I hereby call to order the Roseville City Council meeting for Monday, August 11th, 2025. Mr. City Man, would you call the role please? >> Council member Stron here. >> Council member Schroeder >> here. >> Council member Grath here. >> Council member Bower here. Mayor Row >> here. Uh, and with us at the table, we have our city attorney, Rachel Tierney, who's on my right, uh, sort of around the corner, and city manager, Pat Trojan, who's on my left, sort of around the corner. Um, and we'll make introductions of other staff and guests as the meeting uh, proceeds. I would remind folks uh, in the audience, if you have a cell phone to be sure and silence it or otherwise, assure that it doesn't disrupt this evening's meeting. Uh we do have uh one set of all the meeting materials available for the public on the table in the back of the room. Uh that's uh for folks to share uh but it's got all the materials that we're considering this evening. So if you need to look something up, you can access it there. We do also have extra copies of the agenda uh which you can take uh for your own use personally. Um and uh that's a good way to know what's coming up on the agenda. With that, uh the first item on our agenda then is the pledge of allegiance. So, we'll ask folks to stand if you're able. Pledge algiance 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. >> Right. Then, next on the agenda is approval of tonight's agenda. Check as always with staff. Are there any changes that need to be made to the agenda this evening? >> Mr. Mayor, staff has no changes to the agenda. >> All right. Uh then next would be uh city council. Are there any uh council members who wish to make a change to the agenda or uh have an item removed from consent for separate consideration? Does not appear to be the case. We'll check also with the audience. Uh this would be your first opportunity to check your personal copy of your agenda. Uh we do have what we call section 10 or the consent agenda. uh sort of at the bottom of page one uh and it does not continue on to page two. Uh there's several items there that are taken up at the end of the meeting sort of as a matter of fairly administrative and hopefully non-controversial uh items. Uh but if you are here for one of those items in section 10, we do want to check with you at the beginning of the meeting because we can uh consider that item separately and earlier in the meeting if you uh wish to make a comment or ask a question uh so that we don't have to make you stay till the very end. So, we'll check. Is there anyone here for an item in section 10 of tonight's agenda called the consent agenda? Does not appear to be the case. All right. Uh then a motion to approve the agenda as presented would be in order. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Robin Schroer. Um seconded by James Strong. Discussion on that motion. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. That passes unanimously and we have our agenda for this evening. Next on the agenda is our first opportunity for public comment. Uh we will be providing opportunities generally for public comment during agenda discussions. Uh but we do always also provide an opportunity for general public comment at the beginning of each meeting. Uh this is a chance for people to speak on items that either relate to city business or are of interest to people in the community but not on this evening's agenda. Is there anyone here to speak for uh public general public comment? All right. feel free to come on up and have a seat at the table and we'll just go through the uh remind folks of the rules of the road for public comment and the first of those being uh to state your name and address or street for the record at the beginning of your comments, direct comments or questions to the council. Uh if we do have to do a follow-up or answer questions, uh it may require that we refer something to staff for for that follow-up. Uh and then there is a two a three-minute time limit per speaker and we do try to enforce that uh generously and gently at the same time. Uh, and with that, I'll recognize our first speaker. Welcome. >> My name is Greg Schrader. I live at 2646 Pilda Street. And so that I can make sure I stay within the three minute uh requirement, I'll just read my presentation to you and we should be on online even though I feel like I'm sitting on the floor. This is quite interesting. Uh the designers for the County Road C project keep talking about recommending the installation of a protected crossing east of County Road C and Matilda Street intersection is installing a sidewalk to it. It is not clear what benefit the city would see by construction of a protected crossing for Matilda Street as I have not seen that many people crossing County Road at the Matilda Street intersection. I am a retired and I sit in my front yard. I enjoy my cup of coffee quite often. and I sit there at different times of the day and at most I'm seeing maybe five or eight people crossing the road. Uh it's just on a daily basis. Um, however, my neighbor and I uh were included those numbers and uh as we no longer walk to the park anymore uh because of the mosquito population in the park. So, we're going in other directions. So, really the number of pedestrians that are really crossing County Road here see at Matilda Street is around three to six people. And that's not and that's not even on a daily basis. It it's even smaller than that. the disc golf people, tennis players, as well as the playground and basketball people park their vehicles on Golf Tier Street, not on Matilda. When the Acorn Park uh East Acorn Park parking lot is full, uh when uh baseball and football activities occur on the west side of the park, people park their vehicles on Fington. When the uh park uh west parking lot is full, now they don't park on Matilda Street. We don't see that traffic. We don't see the people parking on us. We have a nice little quiet spot. we kind of enjoy it. So why are we trying to solve Matilda Street problems uh that do not exist? A very simple solution that I believe will meet ADA requirements and provides a realistic benefit to the city and park users would be to realign the east acorn parking lot entrance to Gear Street and provide pad ramps through the curb on the south side of County Road C at the intersections and paint a crosswalk to them. The east parking lot uh entrance is not safe and should never have been built as it is. Installing a midb block crossing does not resolve the issues with this unsafe intersection. Basically, you're just what you're just doing is building a ped crossing pock crossing. It's not going to be used. People continue to cross as they are. Uh if the solution does not uh does not work, more complex crossings could be installed in the future. Finally, I'm asking the council as a representative of the neighborhood to approve the park entrance alignment and simple crossing concept to be installed instead of of more complex alternatives cuz the midblock crossing won't be used. That's the bottom line. You're never going to build something that's not going to be used. Why build it? That's my input. comments. >> You bet. You still want me to sign? >> We've got you as a repeat uh repeat speaker. So, we should >> maybe squeaky wheel might get some grease. >> It's really It's a city issue. It's no longer a part county issue. >> Do we have other members of the public to speak under the general public comment portion of our meeting? Does not appear to be the case. Uh we'll then proceed with our agenda. Uh the rest of our agenda then begins with uh section five which is recognitions and donations. And we have a couple items uh on that uh item this evening. One is a uh proclamation, the other is an award uh for the city. And so we'll first begin with the proclamation item 5A. Uh this is the 75th commemoration of Karen Martyr's Day. Uh and over the last few years in Roseville, we've had a proclamation for Ken Martyr's Day. We just happen to be sort of uh uh horning in, I guess, on that 75th anniversary because we certainly weren't doing it for 75 years. Uh but we uh have been doing, as I said, a proclamation for the last several years. So, uh the 75th commemoration proclamation reads as follows. Whereas the city of Roseville is committed to recognizing and honoring the contributions of all members of our communities. And whereas uh Karen are indigenous people of Southeast Asia uh in the countries of Thailand and Burma, which is now known as Myanmar. The Karen aided the British during World War II and many Karen were killed in the effort. And whereas on August 12th, 1950, the Krenn national leader Saugi uh the founder and president of the Kan National Union, Arknu was assassinated with eight of his colleagues um in uh the Karen state by the Burmese army. And whereas ever since then, August 12th is recognized as Karan National Martyrs Day. And whereas on martyr's day, Karen people all over the world commemorate and honor the fallen leaders, soldiers, and civilians that have lost their lives in the struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights for the Korean people. And whereas there are more than 20,000 Korean refugees who now call Minnesota home, making it the largest Korean community in the nation. And whereas a growing number of Korean refugees make their home in Roseville and the neighboring cities, now therefore be resolved. Steve Roseville hereby declares August 12th, 2025 to be Karen Martyr's day in the community. So >> second. >> It's been moved by council member Gra, second by council member Strong to approve that proclamation. Uh any discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. That passes unanimously. That proclamation is approved. And second, under recognitions and donations this evening, uh we uh have the opportunity to accept the gold leaf challenge award and we have Novak and our environmental uh specialist >> sustainability. We'll get it right. >> Thank you so much. So I'm going to introduce Kristen Mose. Uh she is the director of the Green Step Cities program at the state of Minnesota. Rosel has been part of the Green Step Cities program for a number of years now, over 10 years I believe. Um we've been step five for the last se several years, but the gold leaf program is a new program that was rolled out in the last few years by the state to try to re-engage cities who are at level five and looking to do additional items. So we were part of the pilot program that or we helped develop the program early on as it was becoming as it was forming and then we were part of the pilot program in 2023 and then we first participated in 2024. So I'll let you >> I don't want to step over all of your presentation. >> No, no worries at all. Um, good evening mayor and council members. I am pleased to present one of our first gold leaf challenge award to get it there um to to the city of Roseville. So yeah, just a little bit about the program. Um, thank you for participating in both the pilot and um our inaugural year of 2024. Um we are um kind of connected to the green cities program kind of more open um so we are happy to have cities participating in this program as well but also open to other community types. So we're kind of expanding our reach um and we're focusing the actions around climate action. So, what can local what can we do locally that can address both climate um gas emission reductions but also preparation um and resilience for communities in the face of climate change. Um the program um is focused on um recognizing actions as they take place. Um so you'll see a few here. the leaves that um Roseville has accomplished and then as they continue in further years your tree will grow and there is plenty of room for more leaves and actions. Um we'll go to the next slide. Thank you. So um Noel and City of Roseville reported four actions in 2024. Um the actions we have 44 total u kind of a menu. It's not really a checklist um but different actions to participate in and there are four categories um and you'll see the ones circled there are the ones that Roseville accomplished under climate planning and community connectedness and I can go to the next one. Um and these are specifically what were reported uh last year. So um CC1 uh is our combined green team. This is the one and only action that is required for participants to report on. Uh and Roseville is well ahead of the game here. Um having the Roseville Green Team and Public Works, Environment and Transportation Commission uh in place kind of serving as that um those entities to really um have these discussions and think about future actions and and preparedness. Um, and then we have the student internship action. Um, having hosted a Winona State University intern last year who helped with updating the green remodeling plan book uh, and reviewing the environmental environmentally preferable purchasing policy. you got that's why we shortand >> next step for that policy is finding a new name >> uh as well as outreach to the energy um for the energy action plan and bike plan um and assisting with the the green to go um outreach and sustainability newsletters as well. Um so a lot packed in there. >> Um and the next one is community visioning uh around the bike summit which included audits planning um networking with online um surveys and interactive maps for residents and then climate staff. So Noel herself is an action. So happy to have a coordinator hired. Um and you'll see all of those reflected on the leaves here. And as more actions are taken um this year and in future years, uh we will be sending you those additional leaves to help grow the tree. >> Will there be instructions for how to add the leaves? >> Just plop them in. So it's not Yeah. And the more you get Exactly. The more you get, the more fun it gets. >> Yeah. You like awards that we can play with. >> Yeah. >> Any questions from the council? >> Questions from the council or feedback? >> I think we're all grateful for all the efforts that we're doing on behalf of the community. Uh and so we're representing the community and that gratefulness as well. Uh and uh this is something that um you know we've we've been hearing from the residents of Roseville and I probably say this all the time but since our uh 2004 and five visioning program uh effort as well as even before that um and so this is something that's been on the minds of residents in in Roseville for a long time just as a general subject matter and I think we've had a lot of interest in every specific thing that we've been doing along the way. Um, and that just continues uh through today and through a lot of volunteer work that people do, participating on study groups or uh panels for uh the planning we're doing uh and all other aspects of sustainability in Roseville. So, we're we're grateful that we we have this recognition for it and we know that that's not going to be a situation where we rest on our laurels because we want to fill up our tree. >> Yes. Would you be willing to take a quick photo with you? >> Certainly do that. Why don't we do just a very short recess for a photo and we'll uh then resume. You want to take over moving it? I don't know. I I think you're fine. Yeah. Well, I already move a little bit off to the side. >> Chairs off to the side a little bit. Yeah, it was fun to see what you think. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thanks for being with us in the meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah, >> I'll be in tomorrow night to help get you there. Thank you. >> All right. Well, now that we've done all the fun parts of our agenda, now it's down to business. Uh, and our first item under business items this evening is to, uh, receive an update from the Tubman folk on their crisis intervent intervention services in Roseville. And I'll turn it over to city manager Trean to introduce this item. Thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor. Um, we'll have Jennifer Dickinson from Tubman come on up here. Just as way of background, as many of you if you know, Tubman is a nonprofit that provides services to persons um facing relationship violence and other trauma. They've worked closely with our police department and our prosecuting attorney for many years, I think decades. Um and the partnership are really fine services in in some really bad circumstances. Uh in the past, we had not funded them. They had some other forms of revenue over the years, but uh recently it's been a struggle to get some funding. um as um funding models change on the county level and elsewhere. So, as part of the 2025 budget, uh there was $20,000 included into the budget uh to provide uh funding for their continued operation here in Roseville, and we entered into a one-year contract. So, Miss Dickinson's here to talk a little bit about the last year's uh service um and what um they've experienced here in Roseville and certainly answer any questions and I think renew uh requests to uh for additional budget funding here in the 2026 budget. So, turn it over to Mrs. Dickinson. >> Thank you. Thanks so much. Um, Mayor Row, members of the council, thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to come and touch base with all of you and kind of let you know how things are going, updates uh around Tubman services and also with our partnership. Um, just uh thank you for that background um Pat in terms of really understanding how we got to this point and a little bit about Tubman. And I just wanted to um kind of give a refresher. I would say I was here a few years ago and and talked with the council. I think there might be a few new members since that time. So, I wanted to uh kind of give some background around our services, what that looks like, specifically around our legal services, the legal advocacy services that Roseville supports. Um answer any questions that you might have, and also talk about some agency updates as well as um you know, a specific Roseville client story, which I think is important to highlight because that's why we're here. That's why we do the work that we do. So, um, if you have any questions, um, as I go through my presentation, please let me know, um, or save it for the end, either or, and I'd be happy to do my best to answer them. So, um, Tubman Services. What is Tubman? Um, as Mr. Treen mentioned, um, Tubman is a organization that works with folks that are experiencing relationship violence, um, sex trafficking, uh, mental and chemical health challenges, and other forms of trauma. Um we have a number of services um which we're really lucky that we're able to provide uh a number of services in the community. Um I'm just going to touch briefly on some of them and then we're going to focus in on the legal services. Um so legal advocacy um that's what the city of Roosevelt uh specifically reports which involves both criminal and civil advocacy in in the court system. So that is working with um people that have experienced relationship violence. Typically those referrals come directly from Roseville Police Department to our intervention line to let us know when a domestic uh situation has happened within the city. Uh we then make that contact with the victim um to let them know kind of who we are, do some very immediate safety planning um talk about options, what what might be coming down the road, but just to make that initial connection and that can happen 24/7. We have a specific intervention line uh number for law enforcement to call anytime, day or night, to try to make that immediate contact with the victim because studies show the sooner that you're able to make contact, the better odds are that that survivor may continue to access services or continue to be involved in the process or at least understand where resources can be found. Um, we also do a lot of work around civil advocacy, which are protective orders, so orders for protection and harassment restraining orders. I'll get into more of that in a moment. Um, but we also have several attorney services and that has really made the difference. Um, not only just through the court system because, you know, protective orders and family law cases have become more and more complicated over the years. It used to be back when I started doing this work many many many years ago um nobody had an attorney and you came to court and you told your story and the referee or the judge made a decision about your protective order fairly quickly. But over the years, it's become quite complicated where um folks are, you know, it's an opportunity through an order for protection that you can ask for temporary custody, you can ask for temporary child support, you can ask for the firearms provision, you can ask for programming. And so we're seeing more and more of these orders being contested. We're seeing more of the opposing party having an attorney themselves. And so it's almost as if, you know, the folks that we're working with, if they don't have an attorney, they're at an disadvantage going into the courtroom and having to face that person who's abused them. Um during COVID, we had to figure out a way to do this work. Um just like everything else. And what we started doing with uh protective orders specifically was filing them remotely. So advocates, our legal advocates are able to work with survivors to draft the paperwork, which is very um timeconuming and pretty confusing sometimes. Um and then our attorney team will eile that order on the client's behalf so that they don't have to make an appointment, they don't have to travel downtown, find parking, get child care, all the things. It makes it a lot easier to access that service. So we've continued to do it that way. And as part of that, we have a number of volunteer attorneys who have agreed to take our order for protection cases for free. So what we've really tried to do is bring more attorneys on board, um connect folks with attorneys to be able to get legal advice, to get representation when at all possible, um to have that extra assistance through that process. Um, through Tubman, we also have a shelter um for folks of all genders um including male identified uh survivors, which is something that's unusual within the state of Minnesota. Um, our shelter is located in the city of Maplewood. Uh, we also have something called our safe journeys program, which is a program for youth ages 16 to 24 that are on their own, uh, maybe parenting as well. Uh it's a transitional housing program that we can work with youth up to two years including helping them find stable housing within the community after they leave uh our safe journeys program. Um as well as some scattered uh sites, some rapid rehousing sites within the community. Um we have a number of youth programs including our inspiring youth program which is a one-on-one mentorship program working with youth. Um, our Northstar Youth Outreach Center is located at Maplewood Mall, which is a drop-in center for youth to access um a computer. They can get advocacy there, uh, they can do laundry there, they can access food. Um, and that location has been able to expand hours with some additional funding in the last year or so. And so that's really made all the difference, too. And it's helpful that it's on the bus line. So, um, it's anybody can drop in at any time. Um and finally we have some clinical services including a number of different groups um uh trauma groups um actually groups for those behaving abusively as well. Um we have individual therapy and we also have a support group that's still being held virtually. So whenever somebody comes to us within the legal program, part of what we do is not just about the legal stuff, but also really trying to connect the family to a number of other resources. We're seeing folks are really dealing with a lot of complex issues, not only um the violence, but also mental health issues, sometimes chemical health challenges, financial issues, and so it's really about trying to serve the family more holistically. questions about any of that? I know that was kind of a quick overview. Okay, so as I mentioned, um, uh, how does Tubman support victim survivors of relationship violence? I mentioned our 247 designated intervention line number for law enforcement to call us, um, when a domestic abuse incident occurs in order to connect the victim survivor with an advocate right away. Um, as part of those services, we're able to do immediate safety planning and offer shelter if needed. Um, as far as the legal advocacy piece goes, we follow these cases from start to finish. So, it's not a oneanddone type conversation. It's we are there from the beginning all the way till the case resolves. Sometimes that could be a few weeks, often times it's a few months. Worst case scenario, it can be a few years depending on what's going on. Um, and so we really work to develop that relationship with the survivor as well because often times unfortunately it's not a one-time thing either. So it may take time for that person to really develop trust and understanding there are services out there to be willing to take that leap because it's a scary thing to do. And so developing that relationship and um continuing to be available for services is really important. So when we follow those uh cases through the court process, we're at every court appearance. Um we contact the survivor uh right away before court. Uh let's say it's an initial incident to let them know this is what the court process looks like and these are what your rights are as a victim in this case. Um we talk about something called a domestic abuse no contact order, which is something that the judge uh may issue in a criminal case. We talk about what kinds of things that they'd like to see come out of this case. We talk about other things that are going on within the family or other issues that they'd like to see addressed. And so that develops that relationship in terms of then following that case um at every stage of the court appearance. Uh we work very closely with um the prosecution team at Ericen Bellman and Quinn. Um, we've worked with them for over 30 years in terms of then relaying victim input to them, explaining where the victim's coming from, what they'd like to see happen. If the victim ever has to come to court, um, we help facilitate those meetings, provide, you know, do some safety planning on getting there into the courthouse, getting into this, you uh, separate area at Maplewood Court where folks can be, um, that's a locked area, that can be a safe place. um and then bring the prosecutor back to meet with them. Uh if the case goes to trial, we will support that person through the trial process and be there um every step of the way. If they decide that they want to uh write a victim impact statement at the time of sentencing, we would help with that process and then make sure that it gets to the right hands or that they have a opportunity to speak at sentencing and deliver that statement themselves. Um so a big part is making sure that their victim's rights are upheld in the court process um and providing that support. Um as of as along with um the prosecution team, we also work pretty closely with Roseville Police Department. Um they're really good about calling our 247 line. Um we were just out a few months ago doing some roll calls in person to kind of touch base. you know, there's a lot of new officers across departments everywhere. So, it's kind of nice to connect names to faces and and kind of answer questions and for them to get to know us a little better and for us to know them. Um, I know that Roseville has uh a mental health case worker now on staff as well. And so our Roseville advocate, we have a specific uh assigned advocate for the city of Roseville, um often works with the mental health case worker to do some cross referrals um and to connect folks when when that seems to be a good idea. Oops. Um and then our other legal advocacy services which are also um part of the same program. So, our same advocates that work in criminal court also are the advocates that draft um the orders for protection uh and work with clients throughout that process. Um I mentioned I talked about this process a little bit earlier so I won't go into that further but really it's about providing that wraparound support for the client as best we can. Um, our legal advocates also uh do a lot of safe at home um applications, which is a private where a survivor can ask for uh a PO box to be their mailing address versus their uh normal street address, especially if they're moving. Typically, it's works best when they're moving to someplace where the abusive party doesn't know. And so that way uh their mail will be sent through the Secretary of State's office and then forwarded to them so that they can keep their address confidential for safety reasons. Uh and in order to file for that program, you have to go through an application assistant, which many of our Tubman staff are certified application assistants to help with that process. Um we also help folks when they need to break their leases. So um that is a statute in Minnesota where you have an opportunity to get out of your lease if you are in fear due to domestic violence uh without facing an eviction which is really really important especially nowadays where it's difficult especially difficult to find housing and keep housing. So, if you have an unlawful detainer on your record, that can really be harmful for years to come in terms of being able to get a new place. >> Pause for questions. >> I'm just going to clarify. So, the advocacy service is not the same thing as the attorney service where you actually are provide an attorney for the person, right? this is the the person the advocacy is where you're supporting throughout the process but not representing the individual as their attorney. >> Right? So the funding for it's all part of the same program. It's all part of our legal fund or our legal program but the funding for the attorney services comes elsewhere. So >> just I just want to make sure folks understood that there is a delineation there >> right >> between who these people are and what they're doing for the individuals who are the victims. >> That's correct. Yeah. Um in terms of Roseville 2024 services, um we pulled those numbers and uh we had worked on 87 new criminal cases followed. Um we are focusing on intimate partner cases which um has been that way for the last 3 years or so due to various funding levels and having to reduce our uh staffing by one full-time person. We had a difficult very difficult decision to make and we decided to focus on intimate partner cases and serving those clients as fully as we can. Um in terms of the non-intimate partner cases, we still often get those referrals from the police department. We do a lot of initial safety planning with folks. We make sure that we are able to connect them to the city prosecutor's office and other resources within the community um to meet their needs. But that is a gap for sure that continues um in in the metro area. Um we worked on eight protective orders um and provided 14 attorney services including safety project which is um for orders for protection uh the representation on that and family law which is divorce related custody things of that nature. Uh we had 53 law enforcement calls to our intervention line. Uh and we developed 260 safety plans with an advocate. Um safety planning is often a fluid thing and so it's usually something that's done repeatedly over the course of working with somebody because those those safety plans can change. Um, other access Tubman services included our shelter services, safe at home, lease breaking, um, something called our freedom fund, which is a fund that we have to provide some financial assistance for the people that we serve. Um, often times when you need to, for example, break your lease and get into a new apartment, it's difficult to come up with first month's rent or a security deposit, uh, locks changes, uh, property damage, uh, things like that. So that's something that that fund is able to help support direct client assistance uh with the people we serve uh support groups and youth services. Overall we served 169 unique advocacy clients um and provided 793 services for a total or an average of five services per client. >> How many uh total protective orders do you estimate that you've done in 2024? In 2024, I believe we did right around uh between 60 and 70. Um we have three advocates on our team. So, um it's fairly small team um that do both criminal and civil advocacy. Um part of that is too uh in terms of the people that we serve in when there are criminal cases, a lot of times there's already a domestic abuse no contact order that comes out of the criminal case. So, it may be a situation where the person doesn't want to file an order for protection. They feel like the domestic abuse no contact order is enough at that point. Um, it may be a situation where they don't want to have the no contact piece at all that they want to they want to see this person get some help and they don't want them out of the home. The difference with the domestic abuse no contact order is that's something the judge controls versus the order for protection is something that the client has control over when it's issued or you know when they ask for it and when they ask for it to be dismissed they have more power over that piece. Any other questions? So what are some of the ongoing challenges? Um I think I mentioned earlier lengthy court processes. Um that's pretty typical where we see several continuences not only for criminal cases. Um which has kind of always been the case but with um protective orders we're seeing much lengthier time frames. It used to be within a month we'd be start to finish on an order for protection. Now sometimes it's going 3 4 months out where there's continued hearings where it may start at trial. We're seeing more evidentiary hearings where you have kind of a mini trial even on the protective order and both parties are represented and you are having to provide that ongoing advocacy. You have to really prepare the client to have to see this person repeatedly at court. Um doing the safety planning but you know there's a lot that goes into that for folks to stick with that process for sure. uh multiple complex needs of the client family that I mentioned um and just the need for additional resources. Uh the demand always outweighs the capacity. uh we've seen that for several years and so that's um a definite issue and what continues to be um not only an issue within state funding um you know I the I think I mentioned a couple years ago in terms of our office of justice program funding through the state which really um funds the majority of the Ramsey County legal advocacy program that funding had been stable for several years. Um the good news is we still get that funding but again it's still stable. So it's been stable now since 2018. It's been flat flat funding the same amount since that time but obviously expenses have went up considerably. Um just the cost to do business the cost for staff salaries just you know overall you know core mission support uh has definitely went up. So that piece is not keeping pace. Um, in addition, in terms of the federal landscape, in terms of federal funding, um, the last several months, we've spent quite a bit of time, um, contingency planning, um, because if some of that federal funding, um, if we lose some of that at some point, that would definitely impact a number of our services, um, specifically our attorney services, but also we'll feel the ripple effect throughout the agency. So, not knowing exactly how that's going to play out is also an issue. And then I just wanted to share a specific story just to kind of highlight how we work with uh folks. Um so this is an actual Roseville uh resident that we worked with. Her name isn't Lisa um in order to protect her confidentiality. Um, but Lisa had reached out to Tubman um, separately. So, not referred by law enforcement, but called into our resource line um, to get help for filing an order for protection against her aranged husband. Um, she worked closely with her legal advocate who helped draft the paperwork with Lisa and then have our attorney team file it on her behalf. Um, we sent out her case for possible representation through our safety project and actually two volunteer attorneys. um agreed to take the case together to work together to represent Lisa and she was able to get her order. Um ultimately that person violated her order for protection. So then there was a subsequent criminal case. She worked with that same advocate throughout that process. She was able to come to court, meet with the prosecutor, kind of be able to give input about what she'd like to see come out of the case and, you know, continue to get that support from her advocate. Um she and her advocate have continued to work on long-term safety planning um especially since there's been violations. That's been a pretty scary situation. Um and really working to connect Lisa with other resources including attorney services for her divorce. She wants to move forward with the divorce and um counseling services through our clinical department. Um just a little bit uh of Tubman news. Um so in the last few years we've spent a lot of time discussing our access points and how folks are able um to get to us and what does that look like and what happens once they do reach us. How do we get them to the right service quicker? How do we uh make sure that folks aren't having to tell their story over and over and getting transferred multiple times? Um, so we spend a lot of time really um trying to streamline access um limit our phone numbers um develop what we're calling our central access team which is really about putting uh more resources into our call line where folks come to us. Um typically that's always been strictly run by volunteers and interns which can be difficult to run any program um at that rate. Uh so we combined our resource advocacy and clinical intake programs to provide for some paid staff in that program and some shared a shared supervision model to keep bringing in new volunteers and interns but also having a study uh group of folks that are there consistently to provide that support and training and resources. Um, we've also expanded our resource line hours to 8:00 p.m. So 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through through Thursday and then 8 to 4 on Fridays. Um, because we know it's difficult for folks to make a call during the day. Sometimes people are at work, they can't make a call to really have a good conversation about something like this going on in their lives. So, uh, they might need to get their kids to school and they don't have time till they get home from work or later in the evening to have a conversation. So, um, even though we have our 247 crisis line, this is our resource line that can really talk a little bit, has more time to have those conversations and really delve into the situation. So, that's pretty new. We just started that in June and we're hoping to get the word out to for folks to know that we have uh, extended hours. And something that's very exciting um that's new that's coming to Tubman is uh our Harriet's Haven for pets. I just like showing this cute picture of the dog and the cat together which my dog and cat do not interact that way but um so this is a new program coming to Tubman to our shelter um where it will provide for shelter and care for up to eight dogs and eight cats for folks that are residing at our shelter. Um, this has long time been a dream. Um, the funding for Harriet's Haven is actually separate coming out of separate funding and and the community is really excited about this and so we've really seen the community step up and and want to see this happen. Um, and as an advocate for many many years, it that is a huge barrier for folks. Uh, you know, it's difficult to leave your pet if you don't have a place to take them. oftentimes uh their pet is also being abused by this person. Um and so we've seen that over and over where uh somebody doesn't access shelter services because they can't leave their pet or they don't feel safe leaving their pet. So having an opportunity to bring your pet with you um will be a game changer for a lot of people. And finally, um just some uh domestic violence statistics that um just reminds us of why this work is important and um you know that it does really impact our communities um within the state. Uh last year in 2024, 23 people in the state of Minnesota lost their lives due to domestic violence. Um, in addition, uh, there were two other deaths that involved suspected domestic violence. Um, but no one, I believe, was charged in those incidents or it wasn't officially proven, but uh, was suspected as being the cause of death. Um, 13 uh, people were killed by a current or former intimate partner and 10 people who lost their lives were bystanders or interveners of the violence. Uh and due to those homicides, 10 minor children are now left without a parent due to relationship violence. So um as we know, it's oftentimes uh either we know somebody that has, you know, been through this situation or have been through it ourselves. Um and so it's really important to encourage folks to reach out for help and um access resources whenever possible. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and the information. Uh I I think we all appreciate the update especially having uh you know funded uh this in our last budget decision-m uh and so seeing what some of the the impacts that you know we're having uh through that support is important to see and I think that's a part of of certainly why you were here uh uh this evening. I did want to see if there were any questions or feedback from council members uh for representative from Tman. >> Council member GR >> probably just more feedback. Um but but a question also since the services seem to be in Maplewood, how do residents from Roseville get there if they aren't using a car or something like that because we don't have the best connections with bus and public transit? >> Yep. We will provide transportation usually by lift. So we have lift accounts where we would uh absolutely if somebody needed transportation to shelter we would be able to provide that. We do that for court as well. So if uh somebody wants to come to court but they don't have transportation we would provide a lift ride there and back. >> I think other thing would be a comment on the pet situation. I think that's good uh to be thinking outside the box on that because that when a person is in that state and that position that might be the last thing they're hanging on to. So that would definitely affect their decision- making. So I think that was a a smart addition for you. Easiest thing to do but >> for sure and that that is a very scary piece of it. And I've had many conversations with folks over the years of I'm sorry I just can't go. I can't go. I'm not going to leave my dog or I'm not going to leave my cat. it is like my child or it is my support you know and um that is a huge barrier for folks. >> That's for sure. >> Thank you. Um I know in the information that we have it um mentions materials is a lot of it's from 2024 prior to your last time you were you were some of your uh colleagues were with us. Um would it be possible to get um a list of the city commitments from other cities that um ended up happening for 2025 and maybe anyone who is committed to um support for the 2026 year as we look ahead? Um well I can tell you right now actually um so in terms of other uh suburban city support um Mountains View uh has been a a wonderful supporter since 2022 I believe um and I believe they'll continue to be uh supporting in 2026. Falcon Heights was actually the first city uh to jump on board uh back in 2021 maybe or maybe it was 2022 and then 2023 for Mountains View, but Falcon Heights um has also provided continuous support. Uh Vadness Heights as well um has been for the last three years as well. um they recently reached out um asking about funding and and off, you know, asking what that would look like and what amount we were looking for. Um and so I'm hopeful that that will continue. Um we've had conversations with several other uh communities, uh Maplewood specifically. Um and New Brighton last year we had some ongoing conversations. um thought we had uh a decision on funding to support funding and then um there was some changes in their budget and then it ended up not going through. Um so we continue to have conversations with with all of the various cities. Um we've also had subsequent conversations with the county. Um the county has taken and we haven't met recently with I know they have some new members as well. Um the county has kind of taken the stance that they support Tuppen in other ways, which we're very grateful for as well, especially our Northstar Youth Outreach Center. Um they've provided quite a bit of funding for that. And so they it's our understanding that they're not looking to provide additional funding for legal advocacy specifically. >> Other comments, questions from council members. We had a brief conversation last week, but uh if there was to be funding as part of 2026 budget, would you be asking for $20,000 again this year? >> We would. Um and you know, costs continue to go up, but um my uh executive director and I had a conversation about this. We are very appreciative and grateful for the support that we've received from the cities. we continue to reach out to other cities. And so, um, based on this partnership, we appreciate Roseville really stepping up and and partnering with us and providing that support. And so, evaluating for next year, um, we would be happy uh, if you were to agree to support in the same amount as 2025. >> Other questions? We'll just provide an opportunity if anyone from the public wanted to speak on this item. It doesn't appear to be the case. Uh so we have that request and Mr. Trean is due to present his recommended budget at the end of this month here for us and so uh we'll work through the process there and we'll see where things go through that and certainly you'll be kept in the loop uh by staff. Uh but uh you know I think uh just from a personal point of view I think it seems to have been a a good investment on on the part of our community and so you're looking to see how we can figure out a way to make that continue. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you again for being here. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Uh then that brings us to our second item under business items this evening and that is uh to receive a presentation from New Tracks regarding a uh new or a revived Roseville area circulator bus service. I believe Mr. Mr. Tre, are you making introductions in this case again? >> Yes, I am. >> And thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor and Council. We have Scott Olsson with New Tracks here, uh, tonight to provide some information about, uh, the recent reincarnation of the circulator bus. Uh in the background of the case I talked about um uh in 2018 the city of Roseville helped authorize a pilot project uh to do some um transportation circulator bus in conjunction with the Roseville community health awareness uh awareness team or chat uh to provide this kind of weekly service at senior facilities to bring them to various places around the community especially around shopping groceries and public facilities like the library. Uh we did support that. Uh there were other uh funders as well. Uh Cub Foods in in Bloomston, which is a care center in St. Paul. Uh in the end, we had about 18 months of service in the city of Roseville. Um supplied about $8,300. U that service did end on September 30th, 2019. Um for for several reasons. One, um not sure we could continue funding that and also the wrership numbers. I'm glad to report u Mr. Joson's back and has it started up um a program uh for the last couple months I think it has been uh about the circulator bus and has expanded the area uh dramatically and it's made some good outreach to the senior facilities here. So want to give the opportunity to provide uh information uh to the council and the community about this new service here and talk about potential partnerships. With that, I'll turn over to Mr. Olsen. >> Thank you and thank you for having me tonight. Good to see you again, Mayor. Um, I think these are new faces that when I was back in here in 2019, um, you weren't here. So, >> new faces. >> Yeah. Uh, again, my name is Scott Olsen with a local nonprofit called New Tracks. We're out of White Bear Lake. We are also the Ramsey County Mobility Management Organization. So, I work very closely with Mindot and we also have ties in collaboration with Met Council for the different things that they do. We are not a public transportation organization. What got us our start 10 years actually in 2014, so 11 years ago, we were transporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We currently have a fleet of 60 smaller buses, buses that are very similar in size to a metromobility bus. We're transporting over 700 adults with intellectual developmental disabilities every day, getting them to and from their day program. So, I just mentioned that because that's our core business. In addition to that, I was brought aboard 10 years ago to start to try to supplement some different transportation opportunities that are out there that are maybe filling gaps where there wasn't some service available. uh public transportation doesn't go everywhere and even private transportation is a little bit more expensive uh for a lot of folks. So that said, it allowed me an opportunity to get out into the field. We represent all of Ramsey County and we're actually working within Washington County as well because as a nonprofit private organization, we don't find that there are those boundaries when we can get out and help. So that said, back in 2018, we had started our first loop, which is the White Bear Lake, Baptis Heights, and Wameidi Loop. It was a one day a week service. Basically intended to get seniors and adults with disabilities out into community, getting them out of isolation, having them do some errands, maybe get out and socialize by visiting a neighbor, a friend, uh, or maybe another relative. It was not intended to fit all the needs for medical appointments or dental appointments. However, if it was during a time frame that somebody could set their appointment within the constraints of that community and we could manage that without having to drive all over the place, we would gladly get somebody to that appointment. So, there's there's a couple caveats with that and it had to do with just an efficiency. So fast forward that got started and then we came and developed what's called a south Roseville loop. It was really pretty much in intended to serve the southern portion of Roseville south of Highway 36. And we used that as kind of a a test pilot in this area. And things were going well. I'll just call it well because from an operational standpoint it was working. We however were finding that the ridership was not continuing to grow. We probably at our highest day had 18 to 20 riders. So we kind of went back to the drawing board started to figure out what what it is that might be able to change in order for us to be better at what we do. And then dog on it 2020 comes with co and then everything shuts down. So fast forward uh we are now uh operating eight different circulator loops in and around the Ramsey County area. And what we've discovered at that time is to instead of just come to one municipality and look for that support, we're trying to combine municipalities. So this particular loop right now is named the Roseville Little Canada Loop, but we're also extending slightly into Falcon Heights. You know, we've gone down into St. poll a little bit because now we're looking to say what if we had more partnerships with less burden on the taxpayer dollar asking for that municipality support and I'm happy to report as we take a look at the map that's up here we went away from calling it a south loop or a north loop this is just the loop and it is serving as you can see those yellow ovals are all the various senior communities ities in and around the Little Canada and Roseville and Falcon Heights area. We are no longer doing it with two buses. We are doing this with five buses only on a Tuesday. And we're really making it so that each bus has got its own responsibility. In fact, Pat, maybe we could go to that second page >> because on our maps, this is what the public gets. It's got a schedule and it actually shows those five buses. And whereas before when we had the loop, the two buses each would circle to all of the buildings. And we found over time that to have just one pickup time in a given day was sufficient. And instead of continuing those buses to run and going back to building a two different times in the morning, we didn't have riders that were coming on that second goound. So, we've decided that by going with this system, each bus has got its own buildings and that is all that each of those buses do in a given day. If you can see up on bus one, you see that cell that's labeled destination drop off. Basically, that's saying we're stopping at those first three buildings and we're hedging a bet that the bus is going to be pretty full by the time we've stopped there. So, we will then drop those folks off where they wish to go and then start that second round picking up at those last two buildings. By the time those folks get dropped off where they want to go, that driver then goes back and picks up the first round of folks and gets them back home. There's no need for anyone to call us at these buildings. Those set times are when our bus will arrive. Folks just need to be down in the lobby and then once they board the bus, they tell us where they want to go. Our bus drivers have to get very creative because on any given Tuesday we have no idea how many people are riding or where they wish to go. We have really enjoyed kind of the second round look here because this goound we are actually getting financial commitments from some of the buildings. Now this is early on in our stage on this loop. We got started back in early April and those first three weeks we had five buses operating specifically just to do practice runs to get to know where to go, what buildings, you know, what's the clearance level at some of these buildings, what's the easy access, and then they got to know uh some of the different places that we would take people to. So those three weeks were non rider weeks, just driver training. We then got started the first part of May and purposefully had maybe a third of those buildings in operation for reasons of not having chaos take place and making certain that if we have a senior that's interested in going and their first experience is not as it should be, they're not coming back. and I've worked enough in the senior community to know that safety and comfortability is a is a huge piece of their daily lives. So doing that, we started with some low ridership those first weeks and I think do we have that other >> um >> Okay. Well, then I'll just verbalize here because we track it's in our package. It >> is. Okay. >> So, what I just wanted to point out is we took take a look at that yellow highlighted row that was just kind of showing how things were getting started with maybe up to a third of the buildings. It continued to grow, continued to grow, continued to grow. We ended up getting to that uh second, third or third and fourth week of July and and we had some awful weather on those Tuesdays. We had a lot of rain and we also had the bad air quality that was out there. We have a lot of seniors on those kind of situations that do not bother to come outside. Last week was better and uh two weeks or two weeks ago were better. So, we've actually built this up. Last week, we had 42 riders on this. Now, we have tracked, we've got nearly 75 different unique individual riders that are part of this program. They don't necessarily ride every week, but we are tracking these are the weekly numbers of those who do ride. We also track their donations which has been really significant compared to what it was 3 4 years ago because yours truly when I get to go out and present to these buildings we have a staff that goes out and we present everything that we do so people feel comfortable and we do a Q&A with that I make it very clear that certain programs aren't always sustainable without your help as a rider. Now, nobody will ever get denied a ride if they don't have a donation, but we do let them know that every little bit helps. And I present these numbers to any city council who is supporting us financially because I think it's important that this is knowledge that for taxpayers to see, riders are contributing. Now, we've got two different buildings so far and and my quest is just kind of beginning from an ask out there. Um, currently we have two grants that are in place. However, uh, there's a live well at home grant that got significantly reduced, not because of anything that we were doing. It's just on a federal level. You know, your speaker just before me was talking about funding that was maybe not as strong. It's just the lay of the land right now. So we are going out and realizing that if we can get support from municipalities that we work with, from some of the senior buildings that have a budget that we work with, from the riders that are contributing, some of the retailers that Pat had mentioned that we had in the past, we'd love to get some sponsorship from them. Currently, the total annual estimate for this service is about 50,000. We are hoping that my intent was to come and talk about what would 20% of that look like for the city. Pat and I talked and I realized that we kind of have to do some proving ground on this. This isn't something where uh you just come and and ask for this handout and say, you know, I really hope this is going to work. I've loved to build things where if you build it, they may come. That old adage. And I wanted to be able to come here today to talk about the success of it so far. Looking for another partnership opportunity, whatever that may look like, with reporting all along the way about how this is growing, uh how things are coming financially with the other partners from Little Canada to maybe Falcon Heights, the other buildings. Uh we've got a $2,400 commitment from Cardigan Ridge, which is a Little Canada senior community. We have a $2,400 commitment from the preserve of Roseville. And the 2400 isn't a magical number. It's just basically $50 a week, $200 a month. And because we're helping them with what goes on in in their day-to-day needs when a lot of these buildings either had a bus and no longer have a bus, uh, this helps to fill the gap. Now, one thing before COVID came, the cost of new buses was about $85,000. The last round of buses that we just purchased was $235,000. Significant increase in expenses. Um, and that's why we are going to continue to try to get support from various grants. I don't think grant monies are going to go away completely from what we do, but we just can't depend on them 100%. That's just not how grants are intended to go. Um, I think from that standpoint, the what we would like to do, if there's questions about what is going on right now, I'd be happy to answer those and let you know again that we have a continued mission that we are going to be following up with these buildings and presentations once a quarter because I now have some staff that are able to go out. They're actually some of our drivers who love working with the seniors. They're going to go out and present these programs on days that they're not driving. So, it's going to keep us in front of the communities that we serve. We have people who, excuse me, who move away from those buildings. We have people who pass away. So, it's an everchanging landscape working with seniors. And we want to make certain that we don't take it for granted that just because we presented once this is forever going to be an acceptable known service >> questions. Uh council >> um couple questions. One, how many people can actually be on a bus? >> Our bus, that's a great question. And our buses hold up to 14 riders. And we have systematically figured out that if we have any one bus that gets overloaded, we have radio communication amongst the other buses that could quickly come and pick up if there was that situation. We have already changed up this schedule twice because of where things have gone with increase. And so we've changed buildings to accommodate maybe one of the buses wasn't quite as busy and so we'll offload some of the other buses and we've just changed some routing here and we'll probably be doing it again to maintain our efficiency. >> And where um where are the majority of the people going? Are they going to like Rosedale or the drugstore or grocery store? Where typically what are the bigger spots? This is what I would call when we take a look at this map, the red, I call them the common denominator places where if you were polling 100 people, how many would go to Walmart? There's a large number that do Walmart, that do Cub, that do Aldi. Um, we're getting farmers market visits right now. We have folks that are going to other buildings to visit friends. Uh, we have other folks who are just going out to restaurants for coffee just to get out and about. Uh but there isn't anything that is not accessible. If somebody wanted to go to a special beauty salon, all they have to do is ask for it. >> I did have a question on uh when so when people get dropped off somewhere, is there a regular pickup time for the return trip or is it depend on how long they take to do their business or you didn't mention that as part of the presentation. So I was wondering if the people just stay there and >> No. And those are things that we learned from the past as well. Yeah. You know, we if we miss them, they'll be there next week. We'll get them home then. >> Uh no, it's typically once you get dropped off to where you're going, you have about an hour, hour to hour and five. And that way we can keep that efficiency strong and make certain that people are getting home when they want to get home. They're not sitting on a bus for hours. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Yeah, that's very strong. Um, well, I work in senior care and so, um, I know what a value it is to $50 a week for a facility by no means pays for a driver. Um, the assisted people who might I mean, some of the people might need assistance. I do know that the tenure and some of the assisted livingings can be really short though. Um, so maybe a senior care um, our senior high-rise might be a little bit more um, long-term sustenance, but it's still um, when people are in assisted living, they're still really probably eager to get out. It's once they get into the skilled nursing facility where they're not likely to be going somewhere. So, um, or once they head to a hospice, they're not usually they would have assisted. But I I mean I think it's great and I most of the ones that you've listed on here are for-profit agencies. So I do hope that they see the value as an organization. I do know that Link Bloomston is a nonprofit and I certainly certainly would uh hold that up as you talk to some of the for-profit agencies to mention that one of your early joiners as a partner is one of the nonprofits seeing the value of it. So, >> yes. >> Yeah, I think it's a wonderful asset and but I really think the price for what the facility gets for that um really needs to be um pushed. We had our bus was in a car I'm in northeast Minneapolis, but our our bus was um in a car accident and not been replaced yet. So, I know that it's just really hard to replace. So, I think >> it truly is. Yeah. >> Use of your um what you have as assets and I appreciate your work toward making it be productive and useful because the seniors are constantly asking for more of something and this seems like it fits a lot of the things that we're hearing. >> One of the last things I was going to mention, I apologize for not mentioning it earlier, we have figured out a really good way how we can also pick up folks living in their home on this process too. So we'll get their name, their address, we'll get them set up in the system. We know what bus they would be on. We can let them know when that bus has got more of an availability to come and get them picked up. That particular time is always their time and all they have to do is call me a day ahead of time, leave a message, we will pick them up the next day. No different than any other senior community that we're stopping at. So, it is our goal to get more and more people living in their home to use this service as well. Council member Grath. Um I think your business model is very interesting and I know I I was actually here with this last time. I think the >> I apologize for that. Yes, it has been a while. >> But um I just had a client work in real estate and I had a client make her decision on where she was moving to because of the bus going there. >> Really? Yeah. >> Because of a bus for that community or >> on Tuesday that she said it's the one on Tuesday. So I expect it's yours. >> I don't know. and it's in Roseville. So, I I was interesting to hear you talk about that because she made her decision on that basis. >> I'm amazed at all the calls that I get from people who may at one time who have lived in a senior community in Maplewood and was used to the loop there and now they've moved to Roseville or Converse, you know, and so they talk, >> they understand what's out there. >> Your business model is good. I was just doing the math and I mean I think if I counted correctly and then maybe there were duplicates but something like 26 different >> uh communities that that are served by the loops. >> Um and if they all did the same level of support you'd have your budget completely paid for. >> Uh if only half of them did or they did half the support you know you'd still have twothirds of your budget paid for by or 60%. So, so I think it's a good model to continue to pursue with, you know, with the with the communities, uh, the housing communities, uh, you know, and so we'll have to, you know, we'll we'll wish for that success and hope for that success and I know you'd be working for that success. And I think, you know, certainly looking at models where the communities, you know, provide maybe some foundational support or something like that may make sense, too. And and obviously we've got a lot of lot of push and pull in our budget every year, but this year being no different. So, we'll have to we'll have to have those conversations. But, um uh but certainly the the numbers, you know, are are promising. I think the the model seems to have been thought through very well and working more, you know, more effectively than what we what we saw the last time around. Um so, I think that, you know, uh it would it'd be interesting to continue those those conversations and see how we can we can, you know, potentially be a part of it without making any promises. >> Yeah, understood. I know that just you'd probably like to hear what the what the ask would be and I think when we were considering 20% of what we thought the budget would be would like to be bringing that down to at least start if we could to ask for 7,000 on an annual basis is what the ask would be and that is certainly up for your discussion and and decision making but wanted it to be at least a number that wasn't just floating out there. >> Sure. and and your primary source for funding for replacing buses and things like that is from your main business model of course, right? >> It is. And the buses, we get eight new buses a year and we're part of the 5310 federal grant program that covers we pay 20% of a new bus cost is what the buses cost new tracks. So even though we mentioned a $235,000 bus, it's still three times the amount of what it was exactly four years ago. So um but yes, it's it is through our main model that this comes from. >> Well, and I think you know just having been around for the the earlier round of discussions, I mean it makes sense that buses that do certain things certain times a day for your main model and otherwise would be sitting idle are able to serve the community in way. So I think we're all we're all rooting for the success. >> I remember that from the last conversation cuz you were talking about how you have the morning and then the a or late afternoon and then you have this time during the day where they're just >> Exactly. >> I thought it was a creative way to fill that time and >> we're doing a lot more uh faith community work on weekends too. So yeah >> 247 getting to be that. Yeah. >> And have we have you sought any support or um from the faith communities? Well, we do get support from them when we have a particular church uh that wishes to have service that's offered out there. They will come and contract with us for that. >> Uh it's contractual. >> Exactly. Yeah. >> There's just some churches in the area who have really strong senior programs that might also feel a commitment to supporting something like this or maybe bringing people to a maybe they'd be willing to program something on Tuesday knowing that people would have access to come to the facility. >> Yes. In fact, some of the YMCA's in the communities that we work are calling us to say, "Okay, what day of the week are you running your loop program?" >> Yes. >> Because they're wanting to take a look at how we can get seniors to some of their programs on those days. >> So, I thank you very much. >> Thank you for being back and bringing this update to us. We appreciate it. >> Thanks. less informed of your writership. Oh, it just acts as it skyrocket >> just just as a result of the presentation this evening with our dozens of viewers. >> Our fives of viewers, >> it's kind of interesting because just before I uh came here, I had a presentation at 3:00. There was 55 people that were in the building at Applewood Point Central Park. Here's 10 riders that said, "I'm going to start writing this." This is 10 new sheets that we didn't have last week. So, >> wow. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> We'll take >> I'll push it at I'll push that lane bloom. We'll see. >> Thanks again. Thanks. >> All right. That brings us then to our next business item uh this evening, item 7C, which is to consider appointments of youth commissioners to various commissions. Uh Mr. Trean, would you introduce this item? >> Yes. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh as you know, we have um an annual recruitment process for youth commissioners. uh in 2022 uh we did uh update the code about youth commissioners and did allow them to be um voting members if they u decided to do that and their parents signed off on that. Uh so this round we did receive two applicants uh for serving as youth commissioners. The first is uh Aldois Burquest on the finance commission who uh would like to join as a non- voting member. I would note this is the first finance uh commission youth member that we've had. We also received an application from Sophia Selenus Ree uh for the Equity and Inclusion Commission as a voting member. So, we're asking for your approval tonight to appoint uh Mr. Burke Burke Quest and Sel Miss Selenas Ree uh to uh the commissions that they've um asked for and we are just asking for a simple motion to do that. >> Thank you, Mr. Troy. Uh and thank you for the materials in the packet uh to get to know these young people as well. Uh, are there questions from the council on this item? >> Council member Ber, >> uh, am I correct that the what would be the process if they chose to become voting member? Would they have to wait to the end of their term or that be something that could be brought forth as a separate motion to this council or does it even have to be approved by the council? >> All the question all really good questions. Um I under the process, you know, they need to have this sign off of their parents, I suppose, if they were to get that at any point. Um they could become voting members. I'm not sure our policy really addressed that if it was mid midterm. Um and you know, if the council wanted uh a check on that, we can um bring that back if if that's requested just to confirm that or we can just let that happen administratively. >> Is there any objection to letting it happen? I just we want to make it clear that you know >> you know since it's new down to the commission after experiencing deciding that actually I do want to vote I want to make it clear that you're encouraged to do that and I don't think this council would have an issue with that >> right we want to discourage it certainly if somebody's interested >> I would make a motion to approve the two individual >> I'd second it >> it's been moved by council gra second by council sher to appoint those individuals to their commissions uh as they applied uh discussion on the motion council gra is the maker I thought I read through their uh information. I thought they'll both be great additions. I was excited to read the finance commission uh applicant. I thought what a good perspective and something really good to add to our our commission. So very supportive. All right. Uh discussion as the secondary council. >> I would echo exactly what uh council member Gra said. >> Other discussion on the motion. the finance. I would just note that the finance commission is really has some really wonderful talent on it now and um really turning into something. Excited to see what they produce. >> Not that it wasn't something before. >> Oops. >> Not the words I stated. >> He He wasn't here. >> It was the underlying >> the glory days. All right. With that, we've got the motion. If there's no further discussion on the appointment of those two individuals, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> Opposed. >> That passes unanimously and those folks are appointed. And they'll be there'll be an onboarding process to bring them to the commissions. All right. Uh speaking of commissions uh and ourselves. Uh Mr. Judge, our next item is to have a discussion, perhaps a preliminary discussion related to any rules changes we might want to do with respect to the legislator legislaturator's recent change to uh remote participation by council members and commissioners. Mr. Tre. >> Yes. Uh thank you. Uh as mentioned, I want to bring forward a discussion here about maybe directions we want to go with our policy. Um just as a way of background, previously um uh a public official could attend a virtual meeting um as long as um several things were in place um including having physical space here and making sure that um they could be heard and um and um they could listen to the meeting and roll call votes, but they had to advertise uh the public location they were in. So if they're in their home for instance, they would have to put that um out there on the agenda and that was really a limiting factor. Then a few years ago, the legislature did change that to say there was an exception if uh you have a medical reason um uh that you cannot be in public or serving in the military. Uh up to three times a year, you could do that without notifying uh of your private residence. So that kind of seemed to work for a little bit. Uh this last session though, the uh the legislature just took away all um of that um requirement away um and really providing for unlimited uh ability for public officials to meet remotely uh without disclosing their location as long as uh they can be seen and heard and they can participate and somebody's here physically at the public location of the meeting and there's a roll call all those things and still stay in place. So with that change, I thought it'd be interesting to bring forward a discussion to see what if anything we want to change with our uh rules of procedure. As you know, uh we uh say very generically it has to comply with the open meeting law which had that three meeting limit there and really tried to uh discourage other folks from doing it. Although there was a process to follow whether it was staff, consultants or public if there was some some special notice and I think it was felt at the time that that three meeting limit was probably appropriate. Given that there is really no limit on the amount of times a public official can participate. I thought it might be worth having a conversation and I don't have any proposal for you at this point. I think we need to have a conversation. But some of the things I did bring up um as maybe discussion points. Should the city limit the amount of times a council member or commission member participates in a meeting virtually? Do we want a situation where somebody's gone for six months um so some somewhere else in the country and participate in every meeting uh virtually? And should commission members be treated differently as relates to uh city council members? The reason I bring that up is they are volunteers and they often uh do struggle sometimes to be able to make a meeting for a variety of of reasons here and do we want to apply the same standards of whatever they become uh as um as um the city council members? Uh a question that came up uh should council members be allowed to meet in a closed executive session? Um I think the answer is yes, they can um under under state law, but is that something we want to uh allow for? uh what type of notice uh should be given to staff by a council member or commission member if they want to participate remotely while we have the technology does take a little bit on our end to uh set up. So an hour before the meeting probably isn't ideal a day before is great. Uh and then also uh should there be any as we're looking at the policy any changes to the virtual participation in meetings by staff consultants and the public. So I have included uh the actual full um rules of procedure in the in the packet also that rule seven is in the RCA and the specific wording. So just really turn it over to you for discussion and thoughts and you know my my thought is if there's some direction from tonight we can come back and u talk about the wording at a future meeting if we want to make any changes. It looks kind of wide open. So I'm sorry I couldn't come back with a firm proposal but I think it's important to have a discussion first before we try to narrow in on what we want to be saying or not saying. We'll open it up and provide for opportunity for council members to provide feedback. I think the only thing that came to my mind sort of immediately here was I don't think we want to be in a situation where we're encouraging um uh activities by people participating remotely that somehow skirt residency requirements. Um, you know, I know like under state law you have to basically be able to I mean there's residency requirements first of all, but then there's also that um if you're unable to serve as an elected official on a council for a 90-day period because of illness or other absence or refusal to attend, uh that can create a vacancy uh either temporary or otherwise. And so that 90-day time frame sort of is something that was in the back of my mind thinking about that. Um certainly I don't think we want a situation where people are somehow skirting residency requirements uh for serving either as a commissioner or as a council member. I believe we still have residency requirements for our commissioners as well. Um, and so that was just one thing that was in my thought process, but I didn't once again I didn't have specific thoughts about numbers of of times and and or time frames covered or anything like that. Um, you know, it seems to make some sense wherever possible to encourage people as the current policy does with respect to others that you notify the city manager if you can do business day in advance. I mean obviously if you have a an illness that comes on suddenly that's we all understand that >> you shouldn't come at all >> right you just shouldn't come in um you certainly want that ability but then again sometimes if you just shouldn't come in maybe you just shouldn't participate remotely either >> you know obviously each situation is different and we don't want to prejudge those but uh um once again I think it's something we need to maybe talk about and if people have had a chance to think about it since the >> item became on our agenda interested to hear from folks council member Um just thinking back to what it was like during co there's a huge difference to me meeting in person compared to meeting on Zoom. It's kind of clunky and cumbersome because you have to do the roll calls. It takes more time but also the interaction between people is changed that when you do that. So I would not want to see it increased. I think the current and I think the commissions and the council should be the same. I think when you start changing it up, it just gets confusing for everybody. Um, so those were my thoughts. I didn't think uh the city should limit the number of of times per year. Uh, I don't think any of us have had a huge problem with that so far. If there was a medical issue, I I guess there is a a way to address that. So, isn't that correct or did that change, too? >> Well, that so that's no longer any limit. So you can have any reason at all um to say I want to be remote because I don't want to drive across town for >> and I think prior notice to the to the staff is only reasonable. I mean unless there is an emergency and of course when that happens Pat gets to call it in the middle of the afternoon and has to deal with it. But but we've all made an effort to do that. I think it's good to have a policy in place but I don't feel like any of us have abused it. But down the road it'll be entirely different people here. So, it's good to have something discussed. So, those are my thoughts when I was reading through this. >> Other thoughts, Council Armstrong? >> Um, I was thinking of some of my staff who are dealing with protracted illnesses and trying to find a way that was discreet. Um, so not wanting to make it so much that everyone had to know why they weren't in person. So, to not just limit it. You can only do it if you have a medical issue or whatever. So, you know, if you're you have a really advanced stage of lung cancer or whatever, you don't the whole all of Roseville and neighboring areas don't need to know about that. So, um I I think keeping it somewhat general, we don't always know why someone needs to be away and it's not really everyone's business. Um I have a because of that and having a number of staff who have been really ill who their body is ill but their mind is as well. And so I don't want to make it so that people can't participate. I definitely think people, you know, they need to live in Roseville and they need to show up in Roseville. And what you get out of the meetings when you're in person is so much different than what you get out of it, even just watching it if you're not present. Um, it's very different for us and for the people who attend. So I would want it to be the exception rather than rule. But then when there is the exception, I'd want people to be able to utilize that. And so I don't know if they need to kind of discreetly tell the mayor and the city manager what's going on so that, you know, I want them to have an opportunity to be able to, you know, participate and and obviously if they're in the military, they've been excluded already. Um, but that would be really hard too because you would technically live two places for a really long period of time. Can you still represent the people in the fac in the location? So, I can see both ways, but I also want to make sure that we provide an opportunity for discretion. And when it comes to the closed meeting, I really I feel like because we're not on camera, how would we have someone be present in a closed meeting without Right. >> Like a laptop. >> Yeah. But they'd have to be You'd have to see their face still, though. >> Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So, they'd have to be um >> and they would have to see yours, >> right? >> Right. Okay. Yeah. And >> we do have conference rooms that are set up in the city for that. So, >> Okay. >> You can't do that. >> Yeah. And I mean, there are times when it comes up, you know, your dog ill and you want to be part of that conversation so you know what's happening or something important. You know, I there definitely been times when I didn't feel like I should come share whatever I've got, but I want to be part of the conversation and I so I appreciate the three or four times easily. Um, none of us have really taken advantage of it. I don't know. We can make a rule for this council knowing that maybe the next council whatever it is >> change they can change. Simple majority. >> 25 year olds have a different >> Yeah. opinion about in person versus uh online. >> Ber as someone that's had I don't know how many companies now that are all virtual. I think the last I mean previous one I think we had 5,000 people virtually. So you can make virtual work just fine. However, you need a lot of things in place and a culture and a lot of systems and other things to be able to do that to make it effectively. So, I echo what council member Crawford was saying, uh, that being here in person is critical, especially as a new city council member, I couldn't imagine being remote and being able and be effective. It's as difficult. It's difficult enough to have these conversations just given the format of how uh, city council business is done and the way you speak to and make do that remotely would be very difficult. So, I'm very much in favor of continuing it the way with, you know, maybe the exception for a medical situation. Um, and I agree that we should keep the same for city council commissioners. I don't see any reason to differentiate from that. I do think with uh the executive meeting being present is or a closed executive session be present is necessary. >> Coun. >> Yeah. And um I I remember I I did um go remotely once when I was ill and it was a bad experience the whole hybrid thing. It was like trying to get people's attention. I got my hand up. somebody calling me and then they you know then you have to yell out and then and then the other piece is I don't want people then who are deadly ill or sick feeling really obligated that they have to go remote now because you know oh now we have this tool that means I should I should definitely do it where if you're really sick and you need to take care of yourself it's okay to say I can't make the meeting then versus saying I'm on you know I'm very very ill and I'm still going to, you know, have my my laptop dragged into my, you know, my sick bed and try to call in. I I don't want people to feel that obligation either. So So that um but and I do think um meeting in person I I agree. I think it that it's a better dynamic with with the as someone in I do a lot of teams and Zoom meetings and all that all the time, you know, and it's interesting to see if you got everybody on it. It's one thing and you do get the dynamics are still off, but the hybrid meetings never seem to work. I've never most of those hybrid meetings tend to be clunky and the people that are remote it's it's it's it's very difficult. So I think I think it's a good tool to have when necessary but I think again eliminate do it when we it's when we it's necessary but not something that should be done you know just because I I don't feel like driving in kind of a thing. So >> I think that's where a quantity limit helps. >> Exactly. Exactly. >> Strong. >> Well, my whole first year was online >> completely. I started council. I had my uh swearing in by myself with Pat in this room. So, um I do know and I think what really the lack of trust. You just don't have those relationships with those people. And um you don't have any opportunity to build trust with anyone because you just don't know. You know, what did you mean by that? You know, >> just people on the screen. Screen. Yeah. >> Yeah. They're all just people on the screen. And we also have the problem with public. And so when you ask about public, I'm okay with um a speaker who might need to be remote in or I'm okay with um a staff person who maybe needs to remote in if they're working remotely. I think we really should talk a lot about whether or not we want public to be able to come in. >> Just to be clear, the legislature hasn't said anything about the public. This is really about >> Yeah, it was mentioned. Yeah, it was one of Pat's questions, but I do think we have to make sure that we look at it from the lens of equity and inclusion because that was a specific asked um from the DEI um H R I E C H E I C whatever letters and went over um asking for more access for people who maybe have young children who have you know we are all kind of you know we have opportunities as maybe you know dual parent households or grown children or we have other situations but we don't want to make it so that only people in a certain dynamic are able and you know a really nice thing would be if we had someone who was a renter or someone who had a different socioeconomic level who represented a different population of Roseville and so I don't want to make it yeah it works great for us and it works much better for me personally to be here person, but I don't want to make it so exclusive to fit only a certain group of people when it's been specifically asked of us to find ways to make it more accessible to other people. Um, and so I I just want to make sure we kind of do the call back and think about when they came forward and said, "How can we make it so more people who don't fit exactly the same mold can attend, not necessarily city council meetings, but commissioner meetings. We want to make sure, you know, we use that commissioner pretty much all of us start except for me started in a commission before we got onto this council. So if that's where we're building and growing the next set of people who sit in these chairs, we got to I think we just have to make sure we think about how different generations of people work and think and different people of different backgrounds might operate and we need to for us to adapt to them not just for them to adapt to us. >> Yeah. And I think building on a point I think you made mayor which is you know we could you know every year come back and change this policy as the council changes and dynamics changes so it's not set in stone. I also you know talking about the public since this is a change just for uh elected you know city council members and for commissions and not for the public. I feel it's important to kind of hold us at the same level as the public too which is required to come in here for public comment. Obviously, they can email in with their comments as well, but I would have I feel bad, you know, allowing us to be virtual, but making the public have to come in. We should be held to the same same uh level. >> Well, and you I think we as a result of certain public participation not too long ago. Uh we did pretty much eliminate the ability for members of the public to participate remotely. There may have been some ability to to reach out to Mr. judge and perhaps if there were certain circumstances circumstances or situations outside of the control of the individual, but they have to reach out uh to me a day before. >> So, we still provide that for members of the public. >> Um but but yeah, I mean that was that policy is still in effect and you were probably asking if we wanted to change it since we're talking about the subject matter. So, not saying we have not saying we have to interested in changing it. Council Bar Council. Counc >> actually just a small thing when you're talking about changing this policy on um rule three public comment C. I think there's a typo in there. >> That's impossible. >> Members of the public are always free and encouraged to reduce to writing. >> Yeah, I saw that one. >> Oh, that is that is actually what it's supposed to say. >> It's supposed to say reduce. >> Mhm. Reduce to writing. >> Yep. You take all your big words and you make them small. >> You take your testimony and you put it in writing. And reduced to writing is a term of art. It's probably some attorney term or something. >> I don't know. Well, I'm not buying it. >> I didn't write it anyway. >> That's been that way for years. >> I don't know. I mean, you can leave it, but I just it just was like what? So, so I I do think we do need to make a change to um our policy though, right? Because right now, currently, as I understand it, it just says state law mean law, which is right many times. I would be open to um having something come back to us that um continues with you know the way that we have it with maybe some accommodation for maybe a medical thing and limiting it still maintaining it to the three >> uh you know I don't even know if I'd mentioned a medical thing time the number of times that's easier yes >> and just personally I mean I might be willing to to increase it from three to maybe four um just thinking about, you know, sometimes it may make sense to be able to do that, but I don't know. That's that's up to the council. That was just a thought I had during this discussion. Mr. >> Just two little pieces of food for thought. Um, one is you may want to consider some language similar to the language about um, public participation remotely that would apply generally to commissions so that Pat could have the ability to allow a commissioner to attend remotely for similar circumstances. Um, now that the kind of lid is off the cap here on the open meeting law, um, you have to kind of think about accommodations too. And so um you wouldn't want to say but you can do more for medical reasons but you you know you just might want to allow that as a little grace in that area for >> without being specific about the reasons. >> Yes. >> Like we did for the public. >> Yeah. And the second thing is I just want to go back and revisit just because of some personal experience, professional experience actually I've had recently regarding executive sessions. Sometimes you need to schedule an executive session in three days >> and it's real nice to be able to have people who are on vacation and out of town at Tener Valley. Those are generally we want everybody in the room and so I would encourage you if you're going to impose a cap even on yourselves that you would exclude those just in case. >> And usually an executive session is held in conjunction with most of our regular meetings. I mean, unless it happened to be an emergency situation, >> unless you need one for the attorney client privilege or for some sort of an emergency that you need to deal with. >> Okay. >> Then you it just I I would just encourage you not to apply that limit. I doubt you'll find abuse in those areas >> for our consideration. >> I just thought I would >> offer up some No, >> I think those are very good points. The other thing I just want to maybe, you know, emphasize too is is some language in the policy that that indicates that this policy is not intended to be used to skirt residency requirements or something like that. I mean, obviously, if we limit it to three, it may not be an issue, but at the same time, you know, I just I I that's my biggest concern with this is that, you know, potentially people are going to be abusing that requirement somehow through this process. But maybe it's not if we limit it to the number of times, maybe it's not as critical. I just I just want to make sure that we're we're sort of intentional in how we express this. And >> you mean so like somebody goes to Florida for 6 months out of the year, they can't be >> 5.9 months. Yeah. Well, or more than 90 days actually. You know, I mean, >> I don't know what the actual residency requirement is besides what it says about inability to serve or unwillingness to serve. been a source of some debate in my office lately and and in it's complicated. >> Well, when you when you say it's complicated that we know it's complicated. >> So, >> or it depends. Either either answer. >> It depends is a good one. >> Council. >> So, are you suggesting three times per year? Three times in a row. Three times in what? >> Right. It has been three times per year is what under the state law. It wasn't specific to being in a row or anything like that. I I guess I I'd want to have like maybe some type of open-ended or at the discretion like >> Well, I think that's what the accommodation is about. >> There's an accommodation that's needed. >> Yep. Yep. >> Yeah. >> Well, and the the challenge too is I mean when when many years ago when I was first on the council, we had council member um oh my gosh, why am I blanking on it? This is embarrassing. Council member Q who was unfortunately suffering from very serious cancer and was you know attempting to try to come to council meetings and really needed to be focusing on his health at that time and I think having the I think there were there were talks about how to try to accommodate remote participation from his hospital room and you know I mean we appreciate people's enthusiasm and willingness to serve the public in that way but there has to be a point where people aren't sacrificing their own health to participate in meetings which I think is what your point was council member Um, so that's that's where providing an accommodation without being specific about it's medical or it's this or it's that or how much of an accommodation >> can help us deal with some of those situations that might come up while still having a policy. >> Well, just like in HR too, if you ask too many questions, you have more information than you should have. >> Yeah, of course. So then you then you know more than you really should know and then you're like >> and of course there's there's what of that discussion is a private discussion with the city manager as opposed to public information that's available to the public either. So we we work through those things of course and we have able guidance to help with that process. So I'm hearing to work on some language with a limit of three as a starting point uh with really no restrictions regarding medical but just three times a year. keep commissions and council the same. We'll >> take a look at special accommodations, some language um on there, but really keep that second part um >> uh of the policy the same with executive sessions being >> Oh, we should we should mention the executive session. Yeah. >> Executive sessions. >> Executive sessions. Yeah. >> All right. >> So, we'll work on that language and bring it back and um >> Sounds good >> for potential adoption. All right. Thank you. And maybe while you're at it, you can look at some alternative wording. >> Reduce that in writing to me. So I >> I will reduce that in writing right after this meeting. >> I'm actually just going to lower the font. >> Do this now in eight points. >> Shall we move on? >> We shall. >> All right. That then brings us to our final uh business item this evening, item 7E, which is to consider making a change to the uh 2025 city council calendar as it relates to our budget consideration. Mr. Tragy. >> Yes. Uh as outlined in the uh report uh the um first time we're able to have a public hearing on our budget um is November 25th >> under state law. >> Under state law. Um we currently have a meeting scheduled for November 24th which under state law you cannot hold the public hearing. Um typically in the past what we've done is that last meeting in November we have the public hearing come back typically the following week uh at our last meeting of the year and adopt the budget giving a time to hear some comment and have a week to consider that and move forward. Since we cannot uh actually hold the public hearing on the 24th, doesn't mean we don't need we can still meet on other business. Of course, uh there's some options that we should perhaps consider. One, and not saying they're all good options, but one option is to move the entire meeting to uh that Tuesday, November 25th. We would technically comply with the law. PET has a meeting that night, so we'd have to move them. If you recall last year, we held it on November 25th, and a lot of folks had just gotten their statements. um and >> people are upset about that >> and rightly so. Everybody had gotten >> so we'd be right against that that timeline. >> That's not a good idea. >> The um other meeting we have after November 24th, which would be our last meeting as it's currently scheduled, is December 1st. Another option would be to hold that public hearing on December 1st and also consider the final budget at the the December 1st meeting and wrap things up for the year. Another alternative is to move the public hearing to December 1st for the budget hearing and schedule an additional council meeting on December 8th giving that week uh timeline again primarily um we can do other business of course but primarily at the December 8th meeting would be um final approval of the budget. O adding an additional meeting in December. So I bring those forward for conversation and direction on what the council would like to do and perhaps there's some other alternatives that did not think about but turn it over to council for discussion and direction. >> Thank you Mr. Trean. Thoughts from the council I guess I was hearing rumblings about uh not just doing it all on 25th or not moving it to the 25th >> because of the the timing issue with the the notices to the or the tax statements to the public? >> Absolutely. Other thoughts as to the idea of maybe doing it all on the first. Um I was thinking about that if we did it all on the first. Um that wouldn't preclude us from from having it the adopting it on the first, we could also table it there on that day too if necessary and put it to the ETH. So making it >> have to then schedule the ETH. >> You would have to schedule. So we special meet. >> Wayne goes on vacation. >> Maybe not this year. Um, >> I am optimistic that >> I think we could get it done >> on the first, but I am, you know, depending what we get back from feedback from residents. I don't want to >> just put it out there as if >> you can come and speak, but we're going to decide that day no matter what you >> what you say. >> It's good to have a plan. I think it's probably worth noting too that historically while we have often I mean we have very long time tradition of hearing one day decision the following meeting or a following meeting um I will say that there prior to a number of years ago there was more of a tradition of having more than one council meeting in December >> uh for the Roseville City Council. I I wasn't on the council at that time. That's how far back it is really. But but so because I do remember going to a budget meeting in the middle of the month. >> Uh that was their final meeting of the year. So, >> you know, I don't know personally that adding a meeting on the ETH is is terrible. Uh but I'm obviously I'm open to whatever the council rest of the council thinks is appropriate. Council member Sher. Um, you know, I actually I'd be okay with adding a meeting on the ETH as well because um it's kind of what I was thinking with um Council Member Bowers talking about the people come in on the first and say something and and then if we don't listen it just seems like we the optics can be bad at that point and at least if you if they come in on the first and then other people have time to to um feed you know feedback on it too. So I'm I'm okay with adding the ETH from that standpoint. >> Council Strong, >> if we were adding the ETH, then would we remove the 24th and only have one meeting in November? >> Not what was being >> I would I would not >> That was not the suggestion. Okay. >> Yeah, I think we still need two in November. >> Other thoughts from council? I sort of think that council member Bower's suggestion of just planning to do it the same day, but if it was, you know, if this room is full and we have a bunch of people bringing in information and we're going until 9 or 10 at night and we haven't done it, then schedule a meeting for the 8th uh to do the final review and because we have to have it done in December obviously. So, >> and we've got till the 31st. So, yeah, we do schedule a number of >> we could have one on the eth and one on the 16th or whatever. However, um >> we could do it on the second. >> We plan it for the ETH and only use it if we needed to to continue the budget. I just feel like it's better to >> have it on the calendar. Well, >> to have it on the calendar. And honestly, I think that as I think back to some of our previous council decision-m when prior to when many of you were on the council, there were a couple of years where we made some decisions at the last meeting >> there were >> where it might have been nice to have an additional week to have staff research something or answer a question or provide some additional information that could be helpful for the decision. And and maybe we should just have give ourselves that as something that's built into the system. um sort of the safety valve if you will. >> That that'd be my preference as I said >> and I aired and I already had it on my calendar. >> Oh wow. >> Well, there you go. >> Did you have any others? >> No. No. >> Okay, good. So, if we do want to amend the calendar, we should have a motion and then we can take official action on that tonight. Schedule for December 8th. Or if you want to, >> we can take action on it anytime between now and the 24th. >> Yeah. >> I would make a motion. I would make an a motion. So I believe it would be to remove the truth and taxation to December 1st and add an additional meeting to only be used if needed to continue the conversation on December 8th. >> I would second that motion if you just change it to add the meeting on the 8th. >> Okay, perfect. >> Motion easy. >> So okay, we'll add the >> So we'll add both the Well, we'll add the ETH as the the action meeting. The hearing is on the first then >> discussion on that motion is the maker of the motion. Council member strong. Any other discussion on the motion? No. Hearing no further discussion. Uh this motion is once again to have the truth and taxation hearing or whatever we call that these days on the 1st of December and we will add a meeting on the 8th of December primarily for the purpose of the budget decision. Uh there's no further discussion. All those in favor of that motion signify by saying I. All right, just giving ourselves more work. >> I'm going to add that to my calendar right now. >> Right. Yes. Yes, that's a good idea. >> All right. Uh, next on our agenda this evening, we have consideration of several sets of minutes uh from June uh or excuse me, from July. >> Sorry about that. Um, we have a July 14th EDA meeting. We have a July 14th council meeting. And we have July 21st council meeting. Um there any changes or corrections that >> I'd like to make a correction to bring this up >> like to make a correction to the EDA meeting of um July 14th on line 50. It indicates ma'am member Strong voice concerns regarding fire safety. um feel better reflex instead of voiced concerns regarding fire safety to say ask for clarification about a prior SA fire safety consideration. >> Say that again. Ask for >> ask for clarification about a prior fire safety consideration and then four and then just the utilization of just sounds like I'm opposed to this thing and I'm not. It's more that I wanted to confirm previous since I'm not currently able to open up the minutes like I thought I would be able to. Okay, there we go. That was on line 15. Okay. >> Other changes, corrections uh to any of the minutes under consideration this evening? >> Motion to approve all It's provided to >> second. >> It's been moved by council member Strong, second by council gra to approve all the minutes with the change. >> Yeah, as council strong on the 14th EDA minutes >> and with the amendment for the changes that are in the packet >> with the changes in course. Yes, >> that goes. All right, with that we've got the motion before us to approve those minutes with the amendment to the July 14th EDA minutes as outlined by council member Stron. Uh discussion on that motion hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. >> That passes unanimously. Those minutes are approved. That brings us to our consent agenda. Uh no items were removed from the consent agenda this evening. Mr. Treon, would you give us a brief description of the items on the consent agenda? >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 10 A approves payments in the amount of $1,414,782.93. Agenda item 10 B approves a temporary gambling permit for St. Rose of Lima for a raffle to be held on September 14th. A temporary liquor license for St. Rose of Lima Church for an event on September 20th. A temporary liquor license for the Friends of Roseville Parks for the Tapton and Cork event on September 19th. Item 10 C approves the purchase of a mower for Cedar Home Golf Course replacing a 17-year-old mower. Agenda item 10D receives the grant applications update. To date, the city has received uh over $2 million in grant funds. Agenda item 10E receives a second quarter financial report. Item 10F approves entering into uh the conservation partners legacy grant program agreement with Minnesota DNR to receive $500,000 in grant funds to assist the city in the implementation of our natural resources management plan. Agenda item 10G approves an amendment to the facility management agreement with MGAF to extend their services with the city uh for another 5 months until the end of 2026. Item 10H approves an agreement with the Reach for Resources to provide inclusion services for users of the city's park and recreation programs. Reach for Resources has provided these services to the city for the past couple years. And then the last item is agenda item 10. Uh authorizes the submitt of a grant application to the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs for the Intensive Comprehensive Peace Officer Education Training Program or IC Poet. Under the program, law enforcement agencies can receive up to $50,000 to cover the costs of a law enforcement's uh candidate schooling and salary costs. As you may uh recall, the city has successfully received three ICO grants in the past. So, we're looking for additional funding. My understanding that the state funding is severely limited, so it's probably not very likely it's going to go too far, but we're want to apply in any case. And that is the consent agenda. >> All right. Thank you. Is there a motion on the consent agenda? >> So moved. It's moved by Council Member Sher. Second by council member McGrath. Discussion on the motion. Council member Strong. >> I just had a question or not more of a comment about the um reach for resources. I'm not sure when that started and you said several years. So I'm not >> the third year. Yeah. >> Third year. I don't know. Is there a plan at some point to go out for additional um proposals, requests for proposals at some point? I It sounds like they're doing a great job, but it's always great to hear what else is out in the marketplace. >> Good question. I'll check with Mr. Johnson. I think these are just annual contracts, but uh we we I think we do out in the market, but I think it's probably pretty limited. But let me get some follow up on >> Yeah. And I think we're fine for this year, but I think moving forward it'd be good to rest on our laurels and keep looking. So, thanks. >> Any additional discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. >> That passes unanimously. Those items are approved. Uh next we have the future agenda review. Mr. Trojan as the future agenda. >> So, uh, August 20th is commission interviews. You saw Miss Olsen's email last week. We did receive two applicants. I don't know if that was u the work on the council or not, but um, uh, by Friday. So, we have uh, one vacancies. So, we have at this point uh, two candidates for the vacant position. So, we are uh, planning for the interviews. Uh, I think that's next Wednesday, remembering right? Uh, just for two interviews potentially. So, pretty quick evening. So, uh, look for that packet to come later this week. On the 25th, uh, will be a pretty big meeting for lots of reasons. Uh, we'll be receiving my recommended budget and levy. U, so I'll present that. Also want to talk about electric and gas franchise fees. Um, you'll see soon enough that's integral to my budget as well. But I wanted to talk about the foundational things we need to do to do that and kind of what we're looking at for potential revenue and the charges and really moreformational at this point. Not looking for you to adopt anything at at this point, but want to get that in front of you. Uh, we also want to discuss uh the civil and prosecuting legal services contract. So speaking of for proposals every 3 years we uh policy directs us to go out unless directed otherwise by the city council. We've had Miss Tney uh and her firm for u three years at the end of u this this calendar year. So uh we uh will be asking if the council wants to uh extend that contract for another three years as well as with EBPQ. Um that's certainly up to your discretion. We can still go out for RFPs but we'll bring forward that case. Uh Mr. Fryhammer wants to talk about storm water pond update. Just talk about some upcoming projects um that are going to be coming forward here. Also bring back the street light policy update. I think we wanted to have um some some exceptions there. Um point the commissioner to PET. Uh and then uh this is um the last item since something I've been trying to get to all summer just haven't is the beekeeping regulations. If you remember a resident came forward and just wanted to have initial conversation at the very least and start talking about that. And then you see the other meetings September and October and November. And we'll add two more in December or one more in December. Go up two in December. >> Counc um uh just following up on the Comcast extension. Um >> did we get that? >> Oh yes. I'm sorry. That's going to be on the 25th as well. Yeah. I was waiting for some official docu confirmation from Mr. Bradley. So we got that. So that'd be on the 25th as well. >> Consent item. I think I was planning on putting on a consent and and the good news is that we've been able to um extend the franchise which is going to go to 27 if I remember right 27 28 for another five years. So um Mayor Row has been involved in a lot of those discussions for years and they're usually pretty contentious. So it's pretty great that we've been able to get that >> although I'm not on the commission. >> Good job. Our summer meeting was cancelled. >> So low contention. >> That's all I have questions. >> All right. Are there any council member initiated items for future meetings? Any council announcements or >> leazison reports? >> Rice Larpentur event. >> Rice Larpenter Alliance uh summer block party on Saturday the 16th from 11 to 3 or something along those lines. Uh at the corner of Rice and Larpenter. Obviously uh that event is usually on the St. Paul side. So, uh, look for that in the parking lot on the south side. And lots of, uh, good food and good fellowship and good music from the, uh, folks at West Blues Saloon. They usually provide the bands. So, oftentimes we have dancers from the local Karen group as well. So, it's just a a tremendous event and it's always great weather. Um, >> it has been actually. >> So, looking forward to that and hope members of the public can attend. With that, if there's no further business before the council, the only other item agend second by council member Sharter to adjourn. Uh, no discussion on the motion to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. That passes unanimously. We're journ at 8:02 p.m. Thanks everyone.