Good evening. Uh, tonight is Monday, March 23rd, 2026. This is a regular meeting of the Minnitonka City Council. I'll call this meeting to order. Those are who are able, please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance. 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. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley here. Foster Bolton >> here. >> Maxwell >> here. Wilbert >> here. Calbert >> here. Rome >> here. Shack >> here. Uh just a reminder for anybody who's wishing to talk on any of the items on uh or the item number eight, citizens wishing to discuss matters not on the agenda or item 13 for our public hearings. We've got cards out in the lobby and um we're having you fill those out, write your name, um affirm whether you're a resident of Minnetonka and those will get to me and we'll get folks up here um for those item agenda items. Um next we'll go to item four, approval of the agenda, Mr. Funk. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council. I have a couple of recommended addendums for your consideration this evening. First, it relates to item 10 C, which is a preliminary and final plat for Carlson Liner Road edition at 1923 and 1939 Limmer Road. A resolution to vacate an easement was included as an attachment to the report. No actions required on that resolution. So, just make sure we're you're clear on that. And that resolution in particular will come back to your next regular meeting or to one of your next meetings. Uh there is one resolution that will require action and staff will make sure we're clear on that when we get to item 10 C. The next item for your consideration under tonight's agenda is related to item 13C, which is items concerning 1934 Oakland Road. Under item four in the resolution, there were two uh recommended uh conditions as part of this process. Staff is recommending a third. Uh so there's under that's under item four of the resolution. In the current resolution, there's 4A and 4B. Staff recommends a new language 4B that's in your agenda. Miss Thomas will cover that in more clarity uh regarding a grading plan as one of those conditions and that will be covered during the presentation. And then item 4B becomes a new item 4C. And then last is item 14A, items concerning his house foundation services. Uh staff just to make sure we're clear on the motion. And so for tonight's agenda that the motion would be to adopt the resolutions. And so again, staff will cover those during the uh presentation. And again for clarity purposes making sure we have the correct motion as your recommendation. So with that mayor and council I'll turn it back to you. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Funk. And I also have a proposed uh change to the agenda which is related to item 11B amendment of city council rules and procedure. Um in preparing for tonight's meeting we have uh Mr. Funk and I have discussed continuing that item to the April study session for further discussion in that setting. So with that with those uh amendments in the agenda, council, I would take a motion. Uh Council Member Calbertt. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. I uh move approval of the agenda as amended. >> And Council Member Foster Bolton, >> I'll second. I have a a motion by council member Calvert, a second by council member Foster Bolton. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbertt, >> yes. >> Romey, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Uh, on to item five, approval of the minutes. And we have three sets of minutes. Uh, February 20, 2026, special meeting minutes. February 23rd, 2026, special meeting minutes and March 9th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Council Council Member Calbertt. Thank you, Mayor. Um I did um make a small um suggested a small change to the March 9th regular meeting minutes. But with that, um, I would make a motion to approve the February 20th, 2026 special meeting minutes, the February 23rd, 2026 special meeting minutes, and the March 9th, 2026 regular meeting minutes with the my suggested uh, edits. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Romey. I'll second. I have a motion by council member Calvert, a second by council member Romey. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calvert, >> yes. >> Romey, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. On to item six, which is special matters. We have none. Item seven, reports from city manager and council members. Mr. Funk. >> Good. Uh, good evening, mayor and council. Uh just really want to spend a couple minutes talking about uh the city's role in operation metro surge and this continues to be a busy time as a city connects with different groups impacted by operation metro surge. This really includes the uh coalition for our safe and stable communities. General Counsel, you're updated routinely on that effort and I think uh Mayor Shaq also participated in a recent uh interview and I I'm assuming that interview will come out soon in the Sun Sailor just again about the city's efforts as it relates to the coalition. But as you know this action that you take as a council and the work by our staff takes on many different forms. Uh, for example, our housing and public safety team outreach teams connect with people each week, whether that's our community development staff working with different landlords and rental properties, our public safety department, uh, making contact with different uh, agencies as well across the community and then just really going back to the community development team, also talking to our business community and having that business outreach each week as we're trying to understand the ongoing impacts. Most also more recently the city has hosted a community crisis response meeting every two weeks. We've now had our second one of those and this includes city staff, community members and students who access current who have um assess current challenges considered where there are many gaps in assistance and explore opportunities for shared and coordinated solutions. Uh you also have on tonight's agenda later on uh discussion regarding the city's commitment towards an additional 150,000 towards families in a housing crisis through our homeless intervention program and rental assistance programs through his house. And I would argue that that is really a a sound measure in terms of being proactive before anyone that's in a situation whether it's uh homeless or eviction that this is getting ahead of any type of eviction situation. And I think the data bears that out in terms of the city's approach to getting to assistance before folks are in that unfortunate situation. So I think um as you talk through that this evening that will become obviously hopefully more evident to those that are following this. And then also this last week uh Council Member Calbertt who I assume may speak to this as well. Chief Scott Warboom, our senior DI coordinator Jason Alexander and I attended the Minnetonka family collaborative meeting. Uh there were roughly 30 to 40 participants in that and uh many of our partners were also in that meeting. Uh and those city partners such as a house um that were also highlighted by Mayor Shack at the recent state of the city were also in attendance and it was really u a really good meeting in terms of uh just our efforts collectively and we could speak to the group about the resources available and how we are all partnering through this. We also recognize people experiencing a crisis may not access traditional city communications like our city memo or our website or social media. Uh but first I just note as an example, we first introduced our community housing and food resources guide in the December memo and on our website. Uh we've also made some recent enhancements to our website. So these resources can be easily found. It's on our homepage. It's also found in three other locations on our website. So a total four different places on our website. I know sometimes it can be tough to navigate as we have over 750 pages of data. Uh but we want to make sure that it's front and center and people can find more information and resources on our homepage. Uh we continue to highlight these efforts and share it on many formats. Uh this includes our electronic signage in all of our city buildings, on social media, and at our meetings within our community partners and our crisis advocates. Uh we also use our connection newsletter as that's also tailored specifically for residents in need. And then last, I would just mention that uh with all these resources that they're that are out there, uh again, we're kind of proud of the work and we should be proud of the work that the city has done in this arena and that I want to encourage anyone that is aware of an individual or family that is in need to really direct them to city staff. We're always available to point people to those resources. We have our city partners in a house and resource west that are advocates in this in this process because the city can't reach everyone. We really strive to reach everyone, but we know we're not reaching everyone. So, it's really incumbent upon anyone that we recognize uh that needs help to point them in the right direction. Um so, thank you for the time on on highlighting those activities. And last, I just mentioned Saturday night was our fire department banquet and it's always a a pleasure to join our fire department and celebrating their years of success. And I know many of our council was there in attendance. So, thank you council and supporting our fire chief and our our department staff as they reflected on this last year. So with that, mayor and council, I turn it back over to you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Funk. Councel, Council Member Calbertt. Thank you, Mayor. Um, so several of us up here, actually most of us, if not all of us, intended to be at the National League of Cities, but because of um various obstacles, some of our planes did not take off. I however was able to make my way to Washington DC. Um and this is the congressional conference where we have an opportunity to um speak with our congressional delegation about the things that are important to us. And um you know many I I probably all of us got cards from um people in the community that um have expressed their um continuing commitment to our neighbors and um trying to correct the damage from the surge and um hold public officials to account. Um, I will our congressional members are very acutely aware of everything that has occurred here and are doing their best to support our our community our community statewide, but especially here in the metro area. I also attended two uh very um informative meetings. Um, one was about public safety in FEMA. Um and these were very committed public servants that work for national organizations that are involved in emergency management. And um the word from them is basically FEMA as we know it is gone and it is up to cities and counties and states to come up with their own emergency management plans. Um so that was very sobering but also just good to know. Um and uh I also attended a meeting um that was very well attended. I know that um the city manager was in the same room and at least one other council member was in attendance having to do with immigration uh the immigration surge here, the so-called immigration surge. and um Chief O'Hara from the Minneapolis Police Department and two extremely brilliant lawyers were panelists there trying to wrap our minds around first of all what has occurred and what is in the purview and within the authority of cities to do and I know that there is a lot of frustration among some people some of you may even be in the room right now that it doesn't seem that we are doing enough and you know there are legal constraints and my my big focus And I did I've been asking the Secretary of State's office, people that I know, lawyers here, and that panel, what can cities do if armed federal agents are at our polling places? And the answer was, it's unprecedented. There is no case law. And I said, well, we have a few short months to figure it out. Let's figure it out. So, um, it's top of mind. Some of the cards that I received today mention the same concern and it's a very real concern. So, I think it's good. I know the secretary of state is putting um measures in place, but they're going to be legal measures, not physical measures. And so, um you know, a lot of the things that some cities are doing with um ordinances are not enforceable because there's there's federal supremacy. So, um, that those were the kinds of things that I was trying to get answers from from the lawyers and I'm going to continue to pursue it. Um, at the Minnotonka Family Collaborative, which is a group of nonprofits that um is uh gathers um to support um students and families at risk in Minnitonka School District. I happen to be a Hopkins parent, but I'm the liazison to that group. These these folks do the incredible work in our communities from homelessness prevention to uh food insecurity, academic counseling, grief counseling, mental health, physical health, um you name it. Uh these people are doing the hard work. In fact, the person that um administers our homelessness prevention program, I met her through through that organization and um the chief talked about um sort of how things were here on the ground in Minnotonka and the metro area. um how things were working or not working, how we don't get information from um the federal agencies when they are here or doing activities or coming here. Um so I think it it was a very informative um presentation. Um the city manager explains some of the things that the coalition is doing so people can understand that the city is working hard to protect our community and um make sure that people are feeling welcome and supported. And um one of the things that um I very much appreciated because we did talk about um the financial stressors on families um in our area um because of Operation Metro Surge. and um the person that runs our homelessness program did talk about um how Minnetonka does what so many other communities do not, which is homelessness prevention, eviction prevention. So, what the city manager mentioned earlier tonight already in terms of supporting our rental assistance program is um it's it's a preventative measure so that we don't have to worry about people being evicted to begin with because they can get um rental assistance. Um and so I think the whole idea of homelessness prevention is is incredibly important here. Um we also several of us were also at um League of Minnesota Cities Day on the Hill and uh several of us that were there did advocate for um a longer uh uh notification period for people because um it was only 14 days. And so we did speak with our state legislators about that. And um there are some communities that did pass um eviction moratoriums. However, it is a state statute that is governed by the state. So even though people pass um various ordinances or resolutions, again, it's it's it's a state um it's a state law. It's governed by state law. So, um I'm very happy that my colleagues and I are committed to our neighbors in terms of preventing eviction to begin with. And then I'll just say that the um memorial service for our deputy fire marshal Sean Johnson was very humbling, well attended, and um extremely moving. and it was bookended by the fire banquet which was a wonderful celebration of the the biggest heroes in our city and boy do they do an incredible job. So I'm so privileged to be here and be able to take part in all those things. Thank you mayor. >> Thank you councel. Anybody else? >> Council member Romey. >> Thank you mayor. I'll try to be brief here and not repetitive. Um I was also at the National League of Cities conference. I took away a little bit something different from the immigration workshop than my colleague. I did speak with Chief O'Hara um both before and after that workshop. Um and my takeaway is that yes, there are things that are um uninforceable, but other cities can and are uh doing making resolutions as a statement of their values. And I continue to be in favor of doing something like that here as well. Um, in terms of the league or other things that uh we did, we visited uh our congressperson member Kelly Morrison and her office on the hill. Um, some of the main things aside from what my colleague uh outlined that we were advocating for in particular uh have to do with housing. um specifically some national legislation regarding uh you know affordable and attainable housing called the H road to housing for the 21st century act. Um infrastructure uh for roads and bridges disaster response as my colleague said um we cannot re rely on FEMA anymore. So therefore localities will have to come up with their own plans. And as part of the three items that I just mentioned, another thing that we're advocating for at the federal level is streamlining federal grant processes um to make it easier for smaller cities to apply for and you know kind of basically do reporting on grants which is very ownorous right now. Um but also more direct funding directly to cities. So right now a lot of our funding or you know lots of times funding comes to the state level and then is trickled down to cities by um state legislators and state agencies. And right now there's a big push within the National League of Cities is to have more of, you know, everything from community development block grant funding to other types of funding, especially housing funding, different forms of housing funding to come directly to cities which could be uh beneficial to cities like Minnitonka. So those are some of the things that we are doing at the national level. I know it seems, you know, easy to think that we're just here doing these things on this day, but we also interact with our um our state legislators and also our um you know, congressional delegation in terms of trying to uh you know create change, create policy or advocate for policies and funding that we use here at the the local level. Um lastly, um I I I'll follow up. I I attended right before I flew out for uh that conference. I was with the economic development advisory uh committee on March 12th and heard reports and updates from the previous year in terms of uh business and housing and I will share that out links to that that's also available on our website. So, if you're interested in in what's going on in terms of community and economic development in Minnetonka, there's some really good news on that front and some things to be pleased with. And of course, we always are looking to improve and do more. So, thank staff for all of their work on that and our uh commission for doing the hard work of helping us understand what's going on in Minnotonka. Um, and I think that's about it for right now. Thank you, >> Council Member Kley. Thank you, mayor. I just want to um um just talk about um a phone call that I've received today. Um I talked to Mike about it earlier um from a um resident in my ward who called in regards to um a home that she lives in. She lives in the homes within re reach um housing. and she called me today and her question was, "Kizzy, I'm at the point where I really would just I'm thinking about walking away from my home." And she asked me what was her my thoughts around her just saying, "Forget it. Throw her hands up and just walk away." Um, and I told her I didn't think it was, you know, it's kind of up to her, you know, how she wants to do it. But, you know, she talked to me about um her um taxes going up to $6,000. Um it went up by $1,500. She said that she believe that there's a mistake that is made from the program um where they didn't report that she had insurance and didn't give it to the city. And um she had concerns about this cuz she said, you know, between her taxes and between her mortgage that is 1,900 and this is affordable housing program. She said between that and all of the work that she continues to have to put into her home and she can't get a loan for this home because she um from the bank perspective, she doesn't own the home. Even though like this program says that, you know, the people that are are in this program, they're home ownership, they own the home. Like this woman talked to me about her credit score. She had like a 800 credit score. She makes pretty decent money. Um but now she can't get a loan to even fix up the problems that she having within her house. So I I I say this to say I um talked to her for about 45 minutes to an hour. Um, I talked to her about sending all of us a email including uh, Mike, Julie and all the council member and mayor and try to lay out her problems and what her concerns are. And then I also talk to her about some of my frustration but um, because I'm also in the program but also my frustration of you know I can't be the only one telling her story. I need for her to come to tell her own story. And I need people who are in the program to tell their story if they're frustrated. She also talked to me about another woman who walked away from the program who left her house um who stayed off of Shady Oaks and um and that was recent. But then I also a couple months ago I was at another community event for my um with my job and ran into a woman who used to live in um Eden Prairie who was in the same program, the same homes within reach program in Minnetonka who also walked away from her home. And this is I I I say this because I want us as a council to dig deeper into why folks are walking away from their homes. People are not just walking away from their homes because um they're walking away. Like people don't want to walk away from their homes when we living in times where people are struggling to stay in homes where homes are really unaffordable and they know if they go back out into the market to purchase another home, they're probably going to be paying double what they're paying now. So, as a council, as a city, as a staff, I really want us to dig deeper into why this is happening. And don't I don't want us just saying, "Oh, well, this is this person issue." I want us to really look at like we can't say it's a program and we're separate from the program if we're funding this program. No, that's not acceptable. We need to look at why folks are walking away from their homes and we need to dig deeper. And so, um, I encourage us to do that. So, thank you. >> Thank you, council. Anybody else? Okay, just a couple things um that I have here. First, I want to take one last opportunity to um to express our condolences on behalf of the council and and and the rest of the city to um deputy fire marshal Sean Johnson's family. The the funeral was very moving and I agree with my colleagues. It was it's really all inspiring to see um the commitment to public safety of our fire department. If you haven't been to a uh firefighter funeral, I assure you that there's never a dry eye in the place. Um, also want to those of us that were left behind last weekend, um, were able to witness the remarkable work that our public works department did in clearing the snow last weekend. Um, really quick work, uh, the both with the roads and the trails and, um, I know folks were really impressed. So, thank you. That was a round the cro roundthe-clock operation for sure long uh long persistent snowfall. And then finally I want to reiterate what u my colleagues and Mr. Funk said. You know I I acknowledge that it may feel to some that we have moved on from the impacts of operation metro surge. First and foremost, I will reiterate again that it's important that everybody in the community who lives, works, and visits here understands that we're they're welcome here and we want Minnotonka to be a safe place for them. We also our mission is that we are a welcoming place for all and that continues to be the utmost commitment that I have as mayor um to the whole community. just from uh the work of the coalition continues and we're really trying to do a number of things. We're meeting with state federal officed officials to talk about rental assistance, business assistance, um preparing for any future disruptions. We've also been in close communication with the governor's office about options related to housing. Um here I continue to personally be in contact with leaders at a resource west and his house to talk about what needs are and how we can be supportive and make sure that our community members are supported. I've also started um over the course of the last few weeks reaching well we we're in communication with the superintendent but beyond that um uh reaching out to and communicating with the school principles those who are welcoming of it. Not all a lot of them have their plates full and I'm going to start visiting some schools this week, Wednesday, and is my first visit. And I'm looking forward to that to be a presence to to hope that those kiddos understand how important that it is to me personally and to us as a city for them to be here and to be feel safe in their schools and just to be welcomed in Minnetonka. So, um, we I think our mission has merged in some ways with what our mission has always been, which is to continue to make people feel safe and welcome here. And then in light of the turmoil that went on over the last couple months, um, to reiterate that and to be public facing with it. So, that's what I can share. Um, council, anything else? All right, we'll move on to item number eight. And I'm going to make a little um looking at my notes here. I will do is um take brief public comment regarding because the item number eight is intended to be uh citizens wishing to discuss items not on the agenda and I see some folks who want to talk about items that are on the agenda in item 8, but we're going to defer those to they sound more related to item 14A. So, um, the folks who submitted cards for item 8, but want to talk about his house and rental, um, assistance, save your comments for 14. And, and just as usual, we'll keep those very brief. Um, 3 minutes or less. All right. So, as far as people that have items that don't relate to that, I'm going to call um Kathy Gotkin first and then um follow her up with Jonathan Kent and we'll set the timer for 3 minutes. And as you're aware, um we'll listen to you and take notes on what you have to say. will consult with staff after, but it's we won't be discussing or addressing the item at all on the day is here. So, Miss Gotkin, come on up. >> Hi there. I'm Kathy Godkin from W 4 and I wasn't going to talk tonight because I'm really not feeling well, but I do want to applaud everybody for speaking tonight on the cards that you received. A lot of effort was put into that to get people to speak up, tell you what they're thinking about. Um, and I'm glad that that you read them and got it got them. So, that was the main reason for my coming up here. And I was thinking I cut something out of the paper today on these big data centers that are being put everywhere. I don't know if any of them are being even smaller ones being put in Minnetonka, but I would like it to be open to the public if and when anybody decides they want to put any type of data center in Minnetonka. that is not a uh what do they call it? Um thank you. Yeah, that thing um any non-disclosure. I want it to be open with open hearings, open everything. And then the other thing as I was sitting down with the cat was these three roundabouts that are going up that I read in the Sun Sailor on over the weekend on Elcier Boulevard. That is crazy. Some crazy stuff. First of all, a lot of kids ride their bikes on Excelsier Boulevard. I can't even. At least now the people have to stop. How are they going to get over a roundabout with cars just going and going and I hope some thought has been put into that by all of you? Because I'm worried about the kids. Um, everything I do basically is for the kids. I'm a school monitor for the kids. I'm And when I saw that in the paper, I knew it was in discussion. I didn't know it had been a $15 million project. I mean, that's outrageous amount of money to spend. But anyway, be sure you take into account kids riding their bikes on that road that they have protection. And thank you for reading those cards. >> Thank you, Miss Gaken. Jonathan Kent. >> Good evening, Mr. K. >> I uh mayor and council, thank you for hearing my comments. Uh so um the last uh few meetings you've been hearing from I think a few of us and I'm going to continue in this vein and hopefully uh have not be too repetitive and then to the extent that I am urge those even watching listening here all of you to consider why it is that some of us are coming forward and saying the same things again and again and again and uh you know um I think everyone is operating from doing their best and then I think it could be a whole lot better. So to get to the core of it, I think that I I take a step back. I I'm trying to real time process the update that uh city manager and council provided. It is appreciated. Um and I think those are good steps. And then I think that and I don't think I'm alone here. Um that it's not nearly enough. Uh and I think uh that part of what courageous leadership is is uh stepping into unknowns and voids and specifically when they're when people's lives are in danger and not only in danger in terms of um the probably the more um kind of visceral images that that we've all seen at this point unfortunately. Um also just uh there's different kinds of danger. there's uh not being able to know if you're going to make it the next few months financially. So, I can I can appreciate there's competing timelines here. And this is what I'm getting at is if we take a step back, you can look at other cities. I realize each city is different and uh necessarily so. If you look at assault weapon bans, you know, those those are there's steps Highland Park that I I know that mayor personally. they took on against one of the biggest lobbies in the world uh or certainly our country NRA and and won. Now that issue has not certainly not resolved itself but on uh and I appreciate uh one of the council members uh remarks that even having uh as sort of a moral document a statement saying this is what we believe in. This is what we're going to stand for. This is how we're going to advocate for because that's that's the bottom line is I'm not hearing enough advocacy. I'm hearing about minimal resources which are are going to help, but I urge there there's a time element to this and there's also a matter of leading in in a state that desperately needs it because we're not seeing it really in my humble opinion from from the state level and that's hopefully an avenue that you can advocate for too. So, I I have about uh 15 seconds left. So, I'll just say um it would be great if there would be a standing agenda agenda item. Uh you could create an avenue where you could have guests from a from uh individuals in the community who are doing mutual aid efforts. Uh that that's a good starting point and and start introducing more resolutions and ordinances. There's this should be uh every meeting it should be this way. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Kent. All right. Uh moving on. Did was there somebody who wanted to speak who didn't get a card filled out? No. Okay. And Mr. Ringhoffer will come back to you. All right. Moving on to item nine, bids and purchases. And we have a few of those. Item 9A, bids for the 2026 Sherwood Forest Replacement Project. And uh Mr. Manchester. >> Yeah. Good evening, mayor and councel. Before you tonight are the bids for the 2026 Sherwood Forest um forest main replacement. We have two actions tonight. A motion to award the contract for the project uh number 25907 to New Look Contracting in the amount of $738,828 and then authorize our deputy public works director to expend the allocated funds for the project without further council approval provided they do not exceed uh the project budget of 1.2 million. Uh it's related to our infrastructure and asset management desired outcome 5.1 for our strategic plan which is our efficiency of our utilities and facilities. Um as a background you saw this project on February 2nd 2026 where you ordered the improvements accepted the plans and specs and then authorized the ad for bids at that time. Prior uh the project came forward in April of 2025. Uh it was a larger project with Sherwood and the Birch uh lift station. So there's two components at that time. We had indicated uh this piece would come back at a stand as a standalone project in 2026. This is the project location. It's just to the west of Hopkins Crossroad, just to the north of Hillside Lane West. Um the project area is in yellow and then we did highlight the staging area which is necessary. Uh we will be in contact with the neighbors and have been already at this point. Um the project proposes uh essentially there's an existing 6-in force mane which carries sanitary sewer from our list station. We're proposing a cured inplace liner uh which essentially runs a liner inside the existing pipe. It requires less excavation and requires essentially pits to make the connections. We will temporarily bypass uh the sewer at the time. There will be a closure of Live Oak um west of Park Ridge Drive that will be necessary, but access will be maintained uh to the neighborhood in the other direction. So, we'll maintain access at all times. Bids were opened on March 12th. Uh we did receive five bids for this project. Uh Newuck Contracting has completed work in the city in in the past as well. Um there is funding shown for the project. It's coming from our 2025 utility fund. Um it is noted in the project too. There's a a smaller piece of 500,000 for this project that we completed last year which was along uh Hopkins Crossroad just to make sure we got that completed before the county overlaid the road. If council approves the actions we begin the spring and be completed uh late summer to fall. So the two actions as mentioned before, I won't repeat them, but I'll turn it back to the mayor and council for any questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Manchester. Council, any questions? I will just I had an overall question which is it's looking like based on these bids that we're in a relatively favorable bidding bidding climate right now. Is that is that a fluke or you think that's going on here? >> Mayor Shaq and Kela, I hope it's not a fluke. I I would agree. I mean, we were talking about it. Mitch and Phil are here tonight from engineering as well and we got a number of bids on these projects. So, I we it's really good. >> Well, great. Let's, you know, let's hope we can continue to maybe make some savings here for rainy day. Um, okay. Well, any other any comments or anything? Otherwise, we'd take a motion on this one. Council member Calbertt. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I make the motion to award the contract for the 2026 Sherwood Force Sherwood Force main replacement project to New Look Contracting in the amount of $738,828 and authorize the deputy public works director to expend the allocated funds for the project costs without further council approval provided the total project costs do not exceed the project budget of $1,200,000. Thank you. Council member Foster Bolton. >> I have a motion by Council Member Calvert and a second by Council Member Foster Bolton. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. Wilbur, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. >> Mr. Mley, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. All right, moving on to item 9B, bids for the 2026 mill and overlay project. Mr. from Manchester. >> Thanks, Mayor. Um, this is our 2026 Milan Overlay project. We have two actions for this as well to award the contract for the 2026 Milan overlay to Northwest in the amount of 1,42,22428. And then a motion to authorize our city engineer to expend these allocated funds for the project costs without fur further council approval provided. They're within the budget that does not exceed uh 1.8 million. Again, this is in line with our strategic profile. Desired outcome 52 for a safe, quality, and well-maintained roadway system. Um, this project includes a number of uh paving areas throughout the city. As you can see, our Bren Road East, Minnetonka Drive, our public works parking lot, Oakland Road, Williston, and then Woodland Road. So, kind of scattered across the city. Again, as mentioned earlier, uh, from Mayor Shaq, uh, we did get a number of bids, and so we opened six bids for this. Our low bidder was Northwest Asphalt and those bids were opened on March 12th. Uh our schedule as follows. Uh the bid opening we be tonight. If council considers to move forward, we would award the contract and then construction would take place throughout the summer 2026. Um I should have mentioned this on the other project, but we we'll continue to keep everyone informed. So we do newsletters, text updates, um project signs just to make sure as we get to a neighborhood we tell folks what's going on. Um, I'll keep it short. This one, uh, I won't repeat these again. These are recommendations tonight. And I'll turn it back to the mayor and councel. >> Thank you, Mr. Manchester. Council, any questions? Pretty straightforward. All right. I would take a motion on this, Council Member Wilburn. >> I move that we award the contract for the 2026 Milan Overlay project to Northwest in the amount of 1,42,224.28. and um to authorize a city engineer to expend the allocated funds for project cost without f further council approval provided the total project costs do not exceed the project budget of 1.8 million. Thank you and a second. Council member Foster Bolton. >> I'll second. >> All right. I have a motion by council member Wilburn, a second by council member Foster Bolton. Miss Larson, please call roll. Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. Yes. Ra. >> Yes. >> Shaq. >> Yes. Motion carries. All right. In a true sign of summer, we are going to go to bids and purchases again. 9C bids and agreement for the Minnitanka Boulevard Trail Project. Mr. Manchester. >> Uh, mayor and council. Again, this is our third bid for tonight and it should be our final. So, our recommendation, we do have three on this one. So, we have a motion to award uh the contract for Minnitankka Boulevard Trail project number 26305 to Northwest in the amount of 1,415 $77711 and then amend our capital improvements program. A motion to authorize our city engineer to expend the funds without further council approval provided they don't exceed the project budget of 3.8 million which does include uh power line burial in this area. And then finally, authorize the mayor and city manager to execute execute an agreement with Henipin County subject to non-material changes as approved by the city engineer and city attorney for some funding that we received that I'll mention in a second. Again, it's related to our strategic profile infrastructure and asset management desired outcome 5.3 for safe quality and well-maintained roadway system. Uh our project location, as you can see, it's kind of taken off where we left last time. um from Tonka Wood over to the marsh area. Um this improvement is an eight foot wide pave trail with concrete curb and gutter. It does have retaining walls in the area um and then a shoulder for service vehicles and road cyclists. Uh we have utility improvements in the area as well to adjust some storm sanitary and water mane uh casting adjustments. And then the overhead burial that's been taking place that would continue uh the beginning of this year. It actually would start up again in a few weeks. Uh we had a number of bids for this. We had actually 12 bids on this project. It was very popular. We opened on March 13th. And then the low bidder is the same as our previous project uh Northwest. And they have completed work in the city in years past. Uh tonight is your consideration uh for the contract. Um if you decide to move forward, it would take place in the summer. Uh the Henipin County agreement that I mentioned earlier is for funding that was received. Uh we did receive 500,000 from Henipin County which was part of their cost participation and partnership funding and so that would assist with the project further and reduce uh the city's portion of the cost. Again, uh we've sent out a number of these already, but we would continue to do so. Email, text updates, newsletters just to keep everyone informed as the project continues to move forward. Uh just some before and afters. I showed these last time, but this was our other stretch of Manitoka Boulevard. So on the left uh is before and then you can see the after photo to the right. Um I will mention Mitch Hatcher is here tonight as well as Phil Olsen. Um Mitch worked on the Milan overlay project too. I forgot to introduce them earlier but uh I won't read these again. These are actions tonight. I'll turn it back to the mayor and council for any questions. Thanks. >> Thank you Mr. Manchester Council. We've seen this a few times and it'll be nice to bring this project to a close here. Any questions? All right, comments. Otherwise, I would take a motion. Council member Kelbert, I just have a comment that I'm very glad that we got a little county funding. Take some a little tiny amount of the pain, the financial pain out of it. And um I'm happy to make a motion. Um, I'd like to make the motion to award the contract for the Minnitankka Boulevard Trail project uh 26305 to Northwest in the amount of 1,415,77711 to amend the capital improvements program. Mo also make the motion to authorize the city engineer to expend the allocated funds for project costs without further council approval provided the total project costs do not exceed the project budget of $3,800,000 and to authorize the mayor and city manager to execute an agreement with Henpin County subject to non-material changes as approved by the city engineer and city attorney. >> Council member Rome. >> Thank you. I will second but also make a quick comment that this will uh extend this connectivity all the way from uh the Grace Bay Bridge and actually into Weisetta hooking in all the way across and all the way to the marsh and hopefully uh at some point to the city center and to the other side of 494. But this is a great uh great thing for my ward Ward 3 which will allow a lot of walkability. So um and also connecting to other nearby communities. So very glad to have that. With that, I'll second the the motion. >> Thank you. I have a motion by Council Member Calvert, a second by Council Member Romey. I would be remiss if I didn't just correct you and say that it does uh complete trail and sidewalk walk all the way into Hopkins because that is my neck of the woods. So, that's great. Um, Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilurn, >> yes. Yes. Calbertt, >> yes. >> Romey, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Manchester, for all of your hard work on that item. Um, moving on. Item 10, consent agenda. This these are items requiring a majority vote. They've been placed on the consent consent agenda because they are considered routine in nature. Um if approved or if uh there are no questions and nobody wants to pull an item, we can approve these in one vote. If anybody would like to further discuss an item, they can indicate that they'd like that item pulled and we will set it aside and and approve the remaining items. Uh so we have consent agenda item 10A, a resolution for Cedar Lake Road and Ridgel Drive improvement project. Items item 10B, items concerning the Hennessy residence at 2348 Ford Road. Item 10 C, preliminary and final plat for Carlson's Liner Road edition at 1923 and 1939 Liner Road. And uh Council Member Foster Bolton, >> I'd like to pull 10 A. >> Okay. Um, anybody else want to pull any items? All right. I would take a motion for um items 10B and 10 C. Council member Wilburn. >> I move approval of uh consent agenda items 10B and 10 C. >> Uh C uh Council Member Maxwell. >> I'll second. Thank you. I have a motion by council member Wilburn, a second by council member Maxwell. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbertt, >> yes. Rome, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Okay. Council member Foster Bolton, 10A. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I wanted to pull this because I wanted to get a better picture of what the bike lane is going to look like on the Cedar Lake Road um, project. I was a little confused about what I read on that memo. >> Sure. Council member Foster Bolton and Council Mayor. Um, I'll pull up just a quick slide here and maybe just kind of talk about some things just briefly. First, you know, we added a number of things. Some of these were there, but we have a number of safety elements in the project. So, we looked at narrow traffic lanes, you know, bike lane striping, separators, wider striping, um, some pavement messaging. I'll show you a photo here in a second. Some obstacle markers. We had the crosswalk striping in there before as well. And then we looked at intersection bike skips too that I'll show you kind of on a map. And then some additional bike lane signage. And we and we had the bumpouts. You saw some of that before, but I'll I'll kind of show you in a second. This is kind of what we had before. Green ber road is a good example. You can see there's crosswalks in that intersection. Uh now we did look at changing some of the striping in that area. So we're looking at bike skips. I'll show you on the next slide. And then some double yellow buffering. Um if you look at your your screen now, so just some additions to the project. Um we're sitting at Greenbryer. This is Cedar Lake Road. And so at this intersection, if you look in the bottom left corner, uh we're adding a double white line. And so if you're familiar with McGinty, there's a double white line out there. Now, um as part of that, it's a 10-ft lane, and so there'd be a double line running down that side. Uh we also looked at some pavement markings, uh for bikes and directional arrows. So, additional striping in that area. We also looked to add uh these are the bike skips and so there's actually uh painted white lines that are skipped going across the intersection to help folks go through the intersection and just guide them across. Uh we looked at some additional signing in here as well. And then uh you know we have the existing crosswalks from before as one example. Um Royals Drive. Here's kind of another example of some of the things at that intersection. Uh we had the medians in there before, but again, uh this area has a pedestrian bumpout. And so that's another safety feature we looked at. There wasn't an area for pedestrians to stand in this location. And so as part of this project, we're adding that location just to help um people that were there before. So when we kind of studied the area, we made sure to add that because there were folks using it. And again, on the south side, we're looking at a 10-ft bike lane, looking at the double line, you know, carrying all the way through the project, as well as the pavement marking markings and arrows. On the north side, we did just do the seven. Um, that's the space we have on that. There is an existing sidewalk there as well. So, that's why that's not quite as wide. Um, and as part of that, we're looking at, we usually do a 4-in wide uh stripe line. We are increasing that to six just for more visibility as well just to add so it's more noticeable and a safer buffer through there. Um hopefully that helps. Certainly happy to answer any more questions too. >> Thank you Mr. Manchester. Any other questions? Helpful. Okay. All right. Any comments? Otherwise, uh Council Member Foster Bolton we take a motion on this item. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to um is it just the resolution for the Cedar Lake Road and Ridgel Drive improvement project? >> Great. I have a motion and council member Calvert. >> I'll second. Mayor. >> Okay, great. A motion by Council Member Foster Bolton, a second by Council Member Calvert. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Oh, uh yes, Mr. Manchester. >> One one second. We do actually have two actions. So, we have the resolution. Then we do have an authorization to purchase some signal equipment, too. If you could also include uh the recommendation. >> Excellent. Okay. >> So, I'll make I'll include the um authorized the purchase of traffic signal equipment for the Cedar Lake Road and Ridgedale Drive Improvement Project number 26209 from Millerburn Med or whatever manufacturing company. Great. >> In the amount of $400,000. And do I need to be detailed like that? Do you want that? Yes. Okay. In the amount of $42,000522 and Traffic Control Corporation in the amount of $340,863 from the state's cooperative purchasing contract. >> Thank you. And I'll second that one. Okay. So, we have a motion by Council Member Foster Bolton, a second by Council Member Calbert. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. Romey, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Okay. On to consent agenda items. Uh item 11, items requiring five votes. And now with our amended agenda, we just have one of those. And again, these are this is considered a routine item which we we can take in a single vote. And this is 11A, a resolution approving the grant agreement between Metropolitan Council and the city of Minnitonka for the 2023 inflow and infiltration INI grant program. Uh any everybody okay with that? I would take a motion to approve that. Council member Maxwell. >> I'll make a motion to adopt the resolution authorizing execution of the 2023 inflow and infiltration grant agreement. Thank you. Council member Calvert. >> I'll second. I have a motion by Council Member Maxwell and a second by Council Member Calvert. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. Rome, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. All right. Item 12, introduction of ordinances, and we have none. Item 13, which is public hearings. 13A, temporary on sale liquor license for Resource West for a fundraising event at 1460 Minnetonka Boulevard, Miss Wishnack. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh, this is for the annual event for Resource West. They call it Springfest. It will be held on May 1st right here at the community center. Um there I think they've had an event like this for over 20 years. So it's been a pretty common uh annual event for us to look at and consider for temporary licenses. Um we haven't had no history issues, no complaints, no um uh information from community center staff that indicates we should not approve this. So with that, staff would recommend approval of the temporary liquor license for Resource West. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Miss Swishnack. Any questions, council? Not seeing any. I'll open up the public hearing, and I'll invite anybody to come up, including the applicant, if they want to to uh talk about their event. >> Good evening. Please state your name and address for the >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, my name is Zach Spearoff. I am the community engagement coordinator at Resource West. Um, been there two years, so this is the third Springfest that we've done here. Um, and it's it's exactly like you heard. It's our annual fundraiser. Um, a little bit of a program, some speakers, live auction, silent auction. Um, it's kind of fun to turn that space down there into like a casual party, I guess. Um, we about 180 people that attend. Um, I was told explicitly to invite everybody. Um, we have a nice banner on our website. You can buy a ticket. Um, I don't want to belabor it too much, but I have had a really, um, great experience working with Mike Pavevela and Fiona Golden. Um, obviously all of you deserve some thanks for uh the work you do for the city, but I don't live in Hopkins or Minnotonka. I live in St. Paul and I'm a South Minneapolis kid and I routinely go to that uh side of the metro and brag about the work that happens here. So, thank you. Um, thanks for supporting Resource West. Um, yeah, that's it. Do you need anything else from me at all? >> I don't think so. Thank you. and we wish you best of luck on the event and thanks for your kind words and the service to the community. >> Thank you. >> Is there anybody else that would like to speak on this item? >> I don't have any little cards, but I'll ask one more time. Anybody? Yep. Hold on. Uh, last call. All right, I'll close the public hearing and council comments. Council member Kley, I think you had a comment. >> I just wanted to make a comment about the spring fest. I attended the spring fest um with resource west before and I would encourage everyone to attend. It's really a nice event that they do. Um and then also um they do it for fundraising. And then also I just want to um say this and I I spoke to Mike about this earlier too. Um I'm hoping that we can um build a build a closer relationship with Resource West because they do a lot in the community. Um, when I first moved here in Minnotonka in 2008, I was um I moved here um as I stated before I um am was a low-income person who moved to Minnetonka and needed resources and I went to Resource West to um use some resources there and at the time they didn't have as many resources but since then um I know um they've moved to Minnotonka and been doing a lot of work like um I know Tracy is the executive up there has done a lot of work to improve and make sure that they're supporting the families in Minnotonka and Hopkins. So, I just um encourage us to build a deeper relationship with Resource West and hope that we can support them because they do do great work in the community. >> Thank you, Council Member Kley. Any council, any other comments? All right, then we would take a motion to approve this liquor license. Council member Calbert. Yeah, I uh I agree with council member Kley and I'm very happy to make the motion to grant the temporary liquor license to resource west and council member Kley. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion by council member Calvert and a second by council member Kley. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. >> Raley, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Well, everybody buy your tickets for the event and let's make it a big success. All right. Item 13B is an on sale wine and on sale 3.2% malt beverage liquor license for Coyoto Ridgedale LLC doing business as Kyoto Sushi at 12977 Ridgedale Drive. Miss Wishnack. >> Uh thank you, mayor and councel. This is uh continued public hearing for you this evening. Uh you first saw this in February. Uh since then uh just a reminder the location is at the former Tommo uh in the Ridgell area building and um the Kyoto uh sushi would be I believe it's the seventh location for them uh in the metro area. Since the last meeting, we have completed all the background information. Um, all the insurance, everything has been provided to the city that is necessary. Uh, with that, we will recommend approval and uh, uh, for the council to grant the licenses to Kyoto Ridgel LLC. Thank you. Thank you, council. Any questions? Believe the public hearing is open, so I would invite the applicant to come up. You don't have to, but if you'd like to say something, by all means, you're welcome to just state your your name and address, please. >> Evening. My name is Zing Zho. I'm the owner of the Kyoto Sushi to be the seven store in Minnitanka. Would you like to be here? Thank you. >> Excellent. All right. Great. Um, any I welcome anybody else who has any comments to come up. All right, final call. I'll close the public hearing and council bring it back. Uh, council member Calbertt, you have a comment. Yeah, I just uh, you know, it was sad to see Tom Moho go, but if it had to go and we got something in its place, I'm very excited that it's a sushi bar and uh, I welcome you to Minnetonka. I'm I'm very happy that uh, we're going to have a sushi bar uh, right there on Richdale Drive. So, excellent. All you can eat sushi. >> All you can eat sushi, everybody. All right. Uh, council, any other comments? I will say I have a 13-year-old nephew who is getting into sushi and has an insatiable appetite and so this is right up his alley. I'm really glad to be able to take him. Um, all right. Well, without any other comments, I would take a motion. Council member Wilburn. Um, I move that we grant the license to Kyoto Ridgeale LLC. Licenses, sorry. >> And the second. Council member Calbertt. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion by Council Member Wilburn and a second by Council Member Calbertt. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilurn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. >> Rome, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Good luck. Thank you for coming to Minnetonka. >> Thank you. >> All right. On to item 13C, items concerning 1934 Oakland Road. Miss Wishnack. >> Uh, Miss Thomas. >> Excuse me, Miss Thomas. I apologize. I was We were on a roll. Okay. >> I will take this one. Um, this presentation uh addresses, as you noted, items concerning 1934 Oakland Road, specifically an amendment to conditions of a previous approval and the vacation of drainage and utility easements. And staff is recommending that the council adopt the resolutions approving both of those requests. Some council members will um recall the four lot subdivision Oakland Estates located on the west side of Oakland Road. We originally uh reviewed and approved that back in 2019. And as with all multi- lot subdivisions, it included a condition requiring the site to be developed and maintained in substantial conformance with certain plans. in this case a grading drainage and util uh excuse me erosion control plan. That plan essentially defines the initial development area of the site. Last summer, the owner of the Southerntherly property requested an amendment to that 2019 approval, specifically to expand that uh initial development area outlined in the original grading, drainage, and erosion control plan. The amendment would allow for construction of a pool and an accessory structure in the rear yard. Council did deny that request, finding that if this proposed development area had been a proposed in 2019, the plat would not have complied with the tree protection ordinance. In response to the city's concerns regarding uh tree removal and potential impacts, Lake West did pursue an alternate um solution. Specifically, uh, easy for me to say, specifically, um, the owner worked with the property owner to the south, 2000 Indian Road West, to adjust the common lot line between those properties, if you can see my uh, mouse here. And that lot line adjustment uh results in a net gain of nine high priority trees to the 1934 site. Staff has granted approval of that lot line adjustment. These types of adjustments to lot lines of platted property when there's no new lot being created or just shifting a common lot line are regularly uh reviewed and approved by staff as is allowed by city code. This evening, um, the council is being asked to approve two things. First is that amendment to specifically expand the development area. And then the second is to vacate a drainage and utility easement that was along that original shared lot line. Um, but now those easements have been recreated along the new lot line. staff does support um the requests first that lot line reconfiguration um proposed like Lake West would have complied um with the tree protection ordinance had it been shown u that way in 2019. And second, we find that the vacation is reasonable. Um the drainage and utility easements along that now obsolete uh lot line serve no public purpose as we've uh gained new easements along the shifted lot line. And so we do uh recommend approval. I would note as Mr. Funk noted that we did include an addendum this evening with an additional condition of approval simply that when the building permits are submitted for this work that they be accompanied by a grading plan so staff can uh certainly confirm uh that no more than three high priority trees are impacted. With that I would turn it back to the mayor. >> Thank you Miss Thomas. Council any questions? Uh, Council Member Maxwell. >> Yeah, I have um two questions. The way this is phrased just sounds a little suspicious to me. I want to make sure I understand properly. It says um if the lot configuration and development area now proposed had been submitted in 2019, the plat would have complied with the tree protection ordinance. Does it comply with the tree protection ordinance as it stands today? Uh, Mayor Shack and Council Member Maxwell, in terms of removal of high priority trees, yes, this particular lot would comply with the tree protection ordinance uh in place today. When we review the tree protection ordinance for the entirety of this plat, we did review it under the approvals and the ordinance in place at the time of the plat. I would note that the tree protection ordinance is more strict now than it was in 2019. >> That's what I was was getting at is that it also complies with the more strict ordinance. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. And then I also want to understand does this um proposal actually impact the number of trees removed? It seems like this is a ch a situation where the letter of the law is being followed but the spirit of the law might not be. So I just want to understand is there actually a change to the number of trees being removed with this proposal. Uh Mayor Shack and Commissioner I I apologize uh council member uh Maxwell the number of trees proposed for removal and impact in 2025 and 2026 remain the same. the number of trees that are on this property has been increased. >> Thank you, >> Council Member Foster Bolton. >> Um, so I read the issue with the folks at 1930 Oakland Road and they were asking to table this because they had some issues. Can you talk about that a little bit and how we can how they've gotten around that? Miss Thomas, >> um, Mayor Shack and council members, uh, first I will say that city staff has met with the that property owner and had a a good conversation, uh, with them about their their concerns that are ongoing, um, in in the neighborhood in general. Um, in terms of tableabling this specific request, always u, the council's prerogative as long as we're within the time frames that state statute sets for us. Um there is time under our statutory deadline. If the council feels there's more information you need um to make a decision on this item that staff can bring back to you. Um certainly um again your prerogative to table it from staff's perspective. We're we're comfortable with this specific request um presented to you this evening which is why we're recommending approval. Council, any other questions? Not seeing any. I'm going to open the public hearing and I would invite the applicant to come up if you uh so please and state your name and address for the record, please. Good evening, Mayor and Council, and thank you staff for the presentation. um did a great job covering our application. It's pretty straightforward. I will add to it just briefly. I didn't really have a presentation prepared tonight, but um in in addition to bringing this lot into conformance with the tree ordinance, it's also doing a number of other beneficial things. Um just straightening out that lot line a little bit more. If you look at the 2026 proposal in front of you, um, compared to the previous lot line, um, just that adjustment is a little bit more intuitive for property owner today and for future property owners. Um, it does also help with just some grading between the the property lines. Um, just pushing that that lot line over a little bit will allow for better drainage as well. um and just creates a little bit more uh utilizable backyard. Um to address I think the question of the neighbor um the neighbor did write in a letter. I think it was more regarding the northern property. Um that like some grading that happened that predates my time at Lake West. So, I'm not entirely sure on all that happened, but I know that there was some potential grading that had happened on that lot um outside of of this development. So, that was not involved with Lake West at all. Um so, I think that the property owner might have had some concern about just something more in general that wasn't specific to this application. >> Thank you. Um and just share your name, please, for the record. >> I'm sorry, I forgot that. I'm Kelsey Thompson. I'm with Lake West. Excellent. All right, council. Well, we may come back to you, but we'll um you can be seated for now. >> Thank you. >> This is a public hearing, so if there's anybody else that would like to speak on this item, please come forward. All right. Anybody? Not seeing any. I will close the public hearing. And council, um any other questions first? No. All right. uh comments. Council member Calbertt. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um uh I just uh was grateful that another council member picked up on the sort of um theme that runs through um many proposals by our uh applicant today. Um which um found another loophole in our tree ordinance, but it meets it. And so we, you know, are compelled, um, to vote in favor because it doesn't violate our tree ordinance anymore. So, um, it's just one of those things. We're still going to lose all those high priority trees. Any other comments, council? I'll just make one brief comment, which is, you know, in considering this, I I do think, you know, is a little bit of a loophole. I will say, you know, we were cognizant of the fact that a 2-year time um limit was running and and will run and that this pool was probably going to be built one way or another. The other thing I guess the silver lining is in the adopted part of the parcel. Now, I think we are protecting some more. We're extending protection on those tree trees for a couple more years. So, I'll take that as a little bit of a silver lining. Um, if there aren't any other comments, I would take a motion on this. Can we put the motion the the uh request scoring up? All right. So, somebody's going to give us a motion here. Council member Wilburn. I move that we adopt the resolution amending resolution 2019-031 and the resolution vacating certain drainage and utility easement as 1934 Oakland Road. >> Thank you. And I've got a motion and a second. Council member Rome. I'll second. Thank you. And just briefly before we call roll, um I do want to reiterate to the neighbor who's having issues that seem like it might not be affected by this particular approval to continue to work with staff and and we're happy to to help in any way that we might be able to to address those concerns and we certainly don't want to dismiss them. Um council me or excuse me, Miss Larson, would you please call role? >> Kley, >> yes. Foster Bolton, >> yes. Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. >> Raley, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. All right, moving on to other business. Item 1414A, items concerning his house foundation services. And I think that is Miss Wish. Got it. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, mayor and councel. This is um a resolution or a couple of resolutions that deal with the his house foundation services for the city of Minnetonka. For those who aren't aware, it's not for the council, but it's for the broader audience um watching that we originally signed a contract with his house in July of 2022. And if you were around for those conversations, the concern at that time was we wanted more intervention um with folks that had uh housing insecurity. We wanted more um services for people, I would say, on the street, if you will, uh people who were maybe in their car or perhaps standing on a street corner or whatever kind of on the street intervention was needed. uh the council at that time was very interested in making sure we had that type of work. The other concern at that time was the where the shelter locations were are were not as um fitted for the people that were experiencing homelessness issues in Minnetonka. And so this service provided a more um the ability for somebody to stay in their job or have their kids stay in their schools if they were more um served in this area rather than in a different location far away from these um places where they would need to be. So that's why you did it. Um I had to look back at some of the notes and remember all of that uh as we read uh prepared the information for today. That contract at the time it was for providing financial assistance for casework, temporary housing, and first month rent deposits if they were trying to get into a rental situation. And in 2024, you would again extended that agreement. And the agreement actually runs through July of this year. And uh we're not quite through the 200,000 that was allocated. Uh but we were able to support 63 households with that uh since 2022. We're bringing that part of the contract back because well we had to um get some more rental assistance dollars in there as well. So we thought we might as well just do the whole contract at once and bring it forward at once and not wait until July until uh the ending of that period. The second part is really about um the rental assistance and we did sign that contract in October of 2024. And what we were finding is um again kind of this first um contact um maybe you had housing insecurity, maybe the schools were reporting some housing insecurity. However, his house was getting contacted. they needed money pretty immediately to get the rent assistance if um if necessary if some of the other programs uh weren't working for the for the person. A originally administered the program but we changed it into his house in 24. The agreement uh originally authorized 50,000 approximately about 18,000 has been used to support residents. Um, I want to make sure people don't assume this is the only source of money that's available for rental assistance. There's lots of dollars in other funding sources. This is kind of that last resort money. Maybe they can't get assistance through the county or maybe other funding sources. And then this is where his house is kind of the last um stopping point for someone and we're able to help them again. And so we were not out of money in this fund, but we uh thought it was wise to just get ahead of it and um propose something to you. So the new agreement for his house, and this is for the program that they provide for homeless intervention that is um proposed to be through July of 2028, so an additional 2 years. We also updated the program guidelines to make sure the budget, the income limit numbers were up to date and other language that we've learned along the way needed clarification. And then the additional funding for um so it's 50,000 for the homelessness response and then a h 100,000 would be added to the rental assistance program. Both of those dollars would be uh taken from the affordable housing trust fund. And as we talked just I think the last meeting you know that balance is sitting at about $7.3 million. So um with that mayor I would turn it back to the council again. Two vote or not two votes but two resolutions for you to vote on tonight to extend those programs uh and uh transfer the dollars. Thank you. I'll take any questions. Great. Thank you Miss Wishnack. Um council questions. Council member Foster Bolton. >> So um and maybe probably Mr. Ringh Hopper is going to address this too, but what is the advantage of going of of transferring this money to his house and the question that I got asked this afternoon was why can't we just donate directly to ICA and what's the advantage and is this extending the time that people are able to access rental assistance and can you go over that a little bit? Sure. Miss Wishnack. >> Thank you, Mayor and Council Member Foster Bolton. Um I think the the change that we made in 2024 was made with um experience. So we had had experience with his house. We had run for two years with their homeless intervention program. And it just made sense that they were the supplier then of that rental assistance. Now it doesn't mean that they're the only people providing that. their their mission is a little bit different than ICA. So I would say think of a as a um maybe it's a clearing house for people to access a lot of different types of services. So somebody will go usually for food or other reasons. Maybe they're getting job um assistance or some coaching. Maybe they need help with utilities. Whatever the case is that brought them to ICA. whereas his house is a totally kind of different ICA doesn't do street intervention work, right? His house does that and that's more um I would say just a little bit different audience than maybe ICA has for services and we thought it was better aligned with his house and that decision was made by the council in 24. So it would be to continue that thinking uh and that commitment to having it sit with his house rather than a not that I and by the way ICA does amazing work. So it's not that one organization is better than the other. It's just different. Go ahead. >> And um I think the concern was too is that it takes more time. >> Mayor and you know what I mean? >> Right. Council member Foster Bolton. I would not agree with that statement. So, um I think that there is sometimes time issues. It depends on what the situation is with the specific person, but I would say having the money with his house does not lengthen the time at all. Um in fact, it's a little bit quicker in terms of if there's really a true emergency like tomorrow, like they are out of a house and his house can step in and do something about that. Now, if you're going to ICA, you have to have an intake and you have to have that process happening. So, I think there's both things going on and it can happen at the same time. If you've listened to Martha speak at all, she talks about her kind of relationship with ICA and how she's with them every week. She's spending time with them, so she knows what cases are coming in. So there's really quite a synergy there that I see um which I think is is great for the program and the recipients that are using those programs. >> Thank you, Miss Wishnack. Uh Council Member Calvert. >> Thank you, Mayor. This this isn't really a question and if it's okay just to make a comment having to do with what um Miss Wishnack just said >> based on Sure your >> Yes. session. So, um, as I mentioned before, um, the city manager and I were at, um, the, uh, Minnotonka Family Collaborative meeting last, um, week and there is a real synergy and there's a very close relationship between Dan Nar, the executive director of ICA, and Martha Brandon at his house. I mean, they are they are thick as thieves. They're very tight. They re they just they um tease each other mercilessly in the meetings because I think they spend a lot of time together. And um you know they're working in concert to um support our neighbors. And so I I just know that um Martha is um extremely um fluent in housing issues. And so, um, I actually think it's a more stream, in some ways, it's more streamlined to work this way. So, I just wanted to mention that. Council, any other questions? Okay. Well, this isn't a public hearing, but I did promise that we'd let a couple folks um provide comments, so we're going to do that now. Mr. for Ringhoffer. Why don't you come on up and um we will I don't know if we got the clock ready, but you know the drill. We've got 3 minutes for you. >> All right, mayor and council, thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh as you know, I work with the Minnitonka Community Housing Team and we've been looking at pre-eviction notice extensions and we raised that issue here at a at a previous meeting. Uh this led us to do some investigation in terms of how rental assistance is being sought and received in Minnetonka. Um we discovered there's at least three ways. One is is mutual aid which can involve signal groups, can involve neighbor and friends. Um there's a couple of congregations in the area that are that are raising funds and providing that. Um there's nonprofits like ICA and then the third was to access the city funds which was through his house. we fought. It appears to us with the limited information that we've had in terms of this time that because of fear and ease and probably simplicity, many people are probably using mutual aid first in terms of doing that. There's just fewer barriers for them to be able to do that. Um, and part of it is, you know, uh, fear of approaching, uh, official avenues may be part of it as well. Um, secondly, there's there's ICA and other nonprofits. ICA is well known. uh it seems to take some time and they're saying they're running out of money each each month. Um it does seem that they want you to be a part of the ICA food shelf in terms of having an appointment there. So because of the time concerns it may um they may end up giving assistance to people who are residents of Minnotonka who may qualify for uh his house assistance but they're doing it because of the time constraints and they're using other of their funds which makes us wonder are we most efficiently using the funds that we have in Minnetonka and then if Minnotonka was providing the funds to those residents or Matonka funds were would a have other money that would be able to go further. So, that's the point that we're at. And so, we're kind of left with more more questions. And I have these questions and I appreciate getting some of the information that I'm getting here tonight because it's helpful and I will bring that back to the team. But, how how much rental assistance is um or rental assistance funds from Minnetonka are actually being used to provide it? It looks like 18,000, but that's over, you know, a year and a half. and how is that funds um related or compared to the those who actually need it in Minnetonka? Are mutual aid groups reaching their limit? So, is more funding going to be necessary? Is the current system most effective to get rental assistance to residents who are in need? Um would an extended pre-eviction notice period allow for more effective use of the resources if there were more time? would more get to actually his house to be able to use those resources and would a different distribution of funds be more effective. So those are some of the questions. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you, Mr. Ringhoffer. And also have a note here. Mr. Kent, did you want to speak on this agenda item as well? If you do, come on up. >> Hi, um, mayor and council. Um, I mostly have uh I'm getting up to speed on this um uh program and it does it does sound like overall uh of course worthwhile and uh like it will um actually help people in need. What I'm kind of wondering is more on a a process, procedure, transparency level. Um and maybe this is just a question to send to one of you or for me to learn through a conversation, maybe some of both. uh how or why was this covered in a in a study session? Like are there are there other opportunities for um residents such as myself to um find out about this sooner? Um because I think what I'm getting at is um well, there's kind of two parts. one uh allowing the community to be as informed as possible uh to show up to meetings like this as a vote is taking place uh where real dollars are being proposed and uh voted upon. I think that's an important uh piece to keep in mind and there is onus on us as the residents to show up uh to these forums. Uh you all are doing a lot of the work already. And then there's also I think a maybe a bigger picture question of how well are we integrating some of the things that uh the previous speaker was was talking to. there's a lot of mutual aid efforts, right? How uh how many of those individuals or even uh the organizations we're talking about um ho how much input is there into this the the determination of the dollar amounts and even just as far as basic communication goes, letting people know, hey, this this is this is money that is available. And I guess I'm not maybe I'm just uh there's a lot of learning for me to still do. It's not clear to me how uh this how this can be used in an immediate capacity and I realized that um uh city staff already started to speak to that. So maybe I'm just missing some of this and it's it's on me to uh listen better and just uh get some uh learn this better. But I what I fear and this goes back to a previous uh comment that I was speaking to uh in my last um comment earlier in the meeting is th this is good and then I don't know if it's really going far enough. Um and one of the questions I have is how how are these amounts determined? Um and there's about I think $7 million and are we prepared as a city? like how much of that are we trying to frontload because we're in a crisis right now is the way I would put it and why aren't we putting leading with even more um and I and I realize money doesn't just grow from trees and I do applaud the um the fiduciary responsibility that you all uh place premacy on and I'm just wondering how how can we also serve the people who are just really really in need uh and I hope we're not missing anyone with with the process we're using. Okay, thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, let's see. Miss Wishnack, do you have anything that you want to add before we start our discussion? Uh, mayor and council, the only thing I would maybe hopefully to help educate and understand um, his house, their work is um, I think it's hard to understand unless you're in it. um and understand very intimately what they do. Um are they taking some into a hotel for the week because they don't have a house? Are they taking them to a campground cuz maybe they have um animals and they can't get into a housing situation? I mean, there's all kinds of different avenues for them to help people and there's not a straight line with that and I think that it's not predictable. There's no formula. I I think if you think there's a formula, share it with me because I'd love to to talk to you about that. Um because that also means you can't predict the amount of need there is in a community. But there are things that we watch, right? We watch evictions. We watch um how many calls for service are we getting? How many people are interacting? That's why we meet with the nonprofits. we pick up on whether or not there's a need in the community through all those different sources of um information. And so when we predict how much need we will have, this is what we have tonight is the uh 50,000 for just the actual intervention work and then the 100,000 for rental. That's going to get us by for a period of time. If for instance we go through that money by July, let's just say we do, you know, we're coming right back to you and ask for more allocation. As you know, that 7.5 million is not just for this type of work. It's for affordable housing, uh, new units, maybe we're writing down affordable rents, whatever the case might be. There's all kinds of different housing issues you're working on with that 7 million. That's not just for this this work. So, there's a lot going on there. And again, it's hard to explain it um in detail to everyone about what's happening, but I assure you it's uh it's good work. It's really helping people. And I would put the same plug in um I think that the city manager had before. If you know people that are in need, you need to tell us about it. Um, I very rarely get a call from someone who comes to a meeting, but I'll get a call from a neighbor and I'll get uh a call from their relative that they're in need. That's most often how we hear from people. So, if you have people that you know, please let us know and we can help them. Thank you. And I just I guess I have a question and we'll turn to comments. But um as I understand it and I'm you know we're all kind of learning as we go but the front line for public assistance is through Henipin County. Correct. And what we're really trying to handle is crisis and emergency rental needs and assistance. So what Minnotonka doesn't offer is kind of a sustained like a social worker directed assistance program. This is really you're in crisis and we're going to try to help you out. Is that right? A little somewhat. And I would say mayor the thing I would add to it is our own social embedded social worker in the police department also is part of this. I call it the group of the group of helpers. Maybe that's the best way to describe them. So you got the social worker, you've got us uh in community development, you've got ICA, you got resource west, you have his house. All these people are managing together and allowing for the right organization to help where the help is needed. Now on the social work side, that often becomes Henipin County, right? if there's a social work need and there's um children involved or some kind of need in that realm. So, it just depends and anybody who's done case work can understand the kind of complexity of assistance and how that is managed. Um people like his house helps navigate through those through those procedures as well as their own staff and the social work and police. So, does that help? >> Yes. Thank you. Um, okay. I've got I'm going to go to Council Member Calbert, then Council Member Wilburn. So, I have a question and then I have a couple of comments. So there are legal restrictions and like we cannot give direct aid and I just I think explaining that a little bit >> um might be helpful as well because we've some of us have had some of the same questions because of course we want things to be streamlined and get to people as quickly as possible if they're truly in crisis. So can you speak to that a little bit Miss Wishnack? Thank you, Mayor and Council Member Calbertt. Yes, it's the the law about um donating money basically, I think is what you're talking about. And uh you know, if I don't have this right, the city attorney can correct me, but um basically an organization, we we as a city can't give money to an organization directly as a donation, but rather we can do service contracts for this type of work. And so that's why you see a contract for his house or a contract for whatever service we're trying to get from an organization because we can't just directly plop the money into an organization and then without a contract for service. So that's why you see what you see. Does that help? >> Okay. >> Mayor, we're going to deal with that question. So Mr. >> Funk wanted to respond to that. So go ahead, Mr. Funk. >> Thank you, Mayor and Council. And I Julie explained that really well and I would just uh just add to that the terminology is public purpose and so unlike the state I would just go a step further to say unlike the state of Minnesota you often see like the state legislature provide funds to different organizations. The state of Minnesota can do that. The federal government can do that. We're bound by statute under public purpose dollars. And so that ties back into what Miss Wishnack was saying is in terms of the city just not being able to per say write a blank check for an organization no matter how worthy the cause. So it has to be a contract for service for something that the city wouldn't ordinarily provide on its own. >> Thank you, Mr. Funk. Okay, Council Member Calbertt. So I uh just a few comments also along the same lines. Um so uh in terms of you know some of the things that I know that the staff has been doing they they have actually been conting um apartment managers to make sure as I understand it sort of h how people are doing in the building in terms of how imminent are evictions and so forth. And so that helps give a sense of sort of what impending need might be there. Also just watching regional trends and uh understanding that sort of thing as I understand it. And um I also wanted to let people know that Martha Brandon who is running our homelessness prevention program um is is very plugged into the mutual aid. So this um Minnotonka Family Collaborative has people who like me are on signal chats um and are very tied into the faith community as well and the their um faith communities are working on these very issues. And so there is a synergy there not just with a house but with u mutual aid groups and uh faith organizations and Martha is really plugged into the community. her reach goes pretty far to the west of Minnetonka in addition. Um but um she just keeps in touch with everybody and so there's some of that as well and you know many of us are on signal chat so we hear the buzz out in the community and we try to you know funnel people in the right direction and so and share information. >> Thank you council member Wilbur. Thanks for your patience. >> Sure. Um, so I just wanted to kind of follow up and and clarify some things that I heard. So someone who is um, say facing an eviction um, and has a short period of time, they could potentially contact his house or even contact ACA who is in communication with his house. Um, and because his house has the we have the contract with his house, they'll have that money in the bank ready to go. They can in a relatively short time potentially get that person funds to avoid an eviction, which would be the how how it's faster than necessary if if it's if like you said, we're like last last ditch emergency. let you know um that's that's kind of where his house can come in and and help. Is that correct, >> Miss Wishnack? >> Yes. Thank you. I just want to clarify um Council Member Wilburn, I think that's true for like we're getting kicked out. We're gone. We don't have any housing. So, that is where his house steps in. I think where it's a little muddier, and I think this is where people really have a hard time understanding is if somebody knows that they can't make their their next payment, right? and they know the eviction notice is coming and they're concerned at that point. That's the point they're they should be plugging into ICA. So, if we get those phone calls and we they go, "I don't think I'm going to make rent next month." They're going to go to ICA first because they're going to get counseling. They're going to get um food. They're going to get all kinds of support. And then depending on what happens there and what they need, then his house may or may not step in depending on So, I think I think we always jump to like the worst case scenario, but I think what I just described is probably a more common scenario. It's not the person like getting kicked out tomorrow. It's usually I don't think I can make it next month. That's usually what's happening. And then we have a little bit more time before the eviction actually occurs. So that that is a very common situation. So >> Council Member Romey, yep, I see you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I also had a question regarding, you know, kind of restricted versus unrestricted funds. Um, and also the need that, you know, we've been seeing in terms of, um, in our community. I know a lot of surrounding communities have a lot of need. Um, and I'm just trying to see if you have a gauge of of, you know, kind of how serious the situation is here. And then also kind of just an education piece like I said on restricted versus unrestricted funds kind of what what structures that we have to uh abide by in this regard as well legally so people understand what you know kind of our boundaries legal boundaries >> and limitations are in terms of that funding. >> Okay. Miss Wnik. >> Thank you mayor and and council member Romey. I'm just looking at an email um about it filings for eviction and we talked about this at the EDAC last week where we looked at some of the um web kind of monitoring things that you can do to see what's going on for filing and it's within the week. I checked on the data source and it's within the week of filing that we're seeing it on the dashboard. So we can kind of monitor in almost real time what's happening and I we looked at it at it over the last couple of months and what we aren't seeing is this huge increase. So there's not this um and it could be looming. We talked about that too. You could have people who had enough money to get by and then now they're entering a different phase. So we we continue to need to watch what's happening. But um there are maps that show you each area of the city and it'll show you exactly what's happening for eviction filings. And then it'll also show you how many of have a work out. And so that means they go to eviction court and maybe his house has gone with them or whoever. Maybe they have an assistant at the housing court and um they've been able to work out an agreement with the landlord. And that does happen in I can't remember if it's 30% of the cases this last month, but there has been an effort to help people work through the eviction process and and have a what I they call a workout agreement. Um but the numbers are not high in Minnetonka. They're not. Um if you look at any other community, if you look at Hopkins, you look at some of the other, they are having some pretty sizable challenges, but um the filings are fairly low in Minnetonka. Um that doesn't mean again it's not going to happen. It's just we're not there yet. Um and it might be looming. I just we can't predict that right now. The second part of your question you asked about the legal issues of spending money. So yeah, there are legal legal parameters. For instance, if you had undocumented residents, the money from government cannot be used to support um folks that are undocumented. That doesn't mean that his house or ICA or some of these other organizations that you mentioned don't have money because that's exactly what um the fund I can't remember the exact >> unrestricted funds. >> No, the um the organization under the umbrella they were fundraising specifically for the West Metro. >> It was >> Oh, um Southwest Housing Relief Fund. Thank you. Um they're fundraising for that. >> Right. and they're fundraising just for that purpose so that if if governmental programs can't help, there's another arm um that can come in and help in that situation. So, there's lots of um lots of things going on. It's hard to, you know, it really is hard to keep track of and if I was in that if I was the consumer of a program like that, I would be like, what do I do? Um, but hopefully, like I said, there's some really great navigators that can help people and I'm hoping that that's working. Um, and that they're helping people, and I know they are. So, >> thank you. >> Um, Council Member Kley, did you have something? >> I just kind of want to make a comment. Um, and you know, I know we're up here talking about like experiences and um, you know, the need for our community. Um, I've worked in um as a case manager in housing, coordinated access to housing when it first started in St. Paul, did employment services. I I say this many times, but in real time, I constantly get emails or text messages from people who are needing assistance. Right now, I'm literally texting this woman right now who's in New Hope. She's not in our city, but um I was she's in need. I mean, she just moved into her place, been in there for 3 months. I called New Hope City staff. I went to their website. This was like last week to contact them to say, "Hey, there's a resident in your city who needs some help, needs some assistance." And I promise you, I'm good with resources. There was no help for this woman. None. Zero. So I say this to say that I know that our city is doing a fabulous job with helping people. We have put some programs in place. Um his house is a good program. I understand what his house do. His house is different from a when we voted to put his house in place. I knew that his house was about responding quickly to emergency situations where people are homeless on the streets where people need to um have some a place to go for maybe even a night or two like that's emergency services where people don't have no access to maybe they are losing their place like immediately like Judy stated. Um, and so it is different from ICA. Um, like I tell you, I use resources. We've used his house before. Now it's different a little bit from what it used to be. ICA, I've used ICA, so I understand their process, too. So, what I'm trying to say to you all, the programs, the services, the funding is in place. I'm okay as one council member with how our programs are being used in our city right now. I know that um you know we talked about the rent moratorum, the extension of the 30-day to 60-day, those type of things. If that's one focus to me that's separate from um the funding that we have available right now. We are addressing the needs of our residents in Minnotonka around um funding if they need emergency funding for evictions um if they need assistance we are addressing. I can tell you that we had someone in Minnetonka in my ward where they didn't have funding and they were about to lose their place. contact the city, their rent got paid. And so, um, I wouldn't say that we are not supporting our residents. We are. Maybe it's not as to the extent that some of some folks want us to do, but if we have the funding and you're not able to bring people saying, "Oh, we're not supporting our residents." That's one thing. But if we are supporting them, then to me, that's separate. It's it's not the same as oh we have 10 residents that lives in Minnetonka who has not been supported or who have not had their rent paid because they're for whatever reason but we haven't had that conversation. So to me I would welcome those type of conversations. If you know people who are not getting their rents paid to come to the city and ask for the help and if we can't help them then that's a different story. But right now we have funding in two separate areas where we're supporting residents. So, you know, I I just think we are doing a good job in that area. Um because I like I just said, this woman's texting me right now who needs assistant asking for food, asking for shel, you know, assistant and she has no help. But I know that if we had a resident like that in Minnetonka, I could call a city, I can call ICA to get the help. this woman. I'm trying to figure out how to help her like now. So, thank you. >> Thanks, Council Member Kley. And you've guided us guided the conversation background to we've got two questions, which is um are we going to re are we going to direct the funds to the homelessness response program and the rental assistance program for a combined total of $150,000. So, let's try to see if we can move in that direction. Council, any more comments or or questions? I will anybody okay I will just say you know some of this is we're building the plane as we're flying it maybe not a great analogy right today but um we are we're trying to be nimble and respond to the needs on the ground I agree with um Mr. Ringhoffer in that I think that mutual aid has um kind of been a safety net as intended to be for people and we may see the needs start to shift to more formal um requests for aid assistance whether that's through the city or through other programs that are out there and I think we've shown as a council that we're in a position to respond to that if the need changes. Um, we're also very, as we've talked about a lot tonight, in regular communication with the folks at ICA and the folks at his house. And if what we're hearing is that there that what we can provide from them directly, I'd like, you know, we're talking to Dan Nar, we're talking to Martha Brennan and others. Um if we're hearing that there's a need that's not met, certainly our staff will bring that to us and tell us, look, Dan is indicating that we, you know, we could be useful in this way or Martha or vice versa. We're open to that. Happy to hear about it. I think we um certainly appreciate the residents keeping us honest and making sure that the way we're applying our resources is effective. We are while we're very glad to have that 7 plus million dollars in the affordable housing trust fund, you know, it's not a um a re renewable resource. It, you know, we're we're trying to make that stretch as far as possible. So, um with that, it seems to me like we're comfortable with this direction. We're not fixated on it. We certainly can change direction if that needs to happen. And that's some of the benefit of being more conservative with the amounts of money that we're directing at any given time. So, um, anybody want to make this motion? Council member Kley. I make the mo motion to, um, resolution extending the service agreements and updating guidelines with his house foundation for the rental assistance and homeless response programs. Also make the resolution allocating additional funds to the rental assistant and homelessness response programs. >> Great. Thank you. and council member Calvert. Thank you, Mayor. I'll second. Great. We have a motion by Council Member Kley and a second by Council Member Calvert. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Shack, >> yes. Motion carries. Okay, we're on the home stretch here. Can we all hang in there through these last two agenda items? All right, Council Member Kley, you're you got to do what you got to do. Um, item 14B, items cons concerning the former Opus buildings at 10350 and 10380 Bren Road West. And that is Miss Thomas. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor Shock, and and council members. As you noted, this uh item concerns the for former Opus buildings. Uh specifically, an amendment to the existing master development plan and approval of preliminary and final plat. Staff is recommending that the council adopt the ordinance and resolution approving these items. Uh the former Opus headquarters site sits on 13 acres in the center of the much larger 640 acre Opus 2 development. It currently contains uh two office buildings that are connected by a enclosed threestory uh link. Both of those buildings can be operated and occupied independently, though they were constructed over the course of several years as a corporate campus with each building um constructed specifically for single tenant users. In 2007, uh when the second the northerly building was built, the city approved a master development plan for the entire site. And as a reminder to the council and anyone in the audience, a master development plan really is a plan that provides a general overview of the development in of a site. It includes several specific plans um looking at land use, building location, uh general size of buildings, things like that. Once approved, a master development plan establishes the city's expectations for development moving forward. HQ LLC who owns the property currently is intending to sell. And unfortunately, office use for the entire property, especially that northern building designed as a single uh tenant space really no longer aligns with um market demand. And as a result, the owner is proposing to divide the property into two lots uh to allow for separate ownership of these two sites. Then to demolish that existing northerly building and the link between those two buildings. All of the parking lots and the parking decks would remain um for existing and and future users. Currently, there is no plan for redevelopment of the Northerly uh site. The owner's proposal requires, as I pointed out, two actions. First is to approve an amendment to the 2007 master development plan. And that amendment essentially removes that northerly building um from the plan. And then the second I action is approval of the preliminary and final plat just to divide that larger property into two to allow for separate ownership. Staff does support both of these actions uh for three reasons. First, the amendment would allow for removal of the building, but it would not authorize a new land use or new construction on the site. any future proposal would have to come back uh through the public review process before the planning commission and before this body. Uh second, minimal earthwork or grading uh would be necessary to remove the building and no significant or high priority trees would be lost to accomplish that. And then third, the plat again would simply create a new lot line to allow for that separate ownership. they are straightforward and they comply um with city regulations. Uh to conclude that short presentation, um staff does recognize that the existing buildings, at least in our opinion, are attractive and that removing one of them is is disappointing. But we also understand that that the property owner has certain property rights and this proposal complies with city regulations. And so we therefore recommend approval again of the two actions. The ordinance uh amending the major the a major amendment to the master development plan and then the resolution approving the preliminary and final plat. The planning commission did consider this at their last meeting. They concurred with staff and also recommended the council approve the requests. >> Thank you, Miss Thomas. Council, any questions about this? Council member Romey. >> Thank you, Mayor. And I apologize. I have not yet had a chance to review the planning commission's uh discussion of this. I just wanted to um reask or confirm that, you know, once this building is gone and in my tangential experience over the last 30 years being married to a commercial real estate developer, um I don't know too many instances where a building is pulled down and there isn't something in the works for something else to go up. But I could be wrong here. And my concern is that um we want to make sure that uh you know as we're seeing around the country there's been use of potential you know selling to the federal government and um you know plans to build or or use warehousing sites or other sites for detention centers and I just wanted to kind of explore that here ask about that here and I understand that city council would need to uh review any future use of this is this, you know, as a conditional use, we would have purview over that or how how would that work? I just want to kind of confirm where we're at with that if it's all right. >> Um, Mayor Shack and council members, I I can address the kind of procedural things in terms of the plan. I would suggest that you um ask the applicant uh about their their plans as I understand it. Again, they are trying to market the site and that single tenant office use is just not uh marketable. Uh in terms of process, if someone were to propose um any use on this site, be it commercial, residential, institutional, um that would require an amendment again to the master development plan. And so that would require uh a proposal come back through this body. You would be reviewing site plan. You would be r reviewing use for consistency um with the comprehensive guide plan in this area. Um just one follow >> would our comprehensive guide plan allow for this uh kind of use as as I don't want to say a matter of right but you know would we have leeway um to grant or not grant because other you know jurisdictions are running into this across the country >> Thomas. >> Yeah. Mayor Shack and and Commissioner, excuse me, Council Member uh Romele, I I would be remissed to answer yes or no to any specific proposal at this at this time. We would have to sit down, have to look at our ordinance and our comprehensive plan. I can tell you that the entirety of Opus is guided for mixed use, which means that a variety of uses may be appropriate um for the site. Um, I'm not sure if if my colleagues have anything else to add to that. >> No, I I think mayor, if I may, please. Um, I think that it that's a hard question. And so, um, I think it's more about what's the exact use. So, if it's office use, again, that's pretty common issue out in in this area, common use. If it's for something um really different and I'm trying to think of really different um training facility or something like that that has outside um portions to it that might be a little bit different and might require a higher level of review which gives you more options, right? More control. So the more different it is probably the more review process you would have. But I would never either say yes or no in front of the council because you just don't know, right? You don't know what the use is. Thank you, council. Other questions? I have a question just more curiosity. So, what is it about the building? Maybe this is for the applicant, but what is it about the building that makes it so specifically single tenant use that it's not effectively used as a different marketed a different way? >> Yeah. Uh Mayor Shack, I'll start and certainly the applicant can speak more specifically to it. As I understand, when a building of this type is constructed for a single um user, um there are just different construction practices uh in terms of um refurbishing this building to allow for separate uh tenants to occupy it would require significant investment into an already um large building. But again, that the applicant can speak to more specifics. Great. Thank you. All right. Well, I will ask the applicant to come up and please um state your name and address for the record and tell us what you'd like us to know. >> Sure. >> Good evening, mayor and council members. Jim Monttobano, 2091 Hartford Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota. I think you've heard the city planner, Susan Thomas, she's done a very good job of explaining it. I'm happy to answer your questions. I brought some other members from our project team to do that as well. Um, Council Member Ramaly, we do not have any plans for any sort of development. Our plan after we take the building down is to seed the area, hire a broker who we are already talking to to figure out a future sale for the for the vacant land that right now is the 10380 building. So, we really do not have any plans whatsoever other than to put it on the market for sale for a future use. Regarding the functionality of the building, what um the city planner Susan Thomas did mention is absolutely correct. It was designed as a corporate headquarters and a corporate headquarters building has got a lot of large common areas, open stairwells. The link that's been referred to is three stories of conference rooms. Functionally, that is meant for a specific one tenant sort of building and their particular use that it was designed for. to retenant that, to repurpose that for a multi-tenant environment, very expensive, cost prohibitive, and functionally would be very difficult to change um to make any sense out of it. And so we have evaluated that. The previous tenant that was actually on that side of the building also evaluated that. It was cost prohibitive for them. They tried to get some other tenants in there to help subleasase and they were unsuccessful for the better part of four to five years. All right, council. Well, we have the applicant here. Any other questions? I guess I would ask, what is it about the other building that makes it, even though it's older, worth saving? >> Yeah. No, it's a very good question. The size of the building is more in line with with what the market's looking at together. The total of both buildings together is about 250,000 square ft. The building that will remain is the better part of 84 to 85,000 ft². That building is more in tune with what the market would look at to either occupy as an owner user, which is more typically what we'll see out there right now. >> Thank you. Did I see council member Rome? >> Thank you, mayor. Uh just wanted to I don't know ask you to speculate on who you're looking at as a potential target buyer for this property and what are you looking at in terms of use and who to whom are you going to market? >> Yeah. No, I we have nobody in mind. We are literally going to be hiring a real estate broker, a local firm here and they are going to guide us through the process of selling the land. We are not in the we are not going to be developing it. So, it's more or less just putting it on the market for sale for a future buyer owner to come back to the city and approve or go through the process of getting their approvals. >> So, you don't have any parameters or target buyer that you're looking to? >> No, we do not. We do not. No, it's we are basically going to put it on the market. We have um brokers that specialize in land use. They will market the property. Um, and that is something that we'll be doing. We've actually talked with them already. That is something we are hoping to do once the building comes down. >> Well, okay. Any other questions? Okay. I'll have you take a seat and if we have one for you, we'll ask you back up. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, council. Any other questions for staff? All right. Um comments anybody? Council member Romey. >> Thank you. Um my comment is is that you know we we probably need to go with staff recommendation. My comment would be that I would love to see some sort of parameters if the applicant would be willing to in terms of you know kind of easing concerns that residents in this community like so many other communities across the country have about having undesired um federal facilities detention centers being uh you know purchased by the federal government used for that. Um I know I can't you know certainly make that a condition probably of this but um that would be my my brothers and would be my ask um you know to to this applicant. Anybody else council? I will say you know I I can appreciate council member Rome's concern. I guess for me another concern is you know a very large data center. I think some of that is um assuaged a little bit by this being actually divided into two separate parcels and presumably marketed separately. I mean I'd rather see the smaller smaller parcel size than larger um in regards to kind of both of those concerns. Uh I will also say you know what we have seen and and I'm going to hope that this continues to be the case for these properties or particularly this what will be vacant property is some housing and you know including meeting our housing policy and all of that could be very positive. So um you know we can't plan from the deis and as much as we'd like to and certainly this is something as we look uh look forward to our comprehensive planning process and those types of things but we can't do that in regards to you know single parcels. So I sh appreciate and share the anxiety but you know the unknown I think remains unknown. So, council, we would take a motion on this um recommendation. Council member Calbertt. Thank you, Mayor. And uh just just one other little It would be great to seed with native plants for the short time that it may just instead of grass. So, I it would just be great to give the pollinators a a chance to do some good while they can on that property. So, um, I'd like to make the motion to adopt the ordinance and resolution approving the major amendment to an existing master development plan and the preliminary and final plat. >> Thank you. And council member Wilburn, >> I will second. >> All right. I have a motion by Council Member Calbert, a second by Council Member Wilburn. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbert, >> yes. >> Rome, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. Thank you. And um Opus has certainly been a good community member for many, many years. And hopefully we um have something great in their absence. All right. Uh on to item 15, appointments and reappointments. And another sign of spring every year, Mr. Funk, is the appointment of the adviserss for the 2026 local board of appeal and equalization. And you have this one. >> Yeah, that is correct. Thank you, mayor and councel. Uh, this is routine action by the city every year as it relates to the appointment of adviserss for the local board of appeal and equalization. Um, again, for the public's benefit, the city council serves as the local board of appeal and equal equalization. You as a council um through the board of review and or excuse me, through the local board of appeal and equalization have two meetings in April. The first one is April 13th. That's the first meeting. Uh and then there's a second meeting that is held on April 27th of this year. And so what our adviserss do is work with our local assessing staff. And so if there's any residents that appeal their valuation, uh we use these third-party independent appraisers to review the properties and then make recommendations. For this year, staff is recommending the following three adviserss. Josh Brookke, Ambrosia Severson, and Keith Swanson to assist our staff. We do hire three every year. Two of those three are returning. Uh so we do have two experienced um um practitioners uh joining our staff and so it's not new process for them. And then we look forward to the third also joining. And so uh really tonight council the uh recommended action is noted on your screen in front of you which is a motion to appoint Josh Brookke and Broa Severson and Keith Swanson as advisers for the 2026 Minnitonka Local Board of Appeal and Equalization. I know a pretty straightforward agenda item, but I'd stand for any questions regarding the process. >> Council, any questions? >> No. All right, Council Member Wilburn. >> I was going to be all impressive with reading the names, but Mr. Funk has done it twice now. So, but anyway, I will make the motion to appoint Josh Brookke, Ambrosia Severson, and Keith Swanson as adviserss for the 2026 Minnitankka Local Board of Appeal and Equalization. And a second, Council Member Calbertt. Thanks, Mayor. I second. Great. We have a motion by Council Member Wilbur and a second by Council Member Calbert. I'm going to make one quick correction. Uh, sorry, Mr. Funk, but we don't hire these folks. They're volunteers and so we just want to be sure to be grateful to them for volunteering their time in exchange for maybe some tacos or something for dinner before the meeting. So um with that, Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Kley, >> yes. >> Foster Bolton, >> yes. >> Maxwell, >> yes. >> Wilburn, >> yes. >> Calbertt, >> yes. >> Rome, >> yes. >> Shaq, >> yes. Motion carries. All right. And our final item, item 16, adjournment. Council member Wilburn. >> I move adjournment. Council member Kelbert. A second. I have a motion by Council Member Wilburn. A second by Council Member Calbert. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries.