##VIDEO ID:Lwm_EE5Q8ks## e good evening ladies and gentlemen um the clock in the council chambers is slow but it's actually 7 PM so we're going to start the meeting it is Tuesday or excuse me it's Wednesday because of the election Wednesday August 14th at 7M and I'm calling to order this meeting of the Richfield city council if you're able please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance iedge Al United States for all thank you so um we have talked about our open Forum policy and it is has been pointed out that it's kind of redundant to sign in if you've already filled out a form so if you've already filled out a form you don't have to sign in at the signin sheet we'll save some time but um please do state um your name and your address when you're giving your um presentation you have three minutes um I believe there's no one online if I'm reading this correctly so we're g to start off with Larry erster guing testing we can hear you okay my name is Larry erster I live at 6727 Elliott Avenue Avenue South good evening Madam mayor and council members at the July 7th City counc meeting I stated that it appears that Richfield is changing ordinances to isolate itself from its citizens I used examples of resoning our single family homes eliminating the one AC one acre minimum on puds and writing ordinances on micr communities AKA homeless shelters to explicitly eliminate contact with citizens to quote staff report number 56 from the November meeting to avoid frustrating and pointless public hearing process if Richfield had to implement the state ordinance on micro units it did not have to go the extra ST to Shield itself from citizens who want to use this frustrating and pointless public hearing process but let's review if Richfield was required implement the state ordinance according to Minnesota's statute chapter 410 there are two kinds of Charter cities statutory cities and home ruled cities Richfield is a home ruled Charter City chapter 410 says in any law and let me repeat that in any law implemented or adopted after July 1976 the word City when used without further description extending the application of the term to home ruled Charter City means statutory cities only this means that since 1976 if the state law does not specifically mention home ruled Charter cities home ruled cities do not need to comply with the law even if the law refers to all cities all cities refers to statutory cities cities not Richfield this makes sense when you think about it Richfield can set its own laws didn't we just change our speed limit on our city streets so back to micro units I church I search the state statutes and cannot find any wording that explicitly says that the state's micro unit statute applies to home ruled cities maybe there is another section that supersedes chapter 410 but I can't find it and that is my question what documentation is there that state level ordinance 32730 for sacred communities and micro units specifically applies to home ruled cities and that Richfield was required to adopt it I'm also requesting that when any future State ordinances are brought forward that the staff include documentation that H ruled cities are required to comply thank you thank you next we have Mary best my name is Mary best and I also live at 6727 Elliot good evening everyone one of the most often stated goals of the city council is afford affordable housing since we're talking about Supportive Housing like micro units Richfield has three more developments for Supportive Housing in our city Aster Commons at 66 and Portland this is an agreement between Beacon Interfaith housing for a development of 38 units of supporting housing for uh neurodiverse individuals the city of Richfield owns those lots there are four of them Richfield Flats AKA Penn Avenue sta Penn Station at 65th and Pen 40 units of affordable housing for livable communities pre-development it's another Grant five Lots micc compound 75th in Morgan this is 24 units of housing for Minnesota Independence college and Community a nonprofit vocational and life skills training program for autistic and neurod Divergent adults five more Lots these those three suppor of housing developments alone require 14 buildable lots and substantial grant money from Richfield my questions are after they're built which ones will be paying property taxes which which ones will require additional taxpayer support and assistance how much support and how is that additional taxpayer support going to be budgeted and generated by the way when looking at the plans for the micc I noticed that the 2040 plan intends to rezone 33 more family homes around the micc all the single family homes between Logan and Newton abenue and be S between 75th and 76th Street when will the re residents in that neighborhood be advised of your plans the American dream is still to own our own home a home produces generational wealth and comes with a backyard for kids to play and a garden to grow by destroying those 33 single family homes you eliminate 33 opportunities for a family to enjoy A Home of Their Own if single family homes were vacant or unsellable it might make sense but that is not the case in Richfield homes sell easily why diminish their value by Reed rezoning and destroying the neighborhood so that some developer can buy them at a fire sale price Richfield is a community of single family homes we homeowners pay the majority of the taxes in Richfield I read on the Richfield budget website that 70% of the operating funds coming to Richfield field are from property taxes my property taxes I feel like I am subsidizing all of the grant projects our city council and city managers are authorizing I will be happier when I see my taxes go down or at least remain the same as my city council members that should be your goal too thank you thank you and oh if you could give them to the staff please thank you all right and next we have Kathleen Balaban good evening I uh I had a couple things that I was going to speak to but I had the privilege of coming to your Workshop so now I'm switching my speech and won't take very long one of the things that I've noticed going in including tonight's agenda I mentioned it the last time I was here when I read it it talks about all the wonderful things we're going to do and how we're going to do them but we don't tell you or me the financial impact okay here we are again you look at your agenda you look at your consensus calendar I don't have to tell you each and every one but everyone it tells you you go to the financial plan and it's not there again we were talking talking about the fire department last time we talked about the police department and we also have uh Cola and all the rest of the stuff but there's no money in there you guys are making decisions and you're proving stuff with no Financial impact information to you um and like tonight we're talking about real quickly I don't mean to pick on one or one department but I'm going going to but in your last meeting everything is funded we have a new city manager that came with some skill sets in housing transportation and funding and we're getting our funding we're getting a lot of it and we've been getting it for quite some time but we get percentages that we have to pay and we're not building it into our budget you tonight I heard it for the first time 89,000 is our responsibility these are for um safe routes to schools okay 89k is coming to us in 2025 20 290,000 from another one our commitment to a F that we're getting 10 million for another one we're getting 21 million but we're getting 10 million is our responsibility another one 63,000 is our responsibility for the the noise reduction wall where is this you know these are our responsibilities and they're all piling up on us in any given tax year I mean come on when we start looking at giving funds or getting funds from various grants we never did that before not that I can see not at the level we're doing now and we're not calculating the longterm expense so let's look at that I mean when I looked at our budgets in the next 10 years we're going up 10 to 12 million do look at our compensation I mean really we're at eight square miles so many people here and our compensation and our budget is just going nuts when I looked at it a long time ago without picking on any one Department Wood Lake Nature Center we dumped the the the funding for the task group for the sustain uh for the organic drop off in other words we were putting funding money in a in a general fund and it was Woodlake Nature Center Woodlake had nothing to do with Organic trash pickup absolutely nothing but that money went into that general ledger and I brought it to your attention and you've taken care of it but I don't know if every single fund has its own general ledger and we can track it going forward every fund can be buried anywhere that that department wants it to be unless we've defined it by them I'm asking that every single fund that we get wherever we get it from stands alone in a general ledger so that you can tell whether or not we're actually meeting that need we're not doing that I don't think so I'm asking us to really look at it so thank you thank you from thank you um did anybody else sign in online is there anyone else that wishes to speak that's here thank you for everyone that contributed and I'm gon to pass these down to make sure that they get entered into the record since we don't have the sign in sheet now all right so we're g to move on from open forum and our next item would be the approval of the minutes of the city council session of July 23rd 2024 and the city council meeting of July 23rd 2024 I move approval second it's been moved and seconded to approve those two sets of minutes are there any questions additions changes all right all in favor of approving both sets of minutes please say I I um all opposed we've approved the minutes next we'll move on to approval of the agenda i' move approval of the agenda second it's been moved in seconded to approve the agenda is there any discussion hearing none all in favor of approving the agenda please say I I I all opposed all right we've approved the agenda thank you all right next we'll move on to the consent calendar city manager Rodriguez thank you mayor the consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion once the consent calendar has been approved the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved no further Council action on these items is necessary on tonight's consent calendar item a consider a resolution designating the city manager as the signing Authority for the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD environmental review required as part of the HUD Economic Development initiative Grant in the amount of 3 million for the Wood Lake Nature Center building project Item B consider a request for a conditional use permit and two buffer yard variances for an auto repair shop at 7524 Linda Avenue South item C consider entering into a joint Powers agreement for Assessment Services with henan County item D consider the approval of two engineering consultant pool agreements between the city and the selected engineering firms routine professional Engineering Services for calendar years 2024 through 2025 item e consider the adoption of a resolution identifying the need for a livable community's demonstration account development Grant and authorizing an application for Grant funds on behalf of Aster Commons development located at 6613 through 25 Portland Avenue item F consider approval of an agreement between the city of Bridgefield and the Science Museum of Minnesota for Professional Services in the planning and design of interpretive exhibits for the new Wood Lake major Center building item G consider the approval of resolution for reimbursement of certain expenditures from the proceeds of utility bonds to be issued by the city for the water system interconnect project and I submit these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar so is there a motion to approve the consent calendar so moved second okay it's been moved in seconded is there any discussion um I was at the Planning Commission where it was discussed about the um new business that's going in at 7424 Lindell Avenue stall One automotive and I see that the owners are in the audience so I just want to say welcome to rafield we're glad you're going to be joining us um also I wanted to thank you to hanen County um they decided they were going to I believe and city manager R Rodriguez can correct me if I'm wrong going to take over the um assessing for the whole County and because of that then they're not going to be charging us individually so that it was a significant savings star budget so that is correct mayor so I it'll be funded through the County assessment but it frees up the city assment here and I think the economy of scale ends up say taking less money than it would have benefited then individually so that is something that I do appreciate mayor if I could just clarify it also will be a $300,000 savings for Richfield taxpayers okay other questions all right so if there are no further questions or discussions all in favor of approving the consent agenda please I I I all opposed all right we have approved the consent agenda next we're going to move on to item number four council member Troutman thank you mayor uh item number four is to consider a resolution approving the contract for the international Union of operating engineers local 49 for the contract period of January 1 2024 through December 3 2025 and City staff have completed labor negotiations with the labor and trades Local 49 Union and the visions of the 2024 to 2025 labor agreement cover all the employees in this Union the twoyear contract provides the following increase in clothing allowance uh from 600 to $500 effective January 1 2024 and the increase of clothing allowance from $650 to $700 effective January 25 um working out the class uh this class would shift $2 an shift to $2 an hour over an individual's base wage and currently employees are paid at the lt2 step and that change provides for consistent pay increase for all eligible employees um and um I'm not going to read the rest of the memo but um I just wanted to to bring it to I I have comments but I wanted if staff had any other particular concerns before I made the motion we're available for questions great well then I would um move that we adopt a res resolution approving the provisions of the 2024 2025 labor agreement with uh labor um uh And Trades Local 49 bargaining unit and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement second okay it's been moved in seconded are there any questions or discussions um council member Troutman I just wanted to thank uh our our leadership team for negotiating this uh and also every time we have an opportunity to to just say thank you to our staff for the incredible work that they're doing and recognize that things like the cost of of uniforms you have gotten more expensive and um uh when people enjoy our city a lot of lot of times it's our public work staff uh that that they they never meet but um are making our city uh enjoyable and livable so I just wanted to say thank you to them as well so I would also like to add my thanks because I know that it's um a lot of work to go through all these negotiations and I appreciate that um it was brought up earlier about financial impact and so it's under the financial impact it talks about the impact of wages are within the earlier estimates and they're included in the revised 2024 and the 2025 proposed budgets can you give us an update on that city manager or serves okay so about $49,000 extra thank you any other questions all right it's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution approving the provisions of the 2024 2025 labor agreement with labor trades and Local 49 bargaining unit and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement all in favor please say I I all opposed all right we have approve that labor agreement next we'll move on to item number five council member hey for thanks this item is to consider approval of an agreement between city of Richfield and Ma Morton company for construction manager risk services for the construction of a new wood like major Center building over the past four months staff implemented a thorough RFQ and RFP process outlined in state statute for the selection of a a construction manager at risk five firms submitted qualifications for the RFQ four were invited to submit for the RFP and two were interviewed before final scoring took place Morton construction was the highest scoring firm showing a sight appropriate approach to the project a strong team and the ability to bring significant resources to support the project they have also successfully completed similar projects and have experienced working with hga architect we'll just make the motion now and we can discuss um I would move that we authorize the mayor and city manager to finalize and execute a contract in the amount of 1,790 th000 between the city of Ridgefield and Ma Mortenson company to perform construction manager at risk services for the construction of the new Wood Lake Nature Center building is there a second second okay it's been moved in second and do we have any more information from staff or questions um councilman whan um I know the council has discussed it before but just for anyone um who is new to the topic has not heard the term if staff would be willing to Define construction manager at risk and that process um that'd be helpful yes the construction manager at risk process is a new process outlin outlined in State Statute and what it does is it has the construction manager um set a guaranteed maximum price for the project that we won't pay more then um and they need to do the project within that amount so it really reduces the risk for the city in terms of what the final cost for the building is um the process outlined in in State Statute requires us to do an RFQ and then an RFP um in order to identify who the construction manager at risk could be and it has it it really says how the scoring should be done and what needs to be considered in terms of selecting the construction manager at risk does that yes thank you so to follow up on that the company that takes on that job is the one that's taking the risk so if there's cost overruns that they take on the the financial head not the city is that correct that's correct yes um the other I would add the other benefit to it is the construction manager is involved during the design process as well so they're able to help identify and realize cost Savings in the design with the construction process takes place as well which can also um help to build more building for Less cost as well thank you do we have any other questions all right all in favor of authorizing this motion please say I I all opposed all right the motion passes next we'll move on to item number six council member way thank you mayor uh this item to consider a resolution adopting title and ballot language pertaining to a local option sales tax authorized by the Minnesota Legislature to be submitted for consideration to the voters of the city of Richfield at the general election on November 5th of 2024 the city of Richfield was granted the authority by the Minnesota Legislature in 2023 to bring a local option sales tax to Richfield voters in the following two years at a general election the City ad attorney Adis IED that the local option sales tax questions should go on the 2024 ballot as it is a general election ballot language for the local option sales tax questions must be approved by city council and submitted to henpen County 74 days prior to the election which would be by Friday August 23rd 2024 ballot language was initially reviewed by city council at the July 23r work session staff made edits to the language based on Council feedback and was it was sub subsequently reviewed by legal counsel and bond Bond counsel the updated language is reflected in the resolution which is in the the full packet for tonight's agenda staff have worked with WRA strategies to develop the website our Legacy our future.org which provides information on the projects and the sales tax referendum um so I do have a question but I will make the motion and start the conversation uh so I would move to approve the resolution adopting title and ballot language pertaining to a local option sales tax authorized by the Minnesota Legislature to be submitted for consideration to the qualified voters of the city of Richfield at the general election on November 5th 2024 second okay it's been moved in second now you said you had a question yes I I wanted to ask staff um I I can I think it's worth for folks who are listening um I'm not going to read the entire thing but to at least summarize some of the conversation from the work session um I know uh once the language is finalized um that people as they're approaching time to vote um as always they'll be able to view a sample ballot through the Minnesota Secretary of State's website I was wondering if um whether on the our Legacy our future website or other places will will people be able to see the full ballot language that they should expect we'll research that um we that website is paid by City funds and so we can only educate on that website so I want to make sure that we're not violating that but we will I think it's a great suggestion and if we can do it we'll put it on there okay I was just checking and that we already have a a sub page that's called like vote and includes the information about how to vote I would think that would be appropriate place to put this is what you will actually see on your ballot again I think it's a great suggestion I just have been running everything by our City attorney uh to make sure that we are are careful with it and mayor and Council I I think my initial take on it is I think it's purely just factual providing the information it's not it's not advocacy so I think it's it's it's likely fine but we get confirm that thank you um and and just as I said I I will summarize a bit um but for folks who are especially listening online you can go online to the full packet um but the the main things we clarified in the language uh state law requires that the three separate projects be three separate questions um and the main thing we wanted to clarify is that uh whether one question or multiple if at least one and any amount of questions were approved the maximum total sales tax by the city would be a half percent and the maximum would be 20 years um that that doesn't stack if multiple questions were to be approved um but would encourage folks to to look at the packet if you're curious about the exact language and I would add um I was approached by a resident before the meeting and it was much the same conversation that we had the work session to make sure that it was very clear that it wasn't going to be one and a half percent that it's actually can only go up to a half percent it's not something that's going to stack up and so in response to that we had asked that to be clarified and some of the changes that were made is it's listed at the top of all three questions and it says if multiple questions are approved the maximum total sales tax by the city would be one half one one half of a percent with a maximum of 20 years so it states it up there it also States it below each individual question that you have to do them individually but the maximum even if you would approve whether you approve one two or three is going to be the 0.5% and then it says the city must terminate the tax earlier than 20 years if the amount received is sufficient to pay for Pro and financing costs so that was added in two places actually Four because there's three questions but before all of them and then after because that was a question that was um raised but if it is legal I do think it's really important to have the language for people to see it so they're educated on what they're voting for and to have those facts there but I do want to thank um Council and staff for following through and clarifying that because this is much more clear than we the work session other questions comments all right hearing none then we'll put the question before you if you are in favor of approving this resolution please say I I I I if you're opposed please say nay all right we have approved the resolution thank you moving on we'll go to the city manager report thank you mayor um at our last meeting uh three people that were here spoke um and then one resident emailed concerns about the changes to the parking uh reducing the parking minimums uh their concerns were discussed uh by Council and staff as part of the decision to approve an ordinance changing parking regulations which passed 32 later in the meeting and that's all I have tonight thank you moving on to claims and payroll I would move claims and payroll second spend moved and seconded to approve claims in payroll all in favor please say I I I all opposed all right we've approved the claims and payroll moving on to hats off to Hometown HS council member Troutman thank you mayor um the the only uh announcement uh that uh that I have is for for the uh with uh with fall we we have school programs that are coming back but also we have parks and wreck programs there are still parks and wreck uh activities for for especially grade schoolers in the fall so if you don't have the capacity to make the full-time or what feels like the full-time commitment for traveling Sports um now is the time to uh to be on the lookout especially for soccer uh if you enjoyed soccer in the summer you can enjoy soccer in the fall here in Richfield thank you you council member hey f u I'm sure others will mention it too but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed our night to unite National Night Out um a week ago and just thank you to all the residents who take the time to organize those events and attend those events and all the staff who spent their evening um you know connecting with the community I uh visited about five parties in my board and talked a lot had a lot of questions about the sales tax and actually was it was news to a lot of people at those at those meetings all right thank you council member Christensen yes I'd like to give a hats off to the uh individuals that in all over the city in the different precincts that worked as election judges and election workers yesterday uh for the primaries so they did a great job moving people in and out as quickly as they could and uh it was a good turnout by every person thank you council member Wayan thank you mayor I also was going to thank our election workers and also our city CL CL for her work on that um and then just congratulate um I mean from multiple levels of government um our senator Amy kashar in winning her primary our congresswoman ilhan Omar in winning her primary uh and then uh Walter Burke and Brett stura for advancing uh to the the general for the ward one um city council position so congrats to everyone um and a huge thank you to obviously all the workers but also to everyone who ran however you did um it's a big step to run for office thank you and I would also add in addition to all those things thanks to everybody who voted and participated because it's really important to exercise that right to vote um I also want to do a hats off and thank my fellow council members I was unable to be at the ribbon cutting for the um Skate Park opening I got there later on and got to see all the kids having fun and it seemed like a really great event so thank you the um I believe it was um Council M behavioral and C Christians and they were able to attend that so thank you for cutting the ribbon thank you to everybody the staff and everyone that worked on this and a big shout out to the high school kids who first suggested the project so it was fun to see that all come to fruition um speaking of high school kids and all students we're heading back to school and so I just want to wishes to all the students all the families and all the faculty out there and all the staff in the schools as they start a new school year off and I will Echo the comments of council member Heyford it was really fun to get out for night night and talk with people and see people and we have another opportunity as a community to come together um tomorrow from 4 to 7 over by The Band Shell we're going to have unity in the community and so I would encourage people to take part in that event as well all right hearing no other business I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved second it's been moved and second to adjourn the meeting all in favor please say I I all opposed all right we stand adjourn thank you