[Music] welcome to agenda Edina a program summarizing the actions taken at City Hall that affect you most I'm your host dorothia Marty the city is starting the new year with a Slimmer budget than originally planned the adopted budget is nearly 5% less than recommended by staff city manager Scott Neil developed the 2025 budget in response to feedback from residents prioritizing significant investments in public safety while still upholding high levels of city services across all departments the original proposal included a $ 61.5 million tax levy an increase of 13.14% from 2024 of that 5.46% was specifically earmarked to fund the expansion of Public Safety services including the opening of Fire Station 2 and adding new police and fire Personnel the rest of it was to cover city-wide operating costs fund projects and the capital Improvement plan support the street special Levy and update the city zoning ordinance council members were not comfortable with a double- digigit levy increase between the December 3rd public hearing and Levy adoption later in the month the finance department worked hard behind the scenes and offered some possible reductions use cash reserves for zoning ordinance updates instead of levying for the expense use cash reserves to pay for the design of a new cold storage building for Public Works use Public Safety Aid funding from the state to pay for some police equipment and funds from the equipment replacement Levy to pay for some garage safety improvements at Centennial Lakes defer improvements to the shelter at Lewis Park delay hiring new paramedic firefighters until January 20126 reduce the general fund by 1% the council accepted all of the suggested reductions and approved a budget of just over 47.3 million with an 8.44 per Levy increase Neil and his executive leadership team will work to reduce the general fund to get to the adopted 2025 budget council members also challenged staff and each other to Begin work now to reduce the 2026 budget projections my big concern to make a dent in the 2026 because we can't come back with another double digit increase so then it's all right we got to have the tough conversation and do the work starting now now to contract our expenses and it's hard work we got to make tough decisions but we have to do that with the community um we just we have to do that work and I think that will take us almost a full year to have those conversations so that when we come into August of 2025 we have a really good idea of how um we can um adjust our expenses and service levels and what have you to have a projected Target um that is more reasonable the council also approved the 2025 to 2030 Capital Improvement plan at its last meeting of 2024 another possible project for the former Kevin Keys Auto site on Vernon Avenue has died the owner of Station Pizza had proposed Remodeling and expanding the auto repair building at 6016 Vernon Avenue into a 20 seat restaurant with takeout and delivery service the project required a comprehensive plan Amendment resoning and a site plan with variances neighbors for and against the project spoke out some really liked the idea of having a small restaurant in their neighborhood for people to ga GA others felt there should be housing on the site as outlined in the city's comprehensive plan the project needed four votes from the five member city council to move forward it failed on a vote of 3 to2 first of all I ask myself the question does the proposed use have a potential benefit to the public I'd say yeah it probably does uh but then I have to ask myself the question is there a potential adverse impact on the immediate neighborhood and if so does that potential adverse outweigh the potential benefit to the broader public there's only one way I can answer that question I say yes the potential adverse impact on the nearby neighborhood to me is more significant than the overall benefit to the public this was the third project proposed for the site to be turned down by the City previously a restaurant and a green drop donation site had been proposed in 1988 ridon was classified as a human carcinogen since then much research and effort has gone into finding homes that may be affected in fact two and five Minnesota homes have high radon levels but what is radon and what can you do to protect your home and family from it Edina TV's Tom Cornell has the story this 1986 EPA Journal detailed the story of why a nuclear engineer was setting off alarms at a new nuclear plant with no fuel installed yet the reason extremely high levels of radon in his home radon is a gas that occurs naturally um it's in underground we see it everywhere um it's a problem because if it gets into our homes and the level concentrates it can cause cancer approximately 21,000 people die in the US every year from radon caused lung cancer because of this the US EPA has declared January as radon action month and uranium is where radon comes from it's decaying uranium way under the ground and once it does it comes up through the cracks and things in the ground comes into our homes through the same kind of cracks in the floor or open some baskets mortar joints essentially any opening between the soil and the home from there it can build up especially in homes that are sealed up during the winter which is why testing is so important hi can I get a radon kit we work with the Minesota Department of health and we make the rate on test kits available they're just $5 you can come in it's a short-term test pick one up thank you have a good day you too detectors come with easy to follow instructions you want to hang it up as quickly as as you open it and don't wait a day or two all the information is in the kit here about why to test where to test all the best uh spots in your home to do that then you want to follow the instructions as carefully as you can to make sure that we're we've get an uh reading as accurate as we can uh you'll open up the end keep the cardboard in there during the collection period and once you have that open like that it's going to collect the radon you want it hanging in the lowest area of your home that's occupied hang it at I level that's going to get us our best information the detector will be in place from 3 to 7 days after that you simply seal it up fill out the form on the back and drop it in the mail the Minnesota Department of Health has this guide on their website with details including what to do if the testing reveals High rate on levels in your home how to find licensed contractors accessing financial support and more very simple to do and within a few days or few weeks even with the lab work you'll know if you have an elevated level in your house fre din TV I'm Tom Cornell picking up a radon detector kit is as easy as stopping by Fire Station 1 on Tracy Avenue please bring $5 in cash on behalf of the entire Edina TV crew Happy New Year we look forward to continuing to bring you news from City Hall in 2025 thanks for watching this episode of agenda Edina I'm your host dorothia Marty [Music]