Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. All right. Thank you. Today is Friday, February 20th. This is a special meeting of the Minnitankka City Council. We are here to interview candidates for the ward 2 council vacancy. We'll start with um doing a roll. And Mr. Funk, would you like to start? >> Mike Funk, city manager. Like to go around. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Mike Funk, city manager. Oops. >> Nancy Foster Golden, W one. Sorry. >> No. Mike Funk, city manager. >> Kimberly Wilburn at large. >> Paula Romeo in W three. Rebecca Shack, mayor. Deb Calbertt uh at large seat A Ky Kley W four >> Eric Nelson city attorney >> saraki senior management coordinator. >> Okay thank you and we have Miranda Diamond coordinating the applicants um in the other room. So what we will do is we're I think we've scheduled the first applicant to start their interview at 255. Is that correct? So, um, just as far as process, we've got questions that we have prepared in advance to ask each applicant. Each applicant has 30 minutes that we've slated for their interview. We will let them know ahead of time that that there are eight questions and that we have 30 minutes and we'll get through as much as we can and hopefully all of them in that amount of time. Um, council will take notes on this on these candidate sheets. There's one for each candidate. What? Why does it say panelist? Oh, I get it. Okay. So, you're going to put their name on as the candidate. You're going to put your name on as the panelist. And then this is where you'll keep your notes. And when we finish um or however each individual wants to do it, we've got ranking sheets that which were a part of the packet. Um that person will will rank them at the end of the interviews on Monday and use that to identify the person that we've decided to appoint. Uh Eric, did I miss anything? >> No, that's that's correct. Mayor Shack and uh just to reiterate process uh on Monday at the conclusion of the final interview um the votes will ultimat or the rankings will ultimately be tabulated and then the results announced on Monday uh at the open meeting. >> Excellent council. Any questions? >> I have a question. Will we have the ranking sheet? Um, hard copy or are we ranking them on our iPad? >> Uh, oh yes. U Miranda was going to grab the sheets. So, um, okay. Either she'll be back with them or one of one another staff member will go get them from there. Any other questions? I'm just looking for something. Let's see. Sarissa, can you send I can't find in the packet or anything the order. >> Yeah, >> it's in the cover page. So, >> are they in the order of the >> So, Eric >> Oh, here it is. Okay. Got it. Got it. So, we'll start. We're gonna be starting with Eric Bell, Amanda Max second, and then we'll finish up today with Susan Martinson, and the the other remaining two candidates, um Hamilton Hines and Steve Adams, I believe, right? >> No, that's not right. Is that right? >> I think that's >> Yeah, that's right. >> are um going to be scheduled on Monday. >> Anything else from council? Otherwise, we'll just wait till we're ready for our first candidate. >> Hello, Mr. Bell. Go ahead. And >> Hi, Eric. >> Hello. >> Hi, I'm Rebecca. Good to see you. >> I'm Dad Kizzy. >> So, you're going to take a seat right there >> in the chair. Um, if you would please put that microphone, it doesn't amplify your voice, but it does um record. >> So, just put it right on your lapel and then inevitably you'll forget to take it off when you leave, but we'll try to remind you >> probably. >> Well, welcome. Thank you for coming and thank you for your interest in this position. um you you uh went around and introduced yourself, so we won't take the time kind of to do that, but our name tags are in front of us if that's helpful. We've got you slated for 30 minutes and we've got eight questions. So, we're going to do our best to get through as many of those as we can in that 30 minutes, but we'll just conclude the the interview at the 30 minute mark. So, um, we'll get right into it and I will start with the first question. Please provide a brief background about yourself and what makes you the best candidate for the W two position. >> Sure. Well, I think it starts with I teach piano for a living now. I've been doing that for about 25 years. And uh, that's something that happened, you know, as I was winding down at Castavis. Um I just I was working at a summer camp and all these other counselors are playing guitar and I was doing a little piano teaching at Davis and I just realized there you know people uh need piano in this world too. So uh so I've been doing that ever since college. Um so I teach at Schmidt music right now and also what brought me to the area was uh it's called now the Franklin Center in Golden Valley but it was called the uh school of whole learning. that was just down the road for sub use here. So, I just moved to the area because it was far more convenient and, you know, I was happy to do so. It's just beautiful out this way. Um, and Mitanka has, you know, great uh reputation. It's something I knew like I grew up uh about an hour north of the cities, fairly small town. Um, but I uh just a neighbor up there had a cabin, you know, who lived in Minnotonka. So you know what I'm about. I'm going to talk from early ages. So >> excellent. All right. Um Paty. >> Um >> hi. >> Okay. >> So what are the impact's changing demographics in the on the community and what role if any should the city council have in addressing those changes? >> Sure. Do you mind repeating the first question? >> Sure. What are the impacts of Minnotonka's changing demographics on the community? >> What are the impacts? Um, I mean, I I think for I don't know, I guess uh there are those adjustments, you know, that there uh people come to town with different cultures and different ways of doing things. And so, uh, I think that's something where some people can react kind of defensively or maybe kind of fearful of like, uh, concerned that they're going to be trying to push some sort of culture or whatever. But, uh, on the other hand, we could, you know, see benefit in that that they have different ways of thinking and, uh, so I hope, you know, to embrace those different ideas and not be, uh, fearful of them. And then the second part is how um if what role if any should the city council play in um addressing those changes, >> right? Um I mean certainly we need to listen to you know we have these weekly meetings and so if these people have concerns I hope uh that they would come feel like this is a welcome place for them to share their concerns their questions. Um so I mean I guess uh just along those lines I don't I uh approached city council myself a couple years ago. I don't know if any of you remember that but uh my thought at the time was something along uh junk fees you know that uh and then uh the state went went ahead and you know forbidding that but that was just something to me I wish like we could do something about that and so it was you know it was nice to see that Minnesota went ahead and eliminated that I don't know if you're aware of that or or not but um so with that I mean my experience when I approached was uh you know I shared my concerns and I understand that it was just kind of a random uh topic but you know I I was a bit disappointed that no one you know reached out to me after that and so I that's something that I I feel like coming here is like if people are coming I want to make sure that the council is responding to everybody and I don't know if you know it was just a random thing I slipped through the cracks but I mean just in my experience I could see that other people could feel like they're not being listened to. >> Great. All right, Kimberly. >> Making my notes here. Um, tell us how you view redevelopment in Minnetonka. What are we doing well and what could be done differently? redevelopment. Can you define um just in broad terms what you mean by that? >> So um Minnetonka is considered a built city. So there's not a lot of vacant properties. >> Um so when any development that takes place in or most of the development that's taking place in Minnotonka will be redevelopment. So, >> a a builder might come in and and see a building and say, "We want to make it uh a Dunkin Donuts or whatever." >> Yeah. Um I mean, I I did just read a little something today about uh a senior cit uh senior living center, you know, where they were looking at tearing some down uh some, you know, existing building that's not being used or whatever the story is. I mean, uh, I'm assuming that Minnetonka, like any city, is going to be evolving to some degree and, um, so trying to adapt to how maybe ages or demographics or whatever are changing that, uh, we're just evolving along with, you know, the people who are living here and the needs that are coming to the city. >> You have any opinions on what the city is doing well around redevelopment or where we um improvement. >> I uh let's say I'm trying to think of an example. Um I mean I just uh I know that there's a lot of emphasis on infrastructure and just making sure that you know we're getting up to speed with those things. Um I guess I know with say the marsh, you know, that was something that the city took over. Um, and that was seemed like a good move to not just I don't know let it sit there vacant like um so I have yet to be back there since the city has taken it over there but um I haven't heard any negatives about that transition. >> Thank you. >> All right. So what part if any should the city council play to ensure a range of housing options in Minnotonka? Um, so do you mean like um keeping um affordable housing in mind? That kind of >> um just yeah a range everything from Yeah. but including that in the mix. >> Yeah. Well, so certainly there's just all the existing homes that are just going to continue to, you know, trade from buyer to seller, uh, seller to buyer, but uh, so I do know that the affordable housing is, uh, an important feature, right? I mean, it's Minnitak is not known as just a cheap place to live certainly, but we want to make it affordable so different people can come here, not just those who have all the money. Um, so I mean I I live in an HOA myself. Um, and there's I I don't know if any of others of you live in OOA right now, but um, there's been a kind of a troubling trend. Uh, there was the collapse of the condo down in Florida around like 2021 where about 100 people died and then there's been all kinds of state and federal uh, mandates. So, and a lot of these HOAs are struggling uh to get up to these new codes um especially with insurance and things like that. So, I I know my dues at this HOA are just fairly high and um so I don't know if Minnetonka, you know, could take any role in relieving some of this pressure that the hos are feeling. Um, but I live in um what I've heard is the largest uh HOA in the the state, the Green Bryer near Hopkins High School. >> And there's many other condos there. So, um I imagine they're all I mean I have a neighbor across the street in a different you know they're feeling a lot of pressure in the same way. >> Thank you. >> Do you support the city's current budgeting and taxation approach and what changes, if any, would you make? When it comes to city taxes, I mean, I I would guess that would be related to just add-on to the sales sales tax. Um, there's a portion of the property sales um property tax. Um, so I mean, the city needs to create revenue. Um, I I feel like those are fair avenues. I'm not super familiar with all the different taxes beyond that. Um but um those aren't things that I've heard, you know, like wide complaints about. Um like I said, I mean, in my area, it's more just HOA things than say that property taxes are getting uh too burdensome. So, uh, do you believe the role of city council is to make choices based on what's best for the community long term or to do what's important to residents today and why? >> Well, it would seem like there would need to be some balance, right? I mean, there's going to be people who see some immediate need today. And I mean we need to have the foresight to say wow that that is true and so um that's that can be you know a narrow path to find that to find that balance of satisfying people today and but also just having the wisdom to say we need to keep things these things in mind down the road right so um yeah I so that's something in this role like suddenly people from war II are going to be, you know, potentially emailing me and saying there's all these things and those are the things that I have to prepare, you know, or learn how to to handle is uh addressing these concerns. And um I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of merit in their concerns or their ideas. Um and maybe they're right, you know, maybe those are things to do. Um so I guess we'll we'll see as we go. Yeah. How will you navigate complex and potentially controversial council decisions, especially when you your views differ from staff recommendations, fellow council members or neighborhood perspectives? >> Sure. Well, I know that I would have one vote and only one vote, right? So, I'm not going to assume that my one vote is going to matter than five, six other votes. Um I can certainly share my concerns. I mean dissenting is a natural thing that people can do, right? So um I I don't you know see many issues where I would be varying from what uh the consensus is right now. So I don't immediately see where those conflicts might be. But um I mean I understand that we just all have different opinions and I'm never going to assume that everybody thinks like me or people think just like uh us in war I uh so but I hope that we can all just share share our differences respectfully and respect that you know we we do come from good places. We're act in good faith. No nefarious you know agendas or whatever behind the scenes. Yeah. All right. Uh, this is the last substantive question, so I think it's a good one. What motivated you to apply and what are the goals, your goals for the seat and the city if you're selected? >> Sure. Well, unfortunately, I mean, it was uh Alex Patty, you know, death and just feeling that things are just kind of unraveling in the metro area. um just how much animosity there is, how much concern and um so I just, you know, I just get kind of chills thinking about that and I feel just a lot of pain out there. I feel like um though faced in a lot of diff difficult situations that uh I don't raise my voice out of those things I'll still remain calm and um try to find uh you know a peaceful solution to this. So you know thankfully it seems like some of the worst of that is behind us but I mean it seems like we have a long ways to go. Um, so I it was I mean I just remember driving in the car when I was like, "Okay, I need to really step up." And then I see this newsletter from the city that you're looking for for someone in my neighborhood. So yeah, I mean the timing was uh quite a coincidence, but uh so I see it as a very good place for me to start. I mean to end uh for me to try. I mean, I see this as more or less an interim uh position. I've taken those roles before. Um I don't I I know that there's 20 other applicants and I mean I'll I'll be honest when I heard that there were 20 I I have not lived here a long time. Like so I I could say well there's going to be some other people with better connections or whatnot. But I did see like uh you know in your your own bio that you're I don't know relatively more recent to the area than some of the others here that you were appointed as well. and like okay I guess it looks like we're taking a sort of a similar path even though I know we have very very different professional background but um nonetheless you know I I think we both are I'm also a very uh active chess player so I've represented uh Minnesota like in the US Chess League um among some of the better players in the state and uh so that is what I bring is a strong sense of objectivity um at one point I um was thinking premed. I mean went to Gustavis as premed and so I had the science background and did the biology and the chemistry and all that. Um obviously I shifted away from that but um yeah so I I just feel like I have a lot of different experience and working with all ages and all different backgrounds. Um, I've worked with the Music Link Foundation that helps uh students from lower income families uh give piano lessons and so I've helped uh lead fundraisers with that over in St. Paul. I got away from that during COVID and all that, but you know, it has crossed my mind about trying to do that maybe maybe out this way more now that I live out here. >> Great. >> Thank you. Well, um, want to give you an opportunity and there's a little bit of time if you'd like if you have anything else you'd like us to know or any closing remarks. >> Well, I mean, this is just a very exciting uh opportunity. Um, I feel like I appreciate that, you know, I walked in here very nervous. My heart my heart is racing and I appreciate that you have not been, you know, very intimidating. intimidating but >> fellow music major. >> I saw that music history. Yes. Yeah. So I I mean I appreciate that you're all have those different hobbies and it doesn't feel like any of you are just like politicians, you know, like and um when I when I've gone to the council meetings in the past that things just seem very relaxed, you know, and very respectful and um I've talked to some people that says there are some different broad ranges political views and I I don't know specifically, but you know, I appreciated that whatever those are that I don't know, I never saw any animosity amongst people that I'm glad that you're all getting along and um I I would feel like, you know, I would uh do my best to just fit in and um so but uh yeah, I mean it's it would be a very special opportunity to be able to represent those from war, too. >> Excellent. Well, Eric, thank you so much for coming in today and for the interest in the position and the commitment to the city. And we are we've got more interviews to do. We'll ultimately be making the decision next week. So, you'll know that pretty quickly and one way or another, you know, stay connected and stay involved in the city and and we'll be happy to have you a part of our community. So, and I'll remind you of your microphone. Good call. >> Do you have your little posted? >> Have you seen someone? >> Yeah. >> Hello, Amanda. >> We'll give you a minute to get settled. Put your microphone on. As you know, the microphone won't amplify your voice, but it will pick it up for the recording. All right. So, for the benefit of time, you I I think you know who we all are. So, we will skip the introduction portion and we'll just let you know. So, we have eight questions and you have 30 minutes and so we're going to get as far as we can in the eight questions in that period of time. Um and then we'll end at 30 minutes. So we will get started right away with the first question which is please provide a brief background about yourself and what makes you the best candidate for the ward 2 position. Sure. Um so I'll start in the current state and I'll work backwards sort of telling you about myself. Um currently I'm the chair of the city of Minnitonka Planning Commission. So, I run the meetings there, lead uh public hearings, gathering input from our um constituents across the entire city, not just Ward two. I So, I facilitate those discussions and I've been uh on the planning commission since uh 2020, so six years that I've been doing that um that role. I highly value that public input, the debate, um how it's nonpartisan and we're trying to make an objective decision to our laws um ordinances um requiring sometimes as I say at the beginning of the meeting um balancing individual rights with community responsibility. So I appreciate that um piece of that um that body. Uh, professionally I am a research and development manager in the biomedical device industry. I work for Boston Scientific. So I manage a team of several scientists and engineers. Um, some of whom have PhDs, some of whom are hands-on in the lab. So I give guidance to them and I have to make decisions and recommendations on complex technical issues. Um, sometimes the team is aligned, sometimes we are not and we have to influence each other based on data in a objective way and I see that's a lot of the role that that aligns with the role of a council member as well. Gather data and make a recommendation objectively. >> Great. All right. Now, we're just going to go down the line. So, Paty, when you're ready, she has the next question. Um, so what are the what are the impacts of Minnotonka's changing demographics on the community and what role, if any, should the city council have in addressing those changes? When you say changing demographics, I can see that question from say age, for example, that we're an aging community. Um, and I can also see it from sort of a socioeconomic diversity or cultural diversity perspective. So, I'll answer it from both of those perspectives. So, from the age perspective, we've worked to um increase housing diversity in the city. I think we need to continue doing that, allowing people to age in place where they can or to um move to um the type of housing that fits for them. Uh we also work to make the city more walkable. So an example would be um we have the avidor in the word two right by Ridgedale. So it's walkable to most services that you would need um with a a nice park by it so people can get outside. So that's an example of something where anyone regardless of your demographic could benefit from that. And then from a um more cultural diversity perspective, uh I think the city council recently has done a good job with bringing in the DEI commission and and thinking about diversity from some not just um say race or religion, but an example recently would be at city events that are for families. They now have a nursing mother's tent. That's something that I have um not utilized here, but I've utilized that in other places. an example having a broad definition of diversity and without that the council pushing that type of activity I don't think it would happen naturally I think that's important type of of initiative that the city council can lead uh going forward to make us a more welcoming community for everybody all right Kimberly when you're ready um so tell us how you view redevel development in Minnitanka and what are we doing well and what could be done differently. >> This is this is >> this is a big one and W two is such a poster child for redevelopment. So, some recent examples would be um I live right off of Plymouth and there are two massive single family developments going on right there um where they're um tore down an old single family house on a big lot and now subdivided it into five or six um larger lots that will be multi-million dollar homes. Um we've also had um north of the highway there's there's the Burke, there's the Veil um multifamily complex where we took down a smaller kind of aging building and are building building it up. And those are examples um that I think have been important for the city and bring value to the city. Revitalizing um aging buildings, investing in our future. I also appreciate that we are trying to preserve single family neighborhoods maintaining their character. We have the the strong tree ordinance that's protecting that um environmental um environmental impact that a lot of Minnetonka residents say they move here for and that they they value. So keeping an appropriate amount of development in appropriate places I think is important particularly um in W 2. >> Great. All right Paula, >> what part if any should the city council play to ensure a range of housing options in Minnotonka? Uh, one thing that I think will help um ensure a range of options is this um new uh revamping of the zoning code. So, for example, examining setbacks from the road may allow different types of housing, different sizes of housing, may allow housing on lots that previously were considered too small or unbuildable. So I think that's an example of a place where the council sets the code that determines uh what types of housing are allowable. Another area that the council plays a big role is in the financing particularly for affordable units and that um I have not had much experience with on the um planning commission. as we left to the EDAC. Uh, and it's an area I'm interested in um growing in right away when I would if I would be on the council. >> Great. Um, do you support the city's current budgeting and taxation approach and what if any changes would you make? I was at a special session I think at the end of December where um there was a presentation on the prioritized budgeting approach that's new to the city and I think that is a great idea. I'm very excited to see where that goes. It makes sense that we need alignment on where we spend our money with what our priorities are and to not already have visibility to that. I think is a problem. And so going through this exercise of understanding exactly where everything goes and how it aligns with our priorities is crucial. So I'm excited to see that come to fruition. >> Yeah. Awesome. >> Deb, you're up. >> All right. Do you believe the role of the city council is to make choices based on what's best for the community for the community and long term or to do what's important to residents today and why? >> Oh, that is such a good question because the residents of the future aren't here to speak for themselves and nobody knows what that that future holds. I we do need to have foresight when we are doing development. these buildings will be here for 20, 30 years. So, it would be shortsighted to think what does this one neighbor who lives in this one single family home today like to have them as a single voice impact um the next 20 30 years when they may be a transient uh voice in that conversation. So, it's important to hear their view. Yes. And to consider that view, but it cannot be the only consideration. So, if I had to pick one or the other, uh, to your question, Council Member Calbert, I would pick the longer term. Um, and that could be difficult in a public hearing if you have a particularly one resident who is quite upset about something. So, it's important there to remain objective and think through the the whole evidence and all of the the whole story. Gizzy, >> how will you navigate complex and potentially controversial council decision decisions, especially when your views differ from staff recommendations, fellow council members or neighborhood perspectives? >> Yeah, this is another good question. This has happened on planning commission a couple of times, well several times where we have disagreed as either as a body or me personally have disagreed with the staff recommendation. And in that case, I can point to where does this meet with code and the 2040 comp plan? Where does this meet with where the city wants to go? And that can be the objective piece of it. The difficulty is when there's something else emotional that's attached and that can be um that can be a challenge again particularly in those um in those public hearings. So the way I I deal with that essentially is trying to remain objective point to the letter of the law um and argue that point and to remain civil. We're not attacking each other. We might attack each other's ideas and we do this in science all the time. you have a hypothesis, it could be wrong. You have to test it, add data, challenge others to make sure that we end up with the very best thing at the end. Um, and that can be done in a healthy, respectful way. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. This is the last substantive question, but it's I think it's an important one. What motivated you to apply and what are your goals for your seat in the city if selected? >> Yeah, that's a good question. I had I've had multiple people reach out to me asking if I would be willing to apply even as early as the summer knowing that um that council member Shaq was applying for the mayoral position. And originally my response was no I don't think that's for me. Part of it was time commitment. Um part of it was fear of safety. for example, Melissa Hortman's family was killed and so being in public service seemed to have kind of a high risk for my family. So that was originally my thought. Um but the the more I contemplated it over the fall and the winter, um it seems like like I have a duty to to serve. Um so I I would be looking to listen to the people of the war. I know this wouldn't be an elected officially elected position but I even if it elected or not I it would be there to represent the voices of the people in that ward and that would be the most important part and sometimes that might even disagree with what my personal opinion is. It's you know representing the people of the ward. So that would be what I would be um looking to do. >> Excellent. Um anything else you'd like us to know or any closing remarks that you have for us? Oh, I am so excited by the opportunity to serve in this. Um, I'm also excited by the number of really excellent candidates that we got from this ward. U, so whether it's me or whether it's somebody else, I just I know this is going to be um a a great two-year term. You you've got some really good candidates. So, I would be happy to serve if if you pick me, and I would be happy to give all my opinions to the rep you choose if it's not me. Awesome. Well, Amanda, thank you so much and thank you for your interest, your application, taking the time to be here and mostly for your service to Minnetonka on the planning commission. It is such an intricral part of what how we make our decisions. So, we're really grateful for you. Um, as you I think know, we will be interviewing one more person today, two people on Monday, and then we'll be making the decision then on on Monday. So stay tuned and um you'll know one way or another how this goes then. So thank you again and have a good weekend. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, council. Thank you. Stay warm. Thank you. >> Hello Susan. Thank you so much for coming. >> Thank you. >> Well, the microphone doesn't amplify your voice, but we use it. It picks up the recording. So, it's important piece of technology that we have here. >> Excellent. >> Um, we will go um just across starting with Paty and introduce ourselves briefly here. Hi, Pat Z. Ward one. >> Okay. >> Hi, Kimberly Wilburn. Uh, at large. >> Hi, I'm Paula Rome and I represent W three. >> Rebecca Shack. I'm the mayor. Deb Calbert, at large, CA. Ky Kley, Ward 4. We're so glad you're here and thank you for putting um in an application and considering the position. We have um 30 minutes as you know and we have eight questions so we're just going to go along. I think we should be able to get through all of them but if we don't we'll end at 30 minutes one way or another. Okay. >> Um and so we'll just get right into it. The first question is please provide a brief background about yourself and what makes you the best candidate for the W 2 position. So, I'm Susan Martinson and I am a long-term resident of Minnetonka. Um, I'm interested in being on city council because um I really love this community. I think we're a thriving and um uh a very successful community and I'd like to be part of continuing to um contribute to that success. Um my background as a special education teacher equips me to be on the council. Um because as a teacher um we do um much work with stakeholder collaboration uh individ individualized policy making um budgeting resources um uh negotiations collaboration stakeholder collaboration. So, I think that that type of public service gives me a background. Um, and then it's just, you know, wanting to see this community to continue to thrive and wanting to be part of that. >> Great. All right, Paty. So, um, so what what are the impacts of Minnetonka's changing demographics on the community and what role, if any, should the city council have in addressing those changes? >> I think it's very important that the city council is inclusive and makes opportunity to hear all perspectives and all voices. as the community changes, there's uh always different perspectives and different concerns that people have. And I mean, I think that we need to hear all those concerns as we make policy and um make sure we're communicating also with how we can how things we decide benefit all those different perspectives. >> Right, >> Kimberly? Well, when you're ready, take take your time. No pressure. >> Okay. Um, tell us how you view redevelopment in Minnotonka. What are we doing well and what could be done differently? >> Okay. Well, I think some of the concerns we might have um in Minnetonka are, you know, housing affordability is some of our aging infrastructure and some of the impacts that new development has on traffic flow and things like that. Um so I think we have to consider that. um every decision we make um as far as development though um will affect different people in different ways. So you know business people might be affected, older members of the community might be affected uh newer members moving in can be affected in a different way and I think we want to work towards growing the community with respect towards what's already here and um and I think we just have to really understand the impact of every decision. >> Thank you. Um, what if any role should the city council play to ensure a range of housing options in Minnetonka? That's interesting because I was just thinking about this. Um, we have and I start with a range of housing. We have um I was just thinking in my neighborhood we have condos, rentals, town houses, um single family homes, executive home plan communities, all within walking distance of where I live. And I know that um in areas driving distance from me, we have the same type of thing. But um on the same token, we have some aging properties, right? We have some aging properties and some single family homes that are um how do I want to say this? That maybe are in need of renovation or or even a whole neighborhood re renovation. Well, I think we want to be careful because we have like this affordability range and then some very exclusive range of housing. And I would like to see us really think of how we might get that middle ground and attract those single home families who are moving way out of the cities now to be able to afford, you know, that dream of the little single family home. Maybe there's things we can do like partner with developers or subdivide lots or or this kind of thing to build some of these smaller starter homes. >> All right. Do you support the city's current budgeting and taxation approach? And what changes, if any, would you make? I think we'd really want to evaluate the um we'd really want to de uh evaluate how that's being not how that's being but what it's being allocated to and make sure that we're making the right priorities. I think we probably want to prioritize some of these um this aging infrastructure and maybe some of the development um and we could partner with our state and federal partners on that as well, but I think we want to make sure we're prioritizing some of those things. Um educ I'm an ed educator, so of course I want to see our schools cons continue to thrive. Um, but I think um I think we want to make sure that we're not pricing people out of their homes, especially not our older members of the community. And then we want to just be uh very responsible with the money we are collecting. Right, Deb? When you're ready, no rush. Do you believe the role of the city council is to make choices based on what's best for the community and long term or to do what's important to residents today and why? Uh I think a little bit of both. Um, but if we're making long-term decisions that may seem to affect people negatively in the short term, then I think we really need to think about how we're going to inform people and get the buy in for that because maybe it is the best decision um to plan for the long term, but we need to then really communicate with the community why why they might have to um have a change that they don't see um as very positive in uh shortcom. >> All right, Kizzy, how will you navigate complex and potentially um controversial council decisions, especially when your views differ from staff recommendations and fellow council members or neighborhood perspectives? Well, I think um I think it's one of the council's values and then it's um something I've learned in my workplace is that we should be our decision should be data driven. We should be collecting the information. We should have good reasons for what we're doing. And when we have those good reasons, we should be able to communicate that and talk um pragmatically. you know, I don't think that um I don't I don't think that I would want to get into real emotional discussions or disagreements. I would want to hear hear the perspectives, hear the uh the reasons and and see what the data says and then we can communicate on a on a on a very practical level, I think. >> Great. Great. >> All right. The last substantive question is what motivated you to apply and what are your goals for the seat and the city if selected? >> I think I've been wanting to be more involved with the city council for a long time. Um, you know, I I read the information Minnotonka puts out which I appreciate is very um very readable and we get a lot of information. Um, and I like to communicate it in in my neighborhood with my neighbors. Um, and I have often thought of becoming just more involved just to be doing that communication piece and to be understanding the issues. And when I saw this opportunity, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to um, step in and see how I could contribute and how that would fit me. >> Great. All right. and we want to give you an opportunity to share anything else that our questions didn't hit on or if you have any closing remarks here. Uh share those with us. >> Well, I just appreciate the opportunity um the way this was opened up um so that um that people could uh apply and and be welcome to um into the process. Um, I um I guess I would really like to uh express my enthusiasm um but also my openness to learning. If I were to uh to jump into this position, I would realize that I'm a new member and that I would want to be very open and learning as I'm participating. >> Great. Well, we're so again so grateful for you um applying and for coming in this afternoon. We have, as I'm sure you know, we have two more candidates that we're going to interview on Monday. Okay? >> And then we'll be making a decision on Monday as well. So, you don't have a long time to wait. You'll know of that. And no matter what happens, what um I can tell you is that we encourage you to stay involved. So whether you're selected for this position or or something else comes up, there are all kinds of ways to be a part of the city and apply for boards and commissions and those kinds of things. So um please stay involved one way or another. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> And then just remember you have your microphone there. >> All right. >> Well, have a good weekend. Thank you. >> Yeah, you too. >> Thank you. or you can >> take it then you have to be responsible for it. >> Put our names on it. >> Yeah. >> Sarissa, if we leave these, do you want us to put our name on the >> I'm trying to turn it on >> to see. Okay, here we go. We are So, that concludes our agenda for today. We will um reconvene for the remaining two interviews on Monday. But for today, our meeting is adjourned.