As an expert transcriptionist, I have added the speaker names to your transcript based on the context provided and the roles of the officials. [00:00:00] **Mary Supple:** So, we—the "on air" sign isn't on yet. Do we have to wait for that? Oh, there we go. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order this regular meeting of the Richfield City Council. It is May 13th at 7:00 PM. If you're able, please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. [00:00:20] **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. [00:00:35] **Mary Supple:** Thank you. Um, without objection, I'd like to make a slight change to the order of the agenda so that we can have the STEM school choir perform right away and also have the annual food service awards right away and then we'll go on to open forum after that. So, if there are no objections—and I'm hearing no objections—I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Miles from the STEM school to introduce the choir. [00:00:55] **Mary Supple:** Thank you so much. That was amazing. Thank you all. And I'm hoping that she'll come back again next year. We started the same year. Music forever as far as I can remember. It's amazing talent. Yeah. All right. Um, next we're going to go on to the annual food safety awards that we added to the agenda. So, I'm going to um call forward um I believe it is um support services manager Jennifer Anderson. And I think we are still kind of doing a changing of the guard here. So, so thank you again to the STEM school choir. We really appreciated everything that they did. And I'm going to call forward support services manager Jennifer Anderson for the food safety awards. [00:01:45] **Jennifer Anderson:** Thank you so much. Good evening. We're moving quickly. Uh good evening, Mayor and council members. Uh my name is Jennifer Anderson and I am the support services manager. And um we yearly at the city council meeting um recognize our um food safety um award winners. And so we're doing that tonight. Um for those that are new on the council, um the annual awards are to acknowledge excellence in food safety and service. And it it really focuses on the good work that restaurants do rather than sometimes a bad inspection that they might have. Um the advisory board of health recommended starting a program in Richfield similar to what Bloomington was doing um and our program began in 2006. [00:02:30] **Jennifer Anderson:** The health inspectors who are staff from Bloomington Environmental Health that we contract with um nominate three to four candidates in two different um categories based on food collaborative interviews and the actual food inspection results. Um the categories for um the awards are full service restaurant. So um I believe and there was a question asked last year, what's the difference between a full service restaurant and a fast food pizza carry out cafeteria service? And it has to do with the number of seats available in the restaurant. So the full service um is a category and then like I said fast food, pizza carry out. Um there's a team of interviewers that visits each site to conduct interviews. Um they are members of the Richfield Bloomington Food Collaborative. They are food managers, restaurant owners, health inspectors, public health staff. Um and that food collaborative meets quarterly um throughout the year. [00:03:15] **Jennifer Anderson:** So the nominees are judged on how they manage risk factors on a daily basis in the restaurant. um how the establishment encourages workers to be motivated about serving safe food. um protocol around if employees show up sick to work, all these policies are documented, information and data is kept, and if um if they're keeping up with all that. And there's there's several other criteria. Um that's all a part of um getting to um an actual um winning the award. So after these interviews, the results are provided to the Richfield Advisory Board of Health and they kind of approve the winners and we call the winners, let them know. We bring them uh up in front of the council to um provide them their award um giving them some um some exposure. Um and then we also have those who were nominated but did not win. Um and I typically hand-deliver those certificates to the managers and owners after this presentation. So this evening we have two winners. [00:04:10] **Jennifer Anderson:** The um food safety award for full service restaurant goes to Broadway Pizza. And if John Sturbeck is here, come on up. Yeah. [Applause] Awesome. Thank you. Okay. And the uh winner for um fast food pizza cafeteria service—it's everybody's favorite—Dairy Queen on East 66th. Vicky Nielsen and her husband. Um and then those who were nominated um but did not win were Gordanos, Taco Bell, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and Mikohana Tasty at 66th and Nicollet. So, they'll be getting their certificates of um recognition for being nominated until next year. Thank you. [00:04:55] **Mary Supple:** Thank you to all the winners and to all of the nominees. We really appreciate all you do for our community. Next, we're going to move on to our open forum. Um, for those of you that are watching online, if you want to participate in the future, you can share your comments in person by voicemail or email, and you may request to participate virtually. For more information on submitting comments, refer to the council agenda minutes page on richfieldmn.gov/city council. And the way that this works is we'll start out with the in-person comments and you can tell your—your name and your address and you have three minutes to address the group and then after that we also have a number of comments that were submitted. So right now I have one person with—that's signed up for an in-person, you can join us up here and since I have your card you don't have to sign in or anything. So you just um introduce yourself. So I'm going to call up Mr. Civ and you can have the floor. [00:05:45] **Puh Civ:** Thank you. Um, council members, thank you for giving me the opportunity to say what I want to say. Um, so my name is Puh Civ. We own the property at 6226 5th Avenue South. Um, a few years ago, my in-laws, they bought this house in 2000 where my wife grew up. Um, they've since retired and moved to a senior living facility about a mile away from their house, and we've used that home as a as a short-term rental since for additional income to support their daily living and medical expenses. Um, I just a little background, I've got 27 years as a commercial banker. I'm also 16 years as a licensed realtor. Own several small businesses including restaurants, construction, assisted living, as well as short-term rentals. We have short-term rentals here in Richfield, throughout the metro, up in some rural areas, Scottsdale, things like that. So, we have a really good understanding of how it works. [00:06:30] **Puh Civ:** What we learned is number one, you have to respect your neighbors. Uh, and number two, you want to make sure it's safe for whoever is visiting the place. So, I understand there are some issues, but I think those issues are more isolated as opposed to a general broad issue. Uh, for example, if one house is throwing a party, they should be fined because those are not allowed. I know the city of Chanhassen, they have three violations within a year, then you lose your rental license for that year. So, if I get a complaint from my neighbors, I make sure I address that right away. And if I don't, then that's where I get fined. So, again, I feel—I believe those that don't understand short-terms may be against it. But I think uh there was an article I emailed to the city this morning. New York had a one-year ban. After one year of banning, limiting to 30 days, they've learned that number one, it did not improve housing or affordable housing, let alone increase rents because the people that relied on that short-term income had to increase their rents for long-term. Hotel prices went up because there were less options available. So therefore, there was less tourists into those cities, meaning that less businesses were coming into the small town. [00:07:30] **Puh Civ:** So, I just want to suggest that to council members, voting members, because understanding what I know about short-term rentals, having it, it can work and there's a way around it, but just by penalizing everyone else that's following the rules, it just doesn't make sense. One last thing I want to add that I'm also a planning commissioner for the city of Eden Prairie. One thing I learned is that I should not restrict property owners from doing what they want to do with their property, just as long as they're not causing harm to the citizens or endangering one, but that they follow the rules properly. So that's all I had to say. Thank you. [00:08:05] **Mary Supple:** Thank you. Is there anyone else here that wishes to speak that's here in person? All right. Um if you—Yeah, you can come up and um if you didn't fill out a card, there's a sheet up there that you can put your name and address down and then you can go ahead and introduce yourself and give your address and all that good stuff. [00:08:25] **Lance Bondis:** Pass this over. Sorry, I didn't know the—didn't know how it worked. Um, thank you for having the open forum for the Mayor and the council members. Uh, my name is Lance Bondis. I own um Ministay, which is a property management company which is headquartered here in Richfield um at 7108 Chicago Avenue. Uh we currently employ about 24 staff for maintenance, reservations, housekeepers, some of them are Richfield residents. Um I've been dealing with this uh regulation thing for many years. I—we formed the Minnesota Vacation Rental Alliance. We have about 200 members. Um, I worked with the city of Minneapolis when they did their regulations. I worked with the city of Mound, uh, St. Paul and Stillwater. Um, and it's a constant thing and I—and I see it happening over and over again. And I hope to work with others to work on a statewide thing to allow the activity. [00:09:15] **Lance Bondis:** One thing I think a lot of cities uh I think miss is we've had over 10,000 reservations since we've started the business in 2017. Minnesota is a place where it's friends and family coming to visit friends and family. By regulating this activity, you're regulating and and not allowing people to come and visit their their friends and their families that live in your city. Um, it's expensive if if you're a family of four or five or six to get three hotel rooms—to get four—and to not be able to cook in your rooms. That's what these these accommodations allow for out of those 10,000 reservations or more. I think we've had four parties. I mean, it's very minimal. Um, there's ways to mitigate that with noise monitoring equipment that we have in our homes. Um, we get selfie IDs with a selfie with every person that that comes. Um uh the—you know the—you can—we pay taxes on a monthly basis to all different counties and cities um that have different taxes. Minneapolis has a 3% lodging tax. St. Paul's got a lodging tax. Burnsville has a lodging tax. They're all regulated and they're they're done through the um Department—Department of Revenue and large platforms like Airbnb and VRBO can actually get them to pay it on host's behalf. Um, we pay it because we're the merchant of record on a lot of our our our properties. [00:10:30] **Lance Bondis:** We currently manage two homes here in Richfield for owners. Um, I don't know if—if I didn't see it in the in the roll call thing, but I know one of the owners um sent in a letter and you know, and I'll just read a little bit of what she said just because it—I think it—it's part of the other reason it really hits home for for this is that um "although we don't live live there full-time, we stay—we stay several times a year visiting friends, cheering on the Lynx, and simply enjoying the backyard with family. We bought this home because it's less than a mile away from our parents and we love—who love the Richfield community." So, some of this isn't just a matter of of trying to ban a situation that I don't really see as being an issue. I don't know how many complaints there's been, but if it's noise there, you have an ordinance for noise. You have an ordinance for garbage. You have an ordinance for parking and just about everything else. [00:11:15] **Mary Supple:** So, you're approaching the end of your time limit. So, if you could just finish— [00:11:20] **Lance Bondis:** Okay. [00:11:21] **Mary Supple:** —your thought. Thank you. [00:11:23] **Lance Bondis:** Sure. Um, yeah, I just think, uh, I hope you can keep the visiting dollars here in Richfield. Um, protecting uh uh property owners' rights. Um, you know, grandfathering, if you're not going to do that, at least grandfather responsible hosts. Um, and require an annual licensing. Um, I hope you'll take the time to to step back from your ordinance that you have planned and uh reconvene and meet with people that uh can help you draft a better uh ordinance. Thanks. [00:11:55] **Mary Supple:** All right. Thank you. Is there anyone else that's here in person that wishes to speak? All right. And if since you didn't fill out a card, make sure that you um um sign in and remember to give us your name and your address. Then you have three minutes to speak once you start. [00:12:15] **John Lucas Ericson:** All right. Uh my name is John Lucas Ericson. Uh I'm a short-term rental operator at 7014 Elliot. Uh, I'll be brief because most of what I had to say has already been said. Um, couple points to add. A lot of host calendars book out pretty far in advance. In my case, it's 18 months, and I have quite a bit of reservations throughout next summer and fall. So, whatever you guys end up deciding, uh, as far as new changes to the duration, uh, if the effective date could keep that in mind, I think we'd really appreciate that. Other than that, um, yeah, just about everything that I had has already been said, so I won't waste your time by repeating it. Thank you very much. [00:12:55] **Mary Supple:** Thank you. Is there anyone else that is here in person that wishes to speak? So, we have a number of open forum comments that have been um sent in. I don't know if it's via email or voicemail, but um City Clerk Friedrich, I believe you and City Manager Rodriguez have several of them to share with us. And I'll go ahead and do the timing with those as well, so they get the same three minutes as the people in person. [00:13:20] **Michelle Friedrich:** Wonderful. We did have some uh comments that we received where the speakers actually spoke in person today, so we won't reiterate those again. The first one we have is from Tong Bang Lee: "I'd like to thank thank for the efforts that the city is working on to make Richfield a better place for us and I totally understand that. However, the STR ban restriction is unnecessary for some reasons. For example, it makes sense to avoid bookings under 5 days because these segments may be likely to have parties or something to that sort. I myself have a rental property here and I have no issue with tenants over 5 days as I restrict all bookings must be over 5 days. It'd be tough if the restriction bar is 30 days, which makes the business become harder in the long run. Rather than that, I would suggest the city should have a regulation about requiring ID verification before accepting the bookings, which I am currently doing that for my tenants to ensure the safety of the house as well as the neighborhood. I hope that it'll be a reasonable decision making for both sides and city and business owners. Please kindly hear me out and let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you for your time." [00:14:15] **Michelle Friedrich:** And the second one for tonight is from Noi Kioakum: "Good evening. Our names are Noi Kioakum and Maurice Mitchell, owners of 7432 Elliot Avenue South Richfield, Minnesota. We live in Denver, Colorado for a majority of the year. And while we don't live in Richfield full-time, we stay here several times a year, visiting family, cheering on the Lynx, and enjoying the community we love. Our home is less than a mile from my parents, and short-term renting helps us keep it in the family by covering taxes and maintenance. We take this responsibility seriously. Our professional manager, Ministay, screens every guest, enforces quiet hours, and lives nearby. In the past 5 years, they have had zero noise complaints because good neighbors matter to them and us. Short-term guests also support local businesses. They eat at local restaurants, shop in town, and bring dollars that would otherwise go to hotels elsewhere. A simple 3% lodging tax, already common in Minnesota, could even help fund city services without raising property taxes. Please don't ban short-term rentals. Instead, set clear, fair rules like licensing, safety inspections, and lodging tax and allow responsible owners like us to continue. We love this home and this city. Let's find a path forward that works for everyone. Thank you. Noi Kioakum and Maurice Mitchell." [00:15:25] **Katie Rodriguez:** I have uh one on short-term rentals and one on uh the Pump and Munch uh agenda item. So, the first one is: "I would like to voice my concern about restrictions about restricting short-term rentals. I am not in favor of imposing a minimum of 30 days. This is for legal reasons because of the difference between a guest and a tenant. I grew up in Richfield and purchased my parents' house when they needed to move on. My husband and I enjoy hosting guests in the house and have never had any complaints from the neighbor at this location. Most of our guests do decide to stay 30 days or more, but even for stays longer than 30 days, we prefer to write the lease for a shorter period and renew it as needed." [00:16:00] **Katie Rodriguez:** "We have only had one bad experience at a different location outside of Richfield, but it taught us the danger of leases longer than 30 days. The renters had a domestic problem which resulted in a fight and screaming that disrupted the neighbors. With a short-term lease, less than 30 days lease, we could have removed them promptly. However, because they got a longer lease, the state of Minnesota considered them tenants, not short-term guests, and we had to go through a lengthy eviction process to remove them from the premises. This meant that neighbors had to put up with the numerous disruptive disruptions involving police calls for months, and we suffered property damage. We learned that the experience to limit leases to a shorter duration which can be renewed for good renters to protect both of us and the neighbors in the event of a problem." [00:16:45] **Katie Rodriguez:** "We have hosted guests in Richfield for a variety of stays. Some of the most recent have been grandparents coming to spend time near family. A young man from Duluth who had several weeks of medical tests and needed a home where he could prepare specialized meals. a professor with a week-long teaching assignment and our current guest, a doctor and nurse who just moved to the area from out of state to start new jobs but needed a place to stay until they could get their permanent home. We are proud to provide a service that is needed in the community after enjoying their stay at our house. Both the doctor and nurse couple and the grandparents are considering purchasing homes in Richfield. So, we are happy to be ambassadors for the city. As you consider restricting stays to 30 days or more, please consult with an attorney and provide guidance to landlords on how to avoid the tenant situation for temporary guests if you are forcing longer stays. Thank you for your consideration, Nancy Stoddard." [00:17:35] **Katie Rodriguez:** And then I have a comment that was uh submitted anonymously: "Dear Richfield leaders, thank you for taking action to shut down Pump and Munch alcohol and tobacco sales to minors. It is widely known among the community as being a place where minors can procure alcohol and tobacco products as a minor. I especially want to thank the local police for their for taking action. These vape products are highly destructive and can have long-term health consequences for our children. To the owner of Pump and Munch, you are preying on our youth. The parents of the surrounding area will continue to endeavor to expose losers like you. I hope the loss of your tobacco license causes you great distress. Further, I hope that Richfield police keep a close eye on you now that you have been outed as a threat to our community." And it's signed "an anonymous parent who is still watching you." And that's all I have tonight. [00:18:25] **Mary Supple:** I believe there was also um City Attorney Tietjen, you had another document. Is that part of the open forum or— [00:18:30] **Mary Tietjen:** Um, Mayor and council, we can address that when we get to the public hearing item on the agenda. [00:18:35] **Mary Supple:** Okay. So, we'll save that for the public hearing. Thank you. All right. And is that all—are those all of the comments that were submitted that way? Is there anyone else that's here in person that wishes to speak? All right. So, what's going to happen is we do have a public hearing later in um the agenda that deals with the issue of the tobacco license. So, um people will have a chance to speak at that point as well. So, with that, we're going to close the open forum and move on to approval of the minutes of the City Council Work Session meeting from April 22nd, 2025 and the City Council Regular Meeting from April 22nd, 2025. And I should add thank you to everyone who spoke at open forum and everyone who submitted comments. So, I appreciate that. Now, moving on to the minutes. [00:19:25] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move approval of both sets of minutes. [00:19:28] **Sharon Christensen:** I'll second that. [00:19:30] **Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. [00:19:35] **Council:** Aye. [00:19:36] **Mary Supple:** All opposed. We've approved both sets of minutes. Next, we'll move on to our presentations. And the first is a proclamation celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month. And I'm going to be joined by um school board member Ken Liss who is uh the liaison to the Human Rights Commission in Richfield. So if you can meet me up at the podium that would be great. So, thank you for joining us school board member Liss, and this is a proclamation of the city of Richfield. [00:20:05] **Mary Supple:** [Reads proclamation honoring Jewish American Heritage Month.] Now therefore, I, Mary Supple, Mayor of Richfield, on behalf of the Richfield City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2025 as Jewish American Heritage Month in the city of Richfield. All right. Thank you very much. [00:21:40] **Ken Liss:** [Applause] Okay, first putting on my hat as a school board member. Wasn't it great to see one of our great elementary schools um sing for today? That was great. I'll have to make sure the rest of the board knows they were here. Um, on behalf of the Jewish community of Richfield, um, I want to thank you for recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month. It's it's a big deal. Um, my family came over to Minnesota from Belarus and Ukraine back in 1913. And while they didn't, you know, they didn't live in Richfield proper, many of my family now live in the cemeteries that we um that are here in Richfield. So, it's still an important part of our heritage and that, you know, the Jewish American um community has done a lot for this for this um state and city and all that. So, without much ado, thank you very much for recognizing our people. [Applause] [00:22:30] **Mary Supple:** Thank you. Next I would like to invite forward Chief Jay Henthorne of the Richfield Police Department. And I don't know if you want any other officers to join you or how you want to do this or not. Are they—they're being shy? Is this—They're shy. All right. This is a proclamation of the city of Richfield. [00:22:50] **Mary Supple:** [Reads proclamation for National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day.] Proclaimed this 13th day of May, 2025. Congratulations. [00:23:45] **Jay Henthorne:** Thank you. Thank you, Madame Mayor and Council. First and foremost, I want to thank the community for all the support. Uh I've been here for 35 years and I think it's the best community in the state of Minnesota. I also want to thank my staff um who go out every day unwavering and provide uh great service to the community. Um I also want to basically from—go out from the police department, our hearts and prayers to the Minnesota departments that are out in DC this week um having their loved ones etched in the marble um as they gave the ultimate sacrifice. And those departments are Burnsville officers Elmstrand and Rugey, Minneapolis and their police officer Mitchell, Red Lake Tribal Police, Officer Branch. As the incoming president of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, I had the opportunity to meet with these families at our annual conference in Rochester in April. Um, meeting with them and hearing the sacrifices and the hurt, but also the pride in their voices was something that I've never experienced. Um, I was very honored and privileged to present their families with the Police Cross and the Medal of Honor um for the ultimate sacrifice these officers made. So, thank you very much. [Applause] [00:25:05] **Mary Supple:** Thank you and thank you for your service. Next, we will move on to the approval of the agenda. [00:25:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move approval of the agenda. [00:25:12] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:25:14] **Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Are there any changes? All in favor of approving the agenda, please say aye. [00:25:20] **Council:** Aye. [00:25:22] **Mary Supple:** Okay. All opposed. And we will move on. The agenda has been approved. Our next item of business is the consent calendar. And I'll turn it over to City Manager Rodriguez. [00:25:35] **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. [Summarizes items A through I.] And I submit all of these for your approval as part of the consent calendar. Thank you. [00:27:10] **Sharon Christensen:** Oh, I move to approve the consent calendar. [00:27:13] **Walter Burk:** I'll second it. [00:27:15] **Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the consent calendar, please say aye. [00:27:25] **Council:** Aye. [00:27:26] **Mary Supple:** All opposed. And we have approved the consent calendar. Our next order of business is a public hearing. and I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Hayford Oleary. [00:27:35] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, uh, this item is to consider approval of a resolution authorizing the 90-day suspension of a tobacco license issued to Lindale Pump and Munch located at 6300 Lindale Avenue South for egregious flavored product and underage sales violations. The recommended suspension dates are May 13, 2025 through August 11th, 2025. Along with the suspension of the tobacco license, any additional violations of city code or state law relating to the operation of the business or the sale of tobacco products before February 12th, 2028 will result in immediate revocation of the license. [00:28:15] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** From the executive summary, uh, with the implementation of the flavored product prohibition that went into effect January 1st, 2024, the city has seen a steady increase in complaints for not only the illegal sale of flavored tobacco products, flavored products, but also sale to underage youth by several licensed tobacco retailers. Complaints have come from multiple sources and have led the city to recommend a more severe penalty. The attached resolution outlines the actions and events involving the Lindale Pump and Munch over the past 13 months. Staff feel the recommended suspension sends a message that this type of disregard for city policy and the protections put in place to keep youth from the harms of tobacco use will not be tolerated in Richfield. The city will continue to enforce, investigate, and hold accountable all tobacco retailers who violate local and state laws. [00:29:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, in just a second, I'm going to have staff add some additional things. We're not going to read the resolution. Of course, it is a public document, but I will just note some of the reasons why staff described this as egregious. There are many tips related to underage sales. They refused regulators access. When regulators—state regulators—did get access, they determined there were violations, and executing a search warrant, they found 2,412 inventory items that were in violation of city code. Um, I believe staff have some additional things to add for context. [00:29:45] **Mary Tietjen:** Mayor and council, if I might just um have some preliminary comments and staff may have more to add. This is addressed in the council uh memo, but I wanted to highlight for the council that staff's uh original recommendation on this was a revocation of the license and the licensee through their legal counsel had reached out to us um wondering if the city would consider um a lesser penalty in the form of a suspension rather than revocation. After much discussion um with uh staff and with the licensee and their legal counsel, um staff did um agree to a recommendation for a lengthy suspension and I wanted the council to just know—and this again is in the council memo—but to highlight that the licensee has agreed, essentially consented to the 90-day suspension. Um and so staff felt comfortable with that um after much discussion. Again, given the circumstances, I believe the resolution kind of speaks for itself with the factual um background. uh and the circumstances surrounding this I I know that the licensee is here with their attorney tonight and would like to address the council but I wanted you just to highlight that information for the council tonight. [00:31:00] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Uh does staff have anything else to add before the public hearing? Sounds like no. Okay. Um, so we'll have a public hearing in just a second. Any resident wishing to participate in the public hearing, you'll proceed to the podium one at a time. After I open the public hearing, you'll provide your name and address prior to your comment. Council will hear your comment. Each comment will be limited to three minutes in length. As a reminder to residents, the public hearing is a time for council to listen but not respond. Um so the public hearing for the suspension of the license for Pump and Munch is now open. [00:31:45] **Mitchell Hadler:** Name is Mitchell Hadler. I'm an attorney and I uh represent uh the Lindale Pump and Munch uh store. It's a gas station and with a convenience store. It's been located uh and operated at that location under the owner, Mr. Muhammad Salah, who's also here present with me today. He's owned the store for since 2011, 14 years. Uh I don't know if many of you have noticed the store. It's right off of 62 and Lindale and they have the least expensive gas in in the city of Richfield. They also have a convenience store and uh many customers have come by and uh do support the uh the store and its continued uh existence and continued operation including the sale of tobacco. [00:32:30] **Mitchell Hadler:** Um, members of this City Council and City Attorney, Mayor, representatives of the Department of Public Safety, um, I thank you for the opportunity to speak today on behalf of my client... [Mr. Hadler details the owner's regrets, corrective actions including owner oversight, employee training, improved ID verification, and cooperation with DPS.] Finally, my client is committed to full cooperation with the city departments. The licensee has agreed with the work of the city attorney to a 90-day suspension followed by three years of strict probation and we believe the structured approach rather than a revocation will result in a safer more accountable operation without removing a local business from the community. Thank you. [00:35:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Would anybody else like to address the council at this time? All right, seeing nobody, I will move that we close the public hearing. [00:35:20] **Mary Supple:** There was—testimony was submitted earlier. So before we close the public hearing, I believe that needs to be read. [00:35:30] **Mary Tietjen:** Uh thank you, Mayor. I—for that reminder, I I just wanted to acknowledge the um the licensee through their attorney submitted a uh document, several pages um with signatures um in the form of sort of a petition uh in support of the business as um a good neighbor in the city of Richfield. And so I I will submit this to the city clerk for inclusion in the in the in the record. [00:36:00] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Um, again, I will move that we close the public hearing. [00:36:05] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:36:07] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. Any discussion? All in favor of closing the public hearing, please say aye. [00:36:12] **Council:** Aye. [00:36:14] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All opposed. The public hearing is closed. All right. Um, I certainly welcome discussion on the item, but just to follow our procedure, I will move the recommended action first. Um, I move that we approve a resolution authorizing the 90-day suspension of a tobacco license issued to Lindale Pump and Munch, 6300 Lindale Avenue South... [Reads resolution terms]. Is there a second? [00:36:55] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:36:56] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** It's been moved and seconded. We are now open for discussion. Is there anything that anyone wishes to say? [00:37:05] **Walter Burk:** Thank you. Um, I am glad that the City Attorney was able to find some resolution in this matter. Um, I did learn from staff that this is the fourth violation since this owner has had this business. And what especially concerns me is the THC element. It's an allegation at this time, but that is a great concern to me. And I hope that with this renewed opportunity that you can show that it's appropriate for you to have licensure in this city. Hopefully over the three years you can demonstrate that. But as I said, this is the fourth violation since you owned the property and hopefully it's not going to be a backsliding into past habits. Good luck with it. [00:37:55] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Thank you, Mayor. I am—I'm alarmed that the parents reached out to us uh that parents in the community are concerned about what's being sold at the at your store. I have two children of my own and uh to hear that other cities around us know that your facility may be allegedly easy to get products from that concerns me. Um so I hope that you can tighten it up and that you can get compliant and that you can continue to do business here. [00:38:25] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, just for context, I wonder if staff could share—it's—it's been a while since their last official violation, but I know with alcohol compliance checks, the city has requirements that the business undergo certain training. In those previous compliance checks where they failed, I assume, underage sales or improper products. Did they undergo some sort of required training at that time or would they have? [00:38:50] **Jennifer Anderson:** Any time there's a tobacco uh compliance failure, there is a fine that is implemented based on um whether it's the first, second, third or fourth failure. Um and there is um a suspension there. Unlike to—unlike um liquor which is required to do an online sales training, there is not tobacco training in place. When we meet with the owners and bring them in, we talk about what an adult license looks like and what an under 21 license looks like. And Minnesota's made that very easy. An under 21 license is a vertical. An adult license is a horizontal. There should be no mistake in selling to anybody under 21. Um to date, that's—that's what's happened uh when we've met with owners of tobacco stores. [00:39:45] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Thank you. So, I'm hearing that you—you provide some coaching, but it's less comprehensive than what we require for the alcohol violations. [00:39:55] **Jennifer Anderson:** Yeah. And I I will say a lot of these problems have come forth after the flavored prohibition went into effect January of 2024. Never have we had something like this. Um a compliance failure. You know, we might have an underage sale. We might have a store that sold, you know, a package of of flavored tobacco that was floating in, you know, under the the counters that didn't get removed. Um but this was um this was something on a whole different level. Um and so this is—you know it's kind of a first um for the city to consider this. It's kind of egregious sale. [00:40:40] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Thank you. Um I will say I—I will vote for this resolution if it feels like that's where the consensus is at. I will also say I think staff's initial recommendation of revocation was more fitting of the violation... [Mr. Hayford Oleary expresses doubt but agrees to the 90-day suspension.] [00:41:25] **Mary Supple:** Then I will add um that this was extremely troubling when I started reading through all of the documentation and all of the allegations and all of the things that were going on. Um it's really important to remember that there's a reason that we have local and state laws. They're not just suggestions... [Mayor Supple reiterates expectation for compliance.] All in favor of the motion, please say aye. [00:42:20] **Council:** Aye. [00:42:22] **Mary Supple:** All opposed. And we'll note for the record that it was unanimous. Thank you. Moving on, we'll go to item 8, a proposed ordinance, and I'll turn it over to Council Member Burk. [00:42:35] **Walter Burk:** So, the item for council consideration is to consider a first reading of an ordinance restricting short-term rentals (STRs)... [Reads executive summary detailing the proposal to restrict STRs of less than one month unless the license holder lives on site]. Staff, is there any additional information? [00:43:55] **Melissa Poehlman:** Council member Burk, members of the council, thank you. Um, I'll just remind everyone that we are here because this came up um after two cycles of the council's policy requests... [Ms. Poehlman explains the history of the policy request and concerns about housing affordability/consistency with lodging rules]. We are recommending limiting uh short-term rentals to sites where an owner um or a license holder is on site. And I'm happy to answer any questions. [00:45:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, just for context, uh, you said 100 of 700 of the rental single-family homes. How many total single-family homes are there in Richfield? [00:45:20] **Melissa Poehlman:** I don't know that number off the top of my head. I'm sorry. [00:45:25] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Do you have any like ballpark of like what percentage short-term rentals would be or anything like that? [00:45:30] **Melissa Poehlman:** I do not. [00:45:35] **Walter Burk:** Um, so I move to approve um the recommended action to approve a first reading of an ordinance restricting short-term rentals to no less than one month unless the rental license holder resides on site. [00:45:50] **Sharon Christensen:** I'll second that. [00:45:55] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, I was reflecting today on how this first came before us. Um, and it was I think it was a—a neighbor I know one of the first folks was here today and has been very steadfast in this issue... [Mr. Hayford Oleary discusses the turnover issues]. I move that we direct staff to change it to a one-week minimum rather than a one-month minimum. [00:48:30] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:48:35] **Walter Burk:** Thank you. Um, you know, the staff did a, I think, a great job in doing some research... I'm concerned with the idea that Richfield will allow short-term rentals of a week and that somehow Richfield will somehow ignore the fact that if you make it a week that those facilities have to be ADA compliant. It just seems the added cost, the added effort, ensuring that these places are ADA compliant—it just doesn't seem that um that a week is appropriate. I think the 30 days is fine. [00:49:55] **Sharon Christensen:** Yes. I—I echo the sentiments of um both council members. Uh but I tend to want to agree with uh council member Hayford Oleary on this that um I agree when talking with people that even people that go wintering like in Arizona or Florida... to stay a month at a minimum somewhere is is pretty difficult to do. Uh I think with the one week that would be acceptable because that would possibly cut down on um supposedly whatever you would call party houses type of thing. [00:51:15] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Um, I would have to—I am actually in support of uh Council Member Hayford Oleary's amendment to this motion... to support a one like a one-week stay uh for a minimum of five days. I think that this is going to um—it's going to help keep keep uh and help us meet these business owners halfway. [00:52:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** [To Coleman-Woods] Are you comfortable with seven or were you advocating for five? [00:52:15] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Um, I would be comfortable with five. [00:52:18] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** But just to clarify, my intended motion was seven days. [00:52:20] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Okay. [00:52:25] **Mary Supple:** [Discusses party houses and the impact on residents.] So, the amendment before us is to change it to a um one week instead of 30 days. All in favor, please say aye. [00:53:15] **Sean Hayford Oleary, Sharon Christensen, Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Aye. [00:53:17] **Walter Burk, Mary Supple:** Opposed. [00:53:20] **Mary Supple:** So, we have three people um in in favor and two against. That means the motion passes. So now the main motion that is on the um floor is that would be restricting the short-term rentals to rentals to no less than one week instead of one month unless the rental license holder resides on site. Is there any further discussion? [00:54:10] **Melissa Poehlman:** [Discussing effective date] Let me talk to the rental licensing staff and bring additional information to the second reading. [00:54:25] **Mary Supple:** Okay. I had another request. It was troubling to me when I was listening to the testimony what it made it sound like people thought we didn't have a lodging tax because we do have a lodging tax. [00:54:40] **Katie Rodriguez:** Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So, um, yes, we've had a lodging tax for a long time, and our three hotels have paid it monthly for years. Um, we recently started to get some short-term rentals. We currently have three that remit checks regularly. [00:55:05] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** You know, I think that that's tough to to talk about because um I've had a number of my local neighbors get uh letters about their dog licenses... If we can figure out who's got a dog, I think we can figure out who's renting out their properties. [00:55:35] **Melissa Poehlman:** [Clarifying ADA enforcement] If the council goes ahead and adopts a one-week minimum, I just want to be clear, we will not—we will not be attempting to enforce ADA requirements on um on these units. [00:56:45] **Mary Supple:** All in favor [of the main motion as amended], please say aye. [00:57:15] **Council:** Aye. [00:57:17] **Mary Supple:** All opposed. And we'll pass the first reading. Next, we'll move on to the city manager's report. [00:57:25] **Katie Rodriguez:** Nothing to report tonight. Thank you. [00:57:30] **Mary Supple:** Thank you. And claims and payroll. [00:57:32] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Motion to approve claims and payroll. [00:57:34] **Sharon Christensen:** Seconded. [00:57:36] **Mary Supple:** All in favor, say aye. (Aye). Next we'll go to Hats Off to Hometown Hits, and we'll start with Council Member Coleman Woods. [00:57:45] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Awesome. Thank you, Mayor. I am uh I'd like to give a hats off to Hometown Hits to our local Richfield High School baseball team because they're in a 100-inning tournament fundraiser... [Describes the fundraiser]. [00:58:20] **Sharon Christensen:** Yes. uh on behalf of the arts commission... this coming up this Thursday is uh the annual uh senior high school Richfield senior high school art exhibit. [00:58:45] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, I was just going to say a hats off on our concrete project... the 73rd Street crossing of the railroad. Um and that is now much improved. [00:59:10] **Walter Burk:** Nothing. Thank you. [00:59:15] **Mary Supple:** I wanted to do a hats off to Council Member Hayford Oleary who is now part—our District 5 representative to the Met Council Regional Land Use Advisory Committee. I also wanted to do a hats off to Monica Byron... elected President of Education Minnesota. And my last hats off is just prompted by watching the public works people marking all the lines for US Internet. With that, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. [01:00:15] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Motion to adjourn. [01:00:17] **Sharon Christensen:** Seconded. [01:00:20] **Mary Supple:** All in favor, say aye. (Aye). The meeting stands adjourned. Thank you.