The Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Welcome to the Eden Prairie City Council meeting tonight. Maybe um camera um person if you can just turn the camera real quick on the audience just to show students are here. We appreciate you all being here. Plus it proves that you're here. So if your teacher has any questions or doubts, just show this video. Uh so thanks for being here. Um thank you so much. You can turn that back around. So it's um customary uh during the beginning of our city council meeting for me to read an open podium invitation to our residents. Open podium is an opportunity for Eden Prairie residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden Prairie city government prior to each city council meeting. These typically the city council meetings typically occur the first and third Tuesday of each month. The open podiums occur from 6:30 to 6:55 p.m. here in the council chamber. If you wish to speak at open podium, please do contact the city manager's office at 952-9498412 by noon of the meeting date with your name, your phone number, and subject matter so we can be better prepared for you. Open podium is not recorded or televised. If you have any questions about open podium, please contact the city manager's office. Mr. Ketcho, it's always a a pleasure to um receive um well money, but to have donations given to us, uh especially from some of our um most uh favorite nonprofits. We like them all, but we really appreciate the lines tonight as well. So, I'll turn it over to you and you can get um introduced. I think people are coming forward to present the check. >> Oh, do you want me to turn right to Amy? >> I Yeah, Mayor. Yes, I I I can as well, but that was well said. get uh receiving donations and receiving them from the Lions Club. A a win-win. Definitely. I will turn things over to our park and recreation director, Amy Marco, because the donations go to multiple um items, multiple causes. >> Perfect. Amy. >> Yeah. Thank you, council. Um tonight, we're receiving $24,000 from the Eden Prairie Lions Club. uh they are going to go towards two different projects that we are excited about as part of the sustainable eat and prairie initiative. Uh staff has identified seven areas in the next three years that we are going to be converting from mode turf grass to areas with native pollinator gardens and plantings that we'll use for education and just to beautify the city. Uh so the Lions Club has uh generously donated $10,000 for the next three years. So $10,000 of the donation tonight will be put towards uh pollinator gardens. The other 14,000 will be used to purchase two safe stations. And what they are um are stations that we strategically place in parks uh that provide yearround access to AEDs. So, someone were to have a cardiac arrest situation, a first responder could grab the AED um any day of the year, any time, and use that AED to hopefully uh you get a heart rhythm from the the patient. Um and we, you know, installed our first one about a month ago at Miller Park and it was used within a a few weeks of it being uh placed there. So they do save lives and that patient is alive today which we're really excited about. So we're thrilled to get the the funds to install two more. They'll go at Riley Lake Park and Starring Lake Park. So thank you to the Enuri Lions Club. >> Would you all like to come forward? Yeah. Applause is good. Let's applaud. Would you um like to come forward and say anything and then I'll come Would you like to come forward and say anything and then I'll come down and we'll do >> Well, I don't know. Maybe you're >> Is this the microphone? Okay. Uh well, Gary Watson, uh and I'm Steve Lip Schultz, uh representing the Lions. We are just uh honored to be able to give the city this donation. And uh like Amy said, we heard such good news with the first AED already. So uh our group is really happy to, you know, give two more. So we thank you. >> Um if the other two council members can indulge me on this, um both uh PG and I are members of the line. So would you come down with me and we can do it? >> All right. >> Are you okay if I'm fine? >> 23 years. >> Please have any 3 years. Obviously, >> I am so wrong here. So, could we also I'm in the wrong. Could we please have any lionesses that are on the council also come down and Kathy will bring you down in spirit here. >> Oh, what? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I already said I didn't get myself in trouble there, but >> we're a Lions Club now. We We're called the Lioness Lions. We changed >> Oh, that's what you're correcting me on. Got it. >> So, we're all coming down. Kathy will um we'll get you in the picture there. I'm coming down. >> All right, >> let's get in there. >> Somebody else should get behind the check. >> I'm fine. >> Oh, wait. Let's move around again. Can you scoot down that way so we can get in? Please keep going that way. That way. >> All right. Taking pictures now. Smile. [Applause] That's good. Well, we do have fun Lions again. Uh, thank you so much. And, um, it is, um, I'm I'm so proud of so many of our well, all of our nonprofits, but Prop and Prop Shop and >> Crime Fund, which we're going to honor later on in the meeting, and the Lions and Rotary and Eden Prairie Community Foundation. We just have so many great ones. But but no, but um and I will say the lions are also uniquely special. Um because every dime they raise goes out back to the community and uh Stephen Gary over 100,000 this year I believe so far. Is that accurate? Something >> Oh, just go with me. Isn't it close? >> How much? >> Our average every year has been the last five years has been like 57,000. >> But this year we're up because we've had a really good year, right? had a good year and I were actually catching up on some. >> Okay. Okay. Got it. A lot of money. And um again, thank you. Um >> breakfast of July beer corn and the golf tournament. >> Y >> amazing. So thank you. Um >> especially the kids should know and attend all of those events. >> Yeah. Yeah. You probably went to most of them so or some. Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, moving on then, um, back I believe to, um, Amy Markle. >> Yeah. Uh, we have our quarterly donations that we've received through parks and recreation department. Um, and all the funds that we receive, uh, go to help reduce costs, uh, for residents to participate in programming um, and also um, to help us kind of provide and enhance our special events. So this past quarter, we received $5,000 from the crimerevention fund for our safety camp. We received $500 from T-Mobile for our harvest to Halloween program, which is this Saturday. We received $100 from Griswald Care for our senior center noon year's eve program. We received $250 from Summit Place for our senior center golf classic. Elim Shores donated $100 for our senior center golf classic. And lastly, we received a thousand dollars from Vidian Credit Union for our harvest to Halloween program. So, a big thank you to everyone that has donated generously. Um, again, it really does help enhance our programs and it um allows us to offer things that are reduced our free cost to the community. So, thank you. >> Really does help stretch our tax dollars. So, um you are so right. So, um, this just requires a motion and we need a motion on the lines donation. But, um, is is there anything else that anyone is expecting to say here or should we just go ahead and make the motion? Okay. Um, so if somebody would make put the two motions together, is that fine or do we have to make two separate? >> I they're separate resolutions, mayor. So, we do separately. >> Thank you. Um if we could go back then if somebody would u move the motion to um receive the lines donation. >> I'll move to adopt a resolution accepting the donation of $24,000 from the Eden Prey Lines Club for native pollinators and public access AEDs. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. I opposed. All right. Now, if somebody would make the motion to res um accept receive the list that um Amy read to us. >> Move to adopt the resolution. accept the multiple summer 2025 donations to parks and recreation. >> Second. >> Any discussion on that? All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. All right, we're all caught up. >> Uh let's go ahead now then and um talk about the agenda for the evening. So, we actually need a motion to approve that. But there's two items to add to that. I I just have a brief um mention I want to make about the open house this last Saturday. Uh and then uh PG you you have a a comment or something you want to speak to a topic to? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Do you want me to mention the topic? >> Well, you can. >> Yeah. I want to talk about the cryptocurrency thefts. >> Okay. Cryptocurrency thefts regarding the police department um surveillance of that or work with that. Okay. Um All right. With that, is there a motion to approve the agenda as um I guess amended? Move to approve the agenda as amended, including um the mayor oak openhouse statement and PG's cryptocurrency. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> All right. We have uh the minutes, the city council minutes from um our last meetings on Tuesday, September 16th. We had the council workshop meeting first and then the regular council meeting. Are there any um questions or items a question or edits or corrections on either of those? If not, could I have a motion to approve both of those minute meeting minutes? >> I'll move to approve the following city council minutes uh city council workshop held Tuesday, September 16th, 2025 and the city council meeting held Tuesday, September 16th, 2025. >> Second. >> Uh any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I >> opposed. All right. >> Moving on to the consent calendar for those people uh in the audience fairly new to us this evening. Consent calendar clumps together very very important items that need council approval but don't need further discussion typically. However, the council, you are allowed all the time to request to remove any of these or question them or even vote on them separately. Are there any items you wish to um ask questions about or comment on? If not, is there a motion to approve items A through S on the consent calendar? >> Move to approve the items A through S on the consent calendar. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? All right. >> We have no public hearings or or um meeting well other meetings, but no public hearings this evening, which um students keeps the council meeting significantly shorter. though you miss the excitement of uh development project come back um at another time I'm sure you would just love to take up another Tuesday evening with that they are kind of fun so moving on then to payment of claims these are the expenditures that the city has uh done um spent money on since our last meeting in the classic oldfashioned sense is the checks that we wrote um it's a long pages and pages long of our expenditures uh council any expend expenditures items you wish to learn more about question discuss. If not, is there a motion to approve the payment of claims? >> Move to approve the payment of claim as submitted. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Because this is such an important vote that we all take responsibility for. This by state law I believe requires a roll call vote. >> Council member Nion >> I. >> Council member Nelson. >> I. >> Council member Tumi. >> Hi. >> Mayor Casease. I keep us in suspense. All right, >> we are now I believe Wow, we are down to council member reports. I went attended um as um I think all of you did this um last Saturday the open house. I don't know if any of you in the audience had the opportunity to go. It was mostly out in our parking lot or several parking lots. Um, but it basically invited the entire community from 11 o'clock to 2 o'clock to come here to city hall and I don't know in many ways allow us to show off our equipment which is actually paid for by tax dollars which then serves our residents. So it's really their chance to see what their tax dollars have purchased for their benefit. Um, and I don't know how many people, Amy, who who would be Oh, no. Sarah, do you know how many people might um thousand? I don't know. A lot. >> 5,250. >> You have no idea. So, a lot. A lot. >> How many hot dogs? >> Good point. Chief, where's How many hot dogs? >> Thousand hot dogs and they were all done by 12:30. So, we know there's probably over 2,000. >> Okay. We had a couple thousand people come and it's great for kids. They get to climb into firet trucks and police cars. And I had so many residents come up and say to me, "Thank you. Thank you, mayor." And I'm like, I really just am attending. I mean, I'm Yes, I voted on the, you know, expenses to purchase some of this equipment. But in terms of the event, um, it was Madori and Janna and Sarah and there was a committee of a whole bunch of people. But I really tonight want to acknowledge the staff that came out on their own time basically, right? And spend three, four, five hours, maybe even more because you have to move all that equipment around. We have amazing staff in the city. So Mr. schedule if you would just I don't know how but maybe through memorandum but just communicate to staff the deep appreciation of the council for everything they do every day but especially uh on Saturday and the extra effort above and beyond that they went to uh to basically show our residents um what we have to offer to them in terms of uh service back to them uh with their tax dollars. So absolutely. >> So thank you. Anything else you want to add to that? Anybody? Yes. [Applause] I'm so proud of our staff. We just have an amazing city and amazing staff. >> PG crypto. >> Thank you. >> Theft. So, how many of you know about about cryptocurrency? Can you just raise your hand? See, all the kids knows. Awesome. So recently, by the way, I'm an engineer and uh I've been following crypto for a long time. Only sad news is I wish I had took $10,000 in 2010 and bought some crypto. He could be a billionaire today, you know. So that's the bad news, could have been. >> The Yeah, the the the bad news is the theft on cryptos going skyrocketing. So give you some number 2022 $3.8 billion in 2023 $4.8 billion and 2024 $2.2 billion and 2025 so far $2.17 billion been stolen in the cryptocurrency. So last week or week before I called my friend Rick Ketcho and said hey you know what >> you know many of our residents probably don't know about the scam around the cryptocurrency they do their own way doing it and can we ask our chief to just look in you know still early stage this is evolving type of theft um which is we have to be really careful especially your mothers and your grandmothers, your you know fathers, tell them really careful if they have cryptocurrency. So I ask Rick to give us a brief, you know, couple of minutes update. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chief. And thank you, Rick. >> Chief, >> well, members of the council, um cryptocurrency theft, Bitcoin theft definitely uh is on the rise across the nation. uh Meden Prairie uh we've generally held pretty steady with anywhere between seven and 10 cases a year. Just kind of depends on the year. But some basic things that we've uh advised people to remember. One of the main problems in our world with social media can be that people have the chance to brag about things they have. Uh and putting out there on the internet or on posts about what people have in cryptocurrency or they have investments and such is just going to be advertising for trouble. So, we're definitely uh reminding people to watch what they post online, watch who they talk about. It would be just like posting your checking balance online or or giving all your bank information online. Just generally not a good idea, obviously. So, what can we remind people to do? Um, you may not really know that someone's trying to hack into your crypto account. Um, you might start to see some small irregularities in your transactions. You might get locked out. So, it's looking for some of those things. Also, always looking out for the impersonations and the scams. Um, no legit uh agency is going to ask for your crypto information over the phone or over an email. So, keep it in mind with that. But we have some resources on our city website. Um there's also several other websites that have some great resources from um Secret Service has a whole section on cryptocurrency, kind of the what to do, what not to do. Um, and then the FBI also has a good section on that. So, really it boils down to as with anything related to fraud, scams, um, don't trust it, especially if it doesn't feel right. Don't receive calls, don't respond to emails. You reach out to your organization that you um, hold cryptocurrency with. Um, and and be that be that extra sense of what's right, what's really not going on um, and how to how to best protect yourself. So, uh, being aware and and and seeking those resources is really what we're looking for. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. >> I maybe one thing to add, too. I chief obviously should also be pretty proud of the fact that our department uh has officers has um resources dedicated to um you know, fraud prevention and and detection. And I think if you think about a lot of different areas um in our police department, there's a lot of secondary assignments and other things that people do in this area. We try to stay ahead of the curve on a lot of different things and and you know explore trends nationally. And I think this is an area kind of in general fraud um where we try to do that. And then I think the last comment is his voice sounds kind of familiar. I think I heard it on the radio. I >> think you did. Um did last week it sounds like >> doesn't it sound familiar? I think I heard it on the radio last week maybe on CCO talking about ebikes. >> Yeah. Um he was interviewed and did a phenomenal job. Thank you so much for representing us. But um for students in the audience on the ebike issue, it's um the differences between ebikes and emotos. And you probably all know that, but you all are old enough to be riding these. But um an emoto is not allowed anywhere in the city on any road or any trail. I don't know if people knew that. Emoto is an ebike without pedals. So, look, look around sometime and see all the 10 and 12 year olds riding these Emoto bikes without pedals. It on a road or on a bike trail. They're illegal. Um, and the second thing is that state of Minnesota law says you have to be 15 to even get on any ebike. All right, tell that to the massive number of 12, 13, 14 year olds throughout the city that are riding them 30 miles an hour. Actually, ebikes only go about 22 or 25 or something, but emotos go up to 50. Anyway, the point is we're trying to get the word out and our chief did a fantastic job being interviewed on this. It's a problem, not just Eden Paris, across the state. Um, and I think state legislature has to get more involved. Um, the laws are there. The enforcement piece is what's uh going to be frustrating. Um, and yeah, we'll leave it at that. All right. So, spread the word. Um, okay. We um have parks and rec director, this is your night, Amy Marco, where'd you go? There you are. Um yeah, giving us an update. I we noted in the uh consent calendar there were a lot of expenditures related to Homer Hills Park. So, you're going to tell us all about that? All right. So, good evening, mayor and council. We are excited. We have a new playground project coming to you from Homeward Hills. Um, and for those who don't know where Homeward Hills is located, it is in the southeast corner of Eden Prairie. And in the summer, it's one of our busiest summer camp sites. We have well over 700 kids attend summer programming, over a dozen staff that facilitate that. Um, our current playgrounds about 20 years old and most of our playgrounds we like to have on a replacement schedule of 15 to 20 years based on the age and then condition of the playground. So, this one has definitely um come into its time where we need to replace it. So, we've been working probably the past four months with staff uh community and the commission and designers to uh really think through what are the needs of this space and this neighborhood in redesigning and reimagining Homeward Hills Park. So, we started off with an engagement process and we gathered input from staff that specifically program at Homeward Hills. Uh we had several staff that worked there for many summers. So I think they had a great insight as to how kids um you know play in that space, what preferences may be. We included monthly discussions with our parks and recreation and natural resources commission. Uh we did a site visit with the commission in July. So we brought them out there, looked at the current play features, had them kind of reimagine what we could envision together in that space. And then we did numerous meetings with playground designers learning about new equipment that's come to market that would be uh a great fit in this area. And overall our goal was to design a playground that really met the needs of our residents after hearing from them. And some of the highlights of what you'll see in the design is a splash pad. So it would be our fourth splash pad um in Eden Prairie. We others are at Miller Nesbit Preserve and Round. So, it' bring an area to keep uh community cool when it's hot. Um, in this area of the city, it will have a farm theme because one of the highlights of Homework Hills is we do have an old barn there that's been restored that we rent out quite often um when it's not in use for programming. So, we'll fit the overall theme with the barn. We'll have quite a few shaded seating areas. That is something we heard from community is that they want shade um to cool themselves while they're watching uh kiddos play and then also just keep the area cool in itself because play equipment can sometimes get quite hot. Um we will be able to retain our large shade trees in the park. We are going to be implementing our first nine square and gaga ball pit which is a kind of a fun smaller group activity. Uh it's really inclusive for different abilities and ages. And then we are installing play equipment that would be, you know, exciting for a wide variety of ages. We have some that fit the two to fiveyear range and then some for the 5 to 12 year old uh range of age. And then lastly, it will include a children's stage. Um this is a site that we do a lot of creative play in this summer. Um so with a stage, we can bring entertainment in, we can have a talent show, we can do a lot of different things with a stage platform. Uh so looking at the overall concept um down here is where the existing barn is kind of in the the southwest corner of the play feature. In the middle is the splash pad and kind of in the upper left area would be the 5 to 12 year year old play area and then down in the lower right is the 2 to five play area. So it's kind of just the general layout. You can see the parking lot on the right hand side of this schematic design. Um the skating rink that if you're familiar with Homeward Hills is over on the left hand side. Um so kind of bringing the image to life. You can see again the central feature is the the splash pad um which will be used I think daily for their summer camp program and by the community. We separated out the different play features. That's one thing that the staff out at Homeward Hills summer camp said would be helpful to kind of separate the different age of of kids. Um, and you can see where the Gaga ball pit is in the upper left corner and below it the nine square in the air feature. Um, if you've been out to Homeward Hills, one of the things you see now is a really large retaining wall. Um, we're going to be getting rid of that retaining wall and grading it, which will really improve the accessibility of this playground for particularly those with mobility impairments. So, I think it'll be easier to get around and feel safer. And here's another uh kind of bird's eyee view of the playground. You can see the layout. Uh, one thing we worked with designers to focus on is just clean sight lines. So, as uh staff with our summer programming and parents maybe are underneath the shade on some of the benches and picnic tables, they're able to see their child playing um pretty much from any angle of this playground. It's kind of in a circular design. And this angle from kind of a parking lot space, you can see there is a kind of a farm themed fence that will separate the parking lot from the playground itself. uh but clean sight lines into it. You can see all the shade that's been designed into the the space to keep people cool. And then then we also have um numerous sites for people to uh picnic at and to take breaks. And here's kind of an uplose image of the splash pad again with the farm theme. You can see the the tractor element which I think will be popular. So the timeline for the project is we are uh prepped to start the project the last week of October. Uh so we'll begin with demolition of the existing play equipment and then we'll begin the site prep and that's one of the reasons this playground can get probably more expensive compared to others is that we'll be bringing in a new water line for the splash pad, a new water line for drinking fountain and really making kind of longl lasting impacts to this park. So, we'll have those amenities for decades to come. Uh, with the winter, we'll put a pause on the project and then early in spring, uh, as soon as we can, we'll be out there with equipment installation and landscaping. And our goal is to have our ribbon cutting, really right when school gets out, that first week of June when summer camp starts, we would like to have this playground fully ready to go for that program. So any questions at all? >> Any uh guesstimate on total costs and then how is it being funded? >> Yep. So this project you we've broken up with several contracts. The grand total though is $1.2 million. Um it's something that's been budgeted through our park and park improvement fund and our capital maintenance and reinvestment funds. Um, and I'd say the overall we're seeing playground costs, you know, going up everywhere. I think it's something uh colleagues of of mine and myself, we talk about just the overall cost of doing a playground is is expensive. Um, and it's for this one in particular, one thing that drove the cost is really the site prep. If you're going to do a splash pad plus a playground, you've got to bring in the different electrical lines and water lines to support that. So, the site prep is quite expensive. Um, and then of course all the equipment that goes into that as well. >> And it's been part of our long-term capital improvement plan for over a decade. This is a planned project. Yeah. Perfect. Council member Nuran. >> Amy, is there a kind of nightlight so the kids can't stay later? I'm just curious. >> Or what's our park does have because this is a site we do rent. Uh, we rent the barn at night. So, we do have lighting in the park. Um, it doesn't have, I would say, lights in and around the play features, but there is lighting along the pathway um to the barn facility. It's also one of our main skating rinks. So, that barn facility is also a warming house. So, in the winter, we have hockey and a pleasure rink there. So, we do have substantial lighting, you know, in the general area. >> Yeah. just uh today that we were reviewing the survey and one of the reason people moved to Eden Prairie is our park and we put lot of effort into it and the council member and thank you for all the renovation modernization making things attractive for the kids to play and live and thank you. Awesome. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Uh Council Member Nelson. Yes, this really has needed some updating for a while and I'm very glad we're doing it and I'm very glad we're putting a splash pad in another portion of Eden Prairie so more kids can take advantage of that as well. So, it looks like it will be fun and something that a parent or grandparent can take all ages of kids and keep track of them at the same time. So, it looks like there's been family um input into this to make it good for them all to use. So, thank you. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Thanks a lot. Uh Mr. Gretch, do you want to go back to you before it goes to the chief or right away to >> Mayor I think you can uh go to the chief? >> Chief, come back again. Crime prevention fund. I have heard of this fund. We happen to have the chair of the Eden Prairie Crime Prevention Fund >> sitting two people to my left. >> Thank you, Lisa, for your volunteer work with that as well. Chief, >> yes, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, I just wanted to take a few minutes to recognize um and really celebrate what our crime prevention fund does. Uh, as you mentioned, Council Member Tumi is our crime prevention fund president, and we're very lucky in Prairie to to have the group we do and to have the history and success we have had uh for so many years. Our crime prevention fund was founded in 1977. >> Um, so only five years younger than our department um uh four years younger than our department uh consisting of 11 members. And really it's about um assisting the police department in preventing crime, providing reward funds, but also the support of a lot of our activities that we do. Um our community outreach um it's just it's second to none. And I think it's uh something that we just kind of wanted to to put a recap on. Earlier tonight, we heard about safety camp uh and the donation for that. And that's just one of many many that uh that come in. So we wanted to be able to talk about that. Again, community outreach is a huge part of what we do in the police department. Um it's been from the foundation of our organization um and looking for different ways to connect with the community um and coming up with different activities um different events uh has been something that the crime prevention fund has been very involved in from the beginning. As we mentioned, safety camp, uh, a large donation every year, uh, coming in through the crime fund to safety camp. We originated safety camp in Eden Prairie in 1990. Uh, and it's really fun to be at other city events now and have adults come up to us and go, I attended safety camp when I was in second grade. Uh, and just to talk about that and what they remember about that. Um, also to talk to, uh, many of our staff members who have children, including myself, who have gone through safety camp. It's fun to to watch that and see where where people have been and and now coming back to that as memory. Um July 4th celebration obviously uh wouldn't happen um without all the members of our community stepping up. Um got to have some fun pictures of course, but crime prevention fund uh uses it also as one of their fundraisers. Um they sell the light up toward light up toys, you know, the swords and the sparklers and stuff that I'm sure the parents love to have to buy. Um, but that money that they raise helped fund our police explorers and some of their training and conferences that that they go to. So, a great opportunity for people to come out, enjoy the festivities, crime prevention fund to be able to do one of their fundraisers as well. Uh, a fun one that was added in several years ago, Cops and Bobbers. Again, pairing with other organizations in our city. Um, Take it Kid Fishing um has been a a great partner and or Let's Go Fishing. And really uh when you ask uh some officers, hey, do you want to go out and fish and and and take some kids out and help them learn the craft of fishing? It's amazing the number of volunteers we can get uh at a moment's notice to be able to do that. So, they have a fun chance to interact. Uh through the crime prevention fund, we receive donations from Shields and other organizations to provide some equipment for the kids. Um really makes it uh quite a fun time. Pop-up splash pads are a great uh thing that continues every summer. It's a partnership with parks and recreation, fire department, police department. Really a great time to bring out to different areas of the community, especially in those parks that don't have a splash pad uh built in. Um but to be able to get out um have different events. Um parks gets involved and the library comes out or the school district will come out with their book bus and it's really a great time to be able to to get out and connect with people, show them that different side um of the organization. An exciting one this summer that uh we just kicked off was our youth academy. We've had our police citizens academy for quite a long time. We started a youth academy for ages 14 to 19 to have them experience three days with our officers and really see what we do and what police work is all about uh in Eden Prairie. Um out of that um I believe we were able to recruit potentially a couple police explorers and we're looking at getting some other people involved in our cadet program. So again, a large donation from the crime fund to help sponsor lunch for the kids and um really being involved in getting to know what we do uh wouldn't have happened without the crime prevention fund. Probably the biggest um engagement event we have of the year is night to unite. Uh it's the chance where with the fire department and the help from virtually every department in the city, we're out there engaging the residents. um crimerevention fund often is um I guess always is funding uh the little giveaways we can have whatever it is to to have a little giveaway at the party um helping to fund a lot of our brochures and crime prevention literature that we put out as well. Um that partnership has gone on for decades uh and the return on that for the community especially collaboration with prop shop now generally ne yields about five tons of donation every year to the prop shop out of 199. Citizens Academy actually happening as I speak. Our six-w week police citizens academy is every fall. I think they're on night four right now. But again, another event that wouldn't happen without the crime prevention fund. Um donating uh meals for the attendees um shirts that they uh get with the embroidered logo. we'll be out at uh other city events and you see someone walk up with that crime that citizens academy um shirt on and it's pretty fun to be able to engage them in conversation and learn what they learned from their experience with us. uh as we just talked about Eden Prairie uh citywide open house again um in partnership with the crimerevention fund and all the all the departments within the city being able to interact with the community have some giveaways and really be able to spark up those conversations about why we do what we do and how we do it um has been a lot of fun. So, um, at this event in the last few years, the crime prevention fund selling the stuffed canine toys has been the big hit. And we'll have people that walk in and that's the first thing they're looking for is where can I buy the stuffed canines? Uh, last year we sold out. So, it's always a good good time watching people race for that that booth as well. Um, we're entering into the holiday season. Um, crime prevention fund. Uh, we first had shop with a cop, now we have holiday with heroes because we want to include our fire department friends. Um, and it's been a great time where very generous donations through the crime fund were able to take some kids out shopping for the holidays who might not have had that chance to buy some presents uh for their family. And it's really fun to watch the kids interact with the police officers and the firefighters. Um, we also generally every year have had the opportunity to have our officers give away a $50 bill to somebody that they just meet on the street. Maybe somebody that needs something or is having a rough time. um that donation from the crime fund um allows for us to have that kind of spur-of-the- moment uh engagement and giving a gift is pretty neat. >> Uh no real surprise, but cops, especially the older ones, like coffee. And so having that chance to be out in the community and have coffee with a cop. Um something that uh we started several years ago, had different variations of, but we're pretty regular about every month being in different area of the city. A lot of times we'll get the uh establishment that wants to make a donation uh through the crime fund to be able to help fund that and otherwise that's always picked up by the crime prevention fund. So we don't have to use tax dollars to be out and doing that event. Um but it's a great way to interact with the community and try and get out to uh all the different areas we can. Um scholarships, crime prevention fund again funds some scholarships for our youth um which is great. A lot of times it's it's focused on trying to find youth that are interested in getting into law enforcement. Um it's a great recruiting tool for us. Uh the police explorers have been another program where um being able to have youth come in, see what we do, be a part of the organization. Oftentimes they go into law enforcement. Um we have several of our officers that have been police explorers. Sometimes they'll go into other career fields, but uh we've had that chance to interact with youth and they know what the police department's about. And again really with recruitment. Um recruitment we know is pretty tough in this uh day and age. We're much luckier than uh some around us and that we still do fairly good with our recruitment. Um but again being able to have a table with um you know exciting banners and you know little giveaways, whatever it is to kind of attract people into our area. It's nice to be able to have the crime prevention fund to help fund that and and really carry our efforts uh throughout that as well. Um, I really talked about the programs. They also do a lot of equipment donation. I think at least two of our drones have been funded by the crime prevention fund. Um, looking at different ways we can stretch those dollars uh into our programs. Um, they often do a lot of things for officer wellness. Um, and it's just a it's a great organization that that we have benefited from. Um, and it really keeps our agency going and doing the most we can. Um, I always encourage people to take a look at the uh website. Um there's a website out there. There's different fundraisers throughout the year. There's one coming up at the end of October. Um it's called Beer and Bites over at Tavern 4 and 5. A chance to interact with crime fund members. Um I'll be there as well. And it's really a chance to try and raise some funds from the community for putting back into these community programs. Just one of the many many things that the crime prevention fund does to help us out. So um our organization is very thankful. Um, we couldn't do what we do without the crime prevention fund. And I just wanted to highlight that because there are a lot of agencies that will come to us. Uh, and I think council member Tumi can attest to it of hey, how do we take our crime prevention fund to the next level? How do we get more people involved or how can we raise more funds? Um, and it's I think it's kind of one of the benchmarks for for many around us. So, we appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. Chum, Chief Sacket, and um thank you, Council Member Lisa Tumi for leading the crime prevention fund >> fund. Can I say a few? >> Did I not say fund? >> Just a few words. >> Please. >> I just um did not know that. Right. I didn't I didn't know that Chief Sacket was going to do that presentation until a few days ago, which was very nice of you. I really appreciate it. But I'd also like to thank we're a small board. only 11 people are on the board and it's a working board. We have no employees and I'd like to thank the board members for their hard work. We have a member in the audience right now, Phil Sky. Um I'd also like to thank all of the donors, the individual donors and the businesses that help us in particular Comcast is the company that um funds helps fund Safety Camp every year. They've been a really big supporter of ours and and just all the other the people the residents of Eden Prairie that support us >> I believe too, right? >> And Shields. Oh, yeah. Shields has been great. Target, I mean, we've we've gotten a lot of really good support from the businesses in in Eden Prairie and around. So, um, thank you. And it's just a joy because our police department, everybody that works down there is phenomenal. I mean just we are so fortunate to have everybody that works in the city here. So thank you. Thank you Chief Sacket. Thank you. >> Okay, we have reached the end of our regular agenda. Normally I would ask for a motion to adjourn and we would vote and we'd be done. Um however this evening we're going to go into closed session uh to consider an offer for the city to purchase a piece of property. We're going to have that motion made momentarily. So, we'll get up. This room will vacate. Then, we'll move back, I believe, to a room in the back, and we will adjourn the regular city council meeting whenever we're done with the close session from back there. Um, and by the way, just for, you know, in terms of transparency for government, it is recorded. It would probably take a a judicial warrant from somebody for some reasonable reason to have access to whatever gets said. But that's why councils are protected to go into a closed session to discuss legal issues and also personnel issues of which we have one personnel that's our city manager. But at any rate, we are permitted all all municipalities are permitted to have close session. So students um we're going to take a minute or two to get up. If you want us to come out, if you want any pictures, I don't need to be in pictures. I'm just saying if you want something, um, talk to us, mull around for a little bit, and then we'll move fairly quickly back into close session. So, could I have a motion then from someone on the council, uh, with a second? We do vote on the motion, um, Maggie. Okay. Um, so could I have a motion, please, to go into close session? >> Move to move go into close session. >> Go ahead. Read the whole thing. >> Read it. >> Sorry. Pursuant to shoot was an okay word to say, but >> move to enter into close session pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13D.05 subdivision 3C for consideration of offer for city purchase of 7955 Wallace Road for utility division pes. >> I'm shocked you didn't have that memorized. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. I >> I opposed. All right, we will move into close session. Give us um two, three minutes to get back there. And do you want We'll come down. You can ignore us. You can walk out. Whatever. But thanks for coming this evening.