[00:00:00] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Good evening. I'm going to call to order this regular meeting of the Richfield City Council. It is January 23rd at 7 p.m. If you're able, please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. [00:00:15] **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. [00:00:30] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Next, we're going to do the Open Forum. So thank you for attending tonight's meeting. A few reminders about Open Forum: if you wish to call in, you can do so by dialing 415-655-0001 and the meeting ID is 2630 078 8926 and the password is 1234. When I call you up, please sign in and state your name and address. I'll begin timing after that, and you'll have three minutes. We're all neighbors here and want to provide a safe environment to state our opinions about municipal policies, so please stick to issues; this is not a forum to discuss individuals. The council will be listening and taking notes but will not be responding to your comments at this time. This open forum is designed to hear from you and not to be a debate. Thank you. Is there anyone online that has called in? [00:01:45] **City Clerk Michelle Friedrich:** Mayor and Council, there's nobody online currently. [00:01:50] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All right, I have two cards from people in the room. First, we'll have Larry Ernster. [00:02:00] **Larry Ernster:** Thank you. Is the microphone on? Testing... there we go. Okay. Thank you. My name is Larry Ernster. I live at 6727 Elliott Avenue South. In 2023, there were 8,000 homeless in Minnesota, a 6% increase over 2022. There's also a housing shortage of 50,000 homes in Minnesota right now. There is legislation in the Minnesota House of Representatives that proposes Minnesota be made a sanctuary state for immigration enforcement purposes and that state and local officials be restricted from cooperating with Federal immigration enforcement efforts. My questions are: Have we solved the housing shortage? Have we solved homelessness? Do we have unallocated resources? If we do, why are those resources not being offered to those already here and freezing in our streets? Before you volunteer to become a sanctuary City, here's a quick review of some of the challenges cities have incurred last year. New York: a 2 billion state fund paying unemployment and stimulus benefits to migrants was exhausted in just three months. Last year, a special committee found the taxpayers in Tennessee spend an extra 3.9 million per year to educate unaccompanied children. Florida claims the state was paying 2 billion per year to provide health care and education for nearly 800,000 illegals. Last year, Philadelphia elected to budget 500,000 to publicly fund immigration attorneys. So let me summarize: we have a housing crisis, we have people living in the street, we have poor, we have laws, yet the city council of Richfield wants to support legislation that would tell the police to ignore federal laws and advertise to the world that Minnesota is the place for illegal and undocumented as the fifth most popular destination for migrants. A disturbing aspect of your enthusiasm to achieve Sanctuary City status is that there has been no outreach to the citizens of Richfield, no publication or communication of your intentions, and no interest in what your citizens want. Tonight, I ask you to not support the sanctuary state legislation and to not change Richfield's legislative priorities until you solve our existing problems and until you have a plan to pay for more migrants that is developed in cooperation with and with the consensus of the citizens of Richfield. Remember, the proposed legislation prevents the police from acting rather than allowing them to make on-the-ground, case-by-case decisions like they do today. Thank you. [00:04:45] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. All right, our next speaker is Melissa Melnick Gonzalez. [00:04:55] **Melissa Melnick Gonzalez:** Good evening to the council members, to the mayor, and to those present. My name is Melissa Melnick Gonzalez. I am pastor of Tapestry, a church located at 7045 Lindale Avenue South here in Richfield. I've heard what the gentleman said and a lot of those concerns I agree with. We have housing issues that we need to address; we have food insecurity; we have all kinds of issues that we really do need to address that are not being addressed, not necessarily just in Richfield but in our state and in our country. I am very much in agreement with all of those concerns. At the same time, the issues of immigration law enforcement and our municipal law enforcement are not directly tied to those, and I approach this from a bit of a different angle. This is how I'm going to say that I support this... I don't know what you call it, I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous up here. In 2017, some of you know that my son died. And in 2018, I rode my bike from here to the Gulf of Mexico along the Mississippi in his memory. In 2018, while I was riding, I was right on the border of Arkansas and Louisiana and I remember thinking that there were so many people following me on my journey and supporting me, and the reason for that was because they could see the love that I had and still have for my son. The only thing that sustained me in that journey was the love that I have for my son and my faith. I wondered at the time in a post that I put on Facebook: why is it that people can have so much compassion for me and not have that same compassion for the mothers and the fathers and the kids and the individuals who've had to be uprooted from their own homes and their own countries for so many reasons? To experience violence that we can't even fathom here, to experience hunger and just loss, no access to medical care, no access to housing. You may or may not agree with the reasons people come to be in this country, but I can tell you as I work with immigrants from around Latin America that they are excited, feel blessed, and love this country already. They are proud to be here in the United States. They want to contribute; they want to be active members of this society; they want to be loved and they want people to see them as human beings. So as this city council makes a decision tonight on this—somebody help me with the word, but you know what I'm talking about—I ask you to look at this with compassion, seeing the other person as human beings who deserve dignity, human dignity. However we can contribute that in this city, I support that. Thank you. [00:08:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak for open forum? All right, we'll see if anybody pops up online. [00:08:25] **City Clerk Michelle Friedrich:** Mayor and Council, there is somebody... oh, they disappeared. There was somebody online and they have logged off. So it looks like we have nobody calling in for the Open Forum. [00:08:40] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Did anyone send any written testimony in? I know we almost forgot that last meeting. All right, so it looks like everyone who wished to speak has spoken. We're going to end Open Forum and move on to the approval of the minutes of the City Council Work Session of January 9th, 2024, the City Council meeting of January 9th, 2024, and the special City Council meeting of January 12th, 2024. [00:09:05] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** Move to approve the minutes. [00:09:08] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:09:10] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or corrections? All right, all in favor of approving those three sets of minutes please say aye. [00:09:18] **All:** Aye. [00:09:20] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? We've approved all three sets. Next, we'll move on to approval of the agenda. [00:09:25] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I'd move the approval of the agenda. [00:09:27] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:09:30] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of approving the agenda please say aye. [00:09:38] **All:** Aye. [00:09:40] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right, we've approved the agenda. Next, we'll move on to the Consent Calendar. City Manager Rodriguez. [00:09:48] **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 the approval of the Foundational Public Health Responsibilities Grant; Item B, consider adoption of resolutions of support for two grant opportunities offered through MnDOT's Safe Routes to School program. Number one, an infrastructure grant application by Public Works for $500,000 to construct pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure on 70th Street between Elliott and 12th Avenues. Item two, a planning grant application by Independent School District Number 280 for planning assistance to update the 2014 Safe Routes to School Comprehensive Plan. I submit these two items for your consideration as part of the Consent Calendar. [00:10:45] **City Clerk Michelle Friedrich:** Mayor, I believe the person came back in if we want to pause and accept a late open forum comment. [00:10:52] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Oh, thank you. Is there someone that wanted to speak for open forum? Call-in user with area code 612 and 869, do you wish to speak in the Open Forum? Oh, we lost him again. Well, we'll try; maybe the third time will be the charm. All right, well while we're waiting on that, is there a motion for the Consent Calendar? [00:11:15] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** I move the Consent Calendar. [00:11:17] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:11:20] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any comments or questions? Go ahead, Council Member Whalen. [00:11:25] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** I just wanted to express a lot of support for Item B. If folks are curious to learn more about the Safe Routes to School program, there's a lot of good information in the full packet for tonight's agenda. Just lots of good work continuing, and particularly wanted to lift up—I know representing the east side—that folks who live just north of the STEM and Dual Language schools reach out fairly often about their concerns and ideas to keep improving that, and I see that that is a key focus of the ongoing efforts. I'm excited to see what comes with that. Thank you. [00:12:00] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Any other comments or questions? I just want to also do a shout-out to the city and the school district working together on this Safe Routes to School. I know Council Member Hayford Oleary has been representing the Council on this, but also the staff from both the school district and the city have been working together. I think it's a really great example of partnership and I appreciate all of that work. Thank you. All right, any other comments or questions? All in favor of approving the Consent Calendar please say aye. [00:12:35] **All:** Aye. [00:12:37] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? And we've approved the Consent Calendar. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to agenda item four and I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Christensen. [00:12:45] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Thank you, Mayor. This is to consider the appointment of a youth member to the Sustainability Commission. City advisory commission terms for youth members are for one year and expire August 31st of each year. The City Manager's office conducts recruitment seeking applicants to fill the youth vacancies each year. The recommended action is to approve the appointment of Helen Burke to the Sustainability Commission as a youth commissioner. I move to approve this. [00:13:15] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Second. [00:13:18] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any comment, question, or discussion? I'll say welcome to Helen; it's great to have another youth commissioner. All in favor please say aye. [00:13:28] **All:** Aye. [00:13:30] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right, and we have now approved the appointment. Thank you. Next, I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Hayford Oleary for item five. [00:13:40] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Thank you. This will be considering approval and adoption of the Active Transportation Action Plan for the city of Richfield. In August 2022, Richfield was awarded a MnDOT grant to develop an active transportation plan. Over the past 18 months, staff from MnDOT, their consultant, and a committee has led public engagement and plan development. It's been a pleasure to serve on that committee and to hear the feedback. Personally, I'll give myself credit for demonstrating slipping and sliding on a bike on page 34, so if you want to see me failing to use it, go to that page. But I'll turn it over to our transportation engineer who's going to give a presentation. [00:14:25] **Transportation Engineer Matt Harder:** Thank you, Mayor and Council. My name is Matt Harder, I'm the Transportation Engineer for the city. Just going to give a quick overview of how the plan came to be. This plan was funded through an Active Transportation Grant through a MnDOT program. Planning began in the fall of 2022. One of the biggest things we wanted to do was go out into the community to make sure that we were addressing the needs of the residents. Those activities included an online interactive map, a winter biking and walking workshop—which was what Council Member Hayford Oleary was talking about where the slipping and sliding occurred—and we also used information from the Richfield Public School District Safe Routes to School survey. There were several major concerns identified: vehicle speeds, crossing safety, Penn Avenue safety as a whole, non-vehicular access across 35W, and safe routes to school. The highlighted goals are to increase walking, biking, and transit mode share through making it safer and easier for residents year-round. This priority network map identifies future potential neighborhood routes or arterial routes to focus active transportation infrastructure investments in. Short-term projects identified were the speed limit reduction, which the council already took action on in December, and centering active transportation users in the Nicollet Avenue redesign. Long-term goals include improving active transportation on new construction projects like Penn Avenue, 69th Street, and 76th and 77th Street. So, it's a very quick overview of a year-and-a-half long planning process. Thank you. [00:16:45] **Mayor Mary Supple:** Thank you so much for that. It was a really great report and I would encourage people to read the full packet. Do we have a motion? [00:16:55] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move that we approve and adopt the Active Transportation Action Plan for the city of Richfield. [00:17:01] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:17:05] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further questions or comments? [00:17:10] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Just to give a couple more comments... the Transportation Commission raised the question: "We have these plans, when do we go and do it?" It's important that we consider what we can do. Staff does an excellent job as fundraisers getting grants, but to achieve what is necessary, we need significantly more financial resources. We can't achieve this just by waiting for the next CIP project. I also appreciate including the graphic showing some of the things that go well and some of the things that need improvement on our standard-size streets. [00:18:15] **Mayor Mary Supple:** I did want to point out that the Senate Bonding Committee joined us on Nicollet Avenue. There's something very concrete about walking down that sidewalk with no buffer between the cars whipping past you that gets people's attention about why you need a safer route. Any other comments? [00:18:35] **Council Member Simon Trautmann:** I just want to say a thank you. As someone who's raising the fourth generation of Richfielders here, the progress of what our roads look like is so much better now. I was old enough to have been raised as a "free-range kid" in Richfield with no limitations, but it's so much safer now. I appreciate how we build our roads; they are the definition of structural tools that either are fair and safe or don't serve everybody well. I just want to recognize everybody's leadership and especially Director Asher in thought leadership. [00:19:25] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All right, all in favor of adopting the Active Transportation Action Plan please say aye. [00:19:32] **All:** Aye. [00:19:35] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? All right, we've adopted the plan. Next, item six, Council Member Whalen. [00:19:42] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** Thank you, Mayor. Item six is to consider amending the city's 2024 legislative platform to include the Northstar Bill. The Northstar Bill is a state legislative act which separates Minnesota government resources from civil immigration enforcement. At the December 12th work session, Council directed staff to review the bill. Staff is comfortable adding support for the bill to the platform; however, there are concerns with some of the details of the language. Staff recommends the council amend our legislative platform to add support for the goals of the Northstar Act under the Public Safety section. This clarity helps build trust with Richfield's immigrant community and removes barriers to provide important services. We encourage the bill's authors to work with the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association and other organizations on the specific language. I move to amend our 2024 legislative platform to include the previously read addition. [00:21:00] **Council Member Simon Trautmann:** Second. [00:21:03] **Mayor Mary Supple:** It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? [00:21:08] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** I'll just add commentary. I'm excited to have the commenters weighing in. No human being is illegal, and we're glad you're here. You make our community a better place. I'm excited to support this to make it more clear that you can access resources or report a crime without fear that it is going to send you back to a country where you are in danger. [00:21:40] **Council Member Simon Trautmann:** Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to thank our Chief of Police and our City Manager. This is an opportunity to share with the community that as a city, this is a space for all of our residents. There's no way we're going to solve our housing problem and simultaneously eliminate people who are coming to work on those problems. We would be in recession overnight if we lost all the residents that have different statuses. I think there's bipartisan consensus that the federal immigration system is non-functioning. This is not an invitation to break any law; as a lawyer, I take that seriously. This is an opportunity to clarify the law and create some good policy. [00:22:50] **Mayor Mary Supple:** I appreciate that we are encouraging the bill's authors to work with the Chiefs of Police and the League of Cities. We want something practical that's going to work so people feel safe in contact with our Public Safety officials. Working together is the way to go. All in favor of amending the legislative platform please say aye. [00:23:15] **All:** Aye. [00:23:18] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? And we have passed the motion. Next, item number seven, the City Manager's report. [00:23:25] **City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** Thank you, Mayor. At last Council meeting's Open Forum, several residents representing Richfield for Equitable Public Safety advocated for eliminating traffic stops for low-level violations. There are a handful of cities in Ramsey County that have changed their policies because the Ramsey County Attorney is no longer prosecuting these. I'm not aware of any other cities in Hennepin County that have stopped, with the exception of Minneapolis due to the consent decree. We've met several times with the group and we'll continue to meet with them. One highlight from the Center for Economic Inclusion was that the most progress we've made was in Public Safety. That's all I have tonight. [00:24:15] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** Just to clarify, what does "low level" mean? Does that mean just equipment violations or speeding tickets? [00:24:22] **City Manager Katie Rodriguez:** I would have to verify the details of those specific policies and get that back to you. [00:24:28] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All right, move on to claims and payroll. [00:24:32] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** I would move claims and payroll. [00:24:34] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:24:37] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All in favor please say aye. [00:24:39] **All:** Aye. [00:24:41] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All opposed? We've approved the claims. Next, "Hats Off to Hometown Hits." Council Member Whalen. [00:24:48] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** I was going to name the legislators that came to visit to tour Nicollet Avenue. Thank you to them and thank you to staff who put that together on a particularly cold morning. [00:25:05] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** I'd like to give a hats off to the city staff who put out an email summary of what happens in the city. It keeps everybody up to date. [00:25:15] **Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I wanted to take my hat off for Jeff Manong, the owner of Soda Boy smoke shop. It was helpful to talk with a business owner and understand the impacts of tobacco rule changes. It's always great to talk with a small business owner. [00:25:35] **Council Member Simon Trautmann:** Thank you, Mayor. I just heard that our former Mayor Marty Kirsch is doing poorly. Mayor Kirsch, we wish you all the best. And then also the Richfield Optimist Club—they put a flag in my front yard for the 4th of July and raise thousands of dollars for local charities. Thank you, Richfield Optimists. [00:26:05] **Mayor Mary Supple:** City Manager Rodriguez and I are joining the Optimists tomorrow, so we will send your well wishes. I want to do a hats off to Partnership Academy. The third-grade teachers invited us for their "Change Makers" unit. I was so impressed with the quality of the questions from the kids. Lastly, Richfield's own Patty Pats has received the Hometown Media Award for her show "The Republican Roundtable" for the second year in a row. Hats off to Patty. With that, is there a motion to adjourn? [00:26:50] **Council Member Mary Whalen:** So moved. [00:26:51] **Council Member Sharon Christensen:** Second. [00:26:53] **Mayor Mary Supple:** All in favor say aye. [00:26:55] **All:** Aye. [00:26:56] **Mayor Mary Supple:** We stand adjourned.