--- ## title: City Council Work Session - June 23, 2026 ## author: Justin LaRue date: D:20210914194400Z --- ## Richfield City Council Minutes June 23, 2026 ## Richfield Municipal Center ## Bartholomew Conference Room ## 6700 Portland Avenue South 1. ## Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Mary Supple at 5:11 PM in the Bartholomew Conference Room. Council Present: Mayor Mary Supple, Walter Burk, Sean Hayford Oleary, Sharon Christensen, ## Rori Coleman-Woods ## Council Absent: Staff Present: Karl Huemiller, Recreation Services Director; Julie Urban, Assistant Community ## Development Director; Rodger Coppa, Interim Fire Chief; Katie Rodriguez, City ## Manager; Jay Henthorne, Public Safety Chief; Jennifer Anderson, Support Services Manager; Joe Griffin, Deputy Public Safety Chief; Chris Link, Deputy ## Public Works Director; Sack Thongvanh, Assistant City Manager; Michelle Friedrich, City Clerk. ## Guest Presenters: Craig Rapp 2. ## Item Discussion a. ## Essential Services Study City Manager Rodriguez introduced the Essential Services Study and consultant Craig Rapp provided background on its purpose and methodology, explaining how each city service was classified using a category system based on service definition and impact of discontinuation. Council members and staff had discussion about the classification approach. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked how the slideshow language compared to the master inventory tracking sheet, and Craig noted the final report would offer more descriptive detail. Council Member Burk questioned why discretionary/enhanced services with regulatory requirements weren’t broken into a further subcategory, and suggested tracking statutory requirements separately. City Manager Rodriguez explained this level of breakdown wasn’t feasible given the depth of consideration required. Discussion continued on how regulation intersects with service level decisions, with Council Member Burk requesting a comparative view of regulatory burden across services in this category. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked how this adjustment would improve Council’s decision-making relative to the current proposal. Burk explained that in past projects, staff time and financial implications needed to be considered more fully when evaluating service level changes. Craig confirmed the full report would distinguish discretionary from mandated services. Recreation Services Director Huemiller noted his department had addressed this through the budget flexibility column, and Craig confirmed all departments used shared considerations when completing the spreadsheet. City Manager Rodriguez outlined the project timeline, noting the study is intended to inform strategic planning beginning in 2027. Mayor Supple asked whether next year’s strategic planning discussion would be an appropriate time to revisit service delivery, and City Manager Rodriguez agreed. Council Member Hayford Oleary expressed concern about knowing when to request additional information beyond what the study provides, noting that the largest budget line item lacked further breakdown. Craig explained that Public Safety was unable to assign specific monetary values to more detailed line items during this phase. Chief Henthorne described that it was difficult to break out additional service categories since staff handle multiple duties. Council Member Hayford Oleary compared this to the more detailed Public Works breakdown and expressed a preference for that approach. Deputy Public Works Director Chris Link noted Public Works is implementing an asset management system to support more detailed tracking. Council Members Burk and Hayford Oleary both suggested further breaking out community policing and crime prevention data, and Mayor Supple asked about the classification of social worker contracts, which Public Safety Chief Henthorne confirmed fall under ancillary roles. Council Member Burk also asked where Flock Cameras fit within the inventory; City Manager Rodriguez offered to share the related contract and noted the report remains a work in progress. Mayor Supple raised prior discussions with the Fire Department regarding service level options and asked that they be considered. Interim Chief Coppa confirmed Fire regularly evaluates services, including lift assist calls, though further breakdown would not change the department’s overall cost total. City Manager Rodriguez noted that the level of detail being requested by City Council falls outside the current study’s scope but could inform future work. City Manager Rodriguez summarized City Council’s feedback, and further discussion clarified specific service classifications. Council Member Hayford Oleary requested a breakdown of funding sources (e.g., property tax versus other) for the most expensive services; City Manager Rodriguez and Craig explained this data wasn’t collected as part of the current scope. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked that the report be updated regularly going forward. Council Member Burk noted that additional time reviewing the report would aid his evaluation. City Manager Rodriguez closed by summarizing City Council consensus on the classification framework, noting interest in additional budget detail for higher-cost services, potential corrections to service categories, and a desire for more detailed breakdown within Public Safety. She noted that annual updates may not be feasible given staff capacity, though maintaining the report should be more manageable than its initial creation. Mayor Supple requested further staff analysis of the report’s findings, which Rodriguez agreed to provide. 3. ## Adjournment Adjourned at 6:26 pm. ## Date Approved: July 14, 2026 _________________________________ ## Mary Supple ## Mayor _________________________________ ## Michelle Friedrich ## City Clerk _________________________________ ## Katie Rodriguez ## City Manager