[0:01] need to wait for a green light here and then we can

[0:18] go there it is see din green light well good evening everybody and

[0:23] welcome to the D city council meeting it's the first one of 2025 it is January 7th 25 7:01 p.m. and uh as director

[0:34] benot said we're doing these meetings in a hybrid sort of fashion so uh we have folks with us live this evening uh in

[0:41] the audience um and we also have uh folks listening in on a remote basis uh

[0:46] in the in our virtual world in a variety of different ways and they'll have a couple different I guess I have one

[0:52] opportunity tonight to call in that's during Community comment if they have something they want to share with the council uh having provided that

[0:59] information I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask our clerk Sharon Allison to call the role council member agnu here council member Jackson

[1:06] here here may here uh next we have um

[1:14] following the roll call the administ administration of oath of office and uh

[1:20] we had an election this fall as all of you are aware uh that covered a variety of uh levels of government from the

[1:27] federal all the way down to local and uh uh three of us on the council were

[1:32] reelected by the residents of our community and the clerk Sharon Ellison

[1:37] now has to administer the oath of office to me and to council member Jackson and

[1:42] council member Pierce and I think he wanted us to come down from the Das one at a time is that it yes all right

[2:01] Jennifer where do you want us to stand anywhere okay so here's a microphone for

[2:08] you back up just a bit there we go okay please raise your right hand and

[2:14] repeat after me I James huband I James huband do solemnly swear under oath do

[2:20] solemnly swear under oath that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of

[2:26] the state of Minnesota and of the state of Minnesota and Faithfully discharge the duties and Faithfully discharge the

[2:32] duties of the office of council member of the office of council member in the city of Edina in the city of Edina of

[2:38] the county of hennipen and the county of henpen to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my abilities so

[2:44] help me God so help me God congratulations thank you thank you thanks and I have

[3:13] youc and for council member Jackson and council member Pierce we will be doing two oats so one for the council and then

[3:21] one for the h okay please raise your right hand and repeat up there you go I Carolyn Jackson

[3:30] I Caroline Jackson do solemnly swear under oath do solemnly swear under oath that I will support the Constitution of

[3:36] the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and of the

[3:42] state of Minnesota and Faithfully discharge the duties and Faithfully discharge the duties of the coun of the

[3:47] office of council member of the office of council member in the city of Edina in the city of Edina of the county of

[3:53] hennipen of the county of henpen to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability so help

[3:59] me God so help me God and now we'll go on to the h i Carolyn Jackson I Carolyn Jackson do

[4:06] solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States do solemnly swear that I will support the

[4:12] Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and of the state of Minnesota and will Faithfully

[4:17] discharge the duties and will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of commissioner of the office of

[4:23] commissioner of the Housing and Redevelopment authority of Adina Minnesota of the Housing and

[4:28] Redevelopment authority of of Idina Minnesota according to the law according to the law and to the best of my

[4:35] judgment and ability and to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God so help me God I do further swear that I

[4:41] am I do further swear that I am and was at the time of my appointment and was at

[4:46] the time of my appointment a resident of the city of udina Minnesota a resident of the city of udina Minnesota

[4:52] congratulations thank you I'm going to find out

[5:22] Pi your up

[5:51] raise your right hand repeat after me I James Pierce I James Pierce do solemnly

[5:56] swear under oath do solemnly swear under oath that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I

[6:02] will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and of the state of Minnesota

[6:07] and Faithfully discharge the duties and Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member of the office

[6:13] of council member in the city of Edina in the city of Edina of the county of henpen of the county of henpen to the

[6:19] best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and abilities so help me God so help me God now we'll do

[6:26] the HRA I James Pierce I James Pierce do solemnly swear that I will support the

[6:32] Constitution of the United States do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and

[6:38] the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota and with Will Faithfully discharge the duties and will Faithfully

[6:44] discharge the duties of the office of commissioner of the office of commissioner of the Housing and

[6:50] Redevelopment authority of the Housing and Redevelopment authority of Edina Minnesota of Edina Minnesota according

[6:56] to the law according to the law and to the best of my judgment and ability and to the best of my judgment and abilities

[7:03] so help me God so help me God I do further swear that I am I do further swear that I am and was at the time of

[7:10] my appointment and was at the time of my appointment a resident of the city of Hina Minnesota a resident of the city of

[7:16] Edina in Minnesota congratulations thank you it [Applause]

[7:57] I want to be on the H I guess I have to come back

[8:02] down please raise your right hand and repeat after me I James huband I James

[8:07] hland do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States do solemly swear that I will support the

[8:13] Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and of the state of Minnesota and will Faithfully discharge the duties and will Faithfully

[8:20] Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of commissioner of the office of commissioner of the Housing and

[8:26] Redevelopment authority of Adina Minnesota of the housing and Development Authority of Edina Minnesota according

[8:31] to the law according to the law and to the best of my judgment and ability and to the best of my judgment and abilities

[8:37] so help me God so help me God I do further swear that I am I do further swear that I am and was at the time of

[8:43] my appointment and was at the time of my appointment a resident of the city of Edina Minnesota a resident of the city

[8:49] of Idina Minnesota thank you thank you thanks again

[9:19] all right next is the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag

[9:27] of the United States of Amer and to the Republic for which it stands one nation

[9:33] under God indivisible with liberty and

[9:46] justice uh folks we have a mov me meeting agenda in front of us that's been published to the public is there

[9:52] anyone on the council or from a staff standpoint that wishes to modify the meeting agenda any former fashion is

[9:58] there a motion to approve the meeting agenda is published so moved second member Jackson moves member Pierce

[10:03] seconds the adoption of the meeting agenda is published any further discussion those in favor of adopting the meeting meeting agenda is published

[10:09] say I I I oppos carried meeting agenda is adopted uh and now we are at

[10:15] Community comment and if we have uh fellow residents in the uh audience this

[10:20] evening that would like to speak to the council about a matter of concern to them that's not on the agenda or

[10:26] scheduled for a future public hearing you're welcome to come forward and you'll have 3 minutes as director benro said you'll

[10:31] get a yellow warning light when you got 30 seconds left and then you can wrap up your comments and yes

[10:44] please good evening mayor council members my name is Ralph siker I live at

[10:51] 4311 Cornelia Circle beginning at the 4our 42 minute Mark of the December 17th

[10:58] meeting member Jackson expressed the opinion the community comment was only meant for and

[11:04] I quote the council not the public unquote and also the community comment

[11:11] should be and I quote off camera unquote member Jackson's concern is the

[11:18] community comment has become too political and the city should not pay to fund the broadcast of what in her

[11:24] opinion was a resident political message member Jackson's position was in turn

[11:29] supported by mayor hin so the very so the very part of the meeting that allows

[11:35] me and other residents to speak and be heard here tonight Community comment is

[11:41] to be taken off camera and put behind closed doors as I was the only person to

[11:46] speak during the community comment that evening there is little to doubt as to what position was thought to be Unworthy

[11:53] of broadcast or too political and just in case the rest of

[11:58] the Council does not recall what I spoke about on December 17th was a din's

[12:04] unwillingness to return $9 million of excess Tiff funds to a din of schools

[12:11] and return yet another $9 million of to hopen County while still keeping $9

[12:16] million for a din's general fund as is the practice with 70% of the

[12:23] state's Tiff District as I listened to the video from December none of what I said was

[12:29] contrary to the guidelines posted on the city website or the verbal instructions

[12:35] to the public at the beginning of each and every council meeting and member

[12:40] Jackson's opinion Community comment is meant to reflect a residents lived experience to be expressed to the

[12:46] council and not the public so for the record and the benefit of the entire

[12:53] Council my lived experience is that I'm embarrassed by the council's

[12:58] unwillingness to return excess Tiff funds to the schools in the county I'm embarrassed neither you member Jackson

[13:05] or you mayor reached out to me rather than the two of you immediately leaping

[13:10] to a solution I'm embarrassed to be part of a community whose leaders would even think

[13:18] to so constrain public discourse by taking Community comment off camera

[13:23] behind closed doors finally as to my December 17th comment is the next mayor

[13:30] listening clearly not close enough because at that point at that very point

[13:37] the next mayor as we've just saw had already been chosen and will be SW and was sworn in here moments ago 2025

[13:46] represents a chance to lead a in a more fiscally sound Direction the question is

[13:52] will this new councel have the will to do so thank you Mr

[13:58] zer anyone

[14:08] else all right do we have anybody on the line that wants to speak to the council I don't have anyone on on the line yet

[14:14] tonight sir okay uh Mr ziker before you leave we may take up this topic uh later

[14:19] on I don't know if you want to stick around or not but uh

[14:33] um all right anybody online okay all right

[14:40] um very good uh manager NE Neil our usual process is that you speak to the

[14:45] uh issues that might have been raised during Community comment uh at the prior meeting is there anything that you need

[14:50] to report out on uh Mr Mayor and members of council there is not I mean we had

[14:56] one speaker it was Mr ziker and much like uh he did this evening he made some statements uh which is his right to do

[15:03] under our process he didn't really he didn't pose any questions to us and and that's what we try to restrict our uh

[15:10] interaction on uh at the following meeting is answering questions that are posed and and not using it as a time to

[15:16] rebut political speech okay very good that prompt any questions or comments from Council

[15:25] Members um very good let's move on to the next portion of the agenda which is the uh

[15:31] consent agenda we have several items on the consent agenda this evening and um I

[15:37] think member rer wanted to remove 6.12 is there anyone on the council

[15:42] anyone else on the council that wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda is there a motion to adopt all of

[15:48] the items on the consent agenda with the exception of item 6.12 so moved second

[15:54] all right member Jackson moves member Pierce seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda with the except ception of item

[16:00] 6.12 uh any further discussion all those in favor of adopting the items on the consent agenda uh accept 6.12 say I I I

[16:09] uh opposed carried now let's turn to 6.12 which is the uh proposal to approve

[16:16] the Redevelopment agreement for 7200 France Avenue Apartments uh and the First Amendment to the 7200 7250

[16:23] Redevelopment agreement and I'll turn to member Risser thank you um my concern is at the

[16:30] HRA meeting we voted on this and I did vote against this the other concerns

[16:36] that I have is that um the spark money is said to be used

[16:43] for getting the affordable housing to actually be built however this project

[16:50] the affordable housing commitment was made in the pudd it was also made in the Tiff agreement and if you look at the

[16:57] Tiff agreement there are a couple scenarios for the 7200 site a hotel um

[17:03] or affordable or um market rate apartments and there is language in that

[17:08] Tiff agreement for um addressing if it was to be a market rate apartment

[17:14] complex so there's that and now we're um going to be adding $4.8 million in spark

[17:22] funds on top of that and actually this does connect to the points that U the

[17:28] Adina resid just made Mr zicker um if that 4.8 million was to be returned to

[17:35] the county and at this point if I could have images of slides that I have requested that would be very helpful we

[17:41] would have about $1.6 million in the general fund and um those funds could be

[17:47] used for public purpose so I really have a concern about dedicating those funds

[17:55] the other thing is since the meeting um at the HRA um and actually let's stay right here we

[18:02] don't um this is one that I want uh this is in the Redevelopment and Spark agreement document that was posted

[18:09] online for the public and if you look at item e you see that um there is specific

[18:15] language that there's going to be at least three Studio units and there is size no smaller than 500 square ft um

[18:24] five one-bedroom units and those will be no smaller than 700 Square ft four

[18:31] two-bedroom units um 1,80 Square ft one 3bedroom unit and um

[18:39] that's 1,180 Square ft U there would have to be two additional units to bring it up to

[18:45] 15 but there would be a minimum of 21 people who would be housed if you go and

[18:52] you look at the chart that is down below you can see that the makeup of the units

[18:58] that would be provided changes significantly um instead of having four

[19:04] two bedrooms we only have two two bedrooms we do not have a three-bedroom

[19:10] um we have something that is known as a bedroom plus Den but you'll note in the

[19:15] language above there is no size for the bedroom plus den and so that is a

[19:22] problem we don't see what kind of space we're actually going to get and I did

[19:29] ask well I did present this information to staff and um received feedback that

[19:36] what would happen is all of the information that shows size would be

[19:42] eliminated and we would be committing to the one bedrooms the one bedroom plus

[19:47] Den um and the studio so we would be getting much smaller units and my

[19:52] concern is that the public has seen this document this is the agreement that is out there and this is been out there for

[19:59] several weeks and we can't just simply change things um the day that we are

[20:05] going to vote I think in terms of transparency and public trust uh that is

[20:10] not okay the other thing that concerns me is the final paragraph and I don't

[20:15] know if we could go back up to that other page but the final paragraph says

[20:21] or final sentence any change in the forging distribution and Below identification of affordable units shall

[20:28] require the prior written approval of the executive director of the authority and city manager of the city um which

[20:37] such consent will not be unreasonably conditioned delayed or withheld and that

[20:42] um I would like information about exactly what that means because it seems to be that that could be a further

[20:50] reduction in the number of affordable units or perhaps you know uh a

[20:55] limitation so that we don't even have two two bedro units so if I could get some information on that but um also I

[21:02] want that concern to be out there and I don't know if Mr lingren could answer

[21:08] that what exactly does it mean um when we say that uh the executive director and

[21:15] city manager can basically change things I think mayor council members uh for the

[21:21] record Jay lingren with the dorsing Whitney Law Firm special counsel of the city for economic development um two

[21:28] things one is I respectfully state that you you found a slight error in a document but I think it's a

[21:34] non-substantive error and I want to explain why elsewhere what you're quoting from is an exhibit to the

[21:41] Redevelopment agreement it is a declaration that makes the affordability

[21:47] permanent and it is to be recorded after the completion of the project in the

[21:53] body of the Redevelopment agreement it's actually section 4.4 the spefic specific Three Studio 5

[22:00] one bedroom 5 one bedroom plus 10 two two bedroom that was approved by the H

[22:07] are specified and so the Declaration that would be recorded in the future if

[22:12] the project is built will have to meet those requirements that I just stated

[22:18] okay so that's the that's the first um could you tell me I'm looking

[22:25] at the document right now okay because what ends up remaining is a chart with

[22:32] units that are far lower than that text you were telling me that we are going to

[22:37] get the bigger units is that correct I think the chart actually matches up to

[22:43] the distribution I just talked about what I'm saying is that it this is an

[22:48] exhibit that's a form document it's not a final document it's the type of

[22:53] document that is required to be recorded after the project is built once two

[23:01] things happen the city delivers a certificate of occupancy but also then the HRA is has a process called the

[23:08] certificate of completion which means that the project that was built is consistent with all the requirements in

[23:14] the Redevelopment agreement or the Tiff agreement if you will that's the document that grants the spark loan and

[23:22] that document requires that this chart be filled out and show that there are

[23:28] just as it says in the chart um three Studios and five one bedroom and nine or

[23:35] and you know whatever is 51 bedroom plus 10 and two two bedroom that's what has to be built um the paragraph above in

[23:43] the course of finalizing the document all the parties to it missed one

[23:48] sentence and for that I certainly apologize as a part of the P the team producing it but it doesn't change the

[23:55] substance of what the document requires now it requires that that chart be filled out and show that there are the

[24:02] 355 and two I understand what you're saying as an elected official my concern is

[24:09] confusion with the public and people believing that we were going to get more

[24:15] for that spark money we're talking almost $5 million in spark funding and

[24:21] my understanding is there is no information that would affirm the size

[24:28] of these units in the document or the agreement at all is that true that is

[24:33] correct and in the body of the document there is not a minimum size requirement

[24:38] that was what was negotiated with the developer at the time and you know was

[24:44] presented to the HRA so it's misspoken in this form future document but it is

[24:49] correct in the body of the document um so again I won't speak to the policy

[24:54] question of whether or not you agree with that but I will say that legally this document is clear and and can be

[25:03] executed if the council chooses to approve it in the same manner that the HRA did I don't think it would take

[25:10] further modification I won't go to the question about whether or not that confuses the public that's up to you to

[25:15] decide but I think this is a a properly documented uh a properly prepared

[25:21] document that has a slight error in it that is not substantive okay I think we may need to agree to disagree on whether

[25:27] it's sub subti or not I'm just giving you my legal opinion not my political opinion one bedroom plus Den could be a

[25:35] 400 square foot unit we could be talking very we have no

[25:41] idea how much square footage we are going to get for that five million all right um thank you so much

[25:50] and um there were another series of slides that I wanted to have shown

[25:59] see if I can find it

[26:13] okay yep thank you and I will keep this brief but when

[26:18] we message about um Tiff financing and yes spark funds technically uh we are

[26:24] talking about unspent Tiff okay but this is coming from the property taxes and um

[26:32] when you look at what the office of um the state auditor presents they note

[26:38] that there is an impact on other jurisdictions the county the city the school district Special

[26:44] Districts uh we do not have that conversation when we talk about Tiff if

[26:49] we could advance to the next slide uh and then here maximizing benefits the

[26:55] inclin inclination may be to delay a desertification hold surplus funds

[27:00] maximize pooling and administrative expenditures but consider tax base

[27:05] benefits are maximized by early desertification return to increment distribution back to the municipality is

[27:13] free of Tiff restrictions and that is critical to understand especially when we look at what we had to cut from our

[27:22] budget and so if we could it it does have an impact on the city of Edina if

[27:27] we could move to to the next slide uh this is what we we ended up deciding to

[27:32] reduce the budget this is how we brought things down from that 13.14 property tax hike that we would

[27:40] have had to make and that includes deferring the Lewis Park project that

[27:45] warming house that is in such horrible shape uh not doing that uh putting that

[27:53] on the back burner okay um so that that had to go

[27:58] we also delayed hiring new paramedic firefighters and uh we could do a group

[28:05] of three instead of a group of six uh but there are things that we could do

[28:10] with the funds it would be $1.6 million all right and so I do have a lot

[28:17] of concerns about dedicating that spark money to this project that has already

[28:23] seen so much in terms of public benefit being able to to go to six stories

[28:30] instead of four in a transition zone um having a building that is 1 and a half

[28:36] times the building that it was compared to uh so that's a lot of financial

[28:43] benefit right there and then again it's already in a tiff District so for these reasons I wanted to pull this item I

[28:50] can't remember if I have a final slide um yes here is how we message uh and

[28:57] this has been constant spark funds are use it or lose it Source um use it or it'll go away and uh the language is

[29:05] it's better to keep 100% of this money for enina enina only and I I think you

[29:12] know I have to respectfully disagree with that and one thing I was thinking about especially since this is the first

[29:18] meeting of 2025 and I too took that oath of office to support the Constitution of

[29:25] the Minnesota the state of Minnesota to the best of my ab and I think it is really important to think about what the

[29:31] messaging is from State offices including um you know the office of the

[29:36] state auditor okay so that I've said a lot and that is pretty much it but I

[29:42] this is why I wanted to pull that item thank you thank you member

[29:47] rer um we've got a I think a whole uh audience uh here in the

[29:55] chambers tonight I think it might be helpful at this point in time for for somebody to come forward from staff and

[30:00] explain how we got to where we are and uh what is spark what was why was it

[30:06] created by the legislature uh when was it created and uh why we decided to uh as an HRA the

[30:14] council sitting as an HR decided to use spark funds versus Tiff funds to provide

[30:20] for the affordable housing aspect of this particular apartment building on 7200

[30:25] France please introduce yourself for the folks in the

[30:40] audience I think manager new andorf and I will take team this um I'm Stephanie hackinson I'm the affordable housing

[30:46] development manager for Edina um one reason we use spark funds

[30:52] is the Tiff notes that were pledged for the development of in this area within

[30:58] this Tiff District were for the development of 7250 France and the Tiff

[31:03] funds were not being allocated towards the development of 7200 France and so

[31:08] when 7200 France came forward as um the proposed Department with the affordable

[31:14] units there was no City financing for the development of the project and it did have a development Gap that was

[31:21] discussed at the HRA meeting and the development Gap um was at $4.8 million

[31:27] without the the Gap the project would not move forward and so we provided some scenarios of what would happen you know

[31:35] if it you know it was elected to not support the fun um the project with its

[31:40] financing this site this area both 7250 and 7200 have been decreasing in value

[31:46] over time um their their portion of what they contribute to the overall tax base

[31:52] has been shrinking um and we're trying to and it's a vacant parcels and we are trying

[31:58] to get it Al livened again to be contributing to the city tax base to the life and energy of France Avenue and to

[32:05] the residents of Edina so with the proposed development of both Parcels there would be a

[32:13] 764 per growth in the taxable value of this these Parcels with the

[32:21] developments and so we felt that with that type of growth there there needed to be some upfront money to make it so

[32:29] this growth would be experienced so we provided three scenarios one not supporting 7200 with

[32:38] spark um and having 7250 proceed with

[32:43] 7200 remaining vacant one with supporting the um apartment building and

[32:49] then the third was okay if the if the apartment building is not supported someday conceivably a developer will

[32:56] come and want to develop that site we don't know what we don't know when but someday and at that that point when that

[33:03] would happen it um since there's a sunset on the spark funds those funds would not be available to support this

[33:09] future development so we laid out the different hypotheticals and what it would mean and

[33:15] if if they're currently with the Tiff district and the notes if 7200 were not

[33:21] supported the site would remain a parking pad to support 7250

[33:27] and there are two notes one for the development of 7250 and the other was

[33:33] the Tiff that would increment that came from the development of 7200 that would support 7250 so there are two notes well

[33:42] without 7200 only one note would be acted upon and the Tiff District would

[33:47] last 26 years in order to pay off that one note and the Tiff dist could be

[33:53] decertified in 2051 the other scarios using the spark

[33:59] funds to support 7200 then both the parking would be

[34:04] enclosed and the increment collected from the development of 7250 would

[34:09] support um or 7200 would support 7250 and conceivably the Tiff note could be

[34:17] um decertified the Tiff district decertified 10 years earlier then if

[34:22] 7200 is not supported and does not move forward and then the third would be

[34:29] fairly similar to the first scenario there could be conceivably a project

[34:35] developed there and at that time the Tiff District would already be in action there so the increment collected from

[34:42] this future unknown development would be smaller that could support 7250 and so

[34:47] the Tiff District would probably also last the full 26 years so then there's

[34:52] this breakdown of what it would mean and with the um with 7200 support Ed we are

[34:58] also saying that part of this amendment was reducing the amount of increment

[35:04] that would support 7250 from 90% to 80% so and this is slightly different than

[35:10] what was presented at HRA so if in scenarios one and three one being don't

[35:17] support a project and three is someday in the future something will happen um

[35:22] about 1.6 as council member rer said would could be of UN spark the whole pot would

[35:30] go back to the county be redistributed 1.6 would be our

[35:35] third and there would be no in those years between that 10year where the

[35:42] district could be desertified early there would be no additional funds that

[35:47] would come to the city we'd get that 1.6 and then that would be it because all the increment would go towards

[35:53] supporting 7200 with the support of um the project

[36:00] at 7200 in the that 10-year period the excess increment that could be collected

[36:06] is almost 4 million it's $3.7 million that would come back to the City compared to the 1.6 if we return the

[36:13] spark so there would be more money that would be coming in in the future to this

[36:19] site with the use of spark so then um there's some other slides if I may

[36:42] about other Tiff districts and the investment that has gone in and how they have the

[36:49] the Tiff Investments how in the long run have proven to bring in a lot more um

[36:56] tax revenue to the city so I don't know if you'd like to go over these before

[37:02] you um finish up your remarks I think it's a very beginning of your comments if I were a person sitting in the

[37:09] audience I would have thought that we were we were helping the developer uh with a funding Gap because

[37:16] they needed the help but we don't we don't do that any we only we only provide spark funds

[37:23] or Tiff money if there's a public benefit I think we ought to make that clear yes we don't we don't pay

[37:29] developers to develop any data uh mayor that is correct there the

[37:36] public benefit to this is um um well there are a few major conversion from

[37:42] this vacant lot re enlivening and bringing it to the up on the tax base

[37:48] and the 15 units of affordable housing that will be affordable in perpetuity um

[37:54] so those are some of the real benefits and and when we have a comprehensive

[38:00] plan we sometimes we do require um the assistance of developers to help us

[38:06] realize some of our vision for future development but this one has those added

[38:11] benefits that are being supported through the spark right um now manager newor before you get to your slides I

[38:17] think people are wondering out there I would be well what's what's that acronym mean what do spark what is it what why

[38:25] why would why did we have this money available that we could potentially use to uh provide some public benefit on

[38:32] this project including affordable housing in perpetuity sure sure uh Bill Noor from

[38:38] the city's economic development manager uh back in uh 2021 ad created that spark program and

[38:46] Spark is an acronym it stands for special projects and

[38:52] Redevelopment Concepts I forgot the see um but it was was um it was a program uh

[39:00] uh whereby we had the city of Adina as well as all cities in Minnesota had a one-time opportunity based on

[39:08] legislation that came from the state whereby if cities had some unallocated Tiff monies uh that were available they

[39:16] could be used for a limited period of time to make substantial investments in a community private Investments new

[39:23] buildings or or re Renovations of buildings as long as they deliver that as long as they um created jobs and

[39:30] built something uh when Diana created our program we added one other twist

[39:35] that they should build something create jobs and deliver a public benefit uh that's something that ad has done for

[39:42] decades whenever we we get involved with financing private development we want to

[39:47] make sure that that the city's investment doesn't just go to benefited developers bottom line um of course we

[39:54] want to see the project work but we want to make sure that those are put in the ground to benefit the community and

[40:00] that's exactly what we're doing here and what staff is recommending in the in this

[40:05] instance uh uh about two years ago uh the city started the conversation about

[40:12] creating a tiff District on this site if you recall it had been vacant for many years uh during the pandemic years of

[40:19] 2020 and 2021 the buildings were vacant in fact one had been condemned being

[40:25] unsafe to be occupied for several years um but they were the target of vandalism

[40:30] they were just blighted eyesores um this site um the the project

[40:35] that's in front of us tonight it's the eighth proposal we've debated what to do

[40:41] with this site for many years um so finally we you know the city council

[40:46] rejected some proposals too big or not the right thing um some other ones the developer started to put the numbers

[40:52] together they just couldn't make it work this developer finally appears to have a way to make it work um but with

[41:00] the increase of costs with the city's request and demands frankly that if we

[41:06] get involved with financing it they can't just meet the bare minimum they need to deliver that public benefit that

[41:13] actually increases their Gap um but we find a way to negotiate what we believe

[41:18] is a is a outcome that makes the project possible and delivers not just a

[41:25] temporary benefit to the community but a permanent benefit um so that that's why

[41:30] we that's why we on staff support the use of spark on this program we think it achieves everything that we uh can hope

[41:36] that it will and um uh uh uh my colleague Miss Hawkin Miss hackinson

[41:42] went through a lot of the detail as far as how the numbers work and the benefits and whatnot um as you'll recall as a HRA

[41:49] you've heard the details on several occasions uh as typical we worked with our with our um Associates at ERS and

[41:56] associate ations to go through the budgets to go through the numbers to confirm that there is a true Gap that

[42:03] without the use of the city's uh funds in this case the project will will not go forward so you've heard that as a h i

[42:10] don't know if that's come out as a city council um but I just wanted to remind folks of that um so that's a little bit

[42:16] more about about spark and why we Rec why we recommend it and use it or and recommend using it in this particular

[42:23] case questions from Council Members at this point in time you want did you we have a couple of slides you wanted to

[42:28] show us or I think you heard enough so here's another way I think about it as we went through this process at the

[42:36] HRA uh because the question is a good one uh that member russer raises

[42:42] um what I deduce staff is recommending is that we make a 100%

[42:47] investment in the increased value of this property versus turning the money back

[42:53] to the county and getting a third of it back and not think the County's going to give us their money to use any

[43:00] Dina uh because under the law we could use it here uh for a strictly Adina

[43:06] purpose um and then as far as the schools are concerned uh I was at that

[43:11] presentation by the state auditor and his slides are wrong I mean he he admitted that the school district is not

[43:19] affected by the use of Tiff because they use a different funding formula for students it's a per capita funding out

[43:25] of the legisl so I don't know if you want to explain that because that's nobody wants to see kids get hurt and

[43:31] the school district be be um injured financially because of decisions that we're making so that should be explained

[43:38] too yeah happy to address that so there were some slides um and one of them uh had language about uh how Tiff impacts

[43:46] every potential uh taxing district it does have an impact in some cases it's a

[43:52] positive impact so um uh we're in the midst of compiling what we call our our

[43:58] HRA year year in review document we've been going through the numbers to to

[44:03] address and put some some uh uh shed some light on this and and use

[44:08] some real examples um but when Tiff is used uh it's been around as a law since

[44:14] the early 1970s and it gets tweaked pretty much every single year

[44:19] specifically to address and protect the school districts um and so while while a

[44:26] tip district is created a portion of that tax base is temporarily um captured

[44:32] is the terminology in in the in the law um there's other tweaks in the

[44:39] formula to make sure that the school district is not negatively impacted and

[44:45] every time we create a tiff District uh part of that Tiff report that we run has

[44:50] pages of analysis and and tables of uh any potential impact to the schools and

[44:57] the county in particular and the city school City and and County um so we do look at that uh we um we work with

[45:05] Ellers again to run the numbers and look at those projections but just one example um and and this is a really this

[45:12] is a great example they're not always this Rosy but um it's the one that just comes to

[45:17] mind um when the city created a tip District at 50th in France for the Nolan

[45:23] Mains project we took the old tax exempt property the OBS sleep buildings rebuilt

[45:29] something that that a lot of people really enjoy for over 40 years the city and the school and the county received

[45:35] zero dollars from that site it was tax exempt with that project finished even

[45:42] when it when it's in a tiff District the benefit to the schools went from0 every

[45:48] year to currently $160,000 to benefit the schools and it's

[45:53] in a tiff District so when that Tiff District expires when we've paid off the debts and obligations in that District

[46:00] that number will Skyrocket and leap but right now the reason that you use Tiff

[46:05] is to pay for those other things that that make that investment possible um so

[46:11] that's a very that's a really good example we'll have some other ones uh that's just the number that came to mind to me at the moment okay so another

[46:19] question I think would come to people's mind is well how often do we use it and what percent of the tax base does Tiff

[46:24] represent Tiff related projects yeah uh great question so um uh Adina uses Tiff

[46:31] pretty sparingly that being said in the last couple years we've talked about Tiff quite a bit when the city looks at

[46:38] some of these larger sites that are complex and complicated and multiphase Tiff is usually part of the formula to

[46:45] get those projects going uh So currently we have 11 Tiff districts um by the end

[46:51] of this year we'll have a 12th with that uh new uh District coming in at at the Macy's furniture site so we'll have 12

[46:59] districts even with that about 1% of our tax base is in that Tiff district is in

[47:05] all of those Tiff districts um that number changes every single year um the

[47:10] last couple years it's been 1.6 1.2 1.1 but we typically hover in that in that

[47:16] area uh by comparison a lot of our neighbors and colleague uh peer cities

[47:23] they use Tiff about 8% 6% 12 % is Not

[47:28] Unusual so di uses it on a much more sparing basis than our peers I prompt any other questions from

[47:37] folks

[47:43] um M rer you had something um I want to apologize to um Mr lingren uh because I

[47:50] did not give you time to answer the um question I had about change um being

[47:57] future changes that could happen um with written approval from the executive director of the authority and the city

[48:03] manager and my understanding is that's one person the executive director is the

[48:10] city manager mayor council member Risser yes

[48:17] so so the single person is the city manager and the executive director the

[48:23] intent of that language isn't to be able to make a wholesale change but if something changed during the

[48:28] construction period that that was reasonable that you know and I without

[48:35] going through all the units but that it created one more two-bedroom or one more three-bedroom and it came out to

[48:41] essentially the same that there could be a reasonable interpretation is that exactly what it says no but that is the

[48:48] reason that we included is because this is a forward-looking document and when a

[48:54] construction project happens over a couple of years years if there's something that needs to change we wanted

[49:00] to have a vehicle so that it could be addressed at the time I'm more than happy to say on the public record it's

[49:06] not intended to say okay you can get rid of the affordable units or you can change them but if if there was

[49:13] something to be dealt with um we ask you to give that authority to the city

[49:18] manager SL executive director if if that's your judgment we're just trying

[49:24] in that language to be able to address what might happen in the marketplace not make a wholesale

[49:30] change thank

[49:35] you member Pierce uh thanks Mr Mayor um I so I just

[49:43] had a a few comments um and so thank you for uh going through all of the

[49:50] information um one of the things I I wanted to talk about is I I think in

[49:57] this discussion we combined lots of different issues and

[50:03] partly we combine the budget issue with the decision for this project to use

[50:08] spark funding um and I think that um my

[50:14] preference would be for us to follow the process that we have set forth to

[50:20] address budget issues um because I don't know if we had made a different decision

[50:27] on spark I don't know what percent of those dollars would have gone to the

[50:32] general fund and how that would have impacted the options U that we were presented

[50:38] with and so my preference is always to follow the process um that we've set

[50:45] forth so that we can make decisions um in a more informed way um so that's one

[50:53] two I really don't I it does make me uncomfortable when we have conversations

[50:59] that um in some instances give the the um this facade that we're making

[51:07] decisions and the decisions that we're making we're not following uh law or

[51:12] state statute um uh and so that is not the case we are following policies that

[51:20] have been created um by that have been created any Dina and we're executing it

[51:27] in a way that they that has been approved in Idina whether we approve them as the

[51:33] current Council or some other Council approve them that's what we're doing and

[51:40] so it's we could choose and I really liked the slide that manager hackinson

[51:46] put up there are options we could have done any of those three options and we

[51:52] chose the one we did um and there

[51:57] really from a legality standpoint there's nothing wrong with that that is

[52:03] the policy we chose to implement um now I may disagree as a council I may think

[52:10] that our policy should be different I may think that I'd like to see more I

[52:15] would like to see us desertify Tiff districts so those dollars can come back

[52:21] into the general fund in some way to address another particular issue that's

[52:26] all also fine but my preference is that we make

[52:33] sure we have all the information and then we can more logically and methodically go through

[52:40] and especially solve the budget issue that we have in front of us uh but I just want to be clear anything that I

[52:47] have voted for I am following policy that has been

[52:54] established in each time that I have had a challenge against that I have felt like staff has

[53:02] heard me uh we may not always agree on the way forward um but I felt like there

[53:08] is a a um there's space that's created to have those conversations um and so as a council

[53:17] member I'm still in the game right I'm still trying to figure out all right if we can't do this then how about this

[53:24] this is what I think the issues are with that um and so I'm still trying to to operate that way and I'm not suggesting

[53:30] that um that we all aren't what I'm suggesting is that the opposite we all

[53:37] are trying to do that right we are all trying to figure out how to address

[53:42] issues that are uh impacting our city and doing it in the way that's possible

[53:48] that's the best way possible and when policy issues rear their heads as a

[53:55] challenge to us we have to lean into that and so I just wanted to make those

[54:01] those comments um because I I do take exception When anybody is making an

[54:09] assertion that I personally internalize and so this is me personally

[54:14] internalizing it as though I'm I'm party to making decisions that are not

[54:21] following policy or somehow are underhanded in any way because

[54:27] because we're not doing that and I'm not doing

[54:33] that so either manager Hawkinson or Mr nondorf would you come back up one more time just so we're clear on this

[54:43] um so I call it the Jos between uh closing the spark the district for this

[54:50] particular project let's say turning 1.6 million back to the having a had turning

[54:55] the money back to the and having uh a third of it which would be our share of the tax dollar coming back to us as 1.6

[55:02] million versus the analysis that you've gone through uh to tell us why you think it's smarter and wiser to do the 3.8

[55:10] million capture uh with the increased value of the project does that make

[55:17] sense yes I think you provided that information I just want to make sure I

[55:23] understood if I understanding this correctly the the question was raised on

[55:29] whether or not we had a project before us to redevelop a vacant lot that included affordable housing and provided

[55:36] other public benefits and we looked at the different ways that Gap could be filled and one of the sources that was

[55:43] Avail one of the tools that was available to us were these spark funds that had a sunset period on them and felt like the

[55:51] use of those spark funds in the city at um using 100% of spark funds in the city

[55:58] would in turn leverage additional and greater benefit to the city in the long

[56:05] run and so that's why the decision was made to use those funds in this

[56:11] manner anything to supplement that Manor nindorf so when staff makes our

[56:17] recommendations we look at the best long-term interest to the city of Adina

[56:23] um and we feel that using spark isn't the best long-term interest of the city it's also beneficial in the long-term

[56:29] interest of the county and the schools and everybody else but our Focus as your staff is looking at the at the most

[56:36] benefit to the city and that supports our recommendation all right thank you for that uh having had that conversation

[56:44] is there a motion to approve the Redevelopment agreement for 7200 France Avenue Apartments in First Amendment to

[56:49] the 72 7250 Redevelopment agreement so moved second member U moves member uh

[56:55] Pier seconds the adoption of uh the Redevelopment agreement for 7200 France Avenue apartments and the First

[57:01] Amendment to the 7200 7250 Redevelopment agreement any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed A

[57:09] carried uh the matter is approved and um folks in the audience thanks for your patience I think uh commissioner Edon uh

[57:17] I'm going to ask you to just hit the pause button for an extra five minutes or so uh because I'd like to bring the

[57:24] mountain biking team up here and let the everybody body head head back to their

[57:29] houses and homework or whatever it is they want to do we got a great turnout here uh we've got a mountain biking uh

[57:36] Cycling Club at Idina high school that has just performed phenomenally uh and and W the state and

[57:43] we've got all of the athletes or a lot of the athletes here and I hope all the coaches uh there's a good array of folks

[57:49] back in the audience here and I'm going to have them all come forward and uh and uh have somebody as your spokesperson

[57:56] and talk about the winning the state championship and then uh we'll go around and introduce everybody we'll have a

[58:01] we'll have a photo because we like to we like to do that with the council in Chambers and um so come on come on up

[58:08] everybody come on [Applause]

[58:20] up let's all well let's all do the photo first and then we'll then we'll have a little

[58:27] uh

[58:41] conversation MP

[59:18] people back give me some tall guys back here

[59:25] some tall

[59:31] c yeah thank you you can see yourself come on no we can see you

[59:38] you're good yeah kind of sir you just might have to tiptoe a little bit are

[59:43] you raise your hand I don't see you oh there you you need to [Laughter]

[59:54] TI I can't hold it for very long oh now I can see

[1:00:03] you thank you [Applause]

[1:00:21] absolutely B Bob don't go too far okay yeah thank thank you for welcoming

[1:00:27] us here tonight this is actually just a fraction of the team and the coaches that uh make the the team possible um

[1:00:34] yeah fantastic season um the team we have about 120 kids about 60 high schoolers and

[1:00:44] um um what should we say Bob uh Phenom phenomenal year um we love riding and

[1:00:51] racing with these guys our season um we have uh

[1:00:56] five races throughout the year um state championship brings everybody together and that's where the team really uh

[1:01:02] jelled and came together for an incredible uh incredible

[1:01:08] race what else mayor council Bob Vos uh I am uh

[1:01:13] the lead High School coach along with uh Eric kinki who is here and Emily hoppy

[1:01:19] is our Middle School coach Mike uh is our Hartman is our head coach uh and

[1:01:25] it's a quite an effort that he has to put in we as Mike said 120 Riders we

[1:01:30] have in the room you see uh all very committed parents we have parent Rider

[1:01:35] coaches um and we have dozens and dozens of them Mar and Council we have dozens

[1:01:41] and dozens of other parents that are behind the team uh so it's a it's a truly a community uh involvement the

[1:01:47] reason I jumped up is Mayor I had a chance to say it in front of you at the at the Grand Opening but the team we're

[1:01:53] a fantastic team we've won State we have to say that a little bit of that uh and

[1:01:58] maybe more than a little bit of that is we want to thank you for the great Brar trail system that is a game

[1:02:10] changer that is absolutely a game changer for our team I will tell you as a Avid mountain bike rider grown up uh

[1:02:17] it's a game Cher I think for your community too U mountain biking is really taken off as you all would appreciate and uh Community loves it the

[1:02:25] team really benefits from it and uh thank you for recognizing the team uh

[1:02:30] it's a big deal uh to us and so we really appreciate

[1:02:40] it for all of you some little tokens from the city

[1:02:59] and rambun group this is

[1:03:08] thanks Pro that it's a tough sport everyone sat

[1:03:16] [Applause] quietly out yeah go ahead yeah thanks

[1:03:23] Bob thanks Eric thanks everybody you

[1:03:59] here we find

[1:04:13] the no and that uh thanks for uh being patient

[1:04:20] commissioner our former state legislator Heather Edon now our henan County Commissioner is here here to give us a a

[1:04:27] county update and uh be oh here oh yeah do you want me to

[1:04:33] do this SL I can do it if you want to tell me when to move yep y I don't know it's like a I'm

[1:04:39] flexible whatever it's I'm pretty way back um okay

[1:04:45] well good to see all of you congratulations uh council member Jackson and council member Pierce and uh

[1:04:52] mayor very excited for you to be our mayor again you as well yes um I was just saying mayor that we

[1:04:58] uh I was telling the team they should go to the capital to be recognized as well so very good well I uh it's great to see

[1:05:06] all of you and Sharon you as well good to see you um okay so this is my third

[1:05:11] city council I have 16 cities now um in this new rule so it's it's quite interesting do you just want me to go

[1:05:17] ahead mayor and go through the deck yeah go ahead perfect um many of you know me I'm Heather Edon um I represented our

[1:05:24] city for six years at the legislature and now am in this new role which I'm learning it's been 8 months today I was

[1:05:30] just officially sworn in again um I will acknowledge that it was two times though in eight months which is not fun I don't

[1:05:37] recommend that for anyone um and I'm really happy to have my son here tonight

[1:05:42] who uh I I asked to take a photo of me uh so just make sure you're doing that Sam uh at some

[1:05:49] point got to teach him about government early uh thank you Julie that was that was a good lesson and and how to uh you

[1:05:56] know bring bring about some uh an issue forward so um okay so if we go we're on

[1:06:02] great we're on this one so District Six here's a picture of it um there's udina actually which has the largest city in

[1:06:08] the district then it goes motanka um and so our district uh is quite large it's

[1:06:14] 182,000 they're broken up into seven different districts um and with it there's uh 1.3 million people in hadan

[1:06:21] County largest county in the state of Minnesota and I'm going to keep going but I said think

[1:06:27] I said 16 cities there's 45 cities in hennipen County we have the largest

[1:06:33] budget outside of the state of Minnesota the Bingham budget was 70 billion um

[1:06:38] this budget here for hen county is $ 3.1 billion the levy increase that we looked

[1:06:44] at this year was 5.5% um last year for the operating budget it was a 6.5% increase I will

[1:06:53] note um Ramsey County was slightly lower this than us at 4.7 on their Levy

[1:06:59] increase this year but in NOA County talk about like a stark difference right and the needs of a county was at 16.9

[1:07:06] for a levy increase so to just to contrast it really when hadan County when we came with the levy increase we

[1:07:12] were trying to be um really reasonable in what we the district needed um and how we could keep that um also in line

[1:07:21] and lower so that we're not raising property taxes too much so next slide thank you oh there you are

[1:07:29] okay um so here's the pie uh the pie is broken up uh in seven different areas

[1:07:36] and uh what you'll notice is Health and Human Services is 42% of our our budget

[1:07:41] at hanpen County it's one of the largest areas it's actually why I decided to run for this seat because it's a lot of what

[1:07:47] I worked on at the capital um I worked on Public Safety um as well but I worked

[1:07:52] a lot on Health and Human Services uh making sure that disability advocacy is working disability waivers um trying to

[1:07:59] improve that system is incredibly challenging and I I say to a lot of people as no one knows what a county

[1:08:04] commissioner does and there's Beauty to that trust me coming from the House of Representatives there is beauty to it um

[1:08:10] but you don't usually know what the county does until you need the county I promise you that a parent uh of a child

[1:08:17] with a disability knows what the county is because they're using our services um and so uh the Count's there when you

[1:08:23] need it uh and so it's an important uh thing to look at um so go ahead and go

[1:08:29] to the next slide and so there's seven different lines of business it's kind of

[1:08:35] interesting I would say the county coming from state government feels more like it's run like a business I'm kind

[1:08:40] of curious if that's how you guys feel like cities are run um but I realize

[1:08:45] this is not a back and forth uh so but hell we have seven different lines of business there's Health income Justice

[1:08:51] education employment housing and connectivity connectivity of course being the trans it and pedestrian

[1:08:58] um so with that um I'm going to keep on going because I'm going to go through

[1:09:03] all seven lines of business relatively fast as much as I can I did deep Haven and excelsor city councils by the way

[1:09:11] huge difference there's smaller uh city council rooms uh in local community

[1:09:16] churches right because the districts are so different um so Human Services is where I'm going to start I had mentioned

[1:09:22] so access to aging Disability Services dis disability waivers um those are

[1:09:27] really that that really fundamental um thing when people think of counties is

[1:09:33] really having access to what that looks like um we do a lot of mental health and substance use for 1800 Chicago it's

[1:09:40] where we have our uh treatment facilities and mental health facilities it's where we're building uh we made a

[1:09:46] $15 million investment where we're going to have hopefully operational in the next few months here uh youth facility

[1:09:51] that's going to focus on mental health and uh kids that have complex needs because right now as you know um with

[1:09:57] Rising crime it's not every kid needs to go to the juvenile detention center they need something else and so um we are

[1:10:04] really I'm looking forward to seeing that and we've hired Nexus who does our uh youth um Our Youth Intervention and

[1:10:11] crisis response for hin County so we also do child protection which is the first time I got involved with

[1:10:18] government honestly was when I was 23 years old and I was a henan county Guardian at lidom um and you represent

[1:10:23] the child's best interest in a court proceeding a very difficult time but but necessary um as somebody that grew up

[1:10:30] with very little resources um just because you don't have resources and because you are poor doesn't mean that

[1:10:37] you need child protective services right families look different um whether or not people have resources doesn't mean

[1:10:43] they don't love their children so and economic supports is what I'd like to focus on in the next slide actually is

[1:10:48] going to talk about this so you can go ahead and go to that economic supports have actually doubled over since 2020 um

[1:10:54] you'll see the you know beginning of the pandemic we really kind of seen it grow uh throughout the years and economic uh

[1:11:01] support and this emergency line is cash benefits it's food assistance it's

[1:11:06] housing support it's child care assistance we are seeing the needs grow um and that is presents challenges and

[1:11:14] it and it makes me wonder uh as somebody that's into Pol is that's our job right

[1:11:20] um what's changing in our society what's changing in our state what's changing in our County that that need us continuing

[1:11:25] to grow um so those are areas that we're really asking oursel as a county what's

[1:11:30] happening there uh we do have uh Hanan County's front door um where you can

[1:11:36] call and and access um pretty much any service you need and we will resource you to that so I would like to just make

[1:11:42] sure if the council members have that if you don't have that resources I can follow up and make sure that you have access to that if you see any community

[1:11:49] members that need um just something where you don't think as a city you don't have that service more than than

[1:11:55] likely we as a county do um so with that next slide is Public

[1:12:01] Safety and the next three slides will be on Public Safety um and so this one hen County owns actually our jails and we do

[1:12:09] supervision um of probation it's interesting as a state lawmaker I thought you know we've been shifting

[1:12:14] that a lot to the state Stakes actually run probation but it's not actually true and a counties are still doing that

[1:12:21] henpen County specifically is doing that a lot um still and we do not the pie the

[1:12:29] radio communication is not true for us any Dina right no this is and actually uh sorry Scott Neil you got a request

[1:12:35] for a meeting today that you don't need to attend on EMS yes yet hit no on that um the mayor hit no already uh County uh

[1:12:43] so so peace app we do have our own Anya right we we do that all by ourself um County Leons is something that we do

[1:12:50] have though and that was was it last year that we hired a person here in hadapan county or sorry in Edina yeah

[1:12:56] that's great so uh that's great making sure that we're having um the improving

[1:13:02] relationships with um cultural communities and just the community as a whole and uh supporting the growing

[1:13:09] mental health needs cope we're always making changes uh we had our first uh city council or sorry excuse me mayor

[1:13:16] and city manager meeting um and thank you for that it was helpful but actually don't know if that came up at that

[1:13:21] meeting I think it might have been the police Chiefs meeting and the fire chiefs meeting that cope and the response times and sometimes people

[1:13:27] coming up not uh completely prepared um so we are working with that to make sure that we have our cope teams uh ready for

[1:13:35] that and those cope teams are responding to Mental Health crisis needs next slide is uh Sheriff D wit um hopefully you

[1:13:42] guys have the sheriff come out and speak uh with you and you do thank you um Sheriff the sheriff wit is is doing a

[1:13:49] remarkable job and just I'm not going to go through the bullet slides but those are some of the areas that I really think she's excelling at um but there's

[1:13:56] so much more but I would just highlight the community engagement she has I have uh I had intern for a day at the capital

[1:14:02] and she's doing intern for a day at the county with me I'm having my own program but she's going to meet with them and I

[1:14:08] just love that our youth from Eda minaka and Hopkins are going to see um our

[1:14:14] first female Sheriff just really leading and just I don't know when she sleeps but she's doing a remarkable job and

[1:14:22] next slide is um County attorney Mar um some of the things that she and I had

[1:14:27] a meeting on recently was the be at school program and I'm sure you've heard this listed in the news our treny um and

[1:14:34] and youth actually unenrolling after 15 days the state law of Minnesota is if you're not at school for 15 days cons um

[1:14:41] consecutively that you're unenrolled there's problems with this what we do know is that when that youth is

[1:14:47] unenrolled we know that um when we do find them they're often times committing

[1:14:52] crimes um and so making sure that we can be preventative is really important so we're trying to figure out how the

[1:14:58] county this shouldn't be just a county attorney initiative this should also be a county initiative and how do we put

[1:15:03] better partner with schools so I've been pushing for that that's something that I know the legislature has a task force

[1:15:08] that they're studying but it looks different in every community and I think for Hanan County we're seeing actually larger numbers whether it's in Eden

[1:15:15] Prairie Edina or even minona and Hopkins so um I will go ahead and go to the next

[1:15:22] slide try to keep it short I know you guys have other business um and my son is probably like why did you make me

[1:15:29] come so housing um instability this is you know another area I think the county

[1:15:34] does a great job at I will just note that talking um because as cities you know this housing is is in a interesting

[1:15:43] time right now I was talking to one of the housing developers um Aon I believe just a month ago and they were saying

[1:15:49] how they're really struggling to build new affordable housing because they're financially not sound um there's cost

[1:15:55] that they did not predict and so really with the repair and grow Pro program that I will highlight um is just trying

[1:16:02] to stabilize them so that we can get to a place where we're building housing again um I know people like to you know

[1:16:10] affordable housing can be a trigger word that triggers emotion but the reality is is people need housing in the state of

[1:16:16] Minnesota and these are people that are neighbors they might do they could be um

[1:16:22] our teachers the pair Professionals in our schools the people that are checking you out at the grocery store they deserve housing

[1:16:28] just like anyone else um we are working on eviction and homeless prevention one one area I will

[1:16:35] say that I'm really proud of that the county is doing um is uh our shelter all

[1:16:41] policy which is actually on the next slide thank you Jennifer um our shelter all policy is is making sure that if

[1:16:47] there is a family and just so you know this council members and mayor if you ever see a child and you think that they

[1:16:52] might not have a place to sleep that night um I do want to send you a number uh to make sure that we know that in

[1:16:59] hanpen County we do not allow children to sleep outside if they need a place to sleep if it is getting them a hotel room

[1:17:06] we will make sure that they have somewhere to go because that is a moral question and it's the right thing to do

[1:17:11] so we've imp implemented that policy um and there's actually conversations that I've had where I've been stopped

[1:17:17] stopping people at the side of the road saying where are you sleeping tonight um and I think that's okay for us to

[1:17:23] ask uh so with that oops hen health I'm just going to let it go um henen Health

[1:17:30] uh one of the big issues and I know you had a meeting with legislators this evening and the legislators I had my own

[1:17:36] meeting with them um is for the h hpen County Medical Center HCMC while it is

[1:17:41] not a direct part of henan County it is a subsidiary of us so essentially we have Financial liability for uh HCMC our

[1:17:50] mental health facilities and Center there the impatient treatment and also

[1:17:55] the center is completely dated um and not a place where you can go to feel

[1:18:00] better and heal um but we also are challenged because in

[1:18:06] order to update the capital investment that it takes to to actually improve these buildings is so expensive we need

[1:18:13] the ballpark extension tax and we have met with lawmakers it does have bipartisan support so really hopeful

[1:18:20] just like a many of us that we I'm sure you were asking for things for our city the county is really hoping that of this

[1:18:27] uh this legislative session that we can get that ballpark tax extension because the ballpark has been paid off and um

[1:18:33] now our our county has different needs we also will be doing the sports grants we'll be in that as well um and I do

[1:18:40] just want to highlight grants at the end too just to make sure that you go everybody's applying for them uh within

[1:18:45] our city um if you haven't been to the medical examiner's office yet I'm inviting All City councils to come join

[1:18:51] me for a tour so I'll be following up it's if quite um it's quite interesting

[1:18:57] um I went and I had no idea that pretty much just like a normal car can

[1:19:03] deliver uh people to the medical examiner's office so I yeah there's it's

[1:19:09] but it's but it's a really R well-run facility and um I'm I'm I'm I'm very

[1:19:15] proud of proud of the facility I've already mentioned the mental health facility that we are building and so we can go on to the next one on education

[1:19:22] we're expanding in our libraries uh after School help uh homework help as well as literacy um many of you know I

[1:19:28] worked on the react at the capital and really trying to take that initiative here over to the county so we are

[1:19:34] expanding I think uh into 11 or 12 libraries literacy help um so that's

[1:19:40] quite exciting and we also are doing um school-based Mental Health Services uh which are helpful and Resident

[1:19:47] highlights um libraries are run by Hanan County we have 41 of them Southdale being the new

[1:19:54] one which I have the slide on I know uh council member Jackson you worked really hard on that I'm so excited about the um

[1:20:00] the art center being there too so great work on that um our service centers at Southdale actually Southdale is one of

[1:20:06] the busiest outside of bridgedale uh and elections we're helping with elections which uh yes I know we made the news and

[1:20:12] my apologies about that but we are going to make sure that does not happen again um Assessment Services which are

[1:20:18] conversation that we're having uh right now with cities um and I know the mayor and uh and City manager Neil are privy

[1:20:26] to this um and public works it is uh very something very much we do and I

[1:20:32] actually have uh a whole list of of items that we're working on here I have

[1:20:37] five uh Vernon several uh Vernon Avenue projects the xerx Avenue project York

[1:20:42] Avenue France I've been in contact since I've been elected um there's the 7500

[1:20:48] York uh cooperative and making sure that we have signs over there I know there was a pedestrian that was um I believe

[1:20:54] hit not that long ago and so trying to make sure that that's safe may I know that you and I were were at an event not

[1:20:59] long after that um we have herk and operate herk and so we're looking at how to reduce waste so that we can find a

[1:21:06] way to close that facility at some point but I I truly um would like to see us

[1:21:12] reduce waste closing it without having a plan and just having it go to a landfill doesn't seem like the best option and

[1:21:19] the next option or the next slide is just the library um and not just because this is going to be one of the nicest

[1:21:26] libraries in the state of Minnesota um literally I think we should probably win

[1:21:32] an award for this once it's done what do you what do you guess I think so so so yeah I if there is and you guys know all

[1:21:38] about it because you've been talking about it you've been great Partners um and I am happy to take any

[1:21:44] questions questions for the commissioner or comments yes remember

[1:21:50] Pierce not getting the button today um not so no question but I you started by

[1:21:58] saying if you I'm paraphrasing if you use services from the county you know

[1:22:05] right and so I just wanted to to say thank you I so I work for Minnesota

[1:22:11] Diversified Industries 70% of our Workforce is disabled and from time to

[1:22:17] time we have an individual that needs services or some accommodation and the

[1:22:24] count provides that and so if this one particular time this person was having a

[1:22:31] tough time on the floor um I think they were they were uh partially blind and so

[1:22:38] we had to facilitate a meeting with them to just check in with them and the county sent someone over to help

[1:22:44] facilitate that and so without those kinds of services we wouldn't be able to

[1:22:51] uh provide the service to the community that we do so I just personally wanted to thank you

[1:22:57] for that so that was it that's such a great example I mean we provide them yes we have translators

[1:23:05] that speak I I I upwards of like 60 languages and we provide them for all the medical appointments as well um

[1:23:12] virtually and and those are things where I just yes thank you for lifting that up I I completely I mean in slides you're

[1:23:18] like there's so much we do that it's kind of hard to make a slide deck about it youve t and all these uh really

[1:23:25] important areas of work that um sometimes people just don't know you know what what's going on and who's

[1:23:32] who's making these services available and so I think it's great that you're going around to all the all the cities

[1:23:38] that you serve and uh welcome to your home Community we're so pleased to have

[1:23:43] you there and so uh it it gives us an extra boost to confidence knowing that

[1:23:49] one of our owners at the county as a commissioner and and we know that you do a wonderful job for us so thank you for

[1:23:54] for that thank you mayor all right good thanks for being here this evening thank you bye

[1:24:01] guys all right okay we're on to reports and

[1:24:08] recommendations uh we've got um couple items in that portion of the agenda first thing is resolution 20259

[1:24:15] accepting donations is there a motion to approve that resolution so moved second and a motion by member Jackson second by

[1:24:22] member appears to approve resolution 2509 which accepts donations on behalf of the city viina uh any further

[1:24:29] discussion all those in favor of adoption resolution 20259 say I I I post

[1:24:34] carried 2025 resolution 20259 is adopted

[1:24:39] and uh of course it's a time of the year when you see some uh some gifting going

[1:24:45] on uh people are so generous around the holiday times uh for the police

[1:24:51] department quite a few different uh donations and all these Nam will be on the city website uh Carill with a $1,000

[1:24:58] donation uh for the police department and I'm not going to talk about purposes but uh the D ad of crime prevention fund

[1:25:07] uh several thousand dollars there I think maybe close to $10,000 or more I

[1:25:13] guess probably close to $20,000 worth of donations for various uh police related

[1:25:20] uh activities including the canine work um uh Park and wreck uh Paul and Annette

[1:25:27] Nelson uh a bench donation I'm sure it's a memorial bench $3,200 thank you for

[1:25:32] that Nelson's uh Stacy Grimes same same thing a a bench donation for $3,200 for

[1:25:39] a loved one that's passed I'm sure uh and Cynthia Anderson the same thing 3,200 for a bench donation and then some

[1:25:46] donations for the fire department as well thorl and Dolores Quigley uh

[1:25:51] donation for General use and and Dr Pat and Linda Smith uh another donation of

[1:25:57] the fire department for General use so thanks to all of those donors on behalf of the city of Vina and um as I

[1:26:03] mentioned their names will be posted on the city website uh the next matter we have in this portion of the agenda deals

[1:26:10] with a variance appeal that we heard argued a couple weeks ago and

[1:26:17] um are you going to handle this matter I am oh okay well yeah it seems like

[1:26:25] there's something going around there's other people that are ill as well yes so um director Carri Teague is going to

[1:26:31] handle this matter on the introduction portion of it and then we've got the appellants the homeowners uh that are

[1:26:37] available uh Scott and Elizabeth join and Josh caller from yeah okay we got

[1:26:45] the husband and wife are here our residents our fellow residents are here for questions uh that need to be

[1:26:51] answered to answer questions that will be asked and so as we recall the Planning Commission recommended denial of

[1:26:58] variance request and director Teague want don't you walk us through this and we can have a conversation about whether

[1:27:04] we agree with the planning commissioner or not yes thank you mayor members of the council so again this is an appeal

[1:27:09] of a decision that the Planning Commission made which was a denial of an impervious surface coverage variance the

[1:27:16] vote was 5 to3 the code requires a 50% impervious surface coverage they're 2.8%

[1:27:23] over um the unique circumstance is this one as we discussed a couple of weeks ago is

[1:27:29] that shared driveway that runs through the site that actually doesn't even serve this property which

[1:27:35] is definitely a unique situation um compared to other properties if that

[1:27:41] driveway weren't there they would meet the ordinance they would be at around 41% um staff has provided resolutions

[1:27:49] both for approval and denial um you held the public here hearing at the last

[1:27:55] meeting we haven't received any additional comment there was just one comment on better together that was in

[1:28:01] support of the project um as mentioned the homeowners are here to answer any questions and I'll turn it over to the

[1:28:07] city council for decision okay thank you let me first ask if there are any questions for director Teague uh or for

[1:28:14] the homeowner uh homeowners otherwise we can have a conversation up here uh I don't know

[1:28:21] yeah thank you thank you Mr Mayor um I

[1:28:27] personally for me this one feels pretty obvious um if this Alleyway driveway

[1:28:34] that was not even in use by this property did not exist they would be in

[1:28:41] compliance um and so honestly I think it's a pretty easy decision for me I would I'm supporting this variance

[1:28:46] tonight um and really don't have much more to say I think it's it's pretty clear-cut to me okay commissioner agon

[1:28:52] would you care to move the matter then we'll see we get a second then we'll have another further conversation so move right is there a second second we

[1:29:00] get okay you had two seconds commissioner Jackson second we give oh I

[1:29:05] think it was Comm oh member rer yeah all right

[1:29:10] rememberer thank you I'm I'm already lapsed into the H sorry calling everybody commissioner um so we've got a

[1:29:18] motion in a second to actually um adopt resolution 20241 120 which would approve

[1:29:24] an impervious surface variance for a new patio and other improvements at 5605 Maguire wrote is that correct maker the

[1:29:32] motion commissioner or member U yep yes that is correct yep and same

[1:29:37] with you the second or all right uh comments from Council

[1:29:43] Members member Risser I too think it's obvious and I am somebody who really hates the word unique and really doesn't

[1:29:50] like to see it being used but I do think it applies in this situation um you're not maintaining the

[1:29:58] driveway you're not using the driveway and so to me I concur with member eggu

[1:30:05] it's a no-brainer those member Jackson uh I was

[1:30:12] moved by I I agree with my uh peers I was moved by the fact that it seems to

[1:30:18] be disproportionately on the appellant land and that's just not fair so kind of

[1:30:24] land on the S side of fairness council member Pierce uh thanks Mr Mayor I um would want to I do want to

[1:30:32] acknowledge the Planning Commission like their role primarily like they look at

[1:30:39] land use issues and they're trying to take existing policies ordinances and

[1:30:47] make decisions within that framework um and so I I do think that that's what they're supposed to do and then it comes

[1:30:55] to us and we get to balance that plus reasonableness and all these other

[1:31:01] factors um and so I I do just want to acknowledge um I feel like that is the

[1:31:07] process and I feel like the process worked in this case um I do uh support

[1:31:14] the um approval um for the various reasons that my colleagues have already

[1:31:19] stated want to thank staff for that comprehensive presentation we had aoup couple weeks ago was really helpful and

[1:31:25] then understanding these unique circumstances with the shared driveway and my colleagues have spoken well on it

[1:31:31] uh the fact that and the fact that they're 2.8% over on the coverage Rule

[1:31:37] and would be under significantly but but for that uh that shared driveway

[1:31:42] situation so uh I and I appreciate uh council member Pierce acknowledging the

[1:31:48] work uh and the type of work uh and the advisory work we get from the Planning Commission and their recommend ations on

[1:31:55] uh what they think we should be doing and of course we're not bound by those decisions but we're influenced by them

[1:32:01] nonetheless I think we've got unanimity up here of opinion and uh and so um we

[1:32:08] might as well have a vote I think we all feel the same way that uh uh the approving of an impious surface variant

[1:32:14] for a new patio and other improvements at 5605 Maguire Road is uh uh is uh

[1:32:22] important under the circumstances so we've got a motion and a second to adopt resolution

[1:32:35] 2024-25 605 Maguire Road uh hearing no further discussion all those in favor of

[1:32:41] adoption of resolution 202 24-120 is stated say I I I opposed carried uh the

[1:32:49] uh request for a variance is approved thank you folks for being being here uh a couple weeks ago thanks for being here

[1:32:57] tonight and um we're going to get you home at a decent hour uh and uh till we

[1:33:03] leave and and us as well we'll be shortly behind you I think so yeah

[1:33:10] thanks all right um that completes the work on that portion of the agenda the

[1:33:15] next matter is the appointment of En acting mayor we did this four years ago and um uh member Jackson took on took on

[1:33:23] responsibility of of backing up the chair at the H and member Pierce became

[1:33:29] the acting mayor and my understanding is that there's been discussion here and and U that member Pierce you you you

[1:33:37] would be amenable to continuing in that role yes Mr Mayor okay all right and

[1:33:44] then we're going to deal with uh member Jackson and the HRA at the h meeting I

[1:33:50] imagine that's upcoming okay all right so is there a motion to appoint council member Pierce as the acting mayor for

[1:33:57] 2025 so move second got a motion by member egner second by member Jackson to

[1:34:03] appoint council member Pierce as the acting mayor for 2025 uh any further discussion all those

[1:34:09] in favor of adoption of the motion of stated say I I I opposed carried council

[1:34:14] member Pierce is uh now uh approved as the acting mayor for

[1:34:20] 2025 and um we are on to manager comments and uh your thoughts relative

[1:34:27] to your goals as one part of those uh those observations I think or comments you want to make thank you thank you

[1:34:33] honor I thought it just was appropriate this time of year and we do typically do this and and so I just wanted to make

[1:34:39] sure we did it uh thoughtfully and not as an afterthought so that's why I asked if we could add it to the agenda for

[1:34:44] tonight the the things that I'm looking forward to in 2025 um are some a little

[1:34:52] bit of separate and distinct from my goals that are in my performance um um

[1:34:58] my my performance plan for the year but I think we're looking forward to the the private redevelopments that we're going

[1:35:04] to see on France Avenue that have been we've spent a fair amount of time in 2024 kind of setting the table for that

[1:35:10] we think that we're going to see them happen in 2025 uh we have some large uh public

[1:35:16] projects that we've been working on also at Fred Richards uh park at fire station

[1:35:22] number two uh we hope to see some some uh some completion come to the

[1:35:27] discussions around the library Art Center combination in uh 2025 uh THC use and cannabis management

[1:35:36] is going to be something that we're all new at uh in 2025 um not just in Adina but everywhere

[1:35:43] around us as well so that's going to be an interesting challenge for us um but perhaps uh more than anything else uh

[1:35:50] 2025 is a budget planning year for 2026 and 2027 the council uh gave us a fairly

[1:35:57] clear U signal I think at uh when you approve the budget for 2025 that you

[1:36:02] were interested in um Contracting the rate of growth I'll say it's not not

[1:36:08] Contracting uh spending it so but Contracting the rate of growth uh that we have had for the past few years and

[1:36:14] to do that we're going to have to engage in some discussions with you uh around service levels U and methodology of of

[1:36:23] how we provide services things like that uh we're going to have to say no more than we have in the past and that's

[1:36:29] that's not easy for staff or elected officials to do in this setting but we are uh interested in taking that

[1:36:36] challenge on with the council together staff and Council together and uh working through a number of

[1:36:41] opportunities to share with you kind of the behind the scenes um workings of our

[1:36:47] budget process and engage you more in uh a partnership of setting those services

[1:36:53] for for the future so I'm looking forward to that as well thank you thank you manager Neil uh council member

[1:37:01] eggu when are you 25 you're throwing it right to me first huh if you're busy doing something we we

[1:37:09] can come back to better member of Pierce I I'm ready I have mine but I I wanted maybe an example from someone else um

[1:37:18] but that's fine I'll read on my list um so some of the things that I am most

[1:37:23] looking forward to in 2025 as a part of um city council work I think first and

[1:37:28] foremost is continuing to explore the France Avenue underpass project looking

[1:37:34] at the feasibility looking at what does the community want seeing if there is something that meets the needs um and I

[1:37:41] think also continuing to track progress on things that have already been priorities right affordable attainable

[1:37:47] housing within our community um progress towards our climate action plan um

[1:37:52] seeing how we're doing on all of those activities uh and then also some of the the other projects that we haven't

[1:37:59] received as many updates on but specifically the kahill district plan um so making sure that we're continuing to

[1:38:05] explore what can we do within that area um those are like the very tactical and

[1:38:10] Meaty things and then I think that this this has been a theme as we're talking with city manager as we talk up here on

[1:38:16] the DI as well um But continuing to think about the ways that we build trust

[1:38:22] and build relationship ships um with people across the community um and just

[1:38:27] continuing to have that be a core tenant and core thought of mine as I progress for the year so yeah thanks for that

[1:38:34] yeah building building Community Trust or Civic trust way to put it yeah thank you for

[1:38:40] those comments nicely done um thanks Mr Mayor so from a

[1:38:47] process standpoint what we talked about doing last year is um manager Jal you

[1:38:54] are going to send us your goals and then we're supposed to add

[1:39:02] things to that or respond to it and then you'll combine all of that now I can't

[1:39:07] remember last year but I it feels like we finished that in like June of last

[1:39:12] year maybe it wasn't that late but it was later than it should have been and we all admit it we should get it done

[1:39:19] sooner it'll be February this year yeah so I if we can get it done um next month

[1:39:24] to be able to um present that that'd be great um so that was one comment I

[1:39:30] wanted to make um and then the three things I had you've we've already talked

[1:39:36] about uh broader um housing affordability uh but not just how do we

[1:39:43] achieve those goals but remember Jackson and I had talked about having uh more

[1:39:49] Community engagement around topics like that and so I I would like to um see how

[1:39:56] we can accomplish uh those that um as well from more of an awareness

[1:40:02] perspective um budget we talked about um and I like the way that you framed it

[1:40:09] manag Neil um I think that we've got a meeting coming up to

[1:40:17] kind of talk through some of that approach but one of the things we talked about um is how can we get members of

[1:40:24] the community um involved in that process to what extent we can do that and so budget would be the second one

[1:40:31] and then third uh which is more overarching for me is uh Community

[1:40:36] engagement but I think it ties into uh what a member agu said um so finding a

[1:40:45] a very systemic way that we can increase

[1:40:50] Community engagement to um help build trust um build on trust within the

[1:40:56] community so those would be the the three things that I would have thanks for that um those thoughts

[1:41:04] for 2025 and uh member Jackson yes thank you Mr Mayor so I

[1:41:11] actually had a very long uh list of things I wanted to say I think I will cut it back and and keep it in line with

[1:41:17] my uh fellow members um but I'm going to start with where I was going to end and

[1:41:23] that is member Pierce often talks about we need to be able to tell the story better and so I have actually three

[1:41:29] pages of notes on how to tell the story because I thought this complex job and I

[1:41:35] thought um commissioner Edon talking about the county is really an Enterprise the city is really an Enterprise and as

[1:41:42] we're going to this budget process we want to talk about who we are and what we do and the framework that came to my

[1:41:49] mind was comes from the Declaration of Independence actually the PS uh life

[1:41:54] liberty and the pursuit of happiness and then in the Fifth Amendment it's translated to life liberty and property

[1:42:00] and I think that really lays out a good framework for who we are and what we do life being Public Safety whether it's

[1:42:08] fire police snow plowing and Street repair or public health um Liberty and

[1:42:14] that's good clean government and we have an act we have a very clean government

[1:42:19] we do not have meetings behind closed doors we can't three of us get together and talk about something as much as we

[1:42:25] or five of us without public notice and you know with the public invited and

[1:42:34] notified um and that includes voting and Public Finance and Communications and then finally the pursuit of happiness

[1:42:40] and property and that's land use and housing and economic development and so

[1:42:46] as I was going through all this I want to make the point that it's been a t I

[1:42:51] believe it's been a task um policy for economic development to use land use

[1:42:58] innovatively and it stems from Edinburgh and from Centennial Lakes those

[1:43:03] wonderful mixed use developments that were created in the 1980s and early 9s

[1:43:09] and this kind of set the tone for what we're trying to do now and so some companies go out and try and get Tech

[1:43:15] some try to get medical devices coming to their Community we have an existing

[1:43:21] healthc care and Retail uh Industries and we're using land use to innovate and

[1:43:27] bring in new businesses and new people and and it's a cycle of improvement and

[1:43:34] I think that's really actually very Innovative and it's Unique to Edina and I'm proud of it um so I just wanted to

[1:43:40] make that comment um one thing I'd like to do is I'd like to have a town hall meeting um where we can have some back

[1:43:47] and forth with the public this is a very difficult forum for these kind of conversations that people are asking us

[1:43:54] to have but it's always a one-way conversation either they're talking to us or we're talking to them um and I'd

[1:44:00] like to sort of pair that with an annual meeting with our commissioners so the Commissioners can all meet each other um

[1:44:06] the chairs maybe give a five minute or less update on what they're doing so the public can hear that and then have a

[1:44:13] back and forth um type of format for a conversation with the public um I do

[1:44:19] want to see the underpass um ideas come forward I'm that has the potential to be so cool it also has the potential to not

[1:44:26] be cool so I want to continue to look at that and see how that can go forward um

[1:44:32] and um yeah the budget we're going to have to have to talk about our service levels and how we can I thought like

[1:44:39] that manager Neil uh decrease the the rate of increase um because it's not sustainable what we're doing now so it's

[1:44:45] going to be a great year and I'm looking forward to it yeah thank you for that great comments from everybody uh

[1:44:52] member Risser thank you and um I

[1:44:58] do you know as with my fellow um council members have a laundry list but just to

[1:45:06] focus on one real specific um which illustrates kind of you know one of the

[1:45:12] things that we have to balance is we're just one person we're up here we're representing um the residents of Edina

[1:45:20] and we are all at large so we're representing all of them and

[1:45:25] um sometimes we get a be in our Bonnet and we wish we could just make something happen and I'm going to be very um

[1:45:31] transparent here the thing I would love to see is for the next Road

[1:45:37] reconstruction um the information that goes out very specifically says you can

[1:45:43] have sad or you can have Clover and so people can actually make an informed

[1:45:49] decision and they don't have to proactively you know find out oh is there something I can do and I know I've

[1:45:55] mentioned this before and the response has been not that that's going to happen

[1:46:00] and it didn't happen in my neighborhood in an informed way people had to know

[1:46:06] about it in order for it to happen and I think this would really help us with our green stop City's goals um or our

[1:46:12] climate action plan excuse me in terms of saving water creating be friendly habitat um cutting down on the use of

[1:46:20] pesticides and all of that so that's a very nitty-gritty kind of specific um

[1:46:25] and I kind of want to do the range here I'm also very concerned about trust and transparency and what I'd like to do is

[1:46:32] try to fold that into dialogue about the budget and we have been hearing from residents we have been getting that

[1:46:38] feedback and uh I need to go through those emails and you know one thing that

[1:46:43] somebody brought up was you know maybe we need to think about getting rid of the liquor store business you know which

[1:46:50] is an interesting thought particularly if there's going to be tariffs and all of that so uh being open and really

[1:46:57] listening to what people are thinking and um hearing those ideas and letting

[1:47:04] them gel and I'm somebody who has to process things I have to have time to kind of consider it and weigh it and go

[1:47:11] back and forth so that's something that is really on my mind uh the other thing

[1:47:17] is the historical society because I think that will come up and what are we going to do um how much are we going to

[1:47:24] support that how are we going to get that to a asset for the city that is

[1:47:30] really very vibrant and can be contributing and not something that we

[1:47:36] need to provide ongoing sixf figure um investment and so those are the things

[1:47:43] but finally I do want to say that I know all of us are up here bringing our best

[1:47:49] trying to be the stewards that we can be and I will articulate opinions like I

[1:47:55] did today that people may not share that doesn't mean I am judging you that

[1:48:01] doesn't mean I am saying that something fishy is going on but I am saying I feel

[1:48:07] we need a more robust dialogue so I wanted to say that thank you thank you

[1:48:13] for that for those comments too um for me um when you think about the

[1:48:19] responsibilities to our fellow residents um always Public Safety comes to the Forefront for me in terms of our

[1:48:25] responsibilities so I think we're doing a Wonder wonderful job in that area we've got very effective um uh leader in

[1:48:32] our police department and and a wonderful core of officers uh that really care about our town and our town

[1:48:38] cares deeply about them and so that's one thing I would expect um in 2025 that

[1:48:44] we would continue uh to make sure that people and property are safe in our in

[1:48:49] our community uh another I I think we've all we've all touched on this fiscal

[1:48:56] uh if we want to maintain our fiscal Excellence that we've had so many years uh there's some real

[1:49:03] responsibility that goes along with that in terms of trying to make sure that I think as

[1:49:09] we go into this here uh and everybody's talked about including manager Neil uh that we create a a methodology for

[1:49:16] budgeting that allows us to be mindful of um of um the capacity of people and

[1:49:24] mindful of um predictability in a way whether you're whether you're a family

[1:49:30] or your business any D that element of predictability is important from year

[1:49:36] over year and maybe we can look at what do we can accomplish that uh this year as we work on uh some of those uh budget

[1:49:44] issues and then um I think folks have touched on this too and it's kind of a Hallmark for ad is this sort of

[1:49:51] deliberate and thought uh uh Redevelopment land use you know

[1:49:58] the land use has been an important element of Rina from its founding and I think we need to continue to think about

[1:50:04] how we're going to do that in a in a thoughtful and deliberate way uh which I I have no doubt we will

[1:50:12] um and then I think from a more it's not a soft issue but it's it's this this

[1:50:19] notion that you're that we're doing this work collectively for the benefit of our fellow residents in our town to

[1:50:26] constantly work on improving the quality of people's lives and and um I thought Ragu said it well when she

[1:50:35] talked about building this trust you know building off of that that that we

[1:50:40] continue to work on that sort of relentlessly uh but this notion that um

[1:50:45] that we think about in the back of our minds all the time are we doing things that help improve the quality of people's lives in our town and I think

[1:50:52] it's those are the things that I'm thinking that we need to address so

[1:50:57] um you know Mr ziker was here tonight he was

[1:51:03] here last week too or two weeks ago and tonight he came to talk about um

[1:51:09] something that we just touched briefly on at the end of the meeting last time and that was Community comment and um

[1:51:16] over the years that I've been involved uh in city council work uh I've

[1:51:22] always encouraged the sort of public broadcasting of that Community comment

[1:51:29] uh because I thought it was important for the community to hear the the comments that were made or the questions that were

[1:51:34] raised um but what I've noticed is that particularly during the election cycle

[1:51:40] it became political and and I encourag Mr ziker to stay he didn't stay but I

[1:51:46] can specifically recall at least two instances maybe three where he said at the end of his remarks during the

[1:51:52] election don't forget to keep this information in mind when you go to vote you know that's

[1:51:58] not the purpose of public comment is to use it as a platform for for political purposes now he had an Artful sort of

[1:52:06] argument tonight uh about him talking to me as an ex- mayor uh but I get this

[1:52:12] distinct recollection of sitting here and listening to him come up during the election cycle and talking particularly

[1:52:18] about Tiff and then telling residents don't forget this when you go to to vote

[1:52:23] and um that's caused me to wonder too about whether uh the Eden Prairie model has

[1:52:30] some Merit to it which for years I kind of rejected but if it if if this is

[1:52:36] going to turn into a political platform it's not meant to be that and so it's meant to be and Jennifer you

[1:52:43] may have or or manager Neil you know do we have somewhere that it says what's

[1:52:48] the purpose of community comment you know is there something that's described somewhere in our our policies or in

[1:52:57] code uh yeah or our attorney I I just don't know but

[1:53:03] um here you you've got it in mind apparently and it's caused me to think

[1:53:08] about whether or not it's worth running a um pilot for a short period of time

[1:53:14] maybe a few months to do uh this off camera still have people come and

[1:53:19] express their concerns to the council

[1:53:24] um it's on the agenda every and maybe you know every city chooses to do it

[1:53:31] different ways I just know Eden Prairie's done it that way for years they have it from 6:30 to 7: uh off

[1:53:37] camera or people coming to express their opinions on in a variety of different ways

[1:53:48] um yeah so it does include comment uh not just raising a a question

[1:53:53] or asking a question um which is fine you know um I

[1:53:59] think it's important I just don't want it to be and maybe I don't know how we regulate the the political part of it um

[1:54:07] yeah so let me turn now to uh member Jackson so that would be regulating the

[1:54:14] content we can do uh under the First Amendment you can regulate time place and manner so for instance um sometimes

[1:54:20] people brought in props we could say no props um we can say limit to 3 minutes but we can't um regulate any way what they say

[1:54:29] um that's that would be content regulation

[1:54:35] yeah okay thanks for that uh member rer I and I'm just I don't I don't have any

[1:54:40] preconceived notion on this but having been through this experience for the first time in all these years during the election cycle did make me wonder about

[1:54:48] what was the right pathway here remember rer um I think about the range of public

[1:54:54] comment that we have heard and sometimes people do come forward I'm trying to remember um the gentleman who was

[1:55:01] announcing some that was a while ago but a sporting event that was also a

[1:55:06] fundraiser and I think there is Merit to having this opportunity for people to

[1:55:12] come forward and to comment on things um and I think it does have value and I do

[1:55:19] learn from the community comment um so I I think it

[1:55:24] definitely makes it easier for me to

[1:55:30] understand some of the things that residents are going through and I think about um you know all of those comments

[1:55:36] that we heard I think it was during Community comment that had to do with the tree ordinance maybe it wasn't but I

[1:55:41] I think it was there were a couple times where there was a single issue that really brought together a lot of people

[1:55:48] and it made it very clear that there was something that we needed to turn our attention to um so I I see this as

[1:55:57] something that has value and um is important to me as a council person but

[1:56:06] um and so that's that's where I stand I also had to go to federal district court

[1:56:11] in Senior High School to defend the First Amendment and not get suspended so

[1:56:17] um I have a little bit of history there but those that's my view

[1:56:24] Ember U thank you for this topic in particular I wouldn't mind us talking about it more I

[1:56:31] don't exactly know how I feel about it but I think just in kind of direct reaction to what you were saying member

[1:56:37] Risser I don't think we're challenging should we have Community comment right so we as council members would still be

[1:56:44] hearing from anyone in the community about any topic that they want to um and

[1:56:49] so I just want to say that like that isn't I I think under question right

[1:56:57] now um correct and thank you for saying that um and I should have said I do

[1:57:02] think it has Merit so that other people people throughout the community can hear the comment um so but very good point

[1:57:11] because I was just talking about us but I do think it has value for the community as a

[1:57:16] whole and I would just follow on Take Along to what member AG said I you know

[1:57:22] you can probably tell from the way I handle this issue tonight is that I don't have any really strong feelings

[1:57:27] about it uh or charged feelings about it I'm I'm just kind of puzzle for the first time in many years as to

[1:57:34] um um whether there's whether there's a need for a change or discussion about a

[1:57:40] pilot or maybe nothing at all maybe we just continue as is and we tell people

[1:57:46] it's not you know well I guess it goes to time place manner uh remember Jackson

[1:57:52] um so that was why I raised it at our last meeting so that we'd have time to

[1:57:58] have feedback and honestly I didn't get a single email um on this from anybody

[1:58:06] um I you know there's some chatter on social media but I think it's um it

[1:58:13] didn't raise the hackles that I thought it would um and so that's why I raised

[1:58:18] it so we could we could get some feedback um but I obviously obvously Mr ziker was very upset by it um

[1:58:26] but I I would I my concern we're public figures and we put ourselves out there

[1:58:32] for this but sometimes these comments go to our staff and they are not public figures and they get called out

[1:58:38] sometimes by name in an unkind Manner and um I would just prefer to have those

[1:58:44] conversations not broadcast um for their sake um so that's that's where I'm at

[1:58:50] thanks M Pierce um I so I um agree with my

[1:58:57] colleagues um we for sure we'll have the Forum I'm not sure what we would pilot

[1:59:05] um because it feels like the only issue is is it broadcasted or not um that's

[1:59:11] the issue right and so if but the content would remain the same and so I

[1:59:17] think what we may be reacting to is a little bit of decorum

[1:59:22] and um I think it just happens to be that it's rare for anybody to come in

[1:59:32] and say hey thanks great job at doing whatever um it's typically people are

[1:59:39] coming in that have an issue that want to raise a concern um and this is the form that they do it in um so I don't

[1:59:46] know what I don't know the value of piloting not doing the broadcast or but

[1:59:54] we certainly could have a conversation around it and if we want to have a proposal to do something different we've

[2:00:00] done that in the past so remember 's Point uh I I too think it's probably I

[2:00:05] raise it tonight again just for further discussion and maybe we can handle that a workshop sometime this year and talk

[2:00:11] about it and have a little bit more substant substantive sort of conversation understanding what other

[2:00:17] cities do you know how do they handle Community comment um

[2:00:25] oh yeah maner Neil and just thinking about our own City I remember when I came here in

[2:00:30] 2010 at that time we still did Community comment at the end of the meeting not at the beginning so if you wanted to come

[2:00:38] and have that opportunity you had to sit through the entire meeting which some of those meetings are very long make it

[2:00:43] more accommod the the other opportunity that's available for uh folks who want to who want to broadcast so even if you

[2:00:50] chose not to broadcast Community comments u in the future uh everybody

[2:00:56] has access to channel 15 our cable Public Access Channel and you could have

[2:01:02] three hours to do your presentation there and that's there's no cost to do that in fact um we we provide some

[2:01:11] equipment uh editing and camera equipment that could be used to help people do it so we should that's part of

[2:01:17] what we could explore as well okay so just an issue for further further

[2:01:25] discussion um that's all I had from a supplemental standpoint over and above

[2:01:30] what we were all thinking about for 2025 so uh anybody have anything else now has that prompted anything uh for further

[2:01:37] comment from Council Members okay is there a motion to do we have anything

[2:01:43] else no is there a motion to adjourn so moved second U moves member Jackson

[2:01:49] second a motion to adjourn the first city council meeting of the Adis City Council in

[2:01:55] 2025 any further discussion all those in favor of a German say I I I opposed

[2:02:02] carried city council meeting on January 7 2025 stands adjourned thanks

[2:02:20] everybody

[2:02:50] e e