Right. I hereby call to order the special council meeting on uh Wednesday, August 20th for purpose of interviewing candidates for in this case the public works environment and transportation commission. Uh the roll call is that all council members are present. Uh and we also have our chair of the public works environment and transportation commission, Brian Fec, and he is here to help with the interview process with these two candidates. Uh we have our first candidate with us uh Katie and uh we'll uh explain the process and then we'll dive right in if you're ready to go. >> Yep. Go for it. >> All right. Well, we have a series of questions which I think you've had a chance to know what they are ahead of time and we'll go through those and we'll kind of rotate that around. Uh well, I guess we have two candidates to interview so it'll be a small rotation, but we get a chance for everybody to ask a question. Sure. Uh and then uh if there's anything after that that you want to especially highlight about your uh qualifications or uh how what you bring to the commission, we'll have a chance for that or if you have any questions for us as well. >> Okay, sounds good. >> All right. Well, with that then uh why don't we go ahead and start the questions with Council Member Schroeder. >> Well, um thank you for coming in >> and um looking forward to hearing your answers. And I'm going to start with how do your experiences and skills relate to serving on a city uh commission? >> Yeah. Well, hi everyone. I'm Katie Broapal. So, I kind of do a little formal introduction. Um, we officially moved to Roseville last year uh and bought a house and I'm a third generation Roseville resident in my family. Um, I my skills that I bring forward to this role and this team really have to do with the the skills I've built up in my career in cross functional collaboration. So I work in marketing strategy at Eagle Lab in St. Paul and I've actually celebrated my 10 year anniversary there next week. So, I've been there for quite a few years and had a couple of career changes there actually and used to work in human resources. Um, now work in marketing and in my role of bringing products to life or developing a sales strategy that's external facing, right? We're we're trying to sell. Um, you have to be very aware of what's happening around you and how the actions that you're taking will impact other people. Um, and get their feedback along the way. Right? doing something that provides a service, a product, anything for someone else that they're not excited about or wanting is going to be really hard, right? So, getting the feedback, working across really diverse teams that have very different perspectives uh at times um is something that I think would be really helpful in this specific commission. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, council member Strong. >> Sure. Can you explain your understanding of the scope or duty of this particular um commission that you've applied for? >> Yeah. Um so my understanding right as someone who hasn't been on the commission before but I have reviewed the minutes from past meetings and just trying to understand a little bit about the work is very hands-on, very collaborative, looking out for the best interests of the residents of Roseville. Um, and coming down to the environment, transportation, safety, how we're all working together, right? Um, the I saw the recycling carts that I, you know, received and didn't my old one did not get picked up for a while. Um, those are things, right, that like they affect the everyday lives of the residents. And, um, I see the commission and, you know, my role, hopeful role on the commission really being a vessel to get those things done that are the best interest of of the residents of the city. Um, I obviously have more questions. I'm curious about some of the day-to-day, I guess, actions that the commission takes or how engaged they are together, what that meeting format looks like. I I heard something out in the hallway about sometimes going on field trips to different places to better understand what's what's happening in the city. But, um, yeah, I understand it's very integrated and at times can be uh pro probably divisive with the community, right? People have feedback and not everyone has the same opinion. >> Great. Thank you. All right, Council Member P. >> Uh, thank you. Thank you for being here tonight as well. Uh, what motivates you to be part of this volunteer commission? >> Yeah. So, like I mentioned, we moved to Roseville last year, but I grew up going to everything in Roseville. My daycare as a child was on Hamlin Avenue. Like, it this is where I've spent the majority of my life and what where I call home for the last 30 plus years. Um, when we moved in last year, the area that we live in is just off of Snelling, on the other side of Snowelling from Pizza Luche. And I love the community that we live in. We're in a single family home, but down the street are town houses and across the street is senior residences. And then down the street from that are a smattering of apartment buildings. And we have such a mixed diverse community of individuals. And you see it in the park, right? I mean, people that are from all different walks of life. Senior citizens walking their dogs. We have new kids that are playing in the playground all the time. But one thing that has kind of startled me at times is the the lack of pedestrian access ways that I've seen for especially those trying to cross Snelling Avenue from the apartment complexes to go to their places of work. And you you can tell it is because they're wearing their work uniforms, right? Like I I see it and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, something really catastrophic could happen very easily because of this." And where I work at Equal, safety is like our number one priority. And so I I'm always a little triggered, but I can't really complain about something unless I'm willing to do something about it. And so that's what's motivated me when I saw this come up. I was like, okay, this is an opportunity for me to get involved and take some action on the that might not necessarily benefit me, but benefit the community that I live in and some of the problems that I see. >> Council member Grant, thanks for being here. Yeah, >> this is the easy question we have to ask. >> What do you love most about living in Roseville? >> Yeah. Well, honestly, I think part of my answer I already kind of gave away the the answer, but like I love the diversity. It's really important to me um when we were looking for the community that we wanted to actually purchase a home in after, you know, decades of renting in various communities. I've lived in Chicago, I've lived in Omaha, I've lived in Minneapolis, I've lived in St. Paul, right? like I all kind of all over. Um, and I really appreciate the city, the close-knit city feel of Roseville. Um, but simultaneously making it accessible to everyone. You don't have to be someone that can afford a $400,000 plus house to live in this neighborhood. There's apartments down the street from me that are well-maintained, um, easily to easy to get into. But I also I think with that love the mixed use of the property that we have, right? Great parks, retail's right there. There's housing right it so accessible. Um so that's something that's really important to me and why we chose to buy here to be honest. Thank you. >> And to carry on the legacy important. I couldn't I couldn't be the one to like drop it. >> Chair. >> All right. Uh so yes, I am the chair of the commission. So, you know, if there's other questions, we can get into those later. We're still going to push the fun moniker. This is the fun commission. We do take field trips and those things, but uh my question is not the fun stuff. There are times where we get into more, I'll call it vigorous discussions with opposing opinions and strong feelings from the public. Um and so the question is how would you expect to deal uh in those situations? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I can tell you that I've already been in this scenario before. So, um I previously owned a condo in downtown St. Paul and I was uh I volunteered to be on a task force to help transform a parcel of property that was donated to the city of St. Paul that was intended for a use of to be a park. And that was in the early 2000s. And the park is scheduled to finally open around Labor Day this year. So, this was in 2021 into 2022. Um, there was a lot of leg work done at the ground level, the grassroots level to make sure that what we're doing reflects the wants and needs of the residents, including like doing community surveys, right? I lived in a condo and so I made myself available to the other residents of the condo building. um doing surveys, doing interviews, going to public facing meetings, hearing the pros and the cons and people's fears, you know, about if we make more green space where we have more problems with homeless individuals or unhoused individuals coming over from a light rail stop cuz postco it was just a really big problem in downtown St. Paul. Um, and so I in those moments when it's just I mean people are very strongly opinionated. We're not afraid to tell you how they feel because it's their home too. Um, you know I you don't take it personally. You listen. You try to make you try to meet somewhere in the middle to make sure that we're finding something that makes sense for everyone. But always thinking about the broader population as a whole, right? Like you can't make decisions based on one or two people. It has to be something that's going to benefit the city, especially when there's such a large I mean that was a multi-million dollar investment. It has to be something that we're planning for the future, not just what's in front of us today. So, um I guess really kind of like to can it up like not taking it personally, understanding that it's a part of the role and like that's just part of being public facing. Um and that's something I'm comfortable with in my role in my like day job too. Sometimes people say things that you're like, whoa. Okay. Not how maybe I would have phrased it or like you know you're being recorded. This is televised, right? Like but um handling it with grace and kind of moving forward. And sometimes you do have to have the check-in too, right? With your other the other people you're working with. It's like am I on track? Like is this going well? Is there something that I could have done differently? And asking for the feedback too. >> Right. >> That is the five questions. Okay. Um, is there anything you want to know or had questions about for us or anything you want to emphasize in particular in support of your uh, service on the commission? >> Yeah, I think um, things I want to make sure that you walk away knowing is that I'm really excited about this opportunity. Um, I think this would be a would be a really nice way for me to get plugged into the community more. I've been kind of itching for something. I did a couple of years of national public service with Americanore when I was out of college. Service is really important to me. like I, you know, stepped away from as starting my like official career to do that and I feel like this is a really unique opportunity to actually make a difference in my own backyard. Um, I think the other thing I want to make sure you know is that I'm highly collaborative. You don't last 10 years at one company if people don't like having you around. Um, and I would say that the the traits that people would describe about me are being a leader, being curious, and being a good listener. So, yeah. And I have a million questions that I could ask, you know, Brian about like commission and, you know, the the roses, like the the pedal, what they call the petals and the thorns, right? Things that have surprised you, but I know you have another candidate, too, so I don't want to take up too much time. and and Brian has already said that he he's willing to give you unlimited amounts of his time away from here to answer those questions. So, you can hold him to that. >> Okay, sounds good. >> I will. >> Well, thank you for your interest in serving and for applying for this commission and being here this evening and subjecting yourself to this grueling process. Um, we actually are scheduled to make our decision at our next council meeting, which is Monday evening. So, you'll hear pretty quickly from Rachel as to whether you've been the choice or not of the council. And regardless of how that may go, uh we certainly encourage you to uh follow through on that interest in serving in whatever ways uh that you can in the city. Uh and Rachel is exactly the resource person to plug in in that regard. Um and we never discourage somebody who is on a commission from doing tons of other volunteer work, too. There's no there's no requirement to only do one thing. So, uh >> great. We definitely >> all the volunteer want to take advantage of people's interests and and I think you know each year we get a report on the volunteering in our community and it's just makes a huge difference to the work that we as a city do on behalf of our residents and so um you know we love folks like you that want to do that and >> we'll do whatever we can to to encourage and keep you engaged. >> Awesome. Sounds great. >> Including letting you go and enjoy the rest of your evening. >> Well, I get to go pull some weeds so uh You can you sure you don't want to keep me longer? My husband was mowing the yard when I left. >> That gives me the chance to use my Tom Petty line. You know, he says that the weeding is the hardest part. >> Thank you all very much. I really appreciate it. >> Nice to meet you. >> You as well. You applied with us before? >> I have. Yes. It's been a couple years, I think, but Oh, I'm not going to stay. >> Pretty much the same process. So, >> nice. uh we'll uh do a round of questions and they're the questions that we provide to everybody ahead of time and uh we'll go ahead and then after that and give you an opportunity if there's anything that we haven't covered that you feel is important to emphasize in support of your service on the commission you'll have a chance to mention that or if you do have questions for us there'll be a chance for that as as well after the round of questions. >> Great. >> All right. And so we'll go ahead and start with the questions with our chair uh Brian Fisc to begin this round. Sure. >> Yeah. Hi, thanks for being here. appreciate you coming in and uh first one we'll start off with is just how do your experience and skills relate to serving on this commission. >> Sure. Uh well, I am a licensed civil engineer uh in the state of Minnesota. I just got my PE license uh in April actually. Um I have a couple couple of years of experience uh as a structural engineer. I've worked for some major civil engineering firms here in the cities. Um, so I've been out in the field uh analyzing structures, looking at a lot of parking garages and other civil structures. Um, I work for a bridge uh engineering firm now. So I've been working on uh analyzing new and existing bridge structures around the state of Minnesota and also in Wisconsin and some other states as needed. I guess um I would say that that civil engineering experience um my education I guess in civil engineering has really led me to um want to pursue this position um being on a commission serving on the planning and uh environment and transportation commission just because I have that educational background I guess in civil engineering. I've taken a lot of courses in traffic engineering, civil, I guess, uh, structural engineering, um, environmental engineering, those types of things. So, I kind of just have a passion for that and feel like my career could really propel me to serve here. >> Council member Gra, >> thanks for being here. >> Absolutely. >> Can you explain your understanding of the scope or duty of the commission you applied for? >> Yeah. Uh I would say my understanding of the scope of the duties are to serve as a volunteer just using my um uh my professional knowledge to help answer questions as needed and kind of drive discussions on the commission um positively and kind of mediate uh those discussions and uh kind of point point the council towards making decisions. um not really to direct the decisions, but to just kind of answer questions, kind of provide my professional insight as to what I think would be a good decision to make. Uh reviewing whatever plans or um things are submitted to the council for planning and transportation and uh public works throughout the city of Roseville and just kind of serving as a volunteer as needed and providing insight. >> Thanks. Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you for being tonight. I think you kind of alluded to this, but I'll just ask it directly. Uh, what motivates you to, uh, be part of this volunteer commission? >> Uh, I would say firstly, I'm a resident of Roseville. I have a stake in how things function in our city. I drive on the roads. I bike on the paths. I see people out and about using things in the community. um I have kind of that professional eyesight when I look at things and I see maybe how things are not working and failing and things and see how things are working and serving the community. So I would say that number one um just having a stake in how things function here. Um could you repeat the question again? >> Uh just the motivations for being on this commission. >> Yeah. um having a servant attitude also. Um I would just say uh how I grew up in the cities uh just seeing how things function around here. Um seeing the positive impacts of people volunteering and putting their foot forward in a positive light. That's really how things get done. Um I see myself as kind of striving to be a catalyst for positive change in my community. um not only in Roseville, but the state of Minnesota and our country. I think that we have a duty to serve and kind of step forward in a positive light and drive change. Um and I see myself as being part of that. I'm kind of willing to do what it takes to get that done. >> Thank you. >> Thank me. >> You don't want one? No. >> Okay. Um well, I get the easy one. What do you love most about living in Roseville? I would say the number one thing for me living in Roseville is the proximity to both St. Paul and Minneapolis. Kind of just smack in the middle. We have borders on both of those cities. I appreciate being able to get to these major, I guess, economic and commercial and uh cultural hubs of our state. Um I enjoy that I can get on a highway in either direction and be in downtown in 10 15 minutes. Um, I enjoy the fact that we're in the middle of that. We get so many people that are in and out of our community every day. Not just the residents of the people that live here, but you know, visitors, too. I think they have a stake in what goes on obviously in our city as well. So, I would say that's it. I enjoy where we are located. I think that is kind of like the major factor of what makes Roseville great. Council lives across the street from Noel Bacan. So he he gets that advantage, too. >> I do. Yeah. >> All right. Council member Schroeder. >> Um, sometimes the commission must make a recommendation on a matter that has a lot of strong feelings from the public, perhaps from uh opposing perspectives. How would you expect to deal with such situations while serving on the commission? >> Sure. I think I guess in terms of engineering when you're trying to calculate the center of mass or the center of gravity of an object, you kind of take all of those different points and their weight times how far they are from the center and that kind of tells you where the center is. So all of that said is >> a true engineer. >> Yes, the mayor. Also, if you would think just like a weighted average, like taking, you know, you add up all of the things, divide by how many things you added up gives you the average, but you need to include the weight of those things. Also, when you take the center of mass, I guess you find the weighted average. So, all of that said, I think it's important to listen to all of the inputs that you're getting. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has knowledge and their own lived experience. I think it's important to examine all of the evidence, listen to everyone effectively, um, and then make a decision based off of that. Uh, based off of the weight of what people are saying, how strongly they may feel about something can give us clues as to, you know, why they feel that way. Um, their education and knowledge experience also needs to be taken into consideration. Um, I think it is just crucially important to listen. Give everyone um an equal chance to say what they have to say before you try to make judgments or make assessments. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, those are the questions. Uh, was there anything you wanted to make sure you leave us with in support of your service or any questions you have for us? >> Um, I don't know. I think I tend to be a pretty level-headed person. Um, tend to be friendly and just kind of agreeable. I want to point things in the right directions and just uh mediate conversations. I think I'm a I don't know. I'm a young engineer obviously in the cities. I just try to put my best foot forward and serve where I can. That's about it. >> Thank you for taking the time to interview people and I hope you make a good decision. Well, it's very it's it's a crucial part of the process because we do learn a lot about people in this interview process that we can't learn from the paper application or the electronic application. So, we we really do appreciate when people are willing and able to come and be a part of that interview process. Um, and uh I always have to say, you know, we have two candidates for one opening, so we have to make that tough choice, and that's why they pay us the big bucks. But I want to make sure that uh that you know with your willingness and interest in serving that whether or not you're appointed to the commission in this particular opportunity uh that you you know find those ways that that you could connect with serving in the community uh either in addition to that or or instead of that or beyond that. And of course we do have another round of vacancies that come up in the spring. And so uh you know keep keep trying if if this isn't the the opportunity that works for you here. >> Sure. >> But thank you again for being here this evening. We wish you the best of luck. We'll make our decision actually this coming Monday. Uh so you hear it pretty soon. >> And the vacancies in our spring are usually bigger. This is just the fill in one, you know, because we do our major one in the spring. >> There'll be terms ending in several commissions at that point. So that's where there's even more opportunities. As as a as a engineer, you know, the odds probably are better because of the numbers, right? But anyway, thank you again and we wish you the best of luck and enjoy the rest of your evening. >> Thank you. You as well. Thank you. You guys >> and just before we adjourn, I did want to note from a process point of view, uh because there are only two candidates for one seat on a commission, we don't have to do our tabulation and get our information into uh Rachel before Monday. >> Okay. >> Um although I think we would appreciate as a council to hear from the chair your perspective. Uh so if you can get that that to Rachel in the next day or so here so we can get that out to the council. That's probably the most important uh role that you can fill in this process. Uh and with that uh there being no more business before the city council, is there a motion to adjurnn? So move. >> Second. >> It's been moved by council member Dav seconded by council member John. >> All right. No discussion on a motion to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying I passes unanimously and we are adjourned everyone. Thank you.