Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to call to order this Richfield City Council meeting. It's July 22nd, 2025, and it's 7:02 p.m. If you're able, please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So we are now switching over to our new agenda system. So, our first order of business is approval of the agenda. >> I move approval of the agenda. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Um, if I may just say I'm really excited. This is a five-year dream of mine to have approval of the agenda at the top of the agenda. So, this is a big day for me. So, thank you. >> No changes, though. >> Oh, okay. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. All right. We have approved the agenda. Next, we'll move on to approval of the minutes of the city council work session from June 24th, 2025, the city council regular meeting from June 24th, 2025, and the city council special meeting close session from July 8th, 2025. >> I move second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve those three sets of minutes. Are there any um changes or corrections? All in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> All opposed. And we've approved all three sets of minutes. Next, we'll move on to the open forum. Participants can share their comments in person, by voicemail, or email, and may also request to participate virtually. For more information on submitted comments, refer to the council agenda and minutes page on richfieldm.gov/city. gov city councsel. Is there anyone here who wishes to address the body in open forum? I'm not seeing anyone present. Um, city clerk Friedrich, is there anybody that has emailed us? >> No emails were received. >> All right. So, I'll ask again. Is there anyone who wishes to address the the council? Hearing none, we'll move on to our proclamations and presentations. So, I would like to invite our um human rights commissioner Garvey to join us at the front. Thank you. Thank you for joining us tonight. This is a proclamation of the city of Richfield. Whereas the Americans with Disability Act, ADA, was passed on June 26th, 1990 to ensure the civil rights of citizens with disabilities. And whereas the city of Richfield affirms the principles of equality and inclusion for persons with disabilities as embodied in the ADA, the laws of the state of Minnesota, and the ordinances of the city of Richfield. And whereas numerous organizations in the city of Richfield work with constituents and communities to bring forth the promise of hope and freedom that is envisision envisaged in the passage of the ADA. And whereas the city of Richfield is committed to providing accessible services to residents with disabilities through such programs as the adaptive recreation and learning exchange cooperative, which offers opportunities for people with disabilities to actively participate in recreation, leisure, and community education opportunities specifically designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities. And whereas Richfield is home to many organizations that advocate for and serve the needs of residents with disabilities including Frraasier Minnesota Independence College and Community Life Life Works and the Richfield Disability Advocacy Partnership. And whereas people with disabilities make up approximately 11.9% of the population of the city of Richfield. And whereas July 26, 2025 celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. And whereas the city of Richfield is committed to providing access to services for all residents with disabilities, both seen and silent. And whereas the Richfield Human Rights Commission supports this proclamation at supported this proclamation at its July 1st, 2025 meeting and recommended the city council do the same. Now therefore, I, Mary Supple, mayor of Richfield, on behalf of the Richfield City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of July 2025 as disability pride month in the city of Richfield and call on the people of Richfield to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies, and continue to honor the contributions of residents with disabilities throughout the year. Proclaim this 22nd day of July, 2025. Thank you, Commissioner Garin. Would you like to say a few words, Commissioner Gard? >> Just like to say to the city council that we the commission appreciates your continued support and your continued work on behalf of all people of Richfield with disabilities, particularly Richfield's children. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. You want to be in the picture, too? [Applause] Thank you. Thank you so much. Next, we're going to have the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association Award presentation, and I would like to invite Chelsea Swanhogen to the podium to present. Thank you so much. Okay. Good evening, mayor and city council members. It is an honor to be here tonight to present a Minneapolis Minnesota recreation and park association award of excellence to Richfield for the Our Legacy, our future local option sales tax referendum. Before I do that, I would like to take a few minutes to tell you about the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association, um, also known as MRPA. MRPA was formed in 1937 to foster the growth and development of the parks and recreation profession throughout the state of Minnesota. The MRPA awards committee was created in 1987 with the purpose of acknowledging individual members and agencies for their excellence in the field of parks, recreation, and leisure services. The awards of excellence is an annual program of MRPA that was solely created to recognize agencies and their staff for an exemplary project that either was implemented or received substantial revisions in 2024. MRPA members may nominate a project for an M MRP awards of excellence in seven different categories. administrative or management, communications, park and facility, programming and events, sponsorships and partnerships, sustainability and volunteer initiatives. Nominations are received, evaluated, and scored by awards committee members. Only the top scoring nominations are selected to receive an award of excellence recognition. And that's what brings me here today. On behalf of the MRPA awards committee, it is my pleasure tonight to present an award of excellence to the city of Richfield parks and recreation department for its winning project of our legacy, our future. The MR the MRPA awards committee would also like to recognize Carl Humiler Humiller and the three other managers who contributed notably to the project for an award of excellence. Congratulations and thank you all for great work you do for the city and for the community of Richfield. Thank you. If you two would like to come up, I have a wonderful plaque here to acknowledge their achievements. >> Do you do you want us to come down to you? >> Okay. Are you sure? Congratulations again. Thank you so much to everyone that was involved. It was a great project and I'm glad to see all the people getting recognition. City Manager Rodriguez. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I also wanted to recognize our communications manager, Kate Henson, because she was the one that uh led the communications campaign and everyone contributed. We had weekly meetings. It was a um all-in effort and um really appreciate her, too. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar. City Manager Rodriguez. >> Thank you, Mayor. The consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion. Once the consent calendar has been approved, the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved. No further council action on these items is necessary. On tonight's consent calendar, item A, approve dispersements and claims. Item B, consider adoption of a resolution designating polling place locations for Richfield pre precinct 8 in ward 3 and Adina precincts 8, 9, 14, 15, and 16 for the Richfield School Board election on November 4th, 2025. Item C, consider adoption of a resolution supporting and prioritizing 2026 capital budget requests to the Minnesota Office of Management and Budget. Item D, approve a work order in the amount of $295,550 with Bolton and Me, Inc. for engineering services for the 2026 sidewalk projects. And I submit these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar. >> Thank you. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve the consent calendar. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar. Are there any questions or comments? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> All opposed. And we have approved the consent calendar. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item number nine, which is a public hearing. And I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Coleman Woods. >> Thank you, Mayor. I am um on May 29th, the executive summary, sorry, the city received the application materials for new on sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor licenses for SK Food LLC, DBA, KGMAC, located at 3 uh 6420 Nicollet Avenue South. All required information and documents have been received and all licensing fees have been paid. The public safety background investigation has been completed. The public safety director has reviewed the background investigation report and found nothing that would cause the denial of the requested licenses and uh the applicant has satisfied the following requirements for the issuance of licenses. The required license fees have been paid. Real estate taxes are current. Proof of commercial and liquor liability insurance have been received showing M trust insurance as affording coverage. As a result of this being a new request for on sale wine at 3.2 and 3.2% malt liquor licenses, there's no need for an accountant's statement regarding food or alcohol ratio. As stated in the executive summary, the public safety director has reviewed the background information and seasonal basis for denial. Uh on sale wine and 3.2% 2% malt liquor licenses require owners of these establishments to comply with resolution number 9511 which outlines the discipline that they can accept that they can expect if any ongoing problems occur. A copy of this resolution has been given to the owner of the establishment. There are no distance requirements to notify neighbors of the issuance of on sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor licenses. The notice of the public hearing was published in the Richfield Southern Current on June 26, 2025. And um our next mo move is to conduct and close the public hearing and by motion approve the issuance of uh new on sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor license for SK Food LLC DBA KC located at 6420 Nicollet Avenue South. Are there any staff recommendations or any additional information? >> No, not at this time. You could uh make a motion to open the public hearing. >> I move to open the public hearing. Any resident wishing to participate in the public hearing, please proceed to the podium one at a time and provide your name and address prior to your comment. Council will hear your comment. If you would like to staff to follow up, please include your name and phone number or email on the sign-in document located at the podium. To ensure everyone has time to speak, each comment will be listened. Excuse me. Each comment will be limited to three men 3 minutes in length. And as a reminder to residents, the public hearing is a time for council to listen but not respond. If questions are asked, they may be addressed as part of the council discussion on the issue or staff will follow up after the meeting. And the public hearing for the wine or two 3.2% malt liquor license for SK food LLC DBA KGMAC is now open. >> Is there anyone who wishes to speak at the public hearing? If if there's anyone who wishes to speak, they can go to the podium. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? It does not appear that anyone is here to speak for the public hearing. So, it would be in order to have a motion to close the public hearing. >> I move to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. All right, we've closed the public hearing >> and I move to approve the wine the on sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor license for SK food LLC DBAHK MAC located at 6420 Nicollet Avenue South second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I would say welcome to the community and we're glad to have you doing business here. Is there anything you wish to say? Okay. Any other comments? All right. All in favor of approving the issuance of a new on sale wine and 3.2% malt liquor license for SK Foods LLC doing business as Kchi Mack located at 6420 Nicollet Avenue South. >> Please say I. >> I. >> I. >> All opposed. And we have approved that license. Thank you. And once again, welcome to the community and thank you. Congratulations. >> All right, so next we will move on to item number 12 and I'll turn that over to council member Christensen. >> Thank you, mayor. This is an item for consideration to approve the alternate appointment to fill the vacancy on the human's right human rights commission. The city council directs the city manager's office to conduct an annual recruitment seeking applicants to fill the vacancies. This recruitment includes a press release and information on the city's website and social media platforms. Applicants were interviewed at a work session held on November 16, 2024. During the recruitment process, council designated alternate candidates as there were not enough open positions for all applicants. The Human Rights Commission had an unexpected resignation after all positions were filled. The recommended alternates application was submitted to council for their review. By recommendation is for the motion to approve the appointment of Tyler Beersbach as human rights commissioner commencing on July 22nd, 2025 and expiring January 31st, 2026. Second the motion. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Um, go ahead, Council Member Burke. >> Just one quick comment. Uh, want to thank Mr. Birchbach for joining the Human Rights Commission. Uh, it's always great to have as many people there involved in the public as possible. And I want to thank, uh, the person who resigned. Uh, Mara, want to thank you for the time that you spent at the Human Rights Commission. Any other discussion? All right. So, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. And we now have a new member to the human rights commission. Moving on, we will go to the city manager report. City manager Rodriguez. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Um, at our last meeting, which was June 24th, um, we had several speakers for open forum, Carol Kelly expressed, uh, disappointment about the negative social media posts following the our city post on the Pride events. Um, we did include an explanation on our social media policy in the Richfield recap. Um, and then we had several speakers both for and against flavor tobacco, the flavor tobacco ban. um which has been in place since 2024. Uh the city is not currently reviewing the ban, but the issue has come up due to violations at three tobacco shops. Um there were no questions uh from the speakers. So there's no followup. Um as you noted, mayor, we are new using our new software Civic Plus for the agenda management. Uh and I we're still working on refining it. So, thanks for your feedback on that. And we're also uh working to operationalize some of the other options for it. But I do want to thank uh city clerk Michelle Friedrich, uh administrative assistant Mark McKinley, and then our analyst Courtney Miller because they've been leading this project and I appreciate all their work that they're doing on it. Thank you. That's all I have tonight. >> Um thank you. Are there any questions from council members? Council member Hayford Deliri. Um, I am just wondering with the since there has been public interest in the tobacco items, are you able to share the result of the resolution from the hearing officer or if if that is not decided, could you share it at a future city manager report regarding the one that was on our agenda previously? >> Um, mayor, council member, I can I can answer that. We um unfortunately had to delay that hearing because there um the witness from the office of cannabis management. There was some process that we had to go through to um uh serve a subpoena and and make them available for the hearing which was really important. We felt so um it's been postponed. It is scheduled for August 6th. >> Okay. >> So, thanks. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions? All right. Next on the agenda, we're going to move on to council discussion. And I think we used to call this hats off to hometown hits. So, if there's anybody that has anything they'd like to um share, we'll give you a chance to raise your hand right now. And >> sure, I'll go. >> Council member Coleman Woods. Um, hats off to our city staff and our council members for their participation in the Richfield 4th of July. I think we came up, showed out, showed up um for our city celebration and I thought we had a great turnout. I thought people really um well, they had a lot of feedback. So, um it was good to see everybody out there even though we were hot and sweaty. Way to go, team. >> Thank you. any other items to add? And I would echo those sentiments. It was a great opportunity for the community to come together. And I know that the um committee would welcome anyone who would like to help plan and work on the committee as a volunteer for next year. And also, you know, if anybody has ideas or things that they think should happen or would like to make a donation towards those festivities, the Richfield 4th of July committee would probably really welcome all of those things. So, thank you to that committee and to everyone that was involved in the process. So, at this point, we're going to move on to the next item in our agenda, which is a closed executive session regarding the city manager's um evaluation. Y uh mayor, I move that we recess the meeting to enter and hold a close session for the purposes of conducting a performance evaluation of city manager Katie Rodriguez pursuant to Minnesota statutes section 13 DO5 subdivision 3A. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded to move into close session. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. All opposed. And so for the people that are watching, we're going to go back to the Babcock room for the close session and then we will come back out here to close the meeting. Thank you all for joining us and we will see you in a little while. Oh, well. >> Oh, well, our video guy is still here. So, we're back. >> Good evening. The council just conducted a close session for the performance evaluation of the city manager. It is 8:43 p.m. As required by law, the council will be providing a summary of the performance evaluation at its next regular meeting on August 12th, 2025. So, is there anything else that we have on our regular agenda? Then I would entertain a motion to adjurnn the meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded multiple times. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. We stand adjourned. Thank you everyone.