[music] [music] Hello. [music] [music] Woohoo. [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> City Council Budget Committee to order. Roll call, please. >> Council Buouie. Council member Coleman >> here. >> Council member Kim. Council Jo >> here. >> Council President Ner here. >> Vice Chair Yang here. >> Chair Johnson here. >> Five present, two absent. Council Buouie is expected shortly. And council Kim is excused. All right, thank you. Um, we have two presentations today, both on budget topics that have come up in one way or shape or form, but also were tough and um, priority based conversations amongst the council. So, this is a part of that continuation. We'll start off with Eevee car share and getting an update with the department of public works. So, I will welcome up director Barber. Welcome. Um it's something that happens at the city council like when you're here you get through like your first budget update and then now we just keep asking you to come back. So I think that's sign that you're doing a good job. Um but welcome director Barber. >> Thank you madam chair and I never mind coming to present. It's always good to share information so you can learn about all the good work we're doing in public works. Uh with that I'm really here just to introduce uh the experts on this particular subject. So, uh, for those of you who know me and those who are getting to know me, I'm a big believer in having transportation options, um, that is how you actually have people get around, um, through communities, through neighborhoods. Um, and one of those very unique opport options that we have here in the city is EV car share. And it's been a very successful program. And I'm going to turn it over now to Erin Kaiser, who's going to tell you all about it. >> Wonderful. Um, thank you so much. And welcome, uh, Miss Kaiser. How are you? >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair and council members. Um, so I'm going to just jump right in. Can you see? Nope, not yet. >> We can now. >> Okay. I've used a computer one time before in my life, so thanks so much. [laughter] >> No problem. >> Okay. Um, this is sort of the road map of where we're headed today. Today I'm going to be joined by Amanda Graange from our car a little bit later, but I'm going to give you an overview of the EV spot network which um and then talk through some performance sustainability and then really go into the budget conversation that I know um we're all interested in here. So uh first the EV spot network is really made up of two components, EVspot charging and EV car share. Both are programs in partnership with the city of Minneapolis. But for the purpose of today we're really going to talk about the St. Paul operations for both. Um, and since EV and EV sound exactly the same, uh, we're going to talk about when we talk about EV car share, we're going to make our best efforts to say EV car share and the same for EV spot charging. We've also included some slide markers that highlight which part of the program we're discussing, but if there are any questions, please stop and we can make clarifications. So, in St. Paul, we have 170 charging plugs. 50 that are used for public use and 50% that are 50% for public use and 50% that are used exclusively for the EV car share program. Um these are owned, operated and maintained by the city of St. Paul. And the EV car share fleet has 179 vehicles. 167 of those are free float and 12 of them are hub-based what we call EV loop vehicles which uh start at a specific spot and have to come back to that same spot. Um these are leased by the city of St. hall using CAMAC funds and city match from both cities and the vehicles are charged at EV spot chargers in both cities. Um, and just to clarify this slide, I told you that I was going to do one thing, I did the opposite. Um, 170 charging plugs are in the city of St. Paul. All 179 vehicles operate through both cities. They're free float, so they're able to start in one city, end in another, leave the city, come back, just to to be clear. Um, and then Okay. Uh the current service area in St. Paul is roughly 18 square miles, which is about a third of our city footprint. This year we are expanding onto the east side. That's the dark blue line that you see. And this will add about three square miles, bringing the coverage just under 40%, about 38%. You'll notice that all of our chargers, the blue, green, and all but one of the orange dots, uh fall within the EV car share service area. This is intentional. The infrastructure aligns so that both services car share and EV charging have a minimum density per square mile to provide the most reliable service and funding align alignment has really been the driving factor in EV spot charging expansion which has not been possible without also expanding EV car share. Oftentimes the funding works totally in alignment with one another. So, I'm here today to talk about the Eevee Spot network um and what the program needs to continue bringing services to the residents of St. Paul. But I want to make sure that we all understand that the EVspot network is really made up of two distinct parts. EV spot charging and EV car share. It's public investment that makes affordable car share and public charging possible and car share that supports EV charging in areas where EV adoption might be lower. And if there's one thing that you take away from today, it's that the city of St. Paul owns and operates the largest public charging network in the country and that charging network supports the largest and only all share electric our all electric car share program. These programs have been extraordinarily successful at attracting outside attention and investment. We built the system with capital grants, but those grants can't support operations. infrastructure was almost entirely grant funded from the department of energy and the MPCA. XL Energy completed the overwhelming majority of the make ready as local cost share on those DOE projects. The EV car share vehicles are also grant funded through the congestion mitigation and air quality or the CMAC funds from the ME council's regional solicitation. Match for those grants was provided by city of St. Paul parking funds, the city of Minneapolis and reallocated ARP funds which we expended this year before their expiration. What this slide doesn't show is the challenge of a drastically different funding landscape than what we saw at the start of these programs. Not only have federal funds been almost entirely eliminated for programs like this, but regional solicitation requirements have shifted and private philanthropy has weaned significantly for programs like this. The budget ask today is for operating funds to keep delivering public benefit and uphold the vision we had when we applied for these funds. The EV spot network uh this year has already had uh 750 unique users in St. Paul. That does not include the EV car share users as all of those vehicles are also charged at chargers through the system and that number doesn't account for the users who authenticate using credit cards which show as anonymous which makes a slide like this a little lackluster. 750 doesn't seem like that many. Um and I'm happy to share more about our total charge session data after the fact if you have questions. The average session count for those users is 16 already this year. Some people are using chargers all over the city and others use the same location consistently and it's really those folks in the ladder category that get to the real core of the mission of the EV spot network which of the EV spot charging program. uh we assume that those individuals don't have EV ready infrastructure at home and are using the EV charging spots uh as their home charging and demand continues to grow. We're asked regularly all the time, when will charging be in my neighborhood? When will car share be in my neighborhood? When will both things come? And it's important to note that half of the charging sessions, which is what this bar graph is showing, at the EV spot locations come from EV car shared users, which is crucial because there are minimum expected usage values at every location that are implemented by Excel Energy. Not meeting those usage levels can lead to unexpected utility fees. And we can recoup costs from charge sessions at the chargers by both EV car share users and private owners, but we can't recoup penalty fees that are not that uh are result from not hitting our minimums. And Amanda is going to tell you a little bit more about the EV car share performance. So Amanda Lrange. >> Hi committee chair Johnson and committee members. Thanks for having me here today. I'm the new CEO of our car. I've been in my role a couple months and have just been so honored to step in to such a cherished gem in our community. Uh this is an incredible program and as Aaron mentioned, um there's been awareness of how innovative this program is, not even just um within Minnesota, but um we received recent news that I can't fully tell you yet of um an award, a national award that this program is receiving in early September. And so we look forward to being able to celebrate that with all of you. So, this slide shows a lot of data and a lot of numbers, but what I hope you can take away from sort of a deep dive into a bunch of numbers is that residents are really driving impact. And they're driving impact in support of the city's climate action and resilience plan sort of right in line. Uh, this program was designed to address the disproportionate impact of climate change on low-income and bipok communities. And the data is showing that that's been a great success. So, a few numbers to call your attention to here. Uh, across the EV uh car sharing program, we have right now so far this year over 3,000 users. Last year, we landed just a little above 4,000. So far this year, about 80,000 trips, uh, a significant amount of pollution reduction and um, continued strong utilization by our BIPO and low-income neighbors. We continue to see u vehicles miles um reduced as a result of this work. Um but this next section that I want to call attention to is from our annual uh user survey. Every year we reach out to all of our users and ask them how are you using this program? What's working? What's not? And this year we're able to do that in partnership with the National Science Foundation through a grant. And so what we learned from this year's survey is that about 62% of our users are using this survey to get to groceries and other household uh goods needs. 47% are commuting to work. 41% getting to important medical appointments. And this next one just sort of continues to really ground me in the work that we're doing. That 66% say that car share has allowed them to sell or postpone the purchase of a vehicle. And so at a time where all of our households are trying to manage rising costs, the ability to keep transportation at a low percentage frees up people to be able to afford their own food, their housing, their medical needs. And the other piece that I really um as I've been listening to folks during my onboarding, a sort of myth to bust perhaps is that our work um can be perceived as in conflict with transit. The reality is these are multimodal transit users. So folks may use public transportation to get to an EV or get to a car share to then get to where they're going. They may bike one way and EV a different way. And so 46% of users have said that they're using transit to get to this car share. So that first mile or last mile uh challenge of transportation is addressed by this service. And of course, it's really easy with these type of conversations to get lost in the data. And so, I wanted to bring make sure we brought in one of the voices of our users from last year's user survey who of course gushed about uh their love of EV car share and how it saved them money and that they have been able to avoid purchasing a car. Um, the other piece that I wanted to to call attention to is actually not yet. Uh, I'll be right back. Thanks, Aaron. >> [clears throat] >> Yes, thank you. Um, and so we talked about performance for both aspects of the the network, the EV spot network, and now we're going to talk about financial planning and cost management for both of those programs and how they feed into the larger network. So, for the EVspot charging program, we're actively managing costs and have already reduced our controlled expenses, but there are structural risks that require stable operating funding, which is what brings us here today. I want to be clear that every Excel invoice is manually reviewed, sometimes painstakingly, because we've noticed recurring billing issues, and we're working closely with Excel to correct those issues. But the process is slow, and we're hesitant to approve invoices before reviewing them, leading to a backlog in bills. And so, where you see that electricity costs are slightly down this year, we expect that to go up uh due to our increased use. Even with these efforts, there are costs outside of our control. Electricity rates continue to rise, charging equipment occasionally experiences significant damage and major repairs come up unexpectedly. That's why stable operating funding is important, not because costs aren't being managed, but because we're an important service of the city of St. Paul and we need to provide consistent services even when costs aren't. We've experienced maintenance challenges like the copper wire theft issue that struck many city services and that led to a large maintenance cost in 2025, which you see reflected here. And we tried several approaches to maintenance, all while providing the highest level of service possible. Operating support allows the program to absorb unavoidable cost fluctuations without increasing prices or reducing services, something that is paramount to EV car share operations. And Amanda is going to tell you about that now. >> So as with many organizations and operations, we have seen rising operations costs. Um it is a shocking number to share with you but insurance is about 23% of our annual expense of this operation um because that doubled in 2025. This is a trend that's been seen across car sharing organizations um nationally and globally. We're not unique in this. And I mentioned um the important design of the EV car share program to address um climate change impacts on low-income and bipac communities. One of the ways that that design um shows up is in the creation of an access plan that we've had since the beginning of uh our EV car share launch program. Just the access plan, which folks self-identify and opt into that lowinccome plan and have a a lower a lower cost of use through that. Um annually that expense is $1.4 million. Um so there is a significant amount of investment that's happening through this program. The great part of having a program like this is that there are in fact revenue sources built into it. So we do charge folks a monthly membership in the access plan um category that's only a dollar a month uh very affordable and then folks are paying um for their their use fees. Even still with those um revenue sources covering about 55% of the expense there is a need for subsidy. And as we've sort of heard and learned from different other um means of transportation, having a subsidy of around 45% is still much lower than where things are for public transportation, for roads, etc. One question that I often get when talking about uh the need for subsidy is well, why don't you just raise your prices? Why not raise that dollar monthly u membership fee for access plan or for the standard plan higher? And last year, our team took the really hard step of doing a very significant price increase to adjust for the fact that insurance costs had doubled. What we saw was reduction in use. And so we have to balance making sure that people can get to where they're needing to go in an affordable way while also um covering our costs. And so, um, through that National Science Foundation grant that I mentioned, we've able we've been able to put together a really robust pricing model to help us understand sort of the elasticity of those charges. >> I see a question from Council President Ner. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. Can you tell us, I may have missed it, but what the monthly access what the cost monthly is to the user and also are we understand that the access plan for low-income residents is sort of self selfassertained. Do we have any independent verification to make sure that the folks who are taking advantage of that are actually low-inccome individuals? >> Great question. Thank you. Um, so there is a dollar per month membership fee uh that is sort of just set no matter use. And then the rest of the fees to access plan users would be based on the number of trips that they're taking. What we see is the average trip for our access plan members is around $10 per trip. So still pretty affordable. that's a based on time and and distance as well. Um but an affordable piece. Um and then I'm so sorry I've already forgotten your second question. >> Well, just to clarify, wondering about the cost not just for access plan, but the cost per membership in general and then do we have a way of ascertaining income? >> Yes. Um so the standard fee um is it $7 per per month? Um so a higher amount that there's no um requirement. We do also offer a a student plan as well that University of Minnesota, Mallister, um Hamlin students can access. And so folks are being asked um specific questions on our website um to sort of help in the verification program. It's not just a hey, I said I'm I'm good to go. It's asking on size of household, asking on income. Um there's a a vetting there's a sil a self vetting process but we're not using an external stakeholder to verify. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Excellent. >> And as a followup I guess just on that end, would you all see the data that's coming through or the responses that come through? So even if you don't have a third party vetting place, are you still reviewing the information that is self- vetted? >> Um great question. Yes, absolutely. My team just gave me a good thumbs up. Um yes. Yeah, our team is um we have an entire department that's called our member services team that's looking through making sure that folks are um you know answering as as truthfully as possible. Yeah. >> Thank you for the question. >> Great. Um so just to continue to add on to Erin's comment around the sort of the use of um significant grant funds to get to and federal funds to get to where we've built today. What we're also seeing is a changing landscape in the same way that I'm sure you all are as you all have been as well. And so um where we've been able to rely previously on federal funding um and other sources of funding like foundations um even those uh foundations have been impacted by the current federal administration scrubbing initiatives connected to ESG efforts and DEI efforts um from their funding priorities. And so it's part of why um there is a significant need for local um support to step up so that this program can continue. We've been also having conversations like this as you would imagine with the city of Minneapolis, with Ramsey County, Henipin County, and the Met Council um because there is this importance of stabilizing where we are today so that we can continue to um to move forward. And so that's what this slide is sharing here is our focus this year and into um early next is around stabilizing our operations, making sure that the service continues, that it continues to be both affordable and reliable and balancing the the need to close this funding gap with um making long-term strategic decisions. And so we're grateful to local partners that have confirmed the need um for this service here locally. We're working to improve efficiency and we also see a lot of opportunities within the car sharing um portion of this work um that gives us sort of that long-term hope. Um and so on sort of the EV spot charging side which I'm sure Aeron's happy to go deeper into um there's some really great uh improvements that could happen around the charging network analytics. Our team has been working on demand responsive fleet management and so trying to bring that National Science Foundation grant information into where where are neighborhoods that are constantly in need of EV free float cars and where maybe is there less of a need. And so um making sure that the cars are in the right spot for users is important. We continue to have conversations around uh the need for the definition of transit to include car share. This would also open up funding um and other sources. We are not currently um while we are 501c3 nonprofit, we are not tax exempt in the state of Minnesota and so our organization is paying a significant amount of sales tax and property taxes as a result. And so that would also help um the long-term sustainability of our model. And then there's been a really exciting greenhouse gas emission offset program that's been um passed through the legislature and now is sort of waiting for its first prototyping where because of the impact that our team and our members are making and the data that we collect, we could receive funding through Mandot projects to offset the environmental impact of those programs. And so that also would add um revenue into the mix helping to subsidize those access plans uh and other work that we're doing. And all of this is so that we continue to grow and continue to grow our impact that we can move into more neighborhoods in St. Paul that we can increase the vehicle count as Aaron mentioned. uh the there's constant questions on when am I coming when are you coming to my neighborhood and there's always and when will there be more cars so I can make sure every morning when I come out ready to go to work there's there's one available available to me and so figuring out what's working of the model and continuing to test learn and improve and grow. All right, back to you Aaron. So, what we're really asking for here is in this middle column. Um, to support the EV spot network, we need to support both the EV car share program and the EV spot network. And I do want to apologize. The initial ask from public works, uh, there was not an operational request for EV car share. So, this is different than what you've seen in the past, but as Amanda relayed just recently, um, the financial picture has shifted really dramatically. Um, and as of but but there is some ways to sort of reduce some of these costs or shift costs. As of yesterday, the intent to apply for state competitiveness funds was approved by the grant team here at the city of St. Paul. And I'm going to continue being creative in making sure that EV spot charging stays operating at its highest capacity. This is a big jump in expenses and I want this committee to know that I'm working on financial analysis of the charging network very regularly because increased use does mean more revenue, which we're already of course seeing this year. and I'm actively in conversations with XL Energy to discuss rate adjustments since we're being charged commercial rates right now on the EV spot network. But given the extreme shifts in the funding land landscape, um there is a small ask here for charging expansion, especially to areas of the city where EV car ownership is higher closer to the core of the city and where expansion would yield significant results. So the top two lines that you see uh a slight increase in operating expenses for the EV spot charging network and EV car share operating support on an annual basis are the utmost importance here today. Operating budgets for both programs of the EV spot network. I really thank you for your attention and we've saved some time for questions um and would love to answer them at this time. >> All right. I see uh Council Vice President Yang and then we'll go to Council President Maker. >> Thank you, Chair Johnson. Well, I want to say thank you for the presentation here. Every time you all come and present to us, I'm learning something new every time. I'm a strong proponent of our EV car share program and I just wanted to applaud you all because when it comes to surveying our users and just keeping track of trends of them, you all do a really phenomenal job at that. And if I recall correctly, there's an annual report that comes out by our car and um they also do just a really great job capturing uh statistics about um this work overall. And so I I wanted to ask a bit about the about the minimum expected usage. I don't recall this being brought up in the past and so this is something new that I learned about and it seems like I mean it just seems a bit backwards. it seems like it's something that can bite us into in the future especially like if we're in a in a state of of crisis um pandemic for example even operation metro surge and so uh is this something that is negotiated at all and and like can you talk a bit about the purpose of that penalty fee existing? >> Yes. Uh Madame President and Council Member Yang, thank you so much for your question. Um, yeah, that that cost came as a pretty significant surprise to the program as well, and it's been something that we've been negotiating really heavily for the last couple years. I do think that part of it uh part of those minimum costs is in order to uh sort of bind the city in partnership with Excel Energy as a sort of guaranteed income based on all of the Make Ready that they did provide to the program. But yes, it does mean that chargers that are getting used less frequently are costing more per kilowatt hour. And so uh which is energy dispensed. And so a big a big strategic plan goal of mine is to negotiate a rate that eliminates andor reduces that and allows us to bring charging rates uh costwise back down closer to at home charging. But it is a re it's a really significant cost to the program and um I don't know if any of you have tried to negotiate with Excel Energy but that can be a little bit challenging and takes a long time. So we're in conversations with the PUC. We're also working on our franchise fee negotiation and we have we do have some really strong partnerships with XL Energy. Um but this is something that we also may have to adjust some of our services. our DC fast chargers um are really expensive to operate and it is something that we may need to reduce some of our um like the speed at which charging happens because of these minimum costs. >> Thank you. I appreciate you providing insight into that and I'm all in favor of getting that eliminated. So, I just wanted to share that to you all. I mean, when I think about the significance of the EV car share overall, I mean, it's something that that I would want to see citywide, especially in areas where we know that there's low car ownership, and I'm very pleased to see the the expansions going into the the east side. So, I want to say thank you to you all for that. I know we've been in conversations many years about that already, and your commitment just speaks volumes in making that happen. I do recognize too that on the map there are still like big chunks of the east side and also north end that are without the this um these stations and so we just wanted to overall like express my interest in making sure we're spreading um expanding into those areas too. I'm wondering for the for the $60,000 ask around expansions for next year, like what what does that cover and then like what does that mean long-term to for those areas that right now don't have service? >> Yeah, Council Member Yang, thank you for your question. Um, this is a pretty scant ask. $60,000 with some support um would probably give us two charging stations and uh just due to the cost of equipment and uh make ready costs since we no longer have Excel as our long-term partner for Make Ready, which is not an impact of sort of a bad partnership, but just their commitment has been for the East Side expansion and we don't expect there to be more. Um, one thing that I I really think is important to drive home as we talk about expansion for both systems is we do really want to make sure that vehicles stay at the same density that we have in our existing system. Right? Uh to Amanda's point about making sure there's a vehicle outside your house when you're ready to go to an appointment or to work or to recreational activities. Um we we we want to make sure that as we expand we aren't spreading that that uh density too thin. Um, and so the $60,000 in expansion of the car shared network expansion does kind of go handinhand with our CMAC 3 and potentially CMAC 4 funds, which would allow us to expand the fleet sort of in tandem. Um, and I'm happy to provide more specific details. Uh, but yes, this 60,000 is sort of us making an assumption that we're not going to see federal funding supporting uh, electric vehicle infrastructure in a while. and to try to help us keep up with some of those expansions. To to your point about the north end, we hear a lot from KOMO. We hear a lot from other parts of the greater east side which uh are not represented in our current expansion. >> Thank you. And I just have one last question um which is I I have a request around just sharing data to us later on about or if you can email us a followup on the usage based on the stations just because earlier I mentioned like the an interest in having the stations be in areas where there's low car ownership and I'm wondering if the data is showing us that in those areas there is higher usage. >> Yes. Yeah. So this is just from quarter 1 and I will share this and the data um that goes along with it. But this is what really drives um you know as we think about expansion and also making sure that um we're we're engaging with the public around some of these lower use stations and our car staff to make sure that we're seeing usage at the stations. Um, so yes, happy council member Yang to provide more data and would love to have a conversation about sort of some strategies for how we might increase use at some of the lower useless stations. >> Thank you. >> Uh, Council President Baker. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. I I uh really align with the vice chair's line of questioning. Those were some of the same thoughts I had and I I would really like to get more clarity on what specifically the team is doing to talk to u both Excel and the insurance provider. It seems that if we're the largest public charging network in the country that we shouldn't just be using public dollars to pay as much or more than private individuals would have to pay. That we should be using that purchasing power to be driving down costs. It really concerns me about the unused hours being charged. concerns me that we're being charged a commercial rate um and then that we are just that additional public dollars would basically just be going into insurance companies and Excel. So that's a really important conversation. I'm curious two questions. Um the jump in costs I know you talked about the changing funding formula but in the appendix first slide it looks like maintenance um more than tripled from 2024 to 2025 and electricity almost doubled from 23 to 24. I'm wondering if that's due to expansion in vehicles or what's or charging stations or um what's leading to that. And then my second question is um what are the asks and commitments from other partners? You mentioned um other entities are part of this. The city is actually the only one of the entities that's not a transit entity. Um so I'm curious what some of the transit entities like Met Council, Metroransit, the counties um are being asked to and are committing to contribute. >> Yeah. Uh, Council President Naker, thank you for your question. Um, yeah, so I'm going to talk about uh this specific slide and really talking about the EV spot charging program and I'm going to let Amanda respond to some of the other partner conversations that have happened. Uh, but before I dive into this, uh, I would love to continue having more conversations about how we use our purchasing power at Excel to really drive home some of the things that we're talking about here. Um, it's been a huge huge conflict for me uh, since I since I was brought on. the way that the structure was set up was um maybe more challenging than we thought when when we had predicted usage. So, a couple things here. So, I think your first question was about uh maintenance costs almost tripling. So, a few things. So, we 2024 was our big year for cable cuts here in the city of St. Paul and a little bit into 25 even though that legislation went into place. So, we saw you know like almost $20,000 in just replacing cables. uh a cable that oftentimes yielded less than $10 in copper cost the city $500 to $600 just to replace. And so that was a huge cost. So that legislation made a huge difference for us. Additionally, in 2025, because uh we had planned for those uh you know very frequent cable replacement costs, we did go into a service level agreement with uh Ze Energy, which is our charging manufacturer. that allowed them to be more responsive and provide us some lower cost hourly um sort of being under contract. When this program was initially set up, it was intended to bring that maintenance inside the city of St. Paul, which seems to be a challenge that I don't I don't personally know how we would make that happen. And so 2025 was a way for us to kind of reset the system, make sure that everything had um a maintenance check every six months uh and making sure that things were in really good working order. We opted to not do that for 2026 since we expected that cable cuts would go down. We saw that trend at the end of 2025. Um this number is quite a bit lower than we expect based on some invoice delays um and and significant challenges with sort of getting those real costs into our system. So that that's number one. Happy to provide more information. Electricity costs from 23 to 24 really are a result of more chargers coming online. So we built out we completed the system in 2024 and we really saw like full network um sort of coming online. Um, and we also saw a lot more um we saw a lot more errors in 2024 if if I'm just being like super honest there. There were some pretty erroneous bills that happened and I would be happy to chat more um about sort of how we fix that. But it's a it's a big sticking point how much we pay Excel Energy. Uh, another thing before I pass just about insurance, one of the things that we have considered and we have talked to the city's risk management team about in the past. We haven't had that conversation, um, certainly this year, um, is about bringing the insurance underneath sort of a municipal fleet insurance. We're told by lots of folks that, oh, maybe that is a is a way to bring those insurance costs down. To date, the risk management folks here at the city, like of great respect to them, uh have said that that's not something that we want to take under, but that would be uh something that we could pursue further, whether that be with our own fleet or partnering with another fleet. And that is something that we continue to have conversations about. And council member Naker to finish or continue the conversation there because we're continuing to pursue sort of creative approaches to insurance as Aaron mentioned. Um, we also are taking steps within our own team's process. And so, as much as 23% of insurance, 23% of annual expense for insurance sounds bananas, we actually saw a year-over-year decrease because of some of the efforts that were completed last year. One specific example of that is the addition of um a litics camera system, sorry, uh a litics camera system that allows us to evaluate risk and hold more accountability with drivers um to make sure that they're not running red lights or speeding or a lot of other activities that we could talk about at a different time. Um so we did see um impact and improvement from the insurance but the reality is this is a significant fleet and we continue to sort of broadly have the challenge of climate change on the cost of insurance. As far as your question around other asks um we are in conversations with Minneapolis, Ramsey County, Henipin County, the Met Council. In total our ask is roughly $1.1 million across those entities. And so, um, just as we've laid out here, it's not a one-time ask. It's to make sure that over these next few years, we have, um, this sort of stable subsidy to make sure that the service continues and that we aren't having to suddenly, um, for those that have relied on our service to not need to purchase transportation and to be able to get to the places that they're going that they have a sudden disruption in that. >> Just a clarification is the Thank you. is the 1.1 million total ask. So what percentage is the city of St. Paul being asked to bear of that? I'm trying to I'm not sure if this is all to be added together or >> Right. Um so it would be roughly about uh 30%. Yeah. >> So not adding these things together. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Yes. Sorry. That's only for the EV car share um operating support line that is factoring into the 1.1. This is the muddy waters of bringing the two under the umbrella. I'm only speaking to the EV car share portion >> which in this case would be the $300,000 uh line item in this spreadsheet. >> Yeah. >> And then for clarification, can you just also share? So the budget ask is like looking at this would if we are um reviewing this, it's often where we see kind of like what the total ask would be. So, just putting this into context, is the total ask in this case um the full is this 590 um terrible math off hand, but is that is that a total ask of the city of St. Paul or is it just the EV spot charging? Like is this all kind of put together? Can you verify what the actual ask is for the city of St. Paul and what portion it is for the total ask that you have and your partners? >> Yep, Madam Chair. Thank you. I sometimes get lost in the sauce here as I'm sort of describing this. What we're proposing, what we're here today proposing is uh about a $440,000 above base request for these two programs together from the city of St. Paul. So that includes a 14% increase in operating costs for the charging network, uh the operating support for EV car share, as well as um a little bit of expansion funds and cost share for a CMC 3 program. So what we're asking here today is 440,000 in in addition above base of what we've had in the past. And then as far as EV car shares since it is like benefiting other folks, other jurisdictions, we see lots of usage in Minneapolis, Henipin County, Ramsey County. That is the 1.1 uh million that our car is pursuing to make sure that their fleet operations are stable. And our $300,000 line item here fits under that 1.1. >> Okay. And then just for my awareness as well, you mentioned a couple things throughout the presentation. One being potentially adjusting the charging speed. Is that taking that into account here? >> This is not taking that into account. This also does not take into account, which I have a a small note here. Um the agreement for CMAC3 dollars, which is an expansion of about 40 vehicles into the fleet, has already been signed. Um and we have funds committed from Minneapolis and public works will be submitting an application for state competitiveness funds, which could bring that dollar down. It's hard to make sort of predictions about what might happen there, but um you know, there are lots of levers that we can keep trying to pull on. Council member Buouie. >> Thank you, Chair Johnson. Thank you so much. I um also just want to say I every day have the pleasure uh to learning about new services and new networks. Um I'm really excited to to hear that we are one of the leading if not only um in the nation. Uh when I think about just how other places across the the globe like Switzerland, Vermont, um Amsterdam has these like electric car networks. Um I'm really happy that we have that right here at home. Uh but my question is more so around just kind of like the internal like financial operations of just how like St. Paul has we, you know, I think we were able to cover like how we were able to invest in launching and supporting and like our contract in terms of leasing the vehicles like these aren't city-owned um like the infrastructure city owned, but I'm just curious and maybe um our chief budget officer can support this um answer, but like which is it is there a certain department that is in charge of leading this efforts? like what is that like how does the EV car share shows up within our own internal finances? Um is this something is the budget ask of like council um is there a director um that is leading this work like how does that how is the city's internal operations and partnership? Thank you u madam chair council member um obviously the ecos share lives within public works and so this is part of our budget so the line item like the standard um operating expenses and the first one is what's in the budget um as we've been looking at it to date the other things are new so I think they've um as Aaron has taken over this program has been able to dive into the finances and figure out working with our car exactly what really is the need And so those are things that we will be building in as we go forward. But um it is uh right now it is a public works program. >> Got it. I think that's I appreciate that because I was just wondering if this was just like um kind of like a addition or if this will be inside of the public works budget, but thank you for answering that question. >> Um Madam Chair, if I might. >> So I at least at this point what's in the public works budget is the first line item which is the operating expenses. the the one that because that is what has been in the budget typically year-over-year going at this point and so the rest is in addition right now. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Um I really appreciate you guys making the time or um to be here as well just to talk about the topic. I don't think we've had an official um budget presentation on this or presentation on this in quite some time. So I think it's just a great refresher um as we get ready to head into the budget season. If folks have questions, Director Barber, is there should we direct those to um Miss Kaiser should where would the questions around if people are interested in having further conversations of some of the topics we heard today, insurance uh questions, questions with the Excel related questions or questions even about the line items, especially because of the increase, where would they who would they gear those to? >> Um thank you, Madam Chair. You can either direct those questions at me or directly to Erin. um we'll make sure that we get you answers um and especially work to get you answers quickly because we know things are moving fast. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Right as we transition um the second topic that we have is around district councils. Obviously this has been a continued conversation amongst the uh city but also here in the city council. um we did make that change from 2025 to 2026 to have uh CDBG uh CDBG funding removed and so this presentation really is to give an update on that piece of the funding streams and also just to hear a little bit from Zoe around how it's been going. So welcome. >> Awesome. Can you guys hear me? Perfect. Um good morning Chair Johnson and council members. My name is Zoe Bourer and I'm the district council coordinator in our planning and economic development department. I've been in this role since July 2024 and have been working directly with our district councils and our community engagement agreements. So, like Chair Johnson mentioned, just appreciate the opportunity to provide an update and overview of the city's work with our district councils. And the main kind of goal of today's presentation is to have a shared understanding of how the district council system is organized, the role district councils play in our supporting citywide engagement, and diving into those details of how the city financially supports district councils. Let's see. Um, so I've structured the presentation today to go over three different sections. I'll begin with um the overview of the district council system. Then we'll cover some of the recent budget actions affecting [clears throat] district council support um including the changes in the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget and cover how funding is distributed out to all 17 district councils. And to end if there's time can provide ways that residents and community members can get involved with their district councils. And of course we'll do my best to address questions as they come up. Um again, first section sharing the shared understanding of the district council system. And so our district councils are um independent nonprofit organizations that represent St. Paul's 17 planning districts. They are governed independently, hire their own staff, elect their own volunteer board of directors. Um and we have our annual community engagement agreements that we provide. So, they partner with the city to support neighborhood engagement, um, planning, and identifying local community priorities. And those agreements run January 1 to December 31st each year. Um, and so our community engagement agreements have four required responsibilities that we expect all district councils to carry out. First, we seek district council support in gathering community input on planning, development, and licensing proposals and to communicate that feedback to city staff. Um, so when we're reviewing work plans, it's important that we know how they do this function and whether that's through newsletter notices, their website, social media posts, or that they become agenda items at committee and board committee meetings. And so any feedback that our planners receive is considered as part of project and application reviews. Um second, we ask district councils to share information and amplify city messaging with residents through their established communication channels. And so district councils really do serve as, you know, an existing communication network um that departments use to help with our outreach efforts. Um third, planners, project managers, program coordinators, and outreach specialists do routinely engage with district councils to ask for support in our own community engagement efforts. And so examples of that, if there's a street reconstruction project, a park redesign project, um the climate action resilience plan, and even like our comprehensive plan we update every 10 years in the planning division. Um it's just good to know that when we need to get citywide engagement or input on projects that we can go to district councils and figure out ways to cement some of those um engagement opportunities in those communities. And then the fourth is um having district councils maintain an active district plan. And so those are intended to be updated every 10 years and along with our comp plan, but the timing can vary based on district council capacity. And so these really cover like the four, as I mentioned, required areas, but some of the community engagement funding can be used for um activities and programming that respond and reflect the needs that they see in their communities. Um, and then wanted to be sure to cover, sorry, it's a little out of scope. Um, the different ways that, you know, PED supports district councils. And so, while those pass kind of core requirements, um, district councils carry out independently, um, we do play an important role in administering the community engagement agreements and supporting district councils throughout the year. And since my time being um the district council coordinator, I see this work generally falling in these three areas, which is program and contract administration. I personally manage the community engagement agreements and oversee that contract renewal process, process reimbursements, and monitor reporting requirements throughout the year. Um and this past year, we've been doing a lot of work to create SOPs to help just standardize and have a shared understanding of how we manage these agreements with district councils. Um, second is providing technical assistance. And so, district councils regularly reach out to me for support on understanding our contract guidance, especially if there's turnover. Um, questions about reporting and other administrative pieces. And again, this past year, we have been working on developing and having conversations about what tools and resources we can provide um to help district councils effectively manage these agreements even when there's turnover. Um, and then the third area is really just supporting our planning team and connecting with district councils, sharing information about our planning processes and being available to help with improved coordination between city departments, external partners and district councils. Part of that work also is maintaining and building stakeholder relationships with district council staff and their kind of leadership um to further support communication and coordination and to understand program challenges as they arise or just to be a little bit more responsive of what's taking place. Um are there any particular questions before I move on to the more the funding pieces? just wanted to be able to provide a good overview of kind of what this work looks like. >> I did see one question um yeah from council member Buy. >> Thank you, Chair Johnson. I have a quick question um and so we particularly around um is there requirements in terms of how many staffs or FTEEs like a district council must have? >> No, there's not a requirement. So that can vary across the board. We do ask that they, you know, just let us know how many or what positions are supported through the funding. So on the back end, we have an idea of, yeah, primarily one person staffed at this organization or if they have a part-time communications person or an organizer, some have co-directors. So that helps us have an idea of what staffing looks like across the system. >> Good. And one last question, just is there ever a case um where there's like there's a vacancy of leadership or staffing for a district council? And >> yes, >> how do we address that? >> Um we just kind of have to know that there is a vacancy and kind of have a point person. It's usually their board chair. Um it's actually good to share. I don't think there's a single vacancy in the executive director positions. When I started, I believe there was two in a transition. And so what that had looked like was either working with their board president or an appointed interim director. But at this point, everyone's at least has a staff person, which is really good. >> Thank you. >> Continue, Miss Berie. Thank you. >> All right. Awesome. Let's see. Okay. And so this next section really um is meant to focus on how the city budgets support for district councils and how those budgeted budgeted dollars become individual community engagement agreements with the 17 district councils. And so I'll begin to cover the fiscal year 2026 budget outcomes, provide an overview of how today's budget is structured, and briefly review how funding has changed over time, and then can walk through again that funding formula and how we distribute funding. Um, let's see here. Make sure nothing cuts off. And so this is probably where we're going to spend a lot of our time. Uh this table summarizes the budget and administrative changes that occurred between the 2025 and 2026 contract years. Um and to better understand some of these budget outcomes, it's helpful to just understand where we were in fiscal year 2025. And I do apologize, it isn't explicitly written on the slide, but the adopted budget allocation for 2025 was a total of1,441,211 and that was consistent of 1,96,211 from the general fund and then $345,000 from federal CDBG funds. And so that funding level had remained unchanged from 2018 through 2025 at that approximately 1.4 million. And so additional context for the budget outcomes was during the fiscal year 2025 budget process, the city council directed the administration and peed to evaluate district council funding in response to a request we received from them to develop a recommendation to be considered during the fiscal year 2026 budget cycle. And so this table really outlines where the results of that work of coming up with a recommendation. And so in the mayor's proposed budget for 2026, there was a $200,000 ongoing increase through the general fund. Um the city council then approved an additional 59,660,000 in ongoing HR general fund investment and then a one-time 345,000 transfer from the HA parking fund replacing the previous CDBG allocation. And so again to kind of pause on that point there, I would say that's probably the most significant budget action that was included in the fiscal year 2026 budget. And I know it was an area of a lot of discussion between district councils and probably that reached your office. And so yeah, just kind of the financial makeup in 2025 and before that being general fund and CDBG funds, um they had previously historically been funded in part by CDBG dollars. And then in the 2025 contract year, there was clarified guidance that impacted our ability to reimburse district councils for certain operating expenses. And so that did cause immediate financial strain and administrative challenges. And so that's why we kind of just made sure to facilitate that conversation with um the AHA and city council. And so seeing that the removal of the CDBG funding from the 2026 budget allocation, those comm our community engagement agreements are no longer subject to those federal cost allocation requirements, including the 15% indirect cost rate limitations. So effectively we our 2026 agreements which are currently underway have the restored ability to fully reimburse for the activities we experienced challenges with in 2025. Um and I'll just do the last closing before pausing is addition to those budget changes. We did have two administrative updates also take place which was increasing the minimum allocation from $62,922 to $75,049 and the funding formula was updated to use the most recent demographic data that we had at the time of the recommendation. So I'll pause. I see a hand. Council President Akre. >> Thanks Madam Chair. Um can you well two questions. one with the one-time transfer of the 345,000 from the parking fund to get rid of the CDBG. Does that mean that in 2027 we need to find another source to fill that 345 or there will be a gap? That's one question. Um, and then I'm wondering if you can say I appreciate you talking a little bit about the effect of shifting off of CDBG. I know we did that in part because we were hearing so many concerns from district councils that it was just becoming inordinately bureaucratic and difficult to use the dollars. But um can you say a little bit more about what that change has meant practically on the ground for district councils this year not having to abide by CDPG guidelines? How has that changed things? >> Yeah, I would say to the first question, yes, that would be something that needs to be figured out in um this next upcoming budget and director Green is here if we have more questions about that. Um and then secondly, it's probably going to take some time to really understand what that impact was. I would say it basically was an additional barrier to an already kind of strained funding environment for district council. So the reason why they submitted that um request was, you know, the minimum funding wasn't enough. They didn't think the data and the formula was representative of the communities they serve today and there hadn't been an increase in a while. And so all of those components were already on the table when we were discussing an increase. And then as we got clarified guidance on limited uses of funds, it was more that immediate, oh, so I can't reimburse for this or how do I solve for that in this budget year. And so that was kind of an ongoing, we probably don't have a very clean evaluation of what did that mean? I know at the time it was, oh, we hired a lot of part-time staff. We might have to cut hours or how do they manage that on like a month-to-month basis? And so I know when we went into the 2026 year, many folks were eager to know that that was, you know, lifted and now they're going back to how they already operated with the city, but it didn't take away some of those underlying challenges. And so I would say the broader answer is that's probably something that would be helpful to ask district councils specifically, do you feel, you know, a little relief from that? And I imagine the answer is yes, but can't say definitively. >> Uh, council president. Yes. >> Thanks. Just as a quick followup, uh, will you be asking district councils that? >> I'm happy to. It's kind of a interesting, you know, we meet monthly at our EDCO executive director organizing committee meetings. And so how we bring items, one that are just for discussion or to get like a robust feedback can be a little difficult to facilitate, but I'm definitely open to make sure that they know that they can share what that feedback of changing the funding source has looked like so it can get back to folks too. >> Yeah, I think that would be really helpful. Um, you know, just as a refresher for folks, the increase or the one-time shift also stemmed from it not being included in the administration's budget last year. Um, but it still being a council interest to have an a funding increase for district councils. So, the resources that were placed there actually had a deduction for some district councils was not funded at the level in which we had initially requested. So, the onetime funding was created there to both um change CDBG funding, but ultimately to also add back to the dollar amount that was originally requested in order to ensure that every um district council received an increase versus what they had received in the past or at least the minimums um the minimum increase from what district councils were receiving in 2025 to this year. So, those are changes that we made in a one-year time based off of that allocation. The one thing I would share too is this feedback. I think that you know to the council president's point the reason why we need to understand the the change is because with the CDBG funding it sound it seems like on my end some of the HUD CDBG funding has been reallocated in different places. Um but as far as like just how we've done that doesn't necessarily to me has seemed um as equitable as ensuring that district councils are receiving funding across the city. So, just like where that $345,000 has went has kind of led to, you know, just a question that I posed for our staff to be able to have additional um input for it. And I see Deputy Director Green walking up. Um, but I think that that's just one place where like if we do start to see some of the federal guidelines for HUD CDBG dollars change or evolve, um, you know, being updated on that in real time because and or if we get feedback that, you know, I didn't really notice much of a difference between the city dollars and CDBG dollars, I think that also, um, matters in that equation because that line item will remain in the budget for 2027. And so, just wanting to know um, Deputy Director Green, I'd adhere to you. Thank you, chair. Uh, commissioners. Uh, good question. Uh, we are I I so noted and I will take that into consideration and and make sure that we monitor the reallocation of the CDB uh CDBG funding from district councils I think is ongoing. All the dollars have not been reallocated yet and there's various processes um that we would apply to reallocate them. So I can uh work with um Beth who Beth Olrich in our grants department to um provide some updated information on that. And then I just also want to note that again the changes that we made last year. Um those contracts are in process and an implement implementation of a change. You'll hear me say this, you know, I'll continue to to repeat this. Those changes usually take at least a year and sometimes, you know, most often in my experience may take three years to see the results of the change. So, you're asking for the results. Um, our district councils are, you know, going through their contracts now right now. Uh once those first year contracts are implemented, they will reassess and then um as Zoe said through th their those meetings, they will we will begin to gather that information and then that initial information that we received will be adjusted again once they have more practice and and get more acclimated to the funding. And again, the 345, the one-time funding we provided from the parking fund, if that is required as an ongoing source, I just want to add our conversations earlier this year was whether or not that was an eligible source or an eligible use for a parking fund. Um, and we've just recently received uh word from CAO. We think it is. Um, and so it was one time last year because of that. And so that's another consideration. I don't know that it's um um directly noted um in in future budgets, but it's something to consider. Thanks. >> Thank you, Deputy Director Green. Um I'm going to just for a time check, we are at about 11:07, so I'll have you go through the the next slides as I do think it'll answer some of the questions on the end of just how maybe funding of things that we're able to support has changed. So, um kind of looking ahead at this, this seems like a redundant slide from what you've previously shared. So, I'll just ask for the interest of time for you to proceed to the next slide. >> Perfect. Yeah, the main thing there is just the 1.7 million is the new figure and that's roughly the 259. Um 259,000 increase from 2025 to 2026. And again, this one can be pretty quick as well. Just mainly trying to provide a overview of what our funding levels for district councils has looked over time. Um, main thing to note, in 2013, two programs were merged to become the community engagement fund, which now solely supports district councils. And then in 2018, there was a $250,000 ongoing increase that brought us to that 1.4 million. And then the 2026 brought us to the 1.7. Um, and then I know there's been, you know, just kind of questions and interest of what is the funding formula and is it kind of like elusive, but um, basically after the annual budget is adopted, we distribute funding to all district councils using the city's adopted formula. And the funding formula only needs to be recalculated when the adopted budget allocation for district council support changes or when upgraded or updated demographic data needs to be incorporated. If neither of those things change, the district council allocations remain the same because they have the same inputs from the previous year. And the formula uses um four demographic measures taking into consideration population, poverty, non-English-speaking residents, and employment to as well as incorporating a minimum funding allocation to ensure every district council receives that baseline funding. So that's kind of the distribution very heavily population um based and then just for further clarity these are the definitions that we use and the sources in which we pull the data from um and their associated waiting. Um and then to get more into the you know mechanics of how the funding formula works it's typically pretty um straightforward. it just takes a lot of numbers in a spreadsheet and so this is on the slide but also as a supplemental attachment um and the worksheet just demonstrates how the budget allocation is applied across those demographic measures and basically um each measure provides a partial allocation by district council based on the data for that planning district. Those amounts are then combined and if that you know initial allocation is below the minimum we apply the minimum have an adjusted total round out the number and that's how we get to their 17 grant allocations for that year. Um just to kind of note I know this has been an area of interest and conversation with district councils and when we did the 2025 recommendation we're very explicit. there's not much we can do within the formula besides raise the minimum. And it was also really important to keep whatever recommendation um within this funding formula that is established and adopted, but it is from 2005. Um so that's kind of plays into some of the conversation with district councils around does it represent some of the needs we have today, but it is a way to consistently and transparently distribute the funding as we adopt it each year. Are there any questions about the formula before move on to the last section? >> Council President Baker >> or I can wait. >> I'll wait. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um and yeah, so the last part of the presentation is just to leave everyone with some tangible ways that they can get connected with the district councils, learn more about their work. Much of the work district councils do is to engage new voices or maintain the level of engagement that they currently have. Building relationships and creating opportunities for community participation. And in our role, that starts with being kind of responsive and engaged on things that kind of are challenging for them, but also to help and do our part to share with the public. These are our district councils. This is how you get plugged in. and hopefully you experience them for yourself and also give us that feedback of what it's like to participate with our district councils. And so last year we did celebrate the 50th anniversary of the district council system. And so part of our efforts were to redesign and update the city's website um to make it more informative and accessible to residents. And so yeah, this website has a introductory video that covers a lot of what we covered in the first part of the presentation. and has a directory with contact information and website links for all the district councils that we keep up to date as I have new information about who's working at the councils. And so these are just a couple ways that folks can get involved with the district councils, find your district council on our interactive map, whether you live there, work there, play, and you're just in that area often. Um there's a lot of opportunities to get connected. our early notification system. You can sign up by district council so you can stay uptodate on applications and proposals that we send to district councils for feedback. You can attend an event, board committee meeting, volunteer at an event or with an initiative or to run for an actual seat on the board. Um, and then these are just the couple takeaways that cover, you know, district councils being our neighborhood partners that connect, you know, residents to city government. Um, that we [clears throat] administer and distribute funding as the budgets are adopted. um and that the fiscal year 2026 budget did include an increase in funding that is really supportive to district councils and that there was a one-time investment to support that CDBG funding and that we really do encourage folks to get involved and make our district council stronger and have my contact slide and can address questions. And this is a flyer that we recently created, distributed out to a lot of our communications and outreach staff to have out in their um efforts and can have district councils use them. That's a big part of we want the city to help us with the visibility of our work and how to get connected. So slowly but surely, we're trying to meet some of those needs with our existing resources. But I can be open for remaining questions. >> Okay, we'll pivot back to Council President Aker. Thank you for letting uh Zoe finish her presentation. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. Um I'm a rule follower. I um first of all, thank you. This is really helpful. And to my colleagues, if your appetite is wetted for more information about uh district councils, it is um not to be a spoiler alert, but it is one of the three topics that the audit committee is considering. Um so, as Council Member Coleman, Chair Johnson, and I come around, um if this is of interest to you, this is something that the audit committee could also dig into further. Um, and so I guess I was just wondering going back to the funding formula, as you noted, it does give additional dollars and so additional kind of consideration for the fact that a district might have um more residents in poverty or more residents who speak a language other than English. I'm wondering if along with those the additional dollars, do we have specific expectations for then how district councils are supposed to be providing additional services to engage those residents? I'm thinking about things like translators and interpreters. I'm thinking about childare. I'm thinking about food which they're actually expressly not allowed to buy with our dollars. Like >> how are we're giving additional money and then what are we expecting on the back end in terms of how they're engaging differently with those folks who have those additional barriers? >> I would say that's a mechanism that we still kind of need to figure out but that we would be you know in a position to have clarified expectations around. Um, I think previously to this increase or any conversations around the increase, I don't know how much we've tied. Yes, we're increasing the funding because we know we need that to stabilize and sustain our operations, but also how are we evaluating how you're going the extra mile for some of these areas. And so things that I've thought about or have seen opportunity, we have our language access coordinator and hero. We have our language access plan and we have areas where we know that there is, you know, language barriers. And so, how do we make sure that that information is one coming to district councils? They're aware that they may be in a district that experiences language barriers. And so, what does that like? That's something that we can follow up a little bit more intentionally in the work plan process of what does that look like? Right now they have equity evaluation forms which they kind of elaborate on barriers that they have or communities that they're looking to do increased engagement with. A lot of it is around how do we provide child care, transportation engagement incentives, increased um language access support and my response lately has been we have this increase in funding. It is an eligible use of funding. Prioritize it. Share it with us. that that's how you're doing it and also share what that budget impact is like. Is it more or less and you're experiencing? Would you do it for all your monthly board meetings or is it only certain community meetings or is it your forums? Like that's where we want to have a little bit more conversation to have them one help initiate and lead that, but that we're having a back and forth and having more information to help address that. So I would say we haven't been in a position where it's like oh this contract here we want to prioritize X Y and Z. It's been primarily these are the four required activities. We want to make sure we have clear understanding of how those get carried out and reported on. And then we're also tracking like what your individual district is prioritizing. And so I think that's just that other layer of asking for more information and how are we bringing them the information and then following up on that same one. Yeah. >> Well, I appreciate just being able to hear through that. And for folks that just want a refresher on the um distribution on the overall funding allocation for this year, it's on page 27 in the contract form uh for the application to just show you the different uh breakdowns by district councils. Predominantly large amount of the district councils that are receiving additional resources are on the east side. So, I think just as long as um I think being able to hear a little bit more of how they're intentionally engaging um communities of color and I know several of the organizations have organizers and um task force that have been in existence to try to engage renters and have been showing up in different ways within um several of our communications and our uh our communities that are there. So, just placing that in as a refresher, but really truly appreciate uh you taking the time as well to provide that update. And if folks have additional questions, we'll be sure to reach out as a follow-up. I just thought it would be really important because we don't have um we'll hear from peed's budget uh in the H budget in a couple of weeks, but I don't know if it would go into as deep of a dive into district council funding. And because that was a conversation and it and what felt like an intentional decision made by this body, we thought that it would be more appropriate to have it stand alone in this conversation platform. So really appreciate it. Thank you. >> And thanks to to the team as well for putting together those numbers and resources ahead of time. >> Yeah. And I know this is the first time this information has kind of been a more formal program update. So hopefully it provides that baseline and we can follow up if there's other questions or areas of interest. Okay, let's make sure that we ask that question for district councils and see if we can't bring that forward for budget conversations as well. Just wanting to know specifically if they have noticed a difference um related to whether they think the funding piece has been uh helpful to not have to deal with some of the federal pieces of CDBG. And if the answer comes back that because of the the allocation and the timing of the allocation, we might be better suited to have that discussion in 2027, also let us know, Matt. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Sounds good. All right. >> All right. We don't have anything else [clears throat] in front of us. Um I just wanted to share and take a personal time of privilege that the next community engagement on the budget that will be on August 13th uh in my word. So it'll be over at Battle Creek uh rec center from 5:30 to 7:00 uh on August 13th in the evening. We have a busy day on the 13th. Um, so there'll be more details as well coming out of the mayor's office, I'm sure, regarding um the state of the budget address and the library address and all the details. But August 13th will be a great day for folks to um folks to make sure that there are all things budget. With that, we are joined