how like e it's a vibrant um crew out there on this evening we are going to get started and um I am going to gavel the meeting so in case I just want to make sure you heard it when I gaveled it so Tuesday October 15 2024 meeting of the Eden perie city council is now called to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice it is customary for me to read an open Podium invitation at this point in time of the meeting open Podium is an opportunity for Eden PR residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden per city government prior to each council meeting which typically occur the 1 and the third Tuesday of each month these open podiums occur between six 6:30 to 6:55 p.m. right here in the council chamber if you wish to speak at open Podium please do contact the city manager's office at 952 949 8412 by noon of the meeting date with your name your phone number and subject matter so we can be better prepared for you open Podium is not recorded or televised if you have questions about open Podium please do contact the city manager's office all right tonight we normally have some proclamations and present presentations but nothing this evening so we'll move right into approval of the agenda counil are there any or city manager any items to add to the agenda this evening if there are none could somebody make a motion to approve the agenda move to approve the agenda or second second further discussion all those in favor say I I oppos passes unanimous minutes we have minutes from our last October 1st City Council meetings we had a workshop at first and then the regular meeting are there any uh comments or edits on either the workshop or the meeting minutes that you wish to bring up right now if not could I uh entertain a motion to approve both the workshop and the meeting held last October 1st move to approve the following city council minutes Council Workshop held Tuesday October 1st 2024 city council meeting held Tuesday October 1st 2024 SAR second second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I oppose passes unanimous moving on to the consent calendar for anyone uh new in the audience this evening or U watching from home the consent calendar clumps together smaller motions I won't say they're totally housekeeping but they're and in some cases incred well they're all important but in some cases incredibly important but we put them together but Council you are permitted to pull any of them if you want to learn more about or ask questions any consent items that you'd like to pull off temporarily can even vote on them separately if not so motion then to approve items a through G on the consent calendar I'll move for approval of items a through G on the consent calendar second any further discussion all those in favor say I I oppose kept passes unanimous all right we do uh this evening have um a larger than normal under petitions request and Communications um a vote approve to approve the Eden Perry firefighter relief association bylaws Amendment so Mr Geto yes mayor council thank you very much the relief Association as you mentioned mayor is um an organization separate organization um on behalf of the firefighters and retired firefighters in Eden Prairie uh that Association as you know currently um has its own board council member Nelson sits on that board with the fire chief and and the city finance manager along with those um retired or currently on the fire department mayor case was previously um on that board uh when there is a bylaw Amendment the bylaw amendments that they have that they vote on uh then typically come to the city council to be ratified um as you see in your your packet and cover sheet that was last done in 2018 for uh change the lump sum pension amount at that time same um different amount same request uh before you this evening as well and I believe we have a few people that are going to kind of prep the item as well the fire chief is here to introduce um the president of the relief Association to walk you through the bylaw that has come our way Chief good evening mayor and council with me is Colin Brian the president of the Eden Prairie firefighters relief Association just a couple of comments you heard city manager get out talk about the relief Association being a separate entity it is a separate entity that um performs functions for our duty crew firefighters as it relates to both pension and other activities that might happen they do that under the Eden Prairie firefighters relief association bylaws and state statutes to be able to assure that they're meeting all of those particular requirements the ratification that's before you tonight is to be able to uh again ratify the proposed change to go from a lump sum increase of $122,400 to a $155,000 lump sum increase your ratification essentially provides the fiscal back stop in the event that something would happen with the fund that supports the relief Association so that that particular uh pension could be paid in the event that the funding goes below what the required funding might be the city would be on the hook for that so that's the primary focus of your your ratification tonight as a city council going forward um I'm going to turn over to the president um O'Brien to be able to give you a little more detail Chief welcome Colin go ahead and give your full name and maybe even address yes sir uh Colin O'Brien current president Fire Relief Association I live at 1132 to uh Ridge Bluff Drive in chasa um so mayor casee and members of the council we're here tonight to request the city ratify the amended change to the E bylaw relief Association uh the change of the bylaw is to raise the lumson pension distribution amount to 15,000 per year of service set to begin January 1 2025 in attendance are three of the four past presidents Mike Luger Phil Jones and Aaron Casper who are here to assist in providing historical context if necessary of their times as president of the relief Association this update had two primary objectives a retention and recruiting tool to keep those individuals dedicated to the city of Eden Prairie and the fire department as well as a mechan mechanism to continue to provide highquality service to our community Through the duty crew model the second goal was to help uh plan the financial stability and predictability to this aim the best way forward was to Simply increase the lumpsum option um to create some incentivization the update uh on the agenda uh for the in Fire Relief association annual meeting occurred on 919 2024 where it was discussed at length each member was given time to share their thoughts uh around the update the measure was voted on and passed at a 72% aual rate um and is now set to begin uh being part of the bylaws uh January 1st of 2025 we are again asking the city of council to ratify this change which if passed would create the conditions in a great partnership um with the city and the Eden per Fire Relief Association in the financial backing of the pension plan the council and I have received many emails over the last number of weeks requesting a hold of approval to complete another actuary to the account for the monthly pension years of an increase of those individuals it was not of the original goal to increase this and thus was not part of the formal actuary that is in front of you I have rest uh reached out to our actuary and requested that they include uh monthly increases scenarios in our actuary set to begin 1231 of 2024 the other primary concern shared in these emails was was the last time the pensioners had received any pension increase was 2009 there were many mentions of a cost of living adjustment which is not guaranteed under the bylaw however those individuals who have stayed 15 years or more and have elected to take the monthly would be eligible for any monthly increases should the board and the membership approve such a thing in closing the Imp Fire Relief Association Board of Trustees and membership both voted to pass this measure I would ask The Count Council to continue the great partnership and ratify the financial backing of this update and if there are any questions I'd be willing to take them at this time Council anything at this point yes council member I got a question for you now we ratify we're R I'm I'm for what what you have here the lump sum I'm for it I understand it from a recruiting standpoint makes a lot of sense but in ratifying it am I neglecting to talk about raising the money monthly um how many people are are on the monthly uh retirement right now uh we have 103 members who re monthly and 71 who would be eligible at the 15 years of service or greater okay and the last time that was increased was you know n uh 2009 that's correct okay you know 15 years ago is about 45% in buying power disappearing um I you know I don't believe there's any type of a cola or anything tied to that there's not okay I believe that 15 years is a long time um and that needs to be Revisited my opinion sure uh I think it's serious because what when a person accepted that 15 years ago you know things have changed dramatically in 15 years and you're doing a disservice by not addressing that the way to look at it would be this Paving they're the ones that pave laid down the foundation to what it is now just like the group now with the lump sums laying the foundation for those coming in again I urge you to address that I don't know if we could talk in terms of this is separate from that in my heart it's not separate and it does bother me um and I guess I don't understand if we did something in 2008 and something in 2009 what by the max in 2009 was $1,792 that has a buying power right now of about $985 based on roughly 3% inflation over 15 years I think a lot of people are hurting you know on that aspect about being addressed and if it's a matter of the money well there's always a way of doing something I just don't like seeing it's an you know two factions of people we hold very dear to our heart in our community Community uh Us and Them type of approach it needs to address everyone on that because I represent everyone I believe that something of what you're doing you represent everyone also you know as far as sitting out here um and I'm going to greatly urge you to uh reconsider that with your actuary that that needs to be addressed thank you Council anyone else okay hang around obviously and if we have more questions we'll call you back up this is not a public hearing but because everyone on the council and Colin um also said he's been receiving the emails too we've received I didn't count them but a lot a dozen or so uh very well- written passionate emails from our retired firefighters so I wanted to have someone come up this evening from the retired firefighter group and I asked uh Doug Andrews on the way in he also came to our open Podium Forum uh two weeks ago so I've asked him to come up and represent in essence um the retired firefighter perspective um so Doug if you would um come forward and if you want to as well give your name um and address and I I assume you might give a little bit about your own personal uh years on the on the like being a firefighter how many and I can Doug Andrews 9125 Neil Lake Road uh it's good to see everyone again I was on the fire department from 1981 to 2001 20 years uh retired I'm now drawing the monthly pension as are all of my friends back here yeah go ahead and raise your hand just so we know um thank you so much and thank you for being here go ahead Doug did what Mark said Thank you thank uh thank you Mark for your comments um is and thank you for your time and for for allowing me to speak and I'm sorry I missed the meeting that George nominated me to speak but you know um we don't disagree as a group I don't think we disagree with the increase in the lump sum we think those Duty Crew firefighters should be rewarded and and paid for their time our disagreement as you know is with not carrying us all forward as a group um if you think about it there are four groups in the relief Association to simplify things first two groups are the members group one is the duty crew which is 85 or 88 I'm not sure the exact number those those are the current firefighters group two are the retired firefighters drawing the monthly pension which is 100 and of which 71 are eligible for an increase because they've their years of service for 15 years or more um if you take the lump sum you're out of the relief Association so we don't count they're no those people are no longer members the third and fourth groups are the two ways you can draw your pension or Draw your money from the relief Association third the first one is the lump sum which which Colin talked about the second option is the monthly pension which you get for your whole you know for your life and if you're married your widow or your your spouse gets it two-thirds of it for his or her life our our argument or frustr ation is out of those four groups we're only rewarding two of those four like like what Mark said we're rewarding the duty crew people with the lump sum forgetting about the other 100 members or in particular 71 members with a monthly pension and so that's our our frustration we feel we should all be brought along as one group one Association as as one group of members so I don't know if if you think that's right and you think that by dividing us and taking the duty crew people and giving them the lump sum increase and there's not much else that we can say about that I know you've all received about 300 emails right and um so there's not much else for me to add as far as what those emails said everybody knows the years of service the amount of time it takes the amount of time we put in and back in the day during my time and everyone else that's here during their time it was all strictly volunteer I mean there were you know there was a very minimal call pay but there was a lot of time spent without pay and we're not asking to make that up now we're just we just want to be on equal footing if there's a 20% in inrease here there should be a 20% increase for us because it's in number one it's in the bylaws and number two there was an Unwritten kind of an Unwritten rule for years that the retirees would be brought along with any increases so if you think that that the proposal tonight is you're okay with it then there's not much else I can say if you disagree with it like I do and all my friends back here do then I ask you to reconsider and work with us work with the relief Association and whatever capacity you're allowed to to work to come up with a viable path forward that's acceptable to everyone thank you for your time any questions we can pull you back up too thank you no no no no I'm leaving thank you thank you Doug thanks um we put you on or I put you on the spot um before the meeting so I appreciate you coming up so I'm going to say um a few words here and then I'll um give Council a chance I think um you don't have to speak primarily um I think council member Nelson since she's on the Fire Relief board um many of you um know I can't begin to count the years I I think I was on 10 years or so on the um relief board um back in the 2000s somewhere in there um um and um enjoyed it very much served under um two or three of the former presidents that are in the room right now uh it was a very educational experience I'm sure Kathy you're enjoying it as well I want to start by um underscoring the Deep gratitude that all of us have for our firefighters I'm not placing myself above all of you but I do believe I'm the only council member that I know of his historically in 62 years of Eden Prairie history with a council we were Town board before that that actually had a house fire that had 45 firefighters at my house um 11:32 p.m. on June 5th 2001 clearly that kind of experience sticks with one um and so I will be forever indebted to Firefighters and hold you all near and dear to my heart I do want to say that tonight I am serving maybe more than two masters but certainly two masters um I do serve our firefighters and um represent you and hear you and read every one of your emails and I serve the tax paying public uh here in Eden Prairie uh and I have been part of I was on the relief Association board in the 20 8910 Great Recession where we were throwing over a million dollars of taxpayer money and by the way at the time a million dollar represented 3% tax increase to our residents just to keep the fund I I don't remember if it's too many years now I think it was 80% level or something whatever state statute is we had to keep it up so I see or I know what happens directly when that fund drops below a certain level now we've had we've had a really really two years of great um Wall Street returns and so the fund is well funded at the moment uh we all have to be careful the five of us have to be careful I think to watch that because we are on the hook I'm going to say in a moment what our statutory powers are and what they're not but what one of the statutory powers and actually responsibilities we have is to keep that fund uh maintained and sustained um and we have to use taxpayer money uh to do that if if we have to so let let me say a mo a moment here spend a moment about what we don't have power to do so there's there's a I don't know if you want to call it Democratic I I think the um many members of the relief board are elected I mean the city appoints three of them so not everyone is but there's a process that the state has formulated statutorily for this relief board to exist and it actually in many ways limits the power of the city to have control over aspects of it so in other words the relief board voted this proposal to raise the lump sum from 124 to 15,000 we have a choice tonight as a council to in essence um ratify it approve it um I want to be careful the words I use there or not so let's just say we don't the relief Association has the power to proceed they can totally ignore our our recommendation Our advice the only caveat to that is that if that fund and again I don't know the exact number if it's 80% but if the fund drops below which again if we go through another recession if it drops below the 80% funding they have to I don't know if it's cease and toist but they have to stop paying the 15,000 lump sum until U the fund raises back up so we have some power in there to influence um but nonetheless we don't have power to to deny or to say no if we don't approve tonight we don't have the power to stop uh the relief board's actions they're a separate entity again we we appoint uh a council member our financial person Tammy and I think our chief sits there but um but again that's not a majority we don't have a majority on that so our powers as a council are really um a little bit more than advising or advisory but nonetheless I would say that's closer to being advisory capacity than it is I think the expectation from a lot of the emails I read was a sense that we could stop this now we absolutely as council member fryberg suggested and I actually have it in my notes can recommend that an act and we already have an actuary looking at this but direct that the actuary do an Actuarial analysis just as we proceed if we go through another really good Wall Street Stock year next year and the fund I think it's funded I think that I hear 102% now or something if it begins to five if it begins to be funded at 120 and we it's not that we it's so flush we have to get rid of the money we that's it's in in some sense it's taxpayer money but not directly but I'm not that's not what I'm saying but maybe we do really encourage the actuary analysis to look at is it time to raise the amount of the monthly for past retirees I am interpreting and by the way again I'm whether I approve or not it it doesn't change the fact this board can continue but I I am going to vote to approve it tonight because I'm understanding it to be about the future and had had we had a lot of people taking lump suum in the past which we did not because the lump suum was not up to the level that it really incentivized people to take it but had we had it we would not be raising them I mean even if somebody had spent 30 years as a firefighter and took the lump sum back in 2002 they wouldn't get another dime they had an everyone had an option at the time to take the monthly or the lump the lump sum was not adequate I don't blame people for taking the monthly but the point is is that that they went down that road and there never was a con contractual agreement to raise it an understanding maybe but in the last what 12 years we've raised the lump sum three times and not raised the monthly I mean so they're they're they're not tied together in bylaws what whatsoever I don't um disagree that it should be looked at um there was a process it went through the board um I believe you all are elected that the the firefighter component of the board is elected that's an elected democratic process they even had to take it back to the membership which passed at 72% granted they were active members but there nonetheless is a process that I think this city council needs to respect that process as well and just it's your opinion but but I'm saying that to all of you that I think there was a democratically elected process that they went through they're coming to us with that recommendation again whether we approve or don't approve it can still move forward but our approval would simply be a recognition that we're going to stand behind funding this proposed change that's really all our approval tonight is saying that we'll we'll stand behind this proposed change if indeed stock market collapses in the next 10 two years we will have voted that we will support this $115,000 lump payment I'm agreeing with council member fryberg tonight that if it looks actuar I think that's a word um that it's it's doable to also raise and it may not be a 20% but to also look at the monthly for a retired let's let's look at it let's see what those numbers look like I know that the study that was done was based on a certain I think what 90 some firefighters and as we proceed through this new um hybrid model um we don't know where the duty crew numbers in the future will land I've heard different numbers from as low as 35 up to keep at 90 I don't I don't know but as actuar if we look at that and we're able to see that there's some extra funds we can free up I would highly suggest and I think that's what council member fryberg was saying that that we look to honor our retired monthly with possibly some type of an increase but that's that is another to me it's I know that the retired people here tonight see it tight I don't I think it's a complete different issue that could be looked at by the board and Kathy I'll throw that into your lab to bring that back up if you want to um so just let me look through my notes quick um so yeah so our role tonight really is in respecting in my mind is in respecting the process and then being willing to stand financially behind this decision because if we approve it and and the fund goes south below 80% and this 15,000 continues per year continues to be be paid out we're saying by vote tonight we're going to stand behind that now if we want Mark if we also want to stand behind at another point they bring us back a proposal to raise even more others pull more money from this fund we would with taxpayer money uh we would be telling the taxpayers of Eden Prairie we're going to stand behind these decisions and fund this um I I see them as two separate issues I'm willing to look at both of them but tonight before us is this one issue of the lump sum increase did you go ahead did you want okay I understand what you say mayor thank you um I still look at it is there they they're the same issue they're two different parts you're right about that uh and there's no question that involves taxpayer money and I think in some ways you're you certainly are supporting what I'm saying and I know that ratification is important because it has to move forward I totally get that the new plan you know as far as the lump sum it has to go forward we're in agreement on that and um you know and there's no question that uh we're elected to you know to handle suggestions I know today the only thing would be that I could say it's the right thing to do to be addressed at a later date I think that's the only way I can I can put that on it and I really do urge you to get you know the actuary numbers as far as on it to really hone into this um but the other one I understand is is separate the lump suum is separate itself and okay I I would say that's the right thing to do council member oh okay council member Nelson I wanted to give an opportunity to speak for sure because she's our uh Council representative on the relief Association board you actually took this vote Yes to um support this proposal so yes I I did support this proposal just to start with as the representative from the city I want to let people know how proud of our firefighters we are every citizen in business um counts on firefighters and being there if they need it for their home or for their business they're absolutely essential to the community and I want to thank everyone for their service both current and past you've made this city allowed to grow and you've made a difference and we really appreciate that um what has been said it does make sense to pay for the hourlies going ahead I agree that we should look as time allows to go back and revisit the monthly as well depending on finances but hopefully it will prove where we could do that in three four or five years assuming that the stock market stays somewhat like it has been time will tell about that but it doesn't take away from what everyone has done and the essential to the city and how there's not a business in town that would be here if we didn't have a fire department um they couldn't afford to be here and I don't know how many families would want to live in a community that didn't have a fire dep Department either it's one of the things like police that's basic to a city and you all have been basic to us so thank you Council um any anything else yes council member Nan yeah I was thinking uh What uh council member fber said um I also believe that we should relook at it the monthly payment aspect um I don't understand the process why that's not even looked at or is it voted down that that idea or never thought of it when when never so so anyway I I agree with the the the councils here right now in front of us to approve this and I am I'm okay with that but I strongly recommend relook at in the future council member Tumi thank you first of all thank you all for your service to our community I I um Echo what uh council member Nelson said about your service and how appreciative we all are uh I I think I'm think I think of it as two separate issues right now we're voting just on the lumpsum tonight however I do agree that an actu an Actuarial report should be done and we can look at possibly if if it's possible raising the monthly at a later date um and that's the way it's been done historically we have correct me if I'm wrong but the the monthly rates have gone up at the last one you had was in 2009 but then the yearly ones went up in a different time the lump suum I mean the yeah the lump suum went up in a different time right correct so so that's so that's why I'm thinking as two separate issues but or two separate votes but I do um yeah I agree with I agree with uh council member fber that it should be looked at and an actual report should be done so thank you so much so tonight we are simply not simply it's important but nonetheless um um specifically um approving the bylaw recommendation that came out of this separate independent entity the relief Association board um and our responsibility um that we're tied to if we approve it is simply to stand behind it and fund it if it were to create a situation where the fund uh dropped below its U minimum level set by State Statute so are you all comfortable to take the vote I need a motion then um if somebody would make the motion and second it I'll move for approval of the Eden prey firefighter relief Association bylaw change as unanimously recommended by the EPF Board of Trustees and approved by the general membership of the EPF sir second second further discussion or questions comments ready to take the vote all those in favor say I I oppose passes unanimous again to Echo what Kathy said every firefighter sitting in the audience um current membership and retired thank you thank you for all that you do we we mean it so sincerely but I I want you to know I sure do we think of you all the time in my home all right um Mr Geto we have a public hearing this evening on special assessments we do mayor uh this is an annual public hearing for you to ratify uh your special assessments on various different projects that are done from the previous year um probably the biggest of those would be our development projects water and sewer connection fees and charges um we actually don't have that many of those but I think there might be six or seven Parcels related to a sewer and water connection work and trunk and water uh fees and it's also for um tall grass and weed removal and also for um tree removal heard a little bit about that at your workshop and one instance of hazardous building removal I think um we all we all know about um that home because that was the the house that had burned on rusta Hills that the city you as a council took action to remove um very rare that's not something that's been been done by the city in a long time so we have um had a process where people have had the opportunity the notice and the opportunity um to pay for these items before they would be assessed and placed on the property tax role and after that you also have which is now a public hearing opportunity for anybody who would want to speak to any of the items that would be assessed and then if closing the public hearing we'd ask that you would then um pass a resolution and approve all these special assessments and then they would get sent on to hanip and County and then they would be placed on the tax statements in 2025 um again we do this every year um it's the typical um amount of Assessments that I think we've seen over the past few years and your action would be a public hearing and then approving the resolution and everyone um counsil specifically but uh every resident has access remember if you were at our last meeting um government's incredibly transparent uh you can read down the list um and I know that Mr Geto just gave a couple um categories I just wanted to say that if someone connects sewer and water there's an assessment um if there's tall grass and weed that um you know grows two feet in your neighbor's yard and they're not mowing at all and we issue warnings and after 30 days and 60 days finally the city comes and mows it or has somebody mow it we assess that property uh so we have some of those tree removal um I'm just giving you categories here there's lists of them hazardous Building Material removal Etc so uh all these get listed out with dollar amounts next to them and sent then to the owner of the property and then it gets um they can either pay it up immediately or it can be assessed out over the next however many years but whatever yeah um but eventually the city collects uh that money um from the owner of the property okay so this is a public hearing is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the Council on um tonight's topic of these special assessments okay um if you're a student you're observing that generally would mean people knew they were coming they were expecting the special assessment some cases they even asked for them to have it be paid that way and that this is not something big bad government is slapping down onto people it's actually the opposite that all of us the good of all 65,000 is being protected by the way that we do these special assessments so with that then Council um would you could I entertain a motion to close the public hearing and then I we can all ask questions afterwards but maybe go ahead and make the motion I'll move the to close the public hearing for the approval of the 2024 special assessments and adopt the resolution approving all special assessments presented in the fall of 2024 second all right um any further discussion Council if not all those in favor say I I oppose pass is unanimous all right next we have payment of claims which um again for the students in the audience and any anyone listening at home is the list of um expenditures list of bills that we paid in the old days it was checks written today I'm sure it's I don't know if it's venmo how do we pay anyway it's another conversation but it's not it's not VMO I'm sure it's electronically and digital but nonetheless it's a long list pages and pages of the things that we pay and the council approves that at every meeting the bills that we paid since the last meeting until this meeting so Council any items on that list that you wish to question again it's all public data it's incredibly transparent if not could I receive a motion to approve the payment of claims as submitted move the approval of payment claim as submitted is there a second second and we do a roll call vote on this because it's that important because our um I don't know if our names are on all these but anyway we're responsible for uh every bill that gets paid so roll call council member fryberg hi council member nrian I council member Nelson I council member Tumi hi mayor case hi all right Mr G I'm gonna let you introduce in a moment but can I um say where it came from so I was up at a ribbon cutting at TJ holigans um I don't know what three weeks ago something they had a site in Prior Lake and now they've opened up where campell's restaurant was up on Shady Oak by the optim headquarters up there and so I was out of ribbon cutting and the owner manager came up and said the state health inspector had visited and said oh by the way you have a deck and concrete outside and table set up you know that no animals are allowed on that deck you can't bring your dog to an outside patio area and I'm like what and I called Mr Geto right away and he's and you're like no one's no one's ever asked that's the bigger interesting question in my mind is that all these years and I'll bet you when you go around to cities all around us no one ever ask that question here's what the state law says you cannot bring a dog or an animal onto a restaurant deck or patio unless the city that the restaurant resides in passes special ordinance statute legislation to approve it so do cities know that I mean I don't anyway so right away we looked in our ordinances and by golly we had never passed that ordinance and I don't know how many of you own dogs sitting in the out so my wife and I actually choose a restaurant for you know can we up in excelsia or whatever can we bring a dog right can we sit outside so anyway tonight yay we are going to pass an ordinance permitting dogs in the city of Eden Prairie if the by the way restaurants don't have to they can say no I me absolutely if they don't want animals on their deck but this allow ows them to allow uh and dogs I assume mostly dogs I don't bring my cat anywhere but dogs on um a deck um and and tonight if we pass this with unanimous it's first and second reading it's effective tonight right so there's um part of the state statute is when you change an ordinance you have to have um unanimous vote to change it like effective immediately otherwise if only three or four of us voted for it then we'd have to come back in two weeks and then do the second reading so we're hopefully going to pass this tonight and put this one to bed and dogs can be permitted in the city of Eden Prairie all right Council any questions I think this is a slam dunk all right May couple I'm sorry go ahead no you acknowledged you yeah that was Mr Geto would you um introduce this no you did introduce it it was great um just a couple things to add um there are some stat there are there is State statutory language about um you know the animal uh the dog um how it how it must behave when it's at the at the at the restaurant in the patio so that's in the cover sheet so obviously um people have to keep their dogs on the leash they're not allowed on tables and chairs and Furnishings um if you come to my house that's not the case but in a restaurant that is the case um so there are rules may but absolutely you are correct we had no idea in Eden Prairie and we've talked to a few other cities where a few of them have no idea and some did have an idea so we found a mix so a few cities nearby us um do have this ordinance as well and some don't and are probably going to do that um when it comes to when it takes effect it need it even though you're skipping a council meeting if there's a unanimous vote for two readings it's not officially effective until it's published in the official newspaper so um TJ Hooligans may need to wait another week or or so but we will be in contact with them tomorrow morning I also want to add that we have chosen to say that the permit that the restaurant must get will be no cost um so we'll manage the program there will be no cost but as we hear of restaurants that may want to do this with patios we will we will get them signed up so clearly whoever the state inspector the health inspector whoever that was had something that she looked up that said we didn't have an ordinance how will we get that information to them yeah we will send that to them and I believe it's actually the county health inspector not the state so we will send this to hanip and County Public Health excellent so council could I have a motion uh to approve both bullet items under this ordinance we move to approve the first and second reading of an ordinance amending city code chapter 5 by adopting a new section 5.80 relating to outdoor dining area dog permits and adopt a resolution approving the summary ordinance and ordering ordering the publication of said summary second any further discussion all those in favor say I I opposed yay for dogs and our community and dog owners um if I uh we're pretty much to the end of our meeting here if I could have the cameras just turn around and look at the students and they can wave and this is always a nice opportunity for your teacher to when you say I went and they said did you really go to the council meeting you can say yes it's it's actually on video um and which um are you all from the same class which is u a government or civics or something or and the teacher is Si nice thank and it's a hymn thank him for um encourage I guess you could have chosen anywhere so thank you for choosing uh our city council you could have chosen don't tell my Schoolboard friends a boring Schoolboard I'm just teasing a Schoolboard meeting or an exciting city council one where we talked about dogs so appreciate you um coming this evening thank you um Council anything else to come before the council this evening oh yes yes you were going to remind me and you did I just wanted to compliment and call out real quickly our city staff for two really big successful events in the last eight days or something but first we had the Citywide open house on Saturday help me October something whatever it was yeah the um andur do we know I mean a thousand people it was amazing um and I would say at that higher than that a couple thousand and I would say at that event the vast majority were Eden Prairie residents I mean if not everybody it was and it was just a great opportunity not only for the city to show off what we do and all the incredible quality people and staff and Equipment but also for our residents to experience their City hopefully they never have to see a lot of it at their house in a house fire or something but just to see what is out there to keep them safe and protected is just phenomenal and then just this last Saturday October 12th maybe I don't yes ises that sound right yes we had the Harvest to Halloween festival um which I don't know it it grew out of sunbonnet days back 30 years ago and then it morphed into yeah I know and then it you're RI us before your time then it morphed into just really a Harvest Festival and maybe three four 500 people were attending and was it right like postco maybe just three four years ago we we opened up to the concept of Halloween oh my gosh that first year 4,000 people came and we were not well I'm not disparaging staff we were not prepared for 4,000 people in all the cars anyway we become incredibly more prepared this year I'm thinking I heard 2,000 Amy so I just want to say thank you to Amy and her staff really uh well for any of the um Civic Park events like that and then I don't know who to thank for the um um the open house but it was phenomenal yeah I mean I just want to mention really quick the open house is really what's great about it is all all of the city departments and our commissions and the city council and a lot of the groups we work with get to share all their their story their information what they do their equipment um so that's all departments and the committee that works on it is represented by all departments um Park and wreck they are the experts at planning events so we run a lot through them so park and wck does Take the Lead just like on the 3rd of July and the Fourth of July you again yes yes Amy and staff and Lori BR just for next year's future reference the open house is here on this site you know with the fire station up there and all the parking lot down below and helicopters were landing and it was pretty cool and then the Harvest to Halloween was down at Riley Park um which again was an incredible site with the barn and the U one the Old Log Cabin and just a a really wonderful event so thank you staff we know that that's extra effort and time and energy and we deeply appreciate that okay anything else is that it okay with that I will entertain a motion to adjourn move to adjourn the city council meeting tonight is there a second second any discussion all those in favor say I I I oppose passes unanimously this meeting is adjourned e for