This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context provided and the internal dialogue. *Note: Since the source text did not include timestamps, [00:00] placeholders have been used to maintain your requested format.* *** **[00:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** So all right welcome everyone I'm going to call to order the regular city council meeting of the Richfield city council it is April 11th at 7 pm and first of all we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance so if you are able please rise and contribute we'll continue 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 thank you next we will move on to the open Forum if you are watching online and you would like to call into the open Forum you can do so by dialing one four one five six five five zero zero zero one and use webinar access code 2452 -284 -3681 and password one two three four if you are here in person we'll be calling people up in a moment and just a reminder that we're all neighbors here and so um please withhold any comments from the audience and stick to the issues thank you so is there anyone that city clerk Leslie that has called in? **[00:01] City Clerk Leslie:** Yeah it looks like we have one let me get them on here here right and then after that we'll go to the person that's here in person. **[00:01] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right and for the caller and for the people here in person please state your name and your address and you have three minutes caller can you hear us hello thank you for your patience mayor and Council they may just be watching I may they may not want to participate uh we can ask them uh call on user six one two three eight two do you want to speak at the open forum give them a moment to respond um you are unmuted if you want to say yes no okay so thank you I'm glad we cleared that up now we have someone who's filled out a form in person we have Suzanne sandal that would like to speak on about the Ridgefield Eco fair so you have three minutes and please state your name and your address and go ahead thank you. **[00:02] Suzanne Sandal:** Thank you Suzanne sandal my address is 6600 Lyndale Avenue South number 801 in Richfield and I'm happy to be here this evening and say hello I'm here to update both the residents and the city council regarding the Richfield Eco Fair which is going to take place on Saturday April 15th is coming Saturday from 10 in the morning to 3 P.M at Richfield High School which is located at 70th and Harriet Avenue and on behalf of the ritual League of Women Voters we wish to thank the city of Richfield for their help in co-sponsoring the Eco fair with us we also wish to thank Richfield Visions for their major support Donna Drummond who is currently the chair of the Eco Fair asked me to offer a special thank you to Rich Rachel Lindholm the city's sustainability specialist who was fantastic to work and I'm quoting her now fantastic to work with and very responsive and helpful so please give her a Kudo maybe she will have to bring a plaque to her but she's been very helpful the Eco fair is free and it will be interesting and fun for all ages we have registered 30 vendors who will be there at the high school and includes a variety of interests North Solar Drive electric Minnesota the home energy Squad XL Energy Hennepin County Recycling of course Hennepin County Master Gardeners all Lawns of Richfield and Bloomington city of Richfield the Community Development will be present water resources and sustainability friends of wood Lake um we've also got various vendors who deal with landscaping and climate and there's another one from the mpca which is get the let out so we have a good group of vendors and there's more than I've mentioned we have 30 of them we're also going to have a kids activity area the ritual Garden Club will be helping children to make a newspaper pot fill it with soil and plant a bee friendly Wildflower we'll have more wildflowers growing in Richfield each child will be able to pick out a free book donated by the friends of the Southdale Library they've been withdrawn from the library but they're going to be donated to any children who come and there will also be block Building supplies coloring and art activities in addition to the little newspaper pot there are five scheduled speakers who will provide information from 10 30 to 1 30 on the half hour and they'll be covering answers dealing with recycling composting offering ways to reduce plastic at home discussing electric vehicles and creating habitat and Community by converting your lawn there will also be door prizes for the attendees and the high school green team has gotten involved they'll be selling snacks for people who get hungry while they're looking around um and also door prizes that have been donated by the attendees or been solicited so we hope you'll all attend it should be a great event and invite your neighbors to come because a good Community event and if you need any further information you can check the Richfield Richfield website which would be Richfield MN richardminn.gov forward slash Eco Fair so I'm happy to let you know and we'll hope to see you all there thank you. **[00:04] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right thank you is there anyone else who wishes to speak all right and is there anybody else online that has joined us? **[00:04] City Clerk Leslie:** There's not. **[00:04] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right then we're finished with the open forum next we'll move on to um the approval of the minutes of the special city council work session of March 25th 2023 and the city council work session of March 28 2023 and the city council work session of March 28 2023. **[00:05] Council Member:** Move approval. **[00:05] Council Member:** Second. **[00:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** Okay it's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes are there any comments or questions all right all in favor please say aye. **[00:05] City Council:** Aye. **[00:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? We've approved the minutes next we'll move on to approval of the agenda. **[00:05] Council Member:** I'd move the approval of the agenda. **[00:05] Council Member:** Second. **[00:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded is there any discussion all in favor of approving the agenda please say aye. **[00:05] City Council:** Aye. **[00:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right we've approved the agenda next we'll move on to the consent calendar city manager Rodriguez. **[00:06] 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 once the consent calendar has been approved the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved no further Council action on these items is necessary on tonight's consent calendar item a consider a request for site plan approval at 8 17 66th Street East or an optometrist Clinic Item B consider adoption of a resolution requesting an advance payment of Municipal state aid Street funds to collect funds available for the completion of ongoing and upcoming projects item C consider approval of a bid tabulation and award of contract two corrective asphalt materials LLC for the 2023 multin pavement Rejuvenation project in the amount of a hundred thousand seven hundred dollars and authorize the city manager to approve contract changes under 175 000 without further city council consideration finally item D consider approval of a temporary on sale intoxicating liquor license for the Richfield foundations a toaster Richfield event to take place on Thursday May 11 2023 in the atrium area of Woodlake center located at 6601 Lindale Avenue South and I submit these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar tonight thank you. **[00:07] Mayor Mary Supple:** Is there a motion on the consent calendar? **[00:07] Council Member:** I'd move the consent calendar. **[00:07] Council Member:** Second. **[00:07] Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded are there any comments or discussion all right all in favor please say aye. **[00:07] City Council:** Aye. **[00:07] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right we've approved the consent calendar next we are going to be moving on to item four which is consideration of the adoption of a resolution approving the contract with the labor and trades Local 49 for the period January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2023 and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement council member Christensen. **[00:08] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Yes thank you mayor City staff have completed labor negotiations with the tree labor and trades Local 49 the union the provisions of the 2023 labor agreement cover all of the 39 employees in this Union the one-year contract provides a cost of living wage adjustment of 3.00 percent in 2023 consistent with other employee groups it also provides a one-time increase of 25 cents per hour to replace the CDL license share pay there is also a one-time increase of 1.50 cents per hour to the lt3 pay to align better with the market currently there are no permanent lt3 positions but staff are moved into the lt3 position temporarily when supervisors are out there is also a two dollar per hour shift differential for nights and weekends added for water plant employees also to better align with the market callback pay is being increased to double time on three specific holidays the agreement also includes the same employer-provided health and dental insurance contributions as given to the city's non-representative representative employee groups and other bargaining units it also provides nominal increases to the uniform slash boot allowance and to a licensure slash certification pay rate last we are entering an agreement to participate in the Local 49 Training Center fund at a rate of 10 cents per hour for each our work by employees and any classification that fall under this contract does the staff have anything that they would like to comment? **[00:09] Assistant City Manager Sack Thongvanh:** I'm the assistant city manager and the minister of service manager we started the Union location local 49ers and I was completing it there's a lot of complexity so that took a little longer anticipated but we don't have any I don't have any additional comments with the America bye the financial impact but that's only dependent on management and for the 2024 30. this year purpose of this agreement was a one-year contract or so um. **[00:10] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** To make sure I understand because you just triggered a question so it's a one-year contract so they were under the old contract before this and then we are now going to retroactively go back to January 1st is correct? **[00:10] Assistant City Manager Sack Thongvanh:** Okay and the old contract were they working under an expired contract at some point the typical under Union negotiation the hearing contract exists until was understanding but I wanted to make sure that was clear thank you. **[00:10] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Any other questions for staff? You have a motion to approve the to approve the um executive summary on this. **[00:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right we have a motion before us to um adopt the resolution approving the contract for the labor trades Local 49 for the period of January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2023 and authorized the city manager to execute the agreement so that is what we are voting on all in favor please say aye. **[00:10] City Council:** Aye. **[00:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right we have adopted the resolution thank you next we'll move on to consider the appointments to City Advisory Board and commissions and the Richfield tourism and promotion board council member Troutman. **[00:11] Council Member Troutman:** Thank you mayor uh just a point of uh clarification with with uh maybe attorney Teigen would it be appropriate that the mayor can the commission actually appoint or the council appoint Commissioners or is that for the mayor we were wondering? **[00:11] Mayor Mary Supple:** Oh great well I'm very pleased to take this action then we had the opportunity to uh to meet and interview a number of incredible uh candidates both for our commissions and our tourism board and uh we're really excited and grateful for for the the new uh set of Commissioners and board members so I would move the appointment of members to fill the expiring or vacant terms of the city Advisory Board and commissions and the Richfield tourism and promotion board that are referenced in the attached list. **[00:12] Council Member:** Second. **[00:12] Mayor Mary Supple:** Is there any discussion before we vote? **[00:12] Council Member Thomas:** Council member Troutman has only got six names would you want to just quickly read off the names? **[00:12] Council Member Troutman:** Sure for The Advisory Board of Health we have uh Lynn Hargreaves and David Martin for the Human Rights Commission we have Valerie hurstbaker and Michael zazera and then for the tourism board we have Vidya munasami and tuin win. **[00:12] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right and I just would like to thank all of the people that applied for the various positions we had more applicants than we had positions and I want to say thank you to all of them and it was it's always heartwarming to do these interviews because you hear about how much people want to give back to their community and how um they want to be involved in and make Richfield a better place so I just want to say thank you to all of the applicants and I hope that they will stay involved whether if it's not through a commission through some other way in our Civic life so all right council member Troutman I'm sorry. **[00:13] Council Member Troutman:** Thank you thank you mayor um I just had a question in years past where we've had more applicants than we've had positions we've sent a list of other organizations uh that people could apply to and I appreciate the mayor saying we had really talented really energetic candidates it would be a shame for people to want to serve and not be able to serve um so I was thinking specifically we have uh the the pen Fest committee is becoming more active and the red white and blue days commission could really use volunteers and so I don't know if those two are on the list but they surely could be and I can add one more I know the Richfield Foundation is always looking for volunteers to help with their activities as well. **[00:14] Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you council member Troutman is there anyone else who wishes to comment all right so we have a motion before us to appoint the members to fill the expiring or vacant terms on the city Advisory Board and commissions and the Richfield tourism and promotion board that are referenced in the list that council member Troutman read off is all in favor please say aye. **[00:14] City Council:** Aye. **[00:14] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right we've appointed the members and thank you all for your service next we will move on to the city managers report. **[00:14] City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** Thank you mayor nothing to report tonight. **[00:14] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right well then we'll move on to claims and payroll. **[00:14] Council Member:** I'll move claims in payroll. **[00:14] Council Member:** Second. **[00:14] Mayor Mary Supple:** Okay claims and payroll have been moved and seconded is there any discussion thank you all right all in favor please say aye. **[00:15] City Council:** Aye. **[00:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right we've approved the claims in payroll now we'll move on to hats off to Hometown hits and why don't we start with council member Troutman. **[00:15] Council Member Troutman:** Thank you um the uh the only um the only announcement that I have is on behalf of the Human Rights Commission every year we have the opportunity to Grant the Gene and Mary Jacobson outstanding citizen of the Year award and now is the time where you can make that nomination so if you have a friend or neighbor or somebody at this the schools who's really made an impact in in the city of Richfield The Human Rights Commission would love love to hear from you and uh Mr Swanson if they want it is it on the the city website what's the best way where on the website could they they find it? You can for sure find it on the Human Rights Commission uh portion of the page but um if it's not on the front page it is soon coming to the front page so we want to make it easy for you to to think and recognize a fellow citizen thanks so much. **[00:16] Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you council member Hayford O'Leary. **[00:16] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I was going to mention the adopted drain program again it's on my mind because I went out did spring cleaning of my corner storm drains um it's it's quite fun actually and a good helpful thing to do because they do get clogged up with leaves and sediment and streets can flood and in addition the water gets more polluted as it gets all the nutrients from the leaves and pushes it into the storm system so if you go to adopt Dash uh Dash drain.org you can sort of see ones that need to be signed up and we recently had our Watershed meeting and learned that at least in the Richfield Bloomington Watershed we've only got 60 households that have signed up so there's a lot more storm drains to go around so definitely look at signing up and it is it is quite satisfying especially if you're kind of a clean freak like me so. **[00:17] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right thank you council member Christensen. **[00:17] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Yes I'd like to give a shout out to the public works department this past week with that mini blizzard we had and uh how they effectively and got out there right away as good as they could that early that morning to do the plowing and the streets and to make everything passable for individuals who needed to go out that day. **[00:17] Mayor Mary Supple:** All right thank you um I had an inquiry from a resident about ways to clear up the trees that the branches that were down from the um storm that you just referenced and so I checked in and it comes to the yard waste program if you're signed up for that it's going to start April 15th and that may be one of the options you might want to think about if you have smaller debris in your yard so if a resident has signed up for Yard Waste Services they can put the following in their curbside container and that'll be starting after April 15th you can put in Brush and branches but they must be three inches or less in diameter bundled with twine or rope no wire and the bundles must be less than three feet long and the bundles must weigh less than 40 pounds so that would take care of a great deal of the debris that's out there and it's helpful for people to know that if they had signed up for the yard waste service if the resident doesn't have Yard Waste Service they can have pay per bag service which includes the bundles at five dollars and fifteen cents per bag or bundle but you'll have to contact the city or the hauler to add that service and finally if the debris is bigger than that the city doesn't provide that service but you may want to contact there are several services in the metro area that can help you with that if you don't have the means to take it to a place that would take in large trunks of trees and things like that so I want to thank that Resident that reached out and suggested that we share that with the rest of the community to help clean up the neighborhoods um another thing I want to talk about is I had the pleasure of joining a class last night at Augsburg library so Karina Kelton—excuse me I have trouble reading my own writing—okay Karina Kelton Melton and I think I just misspelled her name but anyway Karina and her team invited me to Augsburg library they have a Minnesota Humanities Center Grant and it's for cultural and Spanish literacy curriculum for Richfield and Bloomington at the Augsburg library and so I was able to join them last night and it was just great to see the kids were doing cultural activities and singing and dancing and I do want to apologize for having sloppy handwriting because I mispronounced the teacher's name but it was a fabulous program and um city clerk Leslie I'll get you the correct name for the minutes so that we do the shout out to the right person all right thank you and finally today um was the grand opening ribbon cutting for the um Memorial Blood Centers that have now moved into Richfield and they're at the Woodlake centers at 6601 Lindale Avenue and we're proud to have them as part of the community they've been saving lives since 1948 and it's through residents that come in and do blood donations so welcome to the memorial Blood Centers all right is there any other business to come before us would someone like to um motion for the adjournment? **[00:19] Council Member:** I would so move. **[00:19] Council Member:** Second. **[00:19] Mayor Mary Supple:** Okay it's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting all in favor please say aye. **[00:19] City Council:** Aye. **[00:19] Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right we've adjourned the meeting thank you.