[0:19] oh no well I'll I'll let you

[0:24] know we're going to start the meeting and do a few things preliminarily

[0:32] first good evening everybody and welcome to the Adina City Council meeting it is uh Tuesday June 3rd 2025 it is uh the

[0:43] week of the Adina Art Fair so keep that in mind everybody that's listening in or in the audience uh make sure you get

[0:48] down to 50th in France for the Adina Art Fair one of the great events uh uh in

[0:53] the state of Minnesota frankly i think it's the largest and oldest art fair in the state of Minnesota it is 7:02 p.m uh

[1:00] Director Benerro for those in the audience um uh gave you some information

[1:06] that was important to have we've been doing these meetings on a hybrid basis people can watch us virtually or they

[1:11] can come to city hall to uh talk to the council about matters of concern to them

[1:16] tonight there are no public hearings but there is community comment and you can comment on things that are not on the

[1:23] agenda or scheduled for a future public hearing and you'll have three minutes you'll get a yellow warning light when

[1:28] you got 30 seconds left and then you should be thinking about wrapping up your comments and try to make sure we

[1:34] treat everybody the same and give them that three minute when you hit the three minute marks try to stop your comments

[1:39] or wrap them up uh so uh having provided that information I'm going to call the meeting to order these are the numbers

[1:45] you want to call in if you want to call in for community comment uh from the virtual world as I mentioned people are

[1:51] watching in different ways so uh I'm now going to call the meeting to order and I'm going to ask our clerk Sharon

[1:56] Ellison to call the role council member Agnu here council member Jackson here council member Pierce here council

[2:03] member Risser here mayor Hublin here uh next is the pledge of allegiance

[2:10] i aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[2:16] for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for

[2:22] allible thank you folks

[2:28] uh next we have a form of meeting agenda that's been published to the council and to our residents so they knew in advance

[2:34] what we were having our meeting about is there anyone on the council or from a staff standpoint that wishes to modify the meeting agenda in any form or

[2:40] fashion is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda as published so moved a second member Jackson moves member Agnu

[2:47] seconds the adoption of the meeting agenda as published any further discussion all those in favor of adopting the meeting agenda as published

[2:53] say I i i opposed carried the meeting agenda is adopted and then we are now at

[2:59] community comment and we've got some folks in the audience here we're going to ask them if they want to address the

[3:04] council first and then we'll go to the virtual world after that and I see some uh folks in the audience who may wish to

[3:11] come up and um again give us your name and your address and um you'll have three minutes thank you welcome thank

[3:17] you my name is Nancy Greer i live at 5225 Grand View Square unit 216 and I'm

[3:24] here about the crosswalk from Grand View Square to Avador as people come off of

[3:30] Vernon around the bend they cannot see that there is somebody in the crosswalk

[3:35] and it's very dangerous many of the people in our building no longer use it they drive to Jerry's instead of walking

[3:43] which makes them get into their car drive farther to get where they need to be they're afraid i'm afraid i walk

[3:51] everywhere we are a onecar family and I don't have it Monday through Friday and sometimes I need to go to Jerry's to get

[3:58] things i would like to have either a flashing light as you're rounding the bend a speed bump or some sort of

[4:06] signage that people realize that there is somebody in the crosswalk the

[4:12] majority of the people in that area are 75 plus and I'm being generous there because they're more like 80 plus i'm on

[4:19] the younger end of that um it's very very dangerous and I've almost been hit

[4:25] many times as I have called to say I've almost been hit many times so I would

[4:31] like to see something done that will protect us and over a year ago our HOA

[4:38] president and some of our residents did contact the city about getting a

[4:43] flashing light and they said it was on order but that was over a year ago and we have not seen anything or any kind of

[4:50] indication that you are going to take care of us as we walk across the street there okay we know that's a difficult

[4:57] spot but uh and some of us have have had your voicemails and we thank you for that yes i know we're trying to address

[5:03] that and and uh our city engineer may address that yet this evening i don't know if you can stick around or not for

[5:08] his comments later but I will be happy to stick around okay thank you Miss

[5:14] Greer um

[5:45] Good evening mayor council members good evening my name is Rob Sickert i live at

[5:50] 4311 Cornelia Circle during the community comment portion of the May 20th city council

[5:56] meeting I posed the following question did the HA authorize the use of up to

[6:02] $30 million of Adina property taxes to fund a potential tunnel under France

[6:09] manager Neil's reply posted to manager's comment on Adina's

[6:16] website stated this and I quote "The simple answer to this question is no but

[6:21] a more complete explanation is warranted." End quote the more complete

[6:26] explanation wasn't needed indeed and in paragraph number six of Mr

[6:33] neil's reply the eligible uses include a tunnel

[6:40] underpass or similar improvements right there in black and white a tunnel

[6:45] underpass is an eligible use of funds to me this makes my point perfectly clear

[6:52] city funds have been authorized mr neil chooses to hide behind nuance and lack

[6:57] of transparency and even though Mr neil chose to post a ninep paragraph reply

[7:03] nowhere did he share that the tunnel underpass would cost some 20 to 30

[7:08] million taxpayer taxpayer dollars even more egregious the better together a

[7:14] dina page looking for community feedback is also silent on the cost to taxpayers

[7:20] and for those having trouble finding that web page you're not alone it's not listed among the planning and

[7:26] development projects or among the streets and infrastructure projects only if you go to better together and use the

[7:32] words pedestrian crossing does the project pop up am I

[7:40] surprised that Mr neil continues to be less than transparent heavens no much like the decision process Mr

[7:47] neil has orchestrated for the last three budget cycles and again for a decision later tonight his approach is to deflect

[7:54] delay reply but not answer and postpone a decision until the last possible moment the point where a decision must

[8:02] be made in spite of the lack of critical data and well- constructed

[8:08] analysis so my question tonight is not for Mr neil but rather my question is for

[8:15] you members of the council why does the 20 to30 million price tag a cost to be

[8:22] paid from residents property tax dollars continue to be something not worth mentioning on the city's website or in

[8:29] the council chambers or is it just too embarrassing given Adina's looming 17%

[8:35] property tax increase on top of the $60 million backlog of unfunded city

[8:41] maintenance thank you thank you Mr zert

[9:00] good evening uh mayor council members any diner residents i stand before you tonight to address serious concerns

[9:06] about the handling of or name Sandy Carlson sorry 4433 Ellsworth Drive i

[9:13] apologize for that um I stand um uh before you to address serious concerns

[9:18] about the handling of ordinance number 202405 as a process raises questions

[9:24] about transparency honesty accountability and adherence to proper procedure at the April 16th meeting a

[9:32] vote on on this ordinance was taken with only three council members present resulting in two yes votes and one no

[9:38] vote the ordinance with an altered parking requirement was published in the May 22nd suncurrent after I emailed the

[9:46] city council and city manager I was informed that the ordinance requires a majority of the council three votes to

[9:53] pass how could city staff who should be well-versed in basic governance rules

[9:58] allow this vote to proceed improperly who benefits from pushing this ordinance forward without the required votes

[10:06] secondly the April 18th city council meeting was admitted from the second reading the um the ordinance was omitted

[10:14] from the second reading in that uh agenda without explanation why was this

[10:21] critical step skipped the ordinance had been included in every agenda packet for

[10:27] this project since August of 2024 after I inquired about this omission the

[10:32] ordinance appeared in the April 16th packet but it had been

[10:39] altered so I don't want to use all my time up here yeah no you go ahead and finish your thoughts uh but it had been

[10:47] altered the required of number required number of parking stalls was changed from 468 to

[10:54] 483 a change which was not disclosed to the three council members present at the meeting similar to the situation where

[11:01] we had the 5 to6s story change at the 7200 property the number 600 468 had been in

[11:09] every copy of the draft ordinance since August of 2024 most interesting is that this

[11:16] different number the 483 number was matches what the planning staff quoted

[11:23] me as a city code requirement in March uh March 18th email the explanation that

[11:30] I received that this change was a mistake strains belief especially since the ordinance was left off the March

[11:36] agenda for the second reading and the number 483 parking stalls was stated in

[11:43] this email not a mere coincidence this situation echoes a Bohan versus Edina

[11:49] case where failure to follow proper process led to the city losing in court

[11:55] we cannot afford to repeat that mistake a public hearing is required for ordinance amendments yet none was held

[12:01] for the parking stall change the lack of transparency the unnotified changes and

[12:07] the improper vote raises serious questions about the integrity of this process i urge the council to

[12:14] investigate these irregularities transparency and adherence to procedure are non-negotiable for maintaining

[12:20] public trust let's ensure our city actions reflect the accountability our community deserves thank you thank you

[12:28] Miss

[12:33] Carlson anyone else wish to address the council this evening okay let's switch over to

[12:39] director Benerro and see if he has anybody waiting online to speak to the council and then we'll go to the city

[12:44] manager for some responses from the prior meeting i do not have anyone online all right okay and your responses

[12:52] may involve some of the issues that were raised this evening as well yes manager Neil thank you your honor members of

[12:58] council uh we had two questions that we uh will respond to tonight from the

[13:03] previous meeting the May 20th meeting the first one uh Mr zickert repeated tonight and that is did the H authorize

[13:10] the use of up to $30 million in the United property taxes to to fund a potential tunnel under France Avenue and

[13:16] I would again say no um just because something is eligible to be paid for with TIFF with TIFF dollars doesn't mean

[13:23] you've authorized it to be done uh you have when when we are ready to present that if we become ready to present it at

[13:30] some point we will present that to you and ask you for an authorization to for that project but we haven't done that

[13:35] yet we've had some exploratory um some we've spent some exploratory

[13:41] dollars but you've no you've not authorized uh that project as a council or as an HR yeah just to be clear then

[13:48] it's it's a it's a it's a project a potential project

[13:54] that is a legally eligible cost under tax increment financing but it's but no

[13:59] funding has been authorized by this council specifically for an underpass or a tunnel under France Avenue you may do

[14:06] that you may not we haven't even finished analyzing that project yet yes and it's my understanding um and correct

[14:12] me if I'm wrong that it's the city council that would authorize use of funds and the H would recommend

[14:19] it but that the H doesn't authorize use of of funds is that correct we've

[14:25] haven't done either one of those in either body we haven't done either one of them and in the future were we to do this which is still just an idea it

[14:33] would be the city council not the HA or both i believe that's right but we generally seek both of both of H and

[14:41] council just to make sure we've got it covered because there are some instances where the H can approve funding uh but

[14:48] we usually get that doubled double approved by the council and okay thank you for clearing that up second question

[14:54] was uh regarding the tree protection ordinance and how it is uh how it treats

[15:00] underbuilt lots we don't have a definition of underbuilt lots so when we started our tree protection ordinance we

[15:07] most of it was was kind of focused on existing existing lots with existing

[15:12] homes on them or buildings on them um then we went to the situation out on the Dakota Trail where there was an unbuilt

[15:20] lot and we made some adjustments to the ordinance to reflect that but this is a new category of or new classification

[15:27] and we haven't got an ordinance uh change yet that's ready to to impact that uh there are some discussions going

[15:34] on uh with primarily with staff but also with some consulting assistance uh

[15:40] around uh some some amendments to the tree protection ordinance we think that is going to begin kind of making its way

[15:47] to the council via EEC and probably the planning commission I'm going to guess

[15:52] and ultimately then to the council for review later this summer

[15:57] okay member thank you i think short of

[16:03] being able to cover all of these edge cases because I know that they'll continue to come up we had also talked

[16:09] about the possibility of using some type of appeal process or introducing that

[16:14] into the system is that something that we could get done sooner than end of

[16:20] summer or do can we if not do that in parallel with reviewing this ordinance

[16:31] um member Agnu members of council we haven't talked about that at this at the staff level yet we've looked at

[16:36] different uh opportunities for that and looked at what other how other communities have handled it yet um I

[16:43] think I would like to sit down with Mr with the M with our city attorney and some of the staff members that have been

[16:48] involved more involved in that than I am and have that discussion with them thank you i I think that that could be a a

[16:55] quicker way to address some of these issues while we as a city continue to analyze the the specific adjustments

[17:01] that need to be made to the ordinance um specifically knowing we want it to go through planning commission it needs to

[17:07] be reviewed by energy and environment commission there are so many people at play and I know that we have residents

[17:14] who are kind of in limbo right now um so if we could figure out even like a short-term kind of stop gap where we're

[17:21] able to have that discussion we're able to facilitate it in a way that still aligns with code and policy I think that

[17:27] would do a lot for those residents member Risser um this is back to the

[17:34] tunnel and um the eligible versus authorized and one of this is

[17:40] tangentially related but it has to do with overall financing uh we have in the public record noted

[17:48] this amount of money and that it could be used for the tunnel does that possibly undercut our chances of getting

[17:56] grant money from say federal county state because you know if we've got

[18:01] money are they you know more likely to go oh we don't need to finance this

[18:07] i I can speculate um I u member Risser on that and that is

[18:13] one of the things that has uh been helpful to us in gaining access to grant funds especially in the area of

[18:19] sidewalks and trails has been that we have an independent source of money to match those grants um many communities

[18:26] don't and so that puts us at an advantage in some programs when we do have some money of our own that we can

[18:34] uh that we can look at and we can pledge to the project so I don't I don't know if I can evaluate like especially now

[18:41] there's a lot of flux in the federal funding of of local infrastructure but that we would certainly look at grants

[18:47] if if we if we do get an authorization vote from the council thank

[18:54] you on on the other issue yes well can we address Miss Greers

[19:00] well let me go back first to um um Sandy Carlson's um concerns i think we've

[19:07] that's something that yet we were aware of a couple of weeks ago and you've been working on i think I don't know if you're prepared to opine on that

[19:13] publicly but I know you've been talking to city attorney and and Carrie Teague about it who's not here with us tonight

[19:19] there Mr mayor members of council there are me number of issues some of those that she shared with us tonight we have

[19:26] not had a chance to sit down as a group and talk through um we will do that in preparation for the for the meeting on

[19:32] the 17th of June okay member RER U i would just like to

[19:38] comment because I was there i was one of the three and um I knew there were only

[19:44] going to be three of us i found that out the day of the meeting i didn't have

[19:50] time to do a deep dive to figure out the ramifications for that when I arrived on

[19:55] the agenda you know and I could see online that it said very clearly um favorable vote of majority of council

[20:02] members present to approve except we're noted and there were five items four of

[20:07] them I supported um one of them and this was item 92 was broken up into separate

[20:15] votes and I I voted against each one of those i didn't know what you know the ramifications of

[20:23] that and I feel like I didn't have a chance to vote in a fully informed way

[20:29] and I am very concerned and rattled by

[20:34] this because I did take an oath of office to support and defend the constitution of the state of Minnesota

[20:40] and to the best of my abilities I can't do that if I don't get accurate

[20:46] information so I just wanted to say that thank you uh to the point about the

[20:52] pedestrian crosswalk on Eden Avenue that Nancy Greer has has raised I think um

[20:58] Director Miller are you going to Didn't you recently speak with Miss Greer or was that something that's yet to happen

[21:04] no we met last week we had a discussion similar to the comments you heard this evening um they did um a group did put

[21:11] in a request to make that crosswalk safer last year that went through the traffic safety committee and we did

[21:17] approve as a committee a flashing uh advanced flashing light flashing bulb um

[21:23] similar to when someone pushes the button for the crosswalks we're reaching out to the manufacturer to see what the

[21:28] status is of that so it's on order we It is approved so it's coming in the meantime I talked to parks this week and

[21:35] they're going to trim the trees that are next to the speedway trees and landscaping that are coming off that wall that impacts some of the sight

[21:42] lineines so it'll make it slightly better but it's not going to do what a advanced flashing light can do it is a

[21:49] tricky stretch of road with the curvature and kind of the blind spots and then if you're coming from west to

[21:56] east you're going downhill you pick up speed somebody's down on the curb trying

[22:01] to go across i could see where it's it's it's a tough spot to try to figure out a way to get pedestrians safely across so

[22:09] anything we can do to enhance that safety I think we should we should think about including I heard her mention uh

[22:16] at least on a temporary basis maybe a speed hump so member Agnu I'm going to turn to you too yeah thank you um and I

[22:23] know that when we have some of those curves even having lights might make it hard i'm curious could we also stagger

[22:32] lights I don't know how many feet right 50 ft away from that crosswalk as like

[22:38] notice for people who are at a different level of the curve that's what was approved okay so we have the flashers

[22:44] today at the crosswalk and those are the ones that are tough these are advanced for drivers up the hill and around the

[22:50] curve like the flashers are going now you can see that in advance of entering the crosswalk area thank you pierce has

[22:56] another side too oh thanks Mr mayor so I won't try to resolve the problem i trust

[23:03] that that you guys have looked at it and you've come up with a solution that we're waiting to implement i would

[23:10] though encourage us to do to consider some of those temporary um road

[23:15] treatments so that it can be safe now safer now while we're waiting okay um

[23:21] and I know we have the ability to be able to do that pretty quickly okay thank you member Eggnu started to speak

[23:28] i thought that she was coming up with an idea which maybe you were thinking about it in this fashion but you know

[23:34] sometimes when you're on uh like a stretch of US highway uh two-lane and

[23:40] there's a it's controlled by a traffic traffic light you'll get a warning about 50 yards back the light starts to flash

[23:48] about to turn red is that what we're talking That's what we're talking about yes that's exactly what we're ordering

[23:53] and I need to find out where we're at with that so in addition to lights at the crossing that somebody can press a

[23:58] button and they flash like we have on Hazelton Road for example when you're using the the pedestrian walkway there

[24:07] down the prominade this this will also forewarn drivers going in each direction

[24:12] that there's a pedestrian ahead yep the lights are already at the crosswalk

[24:17] there's already flashers there okay that was with the Avidor project now we need that advanced warning light that you

[24:24] both re referenced for that crossing rejection well I just want to echo Miss

[24:29] Greer's experience i was at the library and saw someone almost get hit crossing there so it's it's frequent and urgent

[24:36] so just as urgent as possible thanks okay all right anything else on that's

[24:43] all on comments all right very good thanks for being here folks and bringing your concerns to us this evening

[24:52] um so we got the consent agenda and um member Risser wants to remove items

[24:59] 6.3 and 6.7 and uh is anyone else on the council

[25:04] desires removing an item from from the consent agenda excuse me all right with

[25:10] the exception of items 6.3 and 6.7 is there a motion to approve the balance of the items on the consent agenda in a

[25:16] single motion so moved second member Jackson moves member Pierce seconds the adoption of the items on the consent

[25:22] agenda with the exception of items 6.3 and 6.7 uh any further discussion all those

[25:29] in favor of adoption of the motion stated say I i i opposed carried all the items on the consent agenda adopted with

[25:36] the exception of 6.3 and 6.7 and now we'll turn to 6.3 which is a

[25:41] proposed master services agreement for program management with Tegra Group and

[25:47] uh member Risser uh you had a concern there or just some information just

[25:52] wanted to get further information about that i had a question from a resident um

[25:57] so I did ask manager Neil to summarize what that is about uh thank you member

[26:03] Risser members of council uh the Tegra group is a is a group that we have been working with for probably the last 12 to

[26:10] 24 months they're a project management uh group we've had really uh good success with integrating their folks

[26:17] with our folks on our on our construction sites project construction sites uh this really is this issue is

[26:23] really related to the uh workload management for our own team right so we don't we really try to be careful not to

[26:31] add too much staff uh when we're getting through kind of a bubble in our workload

[26:36] we trim that bubble off with with consulting partners and that's that's what this is so they're going to work

[26:42] with us on projects related to our ice arena project uh our various park

[26:47] projects that are in play they've been working at the fire station project so they're a group we have um a lot of

[26:53] faith in and and have been able to work with pretty well as opposed as opposed to hiring new personnel be full-time

[26:59] employees were using consultants that's correct director Miller any supplemental comment well I'd say this this sets the

[27:05] rules between the city and tear group you're going to see individual proposals come in front of you when they actually

[27:11] get work so this is just setting the parameters of our working conditions and then proposals will come to you for

[27:16] approval as we continue to suggest using this firm in the future all right

[27:22] director Milner has used this master service agreement concept with uh with engineering consultants for for many

[27:28] years and and we find it is a good organized way to set the terms of engagement with a consultant any further

[27:34] questions member is there somebody on council care to move the adoption of item 6.3 which would be the proposed

[27:40] master services agreement for program management with terra group so move second member moves member Agnu seconds

[27:47] the adoption of the master services agreement for program management with tear group any further disc further

[27:53] discussion all those in favor of adoption of that master services agreement with tear group say I I

[27:59] opposed carried that uh agreement uh adoption is approved and Um then let's

[28:05] move to 6.7 which was a good one to pull too I think and get a little more discussion about that conversion that

[28:12] we're ongoing uh with some of our heavy equipment and member I'll turn back to you again for 6.7 well as I look at the

[28:20] air quality alert today um I think this is a good idea to pull this one out um

[28:26] and I was also kind of interested in learning more about the federal funding

[28:32] and the state funding and the you know percentages of grants that we got because that is so important to be

[28:38] collaborating with different funding sources yep i can give you that yeah thank you Mayor Mayor's Council the B100

[28:45] project we are retrofitting 10 heavy duty diesel fleet trucks to run on

[28:50] bofuel the B100 so you need a separate thing to spec in the in the winter time

[28:55] to warm up that fuel so it can be used during winter operations because bofuel gets gummy in the winter so we're

[29:01] converting 10 trucks uh we have five grants that we've received we received

[29:06] grants from the US Department of Agriculture the Minnesota Commerce Department State Competitiveness Fund

[29:13] USDA funding Department of Energy the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and the Minnesota Pollution

[29:20] Control Agency so between those it is almost a half a million dollars of grant dollars to this project we'll be the

[29:26] first agency in Minnesota using this uh Iowa has one city in it but we think

[29:32] we're going to be leading this and seeing a lot more people wanting to do these retrofits to lower emissions

[29:37] anywhere from 75 to 90% on those big heavy fleet vehicles which aren't

[29:42] possible to do with EVs at this point 75 to 90% in terms of reduction of

[29:47] reduction of Y good and and also it says it will improve air quality so yep yay

[29:54] um and we're in the red today so ah um thank you thank you for the work that went

[30:00] into that as we walked upstairs this for the work session somebody told me that

[30:05] we were the fourth worst air quality i don't know if it was in the world or in the United States today because of the

[30:11] smoke so member Risser you care to move 6.7 so move second a motion by member Risser

[30:19] second by member Pierce to uh approve the request for purchase for the biodiesel B 100 conversion kits for the

[30:26] heavy duty vehicles uh in our public public works department uh any further conversation on that any further

[30:33] discussion all those in favor of adoption of that request for purchase or approval of that request for purchase

[30:38] say I i i opposed carried all right thank you for that that takes care of all the items on the consent agenda

[30:44] we're going to turn now to the reports and recommendations portion of the agenda and uh resolution

[30:51] 202543 uh would be one that accepts donations on behalf of the city of Edina

[30:56] from folks uh is there a motion on that resolution 2025-43

[31:02] so moved second member Pierce moves member Jackson seconds the adoption of

[31:08] resolution 2025-43 which accepts donations on behalf of the city of Edina uh any

[31:14] further discussion all those in favor of adoption of resolution 2025-43 say I i i opposed carried

[31:22] 2025-43 is adopted and uh for this reporting period uh all of those

[31:28] donations are to the Adina Senior Center and some are cash donations and they're inind donations food donations uh the

[31:36] most significant one in the in the in the group from the standpoint of uh a monetary cont contribution uh came from

[31:44] the next door neighbor upstairs the upstairs neighbor the friends of the Adidina library donated $2,000 uh to the

[31:53] senior center we thank him for that and we thank everybody on the list their names will appear on the um uh on the

[32:00] website here as donors to the city of V of Edina so thanks for that uh and now

[32:06] we are on to the next item uh which is uh we're going to get an

[32:12] just an update here this is not an action item but we're going to get an update on that uh Rosland Park

[32:18] pedestrian bridge that we've uh approved and I think um we welcome Director Milner back and we may ask him a couple

[32:24] other questions about a couple other projects as well but let's uh let's hear about the head bridge thank you for being here thank you Mayor members of

[32:31] council um yeah we felt it was time to give you an update we've been working on the project this is our project team

[32:36] bolton Mink is doing the engineering snow cry architects and then we brought on a fabricator Anderson Bridges so all

[32:42] the graphics and layouts on this presentation are kind of draft at this point but we're making headways and there's a key some key points that we

[32:49] need to share with the council at this time um just to remind people this was the alignment of the bridge looking down

[32:54] on it so on the south or the lower part of this graphic is in Rosland Park and on the north that's the alignment of

[33:00] those of the ramp on the north side of Highway 62 next to that neighborhood and the dash line is that future potential

[33:07] noise wall that Mindot's currently working on this was the architectural concept that you approved about a year

[33:13] ago uh from Snow Kryle with the cladding on there that unique cladding that we're

[33:18] doing and the unique pillars there and this is looking from the park heading looking north to the highway and another

[33:24] graphic of the ramp down in the park with that continuous cladding that comes off the bridge down the ramp and into

[33:30] the park you're looking to the south now so why are we talking tonight so we

[33:35] presented these two options when we met with you recently uh the one on the left is that ramp on in the city park without

[33:42] stairs one on the right is with stairs so those were the two things we were thinking about and at the time I said we

[33:48] would see if we can afford to do the stairs based on what we're seeing with the industry at the time so we've

[33:54] continued to analyze those this is what it looks like from a architectural standpoint the one on the left is

[33:59] without and the one on the right is with those stairs so we've been doing some analysis and some budgeting and uh just

[34:06] a reminder we have $6 million it's all state funded project we don't have any city funds involved uh we are cost

[34:13] estimating with a contingency um because you find unknowns right we got tariffs we don't know what that's going to be

[34:18] when we start ordering materials soils we're finding some unusual soils right out the front door here on the

[34:23] interchange project there's just so many unforeseen so we always want contingencies until we actually have a

[34:28] contract awarded uh with the stairs we're at $6.5 million so we're removing

[34:34] the stairs from the project we also can't afford to bury those power lines that go right over that ramp so we're

[34:40] looking at potentially raising up the Excel lines on the top and maybe just burying the communication lines that are

[34:46] on the bottom that are closer to that so there's two big things that we would have liked to do the budget's not

[34:51] allowing it at this standpoint if we see differences we still aren't going to bid project till December or January maybe

[34:57] we see some different cost estimating or cost differences in the industry and maybe we add it back in at that time but

[35:03] right now I'm not confident we can do the stairs or bear those power lines are you going to are you going to have those included as bid alternates on the right

[35:10] now we were not because we weren't even close to the budget we didn't even see a reason to

[35:15] include them at this time so unless there's a change in the markets we don't see that being we don't want to spend

[35:21] the time and effort to design it when it's most likely not going to be because it's costing us money to do the design and stuff so it's it would cost us money

[35:28] to continue that on a design standpoint and we really don't think it's realistic to include

[35:36] So go back why don't you go back to that uh rendering and ask the council members what they

[35:42] think oh but um you have any particularly strong

[35:47] thoughts about with the stairway without the stairway or doing it as a bid alternate because

[35:55] if the price of the bridge came in lower and anticipated at 6 million you

[36:01] you' you'd have some cushion but not as much as you'd like to do the

[36:06] stairs thinking about keeping options open and making an you know a decision

[36:12] further down the line but maybe that's not possible remember

[36:18] does do the estimates if I'm remembering correctly we talked about how the walls

[36:24] were going to be angled but if they went straight up that would be cheaper we've looked at every combination we've looked

[36:30] at tipping not tipping we've looked at angling the cladding we've looked at a lot of different options and if we're

[36:36] coming up to the stairs just no matter what option that's not enough to make up for the

[36:41] stairs okay

[36:47] so in my opinion I think we can afford it we still got a big discussion with MDOT to allow the cladding over Highway

[36:53] 62 they may say we can't do this over 62 because you don't see too many bridges with this kind of cladding so that's a

[36:59] big discussion this summer that okay we need to get approval we can come back to you and say Mindot's allowing it or not

[37:05] if they don't that's a big savings of not having to clad the highway so I think let us get through that mind

[37:10] approval process and see what they say and then we'll update these estimates and come back again probably in the fall and let you know where we're at this is

[37:16] a forewarning for us is what you're forning there's some things we'd like to have we know we're all having budget

[37:22] discussions right now and we I want to be honest with the council on where we're at okay so then the schedule we're

[37:28] submitting 30% oh maybe I'll sir is there a possibility that we could get

[37:34] because I know Mandot has their standard bridge that you see um pedestrian bridge

[37:39] as you drive with the metal on it and if we had this design but we had the metal

[37:46] standard MDOT fencing could we get an estimate on how much that would be and maybe get a visual of what that would

[37:52] look like so it would be sort of a morphing of these two concepts the what you're talking about is in this that's

[37:59] required behind all this fancy cladding we're doing a standard bridge with the standard stuff already over the highway

[38:05] so that's already in the numbers the cladding is the extra okay so what I'm

[38:11] asking though is could we get an image without the cladding just to see what it looked like or that's what we started

[38:17] with you remember okay I gave you a bunch of different examples of all that and I can

[38:22] resend those reports to you when we get into that form versus function discussion or and function but I I think

[38:28] there's a real just the design without the cladding i mean it's a nice thing that they've come up with i think I

[38:34] don't know um maybe angle the standard mind fencing no that'd be weird we're

[38:39] making it probably straight across the highway the steel bridge is going to be straight and the and these panels will

[38:44] be angled to meet this architectural look i'm still concerned about MDOT allowing these panels over the highway

[38:51] yeah okay thank you what's the cost of the cladding again

[38:57] the increase over the standard bridge do you remember uh no i I don't want to

[39:02] quote something I don't have right in front of me so we can find that out and bring that back on the next discussion but we're asking Snow Cry what would

[39:08] happen if it's not clatted here what would happen if to your scenario your AR

[39:15] aesthetics for your design i think the the stairs like I just think that's a

[39:21] beautiful design so I would love to have the stairs uh but um with within reason

[39:29] like if we can't afford it we can't afford it uh but if there are ways that we can

[39:35] um alter the project to get that look um I would I would be in favor of that um

[39:43] and if looking at your slides you're we're $700,000 at least over budget um

[39:51] if you once you add the power lines and the stairs so that's a pretty big gap to

[39:56] to close just from a design perspective I think and I guess the qu you know this

[40:01] is the stairs on the park side which are a little more elaborate we estimated with stairs on both sides

[40:07] we didn't think we would have stairs on one and not the other but we could do stairs just on one side but I don't know what the council has an opinion on that

[40:13] it's kind of a tighter narrower stairwell on the other side i know the residents over there wanted stairs so I

[40:19] feel like it's either two stairs or no stairs because I don't think we'd want to do just one side but we'll continue

[40:24] to look for the cost potential cost savings and see all these conversations with M.GO all right thanks member

[40:31] Jackson has a comment too um yes spend as little money as you can on this until

[40:38] we hear from MDOT and then we'll know what we have to do have to know but you

[40:43] know we're looking at ways to cut money i don't want to add I don't want to add money to this project and even planning

[40:50] costs so that's my personal opinion on this yeah we had to get to a certain level to even submit so we're doing that

[40:57] and we're doing that no you're doing a great job and I'm applauding you and and keep up with the cost consciousness

[41:03] thank you we're in a we're in a wonderful spot when looking at both function and form i think it really

[41:09] something that's a standout marker for Adina for our community as you come into town or you're leaving town really so

[41:17] just a little bit it's a piece of sculpture really okay thanks for that update just a

[41:24] little bit on the schedule here before we close we're submitting the MDOT next week and then we still want to get final

[41:29] approvals this fall with a bid late this year early January 2026 construction we

[41:34] want this thing built i want them start early in the spring so it's open partway through the summer next year for all of

[41:40] our various users to be able to use so okay thank you and we'll roll right into

[41:46] the next thing that you've got oh member Haggio excuse me i assume when we do this construction we

[41:53] have to take down the existing bridge before the new one comes up is that correct that's correct thank you it'll

[41:59] happen we'll take it down at night where it can't it'll be similar a night closure the bridge will come down they'll build all the foundations then

[42:05] we'll close the highway again and take a big crane which you're seeing about six of them out here a crane will just lift

[42:10] that thing in overnight and be placed and ready to go so it'll be there'll be no crossing over that time also have to

[42:18] use other areas to get to that park as someone who uses this bridge many times

[42:24] a week I will find alternatives but I will I'm really excited for it i I do

[42:29] think it's going to be beautiful and and really add because today you can't push a stroller right up the stairs um so I

[42:36] am really excited um for the progress so thank you great thank you

[42:41] now you're going to roll into a topic that all of us have been hearing about i think

[42:47] um and all of us have empathy for folks living along the rail line and as we try

[42:52] to figure out what how to create a quiet zone and it's it's got many steps to it and you're here to talk a a little bit

[42:58] about that exactly yeah railroad quiet zone process so a little bit of history

[43:03] there's 4.2 miles of track cpkc Rail operates in NDina north to south with

[43:09] seven crossings uh they operate they're starting to operate about a year a year and a half ago 24 hours that's why all

[43:16] the uh concerns and comments are coming because they're operating at night and that's been a change of operations

[43:22] they're required by federal law to sound that horn at every one of those seven crossings and they have to do it uh at

[43:29] least 15 seconds and up to 20 seconds before the crossings and they have a pattern of two long glass one short and

[43:35] another long they have to do that every time they do one of the crossings so reminder we have no control over those

[43:41] operations residents are asking for relief from those horns at night we

[43:47] applied for that federal grant we were not successful and we currently have no budget allocated for a safety/quiet zone

[43:54] study our neighbors to the north St louis Park is doing one or are doing a study they had done one 20 years ago so

[44:01] they have a head start they're just updating a plan so the cost for us to do one is much more than what you may see

[44:06] and if you ask those individuals there uh it's because they had done a previous study and they're updating it now so it

[44:12] would be cheaper than for us to start quiet zones 101 uh the location

[44:18] where the train crews do not routinely right a quiet zone is you're not routinely announcing or blowing those

[44:25] horns they still may blow them if there's a car if there's a pedestrian if there's animals on the track they're

[44:30] still going to blow the horn so this is where they would re routinely and most likely stop sounding those horns it's

[44:35] approved by the Federal Railroad Administration so that takes a lot of time local governments are responsible

[44:41] for all costs to establish these zones a segment may qualify if alternate

[44:48] crossing improvements are made to mitigate those risks from a lost train horn so first thing they'd like to do is

[44:56] just close the crossings well that's not typically uh one thing that can be done in most cases can you make it a one-way

[45:02] conversion do you use the quad gates do you do medians because even with the gates cars can drive around the gates so

[45:07] you got to put medians uh power out indicators if the lights are out what happens median signs pavement markings

[45:15] zones are based on that risk analysis based on the current and past data of that crossing that risk analysis

[45:22] determines those mitigation requirements and that process takes two plus years

[45:27] once a financial plan is developed so we would work through the whole study do a plan come up with stuff it is still

[45:33] major capital to to do a crossing if crossings are within a half mile each other you have to do them both to do the

[45:40] quiet zone if it's further than a half mile you can establish individual quiet zones of those seven

[45:45] crossings so some residents are very concerned you're getting emails i'm getting emails it's a quality of life

[45:51] thing um we also heard some opinions in the opposite that they like to hear the train noise or they don't even hear it

[45:56] and they live right there so just make you aware I do get calls both ways because this topic's been out there process is lengthy and costly the study

[46:04] just to get started is 200k the capital to implement those risk mitigations i

[46:09] just put question marks it's it's in the millions when you think about medians and curbs and crossings and power and

[46:14] lights and all that stuff so happy to enter questions but that was kind of quiet zone railroad 101 from someone

[46:21] that hasn't done one before so member Richard I appreciate your um

[46:28] presentation i also appreciated the Rosland Park presentation and if we could get both of these posted online

[46:35] because they weren't in the packet I think that would be really helpful for residents as well as for council people

[46:42] good good thought yeah Sharon usually takes those and puts them into the packet and again if I can get it ahead

[46:48] of time then I can reflect on it and um so but thank you

[46:56] so um my understanding is that we're just about done with that or maybe they are complete completing that 2024 audit

[47:05] uh and looking at fund balance and so we're going to hear about that on the 17th of June is that that's correct and

[47:11] and there may potentially be some funds available to think about things like this it's it is possible then it'll be

[47:18] we'll seek council action for uh when we accept the audit for how we might deal with the unencumbered fund balance

[47:28] thank you um first I do think that that is something that we should definitely consider as a a council and I know it

[47:35] won't be for another two weeks um but I I do think that this is really important and I know we had applied for that grant

[47:41] but didn't receive it but when you think about the impact of being woken up

[47:48] multiple nights a week um granted maybe not everyone is feeling the impact but

[47:55] I've received the videos from residents of them taking the recording of the

[48:00] trains passing by their house and it is so impactful to many many residents and

[48:08] so I do want us to do something and so my reaction to this well first appreciate you pulling all of this

[48:14] together because it obviously is really complex and there's a lot of it that's outside of our control

[48:20] right and hearing that the soonest we're going

[48:26] to have any relief for these residents is two plus years away is really hard to

[48:33] stomach and so my question is is there anything else we can do

[48:40] right in the short term is it you know working with the railways like and I know

[48:46] that historically that has not been uh

[48:52] necessarily productive um but I guess that's where I'm just asking like what are some of these different ways that we

[48:58] can actually move the needle in the in a shorter amount of time than two years

[49:07] i don't see it to be honest with you we've reached out to the railroad they said "Yep that's our operations we may

[49:12] change it tomorrow we may not we may add more trains." Um I guess I almost compared to

[49:18] this the airplane noise where did we get movement on that we went to the federal level and are elected there to make any

[49:24] progress so that's one option I guess in managing the rail the railroads have enormous power exactly and influence i

[49:32] mean they've got the power of eminent domain you know like government as they

[49:37] were set up years ago it's private track it's a private business they're on their own

[49:43] property moving this freight but nonetheless I did have a conversation with the president of Twin City and

[49:49] Western i thought it was them that had changed their patterns but it's not it's I think it's CP Rail yep so they're down

[49:57] in the Sooline building downtown I think or they used to be it used to be they got bought out by Kansas City and now

[50:03] they're headquarters in Kansas City so we don't have local representation anymore from Okay so there's nobody to go see here locally anymore about about

[50:10] this so to me point I can uh let's find out who we can talk

[50:16] to in Kansas City i think we should try to use the bully pulp a little bit and see what happens

[50:21] okay what What else are we going to do we got to try some things

[50:27] member Pierce thanks Mr mayor uh so I I agree with um member Agnu like it just

[50:33] doesn't feel good to look at you know the presentation

[50:38] which thank you for the train bringing good news tonight um but no it's pretty

[50:43] clear in the first slide we have no control there's nothing we can do um and

[50:49] it just it feels hopeless um especially when residents are being impacted um and

[50:58] frankly I just don't think that's a good not a good answer um and so in in

[51:05] instances where you're kind of facing reality for what it is then we got to

[51:12] figure out if we can be more creative and and how we can get some relief i don't know what what that means does

[51:18] that mean we need to do the study probably uh but it would be helpful to

[51:25] um in lie of going through the full study just taking what we know about um

[51:31] the process and I'll use the example um there's seven um cross what do you call

[51:40] them crossings and you said if they're within a mile and a half of each other

[51:46] then you need two zones like you were talking through some of that um like it

[51:51] would be good for us to at least have a view of what in our city here's what we

[51:57] think we would do um just so we had some kind of sense of um how disruptive it

[52:06] would be to implement those quiet zones so so without that it's just really

[52:11] difficult to even have the conversation with a a resident uh and I'm saying this as someone who when we lived in Hopkins

[52:19] we were in a town home that was next to the the railroad and our town home shook

[52:27] when the rail the train went by um and

[52:33] you know we just had fun with it i The girls were little and so we would somebody would yell chugga chugga choo

[52:39] choo every time the train came through um but we certainly couldn't have done that for multiple years that was like

[52:46] eight months for us so we made it fun for a little bit so it would help to have a little bit more

[52:53] understanding of um the impact to put

[52:58] these quiet zones in place and then doing a little bit more in-depth

[53:04] research to say hey what what are some of the options that we have other than just

[53:10] saying it's you know we have no control and then I also understand why they're

[53:16] doing this from a safety perspective as well so Um this is causing me to think about a

[53:24] few years ago Shore View was able to I think accomplish the quiet zone strategy and the mayor then uh told me that uh it

[53:32] made a tremendous difference in the community once they were able to designate the quiet zones and uh you

[53:38] know get as part of that bill those safety measures and crossing guards whatever it took uh member Jackson

[53:45] member um yeah I just have a clarification question you said compared it to the MAC when we had the airplane

[53:51] noise and it's my understanding that even if we get our congressmen and our

[53:57] senators all hyped up and everything it would still just be the bully pulpit that that we don't have the same level

[54:03] of control over the railroads as the um yes as the um Congress would have over

[54:10] the FAA that's exactly correct okay uh sad to say I I've done this a couple of

[54:16] times in my career in terms of setting up a starting the process to set up a quiet zone there there is a there is a

[54:24] risk associated with the bully pulpit when you deal with railroads because they are they are really involved and

[54:30] this is their trackage if they don't want to do it they can make this go longer for us too so we we just need to

[54:36] be strategic about it and come to the table the right way and and interact with them in a way that brings them to

[54:43] the table too thank you i want to layer on to what um member Pierce said as well

[54:49] of looking at those seven crossings and coming up maybe with like that next

[54:54] level of strategy because I don't think that all seven we necessarily need to

[54:59] prioritize as being quiet zones i'm assuming that there are some that are more impactful to residents so maybe

[55:06] layer in that as one of those point points of view of if we had to start

[55:11] somewhere where the ones that there are really residents right along there um

[55:17] that I think would be helpful in continuing this discussion uh member

[55:25] um I support what people are saying i do want to acknowledge director Milner's

[55:32] workload and also you know some of the things that we have kept saying about budget and adding on to it and I just

[55:39] want to ask whether what we're talking about is you know advocating for him to

[55:47] go explore this okay thank you thank you

[55:59] and now we've got um manager Neil who's going to talk a little bit

[56:05] about um something that we've been discussing and that is a potential agreement with Henipin County to

[56:12] transfer assessing services from the city to Henipin County thank you your honor members of council uh we have been

[56:18] working on this uh topic for about half a year in the later half of 2024 there's some council interest in

[56:26] in getting uh in contact with Henipin County to see if there was some

[56:31] possibility of transitioning our our assessing services to the county uh the

[56:36] county was interested in that they they have been working on that as well with the other uh eight cities in Henipin

[56:42] County that have assessing services uh in the end uh Maple Grove and Adina were

[56:48] the two cities that decided uh to pursue a transition into the county uh so we

[56:54] have done that we've had multiple uh conversations with uh county administration uh about how this would

[57:00] uh how this would be happen how this would be done uh there is a joint powers agreement for assessing services u is

[57:07] part of this action tonight uh the uh joint powers agreement was reviewed by legal council from both both well both

[57:14] cities and and the county of course uh Hannipin County uh approved this earlier

[57:19] this morning in a committee uh setting and the city of Maple Grove approved the

[57:25] joint powers agreement last night at their council meeting uh this this uh

[57:30] proposal if the council approves would begin the process of transitioning those

[57:35] trans those services from the city to the county uh we've had an like I said a

[57:40] number of conversations with county staff about how that would be done there is some interest in county staff about

[57:46] reaching out to our staff uh to offer uh employment to them if if they're

[57:52] interested in doing that but otherwise uh the idea here is that our we would uh

[57:57] lay off our assessing division employees with one exception uh we would uh use

[58:02] those savings to reduce the rate of growth of our property tax levy which is the overall direction that council gave

[58:09] to me for our 2627 uh budget process we think we can save depending on when this transition occurs

[58:16] somewhere between around $600,000 in 2026 and more than that in 2027 uh that

[58:24] has the capacity to lower that rate of growth uh by 1 and a half to excuse me

[58:30] 1.25 to 2.25% uh in these two upcoming years uh and

[58:37] that would be incorporated into our budget proposal should this proposal go forward tonight um we have been uh

[58:44] keeping our assessing staff in informed about this transition uh we have a

[58:51] proposal to meet we have a plan to meet with them and talk through the severance process and there's a small severance

[58:57] benefit that we are uh going to propose to them some additional uh career counseling or career assistance uh work

[59:04] as well as part of this action and I'm happy to answer any questions the council may have i think it's good to

[59:11] hear that you know I think for all of us we were concerned about the employees that presently work here and what would

[59:17] happen if you know we went about this task of trying to save what will in the end be around a million dollars a year

[59:23] for them because they've worked here a long time and we appreciated this the

[59:28] job that they've done and the service they've provided so it's good to hear about some of the things that you're doing in conjunction with the county if

[59:36] I remember right you said um at one point in time that for the first cities that were interested in entering into a

[59:43] joint powers agreement with the county on the assessing issue it's more likely

[59:48] that our employees in this case Maple Grove and potentially ours if we approve this uh would be the first to be

[59:55] potentially offered employment by the county right that's correct whether they would choose to work for the county or not that's their choice of course but to

[1:00:02] know that we've tried to make the landing as soft as possible I think has really been important to all of us other comments from council

[1:00:10] members member Risser uh I believe this came up in our last work session just

[1:00:17] how the narrative surrounding what this means financially for residents and you

[1:00:22] can say yes and it will have a significant impact on property tax but

[1:00:28] that doesn't mean magically the cost just poof disappears and doesn't show up

[1:00:34] elsewhere and so it'll be redistributed across Henipin County and that will be

[1:00:41] the situation i did reach out to a council person from Richfield to just

[1:00:47] find out more about that and they have been using county assessment services for a really really really long time um

[1:00:54] and so that was kind of interesting to know that but um just want to make that clarification

[1:01:03] and I I think it's important for residents because we did hear from a couple people about you know don't try

[1:01:09] to tell me this is making things go away um or expenses completely disappear sure

[1:01:14] but we're spreading it it would be spread across not 55,000 people right or

[1:01:20] 25,000 households but spread across managers neil you probably have that data i do um well in hand you know right

[1:01:26] now we spread uh 1.4 million we'll say over 20,000 parcels in our community

[1:01:34] we're talking by by transitioning this to the county they will spread 1.4

[1:01:39] million let's say just for sake of argument that's they can't do it any cheaper more expensive than us they

[1:01:44] would spread 1.4 million over 440,000 parcels so it's it's a it's really a a

[1:01:51] big difference in in how that impact is felt by those taxpayers

[1:01:56] member Jackson and thank you um one of the things that when we started this too is we were looking at residents or

[1:02:05] property taxpayers in Edina were paying for Edina services but also paying for

[1:02:10] other communities in Henipin County and so now we will be pulled with those so we won't be double paying we'll just be

[1:02:16] single paying for the assessment services and I thought that was a very persuasive and I just want to say it's

[1:02:23] never easy to lay people off and and we just really appreciate the hard work and

[1:02:30] the professionalism and everything that our assessors have done and this is a very difficult decision but I think it's

[1:02:37] an important one great one i take it from you yes thank you for that member

[1:02:42] Pierce uh thanks Mr mayor so I had two questions and the first one was

[1:02:50] um we talked about expected service levels like what can residents expect

[1:02:57] with this change um and so we've had an email that tried to articulate that but

[1:03:04] my ask there is that we have some kind of that that be part of the

[1:03:09] communications plan so people know what to expect yes um and then two on the

[1:03:16] allocation model i'm still not sure how I get

[1:03:23] allocated my share of this if it's just as a homeowner if it's just embedded in my

[1:03:32] property taxes from the county or what so can you maybe speak to that yes the

[1:03:37] that answer is yes that's okay when you think about how we comp how we compose our comprise our tax levy it's our it's

[1:03:45] our general government costs uh and we spread it over the entire tax base so we

[1:03:50] don't spread it exactly by parcel because parcels have different value to them but but that's how you share you

[1:03:57] you distribute that cost around to the entire tax base and the county does it the exact same way okay so that would be

[1:04:04] another thing that I would say in the comm's plan um and you kind of

[1:04:10] hypothetically said it this way but maybe that is accurate you said 1.4 million now is spread rather than 25,000

[1:04:19] parcels 400,000 400,000 um and so knowing what the the factor is if it's

[1:04:26] 1.4 4 million right just give us the numbers there so that um we can at least

[1:04:33] visualize that one for the resident is cheaper

[1:04:38] than the other right um so that would be good to have uh those two things um and

[1:04:46] then this doesn't mean anything I don't think for this year but for uh

[1:04:54] 2025 I am going to be on the board of appeals for the process um and so we go

[1:05:02] through um orientation in the next week or so um and so at the county level at

[1:05:09] the county level yeah okay and so um this doesn't impact us at all for

[1:05:15] 2025 uh but you know when we do transition

[1:05:20] um it also would be good for residents to know u maybe the first two years or

[1:05:28] you know we could just check with uh um and see how we should say that okay but

[1:05:34] it would be good to know for our residents to know that somebody from Edina is going to be on the board of

[1:05:41] appeals um that that role does cover appeals across the county not just Edina

[1:05:48] right but still I think that that would be um uh something good to to mention um

[1:05:54] and then lastly I just echo that it's definitely um hard right when you're

[1:06:02] making decisions that uh impact people in this way and we don't we don't take

[1:06:08] that lightly at all um and should we vote to move this forward um definitely

[1:06:15] want to be sure we do what's right by those that have been running this service for us over the the years thank

[1:06:22] you for that greg no anything

[1:06:27] nothing of of substance I think really to add um I know that this has been a topic and I kind of echo some of the

[1:06:34] concerns but I I do still feel comfortable moving forward um decisions

[1:06:39] are are never easy when we're talking about people but um I am confident that

[1:06:46] this helps us achieve our goal of reducing the levy and I I think that

[1:06:51] we'll learn a lot along the way too thank you member in one of our prior meetings Manager Neil we talked about

[1:06:58] the timing of transition and if we had

[1:07:03] uh maybe and you could address this more articulately than I expressing it but uh it seems to me like there's some benefit

[1:07:10] the sooner the better uh but we also could get caught in a situation where we don't have enough assessors if we need

[1:07:17] to get some work done in 2025 how do we navigate that right so we have engaged

[1:07:23] in a discussion with our city assessor about certain milestone activities and milestone dates that we need to have a

[1:07:30] certain uh level of staffing to to make those work um if we can't make those

[1:07:35] work because we've lost staff and we've lost staff already we've had one uh assessor that has moved on to another

[1:07:42] assessing uh assessing job we would expect others to probably do that same

[1:07:47] same move i if I would expect that but if we do get to a staffing level where

[1:07:52] we can't perform the kind of the basic functions of that office the agreement we have with the county says they will

[1:07:58] agree to step in early and uh make that make that agreement effective kind of the operational elements of it effective

[1:08:05] sooner rather than later okay and and the numbers that you provided that we

[1:08:10] could see a savings of up to 600,000 plus in 2025 and potentially up to a

[1:08:16] million I think in 2026 if memory serves me right uh and thereafter

[1:08:22] um is there is there a timing element to 2025 in other words again the sooner the

[1:08:28] better is that is that a good thing well I just want to respond to what you just said the projections that are included

[1:08:33] in the memo are for 26 and 27 26 we haven't projected any savings

[1:08:40] um but for 26 if things go according to according according to plan uh and they

[1:08:46] go all the way to the end to to July 1st of 26 we have a savings that were

[1:08:51] estimated around 600,000 if that goes sooner uh if we do that transition

[1:08:57] sooner we accumulate more savings than than we would if we let it go all the way to uh July 1st that prompt any

[1:09:04] further questions from council members for manager Neil on this issue

[1:09:11] um well thanks for all your thoughts on this uh important consideration it's the first time I've been involved in a

[1:09:17] conversation about potentially having a big change in a department and and getting something done by the county and

[1:09:24] uh we all worry about the people that are working for us as everybody has so well expressed um having having had this

[1:09:33] conversation is there a motion to approve an agreement with Henipin County to transfer assessing services from the

[1:09:39] city uh of Edina to Henipin County

[1:09:44] second i'll second all right member Pierce moves and member

[1:09:50] Jackson seconds the motion to approve an agreement with Henipin County to transfer assessing services from the

[1:09:57] city of United to Henipin County any further discussion along those lines and

[1:10:03] relative to that approval all those in favor of the motion as stated adoption of the motion

[1:10:09] as stated say I i i opposed carried uh the motion is unanimously uh approved to

[1:10:16] enter into that agreement with Henipin County to transfer assessing services from the city to Henipin County and we

[1:10:23] leave it to staff to work on the timing of all that so thank you that thanks for everybody thanks everybody here for your

[1:10:29] comments and your input over time on that issue um I'm commission correspondents we I'm

[1:10:37] sure we haven't had anything come in in the last hour and a half or so oh and

[1:10:42] then uh manager comments uh thank you your honor i want to introduce you to uh Karen Miller karen

[1:10:49] is right here she's an assist she's a summer intern in our administration office she's an undergraduate student at

[1:10:56] the University of Kansas all right very good well we've had that KU connection

[1:11:03] haven't we yeah interesting yeah um and that's it for you that's all

[1:11:10] for me that's a report out uh should we start with member Risser

[1:11:17] um I I do want to

[1:11:23] um again just briefly talk about what happened on April 16th where we had the

[1:11:28] vote that was incorrect and there were five items that were listed and the

[1:11:33] three of us were told that a favorable vote um was all just needed to have the

[1:11:39] majority of the three of us and there were five items there and I just kind of hold my breath and think like what if

[1:11:46] one of those because other items I think um the Southdale library and art center

[1:11:51] was one of those items and you know I just we need to be accurately informed

[1:11:59] about what we're doing and I also want to say I'm I want to apologize to the residents of Edina because I should have

[1:12:07] caught this and I was talking to somebody and I started explaining what happened and I said two people voted and

[1:12:14] she interrupted me right away and said "Oh then it failed." And um I feel

[1:12:21] like I I wish I could go back in time and I could have taken time and I could have understood um what this meant and I

[1:12:29] didn't do that and but at the same time we need to be able to know what we're

[1:12:35] looking at what we're getting and the way it's being interpreted is compliant so um that is all I have thank you thank

[1:12:43] you member Jackson

[1:12:50] well my absence on April 16th was not planned and this was a surprise to

[1:12:56] everybody and I just want to say that

[1:13:01] um I'm sorry I I had other comments but yeah hold on we'll come back to you

[1:13:08] um I don't think it has anything to do with who was president it has to deal with whether a majority vote of the

[1:13:15] council was required or a majority of vote of the council pres members present was required and and uh and we're going

[1:13:22] to look at that relative to the ordinance i don't think there's any infirmity on the resolution itself but the

[1:13:27] ordinance I think maybe have to be addressed and we plan to do that but mistakes can happen you know and we can

[1:13:34] rectify them so member Pierce yeah um so one of the things that I do appreciate

[1:13:41] about the work that we do is like the vote does not

[1:13:47] say who on the council that was present that day they

[1:13:52] voted in the affirmative it says the council did so whether I was present or

[1:13:58] not when I get the call about it yeah we we voted for that um and so I think um

[1:14:06] no matter who's present when we have issues um it bothers me and I want to rectify

[1:14:14] those just as much as anyone else uh but um I do I like the fact that we are a

[1:14:22] council uh once we take a decision um so I wasn't planning to say that but

[1:14:29] the second comment which I think this is a good thing um the construction around

[1:14:37] city hall the replacing the bridge um I

[1:14:42] think that's going well i think it is um I've

[1:14:49] um um driven up there and parked and then walked to look over at the work

[1:14:57] that's going on and a couple of times parents have brought their kids to to

[1:15:03] just look over and especially when the bridge was coming down um and so I are

[1:15:09] there a couple of times when lines are backed up when you got to get through the OG roundabout sure there are uh but

[1:15:18] for the most part um I'm impressed by how quickly that work is going um and

[1:15:25] for there to be that many detours like it seemed like this time

[1:15:30] around it was fairly I don't want to say intuitive but it was it was pretty quick

[1:15:37] you it was faster this time to just understand the purpose and the flow of

[1:15:43] the detour um and I I know that partially is um signage so thanks for

[1:15:49] that and then um I know we always think about what's the right way to do these detours uh but um I definitely think

[1:15:58] this one is is going well and so kudos to in and everybody who is um trying to

[1:16:05] make this as palatable as possible uh for the length of time that it's going

[1:16:11] to take so that's it no thank you member

[1:16:17] my only comment and I I think you kicked us off with this tonight mayor but excited to see some folks at the um

[1:16:24] Edina Art Fair this weekend so just another plug um hopefully the air

[1:16:30] quality improves before then um I'm optimistic that it will but excited to

[1:16:35] see some of you there yeah it's a great plug a great plug for the Adana Art Fair thank you for doing that uh we've got an

[1:16:42] MLC meeting tomorrow and we happen to be the host city so I don't know i suppose anybody that's on the council that care

[1:16:48] would care to come out could come out manager Neil I put you in an awkward

[1:16:53] spot i guess we we'll probably have enough food we hope so for people and

[1:16:59] it's starts at 11:30 at the Braar Clubhouse and that of course is that

[1:17:06] group of uh cities that we belong to 19 in number uh city managers and mayors

[1:17:11] meeting um we got a couple people we're going to recognize they're moving on uh

[1:17:16] Clint Gridley the city manager in Woodbury and Diane Miller the city manager in uh Egan and she's taken a job

[1:17:25] with an organization that you belong to right with the International City Management Association in Washington DC

[1:17:31] she doesn't have to she still gets to be Twin Cities based but she's going to be the essentially the COO of that national

[1:17:38] organiz international organization and as I think about it it might be good if some of you showed up because we don't

[1:17:43] know who's showing up tomorrow because of the legislature we have invited guests uh we

[1:17:48] have I think for sure we'll have um Sean O'Neal the senior director of economic development and research at the chamber

[1:17:54] to talk about economic development strategies in Minnesota and and his observations or that the chamers's

[1:18:00] observations from their research on how we're doing compared to other states around the country um we got we have

[1:18:08] asked uh and have invited Aaron Campbell the commissioner for Minnesota management and budget to come and give

[1:18:14] us a state budget outlook uh and then we also invited the governor i doubt the

[1:18:20] governor will be there but is invited and then we invited Senator Lindseay Port from Burnsville to come and talk to

[1:18:28] us about a housing update and invited don't know if she'll she'll attend or

[1:18:33] not so uh then we'll get a we'll get a legislative update there as well and then there's a Southwest LRT meeting

[1:18:40] tomorrow now that's about 85% complete i think they're going to start running

[1:18:45] short trains over segments of the track to do testing fairly soon the remaining

[1:18:51] work I think is primarily in Minneapolis uh everything else out on the western

[1:18:56] suburbs is is complete as I understand it uh and um yeah it'll be an interesting year and

[1:19:04] a half or so until we get to the opening so that's about it for me um that caused

[1:19:10] anybody to think of anything else they wanted to talk about okay and um I think it looks like the uh

[1:19:16] city clerk's going to win the overunder always wins

[1:19:24] um is there a motion to adjurnn so moved i second member Jackson moves member

[1:19:29] Agnu seconds uh the motion to adjourn the meeting of the Adana City Council this third day of June uh 2025 any

[1:19:38] further discussion all those in favor of adjournment say I i i opposed carried we

[1:19:43] stand adjourned