This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context provided and the internal dialogue cues (e.g., Council Members being addressed by name). *Note: While the provided list of officials includes Walter Burk and Rori A. Coleman-Woods, the transcript identifies **Simon Troutman** and **Ben Whalen** as the Council Members present and speaking during this specific session.* *** **[00:00:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** e e e e e e [Applause] good evening ladies and gentlemen um I was about to call the meeting to order but I noticed we're not on the air okay now we're on the air so we're going to call the meeting to order it is 7 PM it's Tuesday October 8th and this is the Richfield city council if you're able please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. **[00:00:30] (All):** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. **[00:01:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** Oh e okay all right so it's October 8th have to be more precise here is there anyone that has turned in a form for open form that wish is anyone wishing to speak is there anybody online if you are listening and you want to call in for open Forum you can do so by dialing 1-415-655-0001 you would use webinar access code 2862 762 4013 and password 1234. Now we're going to have a number of public hearings later in the meeting so if you're speaking to a specific public hearing save that for then um if you want to talk about a different matter that's not on the agenda we'd welcome your input now so if there's anyone here that would like to speak at this point. Seeing that there's no one there and no one here we'll keep moving forward if someone calls in at the last minute we can always take their input at that point so we'll move on to the approval of the minutes of the city council work session of September 24th 2024 and the city council meeting of September 24th 2024. **[00:02:15] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move approval. **[00:02:16] Council Member Ben Whalen:** Second. **[00:02:17] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay it's been moved and seconded is there any input or discussion hearing none all in favor please say I. **[00:02:22] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:02:23] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right we have passed the minutes is there someone here to receive the proclamation or should I do it from up front here some commiss here oh you are here oh good good good want to introduce yourself from the Human Rights Commission. **[00:02:40] Maddie Ven:** hello I'm Maddie Ven um I'm a teacher and I'm also on the Human Rights Commission. **[00:02:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you for the receiving the proclamation this is a proclamation of the city of Richfield whereas indigenous people's day is a celebration of the cultures lands and languages of indigenous peoples throughout the land in which the United States is built on and whereas the Dakota and Nish people have lived in the ancestral lands of Minnesota for thousands of years including the land of the city of Ridgefield and whereas indigenous peoples have served courageously throughout our history in all aspects of our society and deserve to be recognized and respected for all their contributions and whereas Minnesota is home to countless indigenous leaders including Lona luk Lewis errich and Clyde bort and whereas Mary Kunes is the first indigenous Minnesota State senator and whereas the state of Minnesota is honored to have Peggy Flanigan serve as our lieutenant governor representing white Earth nation and whereas the city of Richfield confirms its commitment to supporting uplifting and honoring indigenous peoples to ensure a better future for all members of our community now therefore I Mary Supple mayor of Richfield on behalf of the Richfield city council do hereby Proclaim October 14th 2024 as indigenous people's day in Richfield and call on the people of Richfield to observe this period with appropriate programs activities and ceremonies and continue to honor the contributions of indigenous Native Americans throughout the year for claim this 8th day of October 2024 did you want to say anything? **[00:04:10] Maddie Ven:** sure I just want to say thank you for having me here tonight um on behalf of the human rights uh commission we are very um happy with the proclamation and we are here to support our community thank you. **[00:04:22] Mayor Mary Supple:** thank you next we'll move on to approval of the agenda. **[00:04:25] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** move approval. **[00:04:26] Council Member Simon Troutman:** second. **[00:04:27] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and second and to approve the agenda is there any discussion all in favor please say I. **[00:04:32] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:04:33] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed we have approved the agenda moving next we will go to the consent calendar and I'll turn it over to city manager Rodriguez. **[00:04:40] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** thank you mayor the consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion once the consent calendar has been approved the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved no further Council action on these items is necessary on tonight tonight's consent calendar item a consider the first reading of an ordinance amending city code section 427 Wetland protection to add new buffer requirements compliant with the Min minihaha Creek Watershed District Wetland protection Rule and clarify the decision making and appeals process for Wetland conserva Conservation act decisions Item B consider approval for a temporary on sale intoxicating liquor license for the Blessed Trinity C Catholic School located at St Richard's Catholic Church 7540 Penn Avenue South for their annual Gala taking place December 7th 2024 item C consider the first reading of an ordinance amending city code sections 428 429 and 620 pertaining to erosion and sediment sedimentation control Water Resource Management and well drilling item D consider the adoption of a resolution authorizing acceptance of the office of traffic safety funds for an extension of an original four-year Grant to fully fund an officer dedicated to DWI enforcement in Richfield item e consider the adoption of a resolution to accept a grant of $ 5,593 from the office of Justice programs for bulletproof vests item F consider adoption of a resolution accepting grants funds from the state of Minnesota to prepare a Federal Grant to application and execute agreement number 105788 with the Minnesota Department of Transportation for fund dispersal item G consider a first reading of an ordinance Amendment establishing zoning regulations for cannabis businesses item H consider approval of a bid tabulation and award a contract to Ron cassa Construction Inc for the 2024 Citywide concrete project in the amount of $107,780 and authorize the city manager to approve contract changes up to I'm sorry under $175,000 without further city council consideration and finally item I consider approval of an amendment to the contract with hga ar Architects for the Wood Lake Nature Center building project in the amount of $181,500 to provide additional Professional Services clarify basic architectural service details and authorize the mayor and city manager to execute the amendment and I submit all these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar. **[00:07:35] Mayor Mary Supple:** is there a motion to accept the consent calendar. **[00:07:38] Council Member Ben Whalen:** so moved. **[00:07:39] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** second. **[00:07:40] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and seconded to accept the consent calendar items are there any comments questions? **[00:07:45] Council Member Ben Whalen:** it looks like a very um concise list but I know a lot of time and effort went into applying for all the grants and negotiating all the contracts and all of that stuff so thank you to everybody who had a part in putting together these items because I know it it took a lot of effort and it's going to bring a lot of value to our city. **[00:08:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right all in favor of approving the consent Calendar please say I. **[00:08:08] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:08:09] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed we have approved the items on the consent calendar we're going to have a series of public hearings and what'll happen is we'll listen to the report and have staff give us information then we'll open the public hearings for each item uh then we'll listen to the input that the public has then we'll close the public hearing and vote on the items and we'll do that several times in a row starting with item number five I'll turn it over to council member Hayford Oleary. **[00:08:35] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** thank you uh this is a public hearing to consider resolution adopting proposed assessment for unpaid garbage collection services from private property within the residential organized collection system from July 1st 2023 to June 31st 2024. garbage recycling Organics and Yard Waste Services for most Residential Properties in the city is provided through the city's organized collection program established in 2001. The city requires services to be provided by the haulers even if a resident has not paid their service bills as not having waste picked up is a public health concern as a result of this requirement the city agreed to take on the assessment process to resolve unpaid a balances. As of October 1st 2024 City staff has determined the actual assessment costs of unpaid garbage collection services to be $162,800.52. This amount will continue to be adjusted as assessments are paid by owners or residents before being sent to the county. um I know for each of these we do have a phone in option so if I could ask the tech to put the information on the screen for the phone in option for the public hearing um and if anybody is in person to speak to a garbage related assessment um please come forward now and will we give just a minute online um could staff just describe I think this would apply to all of them how they could prepay the assessment before it actually goes to property tax if somebody does have an outstanding balance. **[00:10:05] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** yes so they can uh they can pay it a variety of ways they can come in and pay it they can send a check in and pay it needs to be paid by November 15th in order for it not to be um sent to the county for certification. **[00:10:18] Sack Thongvanh (Assistant City Manager):** one point of clarification mayor and council: garbage assessments do need to be paid directly to the hauler; the city does not accept payment for garbage assessments. If folks have questions on which hauler service is their property they can give the city a call and we can help connect them with the correct hauler for their address um but we do not take uh payment for garbage assessments. **[00:10:40] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay is the deadline the same for paying the hauler November 15th? **[00:10:44] Sack Thongvanh (Assistant City Manager):** yes. **[00:10:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay thank you all right and again nobody in the room would like to speak to a garbage assessment correct and I don't think we've received any callers correct city clerk? **[00:10:55] Michelle Friedrich (City Clerk):** correct. **[00:10:56] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I will move that we close the public hearing. **[00:10:58] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[00:10:59] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved in seconded to close the public hearing all in favor please say I. **[00:11:03] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:11:04] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed we've closed the public hearing. **[00:11:06] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I move that we adopt a resolution adopting the assessments for costs incurred for unpaid garbage collection Services between July 1st 2023 and June 30th 2024. **[00:11:16] Council Member Simon Troutman:** second. **[00:11:17] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion all in favor please say I. **[00:11:21] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:11:22] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right we have approved that resolution next we'll move on to item number six council member Christensen. **[00:11:30] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** thank you uh this is adopt a resolution for special assessments for removal of diseased trees from private property for work ordered from January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2023. the health of trees within Municipal limits is threatened by shade tree diseases and it is the city's responsibility to control and prevent the spread of these diseases. if the city deems it necessary to remove a diseased Tree on private property the property owners have three options available: one, remove the tree themselves; two, hire and pay for their own contractor to remove the tree; or three, hire their own contractor and request the cost of the tree removal be assessed against their property tax. In addition to the above scenario a number of properties included in this year's assessment are residents who voluntarily use the city's EAB removal assistance program. the owners of these properties either one asked the city to assess their 25% cost share for their Ash removals to their property taxes or two failed to or chose not to pay the city their 25% cost share after three statements were sent and they were made aware of the charge would be placed onto their property taxes. In the period from January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2023 44 Property Owners chose to assess or were designated for assessment and four property owners have since paid off their entire balance the total amount to be assessed is currently $89,950.47 across 40 properties. We'll now open the uh public hearing on this the staff could put the call in number up there on the screen is there anybody in the room that would like to speak about the trees? okay seeing none um close the public hearing and I'm asking by motion to adopt—oh I'm sorry, make a motion to close the public hearing I'm sorry is there a second? **[00:13:30] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[00:13:31] Mayor Mary Supple:** all in favor of closing the public hearing please say I. **[00:13:34] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:13:35] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed the public hearing is closed. **[00:13:37] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** okay now we will adopt a resolution for special assessments for removal of disease trees from private property for work orders from January 1st 2023 through December 31st 2023. is there a motion? all right so you've made the motion is there a second? **[00:13:50] Council Member Simon Troutman:** second. **[00:13:51] Mayor Mary Supple:** okay it's been moved and seconded uh is there any discussion? **[00:13:55] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I guess go ahead just for anyone listening um some of these are you know unpaid fees but just to make sure people are aware if you uh have a diseased or dying tree that you need to remove um this program is an opportunity that if you cannot pay that all at once the city can spread it out over a few years through your property taxes and so just want to make sure folks are aware of that. we certainly continue to have particularly ash trees but more and more trees that are dying in the community thank you. **[00:14:28] Mayor Mary Supple:** any further discussion all in favor please say I. **[00:14:31] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:14:32] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed we've passed a special assessment next we'll move on to item number seven council member Troutman. **[00:14:38] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you mayor uh item number seven is to hold a public hearing and consider a resolution adopting the assessment of the ILN project area for $81,615.59 in costs incurred to maintain the area for 2023 and a resolution ordering the undertaking of the current service project within the ILN project area for 2025 um and so this is a public hearing I understand we have at least one resident uh from from the community who would uh like to address the council so would invite invite them and anybody else to come on up you can come up there and um give us your name and address please and then you have three minutes to address the council. **[00:15:20] Patricia Erikson:** three minutes? I'm Patricia Erikson I'm the owner of Viking paints we own two properties in Richfield that about the frontage road on 494 this project is on 77th Street I'm just saying that this Improvement doesn't benefit our business and I talked to one of your city employees and he said to just come and ask if we could be removed from the area. we pay $63,000 a year in property taxes for those two businesses um I just think this is little excessive my notice says you spent $8,950—you just read that you spent $81,500. **[00:16:00] Council Member Simon Troutman:** I'll give you the balance of of your time and um and so um and I'll ask that this the uh our our attorney—the the proper order of things is to let her speak for three minutes and then close the hearing and then have staff address the concerns so um can you just ask your question one more time you and and just so so we're sure we can respond to it. **[00:16:25] Patricia Erikson:** okay my request is that you remove the two properties 7721 Pillsbury Avenue and 100 West 78th Street from the area for the special assessment. **[00:16:40] Council Member Simon Troutman:** very good thank you. **[00:16:41] Patricia Erikson:** when can I expect a response? **[00:16:43] Council Member Simon Troutman:** uh we we'll be we'll be voting on it momentarily uh and so this is the opportunity for any member of the public to speak to the issue um I understand you you of all people are the most passionate about this issue but it's open to the public so anybody from the public could come and speak to the issue. **[00:17:00] Patricia Erikson:** I just question that this 77th Street benefits our property when we're block away from 77th Street we don't even use it. **[00:17:08] Council Member Simon Troutman:** yeah very good thank you and uh just for reference for everybody um the ILN project area assessment was established to recover special maintenance expenses in the 77 Street area in 1988 and the current Services include maintenance and operation of irrigation systems weed control mowing fertilization trash and litter removal replanting and noise wall maintenance um and these current services are provided on both sides of the 77 Street noise wall and the maintenance and functions are funded through the maintenance assessment on 77 Street commercial properties of which we had one property owner come and speak. is a public hearing city clerk do we have anybody that's called in? **[00:17:55] Michelle Friedrich (City Clerk):** no we do not right now. **[00:17:57] Council Member Simon Troutman:** all right anybody else that would like to speak? all right then I would move that we close our public hearing. **[00:18:03] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[00:18:04] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moving and seconded to close the public hearing all in favor please say I. **[00:18:08] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:18:09] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right and then council member Troutman. **[00:18:12] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you before we move to the motion do staff have anything to add? **[00:18:17] Kristin Asher (Public Works Director):** thank you council member I did receive a question on this um and from council member Hayford Oleary and I just wanted to share the information with everyone. council member had asked about planting trees along the corridor and we do plan on replacing some of the trees around the along the corridor next year. we also are looking at updating that Landscaping and coming up with a plan for it however we're waiting on that for a couple reasons: we've got two federal grants that we're applying for and so we want to see if we get those grants and that would impact um any Landscaping plan and then also the 494 project will impact the corridor as well and so we want to wait until there's more progress on on that project um and then finally the landscape plan um would involve updating that irrigation system and so that would likely be done over two years because it would be it would be more costly than the normal maintenance on the corridor. **[00:19:15] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you mayor um two comments: one just wanted to address the question about the discrepancy in numbers; the assessment costs for services was that 85,000 dollar number um but four properties have already paid their assessments and so the amount that is getting assessed is $81,155.59 that's in the more detailed packet. um and then I wanted to also—in the more detailed packet is at least the last 20 years of history on this and this cost is higher than usual. my guess is there similar to our last item there were a lot of dead ash trees in that area. was that the primary cause this year for the higher costs? **[00:20:00] Kristin Asher (Public Works Director):** mayor members of the council there were there were two items that raised cost. one was as you mentioned the removal of ashes and there was damage to the wall due to an accident which which raised the cost this year. **[00:20:15] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you um and then my last thought is just that I would agree with the original intent and geography of this District that I I know there's some Frontage roads this includes properties that are closer to 76 some that are closer to 77th or 78th I mean but with 77 being the primary Corridor to access those um I continue to think that it's appropriate that all the businesses in this Corridor are contributing toward the upkeep. **[00:20:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** did staff have any input on the question that was raised by the resident? **[00:20:50] Kristin Asher (Public Works Director):** again when this this District was created it was meant for the commercial properties in that area. again as Council member Whalen stated um the access is from 77th Street for all of those properties and it's just to to cover those costs for maintenance of of that Corridor. **[00:21:08] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you mayor I just had a question for staff. for I know for residential areas we don't do assessments like this I wondered is this the only part of Richfield where we have assessments that are assessed directly to the businesses or are there other business districts where we have similar kinds of Assessments? **[00:21:30] Kristin Asher (Public Works Director):** yes this is the only one right now we we used to have the Hub maintenance District um because of reconstructions and everything kind of changing over the years we did we did abandon that maintenance District. **[00:21:42] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you and then the last last question um I with other assessments for residents we have mechanisms to finance those and space those payments out um do we have similar options for for businesses um if if they they need uh you know the time value of money to pay the assessments or do they are the assessments due all at once? **[00:22:05] Kristin Asher (Public Works Director):** I'm not aware of any at this time um you know I'm I'm the working side of this one to get get the work done um but I'm not aware of anything at this point. **[00:22:15] Council Member Simon Troutman:** I just did want to say that it looks like the assessed value for the person who spoke to us is about $1,300 which is a pretty small fraction compared to the property tax bill. I will just say although I'm certainly sympathetic that um there's a lot of things I don't like about 77th but I do think our maintenance of our Landscaping is important and this this was the deal this was the deal when the property was purchased and I agree with council member Whalen that exempting one specific business wouldn't really be fair to the others who are paying into the district. **[00:22:50] Mayor Mary Supple:** I agree yeah um would staff be available after we vote on this if the resident had a specific question about their assessment? because I know there's a detailed list in the big packet but I don't know if that's something— **[00:23:02] Kristin Asher (Public Works Director):** yes yes I'll be available. **[00:23:05] Mayor Mary Supple:** right thank you any other questions comments? **[00:23:08] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you I just wanted to address the business owner particularly because you came here and and you asked a question even though council member Hayford Oleary also asked that. I'm sympathetic that nobody wants to pay fees or assessments in any circumstance but to be one business that didn't have to pay when your neighbors did have to pay is not something that I would support um but I certainly don't don't think it's wrong that you came and asked and ask for clarity and even ask for clarity about things like well there's this $4,000 difference from what I'm seeing and I'm understanding and so hopefully you got some of your answers even though you didn't get the answer you were looking for um technically not unfortunately um but uh but I'll be around here after after the council meeting I won't duck you so if you'd like to chat I'm glad to chat and the staff member said he would talk with you out in the hall and go through some specifics so um so with that I hope I have to scroll up to make the motion sorry folks you didn't memorize it council? **[00:24:15] Council Member Ben Whalen:** I did not memorize it page 110. **[00:24:18] Council Member Simon Troutman:** 110 thank you I would move we adopt a resolution adopting the assessment on the ILN project area for 81,155.59 and cost incurred to maintain the area for 2023. City attorney can we do both in one motion? **[00:24:35] Mary Tietjen (City Attorney):** yes I think that's fine. **[00:24:37] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you and adopt a resolution ordering the undertaking of the current service project within the ILN project area for 2025. **[00:24:45] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[00:24:46] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved in second and Is there further discussion all in favor please say I. **[00:24:50] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:24:51] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed and we have adopted both resolutions we have one more resolution and then it's come to my attention that we missed two presentations so without objection we'll go to those after this next public hearing so our next public hearing is item number eight and I'll turn that over to council member Whalen. **[00:25:10] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you mayor uh this is another and our final public hearing and consideration of a resolution adopting the proposed assessments of delinquent utility accounts false alarm charges public health or safety hazards charges weed eradication charges and vacant property registration fees to be certified to property taxes. Minnesota state statutes 444.075 and 429.101 and the city of Richfield policy on private property chapter 7 of the Richfield code of ordinances provide that unpaid water sanitary sewer storm sewer and street light charges may be certified to the county auditor to be included in a property owner's annual Property Tax Bill. Section 92.2 subdivision 5 Section 9157 subdivision 3 and chapter 8.02 of the city Charter provide that the city is allowed to specially assess delinquent fees city code also authorizes a certification fee to be charged against each delinquent account by certifying the delinquent charges to the property taxes the city is assured of collection of the charges. the delinquent accounts must be certified to the county auditor in order for the city to collect the charges through the property tax payment process property owners have been notified that any unpaid charges or fees may be assessed against their property. does staff have anything to add on this item? all right then I would open the public hearing for this item is there anyone here to speak to this item? we'll give people a couple minutes if they were calling in um if staff could remind us again the process if folks want to pay this off before it gets assessed they can pay at the utility desk in cash or check by what date? **[00:26:55] Mike Langston (Finance Director):** the November 12th. **[00:26:57] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you I'm not seeing anyone in person or calling in to speak to this item I'd move that we close the public hearing. **[00:27:05] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** second. **[00:27:06] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved in seconded to close the public hearing all in favor please say I. **[00:27:10] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:27:11] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed public hearing is closed. **[00:27:13] Council Member Ben Whalen:** then I would make a motion that we approve the attached resolution authorizing certification of unpaid water sanitary sewer storm sewer and streetlight charges false alarm charges public health or safety hazard charges weed eradication charges and vacant property registration fees to the county auditor to be collected with other taxes on said property. **[00:27:35] Council Member Simon Troutman:** second. **[00:27:36] Mayor Mary Supple:** been moved in second and is there any further discussion all in favor please say I. **[00:27:40] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:27:41] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed and we have approved the attached resolutions thank you now without objection we're going to move to a presentation by the Community Services Commission and so we'll welcome the chair of that commission. **[00:27:55] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** may—oh go ahead mayor I believe you need an amendment to amend the agenda and I also wanted to express my my apologies um we had two presentations tonight we had a presentation for the Community Services Commission and it's Tessa Johansson so I apologize for missing that on the agenda that was um it is on the online agenda but it is not on the agenda that was pulled up on your computers and then we have an a presentation from The Advisory Board of Health which is I believe Jennifer Anderson is here to present so I would a motion would be in order to amend the the agenda to allow these two presentations. **[00:28:35] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** so moved. **[00:28:36] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[00:28:37] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and second and is there any discussion all in favor of amending the agenda to add these two presentations please say I. **[00:28:44] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:28:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right we've added those welcome chair Johansson and you can come up and the floor is yours thank you. **[00:28:55] Tessa Johansson:** hello um glad to be here again um this past year has been another busy one for the Community Services Commission for those that might not be familiar our commission is a little bit unique in that we have liaisons that work with all of the other commissions so that means the planning Arts and sustainability commissions along with friends of wood Lake board transportation committee and so we tend to receive regular reports from those areas. but for our own work we have covered quite a bit of ground: so last over the past year we received regular project updates about the new Taft bike park which opened last October also the Augsburg skate park Expansion Project which reopened in August and the new Splash Pad which is scheduled to open for the 2025 season and the wood Lake Nature Center building project which is scheduled to begin next year as well. We also assisted with grading proposals for new playground equipment at Fair Wood Park uh we used criteria based on the neighborhood feedback sessions in 2023. We also discussed project options for the upcoming local sales tax referendum received updates about information sessions open houses and facility tours. We provided feedback regarding plans to replace the main building at Donaldson Park in 2026 prioritized proposed capital projects and recommended city council approval of the 2025 parks recreation and open space capital Improvement budget and the 2026 through 2029 Capital Improvement plan. We also reviewed plans and policies for the revamped Recreation fee assistance program which saw $113,000 in donation funds utilized by qualifying Richfield households to assist with paying for activity fees. I know that program was really popular with our commission and it sounds like the community as well so that was really great to hear um we also met jointly with the sustainability commission to hear presentations from Public Works including the city's storm water Pond priority plan which is fascinating so well done there and then the Richfield Bloomington watershed management organization report forestry update and a Parks maintenance project update. We also reviewed the partnership with Richfield public schools to prepare and groom a cross country ski Trail in Augsburg park we provided guidance and feedback to staff regarding the Roundup for Richfield Parks program at the Richfield liquor store in 2024 $1,100 was raised to benefit the new recreation fee assistance program fund and funds are currently being raised in the final quarter of the year to purchase new features for the Roosevelt offleash dog park. um we received updates on the new agreement with Minneapolis Hockey for the lease of ice time at the Richfield Ice Arena and we also appointed new and returning members to the Friends of wood Lake board and then just in the coming year we also plan to continue prioritizing Capital Improvement items continuing to hear regular reports from staff and other commissions and provide feedback and guidance on approved capital projects including the Wood Lake building project the play equipment replacement schedule and other projects so all in all a really good year thank you so much. **[00:32:45] Mayor Mary Supple:** do we have any questions or comments? I know council member Whalen you've been the liaison. **[00:32:50] Council Member Ben Whalen:** yeah I just it has been a lot and um I know I've had to miss a couple meetings but thank you I think the only other thing I'd add that's been kind of fun is the the commission has been meeting at some of the new buildings for rent in our Parks and so if you for anyone listening if you hadn't heard we are some of more of the buildings that can hold you know a group of 15 to 30 people or so are available for rent. I know people have been asking for community meeting spaces and I well I guess I won't cramp on your style maybe you wouldn't host a wedding there but certainly you could host a birthday party or a smaller event with family or friends and so would encourage others to check those out as well thank you. **[00:33:35] Mayor Mary Supple:** yeah thank you um one thing I did want to add we had the a boy scout troop visit us earlier today and they're asking their favorite things in Richfield and the parks came up a lot so good kudos to the commission that's good news thank you for sharing all right next we'll have The Advisory Board of Health. **[00:33:55] Jennifer Anderson:** good evening Madame mayor and council members my name is Jennifer Anderson I'm the staff liaison for The Advisory Board of Health unfortunately our chair could not be with us tonight so you get me instead. um it's I can't believe we're here talking about 2024 already it just seems like we were talking about 2023. The Advisory Board meets January through May and then September and October for seven months of the year um there's been a lot of fluctuation in numbers on our commission um people moving out of the city people moving into the city um for whatever reason we had a couple who had to drop off so at this point we have five members we're hoping to recruit two more during this recruit season and then we are also hoping for two youth we have not had youth members on our commission I think since 2019 and for whatever reason so we're hoping to to have some young perspectives join us. with that churn and turnover there's a lot of um kind of stopping and starting a lot of onboarding bringing people current to what the the commission does and so they took kind of a step back reviewed the bylaws this year which hadn't been amended since 2004 so there was some cleanup there. um we officially reduced the number of members on the commission from 11 down to nine and that nine includes the two youth members. cannabis was also a big topic this year um and the The Advisory Board is learning along with everybody else policies health potential health policies that could be coming in the future. the three advisory boards—Bloomington and Edina and Richfield—met in May and cannabis was the focus of that meeting as well. they learned quite a bit about cannabis research that's taking place at the University of Minnesota and how that research is going to be impacting um how locals are experiencing cannabis once that becomes um online in 2025. um there was a request by the commission to tour the police department so they did that as well they got a an in-depth look at our PD one evening and then they heard a presentation by the Richfield Health Resource Center which is housed within the high school and there was a lot of support on the part of The Advisory board for that service. I think that we weren't able to actually go to the the resource center but I think that's going to be a priority in 2025 and trying to figure out how that group can can support and lift up what they're doing for kids and young adults in the community. pennfest—they were back at pennfest this year um the first time since 2019 COVID really put a dent in participation but there was interest again from the group and we had a lot of interest. there was a lot of information and resources provided everything from Cannabis prevention education materials um I think the biggest um the biggest Public Health Focus that day was on the adopted drain program. we've got a an Advisory Board member who's very active in that and she had her Home Depot buckets on the table and people were excited about adopting a drain across the city so um it was good to good to be back out in the community and then typically planning for the following year happens in October sometimes it spills over into January so like I said I I would expect probably some cannabis policy changes coming forth um there's a lot of a lot of research going into how can cities regulate cannabis much like they do tobacco so that is what the Advisory Board of Health has been up to in 2024 thank you. **[00:38:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** and thank you to everyone who serves on the commission um council member Troutman did you want to add anything as liaison? had a lot going on this year next we'll move on our in our agenda to adoption of the resol—or consider the adoption of a resolution for County state aid Highway 52 or Nicolet Avenue and I'll turn that over to council member Hayford Oleary. **[00:38:40] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** thank you um yes this item is for the Nicolet Avenue preferred concept from 77th to 66th. I believe we'll have a presentation forthcoming but just to briefly read the executive summary: Hennepin County has planned for a full reconstruction of Nicolet Avenue for 2026. Public engagement and Outreach began in August 2023 and consisted of four phases of Engagement following Richfield's public engagement policy for public The Works projects. the project team also presented to the Transportation Commission five times over that period for feedback and Direction. Transportation Commission voted unanimously at their September 4th meeting to recommend the preferred concept to the city council. staff presented on the preferred concept and the current cost estimate including the city's anticipated cost share at a work session on September 24th and I will turn it over to staff for them to present. **[00:39:35] Matt Harder (Transportation Engineer):** thank you mayor and Council uh my name is Matt Harder I'm the transportation engineer for the city. um just give a brief overview of the project this will be a very similar presentation to what the council saw at the work session two weeks ago with a little bit more detail in some areas. project area for this project it's a Hennepin County project as was mentioned in the executive summary will be on Nicolet Avenue from 77 Street to 66th Street. that road was originally constructed in 1961 it was last fully milled and overlaid in around in 2014 that was when the road was restriped from four lanes to three current configuration that you see today. 2018 there was a CenterPoint Gas main project that went through the northbound lane um there was all that lane was reconstructed and there was also some spot pavement Rehabilitation that was done and in 2020 there was a pedestrian Safety project done to add the median refuges that are at 71st Street 72nd Street and 73rd Street. that's where we are today there's an image on the right side of this screen that shows the difference between the corridor in 2012 and the corridor today right outside of Augsburg Library. the project is anticipated to be a two-year project from 2026 and 2027 uh there may be some private utility relocation work that may begin as early as 2025 but that's to be determined at a later date. the county was gracious enough to follow Richfield's public engagement plan through this project so from August 2023 through September 2024 there were four phases that consisted of four open houses four popup events five Transportation Commission meetings and around 900 touch points with the community with individuals in the community. this project was also developed using all of the existing plans and policies that the city has for transportation projects including the guiding principles our complete streets policy the bicycle master plan pedestrian master plan and the active Transportation action plan and this project would achieve goals that are laid out in each one of those documents. the design features of the preferred concept which was included in the packet for vehicles it contains a three Lane section that reduces the curb to curb width from the existing 51 feet to 35 ft. there's a one-way separated bike path on each side of the road and there will be rectangular rapid flashing beacons or RRFBs the flashing yellow pedestrian lights at several intersections. a good local comparison of what the ultimate design of the project would look like is 66 Street East of 12th Avenue where you have the travel the three Lane section with a buffer to the cycle track and the sidewalk with pedestrian lighting um as shown in the image. as we went through public engagement of the other aspects that was included in the design are compact roundabouts. so roundabouts are preferred as a safety feature for these intersections because they reduce the number of conflict points for vehicles and pedestrians. at a signalized intersection you have 32 conflict points where cars may hit each other; a roundabout reduces that down to eight and removes the most serious potential conflict points. there's a lower overall crash rate for single laner roundabouts in a signalized intersection as well as a significantly lower fatal crash rate for single Lane roundabouts versus signalized intersections. when the project team also modeled the travel time from end to end of the corridor their analysts concluded that it would actually reduce vehicle delay and increase—or reduce travel time from 77 to 66 Street for a vehicle due to less waiting at signals that were where you were the only car waiting for a red light to change. a local comparison for this would be the roundabouts on Lindale Avenue the roundabouts that are proposed are four-legged instead of three but they are roughly the same size as the existing roundabouts on Lindale Avenue. another feature that was included were right in right out intersections so similar to roundabouts this reduces the conflict points at the intersection as a safety measure. a two-way stop sign like a signal has 32 potential conflict points a right in right out intersection has four. it also creates a median stopping point for pedestrians and reduces crash rates by 23% from a two-way left turn lane. we did get a lot of feedback on these because they are relatively new to the community there was not a—there were questions about access and what the purpose of these were. one of the—we do have a few examples of this within the within Richfield today there are about five on 66 Street as well as Lakeshore Drive where Lakeshore Drive meets Lindale Avenue. one of the biggest questions that we received with these is driveway access. if the median was directly in front of a driveway would that how would that affect a resident's ability to get in and out of their driveway? the answer is it would—if you were coming from One Direction you would not be able—either Northbound or Southbound along the road you would not be able to turn left into your driveway. for this project that there are about 20 driveways either from the right in right out medians the roundabout splitter Islands or the left turn refuges that are included that would have access or moves from One Direction. part of the benefit of having roundabouts in a case like this is that a U-turn can be made relatively easily usually within a block or two in order to come from other direction. the other aspect is that once you start to learn what—how to get to and from a location it gets easier. the first few weeks obviously there will be learning curve for anyone who is affected. this is similar to previous projects that have been done in Richfield: Lindale Avenue had 18 driveways where left turn access was removed and 66 Street had 21 driveways where left turn access was removed and that also there were also three alleys where left turn access was removed. um one of the other safety features that this project is intending is proposing is raised crosswalks so pedestrians and bicyclists cross at sidewalk level instead of the street level which increases visibility for everyone and also provides a traffic calming effect that reinforces the stop sign. i did not include this in the presentation I apologize for that: these intersections would also have bump outs that move the curb into the intersection and shorten the crossing distance as well. and as was discussed at the work session but has not been incorporated into the layout that was within the packet those bump outs would have sidewalk connections up to the the corners. so overall the project benefits for pedestrians: it's improved sidewalks and lighting there is more buffer to the vehicle Lanes where currently there is no buffer to the vehicle Lanes more planting and trees more median refuges and shorter Crossing distances. bicyclists also there is a buffer bike lane that provides an all ages all abilities facility and those raise Crossings add additional comfort safety and comfort for riders. for Transit Riders this project will improve bus stops and reduce delay at intersections for residents who are riding the bus. for drivers there's also reduced delay at intersections and T-Bone crash potential is removed or greatly reduced at seven out of the 10 intersections within the corridor. similarly that benefits our Emergency Services who do not have—who will have a reduced potential to have to respond to those serious and fatal accidents as they will have much lower potential for those to occur and it also benefits the environment with more green space allowed mean for additional water treatment and more space for plantings. from a budget perspective the total estimated project cost right now is about 28.1 million that estimate will fluctuate between now and 2026 as design details are finalized. the current estimate of the city cost share is about 14.4 million based on the County's cost share policy that includes $7.2 million for roadway and storm sewer and $7.2 million for City Utilities. the council direction from the September 24th work session was to proceed with the preferred roadway concept and look for cost Savings in utility constructions. staff have been able to have a preliminary look at those at this point and our current plan is to look at removing—or doing the sanitary sewer work outside of the project and lining it which would potentially be a cost savings to the project of roughly $2 to $3 million. the water main work would need to still be done at some point during the project the two different options that were discussed at the work session—either lining the water main or full replacement of the water main—are roughly cost equivalent. the difference ends up being risk to the existing facilities while construction is going on so there's more work to be done on both of those options to determine what is feasible but preliminarily that's what we are looking at. the staff recommendation similar to the transportation—or as was mentioned earlier the Transportation Commission did unanimously recommend that the city council approve this concept. staff is also recommending that the concept is approved. the proposed design increases safety for all users reduces vehicle delay creates a more inviting streetscape and roadway for the community and meet City goals outlined in all of our planning documents and policies so thank you mayor council for the chance to present um I will be available for any questions that you have. **[00:50:35] Mayor Mary Supple:** I have some general comments on the project but if other council members have questions for staff? I was wondering just what the next steps are if we approve this resolution what happens after this? **[00:50:50] Matt Harder (Transportation Engineer):** thank you mayor the next step for the project would be to move into the final design process where actually plans are developed for construction. i believe there is potentially some action that the County Board would need to take as well is that correct there? **[00:51:10] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** so yeah no action that the County Board would need to take they would just move into their final design phase and then that's when they would talk—like get easements and all those types of things. **[00:51:22] Mayor Mary Supple:** yes so anybody that lives along the corridor will be hearing from the the people that are working on the project then? **[00:51:28] Matt Harder (Transportation Engineer):** that's correct and some of that contact has already been made but it will be continue to be made now as the project would move forward. **[00:51:36] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you mayor just for anyone who wasn't listening—doesn't have the time to listen to the full work session—the just a little bit of explanation on the the direction that Council gave. and I I don't think I'm speaking out of turn: we were relatively in agreement that the proposed cost savings options to for changes to the roadway design—the we would have to remove things that were pretty critical to what what the public was asking for through the public input process and it would not create that much of a cost savings. whereas on the Utility side I know I and I believe other council members received some feedback of surprise that we would talk about spending Less on the utilities when those are so essential. but I I guess my question then that I fairly certain I know the answer to but just want to confirm that I know it's still still in process but if the if the decision was to line instead of replace the sanitary sewer—that that is that process is as good as new that is not a downgrade in quality correct? **[00:52:45] Joe Powers (City Engineer):** hi council member Whalen Joe Powers city engineer. um yeah you're essentially correct in that lining a sanitary sewer essentially restores the pipe to like new condition. we anticipate line—lining is still a relatively new technology in the last half century or so but generally that brings a pipe back to lifespan of anywhere between 50 to 100 Years. **[00:53:15] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you um so yes just again appreciate staff looking into that particularly if the savings are in multiple millions of dollars that obviously is very helpful for making sure we can pay for the project um so thank you for your work on that and just wanted to explain it for residents. **[00:53:35] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** um well first off one minor item I just want to be sure that was memorialized from the work session that um assuming the county will allow us to do so that there was openness to paying for crosswalk markings to remain at 71st Street. staff did make a note of that correct? **[00:53:50] Matt Harder (Transportation Engineer):** yes staff did note that. **[00:53:52] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** okay and I'm certainly hopeful that the county will allow us to remark the the existing marked crosswalk at our own expense believe that is the case okay. um I do want to just say in general you know I've been at every meeting of this project I've watched the Transportation Commission go through this I will certainly be voting to support this tonight and I'm really proud of what we've done. when we had our candidate Forum last weekend I talked about how Richfield doesn't rest on its laurels and we're not just content to keep doing the same old thing and to some people maybe this looks kind of similar to 66 but in a lot of important subtle ways this is improved and I'm really proud of that. it's it's better than Portland it's better than 66 but it's probably not as good as the next project will do and that's kind of comforting that we're always striving for better. the only sort of major regret I want to note that I have—especially since we have our our wonderful County team here—there's a significant cost difference that we're bearing as Richfield specifically because we're doing a better Street. we are paying significantly more money to do protected bike Lanes even though it's something the county supports even though it's something the county promotes doing on their roadways and we're paying half the—half that cost difference. that is a significant financial disincentive to creating a safer better Street and I think it's unfortunate that the current County cost share policy—and I certainly tell this to our elected officials too at the county—I think it's unfortunate that the cost share policy causes cities that are—have tight budgets to give them a reason to not want a safer bikeway. so I really hope that can be revised in the future I hope it can be revised in time for our next collaboration with the county but really you know that aside I I really am I'm impressed with this project I'm proud of where it's headed and um yeah I'm happy to support it. and then one other thing just for our our city benefit—it's a little bit of an aside but I did have to note the narrowing of the street which is going to feel really significant and hopefully will slow down cars at 35 ft. Nicolet Avenue which carries almost 10,000 cars a day will actually be narrower than my own residential street that is carries 100 cars a day. so it does make me wonder if we really need such wide streets when a 10,000 car a day road only needs to be 35 feet so thank you. **[00:56:40] Mayor Mary Supple:** I also wanted to um this is Mayor Supple I wanted to thank the public for all of their input. um our Council packet has over a hundred pages of feedback and comments from the public that whether they wrote something out whether they came to an open house and so this has been a very robust feedback policy or program. and so I think it starts on page 151 and goes to page 260 so that's a significant amount of feedback that we've received and I know people felt that their voices were heard even if sometimes it didn't come out the way they were advocating for. it was good that everybody had a chance to have the full discussion and I want to thank everybody who participated in any of the open houses who mailed in feedback or participated in any way. thank you council member Troutman. **[00:57:38] Council Member Simon Troutman:** thank you mayor and I I would just add to that um it it was it was great: we had a group of Scouts in the city council here just before just before the the council session here and one of the things that the parents commented on and even one of the scouts commented on was the ability to be able to walk and bike around the city of Richfield safely. and I remember growing up with what 66 used to be and I've now raised two young young people on our streets now and it really impacts the quality of our life. and I know what it felt like to grow up in Richfield when our streets and our underpasses looked terrible and shabby and the impact that that had when you live in a place that other people think is—is less than and doesn't look as—it has an impact on people too. and so I'm grateful to support this and thankful for all the volunteers and all the staff time that has been put in—the vision of our transportation director over the years to to make the city be better and the investment we have to make collectively to make it better. it's the fruit of a lot of planning and a lot of will that includes our residents and includes our staff so thank you to everybody. **[00:59:15] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** all right I will make the motion to adopt a resolution supporting the county state aid Highway 52 Nicolet Avenue preferred concept from 77th Street to 66th Street as recommended by the Transportation Commission. **[00:59:30] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** second. **[00:59:31] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and seconded any further comments? all in favor please say I. **[00:59:36] (All Council Members):** I. **[00:59:37] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed all right thank you to everyone involved with this we've adopted the resolution moving along we'll go on to the city manager's report. **[00:59:45] Katie Rodriguez (City Manager):** thank you mayor uh at our last meeting Heidi Gabor spoke at the open forum and she had concerns about past maintenance of Park and Recreation assets and she also wants to keep the community center building and use all other smaller Park buildings. in response I just wanted to note a few things: most cities struggle to keep up with infrastructure needs especially cities like Richfield that built out very quickly in the 60s. the liquor store profits have been used to keep these aging assets functional but at a certain point they just need to be rehabilitated or rebuilt. staff have been and we will continue to assess the condition of these assets prioritize them based on the recreation needs and then also come up with funding plans. we have assessed the community center and the initial estimate is that it would be 10 million dollars to address just the basic structural needs and then the building wouldn't accommodate the modern programming that we're hearing from residents that they want. also the—the multiple buildings that are in many of our Parks—we are looking at what we can do with them but those also are expensive to rehab and could not accommodate the kind of programming that we're hearing residents want and also we—we'd have to staff those buildings too so having staff dispersed at multiple smaller buildings would be more costly for operations than just having a larger building. so staff's plan was recommended to the council Council approved it and now it's go into the voters. if that plan for the community center does not pass then we would come back to the council and the financing would likely include Rehabilitation with property taxes. I also have an announcement: we—we've had very few people join the open Forum via WebEx and it takes an additional staff person to run that WebEx for the open Forum. so we're planning starting in November to only offer the WebEx for people to join if they give us advanced notice and we'll set it up for them and we will communicate that in the weeks prior and then also add it to the accessibility language on the website when that's all I have for my report tonight thank you. **[01:02:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** next we will move on to the claims and payroll. **[01:02:18] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I'll move claims and payroll. **[01:02:20] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[01:02:21] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved and seconded to approve claims and payroll is there any discussion? all in favor please say I. **[01:02:26] (All Council Members):** I. **[01:02:27] Mayor Mary Supple:** all opposed claims and payroll are approved moving along to hats off to Hometown hits and we'll do different this time and go straight to council member Hayford Oleary. **[01:02:40] Council Member Sean Hayford Oleary:** I never I'm first—that's what I'm saying it up um I guess I will just just thank League of Women Voters for the Forum last weekend it was a good chance to discuss. we also got to see our state representative who's running for re-election talk about some state issues. yeah and it was just it's fun to meet the fellow candidates and because it is kind of a narrow race with two wards uncontested three of the four people you saw up there will be right here in January so yeah thank you. **[01:03:15] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right thank you council member Troutman. **[01:03:18] Council Member Simon Troutman:** nothing tonight. **[01:03:19] Mayor Mary Supple:** all right council member Christensen. **[01:03:21] Council Member Sharon Christensen:** yes this Saturday provides a number of things in the community for residents to to do. one would be at Fairwood Park from 10:00 a.m. till noon is the Great American pumpkin giveaway and there'll be lots of games and coloring contests and pumpkins that are donated to to each family and things like that. and also in the afternoon there's the community Trunk or Treat event held at the Morris Nielsen funeral home at 65th and Portland with a number of community businesses and different organizations offering up a kind of a fun safe environment for kids for this Halloween thank you. **[01:04:10] Mayor Mary Supple:** council member Whalen. **[01:04:12] Council Member Ben Whalen:** thank you mayor. four weeks from 7 minutes ago is your last chance to cast your vote but you can do it starting now. so um I appreciate council member Hayford Oleary raising the candidate Forum—always encourage informed voters. for people with questions about the ballot questions around local sales tax for our Recreation and Parks needs those—that information is at ourlegacyourfuture.org um and yeah would encourage people to check that out. can come to City Hall during business hours for early voting and then obviously election day itself we'll have your normal polling places but that's November 5th so make sure to vote thank you. **[01:05:00] Mayor Mary Supple:** I'd like to give a hats off to the renovation celebration that was this last weekend. I was able to go around to four different homes that opened themselves up that showed major remodeling that they did and all the the different programs that were used so hats off to Community Development for hosting that. and also a hats off to Public Safety I know they've been sharing information about public about bus safety and getting kids to school safely and making sure that everybody works together to make sure everyone is supervised and safe so kudos to the public safety department and with that I would accept a motion to adjourn the meeting. **[01:05:45] Council Member Simon Troutman:** so moved. **[01:05:46] Council Member Ben Whalen:** second. **[01:05:47] Mayor Mary Supple:** it's been moved in second to adjourn the meeting all in favor please say I. **[01:05:51] (All Council Members):** I. **[01:05:52] Mayor Mary Supple:** all oppose? We stand adjourned.