##VIDEO ID:xzaDFMwnuKQ## good evening ladies and gentlemen it is 7 pm on December 10th 2024 and I'm calling to order this regular city council meeting um if you're able please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to for it stands one na God indivisible and justice for all thank you next we have open Forum participants can share their comments in person by voicemail or email or they may also request to participate virtually for more information on submitting comments you can refer to the council agenda and minutes page on Richfield m.gov at city council and I'll have more information did anyone turn in any comments ahead of time or email any comments I have not received anything mayor all right is there anyone here that wishes to participate in open Forum all right so it does not look like we have anyone for open Forum so we will move on to approval of the minutes of the commission interviews from November 16th city council work session meeting and city council truth and taxation meeting and the city council regular meeting all three of those were on November 26th so moved second it's been moved and seconded to approve all four of those meetings are there any comments or questions hearing none all in favor of approving all four sets of minutes please say I I all opposed and we've approved the minutes next we're going to move on to the presentation of the edua Garcia community Builder award and proclamation to John bostad um before we get into the award ceremony um former council member Garcia sends her regards to everyone she was unable to be here tonight and she reminded me that the purpose of this is to say that the people that are getting Awards like this are the residents that are the glue that holds the community together they're the engine of the community so beyond just staff and elected officials there are the people out there that are doing all the organizing leadership and volunteers and she wanted to make sure that they were recognized as well so um Mr bostad if you would like to join me up at the podium front so we'll start off with the proclamation thank you so much for joining us you can come up here so turn sobody can see you whereas John bostad has received the fifth annual edua Garcia Community award for his commitment to the Richfield community and whereas Mr bostad has been a proud resident of Richfield since February 4th 1962 dedicating over six decades to the better betterment of our community and where Mr bostad has demonstrated exceptional leadership as a multiple term president of the Richfield Optimus Club fostering Youth Development Community Connection and optimism and whereas Mr bostad has enrich the lives of Richfield residents through tireless service including leading the Richfield remodeling Fair contributing over 1500 hours to building the Richfield History Center serving multiple terms as the congreg congregation president of Oak Grove Lutheran Church and volunteering on a range of committees and commissions and whereas Mr bostad has shown steadfast commitment to preserving richfield's history as treasurer of the Richfield Historical Society for two decades ensuring future Generations can appreciate our history and and whereas Mr bostad has exemplified civic pride and social responsibility through his participation in the Richfield 2020 visioning committee Loaves and Fishes mentorship of Future Leaders and volunteerism in countless Community efforts and whereas the Richfield Community celebrates John bostad for his commitment and service to the residents of Richfield his optimism and his tireless dedication to community growth now therefore I Mary Supple mayor of the city of Richfield and the Richfield council members to hereby award you this Proclamation and the award for your service demonstrating your commitment to the core values of the city of Richfield Proclaim this 10th day of December 2024 thank you and we we truly appreciate your service and we'd love to give you the floor to say a few words well it's uh it's nice to be recognized and uh to receive this honor but U the things that uh I've done over the years are are merely things that needed to be done and somebody needed to do them and so I did and I don't most of the time I didn't consider them to be anything special uh just something uh I uh enjoy doing and and needed to be done and uh I thank you so much for this honor it's um it's well deserved well I don't know about that but uh I'm glad to get it I know if you want to hold up the see the black and then we were hoping to get a group picture with Mr bostad and his family and friends the council can come down and join us as well okay for [Applause] grade I stopped usually always a front roller next we'll move on to approval of the agenda I move approval second second all right it's been moved in second to approve the agenda all in favor please say I I all opposed excuse me we have approved the agenda next we'll go on to the consent calendar and I'll turn it over to 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 tonight's consent calendar is a long one so bear with me uh item a consider a request for a conditional use permit for 115 child daycare at 7132 Portland Avenue Hope Church Item B consider the approval for the of the first reading of an ordinance amending city code section 550 blood plane management regulations item C consider the approval of the local health and foundational Public Health responsib abilities grant for 2025 provided by the Minnesota Legislature and administered through the Minnesota Department of Health item D consider the adoption of the city's legislative priorities for 2025 item e consider the adoption of a resolution authorizing Richfield Public Safety Police Department to accept donations from the listed agencies businesses and private individuals for designated uses item F consider to approve the renewal of the 25 licenses for on sale intoxicating Club on sale 3.2% maltt Liquor and Wine and offsale 3.2% maltt Liquor doing business in Richfield licenses to sell wine and 3.2 present Malt Liquor on sale Devan Joyce Paya kataki my burger Patrick's Bakery red pepper sy's Tavern licenses to sell 3.2% maltt liquor off sale assal winner gas pump and MCH Lavita 2 Lavita shortstop Portland Food Mark Target Corporation Richfield monoco Speedway number 4186 Speedway number 4188 Speedway number 4191 Speedway number 4615 on sale intoxicating elaban Fireside Foundry Frenchman's Pub giordanos Los Sanchez takaria Lindale Smokehouse Sal luch and Fred bathcock BFW post 5555 and that's a club license item G consider a resolution requesting a variance from state aid route 8820 n941 for the design of the 70th Street safe routes to school project item H consider the approval of a contract with grey Mount uh LLC for the purchase of 4,400 tons of quick line annually in 2025 2026 and 2027 for water treatment purposes in the amount of $992,500 LLC for the Adams hill pond maintenance project in the amount of $ 845,000 to and authorize the city manager to approve contract changes up to 175,000 without further Council city council consideration item J consider adoption of a resolution designating polling places for 2025 item K consider consideration of an amended Professional Services agreement awarding American Rescue plan act funding to vep for services and activities that Aid in the recovery of Richfield community members negatively impact by the covid-19 pandemic and finally item L consider a resolution adopting an updated Capital assets policy for the city for the city and I submit all of these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar do we have a motion to accept the consent calendar I'd move approval of the consent calendar second SP movement seconded is there any discussion um I would like to thank all the donors that we had a number of um donations that were received by the public safety police department so I want to thank all of those people for their generosity with that if there's no further discussion all in favor please say I I I all opposed and we have adopted the consent calendar next we'll be moving on to a public hearing and I'm going to turn it over to council member Hayford L thank you uh this public hearing is to consider and approve the renewal of the 2025 pawn broker license for Metro Pawn and Gun Inc at 7529 Lindale Avenue South on October 15th 2024 the city received the application materials for the renewal a pwn broker license for Metro Pond and gun 7529 Lindale all required information and documents have been provided and all licensing fees have been received the public safety director has reviewed the background information and approves of the contents and he no sees no basis for denial so this is recommended for approval for us but we do have a public hearing now um I'm assuming nobody registered to uh speak online or or virtually um so does anybody in person wish to speak and yeah please please come up and just state your name and address and whatever you wish to say my name is John clst as you 7529 Lindale Avenue uh as you probably know I've been the general manager there for 20 five years now um Mark uh sends you all his best wishes and happy holidays he's doing his best to um work on pursuing his retirement Endeavors and um well you wanted to make sure I came by in case there were any questions or um just to show our respects and thank you very much for making such a Wonder wonderful City to work in thank you so much and if we do have any questions they'll come up in discussion but we really appreciate you coming every year so thank you would anybody else like to speak on this item before we close the public hearing okay I will move that we close the public hearing second it's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing is there any discussion all in favor of closing the public hearing please say I I I all opposed the public hearing is now closed I move that we approve the renewal of the 2025 PR broker license for metrop p and gun at 7529 lale Avenue South Second it's been moved in seconded is there any further discussion um council member ha L um I would just reiterate I appreciate uh these folks being good neighbors not every city and and pawn shop have great relationships so we appreciate that you show up we love seeing no issues from the police chief um and and thank you for coming and doing a good business thank you all in favor please say I I all opposed and we have um approved the renewal thank you next we will move on to item number six to consider the second consider approval of the second reading of a new ordinance establishing a local sales and use tax in Richfield and so I'm going to turn that over to council member Troutman thank you mayor this item is to consider the approval of the second reading of a new ordinance establishing a local sales tax and use tax in Richfield Council approved the first reading at the council meeting November 26 2024 uh richfield's an older community with a modest tax base and the city has an immediate need to continue making Investments to ensure Community amenities are available for residents in the future in 20122 a local sales tax and use tax the LST was identified as a potential funding source for three major projects including the Woodlake Nature Center building project the Veterans Park improvements and the Richfield Community Center project the project will support Athletics Recreation and wellbeing in Richfield on January 24th 2023 the city council approved a resolution number 12067 directing staff to submit a request to the Minnesota Legislature to propose a one half of 1% uh LST on the gross receipts from the retail sales in Richfield in 2023 the Minnesota Legislature approved the Minnesota laws 2023 chapter 64 article 10 section 44 as introduced by the legislature this gives the city the approval from the vote with approval from the voters the authority to impose an LST under the special law the special law was approved by the city council on July 25th 2023 voters approved imp uh approved imposing a local sales tax and use tax to finance the projects on the November 5th 2024 general election uh the city of Richfield is authorized to impose a one 1 half of 1% local sales and use tax and the LST may only be imposed for the lesser of two time periods either 20 years or until enough sales tax revenue has been generated to cover the costs of the approved projects plus financing costs staff have any anything else to to add uh yes thank you um I just want to thank the voters again for uh investing in our parks and our assets um we are working hard to make sure that those assets are the best that they can be we actually just had a work session on the new woodi uh Nature Center building it has been a long process um and I just wanted to say thanks to our Council also thanks to our our incoming council members um also our former mayor mayor r Gonzalez that's how long it took how long we've been working on it um also thanks to Carl our our Recreation services director and his team and then Amy Markle who was the previous director and a big thank you to Kate Aon who led the communications campaign um and staff are available for questions thank thank you um with that I would move we approve the second reading of the new ordinance establishing a local sales and use tax in Richfield and by resolution approve summary publication of said ordinance second it's been moved and seconded any further discussion um council member whan thank you mayor uh just wanted to again Echo the thank you to Residents and voters um if staff could remind these are uh all three projects will happen they're not on the same timeline if you could remind anyone listening what our uh we the Nature Center we were just talking about it that is set to move pretty quickly um but the others are farther out if you could just remind us of that please uh correct so the Wood Lake Nature Center building will be 2026 into 2027 project timeline vets Park will start in late 2026 but it will those projects will be done over time so that'll be a longer timeline um the the pool liner which is the most urgent will will be done after the season um in 2026 and then for the community center we are looking at right now it's in 2030 uh if if possible we'd love to see that moved up to 2029 but right now it's slotted in in 2030 that project is because it's the farthest out is the least developed thank you and yes primarily want I know we've had a lot of community uh members ask about the community center and uh for those who are interested in that want to be part of shaping that that is yet to come um you will have plenty of opportunities to do that in future years any other discussion Council May tropman thank you mayor um I wanted to I wanted to also thank our staff um and residents might not appreciate just how much work goes in uh over as uh uh city manager Rodriguez said just a number of years and a number of different uh staff members and elected leaders and so I want to thank our staff I also really want to thank our residents um somebody who has spent more than 30 years going to Veterans Park and going to Wood Lake Nature Center um and we have we have my my kids are here in the audience today it just I want to thank everybody as a community we can have great amenities because we choose to invest in great amenities as a community and so thanks Community any further discussion it's already been said but I think it Bears to be said multiple times I want to thank all of the voters for approving this and also thank all of the volunteers that were involved and gave feedback and the staff and everyone that worked on this project so we really appreciate it and it's very exciting to see this all move forward with that all in favor please say I I all opposed and let that be recorded as unanimous thank you next we'll move on to item seven which is considering the resolutions approving the 2024 revised and 2025 proposed budgets tax levy and related resolutions and I'll turn it over to council member Christensen thank you mayor on September 10th 2024 the city council approved and certified a preliminary tax levy of 29,9 7,569 which included a levy for general fund operations of 23,000 I'm sorry 23,6 54,5 a Debt Service Levy of $ 4,113 75 an equipment in technology Levy of 1, 15288 and an economic development agency Levy of $623 30343 there are no proposed changes to the final Levy as proposed the 2025 gross Levy represents a 5 45% increase from the 2024 gross Levy the proposed 2025 Housing and Redevelopment Authority HRA Levy is a 3% increase to $72,600 the combined gross levies represent a 5.39% increase over the 2024 combined gross levies the final tax levy of 30 m6281 se9 which includes both the city Levy and the HRA Levy must now be considered and approved by the city council taxpayers have received individual partiel specific tax notices as part of the truth and Taxation hearing process the city of Richfield held its 2024 truth and Taxation hearing on November 26 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at this meeting staff presented and the council discussed the proposed City budget while finalizing the 2025 budget document the staff carefully reviewed every budget at fund level and Department level it was discovered that the following capital budget item need budget item needed to be revised so that it matches with requests submitted by respective project managers the change has been made in the budget document presented to the council for adoption please note that this change has no impact on the general fund budget and the tax levy the total of 2024 Capital Improvement budget has increased from 3,946 th000 014 to 32 m445 1854 changes made to the 2025 Capital Improvement budget include project detail original number revised number and net change Recreation and open space Donaldson park playground equipment the revised number is $175,000 with a net change of $175,000 buildings Fleet and Technology security camera City Hall and PW building the revised number was 250,000 with a net change of 250,000 buildings Fleet I'm sorry I just lost the on a second yeah I just lost it on my screen sorry buildings fet and Technology Network and fiber infrastructure projects had a change of 77484 th000 with a total of $499,800 and the 2026 2029 Capital Improvement plan has also been updated to reflect the addition of of a new community center project for 55 million in 2030 to be fed with LST and other revenues the addition does not change the totals for the CIP as it is scheduled for the following year however significant projects beyond the four-year scope are noted in the plan included for your consideration our salary increases for non-representative represented employee pay plans the proposed increases are a 3% increase for the general services and the specialized pay plans the increases will be effective first pay period of January 2025 with the majority of paydays in 2025 this change will be reflected in the paycheck issued on January 17 or did staff have anything they wanted to add yes thank you mayor and council member um thank yous will be a theme tonight um as you know the budget process is led by our finance director kud Verma um there's it's a long process and the directors and key people on their staff put in a lot of hours of good work kudo's last day is uh January 3rd um and she has really had to navigate a tough stretch for the finance department I'm really grateful that she stuck it out and uh is leaving a department that is stable a staff with just lots of potential and she has streamlined many of the processes so thank you you all right and I want to Echo our thank you to finance director Verma we really appreciate all you've done thank you mayor with that I call for a motion to approve this resolution I will second the motion all right it's been moved in second in to adopt the resolutions approving the 2024 revised and 2025 proposed budgets tax levy and related resolutions is there any discussion council member whan thank you mayor um there's been a lot of discussion already about this um I feel it's important to name uh just not that it changes anything for this year but as uh some up here look to next year um two of us this is our final meeting but um the the discussion in September as we approve the preliminary tax levy um that is now the same as the final uh we talked a lot about our City's approach to Public Safety and that um of the I believe it was roughly $1.6 million increase in the the levy um and the budget um around half of that is going simply to uh increased pay for our current officer positions uh which is both it's a very challenging job that uh and very hard to recruit and retain quality staff for that position I'm not saying that that is uh not deserved or not a worthwhile spending of money um and then there an additional $300,000 is to add two additional officer positions and so it just want to be clear that this is a a very large increase in our Public Safety budget that is focused almost entirely on traditional policing and we heard from a lot of residents calling for uh both traditional policing and continued investment in alternative models and I think we've done a lot of that uh good work we've added social workers we have an alternative response team and I just want to highlight that some of those alternative responses are currently still being funded with uh from our arpa our American Rescue plan dollars um have not yet been incorporated into the full budget and so for for next year there will both be what I would consider the bare minimum of continuing those programs um incorporating them into our our normal budget um so that they are an ongoing program that our community supports um and what I what I heard what I uh as just a normal resident next year will be hoping for would be a continued increase to invest in in those programs and that uh I think the whole world has learned in the last few years that um Public Safety is getting more complicated and we need a variety of responses and so I just wanted to to talk about that uh as it is the primary uh driver of the in increase in this budget and I think will continue to be an important thing to uh to consider next year thank you other comments or questions I wanted to add that if you go to the city website for the the minutes and the agendas there's a section for tonight's meeting that says more and if you click on that you get to an over 200 Page budget book and if you get to about the middle of that book for each department it tells the highlights of what they did in 2024 and the goals for 2025 and it's it's really interesting reading because you know you you kind of keep moving forward and doing things and then when you see it all in one place it's like wow a lot of really great work has been done and a lot of people have put time and effort into that and to see all of that and how the strategic planning works and as council member whan mentioned things like the alternative response programs and all of those new things are there so if you're interested in finding out what the city does it's a really good summary so I'd say probably the middle third of the um budget book would be really interesting reading for anyone that wants to know what's going on in the city so thank you to everybody for all the work that they've done any other comments or questions with that we have a motion before us to approve the revised budgets tax levy and related resolutions all in favor please say I I I I'll oppose and we have approved them thank you all next we'll move on to consider the adoption of a resolution awarding the sale of $10 million in general obligation sales tax revenue bond series 2024a and I believe the um Bonds were opened up today and so there's some papers in front of each of the council members with the most upto-date information and I'll turn it over to council member whan thank you mayor uh at the November 12th 2024 city council meeting the city council approved a resolution providing for the sale of 10 million in general obligation sales tax revenue bonds series 2024a these bonds will finance improvements to the Wood Lake Nature Center commencing in 2025 uh bids on the bonds uh were due uh in the offices of ERS and Associates this morning Rebecca kurts from Ellers will be here uh today um to recommend the successful bidder review documents and provide information for the resolution uh which is only available after the bidding is closed um so I will hand it over to you today and and um the sale day packet which provides a lot of the detail was distributed at each of your um seats before the meeting so um with that as we've done with other Bond issues we did start our process um with a rating with standard and pores I do know that the um draft report was distributed via email late last week I believe and I did include the final report as published by standard and pores in the packet that you have before you this evening um I'd like to start with saying congratulations um SNP did affirm the city's doublea plus rating with a stable outlook for these bonds and with all of the city's other General obligation debt that is outstanding as you guys have heard me say many times um it it continues to be really a reflection of the work that you as the council and staff and the finance department do to um carefully plan and be responsible with the use of public dollars how debt is used how budgets are put together so congratulations on again that affirmation of the doublea plus rating um I do want to just for the public highlight a couple of the comments that were made in the rating report um that does support why standard and pores did move forward affirming that um SN standard and pores or SNP talks about the stable budget with surpluses in fiscal years 22 and 23 and then along with the their anticipation that the city will continue to maintain its strong um financial performance into 24 and 25 um standard pores also talks about the healthy Reserve position that falls in line with the policy that the city adopted to maintain an unassigned fund balance in an amount not less than 40% of expend ures and that at this point there are no plans to spend down or touch that um fund balance um SNP talks about the sophisticated management framework and really um outlines the recognition of the work that staff and council do when putting together the budget each year and the thought that goes into that um they do recognize that the debt burden will be anticipated to grow and we talked about that a little bit this evening with those future Bond issues um related to the sales tax and other capital projects but they call out that the direct debt as a percentage of market value is 1.6% so standard and pores expects that while that um debt May grow it will remain manageable relative to the economy in the community and again the complete report um is is in your packet and I'm happy to answer questions but congratulations on that um so the real reason we are here this evening um we did receive nine bids for these Bonds in our office this morning Hilltop Securities out of Dallas Texas was the low bidder with a true interest rate of 2713 per. um with that one thing I do want to call out is we did receive a premium Bid And so um in very simple terms what that means is with the way the bonds were bid and the way they will be marketed you received more money than what we anticipated um with that so you did receive $686,000 roughly more than what was anticipated um with that then the par amount of the bonds Still Remains 10 million so they are still the bank qualified um however the premium provides the ability to have 10,5 72,8 187 go into the project fund for the Wood Lake Nature Center so it is more than what we anticipated would go into the project fund um we do recognize that there is an1 million cap on that per the um sales tax um what happened with the referendum and so that will be accounted for when we get ready to do the next phase of the bonds but um there was was a premium bid on this um with that we are recommending um awarding to the low bid of Hilltop Securities with that interest rate of 2.71 3% um if you do choose to move forward and award the bonds per our recommendation there is a resolution that's been provided by your bond Council and funds would be available on December 30th of this year um with that I am in the packet there also is a more detailed list of what the individual bids were for those nine if you're interested um along with a um payment final payment schedule with that I'm happy to answer any questions you may have do we have any questions all right thank you so much for the detailed information then I would make a motion that we adopt the resolution awarding the sale of General oblation sales tax revenue bonds Series 2024a in the original principal amount of 10 million fixing the form and specifications directing their execution and delivery and providing for their payment second it's been moved in second it is there any discussion all in favor please say I I all opposed and we have ad adopted the resolution next we will move on to the city manager's report city manager Rodriguez thank you mayor um there were no speakers at the last meeting's open Forum so I don't have anything to report on that and I wanted to use my time to thank council members Troutman and whan since this is their last meeting um Simon you are the you're the last council member from the council that hired me and I just want to say thank you I'm I'm really grateful to be part of this organization I I think the community is a special place um your love and pride in Richfield is infectious and you bring a important historical perspective to the policymaking I also appreciate your big picture and entrepreneurial approach and I felt that was important in our decision making you are also one of the most interesting people I have worked with and so don't be a stranger thank you um Ben you also started on councel I mean just after I was hired uh I've always admired your ability to thoroughly review information you ask great questions and you communicate in concise and effective ways with residents I'm trying to learn from that um I'm also really grateful for your direct communication we've had some tough conversations but you may me feel like we we could have tough conversations and it wouldn't Fray the fabric of our relationship and so I really appreciate that um I've often said that I want to live in the world that you're fighting for and I know that as you step off councel that you'll still will continue fighting for that so thank you and that's all I have all right thank you so much next we'll move on to claims and payroll council member Troutman I would move claims and payroll I will second it's been moved and seced to approve claims and payroll is there any discussion thanks staff all in favor please say I I all opposed and we have approved claims so before we get into the the bulk of the hats off which I think is going to be about two of our colleagues I want to talk about one other thing so I want to give a hats off to the Richfield staff who joined me in hosting the second graders from the stem school and hats off to all the second graders and their chapons and teachers so we asked them we talked about all the different things things that happen in the city and we took a poll of what they thought the most important thing was to them and there was a clear winner that they want to take care of the Earth so I think we have some future sustainability commission members that may want to be on that in that group so there was very clear we emptied it after each class and so each of the four classes independently chose that so hats off to the Richfield stem school second graders all right um council member Christensen did you have anything to add just want to advertise the uh Lights parade being held on Thursday evening this week and it'll be a fun uh fun evening to see all the different types of utility vehicles and everything that's going to be in the parade kind of kicks off this uh winter if we would have a little snow to go with it that would be great but we'll take it it's going to be cold but we invite everybody to come on out and see it thank you council member hey for ly yeah I did want to just say thank you and goodbye well in this role to uh Simon and Ben and yeah I was I was thinking what exactly I wanted to say during the meeting and then and then Katie said almost exactly the same thing so it must be that you truly do have a brand and a style as a council member that I also thought of very similar things but it doesn't hurt to say nice things a couple times so I do want to say um you know it's been a pleasure to serve with you the last four years both of you um particularly Simon your positivity that you like being out there being Mr Richfield um you're a great voice for our community um you've always pushed to include Equity issues and you always do everything with a smile on your face in a way that is really helpful um and it makes this group fun to be a part of and it makes the city a good a good place to be thanks for thank you and then Ben I just want to say that I really appreciate that you're you always challenge Us in policy and even your comments now during the the budget passage I think a lot of people would have just been like it's last meeting just like Let It Go but you you continue to challenge us you continue to speak to your passion and your priorities um you've changed my mind on a number of issues over the last four years you've been a supporter and an ally on a number of issues particularly related to prioritizing climate change that I've really valued um and I'm going to miss you as well so thank you so much and I want to Echo th that gratitude thank you so much for all of the service you've had um council member whan and I know you have a lot of passion for housing we mentioned climate change but the housing is another issue that you've um worked a lot on in the equity issues so thank you for all of your commitment and best wishes on your new adventures council member Troutman thank you also and I also want to thank you for your mentorship because you were the experienced person when we all came on and you kind of helped all the rest of us learn how to do things the rich field ways so I really appreciate that and I appreciate all your passion and there's been a number of times that I've like as um council member hey for L mentioned you've changed my mind as we've had the discussion so I appreciate all of that so with that I'm gonna let you guys have the last words so council member whan thank you mayor um I I shared some of this uh with a few folks when I first announced Ed that I was not planning to run but as I look back on uh my time my six years on Council uh we're in a very different place as a city um I think about uh L big but little things uh when I first ran um knocked on like five five to 6,000 doors in W 3 and some of the things I heard over and over again were about uh communication with residents and we since then have added and um want to thank our communication staff for this the the um Weekly Newsletter that now uh hear compliments all the time about that and how uh how much we are telling people about what we're doing um I heard a lot about uh something that I was not expecting uh had not thought too much about myself but a lot about the number of garbage trucks and we have since implemented uh the organized hauling system I I also thought about uh what what first inspired me to run um and it was a set frankly of of frustrating experiences with the city um that I had been part of the uh police Multicultural advisory commission and was kicked off uh and can get into details with you if you want but that one of the things we were trying to do was start a conversation about uh racial disparities in our city and that we since then um have hired a uh an equity coordinator we have um embedded into our strategic plan that every Department um would be looking at tracking identifying and working to address racial dispar I ities that are relevant to their Department um and so still still room to grow but that uh very very different than where where we started um mayor Supple mentioned the work around housing that when I first started getting engaged in Richfield um some of the council members who are not even up here anymore um just were seemed only interested in uh new new sort of expensive housing uh we're less concerned about displacement of our current residents um and the crossroads at Penn situation was something I heard about a lot and um worked with worked with some great community members and on some tenant protection ordinances and was told at the time by staff that we didn't have any capacity to talk with renters and uh that that's not something they they they knew how to do and since then I mean we've had several great renters um who are part of our uh commissions uh I first ran for Council when I was a renter we've certainly embedded uh again in our strategic plan some great goals about housing affordability past some uh great policies including one of the first cities to work on um accessible and affordable housing um in our inclusionary zoning policy uh so some strong progress there and then also on on climate action that when I when I started uh and this one I'll give a special hat tip to a previous mayor Maria um ran Gonzalez that we uh some of our departments were talking about it but it was not a city-wide conversation we didn't have any dedicated staff and now um we have two staff people budget set aside for that a climate action plan uh and a a a conversation that uh particularly is uh thanking council member Troutman for for his partnership and support on things I feel like you helped us break open a new level of conversation around our climate action efforts about like what is what is the impact really going to be here and why do we need to care about this so much and so um I don't think any one of those areas that uh we're never done uh communicating better with residents we're never done uh with you know caring for our environment I would love to hope that in my lifetime we'll be done addressing racial disparities um but that so the the work goes on but I feel really proud of uh the work that I got to be part of I certainly I don't list all of these things off to claim credit for all of them but that it it truly was a partnership with everyone here uh many of our staff are in the room and the ones who are not uh but especially with with residents that um to I I see our incoming W 3 council memb is here one of the first things I I told her have told other people who run for office uh my biggest lesson is that having sitting in this chair having a vote is not nearly as powerful as the moments when I've had the community behind me and so thank you to everyone who uh weighed in whether it was through a random late night text as I was reading our Council packets or uh when people came in groups to hearings to speak up um but just thank you to everyone in the past six years who's had a part of our our process um and I will hand it off to my colleague and thank you for for all of the times we've partnered your thoughtful discussions and uh yes I would Echo what others have said that you are uh much better than I at being cheerful even through the tense conversation so thank you for your uh optimism and your personality in that regard council member Troutman well thanks friend and I just have to start by mirroring some of the same comments uh to council member whan um as a council member I've learned a lot from and particularly in issues of climate change and um and also uh I I just reflect on our Council and just how smart um and talented and in different ways uh my colleagues are and Sean you have a command of of details that is nearly superhuman um and but but not just for not just for trivia sake uh you put it to extraordinarily good use and you challenge us to think more thoughtfully and carefully and deeply and we share a visual aesthetic which I also appreciate uh and for our mayor you know your way around our a budget and I really appreciate your your leadership and your your your calming presence in in the midst of Storms and and council member Christensen is a serially published author a lot of people don't know that um and there there there so many thank yous I'm going to try to get through them really quickly um but I I do want to thank our staff um when we came in when I when I I came two two terms ago um I I grew up when we when we moved to Richfield we had moved maybe uh seven or eight times by the time I was seven years old and when our family moved to Richfield um it became uh you know many ways the forever home and Richfield the forever home and to be able to not just represent my city but to have the neighborhood I grew up in send me to speak for them and send me twice just one of the great honors of my life so thank you residents thank you community uh in one of the highest voting Wards in the country thank you um but but to our to our staff we came at a time of generational change uh the median age of our Council shifted down 30 years in about a term and um and for the first time in our state's history we had a majority Latino Council um and we had a city that had become about 40 plus per people of color and we had a staff that was functionally 100% Caucasian and certainly at a leadership level that was the case and we had different visions and for for all the staff that took time to share things and teach me things that I didn't know I want to say thank you and for especially all the staff that's still here change came um and some people embraced that Vision some people left that Vision nobody got here without growing and certainly I was a part of that but to our staff um you you you have moved extraordinarily through the pandemic um was an extraordinary time of change I want to say thank you uh I'm so proud of so so many things that we've accomplished I won't name them because we'll be here all night um but um I do want to recognize our new council members and I see Rory Coleman there and um when I became a council member something that you don't think of all the time when you run for an elected office is the power that you'll have to to encourage people to be joyful uh I remember the day after the election I said Thank you to the receptionist at my son's school and she just said I just do the normal things you'd normally say which is you know thank you I appreciate you you're doing a great job and she just said oh my goodness I'm so she she it made this impact that I wasn't expecting and I walked away thinking did I didn't just become more charismatic overnight um but when I said thank you I would is for the first time saying thank you on behalf of our city and it was it's an incredible power and an incredible privilege to express something on behalf of community and so I I'm really excited to share that with our new council members I'm I'm I'm so grateful for for our our new council members and think exceedingly highly of them um I do want to thank one more group of people because um it is impossible to to be here and be anywhere else at the same time and um you might notice these all take place in the evenings they take place at night um uh my colleagues here recogn they didn't even recognize my sons how big they've gotten over the years and um for every hour I've had the opportunity to be in community um I have often dragged my children along with but oftentimes haven't and for all the hours that you've come with me and for all the hours you haven't I just want to recognize that you both uh Leander Injustice Troutman have made a lot of sacrifices and to my wife uh Jennifer melendes Troutman um you have made a lot of sacrifices and when things happen in community and there's there's pain and there's us being not here you're making a really big contribution so I just if we could could could um have my my family standing can we give my family a round of applause thank you Jennifer Leander Justice I love you very much go ahead I did uh thank you I did forget to thank my family who my my son is two so they are no longer in the room uh the Goldfish only lasted so long but yes would Echo to that that I uh for this for my day job which is out in community organizing uh my wife often says uh when I'm recruiting others she says I'm already participating yeah I'm watching Caleb and so thank you for for making all of this possible um and for your love and support through uh challenging scheduling that that's a reality of these positions and and if I could just add just because uh council member Wayan mentioned this this is not like a final goodbye council member Wayan is still in involved in in politics and has made that as IM menion I don't feel we're we're still neighbors we're still in community there's still lots of work to do we're excited to do that so it's not a not a funeral um I'm reminded of John Stewart in his rally to restore hope and or fear if people recall that when he said sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is just New Jersey and so we're excited to still be here on January 1 well thank you again council member Wayan and council member chman and your families because I do think that's very important to acknowledge the families so with that if there's no further business I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting I would move that we adjourn our meeting I would second it it's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting all in favor please say I I I all opposed and now we sign off with the last time with this particular Council we stand [Applause]