[0:01] ready to go Mr Mayor thanks well good evening everybody I think this is the first time we've had a full delegation [0:06] here usually us we have a snowstorm three people get here you know [0:13] everybody annual snowstorm yeah and Julie we hope you feel better soon I [0:18] heard your colleague Erica allenberg was sick I was supposed to be over there yesterday to celebrate her five years of [0:26] chair chairpersonship and yeah I'm glad I'm I'm glad I'm able to zoom in you no one [0:32] wants to be near me right now that's for sure so I'll keep you all safe a good distance so this is a work session of [0:38] the ad city council with all of our key legislators and advisers and at least many of them we [0:44] got a few that are missing but we got most of them here which is really wonderful and uh Sharon I'll call as I [0:50] as I call them any order I'll next ask you to call the role for the council council member agu here council member [0:56] Jackson here council member Pierce here council member sir here may hman here [1:02] and then we'll go around the room I think and start with our Senator Lee mown at the end and introduce yourself [1:07] please Senator El man Senator Ron Latz uh Patricia Alman [1:13] executive director of Metro cities representative Cheryl Yim council member [1:19] Risser Carn Jackson Council Kim huband Council James Pierce Council Kate AG [1:24] Council Scott Neil city manager Katie sun with Master Le Kramer and vin with the leag of Minnesota City [1:30] shis City and Julie green representative oh [1:37] thanks um Daniel start over there yeah good evening Daniel I the league of Minnesota cities [1:44] lens I everyone communications director mner city [1:50] engineer hi I'm bill newor from the city's economic development manager all right um you know we've got [1:58] a fairly extensive leg of agenda I want to ask um Scott Neil our city manager Mak a couple of comments and I think we' [2:05] decided we don't want to delve too deep into this um legislative platform a [2:10] couple of key things at the beginning were a couple of bonding Bill requests uh but we wanted to just have a [2:16] conversation with all of you and get your observations on what you expect uh to see happen uh if we have a session or [2:24] when we start the session when it ever that occurs and u talk about some of [2:30] these other things as we go on Scott any open remarks you know we we prepare a a [2:36] legislative platform each year we we start kind of at a bottom level and with staff and move it up uh we have a chance [2:43] to talk with our city council about it a couple of times um so they have seen this before and and given it kind of the [2:49] tenative approval uh we divide our platform into two sections one is is the [2:55] priorities the second is is positions priorities are things that we Define as [3:00] having a special impact on on our City generally uh our priorities uh this year [3:06] have been uh a bonding uh bonding Bill uh uh assistance for The Interchange [3:12] improvements at Highway 100 and Vernon Avenue that's which is just right here right outside of of city hall there's a [3:18] bridge replacement going on there it will happen generally about the same time as the county is replacing the uh [3:25] railroad bridge over the Dan Patch line uh so we want to do both of those projects simultaneously so that we don't [3:31] have to interrupt your lives more than one uh one long year uh the second item [3:37] is our bonding request for our Aquatic Center uh we have a a a very old uh [3:43] Aquatic Center uh 1958 was it's when when it uh was built needs some love and [3:50] care and a lot of money to uh make it work that's something we want to talk more about number three is a sales tax [3:56] exemption uh for projects that are related to our Brar master plan and our Fred Richard master plan both of those [4:03] projects uh were authorized by our voters as local option sales tax funded projects and so we're seeking a sales [4:10] tax exemption from a sales tax funded uh project uh number four is extending uh [4:17] the life of of two Tiff districts uh that U or excuse me yes two Tiff [4:22] districts that on France Avenue uh number five uh really talks a little bit [4:27] about protecting municipal employes employes and enforcement functions not not generally police uh but all those [4:34] other people that work for the city and have interact with the public uh and an enforcement or a regulatory basis um and [4:42] that those are our five items that we talk about as being our priorities the balance of them uh of this is our [4:49] positions and the positions are Mo mostly positions that we've taken on issues in the past uh they're very [4:55] similar to the leagues and and other other uh groups that take positions on [5:00] these items and so I would say that's probably a good place to stop and and get some prognostication for what's [5:06] going to happen in the in the near future one of the things that our Cil hasn't contribute to but so many in the [5:13] gr I've worked on early on is housing this housing issue uh last session we [5:19] had uh some folks at the legislature look at preemption of local land use [5:26] regulation at the at the State Legislative level and we were successful in I think negotiating with them uh as [5:34] legislators and kind of heading that off but we promised those that were interested in in housing affordability [5:39] and housing production uh at the legislature that we will work on it in [5:44] the off season and we started diligently with the league and others uh all the mlc cities Tom thanks for joining us [5:51] want to introduce you that introduce yourself real quick oh hi Tom Paul with Paul hos [5:57] representing the municipal legislative commission thank you than uh we've had quite a few meetings [6:03] with uh legislators that are in key positions around housing and I don't know Daniel or Patty if you'd want to [6:09] comment at all on where we are on some of those things yeah Daniel come on over and sit up at the [6:15] table yeah thanks mayor and Council appreciate the opportunity to just provide some brief comments um on the [6:23] housing efforts so as as May huin indicated we've been diligently working [6:28] with uh both chairs report and Howard on uh as well as representative craft and [6:33] others who were uh really key legislators in pushing the missing middle uh housing Bill last session in [6:41] identifying um both you know places of of synergy where we can agree on um on [6:47] on key principles you know we all agree that we need more housing across the housing Continuum I don't think there's [6:53] a single City official in the state that would disagree that they don't need more uh housing stock in their City and Edina [7:00] is is certainly one of them as well um but also um identifying areas where um [7:07] you know some of the approach to how we achieve that can be improved and so um what we've been really focusing on is is [7:14] moving the conversation from you know what's just going to work for the developer Community um so that they can [7:20] you know sort of do whatever it is that they want to do and sell housing stock at whatever price point they want to [7:26] sell um to what's going to work for for cities and developers that achieves the [7:33] goal of of more development um across the affordability spectrum and the [7:39] housing Continuum um and those conversations I think have been um really productive um you know I think [7:46] there's still some disagreement in kind of the approach um the prevailing uh discussions from The Advocates and the [7:53] proponents of that bill have been you know we really need to remove uh completely remove local decision making [7:59] Authority in order to pave the way for the market to do what it wants to do and [8:05] um I think that's really shortsighted um I think the conversation and what we've been really focusing on is um how do we [8:12] create uh you know if if there is going to be a state framework how do we create that framework in a way that um provides [8:19] the ability for cities to scale um those recommendations and requirements to to [8:26] fit within their individual City communities um because what's going to work for youra is going to be a lot [8:31] different than um you know than than Rochester going to be a lot different than bedet um how do we scale those [8:38] things and then um you know how do how does the state continue to provide support for communities like Edina and [8:45] others that have done a lot of this work at the local level already we don't want to have a state framework that [8:50] completely replaces something that cities have done um in their efforts with their residents um and the input [8:57] that they have um on those pie pieces as well and so um we're going to continue to have those conversations I know that [9:03] there is going to be um sort of a missing middle 2.0 um series of bills um [9:10] rather than one large package it's going to be six or seven um and so we'll continue to engage with um legislators [9:17] in both caucuses as as those conversations move forward and make sure that we attempt to preserve local [9:22] decision-making Authority find that balance um between scalability and local [9:28] leadership um and then also have something that ultimately is going to work both for the developer Community um [9:34] but also for cities as we do Planning and Zoning ensuring infrastructure is in place to support new development and [9:40] density um putting density where it makes sense Etc so looking forward to working with um the din delegation here [9:47] and um and our and our partners uh on this issue and um it's going to be a an [9:54] interesting bipartisan issue to continue the conversation on and Patty and Tom too I think Tom can comment I just add I [10:02] Daniel's articulated well the general issues we've been dealing with and and [10:07] challenges around the preemption and I think that one of the other things we've tried to communicate and will continue [10:12] to do is all the work that is going on at the local level um in cities on [10:19] housing issues you know trying to meet the needs of their Community whether it's affordable housing life cycle housing of force housing um typically [10:26] the state of course has played a very important role role historically and certainly recently there's been a lot of [10:32] money uh put in but of course it's we always need more but um that's been the typical role for the legislature is to [10:38] appropriate funds um we certainly do support those various funds that go into [10:44] to housing needs um but I do think our part of our challenge going forward is [10:50] going to need to continue to be to um work to communicate what cities are actually doing I do think there's some [10:56] outdated perceptions particularly about what Suburban communities are doing with housing that are maybe 20 years out of [11:02] date um and so you know we're going to continue Metro cities has been very um [11:10] consistently opposed to the preemption and it's really hard to see how we find Middle Ground there so that's kind of [11:16] been the the thing it um finding you know you're either preempted on zoning and land use Authority or you're not and [11:24] um I usually articulate it by saying that somebody's going to make the decision is it the is it the state or [11:29] local cities that get to make those decisions somebody's going to make the decision so we do continue to of course [11:35] support having local communities uh make those land use decisions on behalf of their of their uh residents and [11:42] businesses thanks Betty Tom your observations thank you good evening apologies for being late got stuck [11:48] behind an accident on 100 so uh all good but uh yeah I think Daniel and Patty articulated it really well in that in in [11:57] 2024 we really weren't at the table able at the beginning to talk about how best [12:02] to solve these issues that in ways that work for the city or for communities and [12:07] so at the end of the session we said we want to engage and so we held some all [12:12] stakeholder meetings wanted to talk to the builders the developers the nonprofits and try and find some Middle [12:17] Ground what what are the issues in terms of trying to build the kind of housing smaller homes on smaller Lots at a more [12:24] reasonable price uh to try and move in that direction and so we we've had a good dialogue I think there there are [12:31] disagreements but I think there are things we can do to help bridge the gap and that's really what we focused on at [12:37] mlc is trying to figure out what are those things that we could do this session that would help uh and and move [12:43] in that direction and I think from a big picture you know it all the housing kind of got lumped into one discussion and I [12:49] think we need to to be a little more focused and talk about what are the solutions that are going to help get more homes built we're just we're at a [12:57] shortage there's a lot of reasons why but we just need we need more volume in the market for one and then secondly [13:03] housing affordability and affordable housing are are another issue that's really challenging and the affordable [13:09] housing issue requires funding it it it it needs subsidy to happen it needs [13:15] Partners but there needs to be money uh you know brought forward in order to make that happen and there's different [13:21] strategies that can be utilized for for both of those there's probably some crossover but just generally looking at [13:27] that so I think you know we've got and I can hand out our um our legislative [13:32] agenda but we we have and I don't need to go through all them but we have some ideas on how to to do a little more you [13:38] know one area that I think Idina probably has done better than others is the condominium area they're just condos [13:44] are not being built like they were years ago and it's an option that I think [13:50] people want but is not available to the degree it probably should and so what are the barriers why aren't they and so [13:57] we're we're digging into that a little more to see if we can help solve that um or to use just some existing strategies [14:04] uh for tax increment financing for example to say why can't we take excess or pooled dollars and use that for [14:11] affordable housing there was a pilot project that was um brought forward in minaka took advantage of that last year [14:17] maybe we could do that Statewide so I think there's U you know there's certainly some options that are maybe [14:23] some that would be more agreed to and others like uh expanding the Musa line and saying you know if because we have [14:30] these arbitrary border and there's a reason but uh land expanding land [14:36] options within parameters could help that if you said you can expand it but [14:41] it has to be in this certain density or this type of housing has to be you know built in those areas maybe you could you [14:48] could get some progress so I think we're trying to put some different ideas out there that we'll get some debate and discussion and then we hope at the end [14:53] of the day that some of these things that will work will get will get implemented and uh mhm find some [15:00] solutions Julie go ahead um this is based on a house that was torn down and [15:08] you know beautiful hardwood floors 1950s roof that was put in 3 years ago went [15:15] for like 470 okay and um also a massive beautiful [15:21] old oak tree was taken out and the other thing is it's sandwiched between two roads and so you could have had an ENT [15:29] off of both you know the front of the house and the back of the house and we did just pass this accessory dwelling [15:35] unit thing and I know this is one example but I feel like there is room [15:41] for acknowledging the value of existing housing keeping things out of the landfill and also working with cities [15:48] that have those accessory dwelling you know rights in place and what's really [15:54] kind of heartbreaking is seeing the opportunities that are lost and the [16:00] expense you know and then also just the training that a lot of us have received knowing that those houses that are older [16:07] burn slower if they ever catch fire than the new ones going in and so I mean there's just so much there to work with [16:15] and if there was a way to incent um naturally occurring affordable housing not just through Municipal action but [16:21] seeing it as you know something that the county the state you know have a vested [16:27] interest in particularly if we're going to reduce landfill I think you know I hope there's kind of a holistic Vision [16:35] in place yeah I think you your spot on and and that is part of our legislative agenda is the natural occurring housing [16:42] you know Noah that is the most affordable housing I mean that that new construction is not going to be the most [16:48] affordable housing no matter how hard we try and especially in the Suburban area it's just really difficult with land [16:56] prices uh you know all of it it's it's it's really challenging so using or [17:01] keeping homes that uh you know an elderly couple wants to move out of Etc [17:07] the affordable homes but getting yeah before the developer tears it down is [17:13] you know if there could be some way to you know put in a step that the developer would have to go through [17:19] before tearing it down I don't know I mean it just seems like there needs to be something and there's there's certainly [17:25] I think it's a great Point there's certainly this misnomer that density sort of automatically equals [17:32] affordability and we've seen we've seen that tear down sort of rebuild model [17:37] play out over and over again in in communities certainly across the 7 County Metro where you have that sort of [17:44] no a property that that gets that gets torn down the lot gets subdivided and um [17:50] and a duplex or a Triplex is built and you know they're they're much less [17:56] affordable on either side than the house that existed before it and so I think the conversation that we've been having [18:03] with legislators who are really leading on on the housing discussions is the the conversation on housing sort of has to [18:08] be twofold on the one hand there's there's this conversation on sort of we just need more across the Spectrum which [18:15] is absolutely true um there's no disagreement there um and you can't just [18:21] talk about um you know Statewide Frameworks to create more development [18:26] and then leave out any ation on um policies and resources that make those [18:33] products affordable because absent um resources as Tom was saying or policy [18:39] that ensures those units are going to be affordable right when a city does Tiff or provides resources to a developer um [18:46] to get affordable units you know we're providing that resource in exchange for affordability and it's required to be [18:53] affordable if you just have you know policies that you know in theory from a developer standpoint say well yeah we're [18:59] going to be able to sell stuff for cheaper they may be able to build it for cheaper but that doesn't necessarily [19:04] mean that they're going to sell anything below what the market will bear for that product and so there has to be both [19:09] conversations around how do we create policies and Frameworks that ensure affordability for that 30 to 60 to 80% [19:17] average median income and then also how are we thinking about just overall production across the Continuum and how [19:24] do we ensure that Tiff financed affordable housing is compliant yeah [19:31] absolutely um I so I definitely appreciate the conversation there's one [19:36] thing to me though I think is a glaring Miss we talk about we're talking about [19:42] solving a problem that not everybody even agrees is a problem and so if we if [19:51] the focus is and I think it's right it's zoning and funding right for sure um but [19:58] to only talk about how do we solve those two problems without leaning into the [20:04] awareness issue um I think that stifles progress and I'll just give two examples [20:11] we had a conversation with one realtor who says well in Idina we need um [20:18] smaller homes um main level housing [20:23] remember we talked to and affordable so she actually agreed with the position [20:29] that we had then I had another realtor from the same company say to me well [20:37] James the market is what the market is if people can't afford to live here they [20:42] could move to they got Hopkins St Louis Park Shaka right so he's started naming [20:49] cheaper cities to move to and So within the same company you've got realtors [20:57] that don't actually agree or see what the problem see that it actually is a problem to be able to get people to the [21:04] table and I could give the same examples with two different developers who saw it [21:11] differently as well so I think leaning into the awareness piece um has to be [21:16] huge to get more people to recognize how this issue actually impacts everybody so [21:24] that we can get more people at the table to come up with Creative Solutions I'm [21:30] sorry so my ask would be for mlc and for the state legislators to figure out how [21:37] we can we can up the ante on uh getting more people to see the [21:43] problem so from a sort of threshold St standpoint you thinking we need to provide more data to support the notion [21:49] there it's got to be greater production [Music] [21:56] capacity so on the um I think Awareness on the production [22:01] side and then I think the awareness of well who is affordable housing for and [22:07] so there is a group of and none of this is bad but there are folks who believe [22:12] affordable housing is for lower income individuals who want to live in our [22:19] community um sure but it's also for the [22:24] retiree who may be moving out of a million doll house house and want a [22:29] downsize and want to buy something that's affordable you got to have products in the market for both of those [22:36] things but you can't solve the other problem unless they realize no [22:42] affordable housing or housing affordability is actually for everybody [22:47] but you have to look at it through a different lens to understand the value of it yeah we you're right you're [22:53] exactly right and it's changing that the discussion around it that's we talk a lot about Workforce housing and show [23:00] examples of like we want a nurse we want a teacher to be able to afford to live where they work and that just doesn't [23:07] happen unless you have the Continuum and you can do a Continuum even in a smaller [23:13] um city like Hopkins we're 2 by two miles now we're over built on rental we [23:20] have 65% rental we're 40% bipac 30% of our households make under 35,000 a year [23:27] but a ton of our rent told is Noah and we need help updating it and our single family homes are becoming extremely [23:34] unaffordable so you know finding that continues so people can age in place or [23:39] downsize from we have a lot of folks in our um more market rate housing munit [23:46] housing coming in from motanka that they've downsized and now that they don't they're empty nesters and they're [23:52] moving in to Hopkins because they can afford the you know little story and a [23:57] half that's 5 $50,000 already so on a 50 by 150t loot um but yeah it's it's a [24:04] whole Continuum that you have to hit and Daniel's right in the sense that [24:10] too it's that concept of oh yeah if you just change the zoning it'll be affordable and it's like no I don't [24:15] trust that to walk across the street with it because it just won't happen there has to be some requirements around [24:22] if you are going to make a mandate or at you know preempt then better be getting [24:29] stuff for it and they I think people forget we can't the state can't do this by themselves the county can't do this [24:35] by themselves the cities we all have to work together and I was going to ask too I don't know if you've had your discussion with um you new [24:43] commissioner Heather Edon since we did put that quarter of a cent sales tax [24:48] into Global housing it's going to the counties and they're deciding how it disperses but having those having the [24:55] local units talk to the county and put pressure on how they want that to look would be really important coming to our [25:01] council meeting tonight so in hour nice so where is the discussion on um the [25:07] cost of building new housing is I remember years ago there was a lot of talk about are there ways of change the [25:14] building code is that still alive is that part of the discussion yeah council member it [25:19] certainly is I mean that's if sort of the through line of all this conversation is sort of the all of the [25:26] inputs that go into build building uh a housing unit and it's I think it's [25:33] harder to uh to regulate prices of lumber and labor for example um and so I [25:41] think the focus has largely been on you know what can we regulate well cities are creatures of the state and this [25:47] state and so we're going to focus on uh on on zoning and land use um but the [25:52] building code piece I think is an important uh an important part of this conversation representative craft had uh [25:58] a bill and now is going to be considered by the Department of Labor and industries to do um a single stairwell [26:06] construction for multif family buildings um current State Building Code requires that multif family buildings have two [26:13] separate stairwells for egress Ingress and egress um from a fire code safety so [26:19] there's also this balance of like sh you know from an affordability standpoint making sure that we don't uh reduce [26:27] Protections in the state building code to ensure that homes are built safely and durably and will last you know [26:33] longer than that 1915 Bungalow um you know just for the sake of affordability [26:39] and find that balance between you know making sure that when we do uh improve [26:45] the code and do adjust the code that affordability is in mind and current statute does require the Department of [26:51] Labor and industries to consider affordability as they are considering uh new updates to the code um and the [26:58] developers are are involved in that process um and the the code really is is [27:03] kind of the the Baseline but we are having conversations around that and I think there are also conversations [27:10] around um from an energy code perspective you know what are things that can be done from a material [27:16] perspective that may be a little bit more costly on the development side but [27:21] over the course of the life cycle of the housing unit will save residents you know multiple X dollars on their um you [27:30] know on their utility bills because of that durable construction um I know as [27:35] somebody that lives in a you know a 1905 house in in South Minneapolis that [27:41] old windows are are not very energy efficient they're they're they're problematic and so it's all about that [27:47] balance of affordability on the front end affordability on the back end and also not compromising on kind of the the [27:54] minimum levels for a a safe and durable home that uh that will last for for [28:00] Generations but it is a part of the conversation conversation here is primarily evolved around [28:08] ownership as opposed to rental and charl I'm wondering if you know if we had more [28:13] rental and uh capacity multif family capacity in udina thinking about Hopkins [28:19] has has it been pushed back from the single family homeowners about the changing pace of Hopkins or there's too [28:27] much multif family well there's always thought that there's too much multif family but they overbuilt in the 70s so [28:34] it's like we have what we have because of that there's a lot of discussion as we start to finally get market rate like [28:41] I don't you know you don't want to overbuild and market rate too and then make it even um harder we already have [28:48] really small Lots in Hopkins and the majority of Hopkins so there's not a lot of more subdividing to do um so the this [28:58] discussion on the missing middle housing looks different when they talk about requiring cities to put a fourplex on a [29:05] lot because our lots are 50 by 100 so um [29:11] yeah just it and that's the point about local controls it looks different in every city but we you know there's been a push [29:19] um to do more market rate but a lot of the market rate projects coming in [29:25] aren't asking for tip and if the city doesn't own the property you don't have a whole lot of control if it's Z the [29:30] right way to say no to a developer coming in and and doing market rate but we have a pretty wide variety between um [29:38] RH we have section 8 we have um deeply affordable 30% we have a beacon um [29:46] project we have a PPL project um so yeah [29:51] we have a lot a governance question for you to at [29:56] you at about the house the side only so we we spent much of the summer as Daniel said visiting with [30:04] people that were in key leadership positions in the house jnie cleor uh Mike Howard uh and then on the Senate [30:11] side uh you mentioned the senator from Burnsville and so Lindy port and so now [30:18] now what well first I want to who are we talking to now for looking at when we you know we have the par dedication fees [30:26] that can't be split unless you're dividing the property so that's something that I think folks are looking at because that really does affect [30:32] Hopkins as we and will you as you go up because it means more people using your parks and your services but you're not [30:38] getting the extra money for it um as for the governance piece we'll see so far [30:44] you know we had you know they had 60 days worth of negotiations on a power sharing [30:50] agreement and um a a ruling that had a [30:55] we lost a member and a special elections coming on 28th so we'd hate to see two [31:00] uh two weeks of uh plurality then be used to take power for two years because [31:07] if things do change if they go in and say what they want to do which is change all the Committees elect a speaker once [31:15] we get back to a tie on January 28th it can't go back it's done so that's the [31:22] big discussion right now and we'll just see if people come to the table our leadership's still trying to negotiate [31:28] Julie you're getting quite an indoctrination here yeah how was that for first [31:34] session we hoping get right it actually has nothing to do with me being sick I [31:40] promise but yeah no I mean I I think I think I uh appreciate what um what [31:45] Cheryl just spoke about there and and making sure that we're respecting the will of the Minnesota voters that voted [31:51] us into a tie and that we need to be by person so this is how we have to do it so plus we have [31:58] we're waiting on a a a court result for shaki and um if if we go in now there [32:06] has been a very strong message from the other side that they will not see or member oh so a very unprecedent we've [32:14] never that's never happened even in 1979 the only other time where it's been a [32:19] tied legislature their power sharing agreement looked different than ours they decided to do okay Republicans get [32:26] the speakership Democrats get the major party chairs and it was all agreed upon and [32:33] then like five a week or five days before session was going to start a Democrat had a heart attack and couldn't come to session he lived but he couldn't [32:40] come to session and the speaker that who had been appointed as a republican got a [32:45] lot of pressure to then take over until that person could come back and that [32:51] Republican speaker said no to what end in a few weeks we're going to be back to a tie and we're going to have to to get [32:58] along for 2 years so why parlay two weeks of a plurality it's not a majority [33:04] it's plurality um into two years of control so when does that decision come [33:12] from Shaka they were talking today it's a possibility it has to come before session starts well they got all the [33:18] papers in December 30th or 3 first all the appeals and all the everything so [33:24] hopefully soon but the court case did have they figured out which 20 [33:30] ballots had been they' not even sure how they'd been destroyed who the people [33:35] were and have them come and testify on who they voted for and tapy had six more [33:40] votes which mathematically then Aaron Paul can't win it's just whether or not [33:47] um how the judge does the ruling but even if the judge does say he should be seated we've been told they won't see [33:54] him you don't have any of those problems like that over the Sunday you you got that big margin Senate's got [34:01] Senate's got a tie for two years too ask him the same question I got an easier we got an [34:07] easier situation uh in some ways more tragic [34:12] because it happened because we lost Senator diedi um but we are tied at [34:19] 3333 um at least until there is a new Senator seated following the special [34:24] election in in Senate District 60 to replace senator D um as a practical [34:30] matter that's about an 80% dfl District so um it would be pretty stunning if if [34:36] uh GOP would win that District so we're anticipating a 3433 continuing dfl [34:43] majority but until then without an agreement the Senate can't [34:50] organize die uh basically we give up all of our organizational Authority except [34:55] for some in Authority so even though we're midterm [35:01] as an institution uh we still have to organize we have to elect a president we have to [35:06] elect all the front Des staff including the secretary of the Senate uh we have to elect a majority [35:13] leader and uh so theoretically uh we could limp through [35:22] um a couple of weeks if we don't have an agreement and they're working on discussion discussing having some kind [35:27] of a power sharing agreement until until we're the body's at full strength uh we [35:33] have one other little wrinkle which is we have a senator who's got a jury trial in northern Minnesota on January [35:40] 27th um and especially if we're not organized at that point there's be no remote voting but given that she'll be [35:47] tied up in a trial in all likelihood it' be hard for her to remotely vote anyway and are we're in the same position in [35:53] the house where our rules don't follow you have to reestablish rules you have to to [35:58] reestablish um everything basically so um if you know they came in and said [36:06] okay with power sharing agreements out the window we get to set the Committees we're taking members off we're firing your staff that you [36:12] have but we'll see what happens in 3 weeks and do we get them back um and if we're not [36:18] organized we're constitutionally since our salary set constitutionally we get paid for the [36:25] salary part that we have like all year we're legis all year but the PM the communications dispersements the [36:32] housing allowance for Greater Minnesota members none of that can be done without a rules [36:39] committee so at least until we're organized certainly in the Senate um as [36:45] of yesterday which was the Constitutional expiration of the current legislative [36:52] body um there are no formal there's no majority leader in the Senate there no formal committees the no committee [37:00] chairs um staff are still paid um but they can't take any official action as [37:06] committee staff so we're trying to figure out exactly how to how to manage that and [37:12] you know when we get back to full strength um all of the existing committees will be reconstituted with [37:19] the existing chairs um there'll be some shifts around because there have been some changes in the special election in [37:26] Plymouth so we've had to move some some people around to make sure we've got um a place for our new Senator um but um [37:34] personally as as a chair of a committee I don't want to lose two three four weeks of committee [37:40] time um because time is very limited anyway so it it it will throw wrench in [37:47] at things I'm I'm a little more optimistic I think we'll find a way to get through because the G could come in [37:53] and say hey we're at a tie we need to do power sharing and that St is for the rest of the two years well not in the [38:00] Senate he doesn't do it that way well we would never agree to no I know but I'm saying they could say that they could [38:06] say that just like ours saying hey we're in control for two for two weeks we get to tell you what to do for two years [38:12] well but they in the house you actually have you they actually have a real [38:17] majority for the go plurality plurality enough to organize should they choose to [38:22] exercise that that's a debate because you have to have a quorum to organize yeah well there's the debate and then [38:28] you have U our secretary of state Steve Simon my constituent is going to be ging [38:34] in and so and and running the house until we have somebody and lieutenant [38:39] governor flan again is doing the same also a 46 well she's 46a resent is going [38:46] to be ging in the Senate until they have so St Louis Park is really [38:56] controlling formerly of St Louis Park now Hopkins we got two branches of [39:02] government functioning courts and judicial and the executive branch and where a lot of the work gets done is is [39:08] not well yeah are still functioning because we all still work we're all getting you know meetings like this at [39:15] least for us at a minimum we will lose time but it won't change the outcome in the end in the Senate well when you all [39:21] do go back to work uh are there things that you think we should be mindful of [39:27] that we should be helping you on you've got you'll have our list of legislative priorities there you've heard about a [39:33] few of them just in sort of summary form but are there things that we should be doing to help you instead of it being a [39:39] one-way street that we're working together on things I have a quick question on the bonding bill for The [39:45] Aquatic Center was that under the local option sales tax that passed or was that just ice arena it was all right and it [39:52] has a big Regional use yeah and we draw I we can give you the [39:58] you didw oh no yeah we've done we've done um bonding for well we've mostly [40:03] done local actual sales tax for aquatic centers and not bonding as much so that's I don't know how much of a [40:09] precedent there is there but that also number four the tax increment I I kind of know about the tip from carrying it [40:16] uh last year but um city where it says the city requests an extension of the 5 [40:22] to 10 year rules in addition the city requests this um ability to extend the the terms of each Tiff agreement by city [40:30] council so you're saying extended even further by just a City Council vote versus the legislative to statute the [40:38] request is the same as last year and how that was written is to ask the [40:46] flexibility um but in order to extend the district in the future it would be a [40:51] future vote vote by the city council by the school board and by the county [40:57] that's how last year pass okay so there's still a pretty high bar but at [41:03] least it's an option you go and that was in the bill that almost [41:12] passed yeah thank [41:20] you didn't get a bonding Bill well you know bonding Bill requires [41:26] by part partisan cooperation super majority which is going to be uh harder [41:32] to find I would expect uh on the other hand there's a lot of local builtup [41:39] projects pressure um and so I still think there's a possibility of passing [41:45] something um again it probably becomes fodder for the end of session [41:51] negotiations uh this time including major budget negotiations if we could just talk about the Bing bill is the [41:57] bonding Bill instead of having us trading it for for them the biggest trade for us in the house was they were [42:04] like you know we won't if you pass you can't pass the Equal Rights Amendment if you pass if you want a bonding bill so [42:11] there were other things attached to it when they were negotiating I'd love to come in and just [42:18] talk negotiate bonding as bonding nothing else attached what's the budget [42:29] um we've got a little over a $600 million uh I don't want to call it a [42:35] surplus but it's a uh funds available this by anyia um but the [42:42] Tails um about $5.1 billion shortfall um and uh there were a number [42:51] of budget moves made last year that took one-time money and put some of it into [42:57] longer term expenditures um certainly in my budget area I'm most familiar with it but we we [43:04] took we took some onetime money we've made it available for a four-year [43:09] period uh which means we're not going to hit a cliff for this by any them but our Tails will hit the cliff um and so we're trying to be [43:16] cognizant of that um and when you factor in inflationary increases uh you know just to maintain [43:23] current levels of operation it's a really really tight budget yeah and that's I mean we did that's part of the [43:29] reason why it looks as tight as it does is because we did finally add inflation to both sides of the books instead of [43:34] just making believing numbers um but the yeah the tals does not look good and [43:41] we're always cognizant of the tals when we when we use money and not going into ongoing but it's also a forecast model [43:49] that they've always been really conservative about um my biggest concern is when they did it they weren't taking [43:54] into account um that um forecasting the economic houses that do all modeling [44:01] we're not taking into account any changes at the federal level when it came to like tariffs or things that are [44:08] going to affect the economy um so we'll have another forecast in February that [44:13] talks more about chewing up in real dollars and that's usually the number we look at and then when they when we do [44:20] get targets they usually give us you know first B you know first bium Target [44:25] and then a second bium target um to look at the Tail's Target so we'll [44:31] see and the the bonding forecast is allows for a $780 million bonding bill [44:37] which is almost 200 million lower and almost all Bond than last yearh that compared the two years ago when you [44:44] included cash it was over2 billion bonding bill so a lot lot smaller than the bill two years ago 785 780 [44:55] okay because of the debt de service in the tals and the tals and I think because of probably lower revenues must [45:01] be too but it's in the it is that's what the forecast number was think with the [45:07] kind of challenges you have this year because of the uh structure that it it means that if you [45:14] get some things done it's more likely to get they more likely to get done like a oneoff piece of legislation like a [45:20] bonding bill as opposed to having a big Omnibus Bill where things all get Lo together talk about that every year [45:27] process question mayor um I I prefer smaller bills that at [45:33] least related in in subject matter the Constitution requires a single subject [45:38] but um I think there's only been one time in history that the the Supreme Court has overturned a bill that was [45:45] passed on those grounds um and uh part of the challenge is that you run out of [45:51] floor time and especially if the uh if you got some members of the body that [45:58] are using up a ton of floor time to make political points you're welcome um yeah [46:03] thanks they sent us their most vocal house members into the Senate um who [46:09] refused to uh don't worry we' got some new ones now um but suffice it to say we I think [46:18] we could have made better use of the senate floor time but we you couldn't so if you can't have full debates on 13 [46:25] budget bills um you end up lumping them into into one is the way it ended up in the end which [46:32] is a terrible way to make policy um but we had to get stuff done and we felt we [46:38] did and that's the way it ended up um so it takes a certain level of cooperation [46:43] for there to be good governance which is I'm actually hopeful for that this year if we still keep with [46:50] uh the phrase that's been coined now the house a t ority that um it will it will [46:55] put more pressure on us to work together uh we just have to make sure there is a [47:02] lot of new members in the house on both sides and I think it probably looks the same on the Republican caucus but in the [47:08] dfl caucus there's eight of us out of the 67 that have served in the [47:14] minority that's how many new members there are so like it it's me and like me [47:20] and Pino and then like the six people above us um and I think it's probably [47:26] pretty similar in the Senate that there's not as you got a lot of new members too that haven't served in the minority before or haven't served in the [47:33] majority before um yeah we we're not as lopsided as you because um it's just [47:41] uh um but it's hard for people to when they've only served in the majority to [47:46] realize that someday they could be in the minority and it's harder to get things done and how do they want to be [47:53] treated when they're in that position um and uh so you got to think [47:58] longer term in maintaining some positive relationships how you conduct yourself um I think this year is going [48:05] to be mostly a steady as you go year there's not a lot of budget room for new [48:12] initiatives um I don't think there'll be a lot of political support in terms of bipartisanship for uh big new uh [48:20] initiatives there'll be some there'll be pressure to come together on things and [48:25] I think that's what we get done I don't think you'll see any of the the more extreme uh proposals uh get very far I [48:33] think that's just the political reality so if if I can come out of uh [48:39] Judiciary and Public Safety with basically a a maintenance level budget including cost [48:46] living increases for personnel and and health benefits increases and and some [48:51] smaller initiatives um you know I'll be pretty happy [48:57] I would think you'd have a strong chance on Public Safety finding some common ground [49:04] usually we do um in in some years we've had some issues that uh were were deal [49:12] breakers for that bipartisanship uh most notably in 2023 [49:17] the two gun violence reduction bills um which normally we get about [49:22] 2third of the senate or more to vote for the public safety bills but uh we didn't have anywhere near that um in [49:30] 2023 um we did pass uh well last year we had some issues too and he passed a [49:36] standalone Judiciary Public Safety just before everything else collapsed into one single [49:46] Universe you know one thing on housing I was forgot to mention earlier that as part we've had these conversations [49:51] through the summer and the fall with different groups um [49:57] one of the things we've never really uh vetted very well is uh requiring cities [50:03] of a certain size to have an affordable housing policy I think Hopkins has one St Louis [50:08] Park has one we have one but a lot of these cities don't have an affordable housing policy and and when I when our [50:15] affordable housing manager looked at the data before we had that policy it was just the bully pulpit you know and you [50:22] get five here a couple here big developments and we could put that affordable housing policy in place we [50:29] really took off and it seems to me that that's something that you could all think about as you go through this [50:35] process of looking at what are the different mechanisms for production and [50:40] affordability achieving some of those goals that might be something to look at is whether cities of a certain size [50:46] ought to have a mandatory affordable housing policy I mean Bloomington has a good one [50:53] to look at ours looks good I can't St Louis Park I think those are all good models in our neck of the woods Hopkins [51:00] just recently did one you worry about that looking like a preemption or mandate well that's I'd like to learn [51:06] more about the preemption issue and where it's coming where the pressure is coming from from whom yeah I mean I [51:13] think mayor you're kind of referring to the I inclusion zoning policies that [51:19] cities call them different things differently um but essentially the sort of the the the gist of it is that um for [51:28] generally for multifam development um a city would say look if we're going to give you you know resources Tiff Etc um [51:37] you're going to have a percentage of these units in whatever development you decide to do whether it's market rate or [51:43] affordable have a percentage of those units in that new development at a you know 60% to 80% average Med income level [51:51] and um you know I think for communities that have um you know High propensity [51:56] for for multif family rental development um it can be a really good tool um Minneapolis Bloomington Richfield and [52:02] others have have done have had great success um you know for cities that [52:07] aren't doing um as much of that higher level development for multif family it may make less sense but I think it's [52:14] certainly something that cities you know should be thinking about in terms of maybe it's not inclusionary zoning but [52:19] how do we create that environment at the local level um through local decision [52:25] making to um you know roll out the red carpet for the development that we need and I think a lot of cities are doing [52:30] that it may not be in that particular way um but a lot of cities um are doing that and so certainly we can continue to [52:36] have that conversation and Mr chair to your question I mean I think you know the the pressures really for the last [52:42] six years have been um surrounded by the for-profit homeb building industry um [52:50] housing first Minnesota which is kind of the the the trade Association for the [52:55] the big the big developers the m& the Lars they do they do they want they want to be able to um develop um in any City [53:04] whatever they would like um they really do not like so preemptive prohibition [53:10] on reasonable guard rails like they really dislike anything that they that [53:15] adds that their perspective adds cost to their their development and that started [53:21] with the I mean I when I was in the minority on go Ops they ERS came and [53:27] pushed for the changes to the building codes I remember just because I asked can you tell me one building code that [53:32] doesn't have to do with health and safety and it was like crickets yeah and City fees the park dedication things [53:38] that things that cities the building fee itself I mean anything that fee related for sure sewer and water accessibility [53:45] like anything that cities require as you know reasonable baselines to ensure that [53:51] housing is is is built safe is built sound and is going to last for [53:56] generations and ensures that your you know your toilet doesn't flush into your basement um ensures that we have green [54:03] space for residents to enjoy you know things that residents I think when they go to purchase a home really expect a [54:09] city to be doing um you know those Services cost money and and we have the [54:15] philosophy in our organization and cities across the state do that growth should be paying for for growth that if [54:22] a developer is going to come in and and build property and they're going to cut down beautiful hundredy old oak trees [54:27] that they should probably have some skin in the game to replace some of that tree canopy or you know if they have a a new [54:33] subdivision with 50 new homes that are going to be demanding you know uh park [54:39] access um that's some Park dedication funding for so the city can build um new [54:44] capital projects to provide more park space for um for new residents is is fairly reasonable um and you know when [54:51] they were kind of beating cities up on on the fees and the building fee stuff [54:57] when you look at the overall costs the inputs of what it takes to build a home [55:02] um the fee piece on the city side which is what I said you know it's it's 3 to 7% of that so we're certainly continuing [55:11] to and willing to have those conversations of of how do we work together to address this problem but [55:17] when the finger just gets pointed at local units of government I think it's really frustrating because you know this [55:22] city and and all of our members work really really well with the de developer Community we want development but it has [55:29] to work so I won't speak for Cheryl but we both served on City councils for many [55:34] years um well functioning City councils that that found the value for the most [55:41] part I guess you can speak for Hopkins St Louis Park when I was on there for nine years we functioned pretty well [55:47] across ideological lines um and uh see a value in local [55:55] discretion local control local control um so I could I just add one thing to [56:02] kind of to your question on The Following on what Daniel said the the uh Coalition the big Coalition that was [56:08] really Builders developers and housing Advocates really the Nugget the Nexus of [56:14] that agreement is on the preemption and both want to use it for [56:20] different exactly so the builders don't want City regulation of any kind they never have they never will [56:27] and housing Advocates are under using the assumption that the zoning preemption would equal more [56:33] affordable housing and so they've you know they have a marriage going now and and I say prove it to me it's [56:41] not it's evolved into a much larger Coalition than just the home builders [56:47] what started as just the home builders piece I think is really involved into this sort of strange bedfellows kind of [56:53] Coalition where you have a lot of the a lot lot of the affordable housing Advocates even like the Energy Efficiency folks that have sort of drank [57:00] the Kool-Aid on you know preemption equals the answer to all of our needs and uh you know we did this like cute [57:07] little Vin diagram and just to focus on look there's a there's a group of legislators and I could see it when I first got elected in the house in 2002 [57:15] only two of us in my Democratic class had served on local government one was a mayor was a city council like me and [57:22] there was a difference in attitude toward local governments there was a lack of trust in local governments to [57:28] make their own decisions to make their own mistakes but that's their right um [57:34] and they're elected and they stand um for reelection as accountability for whatever decisions they make um so I [57:41] I've always seen a bit of a more limited role for the state in terms of preempting local government decision- [57:47] making but a lot of people the legislature don't have that experience they come in they see the world is not [57:53] working well and somehow now that they're in the state legislature they know how it should work and they should tell everyone else how to do it well or [57:59] they lump local government all together so that it's different with school boards I mean local government you guys [58:04] usually don't get a heck of a lot of money School boards are a mess is that what you government Aid right you know a road [58:12] call first responder and everybody should be able to do that no matter where you go to Minnesota Morris has what 55 60% of their budgets local [58:19] government Aid um but school districts they get 70 to 80% of their funding from [58:25] the state so that's different when you want to talk about what you're going to do with that money so like I feel more [58:33] comfortable as education Finance chair telling a school board well we're giving you x amount you need to take care of [58:38] your kids and this is some of the pieces versus local governments that are [58:43] basically funding themselves except for a few carrots from the state that's a [58:49] whole different ball game but a lot of people lump in that local control the same [58:54] way be ophy applies much more broadly than just preemption on housing issues I [59:00] mean talk about sales sales tax need permission from the state school districts need permission [59:08] uh have to go to referendum you know on some things they have 30 they have 30 [59:14] other local levies they can do by in by um just you can ra you can raise your [59:20] revenues without having to go to referendum municipalities school boards don't have that as much flexibility as [59:26] do and I don't personally I don't see the difference voters can say I don't like [59:32] what you did vote them out or not it's been an interesting [59:37] experience getting uh involved in that overall op sales tax methodology where [59:42] you first have to prove that it has a regional implication and then you got to get permission from the legislature to [59:48] go to your own voters to ask them if they want to approve it or not I mean it's you know why why don't you just go to the grass [59:55] Ro to let the voters decide and there is not use the legisl as a screen right and [1:00:01] there is legislation pending and I think we'll see it again uh on the local option sales tax in having a a bypass if [1:00:07] you will for a regional project and so I think that's important and I think the [1:00:13] whole local government sales tax issue is really important you know there was a slew of them approved a couple years ago [1:00:19] and then they put a moratorium on that moratorium goes through 25 and so unless the legislature addresses it and looks [1:00:26] at how to move these forward uh you know a lot of cities are in a tough spot with [1:00:31] projects that they had planned on on moving forward yeah and to play The Devil's Advocate one of the things chair [1:00:37] Gomez kepts talking about is it sounds great to have locals decide but then you end up raising the Statewide like [1:00:45] Statewide sales tax has raised over 1 and a half% in the last 15 years just because of all these ones and say if you [1:00:52] look at education fi Finance if you look at that piece of it you you do want districts to lovey [1:00:59] because that's supposed to be the icing on the cake what we give them supposed to be the batter we've underfunded of them so some of the icings become the [1:01:05] batter but you also have property Rich districts that can Levy so we cap them a [1:01:11] little bit because it shouldn't depend on where you live as a child how you get educated so there there's that tension [1:01:17] and that balance that's there um so I'm all for having that Fuller discussion I [1:01:22] actually when I was property tax chair wrote kind of an off ramp bill that we [1:01:28] could couldn't get through the but um almost didn't get out of my caucus either but it's a whole another story [1:01:35] but um yeah I think I always look at The more I've learned about school finance [1:01:40] and then being on a city council there really are kind of a different discussion around what local control [1:01:45] looks like right and there's a dialogue around sharing of that that's one of the [1:01:51] the sticky points in in moving forward the equalization component that that the [1:01:56] house has and actually Senator rest in her bill has a small piece of that too I [1:02:01] think hers is 5 still undefined sort of yeah right so def but not D like okay [1:02:07] yeah that one one key difference I'll just say too that uh Department of Revenue had [1:02:13] coordinated a task force a couple of years ago and I do think that helps will help ongoing conversations on trying to [1:02:21] get some level of bypass for certain projects it doesn't ask for much we we are sure [1:02:26] we don't get we don't get local government Aid we are one of the big contributors of fiscal disparities you [1:02:33] know we don't when we come we only come because we need to come so and we are [1:02:39] since we have obviously a sales tax has passed here watching closely if any of those bills impact ones that have [1:02:45] already passed for our just for our legislators to know that is good that we should be on the defense this year [1:02:51] because we just don't know what is keep us posted if you hear anything or see anything because you know cities that [1:02:57] have already passed them made all their planning based on getting that amount and so if they then went back and took [1:03:03] some of that to try to redistribute it that could and they've borrowed against so I don't I don't assume they wouldn't [1:03:09] go there but let us know if you hear anything I know it's a consideration for [1:03:15] future ones um other things that you think we [1:03:22] should be mindful of are inside baseball things you want to [1:03:28] share with us tonight readence going here it's only [1:03:34] being recorded I was just going to see if I had one other question are you hearing [1:03:39] anything on Transportation that's going to be happening we've just started up some meetings on that I know one of the issues uh that we're going to be trying [1:03:46] to address is that the transportation advancement account that was created in [1:03:52] 2023 which is made up of the retail delivery fee and the phase in of the um [1:03:59] sales tax on auto auto parts uh is coming in low and that will have an [1:04:05] impact on cities because part of those funds go to larger cities for discretionary money on their [1:04:10] transportation system and the small cities assistance account which helps our cities under 5,000 that are not on [1:04:16] any other formula oh is that the small lows yes yeah so that's coming in a little low I know I heard um today that [1:04:23] potentially Senator jinsky is going to drop something in to try and make up the shortfall on that because uh our cities [1:04:30] did get projections and probably have budgeted around some of that um other [1:04:35] than that we're watching how the the indexing of the gas tax plays out the [1:04:40] 2024 bill was pretty big or 2023 bill was pretty big so you know I don't anticipate given the the budget [1:04:47] situation that uh Advocates are going to come in with a really big ask but that's where I think the bonding bill is really [1:04:55] critical um that bill tends to have pots of money that help cities all over the [1:05:00] state uh with the local Road Improvement program the local bridge account the local Road Wetland replacement program [1:05:07] and then of course all those um other water infrastructure funds that are typically included in a bonding bill so [1:05:14] we're going to be placing a lot of emphasis on trying to get that done great thank you thanks for asking yeah [1:05:20] noticed an article a couple weeks ago that Evan ramstead wrote about uh demographic iics and how we're not even [1:05:27] keeping up with the national average in terms of our population growth fact we're slipping backwards and I think we [1:05:32] had Hazel Reinhardt do some work for us the old State demographer and she said we're birthing 10,000 fewer kids a year [1:05:38] in Minnesota than we were just a decade ago and um I'm wondering if you're all [1:05:44] starting to think about that is how do we how do we accomplish a strategy around immigration or uh population [1:05:51] increase population growth what are we going to do to where these workers going to come from for these good businesses [1:05:58] we're trying to maintain or build well Minnesota's warming [1:06:04] up so that might change the migration Trend a little bit weather not withstanding today's weather [1:06:10] notwithstanding we could get into a whole immigration discussion U that would take us quite a [1:06:17] while um I think we need to have we need to be able to welcome [1:06:24] people um who want to [1:06:31] work Tom or k can I just add a um a comment on on what you just said mayor [1:06:38] um you know we did talk we have talked about this a lot at least on the ad School Board the migration and the impact that it has on schools and have [1:06:45] looked at kind of um long-term trying to plan and I think actually the [1:06:50] relationship with the city has kind of been based on that and making sure that we are taking care of of what we need to [1:06:56] do to make sure that we are continuing to attract students um so I think it's a way bigger discussion but I do think [1:07:03] it's interesting to um bring school boards in across the state to talk about this because um it's having an impact [1:07:11] already okay you thanks for that maybe on just a couple closing notes on things we've talked about one is just huge [1:07:18] shout out to our delegation who I work with really regularly I mean having two chairs on your delegation who are deal [1:07:25] makers and knowledgeable really makes a difference for helping us get I mean even talking to Senator rest about the [1:07:30] tax bill like having those relationships and um you know dealing with same thing [1:07:35] on the house side representative Gomez and pulie and it it really makes a big difference in our success so thank you [1:07:42] um and I think you all know this but mayor huband is like the go-to person on housing so if it's not an issue you've [1:07:49] worked on along with the city groups who I think if you had told me at the beginning of session that we would have [1:07:54] ended up with we did at the beginning of session like we ended up in a really good place and that's because of the [1:08:00] groups that are here but for our legislators that may not know mayor hin is deeply involved in that issue and [1:08:05] that and negotiating that issue so if you hear about it from other people you know he's a great resource so um so I [1:08:14] think that's but we've been successful the last few years a lot based on those relationships that people [1:08:20] have I would just Echo what Katie said um to the city officials here your delegation is very accessible you are [1:08:27] folks who always have open doors even if we don't agree or you can't get to where we need to be with an issue we always [1:08:33] talk and you're always receptive to our ideas so I want to thank you for that and then um just as a takeaway we do [1:08:39] have a long of your list of priorities that some of which we have not discussed tonight and these are priorities that [1:08:45] are adopted by the League's board of directors and Scott Neil is a member of the League's board so um he's a great [1:08:51] point of contact too on um all kinds of City issues but he's definitely a voice for the league as well can I ask you [1:08:57] both to send that to me electronically so I can attach it to my notes from today we don't really have offices that [1:09:03] much anymore right now we were in the Centennial Building yesterday and we were like CU lot of Cu I actually do [1:09:11] have an office with a door just because I've like Pino and I are up there but it's still I like because then I can [1:09:17] find it anytime I want so and I'll just add that Metro cities also we are putting the final touches on our [1:09:23] legislative priorities so and we will be sending those electronically so and I will absolutely Echo what what [1:09:30] Katie and and an said that the legislative delegation is phenomenal to work with and and it does make a [1:09:35] difference the the reason a housing Bill didn't pass that was detrimental was because of our delegation in all honesty [1:09:43] and so uh it is important to have a local understanding of how things work [1:09:50] uh sitting on a city council and and that engagement is is really really important so we really appreciate the dialogue [1:09:55] um I will also put a plugin we have our mlc breakfast coming up February 7th I'd love to have all of you there at the [1:10:02] Plymouth Community Center bright and early 7:30 but that be a snowstorm that day yeah we don't get snow anymore no [1:10:10] hope not just that day yes yeah probably will Danel anything good of the order no [1:10:16] I don't think I would add anything to that great great uh discussion and appreciate uh represent you came Senator [1:10:23] lats and Senator man and represent green for coming here and um listening to us [1:10:28] and um just looking forward to a what is sure to be a whirlwind of a session but thanks for always being uh willing to to [1:10:36] chat and to understand uh issues impacting not just cities in your [1:10:42] District but cities across the state of Minnesota thanks Julie have you been sworn in [1:10:50] yet no not yet I mean officially started yesterday that's what my the terms start [1:10:55] but yeah swearing and it's next week they're going to see her we're not [1:11:02] worried about that one not worried about representative like green her started by [1:11:09] that's right [1:11:18] she's thanks for inviting us thank you very much [1:11:25] that's just