Good afternoon and welcome. My name is Saurin Stevenson. I am the vice chair of the climate and infrastructure committee. I'm going to be chairing today's meeting. I'm going to call to order our regular meeting for Thursday, August 20th, 2026. Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all committee members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. I'll now have the clerk call the role. >> Council member Veto, >> present. >> Warren, >> present. Tripai >> present. >> Chowry >> present. >> Paulano is absent. Uh, Chair Winsley is absent. Vice Chair Stevenson >> present. We have five present. Let the record reflect we have a quorum. I'll remind my colleagues we'll be using speaker management today. So, please make sure you're signed up. For members of the public that are here for the public hearing, if you wish to address the committee, we ask you register with the clerks uh to my right. Colleagues, our agenda is in front of us. Staff have a walk-on related to an event permit for the University of Minnesota Department of Public Safety Welcome back event. Printed copies of the request and the map are available and staff are here for any questions. I'll move uh I'll move to amend our agenda to add this item to the end of consent. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? Seeing none. uh on the motion to amend. Uh all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. That motion carries. We'll start with our consent items, which I'll read for the record. Uh passage of resolution designated designating the North Side Greenway phase 2 project and authorizing temporary construction easements for said project. Number three, uh, gift acceptance for the US Department of Transportation. Number four, authorizing acquisition of temporary construction easements for the Grand Avenue bridge over the Midtown Greenway. Five, passage of resolution returning Nicollet A public restroom funding for the uh from the general fund to the value capture fund. Six, authorizing a contract amendment with Advanced Masonry Restoration for the Washburn Tower Rehabilitation Project. Seven, accepting a low bid for the Cedar Lake Trail 40in water main construction project. Eight, authorizing a contract amendment for Pond Land Care Vegetation Management. Nine, authorizing a contract amendment with M andB Services LLC for lead service line replacement year three. 10. Authorizing a contract amendment with Kramer North America LLC for construction of the Nicollet A Bridge over Minihaha Creek Rehabilitation Project. 11. Authorizing a contract with MJV Services LLC for uh photographing graffiti on private property and abatement of graffiti from sensitive surfaces, elevated locations, and other locations and services. 12. authorizing a contract amendment with Stantech Consulting Services, Inc. for North Transfer Station Revitalization Project. Our last consent item is our walk-on item uh contained in RCA 202600952, which is approving the block event permit for the University of Minnesota Department of Public Safety Welcome back event on September 9th. Colleagues, is there any discussion or there any items that anyone would like to pull for further discussion? >> Go for it. >> Uh, Council Member Stevenson, could I pull number five for a separate discussion? The Nichollet Avenue public restroom funding. >> Certainly. You want to go ahead? I had questions for staff, so I don't know if we wanted to vote on the consent agenda first or if you wanted to do it this way. Good. >> Let's do it this way and then let's vote after. >> Okay, great. Um, I wanted to ask staff if you could come and just speak um to uh the initial conversation that you had with potential vendors um and the nature of needing more additional time to fulfill this amendment. I would like to get some more details on this. This was funding that was allocated um in our last city budget for the creation of public restroom pilots along Nicollet Avenue when we moved it from the value capture fund to the general fund. >> Good afternoon, Council Member Chowry and Chair Stevenson. Thanks for the question. My name is Kathleen Male. I'm the director of transportation planning and programming and public works. Um, as staff, we've been looking at how to fulfill the requirements of the budget amendment and been in touch with many different cities around the US who have different public restrooms. There are limited number of vendors who are able to um meet all the different requirements as outlined in the amendment and then looking at procurement for these restrooms. it takes time to fabricate as well as secure um enough of a target market I guess I'll say for it to make it worthwhile for the vendors to come to a new market and so we are um in conversations with partners other agencies um in the area to see if there is um ability to kind of partner in scale of these restrooms and so with both the fabrication timeline piece as well as the different partnership um pieces. It's taking it it takes a little bit of time to figure this out and understand what that market looks like and be able to bring these um restrooms to market. >> Great. And I'll just plan on following up independently to kind of learn a little bit more about that. um interested to know kind of what within the budget amendment uh created maybe some additional barriers to that given how many how many few vendors there are that do this work. The final question that I had um for you Miss May is um in the RCA it states moving these funds back into the value capture fund ensures that they will be spent accordance with their intended use um including restrooms. Could you kind of speak to that again? Would that require us having to do another budget amendment this cycle to dedicate that value capture fund back for this next year? Thank you, Council Member Chowry and Chair Stevenson. Um, no, there wouldn't be a need to be another amendment. What this does is it allows these funds to go back into the value capture district, which would allow them to be preserved for um the different ways that value capture district funds can be used in the future. right now they're sitting in the general fund and so if at the end of the year we haven't used those general fund dollars um they would they would no longer be a part of the value capture district like pro suite of projects. And so this allows that money to stay within the value capture district and be used for those intended uses since we were not able to use the $700,000 this year to implement the restrooms as intended. >> Right. And it's my understanding for the value capture fund there's like a suite of different things that that funding could be used for, but we were able to um basically make the amendment to earmark that funding for the public restrooms. I guess that's kind of my um concern is that if it goes back into the value capture fund without a direction, is it going to come back for that work or is that an operational decision that public works is making out of the value capture fund? Like I guess what is our assurance that that it will be used for restrooms? >> I can grab it. >> Um yeah, Council Member Chowry, Chair Stevenson, Tim Sexton, public works director. My understanding is that we uh I'm not exactly sure why they were these funds were originally transferred to the general fund, but we moving forward we can use we can charge directly to the value capture fund. The intention is to continue to use the 700,000 per year for the restrooms. So, this is an administrative change um to preserve the ability to have that funding available for the restrooms. Otherwise, if the funding is in the general fund, um there is less there's more chance there's a greater chance that it could be used for something else. Does that make sense? >> That does make sense. It is a little bit in conflict from what we learned through the budget process last year and the advice that was given to us when we made the amendment. So, I'll just plan on following up offline to kind of figure that out. >> Great. And I just want to reaffirm our commitment to moving forward with the amendment um and the funding as indicated. And so, yeah, this in our mind does not change that goal. It just addresses the timing challenges that we've had in moving forward. >> Great. As long as we're still going to work on those public restrooms, that's amazing. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, seeing no further discussion, I'll move approval of the consent agenda, including the walk-on item. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. That item carries. Next, we'll take up our public hearing reflected in item one on the agenda. Anybody who signed up for these items will be given two minutes each to testify. Please sign up with the clerks to my right. For everyone in attendance and especially those who may participate in our hearings or comment period, let me offer this notice. These hearings are being recorded and broadcast. Both the recording and broadcast are classified as public data under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. By attending and participating in these proceedings, your image and any testimony or information that you provide will also be subject to disclosure under that law. That includes, but is not limited to your attendance, your name, and other personal details you provide, as well as any testimony or comments you provide, which includes any written submissions you make, which are included in the record of this meeting. I'll invite Peter Bennett, transportation planner, transportation planning and programming, to get us started. >> Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Stevenson, and members of the committee. I'm Peter Bennett. I'm a transportation planner with the Minneapolis public works and I've been the staff liaison for the city to the Minnesota Department of Transportation or also known as MDOT project on Central Avenue which is also known as Trunk Highway 65. I am joined in the audience by other members of this project team from Mindot and from Metro Transit. Today's presentation will start with some background about the project, some of the key features of the street, and then finish with some uh details about the municipal consent process. All right, there are two projects on trunk highway 65 on on this corridor. One is in Minneapolis and one is north of us in Anoka County. Uh they both have similar construction years and they're both led by Mandot. Uh our project that we're talking about here today is the one in Minneapolis and the the boundaries of that is from the Mississippi River to 37th Avenue Northeast which is also the city border. This project is a full reconstruction of the roadway and the public space in this corridor from property line to property line. That is a great opportunity to uh concurrently build the infrastructure needed for a uh for Metro Transits Met uh Metro Fline bus rapid transit line also known as ABRT. This project team's been doing engagement and preliminary design since 2024 and today we have a recommended concept layout. After this, the timeline moves on to a final design phase and anticipates to start construction in 2029 and complete in 2030. As I mentioned previously, one of the key features of this project is that it will substantially build the Metro Fline in Minneapolis. This places the stations fully integrated into a bl brand new streetscape that's being added to Central Avenue. This is an upgrade to the Route 10 today, a very well-used bus line in Minneapolis. And these stations will have amenities like benches, lighting, security cameras, real-time information, and offboard fair payment. That speeds up the transit experience, but also the streetscape itself speeds up the transit experience with uh lanes and signals that help the buses move frequently and fast. The goals of the project are to improve safety and access for all modes and all users of this corridor, to build a complete street, to create the conditions for that transit line that I just mentioned, and admittedly to work on a roadway that is nearing the end of its useful life. As I mentioned earlier, there's been some engagement on this project. Uh there were some previous studies over the course of years before 2024. This project team uh kicked into gear in 2024 and did engagement through 2024 and 2025. Uh these are a summary of some of the engagement events happening both here and in an NOA County. Uh they used many different methods to reach people, not just a couple meetings. There were postcards, uh, neighborhood presentations, popups, and newsletters and such. And this is just a highle summary of what we heard. There was also an engagement summary included in your packet today. Overall themes were that there's a lot of excitement for a multimodal and complete street in the heart of Northeast. We did hear questions and concerns about specific locations and this project team was able to sometimes add an extra meeting to come out and meet with people and discuss some of the challenges with the with the project. They are committed to continuing this engagement with the community through uh construction. So now I'll turn to some of the features of the concept layout. Uh this project is a 4 to3 lane conversion. This is a a known concept that we've seen on other streets in the city. This project is adding a bus lane as well. So, in some ways, it's a 4 to4 conversion, but key is that it converts the street to one lane in each direction and a center turn lane. Also, dedicated turn lanes or medians at spots. This has a proven saf safety record, a track record on safety. The left turners are moved out of moving traffic. uh there's better visibility for oncoming vehicles and crosswalks uh with with only one lane of traffic to monitor. Now I'll go through our through our complete streets hierarchy and talk about the different features for different road users. For pedestrians, the sidewalks, boulevard space, amenity zones are all going to meet and often exceed the minimum dimensions that we have for those things. We'll also be upgrading all the intersections to ADA standards for accessibility and cons and looking at raised crossings, medians, and curb extensions to all give those crossings even more safety and comfort. Uh this also creates a consistent space for the street lighting and the trees along Central Avenue. As I mentioned earlier, this project has transit improvements. These improvements are both at the waiting areas for uh waiting for transit and also while in motion on on a vehicle. Bicycle facilities are included in this project for the entire length of Central Avenue from the river all the way to the city border and in fact they even continue into ana county. These are going to be protected bikeways at the sidewalk level and they'll either be directional bike lanes or shared use paths north of St. Anthony Parkway. And for automobile and freight users, the lane arrangement, as I mentioned earlier, provides turn lanes and places to move. There are also parking lanes and bays in the street uh concept layout and a new smooth smoother pavement surface provided through a reconstruction. We know that there are a number of city, county, and mindot projects all in Northeast over the next five years. My colleagues in the room here and on the project teams are all continuing to coordinate on the construction years and the phasing and the detours for these projects. We've had other projects on this map come before and we are now learning more information about them. For example, two MDOT projects, University Avenue and Central Avenue, are now anticipated to have University in 2027 and 2028 and Central Avenue in 2029 and 2030. So, the two north south corridors on this map uh are no longer anticipated to be happening at the same time. Uh we are going to continue to ask these project teams to continue engaging with the business community and with the community throughout construction and we have city staff uh helping with that. All right. So now I'll turn to just some of those nitty-gritty details about municipal consent. Mindot trunk highway projects are subject to municipal consent when they result in one of the following things. altered access, increased or decreased traffic capacity, or permanent right-of-way acquisition. This project meets all three of those conditions, and some details are included on this slide and also in the packet. That means there is a statutory requirement to hold the public hearing, and that's today. That's what we're doing. MINDOT has sent us a letter that requested this level of approval, and that was included as an attachment. They also have uh certain requirements of the resolution that we will pass and uh the resolution that was attached today meets those requirements while also restating some of city's priorities. Public works recommends passage and approval of the attached resolution and the concept layout. So, thank you for the opportunity today to share this exciting project with you and public works staff and other agency staff are available for questions. >> Thank you. I'm going to proceed to open the public hearing. The first person signed up to speak is number one, John Danelik. Uh then number two, Paul Manard. Then number three, Lucas Steed. John Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I want to begin by saying that this is a process that we at the ideal diner on Central Avenue have been looking at to better understand the impact on this business as a result of the changes that are proposed here today. And we started that process by communicating with the project team members back in early 2026 and have had several meetings. And I believe we have been successful in finding a common understanding of what we need and what the transportation system needs. And so we're pleased to see today the photograph of the street layout directly related to the ideal diner and hope that we can carry through with that same design. Have that be the result whether the work starts in 29 or 30 or 31. Um, we think that this will allow us to maintain a vital amount of business and serve the customers that have been using this diner for the last 75 years. I want to thank uh the team of planners from uh DOT and uh the municipal government and the state uh individuals who have worked to support our effort. Ricardo Lopez, Christina Perfetti, Michael Tar, Peter Bennett, and not here today, Elliot Payne, uh Doran Clark, and Sydney Jordan. Um the staff of the Ideal Diner depend on the traffic that has access to this business in order to continue to have a job. And so the willingness of the planning team to support that has made it possible for us to move forward. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Next we have Paul Manard. Then number three Lucas Steed. Then number four Nancy Syndican. Paul. Okay. Uh, good afternoon, council members. My name is Paul. I am representing the commercial block of Central Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets. Uh, featuring businesses like Marvin's Garden, Relish Restaurant, Ace of Fades, and the Rabbit Hole Performing Arts Cooperative. Um the current feline design unnecessarily eliminates 14 essential street parking spaces. Essential along this cor experience along this corridor shows that incremental parking reductions directly uh impact customer access and operational capacity for businesses. Um, for example, uh, neighboring parking spaces lost on A Street previously resulted in, uh, significant decline in patronage and membership for a long-standing, uh, community spaces like the Rabbit Hole Performing Arts Cooperative um, who had their membership uh, shrink by more than 50% after that change was made. Um, independent data shows that accessible on street parking is crucial to the economic survival of neighborhood merchants. Uh, when customers lose nearby parking options, they patronize businesses elsewhere. Um so the I believe the city can achieve its transit goals without sacrificing commercial vitality uh by um standardizing some inconsistent spatial measurements uh such as uneven walkways, irregular boulevards um that we can uh make space to accommodate uh on street parking um while achieving the transit goals. Um, we request that the council direct uh Metro Transit to reconsider um and adopt uh standardizations that preserve parking access for this business district. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next we will hear from number three, Lucas, and then number four, Nancy. Lucas, >> not my turn. Okay. >> Is Lucas here >> in the overflow room? Okay. Um, is Nancy in this room? >> Yeah. >> Nancy, why don't you go first? Then we'll hear from Lucas after. >> Hi. I had a nice talk with the um project manager and they were very respectfully listened to my issues and I thank you very much. And also I've been left with a picture that showed you that the parking is used on a regular basis. This is the parking that they want to erase. Where are these people going to park? How are we going to have businesses? Yes, I understand. We're not against buses. We're not against bicycles. We need cars for some other things. Now, I I have a nice script here. Um I am speaking on behalf of Cynic Investments. That is mismarked on the map. It says, what does it say? >> Uh something about a shop. Anyway, our family has owned this commercial building on 726 Central Avenue since 1972. Not as old as you, but up there. Uh, for over five decades, we've invested in the building, maintained our building, and paid our taxes right here in the Northeast. As a longtime commercial property owner, my principal concern with the current Metro Fline proposal is the direct negative impact it has on property values and asset visibility. It's hard to get to my building with the oneways that are also par perpendicular to central. There's a lot of oneways and people are going to go far away and get lost in Minneapolis trying to make their way back. Um, year after year, property taxes continue to go up. Yet, at the same time, the city is advancing designs that are systematically stripping away the foundational infrastructure like parking and customer access that our tenants rely on to generate revenue. When you permanently eliminate essential access and customer parking, you directly diminish the economic productivity and market value of the real estate. >> You can put your uh comments with the clerks and that'll be included in the record of this meeting. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um is Lucas here? >> All right. Great. Is there anyone here wishing to speak to this item? Is there anyone here wishing to speak to this item? Lastly, is there anyone here wishing to speak to this item? Seeing no one else wishing to speak, I will now close the public hearing. Uh, is there any discussion? Seeing no further discussion, I'll move approval of this item. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed? That motion carries. Our next discussion item is receiving the 2026 to 2030 Minneapolis Vision Zero action plan and passage of resolution adopting the policy goals and priorities in the plan. I'll invite Antonio Rosel, vision zero program coordinator, transportation planning and programming to get us started. Good afternoon, uh, Chairman Stevenson and committee members. I'm Antonio Rosel. I'm the city of Minneapolis vision zero program coordinator. Thank you for this opportunity to provide an overview of the 2026 2030 vision zero uh action plan. Um, I want to uh begin by uh uh acknowledging that this is a plan that uh is working to address with urgency the crashes that cost the lives uh of people in our streets for between 2022 and 2025. Uh 74 people have been killed in traffic crashes in Minneapolis streets uh as well as a significant number of serious injuries over the last 10 years. Uh more than 1,600 people uh suffering serious injuries. Vision zero is the tool that we use to uh address those and reduce those uh towards zero. Uh vision zero uh is uh an action as a set of policies that the city of Minneapolis is a leader in nationwide. Uh 2017 the city adopted a vision zero resolution that set the stage for this work and for the work of two other previous plans. This plan is an update of the previous work to continue the the good successes that the city has had and to uh uh line up then to include new information from crashes that have occurred so that we can address those new crashes, new locations uh and also to adopt new actions that help us res to respond to what we have learned in the times since uh 2017. Uh there is progress uh in the work and uh as part of next actions you will be receiving uh uh next year a 10y year report on uh uh the experiences and the successes and the opportunities for improvement that we have learned about uh over the last 10 years and we'll work uh with the city council to update uh the policies in the plan as needed at that time. Um uh as an overview, these are some of the key priorities that are in this plan update. Uh number one, one of the key priorities is to continue to make safety improvements on high injury streets throughout the city. Uh the uh high injury streets are about uh 10% of all the streets in Minneapolis, but are where about 60% of all u uh serious injury and traffic and fatal traffic crashes occur. There are tools and approaches that are included in this plan that include, for example, the vision zero capital program uh uh a safe streets for all grant that we are preparing for and are ready for um and converting some of the temporary uh improvements that have been made into permanent improvements using uh concrete for example to replace uh ballards and delineators. uh as an overview uh or an update on the safe streets for all grant. This is a grant that the city of Minneapolis applied for and won back in 2023. Uh there are uh the process to receive those federal monies is ongoing and is imminent. Uh we anticipate that we'll be able to work on 25 miles of these high injury streets uh within the city to make improvements at more than 500 intersections in the city. And that's uh work that is occurring right now to prepare uh to receive these monies uh hopefully uh sometime in September October. Um it will also fund evaluation uh and and future uh uh planning initiatives. Uh what I am showing you now is u part of the transformations that are part of this priority which is to take some of this uh quick build improvements that have been made in different locations in the city and to transform them now rather than using delineators. We've known that they are effective. Now we want to make these changes uh permanent. And so converting these medians uh these bulb outs um uh different crossing treatments into permanent features of the landscape because as part of this work we have also evaluated their effectiveness and seen that they are indeed uh creating safer conditions for people walking, bicycling, driving, accessing transit in our city. Um the second uh set of priorities uh as part of this highlight view of the plan uh is to continue to work on reducing dangerous speeds uh in our city and to do so through modifications to the physical form of our streets. Um we know that uh through the evaluations that we have completed that many of our treatments are effective and are yielding great results. So, we're going to continue to implement, for example, pedestrian safety islands, continue to implement medians and protected bicycle lanes, and then also we'll pilot new treatments uh on busier streets, for example, speed cushions, race crossings, and so on. And as we continue to do this work, we'll uh incorporate uh best practices and learnings into our street design guide as we continue to support uh uh uh speed controlling speed controls at different neighborhoods including through the managing the neighborhood traffic calming program. Um uh the third set of priorities have to do with the implementation of the traffic uh safety camera pilot which as you know uh was launched in fall of 2025. Uh there is a new report now that is complete and uh should uh soon be available online uh tracing uh the results from that time since uh the cameras were deployed. Uh it has shown great results. is a very effective measure to address and reduce uh speeding in our cities. There will be a a formal evaluation that will be completed in 2028, but we'll have a report uh for city council after one year of operation of the traffic safety camera pilot uh for next year and quarter 1 of 2027. Um uh briefly to discuss uh some of the public engagement process that we've gone through with this uh update. Um we have uh worked with the city's uh uh advisory boards and and committees, the pedestrian advisory committee, the bicycle advisory committee, the advisory commission on people with disabilities and we have also uh held an in-person public meeting at the public service building. Um uh we've held an online public meeting and we have distributed information through uh the city's newsletters and other online communications tools. Um on the survey that we made available, we received uh 180ome comments uh through the responses uh where we asked about public uh ideas or support u uh for each of those three priorities that I have just shared with you. Um and as you can see there is a very strong support uh for each of those priorities. um uh kind of in general I for priority one safety improvements on high injury streets uh a lot of support for that work especially uh and having interest too in uh there were recommendations from some of the residents who wrote in saying oh have you thought about this option have you thought about this other option so there's a lot of interest and curiosity and support about that uh there is uh for the second set of priorities reducing speeds generally through uh street design. Uh, a lot of support for that as well. Many people u uh saying I I wish I would like additional ways of of managing speeds in my community. I have strong support for this. I could we do more of it please. Um and then uh on the priority related to the traffic safety camera pilot um uh very very strong support for that. uh many requests for actually expanding the program if it were possible. Uh because people u identify that there are many locations in the city where they have concerns about this and not just in the neighborhoods but uh also in in major streets with uh around the city. Uh there were a number of concerns expressed about the cameras uh in terms of uh who is this uh data shared with and and how is it you know how do we know it's private but of course uh that is something that we have uh made sure that uh we have a really great handle uh on and so uh but people still have questions knowing what uh our community has gone through recently. So um and that uh concludes my presentation. I would be very happy to answer any questions that you may have. Uh I'm not seeing anyone uh in line to speak, but this is really excellent. Thank you. Keep up the good work. I know the thing I hear mo Oh, there's someone in line now. The thing I hear most about in my ward uh is traffic calming. People want these improvements all over my ward at least. So, keep up the good work. we will do our best to keep funding your work uh because because people really really want it. Um Council Member Chowdery. >> Yeah, thank you um Chair Stevenson and thank you for the presentation. Um this is something that I always look forward to every year because I feel like this is one of our best ways to very concretely address constituent concerns, especially through the neighborhood traffic calming program. Um, I just want to um share some feedback that I hear from constituents um as they see traffic calming measures come into the community, specifically in my ward on 38th Avenue um uh kind of going from Hayawa to Cedar Avenue that has been long an area where we've seen a lot of either like vehicle crashes or near hits. Uh for pedestrians, it's just everyone takes 38th and goes really fast to try to get onto Hayawa or Cedar. Um especially during peak traffic times and um we've seen ballards go up over the years and of course there are the classic concerns about the Ballards, but then we've seen the more um permanent cement structures and that's added a lot of value um into that corridor. Um, I'll just say I would love for the public works department um to continue their good work in uh pushing Henipin County to work on traffic calming um in areas where the city streets touch um Henipin roads. I often hear about concerns of speeding traffic on Minhaha Avenue. Um 36 and Minhaha is one that just comes up consistently, especially over by Sanford Middle School. Um, and I'll just share that like the the vision zero work around thinking about where kids, families, seniors are, specifically schools and parks. That's what I hear neighbors sharing that there's a lot of a lot of value um in slowing traffic down there. So, just really appreciate this work. Um, looking forward to see the type of capital investment that we continue to make. And then uh just got to um also thank public works for all their efforts at the state legislature to attain funding and then also do some more technical changes um in regards to transportation that impact how we do traffic calming and reach our vision zero goals. Um would you mind kind of uh sharing uh on the record here a little bit the communication you give out to constituents when they're worried about surveillance as it comes to traffic cameras? I think we've talked about it at this body several times and um I know Mr. Folly has given this answer before, but I think right now it actually would be a good time to kind of reiterate the city's commitment to data privacy as there's been a lot of concerns around surveillance and flock cameras. So, if you want to share that so we can have that for constituents that might tune in or we can share out later, I think that'd be valuable. >> Uh, thank you, Council Member Chery. Uh, thank you, Chair Stevenson. I will ask uh Ethan Foley to come and provide that answer since he has led this program from the very beginning. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Antonio Chair Stevenson, Council Member Chowy. Uh Ethan Folly, I'm a transportation planning manager in public works. I'm also currently the project manager for the traffic safety camera pilot program. So there are a number of So first of all, I think we get the question about flock cameras in particular. So our cameras are not flock cameras. Um there our vendor is Novo Global. Um also our program has a number of state requirements that we have to follow that we worked with the state um to to set in place to protect for um privacy in a lot of different ways including you uh video camera footage and other things but also including the data. Um so I'll just talk through a couple of those those points. Uh we uh first of all we the cameras can only be recording information if they and storing that if they sense a violation. So they're not just constantly recording information. They're not automatic license plate readers that are just uh you know tabulating everyone that's going by the camera location. Uh they they do collect basic speed data, but all of that is anonymatized. There's no uh and they're not storing video or um or pictures unless they need it for that uh to a potential violation. With that potential violation, we're also restricted in what the parameters that what we can collect. So, we can't collect it in any way that uh someone can be personally identifiable. So, if you I'm sure none of you have gotten a a citation, but if you were to to get one, you would see um in the both the pictures and the video uh that there's blurring of the sidewalk areas and and things around the actual vehicle. You need to see the vehicle traveling through, but we're blurring just to make sure that we're uh that that no one is identifiable in there. Um, we also take it from the back and we're only focused on the license plate in the back of the vehicle. Um, and that's what we're using to be able to identify the vehicle and be able to issue the the citation. Um, and then in terms of what can it be used for the the traffic safety camera footage and and the violation data and can only be used under the state law for enforcement of speeding or red light running uh through the traffic safety camera program. it's not allowed under um as admissible for subpoenas under the state law. Um and so we get also questions well federal laws are different and they can you know they can pull things. So I think what we've really tried to do overall is limit what data would be val that could be potentially valuable to the the feds as well. And I'll also just note they have not tried to have our vendor share data. Uh the f uh federal government has not done that at all. Um because I think they know there isn't data that's valuable for anything that they're trying to do. And so that's been an intentional part of our design is to make sure that we're we're yielding the traffic safety benefits and we are seeing those while make sure that we are addressing the very real concerns that folks have around surveillance and that was intentional part of our process and we're very committed to that. One final piece I'll note is we are required to do an audit of our vendor as well uh for data practices pieces and we will be doing that soon with in partnership with our IT department. So there's a lot going on here and I know there are lots of questions. Hopefully that's helps. We do have information online as well and happy to share any other details if there are any follow-ups. >> Yeah, thank you. And um this data also we do not share to our law enforcement in Minneapolis and sheriff's office. Is that correct? >> Yeah, chair and and council members is correct. Actually, under the state law, um uh the MPD is not allowed to be like a substantial partner in in the traffic safety camera pilot. It's just part of the state law. And so the data we actually what we've done is set it up. So regulatory services is um traffic control agents are the ones who review the uh the footage to confirm that there was a violation and actually issue a warning or citation. But but the way that that's set up is that there's also sort of a firewall so that they're not like seeing people's information as they're doing that. they're just seeing the information as it comes in uh in terms of the video evidence and they're making that decision void of who who is the person involved uh that owns this vehicle, that kind of stuff. So, we we've really tried to be intentional about keeping that data secure and separate. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. Super helpful. >> Thank you, >> Council Member Warren. >> I I have a follow-up question to that. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for the presentation. So in keeping it separate currently during the pilot, if this becomes something that we utilize permanently, how then are we able to truly have, you know, real numbers and and data disagregation to hold someone accountable of a traffic violation? utilizing those cameras if we're not being course specific around that. >> Yeah. Chair, Council Member Warren. Um, I'll just I think I understand your question, but uh we what we're doing here is we're t uh the state law allows us to enforce to the owner of a vehicle regardless of whether they were we can issue them a warning or citation regardless of whether they were driving at the time of that offense. We're not saying necessarily that they were. and a vehicle owner can provide a sworn statement that they were not operating the vehicle at the time of the violation and then it the vi uh the citation would be dismissed. And so when we when we're talking so they have that opportunity and they can seek out an administrative hearing to address that, but we are able to issue warnings and citations off of the data that we have to vehicle owners and hold them accountable for that. And then and then you know that's what's helping us yield the results of reductions in speeding at camera locations. >> So in the event of um in the event of a crime taking place, a vehicle is stolen, it's being reported at traveling at high speeds down XYZ Boulevard, right? Where these cameras happen to be located. we're not able to tap into those cameras or utilize those cameras and that information to see something live time that is taking place or no >> uh chair council member Warren these cameras cannot be used for in that way. So I know we hear sometimes from folks who want it to be used in that way. Um but overall uh our based on what we were hearing the balance of feedback from community and at the legislature, we wanted to be draw a clear line from that general surveillance tool and and these cameras and the fact that the cameras are not regularly recording and storing video means that the only way that something might be there anyway would be if there was a violation happening at the time. And so we I think that's a relatively rare occurrence that that could be useful anyway. And so I think overall we saw it as the benefit for building that public trust in the program to just separate that out from any general surveillance work. >> Thank you so much for that. I greatly appreciate your time. >> Thank you, >> Council Member Vita. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, I just wanted to say first to council member Warren, we had a program like that many years ago and director Folly and I actually got rid of that program where people got tickets, there were photographs and we just saw it as a really disproportionate program at the time. And so, um, I'm so grateful for this new pilot program that really look I mean you're wise beyond what we could have even imagined. Director Folly, like the the the work that you've done on this pilot program to protect residents and to um ensure that it's not a surveillance tool and that it's not uh this harm and benefit to people who maybe have not who maybe loan their car to someone. You know, the previous program, I don't even know how many years ago, it had to be at least 10 years ago with the um the previous program that we found out a lot of people weren't even driving the car. they they let somebody borrow the car or it was a stolen car and they got lots of tickets. So, I'm just really proud of the work you've done in this pilot program to protect our residents and and to be able to stand here and say we are not using this as a surveillance tool and know that people are still going to have questions but have the answers to those questions that makes a huge difference. And so, I'm excited to hear how this pilot continues to grow. It's a really good a really good pilot program that I think can be very helpful and I'm always happy that uh vision zero is growing and that this is a part of the action plan. So, thank you to the entire team for this presentation, but also uh just really grateful that you all are able to answer questions because people are really scared and it's just a scary time and to have this um uh this program be this flushed out and there's going to always be worry, but we can answer the questions is a good thing. So, thank you so much, >> Council Member Warren, >> through the chair. And thank you for that, Council Member Vita. Yeah, I remember that program that was had back. Yeah, I remember that that program, and I'm glad that this one is different um as well. And I I appreciate um the work and the the clarifications for the the questions. So, this is good. I I appreciate it. Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, I'll move approval of this item. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. That motion carries. Our next item was continued from the August 6 meeting and is the climate equity action plan background and overview. I'll now invite Patrick Hanland, Deputy Commissioner Health Department. Megan Hoy, director of climate equity action to get us started. Chair Stevenson, council members, my name is Patrick Hanland. I'm the deputy commissioner in the health department. This is a continuation of the climate equity uh presentation will just be myself today. Um and I will be the first to admit this is going to be a little dry. This is following up from the last presentation and there were specific questions specifically on this slide. We were talking about how in Minneapolis we have unique funding models that even though the federal government has withdrawn from the fight against climate change that we have built uh some tools here at a local level that has allowed us to continue on our climate uh equity work. and we uh listed these out and there was a request uh from council members uh from the committee for more information on these specific items. So in the 20 uh 2017 actually and before foundational investments made by Minneapolis and most large cities uh 2018 the climate specific programming from that came from franchise fees. 2024 the climate legacy initiative uh from franchise fees and then last year the 2026 environmental justice uh that was also franchise fee and was focused on environmental justice weatherization. And then we have a base of uh pollution control registrations that also covers a lot of our environmental work. So the questions that were asked were primarily around what is the what is the amount of funding in these areas and then there was also questions around what is the spending uh in these areas. And I do want to clarify before we go into this that this all all of the funding that we're talking about goes into the general fund. Uh and those are of course uh areas for the mayor and council to answer how those funds are spended. So they are not dedicated funds. So as we talk about this, I just want to clarify that. And so this is the 2017 snapshot and we chose this year because that's right before the first round of uh climate funding through the franchise fee was passed. Um there was no major funding that was directly targeting climate change prior to this year. The revenue in that year in 2017 was uh 2.1 million just a little over uh and the program spending in both sustainability and environmental services so uh climate change work and environmental work was around uh $3.3 million. And I highlighted that environmental services piece because that's the piece that the pollution control registration covered. So that revenue that you see in 2017 and the costs in uh environmental services are tied to each other and that c that comes from a culture of cost recovery that we've built in our environmental work to make sure that taxpayers aren't subsidizing uh a lot of the work that we do. And in 2017 much of our climate change work at that time was subsidized by taxpayers. And so these are the revenue sources. Uh in 2018 uh to to present it was the first climate investment that was made. It was an increase in the franchise fee on utility bills. A franchise fee is a pass through on both electric and gas that uh goes to the customer and that brought in almost 3 brings in today in 2026 revenue almost 3.5 million in revenue. And then the second item there is in 2024 to present that is the climate legacy initiative. And that is one thing that we commonly we we are referring to many times asking folks uh what are we spending on the climate legacy initiative. Uh and to us when we say climate spending it's much bigger uh as I'll go into the different areas but that is the when we hear climate legacy initiative we think of that year and that franchise fee being passed and that dollar amount in 2026 estimates is about 9.2 million. The uh the other one there that was just passed last year was for weatherization for environmental justice and that is using the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency definition areas of environmental justice. And so it's spending the the estimated revenue coming in from that increase was $5 million. And then the last piece that I want to talk about is from 1998 or maybe even a little bit prior to that. That's as far back as our records go is we have pollution control annual registrations and environmental per permits. and that is a cost recovery model. So that is uh charging folks for either pollution or the potential to pollute. So we charge for criteria pollutants, we charge for underground storage tanks that haven't been taken care of. We charge for other pieces of equipment that may cause pollution in the city. And we charge fees for that. And that's about $3.9 million. In total, that comes to uh 21 million, a little over $21 million in total revenue in those areas. And then this is the program spending. These are areas that could be like I said there it's not dedicated funding. So this goes into the general fund. So there are two different questions that we're answering. One is the revenue that I just answered. The other one that was asked was in program spending and uh environmental services that is for uh nine different permit areas. thousands of environmental inspections when folks in many of your wards uh call in for concerns and we send inspectors out that is covering the costs of those folks for tree planting for our biochar program. Uh environmental programs is our green cost share program. So that is the incentive structure. Uh that's why that number is much bigger than the others. Most of that money is going back out into the community for weatherization, energy efficiency, solar uh innovative. We're going to be talking about some thermal uh thermal energy projects. So hopefully we can use some of that funding to drive network uh network geothermal in the city. Sustainability and climate that's our outreach policy technical research uh and that's enterprise facilitation bringing folks from around the enterprise and to operate as one enterprise as we're addressing climate change in the city. green careers that is education and awareness for uh mostly younger folks and then uh accredited training uh for people that are interested in green careers to get the work done that we need to get done on climate change. We don't have enough uh people to do it. So it's about getting getting folks introduced to these topics uh and opportunities that are out there. The other one is CPED workforce that is uh getting taking folks uh who are interested and getting them into career paths that are related to uh the work that we need around HVAC, around solar and all the other green uh careers that we uh are going to need to hit our climate goals. Homegrown that is food access, food justice and community grants uh going out to the community as well. Marketing that is so that people are aware of the uh programs that we have and the resources that are available to them. public works with their EV charging network. Um, and I included a little asterk on here on uh the programs that have uh staff members that are included in these as well. Uh, and then also public works with their uh net zero their zero waste initiative and doing work around uh consulting as we talk about the herk going away. How do we how do we manage our um our waist streams and and have reductions in waste. So those are the that is the answering that second question around the program areas that are related to that revenue that comes in and that adds up to a little over $18 million. I had uh other follow-up questions from Wansley's asking office asking about the total amount of spend in 2025 including a breakdown in categories. We fully spent out all of the money in our 2025 budget allocations on climate. Um this is pertaining particularly to the climate legacy initiative because that's the question that was asked. Um the area that we did not get money out is we had contracts encumbered for the green cost share program and also for our biochar facility and because of the uh budget difficulties that we ran into as a city uh what typically would have been a rollover request to continue on our biochar production facility uh was rolled back. And so uh that biochar project is currently stalled out because of that uh issue and we are trying to work with uh some foundation partners and other partners to see if we can get someone to come to the table. But for currently right now it's uh it's sitting out waiting for plumbing and electrical and and uh paving and everything else to get done. So um that was a specific question on the 2025 spend. I think I have a couple more questions. uh was all of the funding mentioned in the revenue expected to be collected in 2026, including 2026 increase that council passed. And that was from that revenue slide that I just showed you. And we estimate, we can only estimate at this point on 2026 revenue to be about $5 million. $4 million was passed by council for the budget item for last year. And then an overview overview on the 14 million will be spent by the end. Again, this is an area the question that was asked about CLI. We differentiate those two between climate legacy initiative and then the weatherization for environmental justice. And in 2026, yes, we uh anticipate to fully spend down that $14 million between those two uh programs that were passed in budgets. So, I know that was a little drier than my last presentation, but I wanted to answer those questions that was asked by the the council committee, and I will stand for questions. Seeing no one, it'll be me. I do have some questions. Just give me a second here. The first question is um under revenue and then program spending the revenue says 21 million 21.6 million and then the spending is 18.7 million. Uh both of them close to 7. What's the gap there? Um I'd say that's as I said there there are two different areas. One is is revenue that we are we work with the uh utilities. We do some forecasting on what the intent what the e expected franchise fee revenue is that is going to come in and then the budget question is a separate uh question passed by mayor and council. So >> okay. Okay. So, you're saying that in uh revenue that came in is 21.7, but then the the mayor and council in last year's budget only dedicated 18.7 million towards this types of spending. >> That's correct. Council member, >> um you've referred to 2018 and in our private conversations referred to 2018. Do you keep referring to that day because of that's sorry that year because of that's when the franchise fees were added on or is there an additional reason why you referenced that year? >> Yeah. No, we choose that year. Uh folks with Uniditos and others and CL MN 350 I'm pointing to the folks that are behind me here. Um that that's when some of those public campaigns started to pass the franchise fee. And so where we had actually had uh money that was intended to be used for climate work that was was passed. And so we used that year because it was a differentiator. >> Okay. Okay. Two other parts of this um question. So the the climate legacy initiative the franchise fees that's 9.2 and then the weatherization environmental justice that's five. Uh I had heard that for I believe when speaking with you I had heard that for this year instead of 5 million it was going to be closer to 4 million. Is that true? >> Um I think our I will look back for nodding. I think our estimated revenue is still at 5 million. You can come up. Yeah. >> Uh thank you council members. uh Luke Hollamp. I'm in the uh health department as well uh with Patrick Hanland. I'm a sustainability program manager there. Um the reason why 4 million's been referred to for 2026 is that the franchise fee increase that was passed late last year only took effect on Excel and Centerpoint bills uh roughly 3 months into this year. So there's a uh truncated period of revenue collection this year. Whereas when you look forward to 2027 beyond, those would be full years of collection. So roughly $5 million. >> Okay. So that that four or$5 million, that's the money that's going into the environmental justice weatherization program. >> Uh Chair uh Stevenson. Uh so I I'll answer that probably the same way is that the the revenue question is a separate question from what was passed in budget. What was passed in budget was $4 million. Um and when we were uh when that initiative was being put together, we tried to provide um estimates on what revenue uh on what revenue would be that would justify that budget request. >> Okay. So irregardless of revenue, um I just want to make sure that I'm fully understanding you that there was approximately $10 million spent on uh what's it called? um approximately $10 million spent uh [snorts] through the climate legacy initiative and then also approximately $4 million spent through the weatherization environmental justice totaling $14 million spent on these two items. >> Uh Chair Stevenson, yeah, for 2026, yes, that is our that's still our projected uh spending plan. >> Okay. And as far as what we're seeing in terms of weatherization projects coming through and other and then other projects that have come through and all of it the question asked was it will it be dedicated towards CLI or climate funding and yes the answer to that is yes. >> Okay. Um do you have any idea based on your readings of the proposed 2027 budget whether those same spendings are included in that? >> Chair Stevenson, I think it's been uh it's out in the budget book. So, I think I'm pretty uh it's okay to to mention this is that I uh there's a pretty there's a cut of I think around 3.6 or 3.7 million. >> Okay. And is that to the environmental justice weatherization program or is that to the >> That's to the work uh >> to the total work. >> Yeah. Right. >> Okay. Okay. But the franchise fees the elevated franchise fees will remain. >> Chair Stevenson. Yes. Correction. >> Okay. So, if if we're reading this then the elevated franchise fees are going to remain collecting around 15 million dollars per year and in the current proposal for the budget it will be approximately 11 point something in terms of spending on those programs. >> Chair Stevenson, that sounds reasonable. >> Okay. Um, I'll just note for you, for the public, that the idea of raising those franchise fees and then spending it, and you know this as well as anyone else, the idea of raising those franchise fees and then spending it on weatherization was to not burden low-income uh Minopolitans with higher utility bills. Uh the idea was if we were going to raise utility bills through this tax, we were going to then spend it on weatherization to reduce the utility bills um for people who might not be able to afford that increase. Um so I am just noting for the crowd that this is going back on that um this is going back on that promise that we made to our our constituents, our residents about not burdening them with additional costs. uh and at the same time this promise that we made to our residents about continuing to invest fully in uh our climate work. Um I know that you did not single-handedly craft that budget, but um I I just want that to be known and everyone to understand that this is this is a change uh in that direction. Uh seeing no one else in Q and seeing no uh further discussion, I'll ask the clerk to file that report. Our next item, thank you. Uh, is receiving and filing the 2025 2026 update for the sidewalk, snow, and ice pilot. I'll now invite Ethan Van Offlin. Apologies if I mispronounced that. Project coordinator, sidewalk, snow, and ice pilots, transportation, engineering, and design to get us started. Good afternoon, Chair Stevenson and committee members. My name is Ethan Benofflin and I am a project coordinator with the transportation engineering and design division in public works. Today I will be presenting for receive and file an update on sidewalks snow and ice pilot programs and report back on the outcomes from the 2526 winter season. A [snorts] brief history to begin. This past winter was the second completed season of the pilot programming. The prior winter was the first. The snow and ice pilot programs were proposed as part of the 2023 municipal snow clearing analysis and build on ideas from previous winter walking and bicycle studies performed by public works. The intended outcomes of the four pilot programs are to test new strategies to improve sidewalk snow clearing in Minneapolis, assist residents in need of snow clearing assistance, and better identify and understand barriers to public sidewalk clearing. This is important work. Uncleared sidewalks are a health and safety hazard that pose a barrier to residents, especially those with mobility challenges. Uncleared sidewalks and pedestrian routes lead to icy conditions that result in dangerous slip and fall incidents. Minneapolis values pedestrians. Having accessible sidewalks during our difficult winter months will help us reach pedestrian focused goals in our transportation action plan. Before I get into the details of the pilot programs, a reminder of the city's standard sidewalk snow and ice enforcement practice. It is the responsibility of all property owners to clear the public sidewalk adjacent to their property. Residential properties have 24 hours once snowfall has ended to clear their sidewalks and all non-residential properties have four daytime hours once the snowfall has ended. If a property is not cleared of snow, public works relies on 311 complaints to be notified of a violation. Once the complaint is submitted to 311, a letter of notice goes to the property owner. Then a sidewalk inspector visits the address and confirms that snow Ice is present. All confirmed violations go on a work order for the city hired contractor to clear the property. Property owners are then build for the cost of the contractor's work. Violations fluctuate year to year with snowfall totals. This last winter witnessed close to average expected to snow totals. Sidewalk inspections processed over 7,000 complaints, 1325 leading to authorized clearings by a contractor. Cases drop off through the process between a threeon-one call and the city hired contractor due to residents having cleared their property, the snow melting or duplicate cases reported. Public works has also been performing proactive inspections since 2019. This is where city staff inspect and report on properties within sample size grids citywide. From this, we know 96% of properties clear their sidewalks within two days after snowfall. And that percentage has stayed consistent year-over-year, including this winter, which after reviewing nearly 16,000 properties, we saw again a 96% compliance rate. All right, the pilot programs in conjunction with standard enforcement, four separate pilot programs related to sidewalk snow and ice clearing have been conducted over the past two years. These pilots are the snow ambassador pilot program. This program consists of city staff clearing and enforcing ordinance on a sample of the pedestrian priority network. This pilot is an alternative method for enforcing our sidewalk clearing ordinance. The first time a property is cleared in the program route, it is at no cost to the property owner. A letter of notice is sent. However, all subsequent clearings performed in the winter season are enforced and build to the property owner. The neighborhood snow patrol pilot is an assistance focused program. If you look back at older documents, this pilot was referred to as the senior snow clearing pilot. This new name better clarifies which program this is, which has been helpful in avoiding confusion between the pilots. In this pilot, neighborhood organizations receive grant funding to conduct a program that clears snow for homeowners who are seniors or live with a disability. The neighborhood orgs may also program in other ways to improve public sidewalk accessibility in the neighborhood. I want to give a shout out and thank you to Steve Gallagher, Bob Cooper, and Erica Meyers in NCR with their assistance in this program. The mobile team pilot program tests using a contractor to perform additional snow clearing services. During last winter season, we contracted through the target market program to perform snow clearing along an additional nine miles of the pedestrian priority network. The snow caseworker pilot consists of having a city staff member to perform direct outreach and educate with residents and connect residents with existing clearing resources and services, collect data to analyze and identify barriers to clearing related to snow and ice. I will now go more into the specifics of each pilot program and the results of last season's programming. Starting with the snow ambassador pilot. During last winter's programming, this pilot consisted of one team of four service workers clearing uncleared sidewalks along 33 miles of the pedestrian priority network. This pedestrian priority network or PPN is a collection of streets that have been identified by their high pedestrian usage. There are 298 miles of PPN citywide. We also utilized the transportation equity priority areas to focus programming within tier one and tier 2 prioritization areas. Between making minor adjustments to workflow and having more snowfall events, this pilot outpaced snow clearings performed from year 1 to year two, going from 534 site clearings to 565. We did have a harder time getting clearing to full width bare p sidewalk pavement which is the level of service we require of ourselves to fully enforce ordinance and said fees to residents after two violations. Part of this will be explained on the next slide. I'll also add it can take as few as three days for compacted snow to become frozen and bonded to the sidewalk which requires salting to address and is difficult to fully clear. The route we monitored consisted of 2,949 parcels of which 381 had a violation which is 13% of the parcels that didn't clear at least once this last season. 116 properties were identified as repeat violators in 26 and 206 properties had a violation both years of conducting the pilot program along this route. I think we all know this anecdotally but it is nice when things are confirmed in the data. The best predictor that a property won't be shoveled next snow event is a history at that property of previous snow and ice violations. I want to touch briefly that our snow ambassador pilot was impacted by operation metro surge and our ability to operate the pilot was reduced in January. In brief, there were times where staff were reassigned to snow clearing operations elsewhere due to the events of Operation Metro Surge, impeding our ability to work along our routes. The safety of our staff was a priority. With that said, it was also a priority to be adaptable to the needs of Minneapolis. The snow ambassadors became a part of emergency operations and spent many days clearing and salting sidewalks within several blocks of the location of Renee Good and Alex Py's memorial sites to improve accessibility for the public near these locations. This work performed was not included in our data collection and our standard pilot operations were put on hold sporadically through Metro Surge. By the time we returned to consistent standard operations, we're dealing with severe icy conditions and focused on salting to catch up to the conditions at hand, which led to a reduction in enforcing snow and ice violations for the season. Neighborhood Snow Patrol. In the fall of 2025, with help from our partners in neighborhood and community relations,formational materials and grant applications were sent to all neighborhood orgs, and we hostedformational meetings with groups interested in applying for the program. By the end of this process, we partnered with eight neighborhood orgs looking to provide snow clearing assistance to senior residents and people living with a disability, as well as other initiatives to improve sidewalk clearings. There were two initiatives to improve neighborhood transit access by clearing all bus stops and ped ramps along a few major corridors in Harrison and Botnau. A total of 111 qualifying residents received sidewalk assistance through this program which was a jump from 31 residents from our partnerships with four neighborhood organizations in year one of the pilot. A recap of our mobile team. This pilot is to explore additional snow clearing services with a contractor. We are able to hire on a contractor through the target market program. With the contract in place between February 10th and April 15th, resulting in three mobilizations along an additional nine miles of ppm, so 18 miles of sidewalks per mobilization. These routes were selected based on their high number of transit stops, high pedestrian usage, and they include sidewalk corridors with no boulevards or gaps between the sidewalk and curb, which can make public snow clearing more difficult after plows passed by. Each mobilization ensured 424 corners were cleared and 81 transit stops had access from sidewalk to curb. Mobilizations occurred once 24 hours passed following a snow event or after day two of a snow emergency to ensure clearing activities were not negated by windrows caused by plows. Clearings performed during this pilot were not charged for the work done. This was not an enforcement activity, but did provide more information on what a contractor may be able to take on and at what speed for potential future programming. The snow caseworker pilot is effectively my role with the city and encompasses part of my job duties. This role oversees and coordinates the other three pilot programs as well as organizes the winter proactive sidewalk inspections. I respond to 3-1 requests for snow clearing assistance and get involved with other unique snow and ice cases. I work with our sidewalk inspections team and have been involved with assisting them on workflow efficiencies. I oversee outreach and data collection for the pilot programs. I also have a variety of construction season responsibilities in our ride ofway management team. On costs, I'll note one small layer of complexity to budgeting for the sidewalks snow and ice pilots relating to the fact that our winter operations are from November to April, which spans between two budget years. The budget is January 1 through December 31st, and that is how costs are being shown in this presentation. I'll note expenses are partially dependent on snow events, snow totals, and temperatures as well. The overall budget for 2026 is 595,000. As of late July, programming costs are just over 288,000, which is over 70,000 what was spent at this time in the 2025 season. This is largely attributed to expanding the neighborhood pilot and the cost to the contractor for the mobile team. The remaining expenditures this year will consist of some fixed costs relating to staffing overheads and equipment for operations. And then costs are variable depending on snow events and contract changes in November and December. Final expenses are not expected to go over the allocated 595,000. Making comparisons between the pilots is nuanced. Each program has different equipment workflows, allocated budget, and have different focuses. Neighborhood snow patrol is primarily clearing properties based on need and involves many community members clearing a few properties within 24 hours after a snow event. Snow ambassadors are an enforcement activity. A well equipped team working Monday through Friday clearing at least 24 hours a 24 hours after snow has fallen. The mobile team even higher equipped small team with fewer parameters than the snow ambassadors allowing them to move more quickly through the route. I can draw some comparisons between how much linear distance of snow was cleared between the pilots. Just also be aware these programs clear snow for different intended outcomes and values. When looking at per distance of sidewalk to cost spent, the neighborhood snow patrol can be considered the most cost-effective of the programs. There is a many hands make light work component to this programming and the paid snow clears or volunteers involved live in the community and and are able to quickly get by foot to where they cleared the snow. Snow Ambassador mobile team seem to be similar in cost effectiveness, but there are assumptions made in making a calculation due to the differences in data collection. The neighborhood snow patrol has potential to scale and has received positive feedback from residents who are very appreciative of the services provided. The snow ambassadors resulted in the most snow cleared. The total distance of site clearing was over 12 miles. This pilot is the easiest to track for and costs are not dependent on amount of snowfall. Scaling up require more staff, equipment, and administrative assistance. Also note that the budget alloc allocation to fill this pilot resulted in service workers being moved from standard street snowplowing operations which reduced workers available for night plowing, alley checks, and corner clearing. The mobile team could allow us to be flexible with the services and increase sidewalk clearings operations in general. The higher the snow total, the higher the cost would be for this work. More information is needed to assess this pilot further. With those evaluations in mind, some key takeaways to leave here with. Overall citywide compliance by properties is high. 96% of property owners clear their sidewalks right away after a snow event. Kudos to our residents for doing their part to keep our sidewalks safe and usable. Sidewalks that are not compliant have a high chance of being repeat offenders. The snow ambassador program is a way to get further communications to these properties and ensure they are clear in all winter season rather than relying on three and one complaints to come in. The neighborhood snow patrol program has been the most cost-effective and clear snow for residents in need of assistance. These are the residents I have been hearing the most from in general. Each winter is different and this was an especially difficult winter. There is more information we can learn from continuing to pilot these operations and adjust methodologies to see if we can increase co cost effectiveness and scalability overall. Lastly, I want to highlight the importance of speed when it comes to snow and ice operations. The faster snow is cleared, the faster it's not a barrier to accessibility and the easier it is to be cleared. With that, a thank you to all that were involved and my fellow public works staff, the neighborhood orgs, and the people who cleared snow. Thank you to council for listening. And with that, my presentation is concluded, and I will stand for comments or questions. Seeing no one else, uh, right now, I have a few questions for you. Um, you said it, but I just wanted to hear it again. Um, what counts as a violation? >> A violation counts as property not being clear full width to bare pavement or slightly above that. Um, we generally have once it's over about a half inch of snow, that's when we would probably start counting a violation in the city. >> Okay. So the actual like enforced violation is probably about a half inch of snow and full width. >> Yeah. We try to get full width of bare pavement with our operations. >> Yeah. Yeah. With your operations. Yeah. >> But uh if someone reports a violation and it's maybe a quarter inch of snow, they're not necessarily going to be dinged for >> Chair Stevenson. Our sidewalk inspectors will be on site to make that call. it there gets to be gray areas. There's so many different varieties and so they have the experience to make the decision on hand if it should be a violation or not. >> Okay. And then if somebody does like one uh uh machine's width of uh all the way down to the pavement, that also counts as a violation. >> Chair Stevenson, yes, that's correct. We do see that where a two foot shovel width will be cleared. We typically require four width at least to meet ADA standards. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I I think you mentioned this a little bit and I I apologize if I didn't exactly get it. Um when people report to 311, how long does it normally take before that report is someone comes and checks that report? >> Chair Stevenson, when a 311 violation comes in, we send a letter to the property owner. We give three days about for that letter to arrive before we have sidewalk inspections dispatch to go check if they did or did not clear. Once Sidewalk Inspections conforms it's a violation, it goes on a work order for our contractor. That typically takes another they have three or four days from there. So on average, we hope to get it within seven days, but it can take longer depending on circumstances. >> Okay. So it can take all the way up to seven days if >> it can take more than that. Yes. >> Okay. Okay. That's been my experience. I just wanted to make sure that that was also your your experience as well. Um is there you mentioned this a little bit but I just wanted to hear you talk about it a little bit more. The rule is you got to clear within 24 hours the stopping of snow. Is that correct, >> Chair Stevenson? Yes, that is correct. So, uh, what what do you think needs to be done or what do you think you might need from us? Either answer either question in order to move enforcement from, let's say, 7 days or more to closer to that 24-hour range. >> Chair Stevenson, that is part of the reason the snow ambassador program was developed. We get it cleared right away. When comparing that to our typical sidewalk operations, we require we have that letter of notice as a courtesy. Once we've sent one letter of courtesy that the normal sidewalk inspections doesn't send another for the season, >> we kind of model that with our snow ambassadors. >> We clear it for free the first time, but we get that letter out and then we carry on. >> Um, integrating something like that into our full clearing would help. We've also had internal discussions about kind of that letter takes a while to get out. Could we get away with putting like a sticker on the door and saying you have a violation and then getting our contractor there earlier in the process? What uh maybe this is something for a followup either a briefing or a conversation, but is there something that you need from the council in order to move to doing the sticker uh as opposed to, you know, sending to the letter, sending a letter? >> Chair Stevenson, I think that would be a followup. >> Okay, let's follow up about that. Um, do you have any uh I'm thinking of a a U-Haul business in my ward and they are under the impression that the city clears the sidewalks for them. Uh, and so they plow their snow onto the sidewalk and then leave it there uh with the understanding that the city is going to come take care of it for them. Do you have any uh like proactive enforcement on like egregious repeat offenders? >> Chair Stevenson, we have been we have in the past sent a letter to frequent violations. So if you had a violation, it's like three every five years we send a letter reminding, but from there we do rely on 311 complaints to notify us that they had a problem. In that case, I would want the residents in the area to keep calling 311 so that we can continue to get them and once they get those bills know that it is not on the city but on them to clear the sidewalk. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Um and then you mentioned clearing Metroit stops. Isn't that job? >> Chair Stevenson. Metroransit provides clearing for sheltered stops and above. They do not provide clearing for unsheltered stops. Okay. >> Which there is quite a few. Um, >> I'd have to follow up on if most are or aren't, >> but that's why you get a large buildup between at those unsheltered bus stops. >> Okay. Okay. Um, so Metroransit isn't actually required to clear around non-sheltered stops. >> Uh, Chair Stevenson, no, that's that's correct. They do not. >> Okay. Um, are you finding that your crews have to clear around sheltered stops from time to time? >> Chair Stevenson, Metro Transit does a fairly good job of clearing their sheltered stops. There is times where we're there before them. Then I can't confirm whether or not they would have been there soon after. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, okay. Uh, one last question. I think you kind of already answered this, but in your chart, you had like 311 reports. It was a very large bar, and then violations confirmed, a much smaller bar, and then smaller than that is cleared. Does that come from there's 311 reports, and then it takes three or four days in order for an in the letter to arrive and then more days for the inspector to come. And so is that the issue is that they may get cleared after a certain number of days or the it may just heat up and melt. >> Chair Stevenson, it is those two items. We do send that initial letter so that gives people the chance to to clear and hopefully they do. It's hard to know how much exactly do clear based off that letter. Um there's a large number of cases that do melt at the end of the season when we get those last couple snowfalls. So those account for most of those uh that drop off between. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I am bracing for my constituents to reach out to me constantly about uh this issue. So would it be all right if you reached out to my office to set up a meeting for us to discuss this program? >> Chair Stevenson, yes, that would be uh appropriate. >> All right. Thank you. I'd really appreciate that. Um Council Member Warren, >> thank you. Thank you, Chair Stevenson. Thank you so much for um for your report. Um in meeting with um my Harrison neighborhood um organization, they were um extremely pleased with the pilot program that came through um our community. So, it is definitely something that we are welcoming back and and want to see um more of that that supports um residents um in neighborhoods within North Minneapolis um and residents as you know, individuals are aging and and senior. We're so pleased for all of the new ADA requirements and the sidewalks and I know that you guys clean those corners and and things like that. it's done by the city, but to support a lot more of our senior residents is something that we would like to see more of with this program. But thank you so much for your work. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Sorry. Um, seeing no further discussion, I will ask the clerks to file that report. Uh, thank you. Our next item is receiving and filing a report providing an overview on the thermal potential study. I'll now invite uh Megan Hoy, director of climate equity action to get us started. >> Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Stevenson, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you on the study and the work that we're doing around thermal uh our thermal potential study. and we really appreciate the opportunity to be here. Um, again, I'm Megan Hoy. I'm the director of climate equity action, the health department and oversee our climate and sustainability team. Um, another person, uh, Luke Colin Camp will be sharing and giving this presentation with you, but I'll let him introduce himself later. Um, and just want to call it out ahead of time. You'll note that there's some, um, misnumbering of slides on your slide deck, so if you get confused, just look at the printout numbers. Uh we're going to walk you through uh some background on our study um purpose and objectives. We'll provide some uh of an overview of collaboration and across the enterprise. Some technical background um so that you're not confused by all the acronyms. um our approach uh and scope within this study um our stakeholder engagement approach and then just some overview of timeline and deliverables. [snorts] So it was only middle of July that uh I was here before you presenting on some of our climate equity goals and major um uh goals that we have within within the body of work. Um, and one very notable piece that you may remember from that is that we have, you know, a goal of reducing our carbon emissions to zero, um, carbon neutrality by 2050. And a key goal within that climate equity plan is that by 2030, we reduce emissions from fossil gas citywide by 35%. Um, as you can see in this chart that you've seen before, um, the the gray area is the segment is our largest segment of emissions. And this is, um, largely natural gas. There's some other fossil fuels in here too, not electricity. That's the blue. Um, but this is a segment that we really need to work on significantly. And to do this work, there's a lot of deployment of alternative technologies that that we need to work on. Um, these include single building technologies, but they also include opportunities for us to benefit and utilize uh economies of scale. Um, systems that span more than one building at a time. So, as we talk to you today about this thermal potential study, um, we see this as part of a broader clean heat initiative. Um and you know yes there are conversations that are happening around alternative technologies within the natural gas um space and this is largely happening um due to the um natural gas innovation act legislation of 2021. Um but this transitioning process is a huge undertaking and uh we envision this broader initiative to include these components and the thermal energy the thermal potential study being the first of those um but also including regulatory coordination. So learning from and information sharing um and and demonstration projects as part of that broader vision. the study objectives. Um we you know broadly the purpose is that this this study will provide guidance guidance on how the city can coordinate the development of thermal energy networks and we will define that for you shortly to demonstrate scalable alternatives to natural gas that benefit residents and businesses. Um this will provide the the the study will provide a summary of technologies to be considered as there are many that could be applied and how to integrate those into existing buildings. Um evaluation of natural resources that could be utilized to do this work and infrastructure assets um that could be part of the inventory of local technical potential. There will also be tools that we will have for longer term usage to look at um or help us assess community areas for thermal energy network suitability moving forward. Um illustration of high suitability areas uh will come forward through um maps um in this work and then pathways identified for zone development and roles for the city. Um we really feel it is vital to this work to be to be successful that we have a very collaborative um project and that this broader initiative is very collaborative as well. Um health is overseeing this project and leading on project management um through the climate and sustainability team. Um we also then have a steering committee um and a project team internally and it includes the the departments and divisions that you're seeing here. CPED public works, property services and health all have um in most cases multiple directors sitting on the steering committee and then a number of staff within the project team um to to move through data sharing and bring up forward concerns um as as we move through the project. Um then our contractor team was FVB Energy. They're our lead consultant and Great Plains Institute and KBJJW are other um subconultants. Of course, there's a lot of external um stakeholder work with with this project. We'll talk a little bit more about that, but community businesses um other local governments as well um and utilities are important parts of those stakeholders, interested parties. And um just to call out, you know, we've had we're in discussions with the school district um and you've been doing some data sharing with them and we'll be having other conversations with Henipin County um and the park board as we continue this work. With that, I'm going to hand it over to Luc Colinamp. Thank you, Megan. Uh hello again, committee members. Again, uh my name is Luke Hollenamp. I am a sustainability program manager in the health department. Uh so I'd like to start off with a definition of what is a thermology network. So uh we're using the definition that the state has actually put into statute which is that this is a network that is a project that provides heating and cooling to multiple buildings connected via underground piping containing fluids that in concert with heat pumps exchange thermal energy from the earth underground or surface waters waste water or other uh other heat sources. So you can see here a simple illustration of how this really is aworked system um that is providing heating cooling to multiple buildings. Uh I also want to talk a little bit about or further define um some of the other energy networks that are currently in the city here. So for instance there is a downtown district energy system that heats and cools many of the buildings downtown. And although that does connect buildings to each other it doesn't actually exchange thermal energy with the earth earth waters. So because of that, the Cordia downtown system is not a thermal energy network. Also, there's many buildings in Minneapolis that have geothermal energy um being used on site. They may have their own individual wells servicing that building. Um Opportunity Crossing in South Minneapolis is a is a recent project that has geothermal wells. Um that is a geothermal project, but that's not a thermaly network because it's not connected to other buildings. So to be thermal energy network you have to connect multiple buildings and you are also then exchanging thermal energy with the earth and local waters. Some of the resources that we have available um include ground source heat pumps and those are the heat pumps that are working in concert with geothermal wells. That's one of the most familiar technologies to many of us. Also there's surface water heat exchangers that can be used. um those would connect with lakes and rivers and uh we're very fortunate to have many of those here in Minneapolis. There's also sewer heat recovery and wastewater heat exchange systems. So every time we're taking a shower and the hot water goes down the drain, that hot water can be harvested again for thermal energy network to use to heat another building. That's what that technology would do. Also, there's been a conversation on on data centers recently. So they give off an enormous amount of heat due to their cooling needs. uh that is a thermal energy resource that under certain conditions can be utilized. And then there's other industrial users of energy that have a waste heat. And then there's thermal energy storage which are big storage tanks for thermal energy. And those can be utilized in conjunction with the other technologies shown here. So why is a thermal energy network an important climate solution? Well, uh in short, they're very very high efficiency devices and rather networks. Uh what you're what we're showing here in the chart is the efficiency levels of numerous technologies that we may all be familiar with. So on the left is the most efficient energy star furnace a home could have 97% efficiency. Electric resistance that can heat a home is 100% efficient. Then when then if you add a heat pump to a system it jumps up in efficiency and all of a sudden it can be be seen as 250% efficient. The reason it spins one unit of energy into the heat pump, helps move two and a half units of energy around from space to space. Now, if you take that heat pump and instead of having it connected to the outside air, instead you connect it to the ground, you get an even larger efficiency boost up to a 400% efficiency. And then finally, if you then take those ground source heat pumps and you connect buildings to each other, so buildings themselves can can send energy back and forth, you can see efficiencies upwards of 600%. And it's because of that high efficiency that then these networks are able to use comparatively lower electricity and often no gas. There's a number of thermal energy networks that are in operation in Minnesota or under development. Uh the uh largest in operation network is down in Rochester. It's a city of Rochester owned and operated municipal thermal energy network. Uh this began operating just this last uh early winter period. And it connects multiple municipal buildings including their civic center, arts center, the con uh the civic theater and also the public library. So that's currently in operation down in Rochester. Under development currently and under construction is the Heights Community Energy District Geothermal System. That's over in St. Paul. Uh that's the redevelopment of the old Hillrest Golf Club and that is a system that is owned by the St. Paul Port Authority. It is operated by Evergreen Energy and then it is incorporating geothermal technology from Darcy Solutions which is a local geothermal technology company. And then finally, still out in the planning phase is a Centerpoint Energy network geothermal system. Um, this this project is currently looking at three sites that they've shortlisted in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, and Orno. Um, and this will be a system that Centerpoint builds, creates, and owns that will heat and cool a neighborhood that is currently served by Centerpoint. Um, this is made possible by Centerpoint's five-year innovation plan, which was the result of a uh now a few years old new state law that created natural gas innovation plans. And this is uh familiar to uh to council member uh Chuckai. This is a conversation we've had at the Cleanage Partnership. We were hoping that a city Minneapolis site would get shortlisted. Unfortunately, during the review process, we did not get shortlisted, but um I think it was a very good process that they did undertake and uh we're really looking forward to seeing a network then be built by Centerpoint in our neighboring communities here. So, we're looking forward to seeing that progress happen. Back to our study. So, we have a two-phase approach. Uh first is a technology review. Some of the technologies I've already talked about today. um a report will go into greater detail and the technologies and their use in our local environment here. Then our consultants also doing a technical potential and geographic analysis of the city. Those two components of phase one are largely complete now. We've received some draft deliverables that we're reviewing for methodology and for feedback. So phase one is largely complete, but there's still some work to do there. But we are launching now into phase two which is stakeholder engagement and and understanding principles that may come up and uh rise to the surf rise to the top as part of the part of that engagement that our community members want to see as an important element of a thermology network in their potential neighborhood. And then also this report will look at implementation pathways. What are the policy barriers opportunities? What are the ownership and development models? What role does the city of Minneapolis play in seeing more thermal energy networks be built and deployed in Minneapolis? And revisiting just in brief some of the elements that Megan touched on before then more specifics of the scope of the study include that again is a broad review of this of the technical sustainability of or technical suitability I should say of thermal energy networks in the community. We're focused on commercial and industrial buildings um and multif family buildings. The study does not include in-depth analysis of one to four unit buildings. That's not to say that a thermal energy network can't eventually serve those buildings, but just wasn't part of the scope of this study given the budget that we had. The study will also then uh create tools for identifying the opportunities amongst both our existing building stock as well as our future developments of which there's you know always conversation of at least a few sites in the city that may see kind of substantial redevelopment. There will be comparison of then those technologies we mentioned examining where they're most feasible and where they're most economically viable in different areas of the city and that often depends on the geology and the hydraology of that particular area. And then we're going to be receiving broad recommendations on the policies and the pathways. What's not included in the study is that this is not a detailed building by building analysis to understand how an individual building may be ready for a thermal energy network. Um it is also um not detailed guidance on how the city will implement the work. It's meant to be a broad pathway recommendation and consideration document. And then finally, it is not looking at specific sites and applying a financial analysis to specific sites or looking at specific engineering design for a specific site. Rather, this is helping to uh paint a broad picture of potential in the city and identifying areas that are more likely for success than others. So, we've completed our round one engagement um that occurred in the summer of this year. We did talk to three different uh types of communities. We talked to climate v vulnerable communities. We talked to business organizations and developers and we also talked to or energy organizations. Uh pictured there is the the outreach session that we had with climate vulnerable communities at Sabbath. Uh we were wearing harder hats because that that building is currently undergoing an HVAC overhaul and they are installing their own geothermal system on site. So those of us in the picture had the opportunity to go and see the drilling actually occur on their site. And then shown at the bottom there, that is a uh that's a conversation we had with the business organizations and developers over at the uh downtown central library. Coming up now, as we enter into fall, uh very soon, we will be engaging in our in the second round. What we're looking to to do in that second round is gauge the level of local interest momentum in participating in a thermal energy network by having very specific one-on-one or focus group conversations across the city. We're also looking for feedback more specifically from businesses, property owners, and neighborhood representatives on their individual interest in this as well as the interest of maybe a uh a a subset or a or a group that they may represent already. And then we're also um looking at and asking them how how they think would be best for us to take that feedback that they're giving to us and how we can best incorporate that into our future conversations on thermal energy networks into the city. Finally, project timeline. Uh this was a study that we launched launched with our consultant in January of this year. So we've received a number of deliverables now in the first a little more than half a year already. Uh we will be soon then receiving more deliverables such as uh preliminary maps for us to begin looking at again areas of higher potential. We will be exploring ownership structures and financing and funding gap opportunities and options with the consultant as we then enter into winter as well as we'll have some final engagement summaries uh regarding the engagement that has occurred in the summer and the fall. And then we'll be starting to land the project with a refinement of the pathways, the roles the city may be able to play in the launching networks and then review of the final documents. And then as a final deliverable, then we expect in uh next summer uh hopefully early next summer that we'll have a presentation to city leadership including electeds and we we look forward to coming back to this body to uh provide more information on what the final deliverable included. With that, we thank you for your time. We're really excited about this uh new technology, this new approach to heating and cooling our buildings of the city. And we look forward to reporting back to you in the future. And we will stand for questions. >> Some of my colleagues have questions. >> Very good. Um thank you for the presentation. Seeing no further discussion, um I'll ask the clerks to file that report. Um and I'll follow up with you for uh talking later just with our office. Thank you. With that, we've concluded uh all the business come before the committee today and if there are no objections, we are adjourned.