[Music] meeting to order um tonight is Monday January 6 2025 I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and it's good to see everyone hope everyone's healthy given that all the things that are going going on and going around um and we will start with uh introduction and we'll start with Sissa sarissa fol Senior Management coordinator green Hein City attorney happy New Year Mike fun city manager paty Foster Bolton W one excuse me Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca sha ward two Brad woron mayor KY k w four Deb Calbert at large Cay Oliver meley w three er Dam assistant city manager and it's just us so and uh Welcome to our new six o'clock um start time I think that's U significant but we're still getting our sea legs on that I think um we're all chewing more than we normally do at the start of a meeting but that happens um and uh let's see well welcome everyone um and I Mike I'll turn it over to you um um regarding the uh agenda oh okay well I can keep talking you know me my apologies no no you're good you're good so yeah yeah thank you um Brad and Council good evening you do have one agenda item and it was on item 3E so with agendas those do get placed with the agenda item so often times when you go into your I legislate the first thing you want to do just to make sure you have the agenda is in the lower left hand side of that home screen on I legislate there's a a half circle with an arrow on it it's called a refresh button so of times you want to just refresh your eye legislate you should do that anytime you open eye legislate just hit that little refresh Circle and then by clicking on item 3E you'll note an agenda there and this is correspondence that came in after the packet went out and is a message um from a resident regarding the item so that is listed there otherwise there are no other changes to the agenda thank you all right very good so that takes us to item three which is business items and um next item up is um Planning Commission interviews and Sissa do you have these orchestrated so we're going to go in we've got the time here so we're going in this order so we'll have Mark Partridge first first yes and is he here yes and I can go get him and I don't know if mayor you want to say how are you going to do the questions all right so um yeah so thank you Sissa so we've got you we've got um four questions here um they were part of the packet I think in the interest of um efficiency in keeping things moving I will just ask the questions on behalf of everyone um in addition to that comment um I'm going to we you've heard it all from Mike this week um I want to really work on keeping our meetings moving and I for study sessions my goal is that we are going to adjourn our meetings at 8:30 um or before whether we get our all our work done or not so we're going to be focused and if we don't get to everything then we'll have to continue it to another meeting but our goal is uh we will be done by 8:30 tonight so I want to let everybody know that so let's uh bear that in mind as we do our work good evening Hi how are you Mr Partridge correct yes correct I'm good well welcome um so thank you for your interest in the planing commission and um let's see we'll just uh quickly introduce um council members council members are all here we'll go down the line say hello and then we'll we'll get into the questions we've got we've got basically four questions they're not stump the band questions but we are interested in hearing hearing what you have to say I think you've seen the questions I have all right I'm paty Foster Bolton W one Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca sha W two Brad woron mayor KY cop W four Deb Calbert at large Paul W three all right and then and then we have several staff members here and we'll just we'll just keep moving and and I I will be in the interest of time I'll just be asking the questions of you and um so the first question is please tell us about yourself what in your background makes you the right person for this position and then I will add speak to any land use experience you may have if you have that in any of that in your background sure uh well I'm an architect and um worked about 25 years in the private sectors partner with a couple firms here in town um took some time and ran an office in Asia but uh which prompted me to come back and uh uh I've spent the last 10 years as the university architect for the system for the University of Minnesota okay interesting and uh so I I know a lot about planning um half my job now is planning and certainly land use projects um when I was very very young I worked on this building I don't know if that's good news or bad news um so so I think I think I I understand a lot of those things I think uh I I don't know if if the uh commission has other Architects but I think there's a design perspective that's really useful I mean there's there's zoning and there's there's ordinance right there's math but I think uh just some common sense about parking circulation or uh uh the you know the fit of a building or the the fit in the community the scale of a building so um I'm hoping I would bring that excellent well thank you so um you've probably paid attention to what the Planning Commission does some and you don't have to say yes or no but the Planning Commission is faced with a lot of difficult decisions and differing opinions what is your approach when required to make decisions in this type of environment sure um well consensus is the the cliche I'm sure but but you know uh architecture is uh is consensus driven it's uh multiple voices I I'll lead a design team they'll have a consultant team the client is typically a team and I thought I knew a lot about consensus um until I got to the University of Minnesota and uh that is absolutely consensus driven and so um uh I I it's it's simply important obviously to hear all the voices and and and work the process and have patience frankly because a lot of a lot of these things can take some time to work out great thank you for that the city emphasizes diversity Equity inclusion in our body of work how does that how does this effort intersect with the work of the Planning Commission um well it's it's I I think minaka is slowly but but getting diverse it it's it's changing already and and diversity to me is healthy I think it's it's it's organisms are healthier when they're diverse I think I think it's good for the city I think it's good for the culture um and and in my planning experience I mean planning is about the future so so the Planning Commission has a great opportunity to kind of U sew the seeds of that change and that diversity so it's an it's an important role all right thank you and um our last question is based on your understanding of this of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and a challenge for the group um well 10 years ago I would have said the challenge would be to to to want to solve these planning problems and take out a pen and design right right um the the university has been really good for that because it's it's a it's a broader more institutional view that sounds wrong you know like a bad thing but it isn't because you have a context you have a um a bigger picture than than just a singular project or of singular development uh so that would have been my CH I don't know what my challenge will be now but uh um and then there was a second part to the question well um you know a challenge for you but then also a challenge for the group um the the peers on the on the commission sure and and boy the commission will know way more than I do about that I I was I would say again just kind of from what I know um I I think I think the challenge is is got one has to be growth um I think you can look at cities that have grown and and it is such a positive thing you can see uh cities that have grown and it's gotten away from them or you know um I'm struck with planning decisions the commission probably makes a 100 decisions you know in the in the in a year and there are all these kind of incremental uh decisions and then you you my my challenge I would think would be to look back five years later and go boy these added up poorly or you know we really had a sense of what we were trying to do so um it's not very articulate but that but but I think this idea of growth and then I I do think specific to minaka would be just the the challenge of of environmental challenge I think um i' I've lived many places this is a really special place and how do you protect that seems important all right well Mr Partridge I think you've um hit on a lot of what we what we deal with as a as a city council and as a Planning Commission do you have any questions that you would like to ask of us well just the the classic so how do you decide and when do you decide and and these kind of things but well we will decide pretty quickly and if you look if you're behind you you can see your your competitors and we've got we've got talking well that's you probably probably met them all out there and um and so yeah so we and we are selecting one person for there's one vacancy now so one of you will be selected one and three of you won't um but that's not all necessarily because these commissions are Dynamic we we retain your application um so that if another opening would come up we would go back to the people we interviewed probably than opening up a whole new interview process so you know we wish you well and um and and we'll see how it goes but um we're fortunate to have quality candidates than we indeed do yeah good well best of luck and thanks so much for having me thanks very much for being here thanks for coming in you're all good just gonna tell them they don't need to come in you know that that that's probably a probably a good move on your part thanks so much thanks for coming in was good evening and welcome thank you I'm John Baron excellent well Mr Baron um or or John we try to be more less formal in these um in these study sessions um I'm going to have my fellow council members just go down the line and we'll introduce ourselves to you and then we'll get into the question staff I'm in the interest of time we'll just save you um having to order staff go way back okay well that's good that's good so paty I'm paty Foster Bolton Ward one Kimberly bur at large Rebecca sha Ward too Brad woron mayor KY kley W for Deb Calbert at large Ward three excellent welcome so thank you and um you know just in the interest of time um I'm um I'll just be answering all the or asking all the questions you're going to be answering the questions and um I believe you saw the questions beforehand I hope you did yeah and so um this is no stump the band questions here we're just really interested and hearing your perspective and and so forth so the first question is please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for this position and then I'll add speak to any land use experience that you may have um as you pursue this position oh the gel pens don't have the longevity of the conventional old uh do do you need a pen there's a pencil here okay okay um my name is John Baron I'm re retired I grew up in St Louis Park um through high school um lived in South Minneapolis for over 40 years uh graduated from the University of Minnesota business finance uh I spent 26 years in the printing business finishing my career 20 years at the University of St Thomas as a director of printing and mailing um I have been running a very small business for more than 35 years it's kind of a hobby business but it's taken me all over the world and provides beer money and it's a lot of fun um and it has to do with vintage racing bicycles so if anybody wants to talk afterwards about bicycles uh I'm uh I enjoy international travel I've been to Japan many many times Italy many times um I moved so uh grew up in St Louis Park 40 years in South Minneapolis moved back to motanka 5 years ago I'm over just down the street by St Davids I love my neighborhood love my neighbors and um I didn't love my home until I completely rehabed it and um and so I took the Bold move of pulling permits on electrical and plumbing and windows and uh Demolition and that's actually one of my hobbies I have a lot of experience with plumbing electrical and knocking down walls um why might I be good for the position um I've I've had some pretty cool volunteer opportunities um I served for several years with the Longfellow Community Council neighborhood development committee and we were charged with um reviewing and approving and requesting modifications on literally every single commercial development that came before sou miniapolis is into providing um input by neighborhoods so neighborhood associations are real strong and so I served on that committee for for a long time and it was a lot of fun um I have been active in the hopen county Fixit clinic for more than 10 years uh I'm it's one of my gifts I can fix anything and I enjoy doing it so I we're going to the Swedish Institute and uh this coming Sunday and what we do is we teach people how to fix their own stuff rather than us fix it for him uh I'm a recent graduate of the city manat tanka police academy proud to say had a really interesting time and I served for several years as a a um City of Minneapolis um a council member appointee for click which is the capital long range Improvement committee and our job was to review every s it's a bonding thing but there was staff that dealt with the bonding issues we reviewed an approved or denied uh capital projects for the City of Minneapolis and presented to the mayor and city council at the end of each uh series of meetings that was really interesting stuff and I have a couple things to say uh water water is a million times more important than most people think um and we got a chance to tour the then new Columbia Heights uh treatment facility very interesting uh also I have an appreciation for how expensive uh roads and bridges are unbelievable okay I'm going to keep moving along here I think that answers well let's see I have experience with um I was a budget manager at the University of St Thomas with a three plus million dollar budget so I have experience with capital stuff uh expenditures um uh Finance in general being a small business owner um interest in the Securities markets cycling hiking international travel great great so that takes us well to question two yeah all right so the Planning Commission is faced with a lot of difficult decisions and differing opinions what is your approach when required to make decisions in this type of environment well I learned serving with some really smart thoughtful people in click um that I needed to listen I needed to listen to even though I would go into something and say oh well the Lowry Hill uh or the lowy avenue bridge is is super important and I would go into it think because I we review we've got a book this thick review all these I go into it thinking this or that and I'm just using Lowry Bridge as an example but after listening to my colleagues I would feel something different sometimes and I I it was an epiphany that I could um change my mind about something and there were times when I didn't and I try to change excuse me I would try to change their minds but anyhow listening um is uh the big thing for how to deal with difficult decisions and then follow my heart and my head excellent thank you for that the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the Planning Commission that's different from the question that you published really little bit okay I'll read it again maybe I misread it well read it again the city emphasizes diversity Equity inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the Planning Commission yeah interesting um well I think it has to intersect um and specifically how well take into consideration all of these things Equity inclusion diversity with every decision that's made uh and listen to your colleagues how exactly to implement it I mean that's it's I don't know it's too big for this mhm for this thing but keep it at the Forefront have Champions on the committee who will remind us to keep it at the Forefront and that includes I would imagine the city council pressing the commission to consider all of it in in every decision because it's in the best interests of of the the city the vitality and the public health right thank you so question four 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 I think it has to do with my big challenge will be learning I mean I don't have much experience with um zoning ordinances I haven't read the 20 240 comprehensive plan these are things that the city is uh put a lot of importance in and I need would need and it'll be a challenge to learn that stuff um and then how to align public projects and Commercial projects with those visions and that plan that's the Big Challenge and I really I mean I hate working on vision statements and strategic plans I mean it it bores me to tears but I recognize that that it's important and with a city like minetonka you''ve got to plan you have to plan so uh aligning this stuff with the vision of the city will be the big challenge very good so that's it for our questions but do you have questions that you have of us well you had asked about land use um my experience with land use I've read through a a bunch of the planning commission's um agendas and um minutes and stuff and I'm kind of fascinated with this stuff you know variances and Heights and trees and uh permeable um actually I I probably did learn quite a bit about land use in click um pervious surfaces and percentage of uh canopy coverage all this that it was part of these capital projects often times so without it being explicit I I probably learned a fair amount but it's not my area of expertise and um so I'll I look forward to learning more very good well thank you very much um it's uh I appreciate you're coming in today and go ahead yes how often does the commission meet typically it meets it's it's twice a month right twice a month yep and it doesn't some meetings get canceled and so forth and we have an occasional joint meeting with the council and so forth but but on average you can figure twice a month okay year round year year round like summer we you know there's an occasional break but but typically it's year round yep I mean developers come to us all the time with projects and uh and there's always issues so yeah it's it's a year round deal okay great thanks a lot for your time thank you very much thank you have a good evening thanks all right now should I intro have you in should I introduce you to I haven't I've just done the council is it okay fine I don't want to offend you no we're not offended thanks for asking okay well it's too late now only 50% continuous I I'm a Believer in continuous Improvement good evening hi thanks for coming in tonight yeah you bet you so you talked with your fellow candidates and uh um um we're not we're not going to challenge you too much but we're going to start by just introducing the members of the council who are um seated here at the table and uh and then we'll we'll give into the questions and uh thank you so much for coming yeah so paty hi I'm paty Foster Bolton Ward one and I'm sorry are you Scott I'm Scott Scott sorry about that I could have done that better Kimberly Wilburn uh at large okay hi Scott Rebecca sha hi I'm Brad woron the mayor ky ky wour Deb Calbert at large I'm Paul three so yeah so we've got we got we're just in the interest of time we're just doing the council members um but anyway we're really glad that you're here and we have you know a handful we've got four questions for you um maybe with a little embellishment on those but um uh so um we really appreciate you're coming in again I to be rep repetitious and U I believe you've been given the questions beforehand um so I'll just read the questions and then you just uh share your answers and um and then we'll have an opportunity for any questions that you have so um first question is please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for this position and then I'll also add speak to any land use experience that you may have yeah um okay I'm Scott I've lived in minaka now for four years I um I've spent most of my life here in the Twin Cities area um raised my family in uh Maple Grove but during that time I worked uh in local government in a variety of different cities um St Louis Park uh Brooklyn Center uh Golden Valley had a short stint in duth too um and that public uh local government experience was as a you know city engineer Public Works director so that's that's me my background professionally and um um I'm sorry what was the rest of the question expand on it so if um you know yeah a little bit about your background that makes you the right person so maybe you can embellish a little bit on on your experience and then any and it sounds like you have land exper land use experience and if you had anything that you want to share with us about your land use experience yeah um so you know a lot of I mean that's that's what's piqu my interest here a lot is um just Public Service in general having worked in local government and even though I'm retired I still have public service in my blood I guess you could say I still want to um you know serve my community and uh make a difference and I I just love doing it I don't necessarily miss being a city engineer or Public Works director but you know being part of the community and making a difference just getting plugged in I you know uh moved away I lived in Colorado for seven years and I've been back here and in at Tonka for four years now and um I'm slowly getting plugged in but I it's it's been a little bit of a I'd like to get more involved and you know I retired three years ago and it's like yeah it's time to you know stretch out a little more and get involved so um but yeah with land use um I mean just the local government experience they work very closely all the time with our city planners and Community Development folks and uh got a lot of involved with a lot of that I mean just from a public work standpoint you know there there's Transportation there's you know housing just all these things that wrap in you know it all integrates you know and so um that's what I loved about it a lot was just how everything interrelated and worked together you know we just you know we didn't work in silos you know we I love to just the whole you know saw the big picture not just with in your city but even outside of it you know Partners you have the county you have the watersheds and uh met counil and all that I I just love you know that whole big picture part of it and uh you know working with comp plans and land use and whether that's something big like a comp plan or um you know a a plan unit development you know multi-use plan you know you're looking kind of at the same thing at you know smaller level local level right so all those things yeah excellent well thank you so next question is the Planning Commission is faced with a lot of difficult decisions and differing opinions what is your approach when required to make decisions in this type of environment yeah I I think important thing is just running a good a good solid public process you know and standing by it um you know making sure all the stakeholders are involved and and they're being listened to um but I think running a good process is important from the standpoint of um you know it's important that people feel like they're being heard they're being listened to and uh you do care about you know what they're you know their feelings on on certain things because people do have strong emotions on certain things and um I think at the end of the day or end of the hearing or the end of the issue you know when a decision is finally made um you know not everybody's going to be happy of course but a lot of the time but you know you want people to walk out of there feeling like hey at least I was I was listened to I I was respected I was being heard you know that doesn't happen all the time but uh you know that part is important so I think it's knowing you went through a good process and you you stand by it even though you know you know you're going to get right and and it's always this balance you know you're looking you know at the the interest the greater interest what's good for the entire city you know you're looking at that but then you have the local interest that's you know the neighbors you know there's they have their interest too and it's trying to balance that making sure everybody's being heard and um you know you're making the right decision Vision standing by it so excellent well thank you next question is the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the Planning Commission um yeah when I first um saw that question I mean I mean the first thing I I thought of was um when I was out at Wheat Ridge which is a suburb of uh Denver out there right next to Denver we were putting together a uh I I'll just call it for Simplicity a sidewalk and pedestrian plan but it was really just kind of a multimodal transportation element of our transportation plan and traditionally we always just things like that you know we post this notice out there hey we're having this great open house meeting we want your comments feedback you know come to City Hall and we just you know knew that you know that just it just doesn't work I mean you do that anyway but um you know the community was changing you know demographic rically um you know people were looking coming to wheat rdge to younger families you know different demographics you know housing REM moving the you know denser housing kind of making this transition from more of a I'll call it a more of a traditional Blue Collar middle class white suburb but was going through a change you know and um you're looking at what's going on at present but also into the future 2040 so we knew from a transportation standpoint are we really reaching out to everybody that needs to be heard you know we've got these young families coming in we've got uh you know a lot of it too is you we realized people that are trying to get to Transit you know in certain destinations these might be single moms or dads working two jobs and you know how do we how do we get input from them you know and um how do we reach out you know and it's it's engaging our other partners too everybody from you know the business Community to the local food shelf I mean there's lots of good resources out there so I I think from a a Dei you know standpoint it's really getting everybody that needs to be in at the table you know getting them engaged and listening to them and I and I think from a a planning standpoint I know you're looking at doing an update to uh I think the zoning code zoning plan and those kinds of things are going to be wrapping right into that um yeah I think it's it's just getting out and doing a it's all good part of that public process yeah getting out and getting to the people that need to you need to hear from great well thank you um our our last question is this based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and a challenge for the group yeah I think for for the commission um yeah I think you're you're you're looking at the I'll call it the more dat to day things you see every day that come in you know that need to be evaluated it might be somebody you know doing an addition to their garage or it could be a major you know Redevelopment of some sort um those are all challenging I think it's um It's always important to do your due diligence because um I found that the things you think that are slam dunk that should just be on the consent agenda don't always work out that way and some things you you brace for the worst don't turn out so bad but it's always important to uh you know make sure you've done your homework and and you've done all your work so I think that's that's I think a challenge for the Planning Commission is um as as we look into the future here um you know just making sure we're we're seeing the good picture big picture long term but we're also looking into these needs that people have right now um and how the how that all fits together and it's can really be a challenge I think a challenge for me is um um I I like to to think of myself as a patient person but sometimes I'm not you know so you know processed person I I just remember one um issue we were dealing with in wdge it was a neighborhood traffic thing and we just went through this really really long public process and and uh at the end of it when it was all done we didn't really didn't end up doing much you know just a little bit of traffic caling you see you're thinking GE all that for just that you know and I got a nice note from one of the residents just saying saying you know thank you you have the patience of Job and I just kind of laughed because there are times I I am not patient you know you know because Engineers you know we want to fix things we want to move on so I I'm sometimes I I've been in front of city councils like oh come on make a decision there that is that is our job we sometimes forget that but it is our job so well um that's that's it for the questions but do you have any questions that you'd like to ask about us before we wrap up uh no I'll throw it back what what do you see as the biggest challenges not maybe not just for the Planning Commission but just in general that you see coming down the road here well how much time do you have that's a question but but I think I think part of it is um and council members please weigh in but you know um dealing with all of the diverse issues that we face I mean clearly you know we're a fully developed community and but we want to continue to grow we don't want to stop we're going to have a lot of Redevelopment but we also have we pride ourselves on environmental factors and trees and things like that and as you look at Redevelopment and the things that we're going to face there's compromises in each one of those I mean if we just love the woods um we won't Dev we'll just quit developing well that's not going to work for a city but but we have just many competing interests and it's like and that's why the Planning Commission is so important is because we have have competing interests we have values that um we know our residents value we want to be consistent with those but we also want to be a progressive city that is staying in tune with the times yeah and Council I don't know if you have anything if that was an adequate answer if you have anything you want to add smart growth and I'd say you know there are so many needs addressing those needs without ballooning the budget you know they're just so you know when we vote on stuff it's because people ask us to do certain things it usually isn't just something that that we individually think of so there's a lot of there there a lot of interest a lot of competing interest and needs and um trying to you know meet those needs without just you know everything's so expensive yeah but trying to you know pay attention to all those it's a challenge one one of the questions we we ask ourselves and then we'll wrap it up here but is you know we get asked to do a lot and we do a lot but are there things that we can stop doing because otherwise that budget just continues to balloon and uh we know that generally government has grown substantially over the years how can we you know kind of put a cork on the bottle but make sure we're doing the right things yeah and affordable housing yes yeah prioritizing yeah so thank you for coming yeah thank you yeah and um yeah if I'm not uh chosen for the Planning Commission i' I'd love to serve in some other capacity too I just feel like something to offer don't worry we got something for you we've got something careful what you wish for yeah we can put you to work not to worry all right thanks thank you thank you let's see I think it fell off right there I think I think you're good so much for the recording that's right maybe we'll get it good night thank thank you Scott thank you good evening welcome good to see you and you mayor and everyone else greetings um well we've got a handful of questions for you thank you very much for your interest in the Planning Commission and um we'll just go down the line and introduce the council members you probably know who most of us are but regardless we'll do that yeah and then um and then we'll get into the questions and I think you've seen those so paty foster wolton Ward one Kimberly Wilburn at large Rebecca shakor too Brad woron mayor KY kley Deb calber at large and I don't recognize you not on a bike like not on bik planet for a while Paulo w three yeah I won't ask The Unofficial question is did you ride your bike here but I know the answer that question so I I'll dispense with that so um yeah we've got we've got four questions and um again we appreciate you're coming in tonight and and your interest in the Planning Commission so the first question is this please tell us about yourself what in your background makes you the right person for this position and if you have any um uh land use experience that you'd like to share please do that as well okay um the first thing I wanted to share is that I've done a manc conquer resident for over 20 years my wife and I moved here in 2002 and raised our family here I know that kind of puts me still in the newcomer Camp uh a lot of the people being here for 40 plus or 50 plus years but uh that whole time has been in word three I've got a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering civil option from the Colorado School of Minds granted in 1990 I have 30 years of practice in the civil engineering industry and in my early career I worked more in an environmental capacity doing investigations on nuclear weapons plants and chemical weapons plants in the Denver area for remediation I also did some engineering related work there um more with landfills and dams so kind of the traditional civil engineering stuff uh the majority of my career however has been here in Minnesota where I've worked on several large Transit projects in the Twin Cities for the last uh 20 plus years and overall my experience in that realm has been both in public and private capacities um item number four that I wanted to touch on that the mayor kind of stole my thunder already I'm I'm a yearround um transportation bicyclist or bike commuter you want to say it um after so many attempts in the last 10 plus years to find ways to improve safety for myself and all of the other so-called vulnerable Road users um I've become somewhat orange pilled by what I see being successful in other places and this makes me want to do most do things here to make people more aware of what can work and also then work to make it possible and happen here um when I investigated ways that I could work here to make this happen at the city level the Planning Commission and the park board were the two options that mentioned Transportation specifically in the case here uh multimodal Transportation last a somewhat synergistic Confluence of information that I've gained as part of my Transit experience and my Transportation experience has shown me how important or even vital land use decisions and practices are in enabling us to approach sustainability and resiliency as we see how much we need to do to address climate change and it seems that the Planning Commission has at least some level of involvement in those th land use uh to strictly answer the last part of your question mayor I since I have been more of an IT person for the last however many years of my time here I don't have anything that you would strictly call call land use experience um but the the kind of Confluence as I mentioned between being on a bike for so much of the time and kind of paying attention to all of that environment that people are out there talking and how to improve it and combine that with the transit gives me at least some level of familiarity it's but it's not direct experience well and that's you know and you're kind of like the rest of us then because you know we didn't walk into these jobs as land use experts but we get to make land use decisions and that's what we're looking for but but I want to touch on that because so much of what the Planning Commission does is land use so that was not an attempt to stump the band trust me so uh the second next question is the Planning Commission is faced with a lot of difficult decisions um different and differing opinions what is your approach when required to make decisions in this type of environment uh my Approach in that kind of environment and and generally any any kind of environment is when presented with a problem or an issue or a goal is to listen to and work with relevant stakeholders using the established criteria in this case zoning or the comp plan or others as guidance in a collaborative manner to arrive at a solution that is as much a win-win as possible for all parties and that kind of um comes from working that way in an engineering environment too where we have very similar strict guidance if you will on individual projects like here's our specifications and here's the plans and this is how it needs to be done and oh we had we found something unexpected so how are we going to fix that how are we going to make it work listen to the contractor listen to the land owner listen to the owner of the project and and try and make it work very good thank you um next question is the city emphasizes diversity Equity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the Planning Commission I would have to answer truthfully again I'm not entirely sure how it intersects directly but I will say that I support it diversity inclusion and Equity myself I feel it's long overdue um a recent area of interest for me as an example is um with the the Mills church group where it it kind of resulted in me asking the question of myself could my immigrant forbears have lived here in minnona if they came here now and then kind of a follow-up question is that are my kids going to be able to live here and the answers to those um really kind of led me to to say I think we can do better and hope we can do better and that's part of why I wanted to be involved just to try and help make it better um I [Music] do want to uh touch on I guess not not a disclaimer or a or a gotcha or anything I I think such approaches do need to be uh still strongly considered within the other constraints that we have to work within I'm sorry can you say that again I just couldn't hear what you said I think we have to work within the constraints that we have like the zoning rules and the comp plan to still achieve the ultimate goal but we do absolutely need to include all three of the diversity and equity and inclusion as part of that consideration it can't just be here's the rules too bad so sad all right so 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 a challenge for the group uh based on what I've seen in the the Planning Commission agendas and the web page kind of backs this up too for the commission most of the stuff the commission does or maybe all of the stuff the commission does is reactive somebody is going to develop or redevelop a parcel in the city and they come they have to come to the commission and bring the the information needed seeking approval um the commission is also somewhat constrained as I mentioned before by the uh zoning rules and by the comp plan but also by the fact that you know people have rights to develop their property as they see fit within certain limits um I suspect combining all of that together it will require a good bit of patience and um restraint maybe on my part to try and proactively incorporate any kind of Transportation requirements which I I don't think the Planning Commission can can do on anything that it reviews it can't say You must do this I I understand I think I've heard in previous meetings that they can encourage things but that's still kind of up to the the party requesting the the permission um so for me patience and our restraint to to not push too hard as far as the group goes um since I don't know any of them I'm unfortunately or maybe fortunately going to have to ask for the opportunity for a rain check maybe I can get back to you on that one maybe all right maybe all right reasonable so um before we wrap up and and again thank you for being here um do you have any questions that you'd like to ask of us before you leave um I think I overheard the previous interview we when he left we told that he would find out next week so Med on the eth isn't on the table right right um are there opportunities for remote attendance or is it I mean I assume it's really strongly encouraged that it's in person um I don't let's see I'll have to defer to um the City attorney on that I mean we do as the um the data Practices Act applies to us all including the boards and commissions but I'll I'll ask uh our City attorney who is more um fully apprised of the issues and I am so the open meeting law does allow members to participate remotely they typically need to do it from a public space so we have to inform if you're going to be away you need to inform the staff Le on of the public location where you would be participating from and then um they have to post that in the notice for the meeting so that people know where you are in in theory so that they could also attend where you are um and then there are some very limited exceptions where if you were sick um and unable to attend in person you could attend remotely but without um without disclosing the location okay and I would just say in practice the um you know if you say well I travel a lot I probably have to do 75% of the meetings remotely that probably would make you not an ideal candidate but if from time to time you need to be absent I mean that and we've we've all been there and some of us sometimes you miss meetings and sometimes you choose to um to um participate remotely but you you'd certainly like to be at least at a majority of the meetings per in person uh touching on that I my current business travel isn't really a thing so okay it's more um I thought that I saw it happen a lot with especially the uh Council in recent years not so much anym right well it was Co during during Co the um um that was a state of emergency and the rules change under a state of emergency so we did a lot of remote meetings um under those circumstances when the state of emergency was over then we have the more restrictive and more limited data practices um rules that um that the City attorney shared so okay counc go ahead is there an expectation that you're there for 75 80 90 whatever percent I I'd say I'd say I'd say 75% would be you know would be a a a bottom threshold ideally ideally more but I think I think it does say at least 80% okay thank you yeah all right no other questions all right well thank you for coming in good to see you thank you for having me we'll see you we'll uh you'll you'll hear back next week and we'll we'll see you out on the roadways with the uh camont I have with me tonight you won't miss me very good I appreciate that I thank you take care Luke thanks happy New Year all right not bad very good so we did that that brings us to Item B which is the 2025 legislative breakfast and I will turn that over to Mr funk all right thank you Mayor Mike rather thank you Brad so this is a as well Council as you know you talked about this in December so this is a carryover agenda item from the December study session and bringing this back to you for your consideration this evening and I I'll kind of walk quickly walk through the slide that was in your packet uh just be before I do that just to again kind of tee up what's coming up and that is this Friday we do have our legislative breakfast and so uh doors are open at 7:15 I believe sarissa correct so doors will be open at 7:15 our legislators obviously are all invited they will be starting at 7:30 so we'll promptly start at 7:30 go for an hour is it in here okay correct yep so it it'll be in here sissle make sure all the doors are open for you um on Friday morning so what we decide tonight is um for a couple reasons one it's it's your legislative priorities these are uh items of uh Statewide policy that are important to you as a council what's been included in your packet and this was included in the December study session as well was the league of Minnesota City's policies uh they have over probably 200 I didn't count them but probably 200 different policies that the league tackles every year Metro cities has three-digit numbers in their policies and then also as a city we belong to mlc they too have legislative priorities uh those are all shared with you so hopefully it was a reference so hopefully you had an opportunity to kind of cross reference those uh if you didn't that's okay because there's a salot there and I would just tell you just uh from what I know from all three of those entities many of those policies do overlap maybe some structural differences in their sentences but generally a lot of overarching themes uh together and and many of you know that because we do have a strong representation with those three entities and during their legislative policy making um so you are all included in that what we do then is as a city uh pull out what are what is most important to us so that I'll quickly go through that and really looking for you tonight to hone in on what these are because that way it's also instruction for us as staff knowing what your legislative priorities are as we tease out these questions at the end just kind of knowing uh what staff does with these how do we carry these forward and how staff again Champions these at the capital during the upcoming legislative session uh while I do that one thing I'll first note is down in the lower right hand corner of the graph or chart up on the on the screen is there's an aster it says LMC mlc Metro City supportive policy so I went through uh the policies that were noted in the staff report so it's the same policies and highlighted which ones also are reflective in those uh different a agencies uh so then starting off with bonding uh again none of these are really not really new for you but just again kind of covering these again bonding we have the Opus Area Public spaces and the marsh uh just to give you a quick update on that uh staff has submitted paperwork uh on those two bonding issues we submitted paper work last year and part of the whole legislative process when I say paperwork there's lots of forms that fell out um we've been asked to do that already so even though the legislative session doesn't start till January 14th I believe it is uh the legislator is already with their Capital bonding projects that process has already started so we've already submitted paperwork for those two obviously those are are noted for the obvious uh with taxes this is our tax increment financing extension this is a request that we had last year if you're call uh no Taff Tiff legislation uh was approved by the legislature so we're looking to put that back on That's essential for us so again that's not Aster of course but certainly motanka it's important that we get that extension uh last year we use golf public as our lobbyists we're looking to utilize them again uh we as staff have been in communication with golf public both on the bonding Bill requests and the Tiff legislation so they're geared up for that in fact Goff has already we've been talking to Patty AUM and and gearing up for that bill this year so they're already starting that work uh behind the scenes as it relates to housing uh four items noted there one is flexibility and tax increment financing for affordable housing that shows up in mlc as well uh that's a strategy that uh staff has talked about I think we've talked about it as a council as well Tiff being an important housing tool the second one noted there U States support of affordable housing legislation while maintaining local zonning Authority and decision-making I I would say this is just my observation I think in talking with the council this is probably the one where you might disagree the most on uh as staff we Tred to find language that I tries to find a compromising position in there um so certainly open to hearing these are yours again Council so looking to see how we land on that type of language uh the third one there is pres preservation of Noah which is naturally a for naturally occurring affordable housing uh that too is a position by mlc League of Minnesota cities metro cities it is for us too and then the last one noted under housing is group home flexibility uh you've talked about that again in December and many of you have talked about it you know the mayor's talked about it um that policy also shows up in the agencies that um the other agencies that I've noted so nothing new on that front but for minak I know that's important to us especially with the um the setback that that distance setbacks I've had a conversation with golf public about that as well here in the last couple weeks just to give them a heads up that if if the if we again adopt this as a policy uh we look to golf public to see how they might help us Champion either Statewide legislation or even special legislation with group home U with group homes City of Minneapolis a couple years ago got special legislation that allowed the City of Minneapolis to regulate group homes within 1,000 ft of each other so a distance separation of a th000 ft last yeara um hired a lobbyist uh and they their lobbyists tried to get the same special legislation as Minneapolis that did not happen I've shared that with um golf public and golf is aware there's some other cities like Edina and a couple other cities that are interested in this not sure where that will go but just want to give you a heads up that if assuming tonight that this is stays on the list that I continue to work with go public on how they could help us uh with that piece of legislation moving on then to local control two items noted there one is the local option sales tax again that is also noted in the agencies um that that are listed below and then Emergency Medical Services this is also a carryover from last year so we had noted in 2024 this being a priority for us both on accountability and response times as well as the primary service area uh so that's uh back on uh the uh docket here uh also then family and youth support this is also a carryover from 2024 which is Juvenile Justice resources and family support resources talking with Chief Bor boom that that still is a need uh in terms of making sure we have the right resources and helping our community helping those in our community and helping law enforcement also in their efforts and then three items were noted for awareness topics one is data practices and this is I think also a carryover um just some quick background on that I 10 years ago I served as the chair of a data practices task force with the league of Minnesota cities and in fact I think that's probably when I first met Karine uh on that task force because Karine is on the task force representing motanka and the issues on data practices have been unchanged the last 10 years it's it's a tricky one it's dicey it's hard uh from a city perspective we always have concerns over just the volume of data practice requests we get and the amount of resources it takes in terms of staff time printing researching fulfilling data practice requests that's always been shared with legislators as a concern finding some legislation and and balancing that is very very difficult uh the newspaper lobbyists have a strong lobbyist and so anytime the newspaper Association sees attempts to change uh data practice law they're they're in full force uh an opposing position but nonetheless I know it's still a concern for cities it comes up still all the time at the league and and other places as well uh ebikes you've mentioned ebikes and talking with the League this is um important for them as well uh the league has also heard from a number of cities just on how ebikes has become a challenge not sure what the solution is and the league has talked about having a task force so we might see more coming up uh with the league and creating a task force to work with the legislature on what possible rules could be developed around better regulations or tighter regulations around ebikes and then last note noted is election law uh the wording here is early voting flexibility and really the intent was to look at um the 46 days um prior to election day as currently as the election um early voting starts 45 days prior to election day uh the league and Metro cities has noted this as a concern as well and we're it's noted here for motanka also so those quickly going through the list again many of these have been unchanged since December kind of massage this based on the comments the council had at your December study session in talking with a couple council members today there might be some um discussion on perhaps environment uh and then I also had a conversation with paty on a potential awareness topic um to be added so I'll stop there and I think maybe count turn back over to you Brad and facilitate conversation we're just really looking tonight on honing in on what our legislative priorities are we have to quickly turn this around so we're ready have to have a hand Friday Friday morning yeah well I think um Council any yeah any comments or additions or thoughts that you have on just a quick observation it's was very interesting I thought that you're add adding the asterisks indicating you know it seems like we don't have a ton of original ideas here in minona because I mean these you know these are consistent with you know what our membership organizations are but I think this is important because it says these are the areas that we want our membership organiz ation to focus on and these are important and and we're elevating these with with with our legislators so I think that's good so any comments or additions DB it looks like you have a comment I have I have a couple uh one is thank you for saying that mayor and I would say that moving forward actually if there's some way I I don't want to make more work for staff but to at least do that or maybe even have list a few numbers in a table that that list the policies so that we're not digging through documents that are 86 to 150 pages long so that we can see where the their policies intersect where our member organization policies intersect with our priorities because it just makes it easier to make the case right without digging through some of us are familiar because we're on policy committees but it's still a lot to dig through and then the only other thing that struck me was that the environment is so uh important and we have done things like we just approved the climate action adaptation plan um there there's nothing there's nothing to do with sustainability climate environment we have a huge tree die off that's a Statewide challenge that maybe you know I think it's going to be hard with our new legislature but you know just finding resources to replenish the tree canopy support our cap and also there's been a lot of talk even tonight on uh CNN there was a posos another uh P story it's becoming a bigger big and bigger thing the state has done great things passing good legislation we have a department that deals with peos now but the EPA just encouraged Farmers to spread biosolids without having to test for posos and I'm in a group um that has gotten presentations from a group of scientists about the tests that they're doing with posos on farms in Maine where they've spread biosolids and cattle is dying so I think there are some environmental things in there that are going to affect our city and possibly cost us a lot of money um so that that would just maybe it's an awareness issue but any one of those things would be good to put on there other comments py yeah Mike and I talked about it today about the failure of Exel to respond to the residents and stuff and to um it's it just happens so much in this city it seems like that we've become their service center their customer service center and we have like we can do as much as we can do we we still don't have any power to like I feel helpless right and we need to talk about that like somehow gain a little bit of holding excel's feet to the fire yes and we we do the best we can but well and I I would just add because I think it's really a good point paty and I hadn't really thought about it too much but I think you're saying that we've become their their customer service center and perhaps that's what we ought to push for is say well if they're going to if they're going to pass the work on to us um we want to be able to collect a fee for doing the work they either need to they either need to take control and provide the service or allow cities to add a franchise fee that can't just be a pass through like their other franchise fees are so that you know let's let's have a policy that reflects the work that cities are doing because we are not alone this is not a minetonka problem this is a problem in virtually every city and then you look at California and you know where they're burning you know the burning half the state down due to um due to issues with power lines and so forth and and we need accountability with these monopolies I mean Monopoly power is significant yet yet and we it's regulated we have regulated monopolies but in reality they're acting like they're not regulated they're just monopolies and and I think elevating that issue is probably a very good idea yeah and they just dismiss the residents complaints and their issues you know you I think they feel often times if you ignore it long enough it'll go away right so and thank you oh no no you're good yeah thank you Brad and just a piggy back onto that the suggestion I want to go let's we want to go back to environment but Piggyback in on um paty's comment as an awareness topic um I would suggest that we note something something along the lines of utility company accountability and customer service it's it's more than Excel Energy fiber absolutely abely and and going back to what Deb said to I just had a thought because I mean you know clearly the political landscape is different in this legislative session than it was in the last one but but you know you also hear um very kind of red oriented people talking about well you know we can solve the climate crisis if we just plant a trillion trees and while I don't think it's if it were that simple we just we have that would be being done but but I do think having having a request on reforestation and perhaps State funds for reforestation because of the importance of trees and adding oxygen to the environment and you know again trees are not going to solve all all the environmental issues but they are a big part of the solution and maybe being specific about having you know State funding available for res forestation may be something that all cities would have an interest in so I just throw that out as a comment Deb I don't know if you what you think and I mean it is a Statewide problem and the things it does solve things that are very quantifiable whether you know because it's just data driven so the urban heat islands and all those things and it's just been I mean it looks bad out there because it is bad and it's just you know it it it's a thing that every Community is dealing with across the whole state and I mean at least it's it's climate action adaptation plan adjacent even if we can't get support for implementing the plan necessarily but I just felt like it's one of our big Citywide values and it was L it wasn't reflected in anything um I think that's a good catch so um and it's a big sustainability thing I just there's so many sustainability things we could talk about but I thought that was kind of a lwh hanging fruit that people on all sides of the aisle would you know people across the political Spectrum love their trees here in menaka so even most developers agree with yeah even most other thoughts Mike Paula there you are yeah um I actually had some as well and thanks Mike for cross referencing I know we talked about uh doing that today and and I did a lot of that there actually is uh St stuff in the policy positions about extending the current reforestation plan so that is something that we could do um I also was concerned um to make sure that we had something that reflects the cat plan and some things that I cross checked across the policies that do reflect um on issues of our cat plan and I think I sent a summary in the notes where I found them for you to you Mike um is construction codes um mlc uh or um yeah LMC and Metro cities I think uh both talked about sustainable construction codes being Incorporated more into the State Building Code and also including appendix of more advanced standards and um allowing cities to adopt those Advanced standards as well as making sure we're getting greener with our building code I think that's something that you know is a no cost we're not going to get anything that cost money this session aside from bonding I don't think think it's going to be highly unlikely so um you know I was kind of looking for things that wouldn't cost money um the other thing is regulation of pesticide and environmentally harmful items um so not only would we like more State regulation but allowing more local control to regulate right now there's a few cities that have been allowed to do that and extending that to other cities smaller cities would be helpful and would be in alignment with our cap program um also waste and storm water reuse especially at the residential uh level in terms of gray water reuse there a lot of people now who are wanting to build and um reuse gray water and I think we need more flexibility in order to do that again these could all be under the package of one thing and then um producer retailer packaging laws I know that we have one that starts in 2032 but you know could just like the State Building Code um you know could there be things that you know whether it's banning plastic bags or requiring compostable takeup materials earlier than the 2032 uh state law that's going to take EV so those were all things that um you know kind of were and I I included in my notes to you Mike um where that was all all of those were reflected in one way or another in uh LMC or Metro cities uh priority policies uh legislation and as are Authority for cities to use traffic cameras that's in both and uh given my particular interest in traffic calming and we're talking about ebikes I thought that could be uh potentially a propo um and then was just wondering if we're going to have Highway 7 anything about Highway 7 in there given the number of accidents recently um if if we have that I I was just curious not that it has to be included or anything but we've talked about that in terms of the study group and money for that if there's anything going on with there since this is a hopefully going to be a bonding year if we have any plans for that and that's more of a question than a suggestion so those are kind of the things that I that stuck out to me as I was going through it this weekend and I think you know I I think we've got on Highway 7 I think we've got the process in going and we don't have any specific asks because we don't have bonding asks right now we we're really waiting for that mot study to come back so so then we can be specific and basically we've told people both at the state level and the federal level that we're working on this these things are in process and we will be back because there will be specific asks but I don't think we have them today Mike do you know more than that no we don't um I don't have much more to add the stud yep ongoing and that is that is going to fuel what what we seek um KY I guess I have one um topic that I don't see up there um I would like to see something addressed around um small businesses or new businesses um I don't know um you know what we're doing in the southwest area or in minona but um you know I would I would like to see more support um with new businesses and smaller businesses so maybe a conversation around that with our legislative um folks and I don't know exactly how that would look but just making sure we're starting to really push support for businesses I can tell you um that we um I had a meeting today with Peter FR of Greater MSP he's talking specifically about you know how can we make public private Partnerships focus on business more more effective because he said in his experience the Public Public the private public private Partnerships have been very much about the private aspect of it being focused on what gets done and the public being more focused on process and he said we we need to be more action oriented in terms of that and I think that and we were talking about there was one example of there's a Bankers group and there's a lot of dead Bank branches around the metro and how could we bring the interest of he cited one example where there was a bank branch and um they put together developers and um and these banking Executives and they kind of created a a a bank a new bank branch kind of like the Highland Bank situation where in the main level there was commercial and there was Banking and then but also affordable housing and you know and I and I know that we the the Wells Fargo Redevelopment site we heard from former council member Tony Wagner said well we're our our our vision 10 years ago was different than that and he was disappointed because that Redevelopment there which I think is we we've all agreed is a a good project but it doesn't contain any housing and he was really disappointed at that and this idea of kind of juxtaposing those and focusing on business opportunities and how can we you know that how can we you know bring our values together focus on Dei on support of businesses and our support of housing there might be some interesting um opportunities there so this is a pretty General conversation it wasn't specific yet but Peter FR is going to be speaking at the Regional Council of Mayors um next month and I and I think that we're kind of talking about how to make how to make um collaboration with um with greater MSP and with cities more action oriented and I and I think that's consistent it's not necessarily what you were talking about it's consistent with it you know because I think we want to be committed to our business community that makes sense I do think about you know how do you combine those two public and private and just see quite a bit because I keep saying this I go to Minneapolis and I just see Minneapolis doing things that even I was in St Paul and I'm just like I would like for ananka to start doing more um to support smaller businesses in our SE I don't know is that a State Legislative thing that no you know I don't you know I that's what I said I don't really know I mean I feel that juvenile does its resources and family supports resources I feel like you can have resources for businesses if you have that as a topic Fair you can have that as a resource for businesses yeah no that's I don't know what it looks like or how it's written up but that's kind of my thought process well I think you know I think um you know bring that up topically I think on Friday that that that works I mean we're going to have a discussion we're not going to just make a presentation be done and uh get input on and and then if and then you've cited Minneapolis St Paul if you have any specific examples that that we can better understand what we'd be asking for I think that would be helpful okay I know Mike do you have anything to you want to add yeah thank you Brad maybe a couple thoughts um with the awareness topics what I would suggest adding is and we've already talked about it is the utility utility and fiber optic company accountability and customer service the other awareness topic is we we could at least mention Highway 7 and the of what's happening what's coming so we could briefly mention Highway 7 and the importance of Highway 7 so we could add Highway 7 as awareness propic yeah perhaps changing the wording so family and use support perhaps calling that support and resources and we could have juvenile family and small business business yeah I think that something that effect fact that keep what does everyone think does that work for people that works and then with environment adding an a of its own separate bullet point and what I have written down I have a few things noted down just sustainability EAB our cap support our cap posos gray water pesti pesticide all I can do some I think I've got enough here to kind of capture something about environment sounds like there's support for having an environment section yeah I think that's good I mean I think we we don't want to risk yeah having too many things and just watering everything down but but I do think and I agree with what Deb said that the environment is so much a part of our identity that it's not having it here does appear to be kind of a hole for minaka so I think adding that is good and and and I think KY makes a good point we we do want we do want to be support of of you know small businesses are entrepreneurial businesses but also we're proud of our our um our business community and um we feel that we've got a strong business community so I think a mention there is worthwhile but I like the way you did it tied you know providing support these are three three areas that we think are important it's great does that work for everyone yep good and we haven't watered it down too much hopefully yep all right does that work for you Mike yeah that does it's I mean these are yours so yeah no no I no I get it and I know we were trying to keep it so limited but you know to get it back and just realize there was nothing about one of our pillars in there our cor yeah our core yeah and with the environment I'll do a little cross referencing to to make sure it's in alignment with somewhat in alignment with the other folks after our conversation might yeah I was careful to go through and and look at things that you know you you asked us to be or at least me to be specific in terms of what so I was you thank you I haven't had time to look at it yet I briefly saw I mean I thought that was kind of the Criterion so you know hence because it's helpful and why you want to be S it's not only helpful for staff but where it's helpful for our legislators is to say all right well well we we want you to as a legislative matter be sensitive or be you know watch out for the environment well what does that mean what does that mean what legis what do you want me to do what do you want me to do to act on our behal so that's why so I have very specific that makes sense moving on y y yes all right so I think we're good a couple of quick comments you know I think I mean this is a a meaningful list but it's a it's a manageable list and I've seen too many cities that put together big policy documents and hand them you know and try and talk to all of them and they speak in paragraphs and P PES rather than in bullet points and I think that if we can do a one-pager and we can have a profitable conversation and make our key points on each of these we're going to be way ahead um of trying to provide too much detail because I mean it's a fire hose for all these um legislators and then particularly new ones it's even more of a fire hose and and we we want to support them we want to ask for stuff but we want to um make it simple and understandable so for all good we'll we'll move on yep all right find my right page here so um that's a legislative breakfast that's on Friday 7:30 show up at 7:15 or so um next is and I'm going to turn this over to Mike the 2025 city council study session work plan okay thank you sariss you just want to again I want to keep things moving can you back up real quick two slides we put on their committee assignments I had to try to just look at where where legislators are serving yeah uh these are not final um I was so I was able to locate representative AUM representative felner so the house was pretty clear on where folks are serving uh the Senate looks to be undecided at least what and I'd reach out even to the league so with with sosinski he's on those committees for the newest elected Senators either they haven't been placed on a committee or they haven't updated their website so I Y well there's only one right since Ann was the only one who is I've been told she's on Transportation transportation and maybe capital I think capital and maybe education things that you but definitely um transportation so once we get this updated we'll get it updated for the council that way you know to where they all serve good okay thank you all right stud session work plan again carry over from last uh meeting we did put in here the mometer um and then council member kley was absent at the December study session so she had a chance to then also participate in the ment meter a couple things changed uh one of those that was elevated with three um three inquiries was youth programming so that has been I slid that over into the study session work plan so any anything that has a one or zero one or two is not reflected in the study session work plan for next year the items with three and four R so with that I than Sissa thank you so just to quickly uh run through the changes uh what's that what that do you make a change what's that do you make a change earlier do we not I didn't update it we did okay yeah I'll verbalize it yeah so this was I think what was in your packet uh on February again I kind of note the changes U well we have ebikes well let's just quickly run through the list uh so January well we don't need to talk about tonight uh January 27th we will do the senior Advisory Board and edac sustainability interview so that'll be at 5 o'clock okay 5 o00 prior to that January 27th council meeting so we'll start early on the 27th for the rest of the interviews I think it's at 4 four o'clock yes all right four o'clock four o'clock so four o'clock on the 27th reason we did Planning Commission tonight is so we could get those folks selected because there's important Planning Commission meeting coming up in February first part of February and we just timing wise we need to get those done tonight so January 27th we'll start early then in February study session we'll do the the parkboard interviews the we'll have Peter letherman here on the community survey group home clustering and ebikes March will be director presentations on the budget Trail connections and then we'll have with each quarter a 30 minute open time for March and if you skip down then to September both those are 30 minute open sessions SLC conference debriefings so that'll be a couple opportunities talk about conferences uh tried to time those up with ML excuse me NLC and then League uh March 21st I want to point out is Council Retreat so as staff we looked at our calendars from a staff level and boy I tell you what March and April is very very very very challenging F it's March 21st is a Friday I'm hoping that's trying to cement that in if we can for a Friday to do a coun a retreat just Friday or just Friday okay and what what are you anticipating the hours of that whatever works for the council whatever works we don't have a consultant hired yet so we would have to find a consultant for that day don't have topics picked out yet we first were just trying to find a date get something held on a calendar okay what are the NLC dates they're they March 11th I mean I know my wife birthday is the 11th and I know it's in the her birthday is in the middle of it so I think it's probably 9th 10th 11th and 12th it's 10th through 12th is NLC yeah but you know the thing is that like my committee meeting sometimes it's before that who knows I'm waiting to find out exactly when the committee meeting is but it's not going to run past it should be before if we do it on the 21st NLC will have already had happened right yes it work that's such a hard week we got the state of the city that week we've got we're going to be out of town I mean that's just really hard for people who have work obligations cuz that's that's a whole week out basically there's no other that's like the worst week you could probably pick for me um it is really hard we look at what Miranda we look at all we pull out the calendar here and going to talk the spring break like the 28th and then the first week of April we had Easter between Easter in there uh spring breaks for our high schools a couple holidays there's holidays in there and we started like looking at what dates were available I was like that was it that was it unless you want to do a Saturday I know that's not popular either but so spring break is out because of staff will be in some ways it's more popular not for staff I guess we've always been sensitive around spring break I mean my kids are grown so I I I have a kid I'm sorry I can make it just but she's not she's not like a a little kid that you have to that like you know if you had a an you to keep yeah but if you're traveling then yes yeah cuz most people well I traveled a lot for spring break so maybe possibly traveling but Saturday is open I'm open to a Saturday I'm open to a Saturday because I have take PA time off this I mean it's it sounds like I'm the only one with that issue so I'll just I mean I prefer the Saturday to be honest with you because on Friday that 21st I have a leaders meeting that I have to go to so I preper a Saturday I mean i' I'd be open to a Saturday for like 4 hours on a Saturday yeah you have a Saturday that works what Saturday would you like to hone in on the 22nd 22nd of March 29th 299 running into the spr right spring break is I think for staff we can make I know we we have some directors out 31st to the so that would be the start of it yeah and you're gone for those weekends when you do a people are traveling for spring break yeah the 22nd I have a meeting from 10:30 to 1:30 scheduling is so much fun don't you think um it's always hard yeah you know well it sounds like it's going to be hard let's um I mean if that's the way that seemed to work I mean I can make it work it's just paid time off like I have a regular staff job and I'm taking time off for NLC and lots of stuff this year so was there Saturday in April April 5th well that's spring break Passover 12 are we envisioning something like a Dr Jean type of a TBD TBD yeah okay keep it week something fun team building y April 26 that hurts April 26th did you say no it's that's the one Saturday I mean I'm hosting my niece's Bridal Shop what's going on with the 19th April 19th is Passover oh Passover um and Easter we 12th the 12th the 12 is start of Passover have a holiday calendar but at the end of Passover like being the only Jewish person that'll be there it's okay the the beginning's the beginning's not so good the end is okay so yeah so this what was that 19th the beginning isn't but the end is okay did you say that dub the end is okay yeah the 19th is better than the 12 I'll put a wrinkle into that one y I will be I'm taking a vac my last I'm I'm gonna be going to Spain okay so I'm leaving Friday the 11th and coming back on Sunday the 20th so I'll be out the week of the 14th was there a chance we could do it in Spain I was just you know that's right I just want to be helpful here I I can dial in remotely but I'm pretty unsure of the connection yeah okay and I won't have a Compu sure you want us with bear with you yeah we'll have a good time we want to ruin your vacation we can't can't make one day work but we could make the whole we could make a week trip could probably squeeze it in well we're not you know we could spend a lot of time on this I mean Le let's just kind of talk about a process of maybe us sharing you know each sharing a handful of dates you know on Saturdays or a Friday Friday or Saturdays we do how about we do a doodle pool oh yeah we'll P we'll put a doodle pool together with a lot of Fridays and Saturdays and see what and see see what you come up with and and let's do the best we can I mean that's all right we agree we agree we don't vote but we're we're agreeing to do a doodle poll here all right okay so all right so April fire station analysis service level objectives uh May budget kickoff Community survey comes back we'll have Community facilities that's the marsh and Community Center Etc June is CIP EIP 30 minute open time July is house in and that's then we put youth programming that was the one that was up and then August budget infrastructure study Asset Management September zoning rewrites coming to you and then Julie believes that's a whole study session just on the zon rewrite update uh October city manager review process and Opus November is the Enterprise funds that's usually a whole study session with all the utilities included then the 30- minute open time and then this December is kind of a repeat right um every year uh now I know we got some comments I think from Council either I can verbalize those or maybe Council wants to State some suggested changes on this as well yeah and so well why don't why don't you summarize them quick and then we'll um and then I've got a quick comment and then if anybody else has comments you're welcome to make if that works sounds good and uh talk see I think it was I'm talking with council member Calbert the city manager review process looking to bump that up to either April or June I think that's possible just knowing those topics so if we I think just getting starting that sooner than later so we could do that in April or June perhaps April I would suest maybe April I think that' be good y April would be good that was one change um so we'll do that sorry pull my notes quick and while you're doing that is that are we going to discuss changing the city city manager review process or just start the process it's it's like like addressing the process okay yeah talking about the yeah I think looking at the process the form I think there is a pretty broad consensus that we can improve this yes yeah and so we want to talk about that I I had an another one other thing which was thinking about like the the boards and commissions I was almost wondering if we wanted to have a 13-month calendar to because I don't I think like the the application period isn't NE it's not necessarily bad but I think we can be more planful and sort of know more ahead of time before the new year starts when the interviews are going to be to maybe condense it and maybe even make it just part of next year's first study session you know have a bunch of the interviews maybe as the first stud so it's just that's one thing that I was thinking about is sort of thinking about the boards and commission interviews a little bit differently as part of the work plan um yeah that's I think there's some logic there yeah I think that makes sense de and Deb and I talked about that the I think what got goofed this year is it was just an oversight and because when we we usually do those interviews in the study session in in the January study session this year in 2025 the first meeting of year was tonight a study session versus a regular meeting generally the study session has been the second or third week in January so we had a little more time just unintentionally when we scheduled this as a study session it's like oh then it was like oh yeah now we bumped up against a type tyeing crunch well we need more mindful of when we schedule those January study sessions so we we're but I mean like if it's just part of the like make it a 13 month so that even if it's just a placehold and it is later in the month I feel like it's a good suggestion we'll think about it agreed all right speaking as the person that does this kind of thing for my job yes I get I get good Sugg I get it yeah so Mike did you have anything further I think that um that was my summary um all right well I'll make a quick comment too um so Mike and I talked a little bit today and I know that there are some people who would like to lobby for maybe some additions to this and what we talked about was well we did the menty meter we we got everyone's input and we decided so that's good but what I recommended and Mike thought this might be a good idea so I throw it out for everyone's consideration is that you know what let's in June we got 30 minutes of open time there let's we'll be knocking a lot of stuff off our menty meter list and then let's do the menty meter again in the middle of the year and see if we have additions or priorities so that we want to maybe change the back half of the year and update it with new information new projects so that you know we're we're holding true to what we collectively decided but six months things can change and there can be new issues that come up certainly a lot of the stuff will be knocked off yeah you know and so we can see if we can get critical mass and other those by by having a mentimeter exercise in the in the June study session what does everyone think F by me I'm open sure right sounds good that's a good way to that's a way to a good way to honor what we've done but also have flexibility so if we want to get things added or reprioritized we can do it we'll do it in the middle of the year yeah I like it fair enough Kimberly yes so I was just so Mike and I talked about um like having a process for the open time because I I had said you know like I'm not some of my things didn't get the three votes and I'm like like it's fair like I'm not going to you know try and add push for that now um but if there's time it might be something you know there might be something that I want to use those open times for but like having maybe I don't know like a sign up or something so people know ahead of time what you're going to discuss so people people can be prepared to discuss it and then have people have like a time limit in mind of Y of their present so like you know you get minutes to add some structure to the open time yes yeah I I think that's a good idea and then another thing that Mike and I talked about to say okay let's see I let's say I have an issue that I think is important and it didn't get the votes needed well by knowing that we're going to have a ment metor session on June 16th you know I can't Lobby the whole Council but I can talk to two other two other council members and say you know what this is why this is important to me so and maybe there's even a little horse trading I'll support yours if you support mine I mean if we're looking for mtim meter um support you know that that's a way to get it and and we and that's you know again we want to be respectful the open meeting law but we can do it me it it like it is yes they're right we going on for decades in that dep but yeah okay that sounds fine that work for everybody yep y all right do you have what you need Mike I think yes I do yes I do thank you Council um so the other thing I was just going to mention with that 30 minute 30 minute open time is it's meant to be flexible but to have some structure to it U to have some sort of again form I know Paul had brought something up to me a while ago about a form so I think we got some sort of form make it easy but something so we're not coming into us that 30 minute open time with hours session what make it productive 30 minutes quick be able to and and I would say you know if anybody has any suggestions on how to make that um make that productive or you know has a form in mind that they'd like to share with the city manager that he could share with us I think that would be good I think I think our input is welcome I think Paul Hader had it up I'm sorry Paula oh no I think you answered my question this time all right good all right we're ready to roll for 2025 thank you all right that's that's encouraging all right just have to keep keep M remembering where my agenda is here we are so let's so I've got quarter to eight so we got 45 minutes um we we're done with item C the shared values um of the minona city council um Mike I'll turn that back to you yeah thank you I'll do the quick handoff to Miranda who work who's been working on this agenda item with you great thank you this is I think our third time seeing this one so I think the last one what I heard from Council was number 13 in particular it used to say non nonpolitical nonpartisan and then I know council member m had thrown out some language that I went and listened to and took from so I did change it based on what I heard from Council to objective and impartial and then put we are dedicated to making decisions that prioritize the best interest of the community that the line with the city's mission and vision so I give that back to you to one review that and then if there are any other changes throughout the shared values as well all right um well Council any other suggestions I mean I think this moved in the direction that we provided um but I also think that there might be a few comments out there I I have one so but I will allow my fellow council members to go first so I I mean I I'm not going to beat the dead horse and I really understand and respect why people wanted to change it but I also have consistently disagreed and I really just want to say uh just out upfront that that there there is a sense of partisanship even if I agree with the political philosophies that are that are being put forward in general I there is a sense of partisanship that has been sort of infiltrating the campaign certainly and some of the positions that people are taking and um this this sort of gets to what we're trying to say um and so I'm not going to beat a dead horse but I also feel like it's it it really doesn't sort of get at the the pressures that I think um are having an effect on the discourse the materials that are shared um the sort of special interests that are um putting pressure on on the way we talk about things and um I think there's I think there's value in some of those special interests I think they I think listening makes it really important but I think that when it comes to us making decisions that those are those are simply you know one part of the whole puzzle that of all of the viewpoints that we have to listen to and what I want us what I'm hoping that we can get away from is we need to take our values with us of course but um try to minimize the um the pressure from outside interests and political positions that may be may or may not be truly supported by data or what's best for our city so I just get I just get a little worried that by taking sort of the nonpartisanship out of this it's not really addressing some of the issues so um I'll leave it I'll leave it there thanks Deb um anyone else want to comment I mean if if not I I I I talked to Deb earlier today and I tend to agree with the perspective that she shared is that I really think being nonpartisan is a is a key value of elected City officials um I I think that when you bring partisanship into it um you the discussion is diminished one way or the other whether it's red partisanship or blue partisanship or anywhere in between so I I tweaked the um the language here and I'll just run this by you and you can tell me if you like it or hate it or anywhere in between but so objective and immaterial this is what I wrote We Are dedicated to making decisions that prioritize the best interests of the entire Community our nonpartisan and are aligned with the city's mission and vision and when I say nonpartisan I mean I think I think it's important for council members to check their partisanship at the door um um but I also say recognize that we are all partisan we all have partisan views um and um but you know kind of separating our partisan objectives with City objectives we're all going to be influenced by whatever perspective we have from a partisanship perspective but I I kind of look at it like religion and you know what we all come from different perspectives of faith and or non-faith or whatever it is and they influence how we make decisions but we don't want to say well we're going to you know we're going to be a Jewish counil or a Christian councel or a Muslim Council or an atheist Council we want to be a council for the that does things that the best for the entire city even though we individually are influenced by our values which are religious values and political values and things like that so I think it's important my for my view I agree with de what Deb said it's important that we be partisan but let's not act like we're not partisan people we are but but we our goal here is not to deliver a republican agenda or a Democratic agenda we're here to develop a minaka agenda what we believe is in the best interest of our residents so that's I don't feel free to critique that but that's that's my take on it go ahead I'm just gonna and like however the wording ends up y i it's fine um I just will say like I think it's kind of a chicken or an egg sort of a thing like for me my politics are informed by my values not the other way around so like I come in with my beliefs and that leads me to certain groups or organizations but that's I mean I can't think of a single decision where part of my decision making process was what would this party think of it or what would another party think of it so I mean think I think we are nonpartisan and I think a lot of times just people things are politicized that I don't think should be considered political and things are people take sides along party lines on things that I don't think necessarily should be that way so you can be um accused of being partisan when again you're just following your values and trying to trying to do what's best for the city like Deb so that's like that was my only that was the reason for my initial objection to those to that wording because like what is what is nonpartisan I think the way some people use nonpartisan means apolitical none of us are apolitical right um so I don't know I just I think it's it's people have people assign so much weight to those those words that it's it's a hard thing to live up to Y and if I I'll very briefly because I haven't kind of had a dog in this fight I mean I really understand where everybody's coming from so I don't I don't want to say I don't care but I just I mean um don't have really strong feelings on it I do think that you know the word nonp or the phrase nonpartisan word nonpartisan sometimes is used in a political I mean it's been it's been used against me in a political way in a way where I was like that's just not I mean I really VI disagreed with it and so sometimes you having that word out there does like give people ammunition that you know so I understand the concern I I also think like if you're either GNA kind of ascribe to these subscribe to these values in your role and in your campaign or whatever or you're not and the people that aren't right you know I mean so I that's I I I think this is good and I it it feels a little symbolic and so I think we should move on but um yeah that I mean at the end of the day like this is for us and I doubt there's going to be too many residents digging this up they're not posting it in their in their um over their dining room table so right so yeah so like I'm I'm not going to fight over the the final language if if nonpartisan is in there fine if not also fine well I agree with you I don't want I mean I think it's I'm I mean I think this whole notion of being nonpartisan is important um and I think you can be a highly partisan individual and still wear a nonpartisan um hold a nonpartisan office and do it in a nonpartisan way I I think that's the case but I also think you know I mean I I mean I'm not in love with either party so it's pretty easy for me to say I'm an independent and I'm non you know I work hard to be nonpartisan because I am not aligned with either party um I I have fellow Mayors I mean I one mayor I won't mention by name but you all know him he's a male not a female just be you know to be mysterious here but you know he and I were were talking and and he saidwell there when I run for office there's not an r or a d behind my name and I've said to this mayor well you know you and I are different in that from that perspective you are a highly partisan individual who holds a non-partisan office I'm a nonpartisan person who holds a nonpartisan office and there's a difference but either one of us has a right to be both hold the office and um and and represent what our nonpartisanship represents but I think you know I I I have I don't like it when and and it's this is my personal belief not my not saying it should be shared but I really like the idea that our local government is nonpartisan and we don't run with a with a partisan um label attached to us and so I think reflecting that and our values is is good but I am very respectful of what Kimberly is saying because you know I mean people attach labels to us all the time and 98% of the time they're wrong but but people you know we've all knocked on doors right have you never been asked oh what party are you in I mean every time you every time and so you know again we live in a partisan world we want to try and reflect nonpartisan values but at the same time um you know that's that's the thing that everyone wants to know they want to put us in a they want to put put us in a box so they have a reason for voting for us or against us so that's good so put the nonpartisan in there well I want to I don't want to I mean I feel it's saying that's what I think we should do because even if because because even at the door when someone says what party you from I say this is enough nonpartisan mhm office right well I know that but what are you you know so it's not you know what they'll say I know that but what are you who are you affiliated with so if we say this in our values then it's clearer and maybe maybe if it does resident does want to make copies and put it in front of their over their dining room table then they can say and when someone comes to the door they go oh wait I forgot that's a nonpartisan yeah you know what I mean good luck with that well yeah well I mean that's it I mean people are going the extreme and I don't want to Bel her this point I know I know Rebecca doesn't want to Bel her this point neither do let's move on but but but I do you know I I think I think the notion of the way governance is I think it's a it's an important point and and I think we're in agreement the question is do we want the terminology and there or not and and I I'm going to be quiet which I know you don't believe but and I also I I I'm not going to beat it at horse I just wanted people to know how I felt because I really feel kind of strongly about it so okay so where are we on the wording because I think most of us I don't want to fight about the mayor's wording is fine with me me too me too sure me too all right I'll I'll share that with M with Mr Funk and thank you for your indulg thank you for indulging me because we're working against my my time objective but I think we have a chance of making it tonight all right so anything else on the um on the shared values of the meton city council I I will I will give this to you Mike and you can um you can see the um um item 13 how I modified that and okay include that or I'll give it to Miranda I'm sorry thank you Miranda any other comments anyone go ahead go ahead council member has her hand up then excuse me you know you're right behind de I can't see Sor my big head I feel like sorry C may excuse me minor Point um we talked about this briefly Mike um today and just the number six the teamwork and effective communication um which you know I heartily agree with but I don't it seems like a more of a staff item because we're not allowed to have effective communication in some ways you know because of open meeting law no it's it's a small point but just get a comment there and don't know if you know just wanted to know what that really means so well means we want that within the constraints of the open meeting law yeah but but the other thing that Mike raised that that you were going to comment um you know I wondered if okay open what does to your point what does open lines of communication mean and I think it speaks to transparency and maybe TR you know having a word transparent in there um might I don't know if that's an improvement or not I don't know how people feel yeah I mentioned this to Miranda and Miranda's got some suggested language yeah so Mike gave me a heads up on this I did right mayor to your point we were collaborative and prioritize transparent and straightforward communication is that good people like that I like that sure sure all right we're good we're making progress Miranda thank you very much all right would somebody pass this to Miranda um and just focus on 13 I made a couple other notes on there that you can ignore and then if I could right I I don't want to hold this up yep I really applaud you for these shared values and I'd say that not just to butter your bread but I I oh yeah we've heard that before it's okay to have your bread butter once in a while I say that because I serve on the Minnesota city manager association board so mcma board we have monthly meetings and I hear from colleagues of mine from across the state the board does hears from City councils that are you know really challenging some really challenging Dynamics and probably some level of dysfunction and it's not naive to think that it's you know there's good and bad councils out there but I think what this does for you because I hear those stories and you hear how how some councils don't work well together you do and I I really say that in sincerity that I think this for you is a is a legacy for you for this Council or you you're you're signaling to constituents to your residents how you operate as a council what are the values important to you not all cities can say this and I think it it is important and I think our intent is to put this on the website it's reflective of who you are as a council and fast forward a couple years now you might councils turn over you're going to have you're you're going to be gone at some point you're going to have new council members and leaving a legacy of how we function as a city is important I think it's important I think you do too as well um that's what menaka is known for is solid governance good management good fiscal management good councils good strong leadership this is a this embellishes or um um symbolizes all of that so I I it is important I I think it's truly important and applaud your efforts for putting something on record because it's something that years from now you have a thumb your thumbs will be all over making sure this Legacy of the city continues and and Mike you know I appreciate you saying that and and I want to say to this Council that one I really appreciate all of you and it's a privilege to work with you I can tell you that the nature of councils and and the gender of councils the council members have has changed dramatically in my time on the council but I think we have a collaborative and respectful working relationship and I I want you to feel that you can say anything to me and and I I trust you all I think we've got a great working relationship and I'm proud of what I I really agree with what white said and I and I really appreciate how we work together and how we work through our differences so I think that speaks that speaks to the character of the people that hold the roles and I really appre appreciate that so thank you all right city manager compensation so the um as you recall we did not get through that part of Mike's review before we ran into the midnight deadline and so um essentially the council delegated to um three council members to council member Wilburn to council member Calbert and me the responsibility of handling um Mike's compensation and so we met and did that so before I say anything further either um Kimberly or Deb do you have any comments that you'd like to make about our meetings and um um any anything that you want to say the only thing I would say is that I think we were we were thinking about this very similarly I think our concerns were really similar and it was pretty easy to come to consensus and I I think we did our own calculations um slightly differently but sort of came at this to the same conclusion and um one of the things that I just wanted to mention is you know in my role in my job at work I do a lot you know I I have to deal with compensation and salary compression a lot and so I looked at the the numbers a little bit from that perspective to see um if what we were considering was going to relieve the salary compression for some of our directors and the people below them enough to really um make us competitive for hiring say for Karin's job since she's leaving or say uh Chief Bor boom and and jobs like that and sort of what it would do for the people below so that's sort of like the the calculations that I did that the mayor did a very uh kind of complete table um and uh Kimberly also um made sort of a complete table and I just sort of did my own calculations um because it was very much in in line what with other people um were coming up with so we met twice right Kimberly anything to add nope all right so I'll tell you where we nett it out because clearly um I mean the process that will take place and and and I I met with Mike and informed him of what we as a subgroup decided but it's not official until we act on that so um although you did delegate that responsibility to us um we all have to agree to it and the things that we looked at were NE other what our peer cities are doing the fact that the seller cap and ended so we felt that the compensation would be um probably higher than just a market rate but we also felt that we didn't need to make up for all the limitations of the past in one year that it probably happens over a number of years so where we net it out was and we also felt that an important ceiling for us is uh was the levy increase you know for us to if we were to give the city manager an increase greater than Levy increase we're essentially being inflationary um beyond beyond our our Levy so those are the things that weighed on us we all looked at it a little bit differently about the same but so where we nett it out was total compensation that Mike had there were two pieces of Mike's compensation that was his salary and then it was a an acrel a vacation acral of 80 hours a year so and we just treated that all the same and said let's add it add it together and and apply you know pick a number look at the percentage how's that compare with the levy increase so so we took Mike's total compensation to $245,000 per year which is a 7 and a qu% increase which is very similar to our I think it's 200th greater than our Levy increase and and we went with a round number my fellow um my fellow committee members said we don't have to have a round number but it was so convenient to do that at 7 and a quar so it's 145 or $245,000 per year the other thing that in talking with Mike um he said you know that that vacation acral existed because of the salary cap and for a variety of Reas he said you know it would probably just be simpler and act in fact a little cheaper for the city if we didn't do the vacation acral and just turned it into a total cash compensation so that's what we're doing is taking a total cash compensation the reason it would be slightly cheaper is those hours acrew and they're paid out at the end of Mike's career when he is be paying a higher rate so we actually saved a little tiny bit we didn't calculate how much but it's a 7 and a qu% increase that takes him to $245,000 Straight Cash end of story so that's where we nett it out we're hoping that you all agree and then the process will be that that will be a consent agenda item at the next city council meeting and then it will become official any questions all right appreciate your putting the time extra time in sounds like it was very thoughtful well it was thoughtful but and Kimberly and Deb were were great to work with and and we you know it wasn't like one had to one had to battle the you know we we really we really came to a consensus um you know I think and felt felt good that we did the right thing so with that Mike um we are semiofficial now and thank you for all your good efforts and and there's an agreement that we're thankful that you're our city manager and uh we want we want to hang on to you well thank you Brad thank you to the two committee members as well Devon Kimberly I know you put extra effort into it thank you entire Council it's always a pleasure oh it is a pleasure always is a pleasure working with you this city we have a fantastic City love this city you know that um so I appreciate your efforts on the compensation it was really easy when I met with them uh they put thought into it and U when I went into it wasn't wasn't sure what what the how the conversation was going to go but they clearly put thought into it and used data too and that was where I was going to be my position was using the data and uh that's my blue energy is using the data and and we quickly like when they when they um mentioned what the offer looked like I was like yep that's exactly where I was hoping we would land and as they would say both sides are happy I think we're good and um you know if we end now we'll be 20 minutes ahead of the target time so that you know maybe this is a good Trend you know put a pretty light agenda thank thank you all have one quick question about the um about the applications for the Purgatory or the dog Le Park areas that work group yeah Wednesday by mhm there's 30 of them I haven't looked at that yet but we have five days to go over 11 they're pretty brief the comments are pretty brief yeah I GL I haven't looked at them either I haven't looked at them either but we really want to get this going yeah I think it's you're right it is a very quick turnaround okay it's a very quick turnaround uh on it and the reason is with because we want to get these to you next Monday and for us to get these to you next Monday the packet goes out Thursday so we just with Y were we going to get um staff recommendations for the zoning team typically yeah with with the process what um so Council you're submitting yeah you're submitting your rankings Sissa will compile those those will be anonymous and be submitted to Brad so Brad will look at the rank anonymously staff will provide Brad with um similar rankings and then the mayor can look at Council rankings look at staff's suggested rankings and we'll bring forward a recommendation on Monday okay the whole package of the whole package right and then and then it needs to be affirmed by the council so if if you think I'm never mind so I'm clear like how to went is the whole package does that include recommendations for council members and like the other non-c community members or or is it just going to be community members decided it's the applicants before whole group right I'm sorry can you can you that are they going to tell us the whole who they're recommending for the whole seating of the whole thing or is it just going to be for the community members Community applicants so what will come forward is so you're ranking the community members right with the um so for example a Planning Commission representative or a edac representative um staff has talked to those boards and will provide a recommendation to the mayor for those for those folks because because Lea has a my understanding is the leans have talked to those boards and solicited who's interested from those boards and will'll provide that to to the to Brad what about Council oh you get to decide that next Monday in terms of like because there's a council representative so the anticipated Monday we you can thumb wrestle and arm wrestle rock paper scissors two I have thumbs I have a little tiny short that answer your question but for for for the council appointed staff anticipates but but you know but to that point I think there's a couple things I mean you know what is the anticip meeting schedule and are there any council members who are particularly interested or any council members who would want to opt out and say you know I don't have time to do that I don't want to be considered um you know that probably would be valuable I don't want to stick somebody on it or I don't want to recommend somebody on it who you know is just that's not their they don't want to get into that me I probably don't have time okay yeah so yeah so let's I mean if you could indicate that to Mike we'll just then sure that somebody who does not want to be on it does not get selected okay and can maybe they've already said but could we know by Monday what the proposed meeting schedule will be yeah we'll we'll outline that okay yeah I think that would be good I think that would be helpful and then it says not to rank the F members do we know who they are like I haven't like so is f making a recommendation to for so they get a seat there's going to be two F members or on the two or three yeah two or three so Matt cka is leading has led this I haven't studied either and so Matt kumka has um Communications with both the F and with is z paa Parks is the other group and so Matt has asked both groups to for two or three names and so so it said we don't have to bother ranking those the F or the pause for parks right I just want to know do we know I I'm assuming it's IND yeah I haven't looked at the packet if it's not not alone so we know what we're going to do but we haven't done it okay okay okay all right is it yeah did I answer is it clear do you have other these are good questions it's clear that it's not totally clear but we we will be it will be clear when we we need to be clear yes okay all right well I thanks everybody um before you leave I need the pH physical copies of your ranking sheets sarissa just sent me a note what you need right now yes I have to planning Planning Commission corre the planning Comm for from tonight the Planning Commission do I have a rank I I haven't done I haven't done I I will promise them to you I will promise them to you in the morning but I'm not I will not have tonight okay that's fine yeah I will I mean I can I can send it later a spreadsheet oh here it is I was going to it in the spreadsheet it looks like this if you do have this let me know I'll take that thank you okay well maybe I can do it pretty quickly okay this one do it I'll do it before I leave okay thank you I'll hang on okay here you go do you need my name on it no youour yes we are adjourned