Since the original text did not include timestamps, I have estimated them based on a standard speaking rate to fulfill the requested format. [00:00] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to call together this meeting of the Richfield city council. It is Tuesday, January 28th at 7 p.m. Thank you all for being here. If you are able, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll be moving on to the open forum. Participants in the open forum may share their comments in person, by voicemail, or email, or may also request to participate virtually if you notify us ahead of time by, I believe it's 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. For more information on submitting comments, you can refer to the city agenda and minutes web page on Richfieldmn.gov. So thank you all for attending tonight's meeting and participating in open forum. At the moment, I have five cards, so if anybody else wishes to sign up that hasn't, there's a black rolling card in the back that you can sign up on. The procedure for the people that are here in person is you can sign in and state your name and address and I'll begin timing after that; you'll have three minutes. Please respect that time limit so everybody has a chance to have their opinions heard. The council will be listening and taking notes but will not be responding to the comments. This open forum is designed to hear from you and not be a debate. Thank you. And there's one other thing before we start: I believe later on the agenda in item seven there will be some hearings for alcohol compliance. If you're for the alcohol compliance hearings, you'll get a chance to speak then, so you don't need to sign up for open forum. Thank you. Did anybody email or send anything in, or is it just the five people that are here in person? Okay. So thank you so much and first up is Scott Dolquist. [02:45] **Scott Dolquist:** Good evening, am I coming through? Yes, we can. Oh, there we go. Good evening, my name is Scott Dolquist. I have been a Richfield resident since 1991 and am a member of Wood Lake Lutheran Church, which is across the street from the former Crossroad Apartment building now known as Concierge. The transformation of this property into its current form was difficult to watch. The property has become an asset to the community and a home to those who can afford it, but at the cost of displacing many who were clearly not welcome anymore. In the end, I concluded that what was done was legal, but I will not call it just. Our current state of urban homelessness is the product of many factors. Stable housing is the foundation of a successful life. Now, the ability to own property and maximize its use is also one of the foundations of our economic system, which has provided all of us with many benefits but also produces many inequalities. I therefore urge this Council to approve a memorandum of understanding supporting requests for financial assistance and 4D tax status from Hemple Real Estate for the acquisition and preservation of three identified affordable rental communities. I believe this action will help to ensure the presence of naturally occurring affordable housing within our community. Thank you. [04:30] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. And if anyone is just arriving, if you wish to speak, there's cards on the rolling cart in the back. All right, next we will go on to Kathleen Balaban. [04:45] **Kathleen Balaban:** Good evening, my name is Kathleen Balaban and I live on 65th and Stevens. Welcome to my two new council members, Mr. Burk and Miss Coleman-Woods. One of the things that our citizens may not know is that you two are also sitting Commissioners to our Charter Commission, and that is saying one big whoa. I really appreciate that; that is truly going to be a wonderful opportunity for our city because the Commissioners don't report to our city, you report to the district judge. Thank you for joining this council. With that said, I am going to be requesting that the city council and the charter members collaborate to review and update their respective roles and responsibilities. Richfield operates under a Council-Mayor home rule city with a City Charter Commission of 15 members. I attended the charter commission annual meeting earlier this month and was completely surprised at what I had witnessed in terms of agenda and time spent. To me, it was unconscionable that it would only take 15 minutes for an annual meeting. When looking at Richfield’s Chapter 3, the administrative code, the Council may notice that most of these codes haven't been reviewed and or updated in decades—30 years, 40 years. Come on you guys, technology, you know? So I'm asking that you guys collaborate and get together to create documentation in a government that is transparent. Thank you very much. [07:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you and welcome new members. All right, next we have Rod Sather, and I apologize if I mispronounced your last name. [07:25] **Rod Sather:** Hi, I'm Rod Sather. I live at 6321 Thomas Avenue South in Richfield. I just want to say that I came up out of the work session that was held here starting at 6 o'clock this evening and I want to compliment City staff, the city council, and the mayor on the way they work together. I think I just need to say thank you for what you're doing and I encourage the public, if they have any concerns about issues, look at the agenda, especially for the work session, and come and attend. So I want to say thank you. [08:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Next we have Melissa Melnick Gonzalez. [08:25] **Melissa Melnick Gonzalez:** Good evening, Mayor Supple and members of the city council. My name is Melissa Melnick Gonzalez. I'm pastor of Tapestry. We are a Community of Faith part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; we're housed at Oak Grove Lutheran Church here in Richfield. In 2014, we started at Wood Lake Lutheran Church and we had as our outreach area what is now Concierge Apartments—at the time, Crossroads. As a brand new pastor, all of a sudden I was called in to do some work with housing when 2,000-plus people were displaced from their homes due to a sale of the property. I come today to talk in support of the resolution supporting 4D tax classification for Hemple Real Estate. I hope that Richfield will continue its work that's happened since Crossroads in 2014 to maintain affordable housing that is accessible for people based on income and other reasons. Strong communities depend on strong housing. Thank you. [10:10] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Next we have David Snider. [10:20] **David Snider:** Good evening Miss Mayor and council members. I'm Dave Snider, I live at 513 West 70th Street for the last seven years or so. I'm here to speak in support of negotiating granting 4D tax status to the properties to work with Hemple Real Estate to preserve their affordability. I’ll speak briefly: as long as I’ve lived in Richfield, I have made the trip to various apartment buildings to pick up or drop off friends of my kids from school—football practice, volleyball, concerts. If there is a dividing line between homeowners and renters here, it's just in our heads. We all live here together. If it's going to cost maybe a couple of bucks a year to make sure that we preserve the affordable rental housing of nearly 500 neighbors so they aren't displaced, it's worth it. Because Richfield is worth it. Thanks very much. [11:35] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Next we have Margaret Perez. [11:45] **Margaret Perez:** Um, we also have Leonardo Perez Shields, who's my son. I live at 7228 Gerard Avenue South. It's nice to meet you, Walter—we're on that block on the other side of 35W by Wood Lake that is in your district. Nice to see the new members. I'm here with my 12-year-old son. We've lived here since 2017. One of the challenges that we've experienced is the turnover of families, especially families with young kids that are really struggling to find affordable housing. When they leave our school system, it's a loss for families like ours because my kids lose friends and they lose stability in their lives. So these aren't just housing units; these are real people. I'm incredibly supportive of leveraging 4D tax status to support Hemple in coming in as a preservation buyer. Since I have a little bit of a soapbox, not only do we need to be preserving affordable housing, but we do need to figure out creative solutions to continue building more affordable housing and really housing of any income level. I told Leo that he didn't have to say anything if he didn't want to, but I'm going to offer the floor to him in case he does want to add anything. [13:30] **Leonardo Perez Shields:** I don’t. [13:32] **Margaret Perez:** He agrees with me, though. [13:35] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak for open forum? Last call here. All right, then we will close the open forum and move on in our agenda to approval of the minutes of the city council's special meeting from January 7th, 2025; the city council work session meeting from January 7th, 2025; the city council work session meeting from January 14th, 2025; and the city council regular meeting from January 14th, 2025. [14:10] **Council Member Walter Burk:** So moved. [14:12] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [14:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve all sets of minutes. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of approving the four sets of minutes please say aye. (Group: Aye). All opposed? And we have approved those four sets of minutes. Next we'll move on to offering a warm welcome to Congresswoman Omar, who's come out to give us a briefing while she's in Minnesota. So welcome, Congresswoman. The floor is yours. [14:50] **Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:** Thank you, and hello everyone. Really happy to be in Richfield tonight. Thank you, Mayor Supple and city council members, for the invitation. I want to start by congratulating Council Member Coleman-Woods and Council Member Burk on your elections. Next, I want to share some of the few activities we participated in in Richfield last year. We were here for a renaming ceremony of the Richfield Post Office—we named it after Charles Lindberg, a longtime Richfield resident and veteran. I was also proud to secure $3 million for the Wood Lake Nature Center a couple years ago. Last year, I was excited to include Richfield's newest Community Project funding proposal as one of our 15 selections; this project would reconstruct the non-ADA compliant pedestrian bridge over I-35W at 73rd Street. I also wanted to give a little update on Congress organizing itself. I am proud to report that I'll be going back on the Education and Workforce Committee with a new leadership role as the ranking member of the Workforce Protection Subcommittee. I will also be going back on the Budget Committee. Last week, I introduced the "Neighbors Not Enemies Act," which will repeal the outdated Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Right now, President Trump and his staff are preparing to invoke this bill. By repealing it, we allow people to understand how unconstitutional this is. We also voted on three pieces of legislation recently—two on immigration and one on anti-abortion. I know you all are absorbing the slew of executive orders. Today it was announced there would be a halting of Federal funding; a court has upheld that funding continues until Monday. We will report back on how it impacts municipal funding. Lastly, as the member of Congress for Richfield, we serve as the liaison to any federal agency. We can help with immigration, work visas, expediting passport applications, and Social Security or Medicare benefits. Please utilize our office. With that, if you have any questions, I can answer. [18:45] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you so much. And I did want to add, you helped us with the United States Postal Service when, with the road construction, there was a delay in getting the drive-up boxes back. That was much appreciated. [19:00] **Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:** One that I actually specialize in, since I used to work for the Post Office. [19:05] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Thank you for being here, Congresswoman. I just wanted to say I do really appreciate your presence in Richfield. I hope we can continue doing that. In general, to say thank you for fighting the good fight. We're very alarmed about what's happening, particularly as a city council member, this threat to federal funding that our residents and all Americans have paid into. Anything you can do to help get the money that cities are owed, we appreciate it. [19:40] **Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:** It would also be helpful when you guys do hear negative impacts to share them with us, because it is going to be really important for us to humanize the kind of impacts that will take place. [19:55] **Council Member Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Thank you again, Congresswoman Omar. I work for an organization in my full-time job called Connections to Independence. One of our partners is the Center for Victims of Torture, and they lost their funding today and had to close their doors. We are hopeful that their funding continues; that work is so important. Thank you for your support. [20:30] **Council Member Walter Burk:** I want to echo a lot of the thanks, but in particular, I want to thank you for your support for veterans both locally and nationally. [20:45] **Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:** Thank you. The hiring freeze actually was one that hit the VA really hard. We're trying to do everything that we can, whether it's through litigation or advocacy, to reverse some of these things. [21:05] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you so much and please come again. Next we'll move on to the approval of the agenda. [21:10] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** I move approval of the agenda. [21:12] **Council Member Walter Burk:** Second. [21:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All in favor please say aye. (Group: Aye). All opposed? And we have approved the agenda. Moving along, we are now on the consent calendar and I'm going to turn it over to City Manager Rodriguez. [21:30] **City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** Thank you, Mayor Supple. The consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion. Item A: first reading of an ordinance amendment pertaining to city code section 925. Item B: authorizing the purchase of two Olympia Millennium e-ice resurfacers. Item C: authorizing the purchase of a Pierce Enforcer fire pumper. Item D: authorizing the purchase of two 2025 Ford Interceptor utility squads. I submit these items for your consideration. [22:15] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** So moved. [22:17] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [22:20] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar. I did want to point out that I was astounded at how long it would take to get things like the Zambonis and the fire trucks—it was like four or five years in advance. Thank you to staff for building that into the budget. Any other discussion? All in favor please say aye. (Group: Aye). All opposed? And we have approved the consent calendar. Next we'll be moving on to item number five and I'm going to turn that over to Council Member Burk. [22:50] **Council Member Walter Burk:** This is item number five: consider a second reading and summary publication of an ordinance amendment regarding drive-through signs. Brinker Foods proposes to replace their existing menu board sign at Taco Bell (7740 Second Avenue South) with a dynamic display. Currently, the sign code permits only one dynamic display sign per property. The applicant has requested an ordinance amendment that would establish regulations specifically for dynamic drive-through signs. Staff proposes moving order board regulations to the sign section of the code and reclassifying them as drive-through signs. The Planning Commission recommended approval on December 9th. The first reading was approved by the Council on January 14th with an amendment limiting dynamic signs to either a single free-standing sign or drive-through signs. I move to approve a second reading and approve a resolution authorizing summary publication. [24:10] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Second. [24:15] **Melissa Poehlman (Community Development Director):** Thank you, Mayor Supple. I believe the ordinance proposed makes all of the changes requested by the council. I'm happy to stand for questions. [24:25] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Just for Director Poehlman, my only concern was a lack of clarity over if you have a menu board sign and you later come to add a free-standing sign. [24:40] **Melissa Poehlman (Community Development Director):** I believe the way it is written, it will offer an exemption for more than one sign if there is a drive-thru. However, if a location like Taco Bell already installed dynamic drive-through signs, they would not be allowed to use another dynamic pylon sign. We will let people know upfront that these will take care of your allowance. [25:15] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Thank you. I’m satisfied that my concern is addressed. [25:20] **Mayor Mary Supple:** The motion has been made and seconded. All in favor please say aye. (Group: Aye). All opposed? All right, we've approved the second reading. Next we'll be moving on to item number six and I'll turn that over to Council Member Coleman-Woods. [25:40] **Council Member Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Thank you. Item up for consideration is a resolution supporting a 4D tax classification for Hemple Real Estate relating to acquisition and preservation of three affordable rental communities: New Orleans Court, Richland Court, and Winston House properties. These contain 236 units and approximately 477 residents. Hemple is seeking to purchase the properties and maintain their affordability for 15 years. They are requesting assistance from the HRA in exchange for limiting rents, which would enable the properties to qualify for 4D tax status. This provides a benefit to the property owner but shifts the tax burden to other taxpayers. For example, city taxes paid by the owner of the median valued home would increase by an estimated $9.97 annually. However, this will be offset by new tax capacity from two TIF districts decertifying in 2026. Failure to support a preservation-oriented buyer could result in the properties being purchased by a market-rate buyer who could displace residents. I move to adopt a resolution approving the use of the 4D tax classification. [28:15] **Council Member Walter Burk:** Second. [28:20] **Melissa Poehlman (Community Development Director):** Mayor Supple, I would just add that we have provided the additional information requested during the work session in your packet. [28:35] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** There's tradeoffs here. We are shifting the tax burden in a small but real way to other property owners. That is tough for me, but the immediate benefit of preserving these unique two and three-bedroom units is worth it. I support this tonight. [29:05] **Council Member Walter Burk:** To me, it’s imagining the people who would be displaced. If I asked a citizen, "Would you pay 10 bucks to keep these people?"—it's as simple as that. I am in favor. [29:30] **Council Member Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** I absolutely agree. A $9 increase may seem small to some, but it is a big deal for those on fixed incomes. However, I consider the large amount of people who would be displaced otherwise. I support this. [29:50] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** I also support this. With the loss of affordable housing, you also lose the school district’s families. This community was built on postwar housing that was affordable. [30:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** I’m also supportive. These are unique circumstances. We are preserving housing for 66 school-age children. I don't want to lose the housing we already have for those at 30% AMI. The TIF decertification offsets the impact. I believe the benefits outweigh the tradeoffs. All in favor please say aye. (Group: Aye). All opposed? And we have passed. Staff, what are the next steps? [31:00] **Melissa Poehlman (Community Development Director):** It will now go back to the HRA with a formal agreement. Hemple is doing their due diligence. It will likely be at the February meeting. [31:20] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Next we'll move on to item number seven and I'll turn it over to Council Member Hayford Oleary. [31:30] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** This is a violation hearing regarding alcohol compliance checks. Three of 25 establishments checked sold alcohol to an underage person. These are first-time offenses for Joy Paya Thai, Divan’s, and MyBurger. For a first-time offense, the recommendation is to suspend the license for 5 days and pay a $1,000 civil fine. Do we have a representative from Joy Paya Thai? (No response). [32:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Can we clarify with the City Attorney what the procedure is if they aren't here? [32:20] **Mary Tietjen (City Attorney):** I would ask staff if they’ve heard if the establishment is admitting or denying the allegations. [32:25] **Jennifer Anderson (Support Services Manager):** They were contacted. They were not contesting the sale. [32:35] **Mayor Mary Supple:** I recommend we adopt the resolution tonight. [32:40] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move the resolution for Joy Paya Thai. (Council Member Burk: Second). All in favor? (Group: Aye). Next, do we have a representative from Devan's? [33:00] **Representative from Devan's:** (Approaches) We admit guilt and accept the penalties. [33:15] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move the resolution for Divan Inc. (Council Member Christensen: Second). All in favor? (Group: Aye). And finally, MyBurger. [33:30] **Joe Spencer (MyBurger District Manager):** Joe Spencer, district manager. We admit guilt and have no contests. [33:45] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move the resolution for MyBurger Operations LLC. (Council Member Coleman-Woods: Second). All in favor? (Group: Aye). [34:00] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Item number eight, Council Member Christensen. [34:10] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** This is to consider appointment to fill a vacancy on the Sustainability Commission. We are asking to approve the appointment of Alexa Rosak as Sustainability Commissioner. [34:30] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Second. Any discussion? All in favor? (Group: Aye). All opposed? We have approved the new commissioner. City Manager’s report. [34:45] **City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** Staff are pulling together potential Federal funding that could be threatened or delayed based on the Trump Administration's recent order. We will keep you updated. [35:10] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Hats off to Wood Lake Nature Center. Even though it's under construction, they are keeping up with camps at various locations. [35:25] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Hats off to residents at Lakeside Condos for their feedback on the site south of their building. [35:40] **Mayor Mary Supple:** I'll add a hats off to the Wood Lake Nature Center farewell event last Sunday. And another hats off to Sha Smith, who organizes donations for homeless encampments, and Teka Smith, who cooks meals for the unsheltered. Thank you for all you do. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. [36:10] **Council Member Walter Burk:** Move adjournment. [36:12] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [36:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All in favor? (Group: Aye). We stand adjourned.