[0:05] oh I hold on folks I got a little bit ahead of myself there here we go we got a green light now is everybody ready to

[0:10] go to work all right here we go well good evening everybody and uh welcome to the ad city council meeting

[0:17] it is Tuesday February 18th 2025 7:02 p.m. uh uh director Ben usually tells

[0:24] folks that um we're doing these meetings in a hybrid fashion uh I will tell you that we are doing these meetings in a

[0:30] hybrid fashion and uh people might be watching on cable TV or on

[0:35] youtube.com OTV uh in some form or fashion uh getting to us virtually uh some folks

[0:42] are here in the audience that wish to address the Council on matters of concern to them uh and tonight we've got

[0:49] uh I think one opportunity on community comment and one public hearing that provides opportunity for people to

[0:55] participate and so um uh we're going to continue doing these meetings in a

[1:00] hybrid fashion for an indeterminate period of time and having provided that information I'm going to call the

[1:06] meeting to order and then ask Carrie sinning uh who is sitting in tonight for

[1:12] Sharon Allison to call the role Miss sinning thank you mayor aland and council member agnu is absent

[1:20] today so council member Jackson here council member Pierce here council member rer here and mayor hubin here

[1:27] thank you uh Pledge of Allegiance is next I pledge aliance to the flag of the

[1:34] United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation

[1:40] under God indivisible with liberty and justice for

[1:45] all thank you everybody we've got a meeting agenda that's been published and uh is uh on the Das this evening with

[1:52] all of us is there a uh anyone on the council or staff that wishes to modify the meeting agenda in any former fashion

[1:59] is there a motion approv the meeting agenda is published so moved second member Jackson moves member Pi seconds

[2:05] the adoption of the meeting agenda as published any further com further conversation on that issue all those in

[2:11] favor of adopting the meeting agenda is published say I I I opposed carried the meeting agenda is adopted uh and

[2:18] approved uh for the meeting and now we are at Community comment and we may have some folks that are tuning in online but

[2:24] we've got uh some of our fellow residents in the audience tonight I think that um uh would like to address

[2:30] the Council on a matter of concern to them that's not on the agenda uh this evening or scheduled for a future public

[2:37] hearing so uh folks if you want to come up and address the Council on a matter of concern to yours concern to you feel

[2:43] free to come up and get started um looks like we got one of our residents who wants to use the

[2:51] overhead projector and um we'll have 3 minutes for your presentation and you'll

[2:56] get a yellow light as you know uh when you've got about 30 seconds and then you should be thinking about wrapping up

[3:02] your comments right at the three minute Mark all right very good thank you welcome

[3:08] Anders my name is Ralph Zer I live at 4311 cornelus Circle during the February

[3:15] 13th HRA work session staff claimed to have delivered 17.2% of AD din's goal for affordable

[3:22] units as set by the Met Council my first question how many of the affordable

[3:29] units created since 2015 shown on this city slide in Orange

[3:36] are permanently affordable and how many of those units are subject to a sunset

[3:42] Clause at which point the developer no longer has to offer the units at an affordable

[3:53] rate speaking of affordable rates during the December 17th HRA meeting staff

[3:59] reported that the majority the majority of the developers each of whom have been

[4:04] awarded multi-million dollar tax incentives to create affordable housing have not have not been offering units at

[4:12] affordable rates and worse staff has known these violations have been

[4:17] happening for years therefore my second question is why has the city not address

[4:24] the issue of Developers overcharging for affordable units in a more timely and

[4:30] forceful manner when does non-compliance become

[4:36] fraud I for one am left to wonder why this wasn't more of a discussion point when a month ago yet a second

[4:44] multi-million dollar gift of Tiff was granted a developer who was

[4:51] already on the naughty list also disturbing is that residents are left to

[4:56] wonder just how many of the affordable units are actually occupied why is there not any transparency as to

[5:03] whether our tax dollars have gone to Sheltering the needy or are nothing more than vacant unused open shells which

[5:12] leads to my third question what are the number of vacant versus occupied units

[5:17] for each particular development and when will it start to be reported on a

[5:23] regular basis to Residents it would seem that occupancy

[5:28] would be a rather important met for any Housing

[5:33] Initiative together these previously asked questions but unanswered leave

[5:39] this resident feeling as if a Dina is only creating a mirage of affordable

[5:44] housing units a mirage like the Oasis in a desert which disappears when you get a

[5:51] closer look thank you thank you

[6:02] anyone

[6:12] else good evening um Janie Weston 6136 Brookview Avenue I have a really big

[6:20] multi-part question to ask and I'm trying to I'll try to um be

[6:27] clear and won't get an answer tonight we'll see how two weeks from now

[6:33] something can be um given as a response um now with my concern and many

[6:41] other citizens concerns about what's happening at the federal government level as departments and budgets money

[6:48] is being erased every day it's a new department is being slashed cut

[6:56] dismantled whatever um the big question is how will

[7:02] this affect the city as far as what our budget depends on as far as um the

[7:11] portion of our budget that's federal funds grants um how will that

[7:18] happen um we have ADA compliance that we

[7:23] need to do for improving our curb cuts for instance we have Federal Grant

[7:29] grants that may be getting used for special needs athletic um and park programs for

[7:36] special needs kids and adults the cross town pedestrian bridge how much of that

[7:42] is of um some of it funding how much of that is federal how much of the funding

[7:49] for the next year's projected um sound barrier wall on the cross town how much

[7:57] of that is federal um Public Utilities we have some water well

[8:06] buildings that now have the bloom of the Riley Taran

[8:12] chemical um issue that's working its way

[8:17] toward more wells in Idina it's a matter of time only a matter of time that those

[8:26] buildings um will need to be modified for Safe Water for our citizens some of that

[8:34] funding I would guess is probably coming from EPA Superfund

[8:39] cleanup um how will will that even exist um we have federal grants perhaps

[8:47] for police and fire equipment and training Federal money for health programs training and

[8:53] coordination so my first part is question is what is

[9:01] our current dollar amount not a percentage but dollar amount in the city

[9:07] budget that's Federal origination of funds how will a lack of let's just

[9:16] assume they may all go away then what does the city do is there

[9:22] a future plan being talked about and worked out

[9:27] now and will this lack of funding for

[9:32] very important things that every taxpayer will have to deal with will it

[9:39] become a greater burden for us local taxpayers all right

[9:45] thank you it's multi-part and complicated I think we can even answer preliminarily some of the one of those

[9:52] questions tonight okay so before you leave we'll okay and I was just coming

[9:57] up with what I could think of off the top there's more I'm sure so thanks thanks for doing that uh and raising the issue

[10:03] of how will federal Cuts potentially affect Edina his budget and um is anybody else

[10:10] that wants to uh address the Council on a matter of concern to them in the audience okay um is there anybody

[10:24] online no all right very good um I think we could um

[10:29] well with respect to Mr Zik's concerns about uh affordable housing and um and

[10:36] the uh non-compliance by some of the property owners in terms of affordable housing we can address that a couple

[10:42] weeks from now with uh either through you our affordable housing manager

[10:47] Stephanie hackinson but I know that we have asked you as a council to start looking at and I think you even on your

[10:54] own initiative started looking at from a staffing standpoint how will federal potential Federal Cuts affect dinina and

[11:01] you could maybe get some preliminary inform provide some preliminary information on that thank thank you your

[11:07] honor I gave the council um an update on this a couple of weeks ago um part of

[11:12] part of that though is that information is already way out of date right so we need we we are continuously monitoring

[11:19] both our kind of operational areas where we come into contact with Federal funding um uh but Miss Weston is right

[11:27] there's there's a number of these areas that are infrastructure related uh that we that we'll need to just sit through

[11:34] and and uh find out what the status of those uh connections currently are and we'll report we'll report that back

[11:40] through our website uh by the end of the week uh like we have uh been doing here for a while now and we'll give a greater

[11:48] report to you at the council meeting in March March 4th okay um as it relates to uh

[11:57] infrastructure as director do we have any Federal grant agreements that are

[12:03] not executed fully or do we have some that are fully

[12:08] executed what I'm hearing from indot is the two projects that we have some money

[12:13] The Interchange project and the Rosen park ped Bridge there's no changes to funding at this point that could change

[12:20] tomorrow so they've said full steam ahead and they can continue to go ahead until you hear otherwise from us is what

[12:26] we've heard for pretty much every week since the new Administration the advice I'm getting so

[12:33] far the information I'm getting so far is that if you got signed Grant agreements they're going to they're

[12:38] going to hold because those are contractual obligations if if you've got an a commitment on a on a grant but you

[12:46] don't have a signed agreement yet those things are still up in the air so okay

[12:53] um let's move on then to manager Neil who will report out as us us does uh uh

[13:01] about regarding comments that were made at the prior meeting and um he's also provided information uh on the website I

[13:08] think by the Friday following the uh Tuesday meeting uh so information has been out there but nonetheless it's a

[13:15] good place now to have us follow up with you so that a different audience has uh

[13:21] that information that you have at hand that responds to questions and concerns that were raised at the prior council

[13:26] meeting manager Neil thank you your honor we had three three people speak during Community comment at the February

[13:31] 4th meeting uh Miss Weston spoke about process in with regards to uh conservation easements and how we

[13:38] develop that uh Steve Brown spoke uh about his advocacy for tax inant

[13:44] financing for affordable housing projects so those were just comments they weren't questions uh Connie Corino

[13:50] uh called in remotely and she had some questions and some concerns about uh the

[13:55] new the new look of the software that we use to share our Council agendas uh with

[14:01] folks and how it's not quite as easy to follow as as previous uh as previous

[14:06] kind of look and feels were of of that U of that service on our website so we will take a look at that and see what

[14:13] kind of latitude we have uh with that software um and because it was she was

[14:19] not able to find some piece I did reach out to her um that that week to get a

[14:25] little more spec specificity on what she was concerned about so I think we'll uh we'll take a look at that for her right

[14:32] thank you for that that prompt any uh questions or comments from other council

[14:37] members member rer just one somebody called me and noted that when they go

[14:43] and they look at the website for responses to community comment there's only three items on there now and it's

[14:51] been significantly reduced so I'm wondering why we're not just keeping everything up there I can answer that um

[14:58] we agreed at the beginning of this process that we would keep them up for three months um and and we only answer

[15:06] questions we don't just make make a general response to a general comment so

[15:12] we use that space to answer questions for the last meeting there were no questions there were just comments so

[15:18] there were no updates on our website after the last meeting um so that if

[15:23] there are no questions it's going to get smaller and smaller as those three months trickle off if you decide you want to go further and keep them out

[15:30] longer certainly we can do that we just didn't know what we were going to expect when we started this

[15:36] process thank very good uh next thing on the agenda is the consent agenda there

[15:42] are several items on the consent agenda member Jackson wants to remove item 6.1

[15:48] which uh is the minutes for the city council work session and the regular February 4th uh city council uh meeting

[15:55] and then the special city council work session minutes from February 6 2025

[16:00] other than item 6.1 is there any council member which uh who who desires to

[16:06] remove an item from the consent agenda with the exception of uh item 6.1

[16:12] is there a motion to adopt the uh balance of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion so moved so

[16:18] moved member Pierce moves member Jackson seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda with the exception of

[16:25] item 6.1 uh any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the items on the

[16:30] consent agenda and a single motion except item 6.1 say I I I oppose carried

[16:36] uh the items on the consent agenda adopted with the exception of 6.1 and I will now turn to member Jackson with

[16:42] regard to those minutes that were alluded to that are under item 6.1 in the consent agenda well since I wasn't

[16:49] here I don't know whether they're accurate or not so I'm going to let somebody else move those all right thank

[16:54] you uh I think your choice is there a motion to adopt the uh approve the

[16:59] minutes of the city council work session and the regular city council meeting on February 4th and the minutes of the

[17:05] special city council work session on February 6 2025 so move second um member

[17:11] rer moves uh the adoption of the minutes as stated and member Pierce seconds that

[17:16] motion any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of those minutes uh from the council work session and the

[17:23] regular council meeting on February 4th and the specially special city council work session on February 6 2025 say I I

[17:32] opposed abstention abstain uh minutes are approved thank you uh and now we are

[17:40] going to the next portion of the agenda which is the public hearing portion of the agenda and our engineering director

[17:45] Chad Milner has this matter it is the only matter scheduled for public hearing this evening and it is uh resolution

[17:53] 20256 which potentially vacates the RightWay easements at 723 5 France

[17:59] Avenue director Milner thank you may for that intruction

[18:04] of 25-16 uh the existing easements so there

[18:11] are four easements located around the property at 7235 France Avenue it's the

[18:17] Macy's property these are all duplicative easements that we don't need

[18:23] today and we are going to hold all the easements that we do need in the future

[18:28] until any sort of development project occurs in the future so I'll start with number nine there's a duplica sanitary

[18:35] sewer easement there's two of them in two different documents uh thought it'd be a easier cleaner thing to vacate one

[18:41] of those we are still going to hold that exact easement just in one of the documents we're going to hold that until

[18:47] that pipe is moved with a future development number 13 and 14 are encompassed in county rway and within a

[18:55] sidewalk easement that the city holds from 2012 we did all the sidewalks along France Avenue we're going to hold all

[19:02] those easements and make those adjustments to any sidewalk easements after a development project and then

[19:07] number 18 is a Transit easement uh the NL Creek Regional Trail has an easement

[19:13] we are not going to vacate that this evening we're going to hold that and any adjustments will be done afterwards so these are the ones that are not needed

[19:20] at this time and they're not needed in the future those are the only ones we are willing to consider vacations the

[19:25] city we have no issue vacating these not ad easements but we are holding those remaining easements private utility uh

[19:32] companies have no issues with these either they're working with the developer on any adjustments uh we

[19:38] received no comments on better to gathery Dina and I would recommend vacating these easements and approving

[19:44] resolution 20 25-16 and I'll stand for any questions uh questions yeah can you go back um and

[19:54] just repeat what you said on this slide it wasn't included what's not we're

[20:00] going to I'm asking you to vacate or the applicant not me the applicant is asking to vacate these four easements okay

[20:06] there is another four to six easements that we're holding that we need until a

[20:12] development project is completed they meet all the conditions then we would consider adjusting those easements okay

[20:17] these are the ones we don't need now or in the future got it and then the um only other question we've done this in

[20:24] the past I'd say it probably looked more like um or at least I would internalize

[20:30] it more like 14 or uh yeah more like 14

[20:36] um 18 being the transit system easement right there's a lot of trees and

[20:43] Greenery in there um and so what happens if we release those do we have any say

[20:50] over what can happen across that easement in terms of tree coverage

[20:56] things like that well this one's unique in that you've approved a development a comprehensive plan Amendment and a

[21:02] resoning that already has all those conditions on what they need to do okay so they need to follow that approval

[21:08] process that this council's already approved okay all right y other questions for director Miller member

[21:14] Risser U part of it is just about process because I know we've looked at vacating easements for different

[21:20] situations and it was really good to get the documents later in the day um so I knew exactly what we were being asked I

[21:27] appreciate the word duplicative sanitary sewer easement I'm not seeing that word

[21:33] in the other easements and so the one thing that really caught my attention was the

[21:39] transit system easement um in part just because it encompasses the 9 Mile Creek

[21:45] Trail bit and so being able to read that and understand that it was completely

[21:50] apart from that was a good thing for me especially because with the history of this project from sketch plan to final

[21:57] review um in my opinion the 9M Creek Trail was compromised like in the sketch plan it

[22:03] didn't even show up and then in the final review they had stairs landing on

[22:09] the 9M Creek Trail so that was something I was concerned about with the scenic and open space easement I'm a little

[22:17] concerned because um that is something that encompasses a lot the easement number it

[22:25] it it goes all the way up to 70 and it goes over to Xerxes um and so it's not just this

[22:34] parcel and I get that you're saying it's duplicative but it's not that word is

[22:40] not there on the map and uh you know I think about the

[22:46] easement and the area that it actually includes and I kind of feel like I don't

[22:54] have enough information because it looks like it's part of a larger system that you know could be used for

[23:03] really creating a beautiful public right away and not infringing on the public right away and I'm just I'm a little

[23:10] reticent about that it also comes around where there's the um part that would be

[23:17] a sidewalk coming from the library down to Adams Park and it's troubling because

[23:24] I mean that area and it was pointed out this is getting a little bit in the weeds but it was pointed out to me that

[23:31] we didn't even um plan for that sidewalk segment in the CIP and I I just kind of

[23:37] keep feeling like there's public infrastructure that is never going to happen and with that it's just such a

[23:44] much needed thing and I'm I'm just wondering you know here there is language that says it's only for this

[23:51] parcel but when you look at this whole you know are we approving any

[23:58] anything beyond parcel no legal descriptions are only for this parcel only for this

[24:04] parcel so the larger document that you see those all a hold except for this

[24:09] parcel all right well that's good um okay thank

[24:16] you other questions for director Milner I I guess you might comment on why you

[24:22] feel comfortable with respect to um a potential vacation of that RightWay

[24:27] easement number 13 that uh remember rer has just come yeah again there's overlapping henpen County

[24:33] RightWay for France Avenue and we already hold easements for a sidewalk there that the city got permission in

[24:39] 2012 so it's there already stacks of easement so we're just trying to clean up the ones we don't need I think is a

[24:45] maybe a better way to say it um so those re easements that we have were part of

[24:50] the site plan that was approved for the project no those easements were from 2012 when we did the intersection

[24:56] improvements and got sidewalks along this Corridor so we didn't we're not going to vacate those until they do

[25:01] their project because if they don't we want to hold those and we probably want to adjust them and make them bigger with

[25:07] the project afterwards that was a condition of your approval do you feel comfortable and confident we can vacate

[25:13] all these easements and kind of clean up the project for them and get moving this is these are the only four I would we're

[25:19] going to hold all the rest till the development projects is over so with the number 13 Scenic and open space easement

[25:26] we are not losing any public right of way it's not a smaller amount it's not

[25:33] like going to a narrower strip or anything no okay right good thanks uh any other

[25:40] questions from Council Members otherwise this is a public hearing matter and uh director Milner standby

[25:47] I'll open this up now for uh public testimony with respect to the potential vacation of these uh rightaway easements

[25:55] that are proposed that director Milner described is there anyone in the audience that wishes to comment

[26:01] regarding or testify regarding the potential vacation of these RightWay easements at 7235 France

[26:11] Avenue

[26:17] okay if M Weston coming forward who yeah I've got a um Janie Weston 6136

[26:24] Brookview um uh

[26:29] not I'm not um fully knowledgeable about the easements and it's really hard to

[26:35] see the numbers on the um image up on the uh screen but the easement along the

[26:43] south side of the property where the 9M Creek Trail goes now um because that's

[26:49] being discussed um it brings to my mind a

[26:55] question of uh with it being an easy M the development is going to happen and

[27:02] the 9M Creek bike walk run trail goes through there so um once all is said and

[27:13] done the jurisdiction over the easement for that trail to be there

[27:19] who who has who has jurisdiction uh yeah is at the 9M Creek um uh Three Rivers

[27:27] Park dist District in conjunction with the city or is it the new property

[27:34] owner and um uh during

[27:40] construction will there still be access to that long block worth of Trail or

[27:47] will there be a detour um cuz if I'm biking along there

[27:52] I don't I don't want to have a load of materials being lifted with a crane

[27:58] not that it happens very often but it can um dropping on my head or getting

[28:04] backed into by a vehicle that the the backup beeper isn't working well or who knows what but

[28:11] um people using the trail need to still be able to use it safely or have a safe

[28:16] detour and then if it is detoured where would it go so okay just that the

[28:22] question thanks um anybody else in the audience

[28:28] anybody online that wishes to testify regarding this matter no I don't have any callers to me all right uh take it

[28:35] back up here to the councel and then we'll um I think we'll is there a motion to close the public Hearing in this

[28:41] matter so moved second remember Jackson moves and appear seconds the motion to close the public Hearing in this matter

[28:48] any further discussion all those in favor of closing the public Hearing in this matter say I I I oppos carried

[28:53] public hearing is closed let's turn back then to that question that M Weston

[28:59] raised about jurisdiction and access yeah Three Rivers Park holds the easement and during construction we made

[29:06] a condition in when the council approved it the project that they have to work with the park district and determine

[29:11] when the trail can be open and when it needs to be closed for safety reasons of the traveling public they they dealt

[29:17] with similar stuff along this Corridor and other trails that they manag so working with Danny mccol at the three Riv Park District on whether it's going

[29:24] to be closed or not and where those detours would be located we'll keep it open when safe to do so and exactly make

[29:29] those judgments as the project continues yep as a team we'll be part of those discussions thanks for

[29:37] that um so let's take it back up to the council here uh the staff has requested

[29:43] us to adopt resolution 2025-the

[29:50] at 7235 Rance Avenue um the following

[29:55] easements are designated in the resolution resolution exception number n exception number 13 exception number 14

[30:02] and exception number 18 is there a motion to adopt resolution 20256 so moved member Jackson mov member

[30:10] Pierce seconds the adoption of resolution 20256 which would vacate the designated

[30:16] RightWay easements at 7235 France Avenue any further discussion all those in

[30:21] favor of adoption of resolution 20256 as stated say I I I opposed carried

[30:28] resolution 20256 is adopted and those easements are vacated thank you

[30:34] gentlemen for being here this evening um now we're under reports and

[30:40] recommendations and we have one matter here this evening and that is accepting

[30:47] donations let me turn to that matter 2025-the

[30:58] so moved second member Jackson moves member Pierce seconds the adoption of resolution

[31:04] 20257 which accepts donations on behalf of the city of viina uh any further discussion all

[31:10] those in favor of adoption of resolution 20257 say I I I opposed carried

[31:17] resolution 20257 is adopted um and the uh this reporting

[31:24] period the donation there's a really a generous donation came in from the Community Foundation for $8,700 at the

[31:32] park and rec department to uh for what they call the connect card scholarships and these are uh scholarships that go to

[31:38] kids that want to participate in park and wreck programs that don't have the family resources to do that and so this

[31:44] is a very generous gift from the foundation and the people that support them in our community to help kids that

[31:50] uh want to participate in park and W activities but find their families find that a financial strain to do so so

[31:57] thanks for the that generous donation to the Atlantic Community Foundation and its board um we are now on to uh commission

[32:06] correspondents I don't think anything has come in since the council meeting was convened or called to order M uh m m

[32:13] sinning you haven't had anything come in have you oh all right uh and then we are on

[32:19] to manager comments thank you your honor um for me just to give you a sense of of the

[32:26] legislative session is in full movement forward and sideways and back in some

[32:31] some ways um we've had uh we have meetings scheduled this week with we had

[32:36] uh bill neindorf and I had one with Senator Weber Bill Weber today to talk about um tax increment financing

[32:43] districts and the length of those districts we have meetings with Senator rest and representative Davids uh later

[32:50] this week to talk about uh other aspects of the of the council's um approved

[32:55] legislative agenda I think specifically in those cases it's the waiver of sales tax um state sales tax for our sales tax

[33:04] funded projects at both at the ice arena and Brar Park uh those Commodities that

[33:10] the city would have to purchase exactly right sales tax all right the other

[33:16] thing we heard a little bit more about today is that the sales tax bill that was part of a a session ending uh task

[33:24] force that met during the summer uh this is City sales tax uh there there is an author they're

[33:30] getting ready to put it together and introduce it in the Senate I haven't seen it yet but uh we should be seeing

[33:36] that later this week very good that's what I've got than for that um member Pierce do you want to

[33:43] lead us off with respect to council comments um I only had um actually I

[33:50] didn't have anything it just popped into my mind the um I had a meeting earlier this

[33:56] morning about um the um Film

[34:01] Festival um and so with Megan freie that's her last name

[34:07] right and so it was pretty um exciting to kind of hear the how that had

[34:13] progressed and I was a little bit um behind on some of the advancements of

[34:20] the of that particular U initiative um but pretty excited to hear um what we

[34:27] think we're going to be be able to do um at the dino theater so looking forward to more from that yeah good thanks for

[34:34] that uh member Jackson nothing this week feel like I'm kind of in the same

[34:40] boat but remember rer maybe can hold us up I got a couple of things but um I do have one thing that was called to my

[34:47] attention and I know we're focused on the budget and trying to reduce costs and I feel really um rattled by the fact

[34:55] that we didn't include any funding for that sidewalk um that would come from

[35:03] the south part of the new library the new County library and connect to Adams

[35:09] Park and I know when the when henpen County came with the sketch plan I

[35:15] brought up that pathway at the beginning and I do believe I I thought there was

[35:22] support for putting in this sidewalk and it really is much needed infrastructure

[35:28] that personally I think should have been put in decades ago I mean this is a

[35:34] pathway that would help kids get to the library um and it would be there for one

[35:40] of the most densely parts of you know densely populated areas of our city and

[35:47] if it was added it would be kind of it's that missing link that would provide a

[35:53] beautiful pedestrian Loop and make it possible for people to get down to the

[35:58] prominade and all of that and so I I'm feeling really shagrin that we didn't

[36:04] put it in the CIP and one suggestion that was made is that you know we we

[36:11] really need to find out how much it's going to cost to put in that sidewalk

[36:16] and then add it as an unfunded project for 2027 2028 but I I do think that's a

[36:22] basic part of our sidewalk infrastructure that is missing

[36:28] and I you know I pushed for it and then did not see that it wasn't included in

[36:34] the CIP and that was brought to my attention so feeling pretty badly about that anyway that is what I have for

[36:41] tonight and Jal has his finger in ear yeah I I uh understand uh council member

[36:47] rer and members of council uh this is a piece of sidewalk that I think many staff have been wanting to uh wanting to

[36:56] build as well for a decade or so and we've had many conversations with our colleagues in Richfield about how

[37:02] important it is to them as well the fact that it's not in the current uh CIP

[37:07] doesn't mean it can't be added to a future CIP and we will have uh we'll

[37:13] have some time between now and when that Library project is really ready to go

[37:18] that there'll be at least one more CIP review where we can add this to it we're pretty good at building sidewalks we

[37:24] build a million dollars of sidewalks uh a year roughly um so this is one that we

[37:30] can certainly add to that and really fully support that as well how do we guarantee that it will get in the next

[37:36] CIP because here's my frustration is I brought it up in the sketch plan I thought there was buy in for it I forgot

[37:44] to bring it up staff didn't bring it up that could happen in the next CIP so how

[37:51] do we guarantee that we are going to build I guess we don't but it just doesn't it seems like it's never going

[37:57] to happen yeah I'd say it's up to us as a council and I think when we get as

[38:03] manager Neil says when we get closer on the plan on the library then we could probably couple some approval there with

[38:08] a moving the sidewalk into the CIP and do it when it makes sense in conjunction

[38:14] with there'll be a site plan there'll be a development agreement with the county and that's that's at a time when you can

[38:20] guarantee that that project we can move it up in time too or maybe it'll be closer in time then because it might be

[38:25] 26 or 27 before the library is built

[38:32] so I think I think we're all of the same mindset we want to get it done we'll get it in we'll get it in the appropriate

[38:38] CIP I I think you you got us all on the same page I'm just feeling like it's never

[38:43] going to happen no don't be optimistic it's going to

[38:50] happen um I think your colleagues want to make it happen too okay is that anything else member

[38:58] no that's all okay all right uh you when you talked about sidewalks it caused me to think about something that came up at

[39:05] Rotary today somebody asked me uh why aren't we cleaning the sidewalk over the

[39:10] bridge by the Episcopal Church on Wooddale because when you drive by there

[39:16] it's full of snow except for people have walked and it's about a foot wide space and uh they I've been I've been

[39:23] told by somebody who's a member of that congregation that they've called several times and and we've they've been told we

[39:31] aren we aren't going to do that but it's not a very long section of sidewalk and I can see where it's beneficial to get

[39:38] it all cleaned off because otherwise people have to be in the street and it's the street there Narrows a little bit

[39:44] there as people are going to and from church in particular on Sunday so take a look at that would you director Milner

[39:50] or talk to you're talking about the Wooddale Avenue Bridge yeah oh okay yeah

[39:55] we'll check it out if you look at the East side of the Wooddale Avenue bridge where there is sidewalk it's not plowed

[40:00] well check with director Olen but it might be too narrow that the machines can't sit on and falls off they keep

[40:06] falling off that thing so I think it's might be too narrow but we'll check with director Olson and see want well it

[40:12] might be a hand it might has to be done by hand the know the the old craftsman

[40:18] way um and then manager Neil uh we were in a

[40:23] meeting last week with the leaders from the Hindu temple and there's a couple of I can see they canceled the event that

[40:29] was going to be held tonight but the event on the 26th is going to be held we should

[40:35] probably get something on our website about that in case people from the general population want to attend that

[40:42] meeting and which is basically a meeting about religious tolerance you know and

[40:47] um we had an issue down at the Hindu temple with somebody making um T

[40:52] something tanont to threats and our our police department has done a stellar job thank you

[40:57] assistant chief on being so responsive on that issue people were nervous down

[41:03] there and um continued to be so but I think they've gotten much calmer because of the the

[41:11] way that our police department has dealt with this issue and and reinforced and supported them so thanks for

[41:19] that um oh here I yeah so I was over at uh

[41:29] Adina liquor the other day I'm I'm pushing bag sales here thank you thank you there's a new bag over at Din of

[41:35] liquor and if director Ben would open up so I had to laugh I'm up at the counter I'm buying I think I bought some wine

[41:42] and and something else and and the woman be the car says Hey mayor you got to buy this bag it holds two

[41:48] 12packs I said oh great right in my wheelhouse uh I'm a 212 pack guy the

[41:54] thing is huge and uh and then it holds some uh bottles on the side and uh so

[42:00] they were all over the fact that I could really load this thing up and anybody else could too that wanted to buy a e a

[42:06] bag it's quite sturdy it it has that it's kind of got a retro look on it and

[42:11] uh so I bought one and it was like $7 and so I'm encouraging people to go over to A din of liquor and buy a any DIN of

[42:18] bag even if you don't buy two 12packs at a time and you get a discount right and you get a yeah you get a $1 off on the

[42:25] price uh when you if you're I think if you're signed up for the rewards program

[42:31] over there you get a dollar off so and then the other item I had uh I had lunch

[42:37] uh the other day with Richard ligher who uh has a home here and then went over uh

[42:42] on um uh on the St Croy north of Stater but

[42:48] um he's in the fourth uh edition of this book uh the power of purpose and it's

[42:55] already sold out the this first run I think 250,000 copies but I thought I'd

[43:00] just give him a little shout out and say that uh he's updated this book The Power

[43:06] of purpose and I think it's something that a lot of people are thinking a lot about these days the power of purpose

[43:12] and U and so that's that's a little boost for a resident of art Richard

[43:18] lighter who's a longtime publisher of uh articles around purpose and in a

[43:24] lecture as well so uh that's it for me um anything else that caus anybody else

[43:30] to think of anything okay is there a motion to adjourn the council meeting so moved second all right there's a motion

[43:37] and a second to adjourn the council meeting this uh 18th day of February 2025 uh any further discussion all those

[43:44] in favor of adjournment say I I I oppos carried the council meeting uh the city

[43:51] of Unitus stands adjourned