[Music] good evening everyone it is or good afternoon rather it is Monday January 27th this is a city council special study session um and we are here today to um interview candidates so um we'll go around the room and well Lucas right yes what what do you sit up there and would you like something to drink oh sure yeah tell what what we can grab something for you whatever you like reg bubbly water or take bubbly water okay raspberry or lemon uh raspberry okay thank you all right and then well welcome thanks for coming in thank you for having thanks for your interest in the sustainability commission and we'll just go around the room and introduce ourselves and then we'll we've got a few questions for you it's not going to be it's not stump the band time or anything like that but uh but welcome so and then Lucas if you want to put a microphone to your shirt toas isn't old enough to knowand yeah Brad that's right well it's okay I will I'll say um just a couple things about the sustainability Commission interviews before we get started yeah please do um remember we were interviewing an adult positions and Ellen had a conflict tonight but she still is interested in serving on the commission so we'll discuss next steps and seeing if we can get her appointed still um so I know she's crossed off she just won't be here tonight but we'll still keep her in consideration thanks Rissa and then I'm cersa folic Senior Management coordinator and I'm Julie wishnik I'm the community development director and I'm helping the council tonight because everyone else is sick she's the you got to keep it together city manager I'm helping the council that's it I'm py Foster Walton W one Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca sha W two and I'm Brad woron the mayor KY kley W four Paulo ra w three I'm Deb Calver at I'm at large great so anyway well welcome and uh we just have a few questions for for you and I think just for Simplicity I'll ask the questions but you can direct your comments to all of us and um I think um we'll have time for you to ask any questions that you may have as well so okay um let's see I have to look at the sheet here um you know first of all um the question is just please tell us about yourself and what makes you the right person for this young adult is this a young adult position young adult position so so yeah uh I am at minetonka high school currently I'm a senior um I have I've always kind of been really into sustainability and how we can make improve our sustainability especially um and it's really great to um I really want to help in somewhere around here in our area um and somewhere that I have grown up in my whole life and lived in my whole life and um yeah and so I'm currently at in the Vantage um program as a men member of global sustainability which is um environmental science mixed with economics um where we have kind of talked about things like that and that's actually how I found out about this is um I don't remember their names but a city planner or something of that nature came in and talked to us and mentioned this um yeah yeah um and I thought it would be a great opportunity um I've also been a part of multitude of different clubs and extracurriculars at the high school including the mountain bike team so uh if when we were putting mountain bike trails in Lone Lake I was here here at the council meeting for that um as well as I'm a part of studo student government um as well and then I've also been a part of a couple other clubs such as a service club called Earth Club um which is essentially just I'm trying to improve sustainability around the school as well as doing service projects like a clothing Swap and things of that nature um yeah great well thank you um the second question we've got is um the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how can the sustainability commission include diversity equity and inclusion into in their work so yeah I think that the biggest part about that is representation I think that everybody needs to have a say in it no matter what way of life or group of people you come from um I think it's very important that everybody has a say and we need to recognize that all those ideas um are not going to agree with each other um but everybody still needs to feel that they're heard um and so I think the biggest thing is possibly taking surveys and things like that of the groups and um yeah just representing everybody and of course every group is going to find different things more meaningful or more important than others and just recognizing that for every single group is very important and finding middle points in every um disagreement and argument rather than picking one side or the other finding a middle point is much better um than again just either plat out disagreeing or agreeing with one or another group so yeah well thank you appreciate that um you know based on what you know about the commission um what do you think will be the an individual challenge for you as as the commission does its work but then also um a challenge for the group so your challenge and then the broader challenge for the group yeah so I think a big challenge for me will be that I I am very much on the nature side of things you know I'm very outdoorsy and so I'm all for like protecting the environment but I haven't had much experience with the government side of things and so of course with everything there's always going to be tradeoffs you know um and so I think that hearing and understanding the government side I don't have much experience in I'm excited to get that experience because of course that's a big part of it too um we can't just say save the environment over and over we actually need to do it but of course that comes with things that are going to be traded off as well and I would really just like to see the experience from the government side of how how things work in that like in that um system as well as like how they balance certain uh like parts of the just everything yeah great good and then how about for the group um what what what do you think would be challenging for the sustainability commission as a group and then I think for um a the group I think it's also a a benefit is that there will be hopefully diverse and different ideas and like I said I think that those are very important to all be brought up and all be talked about um but of course that can lead to disagreement and conflict um and so I'm just uh I'm hoping that we can resolve all of these conflicts with a like a middle area instead of just flat out saying no to anybody if that makes sense so yeah it does it does so um do you the time went quickly we've got a little we've got we've got some time so you know do you have any questions about us or anything things that you're curious about that maybe we could help you with and if we don't know the answer we we will tell you we don't know the answer um I think one of the only questions I have is time commitment um I just kind of didn't understand not didn't understand but it wasn't really laid out like the um like what what what will be expected of me right um so I was just kind of questioning that a little bit and I'm going to turn to Julie because you oversee the the staff for the sustainability commission so number of meetings and um and other activities that the sustainability commission does okay so we have six um meetings that are prescheduled so you know the dates ahead of time um every year and they're usually depends on the subject matter it can be an hour and a half sometimes two hours it depends on the night and what issue they're T tackling on the off months meaning meaning every other month they are a group that often will go to farmers markets they will do Outreach at different events of the city um you'll see them at various parts of the city hanging out trying to inspire people about different sustainability issues so that we have like a sign up not that you have to go to everyone we try to you know spread it out amongst the Commissioners so that you don't get burned out so hopefully that uh that meets with what you were expecting and the meetings are via Zoom right WebEx they are live oh they are live okay yeah we had done a just a round table like this one time last year but otherwise they're all filmed um live at the city council chambers and then um what evening of the week do the regular meetings typically take place on now they're Tuesday nights okay yeah and they start at six o'clock perfect so yeah so figure six to8 on T every other Tuesday night and then other month every other month excuse me I missed but every other month and then and then um and then the other activities are not necessarily scheduled in that time frame so they're more ad hoc and you can sign up for those as of course as the opportunity presents itself yeah awesome all right great any other questions for us I don't think so no okay well good thank you guys well thank well thank you very much for coming in and thanks for your enthusiasm and uh good to see you nice to meet you all as well nice to meet you take care thanks Lucas thank you guys and mayor you'll follow up with any candidates the mayor will call adorable someone will call someone will call you'll get call you'll get a call someone will contact you yes useful enthusiasm all right well now listen you know it's all we're all here and you know the city and attorney isn't here so you know here's an opportunity never mind oh no don't don't do this to me I'm just teasing I didn't mean that I know that was recorded I'm just kidding J on the side oh excellent welcome you get you get to be the person in the middle sounds good evening good evening no thank you though all right welcome thank you very much mayor um so we'll uh we'll um introduce we'll just start at my left with Sissa we'll introduce ourselves and then we've got a handful of questions and uh and then I think we'll probably have some time if you have any questions to hopefully we can get to those as well so that sounds good do I need to do anything here no it's on green and it's if it's if you're plugged in I'm miked you should be good great I'm Sara fol Senior Management coordinator and I'm Julie wish I think we've met before did can't remember where uh Amani constructions project that's why you're just not on your Zoom box so uh tonight I'm the acting city manager but normally I'm the community development director as you know good to see you again good to see I know Scott he's my neighbor he lives across the street all right yeah Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca Shack Ward to good evening I'm Brad woron the mayor KY kley W four Paula r w three hi I'm Calbert city council at large all right um I've already got I've already been chided for um using the term stump the band so um our uh our questions our questions will not stump the band tonight but but uh we've got four questions and uh we'll run you through those and then um I think we'll have time for you to ask us any questions that you have as well so first of all very general question please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for um a position on the edac great thank you well good evening thank you for the opportunity to interview for this position tonight my name is Scott Anderson I live walking distan in the minaka Mills neighborhood with my wife and two children Elementary School age attend uh Glenn Lake Elementary I serve on the board of directors of the Glen Lake Mighty Mites baseball association um coach through that league as well and also coach basketball through the mitat Tonka youth wreck League um this is an amazing special community and really proud to to uh be a resident here and lucky uh I just see joining the edac as a next step in my community service my background uh is in Community Development and includes affordable multif family real estate development commercial brokerage asset management and real estate lending I have experienced with the use of low income housing tax credits new markets tax credits tax financing and various public and private funding sources that often make up the capital stacks for housing and economic development projects in my current role uh as director of community lending and development at landbank Twin Cities I work with a wide variety of nonprofit and for-profit developers to create and preserve affordable Housing and Community Development projects across the 7 County twinity Metro region and I'd like to bring this experience to the edac to serve this wonderful community and advise the Ada as they seek to meet which is all of you to to meet the city's housing and economic development goals very good very good um in the areas of Redevelopment Finance housing or Transportation what opportunities do you see the edac exploring in the coming years uh recent first recent Economic Development Trends in Suburban cities as many of you know include a growing focus on mixed use development increased emphasis on walkability and Transit oriented development a rise in remote work-based businesses and a shift towards attracting more diverse Industries and the City of minank I know has been experiencing these Trends and will continue to respond as the market shifts another important issue I want to highlight is uh the existing supply of naturally occurring affordable housing or NOA in the Twin Cities region is facing significant pressures as many owners are holding properties that are aging needing significant significant Capital Improvements and operating cost of holding these properties has significantly increased I know the city has recently encountered this issue and will and I think it will continue to be uh one that we'll present in the coming years I happen to be a member of a small working group led by former Minnesota housing commissioner Mary tingerthal that's studying a structured Finance uh solution to recapitalize thousands of uh of M existing affordable multif family units owned by nonprofits of the Twin Cities um and if this solution is implemented and they the the the solution is using pulled uh 501c3 Revenue Bond financing to preserve the units if it's implemented it would create a new model for long-term preservation of affordable multif Family Properties and on the production side Bridge housing which is a leading nonprofit developer on the west coast and one of the few nonprofit housing developers with a credit rating uh recently issued these 501c3 bonds privately uh for a 71 a. half million doll new affordable development project that just kind of shows that there's a market uh for new alternative kind of creative financing Solutions outside of the typical uh financing tools that we have and I I think this will be a trend uh that will continue as so many developers are are seeking ways to create new housing Supply very good so um as you likely know the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how do you think that this effort um with with the EI in um intersects with the work of the edac it's a really important issue it starts with City leadership and the leadership of the edac I believe that any organization body of government or advisory commission will not operate at its full potential if the makeup of the group is homogeneous whether that's political demographic cultural socioeconomic and so I believe the most the more diverse the edac is in this regard will enhance the value and Equity it provides to the Eda and the community great thank you um our last question for you is based on your understanding of the edac what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and then extending it what do you think will be a challenge for the group great I I think my biggest initial challenge will be develop a working relation ship with the council or Eda and understand their policy goals and motivations I the edac advises the council sleda and uh I think proper guidance starts with listening and gaining understanding um I've read through the uh as much as available online and the 24d comp plan and all of that but I think the uh the stories and the perspectives of of the council is something that uh will be a first first task for me and I think the the biggest challenge for the Ed as a group is just to stay on top of Economic Development Trends and innovative solutions like I mentioned earlier and communicate that effectively uh to the Eda uh so that our community is positioned really well in the long in the long term all right well thank you um you know do you have any questions that you'd like to ask of us we'll do our best yeah um I think the uh the The Villages as as they're referred to um that kind of make uniquely make up the city not having a a downtown a core downtown um is is a kind of another unique challenge that that we have um as opposed to you know Hopkins Main Street you know really clear downtown um where is the kind of the the fulcrum of the of the city that you see I mean I know Ridgedale area is that economic kind of engine that provides a lot of revenue for for the city but uh where do you I think what I'm asking is where do you see a kind opportunity uh in Greater development in those Villages Village areas um that are kind of come up and coming H so does any anyone want to tackle that one um I mean I'm I'm happy to take a shot but I could really turn to miss wishnack I'm sure um I would love to hear your answer mayor yeah well you know go ahead well I mean you know Opus isn't a Village area but it's that's the that's going to be the transit oriented development I mean it has been we've so much is going on there and I think once the light rail comes um you know there'll be even more because now that we've started to build the housing and sort of transitioning from office or industrial to housing then I think things like retail and you know the the business um integration will eventually start happening more throughout that you know one mile area and um you know thinking about the other Villages you know Glenn Lake has really experienced a lot and it's almost in some ways I think people feel like it's maxed out but it's been so revitalized I I'm not sure what would happen there but um and then thinking about um like uh 101 and minetonka Boulevard I think there is there's a lot I could see happening and also at 101 and Highway 7 you know things things are sort of changing in that general area we've had a little Redevelopment with senior uh uh nursing home and um there have been some really interesting proposals that were this close to being perfect there some of the land is really hard to develop and meet like our sustainability goals but um that you know there there there's a lot of area I think 101 and Highway 7 there's a lot of opportunity in that General vicinity yeah I think um you know Ral and Opus are the lwh hanging fruit that's where we've seen the most development and probably you know relatively speaking the least resistance I think the challenge for me as a council member is you know um where can we integrate smaller pockets of development throughout the city and are there some natural Nexus points and we've talked a lot about that I think the re resoning work going to be doing or the rewriting not rezoning rewriting of our zoning code and the next comp plan which is upon us um will be a that'll be a challenge in in that process other other thoughts um yeah I would like everything Dr Wilber everything everyone mentioned the only other thing I can think of is that there's potential along the 394 Corridor umh there's agre we need to have conversation sometime there's like there's buildings near me that are almost empty and I'm like what what's going on with that anyway so yeah and I and and I agree I think that I mean I think our Village Center approach has been successful I I I appreciate it and and I didn't always love it I mean know I I jokingly tell mayor hanon that well you know when we when we finally um Annex Hopkins um that gets them that gets him a that gets them a little excited but but in reality I think we have successfully seen development in these various areas and and there's clearly improvements that are needed I mean you know 7 101 has tons of potential but uh 7 101 is also the top in the top 10 most dangerous intersections in the state and so we we need improvements Highway 7 we are working on on that but that's that's 10 years away but it's those sorts of things but as I look at what happened in in Glen Lake I see that potential H happening elsewhere and then as you said I mean Ridgedale is the economic driver of of retail and um and Commerce in in minaka and we're fortunate that we have um you know a vital shopping mall but but that and that's G that's happened through no small effort both by the city and as well as the um the property owners there but you know we're very fortunate too because um we're surrounded by Plymouth and we Zetta and and uh St Louis Park I mean we're we're kind of a go-to destination and we have there is a uh we're I mean we have we're a pretty U wealthy relative area and that gives our community a lot of opportunity whereas you know there are other places that have you know you know properties that are just as well situated but they don't have the um the uh the wealth and uh the disposable income that exists in this area that makes I think uh 494 and 394 s so attractive for businesses and I look at the comparisons of our community with other cities other large cities and you know we I we have we employ um we employ more people than some of the larger suburbs around us um there's a lot of opportunity here and and really I think that's what we're looking at the edac for is okay how do we how do we optimize um the the many benefits we've got yep and last kind of comment um well I spoke a lot about my experience in affordable housing and Eon development projects which I think could be valuable to the to the edac um I don't um uh not shy to say that you know uh market rate housing just more supply of housing in general can have positive impacts on they just increase suppli so um I started working in real estate development working for a small developer named Devon George Who uh played in the NBA and retired and got into real estate development and and we did both market rate and affordable projects and so um see the value as the point in all of the above related to housing all right Sirus how we doing on time probably should move on well thank you very much for being here appreciate it appreciate your comments meet you all thank you thank you thank you have a good evening you too go enjoy that warmth how you been KY I've been doing pretty good there top of pretty good although it's it's been a challenging month but um yeah we're doing we're doing well yeah it's like January 45th I know well yeah it it does feel that way good evening welcome would you for some water ma'am okay would you like some water I'm fine thank you okay all right um well welcome and thank you and it's margarit margarit okay well welcome so um we'll go around the room and introduce ourselves and then we've got um we've got four questions for you and I think you've seen those so um um uh we'll just start with uh Sissa Sissa folk in your management coordinator I'm a little hard of hearing so I have problems in these big conf these big big room should we move closer just to have a a little bit better projection of our voices I I didn't think I've got a device I didn't think to bring it but okay s f Senior Management coordinator uhhuh I am Julie uh wish I'm the community development director okay tonight's role I'm acting City manator I'm paty Foster Bolton W one Kimberly Wilburn at large I'm Rebecca Shack ward two thank you Brad wome the mayor thank you KY kley W four thank you Paula ra Ward three thank you dub Calvert excuse me city council at large thank you all right well we'll we'll take you through our questions and as as time allows we uh may have an opportunity for you to ask a question or two and if if you if we need to speak up let us know okay it's uh sorry I just tend tend to talk on so I okay I need to discipline myself I can't I can't imagine anybody having that problem um so the first question is please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for this position okay thanks I I tried to limit myself to the rule of three well good um I've really always had a lifelong interest in Economic Development you know this dates back to when I was a little kid I must have been a little nutty but you know uh thank God there wasn't Sim City back then uh and so basically we my interest of Li and this is over really the last 40 to 50 years it's um uh the whole issue of the the intersection really between um Economic Development all sorts of other factors uh infrastructure housing Public Safety physical um the whole physical element um you know whole issues of fairness how all these things are are are managed particularly at the local and Regional level the in terms of academics um went back EAS I grew up in Edina uh graduated from Edina High School uh you know back when Idina was a really interesting area where you know you had your 14 you know your 12200 foot Ranch houses you had your big houses and I'm really a recipient of that you know had an excellent education and that's one thing that I think really characterizes and I think is so valuable within this part of the country in terms of the backgrounds I grew up in a neighborhood where all the ladies you know worked in the School lunchroom and we all went away to Ivy leag schools and one of the things my friends and I all talk about is how sorry many of the places we live in and grow grew up in don't exist that way anymore and really you know trying to preserve that that sense of what you know we valued uh you know was partly perhaps why I was so interested in it even as a small kid you know you know because you see that right in front of you the you know so when way back East I actually took an economics background um but I took a lot of work City Planning and architecture because it was there and it was fantastic and that was just auditing things I lived across the street from the School of Architecture so I used to go in and sit in the uh you know all the uh a nice Library I used to go in there and sit in all the listen in on all the courses and uh you know why didn't I do that when I got out of school couldn't afford to basically you know I'm not trying to give a SB story here my life has you know been very easy and very good um but you know people make choices and this but but I did go into H I went to work on Wall Street but I you know it was interestingly I always tried to work in in consu in Housing Finance and interestingly I did a lot of work in Consumer Finance I went to work for Sears robu for a while and that was many ways was the only place you ever got credit so we did a lot of work on credit which also housing um the whole issue of how to finance housing you know we worked on manufactured housing projects we worked we had tax credits I've seen the gamut I've seen ultra high net worth uh houses you know what are you going to do with Pacific Palisades you know all the implications of that and the you know on on the infrastructure local communities and within within housing um you know what happens when you have long established communities like Altadena destroyed where people who live there cannot go back uh you know the whole issue is you know in City Planning where where you have you know again I'm sorry getting off a way on on tangents um but you know in New York City you grew up there the thing called the Irish Riviera it was out in Coney Island in the beach it's where all the firemen and city employees lived and they lived on the water when that came in and a hurricane that's all gone I've worked on projects down in Florida these are all market rate actually of providing housing for people who had great mobile homes right on the waterfront in Florida you know the Midwest retirees down there what happens when the developers come and and at least they had the opportunity to try and meet the meet the um um what was given you know the proposal but somebody had to organize those groups and buy it out well we had a guy who found it and came to us I worked for an investment bank at the time and this was way before formal initiatives or anything else but you always did projects like that or I always did them because at least I found them interesting um because as I said these were all market rate right uh but anyway sorry I'm getting so the these are sort of the interests I have you know what can I bring uh I've always sat on City Council meetings you know various places I've lived I've lived all over the country and I think that can give some value too you know cities that are going through what minona is going through Arlington Virginia is a classic example of of I think a bigger city with a smaller infrastructure uh city of mecan and Wisconsin which was right on the border of the Milwaukee County border was sort of very much like the old terms that people use they probably use it here too old mechan and new mechan mhm you know old mechan was predominantly more working class uh you know smaller houses um you know people on two acre lots limited city services to everything that's gone in there now is large right and expensive and people want to keep it that way they want their 5 acre zoning and they want their infrastructure and they don't want density and then of course what happens when you have an aging population who suddenly wants assisted living and large Apartments so so so these are all the factors okay I'm GNA move you on to the next question move on to the next question sorry yeah because then we'll finish some of these off right um so in the areas of Redevelopment Finance housing or Transportation what opportunities do you see the edac exploring in the coming years what what areas would you like carry down from number one yes because I'm not going to tell you because this also is number four I'm a newcomer three to four years you know I read stuff but I don't live it I don't know it intimately the way I do in some of the other places I've been um what I see as core structure just living here is how to preserve what's good about this place you have a lot of at this point aging housing how do you keep people from being crowded out of that you know I touched on that before uh appropriate housing um some people you know you need Apartments I'm now old enough where I need to live in an apartment at this point I can't carry groceries up anymore I need an elevator um I need space CU I taking care of somebody who's disabled I need one floor I can't live in a townhouse I can't live in a single family house with a uh you know basement garage the issues of infrastructure you know I lived over in a place where the power went out routinely if you need the elevator if you've got somebody who's on medical equipment that is electric powered you don't like to hear two days or a day you know uh police and fire you got a lot of assisted living facilities being built here how is that and I know reading you know reading in the various planning notes that that is a factor in terms of sighting you know when you have 3 four 600,000 elderly frail people what are the evacuation plans again seeing Pacific Palisades and it's not Wheeling people out and putting them in a in a in a in a in a in a in a uh Auditorium you know these are people you know who need 24-hour you know personal care assistance right yet are not in a nursing home that is subject to a plan you know how does a city of minona deal with that and then of course all the usual things infrastructure Transportation forward looking I'm I'm not going to be to you know use this time just please you know oh well thank you okay yeah I mean well you shared shared some of your concerns and I think that's that's helpful because those are the types of issues that that the edac tackles and and as with everything you have to prioritize and that's challenge because there's a lot of a lot of needs and diverse populations number three all right yeah so thank you um see number one and number two yeah that's right the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work and and and how do you see um the effort that effort intersect with the work of the edac uh you know it's a simple rule but unfortunately how do you enforce it you know they good nature was just on just common sense keep your eye on the core Mission and be fair you know be transparent about what you're doing be fair and you follow the law there is a body a wellestablished body of law out there be aware of it applicable law that we used in fed speak which was statute regulation internal policy and guidelines then of course there's the Golden Rule and standard ethics just treat people right and do it with common sense in context of official programs uh you do that you have a you know Bank regulation which I come out of is very interesting there's a whole concept of risk management you have your mission statement this is all part of governance you have your mission statement from your mission statement you have core objectives don't lose your don't lose your eye as to what your mission is which is delivering high quality services subject two various guidelines constraints um and you incorporate those objectives really almost throughout everything you do it's in your policies it's in what you do you are always mindful of them and within that unfortunately sometimes you you need enforcement some you know very frequently you need some form of audit you need some form of measurement um particularly then also within small organizations uh you know it's expensive and unfortunately there's a lot of bad diversity material out there I've seen it and there's a lot of great stuff too you know I retired from the federal government what we found you know there's a lot of really medoc stuff out there that was really expensive they were charging you know you know you know $2,000 $3,000 per person to come to to to to meetings fortunately it was a very well-educated uh you know and very diverse work agency I worked for so the various councils you know they had enough people just took it over I'm GNA move you to the last question here we no no that's that's okay but um I want to be mindful of time so you know based on your and and I know I can tell you've done your homework so based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and then also a challenge for the group um for me personally it's just local knowledge um you know and you just do that by reading catching up talking to people the whole usual factor I think I as as I set out there's stuff I bring as well that uh you know that I've seen and I've done a lot of site visits and things um in terms of a group you know this the whole diversity element you know my natural inclination is I dig in and read and I even I go visit I go to the seminars I go to trainings you know some people are incredibly efficient at just talking to people they know who to talk to they're accessible they're approachable they know who to ask you know this is the mix you have on a group I call them sort of the the the readers and the doers I am not a doer particularly um you know I just look at the backgrounds of people who are just really really Hands-On and I have people who come in and say how do you know all the stuff you do I said because I read constantly I said you know then there are the people who just go out and do it and just get it done you know um and and the challenge is having your mix of of of I think both you know you provide support to the different skill sets and constructing a group that has the personalities and the skill set that that mesh right all right well I think we're getting tight on time but if you have any if you'd like to ask us one question we'll do our best to answer for you yeah what do you need well that's a good question um you know I mean that's you know the edac is really um an important Advisory Group and we need diverse experience on that um you know diverse people but diverse backgrounds and and sub subject matter expertise and and and based on your comments I can see where you would provide some subject matter expertise on some of the uh you know on some of the issues that the edac faces housing housing policy things like that so so um you've got a very interesting background in a positive way yeah okay thank you it's it's a very high functioning commission and I'm the leis on to that commission it's a it's a very high functioning commission MH I can see that yeah and um I'm the liaison to that commission so I interact with those folks and it's a very humbling experience because they really do bring subject matter expertise from a variety of different perspectives and professional backgrounds so and that's as I said that's that's what I find out there's a whole network and these are all the kids I went to high school with you know I've got a friend who's in San Jose he sits on the Planning Commission there so he's always talking about what he's doing you know one of the fellows I worked with you know sat on the school board in Arlington um um um outside of Washington DC a friend who who's been on The Advisory board up in Ottawa because we're all retired a couple of us are disabled like I'm at the point where I can't leave for more than a couple of hours at a time I'm not flying off to vacation or anything else I got a lot of time that I could very good well margarite thanks for making the effort to come in here and see yes and thank you for sharing sharing some of your experience and knowledge with us okay sure and feel free if you ever have any ad hoc or whatever else I would comes up all right well very good well thank thank you very much for your interest don't forget to UNP your microphone that'll get you i' walked away yeah you won't be the first thanks Sissa well it got got a little warmer outside so that's good it's actually pretty nice out it is yeah oh don't forget your your phone we wouldn't keep it yeah what we left your phone a couple weeks ago right yeah I mean last year now but a couple years ago it seems like yes I definitely have some interesting stories to tell holy cow she's she's got she's got a lot of interest stories lived a lot of experience yeah lived several lifetimes it seems like she might have gotten this the yeah she might have thank you for that you're making me feel better or maybe not I don't know and I mean it was the young the 17 yearold that you said it to might have been okay well that's right yeah anybody else he could have gotten away totally good evening good evening Hi how are you I'm doing well how about you all we're doing well thank you good happy Monday well happy Monday to you thanks for coming in of course Genie you need water oh I've got something thank you all right you stick that on your shirt or your blouse or whatever and um we will go around and introduce ourselves and then we've got um I think you've seen the questions and um and of course you're welcome to use whatever you you want to use and um so we'll start it's an open book test good I don't and it's should it's rigorous enough but not too rigorous I'm sta fic Senior Management coordinator okay and I'm Julie wishnik I'm the community development director for tonight's proceeding I'm the acting city manager okay I'm py Foster Bolton W one Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca Sha ward two hi Brad woron the mayor okay KY Ki W four col ra w three dub caler at large what does that large mean uh the whole city so we have board council members and uh Dr Wilburn and I represent the whole city I see that's exciting yeah so we have four we have four Wards and so um and we have um elections every two years but we have fouryear terms so they're staggered terms and so the at large people the the two at large council members and the Mayor run in one year in in one election cycle and then the four ward council members which each represent a quarter of the city um uh run in cycle two years later so that's how it works so very cool excellent all right well we've got a got a handful of questions and we're glad to have you here so um the first question is please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for a position on the edac sure um I moved to minona about four years ago so I'm kind of new to the city um I'm a single mom educated through uh a couple of master's degrees I work at the University of Minnesota in uh neurosurgery and uh neuro uh psych and um perform research on brain mapping and uh Outreach and Parkinson's all that fun stuff and um um in my masters my focus was on ethics and so this sort of and and with research there's such a lack of diversity that it's come up at almost every single meeting about you know how do we how do we reach out and get more diverse research setes and so I saw that this was posted and I thought wow that's kind of uh that aligns well with what I've been thinking about not necessarily that I know how to fix it but that I do it for a job to an extent um I'm uh undergraduate from the U ofm for from genetics uh worked in the Bay Area as a uh as an engineer um uh c clearance top secret type stuff with genetics and implantable devices and then um kind of missed my family in Minnesota so I moved back here and did clal research started with monkeys that was terrifying so it moved into humans and and that's really my calling um my kiddo's 11 she goes to MCC I was laid off a couple of months ago which is also why this popped up in my head you know I thought oh I have some time time and uh during that time I completed a certificate to start teaching so now I also teach as a substitute uh started at Clear Springs last week and um got a really clearer view of the challenges that you know arise and um that was a little sad actually uh but there's hopeful things about it and so I feel kind of like I have a little bit of a rounded perspective and think that I could bring ideas to the table about inclusion and diversity but I I'm not necessarily educated in that and um so that was part of the the thing that interested me I like to Branch out so very good yeah all right next question um in the areas in the um the areas of Redevelopment Finance housing or Transportation what opportunities do you see the edac exploring in the coming years uh certainly there's a lack of affordable housing everywhere so what does that look like here that's something that we need to look at the data and find about what kind of spaces I wouldn't even know how to dig in until seeing what we're working with but town houses and apartment buildings and uh subsidized places for folks to live uh seem like it might be a priority um at the bottom line of all of the struggles is often finances um transportation I mean that that comes back to you know uh wasn't there um a light rail coming through minona some 15 years ago I'm not sure where that is right now my goodness 2027 is when knock on wood so is well that would help with Transportation certainly um you'd think um uh Redevelopment do you mean you're re using spaces that are empty right now well not just that I mean minaka is basically a fully developed City yeah so if we're going to get new development probably have tear something down and redevelop areas so that that's the challenge reuse or redevelop and and so forth so those are some of the things that the edac gets into okay okay so any thoughts on that I know that in Minneapolis they were thinking about repurposing um Office Buildings and certainly there's a lot of you know single story Office Buildings you see that might not be getting much much action right now with people sort of working on hybrids so perhaps that uh that could be something minona could do all right very good next question we've got for you is the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the edac um there are correlations to uh the folks who are suffering from a lack of funds and socioeconomic status right and so and then there's also correlation to minority groups and so your question was how do they relate or how well well how does how does the emphasis of on diversity equity and inclusion um intersect with the body of work um you know how does Eda Dei intersect with the issues that the edac will work on so Housing and Redevelopment the types of issues that you were talking about earlier right so Transportation yeah there is a correlation with minorities and those who have less funds and and access to transportation and other things like healthare and um it's really those folks who would primarily need the affordable housing and would benefit from getting them their children into better schools so including diverse folks on the planning side should help to represent the voices that might not otherwise have been there um and including diverse uh folks on the planning uh we include um hopefully ideas directly from the community because um hopefully there's a way to be able to do that I think yeah all right good and then um our final question for you is based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and then what will be a challenge for the group for me uh I'm noticing in the work that I do with Outreach for research it's really connecting with community members um for example we have at the U connected with Native groups but it takes two to three years to really make a solid relationship enough to be able to do work with them uh some groups just require a lot of a lot of time and a lot of trust and so the individual challenge for me would be to figure out how to make those relationships stick and to stick with it um first who to contact and what community leaders might be helpful and and then to sort of develop materials and places for people to meet to speak their concerns and um that takes a lot of effort and um finding those people uh require that they come to you for the most part or that you get very in you know involved in a lot of community efforts and uh meetups Health faires that kind of thing so that would be challenging um for the group oh gosh there's a lot of people in this group so I would imagine you know reaching a consensus is difficult um so how do you manage you know differing views and you know finalize something that everybody can agree on everybody loses eventually when you agree on something so I you know I guess that would be a challenge for a large group great well thanks for your comments I'm kind of looking at the schedule here and we're right up against we're right on time which is not doeses not happen very often good but thank you so much for coming in and um I uh you have very unique background and I wish you well thanks so much thank you you thank you for all that you are doing thank you good job on the time so far well we we we bought ourselves time we bought a little time yeah now it's going to be it's going to be more challenging for the hi good evening how are you good how are all of you we're good thank you okay thank you for coming in thank you and uh we've got a few questions for you we will go around and introduce ourselves quickly and we got about 10 minutes so we'll try and use that time time effectively so we'll start by fire left with Sissa I'm Sissa F Senior Management coordinator I'm Julie wish I'm the community development director and also acting city manager paty Foster Bolton W one Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca Shack Ward to I'm Brad wor the mayor KY kley W four Paula W 3 Deb Calbert I'm at large and that means I represent the whole city versus being a ward council member so we'll get right into it and I think you've seen the questions um so please tell us about yourself and and what in your background makes you the right person for this position yes uh first of all my name is Nicole Jen and I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to come here today um but I'm a dedicated professional with a strong interest in supporting Economic Development and Community progress sorry and I have notes because I knew we only have 10 minutes um spent a decade working in corporate retail at Target corporation uh where I've managed multi-billion dollar pnls and led teams of both new and experienced professionals I've also LED Target Women's Business Council which is an employee Resource Group for a full term of three years I moved to motanka two and a half years ago when I purchased my town home but I've always been strongly integrated in my community especially through my engagement through Girls on the Run Minnesota where I serve two terms on their board my prior work and volunteer experience has honed my analytical and problem solving skills which I believe are critical for success in this role in particular my ability to balance strategic thinking with practical implementation makes me a strong candidate I am deeply motivated by the opportunity to contribute to initiative like housing programs and Transit oper operations that directly enhance the quality of life for citizens in our city especially for those in vulnerable populations my personal interest in fostering Equitable Community growth aligns closely with the EAC Mission very good so um our next question gets a little bit more um detailed in what areas of Redevelopment Finance housing or Transportation uh excuse me I started at I'll say that again in the areas of Redevelopment Finance housing or transport what opportunities do you see the edac exploring in the coming years yes I see significant opportunity in addressing housing affordability through Innovative Financial models and Partnerships particularly as housing remains a pressing issue in our community at large additionally with the expansion of the Light Rail and bus transit I think there's potential to drive Economic Development around Transit hubs creating excuse me creating multi-use spaces that integrate residential economic and green areas finally leveraging state and federal funding programs for redevelopment and infrastructure improvements could enhance long-term sustainability and economic Vitality I believe that we must design and evaluate public systems like housing and Transit from a lens of a broader economic empowerment for more people it's commissions like EDC that could support creating better Pathways for underserved communities to access social Mobility opportunities and support generational wellbeing great thank you next question the city emphasizes diversity Equity inclusion in our body of work how does this effort our Dei effort intersect with the work of the edac yes diversity econ uh diversity equity and inclusion are foundational to effective Economic Development um and housing assuring access to affordable housing for all income levels promotes Equity within the city in transit PL planning it's essential to prioritize routes and developments that benefit underserved communities to better access resource and employment hubs from a Redevelopment perspective engaging diverse stakeholders can lead to projects that truly reflect the needs and values of the entire Community creating a sense of belonging this Focus ensures that the city's economic growth benefits everyone equitably fostering a stronger and more cohesive Community the commission should evaluate multiple perspectives across diverse communities communities of stakeholders as part of the decision making process to uphold Dei very good thank you thank you all right final question based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and then a challenge for the group as a whole yes um an indivi individual challenge for me will definitely be navigating the technical complexities of economic language specific to City management and other Redevelopment tools however I'm confident in my ability to quickly learn and collaborate with experts as I have managed to do across multiple roles in Industries in my professional setting for the group a significant challenge is likely to be achieving consensus on prioritizing projects and competing needs especially if the EDC has a diversity of opinions that truly represent our community there should be healthy debate that gives everyone a voice however I believe that open dialogue active listening and commitment to the long-term vision and Mission will help us overcome that challenge very good thank you so we've got a we've got a couple of minutes if you'd like to ask us a question you're welcome to do that wow yes um but you don't have to you don't have to the last person not everyone got a question some have some people were less efficient at their answer you were so uh so you got a couple of minutes awesome um what I mean I'm I'm really excited about the opportunity to contribute on this committee and so open to anyone but what is one of the things that you've been most proud of that you been able to do for the city all right I would say meeting significantly meeting our affordable housing goals is one of the things that I've been really proud of um and I mean I don't know that the city council per se can take all the the credit because we we have an amazing staff that does amazing work and I will say that this particular commission they are the professionals they are the professionals that are they are the professionals so you know when it I'm the leaon from the council to the edac and it is a very humbling experience because they come with a wealth of Professional Knowledge about Economic Development from all you know from construction to like mortgage and lending I mean it's it's a very interesting group of Highly skilled professionals so um but I would say just achieving our understand that and then KY did you have something you want to say too I I would I would just say um just been on a council for the last five years just seeing the city really evolve um around housing and then the diversity really good tackl things around diversity we have a Dei um the new pathway home ownership program and just i' I've seen the city really really tackled and really do a good job at doing it and so um I'm really looking forward to um continuing that work and just watching what our city done in the last five years just been really awesome like it's been good thank you any anyone else or we're kind of up against it time wise but that's good that's good well thank you so much for coming in thank so much for the opportunity well and uh yeah thanks for coming in your thank you for your preparation and the time you put into it CLE you put some effort in so thank you so much thank you have a good evening you too take care yeah it's scary okay well well I didn't have lunch today so I want to make sure we get yeah that's I want to I want to dedicate the appropriate amount amount of time to that's right we're on the home stretch now y about making employee employee no kidding no kidding hello good evening well thank you for coming in tonight thank you for inviting me it's a pleas good to have you so is it Rosemary or Rosemarie it's rosem Marie Rose Marie very good well so now we're not going to take too much of your time but we've got about 10 minutes for the questions I think you've seen the questions we'll go around and introduce ourselves and then we'll we'll start right in so all right Sissa and don't forget to clip the microphone thank you I'm Sara folic senior management coordinator okay and I'm Julie wish I'm the community development director but tonight I'm acting city manager as well okay Julie I'm paty Foster Bolton Ward one hi paty I'm Kimberly Wilburn city council at large I'm Rebecca sha ward two hi Brad woron the mayor nice to see you KY copi Ward four hi Paul I represent w three hello I'm Deb Calbert I'm city council member at Large which means uh I represent the whole city okay thank you is this sun is it working it is y okay the light's green so you're okay it's all good so got four questions for you so first please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for this position okay first of all IID like to thank you for the invitation to interview um my personal history I was born in 1948 and raised in Milwaukee Wisconsin in 2021 I made the move to Min Minnesota to be close to my sons and their families and grandchildren in the three years that I lived in Min tanka the friendly and welcoming residents of this city have helped me feel that this is now my new home 55 years of employment provided me with opportunities to develop skills in organizational process human resources and management I served on staff committees Parish C Council and volunteer boards great um in the areas of Redevelopment Finance housing or Transportation what opportunities do you see the edac exploring in the coming years um I see them continuing um as they have uh in encouraging and supporting the development of a growing housing demand of affordable available and safe housing Business Development and their success and addressing the needs of a growing population in minaka growth fueled by a diverse population diverse in age ethnicity economic and social status will challenge this commission attention to the effects of development and Redevelopment on ancillary Services Public Safety transportation infrastructure Health Care Educational Services will certainly affect these decisions good so um the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort the Dei effort intersect with the work of the edac I believe that uh Dei diversity inclusion and Equity efforts are as valid and necessary as any of the above considerations like Public Safety transportation in development and Redevelopment discussions and decisions very good and then based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and then more broadly for a challenge for the group understanding that we're listening to a very large group group of people who have needs uh that are valid on every side I think the challenge for the commission and me is that we are diligent about being open respectful and considerate of the needs of the many voices of our many Tonka residents very good well you did that very efficiently and we've got a couple of minutes left so if you'd like to ask any questions of us please feel free to do um yes um I would like to just find out um maybe a little more about the structure of what goes on with this commission um all right does anyone want to take a stab at that I'll I'll take a sorry sorry to keep talking but I'm the I'm the council liaison to the Evac sure and so I'm a non-voting member I literally liaz and and sort of pass information between the two bodies um and I will say it's a very collegial and highly professional wonderful that these are these are people that um are highly skilled in their professions and really bring professional expertise to the commission on anything ranging from you know they come from construction companies they may be you know involved in Mortgage and Finance and economic development and it's a very collegial Bunch so I would say you know just like any other commission we get packets that we read um and what they do is they advise us on the economic considerations of our of our development so for instance the Planning Commission deals with the land use issues having to do with development and this commission is just um the economics and so they give us recommendations you know let's say that we have some you know housing program they might give us recommendations on you know how much we should set aside in our Levy for you know our H uh housing uh Redevelopment Authority Levy for you know a particular housing program or you know just a big development um there may be um tax in increment financing and you know they'll help us you know work through does it seem like a good amount things like that thank you thank you I know that um I know what what little I've been able to learn about what goes into development and I recognize now in this current atmosphere so much is um is being asked about housing um and people I think are just tend to be tunnel vision and don't understand everything that goes into how that's managed and i' I'd like to think I'm a little bit more educated on it as I've read more of about it but I'm really eager to learn more great well thank you so much for coming in thank you yeah thank you and it's nice to see you and it's not too cold outside it to did a good job with the weather yeah we we control that one of city council members do can control I don't think we did either but anyway we'll go with it thank so much thank you for coming in tonight Rosary all right well I think uh we know we've done this enough we know what we need to do and uh thanks everyone and um Sissa when do you want our our scoring back um if you're ready you can give it to me tonight or did say by Friday and just to recap we are appointing two sustainability commissioning and adult positions and then two for edac well I have a pretty good idea who we're going to do for the sustainability commission but okay yeah I think that I think I think that's it okay thanks a lot we're good thank you very much Teresa just