Good evening and welcome to the city council meeting. 6:15 6:20 We'll get started. Uh Kim, roll call, please. >> Council member Baldwin >> Here. >> Council member Bronson >> Here, here. >> Council member Byrd >> Here. >> Council member Engelking >> Here. >> Council member Bashaw >> Here. >> Mayor pro tem Ferris >> Here. >> Um I'd like to welcome troop 282. I'm going to have them lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. >> Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, troop 282. Good looking palace. Um Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> I think it looks great. >> I agree with Paul. >> Good discussion. Um All in favor >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? The ayes have it. Everybody approve. Um presentation We have a proclamation honoring William E. Davis. Davies. Just say one. Davies My apology, Mr. Davies. proclamation honoring William E. Davies for his contributions to the St. Louis Park community and for the 2026 Service Beyond Service Award. Whereas William E. Davies, Bill served in the United States Army from December 1967 to December 1969 including service with the 101st Airborne Division, Vietnam from May 1968 to May 1969. And earned the Bronze Star of Meritorious Service and the Army's Commendation Medal for the Meritorious Service. And whereas Bill and his beloved wife, Kay moved to St. Louis Park in April of 1972 where they raised their families together. And whereas Bill has shared his leadership skills and valuable time and wealth of experience with the plethora of community organizations following his military service. And whereas the main theme themes in Bill's community work highlight his leadership and passion which he shared with Scouting Catholic faith organizations, the St. Louis Park Rotary, the American Legion Post 282 the Voit Voit her Say that right? Um 1281 Vietnam Organization. District 50 5950 the St. Louis Park Senior Center, the St. Louis Park Football Association for Youth, the St. Louis Park Little League, and the VFW Post 435. And whereas the community of St. Louis Park will will forever be grateful and profound of the in indelible mark Bill service has made. And whereas Bill E. Davis was awarded prestigious 2026 Vietnam Veteran Service Beyond Service Award on March 29th, 2026. Now, therefore, let it be known that the mayor of mayor and city council of St. Louis Park, Minnesota Minnesota, hereby honor William E. Davis forever memo memo- memorializing and recognizing his contributions to the St. Louis Park community. Hey, you come on up here, beautiful. Okay. >> He said, "Okay." >> Okay. Hold that. There we go. You're beautiful. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Davis, I heard you would like to say a few words. If you would step over here, please. Let me turn this mic over right over here. >> Okay. Thank you. Can you hear me there? >> Yeah. >> First of all, I want to acknowledge my wife Kay. She's been very involved. But, I have another other friends here, too. Not only John Hines involved in the football and baseball association. We got men bunch of members there legion. We got Jim Brimbury, Dick Marurity is our morning breakfast crew and we got the chief him coming to the bridge. I'm disappointed that we're all alone and he hasn't shown up yet. But, I just want to say one thing. I see you were stumbling stumbling over that Voyager uh 1281. There's an organization called the 40 and 8. It's an honorary veterans organization that was formed back in the World War I in France. It was formed with the idea of people coming home taking care of the families back here for the soldiers. And the 40 and 8 comes from the aspect everyone there went out to the front lines in a boxcar. So, a boxcar either held uh 40 soldiers or eight horses. So, that's where and it's come back here and we continue to do fundraisers and uh our primary focus is right now is on nurses scholarships. So, so What? Pardon? >> Boxcars up north? >> Yeah, there's a sample of a boxcar, but the fort uh up at Camp Ripley. So, if you get by there, stop and take a look at it. So, I want to thank you on this. This is the culmination uh Richard Richard sent my name and on the Service Beyond Service Award. I received the notice on March 12th that I was receiving this award at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Because of my cancer and my breathing and what have you, I wasn't able to attend, so they did send me this certificate. And since then I was only a one of the 49 40 49 people were recognized throughout the country and I was the only one from the state of Minnesota that was recognized. So, I feel deeply honored. So, I want to thank you and Kim and everybody else for supporting me on this. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Yeah, we're certainly blessed as a community to have citizens like you. Thank you. >> We also have one other quick presentation. >> Oh. >> Oh, absolutely. From the Legion. >> Oh, we're losing the Scouts. >> Hey Gabe, you can come to the mic straight ahead. Yeah. >> Maggie sponsors Parktacular and the Legion always gives them money every year. So, here's a check for 2,000 for Parktacular Parktacular this year. >> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, sir. >> Would uh any of our Legion any of my fellow council members like to share uh some comments? Go ahead. >> I always do. Um just I wanted to just thank you as well I and um William for for your work and your service. This is a well-deserved award um and uh just it's uh great to have people like you in our city um and uh when I think about just your service um I'm really grateful for you and all who served and I think particularly about the Vietnam War which is a very complicated war but one thing that was not complicated in my mind was um the commitment and the service um and the humility of our of our servicemen and women that were over there. So thank you for for um your service in particular um putting your life on the line in that complicated war. Thank you. >> He and I were married to the same thing. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Oh, I would like to say a few words. Uh I'm always just mesmerized with anybody that had anything to do with the Vietnam War. Thank you for your service, sir. That had to be extremely hard and we really appreciate you. Thank you so much. You have been an amazing man and have accomplished a lot of things. That's amazing and you still going. >> Yes. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Thank you, Mayor Foertsch and usually don't say things in this but I've had the pleasure of getting to know Bill over the past 5 years through Rotary. Consider him a friend. Um and I will say that not only is he one of 49 this year who received it. This was the inaugural year. He is one of 49 recipients ever for this award and and truly I think if you live in St. Louis Park without even knowing it, your life has been impacted by this man and the contributions that he has made. So, we owe him a debt of gratitude. Thank you. >> Uh next, I would like to recognize the donations on consent item 4A. Uh study session meeting minutes. Oh, wait a minute. Am I right? Oh. Study session meeting minutes of April 27, 2026. Uh B, city council meeting minutes of May 4th, 2026. Special study session meeting minutes of May 4th, 2026. Um >> Can I move approval? >> Oh, yes. Please. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? Uh as amended. So, the meeting minutes are approved. I'm sorry. Meeting meeting minutes are approved. We have six items on our consent agenda. I didn't hear of anything to be pulled off for discussion. >> Just point of order, did we skip a presentation on the recognition of donations? >> We can do it right now as part of the consent item so because it's number 5A. >> Oh. Got you. >> Pull it off then. >> No, I don't need to pull anything off. I just didn't know if we skipped over something that we needed to cover. >> Well, we might have. I'm sorry. My apologies. >> So, the the council has a habit of making special recognition of donations. It's a not a procedural issue. >> Got you. Okay. >> No sir, no confusion, sir. >> Um never mind. >> Okay. We have six items on our consent agenda. Nobody um pulled anything off for discussion. So, did I do that already? Okay. >> Can I have a move approval of the consent agenda? >> Yes. >> I'll second. >> I'll move and second it. Any discussion? >> Uh yes, we uh we should note that we have a don't generous donation to our fire department and I don't have it in front of me, but I think it was close to $50,000 in in uh fire alarms or smoke detectors. >> Almost 60. >> 49,000? >> 59. >> $59,000, which is a very generous gift and I presume the fire department's going to use them to give to residents as part of their safety programs. So, thank you very much to company that did it. I don't have it in front of me on this sheet of paper. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> And and I believe to him that the fire department for seniors will actually come out to your house and install them. >> Yes. I've had that happen at my house as a matter of fact. >> I didn't exactly mean it like that. >> Uh is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. >> Can I can I name one thing? >> For the discussion here? >> Yeah. >> Sorry. I just wanted to um point out uh and just celebrate um the moving forward of our um twin home project um in Ward 1. Sorry if I stole that from you, Daniel. But uh there's a resolution to amend the final plat of the Minnetonka Boulevard twin home project, which is a project I think we're all very excited about. So, I just wanted to name that for the record um that that's going forward and I'm very excited. >> And Madam Chair, I'd I'd also like to note item consent item 5D that we We a resolution approving the 2026 through 2028 LELS local number 482 police lieutenant labor agreement. It's great. Once again, our human resources department to be congratulated for maintaining labor peace and our our police lieutenants are to be thanked for working on a employment deal with the city. So, it's a good job by everybody. >> Thank you. So, all in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? So, this consent agenda is approved. Uh we have no public hearings, no regular business, communications, and announcements. Um Okay. I have one announcement. The city retreat for this evening, May 18th, 2026, being rescheduled to rescheduled to a future date. Kim, any further announcements? >> I do have two announcements for you tonight. Um both are good news announcements. The first one is that we are engaging residents of the Aquila and the Tequesta Tonka neighborhoods to better understand how they're experiencing the impacts of climate change and what might be needed to help navigate the impacts. So, if you're a resident of either either of those neighborhoods, again that's Aquila and Tequesta Tonka, please consider making your voices heard and completing the online survey. Um you can email our sustainability folks to get um a link if you need that. The other news came only last night with the um with the state legislature passing a flurry of bills at the end. Um they passed the bonding bill. They passed the bonding bill. You can uncross your fingers, council member. We were in it. >> So, what did we get? >> Um we were included for $5.1 million for the Oxford Louisiana area investment project. This is huge. This is $5 million that our taxpayers, our water and utility rate payers will not have to bear. Um it's part of a $16 million project scheduled for construction in 2029 and 30. This is down by the hospital Oxford and Louisiana there. It's a significant investment in critical infrastructure, transportation safety, flood mitigation, and neighborhood connectivity. So, we're very grateful for the legislative delegation partners, for all of the lobbying efforts that the council made, and of course for our fantastic staff members who put all of the details together and and make us look good up there. >> Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, that's amazing. Okay, this meeting is adjourned.