Here is the transcription with speaker names added based on the context provided. Note: The transcript mentions "Council Member Whalen" and "Council Member Troutman," who are current members of the Richfield City Council but were not included in your initial context list. I have included them as they appear in the dialogue. *** **[00:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** I it was some weird thing yeah so I just ignored it thaty sitting there a guy right there yeah he comes to almost every meeting now good evening everyone I'm going to call to order this regular city council meeting of the city of Richfield it's March 12th 24 and at 7 p.m. um if you are able please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. **[00:30] All:** 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. **[00:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you um the first item on our agenda is the open Forum um I have three people that have filled out registration cards that would like to speak um if there's anyone else who needs to fill would like to fill one out you can get one from management analyst um Swanson who's in the audience if you want to call in you can call in to open Forum by dialing 1415 655 00001 and you can see on the screen that the meeting ID is 2631 053 8891 and the password is 1234 um if you're here to comment tonight please keep your comments to three minutes we'll call people up one at a time you can identify yourself and sign in and then I'll start the timer um so it doesn't look like we have anybody online and also there's a public hearing later on the city Charter so if you want to speak the public hearing that's a separate matter this is just for the open Forum so first person I have on my list is Kathleen Balaban so if you want to come up there is a public hearing on the if you want to wait for the public hearing you can or you can speak now it's up to you thank you. **[01:30] Kathleen Balaban:** just the church almost I apologize all this time I thought we were a mayor councel um uh City ruled home ruled okay but I found out recently that all this time I was in error that we're really a council manager City ruled um just for your information I'm going to round it by a couple cities but there's 845 47 cities in the state of Minnesota 170 of them are home ruled and of that only 30 are city manager ruled okay only 30 in primary L rural well we were rural at one time but we're not anymore so with that said I uh again I apologize for coming to you with issues when in fact we should be coming to our city manager one of the things that caught my ear was two weeks ago when I was at the workshop for the compensation issue H compensation that is an issue but at the same time some remedies for what we have uh but I heard from the city manager telling our city council that two months into the year because this was in February that we were already over budget as a city I find that hard to comprehend whether it was just on the comprehension excuse me compensation aspect of the of the budget or anywhere else in the city but none one of you mentioned anything about that could you explain that to me could you tell me why we're already over budget in the first 60 days of the year I'm asking you because I did a little research that the way we are ruled is you have only policy and legislature Authority and in the city Charter you're going to change the one and only place where we have a will to a May and that is to manage the city's performance to some extent I would like to see different policies written by you cuz I saw them in the 2040 plan cuz I went looking for policies and the only ones there are on land housing transportation and those skills that our city manager brought to the table along with funding nowhere does it say our policy is to put procedures in place for all the functions in our city I don't see anywhere that there's Administration coming from you you everything is coming from the city and I brought and I forgot it in the car or wherever but it's the 240 comp plan with the goals and policies on it as well as um I I forget what else I had in there but one thing I'm asking you to do is I'm asking you to really look at our policies and I'll be bringing it to you in an email form and at the same time are we really really is it really appropriate for us as an urban city to be ruled in a rural manner then I'm asking you to we think our our Charter and what we need in this day and age thank you. **[04:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you next we had Rod Sather. **[04:10] Rod Sather:** hi I'm rod sather and uh I'd like to speak a little bit about uh neighborhoods and what's what's going on um I know the city of Richfield doesn't have a policy about um airbnbs and uh vacation rental by owners um the neighborhoods uh are changing when you bring in companies and corporations that uh are operating businesses in in residential neighborhoods so uh I just like to say that when we have U residential neighborhood we see people walking walking dogs pushing strollers riding bikes uh when you have something like U Airbnb in there uh you're probably going to see more traffic uh people coming and going so uh I'd like the city council to uh to consider uh implementing some uh measures and and rules on airbnbs thank you. **[05:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you next we have Larry Ernster. **[05:20] Larry Ernster:** hi Larry erster 6727 Elliot Avenue South I also attended the uh workshop on the new salary plan and I'm concerned that uh you know proposals are to increase staff salaries from 300,000 to 500,000 not including benefits and taxes and payroll taxes and we homeowners pay the majority of the property taxes in the city and I don't think as homeowners are willing to support increasing salary IES by hundreds of thousand dollar because of past mismanagement thank you. **[05:55] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you next we have Tom and Joan Wara. **[06:00] Tom Wara:** hi I'm Tom War um 7024 Irving Avenue South I'm U here to talk about the um closure of the henpen county um Refuge burning site Downtown Minneapolis and uh that's do to close in a couple years or whatever and I we noticed on the news a couple months ago the city of Bloomington mayor took a stand on saying that we need to rethink that before I close that and I was wondering if the city would consider our city unless I saw it and didn't or it happened and I didn't see it but I'd like Richfield to take a stand on that if that's possible and support the idea of trying to figure out a remedy before closing a a solution that's it thank you. **[07:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right thank you is there anyone else who wishes to speak has anyone signed in online? **[07:10] Michelle Friedrich (City Clerk):** no there has not. **[07:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right at this point then we'll close out the open forum and we'll move on to the approval of the minutes of The Joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting of February 26 2024 the city council work session of February 28th 2024 and the city council meeting of February 28th 2024 and I probably failed to mention um we will get back to the people that have responded so we don't respond here tonight so I just wanted to know that we did hear all your comments and thank you so we the the format will be to reach out to you afterwards all right so now moving on to the minutes. **[08:00] Council Member:** I move approval of the minutes. **[08:05] Council Member:** second. **[08:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay it's been moved in second and to approve the three sets of minutes are there any comments or questions all right all in favor of approving the minutes please say I. **[08:20] All:** I. **[08:25] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right we've approved the minutes next we'll move on to the approval of the agenda. **[08:35] Council Member:** I'd move the approval of the agenda. **[08:40] Council Member:** second. **[08:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right it's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda is there any comments or questions or changes all right hearing none All In favor please say I. **[08:55] All:** I. **[09:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right we've approved the agenda next we'll move on to the consent calendar and I'll turn it over to city manager Rodriguez. **[09:10] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** 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 approval of a temporary on sale intoxicating liquor license for the Richfield foundations' a toast to Richfield event to take place on Thursday May 9th 2024 in the atrium area of wood Lake Center located at 6601 Lindell Avenue South Item B consider the acceptance of the quotation from commercial recreation specialist for $537,500 Splash Pad at the Richfield outdoor pool and authorize the Recreation services director to proceed with the project item C consider the approval of the new foundational Public Health responsibilities agreement with the city of Bloomington item D consider the approval of the response sustainability agreement with the city of Bloomington and item e consider adoption of a resolution to accept a safe routes to school design assistance grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and I submit these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar. **[10:30] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you is there a motion on the consent calendar. **[10:35] Council Member:** so moved. **[10:40] Council Member:** second. **[10:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved in seconded is there any discussion all right all in favor of approving the consent calendar items please say I. **[10:55] All:** I. **[11:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right and we have approved them next we will move on to our public hearing and I'm going to turn it over to council member Whalen. **[11:10] Council Member Whalen:** thank you mayor um pull up uh so this is a public hearing relating to a second reading and summary publication of an ordinance amending the current city Charter based on the charter commission's recommendations uh it's considered best practices to periodically review the charter to ensure the document is still relevant and functional beginning in 2022 the Richfield Charter commission began a review of the current Charter uh which for folks who aren't familiar that's like our City's Constitution uh staff worked with the commission to identify areas where the charter could be updated to bring in line with State Statute and best practices there were also several General grammar and spelling changes that staff updated during this process the commission has identified and recommends amendments to the current Charter these simplify and clarify language clarify the council's and mayor's Authority in times of Emergency add consistency with state law expand the council's authority to approve public purpose expenditures and update the document to reflect current Community conditions City attorney drafted the proposed amendments consistent with the commission Direction and feedback the recommended amendments are included in the attached documents uh the full Council packet after many meetings over the course of many months or even years the charter commission formally acted on December 5th 2023 to recommend the Amendments for adoption by the city council the charter commission sent a letter to the Richfield Council transmitting the proposed amendments to the Richfield city Charter to the council Council accepted the commission's recommendation and authorized publication of a notice of public hearing at its meeting on February 13th the proposed amendments are being forwarded for consideration for adoption by ordinance pursuant to Minnesota statutes section 41.12956 reading of the ordinance amending the charter at its meeting on February 28th 2024 tonight we will be holding the required public hearing on the proposed ordinance amending the charter if unanimously approved this ordinance will become effective 90 days following its passage and legal publication within 60 days after passage and publication of the ordinance voters May submit a petition with a city clerk requesting a referendum on the ordinance the petition must be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least 5% of the registered voters in the city or 2,000 whichever is less if voters file a proper petition the ordinance does not become effective until it's approved by the voters Council May submit the ordinance at a general or special election that occurs within 60 days after filing of the petition or it may reconsider its action in adopting the ordinance um I believe staff has something to add on this item. **[14:15] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** thank you council member Whalen uh the recommended changes before you tonight have been many years in the making uh we had our first meeting actually back in 2019 and then we had to pause because of co uh re we we restarted the conversation with the charter Commission in 2022 um the commission is a 15 member commission um and it is appointed by the henpen County chief judge um it's all Richfield residents the recommended changes have been carefully reviewed by the commission they have met six times and the council has considered proposed changes at three work sessions and then the past two Council meetings this has been a long and careful process as is appropriate uh for such an important document um as council member way said our local Constitution the recommended changes have already been summarized I do want to clarify that there is no recommendation to change the city's current form of organization Richfield is a council manager form of government and it has been since 1964 I do want to thank the City attorney Tietjen and management analyst Chris Swanson for leading this work for staff I also want to thank the charter commission and city council for their thoughtful and careful approach to this update and we're available for any questions. **[15:55] Mary Tietjen (City Attorney):** city manager Rodriguez summed it up very well so I really have nothing to add just but only to say uh to congratulate you on getting this far in the process that both the commission and the council had some very thoughtful intentional discussions about these proposed amendments and I think it was a very good thorough public transparent process and um and I think you should all be proud of that. **[16:20] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you city manager Rodriguez and City attorney Tietjen um with that uh I believe we will now open the public hearing is there anyone here in person that would like to speak for this public hearing I believe that's yeah I believe so do we want to give the phone number if someone wants to call in um it is 4156550001 and the webinar access code is 2631 053 8891 and the password is 1234 so if we could leave that on the screen for a minute in case somebody wants to call in and then turn it back over to council m. **[17:05] Kathleen Balaban:** yes if you would like to speak again uh you are welcome Kathleen Balaban 65th and Stevens what I would like to comment on is is a comment that came and I didn't find it transparent I went looking for the charter I missed how we were ruled okay but I did go look for the documentation the conversation the information that supported this decision it's not there it's not there so again policy and legislature please let's look at our communication to the to the citizens okay you might have workshops and you might tell yourselves things but I don't find it we don't find it so please keep us in mind thank you. **[17:55] Mayor Mary Supple:** is there anyone else that would like to speak for the public hearing appears we do not have anyone calling in. **[18:05] Council Member Whalen:** um well then uh I would make a motion to close the public hearing. **[18:10] Council Member:** second. **[18:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing is there any discussion all in favor of closing the public hearing please say I. **[18:25] All:** I. **[18:30] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right the public hearing is closed. **[18:35] Council Member Whalen:** uh then I would make a motion to approve a second reading of an ordinance amending the current city Charter based on the charter commission's recommendations and approve a resolution authorizing summary publication of said ordinance. **[18:50] Council Member:** second. **[18:55] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay it's been moved in second and is there any discussion um council member Hayford Oleary. **[19:00] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** um yeah I will just say I I plan to support this um I think it was a useful cleanup and I actually want to directly thank um Miss Balaban as the only person who spoke twice about this issue I I appreciate the feedback about the form of government but I guess I just want to emphasize that the scope of these changes is much more minor um and in fact I might even feel uncomfortable using this process with a major change like restructuring the role of the mayor city manager um but with the changes that we have done I think this makes a lot of sense it's a reasonable update and it makes the document more relevant and I really appreciate the fact that we had to you know talk through unlikely scenarios and exactly how this plays out to sort of test this document and make sure it makes sense for the city of Richfield so I think it makes a lot of sense and I I will support it. **[20:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right other comments or questions um I would like to thank all the members of the charter commission and I know there was a lot of discussion and been a number of people and some of them are still on the charter commission some were on it before and have since termed off but I they put a lot of work and discussion into it and you know you um council member Hayford Oleary mentioned that you might discuss a theoretical situation but one of the big things we had the big discussion on is what happens in a time of emergency and this actually came up in one of our neighboring cities in the Metro during the civil unrest where it was I guess standard practice in all the charters to say the mayor take over the police department and someone actually invoked that and a mayor took over the police department and so that was pretty controversial and it ended up being an election issue and determined whether or not you know it was it was a whole big discussion in the community during the election afterwards whether that was an appropriate thing to do so that was part of the discussion of what happens in an emergency and what are the powers of the mayor and what are the powers of the staff and emergency um coordinator and those types of things so we think that a lot of this is theoretical but it does actually happen and it was a very real life situation that came up and was on the news a great deal um and I do also want to thank um Kathleen for commenting on everything I appreciate the fact that you've you hold us accountable and ask lots of good questions um I agree with you the charter is very important the um the C plan is very important and also I think the Strategic plan is very important and all of those things are things that we should be discussing and we should be getting input and we should have lots of discussions about so thank you for everyone who's been involved and everybody who's been asking questions and getting involved in things are there any other questions or comments that anyone wants to make council member Troutman. **[22:20] Council Member Troutman:** thank you mayor I just I wanted to add um just how much I appreciate it about the process that uh folks on the charter commission had a true diversity of opinions and political backgrounds and there there wasn't unanimous consent um but unanimous consent was achieved and I just think that's such a powerful thing in 2024 to say people with different points of view um Can represent the places that they're elected they're appointed to represent and have vigorous conversations and reach a decision point and move forward um with Goodwill um so people disagreeing in Goodwill and people reaching compromises and people really listening to each other uh and now um so it's it's the fruit of a lot of years and a lot of persistent effort and a lot of dialogue um and I think it landed in a good place um and it just even though a lot of the the the changes were administrative we did have an opportunity to reflect on how emergency Powers were used as we've had an opportunity you know that we haven't had in a generation to see how emergency Powers worked so I think it was timely to begin that process to pause that process to reflect on how our Charter works and I'm um really pleased to support uh this uh this Pro proposed amendment. **[23:55] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right are there any other discussions again thank you to everybody that was involved in the process um all in favor we've got two parts to this the approval of the second reading of the ordinance and also the approval of of authorizing the summary publication so all in favor of those two parts to the motion please say I. **[24:15] All:** I. **[24:20] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed and let it be noted that it was a unanimous vote I believe that's required all right thank you next we're going to move on to agenda item five and I'll turn that over to council member Hayford Oleary. **[24:35] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** thank you mayor um this is to consider appointment to fill a vacancy on the Transportation Commission terms of several City advisory boards and commissions expired on January 31st 2024 and those terms are for 3 years the city council directs the city manager's office to conduct an annual recruitment seeking applicants to fill the vacancies this recruitment includes a press release and information on the city's website and social media applicants were interviewed at a work session held on November 11th 2023 however the Transportation Commission had an unexpected resignation after all the positions were filled in the recruitment process three applicants were designated as alternates as there were not enough open positions an email was sent to All alternates with only one replying with interest to join joined the Transportation Commission the applicant was then reviewed by city council and I will just add um the applicant also um had a phone call with me personally I've been the liaison to the Transportation Commission and I was impressed with her eagerness and interest in this in this topic so I will move that we approve appointment of Stacy Fuentes as Transportation commissioner commencing on March 13 2024 and expiring January 31st 2026. **[26:00] Council Member:** second. **[26:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved in seconded is there any discussion all right all in favor please say I. **[26:10] All:** I. **[26:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right and we have approved this Fontes next we're going to move on to the city manager report. **[26:25] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** thank you mayor at our last meeting we had two speakers during the open forum and uh I addressed uh the issues that Kathleen Balaban brought up um during your discussion about the charter commission and then Deb Nord Marin's comments did she did not ask a specific question um but she has since followed up with some emails and asking for information and so we're working with her and getting that information that's all I have tonight. **[26:55] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right thank you next we'll move on to claims and payroll. **[27:00] Council Member:** I would move claims and payroll. **[27:05] Council Member:** second. **[27:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay it's been moved and seconded to approve claims and payroll are any questions or comments all right all in favor of approving claims and payroll please say I. **[27:20] All:** I. **[27:25] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed we've approved claims and peoll next we'll move on to hats off to Hometown hits and we'll start with council member Troutman. **[27:35] Council Member Troutman:** oh thank you it's going to take me just a moment here I just came from our empty bowls event uh the the Richfield High School put on and I just wanted to open these up um the our art students at Richfield High School um have a pottery class and they make pottery and they sell their Pottery to raise money money for the food shelf that is available to uh to families here in Richfield which is just a great project and also just uh a a sobering reminder that people in our our community have have needs and I'm glad that that we and our schools can help meet those needs but I'm just really proud of our of our students for taking initiative in industry and um and making making this challenge known and seen and raising money for folks in our community so hats off to our uh Richfield High School and our high school students and so that's one of the one of the the cups and this was an incredible incredible Pottery bowl that that they made so hat hats off. **[28:50] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right thank you council member Hayford Oleary. **[28:55] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I have no items tonight. **[29:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right council member Christensen. **[29:05] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** yes the other evening I had the uh opportunity to stop at one of the another one of the small businesses here in Richfield uh the restaurant called Tazah is a Mediterranean uh restaurant on 66th Street near Penn Avenue and it's uh it was quite busy that night but I had my food for takeout and uh what it was interesting when I was sping with speaking with the owner uh Nisha uh she said that uh I asked what Tazah meant and she said fresh all of their food that they have there is made fresh uh nothing is processed they make it to order and uh so it took about 15 20 20 minutes for me to get my food but it was well worth it so it's a great place to stop in for a meal thank you. **[30:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** council member Whalen. **[30:05] Council Member Whalen:** uh two items tonight one just wanted to thank uh the Cub Scout Den that joined us um before our work session today um they were coming to learn about uh Civic engagement um gave some input about uh their their views on our our parks and our amenities in town and ask some good questions so thanks to them for coming um and then also wanted to say a big thank you to our city clerk Leslie um and everyone who had a hand in the um presidential primary process um always good to see people getting to uh make their voices heard and be part of our democracy. **[30:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right thank you I'm gonna do a hats off to both ARDAP and our public works department um ARDAP is the Richfield Disability Advocacy Partnership and they hosted a forum um at the school district um office this last about a week ago and it was a forum for people from the community to come and share their concerns and things that they wanted to talk about and there were a bunch of people that were concerned about things that had to do with safe routes to school and it was interesting because they were talking about concerns about something that was happening at Sheridan Hills or something was happening at the middle school and then I went the next day and opened up the council packet and in our consent agenda was with the resolution to accept the safe routes to school design assistance grant and two out of the three sites were the ones that they brought up as Community concerns of things that need to be fixed so it's interesting that that rose up and was mentioned at a community thing and then it was also being part of trying to figure out how to solve it so it was kind of fun to see that kind of Nexus of events coming together and it was great hearing from the community members and they talked um Senator Wicklund representative Howard County Commissioner um Goettel and myself were there and so they were talking about things at all different levels of government and things things that needed to be concerned we need to be concerned about and it was really interesting because a number of them ended up being in the news later because they were talking about issues of um programs where you like get lift cards for people to help get them to their doctor's appointments and some of the things to make that work out and then there was a big discussion about Lyft going on in the community so it was very very appropriate and very timely um I also want to do a thank you and a shout out to County Attorney Mary Moriarty she asked Richfield to host um a session for Hennepin County Mayors to talk about public safety and there were discussions of things like Fentanyl and what we're going to do in response to that crisis ways we can get services to youth um when they first start getting into trouble so that it doesn't get to a point where it's very serious and and she talked about some of the programs they put in place where um I believe it was like 80 % of the kids that got involved in the program were then never had any more contact with Public Safety and so it was really good to hear about some of those things and to have the discussion amongst all the Mayors and so thank you to um management analyst Swanson for helping set that up and to the county attorney's office and County Attorney Mary Moriarty for joining us here in Richfield is there anything else that anyone would like to add. **[34:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right then we stand adjourned oh well I'm sorry we have to do a motion so is there a motion to adjourn the meeting. **[34:20] Council Member:** so moved. **[34:25] Council Member:** second. **[34:30] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and seconded all in favor of adjourning the meeting please say I. **[34:35] All:** I. **[34:40] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right we stand adjourned.