[0:09] okay welcome everybody uh welcome to the April 2nd 2025 Oakdale Economic [0:16] Development Commission this is our regular meeting um let's have a uh call roll um [0:25] I'm Jeff Bates uh here tony Jenkins here frank Orello [0:32] frank yes stacy Penn robert here and [0:38] Ping Vang is not here tonight okay um All right let's do the pledge of [0:45] allegiance frank would you lead us please sure [0:50] i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the [0:55] republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and [1:01] justice for all [1:07] thank you Frank all right uh the agenda is been handed out in front of us here uh can we [1:14] have a motion to approve the agenda as presented i'll make a motion okay and second i'll [1:22] second all in favor i I anybody opposed [1:28] okay motion carries all right for the minutes um any discussions or [1:33] corrections i have one uh myself i know i saw on the uh staff lays and updates [1:40] second paragraph uh that first sentence was incomplete so I've already talked to [1:46] Max about this and he'll update that any other [1:55] corrections okay you have a moment to [2:11] review all right uh a motion to approve the minutes with the corrections that I [2:18] stated to the page two of the or the second paragraph of the staff lays and updates motion so moved a second okay [2:28] and all in favor i I Okay uh motion carries okay now uh we move on to the [2:36] open forum are there any members of the audience of the public that would like [2:41] to speak and right now I see no members of the [2:46] audience i'll close the open form then all right [2:52] um for our business old business uh we have the Economic Development Commission [2:58] 2025 work plan max can you speak to that sure [3:05] thing good evening folks give me just a moment to get the presentation up here [3:10] um so as a reminder the economic development commission and other city commissions are required to prepare an [3:17] annual work plan that outlines the priorities goals and activities that the commission wishes to focus on for the [3:23] year uh generally staff prepares a draft based on the upcoming projects for the [3:29] year and what we've been hearing from our commissioners and then the commission will provides additional [3:34] input and adjust the goals and priorities the 2025 draft plan is located in your [3:40] packet and will be shown on the screen in a few moments as well um last November we did take a look at the [3:47] initial draft of the work plan now given that we've had the appreciation dinner and the opportunity to chat with the [3:53] city council um I want to open back up the work plan to any additional [3:58] adjustments ideas that you might have um we want to make this open and if you do have ideas we're very much looking for [4:05] things that the EDC can focus on so I'll have these up on the screen and it's in your packet as well towards [4:12] the beginning um so here we just have the first few goals of the plan highlights include continuing the Bria [4:20] program participating in business visits and other business development events [4:25] advising staff on how best to market the city for economic development and assisting with redevelopment efforts and [4:32] area plans towards the bottom of it we have additional goals which include [4:38] collaborating with other local economic development groups on projects and programs promoting resources and tools [4:44] related to economic development participating in city studies including the upcoming 12th and Geneva study [4:52] participating in trainings and integrating educational topics from guest agencies and [4:58] organizations um so this is the draft work plan and with that if there's any [5:03] other ideas at all I'd be happy to adjust that going forward [5:17] what are the next steps so formal adoption is no not required at [5:22] this point anymore um we would just look to make any adjustments and otherwise [5:27] send it back to the city council for consideration okay uh do you need a um any kind of a [5:34] decision tonight on this um I don't need a formal decision again if there's just any out there ideas anyone wants to [5:41] float please feel free you can also email me or call me at a later date as well i think the idea is to still have [5:47] the 12 for the BR the business retention expansion 12 visits again is there a [5:52] recommended amount of people i know you go on them frequently right is there a recommended amount of people that need [5:59] to go on there or ideal three four what's a typical amount that go on usually there's about four [6:06] people yeah we we try to have one representative of the business community who's not a part of the city um or can [6:14] be a part of a city commission obviously but um less we would want to make sure [6:20] as visits restart that some folks who haven't gotten to go yet get a chance um so once we start those visits up we [6:27] would um email folks do do Last time what we did was a random drawing and [6:32] just reached out to see uh based on who we drew and if they said yes we invited [6:38] them along so I I think we would look to do that again i was able to go on one a while ago now [6:46] and it was very u interesting i think it was the um home home furniture opening [6:53] when that first opened up and that was interesting to hear about and then it was there was also one for one of the [6:59] local motel hotels uh we got to talk with the general manager at that one [7:06] learned a lot he was looking at that time he was looking forward to the gold line uh just to even bring in workers [7:13] for him for his place so could see a lot of things coming together it's really [7:18] interesting and fun to see this do we ever run around back with any [7:23] of those visits like a like you said like maybe like a year after you know to see like if somebody like that was [7:28] excited with the goal line to follow up with them at the end of this year once it's been active and see how what impact [7:34] it's had or anything just curious yeah I can speak to that um Commissioner we [7:40] have recently tried to really explore uh that option if you I actually gave you a [7:45] phone call if you recall um to follow up on your visit to CCF Bank um we've been [7:52] calling some of our firstear participants asking them questions if there's anything the city can still do [7:58] how business is going um inviting further discussion if they wish to have it and we look to continue to do that um [8:05] we're exploring some contract options right now for the Bria program and uh [8:11] exploring different opportunities by which we could follow up on old businesses and really highlight the [8:18] retention component of business retention [8:25] is there a formal um plan when a new business comes into [8:31] Oakdale um does anybody from the city you know step up and say hey welcome to [8:38] the city and you know like offer we've been cutting or anything or is it do they have to come to the city [8:46] yeah um thanks commissioner uh we have a program that I actually operate where we [8:52] drop off business welcome folders and offer up our contact information to new businesses that open it can be a little [8:59] tricky to find new businesses sometimes just given especially if it's in an industrial area we might not know when [9:05] someone moves in we usually rely on certificate of occupancy uh certificates [9:11] which many businesses do get when they move in uh you're required to but the [9:17] reality is not everyone does and it can be hard to track that we don't require a [9:23] registration of businesses like some other cities may so um when it becomes [9:28] on our radar we will reach out and then if they want further discussion we can [9:33] refer them to the city council to see if they want a ribbon cutting or a groundbreaking of some [9:45] sort all right any more discussion on the um economic development commission [9:50] um 2025 work plan all right the next item up we've [9:56] already started working on uh talking about the business retention expansion and attraction program the Bria program [10:03] um uh year two report max you have that yep thank you vice chair uh next up we [10:10] have the Bria report for the second year of the program over the last year city [10:15] staff elected officials chamber and EDC members attended 12 visits uh with local [10:20] businesses and now nonprofits in the community as well as a result um St paul [10:26] area Chamber staff have prepared a report which summarizes what we heard from businesses on the second year of [10:33] visits the presentation summarizes the report identifies different trends that we heard and then concludes with [10:39] recommendations on how to support Oakdale businesses as a city with that I'm excited to walk through these [10:45] findings and please feel free to stop me with questions throughout uh just a reminder and [10:53] introduction to new members the BRIA program has four primary goals including express appreciation to businesses and [11:00] build relationships connect businesses with resources to help them grow [11:05] understand real estate and workforce needs and understand how our policies [11:10] impact the business climate of Oakdale as stated earlier and as we've talked [11:17] about a bit uh each visit is usually attended by an elected official city staff members usually one or two uh [11:24] chamber staff and EDC commissioners uh with the program we [11:31] wanted to ensure that we visit a diverse array of businesses so some priorities [11:37] for business selection we used included bipok or womenowned businesses legacy [11:42] employers and geographic diversity uh generally we were able to reach many sectors across the 12 [11:49] businesses including quite a bit of retail restaurants and services so more health care than last time uh [11:55] distribution services science entertainment nonprofits and real estate [12:03] so here we can see the businesses we located on uh on this map something we [12:08] ran into the first year at Bria was we found that a lot of the businesses were really focused on the south side of [12:13] Oakdale uh just given that there's so much commercial land along the 10th Street corridor and some other parts of [12:19] the city so we tried to spread it out a bit this year and I think we did succeed in that um were able to make it up to [12:26] North Oakdale as long as well as portions along 34th [12:33] Street in general we did follow a survey approach to each visit asking questions about business details facilities [12:41] information workforce issues transportation and transit insights and general satisfaction with the city [12:49] um also each each visit includes a facility tour and group photos and then [12:54] sharing photos later on social media and any questions that came out of it uh myself or Andy will reach out to the [13:02] business afterwards and make sure we can connect them with resources they need or help walk them through a permit [13:11] etc the next several slides uh combine photos of each visit with some key takeaways from the report [13:18] generally most businesses were retailers or restaurants though we were able to visit more industries this year than [13:24] last year the oldest business we visited was Marcus Theaters which opened in 1935 [13:31] though the Oakdale location didn't open till 2000 the newest was Central Bark [13:36] which opened in 2022 um Pace was our largest employer [13:41] with at the time 220 full-time employees uh though Canvas Health was similarly [13:47] large with 140 in Oakdale and 320 overall with the Oakdale office being [13:52] their primary location and then game related which is a trading card and board game store in [13:59] the northern end of the city was our smallest at just two employees or [14:07] three so during the visits we asked about facility investment plans we're [14:12] happy to report that 10 of the 12 businesses were planning on general improvements including expansions [14:18] remodels and facade improvements for workforce matters in [14:25] the first year of Bria we heard from businesses that they were having trouble with filling open positions especially [14:31] lower skill positions uh generally we heard this as well from the second year of the program not hearing many [14:37] differences in that though some businesses also reported finding it hard to recruit for some higher skill [14:43] positions as well uh most businesses were still planning to expand their work workforce [14:49] and it's worth noting as well that for the majority of businesses we interviewed mo they reported that most [14:56] of their employees come from relatively close distances uh including cities like [15:01] St paul and Woodbury transportation uh for those results we [15:09] heard uh results that were pretty similar to the first year generally most businesses liked the convenience of [15:15] highway access in Oakdale with easy access to 694 94 and 36 um felt that [15:21] many communities don't have that much access to primary arterial roads like that uh most business owners said that [15:28] their employees arrived by personal vehicles but did think that more customers and employees could arrive via [15:34] transit if it were more accessible and showed some interest in the new gold [15:40] line we did ask each business what they liked most about being in Oakdale we [15:46] heard a few general themes including its central location proximity to big employers and the uh small town feel of [15:53] the community other themes that we heard included the city being generally easy to work with uh relatively low tax rate [16:01] and praised the public safety departments and here we just have a graph showing that uh based aggregating [16:09] them based on what we heard from each business again the central location was the most popular followed by public [16:16] safety and the community feel during visits we also asked [16:23] businesses what we could do to improve uh most of the comments we heard were actually keep doing what you're doing uh [16:29] but we do want to focus on where we can improve generally we heard a lot of [16:35] businesses uh mention that we need to improve our brand and reputation uh [16:40] which we're looking to explore more in depth and we did highlight in the EDC work plan other feedback included better [16:47] business support not overregulating um improving traffic and partnering with [16:53] other organizations on workforce resources so there you can see the [17:00] desired improvements mapped out um again with many saying uh keep doing what [17:06] you're doing followed by business support and branding [17:12] so based on the feedback from businesses uh the St paul Chamber staff did prepare [17:17] several recommendations for the city these included partnering with other organizations for workforce development [17:25] purposes improving transit stops and pedestrian infrastructure to allow for [17:30] greater connectivity to businesses for customers and employees partnering with organizations offering [17:37] property enhancement incentives and streamlining uh permitting and zoning processes to [17:43] support business which is a major component of what we're working on with the zoning code update project which we [17:49] did bring to EDC last year as well and then last enhancing the city's identity [17:54] by marketing itself as a destination uh which again is identified in the work [17:59] plan and staff is interested in pursuing so that concludes the B Bria [18:05] presentation for the second year of the program and as a reminder the full report with more details is located in [18:10] the packet as well i'd highly recommend a read if you're interested with that I'd be happy to answer any questions [18:16] about the Bria program and as we prepare for future possible business visits if [18:21] you have any ideas for businesses to reach out to or you might have a connection with be happy to hear that [18:30] i have a question on the key takeaway page you had um one of the takeaways was needs better business support that's one [18:38] of the bullet points yeah I was looking through the packet and I agree that that's a bit general um whether or not [18:44] that could uh be partnering with an organization on support programs or if [18:49] that's just being more readily available for businesses to contact us it's it's a [18:55] bit general admittedly so there's ideas on that we'd be happy to listen [19:02] that would be kind of my guess right like if they've have some startup companies and they're looking for some [19:07] maybe some financial assistance or maybe before they're even open like a business plan sitting down with somebody from the [19:14] city like to be able to provide some financial guidance would that would be kind of my guess at what that would mean like I said it's pretty broad but um [19:21] because you see that in some of the other cities I think they have programs where business owners can go meet with [19:27] somebody from the city and discuss what their you know plan is and they'll help [19:32] them go through a business plan a little bit maybe something probably something like that have um options available so [19:39] you know being an IT guy I look for how can I support myself in different work environments working from home hybrid [19:46] work okay if I got to go into the office the office is here what kind of connections do I need what kind of [19:52] support can I get for when things go wrong what happens if power goes out i mean all kinds of options here's some [19:59] things to think about you know you have to build your own business you have to decide how your thing works but here's [20:04] some things that we can either point you to or provide right [20:11] actually um is the St chamber going to take the lead on that again for this [20:16] year or Yeah um I would need to check with the city council um we're exploring [20:22] some different contract options so my goal is to keep the EDC up to date as we [20:28] look into that more um I think one of Yeah I maybe [20:36] already a question is how about a followup so we've been on year two now [20:44] um has any followup been done for the one first few that we um went to visit [20:50] say how how's how's it been since our last visit any updates thought of anything you know [20:56] because they say you know what can you do well nothing well they may have just been caught off guard not thinking about [21:01] it um now that you've had a year working with this um anything that you thought [21:07] of since then yeah um as I mentioned a bit earlier we built in a um new system [21:13] where we're checking in with these businesses um a year after um we [21:18] recently did it with the first year and we're working on doing it with the second year or we will do it with the second year businesses after some more [21:25] time has passed yes okay um now that we are getting further along if we're looking at future business visit [21:32] opportunities I mean some of these very large employers or just businesses where there a lot might have changed in two [21:38] years that could be an opportunity to revisit or at least offer it up [21:45] and I can kind of speak to that too because we were like one of the first visits and he had reached out with an [21:50] email but then also just you know or you know because if it is catches you off guard give me give him a call or email [21:56] you know if if you think of something down the road so um obviously a little bit smaller less employees in Oakdale um [22:03] in our in our branch but u certainly if there's changes or anything uh is very welcoming right just to know that you [22:10] don't need to respond like right now but give them a call or email down the road so I'm guessing you guys will eventually [22:15] get to like you said year two as you go on so [22:22] um if you're looking for ideas um one I thought of was maybe some of our restaurants like Sergeant [22:29] Peppers or the Boore um just you know that they're kind of a staple in our [22:36] community but also been you know in existence for a long time so there could be some needs [22:43] that yeah we'd be happy to look into those could be another one [22:48] I think we did do beers tube and sergeant peppers in the first year though it was uh either right as I had [22:54] started with the city or just before so late 2022 22 or early 2023 [23:03] because that'll also provide a good gauge for employment and what what they've seen over the 20 years that [23:09] they've been here for needs too and usually provide some pretty good feedback those businesses that have been [23:14] here a while and there's a new restaurant down by you Frank isn't there [23:20] again a newer restaurant restaurant by the out in the shopping center in front of my building there there's a muddy cow [23:30] and it is excellent place nice hamburgers it's cheap $8.99 hamburgers [23:36] and they're delicious too it's a good place it's They They remodeled the inside and not had nice floors and [23:44] cleaned and painted and it's really in good shape nice place buddy cow there's [23:50] a one of those um in Still Water there's several of them there's one in St paul [23:55] too yeah yeah yeah go visit my mother-in-law out there in Still Water and once in a while we stop off there [24:02] and you're right those are really good burgers excellent i go over there for lunch a lot with customer atmosphere is [24:08] great yeah neat and clean and cheap $8.99 [24:13] hamburgers how can you beat that commercial [24:20] all right all right any other um any other questions or comments about Bria [24:32] all right uh new business then um we'll get to updates and all that after after [24:40] our new business election of chair and vice chair every year we do this uh in [24:45] your packets at the um end of the packet you'll have a ballot have a pen uh Max [24:55] I'll make sure I stay on the narrow path here for uh the proper language to use here then I can help us walk through the [25:02] election process uh just with Robert's rules we do have to stick to it pretty close and I'll be looking at the second [25:09] to last page if anyone wants to follow along for this first phase um we're [25:15] going to be nominating candidates for the chairperson and vice chair positions [25:20] um so the motion is written out on that second to last page uh written as motion [25:28] to nominate commissioner X for the position of chairperson or vice [25:33] chairperson so we can open it up then to see uh who would like to who would like [25:39] to run okay um any motions for let's go with [25:45] the commission um with the chairperson first i'll make a motion to elect uh [25:52] Commissioner Jeff Bates for the position of chairperson uh for the [25:59] 2025 period of one calendar year from today April [26:06] third all right for this next uh next term all [26:12] right um do I need to accept or anything i can just say or so we do have to go through a election process um so we're [26:19] looking for nominations at the moment all right it's just nominations right now okay yep all right i'll um I'll [26:26] nominate um for the vice chair motion to nominate the board member commissioner [26:31] Tony Jenkins uh for the position of vice chairperson [26:38] are you okay with that being so new on the board are you okay okay [26:47] all right okay with me all right uh okay when there are no new [26:53] motions um someone make a motion that the nominations close [27:00] make nomination okay and a second second that okay all right motion to close the [27:06] nominations uh or we have the motion to close the nominations for a chairperson and vice chairperson all right all right [27:13] now using the ballot provided uh write your choice your name uh write in the [27:20] choice of names for those positions nominated and then pass the ballots over [27:25] to Max please spell his last name B A T E S [27:40] how you spell your last name right there boss jenkins got it [27:52] okay oh I wanted to be chair i'm kidding okay give your mind [27:58] back no I'm kidding we have [28:03] a We have a vote countdown here okay max will tabulate the results [28:10] right now [28:15] gary do you have any music queue up for us like Jeopardy [28:31] all right commissioners the results are in and Jeff Bates has been elected as chair of the EDC and Tony Jenkins has [28:39] been elected as vice chair of the EDC we do still have one step left we do need a formal motion to elect each member uh [28:47] the template of which is item five on the election process sheet so for [28:53] example the motion would be uh for chair motion to elect Commissioner Bates for [28:58] the position of chairperson of the EDC for a period of one year commencing with the April 2nd meeting [29:07] so we need a motion for the first one a [29:13] motion to read it out [29:18] motion to elect Jeff Bates for the position of Jeff did you make the motion she's reading it i'm reading it oh okay [29:25] yeah you have to be They have to be specific on this one the period for one calendar year commencing today on April [29:34] 2nd need a second 2025 we need a second for that second thank you all right [29:41] um I guess I'll motion to elect board member commissioner um Tony Jenkins for the position of vice [29:49] chairperson of the economic development commission for a period of one calendar year commencing with the current meeting [29:55] of April 2nd 2025 um all in favor wait do we got a [30:03] vote for each one so moved i move that we Okay yes so [30:08] moved all right need a second all right um so for the uh um I guess [30:16] we'll do this one at a time for the chairperson all in favor i Okay that's [30:21] passed and then for the vice chairperson all in favor i [30:27] that's passed as well all right Max how do we do perfectly good so we are good [30:35] to continue election is complete all right [30:40] all right speaking as chair personnel all right um staff leazison and updates [30:46] max you're up again yep i do have a good chunk of updates for you i won't try to [30:51] keep us here too long i know we had the dinner beforehand for one if you recall at the [30:56] last EDC meeting um I introduced the 12th and Geneva redevelopment study in [31:02] this study uh we we will be looking at the land use [31:08] and transportation and perhaps redevelopment opportunities in the area around Geneva and Highway 120 10th [31:16] Street and 14th Street so during that meeting I mentioned we were exploring using an intensive two-day workshop [31:23] approach rather than a traditional 6 to9 monthlong study so I'm excited to let [31:29] you all know that we will be pursuing the workshop approach in partnership with the Urban Land Institute and as a [31:36] part of the workshop we will have a public reception for the project where we'll invite input on the study area and [31:42] I do want to formally invite the entire EDC to it um while the exact start time [31:48] has not yet been determined the reception will be held on the evening of April 28th uh at the Oakdale Discovery [31:55] Center so I will send out final information on this once I'm able to confirm it ideally later this week or [32:01] early next week um so please let me know if you have any questions regarding that study and I'd love to see you all there [32:10] where is that going to be again it'll be at the Oakdale Discovery Center um and [32:15] I'll send out more formal information as well once I can formalize the exact start [32:22] time yep additionally a few other things i want to note that the gold line opened up a few weeks ago on March 22nd and the [32:30] opening ceremony was well attended and I do believe I saw a few of you there so from an economic development perspective [32:37] I do want to highlight just how much development has occurred as a result of the gold line something that was brought up in the mayor's speech at the event [32:44] for example uh since the Helmo station transit oriented development district was created we've had more than 600 [32:51] multifamily units approved a new coffee shop plans for a new park and more [32:57] opportunities in the way so another thing we are seeing an [33:02] extraordinary amount of development interest in the last few months we've we had we even had a special council [33:08] workshop earlier this year where we just talked through developments so as a result if you're interested in keeping [33:14] up with it I'd encourage you to keep checking the development map and even consider looking at planning commission [33:20] packets to see as the public hearings roll in what those plans look like and [33:25] what'll be up for consideration uh one more thing the [33:30] zoning code update which we brought to you guys last year um the code draft the [33:36] entire draft hundreds of pages is currently written and under legal review [33:41] we expect to have the legal review done by the end of the month and then we'll hopefully begin sharing the final draft [33:48] with council um at the end of the month ideally so with that I would open the [33:54] room to any questions with community development or anything else I can answer [34:01] is the uh majority of the development apartment [34:07] we have some commercial interest the majority is residential in nature but we're still getting some commercial [34:14] interest what kind of industry is the commercial [34:20] is it like soft I don't know what to call it soft commercial like hardware [34:25] store auto store that type of thing or Yeah we we have some uh one opportunity [34:32] for multi-tenant commercial and then um there are some other projects where I'm just not sure if it's public information [34:38] at this point okay yeah sure do you know if there's any the uh daycare is going [34:43] to go ahead on Helmo the one uh next to [34:49] my office yeah the the one next to your office does have all its formal approvals in place and they could start [34:56] construction um they were coming up on the expiration of their permits and did [35:01] extend it just with financing conditions right [35:11] now any other questions for Max okay let's move on to uh [35:19] commissioner updates um so let's start with Bob i don't have anything traditional okay uh I have one just one [35:27] update regarding the gold line i was there i was all the ones that Max talked to and uh I was there with uh some [35:34] friends and and my family and we um rode the gold line all the way down to St [35:39] paul and back and this was that was a [35:45] very pleasant unexpected experience it was really nice and now of course we're imagining is um uh the the cost to ride [35:53] $2 one way and $2 the next way and thinking about it drops you off right near where the Saints ball field is so [36:00] think of this called the Saints game instead of paying $30 to park down there and all that traffic have to mess with [36:07] you go park at the um end of the line up here for $2 get a free ride okay it's [36:12] really just park for free but get $2 ride $2 back and you spend just as much time walking around [36:19] then you don't have to worry about finding finding your car it's all back [36:24] out here so opportunities uh we just see that as being a huge thing so we're kind [36:29] of looking for it farmers market's right there too you know the St paul farmer market i like our farmer market that we [36:35] have here in the summer know there's another one that we can go to sure let's bring that out make everybody aware of [36:41] that that's just a nice option chair I would note as well that there will be parking available in Oakdale at Helmo [36:47] station eventually as well so you can don't have to travel quite as far yeah and that's um that's under construction [36:54] you can see all the dirt be moved around what's expected finish date on that do we know that I'm not sure of but I can [37:02] get back to you okay there's a small uh small hard surface that's in now oh all [37:10] right good how often do the buses run every I think during the weekday it's [37:16] every 10 minutes and during the week on week nights and weekends it's 15 [37:24] minutes they have I think four or five buses running on that route so it's just a just a handful of stops so it goes [37:32] pretty quick and I noticed too on the way back when there's nobody at the bus stop and and nobody is ringing the cord [37:40] you know went right on through and they told us that it has the ability to um uh [37:46] change the lights so it gets close to the stop lights chang it for my I wish I had that button going right through so [37:55] it um it has some features that are are really nice so last Thursday my two sisters and I [38:02] they all live in Oakdale here so we took a ride on the bus picked it up 11 o'clock in the morning and I mean it was [38:09] a fun easy ride i mean it was just really nice and I know you guys did it last [38:15] Saturday but I had to work so I couldn't make it but Oh sure yeah and and it's you know free and all that but um my [38:22] goodness those buses are double buses i What do they hold 80 people 30 80 60 [38:28] people something like that yeah god are there going to be that many people riding those buses every 10 minutes i [38:34] just I question it not sure i'm not sure about the [38:39] viability long term i mean there's I don't know that's all people going back to work downtown that probably will [38:46] happen more then it's going to take a while to rebuild that it will trans [38:51] transit and I think too uh just as people realized hey that bus is there [38:57] it's this type of transportation people started saying I could use it you know just like what I [39:02] just did with hey the Saints game the farmers market but where did you pick the bus up at we went to the uh uh the [39:10] wood wood lane station in Woodbury so at the end of the line that's where all the festivities were happening so that's why [39:16] we started there so what's the bus cost going to be for [39:23] regular timeout uh I a buck a person $2 $2 a person $2 a trip and I think that's [39:29] a timed period so um it took I timed it it took 35 minutes to get from St paul [39:35] this the last stop in St paul back to the Wood Wooddale station Woodlane Station and it cost $2 for that trip and [39:43] I think the Well I mean it will and they said that the $2 is good for three hours [39:48] so you could pay two hours go down get something real quick and come back i suppose [39:56] heck of a deal i hope it works i really do cuz we got a [40:01] lot of money tied up in this a lot of money in this bus ride private lanes i mean no cars no bikes no pedestrians [40:09] just the bus that's it we've gotten some good press on it so that's good did you go You wrote on I have not yet [40:18] be a family outing all right um that's all I have for an [40:25] update i have nothing um have nothing either there's the [40:32] Oakdale Chamber lunch tomorrow there is and I'll mention that um tomorrow we [40:37] have the Oakdale Chamber and it's going to be at Oak Marsh Golf Course starts at [40:43] 11:15ish good time to get there and I have as a guest speaker Major General Charles Kemper [40:52] he's a good customer good friend of mine and I've got him he's going to be the [40:57] guest speaker and talk about they the uh the guard had just been deployed to the [41:03] Middle East and so they were out there they got back last December they were over there for nine months so he's going [41:10] to talk about it and of course being a major general he's pretty well organized and I've seen the itinerary and he's got [41:15] it all written out and he knows what he's doing it's going to be a good program so if you you all got it you're [41:22] free to come should all be there you should be there you going to be there mhm [41:30] okay all right all right thanks all right uh next on the list is the uh [41:36] council uh leaison update who's that that'd be you dude thank you Mr chair [41:44] nice to see you all wearing a different hat than the last time I saw you you're [41:49] in luck because Max um hit on about half of the things on my list so we shortened [41:54] it down quite a bit gold Lion was there on Saturday as well um wrote it on Friday i think they had a special ride [42:01] for policy makers that it's impressive i encourage you to try it [42:07] um I'd also just on the business retention expansion program Max talked about it but I would encourage all of [42:14] you on the uh on the economic development commission to particip participate in that as well um really [42:19] pushing to strengthen the rel I am personally really pushing to strengthen the relationship between the city and [42:26] our local business community so more participation we have the better uh just a couple of things uh the council's [42:31] worked on you guys haven't met since November and I've only been on the council since January but we've covered a lot of area in that time and just a [42:38] couple things I'll mention uh we looked at the park plan updated park plan for the city and that was really about [42:44] looking at um the needs of the parks and funding dollars available and prioritizing where we're going to spend [42:51] those dollars in what order so that was interesting a bike and pedestrian plan we talked a little bit about that at [42:58] dinner um and then also uh you might recall the Willowbrook development is [43:03] building like crazy up there but we're working on uh the park plans for for Willowbrook as well um last couple thing [43:10] just uh just commercials for City of Oakdale uh the EcoFare will be held on April 26th at Castle Elementary that [43:16] might be an interesting um event for you to attend um the Arbor Day tree giveaway [43:22] the Oakdale giveaway 200 trees the registration for that started yesterday and it filled in two hours you had to [43:28] register in advance for your tree and within two hours they had had filled that so that has been closed um and [43:36] lastly um we had a presentation from the Summerfest folks last at our last meeting um would encourage you to [43:44] consider volunteering for Summerfest they're they're in need of coordinators [43:49] workers not so much ideas but they are in need of people to help out with that festival and it's important to our [43:54] community so I'd encourage you all to if you can to um participate in that and if [44:00] you're interested in that you can reach out to me or to city staff and they'll put you in touch with the Summerfest folks [44:05] um other than that that's all I have you have any questions for me there was an article in last Sunday's paper I believe [44:12] about Pete Gratsky's tree giveaway see that yes a nice article it was a great [44:18] article yeah very nice article i was surprised to see it but it was very nice to see picture of our mayor there I think pitching a tree in the back of a [44:24] car two hours of closed yeah I was surprised [44:31] because I think I was told it would take about two days to fill up those 200 registrations in guess it was two hours [44:38] um if you're interested you can still get on a waiting list because I know a number of people register I think [44:43] historically and then they never they don't uh show up or they cancel and you might still have a tree available so [44:50] but anything else thank you all good to see you again [44:56] thanks Gary okay last item on the agenda is [45:03] adjournment nothing else can I have a get a motion to adjurnn [45:08] so moved second all in favor [45:13] okay anybody opposed all right motion carries meetings [45:20] adjourned