Based on the context of this White Bear Lake City Council meeting, I have identified the speakers and added the names to your transcript. **Speakers identified:** * **Lindy Crawford:** City Manager * **Chief Julie Swanson:** Retiring Police Chief * **Lt. Ashley Lang:** University of Minnesota Police / MN Association of Women Police (MAWP) * **Christina:** MAWP Board Member * **Mayor:** Likely Mayor Dan Danford * **Council Member Walsh:** Identified by name in the dialogue * **Council Member Jones:** Identified by name in the dialogue * **Council Member Hughes:** Identified by name in the dialogue * **Heather Monnens:** Prosecuting Attorney (Partner at GDO Law) * **Rick Juba:** Assistant City Manager * **Perry Peterson:** Executive Director of the White Bear area Food Shelf * **City Attorney:** Providing legal clarifications on ordinances *** [1:38] Lindy Crawford: the fire chief and a friend she's endured a lot over the last uh several years including the Department's Darkest Day in History just 7 months ago as Chief Julie has been instrumental in shaping the Department's culture and morale cultivating a team approach to pleasing and enhancing community outreach efforts in fact uh during the search to find her replacement some department members asked me if I could actually withhold her resignation letter it's become clear um that she has made a lasting impression on her work family here Julie has also been a dedicated contributor to the city's leadership team each Work Week her peers and I look forward to receiving her Department update and simply just catching up I know that we will all [2:24] Lindy Crawford: especially miss the funny stories about her grandson Reed no matter what the situation is she always knows what to say and exactly when to say it so not only does she work here she also grew up in the wiper Lake community and chose to raise her family here being a police chief is no easy task and many times family has taken a backseat to work despite this Julie and her husband Dave managed to raise three Great sons all who have chosen to stay close to home two of which also work in law enforcement so Dave Sam Jake and Matt thank you for sharing her with us for all these years um when preparing for my position I was so excited to learn that we had a [3:10] Lindy Crawford: female police chief as true as two strong female leaders in predominantly male leading career Fields we've been able to relate to lean on and learn from each other on many levels that's something that I have valued very much almost made it through got it so Julie thank you for your many years of service and dedication to the city for being a strong leader in law enforcement and for advocating for this community and this organization I'm so proud of all that you have accomplished and excited for your next chapter in retirement congratulations thank [3:58] Chief Julie Swanson: you [4:10] Lindy Crawford: okay okay we're not quite done yet um as the Minnesota Association of women and police um have something also for you tonight so thank [4:26] Lt. Ashley Lang: you thank you to the council for having us and the city manager and soon to be Chief congratulations thank you um I am Lieutenant Ashley langing with the University of Minnesota Police Department I am currently the historian on the Minnesota Association of women police um Association I suppose um and Christina is also a board member with me on the association so we are presenting you an award for Heritage it is for your many many years of service to your community um obviously a Trailblazer before us all um and Christina has something that she is also prepared so I will let her speak so I actually had the honor of [5:13] Christina (MAWP): having you as a teacher at centy college so nice to see you in person okay so I did write this out so bear with me here while attending Century college for law enforcement degree I had the privilege and honor to have met Chief Julie Swanson as one of my teachers whom I looked up to and enjoyed learning from by seeing her in leadership role as Chief and taking the time to invest in my Law Enforcement Education she influenced my experience um in such a positive way I was a mother working full-time between two jobs managing a household while attending school full-time Chief Swanson recognized my abilities in class and it helped me stay focused knowing that my hard work would pay off and that I too could have success like she did as we know entering this profession takes hard work adaptability honor respect Integrity excellence and to serve with compassion in and around the communities [5:59] Christina (MAWP): in which we live work learn and serve it was an honor to have cross paths with Chief Swanson as I Inspire was inspired to bring something special to this profession like she did as women we bring something unique to this profession we are natural leaders mentors mothers wives Partners friends we tend to our flock we bring compassion and awareness we are multitaskers and forward thinkers we are adaptable in our environments we bring strength we carry a peacemaker heart we bring tenderness and assertiveness we show up where we are needed and value our partners we also are dreamers of new opportunities and growth we serve our communities uh partners and families as if they were our own we invest in those around us we care about and we go where we are called and show up to the best of our ability thank you chief swansson for your dedication and investment to this profession the community and representing women in policing in [6:45] Christina (MAWP): Minnesota and around the country you've inspired us to keep growing congratulations thank you [Applause] again [7:04] Chief Julie Swanson: probably wouldn't be appropriate to say peace out I'm out right required to give a speech so please yes so mayor members of the council and Lindy thank you um some of you know that I've kind of been dreading this day so I did write it down in case I had stage fright but thank you for um letting me be here hosting us and allowing my family to come before you one last time I have um really appreciated the support that I've received from the council and I'll always be grateful for that and for the from the city leadership the kindness that the police department receives from our elected officials our leadership in the city is what has made this such a great job to do and an easy job to do and I really appreciate the kind words that you shared today Lindy I'm thankful [7:51] Chief Julie Swanson: for Mark sather having faith in me so many years ago when I was hired and again promoting me to Chief there have been a lot of times that I've thought what in the hell was he thinking like I'm sure he's like holy cow but it seemed to work out so that was good for everybody right um it's been a really good career and one that I've loved more than I can share in just the few minutes here and being able to serve in my own Community has been a huge privilege and it uh kind of came by Fate I was working for the sheriff's department at the time and um decided that I would try to get a job here and it worked out pretty well it I was really happy that things panned out the way that they did because it's really been an honor to serve in my own community so thank you to my family for always supporting me and for their patience I have a lot of extended family here but Lindy nailed it when she talked [8:37] Chief Julie Swanson: about Dave and Sam Jake Matt Sammy and Ally and Reed and Drew being there there's been a lot of um we have a habit of doing Sunday night dinners at our house every week and there have been a lot of interrupted dinners interrupted events I've missed a lot of sporting events school events don't really feel bad about missing all those Choir concerts sometimes that was intentional but I there's been a lot of times that I haven't been there for them because of work commitments and they've always been very supportive and um they've always had patience with me and obviously it turned a couple of them towards law enforcement so they must be wanting to miss chir concerts too someday so um I appreciate them just supporting me through all the distractions I we talked about this a few weeks ago but the [9:23] Chief Julie Swanson: family of police officers are very special people they put on a brave um the officers put on Brave or the family puts on a brave um face for their family they support us through the good and the bad and then they know to just ask questions later or maybe never ask questions at all there have been a lot of times when I know that more recently Dave's had to wait for hours to get an update on something that's going on and that H I think that this last year and a half has been a little bit harder for him after the Roseville incident and and then our own incident um and as you know I wasn't here at the time of our own incident but he just knew he needed to pack his bag and he was probably going home and he didn't really know when and he knew he'd go on another vacation someday and I'd tell him where it was the day before we were going so he's been a really good supporter for a very [10:08] Chief Julie Swanson: long time and he was the driving force to me becoming a police officer he he really encouraged me to do that so my family knows that they're my number one but they've also been very good about um supporting that there's been a place in my heart for my White Bear Lake Police Department family so finally there's no words for the gratitude that I have for the people I've worked alongside um through this career and many of them are here I know we talk about how great our Police Department is how great our city is how great our fire department is um and I am here to tell you and I'll continue to tell you they are really great it's those people that have made my job as so much fun I spent almost half my life with the police officers day in and day out well not all of them cuz some of them were born about a half a life ago for me but um they I have [10:53] Chief Julie Swanson: spent day in and day out and that's what I'm going to miss the most I had my last roll call with light side day shift today and is very surreal it's that's the part that's really hard to leave behind they've always been a big part of me who I am and I feel like I'm leaving a piece of my heart behind and I can't thank them enough for always being there for me and for each other and for their friendship so with that I'm not going to talk anymore but thank you everybody for um what you've done for me and I mean I know that you've thanked me but it's the greatest job there is and I was really lucky to be able to spend it in White Bear Lake so thank you [Applause] [11:57] Chief Julie Swanson: you [12:05] Chief Julie Swanson: that my family wanted to know when they could go and I'm usually the one that has to tell everybody they have to go so I don't know if you're done [12:10] Mayor: yes one second I just want to offer my my thank you for your your many years of service on behalf of the council I've only been uh mayor for the last year and a half so I know that Ellen and others in the city and Joe um really really work side by side but in the last year and a half I've seen nothing but good things and you leave a proud and Lasting Legacy that you can be proud of and um we're sad to see you go but we we do wish you the best of luck in this next chapter of your life so we're going to make everyone stand one more time let's give our almost Mr Mayor may I sure go ahead can I pleas [12:50] Council Member: Chief Swanson you've been one of the people that have made me feel comfort in your position and that word is kind of odd but it's what I feel when you took over as Chief there was a certain level of comfort to that three years ago when we experienced 2020 you had comfort in our community 7 months ago Comfort even though unbelievably stressful and raising three daughters and having people like yourself as a person to look up to even though there's no way there ever going to be a law enforcement career in [13:36] Council Member: them it means a lot to me personally and I hope our community and I know that is reflected in all of your officers including all of the fires to see everybody for our emergency systems work together I think that's a big part of you and chief it's both but it's like comfort and thank you for providing our community comfort and safety for the amount of years that you did for the city thank you thank you [14:27] Chief Julie Swanson: Mr Mayor now you can [14:40] [Music] [16:34] Lindy Crawford: part of the Criminal Justice System 5B prosecution services update Miss monins and Mr olssen please [16:42] Heather Monnens: good evening Council mayor I'll try to keep this short I think there's ice cream next door um I'll introduce myself I'm Heather mnin I'm a partner attorney at GD law Roba Olson is also a partner attorney at GD law we have been handling the prosecution contract for over 25 years I believe since 1997 just some general statistics I provide the city manager statistics every quarter but from July 1st 22 to July 1st 23 we've handled approximately 474 misdemeanor and girls misdemeanor cases this does not include the petty misdemeanors which we have a lot of citations for of those 131 have been DWI [17:20] Heather Monnens: resolutions and 81 have been demestic related resolutions we've done about a half a dozen contested Court hearings we've done a dozen or so court trials these would be the traffic tickets and we've done a couple jury trials during this time Ramsey County is still dealing with coid back law of cases because Ramsey County essentially shut down for almost a year when Co hit we are still trying to resolve these cases there's been a big Push by the Minnesota Supreme Court to get these cases resolved as uh as a result of that we've had a couple special calendars we've had DWI resolution events and we've had domestic resolution events in these cases they've been special trial settings to try to get us to resolve these cases if we don't resolve them they pretty much [18:06] Heather Monnens: immediately go to trial and they have standby judges we've also continued to transition back to iners court what this was what this means is the only thing we are going to be doing that is going to be via Zoom is our court trials for our traffic tickets I think this is beneficial because we have a lot of state trooper cases as well as we have a lot of officers that work night shift and so they can now disappear from whatever convenient location they have starting September 1st our first Court appearances will also be going back in person those have been the one hold over of zoom in the last year on average my office appears for 23 Court calendars a month these are from the first court appearance all the way to the contested hearings to the trials starting January 1st we will have a new scheduling system I've been on a [18:52] Heather Monnens: lot of scheduling meetings to try to figure out how we want to do the system going forward we will now be assigned to a a two judge team starting January 1st so of the 16 or 14 judges assigned in Criminal Division we will have all of our cases heard in front of two judges I'm not sure what judges those are right now um I believe we talked about this a little bit last year of the fact that my office is continuing to prosecute fifth deegree drug cases these should be felony cases done by the County Attorney at the last few years they said their coid policy says they're not going to prosecute these cases now that Co is over they're just saying their General policy is not to prosecute these cases so when the decline letter letter comes to our investigators they forward it to us and we will file charges for the fifth degree drug [19:37] Heather Monnens: cases uh every year I do training this last year I've done a couple training sessions with White Bear Lake Police Department I did training in April the training was on report writing as well as just some other various topics just this a couple weeks ago in August we did training for the entire police department I had the pleasure of reading the 500 page Public Safety bill along with the new cannabis bill there's been more changes in our laws this year than I think any other year in my history um some of these changes were anyone over the age of 21 cannabis is now legal in certain amounts there's changes to the DWI laws there's changes to the laws of marijuana in a motor vehicle they're treating it like alcohol in a motor vehicle as long as it's in the trunk it's legal if it's unpackaged [20:23] Heather Monnens: or not in its original form in the front seat it's an offense there's oo changes an expungement this means that if you have a petty misdemeanor or misdemeanor offense there's some mandatory expungements now in Minnesota in the BCA going through those there's been changes to our peeping Tom laws under the old laws peeping Tom you had to be on the outside of someone's house and if you invaded their privacy that was illegal but if you were on the inside and taking videos of them that was not illegal so they've closed the loophole on that they've also added some changes to organized retail theft I think we all heard about those cases where a lot of juveniles would would go into a retail place and just Smash and grab a lot of stuff so they added new violations for that and finally the other thing that is changing with Minnesota laws is starting in October 1st there's a driver's [21:08] Heather Monnens: license for all this means anyone can get a driver's license regardless of immigration status do you have any questions by Council [21:13] Council Member Walsh: so miss m the fifth degree drug cases that the county refuses to charge are we charging them at the city level as a girl SM demeanor then [21:24] Heather Monnens: that's correct and so I've spoken with the county attorney and their policy is if it's a fental case I believe they are charging it then as a felony but other cases they are declining as part of their public policy [21:38] Council Member Walsh: and sorry if I missed it kind of from a numerical standpoint so how common is that how much of a workload is it creating for this at the city level [21:46] Heather Monnens: it's a couple a month I would say couple cases a month that we are charging [21:53] Council Member Walsh: um in an effort to clear the backlog of cases from Co do you feel like the outcomes are rough ly the same or what they should be or is Justice kind of being swept under the rug can you speak to that a little [22:06] Heather Monnens: in the beginning when we were cre when we were trying to get rid of the backlog um at least in Ramsey County the law enforcement jail it was full they weren't they didn't want cases especially for nonviolent offenders and so a lot of those cases would resolve without jail time even though jail time was previously common under pre-co circumstances I think we are going back to um pre-co times but the court is doing a lot more electronic home monitoring in lie of jail time [22:38] Council Member Walsh: okay and then so the last question I had you will P down it a little bit but it sounds like the is is the attendance for law enforcement being able to appear in court gone up because of the remote kind of nature of these cases or is it about on par with what it was when they were required to be in person [22:56] Heather Monnens: I think it's on par I think it's a lot more convenient for our officers a lot of the officers who we need in court especially for the traffic tickets are the ones who are working the night shift so it's a lot more easy for them to appear via Zoom they can only peer via zoom on the traffic ticket so this is the speeding the Running Red Lights any more serious offense we still require in person court [23:21] Council Member Walsh: and are those still kind of cattle call where they might be on standby for two hours or is it are the courts able to more efficiently use their time and give them a narrower window in which to appear [23:31] Heather Monnens: yep we are doing a for court trials it's usually 9:00 10:00 and 11:00 so they're given one of those three time periods [23:39] Council Member Walsh: okay thank you [23:41] Mayor: Council any other questions very good well thank you for the detailed report and keep up the good work thank you thank you all right item 5c Community Development Department by anual report misss Crawford [24:13] Lindy Crawford: thank you mayor uh members of the council I am going to present tonight for the Community Development Department the first half of 202 3 um their by annual budget or excuse me report um so overall um there's been an increase in all divisions in Community Development um for planning um although there's you know no uh numbers to measure there it is important to note that staff spent significantly more time on community engagement during the first half of 2023 with the implementation of the city's New Concept plan process and neighborhood meetings associated with North North Campus 2502 County Road E and 2687 County Road D um for those land use applications um those that all resulted in both better project outcomes and higher Community involvement and satisfaction in the planning process we believe um having that uh new land use process for the building department the city experienced a 177% increase in the total number of permits in the first half of 2023 when compared to the same time last year that resulted in a 97% % increase in plan and permit fees over [25:00] Lindy Crawford: the same period the most significant um contributors to those increases were the lochner apartment building at County Road E and Hoffman Road and improvements at North Campus uh the lachner apartments also contributed over $120,000 to the city uh through Park dedication fees for code enforcement code enforcement complaints uh were steady in the first half of 2022 and 23 um Proactive or city initiated cases were up significantly in 23 as compared to 2022 and that is primarily the result of the code enforcement officer position being vacant for a significant portion of uh last year the types of Code Enforcement cases [25:47] Lindy Crawford: the most significant increases were in the areas of parking motor vehicles and miscellaneous which miscellaneous includes signs animals rental VI rental violations and work done without a per permit the most notable increases in violation in the first half of 23 um when compared with the first half of 22 was in Ward 2 and most of that increase came from exterior storage and motor vehicle violations when we look at zoning um the first half of 2023 we saw 5% increase in zoning activity when compared to the first half of 2022 and there were increases in the number of questions and inquiries and decreases in the number of zoning permits and meetings in the first half of 23 um and with that I can uh try and answer any questions you have [26:40] Mayor: Council any questions from Miss Crawford all right thank you for the report item six public hearings we have nothing scheduled which brings us to item 7A second reading of an ordinance amending chapter 1104 tobacco and related products M Crawford when you're ready [27:10] Lindy Crawford: all right mayor I'm members of the council um so I'll just give a high overview this is the second reading as you just said um so the city currently does not have uh does not expressly regulate tobacco product shops as a separate use in the zoning code current regulations for tobacco product shops need to be updated um to keep Pace with state and federal laws that have changed over the years so to address those areas the city council did impose a moratorium [27:19] Lindy Crawford: ordinance on the establishment and expansion of tobacco shops um that was adopted last September so um at the during that moror period staff and the City attorney did study um our regulations and we have brought to you uh a proposed ordinance we did not make any changes from the first reading and so just um highlights of that proposed ordinance are obviously we updated the definitions and added a new definition for tobacco product shop um as it relates to exclusive tobacco product shops we did uh are proposing a limit of 10 tobacco licenses in any given year in city limits again that's to an exclusive tobacco product shop we updated regulations to align with recent changes in both federal and state laws and it grants Council the authority to impose administrative penalties for [28:06] Lindy Crawford: violating state laws or local ordinances so tonight staff does recommend um that the city council conduct a second reading and adopt the attached ordinance Amendment regarding tobacco and related products and um uh uh adopt the attached resolution authorizing summary publication of the ordinance thank you [28:34] Mayor: all right thank you Miss Crawford I think we we've discussed this a bit last meeting and then at some work session at some point in the past more or less a housekeeping matter we were you know we needed an update to the regulation this brings us kind of up to speed and in line with other municipalities so council do we have any thoughts on this would anyone approve a motion to approve the Ordinance do I have a second [28:51] Council Member: second [28:52] Mayor: any further discussion on that seeing none all those in favor say I [28:56] Council Members: I I I [28:57] Mayor: any opposed motion carries the ordinance passes uh I would entertain a motion to adopt the attached and accompanying resolution [29:06] Council Member: so move [29:07] Council Member: second [29:08] Mayor: have a motion to Second any further discussion on this seeing none all those in favor say I [29:13] Council Members: I I [29:14] Mayor: any opposed motion carries the resolution passes all right item 7B second reading of an ordinance requiring licensing and imposing regulations on the sale of edible cannaboid products Miss Crawford [29:32] Lindy Crawford: thank you mayor members of the council um as you just said this is a second meing of that ordinance um so just a high overview again on July 22 the state legalized certain edible uh THC products or edible canid cannaboid products the council approved an in interim ordinance authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on the sale of those products last September then this legislative SE session the state enacted legislation relating to the local um rating relating to the legalization of cannabis um um and it's everything that we have discussed at the last meeting so I'm going to skip the rest of that so um again once the office of cannabis management is established um they will be the one regulating the author they will be the regulating Authority for the licenses of cannabis businesses in the sale of cannaboid products um however our moratorium is approaching expiration and until um ocm begins licensing the sale of lower potency hemp products [30:24] Lindy Crawford: there will not be any regulatory um Authority overseeing the sale of that in the city so staff um was directed to prepare a an ordinance um uh having a short-term license for those lower potency hemp products and tonight we are here for a second reading of that ordinance and highlights of the ordinance um include obviously applicable definitions eligible and ineligible license qualifications application procedure um the products must be stored in areas not not freely accessible to customers in the general public an application period is consistent with all other their City business licenses sales are only allowed to those 21 years and older it allows for compliance checks revocation and suspension of the [31:10] Lindy Crawford: license the licensing decisions do rest with the city council and it terminates and will no longer be effective uh once the edible cannaboid products are licensed through ocm so um staff does uh recommend you conduct the second reading and adopt the attached ordinance relating to that and as well as adopting the attached resolution approving the summary publication um of the ordinance thank you [31:40] Mayor: very good thank you m Crawford well my brief comments on this it's soon to be taken out of our hands when the ocm has authority to regulate it but in the interim I think it's good public policy that we license it we control it we regulate it until it no longer is in our hands so uh with that I'd entertain a motion to approve the ordinance [31:54] Council Member Walsh: I I'll move the um Ordinance [31:57] Mayor: do I have a second [31:58] Council Member: second [31:59] Mayor: have a motion to Second any further discussion [32:02] Council Member Walsh: M wall before you call uh thank you I just want to say uh thank you to the staff this is really good work and we didn't have to do this as a city we asked the staff to do this work with this interim ordinance you know to to plug the Gap we found ourselves a year ago kind of in an unregulated mess and we really had our hands were tied we really nothing we can do so this kind of cleans that up and I feel a little better for this interim period to have this regulation in place and same goes for the tobacco ordinance getting all that cleaned up this is this represents a lot of work um uh by others not us we just we've given some input and and and watched you draft it so uh I I think we're in good shape after we pass both these ordinances today and then we have more coming obviously even today and and then uh in the future so [32:51] Mayor: very good any further comments or discussion on this seeing none all those in favor say I [32:56] Council Members: I I [32:57] Mayor: any oppose motion carries the ordinance is adopted uh I'd entertain a motion to approve the accompanying resolution [33:04] Council Member: so move [33:05] Mayor: have a second [33:06] Council Member: second [33:07] Mayor: second any further discussion on that seeing none all those in favor say I [33:11] Council Members: I I [33:12] Mayor: any opposed motion carries the resolution passes all right we're huming Along Ice Cream yeah that's what we're that's what we're going for get this inside a tight 45 minutes we can get our Sugar Rush soon all right item eight new business uh the White Bear area Food Shelf lease agreement Mr Juba [33:28] Rick Juba: thank you mayor and council members um tonight we have uh Perry Peterson the executive director of The White Bear area Food Shelf and Tina vulp the uh board president for the food shelf here with you to talk about a uh new additional service that they're looking to offer and along with that we have a lease consideration because that is uh proposed to be done in City owned property uh so if that sounds familiar to you that's because the food shelf currently operates and will continue to operate out of the uh the city's former public work site uh this is an a additional additional service which again they'll they'll talk about and explain a little bit further here um and before they come up just on the the lease side of things the the business that we have to take care of tonight um if this is in the uh the city's Normandy Center building and uh the picture you're looking at is the Far West End of that building so these spaces were [34:14] Rick Juba: formerly occupied by SEC or Not by secv they're still there uh by the Whitebear drapery and the garden of Hope monory School uh so they have been vacant the school district uh temporarily operated uh during Co a testing center out of the the furthest west Suite uh but they're currently both vacant other Uh current occupants of the space include Comcast uh secv and the Whitebear Dance Center so the proposed lease is a three-year three-year agreement and uh it's for about 3,40 Square ft and the proposed rate has been reduced from the the market rate for that building to reflect improvements at the food shelf is making that the city would have otherwise had to make uh involving the rooftop units so we're reflecting that in the rent um that's a practice that we've used in the past specifically with the the Burger Bar Renovations so uh with that if you have any questions on the lease itself I'd be happy to answer them otherwise I would invite Mr Peterson and Miss WBY up to uh talk about the new operation [35:10] Perry Peterson: very good well thank you so much for having me um really appreciate it and uh um and I'm going to start off with just a quick story um about uh a neighbor that just celebrated their twin daughters graduating from high school um and though now those daughters are off to nursing school and off to a psychology program um and that's an exciting Milestone um especially for a family that was struggling um putting food on the table and uh in the midst of the excitement our neighbor reached out to thank the food shelf um she believed that the great success of her daughters um is attributed to having food um on the table every night and especially nutritious food like vegetables and fruit and all the uh the fresh stuff that the food shelf provides she wanted to thank the food shelf uh for making this happen for her family um and that's why I go to work every day and uh that's why I'm here tonight um [36:32] Perry Peterson: the food shelf doesn't serve nameless people um the food shelf makes a real difference um in the lives of our neighbors and our community and I want to just thank you for this opportunity to be able to share that and just to um and for the partnership that the city of white bear has um with this organization um and the 46 years that it's been part of White Bear Lake uh second I'd like to share with you um that the food uh the food shelf um needs um I'd like to share with you that the food and support needs in our community continue to grow um over the past four years um we have doubled the number of people uh that we've served in a year um [37:21] Perry Peterson: additionally in the last couple of months we've seen a 21% increase um in visits to the Food Shelf um as you might suspect this is due to inflation and also in March uh reduction uh to pre-pandemic levels of SNAP benefits uh which is traditional food stamp uh program uh for people um one uh so our neighbors need our help and as the food shelf we're ready to step up to the challenge uh one of the the Innovative steps that we're taking is a community market at this location um the community market will look and feel like a neighborhood market [38:07] Perry Peterson: uh with low barriers um expanded culturally connected foods and offices to host nonprofits um that partner with us uh to specialize and wraparound services such as rental assistance uh utility assistance access to programs for young families and seniors to just name a few uh the new community market will complement our existing programs uh like our curbside program our mobile our delivery markets um and allow us to return to in-person shopping for our neighbors on top of that it also doubles the number of of people that we can serve um we've been restricted in in our current site so the community market and the lease uh with the city of White Bear Lake are imperative uh for our ability to Leverage The generosity of our community um to serve our neighbors with compassion and dignity um the White Bear area Food Shelf looks forward uh to off uh to utilizing this additional location to better serve our community for years to come and thank you [39:35] Mayor: thank you Mr Peterson yeah um well before we get into questions I just have two comments one I I I wish we weren't sitting here saying that there's a need for expansion um but I'm grateful that you have the resources and the community has the the appetite to make the donations to allow this and make this possible um so I want to applaud you and thank you for all the good work that the wiper Lake Food Shelf does as you know I had an opportunity to to tour the the food shelf and it's a fantastically well-run organization filled with very dedicated volunteers and staff um so you know this is a no-brainer to me I think we're happy to provide the the city's resources um and I'm sure you'll take good care of the property and do good things for the community so I would urge the council to approve this but with that does council have any questions for Mr Peterson council member Walsh [40:24] Council Member Walsh: thank you Mr may I I have two questions one's sort of process one's more philosophical if you'll indulge me and if you'll indulge me Perry um just on the process um what do you think the the the vision is if once you're up and running on the south side uh with the in-person shopping experience you think that's going to it's going to make the line smaller uh in the north side because your curbside delivery takes up the curb a lot I get a call once in a while on the line so is that do you think the line will be alleviated in the future what do you think could happen there [41:00] Perry Peterson: yeah it's it's hard to predict um exactly what's going to happen there um but what the the new facility is going to have currently we have 13 parking spots the new one would have 45 um that would be available so it just would um alleviate some of that pressure um and and people may choose that right they may choose the shopping experience because then they can kind of pick what they want instead of the curb side [41:05] Council Member Walsh: correct [41:06] Perry Peterson: and it's going to be more of a retail experience where people it's going to have expanded hours people can walk in um it's it's not going to be as um limited as our 13 parking spots in our current facility we will continue to use that um it is from um talking to our neighbors they do really appreciate that especially people with Mobility um um issues um so uh the curbside uh program will be able to do that and this this Market will really focus in on fresh fresh items that um people come in for a couple days to be able to pick up some fresh items that way [41:51] Council Member Walsh: yeah thanks on the philosophical side so since you're here and you're an expert just this is a struggle I have all the time when you when you look at the newspaper when you look at the State of the State it's such a tail of two cities or the dichotomy whatever the word is on the one hand you know we see oh low unemployment um wage growth you know you've seen some new statistics there um even when where as consumers we can't get we can't get served sometimes in a restaurant or place because they don't have enough employees um and so you see all that oh everything's going great and then you're not alone in white bir Lake here I mean across the state you know visits to food shelves are doubled you know so what and you gave me some some ideas you know inflation and and obviously the the end of the coid era sort of federal federal support programs but is there something else we're missing or is there I mean you talk about the like the average white bear family that's coming in where are they add in that in that mix [42:43] Perry Peterson: I'd say it's pretty reflective of what I read about our industry um that it's it's a lot of those factors going into that um a lot of people I mean the statistics go to people living you know paycheck to paycheck even uh on several different salary levels and so you have a medical emergency Mercy um you lose a job um I I can remember uh a time just about a month ago that I was out in the parking lot doing something um which is rare for me to be doing it on you know my hands into it but uh I had a lady that just came in and was kind of didn't know what she was doing how the curbside thing worked and she just kind of broke into tears and said I used to volunteer here right I I never thought I'd be here and I lost my job and I'm a single mom and and uh and uh so that that's the the stories that we typically encounter um a lot of times I say it's uh seniors living on fixed incomes and and young families kind of working it out and living on uh jobs that just don't cut it and this is a way that we're able to um make ends meat for people um because of 40% of our food that we distribute is food that we rescue from local grocery stores um so a lot of what we do is a redistribution within our um within our community is just making sure that food doesn't go to waste [44:12] Council Member Walsh: well I'm glad we're Partners I mean I and I support the expansion of that partnership so yeah [44:17] Mayor: Council any other questions for Mr Peterson thank you very much I had entertain a motion to adopt the attached resolution authorizing the city to execute a lease agreement uh with the wiper Lake Food Shelf [44:33] Council Member: second [44:34] Council Member: second [44:35] Mayor: any further discussion seeing none all those in favor say I [44:39] Council Members: I I [44:40] Mayor: any oppos motion carries and the resolution passes thank you all right item 8 B first reading of an ordinance amending the fee schedule... M Crawford please [45:19] Lindy Crawford: thank you mayor um so tonight is a first reading amending the fee schedule uh regarding um licensing and imposing regulations on the sale of edible Canon product products um uh so we have added uh license uh or excuse me fees in for the ordinance that you just adopted um Associated fees for the application a license and administrative offense expenses um those are what is missing in our ordinance right now because this is a new license so for for the moment we are proposing to mirror the cost of um uh tobacco license things um we may suggest uh increasing these fees later in the year we'll see when we do our regular um uh fee schedule review but uh the license is $125 the application and background is $500 and then penalties um vary in in prices in your um attached staff report so following a second reading in a public hearing so we're not doing a public hearing tonight for this but following a second reading in public hearing um those are scheduled for September 12th we will ask you to consider adopting that so thanks [46:13] Mayor: very good thank you Mr Crawford Council any comments on this council member Walsh [46:18] Council Member Walsh: one question Mr Mayor so the the $500 application background is a one time presumably and then the 125 occurs yearly is that what we're looking at or [46:28] Lindy Crawford: um uh mayor council member Walsh uh yes that is the initial application uh again this will only be in effect for 18 months oh that's right but there would be two cycles I guess okay MH [46:42] Mayor: any other questions or comments on this all right we'll take it up again at the next council meeting item 8 C first reading of an ordinance prohibiting the use of cannabis products in public spaces M Crawford [46:58] Lindy Crawford: thank you mayor uh members of the council so as part of the bill legal realizing the use of cannabis the legislature did not prohibit the use of cannabis in public spaces instead they left that to local units of government for um the right to do that use of cannabis involving the inhalation of smoke aerosol or vapor is prohibited in any location where smoking is prohibited under the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act um there are other specific location prohibits uh prohibitions in the new law um such as public schools if you will but there is not a general uh Prohibition in the on the use in public spaces so at the direction of the city council at the regular meeting on J July 25 the City attorney and staff prepared an ordinance prohibiting the use of cannabis and public spaces within City Limits highlights of that ordinance include um uh definitions including definitions of public places in which the use of cannabis cannabis products is prohib hited under the ordinance the statute excludes certain places from being considered a public place so the definition of public place expressly includes those places the focus is on places owned by governmental entities um not private places such as a store parking lot uh it does include public RightWay um and I believe sidewalks it prohibits use uh again in public places uh the penalty is a petty misdemeanor and the ordinance also states that an administrative penalty may be imposed um that ordinance is proposed to go into effect the first day of publication um of summary so with that may be a little bit confusing there and jumbled but we're conducting a first reading of the ordinance and the City attorney and I can stand for any questions um we will have a um uh a public hearing and the second reading at the September 12 city council meeting thank you [48:38] Mayor: thank you m Crawford just for clarification sake because there's sort of this Cliff of what we can and can't regulate in the very near future this our ability to prohibit the use of cannabis in public places doesn't go away it will continue even after the state takes over the licensing structure has more of an active role is that correct [49:05] City Attorney: yes Mr Mayor this is something that's part of the new law and is an ongoing Authority the city has the only thing I could perhaps see is once the rules are published maybe they get into defining some of the terms that they use in the statute like public park with equipment you know kind of flushing some of that out a little bit more but other than that this is something that the city retains authority over [49:33] Mayor: very good Council any other questions on this council member Jones [49:36] Council Member Jones: what's uh so cannabis will be legal correct what's the difference between cannabis and tobacco in public spaces if cannabis is now legal why aren't we saying to going right with this cuz I don't want the cops to be called going there some guy smoking pot in XYZ area and no he's not he's smoking a camel so I'm confused about do you know I will probably vote against against this because I think it's dumb that we have tobacco can smoke everywhere but you can't smoke a legal product [50:23] Mayor: so perhaps our City attorney could just clarify for the record what the status is of uh tobacco usage in public parks [50:33] City Attorney: sure Mr Mayor in Council uh in looking at this I would say that your ordinance doesn't have a a clear message on that when it comes to Tobacco there is a provision when it comes to liquor though uh and it's it's earlier in the same section that has very similar not in Parks not in parking lots that sort of thing so this is to be fair this is really modeled more off off of the liquor prohibition than it is off the smoking prohibition um but there is some the statute already lines up uh as I mentioned in the cover memo uh lines up smoking indoors uh so if you can't smoke a cigarette you also can't smoke uh cannabis indoors those sorts of things so some of that already stat right some of that's already lined up in state law [51:25] Council Member Jones: that makes sense but I don't believe I I think I can cross the street smoking a cigarette right now but if it was Cannabis I could not [51:36] Mayor: I think you rais a good point let's prohibit the use of tobacco use in public places [51:40] Council Member Jones: so I mean I honestly why I'm against it is not because it's one of the other do let's make things simple for our staff and our police or whoever it's either both or none [51:50] Council Member Hughes: council member Hughes uh mayor members of the council well I guess I go back to the liquor laws you can't walk around at the open can of Miller in the middle of the park down the street yep um you can't bring it in here maybe you can I don't know but I don't think you can so there you can um so I think it's a little bit more I mean as you said cannabis is I think while the while the uh method of use is similar to a cigarette the effect are more similar to alcohol and those effects are what we're trying to avoid having take place on the dock or on the Park Bench I mean people are irritated by secondhand smoke for sure but the drunk guy or the high guy is the guy that he's more I'd like to avoid in the park [52:39] Council Member Jones: no and I anticipated that and council member houon I'm not trying to do a gacha here uh um there's different ways to take the Cannabis it's not just in Smoke form so are we going to make that illegal to take it in any other form walking down the sidewalk in public spaces and how do we enforce that [53:07] Mayor: that's a great question and this is just this is not us it's not looking at staff and going ah gotcha this is like one going back to the state and go nice crappy law that you wrote or that you didn't and you didn't think of everything and Let's Jam it down the cities and let make the municipalities deal with it um but the my honestly my biggest concern Mr Marian council is really I mean if somebody is smoking a cigarette or smoking I mean how do how do cop's going to stop and you know every time someone's smoking and exhaling or it's in the winter time and it's just my breath I wasn't smoking at all oh sorry maybe I'm taking it to the nth degree but it's just something to consider thought process moving towards the next you know reading [54:02] Council Member Hughes: council member Hugh um mayor memb of the council I don't necessarily disagree with that but it does talk about here um Edibles um so it's not just limited to the method of um whatever you call it the method of using the product intake um and and I don't disagree in terms of like how's the police officer going to know to me this isn't the GU caught in the act it's this is a method that maybe you know GD law uses later on because um you've got you've been high in the Park 12 times and finally somebody caught it on video however you took it and they can then use that but I don't think I mean to your point I don't think this is to the this isn't probably going to be used every other afternoon this isn't what she's going to be spending her time on yeah yeah it just maybe is a tool in her toolbx [55:00] Council Member Jones: true no that's actually a valid point you actually and I could you know I'm sure I walk down the street with my water bottle of foot of vodka drinking all day long anyways and nobody knows it I've never done that [55:18] Council Member: true wow don't start say how they how are they going to police that right I really don't do that I don't like guns no short term remember my mouth is just getse you walk down the just to your friend's house it's whiskey in an apple juice bottle [55:41] Mayor: all right this being a first reading any other comments on this sorry Mr Mayor thank you for sure thank you very good all right we'll take this up again at the next council meeting that uh that went sideways quick item nine discussion we have nothing further scheduled item 10 communication from our city manager Miss Crawford [56:12] Lindy Crawford: okay a few announcements um uh Senator Heather guson was selected as a league of Minnesota City's legislator of Distinction in 2023 um 20 House of Representatives were selected and 15 Senator members were recognized so just wanted to call attention to that um thank you for her work um and the housing telephone survey is underway that is being conducted Ed by the Morris Leatherman company um so we have put uh something in the paper and on social media um uh notifying the the um public about that um DNR we have a drought warning response phase which requires um water uh requires us to um uh excuse me reduce our water supply measures so this is just a reminder to everyone that watering lawn is Lawns is prohibited between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through September every day of the week here in wer Lake yeah MH [57:12] Council Member Jones: if I do that is I don't know is that a misdemeanor that the County prosecutor won't prosecute or just making my point is he get to choose any other things that he doesn't want to using cannabis while Watering your yard you're in a lot of on the Boulevard on the right way on the right public thank you madam sorry city manager no M Crawford please thank you [57:35] Lindy Crawford: okay City Hall um the entrance to City Hall off of 2 Street will be closed starting tomorrow for approximately a month yep it's going to be terrible yes yes I see you in the morning um so on your uh on the screen is a detour route um directing people um to Bald Eagle into third so is going to be incredibly tight here if you are here consider please um parking elsewhere cuz we are not going to have much parking at all um between police and uh fire and the license be customers so for about a month yes and that did go on social media um today so that is what I have for tonight thank you [58:20] Mayor: all right questions from Miss Crawford seeing none I'd entertain a motion to adjourn [58:26] Council Member: move [58:27] Mayor: all those in favor say I or adjourn slam that game in one hour yeah he's trying to make the one hour mark that really is surprising I thought this was going to be a late look [58:43] Council Member: intoxication trying you guys were flying through it it's there so that