All right. So, thanks so much everyone. And with that, I'm going to turn things over to uh to Lisa to take us away with some updates from public works. Oh, and great. While Lisa is speaking, if sorry, one more thing. If you have uh questions that you want Lisa to address, um feel free to just type them into the chat, you can do that at any point. Lisa will go through her remarks um fully, but then she we can turn to the chat once she's done. Great. Thank you, Council Member Ner. Um, this is so fun to be here. I always love these community conversations and the energy and I think it's really great that we get to hear also directly from you what is important to you, what's going on in the neighborhood and how we can work better together. So, these are always exciting and uh appreciated on our part as as staff folks. Um, today my kind of topic that we're covering is talking about snow, which we haven't had a ton of it. It's been a pretty cold. Um, but, uh, talking a little bit about snow, snow operations. Um, I think a little bit about wire theft, but I am going to go through some things fairly quickly. Um, because I want to open it up and make sure I'm getting all your questions that you have about all things snowreated. Um, and I I'll talk a little bit about um I know um Tom I I you're over in the Payne Failen area um and some of the pilot programs that we're testing out this year for the first time, too. So, I'm going to go pretty quickly here. Um kind of some updates of what's been going on in the snow world for us. Um because when we're not dealing with snow, we are always planning for snow in public works. Snow is a year-long thing for us in public works, believe it or not. Um, so I'm going to jump in. I'm going to share my screen and um, if you have questions, let me know because I can't see the chat and things like that or is anybody raising their hand or things like that. So, I'm going to go ahead and share my screen. Um, can everybody see my screen? Okay. Yep. Okay, great. All right. Let me see if this will if I can move it. All right. So, a couple things, you know, what what does public works cover when it comes to snow? So, this is kind of by the numbers. So, we have over 1,800, it's about 1,900 lane miles of streets that we plow throughout the winter. And so, in and we when a snow emergency is called in that first 20 to 24 hours, we will plow all the streets. And that is like driving from here all the way all the way to Anaheim, California. So that's just kind of gives you a um a sense of how many miles of streets that we have in St. Paul. This is the breakdown of the county owned streets, the stateowned MDOT stateowned streets. And then we break up our streets kind of by arterial or collector streets which are kind of the main streets and then our city streets or the residential streets. These are sometimes known as the side streets. So you can kind of see the the total miles, lane miles that we have of these different types of streets. Something very unique to St. Paul is that we in St. Paul, our public works department actually plows the county and the state roads. Um there is a joint agreement between um St. Paul and Mindot and St. Paul and Ramsey County for us plowing those roads. We do get we do get paid for that. Um, and that's actually a kind of a a nice a nice thing because their plow drivers aren't necessarily as experienced um with urban plowing um as our staff are. And it also allows us to make sure that that's getting into our our routes um more efficiently. So, we're not kind of crisscrossing over and plowing snow over and things like that. So, there's some efficiencies that allow us to plow county and state roads as well. But in addition, we've got the bridge sidewalks. We have uh over 186 the bridge sidewalks alone are 40 miles of bridge sidewalks when you take on both sides. City sidewalks, medians, um pork chops, islands, things like that. And u a bunch of public stairs. We have about just under a 100 bridges here in St. Paul being a river city and with all the the bluffs and things like that. We do have over 2,200 alleys and um which many people know we don't plow alleys. We never have. I just want to point out that's 330 miles. I don't know that people always kind of think about when you add up all the alleys, which is about the same amount of lane miles that we have of our arterial or main streets. So there's a there is a lot of alley in St. Paul. and we have about 220 miles of bike lanes, trails, and paths that that's plowed between public works and our great friends in parks. So, that's kind of the inventory of kind of what we we plow and and maintain in the winter. And, you know, the the winters have been very interesting here. Um, to snow or not to snow, just some numbers. Um, last year we had less than 30 inches of snow. We had zero snow emergencies, which was the first time that anybody could ask some longtime um staff people. Nobody can remember a year that we never called a snow emergency. Extremely rare and and um surprising I think for a lot of people. And again, um we only had 19 winter events. Um but when you compare that to the year prior which was a record- setting year uh in 2223 where we had over 90 ines of snow. It was the third snowiest on record and it was by far and away the most precipitation. Ton of rain. We're seeing a lot of rain with the weather changes and things like that. We had over 44 weather events and if people may recall, we also ended up having to put in a one-sided parking ban for over for about 20 days and had seven snow emergencies. So again, you know, this this variability in the weather is something that um looking forward that this is this is to be more expected. This variability um and unpredictability of what type of weather we're going to get. um is kind of what we've been told is kind of coming in the future um is that and and typically just for reference St. Paul we get typically um average about 50 inches of snow. So again this year we are already way below it with and we have had two snow emergencies. So again, again, you're seeing some of these challenges of, you know, how how do you plan for things that maybe aren't a consistent um a consistent service and a need, but obviously one of the most critical snow impacts everybody living, working, coming through, visiting. I mean, snow impacts everybody um whether you're in all modes of transportation, right? So, I just want to kind of share, you know, ticketing and towing. We can talk a lot about that, but um in the 22 23 snow season, we ticketed over 20,600 cars and we towed about 5,000 cars. That is a ton of cars that um have been ticketed and towed. Knowing that this, you know, a lot of people like you just need a ticket in tow, you just need a ticket in tow. Um, we realize that this is probably a dent in what could be of the hundred and thousands of cars that are parked on our streets, but also, you know, this is we'll talk a little bit more about the importance of compliance and um, you know, this is not something that the city wants to do. The city does not make money ticketing and towing. It actually costs the city money. Um, and so it's also we understand that ticketing and towing is very punitive and for some some families and some individuals a snow emergency ticket of $56 is um really uh a hardship. Um and then you if you had a tow which is about $300, just under $300 now um again that could be really devastating to um individuals and families in St. Paul. So again, this is something that the city, we don't want to do this. Um, we want to work with residents and to improve compliance of people moving their cars. Sorry. Um, again, the communications and engagement, uh, the stall.gov/ snow is our main page. It is the most visited page, um, on the city's website and has all the critical information. um won't bore you with that but I think again just talked a lot about what are some of these macro changes that we're seeing and it is a climate change we are very aware of the on street parking needs and demands have changed and increased driving patterns behavior the volumes have changed in the recent years as well you know a lot of people hybrid working from home people are car we're seeing a lot more cars on the streets during the day um the modal shifts in transportation again working towards all these multiple modalities um which is great but still very car- centric. We also understand resident expectations have um change of what they expect for their service on the streets and again we talked a little about the workforce challenges and some staffing challenges um on our end um as well. So lots of lots of these big macro things that have um impacting how we do snow. So with the big snow event of 22 23, what did we learn from that? We learned actually quite a bit and the city um the mayor, the council members, um all the city departments really came together and said, you know what, snow emergencies are, you know, again, they impact everything that everybody does in the city. um and how do we come together and be more um and so it's not just a public works event type thing and so really pulled together again parks DSI our police department HR with staffing um our technology our libraries everybody kind of pulled together and we kind of looked at areas of where we can um support snow operations so one of the areas was in the area of hiring ticketers so uh last year which we didn't need to use any the ticketers, but we did increase the ticketing um the number of ticketers that we had, including allowing staff to go out um and ticket as well. Um and there's a whole process that you have to go to and training and you get a little deputy number and uh the deputy mayor is actually a ticketer as well. Um in doing that, we also looked at our plow drivers. Um for our our main trucks, you need to be a CDL. you have to have a commercial driver's license, but we do have in the picture there, which is actually a video, is one of our one-ton pickups. Um, that does not require a CDL. It does require training to plow. And um, so we've got about 10 staff people who are now trained to be plow drivers in the in these one- ton pickups um, and including the mayor. So, the mayor has been out several times plowing as well as some other city staff to help assist um with the plowing needs city, which is really which is really great. So, again, this all-in approach to how we do snow together, but we also realize the importance of working with our businesses and our partners such as the private private plow contractors and businesses, our district councils, and our colleges and universities of again where are they putting their snow? um so it's not just this back and forth of of pushing snow into the street onto the out of the street things like that. So really again strengthening some of those relationships and making sure that we're working together on snow operations for the entire city. Again another key piece is the residents. Um again, um really and we've really started to tie into uh alley captains and created the snow summit, which I'll talk a little bit about, but alley captains, which is a really critical community role. Not all neighborhoods or streets have alley captains. Um, and alley captains are, um, if you're not aware of what alley captains are, it's kind of an individual or individuals who have kind of taken on the volunteer responsibility to collect money and organize their neighbors on the alley to to collect funds to have their alley plowed by a private contractor typically. Um, and so we we don't know how many alley captains there really are. We don't know which alleys have them, which might, and that changes every season as well. but we're tapping into them and trying to provide them a resource to to come together and those who are interested in organizing have some resources. So, that's been a really successful um and growing over the last two years. And then also working with property managers and property management companies um to make sure that they're reaching their tenants and their renters, things like that to make sure that they're aware of the rules and moving their cars so that they can avoid a ticket and to. Again, this is a really kind of inclusive way that we're really looking at snow and snow operations differently. Um, and we had the this is a video from uh the first snow summit uh that we did two years ago. We will have another snow summit. It is that Saturday, October 4th. Saturday, October 5th. It's a great time, great family fun event. come on out to the public works garage and um and with our libraries, our parks, and everybody to, you know, get excited about the winter, not just snow operations, but all the cool things you can do in St. Paul um during the winter months, even when it gets this cold. Um and then this is the snow summit and alley captain conference that I mentioned. We we do pull the alley captains together um and talk some training and let them connect to each other. We do also now have a small um alley captain committee which is trying to organize and get some more resources and materials together for current alley captains and prospective alley captains. And you know again snow is social. It affects every everything we do. Um and again staying connected and the communications about what we're doing um and where our trucks are and and what we're working on is a priority for us. Um, so you'll see more, you should be seeing more updates um with social with snow. Again, haven't had a ton of snow this year and last year, but um social and um communication is a priority. So, you know, one of the things again that we're looking at is um really exciting is how reimagining and modernizing our snow operations. So, we've had this snow emergency, our snow operations in place for 30 30 plus years. And again, we we realize that it has a lot of challenges um with all the changes that we've talked about, current staffing, resident compliance, um resident expectations, and ticketing and towing efforts. Um I will say right now that uh ticketing and towing uh the the courts have said to the city of St. call that we can no longer do as of May 1st we can no longer do paper ticketing for snow emergencies. So this is this is a gamecher um and which means that uh sworn officers parking enforcement things like that are going to be the only ones who can write tickets. Um so this is this is a game changer. Good news is is that we've been looking at things differently and we got two couple things going on. Uh the first thing which is really another game changer and not super exciting maybe externally but really exciting internally is um we have gotten money and we're starting a process for the vehicle route optimizing system. This is this is a game changer because our our plow drivers are actually they have a sheet of paper with a list of streets and that's how they plow our streets and all of our routes are done manually. There isn't a system to do this. Um it's all done manually by staff and again sheets of paper with streets. So I I I know most people think we use our phones and you know Siri is telling us turn left here and all that. None of that. Um so the vehicle route optimization system is going to give us that technology connect to some of the technology that's already in the trucks. Um and then this is allows us to say we have x amount of staff. We've we're seeing this type of snow. Um these are the streets that we need to get plowed. What are the best routes to do this for it? So this is again a gamecher for us. Um and hopefully we'll have that in place for next season. We also have been looking at um for the last couple years looking at talking to our neighboring cities in the northern climate of how they do snow and snow emergencies. And so one of the things that we're exploring and piloting this year is a one-sided a weekly alternating one-sided parking cycle. and we're we're piloting that right now and I can talk a little bit more about that. Um, and the idea is is that this is really focusing on residential streets primarily and this would not be a year-round thing. This would be kind of a seasonal seasonal um parking winter parking ban uh which is pretty typical of most northern cities um urban and suburban type cities. And it what it does is it allows parking on one side of the street for a week. Um and it's odd even based on the addresses. Um what this does for especially for our residential streets is it allows it to be twothirds of the street to be open at all times. Why is this important? First and foremost, our emergency responders can get in anytime, any any place that they need to go throughout the city. So that's number one priority. The other one is that it allows our plow drivers to go in all week long, even when we get kind of like the nuisance snows like we've had like the last time here about 2 in where we wouldn't call a snow emergency, but allows the plow drivers to get in and out throughout the city and get that snow plowed the center lane and that parking lane out of there and off to the um open side of the street. And then when you switch again, uh on on Sundays are the switch over. Um when you switch again, keeping two-thirds of the street open, but then again, they're coming through, they're doing the drive lanes and then that the other side of the parking lane. So it is minimizing compaction and ice buildup and ruts. Um so um and it's a little bit of a mind switch of for folks because you that's all you do is every week, every Sunday, you switch from one side of the street to the other. So it doesn't you don't have to say, "Oh my gosh, do we did the city declare us no more emergency? Didn't they?" It takes kind of that guessing out of when other cities we've seen this um where that use this model uh has really good compliance because that's just what you do. Um in comparison that year that we did 20 thou over 20,000 tickets duthies is this model um and duth did 200 tickets and they had a record setting they had like 140 in or something like that of snow. So again that's what we're testing out in the pilot areas right now. Um one of the pilot areas is over on the east side in Payne Failen and the other one is in Highland Park. Um so and these started these started on beginning of February and they go through the middle of April. So April 12th we have just started the ticketing phase of of the um of of the pilots which are actually going pretty well. The compliance is looking really really really great. Um, and I encourage people to kind of go over and see these pilot areas and kind of drive them and and check them out compared to the neighboring cities or neighboring the neighboring areas um as well. So, that's kind of um that's kind of all the updates that we've been doing with snow. So, I'm going to pause there because I can get in and answer all the snow operations questions and the details and you know, why do you do this or why don't you do that? I'm happy to get that, but I wanted to kind of get in um just kind of the updates of what we're doing, how we're looking at snow differently and and really working with our residents and and our partners. So, I I guess maybe a good time to pause and see what kind of questions there are. Great. Thanks so much, Lisa. A lot going on in the department. Um I would encourage folks to if you have a question, you can raise your hand by pressing the raise button above. Um or you can put it in the chat. Um, and we can just kind of facilitate the conversation that way. So, yeah. Any questions? Sage, go ahead. Just make sure you unmute first. Um, just need to unmute at the top of the screen again. Okay. Uh, this has to do with a large amount of snow that gets pushed back and forth um during plowing. Um yeah, for a number of years I had lived in in H Hotton and Hancock, Michigan in the upper peninsula. Lots of snow and it was great uh with the plowing they service they had because I've and I've never seen this any other place. Um, with the plow there was a chute that the the snow was pulled into the chute and then blown into a truck trim that was following the plow and immediately taken away. I wonder whether that would be usable in any of these areas where have where there is packed snow. Yeah, that's a great question, Sage. Um, so that is uh that is snow removal um and not necessarily plowing. And there are a lot of northern cities that do that. Um that is extremely expensive to be honest with you. Um, and again, when you take 1,800 lane miles to take all that snow, rem remove it and truck it out, and then you have to find a place that you can store it or melt it or, you know, some some places melt it, some people just some places let it let it melt. So, we are exploring cities that are doing that, how they're doing that, how that's, you know, what again the real costs of that are. So, we're looking at that for St. I again to do the whole city is going to be really cost prohibitive. I will say that we do remove snow in in two areas um already. So we remove snow downtown St. Paul which we call the loop. Um so there there is is snow removal down there that is that there's a process and a a some extra costs that people pay for that um downtown. And then also on our bridge decks. So, um, again, all the snow from our bridge decks and our bridge sidewalks, that's actually removed. There's a little bit of a a game of our our bridge maintenance kind of gets it off the sidewalk. Our street maintenance gets it off the road. And so there's a lot of times you'll see a little kind of a a thick windroll between the sidewalk and the kind of the main driving lanes um to kind of get it over there. And then you'll see our equipment in there removing that. So, um, so that's a So, those are the two areas that we remove snow. We do and we have removed snow from bike lanes um when it's gotten so um so big and and that there hasn't been room in the boulevard as well. So, um, on like the 22 23 snow season, we did do some extra snow removal, particularly in bike lanes. So, we do some, but not not a lot, and it's very cost prohibitive. Great question. Great. Thanks, Lisa. Other uh questions about plowing in particular, and then I know we're going to move into I think copper wire theft and maybe some other topics as well. Yeah. Um, Jackie. Okay. So, first I want to say um the plowing on my street is outstanding and uh I mean I can't thank the city enough for how hard they work uh to keep our street plowed um we have a lot of uh underground water that comes up and street. Yeah. And so it's I it's very well cared for and um and that tickets are not paper anymore. I'm just going to believe that when people are on the street parked that there's been a ticket uh because that really disrupts any street, right? Um and then my question is more for Rebecca. Um we hear a lot when um like the year with so much know about the cost. What happens when we have years with not very much snow, like last year and maybe this year? Um, what happens to that money that's not spent? Yeah. Well, actually, that's that's a good question for both me and Lisa because I know that the staff that we have doing the plowing are also able to do other things when it's not uh snowing quite as much. So, I can say that generally any any dollars every year we budget a certain amount. But we have dollars that we underspend and we have dollars that we overspend and different departments underspend or overspend each year. So um when we have a year that we have saved in one department, often that do those dollars will go to fill a hole in another department. Um for example, police overtime is one of those areas where lately we've been seeing millions of dollars of cost overruns because it's so hard to hire up uh police officers right now, not just in St. Paul, but nationwide. So that's that's often where dollars that are saved will go. if overall we've saved um we try to make sure we have a fund balance basically a reserve um our goal is to be at about 25% of our total budget and I think right now we're somewhere between 16 and 20% so that would be sort of the next place dollars would go um and then if all of those things are are full up then we would obviously be looking at a a lower levy in the next year but I I don't I haven't seen a time when neither of those uh cost overruns and full reserve have have been that. But Lisa, do you want to talk about I I think it's a good question. Just what do the staff do if there isn't snow during I'm sure there's plenty for the staff to do. I just wondered, you know, I mean, obviously they're always working, but when there's not the overtime and stuff, that was more my interest. Yeah. Yeah. So, I can I can add a little bit more um meat to to the the specifics with the funding with snow emergencies. So, a snow emergency can cost anywhere from $500 to $800,000. Um, so it it really depends on again the type of snow and really when the snow um emergency is called. Obviously, if it's on a a weekend, it could be more expensive because of that overtime need. Um, we we don't um one of the things that I think is really important that people understand from a staffing perspective is that the city is not staffed to do the snow emergency levels. Um, so the regular snow that happens and and we are always out on the arterial and collector streets with any type of snow that we have um or snow that's coming. That's where you're going to see the brining or the the salt being put down. Um, when we have a snow emergency, we have to staff up and this is when we call in our friends at parks um and and other um folks in public works and other divisions are pretty much our sewer and our traffic operations who have these CDLs. Um so that's where again the cost of snow emergencies um again $500 to $800,000. What happens is the other thing that's gets a little tricky with snow emergencies is that the the the budget year for the city is a calendar year but the snow season kind of goes over two budget cycles. So we budget um typically for four snow emergencies. Now, um, obviously we will plow as much as the as is needed for the city. That has always been a priority with the mayor, with council members. I mean, that is a public safety need and we will we will do whatever we need to do to keep um everybody safe um on our streets and and roads throughout the city. So, um, so that's where that kind of, um, again, it's like the year that we had those seven snow emergencies, the fact that that spring of the following that we or sorry, the fall of the following year that we didn't have any, it actually worked out well because we had four in the in the previous in the in the early season months from the year season prior. So, we didn't go over in that sense for a budget year. So, it gets a little tricky with that. And and also, um the other thing that people think is that there's like a a snow emergency bucket. It's it's a winter maintenance bucket. So, it's everything that the street maintenance folks do and they pothole patch year round and they do a lot of street maintenance year round. So, that is part of that winter maintenance budget, which is where the snow emergencies and the plowing and treating of the streets comes from. So, I don't know if that helped um add a little bit more there. Thanks, Lisa. Um, let's take one more question for Megan and then we'll let's keep going with our next topic. Megan, go ahead. Hey, thanks. This has been super helpful. Um, on one of the first slides, you said something about city sidewalks. Um, so I'm just curious like what is the city responsible for in terms of sidewalks? So, I always think of like residential and businesses are responsible. So, is that like bridged sidewalks or pedestrian paths? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. Yeah, there are some city sidewalks that we are responsible for downtown and but yes, it's it's kind of those bridge decks. Um and uh and then there's some public stairs that we actually shovel as well, hand shovel those. So there there are uh there is a list of kind of uh public sidewalks or city sidewalks that we take care of um in that sense. And and again, a lot of these bridge decks, some of the medians, some of the crossings, things like that. Um, so yeah, it gets a little tricky because you're you're absolutely right. Businesses and private property owners are responsible to maintain um and shovel their sidewalks. Um, that is not something that the city city does. So that's I I I don't Did I Did I answer your question on that? You did. And I just if I can just kind of add on to it for one more second. I know the city of Minneapolis has like a municipal sidewalk plowing pilot I think this winter. Um are you familiar with what they're doing there and if it if that's something that St. Paul would ever kind of look into just because Yeah. I'm just curious. Yeah. So um City of Minneapolis has very different some different equipment um and some smaller equipment. We don't have a lot of that smaller equipment for sidewalks. So, yeah, we're we're regularly talking and um certainly always comparing notes with uh Minneapolis in particular um other neighbors um and and watching that pilot. The the pilot is really that they're really focusing on our quadrants um you know the ped ramps and things like that. Um and and working with the city to because again working with plow trucks to try to keep so that there's no wind rows or that extra snow that kind of gathers at those corners. So that my understanding that's the bulk of what their um sidewalk program is really focusing on is is on quadrants and keeping them. So so yeah, so we're aware of it. Um there isn't hasn't been a lot of discussion on um how or might we do something like that here at at this point, but we're definitely um interested in finding out and learning from Minneapolis on that. Thank you. Great. Thanks so much for the great questions, everyone. Um, yeah, Lisa, let's let's transition to some of your other topics. I know we only have about 16 minutes left, so this is going fast. So, I will give you a quick update on the um copper wire theft. So, do you mind stopping sharing your screen? Sorry, just Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, thank you. Thank you for reminding me. Yeah, thanks. How's that? Is it gone? All right, great. Thank you. See everybody's lovely faces. Um, copper wire theft. Um, again, this has been a frustration, a growing frustration for for our staff, for all residents, and something we've worked very closely with, again, Council Member Naker, the entire council over the last couple years, and really excited that St. Paul really led an effort to put, as far as we know, the first of its kind legislation in the nation um that passed this last year for copper wire theft um which now that went into effect January 1st, which now any kind of the scrapyards um recyclers, it requires anybody selling copper wire, copper copper metal to have a stateisssued license to sell it. um to really again um and the the thought and hope is that again uh addressing that market um of people really again making money off of stolen stolen goods. Um there was a lot of success with the catalytic converter um laws and things like that. So hoping to build off of those here. So that went into effect on January 1. We don't have a lot of good data of how that's working at this point. Uh still a little too early with that. Um we are seeing we are continuing to see copper wire theft. It it typically dips in the winter months which it it is um but it it is still happening. Um so it's something again that between public works and parks, our police department, the county attorney, um really working that trying to prevent and you know catch and prosecute anybody who's stealing copper wire. Um, and we also are working with uh private utilities and um entities because we know that it's it's not just St. Paul Street lights. It's it's everything and it's it's not just a St. Paul issue either. So um in that sense um some successes are is that we've been able to um test again getting some extra money from the city council um pilot some high access street lights that have been successful um in preventing uh wire theft. Um unfortunately they moved to the ground boxes uh nearby but again seeing some success with those new high access poles. Um, and then also I just have to give props to our our um lighting team. They have been really creative and trying so many different things. I wish I could just I could bore you to death with all the different things that they're they've been trying and they're having some success um you know u with some of the some of the things that they're trying and doing differently um that is preventing um and detering some wire theft. The challenge is is we're seeing the theft then move into other parts of the neighborhood. The city has over um 38,000 um street lights um that are owned by the city. So, it's quite a quite a bit and that's just public works. I know parks has a bunch as well. So, there's a lot of street lights. Um but again, trying to get creative, innovative, and trying everything we can um to keep that going. So, I'll I'll pause there. Yeah. And while um thanks Lisa for that update. While folks are thinking of other questions you have, I'm going to put in the chat three questions we received in advance. Um we tried something new this time which was to ask you on Facebook if there were questions you had that you wanted um Lisa to talk about. Lisa may or may not be able to address all of these and I've just put them into the chat verbatim. Um but I'll summarize them and again encourage others to put other questions in the chat. We'll get to as many of them as we can. But one of them was uh what Kathy had asked about the safety measures for bike ped and increased traffic on Randolph um if and when the FCC facility opens. A question about power washing sidewalks um I think specifically downtown um and then questions about the Trump administration cutting funding and whether or not we've done any analysis as to how that might impact some of our bike facilities, other climate projects that we've taken on. So in any particular order, Lisa, those are the three questions we got in advance. Yeah. So um with the FCC site, um that is currently in the site plan process as many of you know. Um and a traffic and my understanding is a traffic study is a part of that site process. So that's so that's a part of that. I don't have a lot of good information on that. Um but but that doing a traffic study and and some of these you know looking at the pedestrian um bike those pieces of it is a part of that site plan process and so that's that's what I can share on that one. Um and you know again hear it, know it and and uh working through the process with the with the um the site plan process with the city and then planning commission and all those great things. Um then the other one was sidewalks, right? Um power washing, cleaning downtown. So the good news good news is is that um you know downtown is a priority and a focus for the coming year and um so I I think that there's going to be more focus in some investments in downtown. Um one of the things that we are working with is the downtown alliance and the downtown improvement districts and the expansion of that. Um and again working with them on what that means and what that looks like. So, so yes, um we we're looking at that sidewalks again typically need to be maintained by the property owners, but this is this is that um and and I will say that there's some properties downtown St. Paul that they powerwash their their sidewalks regularly and are doing a fabulous job. So, I I just want to give a shout out that there are a lot of downtown um businesses and property owners that are that are doing a great job of maintaining their sidewalks. There's always room for improvement, but uh again, working with the downtown alliance and the improvement district should um we should see some more more of this happening. There are also I know we're working with um organizations and district councils and organizing a lot of cleanups um efforts not just in downtown but downtown and throughout the city um working very closely with the down um with district councils to do more cleanups um and and or you know cleanup events um with residents and businesses. So that will be great. And Lisa, I just put in the chat um because to your point, especially downtown right now, as many of you know, we have a number of properties that have absentee landlords that are receiverhip and so we're in this period of transition and uncertainty where it's harder than usual for us to gain compliance from the property owner in some cases. However, to Lisa's point, we do have these great partners in the downtown alliance. We can step in. We know that gross sidewalks are not Yeah. are not what we want. Um, so I did put in the chat both the phone number and the email address to report a sidewalk that's in need of cleaning. And it's actually the kind of catch-all reporting number and email for any issue in the city at all. Um, a broken street light, an upside down stop sign. That actually reminds me I need to report an upside down stop sign, Lisa, in my neighborhood. Um, okay. So, feel free to just put that. They'll direct you or your complaint to the right person. Um, it it you don't need to be um you don't need to be a wiz at city bureaucracy to report something. So, just save that email and phone number. Yeah. And that really truly is the quickest way to get it into the system and get attention and and I'll just say that that we have a lot of staff that are out doing a lot of things, but all the extra eyeballs and ears and and the reporting. I I know it's not your job, but it we really appreciate it. It really helps us address that. Um, and a lot of people are like, "Well, I thought somebody else called it in, you know." So never we don't mind getting um repeat reports on the same thing. It is really helpful. So please please let us know. Uh I think the last thing was oh Trump administration. Yeah, this one's been a little challenging for us. Um and we are tracking it very very closely um with a lot of the executive orders that are coming down and the changes and some lawsuits that you know um and things like that. So there it it's kind of one of those things that changes every day. Um and tracking it very closely and the unfortunately the answer is we really don't know. There is there is a real effect um that is impacting us you know not just with not just with the EVs and some um sustainability projects and things like that but also with a lot of our some of our capital projects and um things like that too. So, we're tracking this across the board in public works and I and I know that um the city is is really looking at it um and paying attention closely to it because again it impacts many many different areas, not just public works with some of our grants. Um it's funding through the state and through the county and all those things. So, there's there's a lot there. So yeah, I I just all I can say with that is we are we are talking and watching things closely. Yeah, thanks Lisa. We're going to try to whip through as many questions as we can. I'm going to do the ones in the chat first um and then uh go to folks with hands. We'll see how many we can get through. And again, it it's best if you can put your question in the chat because if we don't have time today, we will find the answers if we can and we will follow up via um via email. Um, in the community meetings for the Pleasant Avenue reconstruction, public works shared the plans for 30oot solar lights that would be tried along the new multimodal path. Some neighbors expressed concern um about the look and the height and the question is are other options being considered at this time or is the design final? My understanding is the design is final. Um the solar lights are something that um again that they will work on that side of the street with the sunlight. Um and you know with there's not the tree canopy there. Um and it's not um it's not a a residential part on that stretch there. So yeah, we're actually excited to try the solar lights. This is something that we've also been asked of people to can you try solar lights and and it gets really tricky with um our our amazing tree canopy which is a priority as well. So this is an area that we can actually try those solar lights um without uh with with fewer impacts. So my understanding is the design is final. Thank you. Um there's a comment uh that I'll let you read on your own, but about um the the responsibility of snow removal moving to us as the city rather than the property owner and increasing the right of way tax to cover that so that we wouldn't have this issue with negligent building owners. Um I don't know if you can comment on whether that's something we've ever considered or um yeah I again looking at what Minneapolis is doing is really um just with that little part of the of the of the sidewalks and things like that and the costs that are involved with that it it's again it's pretty expensive um again and and the timing of this the staffing and the costs um and the removal there's a lot of pieces in there so I again, we we've heard this several times. We're very interested in what's other communities are doing and what we can learn from that, but uh I don't think that there's anything in the in the works at this time. Thank you. And you're right, we're always trying to balance this sort of personal responsibility versus uh taxation question, which I think lots of people, reasonable people would differ on. That's true with alley plowing as well. Very true. Um, Judy Miller wrote a a really nice comment about just great service she got. So, just wanted to call your attention to that. Thank you for that, Judy, and the importance of all of us kind of letting us sharing when we're seeing things that are wrong. Um, I I just want to say before we go to Laura for another question that um, normally we have our communications intern, Kaylee, online. She's not here today, so I don't have the nifty link to uh, to sign in. So, instead, I'm just going to put a comment in the chat. If you want to receive that follow-up email, I just want to make sure we have your email. So, if you can email us at war2spaul.gov, just if you would like to receive the follow-up email from today, we will email you directly. Um, we'll also post this on our website um any information and the recording, but I just want to make sure you have a way to get it directly into your inbox. So, email us there if you want the follow-up email. And with that, uh, Laura, I just first want to start thank you both so much for for having this conversation and for everything that you do for this city, both of you. Um, I realize that my original I was the one who asked about, you know, how does the Trump administration impact public works? And it I realize it's probably too early to ask the question, but, you know, it's a good table setting. if we want to kind of follow along on those analyses as they become available, where should we be looking for that kind of guidance? That's a fabulous question. Um I I don't know, Council Member Naker, if you've got any great resources. I I think the challenge is is that public funding and and whether it's you know coming through in the form of grants or other things is is really kind of tricky. It comes from through different ways. So in public works a lot of our some of our grant funding comes gosh it comes from so many different ways. But I I think even just tracking what's happening at the state level is really important because for public works a lot of the federal funds sometimes come through the state. So sometimes they'll go to MIDOT and then MDOT's like the holder of the funds and and and kind of coming through that way. Um, and then there's also usually a state a piece with when there's federal funding again depending on the type of fund that the city or state um usually city needs to match um and have matching funds with that as well. So to follow it gosh I I think paying attention to what's going on at the state is probably a really good place of how it's coming through and impacting us. Um, I'd say, you know, keep listening at at the federal level, but it's I don't know. I I I I guess I would pay attention to the things at the state. I don't know, Council Member Naker, what you would say to that. No, I agree with you, Lisa. It's a It's such a great question, Laura. I mean, I think that's the that's the the nature of the time we're in is that we don't even know when information will come out or the best way to receive it. I will tell you um as as council president, one of the things that I'm very concerned about and that I'm going to emphasize is making sure our city is a aware of all of the federal activities that are going to impact us and making that as public as we can. So I do expect that we'll have some presentations to the city council about impacts of federal decisions. Um so those will be scheduled periodically throughout the year and those will be on our um on our website. They're open to the public. Um, we also have to walk a really obviously an important line between government and advocacy. And so, um, we have to be careful about that. So, I I also would recommend that if there's a particular issue of interest to you or sort of areas in which you want to be engaged, um, finding the nonprofits or the advocacy groups that are tracking that particular issue might be the best way to stay sort of moment by moment up to date um, and kind of politically engaged. Um, but we will have presentations at council about it as well. And obviously uh there will be news when things are really affecting us that we um but we won't be able to to uh operate the same way that we have in in previous years. And I hope that won't be the case. But I really appreciate the question. I I will add one thing that maybe people don't know. Um in the last year the city has added a new kind of grants manager position. um and of I think it's like two two maybe three individuals that are part of the office of financial services and the timing of that could not be more perfect. Um and I because they are they are in it um and tracking this so closely. Um and so they have been a phenomenal resource for us on ones that we've applied for grants and we're we're waiting to see if we would receive them or that we are receiving grants and what's the status of them. So they have been an amazing resource and and something that I think is really um uber critical um especially kind of going through what does this mean for all of us right now. um we have this this group of very talented individuals who are who are tracking it and are really really savvy about the the public funding um grant pieces of all of this. So um which is also super helpful for us as staff people um who are who are in grants and and working with grants but that's not our that's not our um our area of expertise. So it again I I just want to let people know that we're very fortunate I think to have have them especially in at this time. Yeah. Well, I want to recognize we're two minutes over time and I really respect everyone's time. So I do want to bring us to a close. Lisa, thank you so much for your time here today and all of the work that you and your team do. It is so appreciated. Thanks to everyone for being here and for the great questions. A reminder to let us know if you want the email followup by emailing w2paul.gov. Um, and also just want to let folks know our next community conversation will be in person March 13, 9 to 10 a.m. This is all on my website um at Lynwood Community Center and we are actually going to have special guest guest Chief Judge John Guthman joining us um and he will be talking about the role of the justice system in public safety. Uh so you don't want to miss it and um and you know by March I'm sure the weather will just be balmy and we won't even be thinking about snow anymore so we can be in person then. Uh so thanks everyone. Stay safe and um be well and we'll talk soon. Bye.