Council member Delini >> here. >> Council member Whiting >> here. >> Council member Contreres >> here. >> Council member Laura >> here. >> Mayor Layman >> here. >> Item number three, if you want to join us, a pledge of allegiance. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all. Okay, we're going to change up this agenda just a little bit. We're going to take uh we're going to change 4 A to a presentation of legislative uh overview from Representative Bakeberg and 4B will be uh presentation by elections update from Scott County. >> Mr. Whiting, >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as modified. Is there a second to the motion? Councelor Contrarus discussion. Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. >> Item 4 A, special presentation by Representative Bakeberg. Welcome, Mr. Bakeberg. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. I don't know how special of a presentation this is going to be, but um yeah, I just wanted to come and give a a legislative update uh to the council and and to the community of Shakipi. But I just want to begin by saying thank you. Um really appreciate the partnership with with the council uh with uh administrator Reynolds and and just the uh the staff. just a fantastic partnership to work together to serve our community and and really Scott County as a whole. So, appreciate that. Um, just as a a reminder, uh, we had a tie in the House. So, first time since the the 70s that there was a tie in the House and basically what that meant is that anything that passed had to have bipartisan support. So the um the floor debates frankly were were pretty tame and pretty um you know lots of of you know very strong votes with with large majorities a number of unanimous votes. Um [clears throat] but just a reminder that that that is the makeup. So, a lot of the work during session was done behind the scenes um in committee in conversations talking uh to colleagues about about different items and really had had a lot of good work done going into session uh into the 25 session. Frankly, I I think there was a lot of uneasiness about what was going to happen. Were we going to get a budget? we were able to pass a budget and then coming into the this 26 session. There's a lot of issues that we hear about from our constituents that needed to be addressed and there was a lot of questions. Well, are you going to even do anything? Are you going to get anything done for us? Uh and I'm I'm happy to report there's a lot of uh a lot of noise, a lot of talking, and a lot of the things that that were priorities for me did not get done. Um and and and that's okay. Uh but some of the highlights that we um that we did get done is HCMC. So uh HCMC is is one of the the critical access hospitals. One of the things I learned through the process is the majority of the doctors are trained through HCMC. So we needed to make sure that uh we were we were maintaining HCMC. But one of the things that happened was um there's some some governance oversight that was put in place so that we can correct the issues the financial issues with HCMC technology modernization. The county will talk about this. I'm sure we've talked a lot about it at scale. um for for some of us that grew up on Oregon Trail, uh that's how it was described to me that some of the technology that um that the county uses uh is is that same platform. So, you think about that. Uh we we needed to invest in in technology modernization. The innovation hub, thank you. Uh you know, Representative Tabkey and I worked on that and and he did a great job uh shephering that through as well. uh some some onetime property tax relief, onetime car tab fee relief. Uh we we need to do we need to address that. We need to address property taxes. We need to address uh the the cost of of car tabs as I'm out talking to the community. Um you know, that is a a predominant issue that people talk about and and just the cost of things. And then um some election changes that that the county will talk about today, so I won't won't go into that. The number one issue that that that I hear about is fraud. So, we were able to to pass again bipartisan measures and I and I think in this political climate, just to be very blunt, both sides try to run and take credit. And the reality of it is is these were bipartisan bills that were passed. We had a number of provisions that that we wanted to to have in place from a fraud prevention standpoint that didn't pass. There were there were other provisions that didn't pass, but what did pass were bipartisan provisions. Uh and we should we should all agree that that needed to happen. Uh predominantly the Office of Inspector General was a a big piece. It's an independent agency that has enforcement oversight. Those are two critical components. Um, frankly, it it it doesn't make sense to have uh an oi within agencies to self-p police themselves because frankly it hasn't worked. So, um, [clears throat] one of the big things that I hear from constituents in the fraud area is accountability. People want people to be held accountable. Um, so there were some things that were put in place. there's a statute of limitations were increased so that uh we um we're able to hold people accountable for a longer period of time. And then that there is something called the take it back tax uh where if someone um fraudulently gets a million dollars, they're taxed a million dollars on that. There's there's much much more that we need to do to address the culture of of fraud uh within state government uh as well. So, I serve on the labor and workforce committee and I serve on education finance. So, just want to give you a brief update. One of the the big pieces from a labor and workforce um standpoint was grant management and oversight. So, we spent a lot of time and came to some bipartisan consensus on on grant management and oversight pieces. You may have heard of the Promise Act. There's uh there was a lot of discussion in the news about that uh and some concerns with fraud there. And then the other piece we talked a lot about with the labor and workforce is just the business climate in Minnesota and and attracting and retaining businesses. I had a constituent reach out to me about uh the pass through entity tax and and that was uh part of some of the federal pieces change and he said, "Ben, this would this would allow me to reinvest $150,000 back into my business if this pass through entity were were to go through. And it doesn't cost the state a thing." So thankfully we're able to get that uh get that done for um for for his business and the rest of our businesses across Minnesota. Uh and it allows them to reinvest into into their businesses. Um in education finance, uh school safety was a top priority for all of us. Uh how we got there is a different approach. Um but the bottom line is we were able to pass something called an anonymous threat reporting. And I think it's important to talk to to the council about this because this will have an impact on the the local police here in Shakipi as well. So there are two different um versions of an anonymous threat reporting that a school district can use. They can use their own version and most schools will go with a program called Sandy Hook Promise or they can they can choose to go with one developed through the BCA. The biggest change that we made is that whichever program that the the school district chooses, it has to communicate to the BCA. So if if [clears throat] my son is online and someone makes a threat, he can anonymously report that threat um to you know to the through this system that we have in our that school districts will have in their handbook. It'll be available online so that kids can anonymously report it. Community members can anonymously report it. That's a big thing in with especially with kids that I see in my principal job is you know they have there's a term where they'll say snitches get snitches. So they don't want to report things. So that anonymous piece is really important but making sure that that the different um different people are talking to each other. So, that's a a very positive step from a school safety standpoint. Um, and then there are some funding pieces that that are going to be impacting the local school that will ultimately impact local property taxpayers. So, just being aware of that. But again, I just want to say thank you. Thank you to the council. Thank you to the community uh for the the opportunity to work with you and the opportunity to represent a portion of Shakape. questions of councel. >> So the anonymous fraud, where does that reporting go to? Does it if >> So it's it's anonym it's an it's an anonymous threat reporting system. So it there's a so if if my son would um would you know feel like there is a threat, >> he would he would submit the threat uh online. There's a QR code. There's different ways they would submit it. It goes into a database. >> Is this like a school thing >> or it's school and community? It's both. But then what the BCA will be communicated with? Then the BCA would communicate with with the Shakipe PD. Uh >> so I'm trying to where does the community member get this QR code? >> That's that's the piece that has to be figured out. Right now it's a school piece only but I think it has to be expanded to uh to the community as well because you know you think about all of the different venues across Shakipi across Scott County right >> um where you know and those are where those those local governments need to be included in the conversation >> but right now it's it is a it's a school district piece that will have an impact on on the local PD because they will be communicated with through the BCA, >> right? And then how do you how do you fish out the ones that aren't threats? I mean, is there evidence that gets sent in or is it just word of mouth? >> So, the BCA part of the [clears throat] part of the there was additional funding to the BCA for investigators to be able to do just that. Okay. >> To be able to investigate. Wisconsin and I think Michigan have a similar program in place and the majority of the the the threats that came in were deemed to not be a viable threat before it came to the local PD. But there are times that they have prevented incidents happening and we've had it >> uh in Dakota County where a threat was made on the north side. Uh they were able to track the IP address that it was made up in ANOA I believe uh to a Lakeville school. >> Good. Mr. Lara, >> the uh car tabs and the property tax relief where um how is that being factored in in terms of like loss of revenue? >> Yeah. So those I mean those those are coming out of the general fund. So, just like HCMC, there's different ways that you fund things. One of the proposal was a property tax increase for HCMC. And to be very direct, we we said we're not doing that. Um, and we were able to find the money to save HCMC within the budget already there. So, um, yeah, it's coming out of the general fund. We need to figure out and we need to be efficient with our taxpayer dollars. Um, we need to address fraud. Obviously that's the you know the first and foremost issue but then also looking at where are we spending dollars and where is there waste within government or where are there inefficiencies in government and that's what we did with HCMC Danny Nadau was one of the the leads on it working with Esther Abaj and they were able to come to a bipartisan consensus on how to save HCMC without raising taxes >> um but the property taxes is in the car tabs you'd mentioned. >> Yeah, they're coming out of they're coming out of general fund. >> Okay. >> The property tax he mentioned was a school uh property tax impact that our community would see. I'm not sure how that exactly works out, but is that does that answer part of your question, >> Mr. Reynolds? >> Uh thanks, Mr. Mayor. Uh Representative Bickberg, first of all, thank you very much. when we talk about inefficiencies and and uh wasting money, I can't think of a better way than uh thanking you for uh your clarification on our elections and uh our individual responsibilities as cities. Uh we spend almost 100,000 a year uh on elections. Uh and we have a couple of election judges who sit back in that room uh and may get 40 votes in four weeks. uh an incredibly inefficient and incredibly waste of money uh from our standpoint. And uh we no longer have to do that and the county will be having a centralized place for those that want to vote early uh can go and vote early and individual cities don't have to staff that anymore. That that's taxpayer relief right there. And so thank you very much for your efforts in that regard. >> M >> and uh I'll add thanks for the support on the innovation center. So the hub uh future progress. So uh we're looking forward to that. Thank you. >> Really quick, >> councelor Contrers, >> thank you too. But um talk about there was something that passed and once you said innovation hub I remembered so when a city um presents a project right and you're asking for money that now you guys are going to look at it very well and make sure that it's not just that project and that they um also present a um a backup like like to um to take care of the project in long term if they get that money. Can you tell me a little bit about that? I mean do you know what I'm talking about? Sorry. I'm so big there. >> Yeah. I think you're talking about some of the the guard rails around the bonding bill. Is that >> um I don't know. It was just like when um like let's shock at you, right? We brought the innovation hub towards um to you guys and then we're asking for money, we get dollars, but before you get those dollars, you need to now present a like a um >> let me help you here. There was a proposed legislation that I don't believe passed that would require the city to uh have future replacement cost set aside for to match the investment of state dollars into some of these projects. >> Well, you just have to have a plan to take care of care care of that same project that you're asking for. So, it didn't pass. That one didn't pass. >> I have >> So, so the the proposal was that the cities would be required. So, let's say the a city gets uh $5 million for a water treatment plant or something like that. In order to be eligible for the state bonding dollars, the city would have to put aside future cost uh seven 7.5 million on 5 million for 20 years down the road uh to maintain and replace the field facility in the future. I don't believe that past might be something you want to check into. Uh that's that's an extremely uh unacceptable burden placed on >> Okay. >> I was just wondering if it did or didn't. I wasn't quite sure. I just had heard about it on scale. That's why. >> Yeah. So I don't I don't sit on bonding. Um but I think the premise of it is is having you know there are state investments into different projects across the state and then cities or counties or municipalities come back and say well we need we need dollars to maintain that. So whether it be um a a community center, an ice rink, you know, different things like that. Those are um you know, bonding gets to be a a very interesting um discussion in part because of that. >> Thank you for everything though. >> Well, thank you for coming, Representative Breaker Bakeber. We really appreciate uh you taking your time to come and have this discussion with us. >> Yeah. Thank you. you. And I believe you have my number, so call or text anytime. >> Thank you. >> Take care. >> Item 4B will be an election update from Scott County. And if there's more than one, you can certainly pull up an chair if you need to at the table there. >> I think I'm going to stay up here if that's okay. >> Very good. >> Perfect. Thank you. Rick, do you mind giving me a hand for a moment? >> It is going to sleep. >> I got There you go. >> Thank you so much. Well, good evening. My name is Julie Hansen. I am the property and customer service manager for Scott County. If we haven't met, thank you for having me. Um, a part of my responsibilities, the different hats that I wear are elections. Um, I've been in my position since 2018 and uh, elections have changed significantly since 2018. Um, but I want to thank you for having me. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you for not having your city council meeting the same time as the USA men's game yesterday. Really appreciate that. Um, my 25 years of soccer demands that I watch those soccer games closely, but uh, so thank you. Um, I'm happy to take questions. Um, we'll just get through a few slides and and, uh, see if you've got some questions for me tonight. So, what I've got on the agenda tonight is to speak a little bit about the 2026 election schedule. um some county initiated changes after 2024 as well as some legislative changes and Representative Bakeberg is no longer here, but I want to thank him for not stealing my thunder. Um there were a lot of changes in 25 and 26. Um we'll talk a little bit about how they'll apply to you. Um some special elections and some changes that we're going to implement um per board approval. some federal initiatives and let's talk about non-citizen voting, right? That's a hot topic. So, we're going to talk about that and then I'm happy, like I said, to take any questions that you may have. If I don't know that answer, we will absolutely uh get back to you with it at a later time. Okay. So for Shakipi, um you folks are under our late filing period which does start um July 14th which is coming up here pretty quick, right? Um so between the 14th and the 28th as you have vacancies um folks can come in and apply for those vacancies. Uh we do ask that your team gets those filings emailed over to the general elections email immediately. Uh there was a legislative change that I'll talk about a little bit, but it does require that those come in within one business day. We don't have any concern about that. You know, that's we get those things very quickly from your office. But >> is it is it one business day from the date of filing or is it one business day from the the end of filing period of the 28th? >> Excellent question. Thank you for asking. It is one business day from the date of filing. >> Okay. >> Correct. So, anything that comes in on the 14th. Uh, to be honest, we'd like them on the 14th. Um, I know when you file for office, you like to see your name and make sure that everything looks just right on the state's website. Uh, so the sooner we can get those, the sooner we can get those entered for you. The primary, as we know, is August 11th. Um absentee did start June 26th and then early voting begins this year um July 24th and then for the general our general election is November 3rd. Absentee itself will start on September 18th and then early voting will begin on October 16th. So let's talk about some changes that we have decided to make um post 2024. Uh we have put together with our IT staff a SharePoint site. We will have daily upload of the statewide voter registration system reports that show that each of the absentee cities have balanced. Those will be uploaded to um our site. We will share updated forms. Um, and only city clerks and the approved staff will actually have access to the SharePoint site. So, our IT staff set it up, but I control the access. So, for example, um, Rick would have access and anyone that he would designate. >> So, how does the public know if if these are balancing? >> [sighs] >> How does the public know if they're balancing? Um, we don't have those out on a public site. We have those on a private site. Um, I don't necessarily need the public to view those reports, but that is something that we could certainly think about and talk about. Um, I'd actually need to talk to the county attorney in the secretary of state's office and see at that point what exactly is public. I know sheer numbers are public like every day we know um how many people have voted, but um that's that's a great question. I hadn't thought about that. So, let me >> Well, I bring it up because of the snafu of the past election where it was a a balancing issue, right? >> Correct. >> Yes. public knew that there was a balancing issue and now if they don't know that it's almost kind of seems secretive. >> The public did not know there was a balancing issue at that time. >> Okay. >> Right. Um >> they knew at the certification process. >> Correct. I found the issue um a couple of days after the election. Yes. >> Okay. And um it was a number from one spreadsheet to another. >> Yeah. So what would they still know at that same timeline under this new process? >> The timelines are different you mean for reporting or tell me more about timeline. >> If there's a balancing problem they would know it at the certification. Correct. If there's a balancing problem, it should be known immediately. Right. Right. The same day. >> But I mean the public, >> correct? Um the public would know as soon as we would know and we would have something to report. Okay. So the public was made aware >> as soon as I knew and I understood what the problem was because at the time we didn't know if it was missing ballots >> or if it was people that had not voted or what exactly it was. >> So as soon as we were aware of what it was, there was a public statement made. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Um we had a half day absentee training on June 17th and brought everyone in. um to do that. And then we're also going to do a virtual balancing training with all of the clerks and their staff. Uh we just figure for that portion because we will be into the filing period having people out of the office is really really tough. So, we will do a teams meeting with all of the absentee cities and go through the more indepth balancing with the guidance that has now been provided by the secretary of state's office. Um, everyone across the state and I'm sure outside of the state are looking at balancing a little bit differently, right? So, um, we are going to be getting in depth with that. uh we will be providing a default balancing spreadsheet on that SharePoint site so that everyone is using the same document um but they have their own version of that same document all the formats are the same um so that anyone can ask questions of anyone else um but that shakip doesn't have to upload data to the same spreadsheet as bell plane right we want to keep all of that obviously very separate so everyone Everyone's got their own portions of the SharePoint site that they'll be able to access. Now, in odd-year or offcycle elections, um, pending approval by the board, um, the county is going to do things a little bit differently than what we've done the last few years. Uh, we would like to manage coordination with the vendors, and that is through no shortcoming of anyone or anyone's fault. Um but we have discovered that if you needed to call a special election and so for example in November of 2025 we had six special elections. So between the school districts and the city of Prior Lake there were six. Um that means that there were six fees paid and that is taxpayer dollars that we don't want to see happen, right? We want to um conserve that because whether it's your taxpayer or a Bell Plains taxpayer or anyone, it's all taxpayer dollars. So by us doing the coordination, that is one fee for all the elections. Um we do use first impressions um for ballot printing, by us coordinating that for you. Um we have more experience, right, in how many ballots to order, those types of things. Um, so I think it'll just streamline and take some of the pressure off. SVRS will be utilized for absentee and that is a legislative change. It has to be utilized for absentee, but it makes processing and balancing simpler. Um, early voting will be utilized and the county ma the county will manage the roles just like we do now for SPS access. The one thing about that is the absentee period will need to be done at the city. Um that is not something for special elections. So we can you know look forward to the early voting those kinds of things. But as we as we get into a need for a special election, we can dive into what that looks like a little bit deeper. Um but the county will manage the way that we do it now. uh we will handle your mail balloting for you, those kinds of things. So, uh we definitely want to be a true partner and relieve some of that pressure. So, hopefully those kinds of things will help. So, some legislative changes that happened. Um and then pre-election, I've kind of divided this out a little bit, but for pre-election, a chain of custody plan was due June 1st. Uh the county did develop that plan and we've shared that out amongst the clerks. The clerks would use our man our plan that we wrote. Um or they may develop their own that meets or exceeds but that is for local elections only. So the chain of custody plan is something that came out after 2024. Right. And it's a great thing. Everything is documented. Uh resources are there. It's it's a great guide. As far as candidate filings go, um there were some new forms that were developed and if you've seen them, they're great. They really are. They are streamlined. They make things easy. Um there's different forms for different levels and it's they're just wonderful. Um there are some revised dates for proof of address, private address for judicial offices, county sheriffs, and county attorneys. Um, and again, it must be sent to the county within one day. Something that also was made a little bit simpler is when you file your candidate filing, if you've taken a look at that for maybe something that you're going to be filing for this election, you now have the ability to literally check a box and make your address private. um with everything of course that's happened here in Minnesota and elsewhere um they've tried to make that much easier and thank the legislature for that for sure. Um but it is just an easier way to do things. So you may have to provide your address but you only have to provide it to the filing officer. It doesn't need to go any further. Also for pre-election, the late filing period was moved back two weeks to not fall on primary election day. It never failed. The late filing period close was always on the primary election day. And I don't know any township or city clerk that could be in their office until 5:00 and manage all the election duties and all of those things. So thankfully that's moved back. There's been an errors and omissions process developed for ballot errors. Uh we don't like to see those kinds of things happen, of course. Um but I can tell you that we're in 2024 with a lot of new vendors. A lot of new uh elections staff. 60% of elections administrators have turned over in their jobs in the last less than a decade. Um there were errors. So, if everyone agrees that the change needs to be made, the candidates on the ballot, um, everyone involved is agre in agreement, it doesn't need to go before a judge anymore. If for some reason there was an error that a candidate did not agree with or did not um want to agree with the errors and omissions process, I can still appear before a judge and get something corrected, but it certainly is a lot more streamlined, allows us to correct things and correct printing errors, those kinds of things. And then election judge training. Um it is just codified in law that it has to be consistent with the OSS training. So the office of the secretary of state puts out uh training videos and kind of a starting PowerPoint for all of us and any training that we do just needs to follow their format for absentee. Um, tribal popups are now allowed. Uh, local tribes can request. They do have to meet all the requirements for the polling place and have all ballot styles. I can say that this is something that isn't necessarily uh centered towards us, right? Because our tribe is centered very closely to our polling places. Um, but outstate that is not always the case. So, that's a a great thing for folks to be able to do. election day. Uh there is a 5:00 pm in-person absentee ballot return deadline. Now, it was 8 o'clock no matter how you returned your ballot. So, if you vote absentee, as you can imagine, I can't go and vote on election day. My bosses are kind of mean. They don't let me do that. Um so, I always vote absentee. So, I have to have my ballot back to the city by 5:00 p.m. on election day. Unless I return it by mail, by courier, or I do an agent delivery process, then it's 8:00. So, we take in all of the absentee ballots. Uh the city does not do that, but just so folks are aware that that that's happening. Um there is a chance you could get like an agent delivery or something like that. Um, and then other processes were codified in statute. Ballot board, storage of ballots, counting of ballots, all of those things that we've talked about um, since 2024 that were procedures, but now they are codified in statute. Early voting of course uh was passed and that as I said does start with this primary as you're all aware uh it's 18 days of that instead of direct balloting we would recommend a second person pull that ballot in a city like I keep picking on Bellplane but in a city like Bellplane where there's one ballot style you have 0% chance of giving someone the wrong ballot in a city like Shakipi where you have 14 or technically 16 um precincts, it's easier to make that mistake. Um so if you always have two people looking at a ballot and you're explaining that to the voter and you're asking the voter to verify that they get they get the correct ballot, um that is a you know a triple check, if we will. Poll pads are going to be utilized for registered voters. And I'm really excited about this and I hope our city clerks are just as excited. Um, you will have one roster for your entire jurisdiction. Meaning that one poll pad will contain all of the Shakape voters. What it will do is when someone walks in to vote and they're already registered here in the city of Shakpi, it will look more like the election day experience. When you check in on the poll pad, your receipt prints um you're handed a receipt, that type of thing, but this receipt will print a voter ID barcode. So, this voter ID barcode will be able to be scanned into the statewide voter registration system with a little wand scanner or trigger scanner. Um, and that will ensure that that is the correct voter. It will print a certification label. Um, there's no more application, but it does require a certification. So, it is a shorter form than what we used to have filled out for absentee voting, but it is still a form that's required. By using poll pads, we're able to eliminate all of the handwriting, all of the issues that we've had in the past with that. Um, if someone does need to register to vote, if they've just moved to Shakape and they need to register here, that is going to be an a handwritten application process. Um, I've heard there are ways to do a non-registered voter in a poll pad and I'd like to see it happen. Um, but with automatic voter registration, with our driver's license process now, our non-registered voter count should be fairly low. So, I'm really excited about that. Okay, so here's some federal propo federal proposals. Um, I went through these at our scale presentation and at that time things were really up in the air. Some things have been settled already and I've tried to update my presentation to reflect that. Um, but so we'll talk about the proposals and then I've got some details about them a little bit later. But um, what the act or the mega act would do is prevent voting by non-citizens. It would require documentary proof of citizenship to register. So that would be a passport, an enhanced ID or driver's license or a military ID with a military record. There are other IDs allowed in the writing of the bill, but it's with proof of citizenship if your names match. That would be a birth certificate, a naturalization certificate, and there is a small list of other documents as well. There was the Minnesota Voter Integrity Act of 2026 that would withhold HAVA funds unless the voter data is shared. There was an executive order on citizenship and voting on March 25th of 2025, so last year. It would require p paper ballots which of course Minnesota is a paper ballot state and just as a statistic 95 to 98% of ballots cast in 24 did have a paper record. You would not be able to accept ballots after election day which again Minnesota does not. We don't have a postmark rule here and it would prohibit foreign nationals from voting. Then there was an executive order this year on March 31st that would create state citizenship lists from the save social security administration and other databases. What this would involve is we would have to compare lists. So we would have a list, USPS would have a list. Um all of these lists would need to be compared. there would be a five-year retention except for the ballots. Those have a 22-month retention June 24th. So, in the process of updating this, this was permanently struck down by a federal judge. So, let's talk about the challenges. Um, the effective date if any of these things come back, right, the SAVE Act is not dead. It is out there um and it could come back. The effective date on these is immediately. There's no by the election in 2028 things need to be updated and folks need to be trained. It is at the time of signing. So that would have an impact on online mailin election day registration and registration drives. You would have to show proof of citizenship in person. So mail and online voter registration would be eliminated. So, anyone looking to register to vote would need to come to my office to be able to vote and there's no provision in the act for name changes. Um, it's very ambiguous. So, I was not born with the last name Hansen. I wished and hoped for an easier name than my birth name [laughter] and I got it. Um, but there is no allowance in the SAVE Act to show a certified copy of a marriage certificate or a certified copy of a court order or a certified copy of your naturalization name change document. There's none of that. It's not saying that those wouldn't be allowed, but there is no allowance written into the act for that. Um, we would also be relying on imperfect databases. We use the save database for our driver's license verification. Um the SSA database. No database is perfect. And some clarity around that. Um non-citizen voting is shown to be incredibly rare. There was a study done after the 2016 election that showed a 0.001% 0001% rate of non-citizen voting. The Heritage Foundation did their own study and found 77 cases over 24 years of voting throughout the country. And the Brennan Center counted 41 cases over five decades. No one's here to say that it doesn't happen, but it is incredibly rare. [sighs] and the impact of these changes, we would be completely overwhelmed. Your city staff would be completely overwhelmed. Over 21 million people in this country lack easy access to their documents. If we think about things like hurricane Katrina and those type of natural disasters that have happened in our country and people had everything that they needed and those were wiped away in states that this has already required large numbers of eligible voters have consistently been blocked. In Kansas 12% of eligible voters were prevented from voting and of course this would increase weight times at the polls. we have um put in poll pads and streamlined. And if we think about there was an election um in your city, not your election, but there was an election in your city quite a few years back with long long lines, right? If you remember hearing about that, um we have streamlined that unbelievably. There is private right of action and criminal penalties for willful violation written into these bills. So I could be sued, you could be sued by a private citizen that doesn't understand the elections process. Election judges would have to be trained in accepting all different types of documents, birth certificates from 50 states plus all of our territories. I've been in this world in the government um for almost 30 years and I can't identify every single certified marriage certificate, certified birth certificate, naturalization certificate version, all of that. And I wonder how all of these things would affect staffing. It's hard to find election judges now, right? So, if election judges could be sued by private parties because of a mistake that happened, I wonder how much harder it would be to find folks. And that's what I have in my presentation for you. So, I am more than happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Ton of information in a short period of time. Uh questions. Any questions? You must have done a really nice job because nobody has any questions. Staff have any questions? >> No. >> Very good. Thank you very much. We appreciate >> you. And please know that I'm always available. Um you can reach out to me anytime and happy to walk through anything with you. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you. >> Item five, approval of the agenda. Any changes to the agenda? >> Nothing from staff, sir. >> Also, >> wishes of councel. Mr. Lara, >> make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Delaney. Discussion on the motion. >> Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item number six, consent agenda. Any changes to consent agenda? >> Not from staff, sir. >> Changes from council. [clears throat] Mr. Whiting. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Seconded by councelor Contrarus. Any discussion? Mr. Reynolds, would you like to read the consent for us, please? >> Yes, Mr. Mayor, members, council. These are the consent agenda items for Tuesday, July 7th of 2026. 6A authorizes final acceptance and payment for phase 2 of the downtown ADA lighting and treehab tree rehab improvement project. 6B approves an agreement with the Metropolitan Council to participate in the 2026 community community assisted monitoring program for water quality sampling. 6C accepts Minnesota State Fire Marshals Minnesota Fire Department turnout gear washer extractor dryer grant award. 6D approves a gambling premises permit for Climb Theater Incorporated. 6E is a resolution moving city council and EDA meet meeting from August 5th to August 4th of 2026. 6F purchases thermal imaging cameras. 6G approves a tobacco license of Schwazendale Pub LLC doing business as Aries. 6H Parks and Recreation Premier sponsorship for the Metropolitan Dance Alliance. 6 I 6 I is the AED donation from the Hearts on Duty program. 6J approves the J June 16th, 2026 city council minutes and 6K is a disposal of police department surplus property. >> Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. We do have a motion and a second. Any discussion on the motion? Discussion seeing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Takes us to item seven, public comment. If you're here for an item not on our agenda, now would be the time to come forward. If you're here for an item not on our agenda. Last call. Seeing none, item number eight, business removed from consent. We have none removed. Item number nine would be a recess to our economic development authority meeting. Motion, M. Councelor Contrarus. >> Motion to recess to the um EDA meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by councelor Delaney. Discussion on the motion. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. >> We are in recess for economic development authority. >> Like to call to order the shock of economic development authority meeting for July 7th, 2026. Please make note of the role. Oops. Uh, number two on our agenda is approval of that agenda. Commissioners, >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion on the floor. Is there a second? Motion and second to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> Any All those in favor say I. >> Any opposed? All right, we have an agenda. Uh, item three is our consent business, which has our EDA minutes. >> I'll move the consent agenda. >> I'll second. All right, we'll give that a motion by Commissioner Layman, seconded by Commissioner Lara at this time to approve the M minutes. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. Uh, general business item 4A Ronda contract for private development for the former Shakipi gravel site. Mr. Kurski, >> chair and board members. So this is the uh next step. The TIFF um district was created. Now this is the contract for private development with the developer that sets aside the creation of the necessary items to be completed and uh sets a note at $44,575,582. um that once um the project starts that's how the note will be paid from the tax revenue generated from the project. >> All right, questions of staff. >> I have one commissioner. >> Mr. President, question I had was on the advance. There's an advance form in here and it talks about it, but I are we doing an advance on on this? >> No. >> No. Okay. Any other questions? >> Mr. Condras? Uh, >> I don't have a a question. I'd just like to make a a motion to approve resolution E2026-005 for the contract for private redevelopment between the Economic Development Authorities for the city of Shakipi and the Eagle Ventures LLC and the authorizing the president and the executive director to execute the agreement and related documents. Second. >> All right, we're going to give this one to Commissioner Delaney this time. We have a motion by contrary, second by Delaney. Any discussion? Discussion. Discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> I. >> Passes four to one. [clears throat] All right. Please make note any questions on the EDA bill list item 5A. >> None for me. >> None. >> No questions. >> All right. Without objection, I'll move that we are adjourned to August 4th at 7 p.m. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Motion and second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We are adjourned. >> Reconvening the Shaki city council meeting item 11 administration reports. Start down on the left. Mr. Lara. >> Sure. Uh Friday, February 19th, we I was at the Kudoba ribbon cutting. um keto around for a while, but the ribbon cutting was for them um coming back into the chamber and uh recommitting themselves to the community. Uh Monday the 22nd was the Superior Shores Water Park ribbon cutting at Valley Fair. Uh they just went under a multi-million dollar renovation, so they wanted to uh get that kicked off. >> Um and then Tuesday the 23rd, Rolling Suds Ribbon Cutting. It's a new um business that does home like exterior cleaning. So like power washing your driveway, sidewalks, your sighting, etc. And then on the 25th was a main street meeting downtown. Um all the businesses got together um to discuss um current and future events that are going to occur downtown and different ways to uh drum up u activity down there. So >> very good to contri. >> Thank you, mayor. 19th Koba ribbon cutting. Uh on the 20th they attended the um Ampa the Mystic Lake Amphitheater first concert at um setting the stage. That was an um really good uh first event. And then on the 22nd the Valley Fair superior um shores ribbon cutting on the 23rd also the ribbon cutting for rolling suds. And then on the 24th, 25th and the 26th I attended the League of Minnesota annual conferences in Rochester. >> Very good. How's waiting? See, June 17th was our meeting of the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority. Um, we did start a pilot project which probably won't get rolling till August or September, but has to do with our MVTA Connect. So, anytime that uh our computer system knows that uh the MVTA Connect won't be able to pick you up in a certain amount of time, uh one of the uh Uber or Lyft organizations will come for that same fee, pick you up, and get you to any spot within our zone. uh for MVTA connect. So, um it adds to our service so you're not waiting around 45 minutes for a bus or or a van ride to wherever you're going within our district. Uh the other thing we talked about is our uh um regional solicitation. This year we had several projects we put in for a route 450 transit service uh transit connect specialists uh and um connecting the south zone expansion of one of our routes and a technology and accessibility enhancements for proposal for our regional solicitation. But that's what we did on that. I do have some forms on what we're trying to get out of the solicitation if you're interested. And that's all I have. Did Did I see something about uh MVTA was going to do something with the amphitheater, too? >> They've been working in partnership with the amphitheater. I think >> Yeah, I saw that somewhere online. >> Yep. >> Tom, thanks. >> Yeah, >> Mr. Delaney. >> Okay, so 20th amphitheater soft opening. Gorgeous venue. If you haven't had a chance to go, definitely go. Uh beautiful venue, excellent, great bands. Of course, more standard time, the older crowds. We we shut everything down, of course, at the very end there. That was pretty pretty nice. Um, MMUA legislative update that was on the 25th. Um, still there's a moratorium on nuclear still I don't see any movement on that but personally I think to get to that 2040 you will have to introduce nuclear at some point. Um, also on the 30th of June there was a data center webinar that was sponsored by deed. There was a lot of information in that meeting. Um, various partners even mind participated. Um my takeaway from that is there's definitely a distinction between data centers. There's your hypers scale and then there's your kind of your enterprise data centers that people seem to get kind of the hypers scale are the ones that use the massive amount of powers are noisy and and I think there's needs to be some education to the community as far as the differences. Um so that's my take away from the meeting but again there was a lot of information there. Of course um SPU had their meeting on Monday. Uh, one of the things for that was there was a a there we voted to continue to support the uh the community garden. I think it's over there by Middle School East, Middle School West uh for another five years. Um, Spoke actually does the they donate the water for that and also it's on the Spoke property. So, that's that's a good community asset and also good community activity. Um, and that's it other than the 250th independence anniversary. So, hope everybody had a chance to celebrate. So that's it. >> Very good. Thank you. >> My report was all over town, which is kind of fun actually. Uh June 19th was Quudoba out in the uh Dean Lake development, Revan Cutting. June 20th was the amphitheater out in the Canterbury development. June 22nd with that Valley Fair uh Superior Shores Water Park Enhancement. I think it was about $15 million worth of update. Very nice. Very cool. June 23rd, uh, new business in the Mars Industrial Park area, rolling suds, >> which does the power washing of your exterior of your home and sidewalks and driveways and decks and all all kinds of stuff like that. Nice equipment. So, I I was pretty impressed with the equipment actually. Um, that's my report. Um, Mr. Reynolds, anything? >> Nothing for me, sir. >> Okay. 11A city bill list. Any questions on the bill list? I know we got it a little late. If you do have any questions, get a hold of finance director. Very good. Item 11B, news and announcements. [clears throat] Mr. Lara. >> Sure. Uh, first one, Rhythm of the Rails continues this Wednesday, July 8th, from 6:00 to 9. Rhythm on the Rails is a free six week outdoor concert series that takes place on Wednesday nights in June and July. This event is held on Lewis Street downtown Shakby. >> Deaf legend. >> Deaf legend. Yep. >> Take off of de leopard. >> Should be a good one. >> Hubert Park performance and event series. The Shakabe Parks and Recreation Department offers family free entertainment Thursday June through August at the Huber Park. Entertainment starts at 700 p.m. View the full lineup of um entertain uh yeah entertainers on the city website. Come join us for fun summer event of music and community. And this this on the 9th is the jury rock blues allstar dance band. >> Very very good. And when is the cash guy coming back? >> We'll have No, there he is. Mitchell Hall. that was rescheduled. So, it's going to be later in August, I believe. We'll have to find out. >> Thank you, Mr. Whiting. >> July 2026 is National Parks and Recreation Month. Residents are encouraged to celebrate by visiting local parks, exploring trails, participating in recreational programs, enjoying natural spaces, and recognizing the dedicated staff and volunteers and community partners who help make Shakape vibrant, healthy, and a connected community. >> Awesome. Mr. Delaney. >> Okay. Shakabby candidate fing are interested in being a candidate in the upcoming Shaki election. If so, complete and submit an affid affidate of candidacy to to the Shakabe city clerk's office between July 14 July 28th. See the city website for additional details. I'm trying to read through my bif focus here. So there we go. >> Bif focals. Progressives. >> Progressives. >> There you go. All right. Very good. Lot lot going on. Item 12. Any other business? Motion to adjurnn would be in order. Mr. Lar, >> I'll make a motion to adjourn to July 21st, 2026 at 7 p.m. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Take your >> seconded by Counc Delaney. Yep. >> Discussion. Seeing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. We're adjourned.