I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen. Thank you very much. Roll call, please. >> Council member Nordby >> here. >> Council member Woods >> here. Council >> member McKenzie >> here. >> Council member Schwar >> here. Mayor Mongi >> here. Thank you very much. Can a motion to adopt agenda, please? >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Schwar >> second. >> Second. Council member Norby. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh consent agenda. Item A, July 15th workshop and city council meeting minutes. Item B, August 4th, 2025 emergency city council meeting minutes. Item C, general claims of $5,39,1656. Item D, H claims of $14,78061. Item E, special event permit for the fall Roundup parade. Item F, special event permit for the Legion Cornfeed. Item G, building permit report for July of 2025. Item H, resolution accepting donations for July of 2025. Item I, approve proposed ordinance amending chapter 112, Vingoan charitable gambling. Item J, approve North St. Paul Firefighters Relief Association opting to join the statewide volunteer firefighter plan. And item K, approve the 2544 19th Avenue drainage and utility easement. Thank you. Anybody like to pull anything at this time? If not, can I get a motion to adopt? >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Norby. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you very much. >> 636 open to the public. John Schmall. Good evening. And I would ask that you watch your uh uh switch on your mic. The other John uh doesn't have his hearing aids tonight. No. Anyway, um this is the a excerpt uh transcript from the June 17th meeting uh the council meeting uh started at 48 minutes and 43 seconds u and the city manager was speaking so uh society right now um we didn't unfortunately have a cyber security incident here in the last couple of days. It's unbelievable how many fishing scams there are out there now. And that um and they're not just general stuff. I mean, they're getting specific about you knowing, mentioning things. I got one last week. You know, Jenny and I are working on updating the personnel policy. It said the policy update, but uh it said from the HR department. So, I mean, it was obvious, but I mean they're knowing things that you currently are doing and involved in, which makes it easy to be able to click on something and that it was one of our newer officers and unfortunately we're going through the process that you needs to be reported to the state within 3 days. Um, just going through the whole process finding out uh no locking down the computers and making sure that we prevent any fure problems. This was the only notification until the emergency meeting in August on August 4th. Uh there was a data breach. It's was said on June 17th. So, and the next thing that I ran into, I'm uh getting up in the morning. I'm listening to NPR on Wednesday, August 6th, and there was something said North St. Paul. So, whoa, wake up. and uh on whatever the the people who were talking or who they were uh uh a spokesperson said the problem started when an officer opened an email about a week ago. Now I don't have a printed transcript of that but that's what my brain remembers. So did we have two data breaches? Did we have it? Is there going to be any information in the little newspaper that we get u every week that we sign up for? Sounds a little strange to me. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right, Dan. Bronc >> Bron, >> he left because we >> didn't want to talk. >> All right. He doesn't have to >> Carrie Ble. Welcome. >> I'm Carrie Ble. I live at 2887 Lake Boulevard in North St. Paul. First of all, I want to thank city staff for responding to my questions, which sometimes are really simple and I just can't figure it out, or my concerns. They were always patient with me and very professional, and I really appreciate that. I want to thank Dan Winnick, uh, our finance guy, for presenting all sides of the city's financial condition, the good, bad, the otherwise. I really appreciate hearing all sides of those things. And I want to thank the council members, like each of you. seriously for meeting the challenges that the city faces with openness, for seeking facts, for being attentive to wise counsel, for listening to all the citizens, not just the loudest ones. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> All right, that's it for open to the public. >> All right, move on to city business action items and recommendations. Uh, first item up is the home occupation zoning ordinance text amendment. And where is Ken? >> Ken's right here. >> There he is. Something in the audience. >> Community development director. >> Thank you, Ken. >> Rollins. >> Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Before you this evening is a proposed zoning ordinance text amendment related to home occupations in North St. Paul. Those are homebased businesses in another term. We are as a staff uh in conjunction with the planning commission recommending uh several changes to the ordinance that will clarify the types of home occupations or activities the city will allow uh for a property owner to conduct from their residential property. the standards and operating uh conditions for having a home home occupation. And there included in the ordinance are 14 types of uses or activities the city will not allow as a home occupation. I'll walk through some of the highlights for you as we get into it. Uh, this started as a request to the plane commission back in 2023 and I picked up on it reading uh, some of the materials when I was hired back in April and May. Discussed it first with the plane commission on June 20 June 5th of 2025. They were supportive of proceeding with updating the ordinance and had some suggestions for the ordinance. I brought that back to them on July 9th, a updated ordinance with some changes uh that they were recommending and looking for in the ordinance and they had a couple more changes at that meeting and uh we had the and that was with the public hearing I should say at that time and at that mo at that time they recommended approval with a motion uh to the city council to approve the changes that you'll see this evening. So, home occupations are mentioned in three different sections of the zoning ordinance. And the cleanest way, in my opinion, to make sure the newest and best language are is and are will be incorporated in the ordinance is to repeal and replace all three of those sections rather do than doing a bunch of strikeouts and underlines and all that. uh which is a way to do it. So that's part one. Second part is the actual ordinance itself. The existing ordinance for home occupations has two levels of home home occupations, level ones and level twos. The level ones required uh some involvement with the city uh with a lease of staff review and the current level two require would require a city council approval. The proposed ordinance now has three levels of home occupations. The new level ones are those intended for professionals working from home such as an accountant or doing computer repair or answering telephones as a call center where they don't have a home or they don't have customers visiting, they don't have deliveries visiting. If you drove by that house, you would never know someone is working there. No impact on the neighbors. We're adding that into the code because the current code doesn't say that that is really a permitted thing in North St. Paul. I don't think anybody can object to that, but to be clear, we wanted to add that into the code to make it perfectly clear that if you're doing those kind of activities, great. Don't need any city approval. Go ahead and do it. Because of adding that new level one, the former level ones are now become what we're calling level twos. And those are activities and things that might have an impact on a neighbor. Maybe there's a couple of deliveries, maybe they want to put out a sign or something, but not major impacts. And those in the ordinance can be approved by city staff. The former level twos, which are the ones that could have the most impact on neighbors, are now level three. The uses have not really changed in level twos and threes. they're just how they're labeled is a little bit different as part of the amendment. Then we uh we again staff and plane commission working together uh made some changes to again clarify what can be done, what cannot be done, what are some of the rules of the road for home occupations. So, we're the ordinance adds language to level ones stating they are subject to all performance standards in the code. Uh, we've added language in in the code about an appeal process if a homeowner or home occupation business owner doesn't like maybe a staff interpretation of the code. We've removed pet grooming and pet care services from the prohibited list because they are already listed in our MU1 and MU2 zoning districts. We're adding some standards in the general provisions about if you want to grow food outside, retail sales, and permitted hours of operations for all home occupations. And then there are several uses and activities that are now listed in the proposed ordinance that will be prohibited and I'll get into those. So the ordinance itself again the new uh new level ones are those again with little or no impact on neighbors. The level twos will be those that were the level one types of businesses and then the level threes are the ones that again could have most impact. Level twos, for example, in the ordinance are uh dress makers and tailor, a barber shop or a beauty shop, uh professional offices where with legal, accounting or insurance. And these again where you have customers coming to the home. uh tutoring, musical, dance voice instructors and cottage food producers which would be subject to the registration uh required by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Again, limited or hopefully small with minimal impact on neighbors. Level three home occupations in the ordinance are those that were level two before and these will require city council approval of an interim use permit. Again, in both of these sections, these are examples that we say may include but are not strictly limited to. And then for level three, we say small engine repair, small equipment repair, building trades, and heating, plumbing, electrical or air conditioning services. And those are that last one's intended for the contractor that brings home their truck or their van. And maybe they have a home office, maybe they don't, but they have that vehicle at their home, maybe they have tools and that kind of thing. So some of the general provisions that all home occupations will be subject to in this ordinance uh that they for example they shall not result in incompatibility or disturbance to the surrounding residential uses. They must be clearly incidental and secondary to the residential use of the property, not change the residential character of the property, and not occupy more than 25% of the gross floor area. Uh there shall be no exterior alterations to the structure and no permanent alterations that are not customarily found in a residence. The uh operator shall not use equipment in the home occupation that will create electrical interference for surrounding properties. And there shall be no exterior storage visible from the public street of equipment, products or materials. Again, most we're hoping most activities will be in a garage or in the home home itself. The hours of operation we're proposing will be from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Uh, and then again, we there's 14 items that are listed are not allowed. I'll not read all of them, but here's some of the highlights. motor vehicle body repair and painting, motor vehicle sales, uh the practice of medical, dental, or chiropractic. Uh treatments are those uh businesses not allowed to be a veterinarian, veterinarian in your home. Uh tattoo and body art businesses would not be allowed. All cannabis related businesses are not allowed. can't run a restaurant from your home and you can't run a payday agent payday loan agency or a currency exchange from the home. Again, we're trying to cover all the bases or all the potentials where somebody might say, "Well, it's not in the code. I must be allowed to do it." Well, we're trying to cover as many of those as possible. We know that there will be something that comes up that we haven't thought of, but we'll deal with that if we need to. We're also proposing that all existing non-conforming home occupations are allowed to law lawfully allow allowed to exist and uh may continue as a non-conforming use. clarify that in the code. And then the code also goes on to say that the city can inspect properties with the home occupation. violations will be handled as a violation of the zoning code and all the regulations or excuse me all home occupations shall comply with the provisions of this section and all applicable local state and federal laws as well as section 98918 about nuisances that affect the peace and safety. That is a very hopefully clear and high level summary of the proposed ordinance. And with that, I will stop and take questions. Okay. Number one, um, you've got the hours of 8 to 9:00 p.m. If you have a service of a lawnmower service that's working out of his garage, what are you going to do with uh residents that are working at night sleeping during the day? Uh, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, if if first of all, I think we'd be reacting on a complaint basis, >> right? >> Uh, if they can if they're repairing equipment in a garage or in a home and they're not seen and not heard, then hopefully we >> right. If we get a complaint, then we have to deal with it. But if if no one knows then >> Right. >> That's great. That's why I'm just worried because I used to work overnights or work overnight sleep during the day >> and you don't get that good sleep if you got a lot of noise. So, I'm just making sure that everyone's aware that if they do have an operation like this that there could be noise and they're going to then we're deal with it. >> And there is some good language and I want to commend Ken. um he brought forth great um uh discussion from the planning community and there there are some languages about um uh undue um uno effects about your neighbors and things like that that I believe um would potentially cover us in those situations. >> Anything else? always appreciate the good work the planning commission does. Those guys are really on top of it. They're a good group. >> Yes, they are. And and I guess to be clear, Mr. Mayor, I didn't I don't know if I actually gave the recommendation. >> So, it's staff's recommendation based on the ordinance and the plane commission work that the council adopt the ordinance included in your packet. Uh it's I don't know the exact number and that ordinance approves the zoning ordinance text amendment to repeal and replace the existing city code language related to home occupations in North St. Paul. >> Okay. Any questions? Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Schwear. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Norby. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item up on city business. Next item up on the city business action items and recommendation is council direction on the community multicultural outreach center feasibility study and grant funding. This was in the last council meeting but it was decided to table it since we didn't have full council at that time. So I will start it over again. Um so the background on this was uh at the city council workshop on June 17th 2025. EAPC, the architect and engineering firm um that we hired to do a feasibility study, presented the report and uh then the inter report for the community multicultural outreach center feasibility study contained an estimated cost of remedial work in excess of $3 million more than the grant funding awarded to the city. Uh since that time, I've received comments from council members in the public on whether the city uh should continue with the feasibility study and potential acceptance of the grants. Based on this feedback and current financial needs of the city, uh we believe it's prudent to seek formal approval by the city council regarding continuence of the feasibility study and potential acceptance of opportunity to modify the grants. So, in the paperwork here, there's a recommendation for the approval of the resolution, which I'll read in just a minute. And there's also the attachment of the presentation that EAPC had come to council and presented. So the resolution in front of you is uh to discontinue the community multicultural outreach center feasibility study and decline current federal and state funding uh grant funding. So I'll read that out because there's a little more to it. Uh whereas a city council workshop held on June 17th, 2025, EAPC architects and engineering presented an interim report for the community multicultural outreach center feasibility study. Whereas in report identified the estimated remedial cost would exceed the federal state and grant funding awarded to the city by more than $3 million. Whereas following the presentation, members of the city council and the public have expressed concerns regarding whether the city should proceed with the feasibility study and accept the associated grant funding. Whereas in light of this feedback and considering the city's current and future financial needs and priorities, it's in the city's could be in the city's best interest to discontin the feasibility study and decline the federal and state grant uh funding as awarded. Now, now there be resolved that the city council and the city of North St. Paul as follows. The contract with EAPC architect and engineering and engineers for the community multicultural outreach center feasibility study should be shall be terminated pursuant to the contract. The city shall decline both federal and state grant funds and award as awarded for the current project. Uh, city manager role is authorized and directed to take all necessary steps to carry out termination of the contract and the cancellation of grant funds including notification to all relevant agencies and to explore the reallocation of the grant funds. This resolution so should take effect immediately upon adoption. Um, that is how the resolution reads. Um, I guess I could add more information on that. So I did talk to the uh House Capital Investment Committee chair and they said that uh what can be done is if you reject the the grant then you can then turn around um and as the next uh request to request it towards a reallocation of a different project. So, we're leaving that open and that would be council to decide whether or not it's a road reconstruction project or a water tower or what have you. Um, to be able to use that money towards a different project. Um, so that would be the direction and that was the resolution that I read. So, looking for a motion. >> Could you expand a little bit about what the next steps or how the next steps look like if this resolution passes? >> Sure. So, what we would do is um we've already made contact with a local legislature that said that they would back um cancelling that and then reallocating it towards another project. So, we would work with that uh legislature to get that paperwork in place for when the new legislative session comes into um into play. Um but and with that we would be looking at the what we would have to take care of at the community center as well which we would uh talk to the library about their current lease. We have um some IT equipment in there that would need to be um moved to across the street to the public works building and we would need to address the uh we have a generator there. That generator was placed there when it was a community center. So it runs both the community center and the public works building at the same time. So we would have to move that across the street and then eventually down the road if it was to be demoed then we would look into that as well. Um but in the meantime we would have to have a meeting to find out um gather ideas, bring it back to a council, maybe a workshop um and you guys would have to discuss potential um ways you could reallocate the funds for whatever you felt. [Music] Does that answer your question? And >> and that potential reallocation would have to go before um uh Leon Lily, correct? And get his endorsement >> and he has said that he would endorse that. Um but it would have to go back to the uh House Capital Investment Committee. Yes. For them to decide. And this is not a guarantee, I might add. Um so when you turn that back um and ask for that reallocation, uh they don't have to. But in talking to the chair, she did say that this was a cash bond as opposed or a cash grant as opposed to a bonding grant, which is much easier to work with and move around. So, um, we had two people that from there that were already seem to back us on that decision if that to help us move it towards something else, but there's no guarantee. And the the um alternative project has to be um one single project and it has to be within the city. Correct. >> Correct. And it has to be solely for the city. Uh it's not meant to do like a joint project with a neighboring city or another agency of sorts. So yes, >> I guess to just to be clear, a yay is that you want to stop the study and return the money and a nay is against doing that >> and ask for reallocation. I guess to add that too. Yeah. >> Any questions? I guess I'll just more of a statement. Um I will say from the get-go that I've been very um I've, you know, moving here, my kids went to the community center. I've been a big proponent of the community center. Um, having seen the EAPC study and basically the hole that it would put us put the city in, you know, having us have to pay that $3 million on top of, you know, where the grant is a big hole to put the city in and it's a big ask of current and future generations of North St. Paul residents to uh to comply with. So, um, yeah, I guess I will I would vote yay on this. >> Sorry. Yeah. One other qu quick question. Um, in the reallocation process, are you foreseeing meetings open to the public to get their feedback on what they would potentially like this to be reallocated to? >> That would be council's option if you wanted to welcome that. And I also um have lived there a long time. I did have a membership at the old at the community center back in the n late 90s early 2000s. It was a fun experience. But what happens when you possibly lose a job or or um your income drops off? What's the first thing you do is you cut out your entertainment. And but the amount of money that the city would have to pay to ren renovate this building is not probably in the best interest of our community right now because we've got other priorities and I think I think in the best it would be a name for me. What? Nay is said, right? >> Yay is voting for it. >> Yeah. Oh, for >> to stop this. >> Oh, yay. Okay. Yeah. Yay. >> Anything else? >> Okay. Can I ask for a motion then, please? >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Woods. >> Second. >> Second. Council member McKenzie. All those in favor say. >> Yay. All those against? >> Nay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Reports from city manager and departments um from our staff meeting today. We uh uh we discussed we have a blood drive coming up on September 4th. Um that's going to be open to the public and for our city staff who want to partake. Um, I'll briefly touch on the cyber incident that we had. We are still in the process of I apologize. We're still in the process of uh dealing with uh the insurance company and the uh firm law firm and um the IT forensic team that uh went in and found these. Um, we know that they were able to breach, uh, 23 emails. So, uh, it was very minimal. Um, we're looking to see what information was in those emails to see if we have to send out, uh, letters to those people if it was private information. So, um, could have been much worse. They caught it fast. Um, and we got a pretty good handle on it right now. >> Just one event, correct? >> One event, correct? and did not spread from here and did not come from St. Paul which seemed to be the question. >> No. >> Um so uh electric was away at did some team training. They also been working on um the road reconstruction and uh burying uh the high voltage lines up there and secondaries. Uh community development is been working with um the plans for cow school project for their addition next year. Um, and also working on some updates for finalizing subdivision updates and looking into an ordinance for ebikes and scooters that we see buzzing around town. Uh, communications. Uh, we had to reschedule a couple of events. Well, actually, one event, the we the car showed down early due to the rain. And then Saturday we had a movie night that was also cancelled due to the rain, but it's been rescheduled for next Thursday. Um, we also have a project coming up for a new uh giveback food shelf event which uh looking for volunteers to go down there on Saturday, September 27th from 10 to 12 to help uh clean up sites down there and uh we'll have some pizza for you. Uh HR is working with uh finance. They've been working on we have new software coming in for the paycom system uh which we're looking forward to. It looks like it's be a pretty good step up from what we have now. So um that's in the process going probably take a little while yet. Uh PTE uh they do have coming up on November 2nd a pancake breakfast at the VFW for the police foundation fundraiser. Um all the new new recruits are doing well. They uh we have a full uh department again now thankfully and uh been a while since we had that. So that's really good. Chief is happy. Um public works has been busy with the road reconstruction project working with anything that comes up with that. Um their summer help is already finishing up for the year. Um, and they're doing some work back on Casey Lake. They removed a couple of old ball fields that were not used very often at all. So, um, they have been taken out. Uh, fire has their annual hose testing today for 10,000 ft of hose. That takes a while. Um, got the new engine back. Well, we had it delivered and then we found just a few things that needed uh some correcting on it and that was sent there. They corrected it and we now have it back. So, that's good. And they do have water rescue training coming up uh tomorrow down at Silver Lake. Might get loud. Ramsey County might bring their airboat. So, >> yeah. Uh that's all I got. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. Reports from commission council committees. >> I don't have anything on my end. Parks and Recck will meet here at 6:30 on the 27th. >> Thank you very much. >> Our EDA will meet on the 9th of September coming up. >> All right. Thank you. >> The Arts and Culture Commission had our meeting last week, I believe. Uh beginning. Yeah, I think be last week. Uh question mark. Um, but I will say that uh one of our projects, the take your own snowy home project, uh we were getting or we had sold those. They're still for sale at the uh at city hall here as well as you could pick them up on um the national night out. So, a lot of people did that. Also, the electrical box at Veterans Park is now wrapped. So, I encourage everybody to head over there and take a look at it. It looks really It looks awesome. So, thank you Um the planning commission um we voted on the topic of their last discussion today. So I appreciate that. One of the new discussions for the planning commission is changing to some um uh co code violations. I believe there's going to be an open house coming up soon or not an open to the public meeting for that soon and then it will be brought before the council. Council member, excuse me. Were you referring to some of the code changes about encroachments and >> Yes. >> Yes. That's another ordinance we're working on. For example, >> the code is silent about if someone wants to add a handicap accessible ramp in the front of their home. >> Should that be allowed, should it not be allowed? And there's several things like that. We're rolling into one big ordinance and hopefully we'll have that ready for you in September. >> Great. So, great things to look forward to from the planning commission. >> Great. >> I'd like to add one thing. Uh, our student build house is now complete. So, um, I'll be contacting the college and they'll be setting up an open house for out there and then the kids will come back there and I should say the young adults come back there and, uh, they look at their handiwork and, uh, they're pretty proud of that. So, they they usually do a really good job. So, looking forward to that. That'll be we'll post that soon. >> Great. Any general business? >> Yeah. Um, I had the pleasure to attend the police swearin, which was pretty exciting. Um, Ray did a nice job. Nice event. Uh, fire department, thank you for letting us host inside there. Not us, I should say, the police department, excuse me. Um, we have a great team of people on. It's I'm pretty excited for what's in our future and how well staffed we are. Um, over the past couple weeks, we've had some pretty decent storms. Um, I got to thank the public works department for getting out there and cleaning up these places pretty quickly. I know there was a tree on the power line. So, thanks. Can't thank John. He's not here, but uh he got back there and took it down from um my house. So, thank you for all of your guys' hard work in regards to that. >> I also attended the uh police swearing in. It was quite an event. Nice to see all our young officers get the badges put on them and I'm glad that we're at a full staff. Also, >> thank you. >> I'll just take the opportunity to thank uh Chief Melinger and his team for letting me ride along on National Night Out. So, thank you. >> That was fun. >> Um, one quick thing. I was talking to a resident the other day and they brought up a question um and then I wasn't able to quickly find the answer or easily find the answer. So, I'm going to ask the city and the city staff to possibly put this out. Um the question came upon the um the PAST um lawsuit that was settled recently and they were wondering if any areas of North St. Paul were included in that and if we got any part of that settlement. So, if um we could find out that information and possibly put that out where the residents could easily find, I'd greatly appreciate it. >> Absolutely. >> Great. >> Myself, I was also at the swearing in. It was a very um powerful ceremony. It was uh it was a it was a great group and it was very very meaningful for all of us. Um also, I was going to mention my uh wife sold a house in North St. Paul. she's a realer and um the the couple the young lady called in to get her utility switched and everything done and she said what a nice experience she had and how friendly they were. So that was a comment uh she got back from that. So that was very nice as well because I know that uh I've been talking to a few and we of course we get some some hotads that call into the city there. There's a couple where you got pictures up in there where you know they they've been not too too nice. So, just to be able to hear from from Carrie and as well as this one, you know, the hard work that our staff does and and uh and how important it is that we treat each other well because, you know, everybody tries and especially when it comes to code enforcement, different rules, regulations, they don't make them. The people that sit up here make them. They're the ones that have to go enforce them. So, that's where, you know, I was talking to one and I said, "Yeah, well, you know, that's the thing. it's it's us. Then we have to decide, you know, we're the ones that pass this. And there's some things that that need to be changed or there's things that don't make sense or there's things like that. It's it's not the people out there doing the info code enforcement. It's the it's the city as well as the as the council and the mayor. So, just wanted to make sure people have grace for everybody that's out there working hard. That's it. If nothing else, ask for a German. So moved. >> So moved. Council member Woods. Second. >> Second. Council member Schwear. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Thank you very much. Uh September 2nd is our next meeting. Enjoy the rest of the summer. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you.