##VIDEO ID:WL4WQM-qTCw## meeting so get ready for that here in relatively short order um and then of course we'll call on our residents that are here with us in the audience this evening that have concerns that they wish to express to the council that are not on the agenda this evening or otherwise scheduled for a future public hearing those are the only two areas that we say that you cannot cover in your in your community comments and your public comments so uh let's now call the meeting to order and I'll ask uh Carrie sinning our uh Deputy Clerk to call the role council member agnu here council member Jackson here council member Pierce here council member Risser here mayor huband here next is the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all we have a form of meeting agenda that's been published uh for uh members of the council and staff and our general public is there anyone who wishes to modify the agenda in any former Fashion on the council from a staff standpoint all right is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda as published so moved second member Jackson moves member Pierce second the approval of the meeting agenda is published any further discussion all those in favor of approving the meeting agenda is published say I I I opposed carried the meeting agenda is approved uh and now we are back at Community comment so I'm going to get those um numbers up on the screen uh but in the meantime we're going to see if our there are folks with us uh in Chambers this evening that wish to address the Council on matters of concern to them uh and U we've got one of our residents has already uh stepped up to address the council CA yeah good evening mayor and councel good evening my name is Ralph ziker I live at 4311 Cornelia Circle I'm here tonight to talk about the ongoing lack of transparency with res with residents during two prior HRA meetings over some four hours of presentations an estimate of the property tax revenues needed to pay the interest cost on the proposed $23 million of Tiff notes for the Macy site was never shared therefore at the August 20th council meeting I asked what is an estimate of those costs Mr Neil's response posted to the city's website it's too early in the financing process to predict a precise interest rate two years ago it wasn't too early for the developer to predict an interest rate was it precise no but you can be darn sure an interest cost was calculated and shared with investors what Mr Neil is really saying is that it's too early for residents to be fully informed too early to be told that interest on the Macy's Tiff notes will suck up another 15 to$ 25 million of city property tax revenue making this not a 23 million but a 4 million a $40 million gift of Tiff what's more both HRA presentations noted that without public health help the Macy's project did not meet the developers desired rate of return but that rate of return was not specified anywhere therefore I posed a second question is a d $23 million of Tiff enough to close the gap to which Mr Neil posted to the city website yes yes Dina's Tiff proposal was enough to close the gap yet yes is in glaring conf conflict to Mr Neil's August 14th email to a similar question posed by member Risser a reply that was cc to the entire Council Mr Neil's email clearly shows that the that A's $23 million does not close the gap not even half the Gap and using the numbers from Mr Neil's email yet another $35 million of public subsidy would be needed is $35 million a precise number no but it's a heck of a lot closer than zero or no answer at all no wonder the project meets the butt for test mayor council members when will the lack of transparency and Mr Neil's ongoing behavior of dissing residents with replies that are not replies become unacceptable finally a personal thank you to member Pierce and member Risser for asking probing thoughtful questions and voicing substantial concerns too often those actions only become apparent after a public data request had other members of the council done the same they too would have been called out thank you thank you Mr tier evening yeah you'll need that handheld I that's right sorry first time first time hi lady and gentlemen of city council thank you for allowing me to speak here today my name is Eric on I am resident I'm 5105 62nd Street and a member of mentioned Chinese Christian Church also known as mncc nice to meet everyone with our congregation member behind I'm here to advocate for the approval of local Asian-American Church uh proposal to purchase the art center and transer into a place of worship and multiculture Hub in last two months we have collected about 137 signatures from fellow Edina residents this initiative holds immense uh potential for our community and I would like to highlight three key reasons why this approval is not only beneficial for the uh Community but also embracing daana values transforming the art first transforming the art center into a vibrant Rally Point for fostter Unity and inclusivity for our divers First Community it as home for people from various cultural backgrounds and this proposal celebrates Embrace that uh diversity and identity the new use of the space will unite individuals from diverse backgrounds Foster culture exchange and mutual understanding to serve entire city his initiative was strengthen the community Bond and promote mutual respect and understanding second mncc has proven tack of community engagement and support newcomers over last 26 years he has organized numerous impactful events in the initiatives uh with uh demonstrated unwavering commitments to the community partnering with the Christ pteran Church they share a vision of peaceful Harmony amongst all people groups approving this proposal recognize their dedication and UST the center space to organization that consistently and uh brings the people together and creates meaningful connections hence enhancing the quality of life here Ina uh third point reassigning the our Center space for MNC will create a platform for culture exchange and education we will we will host public events workshop and program showcasing our communities diverse cultural heritage activities such as summer camps exibitions music performance Workforce preparation and language training we in uh residents life to attract visitors boosting our local economy and in conclusion approving this proposal line was d a commitment in promoting diversity and inclusion reaffirming its dedication to this values the transformed location will serve as a beacon of diversity welcome and the value everyone furthermore transferring this Loc into a face and multiculture event Hub will benefit our tin Community by F uh Unity celebrating common values and share experience with all Americans while promoting education at changes I urge The Honorable members of city council here uh to approve the proposal and support in creation of a vibrant inclusive thriving NES in our city thank you thank you very much would you want to leave your written remarks with our clerk so we could make them part of the record yes okay yes I would ask you to hand that to her as well thank you thank you everyone yeah and um if you can all stay for just a little bit I think we might be able to have our park and rec director talk about this issue and um it may have been in part because of a conversation I had with one of your church members uh just yeah there he is right there and a conversation on the west side of rosin Park one night that uh caused you to think about this site as a as a location for a church yeah yeah IAL to you yeah okay so uh what if you can all just stand by we're going to go through our residents here and see if anybody's online that wants to address us and Community comment and we can talk a little bit about this issue okay thank you David Frankl 4510 Lakefield Drive uh came to my attention today that a couple weeks ago there was a major drug bust at 4040 West 70th Street Fentanyl and meth uh that that particular apartment building's been home to a lot of police calls since it was opened up and there should be something on the radar in some form of community policing to talk about what's going on on over there and some of the other affordable sites uh it's just being ignored another issue that's being ignored you know a lot of these are quality of life issues that seem to be shoved under the carpet here uh my wife was at Arden Park today and she normally doesn't step out of line and yell at people but after almost seeing a couple elderly women walking their dogs almost being hit by a couple kids on their ebikes going excessive speeds she yelled at them and and I've seen this numerous times I've seen kids on sidewalks going 20 M an hour two weeks ago I had a teenager play chicken with me on my bicycle came right at me and turned at the last second I almost had to hit him to keep him from hitting me uh you might be aware it's was in the newspaper city of exceler has a new ordinance that requires anybody under 18 who's writing an ebike to wear a helmet City din should be looking at those types of things the county Orange County California has a very extensive ordinance for ebikes it classifies bikes at different levels of speed and size that's kind of the extreme but Nationwide there's got to be better ordinances regulating ebikes they just go too fast and they're too big the other issue is some places have already started putting up speed limit signs on bike trails 20 miles an hour which is pretty fast but the City of Minneapolis marks its bike trails at 10 which probably any 10-year-old can probably go 10 mil an hour but some of these things have to be looked at for ebikes they're just getting too dangerous the other issue is the bridge over here the bridge of nowhere the pedestrian bridge that's now being completed with rails evidently in the CIP for 2026 $2.2 million has been allocated to make the Grand View parking ramp or Jerry's ramp ada8 compliant I'm not sure if that ramp is feasible to be compliant I think it's talking about the actual you're shaking your head that's what I read in the CIP it says 2.2 for the Grand View ramp is that wrong it's a city document we can reply next week unless the mayor well you know it's back to what Ralph was talking about it's transparency I just see a document it says Grand View parking ramp 88 compliant 2.2 million you know I'm just a resident I don't spend a lot of time in this building cross-examining people to find out what the real issue is and also there was a structural test done of that Jerry's ramp I requested a month ago through the through the city's data request process for a copy of the the uh structural test report and I still haven't received that so I don't know where that's at because that's going to play into how this ramp if it ever is opened again if it can be open if that ramp is actually usable thank you think Mr Frankl interesting you raised this issue of the of the speed on the ebikes because that's something that we're going to talk about at the end of the meeting tonight with our chief of police so if you want to stick around uh and listen to what the chief reports out on it's an issue that uh not only you have raised tonight but others have raised and we're thinking about it ourselves so we're going to be addressing that issue tonight oh yeah thank you and um last time I think you were here you left early and I think the our city engineer did address some of the issues that you had raised with respect to the jury's parking ramp and why were we doing doing testing over there so uh I'm sorry you missed that report out by him oh I just asked for the report I mean a data request State law I should be able to get a copy of it I'm sure it's coming your way well when I'll just make one last comment as far as this data requests I sent an email to the hanen County Traffic engineering yesterday this morning I got a response less than a day I never get that quick a response from the city of VI mayor I can just chime in we don't have the report yet we're waiting for the consultant to finish the report and we'll provide it to Mr frinkle so we know there's a data request very good uh yeah so I I mean some of these things we can talk about 4040 Flats I know we can we probably can't talk about 40at somee we can tell people that there have been three evictions there I don't know if we can or not um just did um okay so let's let's uh can BR is that is that it folks is there anybody else that wishes to address the council let's go online and then uh we'll have you ask your folks to stick around just a little bit mayor I don't have anyone online um if you would like to give our our usual 3045 second break we could if you'd like well we're waiting for that maybe we'll ask director verer to come up and and um this really this this particular issue is not one that we're familiar with we became familiar with it just a couple hours ago it's uh there's a lot there are a lot of issues at play here particularly how that land was acquired and whether we could sell it for another purpose I think I we I understand all that but I director V and I had a a sidebar conversation with some of the folks that were here and I think it would be helpful them to broadly understand that nothing's happening there until at least 2027 and we just don't know what the future of it's going to be yeah and I think for folks in the audience so it would be good for them to hear because I'll set this up by saying we had this chance encounter just a nice conversation yeah uh on the west side of uh of rosm Park one night and and uh you had expressed that we you know you were looking for uh your own church home that you were I think you rent spaced on a Christ Presbyterian and you you asked me well what about the art center and I I think I told you it has an uncertain future we just don't know yet and uh and then we just had a quick conversation before the meeting with director veter I think and your and maybe your wife uh that um uh you know caus director veter to say that it's going to be at least 2027 before we understand anything about what could potentially happen there uh and it of course it's public land and it may be put to a public use so we really app appreciate your interest and I I don't know if you have anything else that you wanted to add from a timing standpoint I mean there's a lot of factors of play here yeah thank you mayor members of the council I was uh informed of that just prior to the meeting as well I did give one representative my business card I would look forward to reading um the materials that were dropped off with our assistant city clerk but we are currently still utilizing the art center it is in use while it's not open to the general public we utilize it for programming um now and into the future um as you know and uh many members of the community know we are working on a uh potential agreement with hennipin County to be a tenant in their new library for our art center space but uh that is a a distant few years into the future and as you indicated uh the art center isn't just on a certain parcel it's actually within the confines of Rosland Park and um that would have a whole other set of uh requirements and research and land use uh portions of that site as well um again we also talked during your CIP tour about uh doing some master planning in the area about finding out what the community exactly wants and needs we have a new pedestrian bridge um upgrades to the Arts uh the Aquatic Center and a number of other factors as well so um so for this evening that's all I have is I be prepared to read their proposal and get in contact with the members thank you thanks for that and we understand your desire for a church home um and it was really uh I think really uh wonderful that you came in to talk to your city council tonight to express an interest in in if there's ever an opportunity to think don't don't forget about us you know your group in terms of of if there's something that we ever do with that that property it doesn't have a purely public purpose so uh thanks for coming tonight and I hope to see you uh out walking soon we can continue that conversation yeah and you come on up to the come on up to the podium so we can get you on the yeah you you talk about uh you also you propos another solution is a langr for 99 years and we also interested in that too if that's more economical way to to have the use of that building we have been waiting for 26 years we we renting CPC for 26 years and so it's all the organization in Dina and hopefully we we will be here last longer than 99 years so all right well thanks for coming tonight okay thank you for all of your support it was please consider our see see you on the walking trail oh see you again yeah of course okay all right good night thanks for sticking around okay thank you thank you thank you for your presentation thank you everybody and Mr Mayor for the record there's still nobody no callers so so I think it's okay to move on all right so now we've got uh that portion of the agenda where we go to the city manager for his response to Comm any Community comments that were made at the prior meeting and I'll turn to manager Neil these these comments of course um are a follow on to what we posted and I think uh Mr ziker one of our residents referenced some of those postings uh and so I'll go ahead and let you comment on comment from the prior meeting thank you your honor members of council uh at the recent uh HRA meeting there was a reference made to uh there was a or we received a question about an HRA uh meeting where we discussed the idea of making a $23 million uh Tiff um agreement with a developer on France Avenue uh it's important to understand that that isn't we're we are not saying nor we would nor would we ever recommend from a staff perspective that the city just take $23 million of publicly issued bonds and hand that over to a developer that's not how it works it's never how it's worked here in a Dina we issue pay as you go notes meaning that if the developer does a project that is uh consistent with a pre-negotiated agreement with the city and they pay their taxes that's some of those taxes go back to pay that developer so if they don't do the project that qualifies under the agreement or they don't pay their taxes they don't get the money and that that protects uh the city and the taxpayers in that kind of an arrangement and yes there there is interest bearing there's an interest bearing element in this agreement uh those things are all under negotiation uh the council will see those numbers and you'll see precisely what they are uh be you know before or at or close to the time you're going to be asked to make a judgment on whether it's in the Public's interest or not uh to approve that agreement so you will not be asked to approve an agreement with major fiscal holes in it um so the other question about was does the tax increment financing close the gap on what's needed to finance the development of 7235 France Avenue yes we believe that uh ultimately what we what we may agree to uh is going to be sufficiently covered uh by the by the anticipated property taxes that will uh be generated by that project again if the developer doesn't do the project that we've agreed to or doesn't pay taxes there's again no money going back to the developer uh finally there was another question about our crossing lights for pedestrians plan for the 50th Street Eden Avenue Grange Road uh c u roundabouts uh pedestrian activated flashers are not proposed to be in installs at at that area just right outside of city hall right now the city installs pedestrian activated flashers per our pedestrian Crossing policy and so we would analyze that intersection but do not believe that it would qualify um staff will continue monitoring the pedestrian traffic that's there it does I think it's important to remind the public and and even ourselves that it does take a while for people to get used to driving uh on a roundabout and the change that we've implemented in that area and so we do believe that the design of that will be sufficient and and will be safe thank you cause any questions or follow on basis from Council Members all right thank you manager Neil um next is the consent agenda there are certain items on the consent agenda uh item 6.8 uh has been requested for a removal from the consent agenda by council member Jackson and we're going to discuss that separately is there anyone else on the council that wishes to remove any other item from the consent agenda hearing nothing is there a motion to approve all the items on the consent agenda and a single motion with the exception of item 6.8 so moved Jackson moves second member Pierce seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda and a single motion with the exception of item 6.8 which we will handle separately any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the motion of State say I I I opposed carried uh the items on the consent agend genda adopted with respect to um everything except 6.8 and 6.8 is a resolution entitled 202 4-56 which is support from the council for a grant application for railroad crossing elimination program with a federal rail Administration and council member Jackson yes thank you Mr Mayor I just wanted to um highlight this I'm glad that we're applying for this I we've hear a lot about the railroad crossings being unsafe and um I just wanted to ask uh director Milner uh sort of the timeline expected timeline I know federal grants sometimes take a while but um the application is going in with this resolution and then when do you think we'll hear back yeah the applications due late September early October um I think we'll hear back by the end of the year and then it's about a year study for these it's a safety review of The Seven Crossings we have in town okay and with the potential to eliminate the crossings we don't think there's a possibility we're not really focusing on elimination because they're all at grade crossings that would be major Bridges and major underpasses we're looking at safety improvements such as Crossing arms signage lights stuff like that that we can make it safer because again it's a low volume low speed rail that goes through town terrific that's very helpful thank you so much you care to move the matter I will move the matter resolution number 20 24- 56 right is there a second second Pier second member Jackson's motion to adopt resolution 2024 56 any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of resolution 2024 56 say I I I opposed carried resolution 202 24- 56 is hereby adopted and uh next we are on to the um reports and recommendations portion of the agenda and we have here um you got it the resolution 20245 59 accepting donations um and um is there we you know we have to approve these uh on a majority actually super majority basis when we have a donation to the city requires a forist vote uh to approve it so uh 202 24- 59 is there a motion to adopt resolution 2024 d59 they moved M Jackson moves second member U seconds the adoption of uh resolution 2024 59 which accepts donations on behalf of the city of viina any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of resolution 202 459 say I I POS carried and uh this reporting period there was a donation from uh a lady from Apple Valley named Holo winsky and it is a memorial bench at Centennial Lakes Park a $3,200 gift and that will be posted up on the city website so thank you Jackie hollinsky from Apple Valley for remembering a loved one uh in the city of Vina and putting a special bench in at Centennial Lakes um now we're on reports uh beyond the reports and recommendations this is uh maybe one of the fastest agendas we've ever had here at City Hall I don't even know what to do here with this 7:30 at night um Mission correspondents I doubt anything else has come in I'll turn on to manager comments uh thank you your honor I've got two things to talk about both of which were sort of added uh uh late and didn't make it on the printed agenda but just give some comments on them uh the first is ebikes uh we have received and you have received uh many comments from residents about uh ebikes and the behavior of e bikers uh I had a chance earlier this morning to talk with our City attorney and our and our chief of police about what what are the current regs uh regulations regarding uh the use of ebikes in the city um and I think they're both prepared to to say a few comments about that to inform the council perhaps you know what we're observing what we can enforce right now and what we have the uh perhaps the opportunity to regulate if we if we if you so choose City attorney has got has got part part of this and we'll put him up first and then the chief can come in probably had some other cities that have been looking at the same issue I I have yes thanks mayor and I'll hand off to the police chief uh after my comments but I am aware that several other cities uh in the Twin Cities area have recently either considered or enacted um helmet requirements for use of vbikes in their cities uh I don't think that's probably preempted by state law of course you know the lack of there's state law that says motorcyclists are not required to wear a helmet there's no ebikes are categorized differently from motorcycles and there's no such state law either way on helmets on ebikes so I think it would be possible for cities to consider an ordinance requiring helmets particularly for those under 18 uh I think that's what the other cities and the Twin Cities have considered and some have passed so if you want to consider action along those lines I think you could I'll consider uh I'll continue um researching that issue and I'll look at the ordinances passed by other cities and if you'd like me to um draft to propos ordinance for din I can do that is there some special type of lure required for someone who has a bike that performs at a certain level of speed mayor I don't think there's there there there are different categories of ebikes that are categorized differently in our state law depending on how much electronic motor assist they have I don't think that there's lure for required for uh Vehicles categorized as ebikes the police chief might know more than that about that than I do I'm not aware of any licensure requirements I am aware of um helmet requirements being passed by number of cities for those under 18 uh one of the things we've heard about is uh kids riding those ebikes on the sidewalks where we do permit bicycles person powered bikes to ride to to occupy that space but can we do something about that too the General State Statute says that ebikes are treated similar to bicycles and can utilize all the same Pathways and obey the same traffic laws that bicycles have to obey I've not looked at whether you could regulate ebikes and for for example say that they can't use certain sidewalks or bike trails uh any Dina I could look at that issue if you'd like but I think there may be state law on that issue already which Sayes that ebikes generally have to obey all the same traffic laws as bicycles okay chief yeah thank you mayor and I agree with Dave's comments just a couple things to add to that um under State Statute it's a little murky because we have city ordinance and state statute that kind of sort of regulates uh much of what we're talking about today but uh you can can operate a ebike on a shoulder of a roadway you can operate it in a bicycle lane and in a bicycle route under State Statute um you have to be 15 years or older right so if you're under that you cannot operate an ebike and under those circumstances and on the city ordinance side uh there's language that talks about this the sidewalk issue so you I think the issue is that it doesn't classify what a regular pedal bike is versus an ebike under that ordinance though it does allow you to ride your bike on a sidewalk it is permitted but there's a cap to the speed uh of 10 miles no more than 10 miles per hour on a sidewalk right so I think that's old language it's a little murky does that fit within an ebik classification I agree with da it might require a little bit more research on what would be appropriate to take a look at and consider um also U for us on the law enforcement side I asked some of my officers tonight in briefing have they seen this happening have they been out you know giving warnings and things like that they've reported back more anecdotally that they have seen um kids out there um biking around on ebikes um in violation of some State Statute so we need think about maybe obstructing traffic not staying within the shoulder things like that and they've made some stops and they've uh warned some kids not to do that so that that has been in some process but like everyone else and for law enforcement this is relatively new for us as well so we don't necessarily track or Cod it um as a violation we can do that moving forward if if we get interested in doing some more research and start to understand a little bit better on the law enforcement side are we getting those 911 calls coming in are We writing citations are we giving warnings and things like that that's the work that we can do moving forward as well I'm going to turn over to my colleague Chad because he also has some comments on this as well so I believe in the transportation commission's draft work plan for next year they were going to study policies ordinances Across the Nation and come back with some recommendations I would offer if that's still if the timing works based on this conversation but we're hoping that they would take that up and really do the initial work on reviewing all those different ordinances and policies Nationwide and see what we should do here or what they would recommend doing any Dino C Jackson yes thank you Mr Mayor so would we be able to um regulate the speed if we can regulate the speed could we do it on the 9mile creek trail I might as defer to the police chief or Mr Milner on that one I I I think they The Three Rivers Park District probably has jurisdiction to regulate the speed limits on that trail but I think the city could regulate speed limits on all of its City bike trails and I know they're having the same conversation on their Trail so this was already a discussion point for them so we may be able to have that discussion together and come to something with any Dino excellent thank you Al M Pierce uh thanks Mr Mayor so I you know I have to just a couple of comments this feels like we're talking we're having a rational conversation about something that is clearly an issue and I get a lot of times right there are legal precedents and I understand all of that um but I know I sent an email we saw a kid on an ebike popping a wheelie down Vernon and I don't know how old the kid was but he was popping a wheelie down Vernon in the bike lane and my wife and I said you know if that was our kid and somebody told us they saw our kid popping a wheelie on an ebike going down Vernon because of the issue that's inappropriate all of the you know all of the reasons we talked about what we would do to our kid if we found that and so I I think there's I think we should be I I understand inforcement right I get that and legalities um and so I I think that is one lane that we need to be in but I think we also need to be talking about um is there some and I don't know if it's awareness or what um because it's not I I just think it's I think we're talking about this in a rational way and I don't know that this is something that's going to give us time uh before something happens like imagine if that kid going down F and loses control and some car that's going 45 miles an hour hits them um and so I I would encourage us to really lean into you got two paths here definitely have to follow the legalities right how how can we put something in place from an ordinance perspective that we can actually enforce because enforcement's a big deal in this case uh but are there some safety type things that we should also be doing from an awareness perspective and I don't know the answer to that but it feels like we ought to be doing something in the other lane as well Mr Mayor if I may um thank you for those comments I forgot that last important piece uh regardless of how we handle an ordinance you know research project or actually get it enacted that takes time and we're still on the back end of summer into fall and we have a really good Communications team and we already have statutory language in place and ordinance language in place we could do some marketing right away and get some information out because I think there's just a lot of people out there that are uninformed it's a new issue that we're all dealing with and that's a that's a low hanging fruit something that we could easily do yet this year mayor just one more comment to kind of dovetail on that you know I mean operating any vehicle including a regular bike or an ebike in a dangerous or negligent manner it's still going to be contrary to existing state statute so if if someone sees a child operating a bike in a way that may get the child injured or a motorist injured I mean the police can still respond to that right now we don't have to have specialized ebike laws uh in the city ordinance book in order for the police to respond to those types of issues member rer um I just wanted to also note that there's um other e Transportation devices e skateboards um scooters and um member Pier's comments actually made me really think we do need to think about this with a two-pronged approach because it's one thing when I think about a really big ebite going fast you know that um poses a risk to other people it's especially if they're on the sidewalk um but you know you see somebody sailing down we saw this on Valley View going down Valley View Road and then up a hill on a e skateboard and it was really kind of cool because it just went up the hill without having to you know kick it up the hill but you know that could be cause for concern as well just in terms of safety for others and also the user I got a call the other day from a resident um actually not too far from your neighborhood rer who said that a 12-year-old he thought I mean that was his estimate of the age 12-year-old coming on the sidewalk going over 20 M an hour just about hit a older person who stepped off the sidewalk to her house onto the sidewalk that runs parallel to the street and just just about KO her you know and um so to remember Pierce's point I feel like there's some immediacy to some aspects of this that we ought to be able to deal with while the Eden Transportation Commission looks at Best Practices around the country but the idea of making them wear a helmet if some of those other things I don't see why we wouldn't do something about that and with changing climate and it's staying nicer longer typically in Years Gone by you'd say well it's going to snow in a month you know and they they won't be running around but who knows so I I do feel like there's some immediacy to some aspect of these things helmets especially I guess would be an easy thing to deal with so I don't know how how do we deal with that well we can I think what we're getting from you is interest in moving this ahead moving this ahead you know expeditiously so we can do that no okay okay okay and you had one other I I did and this this uh pertains to the the on and off the the reliability issues of our community's um electric grid uh we've had a number of complaints and and concerns about that expressed to both staff and councel uh I had an opportunity U uh this week to to touch base with a contact that I have at the Public Utilities Commission she told me that uh her office that she operates which is called the Consumer Affairs office uh is the correct person is the correct body within state government specifically the Pu to address uh for formally address comments about excel's performance directly to her um there is currently right now A a filing period uh that closes on September 12th uh where if people have complaints they could get them into her office and they'll be considered uh through the they'll be they'll be researched for for example but they will be considered by the Pu in that filing process uh her name is an Tom she's a supervisor with the Consumer Affairs office we will put uh some attention we'll give some attention to putting her name and her contact information up on our website and and some other um and some other public information strategies to get that out there as fast as we can uh we can also issue a uh I'm planning to issue a comment uh on behalf of city government to her directly as well but if residents want to contact her they they certainly can and we'll make sure they have the the name and the information to do that sometime sometime starting tomorrow good good for that yeah um all right council member comments member U you want to lead us off sure um so I also received I think this is kind of on the heels of um What U manager Neil was speaking about um we've gotten a lot of emails after the storms and I think the optic and storms and the severe weather that we had this year um and got a query about about how we used to offer City operated um brush disposal um spoke to Scot a little bit about this we don't anymore um and it seems like the site had some logistical issues and probably some things that we'd need to figure out as a city if we wanted to resume that type of service um so I just would I think it would be interesting to explore if there are other sites around the city that we could offer that um I know that a lot a lot of other cities do it I don't know if this is something that should go to a commission or or what the right way to deal with it is but I I do think that that is a good service that I'd like for us to offer members of our community um next so on last week as Commissioners for the h we got another update on um the possibility of having an underpass um on France between 7250 72 2001 what the East and the west side of France let's say um and I kind of left not really exactly sure what the next steps were I know like we were doing this like phase of the project and knowing that we're within the next short amount of time within the next couple of months going to be reviewing um that project again I'm sure we'll get another revisit from the Macy's furniture site again I I think it we need to continue pushing it forward and I'd like to see it progress and so for this one I don't know if the right next step is to ask staff to prepare a resolution so that we as a council can like have that conversation then um and decide on next steps but I think that would be my direct ask is let's let's push it forward and let's discuss it formally as a council um to make a decision that if we want to move forward with that that we're taking those right next steps so that we can ideally get the timing to work out with all of those projects so that we don't have one project pursuing something and having to waste some investment um as much as we can get those to align I think the better so that would be my ask thank you for those comments remember Pierce uh nothing from me tonight thank you thank you member Jackson yes thank you Mr Mayor so we we as a city council received notice from the Met Council that their population estimates um through 2050 have been published and there's a comment period right now um the population estimates are unrealistic in my mind and I wanted to um put forward that I'd like to know what the process is for us as a city to comment on these population estimates and um see if we can't um get them pushed down to something more realistic they're they're pretty high um but I would like to in the comment period have us as a city make some formal comments great thank you we'll do that remember rer um this is sobering news in this year um we've had 288 traffic fatalities in the state of Minnesota last year we were around 2 um 38 so about 50 fatalities over where we were last year we are going in the wrong direction and this Sunday was a horrific crash at Park Tavern in St Louis Park and I just want to say our hearts go out to the family and the loved ones of Christina fartz who was killed along with Gabe Harvey um also injured um were three employees of Methodist Hospital loric nson tan dalbani and Theo Larson and I just want to say we're really than about all of them all of their families all of their friends and you know driving is a serious thing you got to be sober when you get behind the wheel um so this didn't need to happen thank you member rer um I want to segue off a couple of things that other folks have said manager Neil as well I was really disappointed in the performance of Excel Energy on terms of being able to get people back up and operating with on the electrical grid you know it wasn't that many months ago where they had another episode somewhere in the state where they had to bring in several hundred people to try to make things work and um now they brought in I think 700 people from around the country and it just seems that if this if this new climate that we're operating in they better figure out a way to be more resilient and I know in our neighborhood the first time the wind blows over 40 miles an hour the power goes out it's just like automatic and so um I I think uh this is a conversation that that is uh it's time that time to hold it and time to be thinking about how to improve the resilience of our state through our quazi Monopoly Public Utilities provider Excel Energy um I really like what member Ru had to say about the the pickup and pick up of the brush now talking to director veter about this we'd probably have to get some more equipment and figure out how we're going to do this but I do think it's a great service I mean it's it's just one of those wonderful things about living in a city and um and so I'd like to I'd like to think more about that you know people bring their things to the to the burm or the curb and then we figure out way we're going to get it picked up just like Minneapolis does every year with leaves you know they've got a they've got us they got the equipment and the system in place to do all that work um interesting on the on the Excel thing after 3 days days of being without power people I had a woman call me who said um uh she wasn't blaming the city because she knew we weren't a utility operator but she said you know when the city sees this happening for an extended number of days like that uh and there's just a touch of humor in here but but also a bit of seriousness she said you know we couldn't find ice anywhere she said I think the city should be in the ice business and that we should be thinking about how we're going to get how we're going to help out you know and so it's another one of those uh services that you provide your constituents for and I don't know I don't know if we want to get any ice business or have a big ice cooler out at uh AIT Public Works where we load it up and go through the neighborhood like a uh ice cream truck you know but uh anyway yeah we got an email that we got an email that used the term ice block which I haven't heard since talking about antiques as a little girl it's like where's the ice man with the ice block man J Neil wrote a dissertation on that one time he told me not a dissertation but a major Collegiate project on Municipal ice utilities which were a thing um in the latter half of the 19th century um and then a couple other uh Little Things um yeah that book um went to a few weeks ago to a celebration of life ceremony for Brian Chang and this is a book that he wrote he lived in Idina for many many years but it's just a fabulous story of um a young guy growing up in MA China uh in a collective barely able to get by with his parents loving parents and uh teaching himself English and then ended up being an interpreter and then a business meeting between Chinese Executives and a fellow who became the eventual CEO of international multifoods named Andre Jal who was here for years um he was working with Brian on this translation and he helped him get to the United States to go to college at the University of Minnesota and um he was just such a a grateful happy person to have had this these opport unities as he says right on the cover of the book and the successes that he had uh in the United States first I think of financial services then decided he was too entrepreneurial and ended up going back and forth to China a great deal and uh at one time he wanted us to have a sister city relationship with a city that was close to his heart in China well it was like us at 50,000 and this city at like 8 million you know didn't really fit that well so nothing ever happened on that but his wife Renee had a wonderful ceremony for him and uh over at the Centrum and his two daughters were there lovely young women and so our condolences to the Brian Chang family uh and then just one other piece to put up that just pertains to something remember Jackson was talking about um uh somebody I guess my wife noticed it on next door that one of our residents was questioning why I was spending taxpayer money going to the leadership meeting of the US Conference of Mayors and what good did that doy diea and um so uh I just point people out just by Serendipity to items 6.8 and 6.9 on our consent agenda this evening and I will tell you that without being involved Beyond Dina or in the region or in the state or as I am with the US Conference of Mayors on the transfer ation committee us Conference of mayor has had a tremendous amount of influence on the iiga ACT and also with respect to uh the IRA and so uh and and another good example of it is this Grant application we're going for with respect to railroad crossing elimination programs that is possible to apply for that Grant because of the things that cities and and City organizations like our city council we were able to influence Congress to a significant degree on some of this major leg legislation that's passed under the Biden Administration so when I take two days off of work to go to some of these things I know it's an expense for the taxpayers but there are potential benefits there because we then get to be in the competitive bidding process to try to get some of these things this map I happen to ask Scott to put up deals with all the recipients that have gotten the first round of money for uh redoing their um or or put in stalling the uh EV systems so I'm thinking that that's something that we ought to be thinking about on this next go round there's a half a billion dollars in this fund and this is the first go run the first two Awards in Minnesota you can see where we had two of them here one was toot and I think one was to hopen County but you know many in many of these states it's it's some of the major cities that are getting really significant financial support for building out their EV network and so I would encourage us to be thinking about that too and that opportunity exists because of the the work that that local government does on a federal level so I hope that helps people understand why uh we do the things that we do as local government officials whether it's going to the National League of cities meetings or to the US Conference of Mayor meetings uh to try to create opportunity for our cities to grow and prosper um that's it for me I think let me look at my little list here one more time ebikes were on my list too so um and I think that's it for me that cause anybody else to think of anything else they wanted to raise okay is there a motion to adjourn so moved second Jackson moves member U second a mo that we a motion to adjourn the meeting of the city council this Tuesday September 3rd 2024 any further discussion all those in favor of adjournment say I I I opposed carried We Stand adjourned that's good that was early