken out of fresh water uh once it's entered it so we wanted to draw some attention to ways in which salt can be used more responsibly um and residents and businesses can partake in this by learning about smart salting programs such as the low salt no salt Minnesota program uh businesses can also hire contractors who have been certified by the mpca and smart salting and we even offer a service if a business would like us to come audit their property and offer advice and tips on how they can better manage snow and ice and their site and improvements they can make to reduce the chloride runoff we'll gladly do that so so um with winter salt awareness coming up here towards the end of the month we just wanted to take an opportunity to share that and also let anybody out in the public know that if you have um a desire to learn more you can get tips you can see some best recommended practices on our website or you could get a hold of uh anybody in our engineering division they'd be glad to help out so thank you great thank you I have a proclamation that I will read uh Proclamation winter salt Awareness Week January 27th at 31 2025 whereas the city of Eden Prairie relies on deicing salt as part of its winter maintenance program to maintain safe and accessible roadways and whereas all salt applied to roads sidewalks and parking lots ends up in our fresh water does seem like two contradictory statements but Public Safety is really important whereas chloride contamination from deicing salt has been found in lak streams and groundwater in the 9mile creek Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek and Minnesota River watersheds and across the State and whereas reducing overuse of deicing salt reduces damage to infrastructure and property protects freshwater resources and reduces harm to aquatic plants and animals and whereas it is crucial to raise awareness among residents businesses and local government agencies about the responsible use of deicing salt to protect both Public Safety and the long-term health of our freshwater resources and whereas winter salt Awareness Week provides an opportunity to educate our community about the responsible use of deicing salt including environmental considerations and effective application methods and whereas the city is committed to promoting a sustainable approach to Winter maintenance for the benefit of present and future Generations now therefore be it resolved the Eden Perry city council proclaims January 27th to January 31st 2025 as winter salt awareness week in the city of Eden Prairie and urges all residents and businesses to take part in activities and initiatives that promote the responsible use of deicing salt Ronald Le case mayor on behalf of council members Kathy Nelson Mark fryberg PG oryan and Lisa Tumi all right moving on to with our agenda we have the approval of the agenda and any other items of Business Council um and staff Mr Geto anything to add to the agenda this evening no if if not uh can I have a motion to approve the agenda move to approve the agenda there second second any further discussion all those in favor say I I opposed all right uh moving on to approval of the minutes we have two meetings from Tuesday December 3rd the workshop minutes as well as the meeting minutes uh any uh edits or concerns you had based on reading through the minutes if not is there a motion to approve both meeting minutes to approve the following city council minutes the city council Workshop held Tuesday December 3rd 2024 city council meeting held Tuesday December 3rd 2024 sir second second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed all right consent calendar it's a long one this evening um partly because it's the first meeting of the year um for any students here tonight just to let you know that cons ENT calendar uh clumps together important items but not necessarily any needing further discussion so they're fairly uh I guess routine perfunctory might be a word that might fit there but Council you um are of course permitted to have any of the items um removed temporarily or voted on separately so any concerns at all with um the items on the consent calendar if not is there a motion to approve items a through U on the consent calendar calendar move to approve items a through U on the consent calendar there second second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed all right we have no public hearings and meetings this evening um we do have um next uh payment of claims and again for people visiting for the first time this evening payment of claims is um approval of all the um I I always say the classic uh checks that were cut or or written in over the last month but I guess that doesn't happen Much Anymore It's All Digital but um nonetheless it's the the money that went out and paid um and that's why it's a roll call vote because it's a very important vote that we take to approve all the expenses that the city has spent so Council any items on the consent oh sorry on the payment of claims that you wish to question or have more information about if not is there a motion move for approval of payment of claims as submitted second um it's been moved and seconded any further discussion all those in favor say I whoop sorry and that's I even said it was thank you for catching that it's a roll call vote roll call council member fryberg hi council member Nan hi council member Nelson hi council member Tumi hi mayor case hi all right uh we do have tonight uh first reading of an ordinance um that was actually brought To Us by a resident uh concerned that a neighbor had been putting up an electric uh wire along the top of his fence to keep deer from jumping in uh which sounds on the surface reasonable um if you think about it or if you're a grandpa like me or several of us and you have little grandkids over I'm not sure you want them jumping up on your fence and grabbing onto an electric wire fence so it made us begin to think can you do that in Eden Prairie can you just put electric fences up can you put barb wire fences up so we we sent it back to staff they did a lot of research and I'll turn it over to you to for findings and then where we go from here thank you Mar that's exactly right and in the one step between that um resident request and the meeting tonight is we did have a workshop where we took and and this Julie will go over this but we did bring back the research and you did come to a consensus on moving forward with a code Amendment which we have tonight and our community development director Julie CA will walk through a brief presentation of how we got to where we are and what our recommendation is great Julie mayor and council members in our presentation this evening I I want to cover um not only some of the history that has been addressed already this evening but also what code currently says as well as what city staff is proposing so if we can share the slides on the screen I'd appreciate that as yourself mayor and Mr Geto noted back in August we had a resident approach this uh issue approach the council with this issue uh we as staff came back with additional information and Council had some discussion and directed us to kind of go back to the drawing board and take a look at how we might be able to best address this in code So currently chapter 11 the zoning ordinance includes language about fences specifically what it talks about is that the fence height is limited to 7 feet but it does not address building materials at all so in it in that section of the ordinance it also addresses site triangles or visibility at intersection so it's kind of a a marriage of two uh similar but uh distinct items so in addressing not only the fence materials this evening we are also going to address the site triangle issue that is currently in code so the proposed amendment that we're bringing forward for your consideration tonight relocates the language that's currently in chapter 11 and moves it to chapter nine to increase usability for folks that are referencing the fence requirements in chapter n are multiple references to fences in with regard to building maintenance materials in in addition to fencing requirements around pools so if somebody's looking for what do I need to know about fences chapter 9 is a logical place to house all of that information so we're moving that sight triangle um issue as well as the fences being limited to seven height or 7even feet in height into chapter 9 and then we're adding some additional language about appropriate or um proh prohibited materials so the language that we're proposing to add requires fence materials to be permanent in nature um it also goes on to specify that if wood fencing is used that it must be resistant to Decay so this um allows us to uh not be so prescriptive as to say what the fence must be constructed of but it certainly clearly communicates that uh materials such as mesh or um wire or other things are not uh a permitted use or a permitted material rather and it also adds some regulations for barbed wire and electric fencing so it prohibits the use of barbed wire razor wire electric wire and other Hazard hazardous or temporary materials there are a few exceptions barbed wire would be allowed at data centers at the airport city-owned facilities and other similar types of sites barbed wire would also be required to be at least 6 and a half half ft above grade so if a fence and one of those uses wants to include barbed wire it needs to be at the top of that fence not at the bottom electric fencing would only be allowed for the containment of animals that are used for the treatment of invasive vegetation um as you might recall there have been some communities that have utilized goats um in order to manage Buckthorn removal and that requires some sort of containment is there any mention that that's temporary I mean because they do like in The Preserve they'll have goats and they move them around corre so I don't Envision there would be a permanent spot where you would have goat seeding whatever that is correct mayor it does include a language referencing temporary and also approval by the city Forester and so with that um that is in a nutshell what we're proposing this evening I'm happy to answer any questions you have council member fryberg um I got a question as far as the word razor wire I see you mentioned barb wire you putting razor wire in with the same category they're kind of different um you know to me from my exposure to Razer wire it's a um it might be a little step up from Barb Wire Maybe I'm Wrong mayor members of the council the language that is drafted identifies prohibited materials and while it's not intended to be an all-inclusive list it is um demonstrating the types of materials that City staff and the city would consider to be hazardous and would therefore prohibit council member Nan you oh I thought you saw you move your hand before any anybody else okay thank thank you so much and thank you um staff for um I don't know if you jumped on it but for being very responsive to us um and thank you to our resident who came forward um with an idea that um a lot of us looked around and would scratched their chin and went wow that's not a bad idea um just one of those examples where a law is meant to solve a problem and sometimes the problem's not a big problem um but it could become um so this was a a good example I think of um government and action so with that uh Council are we ready um to vote and does second reading occur tonight if we're unanimous no okay it it could mayor but we chose to um just wait another meeting okay perfect um could I I'll entertain a motion then move to approve the first reading of the ordinance to amend chapter nine relative defenses and vision impacts sir second second any further discussion give you a moment here all those in favor say I I I opposed all right thank you thanks again Julie um so we move now to appointments and for again those of you for the first time in this meeting or if you're watching from home the first meeting of the year is the meeting across the state of Minnesota it's actually statutory where we set all kinds of official um or we make all kinds of official actions choosing the official newspaper appointing certain appointments commissions Etc so we'll move through these um probably fairly fast Council um I probably won't even need to give a lot of time for discussion so interrupt me fast if you want to to cut in or say something but otherwise we'll just probably move through these pretty fast uh Mr Geto do you want to add anything before we just uh start may I I think you you've covered it as you can see there are several appointments um mainly of which deal with your members of the council your service on all the different organizations that do business on behalf of the city there are a few related to the official newspaper like you mentioned that um are actions that we need but but quite frankly almost all of them are related to boards or committees that you uh you you as elected officials serve on okay so let's begin uh with official adopting the official newspaper and just let me add that um not not to make a qualitative statement on the sunsal at all they are the only game in town we don't have a choice and based on State Statute we have to choose uh a fisical newspaper that resides Offices here in Eden per so they are the only one so with that I'll entertain a motion move to adopt the resolution Des designating the Eden pre Sun sailor the official City newspaper for the year 2025 sir second second all those in favor say hi hi hi all right moving on then to um uh the resolution designating all of our official meeting dates we of course as a council can change those down the way but we need to State it tonight the time and the place for City Council meetings um let me just say that the acting mayor position is a state statutory U mandated um position if the mayor is out of town and someone needs to serve in my as capacity as mayor it does not statute does not designate which of these four can be chosen Eden Perry historically has selected the longest serving council member which would be council member Kathy Nelson so with that is there a motion to adopt a resolution designating the official meeting date time and place for the city of EDM Prairie Council in 2025 and appointing council member Kathy Nelson as acting mayor sir second second all those in favor say I I I opposed all right appointing Commissioners to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority that's the HRA again and a uh State Statute mandated um committee commission some cities actually appoint other people our city historically traditionally has appointed the council um to serve in the HRA capacity is there a motion I'll move to adopt resolution appointing City Council Members to serve as Commissioners for the Eden Prairie Housing and Redevelopment Authority and appointing Ron case's chair Rick gal as executive director and council members Kathy Nelson the secretary for the year 2025 sir second second all those in favor say I I I oppose all right moving on then to the Suburban rate Authority which is a a multi 60 70 cities how many a lot in that um um Suburban rate Authority May most of the cities in the metro area um we have in the last few years um appointed who has this person has been willingly uh willing to do this um Robert Ellis who um also is our um director of Public Works so is there a motion move to adopt a resolution designating Public Works director Robert Ellis as the Director and council member Mark fryberg as the alternate director to the Suburban rate Authority is there second second all those in favor say I I oppose by the way I was part of that for probably 10 years and when I would go I was often the only elected official I don't know if that's still true and I kept getting elected chair so if you want to be the chair of another organization just attend one time and U they'll be so happy to see you they'll elect you chair all right um moving on then to um what are we on the Fire Relief Association Board of Trustees an incredibly important group that's uh separated from the city but nonetheless we're part of it because we underg um the funding of it not totally funding but we I think I word that right motion go ahead Moe to adopt a resolution appointing council member Kathy Nelson and finance manager Tommy Wilson to the Ed pry Fire Relief Association second second all those in favor say I I opposed all right moving to the National League of cities um very important group that we're part of go ahead and make that motion move to approve appointment of Mayor Ron case as delegate and council members as alternates to the National League of cities is there second second all those in favor say I I oppose all right the municipal legislative commission a group of cities that share a lot of the same um well make up as us and also our goals and vision uh they help us out a lot we're part of the mlc is there a motion for um appointment of delegates and alternates M to approve the appointment of Mayor Ron case and council member Lisa Tumi as alternate to the municipal legislative commission sir second second all those in favor say I I I all right uh appointment to the Southwest cable commission there's five cities that were part of this it may sound um an acronis or archaic it still is a very important Commission be part of because there still is cable um all right is there a motion move to approve appointment of council member Mark fryberg as the South to the Southwest cable commission yes there a second second all those in favor say I I opposed all right appointment to the I 494 commission is there a motion Moe to approve the appointment of council member Lisa toi to the I 494 call a commission there second second all those in favor say I I opposed all right appointment I have to talk about this so um there's very few interestingly um appointments at cities across state of Minnesota all 800 so cities have to do but one of them and you can see this being important back in the 1800s with farmlands but is to appoint the mayor as the official weed inspector so I'm so thrilled to say that we appoint an assistant weed inspector every January of every year that does actually the work of inspecting for weeds and by the way if we do have noxious weeds we are by State mandate directed that we must do something about that so it is an important position I'm I'm just glad I'm not that so is there is there a motion move to approve appointment of Forestry and natural resources supervisor Carly Whitner as assistant weed inspector for the city of Eden Prairie SAR you guys better vote for this all those in favor say I I all right um and then appointment to the Southwest Transit Commission we are part of three cities that lead that organization um and this is a big deal because the Southwest Transit um commission really functions like a small city government I mean their budget I don't even know what it is today 10 12 million it's it's decent and and and and large and and Mark remind me to go to you here before I move to the next spot right you wanted y absolutely okay is there a motion on this though to appoint um the our two members um to well actually we're appointing one to the just re move to approve of appointment of council member Lisa Tumi to the Southwest Transit board as the Eden Prairie appointed representative for a two-year term to end December 31 2006 26 all those in favor say I I the reason I stumbled is that we have an alternating year position that council member was Ser serving on yeah was and now will be a new appointment of Lisa to me Lisa okay um but that's not going to be us that's going to be the commission that will do that so mayor really quick so we have two Representatives on Southwest Transit both of which you you do need to appoint Mark is currently in the middle of his term so you don't need to reappoint or consider Mark's appointment till a future meeting we just got it correct and I think what council member friberg's going to talk about is there is a third member that could be from Eden Prairie that this Council does not appoint but the board will appoint I think that's what um council member fryberg is going to talk about and before I give you the floor so there's seven members on the commission two from Chan Hasen two from chesa two from Eden per and then the seventh is at least historically was a rider um that that used the bus services regularly that could be from any of the three cities and that position rotates because obviously it throws three votes to the city that has the writer that year so this is our year so I'll turn it to you well thank you mayor as the incoming board chair for 2025 for Southwest Transit board uh I'm kind of excited to find out it was our turn to have a third person uh this year so we'd like to do the actual appointment itself is going to be voted on by the board of the Southwest Transit uh at their next meeting which will be January 16th what we're going to do tonight though is we're going to nominate a name uh for that position and we like to nominate would be Greg leaper who's a resident of Eden Prairie he is the executive director of the Eden Prairie Community Foundation and he's the current chair of the human rights and diversity commission so that uh vote on that appointment will be on uh J January 16 with self Transit board thank you do we need any no we do not so it's just um by consensus we've all agreed and then Mark and Lisa will bring that name okay perfect forward to the next meeting all right um no one spoke up under reports of council members um and Mr Geto you did not let me know anything about a report of city manager so moving on to report of community uh development director should I give it to you first and then you can um intro sure I can do a quick intro again it's Julie's night she has the two uh major presentations and it it's really with probably good news that we're bringing this update of our strategic plan forward because of a new um dedicated funding stream that uh cities are receiving through the Metro sales tax to be used toward housing so we're pretty excited that we're going to have a dedicated stream of funding and Julie's going to explain that and how we plan to use those funds and why we need to update our strategic plan to show uh the state of Minnesota and others how we're going to use that money great Julie thank you again thank you um again so I have a few slides that I'd like to share with you but I'd like to start out just talking a little bit about the Community Development strategic plan it is a plan that uh was approved by the council in late 2022 it operates on a five-year cycle and it does include information on all of the Community Development Focus areas funding sources and initiatives that guide our work as we prepare our work plans we have a few updates tonight uh the first update Mr Geto already mentioned with regard to a new funding source for housing programs and we also have another amendment that we'd like you to consider with regard to a large rehab project that is planned at St John's Woods here within the city so a little bit of an overview on the local affordable housing aid or laa funds that will be or have already come to the city so it is a a a funding mechanism that was passed by the state legislature in 2023 that provi provides affordable housing dollars to cities and communities in the S County Metro area those laa funds uh have to be used for affordable programs and initiatives it it cannot be used for things like Staffing um but ra rather has to go directly to those folks who who need it Eden Prairie will receive allocations twice a year and in 2024 we received approximately $336,000 in laa funds so because of that that new influx of Revenue we've prepared a spending plan for how those funds could be spent in 2025 and we've really look to strengthen the city's firsttime home buyer and housing rehab programs also creating a new program that would support first generation firsttime home buyers and providing additional funds for rental assistance that would be utilized through our Community Partners at Prop Shop so some of the outcomes that we would intend to uh achieve through these additional dollars would be increasing those firsttime home buyer program dollars uh to increase the amount available to households and that would bring our $35,000 total amount available more in line with some of the other Metro communities and what they are offering through their firsttime home buyer program also I mentioned the creation of a first generation home buyers program to address equity and promote home ownership in many of those programs you see a additional dollars being dedicated to that first generation uh home buyer program over the traditional firsttime home buyer program in order to address the inequity that has occurred in folks not being able to build that generational wealth so we want to provide some additional funding uh for those individuals increasing the rehab funds that would be available to individual households would reflect increased labor and material costs currently when folks are coming in and asking for some of those rehab dollars sometimes they still have a gap between the amount of money that the city has available to loan them and what their total need is so being able to dedicate these laa dollars to that fund will help eliminate that gap for individuals that are seeking that assistance and then as we all know rental assistance funds are in high demand uh we hear that routinely from our friends at the prop shop so being able to add additional dollars to that uh pool of money as well so this slide demonstrates um how we would divvy up if you will that $336,000 um roughly $1,000 would go to the traditional firsttime home buyer program 990,000 would go to housing rehab program the first generation firsttime home buyer would be supported with $60,000 of laa funds and then $86,000 would be available for rental assistance so then as we look Beyond this one- year spending plan that that staff's bringing to you this evening the amount of money that the city will receive on an annual basis will fluctuate because it is sales tax driven and what we're hearing from the state already is that our 2025 funds we can expect up up to a 70% increase over what we've received in 2024 so there'll be some additional money that will will be coming in we will evaluate and monitor how these funds are being requested and how they're being used and St staff would propose to prepare a spending plan annually until we get to the point at which it's time to update that strategic plan by the time we're doing that in 2027 we will have several years of laa expenditures and revenues under our belt we'll have a better idea what the community needs are um in actuality and and where some of those um best practices rest and we can come forward with a longer term spending plan as a part of the overall strategic Plan update as we prepare those annual spending plans we'll certainly be communicating that to the council we'll be mindful of what the community needs are what the priorities of the council are in taking all of that feedback through the various sources that we receive it from and then the other modification to the Strategic plan is the St John's Woods uh rehab project so St John's Woods is a town home neighborhood that was built in the mid 1970s the homeowners association recent ly voted to do a sighting Improvement uh program project rather and they want to start that project in the spring of 2025 it's also expected that some of the units will not only have their sighting replaced but once they get that sighting removed they'll likely have to replace some windows as well and many of those units are owned and occupied by low to moderate income households so when the Home Owners Association made the move to move forward with this project the city started receiving many any requests or multiple requests for Rehab assistance and typically those rehab loans are funded through cdbg now with this uh proposal we're also talking about diverting some laa funds to that but there are enough low to moderate income homes that that would deplete or use up all of the cdbg and laa funds and not have any in reserve if you will for the other priorities that the city has or other requests that might come in so as an alternative City staff has proposed proposing that we would use pooled Tiff dollars to support the St John's rehab loans we have an ample balance in the pooled Tiff funds and that would ensure that any qualifying request for rehab loans in St John's Woods would be able to be funded and we would retain the laa and cdbg funds that are available to support the ongoing other priorities and traditional uses for those so staff has uh updated the Strategic plan to include the use of pooled tip um in order to fund those rehab loans and with that I'd take any questions that you might have Council Judy um so if if somebody Ed the first home owners fund is there a requirement for them to keep the house certain amount of time or can they flip it mayor members of the council it is a uh forgivable loan so if they stay in the the house for 30 years it is Forgiven however if they sell the house then they have to repay the loan and that program income comes back to the city and we roll that forward back into the project to be able to fund more first-time home buyer loans and that's interest free it correct yeah I see I didn't I didn't understand thank you appreciate that and same thing goes for the rehab correct awesome thank you Council we do need a motion halfway through this four-year plan to approve then the updated strategic plan um if there aren't any other questions you can still ask questions after we um first and second the motion unless you want to now no I just I just want to make a comment I don't really um have any questions but just that I think this is really good for affordable housing which is um in high demand everywhere and especially in prayer right now and especially when you here 2025 There's 7 5% more right right is this administrated through Med Council Who who how do you get the money through the know agency mayor members of the council it comes through the Department of Revenue Department of Revenue okay so the Metropolitan Council has for years um given us certain goals and objectives uh 10 year 20 year 30e plans this I'm assuming helps with that yes yes yeah absolutely good all right uh let's go ahead and uh have a motion in a second I'll give you one more opportunity to weigh in to approve the updated 20 2023 through 2027 Community Development strategic plan or second second Is there further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed all right I believe we have nothing to come before the council this evening I think um if the students would oblige us um we'd love to just see who you are tonight and maybe even have you stand if you wouldn't mind because it's incredible you're on TV we'll turn the cameras on you and all your teachers can you can absolutely prove that you were here so if you would stand uh thank you for coming and joining our yeah we can give you an Applause yay thank you very much appreciate you choosing I know that you have options on choosing Schoolboard they're more boring than we are or choosing uh City Council and I guess a County Commission um so thank you for being here this evening with us um if there's not anything else then is there a motion to adjourn you can sit if you want understand it's up to you is there a motion to adjourn move to adjourn the city council meeting is there a second second all those in favor say I I oppose this meeting is adjourned students you're welcome to come up and chat with anyone to e for