[0:26] Mayor Clint: Right, we're on. All right. Good evening. We will I am on. We will call this meeting to order for the March 12th, 2026th Apple Valley City Council meeting. Welcome everyone. For any members who have audience members who have signed up to speak, when your name is called, please approach the podium to address the council. The first item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. And I would ask everyone who is able to stand and join us in the pledge. [1:15] Mayor Clint: Algian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you everyone. Uh second item is to approve our agenda this evening and Tom do we have any changes? [1:30] Tom (City Manager): Good evening Mr. Mayor, members of the council. We have no changes to tonight's agenda. [1:30] Mayor Clint: Wonderful. So with no changes we would look for a motion to approve the agenda as presented. [1:30] Council Member Bergman: I'll move [1:30] Council Member Grenle: to second. [1:30] Mayor Clint: Motion from council member Bergman, second from council member Grenle. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [1:50] Council Members: I. [1:50] Mayor Clint: Opposed. All right. Agenda passes. The next item is our audience participation portion of the meeting. This is for items that are not on our agenda. Uh we do have an item later coming on the agenda for a resolution related to operation metro surge and those things. uh if you want to speak to that item, I just ask that you kind of wait till that portion so we have some chance to have some discussion rather than try to take it at the beginning. Um and then we'll have a little more time to be able to talk about those things at that point. Um however, before that we do have a couple people who have signed up to speak and the first one is Deborah Meny 11615 River Hills Drives. Deborah here, come on forward. [2:41] Deborah Mankey: Good evening, mayor and good evening, council members. Um, my name is Deborah Mankey. I am a Burnsville resident, but I was here last time and um I just I don't feel like things got resolved, but um so here we are again. And then so as elected officials of Apple Valley, wouldn't you want to be able to say to yourselves that Apple Valley and police did everything they could for their constituents on any given issue? And from the look of it, I [3:25] Mayor Clint: can I pause you for a sec? Is this related to immigration enforcement? [3:25] Deborah Mankey: Uh, no. Actually, this is this is any issue that you guys deal with. This should be applied to any issue that the city council any city council is involved with. At the end of the day, it should be you could do you have done everything that you can for your constituents on any given issue. And from the look of it, I see that there are still a lot more work to do. Even in my city, there is. One is to hold a public forum. We still haven't seen that. [4:10] Mayor Clint: So, hold on a May I pause you for a second? What is the public forum related to? [4:10] Deborah Mankey: Public forum could be if somebody has an issue that they want to get resolved. [4:10] Mayor Clint: So, you just asked about a specific public forum. What is that related to the issue that we're going to talk about later on the agenda? [4:27] Deborah Mankey: It could, but I'm not going to mention that. So you had asked me not to mention that. So I'm not I'm just saying any public forum it should be we should people should be able to request that. Let's see. So then um there's a a coalition of mayors that has been um put out there and there's actually when it first started there were 12 um there were 12. [4:27] Mayor Clint: If you're talking about the the that coalition, which is related to the issue we're going to talk to later, I will address that when we get to that issue. [5:04] Deborah Mankey: Well, the coalition doesn't just necessarily deal with [5:04] Mayor Clint: that issue has one purpose right now. I'm very familiar with it. [5:04] Deborah Mankey: Oh, okay. Well, that's not what I was um hearing from the other ones. So, I guess if you want to talk about that later, that's fine. Uh that was my suggestion that peop that they get that the cities get involved in the coalition because there's also allied cities. So that was really a you know I thought it was a great idea. It doesn't necessarily deal with just that. From when I was talking with Caleb um Drake that was not the only issue that is on hand that they're trying to resolve. they're [5:50] Mayor Clint: so we have so we have that coalition um I know many of the mayors I've talked to many of them on there right before and after so I'll just talk about it now since you're insistent on talking about this at the moment that coalition was put together well-intentioned uh that coalition to join the coalition came with a financial ask of cities and not an insignificant one and an ongoing one and it is another lobbying organization that has been formed so they're asking for north of $5,000 from every city to join that that is going to a lobbying organization that organizes this right now. We can join as an ally but we get no voice in what is being discussed or or uh promoted. So this issue just was addressed again because of them. So there have been a number of mayors who have signed on. There have been a number who have refused to because of the structure. So this is a well-intentioned because I I reached out as soon as I saw this right. uh Mayor Wshi in Plymouth was who I first talked to because Jeff's been a friend for a long time, right? We got elected about the same time. Um fully support there what the wording of the mission was. The structure of the organization has given a city number of cities an awful lot of pause and what is causing people to issue some of their own statements until we understand the structure behind there and where the dollars are going. Uh if so, that's the concern behind the coalition. And I know regional council mayors discussed it again just this week because of some of those concerns that other cities have had about the structure that comes behind here and how long that commitment is. [7:21] Deborah Mankey: You said $5,000. [7:21] Mayor Clint: 5,000 is the minimum ask is what I have heard that they're asking for every city. So I just ask you to expand that across all of them. So it's not about the total amount of the dollars and can we afford it. It's about where the dollars are going and how they're going to ultimately get used. You know, whether you have a voice in those or not. [7:43] Deborah Mankey: So, does your content have a voice in that? [7:43] Mayor Clint: Of course they do. [7:43] Deborah Mankey: Okay. [7:43] Mayor Clint: That we have been elected to represent the best interest of the city. [7:43] Deborah Mankey: So, wouldn't that be [7:43] Mayor Clint: I'm going to I'm going to stop you now because I've already said we're going to take comments around this issue when we get to this issue on the issue. [8:01] Deborah Mankey: Okay, that's fair enough. That's fair enough. But, um All right. That's [8:01] Council Member Grenle: Mayor, may I make a comment? [8:01] Mayor Clint: You may. [8:01] Council Member Grenle: I've had a number of constituents asking us not to belong to it. So, we have to do a balance of both sides here. There's not just one side of who's showing up here. We have constituents on all sides. I And when we get to the resolution, fine. But you act like there's only one voice. I mean, that for everybody. Um I don't know. I don't know what Burnsville is doing, but [8:18] Deborah Mankey: I act like it. Please don't talk to me down like that because [8:18] Council Member Grenle: you you said constituents. You went through everything you can do for your constituents. Our constituents have different points of view. Not everybody has your point of view here. [8:18] Deborah Mankey: Ma'am, I'm not asking you to have a point of view on that. But when I brought something up, I asked a legitimate question. Wouldn't you want to do everything possible that for your city? And that includes [8:52] Mayor Clint: So doing everything possible doesn't mean doing everything we're asked to do. And that is the key distinction. So people can ask for a lot of things and we want to listen and consider those. [8:52] Deborah Mankey: Okay. [8:52] Mayor Clint: But that doesn't mean that we can do everything we're asked, right? We we have a role in local government and we have things that we legally can and cannot do, things that don't maybe we should or shouldn't do. And this this whole issue has certainly introduced more of those conversations. [9:20] Deborah Mankey: All right. So, when we get to talk about this resolution, will we be able to speak up on this? Because I'm not going to speak when you said not to. [9:20] Mayor Clint: We will. But we will accept some comments to talk about the issues and what people are experiencing. But what I am not going to do is debate every issue and every word of everything we're we're doing. And we will explain why we've done what we've done up till now. Um but I will what I will say and I'll say it again later. We we see some cities doing some things. But what I see is we go across the vast majority of cities. you're seeing the response be fairly the same within some limits because people are realizing what the limits are whether you like them or not what those limits are. [9:20] Deborah Mankey: Okay, fair enough. Thank you. [9:20] Mayor Clint: Yep. Thank you. Liliana, you had an event you wanted to invite us to. Do you want to do it an hour or later? I'm I'm happy to take your invitation now if you want to talk about it now. If you want to cover it later, I'm good either way. I'll leave that up to you. You want to cover it later. Okay, perfect. Thank you. I know what you want to talk about. So, I'm I I know what it was. So, all right. Thank you. With that, we will uh move on to our consent agenda. And these items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or citizen request to pull an item. Uh council members, any items you'd like to pull from consent. All right. Citizens, any items to pull? All right. Seeing none, I will take a motion to approve the consent agenda. [10:39] Council Member Mander: Moved. [10:39] Council Member Heert: Second. [10:39] Mayor Clint: Motion from Council Member Mander, second from Council Member Heert. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [10:57] Council Members: I. [10:57] Mayor Clint: And opposed. That item carries. We'll move on to our regular agenda. Uh we're going to start we start with the resolution. We got this on first so that people didn't have to stick around for all the rest of the things we wanted to talk about it. I'm going to do a couple things. Um we're ask Tom talk about the agenda. We'll talk a little bit of how we got there. uh we can take some action on the agenda and invite people forward to take some comments kind of from there. So I think that will work to give everybody a chance this evening. So Tom, why don't you walk us through the agenda or the agenda? We already did that part. How about the resolution and um kind of how we got here? [11:31] Tom (City Manager): Happy to do so, Mayor. Thank you so much for the uh the opportunity. Uh what you have before you tonight is a prepared resolution that will uh help us address and uh identify some concerns that we have certainly lived through through the month of January and February. Uh we as a community have been impacted by Operation Metro Surge. Uh perhaps not as much as the city of Minneapolis, but suburban communities also uh felt impacts and Apple Valley was part of that. Our police department worked extremely hard uh during that period of time to uh to help maintain order in the community and um try to get us through that particular process. Uh what we have tonight is a resolution that's been prepared uh and I'm happy to go through the terms of the resolution. Iterates a lot of the comments that our mayor had already issued public statements um into the community. I've sent a letter to President Trump and members of the federal delegation addressing our concerns and the impact uh that Operation Metro Surge was having on our community. Uh a follow-up statement made by the mayor once it was clear that the operation was going to be winding down. That was helpful. We know that there are certainly still agents in uh the Twin Cities in in Minneapolis, in the suburbs, in the rest of the state. Uh but certainly a lot less than what had been here at one time. Uh we also call on the resolution for some action uh through our Minnesota legislature. I'll review that as I as I read through the resolution. And uh also address uh probably the overriding issue that uh has really caused this is the the lack of action on federal immigration reform that has been pending and not making any progress for a couple of decades now probably. So, we do have some asks that we have in the resolution and we'll certainly be distributing the resolution if passed to the appropriate parties. Um, it also acknowledges the work that's been done by our residents and by our nonprofits in the community and the work that they have done to help our residents through this particular uh time of our history. And then uh certainly an acknowledgement of the work of our police department. So, Mr. Mayor, if you like, I can certainly read through the the terms of the resolution. [13:38] Mayor Clint: Yeah, please do. Feel free to interject meeting wherever it's wherever it makes sense in here. [13:38] Tom (City Manager): Okay. A resolution addressing the impacts of Operation Metro Surge on our community. Whereas the city's values, mission, and vision establish the foundational principles guiding the city's purpose, culture, and direction, defining its long-term aspirations, operational commitments and enduring beliefs that shape governance and community relationships. And whereas the 2040 comprehensive plan keys articulate Apple Valley's long-term community vision across 12 focus areas and affirms the city's commitment to a a welcoming, healthy, and successful community for all residents. Whereas the city of Apple Valley recognizes that harassment, intimidation, or discrimination directed toward any individual or groups of individuals, including immigrant residents, undermines public trust, threatens personal and community safety, and erodess the dignity that strengthens our community. And whereas elected city officials and officers have proudly committed to upholding and protecting the United States and Minnesota constitutions as part of their official roles and the city values these individual freedoms granted to all residents. Whereas immigration enforcement is handled by the federal government and the Apple Valley Police Department has a clear policy and practice that they do not ask immigration status as part of their regular policing activities. And whereas on February 9th, 2026, Mayor Clint transmitted a letter to the president of the United States and Minnesota's congressional delegation expressing concerns regarding Operation Metro Surge and its impacts on Apple Valley. Specifically, the strain on local public safety operations, erosion of community trust, economic harm to local businesses, fear among residents, workforce pressures, and the disruption of community stability. And whereas the mayor's letter emphasizes that Apple Valley has intentionally built a community centered model of policing grounded in trust and service and warns that heavy-handed enforcement tactics have made residents from many backgrounds fearful of calling 911 or interacting with police, thereby making the whole community less safe. And whereas the mayor's letter further stresses that the city values respectful dialogue transparency constitutional protections, partnership across levels of government, and community well-being, principles aligned with the city's values and 2040 comp community vision. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city council of the city of Apple Valley denounces any infringement on civil liberties by any agency or individual based on immigration status, race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. affirms that all residents are entitled to dignity, respect, and full protection of their constitutional rights, including freedom of movement, freedom of expression, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures consistent with the constitutions of the United States and Minnesota. Recognizes that fulfilling the city's values, mission, and vision requires a civic environment where all individuals feel safe, welcomed, and empowered to participate in community life. asserts that the goals established in the 2040 comprehensive plan keys including safety inclusivity sustainability accessibility, strong neighborhoods, and business vitality cannot be achieved without active respect for the civil liberties of every Apple Valley resident. requests that the Minnesota legislature consider measures during the current legislative session to address the financial harm incurred by individuals, businesses, and local governments due to Operation Metro Surge. Requests that the United States Congress address immigration reform and enforcement in a manner that is consistent with constitutional protections and focused on the safety of all residents. thank its local residents for continuing to care for their neighbors and encourages continued support for community nonprofit organizations assisting those impacted as a result of Operation Metro Surge. And lastly, expresses its deep appreciation for the members of the Apple Valley Police Department for their continued commitment to protect our community and improve the quality of life for our residents through their dedicated service, education, and enforcement. adopted this 12th day of March. [18:17] Mayor Clint: Thanks. Um, council, excuse me, council members, happy to take any questions or comments on that before we move the resolution and turn to any other comments. Done. [18:33] Council Member Grenle: You want to take the resolution now and then we can come back to comments from anybody? We can do it however you okay suggest, Mr. Mayor. I've had a number of people saying, "Why do we need a resolution? I'll support it tonight." You know, sometimes resolutions, I'm not sure what comes out of them. I kind of like the Monarch one tonight that had three different things that we're actually going to do something on a resolution. So, if this means something um to some members of our community, I certainly support it, but I've had a number of people who really don't want us to enter into the fray. [19:06] Mayor Clint: Yeah, I think as we as I think about the resolution and and I'll go back through kind of my comments overall in a bit. Um but uh we really wanted a place that we could summarize the communications we've put out, what we've put on the website, statements we've made in kind of multiple formats just to get them into one place. U maybe make that easier for people to to grasp and see. Uh this breaks no new ground tonight. I think most people would acknowledge that we are saying anything we haven't said somewhere else, but simply trying to get it into a place that is maybe just a little easier to digest and uh and to absorb. um as you put things out there, as things move fast, right? You get them in the best place you can get them and do the best you can do with them sometimes and that means that makes sense to me. I know where it is on the website, but sometimes it's hard to find. And so some of that is really the reason we wanted to pull together a little more cohesive place to drop some of these statements. I will fully admit and I said this two months ago, right? The the the learnings from this are really when you see things that that aren't right, you want to do something. Some you can't do all the things you want to do, right? And we've certainly learned some of that through here. So, you're thinking, what can you do? And maybe this is something we we can do even though there are no real physical actions like the the Monarch pledge. Yeah, I like that one. Right. The thing I like about that one is it's things we were doing anyway and it gave us a way to kind of reinforce some of the sustainability pieces that were already important to us. Um, sometimes we can do that. Sometimes we just have to stick with words which are less effective. I hold no illusion that a letter I sent to my congressional delegation and the president had any impact on any decisions. Uh, but yet it was still important to me to put those words to paper um and get them out. So with that, other comments before we take a motion? [20:55] Council Member Heert: Uh, I would just like to add that I I do think that it's important that we have a resolution. I think that this is affirming our values as a city, as a community, our some of the actions that we already do with our our policing and our relationships. So, um, I I do think that this does affirm who we are and what we believe. I don't think any of it is new or different, but I think it's important to again state who we are and um how we value our community and working with them together, especially in challenges as they arrive as they arise now and into the future. [21:38] Council Member Grenle: Um we're not intending to take questions prior to the action, so we can take comments afterwards. I I would just like to make a few comments more general. I mean, you said that I mean, you've sent a letter to the president and to our senators. I sent a email to our US Senator Clolobashar. I think I got back a normal letter that sent to everybody and it was kind of I think it went in my opinion probably went nowhere um asking for um immigration reform. I think it's I think this has been an education for all of us. I mean um I didn't understand there was no path to citizenship if you were already here because I was trying to help some people in in Florida. Um so what we need is a path for people who are here who are contributing um who are noncriminals and that's what we need. We need something much larger I'm sorry than a resolution in front of us. This this has been should have been addressed years ago. I mean, I know of a family who wants to adopt their son out so if they have to go back to their home country that he can stay as a citizen in this country. People are going to that length to do this. [22:52] Mayor Clint: And what what frustrates me in all of this too, right, is we're not having that discussion. I know, right? We're having discussions around other things, but like that would be a meaningful discussion if we could drop the other things and get to this one. [22:52] Council Member Grenle: Yes. I suggested doing a GoFundMe page so these people, this family could hire an attorney. Doesn't do any good. You're already here. You have to go back to your country and come here. This is a much larger problem than what we're talking about here. Um that has to be solved and it has to be solved on the federal level. [22:52] Mayor Clint: The more pressure we can put on the elected federal officials. Yep. It's frustrating for all of us. All of us. [23:30] Council Member Mander: Council member Mander, I think that's your light. Yeah. Yeah. This this has been a a difficult thing for me from the from the very start. Um um first off, there's limits to our authority and and any resolution we can say and who's going to listen to us is council member Gren alluded to. You know, uh we don't have an impact much of an impact on the federal government. That's just the way it is. Y um I vividly remember pictures of of the non-border and streams of folks and the parades through Mexico. I mean, who knows how many people, but uh all came in without any kind of screening or or review. uh even if a small percentage of those folks are people we wouldn't want here uh for instance I I 2% of 14 million which seems to be a number of folks across is 280,000 people and 280,000 bad guys we don't need any more bad guys I think The I think the intent of ICE was to find the bad guys and get rid of them. Uh it's a noble intent. It wasn't implemented well, it seems like. But in terms of the intention of of finding the chaff among the wheat uh is is important. you know, um, you can't have a country without any kind of screening of citizens. Uh, I I own property in Canada. Um, I can't show up in Canada and stay there without any kind of uh, vetting process. Uh, I knew a fellow that had a owned a fishing camp and owned it and operated it and he had to get out of Canada every once in a while because he wasn't a citizen of Canada. We have no process like that now. Um, this is this has been this has been real difficult for me watching this whole thing unfold and play out. Uh, a lot of noble intentions out there, but I have I have trouble with saying just because you cross the border, you're automatically a citizen. Somebody uh said the other day they're immigrant Americans. Well, just because you cross the border doesn't mean you're an American. I went to Canada. I'm not a Canadian citizen. It's it's it's difficult. And I have never been a fan of symbolic actions. You know, if I can't do anything that actually has an impact, you know, burning a draft card for instance, you know, do they care? They don't care. Um, if I can do something meaningful, I want to do something meaningful. But if I'm just if I'm just posturing, I don't do that. Um, my difficulty with this whole thing is uh uh we're we're saying this various things. A lot of it's in the Constitution. That's that's America. That's, you know, and and we're all behind that. Yep. Thanks, Tom. [27:12] Mayor Clint: Yeah. You have something to add to that one? [27:12] Council Member Grenle: Yes. Um, when you're talking about posturing, I just want to say I talked to a city that passed the resolution that ice couldn't be on parks and city property. And so I asked them about about it and my the response was, "We have no intent of enforcing it." And so when we're talking about posturing, I you know, we can do all this and and we could have passed resolutions. They can't be in our parks and whatever. And this week the Supreme Court came out with um it denied a request to issue orders against federal agents conducting operations in state courouses. So we can pass all the resolutions and then Supreme Court comes out and says, "No, you can't do that at courouses." Um and so I assume that's all um sensitive areas. I assume schools. I assume everything would fit into this. So, we could have passed a resolution saying you can't go here, you can't go there. And then Supreme Court comes out and says, "No, that's illegal." And then I talked to, like I say, another city council member. We weren't intending to enforce that. So, I'm like, "Well, then why did you do it?" I mean, I don't want a posture. I want to have meaningful actions of what we're doing. Anyway, I I support the resolution. [28:39] Mayor Clint: Do we do we uh have a motion or other comments? And we can certainly take comments after motion, too. [28:39] Council Member Heert: I'll make a motion. [28:39] Council Member Grenle: Second. [28:39] Mayor Clint: A motion from council member Heert, a second from council member Grenall. Any other comments before we call for a vote from the council? Lisa, go ahead. You were you were up. [28:39] Council Member Heert (Lisa): Yeah, I I just, you know, I'm this is not normal. Um this is, you know, let's just acknowledge this is not normal. Um this is not this is unusual. And um you know while I appreciate the guys was to get the bad guys out of here you know in talking to our residents I mean it's people with temporary protected status people with green cards people who are legally going through the process US residents um indigenous people you know all of them are you know it's affecting more than just the bad guys. And so I I want to make sure that we're acknowledging that as well as the fact that in the process there has been very in my opinion uh extremely um obvious violations of our constitutional rights first, second, fourth and and uh this is what's concerning and um it's happening to our residents. that's happening to our neighbors. And um I also just want to say I really appreciate um our neighbors who have stepped forward and gotten involved in in uh civil ways and you know there's a lot of people who have been doing um patrolling and the bus stops and this you know I'm proud of Minnesota in a way that we have come together and shown the world um how we can come together and support our community when something not normal and unusual is happening in our community. So, I I just I just want to be really clear that, you know, yes, this this resolution may be symbolic and it may not do more than say who we are and what we value in this community, which I think is extremely important. Thank you. [30:38] Mayor Clint: There there are times for symbolic and there are times for action, right? So, agree. Yeah. All right. We have a motion and a second. And Christine, I hope you got who did those cuz I've now forgotten. Thank you. Um, all those in favor of the motion for the resolution indicate by saying I. [30:54] Council Members: I. [30:54] Mayor Clint: Opposed. That carries. I'll just add a couple comments and apologies for repeating things I've said over the past few weeks, but I'll go back to some of my first comments on this. And Tom, if you want to sit, you don't have to stand. You don't have to. I don't mean to make you stay on the whole meeting. Um, way back when I came to the day, one of the first conversations we had around this though, right? I I am more and more so and call me old or whatever skeptical of what I see online and can't validate myself and so um not to mention some of the stories were just hard to believe right say you know we've taken we all took oaths to uphold the constitution and I feel like we know how to do that in our daytoday actions when we sit here where we get challenged is how do you live that out when somebody is doing things that you can't control them doing and you know that that isn't the right action like council member Heber just mentioned and yet since I I'm skeptical because social media is a great platform to stir up things. Um but it's the only platform I've seen that seems to uh almost solely profit right on stirring up hate and discourse where it might not otherwise exist. Um it's also a great way to keep track of my nieces that I don't see otherwise. So there's maybe some good in there too. Um I feel like our responsibilities when I'm not sure if I know what I'm seeing is to go figure out what it is I'm seeing and asked people and so early on um I reached out to a few folks and said please connect me with people I don't run into daily right and I heard some stories and I believe the stories right and yeah people can look at me in the face and lie but when the uh when the adrenaline is still so real that they're shaking from an event that happened two weeks ago and reliving it that's a hard emotion for somebody to make up on the spot. Um, and so you kind of validate those stories, right? And I will tell you that every one of these folks voluntarily offered to me their their legal status to be here. I didn't ask, but they want they felt it was important to know. Not one of them also wanted to come share stories here, right? For all the reasons you might imagine. Do you want to relive that publicly on camera? Do you want to take the risk? Those kind of things. Um, so I know them to be true. Um, I've also encountered people though over the especially the last uh month or so when I ask where that story came from, it's something they read or heard from somebody else. And so we are seeing things that are getting repeated on both sides that just I'm questioning validity of and I'm just asking some pause from everybody as we talk about these things to understand your stories, understand the sources, make sure we're talking about real things. On the positive, um, the conversation that Council Member Grenol and I kind of had up here is one that has been had. I don't know how many times we I'm seeing people set aside long-term political sides to talk about how we actually get to this and talk about the things that they're seeing aren't the right things. And that's encouraging. It It's terrible we had to get to this point to get there, but to see some of those comments and people willing to talk about the issues behind the issues has been a good thing. So, I appreciate seeing those uh kind of as well. So, that's kind that's my thought. I won't rehash all the things I've said. I think I've said them enough. Most of you have heard them. Uh we talked a little bit about the um the coalition. I said I was all on board with that when I first saw it. Um looked like a good idea. I talked to a bunch of people. The more we learned um the more there is still some discomfort amongst many cities around the organizational structure and the governance and where this goes from here along and not just the financial cost. I'm hoping some of that gets sorted out or it gets picked up by some of our other lobbying organizations so that can become part of what we're part of that. uh many of the comments ironically I was working on that letter the same time that came out they mirrored those comments and well so I think the comments are good I think we support what were in the comments the organization behind it that's been a struggle uh to get behind and understand council member ground talked about ordinance and local ordinance um with no intention to enforce pardon me one of our responsibilities becomes we got to have to a couple things right an ordinance I can't enforce potentially creates some safety issues that are some false sense of security out there. It also puts us and and our own folks in a really bad position. If I play that all the way out, what happens, right, when we end up with something we can't enforce on the books um and those kind of things. So, those are the other considerations that we kind of have to take into into mind as we do these. There's a whole list of things that we might want to do that we can't do and that goes beyond this issue, but I think we've consolidated all of them into this issue. It certainly feels like so with that, I know Liliana, you had an invitation you wanted to share. And since you were signed up first, I'd like to invite you to bring that forward and and share it. [35:52] Liliana: Hello. Um, thanks for giving me this opportunity to come up here. Um, I just wanted to, um, come and extend an invitation from residents, um, here in Apple Valley who believe that when community goes through a difficult moment, one of the most important things that we can do is to come together, listen to each other, um, and begin that work of healing. So, um, as you all are well aware, over the past several months, many people in our city has been experienced a great deal of uncertainty and stress related to the federal immigration enforcement activity in our area. Regardless of where people are standing on policy, it has been a difficult and emotional time for many, many families, businesses, students, a lot of people in our community. Um, as neighbors, many of us have been here supporting one another and continuing to look for ways to help our community move forward and start to heal. One of these conversations, out of these conversations, residents have come together to organize a community healing event called Coming Together After Ice. Um, here to invite you all to that. That event will take place on Monday, April 13th at Falcon Ridge Middle School with community connection and resource tables beginning at 6:00 with official programming starting at 6:30. The evening will include neighbors sharing personal experiences, a panel conversation about how our schools, businesses, housing stability, rent, and overall community well-being have been affected, and guidance from licensed therapists about recognizing stress and trauma responses and how to support families and children during times of uncertainty. This event is being coordinated by Apple Valley residents who care deeply about the city and the people who live here. Many of us believe that this that moments like this are opportunities for communities to come together to listen to one another and offer support. So today I am here to extend that invitation to each and every one of you from the mayor to the council members, police chiefs, the um fire chiefs, city staff, um fellow residents, um to come join us if you are able. Um, I'm of the belief when community members and city leadership can be present in the same place, listening and learning from each other, it will really strengthen the sense that we are all part of that same community and reinforce what many of us value about Apple Valley that we care that we care for one another. So, thank you for giving me that opportunity to invite you. [38:04] Council Member Grenle: What time is it though? [38:04] Liliana: Um, it will start at six o'clock. [38:04] Mayor Clint: And I I think we you said we've got something we can make sure everybody's gets copy right so we don't try to jot all the notes down kind of thing. Um, I just want to say thank you for coming tonight. Um, thank you for coming previously and sticking around. Like the this is one forum, but the value in the face tof face conversation, getting to know you a little better. Not that we didn't know each other before, but getting to know you a little better. Um, I just appreciate I you got kids who are trying to get to bed and all those kind of things. And so giving up the time and just coming and chatting and being willing to hang out till 9:30. And right, some of those were emotional and I get it. And uh, but thank you because it's it's harder to do our job, right, without that input. in in there and we certainly didn't agree on everything but we had conversations about it which is kind of how we get to how we should be able to do this stuff and so thank you for being for doing that and being respectful and doing it. It's it means a lot to me and I appreciate it. [38:50] Liliana: Yeah. Thanks for having conversation. I appreciate it. [38:50] Mayor Clint: Thank you. Um anyone else? All right there. [39:07] Council Member Grenle: Um I just want to so I had lunch last week with um a self-identified Democrat from Apple Valley who actually who who actually we all know anyway um he said that Senator James Langford from Oklahoma had a bipartisan bill in 2024 that was ready to go to the floor to vote on and I don't know politics came into play but if there's something there that we can start saying we support would be good. [39:32] Mayor Clint: No, I think those those might fit the symbolic uh category, but that might be another time when that's okay, right? If we can start to get some voices behind those things that make sense. Yeah, [39:32] Council Member Grenle: I think though with National League of Cities, I think sometimes we can have a unified voice. [39:48] Mayor Clint: You know, that's a good point. Right. Your involvement there on the board is you're right. I think that's where you can bring those voices together that might not [39:48] Council Member Grenle: there's plenty of disagreement on that NLC board about many issues, but I think this is one you probably could get most people behind in some way. Well, it was split between because I've asked about bringing it to the forefront. It is split between two committees. Um, human resources and public safety. Well, I don't know if that's where they it belongs. [39:48] Mayor Clint: Might be the best place, right? [40:13] Council Member Grenle: It doesn't make any sense to me. So, that's what I'm going to be pursuing is how do we I don't know when you're out there just on that. I don't [40:13] Mayor Clint: You're out there soon again, right? [40:13] Council Member Grenle: You're leave tomorrow. Yeah. [40:29] Mayor Clint: Right. So, no. And I like the national angle on that because I think the state only also has so much voice that they can lend to get a national thing done. So, I It's interesting, right? You've talked about it before and we all have, but you all see us up here a couple times a month, right? And the number of things people are plugged into behind the scenes, right, that are greater than this and like you'll be out of town for a week to deal with that. I've made that group before. Um, we're all doing some of those things, too. And so, where we can combine voices are greater than individual voices, certainly. So, all right. Seeing no other comments, I'm going to move on to um 5B, which is a on sale, oh, excuse me, on sale liquor license application for Spice Village. And Christina is going to take this one. [41:07] Christina (Staff): Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Well, just about a year ago, I was before you um for a public hearing for an on sale beer and wine license um for Spice Village located over in the Times Square complex. And um Spice Village has um shared with us that they're doing very well and they would like to move from the beer and wine to a full on sale liquor license. Um so what you have before you here tonight is consideration of that license application. Staff did not identify any concerns with it. I would also like to point out that um Spice Village is the first business that is benefiting from the ordinance amendment council passed um two weeks ago um that removed the requirement for a cup for an on-sale liquor. So, at the time, Spice Village didn't need it for beer and wine, but if they if we hadn't had that ordinance amendment, they would have had to go through a cup process to move up to full liquor. So, um we're already seeing the benefits of that um action that council took. Um, so with that, um, I'm we're asking council to hold that public hearing and then consider adopting that resolution approving that liquor license. [42:20] Mayor Clint: Okay, we'll go ahead and open the public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this liquor license application? Anyone who would like to speak? All right, one final opportunity. Um, seeing none, we will close the public hearing and I would look for a motion to adopt a resolution approving the issuance of on sale intoxicating liquor and special license for Sunday liquor sales to Spice Village LLC located at 7520 149th Street West. [42:43] Council Member Grenle: So moved. [42:43] Council Member Mander: Second. [42:43] Mayor Clint: A motion from council member Randall, a second from council member Milander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [43:05] Council Members: I. [43:05] Mayor Clint: Oppos. That item carries. I will just give a plug for their grocery store that is there as well. They have a fantastic uh store adjacent to the restaurant and I think the only one in about uh 30 or 40 miles uh with that kind of variety. So if you haven't been there, it's worth a stop over. So the next is our utility electric utility franchise ordinance updates and Matt um there you are Matt has this one. I would just say as Matt as you settle in, if you were here for other items and you want to sneak out, you will not offend us if you want to do that. If you want to stick around, you're absolutely welcome as well, but I know uh people have other things to do than watch boring things conclude. So, [43:34] Matt (Staff): this isn't boring a franchise. [43:34] Mayor Clint: Well, yeah. Thank you. Not to us member, maybe to others, mayor. [43:50] Matt (Staff): Sorry, Matt. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and councel. Um well this is the third time I'm before you with a franchise ordinance and dare I say this should be the final time too. So it is um one um considering our final utility um in the town. It's with Excel Energy or Northern States Power doing business as Excel. Um, of course, the council previously approved um, uh, franchise ordinance renewals with our other electric provider, DEA, and then our sole natural gas provider, Centerpoint Energy. And those were approved over the last year. So, we can get into this one. Um, like the other two, this is very similar in nature. I'll just go over some of the major elements of it. This is a new um, franchise. You've never had one with Excel before. Uh they have a small area in the city, which I'll go over with with the fee ordinance in a minute. Um but this ordinance would grant Excel Energy a 20-year franchise to operate within our public rightway with their lines. Um it provides them 60 days after council approval and and um publishing for them to sign it. Um it does require that they restore um work that they do in the rightway according to state rules and city regulations. It would allow them to trim any trees and shrubs that may interfere with their facilities. That's typically the overhead facility power lines if you will within the public rightway. In order to do that, they do have to provide advanced written notice though to to neighbors. And then it does reference a franchise fee which I'll go over here in a minute to be set by a separate ordinance. So with that, uh we are recommending that uh council consider passing the ordinance tonight amending chapter 119 of city code entitled electricity franchise adding section 119.15 regarding an electric franchise with northern states power doing business as Excel Energy. And we do recommend waving second reading. and be happy to take questions. [45:46] Mayor Clint: Any questions for Matt? And if not, we'd entertain a motion. [45:46] Council Member Grenle: I'll move it with uh waving the second reading. [45:46] Council Member Bergman: Second. [45:46] Mayor Clint: All right. Do we have a second? We have a motion from Council Member Gindle, a second from Council Member Bergman. All those in favor and get by saying I [46:03] Council Members: I. [46:03] Mayor Clint: opposed. That item carries. And Matt, do you want to take us on to D? [46:13] Matt (Staff): Yes. As soon as Tim can get it up there for me. There it Thank you sir. Um so again this is the franchise fee now um ordinance to consider with Excel Energy. Um and this is their territory map. Again I said Excel has a smaller portion of the city versus DEA. Um this is basically in the center of the city. So it's just north of County Road 42, just west of Pilot Knob Road, just east of Flagstaff. And then their territory extends just a little north of 147th. So this is kind of our industrial area. Some of the major businesses and providers there are Mellan's tank farm, uh the new Menard store, uh the new PepsiCo Fredo distribution center, and then Uponor. So that's the area town we're talking. So we did work with Excel Energy to come up with this franchise fee as we did with the other two uh providers. So again, this is a new one. We've had no previous franchise fee with Excel. Um like with the other two providers, the the fee for residential uh properties would be 3% of revenues per month. Um for commercial industrial, likewise, it would be 3% of revenues per month except for the largest commercial accounts. And they told us there's privacy rules, but they said there's approximately 15 of those. Um, so that would those properties would have a flat rate of 75 per month. So at the bottom you can see that based on those estimates we're estimating annual fee to the city would be about 40,000 a year that we [47:47] Mayor Clint: Matt I just wanted to clarify on here for those of us who haven't been through your three iterations that $75 cap um or that $75 fee is in lie of a cap and so all of those first two or those second and third bullets are paying well less than $75 a month in their franchise fee and this was an effort to cap those largest users. So they weren't being overly burdened by a [47:47] Matt (Staff): correct [48:15] Mayor Clint: large fee just based on larger usage. I don't want to look like a discount or a something else strange, right, for those who haven't seen it. Correct. [48:15] Matt (Staff): Correct. Thank you for that clarification Mr. Um and just what um of course council's discussed this in the past, but just let the public know what we plan to use majority of those fees for. um council's designated $1 million of our franchise fees to go to help um our pavement management program each year and then the remainder fees can be used for other priorities as determined by the council. So requested actions tonight, this is a this does require public hearing. So we'd ask that you hold that public hearing on the proposed franchise fee ordinance and then consider passing the ordinance as shown there. [49:04] Mayor Clint: Thank you. you. Councilman Grenle, do you have a question for Matt before we go? [49:04] Council Member Grenle: So, I know I I don't want to say that maybe one party was dragging their feet for three years. Three years we've been working on this. Yeah. So, is any of the $40,000 annual um amount retroactive or it just starts today? [49:21] Matt (Staff): No. And unfortunately, it doesn't start until the council passes it. [49:21] Mayor Clint: All right. So, with that, we will go ahead and hold our public hearing on the electric utility franchise fee ordinance. Anyone who would like to speak to this public hearing. Anyone who would like to speak to the public hearing on the franchise fee ordinance? One final opportunity. All right, seeing none, we will close the public hearing on this item and I would look for a motion to pass the ordinance. [49:54] Council Member Grenle: I move it, waving the second reading. [49:54] Council Member Heert: Second. [49:54] Mayor Clint: Motion from Council Member Grenall, second from Council Member Heert. I would just like to clarify. Does that include waving the second reading? [49:54] Council Member Grenle: Yes, it does. [49:54] Mayor Clint: We're both good with that one. All right. Thank you. Do we uh we have a motion and a second? All those in favor indicate by saying I. [50:10] Council Members: I. [50:10] Mayor Clint: That item carries. Thank you, Matt. Thanks for all the work on this. Not just you, everyone else who had a hand in it and including our city attorney and uh everybody else. So, thank you. [50:25] Matt (Staff): You do with all your free time. [50:25] Mayor Clint: Yeah, we'll we'll find something. I'm sure of that. Let's not talk about that one. Um we're on to staff and council communications. I'll start with you Tom. Are there any uh council items or staff items for us? [50:39] Tom (City Manager): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Two quick ones for the for the evening. U despite the weather outside, we spring hopefully is around the corner and I just want to remind the residents that uh the city council does support an annual tree and shrub sale. This is an opportunity for those that wish to add some greenery and um some very nice tree stock and shrubs. We do have that available on the city's website. That launched March the 9th. Um, as of this point, about a third of the trees have been spoken for and maybe about a half of the shrubs. So, there are still opportunities for those that want to do that and to purchase trees from the city. So, visit the city's website for more details about uh that opportunity. And then uh secondly, I just want to mention that one of the large um the most interest that we get from community members is they like to know what's going on in the city in terms of development. And uh this has been something that we have been trying to put more and more information on our city website about the development that is going on and the status of various applications that are coming through. U Tim Benetti, our community development director and his staff, uh they prepare a community development newsletter that is now available on the city's website. So, if you would like to learn more about what might be happening on a particular corner of the community that you see something happening, uh, please check out the city's website under community development and it's called the community development newsletter. [52:00] Mayor Clint: I would add to that there's a ton of information on the website and there is a way to subscribe to those updates. And so, if people need that help, reach out. We'll help you figure out how to get there and sign up. It's, you know, once you know it's there, it's easy to find. Finding it is sometimes a different uh a different story with that much data out there. But uh um I think there isn't a page you can't sign up for an update to. So as new things get posted, you can get pretty regular updates of what hits. Uh you just have to like all the emails telling you you have new things to go read. Um just you mentioned spring coming, which reminded me April 11th is the Apple Valley Chambers annual home and garden show. I think hosted at East View again this year and runs what about 9 to3 9-2 somewhere in that ballpark. but always a good chance to get out and uh and uh meet some vendors and do those kind of things as you're thinking about those spring home projects. So, council, any other items this evening? [52:32] Council Member Grenle: I I just want to point out um in the police bulletin, which I read um all the time, um it's spring summer, people are ringing our doorbells as solicitors all the time. Thank Yeah, I think it's really important to just reinforce that it's doortodoor for profit solicitors and peddlers are required to apply for a permit which is then approved by the city after a background check is done on each applicant. They must carry a copy of the permit with them and show it at the request of any citizen. The if the solicitor cannot produce a permit, notify the Apple Valley police by calling 911. Nonprofit organizations are not required to apply for a permit. So, I'm not sure if you asked that up front, but we all have ring doorbells and we see somebody at the door we don't know. Oftentimes, we don't answer it anyway. But, I just wanted to reinforce that they have to be registered with the city and with a background check. So, you don't have to open up your door to everybody who's out ringing it. [53:36] Mayor Clint: And that and that's not company. Those are individual licenses. So, if somebody says my company has a permit, they've told you a non-truth. Um, we'll say kindly and they don't actually have one. Christina, is that list of approved licenses still on the city website? [53:51] Christina (Staff): Mayor and city council, it is on the website and we do try to update it as frequently as possible. But just to give you an example, in the last week, we've received 13 applications that we're currently processing. So, now is the season. Yes. [54:11] Mayor Clint: Perfect. Now, thanks for that reminder and just it's okay to ask, right? Uh and they are supposed to abide by the no soliciting signs if you have one. They're not supposed to be soliciting. I'll just leave it at that. So, I know. I was out ringing doorbells once and somebody said, "Can't you see?" When I was campaigning, "Can't you see no solicitors?" I'm like, "Okay." Oops. And politic nonprofits and political candidates are also exempt. They don't have to. We can't actually require political candidates to come get licensed. Correct. [54:27] Tom (City Manager): That is correct, Mayor. [54:27] Mayor Clint: So, so I left quickly. I don't Yes. I think most of us would try to respect the sign, but uh but not everybody will do that. So, uh council members, any other items? If not, we'll move on to our calendar. Our next regular city council meeting is next Thursday is Thursday, March 26th, 7 p.m. Do we have a motion to approve the calendar of upcoming events? [54:48] Council Member Grenle: So moved. [54:48] Council Member Bergman: Second. [54:48] Mayor Clint: Motion from council member Grendall, second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. How about a motion to adjurnn. [55:09] Council Member Heert: So moved. [55:09] Council Member Grenle: Second. [55:09] Mayor Clint: Motion from council member Heert. Second from council member Grenle. All those in favor indicate by saying I. [55:09] Council Members: I. [55:09] Mayor Clint: Thank you everyone.