former legislator. We have and um pastor Rod, how do we even begin to describe former uh Mr. uh pastor chaplain of the city, you know, uh all here for uh Steve Shuy, which is um pretty exciting. So, um again, um that'll be the second agenda item. So, um and you know, the rules are, and this really came out of uh Nancy Lukan's administration, so sorry if you don't like it, but once you're in the room, you can't leave until the end of the meeting. that was something really important to her. Um I I've kind of just gone along with it. So um sorry you can't leave. Um no if but when you get up get out get up tastefully you know when you all walk out on us. So um looks like one minute and then we'll get started. What do you want to be drinking? Tuesday, September 7th. 2nd. I knew it in my brain. September 2nd, 2025 meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I alsy and justice for all. For those of you with uh school age children and or grandchildren, you know that today is a pretty exciting day for most public school kids that they started school uh today in the dis our district and the districts around us. This first meeting of September in a sense also starts us off in a way on some type of a calendar not calendar year but a new school year. Um so it's pretty exciting. We've come off a summer schedule where we had one meeting a month and now we'll go back to our regular two meetings. It's customary during this time for me to read an open podium invitation. Open podium is an opportunity for Eden Prairie residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden Prairie city government prior to each council meeting. And these regular council meetings typically occur on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Open podiums occur 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 952-9498412 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. So, prior to our regular council meeting, which will take place in just a few moments, uh we are going to go out of our regular council meeting into uh an HA, housing redevelopment authority meeting. Some cities actually have HAS that are non-counsel members appointed, other groups. We in Eden Prairie, our council is the HR body. So, I'm going to call the HA meeting to order. Um, and the first order, I don't know if I need to gavvel that. I don't think so. The first order of business is to approve the minutes of tonight's HA meeting. Um, I'm sorry, to approve the minutes of the HR meeting, last one we had held back on December 3rd, 2024. Uh council, any uh items to question about those minutes or ask um find out more about or are you okay making a motion to approve them? I will entertain a motion. >> I'll move to approve the H minutes from December 3rd, 2024. >> Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Second order of business then and we're going to be doing two things this evening uh related to levy and that is in September statutory state law says that councils and commissions elected bodies that actually have taxing authority are to set a maximum of what they could levy and then we can go below that when we actually set the levy up in December. We typically don't uh we usually stay to what we set tonight, but tonight we're setting the ceiling and we have to set the H levy as well tonight. That's this item of business. Um so Mr. Gro, I'll turn it over to you. I think I probably stole your thunder, but go ahead. That's okay. You uh that's correct. We the action tonight from the HR perspective is to set that maximum levy. As you know, it's been customary for the HR to have your levy be tied to um staff costs related to the housing and redevelopment authority. As as we say, each and every year we have um many different sources of funds for um actual housing projects. And actually, we could add that we have at least two new sources of funds that um we'll cover at our at future council meetings and at our December uh levy adoption. But in this case, the proposed uh levy for 2026 or that ceiling levy is $230,000. Uh the simple action for you tonight is to pass a resolution to set that um levy at $230,000. and the mayor covered that this is a maximum levy that you can adjust between now and the end of the year. Um but the anticipation is that your next HR meeting would be in December where you would finalize this levy. So Mr. Gro, this is um been creeping up. It's not been moving very quickly. Um, we have former mayor Nancy Lukkins in the audience and Nancy and I believe um, we were part of the council that first set $200,000 and it was $200,000 for over a decade and it was 210 and 220 just is not moving. My only question and I'm not looking for it to be a levy increase tonight. We do have other sources. That being said, um, with the federal government making some, I don't know if you want to call them threats about cuts to CDBG funding, um, and and any other federal monies that might be coming to us are are are getting scarce. So, do we is that is that making us rethink at all? Um, it's too late tonight. I'm okay setting the 230, but are we looking at the possibility we may want to look at even other sources of income if we no longer have access to federal funds? >> Yeah, good question. Not with the levy to answer your question there. I think this was a question you asked at the last council meeting and we don't anticipate not receiving our community development block grant funding, but if we did, we have um the new regional sales tax funding and that is another stream of of money that if we needed to find a source of revenue that would cover uh lost federal dollars, it would be that. Um you could use the levy, but we would not recommend that this year. And the tax, the state tax or the um income sales tax >> the sales tax we'd have to go back through the legislature. >> No, this is the um the state regional sales tax already been adopted that we get a portion of the for housing. >> We can use that for this if we needed to. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh council, any um other questions you have then? Um I would entertain a motion then to adopt this resolution. Move to adopt a resolution approving the proposed 2026 property tax levy to be 230,000 and accepting the proposed 2026 budget of 230,000. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I >> oppose. Unanimous. Um motion to adjurnn from someone. >> Move to adjourn the H meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Okay. >> This the HA meeting is adjourned. Anytime we have high school kids in the audience, they always go, "Yes, this is a short meeting." I'm like, "No, that was the H meeting within the city council. Now we move back into the city council meeting." And Mr. Gro, um, exciting evening. Both a really great donation and then also a proclamation. So, I'll turn it back to you. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor and Council. We are very excited to have a donation that we are going to accept from the uh Hopkins VFW uh post 425. And I would like to turn things over to our park and recreation director Amy Markle. >> Yeah. Thank you, city manor, mayor and council. We have several guests here tonight from the Hopkins BFW Post 425. We have Commander Lonnie Duff and Post Adjunant Martin Adams. And they'll be here to say a few words. Uh but we are very grateful for their donation of $2500. Um that's going to be set towards our natural resource management. And it's a wonderful example of an organization that has really shown up to help with resource management, education, and raising important funds that will help our tax dollars go farther in our stewardship work and managing our prec precious natural resources. The funds will be specifically utilized for the continued development of a tool library that we are starting to build in our natural resource department. Um, and it will include gloves, safety glasses, and other similar supplies. And in these efforts, staff and volunteers will be able to safely address invasive species management, the replanting of native species, and helping to bring the health of the forest back to our conservation areas. Um, so we are thrilled to host the VFW post on September 6 at Birch Island Woods Conservation Area for their national day of service and they chose to do a Buckthornne poll with our Eden Prairie staff and friends of Eden Prairie Parks. Um, so we just like to say thank you to their dedication to the stewardship of these natural resource areas and we're appreciative of all their efforts and their kind donation. if they'd like to come forward and say a few words, please do so. >> Mr. Mayor, council members, uh thank you for having us. Uh it's our pleasure to be here. Um the Hopkins VFW has been around since 1920. Uh so over 100 years. Uh our members are made up of those or community that have served in uniform specifically overseas uh during times of hostility. Um that sense of service that we caused us to join in the first place or maybe get drafted in certain situations. Uh but that sense of service carried on when we took off the uniform of our nation. And our national motto right now is still serving. And so this is one of the ways that we can do that. Right now financially our members are declining as a lot of uh service organizations are. Um but we do have the resources to contribute to the local community and we're proud to do so and thank you for having us here. >> Thank you um Commander Duff and Post Agitant Adams. appreciate you being here and your organization um gives to a lot of great causes around the whole area and I know that several Eden Prairie organizations have already received very the crime fund, the historical society. You just have been very generous. So, we are deeply appreciative. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Do you want um pictures or do you want Yes. [Applause] and Tommy and anybody else that's here with the BFW. Come on. >> He's gonna take first. All right. Um, so Mr. Gro and I had chatted about this. I think I can just maybe go ahead and call Mayor Nancy Tier Lukans up. By the way, once elected a mayor, you are called mayor for the rest of your life as council members are. So, u Mayor Lukans, if you would um I guess come up first, would you think? And then um call Steve up and then we'll bring um everyone up. We have to >> Are you reading the resolution? Uh >> oh. Well, you know, I probably need to read it first. You want to maybe bring Steve up and stand there and I'll read it? >> Yeah. And then we'll we'll have them talk and then we'll maybe do a motion. >> Is that fine? >> Previous one. >> Oh, would you guys just stand there for a second? >> Sure. >> I'm I'm not usually making so many mistakes and you might be making me nervous. I'm not sure. But we need a motion. We need a motion to accept the VFW contribution. So, just stand there and smile. Um, so go ahead and if somebody would make the motion. >> Move to adopt the resolution accepting the donation of 2500 from the Hopkins VFW for natural resource management efforts of our conservation area and parks. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Assuming no further discussion, all those in favor say I. I oppose. Thank you again so much. Now, back to you all. >> Um, all right. So Nancy, I believe you had some Oh, wait. I'm going to read the proclamation first and I think you've got some comments. >> That'd be great. >> Proclamation City of Eden Prairie, Henipin County, Minnesota, Steve Shuy Day. Whereas, now I've got seven or eight whereas statements here. Steve Shuy enthusiastically volunteered to be the CEO and publisher of the Eden Prairie Local News five years ago and has served in that position ever since. And whereas during his tenure, Steve has built up the Eden Prairie Local News website to nearly 200,000 hits a month and almost 4,000 subscribers. And whereas Steve has led a team of primarily volunteers to build an organization that is nationally recognized for excellence. and where Steve has fostered many donations and grants allowing the Eden Prairie Local News to employ two full-time and two part-time employees to cover topics important to the community and where Steve has invested time networking with others in the process of building similar online news stations and communities both nearby and nationally and where Steve initiated the idea of the Eden Prairie Local News hosting a public meeting on artificial intelligence before it was widely discussed and where Steve led the Eden Prairie Local News Voter Guide Project, a hard copy publication delivered to all Eden Prairie residents, enabling voters to make informed decisions in local elections. And whereas during his time, Steve has led the Eden Prairie Local News forward in its mission to create a strong community through informed civic participation. Now therefore be it resolved the Eden Prairie City Council proclaims Tuesday today September 2nd 2025 as Steve Shuy day in the city of Eden Prairie Minnesota runway case mayor Kathy Nelson Mark Fyberg PJ Nan Lisa Tumi [Applause] >> Pretty cool >> pretty Cool. >> Yeah. Put it together. >> Nancy, I'm going to come around with this, but you go ahead and make your statements and I'll just stay in there until you're done. >> I just want to say a few words. Mayor and city council. We all know that by definition volunteers do not get paid. Not because they're worthless, but because they are priceless. And Steve Shuy is an a stellar example of a volunteer who is truly priceless. When Eden Prairie Lo local news was looking for a new leader, we were an underresourced organization. Steve jumped in with both feet, enthusiastically, and passionately performed an unpaid job as CEO publisher of the Eden Prairie Local News. He gave us his heart, his head, and his energies. He didn't have a background in journalism, but he knew the value of nonpartisan hyperlocal news. Steve quickly established relationships with community organizations, learned from other news organizations around the country, and contributed countless hours to making Eden Prairie local news better. He has been a leader regionally, and EPLN has been a model for promoting hyper local news in other communities. I have personally been involved in many, many volunteer organizations. I have never known a volunteer who lived and breathed the mission of the organization as much as you have, Steve. It's been my honor and the honor of a lot of us from Eden Prairie Local News to work with him. He's been a great role model and we would not be where we are today without you. Thank you for making September 2nd Steve Shuy day. You deserve it, Steve. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Thank you so much. [Applause] >> Oh, wait. But we want >> Okay. >> Oh, okay. Everyone else get everyone to get in. >> You might need to get out on the local news. >> Everybody who's been involved with us, please All right. >> We need a wide angle lens for all the people that are impressing. >> Absolutely. Any council that wants to go. >> Okay. [Music] >> Ryan, come on up. >> So, I'm afraid I may need a new hat because my head's swelling from If you want to go back and sit down, Steo will then do that. >> Thanks. >> Just one second. >> Thank you. >> So, just a brief correction. I have not been the publisher for five years. Jennifer Lon preceded me. She was the first publisher and she's actually here tonight as well as Brad Cannam, our our first editor. And I think what that speaks to is this has been a group project right from the beginning. We were founded during the pandemic. Uh we met by Zoom for something like nine months and I didn't know most of the people who were involved when I first got started. Um and I'm glad to say that I know them now. It's been a major um gift to me and to I think the city of Eden Prairie. Local news organizations are declining all over the country and Eden Prairie and particularly some of those of you who have bought ads during the political season or have supported us through payroll deductions can be very proud of what we're doing. So, thank you and thank you to everyone who is involved in this whole process. [Applause] You really are welcome to leave um NY's meeting the way. Um nice to have you back. Mayor Nancy has a stage. Give everybody just a moment here. >> Thanks, Mayor. [Laughter] >> Okay, we'll move on with the approval of the agenda. Um, and I just have one item to add under council member reports. Just a brief mention of the intersection where the hit and run occurred and maybe asking council a request to have staff come back with information that item. Uh council, anything else that you wish to add? If not, is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> I'll move to approve the agenda with your addition with the addition from the mayor. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. All right. Council minutes. we can clump them both together. Uh any um issues, problems, edits, comments that you wish to make about either the workshop or the council meeting held on August 12th? >> If not, is there a motion to approve them both? >> Move to approve the following city council minutes. City Council workshop held Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. City Council meeting held Tuesday, August 12, 2020 25. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Oppos. All right. Moving on to the consent calendar. Again, for people a little bit new to um our council meetings, these are important items, but ones that don't necessarily require further conversation, discussion. However, council, you um can uh ask to have any item uh further explained or you can even pull it for separate voting. Anybody have any questions about any of the items A through I believe it's um O. Is this the corrected version, Rick? >> Yes. Yes, it should be A through >> It is A through N. >> Yeah. A through N. >> Okay. Um if you had read online, I think it was maybe A through um M. Yes. Okay. Yeah. >> Um so any uh items council you wish to further discuss? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve items A to N on the consent calendar. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. All right. Okay. Um Mr. Gretcho, we have um two public hearings this evening. >> Uh we do. Mayor and council. So the uh first public hearing is a uh by Prairie uh Prairie Village by uh HUP Holdings. It's a first reading of an ordinance for a plan district review um with a few waiverss on a half an acre. Uh the applicant is requesting approval to construct approximately 1100 square foot addition um to an existing building at 7815 Terry Pine Court. Um this approximate half acre site is home to the Prairie Village Pet Hospital which will be expanded and remodeled. Um the the the two waiverss requested are for a parking setback and for imperous surface. Uh the plan commission voted 80 to recommend approval to the city council. The applicant is here to provide you uh with an overview of the project and then the applicant and the staff can answer any questions that you may have. um you would need to hold a public hearing, have a resolution for uh the PUD, and then direct staff to prepare a development agreement. Please come forward, give your name and address. >> Good evening, Mayor Case, City Council. My name is Alan Hup. My my home address, 10431 Homeward Hills Road, Eden Prairie, our home for 32 years. Let's see if we get So, I'm pleased to be here this evening to uh discuss our project at the Prairie Village Pet Hospital. Uh this hospital has been in operation full service for over 40 years on Terry Pine Court as you might uh know that location. Um to be honest, not much has changed in 40 years at that that clinic uh structurally and with the property. is pretty much like it was when it was built and we feel it's really time uh to grow and kind of reimagine what the space might be. Before I go into the detail, I just wanted to introduce myself a little bit more. As I mentioned, we've been my family and I in Eden Prairie for 32 years. Our three children went through all the schools here, four years apart, 12 years at Eden Prairie High School. Swadzinski was very happy when those guys moved on. Um, we're very involved with the helping paws organization, raising service dogs. And I'll add that my wife is a master gardener and she hosted one of the 10 uh tours this summer and we had over 700 people visit our house on Homeward Hills Road. So, it was a great privilege and I don't know what happened to our slides. There we go. Uh, my back my background itself is a business professional. uh when I retired uh about 15 years ago, we got involved in real estate and so we're an investor and developer in real estate right now. Uh we purchased the pet clinic last summer and um we're excited about it and about the potential. I really wanted to point out you can see here one of the projects that uh I designed and was involved with is in St. Paul and it's an infill project near the corner of Dale in Selby if you happen to know that part of St. Paul. The lot had been vacant for 60 years, had been abandoned. I thought there was a better use. So, we worked with the city over three years to get entitlement uh to build what became cottages on Dale, which is a five unit infill project uh targeting the missing middle. We have solar. It was it's sustainable and it was awarded the top project award by finance and commerce. And I point that out only in the sense that I take pride in this kind of work and this development work. And if we take this on at the vet clinic, we want it to be done and done well. Uh, real quick on the project, I think you might be familiar. Uh, city manager Gutshaw uh, reviewed it. Uh, we're we're going to remodel the existing space about 2,000 square feet and add about,00 square foot of new space to it. Uh, the tenant for that property is a company called Carevette and they're a national operator. They have about 200 clinics around the country. Uh the original veterinarian at that clinic sold the Carevette about four years ago. Uh I have found them to be a great company to work with. They're very supportive, very collaborative in doing it. Uh that clinic is one of their top performers. Um and therefore they're pretty enthusiastic about seeing ways that can grow. Um the the space, you can get a visual here. We're adding about 50, we're increasing the space about 50%. It's really designed to increase the workflow, the uh surgical areas, the pet treatment areas to make it more welcoming, to make it more efficient. The clients facing experience will be improved and to continue to position the vet clinic as one of the leading clinics in Eden Prairie. And you may be aware that we've had a couple, if for those of you with pets, which many of us have, uh there's been a couple new clinics move in, a couple new ones have moved to new spaces. We've had a couple new emergency clinics move in. And so it's a pretty competitive space. So obviously, we need gets this one um up to to the standards. Um we're going to uh make sure that it uh is complimentary to the existing use patterns and the comprehensive plan in the city. Uh as I indicated, we've been it's been a very collaborative process including with working with the fire department. Uh making sure that we had a clear understanding of the fire suppression requirements for the city. um been working with planning of course and uh that has been a I just want to say a very supportive group, a very proactive group in helping us kind of work through this and think through what the possibilities are and um I've been through this a few times before and it does it isn't always that way in doing it. Um PUP Holdings, my company will fund the development of this project and in turn Carvet will agree to a new long-term lease. It's the structure behind it. Um there will be two waiverss required. One around permeability and one one around parking setbacks. Not parking spaces but parking setbacks. So the this visual I think is really telling. Yes, we'll need a waiver around permeability. But our lot which is in the lower right hand corner in blue, you can see a lot of green area. You can see a lot of grass in that northeast corner. Um, and you look at that compared to the adjacent buildings which are primarily parking lots for the most part with very little green. Even though we'll require a waiver, we will still have much more green space uh to handle the groundwater intrusion than most of our neighbors. The other one is around uh the parking setback. And this basically says we're going to have to when we expand the parking from nine spots to 14, we are going to need to uh use some of the space that's been reserved for a parking setback. And the new spaces are shown in green on this slide. Uh and it's particularly the ones on the right or the east side that we're referring to that are going to have to go into the setback. It really doesn't impact anything to be honest. It's really adjacent to the driveway into the property. It'll be a little bit closer to the rideway. Um, but I think everybody is supportive. That's a to good use. So, those are the two. Uh, that's all I wanted to have to cover. I'm happy to answer any questions. Council, you can always um ask questions after we hold the public hearing. >> So, stay near and we'll call you back up. >> I just have one quick question, >> please. I I just noticed um looking at the minutes from the pling commission that they recommended the retaining wall be replaced. Are you going to be replacing that? >> We will. >> Okay. >> That I mean I pause right because that was under discussion and consideration. I think in the end we decided it would need to be one other thing that was added as well is the rain garden is part of the kind of permeability strategy that also was kind of in this area of consideration. The city has come back and made that a requirement and we're that is now part of our plan. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Great. >> Okay. >> Anything else for now? Okay. Thank you. So, this is a public hearing. If there's anyone in the audience wishing to discuss this issue tonight before the council, please come forward. Seeing none, uh, council, I'm assuming you can you're comfortable going ahead and closing the public hearing and possibly making the motion or you don't have to if you have other questions, but you can still ask questions after we make if someone would make the motion then close the public hearing and then uh three bullet points as well. I'll move to close the public hearing and adopt a resolution for a PUD concept review on 46 acres and approve the first reading of an ordinance for a PUD district review with waiverss on 46 acres and direct staff to prepare a development agreement incorporating staff and commission recommendations and council conditions. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Council, is there any further discussion? Any questions you want to ask of the proponent or um staff? Okay, let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Passes unanimous. 5-0. Welcome. Welcome to the expansion. Thank you so much. And when you purchased it within the last year or two. >> Yeah. Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, you bet. Mr. Etcho, we have a um an ordinance, first reading of an ordinance uh impacting the lower Minnesota River wershed district. >> Yes, we do. Thank you, mayor. We have a request um by the lower Minnesota watershed district for a zoning district change. The watershed district actually uh received a grant um to do some stabilization work um some something we're all looking forward to on on the Minnesota River. And they received a grant and they plan on doing some work. This is something that's been talked about for quite quite a while. And so they have agreed um to purchase 4.2 acres of private property of 16 acres. And that um that involves um a zoning district change of um rural to parks and open space. So, the request before you tonight is a um a resoning, a simple reasonzoning, and that requires a public hearing and then the first reading of an ordinance to reszone 4.2 acres from rural to parks and open space. the um administrator of the lower Minnesota River Watershed District is here to provide you with a presentation on this proposal and uh she and staff could answer any questions you have on the zoning proposal. >> Great. Welcome. Give your name and address. >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Linda Lumis. I'm the outgoing administrator for the lower Minnesota River Watershed District. This is hopefully we'll get this project done by the end of the year so I can retire. This has been on our table since I started with the district in 2013 and it uh sort of preceded me. Um address of the watershed we're at uh 10 112 East Fifth Street in the city of Chaza. I happen to live in Golden Valley. So, um I'm here tonight making this resoning request because we are spending tax dollars to stabilize this section of the river and we're getting a grant from the state of Minnesota. We felt that the property should be in public ownerships for continued maintenance and um the construction of the project. So that's why we purchased this section of property and because it doesn't meet your zoning requirements for agricultural because the lot size is too small. We're requesting the reszoning to park and recreation. So um you've seen in your packets I assume the location of the river u or of the project. It's uh what we call river mile 19.6. Um, I'm not sure how I work this. There we go. And this is the extent of the project area along the river. It's a a bend in the river that if you look in the historical photos, you can see that it's continually migrated toward the east in the river and um there's been some obstructions placed in its way which we are managing in a different manner so that the river can continue. But in the meantime, we want to stabilize this section of the river. And um there we go. Wh I turned it off there. You can see how much the river has migrated to the north towards the homes on Riverview Road. The red line that you see there is um a previous outline of the riverbank. And there used to be a trail at the top of this bluff that has since collapsed because of the erosion uh the river is causing. And it doesn't really look like much from above. And so we had some drone footage taken and you can see how the erosion um in this area is uh not very pretty. And so we're going to stabilize that area of the river bank. Hopefully, it will slow down the erosion there and allow the river to continue its move eastward. And I think that might be Oh, there's another view. You can see that orange netting. I think that was to keep people from falling over the edge because that's where the trail has collapsed. So, we're hoping we're bidding the project this week. We're hoping to award a bid in October and start construction in December. Um but in the meantime, we're hoping to get the area reszoned and the property subdivided. >> Great. Council, any u questions immediately? If not, you can always ask. >> Yes. I've got a quick question that I'm not sure you have an answer to judging by what you just told us, but is there any hope that actually this will fix the pro problem with the river or given the curve in the river ultimately the river will do what it wants. >> We're hoping the river does what it wants and continues its eastward progression and leaves this area alone. We're That's why we're stabilizing it to try to make the river go where it's supposed to now. Um >> excellent. >> Yeah. >> Um that is where I believe uh Mr. Ellis in 1987, I know you weren't here, but I'm sure you've heard the stories where the wash out occurred. Um and actually we had um our sewer line blown out, our massive sewer line that leads from all homes in Eden Prairie across the river into Savage and it blew out and it was um uncontrolled. I won't go into more detail. You can use your imagination for um six weeks or something. It was a long time. Uh and that problem got fixed. But the trail you speak of used to be a road and it used to be a bus route. I've actually people my age that are friends that attended school in Eden Prairie in the early 60s and that road was their bus route but that has long washed out and um became a walking trail but then it collapsed into the river. So I'm thrilled that you are going to work at stabilizing this for those historically minded as well. That's where the old original town of Henipin that had been platted in in 1854, 18556 was um in that whole section right there and went actually a little bit west but went up the the bluff. >> Um so it is a very historic area of um Eden Prairie and um to see it um you know washed out is is troubling but it's sounds like you've got at least what you're planning you've got it under control for what you'd like to have it do. So, >> we hope we, you know, we we've got it designed and and we've got the majority of the permits in place. We're still working on getting the city's draining drainage and grading and erosion control permits. Um, >> you know, we're hoping to get all of that done by the time we award the bid. We need a contractor to get, you know, our construction storm water permit done. Um, >> I'm sure we'll help all we can because this is a tremendous advantage to the city and to our residents down south. And we have done an archaeological review of the area too that was required um for the permit from the core of engineers. So >> yeah, chief um there was a village in the 1830s and 40s right down to the east of that a little bit. There was a lot going on in this >> area slamp property there was >> by the way there still is a an ouary there a hill about 15 feet tall and it's got a base what you know all this but 20ome feet and we believe 3 to 400 bodies are buried it's a really rare um first people indigenous uh Indian ashuary but all that's it's very historical that entire region so all right um thank you we'll call you back up, I guess, if we have questions. But, um, so this is a public hearing and the public hearing is is on um changing the zoning from rural to parks and open space on just this four acres of land so it can be used by the watershed district to stabilize the river. So, anyone wishing to speak before the council tonight on this particular topic in the agenda? Seeing none, council, I think we're ready maybe to go right ahead and and make um the motion to close it and also make the full motion. >> Close the public hearing and approve the first reading of an ordinance for a zoning district change from rural to parks and open spaces on 4.2 acres. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. All right. Passes. Thank you for sure. Oh, there I lost you. Thanks for all that you're doing and uh your group and we really appreciate our watershed districts. So, appreciate uh you and um your team that's going to be hopefully working to fix this. All right, I was an error. There's a third here. Um it's um fairly um rudimentary I think um or peruncter but um go ahead and um introduce the CDBG um caper evaluation report. >> Uh yes mayor and council. This is um a requirement of of HUD. It's the first of two public hearings that we are required to hold as part of our performance evaluation report. Yeah, I think I think in this um cover sheet alone, I think there's like seven acronyms in here. So, CDBG, HUD, um annual financial report, caper, you name it. I there's quite a few. However, >> we have to hold a public hearing. That's the only action you need to take. simply hold a public hearing, which is the first of two, to allow the public to comment um on the city's accomplishment toward meeting our five-year goals that are defined in our consolidated plan, which is in the packet. Um, anyone could find that online or find that in the packet. Um, we have to publicize that and publish it. So you could see quite a bit of detail in terms of many of the um projects and and processes we have and goals in terms of meeting um a lot of our affordable housing in Eden Prairie and a lot of the programs that we have. Um, so the 2024 program year began uh last July and it ended in uh June 30th of 2025 and the fifth uh grant period um is 20 to 2024. So this is the first of two public hearings, but we just need to hold the public hearing this evening. And and the federal government's purpose is uh a piece a big piece of accountability on the money that they send out to communities across the nation that if if a group or if a resident felt this council was not or the city was not spending federal money the way that this person thinks it should. This would be their opportunity to keep us accountable from a federal government perspective. Is that is that fair? >> Yeah, that's an assumption, but I I would assume so. So I would assume somewhere in in HUD guidelines for all cities throughout the entire country they want people to be able to have public comment on how each community is using their dollars and this is the way they can collect comment. So I'm probably repeating what you said but yes that's that's my that would be a good assumption. >> So this is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address us on how we're doing on our uh CDB 2024 CDBG um community development block grant spending um and give us feedback? Seeing none, council, all we're doing now is closing the public hearing. There's no other action that we need. Would there someone make a motion? >> I'll move to close public hearing. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. All right. Moving on to payment of claims. Um so this is again the list of all the different expenditures uh in classic sense of the checks that we've cut since our last meeting. Council, any um items of spending that you wish it's pages and pages long that caught your eye and you wish to find out more about? If not, um, is there a motion to approve the payment of claims? >> Move to approve the payment of claim as submitted. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Council member Fyberg. >> I. >> Council member Nion. >> I. >> Council member Nelson. >> I. >> Council member Tumi. >> Hi. >> Mayor Casease. >> I. All right. I think we're down to council member reports. Um all of us were um shocked and saddened um by the uh hit and run that occurred uh at one of the crosswalks that led into Pheasant um Feeasant Hills. Is it Pheasant Woods Park? Yep, I got it. Pheasant Woods Park on Mitchell Road. Um, and of course with a lot of uh press coverage on that incident, um, some residents out on Next Door and other social media raised the concern that maybe this was a problematic intersection or maybe the city should be doing something about this particular intersection. But I think like if you're like me and I'm sure you are or were thinking um well how many crosswalks do we have in the city and do we have any other problematic intersections and and as our staff which I found out they are acutely aware and have been studying and have all kinds of data this is um even though the tragic nature of this always catches us by surprise the idea of what's going on at any of our crosswalks does not catch us by surprise because our public works staff is amazingly organized and plotting out. We have 380 crosswalks I think in the city. Um and so I thought I I would ask right now if it with if it's okay with all of you that that um Mr. Ellis would simply uh give a little couple comments about this incident or maybe this particular intersection, but then I think if it's okay with you that the five of us could ask him to come back because I'm assuming he's not super well, he probably is prepared. It's all in his head, but it would be better to give him a little heads up. um to have them come back to our next meeting with a brief report on all of our crosswalks across the city and what's the criteria and when are are there some that are more concerning all that just give us give us a lot of information and feedback so we're better prepared to talk to our residents I think if that's okay with all of you but Mr. Ellis if you want to just give a couple brief comments just really connected right to this incident and right to this intersection. >> Yep certainly. So, um, Mayor Kay, city council, um, you're right, we do have 388 marked crosswalks in Eden Prairie, and we have about, um, 5,200 total intersections in Eden Prairie. So, you know, the question of, well, when do we decide what type of treatments to use at intersections when we get concerns, when we as staff have concerns? And to answer that question, it really started in 2023 when this city council adopted our first ever pedestrian guideline treatments. Um, this was something that not many cities have, but we felt that there was enough requests from the public that we needed to have a more technical data-driven response to when we do certain type of treatments and for what reason. So, in 2023, the city council did adopt those standards. And those standards look at things like vehicle speeds, vehicle volumes, pedestrian volumes, the age of pedestrians. If a child is crossing, we count that as twice. If it's a disabled person, we count that as two pedestrians. If it's an elderly individual, we count them twice. So, it's age specific. It's also looking at whether the crossing serves a school, a park, a transit station because we place a higher priority on those. And also looks at the number of lanes that a pedestrian is trying to cross to get from one side of the street to the other. Now, these standards were borrowed, I'll be honest, from the city of Boulder. Boulder, Colorado for the last 20 years has been on the leading edge of progressive treatment of pedestrian crossings. and they've really they've done a lot of studying. They've done a lot of research on this. Most cities that are trying to follow some type of systematic um guidelines or policy on when to use certain treatments follows Boulder. In fact, if you were to look at the city of Adina, they've got the almost the exact same policy. We've borrowed it from the city of Boulder. And there's a handful of other cities in the state of Minnesota that have also done that. So, that's where a lot of our standards have come from. We've tried to tailor them unique to our city because we are a little bit different. Um, I do want to point out that right now we are in the process of collecting new data for this intersection at Mitchell and and and Chestnut because it's been three years since we've evaluated it last. So, we want to see if anything's changed. So, we're out collecting some PED data, some some vehicle data, and we should have that by the end of the day, uh, the end of the week to maybe provide a future update to the city council. But I will say that when we did this last evaluation in 2022 and we ran it through what our standards today, it would tell us based on the speed of traffic out there, the posted speed limit, the number of pedestrian crossings, all of those things that I mentioned that the appropriate treatment would be a marked crosswalk with the roadside warning signs for the pedestrian and the inroad stop for pedestrian crosswalk signs. Now, all of those things are out there today and they've been out there. I think that mark that crosswalk has been marked at least since 2020. That's as far back in the aerials as I could see it. The inroad stop for pedestrian and crosswalk signs. That's something that we started implementing four, five, six years ago. So, that would be the newest feature that is being employed out there currently. Um, when we look at our standards or EDIA standards or Boulder standards because they're really all the same and we get asked, well, why don't we do an RRFB, the rectangular rapid flashing beacon, why isn't that the treatment that we're using here? And I would say that based on our current guidelines to do that, the speed would need to be posted at 40 to 45 miles per hour. We'd need to have at least three lanes versus the two lanes we have now, and it's posted a 30 m per hour speed limit. or we would need to almost double the volume of traffic. We currently based on our last count from 2022 had 6,700 vehicles per day. That would need to go up to 12,000. Those are the types of criteria that you begin to recommend the next step of treatment, which would be the RRFB. And two years ago, three years ago, we weren't there. I'm fairly confident we're probably not going to be there now. Um, but we're going to evaluate it nonetheless. But I did want to point out that there might be another option forward if the council was interested in seeing more of these RRFBs being installed um for a location like this and that option might be that we give new credence to the roadway classification. This roadway is a major collector and we could assign some type of points to roads that have that higher functional classification placing more criteria on that or higher criteria for the volume of traffic and that would result in more RFBS now meeting the guidelines. Now, how many? I don't know. We would need some time to evaluate this, but it could mean 20, 30, 40, maybe 50 new intersections that today do not meet the criteria for an RFB would then meet that. It would be warranted. Um, so I'd like to spend some time to find out where is that where is that cut off? Where should we really be looking at an RFP if we're not happy with where that criteria is today? Because an RFB on average will cost about $40,000. So, if we're all of a sudden adding 50 new intersections, that would introduce a need of maybe $1.5 million to install all those RFB. So, I want to be careful in what we would come back as a re recommendation to the council if you were so inclined to take a new fresh look at that. In the meantime, understanding that there is a lot of emphasis being placed right now for an immediate change to that intersection, I think what we can do is I brought an example of it. This is just a a bright sign fluorescent yellow high retroreflectivity um sheeting material that can go on the post that holds the current signs that are out there today with the warning arrow signs down announcing that this is a pedestrian crossing. So, we've ordered these. We can have these installed. It will help with the daytime and nighttime visibility of that crosswalk, which is what we're hearing is the visibility is maybe lacking. We could also add a northbound direction advanced warning sign that's announcing that ahead there is a crosswalk and that works in tandem with at the crosswalk the arrow sign say this is where the crosswalk is. So we can work to get that done now while we're taking time to maybe re-evaluate come back to council with some options for your consideration and decide what do we want to do maybe long term with our RFBs. Do we want to lower the standard for the implementation of these and to what degree? So, um that's really the report that I have for you today and announcing some of the changes that we can make immediately. And with that, I'll stand for any questions, >> council. Um any uh questions or comments? >> Sure. I have a question. Um when you talk about changing the criteria for the our RFPs, get that right. Um, could you actually would you include like at at certain intersections the number of accidents and the types of accidents that have occurred? >> Yes, that we could certainly add that as a criterion. Yes, we could. That's currently not in there now, but we could add that. >> I got a question if I could. >> Sure. Go ahead, >> Mr. Ellis. Uh, question I got. Could you hold up that poll that poll again >> that Yeah. >> Yes. Now the question I got uh was the concern was the night drive in there. Okay. Now in your opinion will that greatly increase the visibility at night or minimally you know I'm not putting you I'm not trying to put you on a spot. I'm >> the feedback that we've received we've installed these on always stop signs when we've had complaints that people are not seeing the stop sign. They're blowing through the stop sign. So, we have added this and we've received positive feedback from the people who have called in to complain about that. So, I do believe they're effective. I think when you add up the total square footage of additional reflective material, you might be increasing it by 10, 15, 20%. So, I think they can be effective. Yes. >> Sounds like a good improvement. >> Agreed. Well, one of my hopes you've completely fulfilled and that is just to show again that our city staff led by you in terms of public works are have been and are fully knowledgeable and working constantly for all of our roadway intersections and crosswalks to be as uh up to-date and knowledgeable and and helpful in terms of the safety of our residents. So, thank you. I mean, you really know what you're doing. Um and again, we weren't um we're always caught by surprise when a tragic accident occurs. U but in terms of um this intersection rising to a level that we've been watching it, it never has. I mean, it's only the second accident in six years. And at the end of the day, this accident primarily results or resulted from someone that we don't know the speed, but they did a hit and run and took off and they're culpable for that. that that's really that could happen anywhere, but I mean it's nothing directly related based on historical data to this intersection, but so thank you for that and whatever you can bring back to us that would be great. And I just just want to point out to our residents too that I know that you're not in any way saying that all 388 crosswalks would even someday get these blinking light $40,000 um fixtures. But if they did, that's 15.5 million. And we're the next item we're going to about ready to approve a a $66 million budget. You can imagine what a $15 million hole would punch into that budget if we were to do something like that. So thus, back to you and the it has to meet criteria. It has to be a situation that it makes sense that these five or these seven or these 10 rise to that level. And just I believe I that it's accurate that the the one on the most easterly side on Anderson Lakes Parkway closest to 169. People have complained about that for years because you're coming around that bin and it's blind and there's a crosswalk there and we are I believe putting one of these R >> RFP >> RFPs there because it rose to that's a very busy intersection. It's a blind intersection. We probably have historical track record data. I mean, so we're doing this to our taxpayers. We're doing this in the most reasonable and faithful to our taxpayers way. Even at the same time, we try to make our city as safe as possible as we can. Um, and that's why we have phenomenal staff. So, thank you. Thank your department as well. Council, you okay with that? Then, um, in the next meeting, um, Mr. Ellis will come back with additional data about the whole system and what that might look like and maybe even some of these crosswalks that that are determined to rise to the level that they need an RRFP. >> Yeah, I want to say yes, I do. I want to, you know, double your confidence in your staff, you know, keeping our city safe and finding what needs to be done. Um, we've known for a long time that we have an excellent staff and we have the greatest confidence in you. >> Totally. All right. Um, Mr. Go, we are now down to the report of city manager. >> Uh, thank you, mayor. Yes. Our last major action item is uh adopting a resolution approving the preliminary tax levy and budget. As you remember, first item of the evening was preliminary levy and budget for HR. So now we're to that point where we're considering the city's budget and levy. I have a few I have a brief presentation to go through. U many council members you the council members have seen many of these slides because we we covered this throughout the summer. But as we get toward um the end of the year, there'll be a much more robust presentation at the end of the year. But as you set your ceiling, as you call it, your preliminary levy, um this would be a good time to go through um some of the work that you've done already. Your process to date, as we as we discuss, um it's a two-year process, and the 2-year budget process actually began last winter. Uh it begins with departments uh putting together citywide work plans. All 30 plus divisions of all six departments put work plans together. And as the council begins to um begin to assemble their strategic goals and we get to together to discuss um the quality of life survey results that we receive every two years. um the the budget process begins to take hold. We also get um results from our auditors, from our prior year and our financial results. And then in the spring um all the managers and directors uh put their budgets together and the council uh receives first consideration of that in the summer months and that brings us to uh the September date. We actually have till the end of the month to set the preliminary levy um to send to the county. There are some goals that we have for this two-year um budget and they're similar to what we have in previous years and they're they may seem simple but they're very important and and I'm going to allude to that when you see the slide on the quality of life survey and that is how we maintain and continue to maintain a high quality level of city everyday services for our residents at a reasonable tax impact. act. It's a simple sentence, but there's a lot that goes into that. Um secondly, when you when you drill down into the financial position of the city, it's very important for us to have a balanced budget to have uh uh finance a fund balance many different fund balance policies to conservatively estimate our revenues and our expenditures and also to review all our fees annually and to have conservative and comprehensive long range planning. This is a hard slide to see in a presentation and there's a nice uh video that we have um online and we've played at the workshop and we're going to play in December. Um but what it says is in our survey that our residents took that's statistically significant. Um, we rank near the top in I think there's what 20 different areas of um, regular everyday city services in the top two or three. And there are some areas of city services were in the top five nationally. When I say city services, we're talking about police services, fire services, um street plowing services, park maintenance services, street repair services, um the ability to get around our city, the ability to feel safe in our city, some of the top ratings uh in the state and nation, and we also had some key findings um that our surve uh survey company provided for us. The point being that the city council directed the city staff to bring back a budget that said basically keep it that way. Um, and what I said earlier at a reasonable tax impact. There are some highlights in the budget uh that I just want to quickly go over uh department by department citywide. We want to be able to continue to enhance our city events and have increased city engagement, invest in our facilities, in our technology, in parks and recreation. We want to continue to expand some of the contracts we have in parks and natural resources. We were, and you're going to see this when I go through some of the line the line item chart, that we were able to um save quite a bit of money in our street maintenance costs by removing some of those costs from the general fund. We continue to invest in sustainability. We're planning for our next comprehensive plan process and community development. We continue to um focus on housing, affordable housing, housing policies, housing programs. We are entering in 2026 another year of elections. So the administration budget fluctuates yeartoyear um because every other year is an election year. Um, our focus in the police department is to maintain our staffing, enhance our recruitment and training. And you know very well what our focus has been in the fire department with our enhanced and updated staffing model. We've um discussed that at length. Overall, the plan is um to be fiscally prudent, budget conscious, and to maintain service levels. And there are many examples um that I have given and will give at future meetings how we're actually um saving money in our budget um and in providing savings and efficiencies but also providing service at a high level in terms of our revenue budget. This is broken down into the different program areas are and you'll see later on that the proposed tax levy portion of the overall revenue budget is under 6% but if you look at the total revenue that the city's looking at bringing in in the in in the general fund, it makes up about the largest portion of our revenue. It's about 75% of our revenue, but it's just one line item in in the revenue. We also have obviously license and permit revenue. We have intergovernmental revenue. We don't actually have a lot of intergovernmental revenue. When you look at a $63 million revenue budget and your intergovernmental revenue or sources of revenue outside the city from other governments is, you know, $2.5 million. Um, that's not a lot because we do not get LGA, but actually those are grants. So, our staff has done a good job of getting grants. A lot of that has to do with grants. In the area of charges for services, that's actually seeing an increase in revenue from our community center. So, that's a good thing. Um investment income, it's not a large amount of money. It's a large percent because we're actually seeing um positive um investment income with interest rates. So, there's a fluctuation there with the the revenue budget. uh with the expenditure budget um a lot of different um amounts in the department. So I mentioned the reason the administration budget is is above 5% this year and it's barely above 2% proposed in 2027 is because of the elections. The community development budget is actually flat this year because um there are a few positions and efficiencies uh that we have found positions not being filled immediately and some efficiencies that we're able to have this year. The police and fire budget I mentioned um the the fire budget with the increased staffing that they're doing. A lot of the police expenditure increases are due to um the increased operating costs that we are going to have with the remodel and I'll get to the debt in a little bit. The public works budget for uh next year in the general fund is actually decreasing. Um so again I this pointing out here if you think about our budget it shows you that we examine um every line item. You don't look at each department and say add 2%, add 2 and a half%, add 3%. Every line item is unique and different. Some areas um actually decrease quite a bit. And parks and recreation is is is pretty stable there at 3.9%. I think I pointed out um I'm not we're not saying that this is um a public safety budget, an investment in public safety, but I do note that if you took out um public safety, the overall budget would only be increasing about 2%. So, um the majority of the increase is um due to public safety and obviously that is a majority of where um the city's general fund spending is as that obviously is a a 247 operation in terms of the property tax impacts when we move from the the revenue and expenditure budget into property tax impacts. And again, we we'll talk I'll we will have a lot more data at the end of the year as people begin to receive their tax statements and we know where um these final numbers are going to land. But we have a pretty good idea in early September where some of these tax capacity and tax rate numbers are going to land. But we continue to see an increase in the city's market value. I mean, if you look at just in a 4-year period of time, um, the tax capacity, which is a function of the city's market value multiplied by all the state classification rates, continues to increase. And the rate of taxation, and I'm going to show comparisons to other cities in a little bit, continues to be very flat. In fact, if you look back four years ago, the city's tax rate is almost identical to what it was um four years ago. And um the tax levy is uh just over $50 million. In terms of the budget changes, the what changes from 2026 from 2025, you can see that the majority of the changes are in employee wages and benefits. And that makes sense because we are a person-driven organization. The majority of the work we do is service driven and it's people driven. Um there's actually in certain areas a decrease in um some of our costs such as utility costs. So we are seeing some savings in uh utility costs in certain areas for 2026. When you get into the um the levy itself and the budget, we're looking and this is where this is actually better news than what the city council saw at a workshop in the summer. We're um proposing uh a levy at 5.6%. um after you factor in the debt levy and the keell or the fiscal disparities. When I talked about the uh police and city hall remodel, that's where the the almost $500,000 uh debt levy for next year comes in. That's a 20% increase for next year. And as you know, um we've been planning this for almost 10 years. Even though we have a large amount of other debt coming off, this was a large enough project where we're we're still seeing um a pretty big bump in in 26. And then from 27 on, you're going to see a debt levy, as you can see in 27 that is, you know, three and a half or lower. So, this is the only year that you're going to see that large debt bump. And I would not even pay attention to the proposed levy for next year because that assumes a capital improvement levy that we may not have. So if we don't need to do a capital improvement levy next year, that will be well under 6%. But that's just an assumption for 27. But the debt levy is pretty accurate. Um, so again, it's pretty impressive that we are planning for a 20% increase in the debt levy and we're still able to have a 5.6% proposed levy this year for 26. Last year it was 5.8. And in terms of what we know other cities are doing, um, we seem to be of comparable cities the lowest and the average seems to be running at about 8 and a half%. We do not, as you know, build our levy or budget around what anybody else is doing. >> We ask around after we put our numbers together. You know that this is the ceiling. So many of these cities may lower their number. So when I come back in December, they still may lower their number because those cities have meetings. But I do know um anecdotally some cities might say we're at nine right now. We hope to be at, you know, eight or seven. I don't know if they're going to be down to 5.6, six. But that's anecdotally what I hear in terms of um a 10-year history. I think comparably um the value proposition is pretty good here in terms of our 10-year history of our levies. And in terms of our tax rate, um again I always say with tax rate and I'll show many different examples in December. Take any value of any home, any value of any home in any of these cities. Take any value of any home, multiply it by the percent you see on the chart, and that's the tax that you get. So the rate is a very important determinant of the city tax and we are fourth lowest of all cities in Henipin County above 10,000 population >> and that is a 25 tax rate. Obviously we don't know the 26 tax rate. Couple more >> go back that just a second. I just want to point out that often um I I you've heard me say this, but I think you all have too, that if you take your home and pick it up and go plop it in another city. Now, there's a school district, I mean, all kinds of other factors, but just the municipal city tax, all cities on this chart right here, except Pedina and Maple Grove and Plymouth, you'll pay more. >> Correct. And the other thing I say, mayor, too, is these are all in Henipin County. So, you're all going to pay the Henipin County tax because someone might come and say they might pick a pity uh city in Shaka or in Carver County or Scott County and then I have to figure out, >> right, >> what is the county tax? But the county tax here is the same. You're right. School district is different. But that's correct. You are correct. And then a couple more slides related to what we see the impact coming up and and I think a lot of people know this is coming because this has been in the newspaper and I've seen a couple TV news stories on this as well. Our estimated market value is increasing and that's a positive thing. The median valued home in our city continues to increase. In less than 10 years, the median valued home in Eden Prairie has gone from just over 350,000 to well over 550,000. Again, that's an asset. I mean, if you had a investment portfolio and it's grown, I don't know what is that 50 60% or something in a 10-year period. That's a positive thing. However, what's happening right now, at least what everyone in the not only Twin Cities, but the sevenount metro area is going to see is that the burden of the taxation, not just in Eden Prairie, but throughout the metro area may fall a little bit more on residential property. And that is mainly going to be, and this is the case of Eden Prairie, but it's going to be everywhere. And that is because commercial mainly commercial property values have fallen. So this chart shows you the makeup of the different classes of property in Eden Prairie. So blue is residential. Most of our property value is in residential. Um that orangeish is commercial and then apartments are are the lower one. for the first time in the history of Eden Prairie, the the value of residential property is highest uh or the the the tax capacity is highest um because the value of commercial property is lower. So, and I think the mayor, you've said this, regardless of what our levy is, you have a certain pie, and however you cut that pie, residential property taxpayers are going to have to pay more their share of the pie. Um, a two almost 2% jump in tax capacity for residential may not be a lot, but I think it's and I wish I had I should have written the number down, but it's something like it's like $30 million or something in residential value. It's a lot of value in terms of property. So, um, that being said, that $558,000 home, even though the levy may be going up, you know, 5.5%, um, that median valued home is going to have to pay $142 more or a little over 8%. Um, actually, the good news here is that number that you were shown this summer was closer to 10, so it's come down. Um, but look at look at the apartment and commercial property. Um, I'm sure the Chamber of Commerce and a lot of business properties are are looking at um, you know, drops of 3 and a half to 4% and apartment properties are flat. So, this is happening everywhere. Um, as I wrap up, and I do want to wrap up the the next the next piece of the process following preliminary levy approval is notices will be would be mailed out once the council sets the preliminary levy by the end of September in early November. Um, there you have another workshop where you're going to continue to discuss a budget and go through all your enterprise funds including utility operations. And then in that tax truth and taxation notice, December 2nd, you're setting as the public meeting and the potential final adoption of the 2026 budget. And I can certainly um answer any questions that you have related to this, but again, this is something that you've been discussing for the past several months. >> Thank you. Um very thorough. And again, council, this evening, we're just setting the maximum, the ceiling. Um, it can always come down. Typically, in the past, we haven't. Our staff does a phenomenal job of bringing really accurate numbers based on two years of work um in actuality to this. And Mr. Gro, I know um at our workshops, we've seen numbers like this. I think it might be um a good thing if at our December meeting you also uh had numbers and gave us numbers of what would it look like if our budget went up zero. Well, taxes based on that last slide where it showed an 8% would still uh whatever it is go up three or four and yet it would decimate the services that people have come to so appreciate in Eden Prairie. 0% budget increase likely, not to sound the big alarm, but would result in a cut in police officers, fire off um department personnel. Um possibly road plowing, uh road maintenance on different fund, but I mean there it would impact negatively our quality of life, which is exactly what we moved in. and our taxes would still go up. And that and and that's the piece I mean we are doing our really best and thank you staff at being as responsible as we can be and I think the proof is in the pudding and I'm not disparaging other cities at all because every city has unique set of circumstances. They might be building a community center. Minnotonka's um has four brand new fire department buildings on the docket I believe um chief over the next several years. Um, so they just have issues we don't have. Uh, and that's creating in many cases higher taxes for th their residents. But we are very well managed over the last 30, 40 years. And it's resulting in some of the lowest levy increases relative to our neighbors. And again, it's not a competition, but we want to be responsible. And I believe that we are council. Um, again, we've been at this um, you've seen this numbers multiple times. We've been at this for two years. We've had I don't even know the two years of meetings, but I'm guessing it's seven, eight, or nine uh that we've had on on the budget and the levy. Um any questions or comments you want to make additionally this evening? >> Yeah, I just sort of tag on what you just said. I'm very proud of our personnel and our tax rates that we've been able to maintain in Eden Prairie, plus the quality of our services and things like our roads and everything else that go along with everybody's quality of life in town. Um, and um it's not an easy thing to do to get that and keep it going. It um wasn't always this way. I believe our current set of staff has made this happen and and then continue on. So, um you have my large thanks and also will appreciate your coming couple months of work to finish it off. Council, anything else? And and just one more comment to say that we as a council use our own uh minds, our own perceptions, our own experiences to help guide the city. But we take a lot of input from our residents and we take it in two fairly large ways. One is a an every other year survey, very detailed, statistically significant, which specifically asks questions about do you perceive high value out of the taxes you pay? And we have returns of over 90% of our residents in a statistically significant survey saying yes, if we were getting 60 or 70% back or certain areas were like no, we don't want money spent there, we would respond to that. That's why we do that survey. And the second I I feel very large way that we get feedback from our residents are through elections and and we do um serve or we place our names, you know, a nomination. We run uh every four years and every two years there's some of us up. So in 2026, three of our positions are up. Um, and if we choose to run again, that will be giving our residents an opportunity to say, "No, I don't like the direction you all have been going," or, "Yes, I I we love Eden Prairie. We like the direction it's been going." So th that's feedback we get as well. And therefore, then we set a um a direction to staff, go out and fund the level of quality that our residents have sent us here to make sure happens. And that's how that whole process over time works. Um, and I think it's been like that for 50, 60 years of councils and mayors that have built out this city today to be one of the stellar examples I think in um, in the region of a city that's wellrun, well managed, uh, um, appropriate taxes and levies. And again, I don't think that came by accident. So, all right, I do um, need a motion then. um four bullet points to certify the property tax levy but also the HA tax levy as part of this resolution. Move to adopt the res resolution to certify the proposed 2026 property tax levy to be 52,844814 [Music] and set December 2nd 2025 at 700 p.m. As the meeting which will include discussion of the budget and provide for public comment and accept the proposed 2026 budget of 66 847061 [Music] and consent approve the H tax levy of 230,000. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. Sorry. >> Further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Pass is 50 unanimous. Mr. Gretcho and council. Is there anything else to come before the council this evening? Okay. Hearing none. Then is there a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> I make a motion to adjourn the city council meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. This meeting is ajourned. >> Thank you for your service. Everybody