[Music] [Music] [Music] good evening and welcome tonight is Monday July 29th 2024 this is a regular meeting of the city the minona city council I will call this meeting to order and ask you to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Miss England would you please call Ro Shaq here Wilburn here Calbert here ra here kley here Foster Bolton here weome here um next item is approval of the agenda I believe there is no agenda so I think we're in good shape Mr funk yeah thank you mayor city council you are correct there is no agenda for tonight's uh meeting so the agenda is presented as excellent sub it's been first time in a while that we've done that so is there is there a motion Council M Calbert thank you mayor I'd like to move approval of the agenda is there a second council member sha thank you mayor I'll second all right a motion by council member Calbert and a second by council member sha Miss England Please call R Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries next item is approval of minutes we have one set that is the July 8th 2024 regular meeting minutes um any comments or a motion councilor Calbert thank you mayor I move approval of the July 8th 2024 regular meeting minutes coun Co K kley excuse me second we've got a motion by Council Calver to second by counc kley is England Please call rooll Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries um next item is um a special matters and uh we have one item uh number 6A is the Strategic profile quarter 2 report and Mr funk that's your report thank you mayor members of the council good evening again uh to spend just a few minutes going through our quarter 2 strategic profile report uh again this stems back to the Strategic profile that was created a couple years ago and then every year we do a refresh and so uh we are in 2024 we do mirror calendar year as you know I do really to state that for those that may be listening and with uh our quarter true report again that takes us through the end of July excuse me the end of June and so with uh tonight I'm going to just spend some time going through some highlights and we're going to highlight six of the Strategic profile areas again it's not a full breath of our work so please keep that in mind there was a report in your packet and for anyone again that might be listening uh that report is is in tonight's packet it's about a 30-page report a couple years ago we had those a little bit longer they're closer to 60 Pages which really give give you as a a council and for our residents a really deep um deep data into really the body of work that is being done here at the city we tried to condense that it way to make it more user friendly again we've got about 30 pages in even for tonight I'm really going to keep it even more high level than that really just covering a couple of the major highlights from each of the six strategic profile areas and with that I'd like to just kick it off uh with tonight's report and then at the end of it I would look for a motion to accept the report really just then starting off with our mission statement is to provide quality services while striving to preserve and enhance distinctive character to make minaka a special place for everyone and then our vision statement is minaka is an inclusive community committed to Excellence where all residents workers and visitors are welcome in a beautiful sustainable Place supported by quality Dependable services and I really just pause there quickly just to mention that our vision statement and our mission statement is really what drives our purpose and so it's really that is the framework of our strategic profile and everything hinges off of both the vision and mission statement that I just alluded to and then our guiding principles uh again this was developed a couple years ago and I won't read through all four of these bullet points but really just would highlight a couple of the bolded areas and our guiding principles again is really what sustains our work and really what again is Again part of our framework in how we provide services and that is in that first bullet point it talks about a beautiful sustainable and healthy environment we responsibly deliver excellent public services and provide affordable opportunities we ethically uphold Community Trust through proactive inclusive public engagement and then we also try to then lead our Sim City nimbly into the future and we look at Innovations at Technologies uh best practices Partnerships all part of making sure that we're an efficient and effective city as again we look more futuristic uh in the years to come uh again then we now we just really start diving into the Strategic plan itself I know Council you've seen this a lot uh but again worth worth noting to those that might be listening that our plan we call it a three-level plan and for our tonight's purposes we're going to talk about our six strategic priorities again I'll highlight those those six strategic priorities are supported by 21 key strategies and we'll touch on those as well and then from a staff perspective how we operationalize that is we have developed 95 action steps uh those were approved by the council at the first meeting in January so again this is not new to you city council because after the quarter one you did receive a quarter 1 report here earlier this year and tonight we're verbalizing now that we're halfway through the year and then just overall uh we are on track and so halfway through the year we're at 50% of our progress so we are tracking well uh so that takes into consideration all of those action steps and all of the key strategies and how we're um holding ourselves accountable and and our goal of being outcomes focused here at the city and with our 50% progress we further break that down into uh what's on track so 70% of our work is on track uh 23% of of it is completed there is some major disruption um in in our workload and I'll allude to those here uh throughout the presentation they're going into our six key strategies the first one is financial strength and operational excellence Darren Nelson is our finance director he's our team lead and he has a team of staff that work with him on this it's defined there on the slide again I won't read through the definition of it but Financial strength and operational excellence is what it says and that's we're we are committed to a long-term positive financial position as we look at Financial strength and operational excellence we're at 66% completed we're on track to finish uh the rest of that remaining uh 16% and then you see that major disruption that's really where a lot of the major disruption was on that previous slide it really relates to the conversion of our Erp system and so that is on pause that was one of our major projects this year and just given some of the um some of the um concerns we're having during that transition pausing that project and that's reflective in that red bar that you see here under Financial strength and operational excellence so that says 16% on that and I go back to that previous slide when totality with all six pillars uh you see that disruption in that uh that three and 4% range so that's how that balances out in the in the whole equation uh as we look at the three key strategies as I mentioned there are 21 key strategies that support our six major pillars uh the three key strategies in financial strength and operational excellence is to maintain the city's AAA Bond rating develop an annual budget that meets Community needs and then provide excellent meaningful programs and amenities to serve and enhance our community now tonight um I won't read through all the metrics but we do have 60 metrics that do support all of this work those are on our website as well so anything I'm sharing here this evening or anything in the staff report is on our website so we do have a robust dashboard and I'll point to that here at the end of the at the end of my comments but I won't go through all the performance metrics tonight I'll really just touch on one key one for each of these major pillars so those are the three key strategies some of the quarter two highlights as it relates to financial strength and operational excellence is uh we conducted a recreational facility study and Council you know we had that report here a couple months ago we related to the marsh Willison fitness center community center and Glen Lake Activity Center we had a retreat uh this spring back in April we worked with henan County to administer County Commissioner special General and primary election so wa some election activity uh this year uh and then back in February 21st we affirmed the city's AAA Bond rating so that was an important um distinction and really is key to the city's financial success and then the last couple months in our study session we have turned to our budget and as we looked at our Capital Improvement plan and our economic Improvement plan those have been to you here this last June uh and as I mentioned one of the major challenges in that disruptor is the Erp and our human resources management plan and implementation is currently on hold at some point saaff will be coming back with an update to you uh and a more robust discussion I anticipate uh yet this year one of the metrics uh that we use and one of the key metrics again one of the 60 as relates to Financial Health is our fund balance and so we do track number of things related to the city's finances uh this is one where we want to make sure we're 30% and these this graph indicates that we are and so we're again very financially healthy and that's certainly something we want to highlight and showcase to our residents next is moving on to safe and healthy Community uh we're on 80% on track and 16% almost 17% completed uh regarding safe and healthy Community again I won't read through the definitions four key strategies is to identify and adapt to Public Safety service models that support evolving changes in Service delivery expectations we're looking at to identify safety strategies and practices that promote quality of life for everyone collaborative reviewing uh our integrated police and fire policies and training protocols and making changes in those regards and then this is where we do um place a some of our recreational uh strategies is to provide a full range of recreational program services and amenities and that's part of that that well-being of our community some of the uh Q2 highlights in this uh pillar is really looking at those Public Safety service models I a lot of credit to Chief Vance and chief Fox as they've looked at a number of operational efficiencies as we look to migrate to that more full-time fire department and just the relationship between those two departments and and certainly a lot of activity on how they're coordinating our EMS delivery here in the city and there certainly as noted below that's one of our challenges too so while we've made um some good um some good Headway in how we deliver EMS Services there's still a number of challenges uh regarding EMS services and that'll be also part of I think a legislative discussion as we go into next year and certainly in December's study session we talk about 2025 legislative priorities I think this will be certainly a conversation that will come up at that time uh also looking at or also performed some development and implementation of the comprehensive strategies for Police recruitment that's always been a challenge I think you've heard Chief borom talk about some of the recruitment strategies that they've implemented uh here this last quarter uh we're also looking at further collaboration in police and fire on responses and I think I've talked to a few council members about a a new team that they're forming with which is called a they haven't quite named it yet but an alternative Response Team where is a um a pool of employees that that consists of police fire mental health and really looking at how we deploy resources differently uh given different s situations to yield better outcomes so that work is in progress and then last certainly the continued conversion of our facility implementation of our facility study and further um hiring of the um folks that we had scheduled for this year I already talked about one of the challenges and then certainly EMS is is at the top of that list couple of the metrics there pointed out both with our quality and police services this is pulled out of our community survey so we do take a look um one of the measures in our annual community survey is the police service and how residents view our EMS delivery both of our police and fire certainly very highly rated between excellent and good they continue to exceed the 90% uh calculation between excellent and good and that's certainly a strong indicator of ensuring that uh we are uh meeting whoops excuse me sorry about that hit the wrong button meeting the goals as outlined in our safe and healthy um pillar moving on then oops too many buttons in front of me here moving on to a third strategic priority is sustainability and natural environment uh I read that definition is which is supporting long and short-term initiatives that lead to the protection enhancement of our unique natural environment while mitigating climate change impacts so certainly an important uh strategy here at the city three three key strategies uh are carefully balanced growth and development with preservation efforts that protect the highly valued water and wood and resources of our excuse me of our community develop and Implement long-term plans to mitigate threats to water equality ecosystems Urban forests and the unique natural character of minetonka then last take an active role in promoting energy and Water Conservation sustainable operations and infrastructure Recycling and environmental stewardship there are three identified performance metrics on the right hand side uh and again those will be more highlighted as we get to the year end we'll have more year end numbers uh for you on those but I'll highlight one of the key metrics in a second couple of highlights worth pointing out is really regard related to you know jump really kind of second point because I think second bullet point because I think that encapsulates everything really well and that is progress continues on all the planning efforts related to the park habitat restoration our forest management which is including our e management of EAB Lake water quality improvements excuse me and storm water pollution prevention so there's a lot of things that are staff that are happening at the staff level as it relates to um also development applications our staff is actively involved with Miss wishnack and our development review team really just ensuring that our natural resources are protected even with development review projects and development projects and then that third bullet point references the community Forest management plan is underway and will be likely finalized for adoption later this year so our staff has started that so kind of a heads up for you this evening you will see that coming back to you and that's part of the climate action and adaptation plan so our staff again is working on a forest management plan I know that's I think an interest to all of us and what that's going to look like in the coming years and then on worth noting on June 1st the city partnered with henen County and better Futures to providing Building Material donation as part of the city spring special Community drop off uh day at public works so kind of a fun fun thing that staff initiated on that front uh one of the metrics again we point back to the community survey and we ask residents about the quality of our natural environment again which is a significant indicator of how we're doing with this category between our excellent and good we are just hovering a little over that 90% so again community members look at the work that we're doing with our natural environment and at this point are signaling to us and which has been consistent over the years that we're doing uh doing very well on that front uh moving on to livable and well planned development and I should just back up with and recognize I was going to say livable and well plan development is Julie wishnack who's our team lead on this uh initiative I should point back to the previous um sustainability natural environment is led by Leslie yeka our natural resources manager and then I alluded to with safe uh community and well-being is Chief Fox and chief Bor booom so my apologies I missed that moving back then to livable and well planned development which is a balanc CommunityWide interest in respect ton as unique neighborhoods while continuing Community investment uh if you look at this uh we're about 84% on track 7 to 8% completed there's a little disruption of course that's true with all of our departments there's always little things that cause us to slow up on some some initiatives but for the most part again we're tracking really well some of the three key strategies are Implement programs and policies to diversify housing increase affordable housing options support business retention and expansion and attract new businesses is a second key strategy and then last manage and promote the Opus area as unique mix of uses and increase development reinvestment you we have performance measures that are noted on the right hand side of this graph and I'll point to one of the more significant ones here in a minute some of the quarter two highlights again a lot of things noted here uh in related to the work that Julie and her team are doing uh one's a couple that that pop out are the promoted Home Improvement and down payment assistant loans through the city's newsletter and social media uh we launched the rental registry program to ensure the rental registry owners and managers to register with the city so that was a project that started earlier in the year but really came to full development here and Julie reported that Miss wishnack reported that to you at the last study session uh we are monitoring the state's 1 billion funding for housing so last year last legislative session was a big year for State funding so certainly our staff is monitoring opportunities and ways to invest in how that might align with our priorities so that does um take some time on our part to ensure that we're maximizing any programs that have been created through the state uh we're also looking to uh work with Elevate hennipin for business advising and so we have been doing that and we do have continued interest in that Arena and so ensuring that we're working with hanban County and making sure that our businesses and those that are interested in operating business in the city have all the resources available and then as you know this last year the bullet above that above that was partnering with the greata wi Zetta Area Chamber Commerce for the 20 t24 menona Business Council Series so that's new this year we've had a couple of those and those have been um very successful with um superb attendance from our business community and then uh there's a note in there about public art so that continues to be a focus and then last uh we complet the evaluation of barriers and the zoning ordinance to ensure the city's Vision can be achieved so that's the really signifies the work that we're doing with Zone excuse me with Zone Co some of the metrics and again I won't touch on these very long because you saw these last Monday at your study session so with our affordable housing goals uh noted there is our 2021 to 2030 affordable housing goals uh we're meeting those targets and in fact we're exceeding them on New affordable units so again I think that's uh a good work being done by the city and then that bottom chart really points to more owner occupi versus rental so we have noted there the habitat Mills Church Area Homes Within Reach activity and then Applewood point and then the next slide related to metrics I know it's really tough to see uh this is something that Miss wishnack covered again last Monday and this really illustrates all the affordable housing rental um units that have been constructed in the city um within the last I think it's five years I correct M something like that a little bit longer so again kind of illustrating uh the movement in meeting our affordable housing goals U moving on to our fourth pillar which is infrastructure and asset management will Manchester a public works director is the lead uh with his team we're at 10% complete 90% on track part of infrastructure and asset manag is to provide safe efficient sustainable and cost effective infrastructure and transportation systems um just maybe Jump Ahead to the metrics and really we track a couple things one is ensuring that our roads are at a rating of 80% that's on a scale of 100 and so that's something that we achieve and then we also measure how many new miles of of trails are constructed so that's part of our infrastructure and from 2020 through 2024 we've added 5 miles new trails so that is a a cumulative total um we're up over I think we're close to about 110 miles of new trails now is that correct well very close to that uh bouncing back then to the key strategies is pro provide and preserve a quality local street and trail system so again it goes to the maintenance and maintenance of 80% like I mentioned on roads and then our trail system uh measurement and then second bullet point is ensure connectivity through increased access to local Regional means of transportation develop an annual citer Improvement plan that supports the sustainable maintenance and replacement of asset replacement of assets and then expand and maintain a trail system to improve safe connectivity and walkability through the community again four key strategies some of the highlights uh there are four noted here on this slide one is that we continue to plan and construct the city's local street and trail system and and maintain a payment condition index rating of 80% I've talked about that already staff continues to work on increased access through local and Regional means Partnerships programming improvements and so I I know our staff has been working with henpen County Matt Council and other stakeholders uh to ensure that we have again those resources available to us uh we have prepared the 2025 through 2029 Capital Improvement plan that's been to you at a recent study session and that also includes the sustainable maintenance and replacement of those assets and then last we're in the middle of the Hopkins Crossroad Trail which is near I 394 under construction and I think going really really well certainly there's always construction challenges but overall it's it's exciting we've got a lot of great compliments from the neighborhood and I know the neighborhood is excited for that to be done for a lot of reasons and then last Community inclusiveness Miranda damond our assistant city manager leads this group uh we're at 76% 77% on track around 23% completed again we anticipate getting to 100% complete with all of our uh pillars uh and with Community inclusiveness the definition is to create a community that is engaged tolerant and compassionate about everyone Embrace and respect diversity and to create a community that uses different perspectives and experiences to build an inclusive and equable City for all some of the four key strategies are develop and Implement inclusive recruiting application hiring and retention practices to attract excellent qualified and diverse candidates from all backgrounds actively engage the community by working collaboratively to broaden policy outcomes and to respond to community needs views and expectations Foster an inclusive boards and commissions Recruitment and appointment process to increase diversity and then last remove idential barriers to create equal opportunity for accessing programs and Serv excuse me Services some of the highlights uh the first one there is is very notable which is the Dei commission so there have been two meetings so our commission is often running and that's exciting so really appreciate the work of Miranda Dam and of course jce Alexander a senior Dei coordinator on that uh we do have a a chair and vice chair we recently selected at their last meeting uh the second bullet point it really highlights the work and partnership with the City of Hopkins and ycma Ridgedale with our first inaugural Pride event that was held on July 13th at regel commin we've also been cooperating and collaborating with Hopkins in our Ace intern program so we had five Ace five Ace interns this last quarter and then we've been part of one of our strategies is making sure we have a significant Presence at job fairs and so our staff has our HR staff has attended several Career Fairs I think 11 of them this last spring um including Hopkins High School Adina high school and the people of color career fair so again we're very actively engaged in um reaching out through diverse means and then additionally we've created a Dei toolkit so that's an internal type cool kit that we're using um we're emphasizing it's not only a tool kit but then we also did some training internally for hiring so for all our hiring managers we've HR has performed training emphasizing on different techniques and bi bias awareness a number of different um um factors and then last the city clerk department has also updated our election binders with materials and 10 alternative languages so even our when we think of Elections there is diverse voters in our on our community so they're working through making sure that all voters have the ability to come and vote and be successful and have a good experience on Election Day so that's summer and then last metrics one of the things that we do track is our employees of color uh we're at uh 91% we have 91% white and then around 10 9% people of color that is a uh a higher ratio than from a year ago um so we're we're again tracking that and we're that's part of all the efforts in creating also a workplace that represents our community uh last I'll just mention is that with our dashboard I mentioned this earlier here our dashboard is found on our website you can residents can find it a couple different places one of those you can go to our website our city and then on the uh I think it's on the right hand where did it go oh excuse me there on our city on the very left hand side about minona the second one down a strategic profile but again they could be accessed a couple different ways that's one way uh a resident can find it and then last uh this is again the the dashboard and another way to get there there is under our city uh you can click into uh our website and find all the information that I quickly went through um and volumes of of metrics uh that I mentioned that we have over 60 metrics in our dashboard all sorts of data and residents can find again deeper dive into much of what I shared with you here this evening so with that Council I'll end there answer any questions you may have appreciate your support with our strategic plan as I alluded to earlier it is our guide it's the way we hold ourselves accountable we are an outcomes focused uh Team here at the city and so with our strategic plan and the work and collaboration with staff and Council we're on track I'm happy to report that we're halfway through the year and looking forward to giving you a year-end report where we'll tie everything together um in January of 2025 with that thank you mayor thank you Mr Funk and uh Council any questions I mean you certainly covered a lot of territory quickly so thank you for that um but any comments or questions from Council no we were not uh we were not shocked with anything we saw you know you've been um staff's done a good job of keeping the council apprised of you know the progress and and clearly as you indicated the um the our strategic plan is our guide and we refer to it frequently as we work through things as a city so um this year um summary was really good we'll look forward to the second half summary in uh in January but we're not trying to wish the summer away or anything like that so thank you very much so next item on the agenda after um um special matters is reports from city manager and council members so back to you Mr Funk yeah thank you mayor and Council I get the microphone for some time tonight so thank you I'll be brief with this as oh aren we supposed to to accept report oh let's see well I'm not sure if that is correct uh thank you Council I did start off with uh asking the council to accept the report at the conclusion so if we could mayor and councel look for a motion all right I will seek a motion for uh to accept the report and I'm U Council Calbert is that you who wanted to do that thank you mayor I'm I uh make the motion to accept the Strategic profiled quarter 2 report and Council M Wilburn now second all right we've got a motion by Council M Calbert and a second by Council M Wilburn Miss England Please call R Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries and now um next item is reports from city manager and council members um Mr Funk one more time again thank you mayor and Council I'll try to be brief I have I think five items to share with you this really I think complements what I was talking about with the Strategic plan just a real intense body of work and really proud of our staff uh with the work that they do here Monday through Fridays throughout the year and uh so a couple things worth noting one is Dale Granberg I think maybe of you many of you know Dale he's our building official uh Mr Granberg recently won the herb Meyer award and this is award given to outstanding building officials who work to improve the professionalism of code officials and the quality of cold enforcement in Minnesota so Dale was recognized for that award uh it was noted that he has an ability to engage with people to obtain Code Compliance for construction projects for this city is a true Talent of his so he he works with a lot of challenging situations and and he works really well with the public and Mr wishnack informed me that he won this award and so we're very pleased that Mr Granberg uh represents the city well as with many of our staff members so congratulations to Mr Granberg next I want to mentioned Hannibal Hayes is one of our city Forester uh he was instrumental in receiving the 2024 healthy tree canopy Grant and so we were just awarded I believe oh I don't know how much I was awarded do you know Mr Manchester I don't we'll get back with more details on how much the award was but we did receive a grant and I know I think Council you're aware that our Focus has been in grant writing the last couple years and Hannibal Hayes uh was uh instrumental in writing that Grant the contract is set to begin August 1st of 2024 and end July 31st 2025 when we once we have some more details about how that would be programmed we'll certainly inform you of that next I want to mention that Jew englon in Community Development wrote a Grant and reive 48,000 for a local climate action award and this will allow the city to offer free home energy Squad visits and through our programming which will in turn increase our po our participation so really appreciate the work of Mr engleson uh the Community Development with his work on attaining that Grant and then also want to mention with our Communications team they did receive an award this last uh week from the Minnesota Association of governmental Communications for two Awards one is a silver award for the design of their of our annual report so they we've made a new annual report and dressed that up the last couple years and so they were recognized for that effort and then they also received a Northern Lights award for the 24 hours in the city of minona so that was a social media campaign that showed how the City Works around the clock and I think many of you probably saw that here uh this last year with their work and so really appreciate their Communications team and congratulations to them for the two Awards they received and then last um thing I want to mention and I think Miss wishnack alluded to this at last Monday's study session but again worth noting that uh in an effort to reach new and diverse audiences the department collaborated with Communications to design a new communication connection newsletter and this is being distributed to multi-unit property managers who in turn share with their uh with their tenants I know that's been something the council has stressed in recent years is how do we continue to reach all segments of our community and certainly um it's always been a challenge to reach tenants and rent and so this is a project that is has been instrumental and this since it first went out the F the newsletter was opened electronically more than 150 times which is again above average for a lot of the communications that we push out so really thank our Julie wishnack and our Communications team for that initiative so with that mayor and Council turn it back over to you thank you thank you Mr Funk and um and well done to our team for um um some pretty significant accomplishments and so congratulations and well done to uh to each of the in individual cited and and I think um the fact that we we talk about um reaching for excellence and pursuing Excellence I think this is a demonstration of that so thanks very much council members anything that you'd like to report uh council member Calbert thank you mayor I just have a couple of um meetings that I attended uh uh one was on the 15th actually and it was the sort of kickoff to um cons considering um resolutions for the uh National League of cities energy environment and natural resources committee um so we go through all the uh resolutions sort of where they stand legislatively at the national level and people are able to uh you know propose new resolutions um massage old ones um and so we're we're in the midst of you know kicking that off and then I also attended the um League of Minnesota City's uh first summer improving Services delivery committee meeting and that was a similar exercise where we uh sort of review all of the resolutions and for those who aren't familiar with that committee it has to do with every kind of service that cities provide from elections to Public Safety um and and utilities and everything else so um there's a wide variety of topics and and um we're we are just getting underway um uh and now have an idea of sort of what what passed what didn't pass and uh one thing has become obvious which is that um uh our legislators have a responsibility to pass some bonding bills so uh hope that uh for those of you listening at home you can help us put some pressure on them to do their job so um so anyway uh covered a wide variety of topics starting to wrap our heads around what we want to bring to the state and uh Federal legislature um on a wide variety of topics and I um am so glad I'm on those committees once again thank you council member Calbert other reports from Council Members all right I'll I'll I've got a couple things to comment on I also am part of a policy committee um the fiscal Futures policy committee um for the league had its first meeting um last week and um Darren Nelson our our um our uh Finance director is the co-chair of that policy committee and it the one of the thing that stood out to me that was quite interesting is we know that last year not this most recent session but the session before the the um legislature um made a lot of money available for housing and but then in this past legislative session We There were some there were some bills that that preempted City that were proposed that didn't pass but the interesting thing um is that with all of the funding that exists um from the state and with the new sales tax and everything um even though this was the fiscal future is more of a financially oriented policy committee with all of that money in the system um housing has kind of risen to the four not that there is a separate housing policy committee but there is going to be a lot of work um between those two committees because the state has um has voted a lot of money to go to housing and not all of that um has been determined how that's going where it's going to go and how it's going to be spent and so there's I think more than one policy committee is going to be looking at housing issues and utilizing the money from the state to uh to um optimize and you use that money efficiently to um to encourage more housing so it's um it's important and I'm glad to be on that committee and it's um it's pretty interesting and uh let's see the the other thing I want to say is just jumping back to um the uh the Strategic profile um you know I think it's when when I when we when we have these reviews you know we do from time to time hear from residents and say well why isn't government more like um more like business I mean business is more efficient you know and and we we hear that there a common critique of government well I'm proud to say that minona really takes a strong business-like approach and we do measure our performance and we do hold ourselves accountable and our strategic profile is an indication of that and I don't want to sound defensive but I think it's really important to point that out because you know you frequently you you hear from residents who are upset with something about the city and they say well if you ran ran it like a business you be doing a better job I think we do a pretty darn good job of running our city like a business and we do hold ourselves accountable so I just wanted to Circle back and thank uh thank staff for that good work because it's really an important point and it's often overlooked um when uh when people kind of go with conventional V wisdom that well business is business is efficient but government isn't I think we do a pretty good job of being efficient and judging by all the awards that were just announced by Mr Funk which I neglected to acknowledge I mean it just just kind of underscores what you're saying mayor and I'm very grateful for our staff because there's a reason they win Awards and we're very lucky to have them all and also buried in that strategic profile um were a lot of communications you you talked about some uh awards that our communication staff won but there's a lot of that buried in there and I know that they are the L Little Engine That Could so so thank you Council M Calbert so I will um we'll leave it at that but I just thought was worth circling back on that point so anything else from Council Members or we'll move on so next item on the agenda is Citizens wishing to discuss matters not on the agenda so this is an open mic opportunity I'm not seeing a lot of people in the audience but if anyone wants to say anything about something that is not on the agenda please come forward state your name and address and uh we're interested to hear what you have to say but seeing no one we will move on um item nine is bids and purchases and we have none of those so that brings to the consent agenda and our consent agenda are items that are typically routine so we don't act on the items individually we um I will read them into the record and we will vote on them um uh collectively with one motion and one um vat however if someone would like to pull an item uh please indicate by uh raising your hand and that you would like to pull it then we will consider the items that have not been pulled and then we'll Circle back to the item that is pulled for any conversation um on that and then we'll vote on that separately so um item 10A is a resolution supporting the appointment of a board manager to the 9mile Creek Watershed District board and I will just add that that is Brian Kirk a resident who is a former council member so um that is item 10A and then item 10B is a resolution relating to settlements in the aquous film forming forming home AF multi-district litigation number 2873 so would anybody like to pull uh anyone um Council Calbert I just want to pull uh 10B most mostly a comment and uh mostly a comment but a possible question very good anyone else like to pull anything else or is there a motion for 10A council member Shaq thank you mayor I move approval of consent agenda item 10A and is there a second council member Foster Bolton I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member sha and a second by council member Foster Bolton Miss England Please call roll Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries so that brings us to item 10B and Council M Calbert thank you mayor um for those who aren't uh familiar with a f firefighting Foams um they are in the posos family they are extremely toxic and um so this is mostly comment and uh maybe a question so this has to do with us um opting in or opting out of a a legal settlement and the the packet does mentioned that there are you know many companies that are in a variety of lawsuits um many of them are going to settle and it seems like a lot of money I think this was over 3/4 of a billion dollars but it's actually just spitting the ocean because these are National um lawsuits and the amount of money it takes to treat water first of all there's not there's not really a great way of removing AA AF from uh water sources or anything else at this time or any other posos chemicals there's a reason they're called for forever chemicals and so um it's very hard to remove from from the environment and the amount I mean we probably could use that amount ourselves over time if we are contaminated with a a f um uh chemicals and so uh I just wanted to let the public public uh know that you know these these companies have Deep Pockets um you know 3M settled uh for a lot of money because it benefits them and so my question is I I'm not opposed to opting into the settlement but um you know in the scheme of things I just wonder if we're short changing by not by as municipalities altogether not standing firm and and continuing to fight the companies um to Pony up more money because they made the problem and we're left to clean it up as municipalities so um I think it's a hard question to answer but I I just wonder if we're short changing ourselves um and I you know it's it's a hard question to answer so any other thoughts on that um you know I was going to ask staff um just related to that because from time to time we do have these class action suits that we can sign up or not sign up and I don't know if Miss heiney would like to make a comment on the challenges of going it alone or going it alone outside uh class action if you have any thoughts on that because it's clearly not definitive and we don't they don't by signing up we don't say well we're going to get X number of dollars we we're going to be part of a pool and depending how many cities are in the pool is going to determine how much money we ultimately get which could be quite a bit or not that much and I think um councilor Calbert makes a makes a a good point but I'm not sure we have a better option but miss heiney so uh to clarify this uh there are hundreds of lawsuits that have been filed all around the country in the federal courts the federal court have Consolidated all of those lawsuits into a single uh multi multi-district litigation which has this assigned number of 2873 and each of those settlements so far there have now been two that have been approved by the court there are two now that are pending which is the reason why we brought this resolution to you um we anticipate that there will be other settlements in the future probably less uh 3M and Dupont probably will contribute more than anyone else um because they were major manufacturers but um so why we're bringing this to you is to date every one of the settlements that has come through has been structured similarly and the city does not opt in to the settlement the city has to opt out if it does not want to participate if the city does nothing the city is automatically included in the settlement there is an automatic release of claims as provided by the settlement agreement every one of these settlement agreements has provided the opportunity to object and say we don't like this settlement um and to do that you have to incur legal fees and appear in court and make an objection um so it provides that opportunity to object to the settlement it also has the opportunity to opt out meaning you won't participate in the settlement you don't release any claims but you don't get any money either and that takes an affirmative step but doing nothing includes you and you get the money but you have a release so because they've all been structured this way and because to date when we have metting Clos session with the council the council did not want to object with respect to 3M and Dupont the council did not object did not direct us to object did not direct us to opt out so we're bringing this forward and saying rather than hold a closed session every time one of these settlements come forward we're going to handle these all in the same way unless you tell us you want to handle it differently so we're putting it back to you we'll inform you every time there's a settlement proposed and we will give you the dates for objecting or opting out and then it's up to you as council members to say I think we need to discuss this and then we will hold it in closed session and if we have a closed session then I can provide the um risks and and costs of litigation versus the potential benefits great thank you Miss hiny um are there any other questions I think you did a nice job of explaining so councelor Calbert so just one more comment one of the reasons why posos actually even became sort of known in the general public in the last few years is because especially a f firefighting Foams were required by the federal government to be used at airports and on um Naval vessels and and to a certain extent still are and it is because our First Responders and service members were getting cancer at a disproportionate rate in areas where the drinking water was contaminated that it became an issue at the National League of cities and it is actually because of the National League of cities on my committee that we really got the ball rolling in conjunction with military communities the scientific Community Academia and um and so it is literally this very substance that sort of got the ball rolling on posos nationally because it it literally affects the the the most important people in our society the people that keep us safe so um I I understand what Miss heiney's saying and I also see that uh the deadline for filing an objection is August 24th which gives us precious little time and so um I just wanted to make sure that people out in the public understand sort of how this works and I I feel like municipalities are being held hostage by companies with big money that made their profits um selling chemicals that that had some benefit but but a lot of um also terrible effects on our environment thank you anything else council members would um someone like to make a motion on this I mean I think I think this is one I think Miss heiney laid it out well that um and with the August 24th deadline I mean there it's like well here are your options and you know maybe maybe there are no good options but there's probably you know there's reality C CER sha thank you mayor I I agree I mean without getting into the attorney client privilege that we we talked about this at length in a study session and there are a lot of really compelling reasons not to use City resources to chase after money that we're probably not going to get because of our circumstances here in minaka and so I I totally understand the issue and the concerns that council member Calbert is Raising but I you know I to use a a legal turn of phrase I don't want to relitigate this right every time it comes up because the same unless something changes with our circumstances or the you know what the the settlement situation is it's it's not a good use of our time I think to have that conversation over and over again thank you any other any other comments I mean I just like Foster Bolton thank you sorry I agree and I and I and I agree with um council member Sha but I do think that religating and I get your point where Rel litigating it every single time makes the public it comes to the Forefront of our minds like and that we need to keep being reminded that this is what these big companies with all this big money did to these very important people and I I mean I think that you know not not that nothing and you know it's going to change or anything but I get it and I I get that it needs to be that big of a deal all the time to keep remembering what they did and um because what they did was terrible and this is a small price that they they're paying for that so I mean I just want to reiterate that I agree I think um one one of the things when I talked to Mr Funk today um the thing about Posas and it's not just specifically this um this AF f afff um this foam um you know one of the reasons it was required was that it's really good at fighting fires but it's really toxic and uh and um you know there's there's a lot of problems all over and I know I know Anne Bert who is the mayor of Woodbury and wberry is putting a um water treatment plant system in to remove posos from the Posas that's in their City drinking water and so when I talked to Mr Funk today you know I had a specific question on um well I know we're testing we're testing for posos in our water and he said yes we are and we are well below any limits so we're we're in good shape now but um one of the questions that I had um was that should we be educating our um our public on um how to avoid p i mean for example I've you know I have this really you know expensive pan I use to uh to make eggs that I bought at Menard's on on Black Friday for $4.99 it's a very expensive plan a pan and but it's um it's um it's non-stick and that's Teflon and Teflon is is loaded with posos okay well am I exposing myself to posos and what's the implication of that are are there things that we can do to be smarter consumers to avoid these substances in our environment and we're not going to go there tonight but but those are the types of questions that I I want to ask because I think I think there's both an education aspect to this and uh you know we want to be very mindful of the condition of our water so you know I think I think as we've said we've we've discussed this at length I think um I think um approving this tonight is the right thing but to the points being made by by my fellow council members let's not lose our diligence on this and let's not say well it's a one andone thing and we move on um this is a significant issue and we are going to be facing this issue time and time again as we go forward and let's help our residents be more intelligent and learn how to protect themselves and maybe you shouldn't buy a $4.99 frying pan on Black Friday at Menards but um but I did so anyway is there is there a motion council member Calbert thank you I want to make I want to thank my fellow council members and staff for indulging me on this and I make theem motion to adopt the resolution on a trip off uh firefighting uh foam litigation is there a second Council M Foster Bolton I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member Calbert and a second by council member Foster Bolton Miss England Please call Ro sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes carries um item 11 is consent agenda items requiring five votes we have none of those um item 12 is Introduction of ordinances we have none of those so that brings us to public hearings item 13 and we have a continuation of the uh public hearing that was opened on um June 24 2024 and so this is for an on on sale intoxicating and Sunday on sale intoxicating liquor license for super yummy tasty food LLC doing business as forked at 1641 Plymouth Road and I believe Miss wishnack that's your report thank you mayor and council members uh it is for the restaurant called Fork as you know it's the same ownership as bacho which is just on the upper level of the spot that they're proposing to go in the former Champs in the former winside location uh just reading from your staff report just to help you you understand how many how uh what the time frames are Monday through Friday 11: a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. they expect to have about 20 full-time employees and 40 part-time employees they would use the Serve Safe alcohol Advantage Program they expect their food ratio and liquor ratios to be 65 to 35% and uh we did have the investigative report from the police department no findings were made on the background for the ownership with that uh mayor we would recommend approval of the application thank you thank you m wishnack councel any questions for staff on this item all right seeing none um this public hearing is open and I see the applicant here you're not required to come up and say any words you did at the last meeting but if you have anything to say please come and say it is there anyone else in the audience who would like to make any comments I'm not seeing anyone so I will be bold and I will close the public hearing and I will bring it back to council for comment discussion or a motion Council rash Shack thank you mayor um excited to have the space open again and I will make the motion to approve the liquor license for super yummy tasty food LLC and uh second by coun member Foster Bolton I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member sha and a second by council member Foster Bolton m r Excuse Me Miss England Please call Ro sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes kley yes Foster Bolton yes weome yes motion carries I just want to point out that I do know all of you it's just that when I look down the line I kind of mix it up a little bit so I I apologize for that so um motion carries and uh want to say welcome um we're looking forward to having you open and uh you know when you have a when you have an opening date please be sure to let us know and we'll mention at a council meeting and uh hopefully we can get you a few customers here sounds great thank you welcome so um item 14 is other business we have none um item 15 is appointments and reappointments we have none so the last item is a ger and um council member Wilbert I move adjournment is there a second council member ra I'll second all right we've got a motion by council member Wilburn and a second by Council M ra all in favor say I I we are adjourned [Music] [Music] and um um ask Miss England to please call roll Foster Bolton here Shaq here Wilburn here Calbert here ra here kley here weome here next item here my agenda before I we'll we'll approve the agenda um is there a motion thank you you're bailing me off I really EXC okay well thanks it's good I've always said this is a team effort right thank you so um we've got the um next item is approval of the agenda is there um well um m m wishnack any comments no thank you all right is there a motion Council or a commissioner sha I move approval of the agenda and is there a second commissioner Foster Bolton I second um M England Please call rooll Foster Bolton yes Shaq yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes R yes kley yes we some yes motion carries um next item is approval of minutes and we have two sets of minutes we have the May 6th 2024 Eda me uh meeting minutes and we have the May 20 2024 Eda minutes are there any comments or a motion commissioner Calbert thank you Mr President uh I move approval of the May 6 2024 Economic Development Authority meeting minutes and the May 20th 2024 Ed a meeting minutes thank you is there a second commissioner ra I'll second all right we've got a motion by coun or commissioner Calbert and a second by commissioner R um any any comments or um Miss England Please call roll Foster Bolton yes sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes weome yes motion carries item five is our one business item and that is a resolution approving a collateral assignment of contract for private Redevelopment with gs- CV Opus station owners LLC and Associated Bank National Association and Miss wishnack I believe that's you thank you uh Commissioners this is a uh request for an assignment uh when you issue a tax increment district for a new development this one had 3.3 million in tax increment issued to it there's a note that is associated with the tax increment and that note in this case is being pledged to the bank which is Associated Bank uh and so there's an assignment uh for collateral that goes along with that um action so we staff did have our Consulting attorney review the documents and she does recommend approval as well as uh Eda staff does as well thank you very good so essentially it's a reassignment very good so uh Commissioners any questions or a motion commissioner Calbert thank you Mr President I move approval I move to adopt the resolution approving a collateral assignment of contract for private Redevelopment with GS CV Opus station owner LLC and Associated Bank National associ a very good is there a second commissioner ROM I'll second all right we' got a motion by commissioner Calbert and a second by commissioner R Miss England Please call r foster Bolton yes sha yes Wilburn yes Calbert yes ra yes kley yes weome yes so finally item six is um motion to adjourn is there a motion commissioner Wilburn I move adjournment and is there a second commissioner ra I'll second all right we've got a motion by commissioner Wilburn and a second by commissioner R all in favor say I I we are adjourned all right F 7:35 including [Music] [Music] for