Here is the transcribed townhall meeting with speaker names added based on the context provided. [00:00] **Sean Hayford Oleary (Chair):** All right. All right. We'll call this uh meeting of the Richfield City Council for October 28th, 2025 to order. Um just a note for the audience, Mayor Supple is unavailable tonight, so I am chairing the meeting in her absence. Uh first let's uh rise if you're able and we will do the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. Um our next item is approval of the agenda. Uh, normally I would ask one of the other council members to make that motion, but we do have a change tonight. So, I am going to move it myself. I move that we approve the agenda with an addition for item 10A uh to add consideration of summary publication of that ordinance. Is there a second? [01:15] **Walter Burke:** I'll second it. [01:17] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion of that item? Okay, all in favor? [01:22] **Council Members:** I. I. [01:24] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right, that motion carries. Um, do we have a motion to approve the sets of minutes? [01:29] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** So moved. [01:31] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Do we have a second? [01:32] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [01:34] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes um from both the work session and meeting of October 14th. Um, any discussion? Okay. All in favor? [01:45] **Council Members:** I. I. [01:47] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. That motion carries. Um, next we have open forum. Um, so if you uh have something to uh address to the council, you can come forward and say that at that time. I don't believe we received any cards, but you are still welcome to come up and speak. If you are here for the 494 public hearing, there'll be a different opportunity for you to speak, but if anybody would like to speak now, uh, please come forward. All right. All good. So, next up we have the proclamations and presentations. And we're going to start with the uh 20th Great Pumpkin Giveaway coloring contest. And I will ask um Eric Beganic and Steve Schneberger to come forward for that. [02:30] **Eric Beganic:** Not seeing Steve, but thank you, Eric. Mr. Schneberger had a family emergency, so he won't be here tonight. Hello everyone. I'm from the Richfield Arts Commission and we're going to present uh the awards for the three different age groups for the great pumpkin giveaway coloring contest. So, we had a ages five and under category, ages 6 to 8, and ages 9 through 12. [03:00] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. [03:01] **Eric Beganic:** And I didn't select the winners, so I don't know who they are. [laughter] [03:05] **Eric Beganic:** All right, Steph, can you remind me? We do I was sent pictures of them, but do you have the names handy by chance? All right, so here we have our ages five picture. It looks like Isla was our winner. Let's give Isla a round of applause. [applause] Congratulations. An excellent drawing. And Isla, actually, here's a gift card for you as well to Michaels for you to enjoy some more art in your life. [03:30] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Congratulations, Isla. [03:32] **Sharon Christensen:** Congratulations, Isla. [03:34] **Eric Beganic:** All right, next up, age seven for our ages six to eight category. Uh, this will go to Anna. Is Anna here tonight? All right, let's give Anna a round of applause. [applause] Great job, Anna. All right, and for our final ages 9 through 12 category, our great pumpkin giveaway. I can't quite read the name. [laughter] It's Gabriella. Thank you, Gabriella. Is Gabriella here today? Round of applause for Gabriella. [applause] One more big round of applause for all the coloring contest winners. [applause] [04:15] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Um, thank you uh everyone for participating in that. Um, and congratulations to our three winners. Um, yeah, our next item is actually the Arts Commission annual report, which I I'm assuming is also Mr. Beganic. So, let's go ahead and go forward with that. Whenever you're ready. [04:40] **Eric Beganic:** Thanks, everyone. Just waiting for our slides to come up. Yeah, no problem. So, we had I can talk while we wait for the slides. So, we had a very big year with the arts commission, uh, full of lots of volunteer activities once again, um, going out into the community and working on several main areas of, uh, community engagement with the arts. Um, of course, we have our arts in the community initiative and then we focused on an arts in our schools initiative as well. And here is the presentation to help show that off. All right. Do I have control or not? No, that's okay. So, here uh like I mentioned, we focused on our two main themes. Art in our schools and art in our community. I love that farmers market be kind painting that someone made with our art with natural materials activity. Um and up top we're at a school making some marble painting again this year at a carnival outside. Let's skip to the next slide. So, art in our schools. Here are some of the activities that we brought to our schools this year. Uh at the very beginning of the year, we uh helped students take uh create glow wands at the friendship dance at the Richfield Dual Language School, which was a lot of fun. Um we also hosted once again at the community center our high school seniors art show, um which was very successful and we provided refreshments as well. Um we were at the Centennial Cougar Carnival making marble painting uh such as the one on the bottom there. Um, and then on October 24th, just uh this past week, uh we were also at Sheridan's uh family craft night. Sheridan was a school we hadn hadn't collaborated with. So I think we've almost achieved our goal of working with all the Ridgefield schools, at least the public schools. Um and we hope to expand to charter schools. Um and we haven't worked with the middle school yet. So if anyone has any ideas for art in the middle school in the community, um we would be happy to collaborate with them in our upcoming year. Art in our community. Uh we focused on a lot of activities in collaboration with parks and wreck. Um we were at the Earth Day event at Woodlake Nature Center where we created mobiles with students uh and or with uh children and their families uh uh made out of natural materials. And then we also were at the state of the community event on June 11th making painted rocks. Uh at that uh event we also visited the farmers market again twice. We recycled some of the natural materials we didn't use for our mobiles um at the farmers market to paint beautiful art with the natural materials. And then we also had a reading is fun act uh day on August 2nd where we created a community word mural with um participants and uh had a reading um as well. Uh we focused also uh we expanded some of our focus in the community to the entertainment in the park series. Uh going to some of the concerts this summer and providing arts activities for families. We did a coloring to jazz mural on July 22nd or June 17th. And on July 22nd we did paper plate tambourines with the women's drum ensemble that was performing which was a lot of fun. All right. And then we've also uh there are new uh poems around Richfield Lake uh next to Lakewins. Um every two years we do um work with the Mississippi Valley Poets uh society to um to get new poems put up uh around Richfield Lake. So it's not the same poems uh constantly. It's nice to refresh and have new ones in there. So go take a walk around the lake and check out those new poems. They're pretty fantastic. And we also were helping to volunteer at that event this summer uh when the authors did their readings of the new poems. Uh we were at PenFest. We expanded our community word mural activity um that we started at the farmers market and people were putting really positive statements about Richfield on it. So, we're actually gonna we have it on foam board and we're going to continue to add to that word mural next year at more public events till the thing is completely full and hopefully we'll find a place uh such as city hall or in the community center to uh display the word mural so that the whole community can see it once it's done. And then we were, as you know, we just featured with the with the trophies, we were at the great pumpkin giveaway uh just a couple weeks ago helping out with the coloring contest. We also have our ongoing activities such as painting the pride roundabout uh over on Lindale. Um we did it twice this year instead of just once. Uh focusing on doing one round of painting of two colors in the spring and then painting two more colors in the fall just so that we can keep it bright and vibrant um year round and uh we can keep that maintenance uh going forward. Uh we also have our little free library outside the hockey arena. over by the band shell kind of between the two and we've continuously filled that. We're currently going to be doing a book drive. So if you have books to give uh from the community, you can visit the community center or the hockey arena and we have boxes there that you can bring your books to so we can put them in our little free library. It's a pretty popular library year round because of all the activities going on there. Um we also had our So a big thing that we accomplished this year that we've been wanting to do for a while is updating our artwalk brochure. Um, and not only did we update it, uh, we also, um, translated into Spanish with help from the city. So, there is an English and a Spanish version of our new ArtWalk brochure that's available at our events. And we are looking as the city's new website goes up to try and get that artwalk brochure in a visual format up on the new website. So, we're excited about that this upcoming year as well. Um, we always work on our public art displays in the public buildings, including the community center and city hall, and have those ongoing exhibits. And, uh, we did also review our bylaws and found that we don't want to make any changes to our bylaws right now. We were pretty compliant with the bylaws and they seem to fit exactly what we do, um, on our commission. So, but we did refresh that and make sure we were uh, doing our due diligence. And then uh next year we are doing another photo contest to hopefully get some more electrical box wraps done in the community. Um and we're expanding the photo contest uh to some categories I think that are going to be a lot of fun. So stay tuned and be sure to read the parks uh the parks uh brochure when that comes out. And then yeah, the online version of the brochure. And with that, I'd just like to say thank you and give a shout out to the arts commission this uh this uh year. It's been a really great group of volunteers uh working hard on behalf of the city and behalf of arts in the city and uh I just want to say thank you to all of them and thank you to our liaison BJ Skoo who is on the community services commission and uh Sharon Christensen who is our city council liaison and uh Jill Murphy our staff liazison uh who works tirelessly for us on our behalf. So, shout out to all of them and thank you all so much for listening. [11:20] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Thank you. And if you just want to stay up in case there's any questions or comments. Uh do council members have any questions or comments? Council member Christensen. [11:28] **Sharon Christensen:** Sure. I will make a comment since I'm the leazison for the group or whatever. Um I've been this is my second year doing the I think third not quite sure of uh being the leazison for this group and it is a unbelievably fantastic creative uh special group of people that are always there for the community. They're there for all the kids in the school and not just the kids but for the adults as well you know to promote art in this in this community that we have that we call Richfield. So yeah. Thank. [12:00] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Anybody else? Okay. Um, I will just say briefly, I always appreciate seeing the activities you do. That art is is the activity of making it as much as it is what you create. So, it's just fun to see that every year. So, thank you for your work. [12:15] **Eric Beganic:** Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you all. [12:18] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** And then next up, we have the Human Rights Commission. Do we have the chair of the Human Rights Commission with us tonight? [12:25] **HRC Chair:** All right. So, I was told we did not need to put the presentation together. So, apologies, but I'll be I'll be reading from my notes app. Um, but thank you all um for for hosting us tonight. Uh, giving us the opportunity to to speak to the great work that the the Human Rights Commission is doing. Um, 2025 is my fifth year on the HRC, uh, second as the chair, and this year stands alone as the most challenging year to date working in this space. Um, while I'm proud of the work that we have done and believe that this current group is among the strongest for my my tenure on the HRC, keeping up with the aggressive anti-human rights actions and rhetoric coming from our federal government has at times seemed to be an impossible task. Regardless, we persisted in the pursuit of the greatest possible impact that we could make in our community. Uh throughout this changing landscape, uh we have aligned ourselves more closely with affected community groups, developing an understanding of where we have where we can more aggressively advocate and where we may need to exercise discretion. We have continued our successful series of free legal aid clinics, providing critical and potentially life-altering uh guidance to people who may otherwise be navigating difficult legal circumstances entirely on their own. Um the next one of these is is um Friday, November 14th uh at the community center from 12:30 to 5:00. So, if you're not not familiar with those or um recommend that you you drop by. Um we once again coordinated the Gene and Mary Jacobson Award uh this year granting to Tena Smith who is p persistent in her support of those in need in our community and surrounding areas. In addition, we have spent a lot of time planning how we can make future nominations more far-reaching to ensure that we recognize and put a spotlight on the best of Richfield each and every year. Uh we continue to prepare proclamations for presentation at council meetings throughout the year with an added emphasis on identifying appropriate community members to receive the proclamations uh wherever possible. This remains a fantastic educational opportunity for for commissioners and and the city alike. Um in a collaborative effort, we have begun developing literature to support the HRC and the city um at tableabling events and just you know generating documents for the city to lean on as as permanent resources for the residents. Um these may be things that that touch on a variety of different human rights issues like legal aid being an example of that or you know housing just trying to compile a list of of really critical resources um that we'd like to to share with the city. So work in progress there. Um finally we collaborated with the city on this year's Juneteenth popup popup event as well as hosting a booth at PennFest. The supportive feedback we receive at events like this is a firm reminder that Richfield is a healthy, empathetic and strong community. In addition to this ongoing work, uh there are many other ideas we've worked on that that haven't been able to fully come to fruition. Uh for example, a couple of attempts at an essay contest, um an immigration citizenship event, Richfield Pride Celebration Celebration, and more that we plan to revisit in uh the years ahead. I mentioned these ideas that didn't quite launch to highlight that this is a dedicated and passionate group of commissioners who are always searching for ways to advance, advocate for, or educate on human rights in the city of Richfield. Uh to that end um one ask that I would make of city leadership uh both elected and and city staff is to form uh be deliberate about forming a more a closer embrace with the various commissions uh but you know from my perspective specifically the HRC um and working together to achieve our shared goals. Uh speaking from experience uh from the HRC in specific as ideas have been brought forward through the years, I've heard that the city can't do that more often than I've had than we've had the city bring opportunities to us in which we could, you know, lend our our ideas and our energy to contribute. Um that's something I think that there's there's opportunity for us to work more closely together um towards those shared goals. There's no shortage of ideas within the HRC. However, the general open-endedness of the subject of human rights as well as, you know, kind of the the tie that's that's currently working against human rights, um, it's difficult to know where the best places to put our energy are. And I think that a closer alignment with with the city's goals will help us to, you know, kind of hone in on on where we can make the greatest impact locally. Um, as an example of that, um, I feel that the the HRC may be able to contribute directly to the equity and inclusion work in the city that may not have the current level of financial backing beyond, you know, the one staffed position, um, that where it could make it its greatest possible impact. Um, with that said, I want to thank you once more for the opportunity to present tonight and for your partnership year-over-year. I would also like to thank Walter, um, Britney, and our representatives from the Richfield Police Department who are crucial backers of our work. I'm hopeful that um in the the coming years we can form an even closer alliance uh to combat the tide coming from the federal level and keep the city of Richfield a safe and inclusive place for all. Um any question? Yeah. [17:50] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** And uh do we have any comments from the council? Yeah, council member Burke. [17:55] **Walter Burke:** Uh first just want to start off on thanking you for your leadership uh for the human rights commission as you said two year two years in a row and please extend to the members of the commission our thanks and appreciation for the time that they put in to reminding city council, city staff and residents of the importance of human rights for all of us and those constant reminders that may not be coming from other parts of other levels of government. It's important that we do it locally and keep doing it locally and thank you for that. [18:25] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, any other comments? Um, I will just add one thing in response to your request to sort of have ideas break out of just the committee and affect the city larger. Um, that is always a process that there's not a perfect solution to that, but I will say one thing we've changed in our agenda recently is to invite council members to do uh reports from the commissions that they leas to. So I think if you have an ask that you want the council to be aware of I would strongly encourage you to work with with your representative with council member Burke um saying hey mention this in your leazison report make sure the whole city council knows about that just that doesn't mean we can immediately act on something but it at least allows it to get get it on everybody's radar and that applies to any commission uh transportation commission is one that I'm leazison on to um but consider trying to bring things forward that way to make us aware of of areas where you might be frustrated or limited. [19:25] **HRC Chair:** sounds great appreciate that. [19:27] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** all right uh anything else before we move on. Okay, thank you so much. [19:30] **HRC Chair:** Thank you. [19:32] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Uh, next up, we have Transportation Commission's presentation and we've got loach here. [19:38] **Lou Durzac:** Good evening, U mayor, council members. My name is Lou Durzac. I'm the chair of the transportation commission. Uh the trans transportation commission has met eight times this year to continue our work to improve the transportation network in Richfield. The first half of this year was focused on feedback about proposed transit changes throughout the city, providing feedback to Metro Transit Transit on a proposed stop consolidation project on Nicollet Avenue, their network now study, and their ongoing bus rapid transit identification study to found routes for the J, K and Lines. The commission continues to encourage staff from Metro Transit and other transit agencies to continue to invest in Richfield and improve both intracity and intercity transit service. Beginning in June, the commission began work on collaborating with Henepin County on the upcoming Penn Avenue reconstruction project. Uh the project may not be started until 2028, but it'll take years of planning to find a design that satisfies the diverse needs of the residents and the businesses of the city. The commission hosted the first open house for this project in late September at St. Richard's Church at 76th and Penn and looks forward to hosting a second in mid mid November on the other side of the project area at Sheran Hills Elementary School. Um, the commission has also been providing staff with input and direction about upcoming sidewalk construction projects to fill gaps identified in the pedestrian master plan on 64th Street and 73rd Street. A safe routes to school project at Sheran Hills Elementary School is also in the early stages of design development. The commission expects to provide a recommendation on these projects by the end of 2025. At other meetings, the commission has received outside presentations from commuter services about their programs and from Southwest Transit about the new 686 route, which stops in Richfield on its path between Eden Prairie and the airport. In September, the commission took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and took a bike tour of several projects in the city, including the safe routes to school projects at Centennial and STEM RDLS, the new pedestrian bridge over 494 at Chicago Avenue, and through the sites of the 2026 sidewalk projects. In 2026, the commission anticipates continuing discussions about the Penn Avenue project, beginning engagement work on the reconstruction of 69th Street west of Penn, and starting discussions about a new traffic calming policy for the city. Um, as the chair, on behalf of the other um, board members, I'd like to thank the uh, traffic staff for keeping us prepared, informed, and providing us um, an incredible amount of detail so when we make decisions, we really feel informed um, about all the options. So, I want to thank him for that. [22:30] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Thank you, Lou. Um, I am the transportation. I'll just say I've been at almost every meeting this past year. I always appreciate the work of the commission. People come prepared and people come curious, which is something that's fun. I think not everybody gets around the city in the same way. Uh when we did the bike ride, I heard from a few people being like, "Yeah, I like if I bike, I I put it on my car and I go to a trail." Um so people being open to explore the city in other ways and always considering the perspective of other people who might use the bus if they don't use the bus or or drive more than they do. So I really appreciate that from the whole group. Um I also really appreciate your engagement with the public at those open houses. It makes a big difference and it's great to see so many of the commissioners there. [23:25] **Lou Durzac:** Thank you. Thank you. [23:27] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um any other comments? Yeah, Council Member Burke. [23:30] **Walter Burke:** One quick comment. Uh you mentioned for 2026 that your commission will be focusing and working on traffic calming. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing uh recommendations coming out of that. It's a it's a contentious issue and uh so I I wish you all the luck with that on that. I'm looking forward to whatever your recommendations have. Thank you. [23:50] **Lou Durzac:** Thank you. The one thing that I've been impressed at with working on the commission for four or five years now is um everyone works hard to hear as many different voices as possible. Um all the different open houses, all the different outreach. Um we really do try to make sure that everyone has a voice and we listen to everyone's voices. So we'll continue to do that. [24:12] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Uh anything else? All right. Well, thank you, chair. [24:16] **Lou Durzac:** Thank you. [24:17] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Next on our agenda tonight will be the consent calendar and that will be read by city manager Rodriguez. [24:25] **Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** Thank you, Mayor Prom. On tonight's consent calendar, oh, I'm sorry, the preamble. 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 is item A, approved dispersements and claims. Item B, the 2026 benefit contributions. Item C, consider a correction to the legal descriptions for resolution number 11548 from 2018 for RF64. And item D, second reading of a transitory ordinance providing funding for certain capital improvements from the liquor contribution special revenue fund. And I submit these items for your consideration on tonight's consent calendar. [25:15] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? [25:17] **Walter Burke:** So moved. [25:19] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Is there a second? [25:20] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [25:21] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Any discussion of the consent calendar? Okay. All those in favor of approving I. [25:26] **Council Members:** I. [25:27] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Any opposed? All right. The consent calendar is passed. Um the next item will go to council member Burke regarding 494. Um I'll ask that you read the executive summary and I believe we'll have a presentation from MNDOT staff prior to actually conducting the public hearing. [25:45] **Walter Burke:** Thank you. So the item for consideration is the I494 vision project 2. Um, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has requested municipal consent from the city of Richfield for a highway project on I494. State statute requires cities who have been asked for a municipal consent to hold a public hearing within 60 days of the request. The city must then vote on approval or disapproval of the project's layout within 90 days of the public hearing. Project two of the I494 corridor vision would construct an easy pass lane on I 494 between I35W and 24th Avenue. Reconstruct pavement on I35W between American Boulevard and 75th Street. Reconstruct the railroad bridge at Pleasant Avenue. Reconstruct 78th Street east of 12th Avenue. Reconstruct the I494 Highway 77 interchange. and perform bridge deck rehabilitation on the Lindale Avenue bridge over I494. Other work in the project scope outside of Richfield includes easy pass easy pass extension on I494 between West Bush Lake Road and Highway 100 and reconstruction of the I35W 82nd Street interchange. And as was already mentioned, there's supposed to be a presentation and so you please identify yourself and tell us uh what you're presenting. [27:00] **Lutaya (MnDOT):** Lutaya. I'm with Mendat Minnesota Department of Transportation. A couple of roles I play uh there at the uh the district. I am an area engineer and uh in that role, I do represent some of the corridors that are traversing the city of Richfield. I've also been playing a role as a project manager for the I494 corridor. So, I do appreciate uh coming and uh getting the chance to present to to the council to to the public at large. Council member Burke, you did a very good uh intro to my presentation. You're almost finishing it. You did majority of my work but uh just uh to to the general public uh trying to as part of the agenda um give reason why why we are here tonight for the municipal consent the statutes that point out why we need to come for a public hearing. Uh remind uh the the public on the phase that we are seeking municipal consent on. Uh as part of that process, we are also required to present uh what the anticipated local cost uh share is uh on on the project that we are seeking municipal consent off of and then um I'm sure many are interested on what the uh construction impacts will be. So uh my last couple of slides will share on what uh proposed staging and uh management of traffic will be for the second phase. As council member introduced uh my presentation. So the reason why uh Mandat has to request for municipal consent it it is a state statute that uh any Mandat project that alters access uh through a community on uh state highway. A project that increases or reduces traffic uh reduces capacity on a Mindad roadway or a project that is acquiring permanent right of way. It is by statute that Menat has to come and request for municipal consent and as part of that process we do hold a public hearing which is uh for for the city of Richfield is tonight. Now what applies for the city of Richfield is that uh we are as part of the second phase are going to be increasing capacity on 494 with the addition of easy pass lanes. So a reminder a quick reminder uh this corridor what we are terming a corridor vision determined back in 2022. So this work really started in earnest back in 2018 but working with our local partners along the corridor city of Richfield city of Bloomington city of Adina Hipin County we uh came up with and approved a corridor vision which was to add easy pass lanes from highway 169 to on the west all the way through the airport. So just um I would say east of 24th Avenue. Those are the physical limits of the easy pass lanes. As part of this corridor vision, we are also reconfiguring or reconstructing the 35W494 interchange. And the last piece of that corridor vision was to uh realign or re realter access of highway 494 by consolidating access to Portland Avenue and eliminating highway access from both Nicollet Avenue and 12th Avenue. So for for the folks that are traversing 494, what they are seeing for construction out there to date is mainly work between East Bush Lake Road and 35W that was termed uh project one. Uh majority of that work is about done. Uh I would say for the payment reconstruction that is being done is about 95% done at this time. Uh Poland Avenue bridge is continuing to be worked on. Once that is completed then um access of Nicollet and 12th will be taken out and construction for the Nicollet Avenue and 12th Avenue bridges will begin in 2026. So, but what this slide shows is the scope for the upcoming phase. So, the the the last the last project or the last phase of the corridor vision and that entails adding easy pass lanes from East Push Lake Road to West Push Lake Road on the west side of the corridor. Reconstructing pavement between uh uh just south of 82nd Street on 35W and on 76th Street. uh reconstructing pavement from Lindell Avenue all the way through to 24th Avenue on the east side of 35W, replacing the railroad bridge between Nicollet and Lindell and reconstructing the highway 77 bridges over 494. So as also as part of that project scope um mostly uh uh in the cities of Bloomington but there is some al some multimodal improvements uh in the city of Richfield east of 35W. The anticipated cost share for the city of Richfield is about 9,000 and that is uh to cover for uh any street lighting that uh working with the city staff they have identified they might want to include as part of the project. Last couple of slides. So yes, construction staging. Um we are still anticipating a 4-year construction project similar to project one. Um for people that are using 494, you would agree that uh the uh the current uh um the current accommodation of general purpose lanes or say general lanes, access lanes on 494 is three in each direction. uh we uh the the proposed staging is to try and keep the same number of lanes uh open during construction. Of course, they're going to be the width might be reduced. Uh we might have what we term shoot lanes. We might have barriers I would say uh concrete barriers as we are tra traversing during construction but generally we're trying to keep uh three lanes in each direction during construction also on the second phase similar to what is out there in the first phase. a 4-year construction uh project as I mentioned uh the first year in 2027 would focus mainly on utility relocations and any temporary widening that might be needed to accommodate the three lanes and then 2028 through 2030 that is when we are anticipating the major uh mainline impact so concurrent construction on both 35W and 494. So we know uh that uh there will definitely because of the con uh the restrictions in the number of lanes on uh mainline 494 that traffic is going to be diverting to the local system. So as uh as the similar effort that was uh done in phase one, we will be monitoring um some of the local routes uh in the city of Richfield, city of Adina, city of Bloomington. And the idea in there is to make the contractor uh more um uh reactive. Yes, proactive. We will be taking baseline measurements but also react reacting to where we are seeing the major local impacts being and giving chance to the contractor to go and remedy some uh to remedy some of those uh traffic impacts. So when I mention remedies it could be for example um improving signal timing on some of these corridors that uh the local network might be impact u that might be experiencing the the backups. We might uh add temporary signals for intersections that may not have uh those signals. We might in uh lengthen the the uh the turn lanes that are out there. So what all those strategies we are timing them as uh [clears throat] items in a toolbox that our contractor could deploy to help address any of the uh local traffic impact that might will we know that will be caused by work on mainline 494. With that, I stand for any questions. [34:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Uh, do we have any questions from the council for uh, Mr. Lutaya? Okay. All right. Thank you for your presentation. So, to staff, is there um, is there any additional information that staff would like to— [34:25] **Katie Rodriguez:** No. [34:27] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. So now uh open up for a public hearing for public comment. Any resident wishing to to participate in the public hearing, please proceed to the podium one at a time. Provide your name and the city that you live in prior to your comment. Council will hear your comment. If you would like staff to follow up, please include your name and phone number or email on the sign-in document located at the podium. To ensure everyone has time to speak, 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. If questions are asked, they may be addressed as part of the council discussion on the issue or staff will follow up after the meeting. So the public hearing for the I494 vision project 2 um municipal consent public hearing is now open. So if anybody would like to speak please come forward now. All right. Seeing none a motion to close the public hearing would be in order. [35:35] **Sharon Christensen:** So I would move to close the public hearing. [35:37] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Do we have a second council members? Do we have a second to close the public hearing? [35:40] **Walter Burke:** Second. [35:41] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Um, any discussion? All in favor of closing the public hearing? [35:45] **Council Members:** I. I. [35:47] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. opposed. All right, that motion carries. [35:52] **Walter Burke:** So, I move to approve the— [35:54] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** So, actually, I think we're just doing the public hearing tonight. My problem. So, and we will consider that at a future meeting. So, thank you. [36:05] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. So, our next item, uh, goes to Council Member Christensen regarding the lodging tax. [36:10] **Sharon Christensen:** Okay, this is the uh item for consideration was be consider second reading of an ordinance imposing a tax on lodging and repealing and replacing in its entirety chapter 14 of the Richfield code of ordinances. The proposed ordinance repeals and replaces chapter uh 14 of the Richfield city code related to the lodging tax. The purpose of this action is to align the city's ordinance with the current state law and authorize the Minnesota Department of Revenue to administer and collect the city's local lodging tax on the city's behalf beginning January 1st, 2026. Under Minnesota statutes section 469.190, the city is authorized to impose a tax up to 3%. The proposed ordinance maintains the existing 3% rate and updates definitions and administrative provisions to align with state sales and use tax laws. Transferring collection authority to the state will streamline administration, enhance compliance, and reduce the administrative burden on both local lodging operators and city staff. This ordinance complements the city council's recent adoption of the short-term rental licensing ordinance on September 23, 2025, which requires all short-term rental operators, both owner occupied and non-owner occupied, to obtain a city license. Together, these actions establish a clear regulatory and taxation framework for all lodging activities in Richfield. Current short-term rental owners will be notified of the new licensing process and the transition to state administered lodging tax collection. Lodging tax revenues will continue to support tourism and marketing initiatives through the city's designated tourism bureau, the Richfield Tourism and Promotion Board or Visit Richfield in accordance with state statute. The first reading of this ordinance was approved by the city council on October 14th. So, the recommended action was by motion to approve the second reading of an ordinance imposing a tax on lodging and repealing and replacing in its entirety chapter 14 of the Richfield Code of Code of Ordinances. Does the staff have anything to add? [38:25] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Council member, are you making the motion now? [38:27] **Sharon Christensen:** Yes, that is my motion. [38:29] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay, just let's ask for a second before we go to staff. Is there a second for that motion? [38:32] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Second. [38:34] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Uh so, uh let's continue to to staff. [38:36] **Katie Rodriguez:** Nothing to add. We're available for questions. And just a reminder that the agenda is amended to have a second motion for summary publication. [38:45] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Yep. So, after we complete this motion, I'll ask you to make the summary publication. Um any discussion of the main motion about approving the second reading. Okay. Well, I would just say I'm excited about uh the Department of Revenue collecting that. I know one of our frustrations with um Airbnb type things was them not paying the tax and making this simpler to comply and making the following the law the default is a good thing. So, thank you for that work. Um all right, all in favor of approving the motion. [39:15] **Council Members:** I. I. [39:17] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** um all opposed. That motion carries. So now, Council Member Christensen, if you'd like to make a motion to approve summary publication of that ordinance. [39:24] **Sharon Christensen:** Yes. I make a motion to approve the summary publication of this ordinance. [39:28] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Is there a second? [39:29] **Walter Burke:** Second. [39:31] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Any discussion of the summary publication? Okay. All in favor, please say I. [39:37] **Council Members:** I. I. [39:39] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Opposed. All right. That motion carries unanimously. All right. And next up, I believe we are back to council member Burke for the tax bond. [39:48] **Walter Burke:** So, the item for consideration is to consider a resolution providing for the sale of $6,60,000 of general obligation sales tax revenue bonds series 2025A. The series 2025A bonds will finance the improvements to the Woodlake Nature Center building project and the Veterans Park Complex project. Um, in the general election of November 5 2024 Richel voters approved the issuance of a local sales tax to fund three parks and recreation capital improvement projects, a new building at Woodlake Nature Center, improvements to the facilities of Veterans Park Complex, and a new Richfield Community Center building. The first issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $10 million took place in December 2024. The December 2024 general obligation bonds were intended to only be used for the Woodlake Nature Center building project. The general obligation bonds to be sold in November 2025 will contribute an additional $1 million in funding towards the Woodlake Nature Center building project and $5 million in funding towards the Veterans Park Complex project. The remaining $160,000 is related to financial costs of issuing the bonds. Staff have anything to add to that? [41:15] **Katie Rodriguez:** We're available for questions. [41:17] **Walter Burke:** So, the motion is to approve the attached resolution providing for the sale of $6,60,000 general obligation sales tax revenue bonds series 2025A. [41:25] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Is there a second to that motion? [41:27] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [41:28] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Is there any additional discussion? Okay. All in favor of approving, uh, please say I. [41:35] **Council Members:** I. I. [41:37] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Opposed? Okay, motion carries. Um, next up we have Council Member Christensen to discuss youth commissioners. [41:45] **Sharon Christensen:** Yes. This is the item for consideration to consider appointment of youth commissioners to city advisory boards and commissions. City advisory commission terms for youth members are for one year and terms expire on August 31, 2026. The city manager's office offers an ongoing recruitment window for vacant youth commissioner seats and includes information on the city's website, Facebook page, and communication with the local high schools. Applications received were forwarded to the council for review. The recommended action would be to by motion approve the appointment of the following youth commissioners. Muhammad Noir to the sustainability commission and Jawan Nunens to the human rights commission. [42:30] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Is there a second to that motion? [42:32] **Walter Burke:** Second. [42:34] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Any discussion of the motion? Yeah, council member Burke. [42:37] **Walter Burke:** just a quick comment. Always thanking uh anyone who steps up to be on commissions and encourage people to do so. Thank you. [42:45] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. um all in favor of the motion, please say I. [42:48] **Council Members:** I. [42:49] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** opposed. Motion carries. All right. Thank you for your patience. Council member Coleman Woods. I will turn it over to you. [42:58] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Thank you, Mayor Proterm. I don't know if that's proper proper terminology actually. Uh this is yes out of order. Sorry I clicked around. Sorry one second. [43:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Yeah keeps zooming out on me too. [laughter] [43:12] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** All right so the item for us 12B. I lost 11B. There's 11 A. [43:20] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Sorry you got moved to 12B. I I wrote this down in the first draft of the agenda and then uh things got changed around a little bit on me. 11 A is after. [43:30] **Walter Burke:** Council member Coleman Woods, would you like me to read it and you can make the motion? [43:34] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** I'd be happy to do likewise. [43:35] **Walter Burke:** Um, yeah, Council Member Burke, if you want to go ahead and read the executive summary and then we'll still have council. Let's make the motion. So again, the item for consideration is to consider approval of agreements with the contractors listed within for the renovation of the Richville Pool, a sub project of the Veterans Park Improvement Project totaling 2,244,724. Bids were solicited for the Richfield Pool Renovation, a sub project of the Veterans Park Improvement Project, and competitive bids were opened on September 25th, 2025. Bids were received for each specific specialized area of work for the project and the lowest responsible bids were chosen. In total, the project will involve 17 agreements for a total project cost of 3,311,789. Only these six agreements exceed $175,000 and require council approval. Um the agreements are Aqualogic, Inc. to replplaster main pool liner at $798,000. Fisher Brothers LLC restore water slide and install a pool zip line for $34,450. Weber Recreational Designs, Inc. to install pool play structure at $297,387. Davis Mechanical Systems Mechanical Heating and Duct Work at $275,000. Action Fence, Inc., a pool perimeter fence of $226,998. And Lowflur Construction for the Veterans Park project work management and administration for $342,889. The total amount of contracts for consideration is 2,244,724. Staff, anything to add? [45:10] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Did you want to make the motion and second it before we— [45:15] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** Yes. I'd make the motion to approve the contracts for the pool. [45:19] **Walter Burke:** I'll second that. [45:21] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Any discussion? Um, otherwise we also have staff. I did ask the staff just uh because it's a little hard to follow what's what. If you can just sort of explain what exactly we're doing with the the pool project, that would be appreciated. [45:35] **Karl Huemiller (Recreation Services Director):** Yeah, I can do kind of a councilman I can do a a kind of a brief scope work of it. So it gives—that's a very long document obviously so we can narrow it down. Um, yes, this will involve removing the existing green fence that was installed in 2003. Uh, it's aging. Um, we can't even find replacement. They don't, ironically, they don't make green fences anymore. Um, and part of it it's already falling down. So, that's a big part of the fence part. Um, we're also expanding the footprint. There's some land available that we don't utilize towards the Legion lot. So, we're going to push out the fence and have create more green space for people to get under shade, to put um towels down, to dry out, and to organize their parties. So, that's part of that. And then we're also um kind of reconfiguring the concession area to make it more [clears throat] uh inviting and open for families to uh have their lunch or or or dinner there. Um part of the project also is restoring both of the sl of the slides with sand blasting and re repainting. This will include a fun paint scheme to make it more inviting for the families as well. It will involve restoring the bridge um sand blasting and repainting that. We the bids came in lower than expected, so we're able to fit that in uh to the project as well. Uh replacing the diving boards, adding one new one, and then uh adding climbing wall and uh aqua zip line. Aqua zip line is a mechanism that'll go out about 20 feet and then drop you and then come back. And that'll be on the west side of the deep end. So, we'll be putting that in. Uh, part of the project also is new plaster for um the big pool and replplastering the little pool. Originally, the big pool, the Olympic pool is just concrete. It doesn't have a plaster over it. Uh, it's just been painted year after year after year. So, many layers of paint. So, we'll be sand blasting that and then putting on a new diamond coat color uh covering over that that'll be very water resistant and hold our uh the water body in. Um also in part of that is doing some gutter work. The gutters is the part on the inside of the pool. So, we'll be doing a spray painting watertight sealant inside the gutter. Reconfiguring the gutter because we have some heaving that's gone on so it flows better as well. Um, with the bids coming in a little bit lower as well, we were able to replace the zero depth play feature. So, that's part of that contract. So, you'll have an all-new play feature and some added amenity play features as well because when we originally did the 2003 remodel, they put in extra pumps and piping for additional features to be added. So, we'll do that a part of this project, which is great because our our play feature right now, we cannot find replacement parts for it, and it's all it's very rusted and deteriorated at this point. Um, part of this project, too, will be getting our uh concession stand up to code. Uh, ceiling tile, epoxy flooring, and backsplash, LED lighting for the whole pool building. Currently, all of it is fluorescent inside. And then air conditioning for the concession stand and for our staff rooms. The uh AC currently is not sufficient and it's very warm in the concession stand and in our staff room. So that'll keep our lifeguards cool which is important on those hot summer days and our concession workers as well. Um also part of the project will be expansion joints in the deck. Some of them are original from some of the concrete is original 1961 concrete and some of those joints need to be replaced. New partitions for the bathrooms and then all new paint inside the building in the bathrooms and area as you walk in and all new epoxy flooring. So that's a brief scope of all the contracts that were a part of the project. [49:15] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Right. Thank you. Um any questions for staff? [49:20] **Karl Huemiller:** Were you— [49:22] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Oh, okay. Um, I was curious the fence, is that the like opaque fence that we were shown in the in the work session or is it a different style of fence around the perimeter of the pool? [49:30] **Karl Huemiller:** It's similar to the green vents. It's black vinyl coated chain length that the perimeter. [49:35] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. We were shown like a like high security looking like opaque thing as well, but that's not what's happening. [49:40] **Karl Huemiller:** Yeah, we looked at a few different options and felt like this was a good price point and gets you what you're looking for. [49:45] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Um, Council Member Burke. [49:48] **Walter Burke:** just want to thank you for the good news. I I I'm not using the zipline, but I'm sure that there are people in this room who are very happy about that and uh looking forward to the the completion of the project and it uh and the air conditioning sounds great for staff. That's definitely important. So, thank you for the good news. [50:05] **Karl Huemiller:** You're welcome. [50:07] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much and we're excited to to see this moving forward. [50:11] **Karl Huemiller:** Thank you. [50:12] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. So, we do have a motion and a second. Um all those in favor of approving the motion, please say I. [50:17] **Council Members:** I. I. [50:19] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Any opposed? All right. That motion carries. All right. Next up, we have the city manager report. [50:25] **Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** Thank you, Mayor Prom. Um, I do want to thank uh facilities manager Chris Wybe. He's been overseeing this project. It's got a lot going on, as you can tell. Lots of contracts. also attorney Deon who's been helping us get these contracts done. So, it's exciting to see it all take shape and to hear about it. Um, last open forum we had we had Lataya Peterson, a Richfield resident. She discussed a situation where she witnessed a juvenile with several officers that had responded to the situation. Uh, Chief Henthorne was able to speak with Miss Peterson in the foyer actually during the council meeting. uh he offered to help her to file a formal complaint and she declined, but she did request to go on a ride along with the police department and that was being scheduled. In fact, it may have happened already. I'm not sure. I didn't follow up. Um we also had five speakers during the public hearing on certification of unpaid bills. Uh staff have followed up with all of those speakers. And that's all I have tonight. [51:30] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. Thank you. Um next up, we have hats off to Hometown Hits. and I will just go down the line starting with council member Coleman Woods. [51:40] **Rori A. Coleman-Woods:** I don't have anything at this time. [51:42] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Uh Council Member Christensen, do you have anything? [51:44] **Sharon Christensen:** Yes. Uh this weekend, November 1st and 2nd uh is the annual Richfield's annual uh fall boutique happening at the uh community center at 70th and Nicollet. And both days, uh, Saturday and Sunday, it will be two floors worth of vendors and and everything combined with a drawing also for a, um, a handmade quilt. And the hours for that would be 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. And just as a reminder that we need to change our clocks back an hour, Saturday into Sunday. So keep that in mind when we're going there. So, thank you. [52:20] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Council Member Burke. [52:22] **Walter Burke:** Nothing today. Thank you. [52:24] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Okay. Um, I just wanted to add um a thank you to those who participated um in the public activity of the the protests uh I guess two weeks ago as of this Saturday. Um I attended it um along with several thousand Richfielders. So, it was great to see people showing up to share their opinions um acting really respectfully. It seemed to be well received by the motorists who who uh saw us and and uh overall went really well and it was great to see so many people engaged. All right. With that, a motion to adjourn would be in order. [52:55] **Walter Burke:** So moved. [52:57] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** Is there a second? [52:58] **Sharon Christensen:** Second. [53:00] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. All in favor of adjourning? [53:02] **Council Members:** I. I. [53:04] **Sean Hayford Oleary:** All right. We are adjourned.