[Music] okay um I will call this meeting to order this is a city council study session Monday February 6th or Monday February 3rd 2025 and we will start with introductions and start with Sissa Sissa ful Senior Management coordinator Green heiney City attorney Mike Funk city manager KY C work for I'm Kimberly Wilburn at large and acting mayia Deb calber at large py Foster Bolton W one R Dam assistant city manager Julie wishot community development director Kelly OD day Recreation director Scott bbon police chief Kevin fox fire chief Darren Nelson Finance director uh will Manchester Public Works director I'm Nate thoron I'm just a resident Kevin ringhofer resident for 40 years all right um and with that I will turn it over to Mike well thank you acting mayor Kimberly Wilburn and Council good evening uh first thing on our agenda tonight is to talk about the 2025 Community survey I'm going to turn it over to Sissa faul here in just a second but to Tee It Up this is something that we started a couple years ago bringing the survey to the council uh and and really wanted to get your feedback on the questions that we're posing so what was included in the packet was last year's survey as reference so you could get a sense for the questions that were asked last year and at this point I'm going to turn over to Sissa to really kind of walk through the process introduce you to Peter Leatherman I think he's joining us here remotely uh to really talk through what themes uh you're looking for perhaps Council in questions for this year we did uh tee up a couple thoughts for you in the staff report and we can go through those here in a second also invited this evening our directors um so our directors are also instrumental in the survey questions um perhaps Peter or Sissa will correct cor me here uh generally our survey questions 97% of those 95 97% of those are really routine question I shouldn't say routine but generally questions we ask from year to year as we understand Trends uh we've been working with uh Peter Leatherman for over 20 years and his company with our annual community survey again Peter will probably speak to that here just the history and and we do ask a lot of those questions again from year to year so we understand uh the value of the services that we're providing we do some benchmarking with that data with other cities and of course we use that internally uh for decision making purposes I think as an organization we strive to be decision-based and so the feedback that we get from our annual survey really help um Us in in the city level and I I say us also turning to our directors using that Trend information as they make decisions regarding programming how we deliver Services if we need to change delivery services so really just understanding the attitude of our community from year to year because we know that there's events that happen um both on a state or national level you know World level that also that impact um residents so with that really want to turn over to Sissa she's instrumental um being our lead staff member as she pulls This Together working with our directors and certainly working with the council here this evening so I think Sissa is going to just touch a little bit on um her role and then some of the timelines uh coming up as it relates to getting this survey completed and back to you during the budget process so with that Sissa thank you thanks Mike um so like you said we have Peter Leatherman here representing Morris Leatherman company who've been we've been using for 20 plus years um their survey they do is done via the phone and we um survey about 400 residence and the timeline is after today's conversation staff will finalize or we will work with Peter to finalize the questions and the survey will be conducted in m in March and then we will bring the results back in uh I think it's the May 12th study session um so I'll just pass it over to Peter here really get the conversation started um Peter can you talk to make sure we can hear you and then let us know if you can hear us as well okay go ahead Peter you can start the conversation and then we'll let Council um chime in on topics and themes that you are interested in for this year survey absolutely it's uh I I meant to be there in person tonight but uh I've uh developed uh the same illness my wife developed last night so you don't want me with it we wouldn't want to pass a microphone around right now um so I might mute myself I might turn off the video if I start coughing uh or anything like that so um you know I think uh you I I think most people have been through the process before I don't know I would just we could shorten it up by say does anybody have questions on methodology or should we just go right in to questions topics anything like that I think right into questions excellent and would would it be easier um for timing do we want to go Page by Page or should we just go Um how does how does council prefer to review the survey I know that the staff included I think potential bullet points for additional um conversation of potential new topics so I I would leave it to the discretion of council Council anybody have feelings on I've reviewed the questions from the m so I don't know if anybody else needs to go over them but I'm ready jump in with you know I of any themes that we want yeah so it it sounds like we don't need to go Page by page so okay I would I would are you there yes oh my screen just went blank okay as long as you're still I can still hear you I a sudden it all right I just saw the logo yeah so why if uh since I don't know whose hands are up should we just whoever wants to share we could get into the discussion excuse me um I mean I think I really thought that most of the questions are really very helpful and you know some of it really has to do you know we ask questions like do you think there's enough police presence and is there too much and you know questions like that and it would be to me I don't know if you're Gathering like where they live I think not so much changing the question is but just possibly having a sense of you know if people are thinking there's tooo much or too little of this or that you know where do they live like is there like an area where people do you do you have access to that data we have a yeah we keep track of the survey and said quotas based on the wards um so with your ward system with a 400 sample we have large enough cell sizes we have roughly a hundred in each of the four WS so to go beyond that and get down to neighborhoods that sort of thing it would become way too small of sell sizes but that's an interesting way that once we have the data if there's something to flag um police presence or what have you we could look if there are any statistically significant differences between the four WS uh can help narrow it down for the council and the city and we don't ask folks what w they live in probably 2% of people know what w they live in we know what w they live in so we keep track of it internally and then the only other um it was I made a note around question 70 which is on page 10 of the survey results about you know the question is what would what could the city do to improve opportunities for input and you know we we have certain quote unquote channels or conduits for information so we have menona matters you know people have uh we have our public meetings um and so I am just wondering you know if anybody thinks that we need to sort of prompt people to think about the fact that we already have pretty good um you know we we put out information we have certain conduits for information do we want a question that prompts more or do we want to just sort of leave it open-ended because you know somebody came somebody was at a meeting recently saying we don't have you know the the communication was poor and that the mayor rightfully pointed out no you know we put out plenty of information but people don't read it or people don't access it so I'm just wondering if there's a way to shape the question yeah I maybe the a way to say you know the like some of the other questions which ones are you familiar with which have you use so like menaka memo uh viewing live stream of the city council meeting um well this was specifically about input the the question on the question number 70 was yeah what could the city do to improve opportunities for input and we have opportunities we have meetings we have neighborhood meetings we have open houses we have you know on specific topics we have minaka matters and so I'm just want is there a way to shape it because PE you know once people know it's there if or if they're reminded okay so so sort of the same but just with those specific like right Menon matters coming to uh the the open mic is not the right word but the the public comment section of the city council meeting um those type of things finding out if people are aware of those and and how many people have taken advantage of those and not just not just the items not on the agenda but also if they're specific issues they're welcome to come to the public meetings you know Planning Commission or whatever and give their input there as well but anyway I think I understand what you're saying kind of narrow it down I I I wouldn't want to put the cave yets of this that that and then say do you think you have enough opportunities for input because this necessarily is matching public opinion with perception but perhaps a followup so instead of no you know know what could the city do to improve say prior to the survey were you aware of say XYZ menaka matters those sorts of things so you can see whether it's an awareness you know this one it's always difficult because there's a difference between having your say having a say and having your way so I think I if I think if I understand you right uh I can formulate something up to try to capture that it goes just beyond you know well the city doesn't listen well the city not listen because you're not talking or you're not aware or what have you am I capturing it's sort of The Perennial issue because 51% of people said we need to have more proactive communication and we do y and so that's part of you know that's that's one half of it so that's the outgoing communication to Residents and then other residents said 29% so almost 30% said we need to listen it's you know yeah just keep just keep it I apolog just keep in mind that that is 29% of 23% because it's those that said no so it is it's still about 6% and then the 51% so it's about 12% of the community you know and then other people said more opportunities so it just like I'm trying to understand you know I'm trying to crack that nut which I think every city tries to do and I'm I'm not sure how we do that maybe it's different in what or if they say no instead of why how would you prefer or I do you know what I so I it's it switch it to a to a how instead of a why question I like that okay excellent let let me it up for review and if I can jump in Kimberly and Deb and Peter just I think just in context correct me correct me if I'm mistaken Deb are you asking more General how can the city provide input because question 70 is teed up based on question 69 question 69 is do you feel menona residents have appropriate opportunities for input into the zoning and development decision Mak process if that answer is no then question 70 is asked so I don't that's what if you're thinking more broad Communications that's further down in the survey the question 70 is more related to zoning and land use decisions thank you and what what did you say Julie 134 is the other question is more General how are you getting your information or are you familiar with these PA did you have something so so I just Deb I just want to clar I think just want to clarify with you on are you thinking more questions that are in the 130s that we should take a look at those or with this question 70 as it relates to more the it's more of a Development question well I mean we do ask questions about motanka matters and the other um you know listening to meetings Etc so we get we get a little bit more and I do think that the the Planning and Zoning is going to be an issue that people pay attention to you know I think it'll receive more scrutiny than than other things so um I I think the how how people can provide input I think this would still be a good survey question to drill down on because I think it's going to get more scrutiny than for for number 70 yep y okay I could frame that up for review all right thank you I just wanted to clarify that we're thank you that's that was a good other topics anybody else yeah ahead you um I would uh I guess have some questions on some of the staff suggested themes um specifically first of all on bonding are we talking about the marsh what are we talking about in terms of um asking about bonding that was one of the suggested things in the packet um so that's one question and then the another comment is you know we're talking about having a zoning commission now that's going to be working for the next 18 months do we need to have any opportunity for feedback uh survey results regarding development um you know in terms of you know density smart growth Village centers you know that sort of thing is this an opportunity to perhaps get some some insight and Community feedback in those areas um and then in terms of police the last thing would be um staff not mentioned uh ebikes um similarly we've talked a lot of the questions um in the survey currently have you know specific questions but maybe you know how concerned are you about the following um you if we can get a sense of what's most important to people in terms of you know is it crime is it speeding you know what police matters police Public Safety um matters are most important to them I think would be helpful um so because one thing I get all the time lots of times from residents I think all of us do is traffic calming and those issues that we're um you know whether there's a lot we can do about it or not um getting a sense of how much of an issue that is for you know more people could be helpful um and uh then last thing I noticed the locals the sales tax from last year said would you be in favor of increasing a sales tax currently we don't have a sales tax in a local sales tax for minetonka so it wouldn't be actually increasing it it would be an acting one I if I'm understanding correctly I could be wrong on that right you're increasing the overall sales tax but that's a fair point maybe frame it up and that's something to talk about specifically because the it was conceptual last year right um and so maybe it's would you support a half cent sales tax for I I don't know if you're at the point to explore XYZ uh what the potential uses would be but I think that's a very fair change to it um if that's indeed if we're talking that that's what most communities a half cent sales tax would be for and we could keep it you know generic we just had to provide funding for Capital Improvements um perhaps you're at a point that we could do a such as Xyz um I but I don't know where you are in the planning process with that yeah well and I don't know we can have the discussion again as a council whether we want to go ahead with exploring a sales tax but and part of that would be um Public Relation education educating the public about the sales tax and what it would go for so I don't know if we want to have I guess kind of a pre question and then ask it again and to see if there's a shift in in attitudes on on sales tax majority were in favor of it last year so um and sort of along the same lines I had a a sort of overall General note which is um there wasn't a bonding Bill and um you know sales tax for the suburbs were shot down in the legislature and um so but we have these big funding needs that I'm sure you're aware of like Opus our Recreation facilities our fire stations and um so my question was what questions can we tee up um to get support for that funding you know since they are really important things that are important to a lot of people a lot of people would think that's important um you know if we just lay out what the needs are that you know our Recreation facilities need um upgrades that you know what we're trying to do with our fire stations and why and um you know the the needs and Opus and it's a lot you know I know we're trying to keep the question we're trying not to grow the questions we're trying to shrink the number of questions but it's a lot of money I mean just the fire stations was what 50 million it's a lot of money so you know maybe we just pick one or I don't know what I wanted to throw that out to the group because it's a lot of money that we need we we could go about it in in a way that gets you data um in a generic manner um would you support the use of additional city funding for recreational upgrading recreational facilities and and and give a perhaps a few examples uh similarly with um I just WR on the fire station um and can work with City the staff on that and then so the get in con concept the support or opposition for the use of city funding and for those that support um would you Pro would you support a property tax increase or what have you you know additional tax increase of some sort you know it can work through how to frame it up but that can give you a sense of priority from the community on what where they're at right now and that's perhaps and perhaps it's an education piece um or or what have you if it's not there the fire station you know did a survey with Dayton last year on their fire sit station situation they had a lot of people that weren't aware of response times um so now it's a communication uh discussion that they're going through so I would do you think that that would help capture data for the council that would be helpful yeah yeah I think so I think you can't believe me and I think just to just to add to what's been said Peter you know is it a Peter's really good at at framing up these questions but what I think when we when back to Paula's point about bonding why that was in the staff report and just adding more context for mainly Peter and people listening is when you as you know Council when we've gone through our budget last year and we look to the future we know as already stated we have some significant Capital Improvement needs fire stations has already been um talked about we have that coming to the study session in a couple months Chief Fox will be here and and talk about what that looks like that's 30 $50 million range depending on scope talked about perhaps the marsh being another perhaps $20 million we've talked about Opus being another perhaps $30 million U other recck facilities so Community Center in Williston still some question marks in that so so quick math we can get the 80 to 100 million pretty quickly Peter and so I think the the question kind of gets at both of them like it both bonding and sales tax and it's something along the me something along trying to find out where the appetite for the community is in terms of do you support bonding of some level do you support sales tax to pay for these things the money's got to come from somewhere and so I think trying to vet out a little bit with the community what the appetite or the best funding mechanism might be whether it's bonding which is really dependent upon all all of our taxpayers um or supplementing perhaps bonding with sales tax um different people pay part of that Pi we did some initial analysis Council if we recall Mr Nelson worked with the University of Minnesota extension and in that analysis if we were to implement a sales tax 60% of the sales tax collected would come from residents outside the city so it's just a matter of who who pays for perhaps that funding and I think as a city it would be helpful to know and that's you know that's actually kind giv overarching some additional context Peter and how that's worded whether it's one question multiple questions and getting I think at that well I I I think that that's a really absolutely that all makes sense and kind of the you know to take it to the 30,000 foot level if the legislature God love them can't even meet what are the odds that we're going to have is a local sales tax option in the works yeah in time for it to be helpful for the city yeah I I mean yeah God only knows you can't we we don't know what a quorum is in the state so it's hard to say what they're going to do but it it it begs the question that if if we frame it up do you want to pay a property tax increase for a bond referendum uh facilities Bond referendum in the city or a sales tax that other people 60% of other folks will pay that don't live in the city they're going to tip that way U it's kind of a natural thing um so you know there there's a political calculation here let let let me let me Ponder this I know where you're going with it and to try to get you the best data that's actionable um in the re political reality that we live in in this state it's literally why I brought it up yeah it's really comp you know these are Big Ticket items you don't want to let the cat out of the bag you want people to really say how they feel but they don't necessarily know about who pay you know how many residents are paying sales tax versus visit and you know people don't really understand how bonding Works necessarily but then you have the whole political situation in St Paul and not to mention on federal level so yeah yeah um if if it possible there can be a chance just to quickly educate people what bonding is you'd be surprised how many people don't understand what that is oh God no no I mean all the all all the years of working with school districts we we used to ask folks you know back in the good old days when I started doing this in the 90s do you know the difference between a levy and a bond 20% could tell you Levy for learning bond for building the other 80% had no idea so we just we don't even ask it anymore it's a waste of a question we know people don't understand it go into the education part of it yeah they just have to know that it affects their property taxes right So when you say bonding if you would be in favor of bonding you then then are they just going what or do you in the question just say property taxes property tax yes okay yeah yeah and and so I'll probably frame it up as a prioritization and then perhaps a preference but let me ponder it I know I know where we're going thank you all right anybody else could I ask just a a question uh We've covered the bond and the sales tax the ebikes I understand that that's kind of the public safety the going too fast that sort of thing is what we're looking at as if how wide of a concern that is in the community correct yes okay and then with two other points on on the staff list the organized garbage collection yeah so um right now in motanka people can choose their own garbage hauler and there have been um times when it's proposed to have a single garbage holler for for the whole city and there are people who feel strongly on on both sides of that oh yes and there are also people that feel strongly that we should go to single huler as long as it's their holler so I think there were 89% of people who said they wanted to go you know single holler that would not give up their trash holler I I I make the joke it's a fair joke I grew up in wiscansin so I can make fun of motans on this one I don't understand motans an alienable right to be able to choose their garbage hauler um it's it it it an amazing thing here um but and that's why so I I I'll flesh this out for you the support opposition um for the change but then to dig down a little bit and to understand where's it coming from you know it tends you know it's it's really interesting because when you go through the list it say do you get better cost better customer service it's an equal split do you think Street Maintenance is better do you think pedestrian safety is better yes it's better with single huler but it still Nets out that it's more important for me to be able to choose than overcome that um so I'll kind of keep you know g gauge the the generic support opposition but try to drill down for you um you know I I I still I I think I've been asking about this for 25 years and we still don't have one city that had a majority of people support um it's gotten kind of to be more of a 40 4020 tie uh but um there a mandate hasn't happened yet I just put it in the Monami survey again much to the sh of the city manager uh out there on their City survey so uh but I I can include that in for you and then the other one was just short-term rentals I had a question on that yeah I I actually had a question on that too what is that what are we what would we want to ask there if people think it's an issue or not yeah um so I think a couple a couple things real quick I can jump in just to back up real quick on um on ebikes does a council want to know how many people either own or use ebikes in addition to are they I think pet talked about flushing out are they a concern do we also want to know how many ownership bikes yeah that's probably a reasonable question I think so too I I I think that would be helpful to give context for results one way or the other also okay thank you thank you Council on that and the short-term rentals uh staff put this on the list this has come up from a few council members just with think you've heard from some residents with concerns over short-term rentals meaning short-term rentals find like veros airbnbs month by Monon type rental properties I think some of you have heard from constituents with concerns in neighborhoods so staff through it out there if that's something you wanted to learn more about concerns regarding short-term rentals and whether City should enact some sort of policies regarding short-term rentals that's why out there yeah know I think it's it's good I just didn't know what was at mind have you ask that question in other cities Peter interest not not in Minnesota no not not when we're going for shortterm rentals we we've asked it about you know single family homes being used for rental in neighborhoods but not going the route of the Airbnb vbo reveral uh question so that'll be interesting Council you're going to inquire about short terms I think I think um originally I think it was around um um short-term rentals kind of taking up housing like affordable housing um I know in in Minneapolis um it became a thing where um folks were using their property to use for Airbnb which is now taken away from affordable housing um and so I think that's where the concern had came from um just making sure that um we're not using the Airbnb um to take away affordable housing so I think that's kind don't know one issue for sure that definitely was one and I think the other issue was just having parties or something well people don't know mean that's what they do well someone like not someone rening out their their house for two weeks out of a year or something but somebody who buys a property and continually use it uses it basically like a hotel yeah yeah yeah so yeah yeah we have some neighboring okay actually outlawed that Peter um so I think Greenwood and deep Haven may have at least one of them maybe both have prohibited those um so you know we're starting to get questions in my ward on that as well okay um can I just bring up one more thing you know I know we don't want to add more questions but a thought occurred to me about chemicals on lawns and stuff and um I know I've had a lot of people talk about that and I don't I don't know if that's too specific or if that's something we should talk about at another survey but um you know the chemicals in lawns and I know that there's a state statute and stuff but like how many people are worried about wands you know like because we have so much of it in minaka and we're we're trying to support like rain Gardens and stuff like that and then on the other hand you've got these really well manicured huge Lawns Turf Lins yeah and I mean but but I don't know if this is just another question and maybe that's too much or but it just occurred to me and I don't know how many how what people feel about it I mean I wouldn't object to having one question about is there any way to look at the look at the concern portion because it wouldn't be like you're not at a point of testing a policy no like that but perhaps if you've heard that the community had concerns about it okay yes building on that py I've gotten some calls and um emails about leaf blowers well I was going to say yes yeah we Lea blowers y we did ask that before y but you probably have it I think it was last the year before last we asked it I think it was the year before last was the leaf blowers it was kind of a hot issue there for a year or two very low very low people were concerned I had a question around but do you want to re re ask it you're reasking the question or not or do you want to I just was thinking in the context if we're thinking about wands and you know what is what do you have you know levels of concern if it could be a multi-part question that builds on you know pesticides using we asked it more in the don't remember Peter was in the context of noise more was yeah it was more noise but we but we could add a couple questions around lawn care okay I could frame that up for you to review I had a question about programming for youth um and I'm not for sure if we asked this question but um what type of programs is our city um our community willing to invest in for youth um because I don't know it's kind of sparked the inches janah has been taking a um a cooking class at Hopkins High School and she said you all should have a cooking program and I like well you have it at Hopkins school you have a class there and she said no I mean like in the community like the community should have a cooking program for kids you know and so it kind of sparked my interest of like what type of programs is our community willing to do for um our kids and our city because we know we have Willison we have you know the marsh but do we have specifically Community programming for our youth um I know we have some through um the community ed but like more so for teenagers when you hear something like that that's what she said to me so I was like that's interesting but don't they teach at the school and she was like no it's different so it just made me think about that so that was something I don't know if it was a question asked in the survey but do we have a community that's willing to invest in programming kind of like going to a boys and girls club or something I don't know how to describe it but like taking some random cooking class or something I don't I don't know but that was just my thought process yeah I don't know good question uh you know because I think we do have some Pro we have youth programming obviously we have programming for teens I think both school districts and talk and Hopkins do as well we we work together to try not to not overlap um maybe there's some things we're missing you know there's a couple questions in here about Recreation I don't know if there's a specific question we could ask about Recreation I know there's a few that you know more probably more about facilities I don't know that how much we have about programming yeah I was gonna say it tends to be facility dominant uh the survey itself but perhaps um just a question um about do you feel that there are enough opportunities and programs for teens in the city that question exactly what we need to hear okay that one because I know we have programming but I know we tend to talk about the lack of Team programs we talk about that more than we talk about programming so yeah that question is perfect okay we have four minutes till we start our um parkboard interviews so anybody else have any thanks for keeping us on track me betcha thank you Kimberly just go back to I think got good notes thank you Council uh just one Clarity yet um that I have uh goes back to what Paula asked earlier just about with our zoning code update coming up and talking with Julie here recently I there's going to be some information in that process that needs to get vetted out and there's a public engagement process with that which I think would probably be the best opportunity to ask more specific zoning type questions and Julie you have any to add to that no I think that was part of our thinking that we would actually you know use survey tools to get responses about certain sections of the zoning code separately you wanted a more I'm not interested in this specific topic and get it whole like whole city perspective then you probably should ask it here so I it just kind of depends on where you're headed with that thought okay I if we're going to do it through that contest that's fine yeah I'm glad you brought it out because I it was on our minds too because throughout it's 18 months of a lot of heavy work so we'll need public there's public engagement built into that process but again there's it's not precluding us from answering questions in the community survey venue that staff wouldi the venue of using more of our me matters throughout that 18 process will serve us better and I think too if you think about the time frame like it you know by the time we hit this next year you might have something more tangible for folks and that might be a better time because right now you don't really have much for them to look at or respond to so it might be a better next year consideration but that's fair that's our thought right now okay so are we well thank you thank you yes I hope you feel better soon um me too thank you appreciate you you you joining us virtually to to uh work on this with us wonderful thank you all thank have a good night you as well bye okay um so we have one minute uh so I talked to Mike I think what we're going to do is since there's five of us and five candidates each one of us will ask one of the candidate all the questions okay and so we can uh whenever so we'll just start one end and go down or something yeah I might do the first and then like okay go through um and uh so yeah whenever you're ready is Jennifer here yes okay Jennifer you can come to the center table and you can flip this to your shirt just so we have the recording of your interview hi welcome thank you can you hear me okay yes um and we will just uh go down and have Council introduce ourselves and then we will start with questions hi I'm KY um W four Oliver m w three I'm Kimberly Wilburn I'm at large and acting mayor today I'm Deb Calbert I'm also at large paty Foster Bolton Ward one okay um so I I'm I will start with the the questions um so please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for this position position uh so my name is Jennifer Christie and I think I'm the right person for this position because I've been a minaka resident for over 18 years combined at two different residents um I actively play tennis at Williston and I walk my day my dog not my day I walk my dog every day um at Big Willow um city park so I'm very familiar with the facilities both with um outdoor recreation and um uh programming I have a park and recck degree from the University of Minnesota um I've been a program chair for the Minnesota Recreation and park Association uh two conferences in the early 2000s and I was also the program chair for the National Park and Recreation Association which was here in 2010 um I've also worked for Three Rivers Park District since the late 80s until the early 2000s and then I worked at the Minnesota DNR as the Park and trail and public water access acquisition tell right before Co ni and I and should I ask you did you do you want a water or anything oh I'm fine thanks it's 10 minutes let's hope we don't go over I was going to put myself as a watch timer actually uh how do I condense it so that's more my challenge I think that's a challenge for a lot of us okay so question number two preservation and enhancement of City's natural environment and offering Ive recreational am amenities are both highly regarded Community Values how would you approach balancing these two diverse Community perspectives when residents have differing views on Park land use and Recreation priorities um so having worked and been a part of three rers Park District I don't believe that they're mutually exclusive I would say I would say the DNR as well I was typically saying the Mantra that I don't think they're mutually exclusive um that like the park dist they have an 8020 policy where 80% is left to Natural State and 20% is for active Recreation and so there are ways to come up with a structure that we can balance and protect both um desires because I believe our community wants both and I am part of that Community okay question three the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the park board so hot topic as we all know nationally I'm going to call it more um I think it goes with taking the leag from the nature and Nature's strength is diversity and we've learned from our different practices um like uh uh uh what am I thinking of elm El Emerald Ash no I'm going Old Dutch disease so we learned from Dutch elm disease of planting the same type of plant uh and then to replace those we maybe or maybe didn't learn about putting ashes instead so I think the strength is in diversity and we've learned that from nature and I think um this area and in general Minnesota is changing and we need to change with the population and make sure that we represent people who are outdoor recreating um and take it from a different perspective than one perspective that has been dominant over the last century I'm go Century Fair okay and finally based on your understanding of the of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and a challenge for the group so that was a tough one in fact I I I picked the brain of a of a coworker former coworker who was a park board at sue woodr a while ago and uh we talked about it on our walk on the the the park District's LRT Trail and um um you know I think for me the challenge is having a lot of diverse background and bringing that perspective in as well as listening to the voices of the citizens and I think putting the weight of different voices and making sure that it's not just the most vocal voices that we take um multiple perspectives into consideration we the pros and cons and and look at how we would benefit current and Future gener ations did you ask the two part was it with the group yeah what's the challenge for the group so the for the group you know I think it's understanding what groundwork has been laid before us and what kind of twist do we want to have it for our Legacy and what kind of impacts do we want to make so understanding what's been coming before us what's being worked on and then what kind of um Legacy or direction do we want to take it and I like the team programing that's a big one of mine at the time when the kids need to figure out how to socialize and interact with people is when uh no no knock on the park and R field but maybe a little bit that we take care of the youth we take care of the children we take care of the at home moms are we taking care of the teenagers who need it the most right now so I'm all with you guys on it and I'm not just saying that it was my beef it wasn't on my list but you brought it up we have I think we need to do more we have just a few minutes so do you have a question any questions for us um how much does the council the current counil take the advice or the recommendations of the cardboard in the past is that kind of loaded that's that's an interesting question I think it depends on the topic yeah I mean we I find the feedback really important I really listen to all the different perspective Ives from our advisory boards and it's just good to it just sort of help it helps us get a temperature of you know these are people that are a little better informed than the average resident but that sometimes like us they don't agree on everything and it's just good to hear the rationale I think that's what's really important to me and there have been times when there's been a topic we've considered and decided that it's something that we should have the park board weigh in on weigh in on yeah um so yeah I would say we certainly um respect the expertise and the and the advice that we get from the park board great I think that's important you don't want to be in a board where it's not valued or heard right all right well thank you very much you will be hearing from staff um in the next few days a couple days you'll hear from me right sounds good walk away without this yeah yes so thank you for coming in thank you time hi good evening welcome um you were just here I think we can skip the introductions if that's all right with you kazy do you w to do the questions for this one sure please tell us about yourself and what in your background makes you the right person for this position my name is Luke Van senton I've been a resident here in minona W 3 for the last 22 years uh both of my kids grew up here and one of them is still at home with us the other has moved on to their own apartment yay in Minneapolis um I have a bachelor's of Science degree in engineering from Colorado School of L way long time ago I've worked here in the area for the last 30 years uh mostly for the Department of Transportation we're on larger Transit projects um and over the last eight years is maybe seven maybe nine I've been involved a lot with volunteering in various Parks mostly uh lone Lake Park but also uh Meadow Park Big Willow a little bit at Hillway and a little bit at loner Park um I'm going back to Lone lightake Park I'm one of the the dirt bosses there for the single Track Trail and over time since there's enough of us I've kind of moved away from actually doing the dirt work and I'm kind of the the second in command as it were behind a master naturalist on the restoration and environmental side so all of that time getting to know garlic mustard and buckthorne and all of the other wonderful visitors we have um I think kind of makes me appreciate the other parts we have and how beautiful they are okay my answer ask you know all the question yeah oh preservation and enhancement of the city's natural environment and offering active recreational amenities are both highly regarded Community Values how would you approach balancing these two diverse Community perspectives when residents have differing views on Park land use and Recreation priorities uh my experience with lone Lake Park and with big Willow before lone Lake Park when it was being discussed for a possible single Track Trail really kind of highlighted for me the amazing variety of what people think of as preservation um if you think of Lone Lake Park for example it wasn't all that long ago longer than I've been here but not that long ago when it was a raspberry farm and then it was abandoned and basically left to its own Graces and you know whatever grew there was good and and wholesome um and people have really identified that as as what they want to preserve but it's really a question that I've struggled with are we preserving what was here first or are we just preserving what's here now and as I've considered it over time that really has become my um go-to my what I fall back on when people ask me about preservation we need to keep what's here now in as good a shape as we can and that means not just going out and cutting Buckthorn or removing garlic mustard or planting climate change adaptive resistant trees I I think it also means trying to take it Beyond that and you know maybe limiting the amount of salt we use in our yards or on our roads or taking a more active approach to Transportation like walking and biking because it's going to be green for a while and hopefully for a long while but it's going to be changing and it's going to be really really tough to keep it exactly the same as now and so I I hope that I'll be able to communicate that with the people who may not quite see that or maybe see it a little bit differently and and you know obviously listen and take their perspectives into consideration and just work to to make sure that the preservation happens obviously as a lone maybe not obviously but as uh one of the proponents of Lone Lake Park single Trail single Track Trail there's a lot of things we can do in the Parks and even outside of the parks that can make there be a lot more Recreation or ways to um increase preservation in our community again going back to the act of Transportation if we have better connections between Parks or between destinations like is it easier for me to get to to Lakewoods to buy my groceries or is it easier to get here so I can bike to a city council meeting all of those kind of things together are focusing in in one way on preservation but also on enhancements to the things we have now too the next question is the city emphasized diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the park board I think the park board has every responsibility to make all of the parks or at least as much of the parts as pract as practical accessible to everyone if that means it's an Adaptive Trail or if it means there's alternate methods for people to get there if those people don't drive for whatever reason the park board really needs to in my opinion um stretch and and make those kinds of things possible for everybody last question based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and a challenge for the group I I kind of hinted at it a little bit in my in the second answer and that's I've seen a lot of different things about preservation and I I think that'll probably be the biggest challenge for me is to to work with other people who maybe have different views of what preservation is and it's not from a being unable to work with them it's just a here's here's where I'm starting and you're starting here how do we come together and both not just me see it as still being preservation and not you see it as well you're just running over me how do we come together and make us both happyish happier with it being both preservation Andor enhancement um as far as the the group itself I I don't know that there'll be any problems there uh everybody I've ever talked to here at the city uh Council staff really super easy to get along with and I like to think I've had a good relationship with everybody so I don't know if that'll be an issue with the group okay good okay thank you do we have more time yep we have just a few minutes okay do you have any questions for us I don't okay do anyone have any additional questions for him I don't think so well thank you thank you very much for coming in and um Sissa will be in touch in within a few days so let you know results and thank you for your work on the trails I didn't even know dirt boss was a thing didn't there you go no I'm good thank you hello welcome thank you hopefully that works yep I think you're good and we're just going to go down the row here and have Council introduce ourselves hi my name is ky Copley Ward 4 hello I'm Paula R ward 3 hi there I'm Kimberly Wilburn at large and acting mayor today Deb Calbert at large also py Foster Bolton W one there all right and we are gonna ask Paula to okay ask you the questions okay well thanks for coming in tonight Brad um could you just tell us about yourself and what your background makes you the right person for this position sure so thank you for the invitation for being here tonight my name is Brad lman and I'm a 26y year resident of the city of minona so I don't know if that's newbie or not but here for a long time and my background is I grew up here in the Twin Cities I'm innesa native drove up in St Louis Park went to uh both undergraduate and Law School here in Minnesota and I have considered myself a hardcore environmentalist and and sort of CI Community citizen scientist as well for many years and have been very fortunate to live in this community because it's got enormous opportunities for people who are tree huggers and for people who enjoy natural space so recently retired I'm an attorney I practice law for 43 years working as a business lawyer working for emerging growth companies that are Technology based so all the companies you see on Shark Tank are my clients those are the kind of clients that I have and I retired after 43 years and saw the notice about the potential to help here for the city and said this is something I could align with and when I read the mission and vision of what the park board does it's very much in my wheelhouse so I've been involved with environmental organizations as well within the community for decades literally including the otan society the Minnesota Council for environmental advocacy uh Save The Boundary Waters Foundation uh Cornell Institute of ornithology all those organizations sort of align again to my environmental interests and I think those are all be helpful organizations sitting with the park board as well in collaboration so um I'm excited for the opportunity thank you um question two is Preservation enhancement of the city's natural environment and offering active recreational amenities are both highly regarded Community Values how would you approach balancing these two diverse Community perspectives when residents have differing views on Parkland use and Recreation priorities this mic is failing um I think that is just an excellent question whoever designed that that was a great question because in essence I think almost every uh governmental organization whether it's a Planning Commission whether it's the city council whether it's any particular agency or court is doing exactly that they're balancing the scales they're balancing the interests and that's where the rubber hits the road that's where you make the hard decisions and that's where leadership comes into play so for for me it's about stakeholder input and there's a lot of different stakeholders that are associated with that question so it's not always the people who have the most money and it's not always the people who have the loudest megaphone it's everybody who has um sort of a seat at the table and so I think in that regard trying to balance and measure all the stakeholder in inputs is really what this commission has to do in order to make rational and reasonable decisions and the objective is to make sure that you're doing that in I think a fair and and maybe even scientific manner so that no one has their thumb on the scales and that's when the scales really work when you're balancing interests so it's about stakeholder inputs and making them comprehensive and thorough thank you um next question is the city emphasizes diversity Equity inclusion in our body of work how does this effort in your opinion intersect with the work of the park board or should it so I think that's all a really good question obviously Dei has been in the news in a significant way especially in the last few weeks I think the pendulum has shifted way too far to one side which is inappropriate and I'm very much still in favor of a Dei process and it's very personal to me in the sense that I was a guardian and conservator for my sister who was down syndrome she died a few years ago during Co during covid um she was 6 9 years old and I was her conservative and guardian for 40 years and very much involved in inclusion programs for her and it was really hard to find places that would accommodate her in terms of outdoor recreation activities whether that's getting into a canoe at a canoe Landing whether that's finding a park that has accommodated rides for someone like that and or whether that's a piece of black top in the forest where you can actually push a wheelchair and I think the city here has done a pretty good job of those kinds of accommodations from the park board's perspective I live just 5 minutes from here in minaha place near the creek and there's a little area near the Civic Center Park that has maybe a quarter mile of a black trop Black Top Trail around the the woods and my wife and I call it the addendum because it's so tiny but for someone who's in a wheelchair it's meaningful you're actually in nature and you can be next to the creek and you be be next is some old growth forest so anything we can do to have that inclusion continue whether it's people of of limited abilities or people of different colors or opportunities I think we got to keep doing that for outreach great thank you um based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and also what would be a challenge for the group in your opinion so hopefully this doesn't sound too much like a punt but I think those two challenges are the same at least the large Global ones that I view because in my mind the number one Global challenge in that respect is going to be climate change and that may not seem like it's a it's a big deal here in Minnetonka Minnesota in the middle of the North American continent because we don't get tsunamis and we don't get hurricanes and we don't get earthquakes but climate change is going to ravage this area in the next 50 years and it's up to this community and every Community to be Visionary and Forward Thinking in order to safeguard the resources that we have and I think that climate change is going to be uh immense amount of rain that makes the creek go up by six feet in one night or whether it's going to be wildfires that are grasses because there's been drought for four months it's going to hit minona just like it's going to hit the rest of this planet and so to me in order to preserve the beautiful green space that we have and the opportunities that we have for the citizens to have well-being with the park amenities we need to keep our eye on that ball thank you um thanks for your answers um I think we have a few minutes left so if you have any questions for us this is your opportunity so I'd like to know how the the board functions Visa its relationship with the city council um what kind of input and you know what kind of activities happen in that sort of dance go ahead actually we talked about it with a with another candidate also you know sometimes there are things that that we want to consider and then we decide let's let's have PArk Port vett it you know uh form some opinions around it and I would say that one of the things that I value is not just getting an array of because sometimes there'll be you know overwhelming consensus but it's always the rationale what what I'm looking for in our advisory boards and commissions is why you know why do you like it you know what's your rationale for support or lack of support for any one thing and it helps me you know think about my own rationale um and so I really do you know I'm always hoping that all of the commissioners all of the board members provide feedback because I really do I watch the meetings I read the notes I read the packets and um it really does help me make more informed decisions nice do have time for another question uh so when I was thinking about my own history like what motivates me to be an environmentalist how did that happen it really sort of started when I was 14 years old I went to The Boundary Waters uh for the first time with a camp overnight camp organization and I absolutely fell in love with that area and have been back probably 40 times in my life just really special but that came to me as as a young person and I'm wondering how much interaction there is with this commission and kids and education Outreach programs because I'm a big believer in making the kids the ambassadors to the environment we have we have one one uh youth Park Board member that's that's one way um so that they have input um that that youth have input and we have two youth members on sustainability commission we do I don't know if there's Ambassador like specific programming with the youth and park border sustainability but but there be but there could be absolutely you're willing to oh I'm so go ahead just just add to that point you have a youth board member on the park commission so you have that representation outside of that it's more anecdotal where we do have a lot of City staff members go to our school district so over to your left is Kelly OD our rec manager so between Mr OD day and chief of police SC room over there wish so a lot of our directors in the room our teams do interact with the school district it's not on a formal perp part basis perhaps but they're might be opportunities to expand that and the other thing is one of the reasons that we have a mountain bike trail is that a student group yes paid for feasibility study and then several of those students I believe did actually put some Sweat Equity into their pet project so there's some I think letting kids in some level have skin in the game you know for their own environment whether it's looking for you know uh monarch butterfly eggs or whether it's taking a plastic bag and going out and picking up trash in the park there there's a big need for that and for them to feel invested in their future I would really like to see that Outreach that's good all right well thank you very much for coming thank you thank you for the opportunity um and you'll be hearing from Sissa within a few days on the on what the outcome is thank you we have such an awesome City I'm like wow no we have these great candidates okay hello hi welcome thanks for joining us thank you um we're going to go down the row and introduce our El should put your microphone on oh yeah than you you go hi I'm KY kley from W for I'm Paul I represent w three I'm Kimberly Wilburn I'm at large and acting mayor I'm Deb Calbert I'm also at large good to see you and paty Foster Bolton Ward one all right and we're going to have Deb ask our you our questions today well thanks for coming in um first question is please tell us about yourself and what your what in your background makes you the right person for this position it's the culmination of my work as a teacher uh Professor uh assessment specialist and test developer uh the travels I've done around the country in uh about 40 of the states and looking under the hood of their mathematics educational program and standards and that along with the time I had as a as a young teacher early teacher just graduated from college I uh signed up join for join the Peace Corps and I was uh quickly routed to uh West Africa to a uh Sierra Leon where I was a school I was a teacher in uh cas through eight Primary School in a small village up country about 300 miles from the coast and uh you might say it was character building because uh my training program was about uh just shy of a week and uh I had to learn the language and English is was the language of of Sierra Leon but two years went by like that and students were terrific the people don't have much materially but they have big hearts and big Ambitions uh along with that I did uh Public School teaching mostly mathematics uh and uh also uh post post School post High School teaching I taught undergraduates in uh mathematics and uh mathematics education I did a lot of student teacher supervision and and uh I was always interested in Mother Nature when I was seven years old I used to go around town where I grew up climbing trees much to the dismay of my mother but when I got up there I was I was a small kid when I was eight or nine years old I didn't weigh anything so I could just climb and every time I got up 30 feet in the air I could see around me and to me that felt like I owned the entire forest and it's it's a it's a feeling I never got over um uh that plus all the teaching jobs I've had uh and in my retirement having the opportunity to do volunteer work for the last six years of the arbor redom really sealed it for me because I got to look under the hood of how Parks run even though the arbored is not a park it's got a lot of park-like stuff it's also not free uh they charge a pretty good rate to get a membership but the but the people who come there uh take a lot out of it it's got It's got so many wonderful spaces and uh so many educational opportunities and I learned so much about not just the wildlife and the plants but how things operate and that was that was just excellent and I feel like all these things are coming together with an opportunity to do something that I know a little bit about uh meet some interesting people and uh move on so um second question is Preservation and enhancement of the city's natural environment and offering active recreational amenities are both highly regarded Community Values how would you approach balancing these two diverse Community perspectives when residents have different differing views on Parkland use and Recreation priorities if you're not if you're not developing and improving you're not moving forward you're not advancing and there's there's different kinds of moving forward there's the everyday maintenance and then there's the routine care that has to happen with uh the restrooms and the walkways and the safety and the infrastructure the paving uh ground keeping mowing uh plant attendance and so for forth there's also the the thinking that has to go on with do we have the right specimens here do we have the right mix do we have the right uh angles for what we're trying to do with this park is it situated in in a way that is accessible to everybody uh what what kinds of things can we do to make it better uh I've been in Minot Tonka long enough to remember the improvements that were made on uh lone Lake Park with the with the bike trails had some controversy to it but in the in the end I don't know how many of you remember it but in the end the whole thing got settled rather peacefully with a with a lot of a lot of discussion and uh the the bike trails went in uh many people were happy many people were not happy but over the years they've coexisted and uh as far as I can tell I live near lone Lake Park uh it's been reasonably successful I've also done a lot of work with friends of Min Min minona parks in uh working with invasives that's another one of the things that has to happen with uh improvements is looking out for all the invasives and understanding the difference between invasives and non-natives and all that stuff has to come into play when you're doing planning and operational care and uh paying the bills and uh keeping the restrooms clean and so forth thank you the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersect with the work of the park board diversity is the Touchstone of evolutionary progress and the more diversity we can muster uh diversity in the wild world is uh not only necessary it's vital uh just to just to take a small example uh the number of insects or the number of species of insects that are known is uh about about 900,000 uh scientists figure there's probably another 100,000 that have yet to be discovered there's 14,000 species of ferns 28,000 species of orchids these are successful because of The evolutionary processes that's going on too and humans at least H sa H sapiens who we are all are coexist as one species so you got to think about that in terms of not only what we do tomorrow but what's the long-term effect of having many different voices many different opinions many different siid to the argument yes yes thank you based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and a challenge for the whole group for me it's going to be hearing and uh yeah I wear hearing aids and I'm and I have a hearing loss and I've had a progressive hearing loss and my hearing today is not as good as it was uh a year and a half ago but I'm keeping up with it the problem I have is one that's both cognitive and emotional and that is uh when I'm home with my wife Liz and uh sometimes she gets a little tired of my not hearing particularly when I don't have these in my ears and I get scolded rightfully so but uh sometimes it comes to the point where I have to uh I won't say pretend that I heard her but I have to answer it a way that kind of Hedges the question about what did you say because sometimes Liz gets tired of me saying I didn't hear that oh okay and sometimes I feel bad because I can't hear but I can hear enough to get along and as long as I keep an even emotional keal I think I can stay on track so for the whole group pardon me so so what so that's your individual challenge do you have a challenge you anticipate for the um Park board I would say looking at the invasive species that we have a little more intensely because we've got some serious issues going on right now with Buckthorn and garlic mustard and a few others that are out there and uh I think it's going to take some resources if you go into some of the buck Thor areas uh you're going to find some of the uh plants are this thick and buckthorne spreads mostly because birds like the seeds and it's it's hard to control uh I've done a lot of uh work St With Friends of Minon minona parks in Lone Lake Park and uh We've made a difference there but it's a constant battle and the question becomes do you want to make a constant battle you want to use pesticides I don't like using Roundup I don't like getting it on my hands uh and nobody else does either so we have to find ways to do it uh as effectively as we can but we have to be aware of what it costs and what it costs is a lot and I remember looking at some numbers and damage figures about what invasive cost uh overall just in Minnesota and it's a it's a staggering number yes okay do we have time no over um so thank you for for coming in and talking to us um Sissa will be in touch with you in the next few days to let you know uh what what the decisions were so thank you thank you very much and I wear fearing AIDS too so I got I got mine in thank you all thank you everybody's holding up heing I just got new ones on Friday and they're like yes I can hear so they are so amaz they get better every time it's like it's like I know this is a hard I like nail it out they have comfort settings hi welcome you my mic on for you yeah we'll go ahead and get that clipped on and um we're just going to go down the row here and have the council introduce ourselves hi my name is ky kley I'm in Ward 4 I'm Paula r i present war three I'm Kimberly Wilburn I'm at large and acting mayor today I'm Deb calber I'm also at large paty Foster Bolton word one and we're going to have paty ask you questions today so um please tell us about your yourself and and what in your background makes you the right person for this position all right well uh my name is Caleb Schultz and I'm uh happy to be here tonight I've been looking for ways thoughtfully to be more engaged in the work that this city is doing uh I believe the kind of the fun stuff happens locally and uh that's where I've always enjoyed uh being involved with uh volunteering and I am uh a physician and a public health Advocate and I think of the park board as really fundamental to creating opportunities for people to be healthy in our community and the ways in which we can make that more available more accessible uh the better because that makes our residents and those folks who visit more healthy or have opportunities to be healthy which is really the foundation of a healthy community and uh I kind of look at uh the other advocacy I've done as well as you know working on the being being a member of the park board as from a lens of Health in all policies so what can we do to assist you as Park board members to see what we're trying to enact in in that lens uh I have a fair amount of experience in community engagement and involvement uh prior to moving to vatanka I was a commissioner uh of of Health part of the Health commission rather in Idina and there I uh launched the tobacco 21 movement so I introduced the policy to other Commissioners got their input and buy in and then presented it to the city council and mayor and supported them through the process of getting Community input engaging Grassroots uh leaders to bring to fruition Edina being the first city in the state to pass the tobacco 21 uh policy uh six months later I moved to motanka and I did the same thing here and uh was asked by minnesotans for smokefree generation of which I'm a coalition member to keep moving around the state to get it past more and more places I said no Minon is my long-term home uh I also uh in part of Tonka cares with the mayor which is a uh dependency or addiction related uh service entity for the school district where we try to support uh kids who have these uh these issues and uh recently I I finished Service as a facilities Task Force member for the school district and I'm also on the Minnesota Medical Association board of directors so I have a long history of trying to be engaged and be involved and I see that as part of this I'm also a Avid user of parks uh both as uh on my own but uh I have three uh school age children who are in the minona public schools and we go to our local Wilson Park with significant frequency and uh other other places as well thank you um preservation and enhancement of the city's natural environment and offering active recreational amenities are both highly regarded Community Values how would you approach balancing these two diverse Community perspectives when residents have differing views on Parkland use and Recreation priorities uh well you know I've kind of followed this this issue the these uh these these uh ideas that can sometimes be at odds and uh you know one of them was the uh lone Lake uh and the mountain biking and the and the bee uh concern and uh so I followed that and I followed just recently the park and kind of leash uh discussions and they're they're difficult but what I see and I think I would utilize as well moving forward was you know Community input consensus uh consensus building uh people ultimately want to be heard even if a decision isn't finally in their favor people need to be heard they need to feel like their voice is valued what their what they value is is valued but I'd also take it from the stand point of what's rhetoric and what's fact-based what's evidence-based uh concerns because we can oftentimes get caught up in emotion that doesn't always reflect either good policy or good good evidence that backs up a decision for uh for the park board I also think uh you know this is a this is a a city commission and and and we serve uh we serve residents and so the you know i' I'd be thinking as well about how many people are served by which decision and in in some respects the majority rules so so the the people who might have the the most benefit is is uh is also something to weigh okay thank you the city emphasizes diversity equity and inclusion in our body of work how does this effort intersection intersect with the work of the park board well uh the park board I think uh has a major potential uh both uh issue as well as opportunity and that's in the area of disability and ableism and I'm a person who has lived experience in the disability community uh most people don't or most people don't know that about me because my disability is not visible to most people but uh I've experienced ableism in my workplace uh frequently uh I experience ableism and social interactions and so I uh am very sensitive to that area in relation to the parkboard because to be inclusive we have to figure out and and think about how do our parks and our rec options uh not further ableism and so that's something I think is very critical uh in one of the organizations I've been a part of we also do whenever we're making a decision or making a recommendation we do an equity timeout so so we we pause before we make a final vote on something and say what are the equity implications of this uh recommendation or vote and uh that reminds us uh it's a stop it's a stop sign before we move forward and uh and then I'm I'm so thankful that this that this city has a Dei commission and so I would utilize that commission for recommendations if the park board members are at all concerned about those about Dei issues as it relates to uh an issue we've been tasked with and finally um based on your understanding of the commission what do you think will be an individual challenge for you and a challenge for the group well for me I think it would be simply just that I would be a a you know a brand new member to the park uh Park board so there are uh aspects of uh you know kind of technical components and uh ordinance uh language that I would have to ramp up on uh it I fully expect to feel a little bit like I'm drinking from a water hose as I begin uh but I'll I'll I'll take it on and I'll uh do the work to to uh to be productive in those ways and I also feel like from again that perspective uh in city city government a lot of times you don't have to reinvent the wheel you we've got other great examples out there and so I think some of the learning that I'll be able to do as an individual is what are best practices or great practices or a kind of health and all policies part pork board practices that I can learn about and then share with my other parkboard uh teammates and then as a group as you asked I would say the the biggest thing of course is building consensus and making sure everyone is heard uh sometimes you know within group dynamics and when you put leaders in a room uh well in in some cases you can end up talking over one another instead of listening but in some cases uh some some of the most important voices can can actually um be quieted instead of brought out so I would I would want our group to work hard to make sure everyone's being heard getting their input fully fleshed out do we have time well we started a little late so like maybe one question quick do you have any questions for us um yeah I think uh the question I've been thinking thinking about is you know uh City councils work in multi-year outlooks and I'm curious if you if any of you have a uh a major goal for the park board that say might be a a five or 10 year uh out Outlook goal that would require then the park board to spend lots of time or Advanced time kind of thinking about and and working on um well I would say just as much as like like we just passed our climate action and adaptation plan there's the what is it the post post plan so like there's a lot of different plans in place for the city so I think the park board would kind of fall would want to fall in line with with those plans I haven't specifically like personally sat down and thought about what I want the park board to be doing for the next 5 years but I would like because it's in the plan it's in the plan yeah the park open space and trails plans the post plan yep will'll be guiding guiding that work and then we have the whole dog leash thing um which will also guide you know that'll be a big undertaking that will affect our Parks too but you did you I was going to say personally I'm always thinking about more programming in parks for teens you just that's always on the Forefront so I always go back to potteran park when I was a little kid so I just love that Park yeah yeah well thank you very much for coming in okay thank you and um Sissa will be in touch within in the next few days to let you know what what the decision was appreciate it thank you um so you have your sheets you can give those to me now or you can give them to Maranda after the meeting or if you any more time to think about it you can give it to me by email on Wednesday and these appointments will be made on Monday at the council meeting or for approval that'll be brought forward to you okay so you want to bite tomorrow morning I think I said Wednesday Wednesday yeah I'm think well I can't give them to you now cuz there's nothing on it but thank you anything ask this is hard I I never get stomped on stuff but this today I'm stom this is really an awesome City embarrassment and riches huh an embarrassment of riches it is it's just if people want makes me smile for for Psy to come back so if people want to take a few minutes now and fill out their thing if they know I have no idea I liked everyone so yeah let's just take a a five minute break and then we'll come back and power through yeah hit is it oh okay we are gonna turn it over now to G4 Boon to talk to us about ebikes all right yeah you want you good I'm good okay I thought I had hold on he's ready to go okay all right we're ready um so good good evening everyone uh we're here to talk about ebikes and so what I did was I learned a lot about ebikes last week I'll be honest with you there are there is so much to learn it I wanted to give this to somebody else and I thought no I'm too far in into it and then Monday I had to refresh myself again because there's a lot and so what my intent is to cover ebike specifically but I'm also going to touch on a couple other devices that are out there that that you probably have heard of and for the most part those are all regulated already in state stat statute and so um you know the areas that we're going to talk about are areas that you have authority to regulate and so but I I did want to start with uh what they're not and by definition um the league of Minnesota did a really good job of putting out some information with all the different types of uh things that we'll see on our roadways you know all the way to snows atbs and things like that but I think it's important to highlight because you may come across these in fact um I actually tested our officers on some of these definitions and I'm ashamed to say that they don't know what everything out there is either and that's going to be kind of the uh the theme is whatever we decide it's it's always difficult like what what's coming next you know and and then how do we enforce it so but just a couple examples uh like a motorized bicycle we're going to talk about ebikes but motorized bicycles are also fairly common and most people think of them as mopeds okay um and so how I look at a motorized bicycle it typically doesn't have the pedals is one factor not all the time but the biggest factor is they're either powered by electric or a gas engine that's 50 CC's or less and there's some other requirements headlight tail light um things like that they can't travel more than 30 miles an hour they are similar to more like when you think about lighting requirements like a motorcycle and this is where it's really confusing is there's a different requirement for safety gear like for for for operating a moped you need to wear any anybody under the age of 18 has to wear a helmet so kind of keep that in mind and then also you need like a moped permit um and so that's that's the that's kind of talking a little bit about motorized bicycle they they are not ebikes a second one and they're kind of categorized together Segways and hoverboards uh those those devices what I would say about those two devices is they consider them an extension of a pedestrian so if you're operating a a segue or hoverboard anything that a a pedestrian can do they can do there's really no other requirements for those for those type of um of of devices and again there's others these things change by the year there's these little pocket bikes like motorcycles or like a little min mini motorcycle but those are all considered motorcycles they're gas powered but they look very small and you who's riding it you look you look quite large but uh I just wanted to highlight a couple of these things but these are already covered in state so if we have a moped on a sidewalk it's in violation because they should be on the roadway things like that again seg wgs and what hoverboards they could operate on our on our on our trails and there's really nothing we can do about it all right but mopz you have to be on the road on the furthest right on the furthest right so um what are ebikes uh they are also known they're called electric bikes known as ebikes or pedal assist bicycles they're human powered bicycles created with with integrated electric motors and there is a uh they're capped at 750 watts the bike motor provides additional power and speed to a cyclist and then the drive system is consist of a motor battery drivetrain and throttle there are three classes of e bikes uh you have class one is um you know it's probably one that you it's more um it goes up to 20 M an hour it's pedal assist only so the motor activates only when pedaling a class two is a throttle on demand no pedaling required but it has a maximum speed of 20 and the third is a pedal assist only motor activates when pedaling with a maximum speed of 28 um and then I'm actually going to go over I didn't mention this but I want to go over what I'm going to go over is some state and local regulations what's already what what are already some requirements what are some safety considerations and then really where is you where as you the console have authority to regulate um ebikes in any way um and then uh just to highlight um the the ebikes are limited at 750 watts and there's a sticker on the ebike so those that have ebikes I haven't seen this but there must be a little sticker that tells you if you have a class there have someone yep um and so I also found a very kind of cute uh video that does a much better draw much better job of talking about so it's really short I will show it though it'll it actually like about a two and a half minute video on the difference between the three [Music] classes hi I'm Nicole and this is Jason we're charged up about ebikes we ride them sell them and really enjoy them and we're here to tell you some of the basics of ebikes ebikes are similar to regular bikes but with a boost ebike sales are doubling every year which helps support local economies with jobs and tax revenue and of course there's more ebike use on roads and trails okay so we hope this video shed some light on what ebikes are and who's buying them and riding them and how they enhance the rider experience from parents riding EC cargo bikes to cart kids and groceries around town instead of driving to recreational peders and Mountain bik ERS looking to add some fun and distance to their weekend rides to seniors and folks with different abilities who need a little extra help to enjoy their favorite rides to commuters who want to skip the traffic jams parking hassles and still get to work feeling fresh so let's look at the three different classes of ebikes much like the different classes of cars and drivers the three class system for ebikes aligns everyone from city planners to manufacturers around common understanding this three class system for categorizing ebikes has been adopted in many state vehicle codes and even in state and local park regulations class one is a pedal assist ebike with a top motor assisted speed of 20 M an hour when the motor stops helping you class two is the same as a class one but with a throttle assist and a top motor assisted speed and 20 mph also class 3 is a pedal assist ebike with a top motor assisted speed of 28 mph in many states class 1 and two are allowed to ride wherever a traditional bike goes class three is generally allowed on the street due to their higher top speed in the US ebikes are required to display a label showing their class top assisted speed and wattage so it's easy to see which class of bike you're looking at that's for state vehicle codes which deal with roads and bike paths on natural single track Trails laws and regulations vary go to peoplefor bikes. org / ebikes to learn more about ebike movement and how more and more jurisdictions are adopting this harmonized three class system thanks for watching and if you haven't tried an ebike yet what are you waiting [Music] for for real I can hook you up for last okay that was nice way of kind of an overview better than just reading from a slide deck and so as we look at what our current state and local regulations around any ebike use is that you have to operators must be at least 15 years old ebikes cannot carry more passengers than designated and designed I guess ebikes are allowed on most bicycle trails through local restrictions May apply and really the focus will be on the on the class three on Beyond so really on class one and two there's very little you can do to regulate their use on a trail system bike and bike path and something like that really the only thing that you could do across the board would be think about this would be a helmet requirement because again they're not required um to wear helmets uh to to operate uh ebikes and so local authorities can impose additional rules for ebike uses on trails and paths under their jurisdiction that's what we're here to talk that's what we're here to talk about uh first one is really when we think about non-motor uh designated Trails um with a natural surface um you know we really uh we have the um we would consider the mountain bike trail it's not something that we're really looking at to to uh you know highlight tonight so I think we'll we'll look more closely at the level 3es what's interesting is local authorities can prohibit the operation of a class 3 ebike with the motor engaged on a bicycle path and so my question to Julie was would you ever operate a class three without the motor engaged and it's my understanding that they're pretty heavy and so as as local um as a local Authority you can prohibit the use of a class three bike on a trail or a bike path but the motor you have to know if the motor's engaged or not which you I could tell you would be very difficult right I would I wouldn't know that so just as for practic for practical purposes that's your Authority you can only regulate it by saying the motor can't be engaged so Theory you could say you can ride a level a class three on a bike path you'd have to regulate whether the motors engage or not that make sense um and so the other thing is that you do have you can prohibit that's consistent with the safety and general welfare of Bikeway roadway or shoulder users or terms of a property conveyance it's my understanding there are situations where someone may uh allow a trail to come through their property and so there might be some conditions of that usage I'm not we're not as familiar with that in our city we can certainly look at it uh closer but from from talking to Karine it would be there's there could be those issues but uh again our focus is more on the class three um these are just some more at the state and federal level this is what's what's happening uh on trails that are that are um that are under the DNR is class one and two ebikes are allowed class three regulations under review and this is what I'll you'll you'll see with many jurisdictions is the class 3 ebike are relatively you know new they're newer and so many jurisdictions haven't really taken a stance on on the class three uh on local and federal Trails again it's really up to the local governments and some safety requirements that that is that is across the board is you have to be 15 years old you do not need registration licensing or insurance is not required and modifying ebikes to exceed speed limits is prohibited so you can't manipulate the bike to make it go faster than like 28 mil hour for example some safety considerations is are that you know class 3 bikes they go up to 28 miles an hour that's pretty fast right and so uh Riders should practice handling and braking at higher speeds they have lithium ion batteries and so we we consistently hear about making sure that their their design and their approved batteries we you know you handle them carefully dispose of them carefully and then obviously a consideration is we want to make sure Riders wear protective gear in any other uh in helmets some benefits of ebikes is accessibility for diverse groups such as older adults or individuals limited physical fitness there's a variety of environmental benefits health and mental well-being uh faster and more convenient communting and then quiet operation and ability to carry cargo and I'm sure there's many many more those are just some things that that uh I had found in the research looking at neighboring cities and so I had reached out to most of the neighbors that touch our border because one of the concerns I had is consistency so when people travel on our on our bike trails or you know as they move from City to City it's very difficult if one city has a different regulation you wouldn't know that or you know there have to be some posting and which just could make it difficult for those that are navigating our our Trails Edina is considering it hasn't been adopted yet requiring helmets for Riders under 18 and they are also looking at prohibiting class 3 ebikes with motors engaged again they haven't adopted anything those are just two of the areas that they're that they're looking at I also did they also may be looking at a speed limit requirement on Trails by maybe keeping it at 20 or something like that um that I haven't confirmed that but I someone had mentioned they may include speed as well um you can see St Louis Park Plymouth Eden Prairie Hopkins have and and Three Rivers have no current restrictions or any regulations on ebike use Maple Grove refers to the statute which covers bicycles so what they're saying is pretty much anything a bicycle can do an ebike can do um and then to our to our West you have Shorewood Greenwood and exceler they all have adopted uh some regulation uh for the most part uh shorwood and when they talk about the helmet one is pretty consistent I I do see helmet under the age of 18 because remember there's no requirement so I do I do see uh City uh local government requiring those that are 1617 or 15 16 and 17 to wear a helmet um the other one in shwood it did include a provision that um prohibits ebikes from a natural artificial turf Playfield playground you can you can read that that's where kind of like the unimproved surface so I'm assuming it's so they don't damage the U some of that some of that surface and then Greenwood I read this from their ordinance and I I'm not sure how the how they did this but they do do require the helmet and they also shall not operate upon a sidewalk at any time um an ebike so it looks like to me that they prohibit all ebikes from operating in any part of their city except for the roadway and then exceler requires a helmet I'm going to pause there are any there any questions about some of our neighbors is Greenwood do you think it would it's all ebikes or class three the way I read the Resolute it was it was all ebikes is it are they is Greenwood like to me when it says sidewalk I'm thinking of like an actual sidewalk which we don't have a lot of in minona correct but um but are they excluding ebikes from Trails too it could be that they only have sidewalks and maybe they don't have Trails I just took this from the resolution got it um and I'm I'm sure there was a lot more that was discussed in the decision I just that's what that's the exact wording from from the resolution um does anyone know I thought that St Louis Park banned bikes on sidewalks does anyone know like like I don't think they can do that you can't it's very clear to me that the state The Authority uh the authority really prohibits I think bicycles and really the class one and two they don't want local government to really restrict access and I don't think bicycles could be I don't think it could okay you know one of the things that I've been trying to think about is we we see it I don't think we complain about it I'm just wondering like how many conflicts or accidents or completes you know oh I have more I'll cover that so we're getting to that I just didn't know if you had any questions about like the regulations yeah keep going no um so complaints and Community concerns so we actually looked at our data now again it's it's sometimes can be difficult mining our data but last year it looks like we found specifically 12 complaints regarding ebike use so not a great deal most of those complaints were in neighborhoods on streets with kids doing wheelies Running Red Lights nothing even on our Trails now we've heard of issues with tr rails where you know people come up pretty fast and do that but as far as complaints that we received most of it again was on streets uh cue saacs on the road involving you know juveniles we did uh work with mm minaka Middle School East they had last year they had a group that would ride their ebikes to school and they either stor them along the fence on the trail or they'd ride them across the ball field we were we were able to work with the school directly and it was an education so that was handled immediately and so uh that that was resolved fairly quickly and when reach when I reached out to to Public Works and their staff to see have they experienced any complaints they do occasionally don't come to us and they go to public works and they said yeah we do occasionally get some complaints very similar to what you have but then they also touched on motorized foot scooters so I'm like huh what is a motorized foot scooter we're here to talk about ebikes but I discovered that motorized foot scooters are defined differently and you also have some Authority and so I decided to weave that into this presentation oh boy so you wouldn't have to come back um so this is what a motorized foot scooter is and you can read the definition there but I've seen these out and about fairly common um but they must not operate on a sidewalk that's already in state law so that's in state law but aren't these like what they have in cities yeah you can people break their ankles every five minutes yeah that's what is most challenging about some of these is that now you can see also you must be at least 18 at least 12 year 12 years old to ride and you must wear a helmet of under the 18 under the age of 18 so what's really difficult is the state has all they have some state laws and depending on like you know like I talked about ebikes you don't have to wear a helmet but on these you have to wear a helmet now where local government has the ability has the ability to regulate again a city can prohibit these scooters on a bike path Lane Trail or bike way designated for non-motorized use and that's pretty much any of our trails and so I added this because I thought U it be something you may want to consider um I don't have any knowledge of any significant complaints involving these but it just is another option for you as you start to look at regulating ebikes in one way do you also want to uh look at the use of motorized foot scooters crazy what say I said that seems crazy like totally inconsistent yeah it's very difficult and then there's other types of devices that the ages are different um I will tell you this regardless is that um the most important part of this is education and Outreach whatever is decided there are there are opportunities to work with our with our school schols with with really teaching you know families and kids what what they can and can't do working with our retailers can we you know can we put flyers out really describing what these devices are how dangerous they are um I I think regardless of the decision I think there could be more done around education and Outreach and it worked very well at mitaka middle school without creating a lot of lot of extra stuff it we really just focused on the problem and had a solution and so this I think is important regardless and then if there's any desire to put any signage on the Trails um and any other opportunities and so I I I think that is a something I would want to highlight um and that really is kind of the short and sweet of it there's I mean there's again the the the areas that you have the ability to regulate are if you want to require helmets and or do you want to regulate class three on the bike paths or trails with no motor engaged and then we there's a couple with uh looking at um oh I did Cover I also included the the natural surface so you saw that one of the Cities included like natural Turf um ball fields and things like that so there is some ability to create some some regulation around not operating any ebike on on those type of surfaces okay so I'll turn over to you acting all right um so as someone who owns several bikes including an ebike that I've had for a couple of years and my husband rides an ebike um just some thoughts so one I have a class 2 ebike that I could change some settings on it to make it a class three I've never done that because 20 miles an hour is is fast enough and it's not allowed on some Trails so I just leave it a class two as Class 2 um I a lot of you have seen my bike it's like a cargo type bike it weighs 70 pounds and the few times that I have forgotten to turn on assist and and and I have regretted it greatly because I got an ebike because of my knees and that trying to push 70 pounds with no assist is so I think requiring like someone to ride their their ebike with no assist on a trail it's not going to happen people are just going to not follow that rule um so I wouldn't I would be open you I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with putting a speed limit 20 miles an hour or less on Trails um and the same with helmets I think like both of those things are maybe something we should talk to our legislators about and because I think to make it more consistent yeah a state rule would would be better I think than especially for like a helmet like I can ride through St Louis Park without one and then I have to put one on when I cross the border you know it gets it gets uh a little tricky and the other thing is like so my husband has encountered hostility while riding his bike like just riding his bike minding his own business business um some woman cussed at him and told him that he wasn't allowed on the bike trail which not true because it's an electric bike because it's an ebike but he wasn't going fast or you know it was just she was just in and I have seen you know cyclist on regular bikes going faster than 20 mes an hour and causing problem and I have seen plenty of pedestrians and people with dogs that are not following etiquette as well so I think like you said the education is like a really big part of dealing with this issue um and for I I we had reached out to commissioner edon's office and um there is a desire to do a countywide Approach at a minimum that way we have consistency in our County similar to curfew we all don't have separate curfew hours and so that's still to be determined um but I do think there are other cities waiting to see what what could come of the county steping and creating a countywide ordinance that's consistent don't know if that's going to happen but it could okay did did you get any sort of feeling as to like timing from County no I did not to this isn't necessarily for staff and I'm almost wondering because you have an ebike like do you think ebikes on the mountain bike trail would cause more erosion for instance than a or be a little more dangerous than just a a petal powered mountain bike I think like potentially again I don't know like numbers wise how many people are ebike mountain biking I don't know if that's well the park board did talk about that when the mountain bike trail came on and and there wasn't there's not that much research about that and so we the park board aired on the side of accessibility and allowing them on our mountain bike trails um and seeing what was going to happen and we haven't seen significant damage due to e bikes out there my other question is do you think that the small number of complaints is because there isn't it's it it's becoming an adopted device but it it's not what you know they're not widely not a lot of people have them yet um I think that could be part of it like anything else once to becomes more it's kind of a novelty right now and it's not you know yeah I mean I think the you're going to have you know people who will follow rules so like if we Institute rules the rule followers were follow and there'll be people who ignore them and there's like there's always going to be some people who don't F do the right thing so like whether they're on a regular bike or an ebike or or whatever who you know don't don't don't don't signal when they're passing passs too close right on the wrong side what whatever it is um I think it's just the ebikes can potentially be more dangerous because of higher speeds but and higher weight um but I don't know that like there's a huge number of ebike riders that are like misbehaving for lack of a better word I just know like when I go to car park reserve the E bikers are incredibly abnous they are going really fast and you know everybody else is just supposed to get out of the way and I mean there it's it it makes it you know it's a beautiful Park and it's hard to enjoy sometimes but you know my whole thing is what I've been trying to balance with this is that accessibility piece making sure that I mean the whole thing is making sure that people can get out in nature or at least fresh air get some exercise especially if they have any kind of you know physical limitation even if it's not a permanent disability just like knee problems or whatever the case may be and just making sure that we can keep people healthy and outdoors and um making our spaces accessible to people and also achieving our um greenhouse gas right yeah you know really the first mile Last Mile exactly we're tring and but also being mindful of safety and also the enjoyment of people who are on foot or on or are on slower vehicles and now I'm thinking about those the motorized scooters um yeah I I haven't seen those on the trails but I have seen so I have the hoverboards I've seen no the tiny motorcycles uhuh yeah those those are those cannot be those are already regulated by state law right yeah they're already not allowed but that's like what that correct I had somebody Zip by me and they do look ridiculous because it was like a like a 20-year-old man with his knees up here they went zip zipping by but I think the easiest way that if it doesn't have a pedal it probably should not be on the on they usually have a peg yeah he had pegs there was no pedaling happening it shouldn't have been on the trail but I wasn't going to stop him so oh my God that's too funny I I also just wonder Mike and I talked about this a little bit it's just you know enforceability by the time I mean there's it's almost almost anything we do except for maybe a helmet is unenforceable you can see if someone's you know wearing a helmet or Not Right But if somebody's going over 28 miles an hour I mean are we going to have are we going to have our officers on the trails with a you know radar gun or you know it it would be a challenge you would rely on just compliance and you know and again to your point people people that will already comply are probably driving or riding in a safe manner you know but it it does make it challenging you know we we do have a bike Patrol unit that patrols our trails and so regardless of what is decided I I think there's such a new they're so there're still they're still new and I think there could be a fairly significant campaign program with their bike Patrol getting out there in the main you see it along man Boulevard you could you could do a lot with that signage and stuff like that so but speed limits enforcement would be difficult and it would be almost impossible to know if your motor's engaged or not from my understanding the only the only thing that I think about is that if something bad happened and now I'm starting to think about it because the Baker Road Trail is going to be going in in the next two years and we we just had a meeting at um Hopkins West Middle School and it's just another conflict zone so now you know I mean would love it if more kids would be riding their bike to school instead of you know having Mom and Dad drop them off and making all the traffic on Baker Road but it's just another point of conflict and just making if we have the regulations and somebody's not doing it and something happens you know but I just I I kept thinking how do we how do we enforce almost anything honestly right right well yeah I mean I think if we if we pass the regulations the people that follow rules will follow the rules yeah it's like is it like so many other things we have lots of complaint-based um you know ordinances um just another couple of quick comments um I understand the lack of enforceability or the ability to do that I will say that I've gotten a number of comments from um residents about you know stopping using the trails with their small children yeah um because of concerns about ebikes specifically and you know just speeds um the other thing and I have no idea if this is all feasible but you know with pan way what they have done in WIA of course is you have a bike path and you have a pedestrian path um and you know that's going to be added expense but that's you know one way to consider dealing with it in the future if if it becomes an issue but you know I don't I don't know that this is going to go away and maybe we wait and see but I feels sort of like a wait and see to me just because it just it's becoming an issue but it's relatively minor right now but I anticipate it becoming an issue and I I to my point about I I love going to Carver Park Reserve but the eikers have sort of taken it over and it it is like I would be scared to have a kid and I'm always pulling my dogs in I try to I try to follow etiquette but I mean you literally have to get all the way off it's just like these big groups of eikers just zooming by and it it kind of takes away the who aren't even pedaling usually huh who often AR times aren't it pedaling um so how can we move forward I would say like I agree it's a wait and see thing except for maybe doing the education piece with and I I guess the chief can tell us what about helmets do you have do you have capacity to to do some like I think this is the time as we get into the spring and summer to work with our schools we can get into our Parks do some stuff get our bike control out there hand out flyers we have the we have the the ability to do that correct yep what about what about helmets that's the other thing is I you know these are actually relatively breakable yeah I mean I I have no objection to requiring helmets um for under 18 it's under 18 correct um you know again it falls under the enforceability thing but at least you can see if someone has a helmet on their head but yeah I was going to say um the class three to me like I don't think we should have that on our trails at all whether it's the uh motor is engaged or not because like I can't you you can't tell so I just think having a class three on the trails you should just restrict the whole deal I don't think we can I don't know is that right can can prohibit the motor engaged Thea you can't yeah you can't like right Kar that's how we read it oh so only if it's engaged on the so you can't tell or not you can't I mean you can by the way they're pedling in all honesty but no you can't tell and like if someone just riding by you can't tell if it's a class two or class three right yeah so let's do let's let's do this let's do the helmets and then the education piece and you know see where it goes and see where it goes cuz we could we could litigate this all night long but we need to I mean I does that sound good or yeah I guess the question I we we would have to come back with helmets only and then if there's additional throughout this as we learn bring it back again is that what I'm hearing the H County thing though that sounds good to me the hen County thing yeah I impression is I think helmets I think you could there's a public safety need with helmets with with you know keeping people's heads intact and there's other similar devices that already require a helmet so I think at a minimum minimum you're going to see that pretty consistent it's where it gets a little as these other areas here so that that sound like it's workable I just didn't know about timing you know I would assume we have to come back with with the helmets and then if there's any change we'd have to come back again thank you yeah go ahead thank some thoughts as I'm listening to the conversation so I I hear what you're saying is helmets helmets and education I think timing is important question maybe something to also think about in addition is earlier tonight we talked about the survey questions so do you want to have survey Data before you make a decision even on helmet on the survey We'll be asking about how many people how many people own an ebike and what concerns however that's framed out concerns about ebikes will that be information you would want i' I'd be curious before you do an ordinance I think so could he ask questions about should the city regulate helmet use under 18 ask some questions like that to get a gauge well we can work with Peter on maybe that specific boing on those questions Scott and Council and I think the other thing too in the meantime as we do the survey I think it would also give perhaps myself and you even as Council to connect with Hanan County because I think it would be beneficial if the county did a countywide on helmets so we could do two things here two kind of tracks one let's do the survey Also let's connect with henan County to see what track they're on and if we're getting the sense in the coming months that they're going to do something about helmets then we wait for that to happen but if we get the sense that it may take some time for Helly to get there we could do something sooner okay and the suring day coming back to you Mor is it may may may may as so in May may think about timing of Summer um to do like so we get information in May um then you've got to think then the next steps if we do an ordinance based on that data that's going to be May that's going to be perhaps June if we do some minuta matters and solicit feedback so you could be into July before an ordinance so now you're in the heart of Summer um while we're also trying to educational campaigns trying to line all that up I that I mean that's fine yeah yeah I me or do you do something sooner educal campaign no let's just yeah can't we do the educational campign correct I think we'll do education regardless of your decision we'll prepare to do education as we get into April and May reason I mentioned educational holding off on education because if you change the ordinance we want to make that part of the literature so if we're going to spend resources on literature and handouts we also want to be able to articulate what it is that we're doing so that's the T I'm thinking about oh yeah we could still start some education though like proper etiquette and reasonable reasonable speeds and helmet yeah your brain is your brain is vulnerable important for the other people who are sharing this with and to to clarify like that if we passed the helmet it would be all bikes right all all Rider all bike types for Riders 18 and on ebikes class one two and three we can't do you're talking about just regular bicycles M who that's a good question oh okay well we we can you could come back with that information whether that can be included because um cuz your your head is just as vulnerable on a regular bike so but we can we can we can visit that at a later time you know soar confirm question they work on rewarding on those we also then connect with the county on their plans in May that survey information will come back and then Council once you get that information we'll look for further direction from you on what those next steps look like which could include an Orin okay yeah sounds good I may ask a question myself if you have helmets you require helmets does that give folks a safe sense of security so they drive faster on you I don't think so I think motorcycle I don't know I always wear a helmet no matter what kind of bike I'm on so and so do I okay yeah okay let's go yep let's move on to our licensed residential care facility uh yeah thank you Kimberly I will turn that right over to Julie so we'll just I know we're up against our hour so we'll Dive Right into oh Residential Care Facilities um m d but um before I almost forgot the mayor did provide some comments and those um put out and handing out yes fast medium fast fast through this I don't I I forgot how many people were here when we actually adopted the last version of the ordinance was it just that was here okay all right that helps me then I can make sure I um say the right things uh State Statute um obviously govern some of this much like the E thing there's lots of different regulations that play into licensees or Residential Care Facilities there's also city code um we talked about separation requirements that's kind of what brought us here today and then um we'll finally talk about some nuisance ordinances I want to tell you how that's treated in terms of um these types of homes it dates way back to 1975 and if you didn't know that that it was it's been a long time that Minnesota has had the law um to consider these types of homes and these kind of care facilities as part of an allowed use as a single they call it single family we kind of use the term now single unit household um and they are to be treated the same way and it's really about that levels of care or supervision um was keeping people from um being in a home situation so that was a long time ago um it has been updated over the last 50 years there's been little bits and pieces changed in the law but in essence the main part of the law has remained the same and then the locals or ordinances cannot be used to prevent people who have certain needs for care or supervision and so on the on the right hand side you can see the current 2025 State Statute and um we often pull the statute out when we're talking to Residents who might be concerned about a group home or a licensed facility in their neighborhood um and again it's up to six uh people that can be served there's a lot of other language in here about 12 and um daycare facilities Etc but the the main uh point is anything six or be allowed in a unit household so these are the kinds of licenses that are typically issued by the state there's boarding home supervisor supervised living facilities assisted living and assisted living with dementia those are the types of Licensing that is allowed by the state and then in the city code we just copy that statute basically and and uh reflect back what the state law says um we did have some pictures from some of our previous work on this issue so again trying to show you what some of the a group home locations look like Ina right now as of today and this changes pretty regularly um it's a daily activity you might know that there's a license facility one day and then either that goes out of business or someone new Pops in again we don't know about that necessarily um what we do is we take all the data from the State Department of Health and also the Department of Human Services and we compile that data and then we GIS it into the map that you see and all the red dots there kind of indicate the location um what's interesting about the map too you can see it's throughout minaka it's not in one place they're all over the city um I think that was the Law's intent that they be dispersed throughout uh neighborhoods and cities but there is some clustering and we'll talk about that in a minute um um it's important to remember that the city can't require any special approval or any special condition um it doesn't even matter what kind of occupants are at the facility so for instance I think we put this in the report if the occupants have primarily a brain injury versus maybe somebody going through drug withdrawal um or drug treatment you can't treat those uh facilities differently so here is the case on oal Paris um one is a licensed residential care facility and then one is what we would g a single household dwelling so that is a case where there are two in proximity so of those 47 cases you can see the right hand uh does Place those other ones uh that have two locations in the same neighborhood Baker Road Drive drive exension and then nway drive and Horn Drive have to um the proximate to each other one Caro is pretty far apart um Crown is right next to each other same thing on Baker um Lake Street Extension there's a couple of houses in between and the same on no way um other things on this slide I think I already covered this oh I think probably the another thing to think about is you know the city can't prohibit certain people from buying property in the community or living in the community we wouldn't do that for any persons living together so I wanted to live with my cousin and my sister-in-law and uh someone else nobody gets to say whether or not I can do that same concept applies here um I know I don't have to tell you that but sometimes I have to tell that so you had it was worth mentioning here um and we also don't prevent somebody from a certain size if they have a family of of lots of people in their residence we don't we can't live here you have too M so I think I think that goes without saying but sometimes that recognition or that thought process does not go to um certain people's minds when they call the city um we actually in 24 had some licensing changes that were enacted by the state and we can not no longer uh licensed care facilities at all and so um ad din actually tried or at least they thought about trying to impose minimum distances between uh their facility we can't find that they actually ever introduced legislation so it was on their legislative agenda but I couldn't find out that they actually propose something in Minneapolis I think there's this a little bit of a misunder understanding that there's a quarter mile separation there is some requirements for that but not for what's called a state license facility so I think people kind of mix that up and say oh they have some special legislation that they got out of um the state for separation that's just not accurate so um we did some work on that and following that that might be for certain facilities but not State licens um we in Mina though do allow 7 to 10 by conditional use fromit and so we do have a number of homes in that situation in motanka uh they have to be located on a collector they have to be uh one acre lot they have to have a f no larger than the F in the neighborhood Hood um parking requirements and then no exterior evidence of the of the use that's different than a typical house in 21 when we changed this ordinance if uh Deborah call went from 12 we were allowing up to 12 and then we moved it down to 10 we're actually probably one of few cities that allows us by conditional use permit and the reason I think at the time the council said you know we are looking for places for people to live we want people to have these types of opportunities in our community and there was a threshold kind of at that time at 12 what we're finding is maybe some um heartburn maybe about that number 12 and then brought it back down to 10 10 seemed to be the right uh number when we actually went out and talked to the property owners living by these units that were a little bit larger um what we were finding is they actually wer to uh critical of the uses we were finding um fa satisfaction with living in an area that had a larger group home so um that was actually surprising to us at the time we thought we get more complaints about parking or activity level or um deliveries and that sort of thing but that just did not weigh out and they actually got individual mailings to their houses um to respond and participate in uh kind of this deep dive what was going on I think there's also a sense like at 12 it starts feeling more institutional and the whole idea is 7 to 10 is more residential feeling versus institutional right that's true that's true and I think that's how the ccil made came to that decision in 21 um something that we always remind people of too uh these resident care facilities have to deal with the same kind of ordinances any house would have to deal with have the same requirements for building fences um or in anything in repair exterior lighting if they have garbage or Nuance issues um we apply the same standards it doesn't matter if it's a single family home or if it's a group home so just a reminder that all those ordinances still appli and then just some uh we had taken a bunch of pictures of existing group homes in City it's it's pretty hard in some situations to tell there's a on the right side you can kind of see the two cars that it wouldn't be atypical of a single family I think what maybe sometimes people see as a little bit more visiting maybe on the weekends there might be more cars that sort of thing um so in the packet it just asks you uh to kind of we what you heard tonight and see you know what staff uh if there's anything you want that'll turn it back to well I would say and and Mike and I looked at the league of Minnesota City's uh what's it policy the policy document policy document and um the committee I was on I know recommended and it's it's in the policy document that that to try and get that 20204 stat law repealed about with the license for six cities with the for facilities with six or fewer um because some cities are saying that like that that's their only way of inspecting properties and making sure that safety you know that residents are safe ETA um beyond that I mean there doesn't until until State Law changes there doesn't seem to be a lot that we can do beyond what is already being done so anybody yeah well that was my question to Mike this morning in terms of like what are you know in in order to space things out I mean I was surprised that sort of in total the number of of um of resident of group homes was pretty um evenly distributed in each of the wards that is not to say it's evenly distributed throughout the city because right if you go into the northwest corner of of like Ward four Ward three you know or even just the whole like the the the further west you get the fewer the fewer there are so um and then as you get down to the southeast Corner also you know then we start getting to high density and they're really or or industrial and so when you're in Opus there there's not as much of a opportunity there so it's not geographically um space but per W it is so I was I you know that's good but in I don't think we as a city can do much but my question was what are our options then and so you know is it something that you know we as a body would want to take to our committees at the league and see if they want to you know help us because you know some of the impetus for for this whole question tonight is to make sure that we can maintain an appetite in the public for the noble purpose for which you know these these statutes were enacted to make sure that people of all abilities and all needs can live in our city and you know live in a home and um I think we we start running into some push back if you start having a whole row of of homes that are not family homes they are group homes it's not a family it's it's a different Dynamic and um people will get heartburn or have gotten heart heartburn because because they start feeling like it's being taken over um so I just want to make sure that we're you know meeting our moral and other you know official obligations and also um making sure that they truly are evenly you know distributed if we're going to have um them but we can't do anything no and I thought it the whole thing precipitated by group home clustering yes and so and we did have complaints in in Ward one and so and I like cuz Oak's in Ward one and the Baker Road side by side are also in right board one and I don't think that people are like to Julie's point when she was saying people aren't complaining they don't complain about that issue itself what they complain about is that when they start seeing the property sort of like um deteriorate deteriorating and also there was some complaint that the the residents themselves were like left unattended and um they were concerned about the residents themselves which to me which I was like you should contact the County or the um State Attorney General actually the State Licensing licensing so but but again it it was very clear in the thing that we read that we can't facilitate them buying them closeth together like we don't have any control so um so I think it's true we don't there's nothing to be done really at this point we we as a city can't but but we could go to the league and say you know this is happening I don't have a good sense of how much that's happening in neighboring cities you know neighboring like suburbs and if people are complaining about it or not that's something that you know I think what I what I hear from other cities is because like let's say they have a rental licensing ordinance and they cannot rental license these uh facilities that the ability to swiftly deal with enforcement isn't as great so what we do and I know I Scott and I work together all the time on various enforcement matters and if there is a group home Enforcement issue um let's just say we're getting a lot of complaints about I don't know let's say altercations in the front altercations in the front yard whatever it is um he and I will meet to try to sit down with the ownership to try to figure out what's happening uh is there a management problem is there and again we don't have a lot of jurisdiction to do that but it's just something we've gotten with 47 of them uh you you have to find a different way to approach it and that's kind of how we've handled it um in terms of care though we do get a fair amount of people who will call us and say hey my friend my loved one somebody's in a living situation and they're not being cared for properly or their medications not given to them or whatever it is and so there's a bunch of reaction to that that please get notified but also the state is then notified so either Scott will or I will will type in a complaint on the state's website on behalf of whoever has called us so there's this hopefully some continuity and in terms of that that the person complaining doesn't have to keep going to the next step so it's not that we're responsible for that care but we're reporting that the care has been called out to us again we're not sure if it's true because we're not investigating it but uh definitely we can insert that and and put that on the state's website so we have done that a numerous times in the past so but I mean is this something that we should you know be advocating for at the league I'm on the improving Services delivery committee this is tangential at least to that I mean I you know you were talking about on on your committee but you know I I thought it would be worth just mentioning it's something that's starting to pop up and you know maybe we can get some that's a good information a question are you talking about taking action on clustering or are you taking are you talking about um requiring rental licensing for less I'm talking mostly about clustering I'm talking about our the licensing it's it's already in League of Minnesota City's policy priorities priorities the clustering is not got it thank you so yeah let's do that yeah um so before we go to our last thing I know everybody wants to get out of here but since we have the chief here I um we were could you talk to us a little bit about ice and the what's going on with that and thank you for your statement yeah yes yes I will and so um this happened similarly in 2016 at a much smaller scale but I can recall meeting with several several organizations really talking about local government our our role in in in immigration status checks um roundups you name it so but this time it's it's quite different and and so I was I I've met with the Dei commission last week uh talked to them and then a had contacted us because they have seen a decrease in people coming in for services for for being in fear of you know whether they're tracking or someone's going to show up and so I went down there one night and they had I was you know they had invited other nonprofits from the area and there was 60 plus people in attendance and then I went there the second day and there was a smaller group but my message to them is this we we don't we're not under the federal jurisdiction we have they have no control over your local police department we don't enforce federal law immigration is all under the federal authorities what we do today is no different than what we did last year two years ago we have not changed our practice I don't know what they're doing in our area uh we have reached out to to see if we can have a contact to find out just tell we we hear what's going on as much as you do in the news and quite frankly I don't know what's factual and what's not but it's very disturbing because when when people are afraid to call us um bad things can happen I mean um you know bad situations they don't want to get us involved because they're not sure what's going to happen so our concern is that if people are afraid to call the police because we're going to ask about immigration they're not going to call us and so I I had reassured them that we don't ask you know you don't need a you don't you don't need to you don't have to have there's no you can still have a driver's license in Minnesota you don't you don't have to you know so there's ID that we look at is driver's license and so that was my message to them is that we don't do that cuz I also heard that there's advice to carry your papers so when you are stopped you display them and so what's concerning to me is I can just imagine on the side of the road I have someone being stopped and someone's showing their papers the officers are trying they don't want anything to do with them and then that V it just it doesn't it's not we just don't it's it's so it's it's it's really unfortunate I wish we had more direction from our federal Partners on what's going on in our area um and so that's really it I mean it's just really assuring that your local police department we don't ask for your status we don't ask for any paperwork um the other thing is is that we want to make people aware are there there are folks that could scam you and so you may have officials claiming their their ice and and and trying to um extort money from people not to be reported and so um our message to uh a was if you have concerns call us we will come down and verify the credentials our role is really to keep the peace to make sure we know what's going on in our Community um we have instructed our officers if you're contacted by anybody at ice to report that to our on call director just so we know what's going on um we've had no zero interaction with our with ice officials we still have Partnerships with other federal agencies but I don't know what they're doing here okay if anything can I just um like for the record uh so like I I've seen stories of states that are not Minnesota where uh law enforcement actually participates in raids and and showing up at schools and dragging kids out and horrifying stories um so if I were to contact the police department and say hey we need your help what what is the response we will not participate in a raid what you're hearing is I know there are some states U way down in the South and you actually to do that they have to be deputized and so there are local governments in Sheriff's departments in Florida and Texas that are able to deputize their their officers to then enforce those regulations I would be very surprised that anything would come to Minnesota or any agency would it you know the Sheriff's Office you know you know they have a decision to make in their jail and so you know we we could have two individuals we could have a domestic and we have arrest the person we would know if they're here legally or not they go to jail we still don't know and the sheriff I know from talking to her is they don't either they don't they're not concerned about immigration status because again it could really hamper our ability to to to to respond to to needs that people have and that's our message and so to your we that would be I I know the answer and uh right and yeah yeah just people ask and so absolutely we want to be able to sure discussion that would come forward and yeah I know I definitely know what our role is and uh but I I have heard that's happening in the South yes I have heard that too anybody else have any questions around Ice uh I guess is there and I I don't know I um is has there been anything that went into our Suns sailor newspaper or anything that's going to go out um to the community around that I think you mean like a statement yeah state or something even in the newsletter or whatever just on a bigger scale where people can know so um last so I I'm I'm the president of the henip and Chiefs Association so last week I requested Our member our through our members to put out a message to what you're to to Really reassure what our role is it did not get picked up widely I mean it went out through it was pushed out to all the media Outlets I don't I know maybe of one that reported on it it was really just all of us reassuring that henpen County agencies do not do not enforce Federal immigration statuses um and it just didn't get picked up maybe they scared what that I said maybe they scared they scared everybody want touch it you know like yeah it it uh retaliation and we and we did s we have subscribers that look for specific information from police in menaka all of our subscribers received it but that's probably not the right I they're not ones that are probably you know getting the messages it's like there's there and so I think opportunities like a and I always encourage if you if there's any other groups that want us to come and and meet we we're willing to do that and so I think IA maybe even places of worship because I know that the whole that there is a certain amount of Justified horror at the thought of immigration officials um going into places of worship yeah and people up and I know that there are places of worship that are really concerned about that so yeah all right well thank you um so yeah I think we're we're down to our final item let's go there's no pressure in that one is there you have two minutes two minutes okay I'll make it less than that thank you uh well next so March our next study session is excuse me March what do we got here March look it up here myself so March 24th um is the next study session as I mentioned so we we'll start the budget kickoff with that meeting so we'll have director presentations uh as you heard last time about this time of year so we'll have our eight directors kick off with a PowerPoint just really highlighting what happened last year what again what's on the horizon in 2025 much of what you've already kind of just talked about here recently so that'll be setting the budget then we'll also have a conversation on trail connections and GAP so Mr Manchester um sitting over there will be coming in March to talk about Trail connections and so we'll have a conversation about that and then we have our first uh 30 minute open time and Conference debrief also so we'll get that teed up I'll likely reach out to Council in preparation of that 30-minute open Time start to flush out some topics that you to bring forward so that is coming up and then if you can I haven't looked if you've responded to the doodle poll and getting a retreat scheduled so hopefully if you respond to that please do so so that is March and then April we'll have our fire station analysis service level objective so Chief Fox will be here on those two items and then Miss Dam will lead us through uh review process for the city manager so that's coming in April so that's the next couple months if there's anything changing that you have to let us know otherwise that's on the docket all right sounds good anybody anything else all good nope okay then we are adjourned