All right, I’m going to call this meeting to order. Please join me in. Stand and recite 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. Jody. Roll call. Sponheim. Here. Greger here.

Peterson, here. Aldridge. Here. Nelson, here. Whitener. Here. Quasi here. That brings us to the Plymouth Forum. Individuals may address the council about any item not contained on the regular agenda. Uh, whether I have six cards or six people who wish to speak. We have 15 minutes for the Plymouth Forum.

So we’re going to divide up roughly about 2.5 minutes. So we’ll see how it goes. In case and some people may be faster, maybe people a little bit slower. But we’ll just manage that. But just keep in mind when you’re speaking that our form is limited to 15 minutes.

Uh, and the city council will take no official action on items discussed at the forum, with the exception of referral to staff or commissioner Committee for future report. First, I have Riley Brown from Ward four. All right. Good evening, Mayor and council. Uh, I’m Riley Brown, Ward four. Like you said, I’m here to speak in

favor of the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan. Um, not just because of today being super hot, but, uh, June 2026. Ranked as the second warmest June on record according to NOAA. Uh, trailing only 2024 with the global temperature. Uh, surface temperature of 1.96°F above the 20th century average. All ten

of the warmest Junes since, uh, from 1850 to 2026 have occurred since 2015, and this month marked the 50th consecutive June with global temperature departure above the 20th century average. Uh, but this plan isn’t just about doing what’s right for the planet. It’s about sound governance. It’s about Plymouth positioning itself as a modern, forward

thinking city that takes fiscal responsibility seriously. Modern cities can’t wait for problems to become crises. They need to plan ahead, invest wisely, and build stability for the residents and businesses. The Plymouth Climate Action and Resiliency Plan is that kind of forward looking priority. It was built here by our community, our staff and volunteers, and I really

appreciate all the work that they put into this through input sessions and grounded in real local data. The financial case projected savings through 2035 of nearly 288 million from lower energy bills, reduced fuel costs and avoided infrastructure damages. Resilience plant really sorry. Resilience investments returned 8 to $10 for every dollar

spent. If we plan proactively, we don’t just protect our residents, but we protect the budget. We also live in an increasingly uncertain world. Energy prices fluctuate. Extreme weather, strains and infrastructure. Supply chains get disrupted. A plan like this to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, modernizing our buildings and transportation, strengthening our green spaces and water systems gives

Plymouth a stable foundation. No matter what the future brings. That’s prudent. City management. Peer cities across Minnesota already are making these commitments. Plymouth has the opportunity to lead and to show fiscal responsibility and long term resilience are not competing values, but values that they are the same value. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr.

Brown. Please, please honor that. This is the council chambers. We don’t applaud. We don’t take one side or the other side. This is where issues get debated and we’re respectful to each other. So we all would appreciate that. Next I have Tim, Tom Brandis. Welcome, Tom. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you, mayor and city Council members.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you. Um, I regularly protest with Indivisible West, and I think it would be a prudent, uh, gesture on the part of the city to occasionally send a patrol car past our protests. We’ve currently recently been visited by agitators whose purpose is to provoke us into a confrontation, a fight I’m not

really sure. Um, I brought my vest. Um, and you can see the most important word on here is peaceful. We appreciate the opportunity to protest peacefully. Um, in June 13th, we had moved our protest from Plymouth to Golden Valley. And while we’re out on the corner, a very large man and a very

large red pickup truck drove by very slowly and looked me right in the eye and said, I hope you have a good life insurance. And he said, I’ll be back in about five minutes later. Sure enough. True to his word, he had 4 or 5 friends and they

proceeded to insult us and try to get us into arguing with them. Fighting with them. Um, that’s not our purpose. And, uh, also there was a pride event going on at the nearby golf course. They were insulting people, as is their right. Um, but when they started threatening us. And I take that

as a very clear and dangerous threat, when somebody says, I hope you have good life insurance. So I think it would be a very prudent, um, action for the city to occasionally just send a squad car down the street and make sure there’s no, no problem. We don’t want I don’t believe we would want a

police presence there for the entire time, but an occasional squad drive by would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you for your comments. I appreciate them. Uh, next, I have Chad Nellis. 7.10. Sorry, that’s 7.1. Um, next I have Scott Johnson. Evening, mayor. City council. What’s been going on in the news about immigration? Do

people not realize or this government doesn’t realize this country was founded by immigrants. And we need immigrants in this country to keep our economy strong, rooting them out isn’t the way to keep America strong and makes us weak and makes us an embarrassment in front of the

world. The reason we’re having such a problem in Iran and no president prior to Trump went into Iran is because you don’t go into Iran without a plan. I was in the Mediterranean Sea in 1979. I know all about this. Not all the ins and outs, but I is a religious, idealistic

country. Knocking off the head isn’t going to change their beliefs. Whoever thinks that’s going to happen. Sorry. Sadly mistaken. The reason no president prior never went into Iran is because we didn’t have the world, the world behind us. We had Europe, but we didn’t have the Gulf region. Now we

have the Gulf region because Trump alienated NATO. They didn’t come to the plate. So now we’re in this quagmire that he can’t get out of. And the other thing that’s going on is ice is back doing their tactics. Two deaths in one week. They were we were promised body cameras when all the borders

are came to Minnesota. He promised body cameras on every agent. Where are they? And then the Democrats fault. And I’m an independent. I don’t care if you’re right. It’s right and wrong. Go. And grabbing people, shooting people just because of the color of their skin is wrong. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

Scott. Uh, next I have Mandy. There’s no last name here. Thank you. And I’m happy to provide my last name to any of you personally. I’d just like to avoid it on public record for the reasons that I will get to here. Um, since last I spoke before you, Zack, ex and his band of right wing agitators

have exhibited increasingly disturbing behavior at the Plymouth protests. Zack himself has pulled out pepper spray in Plymouth three times, threatening to use it without provocation. He has engaged aggressively with passersby during our protest, and other passersby have engaged aggressively with him. Our Saturday protest has moved locations, and during the weeks after that move, the right wing

agitators have been observed staking out our previous location to see if we would be there. The Monday protest in Plymouth has since been discovered by them, endangering yet more Plymouth residents at the protest. We have a diverse group of people for whom I can hardly presume to speak. There are people who have post-traumatic stress disorder

and take hours after right wing agitators harassment to recover. There are people of color who endure racist vitriol from the right wing agitators while standing silently, and there are elderly people for whom, according to the CDC, falls are the leading cause of injury related death. An aggressive bump by an agitator could cost someone their life.

The police department will not mitigate the risk to these Plymouth residents by simply asking agitators to stand on the opposite corner, a solution for which there is ample precedent at similar peaceful protests across across the country. The police chief has told us that they won’t take this action to ensure our safety, because of the risk of

a lawsuit against the city. Recently, a right wing agitator posted a video online vowing to join Zack with the following direct quote. I know you told me to wait a couple months before coming to Minnesota to join you, but I will die fighting any domestic and international enemy. I don’t care whether I’m in the

military or I’m using my Second Amendment right. I will protect this nation along with the rest of the Patriots, with you. Zack. I can’t sit here in my room any longer. I got to go. Their boots on the ground. And so I’m offering you some protection, some help, some backup. I’m making plans

already to go to Minnesota. I’m just still trying to figure out a place to stay. Trying to get in contact with more patriots that are going to join me along in this journey to Minneapolis, because it’s a big plan that I’m not going to reveal yet. But hopefully this plan can make the news. I can’t begin to

express my disappointment that precious few of the people before me have reached out or responded to my request to meet regarding this issue. In fact, nobody has responded to my request to meet. I’ve only made two of them as as of today. But not one of you can be bothered to tell our city manager to

instruct the police department to tell the right wing agitators to move to the opposite corner. I can’t imagine how much worse a lawsuit against the city would be. Should these agitators hurt someone because of your inaction? Are desperate. Calls to action are on public record. Three times now. So please reconsider your choices. All right. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. We do appreciate hearing them. Uh, next, uh, and last ad, Doug Maltby. Perfectly pronounced. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. My name is Doug Maltby. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, thank you for the time tonight and your commitment to public safety.

My name is Doug. I’ve lived in Plymouth Ward one for 12 years, and I’m recently retired technologist with a long career in enterprise data warehousing, technology and analytics, including AI. Addressing you here tonight was not in my retirement plan six months ago, but here we are. I’m here tonight to urge this council to reevaluate our relationship

with FLoC and join dozens of communities across the country who have rejected, uh, the the contract cancelling or suspending it, notably Brooklyn Park in Columbia Heights nearby. Surveillance is not security nor public safety. We all want tools to help solve crimes. However, the reality is FLoC is an automated license plate

reader. As a is a as a technology is an indiscriminate mass surveillance technology network that tracks fingerprints, tracks fingerprints, all of our vehicles and logs, all of our daily movements of every resident, every family member, every visitor who drives through our city. FLoC effectively operates as a mass surveillance data broker, paid for by our local taxes,

National data says far less than 1% of vehicles scanned have ever been connected to any crime. Plymouth’s FLoC provided transparency, port Transparency Portal reports 600,000 unique vehicles fingerprinted just in the last 60 days. Out of about 2 billion on a monthly basis. Nationally, the most pressing issue for the council is data

sovereignty and security. The flack Flack says that every city owns their owns and controls their own camera data. But the default contract template offered by FLoC contains a clause granting FLoC a permanent, worldwide, royalty free license to distribute and disclose local footage, even if department does not authorize it. Despite our, um.

Despite our Plymouth ALP policy and community values, it’s proven that out of state and federal agencies have regularly bypassed local policies to run warrantless searches on our local databases. Cities all over the country, including Brooklyn Park and Columbia Heights, have shut theirs flat. Cameras, AI and data practices are also highly error prone.

I’m sure you’re well aware of the recent Plymouth incident involving an automotive journalist unjustifiably blocked in by four police cars and detained by Plymouth police in the Kohl’s parking lot. This incident made national news, and it could have been any one of us in that position.

Flack is documented to have a 10% error rate in plate and plate and state recognition. And these false alerts have repeatedly led to innocent drivers being detained and worse, there is also a high degree of personal risk of personal abuse. You should be aware that officials nationwide have been caught misusing the flack databases to stalk

partners and ex-partners without cause. Independent security researchers have documented over 60 critical flaws and vulnerabilities in Flack’s system, showing that these devices can be compromised to view live camera feeds, reveal embedded credentials and host malware. I contend that Mount Flack is is untrustworthy partner for or tool in law enforcement. There are alternatives worth

investigating and we Plymouth end up feeding a private surveillance network. Yet we don’t control the encryption keys, data or access to flock. Mr. Maltby, you’re at four minutes, so if you could wrap. It up, I’ll just conclude that, um, I strongly urge you to protect our Plymouth residents privacy, values and safety and

take proactive steps to reevaluate our contract with FLoC. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, that’s ends our Plymouth forum. That brings us to presentation. Public and council member Gregor. Um. We we note that we can refer things to future staff or commissioner. Committee for future report. I just want to

say for that last, um, comment, I would be happy to raise my hand to say we should have a future report or or discussion on those flat cameras. I know we need other council members to chime in on that, but, um, there’s one vote. I I’d support that. And I’m sure the chief can follow up.

Absolutely. Mayor and council. Um, clearly. I mean, this has been, uh, front of, uh, our attention over the last couple of weeks here. Um, and our conducting, I’m already putting together a document for council, um, that we can continue to talk more at a later date. All right. Thank you. I know we I know you’ve been working on

that flock issue for a long time, so this is not something new that’s come up. Uh, we have presentations, public information, announcements. Uh, this is to present City of Excellence award to the City of Plymouth for the wood utilization program from the League of Minnesota Cities. We have with us today the League of Minnesota cities executive

director Luke Fisher and LMC President Courtney Johnson. So welcome. That’s great. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, um, it’s really nice to be here tonight with some good news. Um, and to present our City of Excellence award, which really recognizes the best in the state. Um, as you

mentioned, I’m, I’m joined today by the league president, Courtney Johnson, who’s also the mayor of Carver. Um, so it’s a big deal when you get the league president to come out for sure. And I know that she was excited to be here. You know, as an organization, we represent 842 of the state’s

856 cities. And in our work, we get to see our members at their best when they face challenges and when there’s uncertainty. Um, and there’s one common theme, I think, that we see across the state and folks that step up and serve their communities, and that’s they want to do good. They believe

that they can do good, and they believe that they can make a difference. Um, and I know that that’s a belief that you shared here in Plymouth. It’s one that we see in Minneapolis, and it’s one that we see in our smallest member, the city of Barrie,

which has just a population of 19 people. Right. I don’t have just a professional appreciation for the work that you do here in Plymouth, though. As many of you know, I’m a resident here as well, which gives me a special appreciation and insight for the good folks that step up to

serve on City Council, which isn’t an easy job these days, or that serve on city staff that are looking for creative ways to solve problems and to make the world just a little bit better. Um, so tonight we’re excited to celebrate with you. And I wanted to say, just personally, thank you so much

for the good work that you all do. And I’ll turn it over to Courtney. Thank you, Mayor and Council. We are here today to recognize the City of Plymouth for winning a 2026 League of Minnesota Cities City of Excellence Award. Plymouth received the award for the Cities of Excellence topical category. Creative use of

Limited Resources, which was presented at the League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference, which was held last month in Rochester. The City of Excellence Awards annual annually recognizes projects and programs that enhance city services, introduce innovative solutions, adapt existing programs to meet local needs, save money while maintaining or improving results, or engage residents and staff in decision

making. Plymouth was recognized for its innovative approach to repurposing wood from insect infested trees into useful products, including wood planks, to improve aging boardwalks and materials provided to area schools for woodworking classes. For years, communities across Minnesota have been dealing with the effects of emerald ash borer. The state Department of Natural Resources estimates that up to

60% in some of our communities are ash trees. Like many communities, Plymouth faced the challenge of managing trees affected by the emerald ash borer. Often, the removal and disposal of these trees can place a significant burden on local waste systems. With assistance from the city of Minnetonka and the Minnesota Pollution Pollution Control

Agency. Plymouth developed an innovative solution that reduced waste while saving the city at least $15,000 in wood purchases, through through reuse. Moreover, the city’s partnership with area school districts demonstrates the value beyond the scope of the city’s budget. It shows that local governments can work together for mutual benefit and for the benefit of all constituents. Creativity and

efficiency are two words that come to mind when describing the problem solving abilities of your city’s affected elected officials. Let’s hear what some of your city colleagues had to say about the program. The video that you’re about to see was shown at last at the league’s annual conference, the League. The link is available on the league’s YouTube

channel, and you can share it as you wish. The emerald ash borer has taken its toll on many communities in Minnesota, and Plymouth is no different. We discovered that we had a lot more waste from trees that had to be removed, and we didn’t necessarily have a good place to dispose of

that, and we wanted to be able to use that wood for something else. The program was created in the last couple of years to start to address our wood waste issues that we’re seeing as a result of emerald ash borer infestations. So it’s looking at opportunities to reuse wood that would otherwise be chipped

or go into the waste stream and figure out a new home for them. In Plymouth, we have four school districts, so we work with them on many different projects, and I think that was a natural avenue for this, to utilize those relationships to be able to partner together, to come up with a win win for both

the city and the school districts in saving costs, reusing materials and then providing assistance with the educational opportunities that are involved with that. We know schools need lumber. They’re buying it. After talking to a few of them, they were buying the lowest quality they could to maximize the

amount they could buy. And by us offering them free, that freed up a lot of their wood that they could then maybe upgrade things. It’s been really successful with the students. It’s gone over really well in their kind of studies. They’re also looking at sustainability and environmental stewardship.

So this really does fit into kind of the whole life cycle of sustainability. From the wood perspective. I would echo sustainability. I would say it took a kind of a paradigm shift in that I’ve been here long enough that when we were taking Elms down, we thought of it as waste, which

was the wrong way to think about it, and that this actually wasn’t waste. It was a product. We’re very fortunate here in Plymouth to have both creative thinkers and problem solvers. And I think when you join those people together, I think that’s a great explanation as to how this project came about and how

we were recognized and respected. I wouldn’t have attempted this without having that support behind me saying, go ahead, try something new, different. Again, congratulations to the City of Plymouth for the 2006 City of Excellence Award. You are so very well deserving of this award. Congratulations. All right. Thank you very much.

An award presentation is an awards presentation. Until you take. The pictures. Oh, we can do it right here. Okay. Nice to see you. Good to see you. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Congratulations again. Thanks again. Have a good night. All right. Congratulations. All right. Congratulations to our Parks and Record department

and our whole entire staff. In terms of the ingenuity and the work they put forward and looking for a reuse, not just treating it like Paul said, you know, the the Elm, but just really thinking outside the box. And so that award is well deserved. So thank you. Uh, next I have approved the

agenda. Council members may add items to the agenda, including items contained in the Council information memorandum for discussion purposes or staff direction only. Council will not normally take official action on items added to the agenda. Anything to be added to the agenda. Look for a motion. Motion to approve the consent agenda. No, just the agenda.

Agenda. Motion. We have a motion and a second. Now we have a second. Uh, all those in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Opposed? Next, we have the consent agenda. These items are considered to be routine and be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council

member or individuals will request in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and placed elsewhere on the agenda. We don’t have much of a consent agenda, but anyone wish to on the Council. Motion to approve the consent agenda? I gotta go to the audience first. Anyone wish to remove

something from consent? Seeing none now, I’ll bring it back over the bullshit. Really working hard tonight. Motion to approve the consent. Of second. Second. All those favor say aye. Aye. Opposed in that passes. That brings us to public hearings. 7.1 is the public hearing for Coburn’s incorporated DBA, the

Global Table Application for wine, and on sale 3.2% malt liquor license. Jodi. Thank you, Mayor and Council, before you this evening, Coburn incorporated, doing business as the global table, has submitted an application for wine and on sale 3.2 malt liquor licenses located at 6130 Sycamore Lane North, suite 100. Per state law

and city code. The holders of an on sale wine license, who also hold the or hold a 3.2 malt liquor license at on sale, are also authorized to sell intoxicating malt liquor, i.e. strong beer, without an additional license. So the global table is three restaurants operating as one,

and it offers guests a variety of selections from a Mexican kitchen, pasta, pasta, and brothers burgers. It’s located in the Boulevard inside Coburn’s Market and table. The police department has conducted the background investigation and have found no reason to deny this license, and the required a notification was sent to property owners within

500ft of the site. So following the public hearing this evening, staff would recommend approving the resolution for the wine and on sale 3.2 malt liquor license for Coburn’s incorporating Doing Business as Global Table. And with that, I’ll stay on for any questions. All right. Does anyone have any questions? All right then I’m

going to open up the public hearing. I have one card to speak on this, and now it’s Chad Nellis from Coburn’s. Yes. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. I appreciate the opportunity to be in front of you this evening. I really just wanted to make sure I was present in

case there was any questions about this application that we’ve submitted. Um, certainly. We’re we’re looking forward to the ruling on this and being able to help serve the guests of Plymouth for their evening activities at our location. So really, I just wanted to be here in case there were any questions or concerns.

All right. Does anyone have any questions? All right. Well, I will say we just got the council, took a tour through the Belle Terre Apartments as this the first apartment building being built in there that’s scheduled to open up on in December. So hopefully that will lease up very quickly and

you’ll have a lot more people there in, I believe. Is it next spring they’re going to start the next apartment building this year still okay. They’re going to break ground on the next apartment building in that area. So it’s going to it’s starting to move. Um, I’m going to close the public hearing,

bring it back to the council for questions or a motion. Mayor, I’ll make a motion to a approve the application for wine and on sales, 3.2%. Malt liquor licenses at 6130 Sycamore Lane North, suite 100. I’ll second that. We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye.

Opposed. And that passes. Congratulations. All right. Uh, general, we’ll move on to general business. Receive the 2026 election overview. Jody. All right. Thank you. Thank you again, mayor and city council, for those in the audience, are watching at home. I’m Jody Gallup, the city clerk for the city of Plymouth. And I

administer the elections along with a professional trained staff. Plymouth is committed to elections that are safe, secure, accurate and accessible to all eligible voters. This 2026 election overview is going to cover will highlight election activities before, on and after Election Day polling locations, voting options, ballot and voting equipment security. Election day safeguards, polling place

protections and emergency preparedness. Starting off with polling locations, the City of Plymouth has approximately 55,000 registered voters, and on election day, there are 21 precincts throughout the city to ensure voters receive their correct ballot style based on the legislative district that they live in, such as Congressional Senate, House

Ward and school district. Each polling location is in within one mile of a residence precinct boundary. Securing our polling locations is the first task in planning for elections. A state law requires that polling places be designated by December 31st of the prior year. Staff works with each location to ensure it’s accessible to voters, and

provides specific signage and supplies based on the needs of that location. We also work with each facility to create an emergency plan such as this one, which has contact information, exit routes, and what to do in certain situations which I will touch on later in this presentation. Plymouth provides multiple voting options so each resident

can choose the method that feels the safest for them. Uh, residents can vote at the polls on election Day, or they can vote early by mail or in person 46 days before each. Before each election. This year, we have the state primary on August 11th and the general election on November 3rd.

So all the times and dates for voting are up on the screen or sorry, all the dates are up on the screen. If you go to the Plymouth election website, you can find the specific times and weekend hours as well. The last 18 days before each election, we offer true early voting where residents can come in and

fill out their ballot and place it directly into the tabulator, just like they would on Election Day, and that’s offered here at City Hall. And it’s also offered at the Hennepin County Government Center for that full 46 day period with envelopes. And then the last 18 days with the tabulator. Under special circumstances, eligible voters

may have additional opportunities to vote by using some of these options up on the screen. The first one is agent delivery. If somebody becomes hospitalized or has difficulty going to the polls the seven days before each election, they can designate an agent by filling out some additional paperwork. That agent would bring their absentee ballot

application and that additional paperwork to City Hall, where we can then issue the ballot to the agent to then bring it to the voter. The voter will be able to vote, and then that agent would bring the ballot back to us. So that’s offered seven days before each election, just because it would

be hard to do it in the mail in that short time period. Additionally, we offer healthcare facility voting in the city of Plymouth, where our election judges go out to some of our health facilities with absentee ballots to allow those residents to vote right from their home in their health care facilities. Hennepin County offers military and overseas

voting, and Secretary of State’s office offers a safe at home program for those that need to keep their residential address private so they can work through the Secretary of State’s office to vote through the Safe at Home program. Additionally, we offer curbside voting for early voting here at

City Hall or on Election Day at the polls, where residents can vote from their car. And we’ll have two election judges of different major political parties go out to the the vehicle to assist the voter and bring them their ballot, and then bring the ballot back into the building safely. Moving on

to our election equipment in Minnesota, voters always cast their ballot via paper ballot and election equipment and computerized records are used to sign in and register voters and assist in marking ballots and counting ballots. Electronic ballot tabulators have been in use in Minnesota for decades. During this time, they have been proven to be

more accurate and effective than any other method of tabulating election results. The photo in the middle is our DS 200, and that is the current tabulator that the City of Plymouth uses. The image on the left is the electronic raster, which is called a pull pad. Election day data for registered voters in that

specific precinct are loaded on the device. It also indicates if a voter is already cast, a ballot via absentee ballot, or voted early for that election. The device will not let you check in a voter who has already voted. Registering a voter on the device doesn’t allow any missing information, and it helps walk the election

judges through each step of the process. So the election judges and voters are ensured that it’s done correctly each time. The image on the right is the assisted voting device, which is called the Express Vote. This was rolled out by Hennepin County in 2025. So that’ll be

this will be the first year in 2026 that the City of Plymouth will be utilizing this device. This is a ballot marking device to give voters privacy and independence if they cannot or choose not to use a pen while voting. Voters insert a blank ballot card into the device,

and they make their choices on the screen. Or they can use a touch pad that has Braille, or they can bring their own accessible device that can plug into the front to to make their vote selections. Once they made their vote selections, the ballot card prints back out with all of their selections,

and then they insert that into the ballot tabulator, just like the regular ballots go in and there’s a special tray on the top that helps them guide that ballot card into the device. All of our equipment is stored securely before, during, and after Election day. Moving on to some of the Minnesota’s election integrity safeguards when reviewing Minnesota’s

elections. Integrity safeguards. As I previously mentioned, all ballots are paper, which helps verify accurate results during post-election audits and recounts before being certified for use in Minnesota. All election equipment must be tested and certified by test labs accredited by the US Election Assistance Commission, and undergo detailed additional testing by the office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.

Before every election, local election officials test all equipment for that election. For the preliminary testing, we use a set of pre marked ballots, including ballots that are marked with our assisted voting device, and they’re fed into the tabulator. And then the machines totals are printed. And we compare the predetermined results. So I brought in our spreadsheet just

to give you an idea. So this is for the primary. We have three three pages 42 ballots that are being marked in different ways in different races. And then we run we run those ballots through this. So this is just one precinct of our 21. So we run the ballots through, print out those results, compare them

to our spreadsheet, and make sure that our everything matches and the equipment is 100% accurate. After we’ve done preliminary testing on all of our equipment, we publish the public accuracy test for the voting equipment where the public are invited to come in and will be it will be right

here in the council chamber. So the upcoming public accuracy test for the primary election is July 28th at 9 a.m., and we’ll be right in here and we’ll have various, uh, DS 200, our ballot tabulators out. We will be running the same set of test decks through printing the results and verifying for the

public that our results are matching with 100% accuracy. So while the voting equipment is being tested, the memory card is sealed into the device. As you can see on the picture there, that’s the seal. And then that number is recorded on what’s called the official precinct certification form.

And then it’s locked in a panel and the equipment is stored securely. The and then that same official precinct certification form is used on Election day, where election judges certify that that seal number matches during opening and closing of the polls to know, to ensure that the equipment has not been tampered with before or during the

election. Day. Two election judges work together as a team to use the ballot tracking form throughout the day to ensure every ballot is accounted for, as well. Moving on to voter registration, the state voter registration system keeps voter rolls current via identity address verification and postal confirmations and updates for death, felonies and residency

changes. When somebody registers to vote in Minnesota, they must prove who they are. Uh, sorry. They must prove that they are who they say they are and that they live where they say they live. Uh, there’s many ways to prove this in state law, which are shown on the

screen. We have a handout to that. All of our election judges received for Election Day proofs of registration, which gives all the details. So election judges can’t miss a step. And they know exactly what forms of proof are acceptable on Election Day when they’re registering voters. And then, after all, voter records well before Election day, and

then also after Election Day, all voter records are verified with records from the Department of Public Safety, the driver’s license and state IDs, the Social Security Administration and other data. Before any ballot goes to a voter, either by mail or in person, they must swear an oath that they are eligible to vote,

and they acknowledge that it is a felony to falsify information on their absentee ballot application or the registration. All right. Moving on to some Election Day safeguards, trained election judges from different major parties administer the polling places. They take an oath to uphold the law and perform critical tasks

in a bipartisan manner. That oath is shown on the screen. It’s a little small, but you can read it from your slide deck. Uh, voters also sign an oath affirming their eligibility and acknowledge that giving false information is a felony. And we have real time tracking of absentee ballots to prevent duplicate voting on election night,

election judges must verify that the number of ballots cast matches the number of voters before they’re allowed to leave for the night. This number is tracked throughout the day, numbering voter receipts and matching them to the ballot counter with 21 polling places to manage. Plymouth creates detailed guides and checklists with step by step instructions.

So here are a few examples of our opening the polls and Closing the Polls guides. We train our election judges with these guides and give these to each polling place. And our head election judges is instructed to follow all the instructions with military precision in the guide to make sure no steps are being missed.

All right, moving on to the polling place. Protections Minnesota law sets clear guardrails that keep order at the polling place and protect voter rights. Plymouth follows and reinforces these rules locally. Access to polling places is controlled and only authorized individuals may be present. This includes voters and their children.

Persons present to serve as a voucher or assist a voter authorized challengers, students and teachers. Media with credentials and representatives from the Secretary of State’s Office, Hennepin County, or the local Election office. Campaigning and intimidation and unauthorized activity is prohibited within 100ft of a polling place, and law enforcement presence within 50ft is only authorized if

requested by the head judge or the city clerk. Voters must be able to enter and exit freely, and any activity that interferes with voting is not permitted. The city and county election emergency plans are refreshed every cycle and cover everything from utility outages, accidents, medical emergencies, evacuations, and sheltering. Severe weather blocked access, intimidation, disruptive, disruptive

individuals, threats, cybersecurity and emergency communications. These plans define chain of command and procedures. Plymouth collaborates with the Minnesota BCA Secretary of State’s Office, Hennepin County. Neighboring cities. Local police on polling place security, emergency response and new risks. Conditions are monitored throughout voting and any reports are reviewed promptly to uphold safety and integrity. Hennepin County

creates a detailed chain of custody operations plan and a Continuity of Operations Plan, which these documents do contain nonpublic sensitive security data, so we cannot share the specifics of these plans this evening. The example in the photo that you’re seeing on your screen is a backup procedure that I can share in our election judges are trained

on. It’s called the auxiliary compartment of our RDS 200. It’s a separate compartment. So if the tabulator were to go down or become inoperable throughout the day, this compartment slot is opened. So that way, voters are instructed to safely insert their ballots into this compartment. And then once the system is back up and operating to election, judges

of different parties will work as a team to then take those ballots and insert them back into the tabulator to be counted. So moving on to post-election safeguards, post-election processes include canvassing and certifying election results, reconciliation of ballots cast by updating voter records, continued eligibility reviews for Election Day registrations, database checks for potential

duplicate voting, and referrals for investigation, which are rare. Hand count audits and randomly selected precincts. Confirm tabulator accuracy, and a losing candidate can request a publicly funded recount if the vote difference is set within a certain margin, depending on how many voters there were. So in summary, Plymouth system is safe.

Secure, fair and accurate and accountable before, during and after Election day. We have multiple layers of legal and procedural safeguards to uphold our public confidence in our election outcomes. On the screen. There’s some resources for the City of Plymouth election page. Hennepin County and the Secretary of State election pages as well. So with

that, I will stand for any questions. Councilor Spooner, I’m. Jody. First of all, thank you for the presentation and the overview. And we have had a phenomenal history of safe, secure elections in Plymouth. And we’re operating in a unusual environment nationally, um, where there is a concern from citizens that are raised

with me about federal deployment of, um, quasi law enforcement officers and law enforcement officers who may choose to have a presence at the polls, as has been articulated by members of the federal administration. Um, and so the question becomes, and I think this the chain of command was unclear when we lived through it in January and

February and March of this year. I’m not sure how the chain of command works in that situation, and don’t know if that has been discussed. Um, either way, you or by Chief Fadden. So I just love some clarity on how that might work, because law enforcement is not supposed to have a standing

presence at the polls in Minnesota. Under Minnesota law. So, yeah, that’s the question that’s coming up. All right. Thank you, mayor and council. I’ll start and then I’ll turn it over to chief editor to finish with what he’s going. What’s going on in his office. First of all, we do

train our election judges on the laws and who’s who is able to be present in our polling place packets that we give out to our election judges, our head judge. There is in there a map of the polling place with that 100 foot buffer, and it has the laws on there letting the election judges know who’s

allowed to be present, what laws authorize it, and and then they can show that letter in that map to people if they are within that boundary, if they feel comfortable, if the election judge does not feel comfortable in that situation, I mean, they should definitely call me and let me know if

something were to come up. And then then either myself or the election judge can call our police department to ask for backup, and then I’ll turn it over to Chief Fadden, because I know he has information. To what he trains at his staff on. Sure. Mayor and council. Um, it’s a valid question. It’s a

question I’ve had a bunch. Um, and the best thing I can say is there are all of the safeguards in place to prevent that. Even federal law enforcement, we do have state statute that prevents law enforcement officers from standing at polls. Um, I there’s also a US code. There’s 3 or 4 different

US federal laws that state the same thing. Troops are federal law enforcement or federal officials cannot be at polls. They are duplicate, uh, US code laws that state you cannot intimidate at polls. Um, all of those same laws are in the federal code, which apply to federal law enforcement. Um, with that said, um, realistically, we have been

continuing to maintain, uh, you know, semi-regular contact with our partners in the federal law enforcement agencies. Um, you know, what we’re hearing from them, especially after Metro surge has gone down, that that communication has has dropped off significantly. We are seeing no indication that there is going to be any sort of federal surge of more law

enforcement or any plans, um, coming to, you know, polling locations here or across the state. Um, but it’s something that we will continue to monitor because we’re still a number of months away from the election. So, um, we have safeguards in place. We have plans in place. Um, as we get

closer to the election, as with every election cycle, every two years, um, we push out the most recent updates. Um, our city attorney’s office is, uh, they are gracious enough. Every election cycle, we get an updated memo from our city attorney’s office on all of the election reminders for law enforcement and the training that comes down and

documentation of of updated FAQs and all that stuff from the state. So our officers are well prepared every election season. Yes. Thank you, Jody, and thank you, Chief Fadden. I think the the concern and I’m just going to reinforce it’s an evolving situation. We had two more us, um, residents murdered by

federal officers in the last week. And, um, and it’s an evolving situation as that wave of of theoretical enforcement continues to rise and it is, um, intentionally targeting people of color. And, um, I do not have confidence in this diminishing over the coming months. Um, and I appreciate

the willingness to keep us briefed. Um, I think it’s an interesting time, and we all need to be vigilant about defending democracy and ensuring that people’s sacred right to vote is available to each and every elected voter this year. So, um, tonight we had this conversation. I guess

my comment would be we probably will continue to monitor it and update it as we go through primaries and prepare for the general. Um, I hope people who’ve sent me these questions and talk to you about these questions heard them reflected here tonight, and we’ll continue to send them in as we

seek to preserve safe, fair elections here in Plymouth. Any other questions? Comments. Council member Gregor. I thank you, mayor. Thank you, Jody, for the presentation. I think this is really helpful to be informative to us and to be informative to the public at large. Um, you talked about the

accuracy test coming up at the end of the month here. Can you just tell me a little bit more about that? So, um, we have the tabulator machines. How many of those do we have? Do we test every single one up here in the room, or is it just a few? Is

it, um, you know, how does that all work? Great question. So we by law, we do test every single equipment for the preliminary testing because we test them with the backup memory cards and the original memory cards, and we make sure everything is working. And then for the, for

the actual public accuracy test, we just need to test enough devices to cover each of our legislative districts in the city, each ballot style. So typically that’s for devices, because if we get one from each of our wards, that covers each of the different, you know, Hennepin County districts and

school districts. And so typically we do four of our devices for the public accuracy test, but all of the devices actually are being tested this week right now. So that’s all happening. Thank you. Um, I also saw the word voucher on there as a way

to vote. And I thought, is that like a ticket? But then I think you made it clear that it’s like someone vouches for you. Yes. Is that correct? Great question. So yes, that is one of the proofs of residents that election day registration that you can use that’s authorized under Minnesota law.

So if somebody doesn’t isn’t able to if they don’t have the proper, you know, their photo ID or a photo ID with the document, uh, one of the other options is they can bring a voucher. So it has to be somebody that’s registered in the precinct or able to register in the precinct, with

other approved form of ID, such as an ID, and then they can then vouch for that voter. So then that they can so then they can vote. So it’s a separate form that, that that election voter fills out to vouch for the other voter. And typically when this is used, it’s usually like, uh, either somebody

recently moved and like all the bills are in one spouse’s name and the other spouse doesn’t have any bills or, uh, there’s a 18 or 19 year old age college age student that doesn’t have any documentation because they recently moved. And then the parent does have the documentation, and then they

can vouch for the child. So it does have to be somebody within that precinct. So you can’t bring just anybody to vouch for you has to be somebody in that precinct that needs either registered or able to register with other forms of ID. Thank you. And then, um, can you talk a little bit about, I

guess, cybersecurity? Um, I mean, we have a lot of electronic stuff. We have tabulators with memory chips, we have iPads that have the polling stuff. We transmit data. Where are all the securities in there? I know you can’t give me every detail, and that’s fine, but I just want to

ensure people understand that, you know, it’s not like we’re just texting stuff. Um, and it’s all, uh, open to interference. Yeah. Great question. Uh, Hennepin County manages the cyber security system, so I’m I’m not an expert in that area, so I’m not gonna pretend to be. But the system is is secure, and the the data gets

transferred in a secure way to the, to the county. And on election night, when those results are first posted, you’ll notice on the website that it’s unofficial results. So everything that’s posted as the data is transmitted is unofficial results. And then the following day, the original memory cards are brought to Hennepin County. And then they

confirm that that data that was transferred, you know, on election night is the exact same data that is on the memory card. So there’s no question that there was anything that interfered with with the data. Thank you. Council Member Nelson. Jody, I not only want to thank you for your presentation, but

your work. Um, in making sure that we have fair elections here, I know it takes a lot of time and effort on your part to make sure that our, our elections run smoothly. I’d also just like to take a moment and publicly thank. Uh, I had a time. Those election judges that will be, um, uh, helping

out at the polls this year. Um, you know, it takes a village and and, um, you know, we need a number of people to make sure we have safe and secure elections. So thank you. Election Judges. Are their comments. Well, I just wanted to also add in that Jody does a fantastic job at managing the elections.

So good, in fact, that she trains other city clerks on, you know, elections and how to handle elections and what to do in elections. And you are constantly recruiting election judges. So I’m sure if anyone’s watching and wants is looking to help, that’s one of the things that we love to have is

people participating as election judges. But we’re fortunate our entire staff and we’re fortunate to have such experienced people working for us and make you guys make the council look good. And we try to return the favor on occasion. So thank you for the work you do and giving us this brief on the elections. Thank you.

Next we go to our last item, receive Public Works Department for Fiscal Year 2025 annual report. Michael. Thanks, Judy. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Everybody might want to stay for this. It’s exciting. So similar to Grant and JT providing the community and economic development and parks and Recreation update. I wanted

to spend just a few minutes to provide some highlights from Public Works for 2025. I also want to acknowledge our Public Works leadership team here tonight. Mike, Amy and Abby. So they do the brunt of the work. We have a great team. All of our staff and of course support

from other departments and support of the council. So first, I wanted to give an overview of just some of the scope of the infrastructure that we oversee. So 344 miles of roadways, almost 1000 miles of underground utility pipelines, two water treatment plants, 18 wells that draw the water out of the aquifer, six storage tanks, uh, just a

dozens of pieces of equipment that we oversee throughout the city. Uh, we had we threw in the number 225 oil changes for patrol cars, over 5000 fire hydrants. Um, etc., etc.. So for public works, street operations, uh, for snow plowing this, uh, in 2025, we had seven citywide events,

which equated to 2900 labor hours. Uh, some of the patching and potholes that that we addressed, uh, 1500 tons of asphalt. Uh, our team also repaired uh, 100 water main break patches, and then street sweeping is a a big endeavor that that we do 3 or 4 times a year. Typically we try to get

out in April before the the rain flushes a lot of the sediment and salts down into the, the water bodies. So we swept the equivalent of 4800 miles over a thousand labor hours. So that equates to keeping 732 tons of sediment and pollutants out of our waterways. So this is probably

one of the most cost effective things that we can do to improve water quality. And I think our team does a great job. We’ve invested an additional sweepers, and we partnered with the watershed district, who helped pay for one of those through a grant. And so our team does an excellent job on that.

Utility operations. Uh, we inspect a number of fire hydrants, both public and private. Uh, we had almost 200 utility digs. So repairing utilities, our my Plymouth application where residents can send in issues whether it’s a pothole or a mailbox, may have been damaged. All of those come through see click fix requests. And we addressed almost 3000 of those.

Uh, we cleaned and jetted, uh, 100 miles of sanitary sewer pipeline. And a big part of our job is locating our underground utilities. So anytime somebody wants to plant a tree or dig or install anything, our team has to locate all of our public infrastructure that we own. And so, um, upwards of almost

15,000 utility locates performed. And our team does a great job on that. Uh, there are only two utility related hits from those markings. So a pretty high record of success with that. Public works, water production. So one of the big things we do is produce clean drinking water. And to provide

the the scope of what that equates to. So for the water that we treated, 2.9 billion gallons, so roughly 8 million gallons per day. And in 2025, the maximum was 15,000 or 15 million gallons per day, with a minimum of 5 million gallons per day. In the winter is where we see the lowest use.

Summer is the highest because everybody’s irrigating and watering their lawn. So especially during this stretch. Now, if people can conserve and, um, make sure they’re following the the ordinance on odd and even watering, that’s important. Um, our system can handle up to 30 million gallons per day. So any time we get up past 20 million gallons a day,

we we keep an eye on things, and we just want to make sure that we’re conserving as much as we can. So that equates to 22 billion bottles of water. Or also 4400 Olympic sized pools that we could fill with with how much water we produced in 2025. Our water system storage capacity 14 million gallons and

7.5 million of that is the elevated water towers that you see. And then we have an underground reservoir that has 6.5 million gallons. And that’s near Vicksburg and Schmidt. So that’s all underground. So this is all storage that is at hand. And then a lot of people throughout the city have

noticed this. This is very visible and sometimes intrusive. But the private fiber optic companies that are building out a number of cities in the metro area, including Plymouth. So in, uh, 2025, there were 1,000,000ft of fiber installed. And then 400,000ft planned for 2026. And this is that high speed broadband. So there are 2 or 3 different

companies that are coming in, and even more that are looking to to build out within the city. So we do get a lot of calls on that. We try to make sure we’re working with those companies to make sure they’re repairing, uh, damaged grass or sod. Public works, solid waste.

I thought these were a few interesting statistics. Uh, so for recycling, uh, with Republic Services, who is our partner for that? There’s over 26,000 properties managed, uh, £12 million, collected a very high participation rate for recycling. And out of 1.2 million annual collections, there were 300 reported missed collections. So there are very

few. But when we do miss, we do hear about it. And so let us know. And we want to get out there as soon as possible to make sure we’re making those pickups, or having Republic make those pickups for us, who we contract with, and then Organics Citywide organics is something newer that we’ve, uh,

added to our contract with Republic and with the eligible properties currently, to date, we have 4100 participating properties, so about 16% participation and 462 tons were collected in 2025. And then annually we have our drop off day. And I think that provided other statistics. But we serve over 1500 vehicles. And then we also have our holiday light

collection, um, with the number of pounds collected. But the drop off days we collect pretty much anything and everything at that event, which is very popular. And then the city of Plymouth, we have our own transit system. So Plymouth Metrolink in 2025, the average uh rides per day was 865.

Uh, most of that was on fixed route and then 178 on our click and ride, which is a kind of a door to door service. Uh, the fixed route is more of those express rides, like to Minneapolis or things of that nature. So that equates to 250,000 rides per year. Uh, 90% on time pickup and drop off customer

satisfaction was 4.9 out of five stars. And one of the big projects that was completed was the new park and ride at the Northwest Greenway. And thanks to Sonja from the the Parks and Rec department, she helped uh, project manage that. And I think it turned out great. So that’s a new amenity for our

our transit system. And then we also strengthen regional partnerships. Uh, for example, with, with Maple Grove, we did a study on how we can better pair our systems since we’re neighbors and we’re both, suburban providers. So one thing that we’ve just started doing this summer is the click

and ride service is integrating that. So it’s seamless to a person. Whether you’re in a Plymouth or Maple Grove. So as long as a ride starts or stops in Plymouth, we’ll take somebody here up to Maple Grove. And then Maple Grove could, um, do do the same thing. So we’re trying to make

that service as, as seamless as possible. So we’re continuing to find ways on how we do that to better serve our customers. And then public works projects. 2025 was a very big year. I would say probably the peak of our capital improvement plan, at least in the nine years that I’ve been here with the city.

Uh, so we undertook $85 million in construction. A big part of that was the station 73 trip, for which we received a $15 million federal grant. But also completing the final phase of Chincoteague Trail. Um, letting that contract 36th Avenue rehabilitation and a number of other projects. And then on the

facility side, which Amy oversees. We’ve done a lot of work with the fire stations on building new and rehabbing existing, and then also looking at sustainability. So adding solar arrays to all of those projects. So both fire stations and then just recently here at here at City Hall, we installed

a solar array. So with that I just want to highlight a few things. And I can stand for any questions or comments you have. Anyone have any questions or comments? Councilmember point north. Hi. Thanks. This is fantastic. I get nerdy too about this kind of stuff,

but I did have a question. If you could go back to the fiber optic page and the map, the areas that are not having any green blue, are they coming that way soon or are they not? It’s not going to be happening there. Just want to clarify what we’re seeing here.

Yeah. Mayor and council. That is the areas that have been completed. But these companies are building out the entire city. So like this year there are 400,000 additional feet planned. And then that will continue. But it’ll start to wane off in future years. Uh, but the understanding is they’re picking certain areas and then just working through

their system. Um, but I could get you more details if you go to our website on on fiber optic, we have an entire page that shows what company is working where in different maps, so I can provide more information on the full build out plan. That would be great. And then the other thing you didn’t talk

about is the maps that are out there now for for assessment stuff, for the road work for the next several years. I also thought that was pretty fantastic. I don’t know if that was this year, if you did it last year, but I think that’s something that we should point out so everybody can look to

see when their roads are going to get done and when they’re going to be assessed. Councilmember points are great, great points. And we’re actually working with communications. We thought that would be City-Wide Newsletter worthy. And so we’re trying to get something in the fall article for that, just so

people can see over the next ten years what streets are being rebuilt, paved, reconstructed, who could be up for an assessment. And so we’re trying to provide that transparency. And so we’re working that on the newsletter. But thanks for pointing that out. I probably should have put a slide in here.

On that. Thank you. I think it’s wonderful. Thanks. Councilmember Sponheim. Michael, I just want to convey my appreciation to the entire team. Um, you and I have had the chance to talk about the many compliments that I get to receive on your behalf, but I want to just share with everybody a quick story about

probably my most favorite compliment for the city, which was, unfortunately, we’re human, and snowplows are kind of tough to drive, and one of them going around the corner took out a neighbor’s mailbox, and my neighbor called me and reported it. And a city staff member who drove the truck went out there

and met with him. And not only apologized, but said, here’s how we’re going to fix it immediately, and here’s how we’ll fix it. In the spring, I get a call from the neighbor back saying, I can’t believe they actually had a conversation with me, and they actually fixed it and are

coming back. It’s that level of service, like like everybody can forgive a legitimate mistake. And I don’t think most of us think we can drive a snowplow. And so there’s a lot of grace. And and the thing is, is that comes after hearing just consistent appreciation for how great the streets are,

how, you know, our water works, our streets are safe. Um, and so much and I know this is a lot of the unsung heroes because some of what we do in your team is literally underground and out of sight, but without it, we don’t have a city. So thanks for the report.

I hope people take time to just see how much work it takes to keep us running. Um, so thank you. Yeah. And I’ll just add on to that, because your department is the one that if if everything is running great, you don’t get noticed and you only get noticed when something’s not running great.

And so I just want to second that, you know, I’ve had so many instances where people send in something and and saying, you know, there’s this is um, they don’t know about the quick fix piece, but, you know, afford that on and you guys are on it like in no time.

Um, and I also want to say with Council member Suen Himes point, my brother lives in another city, and the snowplow took out his mailbox and they said, oh, sorry, you’re on your own. So not every city goes out and replaces damage that we’ve done to it. And they said that’s it’s in the right of

way, you know, it’s your your bad. So um, and we’ve also had situations where um, we get a little too close to the curb and take out some of the grass and they’re out there either putting sod or seeding on it when the snow’s out. Um, so

they’re just on and on about the compliments we get and hear from our residents. So I know it’s low key. It’s kind of like in the back room, you know, you keep your head down and and get the work done. And it’s kind of unheralded heroes. So just thank your staff for all the work they do.

Thank you. Other comments. All right. Thank you, Michael. Dave, do we have any reports? Staff recommendations. No reports. And we stand adjourned. Thank