--- title: Minutes - Final --- 15 West Kellogg Blvd. ## Saint Paul, MN 55102 ## City of Saint Paul ## Minutes - Final ## Legislative Hearings ## Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer ## Mai Vang, Hearing Coordinator ## Joanna Zimny, Executive Assistant legislativehearings@ci.stpaul.mn.us 651-266-8585 ## 9:00 AM ## Room 330 City Hall & Court House/Remote Tuesday, June 2, 2026 9:00 a.m. Hearings ## Special Tax Assessments - Garbage Hauling ## RLH TA 26-1181 Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 700 ## STRYKER AVENUE (File No. CG25Q4B1, Assessment No. 260141) ## Sponsors: ## Noecker Reduce the assessment from $195.88 to $113.19. Voicemail left at 9:23: this is Marcia Moermond from St. Paul City Council calling you about 700 Stryker after reviewing the file. I’m going to recommend the Council delete the cost of the extra cart. From $195 minus $82.69 down to $113.19 and you get the benefit of that money off the bill. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/17/2026 ## RLH TA 26-1242 Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 258 WYOMING STREET WEST. (File No. CG25Q4B1, Assessment No. 260141) ## Sponsors: ## Noecker Delete the assessment. Denise Karas, owner, appeared via phone [Moermond gives background of appeals process] Staff report by Jillian Barden: the property owner denies the presence of a 35 gallon cart with ever other week service at her property. The property owner has been consistently charged for 35 gallon every-other-week garbage service. The property owner states that she requested her account to be cancelled in January 2025 and Republic removed her cart. However, Republic stated this is not correct information and that she paid her Quarter 1 2025 invoice. The property owner contacted City in August 2025 and stated she was over billed and that her family owns Twin City Refuse and she does not want or have a cart. City staff offered to deliver a cart for her but she abruptly ended call before the size could be confirmed. A 35-gallon cart with every other week service was delivered on May 28, 2026. Staff does not recommend Page 1 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final removing or reducing assessment. Karas: I’ve been being charged for services not provided. Moermond: I tend to think that that’s the more likely scenario here. I’m going to recommend the Council deletes this assessment. Karas: it started at the time the switch changed over. Plus they charged me $40 to pick up the cart. Moermond: the assessment will go away. Karas: what’s an assessment? Moermond: if a bill goes unpaid it gets put on your property taxes. You won’t get an invoice to pay this. Karas: ok, alright. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/17/2026 10:00 a.m. Hearings ## Staff Reports ## RLH TA 26-1253 Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 720 ## COTTAGE AVENUE EAST. (File No. 2604T, Assessment No. 269003) ## Sponsors: ## Kim Approve the assessment and make payable over 10 years. No one appeared Moermond: we have the removal of a green ash tree on February 9, 2026. That is the correct date. This was a 36” diameter tree. The cost of its removal was $4,709, and the property owner requested it be made payable over 10 years. I’ll recommend that to Council and that’s been communicated to the owners. Referred to the City Council due back on 7/15/2026 4 ## SR 26-96 ## Review Request of Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 601 ROSE AVENUE EAST adopted by Council on February 18, 2026 under File RLH AR 26-1. (File No. J2602TW, Assessment No. 268702) ## Sponsors: ## Yang Delete the assessment. No one appeared Moermond: I’ve given this some consideration and the problem with notification going to the wrong address. That was due to a Ramsey County error between recording the Page 2 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final address and actually having the tax address corrected. This isn’t the fault of the owner OR the City but because of this error we couldn’t provide proper notice, so I’ll recommend this is deleted. This has been our practice in the past. ## Received and Filed ## Special Tax Assessments-ROLLS ## RLH AR 26-425 Ratifying the assessment for Removal of Diseased and/or Dangerous Tree(s) service during February 2026. (File No. 2604T, Assessment No. 269003) ## Sponsors: ## Noecker Referred to the City Council due back on 7/15/2026 11:00 a.m. Hearings ## Summary & Vehicle Abatement Orders ## RLH SAO 26-51 6 Appeal of Pamela Anderson to a Summary Abatement Order at 948 ## IDAHO AVENUE WEST. ## Sponsors: ## Kim Grant the appeal. Pamela Anderson, owner, appeared via phone ## Staff report by Supervisor Lisa Martin: Moermond: when I looked at your appeal I thought it made a lot of sense. The supervisor mentioned if this was a dog house no one would say anything. The area is very well maintained, and you’re working with a cat rescue. I’ll recommend your appeal is granted. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/17/2026 ## Making Finding on Nuisance Abatements 7 ## RLH SAO 26-37 Second Making finding on the appealed nuisance abatement ordered for 1478 AMES AVENUE in Council File RLH SAO 26-32. (Public hearing continued to June 10, 2026) ## Sponsors: ## Yang Continue CPH to June 10th, 2026. Nuisance is not abated. Mike Corcoran, owner, appeared via phone Moermond: checking in on where things are at. I see you did send an email today. We’ll try and cover all of this. Page 3 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final Staff report by Supervisor Lisa Martin: I met with Mr. Corcoran yesterday, all the vehicles are in compliance. The only issue we have now is the Summary Abatement Order with all the exterior storage, steel structure is still up, the exterior shed—one by the rear deck still up with things stored inside, just a lot of stuff everywhere. Moermond: and I have those photos. Mr. Corcoran, tell me about your ask. Corcoran: I’m going to be retiring in 2 months and will have more time to be dealing with my issues. I’m requesting if you could somehow extend longer, until I’m completed. I asked for November of 2026. I’ve done a good job of staging everything and being aware of what outside storage means. What can be stored inside and outside. I’m staging to get it loaded or off the ground, wherever it is supposed to be. Moermond: we’ve been doing this for 22 months now. I’m not going to recommend any extensions, I don’t feel like it is promising another extension will make any difference. Seems there should have been plenty of time to be found to do it so far. I’m going to recommend the Council find the nuisance is not abated and recommend they authorize the Department of Safety and Inspections to act to abate the nuisance. Your letter last week indicated that the Council Public Hearing was tomorrow, so you are more than welcome to come speak to them about it. Do you want to testify? I could push the Council Public Hearing to June 10th. Corcoran: the later the better. I have a special needs grandson and a sick daughter I’m taking care of. Moermond: those conditions have been part of the issue the entire time. I’ll ask them to continue it to Council Public Hearing. Hopefully you can clean up as much as possible so the cost of cleanup is less. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/3/2026 8 ## RLH SAO 26-45 Making finding on the appeal of Emmett Owens, Jr., to the nuisance abatement ordered for 233 BATES AVENUE in Council File RLH SAO 26-28. (Public Hearing continued to June 10, 2026) ## Sponsors: ## Johnson Refer back to LH Tuesday, June 9th at 11 am. Continue CPH to June 10th, 2026. The nuisance is not abated. Voicemail left at 11:57 am: this is Marcia Moermond from St. Paul City Council calling Emmet Owens. We’ll try back in a little bit to follow up on the orders for your property. Emmet Owens, owner, appeared via phone Moermond: we’re following up on the orders on your property. We’re talking today about things for both 233 and 239 Bates. Owens: right now I’m at the bank trying to get the funds to get my deck done. I talked to the inspector and I have a contractor who is going to bring in all the paperwork and stuff. Trying to get them off my @ss. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/3/2026 Page 4 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final 9 ## RLH SAO 25-81 Making finding on the appealed nuisance abatement ordered for 239 BATES AVENUE in Council File RLH SAO 25-60. (June 9, 2026 ## Legislative Hearing) ## Sponsors: ## Johnson Layover to LH Tuesday, June 9th at 11 am. The nuisance is not abated. Voicemail left at 11:57 am: this is Marcia Moermond from St. Paul City Council calling Emmet Owens. We’ll try back in a little bit to follow up on the orders for your property. Emmet Owens, owner, appeared via phone Moermond: we’re following up on the orders on your property. We’re talking today about things for both 233 and 239 Bates. Owens: right now I’m at the bank trying to get the funds to get my deck done. I talked to the inspector and I have a contractor who is going to bring in all the paperwork and stuff. Trying to get them off my @ss. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/10/2026 10 ## RLH SAO 26-34 Second Making finding on the appealed nuisance abatement ordered for 2016 FREMONT AVENUE in Council File RLH SAO 26-21. ## Sponsors: ## Johnson The nuisances are not abated. Mark Puchala, owner, appeared via phone Puchala: I did as much as I could Sunday evening, so as long as she was here after that she should have my most recent progress. Martin: not a lot of progress. Boulevards are overgrow. He’s added some rock to the yard. The garage is not done. The pallet with wood still there. For sale sign still there. The big tree log and brush is still by the shed. Siding not replaced on the garage. It isn’t in compliance. Puchala: this is really confusing. The open corner of the garage is sealed. The boulevard is completely trimmed down. The only thing on the boulevard is the milkweed and sedge and one section of seed grass with the flag next to them. As well as the cucumber next to the power line. Did you check when the flags were there? Or before the flags? Martin: the photos were taken this morning. I can see all the tall grass and weeds in the back yard. The entire back yard--- Puchala: I was told to focus on the front yard; we can leave the back and focus on the front. That was our agreement last month. Martin: I think that’s a misunderstanding. Moermond: I think so too. Page 5 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final Puchala: the letter doesn’t say what we agreed upon. That’s what a called about and I talked with you about that in person. I had a whole new set of orders, and you said to disregard that and focus on what we talked about in the hearing, not on what was in the letter. Moermond: I don’t think I agree with that interpretation, but let me review the minutes. You got more time on the brush. My statement was you’ve addressed some of the items in the orders. I’d like to see you focus on the brush. Then I’ll recommend to June 1, 2026 for the remaining items as well as the tall grass and weeds. You indicated you were planning on turning over a lot of the yard. I said cut it down, mow it, turn it over, then you can begin with native plants. You indicated you’ve been trying to use the long grass as mulch to prevent some weeds, can I get an extension past June 1 so you could deal with the water heater first. I said mow it. You said understood. I said this isn’t a big commitment of time and energy for the things that aren’t complete, along with the tall grass and weeds. There may be some quibbling around the edges about the brush pile. *Maybe.* But, I don’t understand it the same way you do. The most recent letter you received said we’re going to check in to review compliance today. At that time all items in your orders are expected to be completed. June 1 is your last compliance deadline. The May 8th letter is quite clear on the expectation. Puchala: the May 8th letter doesn’t agree with what we said and we talked about focusing on the front yard before. Moermond: I disagree. Puchala: Alright, how do I go about disputing this? Moermond: you go before the City Council. Puchala: how and when? Moermond: next Wednesday, June 10th at 3:30. We’ll send a letter confirming that. At that point I’ll make a finding the orders do not have compliance and authorize the Department of Safety and Inspections to go ahead and complete the abatement. Puchala: meaning you’re sending them to mow my lawn? Moermond: yes. Puchala: and I need to stop that so I can talk to Council about how I’ve been getting endlessly harassed. I’ve been putting more work into my yard than my own job now. Doing everything I can to comply, only to be told I don’t comply and we didn’t agree to the things we did agree on. Moermond: I don’t concur, but you can come to the Council with that. What you’ve wanted to do with your yard isn’t a requirement of the City. The City just wants you to mow it. You’ve been saying you want to do these native plantings, I want to do these other things. The argument that the City made you do those things isn’t what it is. We’ve tried to work with you so you could do that, giving extensions, which is your own thing you want to do. That is fine. But that’s not on the City. Page 6 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final Puchala: the only thing I’ve been doing is cutting down grass and weeds. I haven’t been doing any sort of wonderful native planting that I want to do. I only got to put bricks on the grass to keep it from growing, which we agreed upon me doing. I got to put bushes on top of grass which you agreed with. Then you’re telling me I made no progress when all I’ve made is progress. We’re only talking about the boulevard, when the only boulevard that hasn’t been touched is the protected plants of milkweed and crown vetch at the front under the gingko tree. That isn’t to be touched. Those are live native plants. Not tall weeds. Moermond: you can make that argument to the Council. Puchala: except you are saying I can’t make that argument until you already send someone to mow my yard down. Moermond: that’s not what I’m saying at all. What I am saying is my recommendation to City Council to be heard June 10th is a finding the work hasn’t been done and authorize the Department of Safety and Inspections to complete the work. Until they vote there won’t be a crew out there. Puchala: so that work order won’t be approved until I talk to them. Moermond: no, nothing will happen before the Council vote. Puchala: how can I confirm no one will do that until after Wednesday? Moermond: that isn’t supposed to happen, and Ms. Martin is on the line and in charge of the contractor and she knows it shouldn’t happen. I don’t know what other assurance we can provide. Ms. Martin? Martin: we don’t send a work order until after the Council signs off on it. Puchala: nothing done on the garage? The siding? Martin: still missing siding on the back, which is sitting in your yard. Puchala: I was told to patch the hole at the front. I wasn’t told about the side and the back. Martin: we did talk about the siding because the siding was in the back yard. I told you all you had to do was pull it out of the tall grass and weeds and put it back up. Moermond: I do see a piece of wood nailed by the garage door where there was damage. I don’t see any paint on it. What I will say is that was a correction notice, so it wouldn’t be an item the City would correct for you. Ms. Martin? Martin: that is correct. Puchala: so that’s an FYI. I don’t have to freak out about it not being done. Moermond: there is a correction order on it, but it isn’t the kind of order we follow up on because the City won’t go out on the garage. I was hearing that more as an update from Ms. Martin on the garage. We have the yard cleanup, tall grass and weeds, those kind of things in front of us. Page 7 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final Puchala: I have buried the brush. Is that compliance? Moermond: if it is buried we can’t see it. Puchala: there are spare sticks, but I can’t pick up every little stick but I want to make sure I picked up enough sticks. Martin: I think the pile is lower. I still see some with a pallet and the log by the garage. If the crew comes they will probably get whatever sticks and stuff they need to in order to prevent damage to the equipment. Puchala: that is the stuff on the pallet. I moved the log that wasn’t on the pallet to the pallet. I need to remove that as well? Moermond: the thing with the big log was it wasn’t turned into firewood. I remember discussing that. You can’t throw a log that size on a fire; firewood can absolutely be stored on a pallet. Puchala: that isn’t firewood. It is to be made into furniture. I need to keep it as is, as like lumber. So is it still allowed? Or is it only firewood? Moermond: construction/building materials have to be put to use and if it will be a while before you make furniture you want to store it elsewhere. The same way you would with 2x4’s or a pile of shingles. Firewood can absolutely be stored outside though. Puchala: I have to keep it outside in order to weather it. If I build walls around it would it be in compliance? If I keep the top open? Moermond: I hadn’t considered building walls. Ms. Martin? Martin: again, outdoor storage isn’t allowed. You can put it in the garage or the shed. Building walls, I’m not even sure what you mean by that. Puchala: I mean literally extending the shed toward the pine tree. Sort of like a tall compost bin. So it is contained and you can’t see from the sidewalk. Just a six foot wall, like a fence. Building fencing around it. Can any of my stuff be protected by just building fencing? Moermond: it still exists. It may address it somewhat. I’m concerned that we’ve been working on this--- Puchala: I can get the giant log in my garage until we get everything else calmed down. I want to still make progress towards everything qualifying. It feels like we are at the end of a journey and it feels like a judgement whether I win or I lose. Especially when we are on two different pages. I was working on the front yard and saving the back yard for later, that was my understanding, as long as the front yard saw progress. But now we don’t have notes of that and I don’t have access to the minutes. Moermond: we can definitely send that to you. It also looks like you have a good amount of “volunteer” trees that may actually be invasive species, like the Siberian elm and Tree of Heaven. You may want to talk to someone about that. Puchala: I’ll look into that. I also need to trim one of the trees, I got a note from Forestry on it. I haven’t reached out to them yet because of these orders. Page 8 ## City of Saint Paul June 2, 2026Legislative HearingsMinutes - Final Moermond: I’ll continue with my recommendation and you can present your information to the City Council next week. This is the second time I’ve tried to make a finding about this being complete, and it hasn’t the first nor second time. They really need to review it if there is any change, which is what they’re there for. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/10/2026 11 ## RLH SAO 25-78 Third Making finding on the appealed nuisance abatement ordered for 1079 WESTERN AVENUE NORTH in Council File RLH SAO 25-71. ## Sponsors: ## Kim The nuisance is abated and the matter resolved. No one appeared Staff report by Supervisor Lisa Martin: that is in compliance and the file will be closed. Referred to the City Council due back on 6/10/2026 Page 9 ## City of Saint Paul