[0:01] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Welcome and let the role reflect that a majority of the council members are here with us tonight with the absence of council member Haus tonight. We recognize several employees hired in the last couple of months and we'll start with the introduction by facilities manager Charlie Judge. Welcome Charlie. [0:40] **Charlie Judge:** Well that was neat, I didn't do that [Laughter]. So good evening everyone. Angie Barber recently started with the building service department. Andrew was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin and later moved to Hastings when she was in the sixth grade and also as a Hastings graduate. She worked for Regina hospital for 10 years in the laundry room. She just celebrated her first year of her new business, Cleaning with Meaning. She has three young adult children, all graduates of Hastings. In her spare time she enjoys attending Christian concerts, camping, and cats. Welcome Angie. [Applause] [1:24] **Chris Eitemiller:** Hello everyone. The finance department is very excited to have Tom Sorenson join our team. He started with the city on July 10th. Tom has most recently been employed at Lando Lakes as a sensory panelist. He currently resides in Hastings with his wife Leah and two tuxedo cats. Tom's interests include traveling and being outdoors as much as possible. Please help me welcome Tom to the city of Hastings. [Applause] [1:55] **John Hinzman:** I have the pleasure of introducing Heather Mailing. She is unfortunately unable to be with us this evening. She started as a building permit tech about two weeks ago, so she's relatively new to the city. She helps process permits and assists customers with construction related questions. Heather has previous experience working in a variety of office positions for automotive and convenience store businesses. She is a dedicated worker who's always willing to learn. Heather lives in Hastings and enjoys contributing to the future development of her city. [Applause] [2:34] **John Townsend:** Hello Mayor, Council. I get to introduce four new full-time firefighters tonight. First one is Jeremy Bickner standing at the back there. Jeremy's been with the department as a paid-on-call firefighter EMT since 2016. He was promoted to a paid-on-call lieutenant in 2022 and has now accepted a position of a full-time firefighter. He's been involved in many aspects of our department including ice rescue trainer, rope rescue technician, and mentoring new paid-on-call firefighters. He approaches his work with a positive upbeat attitude and willingness to serve our community. We look forward to accomplishments. [Applause] [3:20] **John Townsend:** Our next one is Mason Johnson standing at the back there. Mason began with the department as a paid-on-call firefighter EMT August of '22, so he's relatively new to our department and has done well since. In his short time here he's brought enthusiasm and energy along with his passion for serving our community. In the past year he has completed all of his training and will be completing his paramedic training this fall. We look forward to his future contributions. [Applause] [3:54] **John Townsend:** Our next one is Elizabeth Ann Schmidt. She was here moments ago but she's also on duty tonight so she left. But she came to our department and accepted a position as a full-time firefighter. She's been a paid-on-call fire department member with Inver Grove department since 2019. In her time serving in Inver Grove she's continually expanded her knowledge and her education and her skills as a firefighter EMT and we look forward to her continued growth with our community. [4:26] **John Townsend:** And then our last one is Ben Ferderer. We hired him as a full-time firefighter. Ben could not be with us today because he also, along with getting a new job, just had a brand new baby, so he could not join us tonight. But Ben joins the department and he comes to us with experience from Cottage Grove and White Bear Lake fire departments and he's also going to be finished with his paramedic training this fall. So we're excited to have him on board and excited that he'll be back soon hopefully. Thank you. [5:02] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thanks John. [Applause] Thank you. [5:07] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** Mayor Fasbender, council members and city leaders, tonight I have the honor of introducing to Hastings new police officer James Dohmeyer for the administration of the oath of office and as usual, the police department's going to take the most amount of time so I apologize in advance. So James grew up with his family in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, currently resides there with his wife Emily and daughters. He graduated from Rasmussen University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. James comes to Hastings PD with 12 years of experience in criminal justice that includes Army medic, firefighter EMT, 911 dispatcher and most recently he was a police officer with the city of Brooklyn Center. We're extremely proud to have James on our team and he will soon complete his training and move to solo patrol duties. So Officer James Dohmeyer, would you please step forward for the oath of office and I'm going to allow you to read along with me so please raise your right hand and repeat after me: I, James Dohmeyer, do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. [6:08] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** I, James Dohmeyer, do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. [6:15] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** The constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Hastings. [6:21] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** The constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Hastings. [6:26] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of a police officer for the city of Hastings, counties of Dakota and Washington, and state of Minnesota. [6:32] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of a police officer for the city of Hastings, counties of Dakota and Washington, and the state of Minnesota. [6:39] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** According to the best of my judgment and ability. [6:43] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** According to the best of my judgment and ability. [6:46] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust. [6:52] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust. [6:57] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. [7:02] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. [7:06] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** I will always uphold the Constitution, my community and the agency I serve. [7:11] **Officer James Dohmeyer:** I will always uphold the Constitution, my community and agency I serve. [7:14] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** Congratulations. [Applause] [7:26] **Police Chief Kyle Linscheid:** So as you know, one of the most well-known symbols of policing is the badge. Although the badge's actual weight is minimal, the responsibilities that come with wearing the badge are enormous. Those who wear it carry the responsibility to do as what is right and just for the people and visitors of the city of Hastings. This symbol is one that every officer for the Hastings Police Department wears with pride. So tonight the badge will be pinned on Officer James Dohmeyer by his wife Emily. So Emily, if you could please come up and pin the badge on and try not to poke them too hard there. [Applause] And please join me in congratulating Officer James Dohmeyer. [Applause] [8:40] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Council, if we'd step forward for a picture please? If all the new employees would come up. Congratulations. [10:13] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** You are welcome. Paybacks, paybacks. It's always a great start of a meeting when we can welcome our new employees. So tonight we have our new Met Council representative Sue Vento with us. If you would like you can—that'd be great. [10:42] **Sue Vento:** Good evening. I apologize for being so casual in my attire, especially the flip-flops, but I was at a community development committee meeting and it went late and I didn't have time to run home and spiff up a little bit. But thank you for the opportunity to say hi. I'm Sue Vento, I represent New Met Council District 12. Your former council member Wendy Wolf leaves mammoth shoes for me to clump around in. She has smaller feet but bigger shoes, go figure. But I have had numerous conversations with Wendy about this part of Dakota County and look forward to getting to know more and more about Hastings and this part of the county. [11:29] **Sue Vento:** Just as a little bit of background, this is my second term on the council. I'm originally from a small town in Southeastern Minnesota. I come from a family of Irish farmers and Irish grocers and a lot of school teachers and so I ended up being a school teacher. I taught in Western Minnesota and then left the classroom in 1983 and for almost 30 years I worked for the what was the Minnesota Education Association and is now Education Minnesota. I retired from that in 2010 and since then I've flunked a couple of times at retirement. In 2018 following the election I kind of got an itch to get a little more structure in my life so I thought, well I'll apply for the Met Council. And I went on the Met Council and immediately thought that I was in over my head. But I've learned quickly that it's been a great experience in terms of learning more about our communities, our counties, our region and our state. [12:14] **Sue Vento:** And I've also learned that asking questions that others may have rattling around in their heads but feel a little too self-conscious to ask—I don't have any problems asking them. As a former school teacher I used to always say there are no stupid questions and I think I've defied that more than once on the council. But I tend to ask the questions that a lot of folks may want to ask but just don't. I previously represented Old District 11 which went from the south end of Maplewood where I live north to just west of Forest Lake. I had to stop and think here—12 cities and two townships. In new District 12, I will go from the very southern end of Maplewood over to Woodbury and then straight south to Hampton and west to Rosemount. So the district has changed quite a bit for me. It'll still feel pretty familiar to you folks because much of what you had in your old Met Council district will be the same. [13:14] **Sue Vento:** There are 14 cities and nine townships and it is going to be just a great learning experience for me getting to know all of the different entities. I serve on the Community Development Committee, I'm vice chair. I serve on the transportation committee. I serve on the audit committee, I'm vice chair of that committee. And I serve as the council liaison to the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission which I know for both Washington and also for Dakota County is a big deal because you guys have amazing regional parks and trails. I serve as a liaison from the Met Council to the Environmental Quality Board and I serve as a representative from the Met Council to the Governor's Council on Aging. I tend to be a little overqualified for that one but we won't get into age. [14:14] **Sue Vento:** In my previous term I served on the environment committee and when I went on the environment committee I thought I was going to be talking mostly about parks and I quickly learned that the environment committee deals with waste treatment. And I know that waste treatment is a very, very important issue in this community and I can tell you that I'm staying very engaged with our waste treatment staff and the committee and from time to time virtually attend those meetings just to stay abreast. So I look forward to meeting you more often and would welcome any questions you might have tonight or just feel free to email me or call me if there's ever anything I can do. I will warn you that for some reason my Met Council phone can't change its identification so if I call you I'm going to show up as somebody named Desmond and Desmond's not a part of my name at all. It's not the least bit Irish from what I know. So any questions? [15:08] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Well thank you Sue for stopping in and introducing yourself and we look forward. [15:13] **Sue Vento:** If I could just add one other thing, I've been to the City Hall before several years ago. A board that I serve on, the Friends of the Mississippi River, had a Saturday retreat here and the best part of the retreat—the retreat was great, the program was great—but the best part of the retreat was the breaks and getting to go around and look at all of the history. And I just want to applaud you and the City of Hastings for, A: preserving the building, but B: preserving the history within it. This is just a gift to all future generations. So thank you for that. [15:51] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** We are very fortunate. Council, any questions for Sue? Okay, thank you. Thanks. Tonight with us also we have our new superintendent for school district 200, Dr. Tamara Champa. Welcome Tammy. [16:04] **Dr. Tamara Champa:** All right, thank you. Just wanted to stop by tonight and introduce myself and I believe strongly in city-school relationships. I've been on the job now I think it's 65 days and I've been busy meeting many of you and the welcome that I've received in Hastings has been just second to none. So I'm anxious to be a part of this community and our district had kickoff last Tuesday and it was just such a celebration. Thank you so much Mayor Fasbender for joining us for that and really set the stage for what we expect to be an outstanding year. And our theme as part of our strategic plan is we put students—students are at the heart of all that we do and I think you'll see that shine through in all that we do. [16:51] **Dr. Tamara Champa:** What brings me to Hastings—just a really quick of my career—I served as an elementary teacher, kindergarten, fifth, sixth grade, elementary principal, middle school principal, community ed director, I'm aging myself, and the last 11 years as superintendent in Pine Island. And so I'm happy to serve here and anxious to partner with all of you. Any questions? [17:16] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Oh we welcome you. Council, any questions? Thank you. Go Raiders. Okay council, are there any corrections to the minutes from the meeting on August 21st? Okay. Comments from the audience at this time: if there is anyone to speak to the Council, please step forward and state your name and address please. [17:36] **Todd Matsky:** Todd Matsky, 1018 Ramsey Street, part of Ward 1. Madam Mayor and City Council, I'm requesting that you remove item seven from consent agenda and place it in regular agenda for full committee or full Council discussion. I believe that this is the item—if it is not number seven, I didn't have an agenda in front of me—it is the 1012 Ramsey lot split. My reasoning being, number one, that I'm not even sure my city councilwoman is aware of it; I tried to call her earlier and she didn't call me back. And I'm afraid that, being a prior member of city planning committee, I didn't feel that the process that has been used to handle these lot splits and to address citizen concerns are being properly heard by the city council because they are at such a level of the process that I don't feel that city council hears the people that are speaking out on the issues that are being brought up. So I'd like the city council to have this discussion. I'd like to bring my points up again at that time when this issue comes before this Council. Thank you. [19:24] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Todd. Councilmember Vihrachoff, that is your ward. Would you pull it from the agenda at this time? And then in the future just so you know, you will not be able to speak during the process of the motion at that time. [19:56] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Yes. [20:19] **Todd Matsky:** Continuing on with this discussion, at that time I and myself another member of that block came before the Planning Commission meeting. We brought up the issue that Ramsey Street at that point is only a one-side parking—it only has parking on the west side of the road. There is no east side parking on that road. There is currently a triplex on the east side; there is a duplex that is on the corner of Ramsey Street at 1020. It also has parking associated with it. The current request to split the lot will then have an additional eight cars while removing parking from in front of that building. There will be no parking in front of the building itself; it will all be on-lot parking. Furthermore, this is a snow emergency route designated by the city itself, so all cars regardless of what have to be off during a snow emergency situation and that is if they are not there to be pulled and ticketed. [21:28] **Todd Matsky:** We furthermore—and I realize the city council cannot really address this because they do not have an ordinance for this—but we feel that this will become a rental property, further exasperating our issues with the block. Mr. Hinzman suggested that this was a common or was—because one other building on that block was a duplex or a split lot—that it was common for the neighborhood. It is not common for our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is single-family residences. The lot is only 75 feet wide and they're going to split it into two 35-foot basically lots. And now they're going to turn it into duplexes which potentially could turn into rental properties. We have many issues with rentals in the area. I myself have been broken into multiple times by the home on 1020 street because of poor rental management. [22:45] **Todd Matsky:** The property across from 1012, the triplex, has had multiple incidences of police arriving at that property. And if we remember from approximately 15 years ago, the one and only murder that I can remember in this city—where residents were of that triplex. It is a frequent dumping zone for stolen cars. People like to come down from Cottage Grove after they've swiped a car or from north of here; they come down 10th street, they feel like they're in danger, they need to move, they need to dump the car. We've had multiple dumped cars in our neighborhood. I've called the police at least three times in the last year because of the number of cars that were dumped. We've had burned-out cars on the 1100 block. I mean it's just—where does the city of Hastings finally figure out that we need to start taking care of our historic district? Or are we just going to ignore that we have a historical district altogether and keep dumping rental properties and more properties in there that are undesirable? We want single-family residences. We want single families in there. [24:12] **Todd Matsky:** I realize—thank you Dave for taking my phone call and talking to me for half hour, 45 minutes—I realized that the city process is such that nothing can be done because we do not have an ordinance against rental properties, nor do I believe the city wants to have an ordinance because they feel it would limit its growth. But I do feel that we need to have some sort of process in place to limit the number of rental properties that should be clumped together in one block. That we should not be just saying "okay, there's nothing we can do" because we do not have anything in place. The process itself—I was on Planning Commission for two years; I became frustrated with it because the open meeting process did not work. When we had citizens that would come in and address the meeting, they were said "thank you very much," but here's our blinders: we can only look at "is this appropriate for zoning?" When I brought up the parking, when I brought up the street, I don't feel like John Hinzman did his due diligence in investigating those things. I really don't. [26:34] **Todd Matsky:** There's been multiple times when I felt that we have left it to city staff to come up with recommendations and that Planning Commission was just supposed to rubber-stamp and move on to this Council. My first meeting with city planning was the development south of the Catholic Church in which I sat there and looked at the plans themselves during the open meeting and I said "they're going to grade this much soil off of this property" only to have them come back six months, eight months later and say "we're going to be blasting limestone out of this." I don't know if it's John Hinzman's job to do this, if it was engineering's job to do this, but when citizens themselves brought up concerns that didn't live on the block, when the citizens south of there wrote an open letter to the city council and to Planning Commission said "hey we're going to be blasting there for next 20 years"... yeah we need development, we need to move in. So I don't think we're taking the time to look at things and listen to what our citizens are saying. [27:54] **Todd Matsky:** Especially when I'm here myself—I stopped in at the lady across the street from this split and she said "oh the meeting is tonight? I didn't think there was another meeting tonight." I said "that was just an open hearing, that was Planning Commission. The real approval comes tonight." And she goes "oh well I can't make it tonight" and she only had five minutes' notice. So Dave, I disagree with you that I need to have a petition and coming in mass to have this heard and my issues heard. I think that individual citizens should be able to come before the city council, raise legitimate issues, and it should be recognized. And it shouldn't be that I have to have 50 people outside with torches and pitchforks ready to take down the council building before you'll finally look at us and say "hey." So thank you for your time. I'm going to sit down and shut up right now. Thank you for your comments. [29:11] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you. Also thank you. Council, we have a motion to accept the rest of the consent agenda. [29:31] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** I'll make that motion. [29:33] **Dan Wietecha:** Councilmember Leifeld, before you run with that—on item six, the waiver of assessment with the Hastings Creamery, Attorney Lynn asked for a clerical correction in section 2.01.e to indicate that it is "up to" that sixteen thousand dollar figure rather than specifically that amount. [30:03] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Make that change to the consent agenda. [30:05] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** Second. [30:07] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Motion by Leifeld and a second by Councilmember Pemble. Any discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion, excluding number seven to be added under Administration, all those in favor of the motion say by saying aye. [30:15] **Council Members:** Aye. [30:17] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. [Silence] And that motion prevails. Tonight under Administration we have a resolution for the preliminary 2024 city property tax levy preliminary budget and setting a Truth in Taxation meeting. For this item we will have Dan Wietecha give us an update. [31:03] **Dan Wietecha:** Thank you, Mayor. As you and Council know, we had a city council workshop immediately prior to this regular meeting. Good discussion and overview of where we're at on the budget proposal, but I ask at this point for a little bit of additional time. Basically, it's a matter of wanting to make sure we've got the best in all the numbers we can before taking action on setting the preliminary levy and preliminary budget. County-wide unofficially, other cities are averaging about 7.8 percent increase in their levies; we're looking in that range, probably a little bit less than that average. But there's some information that we got just in the last week regarding health insurance as well as fiscal disparities numbers that really I think require us to just have a better comfort with where we're at. We don't need a table or anything, just no action. We ask that we wait two weeks and bring this back on the 18th. I can take any questions also. Thank you. [32:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Dan. Okay, we'll just let it go. We also have a resolution to approve the proposed 2024 HEDRA and HRA special tax levy and that we had discussed about just moving along with it and we will have a further update on that as well. Tonight we also have a strategic plan! Yay, we finally have it all together. City Administrator Dan Wietecha will give us a little update on that. [32:45] **Dan Wietecha:** Hey, look at that. Give me a second please to—not used to using this computer. How do I change the height? There we go. I want to give a little bit of an overview of this because it really is an important and guiding document for the city as we go forward the next couple of years. City Council and the management team, our department heads, we had a day-long retreat back in late April with the facilitator Craig Rapp. And coming out of that retreat, the group had identified five priority areas that were important for our strategic planning and within those five areas, 16 specific initiatives. [34:03] **Dan Wietecha:** Those five main areas are: Financial Resilience, wanting to make sure that we're a financially sound organization; second, Operational Effectiveness, an organization that delivers results; thirdly, a Responsive Community Development, development that meets present and future needs; the next priority, Infrastructure Sustainability that supports our community; and the last strategic area is Communications, making sure that we are a transparent responsive government. In each of those broad categories, specific initiatives were identified. Staff has already taken each of those initiatives and developed action plans for what are some of the specific steps that we would undertake over the next couple of years, but some of it's already underway today and over the next few months. But essentially this really is a plan that we're intending to be for end of 2027, so a couple of years out. [35:10] **Dan Wietecha:** Aside from the plan itself—I can certainly go into any of the initiatives specifically, but respectful of time—we are expecting to use the project module. We're learning our new Microsoft Teams software, but using Project for tracking all this. The last strategic plan had eight items; I could count them on my fingers and make sure that I hit them all. 16 of them, I'm going to need some help, so bringing in some software to utilize the existing software to track those in progress as we go forward. But more important than the tracking, as we've done over the last couple of years, we will be quarterly reporting back to city council where things are at, where there's progress, if there's a hold up or something that might be struggling—want to make sure we bring that to people's attention also. But it's a real quick introduction overview. I didn't want to read a 15-page report to you, that's certainly available online if you want to read it in greater depth, but I can certainly take any questions also. Thank you. [36:26] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Dan. Well, I think I'll just say I mean we're happy to see this plan on the agenda. I mean the Council and the management team worked hard that day and you know, it's kind of a team building along with what can we do best for our city. Dan, I'd like to thank you and staff and pretty much for leading and working on the initiatives in itself, but also the challenges that you're given in prioritizing as to what is going to come first. Budget is never easy but it's always exciting for us to see how the council agrees and can disagree, but we all move forward with our initiatives and your leadership is going to be appreciated. Council, any other questions or comments? [37:13] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Thank you, your Honor. You know, I was actually surprised that we didn't have a workshop or any other further conversation about it. What had happened is that we had had a workshop with the council and then all the notes went back and I thought we would see a draft and we'd have time to comment and have questions. And so I guess I'm just really kind of surprised that it was completed and we're just being given a final draft without an opportunity for to be walked through it. I mean if it's the council's strategic plan I think maybe we should fully understand it and you know what the thoughts are behind all of the outcomes that were identified and then the indicators and targets. [38:15] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Just as a for instance, something that I was a little surprised about was the outcome for under a Responsive Community Development: the outcome "Clarity regarding housing supply needs." This has been an issue that we've been talking about for the last like four years. The last time we had made a stab at—Rusty, I forget his last name—had started a draft housing needs supply analysis and it was never completed. And here it says that we won't have that done now until 2026 which is three calendar years from now. And so I guess I am a little concerned that we didn't have the opportunity for to provide any kind of feedback and readjustment as to the timing of any of these issues. Thanks. [39:03] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, thank you. Any other comments? All right Council, then I accept a motion to approve the 2024 to 2027 strategic plan. [39:15] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** Motion. [39:18] **Councilmember Mya Beck:** Second. [39:20] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Motion by Pemble and second by Councilmember Beck. Additional new discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. [39:30] **Council Members:** Aye. [39:31] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. [Silence] And that motion prevails. Okay then under Administration also we will address the number seven under the consent agenda which is the property on 1012 Ramsey Street. City Administrator Dan. [40:22] **Dan Wietecha:** Sure. I do not have a graphic on this; I wasn't expecting it pulled from the agenda but certainly very fair to discuss it. This is a lot on Ramsey Street. It is zoned R2 Medium Residential Density and the property owner has requested to subdivide that property into two. My understanding is that he intends to build a twin home, a duplex, on that with the common property line. The reason for splitting the lot rather than just building a duplex on a single lot is the belief or the expectation that it makes it more marketable to sell two sides, two halves individually rather than "here is a property with two units on it." [41:09] **Dan Wietecha:** The zoning district R2 certainly allows as a permitted use by right a twin home on it. With that it does have parking requirements—I believe two off-street parking stalls or parking spaces per unit, each of those two sides. And that's sort of the immediate piece with the zoning. There also were some questions about the process. The subdivision of it does get a public hearing as laid out under State Statute and followed by city code. That public hearing, which is noticed to all neighbors within 350 feet, is heard by the Planning Commission with an advice and final decision here by the City Council. Obviously we take public comments on any subject at all at Council meetings, but the public hearing for neighbors to speak really is at that Planning Commission meeting as laid out by law. [42:17] **Dan Wietecha:** Just trying to recall what some of the other questions came up earlier... the questions about being a rental property or the nature of some activities that may be associated by some individuals with a rental property, concerns about crime or the quality of the neighborhood. Correct, we do not—although we do license rental properties and do inspect them—we do not prohibit them in R2 or other zones. So conceivably whether it was built on a single lot or split into two lots, one or both halves could certainly be rentals. That's not currently regulated under the city code. If there were concerns with this property or other properties about criminal activities or suspected criminal activities—although I don't want to encourage that type of activity—that really is a matter of law enforcement and calling the police department when there's an issue. [43:50] **Dan Wietecha:** Really if there's a criminal matter that should be a call to 911 and would certainly be addressed. If it's more of a property maintenance issue, that's first probably a call to code enforcement. Potentially it may be something that could come up in every three-year rental inspection if it was a rental property, but really that would start with a call to code enforcement. But there are provisions in place that could address both of those issues. With that I can certainly take questions from Council, certainly encourage Council to have some discussion around the immediate proposal with the subdivision. A number of the questions in the public comment were also related to process, so if you want to talk about that or ask for clarification from our attorney, I would certainly encourage that as well. Thank you. [44:37] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Thank you, your Honor. Dan, I was just curious as to what was the size of the lot all together? Because I'm looking at the map—we don't have a map in our packet that shows where the house is—but when I'm looking on Google Maps, I believe this is the house that burned down a few years ago from a lightning strike or something. In the packet I don't see the location of the house. [45:10] **Dan Wietecha:** Yes, it's a house on Ramsey that burned down two or three years ago. It's a large parcel. [45:15] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Is it not? It's larger than the typical—it's about maybe a half an acre or something to that effect I'm imagining? [45:20] **Dan Wietecha:** I believe it's closer to a quarter acre. I think it's about 10,000 square feet, but it does—even with the split, it meets the minimums of the subdivision and zoning. [45:45] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** And so and then also looking at the map it is rather—if you look down Ramsey Street to the north, I should say rather than down, if you look up Ramsey Street there are a row of townhomes there and on the corner of Ramsey and 10th Street is a twin unit there. And so you know, I think that this request is conducive to the area surrounding this particular parcel where there are yes, there are other rental units but they're also I'm imagining some of those are purchased. I think the ones that are on Ramsey that are next to the Schoolhouse Square building, those I think that those are owned. Yeah, that's what I had thought. [46:58] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** And so what was interesting about the section that is north of 10th Street is that the housing stock is rather old. I believe that the house that burned down that had been on that lot was 100 years old, correct? If I'm not mistaken. And so I had looked at many houses in that area personally as I was looking for a home and what was interesting about them is because they are so old they do unfortunately have two problems: some of them are so large they're meant for big families, you know, 10 kids, and so they're so large at this point that folks—it's not conducive for them to purchase the house for their own family because they're so large, and so they'll break them up and make them into rentals so that they can afford the homes and then also afford the upkeep. [48:00] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** And then also being an older stock they also make an opportunity for folks to purchase those and fix them up and make them rental facilities and such and so I do see that. And I understand your concern most sharply about how there are quite a number of rental facilities or rental homes I should say that are in this area. However, you know, what's unique to this particular person is that it is close to a whole block of homes that are townhomes and so these smaller units—and so it is conforming to the neighborhood in that respect and closer to the commercial Schoolhouse Square area. And so I can understand why it is that the owner of that parcel would be looking to divide it to create two units on it. [49:03] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Furthermore, something that we really need within our community is more—I don't want to say affordable housing—but what I do want to say is homes that are at a cost point that more individuals can actually afford them. And so if by breaking this into two parcels it provides more opportunity for housing at a lower cost point for two families, I think then that that's a win. And so although I understand the concerns about rentals, it's not indicated at this point that they are going to be rentals, right? And that it'll just be broken into townhomes. [49:40] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** And so I understand your concerns about that matter and I think that we should also look more about what it is that we can increase community policing. Before the pandemic had happened, I was part of an effort where we were trying to kick off a community watch group for this particular neighborhood around Kennedy School from 10th Street up to 18th Street. And unfortunately the pandemic happened literally within a couple of weeks after our first kickoff meeting. I know that our police department has a lot on their plate but I think it would be wonderful if we could loop back to the efforts that we were taking to have a community watch group within this area. We had a huge turnout at Kennedy Elementary School; I think that there were at least 30 residents that had shown up and there were other folks who were interested. So whatever we can do to help increase community efforts—neighborhood watch is a terrific program and it's also a great way for neighbors to get to know one another. So I was really hoping with the addition of the community resource officer that that would be an initiative that that position would be able to help launch and I recognized the fact that that position had been focused on hoping to reduce the homelessness issues that we're having within our community. But if we could pivot again back to developing this kind of programming, I think that it would really help. So that's my two cents about the issue. Thank you. [51:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you councilmember. Councilmember Lawrence? [51:17] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** Your Honor, I think I heard this correctly then: that you brought up earlier that this piece of land is already zoned for a twin home. The only difference is if you split it in two then you could sell two separate twin homes, is that correct? [51:39] **Dan Wietecha:** That statement is correct. The R2 zoning would allow a twin home period. They come in, get the building permit, zoning permit if it fit, and build it. The reason that there's public hearing at the Planning Commission and action at the city council is actually not the structure but the splitting the lot in two. And essentially you build it and now you have two properties that you can sell, they just happen to be connected and have a common wall. [52:15] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** Okay. [52:27] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you your Honor. To address the conversation—I no longer have this problem in my house but at one time we had six drivers in my house. I owned my property, I had six drivers in my house. As a homeowner I was pretty aware and wanted to make sure that we weren't upsetting the neighbors. I'm not even sure if this was allowed but I went out and painted little white stripes on the curb in front of my house so my children knew where to park their damn cars because if one parked wrong the rest of them couldn't fit right. So I think from this point one we don't know if this is going to be rentals. It sounds as though—my initial idea—is this individual will live in one and either rent out or sell the other half, right? [53:13] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** And then in looking at the location when we're talking about where are you going to put the cars—it would appear as though obviously they're going to have garages and slabs in front of their garages for parking. They do have the ability to on-street park, but there will clearly be off-street parking available for the residents. But as far as street parking would go, they may have to walk. You said there's only parking on one side of the street. So you know, I don't know if other area other people in the neighborhood other homeowners are having an issue parking their cars—do they too have too many cars for their driveway like I did? But that is something that street parking is an option there. I would be in support of this just in the fact that you can build it anyway, right? He can build it anyway but now this way it gives the option to sell off that second half instead of renting it, so maybe we're looking at two homeowners instead of a renter. So I would definitely be in support of this and I would make a motion to proceed with recommendation as per City staff to allow. [54:40] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you Councilmember Leifeld. [54:42] **Councilmember Mya Beck:** I'll second that your Honor with a comment. [54:48] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Second has been made and Council discussion. Councilmember Beck. [54:50] **Councilmember Mya Beck:** Thank you. I hear the concerns about rental properties in our city and I know I hear that from other constituents as well, not necessarily in my ward but where I hear about it. So I would like to just bring that up as a topic that I think we can revisit in Community Development. I know I've discussed with Dan briefly, John Hinzman and a little bit more detail about policies and procedures regulating rental establishments in our fair city. So that is something that is top of mind for me and I know we've talked about it in the past, so I think that's an important conversation for us to have. Thank you. [55:34] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** I'd like to throw something on to Councilmember Beck's comment and that I know we're hearing comments that are derogatory towards renters. I can tell you there's a lot of reasons that people rent. There's a lot of reasons that people can't own. I was a renter for a number of years for some personal reasons and I took a lot of pride in my rental in what I had. I did things that helped increase, I would hope, its value and certainly not to take away from its value. When we talk so much about the term affordable housing, rental is a really big piece, right? People need a spot to live and some of the price points of the rentals are ridiculous. But those people can't necessarily buy—they don't have the down payment, they maybe don't have the credit score, whatever it is. [56:30] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** So understanding that rentals—nice rentals—and this is going to be brand new, so awesome if someone gets to rent that because this is going to be a brand new unit, right? They're not restoring a 100-year-old home and making it into multiple units; they're building a brand new house there. So I think that's awesome but I just wanted people to keep that in mind too though, that there's an awful lot of reasons why people rent and there's an awful lot of amazing renters out there who take pride in where they live. Let's not just look at this as, "oh my gosh there's so many renters around." There's a reason for this. Whether it's early in life and you're just getting started or if it's late in life and things are expensive and you know, single incomes—whatever it could be—there's many things that could prevent that. So just keep that in mind as the public's thinking about this and feel free to go across the street and meet your neighbors. That's always been my biggest thing is you know, go across the street and say hello, make sure everyone knows who you are. Thank you, Honor. [57:43] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Leifeld and City Administrator Dan. [57:54] **Dan Wietecha:** Yeah, thank you Councilmember Leifeld for pointing out we have many amazing renters. With that said, just on follow-up to Councilmember Beck's comments—actually also on the consent agenda item 12 was first reading and scheduling a public hearing regarding property maintenance, which actually is a request of our housing rental inspector to tighten up some of the ordinance regarding property maintenance and making his job with rental inspections a bit easier and something that's more enforceable. So expectations of property maintenance are certainly on Council's mind as Councilmember Beck pointed out. Thank you. [58:40] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you Dan. Motion and second on the floor. Additional discussion Council? If not all those in favor of the motion stay by saying aye. [58:50] **Council Members:** Aye. [58:52] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. [Silence] And that motion prevails. Thank you Council. Any announcements? Okay I have a few. The Fire Relief Association annual Booyah is this Saturday, September 9th. Summer rec programs at Levee Park Tuesday, September 12th: Performance in the Park, Safe in the Bollywood Dance sponsored by Smead Manufacturing. Wednesday, September 13th: Story Time in the Park with the theme "Rest to Protect," a partnership with Pleasant Hill Library. Friday, September 15th is Movies in the Park: *The Mitchells vs. the Machines* sponsored by Ardent Mills. Please bring a non-perishable food item donation. Bike with a Ranger: bike the 10-mile loop and learn history and wildlife fun facts on Saturday, September 16th—recommended for teens and adults, a partnership with National Park Service, registration is required. [59:58] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Monday, September 11th there is a Public Safety Committee of Council meeting at 7:00 PM. Monday, September 11th Planning Commission is 7:00 PM. Wednesday, September 13th Arts and Culture Commission 6:00 PM. Administration committee at 7:00 PM. Thursday, September 14th we have a HEDRA meeting at 6:00 PM. Monday, September 18th city council regular meeting, no workshop council at 7:00 PM. I would accept a motion to adjourn. [1:00:30] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** I've got one, your Honor. Thursday, this coming Thursday September 7th, the Great River Rail commission will be meeting in Red Wing at the Goodhue County Justice Center. The agenda items to be discussed are the liability insurance, the final 2024 work plan and budget, trademarking updates, the Business Roundtable, and the public advocacy and outreach program that's ongoing along with an update on the passenger rail—the second train which is set to start in 2024 from Saint Paul to Chicago, opposite of the Empire Builder. [1:01:05] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, thank you. I'll make that motion. [1:01:13] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** Second. [1:01:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Councilmember Lawrence. All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. [1:01:25] **Council Members:** Aye. [1:01:30] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. [Silence] And we are adjourned. Thank you.