00:01:06,599 S1: Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Monday, June 22nd, 2026 City Council meeting. This is going to be a very abbreviated meeting. Our agenda is pretty light and so my opening will be pretty light too. I just am enjoying this summer now that we are officially in summer. I hope you all are enjoying the amazing weather that we're having. Uh, it certainly is a topic of everyone that I keep running into about what great weather this is. It's not humid. We have just enough rain to keep everything green. So please, I hope that everyone is enjoying it and looking forward to some of the fun events that we've got going on in the city. So, uh, City Clerk sent, would you do, um. Oh, wait, we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance. It is an abbreviated meeting, but we will do the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:01:58,400 S2: 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. 00:02:13,719 S1: Now, City Clerk sent. Would you do the roll call for us, please? 00:02:18,159 S3: Councilmember cave. Here, Councilmember Lee. Present. Councilmember Villavicencio. Here. 00:02:23,639 S1: Mayor Abrams here as well. 00:02:25,199 S3: And Councilmember gentleman is not with us tonight. 00:02:28,199 S1: Thank you. Council members, would someone like to make a motion to approve our agenda? 00:02:32,000 S4: So move. 00:02:32,919 S3: Second. 00:02:33,680 S1: Move by Lee, seconded by cave. The motion to approve the agenda. Is there any further discussion? Councilmember Lee. 00:02:41,639 S4: Just grand opening. Focus point. Urgent care for council presentation. Okay. 00:02:50,159 S1: Anyone else? Okay. With that? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Moving on to approval of minutes. We have the June 8th City Council workshop meeting. Minutes with someone like to make a motion. 00:03:05,759 S5: So moved. 00:03:06,759 S4: Second. 00:03:07,439 S1: Moved by cave. Seconded by Lee. The motion to approve the Monday, June 8th. Maplewood City Council manager workshop meeting minutes. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Next we have the June 8th, 2026 City Council meeting minutes. Would someone like to make that motion? 00:03:32,159 S4: So move. 00:03:32,919 S5: Second. 00:03:33,960 S1: Moved by cave. Seconded by. I'm sorry. Moved by Lee. Seconded by cave. The motion to approve the June 8th, 2028 City Council meeting minutes. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:03:49,680 S3: Aye, aye. 00:03:50,599 S1: Any opposed? That motion carries. And finally, we have the June 15th, 2026 City Council special meeting minutes. Would someone like to make that motion? 00:04:02,080 S2: So moved. 00:04:03,479 S1: Second moved by Villavicencio. Seconded by Lee. The motion to approve the June 15th, 2026 City Council special meeting minutes. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:04:18,240 S3: Aye. 00:04:18,879 S1: Any opposed? That motion carries. Next we have our administrative presentations. The council calendar update, Mr. Sabel. 00:04:29,759 S6: Thank you, mayor and council members. Just very quickly, I want to forecast. So next Monday is the fifth Monday of the month. And so you have a two week break, technically three week break between council meetings from tonight. So the next meeting will be July 13th. Well, we're tentatively planning a police swearing in ceremony, which, uh, and an award ceremony. And there are seven new swearing ins that will take place. And so we anticipate that and the award ceremony taking about an hour. So we will have a robust workshop item that will be primarily focused on public safety, swearing in and looking at the forecasted calendar. If there is nothing else that gets added to the council meeting, the meeting would conclude it would go from 6 to 7. So I just want to put that on your radar. Um, and then just so you know, just I know that we've been talking about celebrating America 250 uh, the front page of the Maplewood Living Draft is out for our 250 acts of neighborliness. Our website is up and ready to take in the stories. And so I want to give a shout out to communications staff for pulling that together very quickly. And the flags have been ordered for most of the parks. So onward. It's coming much faster than we anticipate. So with that, the last thing I'll just say in terms of upcoming community events July 8th celebrate Summer afternoon Heights Park from 530 to 730. Wednesday, July 15th. We have fishing with friends at Spoon Lake from 4 to 7. And then we have, uh, August 4th National Night Out. We are encouraging people to sign up, and so we will see that on social media and in the Maplewood living this month as well. 00:06:03,160 S1: Thank you. Any comments or questions for Mr. Sabel? Okay. Thank you very much. Next we have, uh, council presentations. Council member Lee. 00:06:15,399 S4: Thank you. Mayor. I just want to take a quick second to recognize, uh, and mentioned that this past. Uh, about one week ago, the 13th, I joined, uh, Focus Point urgent Care. They are a new urgent care business here in the city of Maplewood. Uh, operated by Doctor Charles Fang and Doctor Chee Vang. Both have been practicing family medicine for years, and they've decided to invest and open up a clinic here in our city to make sure that our our constituents and everyone is healthier here in the city of Maplewood. They are located at 1774 Cope Avenue in East suite 110. Uh, County Commissioner Kelly Miller and I both attended. About 100 people attended. Outside of the celebration, they had amazing food. So I just wanted to share that with all the teams here. But please do help support local businesses. They are very eager to help support residents here in the city of Maplewood. So congratulations. Focus Point urgent care. 00:07:05,079 S1: Thank you. All right, moving on to our consent agenda. Would someone like to make a motion? We have G one through six. 00:07:18,480 S5: I move consent to consent agenda items G one through six. 00:07:22,720 S1: Second moved by cave, seconded by Lee. Consent agenda items G one through six. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:07:35,560 S3: Aye, aye. 00:07:36,240 S1: Any opposed? That motion carries. Tonight we have a public hearing. Uh, Mister Sable, you are our presenter tonight. 00:07:46,399 S6: Um. Thank you, mayor and council members. Uh, if we can get Mr. Kimmel set up on the, uh, he is coming out shortly. So, uh, as you know, this is an, uh, this is a time of year where we usually issue debt for some of our projects, for our road construction and parks projects. Um, and so what we will have is we will hold a public hearing. Uh, and then we will ask you to approve a resolution related to a tax abatement granting the abatement for the park project and then, uh, resolution resolution related to issuing, issuance and sale of general obligation bonds. Uh, Elas, as our financial advisors and, uh, Bruce Kimmel, can you hear me? 00:08:25,399 S7: I can hear, hear you. Can you hear me? 00:08:27,800 S6: We can. And now we can physically see you. And you are doing this twice in one day. So we appreciate your flexibility. Uh, Mr. Kimmel. 00:08:36,600 S1: I'll turn it over to you. 00:08:38,759 S7: All right. Well, thank you, mayor and council members and Mister Sabol, Bruce Kimmel, and thank you for allowing me to join you from my mobile office here. Uh, but I did want to make sure I had a chance to review the pre-sale report with you. Uh, especially in the context of this public hearing that you're having? Mayor, might I suggest that before you open the public hearing, I review the pre-sale report that I believe was in your packets? Yes, please. And I'm having a little bit of trouble with my hotspot and my computer, so I can't pull that up. But perhaps Michael can, or somebody else or I believe those that report is in your packet as well. 00:09:18,639 S1: It is, it is. 00:09:20,000 S7: All right. So with your permission, I am going to go off screen so you don't have to see me looking down at my laptop. But I will give you a brief overview, uh, answering any questions you might have. And then I would encourage you to open the public hearing relating to the tax abatement portion. 00:09:38,360 S7: All right. Well, thank you again for your flexibility, allowing me to join you remotely here. Um, June is a busy time of year for everyone, including financial advisors. But we are looking, as Mr. Sabol mentioned, at the city issuing a bond for two distinct Purposes. One is your 2026 Street Improvement Program. This is similar to what you've done in recent years around this time, and that would be to fund a net amount of $4.9 million that is not being covered from other financing sources available to the city. And then the second purpose within this bond issue is to make improvements to Harvest Park. And this will fund approximately $1.2 million of park improvements. So combined this bond issue will fund well, we're targeting $6.1 million in aggregate of funding for the streets and the parks programs on the authority section of the presale report. I just wanted to take a second to note that the bonds for the portion of the bonds for the street program will be the same as you've done previously, where you're using the Special Assessment or Improvement authority to finance those street improvements. I will note, however, that as has been your practice in recent years, you will actually use the assessments that you collect from benefiting properties to repay an internal loan. And so the bond portion of this financing will be paid from future property tax levies. And you may recall that I'm very impressed with the city's approach to using the special assessments to repay itself for the internal loan, because it really gives you flexibility. You don't have to worry about whether or not the assessments are going to come in exactly when needed for the bond payments, you've really eliminated that, that potential cause of of uncertainty. But then the park's improvement will be using something called the Tax Abatement Authority. And first and foremost, I'll just say that that's kind of a misnomer. There are no taxes being abated. This is simply a mechanism that allows cities like Maplewood to fund park improvements, in particular that will be repaid with property tax levies. And so all we really need to do is have this public hearing. Designate the parcel in question as the so-called abatement parcel. And then essentially, you're saying that in theory, you will use the future property taxes from that parcel, the future city property taxes from that parcel to make the payments on the harvest park part of the bond issue. I know that was kind of a mouthful. And in probably the the term tax abatement doesn't help any. But I would also just note that it's actually the Audi and Porsche dealership on highway 61 that pays actually more than enough in city property taxes each year that we are able to designate that as the sole so-called tax abatement parcel for this project. And again, you're really just sort of going through this process to say we want to use the abatement mechanism, and that's the authority with which we're going to finance the Harvest Park part of the bond issue. Other than that, the bond issue is pretty straightforward. You'll note that both the street portion and the Harvest park portion are being repaid over a term of 15 years. You will be bank qualified on this bond issue, and we would expect an affirmation of the city's excellent A+ credit rating as part of this transaction as well. I think that's really the most of what I wanted to cover. As you can see, we do have a debt issuance schedule as well, noting tonight's meeting. Then a lot of things will happen between now and July 13th, give or take, including the rating agency call that we'll have with Mr. Sable and Mr. Rube, among others. Um, and then we're looking at actually doing the bond sale and the award to the winning bidder on July 27th, which is a regular city council meeting date. We also did include bond schedules, preliminary bond schedules, again in total, but then also for the street portion and the parks portion. It's called the tax abatement portion here. But with that I would welcome any questions that you might have. And then again we can proceed to open up the public hearing. Thank you. 00:14:38,720 S1: Thank you very much. And thank you for for coming to us from your mobile office. We really appreciate that. Uh, council members, does anyone have any questions? 00:14:51,559 S1: No questions. Okay, then what I am, we have no questions. And so what we're going to do is open up the public hearing. I will open up the public hearing concerning general obligation bond series 2026 a city clerk. Do we have anyone who would like to speak? 00:15:19,509 S3: Uh, Madam Mayor, no, we do not. 00:15:21,789 S1: All right. Uh, we have no one. I'll just call for it again. Would anyone like to speak concerning the general obligation bonds series question before us 2026? A. 00:15:35,950 S1: Seeing none. Then I will close the public hearing. Council members, we have an amended document before us that outlines two motions. Would someone like to make a motion? The first motion, which is motion B. 00:15:52,149 S4: Motion to approve the resolution relating to a tax abatement. Granting the abatement. 00:15:58,149 S1: Second. 00:15:59,870 S5: Second. 00:16:00,710 S1: Moved by Lee. Seconded by cave. The motion to approve the resolution relating to a tax abatement. Granting the abatement. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:16:13,149 S3: Aye. Aye aye. 00:16:14,029 S1: Any opposed? That motion carries. We have one more motion. Would someone like to make that motion? 00:16:20,029 S2: To make a resolution relating to the insurance and sale of general obligation bonds? 00:16:27,990 S1: Second, moved by Villavicencio, seconded by cave. The motion to approve the resolution relating to issuance and sale of general obligation bonds. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:16:43,750 S3: Aye aye. 00:16:44,350 S1: Any opposed? Uh. 00:16:49,350 S1: There are no opposed. That motion carries as well, Mr. Sabol. 00:16:53,309 S6: I just wanted to take this opportunity because I always appreciate Mr. Kimball's professionalism and service. So, Bruce, thank you for all of the work you do on behalf of the City of Maplewood as our advisor. And good luck at your next public meeting doing the same thing in another place. Thank you. 00:17:07,549 S3: Yes. 00:17:08,670 S7: Thank you all very much, and we'll look forward to being in touch next month. Have a great evening. 00:17:14,549 S1: We appreciate it. Bye bye. 00:17:16,710 S3: Bye. 00:17:16,910 S1: I spoke with Mister Sabol today, uh, concerning, uh, our A+ bond rating. Uh, and I'm going to ask you, Mr. Sable, to recount for the council your comments today about the financial position of Maplewood and where we are headed because of the solid foundation that we have built financially. 00:17:42,069 S6: Um, thank you, mayor and council members. I don't know exactly what I said, but I know that the city of Maplewood is as rated by an outside professional agency on a rating scale, and we are rated as double A+ stable, which is the second highest rating you can get from a rating agency. Um, as you know, over the last 15 years, the city's total debt accumulation used to be in the $80 million category. It's currently, I think, this year, approaching $47 million, which is under the threshold set by the council. And if you look at the chart that was in the packet, you'll see that we are going to continue to decline in our outstanding debt obligations in 27, 28 and 29. And I. As our community evolves and changes, as the developments that we've seen coming in continue to add to the tax base, I am optimistic that we will achieve a triple A rating designation from the rating agencies. We'd be one of under 30 cities in the metro area. That or I'm sorry, statewide that actually earned that designation. And we are on the cusp by Mr. Ruber here. He would be shaking his head, but I see this by the end of this decade, if not sooner. And so it's one of the things it's a highlight of the professionalism of the council in managing its debt and of the staff and of the advisers that we have. So something for us to look forward to and something that I will be advocating for on our ratings call in a couple of weeks. 00:19:09,789 S1: Thank you very much. That's pretty much what you said earlier. We are in very good position to achieve that Triple-A bond rating from Standard and Poor's, which maybe and this is probably for people that are watching to what's the benefit of having a higher rating according to Standards and Poor's? 00:19:30,430 S6: Mr.. I'm sorry, madam mayor. Council members. The there's really two benefits from it. And the first one is you get a better interest rate on your debt, so you will naturally pay less. If you for the cost of borrowing money, it will be lower over time. The other one is it makes it a more attractive place. So as people look to where do I want to invest in a community, they can feel confident that if a business wants to come and make a large investment here, we're going to be well-run and professional. And so it's a it's a draw for both outside development but also lowers our issuance costs and just makes us more competitive, more attractive. And it you know, when you can say that you're one of their 30 out of 831 cities. There's some there's some meaning behind that. And so it's, it's a it would be quite, a, quite an achievement and something that we are working towards actively. 00:20:17,789 S1: Thank you very much for that which is very optimistic. So thank you. And thank you to staff for helping us get to this position. Thank you to Mister Rube who isn't here tonight, but also thank you, Mister Sabel. Uh, and our department heads to that, uh, help us to make good financial decisions. So, uh, that is very encouraging news. I wanted to make sure that Mike, uh, shared that with everybody today. Uh, next, we have the business subsidy policy. Miss power, this is yours. 00:20:50,069 S8: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Members of the council. I realize the subject matter of a business subsidy policy is not new. You've heard this before. We've talked about this. We have also talked about this with the EDA. So you may, um, you may be aware through that as well. Um, the policy before you tonight that's in your packet is largely identical to what went to the EDA. I know you all read it cover to cover, and that you probably recognize that right away. The one exception is the city council in name. Um, is is within that document. Now instead of the EDA. And this will go to the EDA as well. Um, again, because an important distinction about tonight is that it involves a public hearing. That's why it's back before you this evening. We want to get that public hearing which is required by state statute. Uh, the business subsidy policy, it's an important element as we continue to methodically align our toolkit with our economic development goals. It's just another incremental step we're taking along with the other ones you've previously taken to get us to where we want to be so that we are prepared if something comes along that we want to jump at, apply for or offer to someone we want to either retain or engage to bring into our community. For the number of reasons we'll talk about. 00:22:07,430 S3: When these. 00:22:07,910 S8: Opportunities presents themselves, we want to be able to offer financial assistance for a number of reasons. We want to support job creation. Obviously, we want to grow our tax base. We want to assist with redevelopment efforts where it's appropriate, and we want to create long term economic opportunities right here in Maplewood. Minnesota law requires that any city entity granting a business subsidy needs to establish a criteria to be considered in processing, evaluating, and reviewing applications before the business subsidy is granted to the private development. I can walk through those again this evening if you like, but I will just say that they are the same as we have previously talked about. In addition, many state agencies such as Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development deed. As we often refer to it, they require us to have this in place in order for that business subsidy for those grants or low interest loan or whatever that program may be. We need to have this in place. As you all may recall, our current business subsidy policy dates back to 2001. The state statute language has changed, we have changed and we have evolved, and we want to make sure that it reflects our goals. Your economic development goals that you and the EDA have called out, as well as the language in the state statute. The proposed policy is very similar to what you see in other communities. Everyone wants to have that right language that we need for state statute. So we have largely cut and pasted that, along with our attorneys assistance, to make sure that we have it appropriately fashioned for your approval, if you so think it's appropriate. With that, I would recommend a staff that the city council opened the public hearing, and our city attorney and myself are here to answer any questions you may have. 00:23:58,630 S1: Thank you. Council members, let's start with any questions for Miss Parr before I open up the public hearing. Any questions? 00:24:10,829 S1: Okay, then I will open up the public hearing concerning the proposed business subsidy policy. Uh, city clerk, do we have anyone who would like to speak? 00:24:23,670 S3: Uh, Madam Mayor, we do not. Okay. 00:24:26,430 S1: I'll call for it one more time. Do we have anyone who would like to speak at the public hearing concerning the business subsidy policy? 00:24:37,190 S1: Seeing none. Then I will close the public hearing and council members. We have a motion with someone like to make that. 00:24:45,950 S5: I move to approve the 2026 Maplewood City Council business subsidy policy. Repealing and replacing the 20 or. Yeah 2001 business Maplewood business subsidy policy. 00:24:59,150 S4: Second. 00:25:00,109 S1: Moved by cave. Seconded by Lee. The motion is written in our packet. Is there any further discussions? Hearing none. Then all those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:25:11,109 S3: Aye. 00:25:11,710 S1: Any opposed? That motion carries. Thank you. We have one more item of new business. Uh, Mister Love, this is your topic tonight. 00:25:21,710 S9: Yes. Uh, mayor and council. Good evening. So, as you know, the public works maintenance yard houses a variety of materials used to maintain our city's infrastructure. Right now, about 80% of it is, um, aggregate material. The driving area, about 20% is paved. So the proposed project will pave roughly another 23% of the yard area, along with installing curb and gutter on portions and constructing concrete pads for trash, recycling and storage of other equipment. These improvements will actually complete a loop that will go from the rear of the garage area, through the maintenance yard, and connect up into the front of the public works building. This is where most of the vehicles do travel, so this project will greatly reduce the amount of dust that's generated on the site. It will also minimize sediment tracking and improve the working conditions for the mechanics. The 2026 CIP includes $350,000 paid through the SRF fund for these improvements. The plans are ready to be put out for bid if if we move forward with this, we'll be bringing it back to City Council on July 27th for your consideration of awarding a contract. 00:26:38,509 S1: Any questions for Mister Love? 00:26:42,589 S1: Certainly sounds like a worthwhile project. Would someone like to make the motion then. 00:26:47,390 S4: Motion to approve the attached resolution authorizing the advertisement for bids for the Public works works. Yard improvements. City project 269. 00:26:55,829 S1: Second moved by Lee, seconded by Villavicencio. The motion is written in our packet. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. 00:27:07,509 S3: Aye. 00:27:08,029 S1: Any opposed? That motion carries. And like I said, this is an abbreviated meeting. Uh, and so therefore, council members, thank you for your work tonight. And we are adjourned. Thank you.