00:00:08,200 How to order the City Council meeting for Tuesday, August 18th, 2026. If you do a roll call, please. Chrissy. Council member Cummings here. Mayor. Deshler. Here. Council member. IBO. Here. Council member is absent. Council member. Keyser. Here. Council member Vanessa Rosen here. And Council member. Here. We have a quorum.

00:00:32,270 All right. Thank you. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First item on tonight’s agenda is to approve the agenda as written. So moved. So moved. Okay, Johnny.

00:01:09,030 I’ll second that move. Is there any discussion? Hearing? None. Uh, please vote in favor of the agenda. All in favor of the agenda. I just saw these chocolates. I wondered who was so nice to me. That’s right. I have. Just dropped.. See? Chocolate, a meeting. All in favor? I.

00:01:30,970 Okay. Uh, motion carries. First up is appearances. And so we have our police chief, Brian Hubbard, here to introduce, um, Officer Robles and K9 Yeti. Good evening, mayor and council. We have a introduction, a reintroduction, and a couple of awards to share with you tonight.

00:02:02,500 Tonight, I’m excited to reintroduce you to Officer Andrew Robles and officially introduce you to one of Crystal’s newest officers, K9 Yeti. Yeti is a two year old German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois mix, and came to us from Slovakia late last winter. After a few months of Andrew working with Yeti on bonding and basic obedience work, they began their three month training in March.

00:02:20,600 The initial K9 training and certification work is one of the most intense and physical of all police trainings, and the team did very well in their school. Crystal canines are dual trained dogs, and Yeti is trained and certified in general patrol work, which includes tracking and apprehension, as well as narcotics detection.

00:02:37,300 Yet he worked his first patrol shift on May 31st, becoming Crystal’s fourth K9, joining K9 Ace and Officer Callan, and following the retirement of canines Rocco and Leo. Officer Robles has been with the Crystal Police Department for over 11 years, and has had a career long goal of being a K9 handler.

00:02:54,300 He served as a patrol officer, traffic officer, and as a Lead Explorer advisor, and has assisted with many K9 trainings over the course of his years. Andrew well understands and is excited about the amount of constant work and dedication that’s required for K9 teams to be successful over their time of working together.

00:03:11,000 As you all know, the K9 lives with their handler 24 over seven. So there’s the continual responsibility of animal care and well-being, along with the stringent requirements for ongoing training on a nearly daily basis.

00:03:27,870 While being a K9 handler is a highly sought after and coveted spot in any police department, it requires a very significant commitment of the handler. I’m appreciative of Andrew’s willingness to make this personal commitment, and the sacrifices he and his family will make for our community in the next 6 to 8 years, while having only been working as a team for a couple of months. Officer Robles and Yeti have had some early wins.

00:03:42,870 In one instance, officers were looking for a homicide suspect that had run from officers, and yet he conducted an article search, finding some clothing that confirmed the path the suspect had run prior to getting into an Uber.

00:03:57,330 In another incident, the team located a number of items that had been dropped by the suspect of a burglary, which allowed officers to locate other video footage of the suspect before and after the burglary. These specific cases are in addition to a number of narcotics fines for already, including meth, cocaine and fentanyl, and according to Andrew, we are just getting started.

00:04:16,470 Please join me in congratulating Officer Robles on becoming our newest K9 handler and in welcoming K9 Yeti to the Crystal Police Department. Right now, yeah. People. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. This guy. You’ve seen it before? Yes. All right. Hey, buddy. Sweetheart. Thank you. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, it’s all, like, going on.

00:05:21,070 Yeah. Sweet boy. Oh, there you go. Oh, and I smell mailman. Yeah. Thanks, Andrew. Uh, mayor and council, as you know, crystal police officers do outstanding work every day to serve, protect and assist those in the community who live, work and spend time here.

00:05:48,800 Most of their work goes largely unrecognized, and we all understand that it’s part of this job. However, there are times when the actions of officers far surpass our normal motto of service with compassion, integrity and professionalism.

00:06:04,100 As a part of the Police Department’s recognition program, we feel there are times that accomplishment should be recognized in front of the city council and community, which is what I’m sharing with you tonight. I’m honored to recognize two of our team members with chief’s commendations. The Crystal Police Department Chief’s Award of Commendation is presented to an individual who has gone above and beyond to assist the department or the community.

00:06:18,130 This award is presented at the sole discretion of the Chief of Police for the Department. First, I’d like to invite up Investigator Tim Tourville. In May of 2023. The Crystal Police Department was called to assist the FBI with the case of the ruby red slippers.

00:06:43,400 The FBI requested that investigators from the Crystal Police Department look into a case of theft and stolen property for a suspect in Crystal so that they could help generate leverage for the case of the ruby slippers. Investigator Tourville didn’t hesitate to help out and began down the long journey for this case.

00:06:58,800 Over the course of several months, the FBI would continuously ask him to do one more thing check one more lead, or interview one more person. And the list seemed never ending. Despite all of their requests and task investigator Tourville never complained and would simply say that he was just doing his job.

00:07:16,330 Investigator Tourville not only paid attention to the needs of the FBI, but also went above and beyond to support the suspect’s wife in this case. She was clearly, as the investigation shown, a victim that had gotten lost in the grand scope of the case.

00:07:34,000 With the spotlight being on the ruby slippers, investigator Tourville never lost sight of a genuine victim that every other agency seemed to throw to the wayside. Despite the suspect passing away prior to a conviction. Investigator Tourville was able to navigate all of the outside agencies and bureaucracy to get his case charged, thus providing a sense of closure to the victim.

00:07:53,730 Investigator Tourville is being recognized with this award of commendation for his unwavering dedication and tireless effort during this investigation. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Well done. Thank you. So were those slippers actually in crystal? They were buried in a backyard. Yeah. Get out of here. Really? Maybe. I wonder if that’s where the crystal ball is to somewhere. And what did they sell for? We can’t. Do you recall? I do not.

00:08:25,370 Recall. This. Couple million dollars. Millions of dollars, I think. Yeah, yeah. Next, I’d like to invite up Deputy Chief Pete Anderson. On June 14th, 2025, a politically motivated assassination occurred against the Minnesota Speaker of the House, her husband and her dog in Brooklyn Park.

00:08:51,630 This attack was immediately following a previous political assassination attempt that occurred in Champlin. As this rapidly evolving, complex, and stressful situation unfolded. The Brooklyn Park Police Department specifically requested the assistance of Deputy Chief Pete Anderson to assist in giving leadership to coordinating tactical operations at and around the scene.

00:09:11,670 This specific request was made due to Deputy Chief Anderson’s reputation for leadership and tactical expertise. Deputy chief immediately responded to the scene and was tasked with organizing and leading a massive area search that spanned approximately four square miles. This effort required the coordination of five different Swat teams, most of whom had never worked together before.

00:09:30,600 In addition to countless other personnel within the search area, Deputy Chief Anderson’s proven ability to command a very dynamic situation while remaining calm, composed, thoughtful, and strategic was paramount to ensuring the operation was successful, thorough, and safe for all involved. Deputy chief under key contributions to leading this massive operation cannot be understated. What also cannot be understated is his humbleness following this incident.

00:09:54,400 It was not until months later that his absolutely crucial role in the early stages of what turned out to be the largest manhunt in state history became known to me. His response during and after this incident highlight the incredible caliber of him as a leader and the policing profession, and all of those that are surrounded by benefit from every day. Congratulations.

00:10:15,200 Thank you. Great job. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Okay. Thank you. And thank you for the police officers who do everything every day to keep us safe. All right. Next item is the consent agenda. Consent agenda items are generally pretty routine and non-controversial, and we just kind of pass them in a single motion.

00:10:50,630 I’m going to read through them. And if anybody has any questions or would like to remove it and put it on as an agenda item, we can talk about it. Then. So here we go. Approval of the minutes from the following meeting. City Council work session on July 21st, 2026.

00:11:07,200 City Council meeting on July 21st, 2026 and a City Council budget work session on August 6th, 2026. Approval of disbursements over 25,000 submitted by the Finance Department. Approval of a list of license applications submitted by the City Clerk. Acceptance of Sonia Ruby’s At-Large. Resignation from Parks and Rec Commission. Acceptance of Michael.

00:11:38,570 Uh x what is it like? Rec resignation from the Business and Community Working Group for the Blue Line Extension. Acceptance of Joan Hauser’s resignation from the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission. Adoption of a resolution declaring several diseased trees on private properties as public nuisances, and order them abated.

00:12:02,470 Adoption of a resolution ordering the appropriation of an assessment roll. Declaring the amount to be assessed, and setting the public hearing date for October 20th, 2026 for delinquent accounts. Adoption of a resolution approving a joint powers Agreement with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety for Crystal Police Department, access to criminal justice data.

00:12:28,830 Adoption of a resolution authorizing execution of a healthy tree canopy grant agreement with Hennepin County. Approval of the Community Vision Plan. Consultant agreement with future IQ. Are there any questions? Any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, I’ll take a motion for approval. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as read. I will take that. Teresa. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Consent agenda passes. All right.

00:12:58,000 Next on our agenda is open forum. Open forum is an opportunity for residents to, um, talk. You have a up to three minutes to talk. Generally speaking, we don’t allow discussion on any one singular topic for much more than 15 minutes. Um, just to provide ample opportunity for all. Like I said, speaking is limited to three minutes.

00:13:23,670 Um, we can’t extend the total time allowed for a topic. If the city council agrees and the council will not take action on items that are discussed this evening. But we will put it on a future meeting.

00:13:44,930 And I do specifically want to talk about the FLoC topic, because we are going to talk about that as a council. After the council meeting is adjourned. When we go back into the work session, agenda, because, um, generally at work sessions, we do not really banter back and forth.

00:14:03,600 It is an opportunity for staff to give the city council members a presentation or an education, if you will, on the pros and cons of items. But one of the primary things that we’re going to do tonight at our work session meeting is set a meeting, a standalone meeting where the police department will come and address the FLoC issue, might even have a representative from FLoC themselves.

00:14:23,330 Um, and then we’ll have ample opportunity for residents to speak and ask questions, and we can have a dialogue. So. Does that sound like a plan? All right. But so we will start with the conversation. First one is Lindsay, if you would come up to the podium please and just state your address and you’re here to talk about flat cameras.

00:14:50,100 Thank you. Mayor. Yes. And council, um, I am here to speak regarding cameras. Um, Lindsay Stambaugh and I’m at 5955 Idaho Avenue and Crystal. Um, I’ve been here with some of you before, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep it under three minutes this time. Um, I work in 911.

00:15:10,970 Public safety have done so for over 15 years. My parents are police officers. I’m the sister in law of a police officer who managed to find something that pays slightly better now that they have four children. I am not necessarily the most anti law enforcement person in the planet.

00:15:27,200 I am, however, concerned about what we’ve been seeing and hearing in our community over the last year and with systems such as this over the last. Well, frankly, my entire career, I started working right around the time when Saint Paul PD and Ann Rasmussen and the BCA were dealing with some similar privacy concerns.

00:15:43,530 Um, I just wanted to bring a couple of points up that may not have been previously considered. Um, Flack recently changed the terms of its contract in, I believe, April of this year. I’m sure someone will fact check me on that.

00:16:04,330 My understanding was the terms of that contract change is that many people whose data is in their systems no longer retain the right to that data. Flock now retains the right to that data and can do with it what it wishes, which for those of us paying attention to various technological surveillance concerns, this is another point in that concern. Bucket. I would suggest that we review that contract.

00:16:25,370 I would also suggest that we review the terms of the grant agreement. We may still be in a period where we can terminate the contract without financial repercussions. When that grant agreement ends, we may not have that flexibility.

00:16:41,630 I would also like to point out that the council has not had a chance to vote on this because, as we all know, it was brought to the department’s resources pool without meeting the threshold requirement for the council to take a look at it.

00:16:58,830 That’s something to consider going forward, and I’m not here to tell the council how to do their job, but I do think it’s something to be concerned about that we might want to review some of those policies. Um, as a citizen in Crystal, for the better part of the last six years, and specifically over the last year, I have seen with my own eyes and been a part of community organizing to ensure the safety of our residents and

00:17:15,930 my neighbors. I would like to continue to do that in accordance with the council and everyone else in the city. Whether we work, live, travel through without being concerned that we are being surveilled in ways that may be used against us to infringe upon our rights. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Anna Smith.

00:17:50,530 I hate public speaking. Just a warning. Um, Anna Smith I live in the Brentwood neighborhood. Um, so. Hello, mayor and Council, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I’m a mother in this community, and my top priority is keeping my child safe.

00:18:12,470 But flock safety and other Apr readers are not the solution. I care deeply about my child’s privacy, and I refuse to sacrifice our freedom for the illusion of security. We need to look past the marketing and consider the real risk that these systems create, FLoC and other ALP systems don’t simply record a crime.

00:18:34,930 As it happens, they create searchable records of where vehicles have been, including the date, time, location, make, model color, and identifying characteristics like roof racks or stickers. So let’s put that into real life. Imagine my family vehicle has a stick figure family decal showing two adults, three children, and a baby on board sticker. The camera doesn’t know my children’s names or birthdays, but that isn’t the point.

00:18:58,330 If that vehicle is repeatedly photographed someone who can access those records can connect the dots. They can see where my vehicle was, when, and how often it appears at different locations. They could see that this vehicle regularly goes to the elementary school, pediatrician’s office, the library, grocery store, and home.

00:19:19,800 From those patterns, they could potentially infer how many children are in my family and how old they are. Approximately. And because those sightings are stored as searchable records, multiple timestamps can create a detailed picture of our family’s movements and routines long after we’ve driven past the cameras.

00:19:37,000 As a stay at home mom, I take my child with me everywhere. So when I hear that this is just a license plate reader, I don’t think about license plates. I think about a record of my family’s movements, and that information can be misused. This is not theoretical.

00:19:56,230 For example, in South Carolina, a police officer searched for her ex-partner license plate through Flack 166 times. In Florida, another officer used flock to track his estranged wife. More than 700 times in a Milwaukee. A former officer used police license plate technology to search for his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend. More than 170 times.

00:20:17,600 These officers did face consequences, but punishment after the fact does not undo the surveillance that already happened or guarantees that the next person won’t do the same. A recent review indicated that at least 28 cases nationwide involving alleged ALP abuse to stalk past or present romantic partners or others that they are interested in.

00:20:37,270 So when somebody says if you’re not doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide? My answer is simple. Privacy isn’t something we should have to earn by proving our innocence.

00:20:54,270 And if the argument is that removing these cameras will make our police officers jobs harder, do we really have so little faith in our local police that we think that they cannot continue doing their job without tracking every single vehicle that passes through our city? I strongly urge the City Council to terminate our contract and remove these cameras from our community immediately. Keeping our families safe should never require surrendering our freedoms and privacy of every family in the process. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you.

00:21:19,330 Um, Elizabeth Labadie, did I pronounce that right? Close enough. Yeah. Sorry. Um. Good evening. My name is Elizabeth Labadie, and I wanted to speak today about concerns over LPR cameras.

00:21:41,800 The concerns are not an attack on our local law enforcement, but rather worry about the technology and its effects on our freedom, privacy, and how it can be and has proven to be abused nationwide by individuals in power, by those with access, as well as by government entities and hackers.

00:21:59,930 Our community has a tenuous relationship with the police department, and keeping and adding to the number of all our cameras will damage it even further. There are several air PR, lpr companies trying to make a buck by spying on us. It doesn’t matter which company has its cameras in our neighborhood, they all have the same problems.

00:22:20,200 Lack of transparency, oversight and regulation into how they collect, store and use our data, as well as how to hold public and private actors accountable if they abuse it. Please think about how much someone could learn about your life. If cameras constantly tracked where you went, they could find out what doctors you visit, church you attend, who you visit or drive around with, meetings and or protests.

00:22:36,330 You attend where you work, shop the exact time you arrived and left, and your mode of transportation. We have already seen how this mass surveillance tool can be weaponized and abused by law enforcement. Ice and CPB have repeatedly used flock to go after immigrants without warrants. Police in Kansas use them to pursue a man who wrote a critical op ed about the department.

00:22:58,230 People in many states have wrongfully been accused of auto theft. Cameras have erroneously identified people through their facial recognition technology. Police have used the cameras to stalk ex wives and girlfriends, harass private citizens who have who weren’t being investigated for crimes, and make traffic stops after the cameras have flagged the wrong vehicle.

00:23:19,170 One stop resulted in a lawsuit by a woman who received a $1.8 million settlement due to Chrystal coffers have $1.8 million to pay when they get sued for wrongful detainment or arrest by a law abiding citizen. When LPR systems make mistakes, the consequences can be dangerous as well as costly.

00:23:40,270 Even though Ice does not have a contract to work with FLoC, Twin Cities and other law enforcement allowed Ice access to national searches on behalf of immigration purposes. Independent peer reviewed research has not established that Alpe cameras reliably reduce crime. The strongest academic reviews say the evidence is inconclusive. They have shown an error rate over 32%.

00:24:02,930 That’s one third of the time they get it wrong and upend the lives of innocent people. That it works. Statistics circulating publicly come from the vendor’s own marketing, not outside evaluation. This unprecedented spying is terrifying.

00:24:24,730 I’m asking you to consider this information and make a decision regarding these cameras that will protect our rights, prevent lawsuits, and stand for proven safety, not a company. Sales pitch and rights violations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Joshua Smith. Oh, there’s a name I can pronounce I. Like it. Yeah, it’s a hard one. All right. I’m Joshua Smith. I live in the 30s off of 37th Avenue and the Brownwood neighborhood.

00:24:50,100 Um, I’d like to speak a little bit about flock safety and how I feel about it. Before I get to that, though, I’d like to give some background on myself. I’m a US Army veteran who specialized in communications technology.

00:25:05,130 I served almost two years in South Korea, with about five of those months spent on the DMZ, also known as the Demilitarized Zone, which is what separates South and North Korea. During my time spent on the DMZ, I would hear propaganda being shouted over loudspeakers from the North Korean side every single day.

00:25:20,800 When I asked one of the South Korean soldiers with the lady on the loudspeaker was saying, he said something to the effect of North Korea is the greatest civilization on Earth. Now, obviously we know that that isn’t true for many reasons.

00:25:35,230 And one of those reasons being mass surveillance of their people being stationed on the DMZ gave me a unique perspective on the differences between the society that I was living in and the society that existed just a few miles away. I never personally experienced the surveillance of the North Korean people, of what they lived under. But knowing that it exists and knowing how much control their government has over their people has always stuck with me.

00:25:52,800 It made me appreciate the freedoms we have here in the United States, and it also made me appreciate, um, and made me very cautious about anything that could slow, uh, slowly normalize the idea that our movements should constantly be monitored and recorded.

00:26:13,570 Here in Minnesota, we have approximately 1400 flock cameras, which doesn’t even account for other brands of LPR cameras. On my way to work in Plymouth, about seven miles from here, I will pass about ten flat cameras, each one tracking my exact location. That means I’m being tracked minimally. Every mile that I drive to work.

00:26:29,730 I’m also being tracked when I go to the grocery store, to my son’s medical appointments, to my parents house, and just about everywhere else. I know what some of you are thinking though. If you’re not doing anything wrong, then what do you care? An important thing to know about flock safety is that when a city signs a contract with them, flock has the ability to change its agreement

00:26:43,030 whenever they want. And as it was previously stated, there was a new update in 2026 to the flock safety contracts that actually removes the clause that explicitly prohibits selling customer data, aka everybody’s data.

00:27:02,930 Obviously, that in itself is frightening, but if they can change their contract anytime they want, what’s to stop them from changing the the agreement in ways that puts the safety of the people? It’s tracking even more at risk than they already are.

00:27:17,770 I understand the possible upsides to using Alpa systems, but when we look at all the facts, is it really worth compromising the safety of your citizens in the process? When you hear things like being tracked to my son’s medical appointments, does that make you think of the United States or freedom? Or does it make you think of a place like North Korea? If we continue down this path one day, we will be the country that people use these as the example of mass

00:27:34,230 surveillance. I am here today to formally demand for the immediate removal of all flock safety cameras within the city of Crystal. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, and thank you for your service to. Joseph Coleman. All right. Sorry to beat a dead horse. Apparently tonight. That’s 505 45th Avenue North.

00:28:01,470 And I do actually have sources for you all catalogued for you, because today I’m not going to be just giving you my opinion. I’m going to be giving you hard facts. Now, as I said, my name is Joseph Coleman. I am 40 years old, registered voter homeowner here in the city of Crystal.

00:28:14,400 I’ve owned a home here for about four years and previously lived in cities such as Saint Louis Park, new Hope, Brooklyn Center, and North Minneapolis. I’m here today to quickly discuss the issues of flock cameras that have appeared in the city, and my sheer disgust with them.

00:28:29,070 I do not stand here today as a police citizen, and I will go into more detail shortly on the why. However, I’m going to make myself clear on my opinion on the subject before I go further. Flock cameras need to be banned in the city of Crystal posthaste.

00:28:44,170 I do not consider this a light request, and I will justify my call with the following ten points. Now, as a note, I know with only three minutes of speaking time, ten points with a slur was actually the slim version that I tried to get this down to for you all today of what could be said, and I apologize in

00:28:55,930 advance if I go over. If I’m close to time, please signal me and we can discuss whether or not an extension is possible, as I believe these points are valid enough to justify one, and I am willing to hand over this entire speech and my citations to you guys. If not now, starting off with 0.

00:29:11,370 1, to say that there has been a nationwide trend of officers misusing as an understatement, I apologize to our police officers. I know that that not everybody’s the same, but there are at least 50 plus documented cases of misuse of flock system across the United States to date.

00:29:24,730 As a specific example that was mentioned earlier, Kansas detective use Fox camera to track his romantic partner 124 times and her ex 55 times. This officer, the officer assigned to investigate that misuse, was ironically later arrested for doing the same thing himself, including adding a GPS tracker to his ex’s car. Um. With or.

00:29:46,070 While there are features to avoid misuses, only about a quarter of agencies use these abuse detection tool offered by flock to catch this kind of misuse.

00:30:01,300 This, um, CEO himself seems to have no interest in curbing this particular issue, and can be cited with saying and I do quote word for word, we are not going to change humans and humans make bad decisions. We can do it, or all we can do is make sure that they know that if you use this tool, you will be held accountable.

00:30:15,370 I am not sure about you, but that distills little confidence in the accountability that will be had. It’s the equivalent of handing a key to permanent marker, warning them that there will be consequences if they draw on the walls and leaving the room unsupervised to add additional layer from or to a. Sorry to add an additional layer to. Free beer.

00:30:34,870 Can you tell it’s been a long time since I’ve stood in front of anybody? Usually do this over the internet where it’s a lot safer in a crowd to add an additional layer of freeform flocks, plain language search tool has its own problems, and one review over 3200 searches across 124 agencies.

00:30:57,370 The system’s moderation only blocked 19 of them, waving through searches targeting political expression and protected characteristics while only flagging legitimate ones, instead leaving the door wide open for future use to target individuals that may be expressing their First Amendment rights to protest. Targeting individuals based on their political alignment, or simply targeting someone due to personal relations with ease. Point two false arrests and stops are a known issue.

00:31:17,330 The Fox system in general. There are over 27 documentation or documented cases nationwide. As you heard before, these are the only the documented ones. Mind you, the number of undocumented stops and time waste has potential to be much higher.

00:31:35,270 This includes the case in Kansas that was earlier mentioned, where a family was detained and held at gunpoint with a six year old baby or six week year old six week baby in the back seat over a plate that did not actually match. Roseville, California has a 71% false alarm rate on hot plates alone. Flat out wasting police time and resources. This doesn’t even count for the free form searches.

00:31:55,600 Failures covered a moment ago, an LA inspector for the LAPD found that 161 vehicles falsely flagged as stolen over a two month pilot period, concluding that 32.3% of the alerts were reviewed were inaccurate. The LAPD led its flock pilot contract expired. Because of this point.

00:32:15,730 Three I would venture to say that at this point in time, everybody in this room has had at least one situation where a data breach affected them. I’m not sure about any of you, but I’ve received more than one notice informing me that I have been put or part of a data breach. In fact, I received one less than a month ago.

00:32:30,400 With this being said, we do really need to think of these cameras are safe in any form. They’re not. The camera feeds are exposed to the open internet. Sounds scary. Well, what if I told you a January 2026 security research found that a simple Google search could locate 60 plus completely exposed flock cameras and administrative interfaces? No hacking skill required.

00:32:52,200 What if I told you the login credentials are transmitted in playing a text, allowing for basic and easy cheap tools to capture that information? This is, by the way, for both the admin portal and the cameras themselves. The situation is so bad that Ron Wheaton and I cannot pronounce that last name.

00:33:07,000 Tried. Sent a formal letter to the FTC requesting an investigation stating that Fox has unnecessarily exposed American sensitive personal data to theft by hackers and foreign spies.

00:33:27,370 Fox states that its cloud platform itself has not been breached, and frames the exposure as an issue to the physical address of the individual camera hardware, not compromised or not compromises to their central servers. While they have not been hacked yet that we know of their admin cameras and system have been exposed to make things worth flock. Images and audio have been reportedly revised by offshore contractors hired through Upwork, with or without disclosed vetting standards.

00:33:49,400 Now, does this instill confidence? We already have enough issues with data breaches. Do you wish to be monitored by an unknown source as well? Um, how am I doing on time. Here? At six minutes? Yeah. My. Yeah. Do you want me to stop.? Maybe a couple more minutes. All right. Uh, point four here. I was told by a local rep three minutes.

00:34:08,470 Thank you so much for taking my call. By the way, that, if I may pronounce your name right, that the police chief said that data was not shared with Ice or federal agents, which is fine, but let’s talk facts. Fox default policy holds for 30 days before automatic deletion.

00:34:21,800 But it’s a rolling window, meaning that at any given moment there’s a continuous, searchable 30 day record of everyone’s movements sitting in the system. Officers can query the system without a warrant, without needing to tell anyone for any reason they choose to type in a search box.

00:34:37,870 As we have seen this as easily a noticeable over 7000 agencies and organizations share access to flock data nationwide. This isn’t a closed local system. It’s a sprawling shared database. Flocks deep and their default contracts have reportedly allowed de-risk or data sharing with federal and out-of-state agencies for investigative purposes.

00:35:02,870 I put into quotations there, even with the local department, or tried to restrict access. Crystal PD shows a shared network listing along Hennepin County and Minnesota and numerous other metro agencies and other departments. Flock transparency portals, meaning that Crystal’s camera data doesn’t stay contained to Crystal.

00:35:21,230 Crystal told the paper it doesn’t share its data with Ice, a statement likely narrowly true, but that doesn’t address whether or not agencies within the shared network who do have Ice Force involvement can search Crystal’s data without Crystal’s knowledge. In Dayton, Ohio, an audit found the crystal’s camera data security had been searched. Over 7100 times for immigration enforcement, explicitly violating the city’s own policy.

00:35:46,130 Officials called it egregious and unable and unable to immediately exit the flock contract physically covered all 72 cameras with trash bags. At least 53 cities nationwide have canceled flock contracts, specifically over unauthorized data access. That’s half the points. So, um.

00:36:08,200 You’ve obviously done a heck of a lot of research and you’ve got some great points. I think that this would be, um, information that would be helpful at the standalone meeting. If you wish. Otherwise, I can hand this over as well. I got sources and everything available for you.

00:36:24,270 That’s what I was wondering, if you had a copy because you just threw out so much data that I was. My brain was getting kind of mushy. Yeah. Do you want just the sources? The whole thing? Do you have a copy of it to that? Yeah. Okay, I got to. I’ll give it to the, give it to the city clerk.

00:36:38,130 And then maybe she could send it out to all of us. Is that. Are you okay with that, you guys? Yep. No. You’ve done a really good job, and I appreciate it. God bless you for, uh, looking into all of it. It gets worse. Yeah. Oh, God. Much worse. Comforting.

00:36:56,070 Needless to say, end of the day, ban them. Okay. Thank you. Joseph. Uh, one more, uh, flak, uh, comment is item. Autobiographic. Yes. My name is Autumn. Paragraph.

00:37:18,100 Um, I can cut some of this out if you want me to speak on a different topic, I could also speak about the Verizon tower that’s proposed to be put in. Um, I’ll take out some of the examples, since many people already stated many of the examples. Um, all right.

00:37:39,870 But yeah, my name is Adam Graf, and yeah, as Doctor Vautrin, who is a crime surveillance and policing expert with associations at the University of California, Yale and Ohio State University, puts it FLoC inverts the nature of which police are meant to function, where traditionally crimes will happen, and then they are investigated. Under FLoC, he poses more. It’s more so that we’re all under investigation at all times. For all crimes, meaning flock cameras do not instill safety.

00:38:05,130 They impose suspicion and guilt on every person they surveil. And I personally would call this a hallmark of a low trust society, a low trust community. So how does this technology allow us to put faith in city officials and law enforcers when this police money could have been spent on outreach events? 311 services Narcan and addiction services, or any other number of community

00:38:26,330 centered safety efforts. But it was instead spent to surveil us. And what is the cost of that? Um, again, I have listed some examples. I won’t bore you with all of them. Um, suffice to say, as early or as soon ago. As soon ago. No. Um, yeah.

00:38:43,400 Um, as close. As close in time as last two weeks ago, August 6th, a woman was pulled over and held at gunpoint by Milwaukee police after flock cameras mistakenly read her license plate as connected to crimes she did not commit.

00:39:01,030 She was pulled over twice that week due to flak camera misreporting, and her nine year old child was with her, and now is reportedly afraid to even get in the car. Um, and like with all of the other incidents that other community members have, um, have noted, these aren’t necessarily isolated incidents. They’re not really bugs of a system.

00:39:20,830 They’re more of a feature. Um, flock uses generative AI, which is kind of affirmation software. It’s a developed with algorithmic bias to produce a pleasing result, not necessarily a correct one, and flock themselves. They report that they scan like, um, two, two.

00:39:41,270 What is what did I what is that right there? Oh yeah. 20, 20 billion every month, 20 billion scans of cars every month. And they report that they have a 96% success rate. And yeah, let’s take that 96% at face value and say that that’s correct. That’s still 800 million errors in a month.

00:40:01,100 Um, and let’s take that number and a half to say, like there’s repeat scams, right? Um, 400 million traumas a month potentially, which does not make me feel safe. I think that’s unacceptable. And I’ve lived in crystals since I was four years old, with the exception of six years, um, around six years.

00:40:18,930 And I say this from a place of extreme privilege that nothing in all my time as a resident has made me feel as unsafe as these cameras, so I don’t accept their presence in our community. And I would I would hope that perhaps with all of the considerations, you would not either. Thank you, thank. You, thank you, thank you, thank you.

00:40:35,030 Adam, are we having a public forum for the horizon? Thank you. Yes. Yeah. So you can speak about the horizon a bit later. Later in the day, there’ll be a period. All right, now we have another topic. Uh, I think that concludes everybody that was here to talk about. Uh, yes.

00:41:04,830 I stand before you for a third time. Um, apparently before it was cool, uh, to ban the immediate termination of Crystal’s contract with flock safety. Um, in the work session following the July 21st meeting, multiple council members had questions about flock. The questions were valid.

00:41:24,130 The problem is, those questions are being asked 390 days into a 730 day contract. I’ll go through and address those questions in order. The first question was essentially, uh, I was asked about license plate covers. Essentially are people with license plate covers gaming, the flock system? The answer is no.

00:41:42,500 Take a fingerprint of your car, the make, model, color and presence or absence of any bumper stickers, window stickers, dance roof racks, bike racks, etc. if your car didn’t have a plate, flock whatever profile for your car. Next up was a transparency portal. This is a basic feature that flock offers again a year plus after signing the contract.

00:42:00,430 Only now are we discussing what transparency might look like. Uh, I think South Saint Paul’s, uh, portal was mentioned under the prohibited Uses section. They list immigration enforcement.

00:42:19,800 What steps has our PD taken to hold the department that search Crystal’s data in January for that purpose? Accountable? When can we expect a public statement condemning that action and naming the department and officer who will unlawfully access our data? Our requested flock audit logs from 20 plus departments to get a better understanding of how, uh, how police officers are using the technology.

00:42:40,200 This itself has become an exercise in futility, as only one department was in compliance with was fully in compliance with state law. Of all 20 departments. Crystal provided me with the least complete public data, a complete audit log, which basically is a record of the searches that officers make, should have 12 columns of information. What I was sent by Crystal had three columns.

00:43:04,570 I’m still waiting on an accurate, complete public record from a July 28th request. Why isn’t Crystal able to comply with state law under the municipal Government Data Practices Act? Almost 14 months into the contract, the Star Tribune recently published an article revealing that Ice had access Crystal’s data specifically to aid in immigration enforcement.

00:43:22,770 And for 29 days since that article, the city has made their position clear. It’s more important to keep using flock than to fully understand how flock works. Have a full discussion and address the issues you’ve chosen.

00:43:39,600 Ice and whoever wants to have a look at how we live our lives over us, I ask that we cancel our contract as soon as possible, put up trash bags covering the cameras as other cities have done, until you consider and fully understand what you signed up for, err on the side of caution. We don’t want to be watched. Thank you. Thank you. All right, anybody else? Hello. Hi. My name is Nick.

00:44:06,500 Um, I’d rather not give my address, but I am a crystal resident. Okay? And I actually came here tonight to ask if we could consider amending our parking policy on city streets. Um, and then also ask a why? Uh, we’ve implemented a a $10 fee for, like, summertime parking on our own city streets. And also where that money goes. Um, just curious.

00:44:33,600 And then, um, but I guess I’ll talk on flock two. I wasn’t on my agenda, but, uh, I think all the points that have been made are very valid. But I think, in my opinion at least, the biggest concern is the fact that there’s this much public pushback against something and it’s being pushed back on us.

00:44:50,130 Regard. In regards to, uh, disregard, I guess, for, um, kind of public consent on it. Um, so I think that the idea of having the meeting that you spoke on, you know, having discussion on it is really, really good, but I think, uh, in my opinion, if everyone really cares about, you know, uh, freedom and democracy and

00:45:10,530 stuff, if there’s this much pushback on it, I in my opinion, I think we should just have a city vote, you know, and if you if you come and you care enough to vote on it, then come do it, you know, and and and express yourself and let the people speak.

00:45:24,300 You know, I kind of agree. I totally agree, but I don’t know that we can. The guy wanted to vote on the on the old flag. Yeah. Because I had a lot of people want the old flag, but that was that was killed. I’d be curious.

00:45:43,230 I mean, if if it’s something we could do within our own community, you know, strictly for Crystal, at least I think it’d be a good idea. And I think it’d make the people feel better, at least having been heard, you know. Right. And, um.

00:46:00,200 And I just don’t like the way that it’s trending, you know, like, what comes next is my question, you know? And, I mean, if we’re okay with this, are we okay with having mandated checkpoints where you’re stopped and ID’d as well? And even if it’s just a 30 day log of. Well, we only keep it for 30 days. It’s just whoever comes through here gets checked and ID’d.

00:46:14,530 It’s like, well, that’s the equivalent of what we’re doing right now. And, uh. It’s just the the slow evolution towards the police state. And, um, that’s my biggest concern. Um, not even the cameras themselves, but the trend towards disregarding people and their concerns.

00:46:35,930 And, uh, yeah, to my knowledge, I’d love to see, you know, the the data. Should there be any of where the original plan to implement cameras in this country came from and what public support they claimed to have had, you know, and, uh. No, I can’t think. But, uh, yeah. Anyways.

00:47:04,630 Did you want to talk on the parking real quick? Yeah. Yeah, I guess, uh, so anyways, for the the parking, um, I would just like to maybe amend it in the sense of it just kind of go over what the policy currently is and then, you know, obviously, I think that it’s important to have, um, clear streets for not only wintertime, obviously, but also

00:47:24,630 for EMS type activities on tight roads and all that. I think that’s very, very valid. But for example, on my street, it’s very wide street. There’s no through traffic and anything like that.

00:47:41,530 And uh, it’s real pain in my butt to not be able to park in the street because you have just a single driveway, you know, and we share a driveway with our neighbors, too. So it’s very tight, very hard. And we have a trailer and stuff, and it’s just like, oh man, what a pain in the butt.

00:47:52,030 And I just want to be able to put my car on the road. So just a revision or amendment on that would be awesome. And then, yeah, again, I just was curious as to why $10 to to park in front of my house. I think the cost of it was, um, just to cover the cost of.

00:48:08,700 Yeah, we don’t we don’t make any money off of it. It all goes back to just like printing the labels and administering the actual. Yeah. Okay. But I’ll tell you, I just, you know, I was on the city council for ten years.

00:48:26,570 Parking is the biggest Uh, you know, cry that people have. It’s just they the people that love the streets clear or they’re really irritated. They can’t park on the street. And I get both sides. But, um, you know, we just found that the overwhelming majority, when we put out a survey one time, they want the streets clear.

00:48:46,670 It’s a cleaner look. And particularly and I’m not picking on renters, but, you know, you got a house that’s, uh, a rental. And then all of a sudden, 20 of their relatives come and join and live there. Then all of a sudden, the street is just packed with cars. Some of them run, some of them don’t.

00:49:03,630 And it becomes kind of a nightmare. So we just kind of, okay, if you’re a resident and you want to get a season pass to park in the summer, come down, the city will accommodate you. And problem solved. Sure. I.

00:49:19,400 I used to plow for Eden Prairie, so I also appreciate the pain in the butt factor for the plow guys too. So. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Now, if we could just teach people to keep the garbage cans off the street in the winter. Yeah. Blessed. Well, that is all for me. Oh. You’re supposed to be on the lawn on your curb. Have you noticed recently.

00:49:38,430 I have. I drive by your house and I check it. Out. Especially on garbage day. There’s our flag camera right there. Yeah. The litter and the trash can. Police. Yeah. All right. Anybody else for, um. Uh, flat cameras? Okay.

00:50:04,770 We have a couple people here to talk about a proposed, um, ordinance that we’re thinking about in, uh, talking about mostly in September, but it is a flavor ban on tobacco. Both vape and, uh, cigarettes. And maybe those pouch things or something. So I’ve got an Amy, if you would like to come up. Good evening. Mayor and council members. My name is Amy Martirosyan.

00:50:35,600 I represent, um, our family, local business called Crystal trades here in the city. I’m here tonight because I want to briefly address the proposed flavor ban and flavored tobacco and nicotine product banned. That is expected to come before the council next month.

00:50:56,930 I understand that tonight is not the actual voting, but I believe it is important for council to hear from local businesses and community members before that decision is made. I fully support protecting youth and strictly enforced 21 and older laws. Businesses that sell products have a responsibility to check identification, but I do not believe banning these products from adults that are 21 and older is the right solution.

00:51:20,570 One of my biggest concerns is the impact that it will have on crystal businesses. Customers are not simply going to stop purchasing these products. Um, customers will go to neighboring cities to purchase them, which is only a few blocks away. Either side. Um, many will drive to neighboring cities and they’ll leave Crystal.

00:51:45,270 They also may go buy their gas, food, and other products from the neighboring city. Uh, that means that Crystal doesn’t just risk losing tobacco sales. They risk losing customers tax revenue and spending that supports our community. There is also an issue of fairness. Adults over 21 can legally purchase alcohol and flavored cannabis.

00:52:11,170 Um, and that’s being regulated for forever. Um, before the September vote, I respectfully ask of you to speak with local businesses and see what other alternatives can be done. Thank you. Thank you. And Jeff Gentry Chandler. How are you doing? Council members. Mayor. Um, I’ve been here before for some other issues. Um. Back again.

00:52:39,930 Um, just start by saying, uh, 5901 Hampshire is where I live. I’ve been a resident, lifelong resident of Crystal. Um, soon to be business owner. And to my surprise, a few days ago I received this letter saying that my business could potentially be over before it’s even begun. Um, I’m set to take ownership of this business.

00:52:59,600 Dark Horse vapors on the 24th of this month. And if this ordinance goes through, it will effectively crush my business and my life savings and hard work that I’ve put into it. Um, as mentioned before, these products that we’re trying to regulate are for adults, intended for adults.

00:53:18,000 On the way into my story, you pass five signs that say you must be 21 to even enter my store. Um, granted, I sell soda and other concessions. I will not sell anything to a juvenile. If a juvenile walks into my doors, I promptly ask them to leave.

00:53:39,370 Um, I don’t think it’s very fair to keep, uh, liquor industry with flavors for adults and a marijuana industry with flavors for adults, but not a tobacco industry with flavors for adults. As previously stated, these customers are just going to leave and take their money elsewhere. In fact, I’ve already started a list of petition signers, and in a matter of three days have over 180 signatures.

00:54:00,070 And I imagine when I come back on the 15th of next month, it’ll be a lot more, um, just simply asking you to consider, um, what this will do to our businesses. Uh, it will effectively ruin us. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Anybody else here to talk about during open forum? Seeing none. That concludes open forum.

00:54:29,530 Thank you, everybody for your comments and your courtesy. We’re going to move into the regular agenda. Council is going to consider a resolution approving a conditional use permit for a telecommunication tower at 3200 Veracruz Avenue, North and, um, John, are you going to be chatting about this? Uh.

00:54:57,670 Yes, Madam mayor, I just need to make these annoying zoom controls go away. And, uh. So give me a moment, please. I just thought it was a public hearing, too, but that maybe that was just at the Planning Commission. Planning Commission was the formal public hearing.

00:55:19,000 Uh, but certainly the council typically allows public comments on regular agenda items, even though it’s not a advertised public hearing, it’s still a public meeting, of course. So. All right. We’ll go with this as it is. So, uh, thank you, Madam Mayor. Council members, this is, as was stated, a conditional use permit application for a telecommunications tower at 3200 Veracruz Avenue North. John, oh. I’m sorry. Thank you.

00:55:48,370 Okay. Um, so Verizon is proposing to build a new cell tower at 3200 Veracruz. This is a conditional use. It’s allowed in the R-1 district, which is how the property is owned. And it is a conditional use.

00:56:09,270 Uh, the property is city owned and has an existing sanitary sewer lift station, which will remain. And we have received independent confirmation of the need for this tower to fill a verified, uh, telecommunications coverage. Gap. So this is the location of the site at the blue parcel is where the, uh, tower will be located. It is just on the outside of the curve.

00:56:33,430 If you’re going east on 32nd, and it curves north to become Veracruz to go by the nursing home. Uh, it is on the outside of that curve between that city street and the highway 100 noise wall. And the, uh, the properties highlighted are outlined in red. Are the ones that were mailed.

00:56:52,400 Notice of the Planning Commission public hearing. So this is an aerial photo of the property. The red dot is the location of the proposed tower. And you can see just north of it some of the facilities related to the sanitary sewer lift station.

00:57:19,830 And this is an excerpt from the site plan for the conditional use permit, again showing where the tower is located on that parcel. Uh, the findings, these were all gone through in the Planning Commission hearing, so I’m not going to go through them all unless requested to, but the findings are in the slideshow. It does meet all of our city code requirements.

00:57:41,730 Um, so if you have questions on these three pages, these three slides, we can go back to them. John. How tall is the tower? I’m sorry, I should have asked. It’s 100ft tall, including a nine foot, uh, lightning rod. So the actual tower itself is 91ft tall. So it’s 100ft total with the. Including the lightning rod.

00:58:03,600 Okay, so the tower itself is 91 foot. Thank you. There’s been a lot of residents in the past that have complained that there’s kind of a void spot for cell service in that area down south. Is this tower going to fix that, do you think? Yes. That’s what the. That’s why they’re doing it.

00:58:23,870 That’s what the independent, engineering report from all engineering showed. And so people that have say a different, uh, cell service like I have T-Mobile sometimes I’m coming north on Douglas Drive and my calls just drop. So this is a Verizon tower, but it does have the potential for co-location. Okay.

00:58:44,730 Uh, providers generally do co-locate on each other’s towers because it’s a lot cheaper to fill their own coverage gap than to build their own tower. So that is typically what happens.

00:59:04,500 But because we’re not actually involved in that negotiation between the private companies, we we can’t guarantee that it’ll happen, just that they have to be it has to be built so that co-location is a possibility. Okay. Does anybody get that? Isn’t there a tower there already? No. The aerial photo that we saw, there was a power pole. Oh. All right. Is okay. Yeah. That these. There’s a power pole. Basically it’s it’s feeding off this main power line running east and west. You can kind of see. It.

00:59:28,100 There, right? Um, and then there’s a power pole to get power to our lift station. Okay. Thank you. Is there any other questions for. Us at. Any elevations? Like of what it actually looks like from an elevation standpoint. I don’t have the full plan set with me, I apologize.

00:59:48,630 Okay. I didn’t see it. I was just double checking, but I don’t remember seeing it. I think I mean, well, I think they should be in your packet. We don’t have it in the slide necessarily. Yeah. It’s actually the first page of the 11 by seven. Oh my gosh. That’s in. Your packet.

01:00:03,730 Yep. It’s just that one page. Okay. And you can see they have the uh they show, you know, where the other providers could co-locate. Okay. So it’s a monopole. Yep. Monopole design. How tall is the the, um, sound wall there? Like. Is the what? The sound. Wall. Oh. Uh. Probably like 30ft. Yeah, maybe something like that. Yeah.

01:00:34,100 Yeah. You know, you’ll see the tower from highway 100. Although you should be looking at the road. But it will. It will certainly be tall enough to be visible over the noise. Wall. And it will be lit with, like, a beacon for planes.

01:00:50,600 No, those typically are not tall enough to require that, uh, even the much taller one at Bass Lake Road and Bottineau Boulevard, which is, I think, a 165ft tall, does not have a. Beacon on it. Okay, that’s helpful to know. Thank you. Well, you’d think that one would have to have it with the way the as low as those small planes come in.

01:01:05,500 Yeah, I’m surprised it doesn’t grow closer. Well, if you. It’s a great question, but if you look at an aerial photo of the crystal airport, you’ll see that none of the runway approaches even come close. To that tower. Okay. They’re all going either southeast or southwest of it. So, yeah.

01:01:22,630 The water tower, the Robertson water tower has it, but there’s an approach over to the lake. And then there was, um, a resident that wanted to just chat a little bit about the cell tower. I had one more slide first. So I just apologize. I just wanted to. I didn’t want to read three pages of this. Okay.

01:01:42,900 So. But if I’ve answered the council’s questions. Yeah. Um, so last slide. Um, the cup, uh, would meet the requirement of city code. And so the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval. Um, we did again, verify that the coverage gap does indeed exist, and the nearest home will be 269ft from the tower.

01:02:09,100 Council adoption of the resolution approving the cup is requested. Um, but certainly you can open it up to public comment at this time. So everybody lives down south is probably going to run around to the Verizon store so they can have coverage. Well. All right. Now you can come. On. Um, my name hasn’t changed. My name is still Adam Burger. Okay.

01:02:32,500 I came up here. Um, yeah. I just think that, um, we as a community need to be really conscious about, um, about planning and sustainability. I’m not against a tower necessarily going in.

01:02:53,870 I just do think these things should have more consideration rather than Verizon told us that a tower should be going in, because maybe in 30 years, like other people will be, other companies will be using this tower, um, or will have a different like evolution generation of, uh, of like data that like we need to connect people to.

01:03:11,130 Um, part of my concern is where it is as well. If Creek um, that that is sacred waters and that like, I haven’t heard anybody talk about like the Lakota community being involved in this being cleared at all.

01:03:28,900 Um, it being quite tall, like, I wonder and provide this information may be provided like how deep the anchoring needs to go in for this. If that would be affecting like watershed at all, I don’t know. I’m not an engineer. Um, and again, like, people need to be connected. People don’t really have landlines anymore. Um, I would like to see a map of, like overlapping coverage, perhaps for other service from T-Mobile and, um, an AT&T.

01:03:52,730 Because if this is a concern at all of like being connected to emergency services, um, I’m pretty sure it is federal regulation. You will be connected to emergency services through whichever tower is closest, regardless of like if that is your if that is your provider.

01:04:11,630 Um, and yeah, in terms of people being connected, I’ll have to do with like what plan you’re paying for in the first place. Um, like again, those three that I listed, those are really the only three companies that have cell towers in the entire country. Um, even if, like, you’re on a different plan, that’s maybe using multiple towers.

01:04:27,330 Um, I don’t know, like, is there a survey of, like, what Crystal residents are, like, not getting service there? Is it like, just like a few Verizon residents? Like, you know what I mean? Um, so I just think that there maybe should be more review.

01:04:46,000 And with that, with it also not being lit up, I know that, um, this is in other areas. I don’t have the data with me, so I’m sorry I can’t provide it to you. Um, concerns for wildlife as well. Anything that’s tall, like birds are, of course like gonna run into it.

01:05:03,200 But with there being a park right there, and I have concerns about maybe there’s protected wildlife we should be concerned about as well. Um, so yeah, that’s kind of like my concerns. My concerns about that. And, and in terms of people being connected, like I do want to stress like I, I, I’m an AmeriCorps member working helping people with digital literacy right now.

01:05:19,730 It is definitely like a necessity to be connected. But there are a lot of other factors than just like, oh, people are consuming a lot of data. We need to get people their data. So like they can they can get more TikTok videos faster.

01:05:36,200 Like, or is it because they really vitally need to be connected to something like emergency services? So that’s my those are my comments on that. Those are my concerns. Thank you. Well, thank you very much. Can I just say one thing? Yes. Yeah. You asked about how deep it goes into the ground. Looks like it’s five feet is what the base is for that tower.

01:05:53,900 So, um, it’s pretty standard for something of that size. So. Thank you. Do they generally have those towers? You know, like, attract, like birds or something to birds? Hit them, you know, probably because they’re colored. They probably wouldn’t. Right. I mean, this will be painted green. Green okay. Like a darker.

01:06:18,430 Like a I know they go into windows because they can’t see the pane of glass, but. I, I have no idea what the impact on birds are. Um, it’s a very standard issue type of tower. There’s nothing really unique or special. About it.

01:06:38,670 I had a nest of ospreys on my cell phone tower for many years, so that was pretty cool. Ospreys? Oh yeah. Yeah. So that was. Yeah, it was pretty. So they do attract certain type of birds. So yeah. They nest in. On very top. Yeah. Is there any other questions there about the tower. I guess I did have one quick question.

01:06:58,400 Are we receiving any revenue from them building on our property? They have a lease. No, don’t have a lease. Okay. It’s around 30,000 a year. I don’t remember the exact amount. Because it’s our property. Yeah, the city owns the land, right? Um, and so it’s it’s on our property.

01:07:18,730 And in 2020, in addition to previously approval, it’s up for the exact same tower. The council did enter into a lease. Those two actions occurred in the same council meeting. Well, while they didn’t build the tower the first time. So the cup expired, right? The lease has continued to run. So the city does receive the land lease revenue.

01:07:37,400 And then if they co-locate, if they allow others, they sublease part of their tower to other providers. We get a share of that lease revenue as well. So it’s there is a financial benefit to the city. Um, in terms of the lease revenue. Is that like a. like. like an indefinite lease that’s like reoccurring or. Uh.

01:08:01,570 There’s automatic renewals, I think in five year intervals up to a certain cutoff point when a new lease would have to be negotiated. Right. Cool. I think it might be 20 years before that. And we’re we’re three quarter or a quarter of the way through that already because we’re, we’re five years in at least five years into.

01:08:18,730 The lease now. So they’ve been paying on that lease without having anything there. Yep. Cool. It’s up to us to. Well, it keeps other providers from building towers there too. All right. Any further conversation on. That? Anybody want to make a motion to approve? I’ll make that motion. Okay. Thank you. Jen.

01:08:45,170 I’ll make a motion approving a resolution for a conditional use permit for Verizon Wireless. David. I will second that. All right. Uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries.

01:09:09,730 Next item is, uh, resolution approving a professional services agreement with Fulton and Mink for 90% design of TIF funded improvements serving the Yellow Tree development at 7,056th Avenue, which is the Wells Fargo site. Thank you, Madam Mayor and council members. Um, so we’ve had a lot of work sessions to discuss various design details.

01:09:27,870 I promise you, I do not have a slideshow and I’m not going to ask any questions because I think we have the direction we need from all of you. But at this point, we do need your approval to enter into the contract for detailed design and to get us ready for the next stage, with the goal of going to bid in early 2027.

01:09:43,970 Uh, the estimated cost of the engineering work is $51,000. We’re here tonight because that contract is large enough to require city council approval. And the estimated construction cost of the project would be just under $900,000, which includes a 10% construction contingency for unforeseen work that ends up being needed. So which is pretty standard.

01:10:09,270 So, uh, again, this would all be funded from tax increment generated by the new department on the former apartment building on the Wells Fargo site. So it would not be paid for out of general tax revenue.

01:10:29,270 And we would hope to get the improvements constructed if the bidding goes well in early 2027, to complete them by fall of 2027, roughly concurrent with when that apartment building opens. Fall of 2027. Correct. And it will kind of circle the back there. Yes, it would circle.

01:10:49,530 It would include new sidewalk, decorative sidewalk, pedestrian scale lighting, uh, on 57th, the south side of 57th and then both sides of Jersey between Bass Lake Road and 57th. We’d also fix the very dated and uncomfortable to use, uh, handicap or accessible ped ramps at the 57th and Broadway.

01:11:10,500 Traffic signal upgrade to the modern push buttons that you’ve seen at some other intersections that have already been upgraded, and then fix a sidewalk gap on the west side of Broadway, just north of there. So this project would include all of those things. Because there’s a little rocky area by the Four Seasons. You know what I’m talking. about. Bushes, rocks, right at Bass Lake. And I think it’s Jersey between TCF Bank, Huntington Bank and the dry cleaner. Okay. Four seasons through me. I’m sorry.

01:11:36,070 Yeah. I mean, that is terrible to. Look at. This is the area between the existing sidewalk and the parking lot curb on the west side. Yeah, the O’Reilly Auto Parts. Yes. Okay. Yes. We’re from. So that would be included in the project? Well, no, because that’s private property. So while we. Would put the sidewalk.

01:11:56,300 Sidewalk. Yes. Yeah. Yep. The decorative sidewalk. And as we discussed. Before. Maybe that will spur the other people to do something. Well, I will tell you, we have we I know we’ve taken some code enforcement action against the O’Reilly property because of the poor maintenance of the rock beds and the weeds and

01:12:11,930 just looks really bad. So we have done that. It’s part of our commercial code enforcement. Okay. But the focus, uh, but that’s separate to separate from it parallel to the improvements that we’re trying to do in that. Area. All right. Does anybody have any questions? So we’ve discussed this about 900 times.

01:12:30,500 No I’ll move the I’ll make a. Move motion. Sure. Um, I move a resolution approving professional designer design professional service agreement with Bolton and Bank for 90% design of TIF funded improvements. Look at that, Theresa. Okay. Because I always looked. At your first. Sorry. That’s right. I will second that.

01:12:51,230 Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor. Aye aye. Okay. That concludes our meeting tonight. Except for we have some announcements, so I’ll read them off. And then if anybody else has another announcement, let me know. Oops.

01:13:12,000 Uh, ribbon cutting ceremony for new improvements at Forest School Park will be held Tuesday, August 25th at 430 in the park at 700 1/48 Avenue North. Crystal Community Center will be closed to the public August 31st to September 4th for floral refurbishing and other projects inside the building. Online program registration will be available and staff can be contacted by phone or email. Um.

01:13:38,770 I’m only I don’t. There’s nobody here from Parks and Rec tonight, but I was at the community center last Saturday and they were having a big, um, senior citizen 500 tournament. I shouldn’t laugh, but, I mean, it was packed, right? And there was a sign up saying they’re closed for this weekend.

01:13:58,100 They were not very happy because they said there’s a lot of senior citizens that plan on coming. Wait a minute. So they must have changed the date then I wonder, because they were thinking it was this weekend and they have a lot of people coming to play cards, and they don’t have any way to get Ahold

01:14:16,900 of them. So we just gotta kind of remember to plan that stuff for their advance so that they can let all the seniors know, um. I just. I got an earful. That’s why I’m kind of chuckling. Okay. How about play cards.

01:14:36,500 The next city council meeting is Tuesday, September 1st at 7 p.m. in the Council chambers at City Hall. It’s always available. It’s on zoom. City is accepting applications for several volunteer positions on our boards and commissions. For more information, you can go to the Crystal Minnesota Government at gov and then slash volunteer on the website.

01:14:56,200 City council meetings and work sessions are always open to the public. Current and previous meetings are available to view and listen to at gov. I need a motion for an adjournment unless there’s more announcements or. Okay. Well I just had a question.

01:15:16,070 Do we have a date for our community meeting on the floor? That’s what we’re going to talk about next. Do we have a meeting after that though to talk about it or. No.. We’re. Going to talk. I think we’re going to talk about it right. While we’re talking. Then I was a little confused. Okay. All right. It’s not really.

01:15:25,900 that right. Um, I just want to say thank you to everyone coming out and speaking. I, I know it’s not easy to take the time and come to a room without any windows that are open and speak in front of us.

01:15:44,730 But if you have more, if this makes you invigorated, we have a number of volunteer positions that are on our commissions that help inform the council on what we do here. Um, and I would really encourage you looking and signing up if you have the time, um, because it is really empowering. I know a lot of us got started and a commission ourselves and then ended up on the council.

01:16:04,000 So yeah, just thought I’d give a little extra plug for that. Good idea. Okay, John, you want to make the motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn the meeting. Okay. Uh, Taji, would you like to. Second? I would second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Meeting adjourned. We will resume in about two minutes. 30s in the. Um.