City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it is now 530 and I will call this regular meeting of the Burnsville City Council to order It is our tradition to stand for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and we invite you to join us. I I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And welcome to the members of the public who are joining us in person this evening. Thank you so much for being present. Members of the public can also watch us on burnsvillemn.gov slash meetings. or Comcast Channel 16 or 859. The public can also participate through Zoom by joining us at zoom.us slash join. More information is available on our meetings webpage and in the council agenda packet. Now the first item on the agenda is our announcements. Our announcements have to do with all of our upcoming meetings. Our regular council meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, July 21st at 5 30 PM and on Monday, August 3rd at 5 30 PM. Now it's moved to Monday because Tuesday, August 4th is our night to unite event throughout the whole city. So we're going to be meeting on Monday rather than Tuesday. And our work session is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14th at 5 32. and we have a special work session which is our quarterly round table scheduled for Tuesday, July 21st at 6 p.m. All meetings of the City Council are in the Council Chambers. Our round table special work session, I think we haven't scheduled the location for that just yet because of all of the changes going on with our with all of the meeting rooms, but it's going to be in one of the meeting rooms. Okay. And then the next item on the agenda is citizens' comments, and this is the opportunity for anyone in the audience to address the council on an item that is not on a printed agenda and not an application form that will be coming before us at a future date. And I see that Mr. John, you are going to be speaking at Citizens Commons. You have the floor. Good evening.

Good evening. Thank you, Madam Mayor and city council members. Oh, sure. My name is Chris John. I live here in Burnsville. I'm also a challenger in the current city council race. And I want to make clear that this is not an attempt to campaign during the council meeting, but rather a plea to current council members for completely fair and free election and to discuss possible illegal campaign practices of incumbent challengers in the upcoming election. Specifically, I and others are witnessing the same troubling practices of council work. Council member workmen in this election cycle we have seen in past elections. These have to do with him as a sitting council member exerting election-related pressure on Burnsville businesses of whom he, as you all, have regulatory power over local licensing, zoning, and code enforcement and the like. This not only puts him at an unfair advantage over competitors like myself, Mr. Benson, or Ms. Gomez, it amounts to implied authority over businesses and, spoken or not, coercion of the business person. In other words, it's an abuse of powers that can lead to things like quid pro quos. The latest resulted in removal of a promised campaign sign location at Red Lion Liquors, down by the Performing Arts Center. This is after I met with owner Harpo last week, at which time he told me he'd put my sign up. Fast forward to this morning, when I heard from a mutual friend of Councilmember Workman and myself, asking if it was okay to share my phone number with Councilmember Workman. to which I applied yes, of course. After I did, the friend forwarded snippets of Council Member Workman's request, which read, and I quote, could you do me a favor and send me Chris John's phone number? Harpo at Red Lion Liquor asked me for it, and I said I would ask you. Here's the problem. Not 10 minutes later, I received a phone call from Harpo at Red Lion Liquor telling me that he's changed his mind. He doesn't want my yard sign on his property. He's just going to put the incumbents Keeley and Workman up this year. Nothing personal. Alone, this incident would be a red would be a red flag, but nothing, something that I would address the council with as Harpo, like any property owner has every right to support whomever he likes. It's the fact that two years ago I was made aware that Ms. Council member workman made the exact same request in that he told the Harpo, we don't like this Chris John all that much and asked Harpo not to host my sign. I'm not sure who we were in that scenario, but I was the only non incumbent in that race and council member workman was not up for reelection. The good news is that Harpo arranged to meet with me and ultimately decided to allow me to put the sign up at that time. But now with council member workman's exerting pressure, he's reversing his position and he's not the only one. There have been similar incidences with other businesses. Besides being a problem, given council members workman's legal requirement not to misuse his public position or accepting special privileges, it puts myself again in this election's other non-incumbent candidates at a very unfair advantage. City council races do not get a lot of attention. It's very hard for a non-incumbent to win against an incumbent. Name recognition is incredibly important, which means a lot of door knocking, and a lot of yard signs visible, especially at high travel areas such as the heart of the city where Red Lion Liquor is located. It may help explain municipal incumbents being elected 10 to 20 plus years. Regardless, when a recognized incumbent like Council Member Workman goes to a business and tells them that they shouldn't put up somebody's sign that carries the implied weight of consequences on businesses if they do put up that sign. Since it happened more than once, I want to bring it up because I think it needs to stop, and it needs to stop now. If you can't win an election on your values without cheating, then you do not deserve the seat on the council. As for other times it has happened, two years ago Yusuf Haji was running against council member Workman's mother, Liz Workman, for county commissioner. A local business owner was recorded by Yusuf saying that he can't put Yusuf's sign up because Vince Workman told him not to. Four years ago when I was running along council with Crystal Fitchett, we lost several signs throughout the campaign, which harmed our campaign and cost money. And Ms. Fitchett, who was a black woman, had racist slurred written on one of them. I'm not saying council member Workman did that, but that was the case. We have photographs of one of his campaign team taking down these signs. We all deserve a fair election, and I don't only mean for myself and the other non-incumbents. More importantly, our businesses and residents deserve leaders, election year or not, who play by the rules, in particular, don't abuse their power. I plan to continue running a fair campaign that demonstrates that kind of fair leadership and legal practices that always gives voters in our community the power they deserve. Thank you for your attention and time.

Thank you. Okay. Mayor. Yes. Council member Schultz.

Uh, so I would like to give residents an idea of the sign wars that happen. Um, it is regular that we all lose signs. It's regular that people run them over, they steal them, they rip them up, the wind blows them. There's all kinds of things and shenanigans that happen with signs. That's normal. And we all pull our big boy panties on and move on. Now, I will tell you, Chris John, that last election when you were running, I was door knocking at a house and they had one of your signs and door knocked and they said why they supported you which is perfectly fine but it was actually a 180 of how you actually spoke on a particular issue and so I said well I You can check that out because we all were in a chamber forum and there is a recording of that so you can see what that says. Now I was contacted by that resident later because he picked your yard sign up and threw it in the garbage and then he asked me for one of mine. So it does not mean that someone used their pressure for why someone may do a sign or not do a sign. It can be that they decide they don't like your policies, or they don't like what they've heard about you, or it could just be whatever. Sometimes they decide we're only gonna do two signs, we're gonna do five signs. There's all kinds of things. We all need to be respectful of what property owners decide, and we also need to understand that just because you don't get a sign at a place That's not the end of the world. Knock your doors and move on.

If I may, ma'am. Yes, Mr. John. It's not the fact that I did not get the sign. It, like I said, it's his decision. It's his decision.

So one of the things is that we're not going to be debating any of this. We understand. And you want to, I just want to say that. And then we're going to move on. Thank you.

The implied power of a sitting council member sitting, standing in front of a person and tell them not to put up a sign.

Stand there and call me a cheater in the public forum is the bigger problem.

I can tell you that there's people I will tell.

Thank you for your comments. I really appreciate that. Members of the council. We are going to move on. This is not a debate. We have a resident who spoke and remarks were made and we're going to move on. Thank you for sharing your thoughts this evening. Is there anyone else who wants to address the council on an item that is not on the printed agenda and not an application form that will be coming before us at a future date? City Clerk, yes. Yeah, is it on the agenda, or I have you down, Ms. Grazzini, that it's on the agenda that you wanna speak to an item. So I'm going to wait till we get to that item on the budget. Yeah, so this is citizens' comments, it's not, It's an item that is not on the agenda and not an application form. Okay, thank you. All right. City Clerk Collins, is there anyone online who wants to address the council? No one online has asked to speak, ma'am. Okay, thank you. We will then move on. The next item is additions to the final agenda, and this is for emergency items only. City Manager Lindberg, are there any emergency items to come before the body? Nothing from staff, Mayor. Members of the council? Okay, we are moving on. And now we are at the consent agenda. The consent agenda is a group of items that's considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion. However, an item in a consent agenda can be removed for a separate discussion and vote. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes an item on the consent agenda to be removed for a separate discussion and vote? City Clerk Collins, anyone online who wishes an item to be removed?

No one online has made a request, Mayor.

City Manager Lindberg, does staff want an item to be pulled? Not from staff, Mayor. Members of the council? No. Okay. I am requesting to pull item 4H, and this is to authorize the purchase of a Joint Police and Fire Department mobile command post vehicle. So I'm pulling that item for a separate discussion and vote. May I have a motion for the balance, please? Move to approve.

Second.

There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. And the motion carries. Thank you. Members of the council and our community, I'm pulling this item because I want to highlight the strength of relationships and working together for the good of the community. This item is to authorize the purchase of a joint police and fire department mobile command post vehicle. And this item is the result of work that we do well together with our congressional delegation. I am pulling it because I wish to express my deep appreciation to Congresswoman Angie Craig who carried this item in the House of Representatives because it's a federal congressional direct spending item and to Senator Klobuchar who carried it in the Senate for us. And both these members of Congress take my call asking for their support, and all of my letters asking them for their support. And the result of that is that we have this, which allows us to have this opportunity where the federal government is going to be paying for this vehicle for us for police and fire and that our neighbors can also use. The one that we have no longer is, it's extended its useful life. And again, this was back in after 9-11 and we received in 2004. So it has passed its useful life. So I wanna just express my deep gratitude and appreciation to Congresswoman Craig and to Senator Klobuchar and with the support of Senator Smith. Because after the vote was taken in the Senate, and it was after nine o'clock, Senator Klobuchar called me to tell me it is done. and you have it. Those are the kinds of things that the power of relationships and working together allows us to receive the kind of result for the city of Burnsville. So with that, I move approval of this item and I thank you very much for your support and your partnership.

Second.

There is a motion and a second. It is a good thing because when we work together for the good of the people, we get great results. So there is a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. And the motion carries. Thank you very much, everyone. All right. And now we will move on to our regular agenda. And the first item on the regular agenda is a public hearing, and this is to approve on-sale wine and on-sale 3-2 malt liquor license for Tsunami Japanese LLC doing business as Tsunami Japanese Cuisine at 1601 County Road 42 West. This is a public hearing. Presenting this evening is our city clerk, Mrs. Collins.

The floor is yours. Thank you, Mayor and City Council. The new owners of Tsunami Japanese Cuisine, known as Tsunami Japanese LLC, has submitted an application for wine, on-sale wine, and on-sale beer license at the existing location there on County Road 42 West. The Burnsville Police Department has conducted background investigations on the principals involved, nothing found to deny the application. The license is contingency listed in the background has been resolved the associated license fee has already been paid City code requires a public hearing for all new liquor license applications. I stand for any questions. This is a public hearing members of the council questions for city clerk There are no questions.

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak to this item? Anyone who wishes to speak to this item? Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing. Members of the council, your pleasure. Move to approve. Second. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. And the motion carries. Thank you. The next item on the regular agenda is the amendment to the 2026 operating budget to fund private security costs for the Burnsville Festival and Firemaster for one year. Presenting this evening is our fire chief, BJ Jungman. Chief.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council. We've got a short presentation just to cover how we got here. So the item is to amend the operating budget to fund private security for Burnsville Festival. From a council direction standpoint, April 14th staff brought Request forward from the festival for the city to fund the private security associated with the festival. June 9th, the city council directed staff to prepare a budget amendment to provide one-time funding for private security for the 2026 festival in Firemuster. And tonight before you is a one-time general fund budget amendment in the amount of $17,849.23 that would be funded from fund balance. Questions for...

Chief Jungman. Okay, thank you, Chief. We do have members of our community who wish to speak to this item. I have Mr. Nick Benson. Mr. Benson, the floor is yours.

Hello, I'm Nick Benson. Is the microphone on?

Yeah.

Okay. Disclosure, I am also running for city council, but I am not campaigning. In fact, I admire the sign work that I have seen around town. I could learn a lot from all of you clearly. In the discussion regarding the... the funding for this. I had seen in the last meeting in early June that there was concern about the conflict of interest with Mr Achilles, um, being on the board of the fire, uh, of the festival. Uh, it was explained a way that there, since you're a volunteer and that's admirable that it is not a, there's not a fiduciary conflict of interest. But I did see that, uh, companies that Mr. Keeley works for sponsor events and their name and logo is all over at the festival with, uh, pond America and cheddar. And so I just wanted clarification on if that, to me, that appears to be a potential fiduciary conflict. And I just wanted to see if, if that made sense to anyone else either. That's a concern I had when I saw that. So thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Uh, the next one is, uh, Ms. Grazini.

Sorry, I get a little confused on when I can talk. And I'm sorry for this, too. I would like to make a note regarding Mr. John's comments. It appears there is evidence of what he claimed. I didn't hear him complaining about an isolated case. What I heard was a pattern. Patterns are a problem. While there are apparently videos of at least two of the incidents, the recent one regarding Red Lion sounds plenty suspicious to me. One wonders why Mr. Workman would seek to intervene on getting Mr. John's phone number to the red line owner who would then call Mr. John listen 10 minutes later. That's not complaining about a sign blowing away. It's not complaining about a sign falling. It's not complaining about not having a sign somewhere. It's a problem. Whenever a council member is speaking to a business person about a competitor, council members have power over what businesses can do. Madam Mayor, I would like to interrupt.

This is not on this topic. This topic is about...

Thank you. And forgive me if I... stopped you from, because I saw your name on the list and I thought you were, but you were, but I didn't know.

I didn't know I was going to say anything about Mr. John. I'm sorry. So that was my mistake. Okay. I do want to ask about, uh, or talk about the, yeah, the budget decision because the, but this is about five B the budget. So I'm mainly concerned about council members putting their finger on the funding scale. Um, and obviously I'm talking about you, Mr. Keeley. when our attorney says it's illegal for you to participate at all. And the statute, I read it, it does seem to, as I read it, I'm not an attorney does make it sound illegal. It didn't look good to me that you kind of bullied your way and insisted that the attorney was wrong and you could do it anyway. And so I guess what I'm, let me finish.

You use terminology that didn't exist. It is not illegal. It seems to be a trend.

So, um, I, I will, I will, I will have our attorney address that when we, when her remarks are done.

I apologize if I use, but it is a statute. So to me, if you're breaking a statute, that's illegal, but I'm not an attorney. So again, I apologize. Um, I was especially kind of surprised because the leader that spoke for the fire muster at the meeting said, if we don't get the funding, it's okay. We'll work it out. I didn't understand why Mr. Workman, who volunteers for the fire muster, claimed that it might go away if they didn't get $18,000 more on top of the, what, $150,000 or whatever we've already given them. I'm a taxpayer. I'm wondering where fiduciary responsibility comes in on this council. I don't see a lot of brakes being put on it. And forcing it through when you head the organization, legal or not, doesn't look good. It looks like... It's my baby. I'm going to make sure I defend it to hell. That's not what I was told her cities about, but increasingly I'm beginning to wonder seeing some really ugly behaviors in this council. And I didn't expect it from you, Dan. And I'd like for that reason, I'd like this vote not to occur. I don't, it's a statute. I'd like the attorney to address it. If this was an illegally contrived vote or unethical, I'd like it to be pulled.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr. Gerard, would you like to address the remarks that were made with regard to the statute?

Sure. You know, members of the council has my opinion with respect to conflict of interest questions. I will say for the public, courts use what's called the lend factors when they look at non-contractual conflicts of interest. They look at various things that the council members are then entitled to examine and make their own determination as to whether or not they feel like they're conflicted. Those are the nature of the decision being made, the nature of the financial interest, if any, the number of officials who possess interest, the need to have those officials make the decision, other means of review available which could ensure officials do not act arbitrarily to further their own selfish interests. So those are the kind of the factors that the courts will look at. Again, I just, advise the council and advise individual council members on the state of the law and those decisions are yours to determine whether or not you feel like you're conflicted and obviously council member Keeley spoke his opinion at the work session on this topic.

Okay, very good. Council member Schultz?

I would like to make a motion to approve.

If I may, there is a motion and a second. And I would like for council members to have the opportunity to speak to this item, because it is the right of each council member before anyone calls a question, because now a vote is made and second. And yet, we have not given everyone the opportunity to speak. And it is their right to make those remarks.

I will accept a friendly amendment to allow comments by each Councilmember if they so choose do I have a second on a friendly amendment?

Absolutely. Yes.

Thank you Okay, there's a motion in a second.

All right. Yeah. Okay. Thank you and now a councilmember Keely You wanted to make a remark?

Yes Point of record This isn't the first time that our city attorney has advised any one of us on optics, not the law, optics. It happened previously. It happened by his predecessor. This goes back many, many years, a few decades or so, with council members who volunteer their time on an event that the city provides public safety and public works for. International Festival, which was The mayor was very involved and might have even created the event. I mean, it's a great event. And she has volunteered her time and made votes related to financial support that the city gives. Art and all that jazz, it's unfortunate that it's not around because it was a great event. I met my wife at one many, many years ago. Council Member Gustafson voted as well. My comments that night were, it's really, I think, the pot calling the kettle black to say, okay, we all did it, but you can't. And I don't think that's fair. So I want first I want to thank you for reaching out in perspective and sharing your perspective. I know you're very engaged and I appreciate that. And I do appreciate when residents closely monitor how public funds and our council decisions are made. I would love it if this room were full every meeting every Tuesday night because that's an engaged community. Now we're on camera so they can you can sit at home and watch it. I want to address your concern regarding my involvement with the 501C3 Brinsville Festival in Firemuster. My role in this organization is entirely voluntary. I do not receive a salary, a stipend, or any form of personal financial compensation or benefit from the involvement. Quite the contrary. It takes a few hundred hours of my personal time to give to it to make the event happen. It also takes a lot of hours by almost 150 people. It's a very large effort to make that three-day event happen each year. And it's not different from any other city. Go to Lakeville, go to Savage, go to Apple Valley, go to Rosemont, go to Egan, our neighboring cities, anywhere else. A 501 nonprofit of a group of volunteer citizens is at the heart of putting these events on. And in every case, they partner with the city, and the city provides a significant, as you have found with Burnsville, amount of public safety and public works to make it work, right? Because you need streets blocked off, you need police there to make sure everyone has a safe event. So it is, the city is the largest partner of anybody. Under the city's ethics code and state law, a conflict of interest arises when an official stands to gain a direct personal or private financial benefit from a vote. Because my involvement is strictly voluntary and carries zero financial interest, there is no legal conflict of interest. And I am fully qualified and obligated to represent the public on this matter. In local government, we want council members who are actively engaged in the community, as the mayor was with the International Festival, as council member Gustafson was with the Art and All That Jazz, as council member Workman has been for many years with the Burnsville Festival Firebuster, as I was for many years with the Heart of the City Race, which was another legacy event by the city. All of us give our time willfully because we're engaged in the community, and think the people it's true people do expect us to be engaged in the community so it's a little difficult to be a volunteer and then sit up here and and have to recuse every single vote that has anything to do with what we volunteer in and as I noted it isn't indicated by law because we're not taking any personal benefit my volunteer work gives me a deep understanding of the organization's impact on our residents we had an estimated A VERY GOOD ESTIMATE OF 34,000 ATTENDEES AT THE BURNSVILLE FESTIVAL IN 2024. A LITTLE LESS THAN THAT LAST YEAR BECAUSE RAIN CANCELLED THURSDAY, COLD WINDS AND 50 DEGREES FRIDAY, AND THREE BOUTS OF RAIN ON SATURDAY. BUT ULTIMATELY, THIS ORGANIZATION HAS COME BACK TO LIFE BECAUSE OF SO MANY PEOPLE GETTING INVOLVED. I'M JUST ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. IT'S A HUGE EFFORT. I think that helps me make more informed decisions at this diet. My role in this matter as always was guided strictly by what is in the best interests of our entire city. And this Oregon, this particular three day festival has a 46 year history in this history in the city. No other event has that kind of depth, uh, and a tenure in the city. So that is what drives my decisions. I think about it very carefully. I talked to our legal counsel as I did his predecessor in votes that happened years ago. Same exact situation. And I'm sure council member Gustafson and the mayor did as well. And so it's, I just want to ask everybody to know all the facts and understand the history that many of us here are involved in volunteer efforts that we bring events to the city. We're very proud of all the festivals that we bring in this city. It brings a quality of life that I think is a part of why somebody chooses to live in Burnsville. We have great houses, we have a very good location, we believe we have good schools, and the festivals are a talk of the town. People love when the community brings folks together with festivals and events like Party on the Plaza, what was Art and All That Jazz, what is still the International Festival, And what is the Burnsville Festival? So I think it's all good. That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Can you wait till I have all and then I will come back to you, Ms. Grazzini. Council Member Gustafson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I agree that festivals are the fabric of our city and it brings neighbors together. Neighbors become friends and it's important that that happens in our community. I do have to set the record straight a little bit on Art and All That Jazz, though. Up until just as we were coming out of COVID, I recused myself from votes for art and all that jazz, including when we became a legacy event to begin with. And I asked for some money the same year, the fire muster had asked for $10,000 for the fireworks because it was your 40th anniversary. And we were struggling as we were coming out of COVID, but that's really that in the time that we did the $50,000 grant to, uh, funding for the fire muster. That's the only two times I actually voted. Nobody ever told me I should have recused myself in any one of those things. And so I did that. But prior to that, I always recused myself in all this art and all that jazz things that came to the city. In fact, I never brought anything to the city for art and all that jazz, and the records will definitely show that. There's a couple things I want to say about this particular budget amendment. One is I really think we need to make a... DIFFERENTIAL BETWEEN PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITMENTS THAT WE HAVE TO THE FESTIVAL AND PRIVATE SAFETY THAT WE HAVE TO HIRE UP FOR THE FESTIVAL. I THINK THEY'RE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO BE HAPPENING FOR THE NEXT YEAR. WE'RE GOING TO BE REVIEWING IT COMING UP HERE SOMETIME TOWARD THE END OF THE YEAR, FIRST PART OF NEXT YEAR BECAUSE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FOR THE FESTIVAL FOR NEXT YEAR. I'D LIKE US TO BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT ALL THAT WHEN WE BRING THAT FORWARD IN THE FUTURE. THE SECOND PART I WANT TO REMIND This festival is a 501c3. It's a private festival. It's not a city festival. The policy is our policy as a sponsor of the festival. It's not an entitlement. It's a sponsorship, and we can't just keep coming back when we need more money every time. Different circumstances require different things, from the fireworks a couple years ago to the The $50,000 cash, and I understand there were issues raising money, and I get that. And then now this current thing with the private security that has to be hired for it. And so for that reason alone, I think, I know I'm going to be voting no on this budget amendment on it, but I do look forward to having us have this conversation going forward about our legacy festivals and how we're going to deal with them in the future. And I really want to kind of separate Public safety from private security is who's responsible for that. And I, and I don't think the city is with that.

I'll pass council member Schultz.

So I will be voting yes on this. And just to reiterate why I'm voting yes on this, uh, we're voting yes for one year. Um, the city is the one that through our first responders is placing the additional burden. security on the festival this is not the festival deciding out of the blue through their own initiative that certain levels of security are needed this is the city telling the festival this really needs to happen and so when government tells an entity that something needs to happen. Like I'm not a big fan of unfunded mandates. I don't like them in our schools and I don't like them in this and I see them as very comparable. However, I also think that we have a problem with the vagueness in our policy and I pointed that out when we discussed this in our work session. I was hopeful and I am hopeful that we can take that up because I don't think this will be the first time we see this. I think we'll see this with other festivals in our city. And the issue is that we have some vagueness in our policy. And so I would like the Burnsville Festival to have a year to figure things out for themselves. But I also think that the city It needs the year to be able to re-look at that policy and tighten the language up so that it's more clear and more defined. So let's do it.

Council Member Workman.

Thank you. I'm in support of this as well for one year. As Council Member Schultz stated, this is a requirement coming from public safety and I'm fine doing this for one year so we can hash out everything that's been said from distinguishing public safety and private security and So on the festival is already losing the carnival this year, which I think is going to make a pretty significant impact And like I already said in the work session This is our longest-standing festival I understand we're not just going to continue to throw money at it just to keep it alive, but this is new territory for the festival. This isn't something we've discussed previously. It's not like we're paying for fireworks or live music. This is a security thing, which is why I'm a little bit more okay with this. So with that said, I'm fine with it for this year, but we do need to go back and tighten up a lot of things in the next 12 months.

Thank you, council members, for all of your remarks. And I appreciate the work that goes into community events like the Burnsville Festival and Fire Muster and the International Festival and when we had art and all that jazz. And yes, it is good for all of us to be engaged in our community and to be proponents of things that enrich the lives of our community. However, when we are engaged in these events, I have voted against the amount of money that we give to the legacy. So my position has been consistent all along. I do not support the city contributing money to festivals because I think that's a 501 It is the responsibility of that organization to raise the money to make the festival a reality and to meet what it is that they want the festivals to look like. So I have never come to the city in my capacity as a volunteer at the international festival to ask for money for the festival. I have voted against the legacy funds. because I believe that that is the responsibility of those 501c3 organizations. The festivals and the events matter to our residents, but this request and other requests that ask for our taxpayers to cover that kind of money, like tonight, it's $17,749.23. in private security cost that were not budgeted and would require us to amend the general fund. When we amend the general fund, that means that it's going to take money away from some department within the organization because the budget is already set. And our residents expect tax dollars to support public safety, public works, parks, and community assets, and responsible stewardship, and for us to be good responsible stewardships of their money, not private operational expenses for nonprofit events. That's my belief. And so I'm not voted for any of that. So tonight I'm not going to be voting for this because nonprofits and businesses have the responsibility to raise the funds needed to deliver their mission and what their outcome is for that event. Shifting private security costs to taxpayers sets a precedent that I cannot support. And for that reason, I will be voting against this like I have in the past and all the other requests that have come before the city. Because I believe that our residents are asking us to be good stewards of their money. And when we work hard on the budget, because we start in February and we go through a very transparent process that allows everyone in the city to understand how we're going to be spending the public's money, the residents and business money in this community. And when it is set, it is set. And tonight, we're asking our city manager and our staff to amend this budget. Now I don't know where this money is going to come from, but I understand it's going to be out of the general fund. But out of that general fund, I can tell you that it's coming out of some department that's going to be losing some of that money. And so I am voting against this just as I have in the past. It is the responsibility of all 501c3s that our legacy events within the community of Burnsville raise the money if that's what you want to do with regard to your events. Raise the money. The 501c3s that I belong to, like the Community Foundation or the Police and Fire Foundation, we bring money to the city. We're not asking for the city to pay any of that. We bring money to the city. That's what I believe. I'm going to be raising money to help make the city events a success. Not coming out of the taxpayers. Councilmember Keeley.

Two things real quick. Your last point about the wonderful Police and Fire Foundation. That event doesn't happen in the city of Burnsville. It happens actually in Lakeville. So it wouldn't be germane to this discussion. Number two, you mentioned... This is going to take money from another department. City Manager Lindbergh, would you please enlighten everyone on the current unallocated balance in the city's general fund sources and whether this is going to quote, as the mayor put it, take money from another department.

City Manager Lindbergh.

Mayor members the council is is reflected in the background information provided to you a budget amendment the budget amendment in front of you is to increase expenditures in the general fund operating budget that's related the staff recommendation is related to the the policy of legacy events in the definition of basic city services so the request in front of you is for EVENT SECURITY RELATED TO OPERATING EXPENSES. THE FUNDS OR THE REVENUE SIDE WOULD BE THROUGH AVAILABLE GENERAL FUND BALANCE.

OKAY. AND TO CLARIFY, COUNCILMEMBER KEELY, THE BURNSVILLE POLICE AND FIRE FOUNDATION IS A BURNSVILLE POLICE AND FIRE FOUNDATION THAT IS THROUGH ITS DECLARATION AND ADDRESS IS BURNSVILLE, NOT LAKEVILLE.

have an event that happens in the city of Burnsville and it's not a legacy event.

We're using the brackets crossing because they have a golf course in Lakeville. We don't have an 18-hole golf course.

But it's also not a legacy event, so it's not true.

But the thing is, the purpose of my remarks is that I belong to organizations that bring money to the city, not take money from the city. All right. Ms. Grazzini, I'll give you one more time, but please keep your comments short.

I will do that. I just want to respond to some claims that were made. I think your semantics might be a little misleading, Dan. The statute treats officers of 5013Cs differently than it treats just general volunteers, even if you're a volunteer officer. My understanding is you are an officer. Okay. So that's different.

Are you?

It appears unfair in that case. Let me finish. Can you stop interrupting me kindly?

Well, I just, you're, you're, you jump to legal situations.

Absolutely. I do because legal matters.

Well, and you said you're not a lawyer. I think we need a lawyer to weigh in on this.

Council member Keely. It is respectful to give, um, Ms. Grazini her time. And then I am going to go to Mr. Shepard. If, uh,

Mayor, just if I may really quickly, just to let the council know where we are procedurally, we had a motion and a second, and we had a friendly amendment to allow discussion to the council. So we're really outside of the public comment section of this. We're back to the council. So that's where we're at in terms of you have a motion and a second in front of you.

Thank you, Mr. Shepherd for the clarification. So Ms. Grazini, according to Robert's rules and where we're at, you are outside of that request. So perhaps in a different environment, you can make your clarifications. I will do that. So thank you so much. Okay. If the clerk can then take the role, because there has been a motion and a second, and the friendly amendment was accepted. So if the clerk could please take the role. Healy?

Yes.

Esteson?

No.

Schultz?

Yes.

Workman? Yes. Kautz? No. And thank you. And the clerk and everyone has the division of the house. And I thank everybody for their input into this particular item. And members of the council, there are no other items to come before us this evening, and a motion to adjourn is in order. So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. And the motion carries. Thank you for being with us, and have a good evening.