City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Ready to go? All right. Here we go. Well, good evening everybody and welcome to the Adina City Council meeting on this January 20th, 2026. It is 7 PM which is our normal starting time. Uh we have uh as you've as our communications uh uh specialist has indicated, we've been doing these meetings on a hybrid sort of basis. So people can uh watch remotely uh call in during uh public comment or they can call in if we have a public hearing matter uh and participate in the meeting. Uh we've got some council members that would like to um discuss a possible modification of the uh process we use in community comment tonight to allow some uh comment around uh ICE operations in the uh in the city and in the Twin Cities area. And so we're going to discuss that momentarily. Uh so we're going to take on take people from the audience first when we uh start taking some uh testimony from folks and then we'll go to the folks that are tuning in remote. Um and uh having provided that information about the hybrids form of the meeting uh I want to call the uh meeting to order and I want to ask our clerk Sharon Ellison to call the role for the council.

Council member Agneu here. Council member Jackson here. Council member Pierce here. Council member Risser here. Mayor Hublin here. Uh, next everybody is the pledge of allegiance. 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. Well, we had a form of meeting agenda that was published uh to the public uh but because of uh some requests from some of our council members about discussing ICE operations in the in in the city and in in the state. And based on the fact that our residents aren't aware yet of the things that we've been working on over the past few weeks that we were going to talk about tonight, we're going to modify the the agenda. We've got a proposed modified form of agenda or amended agenda, we'll call it that, uh, that we can follow. And because of the potential conversations are that are going to take place both around the proposed uh gun ordinance as well as ICE operations, uh I wanted to move the football team recognition matter up further into the agenda so we can get that taken care of right away so you guys can we can celebrate you guys a little bit and then you can take off without worrying about having to stick around for a half an hour or an hour or however long it takes to go through community comment. And the same thing with another matter that we had in the special recognitions and presentations portion of the agenda. So, we're going to take care of that before we move on to community comment. Uh and then we'll discuss uh the community comment portion of it when we get there. So, is there a motion to approve the uh proposed uh amended form of agenda?

So, moved. Member Jackson moves. Member Pierce the adoption of the proposed amended form of agenda. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor of adopting the proposed form of amended agenda say I. I

I opposed carried. The proposed form of agenda in its amended form is adopted. Um this takes us right to the special recognitions and presentations portion of the agenda. And we're so pleased that the some of the football team could be here with us tonight along with the trophy and the coaches. Uh you know, I watched that I got I got home in time to see the usually I get home like at 9:00 at night. You know, that's the way it is uh when you're trying to do two full-time jobs. and uh I got to see the second half of that Indiana game. I was glad the Big 10 won that game, but I didn't give me nearly as much satisfaction as I did from watching your game live uh you know down at US Bank Stadium. And that was really an incredible incredible football game. Who would have ever thought that would win passing for 70 yards I think is about what it was and or that Morhead would lose passing for 500. You know, uh it was really quite an extraordinary performance. So, we're really pleased to have you here that the folks that could attend and coaches, I want to have you come up to the side podium and just just talk a little bit about the the experience of this. I don't think it's happened any since 1980 and and please introduce yourself too for the audience both here and at home.

Yeah. Uh Jason Pototts, head football coach. Uh thanks for having us tonight and uh thanks for taking your time out of your busy nights to to celebrate us. We're incredibly appreciative. Um, I did bring the trophy, so I do want to show that off a little bit. Yeah. [applause] [applause]

So, along with being here, I just want to share our appre appreciation. Uh, this trophy to me doesn't represent myself or just our football program. It represents our community. When we have our football games on Friday night, we look at it as a community event and we really feel the love from from everybody from our fans, from our students, from our administration, from our teachers to our community members. And so we're incredibly incredibly proud of the work that we put in, especially the last six years, and that includes our alumni, and we've gotten better every single year. And so this has uh our picture of our players and our coaches, but really to me, it represents all of Edina. And so we're incredibly appreciative of the opportunity to play football in such a great city with amazing support from our entire village. And you'll hear me say that a lot. So, uh, thank you so much for the recognition and, uh, the pride and the support. We definitely feel it and, uh, we hope to keep things rolling on as the years go on. So,

Coach Pots, you and your staff do such a wonderful job and the and the student athletes are just a great bunch of young guys and from all all through the sports. I think you're really blessed with some great young people. So, are any of your captains here that would want to speak at all? I mean, otherwise, we're going to have the council come down and take a picture with the guys that are here. Boys, anyone want to speak? No.

John. All right. Come on up, buddy. [applause] So, John Litico, senior defensive back. All right, John. I would say mostly going in season going four to four going four normal season you know not knowing where this was going to end and having absolute dog fight to make it state championship and you know we're the most hated city in Minnesota but I feel like that game was not for us. That was for the city of Edina, all the fans, all the football players, those late two a day practices when everyone's asleep and we're up working and it was just a great feeling for not only seniors but for the city of Edina.

Thank you. Congratulations. Let's go [applause] down. Why don't you guys all come up in front of the D here and then we'll take a photo.

[laughter]

All right, perfect. Right here. Congratulations. [applause] [applause] Yeah. You're welcome. Congratulations.

Oh, yeah. Don't miss out on that famous coaster. Thank you. Thank you so much.

One other matter we have um in this portion of the agenda. Yeah, wasn't that great to have them here? It was really a special special moment. So, we're trying to celebrate all the teams that I think we had five teams win state championships yet this fall. And so, we'll try to make sure we get them all here on a regular basis and celebrate them during the year. Um, so, um, this may not be quite as exciting, but just as important in a way, and it's, uh, winter salt week, January 26 through the 30th, 2026. And this uh it's it's an important thing that we're doing in terms of uh uh salt reduction usage and the strategies we have around that the equipment we're using. Uh but I'll read the proclamation as which reads as follows. Uh and we've got Jessica Vander Vanderwarf Wilson our water resources coordinator here with us. And then we've got Sue Nissen, one of our Adina residents, who's worked tirelessly at the state legislature on uh sodium chloride reduction strategies over the years. So uh I'll have Jessica come up momentarily, but I'll read the I'll read the proclamation first. Whereas the city of Edina relies on deicing salt as part of its winter maintenance program to maintain safe and accessible roadways. And whereas all the salt applied to roadways ends up in our fresh water. Whereas chloride contamination from deicing salt has been found in lakes, streams and groundwater in Dina's nine mile creek and many Haha Creek wersheds and across the state. And whereas reducing overuse of deicing salt reduces damage to infrastructure and property, protects freshwater resources, and reduces harm to aquatic plants and animals. And whereas it is crucial to raise awareness among residents, businesses, and local government agencies about the responsible use of deicing salt to protect both public safety and the long-term health of our freshwater resources. And whereas winter salt week provides an opportunity to educate our community about the responsible use of deicing salt,

including environmental considerations and effective application methods. And whereas the residents of Adantic can contribute to deicing salt pollution reduction efforts but locally by learning about smart salting practices, engage in safe winter driving, hiring trained service providers, and participating in the low salt, no salt Minnesota program. And whereas the city is committed to promoting a sustainable approach to winter maintenance for the benefit of present and future generations. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Edina hereby proclaims January 26 through the 30th, 2026 as winter salt week in the city of Edina and urges all residents, businesses, and our city departments to take part in activities and initiatives that promote the responsible use of deicing salt and encourage the adoption of winter maintenance strategies which maintain safety while reducing environmental harm. Is there a motion to adopt the proclamation as read?

So moved. Second. Member Jackson moves. Member Pierce seconds the adoption of the proclamation designating January 26 to the 30th, 2026 as winter salt week in the city of Edina. Uh, any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the proclamation say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. And, uh, Jessica Wilson is with us and Sue Niston, our longtime resident, is here as well. I'm going to bring this down to you and and then I think Jessica, at least you have some remarks and Sue, you may as well.

Yes. Thank you for recognizing Winter Salt Week, a week that brings together organizations and agencies across the country to elevate the conversations around winter salt pollution and reduction solutions. The week features daily live streams from ecologists, public works operators, and policy makers, a smart salting for community leaders workshop on Wednesday hosted by the Mini uh Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and a pause and pavement popup event at Hughes Pavilion where you can stop by this week or next week to fetch some tips on reducing salt use without compromising safety uh and a treat for your pet. Uh lastly, support from the city continues beyond next week through the low salt, no salt Minnesota program where people can get customized support for reducing overuse of salt at their property without compromising safety. Thank you for your recognition for winter salt week.

And Sue, anything to add? Not at all. All right. Very good. Thanks for being here. All right. Uh comments from any council members. Yes, council member Jackson. So I have a quick question. If somebody sees excessive salt on a sidewalk, um what do you recommend that they do? We have Edina 311. If there's been a spill on a uh any space, whether it's public or private, if it's public, we'll respond and go clean that up. If it's private, we reach out and offer that low salt, no salt Minnesota program, as a way to open up a conversation about how we can provide technical assistance for folks to reduce that overuse. Terrific. Thank you. Thanks.

Very good. Um yeah, the the work we've done over the years with you know equipment uh modifications and other things to reduce salt usage. I think well worth the effort and you I don't know if you have any further comment on those issues at all. Just to say that our public works department works really hard at providing exceptional service uh and reducing that overuse of salt and we're really proud of the progress we've made. Thanks.

Thanks for that. Thanks for being with us this evening. All right. Uh that concludes the special recognitions and presentations portion of the agenda. And uh we're going to move on to committee comment. And um I didn't get a chance to talk to council member Pierce, but I know three of our other council members have suggested that uh we suspend our our normal rule about um community comment, which which is that if something's on the agenda uh or scheduled for a future public hearing that you can't speak to that matter that this that particular evening, but and this matter is on our agenda, our interactions with ICE and our work around dealing with uh immigration issues, immigration enforcement issues, I should say. Um, and so I don't know if we need that in the form of a motion. I think if we want to have somebody

Motion to suspend the rules. Yeah. Okay. Is there a motion to suspend the rules regarding community comment so that we can take community comment on ICE operations in the city of Atlanta or more broadly? So moved. So moved. Moves second. Seconds. Uh the suspension of the community comment rules um so that we can uh discuss an important issue to address and it is timely and speed is critical here is what we found in these matters that we've been working on the last few weeks. So uh we got a motion and a second to suspend the rules regarding community comment to allow uh comment on something that's otherwise on the agenda this evening. Any further discussion on that issue? All those in favor of adoption of the uh motion as stated say I. I.

I. Opposed. Carried. Uh the u rule regarding community comment is suspended. And um so let's move now to community comment. And this doesn't foreclose you coming and talking about something that's of concern to you that doesn't relate to uh immigration enforcement operations in the city of Edina. Uh but uh more than happy to hear uh anybody that wants to speak on that. Yes. And give us your name and address, please. And and just a reminder that you'll have three minutes. No address. Excuse me. [laughter] That's an old habit. Just Yeah, give us your name. We've got your address. Yeah, we know where you live.

I know many [laughter] of you have been to my house. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Jesse Kingston. I'm a resident of Edina. When I think about what is happening in our community, I'm reminded of a familiar warning. First they came for the Latinos and I did nothing because I was not a Latino. Then they came for the Somali and I did not speak out because I was not a Somali. Then they came for the refugees and I did not speak out because I was not a refugee. Then they came for the Asians and I did not speak out because I was not Asian. And then they came for me and there was no one left to stand with me. We are living through unprecedented times in Minnesota. Operation Metro Surge has brought harm, chaos into our neighborhoods. Families are being torn apart. People are being taken. Community members are being beaten and harassed. Holocaust survivors in our state have told us that these are the kinds of actions that mark the beginning of the Holocaust and that we have a responsibility to stop them before they escalate, before they become normalized, before we look back and wonder why we did not act sooner. On December 8th, 2025, the police department issued a statement on immigration enforcement which reaffirmed that our safety and well-being are always their priority. I want to believe that. Our community wants to believe that. But right now, I haven't seen police in our community. I haven't seen them driving around in the neighborhoods like I used to. Where are you? People are hurting. People are afraid.

And while many of us are doing everything we can, while so many have stepped up with courage and compassion, we cannot shoulder this alone. We are motans. We are gritty, resilient, and determined. But even the strongest communities need their leaders standing beside them, not watching from a distance. We need partnership. We need action. We need you with us. I have sent an email outlining concrete steps the city can take to protect our residents and support those who are living in fear. That includes myself. I am asking you to act on them. Not later, not eventually, now. Because when the day comes that they come for you and history teaches us that day always comes for someone and we are already seeing them coming for our police officers of color. We want to be there. We want to be the one standing with you just as we are asking you to stand with us today. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Kingston. Thanks for those remarks. You you've caused me to realize that I wanted to give a little bit more background, too. And and your your comments were certainly uh a great mechanism for us to be able to talk a little bit about some of the things that we've been doing. uh that that we haven't posted up online. Uh but it does cause me to think that yeah, our our our citizens need to know what we've been working on, not necessarily behind the scenes, but I can talk about some of that activity as well with respect to the business community, the broader business community. Uh but it all started a couple weeks ago, two week, see a week ago last Friday, I met with eight mayors here at city hall uh to discuss this matter and the mayors were from primarily northern and western suburbs from Brooklyn Park all the way down to Bloomington. Uh and then uh last Wednesday, a week ago tomorrow, we had a meeting of 15 cities and city managers and police chiefs and and uh in Eden Prairie and and discussed again some of the activities that uh people are engaged in the the observations of storytelling that is taking place uh with regard to uh incidents that have been observed and occurred in different communities uh amongst those 15 different uh towns that that were participating in the meeting. Uh we left that meeting still wondering what to do in face of the supremacy clause. I think even for our police department, if they're viewed to interfere with a with an ICE operation, they could be arrested for interfering with those operations. So, it's it's a delicate proposition and we have to think about how we're going to do this. Uh these activities have been going on quite a while now uh by ICE. Uh it has prompted everybody that and I think in our broader community as

I look at it and and we think about pathways forward and and pathways to making sure our voices are heard. I see all kinds of folks uh in the faith community in the school district uh in the school community uh in the medical community and in the broader community making uh doing what they can do best to try to uh interface with these operations of of ICE. So, uh, including your mayor, I I I authored after that meeting with the eight mayors here. Uh, I put together a letter to the to the president, uh, an open letter to the president. I sent to the New York Times editorial board with the blessing of those eight mayors. Um, I should know by Thursday whether that's going to be published or not. And then I sent another one to the New York Times today on behalf of our our community and actually on behalf of all motans so that they understood what we've gone through here that it feels what what we've had going on here the past few years feels awfully targeted and condensed and and so why us? Why here? uh tried to answer that question a little bit and talk about some of those same charact same characteristics that you talked about Miss Kingston that we have as motans. Um so uh and then today the police chiefs uh of the suburban communities and the inner city communities had a press conference over at the state capital. really. Uh, Chief, I'm going to turn to you now, but I think there were probably about 25 chiefs there and, uh, the and I'll let you talk a little bit about the subject matter that was covered and and the concerns that were expressed from, uh, law enforcement agencies that are that are doing their work right, that are doing their work in a constitutional manner, that are honoring the policies that we have in place in our individual cities. So, Chief, let me turn to you real quick and you can give everybody an update.

Sure. Thank you, Mayor Chief Melbourne with the police department. If I could, I'd maybe just like to summarize real quickly what we've been doing over the last several months. Um, just to give the audience some perspective of what's going on in local law enforcement. But real briefly, um, when these conversations started to really, um, elevate, um, we did some work in the police department to put together some policy and really clear it up for officers on what their roles are as they work um, alongside or with or against or however you might want to look at ICE agents that might come into a community. Right? So, we've been dealing with a lot of questions about how do we handle 911 calls? how do we handle ice um sweeps, those kinds of things. And a policy development early on was intended to train our officers about the lanes um and and their scope of work. Um so that that went into play. We have a multicultural advisory committee. We brought that policy in front of our our committee just to have a discussion about what they thought about the policy to give us some timely feedback about the concerns that they had in the community. And so that was helpful for us. And of course in the last handful of weeks we've had a huge surge or influx of ICE agents and other federal agents coming into town and communities in the metro area. So um a lot of the questions that I've been dealing with or been presented with is you know what do you do? Um how how does our local law enforcement work in that space? And often times uh I respond with we protect people and property and people and property is our focus in the city of Edina. And that's what we're there to do. Um we don't interfere. We don't work alongside ICE agents going back to our policy. But if the 911 call comes in, our officers respond to that call and they will uh triage and diagnose what's going on and take it from there. We're always going to be responsive to those 911 calls. Um and that's not going to change. More recently, we've had um so much pressure on local law enforcement. We've been working with a lot of different agencies locally. I've spent uh meetings just about every day in the last three weeks talking to different chiefs, different uh partners about how we can lend some help to Minneapolis or you've heard a lot about the Whipple building because they've been short staffed with helping protect roadways and things like that. Institute through those meetings and partnerships, we set

up mutual aid. We've always had mutual aid agreements to get our officers out there and likewise we can get help coming in our way if needed. So that's been much of the work here as of late. But local law enforcement stretched thin. there's not um enough officers to sustain the work and so that dialogue has continued and we've tried to do what we could here to help out. This morning uh there was a press conference held. Um most people know that I worked in Brooklyn Park for 29 years, so I'm very familiar with uh what's happening in that community. And so the chief of police had informed a number of chiefs about a traffic stop that an officer on um an officer on her way to work encountered. She was off duty on her way into work. Uh she was stopped by ICE agents or some federal agents and they had asked her for paperwork and a conversation took off from that point where they discussed um that she was an officer, that she was um a citizen, that she did not have paperwork and she was treated very disrespectfully and very rudely in that in that moment. So as that conversation unfolded, we started to hear about a few more examples. Um, and that led to the press conference. And so it was time for the police chiefs to get together and have that dialogue and really just showcase some of the things that local law enforcement is dealing with and really have a voice about uh some of our perspective on what was happening. And so that occurred this morning. There were about 25 chiefs and some sheriffs that were there uh spoke about their perspective and um that was that opportunity to get that word out. So again, I'll just finish up by saying to our community members, for our police department, we're always going to be here. We're going to be responsive to those 911 calls. um we're going to um be sure to be there for our community members and and it really just boils down to just call 911. So call 911. Our officers are trained and skilled. These are the things that they deal with daily. They will respond to the scene. They'll be able to triage things and take it from there and then behind the scenes we can start to work and kind of deal with lowle events, high level events, whatever that might whatever the issue might be. So with that, I'll I'll pause. Thank you.

Good. Thanks. Um last Friday morning then I met with uh the 50th of France business association at uh 8:00 and then again at noon with the restaurant tour operator restaurant operators. So as you can well imagine you've heard the stories on a broader basis. Many of the restaurant employees aren't coming to work or if they are willing to come they need to have somebody come and get them to drive them to work. Uh they're being sustained by some of the restaurant operators. Some of the new operations have been closed down uh over the noon hour and they're just concentrating on the nighttime operations. Uh foot traffic at 50th in France is down about 45%. So I'm encouraging all of you as residents of Edina to don't stay home. Go down there and and support our local merchants whether it's restaurant operators or otherwise. We need we need we need to support them to get through this together. Um people are working on food security issues including at the school district uh in the Adana Ed fund. There's there's funding going on there. You might keep that in mind. Uh get on the Adana Ed fund website if you want to contribute and there are people delivering groceries to people's houses that don't dare leave home. Um on a broader basis uh the Minneapolis Area Foundation is establishing a fund for food security. And I spoke to a gentleman who's a former resident of our community uh who's a member at Westminster who had raised $500,000 in a single morning from major corporations in Minneapolis to help with food security issues. So there's work underway there. Uh Saturday afternoon, uh several of us met with the Edina, what we call the EA, the EDINA Asian-American Association that met here at city hall. uh the same worries that everybody else has whether you're white or a person of color uh about uh having to show identification. What were your rights? Uh and that was uh a really important uh conversation I think and

one of the things that came out of the meeting with 50th and France was Miss Kingston mentioned this local police presence down at 50th in France. the merchants are and the people that are visiting down there are really uh grateful to have our local Indiana police walking a beat driving around and it got me thinking that even our police reserve people if we could put them to work different places would give people more confidence to go out uh you know and do and do the things you do during normal life uh life work. Um so uh and then I've also talked to um our well I've talked to Greater MSP which is our regional economic development entity and uh because I was wondering where where's the voice of big business here you know uh and uh because you remember in Seattle ICE was going to go to Seattle and never went to Seattle and why was the reason they never what was the reason they never went to Seattle? Well, that's a that's a state similar to ours, you know, and u I suspect that those big corporations talk to the powers that be and and talked them into not coming to Seattle. And so they're already here. The question now is how do we get them to go about their lawful work in a lawful way and and and maybe take the temperature down and the work that they're doing. Uh so uh there I got I've received word then that the the bigger businesses the Fortune 500 companies that are here are working behind the scenes on some of these issues and trying to get uh some traction with the with their contacts at the federal government. So they are doing something and I think that's something everybody should know is that small business, large business, everybody's trying to do something. Um, and then Scott Neil uh you've taken Miss Kingston's uh ideas about different topics and you have an idea

about what we can do in terms of quickly forming I think a task force and putting them quickly to work and then you might also talk about what you and the city managers talked about uh after we had that meeting in Eden Prairie on the uh last last Wednesday.

Uh thank you your honor. Yes. Um, Miss Kingston sent to us, uh, sent to to you all and and a couple of you sent it to me, uh, a pretty nice framework in terms of community resources and support, public safety and policing and city regulations and protections. And other people have done something similar to that, but this was really well done work. and we've uh put together uh we're in the process of putting together a internal SEA staff uh task force that will work with our city attorney to take a look at every one of these suggestions and other suggestions that we're going to get as as after talking about this publicly I think and evaluate them as quickly as we can. Uh are they legal? Are they not legal? Are they feasible? Are they advisable? That will be kind of the framework that we want to put together. some that we could do immediately, some that will take some time to do, but we we do want to take uh take these suggestions from the community and and really and put some put some brain power behind it. So, that's what we're working at internally. Uh on an external basis, uh city managers like police like the police chiefs have been working to put together a multi-city coalition that will work together on ICE uh on ICE issues. We don't think this is uh at the end. We don't know where it is in the closer to the beginning or the end, but we're going to be in it. And we think we're going to be in it for a while. And and to that end, uh it's time to put together a more unified, uh suburban, in our case, approach, uh of of what we're seeing in the community and what tools we have to to press back or to uh to work with or adapt uh but more press back in terms of the unconstitutional kinds of actions that we're seeing against uh residents. So, that's something that we're working on. That takes a little bit of time to do, but we started working on it last week. We met on Wednesday. We met on Friday again. Some folks met over the weekend as well.

Uh and we've got a couple meetings set up for later this week.

And then yesterday though it was a holiday um I went up to Brooklyn Park uh for was a gone three or four hours [clears throat] probably meeting up there with mayors about 10 mayors. Uh and we've got a statement that we prepared that we're I think it's going to be released I assume to the Star Tribune uh our our views on um constitutional policing and the policies that they've adopted around uh schools around medical facilities and around places of worship. We'd like to see them go back to their old policies of not of treating those more like sanctuaries because that's what they are. Those are sanctuaries. Those are critical elements of our of people's living and uh our democracy, frankly. So, uh we'll we'll see where where that goes. We'll all keep pressing forward. Um and I think um now we could I'm going to go to other council members. you know, we we don't but because of um open meeting laws, we don't talk to each other much uh offline and I know uh member Jackson was trying to get a hold of me today and I couldn't get back to her and I think that she's got some things that she wants to talk about that she's been working on as well. Plus, I think a restatement of something that was really important to be thinking about uh that Miss Kingston worked on too at the time she was on the Human Rights and Relations Commission. So, let's talk about that.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, um, as some of you may be aware, the city of Edina is a human rights city. This is a designation through the United Nations. I believe we're the only city in Minnesota that's a human rights um, committee. And so, as we're thinking about this, uh, we want to do things right right away. And two things that I've been advising people or it's actually three things. First of all, as the chief said, if you see something unsafe happening, call 911. The second thing is if in your home or in your place of business there h the Fourth Amendment protects private areas. So have a plan. If you're concerned about your yard crew or your cleaning crew or whatever, have a plan. Write it out and have somebody as the point person to administer this plan. And this is something every business should have. And then this the final thing is when if somebody comes and says we believe you're sheltering somebody, they have to have a judicial warrant. And so I've been telling everybody ask to see the judge's signature. An administrative warrant is not sufficient to get into private areas. So those are three simple things um that you can do immediately. And and I'm advising everybody. But as a human rights city, I was thinking this morning, I was driving around and I wanted to um bring up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So, being a human rights city says that we adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And there are three short things I want to read from there. Um and then I'm going to ask my um fellow city council members. And I don't know if we want to do this now during community comment or but I'd like to reaffirm.

Yeah. Um, so do we want to wait until after community comment is done to do this? Yeah, we could do that. You would do it either way.

Yeah, I just want to read what's in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And I think the action will will hold off. But there just three things I wanted to read from here. It's it's an eight-page document. This is it. It's easy to read. Um, but in the preamble, there are two parts. Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind and the advent of world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of common of the common people. Whereas it is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse as a last resort to rebellion against tyranny and oppression that human rights should be protected by the rule of law. So in the preamble two things one is freedom from fear is a highest aspiration for for people and that human rights should be protected by the rule of law. And then article three within the thing, everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the security of person. And we're seeing some threats to that. So those are some of the things that that were highlighted to me. And I think we will hold off until we're done with community comment, but I wanted to just give highlights to people about that.

All right, let's Yeah, let's go now to with that kind of background so you know what we've been working on. Um, and I I My apologies that we haven't um gotten information out to folks quicker, but we're eager to hear what you have to say as well. So, if anybody wants to come up and visit with the council or give us your thoughts, appreciative of them, regardless of topic.

Good evening. I'm here to speak on a different topic tonight during community comment. Um my name is Sandy Carlson. I'm here tonight to urge the city council to take immediate steps toward greater transparency and broader community input on the proposed France Avenue tunnel project estimated to cost $19.58 million. I respectfully request the council schedule a formal public hearing on this project open to all Edina residents before any further funds are allocated on a preliminary engineering contract costing more than $300,000. On May 5th, 2025, I personally organized and scheduled an information meeting about the tunnel project for the South and Lake Cornelia neighborhoods. While some attendees came from outside of those areas, the large majority were residents in those two neighborhoods directly affected by the tunnel project. That meeting has been referenced multiple times as evidence that Edina residents support the tunnel project. This character characterization stretches the views of residents who attended the information meeting. Many thoughtful questions were asked and residents expressed a wide range of views. Some supported the tunnel concept. Others said crossing at Gallagher was no problem. Several called for evaluating additional concepts or alternatives. Many raised questions about the cost of the tunnel. Others expressed worries about potential crime, graffiti, and or maintenance issues. And some simply attended to listen and learn. There was no consensus that the tunnel is the best option. Importantly, the meeting was not recorded and only two council members were allowed to attend, meaning three members did not hear the discussion firsthand. Additionally, no detailed cost

information on how the tunnel would be funded was provided to residents. So, it'd be very difficult to make an informed decision without that information. This was a neighborhood focus information session, not a citywide public hearing or formal input process. The broader Edina community was not present and their voices have not been heard on this matter. A project of this scale and cost nearly $20 million in public funds demands robust, inclusive public engagement. An unrecorded neighborhood meeting with limited attendance and partial council presence cannot substitute for a true public hearing open to every Edinina resident. Therefore, I ask the council to do two things. one, schedule a public hearing on the France Avenue tunnel project as soon as possible and to do so before committing any further taxpayer dollars to this project. Thank you for your time and your service to our city. I look forward to your thoughtful consideration of these requests. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Carlson.

Anyone else? Yes, ma'am. Good evening.

Good evening. My name is Helen Ferraro. I am a resident of Edina. I'm a US citizen. I am also a member of the multicultural advisory committee. I am speaking on the ICE raids that have been um ravaging through our cities, through our state. I am terrified to leave my house. Um Mr. Mayor, you had encouraged us to go down to 50th in France. I don't know how people are supposed to do that when they are terrified of being accosted by ICE. Um, Miss Jackson, you had mentioned that Edina is a sanctuary or a human rights city and the three items that you had mentioned I feel are happening to the residents right now. Um, I understand that there as a result of the supremacy clause that there are certain things that the police cannot do. But I want to do want to know what are residents supposed to do when ICE agents are acting unconstitutionally. They are going doortodoor. They are at hospitals. They are at high schools. They are um libraries, the mall. Um I I don't know how people are supposed to behave and engage in normal living, let their children go places when we are afraid of being stopped. Even if we're US citizens, they do not have warrants. They do not have IDs. So, you don't even know if somebody who is coming claiming they're an ICE agent is actually an agent or a potential criminal. Um, I I am desperate for a response from our leaders locally, on the state level, on the federal level. How are you going to protect the citizens who have put you in place? We are terrified. I I don't know how else how else to say this and I don't know what else we're supposed to do other than cower in our in our homes or fear being accosted by agents who are acting unlawfully. What they are not

what they are doing here is not lawful. They are not making anyone more safe. Thank you.

Thank you. Hello, Janie Weston. Um, [sighs] I really feel for the previous speaker, Miss Ferrero. This is so serious. I feel like I am in a a movie about World War II and the Gestapo is knocking on the door and dragging people out. This is so terrifying for everybody, especially people of color or people that have a little bit of an accent. This is horrible. Um, regarding something that I would like to see the city do at minimum is um come out with a statement on where the city stands in support. And I have Bloomington's um statement here. I don't know if you want me to read the whole thing. My brother is a resident.

You don't have to read. We've got it. We're looking at that one as

Okay. I figured you because of what you said. I figured you probably had um at the bottom of um what this must be on their website. They also have links to um information that can be helpful for their citizens. And I think the city of Edina can expand on this. What they have is how to recognize local public safety uniforms. That's one link. Another is legal resources. That's another one. And the other is community resources. But I I think um that could even be at the top or a note at the top of whatever Edina puts out there. um pointing to at the bottom we have this list of links for people to get help. Um and one other thing that has come up um become very apparent es and especially now that we are going to have the coldest temperatures we have had um for many many years starting this weekend is when people who are not supposed to be detained by ICE but are nonetheless brought into Whipple um let sit there for a Their ID is taken away, their cash is taken away, their phone is taken away, and maybe their jacket, if they even were brought in with a jacket on. And when they decide, we're going to just let you go, they are shown the door. Goodbye. And there are now at least a few volunteers outside Whipple beyond the barriers that are posted there day and night watching for

anybody that walks out of there that needs a warm car to go into and a burner phone, a ride home, a jacket, whatever. That's what they are there for. Can the city of Edina do something? I mean, this this is putting people out into our cold cold temperatures where they can freeze to death within a very short period of time. And this has to stop. This is so illegal. I I don't know what the city can do or with your discussions with other mayors and police forces, but um this this that's a death march. It really is. So, please, something has to be done about this. It's horrible. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Weston. Weston reminded me of of something I forgot to mention earlier and that was um last week I got a couple of emails from people's wondering if uh Fairview Southdale Medical Center was working with ICE and so I put a call into the CEO and I put a call into the uh chief hospital administrator and spoke with them last week and of course as a medical facility they're treating anybody that comes in that that has a medical condition. that's their obligation as a provider of healthc care services. So, uh, ICE brought somebody in that was unconscious. Um, he didn't they didn't tell me exactly what was going on, but I think it might have been, uh, diabetic coma. My was my guess based on the way the conversation went. Uh, but they're not letting ice roam the hospital. They they're not permitted in private rooms other than the room that this person was in that they brought in from Whipple. Fairby Southdale is the closest hospital to Whipple. So, we're going to see some activity there and they're going to treat people that need medical attention there. Uh but when the hospital asked the ICE agents who was going to pay the bill for medical services, the guy looked at him with an incredulous look and said, "I don't know. I don't not we're not going to pay. Um so my understanding is this is an agency with the biggest budget in the history of the United States and uh they're not picking up the medical bill. So at least that was my understanding. I mean it may say something different but haven't had a chance to talk to them directly. Um others wish to address the council on a matter of concern. Yes sir. Come on up. So the the the answer is that Fairbale

is not working with ICE, but they're not going to provide medical services to somebody who needs medical attention either. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council and everyone else. I'm Michael Wearing. I live in Edine. I've lived here for 23 years. been very very happy as a as a resident citizen and involved in many things particularly in my condominium association which is what I want to address very briefly here and that is I believe that it would be very important for the council and other members of the city staff to develop a means of communicating very clearly to particularly the boards of the associations about the importance of becoming knowledgeable about this. And I'll give you a really quick example. On Thursday afternoon, as she left, the person who's staff member of our management association posted on both of our main doors a I I'm not going to show it to you here, but it's a stop. You can't come if you're ICE, you can't come out in without a warrant signed by a judge. On the back of that were some instructions from uh about what we should do under those circumstances this and they were posted on the outside. I moved them to the inside because of course it doesn't make sense to have them outside. Nevertheless, when I was sitting talking to the person in the office who posted them on Thursday, I noticed that the one that I'd moved inside right outside the office door was not there. And I said I asked the question and she said the board had instructed her to take it down. I think that that's deplorable of course and but I also think that there needs to be a way that you all can communicate with association boards and explain to them a little bit about what their responsibility is to the thousands of us who live in condominiums around the city of Adina. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks Mr. Wor. Good thought.

Good evening.

Good evening. My name is Chelsea Dively. I'm a resident of Adina. I've been here for six years. I'd like to talk about the flock cameras. Now, I know on your website it says that ICE does not have access to them, but from what we've seen, it appears they do. We've had a number of um residents of Edina who have been followed home from leaving the Whipple building after protesting by ICE agents. We we've seen people who have been following ICE agents and been led back to their house as if ICE knew where they lived. There is great concern within the community that these flock cameras are extremely hackable and are they're putting people at risk right now more than they are being of assistance. If there is any way that we could temporarily halt them or make them more secure going forward. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for that. I think we can answer that question. Um we just had somebody else raise that issue with us. It's a technology person and chief, you want to address that issue?

Uh sure, mayor. Uh so we have had some questions about these very issues. We've been in contact with Flock cameras, LPR systems for um over well over a year now and uh we feel very confident that they are not sharing information with ICE. In fact, we as an agency put safeguards in place that do not allow us our officers to share that information to federal agents. Uh an outside agency has to have a search warrant to access our database if they believe it's part of a criminal active criminal investigation. And so we want to reassure everyone that that's that information is not being shared with ICE agents. And then as part of this task force work, this team that's uh going to be put together here, um that's a question that's part of that work and then we'll be able to put together some definitive answers for community as part of that task force work and have an outcome on that as well. [snorts]

Want to share some thoughts? Good evening. Good evening.

My name is Art Boland. I'm a resident of Edina. I'm the president of the hockey association and while the rules are suspended, I'm going to take an opportunity to jump in here so that I can make it to a game. I'm also the commentator for our team. So, all sorts of grandparents around the country are going to be grateful if I get there in time. There are serious issues uh before this council and this evening reminds me of the gravity of some of the issues that this council deals with and the city deals with. And so I appreciate all of the work that everyone in this room does regularly. My issue while well while it is not uh quite as farreaching, it does not impact citizens all over the world and not everyone in the country. Um, it is important to the group of people that I represent, the Idana Hockey Association. We do know, uh, I'm very grateful that it appears that the, um, lawful gambling is going to be passed here in Edina as well. I've looked at the proposed ordinance. I sent an email to everyone hoping to engage on that. Our organization is going to be ready to go. We're going to be fully compliant with everything at the state level and we represent a huge group of your constituents. I note one issue that I I you know I I kind of understand the logic but I truly hope that this body can see uh their way to expanding it a little. There is a three premises limit right now in the draft ordinance that is before you and our hope is that that can be expanded to something more like six and the reason for that is across the state pull tabs are very very valuable

to many youth organizations. The Adana Hockey Association hopes to participate and if we keep it at only three premises location that may result in a de facto um monopoly for someone other than the Adana Hockey Association. I've looked at other locations and I can also understand the logic like look let's give it to someone who might spread it around to everybody. I've talked with other leaders at other hockey associations. I've reviewed how they do things and when they are the recipient of funds like this, they often will then take requests or grants or other things to make sure that while they've got the apparatus set up because there's a huge group of people supporting it just like Edina uh then they turn around and they'll they will give grants to the baseball to the football to the other youth organizations. And while I'm only in the presidency for a single year, I can't imagine that Adena Hockey would not do that in the future. So, I'm going to try to get to the St. Louis Rec Park Center. I'm going to hope that the Aden Hornets win. And I'm also going to hope that you can see clear to making it six premises instead of three because I think that's the way to be most fair to everyone in Nidina so that we all get an opportunity to participate in this. and support all of our youth in Adina. Thank you for indulging me.

All right, one quick question as you depart. The uh the Bramer Ice Arena concept plans on the agenda this evening and I think you've had to interface with staff on that.

We have, your honor, we've we've had interface with staff on the general concept and we've opened dialogue and we want to have further dialogue. I've started I've started giving thought to should we have a kind of standing committee of very involved current parents alums uh moms and dads that are serious about it but also we've been giving some thought to how do we partner with the city to I I mentioned that the last time I was here so forgive me for beating a dead horse. How do we partner with the city to make sure that some of the dollars that we otherwise send elsewhere stay in Edina?

And there are all sorts of objectives we'd like to achieve with that. I mean, I don't want people to have to get in the car for practice for 25, 30 minutes and drive back and forth. I'd love it if our infrastructure here were able to limit the amount of carbon footprint hockey has associated with it. So, excuse me. So, I'm really hopeful that not only we get to partner with you guys on the Braar facilities and we have an open dialogue, we're very very open to it, but also when we look forward to next steps and how we can partner with the city, we're all for it. Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much again. Thanks for being here.

Is he okay? Yeah, he's fine. Mayor, council members, I'm Harry Mlanahan, 7200 York. Thinking about Mayor Hland's pleas for civility, I decided there were two things the council could do to model civility. Both involve focusing on justice for all. I timed my original text. It took just over six minutes. and I realized that was two meetings. Uh, and basically I decided to back away from that text partly because of what's going on in Minneapolis. It just didn't feel right to be doing that at that time. Instead, I've decided to leave you with one process related snippet from that report and a short synopsis of my two recommendations for civility. Sharon has a copy of the original. If you have questions, my contact information is attached. Here's the process snippet I promised. Grumpy old Adina council watchers like me don't have too much time on our hands. In fact, we have too little. But we donate some of what remains to support our town. Here are my two recommendations for addressing civility by a justice for all. First, remind residents that you promised to support justice for all at every meeting. You did it about half an hour ago. I call this my the pledge made me do it tactic. [snorts] The pledge isn't something you do to fill that awkward time before the meeting starts. It's part of the meeting.

The pledge is recited after the meeting has been gave to order and the roll called. Also remind Edina that you don't recite your allegiance, you pledge it. and it's one nation indivisible and it's justice for all. How's that work with civility? Second, if you want to contribute to civility, you need to pay particular attention to your language choices. Avoid ambiguous, provocative, and ideolog ideological diction, but especially avoid jargon. All lead to mistrust, and mistrust discourages civility. Talk like you just got here from Melrose where like me you went to Richfield High School in the U of M. You might remind your A1 software uh to eliminate hints of Stanford or Harvard speak too. Why? These days it's critical to be seen as one of us, not one of them. Whoever us and them are. For example, call lack of civility a big problem, not an interesting challenge requiring a nuance solution about which we need to idiate and think outside the box. We'll all be fine if we never hear circle back, boil the ocean, nimble, deep dive, or ping me again. Really, I promise. Pledge. I go so far as to argue that you should consider emphasizing justice rather than equity because it's less pro provocative, less ambiguous. Let me finish with the results of a recent timely search. I asked my Google machine to find references to uh justice at the MLA memorial in Washington. Here's what

came back. We shall overcome because the ark of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness. We are determined to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. True peace is not merely the absence of t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t tension. It is the presence of justice. Google reported no references to equity. Thanks for listening and best wishes for a more civil 2026.

Thank you, Mr. CL ahead. Anybody want to follow that? There we go. Uh, my name is Matiasen. I'm Indina resident. I've lived here for most of my life. Uh, I'd like to thank the mayor and the council for amending the community comment to allow us to speak our minds on the issues facing our community with the ICE enforcement action taking place. Um, I I would just like to start by saying in light of all that stand

closer to the microphone please may be helpful. Yes.

Apologies. Um, [clears throat] I I would just like to start by saying in light of everything we have witnessed, to name but a few examples, the unlawful detention of a St. Paul Public Works employee, the breaking into homes without judicial warrants in Minneapolis, um, the dragging of a 17-year-old United States citizen from his place of work at the Richfield Target only to see him dumped, bruised, and battered in a parking lot miles away. All of these seem to make clear that the present crop of ICE agents regards the law as nothing more than an inconvenient suggestion. Uh and that warrants a response from the community. It warrants a response from our elected leaders. juxtaposed to this, we've also seen acts of extraordinary courage and community from ordinary people throughout Minnesota coming together to form mutual aid groups, distribute food to those who are too scared to leave their homes um to protest, to exercise their constitutional right to observe, record, and bear witness everything that's happening. So what we ask of our elected leaders at this time is to exhibit the same courage as those ordinary people and we recognize that local governments are limited in what they can do against federal power. But we ask that we you do everything you can. To name a few concrete examples, a separation ordinance modeled on the one passed by the city of Minneapolis to cottify the policies mentioned that the city government does not cooperate with ICE would go a long way to reassure residents. I I ask also that you consider an eviction moratorum or emergency rental assistance because as we've heard many businesses are closed, many people's places of work are under limited hours and many people feel too

frightened even to go to their regular jobs. And the city might also consider supporting the lawsuit being filed by the state of Minnesota and Minneapolis and St. Paul against federal agencies for their unconstitutional actions here. Um, thank you again to the council and thank you to everybody that went and spoke before me.

Yep. Thanks. Thanks for your suggestions. forgot to mention earlier that um thought we'd wait until we saw the judge's decision here this week. I think maybe Friday and then uh we'll get some advice from our city attorney on that. But we've had other others also request that we consider joining the lawsuit. So we'll wait and see what happens here. Anyone else? We have anybody online? Britney, we don't currently have any callers.

Okay, let's give a let's give them a 30 seconds or so. Let's put the numbers back up on the screen so they can call in. We'll wait 30 seconds or 60 seconds or so. Do you mind if I

No, come on up. Yeah, we're Yeah, [snorts] I think no one's calling in. So, we're happy to take your thoughts, share your Have you share your thoughts with us.

Well, I have My name's Joanne Alkyer. I live here in Edina. We've been here 20ome years. I'm not prepared to speak. I've sent you all emails and you know my stand on the need to start communicating, but I wonder if I could take a few minutes so that you could understand kind of what's going on on the ground as you think of what to do because there's this incredible effort going on and you all aren't a part of it and I think you're starting to see the anger of the people who are being really brave. when you see what's going on and we hear nothing um from you. So things that I'm involved in, I'm on signal chats. Can you believe American citizens have to use or believe they have to use signal to communicate about this because we're so afraid of being targeted? We use code names. It's like a spy movie. We use code names because we are so afraid that we will be targeted for what we're doing. No one is doing violence. No one is doing something illegal but to do legal activity to support the community. We are so afraid we do not use our names. We do not share our addresses. I was on one of the signal chats this morning and someone shared the video from their Ring camera on their front door and there were ICE people going doortodoor through Cahill, knocking on the door repeatedly. Behind them there are four ICE officers taking photos of the license plates in the parking lot. That's terrifying.

I was on the signal chat today and we hear about ICE in this subway. We hear about ICE in this parking lot, ICE having lunch in this restaurant and the people the people the citizens are driving their cars around to try to protect people and there's no police. Um we go to deliver food to families. We are watching out our back windows to see if we're being followed. I take detours when I do it so I don't lead ice to somebody's house. I I I don't know what you can do, but I want you to know that that is the level of chaos and fear in the community. And I think there are so many brave people standing up today. I saw observers walking workers home. Um, there are so many brave people who are taking a risk and I think you all are going to have to take a risk and you will get push back from some of the people in the community and there will be anger and you will feel fear too. But I think we're all in this together at this point and we really need you to do some brave things to help us. Thank you, Melair. [applause] All right. Well, that was a good way to wrap that up, I think. Uh, community comment. Thank you for those comments, all of you. Um, anyone have anything on the council side here? All right, let's um the next thing on the agenda. But so I mean we're continuing to work on all of these things and we're we're we're trying to figure out our our pathway to success here. Um and success I view you would think about would be

would be departure at least of many of the agents that are here. Uh, I don't think that they need that many here to do the to get the judicial warrants that they need to pick up certain people that have been designated for pickup by judicial warrant. This roaming around with unconstitutional activity is really difficult to deal with and we're trying to figure out how to deal with it, too. And every every police department in the in the Twin Cities is trying to figure out how to deal with it. So, um, let's move on to the consent agenda. Is there anyone in the council wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda? [cough] Is there a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda in a single motion?

So, moved. Second. Member Jackson moves. Member Pierce the adoption of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion. Uh, any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the items on the consent agenda in the single motion say I.

I. I opposed. Carried. Those are adopted. Um now, uh one of the things we talked about to make ourselves a little bit more efficient tonight was to um postpone the public hearing, uh on the conditional use permit, potential conditional use permit issuance with variances at 4201 West 50th Street. Uh that's in the um uh proposed uh agenda that was uh the amended agenda. And I think just to kind of clean that matter up, is there a motion to um table the conditional use permit with variances at 4201 West 50th Street to the city council meeting on the 3rd of February, 2026? So moved. Member Jackson moves.

Second. Member Pierce seconds the um tableabling of the uh matter involving the conditional use permit with variances for 4201 West 50th Street to the city council meeting on February 3rd, 2026. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion stated say I. I. I. I.

Opposed. Carried. Motion's approved. That item will be moved to the February 3rd meeting. Uh, now we got reports and recommendations here. Um, moving on to that portion of the agenda. I need to scroll down here and find that Item report. Here we go. We have to have a super majority of the council pass these resolutions that uh involve donations to the city of Adina. Uh, this resolution is embodied as 20262. Is there a motion to adopt resolution 202602 accepting donations on behalf of the city of Vana?

So moved. Second. Member Jackson moves. Member Pierce seconds the adoption of resolution 20262. Accepting donations on behalf of the city. Uh, any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of resolution 20262, say I. I.

I. Opposed. Carried. 20262 is adopted and we've got a combination this reporting period of uh inind gifts uh from Aurora on France 4040 flats dynam modern dentistry uh and then cash donations as well some of them quite significant uh golden years for playground equipment at Weber Park uh the United Community Foundation almost $16,000 for the connect card scholarship fund that goes to help kids with um being able to participate in activities and then there were several tree donations uh and uh donations to the fire department and the Adina Arts Center as well. Those names of those donors will all be posted uh on the city website. So we thank all those donors and those organizations uh for their inind contributions and uh as I say their names and uh will be published on the city website. All right, let's move on to the second item on uh that part of the agenda and that is a presentation on the Bremar Ice Abina concept plan and we have our director of park and recreation Perry Veter with us this evening to make that presentation. Director Veter Uh thank you, mayor, members of the uh city council for having me this evening. Um also, mayor, I'd like to reiterate your thanks to those previous donations, as a lot of those donations are for the park and recreation department. So, thanks to that philanthropic um gestures by our community. Uh this evening I'm going to walk through the uh latest concept plan we have for the Braar Arena um upgrades and expansion. As the president of the hockey association indicated this evening, we have uh previously met with their association

along with all of our other ma major stakeholders this evening and I'll show you that feedback here as well. Uh for those watching at home, this is in response to the 2022 and 2023 uh local option sales tax referendum that does provide funding for us to expand and upgrade Bramar Arena. Um so far to date, we have make sure I can see what you're seeing. Um [snorts] kicked off our project. We've done um some initial stakeholder engagement. We have completed our programming for the site. We have done a lot of pre-esign work that uh informed this concept that you see this evening. We have brought on our um project team, not only uh Tegra, who's our owner's representative, JLG Architects, who's our lead architect on the program, as well as Canudson Construction. Um we are using the construction manager at risk technique. I'll go into that a little bit later. Um but Kudson Construction will be our builder. Um we have performed a lot of assessments of the facility and then completed our schematic scoping and cost estimating. Uh we've met all with all of the um major major and um some minor stakeholders of Braar Arena. That includes the IKEA Cup members, Breakaway Academy, um the Edina High School, Edina Hockey Association, the Braar City of Lakes Figure Skating Club, uh General Sports, our tenant partner, as well as many tournament operators. And as we started going through programming, we asked them what was important to them, what they use, what uh what they would like to see in it. And the blow is uh kind of a a word cloud of what rose to the top. Um and as we look at that, that really kind of goes through the community stakeholder priorities. Um really the community and heritage that's

honoring the rich tradition of Edina um hockey and figure skating sports especially at Bramer Arena. Uh to upgrade the facilities, ice availability, our spectator experience, um food and beverage operations as well as improved technology. And those really overlap with our as staff core project principles that we headed into this project with, which is improving the quality of our ice, adding a fourth indoor rink, and then improving the user experience for our participants. Um, I'm not going to go through every word on this sheet, um, but want you to know that really the, um, ice quality upgrades, facility expansion, and experience improvements are a lot of what is going to go into this project. Um, they don't all have a graphic or a diagram, but these words are going to really make a massive difference in the uh delivery and quality of what we do at Braar Arena. U, we really talked about as we um kind of got through all of the engagement from our users was the mission and what is that and that's to improve and expand Brea for all users as an athlete first facility. as we look to what the propos uh proposed core concept is um and that's in order to um expand and add an additional indoor sheet of ice. Um when we look at Braar Arena here um to the upper right is to the north. Um to the top left of the picture is Highway 169. Um you can see the sports dome as uh with actually the sports field um without its dome which is the current conditions now and the um kind of main or entrance level parking lot on the lower left. Uh the core concept is really um when we looked at expanding the arenas how to better connect all of the existing arenas. Um, we are dealing

with 1960s construction, 1980s construction, 1990s construction, construction that occurred in the 2010s, and now again in the 2020s. So, how do we best connect that as well? Um, and that is to improve our lobby um, circulation by building to the north to better connect um, not only the south and west rinks, but um, better incorporating the east rink and then completing a full enclosure of the um, what conditions now is our backyard rink into a full indoor uh, fourth sheet arena. That increases our um, lobby space dramatically and provides for a better um, site flow. You'll notice a few of the um A, B, C, and D. Those will come up later as we look at some of the um concept views from inside of the renderings. The first piece of this project was also to um improve the safety of our um visitors and arrivals. Um that is going to be done um by upgrading the existing parking lot by um separating our parking from um athlete and participant drop off. Um as we know um a lot of that activity happens um in a quick short period of time. Um it could be on the hour, it could be just prior to their ice time um of pickup and drop off. So we want to create a dedicated dropoff lane. We want to make that highly visible, highly lighted. Um, and put parking back into the parking lot and allow that circulation to occur. Um, really to start to define where parking is and where access can be, improving that access through the parking lot by um, conditioning a drop off and then others heading that direction. We want to make sure that's well lit. We want to make sure that's accessible to our users. um as well as um within those parking lots, we will be

um including um storm water management um um infrastructure investments in that. Um when this arena was originally built, not all of that was accounted for. So through this uh remodel and expansion, we are accounting for for those things that we have to do now. Um that will most likely occur in that south parking lot and potentially in the main parking lot. Uh this next piece is the upper level. So think about as we take off the the roof of all of the structures and what would be we would be doing for improvements. Uh starting in the west rank and that was a main focus of where a lot of the community and heritage of hockey and figure skating um is remembered on um the affinity for the West Rink. It is unique to um a lot of modern day arenas. It does have that bowl feel. It's um we kind of likened it to um this is our Wrigley field. This is our Lambo field. Um this is that piece of history that dates back um to the inception of of ice sports in Edina. And we want to um upgrade this facility, but um make sure we do it in a manner that truly reflects that character and concern. So while you'll see um behind the scenes upgrades that occur in West largely it will remain um intact. Um some of the main things that you will see though are around accessibility improvements in the west rink. Uh the first is um um handrails. Um as you know in the west rink it's kind of toploaded. So you walk in the top, you have to go down into the arena. Will be handrails down all the stairways um to assist um our guests in that manner as well as ADA spectator seating. So we will have um wheelchair seating and um their accompanying um guest seating um in I think six different lo five five

locations in the west rink. Um that will reduce our overall seating capacity. But it is something that for our guests, we want to ensure that not only is it code compliant, but it's welcoming to our guests. Um, we plan to upgrade all of the restrooms that are on that main floor. Um, to ensure that we have accessible restrooms within the rink. Um, we will be removing the existing west refrigeration room that sits outside of the arena. Um, and then we'll also be doing um, accessibility upgrades in the east rink. Um part of this also when I mentioned um removing that west refrigeration room, we spent a lot of time evaluating what is the best um approach that we should take on cooling for our rinks uh those refrigeration systems. Um with four rinks, we looked at a scenario where we had one centralized ice plant that would um refrigerate all four. We looked at each one having their own. Um where we are settling that's the most um efficient from an energy use, the most cost effective is we will be using um one refrigeration room for the south and the west arenas and then one refrigeration room for the east and the north. That will give us the most redundancy for those rinks as well as um the best from energy efficiency standpoints. So, we will be having a small refrigeration um expansion just adjacent to the south rink for that as well.

Can either of those refrigeration operations uh run everything if one goes down? Um the as far as a capacity wise, mayor, um we would not be able to run all four off of one. Um but we do believe we can build redundancy in if we have to interconnect at least another one. That's my understanding. sheet. We just think based on our experience, [clears throat] was it with the South Rink? Correct. This fall that we want to make sure that we can stay operational.

Yeah, reliability is a a key feature of what we're doing. Um we're also switching to um a full glycol system at the arena. So, we'll be no longer using a brine system. So, as you know, brine is salt water. Salt water in your pipes is not a long-term um um measure of success. So, that'll um assist as well.

Um when we look now, if we peeled off not only the upper layer, but the um um switch to the lower level of the facility, again, a lot of those words on that one page is where a lot of these dollars are going. Really, this is the renovation of all those lower spaces. This is upgrading team rooms. This is upgrading locker rooms. This is upgrading restrooms. This is upgrading all of the things that go into those athlete areas, better HVAC systems, um more dehumidification in our rinks. Um we'll talk about energy um sustainability later, but as you can imagine in a large um a rink like this, if you're cooling um freezing water on the floor, you have spectators in, you're creating um an environment where we really need that comfort level for dehumidification. Um so that's a main challenge for us is to um freeze something on the floor but keep people somewhat warm in the stands. Um so all those types of improvements. Um the east rink will get a new floor. Um we'll be excavating that out. Um as well as um accessibly improvements throughout the the lower level of that area. Um when we look kind of at that new area of construction, that new lower level, we really um part of this was to expand our lobby area. As you know, when you walk in now, um you have very limited space coming in. it doesn't bode well for teams that just completed a game to meet up before they leave, teams coming in, those waiting um in the lobby area. Um so rather than looking to build outward, um we look to better connect and really build that lobby inwards towards the north. Um we feel that will allow us to restructure where our guest services are. So, we have an area um immediately coming in where our staff will be present and available um to assist in that area. We'll also be

adding an additional um set of restrooms. That's a big thing for us is increasing the number of restrooms along that corridor as well as trying to better connect to the north to our tenant partners um to the top of the rink. Um upgrading that lobby and um connecting there. Um the um the new north rink then would be a fully enclosed rink. We would um be able to operate that um in any weather condition um throughout the main part of the season. That will tremendously increase our ice capacity as well as in those shoulder systems. Um um that would have um seating in that rink. It would have the same team rooms. It would be it would function just like that. Our goal here um is to try to find a a mechanism or a pathway where we can truly make that a a true community asset, a really unique experience for for our participants at that site. Um and by doing that, we wanted to look at um um on the underneath, you know, having all those amenities for for the athletes, for our staff as well to help maintain that system. Um this is kind of looking at those existing space remodels. Um on the left are two photos of our existing lobby. Um [snorts] and as you can see as you walk in um you're immediately met with um basically three choices. You go to the west rink, south or east. If you wanted to get to the backyard rink, you've got to go into the east rink and then along um the back of the boards there and exit to the outside. Um what we would do here is open up that lobby. um obviously extend that down um create an area where um you can navigate to those areas to the tenant partners um and really um open up kind of the access to all those rinks. Um these are just some existing space

models. When we think about um where a lot of those dollars are going, it is in those um interior models. So, um you know, the new um ability to have HVAC systems that um function properly, um um water hot water service delivery, improved flooring, improved restroom facilities, ADA access to those spaces, as well as um improvements to the um ADA aspects of the West Rink, those handrails, and those um dedicated seating areas. Um this is a more um detailed rendering of the existing lobby of what it could look like. Um heading down that corridor, presenting those choices, but also opening that up, getting people to flow through um um to stage at various locations throughout that as they use the various ranks on a day. Um as you can imagine, Bray Marina is a very busy spa uh place on some weekends and evenings. Um especially when we think about that November through February. Um um a lot of turnover occurs. We want people to to be able to stay as long as they'd like. This would be a rendering if you were way at the north kind of at those tenant partners looking towards where that new uh new north rink would be. Um that would be opened. It would have lighting into or windows into that rink. So you could um monitor those activities from the lobby. Um, we show some touchdown seating um just as a as a placeholder for now of what that could look like in greater detail as we um evolve into that um design development phase next. And once you stepped into that new north rink, um [snorts] this would be kind of our our ideal scenario for that structure. Um we believe there are some things on here that are not currently within our budget scope, but we'd like to find a pathway to get there. Um, we would definitely have seating along that south wall. We would have kind of that standing seating to mimic kind of a mini

west feel um with those um those bleacher areas to have that standing rail along along the wall when you would immediately come in. Um this would be again we kind of look athlete first is how that athlete experience that would be on ice looking at the new rink. Um we looked at kind of those those budget items. We looked at what those referendums were. Um and again that was a two um two referendum vote that the residents of Edina um successfully passed um for a total budget of 45.2 million. And part of us staying on track with that budget is a couple mechanisms is looking at um what is the core project that we can deliver um on that piece as well as um we have built in some owners and design contingency. So, as we've gone into the project that there are add-ons that we want to do, we have reserved some dollars for those if we want to get to that point. But we feel where we are currently, our core concept um fits within that budget. The other piece of managing that budget is the new technique that cities are allowed to use over the last couple of years, and that's that construction manager at risk. And what that means is we brought that builder, Canudson Construction, on early in the process. They are giving us um real- time feedback on our design choices, our material choices, the techniques that would be used in these scenarios and allow us um to have real-time pricing as well as um real-time input into the decision-making process. Once we complete that, they will actually give us a uh a GMP, a guaranteed maximum price um that they will then build it for and then they assume the risk on it. Um so that's that construction manager at risk part is they will guarantee us a price then they will stick to that price. Um the only way we'd exceed it is if we chose to then go above and beyond that. So um it's a great tool that

cities are allowed to use now. It also um prevents a lot of what occurred in the past, which was kind of that design and bid um process that we used to have to use. And then um as soon as you accepted a bid, the contractor would say, "Well, we think you missed A, we think you missed B, we think you missed C." So, you're starting the project with a series of change orders. Having them involved from the beginning reduces all of that risk for us. Um, as I said, there are a few things that, um, our users feel pretty strongly about. Um, we think would make a better project and we think we may have a pathway to those. Um, the first is to, um, develop a better west rink entrance and that would be to do create a new entrance um, between where General Sports is now and the West Rink. That would expand our lobby tremendously. If you've ever been there on a cold day like today and it's a busy rink and you have to park more towards the sports dome or Courtney Fields, that's a very long walk um to the south and around the rink. This would create an additional entrance on the side uh on the west side, allowing that piece of um access to the facility. It expands that lobby again. It also creates greater visibility to our tenant partners. Um we've got a lot of requests for different uses in the velocity space. Currently, EHA is the Yan Hockey Association is uh leasing that from us for this winter. Um but that could create more towards a um food and beverage operation or additional skills, training, things of that nature. But this entrance um as you could see would um be ADA accessible. It would also create a better um connection to that. Um Edine High School is interested in it because if we ever did ticketed events, we may be able to use one entrance over another. um and block off the the access to the building. Uh the other is to really enhance that

um fourth rink and that would be um really to make that kind of that community asset that true um mini west something that we can be really proud of and that's to add seating on the north side. um um things like that center hung scoreboard um some additional AV technology really trying to put um our stamp on a really um um amazing experience for our participants, for our skaters, um for everyone that's involved in that. Um it may include um um feedback again as we get through more design development with the stakeholders on having a multi-purpose room or not in that area. that could be reserved, could be um accessed for um special events or scouting or kind of a sw private suite atmosphere or if we just use it to better connect um to to a lot of that additional spectator area. So, um a lot of still design decisions that need to be made. Um, one of the things that I mentioned in the staff report is just that um overall connections um with the n the various ages of our facility construction and how that impacts obviously the city has a sustainable building policy and our target right now is lead silver um for that. As far as the policy um we've been working with um the city's sustainability manager on a potential waiver from lead silver to lead certified. There are some um challenges that we have in just getting enough points because um basically the lead program was not designed for ice arenas. We're a little bit of a um an anomaly when it comes to sustainability. As I mentioned um freezing ice, keeping people warm in the same room um is not energy efficient, but we are trying our best. Um a lot of those challenges really relate. Um you know, we don't get a lot of pointing through the lead system for our location and transportation. Um there just isn't a lot of surrounding density. there aren't

a lot of diverse uses. Um we don't have quality transit access in that area. Um one of the ways that um we could get points but it's really incompatible with an athletic use is daylighting. Um you know allowing more windows um light to come into those rinks that really has an impact on playability of shadows, sunlight, glare. Um so that's um one thing that we're not really allowed to do. Um we looked at ways to potentially daylight in the hallways. Um but because of some of those existing roof structures um they just don't support that. So again melding all those different ages of construction um is really limiting um um some of our ability to even add solar on certain roofs or um daylighting. And then just I mentioned that renovation of original ice arena buildings um lead certified would still allow us to hit a lot of those targets on our integrated water efficiency whether that's um storm water systems or our water usage itself. Um enhanced commissioning as you can imagine these are large refrigeration systems large heating and cooling systems in our buildings. So enhancing those um to ensure they um operate on a um a very efficient standpoint um will go a long way not only in our sustainability but also energy efficiency which means cost efficiency to us as well. Um the uh enhanced refrigeration management systems having all new systems are going to be tremendously more efficient for us and then um approaching this as kind of a holistic approach to EV chargers within Brear Park. Um, obviously there's a percentage based in the sustainable building policy for EV chargers. If you do go out there now on a busy night, all the parking spots are mainly used. Um, working with the sustainability managers, looking at a holistic approach to say where else in Braar Park should we have chargers and how does that better support our goals rather than try to um isolate them all into one parking lot. Um, as you know, unlike an ADA

parking spot, anyone can park in an EV charger, whether they have one or not. So, we don't want to also set the expectation that we have a bunch of chargers, but they're never available for use because people are parking there. So, really looking at how can we put some at near Courtney Field, some at the sports dome, some at the golf dome, um the golf course eventually, even the public safety center is what is a holistic approach to EV chargers in that area. And then obviously optimizing energy performance. Part of these goals is to get off natural gas and go to electricity. We're working with Excel Energy to make sure we have enough capacity in this area as well. That's one of our long-term concerns about some of these sustainability issues is do we have the right infrastructure to support our infrastructure. Um, as mentioned um by the um previous speaker a couple of nights ago as well is the Edina Hockey Association has a high demand for um ice um icetime rentals and we did look at building um an additional outdoor rink um for EHA on site. Um the logical place would have been in that south parking lot, although it's not really feasible. One, we have to put that storm water system in the parking lot. um down there as well as um we're starting to get to a point where that site is starting to get really tight um with parking, with use, with congestion, which traffic movements. So, what else could we do? And as um the president mentioned, um would it be better to um keep those families in Edina? So, one of the things we did look like at is um just as a concept, could we do refrigerated ice at Lewis Park? Um from a um sizing standpoint, it does work there. Obviously, the council has had many conversations about that warming house in the in the future. Um so, that would be a part of this equation. Um we're not asking for a

recommendation on that. Just know we did start looking at this. um and is it a concept that could work maybe parallel but separate from the Bramer Arena project. Um some [clears throat] of our next steps is obviously moving um into design development. So we've met with um all of those um stakeholder groups now um going back to late October and into November and some in December. Um so we're presenting the council here in January is moving kind of into design development into construction. um that would allow us to start um enclosure of that um backyard rink um late summer. But what it also would allow is for us to start on the refrigeration equipment and the south and east floor renovations as well, probably this spring. So, um we would like to get going on those things in the off seasons is to um turn over some of those projects now and then per um continue to have construction going on um throughout that year but not have any other rinks down during the prime season. So um while um the backyard rink would be um under construction that new north rink um we would have a reliable cooling system, reliable floors in east and south and then eventually do all the remodel work throughout that season. So um not taking the rinks down but work in progress work during the day. Um and then really a large amount of work then happening in the summer of 27 and having the entire project done in the fall of 27. Um some of the um feedback has been in your um packet as well. Um overall support, but as we move from concept to design, a lot of those questions still need to be answered. Um is really um from the hockey association, the figure skating club, and the high school um is really on that refining design

development. Um um you know, what do those lobbies look like? What do how do we celebrate the history? um down to should we combine a locker room because athletes are bigger now and they don't use showers. So really getting into the the major details of um how a lot of these spaces would function and um um ensuring that everyone kind of has a voice in that process. So we've met with um hockey association, figure skating club, the school district, uh Breakaway Academy. Um they are primarily a daytime ice user. Um so not a lot of arenas have that as an additional daytime revenue stream. So they are an important feedback um loop for us as well. Uh General Sports obviously as a retail tenant partner and then Deut league um who has a major um event that we host in the summer. Um we also um as part of their commission work plan the um Edina Parks and Recreation Commission um their initiative group has looked at this. last fall. The full commission looked at it this uh January and um overall support for their concept plan um that we've uh presented to them and to you this evening on the reinvestment in the expansion um they're really supportive of um really for us looking at that food and beverage um kind of that restaurant kind of concept um including a beer and wine and alcohol sales obviously with uh they had a lot of standard operational concerns that we as staff has as well, right? This is a continued question that we are getting is what are we going to do for an enhanced food and beverage operation out there? Um really a desire to find a pathway for that west entrance. Um what could that be? As well as the fourth rank enhancements. um they were supportive of studying the Lewis Park concept further as we go um go out into

this project as well as where we feel um one of the ways that we could look at um incorporating some of these additional add-ons is by the pursuit of naming rights. And while we would not um look at renaming the West Rink um I just [snorts] want to be very clear about that. I don't want to get emails about that. um that is something we really want to be protective of as well as the brace arena. So we wouldn't be looking at you know a presenting sponsor but as we've talked to our group there really isn't a lot of um history with south east north. So just by picking four cardinal directions and naming our rinks um a lot of our users feel like um the arenas they are attending across the state across the nation um are embracing more of this naming rights um concept. So thinking about sponsorship, advertising, those types of things of generating those dollars to kind of in the first phase look at paying for some of these above budget items and as a secondary aspect really looking at what do we want to be um financially 15 20 years down the road. Um it's going to be great. We're going to have new equipment, new um amenities, all these new things and they're going to be brand new. They're going to be under warranty. Eventually, they will get old. Eventually, they will need to be replaced. So, can we set up some sort of long-term funding structure so we don't have to go through this again at that 20 year mark? Um, so that's really what um we kind of digested with them from a from the parks commission from a naming rights kind of a sponsorship right. So, um that's actually on their work plan as well as looking at um alternative funding mechanisms kind of that philanthropic and the naming rights um sponsorship piece. So, um, that was very quick, um, running through all of that we've done over the last several months. Um, but really wanted to get this in front of the council, make sure you saw the same presentation we've given to all the

stakeholders that we have released publicly. Um, if you had any questions, um, especially as in the near future, we're going to start bringing you various packages for purchase. So really understanding where those dollars are going to go within um how this is going to be set up because we did want to get things in front of you such as that um refrigeration system and those floor work so we can get some of that work done um in the offseason coming up here this spring. All right, good. Yeah, great presentation. Nice to see it. Uh questions, comments from council members at this point in time.

Okay, I think you've done a good job with meeting with us. that you know we met before and it's it's nice to see it again. It's a unbelievable project. So, thank you. All right. Yeah. Council member Jackson. Yeah. Just briefly, I want to thank you and your team and all the stakeholders for going through this in an iterative process. I know it's been to go from the imagination to the concrete is very difficult. So, thanks to everybody who's been working on that.

Well said. Thank you. Okay. All right. think are you going to be around for the um other matter because there was a issue raised about three versus six. I think you might be helpful on that. My art boiling. Okay. All right. Um the next matter up uh in front of us is the um something we've been working on for a couple months and that is the u potential adoption of a an ordinance that is contingent in nature would require the passage of a resolution. uh if it should come to pass that the state decides not to engage in the business of preeemption and by that I mean right now the law is that the state preempts cities from engaging in any regulation of firearms or ammunition and our city attorney has worked on something that we thought was important to work on. I'm going to turn to manag now and and then we're going to have a council discussion because we've we've we've been through a conversation in November. We looked at the potential passage of an ordinance on a first reading basis. We decided to have a public hearing and uh and we've had the results of that. I think I think folks were feeling good after the fact that we had that public hearing with all that uh effective storytelling and and uh it it helped us I think a great deal all of us think about this in in a broader and deeper sort of context. So, manager Neil, I'm going to turn to you now for your your comments and lead in. Thank you, your honor, and members of council. Uh the mayor just uh did a brief history of how we got up to uh this evening. Uh we did have a special town hall meeting on January 6 to uh receive really only comments related to

uh the proposed ordinance uh 2026-02 uh amending um excuse me, that's not the right number. Um 2025-17 amending chapter 22 regarding firearms. Uh we have had this discussion at the staff level. We've we've asked our city attorney to prepare uh an ordinance based on the ordinance that was uh passed and adopted in St. Paul. Um we've got uh some some discussion that we want to have with you tonight about that. And I'd like to ask the city attorney to give a brief comment uh brief comments I'd say on the ordinance, where it came from and and what's happening with it today.

Very good. Thank you,

man. Neil and mayor councel um as we've discussed previously the ordinance is similar to the one passed by the city of St. Paul it's different in a couple respects one is the effective date which you mentioned mayor um requires the city to pass an a resolution certifying which portions of the ordinance become effective if and when that becomes possible. The [clears throat] other difference is there is not in the United proposed ordinance a prohibition on possession of firearms in um what's defined in the St. Paul ordinance as sensitive places meaning places owned by the city. Um that's also designed to potentially help the Adina ordinance survive litigation. I thought that was potentially an issue for litigation if the ordinance became effective if and when preeemption is lifted. So, those are the two major differences as I think we've discussed in the past and I'm happy to uh stand for any questions on those issues.

Thank you. Mr. Kendall, member, you had a question upstairs that Attorney Kendall wasn't there to hear it, but it may be something that's of concern to you and and properly raised with him.

Um, thank you. when we met um for the special town hall, the my understanding is the ordinance would be something that you know there's a preeemption over it. But if we approve it, then it's still is valid and is not um [sighs] I'm trying to find the right word, but it's not void. But then I did some more digging and because of the preeemption, it appears to be the case that as soon as we pass it, my understanding is it becomes void because there is that state preeemption in place. And so my question is, is that true?

Well, so I think that's what the gun owners caucus is arguing in the St. Paul lawsuit. Um the city of St. Paul is arguing otherwise. The judge in that case at least on on a preliminary basis in the ruling on the injunction issue seems to suggest he thinks it may be possible or it is possible for a statute or an ordinance in this case to have a contingent effective date. So um that would be a subject of potential litigation, but in my opinion it is not automatically void. Um, I believe it's possible for an ordinance to have a contingent effective date.

Okay. Um, I did and I don't know if we could get this up. This is from the House research and that is what I'm looking at. And I I did hear from a couple residents that what their concern is is that this is not just the case of a conflict between state statute and an ordinance but an actual preeemption. And um because of that um what I'm concerned about is, you know, and I understand that is what they're weighing in on, but what the general consensus is about doing something that is preempted by state law. Um and it and it it seems there's a logical um interpretation that with things that are preempted, you know, you're you're talking about something that is a field preeemption. And so once that ask or once that ordinance is passed, I just I I would like a little more clarity on what the actual um legality is because I I just I want people to be clear on what we're actually doing. And I'm sorry I'm not articulating that as um directly as I wish I could.

Sure. So there are two types of preeemption. There's conflict preeemption and field preeemption. Um the Minnesota state statute indicates that cities may pass ordinances that are consistent with that statute. So there's an argument that this is not field preeemption, it's conflict preeemption, in which case it would be possible to pass an ordinance that has a contingent effective date. Um, so yeah, these are legal issues that are potentially subject of the, you know, litigation. They are subjects of the St. Paul litigation. They could be subjects of the Adina litigation if Adina were to pass an ordinance. But, uh, once again, in my opinion, St. Paul's already passed the ordinance and the the issues under litigation, but the judge has not ruled that it was immediately barred from passing that ordinance. The judge may yet rule on that issue but has not so far made that conclusion.

Okay. So does that mean there has there has not been clarity on whether it is conflict or field? Not full clarity yet. that the judge has ruled at least on the injunction order that he feels it is possible to have an ordinance with a contingent effective date and which would not be void abio or not void immediately upon passage.

Thank you. The other question I had is we've been talking about this as being something where you could use it obviously in this case um to advocate for more regulation on firearms. But if the preeemption was lifted or even if it wasn't, could this be used in a different way to um expand or go in the opposite direction? For example, um if somebody sees, okay, this is a pathway that is being used to limit um guns, could it be taken in the opposite direction? And you could have a city saying something along the lines of, "We're going to lower the age at which people could buy firearms or we're going to um get rid of safe storage or red flag law."

So, I don't think a city could pass any ordinance even with a contingent effective date that would be in violation of federal law. Um, you know, it's it's hard for me to speculate on exactly what might happen. Um, I I can't answer the question of whether this approach could be used for something different than this council is proposing to use it for. It's possible it could be, but I I can't comment on the specifics on that.

I I appreciate that. And um what I was thinking is if it went in the other direction, there would be a couple of things that would have to happen because you would also have something that was um expanding instead of contracting, you know, which is a little bit different. Uh the other issue that I had, you know, just in terms of talking about this whole process, uh it's not necessarily unique to what we've been doing. We have had asks where it appears that the ask is against the harmony with state statute and we've moved forward. For example, I was just thinking about October 11th with Americana. We had the request for a variance and we had staff advising not to move forward with that because of um it being apparently or looking as if it was not in harmony with state statute. However, um if I'm remembering right, the argument was we could pass a variance or grant that and then change the ordinance down the road. And so I just I wanted to get that out because it in terms of process and that's what I'm hung up on. Um it's I sort of see, you know, this is different because it's writing an ordinance, but it's not something that we haven't done in terms of just how we approach things. That is all I have and I'm sorry I've probably been about as convoluted as I could possibly be.

Um so thanks. Member Pierce has a I think a follow- on question. Yep. Can you leave that? Oh, sorry. You can leave that up. Um, so I have to admit I I probably understood half of what you said, uh, your responses to that, um, Attorney Kennel, but I had a question for you. So, I'm just trying to do just plain man's language and understanding. Um, so what's at conflict in the preeemption? I actually don't think those three things are in conflict because of the way that you drafted the ordinance. And I'm just validating my thinking is accurate or not. So, will you have section 22 of 319, the effective date? The article shall not be effective or enforced until the date the city council certifies by resolution that the article is not preempted by state law. So, that has to happen, right? And then 22320 any portion of the article is held invalid, uncon unconstitutional or uninforceable by court or competent jurisdiction. That portion shall be severed and the remaining portions of the article remain in full force in effect. And so I thought the way you drafted this, now I'm not an attorney, but the way I interpret it uh meant in practice, we are drafting a document that says here's what we would like to do. We understand that we don't have the

right to make these declarations yet. So at the time that the state lifts preeemption and specifically says um no ghost guns, no assault weapons, what have you, then we will do a resolution. And you further said we would codify those specific things that were approved by the state. Is that accurate or what's not accurate? No, I I think that's accurate. So yeah, you would have to if any part of the Adina ordinance is in

could become effective, you'd have to pass a resolution specifying exactly which portion of that ordinance was then effective. Yeah. Um so I think I should be clear. I've tried to be clear before and I'll try to be clear again. So if this were to be effective now, it would be preempted by state law. Yeah. But we've addressed that by saying it will not be effective now.

Yeah. And we're just declaring these are the things that we think as a city are important for us to govern with respect to gun laws. And you set forth a way that the city can align legally once preeemption is lifted and the state takes some action. But but we can't do that without but happening. Correct.

Yeah. So I don't I am phrasing that way because I I don't think this is is in conflict at all because of the way that you drafted it which I thought I literally have here very smart written down here referring [laughter] to the way that you drafted it. So, um, yeah. Well, thank you for that. And I mean, it it would be in conflict, it is in conflict with the state of state statute right now, but this is kind of an aspirational statement on what you would do if that changed. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, member.

Thank you, mayor. I think that the best time for laws like this to have been put into action was after Coline. [snorts] The next best time was after Sandy Hook or after Parkland or after Virginia Tech or Ovalde or or or we didn't. But now after annunciation, it's a fine time for it too. uh as a city, we can't do this alone, right? Our council voting on this tonight is a signal to the state and to our country that we value the rights of our children more than we value the right to own guns, ghost guns, assault rifles, and weapons of war. Our children are not at war. They're trying to get an education. This is the best that we can do today and I think it's also the least that we can do. I wish we could do more. Our children and our community deserve for us to do more. I I I fully support this ordinance. Um and I also want to thank all of the volunteers with Mom's Demand Action. Um all of the community organizers and everyone who has pushed this forward. Um, I do not think that we would still be having this conversation today if it wasn't for your leadership. So, thank you.

Thank you, Member Jackson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We are a community of families. It's not just families with small children or with children at home. It's grandparents and stepgrandparents, aunts and uncles. We are a community of families. We do so much for families in this community. We have an aquatic center. We have the whole Braar facility. And we're doing Fred Richards. We do so much for families. And the families of this community include people who were hurt in the enunciation shooting. And they've asked that we can do as much as we can to stop this kind of gun violence. We're not claiming that this is a cure all. It's one step and as member Agnu said, it's the most we can do, but it's not enough and we're doing everything we can. We want to take the strongest action we can possibly take. It's been raised, well, we have to look at mental health. How can we address mental health when our children are being raised in a society of fear? Everywhere they go, they have to be afraid of gun violence. This is the strongest signal signal we can possibly send the Minnesota legislature and our family de our families here in Edina demand that we do something about firearm safety. I want to read um Senator Ron Lat sent us written testimony and he is chair of the judiciary committee in the legislature and I want to read a little bit from his comments. The city of Edina has a real opportunity to be a statewide leader in this effort. Edina was a trailblazer in protecting youthful consumers from tobacco by passing ban on sale of tobacco products to persons under the age of 21 being the first to in the state to do so and banning the sale of flavor tobacco products. This paved the

way for statewide passage of tobacco 21 in 2020. Now another public health threat faces your community. If you choose to pass the proposed ordinance regulating guns in Edina contingent on state action removing preeemption, you would not just be expressing an opinion. You would be taking concrete action to protect Edina. You once again will be on the vanguard of a public health movement at the grassroots level. You would help build the political support for passing similar statewide protections against gun violence, taking an important step to protect the lives of all motans. Senator Latz has spent years protecting building political support to pass state laws reducing gun violence. Do not underestimate how important you can be in accomplishing that goal. So I'm in favor of this ordinance and I call upon our neighboring communities and other communities across the state to also pass this ordinance. The first rule in the book on tyranny is do not give up in advance. we may be sued on this, but we're not going to give up in advance. We're not going to say lay down our tools before we even have a chance to use them. So, I'm strongly in favor of this, and I call upon other communities to follow our lead.

Thank you, member Jackson. Uh, back to member Pierce. Um, I thank you. [laughter]

I um the only other thing I wanted to add is whenever we're talking about things like this, it's it is easier for us to have comments on the uh positive side. Maybe I put it that way. We had two lines and I wanted to share something I learned from the other line that I thought was important. I talked about it upstairs. Um, when we started the conversation, I thought, well, preeemption, that's ridiculous. That's why we can't get anything done. And then there were a couple of comments. I did a little research, and now I'm like, okay, preeemption actually makes sense in this case. We don't just want the state to lift preeemption. We actually want them to adopt some of these policies, but what we really don't want is to have different gun laws city to city. So this patchwork of gun laws, I thought, well, that could be crazy. If you live in Edina and St. Louis Park is different from Hopkins, is different from Eden Prairie, it's different from Minneapolis, it's different from Richville. We don't want that. Um [snorts] but preeemption is there's a place for it that makes sense if we want to have some consistency across the state. Um that actually made sense to me and so to the residents that uh raised that point. Um I did certainly consider that that influenced the way I understood and thought about the issue. And yet I still agree that it makes sense for us to take some stand and move forward. And that was also why I thought the way this was drafted was really smart because it actually leaned into that a little bit as well. Um so I just wanted to to make that additional point.

Mayor, thanks. Yeah, thank you. member, [clears throat]

I want to just really underscore how grateful I am that we did have the town hall and that we heard from so many people and the stories that were told were just so horrific. you know, hearing from the trauma surgeons, hearing from the grandparents of Fletcher Merkel, hearing from so many people, and um gun violence is just so insane and so unnecessary. And um I just feel like, you know, if if if I was a US senator, if I was a member of the House of Representatives, if I was at the state, this would be so logical for me and I would embrace it and I would do it. And I'm trying to think about what I can do at the local level. And I just want to say whatever happens tonight, if if this passes, I would be willing, you know, and I I did talk to one council member about this, but you know, to start at the steps of this city hall and walk either the resolution or the statute um or the or the ordinance, excuse me, to the steps of St. Paul. It'd be a six mile walk. It could go by annunciation. It could be something that happened every year because you do something and it it can't just be a oneandone. Um it's got to be continuous and it's got to be purposeful. And someone once told me it takes 10 years to get something done. Well, this has

been way more than 10 years. But um what I'm wrestling with and I think I hope people understand this doesn't mean I I am all about process. I've always been the process person and I so that that is where I am wrestling right now.

Thank you member Russer. So I've been thinking about this and writing uh before and this afternoon and you have those and we we had the distractions of ice the last couple of weeks and and went back to it this afternoon and this is maybe a little bit longer than it probably should be in terms of my comments. But um you know as a lawyer I've always found the law to be both a catalyst for and something that is reactive to societal transformation. So I mentioned this upstairs. You you think about Rosa Parks who chose to ride in the front of the bus violating the law. And that act helped spark a civil rights movement. You think about Py versus Ferguson, which established a separate but equal doctrine and institutionalized Jim Crow laws and entrenched system inequality for over half a century overturned by Brown versus Board of Education, finding segregated schools were inherently unequal. And that helped catalyze the civil rights movement and became a moral and social turning point for equality. And then there's Loving versus Virginia, which invalidated laws banning interracial marriage and Oberg GFel versus Hodgeges, which expanded civil rights to the LGBTQ plus uh individuals in our country. And I tell you all this because things change and the law changes and and to either drive or reflect changing societal views. And so it could be with guns and the second amendment. What does it mean in 2026 to have the right to bear arms? Might we be at a point of societal transformation or reflection on that issue as well? Here's the way I've been kind of thinking about this. You know, if this

was a public health issue and we looked at it from a public health perspective, we don't ask, can we eliminate all injury and harm instead we ask, can we stand can we and should we reduce the severity and frequency of catastrophic catastrophic events. That's the logic behind seat belts, speed limits, preschool vaccinations, building codes, and potentially gun legislation. Regulation isn't about creating a world where you can't own a gun. It's about what's possible in a few moments of violence. I think in our public hearing it was a resident named Bill Kemer who said, "We don't let you buy a bazooka. We don't let you buy a rocket launcher." And and the the implicit in inference the implicit inference of his comment was where do we draw the line? Where do we draw the line? and regulation of the type proposed on a contingent basis and attempt to say you can still own firearms for defense, for sport, for hunting. But we draw a line at weapons and ammunition configurations that dramatically increase the potential for mass casualties with little added benefit for ordinary civilian needs. If the incremental benefit to the owner is small, but the incremental risk to the public is large, regulation begins to look less like an attack on like an attack on freedom and more like the same kind of trade-off we accept with speed limits, restrictions on explosives, and licensing of dangerous tools and activities. In this frame, regulating assault weapons therefore isn't about punishing lawful owners. It's about engineering society to be less vulnerable to catastrophic attacks. The way we engineer buildings for earthquakes or car crashes. So, how do we accomplish that change to draw a line with regulation that makes sense? You can start the way this town, this council, and most of our people feel, and that's by making the legal

statement. That is that if the state eliminates preeemption relative to cities regulating militarystyle assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ghost guns, printed guns, we would do so. Members of the legislature, this mo next move is yours. You can eliminate preeemption or you can decide to let the people of Minnesota decide by constitutional amendment what types of guns and ammunition may be sold in the state. We may be at this moment the proverbial voice in the wilderness, but others may hear that voice and join Edina as they have done in the past regarding smoking, tobacco 21, banning of smoking in public buildings, establishing first a uh being the ones of the first to establish a metric domestic partner registry and then supporting gay marriage. ideas that percolated up from cities to the legislature that now are part of our our legal fabric and our state law. We believe we are at the front end of a societal transformation. We are Rosa Parks moving to the front of the bus. We are the lovings standing up for the love of each other, one black, one white. We are a town saying enough is enough. with mass shootings of children. It is time to press for change and worry about what might hap and instead of just worrying about what worrying that this might happen again. And this act of ours, this unanimous well the near unanimous act I think we hope is a catalyst for that change that helps our state our state lead the way to a better place. So, um, we've got a, uh, uh, proposal here to, uh, amend chapter 22, the miscellaneous offenses to add to chapter or article 11 on firearms. Uh,

member Pierce talked about the uh, ordinance change itself. Is there a motion to adopt the ordinance? So moved. Second. Member Agnu moves and member Jackson seconds the adoption of the miscellaneous offenses ordinance to add to article 11 which deals with firearms uh and deals with this preeemption issue we've been excuse me we've been talking about uh any further discussion all those in favor of adoption of the ordinance is on a first reading basis first reading yes the ordinance on a first reading basis say I I all those opposed Those abstaining abstain.

The ordinance passes. Uh 2025-17 is approved. [applause and cheering]

Thank you all. Do you want to clarify what under first reading means? Well, it could make I meant for them.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, we This is typical that we would do this on a first reading basis. We didn't wave the second reading. So, it'll be coming back to us next meeting for the final approval, but I don't see anything different happening. So, I just wanted to let you all know. [cough] Excuse me. Now, we're going to take up whether or not we're going to engage in, you know, you guys from out of town are getting a real earful uh tonight. You're here for some interesting issues on the part of our city council and our town of 55,000 people. Uh now we're going to talk about uh lawful gambling. So, you don't know this, but we're the only state state, we're the only city around our neck of the woods here that I think doesn't allow charitable gaming. And we've got uh our city clerk here to uh lead us through the potential amendment of section 4-9-9 of our code, which would repeal and replace chapter 6, article 3 regarding lawful gambling uh in the Adina City Code. And I turn now to our clerk, Sharon Allison, for the introduction.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, manager Neil, did you want to tee it up first or?

You know, my thank you. My tea up for this really is just that we have been talking about this with with some folks in the community who have been interested in in changing asking us to change our existing uh ordinance structure around charitable gambling. We've had some discussions with them. We've had some discussions in house with staff and also with council members so that you are uh up to date on on the subject matter. Sharon Allison, our city clerk, is is our subject matter expert on this on this particular item and she's has a presentation that uh we she wants to give you tonight and we'll both be available to answer questions as well as a city attorney.

Thank you, city manager Neil. Mayor, council members, thanks for having me tonight. So, a little background and uh the need for change. As city manager uh Neil um explained, the current ordinance regulates only exempt gambling events um and that is on a per event basis. The ordinance does not allow premise permits which are which are required by state statute for ongoing gambling. In June of 25, the diner education fund formally requested ordinance changes to allow premise permits consistent with states state law and gambling control board requirements. Staff is proposing to repeal and replace the city's lawful gambling ordinance and amend chapter 4 of our liquor ordinance, which currently prohibits any gambling in on sale liquor establishments. These changes would allow premise permits, clarify that lawful gambling may occur in on sale liquor establishments with a premise permit, and align city regulations with the state administered lawful gambling framework. And it would also simplify local administration for exempt gambling. City Council approval is required for premise permits because you authorize ongoing gambling at a specific location. Um, as you've heard tonight from uh Mr. Boland, there is an interest uh for more premise permits to be issued. Uh staff is recommending three premise permits uh citywide and this would be to allow staff to assess demand and administrative capacity. And the reason for that is that the finance department will probably be doing the bulk of the work in managing the paperwork and

documenting the funds uh that will come into the city. We're also recommending that only Adina nonprofits would be eligible for a premise permit and that the trade area is where uh the trade area is where the nonprofit organizations would spend their funds. And we're recommending that at least 70% uh be spent in the trade area. The trade areas includes Adina and all contiguous cities. Financial and regulatory requirements um includes requiring up to 3% of local gambling taxes be paid to the city to be used to cover cost of regulating lawful gambling. and staff does recommend the full 3%. And 10% of net profit to a city administered fund with use of funds determined by the council. Primary regulatory oversight will be performed by the gambling control board in alcohol and gambling enforcement. Council's role is to approve or deny the premise location and this is done by resolution. The organization will submit a duplicate copy of their state application to the city and staff will review to make sure they have a lease with the establishment and that the establishment has not had any liquor violation. That is literally only the um regulatory um responsibilities that the city has. Exempt gambling is currently allowed and we are proposing an increase from two to four um per year because there is a need for more frequency. However, you could increase to five which is the state statute limit. Rather than the city having an

application process and doing background checks on the president and treasurer, we would sign off on the gambling control board's application because the organization is required to notify the city of gambling activities 30 days before each event. If the current process is retained, then I would recommend that we increase the application fee from $15 to $50. To summarize, uh, staff's recommendation is to repeal and replace lawful gam the lawful gambling um ordinance and amend the liquor ordinance to allow lawful gambling. And that would be to allow three premise permits only to nonprofit organizations located in the Dina. And uh we recommend 70% of net gambling proceed be spent in the trade areas [cough] [clears throat] and 3% of the gambling tax to cover the cost of regulating lawful gambling plus 10% of net profit to a city administered fund. And lastly, we recommend increasing the exempt permits and eliminate the application and background process. And with that, I can stand for any questions you may have.

[cough and clears throat] questions. Major Neil comment. You have a question really quick.

This is more of a a comment for the council. I think as as city clerk Allison and I were putting this uh together, our our goal was to create um an opening for this uh kind of activity to occur and not put the council really or the city in the position of having to pick winners and losers. Right. So in this case as as uh Miss Allison has explained the relationship is between uh those who who will want the money and spend the money and those locations the venues themselves and and they can they'll have to work that out um uh bilaterally, right? We won't be in the position of of saying you're going to go to Wooden Hill and you're going to go to somewhere else. That's not the role that we're trying to put you in. The other item that uh you heard about earlier was about um how many how many permit how many permits we want to issue and we had our discussion was around starting with three just to get a sense of how what the market may bear um and and not go straight to the maximum that we could put out there. So that's what that came it was is putting our toe in the water a little bit, seeing how it works, and then seeing if there really is a need or a desire for expansion after that.

In addition to that, that is also what we're seeing from other cities um that do allow premise permits. I'm not aware of any that has um six premise permits currently. And I believe when Kathy presented, Weisetta had just added a second premise permit in 25, I believe. So we I have not seen a city that has six premise permits. So

council member Pierce. Uh thanks Mr. Mayor. So that's super helpful. Um the only question I have is just procedural. If we were to for some reason go to four or something more than three, what's the process for that? You just decide you tell us that you'd like to go to four instead of three. So you'd come back here and Okay. And we would I guess amend the ordinance. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And we could do that any time. Yeah. About a one-year [clears throat] waiting period. I I think anytime.

Right. So this the ordinance tonight is not on a first reading basis. It's for you to give us direction and then we'll bring it back to you on a first reading and even waving second reading if you so desire.

Another question. Um, no. I just to comment I you will almost always get me if there is something new we're doing and you say we'd like to take our time to understand it before we make other decisions that are consequential to it. Um, I just think that's in practice. It's smart to do that. So that's it. So could you walk back through for [clears throat] us how this would work in real life? You know, let's just let's just take a hypothetical situation like let's say that uh you somebody said Wooden Hill. Let's say that they're one of the premises permit holders. Then what happens next? They're they're running these pull tab operations at their micro brewery and people are buying them. they're collecting revenue and what do they do with that money? How do they decide how they're going to use it?

So that is laid out in state statute how the organization so let's say for example the education education fund would um reach out to Wooden Hill and they decided that yes we will we agree to lease you a spot in the in Wooden Hill to do your lawful gambling. um how they spend their money is laid out in statute. Um and maybe Kendall uh city attorney Kendall could probably help with that. Um however, it it is laid out in statute how they would spend their money. Having a um a premise permit would allow a Dina education fund to have as many um events as they would like at Wooden Hill. So they would come to us, they would apply to the state um to get their uh license or their permit and that application would be copied and sent to us to staff. Staff would review to make sure that um they do have a lease agreement with Wooden Hill and then uh that Wooden Hill has not had any liquor violation and then we would bring that to you with a resolution recommending approval of that location. a dino education fund would then be able to have as many um events as they would like without coming back to us for permission. They are reporting to the state um regarding their gambling and they're also reporting to us if we decide on a monthly basis or quarterly whichever works um for our finance department so that we can track the 3% and receive the 3% gambling uh funds and also the 10% um net profit. Well, so if I'm Wooden Hill and I send in an application to the state to get this premises permit, do I have to identify who I'm going to be working with?

So, at the time I apply for the permit, a diner education fund would be applying for the permit. The nonprofit applies for the permit for the for the authorized distributor of alcohol. Correct. For the lawful gambling premise permit. Okay. with proving to us that in submitting a copy of the lease that they have with Wooden Hill to prove that they have a relationship that they have been authorized to do lawful gambling with Wooden Hill at that specific uh premise

and and could could multiple nonprofits apply for Wooden Hill? We're recommending that one premise per one uh nonprofit per premise permit at at Wooden Hill for example. Only one nonprofit would be approved to per premises. Yes. But we've got a lot more than three nonprofits that are looking after the goodness of the town and we do understand that. But we're asking that we take baby steps to make sure we understand what is all involved with um managing the funds and the paperwork.

Andrew Neil, well I what you said is true, but it's also true this is not this is not easy. Um there are professionals they have to engage uh paid professionals to assist them in managing these operations. So, while it is true that there are a lot of nonprofits in the community that might benefit from this, there aren't that many that probably have that that extra level of sophistication to carry it out.

Um, and then I thought I don't know if it was something Mr. Boland said or not, but it made me think about, okay, let's say that there's that onetoone relationship. We just use the ad fund for example because we're looking at her in the back of the room and Wooden Hill. Could could um Edina Ed fund decide that they would be a conduit for other organizations that are nonprofit in nature and share that revenue with them or is that I don't think so. I think it's probably laid it's laid out in state statute maybe attorney Kendall. So if Mr. Boland called and said, "Hey, would you share revenue with us with the Dina Hockey Association that you collect over at Wooden Hill?" Dina Ed fund would say no. They could

or would they be able to say yes? I guess I I don't know. I I I didn't really follow that. From a premise permit uh standpoint, they could not do that in terms of us issuing the premise permit. what they do outside of that. That's totally between the two organizations. I suppose this is a first what we're just giving you direction tonight. You're going to come back with something for us to look at on a first reading basis. Yes. So some of these issues could be fleshed out before you come back. Yes. Okay. Council member Jackson.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So this would provide income to the city, correct? And is that income pro on par with what it will cost us to administer it or is it probably exceed the cost of administering this program?

We believe it's on par. We don't know the 3% gambling tax. Um so you can go up to 3%. And because this it will be our first year, we have no idea. um by state statute, if the 3% that we're collecting is too much to cover the is not necessary to cover our cost, then we would have to pay that back to the state. So, we're recommending the 3% based on numbers that Kathy actually shared with us. Um, I think they're excited about the amount of money that they will raise. And so we're calculating kind of off of that, thinking that there will be a need um, staff capacity um, or I should say staff's time to manage the paperwork and the funds so that that 3% uh, will cover all of our cost.

So this would be revenue neutral. But then we are cutting um our current [snorts] system. Will that provides us some savings to the city that by not having the system of gambling that we have now will we have some savings then? Savings of your time for savings of time for sure in that we would only sign off on the LG220 and that we wouldn't be running the background checks anymore. So, savings for my division's time as well as savings for the uh police department's time and not running background checks.

Okay. Thank you. And then finally, um the Red River Kitchen leases space in um Brear Golf um facility. Would that be um eligible for this if it's in a city facility? Do we know? We believe so. Um, attorney Kendall, do you like to opine on that? Sorry, what's the question? So, we uh lease the Braar Golf Clubhouse to Red River Kitchen. Um, it's a city facility. Would we uh would that um restaurant be eligible to be one of the um companies or one of the locations for this?

Yes. If they partnered with someone who has a state charitable gambling license, then they could they get a premise permit at Braar. Okay. So, there's nothing about can comply with all the the required provisions of the we'll vet that before we come back with the ordinance. So, because that's a that's a good question because you know I'd like to bring revenue into um our tenant as well. So, great. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thanks, member and member.

Thank you. Um I I think this is the first time we're really having a discussion about this. Um based off of what I've seen and heard to date though, I don't feel that this ordinance to allow charitable gambling in Edina is something that I can support. Um at its heart, I appreciate what these groups are trying to do. funding our children, their education, their mental health, um, and their ability to be well-rounded individuals by participating in extracurricular activities. Um, I think that's a core to what our role is in our community. And I don't question the intention here. Um, I'm just not convinced that introducing another form of gambling, particularly one that shifts the burden onto a narrower, more vulnerable group is the right way to support our community. Um, so we heard in the presentation that one of the intentions is for this to lessen the burden on existing donors. This tells me that, you know, what we're doing is shifting where funds are coming from to support these things within our community. Um, I'm also I haven't seen yet a strong unmet need to understand, you know, what's happening in our community today. Where is there an unmet need and how will that turn into gambling needing to fulfill that? I think my broader concern is really around gambling as a broader context. Um, our nation, our country is like grappling with this rapid normalization of gambling. Um, I see it through the the prevalence of sports betting. I see it through the rise of prediction markets that create the ability to bet on and profit from like literally nearly everything. Um, a friend of mine, he's a

lecturer at the University of Minnesota and he interacts daily with undergraduate students. He explained to me that sports betting is the number one bad habit that his male students are trying to kick today with notifications, with social pressures. Sports betting is impacting our youth in unprecedented ways. Pull tabs are not sport sports betting, right? I'm not I'm not equating those two. Um, but it's a part of an overall system that presies on addiction and taking money from people who may not have money to give. Public health research indicates that while overall gambling participation varies, financial harms from gambling tend to fall most heavily on people with fewer resources because they spend a larger share of their limited income on gambling and they're more vulnerable to these losses. I just don't want to signal to our children that gambling with all of its well doumented downsides becomes acceptable when it's tied to something good. We can, we should support our children and our schools and really all of these community organizations. We have community organizations today that do that. Um, we should really ensure that we continue to do so in ways that align with our values that we're trying to pass on to the next generation. So, that's really at the heart of where my concerns are.

Thank you for that. Thank [clears throat] you for that, Member Richard. It's always challenging because you have what you're going to say and then somebody says something really, you know, and you're saying something that seems so ordinary, but um I one thing in order to get the pole tab experience, we went to Golden Valley to the Chester um American Legion and it was really interesting because they generate revenue for so many different organizations and I I'm sitting here thinking we don't really h have a place like an American Legion here in Edina that would function that way, right? It it would just be very targeted. True.

We don't have an allegiance. We don't we don't have a Legion or VFW in Okay, that's right. All right. We did come out ahead. Uh, you know, I'm I'm a little bit confused because what we have in front of us is an ordinance, proposed form of ordinance, but I I understood this conversation to lead us to believe that we're not being asked to pass amend the ordinance and pass something tonight that's ordinance related. We're passing something that's instructive related.

I I think our our goal for you tonight was to give you a chance to have a discussion. I mean, council member Agnu noted that that yes, we've talked about this a little bit and we've told you about it and you've received proposals about it, but you hadn't really had any opportunity to discuss it. So, that's I think what uh uh Clerk Allison has listed out is kind of the guts of of the proposed ordinance and what what it uh does and doesn't do. And if that uh suits a consensus of you, that's what we'll come back to you for first reading in February 3rd. Okay. Um, well, we've heard from our colleague, Council Member Agnu. Other other thoughts about whether folks would like to see a first draft of a charitable gambling ordinance? Uh, if we could look at a little bit more detail and uh, drill down on it. Remember,

I would and I don't have any um, suggestions for changes based on what I've seen tonight. I'm in favor of this. I I appreciate and I did think about expanding gambling when it's so easy to just go up to Bunnies and do this. I don't think our city being an island of not having pull tabs. It's the only community in the whole state. I I think people will do this very easily um by crossing lines and we might as well uh capture some of that revenue. But I really appreciate your thoughts on gambling and I share them.

Yeah, very well expressed. Um, member Pierce,

um, I so I am in favor of doing the rest of the groundwork to come back with an ordinance uh, under first reading. Um I would like uh perhaps when we do that I think it does make sense to um have someone speak again about um the need um and so we did that the first the first time I think we met separately to do that as well. So I I um I would ask that we are able to speak to the need um again um when when we look at this later in February. That's it.

So if I understand it correctly from the majority of the council, the direction would be to staff to come back with a proposed form of uh ordinance for uh reading uh on a potential first on a first reading basis. Is that Yeah. Like is there a motion? Yes, that's the motion. Okay. Member member Pierce moves. Member Jackson second. Second. Starting to sound like Jim Benberg. [laughter] Mayor, I have a question. Yes. Um question.

I know that it it kind of varies depending on what the ordinance is, what we're discussing. Is this something that we could direct city staff on if we were to pursue it to also figure out where in the timing to host a public hearing on the matter? We could and we have something that we can look at that has some context to it. We could make that decision of whether or not we want to have a public hearing. Yeah.

Similar to the action of suspending the rules tonight. uh our practice is that we our practice over the years here is that we do not have public hearings on matters that don't require a public hearing as a matter of law. Um and and so I think we would ask you to take some kind of action ordering that public hearing as well. Otherwise, we we I think we don't want to start a a down the path of having a public hearing over every single subject that you deal with. But if ordered by the council, we will do it.

I think it's premature that. But I I understand where Council Member Ragnu is uh what she's thinking about, I guess, would be a good way to put it. Uh but I think we want to have something to look at first in the in the form of a proposed ordinance for discussion on a first reading basis and then decide if we want to have a public hearing on it after we study it because we may we may be able to resolve it one way or the other when we see something is more contextual. Also member RER um suggestion maybe instead of a public hearing we'd put it on better together so people can at least comment on it. We get it done we can have that discussion too. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's another thought.

Yeah. Member Pierce. Um I I would just ask member Agnu to speak about why you may want a public hearing. So what's the intent behind it? And that might help us inform the best way for versus a public hearing or better together or what have you.

I think that for something like this, you know, we've we've heard from some of the organizations that would potentially benefit from it. Um I would love to hear from other organizations that are out there as well. Um, I'd love to hear from people in our community who think that, you know, potentially gambling and introducing gambling into our community is um I don't know, like are people overwhelmingly in favor of it and I'm one of the lone wolf in this situation or is it maybe something that we haven't gotten enough feedback on from our community because they don't know that it's a topic of discussion. Um, so I I guess I just I want to know what the pulse is. Um, and this isn't something that I've had a ton of engagement on except for a couple of one-off conversations that I've gone out and saw.

Thank you. Yeah. to the point that member Agnes made and member Risser made, could we could we just put the concept on better together Edina and say, you know, do kind of an informal survey poll on better together that wouldn't preclude us from deciding to have a public hearing, but at least we get to send some kind of preliminary view that may help all of us, including you. I I guess I don't know that I would make it a poll. I don't know that we've ever introduced a poll on something else. Um but yeah, I think open for for comments is would be more similar to what we've done. Yeah,

an approach might be or a compromise might be for an ordinance. We normally post it on our website 10 days before it comes to council for feedback. It's required by state statute. A compromise probably would be we also post it on better together to get feedback there. We'll post it on our website, but in addition to that, we'll also post it on better together to get feedback. And we could turn that around quite quickly so that it probably could be ready for the next council meeting.

Yeah, fair approach, I guess, to start the process. Okay. You have Do we vote? I can't. No, we did not vote. We didn't vote. We made a motion and a second. Then we had discussion. Uh all those in favor of uh directing staff to come back to the council with a proposed form of ordinance on charitable gambling on a first reading basis say I. I opposed. Nay. Motion carries. Um I think you've got your direction. Yes. All right. Uh now we're finally going to get to the Iona guys and we got Director Teague who's going to introduce the topic.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh members of the council, this is a site you're all familiar with. Over the last oh, three, four years. We've had three development proposals uh for the site that have uh not passed. First was that larger scale restaurant with the rooftop dining. Second was the green drop donation center. than the small uh pizza uh restaurant. This pro this proposal before you this evening, again, this is just a sketch plan review to get the council's preliminary comments. Um not necessarily dive into the details, but your preliminary thoughts. This is a use that's actually allowed under our current zoning ordinance of PCD4. The issue that we've struggled with um over the years is that the site is guided in the comprehensive plan for medium density residential. We did have the one sketch plan for the um the memory care facility, but they weren't able to financially make that project um work. We've had a couple other residential developers take a look at the site and they didn't believe they could make that work for residential either. Uh but so what would be required with a formal application would be site plan review and a number of variances. The variances deal with more the parking lot and the canopies as we've looked at the the shape of this lot as you really can't do anything on the site without some type of a variance. So there would be a few variances. staff would also recommend that we do amend the comprehensive plan um so it it is consistent with the zoning on the site. So [snorts] with that, our team from Iona is here. They flew in from North Carolina today and I will let them introduce themselves and they're going to present the details of the project.

Good evening, gentlemen. Thanks for your patience this evening. And um hold on here. I want to be able to take down your names for the for my notes and for the record. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council members, my name is Andres. I am a site development manager at Ayanna. I'm joined here by Declan and Vince with Kimley Horn, and I'll let them introduce themselves. Yeah. Uh Declan Wilkerson. I'm an architectural designer um with Ayanna.

And my name is Vincent Barker. I'm with Kimley Horn, which is an engineering design firm. I'm a licensed engineer in the state of Minnesota based out of Eden Prairie and I'm here as the site consultant for Iona Declan here our architectural designer has a presentation prepared to go over um high level details of the property so I'll let him go and we'll open for questions thank you all right thanks I click on the keyboard. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I can do that. I can do that.

Uh so we are Ayanna Andreas and I um we are a joint venture um of eight of the biggest manufacturers in the world. Uh that's BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stalantis, and Toyota. U just a little bit about us as a company. Um we like to say that we put the service back in station. Um we, like I said, born from eight of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. Um with the mission to build a nationwide charging network that puts the customer first. Um we aim to give network coverage that our our drivers need. um reliability that they crave um that they deserve with amenities that they crave. Uh this is just a little graphic that kind of shows the spread and the growth of the company so far. So we're coming up on our our two year two-year anniversary here in February. Um we have around 90 sites live. Um

thank you. Uh we have about 90 sites live um across the nation with you know hundreds more in permitting um in construction and beyond. Let's see. Okay, back to the buttons.

No ma'am, it's all good. Um so a little bit about the the Ayana experience in Adina. Uh the the site that we are are looking at, we would be proposing 14 fast charging bays. um that seven of the 400 kilowatt um power shared dual port units. Um meaning that they serve vehicles that have CCS plug types and knack plug types. Um so we'd be able to serve um customers that drive just about any EV out there. Um we would be including of course two ADA accessible charging bays. Um our you know pit stop with purpose kind of refers to what we would be doing with the building. Um, we're still in the, you know, kind of looking at that as a high level, um, as we move forward. Um, but we'd be looking to include restrooms, um, food and beverage access. Think of like a little mini convenience store, Wi-Fi, um, canopies and lighting, um, for night for, you know, just ease of access and protection from the elements for our drivers. Um, and sometimes more nationwide, uh, connectivity, like I said, we have 88 sites live today. Um, 800 bays across the country. Um, and in Minnesota, we have sites live in Leno Lakes, Brooklyn Park, Oakdale, and White Bear Lake.

Blaine soon to come too.

Yep. On the way. A little bit more about how our vision aligns with the city. Um, it would be about a$1 to2 million investment um, per site. Um, this one specifically, like I said, we're still in the high level details of things. Um, might be a little bit more than that when it's all said and done. Um yeah, but we're looking to invest in public infrastructure um that aligns with the city of Adina's goals to create a more livable city um with reliable services to the public. Um that can come along with jobs like hiring local maintenance crews and EV technicians. Uh and the public infrastructure will enable more drivers to make the shift to electric vehicles um as we're seeing across the country um across the world really

and even on the site itself. Well, we Stellan and I did a sidewalk today. Counted maybe a dozen EV cars just driving by the site alone.

Yeah, easily. And we've we've only been in the city what four hours, maybe five hours we flew in. So, looking good on that front. Um but yeah, looking to reduce greenhouse greenhouse gases and bolster the health of the community through improved air quality um as more people, you know, hopefully transition towards EVs. Um and then, you know, just a little bit about the press opportunities. Um, it would be an opportunity to, you know, highlight a new service in town. Um, you know, we do things like, uh, ribbon cutting, um, inclusion in the Excel Energy Press event scheduled for February. Um, we really just look to, you know, partner with whatever community that we are, um, that we're building in, um, and looking for ways to, you know, benefit you guys as well. So, a little bit more about the site. Like I said, um we aim to propose 14 fast charging bays, seven chargers. Um obviously they would have our we call them dispensers at Ayanna. Um but the charging unit itself, um each of those would have like a little miniature canopy over which we'll see imagery of in a second. Um you know, trash cans, window cleaning stations like you would see at a at a gas station. um pet waste station so that people with pets can you know have a have a space to um relieve their their pets and dispose of it properly. Um and then hopefully looking at retrofitting the existing building um to provide driver lounge, restrooms um and like a little mini convenience store as I stated earlier. Um and that all we we look to tailor that towards the community needs and you know we would be excited to work with um a local business if that's the route that that we that we went down. Um that is a look at what um our our standard canopies look like. Um

I believe that Chainsville Wisconsin as an example.

Yeah, it is. Um so that's a site out in Wisconsin. And as you can see that is our um underneath the canopy our our charging unit. It's pretty big unit. Um but that's how you know we're able to provide that fast charging experience. Um and then that's the canopy over the top. And then this is a look at our mini canopy concepts. This is um as discussed in the the first meeting, this is probably the route that we would go with um providing coverage for our chargers and our customers. And then this is a rendering of a site very similar to the one that we uh we were proposing here that's out in Connecticut where we're taking um this building was also a uh an old car repair facility that's been you know kind of just vacant for I think the last three four years. Um and we're looking at you know purchasing the property um putting charges in there canopies and retrofitting the uh the building as well.

And this is actually New Haven Connecticut. In December, we got were approved of planning and zoning and are moving to towards permits right now. So, this is a good example of um something that's in a looks like it's near a residential area. We have but uh yes, we have town homes. You know what the emails I'm getting from some of the neighbors are what it seems like a good use, but you know, they're worried about lighting lighting at night and and what do we do about making it more downcast, less less intrusive into the neighborhood, right?

Um the fact that you're open 24 hours, you know, I I get I understand that, but the lighting was a big issue for some of the neighbors. So, what did what did you do here in in New Haven? We um in New Haven specifically, all our lights are LED across the board of on all our sites on our canopies on our large canopies like this shielded LED down and I believe it's a foot candle count of 30. Um depending on requirements from cities, we will add dimmer with a motion sensor. So it'll go up to their peak foot candle at whatever is agreed upon during our permitting process. And we'll dim I believe around 40 to 60%, I don't know the exact number off the top of my head. And then as it detects movement, of course, when people come to charge late at night, it'll light up again and then dim back down. So that's the solution we're going to propose here is auto dimming motion sensors and um again shielded LED lights pointed down uh for the mini canopies that will be abuing the residential area. Uh we'll add an I'm going to blank I'm I'm blank on the terminology. We'll add additional back shielding to the LED light. So just to make sure it doesn't bleed out behind. Yes.

Wait a minute now. So is is this an example of what you would do in Edina or is that mini canopy idea what you thinking about doing in Edina?

Ideally we would like to do the larger canopy but understanding the resident's wishes we could switch to this to allow for even lower light bleed into the res residential neighborhood. I would say for this site specifically um as you can see um it's very similar kind of in this rendering to what um you know this site would propose the challenges that it would it would propose and you know you're correct in saying that the first meeting had a lot of um you know questions and comments and concerns regarding lighting. The mini canopies will actually emit less lighting um than the larger standard canopies across the country. you know, we might go with the bigger standard canopy just because it provides more coverage over the entire site um rather than just over the Chargers. Um but I think, you know, considering the site, considering, you know, what we abut to the mini canopies would actually be the direction that we go on this one. Um you know, that way we can provide coverage. Um you know, which is which is one of the things that we really want to do with all of our sites. It's kind of what sets us apart. Um, but it would also help us mitigate the the lighting concerns and kind of just the the big imposing nature of that that canopy um that we saw in the first picture

and have we mentioned with LED would stay the same would translate to the mini canopy. Okay. All right. We'll think about that. Okay. So, what I hear you say is you're flexible. You could do either. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Absolutely. So, like I said again, they're, you know, it's kind of big, kind of imposing. Um, this one I think required a little bit more lighting. I think the city might have required actually more lighting. Um, and that's why we went with the standard kind of bigger canopies instead of the miniature ones. Um,

but to your point, we are pretty flexible. We want to be a good community partner. So, we work with cities and find the best solution because we're excited about this project. It's going to be our next wave for 2026. So yeah,

and then moving a little further into the presentation, these are some concept sketches of um what we might do with the interior of the building. Um you know, based on feedback that that we received in our first meeting, we had proposed a few different options. Um one of them was using the kind of the entirety of the structure um as like a customer lounge. Um the second option was doing like a little mini convenience store. Um, and then the third option was like using a piece of the building for a customer lounge and then, you know, potentially bringing in a future tenant um, for the rest of the space. In that first meeting, it was kind of, you know, indicated to me that the preferred direction would be to go with the convenience store and trying to make it more of a a communal aspect where, you know, people of the of the neighborhood that um, kind of surrounds the site would be able to access it um, even if they're not an ionic customer. And like Andreas was saying earlier, I mean, we're all about community engagement and looking for ways, you know, where where we want to build, we want to integrate and be a part of the community and look for ways that, you know, um we can we can bring people who may not drive an EV and still be a part of the Ayana experience. Um and fortunately, you know, we're in a position where we can we can explore lots of different opportunities at this stage. Um you know, we're still very high level. Um just sketching some things out. um and my design partners and I, you know, we we anticipate the the feedback of this meeting um being something that we we implement strongly going forward. Um so that's a look at the sketch with a little customer lounge and then a convenience store. Um and then second, you know, a different a different, you know, potential layout of of what that looks like. Um, and I think it's also important to note that the convenience store aspect, um, this is something that was also touched on in that first meeting. Uh, we traditionally do like Amazon just walk out technology. Um, I'm not sure if you guys are familiar, but it's essentially

an autonomous uh, convenience store um, kind of model format where a user, you know, swipes their card before entering. you know, once, you know, payment is kind of confirmed, then the door opens and, you know, a customer can walk inside and there's cameras and sensors all over the ceiling that track kind of what they do, what they pick up. Um, and then when they walk out the second door, they're charged for those items. Um, so our our model is that our our sites are run kind of completely autonomously. We don't employ, you know, individuals to go and and man the site. Um, so I think that's important to note as well. But we do have our own u monitoring system set up. Our ops team will have 24/7 monitoring of the site. Any issues come up, we'll contact our own uh security if need be. If anything needs to be escalated, we'll contact the authorities. So, we do have a level of escalation. If issues do come up while being run autonomously

and we and we are partner with the 247 call center as well. So, with the convenience store, is this something that anybody from the neighborhood, you know, kid wants to buy a candy bar, can they get into it? Yes, ma'am. How does that work?

I can give some more detail on that. Um, with their parents uh cart shirt. So, we've um discussed internally with our operations team and we've are decided to leave the lounge area open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We without uh scanning through QR code as our other buildings you can access via QR code and past 6 p.m. you do have to scan in a QR code just getting later in the day security reasons. And inside the actual area, the JWO convenience store will be a secondary door that you would have to tap a card or credit card in to go through. Unfortunately, in order to keep it unmanned and keep it secure, we do have to add that barrier. But the lounge, as I mentioned, would be open if children want to come in into the lounge, use the restroom real quick, get some water from the soda from the water fountain, and go out. That's their prerogative. This is a uh a concept of what we might do with the exterior. Um again, just sticking to that um that Ayanna branding that we have. You know, we're we're kind of a a retroodern um company and we we like to set ourselves apart with, you know, colors and branding that are very distinctive but also also tasteful. Um so that's just kind of, you know, some preliminary thoughts of what we might do with the building. kind of replacing those uh those garage doors that exist now with storefront glass. Um allow more light into the building. We probably, you know, remove the fabric canopy that is is currently in place and the columns that come down. Um but yeah, just looking at making using what's existing and, you know, cleaning it up, fixing it up, um making it shine again.

And something we're also doing across several cities. Uh Apex, North Carolina is the first one we did it with. Sandy, Utah, the next one. Westminster, California, and here as well is we'll we'll do a call uh to local artists and we'll do a mural on our building. So, it was fun find it fun to let's find a local artist here that knows uh the city and they can come in. We'll do a tombstone piece where it just has the city name, year, and then one more piece of art. So, that will be one of our ideas for the building once we proceed through permitting. That's

right. I know when I first looked at your website a couple of months ago, I I saw a rendering that looked kind of retro. It was kind of like a and I thought it almost looked like you'd converted Kevin Keys spot to Yes, that's Apex North. You'd use that same thing. You saw that and you thought, "Wow, this looks just like what you got on the website." So, I mean, that was an interesting direction, too. who I thought was to kind of make it look like it was something from the 50s but brought up to modern standards. Yes. It helps match the Charger aesthetic too. Exactly. Right. And this this site is very similar to the one like I said I believe that was the first site.

Um that was the first site that we opened and it was the you know just so happened to be one where we retrofitted an existing building. It was a gas station was about 100 years old. Um so it took it took some doing but um this site is actually very similar to that one in terms of size kind of layout um and what we would be you know going for with the building. Let's see. So again, backside, you know, exploring the uh possibility of, you know, adding windows in there, letting more light into the building. And then again, other backside, you know, just keeping it simple, nothing crazy, just, you know, matching branding, making sure that um everything's cleaned up, repaired as needed. And then there is a a look at the the side that faces the street. And that that was what Andreas was talking about with our tombstone piece where it's a it's a fun graphic that we we uh deploy at pretty much all of our sites um that are similar to this one um where we you know that one is a just a clip from the from the Apex site but it would obviously have you know city of Adina zip code and you know a little slogan um to kind of you know tie our site together with um together with the city. Are

there any questions about the building itself? The renovations we're proposing rejection.

Yeah. So, I know that the um the vending machines are possible. Have you um thought about one of the ideas that came up is a um Japanese style a little bit higherend uh vending so that you could get maybe some hot soup or something not just chips and and candy bars. Um so I don't know what kind of if that if the site would lend itself to that or is it more just go in and it's like a hotel, you know, where you can get ice cream or candy bar or something. If you if um I would encourage you to think about something like that a little bit higher end so that maybe it would be a destination if you just wanted to go get a nice cup of coffee that one of the vending machines would u provide that.

Sure. That's very good feedback council member. We'll I'll be more than happy to take that back and explore what we can do on top of the convenience store. see what vending options we can provide outside of it to allow to your point people to just go in real quick maybe chill in the lounge um and see what we can do there. Thank you. Yeah. So um this concept of having the um dis either a convenience store or vending machines. How many of your sites have something like this? Do most of them have something or how many? I'd say as of JWO, the the unmanned convenience store, we have Garner, North Carolina. Westminster is the next one coming up.

I can't recall if I'm I'm a bad employee. I can't recall if Houston's JW or not, but for sure Garner, uh, North Carolina is the first site where we're deploying the convenience store um, solution and then Westminster, California, our flagship. Uh, it's going to be the next one where we employ this similar setup. Lounge is separated from JWO. Lounge easy access for anybody. and then the JWO store, you tap in, go in, come out. Okay, terrific. Thank you. Yes.

Yeah, just to add to that a little bit. Um, like I mentioned earlier, you know, the company, we're coming up on our second year anniversary. Um, so I haven't been around very long and, you know, in order to get a network out to users. Like I said before, I think we got about 90 sites live across the country. We really, you know, we have different site models kind of like um we have standard ones that it's, you know, like in the picture that was shown earlier with the Chargers, just the canopy over the top and then we have like different tiers. This is one that we would call a plus high tier. Um and it is it's one of our highest, you know, kind of models that we can deploy. We don't have many of them. We we have a decent amount out of the 90. Um definitely a lot more in permitting [snorts] kind of on the way. Um, but moving forward, these are these are definitely ones that we're looking to implement more and more once the network is kind of out there and established as we're already seeing. Um, and you know, at this point, any plus high as this one would be is like really a focal point of kind of the Iona network. And we use it for, you know, um, branding purposes, social media purposes, promoting, you know, who we are, what we do. Um, you know, just like here in this meeting, we're we're using the two that are in North Carolina. um if this is something that was you know approved and we move forward with um you know we'd be looking to do the same thing and um really make it kind of like a cornerstone of of who we are as a company and using it as an example for what we what we hope to bring forward.

Our first tenant is be safe. We take that very seriously in our construction and our lab we have back in our HQ North Carolina. Our second tenant is a driver first approach. So as you see like you come in to charge your car takes about 30 minutes. You charge to 80%. You you can go in in the lounge, relax with your family, run around in the area, especially during these winter months, which I'm from Utah, so I'm loving this weather. North Carolina is taking away this weather. I'm [laughter] not loving it. I'm not from Utah. You should have seen it. I was giddy as soon as we got off the plane. It's like, finally snow. Yeah, I was I was reaching for the jacket. Unfortunately, it's not for me, but I I do love to see the snow. We don't get We don't get too much snow. I I'm originally from Texas. So,

we're actually worried about you. I mean, you get your jacket on in the room and it's like 70. Telling you what, I'm starting I'm starting to feel the heat now, though. I'm starting to feel a little bit I don't know if that's just cuz I'm standing outside. We don't know what you're going to do when you go outside. You got your coat on. Yes, sir. Um what question? Um, so for the the lounge, just uh process-wise, how do you how do you um keep people from or do you encourage people who aren't charging who might want to go in and just take a seat and work while they I don't know, maybe they bring a cup of coffee with them.

That's more than fine if they want to use that space to sit down and work. Um, our Apex North Carolina has some offices in there for co-working as well. So, I mean, however [snorts] the community want feels they want to use this lounge the best that they're they're more than welcome to. It's why we have the access 24/7 um after 6 p.m. Again, you do have to scan a QR code. We do want to have some level of safety at night time, but yeah, you're more than welcome to come in. We'll offer Wi-Fi and sit down, drink a coffee, and unless you're being destructive, I don't believe we'll kick you out. So, but you are open to um I don't know if I would call it co-working, but Yeah. Yep.

Yeah. Absolutely. I would say that this site in particular bodess well for that just being near residential area. Um a lot of these ones, you know, if we acquire an old gas station and retrofit it, you know, it's in a not a residential area. It's in a spot where people wouldn't just normally walk. Um but I think, you know, in this building, we we definitely have an opportunity to do something unique while still providing the services that we want. Um and the fortunate part about it is that we're still very high level. You know, we've drafted concept plans. Everything's kind of still up in the air. It's malleable. Um, we're looking to receive feedback, implement it, um, and be, you know, as much of a community team player as we can be at this point.

I was thinking the same thing that you would actually could have kids from the neighborhood wander over here to sit and do their homework or sit and have a cup of coffee or or a beverage, but will you have an an employee on site?

We do not have uh employees on site, but we do have a an operations team. We do have a lot of cameras on site. uh that allow us to monitor all locations are all across the network. So if we notice any issues, we can install some sort of panic button inside the building or a way to contact customer service immediately. But we will monitor if we do notice something's going wrong. We'll alert our security and then escalate accordingly to the police department, but we haven't seen it get there at this point. Yeah. Member

and then member Um it just I um we've had several proposals come before us and this does require um an amendment to our comprehensive plan of course and I live very close to a very similar site that now has two double dwelling units on it. it was a Sinclair and um it's not large enough for one double dwelling unit

following code and so I just wanted to get this on your radar um so that you're not surprised if I bring it up again but Vernon Avenue is an arterial you've got residential R1 and you've also got R2 and um What I'm concerned about is if the comp plan was not changed and we stuck with residential, it's likely the Vernon Avenue driveways would be removed and access would be off of Eden Prairie Road. And I know the hurdle is really high because of the price that was paid for the land. So residential is very challenging, but you know, if we're guided by if we're letting development be guided by what somebody pays for a site, um I think that's problematic. And that ended up happening with the Burley site. So I just want you to be aware that this is on my radar. And um you can see section 24-30 uh that sentence starting with when when properties adjoin more than one street driveways shall be restricted if possible to the street with the lower volume of traffic. And then I don't know if we can move the image up because there's more text, but um the following add Thank you. Oh, it's just that's great. Okay. Uh the following additional restrictions apply to lots in the R1 district and R2 district. Okay. So what does in mean? And that that um requirement is on corner lots or through lots as defined in chapter 36. No driveway shall intersect with a street designated by the comprehensive plan as a collector or aial. And so now if we could scooch it back so you can see the

map completed. Okay. So, what is in? Is this in the R1, R2? There's PRD3 right next to PCD4. So, does that mean it's not in? Um, but the word is not surrounded by it's in. And so, I just want you aware of that? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for that. All right, member.

Thank you. Um, so if it's not staffed, who will keep it clean? So, we partner with um Janro is the one I know off the top of my head, but we partner with a few national firms to come and maintain our the cleanliness of our sites. Um, typically we've been coming every other day or weekly depending on the site. And again, uh, having a camera deployed throughout all of network has been extremely helpful. We're able to see if trash collection is higher than we anticipate. We can re renew, we can redo the contract to have them come daily. If we know his trash is left like barely ever, we we'll switch it to weekly. But at minimum once a week at best we'll probably do a daily uh check-in on the site with our national partners. Somebody will physically come check the cleanliness at the site.

Okay. Thank you. Um you also mentioned that um people from the community can walk there and hang out, maybe co-work or maybe students can study. Is there anything preventing people from driving in their gas vehicle and parking at a charging unit and going in there and working for eight hours?

I'm going to be honest with you, that's not the ideal scenario here. And it and it it would be it would take away a charging spot from a uh members of the community, which why we're building this for. We're more than happy to have people come and enjoy the Ayana lounge space. It's what we're building it for. And yes, somebody in a gas vehicle can come and work if that's their prerogative. But again, it's not ideal. But if we notice an uptick of that happening, we might bring some ideas here to the council. But at this time, we haven't noticed that issue in our network. Um, we welcome them obviously, but guess we'll see what the future holds there.

I'd like to I'd like to expand on that a little bit. Yeah, I mean as Andreas is saying, of course, you know, we're trying to attract electric vehicle drivers. Um, you know, typically at sites, we'll put up, you know, signs that say like EV charging only, you know, if we're in like a larger development, um, just so that we can we can keep those, um, for ourselves. In a in an instance like this, we probably wouldn't put those signs up at all. Um, kind of like you saying, we, you know, new company, we're still, you know, building the network. we haven't noticed problems especially on sites like this with like queuing um where you know you pull up and like every spot is filled and it's like oh man like where do I go? So I I don't foresee an instance where at least not yet where you know if a you know if a gas powered vehicle came and parked and somebody was inside working for you know the majority of the day. I mean there would be plenty of spots where an EV user could easily you know come and still access the site. um you know as we keep going back to we want to engage community um and if if that's what people like if they want to come utilize the site um you know a couple people from the community whatever it is um we can we can look at you know reducing the amount of chargers to include none specific spots um but obviously the preferred route would be to to maximize the the charging capability of the site just because we're trying to [snorts] uh like future proof if that makes sense

or they promise to only use us when they get an Eevee. Yeah, something like that. Thank you. Are we doing um like general comments? Yeah. Okay. Um couple. Thank you. Um so, so overall generally I

what I like about this project is this is kind of what I was telling Quick Trip to do. um over right off of 169 in London. They were proposing a gas site and I said make it all electric and like have that convenience store attached to it. So like overall it's a premise that I like. Um I will say that I think that that's a slightly better location. Um, not that you just like have your pick of the litter, but I will say that like having that be on the highways I think is a little bit more appealing for something like this in particular for me. Um, and what I have kept as a kind of a thought in my head for this site over all of the proposals that we've gotten. Um, is really around like this community gathering location. Um, what I really liked about Station Pizza, which is one of the previous ones, is that you could like envision teenagers going there and like whether they're studying or whether they're grabbing a p pizza like after practice, whatever it might be, you you saw the way that it might pull community together. And I think one thing that's missing for me in this is by having it be unstaffed, it doesn't feel like some place that I would send my kids to of like, oh, just go and hang out there or go and grab a smoothie or a donut. Um, and so that might be something that I just like challenge you on is like I I understand like the business model and this is kind of the way that you have it is being unstaffed and like completely autonomous. Um, which I like as an idea in maybe like a busier location. Um, I don't think that this is that site necessarily. Um, and so what I I mean I

would love to see there is, you know, is it like a small bakery or some place that has healthy food or smoothies? Like those were like examples of like what I would like to see. Um, but I think that that might make it more of a community draw for people that are in like that broader walkable area, I'll say. Um, I also, so in some of the imagery you showed, I like how you're kind of like leaning into and keeping the existing building. One, from a sustainability perspective, two, um, because I I kind of like the building and I think it's cool to like retain some of these historical I don't know if it's officially historical, but the iconic I will use the phrase iconic, these iconic places across our community. Um, I live right by Town Hall Station, which um is now a restaurant and bar, but used to be um kind of like a filling station, workstation, etc. Um, so I like that you're keeping that, but maybe just keep some of the colors like the yellow I kind of really like. Um, maybe everyone else will disagree with me on that, but as much as you can keep the vibe and the style, I would support that. Um, but yes, yeah, overall I'm just I'm kind of iffy on it. Um, love the idea, love the concept, might make some tweaks. Um, but I would say like with those tweaks, it could be something that I would support. So,

thank you for that commentary. Yeah. Thank you, council member. Pierce. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, but just one question. Why 24 by7? 20, sorry, for charging. I think you guys said charging was 24 by7. 247 as in uh they they can charge at any time of day. Yeah. Why 247 for charging?

Um you never know when people will be coming back home from road trips or um when they're um needing to charge early morning, get out work or they need a quick charge returning rental cars or whatever. But just like gas stations operate 24/7, we're wanting to match the same amount of service as gas stations do as people transition over to EV. Personally, I mean, I've stopped at a on my I drove from Salt Lake to North Carolina, Madlad in the three at 3:00 am, stopped at a gas station. So,

yeah. Um, so I would I would make sure you're looking at the data on that cuz I've actually done that, meaning charging at 1:00 in the morning, 2 in the morning, or whatever.

But typically, it's in a retail space. um it's not in a neighborhood and so the I just don't know that you're going to have that kind of traffic on Vernon any dinina 24 hours a day. So I would I would look at that and the reason I mention that um one of the concerns I actually only live maybe a mile from there. um the lighting if if if it's not being used 24 hours a day, then you really don't even need the lower lighting for a portion of the night. So, you could actually at some point have all the bays dark. And sure, if somebody drives up at 2 in the morning, maybe you then go up to the 30% or 40%. But if I lived there, the last thing I would want is at, you know, at night this a lighted facility or lit facility there. Um, so I had asked you to to look at that. Um, when I first saw this, I was like, there's no way I'm vote yes on that. But I was looking at the first uh picture that had the giant canopy with all the lights on it like it looked like a Is it Bies? The

Yeah, Bies. Yes, sir. Yeah, that's what it looked like to me. Um, and so your concept of Connecticut, the smaller uh canopies, um, I actually liked the Connecticut better than the other one cuz it looked like it was a smaller form factor. Um, that may not be true, but that's the way the picture looked to me. As then, sorry, just clarity, the larger canopy or the mini canopy we showed you? Yeah. So I thought you had too many canopies is the way I was thinking about it. One picture of a built site. So that one and then the go back one. That one looks like old drive-in. Yeah. This one looks like the Jetsons. Yeah.

Yes. So both of those two I was thinking those as smaller canopies. The first one was Bies. And so, um, I like this one because it does seem modern and I I like the Amazon, right? The Payless JWO. Yeah.

Yeah. I kind of like that there's nobody on site. Like, it's just a modern um it's a modern business and we don't have anything like that in Edina. Um, and so that was intriguing. What I will what I'll say, don't let us change your business model cuz we'll do it. We'll have you add a bunch of stuff in there. [laughter] Um, and so I would I would advise you to if you hear feedback that you want to incorporate, that's fine. But I'd stick to your convictions of what you think works,

of course.

Um, that would be my my coaching to you. Um, I am intrigued by it. The only other thing I'll say is I don't want to see it. Like when I'm driving down Vernon, which happens for me because my daughter goes to the high school, so I pass by there probably four times a day. And I don't want to see it. And so the BIES, I would see that as soon as I turned right off of of Merit Circle, I'd see that thing over there. Um, and so when I say I don't want to see it, that not only means like form factor, but uh, some member Agnu's points like if you could find a design that makes that thing kind of disappear, whether it's colors, um, I like the fact that it's it appears to be the same form factor footprint as the current building. um those kinds of things kind of make it blend in. Um and if you can do that, um I think that would be great. Uh the last thing I'd say, I'm actually not convinced people are going to use this at all. Uh but but I'm not an EV driver yet. Um I just have this theory that what we should be doing is coaching people if they're going to do an EV, they should charge at home. and uh use uh stations like this very sparingly. Um that's just a hypothesis that I have. Uh but um I'm intrigued by it mostly because of the modern nature of it. And if you can do something about the lighting and kind of make it disappear

into the landscape, you got a crackpot architect over there and a great engineer. You can figure out how to do that. Um, I think that'd be awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the feedback. Rejection.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I I really like this concept. I think it's something that will work in the neighborhood. I appreciate that you have options that have less lighting. Um, I think that's probably the number one issue is the people don't want the lights shining in their bedroom at 2 am. Um, so to the extent that there's screening um that you can put up, this is fine. I I do like the New Haven. It's kind of retro looking. Um, either one of those designs. This is near a regional bike trail, so I don't know if you have the capacity to have tra uh charging for uh ebikes. Um, I just throw that out there that that there would be a market for that. [laughter]

Um, [clears throat] but then I'm also thinking, you know, we're very close to in highway 62. So, I I assume you build this, you have a Google map and you're saying, where's the nearest E charger? It would find it and you could come right up there and charge and and be off to wherever you're headed. Um, your destination may not be Dina, but you could stop here and and get charged up. So, I think that there would be a market for it. It's, you know, thinking of it in a neighborhood sense. Uh, I like the idea that this is a place where people can come, uh, you know, kids come play a board game maybe or cards or something. Um, and it's monitored. Um, I hope that the cleaning can keep up with the traffic and so that'll be something you'll want to have to monitor. That's obviously how you do your business and everything, but as a I just want to make sure that it always feels safe. Safety is very important. So, yeah, I like this concept. Um, any as much screening as you can do to protect the neighborhood um from the lights, but I think this is consistent with the current use keeps it um a commercial option um which is something that the neighborhood needs. So, those are my comments.

Thank you. We do have two EVs at my house. One's a Volkswagen EGF and in the winter it can run out of energy super fast. So I do think this will be a place that people will go to and I mean you can charge we do charge at home but it you can run out and you need to get a lot. So anyway that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh would you go to the New Haven one please? And then I want to look at your site plan too. Yeah. Here here's what I like about this one and and the other one that I characterizes the Jetsons. That's It's cute, too. But it with I when I think about the architecture that exists there on the Kevin Key site that remember was talking about I like the idea of that retro and and remember Jackson mentioned it too, the retro idea and and this makes it look like an oldfashioned drive-in and and I think that's kind of cute.

And uh and now you say, "Well, it's a charging station, but it looks like an oldfashioned drive-in." And I think that's that'd be kind of cool along Vernon Avenue. So you're going to you're going to kind of get mixed messages here from us. So which ones we prefer, but that's my two cents on that one. And then where's your site plan? So I can see where the this was member raised this idea of how do we act how do you get in there to charge right there on Vernon right to the left of area A. You come in by the building. Is that it? You have two entrances. Um one uh top right you you see the transformer. If you go a little bit down there's entrance number one. You follow you. Yeah. Okay.

And and there's entrance number two by the building and that the two charters. Makes sense. Yeah, that looks good. That works. Um I think my colleagues did a nice job of talking about this and um I like the fact uh that it's zoned for this use. I think the uh we've we've tried housing here as member Risser said and we can't get it to work. So, um I'm I'm all

Yeah, I'll go back to you. Uh I um I I think we could we could modify the comprehensive plan to make sure that it protects the neighborhood in the future. And also then you read, you know, everybody's mentioned lighting and the hours of operation. I think we can figure all that out with modern technology. I thought your idea was a great one of being able to charge an electric bike over there or just make sure you have bike racks here because I I think people people will come over there and hang out. And for me, you know, uh member Pierce said he's not an EV driver yet. In our house, we got two of them.

And uh I I prefer to charge at home, too, but it takes me eight hours. And here, I can do it in 20 minutes. Uh quick correction, 30 minutes. Uh [laughter] it'll be 30 minutes to 80% and then about an hour to full and then winter conditions that might change depending on uh year of car and temperatures. But but if I can get to 80%, well, it depends on where I am, I guess. But um if I get to 80% in 20 30 minutes and I go inside and have a beverage and it's it's kind of a cool idea. It's good way to spend time instead of sitting outside a uh [clears throat] Circle K in the cold. Yes.

Charging your car. Uh okay. I'm going to go back to So I don't know. That's overall I I favor the notion of it as long as we can deal with these issues. And Mr. engineer. Was there anything you wanted to say? No, everybody's doing such a good job standing. That's that's the goal that he doesn't have to step in. [laughter] Thank you, Mayor Parker. Parker, anything?

Just if there's any concerns about logistics on the site about um pedestrian connectivity, bicycle racks. I think that's something we can definitely look at if that is something that's important to the city of Dina and council members. That's something that's important to Iona and Kim Horn as well and something we can definitely focus on. Are you concerned at all about ability of Excel to adequately service the site with sufficient power? Not given the facilities that are currently out front. No. Okay. And then we have started uh conversations with Excel uh Dean.

Yeah. I believe at this point we have engaged Excel as a utility company and have either some sort of preliminary like assessment going on kind of behind the scenes and obviously that takes time but so far we haven't we haven't heard anything that indicates that they won't be able to service the site ade adequately. Okay. All right. Thanks. I want to go back to member now. She she'll have the last word. Well, as one of the other EV owners, I wanted to share my anecdotal evidence, too. We tried so hard to be like the holdouts who just like trickle charged in our garage.

And we were very successful in that for like 5 months and then the winter hit. And thankfully through like Google, you can always see like when is there an available charger? And so we'd be looking at this until like midnight or 1:00 am like around the holidays when we had to drive down south to New Prague. Like can we find a charger and we couldn't like even at the Targets it was like lines for hours all night. So I do think that there is quite a big need. Um and I think that that even like speaks to a little bit of the after hours need as well. But we did we got a charger installed so too late. So, can I can I just I I don't know.

Defend yourself. No. [laughter] I just I don't know what my wife and I are doing. We don't drive more than 35 miles a day. And so, so I just can't imagine if I have a vehicle and I have a fast charger at home and I charge up to 80% how on earth I would run out of power cuz I'm not like we're not driving that. We're not driving more than 30 miles a day. Anem, if I'm traveling to West De Mo,

that's different then. But then I'm thinking I'm looking for charging on my path to the not driving into Marriage Circle or Highlands looking for an EV charger. But we'll find out because we are my wife is going to get an EV. We're going to keep one hybrid and then we'll have an EV. We'll find out. Maybe I'll be right over there since it's right around the corner. We'll be happy to have you in Canada. [laughter] Yeah. Well, I can tell you that you sometimes you forget to charge it overnight and then being close to some place where you could charge in 20 30 minutes would be good deal. Yeah.

And something I would like to hit on is I know none of you have brought this up, but reliability is something we definitely pride ourselves in. We know um our competitors have been known to have reliability issues and and if any charger ever goes down to we partner with peers and other nationwide providers to get to a site chargers down we'll be there in less than 24 hours if there's an aesthetic issue 48 hours and then any other issues with sites we can come within a week those are the SLAs we set ourselves and again hitting on our second tenant as a driver first approach we want people coming to Iana we do understand we might not have high utilization out at the card, but we want people to know we're here and we're ready to go and able to charge them whenever they need to without concern of the charger not working. So,

yeah, that's an interesting point you raised because when I go north uh to Lake Country in the summertime, one of the places I go through is Alexandria, Minnesota, and there's at Menard's there, there's seven Electrify America stations. And one time I came through there and none of them were functioning. And so then I had to figure out, it took me three hours in Alexandria to figure out how to get charged and get where I wanted to go. So make sure that you have reliability at the top of your Absolutely. Make a note of the Electrify America is not working. Uh quote from the mayor, not from Ayanna. Thank you.

Yeah. I would I would just like to add um another thing that we really prioritize is speed and it's not only because we you know provide fast charging units. Um you know, we are a company that likes to move fast. Um, we like to design, you know, get our things together, everything that we need to, you know, submit for the right permits, you know, get through the permitting process as quickly as, you know, the city will allow. And then same with construction. So, we're not, you know, a type of company that will would get approved for something like this and then kind of beat around the bush and it never actually like pans out. Um, we we are excited about the site, you know, the the prospect of establishing kind of one of our plus high models. Um, I know it's been said, you know, will this work in a in a residential area? Another important thing to note is that like we we're founded by eight, you know, the largest auto manufacturers in the world. Um, and we are we are working towards um hopefully like integration, you know, just like in a Tesla when you're low on charge, it'll direct you to the nearest Tesla. That's what we're looking for. Um, ideally from all these, you know, BMW, all the ones I listed in the start. So you can imagine how many of those cars you see on a road on a daily basis alongside that you know the transition to electric vehicles all over the world. Um we really are trying to future proof and make the site you know might seem weird and like will it really work now but you know you think 5 10 15 years from now we're hoping that this is like a focal point of our network in the area for sure

building for the future. Mhm. So, uh, that you just made me think of something else, uh, Declan, and that was, so you come in there in a BMW or you come in in there in a um, uh, Tesla, you got a different charging mechanism, uh, different plug. Oh, I see. Yes. But, and you can handle you'll be able to handle all the with the fact that you're owned by eight different auto manu auto manufacturers, not all of them are using tech Tesla technology for the plug. That's exactly right. It's exactly right. We don't discriminate. You can accommodate any kind of electric vehicle. Yes, sir. In the in North America. Yes.

Until BYD or some other car manufacturers come here, we'll address that accordingly. But yeah, any North American EV we can charge. So member, I don't have to buy adapters. No, sir. All right. Thanks. Thanks for coming up here. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all for the feedback. What town in North Carolina are you based in? Uh Durham, Raleigh Durham area. Raleigh Durham. Durham, I guess technically. Yeah. Yeah. That's where the that's where the headquarters are. Beautiful part of the world. Very green. Yeah. It is very beautiful state. Yeah. Prettier than Houston for sure. Not as not as pretty as here. The the beautiful snowfall, I tell you. Makes me happy, baby. Telling you what. Got to go make snow angels. There's snow out there now. I'm not sure. [snorts]

And if you have time, there are snowshoes at our Brear Golf Course if you want to do a little snowshoeing before you leave. I've never snowshoed. That's so fun. Tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow. All right. I'm down. Where is it? Where can we get community? Safe travels home and we'll Sounds like we'll probably see you again. Spray golf course. Thank you. Gotcha. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you for your time, mayor, council members. We look forward to developing this project. All right. Very good.

Okay. The next item was one that we were going to table till the 3rd of February. Let's make a Let's do that by motion. Is there a motion to uh move the potential adoption of the 2026 legislative platform for the city of United to the city council meeting on February 3rd, 2026? So moved. Member Jackson moves. Second. Egg. Member Risser seconds the tableabling of the 2026 legislative platform adoption to the city council meeting on February 3rd, 2026. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the motion stated say I. I.

I. Opposed. Carried. Motion's adopted. That matter is moved to the February 3rd, 2026 meeting. Um, manager Neil 9.7, it's all yours. Thank you, your honor. Uh we had some discussion at our work session uh this evening about uh proposed local sales tax question and and a possibility of a 2026 uh general election question about uh expanding the applicability of our local sales tax. Um I I think what I heard um uh from the legislators and the lobbyists is a general sense of pessimism that uh that this issue is going to be uh resolved by um uh by the legislature this year. Nonetheless, uh there is a there is a law um there is a state law chapter 297A.99 subdivision 2 that requires cities who wish to uh have their uh sales tax proposals heard by the legislature to submit u kind of the basics of that proposal by January 31st of this year. There was some discussion that uh at tonight's work session that we also had about whether our proposal actually was was bound by by that law. Uh when we did get clarification that it was we added this item to the agenda for tonight. Um it pres this item uh if approved by the council really preserves our place in line. Um if we get if we do see that this has some legs uh we will have to add more detail to what's being proposed here. Um but if if not u it will it will go nowhere and u we'll know that fairly soon I think in the session probably by

the middle of March. So, I would ask uh for your uh your approval of this item tonight. Um and we would then forward it on to the uh appropriate uh state government officials to again kind of preserve our place in line to be heard. Anyone have questions for manager Neil? Uh, is there a motion to the U effect of approving resolution 2026-05 which would uh seek approving the proposed local sales tax question and authorizing an election there on during the 2026 general election going to the state legislature for that purpose. So moved.

Jackson moves. Member Pierce seconds the motion as stated. Uh for discussion any discussion? Member Risser clarification. This does mean it goes on the ballot and people vote on it or no, it does not. Commission, council member Riss or members of council, ultimately yes, that is true. The the city council does not have the authority to impose this without a referendum. The first step in that process, however, is getting the legisl legislature to authorize the city to have a referendum. So that's the first step and we've got other kind of mini steps in between that. Just wanted to make sure it would end up on the ballot.

Yes. Okay. And and it has an exit ramp. If we decide we don't want to do this, it doesn't have to go on. That's right. That's right. Thank you. Okay. Good. Good questions. All right. Uh we got a further questions, comments. All right. We got a motion and a second to approve resolution 2026-05 as stated. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

I. Opposed. uh abstensions. We It's passed. We're off we go to the legislature to see what happens. All right. Uh manager comments. Uh the only the only comment I had for tonight was was to uh propose or discuss or present I guess to the council that we we are going to form an internal city staff uh team to examine uh ideas, suggestions, proposals on how we deal with the federal immigration enforcement action that's happening right now in Minnesota. Uh we're on the way as I've been working here tonight to filling those spots and that that group will be formed and doing its work before the end of the week.

Very good. Um, member Richer,

I want to say that I think it is really important that we update our website soon um, and incorporate information that really, you know, we heard a lot from people when they were talking about interactions with ICE and I was not aware of all the stuff that's been happening in Cahill. It is so troubling and I think all of us are really, you know, your family members go out and you hope they are okay. Um, especially if they work in parts of Minneapolis where things are really active and all of that. And I think in Edina, I've been walking around in the Southdale area and um you know, I haven't really seen anything, but I feel as if we especially I the statement by Bloomington was very good acknowledging what is going on. I think um when our statement was written back on December 8th, it was um I mean it fit the time, but we need to get an update and we need to do that. I if we can do that this week, that would be great.

Thanks for that. In fact, you reminded me of a conversation manager ahead of noon and that is we might possibly have updates weekly.

That that would be good. And if there's a way, you know, so that it doesn't have to be within the context of a formal city council meeting that we hear about what's going on in Edina, um we we need to have more communication because you know, and one thing that was said and I wrote it down at the beginning of the meeting is the word village was used and I can't I think it was um actually by the gentleman who talked about hockey and we I do really feel like Edina is a village. it, you know, feels that way. And now we need to come together and we need to really be a conduit for communication all across the city, taking care of each other and all of that.

Action.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to pass this down. This is a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Um, as I mentioned earlier, we are a human rights city, which means that we've adopted this. We renewed the adoption um last fall when we designated December as a human rights um month or human rights recognition month. Um I my level of frustration is through through the roof that this is our federal government and usually it's the other way around where the federal government is coming down to local government and saying you're breaking civil uh civil liberty, civil rights, uh human rights and and to be inverted is such a strange situation and I feel so powerless and frustrated. Um, so I hear the the fear and concerns of our residents. Um, and I'm glad that so many suggestions have come forward and I and I'm looking forward to seeing what the task force does. Um, that said, this shouldn't be controversial. Um, but I think it's worth saying that we are a human rights city and to um, I'd like to ask for a vote to uh, once again affirm that that we accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. there. Second to that motion.

So moved. Motion by member Jackson, second by member Pierce to to reaffirm uh our support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Can I take it have it posted up on our website? Yes, please. All right, that's the motion. Uh further discussion. All those in favor of adoption, readoption or affirmation of the uh universal declaration of human rights say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. It is adopted. Andrew Neil will ask you to deal with communications to get it posted up. Uh anything else?

Um uh thank you. Yes. uh as we're going through these various um options for uh expanding the uh sales tax and other things when we're doing the CIP, the capital improvement plan. Plain language. I love the fact that we were reminded to use plain language. Um so as we look at our capital spending this year, I want to um get a sense of the cumulative um work that we're doing right now. Uh, director Veter said this about uh the Braar Arena, but we want to make sure that we're not building everything right now and then it's all going to fall apart at the same time. So, I'd kind of like to get a sense of the staggering of the life of the programs that we're uh the new things we're building and and how how that fits into what we are repairing and maintaining over time. So, that those are my comments.

Thanks for that good thought. Uh, council member Pierce. Um, so just a couple of comments on the ICE conversation that we had. Um, I did review the notes from uh, resident Kingston.

Um, the only thing there's two things I I um would want us to consider. One, um, and this is true with lots of things we do. I don't I don't know that everybody understands um what's going to be beneficial and what's not. And so spending some time to explain that, give some good context. While it might be great to post a sign in a park that says ice is not welcome here, what are the implications of that? Right? Just so that people understand some of these things. Um, and then the one thing that is not was not actually covered, and I don't know that we talked about it a lot tonight, uh, but I am also concerned about us as a city making a statement that we are protecting our residents constitutional rights. And so that not only just means the way that ICE is going about their work, but that also means our protesters too. Um, and so as the task force does their work, um, I would like for us to have to at least think through um, should we have some type of police presence? And we're not saying we're there to stop ICE from executing their orders. We might validate that they have a judicial warrant to do what they're doing, but um we're there to ensure that the rights of our residents, their rights are being honored and there are no violations of their constitutional rights. um and those

orders are being carried out in um the correct way. Um and so I I offer that as just additional feedback um to [snorts] the the uh task force. Um I think that's it. Yeah. Good. Thank you for that.

Thank you. Um, so I I [clears throat] also want to take a moment and think a little bit or reflect a bit on um ICE given the fact that we kicked off our conversation tonight with that, but we didn't quite have any conversation on it. Um, you know, what is happening in our our country, I guess, in Minnesota and in our community is not okay. Um, from what I'm seeing, this is not about immigration enforcement. masked unnamed agents of the state are chasing down people who have different colored skin and who have an accent and this is like racism at its core. Um some of those individuals are US citizens, many of them are here legally, some of them are not. Um but all of them are human beings. Um so I I do appreciate member Jackson you bringing up these human rights and reaffirming them here tonight. Um because every one of these people are human beings, right? Like that that's what our community is made up of. Um and yet today there are over 2,000 I've heard as many as 3,000. I don't know the exact number. Um ICE and federal agents in Minnesota who are here to instill fear. Um Minnesota is a target because I believe of the president's own personal agenda. Um, most of our our current political landscape is one of fear. Elected officials who have gone against Trump are now facing DOJ investigations for various reasons. And states that do not do as exactly as he desires face repercussions. I I think we're seeing that right now. Um, is this right? Is this what we want of the United States? And I think we've seen fascist

governments come to power before, most notably in 1930s Germany. Um, and as an avid reader about books of that era, and I, you know, we had one member in tonight talking about it feels like we're living in a movie. Um, but I've always asked myself like, how did that happen? Like, how did that come to be? How did people just sit by and let that be okay? And the truth is in some cases I don't think it's that people don't want to do anything. Um I think it's that people don't know what to do. I think that people are scared because of the potential repercussions. Right? We're we've even just shared now, you know, we need to be conscious about what will we do because we've we've received our briefing documents about, you know, well, some of our federal funding might be at risk, right? So we need to be careful about what decisions we make as a council. Um, but I I don't think that we're powerless, right? Um, I don't have all of the answers and I don't know right now the best way to take a stand. So, I love that we're pulling together this task force and that we're pulling together minds to really consider these things. Um, I know that we've sent forward a lot of ideas. Um, I have a couple of ideas as well. I know some of them have been included. Um but it is not allowing ICE to stage their operations in parks, city property, school parking lots. Um because these are places of the community and right now like those places are being used to instill fear. Um I do think that we should look into instituting a ban on ICE agents and other law enforcement um personnel from wearing face concealing masks during public interactions. Um I believe that both Washington and California um have also taken on similar action and so not

suggesting that we reinvent the wheel but jump on to or amplify um take similar to what we did in St. Paul with a gun violence protection um do that within this like masking ban and and sign on to that as well. I want us to place an eviction moratorum for people who are unable to work out of fear right now. Um, and finally, we and I I know that this you were saying by the end of the week, so this might introduce some timing constraints. Um, but I think we should recognize Friday is a day of truth and freedom. There is that um kind of statewide protest going on. um whether that be through a resolution or just really providing support for city employees from working that day. Um again, I know that's this Friday though, so it might be kind of um hard, but um my daughter's daycare is going to be closed on Friday. I know that there are a lot of places that are um really considering what what Friday looks like. Um, and as much as I would like it, asking them to leave nicely isn't going to work, [cough] [snorts] but this is our community and I've heard from so many residents. We heard tonight um that they're scared and they want us to do more. So, I implore us to do more.

Thank you for that. [clears throat] Some of the things that uh council member regu mentioned were some of the things that we'll take a look at and some of those things I think Dave Kendall you've already opined on for us did talk about a separation ordinance and whether that was possible or had any value but some of these other things uh really as as we've worked on this it really get quite complicated in view of the supremacy clause is and and even someone who came that is as earnest and has been working so hard on this and is fearful as Miss Elky when when she said she wants us to be doing more and described what she wants us to be doing. It puts our It puts our police officers, I think, at direct risk with with ICE agents. And I don't know where that leads. And I don't know if there would come a time when we would think that we needed to do that, but I think that impeding ICE officers in their task uh is something that we need to be careful about. To member Agnes's point, if we viewed it as unconstitutional activity, an unwarranted stop racial profiling, um, you know, I'm not sure what we do or what you've instructed our officer core to do, but it's it's delicate territory. And I and I and I think it would be good to understand it better and have our residents understand better the the the scope of our work to keep them safe and and uh what that what that means. And I don't know if you have any thoughts at this point in time, but I'm sure you've had these conversations in

some of your meetings as they get ready to go out to work. Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Yeah, we've we've been talking about this for at length for a while now, answering a lot of these kinds of questions and just frankly, it's uh uncharted territory for us in local law enforcement. So, I have faith in the task force. Dave Kendall's very good at what he does and so I'm very confident we'll be able to package up a lot of these answers and get some to the extent that we can clarity on what we can and can't do. That'll be helpful for the community to share that out. I do echo the concerns um in terms of you know my role and my responsibilities to provide the mission direction to our officers on on what they should be doing. Um but sometimes that can be in conflict right with federal law and things like that. So it's this will be a good exercise for us to collectively go through.

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for that chief. Thanks for thanks for digging deep on that one. That's an important one. Uh and I think our residents will really appreciate that. And I sent to manager Neil on on Saturday at the EAA meeting. They passed out some uh uh documents that were was like know your rights, you know, and I sent them to manager Neil. To me, it looks like material that could easily be posted up on our website, but I think it's maybe you could circulate it to the rest of the council as well. I think they're pretty straightforward. You talk about judicial warrants versus administrative warrants and and and uh what's what's constitutional policing, what isn't. And then of course we get into that policy area where they're hanging around hospitals and hanging around um schools and places of worship. There's not much we can do there except uh I think use the bully pulpit a little bit to try to get them to change their policies and that might have to come from the president of the United States unfortunately. So, and that was the that those are the two key elements I raised in that letter that I authored for the eight mayors that went to the New York Times. And I can I can share that with all of you too. If you want to see it, I can send it to manager Neil and he can disseminate it. Um, okay. And then [snorts] what do we have tomorrow? We got tab tomorrow and something else. Quick look here. I also wanted [clears throat] to talk to you about.

Yeah, I think we got board and commission interviews coming up this week, too, I think. I got potential conflict there with uh the um chamber fundraiser. I don't know how they overlap, but we can talk about that. Okay, that's it for me. Sorry to hold you there. Uh anything else from council members for the good of the order? Okay. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Member Jackson moves we adjourn. Member Pierce that motion. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adjournment of the United City Council meeting this Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, say I. I.

I. Opposed. Carried. Stander.