[0:57] Clint Hooppaw: All right, good evening. Welcome. We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order for the January 8th, 2026 Apple Valley City Council meeting. Uh, welcome everyone this evening. Uh, for those who have asked to speak or as your item comes up, I would ask that you approach the podium to address the council. The first item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. And I would like I would excuse me request everyone to stand as they were able and join us in the pledge. [1:23] Everyone: I, pledge, allegiance, to, the, flag, of, the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [1:42] Clint Hooppaw: All, right,, thank, you, everyone., Um, the first item on our agenda or the second item, excuse me, is the agenda approval. And Tom, do we have any changes this evening? [1:53] Tom Lawell: Evening,, Mr., Mayor,, members, of, the council. We have no changes to tonight's agenda. [1:58] Clint Hooppaw: Great., Thank, you., Do, we, have, a, motion, to approve the agenda? [2:00] Ruth Grendahl: So moved. [2:01] Tom Melander: Second. [2:02] Clint Hooppaw: Motion, from, council, member, Grendahl,, a second from council member Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [2:09] Everyone: I. [2:10] Clint Hooppaw: And, opposed., Agenda, is, approved., The next item on our agenda is the audience participation portion of the meeting. This is for items not on our on our council agenda. Um we have a total of 10 minutes for this item this evening. We had a signup sheet in the back. We'll start there, but then anybody who maybe missed the signup sheet will give you a chance as well. So, I have Christina Gaspin. Did I pronounce that correctly? [2:30] Christina Gaspar: >> Gaspar. [2:31] Clint Hooppaw: Gaspar., Come, on., Come, on, forward., I apologize for uh for uh getting the name wrong. [2:36] Christina Gaspar: Um, you, don't, have, many, Armenians, around here. So, [laughter] [2:39] Clint Hooppaw: thank, you, for, coming, in., Um, please, go ahead. [2:46] Christina Gaspar: Uh, uh, I, apologize, in, advance, for annoying you with this. I know you just want to move on with your lives. [2:52] Clint Hooppaw: Well we So, I just We're not annoyed. This is what we're here for. This is why we put this at the the beginning of the meeting, right? It's kind of one of the rare chances we get to have all five of us here to hear the conversation. I would ask that you just kind of stand in front of the microphone just for those who might be home watching and that kind of thing so they can make sure it picks up your voice as well. [3:11] Christina Gaspar: Oh,, take, your, take, your, time., Take, your time, please. whatever [laughter] inanimate, objects, are, today., All right. Uh, so good evening. My name is Christina Gasparan. I've lived in Apple Valley for about three years now, and I'm sorry, but I really have to urge you to oppose 2024 comprehensive plan that includes building a data center for AI purposes. Everything else is fine. This is just this one big elephant in the room. In short, building such a center is only a negative for a community with essentially no upsides. I know you've been promised a lot, but that's like a good sale car salesman promising a lot. [3:58] And I'm here to clarify that it will not create many jobs, especially given the amount of area and electricity and water usage that will have to go into it. uh it will occupy space that could be used by businesses that directly provide useful constructive services because this AI data center is well it doesn't say explicitly on the page that it's AI but I've looked at it for a week every day and it's clearly for data scraping and AI products which are here to exploit pretty much everyone in this room including you. [4:36] It's a new technology. This has not been an issue before. Previous in previous eras, data centers were perfectly fine. Those were completely different types and very useful, good use, no problem. But these are new heavyduty AI data centers, new technology that is progressing way too fast without regulations. [4:58] It will put a massive strain on our water and electrical infrastructure while also possibly causing utility bills to increase for all residents because we can be they can legally raise the rates based on the grid and to my knowledge we are all here on the same grid and that is a problem big problem especially in summer and it will hurt home values due to associated noise and negative perception of living near one of those data centers. If people feel like they're not treating treated fairly, uh, they won't want to move here, especially with how negatively everyone across America currently, all the average Joe's view this issue. [5:41] We would also be complicit in the rapid race of AI, which is actively putting people out of work and robbing them of their livelihoods in the interests of large corporations. In case of Apeden and their clients, marketers translators, uh bookkeepers, entry, data entry jobs are all just being wiped out. [6:00] Not even reduced, just replaced entirely. And there's a very long list of jobs that are otherwise affected by this technology that people are being let go left and right and there are no alternatives provided. It It's progressing way too fast. I ask that the community be given time to pass a memorandum that will ban constructions of, data, center, for, at least, a, few, years so we can pass appropriate and effective legislation that will mitigate these problems. Once the memorandum passes you can pass the comprehensive plan. You can start building other things and we will have some time to fight on a town level, um state level, any level for proper regulations. So it's everyone's winning. there are solutions here. Um this includes mandates for how these data centers are built as well as how they consume utilities and ensuring that local residents will not be hurt by the their construction. [7:02] Um we can for example demand that they can only be built in industrial zones the tech campuses tech um big data centers that only industrial zones allow them for example which will work way better for everyone. Uh I implore you to prioritize what is best for Apple Valley for our families for our children and their future. Thank you. [7:28] Clint Hooppaw: Thank, you. So I do Christina and for the rest of you and I should have introduced them all here before but I do want you to know we had a a work session before and and at there we had Representative Huitt at Beerman and Senator Aaron Mcuade uh here who are kind of in the I won't say I'll say the middle role and I just want you know they're in the audience as well hearing the comments. I did invite them to to duck in just so they could be here for public comments tonight in case they also wanted to hear. So you maybe got a bigger audience than you thought you did tonight. So [8:01] Christina Gaspar: I, had, some, I've, heard, some, rumors. [laughter] [8:03] Clint Hooppaw: So, um, thank, you., Thank, you. [8:05] Christina Gaspar: Thank, you., Uh, which, really, needs, more wisdom and less greed right now. [applause] [8:06] Clint Hooppaw: So, normally, as, we, do, public, comments, we don't uh right we don't have a lot of time for discussion here for for a handful of reasons. We receive information with this issue. For those who are at the or watch the end of December at last member meeting in December, um the issue was extended um by the applicant to the end of January. So we do expect this to be back on the agenda where we can discuss it openly um at the final meeting in January. I do want to talk about a little bit just about our role. Sometimes people say "Hey, how come you guys aren't up there talking about this every meeting?" Um we kind of get dual roles, right? As as a city council, we make legislation. and we we're you know as our former council goodwins used to say part-time policy makers. Um but when we have these applications in front of us we're also the final decision maker. So we kind of become the judicial branch in that one and we put ourselves in a pretty precarious situation as a city when we start talking about things when the action isn't in front of us and the applicant doesn't have time to respond or we don't have all the information. So I want people to know is that we're listening. We're taking in the comments. We've paid attention to all of them. There are reasons that sometimes we can't publicly discuss all the things we might want to until that action comes forward. That's why we tried to keep the website updated, try to share as much information as we can. Um, if you look at that council packet from two weeks ago, there was a ton of information there. We'll do the same next week. We'll get you everything new that's out there. Um, please keep the comments in. We appreciate getting them. They're incredibly helpful. The most frustrating thing for me in this role is when we have a big decision in front of us and we don't hear from anybody despite the efforts to do so. And so that makes it kind of hard to legislate, do our job. So thank you for the comments. Encourage you to pay attention. I do believe this will be on the agenda again in two weeks uh for from that extension. So thank you. Are there any other topics this evening for our public comment section? If you like to if you'd like to say something, please come forward. Please come forward to the microphone. Um uh oh, pardon me. Uh introduce yourselves. Name and address for the record. [10:18] Jennifer Duos: I'm nervous. So [10:19] Clint Hooppaw: don't, be, don't, be, nervous., We, we, we, all are. Uh yeah, we're all just folks who live here like you. So, um thank you for taking the time to listen to my opinion. Um my name is Jennifer Duos. I live at 452 Walmart in Apple Valley. Um I've lived here about six years. I have three girls in our school system. And that's part of the big part of the reason I live here is it's a really good place to raise a family. We put a lot of value on our education and then our city parks and I feel that putting a data center in what is left of the building area of our town that was designated for useful things is not the best use of space. I I I would strongly urge anybody that hasn't to educate themselves on the experience people who live near these large data centers have and it's not positive overall. I just don't want that for my town. Thank you. [11:32] Clint Hooppaw: Thank, you., And, don't, be, nervous., You, did well. Thank [laughter] you. Thank you. All, right., Thank, you, everyone, again. Thanks for coming to share the the comments this evening. I'm starting with somebody else. I couldn't I can't see everybody over the podium. So, if you've got something, please come forward for me, please. And I am going to keep us to a couple more minutes just so we can get to the rest of the business, but I don't want to cut anybody off either. [11:47] Nancy Speaker: I'll, be, quick. [11:48] Clint Hooppaw: Thank, you. [11:49] Nancy Speaker: Um,, good, evening., Thank, you, for, allowing us to comment. Um, my name is Nancy Speaker and I'm a 30-year plus resident of Apple Valley. Um I'm here to speak what the previous two speakers against talked about against the data center. Um we understand the need for a broader tax base and we welcome smart development but locating this massive industrial facility in a residential area is not the right fit for Apple Valley. Some of my primary concerns are first lack of transparency. transparency. We really didn't feel like we were aware of this and maybe you couldn't because you signed an NDA or whatever. There was a lot of residents that were not aware this was even happening until the last maybe couple months. [12:37] Clint Hooppaw: So, that, I'm, just, going, to, pause, you, for a for I'm going to pause you for a second. So this first went through planning commission and the public hearings in January of last year. So this has been public and been out there and we've had the website updated. If if you and I want to catch up offline about ways we can get information out there better, I'd love to have that conversation, right? Um not all that long ago, we all got our information when the newspaper showed up, right? And people don't get that kind of resource anymore. And so now we have 18 million ways that people get their information. So I would love to have that conversation, but I do just want to correct the record that the information has been out there and we have followed all of that process along the way. [13:16] Nancy Speaker: I, I, understand. Um, I guess some of my concerns are the same. The noise pollution, the strain on utilities. Um, and it's just we know we're going to see higher costs on our utilities. We just know it. We already have restrictions watering watering restrictions. [13:35] Clint Hooppaw: But, I'm, not, the, only, one, who, can't, get sentences out tonight. So, thank you. [13:38] Nancy Speaker: Due, [laughter], to, the, longer, drought period, so this is going to be an additional drain on us. Um so and also are we looking down the road to make sure the community is protective protective with the demise or the crash of these centers? I mean, are they're going to come up with different ways to cool it and we're going to end up with this massive you know, building here and meanwhile we could have had more banks or hospitals. [laughter] Um, but I've always been a proud proud to be of member of Apple Valley's city and I've always been proud of the way it's run. Um, this just seems like it's been pushed through quick and [14:24] Clint Hooppaw: I, don't, know., So, on, the, comment, about push through quick, I would and just encourage you and since they put it in the paper, I will say this to go look at the sun this week paper from a couple weeks ago and look at the letter that the landowner submitted about how poorly they feel they have been treated in this process. I wouldn't say that, but they are the ones who chose to [14:48] Nancy Speaker: and, it's, their, land., They, can, do, what [14:50] Clint Hooppaw: it, it, is., But, but, from, the, the, rushed through, I would say the landowner does not feel this has been rushed through and we've been at this for well over a year, which would tell me right if we wanted this done quickly, we could have uh rushed it through. [15:01] Nancy Speaker: Okay. [15:02] Clint Hooppaw: So,, thank, you, though., Thank, you. [15:03] Margaret Mcker: Good, evening., I'm, Margaret, Mcker, and I've been here since 1992 in Apple Valley and I love it here. I just want to encourage you all because there are lots of um lots of things that need to be addressed I think still and I understand that you have not rushed this through and I'm hoping that you'll still put a little bit of a pause on the reszoning because as much as I don't want it there and I really don't I do understand that everyone has their thing that the next flashy thing you want like bags for example that one gets old you on another one. I did a little research on some of the investing in AI in the data centers. And quite frankly, one of the things that that is a concern when you're looking at trying to invest in a data center is how long will this last and will there be an appetite for AI? But I think that people do have an a desire to have the next best thing. Um there was apparently a show on all the new gadgets, a smoke detector that has motion detector and all of these things. So, I don't think it's going to go away but I want you to think about um um is it in Edina the Lake C uh [16:29] Clint Hooppaw: Centennial, Lakes?, Is, that, what, you're thinking of? Centennial Lakes. Is that what you're thinking of? [16:32] Margaret Mcker: I, want, you, to, think, about, that, for, a minute when it comes to the reszoning and how we can benefit Apple Valley more. Opidian, one of the companies that is with this, their headquarters are in Excelsier. Consider Excelsier compared to Apple Valley. There's a reason they're in Excelsier. Probably stronger rules. There's probably not going to be a data center there. And I look at the area where this is going to go. And there's so much new development there. Families, lots of families. And I think of cobblestone. Cobblestone is a cute little lake. And we can do great things here in the area. You look at Buck Hill. That was an eyesore apparently at one time before my time. And then I look at Lake Lac Leavon. It was a sand pit. It was a quarry. Look how beautiful that is. So, if we're looking at generating money for Apple Valley, could we not take a look, if we're going to not worry so much about the water, let's fill that with water and make it a lake and don't do all residential around it, let's do Cent uh Centennial Lakes. Let's do a place where our people can walk around where there can be more shops and generate more tax revenue from uh smaller condos, town homes, and businesses. So, I think we can do a really good job. We've done it before. Let's try it again. [17:39] Clint Hooppaw: I'll, just, make, a, quick, comment, on, time on timing just so you understand. So the Go ahead. I'll let you guys do your thing and then I'll um part of what I feel like the role here is I want people to understand what the process is, right? So while we're not going to go into the details, I'm happy to kind of talk about process a little bit. And the reason I mentioned next week or next not two weeks, next council meeting. um when a when a application comes through a city planning process we have some state specific dates we have to meet or it's automatically approved typically I think there's 60 and 120 days is kind of over 180 wherever those hit right beyond that the applicant needs to kind of grant us more time um and they have done they have asked for more time um right now that 12:30 or 1:30 is kind of the end of our time and so unless they ask us to extend again we're going to have to make a decision next week. So sometimes that feels rushed but we are constrained by that state timeline because if we just fail to act it's approved. [18:49] Margaret Mcker: So, right,, so, that's, why, sometimes, things feel rushed is because we are we are working to that timeline so that we don't have something that kind of gets through because we took too long and things happen without our control. That, makes, sense., I, think, what, a, lot, of people are a little frustrated with is that for some reason we're just been made aware of it now and you said that you have sent it out and as part of that is on us to keep looking and spread the news ourselves I'm sure but if there's any possibility that you can say no and say we need we're not going to approve this we, love, you thank, you [19:18] Clint Hooppaw: John if it's topic yeah, it, is [19:24] John Bergman: you're first, of, I, see, a, member, of, our, planning commission out commission out here, Doug Hos, and he's going to be the last one to tell you this has been rushed through. I mean, they've been looking at it for over a year and they've made a recommendation to the city council that I assume you all know that I think it was unanimous to reject it. So, just to bring you up to speed on that and talk to Doug over there when we're done. [19:47] Clint Hooppaw: Good,, good,, good,, good, clarification, right? Because that was the first step and and we've had a lot of time that's elapsed between them because the applicant has asked for more time and submitted more data. I think sometimes that's where it feels like there's a gap, right, is when the time stretches. Council member Bergman, I could Joe, did you have a similar statement? Possibly one sec if you could. Yeah. [20:00] John Bergman: Yeah., when, we, whatever, happens, at, the end of the month um if they have not tried to extend it again um we're voting with what the planning commission—not we're voting but planning commission already decided what they want how they wanted to do it. We then have to decide um if that's how we want to do it. And so that's one stage of another stage after that. So right now all we're looking at is we're not look really looking at what everybody looks at called the data center. They've asked to rename or re on the comp plan. They want to change the comp plan in that area and and so that's our first thing that we would um decide on. The the data center is down the road. We're worrying about that piece of land. Mayor,, if, you, want, to, say, something. [20:57] Clint Hooppaw: No,, no., I, I, think, we'll, we'll, we'll delve into that in two weeks, right? And just and just kind of level set on what the what the actions are at that time too. So, thank you for your patience. Please go ahead. [21:10] Patrice Seaffort: Hi,, my, name, is, Patrice, Seaffort., I, live at 6735 8th Street West. And I have been an Apple Valley resident since 1991. My kids uh grew up in Apple Valley schools. Um I'm a retired educator, but before that I worked in marketing. And I want you to think, pretend like we are about three or four years out right now from where we are right now. And I want you to think about what we would put into a brochure advertising Apple Valley to try to get more residents, to try to get more investments. We would talk about things like our world-class schools. We would talk about our fabulous retail area downtown, which is so much better than any of the surrounding cities. We would talk about well, our parks will all be finished then. So, we'll talk about our worldclass parks, which are probably going to be the best in the state of Minnesota. We're going to talk about the fabulous restaurants we have. We're going to talk about how quickly our streets get plowed and what a wonderful city management we have. But I can tell you what's not going to be in that brochure. You're not going to be bragging about a data center. That's not something that attracts people to a city. And from friends and family on the East Coast, I can tell you it repels people from communities, including my own family out there. So, please think about that brochure and what you want to brag about for the city of Apple Valley and that should guide your decision. Thank you. [22:54] Clint Hooppaw: Thank, you. [applause] We're going to I let this continue longer than normal 10 minutes because I want people to have time. So, but thank thank you for the comments. Um yeah, my my my closing statement on this is just just one of uh what I've appreciated through this and through 15 years of being up here, right, is when we have issues like this, these are the comments we get, right? We get this level of respect, well thought out, right? And we're not seeing that in other levels of politics and other places. And so I greatly appreciate the time and the decorum people have put into their comments, whether they've sent them an email, whether they've called me with them, they've called staff. um they've come and presented them. Um you all should be proud of the way you're conducting yourselves as citizens and and uh representing Apple Valley and just thank you for that because that makes our job a whole lot easier uh to do and so thank you all for that. So with that, I'm going to move on to our consent agenda and uh Senator and Representative, thank you guys for your time and extended time this evening. Uh those who don't wish to stay for the the rest of the meeting, please don't feel obligated to uh to sit here and miss your dinners and your family time. We will not be offended. You're of course welcome to stay as well. [24:21] All right, we'll move on to our consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion without discussion unless a council member or a citizen request to pull an item to be considered separately. Uh council members, are there any items you would like to pull from consent? Seeing, none,, do, we, have, a, I, sorry, I skipped the whole audience here. Uh citizens, there are any items you would like to pull from consent. All right seeing none, we would take a motion for the consent agenda. [24:50] Ruth Grendahl: So moved. [24:51] John Bergman: Second. [24:52] Clint Hooppaw: Motion, from, council, member Grendahl, second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [24:57] Everyone: I. [24:58] Clint Hooppaw: And, opposed., All right., Consent, items all passed this evening. We will move on to our regular agenda. Our first item is 5A, which is to adopt a resolution approving an amendment to the 2040 comprehensive plan use map to designate lot one block one Frasier edition from highdensity residential to commercial. And Sydney's going to take this one. [25:20] Sydney: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um, so for tonight, I'll be presenting to you a proposed comprehensive plan amendment for two properties within the Fraser First Edition subdivision. Specifically, you're asked to consider an amendment to the land use map to designate 2.19 acres of property from highdensity residential to commercial and 1.21 acres of property from suburban intensive highdensity residential to commercial as well. The two properties are located at the northwest corner of County County Road 42 and 147th Street West. Lot one to the north is the current site of the Fraser Independent Living Facility and lot two to the south is a city-owned vacant parcel which as you are aware is under currently under purchase agreement with Northland Real Estate Group. For the land use designations. Lot one is currently guided for highdensity residential and then lot two to the south is suburban intensive highdensity residential. And again, we're proposing to uh amend both properties to commercial. The reason for this amendment is primarily a housekeeping item. Both properties are zoned for limited business. The limited business zoning district does not align with the current highdensity residential land use designations. It's a requirement and a best practice to ensure that zoning matches land use designation and they currently do not align. Um the lot one to the north, the Fraser uh living facility property is currently uh under approved conditional use permit and this is allowed under the limited business district. So it would not be impacted by an amendment. Um the staff does not anticipate that either of these parcels will ever develop as highdensity residential um because of existing conditions and the city's vision for the area. Just to give some background on the comprehensive plan and um what is gone over in the plan regarding limited business and commercial uses. Uh lower intensity uh commercial districts include the limited business uh zoning district. The LB designation is reserved for general office uses that exclude retail um and operations generally occur during the week. LB uses are located adjacent to retail core of the downtown and may act as a transition to residential neighborhoods. And then lastly, um traffic attracted by the site shall be generally limited to the morning and evening peak hours and then generally low levels of off- peak activity. We did have the engineering department reach out to consultants just to review the traffic and utilities. Um so from the existing land use designation of residential there would um there is an increase in traffic modeling uh to office but um that was anticipated with the zoning already. And then as for utilities, utilities actually decrease from residential to office. Um both were reviewed by engineering and there are no concerns. The planning commission uh there was a public hearing held at the November 19th planning commission meeting. There were public comments and questions. Most of those comments were regarding around development activity and what um commercial development brings. So traffic, uh, noise, construction. Um and we what we reiterated at the public hearing as well as what what I want to reiterate tonight is that, um, all of those impacts would be addressed and reviewed with whenever a development application comes forward. So, again, at this time, this is just a housekeeping item. We are not reviewing any development actions at this time. The planning commission re unanimously recommended approval at the December 17th meeting. So with that, tonight staff is recommending that the council adopt a re resolution to approve the amendment for both properties from those highdensity land use designations to commercial and then as well as authorizing submission of this amendment to the Met Council. And with that, I can stand for any questions. [29:29] Clint Hooppaw: That, was, a, lot, um, for, a, fairly, simple change, but as always, nice job. Uh council members, are there any questions for Sydney? All right. Do we have a do we have a motion to adopt the resolution? [29:43] Tom Melander: So moved. [29:44] John Bergman: Second. [29:45] Clint Hooppaw: We have a motion from council member Melander, a second from council member Bergman to adopt a resolution approving an amendment to the 2040 comprehensive plan land use map to designate lot one block one Frasier first edition from HD to C and lot two block one Frasier first edition from [laughter] SIHD TO C and authorizing submission of the same to the Metropolitan Council for official consideration. [snorts] You all in favor indicate by saying I [30:10] Everyone: I [30:11] Clint Hooppaw: and, opposed., Thank, you., Um, that's, Thank you, Sydney. Our next item is 5B, which is to adopt a resolution appointing an acting mayor for 2026. Christina, [30:21] Christina Scipioni: mayor, and, council., Um,, the, state statutes require that the council appoint an acting mayor in the event that the mayor is out of the city um for a period of more than 24 hours. Um, and so annually we we have you act on this item. So, it's council's choice as far as who they would like to appoint. [30:43] Clint Hooppaw: Thank, you., Uh,, Council, Member, Grendahl served this role uh fearlessly uh last year. um [30:52] Ruth Grendahl: put, in, so, much, time., It, was, pretty, easy job. [30:55] Clint Hooppaw: Um, I, think, she, had, some, interest, in continuing on. I don't know if anyone else has as well. If not, um we have a motion to appoint council member Grendahl as acting mayor for 2026. [31:08] Lisa Hiebert: So moved. [31:10] Tom Melander: Second. [31:11] Clint Hooppaw: Motion, from, council, member, Hiebert,, second from council member Melander. Uh all those in favor indicate by saying I. [31:16] Everyone: I. [31:17] Ruth Grendahl: I, just, didn't, know, it, was, every, 24 hour. I mean, for 24 hours if you're gone. [31:22] Clint Hooppaw: Oh,, I, don't, Yeah., Well,, there, you, go. [laughter] Only if something comes up right? That's the uh Anyway, no, thanks for being willing to do that. We've had a kind of long history of right making sure we're covered even when some of us are gone and right attending to other things. So, that's helpful. Uh that takes us to the end of uh our regular agenda. We'll move on to staff and council communications. Uh Tom, do we have any staff items this evening? [31:46] Tom Lawell: Just wanted to uh certainly let the community know again about uh Midwinter Fest coming up. Uh this is a annual event that the city participates in puts on over at Johnny Cake Ridge Park West right behind East View High School. Um this is something that people really enjoy and we'd like to get more and more people out to uh this event. It takes place on February the 7th. Uh we'll start at 4:00. Uh we'll go right through the evening and we'll conclude with fireworks. So uh please come on out and be part of that. We'll uh advance this uh advertise this item again uh at our next council meeting, but just wanted to make mention for anybody that might be watching tonight. Uh we do have more information on the event on the city's website as well as on the city's Facebook page. So we just invite the community to come out and be part of Midwinterfest. [32:31] Clint Hooppaw: Great., Thanks,, Tom., Uh, one, other, thing I'd like to to invite Chief Francis up if I might. Um, we've had some uh over the last couple weeks, right, we've seen some increased ice activity around the metro as well as in Apple Valley and you know, Nick, you Tom and I have talked quite a bit uh right over the last few weeks, but um and actually on some community meetings and those kind of things, but do you mind just kind of sharing what uh what what your what your officers are dealing with and kind of how your department's uh what your roles and responsibilities are kind of throughout this? [33:05] Nick Francis: Sure., Uh, so, we, have, seen, um, a, noticeable increase in the just the activity by federal agencies. Um which is uh different from what we usually see. Um we have um also at the same time seen all kind of a decrease in the pre planning that takes place for some of these police operations. So unfortunate to us there's a lot of these activities going on around the city that we are not familiar with or not aware of. Um and we're getting called to that. And um what we recommend for the the community is if if you if you have a need for something in Apple Valley for uh emergency, uh your dog is lost, you have a medical emergency, your car is locked, you need assistance, any of those things that you would call your police department for please call us. Uh we do not conduct um immigration enforcement. Um we do not participate in, you know, immigration sweeps. We do not um discriminate or change our service model based on um sex or religion or creed or race. Um and we've had great luck and great um relationships in the community continuing to have people call us. Um understandably folks are kind of on edge and um and sensitive about some of these federal um operations going on and we are receiving calls on that. Um our response is to just uh is to see what's going on. um if we can send someone out or we can have the have a phone call made to try to determine is this um is this an ICE operation, is this FBI, is this criminal, is it not? Um we're happy to to um to try to do what we can at the local level to find out. Quite often there's very little we can do. We cannot interfere with these operations. We cannot um prevent them from taking place. But what we can do is we can gather uh a little bit more information. we can communicate with the people who are concerned about uh the the proper channels if they do um have complaints and we've had um we've had good success just um kind of letting the community know what we we do and what we don't do. Um we have put it out the information out in a a couple different times about um toward the end of December. We put it in our department newsletter. Um, so if people do take the effort to to read about our department and see what what we have going on, um, we we do that and we also um get a number of maybe uh emails or phone calls from people just wondering what we do and we're happy to to share. But um, to publicly get up here and just explain, you know, the things that we do do as your local law enforcement. Um, we're responding out to emergencies. We are investigating crimes that are taking place in Apple Valley. And certainly the things we do not do is immigration enforcement. I will say that we integrate with um federal law enforcement agencies, state law enforcement agencies, partner law enforcement agencies of all shapes and sizes um when there are criminal investigations that take place. Um and we continue to do that. Um and but that involves kind of pre-planning and communication ahead of time. We get a chance to look at warrants, review them and and come up with a plan to do things safely. Um, and what we're talking about more specifically is um is the um the immigration enforcement that we are not privy to. We are not um participating in um but we certainly welcome people to call if you have questions or concerns or you see this activity and we'll do what we can to um to at least document and and gather facts and try to make sure any of those things taking place are are doing so safely. [36:45] Clint Hooppaw: I think you you've had a couple instances where maybe after uh somebody is arrested or whatever, right? Cars have been left abandoned, those kind of things like things we would never do you would never do as an agency. Uh right, the non-emergency number as a call to make sure that gets taken care of is also an appropriate right response. [37:05] Nick Francis: Yep., Yep. [37:06] Clint Hooppaw: I, mean,, those, are, creating, public, safety problems for others then at that point. [37:11] Nick Francis: Yeah, an abandoned car on the side of the road um may be a hazard for when they're they're doing towing plowing operations or fire engines trying to get through and just the concern of why is this car here? A neighbor might say "Hey, that car sat there for 3 days." U so we have had success following up um and connecting with owners and and making sure they know um that we have their vehicle. They may know that their loved one was taken into custody. We don't have a ton of information on where their whereabouts are, but we can get them their car back and and try to um try, to, at least, minimize, the, the, damage that um they're dealing with with other immigration staff. [37:34] Clint Hooppaw: Chief,, the, only, thing, I'll, add, is, we've all known sitting here, right, the uh incredible professionals you have working for you every day. And I think what we have seen in the last few weeks is just how incredible the professionals you have working for you every day are and the job they're doing and how they're choosing to do it. and uh just thank you for that. Share that thanks for me to uh to all of them and uh we know this is a tough time for them to navigate um right as well to figure out kind of where that role is between between all things and all people. So just thank you. My thanks to you and them. [38:06] Nick Francis: Appreciate, that., The, the, what, we, try, to do and make sure is that during times of crisis and times of kind of um unrest that the police should be the calm ones. We should be taking a deep breath. We should be slowing down. um we should be stepping back and and just trying to gather more information and we have amazingly good staff that's able to do that whether it's a immigration related issue or a crisis at you know at a a home with someone uh mentally um unstable or someone high on drugs are we're not perfect. We're not we're not we're not perfect in everything we do but um during times when when tensions get high, our staff is really good at just taking a breath and and calming people down because this it shall pass. I mean, we're we're expecting this to continue for a while. Um you know, with the the surge and so um we we just plan accordingly and um and make sure our staff knows that we we support them and um appreciate the council support, too. [38:59] Clint Hooppaw: Thank, you., Thank, you,, Chief., Uh, council members, any other comments? Lisa? [39:07] Lisa Hiebert: Um sorry Chief, I've got a quick question for you. Just [laughter] want [39:11] Clint Hooppaw: you, almost, got, away. [39:12] Lisa Hiebert: Didn't, let, you, get, away, quite, quick., Um, I just wanted Could you clarify in your day-to-day activity with all your officers and and again utmost professionalism? And you know, do you do you ask for immigration status? Is that something you you ask in your regular day-to-day work and and protecting our community? [39:35] Nick Francis: No, we um we do not have the capacity to even check uh anyone's immigration status. So, there isn't a database that we can check. There isn't a reason that we would ever um you know request that information or have reason to um to need that to complete our job of of responding to the call to investigating to um doing our law enforcement function in Apple Valley. [40:02] Lisa Hiebert: Great., Thank, you., I, think, that's, just, really important to remind people that they you know, again, you guys do amazing work in keeping us safe um day in day out and all of our first responders, our fire department, police department, and you know, again, the trust we have in you, the trust you have in our residents, and again, that people should not be afraid to contact you for [snorts] their whatever they need. So [40:22] Nick Francis: absolutely., Yep., We're, there, 24/7., Thank you. [40:24] Clint Hooppaw: Y thanks, Chief. Council members anything else? So, I said it last time I sat up here. I'll say it again, Matt, to you and your team. And uh the parks folks as well who have been out uh plowing streets and ice and slush and refreezing and then snowing again. And right, just just thank you. The streets uh I spent a good chunk of the week between Christmas and New Year's out of town. Came back and was pleasantly surprised at the uh the cleanliness of the streets and trails and that kind of thing, especially given the ice we had. So, just again, thank you guys for uh for doing that. It's noticed. I hear it from residents all the time. So, share that. Thanks. With that, I'll move on to our calendar of upcoming events. Our next regular city council meeting is Thursday, January 22nd at 7 p.m. A reminder that our city offices will be closed on Monday January 19th in observance of observance of the Martin Luther King Day. Uh, with that, do we have a motion to approve the calendar? [41:19] Ruth Grendahl: So moved. [41:20] John Bergman: Second. [41:21] Clint Hooppaw: Motion, for, Council, Member, Grendahl, second from Council Member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. opposed. And with that, we'll take a motion to adjourn. [41:26] Lisa Hiebert: So, moved. [41:27] Ruth Grendahl: Second. [41:28] Clint Hooppaw: Motion, from, council, member, Hiebert,, second from council member Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [41:31] Everyone: I. [41:32] Clint Hooppaw: All right., Thank, you., We're adjourned. [41:39] [music]