This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context of the Richfield City Council and the dialogue provided. **Note:** The transcript refers to a "Council Member Wayan" (likely a phonetic transcription of former or current member Ben Whalen); although not on your provided list, I have retained the name used in the dialogue for accuracy to the recording. *** **[00:00:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** Good evening. I'm going to call to order the May 14th meeting of the Richfield City Council. Please rise if you're able and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. And in case you're curious, the new Minnesota flag's on back order, so it is coming eventually. So we are pleased now to introduce our special guests: this is the Richfield Stem Elementary School choir under the direction of Mrs. Gail Miles. So I'll let you guys take it away. Thank you. **[00:00:30] Richfield Stem Elementary School Choir:** [Music performance] **[00:04:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** That's the Richfield Stem Elementary School choir. Thank you so much. Do they want to get a picture taken all together? Those sticks... because it’s metal in it, it was a rain stick. All right, next we'll move on to the open forum. If you would like to call into the open forum, you can do so by dialing 415-655-0001, use webinar access code 263 211 29 3873 and password 1234. It does not look like we have anybody that's online. Is there anyone here in the audience that wishes to speak at open forum? Okay, we do have someone for open forum. All right, you can come up here and state your name and address and you'll have three minutes to address the council once you get started. So we just need you to go ahead with your name and address. **[00:05:30] Lisa Barnidge:** Good evening. Thank you very much, City Council Members. My name is Lisa Barnidge. I'm actually from Golden Valley, but I am here to represent the Seven Hills Preparatory Academy who's on your agenda later today. I just wanted to thank you guys for taking up our agenda item tonight. We truly appreciate your consideration for the refinancing of our bonds as we move from our Bloomington campus to a Burnsville campus. If you're unaware of us, we're right at the armpit of 494 and 35. We have had for 15 years, almost 17, a campus here in the Bloomington city. That campus will be closing at the end of this school year and we are moving to Burnsville. It's been quite a whirlwind, but we appreciate your consideration for our item tonight. Thank you. **[00:06:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? All right, and it looks like no one has called in, so we will move on from the open forum. Next, we have approval of the minutes of the joint HRA Council Planning Commission work session and the city council work session of April 23rd, 2024. **[00:07:05] Council Member:** I move approval of the minutes. **[00:07:07] Council Member:** Second. **[00:07:08] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right, all in favor of approving the minutes please say "Aye." **[00:07:12] City Council (Unison):** Aye. **[00:07:13] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right, we have approved the minutes. Next, we'll move on to approval of the agenda. **[00:07:18] Council Member:** I move to approve the agenda. **[00:07:20] Council Member:** Second. **[00:07:21] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? All right, hearing none, all in favor please say "Aye." **[00:07:26] City Council (Unison):** Aye. **[00:07:27] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? And we've approved the agenda. Next, we have two proclamations, and the first one will be celebrating Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. And so, Michael Zera from the Human Rights Commission is going to meet me up at the podium. This is a proclamation of the city of Richfield: [Mayor reads proclamation regarding history and contributions of Asian and Pacific Americans]. Now, therefore, I, Mary Supple, Mayor of Richfield, on behalf of the Richfield City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of May as Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month in the city of Richfield. Proclaimed this 14th day of May 2024. And we have a member of the Human Rights Commission here to accept it. Thank you. And would you like to say a few words? **[00:10:45] Michael Zera:** Thank you, Mayor Supple and City Council. Good to see you all again. I would encourage our community to listen to our Asian and Pacific American neighbors in an effort to learn from them and elevate their voices. Thank you very much. **[00:11:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you so much. See Chief Henthorne and staff will be receiving our next proclamation. This is a proclamation of the city of Richfield: [Mayor reads proclamation regarding National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day]. Now, therefore, I, Mary Supple, Mayor of the city of Richfield, do hereby proclaim May 13th through 17th, 2024 as National Police Week and May 15th, 2024 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the city of Richfield. Proclaimed the 14th day of May 2024. Congratulations. Would you like to say a few words? **[00:13:30] Police Chief Jay Henthorne:** I could just say a few words. Thank you, Madame Mayor, City Council. As the Chief of Police, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize the families of our officers and our department's professional staff. They make personal sacrifices and provide endless support and understanding to us all so that we can go out to fulfill our duties with courage, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to keep our Richfield community safe. Thank you very much. **[00:14:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you, and thank you to everyone in the department and all the staff and all of the families. Are there any other council members that wish to say anything about either of the proclamations? Thank you. Next we'll move on to the consent calendar. City Manager Rodriguez. **[00:14:25] City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** Thank you, Mayor. The consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion. [City Manager reads Items A through H]. And I submit these items for your consideration as part of tonight's consent calendar. **[00:16:30] Council Member:** I would move approval of the consent calendar. **[00:16:32] Council Member:** Second. **[00:16:33] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Are there any comments or questions? Council Member Wayan. **[00:16:40] Council Member Wayan:** I know everyone is excited and knows exactly what MnDOT agreement number 1056595 is, but I wanted to lift this up and thank staff for continuing to look for funding for this. This is related to the roundabout on 66th and Richfield Parkway over by Panda Express, Target, and various other things in that corner of town. Since that was put in, as that's my ward, I've heard complaints and concerns about the pedestrian safety there. We learned from that in the future and built some of these rapid flashing beacons into the cost of future projects, but I'm really excited that we're going back to fix that and make it more safe at that intersection. So thank you to everyone who spoke up about it and made clear the need for that piece, and thank you to staff for following through on it. **[00:17:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** Other comments or questions? Council Member Hayford O’Leary. **[00:17:50] Council Member Sean Hayford O’Leary:** I will just also share my enthusiasm for the 66th and Richfield Parkway item and that the grant funding covers almost everything, about 90% of it, so it's great to see. I also just wanted to say thank you to Carl Sandberg or his family—his estate—for their generous donation. It's always great to see the influence that Wood Lake Nature Center has on people's lives and that they remember it in their final wishes. So, grateful for that. **[00:18:20] Mayor Mary Supple:** Any other comments? I too would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Sandberg and his family for their generosity and to our other grant funders. As Council Member Wayan said, there's a lot of work that goes into applying for these grants, so I really appreciate all the work that went into providing them so we can add things to our city. Any further comments or questions? All in favor please say "Aye." **[00:18:45] City Council (Unison):** Aye. **[00:18:46] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right, we've approved the consent calendar. Next, we'll move on to a public hearing and I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Wayan. **[00:18:55] Council Member Wayan:** Thank you, Mayor. This will be a public hearing related to approving host designation for the city of Deephaven to issue revenue bonds to finance the construction of a charter school facility located in the city of Burnsville and refinancing the issuers' charter school lease revenue bonds for the Seven Hills Preparatory Academy project located in Richfield. Seven Hills Preparatory Academy is asking the city of Richfield to provide host approval so that the city of Deephaven can issue revenue bonds. Does staff have anything additional to report on this? **[00:20:00] City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** I'm available for questions. **[00:20:02] Council Member Wayan:** Would you be willing just to explain what host approval is and what the revenue bonds are when it's through a city but taken out by a different entity? **[00:20:10] City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** Yes. So Minnesota law allows cities to provide their tax-exempt financing authority for certain public purposes like for charter schools. Because Richfield is going to issue for ourselves this year, we don't have excess authority, so we cannot issue the conduit debt. The city of Deephaven has offered to issue the conduit debt, but the cities where the projects are located have to provide host approval. The debt is the responsibility of the nonprofit owner; it is not a liability for the city of Richfield. **[00:21:00] Council Member Wayan:** Thank you. I just want to repeat that last sentence—that this is not a financial action or liability by the city. At this point, if anyone is here to speak for the public hearing, I would welcome you up to the podium. [Pause] I do not see anyone. I'll check one more time... it does not appear that we have any commenters. So at this point, I would make a motion to close the public hearing. **[00:21:40] Council Member:** Second. **[00:21:41] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. All in favor please say "Aye." **[00:21:45] City Council (Unison):** Aye. **[00:21:46] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? Okay, the public hearing is closed. **[00:21:48] Council Member Wayan:** Thank you, Mayor. Then I would make a motion to approve a resolution providing host approval to and consenting to the issuance, sale, and delivery by the city of Deephaven of its revenue bonds. **[00:22:00] Council Member:** Second. **[00:22:01] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any commentary? I would like to thank the city of Deephaven for helping out our local charter school since we aren't able to do so this year because of our own projects. Any other comments or questions? All in favor of the motion please say "Aye." **[00:22:20] City Council (Unison):** Aye. **[00:22:21] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? We have approved the motion. [Mayor transition to city reports]. Council Member Hayford O’Leary? **[00:22:30] Council Member Sean Hayford O’Leary:** I just want to thank Richfield Foundation volunteers as well as city staff who participated in "Toast to Richfield" last week. I believe this was their 10th year. It was another great event; I had a great time and I saw several of you there. **[00:22:50] Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. And I'm going to echo the comments from City Manager Rodriguez to thank all of our Public Safety members for National Police Week. We're going to be doing the State of the Community event on June 11th right here at City Hall. We also received the designation of Tree City USA from the Arbor Day Foundation. Finally, I want to let you know that on May 27th at 2:00 PM, the Honoring All Veterans Memorial group will be having a ceremony over at Veterans Park. Is there anything else that anyone would like to add? **[00:23:30] Council Member:** I have one more thing to add. It is the Richfield's All-City Garage Sales this weekend, from Thursday the 16th through Saturday the 18th. I'm looking forward to that. **[00:23:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right, anything else? All right, thank you everyone. Is there a motion to adjourn? **[00:23:50] Council Member:** I would move that we adjourn. **[00:23:51] Council Member:** Second. **[00:23:52] Mayor Mary Supple:** All in favor please say "Aye." **[00:23:54] City Council (Unison):** Aye. **[00:23:55] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? We stand adjourned.