day in the city of Edana. We're going to dedicate the new fire station number two this afternoon at 4:00. I hope everybody can be there. Um we are um recording these meetings. Uh uh people can watch them in a hybrid sort of fashion. They can watch them remotely. they can be in the audience. We've got one guest with us this morning, which is nice to have somebody here. Uh, and um, people will be able to call in for community comment. There are no public hearings today. So, that's your one opportunity if there's something that's on your mind that you want to talk to the H about. Uh, we're glad to hear that information as long as it's not on the agenda today or scheduled for a future public hearing in front of the in front of the HA. So, having provided that provided that information, I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask our executive director, Scott Neil, to call the role. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Risser >> here. >> Commissioner Jackson >> here. >> Commissioner Pierce >> here. >> Chair Hublin >> here. >> Commissioner Agnu is absent from today's meeting. >> All right. Very good. Thank you. Sorry to not have her here. Um, with respect to the meeting agenda, we've got one item. Uh, we got a couple things to deal with there. >> What? >> Oh, excuse me. Yeah. Pledge of allegiance. Thank you. >> Um, next is the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag >> of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> My apologies for missing that one and jumping right to the right past it. Um, we've got a meeting agenda that we're going to talk a little bit about here before we get uh started on the meeting itself. We've asked we've had on item seven and 7.1, we've had uh the developers request to have that removed from the agenda and indefinitely tabled to a future meeting of the HA. And um so I think we could take that up. I guess we could take that up in due course and and and definitely extend it when we get to that portion of the agenda. But that's that's a little preview of what we're going to deal with on seven. Uh and then um we'll deal with um uh so the consent agenda and we've got one member that wishes for removing that from the consent agenda this morning as well. So let's uh let's talk about approving the agenda and uh take a motion to approve the agenda as published. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Got a motion by uh well uh member Jackson, second by member Pierce uh to um approve the meeting agenda as published. Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the meeting agenda as published, say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. >> Now is the time for community comment. Do we have anybody in the audience who wishes to address the council on a matter of the council the HR on a matter of concern to them? All right, seeing no one coming forward. Do you have anybody online? >> I don't have anyone on the line yet. Um, but because there is a brief delay in the broadcast, I'd recommend we wait one minute before moving on with the agenda. My clock shows that it's 7:36. So, I'll come back to you at 7:37 or when I have a caller, whichever's first. >> [snorts] >> It is now 7:37 and I still don't have a caller, so I think it's safe for you to move forward with the agenda. >> Very good. Thank you. Um, all right. Do we have any executive director comments from the prior meeting? >> We do not. >> All right. Thanks. We'll move on from there to the consent agenda. Commissioner Risser has indicated she'd like to remove item 6.5 for further discussion. Uh the other item does any other commissioner wish to remove an item from the consent agenda other than 6.5? >> All right. Is there a motion to approve the uh items on the consent agenda with the exception of 6.5? >> So moved. >> Commissioner Jackson moves. Commissioner Pier seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda with the exception of item 6.5. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the items on the consent agenda and a single motion with the exception of 6.5 say I. I >> I opposed carried. >> All those items on the consent agenda are approved with the exception of 6.5 which we will turn to now which um is uh potential approval of a grant agreement with the Atlanta Housing Foundation for a million dollars for the Heroes Down payment assistance program. I'll turn now to Commissioner Risser to uh have her state her um her concerns. Okay, thank you. And I know all of us as elected officials take votes and then you start thinking about them and ramifications and with this uh you know what's not to love, right? It's the heroes program. But this is more of a grant or use of money that the more I think about it, the more I think it should be coming from private sources instead of the public. And I wanted to share why I feel this way. I did vote for it and this is not a vote where we would overturn that vote. This is about the agreement moving forward. I want to say the idea that we are financing um $100,000 to heroes um is very appealing. However, then you start thinking who gets to be a hero, who does not get to be a hero. and for public money to make that distinction. You know, a hero apparently is not a person working in the retail environment. A hero, you know, is not somebody working in a lot of other fields. And so it it leaves people out. And that was a concern. And the other thing is as I would, you know, walk my neighborhood and look at my house, look at other houses around me, they are valued at less than $600,000, which is what this grant will allow somebody to purchase. Okay? And so that also to me is a problem. Um, household income can go as high as $106,000, which is viewed as um, you know, in today's market needing assistance. And I get that. Um, I work as a city council person. Uh, I earn 12,000 plus. My husband's a metrorransit driver. Okay. Uh, there are other households in Edina, you know, and people who rent do contribute. They pay property taxes. It gets put on them. And so as we're moving forward with this grant, um I feel that it was it it is a problem. And you know, the other thing is we've talked about the levy. We don't always talk we rarely talk about what the impact of keeping the funds are and if the money was to go back, how much could it reduce the levy? And yes, it might just be for one year, but we're talking about probably a little under a half a percentage point, and that could mean a lot to a lot of people, especially now when we're going through this government shutdown where we're having um food assistance being eliminated, all of this, it's getting harder and harder and harder. And so and I as I look at some of the affordable housing uh investments we have made I am wondering more and more they benefit a few people and that's wonderful but who is providing the support and how stressful is that on their budgets. So I I needed to say that before we advance this. I don't really see any I mean we could change details in the come home to we die in a mortgage program but the program as a whole um we voted on that already and you know so that kind of there really isn't anything that we can do at this point. Uh so thank you. >> Thank you uh Commissioner Risser. I I think it might be worthwhile uh in view of the concerns that were expressed um to remind the public what this program is uh proposed to be about and wonder if Miss Hawinson could provide some backgrounding for us. And I think you could use your heroes program guidelines document as a basis for explaining what we're think what we're thinking about here in terms of uh it's a while it's a grant agreement with the proposed grant agreement with the Atlanta Housing Foundation. it does become a loan to the to the homeowner. >> That is correct. Um so as you are aware we had a come home to a diner program for many many many many many years that is being has been suspended due to running out of funds. It was a popular program that off um provided an opportunity for people who otherwise could not afford to purchase a condominium, town home or single family home in the city the ability to do so through this down payment um program. It is a loan and that program was open to anyone. It was open to um the service workers. In fact, it has served service workers. It has served people that work in the grocery store. It has served social workers. that has served a variety of folks. Um, and the truthfully the maximum income on that program was similar but the people that were served the household served range between $40 $50,000 annual income. So that's a maximum and not the minimum of who can be served. So um people at with incomes far below the maximum benefited from the program. It is a loan. It is when someone qualifies for a certain size of mortgage, but the home exceeds what they qualify for. They This helps fill in that that difference. It helps them get over the limits so they can buy a home that's a little bit outside their reach of what they qualify for. It is a loan. there is a lean placed against the house or the condo and they it is owed back. Um, so when they sell the home, they they have an option to either do interest only. So every month they pay interest on the second mortgage or it's all deferred until they sell. And then when they sell, we satisfied two of these mortgages in October. We do a calculation either based on interest only or based on the shared appreciation option, their choice. And then the money comes back. So, as a grant to the Adina Housing Foundation, they would own the money. They would own the mortgages. They would lend out the money to the buyer. When it gets paid off, it goes back to them to help support the come home to Edina program. That could be 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now, depending on how long these mortgages last. and it helps continue those programs that are opened up to everyone or restrictions could be placed sometime in the future for how those funds are used. But this is not a grant to the buyers. Um it is to get them qualified for a home that's beyond their economic reach. >> Why don't you talk a little bit about the source of funds uh for the grant proposed grant to the Dana Housing Foundation as well? The million dollars the source of those funds. >> All right. And I will I may rely on my colleague here if I get some of the details mixed up because I was not part of the legislation. Um there was the old Southdale tiff to tiff district and it was wildly successful beyond anyone's anticipation. So, some of the increment from that tiff district was pulled. Um, and there was some legislation that was passed that said some of that increment had to be used for affordable housing that we could hold on to it and keep it for the purposes of affordable housing. We're we're drawing on that poolled funds for affordable housing to help get homeowners allow people to become homeowners. So, it's a Selale 2 tiff poolled funds. >> And um Mr. Nounorf, if um we chose not to use those poolled TIFF funds for the purposes of a grant to the Adana Housing Foundation, what would we be able to use those funds for? That's a good question. So, those dollars were collected uh and the city of of Adina did secure special legislation from the state um to use those dollars specifically for affordable housing. If we chose not to do that, um I would presume that those dollars would go back into the TIF district, which is closed, and they would then be redistributed, some to the Richfield schools, some to the Adina schools. Um but then the state comes and takes takes it from the schools and keeps it for the state, some to the county and then some to the city. So that would probably take about a year or a year plus for that process to happen, but eventually it would trickle back not to the individual taxpayers but to the taxing agencies. >> Commissioner Jackson. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, and the reason that we chose the heroes program was a second goal that the city has, and that is to reduce vehicle miles traveled. And we thought, where could we find a pool of people who we know will be living in Edina and working in Edina and that was a set that we knew people would automatically qualify for working in Edina because the fear was people moving here and then driving to Chanhassen when it's open to anybody. So it it serves a second goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled and that's why we made that designation >> and and it does allow the continuation of the come home to a dana program in a slightly different way. >> Yes. Um, chair, commissioners, it does um it in a more focused way immediately by having a more target audience of borrowers and in a broader sense in the long term. >> Uh, Commissioner Brer, >> I appreciate all of that information. I would ask as we move forward with affordable housing um programs that we do think about the impact overall general to the taxpayer especially because for some families budgets are really really tight. So thank you. >> Thank you. Uh any other questions or comments? Uh, is there a commissioner who wishes to move the approval of the grant agreement with the Adena Housing Foundation for a million dollars from the South 2 TIFF poolled funds uh to be used for the heroes down payment assistance program established by the Adena Housing Foundation. >> So moved. >> Moves. Commissioner Pier seconds the motion is stated. Uh, any further discussion? All those in favor of approval of the motion is stated say I. I. Opposed. Hey Motion carries. The uh approved grant the grant agreement is approved with the Adana Housing Foundation for a million dollars uh as a grant from the South L2 tiff poolled funds uh for the Heroes Down payment assistance program. All right. Um, that takes us then to the last item we had on the agenda and the developers have asked us to pull it uh and uh table the matter indefinitely uh to a future meeting of the HA. Is there a motion to that effect? >> So moved. >> Commissioner Jackson moves >> second. Commissioner Pier seconds the indefinite tableabling of the um proposed discussion of the proposed financing structure for public parking garage at 701 France Avenue South. Any further discussion? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Um >> Commissioner Risser. >> Okay. This is the third time we have had this come before us and it means staff time. It means prep time. it it means, you know, um engagement from the community. So, it's very frustrating to find out now um and I learned at 7:30 this morning that this was going to be tabled and it might become coming back. And the other thing that is very frustrating about this is we found out, you know, we got the agenda for the HR around 4:30 on Monday. uh this is refinancing um an aspect of a tiff district and there's no public hearing for that. So you have to really be paying attention and watching what's happening. And so now you know people did find out about this. We did get emails. I did have some conversations with residents and now we're going to table it and um people are going to have to watch like you know watch very closely to find out when it's going to come back. So I I think that is very unfortunate and again um this is troubling. Thank you. >> Commissioner Jackson. >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Um I have a question for Manager Neworf. Would there be if this had gone forward for some reason this morning, would there be a public hearing at the city council level before we made a decision >> uh for for this type of legislation? There was no mandate uh for a public hearing. Uh of course, public meetings require all the notice. So, we do the the newspaper, the print, the website, the all the online social uh postings, but there's no requirement for a public hearing. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, we got a motion and a second to indefinitely table the uh proposed future discussion on the proposed financing structure for a public parking garage at 701 France Avenue South. Any further discussion? All those in favor of indefinitely tableabling this matter to a future meeting to be determined, say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. carried. Matter is indefinitely tabled. And um do we have any executive director comments? >> Two brief things. Uh Mr. Chair, one is that we are continuing to work on the formation of the final levy and budget for the HRA that has a a process that mimics the process of the city council's uh general fund consideration and full budget consideration. So that is still coming to you. The other item that we are in kind of final stages on that's coming to you is your proposed meeting schedule for 2026. And I think you may you may see that as early as next week, but if not the second meeting in November. >> That's all I've got. Thank you. >> Okay. Um I want to thank uh the representative from Olivet Rolling Acres for being here this morning. We got somebody else here as well. the um we've got a grant going to VEP and we got some good work done this morning with the uh so-called WAJA money that the city gets uh based on some state legislation that occurred a couple years ago now. So uh any comments from H members for the good of the order this morning? Commissioner Risser, then Commissioner Jackson. Um, I want to thank um, communication director Benerroat for getting that um, traffic safety announcement out as a news release this morning um, pertaining to Halloween. And I also want to do a shout out to the Adina Police Department who created this uh messaging and I think it's important. Um share it with your family members and friends who have kids who are going to go trick-or-treating. And so I thought, it's short. We should watch it. [snorts] Halloween coming up. We've got some safety tips to share with you. Wait, that's better. Our first Halloween tip is for you to stay visible. Carry glow sticks, flashlights, or wear reflective tape on your Halloween costumes or trick-or- treat bags. >> Our second tip is to drive safe. Slow down in residential neighborhoods. Stay alert and avoid distractions. Let's go. It's me, Luigi. Some tips for homeowners. Turn on your porch lights. Clear your walkways and secure your pets. Let's go. Remember to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement and make sure you check your kids candy and throw away anything that's open. Oh, and don't forget the dad tax. [laughter] >> Happy Halloween from the United Police Department. We hope you have a safe night. We'll see you out there. >> Pretty cute. >> Well done. >> Yeah. So, shout out from for that. That took creativity and it's important to have that messaging out there. Um the risk for children ages four to eight of getting hit and killed by a car is 10 times higher on October 31st than any other day of the year. And so I just want to applaud the police department for coming up with a video that you know is appealing to kids uh and parents and be careful as you're out there trick-or-treating. Thank you, >> Mr. Jackson. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, um I actually thought about this when we were looking um as a city council, but I would like to have an Edina TED talks on economic development in Edina or not TED talk the just Edina talks. Um and here are some [clears throat] ideas for uh what I thought we could cover. One is why does the city council in Edina sit as the HA? That's something that isn't uh the case in every city, but we have reasons for that. Um what let's look behind the scenes of what the economic development manager does because I know you're a busy guy and we just see the the tip of the iceberg. um how we manage opportunities that come to Edina and um how we differ from uh economic development on the national scene when we go to the National League of Cities conference a whole bunch of that is about bringing jobs to cities and um we spend less time in Edina doing that and it's um interesting how many cities really put a huge amount of their focus on that activity and how we differ from cities at the national level in that respect. So, those are some ideas, but but I think um there's a lot of mythology that floats around our community about economic development, and I would love to see what really happens. >> I thought, Commissioner Pierce, anything this morning? >> Nothing from me. Thank you. >> Uh just quick reminder that we've got a new coffee shop down at 50th in France. We did a little ribbon cutting down there. Uh, Rag has put a uh, which is just on the Minneapolis side of 50th of France, put a what they call a corner cafe into the um, Indian restaurant facility. So, it's uh, I think it's one of the few coffee shops down on the on the corner there. So, keep that in mind if you're looking for a cup of coffee down there at 50th in France. Um, other than in the grocery stores. And then just a reminder again that we've got the fire station number two grand opening today at 4 o'clock is 4 between 4 and 4:30 is the uh hose uncoupling, the ribbon cutting if you will. Uh and then uh they'll be open until 8:00 and there's a lot of trick-or-treating to be done there as well. Uh and then I think we might have talked briefly about this. I got this uh text message from this friend of mine up in North Minneapolis and he said, "Hey, congratulations. You're on Yahoo. Uh, Edina got an award from some organization I'd never heard of as the best suburb in the United States with city-ike qualities. >> H, >> so I don't know if that makes us the best hybrid around or what the combination of urban and suburban. And uh, so that was kind of fun to see as well. And I think I sent that link to director Benerat. She's probably posted it up online. I've had a few people ask me who the uh originator of that was and I I I had no idea who the organization was that was that caused Yahoo to pick it up and republish it. So uh hope to see many people there this afternoon. I think it'll be a wonderful uh opening to a a terrific new public facility that serves so many purposes beyond just fire. Our public health people are over there. It's got a wonderful public meeting space uh that we'll be able to take advantage of for public meetings and u it's quite an exceptional piece of of uh design work and and materials and something we can all be really proud of. Uh it's a great investment for the residents of the city of Adana. And that's it for me. Manager Neil, anything else? Okay, Director Benerro, thanks for making the journey in here this morning. It was admirable that you were here. Uh is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Oh, second. [laughter] >> All right. Commissioner Jackson moves that we adjourn. Commissioner Pierce isn't certain we should adjourn, but okay. [laughter] We all adjourn. Uh we got a motion, a second to adjurnn. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adjournment of the H this meeting this Thursday, October 30th, 2025, say I. I. >> I. Opposed. Carried. The HR meeting uh for the city of Eden stands adjourned.