City Council - Regular Meeting

Put it back up. Start it. Do you have a mic?

The Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

It's nice to see a full house this evening. I see the students in attendance as well. We always um are happy to see them. uh feel free after the meeting if you wish to come up and chat with us to anybody but students uh especially if you want to chat more we're here to talk to you. It's uh customary at this point in the meeting for me to read an open podium invitation to our residents. Open podium is an opportunity for Eden Prairie residents to address the city council on issues related to Eden Prairie city government prior to each council meeting. These council meetings typically occur the first and third Tuesday of each month. Some months like November, we had one. The open podiums occur from 6:30 to 6:55 right here in the council chamber. If you wish to speak at open podium, contact the city manager's office at 952-9498412 by noon of the meeting date with your name, phone number, and subject matter so we can be better prepared for you. Open podium is not recorded or televised. If you have questions about open podium, please do contact the city manager's office. Mr. Getro, we have a donation, a proclamation, and some awards this evening.

We do, Mayor. Very exciting. I It's somewhat deja vu. What are you What are you guys doing back here? They were They were just here, uh, mayor and council. The Lions are back again, uh, with another, uh, donation to parks and recreation for AEDs. I will turn things over once again to our park and rec director, Amy Markle, to introduce the item.

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor and Council. We are excited to have the Eden Prairie Lions Club back with us tonight. Um, we are going to be receiving a donation of $21,000 that will go to the purchase of three AEDs that will go into our parks. And the way they work is they are in a climate controlled uh uh tower and they're accessible year round any time or day that they're needed. Um, and we've used one out at Miller Park recently, which um, you know, you never hope to have to use them, but we are happy they're there when they do need to be used. Uh, so we're excited. These three, uh, AEDs will go to the Round Lake Park, Flying Cloud Fields Park, and Purgatory Creek Park. So, thank you to the Lions. Gary, I'm assuming um someone's going to say something.

Okay. And then when we get when we get ready for um hand shaking, I'd like actually to invite the council down if that's okay for pictures. So, do someone want to say something first? When we presented the first two six weeks ago, we heard from Amy Markle how the first one had installed in in uh Miller Park had already saved a life. That inspired us to ask how many more it would take to cover all the major parks. This additional three is the result of that conversation. There's an interesting backstory to this Lions Club Foundation donation. CH Robinson, America's largest freight broker with 17 billion in sales last year. Was a biggie. That's unbelievable. Uh was uh in 24 occupied this part of this building as their headquarters until uh 2014. Over a 25 year career, Aiden Prairie Lion Vince Mardino uh worked his way up from freight clerk to VP of CH Robinson. Uh Vince took advantage of stock options to put together a sign put together significant assets. He moved to Henderson, Nevada. Uh when when he retired in '98, I I assume for tax purposes. Uh but he but he still really uh

that was editorially included. Yeah. Exactly. It's not even in your notes, right? Go ahead.

It's not in my notes, but I plugged that in. Anybody but he but he he still keeps close contact with the Prairie Lions Club. Vince's foundation recently donated 100 $100,000 to to our Eden Prairie Lions Clubs Foundation. 20,000 for scholarships, 50,000 for investments, and 34 30,000 for grants such as this. This 21 uh key grant is is from that grant money. We find it fascinating that money earned in this building 30 40 years ago went out to Henderson, Nevada and now it's come back 155 1500 miles back to this building to uh to support our community. So this is and and this this donation is from the Lions Clubs Foundation which is a com which is a all members of the EP Lions and EP Lioness Lions are members of the of the uh foundation and Vinceino uh started actually started the foundation for us. We he gave us seed money back a few years ago and and and pushed this to uh to establish this this foundation.

I just have to clarify one thing. Get this straight. He made all this money under the heavy burden of Minnesota taxes. Yeah. But he still made all that. I'm just I'm just asking. Um so I think we'll all come down. And just a a point of um information here is that two of um two of the council members up here are eating prairie lions and then uh Lisa is a lioness. So the majority Oh, that's true. Yeah. So, um yeah, there there's the majority of the council. So, if all four um four of us I think you're welcome to we'll get you in a picture.

Um we can do that afterwards. Maybe do is that fine? Yeah, I'll come down. I'm good. How do you want

to grab A couple too. All right. We need a motion to adopt this resolution. Um, Lisa, would you like to make it?

Sure. I'll move to adopt the resolution accepting of donation of $21,000 from the Eden Prey Lions Club for public ass access AEDs. Second. I'm assuming no discussion when we accept money. Um, all those in favor say I. I.

Opposed. You know, um, some people might ask since we are a taxing authority that why don't we just tax more money and do all of this oursel and never accept a donation. Number one, I don't think we can do everything all at once at the right time. We do need help. It helps our tax dollars go further. The other thing is that the lines and the city government, we have a nice partnership. I mean, we help out with schooner days. We do all kinds of um making parks available and so there's there's just a nice synergy between the Lions and the city and to be able to give this money as Lions back to the city and then receive it I think it just again enhances and and supports the partnership that we have. So all right um we voted on it. Yeah. Okay. So now back to uh Rick. Go ahead Mr. GO for the uh sustainability awards.

Thank you, mayor. Uh the sustainability awards is another is an annual awards event that we have here at the city council. It's something that is managed by uh run by our sustainability commission. I believe I think I want to say we have nine members on our sustainability commission and I think all nine or at least eight. Eight of the nine. I see. Yeah, eight. I see all eight of the nine members that are here tonight. So that yeah, it's a great turnout. Um yeah, could you could you eight members of the sustainability commission stand? We also have students students as well stand. We have 10 students. Well, so it's a it's a great turnout tonight. Has nothing to do with the meeting that they have following this. It's nothing. And so we have we have student commissioners as well. We have a great student program and they're a big part of the awards ceremony tonight. So, uh, mayor, the mayor has the awards with him and we have the recipients uh, this evening as well. And so, I believe we're starting out um with one of our student commissioners that's going to begin the program. And I believe uh, a Ava Muenberg, Muenberg, you're going to start that, right? So, Ava is going to start our program uh, of our sustainability awards. Good evening. My name is Ava Mullenberg and my name is Abni Maheshiri. We are student commissioners on the sustainability commission. We are pleased to present this year's sustainable Eden Prairie Awards program. This award recognizes residents and businesses who have made significant contributions to sustainability in our community. This is the ninth year of the sustainable eating prairie award. Nominations were reviewed by the sustainability commission who selected the winning projects. Tonight, we are honoring four award recipients and my fellow student commissioners will be

introducing the winners. So, with that, I'd like to invite Lillian to introduce the first recipient. Hi, my name is Lillian Butes and our first recipient tonight is Buy Nothing Eden Prairie. Buy Nothing, Eden Prairie promotes sustainable reuse of items that might otherwise be thrown away by providing a platform to exchange these items free of charge throughout the community. This Facebook group is very active and has a great membership that is entirely Eden Prairie residents. Would representatives of Buy Nothing Eden Prairie please come up and accept your award? However, if you do need to buy, you should buy Eden Prairie. I just want to point that out. Right. So, next. Hello, my name is Aarva Sarma. Our next recipient is Wnebago Industries. Uh their corporate headquarters is in Eden Prairie and they're an active community volunteers. They last helped plant over 500 native woodland plants and shrubs in Miller Park. They also have supported friends of Eden Prairie Parks to help fund planting materials for their events. Would representatives of Winnebago please come forward to accept your award?

Actually, you can give me Hello, my name is Aida Tawari. Our next is Chris Adams. Chris Adams prioritizes sustainability in his construction business by salvaging reusable items like lamps, faucets, lumber, and other items from remodeling projects instead of sending them to landfills. He also operates a familyrun thrift store where the items are resold. His approach demonstrates a commitment to reducing construction waste and giving life to materials that would otherwise be discarded. Would Chris Adams please come forward to accept your award? Good evening. My name is Paley Rice. Our final recipient this evening is Applewood Point. Applewood Point is a senior co-op with 100 units. Over the last two years, a group of residents has worked towards an organic recycling program that now has 60 of its 100 units participating. They also implemented an organic recycling program for large group events that only uses compostable paper materials. With the representatives of Applewood Point please come forward to accept your award.

So I I think mayor if Oh mayor if you could stay down.

Hello my name is San Shedetti. In closing, I would like to say congratulations and thank you to all our award recipients by Nothing Eden Perry, Wnebago Eden, Winnipeg Go Industries, Applewood Point, and Chris Adams. Also, thanks to my fellow student members for presenting the awards and to the sustainability commissioners who were able to attend tonight's award presentation. Thank you. All the winners, I guess, come back up. Um, big group. I don't read sign language very well. Our city manager.

Yeah, this is going to be the the front page of the the city the the news. Congratulations.

Thank you. the city council as individual representatives of the people who elect us. So we reflect our residents opinions. We have a strong interest in sustainability, an interest in addressing global warming, climate change, and it's one of our key initiatives really for the five, six years we've all been together on this council. So, sustain sustainability means a lot to us and we really appreciate the people um our some of our residents

student and student and students. Yeah. Well, they're residents too, but yes, I totally agree. Special a special thanks to the students. Special thanks to everyone um for uh carrying on with the initiatives that mean so much to us. So, thank you. Thank you. All right, we have a proclamation. Uh Mr. Gro, do you want to say anything or do I simply read it? Go ahead if you wish. Yeah, mayor. And I'll turn over to you and I I had to mention their meeting tonight because they're getting up and walking out now and that's that's why they had to walk out. We always get a good turnout from for our commission for the awards regardless of if they had a meeting, but that's why they have to walk out.

So they weren't here for their high school class directive. They were here voluntarily. I guess all the students are, but that's really impressive. Yeah, they were. They um they they have an excellent turnout for this award, but they that's why they're getting up right now. Um but mayor, no. uh the Small Business Saturday. This is a proclamation that I think you have done, council's done um for the last 20 plus years um following uh Thanksgiving and Black Friday. So, I would turn it over to you.

Great. If you're not a student, you have to stay the whole meeting. You you can't just walk out. All right. Proclamation. City of Eden Prairie, Henipin County, Minnesota, Small Business Saturday. Whereas the city of Eden Prairie celebrates our local small businesses and the contributions they make to the local economy and community. And whereas the small business community as well as advocacy groups and other public and private organizations across the country have also endorsed the Saturday after Thanksgiving as small business Saturday. And whereas 68 cents of every dollar spent at a small business in the United States stays in the local community. That's pretty incredible. Whereas according to the United States Census, there are over 38,000 small businesses with fewer than 100 employees in Henipin County, representing over 96% of businesses in the county. And whereas Henipin County has partnered with several cities in the county and the Henipin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority to support Small Business Saturday with the multi-jurisdictional love local campaign which encourages residents to support local independentlyowned businesses that create jobs, boost the local economy, and make our communities vibrant and livable. And whereas for many, the Thanksgiving holiday kicks off a season of gathering, dining, shopping, and experiencing arts and culture and consumers know that supporting small independentlyowned businesses has positive social, economic, and environmental impacts. And now therefore be it resolved that the city of Eden Prairie does hereby proclaim November 29th, 2025 as Small Business Saturday in Eden Prairie and urges the residents of our community to support small

businesses and merchants on small business Saturday and throughout the year. Ronald AK is mayor on behalf of council members Kathy Nelson, Mark Fryberg, PG Nion, and Lisa Tumi. All right. So, you heard two things tonight. Um, don't buy Eden Prairie in terms of sustainability, but definitely if you're going to buy, buy Eden Prairie in terms of Small Business Saturday.

Can you keep all those straight? I I think. Okay. Excellent. All right. Moving on then. Those are always enjoyable parts of the meeting. Moving on to the agenda. Um, council, is there anything that you wish to add to the agenda this evening? probably if you did under council member reports. If not, can I have a motion to approve the agenda? Move to approve the agenda. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I.

Oppos. All right. I would entertain a motion to approve the both the minutes from the council workshop held back on October 21st and uh the council meeting October 21st. Let me ask though, is there anything that you wish to edit or correct or any changes you saw in them that need to be made? If not, is there a motion to approve them both? I'll move to approve the following city council minutes. City council workshop held Tuesday, October 21st, 2025, and the city council meeting held Tuesday, October 21st, 2025. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I.

I opposed. consent calendar. We have items A through N this evening. Any council member wishing to find out more about any of these items have it pulled. We could vote on it separately if you so wished. If not, is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? I move to approve items A through N on the consent calendar. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I.

I opposed. All right. No public hearings or meetings this evening. Payment of claims. Um again the list of all the various expenditures that we've spent as a city since the last meeting. Uh council any um in the long pages and pages listing of them any um items that you wanted to learn more about or question expenses. Okay. If not is there a motion to approve the payment of claims? Move to approve the payment of claim as submitted. Is there a second? Second. Roll call. Council member Fyberg. Hi. Council member Nuran. I. Council member Nelson. I. Council member Tumi. Hi. Mayor Casease.

I. Okay. There were no reports of council members. We have a report of parks and recreation director. Mr. GTO. Do you want to make any introductions here? Uh, mayor. I'm just stalling till she gets to her seat. There she is. No, I don't have anything to say.

All right. Amy Marco, our director of parks and recreation. Take it away. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, I'm excited tonight we are going to be presenting on our new Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation app that will soon be available for people's phones. Um, and just a little bit of background on this. Uh, currently when the community registers, uh, they go through our website on their desktop to Eden Perrym.govregister gov/register and there we have year-round recreation program registration. We see a significant use at the beginning of each program season and it's a pretty robust system. We see a lot of um you know thousands throughout the year come through for camps, classes, community gardens, facility reservations. It's really designed for your desktop. Uh but our vendor recently introduced an accompanying app. So that this past year uh we've been working hard as a department to develop an app for the community and implement a roll out. Um we've done extensive beta testing amongst staff and residents including our parks and recreation and natural resources commissioners, our park and recck supervisors, other department staff, and a lot of what we've received is input on the layout and content of the app. Uh so when you look at it, it's an all-in-one connection to everything Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation. Uh people will be able to register, connect, and explore everything Eden Prairie Parks and Recre has to offer right in the palm of your hand. So it provides efficiency and that ease of location. Wherever you go with your phone, you'll be able to stay connected to what is happening. Uh so very convenient and the registration

process will remain the same. It's organized so users can easily find programs of interest. So as you work your way into the app, if you're interested in a class at the art center, you will click on the art tab. If you're interested in a summer camp at the outdoor center, you'll click on that. Um we also have a member scanin feature for community center members. You'll no longer need your card to scan in. and also at the senior center wood shop. Other features that I think people will enjoy, we have facility rental process. Uh people will be able to look at jobs that are available and also upcoming events and details of those events. Uh community will be able to sign up for programs and activities really anytime anywhere. You don't need an account to access um the information on the website, but you will of course need an account to register for actual programs. You can kind of see how it's broken down into the different program areas that we have in the department. Community members can explore our parks, trails, and amenities throughout the city. Uh if you click on facility, you can explore everything happening at the arts center, community center, outdoor center, and senior center. The maintenance button will take people to see click fix. So you can easily take a picture of something you see in real time in a park um that you'd like to see fixed and send it to our maintenance team. Uh when you click on parks, uh you'll be able to explore our what we have offering for dog parks, our park finder um piece where you can see on a map where the parks are located across the city and a directory of all the amenities and trails. the last button where it's recreational amenities. Um

everything in the park system, you know, we have lots of information there about beaches, um our archery, splash pads, any sort of activity you're looking for, you can take a deeper dive and and learn more about how to access that. And if you'd like to use uh the app to scan in with your phone, this is what that screen will look like. Uh once you set up the app with your information and your membership information, you'll be able to scan in every time you go to the community center to work out, uh take a class, swim, and then again at the senior center wood shop, you can scan in for that as well. Um so you can easily access all park and wreck uh information and specific to your account. So, you'll be able to check your account balance, uh, classes and camps that you previously registered for. Um, and we also have fee support there as well. It's easy for families with multiple accounts. So, if you have children at different ages you want to register for, uh, the way it works, it's it's has an ease to that. Uh, the app will be available, uh, we're anticipating the first week of December. It's currently at the app store for approval. Um, so we will be announcing through all of the city channels, uh, social media, email, and on our website when it is available to download. Uh, you can go to the app store on an Apple phone or in Google Play on a Google phone. Um, but it will be here soon. Um, and again, it's we've been working on this for the past year. I just want to say a special thanks to the parks and recreation team, our communications department, which has collaborated with us throughout. And this was really a vision that Lori Brink had, um, our recreation programming manager that

recently retired, and Aspen Howard, who was our intern last summer, um, kind of worked split time between communications and parks and wreck. and the two of them together throughout this past summer worked uh very hard and then they passed the torch to other team members to kind of carry it to the finish line. So, we're really excited here in the next couple weeks to have this for the community uh for the future.

That's really impressive. Um do we have any other app features that are not connected to parks and recreation? I'm thinking like utility pay bills. I mean, how what other digital opportunities do we have for our residents and would it ever tie into this?

Sure, Mayor. Um, one thing that Amy mentioned is an app that we've had for close to a decade or more is Cclick Fix. That's an app. Um, we were one of the first cities for sure in the metro to use it as an app. It's also web- based, and I'll get to web- based in a second. Um, but that that's been a a big boon to the city because anybody anywhere in the community mobile, that's why it's really good as an app. Um, I actually pulled it up on my computer. Um, can be anywhere in the city and see a maintenance issue anywhere in the city on public property and they can snap a picture and say the street light is out. There's an issue in the park. I'm looking at an issue right now on um flying cloud fields, an issue with a trail or a sidewalk. They snap a picture um of the maintenance issue and the whole backup, the whole system is set up to generate the picture and the email to the city employee responsible um to follow up and it generates an email to the person that sent it to say um how it's going to be followed up with and who's following up. That's an that's we've had that this app has a link to that

that connects to it, mayor. So, we've had that app and this will connect to it. um that that would be the only other app in terms of paying your utility bill, setting up a building inspection, um submitting building plans. The what the council has talked about as a the ability to be a 247 city hall and and digitally and use technology to do work. um that definitely exists um te through the city website and technology but not ne not necessarily as apps. So this is one of the newer apps we we have to wait for as is the case here with um the the the park and wreck um software that allows the app to happen. We have to wait for those other technologies to allow the app.

I I think we all get that. I I'm not going to speak for all of you and weigh in here, but it this has me excited about the possibilities and opportunities just not only for our park and wreck program, but why not why not have the big Eden Prairie app that does everything and connects back in to the park and wreck app and see click fix and it sends to utilities and there's, you know, is that is that in the thought process of maybe where we're heading with this? It could be you just want to be able to have the ability for all the let's say we have like 40 different systems to be able to communicate with the proper app.

So we just we have to have the proper app to do that. And this one works for parks. You need to find the right one. What um I'm assuming it's expensive. That's why a lot of cities don't do all this one time. um what what's an estimated dollar amount for what we saw this evening and then what would that look like if we blew that out to have the big Eden Prairie app with the park and wreck being a piece of it and utility and paying bills being a piece and planning and being able to get permits. Just somewhat curious is that kind of what's holding us back a little bit?

I I would say no. It is not a cost issue is issue. It's a technology issue and I I guess I couldn't I'd have to get back to the cost, but Amy Amy could probably answer what this was. So, this app is supported by Vermont Systems, which is uh tied into Rec Track, which is designed for park and recreation reservations of programs and facilities. Um, so it's something they developed to do all this initial upfront work. It was approximately $10,000 that we had budgeted for is I'm assuming an ongoing cost for supported on the platform and Yes. Yep. Council member Nyan.

So I'm very excited to hear this. I was going to ask uh what is the backend code? No, I'm just joking

now. Um this one of the item that I brought it up maybe three years ago with the Rick part of my strategy session we had on January. So I'm really glad that we are uh moving towards this because people don't use PCs and anymore um and nobody want to go use a phone to go to a website and fill up a phone. It need to be an app. So like mayor was talking about we had to move forwards you know slowly whatever pace we can to a a consolidated you know one app that connected to you know you decide where you want to go where whatever it is and do your job quickly and easily that's that's the world is and and later on you don't even have an app you just talk to it you just want to say hey make a reservation for me in you know this park and should do it.

Well, in five years, it read it reads your mind and it does it before you even have to it's there now. It is there now, but but we probably not there. We probably had to go to app session then go to the higher level. But it's great exciting. Yeah, it is. I'm glad. Um council, any anything else? I don't believe there's anything else to come. Did I forget? Am I did No, mayor. I was going to say no. I thought you going to ask is there any action? It's a report so you don't need any action. No, I saw I heard that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't forgetting something else. There isn't anything else.

I I you heard the discussion tonight. I we can talk about it later. We can have a workshop. We can have our planning session, you know, up in February. Um but this is um one of those more micromanaging picky things that nonetheless are important because it carries follows through on on some of our goals of making our city

pretty state-of-the-art. um technologically meeting the needs of our residents. And um I thank Amy for not only this app that's going to be great for park and recck, but I think it gives us an image of what maybe could be larger for the entire city and and maybe we have that conversation up in February and we direct staff at some point to to put that as a priority for 26 27 or something. We'll we'll use your guidance and judgment on that. All right. Anything else to come before the council this evening? If not, is there a motion to adjurnn? Move to adjourn the city council meeting tonight. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I.

I. Opposed. This meeting is adjourned.